goblinpaladin's Gnomes - an Introduction

This project is being kindly sponsored by Old School Miniatures.

Jamie and Byron over at Old School Miniatures (OSM) decided this year to sponsor a project using their wonderful range of vaguely-Swiss Alpine Gnomes. I'd ordered a handful of them in the past and really enjoyed painting them - and was even considering doing a Gnome project next year. When they asked for volunteers, I stuck up my hand and, well, here we are!

wood elves can wait!

OSM have put together army lists for their gnomes, covering most of the better periods of Warhammer, but for this project we'll go with the Third Edition list. It's a blend of the usual elements of fantasy army lists (.i. wizards and speargnomes) with the Warhammer: Historical take on the late medieval Swiss (.i. no 'heroic' officer types). This means that the list has a strong emphasis on infantry, which is exactly what I like.

I already have five Fuschsschütze (crossbow scouts on foxes), several illusionists and a heroine on foot, but these don't count. Here's a slightly terrible photo anyway:

spent a lot of time googling 'foxes black feet?'

So, what do I have to work from here?

that's so gnomen many

That's a strong pile of Guarden Gnomen (halberdiers), a pile of Ambrust Gnomen (crossbowgnome militia), a few Gnome-an-Armen (mounted gnomes on foxes) and some artillery. Unfortunately, it's not enough Burgher Gnomen (speargnome militia) to meet the minimum model count of 20, which is a bit unfortunate. I'll just have to get more gnomes! (darn)

Esme de Loktibogen, a gnome heroine

For now, I'll work to the following list:

CHARACTERS

Cantonal Standard: FREE
Guildmaster, level-5 hero with light armour and a shield: 33 points
Illusionist on Fox: (call her a Hillcantor, level-15) - 157 points
Apprentice Illusionist on Fox: (call her a Heathtinker, level-5) - 62 points

master and apprentice

RANK AND FILE

19 x Guarden Gnomen with light armour + standard bearer and musicians: 252 points
8 x Burgher Gnomen with light armour and shields + standard bearer and musicians: 90 points
10 x Ambrust Gnomen: 80 points
10 x Ambrust Gnomen: 80 points

guarden gnomes

local burgher militia

5 x Gnome-an-Armen + standard bearer and musician: 77 points
3 more Fuschsschütze: 45 points

some foxy young men

Kleinekanone: 45 points
Orgelkanone: 75 points
Orgelkanone: 75 points

big-badda-boom

Villagers and camp followers: FREE

barrel rolling is a sport, probably

WEIRD

While OSM have some tentative rules for their swallow riders, they don't actually have any points values. But assuming we'll make the two riders Guildmaster-level heroes for now, I'll just round to about 50 points each, including their crossbows, armour, and shields.

it's not a bird, it's - no, wait, it is a bird. two birds.

That makes our character total about 352 points, the rank-and-file 819 points, for a total of 1171. A pretty good start! I also have a couple of duplicates which means that I can make up for not sending any conscripts to our feudal lord last season...

small but stingy

Gnomes are on the cheap side, so getting 200 points a month painted is going to be tough. I don't have a Zoat this time around! (well, I do, actually...)

© Matt Smith, 2015. Used without permission.
http://matt-illustration.squarespace.com/

See you on the field of bones...