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!

OWAC VI - Conclusion

Another OWAC, another army completed. After four participations, I realize that a strong background is the key (at least for me) to keep ideas flowing and renew my interest throughout the duration of the challenge. For the lost crusade of Pieter the Pious painted in 2020, I have looked for inspiration in John Blanche's illustrations for "Blood on the Reik". For the mercenary dwarfs painted in 2021 and 2022, the illustrated chronicles of Diebold Schilling were of great help. This year, flipping through the pages of "Death on the Reik", I have (re-)discovered an incredibly rich scenario, full of weird ideas, and nicely illustrated by late Martin McKenna.

Below the pictures of the resulting Castle Wittgenstein project.

Before moving on to the next project, I plan to complement a few things: more peasants (sigh...), maybe more crossbowmen, and probably a few riders. We'll see what I can do in the coming months. 

Thanks for stopping by on this blog!

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 - Slagdarg the Torturer

Slagdarg is the official torturer of Castle Wittgenstein: not particularly bright, this mutant ogre is fully dedicated to his job, and keeps questioning his guests... without listening to their answers.

To build this character, I have modified the Gutlagg Executioner model designed by Jes Goodwin by separating the head from the body, trimming down the shoulders, then lenghtening the torso by adding the upper armour piece of a Kruleboyz boss. I thought the chains, locks and keys would fit nicely with the honorable profession of Mr. Slagdarg.

Slagdarg's mutations consist in a bright green skin with orange hairs on his arms. Not exactly my comfort zone... 

In the end, way too much time spent on this model:

May's production:

See you in June with what's left to paint!

OWAC VI - Shif Doppler and more guards

The 6th edition of the OWAC is close to the end, and all I've been able to paint as an army general is the lieutenant of the guards, Shif Doppler, and... more guards!

Shif Doppler has been heavily tainted by Chaos: he can turn his head and arms by 360 degrees, and his face is so corrupted that he's hiding it under a silver mask depicting a handsome youngman. 

In terms of miniature, I have used the model proposed in the original scenario pack to depict this character, but carved the helmet to replace the head by an AOS Stormcast face, and equipped it with a Warcry miniature flail (part of his equipment in the scenario).

As for the guards, they are based on the imperial halberdiers designed by the Perry brothers in the 90s: I have either swapped the heads, or trimmed down the fancy feathers to give the original helmets a more severe look. I have also replaced two halberds by man catchers, very useful to capture new subjects for Lady Margritte's experiments 💀

The full rank: