Going deeper underground (Warhammer Quest/Generic Dungeoneering project)

[Modhail]

Now, I don't have any iDevices, which puts the digital version of WHQ well beyond my reach. But the tweaks you describe are intriguing...
Something to keep in mind, when/if I get a next game of WHQ in.


At the start of this month, I received a PM from Elprez. He had enjoyed this thread and wanted to send me a mini he thought I might find useful.
Two weeks ago the package arrived, containing a Black Tree "Evil Eye" and a drunk, kilted goblin. After receiving such a gift, I couldn't just let them languish in the lead pile, now could I? So I prepped the mini's and the Evil Eye immediately skipped to the front of the painting queue. I spent some pleasant time with him over the Easter weekend. Sadly it took me until today to find the time and room to make some decent pictures of the result:



The kilted goblin is still on the workbench. I'm just terribly undecided what I want to do with him... While I like the idea of some heroes getting ambushed by a kilted goblin that launches into an unintelligible drunken rant that attracts more monsters with the noise, I also really like the guy and could also see him as a sort of cantankerous sidekick to a band of heroes. I'm still mulling over the role he will get, which in turn informs his basing and paint scheme... Decisions, decisions...

I've also got some more mini's painted over the Easter weekend, but I'll post about them later. I think this mini, and the story of how I got it deserves a post to their own.
El Prez, thank you again for your kind gift!

[Modhail]

So, what else have I been up to?

I've been painting slugs and snails (but no puppy dog tails):

Just when you think you've hardened yourself to the horrors of fighting off goblins and skeletons and their ilk in the subterranean dark, these things come crawling around the corner...

And I've finished the fighting retainers of my knight. Here are his bannerman, Sergeant and three spearmen:


And a closeup of the banner:


Which means his retinue currently stands at this:

(I also have a dismounted version of my knight, but he not in this picture. I want to prevent any paradoxes from my knight meeting himself... )

Currently on the painting table is the squire (also a mounted and foot dual figure) to complete the fighting retinue. After him, there is, for now, only the knight's wife, children and dog in the to paint pile for the knight. At some point I'd like to also add some villagers and domestic servants to the collection, but that's not a high priority for now, I've still got plenty of other heroes, villains and monsters to paint... At some point I'll also need some terrain as well, I guess.

[Elprez]

Loving the knight and his retinue, especially the banner. Effective colour scheme.
Cool to see the beholder painted up, 

"While I like the idea of some heroes getting ambushed by a kilted goblin that launches into an unintelligible drunken rant that attracts more monsters with the noise, I also really like the guy and could also see him as a sort of cantankerous sidekick to a band of heroes. I'm still mulling over the role he will get, which in turn informs his basing and paint scheme... Decisions, decisions..."

Nice to see it's not just me that sees these little metal men as characters in their own right, 
Sometimes they do take on a character of their own.

[Modhail]

That they do, and I enjoy it every time it happens.  I've found that certain sculptors have an uncanny talent to evoke character in their sculpts. Kev White is definitely one of them!

The squire passed my painting table this week, which means my knight's fighting retinue is complete!
Here he is:



I've got a busy weekend ahead, but I'll try and take some pretty pictures of the complete retinue after that.

[Modhail]

Now that the retinue is complete, I made some pretty (I hope) pictures and posted them in the Fantasy Board.

[Modhail]

I found myself a treat this pas week:
The original Knight and his retinue I finished recently came from the mini's I held on to from an aborted Bretonnian army for Warhammer Fantasy in the 90's. This week I had another rout through this (admittedly small) pile, with some unexpected results:
I found out that, not only did I own duplicates of the OOP Grail Knight on foot, but I also owned one particular mounted Grail Knight twice! Which led to a simple equation: 2 mounted knights, 2 foot knights, and among them 2 matching pairs of heraldic crests and shields meant: 2 new characters for more Chivalric centred games!
It needed just a little bit of cutting and gluing to make a reality:

