Part 1
After 20 years of Warhammer Fantasy, I will be painting my first ever full army of The Empire. Until now I was paralysed with indecision, both on the colour palette and on the story I wanted to tell with them. What if I rolled out the finest batteries of Nuln’s artillery corps only to find I missed the simplicity of the common man with a sharp stick? Would Knights of Morr look out of place alongside the defenders of Middenheim? Can I face painting a whole army of lemon yellow uniforms?
Eventually I will probably have a bit of everything – I can’t help myself. All the better to run a civil war campaign with. But the time has come for me to commit to a project, and I intend to make up for all those years ignoring the heart and soul of the Old World. On this Warhammer Fantasy discord server, community elder NXL is running the second iteration of a grand army painting contest – evoking the spirit of the legendary Tale of Four Gamers series. The perfect opportunity to lean hard into a theme in a way you can only do if you’re painting an army all at once.
This is my submission for the contest:
The Wanderers of Wolfenburg are a band of defenders and refugees who survived the ravages of the Storm of Chaos in Ostland. Led by a hardened mercenary captain, they are guarding a relic rescued from the destruction by the cult of Sigmar who have vowed to carry it through the scorched landscape and chaos-haunted forests in search of a safe place. They are guided along this bleak road by an Imperial Roadwarden, and offered protection by the Order of the Hunters of Sigmar. This is taking place in the timeline of WFRP 2nd edition, which chronicles the aftermath of the Storm of Chaos canon.
Some of the models I’ve tracked down for this project range toward the obscure. The thematic heart will be the Ostland warband for Mordheim, who epitomise the rough and rugged, suspicious and superstitious nature of the province. Armed primarily with pistols, they will be fielded as the Knightly Templars of Sigmar Order (using supplementary rules from Warhammer Armies Project).
Also joining us from Mordheim are the Roadwarden and the Freelance Knight, whose shield already bears the bull emblem of Ostland. The Mordheim Witch is making an appearance too, as a Baba Yaga type of figure (perhaps the Beastmen ate her gingerbread house).
The original steam tank from 4th edition suits the scale of a warband type army better than the larger renditions which feel like they belong in a grandiose parade. At night, the Wanderers will gather round its boiler for warmth as the winter closes in.
The Hunters of Sigmar (originally styled on the old GW website) are armed with shoddy equipment, and often favour great weapons and woodsman’s axes to the standard lance. Famous Beastmen hunters, they will be adorned with the paraphernalia of the hunt and the trophies of their catch.
Most expensively, I have found a use for some rare models in my collection. This unit will be run as Greatswords (with a Unit Filler), however the models are actually a Warrior Priest unit – an unreleased sculpt by Games Workshop for the Empire that I suspect was planned for release in the late 90s. The holy relic they are transporting is a prototype Empire War Altar, also unreleased, and sculpted I think by Marauder. Far smaller than its later editions and lacking rules, I felt the best use for it was a thematic component of an infantry unit.
These will be backed up with a rag-tag band of irregulars, armed with bows and pointed sticks and torches, dragging the last of the artillery they could salvage from the town.
Finally, I have challenged myself to paint this army in a limited colour palette such as that employed famously by OG Warhammer artist John Blanche. Ostland’s provincial colours are already black, white and red, and the burnt, brutalised landscape will have no green left. I also will try my hand at lighting some of the models as if they are illuminated by torchlight and campfires, although this runs the risk of everything being too dark and dingy to make out details. Part of the challenge.
NXL’s Great Waaaaaagh challenge runs from 1st July through the end of September. Updates will be posted here as well as in Discord.