Quote from: Perforated on December 03, 2024, 08:22:38 PM

Quote from: Tiberius on December 03, 2024, 07:57:10 PM

Quote from: Damar on December 03, 2024, 06:44:32 PM
If Mercenaries are a thing for the Empire, I do hope they have some magical item like "Commanders helmet" which boosts LD by +1 and allows mercenaries to benefit from Hold the Line! etc. so people do not need to use special character all the time.

We need some sort of magic item helmet most definitely.  Many other factions have them. We can’t get to a 2+ armor save without a barded horse or demigryph and that’s a shame.

Helm of the Skaven slayer would work from a chronological perspective since its wearer is long dead. A simple "the wearer causes fear" would be next to useless though, considering the ToW rules for fear. So something else would have to be done.

Or, simply invent some new kind of helm :ph34r:

Enchanted item

Helm of Von Zelt: This helmet is said to be the one worn by Emperor Mandred II. Legendary hero of Empire's past whose deeds are spoken in fanciful tales involving horrible beast from the underworld and diseases that threatened the very survival of Empire. This helmet grants several bonuses to it's wielder. +1 LD & +1 to Armor save (maximum 2+) and immunity to poison. In addition if the wearer is the army general,  you may reroll any failed "Unruly mercenaries" rolls, if you so choose.

Quote from: Damar on December 03, 2024, 08:39:31 PM

Quote from: Perforated on December 03, 2024, 08:22:38 PM

Quote from: Tiberius on December 03, 2024, 07:57:10 PM

Quote from: Damar on December 03, 2024, 06:44:32 PM
If Mercenaries are a thing for the Empire, I do hope they have some magical item like "Commanders helmet" which boosts LD by +1 and allows mercenaries to benefit from Hold the Line! etc. so people do not need to use special character all the time.

We need some sort of magic item helmet most definitely.  Many other factions have them. We can’t get to a 2+ armor save without a barded horse or demigryph and that’s a shame.

Helm of the Skaven slayer would work from a chronological perspective since its wearer is long dead. A simple "the wearer causes fear" would be next to useless though, considering the ToW rules for fear. So something else would have to be done.

Or, simply invent some new kind of helm :ph34r:

Enchanted item

Helm of Von Zelt: This helmet is said to be the one worn by Emperor Mandred II. Legendary hero of Empire's past whose deeds are spoken in fanciful tales involving horrible beast from the underworld and diseases that threatened the very survival of Empire. This helmet grants several bonuses to it's wielder. +1 LD & +1 to Armor save (maximum 2+) and immunity to poison. In addition if the wearer is the army general,  you may reroll any failed "Unruly mercenaries" rolls, if you so choose.

That would be awesome. Especially if it wasn’t expensive.

I’d love an item that granted big bonuses but was for foot models only. Something like a full plate armor that also granted big bonuses a 5+ (or even a 4+) ward save. Since the wearer would only have 3 wounds a 4+ ward really isn’t a big deal.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/l0jgjaih/march-to-victory-with-general-hans-von-lowenhacke-and-his-stupendous-helmet/



Rather bad in my personal opinion - as I expected. Reminds me a bit of the Bloodbowl Empire players.

The overall proportions feel bloated.
The pauldron is way too large and over the top and looks generic at the same time.
The tassets are wrong .. like so often. They just seem to dangle on the belt or something. There is no fauld apparently, which is the root cause.
The griffon of the helm is a bit much size wise .. at least for some one on foot.
That bevor in combination with that helmet does not make much sense and does not look good.
... and so on ...

I don't know why I even bother writing this. I guess it just annoys me, that the setting and it's (new) miniatures are turning into this generic, bland, crude, comical high fantasy mess. Especially aesthetically. But it's really just the continuation of the trend that has started with 7th and 8th edition. Feels more like something from World of Warcraft instead of Warhammer at this point.

Who ever makes the design decisions, apparently either does not know any better or does not care. What annoys me even more is that they could make such brilliant miniatures, but they don't have the right designers or decision makers to do so. (At least for anything Empire / Bretonnia related.)

P.S.: It also would not surprise me if this guy was a head taller than older models. And the name is silly too.

