Dwarf army photo

Right, so after the fight I had with trying to get a decent picture of my Empire, I found the Dwarfs a bit easier. Or maybe I have already just lowered my standards and stopped caring. Whatever. Either way it's a win, right?

So this is what I currently have ready to go for my Dwarf army. It translates to about 7000 points in 8th edition. There are number of incomplete elements that join the gang for games of Kings of War, like Elementals. I need to finish them. Anyway...

First a "sensible" picture that people might be able to look at without scrolling around...

Empire Army Photo

Looking back through some of my old posts, I discovered it had been quite a long time since I took a whole army photo of my Empire army. Actually, it seems that quite a lot of my armies are in need of a new family photo - some of them are missing a lot of units.

I decided it was time to go through and try to take up-to-date photos of each of my armies. Then, like 2 months after I decided this, I actually got around to doing something about it... And discovered that it's really, really difficult taking a photo like this. There are too many models, and even playing with a lot of settings on multiple cameras, I just couldn't get a crisp shot of everything. Of course, this problem will be most pronounced with my biggest armies. I probably shouldn't have started with the Empire. Oh well. Live and learn. If I actually discover something magical that can improve this, I'll come back and try again.

Anyway, here is about the best I could manage with the tools I had on hand. It's about 20,000 points of stuff in 8th edition. I stuck a number of random Empire Ogres around the place too, because they were essentially made to match the army and they are useless in their own right if all their friends are off pulling duty as unit fillers (which was always their primary function).

Time Flies (and More Confessions of a Hoarder)

Sorry my updates have been so sporadic recently. We're currently in the process of moving house. Or rather, we moved almost 2 weeks ago, but the renovation work on the new place is not yet finished and so we're currently living in a state of chaos. The room where all my miniatures will be living is still receiving finishing touches and I don't yet have a working painting setup. Most of my models are still packed away (as is my good camera somewhere)...

Help! Someone locked us in here and we can't get out!

Drawers stuffed full of stuff that will need to find a new home once I'm set up.

And this is where it's all meant to end up. Most of my painted models are still in those cases in the first picture, but I think there may actually be room for them all in the new display cabinets. Note that most of these cupboards still need handles, and I think I'm going to have to add some lighting too.

Anyway, with no real spare time for gaming, my models in a confused state and my paint station not yet properly established, it's not really surprising that the blog updates have been a bit thin. Hopefully we'll break the back of it soon and normal service can resume. Whatever that is...

In the meantime, I was looking back at some of my older posts and realised that it won't be long until the Hoodling's Hole celebrates its 5th birthday! Hard to believe, really. A lot can happen in 5 years, and one of the things I was looking at was this post: Confessions of a Hoarder. The post included a rough list of my armies and where they were at in terms of battle readiness (ie paintedness). The list is now obviously out of date, so I looked at a few numbers.

A less blurry Empire

The last time I took a whole army photo of my Empire, I was still trying to figure out how the new camera worked. Whilst I do not claim to have come close to mastering it yet, I do seem to be improving. Whilst I was doing something of an inventory (I'll talk more about that in a later post) I thought I would take the opportunity to have another attempt at some decent army shots.

Given how much these images really need to be blown up to be seen properly, I am putting them up at "original size". Apologies for what this will doubtless do to your beautiful browser window...

My entire Empire army as it currently stands.

Growth of an Empire

The Hoodling's Hole had its first birthday back in April, although it passed without any fanfare because I am a lazy and neglectful blogger. For the entire time that the blog has existed, I have been pointedly focusing my attention on my Empire army in an attempt to keep the army growing. I explained my reasons for this over a year ago, when the project was still in its relative infancy. Somewhat remarkably I have managed to stick with my resolution, which means the army has grown a lot over the last 14 months.

The last time I took a "whole army" photo was 6 months ago, so I figured it was time to take stock once more. As usual, I struggled heroically and futilely with the camera, lighting and lack of skill at my disposal in order to take the best picture I could. The result is disappointing, but if nothing else I have another milestone to refer back to if my insanity somehow continues for another 6 months.

Rather than just throw up the new picture, I thought I would chart my progress through the pictures I've got. If nothing else, I find this sort of thing can be motivational for me - to know that I have actually made visible progress over time, and that the time spent painting wasn't for nothing. There's only a few pictures, so bear with me...

Empire Army Gallery

My Year of the Empire is drawing to a close, and I recently became aware that I hadn't posted any pictures of anything like the complete army (as it currently stands). I figured it was time to drag all the models out of hiding and put them together for a family photo.

