Automatically Appended Next Post: I did just get my medium sized Bird guys, bronze guys and giant freaking bronze guy, and ghostly skeleton guys though.
RivenSkull wrote: Finally got a chance to look over my latest KS shipment tonight: Jutes and Trolls. The "smaller" resin models like the Trolls really show off how well Mierce can do resin casting. Aside from a quick soap wash, I have no mold lines to cleanup. None of the occasional problems that the larger models get (looking at you Krull).
Got my first squad of Jute Wihtgār skeletons. I am so, so happy I asked to switch them to metal. The ankles on the skeletons make my Necron legs look sturdy.
I got sent an extra skeleton torso in resin by mistake, and if I were to play any games with it, I'd feel worried about breaking the resin at the ankles. Same relief with the pewter spears. Detail wise, the metal versions have probably 95% of the level of details that the resin model. The metal versions are really fantastic casts.
Agree 100%!
For *anything* human sized in Mierce's Darklands line, I cannot recommend metal highly enough.
I have some older stuff, before METAL AGE, that is resin, and I'll probably switch them out for metals sooner or later.
And as you note, the detail is still there - simply amazing casts and super-durable too...
Have a big order of Fomoraic thats been sent out, along with the Jutes starter host from the last Kickstarter. So pumped for them to get here.... now i only need to resist buying more during this sale.
We've stuff for the Norse and the Ysians thanks to Andrew May. Huzzah!
The Trolls of Norrheim are just about complete - there's only Jöllu (the alternate of the banner bearer) to go. Huzzah!
One of our oldest miniatures - but also one of our best! - Vörtun now gets two axes, bless him.
He will be a Wave 15 shipment.
Wow. Hammer-Brugg looks better than Brugg, in our not so humble opinion!
Again, he'll be a Wave 15 shipment!
Next up for Andrew is Armoured Scecchus... we hope to have shots of him next time.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Savage Hordes:
Men and Lizards
It's Friday, and so Mierceday occurs...
Here we go...
This week we have some Anglecynn miniatures from Stéphane Camosseto and a Khthones miniature from Benoît Cosse...
The Ceorl Bowmen are progressing further, and we all rejoiced. Thank you, Stéphane Camosseto!
Oooh! The champion of the unit, Ceolric, has very definitely progressed further...
We're still hoping the Bowmen will be a Wave 15 shipment, but we'll see...
Benoît Cosse is back, and he's here to kick ass and chew gum, and he's all out of gum. Or something. Here's the first of his works upon the Szalamandra altar...
As always, Benoît's work is incredibly characterful, as you can see from one glance at Kkigni... although we do want to change those eyes, they're a bit too big!
Speaking of too big... one of the issues with Benoît sometimes (apart from the terrible photos) is that things get lost in translation, and it looks like the original brief (keep them to 60mm size) has been followed... but only for the legs.
So it's likely they'll be 80mm dudes eventually, with prices to match (so we'll be increasing their price shortly - if you want them, get them now). Never mind ;o)
We're hoping for a Wave 15 shipment with these guys, but it's unlikely. We'll see!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Valentin Zak... Wow...
Reivers
We have an update once more, here on Darklands: Savage Hordes II. Rejoice!
Here we go...
This week we have something for the Fomoraic thanks to Valentin Zak!
The splendiferous Valentin Zak gets better and better. As does Hunter Kaarstan!
He will be a Wave 15 shipment!
Kaarstan will appear after we've cast Hunter Kaarstan and sent him back to Valentin.
Maari. That is all.
She'll be a Wave 15 shipment!
Saairen Maari will of course appear after we've cast Maari and sent her back to Valentin.
It's been a little while since the last update, but here we go with photos of the new metal Atalantes - and news of Gesith shipments!
Let's go!
The Atalantes Oplites Starter Host has arrived, and it's ace. Who knew that metal Greeks could look this good?
The first samples of the Atalantes Oplites Starter Host have arrived and they look bloody awesome. They've been passed to production with minor changes!
Nikandros, Hektor (all variants) and Thera (helmed/unhelmed)
Some of the Oplites
The Mesokolossos Unit
A quick size comparison!
The Oplites Host should be a Wave 15 shipment, as we should get the production casts in January and sent later on that month/early February.
That leaves the Demilegionarius host, which we'll be passing over to the metal casters next week... it's entirely possible they'll be with us for Wave 15, too!
Metal Mesokolossi
The observant will notice that the Mesokolossi have been metallised, whereas we always thought they would be resin only. They turned out a little smaller than we originally wanted, but they still look awesome, so we kept them on 50mm bases - in part because we could then get them into metal!
They look utterly fantastic in metal, of course, so we're happy to change them for everyone. But it's only right to say: if you don't want your Mesokolossi in metal, tell us... otherwise, they'll be sent to you in metal (at least, from this project).
Now, we may have sent some to you (from this project) in resin already; if we have, we'd be happy to change them for you - just let us know. You'll have to send the resins back, of course ;o)
I ordered my armoured Ysian Brutes ages ago, and I have to say I am so very happy to see how they've turned out, especially Hammer Brugg! He looks amazing and fearsome!
Reivers are insanely awesome! I got both of the starter hosts and am so pumped!
Atalantes look sweet. Another faction that has wowed me with their infantry every time I see them realized.
Less enthused for the lizard's huge bobble head and tiny legs. Given they'll need to redo the eyes and the lizards will still be on 80mm bases, I'd prefer they redid the head and kept them on 60mm. Or beef up the legs, something. Not trying to be harsh, but it doesnt quite live up to their usual standards.
My in-house lizard enthusiast (besides myself) gave the lizards and their appendages his nod of approval, so I'll trust him on the length of those limbs.
He did feel that their throat sac flame broilers ought to be a bit larger.
Then again, he's ten, so what does he know?
Going to have to go and add those Reivers after work. Too cool to pass up.
It's Christmas at last, my festive friends, and so we celebrate Geol (Yule!) with a cracking update and a nativity scene brought to you from the Lands of Darkness themselves...
Doesn't it warm the cockles of your heart?
"I bring you gold, frankincense and... er... pudenda?"
Hark! The herald angels sing...
Merry Christmas, everyone!
This week we have:
•sculpt work in progress updates from Tim Prow;
•an updated list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
•a list of what ships, when;
•...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Note that this will be the last update before 2017 as we're off on our holidays next week. So enjoy yourselves and we'll see you in the New Year - have a great one!
There's one miniature to show this week, from Tim Prow, and it's an excellent one for the insane-in-the-membrane Ysians!
The new Vivicoct, Conjunct X, is looking great and more than a little freaky. He'll be a great addition to your Flesh-Smith host!
He's not quite finished - the joins need more work of course - but we're hoping he'll be a Wave 15 shipment regardless.
{see the update itself for who's sculpting what etc}
Christmas Ceorl
This week we have:
•sculpt work in progress updates from Stéphane Camosseto;
•an updated list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
•a list of what ships, when;
•...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Note that this will be the last update before 2017 as we're off on our holidays next week. So enjoy yourselves and we'll see you in the New Year - have a great one!
This week we have more Anglecynn miniatures from
Stéphane Camosseto. Three, in fact!
The Ceorl Bowmen are really getting there now with three of the men done. We've missed you, Stéphane Camosseto!
The champion of the unit, Ceolric, is looking absolutely spiffing. We love this guy!
We're loving the armour!
A warrior of the unit, is Mutch, and he can shoot an apple off your head from a range of two yards.
Loving the flowing hair!
Erwig is another warrior from the unit and he's a be-mulletted so-and-so.
With three of 'em done and just Sweyn (who is almost done anyway) and Ardith yet to go, we reckon Wave 15 might not be too much of a stretch for these guys...
{once again see the real update for who's sculpting what etc}
Christmas Corruptors
This week we have something for the Ysians thanks to the superb Jason Hendricks!
We're loving these Corruptors, in many ways more than the Brutes - and that's down to Danny Cruz (the concept artist) and Jason Hendricks (the sculptor), who have poured themselves into these to make superb miniatures. Let us reprise the ones already done, too...
The champion of the unit is Fuggug, probably because he looks the most normal...
What a nice... er... thing?
The last Corruptor of the unit to be sculpted is Udo, and she's a big 'un and no mistake.
Cake?
We bear no responsibility for making you feel ill, by the way.
Grung is the third Corruptor and possibly the best of the lot... if you like tongues.
This does of course mean that the Corruptors will make it into Wave 15!
{again see the update for progress info etc}
This week we have something for the Infernii thanks to Dan Cockersell. Don't say we didn't warn you...
Not content with the stupendous Maatmäg, the master sculptor that is Dan Cockersell has begun work on his next masterpiece for us. Xet will be another incredible miniature, as you can see...
Here's a couple of scale comparisons, against Malacant and Scecchus...
The second & third Corrupters look really good, the first models in the Ysian faction that have really hit the spot for me.
I'd instantly purchase them, but I'm still waiting for Mierce to ship a number of outstanding orders to me, so I'd rather not add to the list until I receive some of them.
Mierce Miniatures 14-time creator about 21 hours ago
Right then chaps... let's have some thoughts.
The next project will revolve around the aforementioned starter hosts, and it should start next week, but is there anything you'd like to see more than anything? Any and all comments are welcome, but bear in mind the next one won't be about loads of new miniatures, although I'm willing to add a couple in there.
Paul Bannon about 6 hours ago
Is the new kickstarter this week or next?
Mierce Miniatures 15-time creator about 6 hours ago
...it's been approved, so this week... just got a few things to sort for it; so probably tomorrow now.
Has everyone 'waiting' for stuff e-mailed Rob and made sure that it isn't a snafu or some sort, or if a 'shipping wave' payment was missed or used up and now 'causing' the delays?
Don't get me wrong, lots has slipped here, but the above happens quite a bit too.
Also, anything 'metal' is going one wave after the 'resin' version too.
I got my two starter metal hosts some time ago, though I chose some of the more established factions - Eirann and er, the Picts/Scot type guys, forget the name. Lovely sculpts and the metals are so detailed, gonna get them painted up this year. Tempted to get some more, my eventual aim is to have about half a dozen factions.
It's Christmas, so it is, and we have some incredible miniatures to release in time for Santa Claws - twenty of them in fact, nineteen for Darklands and one for the BaneLegions - but don't take our word for it, have a look!
For the BaneLegions, we have The Horror of Scumasthorpe - a conversion of one of our very finest miniatures, the Chimera of Dan Cockersell fame. For Darklands, and in alphabetical kindred order, we have three releases for the Albainn (two new Oghurithne warriors and a mighty four-armed Feral Oghurüc), seven releases for the Érainn (a huge Oak Beast and five Fen Beasts, with the unit itself), one for the Infernii (the mighty Ragefiend known as Zhull), one for the Khthones (the superb Ágriosávra on Sávrakh) and seven for the Ysians (the Flesh-Scavengers Unit containing Gondard and Ekk and now with Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap, plus two new Flesh-Piles; and the awesome Hammer-Druc). All amazing and all requiring your attentions!
Sadly, we've not been able to get them painted in time for release (except for Zhull), but the miniatures themselves are fantastic as always - and just like the previous releases, thanks to us being busier than busy bees we've just not had the time to get the release art and descriptions done; but you can still see some good images of each miniature on the website of course.
Dungab is a superb warrior alternate of Dungabad, the Oghu Keepers' Banner Bearer, converted by Yannick Fusier from his original miniature and Sam Lamont's artwork. He's an excellent addition to the Oghurithne ranks for those who don't want to use command!
Another conversion by Yannick Fusier from his original miniature and Sam Lamont's artwork, Beglo is the alternate warrior version of Lobeg, the Oghurithne Herald.
A newcomer to our range - Andrew May - has stormed into favour with a superb conversion of Cormorágg, Aragorn Marks' work. Gorugg is a Feral Oghurüc, a four-armed version with extra stone shard and a sheep, all the better to throw at the enemies of the Albainn! Conversion artwork by Dan Warren from the original by Stefan Kopinski.
The first of a double-whammy for the tree-men of Eriu, the Beasts of Síleann Fen are comprised of five mighty Fen Beasts sculpted by Didier Fancagne from the artwork by Sam Lamont. These guys are nasty creatures indeed, especially when it comes to the Fomoraic! Led by the Aged Fen Beast champion, Cru Creach, the unit of five also includes four Fen Beast warriors of varying size and shape - Ardann, Tanaíann, Ollmhór and Gearreag.
The Érainn gain a mighty ally indeed in the brick outhouse-shaped Cúlaítar, a huge and terrifying Oak Beast sculpted by Didier Fancagne from the artwork by Sam Lamont. He looks utterly implacable and totally committed to crushing the enemies of Danu under trunk and bough!
The superbness of Dan Cockersell has been out-superbed thanks to Tim Prow's ministrations - converted from the original miniature, Krull, the mighty Zhull is a terrifying prospect for any Infernii opponent to face. A mountain of flesh, armour and horn as well as spikes and ferocity, Zhull comes keen and no mistake!
With the release of Ágriosávra on Sávrakh, all of the miniatures funded by our Darklands: Monstrous Mounts Kickstarter project are now released, and we feel the better for it! Sculpted by Roberto Chaudon from the artwork by Christophe Madura, Ágriosávra on Sávrakh is a fantastic addition to your lizardy collection and a great centrepiece for any Khthones host.
With the release of Yrag, Bil and Ekk's Heap the Flesh-Scavengers unit - also comprising the Flesh-Drune Gondard of Karaez and his Nithing Ekk - can now be released, and we are all thankful for it's a cracking addition to your Ysian host. The Nithings known as Ekk (sculpted by Stéphane Simon), Yrag and Bil (both sculpted by Martin Lavat) can now rush off and collect body parts to add to Ekk's Heap, a Flesh-Pile sculpted by Martin that contains the raw materials that Gondard (sculpted by Stéphane Simon a while ago) needs to create monstrous nasties on the battlefield. All sculpts used Danny Cruz's artwork, of course.
That's not all, either - we've also had two more Flesh-Piles added to the mix for variety's sake, both sculpted by Martin Lavat from Danny Cruz's artwork - Yrag's Mound and Bil and Beb's Trove!
Converted by Andrew May from the original miniature by Stéphane Nguyen van Gioi, and from the artwork by Danny Cruz, here's another cracking addition to your Ysian host! Hammer-Druc is a brutal, uncompromising stomping hulk of bad breath, slab muscles and great big hammers, although in our heads, he's probably got a squeaky voice. You also get three choices of genitalia. Where else can you buy miniatures with that amount of variety?
Here's another conversion of a Daniel Cockersell masterclass! The Terror of Fortriu - Dan's first miniature for us, and one of our finest - has been lovingly converted by Martin Lavat from the artwork by Dan Warren and now sports a lizard head and a rat head (instead of dragon/goat, although I guess you could call the lizard head a dragon head) to become The Horror of Scumasthorpe. Don't feed the animals!
All of the releases above were officially released on the 3rd of December 2016, and so you can order them right now.
Watch out for the January releases, which should be unveiled soon!
Out of interest, is there anywhere you can read all the lore & background for Darklands yet? I suppose I'm spoiled by Warhammer but not being able to go to a wiki and look up the fluff behind a unit or faction is really harshing my buzz whenever I think about picking up the game.
but the big mierce server crash bust a whole lot of links in it and the chap who set up the site faded out and now even if I had the time I can't get in to edit any more and it's 4 or so KS behind
Yodhrin wrote: Out of interest, is there anywhere you can read all the lore & background for Darklands yet? I suppose I'm spoiled by Warhammer but not being able to go to a wiki and look up the fluff behind a unit or faction is really harshing my buzz whenever I think about picking up the game.
Not in one place. Stuff is spread out across Kickstarter comments, webshop entries and the stuff in the rule book. He's been pretty consistent and tight when it comes to the background. Most of it ties into history and existing legends.
Not ideal, but anything you'd like info on? I'm sure a few of us can point out where to go.
Albainn represent the people that the Romans called the Pictii, the Painted, who inhabit the far north of modern-day Scotland. The Picts were a fairly savage people but their civilisation was a well-developed one, and many believe that the original Britons and the Picts were one and the same. Certainly, until the Anglo-Saxons arrived, the Picts and the Britons lived next to each other.
In Darklands, the Albainn are savage-looking humans, usually painted, allied with the Giants and Ogres of the far northern mountains. The Giants and Ogres revere the Oghu stones that dot the landscape, stones that contain deep earth power and can resist powerful magic.
The Oghurs are basically Ogres
Oghurithne is a half-ogre - human/ogre cross
Oghurigg is a half-giant and are generally treated as outcasts and are distrusted.
You then have the Oghurreach (Ogre centaurs) and Oghurithneach (Orghurithne centaurs)
Then you have the various Giants.
They are generally anti-magic with the giant stones they carry acting both as portable holy symbols and giant magic earthing rods. He was going for a Neolithic Bronze Age/Iron age look with a wild man of the hills style. He's taken influences from pict carvings and incorporated things like the pict H-Shield and the crossbow.
