Jaakko and Slargash - Leader month

As the final stroke of the ritual marked the completion of their arduous quest, Slargash gazed upon his reflection and smiled. But as Slargash surveyed his radiant army, a solemn question echoed in the depths of his mind. The camaraderie that had formed during their six-month odyssey made him think. The trials they had overcome together, the shared moments of triumph and exhaustion, had woven a tapestry of connection that transcended the boundaries of war and chaos.

With a heavy heart, Slargash looked upon the varied species that had found acceptance within their ranks. Men twisted by mutations, hounds, trolls, giants, beastmen, and even exiled knights stood shoulder to shoulder, bound by a common cause. Their differences, once reasons for conflict, now forged the foundation of an unbreakable bond.

The battles they had fought and the victories they had achieved seemed different now. The screams and destruction still brought Slargash a sinister joy, but he had a distressing feeling that they were fighting for a purpose beyond the confines of traditional notions of good and evil.

As the sun set upon the battlefield, casting an ethereal glow upon the now painted horde, Slargash turned to the Mad Spell twins and whispered. His voice was laced with uncertainty and almost broke when the words came out: "Are we the good guys?"

 

 

And so the last month of the challenge passed and it seems that I made it! I'm glad that I had the courage to take part in the challenge. I feel that I have learned a lot in the process, both as a painter and collector, but more than anything, I have learned that six months is a long time. At the moment I'm glad to not have deadlines and might let the brushes rest for a while.

Initially I pledged to paint Slargash and the Mad Spell twins during the leader month. Then I stumbled into the Chaos Brothers and a discipline master for the trolls and decided to add them into the mix. As some banners and a musician were delayed for other reasons this band of nine miniatures was formed.

This month in points:

- Slargash the Defiler, lvl 20 sorcerer: 240 pts

- Quel'lequeck Mad Spell x2, lvl 10 sorcerers: 170 pts

- Chaos Champion on a Chaos Steed: 157 pts

- Chaos Champion: 125 pts

- The troll discipline master, Chaos Warrior: 70 pts

- Banner for Marauders: 70 pts

- Army standard bearer with Chaos warrior stats and a musician for Chaos Warriors: 280 pts

OWAC VI total 5452 points, 101 models

Slargash of Many Colours

Jaek, a close relative of Draken Doom, on a Chaos Steed stolen from Aureola Rococo elves

Helwud, often mistaken for Draken Doom

I hope that my trolls will be less useless with a discipline master

A banner captured from the marauding orc army that is yet to materialise

"Chaos is inside me"

 

The bells! The bells! A musician for the unit of Chaos Warriors

Until next month!

Jaakko and Slargash - Rank & File #2

On the surface everyhing seemed to go better than Slargash dared to hope. Still, deep inside he couldn't help but be a bit worried. Rumours of the painting frenzy had spread wide and far and every neighbourhood thug and wannabe monster seemed to want to join his  warband in hope for being painted. He feared that the momentum wouldn't last till his own turn. "Luckily most of them seem quite useful and that giant is certainly a keeper" Slargash thought. Yet, how the same thing can at the same time be the most incredibly stoic figure and constantly pick a fight never ceased to baffle him: "Well, I guess it's the Jungian thing - the duality of ettin."

Hroom, hm, oh hello! Another month has passed and February - aka the feared shortest month of them all - is about to be wrapped. Things are rolling quite nicely at the moment and painting has felt good. Well, even too good at times as I'm writing this after an allnighter painting minotaurs. And the photo is not of me this morning - more of that guy later.

These nine minotaurs - an embodiment of bestial brutality - rejoice at the prospect of fresh gore.

I had thought this month was mainly about the minotaurs, but I spent the better part of it painting thugs and an unexpected two headed giant who is looking for a fight in exchange for coin. He is one of the reasons that gave me the final momentum to collect this army. I wanted to build one that can have giants.

The second thug from left sold me this unit. I need another set to have one with a round shield though...

 

 

A few additions to the thug-unit I started last month

 

The leader of a giant mercenary band gathering steam due to the absence of a baggage

Lord Duherst - the master butcher

Ox-roar - chaos champion of ultimate slaughter

 

Definitely not in the proper order, but don't mind if I do

 

 

What?! no slogan...

This month in points:

- 9 minotaurs: 360 points

- 4 thugs including a banner: 40 points

- 6 thug horse with a banner and musician: 128 points

- 1 giant mercenary 250 points

= 778 points, 20 models

Total so far 1249 points, 43 models

Let's see what the next month brings us!

Jaakko and Slargash - January, Rank & File #1

"Thou shall be banished from this realm, foul spirit" Slargash declared in a commanding voice. He felt a bit bad calling the ghost foul as he was quite a delightful chap really, but so it stood in Ye Scroll of Summons and he was not taking any risks. Not when they were this close.

Slargash and the Mad Spell twins hade made preparations for weeks and tension had grown by the hour. The words still echoed in the darkness as it all started to happen. With a strike of lightning a portal appeared and the ghost was sucked through it. Sparks where still floating in wafts of air as they heard it. Loud thumps aproached them while water ripples grew larger in the paint water pot. A towering figure emerged over the pile of lead they wishfully called an army. "Look at the size of that thing", whispered the younger Quel'lequek and could only stare at it.