It's possible that I will do a bit more painting before the end of the year, but I'd say these photos are largely representative of my painting efforts in the Year of the Empire. There were some elements painted last year (notably the Crossbowmen, Handgunners, a small number of the Knights and most of the Teutogen Guard). However, most of this stuff was bare metal or plastic at the start of the year. All in all, I'm happy with my steady progress.

In total there is about 6,000 points of painted stuff in these pictures. It's nowhere near everything I intend to paint (my silly Kislev plans demand much more), but it's a solid start. As always, my pictures are limited by my modest photography skills and the use of a mobile phone camera, however I stole my wife's this time in the hope of some slightly better shots. Enjoy.

My painted Empire army arrayed.

Living on the edge

I get the impression that GW are currently pretty happy with the current range of armies available in Warhammer. It has been a long time since I heard any real rumours about a new race being introduced to the game. To a certain extent, this is understandable – there are currently 15 full-blown races to choose from, and GW seem to be in perpetual catch-up mode to re-release the existing armies in order to try keep things fresh and players interested.

When you think about it, 15 distinct races, each with their own model range, is a lot for a single game. It must be a constant headache trying to juggle them all and ensure that everyone gets their time in the limelight, instead of being forgotten in a dark corner. I’m sure most players feel that GW don’t always (or ever, depending upon how jaded you are) get these things right. For all that I get frustrated too, I do sympathise. However, as bravely as GW might juggle all these armies, there have been victims along the way.

In the time I have been playing Warhammer, there have been 2 full-blown armies that have been introduced and sustained for a while, before falling by the wayside. There have also been a fairly long list of “temporary” armies that were created as part of campaigns or other devices, and which have outlived their usefulness. And I can think of at least one example of a list that was somewhere in between. All of these things are, for all intents and purposes, dead. But they once lived and deserve more than being forgotten.

Victims of the cycle

The latest rumours doing the rounds of the internet are suggesting that the next 3 Warhammer army books to be re-released will be Empire, Vampire Counts and Dwarfs. I saw this at Fields of Blood, where it came from Tronhammer, where it came from Warseer. What a wonderful tangled web these things weave…

Anyway, these are a bit of a change from what I had heard previously, and it’s caught me by surprise. For starters, let me say straight out that I’m glad the Vampires are in the list. I have stated previously that the list needed help, as of all the lists (apart perhaps from the Tomb Kings, which have already rectified), the Vampire Counts suffered with the introduction of 8^th edition. They need a breath of fresh air, so the suggestion that they are on the horizon is welcome.

I am less certain about the Empire and Dwarfs. They are two of the oldest army books (the only older books are Bretonnians and Wood Elves), and they are two of the most popular in terms of collectors and the core imagery of the game. However, both army books work quite well as they currently stand. They are also both armies that I own, so I have more of a vested interest in them. I’m not entirely sure that I’m ready for a new book for either.

Upsides

When your army book is obviously weak or unbalanced and you are consequently dissatisfied with it, it is easy to look forward to the army being re-released. You stand to lose very little, and who knows what sort of goodies will be included in the new book? As a general rule you know GW will not release a much weaker book than those around it (there have been exceptions, most notably the previous Ogre Kingdoms book), so you are almost certainly going to find the new book an improvement in terms of your army’s competitiveness. 

In the past, the general rule of thumb was that each new book would be more powerful than all the ones that came before it. This “power creep” was a generally accepted phenomenon – one that left players of older books frustrated and a little sad. It’s possible that games designers enjoyed the fun of making a list packed with more tricks and toys than all those that came before it, however the driving force behind the pattern was most likely sales. Even with a shiny new model range, it would be difficult to push sales of the revised army if the book made it uncompetitive. On the other hand, if the army is the biggest, baddest thing on the scene, that alone will appeal to some players and will generate sales in its own right.

Thus far in 8^th edition we have seen the power creep phenomenon largely arrested. Three armies have been released at the time of my writing this article, with Orcs and Goblins, Tomb Kings and Ogre Kingdoms all receiving shiny new hardback books, all of which seem to be about on a par in terms of strength. This is far preferable to the arms race we used to be faced with, and Warhammer will be the better for it if we see it continue. The fact that the new books saw a relatively minor change to Orcs and Goblins, but a huge revision for Ogres is indicative of how varied the previous lists had been.

