Ben's Blood Drinkers Space Marines - Rank and File Month 4

This month, I painted two five-man combat squads: the 5th Company 8th squad, an Assault Squad with Jump Packs plus a Chaplain to lead them, and the 1st Company 3rd Squad, a Veteran Squad with additional Rhino.

The first squad I painted were the veterans.  They are led by Veteran Sergeant Eidolan (using the lovely Veteran Captain with Bionic Leg miniature) and have a mixture of armour marks.  The battle brother in Mk4 armour I also gave an older backpack which I thought fitted well.

Their Rhino was another rescue job with 3d-printed Ram and Hatches, bike Bolters and WWII stowage.  I wrapped a tow chain around the Ram partly in homage to a RT picture I remember and partly to cover where the printing didn't come out quite right.

The assault Marines I found oddly hard work, having to paint the models without their jump packs to start with until their transfers had been applied, then attach them and finish the highlights.  I haven't quite done them to the standard of my other models so they may get revisited later if I have chance to add further details.  I tried to make the armour look battered like they had been in a good scrap.

They include a Veteran (using the Sergeant with Power Fist miniature) and a battle brother converted from the Sergeant with Grenade for a variety of posing.  They are led by a chaplain with a later edition Jump Pack from my bits box.  He is so bloodthirsty he has some dripping from his mouth.

Both squads are pointed using the combat squad rules that came out in White Dwarf, and the total for April comes to 487 pts:

Nathan’s rank and file #2 - more blue horrors

The title says it all really - I managed to finish ten more blue horrors. Seven more and I’m done. But those seven can wait a month as this month I’m working on my leaders for something a bit different. Anyway here they are:

Onto March we go!

  

Sybou's Chaos dwarfs - OWAC 9, April Post [Rank and file 3 - 144 points]

 Hello everyone,

a quick post to show you the beginning of my chaos dwarf warriors with shield.

Here they are, 12 fellows all in red and black. I think they look pretty good.

They still need the other half of the regiment to finish them totally but that will be for May.

Full armor group

Here you can see 2 marauder chaos dwarf, a citadel one with a mace and finally the famous Napper Grundrin with a full red armor. He looks a bit like a goblin from the Labyrinth movie.

Here we have 3 citadel guys and a marauder one. They look threatening. All their shields come from Hasslefree Miniatures. He was doing back in the day some cool shields. I still have his wooden shields and I keep them for goblins.

Last but not the least, once again 3 citadel guys and a marauder one. This one is almost a beard with a helmet two little hands and barely two little feets. The one named Hairy Hengist on the right is the same vibe with a lots of beards. I loved painting "Axe 3" he s a hairy fellow with a cloven hoof and a horned helmet.

Pointwise, they represent 144 points: 12 chaos dwarfs with heavy armor and shields.

Here we go, that's all i have for April, i hope you like them.

Cheers,

                                                                                                                                            Sybou

The Relief of Plavigorica - Mark's Araby Allied Contingent April Rank & File-ish

We meet the dusk with sorrow.  At dawn we moved expediently toward the siege lines, the Emir urging us forward, our carpets protecting our flanks.  We routed the Skaven reserves and pursued them to their fetid engines; the air was thick with the smell of braziers. 

We did not sense the trap until we were caught between their jezails. Many martyrs fell as we faced a mass of clan rats, Chief Vile-Throttle's totem hoisted to the fore. We broke their lines but with bitter losses.  

We have yet enough strength to reach the walls of Plavigorica tomorrow.  We must.  There is no longer any choice. 

----

This month I have painted two flying carpets.  I picked up the first at the flea market at the Claymore wargames convention in Edinburgh, so I don't know the manufacturer.

This OWAC asks us to make a homage to Oldhammer artwork. I have tried to copy the Talisman  Saracen character card, and the Dwarf Lords of Legend box art, but my main art reference is this illustration from 1989's Empire in Flames, (the final instalment of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay's Enemy Within campaign). 

 

Those pages were my introduction to Warhammer's Araby.  Re-reading it in 2026, it's harder to overlook the xenophobia. The Arabyan character is called "Ali Hand' El Bar ben ibn ben Khazi". While I still quite like the "Hand' El Bar" part, his name seems pretty ignorant.  'Ibn' and 'ben', for example, have pretty much the same meaning, ('son of') and I don't think GW looked that up. 

Instead of Ali's herbalist companion, Roberto from Estalia, (a pastiche of Fawlty Towers' waiter, Manuel), I have substituted a Ral Partha dwarf scribe, Snorri Ibn Gudruk, who is in fact, the narrator of the story of the relief of Plavigorica. The human rider is Citadel, and the first miniature I bought when I decided to take on OWAC 9.

                                                                    Carpet diem!

The second flying carpet is a doll house book cover, which had seen some rough handling by my children. The rider is from Ral Partha. His original wee carpet was more like a flying beach towel.  I think this miniature has an Oldhammer cartoonish quality.

Flying carpets are controlled by Arabyan magicians through secret words of command, and cannot be animated by any other models.  They present a fast moving platform for these magic users to scout and attack the enemy from height (e.g. with fireball spells).  

Carpet bombing - riders may alternatively drop one grenade per turn on a target under the flight path. This follows the normal deviation rules for dropped objects.  Grenades should not be dropped from attack (or ground!) level as this will also hit the carpet rider.  A D20 roll of 20 indicates it has exploded before being dropped or very shortly afterwards, and the carpet and rider take the blast.  

