Giant centipedes

This weekend I finished D6 Giant Centipedes for my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest collection.  As I couldn't find any sensibly-priced wargaming centipedes of the right scale, I made these using the same tiny rubber novelty ants which I used for my 2D6 Giant Ants - I simply trimmed parts from 3 ants & superglued them together (using Gorilla Superglue, which has a rubber additive) to make each Giant Centipede.  Then I affixed them to my usual jungle recipe bases.  The paint scheme was straightforward, nothing fancy or impressive - I based it on real-life giant centipede colouration.  These have the Venom characteristic, & are a little more challenging to fight than Giant Ants (4 gold each for slaying), Giant Insects (5g), at 30g per base, the same as Snakes.  For comparison a basic Skink is worth 40g, & a basic Saurus warrior 150g.

WQ Stats for foes & creatures from across the classic Warhammer World can be found on the excellent Warhammer Quest Chronicles website.

More snakes

This week I painted a few more bases of snakes for Warhammer Quest.  These figures are from Black Cat Bases, who have a wide range of esoteric miniatures at sensible prices.  Added to the two bases of snakes from the GW Lizardmen Cold One riders sprue that I painted a while back, that's five bases of snakes.  I think I'll add one more of the coiled snake on my next Black Cat Bases order, for a nice even 'D6' snakes encounter.

Apologies for the unformatted tall column of photos, but Blogger appears to have been 'upgraded' to remove the tools for wrapping text around & aligning images :-/

Terradon

Things have been very busy for me this summer, but I have managed to complete a few small miniatures pieces, including this Terradon for my long-running Lustrian Warhammer Quest collection.  The model is an old Jurassic Park juvenile pteranodon toy (I think it came with the Dr. Alan Grant figure), which was block-coloured in grey & blue, & emblazoned with the JP logo, but which I have repainted with a more interesting scheme - natural jungle camouflage from above, & sky-blue from below, with an orange crest for display (which also mimics my red-crested Lizardmen to a certain degree).  I drilled a hole in its rib cage for the flying stem.

The base was my usual jungle recipe, with snippets of plastic aquarium plants.  I used a spare Battlefleet Gothic transparent flight stem for the illusion of flight.  I drilled a hole in its rib cage for the flying stem.  I left the Terradon unglued from the stem, for safer storage/transport, & also so that the flying base could be used for other aerial creatures if necessary.

Really pleased with how this turned out - saved buying an expensive official Games Workshop Terradon miniature!

At 400 gold for slaying (the same as an Ogre), a Terradon is an early level challenge for the adventuring Warriors.  For comparison, a basic Orc is worth 55g, a basic Lizardman Saurus is 150g, & a Lizardman Kroxigor is 750g.

More jungle scenery

Frances & I made a couple more bases of jungle scenery for the Lustria collection.  Hers is on the left, mine is on the right.  We have plenty of these CD-sized jungle bases now, so it's time to work on some pieces of ruined Lizardman temple/statuary, some spawning pools, & maybe some large rainforest tree trunks...

Sacred orchid

I completed another piece of scenery for my Lustria collection recently.  It's another piece of large scatter terrain, based on an old CD - the same recipe as these previous ones. 

I started with the idea of an ancient flagstone path leading into the jungle, but ending mysteriously amidst the foliage, but as I was fitting the jungle plants, I decided to have the path lead to a sacred orchid, perhaps greatly valued by the Amaxon tribeswomen of Lustria (maybe it has significance in their rumoured immortality?)

I used some of the techniques for smaller plants that I picked up from Frances's jungle base - they really help layer & enhance the scenery!

Jungle scenery

This week my partner Frances made her first piece of wargames terrain - a base of jungle scenery, which turned out amazing!  Incredible detail, & it fits right in with my existing Lustria jungle terrain. It inspired me to model-up a blank hill that I had waiting to be finished - as another jungle piece.  Put together with the rest, I have a decent amount for running small skirmishes on my 2' x 2' Ronin board (I've been thinking of trying Lustria skirmishes using the Ronin stat-builder & my Warhammer Quest figures).  Could do with a bit more variety for this jungle set now - some overgrown ruins, murky pools, & perhaps a river!

