Ost Averland Black Mountains Garrison, DOW Pikes and Platemail

[Lord Dan]

Awesome work. Love that dark armor.

Something I also just noticed is that the blood appears to be pooling in the space between the orc's hand and shirt, which looks super realistic.

[Zoring]

Mystery Models! Most of them anyhow

Took a long time to get to these girlys, but now my Lord and Hero choices are almost done! These two models are from Dark Sword Miniatures, from the George RR Martin collection, these models are actually Cersei Lannister and a handmaiden, these existed a long time before the movies of course, so interesting to see that interpretation! Really great, slightly taller then warhammer guys, so i have trimmed down their dresses a bit, they are almost to scale now, still slighter taller. Great figures.

I will be using these two as Wizards, for the Celestial/Light colleges so on, another mystery mini will be another wizard.

Clerics of Shallya

Shallya is the Goddess of Healing, Mercy and Childbirth. She is an exceptionally important goddess throughout the Old World. People pray to Shallya all the time: when they are suffering from an illness, when they are hoping to have children, or when they are looking for forgiveness for their sins. The main Garrison fortress maintains a chapel to Shallya and her Clerics provide invaluable service healing and caring for the soldiers and the women of the Garrison forces.

Clerics in the Field

The Clerics march with the soldiers in the Garrison, tending to the wounded and sick, whenever they are available the morale of the troopers is much improved, knowing that their chances of survival from a wound is much improved. Not just through prayer but the Clerics are also trained in very practical forms of wound treatment and dealing with infection. They are not well trained in combat but the soldiers of the Garrison will fiercely protect the healer women standing in their ranks.

[azhagmorglum]

First time I see someone use the wounded orc, moreover in a small vignette. That"s just too cool !
And gorgeous damsels you have here too

[Zoring]

Thanks Lord Dan! Just luck of the actual paint running down Also thank you ahagmorglum, appreciate the comments, always very encouraging to get them. Knew i wanted to do something with that Orc soon as I saw it.

Here is part 2 of the mystery models, my Warrior Priests(esses) I enjoyed including some female warriors in my army, but blimey it is hard to find a fully armoured woman in 28mm! The first model (whose eyes i need to tweak a bit, they are a bit wild!) is from Brother Vinni's miniatures, some really nice models, small range but some nice stuff, big fan of his stuff and good scale for WFB with a Knights Panther shield and the second one is another Dark Sword Miniature.

I am not sure what is next, I am eyeing up something big and hungry or perhaps a little vignette with one of Brother Vinni's captured females hmm! Maybe actually finish painting my general might be a good idea :P Not sure if i should add something to the scroll. Might attempt it later!

Also I believe someone asked how i do the metal on the figs so the paint scheme is super easy to replicate, start off with a black undercoat. touch up any missed areas in black then get your favourite metal colour (I use boltgun metal though the name has changed now) than drybrush that all over the steel parts. After that take your standard black paint and paint all the flat areas back to black leaving all the high points and ridges and bolts/pins silver.

I then like to give the entire steel areas a black wash as this gives the black areas a slight metallic sheen. Because that dulls the silver I then highlight the highest most prominent silver areas with mithtril silver (which again has a new name but is the brighter metal)

Sentinals of Verena

Verena is the Goddess of Knowledge, Science, Law and Justice. Her symbols are the scale and the downward-pointing sword. Verena is generally portrayed as a tall and beautiful woman, dignified and serious, sometimes with a blindfold over her eyes, her scale in one hand and her sword in the other. The Sentinals of Verena almost exclusively guard the temples and holy places of Verena, however it is not unknown for them to take the field to fight injustice, oppression or the depravity of beastmen and orcs.

Verena's Temple at Grenzstadt

Grenzstadt the primary city and supply point for the Garrison maintains a temple in the town centre. The Sentinals their guard it and the local court. Occasionaly they will assist in escorting a supply convoy to the Garrison fortresses, where they will spend some time mediating with the troops over slights and altercations as well as providing counsel. The main garrison fortress is arbitrated by Sentinal Yngrid, who will act as a mediator in the disputes or occasional lawlessness that arises anywhere soldiers are garrisoned. In the case of large scale action by the fortress Yngrid will don her armour and stand with the men, inspiring them with a belief in the justness of their cause.

[mrtn]

Nice girls, good to see this thread active again.

[DieTodtenReitenSchnell]

This is a great looking army! Makes me wish I had more money/time on my hands.

[Zoring]

Hello chaps, got a big block of men to post up today, perry plastic Mercenaries and European Army metals. These guys were done a bit more hurridly than my previous ones as they were gotten ready for a tournament, which was my armies first ever battle as a completed army and the first game of the tourney was my 3rd ever WFB game. Needless to say I got thumped and the army will be undergoing a few new additions as a result!

