Help Chosing an Empire province

[Lord Squidar]

Hi Guys,

So I have been up and down the warhammer empire library, and have been searching for a colour scheme and background for my budding empire army (one captain bought and assembled today). I want the army to have Sigmar as its main god, so that rules out Hochland and Talabecland (taal worship) and Middenland (Ulric worship). Also my dwarf army is currently painted in the blue and golden yellow of Karaz A Karak, so we can throw Nordland out the window. The colours I would like to paint are green and cream, but the closest to this is Stirland (green and yellow).

To make matters even worse, I would like to include a large unit of knights panther in my army, because i love the models. However they seem to be exclusive to Middenheim/anyone crusading against Araby.

So kind of stuck at the moment and hoping for some help. I could just say screw it and go with cream and green and some from Sausageheim, but I would like to have a more solid background to my force.

Help please!

[Athelassan]

It doesn't necessarily have to rule out Middenland - in the south of the province, Sigmar might be more widely worshipped in some towns than Ulric. This applies across the Empire, really - the place is largely polytheistic and there will be Sigmarites and nobles who worship Sigmar in every province.

The Knights Panther have various chapterhouses around the place and aren't exclusive to Middenheim. In fact their principal base of operations, I think, is in Carroburg in the south of Middenland. They also have a substantial base in Talabheim.

Also bear in mind that a lot of towns will have their own colours and don't follow the provincial colours. Or they could be a provincial army who just aren't uniformed to the same extent.

I think green and cream (or off-white) are similar to the colours of Helmgart, if that's any help. I also seem to recall a "Stir river patrol" colour scheme that looked similar.

[giant stegadon]

Before GW took down all the hobby/painting how-to articles there was one about all these different chapters of Empire Knights. I understood it to be more of people at the studio creating their own orders to show off different paint schemes/conversions than holding any 'official' fluff value. It seems the article is gone, but what I'm getting at is you can just create your own order if you feel the need to.

Otherwise, I agree with Athelassan. There may be official colors for a province, but depending on various factors of your choosing- distance from capital or its the traditional colors of the town for various reasons- a famous hero used them long ago, just because, or even they famously produce a rich green dye, etc. towns and cities may not all be wearing blue/yellow, red/white, black, etc.

Also they could be in the middle of Middenland (or anywhere), its just that a long time ago there was a charismatic Sigmar priest that founded a small foothold and this one town has been Sigmar even since.

[TheDungen]

The knights pather is the richest order in the empire they will have chapter houses wherever they want to have chapter houses. I'd go with Stirland if i were you just change the yellow to cream. They're close enough and you could just say that the lord they serve things yellow dye is to expensive. Also Stirland is one of the most intrestign provinces with the river stir beign one of the main rivers of the empire and being sandwitched betwen Sylvania and the ruins of Mordheim.

[Voodoo1]

The uniforms of the Empire book has a lot of inspiration in it.. They show each province and city state, and the various uniforms from each one..

So this also includes different variations within each province and special units.

It is a good buy for painting inspiration.

[Ultimate Life Form]

Sylvania! I choose you!

[Yamabushi]

Talabecland. Nothing more intimidating than hordes of Ronald McDonald's state troops.

[Lord Squidar]

hehe ronald macdonald put me off talabecland, thanks!

I ended up painting for the sake of painting, and chose Green and Cream. It looks really good imoho, and I am going to stick with it. I think I like the idea of Hochland the most, so I will just have to come up with some excuse for why they dont look like christmas imperials. In fact, here it is. My general, a baron of somenote, is a pompous git who does not like his uniform, which clashes terribly with his hair colour, and ordered his whole house guard, militia and guards to change it to green and cream, at great expense in taxes and much to the chagrin of the Elector. Still, a fop might be excused his flaws when he consistantly defends the homeland with pride and honour (and a large smattering of fashion sense)

[yabbadabba]

I have an Empire Army painted Dark Green and off-white. It was a World's Edge Mountains Patrol army (no cannons, no knights, no steam tank, no handgunners) but with 8e I have opened it up a bit. It's lead by a deposed son of an Elector Count's Brother and sponsored by the Emperor.

I really cannot recommend enough that if you like your colour scheme, don't worry about choosing a province come up with an amazing back story of how this army (private, stat, merc...) came into being. It will be that little bit more special mate.

[FLUEVOG]

Sausageheim!

[Ultimate Life Form]

This Ronald McDonald thing made me curious, I just googled it and - voila! Behold this awesomeness!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OXPuiNouBe...d+Dip+Army.JPG

Personally I'm not a fan of yellow, but this army appears to be very well done. I'm loving it!

(by the way what's with this traitor unit in the upper right corner? Whose colors is that?)