Quote from: Victor on December 04, 2024, 02:38:58 AM
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/l0jgjaih/march-to-victory-with-general-hans-von-lowenhacke-and-his-stupendous-helmet/



Rather bad in my personal opinion - as I expected. Reminds me a bit of the Bloodbowl Empire players.

The overall proportions feel bloated.
The pauldron is way too large and over the top and looks generic at the same time.
The tassets are wrong .. like so often. They just seem to dangle on the belt or something. There is no fauld apparently, which is the root cause.
The griffon of the helm is a bit much size wise .. at least for some one on foot.
That bevor in combination with that helmet does not make much sense and does not look good.
... and so on ...

I don't know why I even bother writing this. I guess it just annoys me, that the setting and it's (new) miniatures are turning into this generic, bland, crude, comical high fantasy mess. Especially aesthetically. But it's really just the continuation of the trend that has started with 7th and 8th edition. Feels more like something from World of Warcraft instead of Warhammer at this point.

Who ever makes the design decisions, apparently either does not know any better or does not care. What annoys me even more is that they could make such brilliant miniatures, but they don't have the right designers or decision makers to do so. (At least for anything Empire / Bretonnia related.)

P.S.: It also would not surprise me if this guy was a head taller than older models. And the name is silly too.

Exactly, wtf is even this shit? Looks more like a WoW armor set than Empire knights, who always worn more-or-less real historical armor. And yes large decorative crests made of papier-mache were worn, which may or may not be on the battlefield but certainly used in tournaments.
Only thing the Empire Knights got that's anachronistic (apart from, you know, the chicken-knights) are that they still used shields while wearing full-plate armor.
Regardless, I want to see that KP miniature up close soon. I hope it keeps to the artwork, even if it's multiple part and can be made into different orders.

That pose, that horse rampart, that bull's crest and mane. Get that right.

Quote from: Victor on December 04, 2024, 02:38:58 AM
Rather bad in my personal opinion - as I expected. Reminds me a bit of the Bloodbowl Empire players.

The overall proportions feel bloated.
The pauldron is way too large and over the top and looks generic at the same time.
The tassets are wrong .. like so often. They just seem to dangle on the belt or something. There is no fauld apparently, which is the root cause.
The griffon of the helm is a bit much size wise .. at least for some one on foot.
That bevor in combination with that helmet does not make much sense and does not look good.
... and so on ...

I don't know why I even bother writing this. I guess it just annoys me, that the setting and it's (new) miniatures are turning into this generic, bland, crude, comical high fantasy mess. Especially aesthetically. But it's really just the continuation of the trend that has started with 7th and 8th edition. Feels more like something from World of Warcraft instead of Warhammer at this point.

Who ever makes the design decisions, apparently either does not know any better or does not care. What annoys me even more is that they could make such brilliant miniatures, but they don't have the right designers or decision makers to do so. (At least for anything Empire / Bretonnia related.)

P.S.: It also would not surprise me if this guy was a head taller than older models. And the name is silly too.

Agreed with every single word in your post. It's a shame really. The concept art doesn't look that bad at all. I think it's the proportions in particular that I have an issue with. We should call him Hans von Löwenchunk. :-P Glad I wasn't getting my hopes up about this miniature.

Now to inject some much needed positivity back into this thread: still looking forward to the re-release of some of the old stalwart plastics.

That looks like an Age of Sigmar model, or a Pathfinder model someone designed using Heroforge. The soulless-ness of computer sculpting really shows with that model.

Quote from: lcmiracle on December 04, 2024, 02:54:32 AM
Regardless, I want to see that KP miniature up close soon. I hope it keeps to the artwork, even if it's multiple part and can be made into different orders.

We'll soon see, what GW has come up with. If they failed, there is a 3D printable alternative:

https://lastsword.com/product/miniatures-humans-avernia-grandmaster-unit/

Quote from: Victor on December 04, 2024, 03:33:31 PM

Quote from: lcmiracle on December 04, 2024, 02:54:32 AM
Regardless, I want to see that KP miniature up close soon. I hope it keeps to the artwork, even if it's multiple part and can be made into different orders.

