Out of the Ashes

So it has been quite some time since I last posted here. Life has interfered a great deal in the last few years and I am now settled in in Germany. So I set up my paint table and dug out all of my things and prepared to set to work only to find that all of my paints had dried up. As I went to order new ones, I found that the entire citadel line had been redone. I thought this isn't so bad I'm sure they made equivalent paints somewhere, didn't they? So I set about researching. In my quest I uncovered this article by Rick Priestly in  an issue of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy  that discusses that very dilemma.

 I was disappointed to learn that while he found red and yellow to be fine the browns did not match up at all. Rather than re-invest myself in a line of paints I wasn't comfortable with, I decided I would take this moment to experiment with an entirely new line. There are a lot of people out there producing model paints so there was a lot of researching to do. Something everyone says is important is to paint from a palette and not directly from the pot. I have a very bad habit of painting directly from the pot and thought if I could adapt to a new paintline now would be the best chance to break some bad habits. To this end I purchased a starter kit from The Army Painter as I have found their other products to be more than I expected of them at every turn.

So when this arrived in the mail I was delighted! I set about cleaning and setting up my paint table right away. The end result looks quite nice if I do say so myself.

Not wanting to rush right in and start painting my army with paints I wasn't completely sure about, I started this test figure. While I had initially planned for him to be a champion of sorts in my swordsman unit I decided I would paint him up and let him run double-duty as my fighter for Dungeons & Dragons.  I have decided to go with a blue and white color scheme because white is one of the paints I have the most trouble with and blue is the one I use most commonly I will also include some brown and red or yellow to figure these out as well. I haven't finished the figure at teh time of writing but I have got a work in progress shot for you.

Cheers!

Filling the gap

So in case I forgot to mention, this whole project is taking place at a small desk in Afghanistan between various combat operations and equipment maintenance tasks. The other day I broke my hobby knife trying to cut type III braided nylon rope. So until today when my new Privateer Press Formula P3 hobby knife arrived I was at a bit of a standstill. So starting today my Adventure in Reikland will begin anew. I intend to start with filling out the halberdier regiment to its full strength of forty men following this I will work on either the cavalry or another block of foot troops. I have yet to decide. At any rate, thats the update, look forward to more soon.

Meat and Potatoes

So here we are again at my little workbench. As any Empire general knows the key to victory lies with the solid blocks of infantry that make up the core of his battle line. Oh sure the knights may seal the deal charging in with thundering hooves to rout the enemy on a flank charge, but without the infantry to hold them in place the enemy can easily escape said charge.

So beginning with the horde rule I decided to rank up my next unit of state troops 10 wide. I have been doing this anyway in my other Empire contingent with a block of 35 spearmen I always take and in my Bretonnain force with a block of fifty peasants. So having decided that my first unit would be a 40 strong block of infantry I was left to choose the armament.

I decided on halberdiers for two reasons. First, I dont have a big unit of these guys and it seems like everyone else does. Second, I found this great miniature on EBAY to be the champion.

Champion

The standard bearer is just a mix of parts from the other plastic kits but Im quite fond of the way he turned out. I used the bretonnian knights of the realm banner arm, the hand with the axe from the greatswords command frame, and the knight commander head with laurels from the knightly orders set here as the major conversion components.

Standard Bearer

 

 

Banner Left Side

Banner Right Side

Command Figures Altogether

 

 

Here are the figures for the entire front rank.

Front Rank

 

First five from left

Last Five

I cant get over the way the standard bearer seems to be stepping forward as if viciously defending the standard. Altogether I think this will end up being my favorite regiment of the lot but only time will tell for sure. As it stands I can hardly wait to get the rest of the regiment assembled.

A Call to Arms

So having explained the goal of this blog and the nature of the project at hand I have decided to begin with the administrative side of things. I suppose this should start with the army list and the initial collection of figures available for the project.

The concept I wanted to begins with was a simple mostly foot soldier based list, something that could take full advantage of historical landsknecht armies through to the pike and shotte period, and also be applicable to both the Empire and Dogs of War army books. With a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles available it seemed reasonable that I should be able to combie the new horde rules with the rules for Empire  detachments to my full advantage. With this goal in mind I began amassing figures with no clear version of the list ready, with every intention of sorting this out later.

I began with two Empire Battalion Boxes, a handful of bits from Battlewagon Bits, and an assortment of figures from the Mordheim range with some out of print figures from ebay mixed in.

As far as tools go I am using an Army Painter starter set and the old edition of the Games Workshop Complete paints range (the one in the silver briefcase). Ive had this set since '07 when I began work on my Chaos army which is still in a box somewhere unfinished due to interruptions and near death experiences. Perhaps that will be my next fantasy project.  But I digress.

Armed with these tools I have set to work creating the beginning of the army...

The Game is Afoot

So it begins, my first serious attempt to follow the step by step creation of an army for miniature wargames. My first project will be my Empire army for Warhammer Fantasy by Games Workshop. It is designed to be played interchangeably as either Empire of Dogs of War. Based loosely upon the Black Company novels by Glen Cook and the Black Company of the Bundscuh movement in Germany. So here we go. Ill put up the first progress post about the rest of the army in the next couple days.