Talabecland Army

[Indio]

Hi Everyone!

Long time Empire player, and long time lurker here. I've never really been patient enough to really paint my army. But, after being away from the game since around 8th edition (not a fan), TOW has reinvigorated me into painting my army once again.

Long ago, back when I was but a young teenager and Chaos Dwarfs were discontinued (my first army), I picked up Empire as my main army. After studying the different color schemes, I landed on the yellow and red of Talabecland. I then proceeded to undercoat my army black and then try to paint yellow directly over it. Lesson learned.

Going to use this thread to share my progress painting toward a 2000 point army or bust! Hopefully this will help push me to keep painting and give some content back to this community that has given me so much good inspiration over the years.


So, first up I have my first ever fully based and painted unit of empire spearmen. I have a full 32 models painted up, not all are shown. Most of these spearmen were painted in 2008 a couple years after college. A few were painted more recently, and all but two were based last month.


(will try and get better lighting next time)

I am unsure if I should paint/static grass the movement tray. I kinda like the wood look, and see a lot done up that I think look silly. But, I could see painting it brown, adding in some dirt and minimal grass to make it look uniform with the units could be nice. What do you all prefer for movement trays?

[Rowsdower]

+Personally; i don't paint movement trays so other units can use them if need be

[Warlord]

I can't view the picture, though that could be a me thing.

I usually paint / base my movement trays - just the edges. Not the space where the miniatures stand.

[Indio]

Thanks for letting me know! I had hosted it on a Wordpress site I have, but turns out it doesn't have a security certificate, which I think caused the issue.

I went ahead and created an Imgur account and updated the post. You should see it now.

[Gorim]

Nice paintjobs! As for the movement trays, I much prefer them to be done in the same style as the model bases, or completely hidden under the model bases, instead of seeing the bare wood/plastic .

[PaxImperator]

Nice looking unit!

Long ago, back when I was but a young teenager and Chaos Dwarfs were discontinued (my first army), I picked up Empire as my main army. After studying the different color schemes, I landed on the yellow and red of Talabecland. I then proceeded to undercoat my army black and then try to paint yellow directly over it. Lesson learned.

Same here, only I tried red over black.  :blush:

I am unsure if I should paint/static grass the movement tray. I kinda like the wood look, and see a lot done up that I think look silly. But, I could see painting it brown, adding in some dirt and minimal grass to make it look uniform with the units could be nice. What do you all prefer for movement trays?

I've always given my movement trays the same treatment as my bases. I wouldn't fault you for not following suit though.

[Naitsabes]

Nice paint jobs! particularly on the puff-and-slash sleeves. I also like the variations in patterns. something to consider (maybe for the next unit of 32 ;) ) is doing the slippers in a different color, like black? yes, Empire is the army of shrill colors but bright yellow shoes could be a step too far.

What's next?

[GamesPoet]

A great looking block of spearmen, congrats! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :eusa_clap:

[Indio]

Thanks all!

I think I'll and paint/base the movement tray and see how it turns out.

something to consider (maybe for the next unit of 32 ;) ) is doing the slippers in a different color, like black? yes, Empire is the army of shrill colors but bright yellow shoes could be a step too far.

Haha yes, for some reason in my teens & early 20's I couldn't make sense of what their shoes were. Some I painted the whole stocking brown below the puffs, some I painted all yellow or red. I just couldn't believe they wore tiny shoes. I fixed one or two of them, but left most for old times sake. Rest assure all future models have brown shoes.

One of the things that drew me to The Empire was that it wasn't all humans (which of course was promptly removed after I started collecting). But I've endeavored to keep it alive and well as part of my army.

As such, another unit I just recently completed, is a unit of archers represented by halfling archers. Two painted this year, the other three back in the early 2000's.


Up next I need to finish basing some painted models: cannon (already started), unit of knights and my mounted general.

I also just started to paint my mortar, which'll be followed by a BSB on foot.

[Rowsdower]

I remember when the Empire had numerous Elves, Dwarves and Halflings living in it. They didnt exactly see eye to eye [not a pun about height] but thats changed a bit with numerous editions

[Warlord]

Lovely paint job. Nice to see Talabecland - not as common a scheme. Nice.

I do find the base expanders you have a little distracting... but they also provide a game function around template weapons, so up to you.

[GamesPoet]

Halflings look great! :icon_biggrin: :icon_cool: :::cheers:::

[Gankom]

Fantastic stuff, well done!

