in this post I will present my Basilean army thoroughly unit by unit as well as give a brief depiction of the process of building this army.
My first ever army for a miniature wargame was High Elves for GeeDubs' 6th Edition Warhammer. That army never took flight with all the missteps of inexperience and lack of motivation. I swapped to Lizardmen and then to Orcs and Goblins and KoW caught me some five years into collecting my Orcs. I ported my Orcs into KoW relatively quickly and painted a few units more, but I started to get the feeling that what I reeeaally wanted to do was to build an army that would be Kings of War through and through and after years spent on lizards and greenskins, the idea of a cohesive, well-ordered army felt like a veeeeery alluring idea. Thus, I settled on Basileans.
I liked the feel of the army, with fast elite units and the knight-in-a-shining-armor aesthetic, which is very different from both Lizards and Orcs. Basileans are the Good guy humans, deeply religious and the heir presumptive to the vacant throne of Primovantor, the fallen human empire. They combine the Byzantine Empire with the Vatican at the height of papal power and I found this alluring not because I would be religious myself but because the "flaw" of being too good is kind of cool. They are not the heroes the humans of Mantica deserve, not perhaps even the heroes they need right now, but they're the only heroes they've got.
Mantic has done a good job with the fluff of Basilea and their holier-than-thou politics bring an interesting story element to the game, making it a little more "real" than it would be were it just a 'purely' good army.
For me the fluff and the story of an army is important, both on a general level and on the scale of the units that I field and so I tend to delve into the fluff quite a bit. The mythos behind Basilea is deeply connected with the Shining Ones; the distorted beings that survived the shattering of the Fenulian Mirror (an Elven artifact). They're not exactly good as we might understand it, they're not the altruistic, benevolent overseers of the world, but rather incomplete halves of a broken apart whole and as such their view of what "good" is, is more moralistic and bound to form over function. But they're the best the world of Mantica has left. Again, not the gods they'd deserve, but the ones they have to make do with.
It is with their help that the armies of Basilea keep at bay all sorts of devilries from demons to orcs to the undead and it is in their name that the forces of Basilea enforce the laws of the shining ones over the rest of the Successor Kingdoms whenever they can. The other human nations despise Basileans lording over them, envy their growing strength and rarely dare to turn their backs to the Hegemon's orders.
This might, this power barely (if at all) concealed was what I wanted to capture with my army. I wanted it to be a human army, not just Elohi and Phoenixes. I wanted to show the might of Men and this is what I came up with.
Grand army of the Exarch
Given over to the command of High Paladin Belisarian Artaxos, the Grand Army is the iron fist with which the Hegemony secures its interests. Protecting the Northern borders of the Hegemony, the army has spent years fighting in the name of the Shining Ones, tempered by strife and death. It takes a strong foe indeed to stand up to the might of men when their hand is further strengthened by the might of the Elohi and the twin Phoenixes, Aethon and Caladrius.
At a comfortable threethousand-and-something points, I am far from calling the army "done", but perhaps done enough for me to pick up other projects alongside it. Started in late 2016, it took around a year to reach 1500 points painted and about as much to get over 3k. The first half was way more active as that was when I painted up most of the infantry and knights and thus the "other 1500" points was much less intensive painting-wise, although I had some immense fun modelling stuff.
Order of Justice Ascendant - Paladin Knights & Footguard
It is the rolling thunder and the snapping of banners, drowned by the roar "Shining Ones will it!" that has won the field in many a battle. Few are able to stand against the determined might of these holy warriors, schooled in both the sword and the quill to make men that are unconquerable by greed, hate or blade.
The look and feel of Mantic's paladins is spot on for what I want them to be; knights with a clear "fantasy" feel to them without being over done as miniatures. The models, although requiring some cleaning and hot water treatment are pretty crisp in detail without being overly busy and the mixture of cloth, plate armor and decorative detail is just what I was looking for.
Game-wise these guys are often the workhorse (pun intended) of my army. They punch hard, take a lot to bring down with their high Nerve, Iron Resolve and Def 5+. Speed 8 isn't a flyer, but it's enough to make it difficult to hid from them. My favourite size for Basilean knights is troop, mostly because it's very, very versatile. Ignore it and it gets a flank and suddenly it's a regiment, while taking it out will take more than just light shooting. Regiments are probably better, but the troops are just cool. That's why I based mine on troop bases so that the horde breaks down to regiments the regiments into troops.
Implacable as the dawn, the Footguard dismount to fight side by side with the Men-at-arms. Neither immortal as the Elohi that soar above the battlefield, nor blessed with inhuman strength, the Order of Justice Ascendant stands as a guardian in a deepening night, a beacon of example to show others that willingness to sacrifice is the key to victory.
There's just something cool about on foot knights, isn't there? I like the models, although I haven't had a lot of opportunities to field the unit yet. Many people seem sold on them, so they have to pretty good, right? Personally I just think they're cool miniatures with the plate armor and the robes. And the prayer books on chains on all of them are a nice touch. I could see them being useful both as troops and regiments, as infantry troops are, in some builds, good for table control behind the main line.
Sisters of the Priory of St. Artemisia - Sisterhood infantry and Panther Lancers
The Priory of St. Artemisia is a remote bastion of the faithful, deep in the craggy woodlands of the Northern Provinces. The sisters keep a close watch on everything that goes for miles around their sanctuary and often accompany the Exarch's army as both outriders and infantry in the strength of the Exarch's lines. Shunning the flails seen on the warriors of other sisterhoods, the Sisters of the Priory of St. Artemisia march to war with heavy blades or ride far ahead of the army astride panthers wielding long-bladed spears.
