Topic: Armies of the Empire (Lore and Imagery for TWW2)

[MinorCharacter]

Hey guys!  Read a lot of posts here over the years, but never made an account before.  I am working on a unit mod for Warhammer Total War 2 and part of it is trying to bring to life the different armies of the Empire in all of their glory as I grew up playing the Empire and have a lot of love for the faction.  I have an absolutely massive list of units to make for the Empire, including Regiments of Renown, and the list is divided by province, except for some generic units, to try and give each province a unique feel.   This information is taken from White Dwarf articles, all Empire Army Books, Core Rule Books, Mordheim, novels (though I only own a few right now), campaign books and the RPG.

Tanit's Forgotten Units [Skaven + more] (SFO)

I will post my progress here, but I am also looking for feedback on the general feel of each province, units I may have missed and lore tidbits and images that may be helpful.

I am doing the provinces/city-states currently in alphabetical order and knightly orders are being placed where the largest group of them, or their main chapterhouse, is located.

Without further ado . . . Altdorf!!!
90% done
[spoiler]
General State Troops:
The Altdorf Infantry Captain is based half on the Altdorf captain shown in the WFRP 1st Ed. Enemy Within booklet and half on the Captain shown in the 'Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire' book.

[spoiler]
Swordsmen:


Spearmen:


Half-Pikemen: (Steel Faith Overhaul called the 2-handed spearmen 'pikemen', but I felt their spears were too short and the stats didn't sound like pikes, so I used this naming convention from lore in the 6th Ed. Empire Army Book)


Halberdiers:


Greatswords:


State Archers:


Crossbowmen:


Handgunners:


Pistoliers:


Outriders (Repeater Rifles): (Although there is no stat difference, I added the barding to the Altdorf Outriders to both show the wealth of the city and to evoke the old models from 5th Ed.)


Outriders (Grenade Launchers):


Outriders (Hochland Longrifles): (Since the vanilla game added a whole unit with the Grenade Launcher, one of the unit champion's options, I added a whole unit with another option, the long rifle)


Mortar Team:


Great Cannon:


Helblaster Volley Gun:


Helstorm Rocket Battery:

[/spoiler]

Unique Units:
[spoiler]
Ersatzsolder: (From 3rd ed Army Book)


Shipswords: (From WFRP 'Shades of Empire')


Riverwardens: (From WFRP 'Shades of Empire')


Engineers (Repeater Handguns): (based on 7th Ed Empire Army Book lore that Engineers are often found on the battlefield testing their experiments and weapons plus the fact that Altdorf houses the Imperial Engineers College)


Engineers (Blunderbusses):


Engineers (Grenade Launching Blunderbusses):


Engineers (Hochland Longrifles):


Knights of the Sword and Scale: (From WFRP Tome of Salvation)


Order of Mysteries Expedition/Knights of the Scroll: (From WFRP Tome of Salvation)


Hammers of Sigmar: (From White Dwarf #302, 'Cult of Sigmar' article)
(Unit donated by Mixu from his WH1 mod)

[/spoiler]

Regiments of Renown:
[spoiler]
The Greygate Guards: (From the End Times Fall of Altdorf)


Steil's Swords: (From the End Times Fall of Altdorf)


Captain Uberst's Regiment of Foot: (From White Dwarf #354, 'Drums of War' Campaign)


Altdorf Museum Guards: (From a series of scenarios published on the GW website years ago)


Westgate Halberdiers: (From White Dwarf #354, 'Drums of War' Campaign)


Black Falcon Halberdiers: (From the Dark Omen Video Games)


Countess Isabel's Guard: (From the Dark Omen Video Games)


Sons of the Reik/Altdorf Company of Honour: (From the 'Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire')
(Donated by Mixu from his WH1 mod, though I added the mascot from the heraldry book)


Altdorf Blackbolts: (From White Dwarf #354, 'Drums of War' Campaign)


Griffon Legion: (From the End Times, Fall of Altdorf)


Order of the High Helm: (From 1st Ed. WFRP Enemy Within Booklet)

[/spoiler]

To Do List:
[spoiler]
Halberdiers with Shields
Helblitzen
Iron Grenadiers
Several Knightly Orders (Knights Griffon, Order of the Fiery Heart, Knights of the Divine Sword)

RoRs:
The Empire's Blades
12th Altdorf Halberdiers
The Widder Men
Palace of Retribution Watch
Sisters of Faith and Chastity
The Palisades
Von Hugon's Terror Bell
The Tunder Barrel
The Ice Ray
The Glory of Altdorf
The Conqueror
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

Averland!:
60% done

[spoiler]
A lot of the little changes to the look of the Averlanders were taken from the visuals in the graphic novel 'Forge of War' by Dan Abnett, Ian Edginton and Rahsan Ekedal since it is centered around Averland soldiers.  The Averland Infantry Captain is based on the captain shown in the 'Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire' book.

