Man Cave Renovations!

This month saw my Man Cave undergo a transformative process: from a garage for gaming, to a gaming emporium!  Its double size in length so I had lots of options.

Broadly, this was the starting point, though a few wall panels have been removed already in this pic

Key objectives for me were improvements in isolation (walls and roof) to permit year round gaming, as well as good overhead lighting.  What resulted was a full strip out, relining of the walls (enabling many more power points to be installed), and carpeting (using easy lay carpet squares). 

I didn't hold back on the insulation bats!

Importantly, nothing was done structurally that cannot be undone quickly to return it purpose to being a garage, should that be required.

Lining mostly up & Starting the paint

Lights going in

Everyone in the family chipped in with the labour and painting, thankyou! Big kudos to my Dad who was the brains behind the project - all done inside a week. As a result I feel set for many years of gaming fun in there!

Done!

Hobby stuff moved in with fancy new display cabinets too!

Reilly sets up the inaugural game: Warhammer Fantasy Battle!

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