A group Challenge to Paint a NEW Army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle or Rogue Trader
Rank & File 3
This month I’ve painted some crossbowmen to add a bit of range to my army. Unfortunately I’ve only got 3 variants of dwarf for my unit, but still quite happy to have 16 of them.
v3
v4
v6
16 Chaos Dwarf Crossbowmen 14 points each (224)
Total for March - 224 Points
#Rank & file month 2
This month I give you a troop of Dwarf crossbowmen.
It was intended as a company of veteran militia of Karak Varg. These dwarfs are craftsmen in their daily lives but train regularly and muster in times of need. They have seen service in their native Grey Mountains but also in allied missions around the Empire and Bretonnia. Those foreign missions and lively trade contacts with the human kingdoms have clearly influenced their eclectic clothing.
All Marauder sculpts from the early 90s. The drummer was originally meant for Longbeards but thanks to his puff and slash clothes, he got reassigned to the crossbow company, where he fits much better.
I wanted an earthy colour scheme to fit the dwarfs. The visual inspiration was colours of the XVII century infantry. That meant browns, ochres (buff coats), black (felt hats) and white (shirts & collars) - nicely exemplified in this painting.
However, when I base-coated the models I found rather drab, so I added a bit of vibrant blue, but not much to keep them grounded. The reasons for this colour restraint was the memory of my first attempt to paint these models in my teenage years. I was then determined to try out all the vibrant citadel colours I had. It did not end well. I am much happier with how they came out now.
The accounting: 10 dwarf crosbowmen (@13 points) + 1 drummer (@26 points) = 156 points
I admit March was a month of struggle to get sufficient time and motivation to paint. Heavy work commitments and the brutal, abominable Russian aggression on Ukraine meant my time and attention were focused elsewhere. The world has really become much darker. Hence, I only finished the unit started in February. Work is still in progress on the standard bearer for the crossbowmen but he will need to wait until future entries.
In April I will switch subject - time for the human allies for the dwarfs. Expect Bretonnians and... well, maybe also someone else :-)
Cheers, Maciek
And so into 2022. The sheer optimism of living in the modern world and living in a country that isn't run by a crime syndicate washes over me.
Ahem.
But I'm already one twelfth of the way through. And hey. It's World Cup year. That always brings joy and peace to jolly old England.
People have been telling me not to overdo things. Just ten minis a month. Slow and steady. But I happened to have the chance to get off to a good start, and I'm not the kind of person to roll over ten minis I painted this month onto future months as a safety net.
After much faffing about around whether I would just paint a few units off the workbench, I thought I would concentrate on a division of my dwarf army that had both visual cohesion and also looked like they might be hardened and experienced mercenaries.
I dug out a bunch of "puff and slash" dwarfs that had sat around for some time, some of them since the 90s in case of the Marauders and some more recent from the White Knight and Runecast Ranges, as well as a few from the old Harlequin range now available (if you're prepared to wait) from Black Tree design.
A few years ago I saw an article in one of the Wargames magazines about a mercenary unit called the "Black Band" that (I think) were from Saxony but fought for the French. I liked the combination of dark armour, red and black cloth. I made up my mind to make a unit of two- handed swordsmen for my dwarf detachment, ignoring the fact that - as far as I am aware - the real Black Band were largely pikemen.
So I've painted the first eleven. Eleven may sound like a weird number but the unit will be 21 strong and fight in three ranks of seven. Odd numbers keep Blue happy. As do the black base rims.
So on to a sad story. About five years ago I painted half a unit of puff and slash crossbows. The plan at the time, due to the fact that I had acquired a few multipart White Knight models was to boost the unit to twenty (my preferred number).
At a gaming tournament of a game that I will not mention, I not only tipped the "troop" of ten off a movement tray onto the floor, but then later dropped the same unit down a stone staircase.
As a result I "put off" the second ten, simply because I knew that there was no point until I repaired, partially stripped and repainted the first ten.
