From SanderS: "Throwing Rocks at Cook's Crevasse." (40 pts)

Hoi,

Geology? Seriously? What do I know of rocks? I really had to think hard about this location and it's demands for an entry. But the answer was lying on my paintdesk staring me in the eyes for quite some time, dare I say it: years?

Some time ago I bought some AoS objectives or endless spells and amongst them was a floating rock bound to the ground with chains. The reason I hadn't painted it yet was twofold: firstly I didn't know how to base it, not having any decently sized bases. Secondly I was unsure of how to use it. In the end it was Awdry's Attol that brought the solution: base it on a CD and therefore use it in regular games not for Heroquest where a different base size was needed.

Pre-painting WIP shot.

Painted the thing looks like this:

At first I wanted it to be purple, it's evidently Choatic in nature and I think purple suits Chaos magic very well. That said I have an idea of playing Mordheim again in one form or another and really would like to involve loads of Skaven. So in the end I chose to go with Green Warpstone. What would any Skaven Grey-seer not give for such a large piece of clearly highly magically charged Warpstone? So mister Cook let's have your analyis on Warpstone eh?

The base is fairly simple and devoid of race specific items so I could use it in quite a lot of different scenario's. I did add some skulls to one of the small offering stones, because every self respecting sorcerer needs some skulls right?

Also on my table were some pebbles from the garden. These I had gathered to use as Dwarven Oathstones when Warhammer was still Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Now I had the perfect opportunity to paint one up. So I started making an oathstone with some left over bits.

Painted the Oathstone looks like this:

The Dwarf Lord is only there for scale purposes and because he looks good. I wanted this Oathstone to look as if it's a long time abandoned and forgotten. Perhaps it's somewhere high up in the Ramtop Mountains... ergh... World Edge Mountains of course where the Dwarfs have been driven off their ancestral lands by Greenskins or Skaven and this Stone has stood there long since abandoned, the bronze images and offerings gathering a layer of verdisgris and the Stone itself a thick layer of moss and creeper plants.

These two will be very nice additions to my battlefields as soon as I get to playing any reall game again.
As to the points, well I guess they qualify for the 30 points bonus from the Crevasse but I have no real idea what to award for the stones themselves. Might I suggest counting them as 28mm foot figures so 5 points each for a total of 40 allround? I'd be happy with that.

Today's Challenge Tune is a funny story: for the Heroquest Schoolclub I always try yo find some suitable ambience music and while browsing Youtube for some Viking themed music (like Dannheim or Skald) I stumbled along this hilariously bad BAD "Dwarven Metal" for lack of a better word. To my great amazement 2 of the kids from my club actually knew the song and we 3 boisterously sang along the refrain that will stick in your head for ages to come if you're not careful.

Oh well I am off to painting Camels for Humpday!

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By Paul: a nice bit of thematic terrain building Sander- 40 points it is!

From TomM: Cook's Crevasse: Kadim Incarnates (90 Points)

Or as they where called in the Forge World days, K'daai.  

Lesser stone constructs, created and bound by the Dawi Zharr to take the brunt of the incoming enemy and allow them the chance to flank opponents.

These models, created by Mantic Games in their Abyssal Dwarf range, are as such excellently suited to represent these big (and expensive points-wise) monsters into the army of Infernal Dwarves, and as the theme for this bonus location had to be "earth related", where excellently suited as an entry.

Big and lumbering, this unit of monsters will pack a serious punch once I manage to get back to actual battling 9th Age, but for now I will just methodically build up my forces for gaming.

Now that should conclude my scenic route along the island, time to go hitch a final ride on the balloon and make way to the peak in the centre.

Pointswise, these should yield 6x 10 points for a monster figure, and adding the location bonus in the mix grant me a nice 90 points towards my goal.

***
As someone who was so involved with GW's fantasy ranges at one point (before the "Age of Sigmar" happened) it is always really neat to see the many excellent fantasy figures available from other sources appear during the Painting Challenge. These are interesting monsters, well done Tom. 

