SKAVEN PLAGUE MONKS

a couple of months back i managed to nab a few sprues of various skaven stuff for only a couple of quid. one of those sprues consisted of 5 plague monks and some giant rats
well i actually managed to do 6 plague monks because one of them is actually a pack master thingy.
that came on a sprue of 3 pack masters and some giant rats. so of course between the 2 sprues i was able to add to my skaven bestiary 3 times over. consisting of about 12 giant rats
6 plague monks and 2 pack masters. so not bad for a couple of quid.
now ive got a very minor gripe with the GW plague monks in that they all look like an old gypsy woman.

so i tried to minimalize this a little by sculpting the hoods to make them look like they were part of the robes and in turn make the heads look a little less 'stuck on'.
Anyways. im quite happy how these turned out really

now my skaven pack seems to be growing a little more. i think its about time i started adding a few characters into the fray.

i still have the rest of the island of blood skaven to paint up. as well as a few other characters ive purchased and not yet had chance to get painted up yet. im also considering trying my hand at a little converting. ive got so many skaven floating around im sure i can stretch them out even more. the poses of the clanrats are kind of hard to do much with. but im sure ill be able to cook something up.

till next time :)

WARHAMMER QUEST - THE SILVER TOWER

So i first caught wind of this some time at the tail end of last year, hearing a possible reworking of warhammer quest was in the work. assuming very much that this would be similar to the recent space hulk release.
Now with it being a dungeon crawler. It clearly peaked my interest.
Now let it be known. i care absolute zero about age of sigmar. those big gold dudes, the awful semi naked dwarfs that are on fire (sorry fyre) and have a very strong fondness for the old world and all of its fluff. so was. and still am very dubious about this new announcement from games workshop

very much like heroquest i suspect thsi will be the main box art, now whilst trying to ignore the boring dude in the gold armour with zero personality. its the actual bad guys that caught my eye here...lets face it. we all have our own characters we prefer to use in these sort of games anyways right?
Tzeentch being the main culprit to the antagonism here. but the art...yeah looks great i think

so i dug a little deeper

- Price up to 125 € 

- 13 double-sided base plates (the old WHQ had with extensions 28) 

- 51 models, including six heroes and Skaven and Tzeentch 

- Familiars

- Rulebook 

- 40-page scenario book (9 missions) 

- 2 to 4 players 

- the old cards for each room are back (the ones used for random dungeon design + Encounter- and special rules) 

- the Summoner can manipulate the space arrangement

So its going to cost bout 100 quid

• 13 double sided base plates? which im assuming are dungeon tiles...
• 51 models? now were talking!
• familiars? sounds cool. a dynamic thats been missing from many a dungeon crawl if you exclude henchmen
• 9 missions....hmmm not much here. lets hope fan made and white dwarf/further expansions offer a lot more here.
• 2-4 players- so no change on the old warhammer quest..this wont be a dungeon master based game.
• the old cards are back? does this mean old stuff is compatible?
• the summoner can manipulate the space arrangement...ok this only sounds scenario specific. ie the silver tower being a maze etc etc

ok then so far...not sounding too bad i dont think.

a little tinterweb scouring flushed out a few leaked images.

firstly the heroes.

The barbarian looks pretty cool. as well as that little familiar down there. im not really overawed by the heroes. but as i say. id always replace and choose my own anyways. i really have zero love for those space marine things to the point i cant even think what they are called right now. it feels to me that literally everything AOS represents a top level god like world of warcraft character. and ive always been much more fond of 'the little guy' the humble farmer who went of in search of adventure, you get what i mean right? AOS just doesnt cater for the little guy. so i will definately be filtering my own heroes.

gotta admit..that sorceror looks pretty mint. as do the familiars. little mr punch there reminding me of one of my fave figs of all time.

whilst not a very clear picture. you at least get some insight into the box contents here. looks like a good amount in there.

and finally a little bit of a closer look to some of the contents.

really liking those birdmen styled beastmen Tzaangors i think it reads.

also liking that skaven deathrunner as well as the acolytes.

for me its the Tzeentch love being thrown at this game. its cleary being used as a platform to push the Tzeentch chaos forces into the fray. for the last 2 years its all been nurgle and khorne. so nice to see one of the other chaos gods children getting a run out for once, this may also be a taster of the new skaven that have been rumoured to be on their way soon too also.

whilst i never really got into the whole warhammer quest thing (i was too busy being a teenager, getting drunk, girls etc etc lol) i might just see what all the fuss was about and take a dive into this one.

i never for once expected to be let down by the minis, say what you want about GW but their production is always top quality. and whilst all of my dungeon crawling mainly persists of the use of a dungeon master. maybe its worth mixing it up a little for a more coop game where im not stuck being the evil overlord and killing all of my family and friends lol

anyways im sure over the next week even more images will come flooding out..amazing how this stuff ALWAYS leaks!!

till next time

DUNGEON DOORS ALL COMPLETED!!

yup! ive finally managed to finish another project. go me!

all 22 doors now finished and ready to be used in the dungeon
long slog here. most definately. but i hope it was a worthwhile venture all the same.

