From NickJ: Skull God's Valentine Gifts (244 Skullz) (34 points)

Once upon a Skulls for the Skull God!

Sat on a shelf for a number of years was a very sad piece of terrain. The Skull Altar for the Blades of Khorne Chaos faction. I'd tried a couple of times to paint it but always something more shiny stole the spotlight and so it sat. Undercoated. Waiting.

And to be honest I had no intention of painting it for this Challenge either. Until, that is, someone mentioned a Skull Duel... well as an advocate for the Skull God I could hardly pass up that now could I??

I also took the opportunity to paint up one of the Judgments of Khorne. These are Endless Spells (similar to my flaming bull from a couple of years ago) but as Khorne does not do magic they are called Judgments instead. Best not to ask to be honest!

So I'd like to present the Skull Altar and the Hexgorger Skulls. The two other figures you see here are Slaughterpriests. These lovely chaps are the ones that make use of the Altar for re-rolls when praying to cast the Judgments. They were painted previously so do not count for this Challenge but wanted to use them to show scale.

So let's get a little closer to the Hexgorger Skulls!

I opted fairly early on not to paint these in the traditional skull colour of bone for two reasons:

1) they are pulled from the warp/imagination of the Slaughterpriest so they can be any colour he can dream of. Yellow suited the warmer colours of Khorne.

2) I can't paint bone on large flat surfaces very well and fully expect it would have been an unsightly mess; if ever there was a model for an airbrush this is it. Sadly no airbrush here...

The blood has been finished with one of GW's technical paints - Blood for the Blood God. This gives the nice shiny, slick look and then I liberally added it to the bases as well.

The next picture really shows the blood pools.

And so to the Altar itself. For the red and bronze I decided to keep those colours dark and foreboding thus giving the skulls, spikes and blades a chance to shine.

As you'll note I painted the blades using the same colour scheme as all weapon blades for my Khorne army. The main colour is actually a wash - Casandora Yellow - with an Averland Sunset base and a Tyrant Skull dry brush part way through. I think there are 4-5 coats of Casandora Yellow in all.

And now some side and rear views so you can begin to see how many bloody skulls there are on this thing - evidently someone at GW had some spare and decided to design them all into the one model.

And finally a top down shot so we can all marvel at just how much of a collector Khorne is when it comes to skulls.

In total - and to be honest I've counted them thrice and got a different answer each time - on average there are 242 skulls on this single terrain piece.

Add the two Judgments and we have a grand total of 244 skulls for the Duel.

Scoring wise:

for comparisons the Slaughterpriests are 50mm high.

Altar - 20 points. It's 6" high and fits snuggly in a 6" cube.

Hexgorger Skulls - 14 points. They stand 90mm high but aren't exactly substantial models so I've scored them as 40mm at 7 points each.

A grand total of 34 points.

Take care everyone and now on to the next project!

From NickJ: Beastmen Underworlds Warband (30 Pts)

Once Upon a return to Chaos.

Yes it's true. Last time I actually painted something that wasn't part of the myriad Chaos factions within the realms of Age of Sigmar.

And now I need to set the Universe back on course with some Chaos Beastmen. This is another of the Warbands available for Underworlds; these are part of Season 3 - Beastgrave.

This particular warband is called Grashrak's Despoilers and here they are packed tightly together for the inaugural group shot.

So let's meet the individuals and I can't promise you any improvements on the naming front, but let's see...

First we have Grashrak Fellhoof himself. This chap is a Shaman who likes skulls. And I mean really, really likes skulls. The bases are pre-moulded by GW for Underworlds and frankly his has a ridiculous number of skulls.

The green on his staff is to signify that something magical is happening... probably involving skulls...

And next up is the enforcer for the warband: Draknar. He's not so worried about skulls and instead carries around an Elf head. As you do. He's also very photogenic knowing just how to strike a pose when there's a handy log lying around.

Now to the Ungors - the lowest of the castes within Beastmen society. Runts of the litter as it were. Those sent out first in battle to test the waters.

On the left, currently scarring himself across his chest to prove that he does indeed bleed, is Murghoth Half-Horn. 

