yxalitis wrote:
Check images at the top of page 77, before they were added, seems like leaving them off will be trivial exercise

Spoiler:

2014 of War

We have some cracking updates for you in this, the very first update of 2014!

We have work in progress images of Leofwen, Qaano and Kernuor as well as painted Angrislaug, news of the project's progress and also the removal of a few miniatures from the Darklands: a World of War category... you've got until Monday to get them!

Leofwen, Fane Bearer of Mierce on Great Hart

Stéphane Simon's been extra busy over the holidays, as you can see: he's sorted out Leofwen's head problem and added in lots more detail, including the banner and her sword...





We do expect Leofwen on Great Hart to be finished very soon, possibly in the next week or so, but we'll see...


Qaano, Srónax Untain

Sculpted by Allan Carrasco, the mighty Srónax lord Qaano (pronounced "KAR-no") needs no words to describe his ultimate awesomeness of war. Just look at him!















Qaano will be finished very shortly indeed... a fact that we here at Mierce rejoice in!


Kernuor, Seer-Drune on Karnun-Beast

James van Schaik has just about finished Kernuor on his Karnun-Beast!











James is just finishing cutting and we should be getting him next week we think, as long as Baalor allows the polar vortex in Canada to subside of course.


Angrislaug, Draiggoch of Eryri - painted!

Sébastien Picque is our monster-painter of choice right now and he's done a superb job on Angrislaug, so we thought we'd show you...

















With Angrislaug being a Draiggoch - in English, a red dragon - he's red with a smattering of black and beige.



Darklands: a World of War Fulfilment

All of the Khthones Starter Sets for UK customers were shipped before Christmas, and all of the snake sets for European customers will ship today, with those for the rest of the world following next week.

This of course means that shipment of remaining items from Darklands: a World of War orders will begin shortly, and where this is possible we'll also combine these remaining items with Wave 0 orders for First Edition items from the Darklands: First Edition kickstarter project.

Once the QuickStarter Rules are printed, we'll start shipping those too!

Of other recently completed sculpts, the Limited Edition Penda with Wolf Helm, Chaagmuth on hoof, Brynhild Gunnblindi, Gamla Bror and Jowan and Drune-Hounds are shipping, along with Angrislaug, Vaak and Pétroyos. Belech will begin to ship next week. Aalvór is not yet with us (he'll be sent to us with Maallolvór).

Please understand that we are prioritising orders with Khthones Starter Sets first - so if the above miniatures are all you've left with us, please be patient!

Remaining Sculpts

In terms of remaining sculpt progress, here's an update:
Allan Carrasco: Qaano is almost complete, which means that when that happens Allan's work on this project is concluded. Never fear, though, for you can look forward to more of Allan's skills on our other project - Darklands: First Edition - as he'll start work on Jörmungand soon... (although we don't know exactly when).
Benoît Cosse: Maallolvór is in progress and should be finished later on in January. The Werwulfas are next...
James van Schaik: Kernuor on Karnun-Beast is about finished and should be with us very soon.
Stéphane NGuyen: Druc is in progress and should be completed in January.
Stéphane Simon: Leofwen on Great Hart is nearly done and should be finished in January. Leofwen on foot for Darklands: First Edition will follow.

The observant among you will notice, then, that of the remaining ten sculpts to complete, five are almost complete or in progress and just five are yet to be started, the Werwulfas... so we're almost there guys!

There's a few other bits and pieces yet to be done of course, so here's how progress is looking on those fronts...

QuickStarter Rules - v10.4

Michael Brown and others are having a look at version 10.4 of the Darklands QuickStarter rules and once any glaring errors are corrected we will get that to the designer and printed.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint) Rob is a bit of a perfectionist and is unwilling to ship it off to the printer until it's as tight as possible, which of course has led to major delays and for which we apologise. It should lead to a better rules set, though!

Muster Rules

These will be worked on in January, although there's not much to change. These are download only of course, so we'll give you links when they're ready.

Warrior Profiles

These are urgently required thanks to the changes in the rules, we know, and are being worked on and playtested. They'll comprise every warrior that is existing and is included in Darklands: a World of War and, once ready, we'll put them up for download.

The Fomoraic muster (which also now includes Belech as a unique character and a generic Scion of Baalor) and the Angelcynn muster are about done but we're going to have a few battles with those two before uploading them, so expect at least those two next Friday.

If there's anything you need to know before the profiles are sorted, just ask on the forums please and we'll endeavour to answer your questions.