If the current pattern we have seen so far in 8^th edition continues, where each army book seems to be on a relatively even keel, it will be interesting to see what happens when we get to the stronger army books from the previous edition. If GW truly have arrested power creep, armies like Daemons potentially stand to lose out when their book gets revised. The community as a whole would love the power levels of all armies to be roughly level, however I am not so certain that the owners of these armies would be delighted to find that their new army was not as potent as the one it replaced.

Along with the new army book, each army sees a swathe of new models accompanying the release. This is normally an exciting thing for most players, as the quality of models in the game generally improves. Occasionally it can prove problematic for someone who has not yet completed his unit of older models, however with certain exceptions, the older range tends to go on sale and appear far cheaper in the second-hand markets, so it’s normally a win-win situation. Many of us are guilty of purchasing the new model for something we already had covered with the older range, so even players with extensive collections are not immune to the Shiny New Model Syndrome…

A new army book generally presents the player with a whole new experience using his old army. It is rare for the dynamic of the army to remain completely unchanged between books, and even rarer to see the power balance between units within the list remaining exactly as-is. Spells and magic items change, new units are added, and existing units that were considered unworthy in the previous list tend to get a boost (or a price drop) to make them tempting once more. It can almost be like collecting an entire new army, without the financial outlay and painting that that involves. A new book is a breath of fresh air, and given some books can take 5 or more years to be re-released, players are often well and truly ready when the revision arrives.

Army books come and go..

The Empire

The Empire are my current project. I have been working on them in earnest this year (well, as earnestly as I ever get, really) and they have already been to 2 tournaments. So far they have been performing quite well, and I like the combination of flexibility and competitiveness I can get from them, along with peoples’ positive reactions regarding the lack of toughness in the list (read: good composition scores).

I never really intended to collect an Empire army. A friend and I had reached a happy point where between us we had every army (including Dogs of War and Chaos Dwarfs), with no overlap whatsoever. This was not an important arrangement; just an amusing one.

Dogs of War?

However, a couple of years ago, I really started to fear for the future of my rather neglected Dogs of War army. Games Workshop didn’t appear to be giving them any love at all, the models were increasingly scarce, and the option to field mercenaries in other lists began to disappear. I feared the army was in danger of disappearing entirely.

Rather than face the prospect of being left with an unusable army, I decided that my Dogs of War could be used as Empire with only a few tweaks. With that in mind, I started to purchase certain empire troops to bolster my forces and give me a viable army using the Empire list.

Undead in Waiting

My ambitions for this army have changed a couple of times. My colour scheme was decided based on a friend’s Vampire Counts army, which consists of converted Empire models, wearing purple and black. I liked the idea of an opposing force of Empire troops (presumably from where his undead legions originally came), dressed in the same livery, but with white instead of black (you can put the colour change down to the vagaries of necromancy, or a fit of vanity on the part of his Vampire). The armies would be arch-rivals, with a constant pattern of battles (and his pilfering all my corpses).

Life-challenged Empire Swordsmen

Something a little fresher. Zombies!!

I still like this idea, however I am yet to paint even a single Empire Swordsman, so our armies do not exactly look like mirrors of each other despite the colour scheme I chose. A large part of the reason for this was that another friend managed to spot one of the Middenland army boxes produced as part of the Storm of Chaos campaign. It was forgotten on the shelf of shop, with its price having dropped rather appealingly over the years. Being a sucker for cheap deals, I purchased it straight away, and promptly fell for the Teutogen Guard models included in the box. I think these guys are great models, and it’s a real pity you can’t still get them. Have a look at the prices on EBay and you will see I am not the only one that thinks so.

All Things White and Furry

The Middenland acquisition changed my focus somewhat and I became enamoured of the idea of an army built around White Wolf Knights, Teutogen Guard, and other hairy men. Thus was born the army in its current form. I have not abandoned my plans to make a mirror of the undead, but those plans have taken a back seat for now.

The plan for this army at the moment is to base it around white-furred animals, with each unit having its own “totem” animal, or mascot. Obviously for the White Wolf Knights (and for the Teutogen Guard, who are effectively the same thing on foot), this animal is a White Wolf. For Leopold’s Leopard Company (and my Knights Panther), their animal is a Snow Leopard. Beorg’s Bearmen will shift to Polar Bears. I’m not sure how far this scheme will go, but for the moment I like it.

In keeping with this theme, I have obtained a couple of Priests of Ulric (no Sigmar here). I also spotted the Canis Wolfborn model online and desperately wanted the doggy to lead my army, so I ordered one of those too.

