Nordland Halberdiers

  A few photographs of my work in progress Empire halberdiers. The figures are from Artizan Designs with a few Citadel pieces (the Standard and halberd heads). The hafts are made from 1.2mm plastic rod, any larger and it would have seemed unwieldy. Overall I am quite happy with the finished unit. As of now they have been scraped and cleaned some more and finally undercoated.

I also received another unit of 20 Landsknechts that will be pikemen/spearmen. While they are assembled and based in the same manner as the halberdiers I have no photographs to share.

In other news the Mordheim campaign has begun and during which Heinrich's Heroes lost their first game rather dramatically. Having suffered five out of actions which resulted in the death of one witch hunter, one witch hunter being sold to the pits and losing against the pit fighter and the loss of one warhound. In turn the opponents suffered one out of action, a dwarf slayer. This is despite the heroic actions of the warrior priest managing to knock down and stun the Dwarf thane twice. Overall it was not a great time for the band but a few figures at least got some experience which hopefully with another game will lead to greater things.

Nordland Battle Standard

Here is my Battle Standard for my Nordland army. The figure is the 6th Edition Army Box standard bearer. I replaced the head as I as unsatisfied with the base model. The bare head and shaved sides didn't seem to fit the general aesthetic. I used a 6th edition plastic command head as it had a suitable number of feathers and plumes.

The head was fitted to the gorget and a little more hair sculpted, in a suitable 1520s style, to cover the join. The head may be a little large but I have trouble with scale of the figure and put it down to general inconsistencies with a Citadel figure.

The standard is once again a transfer, as I said before that I am a poor free hand painter. It is once again an Imperial Eagle, I feel that relatively simple and plain designs are the best and are especially well suited to transfers. This eagle is a little more embellished than that used for the greatswords which is rather fitting for a Battle Standard. The transfer is also the first I have done that involved colour. It worked well on the bright, yellow areas but no so well on the blue. I should have anticipated this but I merely went over the image with a suitable colour on the feet and beaks. It seemed to do the trick. Overall I am quite happy with the figure and especially the flag.

Nordland Greatswords Completed

The final ten Greatswords have been finished for a while now I just have not been able to take the pictures. The still need to be based but I have run out of the correct shade of static grass. Eventually I get some more and tart them up.

I am not particularly happy with the photographs I have taken of these figures. the paint jobs, while not stellar, do look a little better in person. hopefully I shall get a proper set up some time.

In other news the final copy of the Warhammer 40,000 comic Will of Iron arrived, now that I have all four issues and prologue I shall get down to reading! I have also recently finished a 'new' Gotrek and Felix, City of the Damned. Being a huge fan of Mordheim and  all things related I was intrigued. I was not overly impressed. The prose was too purple for what is a rather simple and adventure series and the general plot, while Gotrek and Felix in nature fell short and the big reveals rather easily telegraphed and generally lacking. I intend to start the new Osten Ard book soon to wash away the taint of that lacklustre effort.

Nordland Greatswords

Some photographs of the my Nordland Greatswords. The first ten are shown here out of the unit of twenty five. These are all done apart from basing and the next ten are currently on the work bench. They are part of my Warhammer Fantasy Empire army that is currently being rejuvenated.

The unit both with and without movement tray. They have been rebased on Renendra 20x20mm plastic bases as I am not overly fond of the high Citadel style bases. Below is the a close up of the standard bearer for the unit. The banner motif is a transfer done inexactly the same manner as my Greeks. This however seems to be rather more successful which I am putting down to more experience and a far higher quality of Image.

Witch Hunter Warband

Just a few (very!) work in progress photographs of my Witch Hunter warband. It has some expansion figures including (the zealots with crossBOWs and sword and shield) ready for the campaign. Most of the figures are converted and kit bashed from a variety of sources (apart from the warrior priest).

 

The five heroes of the warband. The Captain Heinrich is in the centre. Converted from an Empire hero with plastic greatsword legs and hat and a cobbled together zweihander. The figure is based off a piece of 6th Edition art. Far left has a witch hunter made from a Marienburgher Captain, I changed his sword to make it a little beefier. Centre left is another witch hunter kit bashed from greatsword/empire soldiers/archers. Centre right the final witch hunger converted from plastic great swords and Perry Miniatures Mercenaries bits, for the arms and polehammer. The Warrior Priest is untouched, I especially like the way the figure is in the middle of a service rather than the more common combat poses.

