Graeme's Formidable Fimir - Wrap-up Post

Graeme's Formidable Fimir - July's Wrap-up

Like a few other challengers, I struggled with this edition of the OWAC. It's my own fault: I planned to do way too much, failed to do enough prep work, procrastinated mightily, and in the end only got round to half the things I wanted to do. On the one hand I'm a little disappointed I didn't manage to achieve my vision, but it's still been by far the most productive part of my hobby year. I managed to struggle across the finishing line and I'm happy with what I did manage to finish.

So here's the whole army as it stands:

The Formidable Fimir army

The Paul Bonner illustrations in WD102 have been the biggest inspiration for this challenge. Another unit or two of troops and a couple of banners, and I think I'll be a lot closer to emulating this one.

Some close-ups of the individual units:

Fianna Fimm with Meargh

Fimm warriors with Noble and Dirach

I initially found the Nick Bibby sculpts really challenging to paint, but it did push me to try some new techniques to bring out the subtle details.

Orc mercenaries

Another first for me this challenge: the first Orcs I've ever finished painted! I've got a load more still on the painting table, so this motley crew is definitely going to be expanded soon. The spearman unit will be beefed out, a unit of swordsmen added, and a unit or two of archers will be providing some much-needed missile troops for their Fimir paymasters soon.

Boar host

Chaos Hound Chaotic host

The Boars and Chaos Hounds were a nice little change of pace during the challenge, and gave me a chance to bulk the army out a bit. The Chaos Hounds especially have a load of character and were really fun to paint.

So, in total I managed to out together an army of just over 1200 points. Hitting the point goal was never really going to be the biggest problem for the expensive Fimir troops, but the 10-figures per month quota was a push at times. Still, I got there. The overview for each month is below:

Army total:         1228 pts

June:                 298 pts

May:                  388 pts

April:                 150 pts

March:              202 pts

January:            190 pts

The ubiquitous Bryan Ansell inspired pose

I've certainly learned a lot from this OWAC:

- Realistic targets are important. Too many ideas and side-project just distracted me on this one.

- The prep for older models can take a lot more effort than you expect, even for those that don't have a lot of detail. The poor surface quality of older models needed a lot more filing and filling than I had planned for.

- Prep is king. I wasted way too long prepping stuff during the challenge. I'll aim to have most prep done before I start next time.

- Any conversions should be done before the beginning of the challenge, so I can focus on the painting and details.

On the positive side, I built up a real appreciation of Nick Bibby sculpts in this challenge. So much so, I finished off my collection of his C28 Giants. I suspect at least one of them may end up in this little force...

I'm also glad I had Fimir, Orcs, Boars and Chaos Hounds to work on - the variety was refreshing, and really added a different flavour to the army.

I have to say, seeing the many other armies grow over the last 6 months has been inspiring - not only have people put together some huge armies, but the quality of painting has been awesome. One sure-fire way to find motivation is to see a well-painted army, with some original ideas, billowing banners, and real character, and there have been plenty of those in this year's challenge!

The addition of some 40k armies really cranked up the nostalgia and I'm looking forward to seeing more next year.

Great job, to all those that managed to cross the finishing line! And of course, many, many thanks to the glorious overlord, Iannick, for running the show!

Hope to see you back here in a few months for OWAC5! I've got plenty of options to choose from, but I'm leaning towards an old favourite of mine...

Graeme's Formidable Fimir - May's Leader month (388 points)

 Graeme's Formidable Fimir - May's Leader month

OWAC4 - May

Leaders

I came dangerously close to the field of bones this month.  I had grand visions of a glorious array of leaders and fluttering banners for May. So I made a start on painting 9 leader/command figures, played around with some conversions for a banner, and started prepping some interesting stuff for June.

These grand plans slowly ground to a halt, as real-life graciously provided the rusty spanner which was dropped surreptitiously into my finely-oiled (if whisky counts) painting machine…

It seems May was a pretty tough month for most people in the challenge, either with distractions from work, or waning motivation.

In the end, I had a real last-minute rush to get these finished off. I'm not completely happy with the results, so I suspect I'll go back and tidy them up at the end of the challenge.

The Meargh is an optional character in the Fimir army list, but I couldn't imagine my army without one. It's one of those iconic Nick Bibby models, that everyone (of a certain age) recognises...

For the Meargh, I went with a colder pallete, to give a contrast with the rest of the Fimir I've painted so far. In a similar way to the Chaos Hounds, I went for a higher contrast with the skin colours, especially on the face and hands, to give an impression of a gaunt old Fimir witch-hag. I went with colours I've not used before, to push myself a little. I would have liked the highlights of the mauve to be a little stronger, but it does make for a suitably intimidating figure, and it makes the gold/brass ornaments stand out quite well. The moss skin tones worked out a little darker than I was going for - I was aiming for a paler, more sickly look. The contrast with the robes seemed to work out fairly well, though, so I'll take it.

1 Meargh (Level 15 wizard) :194 pts

Hand weapon

I'm very glad I started the Warlord figure in April - the armour and weapons gave me a fair challenge to achieve the look I was aiming for. Again, I wanted to suggest ancient weapons and armour dredged out of the marshes, with some scraps of mail scavenged from the victims of previous battles.

The chainmail hasn't turned out so well in the photos - the lighting emphasizes the brown ink wash I used, and the metal drybrush doesn't show up too well. I do like how the other metal turned out though. There was a lot of experimenting with different colour inks, some washes, verdigris, and drybrushing, which I think gave it a bit of depth and an ancient look. The skin did turn out a bit darker than I was expecting, which gives a good contrast to the metals, but not much contrast with the verdigris, which went from a shockingly bright blue, to almost green with the washes and inks. I had to give it another layer in a few areas to try to make it stand out.

