Introduction

You all know me and my passion for the "little ones" as Boromir called them, so I decided to correct and create a few hobbits for my own personal collection. As I do not get the chance to play any games with my minis they are more for show, but I have created rules for one of my hobbits that isn't found in any of the rule books.

Here in this article you will see my conversion of Bilbo Baggins, Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee and my "correction" of the Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger miniature.

Bilbo Baggins

This conversion is a pretty straight forward head swap. Carefully saw the head off the Bilbo Baggins and Paladin Took models with the jeweler's saw. Work slowly and take long slow strokes with the saw and do not push the saw blade through the model as you will dull the blade and may also cause the saw blade to snap. Wear safety glasses when working with these saws as it doesn't take much to break a blade and a lot of the time when they do break they do not break in just two pieces. Once the heads are removed file down any rough edges and be careful not to damage any detail on the faces.

Your Bilbo will have no neck if you just place his head atop of his new body so you'll need to create one for him. Mix up a small amount of green stuff epoxy and then place a small "dot" of model glue on the bottom of the head and then attach the green stuff to the underside of the head and place another small drop of glue on the headless Paladin Took body. Use your sculpting tools and your razor knife to create his shirt color and ascot. Allow your model to dry overnight and paint it to your liking.

This model was painted with the following Games Workshop Citadel Paints:
Bestial Brown
Chaos Black
Codex Grey
Dark Angels Green
Skull White
Kommando Khaki
Red Gore
Shining Gold
Dwarf Flesh
Elf Flesh
Regal Blue

Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger

Because Games Workshop did such a fantastic job on their model of "Fatty" Bolger I decided to improve upon him. This isn't a very difficult conversion, if you can call it that, I consider it more of a correction.

First was to find a photo of "Fatty" Bolger online to work from…this was the best one I came up with after doing a Google.com image search.

Next was to try and figure out how to salvage the Bolger mini and create one that looked similar to the photo above

In the picture above you can see the red lines that cut across the flaps of the coat and across the top of the head. Take your clippers and remove these parts of the model and then take your hobby knife and files to remove any extra bits that remain.

Mix up some of your green stuff and create a vest and some hair. That is basically all there is to do to salvage this miniature.

This model was painted with the following Games Workshop Citadel Paints:
Bestial Brown
Chaos Black
Codex Grey
Dark Angels Green
Skull White
Catachan Green
Dwarf Flesh
Elf Flesh
Dark Flesh

Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee

One hobbit character I couldn't do without was the "Gaffer". Now seeing as I had an extra head laying around from the Bilbo/Paladin Took conversion I decided to pick up another Farmer Maggot and do a head swap to make use of the Paladin Took head and create my "Gaffer".

Finding a good picture online of "Gaffer" wasn't too difficult then I had to decide what I wanted him to look like, that was when I thought that a head swap with Farmer Maggot would work best.

First take your jeweler's saw and remove Farmer Maggot's head. As was stated before take your time, and also save the head, you'll never know when it will come in handy for another conversion.

Because the model is raising his arm it will give the impression that he doesn't have a neck. To get an accurate feel for how his neck should look, raise your arm and look into the mirror, unless you have a giraffe neck you will see that it gets a little bit lost in your shirt. To attach his head drill holes in the bottom of the head and in the neck area on the body and use a small piece of brass rod to hold them in place. Fill in the gaps with green stuff.

I thought long and hard on what I wanted him to have as a weapon, and went back and forth on whether or not I should remove the scythe. Finally I came to a decision on him wielding a hoe which required some minor modifications. Remove the two handles from the shaft and then take the entire blade off leaving nothing more than a stick in his hand and use your green stuff to make the blade of the hoe.

Because the Paladin Took model is bald you will need to place hair on the head in order to make it look like his movie counterpart. Not much really to say here, just sculpt some long hair around the model's head.

This model was painted with the following Games Workshop Citadel Paints:
Bestial Brown
Chaos Black
Codex Grey
Kommando Khaki
Skull White
Snakebite Leather
Dwarf Flesh
Elf Flesh
Chainmail
Sunburst Yellow
Regal Blue

House Rules for Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee

Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee was born in TA 2926 and lived to be 102 years of age. He was married to Bell Goodchild and they had six children, the youngest being Samwise Gamgee; his other children being Hamson, Halfred, Daisy, May and Marigold where they lived unassuming lives at number 3 Bagshot Row.

Originally, he was an apprentice to Holman Greenhand, a noted gardener who lived near the Pool of Bywater. Eventually, he succeeded Holman as the area's main gardener, being employed mainly in the extensive gardens of Bag End.

When Frodo, Samwise, Merry and Pippin returned to the Shire to find that Saruman had taken over "Gaffer" was 93 years of age.

Wargear
"Gaffer" carries a hoe which counts as a two-handed weapon.

Special Rules
Old. See page 120 of the RotK rulebook for details.

Resistant to Magic. See page 47 of the RotK rulebook for details.

Throw Stones. See page 60 of the RotK rulebook for details.

Conclusion

Thanks for taking the time to check out my article on how to make a few simple conversions and additions for your hobbit armies, I hope you enjoyed it.