Sam's Savage Orcs - The one where the set was complete (211pts)

So the plague continues and I received word that poor unpainted Ol' Grog was captured by heartless Skaven plague monks. He got drunk on a bit too much of that Special Brew laced with shrooms and fell off the paint table. Of course those pesky rats would drag him off when he was unconscious, it’s so like them sneaky gitz, no way they would manage it otherwise. But we ain’t worried, he's a sturdy lad, we'll go bust him out of that Clan Humphrey’s prison Oogah Boogah Waaagh style. The scenario is set!

So this month I sort of tried to stick to the one colour a day plan, and was weeeell, sort of successful, in the same way as doing something as an afterthought is. That is to say I didn’t really stick to it, yet the overall idea of it still got me painting in a more sustainable way. In the end I only had the very final colour and highlight to do on the last day of the month. So I count it as a win, especially with two young kids bouncing around the apartment like caged squigs all day everyday.

So, the big news this month is: I've finally done it!!!

Every single Perry twin Savage Orc sculpt has been collected and painted. And all part of two successive OWAC’s I might add.

The quota:

1 x Savage Orc Shaman Champion, DHW (124pts)
5 x Savage Orc’s, bows (47.5pts)
1 x Savage Orc banner (9.5 pts)
(banner isn’t added/painted, so not doubling points, just adding weapons cost of intended unit, spear and shield)
2 x Snotling bases (30pts)

Total: 211 points

"Wait a minute! Who nickk'd me banner?"

Comin' at yah!

Admittedly the work isn’t fully done yet. All of this years ones still need to be varnished and have the tufts and static grass added to their bases. I’ve also got to finish one banner and two shields (which I manged to pick up on the cheap). But, that’s just the final touches, the painting is done. Woohoo!!! It also means that with just one more month of painting and another of the above final touches I will for the first time ever have a fully painted Warhammer army, so here is to keeping up the motivation. And that is the plan for the next two months. Fortunately for next month I have a real treat in store, the full compliment of all sculpts of the below beauties:

So until then, wishing everyone keep safe, wash them hands and avoid shady Clan Pestilens characters like the plague (literally). Peace out.

Samuel

Jeff Allen's Dark Elves

Season 2 of the OWAC has come to an End. It's a weird thing, the Challenge. In November and December you start to get excited. All sorts of plans swirl in your head about how much you are going to paint. All the different options you have. Later, when your 4 months in, and real life is intruding on your hobby, the Challenge starts to weigh on you. You start to look forward to it just being over. And relief when you post that last monthly update.

A few weeks later, as you go back and get ready for your wrap-up post you look out over your troops and you have a brand new viable army for playing. Which is a great thing. And you make some friends along the way as well. The OWAC is not easy but it is rewarding.

So lets dive into what I got done.

CHARACTERS (344 pts)
Dark Elf General ~ 170 pts
Assassin ~ 56 pts
Sorcerer ~ 59 pts
Sorceress ~59 pts

REGIMENTS (843 pts)
Repeater Xbow ~ 130 pts
Black Ark Corsairs ~ 156 pts
Witch Elves ~ 132 pts
Black Guard of Naggaroth ~ 173 pts
Cold One Knights ~ 252 pts

WAR MACHINES (225 pts)
Cauldron of Blood ~ 125 pts
Repeater Bolt Thrower ~ 100 pts

Total ~ 1412 Points

54 Figures, 2 War Machines. And a scratch built Dark Elf Tower.

The Command Group 

 Repeater Xbows and Corsairs

 The Black Guard of Naggoroth

 Cold One Knights

 Witch Elves

The Cauldron of Blood

Thanks to Iannick for herding us cats. Thanks to all the Challengers for making this a fun event. See you next year....

Lissanne's Chaos Demon Army Wrap-up

or How to do figs for Warhammer 40k in a Warhammer Fantasy Challenge

Since I really don't play fantasy much (and already have a high elf army from OWAC I)  I chose Chaos Demons in order to paint some of those lovely figs that were gathering dust.  They are useful for WH40k, and also D&D, which I play several times a month.  Ignatz was designed with a D&D demon in mind actually!
 

Pluses:  Chaos, especially demons, is a small enough force I can get the figs painted to an acceptable standard to me.  Some of the elves I did last year I felt a little rushed, but I didn't feel rushed with this army, nor did I slack off.  I got to paint my demon lord Ignatz to the nines, the way I wanted to.  Which was my main goal.  Not to mention the painting on the traditional Dragon Ogre and the Chaos Spawn which I am very happy with!  Actually, I am pretty satisfied with everything this time around!

Regrets:  Not having time to do the fiends, which were more meticulous conversion.  Turned out it was demonettes or fiends, and the demonettes won.  Ah well, the fiends wait for the future.

