Way back in 2000 when I was 12 or 13, I got the Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th edition starter box, the one with the orcs and the Empire. I’ve been in love with the Empire ever since. They were my first army. The puffy sleeves, the floppy hats, the ostentatious feathers... For me nothing quite hits the spot like Empire state troops. This thread documents the journey of rediscovery that will hopefully ensue as I reassemble, repaint and expand my Empire army of old.
This actually isn’t the first time I’m revisiting my Empire army. I initially painted the army in 2000 in the early stages of WHFB 6th edition. The colour scheme I chose was the blue and white of Middenland. I was in my early teens and it was my first army. Mistakes were made. I mostly painted the models in flat colours. No highlighting or shading. I wasn’t very diligent in removing mould lines either. I didn’t play a lot of games with the army either because I was soon distracted by Warhammer 40K 3rd and later 4th edition.
I came back to the Empire later during WHFB 6th edition. I'm not sure of the year anymore, but it must have been before WHFB 7th edition was released in 2006. By then I was in my mid-late teens and had much more hobby experience under my belt. I’d collected a sizeable Imperial Guard army, a decently sized Skaven army and expanded into a few abortive hobby projects like a small Space Marine force, the odd squad of Tau and Kroot and so on. Just your regular case of teenage lizard brain. Maybe it was the release of the Skaven army book in 2002 that rekindled my interest in WHFB? Whatever it was, it made me want to improve on the first iteration of my Empire army. By then I had long ago transferred from white to black primer, so out came the chaos black rattle can and I sprayed a number of painted Empire regiments black. The new colour scheme would be the red and black of Carroburg*.
* Which technically probably wasn’t accurate because the red and black uniform is a special distinction earned by the Carroburg
Greatswords, heavily implying that other Carroburg troops wear different colours. But hey, red and black is a pretty cool colour scheme.
The Carroburg army would see quite a few 1,000 point pick-up games of WHFB 6th edition at the local Games Workshop. It’s from this period especially that I have fond memories and I look forward to making some new ones now that I’m coming back to the Empire.
Why am I even doing this? Quite a few reasons:
- I have a burning nostalgia for the 2000-2006 period that I hope to soothe.
- The army as it currently stands is unfinished: some 2,000 points still in Middenland colours or unpainted, approximately 1,000 points in Carroburg colours.
- I’ve decided that for me the only good Empire army is a brightly coloured one. Red and black over a black basecoat just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
All of which brings us to the following picture, showing my progression as a painter of Empire miniatures:
Going from left to right:
Crossbowman, c. 2000: Among the first 50 models I painted. White undercoat applied unevenly. No highlighting or shading. Missed a few spots. Plenty of mould lines. Awkward pose. I did thin my paints though! He’s finished except I never applied the green flock to his base.
Halberdier, c. 2000: More of the same, only slightly better. Probably among the first 100 models I painted. I even accidentally shaded the figure by thinning my enchanted blue way down! Never finished him though.
Spearman, c. 2006: He used to look like the models on the left, then I spray painted him chaos black to repaint him. I had learned to shade and highlight and had stepped up my basing game too. My brush control had improved too.
Free company fighter, 2022: After a hiatus of a decade or two, I was ready to get back into the hobby. Ordered a lot of Vallejo paints and set to work on a model I’d previously sprayed black but never painted in Carroburg colours. I still had to relearn a thing or two about painting. A lot of this model could be better but I’m not unhappy with him, all considered. This model really drove home to me that I’d have to work from a white undercoat if I was to get the vibrant colours I wanted.
Halberdier, 2024: After that free company fighter it took me two years to work up the courage for another Empire miniature. In between I practiced on other models, mostly Napoleonics. Very happy with how this one turned out. I think I'm at about the same level again as when I went on hiatus around 2008, which is very gratifying.
Here are some close-ups of the new test model.
I opted for Altdorf’s colours of red and blue. As a secondary, err.. primary colour I’ve added yellow. Because how often do you get the chance to use all three primary colours on a single model? The exact colours aren’t definitive yet. I want to try a few different formulations for the red and blue. Red's still such a hard colour to paint! I’ll also definitely try a different colour for the halberd shaft. I think the reddish brown detracts from the red of the uniform. I could go for a grey, a dark brown or a yellowish brown. The model's base, of course isn't finished yet.
If you'll excuse me, I have another 9 halberdiers on my desk to give a brighter future. Looking forward to sharing my progress on this project with you as I go.
