The legions of Hardenburg part 1

Today I have decided to show you my empire army in detail, with painting techniques, conversions, backgound and gaming information on the models also I will talk about my planned aditions.

 Bernard Sanchez de Magritta, del fuego. Xanthite Inquisitor, Hardenburger vampire hunter, Imperial witch hunter and Estalian Conquistodor, Sanchez is a zealous figure who believes in nought but that magic is a thing of chaos and an abomination in the sight of Morr. He marches to war armed with his trusty rapier (tormentor blade), flaiming wheel lock (shrieking blade) and his wide brimmed hat and quick accusing tongue (helm of discord). He has led many hunts for witches, vampires and other abominations of chaos down the dark alleys and back streets of everywhere from Hardenburg to Estalia, Mordheim to Altdorf.

He also carrys his shield slung over his back. Covering it is the flayed face of his most recent catch (enchanted shield) and slung around his belt are other grisly trophies and his trusty pistol, with which he has dispatched many a creature of chaos.

As you can probably tell the staked heretic he is burning before the battle (and his troops and the enemy) was converted from the pole carried by teh necromncer on the corpse cart. I am currently working on a few other witch hunter conversion including an estalian conquistodor themed one trying to pursuade a skink shaman to convert at flame point.

 First up we have my Handgunners, they are perhaps one of my less interesting units and only half of the ten men are painted. I never use the marksman as a hochland long rifle man and always count him as armed with a repeater handgun (my story is it's breech loading). They have been many things in their time from just the state troops of hardenburg to the marine crew of the Hardo-Estalian navy and have served me well on many occasions. Their most notable feats are when they became drunk after the conquest of Kasos in Tilea and ended up sleeping in a farm house over night only waking when they realised it had turned into a battlefield, they then proceeded to miss everything and flee the field after a pidgeon bomb from a minor engineer detonated above their heads.

 This is Bernado Belletto (not the famous venetian painter who was a student of Canaletto) my master enginneer, born in 2503. After the death of his master Adlegriff Pionier (who's feats include the duelling and slaying of an ogre tyrant, but who's death was caused in a duel with Rapartine's wight king, Lazzarus) Bernado Belletto was apointed master enginneer of Hardenburg.

 He is most famous for completing the Great Big wheel, an idea of his master which would rival the steam tank in effectivness, making several models. First there was Xenolith (which suffered the ignominious fate of being scrapped for spare parts), then there was Stevie (much more recognisable as a tank stevie first fought daemons in Albion, however when serving in Bretonnia with the Knights Kathar it was sucked into the earth by a skaven wizard. It then reapeared in the service of Raspartine during a storm of magic in the haunted hills and was finally destroyed by its creator) and finally Purgator (which also first saw service aganst daemons in Albion, but had been tested on protestors in Hardenburg itself. It was responsible for the destruction of Stevie).

 These are the knights of the black bear. The order is based in Averland, but ever since the battle of the gates of kislev (and the addition of wings on their backs in the kislevite style) their Seneschal has been loyal to none but the Prince of Hardenburg. Each year their Seneschal must first wrestle a black bear to proceed in leading his knights into battle.

 This paticular unit champion first saw action against an ogre force and personally slaid the tyrant and standard (hence the head and banner).

 Here is my stegadon (nicknamed the last stegadon of Kislev). I first got him for storm of magic, intending him force use in my Hardenburger force (hence the banners and shields atop the howdah, as well as the repeater handgun) and so painted him green. The model is converted from a stegadon model with the howdah having the additions of space wolf, empire and bretonnian banners as well as empire and vampire counts shields and a repeater handgun instead from the outriders instead of the great bow. I also made the howdah removable...

 And have used him in many storm of magic games with my Warriors of chaos. But apart from his service as an ancient stegadon in storm of magic I have also recently used him as an imperial landship and hope to use him as a dogs of war stegadon in the near future. I currently have some howdah crew on the work bench.

 Here are some of my halbediers, who make up the bulk of my 30 man horde. The models are bretonnian men at arms and represent fuedel levys raised by members of the knights Kathar (of st.slaar) in payment to their Hardenburger patrons. These levys are skilled in fighting the skaven that infest their bretonnian homeland around the humble chapel (located in central bretonnia and the home of st. domonic).

