Topic: The Age of Empire - An Altdorf Army in The 9th Age

[Dark Lord Galax]

Hi everybody!

I just want to share with you my current project: an Empire of Sonnstahl something-as-10000-points army (mainly made by Gw plastic models).

It's a project that has been on the way for almost two years, even if a bunch of miniatures comes right from my youth.

It's not my first Empire army, though.
In 2011 I started one with my ex GF, and we enjoyed spending time together on the hobby. Then we split up and she let me keep the army we were building together.
She kept the Dwarves   

In 2013 my next ex GF bought me a Steam tank for my birthday. Her reason was "because I liked it".
...ok, I guess.
She was quite nerdy too and at the beginning of our relationship we were working together on my (our) fantasy armies but, after a couple of years, I decided to sell everything in order to start 40k, 'cause she truly liked orks and I liked Eldar.
I kept just the Steamtank, a bunch of spearmen, a couple characters and a volley gun, selling something as 250 miniatures.

I truly regreted it later since I had a lot of 6th ed. infantry and some rare minis, including an entire unit of Teutogen guard.

By the way after a failed approach to WoDG, at the beginning of 2016 I managed to have enough money to get back to EoS. So I started to buy models again in order to restore my army.
Unfortunately I somehow lost control, ending up with more than 300 infantry, 50 cavalry and so on. 

  This is where my army begins.

At first, my greatest joy (and my greatest pain on the painting table)...
Ladies and gentlemen, my Steamtank Maggie:

You'll soon learn I love red and blue schemes.

I named her after the character of Maggie Greene from The Walking Dead television show, since she's by now my favourite character.
I usually have tv shows or music as background for my painting sessions, and when I started this Steamtank I was of course watching TWD.
It was a call by destiny   
She never disappoints me on the battlefield, and almost always survives the match. Her killing spree are impressive too.

Oh, and by the way my other Steamtank is named Taylor (after Taylor Swift  ), but that's a story for another time.


Maggie took me almost a years, 'cause I find truly hard to paint not R&F models.
I had painted even the interior and the turret is removable. Inside the tank I even put two engineers operating the cannon.
That's how much love I put into this model.

A sidenote:
You'll notice that the base isn't done, and that there is a simple coat of brown over the bare black surface.
That's because I still have no idea how to base my army and I'm thinking about resin bases for them all. But in the meantime I want my pieces to at least seem complete. And that's the handiest solution I came up with.

I'll try to remedy about that in the next few months.
But I truly hate to work on bases. Especially since there are no High Elves bodies on them.

Soon I'll try to upload my Imperial  Guard with shields and hand weapon, hoping it can help some Sonnstahlian who has no idea on how to make them.
Actually it's a conversion to get something as similar as possible to the old Reiksguard on foot, but without all the issues of old Gw metal models (where the first issue is, of course, their current prices on the net  )
I'll also try to make a couple more photos of my Steamtank and of its interior too.

If you are still reading, thanks for your patience Hope you enjoyed.


Oh, and by the way sorry for my bad english. I know I'm not so good at it, but I'm trying my best. 

[Zygmund]

Maggie is a very nice STank, worth all the love you put into her! 

-Z

[Rowsdower]

Great job

[Dark Lord Galax]

Thank you both 

Here is just a couple of not-so-well-taken pictures of the interior.





As you can see better here, the colour scheme is asymmetric and mirrored on the two sides.

The crew was made up with the only two figures I can find that fit the inner of a Steamtank without issues: the kneeling archer body and the extremely protruded archer body, both from late 7th Edition Empire Archers kit.
Heads are two of my most favourites among the entire range: one is from 6th edition spearmen, the other from 6th edition swordsman.

Hope you enjoy!

Soon I'll have Imperial guards pictures too 

[Gankom]

Great looking tank. I like the alternating red and blue, it looks really good.

[Konrad von Richtmark]

Welcome to the Forum! 

Good to see another dedicated T9A player here. I used to be one of the regulars here during the glory days of 6th edition. 7th saw less play from me for various reasons, and 8th was so uninspiring that I went idle. So idle that I only found out that WFB had been terminated in favour of Age of Ground Marines half a year or so after it happened. Then, T9A happened, and about a year ago, I got back into fantasy wargaming with a vengeance.

