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 :-/

Amaxon Priestesses

This week I finished painting another Amaxon Priestess for my Lustrian Warhammer Quest collection.  I based this model on the Hasslefree Miniatures Azura Halfblood, pinning a pair of large feathers from the Games Workshop Greatswords sprue to her head, hiding her Elven ears with a pair of helmet wings (also from Hasslefree), & using Green Stuff to model a head band & top to cover her bare chest.  I think the helmet wings hint nicely at one origin story for the Amaxons of Warhammer - that they are the sole survivors of a Norse expedition of which all the men died in the jungles of Lustria, while the women created their own culture among the ruins of the Old Ones.

I'll use this figure to represent a High Priestess (worth 1900 gold) or Priestess Queen (worth 2400 gold).  Since converting this miniature, Hasslefree have released this off-the-shelf tropical sorceress, which I think I'll have to buy to represent a mid-rank Priestess Champion (1000 gold).

Pictured here is my finished High Priestess, along with the Serpent Priestess (590 gold) that I painted a few months ago.  I decided to add green warpaint to them in the end, to complete the tribal look.  In the lore, Amaxon motivation can appear fickle to outsiders, so in Warhammer Quest games, I'm thinking of having it random whether encountered Amaxons attack or aid t he players' adventuring Warriors; & they may help slay evil foes first, before then attacking the Warriors.

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.

Giant Ants

This week I finished 'D12' bases of Giant Ants for my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest collection.  I will use the Giant Insects stats from Warhammer Quest Chronicles for these critters, minus the Fly ability, & therefore reducing the gold for slaying each base to a meagre 4g.  For comparison, Giant Spiders are worth 15g each.  Giant Ants are the least deadly foe in Warhammer Quest, so I may make them 'D6+6' or even simple '12' in quantity when they are encountered in the game.  I used cheap rubber joke shop ants for these, gluing two to each base as they are a little smaller than the Giant Spiders, & to better give the impression of a swarm.

These were really straightforward to paint - it was preparing the 12 jungle bases that took the time!  Next I will try chopping-up some of the many leftover ants & gluing body sections together to make some Giant Centipedes/Multipedes (they will probably only have 12 legs!) - a slightly more threatening prospect for the Warriors, at 30g each for slaying.

Gigantic Snake

I recently finished this gigantic snake for my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest collection.  It's a hard rubber toy that I've had since my childhood (retrieved from my parents' attic).  It took model paints well, & I'm pleased with the outcome.  I'll be using the Giant Snake rules from the excellent Warhammer Quest Chronicles website.  Those stats make this a tough Monster for the adventuring Warriors, worth 570 gold for slaying.  For comparison, a basic Ogre is worth 400 gold, a Gigantic Scorpion is 450 gold, while a Kroxigor is 750 gold.

As with my Gigantic Scorpion, following the size logic of giant & gigantic spiders in Warhammer Quest, I termed this huge snake 'gigantic', & will count it as a Large Monster, because it required a Ø60mm base (2x2 dungeon squares).  It will probably need a few Wounds added to it's profile to account for being potentially open to more Warriors attacking it at once, & a slightly higher Gold value as a reward for defeating it.

Amaxon Serpent Priestess

This week I converted & painted a figure as an Amaxon* Serpent Priestess for my Lustria-themed Warhammer Quest collection.  I purchased the miniature via Fenris Games, but didn't want the 'male-gaze' bare breasts & bum look for these fierce matriarchal warrior women - therefore with my limited Green Stuff putty skills, I sculpted a top & skirt.  I'm pleased with the result, which is somewhere between the original 1980s fully-clothed 'punk-Native-American' vibe, & an 'Aztec-jungle-warrior-woman' look.  Initially I instead tried sculpting a hanging fan of feathers around her neck, & then multiple beaded necklaces, but both were too challenging, hence the plain top.  I may yet add a necklace of fangs from my Lizardmen bits though.

The Amaxons of Lustria are said to be descended from the womenfolk of a Norscan raiding camp.  When their barbarian menfolk disappeared venturing into the jungle, they survived & thrived alone, supposedly discovering powerful artefacts amidst ancient ruins which have granted them immortality & negated any need for men in their society.  Although descended from pale-skinned Norscans, I will be painting my Amaxons with a collection more befitting the climate, as they are generations removed... & perhaps the story is a myth - perhaps they were already protecting the ruins of the Old Ones, long before the Norscans (& then the Empire) came to plunder!

Priestesses are part of the religious sisterhood that governs the mysterious Amaxon society, possessing shamanic powers to harness the forces of nature against interlopers in their sacred jungles & Old One ruins - for instance hurling a swarm of bees, calling grasping vines, raising gales, or even escaping threats by turning into a cloud of butterflies.

* = I've chosen to go with the 'Amaxon' spelling rather than 'Amazon', because these matriachal tribes reside on & around the river Amaxon in Lustria, & the spelling is more fitting with that of the Lizardmen cities.

Wood Elf

This weekend I finished my second Warrior (player character) for Warhammer Quest (original version).  Following on from my Marienburg Noble, this time it's the Wood Elf, one of the classic four Warriors included with the base game.  Again, I picked a figure to fit with my Lustria-set dungeon, so I didn't want the usual cloaked Elf - it's hot & humid in the Lizardmen-infested jungles!  Another twist on the usual trope is that I picked another female figure.  Again I went with another excellent Hasslefree miniature, one that I felt had a real 'wild woods' vibe, while still looking suitably Elfin.  One minor thing about the figure is that it was very flat, which wasn't helped by the firing pose, & I'm a fan of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), so as the basic Elf begins armed with a sword as well as a bow, I added a sheared sword from the Empire Greatswords sprues.  I think this helps to bring a bit more '3D' to the pose.

Maika von Ostwald, the wealthy daughter of a Marienburg merchant lord, tired of life among the trade guild elite, & traveled to the New World in search of adventure.  The Wood Elf Eelyn Greenblade joined Maika on her voyage through a shared wanderlust, becoming one of her first questing companions.  Finally, here's a photo of the Noble & Wood Elf together...  Next up, the Wizard!