Monday, April 5, 2021

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die

The Nazgûl were ancient human kings bound to the Dark Lord Sauron through nine Rings of Power.

To normal eyes, they appeared as vaguely human figures cloaked in black robes and capes.


On the metaphysical plane, they appeared as ghostly warlords.


They were portrayed as fearsome and powerful entities in the books and movies, yet I always came away with the impression that they were rather ineffectual, despite their reputation.

I have two mounted Nazgûl from the old Heritage Servants of Sauron set (Lord of the Rings 1751). I think these are the two best poses from the set.


They are single piece castings, and represent the Nazgûl as cloaked figures, though the axe and scythe are a bit odd as weapon choices. They are true 25mm figures, and don't seem too out of place with 1/72 figures.

Another cloaked wraith is the Fiend Factory Wraith Rider on Undead Horse (Citadel FF3).


There are two versions of this miniature. A single piece casting, and a subsequent two piece casting (which is the one in the image). This figure is also true 25mm, and does not look bad with 1/72 figures either.

I particularly like this sculpt because it reminds me of Fraser's End of the Trail.

Panama–Pacific
International Exposition
1915

Last but not least, are the new Dark Alliance Black Riders mentioned in my previous post.

There are two poses on foot, one representing the Witch-king of Angmar, and the other poised to put an end to a poor defenseless bolster.


There are ten mounted poses. Nine in cloaks, and one in armor.



The horses are well sculpted, but seem to be a bit small for armored warhorses, and the riders don't fit particularly well.




There probably should have been at least one horse in a more static pose given the choice of sculpts for the riders, but all the horses are in motion with flowing tails.


Overall, the set is probably useful mainly for people who play games set in Middle Earth.


2 comments:

Sceavus said...

Well, I also got muy own Alliance green-nazgul set a few seconds ago!

I agree totally with your review

EY said...

Hola Sceavus,
The green plastic was surprising :)