Warmaster - Braganza's Besiegers

Another quick detour into "Warmaster" - "Braganza's Besiegers", a Regiment of Renown, created in 10mm by the brilliant MiniRat!

Fans of the now-deceased Warhammer Fantasy Battle may recall the "Dogs of War" faction - the assortment of mercenaries which could take to the field as their own army, or could be hired out to anyone willing to pay for them! These were excellent models, with fun back stories for the units - the "Regiments of Renown" - and they were pretty effective on the gaming table to boot. It was sure fun to bring large pike blocks into action against, say, Brettonians! The "Dogs of War" were fully realized in 28mm, but never did get the Warmaster scale treatment - thanks to 3D printing and brilliant designers, that is changing, as you can see in this post! I present "Braganza's Besiegers", a regiment of mercenary crossbowmen. These are 3D prints designed, I think, by "MiniRat" and printed under license by Excellent Miniatures.

Luca Braganza himself stands tall in the front line!

Most (though not all) of the "Dogs of War" mercenary units were from the Tilean city states, and this group of doughty and heavily armoured pavisse crossbowmen were foremost among their ranks. Under the leadership of Luca Braganza, the Besiegers were a sturdy and interesting missile unit option in the WHFB game. Unlike most missile units in WHFB, the Besiegers tended to hold up pretty well when contacted in melee, thanks to their armour and large pavisse shields, and so you could put them in different and unexpected places on your battle line.

A view of the battle line...

I really can't say enough about these sculpts - they are incredible, more than worthy heirs to the great tradition of "Warmaster" figures!

The "Dogs of War" were my first WHFB army - sadly no longer in my possession, of course. When I came across these figures during my more recent Warmaster efforts, my nostalgia was of course immediately triggered, and I was keen to add them to my existing Empire forces for Warmaster. The quality of the design/sculpting is incredible on these - they are lovely, faithful sculpts capturing very well the look and feel of the unit - and you can even see Luca Braganza himself! It was a real treat to paint these up, a palette-cleansing project in between 30k models.

Close up from behind showing more details, and my rather crude freehand on the banner.

Which Elector Count will pay up to ensure these fellow are on the right side?

While there were no official rules for Dogs of War in the Warmaster game, I really don't think it will be difficult to come up with some stats for them (and I'm pretty sure there are excellent fan-created ones out there, or just pavisse crossbow ones from Warmaster Historicals). The opportunity to add mercenary units (and, perhaps, some of the "logistical" problems that come with them) to a game of Warmaster in the future would be lovely, and as ever, the jolt of nostalgia will be great fun too.

It was lovely to spend a little time on Warmaster. But my brushes, of course, were soon back to projects tied to the, er, "other" Warmaster...stay tuned for more on that, and thanks for visiting!