The Old World Army Challenge

What do you get when 37 Oldhammer fans from across the globe venture to paint 1000 points of models each over a 6 month period? The Old World Army Challenge

This started with friendly banter and the issue of a challenge by Chris Sabick and Iannick Martin over at the Oldhammer in the New World facebook group. If memory serves, they were looking for 2-3 more people to join them in the aforementioned challenge. Apparently, the response was overwhelming and from it, the Old World Army Challenge was born. While still in its infancy (November 2017 being the first of the 6 month challenge period), it is already highly organized, with a dedicated Facebook group, a blog with Admins and, apparently, a statistician to track the progress of each contender.

This offered the perfect motivation for digging into my unpainted lead collection of Chaos miniatures. I always find the sword and board guys the most tedious to paint, so naturally I volunteered to make my 1000 point army one composed of rank and file troops. You can find my intro post here, if you're interested

Here is my army list. The rules stated that the army had to consist of 1000 points of models from any 3rd or 4th edition Warhammer army book. I opted to go with 4th edition so that I could include a unit of centaurs.

• 15 beastmen: 150 pts
• 15 beastmen: 150 pts
• 20 thugs: 160 pts
• 20 thug archers with long bows: 220 
• 10 chaos centaurs: 320pts

I will also likely include 2-3 low-level sorcerers or champions to round out each month's 200 points with the units of beastmen and thugs

This army will give me the opportunity to paint some of my favorite beastmen - the Bob Olley versions. They appear more beast than men and have that weird yet very detailed aspect that all Olley sculpts share. My first month (November)'s offerings are nearing completion. I don't know whether I'll be able to see this challenge to the end, since 15 miniatures a month is apparently a stretch to me. But I'll be buggered if I drop out in the first couple of months.

Here are some pictures of the assembled models before primer. I'm putting a lot of work into the bases (perhaps too much), but I have found that this elevates the overall standard of the model, regardless of how the model is actually painted. Enjoy!

Unit of 15 beastmen

Second unit of 15 beastmen. November's tentative pledge

10 centaurs

20 thug archers

20 thug archers