Female Wizard Hero (custom sculpt)

I've always wished for a female wizard to join my party of heroes. One project of mine was to completely re-write the Wizards of Morcar expansion turning it into my own Wizard Quest Pack (since the original pack was never released) and featuring a female hero as it happened with the released Barbarian and Elf Quest Packs. This project was then shelved (but not abandoned) as the real drafts for the two unreleased Wizard Quest Pack and Dwarf Quest Pack came to light recently thanks to one of the original designers who shared them with LucaPaschi (which is one of the greatest HeroQuest collectors I know) and Luca involved me with the process of "restoring" them.

 

 

So, let's go back in topic! This miniature was originally inspired by a drawing from Luis Octavio NB - link here but modified a lot of times during the sculpting process.
Then I was sitting together with my friend Valentina Conte aka Valevidart and she started to sculpt the miniature, at first following the sketch, but then we tried to include elements to recall the male wizard too. The intent was to have a mini which could immediately remind to the official HeroQuest wizard and looking as a model coming from the 90's. I have to say I am not easy on liking something so this mini was subjected to several revisions and the whole process was quite long but in the end I am very satisfied with the achieved result.
Instead of using a solid base, I preferred the miniature to feature a slotta base, removable, so it could be used both as a HeroQuest mini and as a Warhammer mini. Valentina sculpted a classic lipped, rectangular, HeroQuest base which is removable and the slotta tab under the wizard's feet allows the miniature to be mounted on its original base or over any standard base (squared or rounded).

Featured Artist: Staz Johnson (Legacy of Sorasil)

HeroQuest II - "Legacy of Sorasil" was the sequel for the HeroQuest videogame.
It was published in 1994 only as a videogame for the Commodore Amiga and Amiga CD32 by Gremlin - link here. No official boardgame was ever released as a sequel or with this title, so I don't know if this was a Gremlin only project or if it was involving someone else from Hasbro staff but then remained an unreleased expansion as the Wizard and the Dwarf Quest Packs did.

The game box had a stunning cover artwork painted by artist Staz Johnson, featuring the four classic heroes from the original boardgame, Barbarian, Dwarf, Elf (with a new haircut) and Wizard plus four new entries, Knight, Ranger, Cleric and Mystic (last two are female characters).

(more of Staz Johnson art on DeviantArt or ArtStation)

Gremlin Archive website stores high quality scans of the individual artworks for four of the characters: Barbarian, Ranger, Knight and Wizard - link here
I dropped a couple of comments there asking if they could upload more but seems they are lost somewhere. It is possible if more peole ask them for updates, they will find the time to perform a new search and eventually upload the missing ones. These individual artworks were also painted by Staz Johnson.

The rear of the box featured individual artworks for all the characters but the Mystic was missing. While looking at this character in the game and her line art inside the rulebook of the game I noticed she is only dressed with a chainmail bikini and a cloak, so I guessed she may have been removed because of censorship.

Going deeply into this, I contacted artist Staz Johnson asking if he also drawn an artwork for the Mystic and if he could remember if any kind of censorship was affecting her. Staz Johnson was s o kind to reply me and his answer was very interesting:

"Hi, yes I did do an individual painting of the female barbarian. She was the cause of a lot of problems, in the initial layout for the Sorasil cover she was right at the front of the group in her chain-mail bikini. However, it was felt that her look might offend a lot of potential Muslim buyers so she was moved to the back of the group with her back facing toward the viewer, however this still wasn't good enough because her butt was on display, so I was asked to add the blue cape to cover her completely. This is probably why she was left off the cover, because the individual painting I did of her was from the front."

 

characters line arts

Not all bases are the same...

