Empire of the Old World: Ostland troops - part I

Do you remember the Fantasy Empire army that I have painted during Orctober 2020 ? It was inspired by the Old World in the Warhammer universe. The yellow and red color scheme was meant to represent the army of Talabecland, one of the provinces of the Empire. After a few battles against the Orcs, it is time to add some reinforcements, an occasion to paint some troops from another province, and use another color scheme.

Among several possibilities, I chose to represent soldiers from Ostland. Their uniforms are black and white, a good association with the former color scheme, Moreover, the symbol on their provincial flags is a bull, and I happen to have a very nice figure to carry one of those banners.

So let's have a look at the first soldiers from Ostland.

Most figures come from the Late Renaissance range by Redbox. The halberdiers come from sets 72062 (Swiss halberdiers) and 72059 (Landsknecht halberdiers). The heavy pikemen come from set 72068 (Landsknechts heavy pikemen). The banner comes from an earlier period, since it is a late medieval Swiss soldier by Ultima Ratio (UR007 Swiss infantry - Uri). As a historical figure, he is not very accurate since he is meant to represent a horn blower AND the man holding the banner of the canton simultaneously. But since I am using him in a Fantasy universe, everything's ok.

The halberdiers alone:

Then the pikemen - they look like foot knights with pikes, I must admit that I had never seen such soldiers, but they look fine, all the more in a Fantasy world.

 

 The Ostland banner.

Of course I wanted to take pictures of these guys together with the Talabeclanders - what would be sweeter to a wargamer's eye than a large army (the largest so far :)).

You might have noticed that the old banner of this blog has been replaced by a new one, a part of the last picture above. Let the Orcs come!!

Orctober's battle: Empire vs Orcs

 How did it all end like this ?

Hum, let's go back to the past for a moment.

Today's the last day of Orctober, the month when Orcs (and their relatives: Goblins, Trolls, Uruk-hai...) try to sweep the world. In order to help them to win, painters all over the world focus on painting reinforcements for the green horde.

I was one of these painters in 2019, and completed a nice HOTT army as you can see here.

But this year, I thought it would be fair to help their opponents, and have the opportunity to display a large battle. So I chose to paint a human Empire army, inspired by Warhammer Fantasy Battle.It also was an occasion to paint historical Renaissance figures in a Fantasy frame.

The painting period started at the beginning of October and just ended yesterday - here you are the list of posts related to this project:

- episode 1: Explaining the challenge + halberdiers

- episode 2: More halberdiers

- episode 3: Artillery

- episode 4: Knights and fanatics

- episode 5: Fire power part I

- episode 6: Fire power part II

- episode 7: Army complete

 Now it's time to show the different units all together. These guys represent the army of Talabecland. They are led by the Duke of Talabecland himself. Their provincial colors are red and yellow. They're ready to defend a small village in the north of Talabheim.

After a long wait, the Orcish horde was here, ready to attack. The defenders were swiftly overwhelmed...

The worst job for a Goblin:

The duke himself is trying to stop the Warg riders.

Even the birds could see how desperate this fight was.

Will Talabecland be destroyed by these countless attackers ? Has this army been painted in vain ?

Hope you like them all (even the ugly ones :-D) !

Orctober challenge, episode 7: army complete !

 Dear fellow readers,

I am more than happy to tell you that the Orctober challenge - painting a 1/72 Empire army - is now over, and that I have reached my goals :)

In the previous episode, I explained that I had one element of knights and one general element left to paint.

Let's start with the general, and his companions:

First of all, the general. This mini represents the Duke of Talabecland. He wears a black enameled armour, as do his horse. He's wearing a red and yellow dress, since they are the colors of his duchy.

Next, an officer, in charge of the artillery on the battlefield: purple dress (something different, at last :)) with red and yellow facings.

Last, the standard bearer - always necessary on the battlefield. He bears a simple regimental banner and not the great banner of the duchy which should have a black eagle as coat of arms.

Now, let's have a look at the knights:

These are Dark Dream Studio Renaissance knights painted as Reiksguard, that is knights in full armour with red and white colors. These minis are absolutely wonderful in my opinion, and a real pleasure to paint. The armor in particular are full of nice details, as you can see on the close-up below:

The next picture shows my two elements of knights. The riders on the left are made by Miniart (see episode 4 for details). Regarding the sculpture, you can note how different these figures are.

The progress table confirms, the job is done !

Troop type	Number of elements	figs per element	Number of figures	painted figures
General (Knight)	1	3	3	3
Wizard	1	2	2	2
Knights	2	3	6	6
Halberdiers	2	4	8	8
Longswords	2	4	8	8
Arquebusiers	2	4	8	8
Fanatics	1	4	4	4
Bombard	1	4	4	4
Total	12		43	43

If you remember what I explained in episode 1, I primarily had 41 figures to paint. The total of figures was increased to 43 after I decided to have two wizards on the magician element, and three figures on the command element.

On the other hand, I already had 8 Longswords painted in 2017, so I've painted 35 figures this month for the Orctober challenge. As I usually paint around 120 figures per year (that's not a lot, I know), I must say that a good, though lonely challenge is a good way to stay motivated. 

Is it over ? Not completely (no, I'm not thinking of basing them, I know I have to, just like all the other figures, one day maybe).

Orctober is a month dedicated to Orcs, and I painted a complete Orc army for the 2019 Orctober challenge. This time, I wanted to paint opponents for the Orcs, so tomorrow, with the probable help of my daughter, I will take pictures of the whole army standing, then in a fight against the Orcs.

See you tomorrow :)

Orctober challenge, episode 6: Fire power part II

 The second fire wizard is painted, my wizard element is now complete:

As expected, the second wizard is less impressive than the first one (at least in my taste): the poe is less dynamic, and the fire effect created over his head is not a success, even if I added some flames, as some of you advised me.

This conversion is based on a monk from Redbox set #72086 Russian War Monks.

I've also painted the last three Arquebusiers, so that the mercenary element is complete too. No uniforms here, but a common color scheme: green / red / white and some black.

Here they are, side by side with the Talabecland Arquebusiers;

Only two days left, and still some guys to paint, but the end is near:

Troop type	Number of elements	figs per element	Number of figures	painted figures
General (Knight)	1	3	3	0
Wizard	1	2	2	2
Knights	2	3	6	3
Halberdiers	2	4	8	8
Longswords	2	4	8	8
Arquebusiers	2	4	8	8
Fanatics	1	4	4	4
Bombard	1	4	4	4
Total	12		43	37

The three knights should be finished this evening, and I will have time tomorrow to focus on the command group: 

- An armored general on horse (maybe the duke of Talabecland himself)

- A flagbearer - an ordinary flag; in the future, I will have to replace him by a great banner, but I still haven't found the right figure - a conversion will be necessary

- A foot officer, with a purple dress.

No time to lose! Hope you like today's delivery :)