Beno's Crusade Marches to War. X Gamers' 1k list, finished!

[beno]

I'm a little late getting going on this challenge, haven't been around the forums as much as I'd like and I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing (spelling is probably not correct!) for ages about it. In the end work must begin - and the Golden Lion is born.

I'll start with the 1000 point list. It may not be very competitive but I like the idea and should be able to create something pretty cool looking - which is the most important thing about Warhammer.... isn't it...

Heroes (268)(27.2%)

Caesar Willmond, Champion of the Order of the Golden Lion (154):
BSB Captain of the Empire on Barded Warhorse, Full Plate Armour + Shield, Talisman of Endurance, SkavenSlayer Helm

Luther VonNiben, Priest of the Order of the Golden Lion (114):
Warrior Priest on Barded Warhorse, Heavy Armour, Great Weapon, Something Magical (25pts ish)

Core (350)(35.5%)

Matchlocke's Mercenary Muskets (100)
10 Handgunners, Standard & Musician

Knights of the Golden Lion (240)
10 Empire Knights, Musician & Standard Bearer, Great Weapons

Special (367)(36.8%)

Inner Circle of the Golden Lion (252) (Name to be decided... perhaps Leopold's Guard?)
4 Demigryph Knights, Musician & Standard, Lances & Shields

Matchlocke's Mercenary Reiters (115)
5 Outriders, Musician & Champion (the champion is Matchlocke Mattiasson himself)

Total Points - 995 (I think, but my maths is bad so...)

I'm still working on the fluff but will start posting this week with pics of the first unit so far (they're half done, forgot to get the primed photo taken before I got carried away with the brush!) its Matchlocke's Mercenary Reiters - cool!

[beno]

Grabbed some photos of Matchlocke's Reiters. So far so good - though I haven't done their shin guards, oh well, manana!




Matchlocke's got a head from the Knights kit because I want him to be a little bit shaggier and rougher than the others and that head fits perfectly with a little trimming round the edges. I also chopped off the soup tureen blunderbuss thing, which he was holding, just above the trigger. It looked rather silly and I'm not paying for the upgrade so I bashed on the loose repeater musket from the kit - fits really well too.

As I said I know I got carried away and forgot to photo them after priming. I suppose it's from leaving them overnight and then just wanting to get going the next day on the painting. Still I've not done masses of work on them yet, and I doubt I'll get any done today too since I'm exhausted after a long, tough day

On the other front Wayland delivered the Demigryphs today (well, I had one box but I needed one more model for the four - hmph - one expensive demigryph!) along with Matchlocke's Muskets. Now all I'm waiting on is some bits which are coming soon; two more armoured horses, knight legs and torsos to make the unit up to ten - I should have plenty of leftover heads and arms for those so that's covered. With them will be the bits for my BSB Captain, Caesar Willmond, which is gonna be exciting!!! A little bit of kit bashing and some conversion to create a guy that really stands out.

[beno]

Everything has now arrived so I set to work and did most of the rest of the assembly! This is how they look so far, its a bit too wide so I've added it as a link:

http://artisans-workshop.com/images-2012/empire_golden_lion/assembled-001.jpg

The front rank of knights has been primed - apart from Caesar who, obviously, is only partially assembled. I've made up his banner too but its a little large for blu-tac and kept flopping over before I could hit shoot on the camera! Luther VinNiben, the 'warrior priest' is actually that forgeworld character Lietpold. He looked pretty aloof and sort of pious so I went for him, but I think he's a little over modelled really. There's so much detail and stuff going on its hard to focus on, and will probably end up vying for attention too much with Willmond.

The Outriders are nearly finished too:




Nearly Nuln-ite! More on that when I've written up the fluff though

Got issues about the chicken riders unfortunately. Their bases are way, way, way too big for the minis. I can comfortably fit two models onto one of those bases. Its stupid and it looks awful I also think I'm going to remove all that modelled design from their armour so they're all smooth and sleek and I can freehand on some designs that better fit the theme I'm gonna do. The gremlin face on one of them is atrociously ugly as well and looks way out of keeping with the Empire iconography - it would fit better in a chaos army - but I hid it behind the musketeer's banner for the photo its so embarrasing

[Beithir Seun]

Good looking stuff so far Beno

[beno]

Thanks Beithir!

[beno]

Primer aplenty in this update!

