Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9, March Post (Rank and file #2 - 110points )

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9 March Post (Rank and file #2 - 110 points)

Where did the last eight weeks go to?

At the end of February I just didn't make the deadline to submit. I had seven Archers and three Wardancers that were close to being finished, but weren't quite there.

I got a new camera, and played around with that for a couple of days.

In the beginning of March, I went on holiday for a week, tagging along with my wife when she attended a conference in Bergen in Norway.

I decided that, since I had plenty of time to spare, I'd swap out the wardancers and do three more archers instead. I really want to focus on building up my core army of archers, after all...

The cat picked up an infection, or virus, or something, and needed to go to the vet a couple of times and get a course of antibiotics.

I tried out different hair colours on the archers, and didn't like them, so redid the hair on half of them.

I had a busy week at work and skipped some painting nights...

I looked out the leader figures I want to do next month and tried out a couple of colours on them, to find some inspiration.

You get the picture.

With a few days to go in March I was STILL not done with those ten figures.

I had a couple of late nights and slapped some more paint on them.

Are they done? No. Base colours and shading are done. Highlights and metals still need to be done.

Will they do? I guess they'll have to. At least there's no bare metal on display... They pass a basic inspection from the far side of a tabletop.

Another ten archers join the ranks.

Group 1:

Group 2:

For the bookkeeping:

10 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows and hand weapons

For April, I have to be realistic:

I have to focus on a small group of leaders, and finish them off in the first two weeks of the month. Focussing on batches of two or three figures was working, and I need to get back into that rhythm.
I already have to make a start on the last rank-and-file batch in April, if I want any chance of hitting the deadline in May.

I'm teetering on the edge of the field of bones.

Well done to the challengers who are delivering such a lot of well-painted models! You're making it look so easy!

Hope to see you for another instalment next month!

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9, January Post (Rank and file #1 - 110points )

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9 January Post (Rank and file #1 - 110 points)

Well, I got off to a really good start in January, and made the most of my holidays - I had the base colours on all my January models within a few days. Plus, I managed to do at least a little painting every day of the month, so the progress was consistent.

I had a few wobbles in the middle of the month. This is a new colour scheme I'm trying, with a 'summer palette' based on a tetradic color combination, with green as the main colour. However, I realised some of the other colours I'd chosen (purples and oranges) weren't really working as well as I'd hoped, and I'd gone with too many complementary colours, so I had a bit of a re-think and re-painted a couple of tunics to make the group a little more coherent. In the end, I managed to scrape through and get the first 10 models finished. Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular, just 10 basic Elf archers.

I'm happy with how they turned out:

Group 1:

Group 2:

And the whole unit together:

Looking at the photos I see a few areas which need a little more work, but considering this is the most minis I've painted in four years, I'll take it. I'm planning on varnishing everything this year too, but I'll wait for a bit before doing a big batch, then flocking the bases.

I think the 'summer palette' worked fairly well. I used three different shades of green. Two worked really well, but I'm not so sure about the darkest green. I might try another shade in February.

The warm reds, browns and yellows worked out pretty well. My grand plan is to use an 'autumnal' palette with my High Elf army, and a 'winter' palette with my Sea Elves. I'm not sure what I'll do for my Dark Elves, but that's something I can worry about later.

I did want to give an impression of age, despite the bright palette, and was planning to do more ageing on the metals. I still might get round to this, as well as weathering the leathers more, but this would be a nice bonus. If I get round to some warriors in the later months of the challenge it should be easier, since there will be more metal and armour on display.

For the bows, I wanted to emphasise that these are the renowned Wood Elf bows, made from the Lornalim tree. I went for a lighter, natural (bone) colour, but I'm tempted to add more highlights, to make them stand out more.

For the bookkeeping:

10 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows and hand weapons

Now, I'm a little worried about being able to keep up the pace I need to complete the OWAC. I didn't have many distractions, was painting a little every day, yet was still cutting it fine to reach the finish line this month. I suspect I'll need to take on some different models in February, either ones with less details, or at least something to break up the monotony of painting archers. I've got a few Wardancers and Bears in the wings. However, I've got to keep reminding myself that my personal goal for this OWAC is to have at least 30 archers done by the end of it...

