My own little corner of Mordheim...

I LOVE the Free Lancer; he looks great on any mount.  
The 3 mini movement tray looks better to moi than the 6. The thing is the individual bases look too large for the minis that are mounted on the...there's all that empty space surrounding them.  

So, got a battle coming up...

"Hans stared into the campfire. The crackling flames did little to comfort him nor to protect him from the clammy cold of the Sylvanian night. For all that it was worth, he was not alone. All around he could hear his fellow men, Stirlanders all... Next to him were his fellows, the patrons of 'Ye Olde Horny Halfling', who all 'volunteered' to enter service with the militia. Somewhere nearby he could hear the rowdy singing and boasting of the Halberdiers. These were hardened men, used to a life on campaign. If he were to believe these men, they were heading in the wrong direction... Nothing but death awaited them in these parts of Stirland. Rumours of the restless dead had been around for some time, increasing in frequency and brutality.  

Stirland had amassed quite a force: there were Knights, a big regiment of Halberdiers, a couple of pieces of artillery and some Pistoliers. The Engineers had even brought one of their famed Steam Tanks with them and somewhere in the distance he could hear the occasional roar of one of the fearsome warbeasts, the Gryphon and his smaller cousins. No, he was not alone... Come dawn he and his brothers would march on and seek out the Undead host. With luck, Sigmar would see him through...

He hoped the General knew what he was doing..."

It's the first time I get to use my ASS (Army Shipping System). I usually play at home. I hope my system works the way I intend it to...


I magnetised the crap out of my units... Every model and each movement tray is fully magnetised. I used sheet magnets for the models and the inside of the trays and rare-earth magnets for the bottom of the trays and single models (like the Gryphon, Steam Tank, War Machines and crew). I plan to just put this crate in the trunk of my car and hopefully take it out once I reach my destination...

As you can see, it's quite a small force for 2500 points... I really struggled to make a list this time. I wanted to try out a couple of new things. I'll let you know how it goes...

Expect pics and a battle report soon...

It's an hard thing to write...but...i must admit that...i love your ASS (Army Shipping System).

Ha ha ha!! Good one, drakkol!!

It should be amazing to see the whole army lined up!

Joao

I hope your ASS merits drakkol's affection & everything makes the round trip unscathed. The Army looks GREAT all together in the box.
Have FUN & remember to take some Battle Photos.  

Thanks guys  

"Hans stared into the campfire. The crackling flames did little to comfort him nor to protect him from the clammy cold of the Sylvanian night. For all that it was worth, he was not alone. All around he could hear his fellow men, Stirlanders all... Next to him were his fellows, the patrons of 'Ye Olde Horny Halfling', who all 'volunteered' to enter service with the militia. Somewhere nearby he could hear the rowdy singing and boasting of the Halberdiers. These were hardened men, used to a life on campaign. If he were to believe these men, they were heading in the wrong direction... Nothing but death awaited them in these parts of Stirland. Rumours of the restless dead had been around for some time, increasing in frequency and brutality.

Stirland had amassed quite a force: there were Knights, a big regiment of Halberdiers, a couple of pieces of artillery and some Pistoliers. The Engineers had even brought one of their famed Steam Tanks with them and somewhere in the distance he could hear the occasional roar of one of the fearsome warbeasts, the Gryphon and his smaller cousins. No, he was not alone... Come dawn he and his brothers would march on and seek out the Undead host. With luck, Sigmar would see him through...

He hoped the General knew what he was doing..."

Well, this must have been one of the strangest battles I have fought in a while, and while I have learned many things (more on that later) it was very obvious I should play more (I really missed it)... It was the first time my Stirlanders took to the field of battle outside my own gaming room. The table and scenery belong to Was1974 (as well as the VC army).

I have a lot of pictures as well as a short battle-report! Enjoy...




Empire deployment... I opted for a strong centre and fast flanks (I had a plan, well, sort of).


My opponent got the first turn and advanced along his entire line... Apart from a few casualties to enemy magic and some summoned Skeletons, not much happened...