On the right, and bringing half a tree with him, is Korsh "The Sneak". He's a hunter apparently. Hopefully he doesn't drag that log around with him...

And the final two are the Rangers of the gang.

On the left we have Gnarl. No fancy add-ons to his name.

On the right we have Ushkor. Hmm no fancy add-ons either.

Painted them in the same colours as my main Beastmen army as I can use these in Age of Sigmar games as a kind of special unit. Are they any good? Absolutely no idea. They look cool though!

Points wise we're looking at 6 x 28mm figures so I make that 30 points.

From NickJ: Orruk Ironskullz Warband (20 Points)

Ahem. Once Upon a 2019... sorry what? It's when? 2021? But it was 2019 yesterday... right?

There's a scene in Spaceballs that ends with the lines:

"When will then be now?"

"Soon!"

And right now I'm trying to work out how firstly it's been probably 2 years since I last posted and also how the heck the first month of the challenge is already over!

Anyway - hello and I hope everyone is well.

For this Challenge I will mainly be trying to remember how to Hobby. I really didn't get much done in the last 2 years for various reasons that I won't bore you with but have actually managed to get my first 4 figures painted - so achievement unlocked. Hurrah.

Here we have Ironskullz Boyz - A warband for Games Workshop's Underworlds game. 

They've been sat on the shelf for about 4 years and finally managed to push their way to the front.

First up is Gurzag Ironskull himself. Having not painted Orruks (yes GW no longer calls them Orcs/Orks) it took a while to work out how to paint green skin.

Now meet Basha and Hakka. Look I take no responsibility for the names. That's on GW!

Basha is on the left with the fetching eye-patch...

I opted to have fairly dark silver armour as Orruks aren't the tidiest creatures plus then the red would have a chance to contrast.

And finally... and again I apologise for whatever naming rules they are using in Nottingham... here's Bonekutta

Lovely big axe and I'm sure it does cut through bone... 

So there we have my first completed, painted models since 2019. I suspect I may have been a bit enthusiastic when I proposed a 500 point target for this Challenge but a start has been made!

Scoring: 4 x 28mm = 20 Points. Just another 480 points to go!

From NickJ - Flaming Bull Horns (30 Points)

Ahem. Once upon a kind of Magic...

For those of you unfamiliar with the GW Age of Sigmar I suspect this week’s entry will consist of plenty of “What The Fudge is that?!”

I can only apologise in advance. And apologies for any photo issues as my camera batteries died and I've ended up using my iPhone instead...

Previously in the Tale of Endless Spells we’ve met a flock of purple ravens and a glowy stick, er staff, carrying Shaman. Now allow me to introduce the other 2 Endless Spells that our wonderfully nuts Shaman can generate

First we have a Horn. Or to be more precise a Doomblast Dirgehorn

The blurb says: "Drawn from beneath the earth, animal bones are fused into the shape of a giant horn". As you do.

Hence I tried to give it a bone like look

The flames were going to be orange until my son piped up with the comment "you should do them blue". Not one to say no off I went; couple of tips from the group and I'm quite pleased with the overall effect

The main advantage of the blue is that now all of the spells are varied in their colour schemes as you'll see in a minute when I pull out Spell #3

The effect on the battlefield of this spell is to render it harder for the enemy to hit you in combat as their minds are, allegedly, stripped of their sanity. Nice.

Which leads me to Spell #3. Pictures speak volumes so here then is the Wildfire Taurus

Yes you are seeing what you think you're seeing. That's half a bull. On fire. He stands a whopping 100mm and is 130mm from tip to tail. He's a hefty chunk of plastic.

This took an age to get the skin to a colour I was happy with. He's grey with a yellow shade which seems to have turned him dark green - an unexpected but quite nice effect!

I painted flame effects in the cracks and folds of his skin to hopefully show how hot he is on the inside.

The horns, hooves and teeth have been painted bone and then washed with warmer fleshshade to hint again at the heat within.

The flames themselves include yellow base, white drybrush, red wash, orange wash, yellow wash. Lots of coats to reach the end result. Washes take ages to dry so I was able to paint my entry for the next bonus round at the same time - result!

