The Old World Army Challenge: December 2025

Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Charge! Filippo's Bretonnia Army - Introduction post

*sound of thundering hooves intensifies

It's good to be back. New year, new OWAC, brand new army. Life is good

For this year I've been granted the opportunity to paint a fifth edition Bretonnia small army. I had the chance to buy a lot of models during the last month and this is the backbone of a much bigger project.

If possibile, I'll do my best to go way beyond my limits. Sleeping is overrated after all.

Here's the list (1004 points)

1 General of Bretonnia (172 points)

1 Hero (74 points)

5 Knights of the Realm (204 points)

5 Errant Knights (176 points)

10 Bowmen (145 points)

10 Squires (124 points)

10 Men-at-arms (145 points)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I may have bought 70 more bowmen, many Knights (Realm, Errant, and Grail), a Green Knight and Louen Leoncoeur. Some are already painted, the idea is just to fix some details without starting from the primer.

And I still have the undead to finish.. WHAT A YEAR! WHAT A LOVELY YEAR!

My offering is the test models painted many month ago. But in the end I'll stick to the classic blue and white colour scheme

We Are the Damned - Valtteri's Undead Legion - Introductory post

Introduction

Since I'm new to OWAC I'd best introduce myself. I'm Valtteri, a 40-year old hobbyist from Finland. I got drafted into this challenge by Jaakko, who I met last year in a Necropolis gaming event I organised. (Side note - Necropolis is an excellent game, I put a link in the bottom if you're interested.)

Rolling dice with style since 1985.

I got into little toy soldiers and Warhammer when I was around ten years old. Hero Quest and Space Crusade were my gateway drugs, but I was really hooked when I saw an unit of skeleton warriors at my friend's. I had to get some of my own.

I actually managed to build and paint a pretty decent sized army, though I never actually played the game. I just couldn't get my friends that interested in miniatures.

Oh how I miss these.

Unfortunately I sold all my models when I moved out of my parent's house and mostly forgot about minis.

It took me some 10 years for the hobby flame to be rekindled and I've been hooked again ever since! And I've been playing too - lots of different games. I've gradually moved out of the GW sphere into more accessible (and fun) indie games but I've never lost my love for the classic Fantasy Battle aesthetic.
I've wanted to rebuild my Undead army for a while now and OWAC seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Full disclosure: I was so excited about this project that I accidentally painted two units beforehand. I told myself I'd just paint a few models to test out a color scheme and all of a sudden I had two full units complete with command groups, hand painted banners and Wights to lead them! Oops.
Naturally these won't count towards the challenge, though I'd like to include them in the final army pics.

I'm quite proud of them.

The Vision

The look I want for my Undead army is sort of a 90s grimdark vibe. I still remember how different the models looked in the 5th edition Vampire Counts Army Book compared to the previous Undead book. They were dark and broody and menacing! The colors were more muted and down to earth and the bases had more tones than just Goblin Green.

These blew my mind as a kid.

I remember pouring over this one particular page over and over again. For some reason I never did try different recipes for bone, I just tried to emulate the bright box art skeletons.

They don't make army books like they used to.

An army of just dirty undead is pretty boring though, so I want to give the characters more vibrant old-school colors and paint the classic 4th ed banners. I rather like the combined effect in my test units.

I have devised a fairly quick painting method for my skeletons which gives pretty decent results, as you can see in the previous test models. I'll save the actual recipe for my first proper post in January though!

One other thing I'd like to do in the future is to build this army so that I could use it in 5th or 6th edition games as well. This means adding some extra models for it to be a Vampire Counts army. I won't do those for OWAC9 though.

The Models

So, I've chosen my army and it's color scheme, now I just need some minis to paint. Unfortunately I only have a single Wraith left from my childhood army, so off to the shops I go.

My precious.

I realized fairly quickly that there doesn't seem to be that many old Undead minis for sale. I did manage to score a decent amount of heroes and special models: Wights, Wraiths, Mummies, Necromancer and my favorite the Vampire Lord. But not nearly as many as I would have liked.

Isn't he dashing?

