Imrik prince of Caledor

No elf army is complete without some big dragon, and who better to lead the caledorians than their prince Imrik. With little time remaining before the first game I speed-painted him with a watered down coat of blue followed by metals, bone and all the gems.

The model had actually broken by the ankles at the time of painting, so to prevent further breakdowns I added a waystone bit on the base that sustains the lead weight of the head, arms and the prince

Bloodbath on the Dragonback

 

Starting 2025 with a Border Princes campaign, where humans, elves and dwarfs will fight for control of these fractured and anarchic princedoms south of the Empire

In the first day only the imperial and elf players showed up, the elves expanding to the west with Karl Franz on hot pursuit. Both armies then met in a mountainous valley of the dragonback range to fight the first battle of the campaign

The scenario rolled was flank attack; and the army of Karl Franz deployed on a long gunline detaching a small force of cavalry to assault the enemy by the left

The imperials got the first turn and let rip with cannon, mortar and volley gun, the storm of lead causing great damage among the packed elf ranks

Instead of advancing the caledorians kept back, redeploying a bit to create some gaps between units

Affronted by the elven cowardice the emperor ordered the advance, flying atop some ruins atop his griffon Deathclaw while blocks of halberdiers and spearmen moved into the fray

The steam tank Viktoria proved once again to be the empire's MVP, destroying one unit per turn with its lethal volley gun

From the backline the imperial guns kept firing during the whole game, blowing up elves by the dozen

Under such sustained barrage the asur had little option but to advance

While on the other side of the battlefield their general was blown away by the steam tank

But it wasn't all wine and roses on the imperial side as the volley gun jammed on its first shot, proving once more that freshly painted troops are always cursed

Franz then took matters on his own hands, annihilating first a regiment of spearmen and then smashing into the dragon princes

The elf prince choose that moment to come out from hiding, his dragon breathing fire upon a regiment of Altdorf spearmen

Surprisingly Franz didn't manage to kill a single knight on his turn, and while he didn't receive any wounds he and his griffon lost the combat and ran away

Promptly the emperor rallied, and in the following turn all guns concentrated fire on the dragon until the beast fell to the ground riddled with shot and cannonballs

With the loss of their main ace it was all over for the elves, who beat a hasty retreat north to the other side of the Black Gulf

Hellblaster cannon

The first miniature of the year is a hellbaster volley gun from the rich city of Altdorf. The model is a 3d print from Highlands Miniatures painted following my usual recipe, I've found that the agrax earthshade wash works better over browns than vallejo sepia so I'll be using it from now on.