I'm fairly proud to say that I have done both.
Due to the fact that the first ten this month were "repair jobs" (even though that was actually far, far more work than actually buying the models again and starting from scratch) - I won't be counting them in the OWAC or the points cost. I just thought that a precious few of you - and both readers of my BLOG - might like to see the whole unit with the newly painted chaps and the repaired and part-stripped and repainted stuff included.
To make it truly Oldhammer, I had in my mind a design for a banner I wanted the crossbow unit to have. An Orc or a Half-Orc tied to a stake being peppered with quarrels. Somewhere in the back of my mind I seemed to remember Aly Morrison using a similar image on a shield for the "Arcane Armorials" decal set.
Wanting to make all my detachment banners free-handed tapestry style renaissance pieces I stumbled across the fairy tale of San Sebastian, from which I assumed Aly took inspiration for his shield design.
I'd go into more detail if I had more time - but I don't, so I won't.
Next month I'll be finishing the "Black Band".
Month 1 Rank and File:
x11 "Hammerers" (Minus shields) including musician = 180 points (probably)
x10 Crossbows including standard = 143 points.
Total = 323 points.
21 dwarfs done.
Rank and File Month #4
Of the innumerable things that a dwarf cannot abide, surely a close shave must rank highly. Sadly, this month's submission was a bit of a close shave, as I realized that simply submitting my planned rank and file of ten crossbow dwarfs would leave me almost 100 points short of the 1,000 point minimum stipulated by the challenge. Such is the price one pays for taking a mulligan in May. I had originally planned to paint some war machines as my wild card, so a pair of fire thrower teams will take me over the finish line.
The quarrelers are a mix of Perry Imperials and slightly flamboyant Marauder sculpts, both equally enjoyable to paint. I tried to keep the Marauders coherent, but not uniform in appearance. I think the two smoking pipes are my favorites, but the buttoned-up Imperials have their charms, too. My approach to the fire throwers was strictly business, as I had to finish them in the late hours of June 29th. Still, perfect is the enemy of good, and done is done.
10 Dwarf Crossbowmen -- 130 points
2 Dwarf Fire Thrower Teams with heavy armor -- 124 points
That takes care of June, and another OWAC is in the books. I'll save the navel-gazing for my wrap-up post.
Written at the same epoch, the illustrated chronicle of Lucerne shows a similar flag, this time with an horizontal crossbow:
| Illustrated Chronicle by Diebold Schilling of Lucerne (page 81) |
For the painting job, same technique already used for the BlackHorns and the FrostPeak banners: first, paint a grid on the flag undercoated in white, then draw the crossbow with light brown using the grid as a reference, then hide the grid by painting a background as uniform as possible, then paint the coat of arms, and finally (try to) suggest highlights and shadows on the flag itself. I've painted thin lines to figure the fabric of the banner, with limited success I would say. I've then tried to correct the mess, the result being worse... If I had doubts about blue-and-white schemes, I now have the confirmation that I suck at painting them 😑 Anyway...
As
there is no crossbowman musician in the Marauder Miniatures range, I
have slightly modified my second MM11 hornblower model by replacing the
original axe by a more suitable weapon.
The other shooters are just ordinary MM15 models:
The entire band:
See you in June for the mercenary captain!
Rank and File Month #3
More rank and file for the month of March (gotta fulfill those Warhammer Armies composition requirements)! This month, I've painted a small unit of doughty crossbowdwarfs with full command. After two months of monopose plastics, it was nice to get some variation by way of these classic Marauder sculpts, although I do have some repeat poses amongst their ranks.
9 Dwarf Crossbowmen with crossbows and light armor, Standard, Musician -- 143 points
Level 5 Dwarf Hero with crossbow and light armor -- 53 points
That's all for March. I'm going to need to factor in some building and priming time for next month, as I'll be deviating a bit from my original list (happens every year).