Since I created the Coldwood Smugglers, I planned on having a nemesis for them, a band of Border Wardens hunting smugglers and, since we are in the Warhammer World, monsters and mutants. But at the same time I didn't want to invest a lot of money in it (too many other projects... ) so I decided to build the new warband with a single set of miniatures: the excellent Empire Archers, in the time of AoS also known as the Freeguild Archers. Created in 2009, this set has been hugely popular because of its quality and modularity (and price point), before being discontinued in 2019.
That's right, I got myself a basic warband for around € 20,00, which is a steal!
The fluff of the warband is simple: the town of Leydenhoven lies along the river Reik, on the southeastern border of the Wasteland, still belonging to Marienburg but a few hours walk away from Middenland and a short boat trip from Reikland. It is a sleepy border town: boats pass by on the great river, and few people walk along the road, mostly peddlers and hunters. The main road to Marienburg also bypass Leydenhoven by cutting from Kalkaat to Klessen anyway. To the east of town the eaves of the Drakwald loom all too close and the summits of the Mirror Moors are clearly visible.
The inhabitants of Leydenhoven are local merchants, hunters, farmers and fishermen. The city maintains a small garrison of guards commanded by a Captain sent from Marienburg, who is also responsible for order within the city, but the main defence are the Wardens of the Border Patrol, a corp of rangers trained to scour the forest, capture smugglers and outlaws and kill beastmen and mutants.
Unlike the guards, who are mostly outsiders, the wardens are all local people - woodsmen recruited and paid by the Burgomeister. Their captain is Rutger Hauer, an middle-aged veteran whose experience and sense of responsibility allowed him to access a position few others would keep, had they his total lack of mesure in talking. Rutger the Outspoken, the Straighforward, the Sincere are just kind names for his inability to hide, or even sweeten, his opinions, which are generally negative or anyway pessimistic. The Burgomeister Cornelis Drebbel can't stand him, but also trusts him to do his job and keep an eye on a group of people who are paid too little to be professional and are very prone to corruption.
Rutger de Stomp - the Blunt - is assisted by three main assistants: Lieven de Schermer, Eddi de Groen and Elke de Bosdochter.
Lieven de Schermer (Leobwin Visser) is the only member of the wardens to have a proper combat training. He is a Marienburger with an obscure past - some say he was a duellist, some say a protagonist, all agree he ran into some trouble connected to a woman, her husband and some murder. He enrolled into the Border Patrol and nobody ever asked him any question. He does not like to talk about his past, anyway, although when drunk he occasionally mutters about some past sorrows he needs to forget.
Eddie de Groen (Eduard van Halen) is the youngest member of the wardens. He joined because he wanted an exciting life of fighting monsters in the woods, rather than fishing like all his family does. Rutger constantly yells at him or berates him for his lack of judgement, but he is actually grooming him since he is one of the few members to actually believe the Wardens have some purpose. Eddi carries a sword, apparently found on a river wreckage when he was little, and is trying to learn how to use it.
Elke de Bosdochter (Adelheid Bosch) is a priestess of Taal and Rhya. While not a member of the wardens, she is often called upon when the Patrol needs to deal with supernatural threats. Elke agrees to help them if there is indeed a supernatural threat to the population, and expects to receive a donation to the village temple.
The rest of the warband are regular wardens, all armed with a long bow and a dagger.
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