Scythe's Empire

[Scythe]

After lurking around the project log forums for a long time, I decided it was time to start a plog myself. So, about a half year after I started painting my Empire army, I finally made one. The idea was to start this earlier, but laziness of my side and some troubles with photography delayed the log a few months. On the plus side, that means that I will be updating this log quite regularly in the first weeks, as I have quite a lot of models painted already. The original idea was to have a 3000 pts army painted by the end of the year, and so far I am making good progress in achieving that goal. However, it doesn't end there; the final army will be quite a bit larger than 3000 pts.

Anyway, on to the army. I've yet to decide specific origins within the Empire, which will follow later in this plog. I decided to paint all armour bronze, which is a nice, warm colour, setting the army apart from my rather cold Dark Elves and Vampire Counts. It also fits the steampunk elements of the Empire rather well. Bronze limits the possible uniform colours slightly though, so in the end I decided for dark blue and broken white / oker as other primary colours. As I am not the best painter around by a long shot, and this army needs to be done by the end of the year (along with some side painting projects), I focussed on a simple, easy colour scheme, focussing on overall look instead of details.

Hope you enjoy, any C&C welcome!

EDIT:
As this plog has grown in size, I think a small summary of what's on the various pages would be useful. Enjoy!
Page 1 - Halberdiers, Pistoliers, Greatswords, Crossbowmen, Artillery, Terrain
Page 2 - Swordsmen, Wizards, Hellstorm, more Artillery, Outriders
Page 3 - Outriders, more Pistoliers, more Wizards, Handgunners, Huntsmen, Army shots
Page 4 - Knights, Mechanical Pegasus Captain, Steam Tank
Page 5 - Free Company, more Wizards, Engineer, Griffon, Duellists, Cockatrice
Page 6 - More Greatswords, Demigryp Knights, Wood Elf Treewoman, Vampire Counts Classic Zombie Dragon and Black Knights
Page 7 - Luthor Huss, Engineers, Reiksguard Knights, Knights Panther, Spearmen (20)
Page 8 - Horde of Spearmen (40)
Page 9 - Demigryph Knights unit 2, Horde of Spearmen, finished (60)
Page 10 - Demigryph Knights unit 1 expanded, Handgunners (additional unit)
Page 11 - Diorama: Griffon Knight vs. Strigoi, Flagellants (start of unit), Light wizard covenant
Page 12 - Year 2 army shots, Luminark of Hysh, Witch Hunters, Beast wizard & 8 colleges group shot

2013 edit: the complete army, Januari 2013. More pictures can be found at page 12.

2012 edit: and an picture of the complete army, though only up to page 3 (more army shots can be found there):


Halberdiers, unit of 30 (a pain to rank up... I'll be more careful when assembling new units of these):




Empire Captain (love that model, simply had to include it in my army):

[Scythe]

Empire BSB:




Pistoliers:

[Scythe]

More pistolier images:



And a couple of greatswords (pictures of the full unit will follow later):

[mdiscala]

Very realistic scheme, kind of look like historical minis. I like the brass armor especially.

[Boreas_NL]

That's quite some way to start a project log! The big block of Halberdiers looks nice. Ranking those models can be a challenge, but you managed to do quite a good job.
I also have to agree with mdiscala, your brass armour looks great!

There is one thing that made me laugh a little, the Champion of the Pistoliers seems to give the horse next to him a headshot....

[Scythe]

Thanks for the kind replies! I'm quite fond of how the armour turned out myself. A very simple painting job, yet quite effective, especially when seen in large units and on models with a decent amount of armour. Makes me a little more eager to assemble and paint a big knight block.

Jup, the champion wasn't modelled optimally . I am still searching for an optimal ranking for that unit, but that might have to wait for my second unit of pistoliers, so I have more models to switch around

Anyway, update time. As promised, the full unit of 30 greatswords features today:

[Scythe]

I also have a couple of separate shots from the models of the back ranks:

[Scythe]

Another small update; crossbowmen this time. You might be wondering why they have full command, but I think it looks very good on a larger shooting unit. Aside from that, I usually have a general in my force, which opens up the possibility of putting the banner of eternal flame on the crossbowmen, making them ideal for dealing with big regenerating creatures and units. Hydra or Hellpit? Shoot with the crossbows, take away regeneration, finish of with a cannon. Grave Guard deathstar? Shoot with crossbows, then land a hellstrike on them. Quite a useful (and very reliable) item for them imho. I could always field them in small supportive units without command as well

[Scythe]

A small update; artillery pieces. You can't have an Empire army without a few cannons and mortars, can you?

[remrem]

very nice blog!
I like the empire captain too, he's nice.

[stonetroll]

Looking very nice, liking the speed with which you continue to spit these out.

[Scythe]

very nice blog!
I like the empire captain too, he's nice.

Thanks! Currently working on a few other characters, stay tuned.

Looking very nice, liking the speed with which you continue to spit these out.

Thanks! Any progress with your Brettonians or Orcs? I heard you moved, permanently or temporary?

No, you most certainly can't and don't let anybody tell you otherwise

Nice update! The big guns look very nice!

I would very much like to see a few shots of the entire army...

I'm finishing a few models, after which I will have around 2500 pts painted, and will take a few army shots. Hopefully in a week or so.

For now, I'll give you a warrior priest and part of the manor house and its owner:

[Symrivven]

Its all looking good and you are keeping a steady pace. Especially the speed at which you manage to do it is quite an achievement.


Subscribed ofc.

[Scythe]

Well, I finished the first large part of my army, and took a few army shots, as promised. The painted army is around 2500 pts currently, give or take. I'm quite pleased I got this far within roughly half a years worth of painting, and even then spending only half my total painting time on Empire.

I will upload a couple of close ups of new models later, for now the growing army:

[Dante blackfur]

looking nice!

[The Yak]

WOW how fast are you! Great army I would love to be able to call a full unit of 20 crossbowmen a small update!!! I like the colours you have chosen for your force. Still cant get over how fast you have got this army together.

Well done mate.

[HavoK]

Wow, ********** awsome Very striking impression on the group shots. I am really a fan of the gritty, worn look

[Scythe]

Thanks for all the kind replies!

I have been assembling the next batch of my army the last few weeks, which explains the lack of updates here. I'll be going on vacation the next few weeks, but after that, expect some new material, including a couple of conversions.

In the meantime, some older shots I haven't posted before.

Empire General:



Light and Metal wizards:


And a couple of archers / huntsmen:


I also did paint up some forests for my Autumn Wood Elves. They fit nicely with my Empire as well though:


The lone hunter doesn't realize the peril he walked into:

[ftayl5]

This is amazing, how did you paint all that stuff so quickly??
I like the colour scheme, the off-white particularly stands out well compared to the bronze and dark blue.
Keep it up!

[Scythe]

Well, I'm still alive .

It has been quite a while since my last update, since then I've been on two vacations, did quite some assembly work, and spend a lot of time painting my wood elves as well. Still, I am not without progress. I finished a big unit of state troops; 40 swordsmen:






I have also been working on some wizards, eventually I aim to have at least 1 wizard of each college. First up, the death wizard:



All in all, I am still confident I can achieve my goal and have a 3000 pts army painted by the end of the year. More updates later!