AHPC XII: Little Red Riding Hood for Perelandra

 This post went Live on the Challenge Blog on January 16th, so my time references are a bit off.  The got the test on the 10th, and result on the 11th.

I have a small post for this week as I've been down with COVID.  I woke up Monday feeling absolutely wretched and got my self off to the drive thru testing centre and got my positive result Tuesday evening.  I've been a much bigger than normal waste of space since then but had these minis pretty much done before hand.

One of the tags for Perelandra is temptation and that's what the Big Bad Wolf offered Red traditionally.

My version is a little twisted as Red is another female goblin.  I am not sure i want to know what's in that satchel of goods that she has for Grandma.  She was originally going to feature a drab cloak like the rest of her goblin gang, but I was working on the Winter Wolf at the same time and had a "you know..." moment.

I think in this case that Red is mischievous enough that the danger from temptation might be for the wolf.  A milk bone and a belly rub might be the long slippery evolutionary slope downhill to a Pug that can't get up on the couch without help and gets dressed in a new costume very holiday.

Both figures are 28mm and from Wizkds. Curt has been scoring the goblins as 20mms for 4 points but I don't know how to score the Winter Wolf, who is one big puppy.  Perhaps as a  equivalent to a 28mm cavalryman?  The base points can be added to my FantasySide Duel score.

Finally I thought I'd share a bit of my family lore about protecting your daughters.  In the mid-1950s my grandfather was English Department Head at Dalhousie University with two daughters (my mum and aunt) at home and finishing degrees.  As Head he hosted visiting guest authors and poets, including the likes of Irving Layton and Leonard Cohen (who was just starting out).  The works of these two were considered so scandalous that the two daughters were banished from the house the night that Irving and Leonard came to dinner.   

AHPC XII: Ruins at Arda

The planet Arda carries a Fantasy theme, so I've gone with this Giant attacking a tower in 28mm.  Just for fun note that the top two levels of the tower are removable allowing me to do this.

In an homage to this classic DnD module...

Ok let's break down the components here.  

First up is the Giant, who is a Wizkids Stone Giant in 28mm scale.  I will note that the figure is about 90mm from sole of foot to top of head and that the tower he's standing next to is 6" high (152mm) for comparison.  I will leave scoring him up to the Snowlord.  In the Beowulf adventures Giants are more generic than straight DnD, but I tried to keep to the Stone Giant Theme.  It's a nice sculpt with facial features midway between an Easter Island Moai and Grace Jones.

Backside view as I am thinking that's the view my adventurers want to see!

Next up are the human foes who are from the Gipping Beast Arthurian (mostly) and other ranges.  I painted the fighters up to represent the Comitatus of a local Warlord, using the red tunics and shields with double headed dragons to provide a unit theme.
.  

I will come back and touch ups he shields but wanted to get these posted today.

The seventh figure is the Merlin figure who has a lot of the age old mystery to him. I love the metal bird on his staff, is it the Eagle of the Ninth?  Seven 28mm figures is 35 points.

These are good solid Beastie boy figures, lots of individual differences.  They can serve in Beowulf adventures as friends, foes or neutrals as required.  I my also do some Sub-Roman Britain skirmish games using Lion Rampant or Dux B.   

Finally we have the Ruins which I am revealing in full glory below.  This is a Sarissa Ruined City set consisting of 8 modular bases that can be rearranged as suits the scenario or decided in to smaller ruins.  I figure it can serve as a Roman ruin in Beowulf, or a generic ruin for other RPGs os Moonstone for later period historical games.  The total set covers an area 8" by 16", and is mostly 3" tall except for the tower which is 6' tall.  My math makes this exactly 2 cubes of terrain for 40 points.

Arrangement 1

Arrangment 2

Arrangement 3

Points wise I cout up

• 35 points for the humans
• 40 points for the 2 cubes of ruin
• ? points for the Giant
• 20 points for the Arda location
• Merlin and the Giant should count against the forlorn hope of the Challenge Duel

Having completed four planets on the Outer Ring, I am ready to explore the Middle Ring and all step on one of the Warp Maelstorms either side of Arda to see where I end up. 

Female Goblin

 This female goblin archer wishes to book a trip on the Star Yacht arriving at planet Arda.

This is another pointy eared goblin figure from Wizkids.  There are lots of little details packed into these little sculpts.  This figure was being photographed last week to go live when I realized that she had a mail shoulder cape and needed to go back to the work bench.  It turns out that my iPad camera has sharper eyes than I do. 

