Preparing OWAC V

After considering elves, skaven, and melniboneans, I've finally made up my mind for this new edition of the Old World Army Challenge: puff and slash dwarfs again 😜

For OWAC V, my plan is simple: add 10 pikemen and 10 crossbowmen to complete the mandatory troops (i.e. 40 Dwarf warriors and 20 crosssbowmen), boost the fire power of my mercenary dwarfs with 20 thunderers, and finally paint my mounted general 🐴

If time permits, I will paint a few extras, including wild dwarfs, new bodyguards for the paymaster, and a cart for the bishop.

My prepared miniatures so far:

 

And finally the wagon, based on a Perry Miniatures carroccio, with Fenryll wheels and a few GW bits.  

 

The last halberdiers

Finally! With these halberdiers, I am completing the Frostpeak clan initiated during the OWAC IV. No conversion this time, just 3 Marauder Miniatures from the MM10 and MM15 ranges.

The last rank:

And using the former captain (and now simple seargent) of the last OWAC, here are the miniatures painted since July.

So what's next? Probably the preparation of 40 to 50 dwarfs for the next OWAC...

+ 2

Same old dwarves, painted for the second or third time... Despite my efforts, it seems that I'm only able to paint rear rank miniatures these days...

Another couple of dwarf halberdiers

It's been two months since my last post, and I have little to show: two slightly converted Marauder Miniatures (MM10 and MM15) to strengthen one of the units painted during the OWAC IV.

As for my next move, I really don't know. 

I've lost my enthusiasm for the Pfeildorfers, and although I'm only short of a few miniatures, the perspective of painting 20 to 30 more Marauder Miniatures (the remaining citizen, the mounted knights, the command group and the wizards) bores me by anticipation :| 

As for the swiss dwarves, I clearly see the path forward: complementing the halberdiers and the pikemen, then a second regiment of quarellers, a new regiment of thunderers, a few warmachines, the mounted general and the High Priest of Grungni, plus a few warrior-monks... But again, the perspective a spending one more year on them seems... uninspiring. 

Well... Let's hope my mojo comes back before the end of the year!

Two dwarf halberdiers

Even if the OWAC IV is done, I still have a number of Marauder dwarfs to paint! So the plan is to use my summer vacation to try some ideas I've had during the last 6 months, but without enough time to develop them. No painting job here, just a modelling knife and some greenstuff. We'll see where it brings us... (probably not very far 😆)

In the meantime, here are my latest models (MM10 references DW20 and DW28), slightly converted to join the halberdiers of the FrostPeak Hold. 

See you in September! 

OWAC IV - The conclusion

I've already posted my wrap-up on the OWAC blog, but I thought I might share a few additional pictures here.

So, here we are, after 6 months of painting, my second dwarf army of around 1000 points:

I've already mentioned here that I had still a couple of ideas to exploit with the Swiss theme, such as the hot chocolate pot, the clockworkers, or William Tell the quareller, plus a few things I'd like to finish, the general on poney and the Archbishop of Grungni, and of course several tens of Marauder Miniatures that are still waiting for their basecoat...Maybe for the next OWAC edition in 2022?

Marauder halberdiers

And we are back in Pfeildorf! After a welcome "dwarf break", the last two halberdier models I had to complete the city watch. 

Nothing much to say, this is the second or third time you're seeing these models on this blog :)

And then what? Well, I still have a lot of Marauder Miniatures waiting for their basecoat, but I have to admit this perspective is a little bit disheartening... too many years spent on this army I guess. In need some vacations, far from the Empire :o)

OWAC VI - The characters

As I am considering extending the painting of this army to the next OWAC, I've decided that my dwarf priest deserved additional thoughts and preparation. As for the mounted captain, my first attempt to paint the poney failed miserably... and instead of insisting, I have opted for other characters.

So, let's start with the first one, the Annalist of the company, who happens to be a dwarf wizard of the Marauder range, MM10 DW10.

The second character and current leader of the army is one of the Captains that takes command of the dogs of war when the General is not on the battlefield. The model is the well-known leader of the MB1 regiment:

The third character is one of the MM11 champions, that will lead the bodyguards of the paymaster.

I still have a few ideas to explore for my Swiss Grey Mountains mercenary dwarfs (such as clockworkers, a chocolate hot pot, or a "William Tell" quareller), plus a full box of Marauder dwarves waiting for their basecoat, but I have to admit that the initial impetus stemmed last month while painting my crossbowmen. 

So that's it for OWAC IV!

OWAC IV - The Crossbowmen

Enter the Frostbeards clan with this unit of quarellers! From the beginning of this OWAC, I wanted to paint something close to the banner of the shooters of Zürich (1513): I have therefore used the blue-and-white scheme of this canton to depict the Frostbeards. 

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)

 

In the end, I have opted for the vertical option, and decided to replace the upper red strip by painting in red the ribbons hanging from the pole, and sewn to the outer edge of the flag. As for the crossbow, I needed a more stylized design, and I have slightly adapted the model drawn by Gary Chalk in the Warhammer Armies book:

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 second rank:

 The entire band:

 See you in June for the mercenary captain! (and hopefully a few additional dwarves).