(From RossM) The Chambers of Challenge - Level 1 (72 pts)

This is the first of five posts this morning (00:42 Scotland) so I'll keep these short. 

The Pit and the Pendulum: 

When looking for an idea of this I kept coming back to swinging blades and this figure made its way out of the lead pile. A Crusader from Gripping Beast, the blade he swings is terrifying. 

25 points

Lady Sarah - Sorceress of the Chambers

This was a straight forward choice, sorceress, chambers, dungeons equals Dark Elves. The figure is from Reaper Bones and my first venture with this product range. It won't be the last. 

The colour scheme is limited and deliberate; close to gray scale but not there. That was for the assassin who is still in its blister, such are the trials of the Challenge.

26 points (1 extra for the skull)

Hall of Traps.

This little piece of resin terrain for 28mm WWII is worth 1 point (0.67 round up to be exact) however nets the extra twenty points  as it is cheekily a trap. Your standard 10 foot pole isn't going to help much though unless its to try and replace broken tracks. 

21 points

So, one down, four to go

The points for this post are 72 taking my running total to 184 (31% completed to date)

Stay safe and thanks for looking

From JasperO: Engineers enter the Chamber of Traps (45 points)

 I'm opening a two-pronged attack on the Chambers of Challenge. The USS Essex already engaged the Aquifer last week, and now it's time for the land entrance. I figured that the best way to handle the Hall of Traps was to send in the specialists. They're equipped to deal with that kind of stuff and can blow it up, or burn it, when discovered. So here's my team of WW2 US engineers, 28mm Empress miniatures sculpted by Paul Hicks, with an additional corporal from another set.

I've recently painted some much more simple Artizan and Crusader figures as well - coming soon to a Challenge blog near you - but these guys are just festooned with equipment. They take a lot more TLC to complete, but I do find them a joy to paint. The US fascination with Olive Drab makes them a sort of 'study in green'. In the end, a green primer with a wash would probably work as well, but I still prefer them this way.

With all the traps disabled, these five figures should come to 45 points I believe, and they leave me with a choice between the Chamber of Darkness or the Pit of the Pendulum. I'll have to see how far I can bend the interpretation of each to remain within the lines and still paint what I'd planned to paint for this year's Challenge.

*they didn't spot that one...*

Those engineers certainly do the trick for this chamber. Nice work Jasper.

Tamsin

AlanD - Into the Hall of Traps (40 points)

 

All these Romans I've been painting need some field fortifications! And what better way to ruin the impetus of a barbarian charge with a field of lilia. As described by Caesar in his Gallic Wars, these 'lilies' were conical pits with a stake in the bottom of each, laid out in a checkerboard pattern. 

As the pits were carefully camouflaged, modelling the traps is a compromise If the legionaries knew their trade, the base should just look like an empty patch of ground. That would, however, be boring on the tabletop, so I've made them more obvious than they would be to a Gallic warband.

The base is 12 inches long, so with the bonus for the Hall of Traps, I think this little entry earns me 40 points?

Oh, and my friend Mac asked if I bought the lilia from Footsore Miniatures........

From HerrRobert (Robert H): Iolas Paxina and the Hall of Traps (25 points)

As you may or may not know, when not creating stunning miniatures, my day job is a public health epidemiologist and disaster response guy. So while many of you have spent much of the last year chained to the painting tables in lockdown and quarantine, my year was spent fighting a real live war against a ruthless and deadly enemy, who neither gives nor asks quarter, for a less than grateful public.

It has, without question, absolutely sapped my ability or desire to paint. While I tried my best to contribute to the Isolation/Quarantine Challenge, my mojo died mid June, and pretty much everything but the buying of miniatures stopped. 

So, the threat of the cull has finally seen the first paint on brushes in a good seven months or so.

With that, I descend into the first chamber for Challenge XI: The Hall of Traps:  

A figure or unit which is trapped, stuck in a trap, snared, or lying in wait.  Watch your step, Challengers!

They rounded the corner and entered a chamber illuminated by a light, silvery glow. There insolently lounged an elf, a smirk upon his face. Faerie fire rose from his right hand, his left hand poised on his left hip, right behind his dagger. His long, blond hair was drawn back in a pony-tail, tucked around a scroll strapped to his turquoise open vest. Tight pink breeches, loud yellow boots, green bracers of defense and a silver ring at his belly button finished the ensemble. He was, without a doubt, the most foppish, the most outlandish elf they had ever seen.

 

 "Iolas Paxina?"

"But of course. Con su permiso, mon capitán? The hall is rented, the orchestra engaged. It's now time to see if we can dance."

