Paul's Gribbly Beasts - Month Five (654 points)

The two rutting packs of beastmen could hardly be kept from ripping each other apart. This was good. Soon their ferocity would be unleashed on the unwitting folk of the nearby town of Tramilar and there would be much carnage for them to revel in.

The Watcher brought it's staff down sharply, the crack of thunder it released quelling the herd into some semblance of silence as the altar was brought forth into their midst. Two beastmen laboured under the weight of the unholy arc, the writhing tentacles and sickly miasma wafting from the censures causing all in proximity to feel their guts squirm queasily, as if they suddenly had a life of their own.

The beastman shaman moved among the throng, bleating out it's foul benedictions. Filthy banners bearing the unholy Octed were unfurled. The packlord, ruddy hide glowing in the reflected glow of the altar's unnatural light, surveyed his troops and nodded his readiness to the Watcher.

Boom! The Watcher's staff cracked once again. The altar was borne high. The herd brayed it's challenge to the stars and stalked away into the night, their coming heralded by the howling of  hounds and their passing shadowed by demons...


Ooomph! That was a hefty month! My own fault though, as some of you may remember from my earlier posts I had sort of painted myself into a corner with colour schemes for my beastmen basically meaning I needed two units instead of one... Well, here they are!

The two colour schemes have (red and purple) have sort of evolved into the idea that although Nurgle currently holds primacy over the warband, the other Gods have their influences too, purple representing Tzeentch or Slaanesh and red for Khorne (obvs).

The back row were painted in a previous month

Of course two units means two sets of command, and luckily I got a chance to pick up a Middlehammer era beastmen command minis at just the right point in the challenge to make this possible. However, I both needed to boost my numbers and wanted to add a bit more interest to my front rank so added a beastman with Mace from the same era (on the left below) and Burly Broo with pole arm and head 13, from the Vile Broo Runequest box set which I picked up from a friend in a job lot a while back. He's a bit diminutive compared to his burly bodybuilding cousins being 25mm scale, and he's damaged his horn-stubs along the way, but he's got bags of character and I like to think of him as a Halfling or Dwarf that has been corrupted into beastly form.

Middlehammer era command in the centre and extra beastman on the left, 1982 Burly Broo on the right

And from the rear

I cut a simple foil banner from the foil from a tomato puree tube and distressed the edges to make it look a bit more like ragged fabric. My freehand skills are seriously poor (but I'm working on it!) so I settled on simple Octed symbol. I went for sickly yellow rather than purple as I didn't want ot overdo it and the yellow seemed more suited for Nurgle, while the Octed will serve if these need to turn out for other deities in the future.

It seemed fitting that the Shaman Champion would be associated with this unit rather than the red  pack with their more Khornate tendencies. That axe makes it an awkward bugger to rank up unfortunately, but I can see myself adding another few platic beastmen to the unit to make this six wide in the future so it can accommodate the Shaman neatly.

Next up are the red pack. Again, the back row of five were painted earlier in the challenge, but this is a bigger unit so another ten monopose beastmen for the pile. I was determined to get these all done this month to keep up with some of the other challengers who have been turning out big units every month, and to show that building a chaos army isn't only about painting massive monsters etc.... Just mostly ;)

All but the back row painted this month. I'm done with beastmen for a bit now thanks!

The front rank of this unit is a bit more unusual...

There are some interesting characters here, just as the Oldhammer Gods intended

First up is a converted standard bearer I put together out of bits from the 6th edition plastic Goblin sprues and a damaged monopose Beastman. Again the simple green cloth ties the unit to Nurgle but the red Octed will serve other purposes if needed.

Next up is a 'Two-headed Troll Giant' from Garrison miniatures Sword and Sorcery line, converted into a musician with the addition of a press mould of the shield from the Marauder Giant to look like a beaten up gong. It's a very soft sculpt and I'm sure that someone with more time, patience and skill could have done much more with it in terms of painting in the detail, but I like it for it's fugliness and I think it breaks up the monotony of the goat-heads nicely.

Then we have this classic Bob Olley sculpt. I love it. I don't think I have done it justice really as the half goatlike, half simian face has more character than I have been able to bring out, and the armour and very ornate helmet have been treated quite simply, but I'm considering this my first step into Bob Olley beastmen as this was enough to get me hooked. (BTW: I'm pretty sure the back of his head should be the same armour colour as it is part of the helmet, but I felt the mini needed more red to balance it out from behind)

Then we have two very different sculpts from Krakon Games recent Axe Grind KS (although not yet on the website at the time of writing). The first is a skinny little runt who at first glance seems a bit out of place alongside all these goat-headed weight lifters, but I really like the pathetic-aesthetic that is often ascribed to some Oldhammer figures and I think this has something of the same feel. Plus it is always the little ones you have to watch out for, feeling like they have something to prove to the rest of the pack. Watch him, he'll f***ing cut you!

I had to use this guy as my Champion for this unit. While he definitely still has a gota-like feel so fits in well, there is something simian about him, like a silver back Gorilla about to hurl the severed elf head at you in bellowing challenge. His yellow fur is a bit too neat for me. I meant to splash some Tamiya clear red over him to act as red gore but run out of time to do it properly, so the red smear on his base is the only indication of gore, but I think I will go back and finish the job so he is properly blood soaked :)

And in addition, or to lead the unit, we have a Beastman Hero. Nowhere near as nice as the version we saw from Andrea, who showed us what can really be done with this sculpt, and I'd want to spend more time on the horns in particular, but I'm still happy with the brute force he manages to portray. I certainly wouldn't mess with him!

Finally we have an added extra in the shape of the Tim Prow sculpted War Altar that Yosef BenSadon (formerly of this parish) put together a while back (and since acquired by Ye Alchemist with some future production plans in the pipeline so keep an eye out on their KS and fb pages and all the usual forums for news!)

It's quite a special piece I have to say and I love all the options you get (different beastman heads and altar tops for each of the four gods plus one for Chaos undivided), many of which I can't wait to use in future conversions for my growing Chaos forces.

In practical/game terms I can see myself using it either as unit filler (it takes up the same space as eight beastmen, but as you can see below it makes the unit off balance, so that is another column of beastmen to be added in the future!) or if my opponent agrees I could see it working as a Battle Standard, or even in place of a low level Shaman!? For OWAC purposes however it has zero points value.

So, the breakdown for May is as follows:

Beastman Shaman Champion - 134
Beastman Hero - 130
19 Beastmen - 190
2 Musicians, 2 Standard Bearers - 80
2 Beastmen Champions - 120
Chaos War Altar - zero

Total for the month: 654 pts

Plans for next month include: everything still on the list! Nurglings, Chaos Warriors, Chaos Goblins, Paying the Pipe... lots still to look forward to!

I can already tell I'm going to get OWAC withdrawal symptoms come July :(