Empire General and Pistoliers

Some troops and a general to do Karl Franz's bidding. Nothing fancy with these, just straight Contrast on everything except the metallics.

The Empire force is really starting to build now but I still have a few foot and mounted companies to complete before I can go for a force selfie.

Karl Franz on Deathclaw

This is the Emperor of the Empire contingent from the Warhammer world that was (and will soon be again given the previews coming out of Forge World). Terrific model, plastic allowing the sculptor to do something to a true scale (as far as you can with mythical beasts) whilst keeping the price low (in GW terms) and ensuring the gamer doesn't have to reinforce their table to deal with the weight.

The warhammer carried by Karl, which I believe is THE Warhammer, seems a little superfluous as I doubt he could reach anything from the back of Deathclaw.

Still it's the look of the thing that counts. Feathery and metal bits are done in acrylics, the eagle claws and lion rear end Contrast.

Empire - Swordsman Unit

As with the spearmen these are from an old battalion box I had lying around. The army is taking shape now and in a speedy fashion thanks to my new reliance on Contrast paints for everything except metallic and white highlighting. I don't know if I will use Contrast for historical figures as I'm not convinced that the colours look realistic enough but, as will be seen in this blog, they have become my go to paints for all things of a fantastical or science fiction bent.

The complete unit

Standard bearer

Officer

Empire - Huntsmen Unit

These are the expert archers and skirmishers for the Empire. Once more a box I had lying around for nearly eight years before they got built and splattered. The reason for suddenly resurrecting these was a few games of Warlords of Erehwon which is a figure manufacturer agnostic fantasy skirmish game from Warlord.

There's a chance these guys will get used in anger at some point!

Empire Spearmen and Wizard

The Empire Army continues to be assembled. This regiment is from the batallion pack that used to be available before the world that was met its apocalyptic fate. The figures themselves are still available and have recently been included as part of the Age of Sigmar, Cities of Sigmar codex.

Also finished is a figure started way back in 2014.

Contrast Paints - Third Try

Another Star Wars Legion figure, this time one of the main bosses Darth Vader himself.

I'm almost embarrassed at how little time this took; including undercoating about thirty minutes.

1. Spray Painted in Grey Seer
2. Liberally covered in Black Templar Contrast paint
3. Painted luminous buttons and light sabre in white
4. Spiritstone Red and Waystone Green on the buttons and sabre
5. Bit of silver metallic on the sabre handle
6. Tidy up
7. Finally texture paint and ink wash on base

Rather pleased with the results - black I find is very hard to do.

Contrast Paints - Second Try

Basically I'll buy anything with Star Wars on it. Yes, I am part of that huge cadre of middle aged men who keep George Lucas's pension fund nicely topped up.

Naturally, I was quick to purchase Fantasy Flight Games' miniature skirmish game Legion. Very quick - in fact I did so from a departure lounge in Charles de Gaulle airport. The miracle of the internet where I can watch all my money dissipate from my bank account app and into the paws of Amazon execs.

Another group whose pension pots I regular contribute to.

Then the usual happened; the game arrived, sat with cellophane un-peeled for a number of months whilst I purchased the odd supplement and read about how wonderful it was on the internet.

One of these supplements were Death Troopers, the black clad, bully-boy, special forces types from Rogue One. Like the base set they sat unmolested for months, black is a hard colour to paint and rather tedious to my mind. Then the miracle of Contrast arrived; eventually GW produced enough Black Templar paint to sate initial demand and the results are below:

The full squad

NCO

Trooper with pistol

These were so easy, once primed I don't think I spent more than an hour on them. Quick splash of Black Templar, dry brush some metal on the gun; finally base the green and red lights in white and then an appropriate GW technical paint to get the reflection.

Building an Empire Army – Introduction

Finally after years of resisting I’ve succumbed to Warhammer and decided that I need to build an army. The first major decision is of course which one? It ended up being a choice between the Orcs and Empire. The Empire won out as I have always been intrigued by the mix of pike and fire arms plus I’d actually spent the past couple of years building and painting an Ork army for Warhammer 40K.
There’s only so much Goblin Green a man can take.
Anyhow first up on the list is always some characters, that way I can make decisions on colours and heraldry and then let them permeate down into the rank and file.

The two on the left are from Citadel’s Empire Generals plastic set and the one on the right is Markus Wulfhart from the Citadel Finecast series. All ready for some undercoat.
And would you look at the size of the chap in the middles warhammer? What’s not to like?