AHPC X finishes with a splash

The splash of falling shot that is!  I managed to get a last salvo of an entry before the deadline ticked over - something a bit different this time.

At the start of the challenge, Miles (Lair of the Uber Geek) suggested a collaborating for a combination entry with fellow challenger Peter D (The Single Handed Admiral).   Aligned to his penchant for naval themes, we went with the legendary 1905 battle of Tsushima Strait
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tsushima

Gorgeous little ships- spectacular detail in resin

The plan was for us to part of a part each in our US, UK and Australians lairs, and then send them to the Snowlord in Canada to celebrate the completion of his 10th year of the AHPC. Peter took the Japanese Fleet while Miles and I spilt the naval force of the Tsar (sometimes known as "The Fleet that had to Die"...).  Naturally, after 3 months of planning it came down to the wire due to real life - but importantly it got done!

We went with the War Times Journal range in 1/1800 scale - they are resin prints and wow the detail is incredible! Probably the best detail on any naval ship I have seen, even with all the funk pre-dreadnought deigns and overhangs.

p

You can see the other half of the Russian Fleet and the Imperial Japanese Fleet at the AHPC entry here:
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-paulo-peterd-and-milesr-battle-of.html

A really fun project that I enjoyed being a part of, and that I know Curt greatly appreciates. Thanks to Miles for putting it all together and doing the heavy lifting!

Next up: AHPC Round up and stats

AHPC X: Ascending the Snowlord's Peak

Followed by his goatlike sherpas, a sweating Paul reaches the plateau and calls out in a loud and mildly intoxicated voice:
"OI! Hear me oh Mighty Snowlord! I approach your mighty kingdom bearing gifts to honour your Majesty"

A mighty voice bellows back from the distance
"Oh Yeah? Go on..."

Paul empties the last dregs from his ale horn before continuing:
"Yes oh Mighty One, thrice you challenged me and thrice I answer the call!

First - your challenge to build a unit for my Mortal Gods collection. May I present a Musician with taste far gentler than my own - with his double barrelled Aulos he can inspire those who fight in your name!

Presenting a Musician who as a seperate unit in Mortal Gods provides buffing bonuses to Phalanx and Light troops alike. More importantly, last year Reilly and I had an amazing tour of ancient Greece together - we had daily competitions to be the first one to find an "Aulos dude" amongst the various friezes and artwork. So this guy is fun for me because of those memories.

-------
A voice from atop the mountain yells down:
"Well thats OK I guess, but not very inspiring and not a skull to be seen - what else have you got?"

Paul opens the next bag:
"Next I bring as thee Commanded - heavily armed beastmen - they do smell a bit gamey mind, but they will fight fiercely for you my Lord!"

Presenting an elite unit of Bestigors - heavily armoured and wielding powerful double-handed weapons.  They promise to chop their opponents to bits before lashing the bloody remnants to the herdstone.  10 Warriors and a Champion to lead them.

The Snowlord declares: "Thats more like it! And a few skulls too I see - how many?"

Paul: "A mere 20 my Lord, but there is more"

Snowlord: "More? This is indeed a bountiful offering - bring forward the last"

Paul: "I have saved the best til last your magnificence. I have slaved hard at the painting bench with these, crafting them to the best of my ability. May I present:

Kharn and the Kharnivores!

This is my new World Eaters Kill Team - long range firepower is not their speciality!

I did a lot of conversions on these boys, to give me all sorts of weapon options - from double chainswords, double chain axes, combos of both and lighting claws

And to lead them an anti-hero: infamous Kharn the Betrayer!

Snowlord: Very nice - and 64 skulls between them too! Whats that they are standing on?

Paul: That is part of my offering of Lord, the Throne of Skulls!

It boasts an impressive 226 skulls. (amusingly, I had just bought this when I ran into Barks at CanCon - it was hard to keep the inner smile from my face knowing I had this secret weapon for our side duel)

To summarise my offerings: 23 x 28mm infantry models, one standard terrain cube, points for the map location and I do believe, My Lord, you said something about a skull bonus?

Skull-o-meter Overload: 310 Skulls!!!
(This brings my total skull count to 543 metric noggins!)

