Wednesday, 21 January 2026

From BartekR: From Devil's Reef...Deep One (7pts)

Hi all, like a few challengers, its been a bit of a slow start for me - travel around the globe (back home in Australia for a summery Xmas and new year, before returning back to a snowy Kyiv). It has been great to see what everyone has been posting (however FOMO inducing :-)

Belated season's best wishes.

First up (and scraping me over the cut-off line) is a modest bit of Lovecraftian badness, the large Deep One from the "Masters of Devil's Reef" set (Bob Murch as part of the Cthulhu28s range, now produced by North Star). Ironically, this set was part of my aspirational goals for Challenge XIII (which I didn't get to - as is the way).


Painting process was: black undercoat, white zenithal spray and dry brush before speed and contrast paints then multiple washes. In hindsight a lot of those were overkill. The end result is a bit too T-34 than 28mm figure at arms length to my eye, but broadly in keeping with Lovecraft's descriptions of these amphib nightmares. One thing I really wish I had gloss varnish or wet effects paints here - to amp up the dankness. 

Points claim: this is an oversized figure for 28mm, so claiming a total of 7pts (notionally as a 40mm mini). 


 

Plans for the rest of the challenge are a bunch of squirrels to start with: sample Warlord sprues from various issues of WI magazine and a dragon that came with an Army Painter paint set. Once I get my eye in with those I'll have a go at some of the 'away' pile of opportunity (built since last April). Warlord Epic Revolution is top of list, but there is a smattering of Blood Bowl teams, some Horus Heresy and Warhammer The Old World, and Pendraken 10mm British and Scots for the '45.


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Sylvain: Bartek, I'm glad you made it before the deadline, welcome to the Challenge! I understand that your travels keep you busy, but I hope you are also able to keep safe and stay warm. On to your work: your Deep One is beautifully ugly and lovingly creepy. Even without a glossy varnish, the pose, sculpt and texture suggest a slimy creature. You have achived with the eyes a very spooky effect. Excellent travail!

14 comments:

  1. love the eyes on that, so well done, good to see you've made the cut

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    1. Thanks! Re the eyes, I have to acknowledge the sculpt (which as Curt notes below) is incredibly painter friendly like of of Bob Murch's work.

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  2. A T-34 would pine to look this good. Fabulous work Bartek! I love Bob Murch's stuff - so painter friendly.

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    1. Ha. Ive seen some T-34s in this challenge that would take that bet. Totally agree re Bob's sculpts - have a stack, all sitting back in Australia atm (something for Challenge 17!?)

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  3. Very creepy and creative. Excellent paint work. Even looks slimy.

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    1. Thanks Bruce. It was a case of washes-for-the-win. Managed to get lucky with one of them being a bit glossy for the wet effect.

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  4. Deeply unpleasant creature, nice work!
    Best Iain

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  5. Excellent painting and think got real "depth" on the skin tone. Looking forward to seeing the other projects.

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  6. Love the rich skin tones. Well done

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