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No the ogres have been long integrated within Nord society, along with the giants (There's been talk of 2 headed Jotun and trolls too).

Wait. What were people saying about the scale?


And I'll give any unwanted dwarf a tunnel to mine on pain of death.

Only that it might damage "cross over" purchases. A very minor thing.

"We're not making miniatures for anyone else's world but our own"

Sounds fair

The miniatures were very big and looked nice to paint when I saw them Thursday.

I might not get two big box starter sets now, but instead replace one with Dweghom stuff.. Dragon with cannon? Yes please.

Then again I do still really like the spire stuff...

Oh the connotations XD XD XD might need a wet wipe XD

This game looks very interesting, will be keeping an eye out for sure.

So are these 35mm like guildball and WWX?

Approximately yes. The infantry models you see are on 25mm round bases

Interesting to go that size with a rank and file game. You can get some very nice extra detail at that scale but they really do look huge compared to 30-32 mm figures as even most advertised as 32mm are still more 28-30mm to the eyes.

Bought a some guildball last year for a RPG game and even the smaller humans were towering over everyone else which was a lot of Redbox games and plastic from various Monolith stuff.

I was surprised at the size at first too but it really works.
Painting them is so much easier aswell

The model count will be much less than the average mass battle game out there. Units of 24 (6 stands of 4) is big and umits of 12 are more than functional.

What you'll find aswell is that with escalation, reinforcement and the brutality of combat, you'll never always have your full force on the table at the same time.

Even with the size, the game works perfectly (as intended) at 4'x4' And the game plays faster than most. Like KoW fast only no slowdown in action (not you-go-I-go, no deployment phase) but with more going on.

The battle of Nepenthe brought to life. The artwork just blows me away...



This is a scene from the first instalment of Nepenthe - The Price, part one of a three peice novelette available for free download from;

https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new

Parts two and three, Deliberations and Last Argument are a contrast to part one and to each other....

I highly recommend giving it a read.

That is some swanky art.

I love how much of a Rackham vibe I get from it too.

I get that too

The excerpt from Nepenthe - The Price, which this painting depicts:

“THE LEGION! THE LEGION IS HERE!”

Turning south, he saw them, many following his example, cheering at the sight. Clad in full plate, the likes of which even knights envied, the Legionnaires of Steel marched, their metallic steps booming in perfect tempo. Their great claymores were balanced on their shoulders, a ceremonial weapon for most, an instrument of death for these elite warriors. They had no banner, not in the platoon Hunfrid could see at least, but the Armatellum Dragon flew prominently on their kilts, protruding from the plate, the Legion’s own insignia carved on each legionnaire’s pauldron. As the command to engage was given, Hunfrid had to stop looking but he heard them.

“Steel!” cried their commander.
“PARATUS!” answered the Legion and the marsh shook from their voices, as they opened their pace.

“That’s it, kid” said a man next to him, smirking. “The day is ours, aye?”
Hunfrid nodded, smiling weakly. Aye, he thought. The day is ours, surely. […]

Then, it came.

Hunfrid didn’t see it then. His eyes were pinned on three brutish forms from the north, charging at their flank, one falling, pierced in tens of places by Junger’s sharpshooters. It made little difference, really. Two of them were more than enough to crash the men-at-arms, each arm a battering ram holding a massive, bladed fist-weapon. From far to the southeast, he saw another trio, one of them slashing upwards in an uppercut. A man arched in the air some fifteen feet high, his limps as lifeless as his crossbow that flew next to him.

“Steel!” cried the centurion’s voice again from behind.
“HOSTIBUS!” came the roaring answer and the Legion brought their blades on their hands, charging.

If any could stop the brutes, it was them, Hunfrid thought, before he noticed they were charging west, towards the rear of the knights. Searching for their target, he finally saw it.
Despite its size, it looked like it crawled, multiple legs flaying around in a sickening motion of unnatural joints. Clawed feet dug into mud and earth, propelling it forward with a speed greater than that of a galloping horse. While the legs looked beastly, the body was insectoid, the abdomen and thorax covered in a black shell of a bug or ant. The insect’s head was twisted on its neck, its mandibles turned upwards and backwards, but for a pale, humanoid mask that looked forwards, cold, expressionless. Long arms, like logs, protruded from the thorax and were pulled back, the abomination ready to fall on the knights and claw through them, like a thresher upon weed.