 

The four Zealots (in two groups of two). They are not modelled on the traditional Zealot look but more in line with soldiers of the order and as such a have a more traditional Empire look to them. Two have swords and shields and the two Bowmen (who have crossbows but that is mostly thematic, I hope to get them actual crossbows as the campaign progresses). The figures are made from a mixture of plastic greatswords, empire soldiery, free company and the older (5th/6th edition) soldiers of the empire set.

 The three warhounds. These are original witch hunter figures that have just been rebased.

Two photographs of the warband all together. I'm looking forward to getting the painting on them finished (some have been languishing for over two years!). Thematically I am very happy with how they work together. I am a massive fan of the Empire aesthetic and it's very late 15th early 16th century inspiration. The background for the warband is yet to be decided as stated in a previous post. The colours that have been painted would be that of Solland (entirely unintentional), which would have been destroyed over two hundred years previous. A group of nobles looking for wealth or power to retake their lost land? Eventually  I will come up with something unoriginal and pun filled.  I look forward to sharing there adventures with you dear reader!

Mordheim Witch Hunters List

For the upcoming Mordheim campaign that taking place I have chosen Witch Hunters as my warband. Thematically 'core' human warbands tend to interest me more. I like the general styles and themes of the Empire and the 'blank slate' nature of such groupings. Witch Hunters are a little different but are still have a core 'Empireness' to them that allows for a great deal of customisation. I toyed with the idea of a few other warbands, most notably Orcs. I have always wanted to do an Orc band but have never been able to find/convert figures that matched my vision and expectations, maybe one day.

My Witch Hunters do not follow the standard 'Pistols and Buckles' one would expect of the classic Empire Witch Hunters or indeed 2000ad's Defoe. They are deigned to be reminiscent of a religious or knightly order and as such appear much more like traditional (i.e. 16th Century) Empire soldiery. 

There are a number of house rules in place for the campaign, the most relevant here relate to armour and two weapons. Due to the fact that having an extra man is often cheaper and far better than armour, all armour is half price rounding up to the nearest 5gc (anything that is currently 5gc stays the same). While still not as useful it means that at least armour can be taken. The other is in relation to two weapons and the strength of that extra attack. This is changed by having one attack from one weapon (such as a dagger) and the other remaining attacks from the other weapon (such as a club). This limits slightly the advantage, the other way is a -1 to hit roll on the attacks. This can be negated with the purchasing of a relevant talent (for experience or gold depends on the rules). Such changes limit the nature of figure spam involving daggers and clubs (the cheapest options). Such abuses do not tend to take place with our campaigns but it's better that such changes are made (there is also a limit on slings for Skaven but none are taking place in this campaign).

Without further ado the list I will PROBABLY be running is found below. Background and names are yet to be finalised other than the Witch Hunter Captain named for a former Marienburgher band member who shall live in infamy.


Witch Hunter Captain - Heinrich                                                             

Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Sword


Witch Hunter - 

Heavy Armour, Sword, Shield, Helmet


Witch Hunter,

Heavy Armour, Sword, Buckler, Crossbow


Witch Hunter

Heavy Amour, Great Weapon, Sword


Warrior Priest

Heavy Armour, Hammer


3 x Wardogs


This comes to around 460gc. It would be possible to hand out a few more helmets ( this is probably what would a happen or maybe a zealot with a bow) but only one figure is actually modelled with a helm so I am loathe to do so. As you can see the warband is not actually very good in terms of numbers and equipment distribution, this does not bother me in the slightest. The warband is based around a theme of knights/holy warriors and the figures that I own/converted as a whole I'm happy with both directions and look forward to starting the games. Hopefully most matches (at least my own) will get a full write up on here.

In other news the painting of Fantasy figures has lead to me attempting to finish off my poor old Empire army. When that is done I would very much like to get a few games of 3rd or 6th edition Warhammer going (depending on opponents of course).