People here play with their Warhammer armies using a variety of game systems, but this forum still serves as a common meeting ground. I'm thoroughly migrated to T9A by now, and I try from time to time to create meaningful discussion about it in the main forum. While I'm also active on the main T9A forum (and noticed you signed up there too), this is a good place for discussions with a closer group of good old regulars. Our gaming preferences are still similar enough that relevant discussion is possible.

Maggie is truly a lady, I've seldom seen such flat surfaces come so alive as her sides, with that fading of the colour of the curves of her armour plates. She is way out of the league of my own tank, Himmelwagen.

Looking forward to seeing how you've built your HWS Imperial Guard. I was dealing with the same issue not long ago, though if you have lurked here for a while, you might know that. 

[Dark Lord Galax]

Well thank you for your compliments 
It's always a pleasure and an honour to recieve such encouragement from a fellow Imperial General.
I've been on 9th age forum quite a long time, but since I'm afraid my english was, and still is, not so good and my knowledge (and even more my opinion) about some rules is even worse, I never posted there.
It was even a matter of time, but if posting here means I'll waste less time on Facebook/Twitter/Youtube (...) then so be it.

I also have to admit my first match with the Empire was in 2006, with a friend of mine's collection (I was a dirty High Elf at the time). It was my last 6th edition match, even if 7th was already out from a couple of months. We were playing a 1000 points pitch battle and with my first shot with a cannon (never had to estimate a distance before) I placed the marker for the cannonball exactely 7" in front of his warboss on boar. Unfortunately, I even misfired and with a glorious roll of 1 I lost my cannon.
The match was still fun but I learned that day I shouldn't play warmachines who have a misfire table.
But after a few matches I became the Engineer of my gaming group because of my accuracy. I was second only to Erik, a.k.a. the Sniper, that was even better than me. Then 8th came out and our abilities were lost in nostalgia.

Getting back to 2007, by the way, I was going to start an Imperial army but then the Dark Elves came out and I fell in love: what can suits a 14 years old boy who always estimated Elves and Dynosaurs more than a spiked Elf mounting a Velociraptor? 
Ahhh, Jes Goodwin and Bryan Nelson's sculpts.

And then my Empire project was delayed 'til 2011.

I followed your thread about Imperial Guard and truly liked them. Used the same pieces (but without shield) for the Treasure guards of my side-project army of Dogs of War.
Still, I decided to go almost full GW about the Empire and so I came up with an issue:

I truly like the concept of dismounted Reiksguard, and indeed thought they were the most suited to guard the Emperor since my army is from Altdorf, but I wanted some plastic model with the same scale and proportions of the rest of the army.

Quite a mess to get all three, but I had an idea and decided it was worth trying.
So here they are (or, better, were, as this photo is from a year ago and now I have a full 30 men unit):





I called them Guardians of Von Galax Manor
And I ensure you in italian it sounds waaay better.

Bodies are a mix of Plastic Greatswords and 6th edition infantry, with some 7th edition arms and, of course, heads and shields from 6th edition mounted Reiksguard. At the beginning I was try to use even bodies from the knights kit, but I wasn't happy with the legs-torso junction and proportions seemed a little bit off.
So this unit applies the 7th edition greatswords' concept of "plate armour": a couple plates on the upper legs, some armlets and a curaiss around the torso. Not a full plate at all, but it was the best I could do.

As you may notice, there's a filler in this unit.
It is a little tribute to one of my favourite artworks from 6th edition book:



I always thought these artworks where the thing that more than anything gave flavour to the whole books and I was pretty disappointed when they disappeared from 7th edition ABs.

Ah, and in the first picture there's even one of my Warpriests.
A mix of greatswords', flagellants', militia's and battle mages' bits, it was shamelessly copied bit to bit from Mike Anderson's (Sigmar bless him!  ) kitbash article on june 2009 White Dwarf.
That kitbashing article was full of content and I have to admit that for some of my best units (as my version of Altdorf Honour Company) I got inspiration from there. A guide every Imperial hobbyst should read at least once in his life.

I hope i'll post soon the painted version of these guys. And I hope you'll enjoy! 

[Zak]

nice work

[VonOttenheim]

Really like your filler   

[Rogers Kul]

Fantastic work and coversions, especially with these Reiskguard on foot.
About your steam tank, you can take advantage of the fact you didn't fix the roof to build a column of smoke, just for when it is destroyed.

[Zygmund]

High quality kitbash of guard figures. Very true to the 90's look. 

