MESBG - Riders of Rohan

The Good side of the Pelennor Fields box is almost finished!

This project has been sitting half-finished on my painting desk for more than a year. I've always had a mental blockade when it comes to painting cavalry - specifically the horses. I never liked the clean official Games Workshop paint jobs with sharp highlights and clearly defined muscles. Even when done to perfection, they never looked quite right to me.

I wanted to try something different, so I watched a few videos about painting horses and ultimately settled on this tutorial (a great channel for MESBG). It looked easy enough to replicate and like a nice stepping stone to more advanced techniques later down the line.

I batch painted all 12 at the same time. No speed painting methods or fancy tricks. I specifically wanted to try the new horse painting techniques and didn't care about time. The goal was a decent tabletop finish.

The Horses
There are only two different sculpts, so I wanted to introduce more variety by painting different hair patterns. I used three primers (black, light brown, white) and went in without too much planning. Following the above tutorial, I played around with a few colors and methods. Not everything worked, but I'm happy with the overall end result.

The Riders
Nothing special here. I matched my other Rohan forces by using mostly brown tones. The green cloak, silver metals, and golden accents are enough to break up the monotony. A single round of rough highlights finished them up and made them ready for the table.

The Bases
Vallejo Earth Texture - dry brushed with GW Tyrant Skull.
Patches of static grass and tufts/flowers on top.

My slowly growing Rohan force