Greg B

Rock lobbing orcs at Cooke’s Crevasse by MarkB - 40pts

The looting rioting adventures continue across the island to Cook’s Crevasse. This time more Orcs (because let’s face it you can never have enough!?) so please welcome Scabs and Snotwangle. Scabs is a Maurauder Miniature from about 1989. He is a scabby and poorly clothed beast of burden clearly labouring with his heavy rock. This is his favourite rock called Betty. He always collects her after a battle to reuse her again. Scabs loves Betty because she always makes such a mess of the Stunties or the poncey pointy eared Elves.

Scabs 💕 Betty

Unfortunately for Scabs he is forced to work very hard by a rather brutal Orc called Snotwangle. Snotwangle takes delight in telling Scabs to work faster loading the catapult. I’m afraid the Man Mangler catapult was already painted before the challenge but I thought you’d enjoy seeing Scabs, Betty and Snotwangle in action!

This is Snotwangle. He is a Citadel Orc champion from about 1987. He likes to drink from his bottle of triple X Snotspike booze as he barks instructions. He is a nasty Orc!🤪

 

At the end of a long hard day of shooting rocks at Stunties Scabs and Snotwangle like to relax. Scabs likes to polish Betty. Snotwangle likes to drink more grog.

 

Cook’s Crevasse completes with a rock themed figure= 30 points

2 x 28mm figures = 10 points

Total = 40 points

Now we shall head to the coast to Docherty’s Dock where more mischief is planned!

From DaveD. Oh Martin will be pleased - he may even ask questions on the kind of rock! - prepare for your Thursday test! 40 points it is

From TeemuL: Troll from Cook's Crevase (37 points)

"That's no Cook!"

"It's not a Crevase either!"

"Run! Run! Run, you fools!"

The expedition around the island reaches Cook's Crevase, but the companions won't stay for long. This is a plastic troll from "Battle of Skull Pass" starter for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The base is too big, but since this was already glued on and primed and the base itself is a scenic one, I kept it. Too big, you ask. Well, too big for Blood Bowl. Not much, but a bit.

As you can see, it is armed with a piece of rock (granite maybe?). Not necessarily approved in Blood Bowl, but there are many referees, who don't mind. There area different kinds of greens on top of each other, some regular greens from various ranges, some contrast green and then some dtybrushed green. I guess he fits nicely to my greenskin team. He has red pants, which tie him  to the team as well. I was considering to add a number in the back, but in the end I decided to keep him as he is. I guess the troll would have eaten it anyway, thinking it is a cookie or something.

30 points for the location and let's say 7 points for the troll. He is 28mm scale, but quite big.

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By Paul:

A lovely addition to any team! Of course being effective is another thing and trolls are not renowned for their on-pitch reliability! I love the masonry he is holding aloft - looks like he has ripped off a grandstand support to use on the opposition. Thats not a secret weapon Ref - just part of the wider playing field!

Take 38 points, because Blood Bowl is awesome and there should be more!

From Paul SS - Froggle Rock for Cook's Crevase 35 points

This was a difficult one, a souring of the lead mountain and bits box yielded nothing suitable for a geology themed round, the nearest possibly being a French Napoleonic Pioneer.

So I set to with some insulation board and my hot wire cutter to carve out an overhanging ledge. When I'd finished with the wire cutter, I looked at it, Victoria looked at it and at the same time said "Looks like a frog!" so Froggle Rock it was to be. 

I stuck it on some board, gave a coat of Poly-filler and let it dry. When it had set I sanded it down, and stuck on some smaller stones and pebbles, sealed with PVA and gave a dark brown primer. 

Once ready I started painting off a basecoat of "Mooring Post" emulsion adding a few highlights as I went along, some patches of lichen were added along with some damp mossy bits under the overhand.

The finishing touches  were some tufts, clumps and static grass. The ACW infantryman is from the batch I painted earlier this week and is only there for an idea scale.

Points wise, it's about a 1/4 cube so should get me 5pts, plus 30pts for completing the location.

From MilesR: It does look like a frog, a petrified one, but a frog non-the-less.  Thats 35 points for you.

