The Lost City of Exactamundo Pt 4: Ophidian Archway

Posted on 15/08/2017 by sho3box

Snakes!

Huge snakes in the walls!

Or snakey dragons or something!  That come out of the walls!  But also ARE the walls!

A wizard did it!

Of the four Age of Sigmar terrain sets released when the game came out, the Ophidian Archway was the one that appealed to me the least.  It’s a ruin, albeit possibly the ruin of Elton John’s birthday party venue or something, but it’s still just a ruin.
Compared with gates to other dimensions,  spinning technarcana and floating staircases surrounded by fiery pillars (coming soon!) a ruin with an elaborate door just didn’t seem properly turned up to eleven.

Ghost snakes exist.  In name anyway.  The Ghost Snake was discovered in Madagascar in 2016.  Unfortunately/fortunately it cannot pass through solid matter, ignore the effects of entropy or go “WooOOOOooOOOoo!”

Having gathered enough day-to-day fantasy ruins, I figured that it would be worthwhile to include the rather heavily decorated Ophidian Archway anyway though.  Regardless of its (relatively) more mundane nature, it looked like fun to paint if nothing else.


It can represent the ruin of the Age of Sigmar equivalent of a dull civil building, such as the DMV or, if used in a modern, setting the model can represent the wreck of a 24hr-burlesque-bar-n-grill.

As is often the case with things like this, I found the archway quite pleasant to paint.  Painting the Ophidian Archway remained a pretty much by-the-numbers approach, as seen in previous entries in this series, but I did focus some of the more colourful washes normally reserved for the brickwork on some of the friezes and pictorial relief, just to see if it the subtle change in tone would make them stand out a little.

It did.  A little.  I could perhaps have pushed it further, but I would rather that something like that was underdone than overdone.


More Exactamundo terrain soon!

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17 Responses

  1. Allison Mackay, on 15/08/2017 at 23:58 said:

    A wizard did it indeed. I like the paint job even if the terrain piece itself is faintly a hot mess. “Needs more snakes, Jenkins!”. “Yes sir, more snakes.”. I’m sure it’ll fit in great on your demented gaming tables.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 16/08/2017 at 14:06 said:

      There are certainly worse things to be called than a hot mess 🙂

      I don’t regard my tastes in miniature escapism as being wilfully contrary, but people do tend to say it. I certainly enjoy having a few absurd props to reinforce the structure of hilarity required for playing games.

      The thing is, the people that I have played games with most over the years play reasonably “hard”. The games that I want to play must be good natured, sportsmanlike, exciting and (crucially) amusing.

      But those things, including the more oddball aspects of my terrain and miniatures, don’t preclude the games from being taken seriously.

      I’m waffling now.
      Essentially, I take my ridiculous gaming seriously.

      Like

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  2. Alex, on 16/08/2017 at 00:11 said:

    Cracking job mate – faintly bonkers, largely pointless, hugely ott – love it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 16/08/2017 at 14:21 said:

      My samurai are as close as I have got to historical gaming and even so, I have added fantasy elements to them.

      I appreciate that if everything is zany then nothing is, but there will always be room for exotic terrain really.

      Thanks for the feedback!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. clovermilk01, on 16/08/2017 at 06:55 said:

    Brilliant! Chugging at a pace but keeping up the quality!

    Don’t forget the mage throne 😂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 16/08/2017 at 15:33 said:

      The Mage Throne is en route, have no fear!

      It’s the older version that sits on the pillar of huge skulls. Might as well go all in.

      Like

      Reply
  4. curiso, on 16/08/2017 at 09:36 said:

    Grand!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. Warburton, on 16/08/2017 at 13:43 said:

    👍👍👍

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. imperialrebelork, on 16/08/2017 at 14:11 said:

    Brilliant.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Barks, on 20/08/2017 at 12:03 said:

    I really like the palette of your lost city, it is not quite ‘right’.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • sho3box, on 20/08/2017 at 13:22 said:

      Yeah, it’s intentionally a little bit “other”. While I want the terrain to look believable in its own context, I don’t really want it to look like something historical.

      It probably owes more to Filmation backgrounds than to history books.

      Thanks for the feedback Barks!

      Like

      Reply
  8. The Lost City of Exactamundo Pt 8: Dragonfate Dais | sho3box, on 04/12/2017 at 13:40 said:

    […] Ophidian Archway grew on me due to the narrative relief elements that suggest bygone cultures.  Really, it’s […]

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  9. Warcry Ruined City/Starter Set Terrain | sho3box, on 19/08/2020 at 16:01 said:

    […] BREATH] Arcane Ruins, Osgiliath Ruins, Garden of Morr/Sigmarite Mausoleum/Corpsewrack Mausoleum, Ophidian Archway, Magewrath Throne, Dragonfate Dais, Balewind Vortex, Eternity Stair, Dreadfire Portal, Numinous […]

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