The two centre miniatures are the unmodified originals, the two on the outside have had their crests swapped. Plus I'm thinking about swapping the warhammer on one of them to differentiate them even more. Maybe the classical sword, or maybe a brutal looking mace?
I took one each of the mounted and foot bodies and a jeweller's saw and carefully sawed off the crests just below the torse (the twisted band of cloth that runs around the top of the helmet). By cutting along this natural dividing line, I'm making it much easier for myself to fill and hide the join. After that I simply swapped the crests around and glued them back on. Next step is to fill any gaps left and resculpt the knots in the torses at the back of the helmets.
I don't have the miniatures to give them both a full retinue, but I guess I'll find a solution for that in time. The old 90's Bretonnian men-at-arms are still fairly easily found on Ebay and second hand markets, Perry have their lovely Orléans to Agincourt range, and there are plenty of other manufacturers of feudal/HYW miniatures depending on where on the quality/affordable spectrum I want to go. Or I could just wait for the Perrys to finish their very promising HYW plastics and get both quality and affordabiliy.
After all, I'm in no hurry... It's not like I'll run out of figures to paint anytime soon!

[Modhail]

I got a bit more painting done the last couple of days, namely my skeleton swordsmen for the dungeon:

As far as skeletal undead go, I've still got a 5 strong mob of Skeleton spearmen, 2 Skeleton officers, a Skeletal Dread Knight and the Lich King waiting in the bleachers for a coat of paint. As well as a Necromancer, Banshee and two Wraiths to round out the undeath themed part of the dungeon populace.
Still a fair bit to do, but luckily it's all small batches and individuals so it won't turn into a chore.

Currently on the painting table is a wee little kilted goblin with both an attitude and drinking problem. 

[Teshub]

I love this project, so inspiring!

[Michka]

Fantastic looking skeletons. They look like they just crawled out of the tomb. I love the effect you got on the shields.

[Modhail]

Thank you, guys.
I'm pretty pleased with their weathered look as well.

But now for something slightly more alive:

"Tha mo bhàta-foluaimein loma-làn easgannan!"
That's what he shouted at me as he staggered out of the bushes towards us, or at least, that's how it sounded to me.
Several of my men had already drawn weapons and were ready for him, or any hidden friends of his, to attack us.
As he noticed the movements of my retainers, he twitched and fell over flat on his back. As he lay immobile, a tense second of silence stretched into several seconds, then a minute. My retinue exchanged confused glances. I quietly instructed them to keep their positions and remain alert, but not to do anything...yet. This standoff was broken by him suddenly thrusting a bottle at the sky and laughing uproariously for a full five minutes.

Still chuckling, he stood up, but broke his bottle in the process. His face turned red and contorted in rage. My men shuffled nervously, as the goblin drew a deep breath. Before they could decide on their actions, he launched into a indecipherable roaring goggle-eyed rant, seemingly aimed at his broken bottle, the skies, the woods behind him, and anything in between.
I believe, could it understand but a single word of it, this stream of (I assume them to be) profanities would have greyed my hair and bleached my heraldry, such vitriol was behind it!

At some point, seemingly halfway into a sentence, he suddenly fell quiet, sighed deeply, and started to sniff. Seconds later he was sitting on the forest floor, hands limply in his lap, crying as if all the grief of the world suddenly was on his shoulders.
He cried for quite some time...

All this time me and my men stood there, astounded and confused by this strange specimen of the goblin species, and his indecipherable actions and language.
Just when we were at the point of deciding to move on and leave him be, he suddenly jerked his head upright, wiped away his tears and stood up.
He looked around until he saw me. Then he walked towards me and looked me straight in the eye. He shouted something at me, "Tha gaol agam ort!" I believe it was. At that he seemed himself to blink in confusion, and then said "Is mise cliamain" or something like it, in a more quiet voice.
Muttering under his breath, pointing at various member of my retinue or items in our baggage train, he walked to the rear of the column, and sat in the grass until we departed. When we left, he walked after us.

He has followed us ever since. At least, until 5 months later, when we met another group of traveling adventurers on the road and he apparently decided to follow them along instead.

Sometimes we encounter him again, always with another group of heroes. Sometimes he joins us, sometimes he doesn't. We still don't know why.
Drunk or sober (rarely!), he hasn't been any more intelligible than on that first day.
He always knew to find the best loot and booze, though...
Gilbert D'Abelard, traveling knight, recounts his first meeting with the goblin adventurer known only as "Mad" McHaggis the Fighting Drunk.


The man himself, along with his three favorite things in the world: A heavy blunt instrument, whiskey and gold. He is well known to be an intemperate and enthousiastic user of all three.

