Benjamin & OLLEYQUEST - Leader Month takes an unexpected turn

January was going to be a breeze. Despite moving house, having lots of stuff on at work, family visits and a trip away - just four figures was going to be utterly achievable right? RIGHT?

WRONG.

But it was fine. I can just reorientate, maybe even retire peacefully, and use all that free time spent not doing OWAC to do some much needed housework and catch up on deadlines.

WRONG.

So what went wrong THIS time?

The Bob Olley bitz box brims with potential

I had managed to claw a day or so and a few evenings over the past week to crack on with these guys. The fab four. I'd even made a few creative discoveries along the way.

Painting the elf first, I'd stumbled into quite a nice palette, shading recesses with a blue, then highlighting with a pink. It was great. Simple, sophisticated - and guaranteed to work on everything else right?

The elf finally felt cool...

WRONG.

For the life of me I've just not been able to replicate it. Either it's the complexity of other models (the dwarf is extra fiddly) - or I just need more time to pull it apart and codify it into a new process to apply to everything else. Who knows.

The Forbidden Tizer

The Barbarian and Wizard have had another dettol bath. The Dwarf is awaiting his THIRD if you can believe that. My plan is to keep the elf as he is, but repurchase all the parts from Essex Miniatures to recreate him - just incase the style of this project goes the other way.

So gloomy 😞

So in short no heroes this month.

So why are you still here Benjamin?

Well dear reader. Gentle support and peer pressure to keep going.

The ultimate backup to completely fluffing your time management on OWAC it seems, is to just paint ONE LEADER. However in this case, in the absence of the heroes, this really wasn't going to fly. The gargoyle is still in the bits box, and the chaos sorcerer, well is he really a leader?

Who else could suffice?

Ah yes...

The Old Man

So I had flirted with the idea of making Zargon/Morcar/Mentor/Guy-from-the-box for the Wildcard month, as I was going to make the dungeon, and it is HIS dungeon right?

He chiefly comprises of a random Essex Olley dwarf head with an undead bishop guy from Reaper that was originally going to become a beastmen shaman last year (I'd stupidly already taken the feet off!🤦‍♂️).

Until this afternoon he looked like this.

Well at 4pm on Jan 31st the sculpting began - and gosh darn it if you're in this position blasting greenstuff with a hairdryer and leaving it for a few seconds to cure can really do wonders.

Still a bit green and gummy

And then with some paint...

This guy has the worst basement.

From start to finish he's taken about 8 hours, sculpting, painting, and eating tea.

So there we have it. Leader month, from the precipice. Olleyquest is still alive. ALIVE.

Benjamin & OLLEYQUEST - The second coming of Bob Olley

Again?!

Oh boy! Has it been five months already? Yeah.

Bloody hell.

So I guess that's a year since we were last introducing ourselves and our projects?

Damn.

So what's happened since then?

Well I've not written a single blog post so this one is particularly unnecessarily large and rambling.

A brief recap...

Just over a year ago I wanted to create a classic hairy horde of beastmen using just Bob Olley figures, but that was totally topped by the opportunity of doing that as an OWAC challenger.

The young fool.

Getting through the challenge was fantastic, and was itself topped by the various interactions and support from the OWAC community.

This itself was topped by just finishing the thing, which itself was topped again by being voted by such fine company as a winner.

I'm really missing the July heatwave.

The toppest of topped bits was then getting a fab painting of Korag himself by the talented Lissanne Lake!

The coolest damn thing I've ever seen.

I'm quite literally topped out.

So what now?

Well this year is very special as you may have heard as OWAC is opening itself to many other game systems and projects.

I was really divided on what to do. Mordheim was my first real love, but then I could try chucking Korag through six successive mini games, or maybe all those Talisman characters.... or maybe there was something else?

Ah yes. The greatest game in the universe...

Les Edwards, and humanity, at its peak

What makes it so great? Well aside from a very compelling argument here, it's one of the few games that my friends (who are not inclined to obsess over fantasy tabletop gaming) can really enjoy and engage with, even when a bit drunk. It's got great replayability, and decades worth of house-rules and expansions that really add whatever flavour and dynamic your group needs.

The only twist is I'm not going to be touching my battered first edition. That would be sacrilege.

No. Instead I'll reach for a familiar gimmick.

Bring out the Bob

I get the impression Bob Olley can be a little divisive as a sculptor. The needless over detailing, the strange armour and clothing patterns. That jawline. He's the closest pewter can get to tasting like marmite - you're either all in or all out. No other series of miniatures seems to inspire either such wonder or revulsion as the Essex Miniatures Q Series.

If anyone knows of any other adverts please let me know!

These were some of his earliest works, packed with unruly and primordial unhinged details that seem to trickle through in his later ranges. They also have MASSIVE heads.

Maybe because of this controversy, Essex Miniatures website does its best to not tell its customers about how great this range really is. It's hidden away with other fantasy ranges, and the very best models are not even photographed. The upside is they're priced like it's 1999 still - so you can have a binge and STILL pay the heating bill. I'd encourage you all to go check them out.

