DeathHulk Returns!

Well, to an extent... mostly, it's just an excuse to post a model I've been working on this past week... well, these past couple days - I was in York Tuesday/Wednesday, and we've been cleaning/tidying/clearing the house in preparation of my sister returning from Mexico. So, as you can guess, I've been a tad busy... anyway, irrelevant - lets get to the models.

So, in a change from the recent posts, I'm going back to my roots in tabletop gaming, and visiting the Grim Darkness of the Forty First Millennium... by which I mean I've converted and painted up a Deathwatch Marine.

So, here he is - Brother Ezerial. He's a Dark Angel (as you can probably guess from the poorly freehanded pauldron), forwarded to the Deathwatch to teach him to be less nice. Yes, you read that correct - so allow me to explain.

I am especially proud of the eyes

I made the character originally for a Deathwatch Campaign my mate was running, and he was... well, a moody loner who enjoyed sniping. You know - practically the archetypical Dark Angel. And, hence, incredibly boring to play... thankfully, I realised this before the first session, and asked if I could just freehand it, and see what came about...

Well, it was... interesting. I must've been in a good mood that day, because Ezerial was literally the nicest character in Jericho Reach. When he met a Commissar, he invited him to tag along, and made sure that he was able to keep pace with them through the snow. Upon meeting the Techpriest they were seeking, he calmly talked him down, and then sealed himself outside of a complex to prevent a horde of Tyranids from reaching the others.

All in all, well... he was a genuinely nice person. So, I decided to make that his story.

He was a Tactical Marine in the 4th Company, who was regularly passed over for advancement. Not because he lacked the ability, but because he was not seen as ruthless enough; he attempted to minimise civilian casualties wherever possible and refused to allow allies to die if he could help it. Eventually, his superiors decided to send him off to the Deahtwatch - on the assumption it would either toughen him up, or at least get him out of their hair for a while.

The model, to be honest, is not much based on this. He's a combination of 'What'd look cool?' and 'What can a starting character have?'. So, not much really - a bolter is about the strongest weapon they can carry. I decided to have him hold it left-handed for two mean reasons; a) because it's unusual, and b) because I wanted him to have an auspex. Truth be told, I have no idea what it does - in Deathwatch or -Hulk - but it just seemed appropriate. The crouching pose is the only real remnant from the original character design, but I still like it - it gives off both a sense of stalking lethality and cautious planning that sum up Ezerial.


... And, as a treat, we have another model! This time a... 'commission' might be a bit of a push. It's something I'm making for a mate, but truth be told, he didn't get much choice with regards to the design - because he was busy while I made him, not because I didn't take his opinions into account.

Anyway, he's a sergeant/veteran/captain of his homebrew Cathaginian-inspired chapter The Sacred Band. They're an Iron Hands Successor, and I tried to play up this side of the fluff with him. His exhausts have been inverted and one of his pauldrons is from a rhino crewman to give him a more techno-theme, and I took his head from a Venerable dreadnought to up the heavy-armour element. The breasplate comes from a Grey Knight - I shaved off the insignia and replaced it with a circle-in-circle design. The stomach-plate, incidentally, I plan to paint a mechanicus symbol onto, or at least a cog.

The choice of equipment was a combination of choice and need. The shield was to go with the defensive/armoured/techy-feel, but was originally paired with a chain-glaive... sadly, I couldn't get it to fit around the backpack, so I had to replace it... I'd considered a sword, or mace, but they just didn't feel quite right for him... a bit bland if you will.

The storm bolter, I'll admit, will make him utterly useless in-game, but... well, it was just too appropriate to not do. Admittedly, he was originally going to have a sword sheathed at his waist, but I couldn't think of a way to make it fit, so I replaced it with grenades - because who on Terra would go to war without some?
And, to finish it off, I added a cape (not pictured, because that'd be hell to paint whilst on him), and a magazine for an autocannon. It's a little nod to fluff - his Chapter frequently works alongside Guardsmen, and obviously he favours ranged combat.

So, yeah... that's my work for this week - all done over the course of two days. I'm pretty proud of it, even if it's awful compared to what most can do... but, eh, so what?

Anyway, as ever, thank you for reading, and I my apologies if my posts over the course of the next few weeks are a bit late - Mexican Sister and all. Volodanti out.