The Legion centurion got to it first. Holding his claymore upside-down from both hilt and blade, he roared as he pierced one of the abomination’s feet. It stalled the beast for but a moment, before he was crushed by the leg behind, but the charge had been interrupted. Rushing to their commander, great swords in hand, his men fell on the monstrosity with vengeance. Some tried to hit the joints, others the heels, while few pierced upwards trying to crash through the shelled abdomen. Black liquid and an alchemical stench run from its legs but the abomination paid little heed. With swiping moves, it lowered its clawed hands towards the humans that would pester it.
Hunfrid had never seen plate being slashed and pierced so easily in his life. In mere moments, it was standing on a spreading pool of crimson mingling with mud, dead bodies and torn plates around its feet. From deep within its body a muffled whimper echoed, like a soft serenade or lament. In his shock, the man-at-arms wondered if it were for the death and gore it caused or for its own, accursed soul.

Chapter Mage







To understand magic, one must first grasp that it is Primordial in aspect. Balance remains anathema to it in almost any form. Human mages have long been considered the weakest practitioners of the Art on Eä, their essence associated with Creation as much as Destruction with each of the elements, traditionally associated with Balance, equally represented. Without a serious imbalance, such as that present within the Dweghom, the power a human can channel without assistance is severely limited. This is not to say that a fully trained Chapter Mage is not capable of turning the course of a battle, merely that he will do so through the opportune application of power at the right time, rather than through the overwhelming application of power on the battlefield the way a Dweghom Pyromancer might.

The Chapter Mages of the Hundred Kingdoms have long been a powerful political tool, their magics more suited to the civilized environment of the court rooms and balls, than the raw elemental puissance demanded on the battlefield. Be one a noble, a bishop or a merchant, keeping a Chapter Mage in one’s retinue is proof of power and influence. Many have wondered why Chapter Mages, long considered amongst the most innovative and creative practitioners of this Art, only rarely become more of a political power within the Hundred Kingdoms as individuals or even organized institutions. The imbalanced soul, however, required by practitioners, often manifests as an excessive or compulsive mind and so the very source of a Chapter Mage’s power becomes the halt of their social and political success. The stories of temperamental and impulsive Pyromancers, distracted and impatient Aeolomancers or plodding, obsessive Geomancers is not a cultural cliché: their esoteric obsessions and proclivities are manifestations of their own imbalanced souls, and isolate them from mundane society, almost invariably turning them into pariahs or recluses.

This necessary imbalance, made manifest in young human Gifted, is what drives them to turn to the Chapters, chartered schools funded by the Imperial Court for the identification, protection and control of the Gifted population of the Empire. These Charters have characteristics as diverse as the individuals who congregate there: The Pool of Stillness caters mainly to Geomancers and Hydromancers, but also to Aeolomancers seeking to still their unquiet souls. The Gates of Fire, considered to be the foremost battle-mage training ground, attracts mostly Pyromancers, but many an Aeolomancer and Hydromancer have found solace in its strict regimes.

Chapter schools, however, do not represent the only place a Gifted student could hope to master the Art. The Churches are also aggressive recruiters of those they claim possess the ‘divine spark’, their aggressive, sometimes predatory, recruiting strategies making them natural enemy of the Chapters and its practitioners. Even beyond these two redoubtable institutions there are other, less conspicuous, places where one might get trained, if they possess the necessary will and aptitudes…

Did not expect to see that so soon. It looks good.

 Nova_Impero wrote:
Did not expect to see that so soon. It looks good.

Neither did I and I've seen some exciting things....

Like the lesser enslaved dragon with dragon fire cannons... it looks as epic as it sounds and does the box art justice!

Also a Spire "special character" clone called The Mimic...

