Jaakko and Rugluk Backstabba- The Tragedy of Rugluk - Wrap-up

Epilogue

Deep below the craggy hills a small cavern echoed with laughter. Not orcish roars or goblin sniggers-this was sharper, clearer.

Three gnomes sat around a bubbling cauldron, mugs in hand, snorting into their beards.

“And then-and then-he stabbed his boss over a fake prophecy! Hah!”

The eldest gnome, Tobbin Flickerflint, wiped a tear from his eye and waved a hand over the bubbling pool. In its surface shimmered Rugluk, raging across empty dwarf tunnels with a warband too tired to argue.

“I told you the snake illusion would sell it,” said Primsy Gloomwhistle, and took a sip of mushroom wine. “Bit of hissing, a few glowing eyes, some destiny nonsense-works every time.”

“What was it we called him?” chuckled Jibbin. “The Chosen One?”

“Might be our best one yet,” said Tobbin.

They raised their mugs and toasted.

“To da Backstabba!”

The cauldron flickered and showed Rugluk again-this time yelling at returning goblin scouts.

The gnomes howled.

“Ohhh, we should definitely do goblins next!”

And here we are! The painting marathon we call Old World Army Challenge is once again grinding to a momentary halt. And what a ride it has been!

This has easily been my favourite season so far, as I’ve thoroughly enjoyed exploring the classic Orc and Goblin range with a paintbrush in hand. The events that set this project into motion happened during the Leader Month of Season Six, when I painted a banner inspired by the designs in the O&G section of Warhammer Armies. I already had a Chaos Thug Musician wielding an instrument that seemed to be stolen from my Dwarf army (Ronald the Farter, painted just before Season Six), and I felt I needed to paint the Orc army that the banner belonged to.

And here it is-the siege-laying horde of Orcs and Goblins led by Rugluk Backstabba! Or at least the first part of it. This is more than I hoped to achieve and I'm really happy with how things are going. I did expect to have painted some Goblin Wolf Riders by now, though. I actually started both units on January 1st but only managed to finish the wolves themselves. I’m hoping to get them done during the off-season and present them in the intro post of next season-alongside a Snotling Pump Wagon that didn’t quite make the finish line either. 

Rugluk Backstabba and the Boyz-my favourite unit in the army

I kept painting more models throughout July, as I had a 3rd edition Fantasy Battle game lined up for the end of the month. I needed to meet the minimum requirements from Warhammer Armies and to hit the 3000-point mark we had agreed on. With a bit of help from some Giants borrowed from Slargash’s army, I managed to reach both goals-and we had a great game to top it all off.

I painted a unit of Stickas, six Fanatics, beefed up the existing unit of Arrer Boyz, and added an Orc Shaman on a Warboar.

I love Goblin Fanatics-these sculpts are oozing with character. My favourite sculpts are saved to the next season, though, and I hope to dedicate a full month to them.

 

The Stickas

As mentioned above, I painted five more models for this unit, bringing the total to 19. I also received an Orc from John R that fits the unit nicely and finished a spare Harboth I’d used for skin tone tests before the challenge began, bringing the unit up to 21 Orcs overall. Naturally, only 19 will count toward the challenge tally.

Orc Shaman on Warboar. The model comes with a banner pole, but I didn’t have time to add it yet. It’ll need pinning and a bit more work, so I’ll come back to it later.

This month in points: 

Some pictures of the army:

I really like Pump Wagon models and how they work in the game. I also enjoy painting the little guys themselves and hope to do more of that next season. I brought some daylight lamps to my gaming group's space to better capture their slightly paler skintone (and colours in general) in photos. 

 

The Harboth shown partly here was one of my early skin tone tests. I’m thinking of giving a second one a matching look and tying them together as brothers in the background lore.

I really like the command group in Grom's Goblin Guard-they're all fantastic sculpts. 

The picture isn’t great, but I wanted to include the baggage in this post since, even though it wasn’t the first one I started painting, it’s the first one I’ve actually finished.

