Welcome citizens of the Imperium and beyond, to the spectacle that is the WARHAMMER 40,000 2ND ARMY CHALLENGE. Here we shall lay eyes and ears to the hopes and dreams of the first 12 participants of the challenge. See them blossom and cross your fingers that they make it to the end. Help me in welcoming and celebrating the FIRST DOZEN:

M4CR0DUTCH: Hi folks! It was an absolute pleasure to participate in the first season of this challenge, so I am excited to be back again for “Round 2”. During the past 6 months, I have won some interesting auctions on Ebay to add to my collection of 2nd edition Dark Angels, including some models I have always wanted, but could never afford. The tanks are going to require some TLC; the Razorback is coming from overseas and is currently slathered in a Space Wolves scheme (yuk!) and the Predator is in pieces, several of which bear rough hacksaw marks! My plan is to fix them up and paint them in a classic 3rd Company Dark Angels scheme.

ADRIAN: Having completed the last challenge with squats, I wanted to do something a bit more individual – with a lower model count.

Orks.  

Yes really.  I have been collecting and painting orks for years.  I already have over 100 basic ork boys painted, I don’t need basic troops. (though I do have plenty more left to paint.  I can focus this challenge on characters and vehicles.  There is a minimum amount of paint on some figures in the photo – it will be painted over.

I will be using this challenge to paint slightly differently to how I have before, especially the flesh. 

Greetings fellow Eldar citizens (what the hell is an Aeldari? ed. sounds like a venereal disease to me )! How are your ears, pointed and hungry for arcane secrets and mockery of the Mon-Keigh I trust? Excellent! Thank you for joining us in following this second edition of the, well, second edition army challenge! This time I have decided to move away from the Sons of Baal and am going to do all of the cool weird old Eldar models that I can get my hands on. Unfortunately, points values for this army are extremely high so I only have 19 models but rest assured that I will be contributing more to the bonus parts of the challenge. The main thing here is having the chance to paint models that don’t get a look in for newer editions and to have fun! Anyway, without further ado:

CHESTER MIKE: I’ve amassed a veritable horde of Rogue Trader and 2^nd edition Space Marines over the last few months and I really want to paint enough for a sizeable army for each of the Space Marine Codices in 2^nd ed. I already have a Codex Chapter, Fire Angels, and have decided on the shady forces of the Dark Angels as my second force. This gives me a good excuse to make use of the bikes in my collection. The initial 1,000 points will be a Fallen hunting party (ed. que the festive music!) and will consist of a small number of Ravenwing bikes backed up by a squad of Deathwing Terminators and the menacing figure of Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai. This is an army based on what I really want to paint and what captured my imagination, fluffwise. No real idea how it would perform in-game! Coincidentally, this also means I won’t have to paint dark green, which is a colour I always struggle to make look good… I didn’t do it on purpose! As you can see in the photo, I’ve got a bit of work to do before I even consider painting! Fortunately, most of the missing bits are on their way. The models are a mix of Rogue Trader and 2^nd edition (I think Asmodai is the only one that wasn’t around in RT days) I actually wanted to take an allied detachment of Grey Knights but couldn’t make it work at this points level (ed. well, if you can’t resist, you are more than welcome to go over the limit). Maybe if I have enough time I’ll paint them as a bonus unit with an Inquisitor leading them? I’ve got the seeds of a story in mind with the Dark Angels racing against time to reach a member of the Fallen before the Inquisition shows up. I’ll probably work on that as well! If anyone’s interested in following my hobby musings please feel free to follow my Facebook page. www.facebook.com/heavymetalWarsWargamingChronicles

