Warden Ludolf Bosch

According to the Pfeildorf sourcebook,

Warden Ludolf Bosch runs [St. Quintus Prison] with an iron – and some say sadistic – hand, ensuring that the inmates behave themselves.

Lucky me, model MM62 CZ 13 fits the description quite well with his severe face and what I imagine is his personnal law book. The bunch of keys is a small addition to the original model (well, not so small given the size of the keys!).


Next step: the torturer and the executioner of St. Quintus

Starting a new unit: the Watch

It's been one year since I've initiated this Empire army project and so far, I haven't painted any mandatory troops. It was time to fix that :)

The Helblitzen (or halberdiers) will represent the honourable members of the Guild of Lamplighters and Watchmen. In other words, the Watch...

Excerpts from Mad Alfred's sourcebook:

The main objectives for the Guild of Lamplighters and Watchmen are to: (1) ensure that all street lamps in the town are lit within one hour of sunset and extinguished at dawn; (2) call out the hours of the night and the state of their patrol (“one o’clock and all is well”); and (3) take into custody or spot fine anyone disturbing the public peace. Several patrols of five to eight men are assigned to the solidly-built Watch barracks located in each district. 

[...] Like many of the large towns and cities in the Empire, Pfeildorf is divided into separate administrative districts, within which are smaller neighbourhoods. The frequency of Watch patrols vary by district with the most regular occurring in the Alderhorst district. The number of patrols lessen the further away a district is from the hill though the number of Watch in a patrol increases. Watch patrols consist of two to six men led by a Sergeant.

So, the idea is to build a regiment gathering patrols of the different districts of the town, each one having its own particularities and coats of arms.

Source: Mad Alfred's sourcebook on http://www.madalfred.com/

• Alderhost is the oldest and most affluent district, hosting Castle Alderhost (1 on the map), the residence of the Grand Baroness Toppenheimer;
• Sölhaffen and Reikhafen are the busiest areas in Pfeildorf, with docks along the River Söll and the Upper Reik;
• The Neusüdentor is a new district, with many craftsmen, families, and small shops; here, watch patrols are often augmented by members of the militia hired by the Hall of Guilds (7);
• The Mórrsfeld district is dominated by St. Quintus Prison (22); members of the Watch include here Warden Ludolf Bosch, and Theboald Grimm, Chief interrogator and Torturer of St. Quintus;
• and finally Schwarzwache is a poor and sinister district, said to be haunted.

I'll start with the Mórrsfeld district and St. Quintus Prison.

The warden is a MM62 citizen (CZ13), slightly converted with the addition of a bunch of keys for the jails. I'm still unsure about the Chief interrogator and torturer, but I have already prepared the Executioner: a hooded ogre from the MM42 range :)

Pfeildorf's militia

Ad here's the militia hired and led by the Guildmasters  of Pfeildorf.

 

In principle, I can't consider these 20 spearmen as a complete unit, as the Warhammer Armies book mentions a minimum of 30 Ersatzsolder (here equipped with spears, light armours and shields, plus musician and standard bearer, total 198 points).

To tell the truth, I'm still hesitating about the next step: either I complement this militia with one or two masters of minor guilds, plus additional guards to reach the minimum of 30, or I start to paint the mandatory troops for a change, namely the 10 Armbrustschutzen and the 20 Helblitzen. Of course, I could also try to finish my second regiment of flagellants or the unit of sellswords... Any advice?

Standard bearer and dwarf retinue

One short and one big addition to Pfeildorf's militia. The first one is a dwarf warrior from the MM10 range. The second is an imperial fighter from the MM60 range (F23), slightly converted into a standard bearer.

If you remember the guild masters, I've painted the four coats of arms of Pfeildord's main guilds: the tailors, the shearers, the cobblers and the tanners. These people are rather proud of themselves, hence the golden stars...

Militiamen #11 and #12

Two fighters from the MM60 range: the halberdier (F5), and his brother, the spearman (F20). The painting job wasn't easy, in particular the second model (hard to find on eBay, hard to paint!).


