Aquifer - Rivers, 2mm Roman marching camp and Gallic oppidum

 Before I go deeper into the dungeon it dawned on me that I’d missed the Aquifer out from the first level. I’d been making thin rivers out of foam sheets that I could use for my 2mm games so these seemed a fairly simple tick in the box. 4’ 6” of rivers made and painted. I had never used foam sheets before for basing and feared they’d warp. Actually they’ve worked really well. These will be ideal for my Sambre 57BC scenario I need to play test next week.

Just to show them in action a few 2mm German warbands are shown crossing over a Ford doubtless off to cause mischief!

Next up is a Gallic Oppidum or town. Surrounded by stone walls interlaced with wooden beams and an imposing ditch. A small group of warriors rally to guard the front entrance while further warriors (or maybe encouraging wives) man the ramparts. This has been made from insulation foam and card with a couple of matchsticks.

Nice view of the surrounding countryside from up here... I wonder where the Romans are?

This sort of oppidum could represent Alesia, Bibracte or Gergovia and will also be a handy addition for a number of Gallic Wars scenarios.

Finally another scratch built camp. This time a Roman marching camp. I already have a full sized one, but this one will fit nicely on the edge of the table and will be useful in Roman Civil War scenarios where both sides need a camp.

I’m undecided but I may well go back and add a few wooden towers in the corners and by the gateway. I used the same method as the oppidum with foam and card. The tents are very thin card cut and folded! I guess the fort could also pass muster for a well organised non-Roman camp, so will also play host to my Servile Wars troops under Spartacus attempting to imitate the Roman model, or Pontic forces in the Mithridatic Wars.

Each of the camps is 120mm x 60mm.

A bit hard to judge this on points. I’ll call it 25 for the camps and the rivers and 20 more for the Aquifer challenge. Total : 45 points.

Cheers

Mark Backhouse

 

From ReillyOG: The Aquifer and Curtgeld - Swamp Trolls and Khazrak One-Eye!(93 points)

Here lies the end of my painting dryspell. After dredging through a solid 70 goblins(of 200) I quickly burnt myself and only just managed to break it with some fun stuff. 

First, I've finally decided to enter the Snow Lord's Dungeon through the Aquifer, and who better to help me in than this merry band of River/Marsh Trolls! A unit of 6, this unit is made up of trolls who have made a habit of camouflaging themselves with all sorts of vegetation in the deep of the river waiting for passers by to provide a lovely lunchtime snack. These were a tonne of fun to do, especially returning to joyous muscle blending after the sea of boring hoods and cloaks that are night goblins. This was also the first time experimenting with some water basing, and while I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, im not keen to figure out water features that are a little more extreme than the humble puddle.

Had to get a close up of my favourite of the bunch.  Once upon a time this Gurrogg here was sent to raid the holiday home of a Empire noble, he came across the exotic Koi pond in the yard. After eating most of the fish (cause what else is there to do with a fish), he noticed that the fish here were a lot shinier and prettier than the boring brown fish in the rivers of the Drakwald. So, from that day forth, Gurrogg has carried around the fish as both a trophy and a friend. He's even named the fish "Gwub". Some of the goblins swear that there is something else in the river chasing this prized fish but the troll barely seems to care(or notice).

Enough with that nonsense, on to the star of the show and my entry for the Curtgeld, Khazrak One-Eye! This feller here is one of the most famous beastlords to grace the Empire with his unholiness due to the fact that Khazrak possesses a ruthless cunning far above his more bestial kin. Kharak and his relentless herds spare no one and have consistently been a major pain in the backside for the populous of Middenland. (Only now do I realise I'm a tad late with the Curtgeld entry, apologies)

He possesses the Scourge whip which is described as: "Scourge is a lethal whip, wrapped in the bitter curses of many generations of Bray-shamans. Its cruel barbs can tear out great chunks of flesh, causing the victim tremendous agony." In order to reflect how cruel he can be, this model totes a hefty 9 skullz all on its own.

All up, points total should be 105 93 points:

River Trolls: 6x10 8 points

Aquifer: 20 points

Khazrak One-Eye: 5 points(and 9 skullz)

Kurtgeld: 20 points

Happy painting all!

from RayR - The Chamber of Challenge - The Aquifier - Well Well Well 30pts?

 

Its the Chamber of Challenge time once again....

and with this entry I've completed Level 1!!!!

The Aquifer: Anything with a nautical, or waterbound, theme.

