Graeme's Formidable Fimir

"The Fimir haunt bogs, fens, and desolate moorlands throughout the northern and western Old World. Their strongholds take the form of forbidding, craggy piles of rock, crudely built in the semblance of human castles. All Fimir settlements are wreathed in thick mist, a miasma which is magically generated by the Fimir, in order to shield themselves from sunlight. Indeed, when forced to travel beyond their fortresses, they surround themselves in an enchanted mist that moves with them."

Back for my second OWAC!

My Fimir collection has grown slowly and steadily over many years, as I picked them up here and there on eBay. I was originally thinking of putting together an ally contingent for my Skaven army. However, the cheapest Fimir costs 32 points in 3rd edition, so once you’ve got a unit of 5 or 6 troops, with a couple of characters, you’re already passed the 500 point mark, which is a bit much for an ally contingent… So you might as well go the whole hog and build an army, right? Okay, that’s just me then…

Since OWAC had been lacking in the Fimir department up to now, I was resolved to make a Fimir army. Using the army list in White Dwarf 102, I came up with the following list for OWAC4:

Meargh (level 15 Wizard), with hand weapon:                                                    195 pts

Dirach (level 5 Wizard), with hand weapon:                                                         75 pts

Finmor (level 10 Hero), with hand weapon and light armour:                            140 pts

Fian (level 5 Hero), with hand weapon and light armour:                                     82 pts

6 Fianna Fimm (+3 Shock Elite), with hand weapon and light armour:              258 pts

8 Fimm Warriors, with hand weapon:                                                                 256 pts

Total:                                                                                                                 1006 pts

With the new minimum model requirements that were introduced by our benevolent overlord, I should paint at least 5 Fimir a month (since they use 40mm bases). 

I’m left with a good number of unused Fimir warrior and noble models. Since I have a shortage of heads and tails, I'm going to have to do some sculpting and conversions to a good portion of these - which might be a bit optimistic, but we’ll see - to give some variation and add some numbers to the army.

The army list in WD102 is an early version of the format (June 1988), so doesn’t mention any Allies, Mercenaries, or Hosts. This makes it a little ‘flat’, with only Fimir and just two types of warriors. So I decided to use Warhammer Armies and some White Dwarf lists of some of the Fimir allies to pad out the Fimir list and give me some more options. I wanted to bring a Fomorian feel to the army, reflecting the description of them roaming the swamps and wildernesses. Using the Dark Elf, Skaven, Orc & Goblin, Norse and Chaos army lists as inspiration, I came up with these Allies, Mercenaries, and Hosts:

< Allies >

Chaos Allies Skaven Dark Elves

Undead Orcs and Goblins

< Mercenaries >

Giants Hobgoblins Ogres

Orcs and Goblins Norse

Out of these lists, I’ve picked the potential reinforcements, which I can bulk out the army with, and add some variety to the models.

Mercenaries:

Giant         : 250 pts

Allies:

8 Orc Boyz          : 76 pts
Hand weapon, light armour, bow

8 Orc Boyz         : 76 pts
Spear, light armour, shield

8 Orcs Boyz         : 68 pts
Hand weapon, light armour, shield

Chaotic Host:

8 Chaos hounds         : 184 pts

Jabberwock         : 200 pts

Monstrous Host:

8 Boars                 : 48 pts

8 Warhounds         : 32 pts

Total                                                : 934 pts

Now, this gives me plenty of options, and the freedom to paint what I feel like during the challenge, and the chance to hit the monthly figure targets with some easier models...

So here are the models so far:

Fimir Meargh and Dirachs

Fimir Fimm and Warlords

Fianna Fimm

Fimm Warriors

Orc Archers

Orc Command

Orc Spears

Orc Warriors

Giant and Jabberwock

Boars

Chaos Hounds

Warhounds

And something a bit special, if I have time...

Now, I’m already worried about how far behind schedule I am

 with preparation for this challenge. There's no chance I'll paint all of this stuff. In fact, I’m just hoping to avoid a very rapid trip to the Field of Bones. Hopefully, I'll be able to put together a formidable little force, centered around the Fimir models, but with some extra character from the options I've got.

In any case, many thanks to Iannick for organizing another OWAC! And here's my Overlord Offering:

It's an RT601 Squat Engineer, the first-ever Squat I've painted, and the first 40k figure in 30 years. I'll be honest, I enjoyed painting it a lot. Not enough to tempt me to switch to 40k yet, though... maybe next OWAC...  :-)

Good luck to the rest of the challengers! There are some great looking armies lined up this year. Hope everyone has a healthy and productive 2021!