Frances's scenery was based on an old CD, which first received a cardboard top, & then several layers of 3mm & 5mm foamboard cut to resemble a slight hillock (the depth was necessary to fit the plant stems into).  The foamboard was slathered in moulding paste to make a smoother hill, & when dry was painted dark brown, with splotches of olive green where the grass would be.  After various flocks & Gamers Grass tufts were glued on, the plastic aquarium plants were glued into holes drilled into the foamboard.

My hill followed the same recipe, but the base was entirely foamboard, with some 2p coins glued into recess in the bottom layer, to add some weight.

Below are some photos of the assembled terrain, with some of the denizens of the Lustrian rainforests lurking amidst the steaming undergrowth.

While I've made no progress on my Lustrian-themed Warhammer Quest dungeon tiles lately, I was pleasantly surprised how much 'above-ground' scenery I already have to hand for the same setting.

Fighting Pit WIP

Here is a photo of my WIP Fighting Pit tile for Lustrian-themed Warhammer Quest.  I opted for
spectator walkways to the sides of the pit, as the original 2D WQ tile used this space for sunken walls painted in perspective; & I always thought the Fighting Pit was lacking sufficient space for spectators.  Concentrating on this Objective Room as one of my first 28mm-scale tiles has helped me iron-out the design principles that will feature on the whole set of dungeon tiles, & gets one of the more complex tiles finished early in the project.

After experimenting with raised dungeon tiles to allow for depressions such as the Fighting Pit & Fire Chasm etc (as well as magnetically-attached doorways!), I settled on the approach shown here, with slots at the appropriate points to allow for doorways or sections of blanking wall to be slipped in.  I did consider 30mm-high ('human-height') walls so I could get lots of overgrown Lizardmen ruins detail in, but after careful consideration & consultation with gaming comrades I have settled on low cutaway walls, which suggest the overall look while allowing better visibility of figures on the tabletop (as well as being less effort & taking-up less storage space).

Any suggestions or observations welcome  :-)

Lustrian Warhammer Quest WIP

Building a Lustrian-themed 3D Warhammer Quest set is one of my far too numerous wargaming projects.  I have several 3D dungeon tiles in progress, & am now finalising the design of the integral walls & doors.  Thinking of using magnets in the walls to join the tiles.  I've enjoyed planning & implementing fantasy miniatures with a jungle 'lost world' twist, including a group of Warriors that isn't the standard male-dominated fellowship including a wizened grey old man.  My Warrior party includes a female Noble disguised as a man, a dark-skinned female sorceror from the Southlands, a native Barbarian escaped from slavery in Naggaroth, a female Wood Elf archer, & a female Dwarf Trollslayer.  As some motivation to get a move on with this project, I decided to make a list of what miniatures I have for this so far...

Lustria-themed 'Ronin' markers

This week I painted some test markers for the Ronin Lustria side project.  This would be using custom Lizardman & Conquistador warband lists & the Osprey Wargames Ronin rules for skirmishes of 8-or-so figures a side.  First I painted these Fenris Games Ø10mm laser-cut discs in the same slightly-slimy stone style as I have been painting my Lustrian rocks & flagstones, & then I tried freehanding some symbols that hopefully lend a Lustrian feel - One blood drop signifies a Light Wound, two blood drops a Frievous Wound; one 'Aztec spiral' indicates a Stun, two 'spirals'  equals two Stuns.

I'm a bit divided over whether I should drop the 'Ronin Lustria' idea & focus on my original Lustrian Warhammer Quest project - especially because I am a big fan of classic Samurai & chanbara films, so maybe I should use actual Ronin figures & play the game as intended (I would choose the late Edo period & create a little Yakuza gang & an honourable katana school to oppose them).  One of the reasons that I am considering 'Ronin Lustria' idea is to give me a reason to scratchbuild jungle & Lizardman building pieces.  But perhaps I could simply expand upon the standard subterranean Warhammer Quest tiles, & have some open areas for that.  Shown here is one of my test dungeon tiles for Lustrian 'Quest.  I'll probably add human-height sections of block walls to better capture the claustrophobia atmosphere, & allow all sorts of Lizardmen totem & skull decoration!

Any suggestions or recommendations welcome!