Jugisium Setting

So, as a throwback, change-up, whatever, I'm gonna be writing about the original campaign setting for my D&D group. Couple reasons for this - firstly, we have my sister coming to visit next week, so I'm having to reorganise (read: tidy) my room up. Secondly, I graduated on Tuesday! I am now officially a Bachelor of Arts, so go me. And, thirdly I've discovered Dark Souls... so, yeah, not really had the free time to paint or convert anything...
And, to be honest, the most important reason is, well... I haven't really got so much fluff on it. Tell a lie - I have a ton of history and the like, but nothing up to date. This led to some awkward moments during a session when I had to improv something really basic - on one occasion, I had to make up the government of the kingdom we were in... not individuals - whether it was a monarchy or not.

So, yeah, in the interest of actually getting this stuff down - partially for my benefit, partially for that of my friends who now have to run a campaign in this setting, here goes.

History

So, brief history - and now seems a good time for a map too - of Jugisium. It's presently in the 'Third Age'; though it's really more like the sixth. Jugisium is the northernmost sub-continent of the Three Lands. Originally, it was a virtually uninhabited wilderness - home to orcs, goblins and the like. Then, at some point, Dwarven migrants from the south arrived at the mountains of what is now Dras Vul (Drahs Vool), and set up shop there. They remained virtually alone for an indeterminate length of time - perhaps only a century or two, or even millennia, before the arrival of the Elves. Their fleet was fleeing a civil war somewhere to the west, and they landed in what they called Sancre Vash (Sahn-cray Vaw-sh). Eventually, these two peoples met each other, and began trading; not long before the humans arrived. They came from a land further north named Aran (Air-awn), and quickly joined in trading.

The second era occurred several centuries later - after the three races allied to drive out the monsters of the wild... which began as an attempt to lessen attacks on outlying villages, and ended with the mass deportation of the natives to an arid basin near Dras Vul. This led to quiet a bit of resentment between the various races for one reason or another.

The third era was when this tension boiled over, and the humans invaded the northern shore of Jugisium, entering into war with the Dwarves. It was a long and bloody war, which ended when the Elves finally arrived and butchered anyone who didn't surrender. The Elven king was named Emperor, and declared that 'The First Age' was begun.

So, the First Age was the era in which the empire basically became a magocracy... And was then destroyed by revolts. It lasted at least five hundred years, but no one is quite sure how long, because...

The Second Age was a dark age. Everyone ran around smashing stuff, books were burnt, and anyone even vaguely magical was killed in moments... This lasted at least two millennia, probably more.

And, so we reach the Third Age, wherein the people collectively manned up and stopped flipping tables. The races created a Council of Peers, better known as the Triumivrate, which functions something like the real world EU, and unbanned magic.

So, that's the general history - or most of it. Now, for some specific stuff:

So, this campaign took place in LeVehn (Lay-Vein), which you can see here. Originally, it was a buffer state between the three races, but after 'barbarians' conquered Aran it became the de-facto human nation. Our campaign took place in the year 604 TA, when things had settled down on the whole. So, I can now give you a bit of culture.

Culture

This may be a tad eclectic, but hey-ho... so, anyway, lets start with an analogue for your benefit... well, imagine Italian City States in the early fifteenth century and you'll get a pretty good idea. Each city has a 'Count', which is an inherited post that functions as mayor, but otherwise it's a democracy - in that the leaders are elected. Of course, the poor can't vote because of several dozen minor traditions and requirements that leave everyone outside of the top 5% ineligible. But, as the rich point out, they can still stand for office! Shame no one'll vote for them...

Mages, as I mentioned, are now allowed, but must join the Triumviri Collegiate, which basically involves renouncing any former titles or inheritance in exchange for tutoring and a permanent position in the Department of Magi upon graduation.

Climate wise... imagine France. That's pretty accurate - the south east tends to be noticeably drier than the rest of the nation, and Dhe Molis suffers from a drought at least once a decade, leading to any citizen being treated as if a member of the guard - they pay a significant proportion of their wages to the government in exchange for free housing, food and water. It leaves them with very few non-necessities, but it's still better than the slums of most cities...

So, interesting facet of the architecture of LeVehn - the number of stories is inversely proportional to wealth. The poor in cities live in towering Insulae; the majority of which are at least four stories tall. The rich, by contrast, prefer bungalows - sprawling mansions where a single wing typically has more floorspace than a street. Otherwise, well... Think Paris in the early renaissance, or really any Western European city.

Religion

Polytheistic, obviously... We've had a little trouble with this recently - moving systems, meant changing the religion, and the deities in Pathfinder are kinda specific to the setting... so, we're working on our own to slot alongside the pre-existing one... a national religion if you will; the Gods of Greyhawk/Points of Light/etc. still exist, but they tend not to be worshipped in Jugisium.