Well I did originally paint up something different for this entry, but found this Well I picked up some time ago from I don't know whom???

So I moved the other thing I've painted onto a different Level and entered this one instead.

Well, It was a little boring on its own, so I thought I'd paint this little chap up to go with the well.

I think he's a Foundry figure, but I could be wrong?

He will go into the massive box of Donnybrook civilians.

As to the points...

5 points for the figure

I'd guess 5 for the well, if you class it as a 25mm figure???

and 20 for the bonus. Making a grand total of

30 points!

Well I never!

From PeteF: Minifigs Marines of The Guard (40 points)

The Aquifer presented a bit of a problem. I don't play any nautical games and I painted my free-from-Warlord Jack Aubrey last year. Trawling through the lead mountain looking for something seaworthy, not holding out much hope, unearthed these fine fellows.

The Marines of the Guard were naval infantry who served Napoleon as part of his Imperial Guard. One battalion (made up of five "crews") saw action in some of Napoleon's major battles including Austerlitz and Eylau. After being all but wiped out in the Peninsular the unit was reformed with eight crews for the Russian campaign from which only 85 officers and men returned. A single crew of 3 officers and 104 men fought at Ligny and Waterloo.

These are Minifigs - but an older casting. I'm a little shaky on the different versions that Minifigs went through - these casts are somewhere between the original 1970s (thinner, shorter figures) and final casts (chunkier, taller) - they have the same numerical designation as the ones still sold by Calivers - but they're holding their muskets on the other side.

I really enjoyed painting these. I tried a new recipe from the Painting War French Napoleonics Magazine/Book for the gold thread and it turned out nicely. Maybe I'll have to start collecting for the Russian campaign so that I have a reason to paint a whole battalion.

First level complete

That's all the rooms on the first level completed! Four 25mm figures plus a room bonus.

From JonathanO: USS Tyler - The Aquifer (25 points)

 My entry for the Aquifer location is a 1/1200 scale US Civil War vessel.  This is the timber clad paddle steamer gunboat, USS Tyler.  

The USS Tyler was converted from a commercial vessel and was commissioned in 1861. It was initially armed with 6 x 8" guns and a 32pdr.  It saw action throughout the war including bombardment during the battle of Shiloh and the search for and engagement with the CSS Arkansas.

The model is from Navwar and I do not recall why it was in my one of my boxes of unpainted models.  The last time I remember doing a ship model was building Airfix WWII models as a kid.  I really enjoyed doing this little model and could be tempted to do more model ships in the future.

It is based on a 60mm x 30mm MDF base.  I am guessing at 5 points plus the 20 bonus for the Challenge location.

Aha! Another willing victim.  Now, let's see...you must be #9.

I've always had a soft spot for paddle-steamers. 25 points winging their way onto your tally sheet.

Tamsin

From SidneyR: Laarden 'Haringboots' for the "Aquifer" (40 points)

 

"He fishes well who uses a golden hook"

Old Laarden Proverb

***

One of aspects I'm hoping to develop this Challenge, and indeed this year, is the nautical aspect of my (very self-indulgent) wargaming project concerning the fictitious Flemish City of Laarden in the late seventeenth century.  More to come in this nautical vein soon, fellow Challengers, but for now, here's two Laarden 'Haringboots', with various fishing impedimenta.

And no, that's not a made-up term!  Haringboots were used for herring and anchovy fishing in Friesland, sailing through inshore waters and around the Dutch sea dykes before polder-isation.  I thought that something similar might ply their trade in and around the North Sea coast, close to where Laarden is situated...

I picked up the boats at the Crisis show in Antwerp in 2018 (among some other items which might emerge later this Challenge), and I've been looking for an excuse to paint them.  I thought they were a bit dull without something - seafarers or items - set within them.  In the end, I plumped for fishing items, in the form of a net with light-wood buoys, a half-pike and cleats, and a barrel of freshly caught herring with a gutting knife.  I made the fishing items as moveable additions to the boats, so I can fill them with seafarers when needed.

The fish and the feathered hats were created with greenstuff.  The cleats were left over from the items I used in building De Pelikaan in Challenge VI.  And the net was some left-over Great War camouflage netting, repurposed back into a fishing net with a lot of PVA glue.  The buoys were just greenstuff balls, glued to the net.

