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Koyote in Mordheim


Koyote

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With the Dark Tower Mordheim campaign tentatively set to begin mid October, it's time for me to get started on my warband.

My plan is to resurrect the Kislev warband that I played (but never painted) back in 2009.  I've updated some of the models and added some new characters, but names and backgrounds (which I will post later), remain essentially the same.

Druzhina (80) dueling pistols (13*) sword (10) = 103 points

Esaul (35) great weapon (15)  = 50 points

Bear Tamer (35) sword (10), hammer (3)= 48 points

Youth #1 (15) hammer (4) = 18 points

Youth #2 (15) mace (3) = 18 points

Cossack #1 (30) sword (10) shield (5) = 45 points

Cossack #2 (30) sword (10) shield (5) = 45 points

Cossack #3 (30) halberd (10) = 40 points

Streltsi #1 (25) great weapon (15) bow (10) = 50 points

Streltsi #2 (25) great weapon (15) bow (10) = 50 points

Kislev Ranger (30)

* 1/2 price ancestral item

Youth, Youth, Druzhina, Esaul, Bear Tamer
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The two Youth models are City Militia models from Fireforge Games' Medieval Russian model line with GW arms,bits, and weapons.  The female's head was made by Statuesque Miniatures.

The Druzhina is an Altreich Engineer made by Black Chapel miniatures.

The Esaul is a V&V viking miniature.  I replaced its head with a head from GW's Empire Archer kit.  The axe blade comes from Frostgrave's Barbarian kit.

The Bear Tamer's head, body, and right arm is a metal, GW Kislev horse archer. The rest of the bits are GW.


Cossack, Cossack, Cossack, Streltsi, Streltsi
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The 3 Cossacks are all from GW's Mordheim Kislev model line.  The two Streltsi are from GW’s Kislev Kossars box set.


Kislev Ranger

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The Kislev Ranger is another GW Mordheim model. As you can see, I strung her bow, replaced her humongous sword with a slightly less humongous axe, and did some extensive GS work to cover up her ridiculous cleavage.

 

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  • 1 month later...

I've finished my first two Kislevites.  The models come from the OOP GW Kislev Kossars box set.  

These two scoundrels are the Streltsi, Gregor and Ivan.

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Gun-Rest is a characterful rule, but IMO something you shouldn't bother with until the Streltsi becomes a hero. Handguns are expensive (35 gc), have only an ok range (24"), are Move or Fire and, worst of all, they must be reloaded after each shot.  If you equip the Streltsi with a halberd, a requirement of the Gun-Rest rule, you've now spent 45 gc on equipment for human henchman who has to remain fairly static during the game and can only fire every other turn.  Even worse, if the model is taken out-of-action, it dies (and loses the expensive equipment) 33% of the time.  

Once a Streltsi becomes a hero, the model becomes more survivable, has access to a higher BS, and best of all, shooting skills (e.g. Hunter) that negate some of the handgun's negatives.  Combined, these factors make the 45 gc investment more worthwhile.

So, while my Streltsi remain henchmen, they have to make due with two handed weapons and bows.

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Here are my first two Kislevite heroes, the Youths, Boris and Natasha.  

A casual observer of these sibling adventurers may posit that Boris is the brawn and Natasha is the brains, but sadly, Natasha is the duo's brains AND brawn.  

It's not that Boris is clumsy or a coward, it's just that the sight of bloodshed makes Boris feel a bit woozy.  As such, Boris can’t help but to close his eyes just before each swing of his massive spiked mace, making him an ineffective fighter, and on occasion, a danger to the other members of his warband.

Natasha, on the other hand, is a stone cold killer who compensates for her lack of expertise with hammer and dagger with a penchant for back stabbing and striking at foes when they are down.  

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I've finished my Sylvanian Guide (hired sword) and Kislevite Bear Tamer (hero).

Durt is a miserable soul from a nameless fishing village that borders the Hel Fenn in northern Sylvania.  Durt has never been any further than a half days paddle from the decrepit hovel where he was born and raised, but the gullible Kislevite adventurers who have hired him as a tracker and guide don't know this.  

