#9: Border Wars - Humble Beginnings

Well, the time has come to launch the army painter challenge that I have named "Border Wars". The concept is, of course, not an original one, but an enjoyable one none-the-less. And I always get incredibly excited when starting a new army. My hardest decision to date with this challenge was which army to focus on. Three factions sparked my interest. The first being dwarfs, with their brutally durable characters, complete spiteful disregard for the magic phase, and of course a terrifying arsenal of war machines.

The second was High Elves. It's an army I have always wanted to work on but have never had the confidence in my painting to pull off such a detailed army! Their models are meticulously intricate, and all of them in robes. So...many...robes. But their style of gameplay has always caught my interest, being very akin to the armies of Ancient Rome, with their highly skilled regiments of troops backed up by archers and bolt throwers, while counter charging with the elite shock cavalry and chariots. Of course, the Romans never had access to mages and magical flaming birds, but I digress. 

The third option was Orcs and Goblins, or more specifically, Orcs. I ended up settling on these brutes, favouring their sheer violence and enthusiasm for choppin' things over the tenacity of the dwarfs or the finesse of the elves. Being always inspired to build my army around a theme, I ignored the temptation of Savage Orcs and Night Goblins, instead focusing on the "vanilla" orcs and goblins. An interesting (and probably bad) choice, I hear you say. But as a wise friend of mine says, Vanilla is a flavour too. 

When choosing my theme, I decided to build an unstoppable killing machine based around Grimgor Ironhide's 'Ard Boys, the foundations of which would be built on a horde of Black Ork Immortulz and a horde of Big 'Uns, using supporting Orc units and some minor elements of common goblins. 

I painted up a regular black Orc to represent a fledgling war boss on his ascent to glory, with the intention of changing his model at each stage to display not only his rise to power but his ever-more impressive array of wargear. 

I also decided to tackle yellow as my army colour, a palette I have an unhealthy fear of. For me, it is so hard to make yellow look good, but on orcs, and with some pretty serious weathering, it turned out really well. To break up the flat plates of armour, I also decided to embellish the armour with checkering on prominent parts of the model. The end result was a satisfying one!

Then it happened. As I inevitably always do in this early stage of army construction, I got distracted. I recently (and by recently I mean six hours ago) finished moving into my new house, and was sorting through my future hobby room when I stumbled onto a box full of High Elves. Being mostly models from Island of Blood, they weren't new or exciting models, but for some inexplicable reason, all of my focus and motivation shifted toward what used to be Ulthuan. So yeah, after much back and forth, I decided to instead do High Elves. This has unfortunately meant that my actual painting project currently has no character finished for it, but I have a Mage half painted on my desk as we speak, that I will show you the minute it is complete. 

Now before you heap judgement upon me, I would like to point out that I will not be following certain trends among High Elf players. By that, I mean that Frost Heart Phoenixes and the World Dragon Banner (which has a different name within my local gaming community that I shall not repeat here) will have no place in my army. Those two elements, I believe, are not necessarily needed to win, and I feel a lot of players lean too heavily upon them as staple parts of every list they write. So instead, I will be basing my army around a naval fleet from Nagarythe, sailing East from Ulthuan at the time of Glottkin's campaign South, and my fleet would be carrying out the sole task of slaying their nemesis, Gutrot Spume, scourge of the seas. In my next post, I will show you the then-finished Mage who will currently take up the mantle of General for my fledgling force as well as a vague idea of my direction in both army composition and storyline. 

So I apologise, dear reader, for my indecision and last minute change of heart. 

But I would be remiss if I focused only on my own efforts and not on the efforts of fellow gamers and hobbyists who have joined me in this journey! So if you will, allow me to showcase the beginnings of other armies, as well as some fantastic fluff written by the artists themselves!

Alistair: Empire

"Too long has humanity cowered in the shadows, too long has humanity been a slave to darkness. No longer shall we pray to ancient deities, or look to outsiders for sanctuary. From this day forward, humanity shall conquer the darkness with science and steel!" First of the Enlightened.

In a world besieged by Chaos and corruption, where dead roam the land freely, the Empire sits upon the brink of destruction. In these dark times, the learned and wealthy of the empire have raised a force, not lead by faith or nobility, but by science and steel, an army loyal only to the abundant coffers that founded it. The Men of Light. 

This captain of the empire, in his golden mask, plays a key role in Alistairs campaign to reclaim the empire and its surrounds from the grip of chaos and u death.

