FromJimG: A Trio of Dwarves — Fantasy, Children's Books, and New Acquisitions (75 points)

Happy New Years all!

As the song goes, "All is quiet on New Years Day."

Today I have a trio of dwarves, all for different topics in section 1.

First up, we have the Reaper Bones model of Thain Grimthorn, the Dwarf Cleric.

My family has started working our way through the massive Frosthaven over the winter holidays, and I am tempted to paint up all the minis in the game. Thain here is an attempt to work out the simplified, moody style to match the character art on these minis. 

Basically this is just a simple slap-chop with contrast paints. I'm not sure whether I like the style or not. Particularly, I'm not sure how to get enough contrast in the face. 

Moving on. I have a second Dwarf in a chibi style from CMON's Arcadia Quest.

What's nice about painting chibi minis is that they have exaggerated features which makes it easier to paint their faces. I tend to work with NMM for chibis since they are already in such a comic style. 

I painted this guy up like slayer from the Old World. That might make "Children's Books" a bit of a stretch, if you know the lore; but his big baby art style just screamed kiddos to me. Hopefully it fits close enough!

Finally, my last offering of the week is for New Acquisitions: a Hearthkyn Theyn from the Leagues of Votann. I've been painting them up in a cyberpunk style with glowing green accents.

The Leagues of Votann (aka Squats 2.0) are the newest faction to Warhammer 40k. And the Hearthkyn Salvagers is an even more recent addition to the Kill Team line up. I picked these guys up in late October.

In November I painted up an entire Kill Team for a local convention. Unfortunately, I realized that I needed more flexibility than the models I had originally assembled. So that's where this most recent space dorf comes in—hopefully she'll give me some advantage on more open boards.

Again, happy New Years to all of you and yours!

-JimG

POINTS:
3 x 28mm footsoldiers = 15 points
Fantasy Books = 20 points
Children's Books = 20 points
New Acquisitions = 20 points
Total = 75 points

 

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Not two (or three?) dwarves are the same. and your submission is a brilliant demonstration of how different they can be, while still being called "dwarves". I like how you accentuated the unique personae of each figurine with its "natural" background. The zenithal highlights are well done and bring out lots of details and texture. Scoring 60 additional points with 3 sections of the library gives you lots of bang for your gang. Well planned!

Sylvain

 

 

From DrQ: Princess Malya for Sarah the Sorceress (25 points)

Looking at the map, I realize I need another bit of teleportation to get from the Hall of Heroes to the Laboratory. To that end, I've painted up another female model from my backlog: Princess Malya, a Relic Kight/Super Dungeon Explore crossover from Ninja Division.

I've had this model in my bin for a long time, largely because don't particularly like the sculpt. The plastic is quite cheap and bendy (the axe refuses to stay straight despite many hot water dips). Their are awkward mold likes across key pieces of detail. It's a bit too cheese-cakey—I gave her a proper top, but not much I could do about the hot pants. And, of course, why does she have FOUR EARS?!?!

I tried painting for the Quarantine Challenge last year, but eventually stripped the paint and started over. I try to make my Super Dungeon Explore models match the card art, and getting light skin and pink armour to play well together has been very hard.

This time around I made my own magenta contrast paint using Citadel's contrast medium mixed with magenta acrylic ink. I also use some white contrast and the hexwraith flame for the crystal glow on the base. All in all, the paint scheme works good enough for a model that I've never been too in love with.

As far as points, there's five for the model and another 20 for the challenge.

Now off to the laboratory where I've got some terrain that take the are both literally and metaphorically.

From DrQ: Severina the Hexcast Sorceress for Sarah (25 points)

From the Knights Solar I'll require the teleportation skills of Sarah the Sorceress to get to my next locale: Graveyard Beach. As such, I've painted up one of Ninja Division's Master Class minis Severina the Hexcast Sorceress.

Severina is a character from Ninja Division's Way of the Fighter game, but back when the game was on Kickstarter they offered a tier wherein you could by chibi versions of the characters 'cosplaying' as heroes from their game, Super Dungeon Explore. 