My first entry is a 30mm custom miniature from Heroforge for the Hall of Traps. HeroForge has a pretty sweet, if expensive, custom miniature generator. I like playing with it for D&D characters, because the right miniature can really bring into focus what you want to do with the character. And Iolas Paxina is a great example.

 

Most fantasy settings have elves as unbelievably stuffy and stuck up, at least according to other races (cough, dwarves, cough!). I often like having my fantasy worlds play against type at times, so not everything is as cut and dried as many a rulebook will have them be. Playing with the miniatures generator, I quickly ended up with a smug, if not absolutely lascivious, elf. Clearly a fun-loving, all work and no play makes Iolas a dull boy kind of guy. 

The insouciant, devil-may-care pose and the smirk was absolutely perfect for the Hall of Traps, though whether he's laying in wait for the adventurers, an assignation or just a barmaid with the next round is yet to be determined. 

While I'm usually the DM, I prefer to play illusionists when I play mages. Blasters are boring, and while so many people see illusion as underpowered, they lack sufficient imagination. Given a good DM, illusion can be as powerful, or more powerful, than a good fireball, but without all the fuss and bother of all that destruction.

Illusionists tend to be flamboyant (my AD&D 2e Wizard's Handbook is packed up, so I can't quote the relevant paragraph), so I needed a suitably flashy color scheme. Lacking inspiration, I hit up the Austrian Hussars, and decided to go with sky blue for the vest, and pink for the breeches. Yellow boots were mandatory.

At 5 points for a 25-30mm figure, and 20 for the Hall of Traps, I'm on the board and avoiding the cull with a grand total of 25 points. 

So, there we go. One elf illusionist, ready to throw down in the Chambers of Challenge or carouse through all the bars, pubs, brothels and manor houses of your city of choice. Or both!

From Matt K - Entry Fee and More Necromunda (80 pts)

For this year's entry fee I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. For the Entry fee and for the Hall of Traps -

The figure is a Reaper bones figure that I've always wanted to paint. The Mimic. It was a super quick paint job but the sculpt has a decent amount of character to it. I have a ton of bones stuff I've grabbed over the years but this is actually the first on I've put paint to. I have a second one for my own collection so I figured I'd pass this on to one lucky winner. 

I kept the base generic stone grey in case the new owner wants to make it match their dungeon better. 

As you may remember last year, I spent a fair chunk of the challenge working on stuff for Necromunda. I havent painted a single Necromunda figure since last challenge surprisingly and even more strangely, I've only played the one game so far but boy do I love painting the figures. 

Here is a starting gang for Van Saar. Like an idiot I went to order the new figures for this gang along side the book and accidentally ordered a second box of gangers. 

I pulled the actual list from a Goonhammer article but added the shield just because the clear plastic is neat. In keeping with my new goal of finishing two things before buying one, I'm holding out on buying the new stuff until I get another box finished but I'm already about halfway through building the Orlock Gang. 

All told, 1 x 28mm figure 5pts, Hall of Traps 20pts, Entry Fee Bonus 20pts, 7 x 28mm figures 35pts for a total of 80 pts

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Very nice Matt -the Mimic figure is full of character, as is anything from GW's Necromunda range.

80 points for your treasure chest!

Cap'n Wednesday

From PhilH: Setting an Ambush at the Hall of Traps (60 points)

I immediately knew where I'd enter the Chambers of Challenge, as it mapped perfectly onto a new project I'm hoping to get a good run at during the Challenge. So somewhat later than planned, my first group of warriors from the Mohawk or perhaps Huron tribe, joining the struggle for dominance of North America during the French and Indian War. 

The FIW is surely a conflict defined by ambushes and raids in the North American wilderness, with the odd siege and pitched battle. And the natives tribes that threw in their lot with one of other (or both!) European power s to bolster their regular and militia forces were masterful at setting ambushes. 

A salutory lesson on their importance during the conflict comes from the Braddock Expedition early in the conflict. A column 1300 strong led by British General Edward Braddock, marched to contest French at the 'forks of the Ohio'. Recently arrived in North America, Braddock was scornful of employing native American tribes as warriors and scouts, instead cutting a path through the wilderness to move his European-style army and baggage train. Scouting parties reporting the expedition to the French commander at Fort Duquesne Captain Daniel Hyancinthe Lienard de Beujeau (what a name!), who rushed from the fort to set an ambush. Before they could do so, the columns encountered each other at an Indian hunting ground by the Monongahela River. The ground suited de Beajeu's Canadian militiamen and 650 native allies, who enveloped Braddock's column from the treeline, inflicting heavy casualties and breaking the British column in a chaotic firefight. 