 Here are someof my conversions that I created at warhammer world. I have to say that the dog has become some what of a lucky mascot in their fight against skaven. Once the unit was in a deadly combat with a large unit of stormvermin. They had lost the fight and had failed their leadership test by one point. It was only when I removed them after being run down by the stormvermin that I realised i had not noticed the dog. I use him as just an ordinary halberdier and his attack back (which killed a ratman) made the differnece and kept the unit alive.

 The Archer emerging from the trap door (from the mines of Moria kit) is ment to represent the network of fighting tunnels dug by the peasants around the humble chapel to give advanced warning of Skaven attacks from below and to hold them off the peasant's flocks.

 These are the spearmen of hardenburg, the main state troops of the city. Generaly I join them up with the peasants of the humble chapel to form a large horde of halberdiers and they have swept much before them in their time, though their bane is Flitch (Rapartine's pet Varghulf) who one battle chased them off the board edge and then single handedly ate them and their village to every last man in a skirmish game that followed after wards.
Their banner is strange for that of a Hardenburger unit and depicts a bear fighting a spearman (other hardenburger banner represent men riding bears, priests preaching to them and bears on their own).

 Here are the prince's greatswords, each man a warrior and vampire hunter in his own right. They regular participate in post battle round ups of witches (magic users) and vampires under the leadership of archlector Boris, Yann, St. Domonic, Inquisitor Bernard Sanchez or another Priest, Saint or inquisitor. Each man is highly trained in this art.
They have all seen many a battle, and not only against vampires! They have fought skaven, goblins, daemons, high elves and even men of Nuln over their long battle record.

 They are lead by Karyagin, a kislevite duellist from Volksgrad (the city of eternal strife), and in their ranks there are many ogres who travel from far and wide to join the prince's well paid bodyguard. All are allowed to join the greatswords wether they be giant, ogre, man or even halfling.

And this is the great man himself, Prince Vyshnevtsky II crowned in the year 2503, ruler of Hardenburg, Kasos, Oporto, Mannansheim and patron of the knights Kathar and knights of the black bear. Prince Vyshnevtksy is a man of much power, he can wage war against all corners of the world and march an army straight through Sylvania, but yet he is just a mere prince of a city state, he has not the wright to vote for the emperor nor contribute directly to his armies. He rides atop the great gryphon death wing and wields a mighty hammer wrought in zhufbar.
The prince has slain many foes over his long history of battling stricking down high elves on the beaches of Estalia, Skaven on the mountain borders of Wissenland and even once defeating Raspartine in a duel on a Tilean hill. But his last encounter against the skaven hordes cost him dear, he performed great acts that day in Wissenland, striking down rat ogres, personally running down a gigantic horde of plague monks before finishing off the last skaven commanders and returning on foot as the last man alive from the Hardenburgers that set out.. but on that field the cheese blade of a plague priest caught him in the shoulder and poisoned him. By the time they got it out it had already poisoned his mind and he deteriated into a state of madness!! He has not seen battle for many long days now and his son, Vyshnevtsky, searches the streets of cities like mordheim and marienburg, together with a loyal band, to find a cure to his father's madness. Not till then will Vyshnevtksy II (who slew his father, declaring him a chaos cultist) take to the field again.

I'm afraid these photos have rather distorted the model and its paint job and don't really do it justice. I converted Vyshnevtsky II out of the Griffon rider from the island of blood. His body is that of a greatsword's while his hammer is from the state troops kit and his shield is that of a marauder horseman's. His head is a outrider's and so are the pistols while the crow is from the giant kit.

All in all it cost me around £5 off ebay with the slate on the base (I have added some pieces from the zombies and skeleton kits to the base as well).

 Here are the prince's outriders. In hardenburger military terms Outriders and greatswords are the same troop type, before each battle the captains of the army will divide up the prince's guard to form units of those men who will fight on foot with the two handed sword for this battle and units of those men who will ride on horse with repeater handguns for this battle (naturally ogres are always chosen to join the first as no horse nor repeater handgun could be found big enough). When witch hunting or vampire hunting it is those men who have chosen to equip themselves as outriders who do the house storming and the running down, the outriders form a kind of police force in the streets of Hardenburg.
It must also be said that each of these men, riding in lighter armour than a greatsword and wielding just a short sword, is as brave and loyal as one of the knights of the reiksguard!

