The Empire's Renaissance - Update: Halberdiers, Halflings

[Daniel36]

It's such a wonderful sight to see people I knew from the olden days still delivering amazing results, while I have hardly enough time to pluck away at my own stuff.

Not that I am not doing anything, but not at a good enough speed. I really should get cracking more.

Anyhoo, enough about me, wonderful work! I told Warhammer farewell a long time ago, but I sitll enjoy seeing others produce amazing results, and your Ostland force looks lovely!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Neldoreth: Oh yes, a metal figure will always trump a multi-part plastic figure in terms of pose. Multi-part plastics have the upside of being cheap and you can convert them easily. It's really funny how GW basically went full circle on that concept and their plastics are single-pose and expensive now. But okay, they don't have Metals or resin figures any more (except for what used to be Forgeworld).

@Daniel36: Hey, I remember you! Thanks for the lovely comment. Well, if you ever need some help with getting your figures painted, let me know. . It's also the reason why IF I get to work on my own stuff it has to lead to results fast, because every minute I sit and paint my own figures I got that thought in my head that this is time I SHOULD spend painting other people's figures. I also noticed that if I let any of my own things stit for too long and do any other stuff of my own, it takes 7 years on average before I get back to it. I still got 10mm modern/sci-fi buildings and boxes of giant robot toys in a box nearby, and that posse I started painting for What a Cowboy a bunch of years back is still sitting at the side of my desk! Oh well. Yeah, I never thought I'd ever do a Warhammer army again to be honest, but it's a kinda enjoyable process. Right now I'm at this milestone of having achieved something, and am not quite sure what to do next, which is a dangeros spot to be in, because I'm once more in danger to be led astray and off to some other 'project'. The woes of the butterfly.


Update: I went through my stock of plastic Empire wizards (4th edition/Talisman/WHQ singlepose ones) and fixed a wizard from that plastic box they released in 7th edition(?). Got him half-built from somebody second hand. Not sure it's even possible to place the latter one in a ranked-up regiment.

In less than an hour I'm off to that wargames show in Germany, talked to a lovely vendor from the area yesterday about 20mm square bases and 25x50mm cavalry bases, but he won't be able to attend due to illness and is out of those bases anyway. Oh well. Sadly I can't bring the Empire figures with me for the show, because I think they're too old and too unpretty for the audience there. Rather GW-centric, rather inclined to play the latest thing in general, not yer typical oldhammer bunch. Which is excellent. Always a lovely show, that. And it's a bit of a trip, which isn't bad either.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Well, everything ground to a halt about 3 weeks ago. Too much to do. But in between things I managed to finish a first wizard figure. I'd started painting this dude in 2008 or 2009, just now finally finished him. Not perfect, but I enjoy his face. Feathers have been replaced because the originals snapped and are buried deep in some box, I presume.




Hope you like him!

[DivisMal]

Wonderful additions! What I like most is that it feels like a real army with nice, huge units of foot. In my memory most Empire players of my time stuffed the army with cool stuff like knights and ogres pnce they had the minimum numbers.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Thank you! To be fair, the way Warhammer Fantasy was set up in 4th/5th edition, tiny units were the order of the day. I guess a 16-figures unit was considered a big block then; we're just used to other things from later editions and indeed historical wargames.

[Frugalmax]

Ah- the classic plastic Talisman/Warhammer toy box wizards! I still have the Chaos Sorcerer from that bunch unpainted- huge hands, massive staff and all. Might have to get him out for something now...

You really do a amazing work (especially considering those plastics were definitely not the height of Citadel's quality)!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Frugalmax: Thanks very much! Well, anybody can make a top-of-the-line GW figure look halfway decent. I like those slightly wonkier things. They need some care and attention. The chaos mage is the one holding the staff overhead, right? I got that one lying around, and from that set of wizards, he's probably my least favourite. On a German forum I've been talking to people about that set. I got a good bunch of them, except for three. I like them for the most part (that DE sorceress is one of my all-time favourites by GW).

After a comment (perfectly lovely, but acknowledging my misgivings about the paintjob and the frontal fold on the robe on that wizard) on a different message board I couldn't take it any more and smoothed it out. Now he looks a bit nicer, foldwise. The face still gives me a smile. Well, what it gives me is anything but, but it makes me smile, to be more precise.
 