 

And the army in points:

The Owac adjusted model count has been applied to the Shaman and the baggage. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

What next? Well, I have some half-painted miniatures from this challenge that I need to finish, as mentioned earlier. I also hope to explore the siege theme further in the future, but we’ll see what form that takes. Originally, I had planned to fix and paint a Mighty Fortress during a future Wild Card month, but the current idea is to tackle it during the off-season instead. I’m hoping to get a Warhammer Siege game under my belt sooner rather than later.

And that's it, I guess. As mentioned above, I had a lot of fun this season, but I definitely don’t mind taking it a bit easier over the next few months. I hope to return for Season IX with Rugluk and his army as there are still plenty of units, monsters, and character models I can’t wait to paint!

Wishing you all the best in the meantime. My condolences to the fallen comrades, and big congrats to the challengers who made it to the finish line!

Jaakko and Rugluk - Leader month

Act 6

Rugluk stood atop the hill, armour dented, bandaged gut still leaking a bit. Behind him, his bruised and battered horde gathered, grumbling and picking their teeth. The siege had dragged on long enough.

“Dis time,” Rugluk barked, “I lead da charge!”

A confused cheer followed. Some orcs clanged weapons.

With a mad roar, Rugluk thundered toward the gate, his boyz behind him. Ladders slammed against walls. Rocks flew. The ram finally broke the gate-and to everyone’s shock, they made it in.

“We done it!” Snagrat screamed. “We’z in!”

But inside, the fort was… quiet. Too quiet.

No dwarfs. No traps. No boiling oil. Just cold stone.

The place had been deserted.

Rugluk stormed through the halls, snarling at shadows. The warband followed, less triumphant by the step. Finally, they reached the hall of the dwarf king. Empty. Just a few smouldering torches and a broken throne.

Rugluk found the tunnel entrance soon enough. It was dug out behind the throne and reeking of stale ale and beard oil. The dwarfs had slipped underground like weasels.

No loot. No prisoners. No glory.

Just silence.

Later, Rugluk sat on the cold floor of the keep, cradling a dwarf skull he’d found in the rubble.

He stared at the skull, one eye twitching and briefly contemplated the very act of being.

“So… dis is wot I gets. No gold. No crown. No songs.”

The skull didn’t answer. 

"Er... what's da plan now, boss?" a goblin asked nervously.

Rugluk stood, tossed the skull over his shoulder, and grinned, blood on his teeth.  

“We find where da stunties went. An’ we knock again.”

And so the final mandatory month of painting for OWAC Season 8 is behind us. This season felt shorter than the previous ones, and I’m surprised we’re already at the end! I’ve really enjoyed working on this army and look forward to returning to the project in future seasons. While this month was less productive than the earlier ones, I’m still happy with what I have to show you.

I painted Ruglug, his bodyguard, the Army Standard bearer, a troll minder, a spider swarm, and three mantlets. I also started painting a shaman and some goblins, which I hope to finish in July and include in the wrap-up post.

 

Rugluk Backstabba, the leader of my orc horde and the main character of the story. I really like this "Giant Orc Chieftain" model and thoroughly enjoyed painting him. Naturally, he has to be accompanied by his bodyguard.

  

Drodab Ironbrow — the loyal bodyguard of Rugluk Backstabba (and Aruglid Longface). 

 

The Army Standard of Rugluk Backstabba. I decided to stick to a classic design, as with the previous banners, and I’m really happy with how this one turned out. The tankard shield was, of course, captured from my Bugman’s Rangers, and I plan to reuse the tree design in my Wood Elf army-if I ever end up collecting one.

I had some spare time, so I decided to paint a troll minder. For now, he’ll be looking after trolls from Slargash’s army, but I will paint some trolls of his own later.

As I still had some spare time, I painted a spider swarm. The base includes a frame that holds two small dice to track remaining wounds.

This month in points:

 

 

 

SIEGE

You can find three mantlets from the group photo above. The mantlets are simply covers that cost 5 points each. The ones I painted are from Wargames Foundry, but I also crafted three more from wood. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and haven’t painted them yet.

