Warhammer Armies Overview.

The idea of this post is just to give an overview of the progress and state of the 3,000 point armies for my Warhammer Armies project. I will be doing better, more detailed photographs of the miniatures in each of the armies/contingents as I paint them. This is just a broad look, as I have something of everything, especially now I started the Skaven army.

A few months ago I stated that my plan was to build, and paint a 3,000 point army with an army list for each of the main armies in the Warhammer Armies book (and the Norse). As I have painted several armies, and am still working on others, I thought I would post an overview of how things are going so far, and what is left to do.

 Contents list of the Armies, Allies, and Mercenaries. 

The Armies:

The Dark Elves:

The army is half painted, and the list needs re-writing. It will not take too long to finish, and I plan on focusing on this army next. I have switched the Dragon Rider model to the Dark Elves, and repainted his flesh.

 I also added Chaos Snakemen to the army as permanent stand in models for a Fimir Ally Contingent.

 Wood Elves:

The army list written, only a few painted though.

High Elves:

As per the post the other week, I have enough High Elves to do a pure Cavalry army. However, this leaves me with a lot of spare miniatures. So the idea is to maybe do several different themed armies, Cavalry, Wardancer heavy, Archers, etc, to simulate differing Kingdoms. 

Below are the Wardancers, and some of the remaining infantry. I do have a further 40 Citadel Elf Spearmen as well, and Elwings Regiment of Renown.

 Empire:

I easily have enough for a 3,000 point army, and have written up a provsional list. The photo shows part of the army,  the Reiksguard, General, 40 Armbrustschutzen, (crossbows), 3 Cannon, and 30 Forstjaeger (Rangers).

 Close up of the 40 Armbrustschutzen, and 3 Cannon.

 Reiksguard and Rangers, with the General (the old ADD 18 Bard Adventurer pack)

 120 Helblitzen/ Erastzsolder with Halberds, and a further 30 Erastzsolder with hand weapons, light armour, shields. It will be an infantry army.

 Closer up.

As with all of the miniatures for this army, they are older pre-1990 ranges of C01 Fighters, C26 Men at Arms, and F2 Fighters, as well as the odd random humans from other ranges.

 The Bretonnians:

The army has a list and is nearly finished. I need to paint the 30 archers, then varnish/base/add flags.

Chaos:

The Army of the SoulFlayer is completed.

The Soulflayers army is largely a Beastman and Monster army. I do have some Chaos Warriors and will be sorting them out into a Warrior army.

 60 Warriors some Sorcerers, and Kaleb Daark. 

I also have some mounted Knights, and few more monsters, as well as the Disciples of the Red Redemption. Might have to have some as Warriors, Marauders or Thugs.

 Close up of some of them. Need to repaint them to give a more uniform feel, except the maybe the green one (C35 Chaos Warrior: Daethskar) in the Centre from the cover of the Warhammer 3rd Edition Rulebook.

They are a mix of earlier solid based Chaos Warriors, and the later Slaves to Darkness era miniatures.

 Skaven. 

This was the army I never got around to collecting at the time (apart from a dozen odd miniatures), and so have started quite recently. I have a rough army list done, but it needs tweeking or should that be squeeking? (sorry).

Please excuse the fact they are still in the bags, but I need base them up. There are about 70 Skaven from Heroquest, and 60 from the Warhammer regiments box set.

 A few metal Skaven. Forgot to photograph the two Rat Ogres. 

Orcs and Goblins:

This army is completed, and I have enough Orcs and Goblins to build a much bigger army. I keep meaning to do a Goblin only army list. 

I will do an update showing all the Orcs as I have a lot more of the C series ones, including solid based and later 1980's ranges.  

Dwarf Army:

Completed.

 Still have enough spare for expanding the army.

Slann:

Completed. I have more Slann  : )

 Undead:

Army list written but needs to be re/painted from scratch.

minly a mix of Citadel and Grenadier metal. Some of the Grim Reaper/scythe-armed skeletons are conversions/repairs. 