Oleg and his ursine companion were recruited into the army of Kislev to support a regiment of Kossars. Two summers ago, Oleg's bear died under the red axes of Norse marauders.  A broken man, Oleg turned to drink, and soon found himself discharged from the regiment.  A bear tamer no more, Oleg now earns his pay as the second in command of Kislevite mercenary warband, Captain Yuri's Raiders.

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Some of you old-timers may recognize Oleg, or at least the upper half of Oleg, from the 1990s GW Ungol Horse Archer model line.  Ungols served as Empire auxiliaries from the northern tribes of Kislev.

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I replaced the horse archer legs with legs from the Empire Militia sprue.  The model's left arm looked silly on an infantry model, so I clipped it off.  Because the arm was connected to the torso, I had to carve the underlying metal to match the shape of the opposite side of the torso.  Oleg was a fairly labor intensive conversion, but back in 2009, when I created Oleg, Mordheim Kislev mercenary models were very hard to find and very expensive, so I had to make do with what I had on hand.  They're still expensive, but thanks to recasters (who try to pass them off as originals on eBay), there's more of them out there.

Here's how Oleg looked back in 2009.  I have since added a warhammer to his left hand and replaced the twin knives on his belt with a big curved knife from the Kroot sprue

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Two more models completed, my first Cossack (henchman) and an Esaul (hero).

The Cossacks are fierce fighters and unrelenting foes of Chaos, and Yakiv it no exception.  In a fight, Yakiv can always be found in the thick of it, swinging, stabbing, and tripping foes with his ash shafted halberd, Troll Gutter.

The dour Sergeant Ludvig has served alongside Captain Yuri since their days in ill-fated Kossar regiment.  

Many attribute the burly sergeant's preference for the marauder axe to Ludvig's mixed Norse and Kislev heritage.  However, if one were to ask the sergeant, he'd state plainly that uses the massive, bearded axe because he's found no weapon better at killin' people and beasts in need of killin'.  

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Captain Yuri's regiment of Kossars was decimated in a border war against a scheming baron of Ostland. Disillusioned by his experience fighting against Kislev's Empire "allies," Yuri resigned his commission.

After trying his hand at carpentry, farming, and shoe making, Yuri came to the conclusion that the only thing he is really good at is fighting and leading men in battle. So, with some reluctance, Yuri has once again taken up sword and pistol.   He now commands a small warband of mercenaries that call themselves, to their captain's chagrin, Yuri's Raiders.

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The model is Black Chapel Miniatures' Altreich Engineer. The model comes with two pistols, a huge, multi-barreled pistol and a more traditional pistol. As you can see, I chose the latter.

The only conversion work was to remove the long handgun from his back and replace it with a (ridiculously massive) sheathed scimitar.  The model is metal and the handgun is not a separate piece, so it took quite a bit of work to remove it. Ugh!

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And now that I've finished painting my starting warband, it's time for a group shot.

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I finished painting my 3rd Streltsi.  This fellow won't be part of my starting warband.  I hope to have enough gold crowns to add him after my first (or second) game.

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The rules for Kislevite warbands was first published in Town Cryer Issue 16.  In this first version of the rules, Kislevites didn't have access to crossbows, which is odd, because the Mordheim Kislevite miniatures sold by GW at the time included models armed with crossbows.  If you look at the cover of Town Cryer 16, you'll see one of them.  

GW republished the Kislevite warband rules in 2002 Mordheim Annual.  This version includes crossbows as an option for Streltsi.  Better late than never. 1534797210.3468-smiley.gif

 

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I've finished another reinforcement for my Kislevs.  In time, she'll be added to my Cossack henchmen group.

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The model is an OOP Shieldmaiden Berserker, made by Bad Squiddo games.  The model's heroic pose and eastern style trousers are what first grabbed my attention, but after closer examination I realized that its sword arm is a bit too long, too thick at the base, and juts out from the model's side in a way that doesn't look natural.  Worst of all, the head and neck were not centered between the model's shoulders.

To fix the arm I shaved down the arm and reshaped a part of the torso beneath the arm.  The arm still didn't look right so I bent the arm at the elbow.  Removing some of the torso required me to re-sculpt all of the rectangular armor segments on that side of the body.  The arm still doesn't look quite right, but it is what it is.

I replaced the straight bladed sword with a scimitar from the Frostgrave plastic Cultist kit.

