100 Model Challenge #2: I Told You Not To Trust Me

#2 of 100: Empire Battle Wizard Lord using the Lore of Shadows

Photography still sucks but sucks a little less with the addition of some directional lighting.

This is Thelius Umbra, a very longstanding character of mine from the earliest days of my hobby. Originally he was a 40k character, the Arch-Heretic of my Lost And The Damned army. These days, and it is a very long story, he is the Patriarch of the Empire's Grey College.

He's a good guy now. In a different universe. He's still the same guy. We'll get to it. Someday.

This was a fun model for me to make: a simple little conversion taking the body of the Wizard from the Empire Luminark / Hurricanum, giving him a head from the Empire Handgunners sprue that makes him look a little like John Hurt (though I imagine him more as a pensionable Roger Delgado) and a staff top from the High Elf Mage set.

He'll be my General (at least for the Altdorf game) but, honestly, I just made this because our group has been playing with the idea of Umbra as this Machiavellian spymaster for over a year now and I just wanted to make a model for him. His first model, really, as 19 year old me just picked up a random Chaos Space Marine Sorcerer and painted it grey to represent him. He's a really fun character for me to write and getting to use him in a game every now and again will be a little bit of a treat. 

100 Model Challenge #1: Stop! Hammer Time!

 #1 of 100: Empire Warrior Priest with two hand weapons

Photography woes continue as my phone camera, whilst superior to my camera camera in every way, makes the reds a bit too bright. That said, it makes the skin tones look a hundred times better than they do in real life, so I'll take the trade.

Regardless, the first of my hundred models: an Empire Warrior Priest. Definitely my favourite of the many Warrior Priest models that have come out over the years. A lovely little model to paint, being made mostly out of big blocks of armour and cloth. A nice, easy start both to the challenge itself and my little Empire army.

He's a character, of course, so he needs a name: Father Heinrich Kruger of the Cult of Sigmar, regimental chaplain to the Reikland Silver Blades, my state troop regiment. He'll probably deploy with the Halberdiers. 

Altdorf minus 17 Days

The date is set. On Saturday 21^st November my gaming group will be having our annual mega game. 6,000 points a side, 3,000 per player: Matt and Iain holding the city with an alliance of Chaos Warriors, Daemons and Beastmen with Tom and myself laying siege as The Empire.

Which means I have some work to do. Matt is, as ever, fine with half-painted models going down on the table and there's no way I'll finish everything I want to before the 21^st. However, it would be nice to get a few things done. Matt wants me to use all my wizard characters as a block with some homebrewed special rules of his own devising to spice things up so they're an absolute priority.

I also want to paint my Demigryph Knights because... well, Demigryph Knights look awesome. Aside from that we'll just see what I can get done between now and then. The rest of my army will be made of models loaned from Matt's impressive Nordland Empire collection.

The Warhammer World lives. It's time for the Emperor to take back his throne...

Hobby Project: Steam Tank "Von Zeppel"

A simple delivery mistake: I ordered one Empire Steam Tank and was sent two. Simple screw up, easily fixed. Well, if I wanted to fix it. I could return it. I could do it honestly like a nice person or I could claim I ordered two by mistake and claim an undeserved refund as an act of petty revenge for them destroying my favourite fantasy world and replacing it with Norse mythology with the serial numbers filed off.

Or I could make something cool and get even better petty revenge by enjoying the world and game they so casually destroyed. There used to be a bunch of different Steam Tank variants, you see: there was one with a battering ram, one with a mortar, one with a volley gun... but the one that interests me is Von Zeppel. This one had no cannon or steam gun turret but a fighting platform on top with a bunch of engineers standing on it, each armed with a different fun weapon.

Von Zeppel as painted by Tammy Haye.

So, Project: Von Zeppel, what I need:

One: Steam Tank for a basis. This I have.

Two: A flat surface for the fighting platform and some form of fencing to surround it. Fencing I can get from any model railway range, preferably a larger gauge than the typical OO. The platform itself I'm not sure but if all else fails I can cut up an old 20-man movement tray.

Three: Shields to stick to the fencing to make it look Imperial. I have tons spare from my Halberdiers.

Four: Six figures to make the Engineers. Probably use Free Company for this, I have some spare.

Five: The list of weapons: Hochland Long Rifle (the clampack Engineer, me thinks), blunderbus (Free Company sprue), repeater handgun (spare from Pistoliers), a halberd (spare from State Troops set), a ball and chain (probably from Flagellants) and a man-catcher (not sure).

So really, the only sticking point is the fighting platform and the fencing. This is going to be fun, it's been such a long time since I did a really involved conversion. Part of this is the march of technology, there are so few things worth making that don't have models now (well, for the moment...) tat it really has been years since I needed to do something like this. 

Empire Detachments (Reikland army background)

As I've been tinkering away building my little Empire army I've also been tinkering with their background. I do like to have a story behind my armies and this one grew in the telling. What I like about the Empire is that there is such a sense of geography to it: the grand counties and chartered cities have such a sense of character that just deciding where the army is from helps you build its character.

Since the big game I'm building this for will be The Siege Of Altdorf and since Tom and Matt's armies are from Nuln and Nordland respectively, I decided on Reikland just to have some locals in the game. Also, with the advent of a white spray that actually covers a model the colour scheme shouldn't be too hard.

