Blue's OWAC 2019 Wrap up Post...Dwarf Reinforcements

Hi all,

After wrapping up the painting of the last few figures, the hand gunners and swivel gun, I was anxious to get some group shots of all the figures that I have managed to paint during the course of this contest.

So I quickly set up some terrain and started gathering my lights, tripod and other assorted Photog equipment.  

...then I spent way too much time arranging...and re-arranging my units until I was happy with how they were presented. 

But here are the results!  
 
A sizable reinforcement to the Grand Army of Strausburg...a thriving trade city on the outer fringes of the Empire. Strausburg is unique in that its rich mountain setting and acceptance of Dwarf refugees from abandoned strongholds in the Worlds Edge Mountains have given it a nearly equal population of Dwarfs and Humans.  In the City the Dwarfs have adopted much of the Imperial fashion (Puff and Slash)...and the Grand Army has adopted the dwarfs love of (and proficiency with gunpowder weapons) and large blocks of sturdy Infantry.

The OWAC 2019 has provided me the opportunity to further expand and refine my Puff and Slash Dwarf Army (which is a component of the mixed race Grand Army)...This is my largest army and the one that I have been working on the longest...literally since the late 1980s...it was the Marauder Dwarf Pike Block that started me down this path to insanity when I was 14yo!

Full Army Shot!

Click to see FULL size

And Some Close ups...

First some much needed reinforcement to my missile troops.  In the past I have always used my Unit of Bugman's Brewers to fill this role...but they are still in their 1988 paint jobs and really fit better, stylistically with my Imperial dwarf Army, so I'm glad to be able to replace them with some more appropriate shooters. And to fill this role there are no better figures than the Marauder Dwarf Xbows...these are all really great figures with a lot of variation to work with.  I decided to build two units of 12...though I fell short of that mark for one unit.  Additionally I added a small 3-man Cannon and a Swivel Gun to my force.

My original plan had been to do one large unit of Xbows...but as I started to cleanup and prime the figures it became apparently to me that there were actually two different "styles" contained within the range.  Half the figures are very much Puff and Slash...while the others have simpler "uniforms" with less puff and slash and feathers.  With this in mind I separated out the figures of each style into two units and added some more figures to bulk them to 12 dwarfs each.  The first unit of Xbows is from Strausburg proper and has fully embraced the Puff and Slash style of dress.  The second unit are recruited from outlying areas that are a little more rustic and not as concerned about being "flashy".  I have the figures ready to expand both of these units to 14 eventually.  (Also note that each unit has a "converted" standard bearer)

As to the Cannon...it is a very old style gun that will also see service with my Bret Army...this crew will transition to the Marauder Organ gun (from whence it came) when I get it painted.

The swivel gun is one of those fantastic White Knight sculpts (now sold by TAG) and is a nice addition to the Marauder swivel gun.

Next is the center piece unit....the PIKES!! (and all the rest...) When I started this challenge I opted to paint a full complete units (like the Xbows) as well as paint some reinforcements for already painted units.  For this reason I painted just two Zweihanders and nine handgunners.  Since these are not complete units and would look odd photographed as individual groups I decided to add them onto the Pike Unit for the photos...

So here we have a 21 Dwarf strong unit of Pikes with 9 handgunners arranged as "sleeves" on either side of the Pike block (they are the "shot" in "Pike and Shot") and they are further protected by a Zweihander on each flank.  This makes for an impressive looking centerpiece unit.

the Pikes are all White Knight sculpts, the handgunners are all Marauder sculpts....as is the Zweihander on the right.  The Zweihander on the left is from the short lived and tough to find Runecast dwarf range.

Points Break Down:
21 Dwarf Pike Block:      381pts
12 Dwarf Xbows:             224pts
11 Dwarf Xbows:             209pts
9 Dwarf Handgunners:  126pts
2 Dwarf Zweihanders:     30pts
Swivel Gun:                        50pts
3-Man Cannon:                 69pts
ARMY TOTAL:              1089pts

So...I guess this is the end! We have survived another OWAC and we have great stuff to show for it.  Congrats to all who stuck with it and finsihed strong (to those in the field of bones...I have only contempt...) :)

Hats off to Iannick for doing the grunt work of keeping this challenge moving forward and coming to a successful conclusion.

Cheers for now!!

Blue