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Recently, while perusing the always insidious trading forum, I stumbled across an offer I couldn't refuse: a full, almost all NOS, Empire army. In a fit of madness, I shelled out the 300 bucks, and am now faced with the (not altogether unpleasant) prospect of painting it.

The army consisted of this:
50(!) of the new plastic greatswords
31 knights
70 state troops
30 handgunner/Xbows
2 of the plastic wizard kits (4 wizards)
50 flagellants
10 outrider/pistoleers
20 militia
10 archers
2 hellblaster/rockets
1 cannon/mortar
1 steam tank
1 empire church

Karl Franz on his chicken
1 Tzarina of Kislev
1 Boris Todbringer
1 Marius Ludenburg
1 captain
2 warrior priests

So as you can see, it's a bunch of dudes.

I've also got a large collection of Dogs of War (http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-18254-4113_Dogs%20Of%20War.html), which mostly sit on the shelf, as they haven't gotten an army update in 2 editions now. I'd like to use them again, so I settled on Marienburg for the empire army, as the seceded city of merchants seems likely to hire plenty of mercenaries. The pikemen can do duty as spearmen, and most everyone else can pull of free company.

Anyway, I finished the first unit up today - 28 Greatswords. As usual, I tried to work in a few dioramas to break up the unit a bit. I'm a sucker for them.
Here they are, in all their glory:








Let me know what you think! More Empire stuff and Sylvans to come soon.

Dan

Looks awesome. Nothing says Stubborn troops like puffy sleeves and plate armor and a really big sword!

This isn't the colour scheme or the symbolism of Marienburg...?

It's a lovely paint scheme and paint job, the freehand is great, but Marienburg is blue, yellow and red (sometimes orange).

Purple and Yellow is Ostermark...

Very nice looking- great details and freehand banner! What's the clock from? I'm not really familiar with Empire units

Ah hell.

Yeah, so apparently that's why we shouldn't make large decisions based on sporadic memories about things. Marienburg's out then - I guess I'm making a border princes force instead! No big deal really, the mercenary bit is the important thing.

Would you believe that I have no idea where the clock came from? It was in the box with the rest of the empire stuff, and I couldn't tell you.

Dan

They look fantastic you did a great job with them!

love it i'll watch out for this.

I think the clock is from a piece of WFB terrain, perhaps the manor house?

Anyhow, why not make it an army of Ostermark? I'm sure mercs in that force won't be out of keeping.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
From warhammer wiki:

A peculiarity in Ostermark armies are the frequent incorporation of Dwarf Slayers. This is due to the close proximity the Dwarf Hold Karak Kadrin, better known as "Slayer Keep".

Got some Long Drong Slayers in your mercs? (use flagellent rules might be an idea...)

Wow, the skin painting is amazing! The whole unit is really looks good.

I can't wait to see what you do with flagellants.

Ahoy mateys, there be updates.

I'm not sure why I rolled with the pirate lingo there, but it's typed now, and my delete key is notoriously untrustworthy.

After the discussion over my misuse of the Marienburg heraldry, I decided to move the whole lot to the Border Princes region - I'm still pretty hung up on the mercenary theme - and I've got a full on castle in the works for my old DoW which will serve this army nicely.

Anyway, I've got another unit finished - outriders this time. I think the rosebushes/laurels/eagles theme is going to be prevalent across the "regular" units in the army, while the outlying weirdos will be more rag tag, as befits mercenaries.




One idea I'm tossing around is a variant mount for my knight unit. I'm thinking of chocobos, demigriffs, or something equally outlandish, but I'm open to crazy ideas (no cold ones please). Any links to awesome ideas would be appreciated - I'll be damned if I can find a 28mm chocobo anywhere.

Anyway, hope you like them. Next up is a big, fat, swordsman unit, although there will be more progress on some space orks and the sylvans before then.

Dan

Hey all,

It's been a while, but with the completion of Dreadfleet, I've gotten back to work on the Empire army that's been in Ye Olde Backlog for a while.

While I'm working on the new units, I'm also going to be refurbishing the old metal Dogs of War army I have, as well as some old Kislev lads that have been kicking around the display shelf.

First up, a Captain on a Griffon. I got a set of the HE stuff IoB not too long ago, and while the spearmen and swordmasters are great, the griffon didn't have a job. Being the capitalists that they are, the elves sold him to a Tilean merchant, and here he is:

0
He came off pretty well - the conversion was pretty easy, and I'm happy with the griffon's coloration.

The second, and more time intensive, project is a unit of swordsmen. I love the new(ish) state trooper kits. They mix and match very well, and the product is a great looking unified (but not too unified) unit.

Here they are - I'll try to get a less fuzzy picture:




Anyway, I hope you like them. I'm still in the market for a good 28mm chocobo model if anyone has any recommendations.

Thanks,

Dan

I've got a bit more work done on the army over the last few days.

