James (24)’s Chaos Army

I need to get off my ass. That’s reality, no fluff no BS. I have proud legions of lead, plastic and resin warriors strewn about a laughable “hobby room” that looks as though hurricane citadel blew through leaving few survivors.

I have really enjoyed the Old World Army Challenge, looking from the outside in and I’m glad to be a part of it now; I’m hoping it is the impetus needed to get off my ass and get some figs painted.

When considering what to paint I was lost for a while. I was leafing through some old WD’s and fate appears to have a vested interest in Chaos.

I have always loved Fat Bloke’s Beastmen from the OG “Tale of 4 Gamers” and after reading through  the articles for what seems the hundredth time I had made a decision.

I really like the jet black skin tone, it is so unique, menacing and really exemplifies (to me) what a black paint job should look like... BLACK! So often you see an attempted black paint job appear grey  or blue. I’ve never painted over a black undercoat so the challenge seems like a good reason to bite the bullet.

Here’s a smidgen of what I’m working with:

From this pile I’ve drawn up the following for my army (more like a scouting force but I digress) using warhammer armies 3rd edition.

I would like to tackle a larger force, The mighty avenging lord of chaos army list (from the 3rd ed army book) has Beastmen herds of 30 (and a mullet) but I have neither the time or the interest to paint a grand army.

I have a Skaven army skirting 4K points in 3rd edition. Never again. Never forget. The horror, the horror of painting that horde.

I want to keep the force small for the challenge as I’m painting over a black undercoat for the first time, using a colour scheme with no formula and figs that I have not even looked at for 7+ years let alone considered painting. Oh and best of all my toddlers ruined my laptop so I won’t get to upload any decent photographs taken with my SLR; I’ll be documenting my progress using an iPhone, readers will love that! Barf.

I cracked my copy of the 3rd edition rule book (orange book) and saw this crude scrawling from a previous owner:

“Isn’t basic I’m tripping”, That pretty much sums up how I’m feeling right now....

James' End Times Gazette

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, miniatures, destined to drain my bank account for decades and give me a troubled brow.  It is I, their painter alone, who can tell thee of their saga.  Let me tell you of the days of OWAC II.

The end is here!  What a blast.  Putting together a playable undead army for 3rd ed while I got to watch everyone else's amazing collections come together has been a ton of fun.  Aside from actually getting off my butt and finishing a project, this put me in contact with some new manufacturers that I otherwise wouldn't have looked into.  That helped me find a new scifi game that I'm really digging, so there's plenty more on the painting table. These rabbit holes really do go pretty deep sometimes.

Legion of the Dinner Table

Some of this stuff, like the Death Riders, has been sitting around unpainted since Brennan and I started playing with minis back in the BattleSystem days of Middle School, so getting it fully painted and into an army is a real treat.   I took a minute and called my mom to tell her I'd finished painting my Christmas presents from 1994; she was pretty happy to hear that, but she says I'm still not getting any new ones this year. 

I swear we never actually played it properly.

Many thanks to Brennan for coercing me into doing all this work and to the Overlord and the rest of the crew for having me along for the ride.  It's a good group of folks here and I've enjoyed working alongside you all.  

May your dice roll many 6's...except for Ld tests and when you're playing Axis & Allies, of course.

Attempted Andy Chambers Glam Shot

James' Grave Fillers (201 points)

 

When Slange's force hit 1,000 points in May I was pretty jazzed. I got a lot painted, I saw a lot of other people's excellent minis get painted, and I even took the bone pile out for a dry run game of 3rd ed against Brennan's Slann.  But this is Oldhammer; when are we ever really satisfied with our armies?

What to fix in June, then?  First off, I made 5x3 movement trays and there were some gaps to fill.  

Second, when I was getting ready for OWAC, I bought the Skeleton Legion set from Alternative Armies.  Most of it was used throughout the challenge, but there were a few unused pieces left, so for completion's sake I opted to finish the last of them in June.