This army is low down on the list of being painted at the moment.

 Side view. 

 Norse:

The Army list from White Dwarf #107. 

Again I have written a draft Army list. The bulk of the army is made up from Norse Dwarves. I have a few Human Norse and Barbarians, but intend to get a some packs from Wargames Foundry of the old F4 Norse or Normans ranges.

 

 Close up. I have included the mounted Gimli model from the old Citadel Lord of the Rings Range.

Norse Wizard that looks a little like Odin, and Thrudd who I want to include somehow.

13 Plastic Fimir. I intend to add these to the Norse army. The idea of having Dwarves, Humans, Weres, Fimir, a Dragon, and a Giant Eagle all in the same army seems too good not to do! 

Slaaneshi Demon Legion army:

From Slaves to Darkness. I have not written an army list or have even looked at painting them at the moment. I need to sort out how many Mounts of Slaanesh will go to the Rogue Trader Emperors Children Army, so that I know how many will go to Warhammer Knights.

At 600 point per Demonette unit, I don't think that a 3,000 point army will be difficult. Using a Legion will probably in seperate gaming circumstances versus other Demon Legions.

Ally Contingents. 

With the Ally Contingents of the major races, I can use miniautres from the main armies for the contingents,  if I am not using that particular army. However, with the main armies lists above I have avoided just sharing miniatures between them and where I have included ally Contingents in them I have used the miniatures solely for that army.

The Chaos Ally Contingent:

 I have Chaos Dwarves, Chaos Centaurs, and if I need to add something specific I can borrow them from the other Chaos Armies. 

The Dwarf Ally Contingent:

Again I can borrow from  main army or Norse. 

The Dark Elf/High Elf/Wood Elf Ally Contingents:

I do have some spare miniatures from the main armies, but have no plans to use any Elf Allies.

Fimir Allies:

I am using these models for the Norse, and the Snakemen as permanent stand-ins in the Dark Elf army.

Old Worlder and Orc & Goblins:

No plans to use them. I have plenty of Orcs and Goblins if I change my mind. 

Pygmies: 

Can use them with larger Slann armies, but have no plans to.

Consists of  One Pygmy Chieftain, Pygmy Contingent Standard Bearer, Pygmy Shaman, 15 Pygmy Impis, 40 Pygmy Warriors, 18 Pygmy Scouts.

The Skaven Ally Contingent:

Again, no plans to use one. 

The Undead Ally Contingent:

No plans to use one

 The Halfling Ally Contingent:

Consists of about 40 warrior and 5 scouts, with a mounted Contingent Commander (Frodo on a Pony from the old Citadel Lord of the Rings Range).

I might use them in the Empire Army.

 Frodo, Ally Contingent Commander

 Close up of a few of the solid based characterful C11 Halflings.

The Zoat Ally Contingent:

I only have one Zoat, and he (or she?) is included in the Wood Elf army. 

I have no plans to get anymore, but might do in the one day.

Got 8 40k ones, but that might be cheating LOL

Mercenary Contingents. 

I tend not to use Mercenaries when I am fielding armies or writing up the lists. The main reason is because of the possiblity of them not fighting, leaving the battlefield, or worse still turning on you! Also, I did'nt want to have to allocate 'bride points'.

What Mercenary miniatures I do have are a result of me just collecting things I like.

Dwarf Mercenary Contingent:

Same as the Ally Contingent, not planning to use one, but can allocate from the main army if needed. 

 Giant Mercenary Contingent:

Below are the two largest Giants I have. Both are Grenadier miniatures Giants. On the left is the Goblin War Giant. He carries a platform full of Goblins which I have and requires painting. 

The other one is the huge and heavy Garloc, the Giant Prince. It is a huge model, and I have been meaning to paint him for a while. 

I do have other smaller Giants, but they are missing in the box with the Trolls. A few are early C28 giants, and all 3 of the later C28 ones, and a few are Ral Partha. I have the Marauder one too. Once I find them, I will do a blog post on them.

