80's Citadel LoTR / D&D Diorama

Throne by Stuart Parkinson

From White Dwarf 69.... isn't it amazing? It's the Cleric from the BDD1 D&D Adventurers Starter Pack  (the version with the Crucifix, not the Ankh) turning a skeleton and an I dunno what - (possibly an Aly Morrisson Hobgoblin?) in front of the insane edifice of gibbering eyeball topped weirdness that is the mighty ME61 Sauron - The Dark Lord. Behold the baleful eye watches! Such stuff dreams and pulp fantasy covers are made of...

 Who wouldn't want to play a D&D Module with that cover?
Jack Gaughan (1965) | via

...specifically this one!

OK I'm stretching the link a bit, the lighting effects aren't quite so dramatic, but come on, there are some minor colour and composition coincidences aren't there? No. Just me then.  Jack Gaughan's work on the copyright infringing first US editions of LoTR for Ace Books make me wish that Hanna-Barbera had made a cartoon of Lord of the Rings around 1966, a la Herculoids or Mightor.  Hmm.. S03 E08: The Giant Cyclops Ghost of Mordor. S03 E12: Beyond the Cyclops Throne.