Jeff Allen's OWAC Wrap up post

Here is my Middenhiem/Kislev Army for OWAC3. This is my 3rd challenge and I think this one was my favorite. It will be the most memorable considering the world changing pandemic going on. 

My first was Chaos, I enjoyed it, but I'm not a Chaos kind of guy, I like order. 2nd was Dark Elves, and I liked that army alot, but The Empire is my first WHFB Army and this is just an extension of that.

I set out to paint what I have without buying anything, and I achieved that. Some of what I painted does not exist in 4th edition so I did have to play a little "counts as" to make the army list work for 4th edition. Like counting Kossars as Empire Troops, or not counting points at all. It's not that big a stretch, IMHO. 

So what can I put on the table? Lets count them up:

5 Knights of the White Wolf.....259 pts

1 Hero(Grandmaster of WW)...65 pts

1 Tsar Boris of Kislev...............0 pts

6 Horse Archers........................96 pts

1 Elector Count.........................100 pts

1 Tzarina Katarin......................65 pts

Wizard Mounted.......................59 pts

Wizard Foot...............................56 pts

21 Greatswords(Kossars)..........189 pts

1 Bear(Filler).............................0 pts

11 Archers.................................88 pts

1 Hero(Boyar)...........................65 pts

1 War Wagon.............................150 pts

10 Greatswords..........................108 pts

10 Winged Lancers....................400 pts

Grand Total of 1700 points!

I want to thank Iannick for putting up with my last minute posts (this being no exception). I got some figures to send to you.

I want to thank my fellow challengers for making this a fun event and congratulations for making it across the finish line.

I'm not sure I'm in for OWAC4 yet, because I've exhausted all my full army of unpainted figures. eBay is calling....

Cheers, Jeff

And the Wing Hussars Arrived (200 pts)

I didn't think I'd be putting up a June post. My father had a medical issue and I had to drive to Florida to help out. It was a little crazy with the Pandemic. I am self quarantining since come back from a state that saw a sharp spike in new infections. That was a plus and a minus. Anyway, on to the painting.

I had 2 units worth of Winged Lancers I could paint. One I bought off ebay painted and one unpainted. There was no way I was painting 2 units, so I stole the wings off one unit and added them to the other. What's better than Winged Lancers? Winged Lancers with Double the WINGS!!!

Getting them glued on proved to be a bit of a challenge. I had to dremel out a huge hole in their backs and I made a little triangular wedge with green stuff to hold the Wings together at an angle.

Once the wing problem was solved I could dive into the painting full force. So on the last day of the last month I cranked out these bad boys.

Points,

5 Winged Lancers with full command 200 points.

And done,

Cheers, Xin/Jeff

JeffA's The Famed Winged Lancers (200pts)

I've saved the best for last, The Kislev Winged Lancers.

Inspired by the real world Polish Winged Hussars, the Kislev Lancers are in my top ten favorite models of all time. On September 11th 1683, at the Battle of Vienna, was the peak of glory for the Hussars. 3000 Hussars at the front of 18,000 Calvary, charged into the Ottoman troops smashing the Ottoman army and saving Vienna. 

This month went pretty smoothly. Working from home during the pandemic was very weird at first and I spent most of my day staring at my computer waiting for emails. But now that we are 3 months in, I found a time every day to paint. So I actually finished 5 days early, as opposed to the last minute sprint painting on the last day at 11:59PM. Ok enough blah blah blah, lets see the horseys.

As I've stated in the past I suck at free hand shields and banners. So I cheat, Water slide decals. I'm getting pretty good at making my own.

Painting these was a bit of problem. I did not have a complete set of Lancers. I was missing several pieces including 4 wings. Thankfully I found some resin wings online and bought those.

Another challenge was the previous owner had tried to sculpt just plain cloaks over the lion skin cloak. I liked the effort but it was poorly executed and sort of covered the cool lion/cheetah(?) head and claws. So I just ignored the what was not covered and painted it as a cloak. 

Points

Winged Hussars....200pts

That's it, 5 months, 5 entries, over 1000 points and I'm done. But I'm not. I've got one more unit to paint so lets go!

I'll leave you with with this Awesome Heavy Metal video....

 

Cheers, Xin/Jeff

Jeff Allen's War Wagon (258 points)

So April was the month I was going to paint the famed Winged Lancers. Who doesn't love them?

