Chris' Empire Army - Month 5 - General and Lieutenant (402 points)

It been an easier month the with the character models painted.  Including Klaus, Count Palantine Von Reikland Lvl 25 hero, riding Hippogriff and Paschalis von Eichschatten - Lvl 10 hero, riding barded warhorse.

These two guys bring me to a total of 2591 points so far.  I have also started work on the baggage camp - pictures next month along with my last unit of flagellants

Byron's Duke Wilhelm of Gusseldorf - Leader Month (255 pts)

This month was another slow month, at least in terms of painting. I got a job! and relocated to Washington just across the Columbia. So I have been very preoccupied. I anticipated that I would be busy so I planned on only getting one model done. 

Without further ado, I present Duke Wilhelm of Gusseldorf upon his trusty Opinicus, Rudolf. 

A little more ado - I sculpted Wilhelm and Rudolf. I wanted Wilhelm to have a real old school vibe so I had pictures of the AD&D bard model from Citadel up to use as a reference. He is a noble so his cloths had to be a tad fancier than the typical fanciness of medieval Germans. Therefore, he has a bigger hat than any of my other models, many layers to his sleaves, and boots with medieval up and downies around the top. I sculpted Wilhelm to have an alternative sword option, but I chose the lance option for him. 

Rudolf is an opinicus, which is like an off-brand griffon. The difference being that opinicuses (opinici??) have feline front paws instead of eagle claws. There are lots of griffon models out there, so I wanted mine to be a tad different. The other big consideration was the base size. In old warhammer editions monsters were, almost exclusively, on 40x40mm bases. So, Rudolf here had to fit on a 40x40mm base. From a design standpoint, I also wanted Rudolf to have an old school vibe. A lot of monsters today are rather chonky. The most recent permutation of Karl Franz, for example, appears to be riding a factory farm chicken with cat legs attached at the rear. Older monsters were leaner and ganglier so that's what I went for.  

Empire General w/ shield, light armor, and Lance ...... 105 pts

Griffon ..........................................................................150 pts

Total                                                                                255 pts

Jeff Allen's February Post, Empire-Kislev (376 points)

In the Facebook Group I joked about not experimenting with your painting styles during a challenge. You want to get in, paint and get out, or be left in the Field of Bones. Well that is exactly what I did not do.

I love these figures. I couldn't just slap a coat of paint on them and call it a day. I got a wet palette for the first time. I watched some color mixing tutorials on YouTube. I really pushed my self.

Unfortunately I think I'm a better painter than photographer. Most of the detail gets washed out in my photos. Anyway here they are.

First up is my Army General, an Elector Count. Sitting in my basement for 25 years

One of the great things about The Empire is the almost endless selection of Wizard Figures. Here is the Foot and Mounted version of my Army Wizard

 Next is the lovely Tzarina or The Ice Queen of Kislev. I am super happy about how she came out. I might buy another figure for her and make a foot version.

And last we come to the Horse Archers of Kislev. Born in the saddle, with bow and sword in their hands. Ready to kill the Tzaina's foes. I've loved these figures since they first came out. I have a unit I painted 20 years ago, that will get repainted to match this one.

Here is the whole Army all together so far. I can't wait to get it on the table.

So lets sum up:
Horse Archers - 96 pts
Elector Count - 100 pts
Tzarina Katarin - 65 pts
Wizard Mounted - 59 pts
Wizard Foot        - 56 pts
Total - 376

Next up will be...well shoot I don't know. I was gonna do the winged Lancers but I am getting a little tired of all the horses. So maybe I'll do the Kossars. Anyway, that's all for now.

Jeff