See no image!

And look how the curious wargamer is rewarded! Gold.

The plan!

High Adventure in a World of Pain

So you can probably see where this is going. I'm going to be getting the Essex Q series off my chest a bit. Just like last year - a bit of a "what if" project, where this style and approach is applied to a game system, which in this case is the Heroquest core game.

All on silly modular bases!

This won't be exclusively from the Q Series. A large portion of the model count is from the very similar Iron Claw range, or bits from Ral Partha, Reaper or the Bob Olley bitz box. But it'll all be big and chunky - with lots of essential converting.

I'm also really REALLY into how the Amiga Heroquest game looks. It's not just a fluke - it just looks incredible and has a really great palette. I've been trying to imitate it for years and really got nowhere, but maybe now is the time.

The music is also incredible.

In other personal news I'm buying a new house - which is a bit of a project in itself - so I'm going to pick each month as it comes and not necessarily do it in this order..

LEADER MONTH - THE HEROES

• The Barbarian, Elf, Wizard & Dwarf.

UNIT 1 - GREENSKINS

• 12 Orcs
• 12 Goblins
• I've also got some Goblin Shamans and Orc Shamans, and various archers that might get chucked in too.

UNIT 2 - THE UNDEAD

• 12 Zombies
• 12 Skeletons
• 6 Mummies
• And maybe some personality models for flavour...

UNIT 3 - THE FIMIR

But Bob Olley never sculpted a....

Aha!

Well I've figured it out. And there will be 6 of them.

UNIT 4 - CHAOS

• The Gargoyle
• Chaos Sorcerer.
• 6 Chaos Warriors.

WILDCARD - THE DUNGEON

This is a real stretch - but I want to make the dang dungeon too. But we'll see how it goes!

...and Sir Ragnar.

The Overlord Offering

It seemed appropriate to present the Lord of OWAC with an undead king. It was also super fun to paint.

Spill yer guts

TL:DR

So the greatest game reinterpreted with the greatest miniatures ever sculpted? What could go wrong? Watch this space to find out...

Oh here goes.

👑 KORAG RISEN – Benjamin's Wrap Up Post

I've actually got a fever whilst writing this - but apparently it's not COVID.
Could it be OWAC withdrawal? Ask me again in 2023.

We're finally here! It just seems like yesterday that I was hurriedly pouring my heart out to you guys about all things beast and Bob. It's been an amazing learning curve, figuring out pretty much everything from painting, converting, sculpting, and it's been really thrilling to see these skills develop. I'm certainly not new to these skills, but I've never really FINISHED anything at this scale before. Seeing the army completed now is a little surreal, and it's hard to imagine life not working on it.

Will we see a version 4?

Loose Ends!

So I had a few bits and bobs left over, specifically to join the Pestigor and Spearman units...

Spot the Ral Partha AD&D figures...

I also wanted to finish these guys before I forgot what colours to use...

Beasts on beasts!

And some other guys got a touch up...

Consistency is key...

I was also obsessing over Bryan Ansell's 1987 Golden Demon t-shirt, so ended up making something silly to commemorate the event...

Wait until those nerds at work see THIS.

Korag's Horde

The photography set up in my cluttered dungeon really struggles at this scale!

So what's the final points roster? Let's just admire them all one last time...

MONTH ONE - KORAG OF THE PITS (unit 1)

NAME	TYPE	pts
KORAG OF THE PITS	Level 10 Hero	113
MURFANG’S MARAUDERS	Level 5 Hero Beastmen x 23	363
	TOTAL	496

MONTH TWO - THE PIT KING’S DESPOILERS (unit 2)

NAME	TYPE	pts
THE PIT KING’S DESPOILERS	Level 10 Hero Minotaurs x 11	688
	TOTAL	688

MONTH THREE - GARTHOR'S WILD HUNT (unit 3)

NAME	TYPE	pts
GARTHOR, LORD OF THE CRAGS	DRAGON OGRE	247
GROGER HEXHOOF	Level 10 Wizard	170
BLUDGER BLOODMANE & THE WILD HUNT	Level 10 Hero Centaurs x 23	1120
	TOTAL	1537

MONTH FOUR - THE IRON CLAWS (wildcard)

NAME	TYPE	pts
THE IRON CLAWS	Chariots x 4	448
	TOTAL	448

MONTH FIVE - THE ARMY OF KORAG (unit 4)

NAME	TYPE	pts
KORAG THE DESTROYER	Level 15 Hero	174
AUROG, BATTLE STANDARD	Level 10 Hero	213
GROB’S HORDE (PESTIGORS)	Level 5 Hero Beastmen x 23	363
RAMBROK’S ELITE GUARD (SPEARMEN)	Level 5 Hero Beastmen x 23	388
	TOTAL	1128

MONTH SIX - KORAG THE CONQUEROR (general)

NAME	TYPE	pts
KORAG THE CONQUEROR & THE WINGED TYRANT	Level 25 Hero Level 10 Wizard Level 5 Hero Massive Chariot	684
	TOTAL	684

GRAND TOTAL - 4991 (or 5303 if you include this month's extras!)

