10mm Empire Knights

Hiya!

Next up for my 10mm Empire force is a regiment of heavily armoured knights. I love these guys as they have that heavy-hitting, Renaissance gendarme look about them, with their fully encased, fluted plate, lances with snapping pennants, and bedecked with ostentatious plumes. Wonderful stuff. 

In the Warhammer lore, the Empire is composed of a variety of provinces, each with their own independent army and unique livery. This is great as it allows collectors to have fun fielding units in a riot of colours, if they wish. 

This regiment is fairly restrained in their 'white' armour and unpainted lances. Perhaps for a future unit I'll splash out with more colour.

Speaking of additional colour, this regiment has a general attached who is clad in his family's vibrant red livery. 

For the flags, I delved into my decal box and pulled out some unused Titan transfers from my Adeptus Titanicus kits. They seem to do the trick for these Imperials.

And a final shot of the reinforced contingent with halberdiers in support and knights leading the way.

- Curt

First 10mm Units for The Empire

Hi All!

I've always been a big fan of Warhammer Fantasy's 'Old World'. This goes way, waay back to the 80s with my first introduction to the setting. While the rules themselves could often leave me cold at times (depending on the edition), it was the Old World that I always drew me back. The gritty, ersatz Renaissance aesthetic ticked off so many boxes for me - the heady mixture of plate armour, crazy magic, puff & slash uniforms and early gunpower weapons - it was just so cool.  I won't even start on my opinion on GW's inexplicable decision to blow up their own IP and replace the Old World with The Age of Stinkmar, other than to say it was an atrociously bad one.

Anyway, the Old World is wonderful source of nostalgia for me, and I always enjoy visiting it from time to time, either through role-playing (we had a fun time last year playing the 'Enemy in the Shadows' campaign), the occasional mass figures game (using the excellent 'One-Page Rules'), or just painting scads of 10mm stuff like I'm showing here today.

I really enjoyed Warmaster when it was released, as the figures were so innovative, and the rules brought a breath of fresh air to GW's stable (they are the fountainhead for Warlord's 'Hail Caesar', 'Pike & Shotte' and 'Blackpowder'). My interest was renewed a few years ago when I came across some old unopened blisters in storage. After re-reading the Warmaster rules, I decided to instead follow a different path, using a fantasy variant of  'To the Strongest' as the basis for my reboot. One of the selling features of using TtS are that the rules allow for large single bases for units which I really enjoy as it gives room for mass and creating little vignettes. Over the past two Challenges I've managed decent inroads with my Wood Elf and Tomb King armies, but now I have a new force to add: The Empire!

For me the Empire is the quintessential Warhammer Fantasy army. It has that wonderful mix of traditional units such as knights, halberdiers and spearmen, along with some esoteric oddities such as flagellants, volley guns and steam tanks. It really has something for everyone.

I have a bunch of stuff completed, but I'm going to show what I've been up to at a slow drip, with an entry a day until the close of the Challenge. 

First up is our General and two units of doughty Halberdiers. 

The casting of the General is quite impressive, astride his faithful Griffon, issuing orders to his troops. 

Nonetheless, the overall model wasn't quite as imposing as either my Tomb King or Wood Elf generals on their dragons, so I printed off and rescaled a ruined tower from Hagglethorn Hollow for him and his mount to perch on. Much better, I think.

Like the General, the Halberdiers are venerable GW metals. With my larger bases, I have the room to place the equivalent of two standard Warmaster units on them. I really like the massed look that this conveys. I also LOVE the heft of these things when compared to resin models. It really appeals to my lizard brain. :)

One of the blisters had been opened and I was short two strips of figures. To make it up I decided to use my terrain cheat and include a small structure to make up for the loss of space on the base. 

Again, I like doing this from time to time as it adds a bit of visual interest and gives players something to grip on to when moving the base around the tabletop.

I'll have another Empire unit up tomorrow. I hope you stop in for a peek. 

Thanks!

- Curt

Objective Markers for Turnip28

Hey there!

Turnip28 is focused on seizing and holding objectives. These are usually scattered around the battlefield, often nestled in tricky locations, all for opposing forces to bleed each other dry over. Objectives can just be simple tokens, but I decided to amuse myself trying to make them sympathetic to the weird and disturbed setting of T28.

I thought an outhouse would be an excellent objective. Well, perhaps one that isn't as malodorous as this, but we all know: when you go to go - you got to go.

I enjoyed doing up this Catherine Wheel. In order to make it extra creepy (as if the Wheel needs to be more creepy) I added a Hanged Man, similar to what you'd find in a tarot deck. Hmm, will capturing this objective be good luck or bad?

Nothing like a guillotine to give you that reeal close shave. Also really handy for chopping carrots!

An abandoned trench pony. This poor little fella's a bit woebegone, with his heavy burden of victuals and ammunition. Any unit would be happy to have him in their ranks.

And finally, a beloved piano for the troops to gather 'round, singing songs of long lost potatoes and new found parsnips. Looks like it needs a bit of TLC a maybe some tuning.

All of these, except for the guillotine, are from Knucklebones Miniatures.

Now, back to the hobby desk to see what else I can get done before the Challenge concludes.

- Curt 

'Brutes' for Turnip28

 

Hey There!

During this year's Painting Challenge I wanted to see if I could complete two baseline forces for Turnip28. They're not quite there yet, but I am inching ever closer. I've managed to finish the line infantry ('Fodder'), light infantry ('Chaff'), the light cavalry ('Welps') and the artillery ('Stump Guns' and Bombard). So, for this entry I have a contingent of the heavy infantry, 'The Brutes'.

In game terms, Brutes are both more resilient and somewhat better skilled (less bad?) than their fellow foot sloggers. Not as numerous as the Fodder, being composed of only 6 figures, Brutes still make a valuable storm group to help take down nastier targets.

Like most of my Turnip stuff, these guys are from Knucklebones Miniatures. I quite like the brutal, inelegant, slabbed trench armour they're sporting. It makes them imposingly bulky, and fairly easy to identify on the tabletop. Again, I've laid on heavy with the rust, and festooned them with mushrooms and flora all in the fun of it.

I have another group primed-up and ready to go, but I'm not sure when I'll get them done.

Next up will be the objective markers.

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt

Turnip28 'Welp' Light Cavalry

Hey there,

These motley fellows will represent some light cavalry, or in Turnip28 parlance: serve as 'The Welps'. The base models are from Knucklebones Miniatures, with a few alterations involving head-swaps, mirroring, etc. 

I quite like these figures as they have sort of a Ralph Bakshi 'Wizards' vibe going on.

This one I did up with a bicorne as his pose reminds me of David's famous painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps. A commanding pose, if I ever saw one.

For the standard bearer, I removed the original musket and replaced it with a brass rod. I then mocked up a flag, freehanding a 'rooty' heraldic device.

I liked the morion helmet on this mook.

...and the bearskin on this fella.

Coming up soon will be the heavies, but I think I'll revisit Barsoom as I've found a few models in my lead pile.

Thanks for dropping in! Have a great week!

- Curt