From Barks: Multiple Circles of Hell (Violence, Fraud, Treachery) (135 points)

I've had the lurgi and have had a bit of travelling, but have managed to knock off a few circles of Hell.

First, Violence. But I have not portrayed the souls sent there- rather, the vicious beasts that torment them:

Here the repellent harpies make their nests,

Who drove the Trojans from the Strophades

With dire announcements of the coming woe.

They have broad wings, a human neck and face,

Clawed feet and swollen, feathered bellies; they caw

Their lamentations in the eerie trees.

Inferno, Canto XIII

The harpies sit in the wood of the suicides; these are boardgame pieces from Descent. They've got horrendous mold lines I couldn't be bothered removing. They're less noticeable at arm's length.

Harpies

Next, we visit Fraud with Sharkey and Worm- spoilers ahead!

Worm and Sharkey

"Whoever strikes me shall be accursed. And if my blood stains the Shire, it shall wither and never again be healed."

The hobbits recoiled. But Frodo said, "Do not believe him. He has lost all power, save his voice that can still daunt and deceive you, if you let it."

I love the Scouring of the Shire! It had been orchestrated by Saruman in the guise of Sharkey. He is revealed to no longer be a powerful wizard by Frodo; hence Fraud.

Loving the Jon Hodgson background books

The GW paintjob for this figure has a brown cloak, but:

...they overtook an old man leaning on a staff, and he was clothed in rags of grey or dirty white, and at his heels went another beggar, slouching and whining.

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!

I had thought of using Worm for Treachery, because, well, he's Worm, but I really wanted to slap paint on these kitbashed Delaques, the most deceitful gang:

Neo lookalike contest

Can't see a thing but we look so good.

The nineties called my cell: they said we looked awesome.

Dual-wielding. He could only get cooler if I painted his mirrorshades.

I used Northstar Scavengers for the bodies, and carved the big pockets off their coats to give them more Matrix-esque vibes. I either found heads with glasses and carved off the hair, or made glasses from greenstuff. I was experimenting with pale flesh tones- I think these are a bit violet. I wanted a lightly distressed leather look to the coats, but it just looks grey and the belts lack contrast. I could revisit the bases as well.

How did I move between these locations? More Descent figures: five (ten?) fire imps. I drybrushed the flames from white through yellows, oranges, and reds. The Imps are Speedpaint Dusk Red.

Fire Imps

So, everyone today is 28mm:

5x Imps +25

4x Harpies +20

4x Delaque +20

2x LotR +10

Violence +20

Fraud +20

Treachery +20

Total 135 points

Squirrels +1 (Descent baddies)

From Millsy:

So much cool stuff in one post!

If I had to pick a favourite it would be the Neo-esqe Delaque gangers, who have a special place in my heart being my first ever team too. Your choices for kitbashing are great and really have the right vibe.

The Fire Imps are also really well executed with the flame effect absolutely spot on. I struggle with that technique but you've clearly got it nailed. I'm guessing the imps were painted after the drybrushing?

Awesome work Barks and 135 more points for your tally!

PS. Hope you are on the mend mate.

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: Who ate all the pies? (Gluttony) (44 points)

I painted a yellow Nurgle marine for the Challenge a few years ago- they're wonderfully ridiculously overdetailed, and quite draining to paint. But I enjoyed it, and a few more have landed in my pile of potential. Last year I painted a lot of zombies, and some had a more orange tint that I liked. So this is a new Nurgle lord that I'm using for 'Gluttony'. He's a cheerful chap, generously handing out Grandfather's gifts. I quite like the cartoony splashes of vibrant colours.

I'm very happy with the hot pustules on his knee. Ready to burst!

His cloak is crawling with maggots.

To get to this circle, I summoned these Ynfernael Hulks from the Descent boardgame. Over a white undercoat I painted the same orange as the marine (Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 Zealot Yellow) and drybrushed them black then grey. I'm not quite satisfied with the eyes.

That's three big boys; each is on a 50mm base. I'm claiming 8 points each, and +20 for the Glutton.

3 x monsters 24 points

Gluttony +20 points

Can opener side duel +8

From Millsy:

The title of this post made me laugh out loud and for that you have my thanks Barks! If there's anything more appropriate for the Gluttony bonus then I have no idea what it is.

He's absolutely revolting and I love him, from the tip of his hideous pestilent horns to the tips of his disgusting pus filled boots. The saturated green really gives off a vibe of something clearly not right and the yellow armour is a great choice as it really works and I'm sure I've never seen yellow Death Guard before.

