Tales of Heinrich Merowinger: An Averland Log

[Askari]

Good evening!

Rather than off-track my Vampire Counts thread with bits and bobs of my Empire army, I decided they deserve their own thread. The army has grown from humble beginnings as a Mordheim warband of Reiklanders, which I enjoyed playing with thoroughly and as the warband's members gained a name for themselves, so this is transferred onto the fully-fledged Empire army. So onto some pictures first to garner your attention, and I'll elaborate on the story as I proceed...

Heinrich Merowinger as a Reikland Mercenary Captain, and Heinrich Merowinger as a Captain of Averland


Rudolf the Mad as a 'Young'blood of Reikland, and as Rudolf the Pure, Warrior Priest of Sigmar


Averland State Troops of various kinds


Heinrich Merowinger, as General of Averland


Averland Greatswords, led by Merowinger's Champion, Theo von Jungingen


Greatswords Standard Bearer - unfinished


Grand Marshal Heinrich Merowinger, after the death of Marius Leitdorf.

[Askari]

An army photo;


A panoramic army photo... because I've just found this feature on my phone and need a reason to use it... yes I know the quality is terrible.


And a story.

"Heinrich Merowinger was an aspiring young captain in a line regiment of Reikland halberdier state troops, he was unconventional and prone to outbursts but was generally liked by his men as he never ordered them to do anything he didn't also do himself. He was also a rampant alcoholic, and after a successful skirmish with a beastman clan they found he and his cohort found a cask of strong Dwarven ale, the kind which overcomes even the Dwarfs legendary constitution and knocks them senseless. After a night of what can be only described as lost memories, Merowinger awoke next morning to find his General staring down at him in a rather compromising position including the General's son, Matthew, Merowinger found himself stripped of his Captaincy and exiled from the Reik.

Dismayed and worse, very hungover, the now ex-Captain prepared to journey off of his home country. It appeared as if he wouldn't be alone in his endeavour, however, his regimental champion and close friend Theo von Jungingen led a rag-tag group of friends to accompany the Captain, their loyalty to Heinrich far stronger than that to their harsh, corrupt General. Along with the champion was Athalwolf the drill sergeant, the regiment's mad sigmarite acolyte, Rudolf, the archer detachment's marksman Markus and 4 of his retinue, as well as the General's son, Matthew. Hearing of riches beyond compare in the ruins of Mordheim, they ventured out as the newest band of mercenary fools who would risk the doomed city for treasures.

Except they were extremely successful in that environment. Markus and company's volley of accurate bow and crossbow fire left very little behind to face the wrath of Theo's greatsword and Athalwolf's halberd. They used money they looted from their enemies to buy blackpowder weapons, and the Hochland Long Rifle made Markus the terror of the city, picking off gang leaders before they knew they were fighting. Struggling to outfight a band of Dwarfs on occasion, they simply outpaced them to warpstone deposits. Heinrich suffered a serious injury part-way through his campaign, though he recovered physically, the trauma caused bouts of flaring insanity from the captain, an ailment that would curse him for his entire career, but that would also find camaraderie in the near future. Finally defeating a Druchii gang lord, the warband had more warpstone than they could feasibly carry, and decided to leave the city to live on their spoils.

Crossing the evil lands of Sylvania they arrived in the rustic county of Stirland. Bereft of anyone with enough money to afford their precious cargo, and of brave enough highwaymen to engage a band of hardened warriors, they continued south to the rich province of Averland. They sold some of their wares to passing Mages' College acolyte in Averheim, and some to more unscrupulous undercity bosses, Heinrich quickly became a very rich man. A rich man who eccentricities could not possibly go unnoticed, especially by the Mad Count of Averland. He was invited to all kinds of high societal events and gatherings, and during a friendly fencing match that ended up with a rapier inserted toa rather fragile location of a rather serious man, Marius laughed and immediately made Merowinger one of his state Generals, replacing the now-sterile man whom he fenced. Merowinger used his riches to grant his former friends prominent positions in his new army, buying Athalwolf an enchanted set of armour and a magical banner to serve as his personal standard bearer. Rudolf the Mad, clearly possessing some obscure gift of Sigmar, was made a Warrior Priest and asked to return to Merowinger's side as the force's spiritual protector. Theo became the General's personal champion, and led his extravagantly dressed and well-equipped Greatsword cohort, while the disgraced son Matthew was accepted into a obscure order of Averheim Knights. Following Marius into the Third Battle of Black Fire pass, Heinrich saw the death of his count and friend, and fuelled with hatred and fury he surged towards the Orc lines, assisting the Emperor himself in reaching the foul Warboss. For that instant, the entire force of Averland's troops were following Heinrich's command and until a successor for the Mad Count was found, Merowinger was in a position of great power."

