Friday 5 March 2021

From ArthurS: Lair of the Great Beast! ( 45 points)

 Hoi,

 

Arthur has taken the lead in our journey through the Chambers of Challenge into what will be our last stretch towards the Snowlord's Altar and as such we enter the Lair of the Great Beast.

Rather then take the obvious way of painting...well...erm...a monster, the Lad wanted to paint...more Space Marines. Okay, I said, fair enough they can be right monsters in their own way and you are cute with the curls and puppy eyes, but the Snowlord is not going to fall for that so you will need to include a true monster. He dove into his unpainted figure box and after some rummaging that made me flinch with every sound of plastic and white metal clashing together in an awfull cacaphony of soon-to-be-broken pieces, he came up with an impressingly appropriate figure.








These figures represent members of Arthur's Veteran Space Marine squad armed with all kinds of exotic and deadly wargear. Each one has a name and a story behind him which I cannot regale here sadly but they have entered the Lair and are confromnting some Alien Sci-Fi nasty monster creature. I have no idea what brand or type of beast this is we were given it by a good hobby friend (thanks JW!) and Arthur now found a use for it. 




That's 5 figures in 28mm scale so 25 points together with the 20 points bonus makes 45 points for the Lads tally.

And now we humbly ask from the Snowlord to be given a task to be deemed worthy of his graces.


Cheers Arthur and Sander

From Barks: Descent monsters (95 points)

I'm determined to complete the core set of Descent boardgame miniatures before the end of the Challenge. Contrast to the rescue!





I do have a soft spot for goblins, but the zombie wolves are wonderfully gory.

19x 28mm figures: 95 points

From ChrisF -Sarah the Sorceress 15mm Witch (27pts)

 An offering to the Sorceress for passage from the Hatchery to the Shrine: A witch (5 bonus pts) thats almost a dead ringer for the shadow drawing on the Chamber Challenge map!. 



Instead of bats she has a rat she caught out on the back deck of her Lake front (swamp) property for you. 


You're invited to dinner ( dress is casual). 


Witchie usually enjoys just gnawing on it while it's still squeakin' but she'll fry it up if necessary.


With this fine witch and the added bonus of a tasty rat,  I anticipate quick approval of passage. Or possibly a suspension LOL.










From KyleC - Knights Solar - 10mm Halflings - 117 pts

Hi ho silver.. Away!!! Or something to that effect..

So as the undead force almost wiped me out, we switched gears to a scale I haven't done in over 20 years... 10mm! Not since warmaster was first released and I helped our local club by painting some of the display stock (which was a big deal for me at the time!) have I painted something this tiny.

These are the new files by Warploque Miniatures in their digital range. And I thought why not give them a go.. And these knightly chaps fit the bill for the Chamber as well I reckon.. 

So we have 9 bases worth of Spearmen (with a messenger on goat with the captain).. Hailing from the southern regions of their lands, known for their Pils beer and yearly beer festivals in tents.

Never one to turn their back on a good meal and a strong ale, but always there in groups cause safety in numbers (especially for Simon.. He is a bit of a lightweight and probably could use a hand getting home). 

And then the Cavalry.. Or the ones that get to the beer first during festival times as their mounts needs to clear the fields for the tents.. 

But nothing strikes fear into the enemy much like a thunderous sound of hoofs and baying cresting a hill with tiny children holding toothpicks coming at you... Always a good fright with that there!

So was a nice different style of bits and bobs to do up this week. 

35 figures = 35pts
31 cavalry = 62 pts
Chamber bonus = 20 pts
All in = 117 pts.. Points match the models.. Both are small! 😂 😂 

From MartinC Chambers of Challenge - Knights Solar (148pts)

 My slow crawl through the Chambers of Challenge has found me in the Knights Solar. When the Challenge started I had 2 main plans (WW1 Caucasian Campaign and 10mm Italian Wars). obviously other stuff got in the way, like most of us I get very distracted by shiny things. I've pretty much completed all my planned and unplanned 28mm stuff and the Italian Wars are calling. 

I have loads of these figures, 1/2 from ebay and 1/2 from Pendraken. As always the figures are great and some Landsknecht aquebusiers have already made an appearence. Now it is time for the knights, the last hurrah for them really.Ordinary men in pike blocks and manning artillery put paid the blue bloods of Europe (and about time too).