I'll post up a report on the tourney next post.

Grenzstadt Pikemen
[img width=750 height=637]http://imageshack.us/a/img24/1957/dudes48.jpg[/img]
The town of Grenzstadt is the largest in Ost Averland and forms a vital supply and support function for the Garrison, as well as being the primary source of new recruits for the Garrison. It maintains it's own force of state troops separate from the Garrison forces, but still part of the defence network of Ost Averland. These troops are armed and equipped in the same fashion as state troops throughout the Empire and provide a solid reliable core to any Ost Averland force. When fighting in the mountains the troopers are led by reliable officers of the Garrison troops, whose expertise in the unique conditions is considered vital. When fighting in the field however the troops are led by their own officers.

Grenzstadt Equipment
[img width=750 height=637]http://imageshack.us/a/img12/6337/dudes49.jpg[/img]
The State Troops of Grenzstadt aren't as heavily armoured in general as the Mountain Garrison troopers, the majority of plate armour protection being earmarked for the mountains, that said, they are still well equipped, being equipped with maille, gambesons, sturdy helmets and any breastplates or plate armour available. The livery of the Grenzstadt infantry is a black and white tunic halved, with yellow hose.

[mrtn]

Those are looking very nice as usual.

[Morten C]

This must be one of the best looking armies of all time! Fantastic work!

[Zoring]

My general finally! All the skulls stripped off, just the standard Empire Captain looks ridiculously ostentatious compared to my normal soldiers

Nornicle, the only current GW products are the Archers, the rest is either old GW Dogs of War or other historical miniatures, such as Perry, Kingmaker and Artizan. I use mostly GW paints with Vallejo also, I paint fairly slowly I think, although i turned out that block of 40 men in about 10 days for a tournament (from undercoat as they had been assembled a while ago). Just basecoat, wash, highlight, for the most part. Then eyes last. The whole army was started at the start of 2011, but I wax and wane in my enthusiasm for painting. My longest gap was about 4-5 months earlier this year.

Wachtmeister Johannes Klein

The title of Watch Master is given to the commanders of the Garrison fortresses. They are given to senior men with proven experience, often nobles but not necessarily so. It is a high-ranking position in the Garrison, second only to the Supreme Commander of the Ost Averland Garrison. Responsible for commanding the Garrison in battle and ensuring the smooth running of the fortress and the vital task of supply and logistics of the fortress.

Klein is an able commander, a large man with a keen mind and a strong grasp of logistics, and an able tactician in defence and in field battles. He is not a strong fighter however, and enjoys his food, meaning he has fattened up more than most in the Garrison. A minor noble, he feels compelled to keep up with Imperial Fashion trends, sporting large feathers and large puffed sleeves, including an impractical cape in battle, despite this he is respected in the Garrison for his tactical ability.

[Zoring]

Hungry bellies ahead! Time for a little injection of Fantasy into my supposedly fantasy army These Ogres were not painted by me, I bought them second hand and they were lovely, not quite matching my style, and 5 strong, so i got another Ogre to make it nice and even 6... Couldn't help it. I don't even know if i will ever use them but they are nice models and will look great with the army.

Took me a long time to get around to these they needed to be re-based and touched up because they had lost a bit of paint over the years but pleased with how they turned out.

Golgfag's Mercenary Ogres

Possibly one of the most successful Ogre mercenaries of all time, Golgfag Maneater forged a reputation for the Ogres as fearsome killers for hire long before they became a relatively common sighti n the mercenary armies of the Old World. He soon found himself leading a bunch of almost equally brutal Ogre warriors.

Ogre Interaction

Ogre's are a rare sight in the mountains, as the food pickings are too slim for them to make the slog up the cliffs and valleys. As a result the Ogre's have never fought with the Garrison in their fortresses, they were once co-incidentally present at a small skirmish in the foothills after a drunken binge led to them perusing a small raiding party of Goblin Wolf Riders who had interrupted said drinking binge. This persuit led them into a group of scouting Dragoons of the Mountain Regiment. The resulting clash led to the destruction of the goblins and the consumption of two horses. Which the Dragoons graciously (or so they portrayed) donated to Golfag.

[speleman]

Great army you got here, very inspirational! I like your artillery especially.

[Zoring]

Thank you Speleman, now galloping onto the scene, more pistoliers! I found these guys quite effective in my games, if needing a fair bit of finesse to get the most out of!

Next time i plan on writing up my tournament report, I got a thrashed a bit, so I have been re-forming my ranks into column and planning some hammers to go with my anvils.

