Chris Pridmore's Chaos Space Marines - Intro Post

Hi, I’m Chris! This is my first time on the Old World Army Challenge, and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. I’ve been in the hobby on and off since the early 90’s, and I remember loving Codex: Chaos, but not having the resources to build an army back then. The art, the background stories, the conversions and the paintjobs drew me right in. And now’s the time to build that army!

This isn’t a pure 2nd edition army, I’m incorporating a few older and slightly newer bits when I think they look the part, and I hope that folk will excuse the more modern base sizes (even the earliest power-armoured models seem to fit more comfortably on 32mm to my eyes, and they’re often more stable too). Expect variety, bright colours, and some experiments which may or may not work out.


A Communion of Steel and Blood

My “command section” features an Iron Warriors Chaos Lord, Fabius Bile (just a Chaos Champion for the purposes of the challenge), a Khornate standard bearer and a sorcerer.


Chaos Lord 91
Chaos Champion 58
Army Icon Bearer 55
Chaos Sorcerer 52


The Misbegotten Brotherhood

I’ve tried to bring some variety to this Chaos Marine squad with some classic metal bodies and heavy weapons, some era-appropriate plastics, an original Traitor Marine and a Space crusade champion.

Aspiring Champion 30
9 Chaos Space Marines 225


The Slighted Circle

A squad of Chaos Terminators, including a couple of the old Traitor Terminators


Aspiring Champion 30
9 Chaos Terminators 459

The Rusted Snare

I’ve painted so many plague marines in the past, in several different schemes. Now it’s time to try another!

The Grandfather’s Clockwinders

I’ve always wanted to paint some classic plaguebearers.

10 Plaguebearers 350

That’s the core force I’ll be painting. There’s also a few extras that I’ll fit in as potential wildcards if time and energy allow, including a Great Unclean One, a small support squad with lascannons, and a Dreadnought.

I’ve heard that the Overlord like Eldar and likes ghosts, so here’s a Howling Banshee as my humble offering. 

Skål's Wondrous Hive tour of Gangs and other Oddities

 

What in the neon hell is glowing on? Is it really that time of year again? Another decision to play in another OWAC followed by choices of what the hell am I gonna paint? So this year I am diving into the wondrous game of Necromunda 95. I am stoaked the the great Overlord decided that we could do a free for all as I have quite a few gangs and other Hive oddities I have wanted to paint up for quite sometime now. 

"A hive is an ancient and incomprehensibly vast city, built up layer upon layer, stretching ten miles into the planet’s atmosphere. To those who live in the depths the dark and ruinous Underhive offers every opportunity for wealth and power. Its collapsed caverns conceal the riches of the distant past: rare and precious metals, unfathomable archeotech devices, wondrous mutated fungi and much more. It is also a place of danger, where mutant creatures, renegades and killers hide from the laws of House and Hive. And, of course, there are others who want the riches of the Underhive for themselves." Reading those word when Necromunda was first released in 1995 was simply exhilarating.

I spent a little time painting up all of the bulkheads from the original boxset to use in my photos as well as when I finally get a chance to play. There is something about being able to use the OG terrain while playing that tickles that nostalgic nerve.

I have a few decisions to make as to what I will be painting up. My collection as it stands now minus a few gangs that I hope to acquire before the end of the challenge. I am also playing with the idea of adding a Squat gang since Squats are so hot right now. But that is a 2023 thing to think about.

For my offering I ended up printing up some Space Skeletons using the image of the neon Spaceman for inspiration. I am always in awe of painters that just cut loose and let the paint simply flow. So that is what I did with these two. Painting them was really quite freeing and very relaxing.

 

Yes they are bright, yes they glow under blacklight, and yes they were an absolute blast to paint.

So this season of OWAC I am going to see where my tour of the Hive takes me. I have a rough idea of what I will be doing but if previous years have taught me anything, it is "don't have a plan, just paint." So paint I will. I have been reading the old Necromunda battle reports and I will be doing a few of the gangs from those reports as well as straying into some of the community based gangs and "encounters".

In previous OWAC's I have painted a Wood Elf army, a Dwarf army, an Eldar force, and for the last two years an Eldar Pirate/Dark Eldar force to increase the options from the last two years.