I kept with the same muted tones and stony basing as with the other goblins.  Challengers in the know might have figured out that Wizkids packs these figures two per blister and that there may be another female goblin looking for passage late on..

That's 4 points for the 20mm figure plus 20 bonus points for the Star Yacht.  The 4 base points counts towards the fantasy duel not that it's going to help against Curt's paint bombs.  My journey through the system looks like this so far.

AHPC The Snowlord's Treasury

For the treasury I've got three pieces from a Terrain Crate pack of various treasures.  I picked them up at my FLGS for this room.  I've done a few bits from Terrain Crate and like what I've seen, they are cheap, effective , cleanly cast and paint up nicely. 

I tried a cobblestone effect under the crown's plinth.  Not over thrilled with it, I should have glued on card or pdf bits before mounting the plinth.

The ubiquitous pile of chests and scrolls.  Lots of uses here for my Italian Wars, El Cid and SYW projects.

The sword in the stone.  Not sure that I can find uses for this or the crown.  I did enjoy  playing with textures on them.

I estimate these bits as 1/4 of a terrain cube so 5 points plus 20 for the room gives me 25 for this post and I'm lined up for the Lair of the Spider.

--------

Any Cap'n worth his salt starts drooling at the sight of piles of treasure! I likes the pile of chests and scrolls in particular :-)

Cap'n Wednesday

AHPC Graveyard Beach

Another post from the Winter.

It's getting to the last three weeks so I've got to get my skates laced up to make it to the Snowlord's altar in time.  Luckily I've managed to finish up anther bits and pieces to skate through some rooms on the third level.

First up is two Wizkids Zombies from my FLGS for Graveyard Beach.  I'll point out that I grew up in a town with a Hangman's Beach and misspent some of youth lounging on said beach.  I went with a monotone grey/brown effect on the zombies to represent sorta dead bodies that spent a long time in water and added some water effects to the bases to give the ideas of them shambling out of the shallows.

 

Two 28mm figures plus the room bonus gives me 30 points. I'm not sure if there is enough flesh come off of these guys to register on the Skull-o-meter(TM).

Well, if people will insist on burying the dead on sandy shorelines, this is exactly what you can expect!

Tamsin

AHPC Entry The Mimic

 

The blurb for the Pit and the Pendulum says "Something Terrifying" and in my own world I am constantly beset by vicious attack furniture.  As I quietly go about (ok noisily go about as I seem incapable of doing anything quietly) my daily business I run in constant danger of being impaled or bludgeon by seemingly innocent tables, chairs, door knobs, walls, bookcases, cabinets...the list of horrors goes on for ever.  You are not paranoid if the furniture is really out to get me...I swear it's got nothing to do with my own gross motor skills or level of distraction.

I am pretty sure that this is a Reaper Bones Mimic in 28mm.  It has a distinct Harry Potter or Muppet feel and was a lot of fun to paint.  It's also the first time I've ever painted a tongue on a mini.  Assuming that this meets the Terrifying criteria enough this nets me another 5 points for the mini and 20 for the Chamber.

*knock, knock*

"Ahhh, come in Victim #7, errmm, Peter."

Oh, yes, the mimic. I definitely think that counts as terrifying.

25 points it is.

Tamsin

Arygle Gargoyles

i am over a month late posting this, which appear on the AHPCVIII blog back when even my calendar said it was winter (before the Spring Equinox)

Well I had a gigantic challenge fade at the end and so there are several projects in various states of completion that will be finished afterwards.  Included in the mix is my Curtgeld, all done but the bases.  However IIRC, the Challenge rules state that I can leave the bases unfinished for Curt so that's where we'll leave things.

I am a historical gamer so I don't do monsters as a rule, but I picked up theses 28mm D&D plastic gargoyles from the local game shop and I reckon they'll do as Curtgeld.  I tried to do them to match the greyscale effects that Curt gets, which I figured would suit the gargoyles.

The challenge fade mostly had to do with the final 8 Royal Welsh Fusiliers which include two standard bearers and two musicians.  These gave me many headaches - false starts, dropped paint sticks, do overs the whole shooting match.  I've finally broken the back on them but they'll have to wait till after the challenge.  Also in the background is the start of a Hessian unit, which I began after much frustration on the Fusiliers.

As for the title, I know Curt is a fan of the Muppets and this is one of my favourite Muppet Shticks - Angus McGonagle the Argyle Gargoyle Gargling Gershwin!  With the Snowlord being a traitorous, murdering, scheming bastard who sold his country out for Dutch and German kings Campbell, it seemed appropriate.   Plus it includes Mark Hamill in an argyle sweater.

_______________________