JohnR's Dwarf Wrap Up Post - OWAC VIII

Another OWAC disappears into the rear-view mirror. I was very happy with my contribution this year, though my motivation went south towards the end. Still, I managed 148 figures (almost 25 a month) and put a big dent in my dwarf pile of shame.

 

Obligatory Army Shot.

 

 

Dragon Company and Lord on Snail.

 

 

Clansdwarves and General on Shield. 

 

 

Norse Dwarves, Slayer and Gyrocopter.

 

 

Crossbows and Wizard.

 

 

 

Cannon, Bolt Thrower and Hero.

Great respect to everyone who finished this year and hopefully see you all in about six months time.

 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 6 - Leader Month - Lord on Shield

Another miniature I've had for over 20 years. I was never that keen on the King Alrik miniature and I never use special characters so this was an easy conversion. Not sure what happened to Alrik - he wasn't in the box of dwarves; he may have ended up on evilbay somewhere in the distant past.

So this is Dwarf King Skarrengrim. One of the leaders of the twin holds of Stannaheim and Zimmerpeak. Born aloft on his shield-bearers.

 

Obviously the shield-bearers don't appear in 3rd edition, but I reckon the rules and points can be ported across without any changes; they're pretty simple and not terribly powerful.

Stannaheim and Zimmerpeak are relatively recent dwarf-holds, founded by refugees from Karak Eight Peaks around the time of the fall of the city in -513IC. Skarrengrim can trace his lineage back to the royal houses of that magnificent but doomed metropolis. 

 

 

King Skarrengrim - Level 25 Hero - Heavy Armour, 2 Handed Weapon, Shield-bearers - 263 points.

Well, that's it for another OWAC. I lost a lot of motivation for this one part way through May and never really got going again! I still have a chunk of Dwarf minis left to paint, maybe they'll make it into a future OWAC but for next year I reckon I'll return to 40K. Or epic 40K. Or maybe BFG.

Or Bloodbowl... 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 5 - Wild Card - Lord on Snail. (396 points)

I went into May with the best of intentions and the Ironbreakers lined up neatly on my paint station.

A few weeks in, however, it was very clear that I wasn't going to get them done. So I decided to go easy on myself and paint a mini that I've been looking forward to since deciding on the Dwarves for this years challenge: the Lord on Snail from Black Scorpion Miniatures.

 

Known affectionately within his clan as 'Olaf the Old', Olaf SnegleHerre or Olaf the Snail Lord is one of those most rare warriors - a mythical Dwarven Snail Rider. 

 

The mighty War Snails are hand raised from eggs by the Dwarf Sneglemesters and selected from their siblings for their exceptional speed and aggression. However only the most mighty dwarf lord can bend the truculent War Snail to their will and get it to submit to being ridden.

 

This miniature was a joy to paint and I recommend checking out Black Scorpion if you're unfamiliar with them.

Level 25 Dwarf Lord - Heavy Armour, Shield and lance - 214 points

Level 25 Giant Snail as War Beast - 182 points

(Obviously the snail, as a war beast, would ignore rule 1. in the Giant Snail entry in WFB 3rd edition p247. I would also recommend giving the snail +1 move in exchange for an attack so it can keep up with the rest of the army lol)

 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 3 - Rank and File (1077 points)

Well we're at the half-way mark and I'm not completely sick of painting beards yet, so I guess that's something :)

 I stuck to the plan again this month and painted a regiment, war machine and character. With those complete I had some time left so went for a few extra bits - crossbow dwarves, sappers and another hero.

25 Norse Dwarves - Hand Weapons, Light Armour and Shields, Command and level 10 Hero - 387 points

 Organ Gun - 99 points

 

12 Crossbow Dwarves - Light Armour and Crossbows with a level 5 Hero - 209 Points

 

 

6 Sappers (3 teams of 2) - 90 points

 

Level 10 Dwarf Wizard - 118 points

 

Level 20 Dwarf Hero - Heavy Armour and 2 Handed Weapon -  174 points

 

I made good progress this month and feel like I'm on track to finish everything in the initial challenge by the end of June. However work is looking busy for next month and we have house renovations ongoing so I guess we'll see!

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 2 - Rank and File (769 points)

 Rank and File Month #2

 A regiment, character and war-machine again done this month :)

 

 25 Norse Dwarf Clansmen, +1 Shock Elite: great weapons, heavy armour, shields, command and level 10 Hero - 499 points

Level 20 Giant-Slayer Hero (a Morgue Filler - what an awesome title!) with great weapon - 170 points

 

Gyrocopter - Level 5 pilot with light armour - 100 points

 

 The Army so Far. 1600 points, almost enough to get a game in methinks...

 

Finally, my pledge for this year:

Snotbum Dungmuncher - a proper, classic orc: skinny, shifty and evil. Not of those modern, fangled, fungal body-builder, 'Incredible Hulk' type orcs that you seem to get nowadays thank you very much.

Soon to be making his way to one of the Overlords!

