Steve's Verlorene Haufen (Forlorn Hope) - Rank and File #1 (1041 points)

 The stagnant chill of the morning sat heavily amongst the pines. The silence that hung expectantly in the air gave way to the dull clank of rusted armour and harness. Slowly they came, forlorn and sombre, the mud sucking gently at their worn boots. One could have been forgiven for thinking the dejected throng a ghostly apparition or some other ethereal conjuration, for no word or groan escaped the visors of their dour helmets, save for the ragged clouds of condensed breath that hung about their heads in the cold air. 

Well it's January, it's cold and it's grey and I'm still here in Cumbria/Sylvania! I think the sense of Deja Vu might also be down to the fact that we're back in another OWAC and I'm still immersed in the narrative I left off with the Cult of the New Colossus back in August last year. This time around I'm painting up the Cult's Nemesis - an Empire army!

I remember the "new" Empire army being introduced in White Dwarf magazine some time in the 90's and being a little underwhelmed. It all looked suspiciously historical to my young eyes back then and to my young mind if it was historical and not WW2, it was boring. If it was historical and wargaming - well it was even more boring! I realise the folly of my youth now as I gravitate in ever decreasing circles towards such things but back then if it didn't have hordes of Orcs and monsters, I wasn't interested. This unreasoning prejudice towards the Empire has carried on for some time though and the large tub of old Citadel Medievals and Fighters I amassed sat untouched for many years. I just couldn't get excited about painting up knights and men-at-arms, albeit in the fantasy colours of the Empire, lovely miniatures though they were. 

In the vanguard of the weary column marched foot knights, the regalia and splendour of their devotion to the Order of the Cleansing flame dimmed by the grime and mire that clung to their once white robes. Yet the fire still burned in their eyes despite the spectre of defeat that hung over them. 

Cut to last summer, when I began considering what I would follow the Cult up with. Amazons and Hobgoblins were considered but I had an urge to paint up the "good" guys who would face up to the Cult in the narrative I'd concocted. Only problem was, I've never been that excited about painting good guys. So I decided to make them evil - worse than the Cult even, or at least more nihilistic, ambivalent and morally vacant. As the old cliche goes - Man is the true Monster...

A plaintive whinny joined the despondent chorus as ranks of mounted knights rounded the bend in the road. They too, however, were but shadows. Gone was the gleaming armour and gaudily painted barding. Gone too was the bravado and swagger. Pitted metal and hardened eyes were all that were left of the flower of Imperial chivalry and Memento Mori now hung where once a lady's favour might have.

In my introduction post I set out a bunch of influences on this project like the films Blood on Satan's Claw, Witchfinder General and The Wicker Man. However, I'm going easy on the Folk Horror aspects with my first Rank and File pos,t with just a couple of units of fallen knights. The Knights of the Cleansing Flame, of Regiments of Renown fame, have always struck me as being a bit creepy in their own right - pretty much like all religious fanatics. I figured I didn't really have to do much with them in terms of background, etc, other than give them a nice grimy paint job to reflect the long and rough campaign they've been on. I can't remember if they're background is linked with the Monks of the Red Redemption, but it certainly is in my mind. As far as I'm concerned they're two sides of the same coin and I can't wait to get them on the table facing each other! NB - I actually already have at BOYL 2021 but it was Richard Irvine's Anti-Cult Cult and his version of the regiment I was facing. Great minds think alike! NB again! Turns out they are - Eroneous Balbadron, leader of the Red Redemption is a former Knight and cousin of Chronus, who formed the Avenging Knights of the Cleansing Flame in response to Bablbadron's treachery! Chronus is hell bent on tracking down the Redemptionists and his evil cousin, which fits rather nicely in to my theme! 

As for the mounted knights in my collection, I had a slight dilemma. I had a small number of the old Knights of the White Wolf and a larger number of both old and "new" (yup 4th ed. is still new to me!) Knights Panther. So I figured I'd lump them all together, stick a load of skulls and chains on them, paint them up with a lot of weathering and rust and convert them all to the worship of Morr thanks to their harrowing experiences at the hands of the Cult and Gorice's Dragon! 

