The original Battle Master box came with the following Imperial Army units:
- 1 unit of "Lord Knights" (3 knights)
- 3 units of "Imperial Knights" (3 x 3 knights)
- 3 units of "Men-at-Arms" (3 x 5 halberdiers)
- 2 units of archers (2 x 5 minis)
- 1 unit of crossbowmen (5 minis)
- 1 "Mighty Canon" (1 canon with 2 gunners)
The stickers provided with the game give some indication of the background of these units...
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| Pictures from Board Game Geek... |
The knights designations don't really fit with what I remember of Warhammer Empire: IIRC knights in an Imperial Army are coming from a variety of knightly orders à la Knights Panther, Knights of the White Wolf, etc.
The Battle Masters Knights comes in two "tiers": strength 5 "Lords Knights" on grey-plastic "metal" barded horses and strength 4 "Imperial Knights" on red-, yellow- and blue-plastic (one unit from each colour) "cloth" caparisoned (apparently it's a word) horses.
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| Painting and picture by Melissa Powell over at the MGM Painting blog... |
All silvery armours and caparisons, subtle white and red accents: the Grand Order of the Reiksguard knights are an "elite core of well-trained and well-equipped troops" and "the best troops available to the Emperor"... Sounds like a good match for the strength 5 "Lords Knights".
Demonworld Empire as a few knights options, but some are, to me, frankly over the top (yes, Masters of the Order, I'm looking at you). My sweet spot for the Reiksguard would be the, aptly named, Emperor's Guard knights but mounted on the "barded mare" from the Knights of the Order pack for a more "full metal" look.
Fun fact: Ral Partha sells single Demonworld miniatures (including separate riders and mounts), so no need to buy large packs of stuff you don't need!
For the paint job, I'm thinking: Army Painter "Shining Silver" spray, shields and feather things in white, lances in "pure red" and horses in a mix of "leather brown" and "oak brown", black maltese cross decals on the shields and then a coat of AP Magic Goo!
Demonworld Empire as a few knights options, but some are, to me, frankly over the top (yes, Masters of the Order, I'm looking at you). My sweet spot for the Reiksguard would be the, aptly named, Emperor's Guard knights but mounted on the "barded mare" from the Knights of the Order pack for a more "full metal" look.
Fun fact: Ral Partha sells single Demonworld miniatures (including separate riders and mounts), so no need to buy large packs of stuff you don't need!
For the paint job, I'm thinking: Army Painter "Shining Silver" spray, shields and feather things in white, lances in "pure red" and horses in a mix of "leather brown" and "oak brown", black maltese cross decals on the shields and then a coat of AP Magic Goo!
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| Picture and painting by Liam Parkinson over at Aergewinn... |
Back when I discovered miniatures gaming and Warhammer, the Knights Panther were, IMO, the coolest unit on the table! They get the blue caparison "Imperial Knights" slot!
Sticking to the Warhammer Empire canon, I should basically use the same minis as the Reiksguard, but I want to stress the difference between strength 5 "Lords Knights" and strength 4 "Imperial Knights", so I'll go with the Knights of the Order (no feather things for them) and the "caparisoned coursers" from the Noble Lancers pack.
Paintjob wise: "Shining Silver" armour, "Ultramarine Blue" caparison, shield and lance, yellow/golden big cat on the shields...
No amount of googling turns up cool imperial knights with yellow barding/caparisons... The Order of the Blazing Sun however is all black and gold... I don't think they'd mind being modeled on yellow caparisoned horses (not as gothicy but much better battlefield recognition!)
Same models as the Panther guys, Shining Silver" armour (gold would be a bit too much with the yellow caparison, me think), "Daemonic Yellow" caparison and lances, black shields with yellow/golden sun/star decal!
The logical move for team red caparison would probably be the Knights of the White Wolf, the other cool knight unit back in the 4th
edition days... But then they were described as (one of) the exception
to the Imperial knights rule: they were fighting with large hammers
instead of lance... Do I handwave the hammers and model them as regular
knights? Do I try to model that specificity (no, I don't)? Do I find another knightly order?
The Knights Griffon don't have nearly has much "canon" background as the Panthers or the Wolf (or even the Sun) guys... Colour-wise they've been all over the place for mostly black to gold and dark green... The Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book has them looking like this:
Make that red a bit more vibrant and I'll hire them for the red caparison slot! Same models as the Panther and Sun boys, "Shining Silver" armour again, "Pure Red" caparison, lances and shields with yellow/golden griffon!
Next: 15mm Battle Masters Imperial infantry!
Edit: found those over at the Ginfritter's Gnomish Workshop...
Sticking to the Warhammer Empire canon, I should basically use the same minis as the Reiksguard, but I want to stress the difference between strength 5 "Lords Knights" and strength 4 "Imperial Knights", so I'll go with the Knights of the Order (no feather things for them) and the "caparisoned coursers" from the Noble Lancers pack.
Paintjob wise: "Shining Silver" armour, "Ultramarine Blue" caparison, shield and lance, yellow/golden big cat on the shields...
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| Random picture from the Internet... I think that one is from Games Workshop old catalog, back before when they destroyed Warhammer! |
Same models as the Panther guys, Shining Silver" armour (gold would be a bit too much with the yellow caparison, me think), "Daemonic Yellow" caparison and lances, black shields with yellow/golden sun/star decal!
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| Picture posted by "MagicAngle" on The Ninth Age forum... |
The Knights Griffon don't have nearly has much "canon" background as the Panthers or the Wolf (or even the Sun) guys... Colour-wise they've been all over the place for mostly black to gold and dark green... The Uniforms and Heraldry of the Empire book has them looking like this:
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| Scan from my copy of the book... |
Next: 15mm Battle Masters Imperial infantry!
Edit: found those over at the Ginfritter's Gnomish Workshop...
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| Iron Cross #2 Decal in Black with a Red Border for the Reiksguard... I would have been happy with plain black but the red border is the silver lining... Well... You get it! |
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| Lion Rampant in Gold for the Knights Panther... OK, not quite a Panther... Close Enough! |
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| Starburst in Gold for the Kings of the Blazing Sun... Or Traveller Imperial Navy anyone? |
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| And last but not least, Griffon Rampant in Gold (alternatively there is also an "Eagle Head in Gold" and a "Claw in Gold") for the Knights Griffon! |
for the 2 tiers this is empire knights and bretonnian knights
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