AdamH’s rat attack part three! Slaving the best for first?!

 It’s month one, energy is high, so I decided to go straight for the models that I find the most dull to paint:

Skaven Slaves! These represent my first Rank and File month submission.

Yea they are certainly not the most exciting, being deliberately painted in a drab brown scheme, but they are very useful in a Skaven army and with this unit that brings my total to three units of 25 (a combined total of a massive 195 points! (Including musicians)

I wanted to have the option to field commands with the Slave units but in reality it is rarely a good idea. You are giving your opponent victory points for nothing, plus what self respecting Warlord would allow his slaves to carry a banner?! Nevertheless I have painted some additional banner and champion models to put into my existing units to at least give me the option:

It is also worth mentioning that I have still got to varnish these models, and rather than bring out my airbrush every month I am going to wait until the end of the challenge and do them all together. Therefore they are missing some final details like basing tufts and leaf littler but you will see them with these elements on my final wrap up post later in the year.

So that brings me onto my month one stats:

• Models painted: 25
• Total points: 80
• Shades of brown: too many

Lastly for the month we have the OWAC secret Santa/model exchange/figure witness protection program?

My chosen recipient was Samothy, and I know how much he likes robots and sand so I painted him a classic Necron:

Enjoy buddy!

To all the other challengers, can’t wait to see everyone’s forces come together, and to the other member(s?) of #TeamSkaven; squeak squeak, nibble, squeak, yes-yes. (They will know what it means).

AdamH’s OWAC VII Intro Post – The rats are back in town!

Why do I hate myself... a question I have been asking for years without an answer. 

Here we are again, me plus over 100 rats. You might be thinking that surely I must have run out of Skaven models by now? Ha, I laugh, I could probably do the challenge another two times with what I have left in my box of shame.

But yea, once more around Skavenblight we go:

Just like my previous Skaven entry I am looking at filling out my existing force with missing units as well as bolstering the core:

Mainly this means some additional Clan Skyre units in the form of a unit of Globadiers and while not technically from 4th/5th edition a couple of Warplightning Cannons:

As well as a few Jezzails:

And who better to lead this part of the army but a selection of Warlock Engineers:

I am also filling out a few older units with additional options, mainly this means random command models:

and some more Plague Monks:

For this year’s challenge I am targeting the following list:

Every time I do Skaven for the challenge I increase the number that I plan to paint, and somehow I manage to get them done. This time is no different, this is the most models I will have attempted in an OWAC yet (as long as we don't account the many small Giant Rats from last time). But if I can get them done I think my army will be touching 5k points when fully equipped! (On a side note if anyone in the UK fancies a game hit me up!)

Best of luck to the rest of the competitors as always, and especially to my fellow #TeamSkaven!

Graeme's Skaven - July - Wrap-up

Graeme's Skaven  (266.5 points)

Wow, six months have flown past!

It's been a proper challenge this year. It started with indecision about which army to go for, and included some dips in motivation, severely limited hobby time due to work, and the usual amount of procrastination. Starting to paint with magnifying lenses really helped my eyes, but slowed down my painting when I realised how much detail I had been missing...

While I'm glad to have finished, I really scraped through on the bare minimum of models, and let's not even start on points value...

My plans were much grander, and I just don't feel this year's effort is up to the standard I was aiming for, or really completed - there are loads of details I want to redo, and I still didn't get round to painting up their shields, due to a silly amount of work in the last month.

Still, it's another dent in the pile of shame. I'm a step closer to fielding a proper Skaven army. Progress is progress!

Anyway, here's the end result:

So the final tally is 42 figures, broken down into:

1 Warpweaver level 10 Wizard, armed with a spear - 82 points
15 Clanrats, armed with a hand weapon, spear and (still not done) shield - 97.5 points
15 Skavenslaves, armed with a hand weapon and spear - 45 points
5 Clanrats, armed with a hand weapon and light armour and (still not done) shield - 30 points

6 Giant Rats, armed with malice and evil intentions - 12 points

Which is a whopping 266.5 points in total! I'm lucky this was a special edition of OWAC, or I would have been resting gently and deeply in the field of bones!

