Well, it appears I have lost my mind along with my ability to count. I had initially intended on limiting participation to 20 contestants and then proceeded to not track the amount of people who sent me a message asking to join in. At the official deadline I ended up with 39 total contestants. Someone in one of my chat groups pointed out 40 challengers for a 40k contest would sound much better so I put out a call for one more volunteer and got one. Someone suggested 40,000 contestants would be really fitting but I guess I’ll have to settle for 39,960 short of that goal! You’ll notice the name plates have honorifics this challenge along with the Country the challenger hails from. The honorifics are a Purity Seal for each challenge completed, as well as Terminator Honors for everyone who completed all five previous challenges. You’ll also notice one member has earned an Iron Halo for his actions, I’m sure it won’t take you long to guess who earned this high honor if you’ve been around a while! You aren’t here to listen to me though, let’s get to Wave 1 of the entries!
First it was “Kor’s Ork Raiders,” a motley crew of twisted steel and sex appeal. Then it was “Kor’s Speedee Boyz,” a fast-attack force of diesel-fueled lunatics. Now it’s “Kor’s Hell Patrol,” the ground-pounding horde that never says die!
I will admit, I never envisioned painting over 4000 points of 2nd edition 40k orks over the course of 2 years, but that’s where we are. This, my third and final installment of Space Orks, is also the largest from the get-go. My first army challenge was a mix of characters, troops and vehicles. My second was almost entirely vehicles. This installment is entirely foot troops (117 of them to be exact). As with previous challenges, this force is primarily Rogue Trader era models. In fact, of the 117 models, 84% are Rogue Trader/pre-1993 metal.
From my remaining stockpile of models I assembled 4 max-sized mobs of pewter boys, paying attention to ensure that I included at least one of every different pose of space ork I owned. I also rounded up all the remaining heavy weapon ork bodies I had, and created a max-sized mob of nobz. I also added in a mob of the 2nd edition plastic Goff orks from the boxed game. After all, it IS a 2nd edition painting challenge. Lastly, I included Ghazghkull and Makari that I recently acquired from a member of the Call of Command Discord channel (thanks, Shef). Not sure how I’ll divide this up, since there are more chunks than months in the challenge. If forced to take a mulligan and not paint every model, I think the plastic Goff would be cut. But since I’m an optimist, I look forward to not only painting everything, but hopefully going beyond and painting a few extras!
As before, you can follow my hobby progress on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pygmyhippo/
And you can find many more photos of my miniatures and hobbies on my blog at https://giantpygmy.com
Without further ado, Kor’s Hell Patrol:
Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka (Warboss) 180
Makari (Battle Standard Bearer) 70
Nobz Mob (15 boyz with heavy weapons), total: 556
Blood Axe Boyz Mob (20 boyz), total: 277
Blood Axe Boyz Mob (20 boyz), total: 277
Blood Axe Boyz Mob (20 boyz), total: 292
Blood Axe Boyz Mob (20 boyz), total: 292
Goff Boyz Mob (20 boyz), total: 251
MODEL COUNT: 117
TOTAL POINTS: 2195
Wachtmeister: PygmyHippo continues to impress people far and wide with his awesome painting jobs and the sheer volume he manages to put out each challenge. I look forward to seeing him grind through this much infantry! As a personal note I want to thank him for all he does for the challenge. Not only did he teach me how to use WordPress he is the creative light behind the various logos and nameplates you see each month. The challenge wouldn’t be the same without him!
The years churn on in the darkness of the 41st millennium and so we find ourselves at the dawning of the 6th second edition army challenge. After bravely subbing into the role of coordinator last season, Wachtmeister once again guides the out of control stagecoach pulled by hell’s horses that is the 2nd edition army challenge. This time his leadership will be salted with prior experience from last season, which mostly just consists of him knowing when to tell the participants to stop complaining and get their models painted. A frequency of virtually every day is what I’m guessing he has learned in that regard.
