Andrea's Space Elves - Vehicle month - June

 Hi OWACers, 

so we are at the last month, and for me this is the vehicle month!

I have got the possibility to 3D print a model of Wave Serpent, the old one: do you remember that goofy and strange vehicle taken directly from Epic? Yes, exactly that one!

Well, it is not exactly identical to the AmourCast one, but this is what I got ;-)

There is one think that I clearly remember about the Wave Serpent livery: the wave along the hull. So, I wanted to reproduce the same scheme on the mine. Since I suck at free-hand, I just designed and produced a template which helped me to draw precise wave lines onto the hull:

Basically, I first made a template of the area that will be occupied by the wave pattern; then, I digitalized it along with a ruler to keep proportion and successively print of the appropriate length. Once digital, I superimposed the wave pattern with a design program (each single wave is a separate layer, so I can make them of different sizes). Then, printed, cut out and reproduced on paper tape; the final step was to stick the paper tape template onto the hull and make the contour. Et voilá, waves are designed and painted. 

Ok, now I have my troops transport and can carry Banshees across the battlefield.

Now, the rules for using it. Maybe my google-fu start to be a little less reliable, but I can't find the original datafax and special rules on the web. I just got some instruction which, apparently, were translated in french and back-translated in english, and a picture of the original ArmourCast model EXACTLY ABOVE the original datafax... 

... it took to me some hours, but I think I have got correctly the rules and decided to make a new datafax.

And, of course, I made also the Warp Template (following instructions and by printing waves on transparent slides)!

Sorry for the non-backdrop, but the warp template is only visible on white...)

Ok, this is all for this month although I planned to paint more. Though, you know... family, work and a temperature up to 38˚ C (about100 F) do not help! I still have some more space elves, and maybe I will achieve completion by the wrap up post, but with this 150 points the minimum requested is done!

See you next month, ciao

A

Jaakko and Rugluk - Leader month

Morrslieb was full and seemed to smile as Rugluk's warband crept from the trees.

The dwarfs had made themselves comfortable. Some still drank beneath The Owl's sign while others snored beside dying campfires.

Rugluk raised a clenched fist in silence.

Goblins slipped between the wagons while a group of boyz crept toward the sleeping guards. Even the trolls, after repeated threats from Rugluk, managed to stay almost quiet.

Then Rugluk dropped his hand.

"WAAAGH!"

The night exploded.

The dwarfs fought hard but the surprise was complete. Before long the survivors were retreating into the darkness, dragging their wounded with them.

Rugluk climbed onto an overturned ale wagon, looked over the wreckage and bared his teeth in a satisfied grin.

"...Maybe da old ghost knew a fing or two."

Welcome back! I'm in good spirits as I write this post, as I came very close to not finishing anything this month. There was never any fear of dropping out of the challenge, though, since I had already painted a half-orc shaman back in January. Byron shared a picture of the chariot riding Grom he was working on, and it gave me the needed inspiration to paint my version as this season's leader.

I had intended to paint more (and have a few half-finished heroes and shamans on the painting table), but I'm quite happy with these guys. I'm not sure what happens next with the army, but I might present some of the remaining leaders in the wrap-up.

I wanted to make a chariot-riding version of the original Grom the Paunch of the Misty Mountains. So I simply cut the puddle base from under his feet and stuck him on a chariot. He has grown a lot since the first two sculpts.

This sculpt is quite busy and not one of my favourites, but I wanted to include a model that could pass as a half-orc. In fact, I'd also like to include a unit of scabbies in the army, but I need to do some collecting first.

This month in points:

And that's it for now. See you again next month!

Ian's Goblin Army (part II) - OWAC IX - June: Leader month

June was a particularly difficult month to keep the motivation and finish the challenge. I only had to paint my leader, Skarsnik and Gobbla, but had a pretty hard time finishing it. There is so many details! At the end I rushed it and I'm not quite satisfied with the result.

I'm leaving for Mexico for vacation from June 28th to July 18th. As I couldn't focused too well on my leader, I started a few other miniatures that I might be able to finish when I come back, before the end of July.

