Sunday 27 March 2016

DUNGEON DOORS ALL COMPLETED!!

yup! ive finally managed to finish another project. go me!

all 22 doors now finished and ready to be used in the dungeon
long slog here. most definately. but i hope it was a worthwhile venture all the same.


It doesnt really look like a great deal when i lay them all out like that. but this has been an ongoing project that ive been doing between other projects in a hope to prevent that monotonous feel when doing the same/similar things over and over, very much like unit painting.

now i could of just given these dip and been completed in a day. but i dont really do things in halves all that much. ok ive done some quick jobs on some of my projects. but generally its not a view point i favour. this is probably why i dont have many blogposts. but i think overall. this is a hobby. so we all need to enjoy it right? why should it feel like a chore. its a chance to be creative. and thats exactly what iver done here. so here they all are...

8 closed doors first up

you will notice i also experimented a little, wood is not something ive ever been comfortable painting. i guess its the organic look to it. but nonetheless i tried out a few different techniques with the wood. from simple washes to dry brushing as well as painting the wood grain individually.
 this is a new from the final batch. as you can see ive gone for a little bit of light sourcing from the torch. which i might add is something i dont have much experience with. but was really happy how this one turned out. i wanted to keep it subtle and i think i succeeded, however i think the light should of been shining a little further across the doors
 another new one here. simple insignia above the door and a rat running away with a turnip!
 another new one. simple skaven themed door here with a skaven skull i think and some warpstone
 ogre themed one here this time.

another new one. simple door with a few toadstool and a rather poisonous looking spider lurking above the door.
 sort of crypt/undead themed one here usong a shield from a skeleton warriors sprue. some random skulls, and finally i pressed a small mould from a skull to create the skull carvings on the wall and sculpted a little scarab.
 this was one from an earlier batch with sculpted ivy and spider
basic door as part of my early colour tests

12 Open Doors

ill hold my hands up in that i was starting to run low on ideas/ and bits through this project. so really started to scrape the barrel in trying to make them look unique.
 this was definately one of those barrel scrapers. but still its a skaven themed door so not all is bad.
 a chaos/beastman themed one here.
 standard open door from my earlier colour tests
 this one is probably my favourite out of all of them, in fact it was also the very first door i started working on. so i guess udeas were fresh at that point
 another simple one from my final batch.
 dwarf tomb. you may notice on a lot of these doors that they have dwarven runes. of which all of them were taken direct from the WFB dwarf army book.
 orcish doorway, this was my first real go at light sourcing. and whilst for the best part it doesnt look too bad. i do feel i went a little too yellow  around the flames.
 over grown doorway. i wanted to try and get something that looked really overgrown. sculpting some mushrooms and vines did a pretty decent job of that.
my second attempt at light sourcing. you will notice it is much more subtle that the orcish one above. experiment experiment! first was too yellow. and i feel this one was way too light on the glow from the flames. you will notice on the very first image for the closed doors where i finally managed to find that 'inbetween'
 chaos door thingy. ok lets just imagine youve got 22 door and you have some madcap idea to make them all unique and you have a nice sized box of bits...you throw everything you can at them right? thats simply the case here. its got a skull...because you have to have skulls. some weird star on a chain and a standard top from something. i can only assume is chaos?
 i kind of like this one purely for its subtlety. it has 4 features from the base doors. a hanging skull. dwarf rune, spider and some toadstools. but i think it really works nicely.
and the final open door. which was also from the last batch. was a simple 'glue this here' jobby using a dwarf standard top and a skull. simple and not too bad.

2 Portcullis'
i chose to do nothing with these as i didnt want them too removed from their function. for the best part a portcullis in a dungeon is more of a trap or onstacle than a door. so i painted these early on just to get them out of the way.


so there you have it. all 22 brand new double doors. fresh and converted from zealot miniatures.
i was really happy with these right from the get go. and needed very little attention to get them paint worthy. i had already planned before getting my hands on these that i would be converting them. so that is takes nothing from the base builds. these really are a great addition to any dungeon as they are. and hopefully with my own little addons they make for even better decor to the dungeon


Tuesday 15 March 2016

ADVANCED HEROQUEST REFORGED

whilst this blog originally featured mainly heroquest and descent content. you will of noticed more frequently my posts are featured around my advanced heroquest. whilst my general love for dungeon crawlers is my main focus for this hobby. My true affection goes out to Advanced heroquest.
a very much under looked game in my opinion. a true sandbox of a game that gave you scope to go adventuring to your hearts content.
whilst the game was not perfect. i still feel this game captures the true essence of what a dungeon crawler should be all about. Adventure! Fighting! Looting. Delving deep down into murky old dungeons, hazards and traps awaiting behind every door.
Advanced heroquest had it all. and still does to the very small community that lurk just of the beaten path.

for anyone that hasn't played before, and likes a good crawler. then i cant recommend it enough.
once you get hooked you want more.

Ever wondered what rules i play for advanced heroquest?
go see Slevs blog to find out more

this features a revamping of many of the games features whilst keeping the overall rules exactly the same. fighting, exploring its all done the same. only better!

I've been helping out a little bit creating up to date maps and whatever graphics we can throw in to give things a nice fresh feel
you will notice the stats are more focused around WFB stats, which also comes along with a conversion chart so that you can create your own. along with MASSIVE bestiary's for the various Old World races. 
the character sheets have had a huge overhaul so that players can get a much longer life span out of their characters. giving that feel of connection as your heroes grow, learn new skill and abilities, gaining experience as they grow into becoming legendary dungeoneers.

a brand new point system for character creation allows you to create a huge array of different character styles, the added bonuses from abilities and weapon allowances allowing the heroes to have a much wider scope that sets them apart from the monsters of the dungeon
The maps have been revised to now feature double doors, as well as gaining a fresher clearer appearance.
cool brand new designed double sided spell books that cover all of the colleges of magic as well as dark magic.
Additionally you may choose to take a religious path for your hero with prayer books becoming the religious version of a spell book. (all spells and prayer books come in printer friendly and ink buster versions)

i really cant cover all of the source material in one post. so go check it out!
most of all. give it a try. there is a lot of material to download. but its worth it if you really want the best dungeon crawl you can find

go add the blog/follow or whatever to show your support. feedback is highly recommended to help Slev refine and create this fantastic addon.