----

Earlier in Snorri's account of the fateful journey to the Border Princes, is this passage: 

Among our camp followers is a purveyor of snake oil named Don Al-Drumf.  With an orangey pallor, the unkind speculate there is some hobgoblin in his ancestry.  Avoiding service in the Arabyan Guard due to "bone spurs", he remains a harmless (if annoying) presence in the caravan.  However, when the whim takes him, Al-Drumf can unleash deadly serpents, spreading fear and poison.  

                        

Don Al-Drumpf: snake oil salesman                                        Hegssssseff!! Venomous danger unleashed

Snake charmers allow an Araby force to field a swarm of serpents without the costly investment of magic points that arguably make 3rd edition swarms pretty much unviable.  The snake charmer works like an animal handler with the snakes otherwise following the swarm rules, and points cost.  Serpents inflict +1 strength hits (S2) against enemies without immunity to poison. Initially attacks = 7, but as the swarm incurs wounds, its number of attacks declines proportionately.  The charmer model is from Midlam, and the basket carrier is a slightly converted Gripping Beast plastic Arab spearman. The snakes are from Ral Partha.

Finally, as this is officially another rank & file month, (despite my promise in March), I have painted some extra miniatures (albeit very small ones).  This scene depicts the Arabyan vanguard being spotted by jezailachis as they approach Plavigorica.  This is a poor attempt at forced perspective using 6mm Arab figures from Irregular Miniatures, I've had since the '90s, and two photos edited together so both parts are in focus.   (The Skaven were painted before this challenge).

The Allied Contingent so far:

January:  10 Arabyan Guard + Hashishin: 165pts

February: 10 Desert Archers:110 pts

March: 10 Araby Corsairs:198 pts

April: 2 Flying Carpets with level 5 Fakir magicians: 140 pts

          Snake Charmer and Swarm of serpents: 185 pts

Total: 798 pts

I think that really is it for rank & file.  Next month: leaders.

Jaakko and Rugluk - Rank & File month #4

The camp had grown. Fires burned across the hillside while boyz laughed, fought, and argued over loot they hadn’t earned.

New faces had joined daily - hard-looking orcs, sly goblins, and even giants who towered over the camp, slow-witted and hungry, but useful enough to be welcomed.

Things seemed almost orderly.

Rugluk sat by the largest fire, chewing something questionably edible, watching his growing force with quiet satisfaction.

Not far away, goblins whispered among themselves.

“Dey say dwarfs been seen in da hills.”

“Heard it too. Whole army, marchin’ somewhere close.”

“Maybe dis way.”

Rugluk’s ears twitched.

He spat into the dirt and grinned.

“Let ‘em come.”

Welcome! I’m literally writing this post at the last minute, so I’ll keep it short. Let’s check out what I’ve painted this month!

I was relatively busy but managed to paint three Giants and a Goblin Battle Chariot. Not quite as much as I had initially planned, but that’s still a few miniatures cleared from the lead pile and enough for another Rank & File month. The Wild Card and Leader months are just around the corner, and I’ve actually already started crafting some terrain.

The first army I collected and played was Dwarves, so I’ve developed a real appreciation for anything that moves quickly. That’s one of the reasons why chariots are some of my favourite units, and I’m hoping to include more later.

I’m glad to see our mysterious wagon from last month in action. I can’t wait to steal one from a baggage train and push it up a hill in an actual battle. I’ve attached the (3ed) rules here to refresh our memory. I love this kind of crazy stuff.

This month in points:

And that's it for the month. Happy painting everybody!

ChrisP's Orks - April - Rank and File 3

Evil Sunz Nob on bike with plasma gun - 39pts

5 Evil Sunz on bikes - 235pts

Total 274 points

 

 

The speedy contingent of my army grows with these warbikers. The models are mostly standard, with a few small conversions to replace components lost or broken over the decades. Naturally they're red, with the yellow gun-muzzles inspired by an even older warbike that I remember from White Dwarf battle reports. 

Next up will be another fast and reckless mob - Stormboyz in May!

Byron's Invasion of Ulthuan - Jus' Marchin' 'round (148 pts)

 

"'E's jus' 'ad us marchin' 'round fur days now!" 

"My feet is tired!"

"I bet it's all their fault! Those at the front! They isn't proper sneaky like - scaring the elves away they are!"

"  'ow much longer 'til we get to the big fight?"

"Haven't even seen any stinkin' elves since we showed up on this island."

Slowly it dawned on the goblin host that most of war wasn't fun things like stabbing, chasing, or other war-related mischief. No. The majority of war wasn't fun. It was marching. 

Goblin Fanatic 30 pts

Spearmen x10: 35 pts

Archers x10 w/ command: 36 pts

Another banner from the box art

Clubbers and netter (and a boss): 47pts

Total points for the month: 148 pts

Finally, my progress for the month. 32 goblins only fills up half of the month for April. 

So, there are 2 months left (3 if we count the wrap up). 

Next month is the wild card. I plan to paint up Eltharion and shields for my High Elves. I also want to paint up the doomdiver catapult and a handful of rank and file goblins (let's aim for 15)

Then for the leader month I will paint Grom (and another handful of goblins)
Finally, there's the wrap up post which means one last chance to paint more of the rank and file goblins.