For the glory of Stirland!

Some of you might know my scenery thread, which, recently, lacked any serious updates...

Here's the reason...

I (re)started my Empire army. For quite some years I've been collecting Empire mini's and used them to build two Empire armies. Most of those models were old plastics, badly painted (if painted at all) and most have long since vanished. The metal ones I kept and most of them are being put to good use...


A shot of all the models I've assembled thus far.
From left to right...
First row: Mortar, Helblaster, Cannon and Halfling Hot Pot (all with crew), 15 Huntsmen and several Characters...
Second row: 10 Handgunners, Captain on mechanical Pegasus, 10 Outriders with Steamcoach.
Third row: 2 Detachments of 5 Free Company, 10 Handgunners, 20 Free Company (my Mordheim Warband, Liebert's Looters), 20 Flagellants and a Steamtank.
Fourth row: 40 Halberdiers (at least the start of the horde), 20 Spearmen (at least the first 15, more to come) and 40 Greatswords (unit is almost complete).

Yesterday I've finished the first unit (well, almost)...

A unit of 20 Spearmen, including full command and a unit filler... The unit is fully magnetised and ready for battle. They still need their shields though and the unit filler needs some paint.


A wip of the unit filler.

I've been keeping a thread on warseer where you can see the full process. I will post more pics here in the next few posts so you can get an idea on how my army is taking shape...

More pics of my Stirland project...


A shot of my unit of Halberdiers... Intended to be a horde, the unit will number 40 models, complete with two unit fillers.


The Captain who will be joining my Halberdiers.


Close-up of the command group...


Painted Greatsword...


Unit of Huntsmen...

More pics to follow...

Great work boreas, and some simple but really nice lookin hat swaps. My favorite is the rider recieving a message, or what is it the soldier is holding in front of him?

Of course the bases are the best !

Oh, I spotted some of my favourite Empire-Models and the conversions are well thought-up. The army has a lot of potential. And due to the bases, you now can present any number of human Mordheim-Warbands.

Aaah, I need to get painting again!!!

VERY COOL STUFF! Your Lads are displaying the same imaginative, in character look that is the hallmark of your FINE terrain pieces. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing your progress on the Beasty. Keep up the GREAT WORK!

Thanks for the feedback!

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Great work boreas, and some simple but really nice lookin hat swaps. My favorite is the rider recieving a message, or what is it the soldier is holding in front of him?

Of course the bases are the best !

Yes, he's giving him a roll of parchment containing a vital message...


Here's the source of inspiration for the unit filler...

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Oh, I spotted some of my favourite Empire-Models and the conversions are well thought-up. The army has a lot of potential. And due to the bases, you now can present any number of human Mordheim-Warbands.

Yes! In fact, the first unit to be built was my Mordheim warband, Liebert's Looters... They will be used as a unit of Free Company.


Captain Liebert with his Looters...

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VERY COOL STUFF! Your Lads are displaying the same imaginative, in character look that is the hallmark of your FINE terrain pieces. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing your progress on the Beasty. Keep up the GREAT WORK!

Thanks! Working on the army is great fun! All the older models give the army some flavour while the newer plastics give the army it's bulk. Great to see the two match so well together.

Below are a few pics of the bases, from wip, to finished masters to the first casts... All the tiles were cut and detailed by hand, a hell of a job, but worth every effort...







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

And while I'm at it, here are a few more pics of my Handgunners...








So far I've built two unit of ten models. Most of the time they will be used as detachments, but for visual purposes I also added a command group... The bodies are from the Empire Archer kit while the arms are from the Handgunner kit. The heads are from various Empire kits. The champions were made from the body of the Steamtank commander.

And a few pics of my first painted Outrider and his (unpainted) unit with Steamcoach unit filler...





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

OH THE POSSIBILITIES! The Thing that attracted me to Mordheim/War Hammer initially was the Renaissance appearance of the Empire troops & the way the concept art depicted the Renaissance as a caricature. It invites creative modeling.
There's almost too much in your Empire collection to take in in a single viewing. Liebert's Looters & the Hand Gunners are the two things that immediately attract my attention...bot very imaginative units. The Looters are an especially roguish looking group...that dog with his glowing eyes will draw some unwanted attention from the Templars of Sigmar if they can tear themselves away fron flaming the Old Ladies in the area. ALL GREAT STUFF!

Thanks!

Liebert's Looters are in dire need of a new paintjob (or at least some touch-ups) to tie them in with the rest of the army. Most of the models are at least partially painted, but they need some attention. Their rag-tag appearance is deliberate, and fit's with the background of Free Companies.... The unit has so many models I just had to include, besides, their history as Mordheim warband ensures them a place in my gamerheart... The dog was painted by a friend of mine, (of whom I 'borrowed' the dog) he badly needs fresh paint, but I'll keep your comment of the red eyes in mind. He used to be a Dire Wolf in a VC army...

Especially for you (and the rest, too) some more pics of the Looters... To keep them usable in Mordheim, I only used the single bases for them.

Very creative! Each unit is unique, and yet they all remain very empirish. Quite an achievement!

The looters are very nice. I like how they fit well as a mercenary company for your army.

