Ben's Alpine Gnomes (945pts) OWACVII - Month 5

Greetings dwellers on the threshold! Salutations from May! I come bearing long pointy sticks aplenty just in time for my final rank and file month!

From the onset, I knew that pikeblocks would be integral to the gnome's strategies, what with their four ranks of attacks on a lucky charge. Pairs of hand weapons and spears just cant compare to that kind of output and so I did what any sane general would do; I assembled my pikes...

20 pikegnomes, some with cute flower tufts on their bases.1

...and then I assembled even more!

15 additional pikegnomes, some with regular tufts on their bases.2

So, I'm not actually sure if 7 ranks of pikes is overkill, but if it is, I'm sure a pair of command trios can turn the blob into two slightly less unwieldly blocks. Since June will be my leader month and the final month of OWAC VII, I'm sure we'll see that and then some before our time is through!

The Army Thus Far

10 crossbows - 60 p

2 illusionists - 56p/ea

1 alpine giant - 160p

  10 guarden gnomes with light armor, bsb, and musician - 150p

champion on foot with halberd and light armor - 39p

5 fox riders - 75p

1 cannon - 50p

1 organ gun 60p

35 pikegnomes with light armor 227.5

total points 945/1000

I'm actually not super certain about the math at this point, since its been so long since I crunched the numbers, and I only did so with the most rudimentary understanding of WFB5E.3 I'm still using Byron's rules as my guiding light, but I can't for the life of me recall how I decided that pikegnomes with light armor are 6.5p a pop. 

Hopefully next month, after we've sprinted to the finish line, there'll be time for calculations. With that and more in mind, I wish you all the best of luck as we do our final lap, and prepare to sent OWAC VII off with a bang! Take care!

1. I accidentally made all of these pikegnomes purple. I had been shooting for blue but was so focused elsewhere that I goofed and droppered the wrong paint into my palette. As it turns out though, this was a happy accident as the purple went really nicely with the yellow flower tufts I'd discovered the other day.

2. I am realizing how desparately I'll be needing movement trays once this army is assembled. That might be a feature next month, in the event that I have time.

3. I also can't do math because I've had two of my wisdom teeth removed and can barely type this sentence, let alone perform basic arythmatic. Lol, at least its not "take a photo of yourself with your army month," because I look like a friggin chipmunk.

Sybou's Albion Force Month of March (229 points)

Rank & File month #3

Hello everyone!

Lets dive once again in the dark Myst of Albion ...

For this month, I finally finished my unit of marauders:

A proud unit of 20 men with the Champion of the Clan

So here, we have 20 clansmen (rulewise norse marauders) with the Champion of the Clan (Mercenary captain).

These guys look pretty good once finished. I'm happy that I have complete this unit project. Initially it was just a couple of foundry berserkers i had in my leadpile, then the idea grew on me and I completed the regiment with some new naked men, now with tartans.

The banner is some sort of Cernunnos God that i found on the internet. I tried to copy it but the result is not as good. Anyway, it will look good enough. The banner is in greenstuff.

I love the blowpipe (from Perry miniatures) that gives these guys a proper musician to go in battle.

The bravest of all

The Clan Champion is from Ral Partha. Browsing through their huge line of miniatures, i saw a highlander guy, i checked it and though he would belong to the army and here he is. I tried to give him William Wallace like facepaint.

Then finally, here are 10 pikemens. An additional nod to Braveheart. They will be useful against cavalries.

The Frostgrave miniatures are easy to paint, not to complicated and look pretty good.

Here is what I did for March (well without the 15 Clansmen of February).

Both units look very good next to each other. Still to complete the pikes in April but that will come soon enough.

For now I have 838 points painted on a total of 1979 points.

If everything goes according to my plan, they should be a couple of unexpected reinforcements in the following months.

What will be next ... ?

That's all for March! It's Spring time, I hope to discover lots of your cool paintings and not see too many people in the pile of bones ...