By now this is comfortably the most themed army I have constructed and I am still enjoying the novelty. As such, it continues to grow…

The army as a whole. Except for the Pistoliers, who were hiding in my cabinet. In plain sight

My Templar of the Knights of the White Wolf, with his furry friend. If I had known the Space Marine on top was all one part with the wolf when I was ordering the figure, I might have reconsidered my plans. I'm glad I didn't but turning him into a knight was a lot of work.

No Lightning Claws here. Just manly axes...

Some of my Teutogen Guard, including their furry unit filler. The guy with them was built from plastic components. I will talk about this another time.

Leopold's Snow Leopard Company

30 Knights of the White Wolf. OK, so I may have gone a little overboard, but there are only 10 more to be painted. I promise

My other characters. Note that they all have beards. Very important, being beardy in this list...

Voland's Venators have been given a new lease of life as generic Knights. That's my BSB on the end

... And finally, for those who don't realise quite how stupendously huge the doggy is, here is a comparison. Yes, that is a Knight next to him - not a Halfling on a barded dog.

Wood Elves

As I have stated previously, Wood Elves were my first interest in Warhammer. However, the late release of the army book in 4th edition and then similar treatment in 6th edition (there was a get-you-by list for a couple of years), means they haven't seen as much use as they might have.

I have always been a very aggressive Wood Elf player - I have never been much for the whole shooty avoidance type of approach that is common. Instead, my focus has always been on units like Wardancers, Dryads and Treemen, and trying to go toe-to-toe with my opponents. In most editions the Wood Elves have been remarkably good at this - bolstered largely by flexible skills like War Dances and the old Dryad Aspects. They are perhaps not quite as good at it at the moment as they have been in the past, and this may have contributed to their enduring another period of neglect from me.

Like my High Elves, my Wood Elf army suffers from having been collected and painted over an extended period of time. There are, in effect, 2 painted armies in my collection - the old and the newer (new would be putting it too strongly. Let's just say newer). Unfortunately, in addition to this effectively cutting the size of my painted army in half, the divide also runs somewhat along the lines of the troop types. I have not painted a Wood Elf archer in at least 8 years, I suspect. Similarly, I am desperately in need of some more recently painted Wardancers. If I ever get off my backside and pay more attention to the army, maybe this will happen.

For a while I actually ran a pure Forest Spirit list. It was something I had always wanted to do back in 5th ed - a family of big trees (Treemen) and baby trees (Dryads). Then they made it possible in the 6th ed book and I got excited. Turned out the army was also rather effective, but that was unexpected. This is why there are a lot of Forest Spirit-based models painted in a similar style, with nothing really elfy to back them up. More things to work on...

My current Wood Elf army



My Treeman Ancient, based on the old Durthu model (who I never liked very much, but whose ludicrous arm looks slightly more sensible now it's been bent)



My Glamourweave mage, made from a jazzed up Dryad

A couple of my Wild Riders, again made from Dryads

The guy I use as an Alter Kindred Noble. I love this model

Disco fever! Some of my older Wood Elves in all their chipped and colour-blind glory. Apparently you can lose painting marks in tournaments just because people don't like your Scouts wearing orange and pink and your Treeman being purple. Who knew?

And here's why I haven't painted an archer in living memory. I already have 50 of them. But you can also see why I'm not keen to use them. There is something a little "samey" about them. Can't put my finger on it...

Pointy-eared gits

When I first started collecting a Warhammer army, it was Wood Elves that most took my fancy. However, this was at the start of 4th edition, there was no Wood Elf army book (just a temporary Ravening Hordes-style list that came in the Warhammer box set) and the models were rather hard to come by. As such, I decided to start collecting High Elves alongside them. The High Elves were one of the first races to get an army book of their own and the models were far easier to find. They were also appealing, but in a more regimented and haughty sort of way than their woodland kin.

For all that I started with Wood Elves, my first entire army was definitely the High Elves. Up until this point I had used the High Elves and Wood Elves interchangeably, using pretty liberal interpretations of the Allies rules, but my friends didn't mind. However, I eventually collected enough models that I could field a battle-worthy force (I use this term rather loosely - my shock cavalry consisted of Reaver Knights, I think I had a mighty 12 Swordmasters, and a few other odds and ends). The army grew gradually from there, sometimes in jumps and starts.

