From SidneyR: Lord Ghoda's Limbo of Sorcery (37 points)

 

Shinkurō, the former ronin, had never heard of "toad magic" until the moment that Lord Ghoda mentioned it. The ancient sorcery that Lord Ghoda said he had been studying sounded to Shinkurō like the ramblings of a drunk, at best. Or the ravings of a mad man at worst. 

Sorcery and spells to turn a magician into a toad, and to enable to the spell-caster to weave magic and enchantments?  It sounded almost heretical to voice the thoughts in his own head, Shinkurō warned himself.  What nonsense!

But then, the demon had appeared. A powerful Dai-Oni, armed with a huge war-mallet, javelins and a famous sword stolen many decades before from Lord Ghoda’s grandfather. Against such an adversary, both Shinkurō and his Lord would be helpless. It was just a matter of time before the demon would overwhelm them both.

At least it had all seemed gloomily inevitable until the moment that the magic transformation which had been promised by Lord Ghoda, actually worked. 

It was beyond Shinkurō's belief, but.....it was happening before his eyes.  Lord Ghoda’s webbed feet were starting to cast the spell to banish their adversary. 

Shinkurō just hoped that the incantation didn’t require fingers.

********

A small posting to start my entry for Challenge XV. I had a busy December, and was going to paint more figures, but an unpleasant virus ended up with me missing out on bits of Christmas - and as a result, I've only got three figures for this submission.

All that being said, these figures were a lot of fun to do. The demon and rōnin are both Dixon Miniatures sculpts. They’re quite venerable, being first produced in 1984, although I bought them both earlier this year. The gigantic toad is from Crooked Dice, one of a couple of large specimens I purchased last year and hadn’t yet used.

I added some of the GW “Barbed Bracken” to the base of Shinkurō. I admit the spikey leaves do look, if you're a fan of manga, a lot more “Wicked City”, rather than strict Edō-period Japan. But I’ve enjoyed using these plants on various terrain bases, and hopefully I can use more of them as the Challenge progresses. 

They paint up very well, even though they are quite “flexible” (a.k.a. “bendy). I coated the plastic with PVA-glue beforehand, to add a little stability.  But so far, in the games we have played with terrain and bases featuring barded-bracken, the paint hasn’t flaked off the razor-sharp thorns. A minor miracle worthy of Lord Ghoda himself (in toad-form).

I painted the submission as my entry for "Limbo". How else can one describe an indefinite transition to gigantic toad-form? Knowing this is Limbo also allows me to add a totally indulgent in-game character card for Lord Ghoda in his mythical-Japanese fauna-form, with two slightly more sensible cards for Shinkurō and the demon. If, of course, one can ever claim anything to do with demons is ever sensible or simple.

And for the Challenge XV points:  5 points for Shinkurō, 7 points for the demon (who checks in at a dramatic 40mm), and I think 3 points for Lord Ghoda**.   And 20 points for visiting Limbo itself.

Total: 35 points.

** (I had a lengthy debate with myself about the points for Lord Ghoda in toad-form.  Is he prone, or not?  Do we count his toad-form, or the fact he is, in essence, human? I suggest 3 points is sort of right, as it is a “prone figure” - although, I admit, toads are usually on all fours. Who knows? Maybe Lord Ghoda can provide more answers when he returns to his former form.)

********

First, welcome back to the Challenge Sidney! I'm sorry to hear of your illness over the holidays but am delighted to see that you've bounced back and have this wonderful opening post featuring another set of characters from your 'Until the Last Sword is Drawn'. What a treat! 

As is usual, your brushwork is absolutely exquisite with all the precision and vibrant colours that expect from you. I also really like your use of the GW 'Barbed Bracken' to further accent your basework. I'll have to pick some of those up after seeing your work here. And the bespoke game cards. Wow. They look tremendous and packed with character.

It would be churlish not to give the brave Lord Ghoda his full 5 points so we'll go with that. 37 points for your Challenge opener, Sid. Again, welcome back!

- Curt

From ColeF - Devils, Demons, And Dervishes (45 Points)

 

I am  a man with a hearty backlog of miniatures. I'm sure absolutely no one here can understand. I'm sure none of you have mountains of unopened packages of grey plastic, sprues that haven't even been clipped or graced with the touch of glue, or entire armies that sit primed and unloved.