They are pretty

They are based for Kings of War, one of my favourites although I never win, but it uses ridiculous amounts of dice and that I like. The results of rolling 20+ dice tend to average out nicely but there is always that chance of 16 hits or 20 misses which to me seems most like how battles would work.

There are 8 regiments here a 8 knights per regiment, 1/2 size of a normal KoW regiment but that seems to work with 10mm figures and means I can fight significant battles on my 3x4ft space. 

On another note, have seen Mr Roundwood's 3-D map I'm going to make one of those to fight Italian Wars campaigns. It looked brilliant and so I've bought the stuff.

Scores on the doors

64 x 10mm mounted knights = 128
Knight's Solar = 20
total = 148pts

Right 10mm Lansknecht crossbowmen next, I am an idiot




From TeemuL: Galanniel the Sorceress (30 points)

 "Oh, you must be... Annie, Anniel... Galannield, the Arts of all kind professor", muttered Shellington, confused even more by the strange knight and the contains of his flask. "I do have many names and I'm master of many things beautiful, but Galadriel is my favourite name." Uggla noticed the bowl next to the lady in green, Galadriel noticed that and said:"You seem to be lost, my friend, please take a look at my mirror and you shall be guided. And I might taste what you in that bottle of yours." S.N.Owl-Ord was very lost, and even though he didn't know how this could help anything, he took a look on the Mirror (as Galadriel called it) and then everything started spinning...

This is Galadriel by Mithril Miniatures, m136 from 1990. Famous sorceress, who hopefully moves my hero to the Graveyard Beach.



I tried to paint the skin very pale, but not too pale. The eyes are very small, and she looked very goth first, but I managed to tidy them up quite ok. The dress and hair are Contrasts. She is glued on 30mm mdf base with some tufts to hint about Lothlorien. I remember Annie liking one of my miniatures some Challenges ago, so I chose green - which suits a wood elf very well. Blue trim gives a royal touch.

Now I have painted Sarahwen, Tamasina and Galanniel, the (in)famous trinity of this Challenge. I do hope I have not offended anyone, my poor jokes, plays on names and clumsy painting is meant for a humble adorement, nothing else.

5 points for miniature, 20 points for room and 5 bonus points for sorceress. No points for any side challenges.



Sarah the sorceress, Dark elf assassin (30 points)

 I’ve been stumbling around this dungeon for a while in the oubliette and thought it was time to get a move on! So I call upon Sarah the Sorceress to move me just one room to the tomb (yes I know it’s a waste but there we go!)



So I present for your pleasure the Dark Elf assassin Birchblood and her rather ugly assistant Ravenclench. Tooled up with poisoned crossbow bolts and wickedly sharp blades they look forward to joining my chaps warbands in my Realms of Chaos mini campaign. I’ve gone for a bluey-grey skin tone with paler lips to create her sadistic but alluring charms.



Birchblood is a nice metal old Citadel figure. Indeed my first ever metal miniatures were Dark Elves from the same range, long since lost somewhere. Either way a nice figure. 

Ravenclench is a classic fantasy regiments plastic figure. 7 skulls between the two of them... not bad! Still got a ton of these to paint but he makes a nice companion to our dame noir!


So two figures 28mm, One female to complete Sarah the Sorceress and a very simple 30 points. 

On to the tomb! Kaaaaazaaaaam!!!💥☄️

Cheers 

Mark Backhouse

From NoelW: Sorceress, number 3, please (30 points) (or possibly 44. I’m just saying…)

“Quick!” shouts Getrude. “The invaders are on our heels. We’re in real trouble. We need a mime, and PDQ, to boot!”

Hastily Clerihew mimes a kettle and a teapot which he carefully swirls with mimed piping hot water. Then he decants two spoons of mimed tealeaves in, then takes his mimed cup, into which he first pours milk and then the boiling tea, then he mimes tipping the tea out of the cup into –

“A saucer? A saucer?”

“But there’s something around the saucer. Like a napkin. Or a skirt. A dress? What kind of saucer wears a dress?”

“A female saucer. Sauceress. Clerihew’s right! This is a job for the Sorceress. She can whoosh us out of here straight to the Snowlord’s Altar.”