First up are the flagellates. In the interest of making them as unpleasant as possible (as I'd imagine actual loonies would be) there are a lot of odd & disturbing bits added.




Next up is a unit of Voland's Venerators. I've had these guys painted for a while, but when I decided to start an empire army, I figured I'd rework a bunch of the old DOW models in my collection and fold them into the list. Here's the first unit:





Finally, a WIP shot of the next unit of knights - chocobo riders! I finally found a suitable model (reaper axebeaks). They're going well so far, although I haven't decided on a color scheme. Yellow birds would be the obvious answer
of course, but we'll see.




Let me know what you think. As usual, there's more to come soon enough!

Dan

The ostrich riders look like they should end up being pretty cool - did you do much in the way of conversion to the Venators?

Yeah, the Venerators are pretty dull out of the box. Other than Voland himself, who is bareheaded, all the models look very similar. To spice them up, I chopped several heads off and replaced them with Greatsword heads, added cloaks to most of the models, swapped a few weapons, and added traveling gear (sleeping bags, pouches, a shrine, etc.). Additionally, I replaced the standard "V" shields with round shields for variety's sake. Finally, I added crests or other ornamentation to the horses and shifted them forward or backward on the bases a bit.

I think the bird riders are going to turn out well - I'll post more when they're finished.

Dan

Another busy week in the lands of the Border Princes.

This week, I've gotten some more WIP shots on the other 6 of Voland's Venerators. Buying empire kits en masse and mix/matching them is a great time - they all work very well together. The new GW kits may be pricey, but they've done a great job stacking them with bits and making them interchangable.

Here are the knights:
I spent a good bit of time repositioning horse heads to break up the monotony of the sculpt. I'm not unhappy with the results. They still need a bit more basing and a few shield icons added.






Next up are the Greatswords. I've got 27 done so far, but I want them to look a bit more mercenary, so the next 23 are going to be much more varied looking. In the end, the 50 man unit should look somewhere between disciplined and rag-tag.
As you can see, I place great emphasis on the puffy sleeves. Key ingredients to success they are.


and here's a mini-diorama, an argument between the paymaster and a disgruntled lad:


And here is the current WIP character - a wizard. His name is Tim.



More to come, let me know what you think!

Dan

I think Tim is my favorite caster ever. And those greatswords are breathtaking. Nicely done!

Tim got a snort out of me as soon as I saw him. The Chocobo riders are a really nice touch. I'm especially liking the metallic steam punkish banners.

Here's the completed Tim:



The wizard kit is wonderful - there are tons of bits left over to build all kinds of stuff. The chocobo riders are about done; I'll have pics of them posted tomorrowish.

Until next time,

Dan

I've made a bit more progress on a couple of fronts.

First up, here are the finished Chocobo Knights - or at least the first 6. The bird model itself at at Reaper wasn't too expensive, so I picked up 12 of them. The scale is great, and with the wings clipped off and a saddle added, they look pretty sharp.


Here's a couple of closeups of my favorite model and the standard bearer:




Second, I had an old unit of Braganza's Besiegers floating around. Feeling that they were a bit anachronistic, I decided to re-equip them with handguns and add them to the army. The conversion was pretty simple, as with a bit of cutting the new arms line up very well with the old metals.



I figure they'll work as stand ins for the forgeworld armored handgunners, as well as adding a bit of Tilean flavor to the army.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

So my Forgeworld order came yesterday. Before I dig into the Ettin model, I wanted to give them credit for the "Throne of Chaos" book - wow, do they put out a great product. I know their stuff is overpriced, but there's definitely nothing like it anywhere else. If you haven't seen it yet, the book is a great read.

Anyway, on to the Ettin.

The base sculpt is great, but I admit, I'm not in love with the Quatto thing. I'd rather my Ettin's two halves were separate, but equal, so I'm endeavoring to make it happen.

Here are the first WIP shots:




The concept is that this guy, like all good Ettins, has 2 heads w/ 2 separate personalities. One, of course, (Grokk) is a savage lout with a fairly typical giant's personality. Unfortunately, due to the old adage that "You pick your friends, but the Devil picks your family", the other head is a sophisticated gentleman (Reginald III) that wants nothing more than to pursue a cultured study of the arts. Reginald, being a bit sharper than his brother, generally runs the show, but every once in a while Grokk gets to take the ole' corpus for a spin.

Anyway, this odd couple has found itself in the service of my Border Prince, and no doubt hilarity (with an accompanying laugh track) will ensue.

From a modeling perspective, the smart side is going to be decked out in a frilly shirt and a bit of armor, while Grokk's side is going to remain naked. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off!

Dan


Automatically Appended Next Post:
More progress on the Ettin this afternoon, as well as the completion of the 2nd half of the greatswords.

First, the Ettin.