I paint all my chibis with a cell shading, non metallic look. I used a lot of Citadel contrast paint on Severina here to help with her cape and staff. I've been really impressed with these paints, but you do need to be careful and protect them with lacquer or the paint will rub off. Since this miniature is a delicate resin, it probably won't spend much time on the table; but I nonetheless sealed the model with Dulcoat to make sure to keep her safe.

As far as points, 5 for the model and 20 for Sarah's help for a total of 25. 

Now on to Graveyard Beach!

From DrQ: A Female Rogue to Sarah the Sorceress for Some Assistance (25 points)

Having previously jumped back up to the Larder in order to complete level one, I now require some sorcerous assistance in order to get to my next locale—the Oubliette.

This is Mika, another of the figures from the Arcadia Quest spin-off game Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia.

 

As a board game component the sculpt has a few problems if you look too closely—mold lines running through detail, awkward basing, etc. But it looks good from the tabletop. 

Also as a board game component I painted it up as closely to the box art as possible. I don't want to confuse players in the game. I also have an aesthetic choice where I only use NMM on my chibi minis to help sell the cell animation look.

Point wise, there's 5 for the miniature and 20 for the assistance of Sarah. (There's another skull for my meager skull throne as well.) 

From DrQ: The Hatchery (45 points)

For the Hatchery I chose to paint up one of the bigger models in my backlog—the fire dragon from CMON's Arcadia Quest. Do not dragons hatch from eggs?

I also painted up the wizard Algus from the same line so that one could see the scale we're working on here.

The fire dragon stands 127mm high and fits in a 100cmm (or 4") square. He has his own box and so isn't getting based at all. I painted him mostly with contrasts to get the scales to come out. I found out that contrast is very fragile in this process and had give him two very thick coats of Dulcoat to make sure he stays safe. He won't get a lot of use on the table, but I want to make sure he stays safe.

Algus here is from CMON's spinoff game Dungeons of Masmorra. It's sort of a cross between a rogue-like and Yahtzee with a bit go Munchkins thrown in on the side. 

I really like how the sculpt invokes all things wizard-y, from Gandalf to Dumbledore. Algus received a more traditional paint job but likewise had to thick coats of lacquer. As a board game piece he's going to see a lot of wear.

I've got the other starters from Masmorra also sitting on my desk primed, so you can expect to see the rest of these chibi adventurers over the course of the next month or so.

As far as points, Algus is 5, and the dragon should probably count as a vehicle and come in at 20. That plus the 20 point bonus for the area is 45 points total. 

From here I'm going to circle back UP to the Larder in Level 1—an unconventional move, but the post finally brought some models that I want to paint for that room.

From DrQ: Sneaky Ninja Traps and an Orkmas Miracle (50 points)

Hello all! I'm new to the main challenge but did participate in the Quarantine Challenge earlier this year. In that competition I painted a fair number of chibi minis (anime style with big heads and small bodies), and I've decided to start with this motif here at the beginning of AHPC.

For the Hall of Traps I present a sneaky kunioichi from the Yamazaru Clan of Ninja All Stars, a game from Ninja Division. These ladies specialize in laying in wait to get that sweet sneak attack to unsuspecting targets—a perfect example of a trap.

Additionally, in the holiday spirit I submit a kit-bashed ork boy as my entry for the challenge, to help all know the true meaning of Orkmas. Is he bringing gifts to good little grots or lootin' from the hoomies? I think we all know the answer...

I've got about a thousand points of 40k Ork Boyz as well as a couple of big sky vessels for the Kharadron Overlords from Age of Sigmar to paint up, so you can expect to see a fair bit of geedubs out of me over the next few months. We'll see if I manage to get it all finished! I set myself the recommended rookie goal of only 300 points in the hobby challenge. 

As for scoring, I'm not great with the maths (my degree is in the liberal arts), so I think this comes to 30 points? (Nope, 50 points. ed)