Okay, maybe that's all of us, but I'm trying to be better, which leads me to my first ever post!

I dug deep into my pit of unpainted shame and threw some paint till I felt nice.

First we have two minis from Dungeon Saga by Mantic Minis, from way back in 2014. I brushed off the dust and painted this demon guy, and this ghostly ghost guy. Do I know their proper names? NO. Have I ever even played a SINGLE game of Dungeon Saga, a game I so desperately needed to back with all of my heart and wallet almost a decade ago? Also no.

But the minis have great depth, simple details, with not a lot of excessive bits and bobs, and I enjoyed painting them. Is it worth the 2014 Kickstarter FOMO I bought into? Please stop asking these questions, they make me uncomfortable.

Second we have a Dervish for Battletech, printed in Resin. I mostly dipped a toe into Battletech because I missed painting Sci Fi miniatures, and I must say that the official Catalyst minis, as well as the numerous STLs available online are a treat to paint, plus I get to practice edge highlighting.

Last but not least is Oloch Iconic Warpriest from Reaper, from their Pathfinder line of minis. I've had him and several other Pathfinder Pewter minis sitting on my desk for close to a decade, and they're some of my favorite sculpts, literally ever. As a result, I've always felt nervous to paint it up, as I didn't think I'd do it justice. I feel like I'll come back to him in the future and add some extra details on his back banners, but I'm calling him done for now.

Thanks for having me in this challenge and encouraging me to slay my grey. Love seeing all the submissions every day.

Cole

Points Totals

3x 28mm Assorted = 15 Points
1x 54mm Demon =  10 Points
Overdues and Returns = 20 Points

Sylvain: Great first post Cole! The colors are rich and deep and you brought out lots of volume in your miniatures. You offer a great variety of figurines and I will be looking forward to see what comes up next from your paint station.

If you cold provide a map of your progress in the library, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

From SidneyR: “The Samurai, the Servant and the Demon” (Under Construction): 45 points

"The smoke curled slowly in the still air of the woodland clearing.  There was the scent of freshly-caught fish, cooking on an open fire.  The samurai’s servant, Akira, turned the freshwater fish on the wooden spit, the fire occasionally crackling and sending a shower of  sparks into the evening sky.

Across the clearing, the demon eyed the fire, enviously. The demon drew its grey tongue over its lips, salivating at the thought of the feast it might be able to enjoy in just a few minutes.  Akira was sure that if his master, Kazuko, lost the duel, the demon would be consuming more than just the huge river-fish which Akira had caught that afternoon.

Kazuko levelled his sword at the demon’s throat.  His hand was steady and he bent slightly bent forward in a stance long-practised in his family dojo. Despite his skill at sword fighting, Kazuko’s heart was racing.  Kazuko watched the demon draw an over-sized, enormous sword with a single, crimson-red, muscled hand.  In the demon’s other hand was an immaculately wrought katana - a trophy from another, older duel - but wielded as easily as if the sword was made of fly-wood, like a child’s toy.

As Kazuko circled around the clearing, the dust rose from his bare feet.  He was quick on his feet.  But was the demon faster?"

********

I wanted to start off Challenge XIII with the chance to make something, however small. The ‘Under Construction’ studio seemed like a good place to do that.  I’ve spent much of my wargaming time this year building up Japanese terrain and painting miniatures for a skirmish ruleset, set in 17th Century Japan. 

We’ve played about a dozen or more games set in a Japanese historical background, but I wanted to expand the scope to create some games based on historical ukiyo-e prints and the rich tapestry of Japanese myths and legends.  So we have, for this entry, a samurai and his servant preparing for a duel against an Oni, a Japanese demon.

I wanted to equip the Oni with two swords, one a huge no-dachi and the other a katana.  The Oni and the swords are from the wonderful Dixon Miniatures range of 28mm “Legends of Japan”, sculpted by Mark Copplestone in the late 1980s.  Adding the swords into the Oni’s sculpted hands required a bit of brass-rod pinning - my first bit of ‘construction’ for the entry.