Trying to sculpt waves on waterline models was something I struggled with until someone from my local club introduced me to the 'toilet paper method' of making waves.  Simply soak the toilet paper in PVA glue, and manipulate it onto the base using an old brush.  The resin boats can then be glued directly onto the toilet paper (using more PVA glue), and the base and model then left to dry overnight.  And... hey presto... all you then need to do is to trim the excess toilet paper and the base is complete.  I gave the base a couple more coats of PVA for strength and painted the whole base in dark blue (Vallejo Game Colour Night Blue), and added a coat of gloss varnish.

I painted the herring with a mix of light grey and pale brown, adding a small dab of silver as well to the mix (simulating fishscales), before glazing the fish in a diluted green/blue ink wash.  This can look a bit off - with my herring on the first attempt looking more like goldfish!  I started again, and I think the second attempt looks a little better.  (Disclaimer:  I am not a fisherman!).  I also gloss varnished the fish afterwards to show they were freshly caught ("...best prices, just caught this morning..,"), and I was done!

On to the points...  I would count these as being a terrain item, hopefully.  They fill a space 5 inches by 3 inches, and with two of them, that's hopefully enough to claim 20 points for a (roughly) 6 inch 'cube'.

 

I hope that's not too fishy (....sorry...!), but the Minions can adjust as they see fit if something smells off. 

And then there's another 20 points for completing the "Aquifer" challenge.  So, in total, 40 points, hopefully, in the net (.....sorry, again...!).

AdamC: Aquifer Black Seas Cutter

This ship was part of a prize I received for my United States Navy that was my main project last challenge. Normally they come as a set of six but this came alone with it's base.

It's a handsome little model ship all metal including the sails. This makes it a bit top heavy but the resin base helps mitigate this. 

The cutter is a bit smaller than a Brig so I'll call her 8 points (Brigs have been worth 10 points in the last challenge) and maybe 1 more point for the very simple rigging the sails are part of the model so nothing extra for them.  Then it's 20 points for the Aquifer. Happy New Year everyone be healthy and safe in 2021.

From DrQ: Through the Aquifer on a Grundstok Gunhauler (40 points?)

For the nautical theme of the Aquifer I present a Grundstok Gunhauler from Kharadron Overlords. In the Age of Sigmar, some dwarfs (or Duardin™) have left their ancestor holds and taken to the sky in giant floating cities that are patrolled and supplied by a fleet of Sky Vessels. The Gunhaulers function partially as artillery platforms and partially as screens for larger ships in the Kharadron Sky Navy. 

The Gunhauler is the small bois of the Kharadron fleet, despite the fact that they sit on a 105mm oval and stand at over 170mm on its custom flight stand. This is the second that I've painted, and I might add a third to my force before this pandemic is over. We'll have to see—I need to paint the gigantic Arkanaut Ironclad before contemplating any more purchases. 

The flight stand is designed to look invoke the Pacific Southwest of the US. It's made out of pink foam and brass rods with pennies underneath to counter balance. The Gunhauler also easily comes off the base for storage. 

Apologies on the quality of the photos. It's really hard to focus on something this big—especially when the whole thing is basically glazed metallics. 

As far as points, 20 points for the Aquifer and 20 points for a vehicle is 40 total (there's two dwarves flying this thing as well, but I'll leave that to the minions to adjudicate if they count for extra).

Now down to the Adventurers' Landing!

Codsticker Enters The Chambers of Challenge (points?)

 To paraphrase Ricki, I "get two birds stoned at once" (for those that need a reference: Rickyisms). The following dock and boats are all 28mm from Games Workshop's Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Lake Town Multipack (mouthful!).

The Chamber of Darkness

This is my first attempt at greyscale however there isn't much grey; it's mostly black and white:

The dock was primed with Armor Coat grey, then hit with a black wash/stain made from Golden High Flow Acrylic Black and worked up using Games Workshop Dawnstone and Golden High Flow Acylic Titanium White.

The Aquifer

To meet the Aquifer requirement, I painted three boats from the same  Games Workshop kit.

All three painted using a combination of the Golden High Flow Acrylics (Titanium White, Shading Grey, Sienna, Sepia, Ochre) Games workshop (Ice Blue, Dawnstone, Steel Legion Drab) and Army Painter (Drake Tooth).

17th century English colonial unloads supplies in the Caribbean (Foundry ECW banana figure for scale):

I'm not sure how to point these: I think 15 or 20 pts for all 4 pieces is fair, but as they don't make up a 6" cube I wonder if 20 pts is too little for a proper 6" cube's worth of terrain?

So with the Challenge bonuses, I am guessing somewhere between 50-60 pts.

I think I will tackle the curtgeld next...