Although I claim only one finite Empire army, many players with my collection would claim a much larger force or multiple armies because of the way I have the collection broken down.  In my collection, I have my original Empire force, which reflects the standing army under the Emperor within the boundaries of the Empire itself.  However, I also possess a Kislevite Army and an Estalian Army- both of which are similarly designed human armies with the exception of their uniforms and the theme of the army itself.  Thus, it is possible for me to get away with fielding a much larger force if I chose to do so.

 

The Empire was my first official Warhammer Army that I began collecting during late 3rd Edition.  I chose the Empire because (at the time) an army was represented by units from the different States and, therefore, would have different uniforms.  This would make for more entertaining painting than by painting every model exactly the same.  Secondly, coming off of 12 years of Dungeons & Dragons, I loved the idea of gunpowder weapons, like a cannon, blowing up a large creepy monster or a dragon.  It was like the revenge of weakling humans in the Fantasy World.

 

495 models

379 painted (76%)

Largest legal force I could deploy with painted models:  8,055 points

Estimated Goal Force Strength:  12,000 points

 

This unsavory pair is Marius Lietdorf, the Mad Count of Averland on the left and the Elector Count of Nordland on the right (converted from Borgio the Besieger).  I have models lined up to portray all 10 of the Empire's Elector Counts.  In retrospect, I need to repaint the Count of Averland as he was originally done up as a Grand Master for the Knights Panther and his colors do not reflect the colors of Averland (black and yellow).

 

Like the Anvil of Doom for the Dwarfs, my Grand Theoginist model was a vast undertaking for my painting skills in the earlier years.  This was the pride and joy of my collection for, at least, 5 years before I learned how to use washes and layering.

 

This Griffon is an old Dungeons & Dragons model that has migrated to the ranks of a Warhammer Army.  I have fussed several times with conversion projects to put a rider on it's back without success.  In the end, I'm thinking of putting it out to pasture and replacing it with a newer (and better painted model).  Unfortunately, I never field an Elector Count on a Griffon until I get in the vicinity of 4,000 point armies (which rarely happens).  So, the conversion project has been backburnered for many years.  The is an old Ral Partha model.

 

This mounted Hero is a 4th Edition Champion of the Reiksguard Knights with the minor conversion of having a bow mounted to his back.  It dates back to the early days when I was still experimenting with skull and laurel iconography on the barding of my knights.

 

My original mounted Battle Standard Bearer is another model that dates back to my original army from 3rd Edition.  The rider is a Bretonnian knight mounted on a 2nd Edition metal horse (back when they were smaller and before slotta bases).  I have kept it as my Army Battle Standard Bearer due to the elaborate hand-drawn banner that he carries.  It was drawn in pencil, shrunken down on a photocopier and filled in with colored pencil.

 

Here, Young Valten from before the Storm of Chaos is flanked by a pair of old Reiksguard foot knights painted by Donny Furbush.  I use them as Captains on foot (with plate mail and shield) in larger armies or to represent a character who has had the monstrous mount shot out from underneath it.

 

My disinterest in painting Master Engineers has led to these being the pride of my collection.  All of them have been purchased off EBay.  I want my Engineers to reflect the weapon of choice I have given to them, thus the 3 different models.

 

When it came time to add a mounted Warrior Priest only the Luther Huss model was available.  However, I didn't like the heavily armored Empire warhorse for the Priest and, instead, mounted him on a Battle Masters plastic steed and gave it the paint scheme shown here.  Although not my best painted work, I am partial to the character of the model.

 

I have 2 pair of Warrior Priests on foot to choose from; depending on my mood.  Above are two models from my Sisters of Sigmar Mordheim warband that have found a new home preaching the ways of Sigmar to the troops.  These represent the additional hand weapon and great weapon configurations.

 

These two are Ral Partha models held over from Dungeons & Dragons days where they served as party clerics.  It appears the model on the left still sports his original paint even though he has been rebased.

 

The Supreme Patriarch, Balthasar Gelt.  So far, I've only ever used him in one battle (my big Send Off battle whose Battle Report is on the front page of my web site) and he fled 2 turns into the game.

 

Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, the abundance of Wizards and Clerics in my collection made it easy for me to be a purist and field Battle Wizards that accurately reflect the specific lore of study.  Above are my current Gold Wizards.  The mounted model is an old GW Wizard while the model on foot was a Ral Partha model painted for a Forgotten Realms diety (note the sunflowers on the sides of his robe).

