'Crazily Religious' and 'Technologically Advanced'; An army of the Empire (Stirland)

[was1974]

Wow you are on a painting spree. Really getting some results wow. SO next time we have a battle you have a painted army?

[Il Maestro]

Absolutely stunning army as a whole, I can only hope to one day create models to such high a standard!

I really like the bases for your models - I know it's one of the less 'glamorous' parts of any model, yet with a little bit of work and a LOT of originality you have come up with one of the most cohesive forces I have seen in a long time!

Really looking forward to following this log now that I've found it

[Toshiro]

Beautifully painted minis! Love the colors!

[Boreas_NL]

Thanks for the load of feedback!

Do it!

I did


The finished model... I adjusted his sleeve and he looks a lot better. With a wash and a painted base the model is mostly finished, I might give the blade of his sword another lick of Mithril Silver though... Too bad his armor looks a bit blurry on the pic.

Great to see more paint on your awesome models! Can't believe you take minis on holiday, I have a hard enough time with basic soaps and what nots, let alone paint!

Thanks! Painting on holiday is quite relaxing (at least it is for me), especially if you only take models you like very much! I only spent a couple of hours spread over the whole week as I don't want to spend my entire holiday painting...

You've made halberdiers and spearmen that every single Empire player on these forums would love to have.

We're all thinking it.

Thanks! Too bad that I still have to paint a bucketload of them... Just for clarity, what are we all thinking? That the 8th edition Empire really, really sucks (ezelsballetjes)? Or that at least they could have done a much better job?

What he said!

Are you going to use all Pistolier heads on your Halberdiers? If so then we must be on the same wavelength as I'm hoping to do the same thing with mine!

Nope, that particular head is from the State Trooper kit... I do have plans to make a new Halberdier horde with all Pistolier heads in the not to distant future though.

What they said!

I really like the red cloak of the noble!
The flaggelant is looking good too. There is not really a lot of contrast but that will probably be solved once you paint some flames (I've you gave some of them torches or buring heads....)

Thanks! The red cloak was a bit of a gamble but it turned out great!

Wow you are on a painting spree. Really getting some results wow. SO next time we have a battle you have a painted army?

Thanks! Well, since our next battle is this saturday I can't guarantee a fully painted army... But I'm getting there, one Stirlander at a time!

Absolutely stunning army as a whole, I can only hope to one day create models to such high a standard!

I really like the bases for your models - I know it's one of the less 'glamorous' parts of any model, yet with a little bit of work and a LOT of originality you have come up with one of the most cohesive forces I have seen in a long time!

Really looking forward to following this log now that I've found it

Thanks, that's a huge compliment! Using my custom made bases indeed adds a lot of cohesion to the force, something that's quite important for me, at least with this army. It requires quite a bit of effort, especially in the beginning (cutting a lot of individual tiles, making molds and casting bases), but in the end it's all worth it. As an added benefit, using solid plaster bases are easier when pinning your models to the base, they are also a lot more practical when magnetising your models and they are easy to paint... Furthermore, I have sold quite a lot already...

And speaking of painting bases...


I changed the color of my bases... I had a couple of reasons for this change. The first is just as simple as running out of paint. The second is almost as obvious, it looks a lot better... For some time I haven't been completely satisfied with the look of my bases and running out of paint seemed like a good enough reason to change course (if only for a bit). The one on the left is the new version, the on the right is the old version. While not a completely fair comparison (the edge of the old version isn't neatly painted) I think the difference is quite clear. Suffice to say, this effectively means I have to re-paint all of my painted bases...

The new version is painted with (mostly) new paints, only the edge of the base is done with Charodon Granite from the foundation paints range. This is the first time I've used any of the new paints but so far I'm quite positive about the new range...

Beautifully painted minis! Love the colors!

Thanks! While I absolutely love to see brightly colored Imperial armies, I like mine with their muted, earthy colors...

I gave all of my latest painted additions a wash of Devlan Mud and painted their bases, adding the finishing touches to the models.


The finished Noble... A wash of Devlan Mud really helps to bring out the little detials...


My two finished Pikemen... Finishing the whole unit might take some time, but as far as these two go, I'm pretty pleased with the result!

At the moment I'm working on getting more of my Looters painted/finished as it's my favorite unit by far! I'm also working on my Swordsmen, mainly applying the base colors...

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (106 votes and counting)...

[Toshiro]

When I looked at the two bases next to each other I actually first thought that the old one looked better, but then when I saw it in conjuncture with a finished model then yeah, new one is definetely better. A lot actually, very nice improvement!

