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

First Games at the new Man Cave: Stalingrad, Kill Team and Space Hulk

Been a challenging few week on the hobby front, with the move and all.  So I decided to get on the front foot for the week leading up to CanCon and christen the new games room with some games.

First up was games night with Comrade James and some of the lads from the new club.  We tried out the "Academy of Street Fighting" supp for Bolt Action (a free pdf at the Warlords site), which takes the game down to a squad level where individuals are being activated. We played in the rubble of Stalingrad but with a few small tweaks it would be great for Arnhem with my Red Devils, or pitting US and German paras against one another in Carentan, Normandy.

As you would expect it was brutal fighting close up where SMGs and Grenades were king.  The variant rules for multi shot weapons gave great feeling of spraying bullets everywhere.

Later in the week Reilly arrived and we got some great Kill Team in - this time I took my Grey Knights and pulled off a rare (but close) win! I wont get used to that :-)  His AdMech army is really coming along and looking great!

Unpacking is not generally fun and enjoyable - but finding old treasures is, so we got a quick game of Space Hulk in using the classic Cleanse and Burn scenario. We played Coop, but clearly that wasn't sufficient for the Lad, who proceeded to flame the last room...while my Captain was still in it.  I should have seen that coming I guess!

CanCon starts today for the long weekend - always a blast. More to follow.

AdMech Kill Team

With the house move and new job its been two weeks since I got any painting done - hopefully I'll fix that shortly.  In the meantime The Lad has completed his AdMech Kill Team and made quite a spiffy job if them too I might say!

He then put then directly into action and beat my Chaos Spare Marines to clutch their first glory for the Omnissiah!

The Man Cave moves...again!

Its that time of the biennial cycle where the Man Cave goes mobile again. The move is now complete and thankfully we have had only a few minor disruptions due to the massive bushfires across the country.

The new games room takes shape

Thanks to all those amazing Rural Fire Service and Emergency response teams that put themselves in harms way for others - you've done a fantastic job and we are proud of you and your families for all your hard work and sustained effort.

Moving is always a little painful but on the bright side I will now get more regular adventures with Comrade James, a new games club crew and new adventures are in train!  I'm also looking forward to having all my stuff available in one location for the first time in some years - though as it was being unboxed I started to have a hobby 'moment of clarity' about how much stuff there is across a lot of genres

Anyway, got to find my brushes now so I can get back to the painting challenge!

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