These things I have sworn not to share as they are still a WIP (Or at least were when I saw them Some time back).

This Mage though. Complete surprise and very taken by her. The magic used to facilitate political subterfuge in Nepenthe - Deliberations, is exactly the kind of shinannigans I would expect her to get up to on a daily basis, hehe.

Deliberations; https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new/nepenthe-deliberations/

Its the 2nd part of a 3 part short story, part one and three (the price and the last argument) are also on the blog here; https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new

 Davidian wrote:

 Nova_Impero wrote:
Did not expect to see that so soon. It looks good.

Neither did I and I've seen some exciting things....

Like the lesser enslaved dragon with dragon fire cannons... it looks as epic as it sounds and does the box art justice!

Also a Spire "special character" clone called The Mimic...

These things I have sworn not to share as they are still a WIP (Or at least were when I saw them Some time back).

This Mage though. Complete surprise and very taken by her. The magic used to facilitate political subterfuge in Nepenthe - Deliberations, is exactly the kind of shinannigans I would expect her to get up to on a daily basis, hehe.

Deliberations; https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new/nepenthe-deliberations/

Its the 2nd part of a 3 part short story, part one and three (the price and the last argument) are also on the blog here; https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new

Cool stuff. I'm guessing the Dweghom Pyromancer is the guy on fire on the Dweghom-Nords box cover art.

Part if me thinks that's an Ardent Bezerker.... but I can't recall off my head. I'll have a look in a bit.

Another morsel for you.

The Spire have another unit confirmed to be in the works. "Centaur Avatars"

Don't know if that's the name or just how it was being explained to me XD but they are brute sized centaur cavalry

I think I saw that name durning the army builder video.

For all our Greek friends, the Para Bellum team are set up at AthenCon all weekend

https://www.para-bellum.com/what-is-new/highlight-characters/
Some info about characters.

This seems pretty good so far. Although, the art is interesting to see what they haven't shown yet.

Ok quick question about that thing on the right...what is the feth is that? No, really, what the feth is that? It looks like the lovechild between a praying mantis and a Fallout Ghoul.
I like the design. I just have no idea what it is.

I have no idea either. Whatever it is, it is a character or leader.
EDIT: By the looks of it, It seems that each character shown in that art is part of the three groups in the Spires.

Oh that? That's The Mimic. A clone special character.

You'll see a painted version of the mini on Friday (with another). Markus is working in it right now

Thanks for the info! I was wondering if we will get more information about new models.

Some call it assassination... others call it politics.

Maybe The Mimic could fix brexit :?

From their Facebook Page:

Mimetic Assassin:
“The Directorate has long sought to produce the perfect assassin clone, but their efforts have been incessantly stymied by the Sovereign. He has made it a matter of personal interest to ensure that all Ark vaults containing pertinent data to this research fall squarely under his direct supervision, denying the Directorate access to chameleonic strand sequences and certain personality traits, which it has sought for so long. They have instead been forced to adapt and improvise with those strands they already possess: agility, strength, aggression and some limited biomechanical functions.

While this formula would result in an impressively enhanced clone, it would nonetheless need to be trained and outfitted, further draining the Directorate’s limited resources. To overcome this limitation, the Directorate has turned to one of their core techniques: pheromonic manipulation. In addition to its unrivaled speed and ferocity, the Mimetic Assassin produces a very specific range of pheromones designed to induce lethargy in any complex organism, as well as making them more compliant and suggestible.

True to the origin of its design, therefore, this clone’s mimetic abilities derive from form and function, rather than training. Each segment of its carapace is individually articulated and razor sharp, allowing it to change its body shape, stance and outline to masquerade as any clone (or humanoid biped with minimal effort in disguise) or even produce claws and weapons made from its own body. Coupled with its pheromonic field, these attributes grant the Mimetic an unprecedented edge in infiltration and ambush situations. Easily overlooked in the dead of night or heaving mass of combat, the Mimetic Assassin can close within range of its chosen foe unnoticed before it springs into action, transforming into a whirling, stabbing monstrosity in the flash of an eye.”

https://www.facebook.com/ParaBellumWarGames/
Love the model and the background of this character.

