Just John's Norse Army

Well I'm back to try this again. My last OWAC ended in disaster with an ignominious trip to the Field of Bones in January. I initially considered revisiting last years Orc army but decided I needed a fresh start. Then, with this being a special edition, I considered doing a bunch of Mordheim warbands but somehow managed to talk myself out of it. Still not quite sure how but there's always the next special edition 😀. Instead I decided to go with an army of Norse warriors mainly because they will double up as the backbone of an historical Viking army that I will be using to fight a mates Anglo-Saxon army. 

Citadel produced a very small selection of  Viking minis back in the late 80's. Well that's not entirely true. They had a range of Dark Age minis, the DA range, but they are tiny beside modern minis being really only 'true' 25mm figures. The slotta-range of Vikings were the ones that caught my eye as a youngster partly because of this add from White Dwarf.

At the time I remember hoping that it would be the start of a larger range but it wasn't ever officially enlarged really beyond the ones on this advert

Citadel did add more figures to the range but they were a mix of Conan style barbarians, Native Americans and Celts rather than Vikings and eventually the two ranges were merged into a Norse range in the 1991 catalogue. Unfortunately that was it. Foundry split from Citadel and took the Vikings with them and rather than continue with the same sculptors they went off in a totally different direction with chunkier, and to my eyes anyway, less appealing range.

To make matters worse my poor 1980s Viking ambitions were ignored when Warhammer Armies was released and it was only with the publication of issue 107 of White Dwarf that an 'official' list was published. 

It was a basic enough list with a somewhat historical core of Huscarls, Bondi (Bondsmen) and Thralls with Berserkers (what self respecting quasi historical army wouldn't have some of these). The true fantasy elements included Ulfwerenars, Norse Dwarves, dwarven berserkers and slayers. All in all a nice selection of minis. 

Unfortunately apart from the Dwarven elements the entire army would need to be made up of the few figures from the above advert. Luckily this is no longer the late eighties and there are now a lot of companies out there making wonderful Vikings that fit well with the original Citadel range. The figures I have selected for the challenge are mainly Footsore and Gripping Beast with a few others added for variety.

I've decided to aim low this time and hopefully pleasantly surprise myself with the end results. I have selected 5 units of 10 infantry, all of which can be used for historical armies. The aim will be to paint 4 of these for the unit months. I might do the fifth for the wildcard month which hopefully I will manage to keep in reserve until close to the end of the challenge. I have to choose my leaders yet - I am currently spoiled for choice and can't decide on which ones to use. More on them closer to the time.

First up is a unit of 10 Bondsmen archers. These are mainly Footsore Miniatures with a couple from the original Citadel/Foundry range.

Then there is a unit of 10 Thralls, who are viewed as slaves armed with javelins or slings in the army list. These are mainly plastic figures from Gripping Beast with the single javelin armed Citadel example in the front rank.

These are the 10 figures that I have chosen as a unit of Bondsmen, or Bondi. They are mainly Footsore and Citadel/Foundry.

These are the Berserkers a mix of Old Citadel/Foundry, Footsore Miniatures, Stronghold Miniatures and a pre-slotta Giant at the back (he's tiny) 

These are the beginning of the Ulfwerenar unit. These are Shieldwall Miniatures and the rest of the unit, which are from Gripping Beast, are stuck in the post somewhere between the UK and Ireland.

Finally here is the Overlords offering - a test paint for the army and one of the Norse figures that would fit into many a warband.

That's it. All that remains is to wish best of luck to everyone and hopefully we can all avoid the Field of Bone

Just John's Orcish Chronicle

It's great to be back for a second OWAC, I learned quite a bit from the last one and was determined to go into this one better prepared and ready to hit the ground running. Well that didn't happen - mainly due to me managing to get sick in early December with something that's like COVID but most certainly isn't.  Still I've managed to get enough done to get this post ready and I am looking forward to starting the prep and painting.

Way back in the mists of time, before the internet was anything more than a gleam in the eye of its creator/ inventor I picked up a copy of these two magazines 

Within the pages of these (at the time) weighty tomes were pages and pages of photographs of miniatures that I had never seen before and, with a few exceptions, were virtually impossible to get in the Dublin of the mid-80s. For some reason I particularly enamoured with the range of Chronicle miniatures, which were sculpted by Nick Lund. There was something different about them that really appealed to a young me, possibly because they were equipped like serious warriors but had horrific faces and rode giant wolves. These hobgoblins and wolfriders have always been among my favourite miniatures.

I managed to pick up a blister pack of the hobgoblins in the old Virgin Megastore (which was unlike anything we had until that time) and that was about it until much, much later when the now invented internet combined with eBay and an income allowed me to over indulge myself and gradually pick up  the miniatures that I had drooled over in my youth. Fast forward another 5 or 6 years and we are now in 2021 and it seems like a perfect time to start painting them. But where to start? Well, there is really only one option and so I decided to attempt to paint an army of mounted orc riding their giant wolves and then fill in any points gaps with other bits and pieces. 