My High Elves suffer somewhat from being the army I grew up with, so they have endured a wide variety of paint jobs and even the occasional bit of paint stripping. I have models in the army that probably have 4 or 5 coats of paint. It's only fairly recently that I have hit on a colour scheme that I am fairly happy with, and it's possibly that some of my models will never catch up.

My main High Elf army

A few of the characters

Old-school Spearmen. I like these models - they have a very solid and regimented feel to them

Almost current Dragon Princes

One of my Dragon characters. The rider is magnetised. The plan is to have a Mage who can stand in his place, however I haven't gotten around to that yet...

And here we find the old Korhil, who appears to have stolen Eltharion's Griffon. If Eltharion ever gets painted and catches up with Korhil, there may be words.

My mounted Battle Standard Bearer

A couple of pussy cat chariots

And now, just to confuse you, here is another High Elf army. This colour scheme started as a crossover project. I wanted Eternal Guard for my Wood Elf army, and really didn't like the proper models. I decided instead to make a themed army, based around the High Elf Everqueen. in Avelorn. The stories talk about Treemen etc living in the forests there, so I figured it made reasonable sense. It also gave me an excuse to use my Maiden Guard models (although I had to supplement what I had thus far). The army would be using the Wood Elf rules, but all the actual Elf models (as opposed to the Forest Spirits) would be High Elves.

Thus was born the colour scheme you see below. I have since taken a liking to it and experimented on a couple of other units that have no place in a Wood Elf army. Just to further confuse you. It's likely that I will eventually paint an entire decent-sized army in this colour scheme. I figured so long as they were based correctly, they could fight alongside my main High Elf army in larger games anyway...

The Everqueen (and friends)

Plenty of Maiden Guard. They used to be in 2 units, but under 8th ed rules, they are far more likely to stick together

General, BSB and Mage, all made from the same model. Who knew she could be so versatile...?

Everyone needs a Dragon. Just for everyday purposes, like carrying your shopping, mowing the lawns, eating the faces of your enemies...

Some High Elf Archers who think they are Wood Elves who think they are High Elves... I am confused

As I said, not everything in this colour scheme fits into the original Wood Elf plan

Nope, these don't either. Hell, they don't even fit into most people's High Elf plans. Maybe if the horsies got all furry and had big teeth, and the crew swapped their poky spears for axes...

I'd like to do a whole unit of Silver Helms like this. Maybe one day

... And those who have been left behind. The times, they are a-changing. Sadly, for the moment at least, these guys are not. I guess it could happen. Eventually...

Waaagh Da Orcs!

Orcs and Goblins were the third army I started collecting, after Wood Elves and High Elves. The Orcs had always appealed to me, however I was always intimidated by the number of models required. It was only when I took possession of a friend's (rather large) collection that I was able to push past this and have a go with them.

Orcs are the iconic horde army in Warhammer. They are meant to be a green tide rushing toward their beleaguered enemies. As such, it was essential that I own too many of them! Actually, I'm not sure that this was the thought process per se, but it was something along those lines. One does not field small units of Orcs and Goblins. One fields vast units of them to frighten one's opponent, right up to the point where he or she realises they're really rather useless and scares them off with a loud clap or distracts them with a small, shiny unit of Pistoliers.

I was keen to start the Orcs because they are the arch-enemies of the Dwarfs, as collected by my oldest opponent. They would fight endless battles for the control of the mountain Holds, re-enact the Battle of East Gate, etc. Unfortunately we have hardly played since then, but the theory is still good.

For a long time my Orcs were my favoured tournament army, and they got far too much use. I then went the other way, being a bit sick of them and wanting to give some attention to my other armies. This on-again, off-again approach has resulted in some rather disjointed paintjobs and some rather neglected models. I have gone back and refurbished some of them, but given they are still not my main focus at the moment, they still have a long way to go.

My full painted army, as it currently stands. My poor photography doesn't really show the army to its fullest. For instance, that bright green mass at the back is about 80 Orcs all lumped in together. I think there are about 230 Savage, Black and Vanilla Orc infantry there in total

Black Orcs - 65 of them, I think. A sensible unit

My old home-made "ninja" Black Orcs, made basically from single-pose Orc Archers and Ogre swords.

The 3 Stooges

Grom the Paunch rides again!

My favoured Goblin general, Skuzzbutt. He rides Fuzzbutt, his pet furry spider

Night Goblins including my home-made netters, made from flywire

More Orc Shamans than you can points a bony stick at. If you think they look similar, this is an optical illusion caused by them being the same model

Just a couple of birdies