Empire Company of Honor (or Honour)

 The original unit that inspired my Projects of Shame was the Empire Company of Honor. This was one of the "famous units" presented in the Uniforms and Heraldry book that GW Published during Warhammer 6th edition.  A Warhammer take on the historical "color plates" reference books for historical wargaming (and general military history).  Sometime back in...2016(?)... I was flipping through the book and when I stopped on that page I immediately knew I needed to recreate that unit. It set me on a long odyssey to find miniatures that were reasonably close to these guys in the picture.  I ended up buying probably 8 packs of Wargames Foundry landeskneckts and other renaissance billman, just to find 16 figs that were close enough (and I bought some packs of bills and halberds).  You can see in this picture where I was trying to decide between a GW banner bearer and a Wargames Foundry banner bearer.  I went with the Foundry fig because he was holding it up in the air, like the picture.

The final completed unit

Not a great picture, but a different angle

Another angle

This picture was too dark...

This picture was...slightly better?

The order of these pictures got messed up when I uploaded them to Blogger, so try to follow along. When I looked at the banner from the artwork, I knew that banner was gonna be a problem. I have gotten much better at freehand-painting banners, but not good enough to tackle that thing.   So...Internet to the rescue! I found this banner for Stirland.  Then I found a Java web app recreation of MS Paint, where I uploaded the picture, and with some liberal use of the Fill tool turned the background from green to red.  Then I printed it out and it was "close enough."

"Triumphant" on this side of the banner

"Altdorf" on the other side of the banner

Most importantly for me, this unit, this project, is "done".  It's inspired by the artwork, and I think it's good enough.  I had to do a couple of head swaps and add a few plumes here and there. I am happy that I finally followed through and completed this unit. 

Herohammer Ludwig Swartzhelm

 When I first started the hobby way back in 1993(?) one of the models I was obsessed with was Ludwig Swartzhelm. I would stare at the picture in the Empire army book.  A few years ago I managed to acquire the model and my growing Empire army now needed a Battle Standard Bearer.  It was time to tackle this guy.

Here are the final results (in reverse order of WIP - doh.)

Hand painting this emblem was intimidating, but I've been working on free-hand skills for a while now so I gave it a go.  

The biggest challenge was actually trying to recreate the dark blue armored barding on the warhorse. The rest of the model was pretty easy to paint. 

One thing that I did NOT want to spend a lot of time on was the banner.  I've been painting free-hand banners a lot recently, and I've gotten reasonably good at it.  But I wanted this guy "finished" and on the tabletop so I cheated and printed out a copy. 

Here's the picture.  That dark blue armor on the warhorse was difficult.

The banner!

The original miniature, primed and ready to go. I should have uploaded these pictures in the opposite order.   A new trick I've started using for painting mounted figures is to blue-tac the rider to a spare horse and then just paint him on that.  I've tried using a pin and sticking it into cork but that never seems to work for me.  This works fine. 

The Return to Herohammer

Note: This post was apparently sitting in "draft" state for 3 years and I totally forgot about it. I never really finished the thought but I figured I'd just post it now and get it there. 

When I dove back into Warhammer and jumped on board the #Oldhammer movement, I really loved the nostalgia, the atmosphere, and most of all, the old sculpts (don't get me wrong, the new modern sculpts are amazing technical miniatures, but I feel like there's just some character missing from them).

But the era that Oldhammer focuses on is Warhammer 3rd edition which was just before my time. I discovered The Hobby and Warhammer when WHFB 4th edition was released in all it's glory, and that's the game that I hold dear.  I will always love it but I also thought I was the only one that loved that version of the game.  It was a time of crazy magic and zany characters; the oft derided "Red Era" where it seems like 50% of every new kit was painted bright red.   When combined with 5th edition, the over-the-top nature of army lists with 50% special characters that dominated the game was dubbed Herohammer, and not in a "charming, nostalgic" way.

The advent of Facebook Groups, however, seems to have provided a place for us forgotten, shunned few that actually loved that era, with red paint and Goblin Green bases.

Anyway, that was a long intro to say that once I found the Herohammer Facebook Group, the nostalgia bug bit me hard and I'm going headfirst into a group of projects that I've always secretly wanted to do. 

Empire Cannon, Mortar, and some flags

 I'm trying to put a lot of focus on painting up Warhammer units and figures that are either "half done" or I've had for a while and always wanted to put on the table, but couldn't because they weren't painted. 

These two units are right up there. I have had two Empire Great Cannons painted, but only one with crew (and the crew were poorly painted), and the Empire Mortar has been primed since 1995, but I never got around to painting it. 

I'm happy to say I've finished repainting one of the cannons, and the mortar is fully finished as well. Soon I'll finish re-painting the other cannon.  These aren't my best pictures, but good enough for now.

Some folks in the Crown of Command FB group were asking for details on how I painted the crew.  From my notes:

bases were GW Warboss Green, drybrushed with GW Flash Gitz Yellow.  This is a close enough approximation to the original Gobin Green/Sunburst Yellow that we all know and love.

The beige smocks/tabards/shirts were Vallejo Model Color (VMC) US Field Drab, then highlighted by adding VMC Green Ochre, then add VMC Buff for final highlight.

The black was VMC Black mixed with a little GW Mephiston Red (never go with straight black - need some depth).  Highlighting black can be tough, so I just added a little VMC Green Ochre to this to get some basic highlights on the extreme edges.  I usually try to use colors from the rest of the model /palette to tie it all together - black will usually be a reflection of the color of the clothing nearby. Be careful or it turns to grey.

For the red, it's GW Mephiston or VMC Flat Red, then adding VMC Vermillion for highlights, then final highlight a light touch of GW Wild Rider Red (it's almost orange). 