After two army challenges in a row where I worked on my mighty Ork Waaghhhh, this season I will zig while others zag straight into one of the greatest foes of the greenskins – the venerable Space Wolves! I have loved all the Orks I have painted so far but the high model count of 2000 points of orks led to too many months of only painting the models to a tabletop standard. This season’s far smaller model count will enable me to paint to a higher standard again for my current month’s models while also allowing me some time to “glow up” some models from previous challenges or work on bonus materials.
Unlike my Ork and Dark Angels armies, the Space Wolves have not been a long gestating project born of my hobby butterfly ways. Don’t get me wrong, I was a loyal teen White Dwarf reader when the lore of the Space wolves as we now know it was first fleshed out and I loved it like any other red blooded GW fan of the time. However, other than one impulse purchase of a Wolf Guard terminator sergeant when I was 17, until recently I had never owned any Space Wolves models. Existing in the world of 2nd edition as I have for the last few years led to me finding two separate Space Wolves lots for great prices and voila! I suddenly had at least 2,000 points of classic sons of Russ.
Choosing an army that covered the basics of what I would need in battle while not overwhelming myself with too many models to paint is easy with the “even more expensive than a normal space marine” Space Wolves. I will start off this challenge’s first two months by working on a classie Grey Hunter pack, five models each month. Month three will bring the heavy guns to bear with a Long Fangs pack to support the advance of the Grey Hunters. Month four is reserved for a pack of five wolf guards, armed for close combat. The final element of the army is Ulrik the Slayer to act as force commander, and I look forward to having all month five to focus on such a great mini. That leaves me another month for mulligans or bonus content and I am really pulling for the latter and not the former.
In game my new Wolves will add a powerful close combat punch as an allied force for my shooting focused Dark Angels from previous challenges. Standard Weapon Skill 5 for all Space Wolves will be an awesome asset in assaults, hopefully leading to more decisive conclusions instead of the tar pit normal marines can fall into. As an interesting time capsule experiment I still have my classic two color space wolves paints from the Space Marine paint set I bought in 1991. The paints inside are still very viable, if not a bit translucent as all Citadel paints were at the time. I have wild schemes of thinning them and airbrushing the perfect classic blue grey on my forces, but more likely I will just clog my airburh with 30 year old paint. Either way it will be fun to give it a try, and I am once again infused with the excitement of a new army to paint in an old fashioned way. I have also accumulated plenty of wolfy bits and look forward to some very flavorful kitbashes to help vary the repetitiveness of the three Grey Hunter sculpts.
Although it gives the Wachtmeister nightmares when I say things like this, I have at least three more challenges worth of 2nd edition armies to work on for the future, 1,000 points each of Orks, Angels, and Wolves to definitively finish all three of those armies. If my continued acquisition dreams come true, by the time the 10th challenge rolls around I will have bought up enough Eldar to fill in another long desired army. We will save that madness for the second half of the decade. For now, you can follow along with my progress over at my blog, 1st Legion Chronicles (https://1stlegionchronicles.blogspot.com/) a refuge for all things Unforgiven, Orks, and now the wolves of Fenris too!
Thanks to Wachtmeister for voluntarily submitting to this insanity again, and good luck to all the participants involved in the challenge this time around. Also thanks to my trusty piece of 2’x2′ plywood that forms the background of all my starting point photos for all six challenges 🙂
Ulrik The Slayer – Wolf Priest 175 points
Jaurskald’s Hunters – Grey Hunters Pack, Sergeant and 9 Marines, Meltagun, Power Fist x2, Chainsword x2, Power Sword 363 points
Draugrheart’s Teeth – Long Fangs Pack, Sergeant and 4 Marines, Power Axe, Hvy Bolter x2, Missile Launcher x2 282 points
Trusted of Jhorghain – Wolf Guard Pack, 5 Wolf Guard, Power Fist x2, Power Sword, Power Axe, Chainsword 200 points
Army Total 1,030 points
Wachtmeister: In typical Jon fashion he submitted his entry at exactly midnight. In atypical Jon fashion he did not submit it at exactly midnight on the day the entry was due, in fact the warp shuddered as he was the second person to get his entry in! I hope the Space Wolves Curse is well and truly broken because I’d love to see Jon’s take on these classic miniatures. He is definitely challenging himself by using the original GW paints. I used Coat d’ Arms for my Space Wolves in Challenge IV, the OG GW paints, and they were not easy to use!