A proper Undead army needs masses of the walking dead though and there was no way I was going to hunt down dozens of old metal models for them. I mean I only have the one kidney. (I actually do.)
First I discovered the Oathmark skeletons which are just great. I used them for my test units, pictured earlier. They are more akin to the newer edition skeletons though and don't quite satisfy my itch for nostalgia.

Luckily we live in the future age and I found some excellent 3D printed models for my horde.
The Skeleton Warriors are by Celtic Miniatures and the Horsemen, Zombies and the Zombie Dragon are by Red Bard Games (again, links at the bottom for those interested).

Celtic Miniatures

Red Bard Games

I want all my regiments to have a proper command group with painted old school banners and an old school champion to lead them. The Horsemen are lacking a mounted Wight but maybe I'll find one during the challenge.

I also found some great Skeleton Ogres from Ral Partha Europe (Das Schwarze Auge minis) which I plan to use as unit fillers, since there's no profile for them in WHFB.

Love these big guys.

Finally some OG metal.

The assembled army is looking pretty good. Combined with the units I finished earlier I'll have an army ready to crush anyone on the battlefield. Can't wait to get started!

Primed and ready!

Artwork

This year's OWAC's theme was artwork and for me the 4th ed Army Book cover is the ultimate piece of Undead art (the black and white pic of Nagash inside comes as a close second).
So my plan is to create the models in the cover: Wight Banner Bearer, Necromancer (well I guess he might be a Vampire but whatever) and the Horseman.

Best.

I already have the models for the first two but I'm still looking for a suitable knight. I don't plan to actually convert them to match the poses, I'm just going to match the colour schemes and paint the banner. Cutting up old minis just feels wrong after going through the trouble of finding them.

They're close enough.

I'd also love to do some old school terrain such as the Burial Mounds in the classic How to Make Wargames Terrain book.

Also best.

The Plan

So here's what my OWAC9 plan looks like:

January - Rank and File

25 Skeleton Warriors including a command group and a banner - 241 points
Wight - 37 points
Necromancer Champion- 163 points

February - Rank and File

10 Skeleton Horsemen with a a command group and a banner - 236 points
Maybe a Mounted Wight if I can find one (39 points)

March - Rank and File

20 Zombies with a a command group and a banner - 88 points
Zombie Ogre (unit filler) - 16 points
Wight - 37 points

April - Rank and File

5 Mummies - 225 points
5 Wraiths - 375 points
2 Skeleton Ogres (unit filler) - 76 points

May - Wild Card

The 3 army book cover models (around 200 points)
Terrain

June - Leader

Vampire Lord - 410 points
Liche on Zombie Dragon - 850 points (!)

I'm fairly confident I can tackle most of these. The Zombies might take more time than I think and the Zombie Dragon as well. If that turns out to be the case I'm sure I can still finish at least 10 Zombies and the Vampire Lord to satisfy the monthly requirements. If I can paint everything fairly quickly I have some extra models in mind as well...

If I do manage to paint them all, the army is going to be worth almost a whopping 3000 points! (Even more with the two test units). We'll just have to see how far I will get!

Links:
Necropolis - A diorama Skirmish Game

Skeletons by Celtic Miniatures, Etsy

Undead by Red Bard games

The Relief of Plavigorica - Mark's Araby Allied Contingent Introductory Post

As the mist cleared, Miloš walked to the parapet, dreading to see smoke on the horizon. It was only a matter of time.

Weeks before, while the roads were still open, riders were dispatched with entreaties. His fellow voivods of the Border Princes were beleaguered and could do nothing. From Karak Azul he received silence, from Parravon platitudes, from Averheim ridicule: "You write of ‘ratmen’. The Elector cannot divert his strength in pursuit of such fantastical imaginings".

In the distance, a hawk circled, like the Skaven he knew were slowly tightening a noose around Plavigorica. Not for the first time, Miloš envied a bird’s careless freedom. It wheeled closer, as if to taunt him, then flew directly towards the walls. Miloš shouted for his falconer.

In desperation, an appeal had even been sent to his ancestral foe, the Sultan of Arjijil. Miloš had closed his message with a defiant question: “None will aid us. Will you also answer our pleas with passivity?”. Tightly wrapped round the falcon’s leg was a parchment with six words: “We will not. We are coming”.