[Yamabushi]

@ULF - If I am not mistaken, blue and red are the colors of Altdorf. The army looks very nice indeed!

[Furls]

Why not create a family name and some background around your Lord HQ. He can be the Duke or Earl of some random town that you make up. Choose where the family's lands in the Empire are located (the south of Middenland sounds likely so far judging by the above replies) and have your own colour scheme for this army. They can travel off and do their feudal service when the Empire needs them. You can create a whole family history based on your victories/losses. Hey presto! There you go. When the fluff does not meet your exact needs it is often easy to simply adapt it and create a story to suit your needs.

[Corvussanctus]

And don't forget: As an earl, duke or mercenary captain you can cloth your soldiers in any way you want. The era the empire is more or less routed in was a time before coherent uniforms. And even when the kings and petty lords of europe started to centralize their states their armies had a lot of different colors. The french alone had irish, croat, swiss, german and whatever regiments all clothed in a different color. So there is even the possibility that the elector count of Hochland has a 'Sons-of-Stirland'-Regiment that mainly recruits in Stirland although it fights for Hochland...
So feel free to choose your uniform after your own liking.

[Cooper97]

Hi Guys,

So I have been up and down the warhammer empire library, and have been searching for a colour scheme and background for my budding empire army (one captain bought and assembled today). I want the army to have Sigmar as its main god, so that rules out Hochland and Talabecland (taal worship) and Middenland (Ulric worship). Also my dwarf army is currently painted in the blue and golden yellow of Karaz A Karak, so we can throw Nordland out the window. The colours I would like to paint are green and cream, but the closest to this is Stirland (green and yellow).

To make matters even worse, I would like to include a large unit of knights panther in my army, because i love the models. However they seem to be exclusive to Middenheim/anyone crusading against Araby.

So kind of stuck at the moment and hoping for some help. I could just say screw it and go with cream and green and some from Sausageheim, but I would like to have a more solid background to my force.

Help please!

I would recomend using colours that you are comfortable painting with and also choosing a province with a very good history. This is what i used to paint my Stirland army. Hope its been helpful

[Cooper97]

I think you should do a really bright army so that it looks intimidating. You should also use colours of a province with a good history. Lol

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

As others have said, don't worry about the province colours. You would likely see far more armies/units not in the established province colours than following those. Remember, this is not an age where the only armed forces are the centralised rulers men. Any noble worth his title is going to have armed men in his pay. Various knightly orders will have men at arms. Cities and towns are going to have their own militia, it could even be the colours of a mercenary company if you wanted. So just go with the colours you want and then come up with a background you find interesting. And if you really do want it to be the counts own private force then either change the province colours or have them wear other colours as a special distinction (or shame if you want to go that way).

[Storyteller]

First off, I agree with the comments about not being constrained by the 'official' colours. But if you are looking for an 'official angle' I seem to remember an old White Dwarf series of painting articles (I hope my memory isn't letting me down here and I don't have the WD handy... I think it was called 'A Tale of Four Gamers') in which one of the players was painting up an Empire Army as a Marienburg army and used green and white/cream as his colours. I know Marienburg isn't technically part of the Empire and this might not fit your other plans (Knights Panther and Sigmar predominance) but it's an option .

[Agoz]

And don't forget: As an earl, duke or mercenary captain you can cloth your soldiers in any way you want. The era the empire is more or less routed in was a time before coherent uniforms. And even when the kings and petty lords of europe started to centralize their states their armies had a lot of different colors. The french alone had irish, croat, swiss, german and whatever regiments all clothed in a different color. So there is even the possibility that the elector count of Hochland has a 'Sons-of-Stirland'-Regiment that mainly recruits in Stirland although it fights for Hochland...
So feel free to choose your uniform after your own liking.

Yes but the empire is supposed to have professional armies, each province having its own state troops. so they should have coherent color schemes, rather than just a mix of mercenaries and militia like European armies of the same time period.

[Athelassan]

I think it was called 'A Tale of Four Gamers') in which one of the players was painting up an Empire Army as a Marienburg army and used green and white/cream as his colours. I know Marienburg isn't technically part of the Empire and this might not fit your other plans (Knights Panther and Sigmar predominance) but it's an option .

I believe the official Marienburg colours are yellow, blue and red. Of course that doesn't preclude some Wasteland troops, or those attached to a guild, or whatever, wearing something different.

Yes but the empire is supposed to have professional armies, each province having its own state troops. so they should have coherent color schemes, rather than just a mix of mercenaries and militia like European armies of the same time period.

The army book - or at least previous army books - made clear that the provincial colours are a guideline, not a rule. For instance, a Middenland regiment might just wear a blue ribbon to indicate their provincial provenance. Even if they are supposed to be wearing uniform, actually producing large quantities of uniform might be expensive and beyond the means of a lord raising troops.