Jaeckel's Dwarfs - Rank & File II - The pikemen (132 points)

For this second month, my initial plan was to paint the dwarfs of the MB1 box as is, using a very Swiss color scheme, white and red. But I've learnt two things from my unit of halberdiers: red is not an easy color, and the black & yellow couple works quite well. I have therefore opted for pikemen from the BlackHorns clan, whose coat of arms shows a black auroch's head on a yellow background... yep, you've probably recognized the coat of arms of the Canton of Uri. 

Once decided for Ur... sorry BlackHorns colors, something I couldn't avoid was the famous hornblower, wearing the bull outfit!

Luzerner Schilling - Detail of page 74

My first attempt is a conversion from the hornblower of the MM11 command group: I have simply swapped the original instrument for a bretonnian bit, and added two horns stolen from a Chaos Marauder. 

The second model is based on an MB1 pikeman: I have trimmed down his hat, given him horns (again from a Marauder's helm) and greenstuff ears, and equipped him with a small horn (another bretonnian bit). Et voilà!

Standard bearers are probably the most time consuming models in a regiment, and this one was no exception. Starting point:

Chronicon Helvetiae Part I - Page 230

And final result:

 
Another idea I found in the illustrated chronicles Luzerne Schilling is based on the following picture:

Luzerne Schilling - Page 123

Not sure of what these hairy men are supposed to be, but the beards tinted in the colors of the Cantons is a nice touch I had to try... with mitigated results I would say.

Nothing much to write about the other models:

My second rank:

And the full unit:

So, 10 pikemen with musician and standard bearer make 132 points...

I'll see if I can make more points next month!

Blue’s March Madness ...Forward the PIKES!!! (212 points)

Hi all,

After last months mulligan I had hoped to knock out a couple of batches of figures this month...but once again I found myself down to the wire cranking out the rest of my pike unit and a couple of spare Zweihanders to fill out my point allotment.  It was a near run thing with some unexpected work travel that took me away from my painting desk for the final weekend of the month.  But it all fell together at the end and I’m quite happy with the results.

Here is this months allotment... 12 pike dwarfs including standard and musician and two Zweihanders...which I run with hammer stats (+4 shock elites).

Here is a close up the Zweihanders

...solo shots of the pike reinforcements.

And the Pike unit as a whole! I’m very happy with how this unit has come together in the end.  While the figures are not quite as characterful as the original Marauder pike block it will be an excellent addition to my army.  Plus with all the helmets and breastplates in this unit I can run them with heavy armor...and with their slightly larger size than the smaller marauder pike men I can also opt to upgrade them to clansmen and make them a more formidable unit.

And here is a quick pic of the newly expanded Zweihander unit...now up to 14 members it is looking fine and is quite a force to be reckoned with on the table top. 

March OWAC Points break down:

12 Dwarf Clansmen with pikes +musician 182 pts.

2 Zweihanders 30 pts

March total 212 pts.

Next month I think I’m moving onto some fire support for these guys.

Cheers,

Blue

Blue's January Contingent-Puff and Slash Dwarfs (199pts)

Hi all,

Right up to the last minute possible as usual...but I pulled it all together.  January is always difficult one for me due to the fact that we have the holidays and then I always have my professional conference, which typically cost me a week alone.  I hope that the next few month roll along a bit more easily.

Here are this months figures!!  I chose to start with a batch of the pikemen and their leader.  These guys are painted with the typical Red and Blue scheme that I used for my Puff and slash Empire Dwarf Army...however, with this unit I have stepped up tertiary color in my scheme, white, to a larger degree,  this will further separate them from the other pike block which has let white involved.

The other thing that differentiates this pike block from the other is that I've upgraded these guys to "clansmen" (+1 shock elite) and given them heavy armor.  The armor shows up mostly in the Sallet helmets...and in the breastplates worn by some of the troopers.

The unit looks a little puny at the moment...but when this has grown to a unit of 21 it will be quite impressive.

( I hope)

 

Here is the points break down

1. 8 Dwarf Clansmen with Heavy Armor, Pike, and Hand Weapon (13pts each) --104pts
2. 1-10 level hero, Heavy Armor, Hand Weapon , 2x pistol. - -95 pts

January Submission Total: 199pts.

See you all in February!!!

Cheers,

Blue