AMotW: ¡Romped el Dique, Liberad al Río! By paloji

One of the best treats for browsing through the CMoN gallery is to come across well-composed dioramas. Not to say single miniatures and squads are dull, but it always a pleasant surprise to see the occasional battlescene or duel, which brought me to feature this weeks showcase as created and painted by paloji.

This particuliar piece depicts a scene in the 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' where an army of Ents (essentially tree people) tear down a dam that orcs created on order of the traitorous wizard Saruman. Though this interpetation can't show everything from the wizards tower to the underground foundries that give The Two Towers such epic beauty, a certain majesty is strongly potrayed as the final step towards victory is taken.

For one, there is the use of NMM throughout the entire diorama, which is a daring feat with such large models. In my honest opinion, the orc armour is too reflective, lending the usually grimy warriors a polished look that could be toned down with browns and oranges for rust, and possibly greens for oxidaytion. I can see use of these colours in certain areas, although it seems they are complementing the greys and whites and not breaking up the armour's brightness and clarity.

The diorama base is at least as interesting and true to the film as the Ents are, with the appearance of a dried-up riverbed and a hard stone dam erected to keep the river from flowing once more. The actual colours used on the base befit the above description perfectly, especially the ground, although the dam is a different story.

From the close-up shots, the stone wall is visibly flat, without any distinguishable colour variation from dark brown to grey. Luckily this is overshadowed by water effects that are surely second to none, after all, it's not every day on CMoN you see an authentic stream of water blast straight into an orc!

Lastly, I have to acknowledge the lovely work on the treemen, conversion-wise, and the painting. I have no doubt that paloji can bring any model tree to life.

AMotW: ¡Romped el Dique, Liberad al Río! By paloji receives 8.5/10.

Ainu


http://www.coolminiornot.com/148446