Finished Mortar

Finally, an emotional moment: I finished my revisited Empire Mortar for my Talabecland army. And I say emotional because it is one of the first minis I acquired in a Games Workshop. I had bought second-hand minis from a school friend just after I was introduced to Warhammer, but the mortar was the first blister that I bought brand new together with the Empire army book back in 1998.

I think that apart from my War Chariot, I am now done with all the artillery for my Empire army. I think I'll soon post photos of the War Chariot which is almost done (just missing the horses). In the meantime, the mortar:

Finished Great Cannon

 Hi everyone,

Long time no see. Between the move to a new country and a second child, these have been two busy years. I have not published anything but still managed to paint during several episodes. So let's start with a piece I finished this summer: the plastic great cannon for my Talabecland army which was almost finished since end-2018:

WIP: Empire Archers

Hello everyone,

I decided to add a new unit to my Empire army: the archers. This is a unit you never think of when building an Empire army when you have access to handgunners or crossbowmen. To be completely honest, I saw Bretonnian archers on Ebay and always thought they looked really cool. It was the unit given with the base box of the fifth version of Warhammer, back when Bretonnians were still considered as army worth updating!

After buying a few, I told my self it would be cool to add archers into my Empire army, so I am building Talabecland archers with the same color scheme as the rest of my army. Even if they look quite different, I think they blend well with the rest.

WIP: Empire War Chariot - Hochland Long Rifle

Hi everyone, let's present today the Empire's own sniper rifle: the Hochland Long Rifle. This guy will be the third crewman for the Empire War Wagon. I am finishing them one by one, and writing this, I just realised that I could not find the sixth crewman with a halberd. I'll try looking in my bitz box, but is seems that I have lost it... Another Ebay search to be done I guess...

WIP: Empire War Chariot - Man Catcher

Ok guys, I am finishing one by one every crew member of the war chariot as I received my my spray can of Matt varnish this morning. I hope to finish everything this weekend so I can present a photo of every of these guys. Let’s start with the man catcher, one of my favorites:

WIP: Empire Great Cannon (plastic) - new servant

Hello everyone,

Just a quick update today: one extra servant for the Empire artillery. This is for the plastic great cannon. I am almost there!

Hellblaster volleygun

Hi guys,

So I finished entirely my first piece of artillery for my Talabecland army: the Hellblaster volleygun. I just had one servant left to paint. I am really happy with the result and giving a new life to my first love is quite refreshing!

I should soon be done with the remaining pieces of artillery. My goal is to have finished by year-end all the artillery, one unit of swordsmen, one unit of spearmen, one unit of archers and the surprise for which I am hoping to post pictures soon.

WIP: Empire Swordsmen

Hello everyone,

Everything is running smoothly and I had one evening alone last week to do as much airbrushing as I could. I have to admit this was a little boring as I only applied two colours, but on a LOT of minis. In total, I painted over 70 minis in one shot, among them a little surprise that I have prepared in secret! In the meantime, I was able to finish 4 of 16 Empire swordsmen, which are really easy to paint. With my airbrushing method I think I can finish a unit in one week.

Enjoy:

Steam Tank Commander

Hi guys,

Today, we find ourselves with some good news. Remember when I was presenting my OOP Empire Steam Tank. The two missing parts from it were the hatch and the commander. Well today I found the perfect match on Ebay, as I usually do. Okay I decided to repaint all my badly painted Empire army. But let me reassure you, my level of painting has never been that bad! After a good bath in acetone, I'll prep this guys for an extreme makeover!

Empire Steam Tank

Hi all,

In the middle of my Empire painting frenzy, I will take a few moments to introduce a piece I already painted at the beginning of the year: the latest Steamtank model. When I decided to start a Catachan army, I had ordered a bundle containing troops and tanks from a now defunct French website that was selling everything at broken prices. The bundle was equivalent to the Catachan Defense Force available on GW's website but in individual image-less boxes. I guess there must have been a mistake in the order as I got an extra box containing the Empire Steamtank. Lucky me. Actually, having a free Empire model gave me the opportunity to test a color scheme for my project to repaint entirely my Empire army. This is how I came to choose Talabecland, whose colors are yellow and red. I felt that these colors are rather easy to paint with the airbrush because you can use the same ink. 

