From Dallas: Count Orlok in the Hall of Traps

Hi there Challengers, it's Dallas here... back again competing in the Challenge after many years away. When Mr. Curt kindly invited me to participate this year I was eager to take up the invitation. While my painting output has always been pretty reasonable, in years past there's been too much to do in the wintertime for me to devote due attention to the Challenge. However this winter, due to a variety of reasons (including but not limited to "no playing hockey during the pandemic"), I think my output will be up to the challenge of 500 points... hence I'm in!

My first entry is this great "not Count Orlok" model from Midlam Miniatures, a small boutique manufacturer located in Gateshead, England. Midlam sells all sorts of old-school fantasy figures, including the old Metal Magic range. This is the "Ancient Vampire Lord" sculpted by Josef Ochmann.

Any resemblance to a certain Count Orlok from F.W. Murnau's cinematic masterpiece "Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens" (1922) is purely coincidental I'm sure... but it suits me fine since it makes the figure fit nicely into the "Hall of Traps" theme on level one of the dungeon.

Specifically, for those who don't recall the film, real estate agent Thomas Hutter is sent by his employer in Wisborg, Germany to Transylvania to close a transaction with Count Orlok, who's buying some property in the town. Hutter eventually arrives at Orlok's castle in the Carpathians and hi-jinks ensue... I figure as the Hall of Traps challenge can be fulfilled by painting a figure "lying in wait" Orlok should fit the bill nicely.

I make that 5 points for Orlok and 20 for the bonus, and sorry about the untidy stripes on his trousers!
 

 Bruce R - start of Little Bighorn project (40 pts)

My gaming group wants to hit the Little Big Horn in gaming.  So Foundry has these great figures and even names them.  So here are Butler, Dugan and Mahoney, the 4th unnamed (we will call him Sam).  They are old sweats following Custer into Montana.  They are outfitted and painted as individuals rather than a unit.  

The figures are very characterful.  My wife and I headed to the Crazy Mountains in Montana for a COVID getaway this past summer and we just so happened to pass the Little Bighorn Battlefield.  The downside was the ranger station was closed and it was a 102 degrees.  She was a trooper and let me wonder around and it is an amazing battlefield.  Has great markers and was very interesting and educational.  The action is over a large area and I didn't know this until driving the area.  The good news is she, just like civil war battle fields, enjoyed the history.  Highly recommend.  

On the drive through the park we ran into a herd of horses, adding a great atmosphere to a great day.

Custer's last stand hill.  Cheers. Hoping to take a crack at the Chambers Challenge tomorrow.  

From MartijnN: Curtgeld - Tijl Uilenspiegel in the Hall of Traps (45 points)

This is my first contribution to my first Challenge, although I did take part in the Quarantaine Challenge Curt organised earlier this year. I have been following the Challenges for the past few years and I am thrilled to be a participant at last. I am neither a very good nor a very fast painter, but I hope the Challenge will help me to make a little dent in my plastic and lead mountain and have some fun along the way!

I am currently living in Belgium, but I am a Dutchman. I have been a wargamer for almost as long as I can remember, but I have had rather a quiet period when life got in the way and have resumed my “active” wargaming career some years ago. Although I started in the eighties with Hinchcliffe and Minifigs 25mm figures, nowadays I mainly paint and play in the smaller scales, as in 15mm or smaller. Actually, I painted some 28mm WH40K figures a couple of years ago, but before that I think I didn’t paint any figure larger then 15mm since the early nineties…

However, as my entry fee for the Challenge I thought a 28mm figure would be most suitable. Now luckily I have been a regular attendant at Crisis, the greatest wargames show in mainland Europe organised by the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp each year. For the past years they have been giving away beautiful 28mm figures, and one of those I present to you as my “Curtgeld”.

It is Tijl Uilenspiegel, sculpted by Paul Hicks. The little note that came with the figure reads:

“Originally a trickster figure from German medieval folklore, later versions set him in the days of the Dutch Revolt against Spain. Born in Damme near Bruges, Tijl joins the cause against the Habsburg rulers together with his girlfriend Nele and his best friend Lamme Goedzak. At first a goodhearted prankster playing jokes on the Spanish, over time he becomes a hero and symbol of the Revolt. He even cheats death, rising from the grave before his grieving friends, promising them more adventures to come as they embody the spirit of the Low Countries.”

