Sunday, October 10, 2021

Ubhadi! My take on Tolkien's "half trolls" from Lord of the Rings

 

"....out of Far Harad black men like half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues..." These figures represent my own ideas and are purely for my own entertainment. They are not drawn from any works of Tolkien or any other source. Thank you Peter Bowman for the original idea of using Zulus. I found the ones I was looking for at Slash ‘n’ Sabre Thank you dadlamassu of Lead Adventurer Forum,for showing an interest, this post is for you. My idea is that these “half trolls” are as Tolkien described them “giant black men, like half trolls, with white eyes and red tongues”  Burt what if they don’t actually have white eyes and red tongues but rather war paint! 


 

Not lovely the figures, unmarried zulus from Slash and Sabre, 40 mm, the worst figures I have seen for a long time. They must have a high lead content because they are very easy to bend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

I am pleased with his hair, I wanted them to be "not zulu"

 

 


 

 

 


I needed a lot of Green Stuff to fill the gap between thorax and mid riff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

The figures are cast in two pieces and a seperate head. They had lots of excess flash and were badly scarred with cast lines so that I nearly despaired of using them at all. Fortunately, they are made of such a soft alloy that the carving and filing process was relatively easy. The two halves were a bad fit and the torso was tiny in comparison to the legs so that they appeared stunted when fitted together.I drilled each half and used brass rod as spine to give them the required height and then filled with green stuff. They are cheap though

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

White eyes and red mouths


 

As I was finishing these guys the back story began to grow in my mind. The shields have been made  from the hide of the Mumak and are painted with blood and clay. They are decorated with crude images of the Grakhuul, a gigantic vulture with green black plumage that feeds on the carcasses of dead mumakil.

 

 

 

 

 


They carry crudely forged spiked brass headed clubs in the image of the Grakhuul that they venerate. The clubs are often decorated with the neck feathers of this giant raptor, a prized possession

 

 

 

 













Help your Elf

 

 

 

 

 


 


 

 

 

 

 


 

They are poorly sculpted. The legs are like tubes with no muscle definition. Or knees!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 




















Skulls are worn as body art

7 comments:

  1. Great work Mike, I like your backstory too!.
    Regards,
    Paul.

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  2. Excellent inspiring work and thanks for posting. Your interpretation certainly fits in.
    Alan

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  3. Despite your misgivings (and with the help of your keen hobby skills), the sculpts/conversions turned out rather well and the paint jobs finished them nicely. A good back story always finishes things off nicely too. Fantastic work all round!

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  4. Tahnk you Ratana, I am glad you find my posts useful :)

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  5. Thansk mate! I appreciate your support :)

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