[Tashin]

Hi everyone

I've been thinking. How come there not be a single female in the empire army? Are they all just home breeding young and healthy soldiers for the emperor?
I remember The sisters of sigmar from Mordheim, but every single priest in Warhammer Fantasy is balded and male.

Isnt there any lore considering strong female empire-warriors?

-Tash

 

[Zema]

I quite agree, since i love female armies (i probably should get some counselling for that), but i fear gw has pretty much deicded to base empire fully on european warfare around the 16th century(ish). Which would pretty much mean all the females in the army are the washer women and prostitutes in the army's trail.

Personally i'd love female models in the range, either as a separate ( = more realistic) or as a mixed ( = less realistic) unit.

I've thought with the idea of giving one of my tank crew a large woman, with a backstory of her being a prostitute who killed a crewmember and, as punishment, the captain made her take his place. But she's so good at it, she gets to stay; hitting any man who dares question her being on the front lines.

 

[adhesivespatula]

If you really want to go get your sexual equality on, play Wood Elves or High Elves. Wood Elves have female units and with High Elves, you can't tell the difference.

 

[Tashin]

naah Elves are for pantsies. Im just saying that nothing , not even a Daemon Prince, should take a unit of hardened female state troops lightly - especially if they're all in their worst period. True madness like that will even shut the ever-gibbering flagellants up! :act-up:

Its not that i want 50% of all the units to be female, or that i wish for a more feminine empire army. My point is just that how come there not even be one female amoungst the hordes of insane flagellants? Why havnt the strenght of sigmar blessed even one female to take up the sword and defend her nation? With a country being in war for decades it really surprises me that female soldiers hasnt been put in use. Why havnt the winds of magic touched a single female?

On top of that - All the different armies are led by men. I mean: the PhoenixKing, the WitchKing, The top vampires are male too as far as i recall, The Emperor, Archeon of Chaos, Orion of the woods, ect. Perhaps the most femalewelcoming army (put aside the pantsie-elves) are the Brets, but thats not even because the welcome female fightingpower, thats just because they worship the lady of the lake.

I dont have a problem with the Warhammerworld being manchauvanistic. It'll just be somewhat cooler if there where atleast a dozen females here and there (or atleast some lore of female empire fighters).

- Tash

 

[magicarnold]

I can't really be sure and history tells me it can't be so ..
but me thinks most of my boney TK's are female....

pfff they shoot like girls anyways :dance:

 

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

This is where the awesomeness of a Fantasy world comes into play. Just make some fluff up, taking whatever liberties you feel like.

My own city, for example (delved into most frequently in the Arena of Death forum),
*Is run by a guy called Sir Cumference, Grand Master of the Knights of the Round Table.
*Has arena fighting as its main sport.
*Due to the academy for that kind of thing that's present, the city has become a cosmopolitan hub for almost all races.
*There are two Beastmen tribes protecting it, on condition that the cream of their fighters get trained in said academy.
*Don't get me started on Blood Bowl's presence.

Now, I seriously doubt your backstory for having female fighters will be more insane than that. I'm sure there would be several convents out in the **** for daughters who misbehave. If any particular convents are isolated enough, it's likely that some form of fighting would be on the curriculum. Otherwise, there could be some crazy feminist group around that doesn't think it's fair that only men get to go out and fight.

However, for the most part I would suspect that Zema's got it spot on. The place of a woman back then probably wouldn't have been too glamorous.

 

[GMJoeSolarte]

I remember the Brettonians used to have (and may still) have a model based on Joan of Arc.


There would have to be some sort of veneration process in order for that to happen, if a female similar to Sigmar or Magnus the Pious were to emerge, that would sure be something.

 

[CaptainSarathai]

The Wood Elves are led by a couple, Orion when he's awake, and his wife when he's not. The HighElves have the Everqueen, who is the only one who rules by birthright. The Dark Elves have Morathi, and we're not even going to get into the relationship between her and Malekith. Bretons have their damsals, the Ogres have a female Maneater (seriously, bad nomenclature), and both of the Undead armies have a female Special Character. Even the Warriors got in on the deal, and have given Khorne a female consort (I'm sure there's some inappropriate art somewhere. Rule-32 that for me?) in the form of Valkia.

They're there in the game, but they're not exactly prevalent. In most cultures around the world, women were just baby-machines. Terrible, but hey- it's survival. For those who DID fight, it was even more rare to be called to the field to battle. Usually they'd defend the house while the man was out getting kicked around in the field.
War then wasn't the same as it is today. There were defined front-lines, so there wasn't as much need for women to fight. If they stuck around too long during an invasion, it's because they wanted to be run-in by a ton of soldiers.