The samurai is from the former Games Workshop range of Samurai, now sold by Wargames Foundry.  I love these sculpts - created by Aly Morrison in 1984.  They have, to my mind, stood the test of time very well.  There are some commentators online who have mentioned that the figures look like caricatures, with the inference that this is a bad thing.  However, I had the pleasure of chatting to Aly about the figures a few years back, and his guide in sculpting the range were the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of artists such as Utamaro, Kunichika, Utagawa and Yoshitoshi.  Which makes the range well suited for the ‘feel’ of the game I’m looking to try and create.

I didn’t make any changes to the samurai, or his trusty servant (from Perry Miniatures).  But I did scratch-build a small campfire on which a large freshwater fish could be cooking.  I used a few scraps of wood, and a selection of 3D printed fish, one of which I could skewer on a brass-wire spit, and some large sub-tropical leaves cut from the metal foil of a wind bottle.  A small sprinkle of fiery-painted sand and foam completed the embers and flames of the fire.  

As my time is a bit restricted for painting at present, my hope for Challenge XIII is to create small collections of figures depicting duels, fighting engagements, and smaller companies for use on the games I’ve been playing.  However, dear fellow Challengers, that does not prevent the creation by me of supremely frivolous ‘character cards’ for the entries I’ll be painting.  The values and attributes on the cards make sense as part of the rules (hopefully!). So here are the character cards for the heroes and villain for this submission:

As to the points: for “Under Construction”, I’ve added 20 points, and 5 each for the 28mm samurai, the servant, and the Oni.  And I’ve added a single point for the fire and the steadily-cooking fish, as befits the objective of any duel.

********

Oooh, this is just fabulous, Sidney. I love everything about this project. The excellently converted and beautifully painted figures, the wonderfully thematic terrain and the fascinating character cards - your amazing hobby skills do great justice to your vision of the setting and the game. Bravo!

I'm adding a few more points for the conversions and supplementary cards.

Inspiring work, thank you for sharing!

- Curt

From StuartL - A Mammoth 1st Post - Skaro - 117 points

Hello everyone.

As this is my first post for this challenge, a quick introduction (for the newcomers to the AHPC) and a quick recap (for people who have been around for the last couple of challenges), seem in order.

My name is Stuart, I was born and grew up in the UK, but I emigrated to Japan about 17 years ago. I have been working over here as an English language trainer for various corporations and businesses for most of that time. After Covid came along, a lot of businesses started to work from home and stopped providing training to their staff, so this time last year I found myself with a lot of free time. I was able to get some more work this spring and I am now teaching part time at a Junior High School. It's not what I want to be doing, but it pays the bills. Japan was a little slow with the vaccines, I got both of my shots in October. No plans for a third jab yet, but that might happen next year as Omicron has been found in a couple of places over here. 

And now, on to the painting. 

As I have the opportunity for gaming again (at least until Omicron spreads and shuts everything down again), I plan on trying to get armies/warbands/crews etc. done so that I can A) play the games I want to play, and B) put on demo games to get my local group to try them. I also have a mountain of Reaper Bones minis from their various kickstarters that I need to make a dent in. So for the most part I will be focusing on these two goals. Plus the Challenge XII sector of course. I've also been asked to take on the role of Squirrelfinder General after having decided that I didn't need the distraction of chasing squirrels myself. And to round things off, I'm participating in the Skullz Duel this year. I'm hoping to function as a 'pace car' and not get too carried away.

To start off my Challenge XII, I have painted up this set of demons/devils from Reaper. They were all simple enough to paint and I made use of GW's contrast paints to do their skin. Some of them are in strange poses, (check out the guys flexing their muscles in the back row), but overall they'll do for D&D or similar games. All of the models have a skull icon on their belts for those of us who care about such things.

More Reaper minis here, a set of gorillas including one wearing armour. No contrast here, these were all done in a mix of standard Citadel colours and Vallejo. One of the many things I'm working on is a couple of armies for Saga: Age of Magic. Unlike the more historical versions of Saga, Age of Magic allows you to take pretty much any minis you want and fit them to one of six themes. These gorillas will be Biped Creatures for the Lords of the Wild theme. Saga: AoM is definitely worth checking out if you like mini-agnostic skirmish games.

