Gunnery School Class of 2611

The Empire 

Expedition for the New Nuln Mining Municipality

Gunnery School Class of 2611, "The Hardheads"

What started out as Joel's personal spark for the Old World game system has now blown into a full-scale Fantasy Battles nostalgia trip for most of our inner circle! In the space of a few months we've planned a narrative campaign setup, produced an entirely new set of thematic terrain and assembled fresh troops to fight for the control of the Border Princes. We've learnt that anything we do in the hobby is better done together - and this subject has really inspired our collective appetite.

It's been fun to discuss what everyone has drawn their project inspiration from. Personally I have refurbished an olden army project, sticking to the colours and even techniques used in the past as a homage to those bygone years. Eric has finally created the dream army out of precious white metal that was out of a kid's financial means back in the day. And Joel has now reacquired a classic collection that was tragically stolen from him a long time ago. Some of our armies stick to the vivid colours of the fifth edition, while some lean on to the darker visuals supported by the legendary black-and-white illustrations. There's so much (positive) emotional weight when it comes to our childhood miniatures and books, that it's been wildly sentimental getting back to the Game of Fantasy Battles.

My own Empire collection was started as Christmas presents around 2003 or 2004 and I've carried the same models with me to this day. These have of course been painted many times, and I have core childhood memories relating to early hobby sessions including the same State Troops (done in Talabheim colours). I started the previous iteration of the army in 2017 and repainted a regiment of Spearmen in the Nuln colours back in my childhood home in Rovaniemi, but never finished a playable army. Until now.

These last few months have been very fulfilling, not only painting up a campaign force to game with, but a completing hobby project to really close the circle in a personally meaningful way. What used to be a barrier in the lack of technical knowhow, material resources or a kid's hobby patience was now a scalable threshold. I intentionally kept the previously completed models as they were, with their faults and all, to keep the history of the project intact. It would be fun to see what a childhood me would think of the completed force as it now stands.

My force is about a young Imperial Markgraf who's been tasked with establishing a New Nuln mining state in the Border Princes, creating a salpiet monopoly and imposing a Blackpowder Tax on all settlers, travellers and passing warbands. Our super-casual and narratively spiced campaign structure allows all kinds of thematic quirks - trying to collect taxes (in the form of army list points) from other participants should be fun. Will be great to see where the story takes us, and what kind of reinforcements might be cooking to be used in  conflicts to come!