And some more photos:

So, the rundown is:

   Demon Lord Ignatz the Handful (275 pts)
   2 Dragon Ogres 2x87pts  (174pts)
   6 Flamers of Tzeench 6x50pts (300 pts)
   8 Demonettes 8x35pt (280 pts)
   3 Chaos Spawn  3x75pt (225 pts)
   3 Chaos Hounds  3x12pt (36 pts)
   23 figures in total  (1290pts)

I was wondering about next OWAC.  Like I said, I don't really play much fantasy.  Maybe more chaos?  Maybe Bloodbowl?  THEN, an entire army of skeletons on the sprue was dumped in my lap this month (no, I mean literally)  Nearly 200, with the promise of more, many more.   I run painting classes at conventions, you see.  And then my bestie gave me a pile of undead hobbits.  It seems the dead are calling to me. So, this seems the perfect time to finish those Catacombs of Terror figures, and the Upstream Game House figures, and my unfinished Warhammer Quest monsters, who are all undead allies for some reason. Which makes an army.    I already put everything in a tupperware. This should be similar time wise to demons, because Contrast-y painted skeletons are super fast and look great, and I can do meticulous painting on my Catacomb/Upstream figs then!  There is an extra month to clean and assemble, and I have tested the skeleton painting, and it is indeed super fast.  Surprise, surprise! 

Well, we will leave that in the future.  Cheers to another successful OWAC!  And Cheers to painting figs that will see the tabletop,  and more Cheers that some of these already have!

Brennan and the Final Frog Leg...

Well!  this is my second OWAC and it has been a great ride.  I've had a wonderful opertunity to paint an army that I never thought I would own and actually get a game in with it.  All round a wonderful oldhammer success! And a big thank you to to the over-lord for leadership, cheerleading and being an overall solid leader.

My childhood wargaming didn't involve Warhmmer Fantasy until I was a little older, maybe 14/15.  By that time, 4th edition Warhammer was the newest, greatest thing, and I missed out on the Slann.  I knew about Space Slann from RT, but I was a little too obsessed with Imperial Guard and Orks (with a k) back then to dig into where the idea for those froggy fellas came from.  Later, as my love of old minis turned to the games I hadn't played.  When I realized what I had missed and promptly did the old eBay search for Slann.  I then learned that, somethings would have to wait. But luck was on my side, about 12 years later, I got an opportunity to buy a Slann army at a very decent rate.  I begged and bargained with my spouse and viola!  I now have a bounty of frogs!

What's that? You played a game with them, how'd it go?  I hear you asking.  It went OK. Short version, I lost.  I played against undead.  We played 3rd edition warhammer and used the lists from Warhammer Armies.  We played around 1200 points, so small armies.  I had what was painted at the time, without anything in the realm of a magical upgrade.   Well what does that mean?  Lots and lots of frog infantry!  What I think the army needed was a few more heroes and some cav and light stuff to screen the main advance.  I felt like my flanks were too vulnerable and I didn't have the material to strike out at new developments.  I didn't role the best spells, but there are ways to mitigate that risk too (rings, rings for everyone!).  I also think I need some cheaper, points wise, support troops.  So I'm going to add:
2 units of 8 cold one riders (5 were painted last month)
1 unit of 20 braves
1 more wizard on palanquin
1 unit of two animal handlers with 6 cold one hounds
1 unit of two animal handlers with maybe 5 saber tooth's

The cold ones will get go up the middle, supported by infantry and the hounds will just try to get in the way.  I've have more hounds, but getting them is challenge, unless I just use alligators from the foundry or something like that.

I'd also love another unit with blowpipes.  That is going to take some serious patience to acquire.

So here's what I did:

LV 15 hero with 2 Handed Weapon and Heavy Armor - 117

LV 15 Wizard on a Litter - 199

15 Eagle Warrior with 2 handed weapons and a standard - 240

15 Alligator Warriors w 2 handed weapons and a standard - 208

16 Span Band with shield and standard - 170

10 Venom Tribe - 120

5 Scouts with poison and shields - 70

5 Cold One Riders w/ Light armor and shields - 185

For a total of 1309

A huge congrats to all the competitors who attempted and completed the challenge.  This is one of the best groups I have ever had the pleasure of working with in wargaming and I hope the OWAC continues for many years to come!

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

Sam's Savage Orcs - the one where despite my best efforts it was still all a bit savage (232.5 points)

So here we are the final painting entry. I made it... just about... with help from a few extra days. Shhh, no one will notice if we don't tell them...

This month was another banger. It all started out so well, I comfortably got 90% of the base layering done by about ten days in. But alas it just wasn't to be the smooth sailing I'd hoped for. A hectic on and off  work schedule with a sprinkling of overseas trips was compounded by the nighttime lamentations of the milk deprived. So all in all I ended up staring down the barrel of 16 base layered miniatures on the afternoon of June 30th. Well, needless to say if our glorious overlord hadn't provided his kind extension, I would have been forced to crash out at the last hurdle. But of course I didn't, so, on to the models.

