So I've been thinking a bit more about how I'm going to weave the story of an individual hero as he, or indeed she, wends their way through the world, recruiting warbands, raising armies and generally doing the hero-y type stuff one would expect.
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| The original painting used as the box art for Mighty Empires - The Battle of Alexander at Issus, by Albrecht Altdorfer, 1529. |
As an example I'm going to use
Baron Kraust - a character I've already fleshed out somewhat, although I might relocate him to some backwater fiefdom somewhere in the northern reaches of the Empire.
The Baron's journey would start at the mouth of the old barrow as he emerges newly clad in his chaos armour. A series of small skirmishes would ensue, using the WFB 2nd/3rd ed. or maybe even the Havoc or Skulldred rules, as he makes his way back to wreak revenge upon his rebellious peasants and raise an undead army. In between games he may be rewarded with chaotic followers as his power grows - might make my own random tables for this or possibly dip into Realms of Chaos. Typical objectives at this stage would be searching out well stocked cemetaries, raiding local militia's armouries and perhaps even seeking out magical artefacts, weapons or the last resting place of potential Undead heroes.
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Did you know I was a bit of a fan of Renaissance Art?
One of my favourites - Pieter (the Elder) Brueghel's Triumph of Death. |
Should the narrative take him near the coast, there may be scope for a Man O War game - either as he is forced to raise Undead vessels or steal Empire ships to escape being cornered by a superior Human force, or to use the sea to better transport his army to a particularly enticing target further down the coast.
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| Another atmospheric piece that captures my mind's eye view of the Old World - Brueghel again, with The Conversion of Saul. |
As the Baron's army grows and becomes a more serious threat to the Empire I would turn to Mighty Empires to plot his moves and fight the ensuing larger scale battles using Warmaster. Should things get particularly titanic I could always use the Mighty Empire's combat system! As has been suggested by Mattias in my last post, particularly key moments such as messengers trying to get through to forces on the flanks with vital orders, surprise attacks on artillery and baggage trains and desperate last stands as the General's personal retinue fight to protect their commander could all be played out as cut scenes in 28mm.
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Not added captions to my pics before - quite fun!
Here we have Brueghel's Suicide of Saul. |
So how would Kraust interact with other characters and armies I have in my collection? Well, in the initial small scale skirmishes as the Baron is finding his feet, he may well find himself raiding the same settlement that an up and coming Orc Chieftain has set his sights on. The same Orc Chieftain may well then go on, depending on the outcome, to either continue his own dearest raidings or retreat to lick his wounds and find a Goblin tribe or two to subjugate, in a separate series of sirmish games. As the Baron continues his (hopefully) meteoric rise to power, our Orc Chieftain, who by now should have a goodly sized horde following him, might well decide to throw in his lot with the forces of Undeath in a major assault on the Empire - cue Warmaster!
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| Detail taken from the Battle of Alexander at Issus. |
Similarly, the Baron could run into a small Wood Elf scouting force, out hunting Orcs (a tangled web we weave!) and, again depending on the outcome of that skirmish, earn himself a sworn enemy. Should the Elves be defeated, our ambitious Elf Lordling would be well within his rights to swear an oath of revenge and raise an army to track the Baron down. Who knows, a desperate town militia may well be forced to call on our Elf Lordling for aid against the Baron, or other threats as yet unkown - not to mention a beleagured Empire's call to arms to its allies in its hour of need.
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| More detail taken from The Battle of Alexander at Issus - you could spend hours pouring over this painting! |
As you can see the possibilities are many and varied, and with the aid of maps to plot the locations and travels of my main protagonists the narrative should write itself!
Lastly I'd like to pick your brains if I may. Do any of you good folk know if GW released any other minis for Mighty Empires other than these -
Specifically I'm after army banners representing other races - siege weapons and scenery I'm hoping to track down or use proxies from other 2mm/6mm manufacturers.
Edit - just nipped upstairs and compared the army banners from the Mighty Empires boxed set with my 10mm Copplestone Orcs and they're not a bad size match. I think the way forward might be to make up some pieces using 10mm minis from the likes of Pendragon and Kallistra.
Oh, and as a final thought, if you thought I was mad - check out this good fellow's mind bogglingly ambitious
project!
I am absolutely in awe at the amount of work this is going to entail, the progress that has been made so far and how brilliant it will look when its finished.
Mr Law, I salute you and good luck with your tile hunt!