AHPC XI: Khorngors

After some solid Challenge productivity in quarantine, progress slowed when Mrs Man Cave checked for secret doors in the Chambers of Challenge. A mystery staircase went up to the hitherto unknown location: The Balcony of Domestic Distraction!  Cue the requested significant sanding, repainting etc With that out of the way, I got back to more entertaining scales of re-modelling :-)

Back in the day, hearty Beastmen Gor warriors could be given different marks of Chaos. Many know the erstwhile Pestigor (who also make fair Blood Bowl players on Nurgle teams) but those who follow the Blood God are known as Khorngors.

The Khorngor models were removed from production back in 4th or 5th edition so it took me a few years to collect enough of these metal figures to complete a full unit of 20 (including Command characters) but finally here they are in all their Oldhammer glory.

These will be one of the 3 elite troop units in my army, being screened into contact by the supporting hordes where they will (I hope) hit like a truck. Lets see how that goes.

In addition to the points these earn me, they boast an impressive number of skullz - as you would expect for followers of Khorne. In fact there are 127 of them amongst them!

Blood for the Blood God!

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/by-paul-khornegors-for-blood-god-101.html

A return to Mortal Gods...and the Pub!

I'm home in Sydney for the Australia Day long weekend, so a few of us got down to our regular pub for a game and a few beers. Libations were offered to Fortuna to reconsecrate the venue, and then we broke out the first game of the year by revisiting Mortal Gods.

Last year during AHPC X, Alan painted a lovely Thrakian Army but he hadn't gotten it onto the table before last night.  His brushwork in detailing all the cloaks is quite stunning.

The Thrakians as a force are quite different to the usual Hoplite army, and offer a really asymmetric matchup. Their Evade ability in particular makes them very hard to pin down, and they are highly mobile including an Ambush ability so they can appear behind your main line unexpectedly. It will take a bit of experimenting to counter their cunning ways (They remind me a lot of Alan's really bloody annoying Welsh army in SAGA actually...)

Form wedge! Phalanx advance!

We cant kill them if we cant catch them Lochagos!

I was reminded of how much I like this game - relatively straightforward but with lots of depth. I might need to unearth some more figures to paint during this AHPC season

Great to be able to play at the pub again!

AHPC XI: Beastman Army additions

Amongst the Caesarian Romans I have been progressing, I've worked on a a few Warhammer Beastmen submissions too and here are some I did over the Christmas/New Year period.  First up are five Centigors, twisted versions of the Centaur that are prone to drunkenness and fits of rage. Thus, they can be a bit fickle as the light cavalry component of the army. Then again, one doesn't play Beastmen to be super competitive... 

These are older, metal GW sculpts so provide some gratifying heft when picking them up

But 5 isn't enough to make one's enemies quail in fear! They join another 5 I did mid-year as a second hand stall rescue, as well as the Centigor hero Ghorrus Warhoof. 

Ghorrus wields his mighty Mansplitter club and his head is adorned with the skull of a Unicorn Lord of which it is said that: 

Atop his scalp Ghorros wears the broken skull of Arsil, the Prince of Unicorns, who had an unfortunate encounter with Ghorros in a moonlit glade centuries ago. It still harbours some of the protective magic of its former owner

which goes to show that silly headwear is everywhere really!

these boys should make a dent when they hit

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-paulog-centigors-50-points.html

Next up is a pack of savage forest boars that the Beastmen goad into attacking their enemies in battle. This pack of angry yet succulent and excellent with a nice apple sauce beasts is comprised of 6 tuskgors and one larger, angrier Razorgor.

I have no idea what they will be like on the tabletop but as long as they keep Reilly's Dwarf army distracted even for a little while they will be useful. The smaller beasts are plastic models while the big one is resin. The level of detail suited them to be painted with GW contrast paints and then highlighted in the traditional way.

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/by-paul-og-i-smell-bacon-40-points.html

One of my key AHPC XI goals is to add some Minotaurs to my Beastman army, starting with this character. His backstory is that he has some behavioural issues which incline him to embrace the "spill blood and harvest skulls" end of the naughty spectrum.  As a result he has been blessed by Chaos with a brass hide to protect him while he indulges in said behaviour.*  He also goes by the nom de guerres of Slaughterhorn and Bloodbeast, which is probably why he doesn't get invited to many parties.

There is no official fig for this character so I used an old school metal GW Minotaur which I think is rather cool and is a whopping 60mm tall (not including his raised axe).  I worked the brass up through 3 different layers and washes, and then did some detailing to break it up, deliberately avoiding contrasts other than red.

* If you want the long version of his backstory you can find it here:

https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Taurox

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/from-paul-og-taurox-brass-bull-10-points.html

Out of Quarantine and...Ninjas!

This submission was totally unplanned but became quite an absorbing (and distracting!) experiment.  Recently I have been revisiting Samurai skirmish gaming with the Ronin rules. Back in AHPC VI I painted a small force of unarmored Sword masters and thought I might surprise Reilly but adding some Ninjas (surprise Lad!).  As I saw the greyscale entries for the Chamber of Darkness, I thought it might be a great opportunity to give this very different style of painting a try. Stealthy Ninjas by moonlight would be dark and monochrome anyway, right? How hard could it be? Boy did I learn a lot.