This bountiful offering was duly rewarded, taking me over the 1k point mark for AHPC 10
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/03/paul-og-ascends-snowlords-peak-475.html

AHPC X: Wall of Martyrs

Finally got some paint onto a long neglected bit of terrain this weekend: the Wall of Martyrs. I recently picked up an Imperial fortress looking thing second hand at CanCon, so that gave me the impetus to get it done - great battlefield options for playing Kill Team.

 Here is the Wall of Matyrs - a defensive fortification in inimitable GW style.  It comprises 2 long trenches, 3 intersections and 6 end pieces to make a flexible system.

New terrain deserves some new defenders!

I also did 2 tester figs for my new Kill Team faction - the Black Templars.  Yes I am a sucker for a new army, but at least in Kill Team its only a modest investment (or so I tell myself)

In action this morning - defended by Chaos Marines!

Painting Notes:
Black Undercoat
Walls (inside and out) - heavy Skavenblight Dinge drybrush, Dawnstone light drybrush - Agrax earthshade wash
Floors - Tin Bitz and Leadbelcher drybrush - no wash
Martyrs - Vallejo Highlight Arifkakps drubrush, Agrax earthshade wash, highlight again with basecoat
Imperial Equipment - basecoat Mr Hobby Green (FS34102), highlight post wash with Vallejo Olive

This entry makes the Skull-o-meter very happy: The templar figures have 4 skulls between them, and the myriad corpses of dead imperial guardsmen stacked against the wall of martyrs add another (48+28+17+26+26) = 145: a small skull bomb!

Added to my previous work, that brings my current tally to 233 noggins.  Thats a lot of grim dark!

Points wise the trenches all add up to 6 lengths of 6 inch x 4 inch wide terrain.  Thats the equivalent of 4 terrain blobs for 80 points. The two 28mm figs add another 10 for a total of 90. Thats should break my target 500 points target - onto Snowlord's Peak!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/03/paulog-wall-of-matrys-90-points.html

AHPC X: AdMech Ryza terrain

Having foolishly accepted all three challenges for the Snowlord's Mountain, that is taking up most of my hobby attention.  That said, it would be churlish not to take a short detour to the Gulch named after me - I felt a morally obligated to go! So I'll take the track from Hawkin's Hill to O'Grady's Gulch this week.

The requirement of this map location is to paint something for somebody else.  Well, Reilly has had a bunch of Kill Team Ad Mech Ryza terrain sitting unloved while he focused on his current army, so I thought I would complete it up for him and complete his table setup.

The terrain came with the AdMech boxed set so I have done it up in colourful Mars style colours over a black basecoat. After all, SciFi gaming is all about enjoying some lurid colours on the table right? You betcha!

The collection has some nice line of sight blocking bits, as well as some cover and scatter terrain to provide cover.

And less that 24 hrs later it was pressed into action in its first tabletop battle!

Skull-o-meter: flatlined with no new noggins for this entry, sadly.

Points wise this is 1.5 terrain cubes for 30 points, plus 30 points for O'Grady's Gulch map location.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/02/from-paulog-kill-team-terrain-60-points.html

AHPC X - Warped Wiggles

Anyone who has parented in the last 20-30 years is probably aware of the Wiggles. Starting life as a conventional band called The Cockroaches, they converted to children's entertainment with an early learning theme and reinforced by a bunch of loveable characters including Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog and my favourite, Captain Feathersword.

Anyway, I was painting some 40k Possessed Chaos Space Maries when an evil idea took root, and thus this:

became this:

The Wiggles were touring Cadia when the 13th Black Crusade was launched. Captured by a fascinated squad of Slaaneshi Noise Marines, they were taken captive and sent to the Eye of Terror (which has had some impact upon them - and they now try to consume the youthful audiences).

And here the gang is joined by the Possessed Dorothy the Dinosaur:

I'm sure I just triggered a bunch of you with long forgotten songs that will now float around your head all day - you're welcome!

Skull-o-meter: a paltry 3 noggins to the pile, now sitting at 87.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/02/from-paul-og-wiggles-tour-eye-of-terror.html

And now onwards to the Snowlord's peak!

