Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Tainted Thegn and his Dire Men

Thus sang the mangled minstrel of the coming of Fulgid Glim during the time of Quaking and of Mourning in Qaarra:



He came upon us from the bruiséd North,
Leading forth a host of brigand knav'ry
Who once were only feuding petty-kings,
born to desp'rate battle and gloried death.



But Fulgid Glim gave to them many gifts
And each their bloody praises did he sing;
and forth they came under a new accord,
'Neath the flag of the Many-eyed, Mumbling Thing.




On Glim's brow the crown of cabbages he bore
And the Dire Men called him their Tainted Thegn;
They rode on us in darkness and unease
To throw down the nacreous towers of yore
Where dwelt the darkly dreaming deities.



Now our untimely bruised and bloodied night 
does Fulgid beset with his ugsome thegns:
Greer of dank and mossy mane, crusher of
brittle-bonéd men; and Thjornig Marrow,
who rides to cleave the face of death itself;





Ullidge Brood, who bears the beastly flag
In place of Blind Krell before him, who was slain;
Gorespindle, whose wicked barbs crave flesh;
And Ditherprank, whose mirthful cranium 
is born upon his oddly faithful mute;



And Toller Brigg with his loathsome ordure;
And Brinnae the Goad of rage-mad valour;
And many a blood-soaked tyrant beside.
They come to test our bones on edge of knife,
And beat into our skulls with shrieking axe;
To plunge our hapless land in deeper strife,
To unseam our sickly kerns and burn our shacks;
To rifle through the bones and carry forth
Our burnéd trinkets to the gory North.



Monday, July 21, 2014

Preparing the Dire Men

So I've finally gotten to the point where I can start showing off my new SoBH warband. The figures are all painted, I've made the cards, but, since I am no magic man, this all came together several weeks after the start of the CSW's summer SoBH campaign


...which means I have some WiP shots of my Dire Men (EM-4 miniatures mounted barbarians. Check them out) that I would feel silly posting after the painted versions of the same. So today's post is something of a filler/teaser until I start unveiling my grime-punk masterpieces.


Fulgid Glim and his Dire Men have, however, already participated in a couple of battles, so for the impatient you can check out the figures and their deeds so far here...


...and also here.


Why so many WiP shots, you ask? Well, I had originally planned to make a tutorial on my entire painting process, but as usually happens, the deadline for finishing the band got the better of me/ I got too excited and involved in the actual painting to document it properly.


And so the futility of my endeavours is perpetuated. I pass it on to you in this largely useless post. You can do the same for others by leaving a comment below. The more fatuous, the better.

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Gribbly Wight


                                            You shall know of my disdain,
                                            The scorn of the unrighteous-slain,
                                            When under the White Finger'd moon we shall rise.
                                            How I yearn for that beautiful time...
                                            Hungry and lurking and foul with grime...


                                            Buried 'neath the wretched scree
                                            Of a filthy, barren barrow-lea.
                                            Only worms on which to dine,
                                            So let me nibble your sanity...
                                            Yes, let me pick upon your mind.


                                            Embalmed with mud. Reposed on slates.
                                            Left below the silt to wait
                                            For the white-finger'd man to call on us;
                                            To be numbered among his levy of hate;
                                            To accept his gift of hateful dust...


Monday, July 7, 2014

Barrow Mounds

Here, finally, are the finished barrow mounds that I've been so irresponsibly teasing you about. But I guess that's just how life is. You mean to post an in-progress photo two days before posting the finished version, and before you know it two weeks have dashed by and they've also managed, somehow,  to steal your pants.


I had really good luck with a new grass-coloring technique, which I believe I mentioned last time, wherein I diluted Winsor & Newton inks in greeny-brown shades and then dropped them onto the un-colored grass with an eye-dropper. This gave the nice, uneven coloring.


Now they're ready to hit the table. They could easily be used as objective markers, but I think they would be even more fun as entry points for wandering monsters. Or better yet, as a place to get items; but only by daring the unknown depths for D3 turns and having to consult a deadly Plumbing the Mound random table to see what awful, deadly things you find in the scybalous nightmare tomb. Mmmmm, I'm getting that short-breathed thrill that always seems to precede inventing another weird random table. Maybe I'll make one and do a post on it later...


I guess the reason I'm so excited about that idea is that it would bother me to use the tumuli as just repositories for bonus items. These aren't treasure boxes left around by some game designer. These are dark. These are deep.


I mean, would you go down there to face whatever was left to rest in the distant, megalithic past, perhaps by humans, but perhaps by creatures only human-like?


Well, maybe I would. If I had a sword. But I wouldn't expect it to be pretty.


Let me know what you think by delving the cromlech under which I hid the comments, below: