OWAC IV - The Hammerers - Part II

Nothing much to say on the next 3 hammerers. Obviously the one with the bull on the helmet represents the clan of the BlackHorns, already providing a regiment of pikemen:

The warrior with the boar on the hammer and on the shield protects the interest of the FrostPeak clan, represented by a regiment of halberdiers.

And the last one used the colours of the Canton of Zürich (yeah, still looking for a proper name):

To complement the regiment, I have slightly converted a MM10 warrior into a musician by giving him a horn and changing his left hand, and painted one of the MM11 champions in the colours of the FrostPeak clan. 

The second part of the unit:

And the whole band...

... protecting the paymaster's chest!

See you next month!

OWAC IV - The Hammerers - Part I

After the paymaster joined my mercenary army last month, I had to protect him with some hardened bodyguards: the MM16 hammerers. 

Although they are among the best sculpts of the Marauder dwarfs range, I've always found these models quite difficult to integrate into a Renaissance army, as their heavy armours don't fit with the puff and slash style of the MB1 pikemen or MM15 quarellers. The second thing that made me hesitate for almost three decades is the fact that the helmets and ornaments are very different from one miniature to the other: not so easy to build a consistent regiment with such various models.

Finally, I have solved my self-inflicted problems by imagining that each clan would provide one champion to the bodyguard unit to 1. defend the paymaster and his precious cart, and 2. ensure that the other clans don't get to close to the gold. So, instead of having a unified theme for the whole regiment, each bodyguard will bear the colours of his own clan. 

Keeping in mind the parallel between the Dwarf Clans of the Grey Mountains and the Old Swiss Confederacy, I have used the coats of arms of the eight first cantons composing the federation. Below, from left to right: Glarus, Zug, Unterwalden, Schwyz, Uri, Zürich, Lucerne, (Unterwalden again) and Berne.

 

For the canton of Glarus, a dwarf ancestor replaces Saint Fridolin on a red field:

 

For the forest-canton of Unterwalden, I have replaced the white-and-red key by a silver key on a red-and-white field, whose colors matched the metallic feathers on the helmet. 

The white cross on a red field is directly inspired from the coat of arms of the canton of Scwhyz:

And I have painted the colors and coats of arms of the cantons of Lucerne and Zug without any modification:

That's it for the first rank!

OWAC IV - The Paymaster

For this not very productive month, I have modified my initial plans: instead of using my Citadel merchant model as the representative of its current employer, the Guild of Goldsmiths and Jewellers of Altdorf, I've decided to make him a full member of the mercenary army as the Paymaster. 

For those who remember the 5th edition Dogs of War army book, the Paymaster was one of the two mandatory characters, with the Mercenary General. His role is to keep the army's pay chest: this heavy, ironclad chest is generally brought on battle on a cart, pulled by a sturdy mule or donkey, and provided with an impressive standard that also serves as the army standard. 

At this stage, the obvious choice for such a piece would be to use Mydas the Mean and Sheikh Yadosh's cart (forgetting the idea of the standard). Unfortunately, this model is quite rare and rather expensive. Fortunately, the old Citadel catalogues provide all the dimensions to build a new one:

I've used the Fenryll resin Medieval Wagon as a starting point, sawn it to the dimensions of the chassis of Mydas's cart roughly drawn on the square paper, and replaced the original wheels by Citadel ones. 

 

The shafts and the mule come from an old Citadel cart (I can't find the reference), and the chest, from the Powder Cart released by Wargames Foundry, strengthened by Evergreen polystyrene angle, and filled with coins obtained by cutting in thin slices a polystyrene rod. On this picture, I was still looking for a solution to fill the chest:

The wheels and the chassis were painted separetely, then glued together before fixing the wagon to the base. Same for the chest, the donkey and the paymaster.

 

 

 

My plan was to protect the Paymaster with a wall of hardened bodyguards, but I wasn't able to paint ten of them in addition to the cart. Next month hopefully!

OWAC IV - The pikemen - Part III

 Time to show you the rest of the clan. Unmodified models of the mythic MB1 box!

Second rank of pikemen:

 

 And the BlackHorns completed:

 See you next month for something totally different!