I'll also try to focus on batches of three figures, aiming to finish them in a week. At least this breaks things up a bit, and might avoid that last-minute sprint for the finish line at the end of the month.

At least our cat is quite happy that I'm joining in the challenge - he's realised I now spend more time than usual sitting still at my painting desk, so has been making the most of it:

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9 Introduction Post

 

Graeme's Wood Elves - OWAC 9 Introduction Post

Back in the OWAC saddle again!

After the embarrassingly swift trips to the Field of Bones in my last few OWAC attempts, I'm back with my Wood Elf army.

If many of the figures look familiar, it's because many were in my line up for OWAC V, and the rest were in my original plan for OWAC VI, before I defected to #teamskaven! Yes, they've been languishing in a cupboard for almost four years. If you're interested, you can check out the posts here:

OWAC V: https://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2021/12/graemes-owac-v-introduction-post-wood.html

OWAC VI: https://oldworldarmychallenge.blogspot.com/2022/12/graemes-owac-vi-introduction-post.html

Hopefully I've learned from some of my previous mistakes - this year I have enough figures fully prepped for the full OWAC, and then some:

My goal for this OWAC is to focus on completing the mandatory 30 archers for a 3rd edition Wood Elf army, and to build from there.

Since OWAC 9 is based on selecting a pice of old GW art and theming the project around it, I'm going for the box art for Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers Regiment of Renown:

In my 30+ years of collecting, I never actually owned a Skarloc RoR box! This year I managed to buy a lot of Wood Elf archers with the front and back covers of the box, which is where I got the photo from. I plan on getting it framed and hung up somewhere for inspiration for the challenge.

I'll not be following the colour scheme too closely, as I'm going for a combination of a summer palette with a weathered and ancient look for these Wood Elves, but it's definitely a good reference to work from.

Now for a closer look at the army.

The bulk of the army will be made up of archers, and archer elites.

Archer unit one:

Archer unit two:

Archer unit three:

Archer unit four, made up of the figures from Skarloc's archers Regiment of Renown, with a small conversion of Glam, to make him look a little more like the illustration on the box. I'll be treating them as regular archers for the challenge, rather than scouts. This means I should be able to hit the compulsory archer minimum number for the force.

Archer unit five:

You'd be forgiven if you're getting bored of seeing Elven archers by now, so there's a few units of non-archers too.

A fairly large unit armed with spears. At this point they only have spears, but I'm looking for suitable shields to add somewhere, to match the 3rd edition army list. If anyone has added shields to these figures, either slung on the back, or attached to the arm, I'd be really interested to see how you did it! My attempts so far haven't looked very convincing.

Beastmaster with bears:

A small unit of Wardancers, armed with two hand weapons. There are a couple of conversions in there, for the sharp-eyed:

Finally, some wizards to lead the army:

I've converted a few of these models, just for some variety, and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

There are a handful of heroes, more infantry troops, and some bonuses in the works, but we'll have to wait and see if I find the time to finish the prep and include them in this year's challenge.

Just for the book keeping, here's an estimate of points for a 3rd edition WFB army, based on what's prepped:

Characters

1 Wood Elf Sylphseer (Level 15 wizard) - (206 points)
Equipped with a horse, and hand weapon

2 Wood Elf Spellsingers (Level 10 wizards) - (236 points)
Equipped with a hand weapon

2 Wood Elf Woodfeys (Level 5 wizards) - (156 points)
Equipped with a hand weapon

1 Wood Elf Guardian Wardancer (Level 10 hero) - (103 points)
Equipped with light armour, and two hand weapons

Total: 691 points

Troops

10 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows and hand weapons

10 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows and hand weapons

10 Wood Elf Guards (+2 missile elite) - (150 points)
Equipped with longbows, light armour, and hand weapons

7 Wood Elf archers - (110 points)
Equipped with longbows, light armour, shields, and hand weapons

5 Wood Elf Glade Runners (scouts) - (80 points)
Equipped with longbows, and hand weapons

20 Wood Elf Warrior Kinband - (180 points)
Equipped (for now) with spears, and hand weapons

1 Wood Elf Beastmaster - (15 points)
Equipped with light armour, and a hand weapon

5 Bears - (100 points)

6 Wood Elf Wardancers - (138 points)
Equipped with light armour, and two hand weapons

Total: 993 points

So, currently not quite enough archers to hit the minimum compulsory number for 3rd edition, but I'm still planning to add some models to the archer units, either with troops, or musicians and standard bearers. If I don't manage that, the Guards will be demoted to regular archers, and I'll update the points values.