We'll soon see, what GW has come up with. If they failed, there is a 3D printable alternative:

https://lastsword.com/product/miniatures-humans-avernia-grandmaster-unit/

I only have the version on a demigryph since I paid a service to print it out for me. It came with the supports removed, however, that seller didn't have the horse version (nor the axe). The sword that version came with was so thin it was unusable and I had to replace it with one I had left over from the knight's kit.

Couldn't pass it up tho.

I hope we can get halflings -- 24" BS4 archers would be nice, sadly they never had any speical rules other than no penalty moving through wood terrain. If they just make Halfling archers BS4 archers with option for ambusher it'd be great.
Pikes might give the infantry some use if it increases supporting attack ranks, though probably just end up as wasted points.
All it takes is allowing Empire to take maneaters as mercenaries to justify re-releasing old marauder metal scuplts and Mordheim Ogres (+Golfag for reasons). No extra steps required. I never like the chicken knights anyway.
I really really hope Desert Dogs/Kislevite Horse Archers become an option though, even if they are of little use.

Unfortunately, I doubt we will see many dogs of war units in the empire list.

Manaan’s blades and Ironsides are much more likely, as well as the blazing sun metal bits. White wolf sprue… separate or included in the knight box?

Speaking of knights, I wonder if they will brush off the all the old 5th ed metals? Maybe even the old blazing sun metals, with a newly sculpted matching full metal blazing sun musician? Probably not though, probably just the above metals.

I know everyone hates those old knights, but give me multi-pose plastics any day instead of the one-fit poses they make now.

Quote from: lcmiracle on December 12, 2024, 09:01:36 AM
I hope we can get halflings -- 24" BS4 archers would be nice, sadly they never had any speical rules other than no penalty moving through wood terrain. If they just make Halfling archers BS4 archers with option for ambusher it'd be great.
Pikes might give the infantry some use if it increases supporting attack ranks, though probably just end up as wasted points.
All it takes is allowing Empire to take maneaters as mercenaries to justify re-releasing old marauder metal scuplts and Mordheim Ogres (+Golfag for reasons). No extra steps required. I never like the chicken knights anyway.
I really really hope Desert Dogs/Kislevite Horse Archers become an option though, even if they are of little use.

The old Pikes which strike first and give +1 strength when charged would be amazing.  But I seriously doubt that's coming back.

Desert Dogs or Horse Archers would be fun.  It would be nice to have light calvary that actually works.  Or they could just fix the effing pistoliers.  I'd take either.

New weapon options (like pikes) won’t make Empire infantry better because they lack any army specific special rules. GW would have to completely re-write the Empire army for its infantry to be any good.

Quote from: Warlord on December 12, 2024, 10:46:28 AM
Unfortunately, I doubt we will see many dogs of war units in the empire list.

Manaan’s blades and Ironsides are much more likely, as well as the blazing sun metal bits. White wolf sprue… separate or included in the knight box?

Speaking of knights, I wonder if they will brush off the all the old 5th ed metals? Maybe even the old blazing sun metals, with a newly sculpted matching full metal blazing sun musician? Probably not though, probably just the above metals.

I know everyone hates those old knights, but give me multi-pose plastics any day instead of the one-fit poses they make now.

I quite like the modular nature of the plastic knights myself, although it's a complete rip-off that it doesn't give a fur pelt for each knight. IIRC it was about half? What horseshit.
Give me KotWW and maybe GW weapon upgrade, that's all I want. Using GS for the knights looks weird with those large puffy sleeves. It ruins the full plate gothic armor look IMO

Quote from: Warlord on December 12, 2024, 10:46:28 AM
Unfortunately, I doubt we will see many dogs of war units in the empire list.

Manaan’s blades and Ironsides are much more likely, as well as the blazing sun metal bits. White wolf sprue… separate or included in the knight box?

Speaking of knights, I wonder if they will brush off the all the old 5th ed metals? Maybe even the old blazing sun metals, with a newly sculpted matching full metal blazing sun musician? Probably not though, probably just the above metals.

I know everyone hates those old knights, but give me multi-pose plastics any day instead of the one-fit poses they make now.

I suspect you are right, but I would love to see more dogs of war trickle in as mercs/additions to empire lists, and maybe at some point a whole dogs of war standalone arcane journal?