I just had fun measuring all the HeroQuest bases using an electroninc caliper.
It ended that not all bases match the same size perfectly.
Curious that even two miniatures of the same type measures different sizes; possibly they come from a different production or from different editions of the game (country, year of production) or maybe just the plastic used may be different and shkrink more or less than the another one.
The Dwarf seems to be the one wigh the biggest base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hyper Contest - Vinci un set di HeroQuest (scade 29.9.2019)

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: ITALIANS ONLY

Partecipa al concorso e vinci un set base di HeroQuest in Italiano, 100% completo ed in buonissime condizioni più... alcuni extra (top-secret per il momento)!!!
Il contest è organizzato dal sottoscritto e la partecipazione è gratuita!!! Si, proprio così... gratuita!
I requisiti per partecipare però sono i seguenti:

1. essere cittadino italiano e residente in Italia;
2. avere almeno 18 anni di età compiuti;
3. richiedere ed attivare una carta prepagata HYPE (gratuita) utilizzando solo ed esclusivamente il seguente link di invito:
   https://www.hype.it/invite/684a705759622f5243704d3d 

NOTA: la carta HYPE è una carta prepagata emessa da Banca Sella; non solo non ha costi per voi ma quando vi registrate (vi raccomando di usare solo il link che vi ho indicato sopra, pena l'esclusione dalla partecipazione al contest) riceverete anche un bonus di benvenuto di 10 euro.
Purtroppo chi è già titolare di una carta HYPE non potrà partecipare ma ciò non esclude che si possa far registrare un amico o un proprio parente. Per per ogni utente che si registra e attiva la carta tramite il mio invito, riceverò una notifica che conferma il buon esito della registrazione.

E' necessario che si raggiungano almeno 20 partecipanti.
Qualora non si raggiungesse il numero minimo di 20 partecipanti verrà annunciato l'annullamento del contest ma riceverete comunque il bonus sulla vostra carta.
Tra tutti i partecipanti al contest verrà estratto un vincitore che si aggiudicherà il premio che gli verrà recapitato gratuitamente presso il proprio domicilio (in Italia).
Per motivi di trasparenza e al fine di evitare dubbi di qualunque tipo, l'estrazione verrà effettuata in diretta tramite apposito account su Instagram in modo che sia visibile a chiunque sia interessato.
Il termine ultimo per partecipare è il 29 Settembre 2019, mentre l'estrazione avverrà entro i 15 giorni successivi alla data di scadenza.
Per un più semplice monitoraggio dei partecipanti o se avete dubbi o domande non esitate a chiedere lasciando un messaggio qui sotto.

Loretome 25th...

 

 

Download links:
English  -  Italiano  -  Française  -  Español

A funny and ironic quest I made about 2 years ago.
It was originally made in Italian but it's available also in English, French and Spanish, translated by Sajungzak, Le Nain Rouge and Danstructor.
Cover artwork is painted by Christopher Lue-Quee.
Here is a sample of what you will find inside:

"My friends,
Once again I have called upon you in an hour of great distress. I need your help. It‘s been a while now since the pages of Loretome have begun to turn gray, and day by day more writings seem to fade into nothingness.
Within its vanishing pages it is yet written that this is caused by the actions of Dionisus, a Chaos mage. Although infamous for his ability to manipulate time and minds, he has never been considered a real menace... until now. Dionisus is working to create a copy of Loretome...
The time to act is now. Located in a land that in ancient times was called the Land of the Gnomes, known now as the Gnome-Zone, your task is to find Dionisus’s Manor, discover what his plan is..."

Download links: English  -  Italiano  -  Française  -  Español

 

My miniatures cabinet

While browsing my phone I found a photo of my cabinet I took about two years ago, so I decided to make a new one and share it, because my blog needs an update or just because I like to share it with you.
In the cabinent there are some of my Heroquest and other Citadel figures, plus a few Grenadier, HHG and Ral Partha pieces too.
Wonder if I will ever find the time to paint them all...

Candlesticks Quest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a mini questpack from an idea by mitchiemasha, a YeOldeInn member:

Purely as a homage to the rarity of sets that still have the Sorcerers Candlesticks in true original form, lit and burning. Like many, not only are mine not lit, there's no stick!!! Someone needs to write this Quest... 

It features 3 Quests:
Quest 1 - “Quest for the Burning Candles” written by tb55555.
Quest 2 - "Candle with Care" written by Lestodante (yes, that's me).
Quest 3 - “Candle in the Wind” written by Maurice76 (requires 20 Blocked Square tiles and 10 Pit Trap tiles).