Plus a bunch from the store listings, a lot of them have interesting flavour text (and all will when Rob has time to write it) athough the Albainn have fewer than most
Their intro Known to the Byzantii (and the Romanii before them) as the Pictii and renowned for their fierce savagery, the Albainn resisted their invasions for hundreds of years but resist those of others still, for many yet covet the lands in the north, wild as they are.
The brutal Norse raid the coasts of Alba with increasing ferocity, as they do most lands, yet the Fomoraic and the Érainn and the Angelcynn pose a greater threat to the seven kingdoms as their kings well know.
It is the reason Fortriu and Cait and Circin and the other descendants of Cruthin call upon their ancient pacts with greater frequency now more than ever, pacts that ensure the Oghu stones they revere awaken with primeval might and the Oghur and the Oghurüc and the Oghurithne descend from the mountains to turn back the hordes of their enemies.
Dun Durn the Albainn 'capital'
Drast the Hunched is that rarest of warriors, one whose physical impairments have not halted his reputation nor blunted his prowess on the battlefield in the slightest. A hunchback since birth and shunned by other Albainn until - aged only fifteen - he saved the life of Dúngal, Mormaer of Dun Durn, in the wilderness of Fortriu during a Dál Riatan {one of the Erainn clans} incursion, he became a member of his host and worked his way from scout to warrior to veteran in as short a time as any had ever done so. Impressed by his skill and courage despite his physical limitations, Dúngal bestowed upon him the highest honour he could; that of Hound of Dun Durn, the bearer of his personal mark into battle, and that which would be carved upon his oghu stone in memory of his deeds and life. For Drast, a warrior born into a shameful body, bearing Dúngal's banner into battle is a glory that means more to him than anything he could ever have dreamed of, and only in death would he relinquish it; and even then grudgingly, as some amongst the Albainn say.
Dungann son of Gugann is an Unund, a bringer of stone, among other things. He - like his father before him - brings the Oghu stone of his village to negate the enemies of the stone-born, and lately the enemies of Fortriu and of all Alba also. The lord of Fortriu, Talorc son of Uuid, speaks to the Oghurithne, the Oghur and the Oghurüc and understands the power of the Oghu, and whilst he may seek to exploit that power for his own and his kingdom's ends, the Oghurithne know that Talorc also reveres the Oghu as they do - and as men of old did. Thus, Dungann joins the Albainn against their mutual enemies without pause for thought, knowing the Oghu stone he draws behind him is as important to the Albainn as it is to the Oghurithne.
and a couple of the Giants
The Giants of old suffered much at the hands of men, not least their exile to the places that men dare not go, where lie forces and beings unknown to the world, things that crawled or flew undisturbed until the Giants came and were then changed by their meeting. In time came the Oghurüc, deviant Giants with foul dispositions and a single eye that many believe can see into the soul, hateful creatures that revere their gods through the suffering of others. Magágg is one such, an Oghurüc of wild nature that descends into the world of men to appease his gods, sacrificing the undefiled thus found upon menhirs of rune-bound stone within circles of others, the oghu circles that the Albainn revere as pathways to the underworld. Life begets life, and through sacrifice the Oghurüc believe they are atoning for the sins of their own lives and thus eventually return to the forms they once had. Gods, however, are nothing if not fickle, and thus far the Oghurüc remain the vile creatures they are.
In the bleak lands of the Albainn where the mountains scrape the sky live many creatures of evil temperament but none evince more terror and revulsion than the savage, bestial Oghurüc, long-legged giants of hoof and horn that legend tells were created to protect the meeting places of the gods, the Oghu circles that puncture the landscapes of the bitter north. Cormorágg is one such, an Oghurüc from myth that lives alone amongst the highest peaks and the darkest caverns of Moreb, marking his territory with the bodies of those that wander too close to the ancient monuments in stone within his realm. His purpose is clear even to those who know nothing of these lands, for whilst the gods may have forsaken the oghu circles the Albainn and, indeed, the Oghur have not, and they dare not make their pleas to a forgotten pantheon without appeasing their bestial kin beforehand lest they fall prey to the savage retribution that defilers deserve.
So I just found this on Kickstarter. The previous KS from Mierce were not for me, but this one looks nice and like a good start.
However, I would be more interested in using the Tarvax as Bullgors for AoS. I can't find a decent size comparison though, they are on 50mm (GW on 40mm). Can anyone help me?
Hanskrampf wrote: So I just found this on Kickstarter. The previous KS from Mierce were not for me, but this one looks nice and like a good start. However, I would be more interested in using the Tarvax as Bullgors for AoS. I can't find a decent size comparison though, they are on 50mm (GW on 40mm). Can anyone help me?
Have a gander through this as Ryan (a regular backer) has put together a series of scale comparison photos. Specifically:
FWIW I had them on 40mm temporary bases for painting and that worked OK (ish). You'll be fine fielding them on 40mm even if it might look a bit cramped.
Pledged for a set of the Hrafnmann. I've been eyeballing Mierce for years now, figured I'd finally jump in. I might even get the rulebook so I could, in theory, play the game. (Although considering I played about... 4-5 games of 40k/AoS/Malifaux combined last year... worrying about rules isn't a big issue for me.)
Lansirill wrote: Pledged for a set of the Hrafnmann. I've been eyeballing Mierce for years now, figured I'd finally jump in. I might even get the rulebook so I could, in theory, play the game. (Although considering I played about... 4-5 games of 40k/AoS/Malifaux combined last year... worrying about rules isn't a big issue for me.)
As always, view in Adobe Reader, not online, to get the best view; and please use the 2-page view as well.
It'll be on the front page shortly!
Still somewhat in draft form, it needs to be adjusted somewhat to be printed, but that should occur very soon.
Enjoy...
Here's the first update for Darklands: Starter Hosts, and it's a cracker - it's the new Gul-Gabrax Infantry Starter Host, set at £7,500 to unlock - so we're already there!
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) to purchase the Gul-Gabrax Infantry Starter Host in metal (note that Praach can only be in resin) or £100 ($130) to purchase the Gul-Gabrax Infantry Starter Host in resin.
The Gul-Gabrax Infantry Starter Host contains one totally new miniature - the Unhelmed Chaaruch the Despoiler - so if you're a completist it may be worth your while to get a hold of him. However, he's not yet produced in metal so whilst we can ship everything else in February 2017, he'll have to wait a little while.
Note, also, that the Gul-Gabrax unit includes components to turn the banner bearer/herald into normal warriors.
Due to popular demand from many people, we've worked long and hard to bring you some fantastic Support Starter Hosts to bolster the armies of every kindred out there - or get you starting one!
Led by a commander, each Support Host features a support unit of bowmen or similar (usually ten strong, with full command) and a monstrous support unit (usually five or three strong) to batter your enemies to death from afar with. Each support host is around Encounter Battle size, or around 499 gold, and so give you a game that lasts around half an hour to an hour, depending on your experience.
These Support Starter Hosts will eventually be released later on this year, although we reserve the right to change some of the contents should better ideas enter our collective heads.
GET A GREAT DEAL WITH THE "FIVE INFANTRY HOSTS" REWARD!
These Support Starter Hosts are exactly the same price as the Infantry Starter Hosts, so any deals that apply to those also apply to the Support Hosts! That means you can get a Support Host instead of any Infantry Host as part of the "DARKLANDS STARTER BUNDLE" or get five Support Hosts with the "FIVE INFANTRY HOSTS" rewards (in metal or resin), if you're after more than one host! Pledging for this reward saves you over 50% from purchasing the contents of the hosts individually.
HOST AND INDIVIDUAL UNIT COSTS
Increase your pledge by £70 (£80 RRP) to purchase a Support Host in metal (although any 60mm or larger monstrous support units within that host will always be in resin, as denoted by the red "resin only" text next to the unit), or £100 (£120 RRP) to purchase the Infantry Host in resin.
Note that the Wihtboga Support Host, the Saethwr Support Host and the Helwr Support Host are all £80 (£90 RRP) to purchase in metal; the monstrous support units in those two hosts are much bigger than the rest and therefore much higher in price. You're getting an amazing deal, all the same!
You can purchase the units within the host individually, as noted underneath the graphic and in more detail here:
£6 metal (£7 RRP), £10 resin (£13 RRP) - Itaina, Leofwen, Archer Thera, Sunspear Kyros, Bowman Urien, Hunter Carys, Sagitta Gaius Galerius, Slinger Caitrín, Hunter Kaarstan, Archer Mildryth, Akontar Eikovra, Archer Birna, Brynhild Gunnblindi, Bow-Annik (30mm bases)
£9 metal (£10 RRP), £13 resin (£15 RRP) - Garric (30mm base)
£18 metal (£20 RRP), £27 resin (£30 RRP) - In IV Herod (40mm bases)
£27 metal (£30 RRP), £36 resin (£40 RRP) - Hrafnar of Stafangr (30mm bases); Hunters of Cait, The Piercing Ones, The Searing Ones (50mm bases)
£29 metal (£32 RRP), £50 resin (£55 RRP) - Aux Sag V Brictius (30mm bases)
£36 metal (£40 RRP), £58 resin (£65 RRP) - Crossbows of Dun Durn, Bowmen of Scirbroc, Ilios Watch, Ilios Vigil, Archers of Dyngonwy, Scouts of Dyngonwy, Men of Ármhach, Baart's Warband, The Sinners of Chessell Barrow, The Betrayers of Ceafor Barrow, Gukk's Javelins, Hrafnen Bowmen, Bows of Carn Dinas, Rogues of Carn Bran (30mm bases)
£45 metal (£50 RRP), £54 resin (£60 RRP) - Sigewulf's Pack (40mm bases)
£45 resin (£50 RRP) - Bholg of Acaill, Coughing Walvax, The Hateful of Mordain Grave, Firekin, Corruptors of Kraozon (60mm bases)
£90 resin (£100 RRP) - Guliant's Web, Cocneidr of Cwm Du, Cogwyferniau of Ceredigion
Note that you are only given 10% off the individual RRPs - we want to make you purchase the hosts!
Some Support Hosts Can Ship in February!
Many of the Support Hosts are effectively pre-releases here - with them being just about the same as the eventual released host later on this year. Any host that does not have the yellow "Wave 16" or "Wave 17" banner can be shipped in February, in either resin or metal!
Here's a full breakdown of what should be shipped when in terms of support hosts:
Wave 0 (February 2017): Elbharu Support Host, Maiobhanagh Support Host, Wihtboga Support Host
Wave 16 (April 2017): Ceorl Bowmen Support Host, Wihtax Support Host, Bow-Drune Support Host
Wave 17 (June 2017): Toxotes Support Host, Iliotoxotes Support Host, Saethwr Support Host, Helwr Support Host, Sagittarius Support Host, Reiver Hunter Support Host, Sávrakontar Support Host, Holumann Bowman Support Host, Rogue-Drune Support Host
Please add one shipment wave further for the metal version of each host - so a metal host from Wave 17 would be shipped in Wave 18.
Here's a full breakdown of what should be shipped when in terms of individual units:
Wave 0 (February 2017): Itaina (metal or resin), Crossbows of Dun Durn, Hunters of Cait, Leofwen, Archer Thera, Sunspear Kyros, Bowman Urien, Hunter Carys, Slinger Caitrín, Men of Ármhach, Bholg of Acaill, Coughing Walvax, Archer Mildryth, The Sinners of Chessell Barrow, Guliant's Web, The Betrayers of Ceafor Barrow, The Hateful of Mordain Grave, Brynhild Gunnblindi, Bows of Carn Dinas (metal or resin)
Wave 16 (April 2017): Bowmen of Scirbroc, Sigewulf's Pack, Hunter Kaarstan, Garric, Bow-Annik, Corruptors of Kraozon
Wave 17 (June 2017): Ilios Watch, The Piercing Ones, Ilios Vigil, The Searing Ones, Archers of Dyngonwy, Cocneidrau of Cwm Du, Scouts of Dyngonwy, Cogwyferniau of Ceredigion, Sagitta Gaius Galerius, Aux Sag V Brictius, In IV Herod, Baart's Warband, Akontar Eikovra, Gukk's Javelins, Firekin, Hrafnen Bowmen, Hrafnar of Stafangr, Rogues of Carn Bran
Please add one shipment wave further for the metal version of each unit - so a metal unit from Wave 17 would be shipped in Wave 18.
Bear in mind that we may be able to ship components from the hosts separately if you have enough shipping, earlier than the times indicated - for example, the Ysian Bow-Drune support unit can be shipped in Wave 0 in either metal or resin, if you have purchased two shipment items.
I've always seen Mierce as expensive, but with these starter Hosts I realised that isn't really true anymore. For £140 you get what I gather is a pretty nice little army, with a nice mix of infantry and monstrous creatures. Adding a big beastie would probably put it a "normal" sized army, am I correct?
Is there a good gallery of the different factions and models? The web store is a bit awkward for looking up images, and doesn't seem to be entirely complete.
Some say next month, but possibly also expect some drifting there.
Many of the other "Infantry Hosts" have varying ship dates as well.
The "Wave" shipping system can seem a bit confusing at first glance, especially since many things slip, many things may or may not ship to you depending on how many 'shipping waves' you've purchased, and sometimes one or two items you have purchased that aren't quite ready yet might hold up a lot of the other things you've purchased and are already done!
Sleanagh Aidan will be a convert of the original Aidan by Valentin Zak. He'll be armed with a spear and a shield and converted by Valentin Zak. The artwork for Sleanagh Aidan is not yet complete so the miniature he's based on is shown instead.
The Sleanagh are spearmen variants of the Maiobhanagh, armed with throwing spear and shield. The throwing spear can be used in combat and/or at range, so these guys are pretty useful if a little poorly trained. Either way, they're Mainstay infantry so very useful to an Érainn general! Due to be converted by Valentin Zak from his original Maiobhanagh miniatures.
The Bholg of Chliara are alternates of the Bholg of Acaill, the Fir Bholg Hurler unit, again sculpted by Valentin Zak. Like the Sleanagh, the Fir Bholg Throwers are armed with throwing spears and shields, and these may well come a bit keener than those of the human variety! Valentin will once more convert these guys. Again, the artwork is not yet complete so the miniatures they're based on are shown instead.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) to purchase the Sleanagh Infantry Starter Host in metal (bearing in mind the Fir Bholg Throwers must be resin) or £100 ($130) to purchase the Sleanagh Infantry Starter Host in resin.
and then this is up next with 4 or so hours to go
Grey-Fur is a totally new miniature and no doubt we'll get Benoît Cosse to sculpt him. The one you see is armed with a great cleaver, but we'll be giving him throwing daggers!
The Blade-Vras are alternates of the Spear-Vras, which are just about ready to ship. Armed with throwing daggers and not much else, these guys are annoying little beggars that will probably be converted by Benoît Cosse.
Meat-Vras are big fat mole-rats. Disgusting creatures but with a surprising turn of speed, don't let them get too close because they'll happily vomit filth and corruption all over you to soften you up for their distended bellies... armour and all! They also have rather nasty claws. You'll have to imagine the artwork for now, but they'll be on 60mm bases and will be very fat versions of Scar-Scath.
Increase your pledge by £70 ($90) to purchase the Blade-Vras Support Starter Host in metal (bearing in mind the Meat-Vras must be resin) or £100 ($130) to purchase the Blade-Vras Support Starter Host in resin.
and it's not impossible we might need the £20K stretch goal you can vote for here
15k really is not that much. I think they need to start each KS with ... "more".
At the moment it is "just" an awesome way to get "older" kickstarter miniatures. Its so little each time that gets added.
I only get the Ysian miniatures and as far as I can tell.. there is absolutely nothing for me this time. I would've spent about 100 pounds.. but now I'm only in for just 10 pounds to get access.
primalexile wrote: Bummed I missed this Kickstarter, Kingdom Death overshadowed this completely for me, by the time I noticed this thread it had ended.
An army of Jutes would be awesome!
contact Rob (either via the KS function or directly via the mierce site) and ask if you can be a late backer, he's likely to say yes
I was wondering that on no-claw's burrow, since they are alts of the spear vras, which were sculpted with armor. It would take a complete resculpt to make them unarmored. Perhaps it was old artwork?
It's a biggie, this Friday update, for we have news of the last starter host from this project to be produced in metal... the Demilegionarii!
The Byzantii Demilegionarius Starter Host has arrived, and yet again we think they've turned out brilliant in metal!
The first samples of the Byzantii DemilegionariusStarter Host are with us and they are excellent; they've been passed to production and we hope they should make it into Wave 15... but it's possible they'll have to be shipped as part of Wave 16, we'll see.
Erebius, Nervor, Quintus Crito, Bareheaded Quintus Crito, Judas and Martis
Terentius, Duilius and Nazarius
That's all the starter hosts for this project done and dusted!
Tim Prow's completed work on Conjunct X and he's looking awesome... and nasty!
Welcome to this, the first update on Darklands: Savage Hordes in 2017... and it's a superb one, for the Ceorl Bowmen are done!
This week we have shots of that superb unit of Anglecynn humans from Stéphane Camosseto, the Ceorl Bowmen. These guys are simply amazing!
The Ceorl Bowmen are now complete! Somehow we've managed to completely misname them previously; the names used are actually the names of the Freemen, these are the names of the Bowmen.