Then it was my first turn... I started with generating steam points for my Steam Tank. I opted to generate five (what could possibly go wrong) points and prepared to speed my shiny hunk of ill-tempered metal towards the centre of the battlefield. However, I rolled a missfire... No biggie, I thought... I then rolled a 6 (on a D3, so a 3) and according to the misshap-table that meant my Steam Tank would blow up. Right... And all units withing 6 Inch would take 2D6 S4 hits... Right... Unfortunately that also meant my Helblaster (which took no less than 10 hits from the explosion) was removed as casualty before having fired a single shot! I need not tell you I wasn't amused...
Suddenly my right flank was looking seriously depleted with only the three Demigryph Knights surviving my first turn...

At that point I was ready to throw in the proverbial towell... Ah well, it couldn't go more wrong so I went on the offensive and decided to kick sone boney ass!

My Halberdiers made short work of the summoned Skeletons but my General failed his charge and Inched forward... The rest of my forces advanced towards the Undead hordes...




After my second turn... My General and Knights removed the Vargheists and Corpse Cart from the table. The combat between the Halberdiers and Grave Guard is still in full swing. Both units inflicted some serious casualties and my Halberdiers aven managed to win the first round! My Demigryphs charged the Black Knights and inflicted some serious casualties without taking too much damage in return...

On my right flank my Captain on Pegasus and Pistoliers struggled with a horde of skeletons and a freshly summoned unit of Undead.


After dealing with the Corpse Cart my General was free behind the enemy lines... I had several options:
1) I could charge the Grave Guard in the rear, helping out my Halberdiers...
2) Turn around and assist the Captain on Pegasus and Pistoliers dealing with the horde of Skeletons...
3) Charge straight into a horde of Ghouls...
I settled on the horde of Ghouls, made the charge and thundered my Gryphon into the flank of the Undead horde! This old man's got balls of solid steel!


My Knights repositioned and prepared to charge the Grave Guard in my next turn... The Halberdiers gave everything they had, losing the second round of combat with big numbers, but somehow they stayed in the fight! However, in the next round they finally broke from combat and the Grave Guard reformed to face my Knights.


The left flank... My Pistoliers and Captain on Pegasus managed to wipe out an entire horde of Skeletons with only minimal casualties! Awesome!

On my right flank the Demigryph Knights wiped out the Black Knights and joined the General and his Gryphon who were stomping the Ghouls to a sticky paste...

The centre of the battlefield belonged to the Grave Guard. They had just chased off my Knights!


This is how we ended the battle... With both flanks secured I was able to surround the Grave Guard on all sides and my opponent conceded the game.

I didn't expect this outcome... On my first turn it already looked like a massacre, losing two of my main threats, I didn't think I would stand a chance! However, I am glad I kept going. It might have helped as it prompted me to play more agressively, taking the initiative. I must admit that there were some very lucky dice rolls involved (while my opponnet botched some of his). I would call this a well-deserved victory!

Things I learned from this battle:
-Mortars SUCK!!!
-Demigryphs are tough! T4, 3W and a 1+ AS? Yes please!
-It's nice to have fast movers...
-My Wizard did absolutely nothing...
-Steam Tanks are way to unreliable...

"Hans surveyed the battlefield... The barren field was strewn with corpes, too many of which wore the green of Stirland. There would be a lot less singing around the campfires tonight, he thought. Trough the billowing smoke coming from the burning wreckage of the Steam Tank he could just make out the General astride his fearsome Gryphon. He wasn't certain, but it looked like the old warhorse was actually smiling... Hans didn't care, he was just glad to be alive..."

Hope you liked it... I had fun!

Thanks for watching! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think...

A FINE report & LOVELY photos. Thanks for posting; Battle Reports are always a splendid source of inspiration.  

Thanks for posting your battle report. Your opponent has some lovely terrain pieces even if he does have terrible luck.

Von Kurst wrote:

Your opponent has some lovely terrain pieces even if he does have terrible luck.

What VK said. I can immediately spot some Tabletop World scenery there. Also some beautifully painted GW conversions that would be a thrill to take a closer look at!