 St. Domonic is one of the members of the council of Blessed. In the eyes of the Xanthite inquisition "magic is as deadly as chaos" (to quote their motto), so only members of the council of the blessed (a group of sanctioned spellcasters, most of whom are living [or dead] saints) are aloud to cast spells against the foes of Hardenburg. Their main job is to hunt down enemy spell casters and fulcrums of magic and destroy both these dangers to purity.
Domonic resides in the Humble chapel, a monastry founded by st. slaar himself it is said. It is no further than a mile or two away from the black chasm, a skaven hold the blights the realm of Bretonnia, and when he is not participating in witch hunts or leading Hardenburger forces for the army of the blessed, he can be seen standing atop the grand stair case of the humble chapel using Morr's might to blast back the endless hordes of hellish ratmen. (as you can probably tell the model is from the bretonnian men at arms kit)

This is Yann the bold, born 2399. A dedicated warrior priest of Morr, and leader of the common people, he is the archlector of Hardenburg's right hand man. He has seen many battles and has fought along side the prince's guard on many occasions. He was responsible for the down fall of Raspartine's lieutenant; Siriun, whom he killed on a Vampire hunt. It is said that Morr's hand guides him to the next battle and he is reputed to have been at ever Hardenburger battle since he became a warrior priest.
He bares a horrible scar across his head from when it was shrunken by an enemy Necromancer in Tilea, it was eventually reinflated by Morr but the scar never vanished.

This is Pietr. He is story is a long one but basicaly put he is from the direct line of the founder of Hardenburg; Moltke von Blucher. After the death of the Seneschal of the knights of the black bear (Ostritter van Abenlung, on th eplains of Albion, slain by Daemons), Pietr was chosen by the bear as the next grand master. He wished not to take away the throne from the Mc Hune line until they failed. He is opposed by both his cousin Elfhelm (whom is backed by the Bretonnians) and was the cause of the Hardenburger war of sucession. But Pietr has won great victories for his city, he defeated Siriun in the Haunted hills and most notably he lead a shattering charge of the knights of the black bear at Kasos, agaisnt the bretons, almost single handedly challenging all men of rank, defeating them and sweeping their forces before him. On that day he lead the knights to defeat a knightly force more than twice their size.
This was quiet an interesting conversion challenge, and stemmed from the old kislevite bear riders (and the idea the the grand master of the black bears always wrestles a bear) I converted the bear out of a goblin wolf rider's wolf, making the front legs much more stocky and wide as well as replacing the long tail for a bob tail. I then simply mounted a knight. I am planning on a unit of eight converted similarly to use as demigryph knights (but of course they will be bear cavalry).

Captain Marlow (born 2502) is the Prince's stable master. He is incharge of the Prince's Gryphon, the horses of the prince's guad, the prince's stegadon and he is also the standard bearer of the Prince's guard. He has been named the most modest man in the empire, content to carry out great and glorious feats on the battle field but still continue with the dirty job of looking after the stables (which is is one passion). The banner depicts lurker fish from the river Stir and is always there to strengthen the hearts of the greatswords.

Boris Johannes Marcov, Morite Archlector of Hardenburg. He is the power behind the throne, some say he is the most powerful man in Stirland after the elector count. He has driven many a foe before his wheeled chariot, wether they be servant of chaos, warrior of the undead, high elf, Bretonnian or even Nulnite. At the recent battle of ghouls glade at which Rashkar was destroyed by the might last stegadon of Kislev, Boris performed spectacularly charging with the Kathars into the undead hordes and ravaging them. His armour is as tough as a dwarven gate, and his wards are strong. His prayer is also strong and so is his will.

I converted this model from a warrior priest and chaos chariot. I simply used the empire horses that come in the pack and swapped the scythes for the twin tailed comet. I left the sides off and then painted it gold. But I am thinking of Upgrading to the new plastic war altar, probably I will use the same model and this will become a relic of the past age...

Here is a brief history of the city of Hardenburg.

· Sigmar is crowned emperor. Hardenburg is created as a Scythian (centaur)  settlement

· 2145. The ruin of Hardenburg is inhabited by brigands

· 2302.  Moltke von Blucher becomes a baron and takes the city in a siege more bloody than has ever been seen between humans (save at Carroburg)

· 2303. Baron Moltke von Blucher of Hardenburg leads a force of men and dwarves to the battle of the gates of Kislev. Magnus the Pious declares Hardenburg an independent city state and Moltke von Blucher becomes its first prince.

