As stated in previous entry, at the moment I’m in the middle of prepering a new Warhammer Fantasy army. It’s The Empire Altdorf based on the 4th edition Army book (most awesome of times for Empire models in my opinion). So, expect The Empire posts from time to time. There will be a few updates in following months. The army need to be ready for BOYL 2017 Oldhammer Weekend in July, and there are plenty of miniatures to paint.

And since I’m on a break from my travelling life, settled down in a small town near Barcelona (at least for a year), I have lot of free time to spend on my hobby. There is no better year than this to start a new army.

In last post, I presented my first regiment. Core unit of every Empire province – The Halberdiers. And now it’s the time to add a few bosses to lead those folks to victory.

Today’s guests are:

Karl Franz

That’s right. The man himself. The beloved Emperor. There is no better character to be the general for Altdorf garrison. Charisma and fighting skills – unbeatable. Plus Deathfang The Griffon, his beloved pet. Well, no argue here. The best for this kind of job. Men will follow him even to The Northern Wastelands or far trough The World Edge Mountains.

Personally, I find the idea of putting the general of my army on a monster rather risky. It’s going too exposed for enemy fire, or he could be a easy target for craze overpowered Chaos Lords, Dragons or Greater Daemons (and let’s just not fool ouselves – any human lord – even Karls Franz – stand no chance against big, fat Dragon or Bloodthrister hunting for him around the tabletop…). In the unit, general can hide himself deep in the ranks his men…

…but for Sigmar’s sake! This is The Emperor Karl Franz we are talking about. He fears nobody and nothing.!He rides the griffon with pride, and his sight cheer up any Empire soldier. To properly play Altdorf army I need to be like simple Imperial enlisted man. The Emperor on the battlefield would lift my heart up, and with adequate attitude, we could win every battle! With Karl Franz, there’s no enemy to stand on my way!

Oh, yes, Karl Franz on Deathfang, risky business, but fluffy and fun as well. He will be flying next to his troops, attacking the most crucial points of enemy army, slashing this, hacking that. Spreading terror all around… I love that vision in my head (…and I will try to avoid superior enemy models. Just to be safe. No cowardice in that – it’s just pure tactics;).

The banner is taken from ‘Heraldry of The Empire’ book. Scanned and printed. Then cut out and hand painted with the finest brush with my best precision.

Adolphus, The Grey Wizard

There are a few Imperial wizards in my collection waiting to be painted. Jade, Celestial, Amber, Bright and Grey. The plan is to paint at least two before BOYL, but for starters I needed to choose the main guy. And it wasn’t an obvious choice. I like Bright Wizard a lot. Amber Wizard has also incredible charm. And the Grey Wizard is classic!

To decide which one will be painted first, I did a little cheat. I don’t do this very often, usually I paint what I like, but this time I just had to do it before I made up my mind. I looked to the rules and studied the spells of each Collage. And Grey Magic has the spells I like the most.

You know, I’m a big fan of teleport spells. It’s super fun when you can transport a unit or a model from your army and in one second to strike the weakest point of enemy force. I just live for those moments;). And Grey Deck has three teleport spells: Dark Steed (a teleport for a wizard himself), The Grey Wings (teleport of any model within 36”. This one is awesome!) and Bridge of Shadows (transport spell of entire unit up to 18”). Oh, to get at least one of these spells… it would be so much fun:). The spells I’m referring to was taken from 5th edition Magic supplement.

The Archers

So, I have two characters now. The Mighty General and The Spellcaster. The fighting core (Halberdiers regiment) is growing. But what about some shooting support?

I plan to have 5/6 shooting units to choose from while making an army list:

• Archers
• Crossbowmen
• Hand Gunners
• Halflings
• Dwarfs with crossbows

I have 16 old metal Empire Archer models, and I decided to start with these. I could go for on big regiment or split them for two. Personally I’d prefer two units of 8 skirmishing in the flanks shooting at most vulnerable points of enemy army.

They go with blue/red Altdorf colour (instead the usual dark, casual greenish/brownish hunter look) to fit into general theme of my army.

Bases are products of Base-X-of-War. My entire army will based on their Battlefield bases. Tuffts are from Paint Forge (cheap alternative to any major manufacturers). They come with the glue so they very easy to attach to the base.

So, that’s it for now! My army is slowly growing and with every month, new units and heroes will arrive to join my cause. What I need now, is some war machines. Thinking of Helblaster Volleygun. In 4/5th edition it was a true pain in the ass of any Empire opponent. On the other hand so unpredictable. Such a lovely piece of machinery. A few cannons would be nice too…

So little time, so many decisions…

Until next time!