ELIGIUS FRAMMELSBERGER: I started to fall in love with Warhammer 40,000 when I got my driving licence in 1990 at age of 18. I was finally able to go to other towns for shopping and leave the rural area I had grown up in. There was that toy shop about 70 km away, which had some metal fantasy miniatures and those awesome White Dwarf magazines as well…I never forget the splendid photos of painted armies at the back cover of those… After playing through editions 2nd and 3rd i lost my interest in the early 2000s and found my love for the minis of the old days again in 2015. I stripped all my old Rogue Trader miniatures, bought some new old RT marines and repainted a complete army. Last year I painted a 2nd edition Blood Angels army( the one I had in 1998 and sold later on… ed. Rookie mistake! Never sell a painted miniature! ) For those 2 I always looked out for some OPFOR, but Orks looked quite expensive especially the RT models. I really never have been much in love with those Eldar, but the models looked like they were easy to find (especially here in Germany where Warhammer was not that popular until 1995) and cheap to buy, so after some job lots at Ebay I am ready to go…

OJOJ NOLICOM: Quick words about myself. Nickname: Ojoj. Country: France. Age: 36. Married, father of one. Overly enthusiastic about all things Herohammer. Big ambitions hobby-wise but with little free time to fulfil them (raising a child is an extremely time consuming and exhaustively rewarding activity! XD). My personal story with this wonderful hobby is long and goes back to the early 90’s but it is a story for another time! To keep it short, after a 7 years break I’ve decided to jump back on the saddle and focus on the Herohammer period for both Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000. This specific period in the Games Wrokshop timeline really resonates with my sensibilities in terms of painting and general aesthetic. To sum up, I’m a hopeless fanboy of Goblin Green bases and ultra-vibrant colour schemes! ^^

To embrace this love for the Herohammer period I set myself multiple goals (that’s also a story for another time as well as a Facebook page I’m currently working on). Two of these goals are to gather a single 2,000 points army of my favourite faction in each universe. Exclusively composed of the figures from the Glorious Days of Old! For Warhamemr Fantasy Battle 4^th edition: Skaven; and for Warhammer 40,000 2^nd Edition: Eldar!

Both forces are composed following a specific guideline: to be as “showcase-y” as possible. By that I mean my aim is not to make a competitive army list at all (though it should hold itself pretty well against similar minded lists). But rather, a list that could have been featured in a White Dwarf of back then. An army that enlists a maximum of different units to encapsulate the quintessence of the faction. An “exercise” that I found easier and better executed with the Skaven. Indeed, apart from characters, I managed to fit all the entries of the 4^th edition Skaven Army Book minus two within 2,000 points. I cannot say the same about my Eldar army. Too many entries and expensive ones at that. And even though I really enjoy how it will look, it is a rather weak list.

So here I am with a 1,000 points army of Eldar! Craftworld: Biel-Tan (my ever favourite one)! The list below is basically half of my 2,000 points army. Made from the models I could gather during the last months. So even though the 1,000 points list below is perfectly “legal” when it comes the composition percentages, it is a bit unbalanced, rough and lacking subtlety in my view. Sorry! ^^ (ed. no problem for me! I hate aaaall Eldar equally. I am not discrimating at all)

Yet, I am extremely pumped by the idea of participating in this Painting Challenge! It will be the perfect occasion for me to have at least half of my army painted.

JONAS: I have been playing miniature games or painting miniatures for most of my life. Beginning back in the late ’80s/early ’90s with random RPG miniatures, then moving on to miniature board games like Space Hulk or Blood Bowl and eventually getting caught up in Epic Space Marine and Warhammer 40,000. For this challenge, I have chosen a long neglected project of mine: painting a playable Squat Army for Warhammer 40,000 2nd edition. I already have a few Squats painted to some degree. I have been using those for Rogue Trader skirmish, Necromunda and even a bit of allying to my Space Marines in Warhammer 40,000. But even though I have been holding on to most of these models for 20 years or so I never really managed to get on with them. I based my model choices for the challenge on what I found most iconic of Squats and also on my current collection – I don’t want to go out buying anything extra (yet…). I also stayed clear of most of the painted minis I had, only one Thunderer had to get included and he is not really 100% painted yet.  I ended up with 2 Warrior Squads, 1 Thunderer Squad and 1 Exo Armor Squad. With the Exo Armor Squats being the most iconic of these I bought them a Termite transport to get them up front wrecking havoc in the enemy lines. To lead them I took a Warlord in Exo Armor. Here I am using an old OOP Bob Olley model from Fantastic Miniatures. He is a bit bigger and meaner than the old ones and seems perfect as a leader for my army. I also took a Living Ancestor, another iconic Squat model, this will give me an edge in the Psychic Phase. For support I had to take a unit of Bikes, a Thudd Gun and a Mole Mortar, bringing me up to a total of 1,011 points. If I combine this with my already painted models and a bit of wargear, then I think I am very close to 1,500 points and I still have a few more models to add later. http://deathworldadventures.blogspot.com/ is my usual playing ground and I will also document my progress there along with this challenge.