The champion of the unit is Olric. He's been done for a while, but we thought we'd show him here again as the unit's complete.
He looks absolutely great!
The female warrior of the unit is Mardith, and she looks stunning.
She's now complete!
The awesome Weyn is now complete, too!
He looks pretty mean. Somebody must have stolen his bacon butty this morning.
Gutch was previously completed, but he's still worth a show here...
An excellent sculpt.
Again, Erweyn was previously shown but out of completeness, here he is again...
Wave 16 will be the shipment for these guys, and we're hoping to get them done in metal for that same shipment wave too.
The amazing Gāsts have now been printed! Rejoice! We thought we'd better show you the prints before we get started on moulding them...
The champion of the unit is Anlāf, a mighty warrior in his own right... once...
A beautiful miniature!
Grændal is a warrior of the unit and utterly superb.
We absolutely love how this guy has turned out, especially the helm.
The last warrior of the unit is Wadæc!
Because the prints are so late we've had to push these guys back to Wave 16. We'll try to get them out as part of Wave 15, but it's unlikely...
We've had Zethag produced in metal now, too, thanks to a bit of spare room on the Demilegionarius mould from Darklands: Metal Age.
She should be a Wave 15 shipment.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Final one for today:
Of Crabs, Barnacles, Limpets and Starfish
Welcome to this, the first update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters in 2017, and it's a beautiful one!
This week we have something for the Conand realm of the Fomoraic thanks to the awesome talents of Bob Płociennik!
Conand's realm would be full of sea creatures, of course, and whilst the ideas were easy, the execution would have to be something special. We're happy to say that Bob Płociennik has worked digital miracles on Thuulac... as you can see!
Now, the version you see here is Encrusted Thuulac, which will be a special edition version of Thuulac at some point; he'll be more expensive than standard Thuulac so please don't ask us to swap him, you'll have to be refunded. We'll pop Encrusted Thuulac on the website later on today, in the same category. In the game, Encrusted Thuulac will have a bit more armour and CONSTITUTION.
Unfortunately Bob has only sent us parts pics of the standard Thuulac (the one funded by this project), because he is clearly a Thuul of a Took. Ho ho ho!
Ahem. Anyway, here's Thuulac without barnacles, limpets and starfish, and you can see how he fits together too. The legs have plugs, but if you chop those plugs off you have an easily poseable ball-joint; the best of both worlds!
Encrusted Thuulac looks quite cool! Is probably go for the refund option and purchase it separately if I'd pledged for the other, but it'd be a lot easier to compare with assembled pics.
I have the mammoth, it is awesome.
Not too fond of that paint job though...
It's technically brilliant of course, nor the color choices...
Tusks are too dark, fur too light, skin too pink.
Just my 2c...
Yer, the rules are very clunky, I can't see how this would be an enjoyable game to play, you'd spend so long arguing over rules...
lucky I just paint minis, so matter not to me
Not a chance. The rules are expansive, but the majority of it is just the actions. The base rules are pretty straight forward. And there's very little room for interpretation, they are very tight in what you can and can't do.
Not a chance. The rules are expansive, but the majority of it is just the actions. The base rules are pretty straight forward. And there's very little room for interpretation, they are very tight in what you can and can't do.
Agreed!
Sure, there's a lot there, but there's a lot less 'open to interpretation' here vs. a typical GW game!
I've tried to get friends interested however the large rulebook is very intimidating, in a program a VHS sort of way. Though as folks have said there's not much to argue over.
The real difficulty is getting a starter set, or missing out on kickstarter savings. You can't see them on the webstore unless you participate in a kickstarter. So the few folks that are interested have to wait until a kickstarter appears (and inevitably some are kickstarter shy despite Mierce's kickstarter record) and it generally all falls apart. I know the starter sets have been promised for a long time at a higher price but it's yet to materialise.
So if you love painting or have a good proxy army ready to go (I'm thinking the next one I might get some expensive Frostgrave warbands) take the plunge. Otherwise I don't think the game has really taken off outside of a few areas in England where Mierce can show it off in person. I'd love to be corrected however.
if you fancy joining be aware that Rob has to manually authorise your request (as otherwise it gets swamped with spambots) so it won't come through instantly), but if you've not heard back within a week or so poke him via the contact form on the store website
Also, two things: ask us for any additional Kindred (read: faction) info and also google! Many names, places and the like usually have a real historical or mythical reference. For example, the Ysians, if you google Ys or Ker-Ys you'll get a fascinating legend and it will give you an idea of them and what they are like (depraved madmen)!
I think after spending enough time with the game/ lore/ figures and such, you do in fact get used to the names, as well as the conventions on how the names are built.
Now getting a game in on the other hand... I can't recall how long I've had the rules and still haven't digested everything in there.
My home still hasn't graduated from Song of Blades & Heroes yet.
The Mammoth is nice, but it still seems like you're paying a lot for a huge model that is mostly fur. Compared to other large, expensive models, it seems tame.
kestral wrote: The Mammoth is nice, but it still seems like you're paying a lot for a huge model that is mostly fur. Compared to other large, expensive models, it seems tame.
I don't understand this complaint. It's a Mammoth, of course it will be covered in fur!
Also, it doesn't seem tame to me. Quite the opposite, it seems rather wild
I keep thinking that one of these days, or month, or years, when I have some extra time, I am going to go through the rulebook and rewrite it. The rules are not bad exactly, but the layout and organization of the rules and their very atomized structure makes it sort of a pain to read through. I love rule books generally, collecting them for games I don't even play (and likely never will). Every time I read the Mierce book's organization, with subheadings that go down 3-4 levels frequently, it makes me cringe a bit. I have written massive business design documents that were less complicated.
The rules are deliciously crunchy and detailed, however, don't get me wrong. They just need a much better editor for the book, and probably someone to streamline things a bit, as there are a lot of rules that seem to do the same thing.
Wehrkind wrote: I keep thinking that one of these days, or month, or years, when I have some extra time, I am going to go through the rulebook and rewrite it. The rules are not bad exactly, but the layout and organization of the rules and their very atomized structure makes it sort of a pain to read through. I love rule books generally, collecting them for games I don't even play (and likely never will). Every time I read the Mierce book's organization, with subheadings that go down 3-4 levels frequently, it makes me cringe a bit. I have written massive business design documents that were less complicated.
The rules are deliciously crunchy and detailed, however, don't get me wrong. They just need a much better editor for the book, and probably someone to streamline things a bit, as there are a lot of rules that seem to do the same thing.
This is very true, the style of writing is not conducive to easy comprehension.
The entire rule book was available as a PDF before the printed version was published, that's now been withdrawn. According to Rob, that's because he "has books to sell"
I think that's a mistake, the money is in the minis, giving away a PDF version only gets the word out easier and to more people.
I have a fair amount of the minis but would never buy the rule book.
Me and friends read some of the pdf rules when they were out and found them overly complex when most games are trying to simpler and easier for new players to understand.
Is sad that they are making very nice minis but have very little idea of how to do an effective rules system that might actually interest gamers into playing it.
The names actually keep me from gaining any interest in the game. I have struggled through the store many times trying to find that miniature I contemplated buying some earlier time.
I can only imagine what the examples in the book are like:
"The Ygryneth Swainhwerf is striking with his Ygryneth Ilefuwral Blade against the Brynaithe Celtjahrl Cataphracti...."
I did finally manage to find and buy the very nice ice bear Mierce makes, which with some filing fits well as Kislev Sons of Ursun, so I can vouch for the miniatures being really good looking, high quality and great for use in other games
I do agree on the topic of names... I know why they're doing it, but the words are just too strange even for us nerds. And I have studied old English and middle English literature....
The whole process of getting into Mierce stuff is incredibly arcane!
As well as the names issue and the 1970s style unnecessarily complex rulebook, you have the various issues involved in buying their stuff. You could back a KS and wait a year, but that hardly helps if the goal is to get people playing. Or you could go to their website and order there, but even on the regular website, there are several miniatures for sale with "No Image". If you are able to log in and thus get access to all the secret sections with former KS minis in, it feels like most of them have "No Image". So rather than the seller showing you a pic of the item they want to sell you, you have to trawl through the web in hopes that a fan might have an image of the mini on their personal page, or maybe trawl through old KS. Figuring out when such a mini might get shipped to you, and which of the various, equally Byzantine shipping options that you might or might not have to pay for depending on whether it's covered by Mierce's free shipping deal or not.... Well, let's just say that at this point I can't tell whether the various obfuscations are a bungled attempt to add mystery and therefore interest in the minis (come on, guys, you are selling boutique minis that are some of the best in the world... you don't need gimmicks!), or Mierce really are just completely disorganised and clueless when it comes to the day-to-day running-a-business-and-webstore stuff (if, geniuses when it comes to organising amazing artists and sculptors).
On the names front, I think the problem is specifically gaming with them. I had hoped Mierce might add a modifier (like, Ygggrwig Bloodtracker - then you can use the shorthand Bloodtracker, but still have the full name) to help folks actually be able to pronounce / refer to what a model is.
Another option, besides a modifier, is a translation. On the Mierce page, here's how they describe one of their popular monsters:
Mierce Miniatures wrote:Thus is Blood-Maw - Blód-munnr in the Norse tongue - as terrifying to the Skilfings as it is to their enemies...
I've referred to this model in-person more than any other, and the fact that there is a translation of the name plays a huge role in that!
It is Mierce's world and they should definitely stick with the naming system they like, especially for background/fluff/etc. But something like this is just too simple of a way for folks to actually be able to refer to models not to do it! I really hope they eventually give most of their models the same treatment as they did this one, so gamers can talk about them and game with them, too
chaos45 wrote: I have a fair amount of the minis but would never buy the rule book.
Me and friends read some of the pdf rules when they were out and found them overly complex when most games are trying to simpler and easier for new players to understand.
Is sad that they are making very nice minis but have very little idea of how to do an effective rules system that might actually interest gamers into playing it.
Well, you just answered it - most other games are trying to be simpler. But there is always a market for very granular rules - Multi-Man Publishing sells out completely out of every print run of every supplement for Advanced Squad Leader - usually selling out through preorders alone. And it's all pretty damn expensive. And ASL is basically the most complex wargame on the market. Darklands is the ASL of miniatures gaming.
After a break thanks to the Chrimbo holidays and sculptors taking time for themselves for a change, here's an update for Darklands: New Kindreds...
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Andrew May;
an updated list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let us begin!
We've something for the Infernii this week, thanks to the ministrations of the indefatigable Andrew May...
It's been a while in coming but Armoured Scecchus is complete!
He should be a Wave 16 shipment.
Next up for Andrew is Jöllu (great axe and two axe versions), closely followed by Dairdubh...
MIGHTY MONSTERS:
Update #30
Feb 3 2017
Earth-Sea
We have another superb update for you regarding Darklands: Mighty Monsters on this fine Friday... creatures from the sea and creatures from the earth!
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Allan Carrasco and Bob Płociennik;
an updated list of sculptors and sculpts for this project;
a list of what ships, when;
...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Once more, this week we have something for the Conand realm of the Fomoraic thanks to the awesome talents of Bob Płociennik; but we now have something for the Érainn thanks to the even awesomer talents of Allan Carrasco...
Allan's work on the Bog Beast, Mórannach, was nothing short of sublime: so we're expecting great things from him on the Peat Beasts...
Gainn is the champion of the Beasts of Machairá Peat and he's looking great so far...
Here's a scale shot...
These guys will be a Wave 18 shipment; we do have to cast Gainn and send him back to Allan so he has something to work from however, so we'll see...
Whilst Gainn is being cast, Allan will be getting Crémharunc (the amazing earth beast!) sorted. It's very early days - just an armature - but as you can see, he's looking awesome...
Here's what he should look like when finished!
Last time around we showed you Encrusted Thuulac, mostly, so here's the original Thuulac thanks to Bob Płociennik!
Thuulac will be a Wave 18 (August) shipment (not Wave 17)!
Fresh from his amazing work on Thuulac, Bob Płociennik has begun sculpting the Nucránc Unit and they are, rather predictably, looking superb...
The first warrior to be done is Gonuu, and he looks very mean indeed...
Here's a scale shot... remember, these guys are on 80mm bases.
The Scuttling Nucránca should be a Wave 18 shipment!
There's almost no doubt that they'd benefit from a more WFB and/or simpler approach too though.
Or, having Wehrkind do that "Fan Edit" he threatened to do a while back!
I disagree 100%. There's already rulesets out there that you can easily use for Mierce models - Adv.ASOBAH, even AoS (my buddy uses his Sronax as Dragon Ogres in his Chaos AOS army)
Or, if you prefer the "more WFB" then, use 'em in WFB or Ninth Age or, obviously, Kings of War (as I have used many Mierce models in my KoW armies)
I rather like the density of Darklands... there's nothing else like it on the market. I don't think they'd benefit in the least bit by have a simpler WFB clone - witness Shieldwolf's WFB clone game that disappeared within a year because they embraced another WFB clone, Ninth Age. It'd just be another Ruleset Generica that no one played. Darklands is something special.
So let me get this right. People are arguing that because their is a lot of simpler rulesets coming out this ruleset should be simpler? In other words meet a need that's already been met! Lol pitch fulfilling a need that's already been fulfilled several times over to an investor and see how that goes.
You're arguing against something people aren't saying, DrNo (and I mean that sincerely / not as an insult). Look at the point of Alpharius' posts or most of the discussion last page - the problem is the layout / organization / editing, not the "crunchiness" (term used last page, not mine ) of the rules.
One example given was several differently named rules doing the same thing - Warmachine moved to remove this in their latest edition, for instance. No harm in as little constructive criticism, I think, better to get people taking about the rules and game than not!
I really love that Peat Beast size, hoping they turn out as awesome as the prior bigger one
"There's almost no doubt that they'd benefit from a more WFB and/or simpler approach too though."
I'm saying this is wrong from a business sense, unless I misinterpreted what he said. I'm saying it would not do better if the rules were simpler. I wholeheartedly agree that the book needed an editor, I suspect though that Mierce is woefully understaffed (based on my orders saying packing for over a month at a time sometimes), and I also suspect they spend the majority of their revenue on booking sculptors up in the foreseeable future out of fear that they will lose them. I still think spending a little on an editor would have been a good idea if not for having a better polished product which is important for leaving an impression on your customer. The index is almost entirely useless. Having said that the game is perfectly playable despite parts of the book being a mess.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Honestly though I won't argue about it any more. It's pointless and derailing so I apologize for that. Yes book needs an editor bad, hopefully when ten years from now we get the Muster Book they will work on version 2.0 lol . Damn if the minis ain't sweet though I just recently finished building my Hrafnmann Jarl.
RiTides wrote: You're arguing against something people aren't saying, DrNo (and I mean that sincerely / not as an insult). Look at the point of Alpharius' posts or most of the discussion last page - the problem is the layout / organization / editing, not the "crunchiness" (term used last page, not mine ) of the rules.
One example given was several differently named rules doing the same thing - Warmachine moved to remove this in their latest edition, for instance. No harm in as little constructive criticism, I think, better to get people taking about the rules and game than not!
I really love that Peat Beast size, hoping they turn out as awesome as the prior bigger one
Egil Deadhand cares not for your PEATBEAST! Hehe, I love my Hrafn dudes. I'm actually running a demo day on March for at my local LGS, so will see how it goes. Will be using mostly the new quickstart rules though which are super super simple. Then will play a full game with my buddy so people can see what that looks like in action.
The biggest problem with the Darklands rulebook isn't the rules- it's the lack of all the background and fluff that eventually will end up in another book entirely.
Also not enough new art to please the art elitist inside of me.
That giant mound of dirt with limbs is going to be massive. I might get one for my "Take back the land" clan of assorted earth elementals.
For Song of Blades and Heroes.
I sure as hell ain't playing any stinky human kindreds in Darklands.
highlord tamburlaine wrote: The biggest problem with the Darklands rulebook isn't the rules- it's the lack of all the background and fluff that eventually will end up in another book entirely.
I too was very miffed by this, the little that was in the main rulebook just made me really want more. But there's no telling when the Muster book will be released as they keep coming up with new units. They may need to just release the Muster rules with what units already exist in the musters now and make faction books or something for future ones at this point.
That's a nice enough birdman, but Alpharius is right, I'm all about the earth creatures . The skeleton for the big one is massive, and depending on how it turns out I might have to add it on!
Doug and DrNo have it right; I could easily (and I do mean easily) dumb Darklands down into an AoS clone. What is the point? It would just be another simple game in an industry stuffed with simple games, as if we're all too thick to play something complex. Sure, some people don't like complex games - that's up to them. But if you take the time and effort, Darklands is worth it (but then I would say that).
Darklands is game that rewards you every time you play, and I mean that sincerely: it makes you think about what you are doing, it is incredibly tactical, the battlefield is 360 degrees threat once flanking and scouting is used, it enables you to do pretty much anything in any order, it is as realistic as possible and it attempts to make the experience very smooth once the "golden rules" are in your head.
The rule book is not ideal, no rule book ever is, but neither is it the duffer some would have you believe. Frankly I think the attention span of many gamers these days is just not what it was when I first started playing wargames. That's not intended as an insult, just an observation. Perhaps Darklands is just not for some of you.