[Rowsdower]

I nearly spat on my monitor in shock and surprise when i noticed GW added ancient Empire Dwarves to the Made to order category. It was the living definition of 'Left field'

[Archilector_Malaga]

It's always nice to see Talabeclanders here!
That's a nice job!

[Indio]

After a brief hiatus from painting, with my time being sucked up by kids and some other hobbies, I am back at it. I've just finished basing my general and cannon + crew. I also got a mortar painted up, but no second crew yet.

I also found a great use for the re-released Empire tower as a sweet background for taking photos.







Slowly working on a unit of halberdiers (10 so far) in between painting some other things. And just kicked off my BSB on foot last night. 

[Rowsdower]

Great job

[Indio]

Trying to finish up a few projects before the end of the year. Between DMing a new D&D homebrew and 2 kids (3yo & 8mo), we'll see if I can finish everything I want to get done!

First I have 8 knights. 5 of these, the ones with white horses, were models I painted back ~2007, the last time I really did any painting. White gloss Testors paint, black undercoat... lessons learned. I painted over the horses with a matte white, and added additional coats of yellow. The three with brown horses are new. They've been painted for several months now, but just finish basing them yesterday.





Next up is a mounted wizard. Years ago, I kit bashed this together from a broken model in a bits bin, soldered on a staff, glued on a swordsman arm, and used a Bretonnian horse.

All in all, I'm not very happy with how this turned out. I tried painting blue flames on the wizard robe, but everything came out way too dark, and not super flame-y. I don't want to redo the whole thing, but if anyone has any pointers for some quick fixes, I'd much appreciate it!







Also, if anyone knows what the main model is on this, I'd love to know. I couldn't find it.

Hope to post my BSB on foot, and halfling unit filler up next week.

[Naitsabes]

here is a link to that wizard.



https://www.whtreasury.com/warhammer-fantasy-empire-wizard-mounted/


I would suggest taking off that very long staff and put some kind of topper (e.g. pretty much anything from the wizard plastic box) on a then much shorter staff. the sword arm looks okay.

as far as quick paint fixes go, maybe give the coat a fresh clean lighter blue basecoat and then just slap some drakenhof  wash on? the folds pretty much paint themselves. and then do the sleeves in a different lighter color, some kind of beige maybe?

[Warlord]

I would suggest taking off that very long staff and put some kind of topper (e.g. pretty much anything from the wizard plastic box) on a then much shorter staff. the sword arm looks okay.

Agree. The staff is WAY too long.
What lore is it supposed to be? I would argue that the horse should be another colour instead of black - maybe red? If not red, the change his pants to not be red?
Or try and do the same black with blue flame affect on all the barding? Just my thoughts…

Also love those knights. Very striking.

[commandant]

I don't mind the length of the staff but he is holding it very far down. I'd have him hold it in the middle.

[Indio]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts on the Wizard, I like a lot of what was suggested. Funny, I made this like 20 years ago and have been looking at it for so long, I was blind to how off the staff is. But now I can't unsee it!

I'll might put that fix on the back-burner however, since a poorly painted/put together model is better than a non-painted model -- of which I have a lot of. But maybe I'll get inspired...

And now the last models finished of 2024. As of Saturday, my painting is on hiatus until New Years.

First we have a halfling unit filler, 50mm x 50mm. I really like how this turned out, and I have models for 2-3 more.




And lastly my BSB on foot. It's not my favorite sculpt as I'd prefer a more traditional flag, but it's growing on me.

[Rowsdower]

Great job

[Indio]

Finally finished up my small unit of 16 Halberdiers! Still need to paint up the command. With command, plus my halfling unit filler, scales up to 23 strong.



Also a comparison of a halberdier I painted ~20 years ago (left) vs one I did recently (right).




I've also been working on my army fluff. The first thing I wanted to account for was the fact that some of my models say Karl Franz on them. So this unit of fine gentlemen are in service to Lord Karl Franz von Steinwacht, no relation to the yet-to-be-born future Emperor of The Empire. He lords over the town of Steinwacht, a busy trade town in the center of Northern Talabecland. The most striking feature of the town is its large stone watchtower built by followers of Ulric, always on the lookout for orcs and beastmen raiders.

Because it's a busy trade town, it has a relatively diverse population with halflings, dwarves, and ogres (living just outside of town, mainly working the fields for food and coin).

This last bit ties into my desire to populate my army with halflings (see archers and unit filler), and hopefully soon some imperial dwarves and ogres.


Anyways, next up on my plate, getting my helblaster painted up and building and painting my first Demigryph.

[Archilector_Malaga]

Excellent work! I look forward to seeing a family photo soon.