What we do know is that the major temples are based vaguely on the Temple of Herod from ancient Jerusalem. Minor temples are a bit more basic, but tend to follow the same format; generally without the encircling walls. A major temple will typically have a priest of every god, plus a priest of the pantheon, while a minor temple generally just has the latter.

Military

The military at this point is in flux, and well deserved of it. Blackpowder - once a rare import from the farthest of the Three Lands - is now being made locally, allowing fortifications to mount their own cannons. Field weapons are still in their experimental stage - typically they're just the fixed artillery you'll find in castles mounted on carts and roughly dragged into place. Some success has been found with handheld-bombs though they're temperamental at best. And, of course, a few individuals are attempting to create hand-held blackpowder weapons (though, so far, they weigh more than a knight's equipment, have the sort of recoil that could dislocate an Orc's shoulder and are wildly inaccurate... to say nothing of the loading times).

So, because of this, the armies tend to stick to the more tried and tested weapons; crossbow and halberds are the weapon of choice for most soldiers. Between magic and the increasing use of blackpowder large, even formations are quite rare - as a single mage could quite easily wipe out a tight block of pikemen with a single spell. This means that knights aren't quite such a big thing as in real history, but are used occasionally as shock troops. Instead, cavalry tends towards lightly equipped scouts, typically equipped with a short bow or light crossbow. Pikes, obviously, are virtually unheard of, as are concepts such as a shield wall.

So, anyway... I think that ought to be enough for now. If I think of anything else - or when I sort out the religion - I'll put up a new post. But, for now, thanks for reading. Volodanti out.

A Short Story

So, right, sorry I didn't get anything up earlier as I'd promised. I was meant to be posting a copy of a short story - well, narrative, given that it's only 500 words. Basically, there's a contest over at Ars Scribendi to write the best short narrative. The winner gets a very nice drawing of that narrative, and I fancy giving it an enter... if for no other reason than to practice my creative writing, which has taken something of a loss since I took up WARMACHINE...

Anyway, the idea was to post it to you on wednesday, but the friend I usually get to proofread my work, and to offer advice couldn't read it til tuesday, so... yeah, I've only polished it off today, ready for you lot. Hope you enjoy it, and once more - sorry for the delay. Volodanti out.

Elyas ran through the undergrowth; a loping sprint that few could match; even in the open. His grey trenchcoat whipped out behind him like a cloak, or the wing of some great crow.

He burst through a wall of vegetation like a cannonball; armoured boots scattering leaves and branches to the wind. Soon after, Elyas spotted a broken wall; coated in moss and half-lost in the dappled light that penetrated the forest canopy. Elyas sped up and hurdled it, clearing the waist-high obstruction without slowing; though his breathing was heavy from exertion.

Elyas emerged from the trees into the orange light of a setting sun; the brilliance would likely have blinded him were it not for the heavy goggles he wore, and he was still forced to shield his eyes.

After a moment dazed by the light, he spotted his quarry some hundred and fifty foot distant; the Winter Guardsman stumbled as he ran, casting a worried glance over his shoulder and spotting his hunter. Elyas had already killed the rest of his squad; silenced runeshot claiming the first two without anyone noticing. The other three he’d slew publically; starting with the sergeant when he noticed the absences. Now, his last target ran, back towards the Khadoran outpost.

Elyas frowned, pushing his goggles off hazel eyes to get a clearer view. He quickly moved to rest on the fence that divided the woodland from the fields; one foot stood upon it to stabilise his aim, and drew forth Lost Home; a near priceless magelock he’d fine-tuned himself.

Elyas closed one eye as he stared into the rifle’s sight; the scar that ran across his cheek pulling his lip into a half-smile. He directed the rifle towards his foe, aiming between his shoulder blades; a difficult prospect as his foe used the best of his training to duck and weave, presenting the hardest target he could manage.

“Smite.” Elyas murmured, reaching inward to draw forth his gift. A ring of electric blue runes burned into life around the barrel of his rifle, whilst his iris flashed gold. Elyas took a breath, tracking his foe; knowing he’d only have the one chance. Elyas tightened his finder about the trigger as he blew out, emptying his lungs in preparation.

The sound of a gunshot rang out, and the Winter Guard fell. Elyas lowered Lost Home; his smirk now wholly genuine.

Elyas marched slowly toward the downed target; caution ever his way, and what had allowed him to do so much damage to this unit. As he approached, he noticed a wet sucking noise, along with some faint movement. Elyas quickly withdrew the hold-out pistol from his sleeve, in case he faced a trick.