This of course also allows me to pose yet again as a pseudo-intellectual and do things like quote Nietsche because I painted it on my banner! Actually I copied it from this brilliant image that really captured the feel of the army that I was going for. It was only after studying it closer that I realised what the text said.

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” Nietzsche -Die fröhliche Wissenschaft 1882

It all seemed to tie in with the idea of knights "killing" the objects of their own devotion (their former Knightly Orders) to embrace the worship of Morr. Well at least it did in my head and at any rate it's more fun to contemplate than our current reality.

Kurt Todeswunch looked on impassively at the remains of his army as it passed along the road. The gaunt look of having cheated death and wishing it were not so haunted the face of nearly every man he studied. Kurt knew from the start that this had been a fool's errand, concocted by the enmity of his so-called patrons to be rid of him. Unfortunately, most of his men had now come to the same conclusion. As with all campaigns, things had started out promisingly. The trail of destruction and desecration left by the Chaos Cult they hunted had not been difficult to follow, and the degenerates had been brought to bay in an ideal site for an ambush. The Dragon had changed all that. 

With most of his heavy ordinance in flames and the armoured elite of his army unable to flee quickly enough to the safety of the forest, Kurt had stared in to the face of disaster. What few of his professional soldiery who had escaped the Dragon's wrath were shaken to the core, forced to lie still in those twilight groves until the victors had tired of making sport with the injured and wounded and moved on. They were ill equipped to act against such reckless hate and now they were all but lost.

Kurt's adjutant, Captain Lukas Heinriksen, had already lodged a formal complaint about the deportment of the surviving Knightly Orders. Fresh from the Imperial Academy at Altdorf and stuffed full of petty rules and military doctrine, Heinriksen was a constant thorn in Todeswunch's side. Even with the near dissolution of his command, or perhaps even because of it, the man clung ever more desperately to his regulations. Kurt knew such inflexibility had no business on the battlefield. 

True, there was some substance to his Captain's indignation. Having cast aside the devotion to their former Knightly Orders in favour of the worship of Morr, and adorned their armour with the trappings of death, the Knights Panther and the White Wolves now resembled more the quarry they hunted, than the nobility they had once represented. Kurt felt that they had fallen further than his Captain could even comprehend - their nightly rituals were often punctuated by the proclamation, "We are saved by Morr!" They did not hold themselves up as protectors of the dead. They believed themselves dead already. 

On a lighter note, I've decided to spruce the place up and create an improved scenic backdrop for my photos. The cliffs and painted background are still the same - we are still in Sylvania after all! - but I've replaced the sands of the Wasteland with the muddy forests of the aforesaid witch-haunted backwater of the Empire. 

The pine trees didn't quite work out as I intended - I think the branches are a little short on the Woodland Scenics armatures for what I wanted to achieve. I may yet try again with another kit, although I'm quite happy with the dead tree effect these ones create.

As ever, I'll leave the last words (and title drop!) to my protagonist...

Only the Knights of the Cleansing Flame had held fast to their beliefs in the face of near annihilation. Kurt was more inclined to ascribe this to a burning fanaticism rather than the noble bravery Heinriksen commended them for. Well no matter, thought the General wryly to himself - he could employ that just as well as the Knights of Morr's nihilistic death wish, and if it gave the men heart then all the better. He had more use for such unorthodoxy than parade ground niceties. After all, they were in a dire situation - forced on to the defensive and badly bloodied by a powerful and insidious foe on the battlefield, cut off in a hostile land and far from a home they were unlikely to be welcome in. There was not much hope to be had and what little there was, was a forlorn one...

14 Temple Ritterbruden 623 points

L10 Hero, heavy armour, shields, lances, hand weapons, standard, musician, barded warhorses

25 Knights of the Cleansing Flame 418 points

L10 Hero, L5 Hero, heavy armour, shields, spears, musician and standard