20 Halberdiers (Part 1)

The next unit for my Empire project is a big block of 20 Halberdiers. These are the classic mono-pose miniatures from the GW/MB game Battlemasters. Battlemasters came out in 1992, and although those miniatures were revolutionary for their time, thirty years later... they appear to be quite crude by modern standards.. 

20 guys, primed for action. 

I decided to do up two models first to act as "controls". The first model was stopped at the finished basecoats step. Black Templar on the metal areas, Snakebite Leather on the leather and clothing, Wyldwood on the halberd shaft, and Baal Red on the shield and tassel thingy on the halberd. 

Basecoated.

The second one I worked up to what is often referred to as a 'battle-ready' standard.  My old paint recipe for Reiklander uniforms is worked up from the Snakebite Leathe Contrast Paint basecoat, then  a craft paint by Folkart called Linen. I then went over that with another craft paint by Delta Ceramcoat called Raw Linen. I finalized the scheme with a highlight of Skull White. I used Nuln Oil Gloss on the recesses of the armored areas before topping them off with a Stormhost Silver highlight. 

Battle Ready

I was reluctant at first to add yellow to their feathers, but this choice was supported by the Reikland pages of the Uniforms & Heraldry of the Empire book that GW published way back in the last days of WFB 7th edition (I was always bummed out that they never finished the series, but I treasure the three books that they did release). 


Well, doing 20 of these guys is definitely a time consuming war against tedium, and just the Black Templar stage took me awhile. 

Black Templar. 

In Part 2 my goal is to get all of them basecoated. Stay tuned! 

Mounted Celestial Wizard

 I am building an Empire of Man Knightly Order army and I decided I wanted a mounted wizard to support it. Digging through the Neverness Archive I found three unopened blisters of old mounted wizards. A Gold Wizard, Jade Wizard and Celestial Wizard. I decided to go with the Celestial Wizard as I felt he would fit the theme of the army better than the other two.

Mint in blister, a Celestial Wizard. 

After cracking open that beautiful mint condition packaging, I cleaned up the model of it's flash and mold lines. Then I primed it and got to work slapping on the base coats using Contrast Paints. 

Next came the barded horse. Only the muzzle and saddle have any contrast paint on them. The rest of the model is classic Citadel Paint. Macrage Blue on the barding's basecoat followed by Caledon Sky. A subtle highlight of Calgar Blue finished the barding color. 

Dots of White Scar was applied to create a star field look. And a pentacle was freehanded on each cheek of the horse's rump. 

This all came together nicely, and when the rider was done he was glued into position on the horse's back. 

Finally, the flocking stage. I added the usual variety of grass tufts and fallen leaves, and essentially this model is now complete. 

I dig how he turned out. I think he captures that '90s Wayne England color pallette vibe well. 

Oh, the white under the leaves is the PVA glue which hadn't hardened yet before I snapped these pics. I assure you that is no longer apparent on the model now. The last thing left to do is to seal the miniature to reduce the risk of chipping. 

The the next you see him, he should be in battle. Could be awhile though,  but in the meantime I need to figure out a name for him so he can join the Neverness Fantasy Rogues Gallery. 

Big Guns Never Tire - Empire Edition (Part 2)

 I finished the crew in Part 1,  now for the actual big guns.

These things are fairly basic so I didn't bother with taling any WIP shots  Tbe first cannon I acquired about 20 years ago from Warfrog. He had made it in such a way so that the great cannon and mortar could switched out. I was able to scrounge the other bits needed to turn the leftover bits into a second carriage so that I could use both the cannon and the mortar. I had also found another mortar in my bitz box which gives me the option to field two mortars if I chose too. 

I took the basic idea for the color scheme from the WHFB 6th edition Empire Armies book. The weapons were painted using Leadbelcher topped with Nuln Oil Gloss. I used Leadbelcher to edge highlight the guns and used Stormhost Silver for a few final highlights. 

You might have noticed that one of the mortars has a cannonball in it. This was made by rolling up some greenstuff. I glued it in after I painted the inside of the barrel black just in case there was any gaps. 

Wyldwood Contrast Paint with a layer of old Bestial Brown was the basis for the gun carriages. I finished that off with a few Washes of Agrax Earthshade and some Nuln Oil.

Aftter some grass tufts and a few leaves were added, this project was done.  I hope to get these guys in action soon, but the specific armistice I am building these guys for have a few more units that I still need to add, so, stay tuned! 

Big Guns Never Tire -Empire edition (Part 1)

 Q: What is an Empire army without artillery? 

