[Note: I have not read the official fluff for Kings of War. This is me looking at models I have, models I know I'm getting in the very near future, and models I'm hoping to get further down the line and figuring out a theme that ties them all together nicely.]
Baron Vitellius, a vainglorious man, never failed to leap at an opportunity to have praise heaped upon his name. Thus did he volunteer to lead a Crusade, to bring by fire and the sword the True Faith to the benighted heathens of the cold moors and shadowed forest of the northern region known as the Dark Country. His host was marshalled - rank upon rank of pikemen, the mages in their peaked caps, and most importantly, the flower of chivalry, resplendent in their polished armor, the knights of the realm - and set off on their glorious crusade.
They were never seen again.
Well, that is not entirely true.
Ten years later, an army emerged from the Dark Country. Rank upon rank of weatherstained skeletons, still clad in the tattered remnants of once-fine jerkins, marched in lockstep, the original heraldry of Vitellius still faintly visible on their battered shields, painted over with a new, crudely-daubed sigil - an image of a bat in flight. Running, sometimes on two legs, sometimes on all fours, besides them, came hordes of crazed, naked cannibals, deranged by their appetite for undead flesh. Behind these ranks came the horsemen - skeletal steeds, their barding now hanging in shreds, astride which sat cruel, skeletal or sallow-skinned mockeries of heroic knights. At their head, the Baron Vitellius, his flesh pale and his eyes burning behind the eye-slits of his helm. The signs of the True Faith had been effaced from his hauberk and shield, replaced with the symbol of the bat. Gone was the once-proud knightly order - what remained was the Order of the Bat.
***
Mechanically, the way I think I want to go about doing this is to create a series of army lists, growing in 500-point increments. Once I have a 500-point army, I can start playing small games while I assemble and paint the next 500 points, and then I can play in 1000-point games while working on the third 500-point block, etc.
So I'm starting off assembling a 500-point "Scouting Column," which I'm hoping to have everything I need for within the next week or so. It may require a miracle, but there's part of me hoping I can assemble and prime everything for this before it really gets cold, because then I can make them a part of my entry in this year's Painting Challenge.
The Scouting Column is probably going to consist of:
- Horde of Skeletons
- Troop of Ghouls
- Regiment of Werewolves
- Necromancer
The 1000-point mark will be the "Advance Force," and the second 500 points will very closely resemble the first 500, with a unit or two swapped out for something new.
Here, we add:
- Another Horde of Skeletons
- Another Troop of Ghouls
- Regiment of Revenant Infantry
- Another Necromancer
- Standard Bearer
At 1500 points, I'll have an Expeditionary Force, which will add some heavy hitters to the line-up. This is going to be where the heavy cavalry, things like that come in.
At this point, I'm thinking:
- Another Regiment of Revenant Infantry
- 2 Troops of Revenant Cavalry
- Revenant King
Finally, 2000 points will be the entirety of the "Dark Host," Baron Vitellius' entire army from the lowliest ghoul to the Baron himself. I think the final 500 points will be largely about cutting loose and going for broke on character models.
The only thing I think I have set more or less in stone here is that I want the Baron to be a Vampire Lord mounted on a Zombie Dragon. I could add another Horde of Skeletons if I wanted to here as well, or a Regiment of Mummies, which in this case would not be the bandaged, dry Egyptian mummies but would be done up as Bog Mummies. I could even add a full regiment of Revenant Cavalry if I wanted. I think I may cross that bridge when I come to it.