· 2320. Prince Moltke von Blucher dies and his only heir is flayed by assassins.

· 2396. Robert McHune is crowned prince

· 2402. The Xanthite monastery of the inquisition is built in Hardenburg

· 2428. Prince Robert McHune  declares war on Bretonnia but is killed near Carroburg.

· 2500. The knights Kathar (or knights of St. Slaar) settle on the abandoned and incredibly defensible Isle au Lyonesse. The order was founded by three grey knights, of the De Vergy family, who were fleeing the Inquisition. They fled to Albion and started to comunicate with the god Morr. They learned many things, which they wrote in the language of the old ones upon the stone circles of albion

· 2503 {September} the ogre  wars start. But many people suspect the prinec as a cultist

· 2503. {November} one night while the prince and his son are out hunting in the snow Vyshnevsky’s son turns on him with his crossbow!  The prince’s son then carries his fatally injured father back to the palace where he dies.

· 2503 {December} Prince Vyshnevsky II is crowned prince of Hardenburg.

· 2504{January} prince Vyshnevsky sets up the Morrite church of Hardenburg.

· 2504. Prince Vyshnevsky sets up Hardengurger outposts in Oporto (estalia) and Manannsheim (nordland).

· 2512. Boris Johannes Marcov, fearing Valmir's growing power in Ulthuan orders the high elves to leave the island to the defence of the empire. They refuse even after many defeats at the chaos lord's hands and the Hardenburgers and their allies declare war on Ulthuan

· 2513. {March} prince Vyshnevsky II is appointed patron of the knights Kathar.

· 2513 {September} the fleet of Hardenburg, under the seneschal Ostritter van Abenlung’s command, attacks Raspartine while he begins summoning writes on the undead of Khemri. But he is defeated in a battle and driven back to the coast of Tilea where another battle is fought this time resulting in a Hardenburger victory. The vampires flee and are persued down blood river.   

·2514 {January} a massed force of Kathars, Dwarves, Hardenburgers, Lichebergers, Ostlanders, Kislevites, Averlanders, Estalians and Mercenaries gathers in western Estalia in a camp the size of three cities. The shadow king gathers a fleet and lands in Estalia but he is pushed back to his ships and forced to retreat when Vyshnevtsky leads his household troops down to the beach. The shadow king's son is also killed.
·2514 {April} Skaven Clan wensleydale and Mors Attack the Wisenlander border, a Hardenburger force lead by Vyshnevtsky II and a force from karak Hirn march to counter them. The skaven are defeated but Vyshnevtsky the second is wounded by a cheese blade sending him into madness.
·2514 {may} after hearing of a mighty sacrifice of blood in north albion the forces of men and elves rush north to crush the forces that started this unholy ritual (The obsidian guard were involved)! the battle of thunder takes place and ostritter van abenlung is slain by a gigantic daemon.

·2514 {August} Raspartine's marshal, Siriun, leads a force through the haunted hills but it is defeated by teh council of the blessed and the vampire is banished by Yann the bold.
·2514 {September} Boris Johannes Marcov uncovers the real heir to the throne of Hardenburg, Vyshnevtsky II's son's Esaul, Pietr. But Pietr, the newly elected Seneschal of the black bear knights, is content with that till the Mc hunes line fails.
·2514 {September} Bretonnia declares war on Hardenburg after a Hardenburg inquisitorial army is attacked trying to enter into Bretonnia. They order Hardenburg to withdraw from Ulthuan and accept Pietr's illigitimate cousin Elfhelm as Prince of Hardenburg. Boris Johannes Marcov refuses and the Bretonnians move their fleet into the port of their allies Nuln. So starts the Hardenburger war of sucession.
2515 {March} Bretonnia's border prince allies attack Kasos in an attempt to cut off the supply route to the Hardenburgers in Sylvania, but Pietr rides against them and defeats them. Boris Johannes then leads the Hardenburgers to victory in the haunted forest, destroying Raspartine's new Lieutenant Rashkar, and opening up routes through Sylvania. The first part of the Hardenburger conquest of Sylvania has started...