Fantasy

25 January 2022

AHPC XII: A few more DungeonBowl players

Back to the office this week, which has impacted hobby so only a minor submission this week, adding a few new players to my College of Shadows Dungeonbowl team.  

Added to the roster is a third Skaven Gutter Runner, Git-git Greenstripe - a fast player who can skitter around the dungeon with great agility...but is admittedly a little fragile (Reilly stomped one to death during a recent match!) 


Also joining the Team is Penny the Pricker, Dark Elf Assassin. This is a player type I haven't used before but anything that against the tower of muscle that is Reilly's team is welcome. 

https://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2022/01/from-paulog-more-dungeonbowl-players-35.html

16 January 2022

AHPC XII: Chaos Hellbrute and Silver Bayonet Beastie


My next AHPC submission was a Chaos Hellbrute/Dreadnought. Basically, this is a hulking murder obsessed robot named KILLFRENZY who is controlled by an insane, blood craving heretic. Good times!

For the 40k affectionados this is a converted Blood Angels Death Company Dreadnought fitted with a pair of nasty looking Blood Talon close combat weapons, heavy flamer and storm bolter.  Lost in battle when its former pilot succumbed to wounds, the happy-go-lucky World Eaters salvaged it and interred their own ill-mannered psychopath who rather enjoys his new toy and its plush (if somewhat blood spattered) upholstery.

I enjoyed sculpting the battle damage and trying to get a more dynamic feel to what is a rather static and boxy sculpt, even trying some OSL and 3d printed effects (Translation - yes, I again made the classic Challenge error in being completely obsessed with minor detail on a single model). I also used some new techniques with oil washes over acrylic base coats.; it certainly takes a lot longer to dry and I haven't got it quite right yet, but I got the grungier look I wanted.  I'm trying to improve my basing game too and did more in that regard with a slain foe who, quite coincidentally, looks remarkably just like the new Thousand Sons force that Reilly is painting... 

"All is Dust..."

While I'm here I'll also post this strange little fellow whom I found lurking in my stash: a Razormouth from the Reaper Black Bones series. I built him as a beastie for Silver Bayonet, but he will be equally at home in the Necromunda Underhive or similar.


That completes my 4 outer sphere planets (Istvaan V, Glorantha, Klenadathu and Skaro) and so I now transit via the adjacent Great Abyssal to start the challenge of the middle ring...

11 January 2022

A Bloodbowl 21st Birthday

Happiest of birthdays to Reilly aka Right Stuff aka The Lad - 21 years old today.

After over a decade of being a diehard Blood Bowler, there was only one kind of cake to make!



Some on-pitch highlights of this coach's career thus far!


09 January 2022

AHPC XII: Stalingrad Apartment Complex

28mm Soldat shown for scale

This 28mm scaled apartment complex building occupies a 1 foot square tile and has 5 seperate (and detachable) floors. It was 3d printed* in small sections by Alan on his filament printer last year, after which I then spent some 30 odd hours glueing, chopping and drilling to give it that pristine Urban Combat look. Quite a labour of love in which I took my own modicum of injuries!


WIP build pics here: http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2021/10/october-hobby-roundup-terraintober.html


 Each floor was modified to make it is quickly removable to allow whole skirmish games to be played just in this building alone.

The building breaks down into five separate floors - I added framing to the underside of each so that it doesn't inadvertently revert to this state mid-game...

I wanted a balance of dioramic destruction vs playability, so tried to portray a holdout building in which defenders have cleared the worst of the rubble to keep their fighting positions effective. It took quite a bit of time to do this sensibly (and of course with obligatory research of actual Stalingrad buildings - Alan's high standards require nothing less than primary source evidence, which makes one really lift one's game!). All this took well over a month so I then quietly packed it away so I could enjoy painting it during the Challenge

Undercoated in black, I then got my airbrush into action (with coaching assistance - thanks Marty!) to finally start adding pigment to the project. I really wanted to bring some colour to the table amongst all the usual urban grey wreckage, so went with a timeless brick red vibe with some coloured internal walls. I added floorboard beams and other detritus from scrap balsa. Final layers on the brickwork were traditional drybrush method, while internal floors and walls were stippled to give a bedraggled look.


Junkers-eye view of the building

Overall, this construct netted me 140 points for the painting challenge. 


* commercial stl files by WOW Buildings, here: https://wowbuildings.net/

Hail Hydra! (Red Skull was my AHPC VII Character bonus round submission :-)


01 January 2022

AHPC XII: Dungeon Bowl: Into the Shadows

New Year - New Game - New Team... More Mayhem!


I've been a Blood Bowl fan boy devotee tragic - have been since my teen years and then dragged my son Reilly into it before he was 10 years old. We are loving the recent GW attention to this game so the re-release of Dungeon Bowl last month was a no brainer for us.  I mean, its fantasy rugby/gridiron played in a Dungeon with exploding treasure chests and magic teleportors - whats not to love?


Dungeon Bowl is quite differently managed in comparison to the more traditional above ground leagues. Underground, teams are sponsored by a different Colleges of Magic and comprised of mixed race players. 

Skaven team members

This is the College of Shadows - one of the 2 teams that come in the new boxed set, comprising Dark Elves, Skaven and Goblins (though I added the latter models from our stash, they don't come in the box).

Dark Elf players

Each college has a theme colour and the College of Shadows has adopted (perhaps unsurprisingly) grey. I embraced the colourless tones overall with a saturated green for the Goblins to really leap out, and kept this same spot colour to get a consistent team look.  The dungeon styled bases are home made (3d printed) and the dungeon they are standing in is a project you will see more of later on.

The Goblins are fun, but..not the most valued players in the team!


The Team's legendary female Captain is Harriett Heart-Stealer, so named for her long line of heart broken suitors. And also for her penchant of actually removing this vital organ during matches and then keeping them for some kind of secretive, post-match ritual that sensible people don't ask about...


In their quest for on-pitch glory, adoration of cheering fans and the attention of high paying sponsors, the heroes of this College of Shadows team are assigned to the planet Glorantha. Overall this submission is 14 figures, but 2 were pre challenge colour testers, so only 12 for scoring (60 points) plus the planetary bonus for a total of 80. 


Modelling Notes: I went heavy with the contrast paints with these guys
- Black Templar Contrast
- Grey Wolves Contrast, 
- Warpstone Green, Biel-tan wash,