[Crazy Harborc]

OH.....I do like the two pikemen. It's so nice to have the boys in town. The dude right above them is looking good too. I am like the rest here...awaiting even more WIP (or done ones) photos.

[Boreas_NL]

Thanks for the feedback!

When I looked at the two bases next to each other I actually first thought that the old one looked better, but then when I saw it in conjuncture with a finished model then yeah, new one is definetely better. A lot actually, very nice improvement!

Thanks! I spent the better part of the afternoon repainting bases so I'm beginning to doubt my decision

OH.....I do like the two pikemen. It's so nice to have the boys in town. The dude right above them is looking good too. I am like the rest here...awaiting even more WIP (or done ones) photos.

Thanks! The Pikemen are good models, too bad GW doesn't sell them as such or even included the pike in the BRB.

Anyway, more updates for you!

As I said, I spent some time repainting a lot of bases but I also found some time to do some painting and some modelling... At the moment I'm dividing my time between my Free Company and my Swordsmen...


I replaced the old horn of the musician with a newer version...




The Swordsmen as they are now... I included another classic champion with Halberd in the unit. The model was originally meant to join my Halberdiers (he even did for a while) but was later replaced as there was no more room for him. His style is very similar to the rest of the unit so he fits right in. He is not going to be used as champion but rather as a regular Swordsman.

While repainting their bases (these are not done yet) I noticed my Swordsmen could do with a little touching up. After I finished this unit I started using watered down Devlan Mud so these models are quite a bit darker than my current models. In most cases a simple highlight will suffice while other models will need repainting in certain areas or maybe even a complete repaint... I also equipped most of the newest recruits with shields, I need to cast a couple more for the few remaining Swordsmen.

I also finished the banner bearer fro my Free Company...


The finished banner bearer...


I also painted the bulldog for my Looters, Hummel! Unfortunately this wasn't achieved without problems... While painting I asked my wife (sitting next to me with her laptop) to look for a reference pic. A few seconds later she was all ooooh's and aaaah's (apparently puppy buldogs are cute) and I only narrowly avoided getting a dog As for the painting, I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out but I can see room for improvement...


I'm also working to get the rest of my Looters up to par... A lot of models are originally from my Mordheim warband: Liebert's Looters, and were painted a couple of years ago. Although they were mostly done with the same technique and colors they still need some attention to get them in shape. As there are also a couple of newer additions to the unit there is enough work still to be done...


The unit as it is now... Filled with a load of classic and oop models next to the newest plastics this is by far my most diverse unit, very befitting of Free Company I think...

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (106 votes and counting)...

[Spjuth]

Lovely Free company! As I've said before, your collection is damn nice!

Also that dwarf looks great among the Great Swords, I was planning to put one from that set amongst mine as well. Unfortunately I don't have any of those with plumes as of yet.

[Il Maestro]

A few seconds later she was all ooooh's and aaaah's (apparently puppy buldogs are cute) and I only narrowly avoided getting a dog

That made me laugh so much I almost cried

Really nice work on the banner bearer, I really like the green and white theme, and it is complemented really nicely by the red plumes.

Oh yeah, and consider this log 'rated'

[Petey]

Sir, I must say that I'm tempted to come to the Netherlands just to play against your army, and from Boston that's quite a trip. Amazing work, all of it.

[Lord Dan]

Dan scrolling through your log updates:

"Love it...love it...love it...WOW, love it!...love it..."

So, in summation:

Love it.

[Astraeos]

All good stuff as usual!

[Boreas_NL]

Thanks for the feedback!

Lovely Free company! As I've said before, your collection is damn nice!

Also that dwarf looks great among the Great Swords, I was planning to put one from that set amongst mine as well. Unfortunately I don't have any of those with plumes as of yet.

Thanks! Searching for classic models is a big part of the fun for me, be they Dwarf or Empire... Including several classic Imperial Dwarfs has proven to be a good choice. The models add a lot of character to their unit and to the army as a whole. At the moment I have three, one with my Free Company, one with my Greatswords (which may just be the most beautiful Dwarf model ever made) and one with my Swordsmen but I'm still looking for some suitably stylish Dwarf Gunners.


Before cleaning...


The best Dwarf ever made...

That made me laugh so much I almost cried

Really nice work on the banner bearer, I really like the green and white theme, and it is complemented really nicely by the red plumes.

Oh yeah, and consider this log 'rated'

Thanks! The sad/funny part, it's not even made up, it actually happened
The green is a very nice color and I have been lucky enough to find a couple more pots of the said colors, easily enough for my whole army and maybe even more... Thanks for rating my thread, always much appreciated!