The lone axeman here fills in the second to last spot on the Grim Reaper's movement tray. The spearmen were just unused figs, so here's a small starter unit of spears. In the back middle you'll see one of the chariot drivers that got displaced by the Wight Hero in the undead chariot.

 

Filling in the final hole on the Grim Reapers' movement tray is this decaying flag-waver from Reaper miniatures. He was an unintended late-challenge purchase.  I really like how the Grim Reaper unit came together and it bugged me not to give them full command, so here he is!  How that skull is fastened to the fabric is beyond me; let me tell you of the days of high adventure.

These figs are the fillers for the core skeleton unit. That third one in is from a previous month, oops.  Photo-bombing undead! It's a real mix in this group.  One from the GW Skeleton Army box, the few in the middle are Alternative Armies, and then there're the dog and handler from Ral's Lich King set.  I put the handler and dog on a 20x40mm (thanks, Warmaster leftovers) and use it as two figs to keep it easy.

OK, so the bolt thrower.  Why a bolt thrower?  It's not in the 3rd ed Undead army list; the HammerCops are sure to take me downtown. 

This is the only piece that would have been left from the Skeleton Legion set so it just had to be painted.  Damn the points, no mini left behind.

A Ral Partha skeleton bolt thrower was also one of the first things I bought for my very first undead army (for AD&D BattleSystem!) so that's fun.  

It doesn't hurt that I play with cool agreeable folks that don't really care if I throw down something fun at a reasonably fudged points cost.  

That's just how we Oldhammer it up here in the hinterlands.

 The participating units all nice and tidy with their filler figs!

1 Grim Reaper standard bearer: 24 points

1 Grim Reaper: 12 points

6 Skeletons with spears: 55 points

5 Skeletons (4 and a dog): 50 points 

1 Bolt Thrower: not even in the army list

Total for June 141 (+bolt thrower 60pts) points

Overlord note : we are going to value that bolt thrower at 60 pts, for a nice 201 pts monthly total.

James' The P is Silent (235 Points)

Upon reaching the eastern coast of Lustria, Slange's troops unloaded and began setting up a base camp for him.  They didn't require much, of course, but a safe perimeter from which to operate would help keep his mind clear.

Strange leathery birds soared through the air here and looked like they would decay far less quickly in this heat than the large carrion vultures from back home.  Slange turned a few and set ghostly scouts upon them go forth and gather valuable intelligence on this unknown land. 

The scouts ranged out and located some small villages populated by what looked almost like halflings, albeit a bit thinner and more tribal.  Given their limited military use, he decided they were probably far less trouble to just leave alone and sent the carrion deeper into the jungle.

Slange bolstered his forces a bit with the occasional remains of Old World conquistadors' exploration parties and bided his time until the scouts found what he was looking for...an ancient city!

May's big excitement was getting to work on the Pterrordactyls, which are three 'Wraith on Pteradons' from Alternative Armies. Not that anyone needs a reason to paint a wraith on a dinosaur, but the idea here was to provide some dovetailing between my army and Brennan's Slann; our plan from day 1 was to have our OWAC II armies duke it out in Lustria.

I also finished up five more old archers that I got from AA.  That should give the army enough for two units of six bony bowmen.

The main skeleton unit gets bulked out to a nice classy 10 models with the addition of a Grenadier horn blower that showed up unannounced one day in a very random EBay grab. The unit also gets a standard from AA, with the banner coming from a scrap piece of printer paper.

May's Total
3 Pterrordactyls (carrion) - 135 points
5 Archers - 60 points
Standard and Musician - 40 points
Total - 235 points

James' Obligatory Nondescript Skeleton Pile - 206 Points

April quickly turned into be the "oops, only two months left and there's only one model in the core skeleton unit so far" month.  Nothing terribly ground-breaking this month, but it had to get done!