It's a bit daunting seeing all these Wood Elves together on my worktop. I'm going to be realistic, and state right from the start that there's no way I'll get all of these painted - I'm just too slow. I'm going to start off painting them in batches of three or four, and see how far I get.

Nice to see some great looking armies in the works for OWAC9. Fingers crossed we make it to the finish line!

Good luck to everyone!

 

JohnR's Dwarf Wrap Up Post - OWAC VIII

Another OWAC disappears into the rear-view mirror. I was very happy with my contribution this year, though my motivation went south towards the end. Still, I managed 148 figures (almost 25 a month) and put a big dent in my dwarf pile of shame.

 

Obligatory Army Shot.

 

 

Dragon Company and Lord on Snail.

 

 

Clansdwarves and General on Shield. 

 

 

Norse Dwarves, Slayer and Gyrocopter.

 

 

Crossbows and Wizard.

 

 

 

Cannon, Bolt Thrower and Hero.

Great respect to everyone who finished this year and hopefully see you all in about six months time.

 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 6 - Leader Month - Lord on Shield

Another miniature I've had for over 20 years. I was never that keen on the King Alrik miniature and I never use special characters so this was an easy conversion. Not sure what happened to Alrik - he wasn't in the box of dwarves; he may have ended up on evilbay somewhere in the distant past.

So this is Dwarf King Skarrengrim. One of the leaders of the twin holds of Stannaheim and Zimmerpeak. Born aloft on his shield-bearers.

 

Obviously the shield-bearers don't appear in 3rd edition, but I reckon the rules and points can be ported across without any changes; they're pretty simple and not terribly powerful.

Stannaheim and Zimmerpeak are relatively recent dwarf-holds, founded by refugees from Karak Eight Peaks around the time of the fall of the city in -513IC. Skarrengrim can trace his lineage back to the royal houses of that magnificent but doomed metropolis. 

 

 

King Skarrengrim - Level 25 Hero - Heavy Armour, 2 Handed Weapon, Shield-bearers - 263 points.

Well, that's it for another OWAC. I lost a lot of motivation for this one part way through May and never really got going again! I still have a chunk of Dwarf minis left to paint, maybe they'll make it into a future OWAC but for next year I reckon I'll return to 40K. Or epic 40K. Or maybe BFG.

Or Bloodbowl... 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 5 - Wild Card - Lord on Snail. (396 points)

I went into May with the best of intentions and the Ironbreakers lined up neatly on my paint station.

A few weeks in, however, it was very clear that I wasn't going to get them done. So I decided to go easy on myself and paint a mini that I've been looking forward to since deciding on the Dwarves for this years challenge: the Lord on Snail from Black Scorpion Miniatures.

 

Known affectionately within his clan as 'Olaf the Old', Olaf SnegleHerre or Olaf the Snail Lord is one of those most rare warriors - a mythical Dwarven Snail Rider. 

 

The mighty War Snails are hand raised from eggs by the Dwarf Sneglemesters and selected from their siblings for their exceptional speed and aggression. However only the most mighty dwarf lord can bend the truculent War Snail to their will and get it to submit to being ridden.

 

This miniature was a joy to paint and I recommend checking out Black Scorpion if you're unfamiliar with them.

Level 25 Dwarf Lord - Heavy Armour, Shield and lance - 214 points

Level 25 Giant Snail as War Beast - 182 points

(Obviously the snail, as a war beast, would ignore rule 1. in the Giant Snail entry in WFB 3rd edition p247. I would also recommend giving the snail +1 move in exchange for an attack so it can keep up with the rest of the army lol)

 

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 3 - Rank and File (1077 points)

Well we're at the half-way mark and I'm not completely sick of painting beards yet, so I guess that's something :)

 I stuck to the plan again this month and painted a regiment, war machine and character. With those complete I had some time left so went for a few extra bits - crossbow dwarves, sappers and another hero.