Nine native warriors, though one was painted in a test scheme before the Challenge. These took inordinately long to do, hence my late entry to the challenge, with many gubbins, widgits, detailing and warpaint. I’m trying to do bigger batches to get things done quicker, but  I suspect a smaller batch would actually work better for these. 

Hopefully you'll see some more of these by Challenge end, after some inevitable distractions as I amble through the Chambers...

From TeemuL: Trapped, tasty hobbits, The Hall of Traps (27 points)

Venerable S.N. Owl-Ord descends the stairs to the Level 1 of the Chambers of Challenge, although he doesn't know it himself. He feels a bit lost, but that is normal to him, so the little uneasiness doesn't bother him too much. Anyway, he starts to feel he took a wrong turn somewhere when going to the principal's office, when he hears a cry "Keep you hands of him!" from the corner of the dark room. There seems to be a small man or a young boy, mostly in greens, but a little bit difficult to properly see, he had a huge cloak, which seemed to camouflage him quite well. In a dim light he also noticed another young one, clearly trapped in some kind of wraps. The glowing dagger, real or fake, in the hand of the screamer was enough hint for our Shellington to quickly continue his journey, pardoning his interruption. Someone was whispering about "tasty hobbitses" in the shadows and the screaming guy said something like "I'm here, master", so most likely the principal's office was just around the corner.

Keep your hands off him!

My first step in the Chambers of Challenge. While I first went through the list of the rooms, I was thinking, it is difficult to get something for most of the rooms, may be I just skip the Chambers and paint what I like. But after re-reading the list couple of times, I started to get ideas and this was one of them. Frodo here is as trapped as a hobbit can, in the clutches of Shelob. I decided to paint the Sam as well, I wonder what I will paint for the Pit of the Pendulum, what could be there to terrify our Shellington?

These miniatures are metal miniatures from Games Workshop, released around the time of the Return of the King movie. I guess these are sculpted by Michael Perry and Trish Morrison is credited for the other stuff in the box. Frodo was quite a simple paint job, I tried to get his face quite pale and lifeless.

Sam was a bit trickier, since 20 years ago I painted my first Sam with dark green pants and light green jacket. This sculpt has elven cloak, which I have painted very dark green for other members of the Fellowship in the past. So trying to get different shades of green to different clothes was bit tricky, and I'm not 100% happy with the outcome. I played around a bit, I painted the cloak with Warboss Green and then painted it again with Ork Flesh Contrast paint, like a wash, to make it darker and have the shadows. Jacket and trousers are different greens washed with Biel Tan Green.and then highlighted with light greens and yellow. The flask in the hand is not very visible in the photos, but it is silver highlighted with white to mimic the Light (trapped) inside.

For the scoring purposes, 28mm hobbits have been scored 5 points a piece in the past, so I'll continue with that. Frodo is prone, so it would be half the points, but I'll be happy with 2, rounding down because of the hobbits.

7 points for the hobbits

20 points for the room

Total 27 points and 7 points for my GW side duel (137 in total now, I guess), I might jump in the top half for a while now...

BenF: John Morgan (Hall of Traps) (25 points)

Well, its been a very slow start for me, but lots of rain has meant that I have a bit of a varnish backlog. 

For my first entry I ventured into the depths of the chambers of challenge, specifically the terrifying hall of traps. This figure is John Morgan, paranormal investigator from the Cthulhu: Death May Die game. The premise of the game is that investigators are surrounded by various Eldritch horrors, and they must fight their way out by disrupting a ritual summoning Cthulhu or another great old one and leading to the end of the world. In his unpainted form, he has battled alongside Rasputin, Hemingway, and Lizzy Borden to vanquish the Elder God Hastur, the horrifying king in yellow. 

Morgan is clearly inspired by another pulp hero famous for raiding and crusading for lost arks and doomed temples. DMD is a really fun, immersive cooperative game, and the lovely sculpts are crying out to be painted up. I've got a few great old ones, horrors, and other investigators coming up, and they should help me make my way through the unspeakable depths of the Chambers of Challenge.

I've also got lots of other odds and sods, 6mm Napoleonic Russians, 1/300 eastern front aircraft, 20mm WW2 Soviets and some Star Wars Legion figures, including a Vader and Luke which I plan to pimp out by adding LED lightsabers.