DOWNLOAD LINKS:
English Version (2,80 MB)
Italian Version (2,90 MB)

Conversion: Wizard -> Thor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently had a lot of fun doing this conversion. This was a gift I prepared for the Ye Olde Inn Christams Exchange 2017 and my recipient was... Thor-in! Of course this post was hidden so he can not read this before receiving his gift. So, reading his nickname I guessed he must be a Thor fan and decided to have a try at converting the HeroQuest Wizard in a Thor miniature. The main body is taken from the Wizard, the arms are from a HQ Orc (hmm, maybe too big) and the hammer was gently gifted by the Advanced Heroquest Dwarf while some green stuff did the rest.
Mixing some words, Odin (the King of Asgard) and Houdini (the famous wizard) plus Thor and the word sorcerer, I named him "Odinì the Thorcerer".

Wizards of Morcar: the unreleased metal prototypes

Here are the rare metal miniatures from the Wizards of Morcar pack.
If you think you've already seen them, you are right; infact they are shown in the photo on the rear of the box of the expansion pack.
I guess the prototypes were used to test the game and as a guide for sculpting the plastic models. Grawshak, the Orc Shaman, is way bigger than its plastic version, while the others are just a little bit taller than their official plastic counterparts. Boroush, the Storm Master, has no necklace and got a stone on his staff. The prototypes have better details than the plastic models.
Men-at-Arms were released with alternate heads and four body variants and used for Warhammer but this is the right model you can see on the back of the Wizards of Morcar box.

Please note, not all versions of the box are showing the metal prototypes, later releases show the plastic models instead.

Buying a sealed/shrink-wrapped box

Are you after a brand new and still sealed Heroquest box?
Are you ready to pay a lot of gold coins to put your hands on a shrink-wrapped Barbarian or Elf Quest Pack? I know, sealed boxes are very attractive for everyone but first you must consider this:
It can happen (and has happened back in the 90's) that opening a new box (whatever game it is) you can notice that something is wrong.
I remember Ghar (if my memory s not cheating me), a friend from the Italian Heroquest community was lucky enough to find a double set of heroes inside his D&D The Fantasy Adventure board game.

He was very happy in his case, but pieces may also be broken or defected and sometimes even even missing!
How could you react in such situation? Imagine you've bought a sealed Barbarian Quest Pack and to realize that the blue sprue (it is the one with the monsters and the female Barbarian) is missing!!! Are you still alive? It is a manufacturing fault and yes, it can really happen!

For example let's check the photo below, you can notice a great mistake in the cut of the cards, it is just a manufacturing fault; the printer and/or the cut machine were not aligned properly, so the cards feature a bad cut on both sides and the artworks are coming out of the edges while the card title is on the bottom of another card; what a mess!!

The Rescue of Sir Ragnar

Quest n. 2 from the main game questbook is "The Rescue of Sir Ragnar" (in Italy he was named Sir Manfred instead). He is one of the bravest paladin of the Empire and has been prisoned by the army of chaos. Once you find and bring Sir Ragnar out from his cell, you have to use the Chaos Srocerer miniature to represent him.
I've always been disappointed on this but fortunately here is a cool piece sculpted by the Italian artist Marco Partenzi (aka Bombur) that solve this problem!
Bombur sculpted this figure on his own, it fits perfectly the style of original HeroQuest miniatures so it has become one of the most wanted custom figure for the game.
Unfortunately only few copies were cast. Since many people were asking me to get one I asked him if it was possible to get more copies (I had six) but he replied me that he lost the master. A real pity. We hope one day he will find it somewhere and his miniature will be available again. Anyway, good job Bombur and thank you for this mini! 
 

Can you find the intruder?

 

 

 

Painted minis on eBay - gone!

Closed right now some auctions on eBay featuring some Heroquest figures from Germany painted very nice. I also tried to bid on them but they reached prices to high for my tastes. Here are some photos and the prices they were sold (for a grand total of 347,50!!!). So I am thinking to sell separate pieces is way more profitable!

