CCXV. AoS28: Order Warband

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.

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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. 

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 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. 

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 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.  

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