Act 6
Rugluk stood atop the hill, armour dented, bandaged gut still leaking a bit. Behind him, his bruised and battered horde gathered, grumbling and picking their teeth. The siege had dragged on long enough.
“Dis time,” Rugluk barked, “I lead da charge!”
A confused cheer followed. Some orcs clanged weapons.
With a mad roar, Rugluk thundered toward the gate, his boyz behind him. Ladders slammed against walls. Rocks flew. The ram finally broke the gate-and to everyone’s shock, they made it in.
“We done it!” Snagrat screamed. “We’z in!”
But inside, the fort was… quiet. Too quiet.
No dwarfs. No traps. No boiling oil. Just cold stone.
The place had been deserted.
Rugluk stormed through the halls, snarling at shadows. The warband followed, less triumphant by the step. Finally, they reached the hall of the dwarf king. Empty. Just a few smouldering torches and a broken throne.
Rugluk found the tunnel entrance soon enough. It was dug out behind the throne and reeking of stale ale and beard oil. The dwarfs had slipped underground like weasels.
No loot. No prisoners. No glory.
Just silence.
Later, Rugluk sat on the cold floor of the keep, cradling a dwarf skull he’d found in the rubble.
He stared at the skull, one eye twitching and briefly contemplated the very act of being.
“So… dis is wot I gets. No gold. No crown. No songs.”
The skull didn’t answer.
"Er... what's da plan now, boss?" a goblin asked nervously.
Rugluk stood, tossed the skull over his shoulder, and grinned, blood on his teeth.
“We find where da stunties went. An’ we knock again.”
And so the final mandatory month of painting for OWAC Season 8 is behind us. This season felt shorter than the previous ones, and I’m surprised we’re already at the end! I’ve really enjoyed working on this army and look forward to returning to the project in future seasons. While this month was less productive than the earlier ones, I’m still happy with what I have to show you.
I painted Ruglug, his bodyguard, the Army Standard bearer, a troll minder, a spider swarm, and three mantlets. I also started painting a shaman and some goblins, which I hope to finish in July and include in the wrap-up post.
Rugluk Backstabba, the leader of my orc horde and the main character of the story. I really like this "Giant Orc Chieftain" model and thoroughly enjoyed painting him. Naturally, he has to be accompanied by his bodyguard.
Drodab Ironbrow — the loyal bodyguard of Rugluk Backstabba (and Aruglid Longface).
The Army Standard of Rugluk Backstabba. I decided to stick to a classic design, as with the previous banners, and I’m really happy with how this one turned out. The tankard shield was, of course, captured from my Bugman’s Rangers, and I plan to reuse the tree design in my Wood Elf army-if I ever end up collecting one.
I had some spare time, so I decided to paint a troll minder. For now, he’ll be looking after trolls from Slargash’s army, but I will paint some trolls of his own later.
As I still had some spare time, I painted a spider swarm. The base includes a frame that holds two small dice to track remaining wounds.
This month in points:
SIEGE
You can find three mantlets from the group photo above. The mantlets are simply covers that cost 5 points each. The ones I painted are from Wargames Foundry, but I also crafted three more from wood. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and haven’t painted them yet.
And that’s it for now. I’ll need to hurry and get more models painted, as I’ve got a game scheduled with this army in just a few weeks.