I opted to arm him with a chain to continue the emphasis on the split personality. The empire half is going to get a bit more clothing, like a hat with a feather and more work on the arm - particularly the plate mail gauntlet and forearm guard, while the savage half is going to keep his loin cloth and chain. I think it'll look good in the end.

Next the greatswords:




These guys were fun to put together. If you zoom in, you can see a couple of the dioramas in the middle - the guy arguing with the paymaster, and the gentleman finishing off the orc. The knight bits and the hammers did a good job of making the unit look a bit more mercenary and a little less regular, which is what I was shooting for. I think it came off well.

Let me know what you think,

Dan

I finished up sculpting on the Ettin last night - he's ready to be primed. As you can see, the chain will be painted and attached separately.



I'm still not great at sculpting armor plates yet - the lines aren't as crisp as I'd like. I'm going to use a file today to see what I can do, but for the most part, this is what he's going to look like.

Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas!

Dan

Awesome work! The gauntlet on your Ettin (love the concept and the work you've done to even him up, by the way) needs harder edges alright. At the moment it's looking like a big oven mitt rather than an armoured glove (though metallic paint might fix that issue somewhat). Perhaps some rivets or something could help in giving the look of a huge gauntlet?
(Nice puffy sleeve there, too )

Loving the Chocobo Knights, very cool. And the work on your other units is phenomenal too. Would love to play against an army like this.

What an army! I am definitely thinking about taking your idea with Chocobos and using them for IG Rough Ridders.....hmmmm!
I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

The Ettin is one of the coolest and funniest conversions I have seen in a long time!

You're dead on with the oven mitt comment. I'm in the process of figuring out how to fix that now. The issue is that the Ettin's hands and feet are so oversized that adding a glove onto the already enormous paw ends up looking a bit silly. I'll figure it out.

In the mean time, while he's drying, I've started work on the army's war machines.

Here are the first 3:

First, the holy hand grenade launcher of Antioch. I've got a pile of extra fanatic bits, so I figured I'd make at least one of the machines a Sigmarite looney gun. And then it hit me. Holy Hand Grenades. The guy with the whip is making sure things progress in a timely fashion.



Second, a Hellstrom. I like this kit, so I didn't monkey with it too much - no pun intended of course.


And finally, we have the prettiest lil cannon in the empire. Prince(cess?) Alvenheim was never popular with his family. He was always a little too loud for the usually sedate nobility of Ulthuan. Consequently, he skipped out on the pampered life style and took up gunnery. Being a high elf, he was a natural at aiming and calculating stuff, but being a high elf, he was also a bit of a pretty boy. His gem encrusted, mithril, engraved cannon is the laughing stock of the Border Princes region, although it is rightly respected for its reputation in battle.



And that's all for now,

Let me know what you think,

Dan

Love all your figures, especially love all the little back stories gives everything so much character

Really cool and characterful start of your army. Really like all the small backstories.

Handgun besiegers look ace
Chocobo Knights are really cool and well pulled off.

Holy Hand Grenade launcher is a cool concept, but the guy with the whip drags it down IMO. How about a higher ranking priest to oversee the operation instead?

Good point about the whip guy - when I started the mortar the concept was a bit more sinister and grim, but with the addition of the holy hand grenade, I suppose it's gone into comedic territory now. I'll put together a corrupt cardinal to oversee the gun tomorrow.

Glad you like the back stories - I've got a million of them for all the dogs of war guys as they get refurbished.

Dan

Lol, epic army!

Love the character and comedy, and seriously impressed that you managed to paint so many blooming infantry models!

Keep up the awesome work.

Alright, so here's the final Ettin pics:

I think in the end, Reginald III was a fairly pretentious wizard in the northern empire that scoffed at a witch somewhere (as nobles in stories so often do!). His punishment is to wake up next to Grokk every morning for the rest of his (un)natural life. They happy couple isn't resigned to the idea yet, so there are still a good number of squabbles, and there will probably continue to be until Reginald figures out how to unattach himself. Given that I already finished the model, I don't think it's very likely.

Anyway, here he is - rusty chain and all. I never totally solved the oven mitt issue, but the metal paint made it look good enough:




Next up, I finished the Chronomancer. He's a squirrely old fellow with the unusual name of Heir Doctor Emmet Brown. He can't seem to stop muttering about something wild about gigawatts and some guy named Scott. Nobody knows what his deal is or where he came from, but his mastery of time and space is handy, so everyone tolerates his presence.

He is inexplicably afraid of someone called "Lybians". Again, who knows.



Finally, we have a refurbished old friend of mine, the Shaman's apprentice. He worked for my dogs of war for a long time, and now, with a refurbished base, he'll serve the border princes just as faithfully. He's a bit impetuous, and he can't always keep his assistants under control, but he's affordable, and he's got a cannon.


I'm glad my crap-tacular fiction blurbs for each model are fun to read! What's the fun of an army like this without adding a bit of character?

Let me know what you think,

Dan