I've done some serious metallurgical work at my anvil to fix up those demigryphs - they're almost pristine perfect, maybe and I think they now look really good - love to paint those smooth clean surfaces. I kinda wish GW had given us the option of adding molded designs or not over the whole thing though. Most of them you have to glue on the front, central section of armour designs so they could have done them all separate and saved me some time! Anyway, after much grinding and filing they're done.


I'm afraid the photo is a little blurry in places and man does my spray booth look scruffy - time for some newspaper

Next update I'll get some decent pics of Caesar Willmond and some better ones of the muskets once I've started the painting. Matchlocke's muskets are all based up and ready to "take aim - FIRE!" They're on their movement tray (without edges yet). Each model has a 2mm*1mm magnet in the back left corner, and the tray has strips of self-adhesive steel tape on it. I'll be doing this for all the units 'cause its solid.

[Malkrit]

It's great to see a mounted empire force, it looks really awesome! What colour scheme are you aiming for?

[beno]

The muskets are going to be mostly black with the red & gold facings, broken up with some white cloth here and there, same as outriders. They've gone mercenary since leaving the Nuln gunners barracks and took their kit, banners and everything else with them (that's a court marshall right there!) so basically a Nuln colour-scheme. The Knights are going to be blue/black with gold trim and motifs with a few patches of red for effect. We'll see how it ties together. Their chapter house is not far from Nuln and the golden lion/scales of judgement is their main iconography too (hence the Golden Lion order!) Since they're stupidly rich from crusading (a.k.a plundering/looting/pillaging) they've plenty of cash and have hired Matchlocke and his muskets for some extra firepower.

I'm glad you like the idea of the mounted Empire army; I hope it will be really eye-catching. I have plans to eventually expand to +/- 2250pts. Matchlocke will reinforce with a pair of mortars and another bunch of handgunners. The Knights will be bringing along their lower orders and initiates - about 60 halberds/swordsmen lead by more priests, maybe some flagellants too. To top it all off the crusade will be lead by the Archbishop (lvl 3 mage.... sort of an archbishop!) on either the Luminark or Hurricanum - as yet undecided! It won't be quite so cavalry orientated but much more well balanced I think.

EDIT<That's terrible grammar what I meant was "won't be quite so cavalry orientated but will be a far better balance I think.">EDIT

[beno]

Like this for the Knights/Demigryphs:



Its looking a bit more blue than it does IRL, which is darker and blacker into the shading, but still ultra shiny! They still have no heads yet, nor have I fixed the shields in place.

And since I had the camera out here's some better shots of Caesar Willmond:

[beno]

Its been too long since I either posted anything or had a chance to work on this army - too much commission painting getting in the way of my own ambitions!

Anyway, I've got this and that done here and there and finally spent a proper amount of time on them yesterday. This is where I'm up to:




I've since done more on these knights, but here's them after a little work:


And the army in its nearly finished state - I have one week left - might just make it!!!



And a little bit of a close-up on the new warpriest... I decided the other Forgeworld one was a bit rubbish! So I found this guy by Gamezone Miniatures (from germany - he's cool!)



I also notice that I broke all the links to earlier photos -oops- was moving everything around on my webhost account to help organize stuff so I'll go back and make sure they all work still!

[beno]

I've been basing recently, amongst other things! Here's some more pics of the force as they progress:

Knight's Standard (not going to be that solid black background though - but its a start!)


The Lion Knights lead the charge with Caesar at the front. Again this Battle Standard is just a start and isn't going to be a flat black background either:

Also, gonna be painting all their currently black robes up to a deep, burgundy red, velvety finish - classy ponces!

Some killer chicken maddness - again standards/pennants are not finished


Matchlocke's Reiters - completed (apart from the base trim, so as good as finished!)


And finally, Matchlocke's Muskets. This standard is finished... oh wait a moment, no it isn't

It's hard to make out but the parchment on the standard is their mercenary contract - waving it around at the front of the army is supposed to inspire the troops to earn their keep.