Thoughts of OWAC VII are already floating around in my head. I've got to try to come up with a realistic and less grand plan if I'm going to take part next year. I came up with a list of options for armies and the popular vote in the OWAC group pointed to extemely Oldhammer-esque candidates of either Slann or Norse. Now I'm not ruling out another last-minute, ill-advised switch to Skaven again, but those are looking like the strongest contenders so far. Some test models are in the pipeline!

I've also got plans for the next 'special edition' OWAC, which involves a Rogue Trader theme. So the summer months should be busy, prepping as many figures as I can.

Massive congratulations to the challengers who managed to finish the challenge. I'm incredibly impressed with the number of challengers who go above and beyond, with not only well-painted armies, but also huge quantities of figures (and scenery)! I'm envious, but also inspired! Keep it up!

ZeroTwentythree's May Skaven (35 bigass pts)

May Skaven: Skavenslaves (Rank & File)

This month was back to rank & file troops. Boring ol' Skavenslaves. These are mostly somewhat newer figures by Colin Dixon. I think they capture the Skaven vibe almost as well as the original Jes Goodwin sculpts. (There are a few Jes Skaven in there too.) I'm still mystified as to why GW/Citadel never made plastic Skavenslaves. Given the vast numbers that should be fielded, collecting them in metal has always been... challenging. Honestly, as a Skaven player since their inception, I've always been frustrated by the half-assed nature of their availability. Let's not eve talk about the plastic monkey-rats. 😬

So this month has been extra challenging. But it's the Old World Army CHALLENGE, right? No the Old World Army Walk In The Park. We had to clear out our basement, which happens to be where my painting table is. The work that was done didn't go according to schedule, meaning I was left without no workspace for painting.

When live gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or Skavenade.  Warpstoneade? Whatever. I didn't achieve my May goal, and this is some really poor painting, but got some rats painted and I kept myself in the OWAC for another month. June is slated to be my leader month, but I will also try to finish the rest of the Skavenslaves. And maybe some touch-ups on these hastily painted figures from May.

Other artists call this "plein air." I'm not sure they had miniatures in mind, but I'll go with that.

May Points:

35pts          13 Skavenslaves plus mucisian.

35 pts         MAY TOTAL

1,078 pts       OWAC TOTAL (so far)

Graeme's Skaven - April - Rank and File #3

Graeme's Skaven - April - Rank and File #3 (52.5 points)

This month should have been a walk in the park - I'd almost finished painting my March contribution, but just couldn't get things over the finish line. I expected it would take a few nights of adding the finishing touches and then I could get the April post done early and make a start on some of the May contribution, or pick up some leaders or more exotic troops.

The reality was slightly different.

The end result for April:

5 Clanrats

5 Skavenslaves

Naturally I had forgotten about a short break in the beginning of the month - I went with my wife and a group of friends to Islay (my fourth pilgrimage to the island) for some whisky-tasting and sightseeing. The preparations and trip effectively took up the first 10 days of the month. Well worthwhile! I tasted some great whisky and brought back a nice memento or two.

Just a little souvenir...

After returning I half-heartedly picked up my paintbrush and faffed for a week. I think I painted, re-painted, and then refined the same pieces of tunics and armour on three figures for about a week. I got stuck in a weird rut, where I just didn't like what I painted.

Then one of our two cats, which we've had from kittens, suddenly developed a blood-clot. My wife adopted them when a friend found them abandoned in some woods in Germany, about nine years ago. Within two hours of me spotting something was wrong, I found myself sitting at the vet's, watching her being put down. This was on my wife's birthday. The day before my birthday. This resulted in cancelled celebrations and a week or so of little motivation to do much, let alone paint.

Baloo

I finally forced myself to sit down and get some painting done in the last few days of the month, in a desperate attempt to avoid the field of bones.

Yet again, it's not my best work, and I don't feel the Slaves are really done, but they'll do. I'm pretty happy with how some of fabric and details, especially on the Clanrats, turned out. I was finally enjoying painting them in the last couple of days and it was a welcome distraction from the suddenly much quieter apartment.