Once all of the profiles are updated to reflect the current rules, we'll be starting work on the warrior profiles for Darklands: First Edition.

Templates

The first template has been passed to our acrylic manufacturing partner, and at some point this month they should make an apperance "in the flesh" on here, so to speak.

The End of Darklands: a World of War In Sight

We think that - around February 2014 time - pretty much everything will be done for Darklands: a World of War; which will both be a sad day and an awesome day. Either way, we'll find some way to celebrate...!

Until next week, keep it Mierce!

January's Releases

The releases from our Darklands: A World of War Kickstarter project continue apace with eight more for you all this month, including more Angelcynn, the first Khthones, Norse and Ysians - and we've also releasing the first Darklands Token Sets, so that you can get your games running more smoothly!

In terms of miniature releases, we have the lovely Cynemon and Kenelm for the Angelcynn, Ssibyros and Mneriiss for the Khthones, Brynhild Gunnblindi for the Norse and three units for the Ysians - collecting the Bow-Drunes, Goad-Drunes and Brutes!

Just like last time, thanks to us being busier than busy bees over the past few months, 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.

Cynemon, Wiglere of Mierce



The Angelcynn get some wizardry this month with the release of Cynemon, Wiglere of Mierce! This grumpy old git, with his concept by Des Hanley and sculpted by James van Schaik, is a cracking little miniature with a great deal of character. You can almost see him eating mushrooms...

Kenelm, Duguth Horn Blower



The third miniature of the five-man Duguth spearman unit, Kenelm is the unit's herald and blows his horn to keep his unit in line. Kenelm, like all the Duguth, was sculpted by Juan Navarro Pérez from a concept by Des Hanley, and they are all fantastic miniatures!

Ssibyros, Gorgonarchon



Ssibyros - with concept by Christophe Madura and sculpt by Stéphane NGuyen van Gioi - is a Gorgonarchon, a warlord for the Khthones and more specifically the Gorgones. He's a beautifully detailed miniature with ornate armour and a host of unique features!

Mneriiss, Harbinger of Khthon



Vilthiss and Issithill gain a friend this month with the release of Mneriiss, the Gorgonar unit's herald! Like his mates, Mneriiss' concept was drawn by Christophe Madura and the miniature was sculpted by Stéphane Simon. Expect more Gorgonares over the coming months!

Brynhild Gunnblindi, Gythja of Hrafnen



Brynhild Gunnblindi is a superb miniature for the Norse, sculpted by Juan Navarro Pérez from a concept by Des Hanley. Part of the Hrafnen's crew, She's a Gythja, a priest of Odin, and she is not to be underestimated for her power is formidable.

Bows of Carn Dinas, Bow-Drune Unit



With the last of the Bow-Drunes released last month, we can now give you the unit of five together, comprising Morcum the champion and four other warriors - Kenan, Ennor, Piran and Tyack. Sculpted by James van Schaik from artwork by Danny Cruz, the set of five (retailing at £34.99) gives you a discount of just under 30% from buying them individually, which would cost you £49.95!

Goaders of Ker-Ys, Goad-Drune Unit



Sculpted by James van Schaik from artwork by Danny Cruz, the Goaders of Ys package together all three of the Goad-Drunes - Gwilherm of Ys, Judoc of Carn Lann and Perig of Carn Wrach - for £14.99, thus saving more than 30% from buying them individually!

Brutes of Ys, Brute Unit



The last of the five Brutes were released ages ago, of course, so it's about time we got around to releasing a unit of them. Sculpted by both Aragorn Marks and Grégory Clavilier, from artwork by Danny Cruz, the Brutes of Ys - comprising Gulguta, Lugung, Uggurd, Muldo and Nung - retails at £79.99. Buying them individually costs £99.95, a discount of almost 20%!

Darklands Token Sets

It's taken us a little while but we've finally organised a Token Set for most of the realms of Darklands, thus enabling you to command your units in style. Each set includes five ATTACK Order tokens, five MOVE Order tokens and five HOLD Order tokens, all in lovely burnt-wood flavour!


All of the releases above will be officially released on the 4th of January 2014, but you can pre-order them here to your heart's content, of course!

2014 of War

We have some cracking updates for you in this, the very first update of 2014 for this project!

In terms of miniatures, we have images of a finished Mananaan on foot as well as work in progress images of Itaina, Ciniod and Domnech; in terms of the project as a whole, we have a cracking update for the map of the Lands of Darkness and an updated list of assignations for all of the miniatures that will be produced by this project.