So, the list of jobs left to do before I can say they're finished:
+ Finish knights' burgundy red cloth bits.
+ Finish knights' skintones and faces and facial hair. Check over the muskets, reiters and demigryphs for facial stuff while I'm at it
+ Finish off standards - knights, muskets, demigryphs and BSB - lots to do there.
+ Freehand designs on demigryphs' armour plates - another big job but I have a good plan now so it's achievable.
+ Finish demigryph fur, feathers and beaks (not much left here, and not really critical but would be better if I get them done)
+ A few more strawberry/red flower type plants needed on bases of knights and muskets. (the red and green tufty stuff)
+ Base trim to go a very dark brown - easy!
+ Write the final cut of the fluff description
+ Double check the points/list (i remember still having 34 or 35 points left and not sure what to do with it... then forgot about it until now)

[url]Things I'll do if I have time or things I have in mind for another day:[/url]
+ Make and paint up something to go between the two central demigryphs to fill the space - perhaps a bit of wall or a dead soldier... have to think something up first!
+ varnish them
+ get started on the next 750 points - and eventually the final 750 (I have written up the 2500 point army - but that's for another thread)
+ "Sound the trumpets, hammer the drums, pray to Verena and march off in a Glorious Crusade in the name of Sigmar, with the blessings of the Emperor to, er, 'retake' the riches and the lands of Lustria, Araby and beyond."

[beno]

I've been cracking on with painting again. Getting a bit brush frantic since I've got a bunch of other models under the brush at the moment as well.

Still - I managed to find time to re-jig my list a little bit when a great canon arrived courtesy of ebay. And I managed to get a good way through painting it

Here's how we're looking now with the even better news that I have painted up the BSB and Muskets' standards, short of a motto for the BSB but that's a tiny weeny job!


Alongside my new boom-boom gun came an adapter to fit some old K-mount lenses (from the Pentax in the days before digital!) to my ultra smooth, super modern, digital Samsung. It's awesome - I have 1:4 fixed-focus macro lens to play around with now, as well as some funky super-wide-angle and a rather massive telephoto amongst others!) The maco lens is incredible - check out this for a close up...


I'm still playing around with it a little so I reckon I can ramp the sharpness up more. Bear in mind that this photo is scaled down by about 60% (yeah, its less than half the size of the original!!!) Its awesome and terrifying, I can see every little fleck of detail - gulp

He'll be a level 4 wizard in the future 2-2.5k army btw - in a cameo role as the Cardinal for the Crusade.

[beno]

So, as I mentioned before I had some points left over from the list I wrote up to start with, some 40 or so I think which I plain forgot about I've started ordering some of the bits to expand the force to 2.5k already since I get all excited about painting armies - as you may have guessed! In fact, I got so excited I've been working on this army alongside two others - in my spare time

Anyway, the first canon for the 2.5k list arrived already so it was clearly time to paint as much of it as I could - now now now! That also means I have to fit it into the army. For one it increases my model count a little, secondly I think it rounds off the army visually, there was definitely something lacking before (like the even number of units perhaps... odds seem more harmonious). Finally it gives me a chance of dealing with any big gribblies (monsters and units) that come wandering my way. I think its a win all round.

Here's the new, updated list, weighing in at 997:

Captain, BSB, Caesar Willmond - 134
Barded horse, full-plate, shield, Dragon Helm, Talisman of Protection

Warrior Priest, Luther VonNibben - 94
Barded horse, heavy armour, great weapon, Iron curse Icon

Knights of the Golden Lion, 10 knights - 240
Great weapons, Standard, musician

Matchlocke's Musket Company, 10 Handgunners - 110
Standard, music

The Lion's Champions, 3 Demigryph Knights - 194
Standard, music

Matchlocke's Reiter Company, 5 Outriders - 105

Matchlocke's Bombard, 1 great canon - 120

[Beithir Seun]

Great stuff Beno, and you're nearly finished! I definitely made a mistake going with a model-heavy army

[beno]

Thanks! and yeah, I'm nearly there now

I had to choose a smaller army because I knew I would only be able to paint in shorter bursts of furious activity due to other commitments and painting projects. Though, with loads of mounted troops and monstrous cavalry it was still looking a bit desperate last week until I heard about the new deadline. Its funny how a bit of leeway there has actually spurred me on as well, got loads done the last couple of days!

[Rab]

looking good. I like the natural, gritty colour scheme.

[beno]

So, the Crusade of the Golden Lion is about as finished as its going to get now. There is, as ever, more I could do. Most notably I'm not going to get a chance to do all the promised freehand on the demigryphs, which is a shame, but they are gaming-ready without it so on with the story!


As Matchlocke looked out across the valley the rippling crack of repeater handgun fire, away over the far ridge, split the cold, clear, spring air. The familiar sound of a horn blowing over the hillside drifted on a gentle breeze, rich with the smell of trampled grass and wildflowers. "It was a clear morning much like this," he thought to himself, as he turned to the Colour-Sergeant of the 4th Muskets, Gaar Hombrecht. However, his thoughts were cut short...