It doesnt really look like a great deal when i lay them all out like that. but this has been an ongoing project that ive been doing between other projects in a hope to prevent that monotonous feel when doing the same/similar things over and over, very much like unit painting.

now i could of just given these dip and been completed in a day. but i dont really do things in halves all that much. ok ive done some quick jobs on some of my projects. but generally its not a view point i favour. this is probably why i dont have many blogposts. but i think overall. this is a hobby. so we all need to enjoy it right? why should it feel like a chore. its a chance to be creative. and thats exactly what iver done here. so here they all are...

8 closed doors first up

you will notice i also experimented a little, wood is not something ive ever been comfortable painting. i guess its the organic look to it. but nonetheless i tried out a few different techniques with the wood. from simple washes to dry brushing as well as painting the wood grain individually.

 this is a new from the final batch. as you can see ive gone for a little bit of light sourcing from the torch. which i might add is something i dont have much experience with. but was really happy how this one turned out. i wanted to keep it subtle and i think i succeeded, however i think the light should of been shining a little further across the doors

 another new one here. simple insignia above the door and a rat running away with a turnip!

 another new one. simple skaven themed door here with a skaven skull i think and some warpstone

 ogre themed one here this time.

another new one. simple door with a few toadstool and a rather poisonous looking spider lurking above the door.

 sort of crypt/undead themed one here usong a shield from a skeleton warriors sprue. some random skulls, and finally i pressed a small mould from a skull to create the skull carvings on the wall and sculpted a little scarab.

 this was one from an earlier batch with sculpted ivy and spider

basic door as part of my early colour tests

12 Open Doors

ill hold my hands up in that i was starting to run low on ideas/ and bits through this project. so really started to scrape the barrel in trying to make them look unique.

 this was definately one of those barrel scrapers. but still its a skaven themed door so not all is bad.

 a chaos/beastman themed one here.

 standard open door from my earlier colour tests

 this one is probably my favourite out of all of them, in fact it was also the very first door i started working on. so i guess udeas were fresh at that point

 another simple one from my final batch.

 dwarf tomb. you may notice on a lot of these doors that they have dwarven runes. of which all of them were taken direct from the WFB dwarf army book.

 orcish doorway, this was my first real go at light sourcing. and whilst for the best part it doesnt look too bad. i do feel i went a little too yellow  around the flames.

 over grown doorway. i wanted to try and get something that looked really overgrown. sculpting some mushrooms and vines did a pretty decent job of that.

my second attempt at light sourcing. you will notice it is much more subtle that the orcish one above. experiment experiment! first was too yellow. and i feel this one was way too light on the glow from the flames. you will notice on the very first image for the closed doors where i finally managed to find that 'inbetween'

 chaos door thingy. ok lets just imagine youve got 22 door and you have some madcap idea to make them all unique and you have a nice sized box of bits...you throw everything you can at them right? thats simply the case here. its got a skull...because you have to have skulls. some weird star on a chain and a standard top from something. i can only assume is chaos?

 i kind of like this one purely for its subtlety. it has 4 features from the base doors. a hanging skull. dwarf rune, spider and some toadstools. but i think it really works nicely.

and the final open door. which was also from the last batch. was a simple 'glue this here' jobby using a dwarf standard top and a skull. simple and not too bad.

2 Portcullis'

i chose to do nothing with these as i didnt want them too removed from their function. for the best part a portcullis in a dungeon is more of a trap or onstacle than a door. so i painted these early on just to get them out of the way.

so there you have it. all 22 brand new double doors. fresh and converted from zealot miniatures.

i was really happy with these right from the get go. and needed very little attention to get them paint worthy. i had already planned before getting my hands on these that i would be converting them. so that is takes nothing from the base builds. these really are a great addition to any dungeon as they are. and hopefully with my own little addons they make for even better decor to the dungeon

ADVANCED HEROQUEST REFORGED

whilst this blog originally featured mainly heroquest and descent content. you will of noticed more frequently my posts are featured around my advanced heroquest. whilst my general love for dungeon crawlers is my main focus for this hobby. My true affection goes out to Advanced heroquest.

a very much under looked game in my opinion. a true sandbox of a game that gave you scope to go adventuring to your hearts content.

whilst the game was not perfect. i still feel this game captures the true essence of what a dungeon crawler should be all about. Adventure! Fighting! Looting. Delving deep down into murky old dungeons, hazards and traps awaiting behind every door.

Advanced heroquest had it all. and still does to the very small community that lurk just of the beaten path.

for anyone that hasn't played before, and likes a good crawler. then i cant recommend it enough.

once you get hooked you want more.

