From PeteF: Really The Last Post - A Mixed Bag of Chambers (164 Points)

 As I completed my "last" post yesterday I felt a gnawing disappointment that I'd not completely explored Curt's delightful dungeon. Five rooms remained empty and I was stuck with the thought...what if they could be finished in a day? So as I watched tv last night - and straight after breakfast I was painting individual bricks on La Haye Sainte - my entry for The Oubliette. 

I owned this model back in my youth as a result of an abortive day trip to Windsor Safari Park. Somewhere near Uxbridge the car blew a tire and we spent most of the day by the side of the road and in Uxbridge itself where toy shop was found and the Airfix Waterloo Battle Set was used to assuage my sadness (score, right?). That particular set has been lost in the mists of time but a few years ago I inherited an unbuilt Waterloo Farm House when my brother passed away. He never got around to assembling and painting this iconic piece of Airfix nostalgia and I've had it primed and ready for around 3(?) Challenges... my memory isn't what it once was.

I'm not sure painting the individual bricks was the most efficient approach to this model, especially in a time crunch. But there you go. When I prepped the model I used bits of Lego as jigs so two of the roofs can be easily removed to house soldiers. The whole thing is a bit big to use in a Black Powder game but the individual structures will come in handy along with my other Airfix houses for representing Belgian towns and villages.

Excluding the jutting wall the model is 12"x8"x3" which I estimate to be worth 27 points plus 20 for the room for a total of 47.

I'm going to write and upload photos as I go today. The clock says 9 hours and 40 minutes and there are four rooms left.

Next up is this shrine like object which is my entry for the Tomb. It was a generous gift from a fellow wargamer - I had mentioned to him that I was thinking about doing some fantasy mass battle gaming and he gave me some of his old stuff. I believe this is part of an old GW starter set (hopefully more of it later).

This is likely to see use in Kings of War as a Portal of Despair (mwahahaha) for my Nightstalkers army. I've put clues to various horror movies in the game pieces. This one might even get a second clue if I can figure out how to use LEDs to make the mouth area flicker like the TV screen in Poltergeist. It's a bit obscure but that's the idea.

At 100mm, This is quite a big object so I'm scoring it at 10 points (equivalent to a 54mm foot figure) plus 20 for the room bonus. Added bonus is 26 skulls!

The clock is ticking - AHPC page says seven hours to go - 3 more rooms to clear...

Now to the laboratory - this was the hardest chamber of them all for me to find a suitable mini. After digging around on the shelf of shame I came up short - but then remembered an old box of Heroclix I'd got for my son and which he had given back last time he cleaned out. 

The Hulk is the result of an experiment gone wrong and this version - some kind of robot hulk - is the result of yet more tinkering by misguided scientists. Not sure if I'll find a game for him but he was fun to paint - I enjoyed highlighting the green and will use some of the other Heroclix for practice. I broke out the Turbo Dork for his shiny green machine parts.

I'm scoring him as a 40mm figure (he's 50mm foot to elbow)plus room bonus. With 2 chambers to go the clock says 5 hours 39 minutes. But I have to take a break to cook dinner.

Sticking with the green skinned theme and knocking out another chamber - here are some goblins (night goblins?) from the same source as the shrine thingy. With time so tight I only did these three - I was given enough for a large unit of Saga levies or a regiment of bowmen for Kings of War. In Kings of War there's a goblin tribe - the Red Goblins - that help out the ogres so I gave them red hoods and slippers. Like the pope.

These are nice old school sculpts with lots of character - maybe I'll work towards a full green skinned army - they're fun to paint.

3 minis and a room bonus for 35 points. One room to go - I checked the clock and there's 3 hours and 48 minutes left of Challenge XI to finish the final room.

And here is the final figure for Challenge XI - a female paladin for The Kinght's Solar. She's an old school figure - I can't remember the manufacturer. Maybe Citadel. The pack comes with a mounted on unicorn version of the same mini which I'll save for another time.

1 figure on foot plus a final room bonus for 25 points and the end of a fun day chipping away at the shelf of shame. Apologies if this has been too many pictures! Left with 3 hours to spare... maybe there's another mini?

Grand Total: 164 points

La Haye Sainte: 47 points

Portal: 30 points

Laboratory: 27 points

The Orcs' Pit: 35 points

Knight's Solar: 25 points

And then I got some help

A Big Thank you to Curt and his minions as well as everyone who has participated in Challenge XI. We only get one shot at this journey of life and I'm grateful to have spent some of it painting alongside this merry crew.

From JonathanO: Professor Cavor - The Laboratory (25 points)

 The next stop on my rapid journey through Level 3 is the Laboratory.  This figure is from the Empire of The Dead range of Victorian Sci-Fi / Gothic Horror miniatures from Westwind Productions.  

Professor Cavor is trying to raise funds for his Moon expedition and is demonstrating his space suit and equipment.

I own a lot of the miniatures from this range.  If you have any interest in VSF / Gothic Horror, then I highly recommend the Empire of the Dead from Westwind.  

Another 5 points plus 20 for the location = 25 points, please.  

The total is edging towards my target, but there is still some way to go.  Will I make it to the Altar of the Snowlord in time for my final challenge in the Chambers of Challenge XI?

From SidneyR: SHAZZAMM for "The Laboratory" (30 points)

 

"Shazz-AMMMMM..... A-LA-kazooom......  Oh, another disappointing spell.  What's the next one in the spell-book?"

For my "Laboratory", I've painted a couple of slightly insane Colour-Wizards from way back in the mists of wargaming time.  A long time back, when I used to play Warhammer Fantasy Battles, colour-magic and the colleges of Colour Wizards were all the rage.  I remember being a bit bemused by the rules, but always liked the idea of wizards belonging to different schools of magic - especially with that slightly mad link between the colleges of magic and the colours of magical winds.

