Hurray! It's Mierceday!
Today we have more work in progress images of Leofwen on Great Hart and Maallolvór, which are both almost finished; the first two musters that work with the current version of the QuickStarter rules; and the usual project fulfilment news and stuff!
Now, this project is nearing completion - in terms of sculpts, anyway - so it is likely that from now on there won't be too much in the way of work in progress images here; but there'll still be other information to peruse, of course, not least project fulfilment and the QuickStarter rules and profiles, so every update will still be worth a read.
Leofwen, Fane Bearer of Mierce on Great Hart
With the slight delay thanks to having to re-model Leofwen, she's a little later than we thought she'd be but the results are definitely worth it. Stéphane Simon's even managing to make her armour less Wood Elf-y and more Mierce maiden-y, if that makes sense!
[I've not bothered with the
WIP shots since Mierce has added some mighty fine finished ones since the update was first posted]
We don't think it'll be too long before she's in our grubby mitts, but you'll be looking at February now before we'll be sending out the first casts.
Edit: here's pics of Leofwen, finished... hot off the presses!
Wow... just wow. She's turned out stunning!
Maallolvór, Lumbering Mallox
Apart from the mistake Benoît's made with his left paw's claw orientation (which he will correct), and the spikes on the tusks, and possibly a few other bits and pieces, Maallolvór is about done and he's really looking spiffing and has tons of character. We can't wait to get our hands on him!
[imghttps://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/001/558/639/62d5c6a8cf97197e0d849819893dc43e_large.jpg?1390560841[/img]
Again, it shouldn't be too long before Maallolvór and his boss Aalvór will reach us, but you'll be looking at February before we'll send out the first casts of them.
Martin Grandbarbe's now finished the Ax-Drunes of Carn Maen, and we think you'll agree that they are looking absolutely stunning...
Martin's next work for us will be the painting of Mawdred, Jowan and his Hounds, the Bow-Drunes and the Goad-Drunes... followed by the Angelcynn infantry!
Darklands: a World of War Fulfilment
All of the Khthones Starter Sets have now been shipped! This of course means that shipment of remaining items from Darklands: a World of War orders has begun, as some of you have seen, 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. Qaano's just begun shipping, too, along with Belech, although the latter's base (which will be 80mm) will be sent later when we receive them. We've received Kernuor, Seer-Drune on Karnun-Beast, also, and the first casts should be sent next week.
Please understand that we have prioritised orders with Khthones Starter Sets first - so if the above miniatures are all you've left with us, please be patient!
New Base Sizes
As mentioned last week, we're introducing new base sizes to Darklands - 40mm, 50mm and 80mm - and to some existing miniatures. We've found that, through playtesting, the 60mm bases for all monstrous infantry are just too big and we don't want to make all monstrous infantry the same size, which would be very boring indeed. Variety is the spice of life, and the addition of three new base sizes means that we have a lot more flexibility for basing, the game works better and we and don't have to worry about miniatures being too small for their base or too big for their base.
Now, whilst of course these new base sizes will be easily applied to future releases (for example, Gaarwäg from the Darklands: First Edition project will be on an 80mm base), that leaves a few existing miniatures looking (and playing) a bit daft. So we're going to take the difficult step of changing the base sizes for some miniatures, for which we must apologise if it's inconvenient. However, it's better to make difficult choices now rather than later, as we're sure you'll understand.
Having said that, there's no need to panic, however - you won't have to re-base what you've already based... unless you want to. For example, as a Guthwulf will change to be on an 80mm base, it makes sense that Creoda would have that base size; but as we've shipped them with 60mm bases, players can use Guthwulfas on either 60mm or 80mm to their taste, although we do suggest that before a game both players agree on this. It may be that in future we will have to insist upon certain base sizes when Darklands is played competitively, but we'll get to that when we come to it!