From the ever-present Australian contingent.
Back again in 2025 for Challenge VI.
I’ve done squats, orks, marines (twice) and genestealer cult. Analysing this I can find absolutely no pattern. This appropriately means it’s time to do chaos.
I have been a fan of the old chaos renegade figures since I first ever saw them in the very early 90’s, later in the 90’s I actually got quite a few and at the time started a little nurgle renegade force. I have no idea now what happened to some of those figures – they were some of my earliest ‘good’ paint jobs – I am virtually certain that I never traded them or otherwise got rid of them. I do have quite a lot of the figures from that time, just not the specific nurgle ones.
Much more recently I have managed to get a lof more of these figures – along with several new casts from knightmare miniatures and more I am getting shortly from bequest miniatures (plus I have a few old inquisition figures). This new army is going to begin primarily as a nurgle army. (other powers to be represented later).
As (easily) predicted I can’t fit many figures in a 1000 point army. In fact I painted twice as many figures as this last month. Each chunk is tiny to fit in the point values, and even then one month is a single character just to try to keep down the points. I expect to manage several additional chunks.
| Chaos Army | |||||
| Type | Qty | Cost | Total | ||
| Master Sorcerer | 1 | 151 | 151 | ||
| Mark of Nurgle | 1 | 20 | 171 | ||
| Force Sword | 1 | 10 | 181 | 181 | 181 |
| 181 | |||||
| Chaos Marines | 6 | 25 | 150 | 181 | |
| Lascannon | 3 | 35 | 255 | 255 | 436 |
| 436 | |||||
| Chaos Marines (Knightmare) | 5 | 25 | 125 | 436 | |
| Missile Launcher | 1 | 35 | 160 | 436 | |
| Plasma Missiles | 1 | 5 | 165 | 165 | 601 |
| 601 | |||||
| Chaos Dreadnaught | 1 | 135 | 135 | 601 | |
| Power Claw | 1 | 15 | 150 | 601 | |
| Heavy plasma gun | 1 | 40 | 190 | 190 | 791 |
| 791 | |||||
| Plague Marines | 6 | 35 | 210 | 791 | |
| Aspiring champion | 1 | 30 | 240 | 791 | |
| Mark of Nurgle | 1 | 20 | 260 | 791 | |
| Power fist | 1 | 10 | 270 | 791 | |
| Flamer | 1 | 9 | 279 | 791 | |
| Cloud of Flies | 1 | 5 | 284 | 284 | 1075 |
The dreadnaught is from Hybrid miniatures. It’s far chunkier than the original and this particular one I think will be painted nurglesque.
The sorceror is a Chaz Eliott heartbreaker figure from ral partha europe. I had one of these in my initial nurgle force all those years ago as well – beautiful figure.
I do have enough chaos backpacks for all the figures – just not shown in the photo.
Thanks!
Wachtmeister: I can’t wait to see Adrian’s take on all these old school sculpts. I didn’t realize how big the Dreadnought from Hybrid miniatures is, he is a beast and a beautiful sculpt! I’m a big fan of all things Nurgle (even now suffering through one of his many contagions) so I’m super excited to see this project come along!
Hi there! Ted from Sweden here. I took part in Cowabunga III and IV, but not V, so I thought it was high time to make my return! I painted Night Lords Chaos Space Marines in my two previous outings, and this time I’m looking to add a bit of daemons and cult troops to the army in the form of an unholy alliance between Nurgle and Slaanesh! The army is based around two greater daemons and their retinues of lesser daemons and Chaos Space Marines.