Sir, I must say that I'm tempted to come to the Netherlands just to play against your army, and from Boston that's quite a trip. Amazing work, all of it.

Thanks! From Boston that's indeed quite the trip... As an afterthought, I'm always up for a game...

Dan scrolling through your log updates:

"Love it...love it...love it...WOW, love it!...love it..."

So, in summation:

Love it.

Thanks! Seems clear enough Now please tell me, whatever happened to your Empire plog?

All good stuff as usual!

Thanks! I'm quite happy with the recent painted models and I hope I can continue on this pace...

This afternoon I have another battle against Was1974 and his VC and I must say I'm sorely tempted to field my Stirlanders as Imperial Dwarfs (using the Dwarf book) as I continue to be unimpressed (and that's putting it mildly) with the 8th edition Empire armybook... Rest assured, I won't do so just yet, but I will continue my scrutinisation of the book. Expect a battle report soon!

As for future updates, I'm currently working on ideas for one of the new 'Giant Lazors'. As much as I may loathe the principle and the background of the unit I suddenly had the inspirational spark which just could make the model work for me... Suffice to say it will barely resemble the model from the box as only a very limited number of original parts will be used and I even intend to remove all trace of wizardry from the said machine...

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (107 votes and counting)...

[LocaLicious]

Gief one of those Dwarfs What a great collection as well.

Also, I just realized I've never commented on your work.. I scrolled some 5-6 pages back and noticed stuff I've been following with excitement some months ago. I guess I though that this guys skills are so obvious he doesn't need it. Hes prolly drowning on compliments

Lately I've been slacking a bit on this forum, meaning I'm not up to date on a couple of threads .. including this apparently ~~;; I've decided to go through the whole thing. But I'm headed to work in a bit so it will have to wait until I can have a cup of tea and take my time

About the gunners... I found this thread : http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...lection/page11
Check out page 11 ... maybe that's what you're looking for?

I was bidding on some similar thunderers from that period some time ago, but I was out bit >1 min. before it expired ~~;; I'll have to take up the search again.

Your work is excellent , and I will go through it when I get back ... so ... "I'll be back" (Having Lord Dan's avatar in mind when quoting this)

[Boreas_NL]

Gief one of those Dwarfs What a great collection as well.

Also, I just realized I've never commented on your work.. I scrolled some 5-6 pages back and noticed stuff I've been following with excitement some months ago. I guess I though that this guys skills are so obvious he doesn't need it. Hes prolly drowning on compliments

Lately I've been slacking a bit on this forum, meaning I'm not up to date on a couple of threads .. including this apparently ~~;; I've decided to go through the whole thing. But I'm headed to work in a bit so it will have to wait until I can have a cup of tea and take my time

About the gunners... I found this thread : http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...lection/page11
Check out page 11 ... maybe that's what you're looking for?

I was bidding on some similar thunderers from that period some time ago, but I was out bit >1 min. before it expired ~~;; I'll have to take up the search again.

Your work is excellent , and I will go through it when I get back ... so ... "I'll be back" (Having Lord Dan's avatar in mind when quoting this)

Thanks for your feedback! Keeping this plog has always been a huge motivating factor in keeping my Empire army going, the feedback really keeps me at it...
I sometimes feel the urge to go back and revisit the early stages of this project, it's quite interesting to see (even for me) how this army has grown from just a couple of ill matched models to a huge force including many nice classic models. Such a trip down memory lane is usually accompanied by the reluctant understanding that I really need to paint more (that and the shocking realisation that I really should spend less on my Empire stuff)... As for the Dwarfs, Im not looking for Thunderers but rater for Cannon crew. There are a couple of Imperial styled crewmen that I would like to aquire...

We (Was1974 and my humble self) fought another great battle this afternoon. A standard pitched battle, 2500 points each, Empire vs Vampire Counts... The battle was tense, we both had our moments of good fortune and it remained a close call to the very end. I will present you with a full battle-report tomorrow with plenty of pics!

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (107 votes and counting)...

[Petey]

This afternoon I have another battle against Was1974 and his VC and I must say I'm sorely tempted to field my Stirlanders as Imperial Dwarfs (using the Dwarf book) as I continue to be unimpressed (and that's putting it mildly) with the 8th edition Empire armybook... Rest assured, I won't do so just yet, but I will continue my scrutinisation of the book. Expect a battle report soon!

As for future updates, I'm currently working on ideas for one of the new 'Giant Lazors'. As much as I may loathe the principle and the background of the unit I suddenly had the inspirational spark which just could make the model work for me... Suffice to say it will barely resemble the model from the box as only a very limited number of original parts will be used and I even intend to remove all trace of wizardry from the said machine...