On the battlefield this chap charges around killing stuff. Nothing subtle whatsoever.

Scoring wise I'm not sure and will leave that to my Minion - sorry Iain :-)

Horn - stands 60mm
Bull - stands 100mm and is 130mm from horns to flames

Next time something normal. Ish. Kind of normal? No probably not to be fair.

NickJ

Lovely reappearing flaming bull and horn, super finish, I'm counting your horn as a 54mm figure and the bull as a 54mm mounted figure giving you a total of 30 points, splendid!
All the best Iain

THURS - From NickJ - It's a Kind of Magic (5 points)

Once Upon a Queen Song that's now stuck in your head... there can be only One!

Just a small post this Thursday as that annoying Real Life (tm) doohickey got involved this last week and decided to rain all over my painting plans! And next week work have determined that I need to be in Belgium and British Airways really don't seem happy about the idea of me taking hobby materials with me.

Right. On with the post!

For the first Bonus Round I presented my Purple Crows which is an Endless Spell in the world of Age of Sigmar. Now in order to cast an Endless Spell you need someone who likes playing with fire. For the Beasts of Chaos this is a Bray-Shaman.

So here then is the first of my Magic Wielders for the Beasts

 

He's basically the same colour scheme of Purple, Grey and Blue as all my other Beasts, however, I decided that as a Leader he would have a couple of different colours to signify his status - or to warn other Beasts to stand clear.

His cloak is a mix of earthy colours with Brown for the hood and Green for the main cloak.

 

Since he has a patchwork effect on the cloak I opted for a couple of blue panels just to add a little panache.

I'm sure you might have noticed the glowy stick? This is born from a desire to try out the new GW "ghost" paints and to show that he is channeling something through the stick that glows in the dark.

I wanted to show the glow spreading as he builds the power hence why the noose and skulls are only partly painted as it travels down the staff. I'll call it a staff now as he gets upset when I call it a stick!

That's a nice 5 points banked hopefully. Take that Evil Empire Duelists! :-)

Nick

                                                      

Lovely beast man with a shiny stick! I like his cloak and the fact you haven't made all the (sorry!) Staff (much better!) Shiny!
You are of course quite correct 5 points it is!
All the best Iain

From NickJ: Chaos Warhounds Part 1 (75 Points)

Once upon a dream that one day I'll agree a paint scheme with myself and stick to it...

Here then are 15 Chaos Warhounds; a lovely fast unit for the Beasts of Chaos faction.

And Woof to you to!

There are two issues with the above squad.

1) They were supposed to be ready for last Thursday

2) There are supposed to be 30 of them

I ended up adding extra coats of wash to the skin so there are 5 layers of various paints on each dog's skin. On top of that I opted to make the drybrushing on the fur as complicated as possible by adding in a coat of blue wash part way through - so 4 coats in the end on the fur. And don't get me started on the bone colour for the horns, hooves etc...

And I even painted their eyes a nice shade of red. No I've no idea why I chose to do this and my eyes have not quite forgiven me just yet!

So with the extra layers of paint required and the distraction of getting the birds done for the bonus round last Saturday I decided to cut the unit in half so I at least had something to post.

And to think I chose this unit because they would be easy to do...!  

The other half have all their skintones done so "just" the drybrushing and bone to do. I'm going to paint something else next though to have a break from the dogs - hopefully I'll get the rest completed before the end of the Challenge!

If my maths is up to scratch that should be 15 x 5pts (28mm) = 75 points.

Cheers!

________________________________

Lovely looking warhounds,gorgeous colouring and very nice basing, nothing wrong with your maths either,75 points it is!

All the best Iain

From NickJ - Darkoath Warqueen (5 points)

Once upon a Third Time.

They say that the third time is a charm. I have no clue what that means so instead I'll just say I can't believe this is my third time in the Challenge already!

