Mighty Empires

I received a copy of Mighty Empires on Saturday morning and immediately clipped off all the hexes and started building maps. After a couple of test maps I decided on this one, a regular rectangle fits into an old Battle Masters box, making it easier to store away.

I decided not to paint each piece individually but to paint it while constructed. I didn't bother to clean up the hex edges, they fit together very tightly but that helps to maintain the map rigidity. A few mould lines around the edges are not important to me.

I sprayed both sides with GW white primer. Then I sprayed the upper side with a brown, using my airbrush. I then did some basic drybrushing to bring out the textures of the tiles. Wilderness areas are mostly brown, the forest areas are painted green and there's a bit of clump foliage on them too. The mounains and tundra are grey, topped with white, and a little snow flock. The cultivated areas I painted the fields in dull yellows (wheat fields) and added some green flock. I spent about 4 hours in total, over three sessions and am really pleased with the end result.

Not so pleased with the markers that come with the set. The city, fortress and mine markers are very small and indistinct. Luckily, I still have some of the plastic bits from the original game and these are far bigger and better. Instead of flags I think we might use shields to mark territory. While they would not slot into the board, a blob of blu-tac will do the job. I might even suggest that players might want to make their own city markers, at least for their capital. Or maybe each player could mark their capital territory with an army banner.