You likely already know that answer but even more pertinent is, what's artillery without crew? Lawn art! Usually in a town square or in front of a VFW facility. 

Fleshwash coat from 2007.

Starting off with these three guys who came with the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th edition starter,  and  in my opinion, these are amongst the best Empire miniatures produced in plastic and they still hold  up well 25 years later. These guys were gifted to me by Warfrog who had primed them all in a bright white primer. I had figured out a paint scheme using Citadel Colour Flesh Wash in a similar manner to how I use Contrast Paints now. The only problem with that is the amount of Flesh Wash I had to use to get the coverage that I desired. 

Contrast coats.

After I extended their bases out to 25mm, I decided to continue where I left off almost two decades ago. Using Contrast Paints I painted Guilliman Fleshwash on their skin, and Rattling Grime on their caps and vests. I these used Snakebite Leather Contrast Paint on their boots...and discovered that it was an absolute match for the old Fleshwash! This is great, as that color is now very much available where my Fleshwash is definitely running low. 

Linen layer.

My old paint recipe for Reiklander uniforms started with a Flesh Wash basecoat, then I used a craft paint by Folkart called Linen. I then went over that with another craft paint by Delta Ceramcoat called Raw Linen. I finalized the scheme with a highlight of Skull White. 

The wooden pole was painted using Wyldewood. 

For the modern update to this I am now using Snakebite Leather Contrast Paint for the basecoats and White Scar for the highlight. 

Baal Red was used on the kerchiefs. 

The brown hats and vests was done using Rattling Grime Contrast Paint. I usually had to apply this in a few coats  before I was satisfied with it. 

He seems like a bossy one, huh?

I did the flesh using Guilliman Fleshwash. And that was it. Any additional highlights or layers I thought might give these guys a 'cleaner look and I wanted these guys to give off the impression that they are hard working and a bit dirty. 

"Light 'em up!"

I decided to have a go at their eyes. Lately I have  been ignoring them, but some of these guys had well defined eyes so I decided to risk it. I think they turned out OK. 

Cannon ball painted in Leadbelcher and washed with Nuln Oil Gloss. 

After a few touch-ups and the addition of some grass tufts, these chaps were now finished and ready to kill (hopefully) and die (likely) in service to the Empire. 

Ok, so that's the crew essentially done. Let's get to the artillery pieces themselves. In Part 2. See you there! 

A:  Mass fodder! 

Stormweaver on Unicorn (Part 4)

 

After getting the Unicorn to a point that I was happy with, I moved onto the rider. Back in the Marauder Miniatures days the Morrisons (Ali and Trish) sometimes teamed up on projects like these where Trish would work on the "monster" and Ali would work on the hero.  I feel like it didn't always work as Ali's elves always came off as having 'puffy' faces particularly when compared to Jess Goodwin's high cheeked and narrow faces. But I digress, the point is that there is definitely a contrast between the Unicorn and it's rider. The mage (now Stormweaver) was done prior to the strict uniformity of the High Elf range preceding the launch of WFB 4th Edition. Indeed, the painted example featured in the White Dwarf adverts at the time were colored in a technicolor palette more fitting for the Wood Elves of that era than High Elves. 

Images snipped from original Marauder ad. 

Forward to now, and I am trying to make the best of both worlds and have a scheme that matches my army but still perhaps calls back, if only a wee bit, to that old house advert. As I have been doing with my High Elves recently, I painted all of the basecoats using Contrast Paints. 

Next came the mid-tones, which really start to pull this closer to how I envisioned it. Polished Blue, my trusted old blue metallic paint from the '90s, went on most of the blue areas. Retributor Gold went onto the head of the staff. I painted the back of the cloak and her tunic/dress thing receding from black, to dark blue to a purple. 

Stormhost Silver was the highlight on anything metal, and this really kicked up the colors I think. Still photos such as these just do not convey the metallic sheen those areas have in reality. I liked the idea of keeping the staff wooded with a vine wrapped around it. I was tempted to just make the whole thing metallic but thought that this gave the staff a lot more character. There are, I guess we can call them ribbons, that flow off of the staff and the sheathed blade. I struggled a lot in trying to pick a suitable color for these ribbons. Ultimately decided to make them white to better tie her in with he rest of the High Elf army, while not distracting from the rest of the model's colors. 

After I added the grass tufts and fallen leaves, the rider was attached. Once everything from this step was done, I took the model outside to my deck and sprayed it with Model Master Lusterless (Flat) Lauer Overcoat to, hopefully, reduce paint chipping. 

Of course I took the opportunity for some natural lighting pics even though I would have preferred a more scenic view...

