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Author Topic: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries  (Read 4725 times)

Offline Zygmund

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Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« on: October 28, 2021, 09:45:02 PM »
Hey, gonna start a new log about my off-and-ongoing Empire project.

This is the Ottilian Empire, or Talabecland, some time before the Empire was unified by Magnus the Pious. Specifically, this project was inspired by the Battle of the Talabec, as told later (The Empire at War, Black Library 2006).

The new addition is a 16-strong contingent of Hochland Handgunners:


Can be deployed with the command...


...or without, as 12-strong. (Or maybe 13-strong, to increase the limit of 25% Panic  :wink:).


Another unit I got ready is this small and less uniform band or detachment of Archers:

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Most of my Empire and Dogs of War stuff over the past four years links to this project. For the sake of completeness, here they are, from newer to older, even though I have posted them earlier somewhere on this forum.

A Captain and a Wizard. (The Greek lady warrior is not connected to this project  :-D):


Regiment of Swordsmen:


Regiment of mercenary Pikemen:


Company of fancy mercenary Pikemen, sponsored by Ostermark:


Company or detachment of Tilean Crossbowmen:


The last one is from January 2018, so this project has been going on for some time. And will go on as piecemeal and leisurely.

Hope you enjoy it.  :smile2:

-Z
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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2021, 12:30:21 AM »
Awesome stuff going on here, awesome! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Sharkbelly

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2021, 09:19:27 AM »
Very nice! I so enjoy seeing these classic old models.

Offline Naitsabes

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2021, 09:46:49 PM »
yes! this is the sweet stuff from the glory days. Thanks for sharing.
The Empire Road to Volganof Last update 18Mar2023 - Pistoliers & Baggage train)

Offline Jmash

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2021, 08:37:30 PM »
Very glad to see some of these lovely models still being showcased, good job sir! :::cheers:::

Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2021, 07:18:00 AM »
Cheers guys!  :::cheers:::

Wouldn't it be nice if more of us would post pictures of Empire figurines? Warhammer-Empire and all. :lol:

-Z
Live in peace and prosper.

Offline Syphon

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2021, 07:52:29 AM »
Cheers guys!  :::cheers:::

Wouldn't it be nice if more of us would post pictures of Empire figurines? Warhammer-Empire and all. :lol:

-Z

That place blew up, sorry about that.

I like your mercenary pikeman unit most. Their colours are more muted than the others, which I like.
Now go! Ride towards the sun atop these noble steeds
You're our spandex heroes, now fullfil your destinies
And so we turned and rode beyond the castle walls
with shiny codpiece armour that doth cradle our chivalrous balls

Offline Jmash

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2021, 09:45:29 PM »
Cheers guys!  :::cheers:::

Wouldn't it be nice if more of us would post pictures of Empire figurines? Warhammer-Empire and all. :lol:

-Z

That is the plan Z, I'm just taking my sweet time about it :-P

Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2021, 08:34:34 AM »
 :::cheers:::

Waiting for it.  :smile2:

-Z
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Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2023, 05:44:49 PM »
Here's my Empire-related painting over the past year.

Enlarged the Hochlander Handgunners with an extra rank. Here's the whole unit.


Maybe the 12th Empire artillery piece.


Mercenary Handgunners.


A couple of Talabecland Crossbowmen, and a Dwarf Wizard.


Borgio's Besiegers.


Command and extras for the Marksmen of Miragliano. Here's the whole unit.


Paymaster's Bodyguard, or Talabheim/Reikland Halberdiers.


I'm participating in a painting challenge with my unpainted Dogs of War, and preparing for a grand battle of Empire vs. Orcs. Also started gaming the 6th ed. Absolutely horrible luck, I've lost games because of abysmal dice rolling. But nice gaming and great gentleman opponents with beautiful oldschool armies.  :happy:

-Z
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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2023, 10:20:50 PM »
Lovely to see these, thanks for sharing! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Sharkbelly

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #11 on: January 12, 2023, 03:58:21 AM »
Agreed!

Offline Rowsdower

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2023, 10:56:41 AM »
Great job so far :eusa_clap:

Offline Gankom

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #13 on: January 20, 2023, 12:53:45 PM »
Great stuff Zygmund, love the colours.

Offline Zak

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #14 on: January 25, 2023, 05:57:10 PM »
whoa  :::cheers:::
Yes I'm dyslexic so what

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #15 on: February 14, 2023, 04:00:36 PM »
Hi Zygmund ... have you started on any new projects for the new year?
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #16 on: February 14, 2023, 06:30:30 PM »
Hello there, GP!