And here we have the mammoth from the post title. This was part of the most recent Reaper kickstarter and it is absolutely massive. It stands about 13cm tall and is 20cm from tusk to tail. Its base is an old CD. One of the best parts of the Reaper KS's is the price. This gigantic chunk of plastic only cost $14. While some of the smaller minis are a bit bendy (see the gorilla's sword in the picture above), their big models are amazing, and very sturdy.

For the fur, bones, tusks and the armour, I used GW Contrast paint, followed by a metallic drybrush on the metal plates. The skin, chains and harness were all done in regular paints. For things with a lot of texture Contrast works well, but sadly Bones minis tend to be a bit hydrophobic and need a couple of attempts to get the paint to sit correctly. The model is still a bit glossy, so I might have to hit it with another coat of varnish before putting it away.

To help give you a sense of scale, I have enlisted the help of Jarl Hvat-Skael to show the sheer size of this beasty. The Jarl was painted years ago, so isn't part of this entry. There are two skulls hanging on chains on the side of this monster and its leg armour also has large skulls on it.

And finally, on to the Challenge Sector. My destination? Skaro.

Now, I grew up watching/being terrified by Doctor Who on a weekly basis. (Mainly Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy), but I don't really have any Doctor Who themed minis. Luckily our most generous Snow Lord left a little room for manoeuvre with the theme of weird robots and I do have a few of those.

This model is a kit bash for a game called This is Not a Test, or TNT for short. TNT is a post apocalyptic skirmish game which has a bit of a Fallout feel to it if you are familiar with that series of PC games. The model consists of a vending machine scenery piece from Reaper, with added legs and cannons built from spare GW Necron parts.

Sadly, just as I finished painting this, I dropped it and managed to sheer off three of the four legs. Originally, the legs all had plastic pins on them that allowed me to assemble the robot in an upright pose. After the break, I had to drill out all the holes again and insert metal pins. Getting the correct angles was nearly impossible, so the repaired model is slightly more wonky. 

TNT is another model-agnostic system and consists of a base rule book and half a dozen pdf expansions, one of which includes robots. In said pdf, there is a scenario where both players are fighting to control a Quantum Cola Vendo - An advanced robotic vending machine. Rather than paint the mini in the colours shown in the PDF, I decided to model it after my favourite imaginary beverage Brawndo! What is Brawndo? It's from the movie Idiocracy and plays a central role in that film. You can see a commercial for Brawndo here: Youtube.

And for a final TL;DR recap.

All of the models were at least 40mm tall (50 in the case of the gorillas), so that should be:

11x 40mm minis = 77 points.

1x mammoth = 20 points?? I have no idea how to score it, it dwarfs most tanks I have.

1x Sector Planet = 20 points.

Grand total = 117 points.

Skullz Tally - 13

________________________________

Wow, great first post! That mammoth is an absolute beast - what an impressive tusked lump! I think my favourites are the ferocious apes, though I also really like the whacky vending machine/robot. Sorry to hear of your mishap with its legs. Reading it made me cringe. I've been there too many times, pinning shorn limbs, muttering unmentionable things under my breath - I feel your pain.

Finally, good opening volley on the Skull count. I need to get a wiggle on with my figures to try to catch up.

Welcome back to the Challenge, Stuart!

- Curt

From StuartL - Challenge Island Safari Journal - 15th March (70 Points)

Greetings once again doughty C.I.S.T.e....

"Excuse me! I want to make a complaint."

One moment please, I am trying to update everyone.

"No! I want to register a complaint now. I've had enough."

Very well Mr. Biggleswiff. What exactly is the nature of your complaint?

"Well, where to begin? This tour has been awfully slow as of late, we've been chased by Ogres, infected by Plague Marines, nearly eaten by the Snow Lord, and to be quite honest, I'm not even sure you know where you are going."

I see Mr. Biggleswiff. Well, let me assure you that the Snow Lord was only joking about eating you, probably. As for the Ogres, they were a bit of a surprise for me too. And I have a map.

"That's beside the point. I want my money back and I want off this island pronto."