 

 

 OWAC IX Goblin Army (4th edition)

January 2026

10 Goblin Wolf Riders with spear, light armour and shield - 130 points

February 2026

10 Goblin Wolf Riders with spear, light armour and shield - 130 points

March 2026

18 Goblin Wolf Riders with spear, light armour and shield - 234 points

April 2026

5 Goblin Doom Divers - 500 points

May 2026

5 Goblin Wolf Riders with stuff - 65 points

2 Trolls - 130 points

3 Wolves - extra, no points

June 2026

Skarsnik and Gobba - 205 points

Total : 1394 points

Waill And Roll's Wildcard Month

 It's travel sized 40k not Epic!

For this months wildcard entry I have spent the majority of my time working on Tyranid themed terrain, it's a mixture of modern terrain kits from GW, a few objective markers from the old Battle for Macragge boxed set and one sad looking burned out Epic scale Land Raider. I mounted it all on 1mm plastic discs to and most of it can serve double duty as terrain for 28mm scale games. This is the first time in years that I have had such a complete and cohesive set of terrain and I could not be happier.

Of course I couldn't go a whole month without painting some bugs too so I chased the terrain with a 3d printed Hierophant Bio-Titan and a vintage metal Screamer Killer Carnifex.

I finished up the month by test driving the new terrain with a battle between my Hive Fleet Leviathan Tyranids and the Eldar of Craftworld Saim-Hann.

Hive Fleet Leviathan prepares to cross no man's land.

The ever cautious Eldari take cover and plan their next manoeuvre.

The brave warriors of Saim-Hann find themselves outclassed by the larger Tyranid bioforms.

The Swooping Hawks ambush a pack of Genestealers.

The Battle was decided as The Tyrant and Wraithlord wrestled each other, the Tyrant enentually cracking open the Wraithbone body of the Eldar Lord.

See you next month for images of the full army and my thoughts on the project as a whole.

On Tattered Wings - Valtteri's Undead Legion - June Leader month 2

Last month of the challenge and I chose my second leader month.
This time I painted the true leader of my army - a mighty Liche atop a Zombie Dragon!
And some extras of course, can't have a month without the minimum 10 models.

I decided early on that I would save the Dragon for the last month because I was worried that painting him would be such an effort that I would run out of steam for the next month. And I wasn't wrong, it took me two straight weeks to get the bloody beast done. Not only was there a lot to highlight but some places were quite hard to reach. I really should have painted in sub-assemblies.
Fun fact: the base colour the skin is the same green I use for my bases!
This gorgeous model is again by Red Bard Games.

After a day or two I had regained some of my strength and decided to paint some more models. These two Banshees aren't present in the 4th edition so these will proxy as Ghosts.

These were nice and simple to paint after the Dragon:
White base, Apothecary White Contrast paint. Some blue glazing on the skin and a really light teal on the robes. Drybrush with an off-white and white, followed by some layering with white to get a nice contrast.

After painting the Chariot in April I knew I wanted another one. I got a second one printed (this time with resin so I didn't have to smooth out any print lines). The pointing Skeleton Champion is by Celtic Miniatures, the one with the flag is an OG plastic skelly. 

Painting-wise this was identical to my first chariot. Near the end of June I realised I hadn't painted a flag at all! And what good is a 4th ed army without glorious banners? I had gained enough confidence with the previous flags that I decided to design my own. I took inspiration from an old Undead shield I saw somewhere, drew the design with pencil and painted it just like the previous banners. The catch was that I had to draw the design twice, only the second one being a mirrored version. In hindsight I probably could've used a photocopier for that.. 

Sadly, I totally forgot to take any WIP pics of the banner. But I did do a step-by-step of the freehanded shield which you can find a little below.

Lastly, I whipped up a bunch of Bat Swarms. These too are are 3d prints (link). Even though the old metal bats have their charm, I'm not a huge fan of them and didn't feel like spending that much on my bats.
They didn't photograph that well but they do look kinda nice in real life. I'll probably take some better pics for my Instagram account later if you're interested.

But why would I need 600 points worth of bats? Well, were planning on playing through the old Circle of Blood campaign pack this fall with my friend and the Undead side can field these at a 50% discount. *Evil cackle*

Painting

I know I've showed some step-by-steps on my freehand before but I thought it'd be nice to do a bit more detailed tutorial.

I find it easier to block out rough shapes first, then add some shading and do the edges and details last. It helps a lot if  you have a reference picture. Thin paints and multiple layers help to achieve a smooth finish.