Once you get used to how the rule book is laid out it becomes a lot easier to read. It is a technical manual, not a story, and I defy anyone to tell me they learned how to play a game by reading the rule book and understanding the rules by rote first. You play, with a friend or using basic rules, then go back to the rule book, then play again, go back to the rule book, until it settles in your brain. The summaries enable you to play in a basic fashion, and if you need more detail, it's there. Hordes and Warmachine had me stumped for a long time until I worked out what they were getting at and I had played it a few times.
As well as that, the Quick Play Guide now gives you a very easy introduction as to how the game works; it's taken me way too long to get that done, for which I can only apologise, but it will be included with every starter host when they're released.
Lastly, I had one day - well, a working day, so about 6 hours - to get the index done before the printers had to have the final copy; and whilst I admit I should have got a replacement index done since then, very few people have bothered me about it (two, maybe?) and businesses are all about time management. We are indeed understaffed, but then any business could say that. All I can say is, a revised index is coming.
I think most people are offering constructive criticism as they'd like to see the game grow.
I've always been a fan of 'more complex' vs 'simple for simplicity's sake', and it is certainly clear that you stick to your convictions!
Will the somewhat inscrutable names, dense rulebook and miniature availability/Kickstarter model limit the growth of the Darklands Game and 'Brand'?
Maybe?
GW blowing up WFB and creating AoS seems to have limited people's desire for 'counts as' stuff, so games these days seemingly have to "stand on their own" more now than before.
And Darklands certainly does stand apart and on its own!
Good to hear that an updated index is on the way too - that will help quite a bit!
I appreciate the post, thank you for reading and keeping an eye on things here!
However, as DrNo already acknowledged above, if what you got from the discussion last page is that folks want Darklands to be like AoS, you missed the point of the constructive criticism.
I'll poke Wehrkind to elaborate further on some specifics. He's the person who can grasp complex rulesets faster than anyone I have ever met - for example, I always stick to a handful so I can learn them well enough, and he's constantly learning new ones for "fun" . He was rewriting a custom fantasy ruleset for the longest time, as well, and we've played the same games against one another for years. So it's not that he's jumping between games, he just has the brain for them! He's also a professor of economics, for what that's worth
I say all that just to explain that some of the feedback you're getting is from people who really could give good insight for future rule editions and the like. I hope you'll consider it and not just think it's from people with short attention spans - indeed, I don't think that can be true of most Darklands fans, the world is like an onion with hidden layers that you can only get to by paying close attention! I think "crunchy" rules fit that perfectly - but there's always room to improve, too
I've definitely enjoyed complex rulesets in the past, and still do on occasion (Rogue Stars and Infinity being two recent ones that spring to mind and that are close to the top of my list of preferred wargames).
However, I think the market has changed considerably in the past 30-odd years, as has best practice game design, and both of these things are for the better.
Part of the reason that miniatures wargames have a big, healthy worldwide market right now is that they are no longer seen as the sole preserve of computer programmers, engineers, historians, and professors of economics. That definitely doesn't mean that there is no market for a complex game, and of course a big overall market can mean quite the opposite -- that there's room for more niche rulesets. But, the more technical manual style of ruleset very much came out of the era when wargames were overall a much more niche hobby. Make a rulebook that looks like the manuals your target market reads for work, and you make those people happy but you also create a second barrier to entry *in addition to* the complexity of the ruleset, for anyone who isn't an engineer, programmer, or grognard.
In terms of game design best practice, the leading edge in non-digital games, whether it's the best of the miniatures wargames, RPGs, non-miniatures wargames, or anything else, is at least somewhat influenced by the rise and rise in Eurogames over the past twenty-odd years. That, too, is where you'll find another huge potential market for complex games. It's just that most of the complexity in most of those games comes from finely finessed playtesting of a relatively simple ruleset that has a hugely complex strategic web of interactions and syntheses.
And then you have the whole issue of whether it's worth selling your rules or you should give them away free. These days I'm more and more inclined to the latter perspective, even for tabletop RPGs where you don't have the core game primarily being there to drive sales of your miniatures. I think for niche rulesets there's even more reason to do that.
I was hoping to try out the QS ruleset but haven't persuaded my most regular opponent (my teenage son) to give it a shot yet. He prefers KoW. And that's another way the market has changed in the past 30-odd years: a lot of us grognards are as likely to play with our families now as at a club or shop. A game that supports that, but that has the kind of strategic depth to satisfy the grognards too... is going to look even more like a Euro. So, I think that's the optimal starting point. For 2nd edition, like. Maybe hire Eric D. Lang to write it. That guy absolutely combines the best of old school game design with the best of Eurogame design, and he's not done a bad game yet, and it's pretty clear he digs Northern European mythology...
Doug and DrNo have it right; I could easily (and I do mean easily) dumb Darklands down into an AoS clone. What is the point? It would just be another simple game in an industry stuffed with simple games, as if we're all too thick to play something complex. Sure, some people don't like complex games - that's up to them. But if you take the time and effort, Darklands is worth it (but then I would say that).
Darklands is game that rewards you every time you play, and I mean that sincerely: it makes you think about what you are doing, it is incredibly tactical, the battlefield is 360 degrees threat once flanking and scouting is used, it enables you to do pretty much anything in any order, it is as realistic as possible and it attempts to make the experience very smooth once the "golden rules" are in your head.
The rule book is not ideal, no rule book ever is, but neither is it the duffer some would have you believe. Frankly I think the attention span of many gamers these days is just not what it was when I first started playing wargames. That's not intended as an insult, just an observation. Perhaps Darklands is just not for some of you.
Once you get used to how the rule book is laid out it becomes a lot easier to read. It is a technical manual, not a story, and I defy anyone to tell me they learned how to play a game by reading the rule book and understanding the rules by rote first. You play, with a friend or using basic rules, then go back to the rule book, then play again, go back to the rule book, until it settles in your brain. The summaries enable you to play in a basic fashion, and if you need more detail, it's there. Hordes and Warmachine had me stumped for a long time until I worked out what they were getting at and I had played it a few times.
As well as that, the Quick Play Guide now gives you a very easy introduction as to how the game works; it's taken me way too long to get that done, for which I can only apologise, but it will be included with every starter host when they're released.
Lastly, I had one day - well, a working day, so about 6 hours - to get the index done before the printers had to have the final copy; and whilst I admit I should have got a replacement index done since then, very few people have bothered me about it (two, maybe?) and businesses are all about time management. We are indeed understaffed, but then any business could say that. All I can say is, a revised index is coming.
Cheers
Rob
Great to hear from you Rob. I think anyone who has played a hex a day counter wargame would appreciate the case format you wrote the book in. For what it's worth it think the book is beautiful despite some of the messy parts, like the index. And as I said earlier I know you keep a running FAQ on the forum every question I've ever had has already been answered there. I also feel like there was a lot of pressure from consumers to get the book out there. That's why I'm honestly glad ya'll have stuck to delaying the muster book. I'd rather have one book them several faction books, again though I'm sure the pressure is there to release it.
I think Doug made a apt comparison with ASL. ASL can look very daunting at first but once you get the hang of it you realize it's elegance and also realize many of the rules aren't in use all the time. I.E. gaze. That's when case format comes in handy because it's easy to reference what you need. I've found Darklands to be the same as ASL.
Hopefully March 4th goes well and my lgs Battlegrounds will be setting up a distribution account with ya'll.
Automatically Appended Next Post: PS. Honestly I don't even expect an index from most European rulesets lol. It's like you English guys don't like them.
Alpharius wrote: Will the somewhat inscrutable names, dense rulebook and miniature availability/Kickstarter model limit the growth of the Darklands Game and 'Brand'?
Maybe?
I've no idea, but don't expect that to change! I refuse to dumb it down, because to do so would ensure it loses a lot of its character and it wouldn't be from the heart. I'd be making something I have no interest in making, and that's a dodgy road. I have no desire to make Mierce a multi-million pound company with bazillions of staff. All I want for Darklands is that its devotees enjoy it and want more, and grow it slowly. It took ten years for Hordes and Warmachine to really take hold; Darklands hasn't even been out for a year.
As for miniature availability, sometimes this is totally out of my control (certainly is for the metals); I could throw money at it, but that would be counter-productive in the long run. Regardless, we've created nearly a thousand miniatures over five years, of which around half are available on the webstore in various ways and means. That's a lot of miniatures.
Cheers
Rob
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Ian Sturrock wrote: And then you have the whole issue of whether it's worth selling your rules or you should give them away free. These days I'm more and more inclined to the latter perspective, even for tabletop RPGs where you don't have the core game primarily being there to drive sales of your miniatures. I think for niche rulesets there's even more reason to do that.
Mierce, as a company, cannot afford to do so I'm afraid. The QPG is free; that's available now. If you're interested in the game after that, buy the rule book. If you baulk at the cost of the rule book, you'll definitely baulk at the cost of the miniatures anyway. Ask yourself another question: how many rule books / codices have you bought in the past? Is it really too much to ask that you purchase a rule book, once?
Ian Sturrock wrote: For 2nd edition, like. Maybe hire Eric D. Lang to write it. That guy absolutely combines the best of old school game design with the best of Eurogame design, and he's not done a bad game yet, and it's pretty clear he digs Northern European mythology...
I won't be hiring anybody else to write it because a) that costs money and b) I'm very happy with the rules. If there is a second edition, certain things will change, certainly in terms of indices and layout, but those will be my decisions!
Frankly, if I turned it into a much simpler game, there'll still be excuses as to why it's not played. The fact is that the popular games - AoS, H&W, KoW - have a community built from many years and many people.
Look, all defensiveness aside, Darklands is my baby, its rules are my rules, it's all been in my head for years and if I hand it over to someone else I may as well give up Mierce and dig ditches for a living. I think it's perfectly understandable once you start playing and refer back to it (index aside) but you're all approaching this in the wrong way in my view: the rule book is a technical manual, not a novel that is easy to read, and again, the QPG gives you a great start, the summaries explain everything and the videos (eventually) will run through everything.
How many of you commenters here have actually played the game? Doug and DrNo clearly have. If you haven't played it, do so - use the QPG first. If you don't like it after that, no problem! Darklands isn't for everyone.
As noted above, it feels as if the 'game scene' is changing a bit - especially in the US.
I've no problem with taking on the role of Game Evangelist.
I'm already going to have to do it for Dark Age and possibly INFINITY too in my area - I've no problem adding Darklands to that list, especially as the miniatures practically sell themselves anyway!
Yeah, it'd be the best of both worlds, honestly! The Blood Maw works so well exactly because it has both a common name / nickname and an awesome historical one
On the names, the Realm and Kindred names have a pronunciation guide. The unit names also have pronunciation guides in the individual muster PDFs. For those names that don't have a guide, well know that these names aren't just made up. They are real world historical names from real world historical languages. You should easily be able to find a pronunciation guide.
Personally I think that is one of the coolest aspects of the game is how they have tried to marry historical sources with legendary sources. The words and names used help this fact and I love it even if I can't pronounce most of it. Indeed many of the characters where real life historical people. Such as Penda of Mercia (Penda the bloody handed) who was a real life King and a fairly badass one to boot. Having helped begin the period of Mercian Supremacy.
Alpharius wrote: We've been over this many times - Rob's not going to budge on that one, and I don't think he needs to, or should.
I like the instant flavor and sense of setting many of the names give.
In the musters (lists), there's a pronunciation guide for almost everything too.
Best case scenario is we'll get something similar to what RiTides commented on above for the 'harder' names to pronounce.
After all, Blód-munnr is known as the Blood Maw to most!
DrNo172000 wrote: On the names, the Realm and Kindred names have a pronunciation guide. The unit names also have pronunciation guides in the individual muster PDFs. For those names that don't have a guide, well know that these names aren't just made up. They are real world historical names from real world historical languages. You should easily be able to find a pronunciation guide.
Personally I think that is one of the coolest aspects of the game is how they have tried to marry historical sources with legendary sources. The words and names used help this fact and I love it even if I can't pronounce most of it. Indeed many of the characters where real life historical people. Such as Penda of Mercia (Penda the bloody handed) who was a real life King and a fairly badass one to boot. Having helped begin the period of Mercian Supremacy.
Yes, duly (already) noted!
And yes, I do love the 'intersects with history' aspect here too - and I imagine that goes double for all the UK based fans!
After a break thanks to the Chrimbo holidays and sculptors taking time for themselves for a change, here's an update for Darklands: New Kindreds...
We've something for the Norse this week, thanks to the ministrations of the indefatigable Andrew May...
Andrew May's back on the Trolls and it shouldn't be long before the Trolls of Norrheim, Two Axe Troll Unit is complete.
Jöllu is the alternate of the banner bearer, Gjöll, and it's early days but he's looking good still...
Next up for Andrew is Dairdubh... Great Axe Jöllu can wait a bit longer!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
More Ceorlishness
It's another update for the Savage Hordes in 2017! Rejoice, fellow Miercenaries, for we have some finalisations to show...
This week we have almost-finished shots of that superb unit of Anglecynn humans from Stéphane Camosseto, the Ceorl Bowmen. These guys are simply amazing!
The Ceorl Bowmen are not quite complete! We missed that a couple were holding the arrow on the wrong side (they'll be fixed when they're baked), and that some of them don't have wrist guards (as anyone who's shot an arrow from a bow will tell you, that string bloody hurts).
The champion of the unit is Olric. His arrow needs swapping, but that'll be done when he's baked. His wrist guard's done though!
He looks absolutely great!
The female warrior of the unit is Mardith, and she looks stunning with a wrist guard.
She's now complete!
The awesome Weyn is now complete with a wrist guard, too!
He's a fantastic miniature, and now complete!
Gutch has a wrist guard too, now...
He's complete!
Erweyn needed a wrist guard...
Wave 16 will be the shipment for these guys, and we're hoping to get them done in metal for that same shipment wave too.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Goat-Eating Welcome to this, the first update of 2017 for Darklands: Savage Hordes II! Happy New Year and all that, even if it is February...
Just the one miniature to show this week from the arisen Yannick Fusier, who hibernates in winter just like a bear. Fact.
We've been waiting for this for ages, and finally it's happening. Yannick's work on the lovely Golgog Goat-Eater has begun! It's early days yet of course but we know many of you love these early shots...
We're hoping that he'll be ready for Wave 16.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Mighty Monsters - that earth beast!
Peat, Earth and Shore
It's time for another amazing update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters. Don't say we didn't warn you!
'Ave it!
We have something for the Conand realm of the Fomoraic again, thanks to the stupendous talents of Bob Płociennik; and we have two things for the Érainn thanks to the even stupendouser talents of Allan Carrasco...
Here's more of Allan's work on the Peat Beasts...
Gainn is the champion of the Beasts of Machairá Peat and he's looking utterly superb. So there.
These guys will be a Wave 18 shipment; Gainn needs to be cast and sent back to Allan so he has something to work from.
O Allan, how we have missed thee... Crémharunc the earth beast is taking shape, and we can't wait to hold him in our dirty paws...
Here's what he should look like when finished!
Crémharunc should be a Wave 18 shipment!
Bob Płociennik is two-thirds of the way through the Scuttling Nucránca and the world rejoiced!
The second warrior to be done is Pruul, and he looks suitably alien-like and nasty!
The Scuttling Nucránca should be a Wave 18 shipment!
So I was going through my Mierce purchases and order history and realized I had forgotten to actually order Trampling Maatmag, despite even talking to Rob about it back in November.
Well, I guess that means I'll have to get the normal Maatmag. But I can't find out what the difference is between Trampling Maatmag and the one available for order now. Anyone know?
I'm surprised no one posted the Buy One Get One Free Sale
Here at Mierce Towers we know that whilst our monsters are unique works of art totally unmatched in this universe or indeed any other, they are a fairly expensive, especially the bigger ones such as Krull or The Terror of Fortriu or Maatmäg.
That's why we're giving a monster away for FREE if you purchase any monster from our webstore, starting now until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 27th of February 2017!
How do I choose the free monster?
All you need to do is purchase a monster, and when you go through the basket simply input which free monster you'd like in the "special instructions" box. The only qualification is that this monster must be one from the list below, and it must be either cheaper than or equal in price to the monster you are purchasing! As well as that, you can purchase as many monsters as you'd like and you'll still get a free monster for each one!
What's on offer?
Pretty much any monster is covered by this offer - so, Darklands monsters and BaneLegions monsters - with only Kickstarter monsters not a part of it. Even so, there's so many monsters in our range that you're spoilt for choice!
Your "Buy one monster, get one monster free" offer ends on Monday the 27th of February 2017 at midnight (GMT), and you really do have some superb monsters to spend your hard-earned cash on!
Not only can you get your hands on some of our quite amazing back catalogue, such as Krull or The Terror of Fortriu or Angrislaug or tons of others, there's also our superb new releases, such as Cúlaítar, Papworth the Pillager or the utterly stunning Maatmäg (shown above) or Hammer-Druc!