From ByronM - Earth Elemental for Cooks Crevase (35 points)

Well, that was a close call!  I was all set to have a submission published, it was all written and submitted, and then I went looking at the next spot on the map and realized I was about to waste a perfectly good submission for a space.... See, that's what you get for not planning ahead!

So, a quick stop was put to the submission and I went digging for something for the space I was coming up to so that I could delay the already done entry for the next space.  The only issue was, WTF did I have to use for Cooks' Crevase???  Nothing!

3d Printing to the rescue!

These pieces are what will become an earth elemental, I know they are hard to see detail on since I used clear resin.

Once all the support structure was removed, it started to look like something!

Now it was time to paint it up.  Pretty simple over all since it is all stone.  Black, greys, some brownish wash to mute it a bit and add some warmth.  But it was still missing something.

That's where I remembered doing green moss on some terrain I painted and I figured that would work to add some more colour to him.  I washed in a few layers of green into the cracks and he started looking much better!

So, there we have it.  I started the printer with a free file from Thingiverse yesterday, cleaned him up, primed him last night, and painted him this evening, all in about 24 hours.  Man do I love modern UV SLA 3d printing technology! There are not even any lines or printing marks!

This simple, easy, and essentially free (maybe $0.50 in resin) figure should net me a quick 35 points.  He is on a 40mm base and bigger than 28mm figures, but he was so easy to paint, it would be wrong to claim any more points than a normal figure for him!

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by Paul:
Your rapid print & paint capability is very impressive. 
35 points nicely earned - he looks great!

From Pete F: Cook's Crevasse Speed Paint Earth Elemental (50 points)

This is a greater earth elemental for Kings of War by Mantic Games. My first KoW army is Forces of Nature - a mixture of naiad and lizard infantry supported by elementals, shambling trees and centaurs. I chose my army by buying the cheapest thing I could get on EBay. This was part of a roughly painted and heavily damaged job lot that had to be stripped, reassembled, cleaned and reprimed.

The main body of the earth elemental was painted using contrast basilicum grey, lightly dry-brushed. The crystals were painted black and then with a  colour shift called "Crystal Cavern" made by Turbo Dork. These colour shift paints showed up at my local store a couple of months ago - they are great for creating fantasy or sci-fi metallic sheens. This is the first time I've used one and I'm very happy with the result.  I've used the contrast paints as a base for the massed ranks of infantry - they can produce great results for wargame standard speed painting and I plan to use them a lot for my Kow Nightstalkers army. With contrasts and colour shifts it should be possible to get a big army table ready quite quickly.

If you like fantasy miniatures I'd recommend checking out Mantic's recent releases - they have really upped their game - this is one of their older models - good but not great. Decently functional. The newer stuff has more pizzazz.

The base got some aquarium rocks, various bits of flock, tufts and a pond made from Woodland Scenics realistic water.

In the game the earth elemental is high defense (armour) and has a lot of "crushing strength". It is a "titan" (even bigger than the creatures classified as monsters) so it sits on a 75mm square base. They work well in concert with other units and in addition to moving under their own steam druids can move them using their druidy magic. These kind of tricks are an important element of Kings of War - a game that richly rewards flank attacks if you can figure out how to get them.

This is my 5th area explored on Challenge Island (30 points for Cook's Crevasse) - I'm not sure if that qualifies me for Snowlord's Peak as I am not (yet) adjacent to it. The elemental is 100mm high from foot to top of crystal and he's kind of crouching - I'll leave it to the Minion of the Day (or the Snowlord) to score him (or her, it's hard to tell with elementals).

"Get off my lawn"

From MilesR:  That certainly is an impressive elemental and the basing is nicely done.  I also found the mini tutorial on contrast paints interesting.  I scored this as a 28mm vehicle.

From PeterD 28mm Stonework for Cooks' Crevasse (50 points)

I'm a little nervous about this as I've taken a geology course before and I know that Dr. Cook is pretty hard-a**ed (From DaveD - yes but weirdly he seems to allergic to sand - some geologist!- don’t ask ). I have two pieces of terrain made from stone for my Italian Wars project.  These are 28mm and made by TTCombat.

