1st Company of the Muster of the Great Hall 'King's Axes'

 "...In that grim moment, the King's Axes arrived, with some other Dwarf warriors, and great was the joy and relief of our exhausted people, hemmed in on nearly every side as they were by the green-skinned horde, at the site of the Mountain folks' dark faces and bright axes coming swiftly up the western road!  It is perhaps well that I should take a moment here to speak somewhat of these famous warriors... 

I have often heard this regiment referred to as the "King's Guard"  by our own people, but this is not strictly correct.  The Dwarf King's Bodyguards are in fact called his"Door Wards", and our people here in the River Lands have seldom seen them, for they remain always with the King, and would not travel in our Country unless the King himself was marching to war.  The "King's Axes" are a company of the finest warriors in the Thunder Mountain community, the only standing army the Dwarves maintain.  All Dwarf males (and some females) make time to forge weapons and to train in the arts of war, but the "King's Axes" are the only company paid with the King's own coin to train continually as warriors and to stand by to march at any hour, in the furtherance of any bloody goal the King should have in mind.  Rare indeed is the expeditionary force sent from Thunder Mount which does not have this gallant company as it's core.

 ...The Grim standard of this famous company, fashioned in part from the carcasses of slaughtered Goblin champions, is happily a common and a welcome sight in our country, its familiarity an earnest of the bond between the people of the Thunder Mountain and the Black River.

...The Company is always led by one of the King's mightiest champions, clad in the finest mithril armour, and wielding the dreaded Frost Blade, Icicle...


 - Olorrin, The Black River Chronicles

"AXES OF THE DWARVES!!"

                                                       "THE DWARVES ARE UPON YOU!"

Sir Johann Treuehardt's men-at-arms

 The Baron Von Refn has many resources to call upon when his realm is threatened.  His militia companies stand ready to defend their districts, and the volunteer levies will answer the call to arms when the situation is desperate.  The Rangers and Sheriffs stand watch on the borders and along the roads, and are invaluable assets in battle.  Then there are the monks and knights of the Holy orders, brave men who fly as fanatics to the defense of the realm.  And there are the men of the Baron's own household; some fifty strong...yet there could no hope for the survival of the Black River colonies, were it not for the Baron's knights and the men at their command. 

 One of the most important and respected of these knights is Sir Johann Treuehardt, whose family has served the Von Refns for three generations.  Each Knight of the Realm is required to maintain a 'Marching Order' of three mounted or ten men-at-arms on foot, whom he can bring to the Baron's standard in time of strife.

 Sir Johann, however, proudly maintains a full company of thirty halberdiers and billmen, well paid and loyal fighters always ready to move to a fight at a moment's notice.  Cynics will say that the wealthy Sir Johann needs the extra men-at-arms to watch and guard his extensive lands in the Mittel March anyway, but this does not diminish his high standing with the Baron...



                                                                             ***

I copied the green and white color scheme for this regiment from a unit of Bretonnian men at arms featured in a Rogue Trader era issue of White Dwarf.  (Around #140, I think)  Alas, once  I had painted everybody's shirt and trousers in some combination of green and white, I came to the conclusion that the color scheme I had chosen was actually, unfortunately, really kind of boring.

 The half-finished unit sat around gathering dust for a while, until I decided that a red heart taken from a bunch of 40k Eldar transfers might add a spot of color which might make the unit more interesting...so now you can all have a good laugh at my "Imperial Halberdiers of Biel-Tan".

The Halberdiers can't use thier shields in close combat, but they can be of use in protecting the troops from missile fire as they advance upon the enemy...so I have a lot of the boys with their shields slung on their backs, or shifting off their fore-arms onto their shoulders, as if they are closing with the enemy...

"Come on, Boys!  This is what the Baron pays us for!"

 "Give 'em the Baron's steel!"