25 Norse Dwarves - Hand Weapons, Light Armour and Shields, Command and level 10 Hero - 387 points

 Organ Gun - 99 points

 

12 Crossbow Dwarves - Light Armour and Crossbows with a level 5 Hero - 209 Points

 

 

6 Sappers (3 teams of 2) - 90 points

 

Level 10 Dwarf Wizard - 118 points

 

Level 20 Dwarf Hero - Heavy Armour and 2 Handed Weapon -  174 points

 

I made good progress this month and feel like I'm on track to finish everything in the initial challenge by the end of June. However work is looking busy for next month and we have house renovations ongoing so I guess we'll see!

 

JohnR's Dwarf Month 2 - Rank and File (769 points)

 Rank and File Month #2

 A regiment, character and war-machine again done this month :)

 

 25 Norse Dwarf Clansmen, +1 Shock Elite: great weapons, heavy armour, shields, command and level 10 Hero - 499 points

Level 20 Giant-Slayer Hero (a Morgue Filler - what an awesome title!) with great weapon - 170 points

 

Gyrocopter - Level 5 pilot with light armour - 100 points

 

 The Army so Far. 1600 points, almost enough to get a game in methinks...

 

Finally, my pledge for this year:

Snotbum Dungmuncher - a proper, classic orc: skinny, shifty and evil. Not of those modern, fangled, fungal body-builder, 'Incredible Hulk' type orcs that you seem to get nowadays thank you very much.

Soon to be making his way to one of the Overlords!

 

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!

Graeme's Skaven - June - Leader Month (82 points)

 Graeme's Skaven - June - Leader Month (82 points)

This month started off well - I converted some models to give me some variation of leader models and add a little bit of character to the army. I managed to get the base colours on them in the first week, and was feeling optimistic that I was going to be able to end the challenge on a high note and deliver a group of at least seven well-painted characters. I even looked out some musicians, in case I finished ahead of schedule, and made progress on the rat swarm I'd been working on.

I'll spare you the details of the , but work got crazy busy, the weather was too hot and humid to paint (at least for me - my Scottish blood doesn't appreciate temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. I couldn't focus well, and I was getting frustrated with the paint not flowing well.) and I suddenly found myself with a week left in the challenge with no way of completing them. I decided to focus on just five models. After a couple of days that got narrowed to three. With a day left in the challenge, I just focussed on getting a single figure finished to avoid the field of bones...

So, here he is:

1 Warpweaver level 10 Wizard, armed with a spear - 82 points

I'm VERY fortunate I left the leader month to last. I wouldn't have had a chance if it had been a rank-and-file-month. In the end, I'm happy with how he turned out, and to get over the finish line, but I'm frustrated at how little I painted this year - I started with grand designs, but I've been struggling to keep up the pace, and this month in particular feels like a real let-down.

I'll put some finishing touches on as many 'in progress' models as I can in July, and see what I can put together for my wrap-up post.

Congrats to all the challengers who made the finish line! I'm genuinely impressed with the quality and quantity that people consistently produce here. It may takes me years to complete the same amount of models some people get through in a six-month challenge, but progress is progress.

Mustafa’s Oswald Gektov had a busy month!

 Due to my inability to use a calendar, I found I only had a week left to get this month’s entry done.

Not a problem as undead are quite forgiving of drybrushing and speed painting ;)

Nothing particularly special or unusual about this month’s lot. 

I added some much needed ranged attacks (for all the good they’ll do me ) along with two more units of infantry. Basically Oswald has been digging up whatever he could find.

The points are as follows:

12 skellies with command and bows, 136pts

12 skellies with command and light armour, 136pts

5 skellies with x-bows, 55pts

That’s a total of 144 points for the month :)

Not too shabby for one week of painting. Don’t look too close though as they are arse !