Now I'd say that cheating death and rising from the grave is a quite a "disentrapment", which means that Tijl was very much trapped before turning the tables on Death himself! However, should the Snow Lord judge that this is stretching the limits just a little too far I will dutifully go and search in my pile of change for a different ticket out of the Hall of Traps.

So there you go. I used Citadel’s contrast paints on him, and I quite like the effect; I hope the eventual recipient will like him too!

Pointswise this is either 5 for a 28mm figure or 25 if my plea for the Hall of Traps is honoured.

From MikeF - The Pit of the Pendulum - The Rack - 28 points (I think)

 For my second entry in the Chambers of Challenge, I dug out some dungeon terrain from my old Hero Quest set. The Pit of the Pendulum requires something torturous. The rack fits this perfectly! It's also made me want to paint up some of the other terrain pieces for later in the challenge.

It' too small for the terrain submission scoring, but its roughly the size of a 15mm vehicle. So maybe 8 points, plus 20 for the challenge = 28 points.

**Note that the base is the original cardboard. Nostalgia required me to keep it.**

From PaulSS: [The Aquifer]Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck (30pts)

I had cleaned up and primed this pack of Warbases ducks for last years challenge but never did get around to starting them, so they make my initial entry in the Chambers of Challenge.

The Aquifer: Anything with a nautical, or waterbound, theme

I think that a duck pond likely fulfils these criteria.

The base is a 80x60mm MDF, also from Warbases the banks around the pond were built up using Polyfiller and a few loose rocks added, one of which in the pond (I missed a trick not adding a toad).

For the water effect I painted the bottom of the pond a very dark muddy brown and added a couple of glazes of dark green, once that was dry the pond was filled with heavy acrylic gel and allowed to dry overnight before the reeds and ducks were stuck in place.

The ducks are fairly large so I think it's probably worth about 10 points for the piece and another 20 bonus points for completing the location for a total of 30 points.

Now back to painting 28mm Napoleonics.

PaulS: Level 1 Sorceress for 'Sarah the Sorceress' (25 Points)

Only one completed entry today as I've moved onto some models that actually require some thinking about, so you've got some time to catch up!

After escaping from the animated statues I was at a loss on how to proceed, so called upon the guardian sorceress to speed us on our way with a brief stop off at the larder to restock for the arduous next phase. 

The guardian came around the corner, staff slung over her back

... or so it seemed. When she became more visible there was something terribly terribly wrong. Not only was her skin more purplish than normal, but she had a piercing stare and a third arm...

From MikeF - Hall of Traps - Ghost! 25 points

 For my first entry, I painted up a ghost from Mantic Games. Aside form being "trapped" in this mortal plane, it rams home the point by carrying around its own ball and chain much like dear old Jacob Marley!

This model is actually a test model for painting the spirit skulls on some Age of Sigmar Ossiarch Bonereapers I'm hoping to start during the challenge. The camera and my poor photography skills saw some of the color being washed out, but I think it'll work well for the tabletop.

25 points

From DrQ: Sneaky Ninja Traps and an Orkmas Miracle (50 points)

Hello all! I'm new to the main challenge but did participate in the Quarantine Challenge earlier this year. In that competition I painted a fair number of chibi minis (anime style with big heads and small bodies), and I've decided to start with this motif here at the beginning of AHPC.

For the Hall of Traps I present a sneaky kunioichi from the Yamazaru Clan of Ninja All Stars, a game from Ninja Division. These ladies specialize in laying in wait to get that sweet sneak attack to unsuspecting targets—a perfect example of a trap.

Additionally, in the holiday spirit I submit a kit-bashed ork boy as my entry for the challenge, to help all know the true meaning of Orkmas. Is he bringing gifts to good little grots or lootin' from the hoomies? I think we all know the answer...

I've got about a thousand points of 40k Ork Boyz as well as a couple of big sky vessels for the Kharadron Overlords from Age of Sigmar to paint up, so you can expect to see a fair bit of geedubs out of me over the next few months. We'll see if I manage to get it all finished! I set myself the recommended rookie goal of only 300 points in the hobby challenge. 

As for scoring, I'm not great with the maths (my degree is in the liberal arts), so I think this comes to 30 points? (Nope, 50 points. ed)

28mm Republican Allied Italian General - KenR - (20 points)

 

The Yarkshire Gamer is in da house !! Only just as well, my application email sent on the day of opening got lost in the ether and it was only an enquiry with Curt that revealed the problem, it was close but we made it !

I always like to get a cheeky entry in before Xmas Day and this year is no different. I finally (and only just) beat my techno fear and made it onto the Paint and Chat last night (until my battery ran out) which helped get these guys on the way.

