Well, it’s been a super long time since I made the original Balrog post, but there was more past that – I didn’t die in the Green Stuff phase. I actually finished this guy around the end of April 2020, so not long after that initial post.

The pictures I have aren’t great – they were taken while I was packing the apartment to move, so the background leaves something to be desired. Still, at least people have the ability to see it now instead of just staying in a case, right?

There he is – Durin’s Bane. Shadow and flame. The guy who tried to kill Gandalf, and kind of did, but then it gets weird and Gandalf gets a promotion.

Notes

This one was a lot of “just kind of wing it”. The model was large enough that I got to play with some different techniques I hadn’t before like wet blending (to make the whip ends seem like they were glowing), and I played with some of the Games Workshop layer system I hadn’t tried before. Vibrant, warm colors aren’t something I paint often, and they were surprisingly harder than I thought – typically I go for a bit more realism and wear.

I tried to magnetize the whip hand so I could swap out the sword he used – however, regardless of what I tried the whip was simply too heavy to be held on at such a narrow point. Deciding between the two I opted for the whip, even though the blade looks pretty sweet. My reasoning is:

1. That whip still looks pretty nasty.
2. The extra width it provides gives the Balrog a notable size difference compared to other miniatures on the table, which is what I was going for.
3. In play, the Balrog has both the sword and the whip at all times anyway.
4. I can see myself using the whip much more often. It’s a great thing to have the Balrog whip up to four enemies 8″ away, and whoever didn’t die gets yanked towards it to be killed next turn or maybe catch fire.

SO from both an aesthetic and gameplay point of view, the whip does its job.

Now I just need to paint the Moria goblins he commands.