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oddgits.hut
***
The air shimmered and tore as a warp portal disgorged two titanic forms onto the surface of Khardasian Prime. One was a bloated monstrosity, its corpulent flesh dripping with noxious ichor. Next to it, in sharp contrast, a lithe and serpentine figure emerged, its sleek form wreathed in a haze of warp-fueled glamour. They regarded each other with mutual disdain. The Great Unclean One, whose essence embodied decay and despair, found the shimmering beauty of his companion offensive. The Keeper of Secrets, in turn, loathed the stench and vulgarity of the plague-ridden hulk. Yet, they were bound by a common purpose: aiding the Night Lords in their brutal campaign to bring the planet to its knees.
***
The List
Characters:
1 Great Unclean One – 275 points
1 Keeper of Secrets – 280 points
Squads:
5 Plague Marines – 175 points
4 Noise Marines (3x Sonic Blaster, 1x Blastmaster) – 195 points
1 Aspiring Champion (Mark of Slaanesh, Blastmaster) – 80 points
Daemons:
5 Daemonettes – 175
Total:
1180 points
Wachtmeister: I’m thrilled to have Ted back in the mix. He did a terrific job on his Night Lords and I look forward to seeing how he does with some of the other Legions!
For the challenge this year I am going back to where it all started; the little black book!! Even after all of these years, the Codex Army Lists book from the 2nd Edition Box Set has a certain allure to it. Most obviously, it allows players to field a Squat army, but I have always been fascinated by the Imperial Agents list. A glance over that army list is like looking at the inner workings of the Imperium. My army will be focusing on Grey Knights, using some Space Marine allies to represent other units within the Grey Knights Chapter organisation that you would not usually see. As you probably already know, 1000 points does not get you a lot of Grey Knights (10 and a character to lead them, in fact!). As a result, I have bumped my pledge up to 1500 points. Here’s the list:
Inquisitor Lord (psychic mastery level 4, terminator armour, nemesis force weapon, storm shield, bionic leg): 293 points
Techmarine (Terminator armour, storm bolter, power glove, targeter, refractor field): 89 points
Apothecary (Terminator armour, storm bolter, power glove, targeter, medi-pack, refractor field): 91 points
5 x Grey Knights (psychic mastery level 1, nemesis force weapons): 350 points
5 x Grey Knights (psychic mastery level 1, nemesis force weapons): 350 points
Dreadnought (Twin heavy bolters, power fist with built in storm bolter, auto-launchers) 165 points
3 x Rapier Laser Destroyers (Servitor crews): 162 points
This list will use all of the Grey Knights miniatures I have managed to scrounge off eBay the past couple of years. One set of 5 went missing in the warp for a while. The seller contacted me after a couple of months, because he was as concerned as I was, and initiated the refund process. I got my money back and the seller was ok, having lost only about $20 in eBay fees. Lo and behold, 6 months later, they teleported onto my front doorstep!! The Dreadnought is a more modern version of the old Castraferrum, but I am going to make it look a bit vintage; I have some tricks up my sleeves. The Rapier laser destroyers are some wicked 3D prints I got off an Etsy store in the UK. Hopefully, they can take out some enemy vehicles early, as I don’t think anything else in the army will have much of a chance.
I am really looking forward to painting this little army; it has been a long time coming and fulfills a lot of very old dreams. And it is of course an absolute honour to be painting with these wonderful folks again. Bring it on!!
Wachtmeister: It is an absolute pleasure to have M4cr0Dutch join us again! As far as I can remember no one has entered one of 40k Second Edition Challenges with an Imperial Agents list from the Black Book, this is going to be a special treat! I never got any Grey Knights and looking at this cool collection I wish I had. Those 3D printed Rapiers look awesome and with the old school servitors they really fit the era!
So, I need some colourful reinforcement for my Iyanden army, so what better than a troupe of space murder clowns!
In a 2000 point Eldar force, half of that can be Harlequins, so why not!
Going with just the modelled equipment we have:
10 harlequins – 344 points
Great Harlequin- 102
Death Jester – 125
Solitaire- 104
Shadow Seer – 214
So that gives 889 points. Hmmm. Obviously the squad will be split between months with the GH and Solitaire bringing up the points, but I’m still short.
