# 'There's Forty Schillings on the Drum.' - An Empire Nordland Log



## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

_The Empire is a large and diverse nation, home not only to men but to Dwarfs, Halflings, Ogres and more. Though many great rivers run through the Empire the only coastline is to be found in the Grand Barony of Nordland. It is here, in Nordland, that the brave men of the northern Empire fight daily to keep their nation free from marine invaders.

Ostensibly one of the Empire's poorer provinces the fortunes of Nordland are not quite as they seem. The Coastal Road running to Marienburg brings much gold into Nordland by way of wary merchants not willing to brave the Drakwald. Countless tollbooths straddle this thoroughfare and each toll-keeper will have his due. Hundreds of Imperial Crowns are collected each day along the Coastal Road, though precious few of them seem to make it to the Imperial tax collectors.

It is this money that keeps Nordland, and thus the Empire, safe. With it Count Gausser maintains the large state army of Nordland as well as employing numerous mercenaries, acquiring the latest technology from the Imperial School of Engineers and keeping up his dues with the Colleges of Magic. As the Nordlanders often fight those tainted by Chaos the Church of Sigmar is only too happy to lend its aid to the troops of Nordland._

Once more I am taking part in a play by post Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game and once again it has ignited my passion for Warhammer. Like the last time we started playing WFRP I have been inspired to start an Empire army. However, unlike last time, I have managed to get a cracking deal on eBay for a decent sized army, mostly still on the sprues, comprising of the lovely 6th Ed. minis.

I spent this afternoon cleaning up some assembled Handgunners as well as some Pirazzo's Lost Legion, which I intend on using as crossbowmen. I've had the Legionnaries since I first started in this hobby over a decade ago, and so the little paint that is on them was applied with gumption and good intentions but no skill. My skill hasn't improved much since then, so this army will primarily be getting dipped. Not dunked, but washed with Army Painter's Strong Tone. This will allow me to have a nice looking army that I can play with, as playing with unpainted minis is unconscionable.

_Fernando Pirazzo had once thought he would never live to see his beloved Tilea again. He had signed up on an expedition to Lustria with some merchants from Tobaro. It was here that he and his Legionnaire's quickly learned to fight with a mixture of crossbows and pikes, the surest defence against the vicious denizens of that benighted continent. Now in the employ of Count Gausser the Lost Legion has discarded their pikes in favour of being exclusively armed with crossbows, reasoning that they are better suited to naval warfare. Once more Fernando wonders if he will ever return home to Tilea._

Now I'm sure a lot of people only post fluff with their models once they're fully painted, but as I only started working on them today that's not possible. That, and I have an overactive imagination and love writing these little snippets even if they don't get read. I know I'm guilty of just flicking through logs for pictures at times. I'm afraid the pictures aren't the best as it was taken with my HTC Desire, which takes lovely distance shots but doesn't have a macro function for closer up work. I do however have a proper camera, it is just in need of batteries currently. 










These look rather shiny as they had just been washed to remove any grease and much that they've accumulated over the last decade. It was quite a bit, let me tell you! The plan with these is to paint them in a scheme similar to the one shown on the GW website, but using blue and yellow as spot colours on sashes and feathers etc. In the army they will simply be fielded as Crossbowmen, though whether they will have the Full Command or not is currently up in the air. They will be getting a banner made for them, but I'm not sure what is going on there yet.

_Handgunners form an important part of the army of Nordland, the damage they can do to invaders and their ships in invaluable. Whilst not as powerful as some of the larger contraptions from the Imperial College of Engineers the handgun does a mighty service to the safety and security of Nordland._










Again, not the best picture I'm afraid, but it gets the idea across. I'm a big fan of these 6th Ed. plastics, they're just more my cup of tea than the newer State Troop plastics. That isn't to say that the new plastics won't be integrated at some point, but for I'm going to try to stick to 6th Ed. as far as possible.

Now, just for funzies, is a comparison shot between a Lost Legionnaire and a Handgunner. There must be something in the water in Nordland as the Hadgunner is a good bit bigger than the Tilean, either that or Tileans are just midgets.










Below is the list of all the models I have currently to build and paint, colour coded to show status.

Red - Unbuilt
Yellow - Built
Orange - Painting in Progress
 Green - Complete

Warrior Priests of Sigmar - w. Great Weapon
Grey Wizard
Amber Wizard
 Jade Wizard
 Engineer
10 Handgunners
Captain on Foot
20 Swordsmen
Templar Grand Master
Warrior Priest of Sigmar - w. Two Hand Weapons
20 Spearmen
20 Handgunners
20 Free Company
2 Cannon/Mortar
6 Pistoliers
8 Knights 
10 Greatswords
Steam Tank


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

Look forwards to seeing them painted up mate 

An Empire Army is something I've always wanted, not sure why, I've never played whfb, but it appeals to me  I'll be watching this


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## alasdair (Jun 11, 2009)

Cool, another fantasy blog! I am looking forward to this one.


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

Thanks for the interest guys and the encouragement. Always helps. 

After seeing Lucius von Kalteisen's 'Project El Dorado' over on WiP I decided I wanted some of that Ogre goodness and so went and faffed around on eBay. I didn't get Golfag and co. like LvK, but I did get Golgfag and co. There is a difference. One unit has an extra 'g' in it, and is about 15 years younger I'd reckon.

Anyway, picture.










Now, that’s Golgfag, Skaff and three of their closest drinking buddies. I’ve also got a sixth Ogre, meaning I can run them in two ranks, but he’s not in this picture. What I need to decide with these guys is whether I am running them as Golgfag’s Mercenary Ogres to get access to a slightly better sergeant type model, or as Bulls from the Ogre Kingdoms book to get access to Bull Charge. Any ideas?


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## Vredesbyrd (May 13, 2010)

Well I'm looking forward to painting the Ogres, but they're going to be untouched for quite a while - they're not getting painted until I've got my 2,000 point list painted up. I want to start playing with my Empire as soon as possible but I can't stand playing with unpainted models.

To that extent I've done some test-priming today. An interesting concept but I basically wanted to see if I can work with the Army Painter colour primers I've spent so much money on, or if they're going back in the drawer and I'm buying more Tamiya. At this early stage I prefer the Tamiya, but I've heard that with Army Painter you need to perservere and practice with the sprays to get the best results.

So, not a whole lot of an update here, but I present a primed Wizard Lord and a primed Battle Wizard. One is a Jade Wizard, the other Grey and in grave danger of becoming known as Greystache... Subtle I am not. 










The Jade Wizard has been hit with a few light coats of Army Painter's Human Flesh spray, and the Grey has had Tamiya Gray Surface Primer, which has a lovely light consistency but with a nice pigment level. The greatest test of the Army Painter system though isn't going to present for at least three days - how well I can use spray varnish. The instructional videos on the Army Painter website suggest giving the models a good long drying time before painting, so I'll not be doing that until tomorrow. They then need 24 to 48 hours to dry completely after dipping, hence the wait to see how it all works out.


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Ohh, intresting, another fantasy log! I'll be following this for sure, especially as it's Empire :victory:.


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Ah, the Empire. For some reason I have always liked the Empire. Not really sure why. I have a Empire army in progress, so I'll for sure follow this to maybe shame me into more progress.


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