[Askari]

An update!..

Empire Demigryph Knights





Lovely models to put together, and although I consider the base size far too large for the creatures upon them, it does let you at least pose them a little more special without their heads and lances poking each other off center.

[Boreas_NL]

Starting an Empire army after playing Mordheim with your Warband, sounds familiar Same thing 'happened' to me... Great way to start a plog here, even more so when combined with cool mini's!

Great piece of background, playing Mordheim really helps to add some depth to your characters.

[Askari]

Thank you! I've also noticed your own blog Mordheim was indeed very fun, I didn't really know what I was doing going into it but I just saw that Reiklanders got cheap missile weapons and improved BS. So I loaded up on Crossbows and Pistols and went to town on the other gangs. It worked! If anything was left to reach combat I usually had the advantage in numbers anyway.

I agree about the story as well, I think anyone who wants a narrative based army should start off with a Mordheim band, that way your character can develop some upsides and downsides themselves, preventing you from Mary Sue syndrome a little.

[Askari]

A little more... First up, a guy I'm really happy with modelwise, but really unhappy with paintjob wise;

High Priest of Sigmar Helmut Schwarzenfel
(counts-as Arch Lector, I always thought seeing as there's only 2 Arch Lectors there should be an in-between rank that represents Lord-level Warrior Priest and/or gives a nod to the other Gods' servants)



Secondly, an imported Grand Cannon with attendant crew. Not sure what state the colour scheme represents, but they're not from Averheim at least

[Boreas_NL]

The Cannon crew is clad in red and white, I think they are either from Talabheim or Talabecland...

The Priest doesn't look too bad, what don't you like about the paintjob?

[Askari]

The Cannon crew is clad in red and white, I think they are either from Talabheim or Talabecland...

The Priest doesn't look too bad, what don't you like about the paintjob?

Well I find them more grey, but I guess that can be soot and blackpowder stain, so Talabec cannon crew it is!

With the Priest I just feel as if I can do better, but I have little experience painting white - pure white looks bland and unrealisitc but right now it looks like a poor paintjob rather than the 'dirty' look the rest of my troops bear. If that makes sense?

Much appreciating the replies though

[Toshiro]

Great background story for your army and the painting is really crisp, especially on the demigryph knights. Looking forward to seeing more

[Askari]

Thank you very much Toshiro!

The army had a recent skirmish with a infantry-based Vampire Counts list. Was a very close game of Blood and Glory that came down to the last fight on the final turn, sadly the poor Standard Bearer got cut to ribbons, rather predictably, by a Skeleton unit containing two Vampires, creating a victory for the Vampire Counts. The Griffon rider was great again though, eating a unit of Hexwraiths, a Corpse Cart, a unit of Zombies then stalling the Vampires' unit until my last turn. I also used the Greatswords poorly, placed on a flank too far away from the fighting to contribute much. Ah well!

Oh, and I clean up the Demigryphs' photos a little.

[Voodoo1]

I really like your Demigryph knights. The armor on the Demigryphs is really nice.

The background is superb as well. I feel ashamed, I'm a Bretonnian man " through and through" but seeing everyones empire blogs and the well painted armies..... I joined the ranks as well.

Keep up the good work!

[Askari]

I really like your Demigryph knights. The armor on the Demigryphs is really nice.

The background is superb as well. I feel ashamed, I'm a Bretonnian man " through and through" but seeing everyones empire blogs and the well painted armies..... I joined the ranks as well.

Keep up the good work!

I'm really glad the Demigryphs are well-liked, they are quite the centrepiece so I took my time with them

Ah, the Empire does have some of the nicest models, I don't blame you for turning on Bretonnia :P

I will indeed!

[Askari]

"Theo adjusted slowly to regimental life once again, in the ruins of Mordheim he had plenty of space to swing his hefty greatsword with wild abandpn. Now, he had to ensure he didn't decapitate a friend as he whirled the blade around to dismember the enemy. It was why he often accepted challenges from enemies, they all too often misjudged how quick he could bring a two-handed weapon down. He didn't consider himself a particularly good swordsman, but luck was certainly on his side more often than not - it had to be to survive Mordheim.