The 4 heroes, sold for 52,00 EUR

6 Ogres (2 unpainted) at 71,00 EUR

 

 

20 cm tall Chaos Warriors!!

eBay user lunc created these impressive reproductions of the classic Heroquest Chaos Warrior and they are worth a post! These giants are made of ABS and are respectively 14 cm and 20 cm tall. He also told me that he is going to create a Chaos Sorcerer very soon. Just try to imagine how many cool details you could paint on them! So, lunc, any chance to see the four heroes in their 20 cm version?

Against the Ogre Horde - Tiles Restyling

I never appreciated the grids used on Against the Ogre Horde tiles, so I decided to try to give them a restyling by removing all the black lines and adding some extra details.
If you like the final result, click here to download.

The Wizards (x4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More updates with my painting, this time is the Wizards post. again I can see lot of defects.
As told before, I like the classic colors but I like to experiment with alternate color schemes.
I tried a dark version of the wizard outfit, with purple trousers and dark blue shirt.
The other two are completely different, the one with the skull I wanted to applya heart on the chest with a snake and a second snake around his leg, but it was too much for my skills. The first three photos below show the work in progress while the last four represent the design I had in mind for the alternate outfits.

The Barbarians (x4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally some updates with my painting, I worked on four Wizards and four Barbarians (this is the Barbarian post). I'm still experimenting and improving my paint skill so there are still some defects. The four barbarians were painted several times over the previous skin until I found a decent skintone; at the beginning I tried to mix some colors to obtain different skintones, pink, bronze and pale, but at the end I was not satisfied and used a standard brown/orange skintone. Also some fur pants turned from green to grey, boots from violet to white and hair from brown to red. I like the classic colors but I like to use very colorful schemes too.
You can check the photos below to check the work in progress.

More heroes!

Here are some miniature that I own in my collection but that are not painted by me. I bought an extra Heroquest about one year ago on eBay and these minis were included in the box. I like the precision used by the painter on the small details but in my opinion it would be better if he used more shades too. In particular, I like the wizard's cloak and the barbarian's boots and the dwarf is also very well painted, while the elf looks to be a little poor if confrontated with the rest of the team.

Elf, Elf, Elf and... Elf

Now that my first heroes set is gone, I have to begin a new one. But I decided to save on time (and colors) by painting more of the same type and took four elfs. As told before, I like to go out of the classic schemes, so, except the one painted red/brown, I had fun painting the other three with uncommon color schemes. Unfortunately I was not smart enough to think to made at least one drow (but I'll fix this missing in the following days). I like to imagine Heroquest like a game in wich you can select alternate outfits for your character as you can do in Street Fighter, Tekken and other similar games. This also allow us to play a quest with two players using the same character avoiding confusion or even to add a 5th player to the standard team (years ago we even experienced an 8 players game by using two Heroquest sets and custom quests featuring two tabletops). So, here is the result, wich one is your favourite?

the alternate outfits for the elf!

 

Hulkster Barbarian

My four years old nephew also wanted a hero for himself to bring at home, so I (sadly) decided to gift him a barbarian and paint it with the scheme colours he preferred. For this one I didn't use an original miniature bur a resin recast instead (so you can notice some air bubbles on the model). After seeing some photos on my pc he sayd that he wanted his character as strong as Hulk, so I decided to paint the barbarian skin in green and he totally agreed. I wanted to paint his pant in violet but my nephews insisted to make it brown.
In the end, he looks like Blanka from Street Fighter 2.

earlier his eyes were yellow/red

Heroes... part 2

Well.. few days ago I finished to paint my heroes!!
So the Elf and the Dwarf are finally ready to join their friends.
While I used classic colors for the elf, I decided to try to give a blue armour to the dwarf.
I used a generic metallic paint on the elf sword that was looking good at the beginning, but I actually don't like anymore. Next time I'll try to use NMM (Non-Metal-Metal) style for a better result. Also, the barbarian at this point got a new face and looks a lot better than before. Some slight retouches were added to his sword and to the wizard's eyes too.