Ever wondered what rules i play for advanced heroquest?

go see Slevs blog to find out more

Advanced Heroquest Reforged

this features a revamping of many of the games features whilst keeping the overall rules exactly the same. fighting, exploring its all done the same. only better!

I've been helping out a little bit creating up to date maps and whatever graphics we can throw in to give things a nice fresh feel

you will notice the stats are more focused around WFB stats, which also comes along with a conversion chart so that you can create your own. along with MASSIVE bestiary's for the various Old World races. 

the character sheets have had a huge overhaul so that players can get a much longer life span out of their characters. giving that feel of connection as your heroes grow, learn new skill and abilities, gaining experience as they grow into becoming legendary dungeoneers.

a brand new point system for character creation allows you to create a huge array of different character styles, the added bonuses from abilities and weapon allowances allowing the heroes to have a much wider scope that sets them apart from the monsters of the dungeon

The maps have been revised to now feature double doors, as well as gaining a fresher clearer appearance.

cool brand new designed double sided spell books that cover all of the colleges of magic as well as dark magic.

Additionally you may choose to take a religious path for your hero with prayer books becoming the religious version of a spell book. (all spells and prayer books come in printer friendly and ink buster versions)

i really cant cover all of the source material in one post. so go check it out!

most of all. give it a try. there is a lot of material to download. but its worth it if you really want the best dungeon crawl you can find

go add the blog/follow or whatever to show your support. feedback is highly recommended to help Slev refine and create this fantastic addon.

http://ahqreforged.blogspot.co.uk/

The Dark Beneath the World (part 4) project completed!!

OK so for anyone that follows my blogs you may of seen my rather bold attempt and journey for creating 1 simple troll character from a article posted in white dwarf many moons ago. this article was taken from a gotrek and felix short story.

if not please take a look at the previous parts

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3

i kind of enjoy posting up my journeys of creation. i think a good portion of the fun is delving into the various influences and direction. kind of like an adventure in itself.

well if youve read parts 1, 2 and 3 then youll know all i needed to do next was paint that SOB
Which i did!

of course i have to provide the obligatory action shot. (Trollslayer very clearly wanting first cut!)

A few things to point out on this. whilst again i decided to go above and beyond to fit my very fickle needs for characters to be as specific as possible. i really had no idea how i was going to paint this guy up.

originally i wanted to go proper crazy with the colour scheme. which i did try. but it just wasnt rocking the multiple weird colour look that i would associate with chaos. so i ended up sticking to what i know. so i kept it dirty and earthy in tones.

A first for me on this figure was that i actually made use of a wet palette for the very first time. and boy i should of done this years ago. i seem to save so much paint as a result of it staying wet, my wet palette is sealable, and my paint mixes stay wet for about 2 days. as well as allowing me to mix the paint to a better consistancy. i cant believe i didnt do this a long long time ago. but all in all very glad i finally took the bounce.

Another first. is that i finally bought myself some good brushes. as well as stocking up on a new set of GW brushes. i also bought myself a size 1 and 0 winsor & newton series 7. and again..jeez why didnt i do this earlier? far far superior brushes and im hoping this will start to assist with my painting as i move forwards

 I chose to go with classic troll colours overall. but with a grey/brown skin tone. due to the size of the miniature (this is definately no miniature) it made it hard to paint. so i chose for simple washes on the fleshy areas with the odd blemish to break up the boil covered areas, whilst going for a harsher sharper edge on the hide.

 kind of happy how the spine infused with warpstone turned out. i really wanted it to look like to root of the trolls deformities. the thick heavy pustules surrounding the warpstone kind of help give that impression. the claw itself was the last part of this model that got painted. and in fairly sure you can see i didnt give as much love to that.

 Another first i attempted on this mini was the use of UHU glue for saliva dribbling from his mouth.
it didnt really turn out great. and its hard to see in the shots. but it also seemed to be removing the paint. so i kept it very minimal around that area. because i wanted after finishing the paint job. was for it to be ruined by the final touches.

 the baby head mutation turned out pretty decent. from the sculpt itself, it was looking too human. but once i stated applying the paint. it became evident that thick heavy veins streaming into the facial area would give it a nasty chaos esq look. whilst the head itself looks totally out of place. i guess that sums up all that is chaos. and really wished i had the balls to of gone all out on this figure in that same approach

 one final thing that i feel is missing. would be to add some glossy varnish to the boils just to give that wet vile look..but i dont have any. so this will have to do until i can get my hands on any.

so a project that started about a year ago finally gets finished.
im happy how it turned out as a figure. however i do wish i had of been a little more daring.
this has opened my eyes to more chaotic goodness. and im already cooking up a few ideas going forwards. so hopefully this is the beginning if a new direction for me.

whats next for me? gotta finsih them doors off. and my pile of unpainted minis has piled up quite a bit since i started plying all my spare time into this project. so it looks like ill be keeping things simple for the next few months. a bit of unit painting with a few characters thrown in.


anyways. hope you all like. and hope you enjoyed my journey.