Black Fire Madness - an Averland Empire plog

[hagen88]

Good afternoon everyone,

The recent events about AoS got me thinking a lot in the last couple of months and you might have noticed I've been quite for a while on the forum.
That didn't mean I was neglecting the hobby though, quite the opposite. After I completed my Tribute to Warhammer some weeks ago (http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...e-to-Warhammer) I've embarked on a quest, the quest for the soul of warhammer fantasy!
I started collecting old supplements, bits of fluff and, of course, miniatures to try to conceive a project that might be worthy of my favourite game in the world. My Averlander was satisfactory and really enjoyable indeed, but when I finished it I didn't feel like stopping there, I felt it was the beginning of something I must do! At the beginning I thought to collect and paint a single model for every army of the game but then I realised one fundamental truth... I never collected the army of my dreams! Of course I have my growing bret army which is my joy and my precious, but my ancient love had always been the Empire, my first wh army and, to me, the embodiment of warhammer spirit.
I've been playing warhammer fantasy roleplay since I was 12 and back then I started delving in the forests of the Empire, in the dark towns and the filthy alleys and I've never found anything that satisfactory in my whole life (well gaming life)... It had to be the Empire, but not just any Empire, the Empire of the Enemy Within, of the Knights Panther and the puffy sleeves, of Blanche, Miller and Gallagher.

So with a titanic show of will and decison that could shake the mountains, I set up to buy... THIS!



The biggest Empire army the world have ever seen!!! Well, kind of, more like the biggest army I ever bought in one shot. It cost me a small fortune, partly because of my refuse to accept the actual state troops as viable options, but when it was done I knew it was the right thing to do!

The army will include at least one huge regiment of 40/50 state troopers converted based on the goldswords (not very original I know), with a couple of detachment of swordsmen (20) and hunters (10); one regiment of militia, one huge regiment of handgunners (30), one of demigryphs (got 6 of them), one steam tank, three cannons and a hellfire gatling, a general on gryphon, several heroes, captains, wizards and priests and a small regiment of halfling (I purchased 15 of the little fellas on ebay). The army will display the colours of Averland, in particular the town of Averheim, where I have fond memories of wfrp adventures as both GM and PC...

So this plog will be about this, you will follow me struggling to keep motivated and paint a whole huge empire army, trying to pour a shard of the Old World in every single model. It is probably doomed to fail badly but it is about time that I challenge myself with a true army project and see if I learnt something in the past years...

So, without further ado, I present you my work so far.

[hagen88]

Here we go with the first round of them... The proud halberdiers of the Gryphon company of Hauptmann Gotz Von Poltznicht, veterans of the third Black Fire Pass battle and scourge of the Greenskins... I decided to go full landsknecht on them, soooo

PUFFY SLEEVES POWER, ACTIVATED! MISSION: SAVE THE EMPIRE FROM THE END TIMES MADNESS!







As you can see some sculpting and repositioning was involved to make them look as proper empire soldiers instead of pajama monkeys, but all in all it wasn't that difficult nor time consuming once I established how I wanted them to look... I am aware that the conversions are not the most original I've done, but these are rank and files models, I think they work well enough for the purpose...

You might have noticed the AoS gryphound or whatever it is called between their ranks... That's because I simply love the model and I thought it fitted the Empire esthetic perfectly! It is actually the first model I've painted!



Let me introduce you Marius Leitdorf II, better known as Marius amongst the soldier of the Gryphon company... The story of Marius started as a bad joke between soldiers the day that old Herr Kramer acquired an egg from a merchant who swore him it was an authentic gryphon egg. The other soldiers started to make fun of old Kramer for believing such an idiot tale, until some months later the egg opened revealing a young Reikwald demigryph. At first the soldiers desperately tried to resell the beast but to no avail since every noble in the Empire knows that demygryphs are loyal only to the first creature they see when they come out of their eggs... In the end the soldiers grew fond of the animal, naming it in honour to their defunct Elector Count and adopting it as the regimental mascotte. The other regiments soon started to know the beast as "mad Marius" and none fear it more than the halflings from the Moot, which would never come close to the "monster of Averheim" for anything in the world.

Let's move on to the first test model for my halberdiers Herr Netzoch, a very devoted soldier who would never go to battle without a few pages of the Deus Sigmar (and some prayers to Ranald "Just in case he is listening") fixed to his armour



And here you can see him close to Marius for a scale comparison.





That's it for now, I've got a couple more models done (another halberdier, a handgunner and a swordsman) but I left them in Italy where they are safe inside my cabinet.

More to follow as soon as possible!

[azhagmorglum]

Waouh nice start, and the painting on that demigryph is amazing ! I liked the piece of fluff too

[Moshes]

I don´t want to hurt anyone with the comparison, but if this Project of yours continues to its goal, it will be a truly terrific army to behold! Good luck and keep focus, please, as it will be taken as a reference for future people who doesn´t know yet what Warhammer Fantasy was.

[Adam_Barrow]

This is awesome! I'm definitely tuned in to this plog.

[Voodoo1]

Are you kidding me?

I wanted to throw my Bretonnians in the garbage after seeing your amazing thread, and knowing I could never achieve anything like that...