Lets just say it was lucky I had 10 figures in this project so that I had multiple opportunities to improve.  I think trying to keep the figures' dark and sinister look meant that I further reduced the available desaturated palette.  I started with a Grey Seer undercoat and then used the GW Black Templar contrast paint as starting point. 

I was challenged in thinking about light direction while also using highlights to achieve a pseudo metallic finish for weapons glinting in the moonlight - but I'm pleased overall with the effect. I also added a few discrete spot colours through bloodstains and red flowers on the leader’s base, thought the latter doesn't work so well as it distracts the eye from the figure (maybe it is a Ninja stealth technique!). These discrete bloodspots are quite different to the usual messy blood stains on my beastmen's axes!

Along the way I was heavily inspired by Michael Awdry’s fantastic Seven Greyscale Samurai from back in AHPC III (http://analogue-hobbies.blogspot.com/2013/02/from-michaela-seven-samurai-in.html) and Curt’s greyscale WW1 project (where I learned the term ‘chiaroscuro’!).

Overall, I did not fully achieve the look I was after but am happy enough. I appreciated the challenge of trying something new, which I wouldn’t have otherwise done, and I would welcome constructive comments and ideas.  This submission is ten metal 28mm figures from Warlord's "Ninjas of Iga" range.

I have now completed my mandatory isolation and this is what I have painted during those 14 day - the only TV I watched was the news and both seasons of The Mandalorian (how good is that!). Then again the whole ‘working from home’ thing really got in the way :-)

The Ninja look quite at home slinking at the back next to the monchrome wall!

AHPC XI: Caesarian Romans (III)

Some additions to my growing Caesarian Roman force:

To oppose Alan's rebellious Romans I have build a third base of eight Legionaries for my white shield legion, and a bolt thrower to provide ranged fire. The Romans were famed for their complex artillery, of which many types were carried in the legions' baggage trains including the larger Onagers and Ballistas for siege work. This one was nicknamed the Scorpion and was one of the smallest, its primary purpose being to provide direct fire support to the Legionaries.

"I bet you a wineskin that you can't hit that big, naked hairy fellow over there"

I did their tunics in a brighter white, to reflect these fellows being occupied with their machinery and not doing all that dirty infantry stuff. I also wanted to try and tie in their colours to the white shields of the Legionaries. The red flowers on the base help tie them into the Legionaries' red tunics too. 

Unlike the rest of the army these are metal figs (Warlord)

These new units complete this component of the Army for now. Next I will be progressing other supporting elements and the Army's command figures.

"Form Wedge!"

The army project thus far, all painted during this challenge (all Warlord figures)

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/from-paul-og-scorpion-and-legionaries.html

AHPC XI: Caesarian Romans (II)

I've been pushing on with my Caesarian Roman army, adding 2 more units and 3 Command figures: a Centurion, signifer and musician. I've used different shield insignia for this unit to distinguish between units.  I really like the bright white and distinctive Etruscan Boar insignia, which is quite different to the later Imperial insignia.

The army thus far, with more to follow:

Thats 19 x 28mm figs for a total of 95 points.

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/from-paul-og-more-caesarian-romans-95.html

Modelling Notes

Tunics - Basecoat GW Evil Suns Scarlet, GW Reikland Fleshshade, highlight GW Wild Rider Red

Other colours as per Yellow Legion

AHPC XI: Caesarian Romans (I)

First day of a new year and so the first units of a new project: Caesarian Romans for Infamy Infamy. Alan is also doing some late Republic Romans, Comrade James has both Germans and Romans, and Reilly is working on some Celts too. Between us we can do the Conquest of Gaul, Invasions of Germania, raids on Britannia, and the Civil Wars which resulted in the founding of the Empire under the deified Augustus. Should be a hoot.

These are my first two units, each of 8 figures, saboted on Renedra 20mm square bases so I can rank them up for other games such as WAB, Soldiers of Rome or Impetus. I've done these deliberately NOT in red - the horror! I donk think our idea of thousands of identical looking Roman soldiers is very accurate, so it's a good excuse to bring some more colour to the tabletop! 

Shield stickers by LBM, my first time using them - found them rather daunting and fiddly but they look the business. The distinctive shields will distinguish them from my main legion force, so they can be veterans, recruits or auxilia.

These 16 proud soldiers of Rome net me 80 points for the Challenge.

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/01/from-paul-og-caesarian-romans-80-points.html

Modelling notes

Black Undercoat

Tunics - Vallejo (Panzer Aces) Highlight British Tankcrew, GW Reikland Flashshade wash, GW Ushabti Bone highlight

Flesh: AP Barbarian Flesh, GW Reikland Flashshade wash, highlight with basecoat

Chainmail: AP Gunmetal

Helmets and brasswork - GW Retributor armour

Leather and shield backs: AP Leather Brown