I like the sisterhood in terms of the feel of the models. They're lightly armored and their clothing looks practical, which is, sadly, rare when it comes to females of a fantasy range. There's nothing wrong with emphasizing gendered body types in my view, like giving some extra bust because the miniatures are really small and if you want to make an emphatically feminine miniature you're bound to have to exaggerate a bit. However, call me a progressive idiot, but I kind of dislike the chainmail bikini-look most fantasy miniatures have when the sculptors want to make them look like women.
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Taking a brief break here to explain my opinion on this:
Fantasy can be fantasy, and in fantasy games it's okay for a person to run off into combat stark naked. It's also okay to for said warrior to have breasts and other typically feminine body parts and to show them bared on the miniature. However, it's always nice when a company manages to make female warriors that look reasonable in terms of gear.
Reasonable gear, in my personal opinion, includes things like:
- armor on torso, especially the soft parts like stomach that's usually one of the favourite parts of murderous enemies to target
- clothing that protects wearer from elements such as temperature below modern day room temperature and rainfall
- shoes that can be worn when travelling on a downward slope steeper than 10 degrees or other non-completely flat and hard surfaces
- plate armor that does not have dual convex portions on it to guide glancing arrows, bullets or blades inwards to the middle of the chest of the wearer
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I & II Cohorts, I Crossbow Regiment and the Arbalest Auxiliaries
The Hegemony's Finest, the Men-at-arms form the backbone of the Exarch's Army. Through drilling and the leadership of both the High Paladin and the religious orders fighting side by side with them these soldiers are the shield that keeps the forces of Evil at bay. It is by their blood and sacrifice that the lands of other's are kept safe. "Faith and Honor" rings out their battle cry as spears descend into a wall of blades.
One of the main things with making a human army for me was the idea of making an orderly army. An army that looks drilled and disciplined and that starts with rank upon rank of infantry. For my Men-at-arms I went with Mantic's ill-reputed 2013 hard plastics in a "hold my beer"-sort of a stunt. I figured that any yokel can whip up decent armies with miniatures that exceed their skills as a painter, so I decided to challenge myself with a kit I knew was going to be difficult. Turns out, on table top the lads look just fine.
Men-at-arms fill the role of anvils in the Basilean army and they excel at it. Good Nerve backed by copious Inspiring and Iron Resolve means that trying to grind a path through a horde of phalanx infantry will usually take too long. Throw in a Banechant or the Brew of Strength and suddenly the spears become an anvil that punches back. The only problem is that these guys aren't cheap as they pay premium for their improved capabilities when compared to their KoM counterparts.
Many people seem to be of the opinion that Basileans don't really shoot and I think they're half-way right. The shooters in the army aren't top-notch in terms of their ability to deal damage, but they're decent choices nonetheless. The Crossbowmen are good because they're not very expensive and because they're surprisingly difficult to budge. Def 4+ and good Nerve means that they're a little different from your usual shooty unit.
It is, however, the Heavy Arbalests where Basileans really shine in my opinion. Sure, it's basically a slightly tougher Ballista from KoM, but the difference in Nerve and Iron Resolve again means that these aren't as easy to remove as one might think, and if you really look at them, they're decent engines. Only 65 points, high Piercing, good range and good Blast! all mean that lining two of these down a clear portion of the battlefield is actually a real danger. The units work, in my view, both as deterrents and as psychological threats in the sense that when you have these covering a part of the field, your opponent has to form an answer to the question "What if those two get good hits?".
Many people get stuck with their average damage, which is around one damage a turn (on average), when the reality is that most opponents really feel pressured when they have to choose to ignore them. That's when mistakes get made.
The Mighty Birds of Flame, Aethon and Caladrius.
The teeming masses of the enemy mill and crash against the lines of the Men-at-arms, almost boiling over the thin, blue line. Then comes the sound of mighty wing beating, and a blaze of destruction rises amidst the lines of the enemy, a pillar of fire rising in the wake of the Phoenixes gliding low over the enemy. A cry rises, first one and then answered by the other, rising from a low roar to a piercing screech that bursts ear drums.
It is many a soldier in the Exarch's Army that has been called back from the gates of death by the gentle touch of Caladrius's wing and many a broken body has been mended by the fierce fire that burns in the heart of Aethon, the Bird of Fire.
To me the Phoenixes are the ultimate symbols of hope in a broken world, a promise of things to come and a solace from a rising tide of darkness and horror. I wanted to capture the duality of fire and healing in the models, and thus one is calling up flames to devour the enemy while the other will (once I finish the base) be more of a benevolent creature.
I really like the Phoenix on the field, as it is an immense support that can, as a last ditch effort, deal some damage in combat too. There's something almost unfair in pairing them up to bring Paladin Knights back to life from the brink of death.
Angels of Retribution and Apollyon, the Angel of Destruction
Diving down from Mount Kolosu, the Elohi are the armored heralds of the Shining Ones. Where some fly on white wings as messengers of hope, the Angels of Retribution strike down from stormy clouds on dark grey wings as champions of furious vengeance. The soldiers in the Exarch's army offer these beings no prayers, for they know that it is unwise to draw their attention. Strange and violent fates are bestowed to those who dare to deal with these angelic avengers and so a cheering roar on the battlefield is the preferred mode of worship.
The din of battle subsides and an eerie, otherworldly silence falls, muffling even the screams of the dying. Suddenly a heavenly flame leaps forth from the darkened skies, shaped like a mighty blade cleaving and the red-glaring rays of sunlight punch through the stormy clouds, bathing the golden figure with a bloody light.
Alas that these days should be yours, O unhappy foe, for Apollyon has come.
The end is here.
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More to come!
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