Flesh - Reaper Master Series Fair skin (i think 9047), then a thinned wash of Army Painter Soft Tone.

I also finally got around to hand painting some banners for two of my Empire units, the Swordsmen and the Halberdiers. 

Edwin Earns His Keep

 Fought a quick game of WHFB 4th edition in the continuing story of the Warpstone Conflict.

A quick recap of the most recent events: 

Lord Edwin the 3rd, newly honored as the Baron of Lietzburg, was young to his title and had not yet earned the right to bear the family heirloom, the Dragon Blade - the traditional sign of the full and rightful Baron.  He would need to prove himself on the field of battle; until then he would have to carry the Blessed Sword, a secondary artifact in the family's armory. 

So far, Edwin had not fared well as a young commander, recently attacking a Dwarf keep in the mountains of Wissenland, thinking the Dwarfs had found the warpstone and if he could retrieve it he would finally prove worthy enough to take up the Dragon Blade.  Unfortunately for Edwin, King Azegor repelled the Talabeclanders and Edwin was seen fleeing the battle field. 

Edwin regrouped, and after a few months, raised a small force to invade the Loren Forest where his commanders believed orc and goblin camp of Waaaggh Grom the Paunch and Night Goblin boss Skragg was located.  Of course, Boss Skragg was not involved in this scrap because he was too busy licking his wounds after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Dwarf King Azegor.  Grom was also not at the camp, so the greenskins would be led by Skullface (notorious Black Orc, riding his chariot The Basher.

So that's the setting. A small battle, roughly 1100 points per side (4th ed army books).

Some Deployment shots:

Newly acquired squig hoppers in the Orc camp

Yes, that's a unit of common goblins.  A sight rarely seen on the battlefield.

Lord Edwin's newly raised force. 

Now, some action shots. 

This is somewhere around turn 2 or 3.  The Doom Diver catapult malfunctioned and shot the diver straight ahead, bouncing along the ground slamming into the first thing it hit which was...

...Skullface's chariot The Basher!  The impact killed both boars, so Skullface had to abandon his ride and trudge forward on foot.

The two battle lines approach each other. The other orc chariot on the greenskin left flank when far across the hill trying to outflank the Empire, but Baron saw it and ordered his halberdiers to wheel and counter. The common goblins were led by the NG shaman, Zom the third.  Originally they were going to hold back until Zom realized his Waaagh spell was a hand-to-hand combat only spell, so...they reluctantly moved towards the skirmishing Stirland Archers.  On the right flank, Blok the troll passed his stupidity tests by staying nice and close to Skullface, advancing towards the empire cannon on the hill, "Old Blue".   Fred the Giant was roused from a long nap and decided the pistoliers looked like a tasty snack.

It's about to get interesting...

Fred and the squighoppers approach the Pistoliers (i need a name for them, too). 

Back on the Empire right flank, the orc chariot was short on the charge the previous turn, so the halberdiers took the initiative and charged into the chariot, winning combat, and breaking them.  This caused the goblins to lose their panic check and flee.  

The amethyst wizard looks on as the halberdiers begin to chase the fleeing greenskins 

In the magic phase, the wizard cast Hold Fast on the chariot (night goblin shaman Zom was fleeing so he could not dispel).  This meant they would be stuck and would not be able to rally on their upcoming turn, potentially setting up a charge and destroy by the halberdiers next turn (cunning!).  

Nothing much happened on the next greenskin turn - Skullface and the orc boys tried to charge but were short, setting up the counter charge by Lord Edwin and the spearmen.    The Halberdiers successfully charged the orc chariot that was stuck by Hold Fast, destroying them, and causing the goblin unit to flee off the board.  The entire goblin left flank had collapsed at the hands of a single empire unit.   Also, Old Blue fired the cannon at Blok the Troll, killing him outright!

This would be the penultimate combat, as we reached the 4th turn. The spearmen failed to cause much damage and the orc boys (with additional hand weapons) caused enough damage to win combat (despite the spearmen carrying the Banner of Defiance into combat) and rout the spearmen...however...

...Lord Edwin saw his chance to prove his doubters wrong and launched into combat against Skullface with a fury he had not previous brought to bear.  Edwin used the power of the Blessed Sword and defeated Skullface, causing to fail his panic check as well. 

At this point, I called the game for the Empire.  The young baron defeated the greenskin army led by Skullface, sacked their camp, and recovered the warpstone.  Upon returning to Castle Lietziger, the seniors of the family presented the most treasured family heirloom, The Dragon Blade, to Edwin III, hailing him as the full and rightful Baron of Lietzburg.

This battle was a lot of fun, and it's time name the amethyst wizard as well as the unit of halberdiers. 

Dwarfs vs Empire

In September 2021, we played another game of Warhammer Fantasy 4th ed. 

Shortly after Dwarf King Azegor defeated Grom the Paunch during the orc attack on his mountain fortress, word got out to the new, young, and brash Baron of Leitzburg, Edwin the III.   Newly named after the early death of his father Edwin the II, the young baron believed he needed to prove his worth to his new men, and mustered a small force to attack the Dwarfs believing they were in possession of the rumored warpstone that was in the area, causing all the recent conflict.  At this point, Edwin hadn't earned the right to wield the family heirloom, the Dragon Blade, and so he went into battle with his current blade the Blessed Sword.   If he could defeat the Dwarfs, he would prove his mettle and take up the family blade, and the true symbol of his real power as the Baron of Leitzburg.

So that's the background. 

Here's the pictures!

The young baron rashly decides to charge unto combat against the slayers, lead by Bakzharr the Unlucky. 

Not good for the young baron, fleeing the field!

..a defeat for the Empire.  It appears the young baron will not be wielding the Dragon Blade yet.