Copper Oracle | 2. Rank and File Assault Squad (836 pts)

  The Fire Hawks took pride in their savage reputation, but even within their own,  the 8th Company was known for its bloodthirsty choler and eagerness for battle. On more than one occasion elements had been been censured for their habit of interpreting or ignoring orders to allow them to engage or pursue the foe and in one particular admonition they had been reminded that they were not World Eaters.  Captain Agni had responded;

'Only Worlds?! We are Eaters of Fire!'

- 'The Burning Chronicles, 8th Company Remembrances' 

For a new project, I have started this one about as organised and prepped as I could possibly be, all the figures based, assembled and undercoated along with a clear plan in my head of what to paint. 

I had even reset my painting table and hugely expanded on the inevitable front two inches of open space to paint as well as removing all my other WIPs to a safe distance out of sight to try and reduce distraction!

I decided to start off with the first of my Rank and File slots and took the Assault squad. As a unit they fit the particularly aggressive character of the Fire Hawks perfectly and I wanted to start of with the one of the big blocks while I still had New Year/new Project energy going!

I started by batch painting the unit with the base colours, this can be quite monotonous but I distract myself listening to Audiobooks (currently Horus Heresy/Big Finish) and its something I can dip in and out of as time allows just doing a colour at a time. For the later stages I tend to go back to a couple at a time to get the feel of the figures again and actually seeing figures getting finished helps the final push.

After a good start the batch painting was leaving me a little bored so I decided to start a couple of the characters for some variety. The Chaplain was equipped with a jump pack as well to support the Assault unit so it would be nice to have the whole lot done while the Medic was another one that was a little different. 

 

I ended up finishing the two characters quicker than I thought and started on my originally planned stretch goals, Dreadnought and Techmarine, but after starting the base colours I put them to one side to try and focus on actually finishing the unit

The Chaplains scheme is based on the Howling Griffons who are an Ultramarine successor chapter like the Fire Hawks (thought the Ultramarines have not confirmed the Fire Hawks claim...)

Chaplain Alarak

As with the Chaplain, I have based the Medics scheme on the Ultramarine pattern

Getting towards the end of January I felt quite confident in finishing the marines so looked at adding some more figures to the table. I couldn't decide on a scheme for the Dreadnought so put together some more marines to add to a Field Police Unit I had started at the end of last year for the army and I ran out of time to complete the Land speeder so will add this to February.

Chapter Badges and Standards I will add on as part of my Leader Month as I am waiting on decals

Field Police image from Rogue Trader rulebook

With five already painted, the other five would allow me to field them as a tactical unit and also gave me the paint scheme for my second Chaplain and a Rhino Transport

Chaplain Rhino paint scheme 

Chaplain Orloz

Field Police unit with Multi-Melta, Webber and duel Power Gloves for more Apprehension and Pacification than Eradication

Completed Assault squad

Fire Hawks force completed so far

 (including the five Field Police completed before the challenge begun)

Points so far:

1.  'The Fire Eaters' 8th Company, 2nd Squad

Assault Squad (10)

Flamer, Plasma pistol, Sergeant with Power sword and Bionic Leg, All with chainswords,  All with Jump packs = 282

2. 'Dominus'

Field Police Tactical Squad (10)

Melta-Gun, Web Gun, Sergeant with two Power Gloves. All with Bolt Pistols = 272 (136pts for this challenge, as half were painted)

(I have counted the Field Police as a tactical squad to allow them access to the heavy weapons options)

3. Chaplain Alarak

Champion, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword. Jump Pack = 23

4. Chaplain Orloz

Champion, Bolt Pistol, Chainsword = 21

Rhino Transport  = 373 points

5. Medic Lanac

Field Medic, Bolt gun, Chainsword = 34

Total Points: 869 pts

Grant's Wood Elf Host - Month 1 *Rank and File* (418 pts)

Welcome to my first blog post proper on the Old World Army Challenge! I don’t really count last month’s, because it was all unpainted lead, and as we all know, they don’t count until they’ve got paint on them! That said, I really enjoyed writing the post – as I’m sure many of us can attest to, it’s very rare for me to write things that aren’t either informal text conversations with my pals, or massively formal work documents, so it was really nice to do something in the middle.

I’ve had a very productive January on the Wood Elf front. So productive in fact that I’ve doubled my scheduled output! Will I be able to maintain this pace? Absolutely not, but it’s put me in a position now where I can actually have a proper wild-card month, and I’ll be able to do some stretch goals. What those will be, I can’t really say. I’ve a few ideas, but it’s lovely to be able to think about them.

As I’d mentioned in my previous post, my plan was to pick a hair colour each month, and use that to add variety to the project, having abandoned my initial plan of mixing everyone up, so they weren’t in any uniform per se, just similar colours, ala Mariano’s gorgeous army from last year’s challenge (and this year’s too, but on horses).

I played about with a couple of colour schemes, and considered theming the army to a season, before settling on the scheme you see arrayed before you. I drew inspiration for the army from Kari Hernesniemi’s gorgeous Elves that I saw in the Oldhammer Community Facebook group, in particular the stripy trousers that he’d added to his Elves. While I’m a fraction of the painter that he is, I’m hopeful I’ve done the idea justice.

Without further ado, let’s move into this month’s output. My initial plan was to paint the gingers this month. I have a recipe for a nice, rich, red hair that works for me, and orange and green work very well together. Thought it’d make a nice start to the host.     

Thanks to my very generous, European holiday allowance, I started 2022 off with a week’s annual leave. I used this to get all the gingers painted by the time I went back to work on the 10^th. It would have been easy to rest there, and paint something else as a palate (and palette) cleanser, but I decided to push on and do the raven haired contingent as well.

So, from the top, this month, we have painted.

1 Spellsinger (level 10 wizard) 118pts

            

8 Archers – 88pts (Ginger)

                                    

            



8 Archers – 88pts (Raven)

                                    

            

6 Warrior Kinband, Spears – 60pts

                                    

                                    

                                    



2 Boars – 12pts

2 Wood Riders, Longbows – 52pts

For a month 1 running total of 418pts!

As you'll see from the photos below, it's even starting to look like a proper army! 

One area that I'm particularly proud of is the bases. I tried a bunch of new products to create what (I think) looks like a reasonable forest floor. In considering the scheme for the army, I'd toyed with the idea of doing something slightly different, and theming them from a swamp or a bayou or hailing from another, slightly different eco-system. One of the best Wood Elf armies I've ever seen was based around Elves in a swamp. I decided in the end to keep it traditional, and base them as if they were in Athel Loren itself, and I think this basing style has accomplished that quite well. As much as I love the Oldhammer aesthetic, square bases are outside my comfort zone. I certainly wasn't going to paint the rims Goblin Green.

My plan for next month is to try and replicate this if possible, but to be content if I only manage my initial planned output. Rank and File again, and save the more unusual, fantastical stuff for later in the project, as a treat. It's definitely not that I've no idea how to paint the Treeman to make him look like part of the force yet at all...

One thing that really struck me is how great these Silvan Elf spears from the classic Lord of the Rings range are. Really struggled to find high quality reference pictures of painted versions to work with, but the minis looked so lovely I was sure they'd be great. They surpassed my high expectations. They fit in really well with the Skarloc's archers, and the paint flew on them. I wish their feet were slightly better placed - they hang over the edge of the 20mm square base just enough for me to catch them almost every time I turned the model around. Small grumble though - they're great!

Still delighted to be taking part. Really jealous looking at some of the lead piles shown last month. Looking forward to seeing them all getting paint added to them, and watching a bunch of armies muster from nothing.