That said, his cohort looked up to him, while Theo didn't talk well and never had any inspirational speeches pre-battle, they had all seen him fight. It was unreal, and it was dirty. While their past commanders had lectured them on practiced handles and written blows, Theo just fought. A kick to the groin was not below his standards, nor a poke to the eye-hole, anything that kept him and his men alive. His men quickly followed suit, and though noblemen looked down at their street fighting tactics, they were certainly effective. They were called the 'Quickswords' as a nickname, but they weren't any quicker than other Greatsword regiments, they just bought time with a sly stamp on the toes or a colourful insult about their opponent's parentage. If nothing else, they suited Merowinger's combat style - whatever got it done."

----------excuse the cardboard regiment base, I needed something to keep them together for the photo.







"The Knights of Averheim were pretty unknown, some of them had titles and appeared in meetings of high society across the city, but they had little reputation behind their rank. Hence they often inducted veteran members of other Knightly Orders - who had perhaps been shamed or disbanded or otherwise destroyed - into their own numbers. A few of these had yet to repaint their armour by the time the armies were called to defend Black Fire Pass, and the Knights of Averheim rode on appearing as colourful as those of Bretonnia, their own black and yellows mixed in with crimson and viridian."

------------ fluff explanation for me getting bored of the same colour everywhere

[Toshiro]

The goodiness keep coming, keep it up. The more fluff I read, the more I stay tuned to a plog!

[Askari]

A couple of WIPs for you today while I await my... next little character project.



A Greatsword made from the GS and Knight kit, the guy stands very tall - a full half a head taller than other Greatswords. Needs more greenwork to fill in nasty chopping though.



And an Amber Wizard currently being painted. Made from the new Griffon set's mounted Amber Wizard and some bits and bobs. I don't actually use Amber Wizards in my Empire list, but I had the model and I think he looks pretty cool.

[Boreas_NL]

Great conversions, especially the Greatsword! He has a great pose, very Warhammerish! But man, he must be sore tonight...

[Askari]

Thanks! He was in no way inspired by your own converted-to-hold-sword-down LE BSB model. Nope. Not even slightly. :P

[Askari]

Big-ish update!

I recieved a nice present from the post, and another when my fiancee returned from a shopping trip to Liverpool. So I got my plastic glue and clippers out...

First, I think I fixed my issue with the Greatsword Knight by fixing him a tabard;



Secondly, this guy;

'The Custodia Arcanum are a sect of highly-trained pikemen funded by the Colleges of Magic. Their task is simply to keep curious minds from wandering inside the colleges, and to impale any experiments that attempt to explore the urban habitat forbidden to them. Lightly armoured, they use their long spears to keep crowds enemies at length, all the better to blockade narrow streets and corridors where the difficulty of changing formation is neutered. They are not the most stoic and stubborn of the Empire's troops, but used as they are to their masters' spells and cantrips, they have a little resistance to such magics and fight well undistracted by the bolts of arcane light blasting around them.'



The former's charge, a Wizard Lord of the Light College;



And lastly, a conversion;

Balthasar Gelt, Patriarch of the Colleges of Magic
mounted on Infant Griffon
(counts as Gelt on Pegasus.)





From the parts and bits shown in the above few photos, it should be easy to guess what the next large unit is going to be :P

Critique welcome! So are ratings!

[Boreas_NL]

Nice update The tabbard really helps your Captain, I still like his pose, like he just walked out of a John Blanche artwork...

A bit of advice on your Custodia Arcanum: I think you're using a dagger from the Greatsword kit as speartip, right? I would remove the handle (just the handle, not the cross bar) and re-attach the blade. I think that might look a lot better... Otherwise, very cool concept! I like the idea of a College having human guards besides their magical protection...

[Askari]

Nice update The tabbard really helps your Captain, I still like his pose, like he just walked out of a John Blanche artwork...

A bit of advice on your Custodia Arcanum: I think you're using a dagger from the Greatsword kit as speartip, right? I would remove the handle (just the handle, not the cross bar) and re-attach the blade. I think that might look a lot better... Otherwise, very cool concept! I like the idea of a College having human guards besides their magical protection...

Thank you! I'll get some paint on him after a night of far too much drinking tonight

Yeah I wondered that about the speartip also, I tried just the blade and it just kind looked stubby. May have to forge up a blade like this or have a larger crossbar. I always thought it made sense that there was a seperate corps of troops to protect the College's assets. I suppose they could use mercenaries, but it just makes sense to have soldiers with a vested interest in the college to protect it.