1. Rough shape with a darker beige (Scale 75 Grau SW-29 ). This step isn't necessary but this particular paint has great coverage and it's easier to layer the next colours on top of it.
2. First highlight with  beige (AP Skeleton Bone). 
3. I filled in the shadows with a medium brown (AP Leather Brown)
4. Smoothing out the transitions with a mix of the previous two colours.
   
   
   
5. Another highlight with a light beige/off-white (AP Brainmatter Beige).
6. Details with black (AP Matt Black)
7. More details with black. I also strengthened the shadows with more brown. Forgot to take a pic before this :(
8. The finished shield with a better lighting. Some minor highlight corrections also applied.

Even though it seems a lot happens between steps 6 and 7 it's not much more than blacklining. And it makes all the difference!

Photography

In case you're interested, below is a pic of my photo setup for the scenic shots. I take over our kitchen table when the kids aren't home and roll out my game mat (Muddy Field by Deep Cut Studios, it's a great and really versatile mat btw!). A black cloth draped over some empty cardboard boxes and some of my terrain arranged in front of it. I try to position the woods and hills so that they create an immersion of depth. Natural light through the window and a cheap ring light for some extra illumination. I take the photos with my smartphone, with the ISO and shutter speed turned down so the pictures aren't too bright. Minimal colour correction with GIMP on my computer. I'd probably get better pics with a tripod but I'm usually too lazy to get it out...

Battle!

We finally managed to schedule a game with my friend. This time it was 1500 points of my Undead against his Bretonnians. This was sort of a practice match for the CoB campaign we have planned ahead.

The game started horribly. I was so excited about my new fast moving troops that I charged my Skeleton Horsemen against his Halberdiers in the first turn. The whole unit was instantly wiped out. No, not the Halberdiers... On his turn his Longbowmen opened fire on my Chariot and promptly destroyed one of the steeds, reducing it's movement to a measly 4 inches. On the the next turn the other steed was turned into a pile of bones as well. Bye bye impact hits!

Things looked really bleak for me when his Knights sandwiched my big unit of Skeletons, gaining all their charge bonuses and negating my ranks. It was at this point I remembered the main strength of my army - Fear! The Bretonnians had forgotten to take their Fear tests. So my opponent rolled some dice and what do you know, neither of the Knights had the courage to charge. After some backtracking we continued on with the game and I actually managed to charge the other Knight unit and the Halberdies, which promptly fled in fear. Things were looking good all of a sudden!

I kept winning the combats with my Vampire Lord and the Skeletons unit's rank bonuses causing automatic break tests with my big units. Sadly the Bretonnian's big unit of Knights finally found their nerve and annihilated one of my Skeleton regiments. It was at this point that I found out that a Vampire isn't immune to psychology unlike the thralls he commands. The Vampire failed his break test, turned tail and fled resulting in a narrow victory for the Bretonnians.

Once again the game was an absolute blast. We included some low-level magic items as well, but they didn't have much of an impact.
We also tried out a variant magic rule which lets both sides cast spells on each magic phase, their own and their opponents turn as well. This was pretty fun! Except for the fact that nearly all of my spells were dispelled. Where's that Total Power card when you need it?

Stats

And that's a wrap for my first OWAC. I was fairly sure I could make it till the end but I never dreamed I'd paint this many models! I just learned that I can paint even more models for July's wrap-up post but I really don't know if I will. I might just take a rest!

January
25 Skeletons w. Swords&Shields, including Command Group	214 points	25 models
Wight	40 points	1 model
Necromancer Champion	163 points	1 model
2 Skeleton Ogres	72 points	4 models
2 Mummies w. 2-handed weapons	90 points	2 models
February
2 Wraiths	150 points	2 models
Wight	40 points	1 model
20 Zombies including Command Group	88 points	20 models
Zombie Ogre	16 points	2 models
Screaming Skull Catapult	74 points	5 models
March	904	61
Chariot w. Scythed Wheels, Crew w. Shield & Bow	79 points	5 models
Skeleton Horsemen w. Shields& Light Armor & Command Group	276 points	10 models
1 Wraith	75 points	1 model
April
8 Mummies w. 2-handed weapons	360 points	8 models
6 Skeletons w. Swords&Shields	54 points	6 models
6 Skeletons w. Spears&Shields	60 points	6 models
3 Wraiths	225 points	3 models
Vampire Count	200 points	1 model
May
Necromancer	68 points	1 model
Battle Standard	90 points	1 model
Mounted Wight	46 points	2 models
2 Wights	82 points	2 models
3 Wraiths	225 points	3 models
11 Skeletons	88 points	5 models
April
Liche Priest on Zombie Dragon	850 points	2 models
6 Bat Swarms	600 points	12 models
Chariot w. Scythed Wheels, Crew w. Shield	77 points	5 models
2 Ghosts	70 points	2 models
Total	4472 points	137 models

Previous posts:
January - Rank&File

February - Rank&File

March - Rank&File

April - Leader

May - Wild Card

Ben D's Skellibobs - June-p Scares!

Weather: Hot

Mood: Stressed

Music - Drive by R.E.M.

I don’t like that OWAC is almost over.

It feels like I haven’t done nearly enough painting for us to be as far into the challenge as we are, but then again I now have a full army of 5th edition Undead Gnomes, so maybe my perspective is a little skewed? In retrospect, I had the foresight to make this army compact and manageable, so to be surprised that it’s completed is… silly? As grateful as I am to past me for making the decisions that led to this cleared slate, I have trouble trusting it. Something feels off still, unfinished maybe.

Ah well, it’s probably just second boot syndrome. Anyway, Bones!

Another 20 Skellibobs, the sister unit to the first blob of Skellibobs, this time done up with a purple undercoat. Although they’re not as dark as their siblings, I’m still pleased as punch with the emotional color of this unit, especially with their bright red weapons. Actually I love the red so much that I’m redoing my Death Guard army so that I can use that red for all of my little plague marines’ weapons.

The only thing I’m not sold on is the banner. I think it needs a fish or a sausage, or something horizontally inclined for that hand to grasp. Part of me wonders why a unit of skeletons needs a banner to begin with since morale isn’t really something they’re worried about on account of not having a life they’re motivated to protect. I think the reasoning I settled on was that necromancers and vampires need something to point at while giving orders, and maybe Gneil wasn’t feeling particularly inspired the day he raised these 20 bony tonics.

Finally, we wrap with the army’s second necromancer, to make sure that the Skellibobs go where they’re told. I decided that I was allowed to have more than one artistic inspiration for this project, and so I found this old piece from WFRP.

This is Ian Miller’s depiction of Heinrich Kemmler and his entourage, done for The Terror of the Lichemaster for the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game. I’ve never been too convinced that an undead army could pillage a village, but there’s something lively about the reanimated menaces depicted here.

They have… aura?

Are they… corpsemaxxing?

Beats me. I’m just here to drool adoringly at the linework of this early Miller illustration, thirst over the vibrancy of the palette, and bask in the atmosphere of one of the coolest Warhammer art pieces to ever exist.

So then I painted a Heinrich Kemmler.

If you’re wondering how Gneil the Gnome got it together again after Gnome-mageddon, to put it succinctly, he didn’t. Lost and injured after his failed siege of the Alpiner Gnome village, the inherent magics of gnomekind allowed him to be discovered by a traveler, who just so happened to be the most vile and infamous necromancer of the Old World since the days of Nagash.

Why Heinrich has chosen to support Gneil’s second muster is beyond me, but certainly this villain wouldn’t waste his time on a venture with no chance of gaining him power. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see…

Anyhow, Kemmler was a great model to paint. It drove me a little nuts, painting this figure, but overall I think it came out pretty okay. 

That would have been it, but I suppose I was feeling one way or another, because then I had three ghosts on my desk, but that’s it!

Ok, maybe I had ten mummies sitting around with little gnome hats. I rebased them, so even if they hadn’t made it onto the army’s roster, it seemed a shame to just leave them in such a sorry state…

And then there were some stands of “bat swarms” that were made up of little charmers. Obviously they needed to go in the soup too!

While the last three units haven’t been included in the initial army list, they seemed like fun additions that can maybe come in handy later on or in different editions.

Month’s Additions 

20 Skellibobs with full command and halberd - 257p

A necromancers - 68p

Total - 325p

+++++

Phew. And that’s it, the 2k for 5e WFB done and dusted.

Good luck everyone, and see you at the finish line!