And now this! I also have two empire armies on the go. One I had started to put in this forum. And another, that was about the cult of Ulric. But seeing your modeling and painting.... Why do I even bother.

As inspiring as your threads are.... Between them and AoS..... I'm depressed!!!!

Great work and keep it up.

[Elfhead]

Top notch work as always. Does this mean your other projects are on hold? These awesome projects make me even more upset with the old world being destroyed. Although you might not have started this project if it wasn't for AoS... Paradox! I'll enjoy following this plog��

[Vazalaar]

Wow and wow! I am really excited!

[hagen88]

Waouh nice start, and the painting on that demigryph is amazing ! I liked the piece of fluff too

Thank you azhag (or you prefer morglum?), I always feel some fluff is the perfect way to introduce a mini, it really brings it to life IMHO!

I don´t want to hurt anyone with the comparison, but if this Project of yours continues to its goal, it will be a truly terrific army to behold! Good luck and keep focus, please, as it will be taken as a reference for future people who doesn´t know yet what Warhammer Fantasy was.

This is awesome! I'm definitely tuned in to this plog.

Wow and wow! I am really excited!

Thanks guys, really appreciate it!

Are you kidding me?

I wanted to throw my Bretonnians in the garbage after seeing your amazing thread, and knowing I could never achieve anything like that...

And now this! I also have two empire armies on the go. One I had started to put in this forum. And another, that was about the cult of Ulric. But seeing your modeling and painting.... Why do I even bother.

As inspiring as your threads are.... Between them and AoS..... I'm depressed!!!!

Great work and keep it up.

Lol, this was definitely not the intention vodoo! I post in this forum because I feel in debt with the community for the many amazing plogs that inspired me during the past years! All I hope is to inspire others in exchange so don't be depressed, fetch a brush and go on with your empire armies and make sure to post your progresses I'm really looking forward to them!

Top notch work as always. Does this mean your other projects are on hold? These awesome projects make me even more upset with the old world being destroyed. Although you might not have started this project if it wasn't for AoS... Paradox! I'll enjoy following this plog��

Thanks Elfhead! Well to answer to your question, yes and no... I will turn my attention to this project until the enthusiasm carry on, which hopefully will mean enough time to complete at least a regiment, but I am still working on my brets and I just received some very interesting pieces from one generous forum member which will see some paint in the near future, I promise! My Aestyrion are always a pleasant side project for when I get bored of painting troopers (they worked well in between my brets as well) and my mordheim table is lying in my basement in italy so I can't go on on it until I get to spend some fifteen days in my parents house, which might be for a while... But it will definitely see the daylight one day!

[Mr Feral]

Despite that I'm a fan of round bases over squares ones for Fantasy, damn you have some fine Empire troops there!

Fantastic work all round.

[hagen88]

Despite that I'm a fan of round bases over squares ones for Fantasy, damn you have some fine Empire troops there!

Fantastic work all round.

You know I agree with you, I am a fan of round bases over square as well, but with this army I wanted to go full old school! And besides, there is something magical about a block of fantasy landsknecht tightly packed on the battlefield. If an army is fit for square bases is the Empire in my opinion!

[Ludaman]

The fact that this log even exists makes me very very happy!

Also your converting skills are simply incredible, in the future I may need your help with something, and I'm sure i have a couple of old rare minis I can bribe you with =)


Edit: just checked my closet (of doom) and I have the new-ish and awesome Marius Lietdorf, interested...? he's the rightful count of averland afterall (and quite mad, or so i hear)

[Warlord Magog]

Ah fantastic. I'm excited to see where this is going. The Old World and the Empire of WFRP has a depth and a texture that hasn't been visible for a while. Lovely sculpting work as well.

[hagen88]

Sorry guys, did any of you experience any problem with the images? Because I am posting them on another forum and nobody can see them!!:confused:

[D6damage]

hagen, this is AWESOME.

I think I'm like you: bitterly disappointed by the new changes. I too started roleplaying WHFRP when I was 12, and found that nothing else could match the amazing world GW created. I've been utterly immersed in that grim, dark world for the last 31 years. I've forsaken all other games because while the rules might be better in other companies, no one else could match GW's amazingly rich and deep universe, or their unique and characterful aesthetic.

And then they went and blew it all to hell <sound of my heart breaking into pieces>.

Unlike you, however, I have expressed my grief by just sitting quietly in utter despair, doing nothing. But you are raging against the dying of the light through celebration, lots of hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and freaking AMAZING converting and painting.

You are an inspiration, sir. <doffs cap>

[unwanted]

I approve of your madness, it's certainly befitting that you're doing Averheimers

[Ludaman]

Sorry guys, did any of you experience any problem with the images? Because I am posting them on another forum and nobody can see them!!:confused:

Can't see them on my phone on Tapatalk, but they show up fine on my PC.

[Artoris]

Superb start! Really great stuff - love the attention to detail - those checkered socks/codpiece (or are they just kickass checkered bloomers??) are a great touch!

[Khastarax]

Moar puff sleeves! Will be browsing this thread with pleasure. Looking forward for more painted minis, these look great

[hagen88]

Thank you guys! I'm at work now but I'm planning to finish another model tonight (a handgunner test model) and I'll be sure to post some pictures as soon as I can!