Hobby | Charnel Pit of the Ghoul Queen (Reaper Miniatures Bones V)

Get your brushes and clippers, and welcome to the Space Dinosaur Hobby Table, where I cover what I've completed recently in the Age of Sigmar hobby, along with a mini-review of the sculpts, how easy they're to paint, and any tips or tricks I can pass on to make your life easier. Today we wrap up the terrain train with another mini from Reaper Miniatures, this time the Charnel Pit of the Ghoul Queen. 

I've actually already painted a part of this encounter set a long time ago, the sacrificial altar and menhirs, but it was high time that I got the full amount of terrain painted up. This is a nice kit with a tad of modularity, as I can remove the bone pile to reveal a pool of water. I poured some Woodland Scenics Realistic Water to get a glossy look to the pool.

As I alluded to in the previous post, Reaper Miniatures can suffer from some warping issues. I had a hell of a time trying to get this to lie flat, and after multiple failed attempts to use hot water to help bend, I just super glued the damn thing to a piece of MDF. It took some green stuffing and texture paint to blend the MDF into the terrain, but I think I was successful, and it sits on the table much better now.

After that, I went with a super simple paint scheme. It gave me the vibe that the entire structure was carved out of the stone in the ground, so everything got the dark gray/gray/white drybrush treatment. I added some washes here and there to add a bit of color and break up the gray.

From there I just had to pick out all of the bone details, add some turf and tufts, and I had a fully painted model in about 15 minutes. That's one of the best parts about Reaper Miniatures terrain. 

Now for my overall thoughts on the models, I will judge it based on two categories. Firstly, the sculpt itself will be scored on a scale of 0 to 10, with 5 being average, 0 horrendous, and 10 a marvel. For a reference point, I consider the Stormcast Liberator to be a 5, neither great nor bad. Just a passable, average model. Then I will score on Ease of Painting, between 1 and 5, 1 being a slog to paint and 5 being a breeze.

 

My Charnel Pit of the Ghoul Queen review:

Sculpt: 7/10

A very nice bit of terrain with enough space for minis to stand atop. It would make a nice focal point for a D&D encounter, or as an objective in a wargame. I took points off for how much warping I had to deal with. 

Ease of Painting: 5/5

The simplicity of the sculpt makes it easy to paint and easy to read, lending itself well to beginner painters.  

Final tips: A make-up brush makes an excellent drybrush, and gives the highlights a softer, more natural tone. 

-The Space Dinosaur