The voucher will work on all the Darklands and BaneLegions monsters within our webstore, but here's a full list so it's nice and clear:
judgedoug wrote: Anyone have any tips on magnetizing Darklands models? Bases are kinda thin.
I use:
3mm x 1mm Disc - Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet
6mm x 1mm Disc - Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet
Generally I go with 3 on the underside of the base, one in the center area and two in the outer pockets to create stability for transit. The 1mm thickness applied to parts without text, sit flush with the base and doesn't create any unevenness.
judgedoug wrote: Anyone have any tips on magnetizing Darklands models? Bases are kinda thin.
I use:
3mm x 1mm Disc - Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet
6mm x 1mm Disc - Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet
Generally I go with 3 on the underside of the base, one in the center area and two in the outer pockets to create stability for transit. The 1mm thickness applied to parts without text, sit flush with the base and doesn't create any unevenness.
Perfect! I theoretically have several hundred 5mm x 1mm disc magnets I bought a while back. Just gotta find 'em...
That's pretty inspired. Dungeon Crawlers are a fun type of game, and it gives all those people with massively esoteric Mierce collections a medium to use them in and a reason to buy more models.
If it's got good rules and keeps to usual Mierce quality standards, this deserves to be huge.
I own quite a lot of Mierce miniatures having backed most of their kickstarters to at least some degree, love them (even though not one of them has ever seen glue, let alone paint) and I like the lore.
However, after trying on a few occasions to make my way through the most brutal rulebook I've ever seen, I'm fairly confident that I'll never, ever play a game of Darklands. Not sure I'll even open the Savage Hordes book should it ever turn up. Any update on this by the way?
This dungeon crawler is hugely appealling to me, but it just has to play smoothly and quickly. If the rulebook is anymore than 40 pages, honestly, I'll probably pass.
I'm trying to stay away from KS these days due to money/time/space constraints but I will be very tempted by this. If it looks like a quick, fluid ruleset, if the quality looks good (which I would expect) and, crucially, if it's reasonably priced, this'll be hard to turn down.
Juicy. Here's some snippets Rob was willing to divulge:
Darkholds is a dungeon crawler boardgame - think Space Hulk crossed with Zombicide - containing lots of undead (including Wihtgar, Wihtboga, Wihtax, Gasts, Dreaguth and Tomb Spider) and six heroes, all in plastic. It's heroes versus the game.
The heroes are Carrowek, Penda, Nerys, Gnith and Sáthach, plus a special KS only miniature that you can ONLY get if you purchase the boardgame, Morag of Mann. You can't get her separately and she will only be available during the Kickstarter. The retail version won't include her.
That's all you're getting for the time being..
the heroes are infiltrating a Jute barrow, in order to learn the secret of un-life... and get some treasure along the way!
if Darkholds is successful, expect a visit to a snowbound, Gabrax-infested forest...
On the type of plastic:
not sure yet, simply put. Depends on funds raised more than anything else.
Sweet, hopefully I get my previous Metal Age KS stuff before this goes live as I would love to back it. It'll be 2 years in a few months when Metal Age was completed, not great IMO and won't back another until I get them.
It's a biggie, this Friday update, for we have news of the last starter host from this project to be produced in metal... the Demilegionarii!
Let's go!
Just the one update this week, and it's thanks to the lovely Tim Prow...
The slightly ugly Gogg is of course a conversion of the Norse Jötunn, Mjagnir, adding hooves and gianty heads and a different weapon for added bashing variety to become a Moroghurüc!
We felt that the weapon was a bit weedy, so we got Tim to beef it up and make his hooves a bit larger to boot.
Gogg will be a Wave 16 shipment!
Bogogg is Gogg's less cyclopean contemporary but still looks great regardless...
Final head:
He'll get the beefed up weapon and longer hooves, and he'll be a Wave 16 shipment too.
ALL FIFTEEN STARTER HOSTS HAVE SHIPPED / ARE SHIPPING!
Yes! Finally we have all of the starter hosts from this project shipped or shipping! The Albainn Gairlom, Anglecynn Duguth, Anglecynn Gesith, Brythoniaid Teulu, Brythoniaid Rhyfelwr, Byzantii Legionarius, Érainn Tuanagh, Fomoraic Gabrax, Fomoraic Warriors of Baalor, Jute Wihtgār, Norse Holumann, Ysian Ax-Drune and Ysian Bow-Drune Infantry Hosts have all been shipped (as well as the individual miniatures within them); and the last two - the Atalantes Oplites and Byzantii Demilegionarius Infantry Hosts - are now shipping as I write.
If your hosts from this project haven't been shipped by now, that means you either:
don't have enough shipment items to justify separate shipments or you don't have any shipment items at all;
or you have some resin miniatures on order which need to be cast.
Note that if you have purchased similar infantry hosts from other projects, such as Savage Hordes or Savage Hordes II, we will only ship what we can (as many of them are different) and they are not guaranteed to have been shipped with your items from this project - and again, it depends on your shipment items.
What's Next?
It's just the remaining Drinking Companions and monsters to go, really; that shouldn't be too long and we're hopeful this project will be completed for Wave 16. We'll see!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Savage Hordes II
Here's another update in 2017 for Darklands: Savage Hordes II!
Here we go...
Another update from Yannick Fusier for you, this week, and what an update it is... as well as the start of something from Valentin Zak!
We love Yannick's work on the ogre-sized lads. Why? Just look at Golgog Goat-Eater...
Here's a scale shot...
Golgog should be ready for Wave 16, but we'll see! There's goats and chickens and other bits to add!
The lovely Valentin Zak has begun work on the Baart's Warband, Reiver Hunter Unit and whilst it's early days, you can certainly see how things are shaping up...
We are hoping these guys will be Wave 16, but I guess we'll see!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Walking angry mountain...
Well. Make sure you're sitting down for this one, folks, because it's time for the Allan Carrasco show here on Darklands: Mighty Monsters...
Let's do this!
This week we have a beast of the earth and a beast of the sea, from Allan Carrasco and Bob Płociennik respectively...
Well. Allan Carrasco, bless him, has created something extraordinary in Crémharunc. Don't just take our word for it though. Use your eyes!
That circle, by the way, is 120mm in diameter. He's huge...
Crémharunc will be a Wave 18 shipment! Although we might show him to you at Salute if you ask nicely ;o)
The Scuttling Nucránca are complete, because Bob Płociennik has finished the third warrior of the unit!
The third warrior of the unit is in fact the champion, Uulo, and his extra-gnarly crab-back marks him out as such to anyone who knows what they're looking at. To anyone else he's just a bit crustier. Hey ho.
The Scuttling Nucránca should be a Wave 18 shipment!
not sure yet, simply put. Depends on funds raised more than anything else.
This is pretty confusing. Normally you get a quote and have a manufacturer lined up before you start collecting funds. Otherwise how will you know how to set the initial funding/stretch goals? Unless maybe they have a factory lined up with 2 different types of plastic?
I'd assume these are going to be some mix of restic. Mierce hasnt worked with this material before, but at least the Jutes were CAD sculpts, so maybe they can be tweaked to account for the shrinkage? The others are traditional sculpts. Carrowek and Penda are pretty big, but Satchnath or however she's spelled would need to be redone as shes just too slight.
I have to say. I actually really want to See Mierce pull off this boardgame effort. I think that plastic manufacturing has come so far from what it was just 5 years ago that you can pretty much rest assured the quality will be there.
Well done guys. You have worked very hard and earned your victory.
Wake me from my slumber when we see a hero with scales arrive!
"Look at me! I'm shaggy humanoid number nine hundred ninety nine! Unlike the rest of my countrymen, I'm too incompetent to be able to shift from human to doggy form correctly!"
Leave it in a bowl for Chysperis to snack on!
(In all seriousness that is a nice piece of artwork though.)
Something a fair few people have been waiting for I think
Today is an excellent day, for the long-awaited metal Darklands miniatures are now available on our webstore in all their glory! Yes - we don't just produce miniatures in resin! Almost all of our existing commanders and infantry miniatures (and some smaller monstrous infantry miniatures) were re-tooled into metal as part of the Darklands: Metal Age Kickstarter project. With most of that project now shipped we thought we'd better get these metal miniatures onto the webstore and publicly available!
An example of a metal Ax-Drune, a resin Ax-Drune and an undercoated metal Ax-Drune
A scale comparison between a metal Ax-Drune and miniatures from other manufacturers
Whatever's not produced in metal for Darklands will soon be produced in metal, too - so expect more metal versions to appear on the webstore as the months pass by.
How do I purchase the metals?
Easy! If a miniature is available in metal, a light blue "BUY" button appears (along with the gold "BUY" button, which you can use to purchase the resin version). Just click that, and the metal miniature will be added to your basket!
Click the blue "BUY" button to purchase a metal miniature!
Are they in stock?
Most of the metals are in stock, and you'll be able to see how many at any one time pretty easily thanks to the live stock levels. If a metal miniature isn't in stock it will say so, and bear in mind you could be waiting a while to get hold of those as we don't cast metals in-house. In general, we won't be selling individual infantry miniatures in metal - only in unit form - unless we have a surplus.
A sample of the Jute metals!
Metals Available Now!
The metal miniatures are on the webstore, so you can purchase them right now!
and a few more of the famous Miscast bags are up for sale
I got the Welsh miscast lot -- Brythoni-something. I'm hoping I should have some bits that are useable with Frostgrave barbarians or something, though the scale may well be off.
Right! We're back on track because here's an update for Darklands: New Kindreds, and not before time!
Here we go...
Like last time, we've something for the Norse this week thanks to the ministrations of the indispensible Andrew May...
Andrew May's back on the Trolls and it shouldn't be long before the Trolls of Norrheim, Two Axe Troll Unit is complete.
Jöllu is the alternate of the banner bearer, Gjöll, and he's now done!
That means, finally, we can get a full unit of Trolls with one type of weapon released... it's taken a while, but we've got there in the end.
This guy should be a Wave 16 shipment.
Next up for Andrew is Dairdubh!
Changes to Updates
Thanks to Kickstarter changing the way updates work (i.e., I cannot now copy and paste HTML or formatted text into these updates) it's far too much work to continue to re-write and re-format the Fulfilment section, which includes what's being sculpted and when, completed sculpts, etc.
So, from now on, these updates are restricted to works in progress only, and we will store all the information about completed sculpts online, in the Kickstarter section somewhere. Please bear with us though, this may not occur until next week!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Companions for Drinking
Wahey! Finally we have some progress on the drinking companions, which means that Darklands: Metal Age is nearing completion. It's taken a while, but we're almost there!
Let's go!
We have two new drinking companions to show this week, thanks to Yannick Hennebo's hard work - the rest should be done for the next update, too!
The lovely Boozing Rollo is based upon Rollo Iron Head, of course, so named for his spectacular lack of hangovers in the morning. True fact!
Boozing Rollo should be a Wave 17 shipment - it takes time to get these guys into metal.
The even more lovely Slurping Zethag is now complete. What she's actually drinking is open to conjecture, but we do think it could be fermented bodily fluids, or something equally disgusting...
Again, Slurping Zethag will be a Wave 17 shipment.
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Goats! Goats! Goats! Chickens!
Yet another update in 2017 for Darklands: Savage Hordes II, and it's a lovely one indeed...
Here we go...
We're becoming used to Yannick Fusier's style, but he still manages to put so much character into every miniature he sculpts for us. Just check out Golgog...
Golgog Goat-Eater is now complete, and we absolutely love him. We especially love the goats around and about his person, and the chickens!
Here's a parts shot... we now have a very good collection of hip animals ;o)
Golgog will be a Wave 17 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Last one for today:
Kolossos and Troll
Here's another cracking update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters, with the usual miniatures shots and some other interesting news...
Let's go!
This week we've something for the Atalantes from Duncan Louca and something for the Norse from Andrew May...
It's been a while since we've seen anything from Duncan Louca, but the wait has been worth it. Here's the awesome Athena, Thíkolossos of Bronze!
As always with Duncan, it's a video...You'll need an HTML5 capable browser to see this content.
Play
Athena will be on an 80mm base, so roughly equivalent in size to Cormorágg of the Albainn.
She will be a Wave 18 shipment!
The Trolls of Gunnheim, Great Axe Troll Unit now has four complete warriors thanks to Andrew May's work... that leaves two more for Allan Carrasco!
The great axe variant of the vane-bearer is Jöllund, and he looks superb!
How are people liking the darklands updates these days?
I was initially very pleased with this line and backed the first 5 or 6 kickstarters, then my interest started to wane as wait times increased and a lot uncertainty seemed to be added.
Lining up one project after another, seemingly years in advance when the initial few weren't yet completed put me right off.
Got the first update I've seen in ages mailed to me today, had almost forgotten I still had minis outstanding, and decided to see how stuff is progressing.
I remembered a whole slew of kickstarters popping up one after another (which I didn't go in on, for the reasons stated above) so I thought "It's been ages since I've looked at what they're doing, there must be loads of new stuff from projects I didn't bacl and are therefore not seeing, I'll go check kickstarter / Dakka to see what's up".
So I check KS, and Dakka, and there are indeed about 10 or 12 mierce projects running atm, but the updates seem to be few and far between to say the least. I'm a bit surprised actually. WHen they had 6 or so running there would be regular updates, every month or even week it seemed sometimes, now it seems to have ground to a halt?
Updates are actually something Mierce does really well. They're also limiting the numbers of new sculpts - their latest campaign didn't have many and was mostly for existing sets (repackaged / as starters, I think?).
Your criticism is valid, of course, but the above really does help with it!
All depends on what you're after. It's best to dip in if you see something you want. To date, they have done a total of 15 kickstarters with 6 completed.
As for updates, they're usually out every two weeks barring the odd event or busy period. Turns out there's another one and they've hired a sculptor full time...
Tower of Bones
Welcome to this, the first "proper" update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters Part Deux - as we have news of the first sculpted miniatures for this project!
Here we go...
This week we have something for the Fomoraic thanks to Yannick Fusier and something for the Jutes thanks to the amazing Bob Płociennik!
Yannick Fusier seems born to sculpt Ogres, so it was only natural we'd give the Ograx to him. Here's Aadolf, the Ograx Reiver Tain! It's early days, but you can see the shape and size...
He should be a Wave 18 shipment!
Bob's work on Bānbreca is only in its early stages, but we can already see the amazingness ahead of us. This guy is going to be utterly superb...
Here's a scale shot, too! Look at the size of him!
We're hoping he'll be Wave 18 (along with the other version of him), but I guess we'll see...
Full Time Bob
A word on Bob, too: he will start work with us full time from May 1st, so after that date, expect lots and lots of updates and progressions for this project and many others!
Welcome to this, the first "proper" update for Darklands: Starter Hosts - as we have news of the first sculpted miniatures for this project!
This week we have:
sculpt work in progress updates from Andrew May / Tim Prow;
notice of a change to the way these updates work;
...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Both Andrew May and Tim Prow have worked on the first miniature sculpted for this project, for the Jutes!
The awesome Thrada - based upon Creoda, of course - has been worked upon by both Andrew May and Tim Prow, with the former doing the body and the latter the head. The results are bloody spectacular, even if we do say so ourselves!
JWBS wrote: How are people liking the darklands updates these days?
I was initially very pleased with this line and backed the first 5 or 6 kickstarters, then my interest started to wane as wait times increased and a lot uncertainty seemed to be added.
Lining up one project after another, seemingly years in advance when the initial few weren't yet completed put me right off.
Got the first update I've seen in ages mailed to me today, had almost forgotten I still had minis outstanding, and decided to see how stuff is progressing.
I remembered a whole slew of kickstarters popping up one after another (which I didn't go in on, for the reasons stated above) so I thought "It's been ages since I've looked at what they're doing, there must be loads of new stuff from projects I didn't bacl and are therefore not seeing, I'll go check kickstarter / Dakka to see what's up".
So I check KS, and Dakka, and there are indeed about 10 or 12 mierce projects running atm, but the updates seem to be few and far between to say the least. I'm a bit surprised actually. WHen they had 6 or so running there would be regular updates, every month or even week it seemed sometimes, now it seems to have ground to a halt?
I'm glad I dropped out a while ago tbh.
I'm still just as interested in general although some of the recent projects have been mainly for metal releases of resins already got or large scale hosts for players (as opposed to painter/collectors who will only want one or two of a sculpt which is more my thing) I've which means less for me to go after,
and since I pick up several shipping waves per project I've been having a steady flow of stuff arriving. I'd hate to be waiting for everything from a particular project to be finished as there's usually at least one or two things that are going to drag on and on, wether its a book, a sculpt none of the sculptors are keen on (in general most are popular enough they have more than enough work to choose from) or conversions where it's been tricky to get them done to a price that fitted with what the KS funds provided (a problem alleviated a fair bit since Andrew May & TIm Prow started doing stuff for them)
Updates are generally regular (but with the increased number of projects to report on no longer weekly as they once were) every other Friday or Mierceday as we call it, occasiponally slip a week (like last week) when Rob is busy with work (like adding all the metals to the website last week) or if he's on holiday
Galas wrote: Its Mierce/Darklands running at this moment a kickstarter? Sorry, but I'm pretty new to this of kickstarter and all the ones I see are old ones.