I had to saw off the head in order to reposition it.  This required even more GS work to realign the hair and fix the top of the armored vest that was damaged by the saw.  

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Leopold von Drak's namesake died at the hands of Vlad von Carstein almost 200 years before the Witch Hunter's birth.  Carstein's new bride, Isabella took mercy on her uncle's widow and young children, and so she arranged for the last of the von Draks to flee to the neighboring county of Ostermark.  

To combat the darkness that has enveloped their homeland, the exiled von Drak family developed the tradition of sending their second sons to the Temple of Sigmar for training and indoctrination into the Order of Witch Hunters. And so, for two centuries von Drak witch hunters have been infiltrating the benighted county with the mission of destroying vampires, necromancers, and their servants.


Leopold von Drak - Witch Hunter (hired sword)

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This mini is the Inquisitor Captain Xander Thule, sold by Gorgon Miniatures.  It's a very cool model, but it wasn't cast very well, so it took a fair amount of work with the hobby knife and greenstuff to get it prepared for paint.  

Leopold will join my Kislevite warband as a Witch Hunter hired sword.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My Kislivite Henchman armed with a halberd received a strength increase, so I've decided to add a second Henchman to his group.  Like my first Kislev halberdier model, I shortened the top section of he halberd so the weapon no longer looks absurdly long.

I've decided to start a second warband -Dark Elves.  The rules for Dark Elves aren't very good, so to give my starting warband some added punch, I've added a Pit Fighter hired sword to the list. It goes without saying that the Pit Fighter was not actually hired by the Dark Elf corsairs, but rather purchased at from the slave pits at Karond Kar:  The model is the classic Mordheim Pit Fighter.  I've always liked everything about this model except for the ridiculous Orc skull mounted on the top of the morning star's haft, so I removed it and replaced the haft-cap with a bit that I cut from a plastic Flagellant's flail.  I then added the skull to the model's base, to keep all of the original model's components together.

My Kislivites have recruited a Road Warden hired sword.  We are Blazing Saddles rules in this campaign, so the Road Warden has the ability to dismount.  This has motivated me to FINALLY paint the foot-version of the mounted Road Warden model that I converted and painted in 2016 (see old photos below).  Like the Pit Fighter, there is an Orc skull on the model's base.  I added the Orc skull to the base when I first assembled and converted it in 2016.  It was only after painting all three off these models that I realized they all have skulls on their bases, in approximately the same place.

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I've had this half painted Empire Hero gathering dust on my painting table for almost two years now.  I started it in December of 2016 for another Mordheim campaign, but the campaign ended before I had finished with it.  Putting paint on the foot Road Warden (who had been assembled for the same campaign), gave me the nudge I needed to brush off the dust and finally finish the Averlander hero.

Over the years I've purchased models from quite a few recasters (mostly on eBay from sellers trying to pass them off as the original models), and overall the quality of the minis has been pretty good.  The only issue I've had with quality involved this model, which I purchased on eBay from a Chinese recaster who sold these minis, prepainted. After stripping the paint from my purchase I noticed all the flaws. The model's feet and legs were in the worst shape, but it didn't bother me much because I was already planning to replace them.  Even if the recast was 100% true to the original model, the model's short, skinny little bird legs would have warranted a leg swap.  Using some GS and legs from a plastic Empire Greatswords kit, I made the legs a bit longer and more muscular.

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41 minutes ago, InfestedKerrigan said:

Terminator Honors. Legit.

Please, those gadflies in Tactical Dreadnaught Armour wish they were half a tenth the man an Empire State-Trooper is. 

Stormbolters, powerfists, ceramite armor, and force fields? Pssh, a real man battles the Ruinous Powers with a steel blade, an oaken shield, a silken hat, and testicles made of pure titanium.

 

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On 11/5/2018 at 2:42 PM, Ish said:

Please, those gadflies in Tactical Dreadnaught Armour wish they were half a tenth the man an Empire State-Trooper is. 

Stormbolters, powerfists, ceramite armor, and force fields? Pssh, a real man battles the Ruinous Powers with a steel blade, an oaken shield, a silken hat, and testicles made of pure titanium.

 

Well you dont' need more armor when your testicles give you a +1 save

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