 

 

Jenni Troll Spitter

 Named 'Jenni' for the sweetheart of the dwarf who built it, and 'Troll Spitter' for a spectacular shot which bisected the wind-pipe of the troll chief Mugwump Worm-Belly at the thirteenth battle of the Maiden's Peak, this Bolt Thrower is a fine example of the several heavy crossbows in use by the Dwarves of the Thunder Mount.

 Although not as effective as cannon or stone throwers, these weapons are easy to break down and can be transported on the backs of a pair of mules, making them deployable at short notice and even in the most rugged terrain.  Best employed in batteries of 3 or so machines, they can be an effective counter to large monsters or flying creatures, and highly useful as defenses of fixed fortifications.

The Dwarfs are, for the most part, not one of my favorite GW figure lines.  The GW Dwarf models have always been a little too roly-poly and Disney-esque for my taste. Although some of Games Workshop's Dwarf figures from the early 80's, particularly their Norse Dwarfs, are quite pleasing to me, I generally prefer a more dignified, Tolkien-esque look for my Dwarves.  In recent years Citadel has begun to use an altogether comical look for the Dwarfs, a sort of 'beards with feet' look, which I REALLY don't like.  This means I look to other manufacturers for most of my needs. (they're cheaper, anyway).  There aren't a lot of Dwarf Bolt Throwers on the market, however, and this one, which at least has the advantage of being nice and eighties, will do for my collection.

It's been a heck of a busy last few weeks, but I'm glad I had enough time to get this little set finished.  It came with a small bull dog model, which I intended to use to represent my fourth crewman, but he has disappeared...I think my wife, chronic dog lover that she is, took a liking to him and made off with him.

"Oh, he's a big, fat green bastard, he is, boys!  Nice and juicy! Steady now! Ready...Aim..."

Whelps of the Warp

 "In the Autumn of that year, the Mad Hunt came for the first time.  In the nights leading up to All Hallows Eve, men heard unearthly howls and wailings drifting across the Black river...sounds that chilled them to their very marrow.  The Sheriffs and militia stood double watches through the night.  On the night of Sam Hain, the Mad Hunt swam the river just to the north of the point where the Snake River flows into the Black, and swept howling up through the hilly country north of the Snake.  Directly in their path lay the little hamlet in Frog Hollow.  Frog Hollow had been founded in the summer of that year by a little group of newly arrived immigrants, many of them Tileans, and some of the houses of the little settlement were as yet but half-builded.

 Despite the Baron Von Refn's explicit instructions to all settlers to build Palisade walls before all other considerations, the settlers had neglected to fortify their new homes. The reason later given was that the colonists had arrived late in the year, and considered the certain impending assault of winter to be a more immediate threat than the possibility of attack by monsters.  Thus when the shrieks and bellows of hideous chaos hounds shook them from their beds, they were quite unshielded.  The little town's militia were outmatched by the horrid beasts of chaos, and they were soon scattered with great loss into small bands fighting desperately in isolated houses.  For a time it seemed that there might be hope, for the stout, barred doors of the houses kept the hounds at bay, but then a troop of evil men with hair dyed the color of blood arrived bearing bows and fire, and shot burning arrows and into the shingle and thatch of the roofs.  The poor folk huddled inside were thus left with a choice between burning alive in their homes, or being torn apart in the open by the fanged terrors of the hunt...

 ...Some thirty innocents died in the disaster, but many others fled up the road to the bridge at Plum Creek, their retreat shielded by the gallant stands of a few brave militiamen.  The Hunt put the whole Hamlet of Frog Hollow to the torch, and, after taking time to torture and devour a few captives, made their way up the river toward Plum Creek.  Here, they were halted by a valiant defense of Plum Creek's militia spearmen on the bridge itself, supported by archers firing from the riverbanks behind them.  A number of beasts were wounded, yet things might have gone poorly had not the Rangers and Sheriffs of the North Mark appeared suddenly on the far bank and attacked the Hunt in the flank.  There was wild fighting and some loss there on both sides before the Hunt at last withdrew...stopping briefly to gloat and offer prayers to their filthy God in the blazing ruin of Frog Hollow, they passed back down to the Black River, hurled themselves into it's dark waters and vanished into the night.

