Nathan’s rank and file 5 - More pink horrors and flamers (1400 points)

Well I’ve managed to satisfy the final month of a challenge - just. As I noted last month I had to get this months figures done by the 21st of June as we head off on holidays the day after. This month saw me finish 5 flamers and 5 horrors which, at a cost of 140 points each, add up to 1400 points. Here they are:

I’ve photographed these with the flash on as I finished then somewhat late in the day so natural light was somewhat lacking. I’m finishing off the last of the horrors which will give me two full units of nine of them (or one big unit of 18) that I can use in Warhammer the Old World.   

The Relief of Plavigorica - Mark's Araby contingent - June Wildcard month

This is the true history of the relief of Plavigorica. I, ibn Gudruk, write this freely. My family has not been threatened should I fail to discard any previous account that may have been erroneously made. 

We revel in the inspiration of the noble Grand Vizier who led us from the first, and delivered our victory, adding credit to the storied name of our munificent Sultan who we are grateful was spared this danger.  It was the noble Vizier who led us safely through the mirages, after all, at the Urmi wonder wall. He fought the great scorpion, and defied the Chomped Lug'ole goblins as we crossed Al-Mamalik Al-Hududiya, which the men of the Old World call "the Badlands".  The Vizier encouraged us to fortitude when we learned that much of the vitals and coin from our caravan had vanished although under his personal supervision. And surely it was he who led us against the Skaven siege lines, and after our late Emir was bested in battle, did then inspire us to prevail before the very walls.  

I wish only to return to my kin and to live quietly. Now that I have seen such heroism I shall write no more - for what other word is there to tell?

__

Postscript - Alas! Snorri ibn Gudruk tumbled into a ravine on our return journey. Alack! This tome fell with him. It was, for the main part, recovered.  Yet, as can be seen, several pages were torn out by its fall, and, despite our efforts, could not be retrieved.  This ill news I bear with sadness. Your loyal servant, Al'ad.

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Alkadi Nazreen's Grand Vizier, Iznobettur the Notorious, is his reluctant envoy to Plavigorica.  The Vizier's real desire is to be Sultan instead of the Sultan.  Here he rests upon a flying carpet that would have been his means of escape if the Arabyan forces had been defeated outside the city walls. He is attended by his faithful servant Wat Al'ad.  Both are Midlam miniatures.

 The Grand Vizier remains fully focused on the task at hand

Indeed, I'm imperfectly imitating the infinitely irascible Inzogoud the Infamous, (Isn't it irritating?) 

Iznogoud is another classic (if prejudiced) 20th Century source for high fantasy Araby.  In the the story, the faithful manservant is called Wat Al'af and they are constantly plotting to take over from the Caliph in Baghdad. Fortunately his schemes never prevail. 

To end on a less cynical note, I painted a part of the baggage train or camel caravan, one of my favourite things to paint in this challenge.  The slightly converted handler and left camel are from Midlam Miniatures, while the right camel is from the Perrys' Mahdist war range, with some green stuff baggage attached. 

 The hardest part was detaching the handler from the miliput base I'd put him on because he is pretty small. Unfortunately the excellent Midlam Arabian Nights range doesn't scale so well with the other figures I've used. He was going to be in the Araby Corsairs, but I'm glad I found a better place for him.

In the end just under half of this force is from Citadel (excluding animals and the wee 6mm ones for the forced perspective scene):  

Other collectors have gone a more purely Citadel route (such as Kim's excellent Araby army*) - so it can be done - but I reckon this was a more affordable way to do it.  I'm guilty of pushing the minimum limits with just 42 miniatures plus snakes. Sorry! That plus forming a list around what I gathered, are two ways I've strayed from the OWAC ideal.

I've really enjoyed assembling this force and developing the stories to go with it. These six months have flown by, like a magic carpet. Thank you for all the encouragement month by month.  See you for the wrap up in July!  

Salam.

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Links to earlier months:

January -spears

February -bows

March - scimitars

April - carpets

May - camels

*Kim has a whole unit of Talisman Saracens! and some fantastic conversions of non-Araby miniatures in there, which definitely inspired some of my efforts.

James WRR’s Wildcard: Blue Aquila Down

G’day! 

It’s Wildcard month, which means we’re allowed to go a little… wild with our projects. And so, in the spirit of bringing my latest Imperial army to life, I thought I’d take the opportunity to paint one of my favourite pieces of terrain ever:

The crashed Aquila Lander from Battle for Macragge.