So, the final tally for April:

5 Skavenslaves, armed with a hand weapon, spear and (soon to be painted) shield - 17.5 points

5 Clanrats, armed with a hand weapon, spear and (soon to be painted) shield - 37.5 points

Resulting in my highest monthly total yet: 55 points! That's an army total soaring into the dizzying heights of three-figures!!!

Anyway, the end is in sight! Lots of unpainted Skaven still await me, as well as loads of little details to finish off, as well as shields and bases still to complete, so that should keep me busy enough. I really hope I find my zone again in May and I can put in a strong finish.

Graeme's Skaven - February - Rank and File #2 (27 points)

Graeme's Skaven - February - Rank and File #2 (27 points)

Like the month, it's going to be short and sweet...

Without further ado, here's my February contribution in all their glory:

February's rabble

February is always a tight squeeze, so the Giant Rats were called up to make things a little easier to hit the 10 figure target. I painted up two of them as albinos, just to break up the dark colours.

The Skavenslaves turned out well, and I'm really happy with them. However, I've been fiddling with my lighting and camera setup and still don't feel the photos are coming out quite right, so the experimentation will continue until I hit the sweet spot and can display them in all their glory.

Skavenslaves

5 Skavenslaves, armed with a hand weapon and spear - 15 points

6 Giant Rats, armed with malice and evil intentions - 12 points

So, the dizzying total of 27 points of Skaven rank-and-file is added to my army this month!

That brings the grand total for the challenge so far to 72 points!!!

The plan for March? Uhm, more Clan Rats and Skavenslaves... It's not creative and it's not exciting, but it's slowly bulking up my army, thank you very much.

I promise to try to prep some more exciting and colourful stuff for later in the challenge, but for now I'm just going to keep grinding out more cannon fodder.

Graeme's Skaven - January - Rank and File #1

Graeme's Skaven - January - Rank and File #1 (45 points)

I expected getting back into the OWAC saddle was going to be a challenge, and I wasn't disappointed.

Breaking last year's record of 2 painted miniatures wasn't going to be difficult, but getting the minimum 10 done before the end of the month came down to the wire, again.

Scraping in by the skin of my rodent teeth, I present my motley crew for January:

January's mob

I've mixed feelings about these. I had to rush in the end to get them done in time, so the bases still need flocking, the Clanrats are missing their shields, and there are a few things that I'm going to tidy up later. So, on the scale of things, not my best effort.

On the other hand, I had to start facing the realities of getting older by using a magnifier while painting, to take some of the strain off my eyes. It's definitely helped there, but also let me see all the flaws and sloppy errors I make while painting, in glorious detail. I think I'm painting more neatly now, and can pay more attention to details (because I can finally see them!), but this has the downside of costing more time. I'll have to adapt a little, to up the tempo...

The bug-eyed monster

Anyway, I'm happy with what I did paint, and I suspect I'll be satisfied once I finish off those niggling details that are missing. I've been getting into the swing of things the last week, so I'm planning on painting smaller batches, to help speed things up.

Some more detailed photos of the meagre January offering:

Skavenslaves with spears - front

Skavenslaves with spears - rear

Clanrats with swords - front

Clanrats with swords - rear

One of the things I forgot to prep, due to my last-minute switch of army, was some suitable shields. And the weather over in The Netherlands hasn't been conducive to undercoating anything - the temperature hasn't gotten up to 10°C in more than 2 months. Fingers crossed things get warmer soon.

Luckily, this edition of OWAC doesn't have a minimum points requirement per month, otherwise I'd be in a spot of trouble...

5 Skavenslaves, armed with a hand weapon and spear - 15 points

5 Clanrats, armed with a hand weapon and light armour (with shields still to be done) - 30 points

So, a whopping 45 points of Skaven rank-and-file to add to my army!

On to February! More of the same, I suspect. Although I might have to do a small batch of Giant Rats to meet the figure count in the shortest month...