It took a few days to start them. Then It was a few days to prep them. I was ready to prime.

I'm walking outside to prime them and I realized I forgot something.

Damn it. These needed to be carved in and fitted. The figures I have are 2nd hand and they have some green stuff mod that needs to be cut away. I completely forgot. DOH! Half the month is gone and I'm not painting.

So I come up with Plan B. I have the War Wagon I started in January done. Just need to do the crew and I'm done. Easy Peasy, right?

Ok cool here's the War Wagon in all it's crazy glory. Ready to rumble across the table and do....whatever it does. I've no idea, I've never seen one in action.

I painted the crew with a removable tray for easier storage. The wagon it's self is tall enough as it is without all the sharp pointed things sticking out.

Ok like a said, easy peasy. Hmmm how much does the War Wagon cost? I had it in my head it was 200 points. ***checks Army Book***. Muther#$%#$% it's 150pts!

Ok What can I paint for 50 points? Greatswords! I've had them for 15 years maybe. That's about long enough. So I painted them in about 4 days, Thanks for Work From Home.Here's a unit of 10 Greatswords.

Please don't look at the googly eyes. The banner is a custom decal I made. I suck at freehand banners. Much easier to print out a decal and then blend it in to the banner.

So that's April sorted.

War Wagon....150 Points
Greatswords...108 Points

April's Total...258 Points

Jeff Allen's Kossars (342 Points)

I am never painting this many figures again. What was I thinking?

For March I decided to paint Kossars. I had 2 units worth so I thought I'd get them done all at once. I got them done but I really hated it the last few days. 30 figures including the Boyar and a Bear as unit filler and flavor. But they are done!

So officially for the challenge, this is a unit of "Greatswords" with 2 Archer detachments, to keep it legal for the 4th edition rules. Thematically it works for Middenheim, at least to me. As I think there would be Kislev influences in the Middenheim culture. I see Middenheim and Kislev working together to fend off the endless attacks from the Chaos wastes to the north. So here are the pics:

Here's the first unit. My big problem with these guys was the standard. I suck at free hand work. So I spent about 2 days trying to figure out how to print a custom decal. I had the Testors Decal kit already, but didn't know how to use it.

The 2nd unit of Kossars. I hit the standard with Testors Dullcote, but the decal is still a little shiny. I might go back and paint over it.

This guy I found on Facebook. He is the Coach of Kislev inspired Blood Bowl team. I love him as a Boyar.

 Here are the lads pretending to be Empire troops.

Here are all the troops I've painted for OWAC3 together. I got a little carried away with the back drop and created a whole little rustic village scene.


So my point totals:

17 Kossars(GreatSwords)....153
4 Command figs...................36
11 Archer Detachments........88
1 Boyar(Hero)......................65

Total......................................342

That was a long month for many reasons. Looking forward to a better April, for everyone.

Next up, the iconic Winged Hussars!

Cheers, Xin/Jeff

Jeff Allen's February Post, Empire-Kislev (376 points)

In the Facebook Group I joked about not experimenting with your painting styles during a challenge. You want to get in, paint and get out, or be left in the Field of Bones. Well that is exactly what I did not do.

I love these figures. I couldn't just slap a coat of paint on them and call it a day. I got a wet palette for the first time. I watched some color mixing tutorials on YouTube. I really pushed my self.

Unfortunately I think I'm a better painter than photographer. Most of the detail gets washed out in my photos. Anyway here they are.

First up is my Army General, an Elector Count. Sitting in my basement for 25 years

One of the great things about The Empire is the almost endless selection of Wizard Figures. Here is the Foot and Mounted version of my Army Wizard

 Next is the lovely Tzarina or The Ice Queen of Kislev. I am super happy about how she came out. I might buy another figure for her and make a foot version.

And last we come to the Horse Archers of Kislev. Born in the saddle, with bow and sword in their hands. Ready to kill the Tzaina's foes. I've loved these figures since they first came out. I have a unit I painted 20 years ago, that will get repainted to match this one.

Here is the whole Army all together so far. I can't wait to get it on the table.

So lets sum up:
Horse Archers - 96 pts
Elector Count - 100 pts
Tzarina Katarin - 65 pts
Wizard Mounted - 59 pts
Wizard Foot        - 56 pts
Total - 376

Next up will be...well shoot I don't know. I was gonna do the winged Lancers but I am getting a little tired of all the horses. So maybe I'll do the Kossars. Anyway, that's all for now.