 Ogre Mercenary Contingent:

No plans to use them in the small 3,000 point armies, but I will in bigger armies.

 Below are 10 of the C23 Ogres I have painted. I have a few more, and some Ogres from Maruader and other compaines, as well as both sets of Golfags Regiment of Renown.

If I was to field all the goblins in one big Goblin 'Orc-less' army, then the Ogres would be there too! 

 Half Orc Mercenary Contingent:

I ended up buying Half Orcs as I was building up the Orc Army, but never really bothered with them too much. I like the miniatures. I have enough for 60 Warriors, about 10 Scouts, a mounted Contingent Commander and a Shaman.

They are a mix of old Citadel solid based and slotta C10 series, and a few Grenadier miniatures.

 Close up of solid based warriors.

 C33 Half Orc Hero, and C10 Cleric (used as a Wizard). 

Hobgoblin Mercenary Contingent:

As per a previous blog update, the Hobgoblin contigent is only a few Hobhounds sort of being the complete list. 

I used to use Hobgoblins back in the 1980's with the Dark Elves, but I have no intention of fielding them at the moment. They mostly need paint stripping.

Nippon Mercenary Contingent:

I only have a few random miniatures and never really started a Mercenary Contingent. If you just stuck to Warhammer Armies, then you could only field them with Dark Elves, and I always had other things to field, and other miniatures to buy. 

Tempted to nostalgically pick up some re-released ones from Wargames Foundry, although Perry Miniautres is the way to go for a new Samurai army.

 Orc, Norse, and Old Worlder Mercenary Contingents:

Again, no plans for these, although I can borrow from the main armies if really needed. 

Slann Mercenary Contingent: 

In White Dwarf # 96 there is a Slann Mercenary Army list (the Slann 'O War article). I have no intention of using the list for any of the armies, although perhaps in a big battle it might be fun. I can easliy fill all the slots for the army, although might be a few Human Slaves short of the maximum 80 allowed.

I think it would be a good narrative idea to have them in a Norse army. 

That is the overview. 

My next plan is to finish off the Bretonnians, and to find the Trolls (a quest perhaps!). Not sure what will be in the next blog update, but more painted Goblins will be there :)

Dude where's my Trolls? : The failure of plans A & B, and the road to Dresda. And Goblins, of course! .

After a break from blogging at the weekend,  I had planned the next update would be a listing and photographing of all of my armies that are listed in Warhammer Armies, as well as the Ally and Mercenary Contingents.
However...

...I have been a bit pushed for time, and quite tired from a mix of the heat and a horrid summer cold :( . When I had spare time and I was not out and about, I decided to paint Bretonnians or play Civ III.  Making some progress on the Bretonnians, 20 of the Knights and 40 of the Villians now 'completed' (still require basing and flags adding). So, after the mass photographing of Slann,  I decided to go for plan B, to photograph all my Trolls.
However.....

.... a couple of weeks ago I spent some time re-boxing and sorting out miniatures, and now cannot for the life of me remember where I put the Trolls. Somewhere in the room I am currently typing in are 40 or so Trolls, lurking. I even checked under my scenery bridge, but to no avail. :(  .
 However.....

...whilst looking for the Trolls I found an old game  called Dresda, released by Alternative Armies back in the 1990's, and so thought I would update about that, the ongoing Bretonnians, and of course as few Goblins. Oh, and I bought another Slann from e-bay (another Slann Lieutenant with Mace from the Magnificent Sven).

Enjoy.

20 Bretonnian Knights, including the King.

 King and the Chevaliers D'Honneur.

 Viscomtes and Chevaliers De Norte Dame de Bataille.

 40 Villians WIP,
with 20 WIP peasant Rascals behind them. 

 Dresda. 

This was Alternative Armies Fantasy companion game to Flintloque. It was released in 1996, and contained a paper rulebook and a dozen or so miniatures. I think it was about £20 at the time, but cannot quite recall .