Together, the party sing, or mime, or woof, as appropriate, the following:

 O sorceress! O sorceress!
More beautiful than Good Queen Bess.
You helped before. Nevertheless
we once again need your largesse. 

O sorceress! O sorceress!
Mistress of extraordinariness.
We’re stuck once more in some distress.
Can you assist us? Please say ‘Yes’!

There’s a clatter of crochet hooks and headphones, as a rather young sorceress appears before them.


“Is that the truly the Lady Sarah? Does the Lady Sorceress who rules this dungeon really have purple hair?” Elfbow whispers. “With crochet hooks in it?”

“I’m sure that, if the Lady Sarah does not, at this precise moment, have hair of violet, lilac or amaranthine, she could if she really wanted to and it would undoubtedly look extremely fetching upon her, such that she would certainly deserve to be on the cover of Vogue or Hair Today. But I’m equally sure that her current style is perfect, whatever it may be, thankyou very much for noticing, but what, indeed, are you suggesting is wrong with her appearance, and perhaps you could in future refrain from making personal remarks which objectify magical beings in a gender-specific way, Elfbow?” *1

“But should she really be wearing an owl? Look what it’s done to the back of her dress.”

“Shush, elf.”

“B*gg*r! I’ve dropped a stitch,” exclaims the manifesting miss.

“We’re about to be attacked,” says Titchy. “It would help us a great deal if you could transport us, instantly, or even sooner, straight to the Snowlord’s Altar.”

The purple-haired sorceress looks up from her invisible crochet.

“Really? Do I have to?”

“It’d be most welcome and sure to be rewarded by our magical overlords in some future incarnation.”

“Ok then. Say after me, the magical word. Are you ready? One, two three – SOCKS!”


And with that single word the party are transported directly to where they don’t want to go. Not to the Snowlord’s Altar – because, if you’ve been following the story, they’ve not yet met the minimum qualification to progress, but to the next best thing.

Or, in fact, the next worst thing – namely, the Lair of, as variously recorded in different versions of the manuscript “the Spider”, “the Beast” or, most accurately of all “THE BEAST!!”

***

(*1) This is in no way intended to be construed as flattery directed at the Lady Sarah, with the thinly veiled purpose of grubbing extra unjustified bonus points. Far from it. Clearly it’s a serious and timely commentary on the gender bias and lack of fashion sense of the vast majority of dungeon adventurers (and, indeed, the majority of vast dungeon adventurers). So that’s why it might be worth a few extra points. Not due to flattery at all. Oh, no, certainly not! How could one possibly flatter perfection?

The sorceress’s (‘ss??) apprentice here is built from North Star’s Frostgrave wizards, set 2, one of the best pieces of fantasy kit ever released. I really like constructing wizards, whether or not they’ll ever be used in a game and North Star’s two wizards sets are brimful of possibilities, especially when kitbashed with other sets.

This particular personage is modelled on my daughter, Tasha, who did have purple hair when I began, but had flame red when we Zoomed about a week ago, so probably has pink and green by now. She is very fond of owls and of Harry Potter, so she’s in her HufflePuff colours here. At her feet is her cat, Mirri, whom she’s had to be parted from since the first lockdown, who, yesterday, we had to leave at the vets and for whom the news is currently not looking good. Mirri is nearly 17 years old – a brilliant innings for a cat, but she’s currently rather ill. Tasha, is rather older than 17 (though you wouldn’t guess from the above), a lovely, loving, wonderful daughter, but one who would very much benefit from a hug currently, if you’re able to spare a moment from your manly (or womanly) painting tables to send her a virtual one across the aether.

Scoring: I can see two ways this could go:

(a)   Sorceress – 20 for the transporter, 5 for being a sorceress, and 5 for the figure herself. Total: 30

(b) 30 (as above) + 2 for cat, +2 for owl, +10 bonus for in no way flattering politically correct aside subtly inserted in text. Total: at least 44.

So that’s 30 points then. Sigh!

Administrative Nonsense & The Final Dash

Hi all!

