The Empire's Renaissance

[leadfool]

We have been using the Kings of War Historical rules.  We add in our own fantasy figures as needed.  Mostly with the same or similar stats to a human unit.  We don't use their "Fluff."  If it is painted, it can go on the table.

Our games routinely have a thousand painted 28mm figures per side.  It tends to impress the "kids" at our store who have a hard time fielding a painted 100 figure army.  Of course, they forget, that we have a multiple decade head start on collecting. 

We have played a number of games.  We use the old Warhammer figures.  I am particularly fond of the Kislev mounted lancers which are Polish Winged hussars with another name.  Also, the Pistoliers, which are German Reiters in not much of a disguise.  But almost all of the Empire and  Brettonian figures have a historical basis. 

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Yeah, that's one of the great things about older Warhammer.

Your games sound great. Really curious to hear how the rules work for that sort of play, because KoW certainly is swifter than Warhammer (of any sort, really).

[nickdives]

Quite lucky to have started in the 80s so have plenty of good old school, chaps. For larger battles we use Italian Wars chaos to bulk number. Trawling through the pages of the FB page "Tales from the Wargames Shed" one can find images of some of our games using Fantastic Battles and more recently Shadow Storm.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

@nickdives: Yeah, a full metal empire army of course would be the dream, but unless you've been there pretty much unattainable. Thanks for the suggestion! So far I only looked through the blog of the same name, but really enjoyed all the nice things on there too! Especially the Napoleonic Poles (another topic of interest of mine).



Right, here's a snapshot of the new handgunners I've been making pretty good progress on....


....before I fell into a glass door the other day and got a fierce cut on my right hand. Blood vessel soldered shut, several stitches, but most likely no nerve damage. Luckily, unlike the Dread Pirate Roberts or Inigo Montoya, I am left-handed. Still, the whole thing threw quite an enormous spanner in the works of commission painting, let alone stuff I paint for myself.

[Pattus Magnus]

Wow, “spanner in the works” seems like an understatement! I hope your hand heals fully and there are no lingering problems.

(The handgunners look like they’re shaping up well.)

[Frugalmax]

Sorry to hear that and get well soon!

I have that old handgunners kit with the metal arms and getting the standard bearer to not fall over was quite the chore! I think I glued a ton of old metal slotta tabs under his base, but he's still rather prone to tipping over- maybe someone makes a solid metal 20mm base or something. Anyway, looking good and looking forward to seeing them finished once you're back into painting mode!

[Elk101]

I hope the hand recovers and doesn't affect your superb painting!

[Basementboy]

Wishing you all the best with the hand recovery- awful that that happened to you, but I'm glad it wasn't as bad as I'm sure it could've been. All the same, "spanner in the works" seems like an understatement- hope you recover soon, wishing you well.

[LouieN]

Wishes for speedy recovery. 

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Thanks very much to all of you. Yeah, by the looks of it it's not that bad. Hand should completely recover, may have to wear gloves a bit more in winter since one of the blood vessels in my right pinkie had to be sealed shut. Today I'm commencing painting again (after a little bit last night).

@Frugalmax: Aye, those standard bearers in general. This one with themetal arms is almost better than the fully plastic one on the red and white halbardiers I posted earlier. This guy falls over constantly. I'll seee if I can find some washers to weigh those plastic chaps down in general. Some of the crossbowmen are rather front-heavy as well. Last night I also looked around for regimental bases, magnetic foil solutions and so on.

[Elbows]

Man I'm so anxious to see this progress...looking forward to it.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Man I'm so anxious to see this progress...looking forward to it.

Tell me about it. Constantly have to keep reminding me to stay focussed on what I SHOULD be painting instead of looking at Empire stuff. I really wanna finish these handgunners soon. Got a bag of nice, new figures over there on the table lying around too which I want to get to.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Right, hope all of you had a lovely weekend. My weekend was, and I got to paint a bit of my own stuff to boot! So it's time for an update that isn't just some horrible cellphone snapshot.

In chronological order:

Ostland crossbowmen:


Hochland handgunners:


Knights of the White Wolf:


These I actually painted about 10 years ago already for a game of Lion Rampant. All I did now was add the standard bearer and give the guys a bit of a do-over. One of them also got a new hammer, because his had lost its head over the years. Extremely lovely faces on these figures.

Ostland Greatswords:




Aso lovely figures; 6th edition metals. I couldn't think of anything to write on the banner off the top of my head, so i left it blank for now. But of course that banner should have some scross with the regiment's name or motto on there. Hope to add it later.

...and here's all of them together:


That's what I painted by now (Boris Todbringer there way in the back left needs a bit of a fancier shield. I also painted him in 2014 for that Lion Rampant game and apparently didn't have the time for a fancier shield. ). On top of that there's 16 spearmen, cannon and 16 handgunners IIRC from the 6th edition starter box, painted by the gentleman I got large parts of this army from a long time ago. So these may need a little bit of an overhaul.

Right, that's that. Now I think I have enough for a solo test game of Warhammer Renaissance. Hope you like them!



Updated list of stuff:

Hero on horseback (lance, 6th edition starter box) - done
Boris Todbringer (sword/shield, 4th edition metal) - done
Engineer with Hochland Long Rifle (6th edition) - done
Engineer with repeating musket (6th edition) - primed
Engineer on horse with repeating pistol (6th edition) - unbuilt
Warrior Priest (6th edition) - done
2-3 Wizards on Foot (Plastic) - unbuilt
Balthasar Gelt on Pegasus - unbuilt
Kurt Helborg (4th edition) - primed
Marius Leitdorf (4th edition) - primed



16 Handgunners (6th Edition starter box) - need some rework
16 Handgunners (5th edition plastics with metal parts) - done
12 Crossbowmen (5th edition plastics with metal parts) - done
18 Spearmen, Drummer, Champ, Banner (6th edition starter box) -  need some rework
34 +1 (Extrachampion) Halberdiers (5th edition plastics) - not even primed, repairs on 2nd drummer required
6 Knights of the White Wolf (4th edition) - done
20 Greatswords (6th edition) - done
12 Knights - NIB
LOADS of spearmen/pikemen - NIB
14 Greatswords - NIB
14 Halbardiers - NIB



1 Greatcannon (6th edition) - needs some rework
1 Greatcannon OR Mortar (6th edition) - unbuilt
4th edition Mortar and crew - I just found those in a baggy! Two mortars actually, but just one crew of three. Lovely figures. - primed



To be added:
.) Ogres (either 5th edition ones and/or MOM Miniature Mercenary Ogres. Open to suggestions. I'm not wild about the faces on the Wargames Atlantic ones to be honest, otherwise they'd be very interesting)
.) War Wagon (I kinda detest myself for it, but I ordered it off Etsy. That's a first. Let's see how that turns out.)
.) Hellblaster Volley Gun (really liking the MOM Miniatures one)

[LouieN]

Truly wonderful

[Elbows]

Superb, keep it coming!  I almost bought the new plastic box of Greatswords, but I realized through some other purchases, that - while I didn't play "old" Warhammer Fantasy, I definitely prefer the stuff before/during 5th-6th.  Not a fan of most of the newer Empire sculpts I purchased!  Frustrating.  I love all these.