Military Technology

The eccentric Engineers of the Empire are famed for their bizarre and ecentric inventions that are often far more flash than substance, even the most famous inventions of the Engineers the Steam Tank is little more use than a novelty in practical military applications, for every heroic tale of a Steam Tank winning a battle goes a hundred un-told stories of their bogging down in mud, collapsing bridges and breaking down despite what the commonly held belief that these novelty weapons are war winners, professional soldiers of the Empire hold little stock in their ability and despite the fame of the mad inventors their are equally as many inventors working quietly on practical military applications,

The Wheel-Lock Mechanism

One triumph of this research is the Wheel-Lock Mechanism for firearms. This remarkable system is gradually replacing the more common match-locks in the Empire, nowhere is this more true than in the pistol and carbine armed Cavalry such as the Dragoner Regiment. The wheellock works by spinning a spring-loaded steel wheel against a piece of pyrite to generate intense sparks which ignite gunpowder charge. The result of it is a firearm which can be made to work reliably in inclement weather, as it precludes the need to keep a burning fuse alight (correctly: match) and most critically can be used one-handed, giving Cavalry an effective firearm. It is with weapons like these, rather then spectacularly unreliable concoctions such as the Steam Tank or fraudulent inventions such as the Mechanical Horse (in reality an actual horse covered in cogs and metal plates, which proved to be a confidence trick by a talentless apprentice engineer)

[Zoring]

Ah, i see my last posts have failed to excite you! Well nevertheless painting and modelling continues unslowed, here is some more artillery, the helblaster, proved entirely useless in my tournament games, i believe killing in 6 games, 3-4 bestigor, and 1 warhound, bad dice certainly but not an auspiscious start.

The crew are perry labourers and the piece is from Artizan designs

Organ Gun

The Organ Gun caused a bit of a controversy in the Garrison when it arrived, many believing that the multi-barreled design had been copied from Dwarven Engineers and that they would soon cause a furore and tumble the fortress from it's foundation. These fears proved baseless when one was used in action alongside a dwarf ranger patrol with the dwarves laughing away the contraption as 'man-made' noting it's tiny barrels and flimsy wooden carriage.

Organ Gun In Battle

Despite the dwarves disdain the Organ Gun proves it's worth in the garrison, providing close range devastating firepower, whilst still being light enough to be manouverable, something the dwarves seem to rarely consider. It's best use however is defending bridges and fortress gateways, where it's heavy blast of shot will punch through multiple opponents and stop any but the most insane from charging a breach. The far less complex nature of the Organ Gun versus the more famous Helblaster means its far less inclined to explode, something the gunners are most appreciative of.

[speleman]

Nice Love your scenic bases and little stories

[PRIMARCH2025]

I love the look and how unique your army looks. Just amazing. Subscribed.

[Boreas_NL]

This continues to be one of the most characterful armies around here, I love your use of non-fantasy models!

[Zoring]

Hello chaps and thank you for the kind words! Bit of a cheating update this time as I have no painted models to show you. Have been distracted by some other painting projects, but am currently back in the mood for my fun little Empire chaps! I have been on a wild assembly spree this week, so you can have a little preview of what I am working on, i'll let you figure out what's on the table, keen eyed viewers will be able to figure it out I think!



Going to crack out the paintbrushes tomorrow, few half-painted men to get too also, I always enjoy coming back to old ones, as I can thank past-me for doing half the work

[HannesB]

can't wait to see them finished!

[Zoring]

Hallo Chaps, sorry for my crappy photography today, weather is a bit bad, and my proper camera is out of action. But anyhow, a finished unit! Been a long while but back on the horse now. Handgunners, Perry figures from the Mercenaries box. Pew pew! They didn't come with any ammo pouches or anything so I have added little powder flasks from the Empire Handgunners which I had left over from an earlier aborted projects, as well as giving them swords and a few pieces of extra equipment.

Grenzstadt Handgunners

The Grenzstadt State Troopers maintain a well stocked armoury of handguns and powder. Not directly attached to the garrison, they often end up fighting with them when in field engagements and on rare occasions when they are resting in the Garrisons keeps during Goblin activity. The handgunners are the primary escort for the supply wagons that head up to the mountain garrison from Grenzstadt. Driven in large convoys and supported by handgunners riding on and walking alongside the baggage trains the booming noise and deadly power of the lead shot are sufficient to drive off any savage beast or abomination that happens upon the convoys.

The Grenzstadt livery of the Handgunners is the same as the Grenzstadt state troopers, with the halved white and black tunic replaced with an all black one. The powder residue from firing being more easily concealed on a black tunic. The handguns are smaller calibre than the ones used in most of the Empire, recent developments in technology having discovered that there is little to no loss of power and the lighter guns fatigue the soldiers far less, meaning less trembling arms from holding a heavy gun