Monday 30 December 2019

From Paul O'G: Monolith at Cook's Crevase (55 points)

Deep in the forbidden forrest, shadowy figures dance and writhe, chant and drum. 
Shadows flicker over an edifice of horror erected to Dark Gods...


To close out the hobby year, my next stop on Challenge Island is Cook's Crevase where "Entries must have a Geology Theme".  I may even be the first to visit this place, and what says Geology more than a giant, creepy stone Monolith!

Rear view - more skulls and grisly trophies!
This adds to my growing Fantasy terrain collection - the model is the current GW Herdstone model, useful for any large blasphemy or even Pulp era Cthulhu cultists (and its been way too long since I painted anything for that genre).  A relatively expensive plastic kit, it was a real delight to paint and had a myriad of details that I spent waaaay too long on for a Painting Challenge - I'm just not a speed painter at heart, and if detail is there then it needs to be painted!

Side view
I went with a darker granite colour rather than a more typical grey rock - I think it gives it a more sinister appearance.  I also tried some OSL effects from the fire, keeping the bottom half of the monolith a bit darker to make that more effective and also help the lower runestones show up better.  So while the colours looks straight forward, I thought about them in far more detail than I usually would bother!


This entry is also my opening salvo for the "Skully McSkullface" side challenge which Barks initiated, and its a skull laden good 'un too:

Fireplace: 11 - yes Barks, I even painted the ones facing the inside
Herdstone: 24, I lost one along the way :-(
Model Base: 9
Total SkullCount: 44!
Evidence for Barks - painted skulls on the reverse side of the fire before the main stone is glued in.
Details of the fire OSL - fun, but time consuming!


Points wise this fills a full 6inch terrain 'cube' for 20 points.  I'll let Curt decide what bonus points the detailing/OSL are worth, plus another 30 points for the map location.

____________________________


This is truly a great geologic find, Paul. Geez, look, at least 44 geologist gave their lives in its discovery - poor dumb b@stards. Skully McSkullface indeed! 

Good gravy, I just looked up the price for one of these things! You have sold your soul to some dark power, O'Grady. You must be stopped. We call upon the only man who can thwart you... Barks. 

Game on.

55 points. I know, it's tough love, Paul, but it's character building and you'll thank me in the end... ;P

37 comments:

  1. perfect, the darker colour makes it more likely to be basalt, 1 of those 45 geologists survived

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  2. Smashing work on this, the OSL works great and it is a lovely kit.

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  3. Lovely looking lump of stone!
    Best Iain

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  4. Really brilliant detail! Is OSL "one source lighting", "one skull lost" or "one stunning lith"?

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  5. Wow! There’s no better place than the Challenge for fussing over details when the result is as emotionally scarring as this one. Great to see the Skullometer rack up few notches..

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  6. Fantastic work on this.
    I recall my first Beastman herdstone being an interesting rock I found in the garden ;)

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  7. That's some awesome scary weirdness 😱

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  8. What an awesome piece of terrain and the scenic backdrop you used for the pictures is even more brilliant! You also have inspired me as to my choice of entry for this particular spot on the Island thanks heaps mate!

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  9. Cracking work. I snagged one of these for 8 quid at a bring and buy. It’s waiting for me to revisit my Mythos nonsense

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    1. Thanks indeed - looking forward to seeing yours done too!

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  10. That's a really cool piece mate! Love it.

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  11. Great looking scenery, and plenty of skulls to show its pedigree.

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  12. A great choice for the island location! I know what you mean about painting the details if they are there...

    The Skull-o-meter will not be idle this challenge!

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    1. Thanks mate!

      I've stocked up on the Skeleton Bone and Skull White paints in preparation :-)

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