It was little after dawn and the orcs had crossed the river. The units of outriders and pistoliers were riding back along the road from the bridge to report. A dispatch rider galloped wildly over to the musket regiment. "Sir," said the lad as he reigned in alongside.

The 4th Brigade had been sent to guard the western approach to the city of Nuln. About 50 miles due east of Grunberg they'd formed up on the ridge overlooking the road and awaited whatever it was that Grom was sending westward in an attempt to surround the city. Matchlocke had graduated as an Engineer only two years ago and was a competent Engineer. His real skill however, on the battlefield, had quickly been recognized and already he'd been made an officer in command of the 4th's Musket Regiment along with their two detachments of great-cannons. They were positioned rear-centre of the line and they had a company of milita posted to guard them lest the orcs broke through. General Weismann was a brave captain, commander of the 4th and experience had taught him caution.

"Sir, the greenskins have advanced. The scouts report at least two thousand on the road, possibly more behind." The young rider's face was flushed and his hands were trembling, he couldn't be more than fifteen and this would almost certainly be his first engagement. Every man and boy in the city had been readied after the reports that Grom's horde had begun their march towards Nuln.



"Two thousand at least, we're not more than 800 all told," thought Matchlocke, looking over to colour-sergeant Gaar, who was readying the muskets. "That's a little more than expected," he turned back to the dispatch rider, "what are the orders?"
"We hold our ground, the Halberd regiment will advance from the left to meet their charge once they reach the stream down in the valley. Train the guns on the lower slopes and await Commander Weismann's signal." The dispatch rider was about to turn away but he checked himself and looked at Matchlocke, "Do we..." he began to say to before Matchlocke cut him short, "We have a stong position, lad, and General Weismann is one of the best commanders in all of Nuln. Have faith, follow your orders and the orcs will be routed by noon." The dispatch rider saluted and rode back towards the General's position.

Within minutes a banner was raised across the valley, a sickly, sallow ground with a hideously grinning, red skull; the banner of Grom's chief lietenant, Snarg, a cunning and viscious goblin warboss. The enemy were forming up ranks on the crest of the hill and the tall, crooked shapes of trolls were lumbering among them. A stench like rancid dung wafted on the easterly breeze, the stench of orc, goblin and whatever other vile abominations they'd brought with them. A great roll of drums signalled the advance and the seething tide of greenskins began to boil towards. The great voice of Weismann could be heard in response, on the right, "Hold your lines, men of Nuln, by Sigmar's will we shall hold this ground".

[beno]

The green tide was reaching the lower slopes as Matchlocke raised his voice, "Ready the fuses, cock those muskets, it won't be long now..." The tactic was a familiar one with orcs, wait 'til they're about to charge and hit them with everything you've got, then pray that they break. In a prolonged melee the 4th Brigade would be outnumbered and overrun in a matter of minutes. The 2nd Halberd regiment were lowering their polearms and the barked orders of their sergeants signalled their advance.



A goblin shaman was leading the assault from the front and was now leaping wildly around with his staff raised to the heavens. The sky darkened as great thunder clouds rolled up behind the greenskin horde and the sun vanished from the sky. Lightning was breaking on the hilltops and a thick, greasy drissle began falling. Suddenly a pallid glow sparked across the field, lighting the faces of men and greenskins alike with distorted, flickering shadows and eerie pulses of light. The hard, cold braying of the goblins' horns burst across the hillside followed by a deafening roar as the mass of greenskins surged forward across the stream down below. A solitary answering call came from the ranks of the 4th Brigade. That was the signal, "4th Nuln Cannons, open fire." The battle had begun.



The sound of the first detachment's guns tore through the valley, solid lead shot streaking the morning air with acrid, sooty trails. At once Colour-Sergeant Hombrecht's voice was drowned out, but the men needed no prompting. Their first volley raked through the massed ranks of the enemy and as the rear ranks took aim another thunderous boom echoed out as the second detachment's cannons fired. "Reload, double quick," Hombrecht cried out, "first man to drop one of their bosses gets a swig of rum on..." his voice was cut short as another horn blared, a great cry went up and the clash of steel rang out on the slopes below. The 2nd Halberds' charge caught the goblins on the back-foot and drove into their left flank, pushing them back towards the stream and turning the greenskins ranks in disarray. Unusually, and to Matchlocke's dismay, they didn't break. Whatever that shaman had been up to he had certainly driven the greenskins into a wild frenzy and their resolve seemed sterner than ever. "Into their flank, Hombrecht" Matchloke roared above the din as the Halberd's charge exposed the sides of the goblin line. "Aye, sir. You 'eard 'im lads, at their flanks, take aim..." came the reply as a gust of wind cleared the powder-smoke from the air. Matchlocke looked up to the far ridge. Only half of the enemy had been committed to that first charge, and now he could see the second wave closing the ground, fast. Snarg was throwing his main weight at the centre. What's more the great mountain trolls were at the forefront of the second wave, as well as Snarg himself.