Joao

Cheers, guys!

I have a question for you...


This is my first horde of Halberdiers... These guys have been around since the very start of this project and are now well underway to getting fully painted. However, I have a couple of issues with the unit:
1) They are hard to rank up properly...
2) The halberd sticking out of the first rank make getting into combat difficult...
3) I like my newer version better (see pic below)...




These are my newer version of the Halberdiers... I like their pose better than the Halberdiers of my first unit.

I have all the bits I need...


All the arms needed for a re-fit... I will be recycling the halberd tops from the first unit, so no problems there. I have already drilled out all the hands and measured and cut all the shafts, but then I had some second thoughts...

Will it be worth it, changing the whole unit? I don't mind the cutting and glueing, but I will have to re-paint them, too... And most likely I will have to re-base most of the Halberdiers as they are facing the wrong way.

Con:
Will require a lot of work, not to mention painting... The two units will be very much alike...

Pro:
All of the points I mentioned above... Furthermore, I will be able to combine the two units into one, giant block of 80 Halberdiers!

What do you think?

Oh, and please check out my thread in the trade section...

Truthfully, if you're unhappy with the way the unit looks, that's enough reason to redo it. I've done that more than once; &, while I may grumble about the repainting while I'm doing it, I've always be happier with the renovated unit than I ever was or would be with the original.   

A unit of 80 minis sounds awfully unwieldy to moi.  

Your other problem is the State Troops' pose, which lends itself to thrusting as opposed to marching or parade rest.

Quote :

A unit of 80 minis sounds awfully unwieldy to moi.

A local group is proud to play their version of 3rd edition Warhammer with minimum 100 strong units. They are mad of course. 

Thanks guys!

@ DeafNala
Exactly, your response was what finally triggered me into action! Thanks!

@Von Kurst
Mad? They must be milionaires!

First up a couple of WIP shots and then some pics made just now, of a finished unit...

I have started work on re-fitting the regiment... In the end there were just too many reasons to do it. Pulling them apart wasn't that hard, and in mere minutes I had a pile of arms, halberd tops and models...




What is left of the once-proud regiment... Only the command models and the unit filler remain (both the BSB and Warrior Priest are there only for show)...


The sorry remains of the Halberdiers...

I have completed the construction work on my Halberdiers...


A couple of Halberdiers...


The re-built unit...


My two Halberdier hordes... The models are now quite identical in style and can be interchanged without any problems.


This is how they would look like in a unit of 80 Halberdiers... Don't know if they will ever get used in this number, but I do have a movement tray capable of holding 60 models (originally made for my planned horde of Pikemen, a unit that was put on hold to make more Halberdiers). I deem it highly likely that badboy is getting used soon...

In total I re-built 31 Halberdiers, 7 of which were completely painted... After beinig magnetised I will undercoat all the adapted models again and start painting them. While it is a waste of the painted models, I do prefer the look of the newer Halberdiers, very much indeed (no regrets)! I now have two full units that are easy to rank up and look great!

The second unit will also get a unit-filler (a classic Marauder Imperial Ogre), freeing up 4 Halberdiers that can be used as replacements for the Characters I have in both units. I have a tendency to build units to accomodate Characters (Captain and/or Warrior Priest). While this is quite usefull, I want to be able to field complete units when I don't include the Characters or decide to use them somewhere else.

Thanks for watching! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think...

I really admire your works. I hope to be able to do the same for my dwarves...someday.

Wait, you are already done with reassembling all those minis? How long did it take you? Do you just have to clap your hands and they all fell apart and glued themselfes back together?
And are you going to completely undercoat them over the paint that's already there? Or just the parts that didn't see any undercoat yet? Both might look weird or okay, depending on how it's done.

Although having to redo so many minis even partially is a bummer, I'm glad my comments motivated you to make the unit into something you're happy with...I almost feel useful...almost.   
The new units are VERY IMPRESSIVE looking.  

80 Halberdiers = happiness.

Thanks guys!

@ drakkol
Thanks! Well, according to some rumours, new Dwarfs are coming soon...

