Painting Challenge Submission #5 - Warmaster Dogs of War Artillery

10mm "Galloper Guns" for Warmaster. 

A participant in Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge had been inspiring me with his Warmaster-scaled Dogs of War entries. I too love playing GW's "Warmaster", and I also love the "Dogs of War". Now, the "Dogs of War" were done by GW in 28mm, never in their old 10mm version of the Fantasty game. But thanks to the efforts of genius 3D designers and printers, there are now some really awesome "Dogs of War" suited just perfectly for the scale - and submission #5 to the AHPC is a prime example. This is a battery of Mercenary "galloper guns", modeled on "Bronzino's Galloper Guns" from the original "Dogs of War" collection. I believe these were designed by "MiniRat". 

Bronzino directs his crew as the gun is laid for action...

The match is lowered...

Of course, the original 28mm version of Bronzino had lost a leg, poor chap. The battery commander here still has both - so one might assume this is simply a younger, less-veteran version of the famous mercenary commander (or perhaps the more famed commander is available as a separate hero sculpt, something I need to investigate). These figures have been gathering dust in my pile for years...after all I painted a 10mm version of Braganza's Besiegers back in 2022, and I would have picked these up at the same time... 

On this base, we have a limbered version of the gun - move lads!

These "MiniRat" designs are just brilliant. The proportions have a slight amount of exaggeration, done just right, to enhance the look of the 10mm sized figure. I tried to catch every detail I could manage. 

These sculpts are just tremendous! They are really fun to paint.

Maybe the only issue I encountered is that they did not size very well on the bases...in hindsight I should have shaved off the sharp edges, as they are all sculpted/printed together on the single base...oh well...contract firepower to support the highest bidder is now available for my Warmaster collection! That's all for this week - hope to be back with more "catching up" posting from the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge soon. 

Warmaster Empire Characters

Some Empire Characters for Warmaster. Sculpts by MiniRat, printed by Excellent Miniatures.

Just one more post before Christmas - a few more Warmaster character figures, this time for The Empire. These figures are 3D prints, sourced from Excellent Miniatures, and I believe the design genius behind the files is MiniRat Studios. Here we have a wizard, a priest (certainly can be a Priest of Sigmar, but this is not specified), and an Elector Count.

A Priest of Sigmar.

Nice little shrine to accompany the Priest.

Nice big hammer to sort out those who do not believe!

My Empire forces for Warmaster are pretty old and established, but having coming across these sculpts, I thought they were all so cool that I wanted to add them to my collection, taking to the field to lead and support the forces The Empire on the table. Long time fans of Warhammer Fantasy Battle will recognize the inspiration for these sculpts from GW's long-lost WHFB ranges. 

A College of Magic wizard - spell in progress!

A really, really cool sculpt - ready to zap the foes of The Empire.

These sculpts are brilliant, and there are many, many small details that are just wonderful to see - and try to capture if I can with my brush. Like any project, there are always things you look back on and wish you could have done better, but there is always scope to improve, and these small, 10mm figures are the sort that will inspire you to keep going!

An Elector Count to lead the forces of The Empire.

Yet another amazing sculpt, tons of detail, which I did my best to capture.

In "Warmaster", the command and character models are important, but their influence is subtle - some can throw a few spells, and they can join regiments in the line of battle to add a lift their combat ability, but their most important role is to provide commands that move your units around the table. These character models add a nice touch of Empire "flavour", and I hope they can see action on the table someday soon. 

Thanks for visiting - happy holidays to everyone, and as the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge gets underway, watch for the submissions to start rolling in! 

Warmaster - Braganza's Besiegers

Another quick detour into "Warmaster" - "Braganza's Besiegers", a Regiment of Renown, created in 10mm by the brilliant MiniRat!

Fans of the now-deceased Warhammer Fantasy Battle may recall the "Dogs of War" faction - the assortment of mercenaries which could take to the field as their own army, or could be hired out to anyone willing to pay for them! These were excellent models, with fun back stories for the units - the "Regiments of Renown" - and they were pretty effective on the gaming table to boot. It was sure fun to bring large pike blocks into action against, say, Brettonians! The "Dogs of War" were fully realized in 28mm, but never did get the Warmaster scale treatment - thanks to 3D printing and brilliant designers, that is changing, as you can see in this post! I present "Braganza's Besiegers", a regiment of mercenary crossbowmen. These are 3D prints designed, I think, by "MiniRat" and printed under license by Excellent Miniatures.

Luca Braganza himself stands tall in the front line!

Most (though not all) of the "Dogs of War" mercenary units were from the Tilean city states, and this group of doughty and heavily armoured pavisse crossbowmen were foremost among their ranks. Under the leadership of Luca Braganza, the Besiegers were a sturdy and interesting missile unit option in the WHFB game. Unlike most missile units in WHFB, the Besiegers tended to hold up pretty well when contacted in melee, thanks to their armour and large pavisse shields, and so you could put them in different and unexpected places on your battle line.

A view of the battle line...

I really can't say enough about these sculpts - they are incredible, more than worthy heirs to the great tradition of "Warmaster" figures!

The "Dogs of War" were my first WHFB army - sadly no longer in my possession, of course. When I came across these figures during my more recent Warmaster efforts, my nostalgia was of course immediately triggered, and I was keen to add them to my existing Empire forces for Warmaster. The quality of the design/sculpting is incredible on these - they are lovely, faithful sculpts capturing very well the look and feel of the unit - and you can even see Luca Braganza himself! It was a real treat to paint these up, a palette-cleansing project in between 30k models.

Close up from behind showing more details, and my rather crude freehand on the banner.

Which Elector Count will pay up to ensure these fellow are on the right side?

While there were no official rules for Dogs of War in the Warmaster game, I really don't think it will be difficult to come up with some stats for them (and I'm pretty sure there are excellent fan-created ones out there, or just pavisse crossbow ones from Warmaster Historicals). The opportunity to add mercenary units (and, perhaps, some of the "logistical" problems that come with them) to a game of Warmaster in the future would be lovely, and as ever, the jolt of nostalgia will be great fun too.

It was lovely to spend a little time on Warmaster. But my brushes, of course, were soon back to projects tied to the, er, "other" Warmaster...stay tuned for more on that, and thanks for visiting!