Jeff

Jeff Allen's January Entry, Empire-Kislev (324 points)

My army is really an Empire Army with a large Kislev Contingent. So for the first month, I'm doing Knights of the White Wolf. Unfortunately I don't have the old Knight figures.

I almost bought them for this challenge, but I have soooooo much unpainted lead/plastic/resin that I am really trying to stay off eBay. One of the goals of this challenge is to paint what I have and not buy anything new. So to that end, I had some Knights I picked up in a large lot years ago, that the previous owner had already added Hammers too. So that's what I'm going with.

First up is the White Wolves Grandmaster. I did have him in my box of Empire lead, The Grandmaster of the White Wolves, so he gets added to the list.

Next up is a stretch goal, Tsar Boris of Kislev. I didn't plan him in my points cost since he is a 6th edition addition.  Also I couldn't afford the ridiculous price he goes for on eBay. This model is a Reaper Bones Bear, with the Rider cut off. I had some knight legs and Winged Lancer commander top. The Wings are Resin that I ordered off the web. I wish I could remember where. If you know, post it below.

And finally the White Wolves themselves. The original horse barding is Red, but I wanted to carry a consistent theme across the entire army. The blue and white are Middenheim colors. This lot, that the previous owner started converting worked pretty well. I only had to fix a few things like adding cloaks and green stuff here and there. 

Points painted this month:
5 Knights w/ Command   259pts
1 Hero (Grandmaster)      65pts
1 Tsar Boris of Kislev      0pts

Total                                  324pts

Next up Kislev Horse Archers, Elector Count, Tzarina Katarin and a Wizard!

Cheers, Jeff

Jeff Allen's Dark Elves

Season 2 of the OWAC has come to an End. It's a weird thing, the Challenge. In November and December you start to get excited. All sorts of plans swirl in your head about how much you are going to paint. All the different options you have. Later, when your 4 months in, and real life is intruding on your hobby, the Challenge starts to weigh on you. You start to look forward to it just being over. And relief when you post that last monthly update.

A few weeks later, as you go back and get ready for your wrap-up post you look out over your troops and you have a brand new viable army for playing. Which is a great thing. And you make some friends along the way as well. The OWAC is not easy but it is rewarding.

So lets dive into what I got done.

CHARACTERS (344 pts)
Dark Elf General ~ 170 pts
Assassin ~ 56 pts
Sorcerer ~ 59 pts
Sorceress ~59 pts

REGIMENTS (843 pts)
Repeater Xbow ~ 130 pts
Black Ark Corsairs ~ 156 pts
Witch Elves ~ 132 pts
Black Guard of Naggaroth ~ 173 pts
Cold One Knights ~ 252 pts

WAR MACHINES (225 pts)
Cauldron of Blood ~ 125 pts
Repeater Bolt Thrower ~ 100 pts

Total ~ 1412 Points

54 Figures, 2 War Machines. And a scratch built Dark Elf Tower.

The Command Group 

 Repeater Xbows and Corsairs

 The Black Guard of Naggoroth

 Cold One Knights

 Witch Elves

The Cauldron of Blood

Thanks to Iannick for herding us cats. Thanks to all the Challengers for making this a fun event. See you next year....

Jeff's Dark Elf General and Cold One Knights (422 points)

Here's my June painting submission, The Dark Elf General, a unit of Cold One Knights and my tythe for He Who Meme's All. A few days late, but you know a week at the Origins gaming convention is not to be missed.

Elf General......

Here is my tythe. A Witch Elf. I painted this one up as a test/ concept. The only thing I changed from my Witch Elf unit was the shoulder pad color, silver instead of gold. Enjoy Iannick!

Here's the General. I love this model. So much going on. I think I could spend another week on him, but at some point you have to put the brush down and walk away.

The Cold Ones! Fierce or stupid? I can't wait to get them on the table and find out. I was not a big fan of the lizard like COK's. When they came out with the Raptor version I was all over it. Well the buying, not the painting, till now!

I suck at hand painted shields. I have some Shield Transfers on order from eBay. I will redo the shields when they come in.

Here's the whole gang from June and now I'm done. It's the 4th of July, and I'm going to get drunk!

5 Cold One Knights.......252 points

1 Elf General..................170 points

Total...............................422 points

Now to put together the warp up post!

Cheers, Jeff