 The Rangers tracked the Hunt to the Banks of the Black River.  Here they found a hound and a huntsman who, too sorely wounded by Rangers' arrows to cross, had been left behind, and these they put to the sword.  Thus they Children of the Dark Gods did not escape without paying a price, though the losses our dear and innocent folk were by far the more grievous.

 Many of the Frog Hollow settlers wished to leave the Black River country following the disaster, but the Baron convinced them to stay.  He bade them build their houses close together on high ground, and sent men to help the survivors enclose their community within a wall of stout logs, strengthened with towers, and lent some of his own men to serve there as a garrison...
                                                                                    - Olorrin, The Black River Chronicles

This nasty bunch are the first wave of  my chaos hounds for the Mad Hunt.  3 more groups are sitting around on my desk, waiting for me to sling paint on 'em...Great old figures....the handler is one of the greatest Chaos warrior figures GW ever produced, I think...although, if you look at the army list entry, animal handlers are supposed to be Beastmen, not Chaos warriors...oh, well...

Creature Feature: The Swamp Shambler

 Sightings of this mysterious creature have been reported often, both by the Rangers of the Southern March, and more frequently, by herdsmen courageous (or foolish) enough to let their animals stray near the edges of the Tulgey Wood.  The figures here depict a sighting by the Ranger Karl Langfusch, in which a Shambler was accompanied by what appeared to be an immature member of it's species. 

  All reported sightings of Shamblers collected by the sage Olorro describe a large, roughly man-shaped creature, apparently composed at least largely of lank, often rotting and putrid-smelling vegetation, leading Olorro to describe the thing, in his treatise Bogies and Beasties of the Black River Country, as some sort of earth or plant elemental.  Though large and seemingly powerful, and menacing in it's aspect, there are no reports of a Shambler actually attacking a man. There is a passage in Olorro's book however, in which a herdsman claims that he once saw one of the creatures in the process of devouring a lamb, seemingly not in the conventional fashion, but by smothering the young animal in its sodden folds, and absorbing the lamb's substance into its own body.

 The creatures are evidently not shy about showing themselves to men, but invariably retreat when approached, disappearing without leaving so much as a track or a bent blade of grass to betray their passage.  Consequently, we still know almost nothing about them.

The Blood God's Huntsmen

 

In all hours, in all weathers, sentinels stand upon the ramparts of remote forts and lonely watchtowers up and down the Black River country, and listen in fear for the wail of a hunting horn, and the unearthly baying of a pack of Devil-hounds...for this horrid music heralds the approach of the Mad Hunt of Chaos...one of the most feared warbands in all the loathsome and corrupted host of the Chaos Lord, Buzzgob Phesterlick.

 Behind the roaring, shrieking packs of twisted, mutant chaos hounds, behind the fleet footed Beastmen who drive them, behind the Horned Rider who is Master of the Hunt, run Khorne's Huntsmen, degenerates and psychopaths eager to shoot down prey the hounds cannot catch, to take captives to torture and slay...all in the insane hope that he Blood God, mighty Khorne, will be pleased by their efforts and reward them.  These brutal Chaos thugs wear no armor, the better keep up with the hounds, and are led by a pair of Chaos Marauders...

 

This distinctly unwholesome bunch are part of a sub-army for my chaos horde.  The warband will also include 24 chaos hounds, 4 hound handlers, and a Master of the Hunt...a mounted Sorcerer of Nurgle. Always liked these miniatures, (They remind me of the Humongous's "Gayboy Berzerkers" from THE ROAD WARRIOR...just need some rooster feathers on the shoulders)...I've been collecting them one or two at a time for a couple of years now.  I'm glad the unit has finally come together...

Mutated Thug...actually a great old Beastman figure whose inclusion I thought would be a nice touch...