Matthew: Wood Elves

Melorial, princess of Tirsyth, is a highborn relative of her Ulthuani brethren.she is known amongst the empire as a blessing and a curse. She is the bane of both the vile Beastmen and the forest goblins that plague the autumn lands of Tirsyth, tainting it with filth. To the Asrai, she is a light in the darkness for her people. 

After losing her brothers in battle against the Northmen, followers of Slannesh, She Who Thirsts; Melorial has vowed to avenge her brothers and purge the taint of Chaos from the Old World. Her vow has led to many followers amongst the Asrai who would fight to see her vow fulfilled. 

Matt's Spellsinger is a favourite of mine, using a striking palette from the autumn tones on a truly magestic model. 

Glen: Beastmen

With Brettonia and the Empire having taken the brunt of Glottkin's assault from the north, a mighty shaman, Kygor, has risen in power and influence among the warheads roaming the shattered lands. Not content with looting and pillaging small towns and manors, his mind wanders to bigger feats of glory in the name of Chaos. The forest of Athel Loren is his prize. 

Gathering the leaders of several war herds to a sinister Herdstone, he relays his vision of a forest Kingdom in flames, and only ash and destruction where once there was order and beauty. Not content with petty raids and skirmishes, the warheads are united under Kygor and his retinue of Wargors, as they march on Athel Loren to establish a foothold within its borders.

Breathing new life into an old model, Glen's Bray Shaman is striking with its white robes, offset by a thick necklace of red beads. Being a Beastmen player myself, I am really excited to see his army grow, and if this is a sign of things to come, my anticipation is not misplaced!

Josh: Warriors of Chaos

Roaming the realms of Man, Festus seeks to spread pestilence and disease in the name of Nurgle. Though his followers are few, the ranks of his army grow daily, attracting ambitious warriors who are all too eager to don the green armour of Nurgle, and to pave their way to glorious victory. There are some in his ranks that do not share Festus' allegiance to Nurgle, but they know that in the company of such a hero, acts of valour and might will surely not go unnoticed...

This hideous model portrays Festus incredibly, as Josh carries his impressive colour scheme over from an already massive Chaos Warriors army to this Nurgle force led by Festus himself. Flashes of blue break up the dull, bone-coloured flesh, and tie the whole army together, an army I hope to showcase in the not-too-distant future!

Ryan: Night Goblins

The dwarfs have grown increasingly sparse, after fighting a war on two fronts against Skaven and Night Goblins, and Skarsnik is always one to capitalise on an opportunity for aggressive expansion. Having dispatched a force of night goblins through the tunnels beneath the dwarf holds, he hopes to claim another stronghold in the Worlds Edge mountains, in order to further his empire. This task has fallen, in no small part, to an overly ambitious and vindictive goblin shaman, who tricks and tactical luck have seen him fall into a position of favour with the mighty Skarsnik. The question remains; will his luck continue in the face of a tenacious dwarf throng?

I am a huge fan of both the models for night goblins, and their hysterically unreliable and destructive antics. Ryan has done a fantastic job of capturing that craziness with this Shaman, who enthusiastically waves his staff as he prepares to scoff down a whole pot of Mad Caps.

Liam: Night Goblins #2

Skarsnik is a cunning general, and while with one hand, he strikes out against the dwarfs, his other hand is busy plotting against the ever-growing power of the Under-Empire! Delving ever deeper into the tunnels of the mountains, his forces are met with stronger resistance with each step gained. But he is not without surprises of his own. When met by unbreakable resistance, he has found that the forceful release of a Squig herd in the confines of a tunnel produces satisfyingly bloody results. 

Liam's white hooded shaman, complete with his flame-trimmed robes, is a classic model from the old days of night goblin shenanigans! And with a heavy focus on Squigs, his army should be an interesting, if wildly painful, one to face. 

There are several other players who have joined the journey, but unfortunately, I am incredibly low on time and space this evening. I will endeavour to get a second post out either some time this week or as part of next week's post, showcasing these characters. I'd like to extend a huge thanks to those who have joined and are actively participating! I am really excited for the amount of interest that Border Wars has generated! 

Remember, March 21st is the next goal date, in which our armies will reach the 500 point mark. This includes our characters from this first installation and does not have to be a legal army. Just as long as it comes within a stone throw (or indeed, passes) that five hundred point mark. I'm always interested to hear what you are working on, so by all means, get in touch and show me what's on your painting desk!

Thanks so much, and thanks for reading, as always!

Gabriel