IHMN Knights Templar Company

I first got back into wargaming after a break of around 15 years with Games Worskhop's superb Mordheim skirmish game. The rules were first published in White Dwarf (when it was still an excellent magazine) and then not long after released as a boxed set which included the rulebook, scenery and models.

Many happy years were spent playing this and attending the annual fun get together at GW HQ in Nottingham, where it was more important to have fun than win the tourney (sadly not true of their core games it would seem).

Out of all the warbands, the Witch Hunters were the ones that really caught my eye. One day a spot of retail therapy saw me purchase a mix of figures from their 40K range to convert into Witch Hunters. The figures were superbly sculpted and full of character, exactly what I wanted for my warband. Many hours later the figures were finally finished after much conversion, some more so than others.

In those halcyon days I spent many, many hours painting each figure, with an hour or two each night for many weeks, even months. This effort was rewarded with my warband winning the painting competition at the aforementioned tournament. More importantly I had great fun playing with them and enjoyed the many compliments I received from fellow friends and gamers.

However things moved on and my regular gaming friends moved away and Mordheim slipped quietly away as a game, sadly never to see the light of day again. I sold off many of my warbands but could not bring myself to part with the Witch Hunters, having spent so much time and effort on them.

Fast forward to late last year and with the release of 'In Her Majesty's Name', they were brought down out of storage with a view to being given a new lease of life. Then when 'Heroes, Villains and Fiends' was released, I was very happy to see a Templar Company in the book, whose background fitted perfectly for my Witch Hunter figures.

So having a free hour or two this evening, I had a first stab at a Templar Company, which is broadly as follows:

Grand Master with SRC breastplate, sword and hand crossbow.
Master with SRC breastplate, mace and hand crossbow.
2 x Knights with SRC breastplate, mace and crossbow.
Sergeant with Breastplate, mace and blunderbuss/congreve rocket gun.
Chaplain with Chain shit, mace or incense burner, hand crossbow and a Talent.

(NB the stats for the above are the same as in the HV&F book with a few possible tweaks. Details to follow).

Options include:
Fighting dogs
Carpathian wolf
Talents of Weapons etc to be decided upon.

In terms of background, I see these as 'Templars' from the Carpathian mountains or Bohemia, fighting the evil that lurks in the East (and any thing else for that matter!). I've got a few ideas floating around in my head, some based upon the current 'Dracula' tv series on one of the Sky channels, that has given the standard story a nice twist.

So now I have my broad ideas sketched out, it is a matter of filling in the detail and then firming up my starting company of Templars. Alongside this I'm toying with the idea of a narrative campaign based upon MR James' 'The Tractate Middoth' that was dramatised over Christmas, with two Companies trying to track down the book, which may or may not give them advantages if they possess it. Still early days so watch this space...