Now to find my box of bases…
Wachtmeister: First Imperial Agents, and now a full Harlequin Army, another army I don’t think we’ve seen in full since the good doctor started this crazy challenge! On top of that Jim is our first rookie to enter Challenge VI. Harlequins are quite the challenge on their own, let alone on a time crunch. Good luck Jim, I can’t wait to see these all finished!
Hello! I’m KC and this will be my first Army Challenge.
When I saw the announcement, I briefly daydreamed about living in a reality where I sign up and successfully complete 1000pts of classic minis. Then I dismissed the notion as preposterous and continued with my day. I must have slipped into another dimension overnight however, as when I woke up, the today version of me went ahead and threw his hat in the ring before I had a chance to rethink the decision.
A little about my motivations: After spending my twenties and early thirties believing I was too cool for Warhammer, I finally reached that satisfying age where you just don’t care anymore and returned to the hobby in 2018. In that time I have started many projects yet completed relatively few. My attention tends towards periods of obsession, followed by equally consuming periods of disinterest and I hope that by joining this syndicate of accountability I will finally achieve the Holy Grail of 40k collections: a fully painted 2nd edition army.
The army I have chosen just happens to be the selection of metal miniatures I have accumulated over recent years. It’s a nice comprehensive collection and looking at them laid out right now, it seems totally do-able. I mean, it’s just 18 models. That’s totally do-able. Totally.
As the Space Wolves only account for around 800pts I luckily had some Catachans to fill up the rest. This is especially fortuitous as the variety they bring will help to keep my interest in the task ahead. Now, as I would rather put out a campfire with my face than batch paint, I have decided to spend the first month tackling the biggest hurdle; the Guardsmen, followed by the Terminators in the second. I anticipate my motivation levels dropping around month three, at which point I can spend some time feeling sorry for myself and regretting my choices in life. Then, in month four when I recover my resolve I shall knock out Bjorn, another big effort. Having broken the back of it by then, I can finish the race by spending the last two months really going to town on my favourite models of the army: Ragnar Blackmane and the Powerfist Commissar.
It’s a good thing I only found out about the “Space Wolf Curse” after signing up… I’m locked in now. My body is ready. Godspeed everyone.
You can follow my progress on Instagram: @kc.miniart
THE LIST
Ragnar Blackmane – 161
Bjorn the Fell-Handed – 270
Wolf Guard Terminators – 382
Catachans – 140
Commissar – 50
Total – 1003
Wachtmeister: Welcome KC to the madness that is the 40k 2nd Edition Challenge! It sounds like KC has a good plan, and having a plan is key to finishing an army so that’s a step in the right direction! Planning for a mid-challenge slump is a wise idea as the data shows the slump is a real thing! KC is the second entrant with a Space Wolves army, I guess we will see if the Space Wolves Curse is well and truly broken, or if it will rear its ugly head once again!
Like many of us I played 2nd edition as a kid and would spend hours poring over the pages of White Dwarf magazine, dreaming of owning each of the main factions. My painting was poor and my armies consisted of the usual eclectic mix of badly built plastic and metal minis, constructing armies as cheaply as possible using Space Crusade minis and the like. As real life kicked in I reckon I stopped playing around 1998 but thankfully I did buy and store a few nice things from that time. I never really got back into 40k properly until Covid times despite a few on and off years playing Blood Bowl. So now I have all of the usual goals of trying to recreate my old armies and add new ones that I couldn’t originally afford.
I still haven’t ever played newer 40K but I have shared quite a few games of 2nd edition using mainly unpainted minis with my own children (who love it btw). The old models, colours and nostalgia still fuel the majority of my interest. We hastily painted up the box set to participate at BOYL in the summer and having the deadline was good motivation to get some classic minis painted. Hopefully this challenge will also serve some much-needed motivation because my painting skills still aren’t going to win any awards, however anything that creates opportunities to spend quality time with your kids and drag them away from screens is a good thing right?
