Iannick's Army of the Dead

Nathum Crane's empty eye sockets looked into the distance, towards the inhabited lands of the Empire. "Beautiful land, that is, its cemeteries filled to the brim with enthusiastic recruits". The nation of man had grown complacent in recent years and was ripe for the taking.

"The living never learn", he chuckled to himself. How could they, with such a limited lifespan? Now was the time to remind humanity of the power of necromancy, of his power. His decaying fingers touched the brittle parchment of a dusty manuscript as his rasping voice started humming incantations in a long forgotten tongue. 

In the depth of Nathum Crane's manor, thousands of dead soldiers stirred, as the unnatural silence of the place suddenly gave way to the cracking of bones and the wailing of the dead.

“Prepare my armour”, he said to the twisted creature next to him, “and open the crypts”.

It was in the late 80s or early 90s. That year, the annual Martin family summer vacation was to be spent in Ontario. For my parents, that meant museums, Ottawa festival and a visit to the Boldt Castle (which, btw, is absolutely spectacular). For me and my brother, it meant our first trip to a Games Workshop store, which was located on Queens Street in Toronto at the time. We were really excited about it and, to be honest, somewhat disappointed! It was so small! We had, however, saved our meagre allowances for weeks and weeks and we had every intention of leaving that place with a bundle of stuff! Two of those things were the Skeleton Army boxset and a tube of plastic glue! That set, which IIRC was 30$CA, might be the best deal GW ever produced. 

I remember getting back to the hotel and spending a few evenings of the trip assembling the skeletons on night tables! Those skeletons are gone now, but for a few bits and a couple of horsies. And I'll admit I was more drawn to Chaos and Goblins than to the Undead.

But last year for my birthday, a few of my friends gave me the Hexwraith/BlackKnight boxset from GW. They are not into wargames/RPGs at all, so just went into Games Workshop and, after getting some guidance from a clerk (What is he into? No, we do not sell Napoleonics here. Oh, he likes Zombies?) got me what they thought I'd like. It was a really cool gesture and I can imagine just the courage it takes for 3 women to enter a GW store. My first idea was to paint them for my Chaos army, but rapidly I came to the (obvious) conclusion that I had to start an Undead army. And it so happened I was the Admin of a figure painting challenge to build a new army. My, look at all those coincidences! 

I already had some undead bits here and there and I did some Fall hunting to piece the rest together. And while I could not find a mint Skeleton army boxset, I did get my hands on the second best thing...(and a few more mint sprues here and there). 

I was thus set to build an Undead army for the OWAC II! 

I decided to go with a very classic Liche led (I'm not a huge vampire fan but as a veteran GM, there are not many villains I enjoy more than a Liche!) undead army, with skellys, zombies and mummies, but also with an ethereal presence. 

So here's the tentative first list :

- 15 Skeletons warriors, equipped with shields, including standard and musician : 187pts

- 15 Skeletons warriors, equipped with shields, including standard and musician : 187pts

- 1 Plague Cart : 100pts

- 12 Zombies : 48pts

- 3 Mummies : 240pts

- Ethereal Host : 1 Ghost (50pts), 1 Wraith (150pts) for 200pts

- 1 Lv5 Undead Hero, equipped with shield & heavy armour : 34pts

- 1 Lv5 Undead Hero, equipped with shield & heavy armour : 34pts

- Nathum Crane, Liche lv5, equipped with light armour : 93pts

Now, the mathematically gifted among you might've noticed this amounts to 1123pts, and I still haven't included Death Riders! And I'm sorry for that, I'm a weak weak man. I figure life will probably get in the way and I will not have time to paint some stuff. OR, I win at life and I actually manage to paint all of that AND my Death Riders (that famous boxset of Black Knights which started it all!) I might also make some changes along the way, as I did last year. Stay tuned folks! 

Here are some pics of the primed lead. It's an eclectic mix of figures, with newer stuff like the Zombies from Upstream Games House and Reaper's Mummies and a lot of old Citadel stuff like classic plastic skellies and Plague Cart.

I still have one regiment of plastic skeletons to assemble (and I need to find a command group for that one). And the Death Riders, if I get to that. 

I'm pumped folks, best of luck to all the Challengers (remember it's a marathon, not a sprint).

SO HAPPY NEW YEAR AND SEE YOU ALL AT THE FINISH LINE IN SIX MONTHS! 

THE OLD WORLD ARMY CHALLENGE PART II IS OFFICIALLY ON! LET'S DO THIS!!