Here is the beast:

WIP: Empire Mortar

Hi all,

A new week starts and with it a new article about the Empire artillery. This time, I would like to present one of the least chosen units in an Empire army: the mortar. It is true that compared to the volley gun or the plain and simple great cannon, the mortar does not do much damage. With only strength 3, it might be useful against big packs of really weak creatures like goblins or skeletons, but definitely not against saurus or Chaos warriors...

Still, I remember this was the first blister I bought in a Games Workshop after buying a second hand Steam Tank and a few halleberdiers. I was so excited when I opened it and it holds a dear place in my ever growing collection.

I just need to finish the remaining servant and apply matt varnish and it will be entirely done!

WIP: Empire Great Cannon

Okay guys,

Today, let's have a look at one of the most beautiful miniatures IMO of the Empire army: the vintage Empire cannon. I can say that I am really happy with the Talabecland color scheme in the end. Red and yellow uniform are the embodiment of what an Empire army should look like! This miniature has been extensively used in battle over the years and it was time it had a new coat of paint! It will probably take a long time before I entirely finish it, as the last servant is probably still in its acetone bath.

But the result at this stage looks pretty good to me

WIP: Empire Great Cannon (plastic)

Hi guys,

Repainting my Empire army made me realise that an Empire army is very nice army to paint. I must say I am really having a good time. When I started repainting all my war machines a few months ago, I had bought resin artillery bases from Ebay with the idea of decorating a little bit the cannons as well as using the accessories that I never used like chest, buckets etc...

In total, I have two cannons, one mortar and one hellblaster volley gun and all four are pretty much entirely painted with just a few servants missing. You will see on the pictures that every artillery base is customised with rocks, blossoming flowers (bought from a railway model shop) and accessories from the various cannon sprues.

Let's start with the plastic cannon that came with the box for the 6th edition (Empire and O&G). I still have two servants that need painting and still need to apply matt varnish to the bucket to remove the shiny effect.

 

Empire OOP Steamtank

Hi everyone,

Today let me show you some pictures of a miniature dear to my heart. Back in 1998, when I was introduced to Warhammer by some friends from school, the first miniatures I bought were the old metal steamtank and a few plastic halberdiers. There were a few attempts to paint the metal monster of course. The first one was the blue color scheme from the 4th edition army book and the second one with my black and green color scheme. Both were of course awful. Unfortunately, I do not have old pictures to show the before/after, neither do I have the complete mini, having lost the commander as well as the hatch a long time ago. I know that miniatures of the commander are available on Ebay. As for the hatch, the search will probably be longer...

Anyway, I consider this unit to be finished until I find the necessary bitz. Enjoy:

Great makeover #2 - Empire War Wagon Crewman with Repeated Musket

Hi guys,

Today, I am honored to publish the second post of the series Empire: The Great Makeover. Three years ago, I was presenting in this article a few of the vintage miniatures I had of my Empire army. At the time, I had lost the Empire War Wagon that I had bought as a youngster but still had the crewmen that I used as engineers or champions in my unit of hand-gunners. When I had the opportunity of buying a second War wagon on Ebay last year, I decided to recreate what I still think as one of the most iconic pieces of the Empire throughout the years.

I will try to finish the entire model by the end of the year when I find opportunities to do a special airbrush session for it. In the meantime, and to show the difference between my old painting skills and the new, please find a before/after picture of the crewman with the repeated musket:

WIP: Empire handgunners

Hi everyone,

Today, once again I will present my refreshed Empire troops. I am almost done with my unit of gunners. 7 are painted and 5 are about to be finished. My goal is to finish them this week, as well as finishing my Salamanders Tactical Squad presented here.

The quality is tabletop, but much better than my previously painted army. I have tried to vary the hair colors instead of having an all black haired Empire army. The second picture is not great, but I will try to do a better one of the finished unit.