I love their miniatures and if I can support them (And get lovely miniatures in hte process) will be great!
Not currently, but they are having a 25% off sale, which is about what you get anyways on the kickstarters on anything other than hosts.
Voucher code is EASTER-2017, and is good through April 10th. Doesnt work on the rulebook or metals unfortunately, but that is understandable as Mierce doesn't produce those themselves.
So I received my Albainn miscast bag, and I have to say, I think I hit the jackpot... Open up the spoiler to see what's inside!
Spoiler:
First thing I noted was that I had received Gomagg the Giants legs, but then I found I also got his torso as well! Double score! There is mold slippage on his left and right legs, but nothing so bad that it can't be fixed by a little filing or judicious use of green stuff. His upper torso has a mold slip on the right side, and a bubble at the front of his stomach, but again they should be able to be fixed with some work. Now I need to figure out whether to buy replacement arms and sword (they don't seem to sell his right arm solo any more?), or have a go making my own version. Might be one of the changed versions from Banelegions Mighty Monsters Part Deux, which will explain the separate arm. I can't buy his head by itself either, so that's something I will need to find a replacement for, or attempt to sculpt myself. Rest of the missing parts are cheap enough to buy from Mierce directly, though I will likely go for a different gut plate style. Overall, ecstatic about this!
N'nhohbr'hoth, Prince of the Flies legs and horn sprue (probably got mistaken for Albainn bits, but it doesn't bother me), Magágg's left arm holding stone, back Oghu stone, shield and horn sprue. Legs has a mold slip on the right, arm has a medium sized misformed bubble cavity by where it connects to the shoulder, Oghu stone has a bubble miscast at the top of the stone, shields are missing quite a bit from the cast, and only two out of the three horns on the sprue are present. The missing horn is present on the N'nhohbr'hoth horn sprue (which has no shield on it) and has 4 horns. All of this is fine as it won't take much work to get this together. Especially as I have also received a Gorugg/Cormorágg head, minus the extra horns that come down from the sides. So all I need is a replacement right arm, and to sculpt some kind of torso for it and I should be good to go. Will likely remove the plague spots and horns on the legs if I decide to make it into a Cyclops, and make it look a little more goaty perhaps, and possibly beefing up the arms a little. A good win on this.
Oghurithne unit bits - Main body of Dungabad with bubble miscast on right arm, left arm with sword but hilt is missing spike at the end. Brugbad's left arm holding sword with missing hilt. What I think is Beglo's head perhaps, no topknot, can't really tell what the miscast is. And a spare Oghu stone, which may be from this unit, I am not sure. All in all, I should be able to get one mini from this if I get in something to replace the right arm. Again, very pleased.
Agala, Oghurithne Hunter body and sprue of quiver, knife, topknot and Oghu stone. No idea what the miscast problem was here, as it looks fine to me. Only missing crossbow arms and one topknot. From the same unit I also have Wrad's arms holding the crossbow. Should be able to work something out. Agala has a massive head for her body though, lol.
Gudhlagg, Oghur Uhmaer main body and right hand holding scythe. Body is fine except for a missing tooth on the bear pelt on his shoulder. Scythe is missing the bottom staff part to it. All in all it's also ace, as I can get the left and right arms off the Mierce site, and if needs be do something about the missing tooth. Never really felt the scythe worked too much on this mini, so removing and replacing it wouldn't be difficult. Another great win.
Domnech, Sagart of Dun Durn body - Miscast on right arm. This guy is tiny compared to the rest of the human figures you can get from Mierce! No idea what he would be good for. Easily converted or fixed if I need to though.
Dun Durn miniatures - 3 bodies (Nectan, Gairlom Banner Bearer with missing foot and bubble at nose; Galan, Champion of the Crossbow Dun Durn body missing right foot sprue with only a right arm holding a sword and his disembodied right foot attached to a rock; Smertae, Gairlom Warrior complete sprue, with spear tip missing due to bubble), a shield but with no attached arm (must be Brusta, the unit champion's back shield), and Fidaich's right arm holding a spear. No idea what I might do with these dudes, as they're so small. With the miscasts on them, I might be able to turn them into additional Lord of the Rings Army of the Dead miniatures and mix them in there, removing the legs and making longer rags. Not sure. Will hold off for the moment.
Overall, a really fantastic haul. If you have a chance to grab one of these, you should do so, they're chock full of value if you don't mind taking the time to do some alterations, or just for some extra bits to have on hand for kitbashing other miniatures.
If they don't sell certain parts of a minitures, just send them an E-Mail and ask nicely. Did so once and they immediately opened that hero's parts section on their homepage. Pretty sweet.
I got my Brythoniad one which is... good in parts! Some human fighter types, lots of dragon-ish heads and claws and some body bits and... four right wings. I can probably do some sculpting to turn two of them into left wings though,
Huge amount of new releases for sale and trade have been put out over the last few months including metals!
Bumper Update Fun
We have a huge amount of releases for Darklands, BaneLegions and Templar's Forge this month, thirty in fact, and that's not including individual miniatures from units, either! A veritable bumper fun spring special of an update!
The BaneLegions gain four amazing new miniatures, two more Giants (Borruk, an Orc Giant, and the more generic Old Bill of Bell End) and two more Demon Princes (N'nhohbr'hurt'hs, a Demon Prince of Plague, and Khan-Fury, a Demon Prince of War). There's four for Templar's Forge, too, including the all-new Exult and Dismay Tokens Set and Continuous Effect Tokens Set, along with the new Fomoraic (Conand) Order Tokens Set and the long-awaited Darklands Positioning Laser. Darklands, of course, gets the bulk: for the Albainn, the doughty Spears of Dun Durn, Gairlom Unit; for the Anglecynn, the mighty Mihtlāf, Morthorbera; for the Brythoniaid, two units - the Urien's Guard, Teulu Unit and Warriors of Dyngonwy, Rhyfelwr Unit; for the Byzantii, the new version of Erebius and the all-new Nervor the Demioption, Con I Modius the Legionarius Unit and Sia the Leónis of Kyrene; for the Érainn, Cormac of the Red Hand and the Men of Clochar, Tuanagh Unit; for the Fomoraic, the Gul-Gabrax Tain Chaaruch, the Walvax Tain Gaanh and The Eye Ascendant, Warriors of Baalor Unit; for the Jutes, Mildryth the Cant Thain and Gol Gul the Barrow Spider; and for the Khthones, Ischys the Stóskoulon and Srók the Krokodarch. Phew!
Just like the previous releases, thanks to us being busier than busy bees we've just not had the time to get the release art and descriptions done; but you can still see some good images of each miniature on the website of course.
Dan Cockersell - as you probably know already - is an absolute master sculptor. He's responsible for some of our finest miniatures, including The Terror of Fortriu and Krull, but he's outdone himself this time with the utterly incredible Maatmäg, a humungous Mammox that is even bigger than Krull himself. Sculpting from the artwork by Christophe Madura, Dan has produced a miniature that is almost impossible to describe in terms of its quality: it is, quite frankly, the finest miniature we have produced to date. Don't take our word for it, though - just have a look at him! Painted here by our very own Tim Fisher.
The Gul-Gabrax - bigger, more powerful goat-men of the Fomoraic - are utterly superb miniatures sculpted by Michael Anderson from the artwork by Christophe Madura. There's four different units to purchase - five warriors with command, ten warriors with command, five warriors and ten warriors - all comprised of the seven individual Gul-Gabrax, which have been painted by Sébastien Picque. There's Gaalgar, the unit's champion and from which the unit gains its name; Raagar, the unit's banner-bearer; Sraangar, the unit's herald; and four warriors, Culgaar, Gongaar, Aalgar and Sraagar.
Finally, finally, we have the unit of infantry that everybody's been waiting for: the first undead release for Darklands and the first unit of the Jutes. The Dead of Black Barrow is a Wihtgār Unit that can be purchased in four flavours - a unit of five warriors with command, a unit of ten warriors with command, a unit of five warriors and a unit of ten warriors. The individual miniatures, all sculpted by Edgar Skomorowski from the artwork by Danny Cruz, have been painted by Zlatko Burmazovic. They are Sigheard, the champion; Ricbert, the fain bearer; Ælgar, the hornblower (he may have no breath, but the dead can still hear it); and Cynemund, Oswine, Bertræd and Ælfric, all warriors.
The Albainn gain their first infantry unit this month in the rather hairy and gobby shape of the Gairlom, spear-warriors with the classic H-shaped shields. Sculpted by Valentin Zak from the artwork by Sam Lamont, these guys really do look mean and moody! There's four different units to purchase - five warriors with command, ten warriors with command, five warriors and ten warriors - all comprised of the seven individual Gairlom. There's Brusta, the unit's champion; Nectan, the unit's banner-bearer; Fidaich, the unit's herald; and four warriors, Oinuist, Smertae, Nectaich and Fidain.
This guy is brutal in the most brutish sense of the word. Converted by Martin Lavat from Dan Warren's artwork and Benoît Cosse's original Maallolvór miniature, Mihtlāf (pronounced "MYT-larf") is a massive Morthorbera (murder-bear) from the wilds of Northumbraland, a powerful ally in the pagan Angelcynn's fight to survive.
They've been a long time in coming but the Brythoniaid finally have a unit of infantry to speak of, and that's the Teulu! Sculpted digitally by Olivier Nkweti from the artwork by Dan Warren, the Teulu (pronounced "TAY-li") are the personal bodyguard of Urien himself and lesser nobles themselves. The Teulu can be purchased in four different ways - a unit of five warriors with command, a unit of ten warriors with command, a unit of five warriors and a unit of ten warriors. The individual miniatures are Cynog of Gaer yn Arfon, the Penteulu or champion; Lleu Gryf, the bannerman; Gerallt ap Iorwerth, the herald; and Dafydd, Emyr, Iorwerth and Gryf, all warriors.
You wait years for one infantry unit, and two come along at once! Typical. Anyway, the Rhyfelwyr (pronounced "hru-VEL-wer"), meaning simply "warriors", are the backbone of the Brythoniaid's human strength and each Rhyfelwr is as able with sword and shield as he is with a bow. Sculpted by Yannick Hennebo from the artwork by Dan Warren, the Rhyfelwyr can be purchased in four different ways - a unit of five warriors with command, a unit of ten warriors with command, a unit of five warriors and a unit of ten warriors. The individual Rhyfelwyr are Alun, the Penrhyfelwr or champion; Aeron, the bannerman; Cefin, the herald; and Gafan, Iestyn, Aestoc and Efan, all warriors. For the pedants, note the difference between singular (Rhyfelwr) and plural (Rhyfelwyr)!
We decided to take advantage of Dan Cockersell's work on Erebius on his Behema to turn the mounted Erebius into a foot version, too - so we strong-armed Yannick Hennebo and the rest, as they say, is history...
With Yannick Hennebo sculpted the Demilegionarius Unit, it seemed only fair to give him a crack at Nervor, the Demioption (meaning, half-option), a lieutenant in the Byzantii / Infernii legions. This guy is half-demon, half-man and a nasty fellow to boot! Drawn by Danny Cruz, originally.
The Legionarii (painted here by Paul Whittaker) have been a while in coming, too; sculpted by Hector Moran and Luc Pinganaud from the artwork by Steve Pierce, these guys are the mainstay of the Byzantii and are armed with spatha (sword), scutum (shield) and pila (javelin). There's only one unit size available - eight - but you can purchase individual Legionarii should you wish: Modius, the Decanus or champion and seven Legionarii, Gellius, Tiberius, Livia, Severa, Tiberia, Serena and Geraldus.
Ahhh, Sia. What a lovely creature you are! Effectively a giant Lion, and converted by Martin Lavat from Mohamed Aït-Mehdi's original Maaru, Sia is a Leónis of the Byzantii and an excellent addition to the ranks of the Auxilia Bestiarius.
The Érainn gain an excellent Warchief in the shape of Cormac of the Red Hand, a mighty Curadh well able to take on the enemies of the Irish. Sculpted superbly by Valentin Zak from the artwork by Sam Lamont!
It's time for an infantry unit for the Érainn, in the slightly mad shape of the Tuanaghta (pronounced "too-an-AH-ta"), axe-wielding nutters who probably drink far too much on a Friday evening. These guys are sculpted by Valentin Zak from the artwork by Sam Lamont, and they can be purchased in four different ways - a unit of five warriors with command, a unit of ten warriors with command, a unit of five warriors and a unit of ten warriors. The individual Tuanaghta are Pádraig, the Ceann or champion; Dara, the Bratachagh or banner bearer; Ronan, the Aralt or herald; and Brian, Colm, Tadhg and Ruairí, all warriors. The plural is Tuanaghta, the singular Tuanagh.
Sculpted by Michael Anderson from the artwork by Dan Warren, Chaaruch the Despoiler is a very nasty-looking Gul-Gabrax and a war-leader of ill repute, especially as he can bring loads of Gul-Gabrax to battle with him! Painted here by Sébastien Picque.
Another superb beast-man for the Fomoraic, Gaanh is a Walrus-man or Walvax, sculpted by Yannick Fusier from the artwork by Danny Cruz. Gaanh really is a superb miniature, one of our finest we believe, one that you can easily imagine throwing his harpoon to pierce your torso and drag you to your doom... ahem.
Another unit! Will this pleasure never end? Maybe, because the Warriors of Baalor - cruel, vain humans turned by Baalor for his own ends - would certainly look down upon such things! Sculpted by Olivier Nkweti from the artwork by Steve Pierce, and painted here by Sébastien Picque, the Warriors of Baalor come in four flavours: a unit of five warriors with command, a unit of ten warriors with command, a unit of five warriors and a unit of ten warriors. The individual Warriors of Baalor are Aanan, the Gultain or champion; Ulaan, the Tusk-bearer or banner bearer; Lungaarn, the hornblower or herald; and Coraat, Paara, Lalaan and Gaarnul, all warriors.
Ahh, Mildryth! Sculpted beautifully by Yannick Hennebo from the artwork by Danny Cruz, Mildryth is the first Jute Warchief to be released and is a really amazing one at that. She's human, of course, but she's still able to command the undead!
When we see Gol Gul, we shudder. He's a gigantic spider, of course, standing upon a 120mm base, and he really does make you recoil with disgust! Sculpted by Aragorn Marks from the artwork by Danny Cruz, we dare you to assemble him without feeling a bit sick.
Another monster from the conversion-fest that was Darklands: Metal Age, Ischys (converted by Martin Lavat from the artwork by Dan Warren) uses part of Chysperis' body to form a burrowing snake-monster on an 80mm base. Be warned: he swallows!
We've waited a long time for a Krokodar commander, but Srók is finally here and he can bring his brutal mates with him thanks to his Compel (Krokodar) ability! Sculpted by Roberto Chaudon from the artwork by Christophe Madura.
Another of the fantastic monsters funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project, Borruk is an Orc Giant, a real nasty piece of work converted by Andrew May from the original giant of the Albainn, Gomagg, and the artwork by Dan Warren. You don't have to paint him green, but it helps!
If there is such a thing as a "regular" Giant, Old Bill is that giant: he's a bog-standard, vanilla Giant funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project. Converted by Andrew May from the original giant of the Albainn, Gomagg, and the artwork by Dan Warren.
Yet another monster funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project, N'nhohbr'hurt'hs (Pronunciation? Well, the last bit is pronounced "urts") is a fantastic conversion of Malacant, a demon of the Infernii. Converted by Tim Prow from the artwork by Neil Hodgson!
The preantepenultimate (look it up) monster funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project to be released, Khan-Fury is a fantastic conversion of Malacant, a demon of the Infernii. Converted by Tim Prow from the artwork by Neil Hodgson!
One of the fantastic monsters that were funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project, Papworth the Pillager is a mighty Chaos Giant, a basher and a stomper converted by Andrew May from the original giant of the Albainn, Gomagg, and the artwork by Dan Warren.
Another monster funded by the BaneBeasts: Mighty Monsters Part Deux Kickstarter project, Tetseenx is a fantastic conversion of Malacant, a demon of the Infernii. Converted by Tim Prow from the artwork by Neil Hodgson!
Darklands Exult and Dismay Tokens Set We now have the Darklands Exult and Dismay Tokens Set to ensure Darklands gamers can properly track the status of your units! The set gives you seventy exult and dismay tokens that are attached to a unit when necessary, ensuring each player instantly knows that unit's status.
Darklands Continuous Effect Tokens Set We have another tokens set for you this month, too - this time the Darklands Continuous Effect Tokens Set, which gives you fifty continuous effect tokens that are attached to a unit when necessary, ensuring each player instantly knows what continuous effects the unit is suffering.
Darklands Positioning Laser It's a hobby-fest this month with Templar's Forge - here's the long-awaited Positioning Laser, a Class 1 laser and so perfectly safe to use, which is used to measure accurately the line of sight of warriors on the battlefield at any time. Other methods of determining sight lines are usually inaccurate and almost always open to interpretation; a Darklands positioning laser immediately ends any line of sight argument!
All of the releases above will be officially released on the 4th of March 2017, but you can order them right now!
Watch out for the April releases, which should be unveiled soon!