1 Warlord (Level 15 champion) :194 pts

Hand weapon, additional hand weapon, light armour

Army total so far:    930 pts

May:                          388 pts
April:                           150 pts
March:                        202 pts
January:                     190 pts

Yet again, I delivered a lot less than what I was hoping for, but it’s another small step forward in the quest to finally build a legit Fimir army. This month's points were sorely needed. I'm tantalizingly close to the 1000 point goal. However, I’m determined to continue after this OWAC and build up a truly impressive force out of them.

There’s plenty in the pipeline for June, but I'm worried I'm not going to get through June's rank-and-file quota. I’ll need to do some serious time management to meet the deadlines. I suspect some late nights will be in order. It's worth it, though - the finish line is in sight! Fingers crossed!

Graeme's Formidable Fimir

"The Fimir haunt bogs, fens, and desolate moorlands throughout the northern and western Old World. Their strongholds take the form of forbidding, craggy piles of rock, crudely built in the semblance of human castles. All Fimir settlements are wreathed in thick mist, a miasma which is magically generated by the Fimir, in order to shield themselves from sunlight. Indeed, when forced to travel beyond their fortresses, they surround themselves in an enchanted mist that moves with them."

Back for my second OWAC!

My Fimir collection has grown slowly and steadily over many years, as I picked them up here and there on eBay. I was originally thinking of putting together an ally contingent for my Skaven army. However, the cheapest Fimir costs 32 points in 3rd edition, so once you’ve got a unit of 5 or 6 troops, with a couple of characters, you’re already passed the 500 point mark, which is a bit much for an ally contingent… So you might as well go the whole hog and build an army, right? Okay, that’s just me then…

Since OWAC had been lacking in the Fimir department up to now, I was resolved to make a Fimir army. Using the army list in White Dwarf 102, I came up with the following list for OWAC4:

Meargh (level 15 Wizard), with hand weapon:                                                    195 pts

Dirach (level 5 Wizard), with hand weapon:                                                         75 pts

Finmor (level 10 Hero), with hand weapon and light armour:                            140 pts

Fian (level 5 Hero), with hand weapon and light armour:                                     82 pts

6 Fianna Fimm (+3 Shock Elite), with hand weapon and light armour:              258 pts

8 Fimm Warriors, with hand weapon:                                                                 256 pts

Total:                                                                                                                 1006 pts

With the new minimum model requirements that were introduced by our benevolent overlord, I should paint at least 5 Fimir a month (since they use 40mm bases). 

I’m left with a good number of unused Fimir warrior and noble models. Since I have a shortage of heads and tails, I'm going to have to do some sculpting and conversions to a good portion of these - which might be a bit optimistic, but we’ll see - to give some variation and add some numbers to the army.

The army list in WD102 is an early version of the format (June 1988), so doesn’t mention any Allies, Mercenaries, or Hosts. This makes it a little ‘flat’, with only Fimir and just two types of warriors. So I decided to use Warhammer Armies and some White Dwarf lists of some of the Fimir allies to pad out the Fimir list and give me some more options. I wanted to bring a Fomorian feel to the army, reflecting the description of them roaming the swamps and wildernesses. Using the Dark Elf, Skaven, Orc & Goblin, Norse and Chaos army lists as inspiration, I came up with these Allies, Mercenaries, and Hosts:

< Allies >

Chaos Allies Skaven Dark Elves

Undead Orcs and Goblins

< Mercenaries >

Giants Hobgoblins Ogres

Orcs and Goblins Norse

Out of these lists, I’ve picked the potential reinforcements, which I can bulk out the army with, and add some variety to the models.

Mercenaries:

Giant         : 250 pts

Allies:

8 Orc Boyz          : 76 pts
Hand weapon, light armour, bow

8 Orc Boyz         : 76 pts
Spear, light armour, shield

8 Orcs Boyz         : 68 pts
Hand weapon, light armour, shield

Chaotic Host:

8 Chaos hounds         : 184 pts

Jabberwock         : 200 pts

Monstrous Host:

8 Boars                 : 48 pts

8 Warhounds         : 32 pts

Total                                                : 934 pts

Now, this gives me plenty of options, and the freedom to paint what I feel like during the challenge, and the chance to hit the monthly figure targets with some easier models...

So here are the models so far:

Fimir Meargh and Dirachs

Fimir Fimm and Warlords

Fianna Fimm

Fimm Warriors

Orc Archers

Orc Command

Orc Spears

Orc Warriors

Giant and Jabberwock

Boars

Chaos Hounds

Warhounds

And something a bit special, if I have time...

Now, I’m already worried about how far behind schedule I am

 with preparation for this challenge. There's no chance I'll paint all of this stuff. In fact, I’m just hoping to avoid a very rapid trip to the Field of Bones. Hopefully, I'll be able to put together a formidable little force, centered around the Fimir models, but with some extra character from the options I've got.

In any case, many thanks to Iannick for organizing another OWAC! And here's my Overlord Offering:

It's an RT601 Squat Engineer, the first-ever Squat I've painted, and the first 40k figure in 30 years. I'll be honest, I enjoyed painting it a lot. Not enough to tempt me to switch to 40k yet, though... maybe next OWAC...  :-)

Good luck to the rest of the challengers! There are some great looking armies lined up this year. Hope everyone has a healthy and productive 2021!