My Vampires are led by a female. Hell- my vampire fluff is basically a love triangle. Not in the manner of the "Saga"-which-shall-not-be-named, but in the form of: I bit her first, she's mine. Christobel was a mortal, fell in love with Castille who was besieging the castle to save her, until his master Chatould showed up and stole the show. Now she's a vampire, and since Chatould has been gravely wounded and is recovering, she leads his armies for him.
Reaper makes a bunch of very sexy female models, of much better quality than the GW standard fare. Just pick one you like and go from there.

 

[HighPlainDrifter]

There are women in the Empire army, they are just disguised with a moustache or beard...

 

[Grandfather Nurgle]

Hi everyone

I've been thinking. How come there not be a single female in the empire army? Are they all just home breeding young and healthy soldiers for the emperor?
I remember The sisters of sigmar from Mordheim, but every single priest in Warhammer Fantasy is balded and male.

Isnt there any lore considering strong female empire-warriors?

-Tash

the sisters of sigmar is the reason that female can't become prists anymore, when the city was hit by it's comet, the priests, lectors and theogonists of sigmar thought of it as a sign from sigmar that he did not like females to become prists.

there is somthing about a order of female warriors in the RPG, they are the widows of fallen empire soldiers

 

[Ravendove]

Let's not forget that the first Vampire was Queen Neferata, ruler of the City of Lahmia. All Vampires can trace their bloodline to her if they go far back enough.

But as has been pointed out, the 16th century-style setting of the Empire was largely male-dominated. Throughout history up until the 20th (and to some extent, the 19th) centuries, women had very little power and even less presence in the military. That's not to say they couldn't fight, but they were not in the military proper.

Of course, this being a fantasy world, there is absolutely no reason you can change that for your own army/city/region.

 

[archonofdeath]

There are women in the Empire army, they are just disguised with a moustache or beard...

Hahahaha, you just put me into tears.

I'd say just convert, or go grab some 40k Witchhunter models, I think they have a selection of era appropriate females... I think

Sisters Repentia, Death Cult Assassins... and that seems to be it

 

[Dman123]

If you read into the fluff there are tons of females in the empire who fight, both Nuln and Stirland are led by a Countess, also Stirland was originally a Warrior women tribe by the name of Asobjorns (Something like that, mentioned in the Sigmar book series.) Also, there are plenty on female mages in the fluff, and female flagellents are mentioned a few times, also whats stoppinga woman from joining the free companies when the call is sent out? Plus all elves have female units and heros. As mentioned before the vampires are commonly Vampires. The thing of it is, in the Empire, the women aren't viewed as Warriors, they run the homes while the men fight, which in most history hathat has been recorded is the case. Take Greece and Rome for example largely sophisticated races that were led and defended by male soldiers, it's just the way things were, the women were not viewed as capable warriors.


Now this doesn't mean you can't model and Empire army off of it. You can make an army based on a group of women who left for the border princes with their husbands or fathers and the Men were killed off in war and the women were left to die. Then they trained and armed themselves and ran a City state in the border princes.

Sorry for the rambling

-Dman

 

[mythal]

In short, you'll have to get creative with your own fluff and modeling if you want to include women in your army.

For empire specifically, I'd suggest adding them into Free Company and having a few female wizards to start out with. The random mercs are bound to have some butch women that can dish out just as much (if not more than) as their male counterparts. The wizard conversion shouldn't be that hard to explain either, since a count or very successful merchant could have a brilliant daughter that wants to play with the dangerous world of magic.

 

[Tashin]

First of all. Thank you all for posting on this tread. And thanks for setting me straight
- There are female leaders among the many armies of warhammer.
- There are (or atleast should be) some female warriors among the male regiments of the empire, even if its just a spoiled merchant wizarddaughter or the wild free companies.
- The sisters of are widely considered heretics of sigmar

Many of you are saying, that employing females into an empire army would require some sort of fluff. I'll have to work on that

So i guess the overall conclusion proves me wrong. The warhammer-univers has room for female warriors. And sigmar might favor men abit, but all who willingly puts up the hammer in order to fight for the emperor is welcome among the lines of the state troops!

Anyway thanks again.

- Tash

 

[alvenom]

The Mordheim Sisters Of Sigmar would fit quite nicely in an Arch Lector themed army. Maybe not too much fluff out there, though.

 

[DarkKnight]

the sisters of sigmar is the reason that female can't become prists anymore, when the city was hit by it's comet, the priests, lectors and theogonists of sigmar thought of it as a sign from sigmar that he did not like females to become prists.

there is somthing about a order of female warriors in the RPG, they are the widows of fallen empire soldiers

You are right on. Try reading the book for the Warhammer Online game and the main character is a female who tries to be a warrior priest but throughout the book the cult of Sigmar makes it clear why they do not allow females anymore. It would not take much fluff to give a reason why a Countess or Baroness is leading an army instead. Another thing to remember is that the cult of Sigmar is not the only one in the empire. (Morr - black knights, Myrmidia- goddess of strategy: of the science and art of war). So you can with little trouble have female warriors just maybe not in the cult of Sigmar.