Brace yourselves as the bulkheads have opened and we are going to dive into the Hive.

To all of the new folks joining this season, welcome, don't loose heart, keep your head down and don't make eye contact with the veterans of this crew. You have to earn that. Stay away from the field of bones by painting.

To all of the old veterans of the crew, welcome back, you know the battle rhythm, stay the course and keep those drinking horns full. 

 Till next month.

The mate was fixed by the bosun's pike

The bosun brained with a marlinspike

And cookey's throat was marked belike

It had been gripped by fingers ten;

And there they lay, all good dead men

Like break o' day in a boozing ken

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Skål

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

goblinpaladin's Gang Warfare - an Introduction

   Not all men are content to serve in the timeless fashion: a small minority dream of better things. Some crave wealth, power, or simply to escape from bludgeoning poverty.
    - "The Hives of Necromunda," from Necromunda, Rick Priestly et al. 1997.

been carryin' this book around a long time

Another solar cycle is ended; the world of our fathers spins back into place. Again begins another of the cycle of torment known to mouldering archivists as Old World Army Challenge. Once more, the Great Overlord (Him Who Dwells in the Ice, the Autarch, the Spire-King, &c) has shifted the rules. Now we can delve into the terrible mysteries of the Specialist Games - just so long as they meet the old and challenge portions of the tournament's title.

an Escher juve to gift to the Overlord

in his favourite colours, no less!

still don't do eyes

This one-off adjustment to the rules comes at a great time for me. It's been simply ages since I've actually played a proper pitched battle of any kind, but I have been working on a variety of skirmishy folk and civilians, with the vague intention of playing Necromunda/Gorkamorka or a hybrid thereof. Also, ever since I started to get into Oldhammer, I've gradually been accumulating a great many mid-90s Necromunda figures. The combination of these pressures is starting to become quite intense. And now, the chance to paint them and relieve that pressure! Hooray!

another Overlord gift;
a fell necromancer* to oversee the Field of Bones

but the Challenge is a chain
(Diehard Miniatures)

Of course, as soon as I announced this project, my fellows (particularly Tom) gently pressured me into adding even more miniatures to it. I've delayed writing this intro post in the hopes that the additions will arrive in time. If they don't make it for the pre-tourney photoshoot, expect surprises not on this list.

gonna gut you, cleanskin

We'll start with a gang already cleaned and (mostly) based, although I'd never gotten around to actually starting work. Convenient, now.

Figure total: 13

we are all Σ4R-TAC-U5

I'll aim to get the Pit Slaves done in February. There are fewer of them, and I already have a plan in mind. (It'll be a shame to strip that fellow on the right, but his scheme is completely wrong.)

Figure total: 10

more like twenty stilettos through yer eye

I'm really excited about these! A couple of uncommon Guard and space punk models in this pile that I may take out for a future rag-tag Guard project, but for now let's try and be inclusive.

Figure total: 20

the words of the prophets are written on the 'hive walls

The gang I wanted very badly as a teen. This is most of the range, missing only the power axe leader and the lascannon heavy.

Figure total: 15

money. money is good.

In the absence of a clear 'leader month' category, I'm going to do this motley group of mercenaries and special characters. I've hit ten, thanks to a couple of eBay purchases, so I don't feel as guilty about it as I did when I started drafting this post.

Figure total: 11

do not go into the plains of black glass, past the rad hills.
death waits there.

I'll need to clean these and do some minor conversion work on some. Basing them properly is also going to be a challenge. But on the other hand, Muties are incredibly cool. Not technically Necromunda, sure, but Gorkamorka worked on the same ruleset, so.

Figure total: 11 (mounted)

fethin' outlanders

I had one Ratskin. He was going to be a mercenary scout. And then Tom donated me two more, and I found some for reasonable prices online, and now I have a whole other gang to paint. 

I didn't even own any Spyrers. That Tom!!!

Figure total: 10 - but waiting on more...

Alright. That comes to a lot more than six months work, so we'll see what we manage to get through...

Dust Falls
Artist not credited. © Games Workshop.

*looks a bit like zerotwentythree, don't you think? suspicious...