A Gathering of Mighty Painters I

”A Gathering of Mighty Painters I” was a Warhammer Fantasy 4th edition painting challenge hosted by the indomitable Ojoj Nolicom over at The Burping Dragon Inn. This page details my endeavours during the 2022 edition (the 1st iteration) of the challenge.

Starting point

I’ve been a long-time fan of the 4th edition Chaos Dwarf models, and I finally got to paint a 1000 point army last year as part of the Call of the Crown painting challenge. There’s always more models to paint though, so when I saw the ”A Gathering of Mighty Painters” challenge I thought it would be a great opportunity to get another small batch of models finished.

I’m well aware that this is a non-legal list (no Chaos Dwarf Warriors present!) and a pretty bad one at that, but I really want to paint some Hobgoblins!

The idea behind the army is that two Chaos Dwarf brothers have learned the whereabouts of a long-lost family heirloom that will help them rise to power within their clan. They don’t want the interference of any other Chaos Dwarfs on this quest (they could be spies!), so they are only bringing their personal retinue of Hobgoblins with them. The Hobgoblins aren’t exactly known for their loyalty and trustworthiness, but they generally fear their masters (and being fed to the Great Taurus!) enough to not betray them.

Army list (Warhammer Fantasy 4th edition)

Chaos Dwarf General with hand weapon, heavy armour and shield riding a Great Taurus – 389 points
Chaos Dwarf Hero with hand weapon, heavy armour and shield – 108 points
5 Hobgoblin Warriors with hand weapons, light armour and shields – 30 points
5 Hobgoblin Warriors with hand weapons, light armour and shields – 30 points
5 Sneaky Gits armed with two hand weapons – 30 points
5 Sneaky Gits armed with two hand weapons – 30 points
1 Hobgoblin Bolt Thrower – 42 points

Total – 659 points

Month 1 (January)

Here’s my January entry for the painting challenge! I had set out to paint a modest five Sneaky Gits, but I threw in another Sneaky Git and a Hobgoblin musician as well. In addition to the seven Sneaky Gits, I also managed to paint a bonus unit of five Orc Arrer Boyz. The Chaos Dwarfs employ many greenskins in their armies, so I thought it would be a fitting unit for my pair of Chaos Dwarf brothers to bring along on their expedition. I have quite a few of the monopose plastic 4th edition Orcs & Goblins belonging to my old army that I painted in 1997. Since I don’t think they really fit in my more modern Orc & Goblin army, my plan is to slowly repaint them and add them to my Chaos Dwarfs as greenskin auxilia.

Month 2 (February)

My February entry for the painting challenge will be two Hobgoblin Bolt Throwers!

My intention was to only paint a single one, but I decided to paint both of the ones I had in one go. I’ve found that it is far easier to paint several of the same type of model while you are at it. It’s always far harder to come back six months later and paint another one (at least in my experience). Better to have it done and over with!

These war machines will add a modest 84 points to my army. They will probably not hit a lot with their BS of 3, but they are cheap! Taking a pair of them will not set me back a lot, and if they do hit something they are bound to do some damage at least. 

I do like the models, but I’ve never been a fan of painting war machines for some reason. I enjoyed painting the crewmen a lot more! The Bolt Throwers themselves were also quite tricky to put together, since there are four contact points that need to be glued at the same time.

Month 3 (March)

My March entry for the painting challenge consists of a unit of ten Hobgoblin Warriors with standard bearer and musician!

The initial pledge was for just five models, but I decided to go for an additional five to bring the unit up to ten. I think these models have a lot of character, and I really enjoyed painting up this unit. My colour scheme is obviously heavily inspired by the photos in the Chaos Dwarf army book, but perhaps mine are a bit more regimented (all of my models have the same hat colour for example). I decided to use one of the shield designs from the book (the crossed axes) on all of the unit’s shields, as I liked that one the best. The banner is a printed paper banner that I downloaded from Chaos Dwarfs Online.

Month 4 (April)

My April entry for the painting challenge consists of a Chaos Dwarf Lord riding a mighty Great Taurus!

Multi-part metal kits are always a challenge to build and paint, and this beast was no different! The Taurus required a lot of pinning and gap filling with green stuff before I could start painting it, but once I started it was a relatively quick paintjob. I started with a basecoat of Khorne Red, followed by a wash of Carroburg Crimson. I then layered the skin with Mephiston Red, followed by Evil Sunz Scarlet.

I decided to give the Chaos Dwarf Lord a shield since I thought he looked a bit exposed without one! This meant I also got to paint a nice freehand skull on the shield.

Month 5 (May)

My May entry for the painting challenge consists of a unit of seven Sneaky Gits with a standard bearer! It was a race against time to finish this month, but I did it! Luckily the Sneaky Git models are fairly easy to paint, as they don’t have a lot of intricate details. I’m quite pleased with the striking red and black colour scheme on these, as it gives them a menacing look (they’re going to need that!).

Month 6 (June)

My entry for the character month is a Chaos Dwarf Hero on foot! This model seems to be a favourite for many Chaos Dwarf fans, and it’s not hard to see why! A ridiculously big hat, cool pose and huge back banners – what’s not to love?

As a bonus model I painted up the special character ‘Astragoth – High Priest of Hashut’! This ancient sorcerer has begun to turn into stone, so he has to rely on his mechanical suit for mobility. This model is unlike any other in the range, so I had to really think about what colours should go where. His hat is still big and red though!

Month 7 (July)

My final entry for the ‘A Gathering of Mighty Painters’ is a unit of nine Hobgoblin Warriors! I’d painted a few of these in an earlier month, so I pretty much had the method nailed down this time around. With the addition of these, I can now field a unit of 20 with full command.

Finished Army

I wanted to give the finished army a nice presentation, so I set up my backdrop and my scenery to  create a suitable scene! 

The army grew quite a bit from the original pledge! I’ve added nearly double the number of Hobgoblin Warriors and Sneaky Gits, an additional Bolt Thrower, a unit of Orc Arrer Boyz and Astragoth as well. Always nice when you manage to go over the intended target for once…

Thanks to Ojoj for running this challenge smoothly (and for beating us over the head with those accursed ”the 28th of each month” deadlines)! 

Thanks to all participants for the nice group chat and all the inspiring work you do!