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For Averland and the Emperor! - Empire Cavalry

There are times when you have the very, very best intentions but get sidetracked. My Empire have very much fitted into this catagory. Way back in 2015 I started this army. Five flamin' years ago. I got a couple of units painted (more on them later) and then got somewhat Dwarf distracted... Well, all that is over now. Averland rides to war and we ride with them!

Before we get to the new and shiny Averlanders lets have a bit of a recap of the army so far. So in the grand tradition of long running TV-series... previously on Averland:

I'll be linking in the old stuff to the relevant page of my old blog so if you are curious about the units shown, follow those links and read all about it! These fine fellows are the Knights of the Blazing Sun. Myrmidia is an important goddess in the Southern Empire so I felt I absolutely had to include some of her Knightly Order in the army. Do you want to know more?

 

 

Supporting the Knights are the first of what will be three units of pistoliers. The Averheim Firstborn are the flashy scions of noble families risking their vast wealth and to-be-inherited power in the cauldron of armed conflict. The unit has a reputation for bravery, showy riding aaaand considering themselves something of a cut above the hoi polloi. Want to know more?

 

Rather firmly at the other end of the socio-economic spectrum we find the plucky halflings from The Moot - it borders Averland - serving as Mountainguard Huntsmen in the Grand Army. Want to know more?

 Finally in this recap we come to our first officer, the really rather eccentric Captain Harald von Agbeiten complete with motivational box and massive moustache. Want to know more? With that we have completed our roundup of historical projects so we can now move into the present day and enjoy some brand new Empire chaps!


These fine and lusty fellows are the Order of the Crossed Keys. Granted the freedom of all cities of Averland and bearing the Elector's proxy for proclaimation and dispute resolution. These are essentially Averland's equivalent of Greatswords in Jeff Headcanon. Averland, y'see, is a very horsey province, a bit like Lincolnshire, rolling grassy hills and a buttonne of horseflesh. So I figured that the personal guard of the Elector - well, the regent at the moment, RIP Marius - would be a mounted equivalent. Thankfully the torsos of the gorgeous greatswords kits fits the knight legs pretty darned well. I decided on a brassy tone for the armour to give that yellowish vibe - fits the army scheme see? - and black horses so that the yellow and black theme continued. 

The banner of the Crossed Keys held proudly aloft alongside the Elector's Champion and leader of the Crossed Keys: Wolfgang Auspitz. His beard may be grey but his arm and eyes are strong and sharp as ever. I deliberately went for quite an understated banner for the Order of the Crossed Keys. I wanted the Averland colours to be the central feature with the Keys seeming more like a badge of office than heraldry. I find that the older a device is on a banner the simpler it is. I see the Crossed Keys as being as old as Averland itself. 

As far as painting goes, the vast quantity of the painting is yellow and black. Two colours that cause shuddering in many painters, well good news. I've figured out a really simple system and even wrote a little tutorial about it way back when on the old blog. So if you're a Nuln or Averland painter, check it out for some quick painting help!

Naturally, with having a neat method for painting black and yellow I decided to throw all that out of the window and paint some white too... Yeah. These next pistoliers are from the regiment known as The Sons of Solland, sometimes the Sons of Sundered Solland when they are deep in their cups and feeling maudlin. Solland was once a province of the Empire before Gorbad Ironclaw attacked it and basically razed it. Solland being a neighbour of Averland, most of the refugees and displaced nobility ended up coming to Averland and resettling. The Sons of Solland may well fight for Averland, but they wear the colours of their mourned province and the black funereal plumes in their helmets to recall the dead. 


And finally we return to our cover boy. This chap is Captain Uwe von Hochsleben, one of several planned Captains of Horse and one of the Aides de Camp or surrogate generals of the leader of the Grand Army of Averland: Prince Florian Federspiel. I wanted him to stand out from the surrounding cavalry so gave him an odd reddish bronze colour to his horse armour. With the rest of the cloth being "standard Averland" he both blends with the army but stands out from any unit he is in. 

It's almost impossible to get a decent photo of Uwe's face. The shield is nightmarish to photograph around. But this is as good as it gets. He's a young guy, hard charging and bold needing to be tempered by the other more senior men. 

That's all for now folks! Waaaay more Empire on the way (ahem, maybe another 4 units of knights, more pistoliers, 10 outriders... and that's just the horse...) so stay tuned. Comments and suggestions very gratefully recieved, I want to make this army awesome. Until next time, lovely people, 

TTFN

Comments

  1. That is an absolutely luvverly paint scheme, the units look great! Look forward to seeing the footsloggers :D :D

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Ragsta! Rest assured, while the horse moves a little faster the great train of the infantry is not too far behind :D

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  2. As Crassus said when fighting the parthians: "Thats a lot of horses".
    Looks like a pretty mobile and fun force to play with. May it bring you victories in the campaign!

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