-Z

[Dark Lord Galax]

Fantastic work and coversions, especially with these Reiskguard on foot.
About your steam tank, you can take advantage of the fact you didn't fix the roof to build a column of smoke, just for when it is destroyed.

She will never be "destroyed" 
Maybe will need some repairs after a truly harsh battle.

Anyway, apart from joking, nice idea. I'll surely think about that, as I even play FoW and Bolt Action and these smoke columns are always a nice addon on the table.

To everybody else who answered here, thank you! I'm glad you're liking what you see here.

And now, back to Imperial Guards with hand weapon and shield.

The complete 30 men unit, almost painted (now even the last 5 guys are done, I'll take some pictures soon):



A less overexposed picture



Bodies needed for a good looking 30-men unit (including filler):

-15 7th ed. Greatswords bodies (legs and torsoes, and I obviously suggest to mix them)
-11 6th ed. Infantry bodies, possibly the armoured ones (there are 9 armoured torsoes and 4 couples of leg plates in each 19 men kit, and you can use one of the unarmoured ones for the drummer/musician)
-1 6th ed. Infantry champion (for the filler)
-1 6th ed. Empire kinght

Other bits that can help:
-25+ couples of sword and shields arms (you can use whatever you have, I opted for a mix of 6th and 7th ed. swordsmen, greatswords, Reiskguard and White wolf Empire knights
-25+ Reiksguard mixed heads or greatsword heads. Maybe don't use the latter too much, as heads are one of the distinctive parts of the unit
-25+ Reiksguard shields, same as the heads. Lucky you for that if you have built a lot of White wolf knights or Panther Templars.
- Every bit that suits well. Seriously, these guys are the best of the best so don't worry to put more effort on them than on the common infantry. I scrambled my bits and used a lot of laurel crowns from the Knights kit, books and small talismans from the Flagellants one and so on.

Here a couple of close ups:



From left to right:
- Blond as gold (at the time I was running out of Reiksguard heads ) 
- The two handed brothers (actually there are two, one was not painted when I took the pictures). It was made with Grey wolf knights' arms in order to be put on the first rank when I want to play an Imperial Guard unit with great weapons
- The champion, with a Nulner's head on his base. Just 'cause one of my club mates plays an EoS Nuln themed army
- The falconeer. There was this bretonnian arm just sitting there in my bitsbox, waiting to be used on something notable
- The Holy roman imperial guard, similar story: it was a 5th ed. shield I truly wanted to use, and it's the only model in this unit not carrying a Reiksguard shield

The painted filler:



Forgot to mention it's a 40x40mm base in order to avoid any proxying issue. My plan was to make it bigger, but this way I can field it even with 15 men units.

And, at last, a small suggestion 

If you like these results on this unit and are on your way to make one, but you lack in 6th edition OOP bits, greatswords' bodies are truly a good base to start with anyway and you can obtain a similar (if not better) result using Reiters' plumed heads and 7th ed. sword arms from infantry kits.
Less "Reiksguard" look, but still a good compromise.

The only issue then is shields: if you don't mind using non Gw shields there's plenty of around, from greek hoplites' to norman knights' ones. But if you want a more "Gw looking" unit, my siggestion is to arm yourself with patience (and a dremel) and go for some Dwarf clansmen shields. They could fit well, even if it would be better to go for 6th ed. infantry shields. 

What would you like to see next?

Here the options:
-two 10-men units of Imperial Archers
-a full block of 50 Imperial Spearmen
-a couple of converted Imperial Characters

See you soon 

[Konrad von Richtmark]

Good work on the Imperial Guard conversions, good use of existing kits. As you can see from my own Imperial Guard thread, I was considering going down a similar road myself. I don't remember exactly why I decided to go with the Perry foot knight box instead. I think it was part that going GW would either have left them insufficiently armoured in my opinion, or left me with having to just use a very small number of different plate-armoured arms. That, and scarcity of available OOP bitz, which would have prevented me from building additional identical units.

One suggestion regarding your unit. Those plumes are a bit bland, which is significant since they take up quite a large part of the visual cross section of the unit when viewed diagonally from above, i.e. under usual gaming conditions. I would treat them with a light black wash, then drybrush with the original red and blue.

[Rowsdower]

Great photos. No matter what I do, I still cant take a decent phot no matter how hard I try

[Gankom]

I really like the different poses you've got going on in that unit as well. A great many of them stand out and look unique. I've always been a fan of infantry at heart. Let the shieldwall march!