Lustria scatter foliage

Back to the steaming jungles of Lustria in the Warhammer world now - this week I made four pieces of scatter terrain for my Lizardmen collection.  I've never had any interest in playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles (& even less in having anything to do with 'Age of Sigmar'!), but I do like a bit of Warhammer Quest, & I've always wanted to have a little Lizardmen collection for the awesome combination of dinosaurs & Aztecs!  So I while back I started a slow-burn project to create a 3D dungeon set with a Lustrian theme.  Having been hooked by Osprey Publishing's 'Ronin' rules recently, I also thought I could use my Lustrian figures to have a few small skirmish games between these cold-blooded ancient ones & a band of marauding conquistadors from the Empire.

I built up small mounds of polystyrene on laser-cut ply discs from Fenris Games, & they textured them with coarse paint thickener.  I also pressed some stones into the mix.  After painting the bases, I flocked them with a mix of Gale Force Nine dirt & summer meadow, plus summer static grass & a few Gamers' Grass summer tufts.  I them carefully painted the 'rocks' in a few different shades of ochre grey & blue-grey, & then highlighted them.  At this point it almost seemed a shame to add the plastic aquarium plants...


..The mass of aquarium plants that I have collected over the years came in handy as I snipped pieces up, & glued them into holes that I poked in the polystyrene mounds.  I'm quite pleased with the end result.  I will do some scattered pots & vases & ruins for this mini-project next I think.  Looking forward to doing the highly-stylised Aztec block-work.

Juvenile dinosaurs

At the weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing the local gift shop for suitably-sized toy bugs & reptiles that could be used as monsters in my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest set.  As it happened, I did pick up 'D12' very cheap lizards (plus 2 hatching from eggs), although once I got them home next to my Lizardmen, they proved a little large even for the usual 'giant' vermin.  However, I remembered that there are 3 sizes of spiders in the WQ Bestiary - Giant, Great (ridden by Forest Goblins), & Gigantic.  So I will deem the lizards (yet to be painted) as 'Great Lizards', & knock-up some appropriate stats (something between Giant Rat & Wolf threat level).

I  also found a couple of toy dinosaurs of superior sculpting & ready-painted quality - they were a bit pricier (£2 each) than the lizards (£4 for 14), but still a lot less that wargaming miniatures!  An Ankylosaurus (Basilodon in Warhammer terms), & a Tyranosaurus (Carnosaur in Warhammer terms).  These are manufactured in Germany by Schleich, & required little preparation - I scalpeled-off the manufacturing text on their bellies, & repainted there, before mounting on Ø40mm bases. I also neatened-up the eyes, & painted inside the Basilodon's mouth (even the roof of it's mouth is fully detailed!)

So now adventurers in my Lustrian dungeons may encounter these juvenile dinosaurs... Stats-wise, I'll cook up something at about Troll difficulty level for these I think.  Not sure if I should go as far as having them herded like Squigs, disturbed whilst nesting, or just standard Monster encounter rules.

The larger Schleich-manufactured dinosaurs that were in the shop were stunning quality sculpts & really well-painted for mass-produced items.  Maybe as my Lustria collection continues to grow, I might pick 1 or 2 up as Large Monsters...

Saurus Temple Guard

I've spent far too much time on them for only four figures, but this weekend I finally finished painting these Saurus Temple Guard for Warhammer Quest.  The miniatures are the slightly older metal Temple Guard (they have been replaced by similar but all-plastic models since).  As part of my Lizardmen ebay haul, I picked up a pack of Temple Guard fetishes from the newer plastic kit, & used these to spice-up the shields a bit, adding tusks, jawbones, a shrunken head & so on, to further-emphasize the elite status of these Saurus.

The sculpts are nicely detailed, but a bit static in pose.  I like how they are slightly beefier & a lot more decorated than standard Saurus though.

In the semi-official stats for Temple Guard at the excellent Warhammer Quest Chronicles, these creatures are pretty damn nasty - worth 500 gold each for slaying.  For comparison, a basic Saurus is 150 gold, whilst a basic Orc is 55 gold!  So the adventurers in my Lustrian dungeons may not be encountering them anytime soon (or if they do, maybe only a single one as a boss!).