Karl Franz

"Now it's the time, men of the Empire to unite! For the orcs gather. Beyond the pass a warboss gathers to him all that is foul, an orc horde beyond imagining. As Sigmar fought so shall we, we will become part of the legend. ¡For Sigmar, for the Empire, for the Warhammer!"

Karl Franz at the third battle of Black Fire Pass

To complete my Empire army I needed a figurehead, a centerpiece model to led the men to victory on the battlefield, and what better option than Karl Franz himself, prince of Altdorf and Emperor of men. He has been one of my all time favorite imperials ever since reading the story in the old 6th ed army book where he beats back an entire orc army at Black Fire Pass by killing their warboss in singular combat. Actually i had altready painted his old model long time ago, mounted on dragon or warhorse, and now I have him riding his trusty griffon Deathclaw to victory over a field of dead chaos warriors.

The griffon himself is pretty cool if a bit too big. I painted him in more natural colours than the official orange, drybrushing the feathers in browns and greys and painting the hindquarters with a washed down tan inspired on lion skin tones. For the base I reused some spare chaos bits, while the barding was done in traditional Altdorf colours of blue, red and green. A detail that I liked was the four principal gods of the Empire flanking his name, like if Morr, Taal, Ulric and Sigmar were watching over him in battle and during peacetime

The barding is a big and detailed piece, reminiscent of steam tank armour

For the Emperor I went with two subtle conversions and a black suit of armour to make him look like my favorite portrait of him (below), swapping the official helmet helmet for an arbites head, and giving him a spare wizard cloak that comes in the set.

I went with a leather hilt for Ghal Maraz to break up all the gold, while the cross that decorates his breastplate was painted in silvered steel to symbolize the silver seal that protects him in battle

And finally the feathers were painted in the colours of his personal realm: Reikland white accented with Altdorf red and blue

The battle of Xaultepec

 

"For long we gave fought in this benighted continent, many are the battles we've fought and rich our plunder, but now that it's time to sail for home dark clouds gather once again in the horizon, as the hordes of the ratmen close upon us for a final battle"

Journal of Kaspar van Gelt, fledmarshal of the Altdorf expedition

The rats marched through the jungle in their teeming masses, intent on piercing our lines and getting at the wagons laden with loot

For this ultimate confrontation heir ranks had been bolstered with a regiment of tilean mercenaries, who rained arrows upon us during the whole day

Thankfully the lady Yennefer soon answered them in kind, frying one of their foul sorcerers with a mighty storm of lighting that she called from the heavens

The loss of one of their leaders sent the whole flank scurrying

But in the right a swarm of murant rat monsters was encroaching upon us

Our center also suffered when a halberdier regiment stumbled on a quicksand pit, many brave soldiers sinking to their deaths and the rest running in panic

It took a charge of the fine freikorps knights to turn the tide of the battle, their gallant horses running down a mass of ratmen as the mercenaries cut a bloody path through the enemy's center

On the right the steam tank routed one of the giant ratman packs, and I led the brave spears of Altdorf against the other

But in a moment the mutants were on the Viktoria, ripping steel plates and engine parts in a frenzy that made me fear for the survival of the ancient machine

But it was only a temporary setback on the unstoppable tide of our victory, and as the knights slaughtered the crossbowmen...

...the skaven general fell to another lighting bolt cast by the beautiful Yennefer

And finally it was my charge at the head of the Hoch und Burgmeister that broke the ratmen, securing victory for Altdorf and the Empire!

With our coffers full of treasure and a good wind behind our ships it is time to sail back home, knowing that our fame and fortune have been won in the land of Lustria

Imperial engineer

 

Otto von Hergig is the son of a rich Hochland family, who being the second brother and showing some aptitude for mechanics was shipped to the engineer's college of  Altdorf, where he graduated with flying colours and now serves the Emperor as artillery master of his armies

Instead of buying a new model I used the steam tank commander, picking the more bookish head and a baton to better direct the fire of the guns. He even comes with an extinguisher just in case!

Guild of coin mercs

 

Recently I stumbled on a box of free minis at work, and given that my guild of coin could use some more bodies, I converted two marine scouts into a pair of mercs to get back those payout at gunpoint 

The conversions themselves are pretty straightforward, with two spare arbites heads and a plasma gun from the land raider proteus kit

Tilean crossbowmen

 

While the arquebus is the preferred weapon of the imperial state troops oftentimes the elector counts have to use other soldiers to bulk up their armies, recruiting the many mercenaries that prowl the lands in search of employment. The tilean marksmen are amongst the most reputed of these, and many times the volleys from their lethal crossbows have turned the tide and won the day for the Empire.

As befits such ad hoc formation their dress is seldom uniform, all types of clothes and headdresses allowed al long as they're in state colours

The minis themselves are a mixed bag too, with two militiamen from GW, a Gamezone conquistador and another model from an unknown manufacturer

The march to Xaultepec

 

With the ratmen on the back foot after their failed ambush, the forces of Altdorf kept pushing south til we reached the ruins of Xaultepec, a long abandoned temple city where we hoped to find great plunder

The ragged hosts of the ratmen stood once again before us, but lady Yennefer summoned a great storm of lightning that fried a flamethorwer and sent all the nearby foes scurrying 

Our guns then opened fire while the infantry and myself with the knights advanced, forcing the skaven to open ranks while they hunkered down behind the trees

Turning my head backwards, I saw a commotion in our lines as a swarm of local beasties attacked one of the artillery crews, the survivors running away and earning themselves a week of latrine duty 

The vile ratmen had enlisted the help of some local warrior women, but me and my reiters rode them down without breaking sweat

On the other side of the battlefield meanwhile, the Viktoria was also cutting a bloody path trough the remaining skaven, running down one of their warlocks beneath its armoured mass

While I led the advance in the center, the left flank was guarded by a harquebusier company, the soldiers taking down many a rat ogre and an enemy champion with their accurate fire

In a last ditch attempt to stop our progress, the skaven charged into lord Albrecht's regiment

But the hardy mercenaries sent them packing with help from father Johann

Dusk had started to crep over the battlefield, but with their center destroyed and their leaders killed or routed nothing could stop our entry into the temple city, which provided the expedition with treasures and artifacts beyond the hopes of any soldier of the Empire