I started going through the box of minis and paired off wolves with riders, added a few Grenadier wolf riders to add a few command figures and then realised that I had 36 wolves and riders. I've split these up into 4 units of 8 rank and files and a four  figure command unit. I'm hoping that I will be able to paint 8 wolves and riders a month but if not I will catch up in the Wildcard month. If I do manage to keep the Wildcard month free I have a couple of idea for what I would like to do.

The 3rd edition army list doesn't allow orcs to ride wolves, which are reserved for goblins instead. For some reason Citadel went with orcs on boars, possibly as they made the boars more vicious than the  wolves. Rather than messing around with points and stat lines I decided that these orcs would ride larger giant wolves (gianter wolves?) with the same stat line as the boars. Let's call them Wargs instead. This keeps things simple and means that the army works out as follows:

Rank & File 1

8 x Orcs on Wargs. The orcs are equipped with light armour and shields. 

8 x 25 points (19 + 2 + 4) = 200 points

Rank & File 2

8 x Orcs on Wargs. The orcs are equipped with light armour and shields.

8 x 25 points (19 + 2 + 4) = 200 points

Rank & File 3

8 x Orcs on Wargs. The orcs are equipped with light armour and bows.

8 x 25 points (19 + 2 + 4) = 200 points

Rank & File 4

8 x Orcs on Wargs. The orcs are equipped with light armour, shields and spears.

8 x 27 points (19 + 2 + 2 + 4) = 216 points

General & Command all mounted on Wargs

General Lvl 20 Hero with light armour & shield 135 points (116 + 16 + 2 + 1)

Shaman Lvl 15 179 points (163 + 16)

Champion Lvl 10 with light armour & two-handed weapon 81 points (61 + 16 + 2 + 2)

Champion Lvl 10 with light armour & shield 80 points (61 + 16 + 2 + 1)

That comes to a total of 1291 points not including anything done in the Wildcard month.

Here are a few photos of the army in its unpainted state. There is still a fair bit of prep work for most of the figures and quite a few figures need repair or conversion. Unfortunately its one of the downsides of these minis - they are generally so old that there are a lot more damaged versions than whole versions on eBay. I have to say I am looking forward to painting these now. Whether I will still be as enthusiastic as I work my way through 36 wolves I'm not sure. 

The contents of this box make up my hoped for Wild Card entry. Its all the parts that I have collected over the years to make up the Grenadier Orc warlords chariot drawn by four wolves. I think there are 2 complete ones in the box and maybe part of a third. I hope to get one of them made in the Wild Card month.

And finally here is my offering to the overlord with baby blue shirt and pink guts as requested.

All that's left is to wish everyone the best of luck for OWAC V.

Just John's Undead Legion wrap up

I did it! I can't believe I actually did it! That is the most productive 6 months I have had in years. I'm not sure I achieved all that I wanted but I certainly achieved more than I expected. Short of the slight disaster with Mikael Jaecsen I now have the undead forces needed for the Lichemaster campaign, which was the my aim in this years OWAC. In fact I have more than I need for the campaign which is even better.

Here's the obligatory army shot. 

Here's Heinie and his henchmen.

And here are some photos of the individual units again.

The main thing I've learned from this is that with a bit of motivation and a bit of organisation I can actually get stuff painted. Which is great. Now if I could just start painting earlier in the month and not leave everything till the second half I might get more done. Still, lessons have been learned for next year (hopefully).

Thanks Iannick - its been a blast. Well done everyone else who finished the challenge, hearty comradely back slapping all around.

Just John's Undead - Will the Real Heinie Kemmler Please Stand Up (381 Points)

Leader Month 381 Points 

I can't believe I di it, I actually finished the challenge. I feel oddly gleeful about it too! I was happy to get these three guys completed and disappointed not to get Mikael Jaecsen done but he went from one disaster to the next until I finally dropped him and he broke 😭😭. No worries though, a batch in some AFNPR and a bit of TLC will see him back as good as new. Maybe I'll try to get him done before the army shot. Anyhow - I digress.

Heinie here is from TTCombat (I think). He came with an added bonus with a bunch of other halflings and when I saw him I knew I finally had my version of the Lichemaster. Turns out Heinrich Kemmler the most feared necromancer in the Old World was actually a halfling named Heinie. After his final defeat the Empire was faced with the embarrassment of having had their assess handed to them by a halfling so the Chancellor of Misinformation rewrote the story removing all mention of Heinie and replacing him with the entirely fictitious Heinrich. Typical of the big folk if you ask me.

