Operation Overlords: Warlord Army

[BunnyPuncher]

So I've decided to paint/repaint the Overlords army I bought to play Warlord version 1 many years ago. I have no idea how long this project will take or honestly, if I will even complete it. The boxes of unpainted WHFB in my closet indicates I'm not very good at army painting. That said, I will give this project my best shot and will certainly paint some of it

 

Here is what I have:

 

 

Troops

8 x 14360 Overlord Warrior

4 x 14413 Overlord Spear men

4 x 14400 Overlord Crossbowmen

1 x 14391 Onyx Phalanx

 

Warlords

14267 General Matisse

14003 Ashcrypt

 

Captains/Sergeants

14091 Corvus, Sergeant

14147 Andras, Captain

14283 Merack, Sergeant

14258 Count Lorenth, Captain

14283 Merack

 

 

Casters/Heroes/Monsters

14127 Arik, mage

14004 Ymrilix the False, hero

14035 Balthon, cleric

14122 Onyx Golem

 

Mounted

14177 Onyx Chevalier

14258 Count Lorenth, Captain

 

Those are what I have in hand. My memory also tells me I own Ranthe Evangelist of Kardulus, Moraia Warbride of Kardulus, 3 more Onyx Phalanx, 1 more overlords warrior, 2 more crossbowmen, & Iks Sergeant. Whether these will be found or not is unknown.

 

Main concern: army color.

 

What oh what color do I paint all those robes? The overlords sure go to war in style don't they?

 

In my mind's eye those robes are red, the armour is dark.

 

Classic bad guy color, continues the war of blue (crusaders) and red, black and red look great together. Problem with red is of course - the pink & yellowish orange problem of painting in red. Not sure I need to put myself through that.

 

Other possibilities: midnight blue (that could be pretty cool), royal purple (the challenge of Barney), dark green (what, defenders of the wilderness?), grey (wow that would be boring with all that armour). Any thoughts?

 

Minor concern: Onyx Golem

 

Perhaps the ultimate in "meh" sculpts. No idea what to do with this guy to make him awesome except replacing him with another mini or putting him on a towering base so everyone who sees him says "wow what an awesome rock!" and ignores the boring mini. Any thoughts?

 

 

Very minor concern: Buy moar naow!

 

Suggestions for future shopping list appreciated.

 

My rulebook should be here on Friday or Monday so I will use that to see who I want to paint first when it comes to character/warlord/sergeant models. If history is any guide these guys are unlikely to ever take the field (they've only been in games I demoed back during 1st ed.) but this will be a fun project that only costs money I spent long ago.

 

Wish me luck!

[Kuro Cleanbrush]

You can do it! I too have mounds of unpainted WHFB and 40K stuff tucked away somewhere, so I feel you pain, but the smaller size of a Warlord army allowed me to put together a fully painted army in the 4 months prior to RCon. I'm sure you can do so too!

 

Color-wise, I think red and black are too striking and classic to pass up.

[Shakandara]

Go Black & Red. I've got my Dwarves done this way, and they look great. Use one of the MSP triads to help gets the reds right (I like the Carnage Red group).

 

If you don't like the onyx golem, for under $20 you can replace it with the Iron Golem as a proxy ($19) or just get the Incarnation of Flame ($13). Personally, I happen to like the sculpt (it was one of the Warlord models I bought before I ever even considered playing the game), and think it would look great in Black and Red.

 

With the exception of Ashkypt, and a few models that you mentioned you might have but haven't located, you really have the core of an Onyx Legion list. Once your 2nd Ed rulebook shows up, you'll be able to see how the synergies of the models you have work with that Doctrine and Matisse's WA (should you ever get the opportunity to play them). If you can't find Ranthe, I'd recommend getting another, as well as adding Kevis. Adding/replacing the Warbride would be good too. I'd add another chevy or some zephyrs, but I know cavalry can be spendy and time consuming to paint, so they'd be last on my list of additions. If you can find those missing phalanx, I don't think you need to add any soldier models to have a solid, competitive 1000 point list pretty much the way it is.

 

~v

[BunnyPuncher]

2 votes for red and black huh?

 

I have subsequently found ranthe, 1 more crossbow, another corvus, and 2 onyx phalanx. I have also found 14285 Taletia.

