Ben D's Skellibobs - Intro Post

 Well Owackers, its that time of year again (take a shot,) where we pledge our axes to a cause and dedicate the next six and a half months of our hobby lives to making something beautiful. I, like the rest of the mugs on this blog, have had a whole year to think of something cool to do for OWAC 9, and I figured I’d do something a little bit different to spice it up a bit. That’s right, this year’s army will be good old fashioned Undead, bones and warts and all…

Wait…

What’s that?

Why are they so small?!

Alright, as per usual (three years running bay-bee) I’ve made it my goal to gnome it up, and this time is no different, except for it literally being different because these gnomes are of the boney variety. Some Halloweens ago, our lovely Byron made a handful of minis to celebrate the spooky season, and as the story goes, I jumped in with two feet. Originally, a number of this horde were a force I made for Dragon Rampant, but after I finished two armies of gnomes for the Warhammer system, I simply had to redo the whole thing so that they’d all match!

There’s been much talk about the Field of Bones amongst participants given the shape of the year ahead, and to make certain that I won’t take any arrows to the knee, I’ve formed a force that should be plenty easy to accomplish before the summer. Should 2026 do me dirty, I ought to be able to manage about 10 skellibobs a month, with plenty of surprises waiting in the wings in case things go smoother than expected.

Here’s the list in all its ghoulish glory.

Undead Lord - Vampire Lord on Dragon - 825 pts

2 Necromancers - 68 pts/each

20 Skeleton Warriors - Full Command and Halberds - 257 pts

20 Skeleton Warriors - Full Command and Halberds - 257 pts

10 Wights - Full Command, Spears, Shields, Heavy Armor, Skeletal Steeds - 528 pts

Total - 2003 pts

I’m personally delighted by this collection of miniatures, not just because they are a continuation of a theme, but because this force has afforded me the chance to sculpt more and use pieces from my collection that I’d been saving for a special occasion.

 

I can’t think of many things more special than our community’s annual project, so I’m proud to haul out this tiny pile of lead in celebration of the new year and the ninth official Old World Army Challenge.

 

But wait! There's a rub! This year's OWAC has an underlying theme: your project has to draw inspiration from some Oldhammer Art!

 

 

Here is the virgin cover of the 4th edition Undead Army book, illustrated by David Gallagher. Its gaudy, busy, and full of pop, so of course I had to pick it as my piece to draw from. While the undead in my army are gnomish and are beholden to their quaint sensibilities, I can at least draw from Gallagher's palette and general vibe. With any luck, by the end of the challenge you'll be able to look at the army and then at the painting, and nod sagely from the commonality of it all.

 

 

Best of luck to all participants, and a hearty thank you to our organizers! Be well, and paint wisely!

JohnR's OWAC IX Intro Post - Rogues from Beyond the Stars!

 

One of the things I love about the OWAC and the Oldhammer movement more generally is that it gives me an excuse to collect, paint and play with miniatures in much the way I did as a kid.

There's no one telling me I'm collecting, painting or playing 'wrong' and no massive multinational corporation trying to get me to buy their latest thing.

If I like something, and it fits with the setting and the story I'm telling, it's in.

On the downside this is a somewhat unstructured, scatter-gun approach to wargaming. Which is fine with me.

To that end here is my entry to OWAC 9: the Rogues from Beyond the Stars. Space Pirates!

 

Group Shot.

 

Old GW Rogue Trader Space Pirates / Adventurers. These have been in my collection pretty much forever and they really deserve some paint, having waited so long.

 

Some Geedub goodness and some more recent figs. My leader model in the center is a BOYL mini - perfect as a Space Pirate boss!

 

 

 

 Space Mutants by Bigmrtong - the main inspiration for this army.

 

Old Grenadier armed civilians - suitable as space ruffians and ne'er-do-wells, at a push .

 

 

More Bigmrtong minis - privateers and space brigands. I have a few more of these but I already started painting them.

 

 

 Leader types, aliens and psykers.

 

 

 

Imperial Robots - captured and reprogrammed. These didn't quite make it into my last Rogue Trader OWAC entry - hopefully they'll make it in here.

 

 Finally the artwork that, obviously, inspired this madness.

I also have a few other bits and bobs that didn't make the photos - mainly vehicles - an RT Predator and Rhino and some Toon Tanks. I might include them, if the mood takes me, though most likely they'll wait for a MKVI beaky Space Marine army in a future OWAC.

