From RayR: A trip into the Abyss via the Retreat from Moscow (115 points)

  

For this post I'm travelling down the Abyss on my way to Paradise, I've already completed some Wagons for  Limbo, so my next stop will be Lust!

Everyone starts at the First Circle in the Abyss ('Limbo'). The only way to get to Paradise is to traverse five (5) of the infernal locations first. Once in Paradise you will have another 5 circles to complete and are not be able to return to the Abyss.

Second Circle: Lust
Of course this could be something titillating but it could also be the miniature that you've always wanted for your collection but have denied yourself. One of the few times where I condone NSFW content. Young visitors may wish to avert their eyes.

I've had this col Bill's Vivandiere for some time, I bought her knowing one day she would fit into a bonus round in the Challenge, I still have at least 20 other similar figures waiting for their chance to fit in somewhere???

Marie Tete du Bois, followed the Grande Armee into Russia giving out bacon bagets and shots of brandy to warm up the weary soldiers, trouble was, that wasn't the only thing she gave out to warm the soldiers up!!!

A vivandière was a woman who sold food and drink to soldiers in the military. The term comes from the French word vivandier, which means "hospitable man".

From The Second Circle of Lust I shall now move down to the Third Circle Gluttony!!!

My first none Retreat from Moscow figure in Challenge 15.

Third Circle: Gluttony

Would you like your meal supersized? Show us a figure who has overindulged at the table. A little too much Holiday feasting perhaps?

Technically he's not got a big belly, but Hercules sure is a Glutton for punishment!

Having tried to kill Heracles ever since he was born, Hera induced a madness in him that made him kill his wife and children. Afterwards, Heracles went to the Oracle of Delphii to atone, where he prayed to the god Apollo for guidance. Heracles was told to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, for ten years. During this time, he was sent to perform a series of difficult feats, called labours

1. Slaying the Nemean lion
2. Slaying the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra
3. Capturing the Ceryneian Hind
4. Capturing the Erymanthian Boar
5. Cleaning the Augean stables in a single day
6. Slaying the Stymphalian birds
7. Capturing the Cretan Bull
8. Stealing the Mares of Diomedes
9. Obtaining the belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons
10. Obtaining the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon
11. Stealing three of the golden apples of the Hesperides
12. Capturing and bringing back Cerberus

Each year I paint a figure for my Dad at Christmas and for his birthday in January, Hercules was painted up for his birthday. The figure is from North Stars Of Gods and Mortals range of figures, and is a large 28mm figure, more like 35mm, we'll he was a giant of a man.

Next down the Abyss we come to the 4th Circle Greed.

Fourth Circle: Greed

As the depraved Emcee in the musical 'Cabaret' sang, 'Money makes the world go around...' Submit something illustrating an unbridled lust for filthy lucre.

And who better to paint up to represent Greed. Some say he was the greatest military commander ever, but Greed drove Napoleon to attack the Russians in 1812 and we all know how that ended up, don't we?

This is a very simple figure from Eureka, but what a great looking figure it is, he should make a great objective in a game of Sharpe Practice, "Capture the Emperor"

For my 5th and last entry for the Abyss bonus round I'm heading for the 7th Circle Violence, but before that I've got to beg the help of Succubus Sarah to help me get there, so as a sacrifice I offer up, Jeanette Morel.

Jeanette is one of the Grande Armee's camp followers.

She is following the column of bedraggled soldiers heading away from Moscow.

and the marauding Cossacks

Hence she is holding a pistol, pointing it menacingly.....I wonder if its loaded?

She is part of pack FN193 Camp Followers from the mighty Perry Twins

Thanks to Sarah and Jeanette, we now find ourselves at the last Abyss Circle.......Violence!

Seventh Circle: Violence
Hmm, as many of us are wargamers I don't think I need to elaborate on this one too much.

I'm sure you'll all agree, this was probably the easiest of the circles to paint. Any of my previous or forthcoming entries (yours too) could fit in here.

These 2 groups of figures are once again from Perry Miniatures, they are what was left from pack FN194 Scavengers!

Both show that violent horrible side of war.