Here's a list of what will change - there's not much, although I'm very sure the Tarvax will be a pain as we've done so many of them:
Angelcynn
•Cearl - 50mm
•Guthwulf - 80mm
•Beowa bear form - 50mm
Fomoraic
•Ckaarakk (Tarvax Untain) - 50mm
•Tarvax - 50mm
These new bases are currently in production and should be with us sometime in February or March, and of course - if anyone wants to re-base their miniatures - we'll happily supply them to you free of charge. Simply send an e-mail to
kickstarter@mierce-miniatures.com and we'll get them out to you.
Werwulf to Wælwulf and vice versa
As I am a revisionist in a similar (but far less talented) fashion to Michael Moorcock, in the belief that everything will be all right in the end, I've decided that what you know as Werwulfas will now become Wælwulfas, and vice versa.
The reason for this change is fairly simple - as the Angelcynn monstrosities devolve further to Woden, they become more wolf-like, more aggressive and, well, more monstrous. Llike this: man -> man-wolf -> slaughter-wolf -> war-wolf -> mighty-wolf (i.e., man -> werwulf -> wælwulf -> guthwulf -> mægenwulf).
So, what you've actually purchased in this project are now known as Wælwulfas, and Cearl will become a Wælwulf Thegn. Thus, Hrór (from Darklands: First Edition) is now a Werwulf Thegn.
This is simply a name change - the old werwulf warrior profiles, whilst they have changed slightly thanks to the rule changes, won't be much different from before!
Hopefully this won't confuse you all too much... if it does, I can only apologise - although blaming Maggie Thatcher seems to help many people, so you could try that.
Remaining Sculpts
In terms of remaining sculpt progress, here's an update:
Benoît Cosse: Maallolvór is about done, and the, ahem, Wælwulfas are next...
Stéphane NGuyen: Druc is in progress and should be completed soon. Then it's Darklands: First Edition work...
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, only three are in progress now and just five are yet to be sculpted, 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 - v10.5
The latest version of the QuickStarter Rules - v10.5 - is the FINAL version before printing.
You can download them here: Darklands QuickStarter Rules v10.5
There are many minor changes from previous versions, so I would recommend - especially if you are familiar with those previous versions of the QuickStarter Rules - to have a good read through, and also please check out the Mierce Miniatures forum, in particular the "Darklands Rules Discussion" section and the "Observations from a first read" thread...
As before, please bear in mind that v10.5 of the QuickStarter Rules are to get you by until they're formatted for printing. As such, whilst they'll look very like these rules in terms of layout and the wording, they'll be a bit more... well, spangly when they're ready for print and download. Once the QuickStarter rules are printed (we're looking at some time in February now), they will of course be sent out to you along with the remainder of your order.
Muster Rules
These will be worked on in February, 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
We do now have the Fomoraic muster (which also now includes Belech as a unique character and a generic Scion of Baalor) and the Angelcynn muster ready for download, but they are of a slightly different format to previous musters. We trust that its fairly self-explanatory, especially if you read the Warrior Profiles section of the QuickStarter rules.
Angelcynn Muster v1.4
Fomoraic Muster v1.2
(No doubt there'll be a few errors or typos - feel free to tell us about them!)
However, it's worth noting one major change - gold costs. These have changed quite a lot, thanks to the introduction of new coefficients, so if you're used to the old gold costs - well, you'll have to get used to the new ones! This does mean that, at the moment, the Angelcynn and Fomoraic will not play correctly with other kindreds' hosts, but that won't be for long.
There's also a handy pronunciation guide (based on the Wikipedia Pronunciation Respelling Key) under the warrior's title and, at the bottom of each profile, a suggestion on which miniature from our range to use.
The others 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. We should have the Ysians and the Khthones next week, but we'll see - there's playtesting to be done!
If there's anything you need to know before the other warrior profiles are sorted, or about how the new format of warrior profile works, 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
There's been a few issues with the first template (our fault) so we have to amend it slightly so that it can be used by the template manufacturer. Shouldn't be too long though, I'll be on the case next week...
The End of Darklands: a World of War In Sight
We think that - around the end of February 2014 time (possibly March now, those Wælwulfas will probably push things back) - 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...!
There'll be another update next week of course!
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Angels Amaranthine - growing slowly
Currently 200pts 
especially Mr Hitty the Krokodar