Heinie's bookstand is one of the old chaos familiars and I though they went well together. Turns out that this necromancer is only one of a whole range of undead halflings that TTCombat produce. I can see myself making a large purchase in the future. The Revenge of the Heinie maybe?

The other two figures are the two actual figures from the Lichemaster scenario pack, or at least I think they are. I have since seem another version of Ranlac the Black with a moon face shield but the demonic one if the one used in the illustration from the scenario pack.

Finally there is Lord Krell. I'm not too happy with the green. I put a wash over it and it changed the shade I was going for. Still he's painted now and that's what matters.

Ranlac's stat block in the scenario is roughly the equivalent of a Lvl 5 Undead Hero, which is 30 points. He carries a sword, shield and the remnants of plate armour for an additional 4 points. That's 34 points in total. Krell is described as a Mighty Hero so I reckon he's about a Lvl 20 Undead Hero, which is 105 points. He has plate mail (3 points) with a Rune of Protection (10 points) and a magic two-handed sword (25 points) gifted to him by the Chaos powers. It has two powers Warp Attack and Degeneration Attack (50 & 5 points). That gives Lord Krell a total of 198 points. 

Finally there is Heinie himself. He is probably the equivalent of a Lvl 20 Necromancer (240 points) but he has a magic sword (25 points) with three runes: 2 Minor Death runes (against humans and dwarves) and a Cutting and Smashing rune. The minor death runes automatically kill the target if it is one of the named species and the cutting and smashing rune reduces saving throws by 1. There's no real equivalent in 3rd ed so I just went with Freeze for 50 points. Which if my maths is correct is 315 points. 

That gives triumvirate of terror a total points value of 547 points. Here they are posing for a group photo.

Till next month - slán go fóill 

Overlord note : had to adjust points a little as magic items are not to be counted, as per the rules 

Just John's Other Nightmare Legion (308 Points)

Rank & File #4

I seem to have a problem getting these units completely over the line (Probably because I try and get too many troopers painted). As with my first post I managed to get the troopers done but the three leaders just aren't finished and I decided not to rush them. Looks like next month is going to involve a lot of standard bearers, musicians and champions as well as the leadership of the army.

I managed to paint 22 of the troopers this month. I changed the colour scheme from the first lot and found these new coffin shields on the Gripping Beast website so I thought I'd add them to give this unit a more unified look, more of what I view the Nightmare Legion being I suppose. 

The group shot has 22 troopers all armed with spears, wearing chainmail and carrying shields for a grand total of 308 points.

2nd Company of the Nightmare Legion

These are a mix of three of the four variants of the Nightmare Legion Trooper. I do have the fourth but for some reason he didn't turn up when I searched through the painted figures.

Nightmare Legion Variant (Front and Rear)

Some group shots of the various variants follow. The guy with the chainmail coif was the worst to paint, mainly because they were stripped a few years ago and bits of paint were stuck in the chain links. I ended up having to go at some of the links with a pin to get some depth.

These guys were my favourite (and there's the fourth variant lurking at the front left - I knew there was one in this batch). I just like the open mouth and the hole in the back of the helmet. Plus less chainmail.

And finally these guys. Possibly I could have done more with the helmets but I was tired and it was late.

I'm happy enough with this month, although I would have liked to get the unit leaders finished - this is as far as I got with them. I want to try blacken the champions armour, I have to finish the goat fur/skin on the musician and I want to try and weather the standard a bit more. I also need to change the shield colour a bit to tie in with the troopers.

I have definitely learned a lot from this years OWAC so far - mainly that I am not picking a horde army if I get invited back next year :-) However it has been a lot of fun so far - roll on June and the month of the Lichemaster.

Just John's Brain Eating Zombies (48 points)

Rank and File #3 

Points: 48

 

After last months failure I was determined to get these finished this month and I made it by the skin of my teeth late last night. Kind of. I possibly should have looked at the points for zombies before I started painting them. Turns out that at 4 points each I have managed to paint a whopping 48 points of troops. Hopefully our fiendish overlord will let me away with this slight oversight. 

The zombies themselves are a mix of the old C18 zombies from Citadel, the lovely Kar-Keel Zombies from Upstream Game House and I think one is from the old 1980's AD&D range. It took me a while to get the flesh somewhat like how I wanted them and then occasionally I would get confused between a bit of cloth and a bit of intestines. Once that was done I went for bright coloured clothes with the intention of dirtying them down and making them duller. It worked, but maybe next time I might add weathering to the bottom of draping clothes like the dress. Glad to get these done and I'll try and get more done before the end of the challenge.

                                                                Citadel C18 Zombies

                                        Kar-Keel Zombies, AD&D Zombie and a C18 Zombie

                                                            Citadel C18 Zombies