Games Workshop's Hobbits (Lord of the Rings)

These are the hobbits from the LotR miniatures box set Attack At Weathertop by Games Workshop (you know, when Frodo gets stabbed, and Strider drives the ringwraiths away with fire). I think these are pretty reasonable likenesses of the actors potrayed in the film, especially given the difficulties portraying them well at such a small size (these are halfling minis, after all), and Pippin and Sam are especially good.

I'm actually not using these minis for D&D! My sister Keri has the LotR boardgame (the really difficult one, with the big Sauron-monolith that progresses across the top of the board while the players play the hobbits). Willow painted these up for Keri to match the colors of the plastic hobbits that come with the game -- Frodo is yellow, Merry is blue, Pippin is green, and Sam is red. I decorated the bases when she finished the paint job.The challenge was to pick a color scheme that let you show some variance in their clothing (so they weren't monochromatic) yet still be recognizeable as their root color at a glance. It helped that each hobbit is wearing a big cloak, and the cloak's color defines the mini's color for one entire side. What really impresses me is that she finished all four of these minis in one evening.

Frodo has a yellow cloak, tan coat, brown vest, and mustard-colored pants. Willow painted his hair a lighter brown just to make him stand out from the other three hobbits (he is the ringbearer, after all). His sword Sting has a grey metal hilt and a silver metal blade with elven writing in black (I did the lettering, trying to emulate the sweeping curve of the engraving shown on the movie's version of the blade). The base is flocked with brown flocking and given a light drybrush with yellow.

Merry's cloak is deep blue drybrushed with a medium blue, matching his vest (which has gold buttons). His coat is light blue on the outside, dark blue on the inside. His pants are brown. His sword has a gold hilt (matching the buttons) and a steel blade; I'm guessing she used the gold to offset it from the predominant blues. The base is half sand and half water (the water being several layers of white paint covered in blue-green ink and topped with a gloss varnish). Though Merry never ends up on a sandy beach in the books, I wanted to reinforce the blue colors and couldn't do that easily without going overboard trying to make blue flowers or something like that.

Pippin has a dark green cloak drybrushed with a leafy middle green, a color that is also used on the inside of the cloak. His coat is light green, with dark green lapels (presumably continuing onto the inside of the coat, if it could be seen). His scarf is a bright copper, which makes a nice contrast from all the green. Pants are brown, and the belt is tan. His swordhilt is copper, with a metallic green blade. The base is flocked with green flocking.

Sam's cloak is a deep maroon, trimmed with red at the base and along the edge of the hood (there's also a drybrush of a slightly lighter maroon to bring out the cloak's texture). Coat is bright red, shirt is a reddish-tan. Pants are a red-brown. His sword-hilt is a coppery red, and the blade is plain metal. The base is black gravel drybrushed with red.