Ok I am sold on this game. Love the artwork, love the lore so far, reeeaaallly loving the human faction. Cannot wait to see the dwarves* starter set contents. Gameplay looks great too.

Only note I will give about their website is that the list of what is in the starter set is not very approachable. Needs either a clearer list or a picture of all the contents set out.

Can't wait for this game to be released, hopefully they get a Canadian distributor so we can set up a community here.

A Grim Holiday Season story for you!!!
The Para Bellum team wishes you a happy holiday season.

The Tale of Hjul the Fisherman and the Night of the Bright Tree.

Gather round the hearth, now, gather and Nana will tell you the tale of Hjul the Fisherman and the Night of the Bright Tree.!




It was the darkest night of the year. It had been a lean year, a poor year, during which too many an end of day had found the nets of fishermen empty or as close as can be. Hjul was no exception and, if anything, he was rather one of those mostly afflicted. But he was of sturdy folk, Hjul, such as our village makes, for he was indeed one of our own, no matter what others claim. And he was also a proud father and a pious follower, venerating the Aesir and the Vanir as was proper. It was his love for his family and his faith in his gods that urged him to the sea that day, for in good Hjul’s mind, both deserved a feast and tribute, on that most sacred of winter nights.

And so it was that he left the shores even before the bright hours had come, along with others that shared as brave a heart as him. Before the sun even rose, they pushed their boats on the ice, guided by their lanterns on their boats bows, until they reached the water, and from there they sailed straight south. At the start of the bright hours, he threw his first net with the others but, as was usual that year, the nets came up empty. As the bright hours reached their peak, he and a handful of others, no more, sailed further south and tried again but still their nets would come out empty. One by one, his fellows made their way to the frozen shores, but Hjul’s pride was hurt and his honor wounded. Alone he sailed still, until the shore behind him looked distant and Mannheim was but an island to him. And there, as the bright hours faded finally, he threw his nets for a third time.

He waited long, in the cold and the bitter wet winds. He waited till the winter dusk settled and the lights of his fellows’ boats disappeared in the north. He waited till dark came upon him and the only light in sight was his own, weak lantern. He waited ‘till the longest night of the year swallowed him and his boat and even the flame of his lantern seemed to wither. Tucked in his furs, he waited, his boat rocking gently on black waves, his light a lone star dancing in the darkness, with its oil running out.

Hours passed and Hjul looked with desperation as his small flame withered. And he thought then that when the light run out, then he would know the gods did not wish for fish of him this year and he could return. So he kept his eyes peeled on that light. Ever withering, never gone, the light kept shining. That was the first miracle of the Night of the Burning Tree, for the oil never did run out.

Now below, the elusive fishes that hid and shied away all year long, they saw his pale, enduring lantern and to their desperate eyes, it seemed like the sun. For if you think that nights are dark for us Nords in winter, then know for the fish it is worse for they swim in the void. So lured they were by the promise of sun in the form of the small lantern, that they rushed in Hjul’s nets by the dozens. And that was the second miracle of the Night of the Bright Tree.

Rejoiced and thanking the gods for their kindness, Hjul gathered his nets, full and rich for the first time that year. He laughed in the dark and prepared to come home only to realize, finally, what the price for his fish were. For in the longest night of the year, the dark of sky and dark of sea are one and the clouds hide all stars. Hjul was lost and knew not where land was.

Now some say that that was the end of Hjul. Some say that he never returned and no one ever heard of him since. Others say he is alone in the dark still, his little fisherman boat floating in the long dark of the night sky and that by his lantern, the star Yulodi, do sailors know to find South and by the torch of his waiting wife, the star Ghilde, do they know to find North. But we of our village remember what others won’t. For in his dark desperation, Hjul saw a light appear in the North and he knew where the land was. He praised the gods and his laugh echoed in the dark, then thanked them as tears froze in his eyes.

It was the third and final miracle, the miracle of Hjul, and it is why this, the longest night of the year, we call the Night of the Bright Tree.

AMazing models!!!