Ostermark: A guide to the Empires East March and their foes

[spafe]

Welcome young Esquire, pull up a chair, make yourself comfy and I shall tell ye of the East March and my time there...

The League of Ostermark is a major and late-founding Imperial province that lies at the most north-eastern corners of the Empire of Man. The territories of Ostermark, which is often remarked as the Empire's "East March" is considered a highly fertile if not hostile landscape. Ostermark is at the very frontiers of the Empire, surrounded on three sides by Kislev, Sylvania and the Worlds Edge Mountains. Neverthless, the people of Ostermark are a valiant breed, and through determination, Ostermark has survived the onslaught of invasion since its founding.

Detachment handgunners

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

A detachment of Handgunners in the Ostermark Livery

So with that introduction, Welcome to my Empire Army Blog. I am aiming to get my army ready for an upcoming fantasy campaign between myself and 3 friends, using 8th edition, with a campaign map and various other fun things. This blog is my attempt to record getting my army ready, and then hopefully that campaign. I had a lot of my army half done for years in the loft, and I have decided to make a concerted effort to get them finished. Here is the progress log as of the start of March:

march 2020 progress.png

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

And this is where I was up to at the start of April:

April 2020 progress.png

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Colours are:
Green: Finished and based
Yellow: Painted
Orange: Wip
Red: Built
No Colour: not built or not purchased yet

I intend to update monthly which will hopefully show everything moving towards green.

That's enough for tonight young sir, next time we sit I'll share with you the company of Mercenaries I travelled with, on my way to the Ostermark.​

 

[spafe]

"Stuck next to Kislev and Sylvania, a dreary land of fog and rain on the best of days... Why does anyone want to live there?"
—A Middenheimer

Well lad, Gold! At least, gold is the reason we travelled there. The Count is always under threat being a border region. The Emperor's tax money at work there, bolstering the otherwise poorer state so Ol' Hertwig can entice some of us proper soldiers to support his local forces...

Mercenary Greatswords

• spafe
• Apr 9, 2020

My own Company of Greatswords, Finest swords this side of Tilea!

This group where a delight to paint, a roadblock unit that is small but due to their stubborn rule they would have to be killed to a man or they are likely to hold a charge for a turn, buying time for others to make adjustments they need. Due to their great swords they will always fight last, but anything they do hit... will know about it! I've only had to do 3 of these from start to finish, as the others I have painted from a few years ago, so all they needed was the basing to finish them off.

I also noticed they were missed off my trackers above, so I've added them in preperation of my May update to the tracker.

So that's my own company, hard men one and all, but each made their mark, especially the ones who didn't march back with me. Next time I'll explain how you are but a mere shadow of what your school used to form a man into, the mercenary pistoliers who scouted for us.​

 

[spafe]

So Lad, you want to be a pistolier, like those other dandies? Or you want to be a warrior? Well you can be both, I know, because I've seen them. Not the preening cocks like you see out in the streen flaunting their wealth for the ladies eye. I served with hard men, bold and fierce with courage in their belly! They rode into the jaws of the Wastes and laughed the entire time. But there was always a discipline to them, they pretended to be carefree, but they trained, oh they almost trained as much as my boys. They kept us safe on the march, riding ahead, spotting more than one ambush on the road. We'd have never made it to Ostermark without them. Of course few of them made it back, not the sort for an old mans death them, their curious faith in Ranald would see to that.

Mercenary pistoliers 2

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Mercenary pistoliers

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

The Pistolliers of Ranald

Another group who were a joy to paint, generally the mercenaries formed my 'treat', after slogging through more flagellants or even more state troops in purple and yellow, the bright colours and flamboyancy of the mercenary elements kept life interesting.

These are not expected to survive long on the battlefield, a group of daring-do, who will have great songs sung about their heroism... or their folly, as they buy time for the battleline to rearrange, drive of enemy skirmishers and generally play a harrassing role.

@The Duke , @Llewy , are either of you still about? how goes your fantasy armies?