AHPC X: More Beastie Boys

This week sees me complete...you guessed it, some more Beastmen!

12 more delightful chaps who wander the Old World's Drakwald forest looking for wandering tourists to eat help.

Painting note: I was going for a black fur look this time - I used GW Space Wolf Grey contrast paint. It was a bit too thin/light for me so I did a second coat mixed with black ink

Pleasingly, these lads complete my first Beastman Regiment of 46 figs - all of which have been painted under various AHPC seasons.

Only another hundred or so to go.  I need to learn to paint at an army standard vice painting all the detail in sight. Very satisfying to see them all en mass though!

Skull-o-meter update: 17 seperate skull trophies adorn the fellows of this new contingent, taking my AHPC 10 skull tally up to 84.

Thats 12 x 28mm figs for 60 points plus I was awarded 2 bonus point for the hand painted banner
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/02/from-paul-og-more-beastie-boys-62-points.html

And now I am preparing to ascend the Snow Lord's peak:
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/02/paul-ascends-snow-lords-peak.html

AHPC X: Ramshackle Barn

Some years ago I was doing a bunch of pulp gaming with some mates- lots of fun! So when Renedra released their plastic Ramshackle Barn kit in 2013 I jumped on board for a "Dunwhich Horror" style game.  I built it and undercoated but never got to doing it during AHPC IV that year, after which it languished forgotten during an overseas posting.  In the darkness of a packing box, it bided its time...

I discovered said artefact when moving house recently and decided it needed some love, so here it is: a barn useable for almost any period but especially good for WW2 Northern Europe.  Great to get it done after years of languishing!

This submission is for the Hawkins Hill map location, which requires "Submit something you prepared for Challenge 7 or earlier " - done!

That is a single terrain cube for 20 points plus 30 points for the map location for a total of 50 points.
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/01/from-paul-og-ramshackle-barn-at-hawkins.html

EDIT: Note to Self: Make a seperate thatched roof for this building for earlier periods, like this great one here: https://codstickershistoricals.blogspot.com/2020/05/ramshackle-barn-with-thatch-roof.html

AHPC X: Beasts of Chaos (120 points)

Recently I've been beavering away (a relative term, while moving house interstate) on a Beast of Chaos/Beastman force.  A few years ago I did a unit of Beastmen as allies for my Chaos Raider army but have now been goaded (no names...Gav) into expanding to a full force.

I have gone with 12 figure units for use with Dragon Rampant, but as I find figures will add to them for Oathmark and maybe even a spot of OldHammer (shhh...)  Here are the first two unit: 1 each of Gors and the smaller Ungors plus a Gor Commander (all GW models)

It was good to experiment with GW contrast paints, of which much has been commented.  In the right context they worked nicely: specifically the fur, shields and other high detail areas came out well indeed. However, for larger or smooth surfaces I went back to traditional techniques which delivered the look I much prefer.  I've also been playing with some different inks to give the flesh on different units a different look - representing different tribes coming together to make the Warband.  Some work better than others - the Ungors look a little like baby Hellboy :-)

Painting notes

UnGor Unit - undercoated in AP Barbarian Flesh, fur in GW Gore-Grunta Contrast Paint, AP Red ink over the flesh, Shields in GW Wychwood Contrast Paint

Gor unit 1 - undercoated in AP Barbarian Flesh, fur in GW Gore-Grunta Contrast Paint, AP Strong tone wash over flesh, Shields in GW Wychwood Contrast Paint

Overall thats two 12 figure units and a Commander: 25 figs for a total of 125 points
The AHPC entry post is here: https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/01/from-paul-og-beastmen-cometh-125-points.html

Skull-o-meter update: these 25 figs and their two hand painted banners are adorned with a total of 23 skulls (plus a few fleshy and seemingly recently severed heads that clearly aren't classical 'skulls' so weren't counted). Coupled with the 44 previously recorded skulls from the Herdstone model, this takes me to 67 noggins in the renowned "Skully McSkullface" side challenge. Not the same high skull to figure ration as say a 40k Chaos army, it seems nonetheless quite reasonable.