This months entry was my largest model count wise, not exactly the sensiblest decision I made this challenge. My plan had been to split these up and do the lion's share of them in Feb and March, but the best laid plans rarely survive first contact aka shit happens, which left them to this month. The list:

- 1 x Savage Orc Boss, HW, shield (46 pts)

- 14 x Savage Orc's, HW, shield, standard (127.5 pts)

- 1 x Savage Orc Shaman (59 pts)

Total: 232.5 points

Dat guy over dere nicked my lunch, get 'im boyz

Wanna see me do a bat impreshun?

Da boyz geared up to fight lunch thieves

Group shot

As per usual these guys need some flock and grass tufts, which I'll do post varnishing. You might notice as well that the banner is missing, I'll also be adding this before the wrap-up post next (this?) month. I really need a weekend for some uninterrupted time to craft it.

Otherwise GG's everyone who made it. It's been uphill and down dale, but now we all have some fully painted sweet old skool armies to show for our efforts. So congratulations peoples, WE MADE IT!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!!

Sam

Andrea's non-Mulligan post

Hi guys,

this is my non-Mulligan post!

My OWAC2 list was finished last month but while painting I had the opportunity to round up ranks&files with some nice addition. So, instead of enjoying my Mulligan month (maybe painting something waiting on the ever-growing lead pile) and boldly take the walk of shame,  I decided to undertake one last, small effort.

Last month I included two additional beastmen and this month I will show you two more chaos warriors:

Let me introduce Ulfhdhnar the Destroyer (on the left), with his very nice the wolf cape, and Utokh Vilespike (right).

They will complete my chaos warriors regiment, which is now 10 men worth!

So this is really the completion of my OWAC2. Next step: wrap up post!

Cheers, A.

Brennan's Lizard Riders (185 Points)

Hey Ho, Let's Go

Hey Ho, Let's Go

Hey Ho, Let's Go

They're forming in one short line

They can't charge without planning

The Lizards have like no minds

Lizard-Krieg Plop...

Its June and I painted some cold one riders!  I found out that running a infantry only army was going to give me some headaches in a game that James and I played.  The long and short of it, was that I really could have used something that could charge out of the line a little faster than armored infantry.  I'm used to using some light cav to screen my flanks too.  Slann don't really have that and cold-ones are a bit of challenge to use in third ed.  You have to plan the charges a turn ahead, they suffer from stupidity and they smell really bad.  I think I will deploy them in the center, so any potential targets will have a harder time getting away.  I think flank security duty will have to go to some animal handlers.

I went for a green lizard for the blue froggy.  I realized that I ended up doing the exact opposite that most folks do!  Maybe I should have done yellow frogs...  Kinda late now though!

I really enjoyed shading and coloring the mouths, with all the tongues and the teeth.  It really brought the model to life.

I counted the riders as wearing light armor and carrying shields.  The stats say they have spears, but umm my guys must have lost theirs or something....  That brings me to 185 points for June! 

Merijn's League of Legendary Liches in May (480 points)

"Quit your bellyaching, you know... you can't get under my skin" Ignatio cackled and wheezed at his own joke. Harold rested his face in his hands and sighed in exasperation. "I don't care how many more of your little horrors you wished to raise, we attack by the next muuhnn!". Ignatio waved his sceptre dramatically but the effect was somewhat ruined by his jaw coming unhinged before he finished speaking.

Harold let his shoulder sag and wandered back to his horrors. He'd joined forces with the old liche in hopes of increasing his knowledge. For the most part, all he obtained was a deep seated hatred of the old liche's puns. Still, it was hard to argue with the effortless way the old bastard raised his skeletons."

I think this month has been my favourite in the challenge so far. Not just for my own project but now that we're nearing the end I'm seeing all kinds of cool generals pop up in all of your blogs. Fantastic stuff.

My blog is no different and this month I present the old Warhammer Quest Dread King model that I'm using for Ignatio, the liche leading the League of Legendary Liches. For me, this has always been one of those dream models. You know, the one you never owned but you still think about decades later.

I joined this challenge because I finally splurged and bought the dread kingfrom someone on the Facebook group. I figured the challenge would give me the motivation I needed to paint him and everything else just came together around that.

So without any more of my ramblings:

El Jefe, the undad, the legendary liche

I already painted up some infantry but I hadn't gotten around to properly finishing up the unit. 10 more skeletons including a command group and the original Nightmare Legion characters round them out quite nicely. If I ever need some wight heroes, they'll do quite nicely.

I just noticed I forget the sunburst yellow drybrush. Essential.

Anyway, that brings the points total up to...