I LOVE the Motley Crew look...it's actually very historically correct having all the mercenaries in different attire. I also have done the Gun Captain from the volley gun (bottom photo, left side) as a crossbowman...great minds & all that . Don't let the size of the project freak you out...it's just one mini at a time.

Thinking about it, I've never seen a non-professional photo of a dog in which their eyes weren't red; SO..it could just be the photo.

Thanks for the replies guys!

I rummaged around and found a few pics of some (painted) models.


One of my Warrior Priests... Bad ass bald guy, looks a lot like me...


Sergeant of my Spearmen...


Greatsword and unit champion (old Reiklander Mordheim Captain with a new sword and pistol)...



Unit of Flagellants with unit filler... The unit filler needs some chain and further detailing, but you should get the idea.


Some serious firepower... No Empire army is complete without at least a Warmachine or two (or three, or four, or five, or...)! I have a second Cannon waiting to be put together. The big wheels are from the previous metal Steamtank, ordered in the good old days of separate parts mail order...

Super sweet armie I love it!

Thanks Mo!

I made quite a catch today on Marktplaats (the Dutch guys will know)...

Unpainted, complete and in very good condition...

A Giant, sculpted by Aly Morsison... A very nice model with enough Empire-like details to make him fit in with the rest of my chaps. This picture was found on stuff of legends, the mail hasn't arrived yet, so I'll have to wait for the real thing...

I know, he's not strictly legal, but for friendly games he should be ok.

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

CONGRATULATIONS on the new toy! Friend John picked up a couple of the Big Guy at Book Stan's still in the boxes for the original price...I get to paint them...eventually. I had thought it was Trish Morrison who did him up...wrong again, I reckon.

I love that giant...

You could always make HIM a unit filler

this marauder guy is by far the coolest gaint ever released, congrats!

Thanks for the feedback guys!

The Giant really is a remarkable model, I can't wait to get my hands on him.

I've been quite busy the last couple of days...




I've finished my Spearmen, now only the unit filler needs to be finished... The shields are all done, the bases are finished and I'm as proud as a monkey with seven dingdongs...




I also continued work on my horde of Halberdiers... Now at 31 models strong, I still need a box of plastic Greatswords to finish the unit. They are starting to look the way I want them to.




My Greatswords are all based and undercoated and the horde is finished! There are even some (partially) painted models. In the few games I've played with my Empire so far, this horde has really proven it's worth. Beating everything they've encountered so far, and looking good doing so...

Lot's of models and most of them still need painting... Ah well, it keeps me of the street.

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

The more i see imperial minis the more i like them...indeed a nice work...I like it very much!

A SPLENDID ARRAY! CONGRATULATIONS on completing your Spear Guys...isn't a GREAT FEELING. Painting large groups of minis is like hitting yourself in the head with a bat...it's not so hot when your doing it, but it's great once you stop. Stick to it & you'll have an army to be proud of.

Thanks!

I'll be hanging on, and keep painting my little men...

Well, I weighed my unit of Greatswords yesterday evening... They just tipped 650 grammes, not bad, considering they are all metal models and the bases are made of plaster. The 650 grammes also includes the magnetic sheets I used.

Then I made these pictures...


All magnetised and ready to get painted...


And the best bit! the whole unit, 650 grammes, upside down! No more toppling banners for me! When you look at the Warrior Priest it looks a bit like one of these pictures you can get after riding a rollercoaster in an amusement parc...

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

Hoeray, Empire!!!

and as allways, top quality work!
Great stuff, awesome imaginative!
I'm also envious of the speed with which you paint! I wished I could do that..

Just one little thing: you're painting a stirland army but your troops look well equipped and dandy, not stirlandish... Allthough there's propably a lot of room to come up with some fluff of rich stirlanders the general thought is that they are poor and ill equipped. But I know, halberdiers with GS bodies look waaaay to good!!

How did you make the mortar? is it scratch build?
and cannons with those stank wheels look waay to cool!

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Hoeray, Empire!!!

and as allways, top quality work!
Great stuff, awesome imaginative!
I'm also envious of the speed with which you paint! I wished I could do that..

Just one little thing: you're painting a stirland army but your troops look well equipped and dandy, not stirlandish... Allthough there's propably a lot of room to come up with some fluff of rich stirlanders the general thought is that they are poor and ill equipped. But I know, halberdiers with GS bodies look waaaay to good!!

How did you make the mortar? is it scratch build?
and cannons with those stank wheels look waay to cool!

Dank! The wheels are great, and I'm fortunate enough to have ordered some when the mail order service still offered separate parts... Those were the days.

Plastic Greatswords make for excellent Halberdiers! The extra armour on the bodies and their upright pose (as opposed to the more dynamic stance of the Empire State Troopers) make them very nice models.

My painting isn't nearly as fast as I would like, but I'm getting there...

As for the reason behind their posh appearance, I'm working on some background for the army. In short, they're sponsored by a whealthy merchant or burgomeister who is compensating for his lack of nobility...

Two quick pics, not nearly good enough but just to give you an impression...




The first of the Expendable Five, the rest of the detachment is being painted at the moment. He's looking very dark, in reality he's not that murky, but that's just the lighting on the pictures., it doesn't do the model justice. The unit has already been magnetised and I hope to get them finished during the weekend.

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