Empire: Swordsmen conversion

Nice simple conversion going on here...

I recently managed to get my hands on some 6th edition empire sprues. These are the ones where they combined the spearmen with handgunners on a single sprue. All very nice figures, but not to put too fine a point on it, I have more than enough of both. My current need is for some more swordsmen.

The conversion, is just a straight hand swap.The swordhands come from my stock of empire spares, whilst the left hands are cut from any spare left hands I could find with closed fists. I assumed that I would get away without too great a job with the left hands since they would be hidden behind a shield.

I pinned all the hands and arms; not because they need to be, but rather because it is just so easy to that I figured "why not". Hopefully they will paint up OK.

Empire war machine crew

In recent weeks I have based two cannons and a Helblaster volley gun, so I guess it is now time to give them some nice new crew.

I have added one crew member to the base of each war machine. This is because the crew figures are really only there to indicate how many casualties remain. If you loose the last figure the machine dies too. For this reason,I only need an extra two figures per war machine.

I love the older style metal figures and have been fortunate enough to be able to lay my hands on a few. They had quite a thick layer of paint on them so I had to do a certain amount of work on them. After soaking in brake fluid and scrubbing they were starting to look a little cleaner....

I have painted all my chaps in the colour scheme of my Nordland army. This is a blue and cream combination.. The advantage of these figures is that you can go to town a bit with the colouring of the fabric to maximise the blue cream contrast.

I hope you enjoy....

Empire Cannons and crew

The last time I posted, I had just completed a helblaster volleygun for my Nordland force. Since then I have had a combination of events that have set my hobbting into the background for a week or two. My laptop decided to fry its hard-disc, loosing all myu stored information, I read through the hunger games trillogy of books and I temporarily fell out of love with the local gaming community. No worries, it is time to come back and what better than to hit the blog with pictures of two cannons I completed recently.

 

These are old cannons I already had, but they were painted as plain timber, were unbased and had some very old crew. in a recent post I assembled the bases and here they are painted with crew.

  

I have elected to paint the woodwork on the cannon in a Nordland theme blue colour. This helps it fit into the army colour scheme and was really done because I liked the effect when I have seen it on Napolionic artillery.

 

Hope you enjoy

Empire Nordland Helblaster volley gun

 
In a recent post, I started basing my war-machines, the first of these to finish is the Helblaster volley gun. In the current version of the army book this chap is just plain awesome, so long as you throw in a Master Engineer.

The gun itself, I have had painted for some time, but I think the addition of the base just finishes it off.I have tried to colour match the boxes of spare shot. Hopefully they all match..

Enjoy.

Legionary 2012

A quick call out for my local annual wargamming show, Legionary 2012. If you are down in Devon for the Bank Holiday weekend, why not pop in.



Exeter Legionary 2012 – or MMXII if you prefer – is this Saturday, May the 5th.
We have twenty wargames traders  – new faces and old – selling historical, fantasy and sci fi figures, rules, terrain and accessories; twenty demonstration or participation games ranging from 422BC to manga-inspried sci fi; tournaments for Warhammer and something out of the ordinary to test your skills in Warhammer 40K; a Pathfinder Society scenario for the roleplayers; and the usual huge and busy bring and buy.  So if you want to buy, sell, play or just look at wargames on May 5th 2012 there’s no better place in England.  Entry to the show itself is £3, doors open to the public at 10:00.

I will be there with my Empire Army, so pop over and say hello if you are around.

Traders include...
Angel Barracks – http://angelbarracks.co.uk/
Baker Company – http://bakercompany.co.uk/
Black Scorpion – http://www.blackscorpionminiatures.com/index.php
Colonel Bills – http://www.colonelbills.com/
Dreamholme Scenics – http://dreamholme.co.uk/
Forlorn Hope Games – http://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk
Grubby Tanks – http://www.grubbytanks.com/catalog/
Heroes of the Dark Age – http://www.heroesofthedarkage.com/
Iron Haven Games – http://www.ironhavengames.co.uk/
KR Multicase - http://www.krmulticase.co.uk
Lesley’s Bits Box – http://www.lesleysbitsbox.co.uk/
MJ Figures – http://mjfigures.co.uk/
Mongoose Publishing  – http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/
Scarab Miniatures – http://scarabminiatures.com/
The Square – http://www.thesquare-wargames.co.uk/shop/
Triple Helix Wargames – www.triplehelixwargames.co.uk
Wargames Emporium – http://www.wargamesemporium.co.uk/
Wargames Widows - www.wargameswidows.co.uk
Warm Acre Games – http://www.warmacre.com
Warmill – http://www.warmill.co.uk/

Basing Empire war-machines

When I attended my first serious tournament, Polish sausage, it became clear that the convention was to base war-machines. So I have grabbed the opportunity to  have a go at building some bases.
 

The base shown above is one I have put together for a Helblaster volley gun. I have included the chap carrying the shot tray and a couple of barrels and boxes for extra shot. The war-machine crew only purpose is to indicate the number of remaining crew. Therefore it seams appropriate to include one crew member on the base, since once he is gone the machine is dead anyway..

I have also put together two bases for cannons. Each base was made by combining two cavalry bases. I believe that this gives enough room to show off the bases whilst retaining a nice compact look.