Despite my undying love for all things 80s/90s Games Workshop, my actual career in the hobby began shortly before this 4th edition starter set was released. I remember sharing the box with my little brother (now long-retired from the hobby in favour of skateboarding and making smart financial decisions). I took the Space Marine side and painted them up as Ultramarines (of course) while my brother took his inspiration from Alien to paint his ‘Nids mostly grey and green.

I don’t think either of us really took the rules all too seriously when we did get some poorly painted minis on the field. In fact, at some point, I think my Space Marines once ended up fighting an army of Dwarfs from The Battle for Skull Pass among the ruins of this crashed starfighter.

But it was never really about the game. It was about the vibe. 

And boy was that vibe good. I don’t think we appreciated, at that moment, that “modern” 40k was pretty much at its aesthetic and mechanical peak. Naturally, it couldn’t match the vibe of Rogue Trader, or even Second if that’s more your vibe, but Battle for Macragge was really a high point in my view of what Warhammer could be.

This crashed Aquila Lander is a good physical representation of that nostalgic ideal. It’s not an L-shaped ruin. It wasn’t designed to give balanced cover to both sides of the table. No, it’s a piece of plastic that tells a story, of which us gamers play a big part.

I remember scenarios from the starter set booklet that involved your heroic Space Marines fighting through never-ending hordes to make off with the ship’s power supply, or defending the downed passenger with his container of scientific samples. 

Ahh. Officially licensed narrative gaming. Bliss. 

The ruins I now have in my collection came from a second-hand lot, made up of mostly Battle for Macragge bits in pretty rough condition. Though that meant a bit more work, it really told me that this was a collection that someone had loved, maybe in the same way I had. Or, at the very least, they’d given the hobby a red-hot go.

It worked out for me that they’d given it up at some point. I’m certainly not complaining that I get to relive those glory days.

Anyway, painting this set seemed daunting at first, but actually proved fairly simple. I hit the whole lot with a black spray then sprayed the edges of the crash site with red to better match my Grey Knight’s bases.

As you’ll see, I’ve ended up putting some flock down, and a few “alien plants” on the base. I want to keep most of my Oldhammer 40k stuff on red desert-adjacent bases, so adding some natural elements should help blend this terrain more easily into future boards and armies. 

To paint the ship itself, I picked up an iconic, time-tested tool: the sponge. 

Nicking a little yellow block from beneath our kitchen sink, I built up a few layers of successively brighter, desaturated blues (and whites on the wing tips). I really like using a sponge on a big piece of plastic, as not only does it neatly avoid recesses, you can really modulate the intensity of your colour in a similar way to drybrushing - or even airbrushing - without the faff. The trick is, like drybrushing, to build up more gradually, with lots of quick stabbing dabs rather than a thick “splodge”.

I finished off the ship with simple glossed black for the shattered windows and some cabling details. I really love painting hazard-striped cables, the quickest way to do so being basecoating them with Scale75 Sahara Yellow, laying down some neat(ish) black stripes, then painting a thin line of Tenere Yellow over the whole length with the edge of your brush.

I weathered the ship with sponges, again, using a really dark Blue Steel metallic to add chips and battle damage. Games Workshop rust effect was watered down and applied to recesses, before a dark red pigment powder was jammed in mostly where the ship parts meet the ground. This final step really brought the whole thing together, so I’ll definitely be repeating it across future models.

And so, that’s it! All the painting done for my 2026 OWAC challenge. It’s been a fun ride, with a few ups and downs and funny little unforeseen challenges. But, all in all, it feels like it’s absolutely flown by. 

I did also manage to paint up this Bob Olley Ogryn for the Olden Demon challenge in May, as well.  The sculpt is just absolutely brilliant, full of character and attitude. I decided that he needed an appropriate beverage for the sweltering jungles of Catachan, and seeing as I’ve met plenty of Australian blokes who look like this (wrap-around sunnies and all) in my time, I had to paint him a few tinnies of Aussie-as VB. 

Drongo the Ogryn

This fella marks the start of my next big army project: an all-metal Catachan army for second-fourth edition. Watch this space!

Thanks for joining me on this journey so far. Some final full-army shots and a good write up is set to land next month.

Emperor protect you, citizen.