Dogs of War

Well, I said Id post the fluff and a few pics(apologies for the awful lighting btw!) for my Dogs of War so here it is:

The von Drakmoor familys fortunes took a turn for the worse one dark and storm ridden night, when they came under attack from a rival count by the name of von Nietsrac, whose black and purple liveried troops overran the unsuspecting province of von Drakmoor. The alarm was raised, and the local militias and von Drakmoors own household troops mustered, but it was too late. As each company tried to reach the rendevous they were ambushed and cut down or forced to flee into the night, and each town and village was mercilessly sacked.
Count von Drakmoor himself was cut down at the gates of his own castle along with his bodyguard as they made a desperate bid to buy time for the rest of the Imperial forces. Dawn broke to reveal the damage done: only a handful of troops had reached the rendevouz where von Drakmoors sons waited to lead the counter attack, and a column of refugees trudged wearily south into Averland. The province itself was almost hidden by smoke. The remaining von Drakmoors were all for attempting to avenge their father, but the wiser heads of their fathers councillers prevailed. They were too few, and their lands were already lost. Gathering their meagre army, the von Drakmoors marched away to the life of a wandering mercenary, vowing to rebuild their strength, and return to reclaim their ancestral lands!

The army is led by the Von Drakmoor family and thier advisors, and the core of their troops are the remains of the provincial and household companies, over the years quite a number of mecenaries have flocked to their banner.

Ludwig von Drakmoor and The Drakmoor Guard Pike

The Fighting Cocks

The Alcatani Fellowship

Grand Alf and Leopolds Leopards.

The Druid and some hairy Barbarians

The Drakmoor Guard duelists

Halfelf dragonlord

A view of the army including crossbowmen and paymaster at the back, the von Drakmoor lancers(red barding), Le Chasseurs Gris (in grey), Captain-General Erik von Drakmoor on the yellow barded horse, and some mercenary dwarfs.

A dwarf cannon(lowlanders that cant take their beer!)

hmmm...try to get some advices for taking pics of your minis, 'cause here I can hardly see details.

look here: http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=25

No, I had to use camera phone, and they were the best of the bunch. Will try again later in the week.

ok, for a camera-phopne these pics are pretty good . But try another shot with a digi-cam.

Looks goof from what I could see clearly. Looking forward to some pics with your dig cam, but it looks like you got a wide range of models.

Thanks, one thing I like about the mercenaries is that they are varied. The models range from very old citadel and grenadier miniatures the previous edition Empire with all areas inbetween.

No idea who the dragon is by. but I really liked the model!

I see details!

I am impressed with the pikemen, those is a very good conversions.

Youre paintwork is excellent, you could improve some of the models just by improving the bases though.

And one more tip when photographing models, use movement trays or use nothing! that cardboard movement tray underneath youre pikemen is ruining a otherwise perfect picture. Without the sheet op cardboard I even would have done WOW! ........ Aaah who cares, those Pikemen WOW Love them!

Lol thanks, I actually stick my larger infantry regiments, and in fact my entire empire army of 10k to cardboard using double-sided tape simply cos it makes moving them and transporting them soooooooooo much easier!

My painting is actually very slap dash, however I seem to have developed a painting technique that mostly revolves around dry brushing that gives the impression of perfectly detailed painting from 3 or more feet away but turns out to be really bad close up!

BTW: Most of the regiments shown are generic Dogs of War, but there are 4 Regiments of Reknown in use:

The dragon lord stands in as Arsnil without actually being an Elf. If questioned I hint that he may have mixed ancestry though what his parents were is anyones guess!

The Alcatani Fellowship and leopolds leopards are both present: I used to mix and match the models as I only have 12 of each, and a unit of 20 seemed more useful. In fact in my last few games theyve done alright 12 strong. I can cover more of the field for starters, and be more manouverable. Their fighting power doesnt seem much different: Leopolds lads still took a vampire and his chums on and nearly wiped them out(vamp had one wound left at the end!), whilst Delmonte beat a Vargulf to death!

Also, and hiding out of shot I have the deadliest and most powerful Regiment of reknown: Lumpin Croops Fighting Cocks! Never let me down. Except the time they got eaten by a shaggoth....

I like your style! keep on!

I love your conversions.

How did you do the armoured legs on the pikemen. I want to do this same conversion.

Those armour plates are from the 6th ed Empire Soldiers sprue, I used them myself in my Empire army.

Oh, and nice army btw, with all the colours and whatnot

Awesome story- background. Explains one of the main reasons to become a mercenary. In this case a mercenary family. No treasure hunting and lust for gold - just a burning desire to revenge and survive - ok, and earn some gold in between. ( I dramatize on purpose here, lol ). Maybe in future we can hear some more?

As for the Asarnil: it could be his descendant, half-elf maybe? It's pretty common, at least in the fantasy novels, that is.
The army looks cool and nicely balanced.

Thanks guys. With the background every game I play adds to it. I always seem to end up playing the Von Nietsracs! (why is it Vampires always think they'll go unnoticed if they spell their name backwards?)

Had a few setbacks recently, but with my recent reinforcments the Von Drakmoors will try again soon!

I was actually thinking halfgoblinoid...to explain his all encasing armour to hide his green skin, and his rather diminutive stature!

Good looking force! How did you do against the hated vampires?

Not bad considering. Played two games against 'em recently: First one ended up a loss, though would probably have been a draw if we'd stopped at turn 6. As it was we carried on till turn 19! And in a war of attrition like that Vampires with 12 raise dead spells per turn have a nasty advantage! Right up untill the end I could have turned the tide with just a hint of luck: my general tried several times to skewer the vampire lord and took him down to one wound before fear and outnumber saw him off and Voland led 3 charges with his knights that should have done a lot of damage(and should have had another vampire!) ..naturally they missed with every attack each time! Anyway it was a losing battle after that and the only thing that kept it going was my natural tendancy to get my troops as far forwards as possible, giving me more time to rally them each time they were forced back. After 19 turns I was down to a handful of crossbowmen and pikemen on my base line standing firm against over 100 skellies and zombies! I threw in the towel when I was down to the crossbowmen!

The second game went better against a different Undead Army. This time my opponent was lucky to get away with a draw! At the end most of my Regiments had done quite well: The Fellowship taking down a Vargulf, my pikes stopped some of his more powerful units in their tracks, and the Leopard Company with paymaster took on his Vampire Lord and his bodyguard! Despite being rather outmatched Leopold took him down to a wound, and the pikes wiped out his bodyguard! One more wound would have done it!

That is a very nice army indeed Drakmoor! And good job against those pesky undead. They're tough for us. Keep up the good work and lets get some more pictures of that lovely army.