The Burning Question

The burning question for today is: can I paint flames?

Some creatures for the Dark Alchemy supplement...

Some Burning Skeletons - skeletons coated in a burning cocktail of chemicals (plastic Heroquest skeletons and mummies, chopped about a bit to add some variation). I added some flames by blobbing on some glue and then teasing them up into shape with a cocktail stick before they dried.

And some Flame Flingers - medium constructs designed to shoot flames during siege warfare (plastic Mantic Dwarves with leftovers from my Warhammer 40K buildings for the 'flamer gun' arms). Again, gluey flames were added to the gun barrels.

The answer to today's burning question: Meh, a bit I suppose - they'll do!

Welcome to the Temple of SKULLZ!

“That’s a bit melodramatic isn’t it?”

Nifty Halfinch looked askance at his companion.

“No, it actually says that here…” muttered Oddleigh, proffering the mouldering map to the Hobbit. “S-K-U-L-L in big letters, ending in a zed.”

They watched as the third member of their scouting party, Magog the barbarian, poked around the frozen ruins that seemingly tumbled out of the snowy hillside.

“Well, they certainly seemed to like their ‘skullz' - they've even put them on their bloomin' ladders,” Halfinch observed, “seems they liked their ‘spikez’ too…”

Magog turned to them and grunted.

“Magog also like.”

“Oh yes?”

“Hmm!” the barbarian affirmed. “Good example of Gothic-Futurist embellishment. See stone buttons set near door? Classic futurism - termed ‘control panel’ in ancient Felstat. First used in Chronomantic school of architecture, but later appropriated by other schools. And skull motif – initially preserve of Necromancers, but later adopted across board.”

“Um, is that so?” Oddleigh gawped.

“Ya. Magog date religious edifice to about third imperial era.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “Spiked turrets - dead giveaway.”

Oddleigh and Halfinch exchanged glances.

“Er, are you sure you’re a barbarian?”

After receiving a little bonus at work a while back, I decided to treat myself to some scenery – namely some Warhammer 40K stuff (Sanctum Imperialis and Basilica Administratum sets to be precise). My challenge was to make as much out of these kits as I could.

After much cursing and gluing of fingers I now have plenty of Gothic buildings to add to my scenery collection, with just a few bits left over (which I have other plans for).

As well as the main ruins (I’m particularly pleased with the mausoleum/cloister piece) I used the spare floor sections and parapets to make some walls.

I also decided on another use for the flying buttresses, joining them together to make separate archways, enabling them to double up as doorways. In order to keep everything stable, I glued each item to a narrow base.

Painting was as per usual – black undercoat and tester-pot drybrushing. Add a little bit of scatter and snow flock and there you have it.

Oh, and I bought this aquarium scenery column piece last weekend – already coloured grey and highlighted, so no work required!

Little and Large

Participating in the LAF sprue exchange is a great way to rummage through other people's unwanted stuff. When the box last came to me, I bagsied these Reaper Bones minis...

First off the little - two familiars that I'll use as imps (or indeed familiars if Thaddeus learns that spell). Another option is to use the one little guy as a small construct (a snot golem!)

For the big we have this large statue, obviously brought back to Felstad from the mysterious Southlands by some adventurous wizard centuries ago. Notice that I've based this on a Heroclix base, so that it can be used as a turns counter.

By way of an experiment, I tried to replicate the sandstone look by stippling the highlights on with a sponge. I think I may have been heavy handed in places, but I'm rather happy with the result.

Gibber the Hut

"Haunted? Pah! Superstitious nonsense!"

Bartak surveyed the crumbling huts, his expert eye seeking out any telltale signs of treasure.

"And anyway, what if they are? A bunch of dead hermits don't scare me!"

Ah - there, a slight glint...

He strode over to the ruin, stepping through a gap in it's circular wall. Grunting with effort, he heaved aside the fallen stones and grabbed the battered chest with both hands.

"See? Nothing to be afrai- AIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"

The last lot of Pringles tube scenery - six huts for the Haunted Houses scenario. These were textured and painted the same way as the towers and have just enough floor space for a warband member, a treasure, and a restless spirit.

That's enough Pringles-related stuff - the smell of the glue is starting to make me feel funny...

Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop

Please help me; I just can’t stop making things out of Pringles tubes!

Two more towers today; smaller ones for the ‘Silent Tower’ scenario, plus two walkways to connect them to the main tower which I did a couple of weeks ago.

Once again the brickwork is simply small rectangles of double-sided tape, with the rest of the texture being achieved with liberal splodges of glue.

The ladders are also the same – bamboo flower sticks, whilst the walkways are just strips of some hard card I had lying around, reinforced by gluing some plastic sprue on the underside.

