Warhammer Fantasy Empire army from Perry Miniatures

I've always wanted to start a Warhammer Fantasy Empire army! Due to the tactical depth of the army, the flexibility on the battlefield and the possible list diversity, as well as the background, has been fascinating me. However, I could never struggle through an imperial army from scratch, especially because many of the units visually didn`t appeal to me (especially the state troops) and I - like most hobbyists – were working on several other projects, therefore time has been short.


In the German Tabletop-Forum "Tabletopwelt.de" there has been a Warhammer Empire army project that I have been following with great interest, and after whose I wanted to raise a Warhammer Empire Army some point in the future. The special feature of the project: There were only models from the model range of Perry Miniatures used, instead of Games Workshop miniatures. Perry has a wide range of first-class modelled and affordable plastic-kits, which are perfect as an alternative to the forces of an imperial Warhammer Fantasy army. The said army said project used completely the fundus of the following Perry Miniatures Plastic kits:

• 'Mercenaries', European Infantry 1450-1500 Content: Pikemen, crossbowmen and handgunners (40 figures). You can build up to 12 crossbowmen (with pavises), up to 12 handgunners, up to 18 pikemen (12 of which can be converted to polearms) and includes 4 command figures.
• Wars of the Roses Infantry 1450-1500 Content: You can build up to 30 bowmen, up to 18 billmen and includes 4 fully armoured command.
• Mounted Men at Arms 1450-1500 Content: This box contains 12 mounted Men at Arms that can be used for most European armies. There is separate horse armour for mounts if needed and 7 different horse heads (25 in total). The Men at Arms have 14 right arm options and 12 head options (per 4 riders). There are also lance, sword, mace, warhammer, axe and standard pole/spear options.
• Foot Knights 1450-1500 Content: The box contains 38 multi-part plastic figures, 17 flags, unit bases and information sheet.
• Cannons, etc.
• In addition, the famous DaVinci tank was used as a Steam Tank replacement.
• For an imperial dragon, the mechanical dragon from Reaper Bones fitting to the army scheme/style (medieval, not fantasy heavy) was used as an appropriate alternative: Wyrmgear, Clockwork Dragon

Instead of building a Warhammer Empire project from scratch, a lucky coincident had occured. I had the chance to buy the Perry empire army from the above army project and did it without batting an eye! Here are some pictures of the army, as I 've bought it:

Continuation of the project / further ideas:

Basically, I am very pleased with the painting and the formation of the army. Only in the character models, I think an alternative should be found because the character models used from the Perry Range do not have a good casting quality and don´t reflect the character selections from the Warhammer Empire army book - in my opinion. Whereas the remaining units could easily be used as alternatives for the empire units from the book. But what alternative models for character models can be used for the Perry empire army?

The models have to be True Scale (rather than Hero Scale), should be rather low- Fantasy and simultaneously represent the corresponding selections from the Empire army book very well and fit into the scheme of the Perry army. Not an easy task! After some research on the internet, I found a very nice and obvious solution that perfectly meets all conditions - the usage of GW Lord of the Rings miniatures as character models for the army! These are low- Fantasy, thus fit well to the medieval setting, are in the true scale and have is a large variation in matching models. So I once stocked up with several models of heroes from the Lord of the Rings range.

The following is an overview of the character models I 've already got:

Next, to the character models there was some other army book selection to be filled with the right model choice:

• War Altar: As a (medieval) alternative model to the war Altar of Sigmar, the Carrocio from the Perry brothers fits very well! Carrocio.
• Pistoliers: There will soon be a plastic light cavalry box from Perry miniatures that I will definitely catch! Light Cavalry 1450-1500.
  Content: There will be 12 in the box and can all be assembled as hobilers/coustiliers, mounted crossbowmen or mounted bowmen and come with command options. 
• Celestial hurricanum / Luminark of Hysh: There is plainly no alternative model with a fitting medieval style. A miniature that does not really looks like an alternative to the GW model kit from an optical point of view, but fits very well logically and from a game perspective, is Gandalf on his cart with loads of fireworks - Gandalf the Grey & Cart

In the coming weeks/months there will be of course further updates of the imperial Perry army. What do you think of the concept so far? If you have further proposals and ideas, please leave a comment :)