Winter in Middle-earth

We haven't had much snow in the UK yet, but apparently it's been falling heavily in Middle-earth. Jason Fairclough, the Manager of Games Workshop St Albans, sent us pictures of The Trolls - his latest painting project for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game. Jason has a very wintery theme for his board and everything is covered in a thick layer of Modelling Snow, including the buildings, trees, walkways and the bases of The Trolls. He's even used some of the icicles from the Northern Wastes basing kit to give them an even more icy feel. Jason has also made extensive use of the Goblin Town scenery boxed set, having built raised walkways and wooden rafts to sit some of his houses on. Like the rest of the board they are also covered in a thick layer of snow.

Jason has given William the Troll and Tom the Troll a ruddy skin tone - a very realistic touch seeing as they're both out in the cold wearing nothing but scraps of cloth. He also added a hint of stubble around their jawlines and on the top of their heads, which is easily achieved by mixing in a tiny dab of grey paint to the skin tone and then carefully stippling it on where the stubble would most likely occur. The finishing touch to each Troll was the addition of a couple of tufts of Burnt Grass. No, not on the bases where you'd expect to find it, but in their armpits. Apparently Trolls are pretty hairy in the under-arm area.

While it may be snowing above ground where The Trolls live, Goblin Town is a snow-free zone as Alexander Glöckner has ably shown with this incredible scenery display. The Goblin King's throne rests at the bottom of rickety walkways surrounded by discarded weapons and the bones of unlucky foes. It's an exceptional board complete with narrow gangways, rickety bridges, a water wheel that powers a rudimentary mill and burning braziers that give off a sickly orange glow. Now all Alex needs to do is get all the characters from Escape from Goblin Town painted and he'll be ready for some epic battles in the depths of the Misty Mountains.