Friday, March 31, 2017

Heroes for Dungeonquest: Serellia of Zimendell, Elf Adventurer






My guess is this is an Aly Morrison sculpt but I'm only 90% sure. My approach to this figure was almost entirely light to dark over white primer. Elves are said to have fair skin and I made her skin very bright and pale. I have this original pot of I can't quite remember which, whether Elf Flesh or Bleached Bone. Later versions of both of these were much, much darker and more opaque, and the later Elf Flesh (I have one from the flip top ere following the switch from the poorly-received screw tops). But this paint is an excellent top flesh highlight for elves, humans or even orcs, and also for bone and much else. Haven't found anything that compare to it. This is one I'm not sure is still made by Coat'd'Arms, as many others are. There are a few early paints that seem to be missing, I think Moody Blue is one. But I digress...

Her pet dragon Flamebright was done almost all with glazes. I like how her orb turned out and it makes a nice focal point. Mostly Mithril Silver with some opaque purples mixed in, and probably an ink wash.

When exploring the dungeon, Flamebright scouts the room ahead and can warn Zimendell when going another way might be wiser,, and  fights many of her battles, though not the bats as we learned to my friend's chagrin in our last game! I'm pretty sure the bats are what did her in.

Anyone else working on DungeonQuest figures or have plans to, or have links to painted figures? Fond memories of the game (or otherwise)?  I didn't have it growing up, but rather picked it up at a con about five or six years ago. Really enjoy it, even when everyone dies, as the last game I played. It's a brutal game with high chance, 10 out of 10 on theme and 10 out of 10 in style. What's great about the high risk is the way that it fosters a grim, gallows humor around the table and come-what-may outlook. Life is cheap and death is everywhere, and not much more to lose going all out. Would you rather die unsung from the scorpion's sting, sifting debris in a forgotten wing of the dungeon, or drive right to the heart of it to steal diamonds from under the nose of the dragon? No guts, no glory. The mechanism for stealing from the dragon, for those who haven't played, is none other than that of Russian roulette.

5 comments:

  1. Never played the game and don't have any figures, but I'm loving seeing yours. Great effort on this one, and I very much like the old Elf Flesh too.

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    1. Thanks, glad you like them!

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    2. You really capture the White Dwarf 2nd ed 40k feel really well on your blog. Also like your Judge Dredd, nice painting... have an unpainted collection myself and not sure if/when I'll get to it.

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  2. I'm much the same as you Ryder, as I never played it as a kid either. I think I picked my copy up around the same time as you too! But alas, I don't have any of the expansions :(

    My son & I love playing it, the fighting mechanics are quite fun and the way of exploring the dungeon is really enjoyable. The only thing we don't use in the game is the sun tracker. You have next to no chance of winning anyway, the sun tracker just makes it near impossible.

    I do wish I could get hold of a copy of the expansion "Catacombs" though, just so that there were a few more room cards. If you do the maths, one of the main reasons why it's so bloody difficult to make it out of the dungeon alive is that there's just not enough "normal" cards in the room deck.

    I love seeing you paint up these minis :) Keep'em comin Ryder!

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    1. Thanks and glad to know another fan of the game! Yeah, the game kicks your butt for sure... played with some friends for the first time and it was a total party kill, even before the sunlight ran out! But I like the high stakes and high risk.... one time a friend made to the dragon room and kept going for treasure after treasure, staring death in the face with a wide grin, and came away loaded with riches. I'm sure we looked like the kids in the brochures for games like this, goofy smiles and laughter. :)

      While you need to go to ebay for the hero miniatures, you can find scans of the catacombs expansions in high enough resolution to print them.

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