General State Troops:
[spoiler]
Swordsmen:


Spearmen:


Demi-Pikes:


Halberdiers:


Greatswords:


State Archers:


Crossbowmen:


Handgunners:


Mortar Team:


Great Cannon:

[/spoiler]
Unique Units:
[spoiler]
Brigand Trash: (Based on events in the novels 'Runefang' and 'Sword of Justice')


Landesturm: (Unit name from 3rd Ed Army List, appearance and weapons from 'Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire')


Youngbloods: (From Averland Mordheim list, while they also appeared in the generic Empire Mordheim list, they were given a lot more fluff in the Averland one)


Mage Guards: (From dialogue and visuals in the graphic novel 'Forge of War')


Spearmen of the Leitdorf Estates: (Colours of the Leitdorf household troops taken from the novel 'Sword of Justice')


Averland Pikes: (From lore in WFRP 1st Ed. Enemy Within booklet)


Knights of the Black Lynx: (From WFRP Career Compendium)
(Unit donated by Mixu from his WH1 mod)


Marksmen: (From Averland Mordheim list, while they also appeared in the generic Empire Mordheim list, they were given a lot more fluff in the Averland one)


Bergsjaegers (Long Bows): (From Averland Mordheim list + novels 'Sword of Justice' and 'Sword of Vengeance')


Bergsjaegers (Longrifles): (From novel 'Sword of Justice')


Kriegsritter: (From 3rd Ed. Army List, seemed fitting for an open country province such as Averland)


Knights of the Black Bear: (From White Dwarf #309, 'Knightly Orders of the Empire')
(Unit donated by Mixu from his WH1 mod)

[/spoiler]
Regiments of Renown:
[spoiler]
Sardello's Stickers: (From White Dwarf #354, 'Drums of War' Campaign)
(Unit donated by Mixu from his WH1 mod)

[/spoiler]

To Do List:
[spoiler]
Miners
Knights of the Twin-Tailed Orb
Egg Stealers
Moot Gamekeepers
Warriors of Clan Azan-Krunk
Mountain Guard(4 Variants)

RoRs:
Johann Keeler's Longbowmen
The Lucky 33d
Griff's Heroes
Von Kragsburg Guard
Giantblades
Averheim Black Guard
Averheim Matchlocks
Unfehlbar (Implacable)
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

Units for Everyone:
[spoiler]
Generic State versions of the State Archers and Outrider with Longrifles

Zealots: (From the Mordheim Witch Hunter warband)



Gryph Hounds: (Admittedly from Age of Sigmar, but I like these guys)


Griffon Knights: (From the Man'O'War game and scenes in the graphic novel 'Forge of War')

[/spoiler]

[GamesPoet]

Thanks for sharing!

[MinorCharacter]

My pleasure!  Glad you like it!

Latest unit for Averland, Knights of the Twin-Tailed Orb!!  The blue colour on them comes from a single line in their lore that says the comet is displayed on their blue shields.  I threw in two other shields to add variety, one of which still has the orb on it.  I stuck with lances for a weapon as there are plenty of wacky and high tier knightly orders out there, these guys will just be a unique version of the generic knights, but with the added fun of Frenzy, Unbreakable and Rampage on the unit.  So the unit hits hard and never routs, but you can also lose control of them, which is dangerous for a mid-tier cavalry unit.  This is also based on their lore blurb, saying they attack in a frenzy with little care for the idea of death.

I also added the horse from the wagons because it had the twin-tailed comet on top and the warrior priest legs for the comet symbol on their tabard.

[Gankom]

Oh man looking awesome! Good job.

[Zygmund]

Looks splendid!

What exactly are you doing here, and which tools do you use? Does the TW:WH have an editor for this kind of stuff?

-Z

[MinorCharacter]

So there is a program you can download called PFM (Pack File Manager), that allows you to edit the files via text only, so you have to open and close the program a lot if you need to see how things look and test abilities.  I certainly don't claim to be great at it, but I have a lot of fun.  It's kind of like building and painting models, but with less mess and no cost.  There is a vanilla editor, but I have never used it as it is supposedly more limiting according to the community.

Some updates:

Changed up the pistoliers for Altdorf to look more like the original models and drawings.


Made changes to the artillery to look more like the original models and drawings:


Added another option for the Averland captain that I think looks pretty good:


And I put together a Celestial Hurricanum!  Still some work to do on the abilities, but it works!

[Xathrodox86]

These look great! Your passion and attention to detail are amazing.

BTW what's that Dark Shadows game, that you've mentioned before? Never heard of it.

[MinorCharacter]

Thanks Xath!  And sorry, that was a typo, its the Dark Omen games.  Dark Shadows was the Albion GW campaign for tabletop back in 6th ed.  Shadow of the Horned Rat and its sequel, Dark Omen, were a couple of video games from the mid to late 90s which followed the efforts of a mercenary commander born in the Empire to raise an army of mercenaries and Empire troops, sometimes even donated by Karl Franz himself, to defeat various enemies.

BTW:  Read some of your blog just now, great stuff!  I am actually just starting to run a massive WFRP adventure with my group including the Enemy Within, updated with all the info from subsequent editions and lore.  We started with 'The Oldenhaller Contract' in Nuln and have moved onto 'The Gathering Storm' in Stromdorf as an aside.  I am lacing more plot threads throughout side adventures and the main sections to tie everything together and using Egrimm Van Horstmann as a main villain for a better end boss, using the lore thread that he is supposed to be behind many of the cults in the Empire.  The various cults in my version are in competition under Horstmann's guidance to harm the Empire, with the various cult leaders seeking to gain the Throne of Chaos that Tamurkhan failed to get the year before. (He died in 2511 and TEW takes place in 2512-2513)

[MinorCharacter]

The Warriors of Clan Azan-Krunk:  From White Dwarf #303 US.



Forgot to mention that the Knights of the Twin Tailed Orb were from White Dwarf #309.

Edit:  And the Templars of the Fiery Heart from 3rd Ed Army List and 1st ed. WFRP's The Enemy Within.

[MinorCharacter]

More units for Averland!!

Miners:  From lore in 'Sgmar's Heirs'



Mountain Guard (4 units, Swordsmen, Halberdiers, Archers and Crossbowmen):  Lore from the Averland Mordheim list, blackened armour based on text and images from 'Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire'.  Averland troops often use blackened armour, here I used it to differentiate the Mountain Guard visually from regular state troops.






Also a request, I cannot find a copy of the 3rd Edition WFRP supplement 'The Enemy Within' that is set in Averheim anywhere!!  Either pdf or physical.  Can anyone who has the supplement tell me if there is any info on unique Averland units/customs or knightly orders that would be relevant here?

[Xathrodox86]

Thanks Xath!  And sorry, that was a typo, its the Dark Omen games.  Dark Shadows was the Albion GW campaign for tabletop back in 6th ed.  Shadow of the Horned Rat and its sequel, Dark Omen, were a couple of video games from the mid to late 90s which followed the efforts of a mercenary commander born in the Empire to raise an army of mercenaries and Empire troops, sometimes even donated by Karl Franz himself, to defeat various enemies.

BTW:  Read some of your blog just now, great stuff!  I am actually just starting to run a massive WFRP adventure with my group including the Enemy Within, updated with all the info from subsequent editions and lore.  We started with 'The Oldenhaller Contract' in Nuln and have moved onto 'The Gathering Storm' in Stromdorf as an aside.  I am lacing more plot threads throughout side adventures and the main sections to tie everything together and using Egrimm Van Horstmann as a main villain for a better end boss, using the lore thread that he is supposed to be behind many of the cults in the Empire.  The various cults in my version are in competition under Horstmann's guidance to harm the Empire, with the various cult leaders seeking to gain the Throne of Chaos that Tamurkhan failed to get the year before. (He died in 2511 and TEW takes place in 2512-2513)

Sorry for the late reply. I'm glad that you like it. Best of wishes with your sessions and I love the Oldenhaller Contract - such a fantastic intro scenario.