The core skeleton unit is led by a Citadel Wight on foot that rummaged through my bitz box and stole a Foundry viking shield. The rank and file are all from Alternative Armies and really just gobble up brown washes very well. There's also a pair of archers and a skeleton with double handed sword to beef up the archers and Grim Reapers a bit.

It wouldn't be a classic undead army to me without the option to toss skulls across the battlefield.  Enter Bony McSkulltosser.  I know I've got the little pile of skulls lying around somewhere in the basement, but just like that one errant Lego piece, it won't make itself known until I stop looking.

The army so far...easily more complete than anything I ever put together between 4th and 6th editions!

And what of Slange?  The rest of his story takes place on the other side of the ocean.  By the time he gets there, everyone on the boat (i.e. April's painting) ends up a touch thinner. What Slange lacked in excitement and adventure this month, though, he'll make up for in May when he lands in Lustria and finds new and unfamiliar species to exploit!  Those special carrion are going to be a lot of fun to work on.

April's Horde

Lv 5 Hero: 30 points

Skull Chukka: 80 points

6 skeletons: 60 points

2 Archers: 24 points

1 Grim Reaper: 12 points

Total for April: 206 points

James' Bucket on Wheels - 203 Points

As they marched southwest toward the coast of the Great Ocean, Slange's horde came upon an old battlefield on the border of Bretonnia.  There wasn't too much left aside from some bodies and broken down chariots; skinny folk from Tiranoc must have decided to fight the grail-seekers here some time ago.  Sadly, there didn't appear to be any lion remains to work with.  Still, the budding necromancer saw enough materials to make it worth the time to stop and do some recruiting.

Everything was going well until he tried to raise the corpse of an old drummer.  The incantations caught in his throat midway through as he unexpectedly coughed, causing a minor miscast. The musician got to his feet, but he was stuck on repeat,  playing the Naggaroth national anthem, 'O, Khaineada', over and over.  Best to send that one away and be done with it.

March turned out to be a small model count month.  I spent most of the time on the chariot.  It's a solid chunk of metal and the crew have been swapped out in favor of a hero.  The crewman with the whip got painted up, but there was no good way to fit him in, so the hero will have to drive and stab at the same time.  The hero is supposed to be a lich king, but that would have blown the points sky high, so we'll call him a 30 point hero for the sake of the challenge.  He and the chariot are all from Alternative Armies' Undead line.

The mounted hero is a total hodge-podge.  His nightmare was in my bitz box for ages and goes to something else entirely.  The hero is a Citadel wight, and his shield is from my Foundry vikings.

As for the musician, he's being sent off to Canada to keep our beneficent overlord entertained.  

Pay the piper...with a drummer.

March Manifest
Chariot with scythes and a Lv 5 Hero - 138
Mounted Lv 5 Hero - 40
Offering to the Boss Man - 25
Total - 203 points

James' Raising Horses (207 points)

Joined by his quiet new friends, Slange headed south toward the Empire. He could already tell that it would be difficult to control all his thralls at once and decided that it would be wise to add lieutenants to his force along the way.  His book spoke of an artifact, an orb known as the Noch-Larr, that would help him bind more powerful unnatural beings to his will and its last known location is where he headed next.

Upon finding the orb he spoke mighty incantations that would also make for an epic movie soundtrack and summoned a hero of undeath, the Chaos Deathmaster (or so the catalog said).  Slange would count on the Deathmaster to control his ranks of Grim Reapers.

 

They would be heading into more populated areas soon; bony farmhands and a single undead middle-manager wouldn't be enough to get them through the realms of mortal men and out onto the open seas where they were headed.  Slange scoured the area and found enough 'raw materials' to construct  some Death Riders as well.  A mounted champion to lead them would be of great value...perhaps a detour through Bretonnia was in order.

-February's Progress-

Lv 5 Hero: 30 points

6 Grim Reapers: 72 points

5 Death Riders: 105 points

Total for Feb: 207 points

Aside from the Grim Reaper in the classic black robe, everything for February are Ral Partha  figs that I bought for TSR BattleSystem back in the early 90's.  It's a little surreal to finally have them painted.