So that gets me back on track after a bit of a hiatus during the disruption of the move

AHPC X - Monolith / Herdstone

Deep in the forbidden forrest, shadowed figures dance and writhe, chant and drum. 

Shadows flicker over an edifice of horror erected to Dark Gods...

The monolith by candlelight!

To close out 2019 and transition the hobby year, my next stop on the AHPC X Challenge Island is Cook's Crevase where "Entries must have a Geology Theme".  And what says Geology more than a giant, creepy stone Monolith!

Side view

This adds to my growing Fantasy terrain collection - the model is the current GW Herdstone model, useful for any large blasphemy or even Pulp era Cthulhu cultists (and its been way too long since I painted anything for that genre).  A relatively expensive plastic kit, it was a real delight to paint and had a myriad of details that I spent waaaay too long on for a Painting Challenge - I'm just not a speed painter at heart, and if detail is there then it needs to be painted!

Rear view - with more skulls and grisly trophies!

I went with a dark granite colour rather than a more typical grey rock appearance, to give it a more sinister appearance.  I also tried some OSL effects from the fire, keeping the bottom half of the monolith a bit darker to make that more effective and also help the lower runestones show up better.  So while the colours looks straight forward, I thought about them in far more detail than I usually would bother!

Details of the fire OSL - fun, but time consuming!

This entry is also my opening salvo for the "Skully McSkullface" side challenge which Barks initiated, and its a skull laden good 'un too:

Fireplace: 11 - yes, I even painted the ones facing the inside
Herdstone: 24, I lost one along the way :-(
Model Base: 9
Total SkullCount: 44!

Points wise this gives me a 55 point boost and completes my second stop on Challenge Island!
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/12/from-paul-og-monolith-at-cooks-crevase.html

Painting notes:
Black Spray Undercoat
Heavy Drybrush - GW Charadon Granite
Medium Drybrush - 50/50 GW Charadon Granite & AP Uniform Grey
Light Drybrush (top only)- GW Dawnstone
Bones/Skulls/Skeletons - AP Skeleton Bone, AP Dark Wash, Val Bone White highlight
Ropes - AP Leather
Runestones - GW Mephiston Red
Flame and Glow effects- Drybrush GW Mephiston Red (medium), Troll Slater Orange (light), GW Averland Sunset (very light), GW Bad Moon Yellow highlights

AHPC X - Camel Caravan

One week into the challenge! My first entry for this year comprises my first ever Ships of the Desert! I've painted them up to be a scenario objective or baggage elements for Crusades era gaming, though they would also work with some Beau Geste type French Foreign Legion

Abdulla musters his Caravan and prepares to leave home (Terrain from my Outremer collection and not in this submission)

These doughty chaps are also my first step onto Challenge Island: I hope the harbour master is content with them!

The lovely Camel Caravan are from Castaway Arts in Northern Queensland - this makes them Australian Camels!  Did you know that Australia has approximately half a million feral camels?  Introduced in the 19th Century to support exploratory expeditions, species of Bactrian Camels and Dromedaries now roam the Outback. Indeed, Australia now (ironically) has a thriving live export business selling stock back to the Middle East.

Anyway, you can find Castaway here, and Gerry is a thoroughly nice chap who offers great service: http://www.castawayarts.com.au/

I kept the Camels colours rather sedate so that I could then bring the set together with bright and patterned luggage.  The colours will also look good on what will typically be a rather bland desert table. I'm really pleased with how well the contrasting patterns came out, and wonder why I haven't tried this earlier.

Painting notes: Camels were undercoated with Army Painter Desert Sand, washed with AP Soft Tone and wash and then highlighted.  Bases are Warlord Pill bases, wall grout filler with sand pressed into it, basecoated with Tamiya Sail, AP Soft Tone Wash, and drybrushed with Val Dark Sand.

So that is 70 points logged and posted to get me going in AHPC Season X

I enjoyed being in the top 10 while it fleetingly lasted! 
I'm moving house now so it will be a quiet 2 weeks on the Hobby Front

Submission post is here:
https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/12/from-paulo-camel-caravan-70-points.html