First up is a house.  Wikipedia tells me that period buildings in Tuscany use a mix of sandstone and limestone, which in this case have been covered over with some stucco work.  I like the details that TTC puts into its products, the curved porch, louvered windows and the tiled roofing.  One of the louvers fell out of one window set during construction.  I could have ruled it back but left the window blank to give the impression of a Medici, Borgia or Sforza plotting in the shadows out of sight.  

Next we have a stepped bridge.  I like that the steps have been left wide enough to hold stands of figures and once again the detailing is nice.  I tried to give the compass rose in the middle span the impression of inlaid marbles in white, black and blue/grey.  On table we'll have to figure out how vehicles and gun crews navigate the steps.  

As with my first TTC house, I used a basic wash technique mostly using raw sienna, raw umber and burnt umber, all of which are based on the earth pigments used in Renaissance Italy for a further geological link.

There's also an economics lesson in this post.  I picked all three of the TTC pieces in Meeplemart in Toronto along with some stuff for Curt.  My three buildings came to less than the two sets of GW dice that Curt asked me to pick up.  I like to tease Curt that I don't require that my dice pass though the intestines of a civet cat.

These two pieces pretty much fill a 6" cubic unit so that's 20 points for the models and 30 for Cook's Crevasse, assuming Dr Cook gives me passing grade.  My progress across Challenge Island is plotted on the map below.  Next up I'll likely be taking a balloon ride across to the western coast.

Also when Curt first posted about the Island, I commented that the stops looks like merit badges from my boy scout days.  I've decided that I'll note my progress in terms of badges earned too.

Me circa 1976.  My gaming activities included first edition D&D, Avalon Hill board games and badly painted Airfix Nappys in Humbrol enamels. 

From DaveD - Badges!!! fine badges Peter. Lovely terrain items , 50 points it is. I do like the finish on your buildings - it does just look right to me - I look forward to seeing them being fought over.

From Paul O'G: Monolith at Cook's Crevase (55 points)

Deep in the forbidden forrest, shadowy figures dance and writhe, chant and drum. 

Shadows flicker over an edifice of horror erected to Dark Gods...

To close out the hobby year, my next stop on Challenge Island is Cook's Crevase where "Entries must have a Geology Theme".  I may even be the first to visit this place, and what says Geology more than a giant, creepy stone Monolith!

Rear view - more skulls and grisly trophies!

This adds to my growing Fantasy terrain collection - the model is the current GW Herdstone model, useful for any large blasphemy or even Pulp era Cthulhu cultists (and its been way too long since I painted anything for that genre).  A relatively expensive plastic kit, it was a real delight to paint and had a myriad of details that I spent waaaay too long on for a Painting Challenge - I'm just not a speed painter at heart, and if detail is there then it needs to be painted!

Side view

I went with a darker granite colour rather than a more typical grey rock - I think it gives it a more sinister appearance.  I also tried some OSL effects from the fire, keeping the bottom half of the monolith a bit darker to make that more effective and also help the lower runestones show up better.  So while the colours looks straight forward, I thought about them in far more detail than I usually would bother!

This entry is also my opening salvo for the "Skully McSkullface" side challenge which Barks initiated, and its a skull laden good 'un too:

Fireplace: 11 - yes Barks, I even painted the ones facing the inside
Herdstone: 24, I lost one along the way :-(
Model Base: 9
Total SkullCount: 44!

Evidence for Barks - painted skulls on the reverse side of the fire before the main stone is glued in.

Details of the fire OSL - fun, but time consuming!

Points wise this fills a full 6inch terrain 'cube' for 20 points.  I'll let Curt decide what bonus points the detailing/OSL are worth, plus another 30 points for the map location.

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This is truly a great geologic find, Paul. Geez, look, at least 44 geologist gave their lives in its discovery - poor dumb b@stards. Skully McSkullface indeed! 

Good gravy, I just looked up the price for one of these things! You have sold your soul to some dark power, O'Grady. You must be stopped. We call upon the only man who can thwart you... Barks. 

Game on.

55 points. I know, it's tough love, Paul, but it's character building and you'll thank me in the end... ;P