And so m'boy, if you wish to seek the favour of the trickster god, there are no shortage of companies that will take you, but train and have discipline before you go too far down that path, for ruin is always waiting for those who trust the trickster too much.
​

 

[Blood Donor]

That pistolier green looks great. Really loving the format and style youre bringing to this, very clean. Makes me want to have a progress chart, let alone getting it to turn as predominantly green as you have yours. Really like the Empire minis, hoping you have some photo worthy skirmish warbands that can be assembled from its ranks.

 

[spafe]

Cheers mate. I'm able to be fairly productive with a combination of contrast paints and the lockdown. I'm aiming to come out of this with a fully finished army. Never had one of those before!

 

[spafe]

A bit of a painting update. I thought to capture how I batch paint some of the rank and file. My spearmen are using Warlord landsknecht, I bought a couple of sprues from ebay to see how they compare, I've not got a full box on order that should fill out most of the rest of the regiment (I hope!).

I've since finished these 12 (and the champion) as per my tracker in the first post, but as I mainly want to show finished regiments I'll not be showing these guys past the first 5 steps:

Step 1: undercoat wraithbone

Spearmen Batch paint 1

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Step 2: flesh with Gullimen flesh

Spearmen Batch paint 2

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Step 3: yellow with iyanden yellow

Spearmen Batch paint 3

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Step 4: purple with shyish purple

Spearmen Batch paint 4

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

Step 5: black weapon hafts with either Game colour Black (72.051) or Model colour Black (70.950)

Spearmen Batch paint 5

• spafe
• Apr 7, 2020

A more proper update tomorrow hopefully.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

A @spafe Plog this is unheard of!?!? Keep it up good sir!

 

[spafe]

Back again? Does your father know you are here, ah, of course he will, smart man, your father. Well, we'll continue, Ostermark is divided into four main regions, I'll explain the others when we get there, but for now in keeping with the scouting forces of our armies I'll briefly tell you about one region of the Mark.

The Veldt is the name given to the grasslands of the northeast, great rolling plains between the Gryphon’s Woods and the Worlds Edge Mountains. Here Ostermarkers raise herds of horses, the owners of each distinguished by their brands. Ostermarker horses are famous for their size and strength, and buyers come from afar to the horse market at Heffengen to add them to their stables.

Ostermark pistoliers

• spafe
• Apr 17, 2020

Noble sons of the Ostermark, the Company of the 2nd sons.

These guys were fun, mainly because the variety in the horses allows for some diversity without breaking the state colour theme. I really like pistolier horses as unlike the knights horses with their barding, you can actually see the different colours easily at a distance. On the battlefield I expect them to perform identically to the merc. pistoliers, protecting flanks, harrassing enemy regiments and keeping their characters safely tucked in their bunkers rather than free roaming causing problems.

I'll be using the falcon as a 'counts as' muscian, and thought the champions less ornate finery (and his lucky cap!) could be a nod towards the less refined influences of the kevslite across the border. The blue feathers mark them as being part of the gunnery school that is also shared with the full regiment of handgunners.

Ostermark pistoliers

• spafe
• Apr 17, 2020

Ostermark pistoliers

• spafe
• Apr 17, 2020

Where do you think half your fathers prize horses come from, eh? Even your mare you rode here on likely owes her breeding to those horsemasters lad, think on that when you drunkenly ride back to the manor.

​

 

[MedMos]

Great progress, great stories! I really enjoy the ongoing narrative, makes me want to get out the old 6th/7th books.

 

[sedits]

Really enjoying seeing your progress! Been playing the odd 8th ed games with a buddy, having only gotten a greenskin army together recently, and reading your posts has me really psyched to jump into the next game.

Your posts definitely put our story telling and painting progress to shame

 

[spafe]

Your posts definitely put our story telling and painting progress to shame

You only get better by practicing mate! Start a thread in here too and track your campaign! Even if it's a series of unlinked battles, tie them together with a bit of a story of how your greenskins are rampaging and pillaging, fighting off... whoever! maybe as a 'rise to fame' log for your warboss?

Glad you guys are enjoying it. I find it's rewarding getting to log things. I'm at a bit of a struggle now though, as up til now I've had the units finished in advance of the next post. I'm going to try and get the final unit of my mercenaries (swordsmen) finished this weekend so I next week will hopefully round off the merc element with a few installments.

Also, my box of spearmen turned up in the post this morning! sadly I'm still waiting for the bases but hey, I can start them soon too hopefully!

