Ben D's Skellibobs - OWAC IX WRAP UP

It had to happen eventually folks.

We got to the end of OWAC IX.

For those of you just tuning in, I’ve been painting an army of Undead Gnomes with paint schemes inspired by works from David Gallagher and Ian Miller, as per the prompt of this season’s challenge.

Ian Miller

David Gallagher

I began OWAC IX reflecting on what the challenge would be to me, or to be clearer which aspects of the project would be the challenging part. I think in previous years I have made volume the focus of my challenge, since I delight in surprising the readers of this blog with oddball filler or kooky units, but this year was different. There had been rumblings of doubt about people finishing their projects this year given the stresses of the world, and recognizing those concerns in myself as well, I made the army compositionally something I was confident I could paint in all of 6 months. With that fear quenched, I decided to paint not just with the palettes of these artists (which was already the challenge,) but to also paint more fantastically. 

What does that mean? 

I feel that for a long time my sensibilities were drawn from earthier and more naturalistic color groups, like how Frog and Toad is illustrated with a small range of colors, but all of them are drawn from the nature that Arnold Lobel translates into the aromantic amphibian adventures. Gnomes don’t exist, but assuming the fantasy realism and lowness of fantasy, they’d have only so much dye for their clothes, and maybe a homogenized skin-tone depending on how much contact they keep with communities outside their own. Since I didn’t imagine the undead gnomes as having a culture they actively engaged in (I am unsure of skeleton sentience,) their material culture would be a stagnation of the culture they were harvested from the graves of, while their current continence would be a reflection of the magic that raised them from the tomb. My goal was to paint as much of the magic onto the miniatures as I could, hence the extra high saturation of colors, and the decision to paint the skellibobs’ bones like they were enchanted instead of fresh out the dirt.

Here is the army, as originally proposed

Undead Lord - Vampire Lord on Dragon - 825 pts

2 Necromancers - 68 pts/each

20 Skeleton Warriors - Full Command and Halberds - 257 pts

20 Skeleton Warriors - Full Command and Halberds - 257 pts

10 Wights - Full Command, Spears, Shields, Heavy Armor, Skeletal Steeds - 528 pts

Total - 2003 pts

Hmm, actually there is one addition that I failed to mention. Last month I revealed that my second necromancer was actually Heinrich Kemmler the Lichemaster, but as many oldheads know, where there’s a Kemmler, a Krell is sure to follow.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a Krell in budget and in time for my OWAC deadlines, but I did place a last minute Ral Partha Europe order that happened to include a powerful looking skeleton champion with an iconic helmet. Although it’s not an exact 1:1 I was reminded of the named equipment of Fafrd and Grey Mouser; their weapons have names, but the physical objects are replaced time and time again. This is a Krell with a Black Axe of Krell. Is it the Boneripper of Theseus? Maybe. In later editions, Krell’s Axe is a magical equipment your Vampire Counts characters can take, meaning that Krell and his axe are not attached at the hip, and it could be that if there is a singular magical Black Axe of Krell, it could be one of Krell’s goals (he is likely on the more sentient side of skeleton) to be reunited with his iconic item.

Anyhow, Krell isn’t the only extracurricular model of my army.

As mentioned previously, I do like my detours and surprises, and so while I don’t have 5e points for all of these figures, the army has grown beyond its original footprint. This delights me to no end. 

The full roster is actually

Heinrich Kemmler and Krell

Necromancer

Vampire Count on Dragon

40 skeletons

10 mounted wights

3 ghosts

3 stands of crow swarms

15 zombies

10 mummies

And judging by my recent acquisitions, we’re likely to see more before this army is put to rest.

Congratulations to all of my fellow OWAC IX conquerors; I hope you’re proud of what you’ve accomplished, and that you’re taking a well deserved rest.

If you aren’t though… I hope you’re having fun planning for next year’s OWAC project!

The Artist Gets a Hat

That's all I've got to say from this side of the keyboard. Thanks for all the fun, and see you next year!