A continuous low and rumbling sound emanated form the being. Slowly they started to recognise words, "Hroom, hm, what have we here... chaos, I have always loved chaos... but so many of them... we must be hasty... it takes a long time to paint an army... we never paint anything if it's not worth a long time to paint though..."

"It's not quite the mighty, dark-winged, avenging lord of chaos I had imagined", Slargash thought. "Perhaps it'll do", he sighed and stepped towards the being.

A month has passed and I have tried to be busy. I was a bit nervous and so wanted to start with something relatively simple and straight forward to start the challenge. So I picked the hounds as the main unit for January and minotaurs for February.

 

 

I didn't paint any test models in advance and didn't have a clear idea for the paint scheme for this army. So while painting the group of chaos hounds I have painted some models from other units also and now submitted the ready ones. This led into scrapping my initial (and more colourful) plan for the hounds into one that I think fits better with the overall scheme of the army. I try to paint the army so that it's not obviously dedicated to a certain deity even though some of the models flirt with some of them (and I seem to like a slaaneshian colour palette).

 

 

 

 

 

You might notice that there are too many hounds. My initial list had only 8 and I have painted 12 (so far). Well, I stumbled into a good deal with a bunch of old marauder hounds. I also found that warrior from my lead pile and the lone old citadel thug was also a late addition to the force. So the force is still growing and I'll try to paint at least a host (the proper combination of more hounds and a hydra) and present it during the wild card month in addition to previously promised (slaaneshian) war altar.

 

This month in points:

- 2 beastmasters and 12 hounds: 306 points

- 7 thugs and a marauder leader: 91 points

- Chaos warrior: 74 points

= 471 total , 23 models

And yes, the ghost who left the Northern Wastes of the Old World to the vast miniature chambers of the Benevolent Overlord in the Northern Wastes of the New World (aka the fee to enter the challenge):

Jaakko's Introduction - Slargash the Defiler and his Evil Entourage

The screams of fleeing peasants, smell of burning flesh and warming his hands in the flames of blazing farmhouses were usually enough to make Slargash smile. Not today. For some reason he was feeling more empty than usual - a nagging feeling had been bothering him for a long time now. He had been running this band of chaotic beings for some time now and had hoped it to be a bit more colourful. A lot more colourful to be more truthful.

 

Slargash had been waving his little souvenir skull and flexing his arms for some time now to get some attention from The Great Painter. While literal armies of dwarves and undead had been coloured, he had to settle with a lousy white undercoat. He felt miserable. The only comfort was that his warband had it even worse, many of them were still in bits!

 

Slargash made up his mind. He had heard of an arduous six-month long ritual that could solve everything for good. With the help of the Mad Spell twins (what kind of a mother names both of her twin daughters Quel’lequeck?) he will go for it. They had read signs from the bowels of a freshly opened peasant and they were auspicious. On the first light of the first day of the new year it will all begin. The Great Painter will be summoned!

 

You are warmly welcomed to follow the epic efforts of Slargash the Defiler and the Quel ’lequeck Mad Spell twins on a quest to have their chaotic army painted. Will they have the endurance to continue the ritual for the whole six months? Will they need a breather, or will wild card month be the most epic of them all?

 

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And hello from me too! I’m Jaakko, a first-time Old World Army Challenger. I have been following the challengers of previous years with awe and finally had the courage to join in. I have been painting and collecting miniatures for a few decades already, but it took a Covid lockdown to actually finish painting an army. Increased hobby time felt really good and balancing and so I try to paint a bit daily at the moment.

My project will be a Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3ed Chaos army. The miniatures I have collected to the project (so far) consists of a body of actually old models reinforced with old school ones from present day manufacturers. I have prepped the following for this challenge:

 

Character models:

-Slargash the Defiler, lvl 20 sorcerer, 240 pts

-Quel’lequeck Mad Spell x2, lvl 10 sorcerers, 170 pts

 

Rank and file:

-12 Thugs, 112 pts

-6 Thug horse, 140 pts

-10 Marauders, 390 pts

-10+5 Marauders on horse, 450 + 225 pts

-16 Chaos Warriors, 1258 pts

-2 Beastmasters with 8 chaos hounds, 214 pts

-9 Minotaurs, 360 pts

 

Wild card:

-Chaos war altar, 66 pts

 

Total points for all these would be around 3500 points. I have been collecting the army for a while now and decided to prep the whole bunch. The cavalry units and warriors make me a bit nervous as I expect them to be more laborious. If I stay consistent for the whole six months I think it's doable and I will do my best to finish them all.

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Slargash has acquired (all the way from the Tilean Evil Bay) a classic ghost as an offering to the Benevolent Overlord. The Ghost will be banished as the essential ethereal component required to initiate the ritual.

 

Tune in for the second episode to hear how The Ghost was coloured and what happens next!

 

 

Overlord note : The Overlord was in a giving mood so allowed Jaako's to show off his offering with his January post, as Ebay shipping delays were not kind to our new challenger.