[WM] Ostermark (Empire/Kislev)

[empireaddict]

The price of Kislev minis is beyond my budget and so I have decided to work on an Ostermark force that can either be used to reinforce my Empire army or as Kislev proxies.  Found some time to do some painting over Xmas and have made some progress ...

General & General plus Wizard (Tsarina proxy)


Heroes (Ogre bodyguard in lieu of a Bear mount)


Wizards (Shaman proxies) plus Bear spell markers (Copplestone 15mm Fantasy Bears)


Halberdiers (Axemen proxies) & Skirmishers


Lancers (Kislev Knights proxies)


War Wagons



Horse Archers still WIP.  Have some flagellants & warhounds as Bear proxies but considering other options.

[fracas]

The bears look good

And so are the war wagons!

[jchaos79]

Great army, and good selection of figures.

[frogbear]

What models are tose warwagons from?

Fantastic looking army!

[empireaddict]

@fracas, jchaos79, frogbear,
Many thanks.

@frogbear,
The wheels and horse teams are from the Empire War Altar.  Wagon sides from dwarf cannon wheels plus greenstuff, front from WHF shields, rear from WHF organ gun/rocket launcher box.  Then add in chopped down helblaster and miscellaneous Empire crew.

If I did the war wagons again, I'm not sure I'd bother with the dwarf wheels, although they do give them an improvised look.

[Stormwind]

Stunning work!

[Toon]

Very nice conversions and painting scheme. The army looks really characterful and "realistic"! Great work. Same also applies to your Witch Hunter army posted in a different thread.

[vincent]

Really good idea and realisation. I especially like the war wagon conversion

[empireaddict]

@Stormwind, Toon & vincent
Many thanks.  As I indicated at the start of the thread, I was looking for a way to reconcile the attractions presented by the Kislev list with the deterrent of the miniatures’ prices.  A couple of years ago I toyed with the idea of picking up a blister occasionally until I had an army, but they have become a ‘luxury item’.

Having played a game recently with Flagellants & hounds as Bear proxies, I've reached the conclusion that they aren't a logical fit.  That said, I wasn't that impressed with Bears as a unit anyway and so may invest in some additional 'conventional' infantry.  Given the Ostermark fluff, that will probably be a brigade of (neighbouring) Dwarf Militia and Quarrellers.  Both coming from Dwarf Ranger blisters.

[Stormwind]

My RL friend who painted up some warmaster whilst he was ill to play with me at the club but is now unfortunately too busy RL to play... He has some Kislev, and someone else has some unbuilt Kislev knocking about.  I LOVE the aesthetic but as Steve told me "They are a thoroughly average army" and I think Empire is probably a little more exciting to play as anyway!

[David Wasilewski]

I love the war wagon conversions too, the "stop me and buy one" massive gatling cannon on the sides looks great!

I agree re the Kislev list - I'd be tempted to just play the Empire list and use them as "counts as" myself, the only special unit that you really need to stick to the proper Kiaslev rules is the war wagons really.

Dave

[empireaddict]

Update: Have managed to squeeze a couple of games with these guys into the schedule since Xmas.  Also edging towards finishing up the painting of the ‘reinforcements’ and will post pictures when they’re done.

Observations on the army:

1) Compared to Empire, not having to take 4 units of crossbows in a 2,000 point army is good.  I get 3 horse archers instead.

2) A lot of horse archers spread about in groups of 2 units can be rather irritating for opponents.

3) The war wagons are great; but only if you can get them deployed properly.  I’ve decided that a Kislev list general needs an orb of majesty as a ‘safety net’ for when the laager order fails!

Dave,
Thanks for the comment on the wagons.  I had hoped the helblasters would intimidate opponents, but so far that’s not been the case.

[jchaos79]

Never played with kislev but palyed against them two or three times,

That are interesting observatons,, did you play with regular armylist or trial list?:

2) do you have problems to move a lot of brigades then? how many charactars do you use?

again, very nice army, great initiative to play with instead the crazy prices out there! +1 smart

[Stormwind]

That is true, horse archers are a real pain in the side!

The war wagon is fearsome and if against terrain is a real fortress.  I had to throw my entire Chaos battle line against one - risked my general on dragon and died in a counter charge because of it.

[empireaddict]

@jchaos79
The list I have used is the one in the Warmaster Armies pdf which seems to date from 2006 according to its introduction.  In the games played, I used a Tsarina, 2 heroes and 2 shamans.