But...I'm not sure why they wouldn't just hang on to them, and sell them later, possibly as part of starter sets and/or Kickstarter deals?
Though I'm sure there are some esoteric business reasons involving inventory turns, bottom line/top line sales, etc, etc, etc !
Yeah no doubt it's something to do with their inventory management operating procedures. Keeping too much on hand inventory is kind of bad (almost put Home Depot out of business back in the day) because it reduces liquidity. You can do more with cash then inventory, and luckily these days there's all kinds of fancy software that tell you how much of something you should have etc etc. Their surplus is our gain though
I picked up the Oghurinthe unit, as I had been thinking about getting it at some stage, but this offer made it a must have. Looking forward to mixing them in with my Confrontation miniatures to make some kind of Ogre army. I would have gone for the snorting Tarvax as well, but I am going for an all goat theme for my Beastmen/Herd army, and I already have that niche ready to be filled by my order of Fomoraic Gul-Gabrax
Edit: Glad I did, as there were 19 available when I first started looking at the site, and they're now down to 5 after I placed my order, lol!
Ok, I'm gonna do a little of necro here for a Email I have received. The offer is very tempting, but I have spend my monthly budget in the surplus of metal stock Mierce had two weeks ago and other things :(
Thanks to the runaway success of our Monster Madness promotion, and the requests from you guys of course, we've decided to run something similar in May - this time for our monstrous infantry units! You see, we know that whilst our monstrous infantry units are unique works of art totally unmatched in this universe or indeed any other, they are fairly expensive, especially the bigger ones such as the Roaring Srónax or the Fireborn of Gwaelod (shown below) or the Slaughterers!
That's why we're giving a monstrous infantry unit away for FREE if you purchase any monstrous infantry unit from our webstore until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 15th of May 2017!
How do I choose the free monstrous infantry unit?
All you need to do is purchase a monstrous infantry unit, and when you go through the basket simply input which free monstrous infantry unit you'd like in the "special instructions" box. The only qualification is that this monstrous infantry unit must be one from the list below, and it must be either cheaper than or equal in price to the monstrous infantry unit you are purchasing! As well as that, you can purchase as many monstrous infantry units as you'd like and you'll still get a free monstrous infantry unit for each one!
PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY VOUCHER CODES. Any orders using voucher codes will be rejected and refunded to your Moneyback. Tiered discounts do apply - the more you purchase, the cheaper your monstrous infantry units will be!
What's on offer?
Pretty much any monstrous infantry unit in resin (i.e., not metal) is covered by this offer, with only Kickstarter monstrous infantry units not a part of it. Even so, there's so many monstrous infantry units in our range that you're spoilt for choice!
You can even use this offer to purchase individual monstrous infantry warriors from within those units, or indeed, any monstrous infantry characters.
Your "Buy one monstrous infantry unit, get one monstrous infantry unit free" offer ends on Monday the 15th of May 2017 at midnight (GMT), and you really do have some superb monstrous infantry units to spend your hard-earned cash on!
Not only can you get your hands on some of our quite amazing back catalogue, such as the Roaring Srónax or the Fireborn of Gwaelod (shown above) or tons of others, there's also Qaano, Ophios or the utterly stunning Gaarwäg (shown above) or Bagseg!
The offer will work on all the Darklands monstrous infantry units within our webstore, but here's a full list so it's nice and clear:
ALBAINN: Bagseg, Oghurithne Umaer - Dungann, Oghurithne Unund - Gudhlagg, Oghur Uhmaer - Oghu Keepers, Oghurithne Unit - Hunters of Cait, Oghurithne Hunter Unit (pre-order)* - Oghu Guardians, Oghur Unit - Gromi, Oghurigg
ANGLECYNN: Broga, Wereofor Thegn - Cearl, Wælwulf Thegn - Wulfric's Pack, Wælwulf Unit
ATALANTES: Titos, Stratekolossos (pre-order)* - The Burning Ones, Mesokolossos Unit (pre-order)*
BRYTHONIAID: Angedern, Prifdyndraig of Gwaelod - Mag ap Mag, Prifdynowocor of Powys - Fireborn of Gwaelod, Dyndraig Unit - Gungonn's Brood, Dynwocor Unit (pre-order)*
BYZANTII: Djiuzu, Dromedus Secundus - Vul IX Muyya, Dromedus Vulgus (pre-order)*
ÉRAINN: Araigh, Ancient of Síleann Fen - Bholg of Acaill, Fir Bholg Hurler Unit (pre-order)* - Beasts of Síleann Fen, Fen Beast Unit
FOMORAIC: Belech, Scion of Baalor - Ckaarakk, Tarvax Untain - Qaano, Srónax Untain - Aalvór, Mallax Tain - Gaarwäg, Mammax Tain - Gaanh, Walvax Tain - Bellowing Tarvax, Tarvax Unit - Roaring Srónax, Srónax Unit
INFERNII: Scecchus, Servile Fiend of Dis - Craven Fiends of Dis, Fiend Unit
JUTES: Heldred, Drēaguth Thain - The Malign of Alum Tomb, Drēaguth Unit - The Hateful of Mordain Grave, Gāst Unit (pre-order)*
KHTHONES: Ophios, Gorgon of Khthon - Xontór, Gorgon of Khthon - Sthena, Gorgór of Khthon - Ssibyros, Gorgonarchon of Khthon - Thelliatiss, Gorgórix of Khthon - Pétroyos, Lískarchon - Thoth, Anax of Ýdron - Svrill, Wielder of Khthon - Srók, Krokodarch - Hanokh, Kentarch of ÝdronWarriors of Khthon, Gorgonar Unit - Dawn of Khthon, Gorgórar Unit - Slaughterers, Krokodar Unit
NORSE: Thórrir, Troll Konungr - Egil Dead Hand, Hrafnmann Jarl - Jörmungand, Troll Jarl - Gamla Bror, Troll Gothi - Corpse Takers, Hrafnmann Unit - Trolls of Norrheim, Two Axe Troll Unit (pre-order)* - Trolls of Gunnheim, Great Axe Troll Unit (pre-order)*
YSIANS: Brugg, Death-Brute - Seza, Death-Abhorrent - Brutes of Gondard, Brute Unit - Brutes of Hedroc, Great Club Brute Unit (pre-order)*
* These units are not yet released to the general public, although they are being sculpted and cast for Kickstarter backers. You may still purchase these units and the individual warriors within them, but your order will only be shipped after they are sent to the Kickstarter backers that ordered them. Additionally, these units will only be available on the webstore until this promotion ends.
Dammit, wish this wasn't for just monstrous infantry units unlocking this deal, as I wouldn't mind grabbing "Cormorágg, Savage Oghurüc", and getting a "The Hateful of Mordain Grave, Gāst Unit" as my freebie. That and "Bagseg" and whatever I can partner him up with.
This week we have another beastie - which means that Darklands: Metal Age is even nearer completion, hooray!
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There's just the one miniature to show this week, and that's a beastie from the overworked fingers of Tim Prow...
The penultimate monster from this project, Iskarnos the Szalamakh, has been lovingly converted from Ulmons by Tim Prow and looks super-duper even if we do say so ourselves.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Garric
It's been a while since the last update for Savage Hordes, for which I blame the weather and the ongoing problem of understanding the language of Linear A. Ahem. Anyway, we have something lovely this week for the Jutes...
Here we go...
There's only one miniature to show this week, but it's a cracker and it nicely finishes off the Jutes from this project. All thanks to Bob Płociennik, who now works for us full time!
No, not Garlic... Garric! He is of course the Jute host banner bearer and a lovely fella to boot. Bob's captured his flowing locks rather well, we think!
ulgurstasta wrote: Still no word about the new Savrar units. Does anyone know if they are okay with switching KS pledges for moneyback in the store instead?
Yep, just drop them a message - they'll happy allow you to switch around
Also, Valentin Zak!
Dragon-wizards and Hunters
Wahey! Another update for Darklands: Savage Hordes II, and this week we have something dragon-y and something reiver-y...
Here we go...
We've some lovely miniatures for you this week, with the Brythoniaid getting something and the Fomoraic getting something!
Bob Płociennik is already storming through our sculpts, and after Garric it's Galon Garreg that gets his attention... he's not in pose yet, and he's still pretty early, but you can see what's going on!
He'll hopefully be Wave 17, but we'll see... it's all down to the printing!
Valentin Zak has been working very hard in the background to get these guys done, and they are looking utterly superb... first up, here's the three males - Baart, Alaan and Padraac (Bert, Alan and Paddy to you) in formation...
The ladies have had a bit more attention to them: here's Orgaana...
Just her head and hands to go!
The other lady of the unit, Caat, is also looking excellent so far...
Hopefully these guys will be Wave 17, but we'll see...
The lovely Helmed Garric has been completed by Bob Płociennik, of course!
Here's another superb, amazing, splendiferous update for Darklands: Mighty Monsters, with the usual miniatures shots and some other interesting news...
Let's go!
This week we've some demons for the Infernii and some Trolls for the Norse. Don't say we never give you owt!
Ammon is of course Krull sans wings, but as we're not changing the body (just the arms, and adding plugs for where the wings go) you can take this as a Great Axe Krull update, too.
Anyway, check out Tim Prow's work so far. Don't worry, the haft will be much thicker!
He should be a Wave 18 shipment!
Similarly to Ammon, Choloch is Malacant sans wings, and so Bent... I mean, Great Axe Malacant gains a leap forward with this update. Tim Prow again...
He'll be a Wave 18 shipment, hopefully...
Allan Carrasco could probably sculpt Trolls in his sleep, but that doesn't mean they're in any way bad... quite the opposite!
The happy-go-lucky Gando tends to instigate any kind of beer pong at parties, he's such a good laugh.
Tables don't last long with him around, I can tell you...
Valdr is quite the opposite of Galdo as he's always found in the kitchen at parties, trying but failing to engage the opposite sex in conversation. Or indeed make eye contact with them. He probably wears a tank top.
These guys - and thus the Trolls of Gunnheim as a whole - should be a Wave 18 shipment!
On this rather murky Mierceday we have some lovely updates for Darklands: Mighty Monsters Part Deux to brighten up your life!
Here we go...
We've a few miniatures to show you this week, for the Fomoraic and the Jutes!
Yannick Fusier continues to astound with the amazing Aadolf, an Ograx Reiver Tain for the Fomoraic. This guy is one of our favourite miniatures of recent times!
Still a couple of bits to finish on Aadolf, but he should be a Wave 18 shipment!
Following on from Aadolf is a unit of Ograx Reivers also sculpted by Yannick Fusier, Konraad's Mob! Yannick just seems to nail anything monstrous infantry...
A hornblower, is Kaarl, and a big fat one at that. He has a lot of breath, and he's going to use it!
Hopefully he'll be a Wave 18 shipment... it's early days. He won't always look like a big fat baby!
Bob's work on Bānbreca has been nothing short of astounding so far, but even we weren't prepared for the awesomeness of the original version...
He should be a Wave 18 shipment!
The most impressive version of Bānbreca will probably be the one with the War Tower, and we're greedily awaiting the final version with said tower. For now though, here's just Bānbreca, waiting for his tower to be put on and an axe for his hand...
Again, he should be a Wave 18 shipment.
The last version of Bānbreca is the one with a Captive, who looks suitably terrified. This guy is pretty much done, although you can't purchase it yet!
He should be a Wave 18 shipment... if I allow you lot to buy him at all... ;o)
Those trolls look amazing. Allan is knocking out some amazing stuff even though they are "same" as the others. Some of my favorites of that race.
And some cool news about Bob Płociennik being a full-time sculptor for Mierce. That should for sure speed up their progress. I hope that they still continue with the traditional sculptings, though, and dont switch entirely over to 3d.
ulgurstasta wrote: Still no word about the new Savrar units. Does anyone know if they are okay with switching KS pledges for moneyback in the store instead?
What happened with those guys? I had 20 melee and 10 javelin lizards on order. There were some early sculpts that didnt quite match up with the previously sculpted ones in terms of bulk/tails, but I thought they were being tweaked
Almost to the point I wonder if it would be more effective to just field all my krokodars I already have painted instead and get some more big critters like Iskarnos to support them.
Well that's me wrong about KS - it's just been accepted, although I still need to do work on it. So you're looking at late Monday / Tuesday for when it is launched...
Wrong about Kickstarter?
Isn't the approval process now just a tick box for the creator to agree to give them a percentage, then they instantly recieve a message back from Kickstarter featuring one word, kaa-ching.
I'm not very happy about them making new sculpts for Warriors of Baalor, models only a couple years old. Especially since I didn't love the originals myself at first, but I got two sets of 10 bundled with other monstrous figures figuring they were the only human infantry for Fomoraic at the time. Plus I have not painted them or even played the game yet - which I'd like to do if I can find an opponent. So it looks like I will be using the old style WoB if I ever get them assembled and play as Fomoraic. Basically I regret buying those 20 models, I'd have waited if I knew there was a redesign in the works.
All that said, the new design does look good and probably better than the original.
Joyboozer wrote: Wrong about Kickstarter?
Isn't the approval process now just a tick box for the creator to agree to give them a percentage, then they instantly recieve a message back from Kickstarter featuring one word, kaa-ching.
it had become that with pretty much automatic approval for established users,
but in the last few months a lot of projects by reliable KS companies have taken a lot longer to approve than expected which suggest that KS is back to manually checking things (maybe they've had too many problems recently?)
Rob's unhappy with the overall size - especially in terms of 'bulk'.
Unfortunately, some (many?) of the Mierce 'regular humans' are a bit on the small size, vary in scale a little and don't fit well with some of the other things in the line?
Also:
Mierce Miniatures 15-time creator about 5 hours ago
Well, I wouldn't press it till later on tonight, and maybe tomorrow - I won't get artwork for Haakon (new Champion of Baalor) till tomorrow, probably... there's a snippet for you.
Mierce Miniatures 15-time creator about 5 hours ago
If it helps, the makeup of the Warriors of Baalor starter hosts will be Haakon, unit of 10x warriors and a unit of 3x armoured Ograx...
Hugh B about 4 hours ago
Are you going to keep the old versions of the warriors of baalor moulds or not? If the starter host fo the new warriors of baalor is changing, are the fomoraic starter hosts generally being rearranged or not? Just musing over how that will effect the sronax if they aren't in a starter host anymore.
@Hugh - eventually, no; bear in mind the current WoB will still be around until the new ones appear
And apparently, there will be some Armo(u)red Ograx this time around too:
Mierce Miniatures 15-time creator about 2 hours ago
@Rick - same as the warriors - great axe, axe/shield and two axes (well, clubs)
Alpharius wrote: Rob's unhappy with the overall size - especially in terms of 'bulk'.
Unfortunately, some (many?) of the Mierce 'regular humans' are a bit on the small size, vary in scale a little and don't fit well with some of the other things in the line?
Yeah this has put me right off buying human-size Mierce models even though the Irish & Scottish infantry could be perfect for running an Albion campaign - I got a couple of the wolfy-English faction(I forget the name) to use in a Middenheimers warband and they are seriously teeny-weeny. Like, not merely in terms of proportions relative to GW stuff, but just small. If there was some way to tell the size before I buy I'd be back on board but there's no measurements on the site and the variation you mention makes scale comparison pics useless unless they have the exact model someone's interested in compared with stuff from brands other than Mierce(or a ruler - when I'm Overlord of all Earth a picture of a model next to a ruler will be a legally mandated part of any miniature online store entry ).
I mean I get why there's variation, it would be almost impossible to avoid with so many sculptors involved, and I get why they don't go through and update the website with detailed measurements and comparisons given the amount of effort that would take, but it's still mildly irksome to want to buy something but not be able to confirm your own expectations beforehand.
Alpharius wrote: Rob's unhappy with the overall size - especially in terms of 'bulk'.
Unfortunately, some (many?) of the Mierce 'regular humans' are a bit on the small size, vary in scale a little and don't fit well with some of the other things in the line?
Yeah this has put me right off buying human-size Mierce models even though the Irish & Scottish infantry could be perfect for running an Albion campaign - I got a couple of the wolfy-English faction(I forget the name) to use in a Middenheimers warband and they are seriously teeny-weeny. Like, not merely in terms of proportions relative to GW stuff, but just small. If there was some way to tell the size before I buy I'd be back on board but there's no measurements on the site and the variation you mention makes scale comparison pics useless unless they have the exact model someone's interested in compared with stuff from brands other than Mierce(or a ruler - when I'm Overlord of all Earth a picture of a model next to a ruler will be a legally mandated part of any miniature online store entry ).
.
I have the same but opposite problem, I have always thought they where to big to fit my 28mm historicals and such
coolguitar7 wrote: The new Warriors of Baalor look pretty good overall. But they look like they are infected with some kind of pox on their armor (armour - whatever).
yeah, too many rivets or something.
I'm a huge Fomor fan with at least one, often times 3-4, copies of everything released but I do not know if I want these resculpts...
I think I'll be grabbing Rikkard (who I hope is quite massive, reaching Ysian champion levels in terms of size), but I liked the previous Ograx Reivers more than these new armored ones.
