Hobby Update: Ostermark League Heroes

When I started the blog, I was repainting a bunch of old WHFB Empire stuff. Then that all got boxed up as I moved on to my Roman/Byzantine army, then was unboxed this year and rebased for building up a little human-oriented League of Rhordia army I refer to as my Ostermark League.


I still have a box of old Empire models, which would be about 4000 points of Kings of War "stuff." I pillaged that stockpile, and nabbed a few heroes to boost the Ostermark League up to an even 2500 points with the models as-is. No real purpose behind this, but it did make for a pleasant morning.

The trio! More attempts with the old digital camera. Unfortunately... it's no better than my phone, and more prone to wobbles too. Looks like phone is the way to go.

The mounted Wizard was meant to be WHFB's Balthasar Gelt, a conversion done up for a big End Times group battle. Here, he's no legendary character, despite the cool cape/robes. Just a wizard on a horse looking to crisp some baddies.

The Wizard on foot was just that in WHFB and remains so now.

Oddly enough, unlike the KoM wizards I am used to seeing, these don't look like they can swap out Fireball for Lightning Bolt, which is something I likely overlooked before. That's ... interesting. When given the (free) choice, LB generally wins out in my opinion; the Piercing and added range increase damage potency and give a few more options (like character hunting).

However here, with no free choice, the Wizards are either forced to remain cheap and try to utilize the smaller range of Fireball (doable against some things, but very tricky verses cavalry or say, elves with Speed 6, where you may only get one use before the enemy closes), or start shopping for more spells and sinking more and more points into them.

Since I haven't gotten a chance to test out any of the spells outside of what launched with 2nd Edition... I can't really comment on how I could best to use these. They'll just get Fireball for now.

Previously, the Duke was my conversion of Karl Franz, again done up for some End Times games. I'm not sure if he actually ever saw the table though (Balthasar did). Oh well. He's a metal version of the bird model I used for the Regnum's General on a Winged Beast.

See, the phone, showing off Karl Franz, in all his former glory. Like I said I'm not even sure if he ever saw the table. Hobbying on him was a rush. You can see the edge of the 50mm square the metal model is anchored too..

The Duke is the League's combat-leader. Mounted on a Winged Aralez, he would be very similar to the KoM's version, but costs 20 points less. For that discount, the Duke loses a pip of Nerve and 1 Attack but gains Iron Resolve and Thunderous Charge 1. Sheesh. That's seems like a very good trade.

Myth-wise, Aralez are pretty neat, apparently coming from Armenian traditions, and generally represented as dogs with wings. Had I not transferred over my old Demigryphs already, I may have been tempted to try and greenstuff a doggy face for him... However, I did, and so a simple rebase wins out.

Since I already have the KoM General, I think I'll run this Duke as riding the Ancient Winged Aralez, to give the Ostermark League a bit more personality. I based him on a 75mm square as it a) fit better, and b) I feel like 75mm is going to be the norm for big bad monster mounts in the next edition, as all their newer models (Abyssal Archfiend, Basilean Dragon, Undead Wyrm) are all on 75s. Plus, I'm not playing tournaments here; a little bigger base size isn't a big deal.

Compared to the younger Duke, this guy will get some boosted Nerve, two additional attacks, and Heal 4.  Not a bad stat-line!

For a combat-hero, Heal 4 is likely wasted a bit usually. You want him smashing stuff, not skulking around tossing around weak heals!

As-is, he should likely sit back, and mitigate enemy shooting via Heals in the early turns and then transition into combat support once the main battle lines meet. However, having this spell opens him up to taking all the fancy new spells from the Clash of Kings supplement books, so there is some good potential there. Again, not having played with any of those new(ish) spells, I can't pontificate too much.

So yeah, three more characters, boosting my little Ostermark Army up to 2500 points. Will have to take the Ancient Aralez out for a spin sometime!