Dungeon Crawl 2014

My wife and I hosted a full day of gaming out our house this weekend. She handled the Just Dance tournament while I ran a dungeon crawl for eight players. I wanted to capture the fun of smashing monsters, gathering loot and leveling up from hopeful adventurer to epic world shaker, all in four hours. Check out the fantasy saga after the jump.

Reaper Snakes and Wizards

Polished off a few more Reaper Bones figures. First up, a pair of snakemen. The original concept sketch was pretty cool, but I think the final sculpt shipped in the Kickstarter was merely adequate. Still a decent figure, and they paint up quickly.

Metal fig on the left, still in need of basing.

The Kickstarter also included a wizard holding a snake staff, a figure I'd already painted in metal. I had an idea to use both for the dungeon crawl I'm running later this month, so I painted the wizard up in a different color scheme.

Desert Wasteland Terrain Revisited

My desert terrain tutorial has received a good deal interest since I posted it a few years ago, but a few readers were concerned about the durability of the latex covered terrain cloth.  I haven't had a chance to put it to the test until now. After creating the desert terrain cloth I had to roll it up and place it in storage while we prepared our old house for sale, built our new house and moved in. Things are starting to settle down and I was able to unfurl the desert terrain cloth. And the verdict is...

Perfect! I anticipated some damage, perhaps some sand that came loose, but I don't think the cloth lost a single grain.

The cloth remained flexible and intact, despite being rolled, thrown into storage, and manhandled into our new house, where it was stashed unceremoniously in a basement storage closet. Now... I just need some more desert figures to fight out some battles on it.

Reaper Scorpion, Bones Warlord, and Bones Lizardmen

There's nothing like a deadline to kickstart my painting into high gear. I'm hosting a multi-person dungeon crawl at the end of the month, and using the intervening time to finish off a few lingering figures and dig in to my Reaper Bones pile.

 

This giant scorpion is a metal figure by Reaper I've had in the lead pile for close to a decade. I thought he'd make a good pet for this Mad Max barbarian warlord from the Bones kickstarter

I've found painting the Bones figures can be a bit tricky. The shallow detail can require more dedicated attention when painting. These lizardmen were a different story. They're still Bones, but for some reason I found painting them up a joy.

I slopped on a coat of Spicy Mustard, applied some Vallejo Gunship Green and went to town with various green and brown washes. Maybe my eye was more forgiving to variations in lizard skin texture and color, but I was able to get these guys up to a reasonable standard in half the time I expected. They were a lot of fun to paint up, and with their low cost I'm thinking of picking up dozens more for a fantasy lizard army.

Arab Archers by Gripping Beast

Just a quick post to share my finished arab archers. These figures will get sabot bases similar to my berber spearmen, but I'm waiting until my Silfor desert tufts arrive from Scenic Express to finish the sabots.

I wanted to keep a subdued color palette to blend with the neutral tones of my berbers, but I couldn't help but give these archers a bit more color. I settled on a color palette inspired by the cover of Osprey's The Armies of Islam : 7th-11th Centuries. The figure in the foreground of the cover has a warm yellow robe and blue head scarf that I quite liked. Coupled with the earth tones I used for the berbers (namely Vallejo Beastly Brown and Sand Light and a mix of Sand and Spicy Mustard ) the overall effect should be fairly cohesive for the finished army.

Berber Spearmen by Gripping Beast

Berber spearmen in neutral white, tan, beige, and brown. 

I took the plunge into an arab army for the upcoming crusades supplement for SAGA with some berber tribesmen by Gripping Beast. I'm not settled on a color scheme and my knowledge of the muslim armies of the 11th and 12th centuries is very shallow, but I was itching to get paint onto some figures. I really like the look of these tribesmen by Gripping Beast, and I think they're generic enough to be pressed into service anywhere from Moorish Spain to the Levant, at least until I flesh out my arab armies with more theater specific figures.

The bases could use some tufts, but I didn't have any desert vegetation on hand.

Besides SAGA, I also intend to use these figures for mass battles. Although individually based on washers, I created a few sabot bases for them as well. I intended to mount four of them to a 40mmx40mm base, but they were jammed in so tightly I switched to 60mmx40mm bases. 

Magnetic tape being affixed to metal 60x40 base

To help keep the figures attached to the sabot base, I laid down some magnetic tape on top of the rectangular base.

In the future I'll make the holes a bit larger so they're not quite so snug

On top of the magnetic tape, I glued some 2mm foam sheet that had circular openings cut out to accommodate the spearmen's bases. 

Once glued and painted, I did have to go back and chisel out some errant grains of sand

Both the spearmen and sabot's received similar texture and paint to help the bases blend together.

Berber tribesmen, ready for skirmish or set piece battles

The Gripping Beast figures are decent. I quite like the robes and head scarves, but the detail on their faces was quite tricky to make out. Overall I'm pleased with how they turned out, but I'm eager to compare them to the new plastic range they've just released.

Planning an Arab Army for Crescent & Cross

With the upcoming release of Studio Tomahawk's next Saga supplement, I've been inspired to get cracking on some opposing armies for the First Crusade.

I have a nice start to a Norman army, but I have zilch painted for their arab opponents. Entering a new period, I'm a bit scattered in what I'd like to collect: Ben Yusef's Black Guard, Berber tribesmen, Saladin, etc. are all begging me to get them to the paint table. I've decided to go with a starter band of Berber tribesmen and some arab archers from Gripping Beast to serve as some fairly neutral figures that can be used in any muslim army of the early medieval period.

Picking a Paint Scheme

With figures primed and ready to go, I also need to settle on a paint scheme. My knowledge of arab dress is woefully lacking. I get the sense that the muslim armies featured a wide variety of exotic colors and fabrics, but I'm drawn to the idea of a solely monochromatic army of cream and black, with a few figures sporting a bit of vibrant color to mark leaders and elite troops.

I've picked out some examples as reference, but I'm still researching. Do you have any advice on colors for arab armies?

Arab warriors by Artizan in earth tones

Berber spearmen by Gripping Beast in cream

Berber spearmen by Gripping Beast in black

Moorish Black Guard by Gripping Beast. These guys look awesome.

Arab archers in more colorful dress, by Gripping Beast