Treasure Chests from Classic HeroQuest

There is nothing more exciting than opening a door and seeing a treasure chest on the other side of the room. The lure is almost irresistible, and one can learn a lot about their playmates by how they react to this sight. Is the Wizard a loot monger, hiding in the back row while the monsters guarding the chest are dispatched, only to swoop in and steal the treasure once the foes have been defeated? Is the Barbarian so dimwitted and impatient that he rushes forward without searching for traps, only to fall into a pit trap placed directly in front of the treasure? Is the Dwarf so completely incompetent that he fails to disarm the poison needle trap while opening the chest (disarming traps being the ONE area in which dwarves excel)?

There are three Treasure Chest miniatures included in the HeroQuest core game. Like the other items of furniture, the chests are constructed from plastic end pieces which support a folded cardboard insert representing the middle of the chest. As with the Bookcase and Torture Rack, I replaced the cardboard insert with a plastic component scratchbuilt from styrene sheet. Below is a picture of the primed components prior to painting (it is purposefully dark because the bare primer doesn’t show much detail when well-lit).

The work in progress Treasure Chest. The “barbell” is the original plastic, and the “house” is the custom replacement for the cardboard insert.

 

The concept behind the paint scheme was pretty simple. In addition to boardgames, I have a great affinity for classic video games, such as the Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda series. Those games were rife with treasure chests, most of which were made of simple wood and steel. But the chests that contained important items were often more elaborate, painted bright colors and bound in gold rather than steel (as seen below.)

A red treasure chest sprite, common to many fantasy video games of my youth.

To that end, I chose two paint schemes for the different chests in order to give the dungeon master some flexibility in setting up the scenario. Is it a mundane chest containing a few gems or a bit of gold? Or is it a fancy chest holding a key item or a powerful relic? I should think it would be obvious which is which…

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the results. The metal work on the regular chests reads well enough without being too fancy, and the “special” chest looks almost cartoonishly extravagant yet doesn’t quite cross over the line of absurdity. These miniatures are perfect illustrations of why I tend to prefer non-metallic techniques to the use of true metallic paints. Usually, I think true metallics look out of scale on a miniature, since the small metallic flakes in the paint tend to create a glittery effect rather than a smooth shine like real metal. That would not be as much of an issue on this subject, given the relatively large size of the chests. But the bold, stylized look that can be achieved with the manual placement of highlights and blends allows for a much more interesting (and definitely more challenging) end result. That’s just my opinion, but I cannot seem to get enough of that 1980’s “Heavy Metal” look!

By my count, that leaves me nearly half-way done with the furniture. Soon I’ll be able to get back to the few remaining base-set figures before tackling some expansion material. Until next time!

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Brown Wood:

The entire model was base coated with VMC Black (70.950). The lowest planks were then coated with a 1:1 mix of VMC Chocolate Brown (70.872) and Flat Earth (70.983). Dark grain lines were then painted with a 1:1 mix of Chocolate Brown and Black, followed by light grain lines with a 3:1 mix of Flat Earth and VMC Dark Sand (70.847). The top-most planks were painted in the same fashion, but each color was made one step lighter than those on the lower planks. For instance, the planks were based with pure Flat Earth, and the highlights were a 1:1 mix of Flat Earth and Pale Sand.

Steel:

A standard non-metallic metal technique was applied with the following colors: VMC Black (70.950), VGC Cold Grey (), and Schmincke Titanium White.

Red Wood:

The entire model was base coated with VMC Black (70.950). The lower planks were base coated with VMC Cavalry Brown (70.982). Dark grain lines were added with a 1:1 mix of Cavalry Brown and Black, followed by light grain lines with VMC Amaranth Red (70.829).

Gold:

A standard non-metallic metal technique was applied with the following colors: VGC Heavy Brown (), VGC Heavy Goldbrown (), VMC Ivory (70.981), and VMA Armor Brown ().