Wednesday 2 September 2015

A Tale of Four Oldhammer Gamers...ribbit




So this thing is happening. Back in July, just prior to this year's BOYL, the esteemed Warlord Paul of The Black Hole blog suggested we take on the challenge of "A Tale of Four Gamers", an idea that first appeared in White Dwarf 218 back in 1998. The "we" being Paul, Chico (Oldhammer on a Budget), James (Realm of Chaos 80's) and myself. The armies would be of an Oldhammer flavour and we will fight our battle/s at BOYL 2016.

The rules are simple in that between now and BOYL we must each amass a force of 1000pts at a rate of roughly 100pts per month, and to blog about our progress at least once per month. We haven't set ourselves a cash budget in that we each already have most, if not all, of the miniatures we will need. So the bulk of the challenge will lie in the painting and the modelling.

The forces chosen are:

- Chico: Hobgoblins
- James: Chaos (Nurgle)
- Paul: Undead
- Myself: Slann

John Blanche's wonderful Slann illustration from the 3rd edition Warhammer Armies book.

Why Slann? Well, since returning to the gaming scene at BOYL 2013 I've only painted two forces: a chaos warband for BOYL 2013 (that didn't actually make an appearance), and a human/giant force for BOYL 15. Both forces had one thing in common: a predominantly red/gold colour scheme. This was coincidence rather than design but I think it's fair to say that I'm now utterly bored of this colour scheme! So part of the reason for choosing a Slann force was because I could experiment with very varied colour schemes. If you think frogs are just a dull green colour then try googling Dendrobates and check out the wonderful colour schemes of these amazing little creatures. What better inspiration could I have!

I also discovered when researching Slann army choices in the 3e Warhammer Armies book that Slann animal handlers can not only take warhounds, but giant scorpions, giant spiders and sabre-tooth tigers! Brilliant opportunities for painting and modelling there.

So look out: the frogs are coming.

Ribbit.

8 comments:

  1. Nice to see your first post Steve. And I wasn't aware of those animal options for Slann handlers. Nasty stuff! But what will your first miniature be and why? A troop type like Paul and Chico - or your leader, like me? Also, will we be seeing a mix of slotta and preslotta models in this force?

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    1. Nag nag nag... :-)

      Working out troop choices at the moment, but I'm sure they will change. I reckon I'm going to stick with slotta types. Possibly use some Foundry figures as slaves.

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  2. For some very personnal reason I cannot agree more on your choice of making an army of frogs !
    Exploring the many opportunities offered will also be a good help betwen ranks of unit to keep the spirit up !

    Great idea guys !

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  3. Heh I knew I should have done that Bretonian force after all, they'd be well fed :)

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    1. I'm ready for some green on green action Chico!

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  4. Good luck to you Sir, some steep competition there, Im going to try and get a similair project going for oldhammer in the new world for next year.
    The slang are an interesting choice and your lot of armies for this challenge certainly are diverse.

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  5. I am looking forward to seeing some more Slann around, and will keep an eye on your progress with interest. :)

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