 

This mismatched pair are a mounted Celestial Wizard on the left and Grey Wizard on the right.  The Celestial Wizard is a Games Workshop model mounted on a 4th Edition Bretonnian Warhorse.  The model was completed by Tim Murray.  The one on the right is an old Grenedier model (I believe it was supposed to be Gandalf the Grey) that dates back to the early 1980's (with the original paint scheme to boot).

 

With a female Jade Wizard being sent over to the Bretonnian army to take on the role of a damsel, it leaves me with "the Old Crow" to perform duties as my Jade Wizard (or Witch) on foot.  The mounted model is another 2nd Edition Citadel model dating back to the pre-plastic horse days (it's all metal).

 

With all of the Gandalf wanna-be's about, Grey Wizard models are a dime a dozen.  The two on the left are Ral Partha character models while Gandalf on the right was painted by Josh Lyons from the GW, Lord of the Rings collection.  (The model on the far left came in a combination pack with the mounted Grey Wizard shown earlier.  This one has a more recently updated paint scheme).

 

The Celestial Wizards are an old Games Workshop model (on the left) and Cygnus, my 5th level Magic-User (a Ral Partha model) on the right.  In a moment of nostalgia, my brother Duncan chose to restore our two key D&D characters from 1980.  Cygnus wields a modified staff because of an Umber Hulk's mandible that was crafted onto it (making a reaper-like weapon).

 

The two Amethysr Wizards on foot are old Ral Partha character models.  The Wizard in the cart is from RAFM and it passes as my Amethyst Wizard mounted on a barded warhorse.

 

Representing the Bright Order, another Games Workshop Wizard painted in Talabecland colors by Donny Furbush tales the role of the mounted wizard, while Moses, a Ral Partha character model from D&D days takes the position on foot.

 

The Amber Order was made up of a pair of Ral Partha wizards (on the right) until I got a good EBay deal on an Albion Truthsayer who makes a terrific Amber Wizard (Lore of Beasts).  Also shown is the old Beorg the Bearman model from a Regiment of Renown that I use for when the Wizard is affected by The Bear's Anger spell.

 

We'll lead off with a unit of 18 halberdiers armed with halberds and shields.  Most of these are plastic models from the old Battle Masters game and a box called "The Altdorf Regiment" from 3rd Edition.  I painted them in the colors of Altdorf (red & blue) and Talabecland (red & yellow) with a couple of Nordland (blue & yellow) mixed it to blend them all together.  The banner was scanned from a historical wargaming magazine and the female bard is an old Ral Partha D&D character (playing the musician).  A halberdier from the Empire War Wagon (missing from this picture) is the unit champion.

 

This unit of halberdiers differs from the previous unit as most of them do not have shields.  These are 4th Edition plastic models with a metal command group.  Painted in the Altdorf color scheme, these models will be shuffled to the front of a combined unit when I do not give the unit shields.  They go to the rear when I give them shields.  The banner is a hand drawn piece done in colored pencil and ink (from back in the day when we made our own banners, rather than scanning them from a book or downloading them from the Internet).

 

My Empire Swordsmen are a mix of 6th Edition plastic swordsmen and metal Swiss swordsmen from the Wargames Foundry (sculpted by the Perry Twins at the same time they were sculpting for Citadel Miniatures).  They are painted in the colors of Talabheim.

 

 

 

My spearmen sport the colors of Ostland and are plastic models from the 6th Edition WFB boxed game.  There are two metal 4th edition models standing on each end of the back rank.  The banner was hand painted.

 

My original hand gunners are 25mm Ral Partha Swiss historical models painted in the colors of Talabecland.  I mounted them on thicker pieces of balsa wood in order to get them to stand a little taller and, therefore, assimilate with the over-all army a little better.  They have since been deactivated to operate only in rare scenarios behind the two Nuln Regiments shown below.

 

These two units of Nuln Handgunners are plastic models from the 6th Edition boxed set with a sprinkling of 4th Edition metal figures mixed in (the ones whose plumes stand straight up).

 

My crossbow regiment comes from the old Battle Masters set with a 3rd edition metal figure painted by Josh Lyons playing as the marksman.  This regiment is in the colors of Middenland.

 

Continuing with the plastic Battle Masters models, these archers are an earlier interpretation of Ostland's colors.  Since they are skirmishers, I often use them as detachments in larger games.

 

For my Huntsmen, I decided to go with metal Wargames Foundry miniatures and painted them in a more generic, militia scheme since they would be sneaking around in the woods, rather than wearing their brilliant State colors.

 

This is a close-up of the Marksman, painted by Tim Murray, and a pair of the regular militiamen.  Tim's Marksman is an old Dungeons & Dragons character miniature (either Reaper, Ral Partha or Grenedier).

 

My Free Company militia are all metal peasant models from Wargames Foundry.  At the time I purchased them, I wanted "basic townsfolk and peasants" for my Dungeons & Dragons adventures, but they were also cheaper than what Games Workshop charged per figure for plastic models that had to be assembled.  I kept the color scheme in drab greys and browns to keep them as "background figures" in role playing games.  The converted standard bearer holds a banner scanned from a Wargames Illustrated issue.

 

These pathetic little models are old Reaper Miniatures peasants dating back to some of Reapers first run miniatures.  I most often use them as a separate detachment or fill them in the back ranks of my Free Company militia since the paint is much older and the quality of work is lower standard.

 

I elected to put a separate sub-title in for the Knightly Orders as they are Core units unless upgraded to Inner Circle Knights, at which time they become Special Units.  The Empire has 4 major Orders of knights, of which I chose to model all of them.  In addition, there are dozens of other Orders that have been mentioned throughout time, so I opted to add variety by introducing 5 more Orders of knights to my collection (not all of which are represented here).

 

For years I held off painting my Knights of the White Wolf because they sported an uncharacteristically brilliant red paint scheme for at least 10 of them.  I was looking for something a little more realistic and picked up this scheme from another gamer whose work I saw at a tournament or, perhaps, in the pages of White Dwarf.  The riders are all original 4th Edition metal models because I hate the way the newer plastic ones look when assembled.  I took advantage of using some Space Wolf decals on their barding to add character to the models.

 

This close up of the command group shows the Grand Master [left] who serves as a combination Champion & Musician model in the unit.  The banner was scanned from the 4th Edition Empire army book (back in the red days as a nod to the original theme of the unit).  The heraldry on the barding comes from a Space Wolves decal sheet that has been touched up or painted over.  The scroll work on the Grand Master's horse is hand painted.

 

This unit of Reiksguard Knights were my original knights from the 4th Edition timeframe.  This unit is a mix of Battle Masters plastic models, models from the 5th Edition plastic box and a few metal 4th Edition models.

 

For the command group 3rd Edition unit Champion rides alongside a standard bearer flying a Battle Masters decal flag (still need to address that).  All of the barding on the standard bearer is painted freehand.  The Champions' barding is also freehand, but it is based around a skull decal that was applied before paint.  The griffon on his shield and tabbard are decals.

 

The Knights of the Blazing Sun were my first attempt at creating a unit of knights for my Empire army; using knights from the Battle Masters set (which look more like Bretonnians than Empire knights).  For that reason, these will probably be replaced.  The banner is one of my favorites, hand drawn using colored pencil from artwork in the 2nd Edition Warhammer Armies book.

 

The paint scheme for the unit champion came along a little later, once I started getting comfortable with painting barding.  This model displays some of my earlier blending techniques and strikes me as a "try everything I know" kind of model.  It has hand painted scrollwork in addition to the sun and dear decals and ornamental reigns made out of paper.

The Knights of the Golden Lion are an accidental order that just came about.  Originally I was shooting for my own version of Voland's Venators (a Dogs of War, Mercenary Knight unit) and I converted all the knights to wearing soft hats or other assorted "rag tag" pieces of equipment and mismatched shields.  However, in the process of peicing them together, I picked up the lions theme on the shields and decals on the barding and decided to roll with it.  Never the less, this approach added a lot of character to the unit.

 

These close-ups of the standard bearer and musician show the banner that came from a sheet of medieval standards I purchased and a Wargames Foundry musician who was placed on a larger GW horse.  He sometimes fills in as a musician for my Reiksguard Knights (since they don't have one at the moment).  I anticipate one of my converted Elector Counts will eventually take the role of unit Champion.