 

Shadespyre's Introduction Post - OWAC VIII - 3rd Edition High Elves of Lothern

Shadespyre Intro Post - OWAC VIII - 3rd Edition High Elves

Introduction Post

It was always likely to be Elves again. For OWAC VI, I painted a rather idiosyncratic Dark Elf army, loosely themed around AD&D Drow and made up almost entirely of ancient pre-slotta miniatures. For OWAC VII, I painted a much more traditional 3rd edition Wood Elf army, consisting mostly of mid to late 80s minis much like those pictured in the Warhammer Armies book. And I added allied contingents from the Zoats and Halfling lists in the same source.

And then once the OWAC had ended, I pushed on and added three more Wood Elf units to the army.

I still have a lot of Elf options open to me, though.

For the second time, I started prepping a force of Rogue Trader Space Elf Raiders for an OWAC. And for the second time, I've let the lack of a clear concept for a colour scheme and the fact that several fellow OWACers have similar plans put me off committing to it. That and the fact that I've had a Big Idea for it which I haven't yet worked out how to implement. So maybe next time?

I considered swapping to Craftworld Eldar (requires too much shopping) or Harlequins (not a force I want to paint to a time limit) or to one of my non-Elvish options. But then I realised that the answer was obviously High Elves. 

Why? Firstly, they are the next entry in the Warhammer Armies book! Secondly, they are also available as an Allies list for Wood Elves, so I can justify using the same basing style and save my creative energy for thinking about other things. And thirdly, I have a collection of mid 80s High Elves which is big enough to make a small army. And fourthly, Aly Morrison sculpted some of the most distinctive Elves that Citadel ever produced, and I love them in all their bonkers glory.

C08 High Elves

Here's one of my many old Citadel Miniatures mini cases, this layer has at least one of each of all the releases in this range. I completed this collection some years ago, and never really considered it to be a potential army until very recently.

It's a lousy picture, so here are some of the catalog entries for them, borrowed as ever from Stuff of Legends. A bit annoying that Citadel repeatedly advertised the same minis even though there are more than 30 in the range, but they give an idea of the furry-hatted, curly-shoed, overly-feathered silliness of them, as well as the intruging selection of maces, axes and fancy polearms alongside the traditional bows and swords. I'd love to know what brought Aly to use this style, which I think draws on Persian and Indian influences, although some of the minis remain very much in the familar pseudo-European look.

This range came out late in 1984. It's a fully pre-slotta range, part of a brief Golden Era of Citadel minis which has words embossed onto the top of the bases (I'm sure I've talked about this before, I'm obsessed with this phase in miniature history.) In common with the C10 Half-Orcs which were released a little earlier, these guys are each assigned AD&D character classes - Fighter, Cleric, Thief, Magic-user and even multiclass combinations - because the D&D player was still the core of their market at this time. Within a year of release, these were replaced by a new slotta-tabbed C08 range, still sculpted by Morrison but back to a more conventional Elven aesthetic.

I know what you're thinking - some of those silly Elves are quite cute, but an army? It's mostly character models, there's no musicians or cavalry or... anything. And you're right. Which is why, as much as I love them, most of these will be staying in their box for this project.

BUT Citadel Miniatures (and Aly) have us covered - either side of Christmas 1984 they released two Elvish Regiments of Renown.

Regiments of Renown

RR13 Lothern City Guard

RR10 Elwing's Elven Guard Cavalry

As you can see from the art, these are very much in tune with the other High Elves, if a little less gaudy for the rank and file models. These are the minis that I'm mostly going to be using for this army. Worth noting that while the cavalry models are still on solid bases, the infantry are among the first releases with slotta tabs.

So, here's a snapshot of the core of my army, all based up ready for undercoating. This consists of a large unit of Lothern City Guard and a full two dozen Elven Guard Cavalry, which I shall split into 3 squadrons. There's also a couple of other minis in there which I will discuss when I come to paint them.

Yes, this is a much smaller project than I've undertaken recently. This is partly because I felt quite burned out after painting 250 Warhammer minis in the last year, and also because I've started playing in a second fortnightly RPG group, which means less time to paint minis each weekend - and of course I will inevitably be painting minis for that game, too. And let's not forget that painting 25 cavalry will feel like painting at least 50 Infantry.

I do have some extra units that I hope to paint alongside these, and don't forget that big box of characters to dip into. Maybe this will even become the push I need to paint the full set of those?

Bases

A quick bit about basing. For my pre-slotta Dark Elf army I switched to using MDF bases which I drilled holes for magnets into. I liked how they came out, but there was a surprising amount of prep involved - drilling and sanding every base.

So this time round I ventured into CAD and designed and printed my own bases:

These have a 5mm magnet hole and a 2mm high lip around them, the hope being to conceal the solid bases within them and backfill with basing material. I was able to print these out on my very basic PLA filament printer fairly easily with very few mis-prints. I should probably have put two magnet holes in the cavalry bases, but I think one will be enough to protect against jostling even if I wouldn't dare turn the unit upside down like I can with the infantry.

Army List

I haven't written a full army list yet, but looking at the 3rd ed Warhammer Armies book:

20 Silver Helms @35 points each = 700 points

20 Guard @ 13 points each = 260 points

So I'm going to sail past 1000 points just by adding command options, let alone characters.