This is your Chief Warden speaking. It's hard to believe, but we're a little over two weeks away from the finish line. In reviewing the score sheet I see we have almost fourty Challengers who've passed their goal, and another twenty who are within 100 points of achieving theirs. This is just brilliant. I'm hoping we can get seventy Challengers hitting their respective targets by the time the final whistle blows.

As an administrative note, for those who are drawing close to entering the Altar of the SnowLord and are wondering what the process is, just drop me an email and we'll come up with a suitable challenge for you to complete. 

Have fun, stay safe and keep up the great work!

- Curt


From Curt: Myfanwy Thomas from 'The Rook' (25 Points)

I need to have a sorceress magically scootch me down to The Laboratory, so here is my requisite female figure.

This is Myfanwy Thomas, the main protagonist in 'The Rook', a fantasy novel set in modern day UK, where a nefarious and dangerous element within the British Government faces off against foreign entities, and tries to cover up arcane plots from public sight.  Wait, I hear you say, isn't that the Tory government? No, no, no this is an effective government entity doing all these things, and it's fiction. ;)


Seriously, this is a great two-book series. Think Cthulhu meets Bond, with a dash of Holmes and a sprinkling of Frankenstein. Don't watch the TV miniseries as it sucks Big Time. Stick to the books.  Anyway, Myfanwy is a super fun, kick-ass character. Sort of a wallflower, but wickedly smart and with some arcane skills backing her up. Very, very fun.

This is a figure from Hasslefree Miniatures. Very petite and slim, perfect for Myfanwy. Really simple paintjob as I didn't want to overthink it. Bam, done.

With the Sarah bonus, Ms. Thomas will give me 25 points and a quick ride to The Laboratory. 

Thanks for popping in for a peek!

- Curt


From NoelW: The Laboratory (22 points)

“This is a nice change. No nasty monsters, tricky statues or men with nasty explosive sticks trying to take our heads off.”

“Just rows of odd instruments and a weird looking roundabout in the middle of the room. Merlissa, do you know where we are?”

“It is an ancient laboratory, where the Astromancers first began to plot the stars. That is an orrerry.”


“With one too many syllables, if you ask me.”

“Can we use it?” asks Getrude. “Can we find out how to defeat these pernicious invaders we keep running across?”

“Or locate the room with the Greatest Treasure the World has Never Seen?”

“Worth a stab.”

“There’s a lever.”

“Woof!”

“Yes, I know, Scruff, but Gnawbone’s gone off on his own now. We’ll just have to figure out how to pull it by ourselves.”

Getrude grabs the lever, pulls. There’s a whir of orbs and planets, gears and chains. A brass arrow shifts across a map of the known universe (that is, the Chambers of Challenge and Challenge Island). There’s a little green stick man in one corner. Using a digital interface (i.e. her finger) Merlissa moves the little man onto the map. It grows larger, and larger, pictures of the many rooms they’ve visited scrolling before their eyes. 

Until they light on one that’s unfamiliar. What looks like a mass of tangled straw, with bones sticking from it, and something unidentifiable trickling across the floor.

“The Lair of the BEAST”, says Merlissa. “We’ve not been there. Yet.”

“The beast?”

“No! The BEAST! With REALLY BIG LETTERS! And, ideally, BOLD ITALICS and a couple of really offensively large exclamation marks!! It’s where the greatest monsters in all the land gather for purposes no-one has every successfully escaped from to report on. It looks like your precious Gnawbone, now he’s a monster, is heading there to join them.”

“Ah,” says Elfbow. “Then, probably, perhaps, all things considered – I guess he’s managing quite well on his own. Doesn’t need our help, is my guess.”

“And what’s through that door behind you, Merlissa?”

Merlissa considers the exit in question, a solid oak door set squarely in the far wall.

“What, that door there? Hmm. I’m not sure. Let me enquire.”

She peers intently at the orrery, then glances at her crystal ball.



“Whoa!” she says, after a moment. “I see great danger. Could be a Rakshasa. Might be a pack of rabid wolves. Yes, definitely dangerous Encounters of the Furred Kind. Looks like we really don’t want to go in there. Unless….”

“Unless what?”

“Let me borrow that stick of yours, elf. I need to check something.”

Elfbow pulls his glittering spear away from her defensively.

“What, don’t you trust me? Didn’t my infinite knowledge of that pointy stick just save our lives in the last room?”

