More peasants

Can't help adding peasants to my Castle Wittgenstein army. The last ones. I swear.

 

Four brothers. Simple villagers, and a true cannibal.

An a total of 20 peasants:

See you soon with a new project!

More cannibals

The 6th edition of the OWAC is over, but I had a few miniatures left I wanted to paint to join Castle Wittgenstein: some of them are particularly ugly (can't remember why I bought them 😝), and it was my last chance to find a use for them. Anyway, I present you the 5 last cannibals prepared for the challenge, plus a small Confrontation miniature. The Citadel models are C46 villagers, and F4 mercenaries, all slightly converted to try to improve their look, or to better match to the theme.

The resulting band, composed of 16 miniatures, can be split into two units of 8 fleglers, as allowed by the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies book.

 

 See you soon with the final shots of Castle Wittgenstein army!

OWAC VI - More NPCs

I have started the challenge with a clear idea of who would lead this army (Lady Margritte), but no miniature to play the role. I have considered a number of female models (Lucrezzia Belladonna, several lahmias and sisters of Sigmar, some Frostgrave magicians, and even the legendary Lady McDeath), but nothing really convincing. The light came last month through a comment, pointing towards a modest lady in the medieval pack MED209 by Wargames Foundry. The miniature is fine, but I wanted something closer to the scenario illustrations, with a more menacing look or... a hood. Perfect match with Samantha Phox, a sorceress model designed by Aly Morrison in the eighties. I gave her a staff to show her use of electricity to animate cadavers. She also received an undead familiar, probably one of the mutant cats cherished by her mother, Lady baronette Ingrid von Wittgenstein. Finally, since the miniature was a little bit small compared to more recent models, I have fixed Lady Margritte on a small stone stairway. In terms of painting, the final result is not at all what I had in mind: Mrs. Santa Claus and her zombie pet...  

Well, too late for changing plans 😑. 

Among many horrors, Lady Margritte has created the Wittgentsein Monster, a composite being made up from various body parts and internal organs gently provided by the villagers and beggars of Wittgendorf. 

Regarding the miniature, the quest was easy, and (unexpectedly) cheap: the exact model was proposed with the original scenario. Regarding the painting job, we can read the following details: "deathly white skin with green discolorations on the cheeks and lower jaw". I really tried... then followed another path.

The next inhabitant of the castle is Slurd, an old (and senile) retainer of the Wittgensteins, whose left hand has muted into a bird's talon. The original miniature is actually quite pleasant to paint, and the illustration by Martin McKenna helped me to figure out how to paint his claw. With an additional month, I would have probably given to Slurd a few beggars and muted servants, and built another unit of useless fighters. For the moment, he'll be on his own on the battlefield.

 Back to Wittgendorf, and the good doctor Jean Rousseaux. Poisoned by the very warp dust he's pouring in the booze distributed to the villagers and the beggars, his skin has started to flake, and he's hiding his affliction by plastering his face with white powder. The miniature is a previously unreleased Marauder Miniatures wizard, now sold by Wargames Foundry (referenced TWW-07). I have removed the beard with a modelling knife, and tried to keep the chubby face of Martin McKenna's illustration in the first release of Death on the Reik. The flask and the rapier are small additions echoing the equipment of the NPC in the scenario. In terms of painting, the powdered face was an interesting challenge. Not sure it's understandable without the background explained above though... 

 

Lovely characters...

Using Wargames Foundry models (referenced GPR066), I have created another double-headed sheep, used as a mascot for the regiment of peasants. With the time left, I have added a few Wittgendorfers to the band. 

They either come from the C46 villagers, or from the F4 Mercenaries. Except a fixed spearhead, there was absolutely no modification on these models.

That's it for the 6th month of OWAC VI!

OWAC VI - The Cannibals

Cannibals, by Martin McKenna

Same crapy old models, but different unit: the cannibals of Wittgendorf. 

If most of the villagers suffer from various afflictions, some went a step further along the path of corruption, and turned towards cannibalism. Hidden in the abandoned temple of Sigmar, they have devoured the majority of the corpses in the crypt and in the graveyard. Now, they want more...

The ghoulish villagers are armed with clubs and bones, or any weapon they could find in the graves. In terms of game, I wanted to count them as Fleglers (flagellants), but they may in the end join the other villagers to form a block of useless Landesturm. We'll see...

In terms of miniatures, you'll recognize some villagers of the Citadel C46 range, two flagellants (one F2 Fighter and one MM65 Marauder) and one F4 mercenary, slightly modified using bits and bones from ghouls and zombies sprues. 

In terms of painting, same colors as for the other villagers, except the red tones that I have reserved for the mouth and the hands of the cannibals.

I have also slightly adapted my "rock and moss" bases, picked some bits from these excellent zombies to give a more sinister look to the unit, with dug up graves and bodies removed, either eaten by the villagers or taken by Lady Magritte for her necromantic experiments.

Right: Illustration from "Death on the Reik", by Martin McKenna

Same bases, this time occupied. Hmm... can't say that all these models are nice and fun to paint!

Rear rank:

 

and front rank:

See you next month with some characters!

OWAC VI - The Villagers

March is done, give me a drink! Well... maybe not, after all. The Rotgut booze prepared by the good doctor Jean Rousseaux - and sold only for 6 pennies the bottle! - is not exactly the kind of medicine you would expect from a physician: a mixture of alcohol and juniper berries... flavoured with the powdered warpstone, gently provided by Lady Margritte von Wittgenstein. 

Needless to say that the peasants and farm-workers of Wittgendorf that are addicted to the Rotgut booze are both mentally and physically damaged.

Still, the 10 models painted this month are in a rather good shape (if one excepts the bandages hiding minor mutations). The miniatures come mainly from two Citadel ranges: the C46 Militia & Villagers, and the F4 Mercenaries. Only two models have been converted to receive a spear. In terms of painting, I have used purple and light blue in the skintones to suggest that there could be something wrong with some Wittgendorfers.

The villagers are led by Kurt Kutzmann, doctor Rousseaux's loyal assistant. Intoxicated by the booze he's selling to the peasants, he's totally idiotic, and giggles all the time. In terms of miniature, I have painted a citizen from the Marauder Miniatures MM62 range. 

The Wittgendorfers:

 

See you next month!