[beno]

The green tide was rising. The trolls smashed into the ranks of humans with bellowing grunts and terrifying roars.

Soon the dispatch rider galloped back over, the poor boy looked like he was on the verge of passing out."Weismann's orders, sir..." he stopped, looking back to Weissmanm's position. Following his gaze, Matchlocke could see a column of wolf-riders skirting the head of the valley, wheeling their dreadful mounts as they began to charge the south-eastern flank, where the Spearmen Companies and Weissmann's guard were formed up. The day was turning against them.

"Well, get on with it lad, we've a battle to win here," Matchlocke prompted him, trying to sound confident.

"You're to withdraw to the crest of the hill with the cannons. The 3rd Foot, down on your left, will accompany you," he stammerred and what little blood that had remained in his face now drained away.

Down to the north-west, at the foot of the valley where the stream turned eastward to meet the river, a mass of black, armoured shapes were rounding the curve of the land and advancing in a disturbingly organized fashion to meet the left.The 3rd Foot were mostly volunteers and a unit of goblins they could deal with, but black orcs were a different matter. In the center Snarg's second wave had driven a wedge through the lines, cutting off General Weismann from the rest of the army. "You crooked little bastard," Matchlocke muttered to himself as he saw the militia company, assigned to defend the powder regiment as a last resort, starting to break apart under the press of goblins forcing their way up the slopes towards the muskets. The goblin shaman was up to something again, another green flash from his staff bounded across the hillside. His maniacal screeching could be heard above the clamour of battle and with a rending crash an enormous, green, orc-like foot came plummeting earthward from the skies, stamping amongst the soldiers of Weismann's flank. Men, goblins and wolves were hurled around like chaff threshed from the wheat, yet the cheers of the goblins attained an ever more fevered pitch and pressed on the attack, trampling the men-at-arms into the ground and hacking at their bodies where they lay.

Even Matchlocke began to despair at this point, the 4th Nuln Brigade was being smashed to pieces, Weismann was probably dead, the left flank was about to be overrun and the centre of the line was teetering on the brink of a total rout. Tearing the dispatch rider's horn from the stunned boy's belt Matchlocke blew the rallying call with all the breath he could muster, "4th Brigade," he cried "4th Brigade to me." He'd never been in overall command before, and, bieng first and foremost an Engineer, he never really expected nor wanted to be; not least at a time like this. But needs must and with the army bereft of any clear leadership he sounded the rally call again. The soldiers of the left flank began to break almost as soon as the black orcs rammed into their shield wall. They were already retreating back up the slopes in utter disarray. The other sections of the 4th began to fall back to the centre of the line, rallying around the musket regiment and cannons. A few companies were retreating in an orderly fashion with their faces to the enemy, fighting as they withdrew. Most were simply running wildly across the field, many getting hacked down as they fled.

[beno]

As he hurriedly organized what little remained of the 4th Brigade for a makeshift final stand, Snarg's horde closing in around them, a shaft of sunlight cut through the clouds at the head of the valley. A banner was unfurled bearing a golden lion, glinting against the clearing sky. The lion held a set of scales aloft, Verena's symbol of judgement, and about the banner was arrayed a host of knights, many upon great barded warhorses and wielding vicious cavalry hammers.



However, among their number was a company of Verena's Inner Circle, knights mounted upon the near legendary demigryphs. Fearsome and deadly, capable if shredding a man, or orc, in a matter of moments.



None had ever seen the Temple of Verena roused to war and its military chapter house was an almost mythical haven outside the city. With one voice the knights called their challenge: "Judgement with Honour". It was a familiar motto in the city of Nuln, since the Temple of Verena frequently dealt with disputes of law and trials of the accused. As Matchlocke stared, aghast, the lion appearing to ripple and quiver, a mighty roar shook the battlefield; the scales were gone to be replaced by a glittering silver sword. With another, snarling roar like an avalanche the Knights of the Golden Lion crashed down upon Snarg's armies.




