Gorram’s Slow Grow Dwarphen Hold

My painting order is a bit discombobulated; technically I haven’t finished August’s models but I have painted well above the 500 points. I just wasn’t in the mood for anything except the infantry. These aren’t really what I need for the list but when I was doing my big tidy up I found these in a box. I think I built them early this year when I first started buying dwarf models. 20 is my limit for batch painting by both my patience and the space on my desk.

I also found more movement trays but having painted them up they clearly have a shallower top than the others. When you order through Warbases you have the choice of 2mm or 3mm and these I’ve gone with the wrong choice. It doesn’t matter in terms of how they work but I prefer if the green lips on the individual bases are hidden. Still, they’ll do for now when pennies are scarce. 

Another weekend of poor sleep means these gents got finished quicker than expected. In hindsight, I should have made 20 of each rather than the 16 needed for the list. Next month I’ve another unit of infantry to build so I think I’ll add in another 8 to make this month’s units to 20.

This week has one character model and a gyrocopter to do to get the full 500 points done for August. 

First 16 warriors done! This is a little under half of what the first month’s goal is. This was a good size of batch, nothing too tedious. The banner uses a Karak Norn transfer from the current decal sheet. I liked the look of it. Looking at the old army books I have pdfs of, Karak Norn was blue and red but the internet says that Total War might have changed that to red and white so the universe works I guess.

Officially our painting starts August 1st but people have been sharing build photos and test models in the discord already so I decided that, having got my paint scheme sorted, I’d get the rest of my first month’s models built and tackle the movement trays.

I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about Old World in terms of the rules and I know that I like Kings of War. I decided to sit firmly on the 20mm side of the fence for basing but this does mean having to make adjustments via movement trays.

Warbases have a load of different options and keep the top and bottom pieces separate which makes magnetising much easier. 

1. Cut a piece of ferrous sheet to roughly the correct size.
2. I used self-adhesive sheet and it gets a good grip.
3. Trim it with a sharp knife
4. Carefully superglue on the top layer and leave to cure fully.
5. Texture and paint to match the model in the last post. I also put two coats of matt varnish on the green to try and keep it looking good for as long as possible

After a few hours of work, building between basing and basing between building, I managed to get it all done. Or at least enough for the early part of the army.

I knew I wanted a bright colour scheme – clearly a very unusual choice for me XD That meant starting from a light base coat. Initially I primed in Colour Forge Wight Bone (meant to colour match to Citadel Wraithbone) but once it had cured, I felt it was a little too warm so I went back in with Colour Forge Matt White instead.

In terms of picking my main colours, I started out looking into different “official” colour schemes but none of them where entirely what I was looking for. Karak Gorram therefore shall have its own. I haven’t painted a lot of white or red since the better pigmented paints like the Fanatic range hit the market so they’ll be my two. Given that I’m not going to go back in and highlight basic infantry more than once, I’m going to start a little brighter than perhaps I would normally for my red.

The White I want to look clean and be very simple to achieve. With a stark white primer acting as the base coat, an all over coat of Citadel Apothecary White was the first proper step. There are probably better options out there in speed paint ranges but this is the one I have and so long as you shake it like a British au pair, it gives a nice recess shade. If on models I think there’s a need for a highlight, I’ll use Pro-Acryl Titanium White but on the test model I didn’t think it was necessary.

Next up I painted the silver metals using Army Painter Gun Metal. I like the old formula of this paint and when they discontinued it I made sure to order several bottles so I have it for years, if not a couple of decades to come.  The gold is Citadel Retributor Gold.

Trims around the armour and quartering shields etc is where I’m going to bring in the red. There should be enough on each model that it stands out but not so much that it kills everything else. I had been thinking of using Pure Red from Army Painter Fanatics but honestly the coverage isn’t great and in the end I went for the old favourite of Citadel Mephiston Red. I used the Pure Red for highlights instead.

Boots, belts and pouches are Citadel Rhinox Hide.

Weapon shaft Citadel Mournfang Brown.

Skin and hair will probably change between models so not everyone is the same.

I used a black shade for the gun metal on the armour and then everything else (except the white clothing) got Marine Juice.