In Year 1 I mainly painted Chaos Age of Sigmar figures...
In Year 2 I mainly painted Chaos Age of Sigmar figures...
...
You'll never guess what Year 3 will be bringing...?
...
Yeah. Chaos. Age of Sigmar. Again. It seems no matter how much I clear off the shelves more fills the gaps - pretty much instantly. The slog continues :-)

To get me off the mark I've opted to start with a single Leader figure just like last year.

Say hello to the new Darkoath Warqueen

She leads the Slaves to Darkness faction which was not on the cards for me until GW released the Warqueen... yes I do have a habit of starting armies based on 1 figure I like...

 

Love how dynamic GW made her as she climbs the small rock to lay down some axe therapy

I've decided to align this faction with the Chaos God of Tzeentch, hence the blues and purples. They can then ally with my Disciples of Tzeentch army that you may remember from last year. Acolytes and birds anyone?

I do like the detail that GW has added with scars as well. She's been doing this for a while I think.

She's a standard GW 28mm figure so I'm thinking 5 points to get me kick-started :-)

More to come if all goes vaguely towards a plan...

___________________________________

Well, I applaud you for sticking to a theme, Nick. She's a great looking figure and I especially like the themed, non-metalic metal approach you took towards her shield, cuirass and axehead. Well done that. Will there be more of her minions to follow? Looking forward to finding out.

5 points to mark you on the roster and will start your gambit in the Evil Empire Challenge. Great job!

From NickJ: Monster, Rats and Birds in the Age of Sigmar (50 Points)

Once Upon a... Good Grief! Is it March already?

The last 5 weeks has seen me messing about with a work project that was a little more intense than we all imagined and involved some extra travel. Suffice to say I had no chance to sit down and paint anything other than Clint Eastwood for the Childhood Bonus.

I was chuffed to hit my target though and so thought that would be that for this year's Challenge...

Until the Snow came to the UK again. The UK shuts down when a flake falls so I suddenly had some spare time to finish off some projects and so here then are my final entries for this year!

First up representing the Khorne Bloodbound is a Khorgorath. He was originally intended for the Monstrous Bonus round but he never got beyond the base coating stage.

He stands a whopping 70mm high and has a fair number of bones/skulls all over his body including a massive right claw!

I tried out a little bit of blending with purples and reds on his legs and arms. Quite pleased with the overall effect.

And the tentacles on his left arm have been painted in the same colours as the rest of the Khorne army weaponry to help tie him in.

Next up let's return to the Skaven and a Warpfire Thrower team

This is basically a flame-thrower with a little more magic involved... and it has a really good chance of exploding when you fire it! Standard Skaven weaponry that can be brilliant and then, if you push it that little bit too far, it goes bang. Love Skaven.

Really nice model and great to paint up. I opted for yellow warpfire and green smoke to be a little bit different. 

And finally I had a promise to keep. Do you remember the Kairic Acolytes that took me weeks to complete? If you do you'll remember that in their command squad they have a bird handler but I didn't complete the birds (Vulcharc) in time.

I promised to have them done during the Challenge and here they are with their Handler.

 

I kept their lovely plumage green to match the feathers in the handler's head.

As I said before one of these sits on the handler's outstretched arm normally but I just felt it overpowered the model so instead I've set them on flying bases... currently held on by blu-tac whilst I come up with a more permanent solution.

 

You only need 1 per squad of Acolytes but as 2 came in the box it seemed churlish not to paint both!

I apologise to the minions as I've no idea how to score the Khorgorath! I think the Chimera I did for the Flight bonus netted 25 points and they are close in size.

The Vulcharcs have a 40mm wingspan so perhaps 5 points each or 5 points for the pair?

The Skaven are 10 points. That one I know :-)

Thank you to Jamie for his minioning this year and to Curt for inviting me to take part again. I've had a blast and now I'll have a rest... well I would if my group hadn't decided that we all need to paint a 2,000 point army from scratch in 6 months to celebrate our blog's 10th anniversary. Of course I said yes...

See you next year.

From Minion Tamsin:
Oh my gosh! That is some beautiful brushwork on all of these Nick. I love the vibrant greens on those birds.
I'm going to score the Khorgorath as a 54mm vehicle and those two birds as 5 points each.