New ones give off more of an orc vibe than an ogre style, if that makes any sense. I know its just for illustrative purposes so far, but when Mierce tends to match both the art and sculpts up pretty well...
It won't matter off course since mine are still going to have red skin...
I was also disappointed in the size of the Norse humans. I got mine in the metal age ks and it's unfortunate that they don't scale well with any other human minis I own. The casts are great though. I realize Eric Long Axe is supposed to be taller than normal humans but he really towers over the others. Are the Fomoraic reculpts going to lead more resculpts of humans in other factions?
There will be a set of five limited edition nobles at £7,500; Maagaan with staff; Shieldwall Naraa; Great Axe Kraan; Destroyer Daarkan (two soul axes); Two Axe Tundaar. £10/£15 each or £40/£60 for the set. Get adding now, you'll want those...
I've asked (as had the luxurious reptile) but since I've not seen any company doing it with their renders there's probably some technical reason we're not seeing
It could be that since you can scale models when printing them, they haven't set the size when modeling (although they'd need to keep it in mind for things like weapon shaft diameters and the size of details regardless when sculpting!).
However, I think it'd be worth the trouble of making a scale pic, since part of the reason for the resculpt is the size!
Thanks for asking (and to highlord, too!), really appreciate it
Got a reply on scale, I don't think Rob would mind my posting since a number people were wondering about it
No need my friend, they are on 30mm bases so you can work it out from that. Generally speaking they are 33m to the eye - they're big guys.
I'm a sucker for responsive companies so I've gone ahead and backed . Still need to see more WIPs before I decide if I want a full unit, but that height sounds perfect for huge warriors like this!
Mierce Miniatures 16-time creator about 3 hours ago
Well here's Voric to get you started... he's a Ghūl of the Jutes... prounced, funnily enough, "Ghoul"...
http://mierce-miniatures.com/projects/ks_wob/concept_jute_voric_01.jpg Ghūlas are degenerate beings for whom the regenerative stages in the pupa did not work as they should; they did not live on as wihts, but became something else entirely...
And:
Jute Scealc Concept:
And, UPDATES!
Update #6
May 31 2017
£15,000 - Booming Mammax
These guys have been around for so long (in our vaults, at least) it's almost criminal they've never appeared before now. So let's not be criminals and turn the Booming Mammax, Mammax Unit into reality at £15,000!
The Booming Mammax are enormous, incredibly powerful creatures of fur and tusk and brutal strength from far Thule, able to crush enemy battle-lines at will and tackle the hugest of monsters for their general.
Increase your pledge by £120 ($160) to purchase the unit of three Mammax and the alternate warrior version of the Mammax banner bearer; £100 ($130) to purchase the unit of three Mammax; or £36 ($47) to purchase a single Mammax.
You can also purchase the amazing Gaarwäg, the Mammax Tain already produced and in the webstore right now - and we'll offer him at the reduced price of £30 ($40) if you also purchase the Mammax Unit of three or four, saving you £15 from the RRP!
Update #7
May 31 2017
£8,750 - Fomoraic Nobles II
Here's another little something for newcomers to Darklands or to the Fomoraic - a few Gabrax nobles brought together in a merry little band to form the Fomoraic Nobles II set, yours at £8,750!
These guys have been around for a while, of course, but they're still utterly superb miniatures!
Increase your pledge by the amounts indicated to purchase them individually, or £35 / £50 to purchase them as a group in metal / resin respectively.
Note that Chaaruch the Despoiler is not yet produced in metal, but will be soon. He will be sent on when he is ready if you purchase him in metal.
Update #8
May 31 2017
£11,250 - Gonraad's Mob, Great Club Ograx of Baalor Unit
With the three Warriors of Baalor infantry hosts almost upon us, it's time to bring you the Ograx within them... so here's the first unit: Gonraad's Mob, set at £11,250 to unlock!
The Ograx of Baalor are heavily armoured Ograx armed with Great Clubs, bad attitude and bad breath, probably. These guys may be big, but they're not stupid - the Eye in the Ice sees their value as shock troops and uses them accordingly!
Increase your pledge by £75 to purchase Gonraad's Mob as a unit of five warriors with banner bearer and herald, or £100 to purchase them with the alternate warrior versions of the banner bearer and herald.
Thanks to many requests we're bringing you sets of Warriors of Baalor Heads for you to mix up your units with. Set at £10,500 to unlock!
Increase your pledge by £6 / £10 to purchase one head set in metal or resin respectively, or by £15 / £25 to purchase all three head sets.
Watch out for more stretch goals soon!
Update #10
Jun 1 2017
£13,750 - Haakon, Ograx of Baalor Tain
Here's another stretch goal to get your teeth into - set at £13,750 to unlock, here's Haakon, a totally new Ograx of Baalor Tain!
Drawn by the masterful Roberto Cirillo, Haakon is a brutal Ograx of Baalor Tain, a forthright leader of other Ograx and a mighty warrior to boot, armed with a huge axe and wearing heavy armour. Haakon Compels other Ograx of Baalor as well as Ograx Reivers into battle, which means you'll only need him to build an army of Ograx around!
Increase your pledge by £30 to purchase Haakon! There'll be two other versions at the same price, too - one with Axe and Shield, and the other with Two Axes. Artwork for those will be unveiled at some point in the near future!
So having looked through this thread and the Mierce website, i'm, feeling Darklands can scratch an itch i've been having for this style of mini. Has anyone played the game? I've had a look and two factions strike me, Aglecynn and Khthones. Are either of those good starters? And would people recommend the resin or metals?
Quick start rules exist - and are still pretty hefty - and I think another set is due soon?
Still, having said that, the rules are detailed - very detailed - but you don't *need* to use them all.
I am biased though, as I prefer a more detailed ruleset that you can pick and choose what to use if necessary vs. an overly simple one.
As for the miniatures, not everything in resin is available in metal, but I'd say definitively do metal where you can (always good advice in life, right? ), especially for the 'human sized infantry' and for anything with a spear!
The metal casts are fantastic, and just about equal the resin - if not match it exactly.
The bigger stuff, understandably, is only in resin - I can't imagine how heavy some of these 'miniatures' would be if they were cast in metal!
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: So having looked through this thread and the Mierce website, i'm, feeling Darklands can scratch an itch i've been having for this style of mini. Has anyone played the game? I've had a look and two factions strike me, Aglecynn and Khthones. Are either of those good starters? And would people recommend the resin or metals?
Nice choices. Anglecynn are numerous and make use of Werewolfs, werebears and (eventually) wereboars and weredeers. Khthones are mainly monstrous infantry fellows with quite a wide variety. Is there anything you'd like to know about them in particular? Also, recommend that you ask questions in the kickstarter comments - quite a lot of enthusiastic and knowledgable people can help.
There's not a lot of it for any kindred (be sure to call them 'kindreds'!) - but as you note, the miniatures themselves tell a lot of the story, so to speak!
Your best bet for background is to go through the minis on the mierce site
Most of the older ones (and some of the newer ones, but they're a minority) have a bit of background text
eg this bit on the Ysian Goddess/Queen Euryalia
Euryalia has ruled Ker-Ys since that fell city was first built. She has been its Queen since the first stone was laid, the first glyph struck, the first wards spun, and she will be its Queen until the end of the world, for her aspirations to godhood, her desire to become a living, breathing goddess that none can withstand have attained a reality none had countenanced and all now fear. Euryalia’s ascension from human to something much more, a path that began in the shadow of death, became ever more ambitious, ever more purposeful; forbidden lore, proscribed texts were studied, forgotten rituals were conducted with all manner of beast and man, ignoble sacrifices were made in the name of the most loathsome of gods until Ker-Ys itself shook to intolerable birth-howls that lasted for a year and a day and consumed a thousand souls. Now, for her, there are no limits or boundaries, no fates to bow and scrape to, no deities to appease or supplicate, for Euryalia is herself a goddess, of sin and depravity maybe but a goddess nonetheless, a goddess that will enforce the degenerate truths of her city upon the kingdoms of man.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: Thanks gents Crunch doesn't bother me, i enjoy a little digging. And i'm cool with metal, so that works too. especially being on the cheaper side.
Well, do the two factions have any real fluff behind them at all? To be honest, it's the aesthetics of both that immediately caught me.
Everything takes place in North West Europe in the year AD650 and all Kindreds have a tie to actual history with a good layer of mythology on top, mainly from that Kindreds own mythology.
The Khthones are constructs rather than natural creatures. They were 'engineered' by the Atalantes in ancient times on the continent of Atalantis. At some point, they mostly rebelled against their masters (some remained loyal) and have forged their own destiny while Atlantis crumbles into the Atlantic. Each bloodline of the Khthones was designed for some purpose. Krokodar were for hard labour, Gorgonar were for warriors, Gorgorar were consorts, Savrar were menial servents, Hydrar were a failed experiment - they were deemed to be too insane (schizophrenic you could say) and the Liska (basilisk men) are the most mysterious. All that's been hinted so far is that they [the Liska] are used for interdimensional tasks.
The Angelcynn are the Angles from Germany who have landed in ancient Briton. Like all Germanic tribes in Darklands, they are shifters with werewolf and werebears the current main shift forms. They are based in Mercia and their King is Penda the Bloody Handed (both actual historical references). Not much else to say here as they should be fairly familiar. Even their Capital is Tamworth! (Or Tantum as it was called)
I appreciate the info gents, you've sold me. I don't know why it took me so long to click Anglecynn with the Angles. Being a bit slow there. But just hurt my credit card a bit. Just got Leofwen on Great Hart, Meolda: Warrior queen of Mierce and the hardback rule book
Leofwen is from the Dēra realm and will eventually form part of the weredeers. She's also from Yorkshire!
Automatically Appended Next Post: And that's just scratching the surface. For example, the Werebears are originally Northumbrians. But the shifterers were driven out when the Northumbrians converted to Christianity and were seen by them as pagan abominations. The Seaxons (Saxons) were even more extreme and will eventually be a force of only men and mainly be total religious nutters. They'll give the Inernii, Dæmons of Dis (a city of hell from Dantes inferno), an extremely tough time of it. The Inferni were summoned by the Byzantii, Roman remnants, who have turned their backs on Christianity and thrown in their lot with the Devil. So if you see miniatures of Roman Legionaires (The Byzantii), that's what they're about.
Inquisitor Gideon wrote: I appreciate the info gents, you've sold me. I don't know why it took me so long to click Anglecynn with the Angles. Being a bit slow there. But just hurt my credit card a bit. Just got Leofwen on Great Hart, Meolda: Warrior queen of Mierce and the hardback rule book
I don't think anyone posted it here, but they're also having a Buy One Get One Free offer for monsters on the Webstore currently.
After the Monstrous Infantry buy one get one free promotion earlier this month, we had tons of requests for the same deal but with monsters again; so, never ones to turn down requests, we've bowed to that pressure - but we're only offering it for a short time only, so you'd better take advantage of it quickly!
So we're giving a monster away for FREE if you purchase any monster from our webstore, starting from now until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 5th of June 2017!
Maatmäg, Gigantic Mammox
How do I choose the free monster?
All you need to do is purchase a monster, and when you go through the basket simply input which free monster you'd like in the "special instructions" box. The only qualification is that this monster must be one from the list below, and it must be either cheaper than or equal in price to the monster you are purchasing! As well as that, you can purchase as many monsters as you'd like and you'll still get a free monster for each one!
PLEASE DO NOT USE ANY VOUCHER CODES. Any orders using voucher codes will be rejected. Tiered discounts do apply - the more you purchase, the cheaper your monsters will be!
What's on offer?
Pretty much any monster is covered by this offer - so, Darklands monsters and BaneLegions monsters - with only Kickstarter monsters not a part of it. Even so, there's so many monsters in our range that you're spoilt for choice!
Your "Buy one monster, get one monster free" offer ends on Monday the 5th of June 2017 at midnight (GMT), and you really do have some superb monsters to spend your hard-earned cash on!
Not only can you get your hands on some of our quite amazing back catalogue, such as Krull or The Terror of Fortriu or Angrislaug or tons of others, there's also our superb new-ish releases, such as Cúlaítar, Papworth the Pillager or the utterly stunning Maatmäg (shown above) or Hammer-Druc!
The voucher will work on all the Darklands and BaneLegions monsters within our webstore, but here's a full list so it's nice and clear (bold monsters have been released since the last promotion; monsters in italics may be pre-ordered):
ALBAINN: Ciniod on Aurogg - Oso - Magágg - Cormorágg - Gorugg - Gogg* - Bogogg* - Gomagg - Ettu
ANGLECYNN: Mihtlāf - Creoda - Cnebba
ATALANTES: Dynatos* - Talos - Kretos*
BRYTHONIAID: Geraint Nerthol, Teyrn of Cedweli on Ceffyldraig - Aradae Mawr - Scaeroc - Angrislaug - Parawn - Glaun - Typhaggahw - Gynroch ap Roch - Bronn ap Banbronn*
BYZANTII: Erebius, Demiurion on Behema - Sia - Iqqud - Tykho - Ulmons
ÉRAINN: Mórannach - Cúlaítar
FOMORAIC: Belech - Galagaak - Gunaal - Cqaa - Maallolvór - Maatmäg - Maaru - Kaairioc-cró - Uuthüll - Shaaroc - Vaak
INFERNII: Krull - Malacant - Brontull - Zhull
JUTES: Thacaldān - Gol Gul
KHTHONES: Ophios - Sthena - Ágriosávra, Sun Warrior on Sávrakh - Chysperis - Ischys - Kadámastar - Aggrakk - Mazikíliás - Krekkek - Ygandr - Khallas - Iskarnos*
NORSE: Birna on Fellhrafn - Vaenhildr - Hrókr - Egaendr - Hrudinn - Mälmord - Blood-Maw - Mjagnir
VRAS: Blunt-Claw, Vras-Lord on Goz-Horror - Scar-Scath - Back-Cracker - Flint-Fang
YSIANS: Euryalia - Torku - Druc - Hammer-Druc - Conjunct X* - Conjunct XIII - The Terror of Fortriu - Ungefelic
BANELORDS: Grimbash, Orc Warlord on Wyvern - Buggrom of Ulmo, Orc Warlord with Great Weapon on Wyvern - Shazham, Orc Shaman on Wyvern - Queefus, Bone Orc Shaman on Wyvern - Malek, Black Ælf Lord on Dragon
BANEBEASTS: Fulroch-an-Roch - Angalaak - Three-Face - N'nhaak'chshir - Oácyning - Tygandr - Ophius - N'nhohbr'hoth - Proteanc - Lamashti - Khan-Wrath - Gore-Fang - Scar-Claw - Kholukk - S'hcrhro'tum-b'hoss - Angaakk - Hetseentcha - The Horror of Scumasthorpe - Papworth the Pillager - Borruk - Old Bill of Bell End - Zazel - N'nhohbr'hurt'hs - Tetseenx - Khan-Fury
* These monsters are not yet released to the general public, although they are being sculpted and cast for Kickstarter backers. You may still purchase these units and the individual warriors within them, but your order will only be shipped after they are sent to the Kickstarter backers that ordered them. Additionally, these units will only be available on the webstore until this promotion ends.
Happy Ordering!
Here's a lovely little update for Darklands: Savage Hordes, thanks to a bit of work from Tim Prow...
This week we have: •sculpt work in progress updates from Tim Prow; •a note regarding the changes to the way these updates work; •...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Work on this project continues behind the scenes; Martin Lavat is currently working on lots of things, but we've had no update as yet. Here's Tim Prow's efforts for us...
Quite the most amazing looking rat-men we've ever seen, No-Claw's Burrow is finally complete...
The drummer, Fat-Skin, now has an alternate warrior version in Fat-Tail. We make no apologies for puerile naming.
He's a cracker and should be a Wave 18 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Drunkard Ciniod
The Drinking Companions are done! That just leaves one miniature to sculpt for Darklands: Metal Age. It's taken a while, but we're almost there!
This week we have: •sculpt work in progress updates from Yannick Hennebo; •a reminder of the change to the way these updates work; •...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Let's go!
Just one miniature to show this week from Yannick Hennebo, and it's led to the conclusion of the Drinking Companion saga...
The Scots have, of course, evolved drinking into a competitive sport and Drunkard Ciniod could drink anybody under the table, including (but not limited to) Jean-Claude Juncker. Which is saying something.
We're hoping he'll be a Wave 17 shipment!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Cynuise of Old
After a bit of a break we have another update for Darklands: New Kindreds this week, with news of progress on conversions. We're getting there... please be patient chaps! We'll be getting Tim Prow to give Andrew May a hand shortly.
This week we have: •sculpt work in progress updates from Andrew May; •a reminder of the change to the way these updates work; •...and anything else you can expect from us over the next few months.
Here we go...
Just the one conversion this time, thanks to Andrew May's ministrations...
It's taken a while to get Cynuise of Old sorted and into Jute flavours, but he's getting there. Andrew's just got to make his helmet spike thinner and job's a good 'un...
Nikandros, Hektor (all variants) and Thera (helmed/unhelmed)
Some of the Oplites
The Mesokolossos Unit
A quick size comparison!
It's a Mammoth, of course it will be covered in fur!
Play