@ Grimscull
Converting these Halberdiers isn't particularly difficult. However, it requires some degree of skill and patience. Besides, after already building about 40 of them, doing another 30 or so wasn't that hard...

@ DeafNala
Thank you! You were the one that gave me the push I needed...

@ superscenic
Indeed, and what would you call 120 Halberdiers? Yes, I have more...

Update time!

Reinforcements are trickling in...


Thanks to a few trades (the biggest one with Kaptain BlackSquig) and a bit of shopping on Ebay fresh troops are slowly making their way into Stirland's service... After a hefty scrubbing (about half of these were covered in a thick layer of paint and glue) these models are now ready for conversion and/or assembly! There are even more models on the way...

Ever wondered what 60 Halberdiers look like?


I like it! It seems I need more Halberdiers... For some games this unit might be too large, but for the bigger games it will be perfect! However, two units of 40 each doesn't sound too iffy either... Both units are now fully magnetised and ready for coating.

One of these recent trades involved Lucrezia Belladonna, a DoW Special Character... I used this exceptional model to complete my second unit of Demigryphs...


The full unit...


Rutgar and a Reikland Captain from the Mordheim range... Both very nice models, each in their own way, that I just had to include in the army...




It took a fair bit of cutting and filing, but I managed to make Lucrezia fit quite nicely on her new mount... There are still some gaps that need to be filled up, but I am reasonably happy with how she looks... I am considering giving her another sword, I don't particularly like this one...

So, that's it for tonight... More updates are coming soon!

Thanks for watching! As always, your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let me know what you think...

OOH COOL! Along with Lucretia, you've got The Birdmen of Catrazza & Braganza Besiegers...actually those are lurking in my Vault of Pack Rattiness also. Have FUN with them all...I'm planning on ignoring mine for awhile.  

Bits, bits, bits! Everywhere! I envy you, and your collection  

Last week I showed you my re-built Halberdiers and my other horde. I decided I really wanted these guys painted, all of them...


All of my regular Halberdiers undercoated and ready for paint... I also coated my Dwarf-crewed Mortar, just to act as a distraction when I just can't stand painting Halberdiers any longer... This pic was taken saturday night, the following pics were taken during painting, spread out over several days...

During painting I even remembered to take some WIP pics...


Bases are done, basecoat and two highlights...




Uniforms are done, decided to give them another coat of paint... Despite using Foundation Paint (Knarloc Green) I wasn't satisfied with the cover.


Highlighted the uniforms, all done...


And this is where I am now... Feathers and uniforms all done, highlight and all! Currently painting all the armour... Despite the bleakness (is that even a real word) of this pic, the models actually look quite nice and I am happy with the way this is going. I paint all models at the same time, one stage at a time. It's a hell of a job, but I am making good progress!

More pics coming soon, I'm off painting some more armoured Halberdiers!

To moi, War Games Armies & mass production are synonymous...mind numbing boring also fits in there somewhere. The Horde is progressing VERY NICELY however. Keep up the FINE WORK!  

DeafNala wrote:

To moi, War Games Armies & mass production are synonymous...mind numbing boring also fits in there somewhere. The Horde is progressing VERY NICELY however. Keep up the FINE WORK!  

Well, you are not far from the truth... However it is an evil I have to deal with if I ever hope to field a fully painted army. I don't mind too much, as I rather like the big battles. Ah well, it's not all bad, I have just finished all the armour and the models are starting to look quite decent...

Every gamer should, at least once in his gaming life, experience a full out army sized series of games...& paint an army for them. In my old historical group, armies ranged from 500 to  5,000 fully painted & based minis (30mm); unpainted minis were not allowed.
If nothing else, army painting creates a self discipline that will serve one well in future projects & life in general. AND big battles can be memorable, cinematic affairs.
SO again...VERY WELL DONE!   

The last few days were spent reading through this entire thread. Wonderful, simply wonderful work.

Two questions:
- To which model does the ridiculously long banner of the knight belong?
- What material did you use to create the shafts for your halberds?