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (107 votes and counting)...

One of my close friends plays empire and the mortars and detachments have been working very very well for him (much to the lament of my goblins and skeletons). Maybe you should give them another shot, as I haven't seen any detachments in your battle reports (also not sure that I saw any mortars, but it's hard to tell for the pictures). In any event, keep up the good work, you're an inspiration to me to finish my goblin wolf horde (styled on the mongols)

[Boreas_NL]

One of my close friends plays empire and the mortars and detachments have been working very very well for him (much to the lament of my goblins and skeletons). Maybe you should give them another shot, as I haven't seen any detachments in your battle reports (also not sure that I saw any mortars, but it's hard to tell for the pictures). In any event, keep up the good work, you're an inspiration to me to finish my goblin wolf horde (styled on the mongols)

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not a big fan of detachments, the rules work fine on paper (or at least I think they do although they certainly didn't get any better) but in reality they tend to get in the way or get killed... Add to that I don't really have any real detachments and there's the reason I seldom field them. This might seem a bad excuse (even to me), but I concentrated on getting my big regiments sorted out so I didn't really think about making detachments. I might have to spend some time on making some...
However, for my battle yesterday I did use a small detachment of 10 Handgunners (models from my second unit), although that was mainly for filling the 2500 points... They contributed very little to the battle and I might as well have chosen a Mortar instead (it would have been just as effective).
As for the Mortars, I used to be a big fan and I have used them in all my Empire armies since the very start of 6th edition and I rarely played a battle without them. Over the years I have learned to use them (back in the days where yo still had to guess your ranges) and with the introduction of the 8th edition BRB they became even better (some might say laser-guided)... I have spent considerable time and resources to collect six classic Mortars for my Grand Battery, not only because they were good but mostly because I liked the models.

My standard army used to include one of every war machine available to The Empire (a Cannon, a Mortar, a Helblaster and a Helstorm) but with the release of the new book I have yet to field the Helstorm and stopped using Mortars after a couple of very disappointing battles. The Helstorm went from 'awesome' to 'meh'. I would like to compare the change as follows: Imagine you order a Big Mac and suddenly find out it no longer includes the double burger, just the salad and a bit of dressing... The Mortar went from 'good' to 'overpriced and useless piece of junk'. People will hate me for saying so, but it's hardly useful, way to expensive and I see little reason to include one (besides liking the models I built for them). It is highly unlikely that it will ever earn it's points in return (again, people will hate me for this) but as you can't expect/hope your infantry to do so, you might want to expect that from your artillery (or at least for it to have the potential)...

The Mortar was good the way it was. The increase in points is something I can understand (for a mere 75 points it was maybe too good) and I would gladly pay 100 points for the old Mortar, but the new version isn't worth that much (not even close)...

I posted this misfire table before and I'll reproduce it here again...

Replace the bit in the BRB with the following:

When the machine misfires, roll a D6 and consult the following table.
1 Catastophic malfuntion: The crew is now permanently deaf (and subject to Stupidity for the remainder of the game) but may fire as normal next turn...
2-4 The machine is now stained with soot from the explosion and the crew must spend this turn polishing their barrel. Next turn roll a D6: on a roll of a 1, the crew isn't satisfied and will spend another turn polishing (their barrel)...
5-6 Nothing happens, as was to be expected... You lose D3 crew (they can't cope with the disappoinment and decide to head back home or to the nearest tavern, whichever is closest) but may fire as normal next turn...

I still fully expect this to appear in the next FAQ update...

I will give them another try for my next battle, mainly because I like the model...

Anayway, I didn't want to start a rant (really I didn't) but I got carried away here (Sorry for that)... I do have a battle-report for you, with a load of pics (so many that this will take two posts)!

We (Was1974 and my humble self) fought another great battle yesterday. A standard pitched battle, 2500 points each, Empire vs Vampire Counts... The battle was tense, we both had our moments of good fortune and it remained a close call to the very end...



I used a pretty standard army including Halberdiers and Greatswords (both hordes), smaller units of Handgunners, Swordsmen and Free Company, two units of Outriders, a Cannon and two Helblasters... These units were lead/supported by Father Altman (my Arch Lector on his War Altar), a BSB, some Captains, a Witch Hunter, some Warrior Priests and even a Wizard (I wanted to try a magic item and maybe even some magic).




I faced a imposing horde of Undead, two hordes of Skeletons, a horde of Grave Guard and a horde of Ghouls. A unit of Black Knights, a Varghulf, Wraiths and some Vargheists...