80 pts (10 x 8) skeletons

20 pts (10 x 2) spears

30 pts (10 x 3) heavy armour

350pts (1x350) liche

Total this month: 480pts

Overall total: 1044pts

And just because it made me laugh with how improvised it is. My photo studio. Did you do any of those "always-wanted-to-paint-this-one" models for the challenge this year?

Sam's Savage Orcs - The one where the savagery was so brutal we nearly didn't make it... oh and some Orcs (195 points)

So until last month things had been pretty savage with life, work and painting, but I managed. Then last month saw the arrival of a new addition to my family- another protege to instruct in the glorious ways of gaming and instinct level procrastination. I knew it was coming of course, but knowing a thing and experiencing a thing, even if it isn't a new experience, are two entirely different kettles of fish. And in my case the fish jumped out the window and the kettle ran off with all my paint pots, so all I was left with was crying baby and bags under my eyes so large they could fit a weeks shopping in them. Oh and I got hospitalised for a week and quarantined for 7 days...

So that is to say, finding time to paint over the last few months has been bloody hard. So much so that I only finally managed to pick a paintbrush with 2 days of the months challenge left to go...

Well now the preface is done, I'm sure you can imagine I went the way of points expensive models. Ones that thankfully already had a few licks of paint from the previous months pre-arrival painting endeavours, aka the "hmmm, guess I'm taking a mulligan" month.

Grog Mindbenda -  1 x Savage Orc Shaman Champion on War Boar (130pts)

1 x Savage Orc Boar Boy Musician (50pts)

1 x Snotling Base (15pts)

Total: 195 pts

(Yes, I know I'm 5 measly points short. I'm so sorry glorious Overlord... plz don't hurt me)

For Grog, my mounted shaman, I really wanted him to stand out, so I went with a scheme of black and white. That way he would have a relatively stark colour difference to the rest of the unit.

The musician is in the same scheme as the rest of the unit, so you can see the contrast.

Still need a bit of flock on the bases, but otherwise good to go

We're aavin' it!!!

For any snotling bases I make, I'm intending to make a mini diorama of sorts. Mostly for fun, but also because the models have so much character I always though it was a shame stuffing them onto the bases, like the seven to a base that's recommended in the rule books. Fewer is much better and lets their unique poses shine. An added bonus that its also cheaper.

So that's that, it leaves me with a bit of a marathon left for the final month; 15 Savage Orcs including a Champ, Shaman and standard (well, a marathon for me at least). Buuut, that's just the way it is. I'll go out with a bang or not at all.

Anyway, that's enough nonsense from me. I hope you all enjoyed and sorry I haven't been commenting much on all the other wonderful entries recently, been a bit occupied, but I'll amend that in the coming weeks.

Happy painting

Samuel

Lissanne's Chaos Demons- Here he Comes! Ignatz the Handful (275 pts)

Decades ago, I bought this discounted model at Gencon to use as Ignatz...it took the OWAC to actually make me get around to painting it, so three cheers for OWAC!  Plus, I can do a far better job of it than I would have 20+ years ago.  Wanting to finally finish this figure is really why I chose Chaos Demons!

It leaves me a spare chaos dwarf sorcerer, but what the hey!

Since I could, I took the time to do a lot of freehand, on the wings especially.  a fellow named Richard Grey kept posting a Moritarion wing with a beautiful blue eye that inspired me.  The model's actual eyes are inset piggy ones, so now he has pretty blue ones, too.  I had to add a bit of greenstuff here and there, it seems inevitable with all old models, especially on the tail, which I made more dangerous, and under the wings to raise them up.

Here is the fluff from our D&D game, which can be used with Warhammer too.  Ignatz has the shape of a D&D manticore, which is to say a Warhammer lammasu, It has manticore paws on the front, and lammasu hooves on the back, which is a pretty cool idea.

The origins of Ignatz the Handful are unknown.  After being summoned and spreading untold disease and carnage throughout the western lands, he was bound in a perfect gem, a symbol of Law, by an archmage called the Fire Witch.  She placed the binding gem in a circular stained glass window of the image of Ignatz facing front, in the center of his forehead, and the window was placed in the attic of her house.  Now the Fire Witch is long gone.  Oracles have predicted for decades he will soon be freed to wreck havoc and pestilence once more...

So here is Ignatz soon-to-be-freed in all his gory glory.  And this time he will be bringing company...Obviously in the Warhammer world, he is already out and he and his friends spreading his blessings on the general populace.

Ignatz the Handful- Unaligned Demon Prince (275 pts)

This puts me over 1000 pts, but for next month, I hope to do the last 5 demonettes of my pledge, or as many of them as I can, but I have no reason to rush them.  The poor fiends will have to wait for another challenge, as well as the 2nd squad of demonettes.  Lord Ignatz took up a lot of time.  (well, that and my real work).

So, another successful OWAC!