Prince of the Night - Valtteri's Undead Legion - April Leader Month

All right, my first Leader Month!

Though I did paint enough models to qualify for a Rank and File month as well...

And this time most of the models are proper old METAL, not some fancy printed resin or what have you.

The models

I've been looking forward to painting the Mummies since the start of the challenge. I never had these models as a kid, partly because they disappeared from the Undead range with the first Vampire Counts army book. But now I finally got to paint and play with them!

These were a given a pre-shading with a bone coloured speedpaint, then drybrushed up to white and finally given the good 'ol enamel wash.
I noticed that the enamel had dried glossy on same parts like the weapons handles and corrected that with some matt varnish after the photo shoot. I still don't know why the enamels some time dry matte and some time glossy!

No banner for them because they don't have one in the Army Book and there's no command group models for them. They might get one later though once these arrive.

These Wraiths on the other hand are very familiar to me. I think I had most if not all of these sculpts back in the day. Like I said before, nothing was cooler than a Grim Reaper back then.
I painted them like the ones in the army book, though with a bit more muted color palette.

These guys were painted with straight acrylics with drybrushing doing most of the heavy lifting.

I also painted some more skeletons I had laying around. Gotta get some more bones for those Raise the Dead spells! These were painted exactly like the ones on my January post.

And then we get to the main course itself -  the Vampire Count. And what a model it is! One of my favorites from the 4th edition Undead.

He was painted with carefully layering and glazing acrylics and finally given a coat of ultra matte varnish for that smooth finish. He initially had normal white eyes with pupils but I decided on evil red eyes in the end.

I repainted that sword multiple times and I'm still not quite satisfied with it, but at least it looks like it belongs in the bold colours of 4th edition Warhammer.

Behold the ugly phase - the stage all minis must pass through.
But after a week or the mini comes alive. Well okay, undead but you get it.

Gotta say, I'm pretty proud of the Vampire!

But wait a minute, doesn't an Undead army need a Vampire Lord to be their general, not a measly Count? Well, there might something more powerful still lurking in the shadows...

Terrain

The Mummies and the skeletons were so fast to paint I had time to do a few more hills. To be fair, I can't remember If I started these on March but if I did, the majority of the work was done in April in any case.

Nice big gently sloping hills that don't make old precious metal models fall on their butts. The hills were shaped from a big block of cheap basic styrofoam, coated with a DIY sculptamold and then homemade texture paint. The cliffsides are pieces of dried bark. Everything was painted with browns and greys and then given a liberal coat of flock which was then sealed with diluted PVA. The flock itself is a mix of 5 different premade products (mostly Army Painter's) to give it a more natural look.

                                                                    Wraith for scale.

I didn't find the time to get a game in this month but hopefully I'll get to try some of my new units in May. Can't wait to field some cavalry and move more that 4 inches a turn!

Stats

What do you know, I've painted over 100 hundred models already. I honestly didn't think I had this in me! Phew!

January
25 Skeletons w. Swords&Shields, including Command Group	214 points	25 models
Wight	37 points	1 model
Necromancer Champion	163 points	1 model
2 Skeleton Ogres	72 points	4 models
2 Mummies w. 2-handed weapons	90 points	2 models
February
2 Wraiths	150 points	2 models
20 Zombies including Command Group	88 points	20 models
Zombie Ogre	16 points	2 models
Screaming Skull Catapult	74 points	5 models
March	904	61
Chariot w. Scythed Wheels, Crew w. Shield & Bow	79 points	5 models
Skeleton Horsemen w. Shields& Light Armor & Command Group	276 points	10 models
1 Wraith	75 points	1 model
April
8 Mummies w. 2-handed weapons	360 points	8 models
6 Skeletons w. Swords&Shields	54 points	6 models
6 Skeletons w. Spears&Shields	60 points	6 models
3 Wraiths	225 points	3 models
Vampire Count	200 points	1 model
Total	2233 points	101 models

For May my goal is to try and replicate the classic Army Book cover art. I've also got a special terrain project in mind...

Previous posts:

January

February
March