Anyway, on to the painting. "Avast you planet-lubbers and break out the hyper-rum me space hearties, Yaaaar !!"

 

Tom's Goblins and Orcs - Intro

Hi,

Back once again with the ol' Orcs and Goblins. This time from an earlier era!

Naturally, with point values, I've taken them from this army book (so as to be consistent with last years army). Fingers crossed this one will join that Waaargh...

Here's the list that I've managed to cobble together with models I already have. Unheard of!

(I have actually just brought more wolf riders, but enough said about that already....)

Hopefully you can kinda see that it nearly mirrors my O&G OWAC8 army!

110   ...   1 x Orc Warlord

72   ...     1 x Orc Big Boss

57     ...   1 x Orc Shaman

28 xxxxx    ...   1 x Goblin Shaman

50   xxxxxx...   1 x Gigantic Spider 

30     ...   10 x Goblins (short bows)

24     ...   8 x Goblins (short bows)

30     ...   10 x Goblins (slings)*

45     ...   5 x Goblin Wolf Riders

93.5  ...   17x Orc Boys

11     ...   1 x standard bearer

11     ...   1 x musician

53     ...   1 x boss

81     ...   1 x Orc Chariot

66.5  ...   1 x Small Rock Lobber

46.5  ...   1 x Bolt Thrower

80     ...   2 x Ogres

200   ...   1 x Giant

TOTAL: 1010.5

*Goblins with slings. These were kindly sold to me with the provision I paint them for the OWAC, although horribly, I forget who from. If this is you🫵, then a massive THANK YOU!

As they're monopose, they fit right in, however they are horrendous to prep. So many spikes and bits of metal flash , and terrible mould lines! Hopefully I will do these guys first, along with my Warlord, to get them out the way whilst motivation runs high. Nothing worse than hitting a low ebb and then having to paint a challenging unit. You can probably see that I've already run out of patience with them and have not really cleaned them up too much.

I like the orc chariot (many thanks to Liam (highland_painting on insta) for this model. Primarily as it's actually goblins! I have a 40x80mm base which I'll put them on, but the wolves look challenging to pin, so I will leave their tabs on and hope for the best. I'll dig a slotta in the hardboard with a craft knife, and fill up the gap with milliput. This should be suffice for a stable wolf!

The giant is the original Ral Partha cloud giant, which is very much still available via their website

 (https://ralparthalegacy.com/products/49-0308). It'll pair nicely with the 'remastered' Satyr Studio version of last years challenge 👇.

Only two ogres this year (although I do have some more if needed). These ones are my favourites of the set. I brought them from the nearly recent 'made to order' run from GW...

And last but not least, I'm swapping out my planned goblin shaman on gigantic spider, for the Big Boss himself - Gorfang Rotgut. (It's why the handwritten list is different to the typed!) 

I remember painting him way back then, and hopefully I can do a better job now 😂

I really hope I can paint all these in the time. I haven't had a rest from hobby this year, as I got proper into painting the Warhammer Quest 1995 set, with a load of alternate heroes. Definitely takes me to the most models I've ever painted in a year... I feel as if I'm very close to burnout, but hopefully a change can be as good as a rest. If for some reason I manage to paint through this lot, there's always more monopose snotlings to paint, or buildings to build!

Here they all are, all based and primed - but the war machines and chariot are not attached to their bases, so that I can paint the underside of the machines and reach the undergrass.

Cheers for reading and hopefully see you again next month for the first daub of paint! 👊

Maurice inspects, and reports the issues 👇

Owac VIII Intro post - Sybou's Baronny

 Hello everyone,

glad to be again a part of the Owac.

For these year 2025, i'm going to carry on the Baron's army.

Back in the days, i started it with mostly Foundry Miniatures and a green & white colors scheme ; i found lots of old empire and stuff to bulk the army and now it's time to make some good progress on the army.

The background of the army focuses on the Greyhald Baron who's an old prick. Only his powerful axe allowing him to survive his old years.

The baronny is located in the border princes where everyone can do what he wants if you have enough men and/ or money.