RODRIGO: My name is Rodrigo García, I’m from Spain, and I experienced a profound revelation when in 1992 (or maybe it was 1993?) I read issue 6 of the Spanish edition of the White Dwarf magazine. I’ve previously only got issue 1, which I bought because there was a “HeroQuest Dwarf” on the cover… But I digress, let’s go back to this aforementioned issue 6. This magazine contained what is, indisputably, the very best battle report, which depicted Andy Chamber’s Blood Angels against Jervis Johnson’s Orks using the 2nd edition rules. I totally fell in love with the blood angels at that very moment. I knew nothing about that Warhammer 40k game, what a Space Marine was, or why these orcs were using guns, but I was hooked. That brilliant red stole my soul. I asked for a copy of the Warhammer 40k box for Christmas, and the rest is history. What I didn’t do then, for reasons that are too convoluted to explain in this short email, was ever manage to collect my dream army (ed. shown in the White Dwarf above). However, I’ve finally managed to track down and buy these old miniatures (almost all of them), and I want to use the opportunity that your challenge offers to paint the army of my dreams. The first 1,000 points can be seen in the picture above. I’ll finally be able to realize the dreams of the 12-year-old me and play again with the only edition of Warhammer 40,000 that I’ve truly loved: the 2nd. The only non-period-accurate miniature is the Space Marine Captain that was released precisely to commemorate the cover of the 2nd edition box. By the way, I have that very same image framed and hanging in my office. Yeah, I know that it’s a tiny force, but I’m a slow painter.

SAM: I’ve been working on this project for a while, mostly buying figures which sit in a box with “I will get around to that” in sharpie on it . I guess it all started with Gorkamorka and “the boys from the skid.” The mob slowly grew as an idea until it was clear it wasn’t a mob anymore it had developed in to a major army. I’ve made a few scratch built vehicles based on the old Epicast models (ed. interestingly I have the Stompa, that you did, in a box.. I might as well write “I will get around to that” on it haha! Brilliant model!) and now have had a Gargant in the works for over a year. It turns out I am more interested in making things than painting, which is not the best idea when you actually do want a painted army. I’ve got as far as starting Nazdreg and 5 Bad Moon nobz in mega armour. I still have to strip the Snotlings and find Makhari for Gazghkull… then find some arms and weapons but small steps first. I am looking forward to seeing some awesome projects .

FLOGGER: I’ve collected 2nd edition Orks for the past few years and thought it was time to paint them up and have a game with some old friends. I started with Warhammer 40,000 when I was 12, just when 3rd edition had arrived. But some old friends gave all their old Warhammer away to us kids so that’s when I first got to see the 2nd edition Ork Codex and I fell in love with them and have been since then. We were also quite young and English was our 2nd or even 3rd language and we didn’t really know that these 2nd edition codices weren’t compatible with 3rd edition so we just played with 2nd ed and 3rd ed rulebooks and for some reason, it worked, like it usually does when kids play. But now I can finally make the army I was longing for as a kid. If I do manage to make all this happen in the next 5 months I have a very large model who will take up the last month and hopefully be a beautiful centrepiece 🙂 