Turn one saw very little action (I managed to get the first turn, something that hasn't happened for quite some time), I used the Vanguard move to move my Outriders forward and so I was in range to shoot at the Ghouls and Vargheists. I moved the Handgunners into the building and my Free Company moved up to join the Outriders. My Cannon opened up on the Knights but the shot fell wide of the unit. My Wizard managed to cast his first, last and only spell this battle (Throne of Vines). In the first VC turn the Undead advanced and two Outriders fell victim to vile sorcery. The Vargheists failed their charge towards the Outriders and suffered another casualty.




In the second turn my infantry advanced to intercept the Undead. My Cannon again took aim at the Knights, killing one...


The Varghulf and the remaining Vargheist charged the Outriders which were predictably wiped out and both overran into my Free Company. The rest of the Undead advanced towards my lines.

Part two of the battle-report is coming up!

[Boreas_NL]

Part two of the battle-report...



The Free Company faced the last Vargheist and the Varghulf and while the Witch Hunter managed to kill the Vargheist the rest of the unit wasn't ready to face the fury of the Varghulf. The unit fled and was run down... My Helblasters evened the odds a bit, one decimating the Knights, the other killing a load of Skeletons. My Halberdiers failed to intercept the Wraiths who were now making towards my Helblaster.


The Skeletons charged my Halberdiers and the Greatswords suffered a lot of casualties to more evil magic (so far for bringing along a Wizard for magic defence). The Halberdiers managed to defeat the skeletons (luckily no surprises there) and they would be wiped out in the following turn.


The Varghulf moved to threathen my left flank and a small unit of Skeletons was raised right in front of my Cannon.

From this point I'm not completely sure what happened when but I'll do my best to give you a correct account of what happened (and I'm sure Was1974 will fill in the blanks).


After failing their charge the Greatswords were in turn charged by the Grave Guard and the Varghulf (in the rear). The Vampire proved to be an absolute beast and killed many Greatswords but the brave Stirlanders refused to give in and killed a score of Grave Guard and butchered the Varghulf.


My Halberdiers were flanked by the second Skeleton horde (and mounted Vampire) but managed to win the combat and thus reformed to face the Undead.


The Skeletons exposed their flank to my Swordsmen and were charged in turn.


Halfway trough the last turn I suddenly remembered why I had taken a Wizard in the first place, I wanted to try the Feedback Scroll... The Vampire used 4 dice to cast a spell (can't remember which, but it killed a couple of Halberdiers) but suffered three wounds due to the effects of the scroll, killing him. Talking about nasty surprises... I should have thought of it sooner... You can also see that the Greatswords have been seriously depleted, but still they refuse to give up!


My last Greatsword (bearing the banner) and my BSB after the last round of combat, still holding their ground! Please notice the (cold blooded) Insane Courage rolled for their last Break test...


The combat between the Halberdiers, Swordsmen and the Skeletons was joined by the remaining Knights. This Combat ended in a stalemate as neither side managed to vanquish their foe.

Somewhere in between all the carnage of the last two turns my Arch Lector finally managed to banish the Wraiths and my Cannon crew repelled the last of the summoned Skeletons. We didn't calculate victory points as it was a friendly game (and one of the best ones at that) but it was a close call. While I managed to kill the enemy General there were still enough Undead left to contest the battlefield. Maybe with another turn or two I might have been able to win the day, but the same can easily be said for my opponent, it was just that close... It was a great game, a tense and close-fought battle. There were several instances where we had to look up some rules so we both gained new insights.

Things I've learned from this battle:

• Vampires are still scary...
• Wizards might be useful, if only as scroll caddies...
• Mortars SUCK...
• Helblasters are still pretty awesome...
• Greatswords are stubborn &@$%@#$...
• Hold the Line combined with Stubborn, re-roll from the BSB and LD9 from the General = unbreakable...
• Handgunners can't hit squat...

Thanks for watching! More updates coming soon! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think, and, if you're feeling adventurous, feel free to rate my thread (107 votes and counting)...

[was1974]

Wow what a battle it was. I probably won't post my part untill saturday due to my busy schedule this week.
but mot important of all, we had great fun. Also we swopped ideas again for our armies. Since we both are building an Empire army.
One thing you forgot to mention were the great winds of magic. It was incredible how many spell dice we had.

Hope we can play soon again. Hope to see your army growing. Love the way you build things.

[Astraeos]

Love your idea for the misfire chart dude!

Looks like it was an exciting battle. I'll remember that about captains, it might be a good idea to dot a few (with just plate armour and no magic items to keep them affordable) around my battle line.