I just dug through my old boxes of metal minis. Found the Gryphon legion missing their horses,  one of my two boxes of leopold's pikemen is missing, and somehow I took out two of the five voland's venators.

I can only assume past me was doing  some drunken kitbashing I no longer remember or something.

Quote from: Skyros on December 13, 2024, 02:14:27 PM
maybe at some point a whole dogs of war standalone arcane journal?

This is why I don’t think they will add it for us. Because they want to reserve the possibility of an expansion army.
That said, did Total War ever release a Dogs of War army?

A photo of the other new model have leaked - grandmaster of the knights panther Harald Gemunsen. Looks a little on the chunky side, but it could be the angle of the picture (which isn’t the best). Definitely an homage to the old Blanche painting.

TF's wrong with these new sculptors and warcraft pauldrons. And this looks to be monopose anyway (despite having 100+ tiny pieces), it doesn't require the large pauldrons SMs have to hide the shoulder-arm shape mismatches

Quote from: Qrab on December 14, 2024, 03:48:57 AM
A photo of the other new model have leaked - grandmaster of the knights panther Harald Gemunsen. Looks a little on the chunky side, but it could be the angle of the picture (which isn’t the best). Definitely an homage to the old Blanche painting.

It’s not bad. Mainly unsure of the price, but it it’s under $50 AUD I might pick it up. I think now that they have increased base sizes, models are going to get chunkier anyway.

I guess my prediction was right and this week we see the Empire AJ preview. I assume the first post will come up in the afternoon UK time so 6-8h from now. (This was on sunday previews at WH community)

And there we have him!

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/l0jgjaih/rise-above-petty-rivalries-and-defend-the-empire-with-the-grand-master-of-the-knights-panther/



This tidbit is interesting:

"Harald Gemunsen belongs to the Order of the Knights Panther, therefore he may re-roll a single dice that rolls a natural 1 when making a Charge roll, before discarding any dice that are required to be discarded. In addition, Harald may only join a unit that belongs to the Order of the Knights Panther."

This more or less confirms order specific rules :biggriin:

Weapon is nice. Not quite as good as Cecil 'Sorrow's end" axe but unlike Cecil, Harald has the sense to ride a horse. Based on "Note, he may re-roll to wound against beastmen" I figure either A) Harald hates beastmen or B) The Knights Panther also has the whole "purity" thing baked in and they all can re-roll to wound rolls vs. Beasts of chaos.

Quote from: Damar on December 16, 2024, 02:42:55 PM
Based on "Note, he may re-roll to wound against beastmen" I figure either A) Harald hates beastmen or B) The Knights Panther also has the whole "purity" thing baked in and they all can re-roll to wound rolls vs. Beasts of chaos.

The note is just a weapon special rule, follows the same format as other magic weapons.

Knights Panther might of course have more special rules, but the only "confirmed" rule is the "re-roll a single natural one when making a charge roll".

I just wonder what we end up having to pay for the fancy special rules? Maybe they are locked to the knightly order list and are as such "free", but that would be a major bummer. At the same time, unless the rules are very good then it might be a hard sell to get the upgrades.

I like the dynamic pose mid swing. And the horse looks great. So tired of pauldrons, but at least the leopards head covers some of it.

Quote from: Perforated on December 16, 2024, 03:13:54 PM

Quote from: Damar on December 16, 2024, 02:42:55 PM
Based on "Note, he may re-roll to wound against beastmen" I figure either A) Harald hates beastmen or B) The Knights Panther also has the whole "purity" thing baked in and they all can re-roll to wound rolls vs. Beasts of chaos.

The note is just a weapon special rule, follows the same format as other magic weapons.

Knights Panther might of course have more special rules, but the only "confirmed" rule is the "re-roll a single natural one when making a charge roll".

I just wonder what we end up having to pay for the fancy special rules? Maybe they are locked to the knightly order list and are as such "free", but that would be a major bummer. At the same time, unless the rules are very good then it might be a hard sell to get the upgrades.

Harald can join any Empire army and since he must be with Knights Panthers, I would assume at least the charge bonus comes as part of the package for KP. And of course, that means KP is available for both Nuln and Grand Army.

Bollocks, it's the Citadel Journal approach instead of the WD#310. That means no "build your own order" rules