I'll be compiling a proper 3rd edition list unit by unit, as I go...

Pokrzyw's Druchii - OWAC VII - wrap up post - 4207 points total

 For those about to finish the OWAC - I salute you!!!

In memory of Bryan Ansell.

"In the far north lies the realm of the Witch King of Naggaroth, the bleak and frozen Land of Chill. Here are the cities of the Dark Elves, battlements of black stone and high towers rising like cruel spears into the pale sky. The Witch King rules over all the cold mountains and dark forests with an unbending will of iron. Dark Lords and their mighty armies are his to command. Sorcerers hasten to his call. Pale and beautiful Witch Elves dance their deadly rites before his throne as they keen the battle songs of theirs bloody master" - Warhammer Armies Dark Elves 4ed

At beginning it was just a scrap of metal and plastic


                                       


It were long 6 months of preparing and painting miniatures that are not my favourite army (with some exceptions). Druchii come on my shelf by some chain of barter. But.. there were a lot miniatures waiting for painting.. Main forces are ready in result of OWAC VII, but my personal weakness - cavalry is still not finished.  This time I've also do some bonus miniatures connected with army, but from 6-7th edition of WFB. Main work was done during first months. Last two I was not at home travelling a lot. 

Gallery:

Bonus miniatures - beasmaster on manticore, hydra, sorcress and Mengil Manflyers

Malekith conversion on dragon

Main OWAC 7 forces

Harpies, sorcress on cold one, and spearman unit gave me a lot of fun

Dragon is nice centerpiece of this army. This small guy made by Jaakko would act as a hero (I gave him possibility to ride the dragon from time to time ;o) )

Cold one knights - I'm happy with this scheme. Tomato soup boiled bu master chief ;)

I need to prepare better banners next time..

The coolest mercenary unit. This is the salt of 6edition Druchii

The most beautiful Witch Elves

During OWAC V I've painted High Elves army. This is good moment to show both armies in deadly clash. High Elves are brave, but it looks that Druchii have superiority on battlefield:

Remainings:

Unfortunately there were some casualties. Not painted, waiting for better day.. Black Riders and Hydra still not finished..

Summary 

TOTAL 4207 points of raw WFB 4ed (including 381pts in bonus miniatures).
Heroes (1150 + bonus 307) :

• Dreadlord on dragon (610)
• Sorceress on foot (59)
• General on cold one (179)
• Sorceress on cold one  (72)
• Sorcerer on foot (59)
• Assassin (56)
• Assassin (56)
• Sorceress on foot (59)
• Hero on Manticore (307)

Units (1744 +  bonus 156):

• 6 Harpies (90)
• 5 Cold one knights  (with champion, banner) (302)
• Dark Elf warriors (with champion, banner) (173)
• 10 city guards (5 xbows + 5 spears) - (130)
• 10 city guards (5 xbows + 5 spears) - (130)
• 11 xbows (169) + champion (53) 
• 14 spearmans (399) + champion (52)
• 10 Mengil Manflayers as scouts - Bonus (156)
• 22 Witch Elves (banner) (276)

War Machines (625):

• 5 Repeater Bolt Throwers (500)
• Cauldron of blood (125)

Monsters (bonus 225):

• Warhydra - bonus (225)

Thank You very much for such a great time. I'm proud to be in the group that reach the end of this challenge. I plan to skip OWAC VIII as I don't have miniatures for such event, but there are plans to return in OWAC IX. Maybe there will be time for WH40k project.

Graeme's Skaven - June - Leader Month (82 points)

 Graeme's Skaven - June - Leader Month (82 points)

This month started off well - I converted some models to give me some variation of leader models and add a little bit of character to the army. I managed to get the base colours on them in the first week, and was feeling optimistic that I was going to be able to end the challenge on a high note and deliver a group of at least seven well-painted characters. I even looked out some musicians, in case I finished ahead of schedule, and made progress on the rat swarm I'd been working on.

I'll spare you the details of the , but work got crazy busy, the weather was too hot and humid to paint (at least for me - my Scottish blood doesn't appreciate temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. I couldn't focus well, and I was getting frustrated with the paint not flowing well.) and I suddenly found myself with a week left in the challenge with no way of completing them. I decided to focus on just five models. After a couple of days that got narrowed to three. With a day left in the challenge, I just focussed on getting a single figure finished to avoid the field of bones...

So, here he is:

1 Warpweaver level 10 Wizard, armed with a spear - 82 points

I'm VERY fortunate I left the leader month to last. I wouldn't have had a chance if it had been a rank-and-file-month. In the end, I'm happy with how he turned out, and to get over the finish line, but I'm frustrated at how little I painted this year - I started with grand designs, but I've been struggling to keep up the pace, and this month in particular feels like a real let-down.

I'll put some finishing touches on as many 'in progress' models as I can in July, and see what I can put together for my wrap-up post.

Congrats to all the challengers who made the finish line! I'm genuinely impressed with the quality and quantity that people consistently produce here. It may takes me years to complete the same amount of models some people get through in a six-month challenge, but progress is progress.