Chuck in a couple of creepy lava monsters and you're earned a tidy 44 points. Nice one mate!

Cheers,
Millsy

From Barks: More Descent monsters (35 points)

Some more figures for Descent which I pained with AP Speedpaints 2.0 over a white undercoat. First, three Carrion Drakes. These are plague-spreading scavengers of dead flesh. I liked the wing colour (Desolate Brown) which is a nice brown with a hint of green. The green (Charming Chartreuse) and the purple (Dusk Red) are fine, but they go together like an 80s cartoon toy-  which isn't the look I want here. Anyway, they're done and the pustules help pull them together.

Carrion Drakes

I used Forest Sprite for the Goblin Witchers' skin, and I'm really happy with it. The last thing I painted was the feathers, and it really made these figures pop.

Goblin Witchers

I may try and squeeze in a sneaky post before the Challenge concludes, but this should pull me over the line!

7x 28mm figures (35 points)

[edit +16 skullz]

From Millsy: These are really cool Barks! The lime green and rich red on the drakes is an unexpected but really effective combination. Having painted a pile of Death Gaurd I know how much effort can be involved in making something so wrong look right. Love the witchers too, I can see a ton of other uses for them in pulp, darkest (weird) Africa, etc. Cracking work mate!

From Barks: More Descent (20 points)

A few more Descent figures. I don't like the sculpts or the pseudobiology behind these dragon-men, but at least they're painted now. I'm following the art and trying just SpeedPaints for these, and could really do with an extra highlight. They're over a plain white undercoat (which hasn't quite cured right...) and I think something with a touch of shading or zenithal would be better. The thing I do enjoy is to try out new shades- the green is Forest Sprite, which has a nice yellowish tint for orc skin or other vegetation.

Hybrid Sentinels

Hero: Reynhart the Worthy

4x28mm figures (20 points)

+6 skullz

From Millsy: I can see why you didn't enjoy these Barks, they do have an odd set of proportions about them and the posing is a bit robotic. They almost looks like flats to me. Even so you've done a great job with them and the red/green combo is really eye catching. Nice work!

From Barks: Bony bits (25 points)

 Some quick bits with plenty of skullz. First, some Bone Horrors from Descent with 30 skullz.

Next is a purchase I specifically picked up for the Skull Duel many months ago when I saw it on special. It is some sort of Age of Sigmar scenery, but I will use it for post-apocalyptic desert terrain. The details are exquisite- the suture lines in the skull and the internal structure of the broken bones are pleasingly accurate.

Halo Jones for scale

The jaw can be opened...

... or closed.

Three separate parts.

Quite tall, and the base is festooned with skullz.

I spent more time trying to get the base to match my mat than I did painting the skeletal remains. There are 17 skullz including the big one.

3 x 28mm Bone Horrors (15 points)

Skeletal scenery (~ ½ terrain cube) (10 points)

Skull Duel +47 (total 128)

From Millsy: Some great bones here Barks! The Bone Horrors from Descent are skullariffic but I think my favourite is the dinosaur(?) skeleton. It reminds me of the weird tunnel-like bit in Pitch Black, still one of my favourite sci-fi flicks. 25 points for you mate!

From SimonG: Wrapping Up Another Great Year

With some sadness I've come to the end of my third cycle around the AHPC quarter. It's been another great experience and a points total I'm sure I will never get any where close to again given an unexpected bonanza with my Jewish Revolt Temple Mount terrain!  

Once again I get to bless you with my ugly mug and the fruits of my labours, which included this time around ...

... The last vehicles for my 1980s Cold War Gone Hot project -- all that remains are the BAOR infantry figures (10mm camo, fiddly stuff) ...

... A smattering of vignettes to meet the needs of the AHPC XIII Studio Challenge -- luckily I have lots of shelf space to display these things ...

... More Descent and Black Rose Wars characters, always fun to try out different painting techniques ...

... And the Jews ...

... And Romans for my Jewish Revolt project along with the temple as a sample of the large terrain I worked on -- still plenty more to add for this one and I'm taking delivery of lots of other base figures to work up and add in!

It only remains to say thanks once again to my fellow Tuesday toreadors, to Tamsin for excellent minioning once again, to Lady Sarah for inspiring an exploration of the world of high fashion, to Curt for being the mastermind and ongoing inspiration for this whole shebang, and to all who participated in, commented on and overall made this another great experience -- see you all again in December!