The company was set up by some former GW staff in about 1991 (and still in business), and had the feel of people trying to keep the feel of 1980's Warhammer alive, even though the rules were very different in thier execution. It was more of a skirmish game rahter than massed combat, but could work for larger battles.

I enjoyed playing it at the time, but not sure if anyone ever plays it now.

 Snap shot of the rule book.

 The rules were the same as Flintloque, only without muskets, and with more medieval weapons options. The background was placed in the Alternative Armies world of Valon  before the time of black power weapons that characterised Flintloque, and with Humans a as besieged newly emerging race attacked by the older races of Elves, Orcs, and others.

Instead of points values, you raised warbands and hired troops with an initial random generation of gold coins and then you had to gain gold to keep and expand your force!

 The Doomegarde, the Human miniatures that came in the box.

 Two Halberdiers. Really nicely detailed miniatures. 

Painted to the colours on the box art. 

 On the right, from the background in the book, is the female leader of this particular band of humans named Olrika von Viebrick, the widow of a reknowed hero.

 Two more halberdiers.

 Rear view, showing the 'on campaign' look and detail of the miniautres.

 Scale photgraph, next to a rogue Trader Imperial Army/Guard (I'll have to photograph them another time).

As the case with many Alternative Armies miniatures, they can be much taller than older Citadel miniatures, the halberdier is mounted on a 25mm base. Personally I think they are better quality than the Flintloque miniatures of the time.

 Orc leader from the box set.

As well as the humans, the box set came with 10 Orc miniautres, some of which are with the errant Trolls I am unable to find!

 Orcs, again very detailed and much larger that Citadel ones.

 Female and male Orcs. 

 Two more Orcs. 

The background in the book gives the Orcs, Goblins, and Bog Orcs (a sort of bigger Orcs) more of a background and life to them them, rather than just cannon fodder. The idea of the rules was that you had  personalities for the members of your warband, not just nameless troops.
Personally, the Dresda ruleset reminds me of the time when I, like many other others, gave up with Warhammer and looked around to what else there was emerging. In the 1990's, before the internet was widespread, it was not easy for a lot of these ideas and companies to get known and started. I played Dresda at a local (now long closed) miniatures shop.

Goblins! 

20 Archers.

Shaman with his knife removed used as a standard bearer from the Command range. Centre is a spare hornblowing musician from the second version of Groms Goblin Guard. On the right is a C12 Goblin named Grak.

Three more Goblin archers, one C12 Goblin with a crossbow called Blart, one Goblin with a fancy helmet, and another with a less fancy helmet and looking less happy about it.

They are all later 1980's Kev Adams Citadel.

Three Iron Claw Goblins.

On the left is a naked Hasslefree Miniatures Goblin Scout. 

The other one is one of my favorite Iron Claw Goblins, I love the face and the helmet.

Three more later 1980's Goblins, the centre one is a C12 Goblin named Zit, and he is a variant of the less than happy Goblin in a helmet from before.

Left is a Harlequin/Black Tree Goblin with a crested helmet, centre a 1980's Citadel. The one on the right is a Citadel Goblin, but I am not sure from which range. I thought he might be ADD or Lord of the Rings, but cannot find him.

Finally, is a solid based C14 Night Goblin on the left, and on the right is another Citadel Goblin from the later 1980's.

The centre Goblin is a mystery. I think he might be a Heritage Models or Asgard miniature, but I am not sure. He bears a striking resembalance to the Goblin name Cawl (one half of the duo 'Bec and Cawl'! ) , on page 196 of Brain Frouds and Terry Jones book, 'The Goblin Companion, A Field Guide to Goblins' (page 136 of the larger  'Goblins of the Labyrinth Book').

..but still no Trolls, despite having the Goblins out looking for them ;)

Next blog update will hopefully be back to Plan A, and be a list with photos of all the Armies/Allies/Mercenaries in Warhammer Armies, and an further update on the Bretonnians.