This is the second miniature I got in the gift package from Elprez. It's Hasslefree Miniatures' Sparr.
I knew the triangular whiskey bottle is specific to a small family of brands, namely Grant's and Glenfiddich. Of the two, Glenfiddich has a green bottle, and as there would already be a fair bit of green in the model, I opted for Grant's, in their clear bottle. Specifically, he is holding a bottle of Grant's Family Reserve.
Tying in to this theme, "Mad" McHaggis is dressed in the Grant clan tartan, or at least as close an approximation as my eyesight and painting skills will allow.
 
Here is a shot from the behind:

Thank you, Elprez, he was a lot of fun to paint!

The treasure chest is from the old GW Mordheim accessory sprue, and will be part of my wife's Warhammer Quest set. I painted it to look old and dirty, but still solid. It's fairly subdued in colours, so that it would set off the richness and colour of the gold. Have to make sure the riches draw the eye...

[Elprez]

Love it.
Love the back-story, and love the painting, 

Great to see him come to life, 

[Kyusumu]

Fantastic brushwork on these!  Very inspiring.  Love the effects.

Question for you on your basing technique, do you pin your models as well or just glue onto the Miliput?  Have you ever had issues with them coming loose?

[Modhail]

Thank you Elprez, I'm glad you like it. 

The metal models I glue and pin. Where possible, I try to keep them unglued until after painting, so I can more easily access the base. With the pins I use I  can just slot the models onto their bases for priming and painting. I just need to remember not to hold them upside down for too long...
The skeletons' feet were too small to pin, so I had to just glue those to the bases, without any pinning. I've had a few of them work a foot loose from the base while painting, but those were easily reattached. None of the pinned and glued ones has come loose.

[Modhail]

"Among adventurers, there are stories about mushroom men sometimes found in the more damp sorts of dungeons and caves. Those who hear these tales for the first time often scoff at these accounts. When you spend your days fighting the likes of Orcs, Ratmen, Undead and even worse horrors in the dark below the earth, how could you worry about something as feeble and fragile as fungus, they ask?
Do not begrudge them their doubts, my friend. They, unlike those who live near caverns infested in such a manner, have not spent night after night hidden in their homes as these creatures scrabble at the doors and windows, their eerie, sighing cries sounding in the night. They have not seen the horrific fate of those who breathe their spores, lost loved ones to it.
Those who have, know the truth; ancient man did not start eating mushrooms for their taste, or for nutritional value, but for revenge..."
From the accounts of Tobias Wärmduscher, widower and former Truffel-gatherer.





It seems to be the time of year for them... 
The miniatures are Agarix from the ever-wonderful Hasslefree Miniatures.
They painted up remarkably easily, using mostly Vallejo Paints and GW Washes.
I've basecoated them in Vallejo Medium Flesh and drybrushed them all over in, consecutively;Vallejo Iraqui Sand, Vallejo Pale Sand and finally Vallejo Flat Aluminium.
Then I washed them with GW Seraphim Sepia, thinned about 50% with water. While this was still wet, I added spot washes in GW Devlan Mud on their lower legs, face and the ribs under their cap. Because both washes were still wet, they blended nicely into each other.
I tinted their caps with a number of glazes with GW Ogryn Flesh wash, with an occasional layer of GW Seraphim Sepia in there as well.
Finally the eyes were dotted with Vallejo Green Sky.

The stone parts of their bases are drybrushed with GW Charandon Granite and GW Dheneb Stone, the dirt parts are painted with Vallejo Burnt Umber and drybrushed Vallejo German Camouflage Ochre.

[Modhail]

Introducing Father Gerhardt:


Father Gerhardt is the monk assigned as a tutor and protector to the children of my Knight (I really need to decide on a name for the guy!). As such he also does double duty as the priest of the village that forms the heart of the demesne.

Miniature-wise he is Heresy Miniatures' Brother Bude. A lovely figure to paint, the only problem I had while painting was that I dropped him, bending his cross and taking the paint off his knuckles!
His base is done with my usual milliput method, I've detailed and painted it to look like the well-worn stone floor of a family chapel or catacomb. If you look closely near his left foot you'll see some familiar, if faded, heraldry...

And finally, the view most commonly seen by the undead and unholy things that sometimes invade the catacombs near the village:

I just love the determined look he has on his face!
If his faith won't stop you, his mace will...