 

I looked at the gaarity iron golem, yikes. Onyx golem will stay. I'll reposition his arms a bit and see how he looks.

 

If i wasnt typing on my tablet i would reply in more depth. I hate typing on this thing!

[Shakandara]

So, based on the updates, here's a very playable Onyx Legion list using mostly the models you have (you'd need a warbride):

 

Overlords - 1000 points

 

Troop 1

General Matisse w/Spiked Armor

Ymrilix the False

Ranthe, Evangelist of Khardullis w/Book of Tactics

Moraia, Warbride

Overlord Warrior x 4

Overlord Spearman x 3

Overlord Crossbowman

 

Troop 2

Merack of the Onyx Phalanx

Overlord Warrior x 4

Onyx Phalanx x 3

Overlord Crossbowman

 

Troop 3

Onyx Golem

 

Luck Stone

 

As always, the Onyx Legion list is always about deck control. A moderate number of troops (3) helps you make effective use of the 4 Spys in the list (Matisse and his 3 elites from his Warlord Ability), which can be used to either bury a card or double the number of times you can Spy a single card (Doctrine ability). Additionally, you have 3 Tacticians (Matisse, Merack, and the Book of Tactics) to increase the number of cards in the deck when you are ready to try to chain activations from the end of one turn and the beginning of the next. Each troop has 4 mainline warriors and 3 reach models to support them. Troop 1 adds Matisse, Ymrilix and the Warbride for extra punch, while Troop 2 has the benefit of 4 models with First Strike capability. Everyone except the Warbride, Ranthe, and the Spearmen have Deflect, which means when they go B2B with at least 2 other models with Deflect, they get +1 to their Deflect value, as well as +1 to their MD (Doctrine Ability). Rank up, run across the board, and commence to slaughtering your opponent. At 22 models, it's a very respectable mid-size army.

 

You can certainly run the Onyx Legion a number of other ways, but to get best bang-for-the-buck in synergies, you'd need to acquire some of the less expensive Elites and Solos. This would allow you to force even higher numbers of Spies, and add Summonable solos to let you control your number of deployment cards and early initiative cards.

 

~v

Edited July 4, 2012 by Shakandara

[joshuaslater]

You'll buy more after your first game. I keep closing in on having an all painted force of Reven, but I keep buying more to tweak the force, hence, unpainted models. It never ends. Enjoy!

[Stubbdog]

A couple of items...

 

1. For your soldiers, you might try the dipping method. Basically, get an emptied baby food jar that is deep enough for a standard mini. This is the method I used. Put about half a bottle of Blue Liner in it. And the other half water. Now, using WHITE primed minis, you just dunk them in for a minute and pull them out and let them dry. Obviously, with half water, the paint will not be extra thick. But, I think you will find that it works well overall. After they dry you repeat the process, X number of times until they are the darkness that you want. For me, I think it was 3 dunks to get the shade I wanted. You could also use this method on a mini that was primed black and then painted silver metallic.

 

2. For the Onyx Golem, I am going ahead and suggesting something advanced if you have not been painting in a while, but suggesting it anyway because that model is just asking for it and will look awesome when finished. And that is... freehand... With thos big shoulder pads and panles...Here are just a couple of possible examples of what I mean (using warjacks as examples since they are very similar in size and style)

 

http://members.ziggo.nl/thraex/warjacks/thpose.jpg

http://privateerpress.com/files/products/khador/warjacks/drago.png

http://inkedeyesstudios.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/product_23674.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41hvkC5eQSL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://teamtoulouse.free.fr/www/galerie/Bubu/drago.jpg

http://privateerpress.com/files/imagecache/1up/products/Corrupter_09-CLPD.png

http://battlecollege.wikispaces.com/file/view/centurion.jpg/32361711/centurion.jpg

 

 

Here is a great article by a guy that used some washes over metallics (scroll halfway down the page): http://blog.brushthralls.com/?s=pain

 

And here are a few conversions i found in google search that look pretty cool even if the colors are not what you are wanting:

 

 

http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics7/img41e4233de09dc.jpg

http://asobinin.org/pages/miniature/characters/zaremon.jpg

[BunnyPuncher]

So, based on the updates, here's a very playable Onyx Legion list using mostly the models you have (you'd need a warbride):

 

Overlords - 1000 points

 

Troop 1......