I was a Blood Angels guy back in the day (who wasn’t) but having bought some nicely painted BA a few years ago I wanted to turn my hand to a different chapter and improve my painting before trying to complete them. So Imperial Fists were picked and the joys of painting bright yellow began. This is what I hope to paint up and yes I am cheating a little with the points count!
Terminator Squad: 5 miniatures including one equipped with Cyclone Missile Launcher 380 points
Assault Squad: 10 miniatures equipped with jump packs, 1 with hand flamer and 1 with plasma pistol 382 points
Devastator Squad: 5 miniatures, the boring half equipped with bolters 150 points. Although I’m hoping to paint all 10 miniatures with four heavy weapons, Heavy Bolter, Heavy Plasma Cannon, Heavy Las Cannon, Missile Launcher (445 points instead)
2x Rhino Transports 100 points
Total number of models: 20 (up to 25) miniatures and 2 tanks
Total Points = 1012 (up to 1307)
I’m really looking forwards to this and hopefully by picking expensive Marines I should be able to complete the challenge and then I can choose a more “model heavy” army next time.
Wachtmeister: Welcome TJ, our second contestant using initials as his name! I know, I’m running out of material here, I’m not a professional writer! We had a few Iyanden Eldar last challenge and while yellow isn’t easy to paint it can look really good so I’m looking forward to these Imperial Fists!
Hello my name is DJ and I’m interested in participating in your 2nd edition 40k challenge. My Night Lord army started in 2nd edition unfortunately most of those models are lost to the sands of time, what I do have a ton of are my 3rd edition replacements for them. For my 1000 points I wanted to focus on using the models I do have from my 2nd edition army, the chaos terminators. I have a total of 10, one will be my chaos lord as I’ve already converted him. The real restoration will be on the Forge world Night Lord dreadnaught that is broken in several places and painted badly by me almost 20 years ago. I know it’s technically not a 2nd edition model but this will give me a reason to put the work into him you know.
The about me part, cause who doesn’t like talking about them selves a little bit. I’ve been involved in the Hobby since 1989 with rouge trader. It happen like this Friend calls, and he says and Im quoting “Hey we found this game with models that has Aliens, Terminators, and Space Marines”, and in 1989 that was about all the trigger words for my imagination and my attention. In 1997 I joined the Games Workshop company I worked part time at the Headquarters store In Glen Burnie Maryland. I stayed with company and moved around a bit. I worked as a rules boy in customer service and then moved to mail order where I finally met my end… or did I. I worked again at a retail location at the Annapolis Mall, and now again recently as an On call retail manager. So I won’t be able to use my name in this challenge, I’ll just have to give you my hobby Instagram handle. @scourge_of_jericho_reach. I am an army veteran, wounded in combat in 2010 in Iraq. I was a 19K or an M1Armor crewman for the 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment. Now I just sit at home and play with toy soldiers lol any way thanks for your consideration in this contest.
Chaos (Codex – Chaos) [998pts]
Chaos Lord [181pts]: Army Commander, Mark of Tzeentch, Plasma Grenade. Terminator Armour: Combi-weapon & Power Fist: Combi-Flamer
Chaos Space Marine Terminators [261pts] 2x Chain-axe, Chaos Undivided, Combi-Flamer, 3x Combi-Melta, Heavy Flamer, Power Fist, Power Mace, 4x Terminator
Chaos Space Marine Terminators [346pts]: Chaos Undivided, Combi-Flamer, 2x Power Fist, 2x Power Mace, Reaper Autocannon, 4x Terminator, 3x Twin Bolter Aspiring Champion Terminator Armour: Combi-weapon & Power Fist: Combi-Flamer
Chaos Space Marine Dreadnought [210pts]: Combi-Bolter, Mk 1 Twin Lascannon, Thunder Hammer
Wachtmeister: Man, I thought I was running out of material before. This contestant is using his initials too AND they just happen to be my real initials too! DJ is taking the sensible route of high points cost miniatures which should help him get through this challenge with his childhood army reassembled and ready to rock!