Is that right? As luck would have it we're at Sander's Sand Dunes, we have a regional office here. I'll just pop in a call to head office and they'll deal with you ASAP. One moment.

Good news Mr. Biggleswiff. They are sending the Director of Customer Services himself to deal with your complaint.

"WHO DARES SUMMON ME?"

Mr. Biggleswiff would like to register a complaint sir. Apparently he isn't happy with parts of the tour.

"IS THIS SO, MR. BIGGLESWIFF?"

"Um...er... well, it's just that... um... the Island is pretty dangerous, and um...."

"I SEE. PLEASE ACCEPT MY MOST PROFOUND APOLOGIES. ON BEHALF OF CHALLENGE ISLAND TOURS I CAN OFFER YOU A FULL REFUND AND IMMEDIATE CANCELLATION OF YOUR CONTRACT. WE HERE AT C.I.S.T PRIDE OURSELVES ON MAINTAINING THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE. JUST INITIAL HERE AND YOUR CONTRACT WILL BE VOIDED AND A REFUND SENT TO YOUR ACCOUNT."

"Well sir, that's very reasonable of you. Thank you."

"YOU'RE VERY WELCOME. NOW THAT YOU ARE NO LONGER A PAYING MEMBER OF THE TOUR, IT WOULD APPEAR THAT YOU'RE NO LONGER COVERED BY THE C.I.S.T'S 'NOT HAVING YOUR SOUL DEVOURED BY AN IRATE DAEMON' POLICY. GOODBYE MR. BIGGLESWIFF."

#Crunch#

"ANY OTHER COMPLAINTS FOR THE CUSTOMER SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO ADDRESS? NO? GOOD!"

Has he gone? Phew, He's a very hands on manager I must say. He takes the role as head of Customer Services very seriously. Trust me, he's a riot at office parties though.

Anyway, who would like a trip on a balloon?

----------

When I saw the entry requirement for the Sand Dunes, I knew that this model would be ideal for it. The figure is from a Reaper Bones Kickstarter and is massive. In fact, here is Battle Brother Proportionis Comparicus of the Ultramarines to show the scale.

The model stands over 4" high and has a 7" wingspan. Painting him was quite challenging as the wings make the figure quite heavy to hold as you're working on it, plus they get in the way a lot.

I have no idea how many points he's worth, so hopefully today's minion can figure something out, (plus 30 points for the Sand Dunes please). As the last line of the journal indicates, I hope to be availing myself of the services of Sarah's Balloon in the very near future.

MilesR: Wow a lot of people are leaving the scoring discretion up to me.  We;; some people just have to learn the hard way....  Using my completely malicious scoring decision making methodology, I deem this spooky entry worth 8 28mm figures or 40 points.  That nets you a tidy 70 for the whole shebang!

From TeemuL: Fire, Fire! (45 points)

Here's something I was supposed to paint a year ago or so, but it never happened, since I had to paint something else. At the moment there is not that many needs, no army or campaign needs more painted forces at the moment, so I'm clearing my backlog in more or less random way. One reasonable way is to paint those figures I have primed already, so that is the reason for these demons.

There are seven metal Flamers of Tzeentch and one Ogroid Thaumaturge. Thaumaturges are strange creatures of Tzeentch, they are actually rather good in combat and they still are able to cast spells. I haven't actually tried him yet or never faced one, but that's what I have read. Actually, I'd like to get another one and convert him as Slaughterpriest of Khorne...

I'm not much of a blender (as miniature painter), but with these contrast paints it happens almost automatically and since I wanted to have some smoothness in the color transitions I tried it with these. They turned up rather nice. Big One got a bit too dark, but some drybrushing saved the day. The basing is Citadel texture "paint", which gives rather nice result after drybrush.

I calculated 45 points, 35 for 7 28mm demons and 10 points for the big demon (over 50mm tall).


Latest gossips from Awdry's Atoll:
"Demons?!? I have had enough of this atoll!"
"Get me a ship or something nautical!"
"Or better yet, get me a woman!"
"ANY woman!!!"











From Daved - The challenge always introduces me something i have no idea about - this is one of them..but they surely are colourful.. grand job