[MinorCharacter]

Thanks Xath!  Some updates on my unit project below.  Plus no response yet, is there anybody out there who owns the 3rd ed. WFRP Enemy Within supplement set in Averland?  I have been lapping up Empire books for research, just made my way through Crown of Destruction, Condemned by Fire, Hammers of Ulric, Riders of the Dead, Broken Honour, Reiksguard and starting Iron Company now.


Update to colour scheme of Knights of the Twin-Tailed Orb, based on lore in the Crusader army list from Citadel Journal.


Light Cannon (Using the dwarf cannon for now as it is slightly smaller than the great cannon and engines cannot be shrunk or enlarged in TWWH2, Light Cannon are mentioned in the novels 'Sword of Vengeance', 'Reiksguard' and 'Iron Company' to name a few.)


Stadtsknechtes of Averland (name and lore from 3rd edition, imagery from graphic novel 'Crown of Destruction')


Powderjacks (based on imagery and role in 'Crown of Destruction')


Huntsmen of Averland (Based on imagery in 'Crown of Destruction')


Tilean Mercenary Crossbowmen (Mentioned in just about every piece of Empire lore, colour scheme from the Marksmen of Miragliano as painted by the 'Eavy Metal team, model parts from Mixu's 'Sardello's Stickers')


Tilean Mercenary Pikemen (Mentioned in just about every piece of Empire lore, colour scheme from the Marksmen of Miragliano as painted by the 'Eavy Metal team, model parts from Mixu's 'Sardello's Stickers')


Demilancers of Altdorf (From 'Riders of the Dead', they are a more real world version of Pistoliers, but much more close combat based)

[GamesPoet]

More inspirational stuff here! 

[MinorCharacter]

Some neat updates, I started working on Hochland, which has been a lot of fun so far, just finished the local variants of the vanilla units.  Also, I got permission from a wonderful modder who goes by the handle Gigiauz, who has made a number of mods showcasing lore-friendly uniforms and heraldry for the various subfactions of the game, to use his Empire shields for my local recruitables.  Below are some shots of new shields for the soldiers of Altdorf and Averland.

Altdorf Swordsmen:


Altdorf Spearmen:


Averland Spearmen:


Averland Swordsmen:


Hochland:  As usual the majority of the inspiration for Hochland's appearance comes from the Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book, but some also comes from the covers of the novels 'Call to Arms' and 'Iron Company', both set in Hochland, and I also compiled an image of all Hochland troops from various Empire rulebooks.  The captain is entirely based on the Heraldry book, but since there is no exact matching mace like the one in the book I found the best matches and went with them.

Hochland Cannon Crew:


Hochland Mortar Crew:


Hochland Spearmen:


Hochland Half-Pikes:


Hochland Halberdiers:


Hochland Swordsmen:


Hochland Crossbowmen:


Hochland State Archers:


Hochland Handgunners:


Hochland Greatswords:


Hochland Composition:


Call to Arms


Iron Company

[Artobans Ghost]

Nice units! That book cover sent a shiver down my spine. Must have.

[GamesPoet]

More good inspiration!

Anyone know what the story line is for those books, is it in Hochland, or maybe an extension of the one I saw for Averland?

[MinorCharacter]

Recently read both of them, they both occur at some undefined point in time during the reign of Elector Count Aldebreand Ludenhof of Hochland, but with no other connecting characters.  They are indeed both set in Hochland.  You could say Iron Company is set before Call to Arms because it is earlier in the 'Empire Army' series, but the first book occurs during the Storm of Chaos and thus after both of these books, so, whatever you like.

Iron Company: An engineer who has become broken inside because of past failings and losses winds up drinking away his sorrows in Hergig when he is practically drafted into the Count's army to help deal with a potential civil war they have on their hands because of some noble up in the Middle Mountains.  You then follow his adventures with this army as he tries to come to peace with himself and confronts the daemons of his past.

Call to Arms: A young man named Dieter wants nothing more than to join the prestigious 3rd Regiment of Swords, the Grey and Scarlets, more commonly known as just 'The Scarlets'.  After getting what he has always wanted he is swept up in an ongoing campaign against an invading Orc warboss and finds out that being a soldier is a lot more complicated, both literally and morally, than he had ever thought.  You follow Dieter's perspective on the ground from the front line, but also get a running commentary on the war as a whole from diary excerpts of a Hochland general.

