Dan
28-05-08, 04:15
Greetings!
Welcome to a tale of five gamers, an article in which I get to prattle on at you about armies and warhammer in order to help you build and paint an army of your very own!
So, the first job you prospective gamers have is to pick an army, but which? For me the most important part of an army is the story behind it. When I win a game I like to know that it meant something to my general as well as myself, perhaps he routed an army intent on massacring his village, or that his valour earned him a promotion, giving me an excuse to give him special equipment like mounts and magic items. After deliberating over skaven I ended up picking the Empire as it has almost unlimited possibilities to build an army. With almost every weapon (combat and missile alike) and magic lore in the Warhammer rulebook in there somewhere I could make any army I choose, from an artillery carriage full of hand gunners and warmachines to an all mounted knightly order. Also though, it reminded me of my beloved Chaos army, it's what my army would be if it was good, full of noble knights and honourable heroes.
Right, army picked, so what did I buy with my initial £50? Every army needs core troops so I picked two boxes of state troops, the core of any empire force. These are brilliant buys because they come with enough bits to arm the soldiers in three different ways: spears, halberds or swords and shields. While temtped to arm them with the latter for the brilliant armour save i decided to stick to the background and equipped them with halberds (The counts of each province in the Empire must maintain a large core of halberdiers under the Emperor's decree). While not as sturdy they pack a nasty punch at strength 4.
In order to support them, I bought a box of militia. While suffering from the same low armour save as the state troops this box would give me a very flexible unit; I could either field it as a seperate 20 man unit, or break it into two 10 man detatchments for the state troops. This would allow them to automatically counter-charge any unit charging the halberdiers, or flank a unit the state troops charge, and armed with 2 hand weapons they can deal a hell of a lot of wounds for a unit that costs 5pts per model.
Finally, I brought a general to lead them. This is always the most important buy for me as as he is the centre peice of my army, and if looks rubbish then so will everything else. To this end I bought the Empire Captian with gory blade from the GW online store, he looks simple (as he would be as a lowly officer) yet deadly with his well used blade and intimidating stance.This should give me a nasty little skirmish force, with lots of combat potential, I'll just have to watch out against armies with lots of guns and magic!
Though not essential I gave my army a back story. This can really help you get a feel for your new army and develop it. My story revolves around Burgomeister (merchant noble) Seigfreid Goldschmidt, a man of Marienburg who beleives the simple things in life like making money, dressing flamboyantly and exploiting the poor are what matters most, why risk that fighting another man's war when you can pay people to do it for you? However when a financial transaction goes horribly wrong Seigfreid found himself fleeing Marienburg down the coastal road, far away from the hands (and daggers) of his creditors. After being discovered drunk in The Hobbled Orc coaching house by an imperial patrol he was taken before the Count of Nordland, who offered the nobleman a deal: he would place him under the protection of the Empire and keep him as far away from Marienberg as possible if he swore allegiance to the Emperor. Seigfreid heartily agreed. Only once the oaths had been recited did the Count tell him his first duty would be to fund the rebuilding of a town destroyed during the Storm of Chaos, and that he was to lead the detatchment sent to clear the area. Forced to fight having never touched a weapon before, his wealth appropriated for the rebuilding of a shanty town he has no care for and surrounded by commoners, Seigfreid was beginning to wonder whether Marienburg would have been safer!
Budget: £50
Spent: State Troops box set: £12
State Troops box set: £12
Militia Bos set: £18
Empire Captain with gory blade: £7
Total: £49
Remainder: £1
Welcome to a tale of five gamers, an article in which I get to prattle on at you about armies and warhammer in order to help you build and paint an army of your very own!
So, the first job you prospective gamers have is to pick an army, but which? For me the most important part of an army is the story behind it. When I win a game I like to know that it meant something to my general as well as myself, perhaps he routed an army intent on massacring his village, or that his valour earned him a promotion, giving me an excuse to give him special equipment like mounts and magic items. After deliberating over skaven I ended up picking the Empire as it has almost unlimited possibilities to build an army. With almost every weapon (combat and missile alike) and magic lore in the Warhammer rulebook in there somewhere I could make any army I choose, from an artillery carriage full of hand gunners and warmachines to an all mounted knightly order. Also though, it reminded me of my beloved Chaos army, it's what my army would be if it was good, full of noble knights and honourable heroes.
Right, army picked, so what did I buy with my initial £50? Every army needs core troops so I picked two boxes of state troops, the core of any empire force. These are brilliant buys because they come with enough bits to arm the soldiers in three different ways: spears, halberds or swords and shields. While temtped to arm them with the latter for the brilliant armour save i decided to stick to the background and equipped them with halberds (The counts of each province in the Empire must maintain a large core of halberdiers under the Emperor's decree). While not as sturdy they pack a nasty punch at strength 4.
In order to support them, I bought a box of militia. While suffering from the same low armour save as the state troops this box would give me a very flexible unit; I could either field it as a seperate 20 man unit, or break it into two 10 man detatchments for the state troops. This would allow them to automatically counter-charge any unit charging the halberdiers, or flank a unit the state troops charge, and armed with 2 hand weapons they can deal a hell of a lot of wounds for a unit that costs 5pts per model.
Finally, I brought a general to lead them. This is always the most important buy for me as as he is the centre peice of my army, and if looks rubbish then so will everything else. To this end I bought the Empire Captian with gory blade from the GW online store, he looks simple (as he would be as a lowly officer) yet deadly with his well used blade and intimidating stance.This should give me a nasty little skirmish force, with lots of combat potential, I'll just have to watch out against armies with lots of guns and magic!
Though not essential I gave my army a back story. This can really help you get a feel for your new army and develop it. My story revolves around Burgomeister (merchant noble) Seigfreid Goldschmidt, a man of Marienburg who beleives the simple things in life like making money, dressing flamboyantly and exploiting the poor are what matters most, why risk that fighting another man's war when you can pay people to do it for you? However when a financial transaction goes horribly wrong Seigfreid found himself fleeing Marienburg down the coastal road, far away from the hands (and daggers) of his creditors. After being discovered drunk in The Hobbled Orc coaching house by an imperial patrol he was taken before the Count of Nordland, who offered the nobleman a deal: he would place him under the protection of the Empire and keep him as far away from Marienberg as possible if he swore allegiance to the Emperor. Seigfreid heartily agreed. Only once the oaths had been recited did the Count tell him his first duty would be to fund the rebuilding of a town destroyed during the Storm of Chaos, and that he was to lead the detatchment sent to clear the area. Forced to fight having never touched a weapon before, his wealth appropriated for the rebuilding of a shanty town he has no care for and surrounded by commoners, Seigfreid was beginning to wonder whether Marienburg would have been safer!
Budget: £50
Spent: State Troops box set: £12
State Troops box set: £12
Militia Bos set: £18
Empire Captain with gory blade: £7
Total: £49
Remainder: £1