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Its been a while since I've created a new plog, and having settled on a new project that will probably keep me woefully distracted from my =I=munda and Geno 5-2 Chiliad stuff, nows as good a time as any to start one!

I've dived back into WFRP, with a new forum game undergoing character creation at the moment, which has encouraged me to dip back into all things Fantasy, a side of the hobby I haven't touched for a good few years now. Sporadic parts of this blog wll therefore be devoted to individual fantasy models I've picked up because I like how they look and fancied having a crack at with a voew to using them as npcs for WFRP. I've managed to get hold of a couple of old/obscure models which should be fun to paint (an old thief, a squat guildmaster who will become a bounty hunter once I source some suitable arms, Gorbad Ironclaw, Ar Ulric, Marco Columbo...).


The main focus of the blog will be some good old fashioned army building. Having gone back and forth on a few army ideas (collecting all things Storm of Chaos was a distinct possibility at one point, and may still see the light of day at some point...), a couple of well timed trades have left me with some Empire and VC goodies slowly winging their way towards my grubby hands.

I was thinking of doing something Sylvanian for a while - either a Empire army using VC armour to make them authentically Sylvanian, or a Sigmarite crusade against the VC's, but my final theme has fallen somewhere in the middle.

Or should I say themes?

Ultimately I've decided to do two armies, one Empire, one VC, to represent the forces at the battle of Hel Fen, where Mannfred von Carstein was struck down by Martin, Elector Count of Stirland after a wild chase across the Empire.

No idea how big these armies are likely to get, I'll see if I can pick up the current army books cheap (if anyone has one or the other, or both, to trade or sell, feel free to pm!) and try and build to some sort of army list, but I wont let it rule the project. As long as I feel I'm staying with the theme, anything goes really.

Something else I want to try and do is use some of the units/characters in small dioramas/vignettes (is there a difference between the two?). So everything will be on normal gaming bases, but I'll also try and produce some larger scenic bases that certain units can be slotted into to show a snapshot of the battle. Mannfred vs Martin is a given, and I'm also thinking Stirland pikemen vs direwolves would be a good one.

Expect to see:

Marsh bases. Lots of them.
Ghouls creeping through bullrushes and munching on the local fauna (and the occasional Empire soldier...)
Not much in the way of Empire heavy cavalry or warmachines - the boggy ground would make such units much less effective than normal, so they would be a minority compared to foot troops. There were Reiksguard present (according to the artwork in the older Empire army book), so they'll be included, though not in great numbers. Any warmachines that turn up will have to be suitably mired in muck I think.
Stirland halberdiers. Famous, apparently.
Stir river patrol (silly not to take these guys really).
Fearless vampire hunters.
Superstitious ogre mercs draped in garlic and over-equipped with enormous stakes.
Halfings - with the Moot so close, they're bound to be in there somewhere.

Plus anything else that I come up with/anyone suggests that seems fitting.

Now I'm off to dig out the pistoliers/outriders and the pair of ogres I know I've got lying around somewhere. Stay tuned, and feel free to shout encouragement and ideas for sitable inclusions in my "historic" forces.

-Anodyr

Sounds amazing. post up some pics soon.

Had a root through the old bits box over the last couple of days, and picked up the two army books which are helping develop the basic idea somewhat. I also hear The Empire at War has a section specifically about the battle of Hel Fenn, so I'm keeping an eye out for that too now.

Anyway, having checked out my collection, the two sides currently consist of:

Empire:

5 Pistoliers
5 Outriders (nearly, I need 5 torsos...)
2 Ogre mercs (see below)
Amethyst wizard
Bright wizard
10 Flagellants
2 metal Reiksguard knights
2 metal White Wolf knights
Grand Master of the White Wolves
Grand Master of the Blazing Sun
Griffon (which will be Elector Count Martin's ride, once I find a Martin...)

Vampire Counts:
Vampire lord (the one with the bat wing)
10 Ghouls

A quick flick through the Empire book revealed that my Empire contingent already approaches 800pts, which was a nice surprise. Obviusly its not a playable force yet, and some of the models won't have any place in the final themed army, but its always less daunting when you embark on a project if you know you only need a few units to turn out an army.

Anyway, time for the first WIP pics:

First up are the pistoliers. Basecoating is 3/4 done now and its nice to be able to churn out a unit in a fairly short space of time. Bases need swapping to rectangular ones (which is a shame cos I like big round bases, but c'est la vie...). But overall a nice little unit to get me started.





Next up, ever wondered how the Stirland halberdiers managed to hold their own against Mannfred's hordes?



These guys are the first in a unit of ogre mercenaries armed with some seriously meaty halberds. Main aim with these boys was to see if the halberd conversions would work and look suitably impressive, which I'm happy to say appears to be the case, so I haven't done anything else in terms of conversion work. Future members of their regiment will receive some more Imperial touches -floppy hats, jerkins, feathers etc. to help tie them into the army as a whole. They'll also feature Stirland green and yellow, though I haven't decided how much yet. In game terms, they're ironguts.

So thats it so far. Biggest challenge at the moment is bringing myself to sort out some suitably marshy bases - I dont know why but this scares me at the moment, but is a necessary evil that must be conquered before I can start working on infantry and characters...

Why are the pistoleers mounted on round bases?

Because once upon a time they were going to be Imp Guard roughriders. As I said in the post, the bases need changing to rectangular ones, but I need to get some first.

hoping for more pics soon, looking to see those vc bits and pieces

Well, thanks to kormas and a few other trades and acquisitions the forces of good and evil have expanded somewhat...

Mannfreds forces now stand at:

Vampire
Vhargulf
30 ghouls
20 Zombies
20 skellies with sword/shield
10 skellies with spear/shield
20 graveguard
corpse cart
banshee & 2 wraiths
5 fellbats

Which is actually over 1000pts of troops in total and constitutes an actual playable army!

Elector Martins forces have also received some reinforcements, in the form of Valten on horse (I'm thinking of using him as Martin - just have to look at how tricky it will be to remove his horses head so that I can mount him on a griffon), 10 state troops, some militia, a cannon/mortar and Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks! Also en route are the Dogs of War WitchHunter and his Sigmarite priest buddy (who will lead the Flags). I need to sit down and work out exactly what I've got Empire-wise now and which models will feature in the final army make-up.

So time for some pics. I've been working on the ghouls over the last week, and finally settled on a white undercoat (something I haven't used for a looonnggg time) washed with a mix of Elf Flesh and Codex Grey. This gives me a good pale "off" flesh colour which I will then shade using a touch of Charadon Granite in the original mix. Early testing can be seen below:





And finally, my most fearsome Empire unit yet... Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks! Awesome!



So thats the progress so far, slow but steady wins the race.

looking great, eagaly awaiting the completion of more of my models

dont be to deisapointed with the lack of replies , as the production heats up more people will post

I've got some up on my beastman plog here. I use miliput for the core of the base, pushing in a few pieces of decoration and then a couple of bristles into a hole to make reeds. When painting I paint them Graveyard Earth and the reeds Bubonic Brown washing the entire thing with a Snakebite Leather wash. Then when the models finished I flock. For the water I use several layers of PVA which gives a palid effect and is much cheaper than proper water effect. Hope that helps.