So this is the start of my 28mm Italian Allied Legion for the Punic Wars, figures are from the slightly later General set from Victrix set, I've replaced the more obvious Imperial heads with spares from my Allied Legion box set.

2 x 28mm horse is 20 points which nicely gets things moving. If you don't know already my plan is for 3 General Bases, 32 Velites, 64 Hastati, 64 Principles, 32 Triari and 24 Cavalry. Maniples of 16 for the Infantry. By the end of the Challenge I'm hoping to have the bases below full.

I may even try the dungeon challenge and have some figures lined up for the first few, have a good Xmas everyone and I hope to see you after Boxing Day with some Velites.

From MilesR: A 6mm Republican Roman Army - part I (385 points, pending Curt's review & approval)

The first submission for Challenge XI from the Lair is part of a Republican Roman Army - all in glorious 6mm with figures from the superb Baccus range.

As you can see in the first pictures, there are some Spanish and Italian allies still being painted that will join the ranks in a few days.

The heart of any Roman army is it's heavy infantry which are represented in this force by 8 bases of Hastati (front) and 8 bases on Principaes in the back.  Each base has 24 figures.

Only 2 bases of Triarii - that will have to be remedied when the mythical Baccus shopping cart opens back up.

For ranged support there are 6 bases of Balearic slingers and 2 bases of scorpions.

Skirmishing ahead of the heavy infantry will be 12 bases of Velites, each with 8 figures.

 

Finally 8 bases of Roman Cavalry some with 6 and others with 5 figures (45 total figures).

In the front are 4 bases of allied Italian Hoplites

These are all based for the Age of Hannibal ruleset which is our ancients mainstay at the club.  They're a lot of fun and the basing is generic enough that these troops can be adapted for other rulesets if needed.

Sorry about the picture quality, the workshop is in a bit of disarray with the holidays (that's my current excuse).  Once I've got a better place to take some pictures, I will update this post.  Remember I adhere by Stalin's definition of quality when it comes to painting.

In terms of total figures painted 

24 Figure bases:  22x24 = 528

8 Figure Bases:  18x8= 144

Scorpions  8 figures & 2 scorps

Cavalry 45 figures

Grand Total

Infantry Figures        680 x 0.5pts = 340 points

Cavalry                      45 x 1 = 45 points

Grand Total:  385 Points    

From BenitoM: Ambush in Hall of Traps (35 points)

Good day everybody. My first entry in the XI edition of the Challenge and also my first cautious steps scouting the Challenge Island vaults. 

 

 

This is an "ambush point" for my Infamy! Infamy!'s Gallic/Briton armies. For those poor souls not familiar with this excellent set of Ancient-era rules, unlike the civilized Romans, the cunning Barbaric armies loved to try taking their foes by surprise. 

 

This is simulated in the pre-game phase by setting a number of "ambush" points of deployment, about which the Romans have only limited (if any) intelligence. In this case the poor legionnaires have been caught totally by surprise, and the scene represents just a moment before the last remaining survivor of the patrol is going to be cut down by the sword.

 

All these minis belong to my venerable collection of 28mm Wargames Foundry models acquired in the mid-late 80s. Last year's Challenge I decided to remove the old enamel-based colours and repaint in a more consistent (and I hope better quality) way.

 

Unless The Snow Lord disagrees, this ambush point is totally aligned with the Hall of Traps theme, therefore I can claim my 20 extra points. Thus, this first submission sums up 35 points (3 x 28mm minis @5 points = 15 points + 20 extra points). I also score my first 15 points in the "Rome and its Enemies" duel.

           

Submarines Laying in Ambush: Hall of Traps 21 Points

Work and Christmas stuff has kept me too busy to do much painting, but I wanted to get at least one quick entry in before the Holiday.

I have been doing a lot of Naval games both because I enjoy them and because they are easy to do remote which is the only game in town these days.  Submarines are tricky I like to use markers for them rather than models (this was an effort form a few years ago Periscope Sighted).  

I have been meaning to make some more so this hall seemed a good excuse to make some more. I used some left over MDF prices left over from some model kits you will see latter in the Challenge.  A base painted blue a little paint and them some silicon to make them look awash with water.  They look like the conning towers of two subs laying low in the water or in the act of diving or surfacing. 

Here they are with a 1/2400 scale Destroyer.   PointsI am going to award myself 1 point for the two markers Plus the 20 points for the room.