Wednesday 13 May 2020

Warband Army Showcase - Taurians, High Elves, Hill Dwarves, Goblins

I have a series of 10mm scale armies for the Warband Fantasy wargames rules, which I'm currently (and after far too much time) getting them painted up.  In these difficult time during a global pandemic, staying in the house has given me time to try and sort out the backlog of projects.

As I'm getting through things, I thought it would be interesting to showcase some of the progress, and first up the Taurians.

This army is basically made up of mythical minotaurs and centaurs, and here's the army in all its glory!

I have 15 units:
- 1 Commander
- 1 Shaman
- 2 Centaur knights
- 2 Centaur warriors
- 3 Centaur archers
- 6 Minotaur warriors



I modelled the Taurian shaman unit as a cabal of religious spell-casters.  They worship a bull god and have painted their heads and fists in sacred black.  I gave them a couple of prunze bull-head icon statues to help with their divine casting.



The General of the army is accompanied by his personal shaman, banner bearers and body guards.  As with all the minotaur units, i have about 10 figures per base as I see these monsters as fighting in small unruly mobs.



The warriors are similar to the general, and each adorns themselves with warpaint. 




The centaur knights are armed with lances, bronze armour and shields, and fight in a mob.  I see each knight as jostling for position to gain the most glory in melee.



The knights are backed up by more primitive centaur warriors, and archers.



Next up are the High Elves.  I have the following 12 units:

- General
- Mage
- 5 Warriors
- 2 Archers
- 1 Bolt thrower artillery
- 2 Knights



I see the High Elves are few in number and fighting in small highly disciplined units who fight in formed ranks and files.  The general sits patiently with his attendants, heroic kin, and personal guards.



The mage unit I represented as a formal college of wizards, maybe "Golden Mages" or somesuch?  I modelled them, as with most of the magic-user units I do, in the midst of summoning some creature or casting some form of magic.  In this case, they are summoning a ghostly heroic warrior from a bygon elven age.




I did the archers as a line of "arrowhead" formations, giving them the ability to maximise shooting.



I saw the bolt shooter artillery as being light pieces that are relatively portable around the battlefield.  They get their power from massed volleys, rather than slow, heavier shots.



The eilte knights stand ready to deliver highly disciplined charges, able to break the most ardent foes.



And finally the serried ranks of the elven warriors.



I like the way this army turned out as its disciplined formations are different to the other armies i've done so far.  I think if i were to do it again, I'd have put a few more figures on each base.

Next up is actually my second Hill Dwarf army.  In this case I created "The Army of the Red Mountain".  When creating this I had the idea that this was a large dwarven tribe from the highly successful mining kingdom of the great Red Mountain.  I saw them as basically defensive in their tactics, willing and able to hold any defile against all-comers.  I wanted to try really over-packed units to see how they looked.

In this army I have 12 units:
- 1 General
- 1 Wizard
- 1 Archers
- 1 Warriors
- 2 Berserkers
- 1 Noble riders
- 2 Rangers
- 2 Cannons
- 1 Gyrocopter
To be honest, this is not likely to be an army that could be fielded; I was just trying stuff out with it!



First up, the general or king.  I modelled him with the shieldwall special ability.   He has he personal spell-smith who has summoned a few rock monsters as guards.  I also tried doing some flags, which i intended to continue across the army...but haven't yet.



The magic users are a strange and largely mistrusted cult who dress in white and spend their time using magic to sculpt rocks and summon boulder elementals.



What dwarf army would be complete without wild-eyed berserkers?  I modelled them in a "boar's head" formation to better penetrate enemy formations.



And similarly, the less martially impressive nobel dog-riders, form up in "boar's head" in the hope that their money and status will help them fight.



The Red Mountain dwarves have also made great use of gunpowder technology, with a fearsome battery of light and heavy cannons, and the wonderfully bizarre cannon-toting gyrocopters.





Bow-armed rangers scout the kingdom's borders in search of invaders.



The boar's head is clearly a theme for their tactics and even the basic warriors use it.



But among their ranks are the massed archer of their bowmen, huddled behind a rank of spearmen and pavises (again another way to model the shieldwall special ability directly on the base).




As an experiment, I think I like the packed units, but they were a little bit too much on some places - particularly those densely packed archers!

Onto the next army, which is another Hill Dwarf force.  This is infact the first full army I completed (although the first base were goblins - more on that below).

In this force I have 12 units:
- 1 General
- 1 Wizard
- 5 Warriors
- 3 Archers
- 2 Boulder elementals

This is the army I've up to now used for demonstration and introduction games.



The king is carried aloft into battle by his acolytes and devoted attendants.



The grey-clad spell casters and once again using their arcane arts to draw forth boulder elementals to fight for them.



And of course, the boulder elementals themselves fight for the dwarves, inspired and bound by the spell-casters.  These units are incredibly tough and hard hitting, but equally tough to actually get to move around the battlefield.  Without a king nearby to inspire and direct them, they are prone to standing about like statues, which can be very frustrating when you need them to charge!



With the archers in this army, i did them as a mix of bows, crossboes, and firearms, including these spectacular blunderbusses!




In this army, I think I got the warriors right, with just enough figures on the base, and with them in interesting, slightly ragged formations.






Finally, my goblin army.  Like the above Hill Dwarf army this is the army I've up to now used for demonstration and introduction games.  Dwarves and goblins are traditional enemies after all!

In this army I have 12 units:

- 1 General
- 1 Shaman
- 4 Warriors
- 3 Archers
- 3 Riders



The general is bigger and badder than the goblins he commands, and he takes to battle with his personal shaman, musicians, banner bearers and guard.



The shaman council is accompanied my a motley selection of monsters and wierd beasties.



The archers are armed with a mix of bows and crossbows and are a bit of a rabble.



The riders take to battle on a mix of wolves, boars, and in chariots.




And finally the ragged bands of warriors, tightly packed to bolster their fragile morale.





I do have some other units done, hidden away at the bottom of a figures pile somewhere.  When I find them I'll add them here!

EDIT: I found the box and there are only a few units in there.


Some more archers and rangers for the Red Mountain dwarves (basing to be finished of course)...



Some more goblin warriors, a unit of giants and ogres, and a unit of gribbly monsters of some type...



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2 comments:

  1. An Awesome Array of Armies, 10mm gives so much scope to vignettes like those Dwarfs in particular

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    1. Agreed! I love making little scenes on the bases. I've resisted the temptation to add too much scenery on the bases so far though. I've preferred to let the figures take centre stage so far...

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