Here is the army:

We have:

• 24 billmen with a merchant
• 13 crossbowmen with a merchant
• 15 good to no good free companies
• 1 canon
• 1 hellfire canon
• 1 captain on steed
• 1 outcast wizard named "Tim"
• 10 riders from a strange misty land ready to work against money

The baron is not part of this batch but if I'm good enough maybe i could insert him there.

For my offering, I choose JB as we are in the same country and it will be easier to send him the miniature.

It s a confrontation miniature, really chaosy and the whip makes him a bit Slaanesh like.

Well, here we are. Close to the end of year.

Happy new year to everyone and get your brushes ready!

AdamH’s OWAC VIII Intro Post – Green rats? What is going on here?

If you have been following the OWAC for a while now you will know that I like Skaven. I like the look of big hordes of models together and the play style of throwing loads of disposable bodies in waves at your enemy until they are overwhelmed with sheer numbers. 

However, for a painting challenge it is a lot of effort to get through so many models. A small, elite army would be a much better idea right?

Anyway I am doing a goblin only army this year.

Specifically I am doing a Forest Goblin army, full of wonderful, characterful (i.e. goofy) Kev Adam’s sculpts. As well as some of my all time other favorites from the 5th edition lines (Trolls, Marauder Giant etc.), I honestly can’t wait to paint these figures! Let’s take a look at what I am planning then:

Here are the characters for the army, Goblin characters are so cheap so there are plenty of them (and I have more I can add if I make good progress).

The rank and file Gobbos, unlike my Skaven (in which all of my clanrats are mixed together) I am separating them into defined units armed with each weapon type.

Some of them are even riding spiders! These are the top of my list of “goofy” sculpts, I still like them but I am a little unsure how well they will paint up in my style. I guess we will see :).

Finally, as mentioned above these are some of my favorite models from this time period. I was so happy when the recent Orcs and Goblins Made to Order rolled around and they became available again since it meant I didn’t have to spend hundreds to pick them up second hand on fleebay. I also have another six trolls which I will try to get done but again these are outside of the initial scope of the challenge just in case they take longer to paint than I expect.

Finally just to mention why the models are not on bases (and have had tabs removed), this is because I am trying something new with the bases. I will be using resin bases with 3d printed forest plants. Due to the complexity of the bases it would be hard to paint the models while attached so I have them all separate and will attach after painting.

For this year’s challenge I am targeting the following list:

UNIT	EXTRAS	#	TOTAL
CHARACTERS
Forest Goblin Warlord (50)		2	100
Forest Goblin Battle Standard (56)		2	130
Forest Goblin Big Boss (33)	Gigantic Spider (50)	1	83
Forest Goblin Big Boss (33)	Giant Spider (4)	2	74
Forest Goblin Shaman (28)		2	56
Forest Goblin Shaman Champion (83)	Giant Spider (4)	2	174
Forest Goblin Master Shaman (159)	Gigantic Spider (50)	1	209
REGIMENTS
Forest Goblins (2.5)	Standard (2.5) Musician (2.5) Shields (.5)	15	50
Forest Goblins (2.5)	Standard (2.5) Musician (2.5) Shields (.5) DHW (1)	15	65
Forest Goblins (2.5)	Standard (2.5) Musician (2.5) Shields (.5) Spears (.5)	15	57.5
Forest Goblins (2.5)	Musician (2.5) Short Bows (.5)	10	32.5
Forest Goblins (2.5)	Musician (2.5) Short Bows (.5)	10	32.5
Forest Goblin Spider Riders (9)	Standard (9) Musician (9) Shields (1) Bows (1)	5	63
Forest Goblin Spider Riders (9)	Standard (9) Musician (9) Shields (1) Bows (1) Spears (1)	5	68
River Trolls (65)		3	195
Spider Swarms (100)		4	400
Giant (200)		1	200
TOTAL			1989.5

I appreciate that the above list isn’t technically “legal”, for example having two of both the Warlord and Battle Standards. This is because I want flexibility with the army so have both mounted and unmounted versions of a lot of the characters.

As always I have a few surprises planned, as well as some stretch models if I get through things quicker than expected (for example I actually have nine Trolls all prepped, as well as an extra rank or two for most units). So fingers crossed I can get through them at a good pace.

Finally here is my test model/tribute to give you an idea of the scheme I will be going for:

Anyway, looking forward to putting together something different this year and at the end of it having a new army that plays very different to my Skaven… well, is a different colour at least.