Thanks for asking.  :-)

I'm participating in a challenge to paint some chosen units of late 90's Warhammer models. I chose the Dogs of War, as I've got those models, unpainted for a decade. Making steady progress. Even played a game with what I've got painted thus far. Learned the hard way that the DoW Pikemen are NOT heavy cavalry stoppers. Their rules suck. But love the models.

Then I've started playing the 6th ed for real, and will participate in a multiplayer megabattle this spring. It seems my existing Empire collection will provide all my troops for that game, but I might need to buff some units with a model or two.

Earlier, for over a year and a half, I painted Dwarfs, mostly war machines to add to my painted collection. I think I've got some 3000 points painted now, different options for 1250-2000 pts games. Later this year they'll fight in another megabattle.

I'm always painting a lot of different models for fun, like HeroQuest monoposers, Reaper Mouslings, Ogre Gnoblars, odd Mithril, etc. etc. I've been collecting old 90's Warzone models and painting small skirmish bands now and then. Let's see if I get some done this year too. Then I've been painting LotR Corsairs and historical Saracens, and might take those to a MESBG beginners night, to play as Corsairs and Haradrim. Always heard good things about the game, never tried it out.

I've learned not to make big promises and build long painting queues, as I will invariably lose interest. Just paint what I fancy, when I've got the time.

I'll post my Old World humans in this thread now and then. Otherwise I'm active in various FB and Discord groups, mostly local Finnish ones.


What about you, GP? I think you should start taking photos of your projects and post them here. Would be nice to see your hobby. You must have much done already, and more in the works!

It would also help the forum stay interesting for those who do not participate in the BT ranting, which seems to be 90% of the traffic these days. :icon_smile:

Cheers!

-Z
« Last Edit: February 15, 2023, 06:30:56 PM by Zygmund »
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Offline Jmash

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #17 on: March 28, 2023, 09:22:30 PM »
 Loving the Dogs of War minis here  :::cheers:::

I was only going through all of mine earlier this week but sadly think there's a few fakes in there  :dry:

Hope you're still hobbying and looking forward to seeing more golden oldies getting the limelight!

Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2023, 08:11:25 PM »
 :::cheers:::, Jmash.

Sure I am. Time's been an issue lately, but wait and see... :)

-Z
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Offline wdv331

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #19 on: June 17, 2023, 12:25:26 AM »
very cool!

Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #20 on: June 21, 2023, 11:43:16 AM »
Photo dump of some of my painting this year.

Talabheim or Paymaster's Bodyguard.


Somewhere in the north/east of the Empire.


DoW Cannon, perhaps in Talabheim service.


Golgfag and his ogres.


A model nobody uses but everyone needs to own.
Plus two Handgunners I've actually deployed several times already.


Stirland cowboys.


Vespero's Vendetta. Vespero is converted from an Elf.



And terrain pieces. All from Reaper.





Next to the DoW, I've mainly been painting Dwarfs and Undead. Here are some chosen pieces that could fit the mercenary theme too.

Some Dwarf artillery, mostly scratch built.


And Dwarf Crossbowmen. Maybe as mercenaries via the DoW list.


Dwarf-sized pavises and siege mantlets. Because I didn't want to glue shield on the Marauder sculpts.


-Z
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Offline Zygmund

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #21 on: June 21, 2023, 12:40:48 PM »
You like photos of actual gaming, do you?

Played a lot of games this winter/spring. Here are some pictures, generally one from a game.

This Dwarfs & Brets vs. Orcs&Goblins & Skaven game started my 6th ed gaming anew after a long hiatus. My Dwarf warmachines killed something like four orcs during the whole game. My Thunderers did nominally better. Really miserable shooting. But the Gyrocopter slowed down and misdirected the Orcs, and eventually a flank charge by the ordinary Dwarf Warriors killed their main unit that was locked in combat against the Longbeards. And subsequently we saw even the Trolls flee.


Played several unlucky games with my Dwarfs to learn the 6th ed. Weak list and worst die-rolling ever. My best was seven 1's in one roll. Participated in one tournament where I lost EVERY single game to Fear autobreak. Silly strong in the 6th ed, and of course all the tournament gamers built their lists around that feature. It sucked. A lot. Grudges for the next decade at least. And the main reason why I painted so many new Dwarf units over this spring: Gotta have a stronger list!