Elfbow squints suspiciously at Merlissa.

“Ok, then,” she says, shrugging. “You try it yourself. Just tap that door with the stick. I’m absolutely sure there’s no real chance of peril.”

“Here you are,” says Elfbow, tossing the spear to Merlissa. “But I want it back, mind.”

Tentatively Merlissa approaches the exit. She raises the spear as if to strike the door, then stops as if she has suddenly noticed something, bending towards the door handle, quizzically. Then, of a sudden, she grabs it, twists, pulls, and steps into the doorway.

“You stupid elf, I knew I’d persuade you sooner or later. This, you pointed ear leaflover, is the Spear of Density. It can change any substance to any other substance at the tap of a tap. With it I can make gold as light as air, and carry the entire Snowlord’s treasury back to my master, Grimwizaj, and he will at last give me the nose job I desire! And this, to answer your question, is the door to the Snowlord’s Treasury! Rhinoplasty here I come!”

With that she sweeps through the door, slamming it behind her. Elfbow rushes after her, but it’s too late, the door has been turned to solid stone almost as impenetrable as the elf’s head, inseparable from the walls around it.

"I knew she was up to something," screeches Elfbow. "I knew it. That scrawny-lipped scryer is as two-faced as a pair of lizards."

And at that moment, just as you’d expect, in the corridor behind them there are sounds of approaching gunfire …

***

Next, and, ideally, with more than undue haste, I'm hoping for a sorceress. Anyone seen one passing by?

The orrerry is by Terrain Crate. I wish I'd seen Sander's before painting mine, as he had a great idea for a worn out version, to make a virtue of the bendy plastic. Mine isn't supposed to look worn out - it just does! I like the rendering of the planets, though.

Scoring: 20 points for the Laboratory and perhaps 2 for the Orrerry? Total: 22

From TomM: Dungeons and Denizens (40 points)

  Every year, near the end of the challenge, I end up with one of these posts: literally a dump post of all the things began, yet not finished for this year.



And it is no different in this edition, so labelling it Dungeons and Denizens, it is quite a hotchpotch of things painted in between entries, with the solemn goal of  "who knows if I need it in DnD one day" kind of stuff.



As well as some terrain, being mostly 2x2 dungeon tiles but also a rather big statue, there is some variety of beasts in here.



Repainted clix models, some metal guy on bails of hay of which I got no clue where I ever obtained him from, all that sort of loose stuff.



Which also makes it a bit of a puzzle for the points calculation.  I guess 10 points is sufficient for all the tiles and the statue, it goes for about 6 cubic inch, but the paint jobs aren`t that hard for those.  The beasties are all 28mm ones, so that is 6 of them for 30 points, making 40 points total?

From Mike W, 28mm Undead Egyptian Sorceress [Lady Sarah] (25 Points)

As a quick bonus for today I'm deploying a 'Lady Sarah' figure to teleport me to The Alter of the Snow Lord! I'm looking forward to this random challenge as handed down by Curt...

Completed Rooms

So getting this far has been fun, not all rooms completed but I believe I have followed the guidelines to get this far, minimum of four rooms per level and a 'Lady Sara' to get between levels! I want to allow enough time to deal with the Snow Lord's Challenge!

Reaper 28m Egyptian Sorceress


This figure is another Reaper 28mm metal item, this time a female Sorceress who will help  the Priestess and Mummy Lords keep control of all those pesky, dumb skeletons!

Side view

It is mounted on a UK 2p piece and was undercoated white.

I added standard flesh colours - over pretty much all of the figure, she's not wearing much! The scanty robes were done in a plain linen colour and details were in light blue to tie in to the Army's theme. The Snake staff was done in dark blue with a gold snake's head, with white, linen and light blue streamers.

The other side....

The head dress was painted dark blue with gold trim and light blue stripes as a highlight on the front, side panels.

I used a watered down light brown wash on all white and linen cloth areas and a darker flesh was on the skin areas to give a toned finish to the body.

And a final view...

Fine sand and a grass tuft was added to the base after allowing the matt varnish finish to dry.

POINTS

1 x 28mm Figure   = 5 Points

Lady Sarah Bonus = 20 Points

TOTAL                    = 25 POINTS