 

....You can certainly run the Onyx Legion a number of other ways, but to get best bang-for-the-buck in synergies, you'd need to acquire some of the less expensive Elites and Solos. This would allow you to force even higher numbers of Spies, and add Summonable solos to let you control your number of deployment cards and early initiative cards.

 

~v

 

Thanks for that post. It will be very helpful and right now prioritizes painting order. I may get the rulebook today (it's now in San Antonio, so it might get sent out to my side of the city) and will likely have some questions about the other models I might need before much longer.

 

A couple of items...

 

1. For your soldiers, you might try the dipping method....

2. For the Onyx Golem, I am going ahead and suggesting something advanced if you have not been painting in a while, but suggesting it anyway because that model is just asking for it and will look awesome when finished. And that is... freehand... With thos big shoulder pads and panles...Here are just a couple of possible examples of what I mean (using warjacks as examples since they are very similar in size and style)

 

http://members.ziggo...acks/thpose.jpg

http://privateerpres...jacks/drago.png

http://inkedeyesstud...oduct_23674.jpg

http://ecx.images-am...L500_AA300_.jpg

http://teamtoulouse..../Bubu/drago.jpg

http://privateerpres...ter_09-CLPD.png

http://battlecollege...1/centurion.jpg

 

 

Here is a great article by a guy that used some washes over metallics (scroll halfway down the page): http://blog.brushthralls.com/?s=pain

 

And here are a few conversions i found in google search that look pretty cool even if the colors are not what you are wanting:

 

 

http://www.coolminio...e4233de09dc.jpg

http://asobinin.org/...ers/zaremon.jpg

 

Thanks! I'm going to paint these in a traditional fashion. But the subtle glyphs on the jacks look great. I may also steal some banners and pennants to decorate him up a bit - make him for warjackish if you will without the steamy bits.

[Shakandara]

Regarding prioritizing, definitely Matisse, Merack, the warriors, and the xbows first. I have never run an Onyx Legion list where I did not use those 4 models. They represent the bread and butter of your list (as they all take advantage of the WA and Doctrine synergies). After that, Spearmen would be next on the list to paint, IMO. They are cheap and fill the Reach support role. Finally, I'd do the Onyx Phalanx, Golem, and Elites last of the items from the active list. Then paint whatever is left over from your stock so that you can play with other builds (assuming you get some table time with them).

 

~v

[BunnyPuncher]

Regarding prioritizing, definitely Matisse, Merack, the warriors, and the xbows first. I have never run an Onyx Legion list where I did not use those 4 models. They represent the bread and butter of your list (as they all take advantage of the WA and Doctrine synergies). After that, Spearmen would be next on the list to paint, IMO. They are cheap and fill the Reach support role. Finally, I'd do the Onyx Phalanx, Golem, and Elites last of the items from the active list. Then paint whatever is left over from your stock so that you can play with other builds (assuming you get some table time with them).

 

~v

 

Thanks again. I will start onthe warriors and try to get test subject done by saturday.

[Shakandara]

Also, although I'm in Houston, I get out to SA on occasion. I'm sure we could arrange a game at a local store of something sometime if you'd like. Another former BL and forum member, orcsoul, is also in SA. He doesn't play much Warlord, but at least has some experience with it (he's helped run my dungeon crawls from time to time).

 

~v

[BunnyPuncher]

Sounds good. I also have enough reven for 500 to 750 unless the costs have changed drastically between editions.

 

I never get to houston, i have been in tx 4.5 years and have not even been to houston! Heck, I batrely get to austin.

 

[Shakandara]

Actually, yes, the model point values have changed dramatically in some cases. Check out the online army builder over at reapergames.com for current point values of the models you have,

 

~v

[BunnyPuncher]

Okay. I have based and primed Ranthe and one warrior to be the test mini. Still need to strip a few minis and then brush hits pewter tonight!

[BunnyPuncher]

Anyone know if we have ever seen a symbol for khardulis? Is the crooked cross on the dhl inquisitor it? Model 02720.