Due to a cold I was slower this week, so I may not allow myself to do my own stuff this weekend (again), but I hope to get back to empire things soon. Still have to figure out what's next.

[Frugalmax]

Looking forward to more Empire when you get the chance! This thread has inspired me to break out my pile of unpainted empire guys and try to get moving on them. Perhaps some progress will be reported on this very forum!

Haha- my younger brother snagged that Dark Elf Sorceress and painted her for his Wood Elves- in fact I don't think any of the wizards from that set got used as intended. The Gold Wizard is on a base of ghosts, the Fire Wizard got his staff replaced by a scythe and turned into an Amethyst Wizard (this was before they made all of the Amethyst and Morr folks shave their heads- at least to my knowledge), both the Celestial Wizard with his skull cap and the Light Wizard with his Ancient Egyptian fashion choices got turned into necromancers. Oh wait, I stand corrected- the Amber and Jade Wizards actually got painted more or less as intended (don't know that the Amber Wizard has ever been used though...).

Anyway- I do also like those older minis. They had a very manageable level of detail and having decently large surfaces meant you could paint them well no matter your level of skill or experience (yours are top notch! Mine are not so much, but still manage to look decent!). That's one of the reasons I've enjoyed the Oathmark kits (in addition to the old school level of posability)- good detail but not so much that you have a million little things to pick out (I did a video on kitbashing the Oathmark humans if you're interested- shamelessly linked in my signature below). To be fair, I don't think I've painted a GW figure that has come out in the last ten years so maybe they're not all cluttered, but anyway, now I'm just rambling. Cheers!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

What irks me about modern GW figures is that building them in many cases is such a bloody chore. Which is connected with the other problem of theirs - no posability. Remember when plastics were sold on the basis of "they're cheaper and you can pose them how ever you like!". Weird how things turn around sometimes. Back then when you'd say assemble a squad of space marines you had the system down after the first two dudes. You got a bunch of heads, a bunch of torsos, a bunch of left arms, right arms, legs, etc.

Now you get four to five different models per set, two of each, and those are the only two which assemble the same way (and in no way predictable). And of course all of them have the same poses. It's weird.

I love the Oathmark range of figures as well. Very nice designs, good amount of details, well made. Between Oathmark and Wargames Atlantic - we have it good in terms of fantasy plastics.

[Frugalmax]

I agree wholeheartedly!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Well, I got stuff done, so I allowed myself to take the weekend off. Originally I had planned to finally try the Warhammer Renaissance rules, but quickly realized that one needs regiment bases to play Warhammer. Which I don't for the Empire. So back to square one, and instead I swiftly painted a mortar.



Hope you like the figures!

[Frugalmax]

Great job on another classic!

[.:Gunslinger:.]

Fantastic painting ! I really like this thread -  for the minis, sure, but also the thoughts about Warhammer, about older vs newer miniatures etc.

I must say that the Empire has so many great miniatures and as others remarked, I like the more historical look, combined with some wizards and crazy contraptions such as the war waggon. Lacking enough of the older troops in metal, I recently bought some historical Landsknecht which will get some 3D printed heads to make them a bit more warhammer-y (whatever that means...for me they look a bit closer to GW sculpts this way).

Looking forward to other minis and thoughts on here!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@Frugalmax: Thanks!

@.:Gunslinger:.: I got the warlord Landsknechts here; still in the boxes and on sprues, at some point I'll get to them once I get in any way on top of my ever-changing, ever-messed-with schedule. It's really insane this year. Anyway, I mentioned it before: Back when these plastic landsknechts were announced by Pro Gloria, I was HYPED. Possibly the last time I was hyped for anyhting. Once the first figures were presented, I was majorly disappointed due to how warhammery they looked (sculpted by an Ex-GW scultor IIRC). Since I'm doing Warhammer now again for what ever reason, I'm rather glad they look what they look like. Pretty sure that there's no need to resort to 3d printing to make them look more warhammery even.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Got my first game of Warhammer Renaissance on the table last night; an inpromptu thing to counter the Sunday evening blues.



I'll see that I get a review and battle report of the rules up on tabletopstories.net soon!