I had a couple of wizards planned for this Chamber, and it's been great to get them finally finished.  One of the wizards is from Midlam Miniatures and is described as being a "Dwarven Mage" (he's the smaller one).  The other is Saruman - well, more accurately, he's the Saruman miniature from the 1980s Citadel Miniatures "Lord of the Rings" range.   I thought both would make perfect Wizards for the "Celestial Magic" school... which, looking at my Oldhammer books, is the Blue School of Colour Magic.

So, out with the Vallejo Dark Blue and Vallejo Prussian Blue, then, dear Challengers!

Both miniatures are very nice sculpts. The facial expressions on both are very 'wizard-ly', and the (no doubt) magical rings on both wizards' fingers are well sculpted in both cases.

I particularly liked the palantir for Sarum... errr, the larger Blue wizard.  I'm not sure i've painted it as well as I might have done, but - hey - it's blue!

So, for the points - 5 points each for a wizard (10 points), plus 20 for "The Laboratory", gives a total of 30 points as I finally start to approach the Snow Lord's Altar!

******* 

Lovely work there with the rich blues Sidney - always great to see some older sculpts getting some love!

Cap'n Wednesday

From NoelW: The Laboratory (22 points)

“This is a nice change. No nasty monsters, tricky statues or men with nasty explosive sticks trying to take our heads off.”

“Just rows of odd instruments and a weird looking roundabout in the middle of the room. Merlissa, do you know where we are?”

“It is an ancient laboratory, where the Astromancers first began to plot the stars. That is an orrerry.”

“With one too many syllables, if you ask me.”

“Can we use it?” asks Getrude. “Can we find out how to defeat these pernicious invaders we keep running across?”

“Or locate the room with the Greatest Treasure the World has Never Seen?”

“Worth a stab.”

“There’s a lever.”

“Woof!”

“Yes, I know, Scruff, but Gnawbone’s gone off on his own now. We’ll just have to figure out how to pull it by ourselves.”

Getrude grabs the lever, pulls. There’s a whir of orbs and planets, gears and chains. A brass arrow shifts across a map of the known universe (that is, the Chambers of Challenge and Challenge Island). There’s a little green stick man in one corner. Using a digital interface (i.e. her finger) Merlissa moves the little man onto the map. It grows larger, and larger, pictures of the many rooms they’ve visited scrolling before their eyes. 

Until they light on one that’s unfamiliar. What looks like a mass of tangled straw, with bones sticking from it, and something unidentifiable trickling across the floor.

“The Lair of the BEAST”, says Merlissa. “We’ve not been there. Yet.”

“The beast?”

“No! The BEAST! With REALLY BIG LETTERS! And, ideally, BOLD ITALICS and a couple of really offensively large exclamation marks!! It’s where the greatest monsters in all the land gather for purposes no-one has every successfully escaped from to report on. It looks like your precious Gnawbone, now he’s a monster, is heading there to join them.”

“Ah,” says Elfbow. “Then, probably, perhaps, all things considered – I guess he’s managing quite well on his own. Doesn’t need our help, is my guess.”

“And what’s through that door behind you, Merlissa?”

Merlissa considers the exit in question, a solid oak door set squarely in the far wall.

“What, that door there? Hmm. I’m not sure. Let me enquire.”

She peers intently at the orrery, then glances at her crystal ball.

“Whoa!” she says, after a moment. “I see great danger. Could be a Rakshasa. Might be a pack of rabid wolves. Yes, definitely dangerous Encounters of the Furred Kind. Looks like we really don’t want to go in there. Unless….”

“Unless what?”

“Let me borrow that stick of yours, elf. I need to check something.”

Elfbow pulls his glittering spear away from her defensively.

“What, don’t you trust me? Didn’t my infinite knowledge of that pointy stick just save our lives in the last room?”

Elfbow squints suspiciously at Merlissa.

“Ok, then,” she says, shrugging. “You try it yourself. Just tap that door with the stick. I’m absolutely sure there’s no real chance of peril.”

“Here you are,” says Elfbow, tossing the spear to Merlissa. “But I want it back, mind.”

Tentatively Merlissa approaches the exit. She raises the spear as if to strike the door, then stops as if she has suddenly noticed something, bending towards the door handle, quizzically. Then, of a sudden, she grabs it, twists, pulls, and steps into the doorway.

“You stupid elf, I knew I’d persuade you sooner or later. This, you pointed ear leaflover, is the Spear of Density. It can change any substance to any other substance at the tap of a tap. With it I can make gold as light as air, and carry the entire Snowlord’s treasury back to my master, Grimwizaj, and he will at last give me the nose job I desire! And this, to answer your question, is the door to the Snowlord’s Treasury! Rhinoplasty here I come!”

With that she sweeps through the door, slamming it behind her. Elfbow rushes after her, but it’s too late, the door has been turned to solid stone almost as impenetrable as the elf’s head, inseparable from the walls around it.

"I knew she was up to something," screeches Elfbow. "I knew it. That scrawny-lipped scryer is as two-faced as a pair of lizards."

And at that moment, just as you’d expect, in the corridor behind them there are sounds of approaching gunfire …

***

Next, and, ideally, with more than undue haste, I'm hoping for a sorceress. Anyone seen one passing by?

The orrerry is by Terrain Crate. I wish I'd seen Sander's before painting mine, as he had a great idea for a worn out version, to make a virtue of the bendy plastic. Mine isn't supposed to look worn out - it just does! I like the rendering of the planets, though.

Scoring: 20 points for the Laboratory and perhaps 2 for the Orrerry? Total: 22