[Konrad von Richtmark]

Yes, forgot to comment on the unit filler. Good idea that one, very characterful. Even if it weren't a tribute to that picture in the 6e armybook, it would fit in very well. As this is an Imperial Guard unit, I suppose the general will be there more often than not, so it makes sense that dispatch riders are coming and going.

[S.O.F]

I always thought these artworks where the thing that more than anything gave flavour to the whole books and I was pretty disappointed when they disappeared from 7th edition ABs.

I always loved the Osprey Men at Arms series homage panels that appeared in the Empire and OnG books for the 6th. Don't recall if any of the other races got that same art treatment. The Empire Heraldry book was such a huge let down for not including similar as well, these sorts of plates with better background description would have been more interesting than the handful of full art plates they did in there.

[Dark Lord Galax]

Well, at first, to everybody: Thank You! 
I wasn't even sure about starting this topic in the first place, and I'm glad so many of you are finding this interesting enought not just to read, but even to answer 

@Konrad:
You're totally right about both points.

About bits, I have to say I emptied all my reserves and need to find some more heads and shileds for a couple of side project. Having a lot of troubles about this (sadly). Maybe I have managed to find a couple guys who builted their Knights either as Panthers or White Wolf templars, and should have both spare heads and shields. But I'm still waiting for their answer.
In the meantime, I have some projects in standby.
I have to say this is one of the two Imperial guard units I managed to built up this way, so I think I'll be ok for a while.
I've seen yours, by the way, and really appriciated your work. And you're right, they represent well a full plate armoured unit, while mine aren't properly (especially the last couple ranks)

About plumes, I actually quite like them even if they're a bit bland. But I wanted to try something with GW washes soon.
Same for the yellow ones you'll see on other unit.
My main problem is that I almost always move miniatures taking them by their bases, but when I don't I grab them by their heads instead. So, here, by the plumes themselves. And I found out GW washes make bad reactions with my fingers sweat, unfortunately. They tend to dirt and become glossy even after months I painted them. And strangely even if I give a hand of seal.
So, I'll have to see what to do.

@Rowsdower
I ensure you these photos are truly disappointing once you try to zoom them.
Lights are almost always wrong, and sometimes the subject is out of focus too... One of my best friends is a professiona photographer, and sometimes he screams in pain when I show him my pics (of course I'm a little exagerating here  )

@Gankom
We're both infantry fans 
Maybe I'll try to get some more pics of single models rather than whole units.
Just to give you a little spoilers, I changed heads and add details on something as 42-43 of my 50 men unit of spearmen.
Only regret I have is that I should have cut away and switch some plumes in order to have different helms under them. The way I did it make all the heads rank under 5 categories only (helm 1-2-3-4 and no helm) 

@S.O.F.

Me too. They were truly one of the best pages of those books. Dark Elves had something similar, with a full page on armour and harness of a Dread Elf lord on CoK, but as far as I remember no other army had and that is a shame.
Even if there were some truly inspiring books. I'll always have in my heart the Vampire one, with the two armylist pages with white artworks and writings on a black background... That book was a masterpiece.
In my collection I have every Armybook from 5th to 8th (bought them at every change of edition from non-collectors), but 6th are the ones I love the most.

...

So, today my army went on the battlefield to meet an Orc Waaagh menacing my lands.
I scrambled all the men I could find and marched to war.
Unsurprisingly (see later) it was a close defeat for the empire loyalists, with the Count and his Lieutenant heavily wounded and all the Guards dead to make him retreat safely. 

Here's a picture of the army I brought:



It was a Campaign match - 3500 points full paint models only.
I painted 50 spearmen for 1.3.4 and built them to fit in horde formation, but then they nerfed both horde and spear. Now I'd play 40 to 50 halberds on 5 to 8 wide ranks. If only I had them painted.
Also, I haven't still finished my 15 men unit of crossbow, nor I even have started my Rocketeers.


All my units performed well but I was facing an opponent known for his high throws (saved 5 wounds out of 6, on just rolls of 6s, on a goblin wolves unit) and with such a random list I'm still unaware on how I didn't badly loose.
He brought on the field amongst the rest two Pump wagons, a Giant with demolition ball, two Squig Manglers, a Green idol, a Doomdiver, a Rock thrower and a ballista.
My men (and my Steamtank) were just dead flesh.

