Wednesday 1 February 2017

From GregB: Warmaster Empire Knights (48 points)

Two units of Empire Knights for GW's "Warmaster"

Since I let the Warmaster genie out of the bottle, I can't seem to put it back.  These figures have been neglected, unpainted and unloved for more than seven years, and since I started working on them again a few week ago, I want to make the effort count.  Here are two more units for my Empire army in Warmaster, both units of Empire Knights.

This unit is sporting colours from the Empire province of Hochland

I tried to use bright colours to create a contrast a "pop" on some of the features

While I am often wary of, and frustrated by, painting horses, I still love using cavalry in a game.  The heavier, the better, and in GW's Warhammer Fantasy setting, the Knights of the Empire are at the pinnacle of fun.  The Empire Knights are fantasy cavalry at its finest, at least for me - not fancy, flighty horses or silly magicians, but men and big horses covered in enough armour and barding to bring down a panzer division.

These gold coloured Knights are inspired by the "Knight of the Blazing Sun" from the Warhammer Fantasy setting
These sculpts are just total home runs - some of GW's finest work

In reality, armour imposes burdens on warrior and mount that can limit its use...but in the fantasy setting, we can just bin most of those worries, and the malleability of the Warhammer Fantasy Old World as a setting offers limitless possibilities.  Obscure Knightly orders? Sure. Elite guards for the Elector Count or the Emperor? Sure. Collection of well-financed, bad-ass nobles? Sure.  All together in the same force? Why not?

A closer shot of some of the Hochland lads
Some fellows in the gold armour for comparison

I know history offers some amazing examples of very heavy cavalry (man, I wish I could figure out either Byzantines or Persians so I could paint Kataphracts) but the Empire Knights in Warhammer Fantasy really fit the bill for fun heavy cavalry on the table.

Some serious armoured power for the Empire army!

As before, I find GW just absolutely hit it out of the park with these little metal sculpts.  They have tons of character, beautiful barding and large plumes of feathers - dramatic, flashy and bad-ass.  I painted two of these units this past week, but these are so nice, I could paint ten more before I got tired of them...so of course I've been scouring Ebay for more...

Obligatory overall photo - the force is getting pretty serious now!
In the Warmaster game the Knights are the Empire player's hammer, an integral part of the force.  While the halberdiers, crossbowmen and artillery will hopefully hold the line, the Knights must charge home at the right time and deliver a blow for the forces of their Elector Count.  It will take some time to get some enemies painted, but I look forward to these fellows getting the opportunity to do just that.

This submission includes 24 mounted 10mm figures, so that should put another 48 points on the pile, the drive to 1,000 continues.  I have more Warmaster stuff in the pending pile, but I think some more 30k stuff beckons...see you next week!

Paul & Alan: Great stuff Greg - the bright colours look brilliant! Wonderful to see some old school Warmaster come out of the box and that army shot is a cracker. 48 points well earned!

29 comments:

  1. Nice work Greg. First look thought they were 28 mm, dam must be getting old.

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  2. fantastic stuff - the contrast on the bright colours really works at this scale. Totally garee with you on the knights in warhammer - forget the reality of it, this is "boys own" stuff and knight like we thought of them as kids. And now I feel like scouring ebay for Warmaster stuff!

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    1. Give in...you will have a great time painting these things, just some of the best 10mm stuff ever done.

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    2. No but I read books and have access to a library a book store and an ereader! True there's no GW Codices for spoon feeding, but the WAB Byzantine Supplement's not far off (I can lend you mine), plus Ospreys and the old WRG manuals.

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  3. The bright colours have really worked well, look ace . The overall shot is great a serious amount building up .

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  4. Brilliant looking knights, the knights of the blazing sun look especially good, love them.
    Best Iain

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  5. Very Nice work. They came out really well.

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  6. They look grand, Greg! Excellent choice on the province and knightly order too as the colors really punches up the color riot of your force!
    One of the few GW games I never went in on, I do have some regrets now seeing that force you have! ;)

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  7. Lovely little Knights Greg. What on earth is there that needs figuring out about Byzantines - just do a bit of research and do it!

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    1. "...just do a bit of research and do it..."

      Do you work in IT?

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    2. Smashing stuff Greg (literally)! With you liking these cavalry figures you would absolutely LOVE painting stuff for the Great Italian Wars. In fact, I would say that these guys are far from being 'fantasy' in their armour and colours, and in fact their array is pretty tame compared the whacky-and-wonderful examples of armour and plumage that was worn during the wars of the Renaissance. I'll put together a 'reading list' of books and blogs for you to check out as I'd love to see you get into this period of history.

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    3. Thanks dude - that would be awesome. I think for practice I will try and unit of these guys where the look of the knight unit is not uniform, and get some even whackier colours into the mix.

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    4. For knights, check out Eureka and Steel Fist. Both make absolutely gorgeous metal gendarme cavalry in both the Italian and German style. I've just received Oliver's gendarmes (Steel Fist) and they are amazing, with all the plumage separate so you can mix and match.

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  8. OMFG those Steel Fist miniatures look bloody amazeballs...

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    1. Yes, they are very tasty. I used a trio of their dismounted knights for my Francis I command stand for our 'Armour' round. All of them were a joy to work on.

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  9. Loving your Empire work, you seem to have hit the sweet spot for the colour and presentation. Looking forward to seeing more of them

    Ian

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  10. These are great, Greg, they really hit the mark. Well done!

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  11. Bloody great work Greg! Never been a fantasy guy but your take on these tinies makes me want to immediately scrounge ebay for some of these. They do look rather impressive as a force too.

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  12. Loving this army and watching it grow. Excellent stuff. cheers

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  13. Missed those! The best part about Warmaster is definitely the cavalry! It looks great!

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  14. This has to be my favourite stuff this year Greg. Just beautiful, all of it. Makes me want to get back into mine!

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