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Hey everyone. My local games store does something pretty cool in that they buy used models and resell them. You can sell your models for 25% of their value and the stores resell them for 75% of the price. For months now there have been these two boxes full of old fantasy minis just laying around because nobody wanted them. I don't think anyone even knew they were for sale. I didn't play the old fantasy editions but a 9th age community has started up near me, and the rank and file stuff has always appealed to me. So 2 weeks ago, I wanted an adventure and so I took a risk and asked the owner if he would take $180 for both boxes. The owner was shocked that anyone would even want the models and so he accepted the deal. I also saw he had some empire stuff just laying around, and I had $200 in trade credit from a magic deck that I sold, so I just bought his Empire stuff with that credit. I got home and got to sorting. Here is what I got.....

(Chaos stuff)
1x Chaos Lord on horse
1x Chaos Lord on foot
1x Nurgle Chaos Sorceror
1x Tzeetch Chaos Sorceror
60x Chaos Warriors (The old ones)
45x Chaos Marauders
5x Chaos Marauder horseman
12x Chaos Knights (The old ones)
3x Juggernauts
7x Flesh Hounds

(Ork Stuff)

1x Warboss
1x Ork shaman
1x Banner ork
1xOrk Warboss with banner
1x Ork Warboss with sword
7x Ork Boar Boyz
40x Ork Boyz
15x Goblin Archers
40x Goblin spearmen
2x Trolls
2x Ork bolt throwers (Artillery)
1x Bizarre model where 2 goblins are throwing a goblin with a wrecking ball

(Elf stuff)

1x High Elf Wizard
35x Elf Spearmen
1x White lion chariot
7x Swordmasters of Hoeth

(And the Empire Stuff)
2x Warrior Priests (On foot) One was being stripped when I took the photo
1x Warrior Priest mounted
1x Prince mounted (not pictured)
15x Reiksguard Knights
5x Pistoleers
10x Halberdiers
10x Spearmen
10x State troopers
10x Crossbowman
10x Greatswordsman
10x Handgunners
2x Big Banners
1x Cannon


_____________________________________________________________

Sorting through the models was honestly like Christmas day. I think I got a good deal on the stuff, but I still am unsure.

This is a big project to take on and is further complicated by the unfortunate fact that the Empire models are not painted all too well. They have this green and yellow color to them that comes off quickly when I strip them. I think whoever painted these used some proto-Contrast paint method by priming the models white and then using inks or washes over the areas they painted. Strangely, on some of the models, the simple green removed the primer, and so I primed them white again. As for the other models, the chaos models are very well painted in a Khorne color scheme. But only about 30 of the warriors are painted along with 15 marauders. The Orks are a bit of a mess, but they can be fixed just like the Empire models. I'll post pictures of both of those armies more close up when I get to work on them.


I started off working on the Empire models, as there isn't that many of them. I started with the halberdiers. I stripped them using my ultrasonic cleaner and reprimed them white because as previously mentioned, much of the primer stripped off. I wanted to go with a different color scheme as the green and yellow really wasn't doing it for me. So I found this book about the heraldry of the Empire and the Altdorf scheme just looked awesome. It's also simple to paint, I have painted Ultramarine-like stuff, Blood Angels and Grey Knights, it's really just painting all three of those schemes on one model. Some types of models are split between red and blue right down the middle, others have this diagonal pattern going on, and so I used the right one for the halberdiers. I'm not the type of guy to paint all the different markings from the Codex Astartes and ultra lore details on my models, but this gives variety to each of the units.



I'm not the best painter, but I think the Halbediers look better than they did before. I think my edge highlights may be too thick and I still have to work on how I paint skin, but for my standards, I think they came out fine. I just got that new Army Painter wet pallete so that might help a bit.

Looks good, Think you got a good deal myself.

Looking forward to what you do with the armies. It looks like a large project so you'll undoubtedly be busy for a while!

Think you'll enjoy 9th age too if the community is playing it.

Very exciting, I have been working on something similar.
The beauty of these projects are that because you got them for a deal you are more likely to experiment with new techniques and stretch out of your comfort zone!

Interesting project. I am eager to see more empire stuff. Gpod lick on this massive project!

Hey everyone! I am back with my first update. It's been a while since my first post as work went along very slowly. I was blocked from working on any Fantasy things as I wanted to get my existing project of painting some Blood Drinker tactical marines from 40k out of the way. But those marines are painted and I got to work on the Empire spearmen. I stuck with the same method painting the color scheme and think I like the way this scheme looks. The only thing I changed functionally was using the Army Painter Jungle grass tufts instead of PVA gluing grass onto the models which was an absolute nightmare for the halberdiers. I also tried to add more variety by giving some guys black beards, some blonde beards and some have eyepatches. I really like how they came out, especially considering what they looked like before!

Before:



After:




While I was painting the spearmen I managed to get my first 9th Age game in plus another game. It turns out of the armies that I got the Chaos one is easily the largest. In 9th age, the army is around 5000-6000 points and I made a 4500 point list easily. I love the game system, possibly even more than 40k. The way it looks on the table is amazing with the ranks and files.

Game 1:


Game 2:


The thing that intimidated me the most about 9th age was the movement trays and the formations. I dreaded the thought of having to spend $30 on movement trays and then want to later use them in a different formation. So until I figure out the best formation, I decided to go full caveman mode and got some cardboard and glued some plastic sprues on the outline of where the models would be on the cardboard square. These caveman movement trays actually work pretty well and don't look terrible. I might actually get more serious with them later and make some more and paint them to look like it's a scene.

I would have liked to have played with the Empire models as they are the ones I am working on, but the issue is that the minimum sized unit for Heavy Infantry (Spearmen and Halberdiers) is 20 models and the minimum sized unit for Imperial Guard (Longswordsman and Swordsman) is 15 models. If you look at the original Empire pictures, I only have 11 spearmen and 10 halberdiers along with 10 swordsmen and 10 long swordsmen. To make matters worse I had no musicians or banners for these guys. I really don't like proxying, so I decided to just play with Chaos for now and I really like how the army plays. But I want to start playing with Empire soon and so I have bought 2 box sets of the old Empire State Troops that contains 10 models apiece. I also found 5 halberdiers that I apparently had extra of. So to optimize how I build these 20 models I think I am going to build 5 halberdiers (Including, the champion, musician and banner), 10 spearmen (Also including full command) along with 5 swordsmen. I don't think I can make 3 musicians with just 2 boxes, so I may have to search out eBay for a musician model for them, or just make a conversion. I already have a banner for them though. After that, I should have enough models for a 3500 point list.

So up next I will finish up the Heavy Infantry and then move onto the Light Infantry. I'm gonna have to do some research on how to make the banners look cool. I've seen people do cool things like put the actual flag of the city-state on the banner, but I am so confused as to how you could put a flat transfer decal on a curvy flag that isn't flat at all. Any ideas? The Knights are the coolest models but I want to paint them in the Reiksguard scheme, which has a lot of white and I am terrible at painting white. I want to spend this time doing some research and testing on how best to paint white on models where it's the primary color. Maybe I will try airbrushing white for once. These guys I will probably do last before moving onto the Chaos models or the Orks.




Thanks for reading! Hopefully I can get a new update out soon.

Dunno about transfers, but IIRC, normal printer paper with the design for each side butted up, folded over around the staff, and soaked in 50/50 white glue and water to glue down and shape is the traditional historical gamers solution.