Galadhrim into Mirkwood Elves?!

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:38 pm

Hey guys, I'd really like to make a Mirkwood force ala Battle of Five Armies, but I'd love to do it for less than five hundred bucks. So, without having ever seen either mini "in the flesh" so to speak, I ordered a box of Galadhrim to try and convert. Any insight or tips on the process I could use? I was in a bit of a buying frenzy today, and these got lumped into my purchase without thinking it through fully.

jdizzy001 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 10:55 pm

Look at some images of the mirkwood elves and match color scheme

LordoftheBrownRing · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:02 pm

Id say just match the colors. Otherwise, with mine.....Im not going to convert much of anything

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

I'll likely be doing the same. As others have said, matching the colours would be the main thing. Another thing I may well do is snip the front-facing crest on the helms and replacing it with a sideways one, parallel to the helmet. This will probably be press-moulded; I'll sculpt one on a single Elf, create a press mould, and then the rest will just have a blob of GS attached to the head and pressed in to the mould.

orc-archer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 17, 2015 6:27 am

They have the same equiment except the glaives, it should be fine to proxy them without any conversion and just with a new paintjob.

Hirumith, the Grey Knight · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2015 7:05 pm

The helmets and shields are the single most apparent identifier, so I would start there. Either sculpt one and press-mold them, as Paradigm suggests, or (if you're consistent enough) just sculpt a new crest onto all of them, or cut crests from plasticard and attach them with greenstuff.

Since the box gives you 4x of spear/shield, 2-handed sword, and bow, I would:

-Use the bows as-is
-Use the 2-handed swords for glaives (I think this will be easier than converting the spears into glaives, because the pose is better and all you need to do is add a blade to the bottom end)
-Use the spear/shields as swordsmen (replacing the spear with a sword)

That will require some extra blades for the conversions, but I think it's the best way to get the most natural poses out of the set (assuming you want to use them as Mirkwood elves).

If you really want to be meticulous in your conversions, and if you're good with greenstuff, then extending the Galadhrim's helmets to enclose more of their heads, and sculpting a surcoat over most of the Mail on their legs, will also make them look more like the official Mirkwood elves.

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

Another thought might be to create some press-moulds of the Shields if you want to add some to the swordsmen; that would give you 4 spears and 4 swords per box, all with shields, which may well be more useful (I for one would certainly want shields on my front rank of Swordsmen).

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:31 pm

Yeah, I think I may get a blister of swordsmen and do some molds. Head swaps and new shields for all!

As an aside, would I necessarily need the Elven blades? I think that with a shield their included hand weapon would be both better and less points-intensive. If I'm converting the spearmen into swordsmen then I can find a suitable blade.

warrior of the north · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2015 9:35 pm

I also think you need to sculpt some robes on the armor platea to make it truly look like a mirkwood elf, with the shields and helmets pressmoulded you would be fine indeed. Also movie wise you would be better of to give them the galadhrim spears than the glaives.

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2015 10:35 pm

Yeah, looking at them I may shave down the plates on the thighs and try to re-sculpt all that as robes. Ugh, it'll be a tough job since I'm not great with the putty but it'll be a hell of a lot cheaper than using even the Palace Guard...

Paradigm · **Joined:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:56 am **Posts:** 264

Lord Hurin wrote:

As an aside, would I necessarily need the Elven blades? I think that with a shield their included hand weapon would be both better and less points-intensive. If I'm converting the spearmen into swordsmen then I can find a suitable blade.

Yeah, don't take EBs with Shields, just the basic Hand Weapon. High F means you win most ties anyway, so the other advantage of the EB is wasted as well. I think I'd typically only use the following combos:
Hand Weapon and Shield
Spear and Shield
Elf Bow

Kees it simple, keeps it cheap, does what it has to.

haradrim · **Posted:** Sun Feb 01, 2015 6:45 pm

when i saw the price for only 3 elf warriors i decided to create my self with green stuff ! it is the first time that i do a work like this and i'm very satisfied !

soon the other elf converted and painted !

orc-archer · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:14 am

Looks brilliant!

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:32 am

That's excellent! It really gives me hope that I'll be able to do something with mine! If I can make them half as good as yours, I'll be well content.

haradrim · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:01 am

thanks !
don't worry hurin , you will be able!! as i said before , it is first time to me , it isn't impossible , it require patience and some creativity !

i have done other 4 elfs , and are painted , but first i must finish some details and the bases ! i hope to show you within the weekend!

SilentWitness · **Posted:** Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:21 am

That looks really good. I might have to try that for myself. I am now wondering at the possibility of sculpting a few of the poses and then making a mold for them as I would probably want a substantial amount for War of th e Ring.

Galadhrim into Mirkwood Elves?!

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