Building
Building the company of Thorin Oakenshield was very easy to do as for the most part they came off the sprue already put together with only Thorin and Bilbo having options of how to construct them. Bilbo can either have his walking stick or have sting in his hand and Thorin can either wield a dwarven sword with his Oakenshield or be wielding orcrist. This makes it easier to get them off the sprue and onto the battlefield sooner than you would initially think and what makes them fun is that each is designed and presented in a unique way that makes them stand out.
Painting
Painting the company of Thorin Oakenshield can be very daunting initially as unlike most packs of the same amount of figures where their paint schemes are similar now each and every model is painted differently to the rest. The best approach is to work on one model at a time, know you might not be able to make them look exactly the same as the box, and have fun. For my models I used a variety of colours, mostly darker duller tones as this seemed to fit with the models, I won’t be able to cover them all but I will give you an idea of what I used and what for:
Macragge blue - any blue details
Mechanicus standard grey - any grey details
Mourfang brown - lighter brown areas
Catachan flesh - warm brown areas
Rhinox hide - dark brown areas
Leadbelcher - all metallic areas
Rakarth flesh - any light fur areas
Orruk flesh - light green areas
Death world green - darker green areas
XV-88 - for any sandy coloured areas
Abbadon black - any black areas on the models
Doombull brown - any dark ginger hair details
Corax white - skin and hair details
Steel legion drab - rims of the bases
Technical:
Astrogranite - for the bases
Shades:
Nuln oil - for browns, greys, green, ginger, sandy, metals and the base. Thinned down for the white areas that are not skin
Agrax earthshade - all rakarth flesh areas
Reikland fleshade - all skin areas
Playing
What is brilliant about this box is that each and every model is distinctly unique, each one brings their own skills and powers to the table ready to slay their opponents. As
each and every one of them is a hero and together they form an army with its own unique reward it can become very daunting to manage them within a game, but very fun to use them on the table. There is a great incentive to bring this entire box into battle to face off against your foes and to use them as your army for a battle with all they can bring into a battle.
Overall this box is the best cheap starter box for any play who loves the hobbit and Thorin’s company, it is a full army in one and each figure brings their own force into the battle to slay your opponents. Combine that with the fun of painting each with their own cool and unique play style then this is a box to get for any middle earth fan.