Oh, I forgot to mention the stars that I dotted onto the cloak and tunic/dress, which ties into the theme of the rest of my army. 

Anyway, this concludes the saga of this Stormweaver, I hope you enjoyed the end results. 

Stormweaver on Unicorn (Part 3)

I managed to turn my attention back to this project. Focusing on just the unicorn mount for now, I decided to go for a dabbled look. This began with a basecoat of Dawnstone. Once dried I washed the model with Nuln Oil.

Dawnstone and Nuln Oil. 

 Although I am using very different colors, the technique found in an old GW US Citadel Catalog is still very much valid. Although my spotting tend to be a bit bigger than the example they demonstrated.  But I am getting ahead of myself here...

Snipped from GW US Catalog 2004-2006

Ulthuan Gray was used next to more or less finish the coat on the unicorn. 

Next, Corax White was lightly applied in patchy sports. It was reapplied again in a heavier coat in the center of these spots before a final dot of White Scar was added to the very center.

For the Unicorn's muzzle I painted over the Corax White using Fyreslayer Flesh and added a small highlight of Kislev Flesh. 

After a few things were tidied up, the Unicorn is now essentially done!

Now to focus on the rider, who currently, looks like a ghost riding a spotted gray steed. 

Elven Ghost Rider!

Knightly Order of the Blazing Sun (Part 5)

I have finally finished the four man unit of Inner Circle Knightss for my Order of the Blazing Suns list*. 

After getting the highlights done and a bunch of touch-ups, I painted up all of their feathered helms. Some have  metallic helms and some ha e actual feathers. The idea was that the feathers, as well as the subtle bands g differences on their lances, would set them apart individually. 

Their shields were all done by hand. Although the sun shape isn't as rounded as I would have preferred, I still think the finished result looks cool. 

After some grass tufts and leaves, these noble heroes were now done. 

But I do have ideas for adding a standard bearer to the unit. So I might be revisiting these guys at some point. It's a good start, and I think the whole project based around ancient Battlemasters miniatures gives the the whole thing a nice nostalgic vibe. 

* I suppose it's time to reveal this list that I am building towards. Obviously I can change this as the needs for a particular game demands, but foe now this is a good working template. And I am about halfway done with it! 

===

Knights of the Blazing Sun [1246 pts]

Warhammer: The Old World, Empire of Man, Order of the Blazing Sun, Open War

===

++ Characters [297 pts] ++

Chapter Master [150 pts]  (coming soon!)

- Hand weapon

- Lance

- Full plate armour

- Shield

- Order of the Blazing Sun

- General

- Barded Warhorse

- Enchanted Shield

- Giant Blade

Master Mage [147 pts] (I have yet to assemble him)

- Hand weapon

- Wizard [Level 2 Wizard]

- Empire Warhorse

- Blade of Silvered Steel

- Arcane Familiar

- Battle Magic

++ Core Units [555 pts] ++

4 Inner Circle Knights of the Blazing Sun [143 pts]   (The guys featured in this post)

- Hand weapons

- Lances

- Shields

- Full plate armour

- Barding

- Stubborn

- Inner Circle Preceptor (champion)

5 Empire Knights of the Blazing Sun [161 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Lances

- Shields

- Heavy armour

- Barding

- Stubborn

- Preceptor (champion) [Ring of Taal + Burning Blade]

5 Empire Knights of the Blazing Sun [156 pts] 

- Hand weapons

- Lances

- Shields

- Heavy armour

- Barding

- Drilled

- Preceptor (champion) [Twice-Blessed Armour]

10 Empire Archer (i.e. Huntsmen)s [95 pts] Unfinished but 'battle ready'.

- Hand weapons

- Warbows

- Fire & Flee

- Scouts

- Marksman (champion)

++ Special Units [290 pts] ++

20 State Troops [155 pts]  (assembled and primed)

- Hand weapons

- Halberds

- Light armour

- Shields

- Sergeant (champion)

- Standard bearer

- Musician

Great Cannon [135 pts]  (needs work!)

- Great cannon

- Hand weapons

- Veteran

++ Rare Units [104 pts] ++

6 Pistoliers [104 pts] (unassembled)

- Hand weapons

- Brace of pistols

- Heavy armour

- Veteran (champion) [Brace of pistols]

---

Created with "Old World Builder"

[https://old-world-builder.com]

So as you can see, I got quite a bit of work to do.  I am not kidding, it will be really satisfying getting this army finished. Since the rest of this force technically aren't Knights, they will get  their own post/threads. 

So, until then,..!