Lorehammer: Meet the Regiments of Renown

The Regiments of Renown actually pre-date the miniatures games of Warhammer. Waaaay back in the day (the 1980s) this was simply a tag to draw together fantasy figures into a cohesive body.

Over the years these changed, either being forgotten (Knights of the Cleansing Flame), updated (Golgfag’s Ogres), or drawn into an existing army (Lothern Sea Guard).

When most gamers talk about Warhammer’s Regiments of Renown, they are referring to the ones that came as special units within the Dogs of War army book. This was part of Warhammer’s 5th edition, and was much loved for its different units – and pikes!

Dogs of War could be taken as its own army, or individual Regiments of Renown could be taken as part of other armies. Not every regiment would fight for every army, but they were a way of adding something different into the mix

The 8th edition of the game, which Warhammer: Total War is based around, had no Dogs of War army, and no Regiments of Renown. Does this mean we’ll never see the regiments once featured in the game? Maybe, maybe not.

One area the regiments are useful in is bringing more variety into the game. BY providing either unique units of giving armies access to units other have but they lack, the Regiments of Renown add a bit of spice to Warhammer games. Here are four regiments we might see some day:

The Birdmen of Catrazza

Human armies lack flyers, other than heroes on their monstrous mounts. Has that troubled you? Well let the Birdmen of Catrazza take those troubles away! For just one simple large payment these flying light crossbowmen can be yours… for a day or two.

Catrazza is a small town in Tilea, so perhaps they could be hireable if you control some cities there? Would give human players a reason to march south.

The Cursed Company

Undead aren’t just for the Vampires you know. How about hiring some undead… who really hate the undead! Enter the Cursed Company a group of mercenaries bound by their collective oath to fight the forces of undeath… forever! Anyone killed by their leader in battle will themselves rise again to fight with him against the undead. There are no happy stories in the Warhammer world. The Cursed Company contains skeletons of humans, dwarfs, orcs, and even lizardmen who have fallen beneath their blades.

Ruglud’s Armoured Orcs

What to greenskin armies lack? Armoured orc crossbows… said no one ever. Well, someone must have said it since the Regiment of Renown exists! These orcs don’t much care who they fight for, and are about as disciplined as other orcs, which is not very disciplined at all. Some people still hire them though.

The Giants of Albion

Not enough armies have access to giants… said the same people who asked for armoured orc crossbows. Who is listening to you?!?

The giants of Albion are smaller than other giants, but can throw rocks (hush, Cygor fans), and must stay near their druid, Hengist, or else they become unpredictable. Sort of like stampeding elephants, except they throw rocks too.

More to come

There are many Regiments of Renown, and the ones I chose above are essentially those that allow the current armies in the game a taste of one another’s units. Other Regiments of Renown would have other uses, and I’ll cover some more in a future Lorehammer.