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