-----

I'm Mark and this is my first OWAC, having being a fan for years. I will be painting a 3^rd edition WFB Araby allied contingent. Araby was included in the first edition lists as 'Men of the East', but not in Ravening Hordes nor Warhammer Armies. More recently, Games Workshop revived Araby for Warmaster and the Warhammer Total War computer game. My gaming experience only extends to about 1993, so I am using those older and newer sources, including an unofficial later WFB edition list written by Matthias Eliasson, to imagine what an Araby list might have been like, had it featured in 1988's Warhammer Armies.

Here are the forces I have gathered over the last 18 months - and I've needed the whole of that time! It's a mix of Citadel, Ral Partha, Footsore, Midlam, and Perry miniatures – all metal except for the archers, a mix of fantasy and historical, hopefully keeping an old school vibe.

Art inspiration

I struggled a little with this but have landed on this picture from Empire in Flames, the final part of the WFRP Enemy Within campaign. It’s not a major spoiler to say that this is a chance encounter in the wilderness with a travelling Arabyan wizard and his Estalian friend. The depictions are clunky stereotypes, but he was the first Arabyan character I came across and he struck my interest. My army will feature a pair on a carpet somewhat inspired by these two. One of them will be the narrator of the short narrative blurb I’ll try to add in each month’s update.

A drawing of two people on a carpet

AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Why Araby?

I have been listening to the Orfeo stories on the fantastic Oldhammer Fiction Podcast.
Araby was not explored much as a faction back in the day, so I hadn’t seen many old-school armies. I now know there have been some really fantastic Araby forces put together recently by Yong-Duke Kim and others. I think mine is the first one for OWAC.
Araby is a classic Warhammer pastiche of evocative real world fantasy tropes from djinns to flying carpets, from Sinbad and the Arabian Nights to Iznogoud and the Prince of Persia.
In these troubled political times in the real world, I think there is a much needed journey to be taken from an '80s stereotype that depicted the Arabyans as villains and implacable foes of the Old World, fought in a series of "Crusades", (with Araby characters sometimes given an evil alignment), towards a depiction where all human factions are allied against the many common enemies.
The long-suffering football (soccer) team I support, Dundee United, have the nickname “the Arabs” – largely because back in the '60s they had to use a lot of sand on their pitch.

My contingent includes:

10 Arabyan Guard with spears, shields, standard & musician, concealing a Hashishin (assassin) 165 pts.
10 Desert Archers with standard and musician 109 pts. 1 still to recruit.
10 Corsairs with shields, standard and musician 209 pts.
2 Flying Carpets with Fakir magicians 210 pts.
A Snake Charmer and swarm of serpents 185 pts.
An Emir as contingent commander 91 pts.
A Magus sorcerer 155 pts with useless familiar 1 pt.
A Djinn (air elemental) ?* pts.
Camel caravan and vizier's tent (baggage) - still being mustered... 0 pts.

Total - 1,116 pts +

* the points for an elemental range from 100 to 1,000. A 100 point elemental is one of the least cost effective things you can field, while a 1,000 point one would be practically unbeatable.

Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Ian's Goblin Army (part II) - OWAC IX - Intro post

Greetings from the cold city of Montreal, Canada. This will be my fifth OWAC and the goal is to increase my ever expanding Goblin army. The plan is quite simple.

January : 10 Goblin Wolf Riders (Rank & File - 140 points)

February : 10 Goblin Wolf Riders (Rank & File - 140 points)

March : 10 Goblin Wolf Riders (Rank & File - 140 points)

April : 10 Goblin Wolf Riders (Rank & File - 140 points)

May : 5 Doom Diver Catapults (Wild card - 500 points)

June : Leader month and extras (Leader - 205 points if I choose to paint Skarsnik and Gobbla, 195 points for 3 Trolls)

OWAC IX

11 different wolves, a lot in metal, a lot of size difference !

Those are all extras. I might choose a leader on wolf instead of Skarsnik and Gobbla.

Goblins from different eras and size ! Knightmare miniatures on the far right.