A few months ago I recreated my childhood 2nd ed Blood Angels army. It was an amazing project that I loved every minute of. I recently started an ork army as that was the army I played at the tail end of 2nd and into 3rd edition. I always wanted a speed frek army but couldn’t afford it as a poor lazy teenager.
Here is my proposal for this challenge. Based on what I have been collecting over the last few months. I also have some conversion work and 3D printing to do. So I guess my project is a hobby project and not just a painting project.
Warboss – 167pts
(Still to be made)
Chainsword, Power Klaw, Mega Armour,
Kustom Blasta, Conversion Field, Combat Drugs
Mekaniak – 97pts
(Still to be made)
Evy Armour, Nob Bike, Chainsword
Kustom Blasta, Kustom Force Field
Evil Sunz Mob – 268pts
5 Boys on warbikes,
1 Nob with Power Klaw on a Nob bike
(More Bikes on the way)
Boyz Mob – 158pts
9 Boyz with Bolt Pistols and Chainswords, 1 Nob with Chainsword and Powerfist
War Buggy – 65pts X2
Multi Melta
Scorcher – 50pts x2
To be converted from these wartrak kits
Battlewagon – 70pts
Ablative armour, Supercharged Engine
To be converted from this Trukk kit or possibly 3D printed.
Wachtmeister: Recreating childhood projects is what the 2nd Edition Challenge is all about. I look forward to seeing Gazamataz’ project come to fruition through a combination of classic models, conversions, and maybe even some 3D printing!
“Call me Ishmael.”
…or AD80_Herohammer or simply Alex, either which way works. I cant quite believe that I am already putting together my third force for the 2nd Edition painting challenge as I prepare to get more minis painted up for this the 6th iteration of the challenge.
In the past, my pledges have been ambitious in size but manageable for me– both the Orks from last year and the Catachans the year before were somewhat put together for the challenge as fun armies’ I had always wanted to paint up, so in effect they never really ended up feeling like much of a challenge at all despite both forces running into figure counts over 150.
This year will be different though, this year I’ll be taking on my personal “white whale” of the hobby as I try – for the fourth time, to attempt to get a Blood Angels army painted up. Its funny that one of the most popular armies out there would be my nemesis, but that in part is the problem. I’ve seen fabulous Blood Angels armies painted up; you’ve seen fabulous Blood Angel armies painted up. The WD studio had two amazing forces back in the early 90’s that totally captured my imagination and made the space vampires my favourite Space Marine faction– first the Rogue Trader era force that starred in the first ever 40k battle report in WD 141 (which also happened to be my first ever issue) and then the force which was the poster boys of the 2nd Edition Box set. Try as I might, I’ve never come close to being happy with my own efforts to replicate these armies.
My 13-year-old self immediately tried to recreate the Blood Angels from that box set, and discovered that thick paints, no blending and sometimes not bothering with an undercoat wasn’t the way to a professionally painted looking army…no online painting tutorial empire would be forged with those principles.
A few years later, the introduction of a more grim-dark aesthetic started to creep into the GW approach, and looking back I also took this to heart – in fact some Blood Angel figures I painted in that era look just about ready to join the Death Company, the amount of black ink I slathered on them. Sadly my attempts to be like the cool kids (as with so many other things) failed and my dive into the Grimdark ended up with everything just looking like they had lost a fight with a tin of treacle. At least at this point in time it seams I was more than ready to go to town with a transfer or two.
Much later, I returned to the Blood Angels and had yet another stab at putting together a force ready to do those classic armies justice, and while the painting is somewhat neater, the Terminator is a classic example of where I ended up back then, neat but underwhelming – looking back nowhere near enough orange, let alone traces of yellow in the main colour.
So, I’m back – ready to take on that one army I have probably put off half a dozen times these past 5 or so years of getting back into the hobby when really, they should have been my first point of call. You know when you have 2500 points of Genestealer Cults and 2000 points of Imperial Agents painted up for 2nd edition, you have kind of run out of places to hide.
“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.”