‘Is that the last of your Pringles related terrain?’ I hear you ask. Well, no, there’s more to come…

Messing About With Boats

A very lazy bit of terrain work here…

With only a few scenarios left to play in the main rulebook, it’s time to start sourcing stuff for the Thaw of the Lich Lord expansion. Perhaps the most difficult scenario to faithfully recreate is the ‘Battle on the River’, which calls for a number of wrecked ships on a frozen river.

By way of a modest start I bought these two aquarium scenery rowing boats from a local pet shop. As I’m pretty burnt out from making Pringles tube towers at the moment, I haven’t put much effort into these – just a quick drybrush to frost them up a bit and they're ready to sit on the ice.

Thaddeus Bites the Worm

“See? Another castle!”

Magog, the newly-hired barbarian was correct – a few miles from the scene of their recent expedition lay another ruined castle, squatting atop strangely churned-up ground.

Thaddeus grunted approvingly and then clicked his fingers. Immediately Fluffy II, the replacement warhound, scampered to his side. The wizard pointed to a nearby disk and the demonic hound leapt onto it, sniffing around the eldritch carvings.

“No teleportation,” Thaddeus mused, strolling up to the disk and picking off a piece of crumbling stone. “Looks like they malfunctioned long ago… Nonetheless I’ll wager there’s still treasure to be had.”

“And enemies to fight…” Magog drew his mighty sword as the sound of voices echoed through the ruins…

With the Keep scenario completed, there’s time for another game!

A quick rearrange of the scenery and as before the warband spreads out along the edge. Once again no pre-game demons were summoned and, despite a new cauldron, no potions were brewed.

So the first thing Thaddeus does is manage a summoning, draining his health to call forth a minor demon.

Both sides move forward. Treasure is taken, which attracts the attention of a strange bio-mechanical demon.

This wandering demon heads straight for Thaddeus. With one demon already in play he cannot bind it to his will, so blocks it’s line of sight with a wall.

Not to be left out, Oddleigh casts an imp spell. Up it pops among Toddlebrew’s men. Sadly, after being shoved into a snowdrift with a push spell it promptly wanders off and plays no further part in the game.

Once again fighting erupts in the centre. Fluffy II bites the dust!

An overall shot of the action. The ground rumbles ominously...

The demon climbs up some steps to grab some treasure, making a perfect target for Toddlebrew’s archers.

Hakim the ranger shins up a pillar to collect another treasure, only to notice strange ripples in the frozen soil. Thus exposed against the white wintry clouds, he is the perfect target for Toddlebrew, who’s push spell exploits the rules of trigonometry to deadly effect. Hakim shoots up into the sky...

...and comes back down again... Splat!

Thaddeus’ men push forward in the centre. Is that the ground vibrating under their feet?

No longer able to see it’s original quarry, the errant demon turns to it’s nearest prey, a crossbowman.

By now most of the treasures are being lugged towards the edge. Suddenly the ground trembles and a giant worm erupts beneath the last unclaimed chest! It rears above a cowering Oddleigh while Goldtooth the treasure hunter frantically drags away his prize.

Undeterred, a pesky archer is defeated by Thaddeus’ infantry.

While the new barbarian earns his pay.

Thaddeus and Oddleigh wound the giant worm with bone darts, leaving a nearby crossbowman, who had so far failed to hit anything, to finish it off with his dagger.

The other crossbowman fares less well.

The barbarian is downed by a treasure hunter, despite reinforcements.

But his comrades take revenge.

Toddlebrew, content with two treasures, now decides to withdraw, allowing Thaddeus to claim the last unclaimed treasure, bringing his haul up to four.

Once again the glittering chests of treasure (not to mention the knowledge gained by dissecting the worm) failed to stave off the feeling of melancholy at the Cloven Hoof. While most of those who fell were being patched up, Hakim the ranger, one of the few remaining original members of the warband, could not survive such a great fall.

Thaddeus closed his latest dusty grimoire - an evil-looking tome bound in human skin - and sniffed.

"I believe it is the way of Hakim's people to have their dead buried with their kin. There is a Southlander cemetery in Ulfenhalle - have his remains bound and sent there. I believe a caravan heads south in a day or-"

Suddenly the door to the inn was flung open and a figure in red armour strode in.

"I hear you're a man short and a hundred gold crowns over, "she declared, tossing a strand of strawberry blonde hair from her face. "My name is Red Sandra and I am here to lead your band - I think you'll find my fee reasonable..."

(Toddlebrew's side of the story can be read at https://thelostcityofcarcosa.com/2016/06/27/fg-the-worm-hunts/)