The basing is Vallejo Chocolate Brown, with a drybrush of Vallejo US Field Drab. I wanted those goblin green rims so after a bit of online research, I picked up AK 3rd Gen Alga Green (AK11152). It needed two coats but I’m happy with the hue.

For the flock I knew I wanted to use the Army Painter Grass Green flock I’ve had for years. It just feels like a little more appropriate for the look. I only have a half tub left so ordered a new one… sigh. Turns out they have changed the size of the flock and the colour so the new tub doesn’t match. I need to have a think about if I’m going to mix them or try looking for an alternative. I know no one but me cares XD

I don’t really understand how Old World works yet and I’m so used to list building in Kings of War that my brain thinks in regiments not individual numbers. Rather than spend weeks reading rulebooks, I found some intro videos on youtube and took a suggested starter list from here.

There is a 1000 and a 2000 point list. Sure, the rules have changed pretty dramatically, especially in the last couple of weeks with the Match Play Guide and most recent FAQ but they still seem like good bases to start from. 

I’ve split the first 1000 points into three batches as we are starting our first month at 500 points and every month after will be 250. Currently there are no plans for games until we get to 1k so exact points don’t matter. 

August 487/500 points

September 258/250 points

October 254/250 points

===

Dwarfen Mountain Holds [999 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Dwarfen Mountain Holds, Open War

===

++ Characters [260 pts] ++

Thane [194 pts] OCT 

– Hand weapon

– Great weapon

– Full plate armour

– General

– Shieldbearers

– Rune of Preservation

– Master Rune of Gromril

Thane [66 pts]  AUG 

– Hand weapon

– Great weapon

– Full plate armour

– Shield

– On foot

++ Core Units [609 pts] ++

16 Dwarf Warriors [191 pts]  AUG 

– Hand weapons

– Heavy armour

– Great weapons

– Shields

– Drilled

– Veteran (champion)

– Standard bearer

– Musician

16 Rangers [258 pts]  SEPT 

– Hand weapons

– Crossbows

– Throwing axes

– Heavy armour

– Great weapons

– Shields

– Ol’ Deadeye (champion) [Crossbow]

– Standard bearer

– Musician

16 Thunderers [160 pts]  AUG 

– Hand weapons

– Handguns

– Heavy armour

++ Special Units [130 pts] ++

1 Gyrocopters [60 pts]  OCT 

– Hand weapons

– Steam gun

– Full plate armour

1 Gyrocopters [70 pts]  AUG 

– Hand weapons

– Clatterguns

– Full plate armour

[https://old-world-builder.com]

Dwarphen. I believe I spelt that right.

Now I believe I said that I wasn’t going to work on another Kings army. I gently put aside my Riftforged Orcs with the idea I’d come back to them in 2025. I also already have 1000 points of Mantic dwarfs painted and many more in a box that I stopped painting a couple of years ago because I didn’t enjoy painting them. When I did a stocktake of my backlog, I found a box of Maxmini undead halflings to be my undead army.

And yet here we are.

So what happened?

GW re-released the dwarphs for the Old World. I love the Warhammer dwarphs but I didn’t properly get into the hobby until around the End Times. Since then, eBay prices kept them out my grasp in the intervening period. Then along came Old World.

Now as they have released them in boxes of 36, they’ll fit quite nicely as a horde or can be split into two regiments of 18 or troops of 9 for Kings. I picked up a couple of boxes when they were released with the intention of doing them late 2025/early 26 once I got my goblins out of my system and finished off at least one of my other KoW armies. As time has gone on, I’ve added when either the discounts were higher than usual or I had a little extra hobby budget left over.

However, for reasons I’m not going to go into right now, I  have been on the hunt for ways to get more engaged in my local gaming community. A couple of weeks ago someone floated the idea on one of the local club’s discord of a Tale of X Gamers (X currently = 15!) for Old World. Again, I had bought the books at launch (though they are of limited use given the most recent FAQ)  so wouldn’t need to spend anything for the first few months. Why not built and paint a new army, clearing some of the backlog, and become part of a group of like-minded nerds? Sound like a plan.

I’m still putting them on 20mm bases though… just to be safe.