So, by my reckoning Morgan should bank me 25 points, 5 for the 28mm(ish) figure and 20 for the hall of traps.

from JeremyM: Aliens Hall of Traps (75 points)

 Hi all,

So now that I've paid my cost of entry (I actually accidently posted it to Curt's regular blog yesterday...Wups!), time to get going on some of the challenge chambers. I'll start off with the Hall of Traps with some trapped Aliens. These are all 28mm figures from Prodos Games, who no longer holds the license to make them. I know some people felt they got burned by their kickstarter, but they really made wonderful figures that definitely captured the spirit of the Aliens Universe. 

Here is the group all together. Most are from the second edition of the AVP the Hunt Begins game or its expansions.

The bigger vignette was a limited edition figure they released right before loosing the license. Its basically the iconic scene of Vasquez in the ventilation shaft 'trapping' an alien right before she shoots it. Unfortunately the acidic blood means she is nearly as hurt as the creature. I was rather intimidated to paint this but couldn't not do it as I liked the duality it suggested as 'who was really trapped' given the ultimate outcome of the scene. Now having just rewatched the film today I realized they likely didn't have the rights from the actor as she wasn't wearing the vest or ball cap she is depicted as donning on the mini...but we all know who they meant to sculpt.

Here are three more figures from the series that I also thought fit the 'Hall of Traps' theme. Two are alien stalkers (aka the dog alien from Alien 3) that appear to be stuck (or perhaps trying to attack under) in some machinery and a yellow pipe. There is also an alien soldier emerging from a pipe, probably my favourite mini from the entire range.

And above there are some of the other Alien Warriors and Stalker friends I painted up at the same time. Originally they were just partially painted as I was testing out some different painting schemes and techniques and figured I came this far why not just finish them all up. 

So for my first room in the challenge I have 11 28mm figures (I figure Vasquez and the alien count as 2) with the room bonus I think that puts me at 75 points for this stage.

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"Yeah, but secreted from what?" It doesn't get much freakier than that -  a classic SciFi trap and these models are lovely! 

Whatever else surrounded that Prodos KS and its issues, those dynamic alien models are the bomb and you've done them proud. 75 points well earned Jeremy!

Cap'n Wednesday

From Matt T, Entering the Chambers of Challenge

Thought I would start the year by entering the Chambers of Challenge. I don't do a lot of fantasy gaming but I love painting up fantasy minis. It is always a blast of nostalgia, and the challenge is the perfect excuse to paint some up.

Level 1 -  Hall of Traps

Our poor brave heroes forever trapped as stone statues - 

Or poor Medusa, trapped and portrayed as a monster for all time by cruel and jealous gods.

3 x 28mm models + bonus = 35pts

Level 1 - Pit of the Pendulum

SWOOSH goes the headsmans axe-

1 x 28mm model + bonus = 25pts

60 pts total, not a bad start. Stay safe out there.

Matt Todd

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Cap'n Wednesday likes a feisty wench, there be no doubt. But one who can turn him to stone with a look is a Harridan to avoid, thats to be sure! A fantastic little vignette Matt, and I love the bright colours too.

The Headsman is also a wonderfully thematic fig - you can almost hear him yelling "Next!" to his henchmen.

60 points it is!

Cap'n Wednesday

From StephenS: It's always a trap...

 G'day Everyone,

A bit slow out of the starting blocks this year (or should that be last year?) but I finally have an entry ready to show off. It's good to be back again!

These models are the final four figures I had left from the starter set I picked up when the game was released. It's good to have them finished, though I may have one or two others in the queue...

We all know that every good comic book needs the heroes to be trapped so that the plan can be carefully explained to bring everyone up to speed, then the hero is inexplicably left unguarded so that they can escape just before an unusually slow and overly complicated execution is carried out.

I have two long-time antagonists Captain America and the Red Skull. However, the Red Skull has teamed up with two other Marvel villains, Crossbones and Ultron. Will this finally be the end for our intrepid hero? Will the dastardly villains put their awful plan into motion and doom the world? Or will our brave hero find some way to foil them once more? Tune in next week to find out...

All up that is four 40 mm plastic models and the Hall of Traps bonus for, hopefully, 48 points.

Cheers,

Steve

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Ahoy Steve - some great and novel submissions to get off the mark!

All these figs are very nicely painted indeed. I do love me a Red Skull, played so well by Lord Elrond/Agent Smith in the first movie, and he was indeed rather good at laying traps for Captain Steve.  Sadly missing from the range is my other favourite, the Red Guardian - a Soviet super-soldier and Marxist equivalent of Captain A from behind the Iron Curtain. 

I hope he gets appropriate attention and focus too! 

48 points in the bag

Cap'n Wednesday