From Paul O'G: The Beastmen Cometh (125 points)

Apologies up front for the recent lack of presence other than Minioning duties - in the last few weeks I have moved house, started a new job (which is involved in the current natural disasters here) and... real life stuff.  So sorry about the lack of comments on your entries, there has been some really awesome stuff here of late!

One of my AHPC objectives this year is to work on a Beasts of Chaos/Beastman force.  A few years ago I did a Beastmen unit as allies for my Chaos Raider army but have now been goaded into expanding to a full force. And I am a sucker of hobby peer pressure...

I have gone with 12 figure units for use with Dragon Rampant, but as I find figures will add to them for Oathmark and maybe even a spot of OldHammer (shhh...)  Here are the first two units: 1 each of Gors and the smaller Ungors, plus a War Leader to inspire their ferocity - all GW models of course.

It was good to experiment with GW contrast paints, of which much has been commented.  In the right context they worked nicely: specifically the fur, shields and other high detail areas came out well indeed. However, for larger or smooth surfaces I went back to traditional techniques which delivered the look I much prefer.  I've also been playing with some different inks to give the flesh on different units a different look - representing different tribes coming together to make the Warband.  Some work better than others - the Ungors look a little like baby Hellboy :-)

Skull-o-meter update: these 25 figs and their two hand painted banners are adorned with a total of 23 skulls (plus a few fleshy and seemingly recently severed heads that clearly aren't classical 'skulls' so weren't counted). Coupled with the 44 previously recorded skulls from the Herdstone model, this takes me to 67 noggins in the renowned "Skully McSkullface" side challenge. Not the same high skull to figure ration as say a 40k Chaos army, it seems nonetheless quite reasonable.

Overall for this entry, that is 25 figs in 28mm, for a total of 125 points.
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Hobby peer pressure is real and must not be resisted. ;)

Paul, these beastmen are brilliant. These make me a little nostalgic as my first Warhammer Fantasy army was Beastmen (Back when the lowliest ungor had 2 wounds!). Nice, clean brushwork here, and I really like the verdant basework - it gives the impression that they're in a forest glade. I also think their skintones are great, even the 'Hellboy' ungors (they'll lighten up with age). I agree with you on the weakness of the Contrast paints on models with large, smooth surfaces - they seem better utilized on figures with a good amount of relief/texture.

125 points it is, with another 23 skulls for the 'Skully McSkullface' challenge. I wonder how Barks will respond? Stay tuned!

-Curt