Matchlocke snapped out of his disblief and, turning to the young dispatch rider with a grim smile on his face, cried "Routed by noon I said didn't I?" With that he drew his sword and with the remainder of the 4th Nuln Brigade charged down into the fray.

As Sergeant Holbrecht made his way over to Matchlocke after the battle, a great gash oozing blood down his brow, the knight bearing the banner of the Lion of Judgement was speaking to the new commander of the 4th Brigade, who had suggested returning to the city to report the battle and aid in the imminent seige. "Nuln is already under assault, Master Matchlocke. There is no hope for the defenders, my knights rode long and hard to come to your aid for there was naught we could do at the city. I will not see brave men wasted in a vain attempt to lift a seige against an army in excess of ten thousand. Let me make you an offer, Master Matchloke. We will have need of your expertise and understanding of the gunnery regiments of the 4th Brigade. In the coming months we will need to purge this accursed invasion with cold steel and black powder." Matchlocke looked up at Caeser Willmond, Champion of the Knights of the Lion. He had no choice but to accept.

[beno]

As Matchlocke looked out across the valley the rippling crack of repeater handgun fire, away over the far ridge, split the cold, clear, spring air. The familiar sound of a horn blowing over the hillside drifted on a gentle breeze, rich with the smell of trampled grass and wildflowers. "It was a clear morning much like this," he thought to himself, as he turned to the Colour-Sergeant of the 4th Muskets, Gaar Hombrecht. However, his thoughts were cut short.

"Captain Matchlocke," came the stern voice of Caesar Willmond. "It was ten years ago that we met upon the field of battle while Nuln was overrun by Grom's Hordes. It was a morning much like this and since that day you have re-payed your worth many times over, none more so than during the retaking of the eastern lands of the Empire. So, I make this offer to you again - if you and your men ever wish to return to the ranks of Nuln's Armys then ask and you will be absolved of your commitments to the Chapter. The battle we will fight today will be much like any other, and you will be payed as usual for your services but the offer will always stand."

Matchlocke's answer was always the same.



Hope you enjoyed the 'narrated slideshow', and the army, shame I didn't have any orc models around to mash up for the final charge - would have been really really good that
Ben

[beno]

A couple of things I wanted to mention about the army to round it all off. The BSB carries a banner with the Latin inscription "Iudicatio Decore" under a lion carrying the Scales of Verena symbol. This means "Judgement with Honour" (or virtue, morality etc). On the reverse side, beneath the lion with the silver sword, the inscription reads "Castigatio Armis" which means "Punishment with Arms" (meaning weapons, not arms and legs!).

The bishop (by Gamezone miniatures) and engineer (GW's Marco Colombo) models aren't really part of the 1k army, but they may form part of the larger 2k and 3-4k armies. I thought they'd help keep the photos interesting and in line with the story - I mean come on! "4th Nuln, open fire!" That's one of my favourite bits, with Matchlocke ordering the cannons himself.

I should mention that the background in the last image is "photo-shopped", to coin a phrase - I rather liked the idea of ending with the whole force marching into their next battle side-by-side and the background looks great, better than plain white!

Finally, this isn't a real army or a real tale and no men, goblins, wolves or trolls were hurt in the making of this tale. I did hear the Mork stubbed his toe on a troll though, or was it Gork...

[Beithir Seun]

Beno, I have to say, this is all fantastic. A really great army, with really nice pictures and a brilliant story to finish. I love the last army shot, even if it is Photoshopped. It really sets the scene for the whole project (if you'll pardon the pun).

Fantastic work, and I hope you'll carry on sharing any future progress with us if you go on to 2k!

[beno]

Thanks, Beithir greatly appreciate it and the pun is excused I'll admit that at times it took a lot of hard work to get there - but I really had fun nonetheless. Hope we get some more entries soon - only a few days left.

I'll definitely be keeping the forum updated on the future plans for the army, there in the pipeline already. That's if the core troops and wizard-wagon/war-altar ever gets here. Yeah, thanks Wayland - two weeks later and they still haven't dispatched the order I know I'll only get through them a bit at a time but I like to have it all here, gives me a better overview of what needs to be done.

Despite my frustrations they will arrive so keep a watchful eye out everyone because The Crusade is marching to Athel Loren...

[Baardah]

Wow! What a fantastic entry. Beautifully painted, great story and marvelous pictures. You truly captured the spirit of the contest! Congratulations. I hope you continue this blog as you grow your army. I definitely wanna see it develop into a larger force.