The OWAC IX theme is about finding an old school artwork and building an army around it. I did the opposite. I knew I wanted to painted all the remaining Goblin Wolf Riders I had in my pile of shame before starting to look for an inspiring artwork. I found this one by doing a Google search and knew I saw it somewhere... I bought the Death on the Reik scenario for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game way back around 1989. I always dreamed of playing it and read it entirely multiple times. I loved the depth of the story, all the weird encounters, the old school art... But I never had the chance to have a group to play it. I sold it a few years ago after keeping it for more than 30 years and immediately regret it.

Goblin Wolf Rider, Death on the Reik campaign for WFRP, 1987, p.28,
art by the late Martin McKenna (1969-2020)

Here are my previous participations :

OWAC V : Goblins

OWAC VI : Mordheim

OWAC VII : Undead (DNF)

OWAC VIII : Undead

Have a wonderful year and good luck to all the OWAC IX participants !

Ian

Heart of the Swarm - Waill and Roll's 6mm Swarm - Introductory Post

It's 6mm Warhammer 40,000, NOT Epic 40k!

A base on a base on a base.
My Gaunts are magnetised and ready to rip and tear.

Hello to everyone following this blog, Waill and Roll here (real name Tom). This will be my first year taking part in the Old World Army Challange, it is intimidating company to keep but I shall do my best not to disappoint.

My project is a bit of a weird one, for a couple of years I have been using 6-8mm models, sourced from GW's extinct and extant games, supplemented by 3D printed offerings, to play "travel-sized" Warhammer 40,000. That is to say, completely normal games of 40k subsitituting all inch measurements for centimetres.

I have been reffering to these games as "ShortyK" but it remains to be seen if that will catch on or merely induce groans.

What does that mean for my OWAC entry? Well it means I'm going to be painting a whole lot of miniatures.

For this year's OWAC we were asked to select a piece of classic art to act as a jumping off point. As a die hard Blanche fan, I had to go with the chaotic masterpiece below. This piece is contemporaneous with the Epic 40k Tyranid range that I'll be using for the majority of this project and an absolute banger. Every pixel of this image is Tyranid, from the spore choked skies to the tooth filled landscape, even the ground is hidden beneath the tide of chitin.

Chordelis falls to Hive Fleet Leviathan. Exterminus by Virus Bombs ordered soon after this pict-capture.

So how is a 6mm army going to work for the OWAC? Well what we've settled on is each of the little guys will count as 0.2 of a full sized miniature, everything bigger, like a Hive Tyrant, counts as a normal single mini. So most months I shall be painting a full squad of ten little guys along with a handful of larger beasties. Then there's a couple of bio-titans in the mix just to keep things interesting.

I shall be refrencing this classic colour scheme from the 3rd edition Tyranid Codex. An alternative look for Hive Fleet Leviathan. I have not been able to discover if this paint scheme can be attributed to any particular GW staffer, any info on that front would be greatly appreciated.

The Swarm as it stands so far, desperately in need of a Screamer Killer and some Zoanthropes,
but there's time for that as the year goes on.

Pictured above is the horde of minis I have ammassed so far. Things of note include the hand made 6mm spore mines and ripper swarm conversions, both of which I will show off in detail when I get around to painting them. The 28mm spore mine is gallantly standing in as a 6mm Mucolid Spore (a new-hammer Tyranid unit) and finally the big guy in the back is a 3d printed Hierophant bio-titan.

The swarm as it stands looks something like this:

1x Dominatrix

3x Hive Tyrants

5x Warriors

1x Lictor

20x Termagants

10x Hormagants

10x Gargoyles

10x Genestealers

6x Ripper Swarms

3x Biovores

6x Spore Mines

1x Exocrine

1x Mucolid Spore

1x Trygon

1x Harridan

1x Hierophant

I have a few additions planned for this force beyone what is pictured above, a few more big beasties and poptentially some Genestealer Cult minis (including a Limo?), terrain too I imagine.

For now I shall leave you to barricade your doors, Leviathan is coming...

Sybou's introduction post_owac IX_Chaos dwarf

Hello to the Owac community,

after several years of postponing the chaos stunties, I finally decided to make 2026, their year. Until the last minute, I hesitate to make norses before them but I resisted.

I gathered these guys, years ago and I really like these little guys. Originally, it was just a couple of them mixed with chaos warriors and beastmen and purchase after purchase, I made an entire army of these guys.

The art of the army: