Ben's Chaos Gnomes - Month 6

Sometimes, things come to an end, and you can tell the person responsible for the thing let out a huge sign of relief as if to say, "finally, I am free of this burden."

I do not feel this way, what with it being the last month of OWAC VIII and my penultimate post, but I thought that was a funny way to introduce my own beasts of burden, these baggage trains for the chaos gnomes. 

They're made with dog pack masters (the gnomey part) and old lead ponies I painted like donkeys (the ponky part?) All of the baggage is hand sculpted by yours truly, and the bases are old cavalry 25*50 glued poorly to a 25*25, because I like the long footprint that exists in its own space. Once I found a website that let me pick my own base dimensions, and I had printed a 10*200 oval, which is to say that this is incredibly tame by my standards (the oval is another story altogether that I promise to tell someday.)

I also gave one of the donkeys a hat so that the other donkey could be jealous of the donkey with a hat. I'm sorry... Ponky with a hat.

There they are...

I also ground out another unit of warriors. I regretted not having more red gnomes (many of them were night lords blue,) so for my last complete unit of the year, here are my red skulls.

Are they part of a cult? Who knows! They've got their own flag, does that count?

Finally, we have two very angry dogs. Last time when I said "I don't think I'll sculpt an entire unit's worth of hats," that was because I'd sculpted these hats, and it helped me decide that maybe I had better ways to while away my time on this earth than the making of 20 little big hats. These though, I've no regrets on whatsoever. These hat dogs have big personalities, and like the geese of last time, will serve as unit filler, or honorary champions if none are brave enough to step up to the challenge. They need names however, but I'm still much too crispy to come up with anything good. If you think of something spiffy, put it in the chat and if it's good, maybe you'll see it in next months role-call.

And here's the month's haul all together, 24 bases of badly behaved bellyachers.

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TOTAL

20 chaos gnomes warriors, great weapons, shields, full command

2 baggage trains 

2 pepperoni petzas

348 pts 

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Man, I can't believe it's the last month of OWAC VIII. 2025 has been a bit of a nightmare, but it's wild that we're halfway through it already. I guess the only thing between us and the unknowable future is the wrap-up huh? 

Well, I hope we're all here to enjoy it. 

Congrats to everyone who's made it this far, and condolences to those we lost along the way. Fingers crossed we'll all read each other next month.

Ben's Chaos Gnomes - Month 5

 

Well my fellow fanatics, another month has passed, and that means it's time to assess the harvest.

First off is a pair of hobgoblin heroes, who I couldn't light to save my life. They might work well as unit champions or accompanying heroes, although I doubt the points they'd cost would be worth it. That said, I counted them as heroes because the math makes my brain light up.

Probably the thing I'm most excited about right now is the Gamers Grass tufts I decorated their bases with. This army's base situation has been kinda plain, so I got some Alien Turquoise and Pink to liven things up. They certainly look otherworldly, and add a bit of pop I'm not sure I'd realized was missing. Being that I'm so happy with the results, I'll likely go back and add some of the tufts to the rest of the army to tie it all together.

Then since it's a rank and file month, I cranked out the penultimate unit of Warriors. Skull masks are all the rage with this band of evil gnomes, but I kinda wish they had big hats too. Even though they didn't hit the spot for me aesthetically, I still think they turned out well. I've decided that I'm going to leave the banner til later, when hopefully I'm more inspired. We've still one month to go and then the grand wrap up, so there's plenty of time to make beautiful things happen.

2 hobgoblin heroes, hand weapons

59 pts each

20 chaos gnomes warriors, full command, double handed weapons, shields, heavy armor

348 pts

+466 pts for May

2763 pts total

Ben’s Chaos Gnomes - Month 4

(Hey Kiddos, April has been an absolute gauntlet. No story time this go around, just brass tacks and pointy hobgoblins. Actually though, have y’all checked out the new Hobgoblin rule set from Mike Hutchinson? It’s great, just trust me.)

Something I learned last month; a hobgoblin bolt thrower only requires 2 crew members, so I began this month with four homeless spearmen. This inspired me to dig into my tacklebox of junk, and pull out all the hobgoblins I didn’t think I’d paint for this project.

Over the course of April, I managed to paint up 20 of the nerds; 10 more spearmen and 10 archers. I like how faux-motley they turned out with their alternating red and yellow outfits. Part of me hopes that with all the red bows and spears that this batch speaks to the red period, but if not I still think it’s fun to have so many primary colors in one place. Much of my miniatures background is in the INQ28 community, so it really is a breath of flesh air to paint with such bright and simple colors.

Anyway, these guys cost points, so why don’t I break them all down for you?

Hobgoblin Archers - 55 pts

Hobgoblin Warriors with boss, musician, and banner bearer - 119 pts

Total - 174 pts

Total Total - 2297 pts

While it’s only 7.5% of the army’s current points total, I’m glad I decided to give these guys a little life. They weren’t in the original army proposal, but they’re here now, and I think we’re better for it. They’re mean, they’re green, and they’ll stab-poke your spleen, (and be great screens for units that actually matter.)

And on that note, back to the paint table. See you in a month!

Ben’s Chaos Gnomes - Month 3

 When the ground began to thaw, Kazar ordered his axes to clear a field’s worth of timber, and that a mine be sunk in its place. The wood and the ore would help to resupply his troops, and rekindle the war engine.x However, there are some who have little appreciation for mining and forestry, and thus the industrial effort attracted the ire of an ancient elemental.

Before too much harm could come to the work, a pair of gnomish lords on great beasts appeared and in short order, they turned the elemental into kindling. Kazar met with them, and learned that they too had come for the pass, but had expected it cleared by now so that they might wage their wars on the other side of the mountains. After a long haggle, both lords had pledged their strength in the taking of the pass, but the terms of the agreement were not shared among the occupants of the tower. Whispers began about what consequences the parley would have, since the only gnome you can trust less than a stranger, is a stranger that shares your allegiance. Whatever was to come, it would have plenty of hammers and axes pledged to it.

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Instead of making a new army this month as I had in January and February, I decided instead to bolster the combined force with some heavy hitters. First was a battery of four bolt throwers, manned by scale appropriate hobgrobles. I did not enjoy painting these as much as I’d hoped to, but a thing I’m learning this year is that you can paint toys like toys and not get in trouble. As long as I’m not unhappy with how they turned out, their paint job is alright by me.

This Sorcerer on Lamassu however was a hoot to do. I got to replace a lion’s face with a Muppet head, which is an automatic win in my book, and then I got to blend the rider to its steed, which was a second win if ever I had one. It occurs to me that this might be the army’s centerpiece model, with it being the most costly hero character my force can field, and that epiphany is fine by me. I’m proud of the conversion and the paintwork on this one, and so I’ll happily find room on my roster for the chonker 

Lastly, we have the Hero on Cockatrice, who is the king of “guys who barely fill out their bases.” To me, this epitomizes the army, where we try to manage the precarious balance of serious threat and little dog energy. In theory, the Chaos Dwarf list is very versatile, but to my understanding, the way I have built my roster is very goofy. My goal hadn’t been to build a “come and get me” brick, but when building with minis I’d gotten thanks to the rule of cool, that’s exactly what I did. Anyhow, I also like this hero and how top heavy he is; that poor Cockatrice is really putting in the work keeping its ride’s bulk from gracing the ground.

This Month’s Additions

Sorceror Lord on Lamassu - 528

Hero on Cockatrice - 254

Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower x4 - 168

Total: 950

With those additions, we now wield the current war host:

Chaos Gnome General - 165pts

10 Chaos Gnomes with Blunderbusses - 140pts

20 Chaos Gnome Warriors with full command - 348pts

5 Chaos Gnome Bull Centaurs with full command - 357pts

Chaos Gnome Sorcerer - 59pts

Chaos Gnome Hero - 104

Chaos Gnome Sorcerer Lord on Lamassu - 528

Chaos Gnome Hero on Cockatrice - 254

4 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers - 168

Total: 2123pts

It’s likely not a legal list, but that is a huge chunk of dudes right there, with room to adjust for a 2k point game. Wild to think that three months into a six month challenge, I could be completely finished with this force (I’m not, but the end feels awful close.) I had a plan at the beginning of the challenge, and for the most part I stuck to it (despite my best efforts,) but now I’m faced with the fact that I only have 30 some-odd models to go until that’s a wrap.

That said, I did manage to pull out another 20 man unit of warriors from my bits bin, so hopefully I’ll be occupied until the end. My to do pile is now two more units of warriors, and maybe a unit of hobgoblin archers, so I can promise at least that much more to come. Who knows? I’ve still got to sort out the baggage train, so there’s still some opportunity for things to go off the rails :)

Anyhow, thanks for another lovely month! Keep up the good work, and see you in the next one!

Ben's Chaos Gnomes - Month 2

"The First Winter was harsh, and Kazar's band of marauders could only backtrack so far up the warpath before retracing their steps became impossible. Snowbanks taller than the biggest dwarf encroached on all sides, and it seemed that every gnome would have frozen to the bone were it not for a miracle produced by the smallest of the lot, a blunderbusser named Ghakath. In the shimmering dark he produced a flame from his palm, which shifted like a compass. Kazar was said to have recognized this as a sign from their patron, and bade Ghakath and his compatriots to follow the flickering fire. After hours of trudging and numbness of limb, the trees before them parted to reveal a small stone outpost from which sprung a merry tune and wafted smells of a feast. There were other gnomes here, no doubt allies of those from the pass, celebrating the shared victory over Harthack's shattered legion. Rage and indignation boiled within the heart of Kazar as he thrust his mentor's hammer skyward. The storm raged too loudly for any to hear his exact words, but all understood the oath. They would take the tower, and later, their revenge." 

+++

The Siege of Stoney Top

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This month I made another very small army of Chaos Gnomes (who also happen to be very small.) Technically this month could fight last month, but for lore reasons that won't happen.

10 Chaos Gnome Warriors with full command - 208pts

5 Chaos Gnome Bull Centaurs with full command - 357pts

A Sorcerer - 59pts

Ghakath, a Chaos Gnome Hero - 104pts

Points this month: +728

The other reason they won't do battle is because it wouldn't be a fair fight. Neither side dislikes having an unfair advantage, but neither force would sign up for being the underdog without having a dirty trick up their sleeves.

+++

And now here's the army, so far, in full. I could actually run this list in a thousand point game if I made some cuts here and there. 

Chaos Gnome General - 165pts

10 Chaos Gnomes with Blunderbusses - 140pts

20 Chaos Gnome Warriors with full command - 348pts

5 Chaos Gnome Bull Centaurs with full command - 357pts

Chaos Gnome Sorcerer - 59pts

Chaos Gnome Hero - 104pts

Total: 1,173pts

It's wild to think that only two months in I'm already so far through my initial proposal. Given that, I'm in process of planning what happens after I run out of pink pests. 

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My Tribute Model was received not long ago, and now exists in the home of one of our esteemed organizers. The model is an old Bryan Ansell sculpt I'd originally gotten to commemorate his passing, but in the spirit of appreciating hobby heroes

Coming up next in: OWAC VIII - Chaos Gnomes

 

Ben's Chaos Gnomes - Month 1

"After a blistering defeat at the Battle of Tinyfoot Pass, the army of Harthrak Hammerblow was scattered to the woodlands beneath the mountains. Winter rolled in the morning after, as though the fire in Harthrak's heart had been the only thing keeping its chill at bay. Amid the cutting winds and icy chills, few of the chaos gnomes claimed rights to the remnants of the horde, but among those who did, the loudest claim of all was Kazar Ambraz. When he revealed Harthrak's warhammer and swore vengeance on their mountain cousins, it is said that the winds howled like wolves, and that the very ground turned black. Such signs could only mean that Kazar's claim was truest of all, clearly approved by the dark gods, and beyond reproach of his kin."

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 For the first month of the challenge, I decided I wanted to muster a playable force. Setting my sights on 500 points, I pulled out just enough models to have a few units to push around on the battlefield. Thanks to the lower starting unit numbers, I wound up with four 5-man units and a general, who I imagined to be the ragged survivors of an ill-fated battle. This isn't reflected in the minis, since I wanted to be fairly clean, but I enjoy the framing narrative. That, and I think its important to give your elements a relationship or two with the elements that already exist in that setting. 

I'm still experimenting with what the chaos gnomes are; being as they're not quite chaos dwarfs and not quite imperial or alpine gnomes. The fun thing is, gnomes are mostly considered mythic, and so their world is briefly glimpsed by human record, and then largely made of rumor and dust. They are known to dwarfs, since they're cousin-races, but they don't cohabitate (to the knowledge of the dwarfs anyhow,) so how could these gnomes have picked up the chaos dwarf culture? Also, where in the Old World are they? I don't know that I'll have all the answer by the end of the challenge, but these are the kinds of details I hope to consider in the coming months.

+++

Chaos Gnome General w/ heavy armor and two-handed weapon - 165p

2x 5 Chaos Gnomes with blunderbusses - 70p/ea

2x 5 Chaos Gnome Warriors - 70p/ea

Total: 445

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I feel good about this start. Since I'll be doing this for a while (these 21 figures are only the tip of the iceberg,) I'm popping my paints in the post as well. Thank you so much everyone, and see you in the future!

Coming up next in: OWAC VIII - Chaos Gnomes

Ben's Chaos Gnomes - OWAC VIII Introductory Post

The Battle of Tinyfoot Pass

Sometimes you get a funny idea. "Ha Ha," you say, "that'd be good for a laugh," and then you leave it alone, because its just a funny idea. Not a funny project, or a funny promise, or a pact forged in the coppery blood of a greedy god who pours molten metal down the throats of his enemies.

Hi, it's been a while. 

Welcome back O-Whackers.

We're back for Challenge Number Eight, year two for me, and excitingly enough, a pattern is starting to develop. Last year, I made an army of Alpine Gnomes, and I mentioned that it was my second army of gnomes (the first one was Skellingtons,) and that there was a third and equally diminuitive force waiting in the wings.

All my gnomes (and all their friends) at time of posting

Well that was the case until this week, where I ranked up the little villains and started doing my comfort math. This time around we're doing Chaos Gnomes, using the Ravening Hordes army list, starring the figures from Admiralty Miniatures. These models are 15mm interpretations of the old big hat chorfs, but with the shift in scale they're perfect foes for my other gnomes (both living and dead,) and with the reduction in detail, there's something softened about their vileness, giving them all the threateningness of a muppet with fangs.

Inside of you, there are three gnomes... so far

At time of writing, the points in 4th edition are as follows;

Chaos Dwarf General on Cockatrice - 310

2 Chaos Dwarf Sorcerer Champions - 242

10 Blunderbussers - 140

20 Warriors with full command - 348

20 Warriors with full command - 348

10 Hobgoblin Archers with champion - 78.5

5 Bull Centaurs with full command - 357

4 Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers - 148

Total: 1991.5 pts

Here's most of the force in all their garish glory:

Pixie Pink is the new Chaos Black

Its a pretty chonky list, mostly relying on bricks of slow moving chomes (hmmm, might need to work on that gnickgname) to hold a line, the hobgoblin bolt throwers to whittle down problem units that the bull centaurs can then remedy with chain charges. Elegant? No. Effective? Maybe? I'm generally unimpressive as a general, but I like what I like, and that's good enough for me.

75 figures, that's easy compared to last year, right? We'll see! Creatives are subject to the winds of magic (for better or worse,) and so scope creep is always a valid fear. Having chosen Chaos Dwarfs as an army, there are a number of units from the recentish Total War: Warhammer III trailer that I'm tempted to oldhammerify. Furthermore, I didn't actually pick Chorfs, I picked Chomes (nope, that really doesn't work) which don't yet have rules. Maybe they'll get some before this project runs is course? Who am I to say though? 

Dang, I'm kinda cute

I'm Ben. I have a resume, but the cliffnotes version is that I'm just a gnome-loving gnerd, prone to whims, and giving it my all.

