Sunday, March 6, 2011

The first five balrogs through the door...


The Balrog is another Tolkien creation that has become part and parcel of FRPGs. The Balrog appeared in D&D as the thinly disguised Type VI Demon (Balor), but everyone knew what it really was. I'm not sure how I personally came to that conclusion, since the Balrog from the 1978 Ralph Bakshi version of The Lord Of The Rings (love it or hate it) influenced how I thought a Balrog should look. For miniatures however, my top picks are the late version Ral Partha Balrogs.

This first image is of the most commonly encountered Ral Partha Balrog (01-003) it is classified as the 4th version in the Lost Minis Wiki.


The two earlier versions of this Balrog appear au naturale in the next image. The Balrog on the left is the the third version of the miniature, while the one on the right is a variant which I have not encountered too often. Somehow I get the impression that it is a Ral Partha Imports version, but I'm just guessing since it seems to be from sources in the U.K. that I see this particular type. It has a more bat-like face than the other two versions of this Balrog, the whip is different, and the sword is positioned differently.


The next image contains two Armored Balrogs (01-081). I'm not sure which version is earlier, but the one on the left is the one that appears in the Ral Partha catalog image. I think it is the less common of the two variants as well.


More information on Balrogs of Middle Earth can be found at The Truth About Balrogs

As a side note, anyone ever see this happen to a blister? The foam inside is completely disintigrated.




1 comment:

klmklm27 said...

Hello there
Tom meier "parts" in sculpting
nowaday it couldn't be released...
concerning foam in blister: yes it happens sometimes as I had a few like this. Somehow the foam becomes "friable" and didn't survived the trip from USA to Europe. Problem is it is also very sticky to the mini and very hard to remove!