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. 

Projects of Shame

 I saw this concept mentioning by somebody and I immediately thought it would be a good mental hobby push for me.

It's a bit of a different look than just the "lead mountain". 

The Projects of Shame can be defined however you like for your own needs, but for me, they are generally projects that fall into basic description of “a project, large or small, that was a major motivation but has lingered for too long of a time, and I would be totally embarrassed and or dejected if I never finished it.”

 

Here's my list:

-Warhammer Fantasy Empire “Company of Honour” unit. This was a unit described in the 6th ed Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire supplemental book.  This was an obsession for a while and I did a lot of miniatures research, eventually buying lots (and lots) of figures from multiple manufacturers in order to build this regiment.  I still have not tackled this.  UPDATE - 2/8/2026 - this unit is COMPLETE!

-US Rocketeer Corps.  This unit is considered a “project of shame” for me because it was really the very first “non GW” set of figures I ever purchased, and at the first Historical convention I ever attended.  Update: complete!

-Warhammer Fantasy unit of Dwarf Spearmen.  I originally purchased a blister of 4 dwarf spearmen from a hobby story in Germany back in 1996 and then could never find more spearmen. I always wanted to recreate that famous unit painted up green and yellow in an old white dwarf.  I've finally acquired enough of them (with a healthy quantity donated by Le Coq Fou!) and I'm almost complete.  Just need to paint a banner, and find the musician figure, and this unit will be done.

-The Epic Blood Angels army – FINISHED!  (further work is just “adding more units” to it.).  Still need to take some pictures and post here.

-Trafalgar ships for Form on the Admiral's Wake. Same story. Bought these a long time and then it languished. 1/3000th scale.

-War of the Roses.  I’ve been thinking, planning, and slowly purchasing stuff for WotR.  The only reason I haven’t tackled it is because it’s a pretty huge project especially in 28mm. With Nevermind the Billhooks, I have finally started this project, so that's good. 

-Chaos Army.  I’ve painted the major set of models that I’ve been always wanting to paint. From my perspective, this is no longer on the list of shame.  Now I can just slowly add to it.

These were my big ones. I'm slowly making progress.  This post will be here to remind me what I should focus on without getting too distracted by other shiny things.