But when he kicked the man over, he saw only a young man; no older than Elyas himself, sucking in his last breaths through blood-flecked lips. He attempted to mutter something in Khadoran, but Elyas cut him off.

“For Fellig.” He replied, as his bullet pierced the man’s brainpan.

Scouts Enroute

So, not much has happened in this past week... no, sorry - quite a bit has; for the first time in years I've been to the beach (ironic, given that I can see the sea from this seat), I've officially finished my Degree, and I've booked a trip to York. The problem is, of course, none of this is relevant to this blog.
This, of course, hasn't been helped by the temperatures, which've forced me to leave the sweatbox that is my room.. sadly, this meant that this post was mostly filler as I discussed a couple of potential options for the next few blogs.
That is, until today, when I managed to get a couple Cygnaran Rangers painted, finished Captain Jeremiah Kraye (well, actually finished him last weekend), and managed to create a pretty decent photo booth for my models. So, thanks to that, you're gonna get subjected to my creations... sorry about that, but after finishing Kraye (so, so many little details), I felt justified in actually showing him off.

So, anyway - here's the man himself; Kraye, master of the Iron Horse.

So, I'll try and keep the descriptions short, and let the model speak for itself, but I wanna make mention of a few things. First off, the runes about his base. I'm doing this with any mages I paint - Warcasters, Gunmages, and Elyas if you recall. Incidentally, no, they're not random squiggles. I managed to find an alphabet online, and each model's is personalised to the individual. Kraye's, in this instance, says (starting by his right boot, and circling round) "Scout Captain Jeremiah Kraye - First Army, North"... without the punctuation obviously.

With Styker (my first attempt at this), I just stuck to the name on the unit card, but I realised Kraye's would never fill the space, so I decided to add 'Scout' to his title... appropriate though it was, if I'd just wrote 'Captain Jeremiah Kraye' it would have matched almost perfectly to his front arc, and would have stopped a lot of difficulties later on.

Oh well; live and learn.

So, next part is the scheme. I know that, usually, he's shown in blue-and-white armour with a brown coat... obviously I changed this somewhat.
The idea behind it came about around the time I was painting my original starter box. Stryker, obviously, wears quite distinctive suit of brass armour, and once I'd done him I liked the effect so much I used it on the boilers of my 'jacks... which, lead, in my mind, to the connection between steam-power and brass. At some point, I decided that all warcaster armour should be brass - just to set it apart from normal armour. It's gonna make it more apparent when I eventually get around to converting an Journeyman 'caster out of Rutger Shaw - so, you know, that's a benefit.

The grey coat, obviously, is because grey is a tertiary colour in my army, and links to the rangers and gunmages I'm working on.
And, as a note, the blue plates (and pauldrons) are darker than my usual jacks - apart from the hunter - in reference to him being more of a stealth operative than a typical Warcaster.
And, the last thing I wanna mention; the sandbag. It links in to the basing of my army as a whole. To match Cygnar's favouring trench warfare, my 'jacks all have sandbags on their base - or will do, when I get around to it - whilst infantry will have posts; as I'll mention in a moment. It's just a little something to make them more interesting, and draw them together with a common theme.

So, the Rangers... I've only two done so far, but they've come out well. I especially like the hair of the sergeant. His face too, came out very well. His second's didn't come out half so well... but, it's mostly hid by the telescope, so who cares? Eyes came out fine again, so that's a plus.
So, the bases. These represent, really, my first proper attempt at basing, and my first success with greenstuff. It's really simple obviously - a bit of sprue that I cut down, and drilled a whole into. Then, just looped a string of greenstuff round it, and when that dried built up a little mound.

... It's meant to represent a part of a barbed wire fence. It comes out better in person. It'll come out even better when I get around to making a terrain piece and adding an actual fence in place.
But, as to them - well, I couldn't very well put a sandbag on each individual warrior's base, so I came up with a few ideas, and... well, this is the one that panned out. And I'm glad it did - it looks, well, really good, and matches the overall theme.
Painting was simple - dark brown base, a few lighter brown lines and then a brown wash. Same effect I've used on the rangers' rifles and Kraye's carbine. I'm considering looking into better wood effects, but, well... I don't really wanna have to change how I'm doing it half way through an army...

... Anyway, that's me done for this week. I might get up a short post this week - yeah, I'm bringing that back - but, depends on how a few projects go. Anyway, Volodanti out.