So, here are the detachments that make up my little force and what units they mighty eventually command:

Thelius Umbra and the Altdorf All-College Drinking Society

Battle Wizard Lord, Battle Wizards

The Drinking Society have been characters in my background for a couple of years now but this is the first chance I've had to create them for the tabletop. Thelius Umbra is Patriarch of the Grey College and the Drinking Society are his most trusted off-the-books agents drawn from all eight colleges:

Exiled Bretonnian noblewoman and Bright Wizard Lieutenant the Lady Desfleuves, Sabifa de Martrand; swordswoman and Light College exorcist Erza Drescler; bookish Beasts Wizard Fitz Bernhardt; the mysterious Grey Child Josephine Klein; taciturn Celestial Wizard Dana Mahler; muscular Gold Wizard Guido “The Big Man” Flieshman; gun-toting Jade Wizard Viktor Eisner; and part-time accountant, Amethyst Wizard Andreas Eckermann.

The Society has one further member, the High Elf Loremaster Korando but he's not terribly relevant to matters right now.

The Bogenhafen Longshots

Captain of the Empire, Crossbowmen, Handgunners, Pistoliers, Steam Tank

The main detachment of the army hails from the obscenely wealthy chartered city of Bogenhafen. I love their ridiculously ostentatious cream and purple uniforms. The Longshots, as you can see, are a rifle regiment for no better reason than I love Sharpe. I'll probably have two officers from the Longshots so I can field a General Of The Empire when I don't feel like using Umbra.

The Steam Tank in the Empire Bestiary is actually showing Bogenhafen colours so that's why I've listed the thing here and not with the other war machines.

The Captain is, in fact, a Major and the official commander of the army.

The Reikland Silver Blades

Captain of the Empire with Battle Standard, Warrior Priest, Haberdiers, Spearmen, Swordsmen, Free Company Militia

Basically, all the close combat state troops come from this regiment. As much as the Bogenhafen colour scheme attracts me I do want something rather simpler for the larger state units. With white spray in hand a cream cloth should only take a couple of layers. I've also lumped in the Warrior Priest as the regimental chaplain.

The Free Company are irregulars but they're paid through the Silver Blades.

Markus Wulfhart and his Hunters

Markus Wulfhart, Huntsmen

I have a Markus Wulfhart and ten Huntsmen from when I was planning to do Stirland Outlaws for a Mordheim campaign that never happened. I'm not usually one for special characters but I do rather like Wulfhart and his little band of archers, both in terms of what they do and their background.

The Carroburg Greatswords

Greatswords

Pragmatism, this. The Bogenhafen Captain is the actual army commander but keeping him with one of his own units would be a magnificent waste of time. I don't really see a regiment of riflemen and archers maintaining Greatswords so he'd have to be assigned a bodyguard from another regiment.

And the red cloth and black lacquer armour of the Carroburg regiment has always been my favourite.

The Black Guard of Morr

Grand Master, Witch Hunter, Knightly Orders, Demigryph Knights

Death's own Knightly Order, bane of the undead. I first encountered them in the Tale Of Four Gamers series that ran from White Dwarf #300 and I rather like the purple and black colour scheme. I also have a great idea for giving them albino demgryphs.

Admittedly, the Witch Hunter can't be mounted but I include him in this detachment because it makes sense. He'll be lurking off somewhere else when I field him, possibly with the Huntsmen or in a ranked unit of his own.

The Painted Ladies of Nuln

Master Engineer, Outriders, war machines

Yes, there's an engineering school in Altdorf but I don't like the Altdorf colour scheme (quartered red and blue, ugh). Plus, Tom and I have been talking about linking up his Nuln army and the Society for a while so having a detachment “from” his army will provide that link rather nicely.

They're called The Painted Ladies, incidentally, as a rather crude joke about the soot stains on their faces and, hopefully, because I'll be able to convert a female Master Engineer using one of those Statuesque Heroic Female Heads. 

The men of the Empire march to war

Every year my little gaming group gets together for a big group game. Back at uni it was the last week before the summer holidays, these days it's the end of November before our flats are too full of Christmas tree for anyone to set up a gaming table.

The game we'll be playing, part of our homebrewed post-End Times continuity, is the re-conquest of Altdorf. Tom and I will be taking the Empire role trying to retake the Imperial capital while Iain and Matt will be holding the walls as a Warriors of Chaos/Beastmen alliance. 3,000 points per player.

Now, I don't have an Empire army so the plan was for Matt to lend me his, which is still the plan but I wanted to contribute something.

I have a couple of Empire kits knocking around because of a Mordheim campaign that never happened: ten Archers, a Warrior Priest and Markus Wolfheart (I was going to play Stirwood Outlaws). I also have five Pistoliers bought for a conversion that didn't work out. I've also built several Battle Wizards over the last couple of months for Tom to use in his army (long story, we'll get to it another day) which gives me the option, so far, of Heavens, Death, Metal, Fire, Light and Shadow Magic. The Shadow Wizard will be a Wizard Lord and my general, at least for the mega-game.

I also picked up a box of Handgunners because... well, because I love Sharpe, basically. Whatever I choose to do with this force they'll be the main characters and they'll be their regiment's Chosen Men. The sergeant will have a repeater handgun (for which I will have to come up with an Empire version of Mister Nock of London).

At the same time, I ordered the Captain with a hammer and pistol (who will swear a lot) and a Helstorm Rocket Battery. They may not actually be that effective but... well, Sharpe's Enemy is one of my favourite episodes and I rather want to quote the “dirty, deaf and damned” line when it inevitably misfires.

So far I've quite enjoyed putting the models together, they're very user-friendly. This project was only meant to be “a few models” to add some personal flavour to a couple of games but I might expand a little beyond this. I'll probably get some Demigryph Knights because I like Demigryph Knights by which I mean I hate Demigryph Knights and I heartily look forward to subjecting Tom and Matt to the pain they subject me to oh so regularly.