Venalios' Golden Company All mercenaries fight for money. What other reason is there? Some become rich and famous, some just rich or just famous. Some charge more, some charge less. But there is almost always a limit to what they are willing to do to earn their gold, even for Dwarves. Almost always... Venalios' Golden Company were reknowned not only for their skill and ferocity, but also for their sheer greed. They became a byword for the money mad, even more so than Dwarves - and that is quite a feat. There was nothing that Venalios and his men wouldn't do to earn gold, jewels, even silver if that's all you had. Slaughter entire villages, men, women and children? No problem. Support the most evil of tyrants and invaders? Show us the money... The height of their infamy came during the Great War against Chaos, when they were retained for all three years of the campaign by the armies of darkness. Many tales relate the deeds they performed for that tainted gold, all the more willingly for its rarity - surely, being available only to the servants of the Dark Gods, its scarcity must make it more valuable. It must be said, though, that should the Empire or Kislev have made a better offer they would not have found the Golden Company tardy. Escaping to Bretonnia with what was said to be several kings' ransoms, and a number of warrants for his death on sight, Venalios was subsequently hired by Settra during one of his periodic raiding voyages. Despoiling up and down the coast, Venalios was eventually forced south again when his depravity in the Empire and Kislev became known to the Bretonnians and Settra was beaten off. After a few years sucking the Estalian factions dry and yet again comitting the foulest of deeds that money could buy, the Golden Company found itself in Tilea, employed by the Skaven to spread disease amongst the city states. It is rumoured that Venalios was paid such a fee that he called it his last job, and was going to retire to buy a small kingdom somewhere in the Border Princes... Of course, it was not to be. The Golden Company was betrayed by the Skaven, and fell victim to the foul contagion they had been paid so much to spread. But not before it had done its work. However, even death could not quench Venalios' thirst for riches. His company rose from the dead, determined to fight forever for the highest bidder, no matter what the cause. In fact, as he no longer had any way to spend his loot, it could be said that his desire became endless. Now he and his pikemen fight simply to gather as many riches as they can. With no way to spend it, they have taken to gilding their weapons and armour, and encrusting themselves with precious jewels. It is said that they particularly look forward to an appointment with Lord Archaon, who is said to be able to pay handsomely... The Regiment Captain: Venalios Avaricio. Motto: All that glitters IS gold. Battle Cry: Your money AND your life. Appearance: Venalios' Golden Company are now dead. They are skeletons, and decorate their weapons and armour with their considerable wealth. With gilded pike-tips, plated plating, and a beaten gold banner, they aren't known as the Golden Company for nothing... For Hire: Any Warhammer army can hire the Golden Company (if they can afford it). Points: Venalios and 4 pikemen, including standard bearer and musician, cost 185 points. This is the minimum unit you can hire. The regiment may be increased by adding extra models at the cost of 14 points each. Profile M WS BS S T W I A LD ------------------------------------ Venalios 4 4 0 4 4 2 4 2 9 Pikeman 4 3 2 3 3 1 2 1 5 Weapons/Armour: Venalios and his pikemen wear heavy armour. They are armed with pikes and swords. Armour Save: 5+ Special Rules Venalios' Golden Company are Undead. Therefore all the special rules concerning undead apply: Immune to psychology. The Golden Company ignores all psychological effects and tests. Immune to poison. No poison, from any source, will affect the Golden Company. Cause fear. As skeletons, the pikemen are horrifying to face. Cannot march. Although their spirits burn strongly with raw greed, they can still only move at a lurching shuffle. Must hold on charge. Because of their somewhat reduced circumstances, the Golden Company cannot flee from a charge. No break tests. The Golden Company never takes break tests - the worst that could have happened already has. Take extra casualties. When the Golden Company loses combat, instead of taking a break test they take extra wounds. For each point by which they lost combat, the unit suffers 1 wound. If Venalios is still alive (you know what I mean), the wounds can be distributed as you see fit. These wounds cannot be saved by any means. Venalios Avaricio is a Wight Lord. Thus his pike and sword are counted as wight weapons, and do d3 wounds in combat. The Banner of Gilt - 60 points The golden banner flown by the Golden Company isn't just for show. It contains two spells, both of which have proved vital to Venalios since his death. Each turn, in the magic phase, the banner can cast either Van Hel's Danse Macabre or Summon Skeletons. Only one of the spells can be used each turn, and they cannot be re-cast if dispelled as is usual with Necromantic spells. They are the same as the Necromantic spells, with the following limitations - both must be cast on the Golden Company alone, and Summon Skeletons cannot take the unit above its original size at the start of the battle. Any extra skeletons raised are thus wasted. There aren't any models available for this, and probably never will be. However, that doesn't mean that you have to pretend that those spears are really pikes. Converting the appropriate miniatures is really very easy. Just get some plastic skeletons, either the old ones or the new ones. You will also need a number of skeleton horseman sprues. These are easy enough to get. You get two in an undead chariot box, and three in an undead horsemen box. Or you could order them straight from GW Mail Order. What you want are the lances and armour bits from these sprues. If you are using the old skeletons, simply put them together, and have the lances upright. Glue on the armour, and there you have your skeletal pikemen. With the new plastics, it would probably be best to cut the lances off of the old hands, cut the spears off of the new hands, and put the lances back together on the new stuff, otherwise the arms will look wierd - the scale has, unfortunately, been changed in the last 5 years or so. Oddly enough, on the new plastic skeletons this really only affects the arms and legs, not the body or skull... Luckily, the old pieces of armour will still fit the new skeletons, and some of them even have armour already. Make a musician by either using the drum or horn pieces from the new undead boxes, or by making a simple horn out of modelling putty or plasticine. Do NOT use the standard bearer pieces that come with the new boxed sets - the Khemrian one does not allow a banner, the gothic one does not suit our purpose. When all this is done, you can either whack in a metal wight, or convert your own from various bits of plastic. I suggest using the skeleton plastics, using all the armour bits you can get, including putting a breastplate on the back, and leaving out the skull - this looks very effective. If you like you can put some wings on the helmet - pieces from the plastic Bretonnian Knight of the Realm sprue (the one with the sphinx crest) will do. Paint the armour black, and you have your wight lord. Now, if, with all this sitting in front of you, you can't work out how to make the standard bearer, then you are beyond my help...