Jaeckel's Army of the White Lady - Introduction

The starting point of this new army is a visit of the Chateau de Chenonceau, and in particular, the bedroom of Louise de Lorraine. After the assassination of her husband, King Henri III, Louise fell into deep depression, and began to dress in mourning white clothes, being nicknamed the "White Queen". In her castle, she covered the walls of her room with black, only decorated with shovels, cornucopia shedding tears, thorns, and white feathers (in French, "penne", for feather, sounds like "peine", for pain).  

Examples of mourning symbols painted on the walls

These walls sparked my imagination, and I started to think about a bretonnian widow, Louise de Montfort, refusing the death of her husband, and going to war with his remains. For nobles dying away from home, there is indeed an ancient ritual, the excarnation, inherited from the Crusades against Araby, where the body was dismembered prior to boiling in wine or water. The viscera were often buried at the place of death, but the heart and the bones were then transported back to the deceased's home. 

In the case of Heinrich, Count of Schädelheim, his remains do not rest in peace in the family's vault... but follow the White Widow on the battlefield, protected by men at arms dressed in black as a sign of mourning.

The heart of the deceased prince-bishop of Würzburg is brought to Ebrach abbey, delivered on a carriage drawn by four horses. Illustration from the Würzburg chronicle, by Lorenz Fries

The sinister look of Countess Louise's army is even exacerbeted by the generalisation of excarnation to ordinary men and creatures fallen on the battlefield. The skulls of the fiercest opponents are displayed as a warning to the enemy, while the remains of fallen soldiers are kept in portable shrines by their comrades, with the promise to lie one day in the Gardens of Mòrr. 

In each regiment, a Death Crier shouts the losses, and chants the exploits of the fallen brothers in arms. He uses his bell to repell the evil spirits, and brandishes a lantern to guide the friendly souls. As for the necrologists following the White Widow, they log in the Schädelheim Chronicles every death suffered by the company.

In terms of miniatures, I have a stack of early 90s miniatures that has been waiting for far too long. For the infrantry, I have opted for rarely seen models in an Empire army: the spearmen. I guess they sucked in terms of game, plus the fact that GW had released only four models... which doesn't help to build full regiments. Below my basic conversions: I have used spearheads of undead warriors, skulls, imperial heads from various boxes, and a few bones stolen to the ghouls. Two gunners have also been transformed into a spearman and a standard/shield bearer.

 

The second unit to join the White Widow is archers. Since there are 9 different models, I have only played with skulls and arrows, to tie the regiment to the general theme of the army. 

The third unit is the inner guard of Louise de Montfort, built with Reiksguard foot knights. As GW released only 8 of them, I have complemented the initial lot by converting a standard bearer into a Death Crier, and adding a Captain.

 

The fourth unit is a band of Mourners, based on the 6 flagellant models released in the 2000s. Rather than hammers and flails, these followers of Mòrr favor tools used by the gravediggers, the shovel and the pickaxe (recalling one the panels seen in Louise de Lorraine's room). 

As you can see, each regiment has a Death Crier, all derived from the "Clocheteur" depicted in Les rues du vieux Paris by Victor Fournel.

 

 

Below a few trials to see how gloomy this army will be...

Using the 4th edition Warhammer Empire army book we should have: 

• Characters = 418 points
  
• 1 mounted general (the White Lady) = 103 points
• 1 wizard champion (the priest of Mòrr) = 118 points
• 1 wizard (the necrologist) = 56 points
• 1 champion with light armour and long bow = 35 points
• 1 champion with shield, heavy-armour and double-handed sword = 36 points
  
• 1 hero with heavy-armour and double-handed mace = 70 points

• Regiments = 466 points
  
• 14 spearmen with shield, light armour, standard bearer and musician 16 x 9 = 144 points
• 9 archers with light armour, standard bearer and musician 11 x 10 = 110 points
• 9 reiksguards with standard bearer and musician 11 x 12 = 132 points
• 9 flagellants with standard bearer 10 x 10 = 100 points

• War machines = 100 points
  
• 1 mortar = 100 points
  

• TOTAL = 1004 points

 I still need to work on some characters, the warmachine and its servants. 

 In the meantime, enjoy the holidays, and see you in January with the first regiment!