Beating a fellow countryman for a blanket...

And robbing the dead of a pair of boots!!!

So ends my marathon and onto the points!

Lust - Marie Tete du Bois 5pts plus 20 bonus = 25pts

Gluttony - Hercules 5pts plus 20 bonus = 25pts

Greed - Napoleon 5pts plus 20 bonus = 25pts

Sarah Succubus - Jeanette Morel 5pts plus 20 bonus = 25pts

Violence - Scavengers 20pts plus 20 bonus = 40 pts

That make a grand total of 140 points!

TeemuL: Our third double poster today! Ray, you have been busy this week, busy indeed! And how wonderful, that you have managed to combine your winter project with the Theme Rounds. All of them great entries and your traditional birthday present to your father is a nice habit, too. It would be easy to think, that AHPC is the same every year, but it is not. I guess Snowlord just wants to keep us minions on toes... This year there are no bonus points for Sarah the Succubus, she just grants you the passage, but no bonus points. So I have to deduct 20 points. Some things are same, like counting prone minis as half points, so I'll take another five points away from those two prone minis, but you still get 115 points from this post. And yes, great brushwork and these minis give nice variation to your units or as objectives or table candy. Thank you!

From PaulSS: A Sharp connection of Lust and Gluttony (55 points)

 

I was suffering a bit with "the Lurgy" this week but wanted to give Teemu a break from the 6mm Napoleonic onslaught I've been subjecting him to.

So I pulled out a couple of figures in the 28mm Napoleonic backlog that I think are perfect for the Lust and Gluttony circles of The Abyss.

First up is Colonel Claude Runciman, Wagon-Master General, he is described as an obese, indolent man, who because of his post as wagon-master general, attempts to get Richard Sharpe to refer to him as "General."

Sharp fandom wiki

This figure was the show figure, I think from a couple of years ago that chum James picked up for me knowing I would be interested.

I think he fits the Gluttony quite well, chowing down on his chicken leg in this sculpt.

The second figure represents Josefina Lacosta, Sharpe coveted her, but is told he'll never be able to afford her, so that fits right in with Lust. 

Sharp fandom wiki

This is a Brigade Games figure.

I rather rushed this one and the flesh tones have come out pretty terribly, I'll likely redo the skin tones.

I think many a lustful though was had when Katia Caballero played Josefina in Sharpe's Eagle and then especially when Elizabeth Hurley played her in Sharpe's Enemy back in the early 90's

One, 28mm mounted, plus one 28mm foot plus the two location bonuses should net me 55pts and take me over half way to my target!

TeemuL: I must say Paul, your skills with these 6mm Napoleonics are excellent, they almost look like 28mm minis! Hats off! :)

I'll buy your explanations on the theme rounds, very nice entries. I especially like the general, but Josefina looks fine, too. Maybe your redo of the skin will make her even better. You are now over half way of your target while the Challenge itself is not, so you can breathe a bit and fight that lurgy and reach your target in schedule. I just wonder what you might be painting next. Snow? Silver Bayonet?

Entering the Second Circle: Lust NSFW (25 points)

 Hoi,

Yes, well erm...now I usually try to stay away from unnecessarily unclad miniatures, but sometimes oopsies happen. In my search for suitable Mordheim figures I stumbled along Wargames Exclusive "The Mercenaries Collection". I would have loved to put up a link for you but it seems they're no longer selling the figures in this bundle. They were based on the Johan the Knife, Ulli and Marquand and a female Landsknecht figure. A 5th figure was included and at first glance this seemed to be a second female Landsknecht. Now I think women arehighly underrepresented in the fantasy lines of GW like figures so didn't mind getting two of them for use in my Mordheim Warbands. What I didnt notice, was that one of these ladies was the pin-up version...

Oh well, I have a good friend, Martijn, not our own "Minion Martijn"but a different one, who will like this figure a lot, he has a FLGS and the colours of his store's logo are red and white hence the colourscheme.  

The base is a 3D printed 25x 25 base and the texture is greenstuff with cobblestones rolled into it with a Green Stuff World texture roller. I am a little uncomfortable to post this figure but I am happy with the crispness of the painting and the colours. The resin WE uses for their figures is a joy to work with. 

