The Water Lurker

In the Lord of the Rings there is a scene where the Fellowship have come to the west gate of Moria. Close by there is a stagnant lake within which lurks the hideous, bloated, many-tentacled beast who is known as the Watcher in the Water. I've always thought that was a cool creature and wanted to use it as a Lurker element for my future Lord of the Rings HOTT armies.

And so, one Sunday morning a couple of years ago, as I was leaving the local fleamarket, I noticed something lying on the ground. It was a tiny plastic toy squid. I saw the tentacles and a light bulb went off in my brain. Here was my water Lurker!

I took it home, cut the head and tentacles from the body and glued it to a 40mm x 30mm cardboard base. I painted it with acrylic paints and gave it several coats of spray gloss varnish. As you can see, it turned out pretty good. Not bad for a cheap toy I found on the ground. You can click on the images for a closer look.