And that’s it for now. I’ll need to hurry and get more models painted, as I’ve got a game scheduled with this army in just a few weeks.

Jaakko and Rugluk - Wild card month

Act 5

The fort still stood.

Days passed by. The dwarfs behind the walls hadn’t so much as flinched. Arrows bounced off stone, rocks bounced off heads, and the snotling pump wagon seemed to bounce off everything, and mostly off orcs.

Rugluk was pacing again. Not marching. Not stomping. Pacing. His armour was smeared with ash and stew, and he’d taken to talking to himself.

“Dey’re all lookin’ at me wrong,” he muttered. “Dey think I can’t see it. But I sees everyfink.”

Outside, around the firepits and tents, the whispering had grown into full-on muttering. One night, under a blood-red moon, a small crowd gathered near the boar pens. Snagrat, Ruknob, and a few others who’d had enough.

“Da plan’s simple,” Snagrat hissed. “We bash ‘is head in, pick a new boss, an’ stop chuckin’ snotlings at walls fer fun.” “Yeah,” said Ruknob. “Dat ain’t even that funny no more.”

They crept toward Rugluk’s tent with clubs and cleavers. But Rugluk was already waiting. The flap flew open, and he burst out screaming, eyes wild and teeth bared.

“You lot think you can take me?! I AM da one wot was promised! I’m da Wyrm’s git, da real boss!”

A swing, a clash, a lot of tripping over goblins-and then a squelch.

When the dust settled, Rugluk stood hunched and bleeding, but grinning. Half the mutineers were groaning, the rest running.

Then he looked down. A knife. In his guts.

Behind him, a little goblin blinked. “Er… sorry boss. Got caught up in da moment.”

Rugluk, swaying on his feet, yanked the blade out, blood running down his leg. He looked at it and grinned. “Nice try,” he growled. “But da real boss don’t die eezy.”

He limped out of the tent, raising the bloodied knife high.

“WHO ELSE WANTS A TURN?!”

No one answered.

Welcome back! I've had a good hobby month and was fortunate to spend some time on two parts of the project I’ve been wanting to tackle for quite a while. While most of my focus went into the Siege section, let’s start with an update on the regular army project.

I managed to paint a baggage train. We usually play 3,000-point games, which means I would typically need three carts and 15 baggage guards. However, there’s an extra wagon here-I got the wolf-drawn prison cart in the middle from a local hobbyist and couldn’t resist adding it to the mix. He had already started painting it, so I won’t include it in the model count. I’ll fix up and paint two more wagons from his collection (along with more baggage guards) later on. The extra wagons will open up possibilities for larger games, potential narrative scenarios involving O&G supply lines, and so on.

 This month in points:

 

 

 

The OWAC adjusted model count was used in the same way as with chariots and war machines.

 

SIEGE

Let's move on to the Siege section.

I painted two Citadel Warhammer Siege Towers and scratch-built a third. As you can see in the pictures, the other Citadel tower was incomplete, so I made a few modifications to make it work. I’m happy with how it turned out-and I might even prefer it to the standard version.

The battle pictures featuring imposing scratch-built siege towers in Warhammer Siege were what got me into this project. So I knew from the start that I wanted to build one myself.

The scratch-built tower, as shown in the photos above, is made from wooden sticks and coffee stirrers. I added some load bearing structures to the insides of the walls. The build feels surprisingly sturdy and I have problem in trusting it with my heavy metal miniatures. Instead of painting it with regular acrylics, I chose to stain it and then gave it a drybrush with Morghast Bone, aiming to preserve some of the original, faint wood grain pattern. I wanted each tower to have a slightly different look, but I think I should have used a darker stain on the scratch-built one to better distinguish it from unpainted wood. Still, it's okay (for now, at least).

