WW100 - Great War Exhibition Miniatures

I finished my last 33 Turk and Fernleaf soldiers this evening, just before the deadline. It was a huge privilege to be involved in the project.

If you need catching up on what all this is about, Sir Peter Jackson has commissioned a diorama to be constructed as part of the WW100 programme which will appear in the old Dominion Museum and National War Memorial in Wellington. The exhibition will open a week before ANZAC Day and run through until November 2018.

The diorama will feature some 4,000 soldiers, depicting the battle for Chunuk Bair. This is a special interest area for me, having studied this part of the campaign when I was a student, and attempting my own diorama at the time (though I did not have the appropriate era soldiers, much to my teacher's disappointment!). Hopefully I have atoned for that sin.

Former GW sculptors Michael and Alan Perry have provided the 54 mm troops. You can see New Zealand's other miniature painters and their efforts on the official blog Mustering the Troops. I simply cannot wait to see all these miniatures in place on the diorama, which is supposedly contour-accurate, based on digital scanning of the landscape care of Weta Workshop.

Looking forward to getting these guys sent away for their final placement on the diorama. I plan on heading down to see it when it opens, and help celebrate and remember this important moment in New Zealand's history.

The Turks Advance

My three ANZAC Troops

A small piece of the final diorama

End Times: Painting Competition

Whether you love or hate the new rules and back story, the End Times are exciting times. Speaking personally, the return to the very stories, events and personalities that originally got me into the hobby over 20 years ago has got me in a buzz. Special Characters were what our hobby was back then.

It was while we were around at Dan's place a few months back that we started hassling him about his unpainted Archaon. The End Times need a Lord, after all. Peer pressure may-or-may-not have occurred, so to be fair, Brian and I also pledged to paint an End Times special character. From there we opened it up to other friends and family, and so, at the beginning of October, our Tronhammer Special Character Painting Competition began.

We upped-the-ante shortly after starting; why not test the mettle of our newly painted heroes/villains? Thus, we organised an Arena of Death to follow the painting competition (which I will cover in a separate post). You can view our guidelines here:

Painting Competition Rules
Arena of Death Rules

We were extremely fortunate to have Mel along to take some fantastic shots of our toys. Below are some select photos (click to enlarge). You can view the full album here.

Nagash - Supreme Lord of the Undead

Archaon the Everchosen - Lord of the End Times

Gorbad Ironclaw