Phew! We'd better start...

Mananaan, Untain of Baalor on Foot

The supremely talented Pedro Fernández Ramos has finished Mananaan on foot for us and, once we cast one and send it back to him, Mananaan on horse will begin!











It is worth stating here (for those of you that are chomping at the bit) that any miniature sculpted before June 2014 will most definitely not be sent before that date. The reasons behind this are very simple - we have Darklands: a World of War to complete and Wave 0 to fulfil before we begin casting for Wave 1 items, quite apart from the extra costs incurred by shipping miniatures early! We ask that you respect our decision here and remain patient, as hard as that may be.

Ciniod, Umaer of Dun Durn

Olivier Nkweti has been getting on with the Albainn, as you can see... these are early WIPs but they're certainly taking shape!



Itaina, Umaer of Dun Durn


Domnech, Sagart of Dun Durn


The Lands of Darkness Map

One of the most important features of the Darklands setting is a map of the lands of darkness. We tasked Steve Pierce with this job thanks to his past work on mapping, and the results, we think, are spectacular...



Steve has now finished his part of the map, but of course the work does not stop there: the names of regions and towns and so forth must be added. These will be done next week, so hopefully next Friday should see the map complete. This means, for the thunkers amongst you, that we can shoe-horn this map into the QuickStarter rulebook, which is nice!

Darklands: First Edition Fulfilment

We are now beginning to ship Wave 0 Orders to backers from this project, but we would ask all of you to remain patient while we do so. We are only a small team and are still fulfilling the remaining orders for Darklands: a World of War, and we do expect to continue fulfilling Wave 0 Orders throughout February and possibly later.

We will keep you all updated of course.


Sculpts and Sculptors

It's about time we unveiled a big list of who's sculpting what and when for Darklands: First Edition, especially because a few miniatures have been re-assigned; so here is that big list. Please bear in mind that this list may change over time, too, so don't take it as set in stone until the first work in progress shots appear!

Olivier Bouchet: Brugg will be started shortly.
Stéphane Cammosetto: a new sculptor to Mierce, the awesomely talented Stéphane has agreed to sculpt the first descendant - John Longshore's Brythoniaid bowman, Ieuan Longshore (not forgetting his mastiff, Taranau)! Stéphane has already started work on him and we should see the first WIPs soon.
Allan Carrasco: Allan is currently finishing Qaano for our first project and should begin work on Jörmungand soon. After that he will be sculpting Knútr on Foot, Knútr on Horse , Víthar , Birna, Rollo Iron Head and Cnebba.
Roberto Chaudon: currently working on a top secret project for us, Roberto will give Belech his guitar and then begin work on this project. First up for him is Angedern, followed by Mag ap Mag, Mälmord, Ágriosávra, Eikovra, Myrkranio and finally Djiuzu.
Daniel Cockersell: the Daddy of all monster sculptors, Dan will begin work on Scecchus in February.
Benoît Cosse: Benoît is still working on Darklands: a World of War miniatures and won't start Hrór, Finnan, Praach and the Gabrax Unit for a good long while yet.
Thomas David: his work on Timoth should begin soon; we're still awaiting confirmation.
Pedro Fernández Ramos: Mananaan on foot is finished of course, and he'll soon begin work on Mananaan on horse.
Yannick Fusier: It's been a while since we worked with Yannick (he who sculpted Shaaroc a couple of years ago), but he's now doing Bagseg for us and will start him in late January.
Jacques-Alexandre Gillois: he should begin work on Daarkan, Naraa and both Equitus Durio on foot and Equitus Durio on horse soon. Although not necessarily in that order, and we're not sure when - we just know they'll be done before May.
Gauthier Giroud: Gauthier is slated to begin work on Idruaada in February.
Stéphane NGuyen: Druc is still on his plate of course, but he should begin work on Seza after him.
Christian Hardy: Christian will begin work on Velchior and Agathae soon.
Tre Manor: it is with great glee that we can reveal a bit of a coup - Tre Manor of Red Box Games will be taking time out for us to sculpt Erebius! He should start soon, too.
Patrick Masson: due to begin work on Uhtred later on this month and after that will be Gaarwäg (pronounced "GAR-wayg", don'tchaknow), although he won't be complete until May.
Hector Moran: Hector is due to start work on the digital Dawn of Khthon, Gorgórar Unit in January, and after that he will be digitally sculpting Con I Modius, Legionary Contubernium.
Olivier Nkweti: Olivier's already finished Dúngal on foot for the Albainn, and has begun work on Ciniod, Itaina and Domnech; Dúngal on horse will follow, and once they're done he will digitally sculpt Hanokh and Thoth.
Juan Navarro Pérez: For Juan we have Urien on foot , Urien on horse , Carys , Caedoc, Ffion Ferddig and Danilo Cruz , and although he should start sculpting in late January we don't know what is going to be done first.
Maxime Penaud: Maxime is slated for Eadric on foot, Eadric on horse and Aldhelm, but we don't know when he will start.
Stéphane Simon: we've loaded Stéphane up with Leofwen on foot (who should be begun shortly) , Crom on foot, Crom on horse, Zethag, Annik, Xontór, Thelliatiss , the Holumenn Unit and the Gesíth Unit. Phew!
Valentin Zak: last seen on Dungann, we've been hassling Valentin to do more sculpts for us for a while now - and he's back! Valentin will sculpt Broga for us and will begin doing so soon.
Unknown: the remaining three descendants, which are Rick Boer's Frisian Warrior (due to be drawn by Stefan Kopinski), Tomas Johansson's Geat Warrior (due to be drawn by Danny Cruz) and Maximilian Schüte's Germanic Berserker.