 

My Great Swords are another unit that languished in the box for the better part of a decade before finally making the table (as a painted unit) for the 6th Edition (when charging units with great weapons could strike first).  Half of my current unit is made up of under-sized Ral Partha Swiss models (shown in the back row and on the far right, front row).  I've been getting away with this for quite some time, but am unhappy with the unit every time I field it because of this "cheap way out" I opted to take many years ago.  This will be addressed in the near future when Games Workshop releases the new plastic Great Swords this summer.  In addition, I was never inspired to finish painting the banner.  So, it too is due for completion this summer.  (May Sigmar be pleased!)

 

Like the Great Swords, my Pistoliers didn't get their due until 6th Edition came around and made them a viable unit option.  The Outrider in the front left is an old 3rd Edition metal Outrider model who serves as a unit champion with Repeater Pistol.  I have a full compliment of the old Outriders on barded Warhorses and haven't yet decided what to do with them (make them Fast Cavalry like the current rules or keep them with barded warhorses). 

 

Both Great Cannons are plastic models from the Battle Masters set, as are the crew on the right-hand gun.  You can see some time and painting expertise passed before I painted the second model on the left.

 

In the foreground, a crew of Wargames Foundry models services the plastic mortar that came with the 6th Edition boxed set.  All are in Nuln colors for the gunnery school.  In the back, a second plastic crew from Battle Masters works an Alternative Armies mortar I picked up from Donny Furbush.

 

 

My original Helblaster Volley Gun is a 4th Edition model (on the left) with metal crew.  The two crewmen in the bright colors of the Engineering College also make great stand-ins for Master Engineers if I choose to field multiples without any extra weaponry.  The model in the background is an Alternative Armies knock-off manned by a crew of Wargames Foundry models wearing Nuln colors.  Like the mortar above, this Helblaster knock-off came from Donny Furbush,

 

This 4th Edition Steam Tank has a banner that I photocopied off the back of the box, touched up the grey and black background noise with white paint, then colored in pencil.

 

When 5th Edition came out with different ways to convert your steam tanks, I took this second model and mounted a helblaster cannon into the front.  That way, this model became the anti-infantry tank while the other continued to fire on large, hard targets.  The helblaster barrels mounted on the front are actually small wooden spools that I picked up at a craft store and sawed off to fit the front plate of the tank.

 

Rather than shelf units and models that Games Workshop has chosen to discontinue, I continue to use them as Allied units or Dogs of War units to the army they originated from.  You will find many of them on their own thread on this web site.

 

I can't bear to shelf my Marienburg models from the Mordheim game, so they are being painted up to take the role as Duelists (a Dogs of War unit) in my army.  The Highway Man will be their unit Champion.

 

My Sisters of Sigmar are another unit being kept alive as an Allied Regiment in my Empire army, rather than retiring them from Mordheim's demise.  When in need, they also fill in as a Free Company militia unit.

 

In the 4th Edition Army book, there were Reiksguard Knights on foot.  These represented the elite guards of the Emperor who stood watch over the important sites inside the Capital City of Altdorf.  They became an "alternative unit" in the 6th Edition book before being wiped out in the 7th Edition book.  The easiest way to use them is to treat them as Great Swords, but substitute the Great Weapon for a shield,  With the hand weapon and shield bonus for close combat, it gives them a 2+ armor save on foot.  (In my opinion, they should've kept this as a unit option to justify fielding two elite units like the Great Swords of Carrobourg).

 

This second group of Reiksguard demonstrates how many of them I had and how they were a significant part of my early army.  All but one of my models are heavy foot knights from Wargames Foundry.

 

[Above] The command group shows the amount of character that these models have.  It is easy to picture any of the helmet-less models as having some sort of distinct personality.  The banner was hand drawn from a Reiksguard icon in the 4th Edition army book.  The model in the middle with the plume is the only original Games Workshop model in the group.

 

Who could forget the mighty War Wagon?  I used rules from the 6th Edition "make your own Steam Tank" Engineers platform to piece together a reasonable facsimile of the original War Wagon. My revised rules for this model are in the Allies & Dogs of War thread.

 

The crew were painted up in Nordland colors to match their wagon, although the dominant colors of the Engineers School of Altdorf are red and yellow.  (I figure I put enough of that in, too).  Notice how they are all mounted on small, narrow bases so that they fit together when placed into the back of the wagon.  This allows me to remove casualties (or use one as an occassional Master Engineer or Handgunner Marksman when I am running short of models).