And on that note, thanks for joining me and everyone else for OWAC VIII! Here's to another year!

Ben's Alpine Gnomes - OWAC VII Wrap-Up

Oh! There's another month you say? Wrap Up's aren't til July? Well then, I guess we're still cooking!

Hello Again Oddbods, stunning weather for a recap innit? We had some laughs, some tears, and some fears along the way, but we made it to the end, all fingers and toes still on. Since last we met, I've had some time to unwind, and think a little (more) about my very first OWAC.

What's left to say after six months of posting? 

For starters, I think I did a pretty good job. Like many of you, I'm sure we've played our fair few games with models silver, grey, or black, so having an army fully painted before it sees play is quite the joy. Its me fulfilling the social contract on my end, and doing it in style even. While not all the paint jobs are ambitious, the overall consistency makes these wee friends a delight to behold when filed in ranks. When someday they do grace a table, these gnomes will look sharper than their pikes. Ouch!

One of the things I don't think I talked about at the start: why gnomes? Why did I devote half a year to these little clowns? I can answer that!

Gnomes by Wil Huygen

Helga's Dowrey and Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

Many of the book-objects of my youth touched on the folklore of the faefolk; hard working, resourceful, tradition laden people who got into as much trouble as they got out of. I suppose I was predisposed to the little guys on that one hand, reading the borrowers, watching the borrowers, wishing I was a borrower... you know how it goes. In retrospect, I think the color choices I made in this project may reflect some of these early encounters, but use your own eyes and tell me if I'm talking fancyfarts.

Outside of this storybook justification, the other rationale could be that in the world of miniatures, these miniatures were miniature. I'd been fascinated by miniatures before warhammer bit me, what with dollhouses, oragami, that indian in the cubboard movie, and more, but gnomes just... they're so tiny, even compared to the miniatures we usually call miniature. Its no wonder I have so many of them now.

my first gnome army; the quiet march led by necromeister Gneil

Yeah, I have more than the 90 you saw for this project. Pictured above is a full army of Undead Gnomes for Dragon Rampant, which could easily translate to a small WFB6E army of undead gnomes, which I'll have to make rules for someday. But yes, now you know my secret shame.

And my other secret shame, the chaos gnomes (which are just 15mm chaos dwarfs from admiralty miniaures.) I have another small army of these guys waiting in my bits box, meaning that someday, I'll have three armies of gnomes, after which I'll need a fourth to make it a good number. What is a good number? One that feels good of course! 

Ok, ok, enough dawdling, I know what you're really here for...

the artist, and their army.

Well, there I am, in the picture. Sorry if its a bit blurry. 

I'm not terribly photogenic and cameras know it, so this is me doing my best.

What are the next steps?

There's a few I think.

Foremost is the period where I do a bunch more math, after deciding which system and edition that the I and the gnomes are best suited for. I will likely re-stat them for sixth edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle, since its my childhood, and because I've been playing Mordheim and its all very surface right now. However, Byron's Rules for Ravening Hordes 6th edition were written in 2017, and no longer encompass the entire range, and so I've made up some point values of my own. I'm also taking liberties with some of the units, and will detail those after the list.

Characters (lords 0-1, heroes 0-4, max 4)

x3 hearthtinker = 55x3

core 3+

25 pikegnomes w/ light armor, champion, bsb, and music = 7x25+30

19 pikegnomes w/ light armor, champion, bsb, and music = 7x19+30

14 crossbowgnomes = 7x14

12 guarden gnomes w/ light armor, champion, bsb, and music = 10x12+30

special 0-4

cannon = 60

5 fox patrol = 15x5

rare 0-2

alpine giant = 160

organ gun = 64

1142 points total without special items

I've decided to charge myself 7 points per pikeman, and that the fox patrol can be a special unit. The special units slot looked awful barren with just units of cannons, and while I appreciate an artillery battery as much as the next general, I don't want to force castling playstyles on myself or my opponents. I don't care much about the scout or fast cavalry special rules, so I'd be happy to shed those in negotiations with any coplayer, as I'll already have to ask permission to play this homebrewed army anyhow. The important part is having fun, and playing with toys with people you like, so whatever it takes to do that is honestly what I'll do.

For 1000p games, I have had a good long think, and this is what I would do. I would drop the giant, a pikeman, and a hearthtinker to get below 1k. Then I'd pop a belt of giant strength on the hearthtinker leading the smaller unit of pikes, upgrade the other hearthtinker to a level 2 wizard, and give the cantonical standard pike unit a stag banner. All of this means bubkis to the uninformed, but basically I'm buffing my gnomish magic, making an in-unit hero a whiz at challenges, and giving my anvil unit a 5+ ward save against ranged attacks. Are these good moves? They're moves that I thought were good. For any list-builders in the audience, I invite you to do better (because I like to learn, and think engagement is fun.)

Summation of changes to the above list, for a 1k point game of wfb6e

-giant

-hearthtinker

-1 pikegnome

+stagbanner

+belt of strength

+level 2 wizard

Are We Done? Maybe for now.

No army is ever done. I said that last time, so now I can reference myself. Also, I'm a big Stillmania fan, so that's a consideration too. 

For the uninitiated (and because I like to repeat myself,) here's the jist.

Since I'm still not at 2k, I'll still have a ways to go before this gnomish army is actually put to bed (if ever.) Because I'm a nerd, and I don't plan on dying before this project is done, here are some brief ideas of how I would expand this project down the line.

• Keebler Illusionist on Tatzelwurm - the model exists, and I think having a big centerpiece model like some gryphon-riding elector-count would be fun, even if the mini I'd use is less than a quarter of the size.
• More Cannons - at least two to round out that unit on the hill.
• Another block of infantry - maybe some old gnomes to add some grumble to the rumble.
• Another unit of fox reiters - because they're in my bits box somewhere.
• Allies, mercenaries, and dogs of war! - so the rules state that gnomes can ally themselves with halflings, dwarfs, and manlings, and knowing me, that sounds like a great excuse to make some little 500 point armies, who can then turn into 1000 point armies, and then into future challenges. No, I kid, but I did always like smaller format games, and that sounds like a terrific excuse, doesn't it?

In Reflection

How did participating in this challenge go? Was I irrevocably changed? Who am I now?

Yeah, no. I'm still the same lousy git, but now with slightly stronger time management skills. Having these deadlines really helped me to prioritize mini projects that were achievable within the time constraints, and led to success more months than not. Furthermore, finding things that worked was really helpful for painting skin and bases, those also cut down on time because I knew what my goals were, and what it was I liked to look at. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the bases for this army; they turned out like a rose-tinted version of the ones I remember from old White Dwarf magazines, or the sand-crusted ones of my old LGS. I lived on Cape Cod when I was younger, and thus sand was free, so you could literally grab a cup of the stuff and dunk your dudes in with a little Elmers glue smeared on the bases. Its some regional nostalgia, but it his the spot.

The paint techniques used on the models were also fine I guess. All of my personal growth points went towards learning about my capacity as a creative, and my project management needs as a nerd who needs to manage projects. I think next time, I'll try to assemble all my components and ideas before I take the plunge, just to take the scramble out of some of it, but on the other hand, the scramble makes for some creative solution generation. One is less stressful for sure, but who can say which is more successful? More compelling? More CINEMA!

Admittedly, I did learn one more thing. Given the way things are right now, I rarely found time or inclination for painting models outside of those obligations I pledged myself to via OWAC. Its something I want to work on, since making and painting are processes I find peace and satisfaction in, and I feel its absence when I don't make time to do it.

 Hopefully, lining up more OWAC-like projects will help me to nurture that part of who I am, and scratch those creative itches so that I don't wind up going half a year without picking up a brush. I've started doing some painting challenges with a friend, and while I've fallen woefully behind in recent months, the intent and accountability are still there. With a little determination and some dedication, I'll be back on the painting horse in no time, ready to take on the next fools errand that strikes my fancy!

everyone, but with dynamic bedsheet mountains

All of that said, again, thank you everyone. You've been wonderful and I couldn't have done this without you. Safe travels, happy hunting, and see you again soon!