The only good news is that with Space Marines, you get a lot of bang for you buck points wise – and therefore not that many minis to paint up. This gives me the chance to add some bonus minis if it’s going well – or keep the paint to a minimum if it isn’t. My force is divided up into 5 sections, with two of those only being a single vehicle. The mini’s themselves are a mix of bits I’ve collected over the years, from some of my earliest purchases to a 3D printed Whirlwind that I only added to the collection very recently.
Feel free to follow along with this and the other Oldhammer projects I’m working on over on Instagram at AD80_Herohammer.
“Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale, to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hates sake I spit my last at thee.”
Tactical Combat Squad. Sargent with bolt pistol and power axe, plasma gun 168 points
Tactical Combat Squad. Missile Launcher 195 points
Whirlwind with autolaunchers 155 points
Dreadnaught with assault cannon and twin lascannon 215 points
Space Marine Captain with bolter and power fist 109 points
Chaplain 53 points
Librarian with force sword 63 points
Techmarine with master crafted plasma pistol 48 points
Total 1006 points
Wachtmeister: Once again another childhood army is being brought back to life via the 2nd Edition Challenge. Much like Alex I didn’t get to my childhood army until challenge 5, pushing it off for the armies I wanted but couldn’t afford as a kid. I also love how 3D printing is once again coming to the rescue for minis that are hard to find. I look forward to seeing Alex’ take on the Blood Angels!
I started playing 40k with 2nd. Blood Angels were my first choice. I have managed to find enough bare 2nd/3rd models to recreate something of my old army.
Captain Tycho 120 points
Tech marine 33 points
Dreadnought 195 points
Speeder 145 points
Tactical squad Vet sgt, melta gun 313 points
Tactical squad 300
Dante and Mephiston over 500 points
Devastator squat over 400 points
Chaplain week 3 200+ points
Wachtmeister: Damien is a man of few words and our second Blood Angels player. He initially provided his list in a 10-week format. It’s an aggressive schedule, I wish him luck!
“Hello there my slightly purple brethren! How goes the growth of that third arm of your’s? Covered in razor-sharp claws I trust? Excellent, let us begin the briefing!”
Well then, challenge number six for me and a few of the other contestants and there are still models to face the brush from the pile of shame XD Still, no real shame when it comes to planning out another lovely retro army project and, indeed, the time is right for the prophesied ascendance of the Four Arsed Emperor!
ALL PRAISE HI…. wait what? What do you mean he is supposed to have four arms?!? It says it right here in the notes, see??? What do you MEAN the people won’t praise such a godly being? Just look at that badonk-badonk!
Fine, apparently we are now praising the four ARMED Emperor, but at least that saves a lot of time sculpting sphincters out of green stuff I suppose. I am going for a mix of that the list can offer, as it is always fun to try painting new models, but also a relatively “elite” 1000 points this time and trying out some of the pricier acolytes, who can act as heavy support with quite an impressive array of weapons for selection. Also, my scratch-built Land Raider has finally started being assembled, but has a while to go before it will be complete. I really wanted it to stand out from the standard pattern and look a lot more like something from a colonial planet (definite Aliens APC vibes here too).
Can’t wait to see how this army evolves and also check out what everyone else is working on 🙂
Tain
Slice 1: 8 Acolyte Hybrids: 6 x boltguns & 2 missile launchers (172pts)
Slice 2: Genestealer Magus w. force rod (122pts), 10 Brood Brothers: 9 x autoguns & 1 flamer (78 pts)
Slice 3: Genestealer Patriarch (72pts), 6 Genestealers (168pts)
Slice 4: 6 Genestealers (168pts)
Slice 5: Land Raider (220pts)
GRAND TOTAL: 1000 points.
Wachtmeister: Well, looks like we are already going off the rails in Mark VI and we haven’t even started yet. I think Martin must have bumped his head before writing this entry. No, it isn’t the four assed emperor that makes me think that, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Martin enter with only 33 models! That Land Raider looks terrific and totally fits in with the theme, I can’t wait to see it all done!
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 