Siege towers are moved across the table using the same rules described last month for the Sow. Once the tower reaches a wall, you can lower the drawbridge at the beginning of your next movement phase. The drawbridge serves as a direct entry point to the rampart. Each level can hold up to four models from each side, and models can move between levels in the same way as within the castle. The points cost of a siege tower depends on the number of levels, whether it includes a drawbridge, and its crew capacity. These three towers cost between 30 and 40 points each, depending on how many crew they can carry.

 

And that's it. Only the Leader month remains, so I guess I'll start painting Ruglug next.

 

Jaakko and Rugluk - Rank & File month #4

Act 4

The dwarf fort jutted from the foothills all grey and unfriendly with it's thick walls and murder-holes. It looked like it didn’t want visitors. Rugluk Backstabba glared at it from his makeshift war throne.

“Why won’t da stunties come out?” he growled.

They’d been chucking boulders for three days straight. The walls didn’t care. Neither did the dwarfs-except to shoot back. A black orc chief had lost his head to a cannonball. A goblin regiment routed when their battering ram caught fire.

Rugluk bellowed at his lieutenants, kicked over the stew pot, and ordered a charge. It ended in complete chaos. A pump wagon broke up halfway across the field, splattering the crew and flattening three goblins who’d been hiding behind it. Then came the arrows. Cannonballs. Boiling oil.

That night, the camp was quiet. Too quiet. Rugluk didn’t like it.

He paced his tent, muttering. “They’z whisperin’. I know it. Gits think I’z lost it.” He scratched his chin. “Maybe I ‘ave. Or maybe it’s them dat needs stabbin’...”

A goblin runner crept in with bad news-another warband had left during the night. Rugluk stared at him for a long time before saying anything.

“Anyone else got ideas ‘bout leavin’?” he shouted to no one in particular.

Outside, the lads kept their heads low. The mutterin’ had started. They said Rugluk was cursed. Said da wyrm lied. Said da boss had lost it.

And Rugluk? He stared at the dwarf fort and thought he saw it grinning.

 

And so, the final Rank & File month is here! There’s still a lot I plan to do, but the heavy lifting is done. I can feel the pressure of the challenge lifting from my shoulders-and it feels nice. I chose to paint a big unit and two war machines, but honestly didn’t expect to finish all of them. The Goblins were quicker to paint than I expected, though I admit some midnight oil was burnt.

 

I managed to finish painting a unit of Goblins, two Skull Crushers, and a Sow (shown later). As mentioned earlier, Grom's Goblin Guard was a priority-Tom gave me part of the unit, so I really wanted to paint it this season. They’re a fine addition to the force, and as you can see, they’ve already successfully stormed the fort!

I like the elite look that monopose units have. A block of Goblins is always fearsome to behold… but yeah, okay-I admit they're only elite in the fluff.

The cheek and neck guards remind me of Roman legionaries and I let that influence the shield design.

I usually varnish my models after taking photos, and naturally, managed to chip some paint from the banner. There's a red checker pattern hidden somewhere under that layer of dirt.

 

I also managed to paint two Skull Crushers with crew. One of the front wheels is a spare made from green stuff.

 

This month in points:

 

 

 

 

I'm very happy with how things are going at the moment, but I understand that painting a horde is an endurance sport. I've already made some outlines for what I'd like to paint next season, but I still hope to reach the minimum army requirements in Warhammer Armies in addition to the OWAC requirements this season. That would mean painting a unit of Stickas, a few more Arrer Boyz, and of course Rugluk.

 

SIEGE

I'm keeping it simple in the Siege section.

I picked up this Sow from Wargames Foundry and gave it a simple paint job. I chose to keep it generic, without anything orky, so I can use it with other armies too. It came with some human crew that I’ll paint later.

 

The Sow is basically a mobile cover that you can push around the battlefield. It's not very manoeuvrable with it's movement of 3" and turn radius of three times the moved distance. You can enter it and shoot through the slits. I imagine putting a small unit of Arrers in it.  The points value depends on the crew capacity and varies between 10 and 30.

 

And that’s it for the month. I think Rugluk will have to wait a while longer, and May will be my Wild Card month, with a focus on the Siege section.