Qrab's Empire - Introduction

Hello from the west coast where "winter" is more of a concept than an actual season. I considered including a picture of the view from my office's lobby area as proof, but that might be considered cruel to those who live in less pleasant climes.

Readers are referred to this post from last year's Old World Army Challenge where they will find an actual introduction from me. For those too lazy to follow the link, in last years Challenge I painted a 3rd Edition Chaos army consisting of a staggering 32 models (plus 6 bonus models). If I'm being totally honest, as great as it was to complete the Challenge, an army comprising 32 models isn't that much of a challenge. I don't think a month went by following the end of the first Challenge that I began preparing for the next one.

Therefore, for this year's Challenge, I've decided to go back to my roots and paint models for the army I played back in the 80s when I started playing 3rd Edition WHFB: The Empire. In some cases, I'll be repainting models from my old army because part of the preparation for this year's Challenge included stripping the paint from models that formed my old army. It was bittersweet, and filled with some twinges of nostalgia, but my painting style/technique has improved over the past 30 years and I wanted to do justice to some classic models from the best era of Citadel miniatures.

After some time spent sorting through my lead pile and pouring over the unit entries in Warhammer Armies I arrived at the following units for my army:

• 11 Reiksgard with standard & musician (169 points)
• 1 Baronen (level 10 hero) with heavy armor & shield (59 points)

"The infantry contingent of the Imperial Guard"

• 15 Helblitzen with standard & musician (153 points)
• 1 Graf (level 5 hero) with light armor & double-handed weapon (34 points)

"The mainstay of the infantry are the halberdiers"

• 15 Ersatzsolder with light armor, halberds, standard & musician (153 points)
• 1 Graf (level 5 hero) with light armor (32 points)

"Mustered from the urban population"

• 11 Arbrustschutzen with standard & musician (130 points)
• 1 Graf (level 5 hero) with light armor & crossbow (35 points)

"Some states, such as Nuln, favour Tilean crossbowmen"

• 8 Fleglers with standard & musician (110 points)

"They belong to a sect of religious fanatics common within The Empire"

• 5 Bergjaeger (65 points)

"Exceptionally resourceful and much valued as scouts"

• 1 Reiks Kanone Batterien (60 points)

"The first province to use cannon was Nuln"

Total points: 1000

The Empire marches to the Challenge

With more than double the number of models than last year's Chaos army, this year it will definitely be a challenge to make it all the way through. The challenge will be cranked up even further by the fact that I have to travel out of town for work multiple times in both January & February. Wish me luck.