For the shield, I've used again this illustration of the Warhammer Armies book.

That's it!

Militiaman #5 again

Not totally happy with the initial painting job, I've decided to re-paint this model and give the guy a new job: musician (well, kind of). 

Before:

And after:

2016 re-cap

Last post of the year, it's time to have a look at what I have painted and collected over the last 11 and a half months.

Painting...

No suprise here, except a miniature for railway modelling and a Bood-Wargames dwarf , I've focused my efforts on my Empire army, using mainly the Marauder Miniatures sculpted by Aly Morrison and Trish Carden.

Since January, I've been able to paint 34 models, including 7 MM60 fighters, 10 MM62 citizens, 5 MM64 halflings, 7 MM65 flagellants, 1 MM41 ogre, 1 unreleased Marauder wizard and 3 Citadel miniatures (F2 fanatic, C46 mastersmith and TL8 merchant).

My first completed unit is the flagellants, painted using a faded palette of brown, green and grey colors. Considering what the 'Eavy Metal team painted 25 years ago, I wish I had added some details on the robes and the banner and used more colors. Well... maybe for the second batch of flagellants, initiated with a Citadel model sculpted by Aly Morrison.

(source: http://www.solegends.com/marauder/mm65flagellants.htm)

The second unit I'm working on is the militia hired by the Guildmasters of Pfeildorf. My initial plan was to use the leather tones of the gambesons to unify the different models (mainly composed of MM62 citizen). But over the last few months, I've realised that painting elaborate coat of arms designs was quite fun, and I've started to rework the militia by adding townsfolk and shield bearers. I still have one rank to paint (including the standard bearer and the musician) to consider this regiment complete: hopefully, Christmas holidays will be sufficient to paint the 5 missing models.

The third unit to complete is composed of hired soldiers, mainly equipped with great swords. Considering them as mercenaries is the only way I've found to include the fighters of the MM60 range. So far, only 5 models painted. More to come next year!

The fourth unit I have in mind are the 20 mandatory halberdiers of the 3rd edition army list... well, not much progress here, with only one beta-test model (shield to re-paint).

... and Collecting

2016 has been a great  year for the oldhammer collectors, with the release by Wargames Foundry / Warmonger Miniatures of the Empire Magic Users initially designed for Marauder Minatures. So far, I've only succeeded in painting Magic User MU9. Still 4 wizards to complete  (admittedly not the finest miniatures, particularly MU1 and MU3)

(From left to right: Magic Users MU1, MU3, MU6, MU7 and MU9 - check this link for further details)

On a more personal point of view, I've finally been able to complete my MM60 collection, by acquiring the last missing fighter (F20), and I'm slowly filling the gaps in the MM62  citizens.

Last but not least, I've been lucky enough to pick up two unreleased Marauder Miniatures: an archer (already identified by the CCM Wiki) and a crossbowman, never seen before. And in both cases, the sculpting job is really outstanding!

So what's next?

As I said, my top priority is the completion of the militia. After that, several possibilities:

• adding a second rank of hired swords;
• starting the halberdiers;
• painting a regiment of archers (including the unreleased model).

Now my recent acquisition of the unreleased crossbowman raises a lot of questions: should I paint it, or try instead to find a way to make duplicates of it, so that I can field a regiment of 100% Marauder shooters? I'll see what I can do next year...

In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The Cobblers' Guild Master and his shield bearer

Once again, not a Marauder model but a villager from the Citadel C46 range, the "mastersmith". No idea who sculpted it... As far as I know, it could be Aly Morrison or Trish Carden, which means that this addition wouldn't be totally irrelevant in a Marauder-only army (minus two).

As usual, the shield bearer is a halfling from the MM64 range (reference HL2): the scythe has been replaced by a dagger and I've simply glued a shield on the left arm.


Regarding the shield, I've simplified the coat of arms of the cobblers' guild of Vienna (check this blog for more details) by removing the arrow and the small details of the crown. Below the original:

So, that's it, my rank of weathy owners of Pfeildorf's militia is now ready for parade.

Still 5 militiamen to paint to complete the regiment...