Postscript- I forgot my Nogs, now that my Wife has them in the Kitchen, so here’s a hello from them too

From SimonG: The Odd Couple - or Two Fantasy Heroes (34 points)

Continuing our exploration of the Blue Zone we leave the dry plains of Judea for another stop off in the world of Descent: Legends of the Dark. For the Fantasy studio our offering is two of the PC models for this game -- Vaerix a Dragon hybrid and Syrus a human magician.

Vaerix - the dragon hybrid

Syrus the magician and his sidekick!

Once again these are very nice 40mm plastic castings with great dynamic poses and a wealth of interesting detail to play with. The fun in this pair was working with flame effects in Syrus' fireball and the choice of colours and skin tones for a "realistic lizard person" 😜

The magical bird is actually supposed to be a Harris Hawk with reference images taken from a hawk we met up with last weekend as part of my wife's birthday trip -- funny how everything can be used in support of this hobby! Certainly the size is about right 🦅

I'm pleased with how working on this pair has helped me hone my techniques and continue to get more interesting and dynamic eyes!

Points wise that's two 40mm figures plus the 20 point Fantasy Studio bonus. Next time it's my Jewish wars terrain points bomb which is lots of work so it may be a week or two -- until then keep up the good work and the cameras rolling!

Very nice painting, Simon!

Tamsin

From SimonG: The Tale of the Valkyrie and the Twenty Zealots (147 points)

With the Green Zone now finished with I need another lift in Lady Sarah's limousine to take me to my desired destination in the new Red Zone. The chauffeur this time around is a menacing Valkyrie.

This is once again a Descent - Legends of the Dark 40mm plastic miniature, excellently sculpted and well assembled with all of the area accessible for painting (which isn't always the case, I've had to cut plastic figures apart in the past and reassemble them). Strictly this is Brynn, a human hero and player character from the game, but to me -- especially as she has just slaughtered a really cute looking baby dragon -- she seems much more sinister, perhaps more of Muire the deeply conflicted last Valkyrie in Elizabeth Bears "Edda of Burdens" trilogy (highly recommended btw if you like your Norse mythology spun through a wringer).

Highlights for me on this one were working on the hair, I find blonde very tricky. Plus the eyes -- I think the left eye is a real success, the right one less so, for some reason I just couldn't register where the brush was as I painted this one (not surprising given it is a) deeply set and b) partly obscured by hair). Anyway overall a good exercise in metallic tones and I tried to pay some attention to an overhead light source hitting the tops of exposed armour. There's also a very small amount of gore, no disguising she's a menacing figure.

Flowing Locks!

Left Eye Good, Right Eye hmmm

The Bloody Evidence (not sure what a severed Dragon joint looks like!)

Anyway the destination for our trip and our next Studio offering is the continuing "Swords and Sandals" epic retelling the fall of the Second Temple in the Jewish Revolt of CE 66-74.  This time around I'm offering up 20 Jewish warriors with a mixture of locally sourced and other materiel liberated from the Romans.

The figures are based on Victrix 28mm Numidians with some swapped in Roman legionary arms (incidentally the Numidians are much more muscular than the Roman's so the mix can look a little odd if viewed under a microscope). The heads are Anvil Industry "Long Hair" - as these are 28mm heroic scale they do look odd when first assembled but once painted up it works out OK. 

The final touches are cloaks (cut down resin camouflage cloaks from Anvil Industry again, awkward bit is removing, or trying to remove, the hoods) and the tzitzit are added with lengths of button thread.

Once they had hoods!

Next up I learn to knot the tzitzit

And of course I couldn't leave without the obligatory toe shot! 

 

Got to keep a good manicure

There are two pairs of sandals and five swords among the 20 so it should qualify for the "Swords and Sandals" bonus giving me 120 points for the Zealots and 27 for the Valkyrie (20 points for the Limo ride and 7 for a 40mm figure) for an addition towards my target of 147 this time around.

Next stop fantasy with a couple more Descent heroes but as I'm away for my wife's birthday it will be a couple of weeks -- until then keep the brushes busy and the film rolling!

"...to my desired destination in the new Red Zone" - I suspect you meant the Blue Zone, not the Red! Nevertheless, that Valkyrie is most definitely worthy of the Limo ride, and you've done a great job on the ancient Hebrews.

Tamsin