Empire vs. Halflings. My artillery killed his Hot Pot before diligently self-destroying. He then maneuvered backwards and fed the mercenary Ogres to my IC Knights so that I didn't have the time to make contact with any Halfling units. A frustrating draw.


Empire vs. Tzeentch Chaos. He had 12 magic dice, I had 4 dispel dice and one scroll. Totally unfun game, although my two Pistolier units on the left flank cleared all the chaff in front of them and brought home a flank charge on the Chaos Marauder infantry - but failed. These tournament gamers build really nasty lists. :icon_mad: Have avoided their ilk since. :icon_lol:


Empire vs. Orcs&Goblins. He was playing full Savage Orcs and full magic Gobbo characters. Very non-O&G army that didn't much suffer from the unpredictability of normal O&G. My IC Knights got a 13.5" charge home on their Boar Boyz but only killed one of them, then got the NG on their flank and spent the rest of the game regrouping and skirmishing on the flank. His magic was super annoying, and together with that unlucky charge won the game. It was a veritable 54!tstorm, but last turn my general faced all his magic by his own and didn't sustain one wound, claiming the only hill on their deployment zone. So a moral victory.


Second game against the aforementioned O&G player. Here I have everything nicely ordered up. Then came a silly magic missile that killed my Pistoliers to a man and caused ALL my units to panic in subsequent turns. Had to do the mathammer afterwards, and it was about 1 % chance. There went that game. We laughed a lot - he during the game, me two days later.  :icon_lol:


Empire vs. Ogres. My artillery failed totally: Even if I got some nine shots out of my two cannons, I could still bring nothing down. Whether the giant or nice side shots on the ogre flanks, it was either studs, overshots or ones for wounding. Hate it when that happens! (OK, I sniped his BSB after luring him out of the unit.) My cavalry charged too early and was gunned & beaten down.


Here is a fun Empire vs. Empire (Cult of Ulric) game. I tried near full shooting & full magic. Caused a ton of panic rolls on the Ulricians, and they kept failing nearly all of them. Sadly my cavalry failed on my left flank and eventually fled, resulting in a draw.


Played a DoW vs. DoW game with my newly painted DoW. However, the photos were poor, so here are some of my opponent's units instead. He has a very colourful and striking painting pattern. And nice alternative models. Learned the hard way that DoW pikemen can't kill a thing despite their rules. Very overcosted for their complete mediocrity. Both of our Paymasters died, but my units didn't flee as badly as his.


Empire (& Halflings) vs. Orcs&Goblins megabattle. IIRC there were 37,500 points on the table. Empire lost miserably. Partly because the flank you can see here didn't have depth and couldn't fire their cannons the first turn. Mixed Empire forces lost their ability to maneuver & shoot, and that was hard going against all those Wyverns.


Small Empire vs. Orcs&Goblins game. He could beat my left flank, but two turns after this photo, there was but a single goblin left on the table. It's fun to be victorious, although I was quite lucky with my rolls.


Empire vs. Halflings. Neither wanted to really close in, but my shooting was stronger. If you look closely, you can see his Lt Cav hero fighting my cannon on the hill on the left. The cannon crew held, and in total that brought me a minor victory. This is the situation at the end.


Hel Fenn megabattle, 20K points per side and 11 players. I was playing Dwarfs and fared OK, but the Empire centre was erased and the 'good' side lost against the undead horde. Weak humans failed even when I used my scroll and many a dispel dice to defend them. Just what the Longbeards were anticipating.



My Dwarf centre from the Hell Fenn megabattle.


That's like half of my games over the past 7 months. I've learned two things: lists & deployments matter a lot, but this is still a lottery.

-Z
« Last Edit: June 21, 2023, 12:48:26 PM by Zygmund »
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Offline Rowsdower

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #22 on: June 21, 2023, 02:13:43 PM »
Very characterful

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #23 on: June 21, 2023, 02:29:14 PM »
That's an impressive line up of painted figures and games, congrats! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline b0007452

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Re: Talabeclanders and Mercenaries
« Reply #24 on: June 21, 2023, 03:09:42 PM »
Looks great mate, all fabulously painted and I'm sure it was good fun.

Must be 6 years or so since I got a game in, I'll be trying to motivate people to dust off the 8th Ed rulebook and our boards this summer  :::cheers:::
:) My Slowly Growing Army of Bogenhafen - http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=44020 :)