 

'Blood for the Blood God!"

The Black River Rapscallions

 Scattered throughout the little frontier realm of the Baron Von Refn are many tiny farms and hamlets.  This decentralized pattern of settlement grew up out of necessity, for the Black River country is hard, and settlers must cleave to good soil and water where ever they can find it.  In these little communities, exposed to all manner of dangers, there is a common saying:  "When minutes matter, the Baron's men are hours away."

Though they are dependent on the army of the Baron for protection against invasion, the people of the Black River country, whether tenant farmers or free-holders, know that they must often be the first line of their own defense against Goblinoid or Chaos raids, Snotling infestations, random terrifying undead incursions, or the unexpected depredations of solitary wandering monsters.    

 Although the Baron posts small garrisons throughout the land, and though his Sheriffs and Rangers are always on patrol, the Black River country is wild and dangerous in the extreme, and farmers, drovers and woodcutters must always be prepared to hold their own until help arrives.

Though not professional fighters, the "Rapscallions" have learned to turn their homesteads into sturdy forts manned by determined, if not particularly skilled, archers and slingers...and so, thus far, the realm has survived.

 "Come on, Lads!!  We can do it..."

"...Dang!  How do ya get the string on this thing, again?!"


This was another unit that was long in the making.  About half the models are Black Tree/Harlequin figures I found in a bargain bin at GAMESCAPE when I lived in San Francisco about a hundred years ago.  Somewhere along the line  picked up  5 old Glory barbarian archers that got added to the mix, and there is also a Saxon archer from God knows what historical line. Just this year, I rounded the unit out to 20 models with the addition of some nice old Perry Brothers Medievals. 


Warhammer Armies  only allows the use of peasant levy archers in the Bretonnian army list.  They do not appear in the Empire list, which may be just as well, since, with a Ballistic skill of 2 and a leadership of 6, they are next to useless.  I think they may be fun for use with scenarios, however, and may even be a good investment for city fighting or sieges.  

We shall most assuredly see when I get enough finished figures together to start doing some battle reports.

3rd Company of the Muster of the Great Hall 'Red Dragons'

The warrior fraternity of the Red Dragons is one of the oldest in Thunder Mount, and traces it's origins nearly back to the founding of the colony. It was one of the very first fraternities to be organized after the Dwarves of the Mount ended the practice of fighting in clan-based formations.

The Dragon symbol emblazoned on the banner commemorates the capture of the original Thunder Mountain caverns from their most fearsome guardian, the Wyrm now remembered as Frenga the Devourer.  The founders of the Red Dragons were two brothers, Herl and Herst Stonebelly, celebrated heroes of the founding and key players in the touch-and-go contest with Frenga.  Indeed it was Herst who preserved the egg from the Frenga's nest which centuries later produced Frenga's one known offspring, Felenc, The Fire on the Mount. 

Undoubtedly more audacious than wise, the brothers in later years swore a rash oath to map the country beyond the Black River.  Taking a small band of companions, they passed into the east and were never heard from again. They left an impressive legacy, however. The Red Dragons remain to this day vigilant and formidable Guardians of the Thunder Mount colony, as does Felenc.

                                                  Dang!  I forgot my red shirt!  Sorry, fellas!

This unit was cobbled together out of a wild hodge-podge of Black Tree, Old Glory, Grenadier and Metal Magic figures.  And there's one old school Citadel figure in there, the 'Bombur' of the unit...

I recently dug most of them out of the cobwebbed corners of my collection, added a few new ones, and tried to wash, repaint and touch up some of the worst specimens in order to get a decent looking unit together.  I'm not sure I succeeded but I tried.

 Warhammer Armies makes forty dwarf warriors mandatory for your Dwarf army.  These fellows will cover half of that requirement.  Spears are nice because they give some of the second rank figures the opportunity to attack, and provide some slight advantages when going up against cavalry or flying creatures.   Dwarves being above average fighters, I think spears are worth the points.