If you haven't seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey movie yet then where have you been? Since it hit the cinema screens almost three weeks ago the White Dwarf inbox has been filled with emails from keen hobbyists who have been adding to their collection of miniatures for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game.

The characters of Thorin's Company that you can see above were sent in by Geoffrey Foloppe. The level of detail that he has achieved is exceptional - he's even gone so far as to paint in the patterns on the characters' clothing. Geoffrey also has a useful piece of advice when painting the Dwarves of Thorin's Company: use the 360º images on the website to see the backs of the models - it'll help you get the right colours in the right places.

Meanwhile, Ash Barker has set to work revamping his existing collection of Dwarves from The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Using the rules from The Free Peoples Sourcebook, Ash has organised his Dwarves into warbands, which include both the heavily armoured Khazâd Guard and the aggressive Iron Guard.

All of the models and heroes from The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game can make use of the new rules presented in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Rules Manual. Combined with the five Sourcebooks for the different factions of Middle-earth you have everything you need to make use of your existing armies alongside the new miniatures.

A known follower of the Dark Lord Sauron, Giuseppe Bitetto has opted not to paint any Dwarves yet in favour of working on his Mahûd warband. Giuseppe wanted to give his Warriors a dark, heavily tanned skin tone, which he achieved by applying several washes of Agrax Earthshade over a Skull White undercoat. He then used small amounts of Carroburg Crimson, Druchii Violet and Drakenhof Nightshade to shade them and create slightly different skin tones on each model.

The Mahûd King's armour was painted using a mix of Warboss Green and Auric Gold. Giuseppe then added in more Auric Gold to highlight it, working up to a final edge highlight of Runefang Steel. This gives the King's armour a tarnished appearance, but clearly makes it stand out from the wicker armour of his followers.

Some of you may well have seen the picture above of the Battle of the Last Alliance, which we featured on Facebook a little while ago. Martin Weber, the man behind this stunning diorama got in touch with us to tell us a little more about it and share a few pictures of his other dioramas based on scenes from The Lord of the Rings.

"Ever since I was a little boy I've loved creating battle scenes with toy soldiers," says Martin."After reading The Lord of the Rings I knew that I wanted to do the same thing with the battlefields of Middle-earth. This is the result of my work."

"The board for the Battle of the Last Alliance was constructed using styrofoam board with rocks made from tree bark. I then covered most of the ground in a heavy layer of glue and sand before spraying it with Chaos Black Undercoat. I then used pretty much every grey paint in my collection to give the blasted earth a varied, realistic appearance. I also used this diorama as an opportunity to experiment with the poses of models. Many of them have been repositioned at the shoulders and wrists to imply interaction with each other."

This diorama shows the Rohirrim ambushing the Uruk-hai near Fangorn Forest as they make their way back to Isengard with Merry and Pippin. Of particular note are the leaves on the trees, which are actual plants that have been dried out and painted with a Spray Gun. Similarly all the tree trunks are twigs taken from real trees.

In the gallery above you can see the charge of the Rohirrim lead by Éomer, while in the background Grishnakh pursues Merry and Pippin into the depths of Fangorn Forest.

"With regards to painting, I honestly can't remember what colours I used," comments Martin. "There are so many models on my dioramas that it's hard to keep track of them all. I do recall that I used a lot of drybrushing and Shades in order to get the dark, dingy tone of the Orcs right."

In Balin's Last Stand the backdrop of the board was again constructed from styrofoam, but this time combined with parts from The Lord of the Rings scenery set. Curiously the doors and the wooden chests are all made of cardboard, but with the wood grain scored into it.

Martin is now hard at work on his next two dioramas - the ambitious Helm's Deep and the ultra-ambitious Battle of the Pelennor Fields featuring the arrival of Aragorn and the Army of the Dead at the port of Harlond. We're certainly waiting with anticipation to see them.

And in other news:

In our number three slot is Gandalf the White, who has proven distinctly irritating throughout this campaign. Mark, our resident Gondorian, chose to have him ride Shadowfax into battle, giving him a potentially huge range for his spells (a 12 inch move plus a 12 inch range for casting spells leaves few places for our warriors to hide). He also carries the ring Narya into battle, allowing him to re-roll his Fate rolls, which has saved his bacon on more than one occasion.

Our cunning plan: Gandalf's strength lies in his spell casting. No more spells, no more White Wizard. A Ringwraith on a Fellbeast is an excellent antidote. It can use the spell Sap Will to ruin Gandalf's chances of casting spells and then charge into combat with him. We also thought that killing Shadowfax first would be a pretty good idea, that way Gandalf can't run away when the Fellbeast starts eating him. We're also considering the Witch King as a possible solution as he can also break Gandalf's staff.

Dain Ironfoot is our second arch-rival for one big reason: he's wears more Mithril armour than any other being in Middle-earth and he's as hard as the mountain he lives in. He can also dish out a fair amount of damage with Barazantathûl, his very large and very sharp axe.

Our cunning plan: Ed is using an army of Angmar, which includes two Barrow Wights. They are very good at taking down enemy heroes, especially with their Paralyse spell, which essentially leaves an enemy utterly immobile and unable to fight. This will be the perfect solution for Dain, as Ed's Hero, Buhrdur, can then get into combat and start tenderising the helpless Dwarf.

Boromir of the White Tower has been, and always will be, my ultimate nemesis. If you ever come up against Boromir from the Fellowship you should be fine; hit him with plenty of arrows and he'll go down like a sack of spuds. However, if it's Boromir of the White Tower (who you will recognise by the huge flag he carries into battle), then you're in for some serious trouble. With more Might points at his disposal than any other Hero, the horn of Gondor and the Banner of Minas Tirith, he is virtually unstoppable...

...but I have a cunning plan: Firstly, I plan to use Sap Will from my Ringwraith and reduce him to a mewling wreck. Once he's at my mercy, all I have to do is Immobilise him and keep him away from the action. Killing him will always be tricky - he just has so many Might points to fight against. A Troll Chieftain would be a great solution, as not only will it have a higher Fight Value than Boromir, but it will also have Might points to spare if I roll badly in combat. Looks like I'll be adding some allies to my Haradrim army next week.