In Conclusion...

It's been really fun to work on this, and the monthly deadlines and community support has been excellent throughout. Seeing everyone's projects develop at such an inspiring level has left me feeling very lucky to have shared this experience in such rich and valiant company.

Will I do it all again? Certainly! But maybe not quite at the same scale. The sheer quantity of figures, conversions and sculpting required did cause this to take over my life a little more than expected, and at times the creativity and quality control became sidelined to just get the stuff done. But I'm sat on a big hairy horde as intended.

A big thank you to everyone who reads these posts, the courageous and inspiring challengers, the enigmatic Bob Olley, my patient and supportive girlfriend and to the mighty overlord himself for creating this platform for us to showcase our labours. It's been fabulous, frantic and most of all fun.

So what next? More beastmen? Possibly. More Olley stuff? Certainly!

See you next time...

You're doing it the wrong way you idiot.

Benjamin's Massive Chariot 🚜 - KORAG THE CONQUEROR - Leader Month (684pts)

Korag the Conqueror!

So I've saved the best til last, with leader month being the final entry. Each month has presented some quite radical and unexpected challenges, from understanding colour a bit better, to converting, to working with larger quantities of figures. This month had a bit of everything - however whilst presenting itself as the modest workload of just one large miniature, literally filled june right into the final moments.

The Leftovers

As per usual, there were some lofty ambitions that weren't achieved. So in what seems to fast becoming part of my routine - I'll start with what didn't happen!

I don't know if Bob reads these posts or not. Is the shrine a bit much?

Maybe they'll show up in a future OWAC, or maybe just in an instagram post, but the shrine to BOLOBYLE with it's accompanying weirdos didn't make it again! Sculpting the big guy was loads of fun though - and his head is attached by magnet so he can be taken into battle on the smaller shrine.

I'll paint you soon. Promise.

Korag's honour guard didn't make it either...

Well what DID happen then? Well this did.

The Conqueror

They'll never see us coming...

So first some context. This whole project was born of two things.

• Collecting the full Bob Olley beastmen range.
• The idea of putting one of those beastmen in an Iron Claw chariot.

The rest sort of spiralled out of control, and has occupied me for the last six months.

The previous chariots from April stayed a bit more true to adapting the design from the Iron Claw chariot, however for this one I wanted to be a bit more Bob-bastic.

So this thing has two key points of inspiration -

The Elven Attack Chariot

Image credit - http://www.solegends.com/citmd/md04elfchariot.htm

I've always loved this thing, not only because it's an awesome model, but because it's packed full of vibrant characters. Even the horses have names. There's something about four guys in a car that seem's very high school, and when there's four horses involved you know they're not messing around.

Francois-Xavier Ngo's Steppenwolf (White Dwarf 242)

I was also really REALLY inspired by the Eternal Champion article from White Dwarf many years ago, where the same character was reinterpreted across many different systems and settings. The chariot below has been seared into my subconscious for several years...

March 2000, the hobby observed it's apex around this exact moment.

The conversion

The cabin and models were converted back in November. So I've been sat on them for quite a while. 

Dis-embarked

The models represent Gorgrod the Bodyguard, Korag now as a king and Rambuzz the mage. They all have tiny magnetic bases that allow them to be used on the chariot or seperately. The model components are a mix, bodies from Ral Partha and Midlam, with heads from Midlam or press moulded from the citadel range. The cool helmets are from the eternally awesome Essex Q-range.

Re-embarked

Like the previous chariots, there was an initally lasercut frame that got sculpted over. As usual the yellow bits are press moulded from Bob Olley sources, and the green bits are me. It was fun finally applying that big face from the Goblin catapult set.

Press moulding saves the day again.

Most of this month was spent figuring out the rest! The yokes have taken quite alot of figuring out. The original plan was to have a lasercut thing that sort of attached them all together in a single frame - but that seemed a bit boring when the Iron Claw chariots had such theatric figureheads on them.

The dragon is kitbashed from left overs from the Bob Olley bits box. It's all from various Ral Partha kits except for the head, which is from that Essex Dragon that became the Dragon Ogre. The yokes are press moulded dragon tails. 

Top tip - dremel the mouth out BEFORE attaching it to the base.

Introducing the chain was fun, as it could make more direct use of the grinning faces on the cabin.

Painting

Gold.

Painting required a magic brush and alot of squinting, and as always took a little longer than expected! Figuring out gold was this months challenge - I might have gone a bit heavy on the green... but we can always fix that later...

This is a very full oval base.

Points...

Much like the previous Chariot month I've used Warhammer 3ed to custom make the chariot! It also carries 3 heroes and some magic items for some full on points bloat.

A very full stat card.

So altogether 684pts! 

And just like that.... it's done! 6 months, 6 entries, 6 unexpected outcomes.

Quite surreal really.

Wrap up post next month - shall I go mullet or sleeveless denim jacket?