TOM REYNOLDS: Two firsts for me here. The first first is that I’ve never been in any form of painting challenge before. (ed. much obliged that you’ve chosen this one then!) The second first is that I want to work on something that I have never painted or modelled before – Eldar! They were always an army that I loved the look of – particularly in the variety of the different Aspect Warriors. Being a long time Imperial Guard player and having spent the last year working my way through a 2^nd Ed or Space Wolves army it all gets very repetitive. There’s only so much blue/grey armour you can edge highlight before going completely mad!!! Eldar are about as far away from repetitive as you can get – particularly when it comes to the Aspect Warriors. It’s possible to build an army entirely consisting of Aspect Warriors in 2^nd Ed – I think there is a White Dwarf battle report along these lines – and although my 1000 points isn’t quite all Aspect Warriors it is most definitely based around fitting in as much variety as possible. I really want to use this challenge as a way of pushing myself outside my usual painting zone of Space Wolves grey, Vostroyan red and olive drab! As such my army choices are mostly driven by what I really want to try painting – either because I really like the look of the models or because I want to try painting colours outside my usual palette. So in pursuit of that, my army hails from the Iyanden craftworld. I have planned how to paint it all:
Starting with the Farseer; This is a character model, so I’m planning on spending as much time on this as possible! The Dark Reapers have got to be included as they are great models and black and red is a particularly striking scheme. The Swooping Hawks will be a bit of a challenge as I want these to be flying and to have some nice long banners attached to their weapons. I included 1 x Baharroth so I have another character model to focus on, planning for him to be posed on some form of scenic base. The squad of 4 Striking Scorpions is going to be a bright green – no olive drab here!!! I need to have something yellow from Iyanden – and I loved the look of the Wraithguard back in the day. Lastly, for the Fire Dragons I’ll be trying to match these with those on the cover of the Codex, so back banners all round! This comes to a total of 21 models and 1007 points excluding wargear. If I get the chance then I will add a Squad of 5 Dire Avengers and some extra troops in some of the squads to try and push it up to 1200 points, there are not many models in the army otherwise!Should be an interesting mix – if it goes well and I get the Dire Avengers done then I’ll have covered pretty much every point of the colour wheel!!!    

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MØRK: As the rays of the first sun reaches the spire of “Dump Tower 1”, the second sun crowns on the horizon. Within minutes, what little moist and cold lingered in the air has vanished, and the temperature has begun it’s rise. At the outskirts of the main hive, on the border of the vast desert surrounding the hive, sits many Imperial encampments. The Imperials have been on Kardashian Prime for several months. Initially they came here, as supreme governator Tronald Dump requested Imperial security, to oversee the construction of his newest project, “the wall”. Lately however, they have proved to be quite an useful ally for the local authorities, as they have revealed that the traitorous “Blood Skull” chaos marines have infiltrated the planet. In sector p-z Alpha, a new encampment sits alone and empty, when a lone chimera rumbles down the streets nearby and enters the camp. The vehicle stops, close to the large landing pad. A handful of guardsmen jumps out of the open rear door and enters the control room. Colonel Qadir, of the Tallarn 42nd Company, ‘the Screaming Camels’, exits his chimera, taking the sight in. “this should do just well” he says as he looks around the new encampment. He was never a big fan, of getting help from anybody. But the past months have been harder than he would like to admit. Even with the earlier reinforcements. But as it turned out, the ship wasn’t that far away. Besides, it should be fun to see some of the old guys again. A guardsman pops his head out of the door nearby, “sir, the first ship is inbound sir”. Qadir gives him a nod and walks towards the landing pad area. Putting his googles on as he walks up the steps, the Colonel looks to the Sky. The ship is barely visible from his position, but soon after adjusting his googles, the smaller craft comes into sight, as it hits the atmosphere on it’s way towards the surface. “Well, let’s see what the emperor has brought us this time”. 

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Upon finishing the first challenge, I didn’t think I would have enough unpainted minis left, to do another. Luckily I had forgotten some units that had been lying in my pile of shame for too long. So I’m looking forward to be painting a lot of Classic 2nd edition minis, this time around. And on several occasions trying to do my version of the old school 2nd edition feel…or at least a version as good as I can do it. Paint like the wind boys. Regarding points, everything is WYSIWYG. No upgrades have been purchased besides weapon and what little wargear the two characters have. There’s only one sentinel in the pic, as the last two arrived later and I couldn’t be bothered to take another 🙂