Sunday, April 18, 2021

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!



8 comments:

  1. Your dwarves ar just beautiful, sir !
    The bears and shields bring some colors to your traditionnal metal and leather scheme, and it's really nice.

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  2. Formidable... encore une fois 😀
    Je dispose également de beaucoup de figurines que tu nous présentes régulièrement (pas toutes hélas), les miennes ne sont pas encore peintes mais la comparaison avec les tiennes est trop dures pour moi.
    Je m'y mettrai quand j'aurai sorti ton blog de mes favoris.

    Cela reste un régal pour les yeux et une bonne tranche de nostalgie !

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    Replies
    1. Merci ! De fait, ces figurines de marteliers sont assez intimidantes, bourrées de détails et assez différentes les unes des autres. Content de les avoir peintes, et certain de ne pas en racheter !

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