This post is the first one of many about my next big thing on Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

I’m going in deep and hard into The Empire army. Oh, gosh. I’m little bit overwhelmed with my ideas and plans for next few months. I was playing Skaven by far, and I remember how much time it took me to paint all the models for the army. I was exhausted and bored at the same time. Too many miniatures of the same type – it can be tiresome.

So why I’m putting myself into this by starting to collect another Warhammer Fantasy army?

A  few reasons

First. I love Warhammer Fantasy. Models and Old World setting. With coming of Age of Sigmar, when initial disappointment went off, I realised that Games Workshop in fact made me a huge favour. Now, I was assured, there’s no new rules nor models will be released and Warhammer Fantasy is the closed chapter. I could finally concentrate on my favourite armies and miniatures, and not to be worried, that new army book will ruin my effort of collecting armies. Of course I ignored Age of Sigmar completely and focused on my beloved era of WHFB -1990s. The time I started my adventure with wargaming. So called – The Middlehammer, or simply 4/5th edition of Warhammer Fantasy. The era, in my opinion, with the best sculpts ever created. My sentiment for that edition is huge. I have found a few gamers with attitude similar to mine and we have quite a bunch of oldtimers playing good old fantasy Warhammer.

Second. 4th edition The Empire models were always a great deal for me. I was collecting The Empire during a dawning era of 5th edition. Played a few games and the sixth begun. Well, with a few exceptions, 6ht edition miniatures were not my thing. So, after a first moment of excitement, I lost my interest of Warhammer for quite a some time. And older models! Man, early 1990s The Empire models are so cool. 4 types of Knightly Orders, Kislevites, Dwarfs, Ogres, Halflings, 8 Colleges of Magic! This was so unique! Now, I’ll try to start that thing from the scratch, by collecting only out of production minis – mostly from 1980s and 1990s. This army will make me proud:)

Third. I got a real good bargain deal for that army . Came in huge bulk – almost everything I needed for it, it was there. I added a few extra models of my own, to complete some of the units, but in general, most of the army was ready for deployment. Well, it came unpainted – so it’s a lot of working hours for me (it will be a pure pleasure though:). Honestly, it would be a crime if I didn’t grab this:)

The Army

Following 4/5th edition Army Book rules, right now I’m in possession of 4500 points of regiments and war machines. I didn’t count the characters and I didn’t add any magic items. Only regiments with command groups and champions (if any). That’s huge! Even my Skaven don’t have that much manpower!

After short inner brain storming, I decided such a powerful army could be only from one place in The Empire. The capital. Altdorf army following their beloved Emperor, Karl Franz.

And the Altdorf colours are nice to paint as well – blue and red with some white additions. They would look so lovely on the tabletop:).

For a start, I prepared an army list for 2000-2500 points and arranged a painting schedule for them. The list is rather open and all units and heroes on it have a tendency of be rearranged. More or less it look like this:

• Karl Franz on a griffon
• Grey Wizard
• Amber Wizard
• Hero on foot
• Mounted Hero
• Halberdiers
• Flagellants
• Reiksguard
• Archers
• Crossbowmen
• Hand Gunners
• Halfling Archers
• Dwarfs with Crossbows
• Knight Panthers
• Kislev Winged Lancers
• 2 Cannons
• Helbaster Volleygun

All come unpainted, the plan is to get it all done until July, right before BOYL 2017, where my army is about to have a premier performance. It’s manageable, but most probably a few regiment will be crossed out of the list to make it done. The point is to have a nice looking playable army:). Keep fingers crossed for me.

The Halberdiers

When I write this post, the first regiment is ready. 25 Halberdiers in red and blue. Proudly representing their home city. Veterans of many wars – against Greenskins or Beasts in Reikland Forest. Their leader – Ursus Shmidt, is charismatic and skilled fighter. Lost his eye during a  ferocious fight with a Swamp Troll, but he never, despite his age, lost his fighting spirit! That’s why his people love him and will follow him even to The Chaos Wastelands!

25 Halberdiers. I was super excited while painted this models. And, like I wrote, blue and red are one of my favourite to paint, so these guys’ scheme is super awesome combo IMO.

Red. Base is Mephiston Red. For recesses and shaded areas I added some Abaddon Black. Highlights are mixture of glazing and wet blending. The brightest colour is Wild Rider Red glazed and blended with Evil Moon Scarlet. Edges with Wild Rider Red with a bit of white.

Blue. (made same like red). Base – Maccrage Blue. Recesses – Maccrage Blue with black. Highlights – Calgar Blue (with little bit of white at most highlighted areas). And then glazing/ wet blending with Altdorf Guard Blue.

If you have any particular questions about anything, go ahead, ask:) I’ll be more than happy to answer all questions about my painting process.

The banner. It’s not freehand. Sorry, I cant’ do it properly:). The banner is a scan and print from ‘Heraldry of The Empire’ book and I traced the lines with my brush the best I could. And result – not so bad. Don’t you think?

The bases. This time no Micro Art Studio:). I found another awesome manufacturer of resin bases. Base-X-of-War is the name and they have plenty of bases and moving traces in their offer. For my Empire army I chose Battlefield Bases. Added a few tuffs here and there and the unit looks great.

My painting schedule is really tight, and in order to paint all of the necessary models I need to stick to it no matter what. This will mean to me many sleepless nights, I guess:).

Next, will the big boss himself – Karl Franz The Emperor. Super cool!