Goodbye Isles of
Brume
The Isles of Brume
is a little sub-setting I concocted for my AoS28 miniatures and their stories.
It was a bit different, but for the most part it didn't clash with the official
AoS lore, especially in its early days. Now, after a couple years of gradual
development, I can say I've grown very fond of it. I started feeling more and more that I wanted
to take my ideas further, without the constraints of fitting it in the
Warhammer universe. And, what's no less important, without the entanglement
with Games Workshop IP making it impossible to profit from all that work in any
way. So I've decided to divorce the two.
This does
not mean I'll stop making AoS28 content (as you'll clearly see when you read further down). It only means no more Folda - just
Flesh-eater Courts. No more Mirrogoi - just Deathrattle… I'll still be
converting and painting miniatures, they'll still look grim and dark, and with my own twist. They'll
still be used in narrative games. I'm
simply removing my out-of-control worldbuilding from the equation. For me it's
quite a shift, while on your end it hopefully won't be that big a difference.
Cut from AoS,
what was known as the Isles of Brume will be getting a new life in another form (not as miniatures). I've cleaned up the setting from
anything AoS specific (surprisingly little had to be cut), scrapped a bunch of
ideas that were weak or no longer fitting, did a fair amount of renaming, and
I'm expanding on parts that I think have potential, while adding new, shiny
ones. A whole different mythology is forming. When and in what exact form(s)
this world will see the light of day again – I don't know. Perhaps it never
will. But now it's free to grow in whichever direction it wants.
Reboot of My
AoS28
A clean start.
New minis. Some of the old ones will eventually get updated and incorporated,
but many are getting retired from service (put away into boxes or scrapped for
parts).
My first project will be Stormcast Eternals and
their human allies. This new setting is a vast territory freshly liberated from occupation by Chaos. The huge and mighty Stormhost
is gone to fight somewhere else, and people are working on resettling the area: rebuilding, repopulating, starting new kingdoms on ruins of old. There are lots of
ruins around... Though armies of Chaos are gone, these lands are not fully safe yet. Wild beasts, the undead and small groups of servants of Chaos can still be found - especially in darker, less accessible places. The land is scarred, and it will take time and effort from the Free Peoples for it to heal, and not fall back into chaos and ruin. A handful of Stormcast Eternals remains there to coordinate and lead these
efforts...
 |
| A Stormcast Liberator entering a cemetery with companions. |
For my humans
I'll be using mostly historical minis. There are excellent medieval kits from
Perry Miniatures. I like the challenge of converting fantasy minis from these
very toned-down historicals. Plus, I want a visually coherent look for my humans
– and using a limited pool of kits works in favour of that goal. For now I have War of the Roses kits, but I intend to get the Agincourt ones as well.
I'm making my
first minis with Rangers of Shadow Deep rules system in mind. I'd like to appropriate
it for AoS28, with Stormcast in the role of Rangers (player characters) and human
soldiers as companions they can hire for missions. The list of companions
includes a nice array of combatant character archetypes, and I plan to make at
least one of each. Let's have a
look at what I have so far.
Knights
Plastic Perry Men at Arms with thumbtacks for shields and Mounted Men at Arms weapon swaps;
nothing major in way of converting. Knights are among the costlier companions in RoSD;
clad in heavy armour and armed with a hand weapon + shield. I'll be going with
the hammer as their standard hand weapon.
*
Barbarian and Savage
Savages are meant
to be unarmoured barbarian types with two-handed weapons. Here I got a bit
creative with my interpretation, going for a look slightly reminiscent of a
gladiator. The armoured parts come from Perry WoTR Men at Arms kit, while the bare torso
is from GW Wild Riders. Citadel elves have a slighter build than their humans,
so they actually fit with the smaller Perry bits.
A Barbarian
is a hand weapon + shield version of the Savage. Hand axe seemed like the best
choice for this one. Same sources of bits, except the shield. It's a thumbtack,
and the medusa head relief on it was moulded and cast from a GW Dark Elf lizard
cavalry shield.
*
Swordsman and Conjuror
Conjurors are battle mages. I didn't want a classical robed wizard, but something
that looks more like a soldier. I really dig the design of mages in Witcher 2,
where they wear bits of plate armour (more for decorative purposes than
function). This sort of design would make my mages blend in better with the
rest of the companions. The mini was built from a combination of Perry kits and
a bit of sculpting.
Swordsmen are well-trained duelists who fight with a
combination of sword and dagger. They are meant to be unarmoured, but I took the liberty of giving mine a plate armoured torso, head and
arms, with unarmoured legs to make them look more mobile. Has a sword, dagger
and buckler. I will be arming all similar-looking characters (Knights and Templars)
with warhammers and polearms rather than swords in order to help tell them
apart on the tabletop.
*
Rogue and Arcanist
The Rogue was a bit of a pain to figure out. It's a stealthy lock and trap specialist
with a dagger and throwing knives. Didn't feel right at all to give them any
plate armour. In the end went with a GW Glade Guard hooded head (again, elves
can actually be perfectly combined with Perry parts) and a Perry Mercenary
body. Then I covered the torso with putty.
Like
the Conjuror and the Rogue, the Arcanist is not the type of companion meant to
be pushed in the thick of the fighting. Unarmoured and armed with only a hand
weapon, this specialist is an expert in ancient lore and languages. I first imagined
something like the Antiquarian from Darkest Dungeon. Since this companion, like
the Conjuror, is not going for stealth, I was comfortable giving the miniature
some armour. I remembered I had an old Warrior Priest that was pretty small as
Warhammer minis go. Replaced his bare head with a Perry
helmet and left hand holding a hammer with a plastic empty hand.
*