James' Dark Magic in Norsca (211pts)

Slange had been in the wilderness of Norsca for days, trudging ever northward through the snow and ice. One of his tribe's raiding parties had just returned from a labor recruitment effort, and he had overheard some of the new elven 'volunteers' discussing an artifact of immense power somewhere beyond the village.  The elves must have assumed, in their typical arrogance, that none of these human savages could understand them.

He may have been a son of Norsca, but Slange had a keen mind and a penchant for sorcery.  He also had a questionable moral compass.  And so he here he was, looking for some abandoned ruins, dangerously close to the borders of the Wastes, hoping to find something to quench his thirst for Total Power.  

When he finally found the ruins, he wasn't disappointed.  Whoever had lived here was long gone, but they had left behind records of their work.  One book in particular caught his eye, an odd necromantic spellbook.  He had practiced some necromancy; the raiders would bring back the occasional scroll from the Empire and toss it his way, but this was far more powerful.  There were names and locations in the book he hadn't heard of, pictures of strange temples that looked nothing like buildings he had seen, but there was also a map.  He wasn't familiar with the land mass pictured, but he did understand the arrow at the top of the map pointing north, with the word 'Ulthuan' next to it.

If a book like this existed, then maybe there was more.  He wasn't sure what he'd find, but Slange knew he was headed south of the realm of the High Elves.  He wouldn't make it there alone, though.  Slange looked at the book and decided it was time creatively encourage his people to help.

 The tribe would never agree to an expedition to an unknown land like this.  Norsemen sailing the seas to search for Newfound Land just wasn't a thing, not when there was plenty of good sacking to be done in the Empire.  Upon reaching his village, Slange unleashed the power of his new tome and began turning his own people into his unwilling minions.  The tribe's warriors tried to stop him, but the book's power was too much.

Slange had assembled the beginning of his expeditionary force, and was ready to strike out toward unknown lands and find out how much power this race known as the 'Old Ones' may have left behind. Surely they couldn't still be around after all this time...

January's Painting

Slange, Level 10 Necromancer-85 points

5 Skeleton Archers-60 points

3 Grim Reapers-36 points

Skeleton musician-20 points

Skeleton with a big ol' stick-10 points 

Total-211 points

James' Bones in the Basement

Back in the early 90's I was approached by a guy in the school cafeteria that was familiar with our local D&D group. He was pitching this bonkers idea that we could have just as much fun with dice and MINIATURES as we were currently having with dice and paper.
I was skeptical, but I gave it a shot. 

What followed was years and years of modeling depravity, ultimately leading to that same guy approaching me 25+ years later and challenging me to finally get off my dusty butt and paint those same models that I had picked up in Junior High School.
So, here we are. Thanks, Brennan.

My project is going to be centered around some old Ral Partha, Citadel and Grenadier figs, as well as scraps from the Skeleton Army box that haven't yet been completely destroyed by pets and adolescent tomfoolery.  Thanks to this whole thing getting off the ground around Black Friday, I've also got some nice skeletons and carrion on their from the UK. 

The picture here is me making sure I've got at least the first month's entry prepped ahead of time while I wait for the order to come in for the rest of the goodies. 

That's a Frostgrave wizard being used as the Necromancer; he heard there're some great secrets hidden away in Lustria, so watch your back, Brennan's Slann!

• Necromancer L10:  85
• Lv5 Skeleton Hero: 30
• Chariot: 88
• Lv5 Skeleton Hero (mounted): 40
• 5 Death Riders: 105
• Lv5 Skeleton Hero: 30
• 14 Skeletons with hand weapons and command: 170
• Lv5 Skeleton Hero: 30
• 9 Grim Reapers: 120
• 5 Skeleton Archers: 60
• 5 Skeleton Archers: 60
• 3 Carrion: 135
• Skull Chukka: 80

          Total 1,023 points