Chaos Centaurs, the Laboratory, Mark Backhouse, (52 points)

 For the laboratory I had a nice conversion I wanted to make. I’d always liked Chaos Centaurs, although proper 80’s Citadel ones go for an arm and a leg. Instead these were made from old Westwind horses that had sat in a box for about 15 years collecting dust. I chose them as they were expendable but also a bit on the small side. They were combined with the fearsome looking Foundry Viking figures that I had doubles of. A bit of drilling and pinning later and the line between the two were blended with some green stuff to pass as a hairy area. 

To make them look properly chaotic I decided to give them some exotic patterns on his skin. These tiger stripes were great fun and makes the centaur look suitably wild and ferocious! The pattern on his beard helps to tie it all in together.

The zebra stripes came out a treat too!

This chap has a really fearsome looking club!

Annoyingly I painted these up for my Realms of Chaos project and then realised you couldn’t actually roll them on the warbands table! Not that it’ll stop me using them. I’ll probably just swap them for another choice costing roughly the same number of points. 

Such crazy experiments tick the laboratory box for 20 points. Centaurs aren’t quite cavalry - so I’m claiming 8 points for each conversion totalling 32 more points. 

So a grand total of 52 points.

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

The tomb - stone circle and Chaos Sorcerer! Mark Backhouse (27 points)

For the tomb I thought a henge or stone circle would tick the box nicely. This is another wee tiny 2mm treat on a 60mm x 60mm base. A stone circle with a few enthusiastic druids. 

I’ve also painted an inhabitant - albeit in a completely different scale! An undead Chaos Sorcerer!

This ugly wizard is from Heroquest! He’s been given a reboot paint job and a Nurgling for good measure just in case you didn’t realise his allegiance to Nurgle! His horrible pox was cured by Nurgle (see the scars on his legs) and therefore he seeks to serve the dark gods! He will be a nice addition to my Nurgle Realms of Chaos warband.

A few skulls there to keep the Oldhammer skull collectors happy too.

I’m claiming 5 points for the 28mm figure and 2 for the standing stones. 20 for the tomb challenge making a glorious total of 27 points.

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

 

The oubliette - Beastmen from old tat, Mark Backhouse, (30 points)

 For the oubliette I was looking for old figures I could convert. In my old school Realms of Chaos project I needed figures to represent Beastmen and frankly the 5 figures I had weren’t sufficient. I decided I wanted to make some more from other figures as I couldn’t be bothered to pay eBay scalping prices. I rummaged through my big box of spare figures from old projects and came across some Black Tree Saxon figures that I’d last seen when I was making a Shieldwall army in about 2007. These would be a perfect way to use some long forgotten and unloved figures. The figures were not too bad but the heads didn’t look beastly enough.

The heads were swiftly removed and replaced with Greenstuff beast heads. I used a Bluestuff press mould of some older figures I had, and then grafted them onto the Saxon bodies adding extra hair. They look pretty monstrous, but I suppose that’s the whole point. The goat one had extra wire horns that I then used Greenstuff to sculpt into something more ornate. I had a spare dog head then I sculpted onto a shield - as a 3D face of Khorne bursting out to bark at any attackers to terrify them!

The other shields originally had a slogan on it but it looked naff, so I repainted it as a grimacing red dog beast face. In the box I also found some Foundry Vikings. These were also converted into something crazy, but the results are best saved for the laboratory on the next floor of the dungeon I think! I’ve the last one still to paint as well.

While maybe not quite Oldhammer for a purist collector these Black Tree conversions tick the box nicely for me. The simple and understated sculpting is much more to my preference then the outrageously dynamic and over detailed figures that GW produce these days!

So a simple 28mm x 2 figures = 10 points

Oubliette challenge completed = 20 points

Grand total = 30 points

Heroquest Chaos Warrior - The armoury, Mark Backhouse (25 points)

 For the armoury the next challenge was something armoured. Along with painting lots of ancients in 2mm I’m also painting a few Realms of Chaos Oldhammer figures as a bit of escapism. I managed to find a few old Chaos Warriors and decided they deserved a repaint. I’d seen some beautiful repainted Heroquest figures recently which served as inspiration. The best thing about Heroquest certainly isn’t the Barbarian, no sir! This figure is the best! This one was painted in blue to be a warrior of Tzeentch as I’ve already got a champion for Khorne and Slaanesh. I might do the others as servers of other dark gods later, and it would be rude not to convert one as a champion of Nurgle at a later date.

For a single piece plastic figure from thirty years ago I think he came out really nicely. The simplicity of the figure made him a real pleasure to paint. I’ll add some daft backstory to him and enjoy reliving my youth with a few games with him.

I’d actually painted this chap right at the start of the challenge but saved him for this room in the dungeon.

Hopefully had ticks the armoured figure requirements nicely for the challenge so I make that 20 points for the challenge and 5 for the single 28mm figure. A total of 25 points.

On now to the hall of ancestors... hmmm I wonder what I could do for that?

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

From MarkB: Uzgrub the Troll champion - Pit and Pendulum (35 points)

 For the next chamber in the dungeon I needed something terrifying. I’ve been painting a Realms of Chaos warband or two over the last few months and rolled up a Troll. I’d already got a few Trolls in my Orcs and Goblins army but fancied painting a new one for it. I purchased a few of this figure (Grenadier sculpt now sold by Miriliton and Forlorn Hope) because they were very cheap and affordable Trolls. They are also easy to convert into cool unique figures.

 

I’ve converted them fairly heavily with greenstuff. For this one I’ve added a Minotaur pelt and horns, a new mouth - because the gaping awkwardly face was one of the weaker parts of the original sculpt and done a simple conversion on the pick axe turning it into a ferocious warhammer! I also added some classic Oldhammer style mushrooms out of wire and greenstuff as a homage to those fantastic Kevin Adam’s paint jobs from the 80s.

This is the original figure!

Uzgrub will make a fine addition to my warband and with the pelt from a Minotaur champion on his back his prowess to the dark gods has been proven!

He’s in 28mm but a pretty big figure so I’m going to claim 8 points for him. Plus 20 for painting something terrifying. He’d certainly have me running the other way if I met him on a dark night!

8 +20 = 28 points. 

Cheers

Mark Backhouse