Also set in Hochland, also ambiguously sometime during Ludenhof's reign with no other crossover characters, is the novel 'Broken Honour'.  It follows the exploits of militia and free company regiments during a war with the beastmen.

[GamesPoet]

Cool, and thanks for the synopsis of each, much appreciated.

So on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being highest, how good are each of the three?

[MinorCharacter]

I would say they are all about a 3.5.  Not the best literature I have ever read, but still well written, thought out and interesting.  I thought Call to Arms had the best depiction of a functioning Empire military, while Iron Company had the worst, focusing more on the rivalries, politics and fighting depression than how the military should function.  Iron Company also had the weakest villain, while Broken Honour had the best.  That said I enjoyed them all.

2 brand new Hochland units:

Armoured Axemen (From the novel 'Broken Honour')



Jaegerkorps (Called 'Long Rifle Regiments' in 'Broken Honour' and the WFRP supplement 'Sigmar's Heirs', only called Jaegerkorps in the Storm of Chaos 'Da Warpath' update for week 4)



Edit:  Gigiauz asked me to post my sources, so here they are!

Sources:

Warhammer Fantasy Battles:
-Ravening Hordes (2nd Edition)
-Warhammer Armies (3rd Edition)
-Warhammer Armies: The Empire (4th Edition)
-Warhammer Armies: The Empire (6th Edition)
-Warhammer Rulebook (7th Edition)
-Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition)
-Warhammer Rulebook (8th Edition)
-Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition)

-The Nemesis Crown

-Tamurkhan: The Throne of Chaos

-Sigmar's Blood

-Monstrous Arcanum

-Blood in the Badlands

-Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire

-Warhammer Annual 2002
-Warhammer Chronicles 2003
-Warhammer Chronicles 2004

-Citadel Journal
---Issues 1, 14, 15, 16, 43

-White Dwarf
---Issues 260, 261, 262, 263, 274, 276, 278, 280, 288, 290, 295, 302, 303, 309, 354

Storm of Chaos: Da Warpath:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/orcgoblinwarpath/storm-of-chaos-t26684.html

---Storm of Chaos Army Lists
http://web.archive.org/web/20051128034555/http://uk.games-workshop.com:80/empire/middenland/1/

Steam Tanks on GW Website
http://web.archive.org/web/20051230220014/us.games-workshop.com/games/warhammer/empire/gaming/steamtank/voyages/default.htm

Warhammer Skirmish Expansion (6th Edition)
----Skirmish missions
http://web.archive.org/web/20050827225516/http://uk.games-workshop.com:80/warhammerskirmish/

The Empire at War

Blood on the Reik

The End Times
----Nagash
----Glottkin
----Thanquol
----Archaon

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay:
-1st Edition Core
-Marienburg: Sold Down the River
-The Enemy Within (1st Edition)
---Shadows Over Bogenhafen
---Death on the Reik
---Power Behind the Throne
------Warhammer City: Middenheim
---Something Rotten in Kislev
---Empire in Flames

-2nd Edition Core
-Sigmar's Heirs
-Career Compendium
-Paths of the Damned
-----Ashes of Middenheim
-----Spires of Altdorf
-----Forges of Nuln
-Shades of Empire
-Realm of the Ice Queen
-Terror in Talabheim
-Denizens of the Empire
-Tome of Salvation

3rd Edition:
-Heroe's Call
-Black Fire Pass

Man O'War
---Seas of Blood

Mordheim
---Core
---Averland Warband
---Ostland Warband
---Nemesis Expansions
-----Gunnery School of Nuln
-----Hochland Bandits
-----Horned Hunters

Novels:
-Sword of Justice
-Sword of Vengeance
-Runefang
-Lord of Chaos
-Vampire Wars
-Broken Honour
-Reiksguard
-Iron Company
-Warrior Priest
-Call to Arms
-Riders of the Dead

Graphic Novels:
-The Warhammer
-Forge of War
-Crown of Destruction
-Condemned by Fire

Shadow of the Horned Rat
Dark Omen
Warhammer Online (only for two points on Wissenland)

Age of Sigmar on GW's Website (Just for the Gryph Hounds, cause I would love to have one in real life)

[wdv331]

can't wait to see more units!! And hopefully Westerland ones at that lol