Points are a no-brainer: 1x 28mm figure and bonus is 25 points

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Hey Sander

I totally understand your reluctance to post this NSFW figure, but she is more clothed than most of the 'pin up ' types available. And ... since it is the Second Circle Lust, she is appropriately dressed to display her ample attributes!

The colour scheme is great, I really like the saucy yellow feather

5points 28mm figure and 20 location points

See you next week!

Sarah

From FrederickC: Soviet Casualties and Two Circles of Hell [Lust] [Gluttony] (72 points)

This week's submission will be a bit lean due to real life seriously impacting on my painting time. The only day that did not have some other event was Thursday. Hopefully things will finally open up in the coming weeks.

First up is a group of eight 28mm Soviet casualties in Summer uniforms by May '40 Miniatures that I picked up at Historicon last July. Having done a set of German casualties as pin markers last year for AHPC XIV, I thought I would expand my collection with additional markers for some of my other Bolt Action armies. Alas, I could only find the Soviet casualties among all the dealers there. 

The bases were cut from old dining gift cards, and a small box was made to accommodate a die at one end. I then built up the base with Spackle and pushed a figure into it while still wet. Once the Spackle was dry, the figures were then removed and the base covered with sand and painted with craft paints. The figures were primed black with a rattle can and then painted using Vallejo acrylics and Citadel washes before being glued back onto the bases. As a final touch, I added some grass flocking and a few tufts of vegetation. 

All eight pin markers

A close up of two of the poses

A close up of the other two poses

Now I'll tackle the next two Circles of Hell starting with Lust. I didn't have anything in my existing inventory to fit the bill, but was able to find an inexpensive stl file on MyMiniFactory of a Succubus with Chain Whip, that was also described as a Lust Demon. That seems appropriate for this circle.

A friend printed the figure for 28mm scale, although it actually stands 32mm tall. The detail is very fine, and the wings and chain whip are quite fragile. I can't see this lasting very long on the tabletop before something gets broken. It was primed black with an airbrush, and then painted (very carefully) with Vallejo acrylics. I kept the palette simple with shades of red and black/dark grey. Here's the final result.

The Circle of the Lustful by William Blake

The next Circle of Hell is Gluttony. Again I didn't have anything in my stash of 'great unpainted', but was able to find another stl on MyMiniFactory of a fat lord on his throne stuffing his guts. This is a 40mm figure that comes in three pieces - the base, the throne, and the fat lord, which definitely made it easier to paint on the detail. The pieces were primed black with an airbrush and then painted with Vallejo acrylics with a few Citadel washes. Once completed, the separate parts were glued together. Here is our fat town lord with a drumstick on one hand and a goblet in the other, while a broken wine bottle lies at his feet.

 

Cerberus guarding the Third Circle of Hell - Gluttony by William Blake

 

The points being claimed are as follows:

8 x 28mm prone figures @ 2,5 points each = 20 points

 

1 x 28mm foot figure @ 5 points =  5 points

1 x 40mm figure @ 7 points = 7 points

 

2 x Circles of Hell - Lust & Gluttony = 40 points 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sylvain: Although it was a "slow" week for you, 72 points is still very impressive. The Soviet casualties will come in handy as the Soviets, obviously, usually have lots of casualties. I like your two "sins", especially the fat lardy. The brown tones you used for him perfectly do the job. Now I will make sure to get into my underground shelter before next Saturday as I know you will send a big point bomb my way... Well done!

 

 

 

From TeemuL: Lust and Gluttony [Lust] [Gluttony] (60 points)

Finally making some progress in the theme Challenge (see below for a pretty map).