 

[spafe]

Ha! you're a sorry sight and no mistake! what did you do? ah your father eh, bet you thought you would be faster than him! If you wern't here every night and actually got up before midday you'd see how he was always going to put you flat, he trains with my boys every morning. Pup like you never had a chance, even with a training blade it's still gotta smart eh? You know why he does? Because he has to be repsected. He'll lead companies of men into the chaos of battle, and they need to know he's the man to follow, to look for, to rally around. Only get that if you're the best. I followed hard men just like your father when we marched East, two in particular always stood out. Veteran Captain Markus Falkstron, he was our leader and commander, kept our mercenary company together, made our plans and kept us tight. Then there was the old wardog Dalian, or should I say 'Grandmaster Dalien of the Breton Lancers'. He was the strategist, a disciplinarian, but by Sigmar he could fight! He would take command once we were on the field, and between those two, we knew we were in good hands...

20200421_151040.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 21, 2020

Captain Markus (left), Grandmaster Dalian (right)


These two were painted some time ago, all I did was give them a little once over for some small bits and finish basing them. The GM is there to give my army some combat punch (insofar as any human can in Fantasy!), while the cpt will mainly be used in smaller games where I cannot afford the GM/the mercs are forming a smaller part of my combined army. As the merc contingent only has a single unit of knights, I don't really expect to be fielding these both at the same time as them both in the same unit seems a bit overkill.

I'll try and get the rest of cavalry up later this week.

20200421_151102.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 21, 2020

20200421_151052.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 21, 2020

So lad, give your father his due, men like him keep the Empire strong. Men like him are what you will need to grow into...​

​

 

[spafe]

So Squire, this is really what you want to hear about? Those chivalrous courtly charming fellows you see at court? The knightly orders? Well there were none of those in our company lad!

They were glory hunters, petty and ruthless, arrogant killers one and all! And we thanked Sigmar, Taal and Ulric that they were with us.​

This particular company, Breton Lancers, well they had a bit of controvesy follow them. While they were formidable on the battlefied, Brettonian knights they were not. Orginally the company went by the name of Brettonian lancers, but after the 3rd or 4th duel ol' Dalian had to fight against actual Brettonians at this 'slight', they renamed to Breton Lancers to reduce the scandal. The name was no accident though, I'm sure you'll agree, many a Empire General or Count has been fooled into thinking they were Brettonian knights for hire due to the similarity.

20200422_080424.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 22, 2020

The Breton Lancers

These were a bit of an experiment; could I get my wife into painting models? Start with horse related stuff, and go from there, and the answer is yes! She painted 4 (I think) of these knights, and has painted various other horses in my army for me. Since then she's also got into Malifaux so we play that some times with friends.

Anyway, as a result of the above interlude, 7 of these I think were painted some years ago and I've just finished the bases on them recently, the others were more recent additions, my favourite being my knight in marienburg colours, who I free handed the cities heraldry onto the shield of.

They are to be used as inner circle knights, a hammer to smash through all comers on the charge and save infantry who are in a spot of bother. They will of course be led by the grand master when points allow. Hope you all like them. I've spotted something when sorting them out the other day though, I hadn't actually painted a muscian! So the table has been amended, and I have one knight left to add, which isn't a bad thing as it means there isnt an odd one once I add their character to lead the unit. Just swordsmen and a cannon left for the mercenaries (possible some foot heros, but not sure if I'll cover them before I move onto the rest of the Ostermark troops).

20200422_080443.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 22, 2020

20200422_080433.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 22, 2020

So remember, those fools you see prancing in court, that facade will drop the moment they are in armour, and you'll be dealing with a different monster entirely, remember that before upsetting them in court or the hurt your father put on you in the training school will feel like the back hand of your nanny by comparison.
​

 

[Alobar]

More! Paint more!

 

[spafe]

More! Paint more!

What a taskmaster!

 

[ClockworkOrange]

A miraculous event! This thread is being kept up to date!!!

 

[spafe]

What? Oh you want me to talk do you? Well if you'll notice my hand is empty, show some proper manners to your elders and go get me a hot ale!