Now that is a lot of sculpts...

That's it for now - see you here next week!

 highlord tamburlaine wrote:
The detailing looks nice, but from that angle he seems too top heavy. It seems like he should have a thicker foot/ tail to support that size of torso on. Maybe it's just the angle of the shot. I'll keep an eye out for him once he's in the wild.

Tre Manor: it is with great glee that we can reveal a bit of a coup - Tre Manor of Red Box Games will be taking time out for us to sculpt Erebius! He should start soon, too.

 RiTides wrote:
Thanks, Orlando... just wanted to check.

Tre Manor: it is with great glee that we can reveal a bit of a coup - Tre Manor of Red Box Games will be taking time out for us to sculpt Erebius! He should start soon, too.

This is getting discussed a bit in the RBG thread, but since it's a model for Mierce I just wanted to note how happy this makes me

 Denilsta wrote:
I cannot wait until my Angrislaug arrives, but it will probably sit for months unpainted like the rest of my Darklands range as I am to scared to paint them!
Leofwens face/head still does not seem right..it just does not seem to capture the look of the concept art.

 zedmeister wrote:

Ssibyros, Gorgonarchon



Ssibyros - with concept by Christophe Madura and sculpt by Stéphane NGuyen van Gioi - is a Gorgonarchon, a warlord for the Khthones and more specifically the Gorgones. He's a beautifully detailed miniature with ornate armour and a host of unique features!

 Alpharius wrote:
What's the best place to give Mierce feedback?

Especially on the 'raw boned' (thanks azreal13!) Leofwen mini?[/quote

I would mention it on the main comments of KS1


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I would put it on the main comments page of KS1

Hello!

I'm a KS2 backer, have a few pre-orders in for KS1 but as I didn't back the project originally (I know, I know! Live and learn)

The reason I'm getting in touch is to provide some feedback on the Leofwen miniature, which I pre ordered on the basis of the concept art.

I infer from some references to being "fixed" in the latest update that other people have perhaps offered the same opinion, in that the face isn't quite "right"

I have to say, as it stands, I'm really not a fan of even the fixed face (although there is an improvement) to the point where I might consider cancelling the order. Please don't think I'm ranting and raving and threatening to "take my business elsewhere," this is just an honest attempt to explain my feelings and be constructive.

In both incarnations, in comparison to the concept image, her face seems too square, almost to the point of masculinity, when, aside from the giant stag, a lot of what appealed to me was the delicacy and femininity of the character. I feel she needs a more oval face, with a more delicate chin and sharper, more defined cheekbones, more elfin if you will. Now I appreciate that sculpting in a relatively small scale doesn't allow for super fine facial detail, but I really think the 'bones' of the face are wrong.

Now, I don't expect you to change it completely just on my say so, but if enough people feel the same and take the trouble to get in touch, perhaps something will happen. I post frequently on Dakka, and I've seen a few other users post similar opinions in your thread there, so I don't think I'm a completely isolated case.

I hope this is useful to you, and fingers crossed that the final mini is just as awesome as I sincerely hope it will be.

Regards

azreal13