Anyway the best of the show was indeed Maggie (as always) 
She cooked alive 5 Goblins and their fellow wolves, then smashed into 15 Black orcs tearing all of them apart (even if it took some time), and in the end even brought down the Green idol.
Ahhh, my sweatheart 

(here a picture of her just because)



And next, some Spears!
Or maybe the Archers.
I still don't know (duh!)...

[Dark Lord Galax]

I've taken a couple pics of the Imperial Guard models I like the most:



These two dudes, as I already said, are there to fit the first rank when I want to play my Guard with great weapons instead of hand weapon and shield. I really like the way the two handed hammer arms fit on 7th edition Greatsword bodies.

 



But they're not always on this duty... 



Here, instead, they're guarding a couple of grim high rank personalities:

- Helmut Schwartzhelm, Inquisitor 
He was made starting from a dark Vengeance cultist champion, from which I removed carefully torso and arms and fit in a greatsword body.
I wanted him to carry a simple hand weapon and a pistol, but in the meantime to seem ready to face any danger. I found the greatswords' head truly fitting the role, as this old man has been fighting heresy and chaos for many years.



- Luther de Valerì, Archbishop of Von Galax's lands (Prelate) 
This model is built up on a greatsword from Gw's 7th edition box. He's armed with a weapon from the White wolf knights and his left arm is from Militia.
The helm is the part I'm most proud of: it was made with a Bretonnian knight helmet, with cut off heraldry, a Bretonnian shoulder pad and a couple candles from the new plastic war altar.



I've also taken a better pic of Maggie's crew:



Then, my current painting project: my (second) army bsb 
He is Conestable Johann von Lynn, a Marshal who carries the colours of his family, Vassal to House Von Galax.
It was made starting by a 6th edition command sprue with a 7th edition pistoliers' head. I have to admit I bought this model already built except for the head, so this is not truly a work of mine.



And lastly, this guy:



Can you guess who he is and where my inspiration came from? 

[GamesPoet]

I like seeing crew in the Steam Tank!

[Xathrodox86]

Wow, new to the forums and already presenting such skill! Incredible work and I adore that color scheme.

[Rowsdower]

Great job on that inquisitor conversion. It must have been tricky to complete

[Artobans Ghost]

That banner is simply remarkable. Freehand like that is so beyond me.

[Jaeckel]

I agree. The painting job on the banner is impressive 

[Dark Lord Galax]

@GamesPoet

Thank you! I think Maggie is the miniature I'm the most proud of from my entire carreer.
Glad to see it's appreciated even by others and not just by me! 

@Xathrodox86

Well, thank you but... I think I've been a little tricky here: actually I paint since 2007, so quite a while by now. Indeed, many thanks for your attention and appreciation 

@Rowsdower

Many thanks  It took quite a while but it was worth it.
I also had to sacrifice a "used and damaged" torso before I cut the current one, since I din't want to loose a greatsword armour in good condition. That way I had the (almost) right measures to make the cut.

@Artobans Ghost & @Jaeckel

Well thank you 
I admit I love freehands and I always try my best to improve.
This was my last one and maybe my best one by now, but here's some of the others I've done since 2008.
They're the most remarkable, in chronological order:

2008 - Eldar Falcon

I was truly inspired by Ulthwe theme, with white lightnings on a black hull. So, I tried my best to replicate them.
I was 15 at the time, and had been painting for less than two years.



In 2016 I decided to upgrade the model to march with the rest of my small army, so here it is now:



2010 - Elf banner 1.0

One of my first freehand banners.
I still used metal colours on banners, a mistake I still regret.
Not my best job but at least it was quite nice. The dragon is actually from a picture of 6th edition High elf book.



2013 - Elf banner 2.0

This one was instead inspired by a Magic - the Gathering artwork.
Unfortunately a couple months later I quit Whfb for 40k, so this model was never finished.
But maybe one day...



2015 - Dark Elf banner

My firts tentative with runes, and black and white banner too.



2016 - Empire banner 1.0

This was my first freehand for the Empire.
Maybe the most precise I've done by now, maybe it was just a joke  but some of my club mates at first glance asked me where did I find the decals I put on the banner itself.



2018 - Empire banner 2.0

The Bsb I already showed you.
There's something wrong with the arm holding the sword, but it'll stay so.



I know the style is so much cartoonish, and many of my club mates do not truly appreciate it, but I hope you'll enjoy 

I'm wondering what can I show you next...
Do you want more Infantry units? Or maybe some characters?