Ahhh, that's the stuff! So I've told you about the heavy hitters, the regiments that will have skalds queing up to compose about. But they are the minority. Our own mercenary company was light on our core, but then most are. Counts won't pay well for the riff raff, they can drub up their own serfs to form state companies. But even we had some, swordsmen mind, still fine professional soldiers. Mostly thugs and sneak-thiefs, but all quick with a blade. Most swordsmen you'll see are decent with a sword and board, but the company we kepts had picked up some real suprises, a few tilian duelists, even a lost sister, a survivor of the comet or so the rumours went...

20200427_080008_resized.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 27, 2020

These were such a fun regiment. I've gone with a few troopers from all the states (more or less), plus some other models thrown in to bulk them out and find them a home in the army. One thing I did notice in my research was that Ostermark has recorded purple and yellow or purple and white as its colours and you can find some armies painted thus. However looking at the artwork the purples commonly appear much more reddish. Therefore I used a sister of sigmar (afterall, mordheim is in the Ostermark), and a couple of others with the more burgendy appearance as a nod to this. My state troops are much darker rich purple, but I liked the nod.

These guys will form the core when I use only mercenaries, and provide a elite core unit to assist with the regulars as they have a WS of 4 compared to other state regiments of 3. While I photographed them with a wider frontage, they will almost always deploy 5 wide, 6 deep to keep their ranks as they are a defensive unit. Str 3 with their swords isnt very threatening, while shield, armour and a parry gives them decent surviability.

20200427_080047_resized.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 27, 2020

20200427_080032_resized.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 27, 2020

20200427_080024_resized.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 27, 2020

20200427_080017_resized.jpg

• spafe
• Apr 27, 2020

So lad, hopefully that kept you interested. I'm off for a another ale!​

 

[spafe]

Right guys, a new update coming soon, work has got a little hectic lately so I've not had time to write the next proper entry. However, I have got my tracker for the start of May:

Overall, I made some progress, but annoyingly added some extra units that I either researched and decided I wanted in the case of the Death's Head, or that I just happened to already have lying about so should probably use (the crossbowmen, characters and extra knights).

More updates soon (this week hopefully).​

 

[MedMos]

I see a lot of lovely green!

 

[spafe]

Right lad, enough of my company, you've distracted me enough. I'm meant to be telling you about the Ostermark!

The Elector Count of Ostermark is the ruler of Ostermark. This noble title is usually passed on in a hereditary fashion. The current ruler is Wolfram Hertwig. Ostermark is in the far east of the Empire, where the Emperor’s writ stops at the boundaries of wild Kislev and the kingdoms of the Dwarfs in the Worlds Edge Mountains. It is a sombre, bleak land of vast moors between two arms of the Great Forest. Snowfalls blanket the land in winter, while the spring thaw turns most of its roads into muddy quagmires. Even in summer, the sunlight seems to have a weakened, tentative quality to it, as if it is not sure it belongs there.

Originally settled by a minor tribe of the Ostagoths people, Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls have frequently raided Ostermark in the days before Sigmar founded the Empire. Stout defenders of their homes and fortified villages, the Ostagoths learned to value cooperation between the clans, realising that they were stronger together than apart. This made them open to Sigmar’s call for unity, and the Ostagoths contributed a mighty force of axe-men to the army that fought at Black Fire Pass. The battle over, their leader Adelhard accepted the title of Elector Count with a laugh, remarking to Sigmar that theirs was a victory “foreseen in the stars.” This banter is still recalled in the heraldry of the province — the Star and the crowned “Griffon Victorious.

20200506_113310.jpg

• spafe
• May 6, 2020

20200506_113326.jpg

• spafe
• May 6, 2020

This is the army banner bearer. The main banner is a printed one, that I have then weathered a little. I free handed the trumpets banner though. He was not actually a lot of fun to paint, not sure why but I never really got into this one. But hey, it's another model done! I've got to magetise him to his mount the same as I've done with all the rest of my cav, but otherwise, done!

Next up I'll see about doing a piece on my greatswords.

20200506_113318.jpg

• spafe
• May 6, 2020

So, there's a brief history, and the explanation for their banner. Make sure you show that proper respect, they are strangely fond of their history and recognition with Sigmar, even though as a state the cult of Sigmar certainly isnt the as dominating as it is in other provinces of the Empire.​