First we embrace Lust. 20+ years ago when I was getting into the GW hobby during the initial release of LotR SBG, after a bit of Bood Bowl every now and then, I browsed GW catalogue and Dark Elf Morathi was tempting me. However, I was bit scared for such an expensive and big model, which I had no game use, so I skipped her and bought Sorceress on Cold One instead. My other hobby money went to LotR and then to 40K minis, following the interests of my friends. Morathi has haunted me ever since and I was happy when she was on Made-to-Order campaign. I waited a few days to decide if I'd buy something else and after making the decision Morathi was gone. She no longer existed on the webshop, no explanations found... I have heard rumours, that no-one got Morathi, not even those who managed to place their orders in good time. Other rumour tells GW broke the mould, and could not reproduce her anymore, that's why she was withdrawn. All these rumours came from internet, so probably true.

I was extremely happy and quick, when some years later I noticed Morathi available in one of the 2nd hand forums and gladly bought her - for less money than MTO was supposed to be. It took couple of years to gather courage to paint her, but finally here she is. Rather simple mini in the end, not that scary. Not that many details, not on the mount nor on the rider. I painted her in couple of days among other stuff, so I was kind of disappointed - something I had lusted for was something rather simple, oh the irony. I made some highlights on the pegasus, grey to pick up details and shape of the wings, yellowish horns and spikes, grey mantle and read on the head to give a bit supernatural feeling. On Morathi I tried to get pale but real skin, some hightlights on the hair and several layers of metallics on her staff, which I came out better than I expected. I tried my best to highlight the tits, too, of course.

On the other hand the Morathi mini represent other kind of lust, too. She is the head of the Cult of Pleasure in the Old World. I quote Warhammerwiki now: "All who look upon her risk luxuriating in the aura of unbridled, wanton lust that she projects." I don't know if Sarah the minion is familiar with the Old World Dark Elves, Morathi, Cult of Pleasure and other relevant subjects, but I'm sure Curt can give you detailed lesson and spread out some source material or give some practical demonstrations. And if you have heard something about Slaanesh, this is not Slaanesh, this is an elf thing, pure and beautiful...

I think this is the best photo, light comes nicely to wings etc

Thirdly Morathi represent just pure teenaged-boy lust as a miniature with her almost naked body. Leia Organa's golden bikini, classic chainmail bikini and Morathi's outfit are probably in the top 3 of many fantasies of imaginative boys (most likely many imaginative girls, too). With these three arguments I claim the Lust bonus points.

Trying to focus on the staff...

Time to move on, next stop Gluttony. I was a bit puzzled by this in the first place, but then remembered these Fatties I got from Warlord Games Mystery Box. There should be three of them in one pack, but unfortunately my pack had just 2 torsoes and 4 feet... Being part of the Mystery Box and unboxed several months later, I decided to keep the damage to myself. Anyway, 2 Fatties are more than enough for Gluttony.

While Morathi was painted with traditional colours and "1990s style", these Fatties were painted mostly with Contrast paints, occasional metal or detail picked up with normal paints. I ended up drybrushing their clothes a little, since the Contrast colours were too dark for me. The skin colour is rather interesting choice, I decided to paint the skin with "Skeleton Horde" contrast, to give a bit unnatural and unhealthy look on them, and I think it works ok.

They have clearly eaten too much, but they still have a tray carried around their neck with some tasty snacks to eat whenever. I have no knowledge of their lore in the Judge Dredd universe, but apparently they have some. I don't think these will end up as gaming pieces, or at least not for Judge Dredd games. Some random skirmish game might need these kind of fellows, we'll see.

Females eyes look rather nice

I think these two count for Gluttony, so I claim points for the third circle, too. I have a good idea for the fourth circle, but I guess I need to hitch my way onward after that...

One 28mm mounted metal mini for 10 points

Two 28mm resin minis for another 10 points

Two Bonus Locations for 40 points

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Hi Teemu

I very much like the 'pretty' map of Dantes Abyss & Paradise.  I need visual reminders/cues, so I completely appreciate & shamelessly copied your drawings :)

Terrific backstory on your "lust" figure, Morathi. It is true that so often the object of ones lust does not live up to expectations.  Kinda depressing .. but there it is. 

Which then leads us to gluttony ... which means an over-indulgence and over- consumption and your two fatties certainly fit the  definition.

All three of these figures have been beautifully painted,  the colours selected have really enhanced their overall vibe.

I love it all!

60 points added to your scoreboard

- Sarah