KoL sites are all gone!

Oh no! All of my Knights of Legend sites have been removed. Disaster!

Geocities shutdown 2 of my old sites on Monday - I was expecting that - but the new one that I spent nearly two days updating with the old data has also been deleted. I have sent an email to the host asking why and am waiting for a response. I hope it is just a misunderstanding as they stipulate in their T&Cs that if a site is used as a data store then it will be deleted. I am hoping that I have given them a reasonable excuse for the volume of uploaded material - maybe I put on too much too soon? Hopefully their tech support will get back to me with an explanation and with a bit of luck put it back up on the web. If not, I'll have to look around for another host and spend another couple of days uploading the pages again.

Anyway, rant over and back to the miniature figures. I am out of Araldite at the moment, so am a bit stymied on sticking some more minis onto round bases. That should be resolved by the weekend, so I can sort out more minis for basing. I have plenty of undercoated minis to start on, so should have some to photograph and display in my next update. I think the first ones finished should be the last few villagers and another troll. I also have some old sci-fi minis that I will just be rebasing. Alex has been busy painting some 40K Space Marines, so they may be ready by the weekend too. Plenty to come over the next few weeks for sure.

T-KoL Turn 13 (Night)

Rollo the Barbarian ripped his sword free of its scabbard. A yard of shimmering steel glinted in the pale moonlight. An Cnoc cowered behind him, clinging to his broad shoulders, unable to tear her terror-filled eyes from the horror ahead. Gulping back his superstitious unease, Rollo stepped boldly forward, the hard point of his great-sword pointing at the hollow ribcage of the dreadful abomination slowly shambling towards him. He halted. An Cnoc screamed. Unable to further bear the living nightmare, she finally fainted as from the blackness each side of the endarkened path, staggered another clawing, fleshless cadaver. His jaw fixed, his teeth gritted, Rollo swung his bright blade high above his head and rushed forward. There was a blinding flash and the barbarian fell to his knees. His head swimming, he shook free his confusion and stood, raising his blade once more, but he saw no skeletons before him, but a figure that while fully clothed, was by anyone’s measure, clearly not lacking flesh.
“Bash?”
“None other!” replied the Cleric who walked past the dazed barbarian and knelt over the swooned maiden. He mopped her brow and her eyes flashed open. Her waking terror fled as she saw the holy man’s generous features. Grateful for her deliverance, she threw her arms around him and wept.
Rollo stoically shrugged.
Bash turned his head, “You guarded the maiden well Barbarian, but we must now dice for the single Gold Piece worth of treasure my hireling Strongbow has gathered from the piles of bone-dust scattered here about”. Rollo smiled and the two heroes rolled dice. Rollo gleefully pocketed the treasure. Fate and the gods it would seem saw fit to grant him at least some compensation.

Secundus the Mage saw he was surrounded. Calmly he raised his staff above his head as the wind filled with his words of arcane calling. Flames shot from dark earth about him, forming a perfect circle of fire. There he stood, defiant, protected by the scorching blaze as beyond its flickering, orange light the skeleton warriors stood, unceasingly beating their shields.

Orcs versus Dwarfs

I have had a very busy weekend gaming wise, after achieving literally nothing through the week. I have started work on a Knights of Legend replacement website (see details in previous post), a sci-fi website (collating data at the moment) and finished painting a few minis for Hordes of the Things. I have also undercoated a load more minis whilst the weather was still good - some old Citadel 2000AD Judge Dredd minis, a couple of giants, a dragon and some elves for Alex.

Here are the first of the minis I finished today. They are five of the old Asgard Dwarf range. I think they are fantastic figures and have plenty of detail and character - each one is an individual. Luckily I still have another dozen or so to paint up.

Next up are another bunch of Harboth's Black Mountain Boys. These are the second stand for my orc army. I have enough of these minis for one more stand of blades and a stand for Harboth and his standard. Unfortunately, I never got round to getting the musician (EBay?) set like I did with Bugman's Dwarf Rangers.

Finally here's a picture of the old adversaries squaring up in a woodland somewhere in the northern wilderness. I can't wait to get onto more of these figures - they are a joy to paint.

Next up should be some wizards, a troll, a giant and some more orcs. Hopefully I can get onto those 2000AD minis too - I'm really looking forward to those.

This week I shall be busy trying to get the Knights of Legend site up to date. It is a long process as I have to convert every page ready for the new site, but it'll be worthwhile.

Knights of Legend

The Geocities websites for the old Knights of Legend adventures will go offline at midnight tonight, so I have had to create a replacement for them. Here is the link to the new wip site...

http://tkol.110mb.com/

The first story is up and ready for viewing and the other two KoL adventures will be uploaded over the next couple of weeks.

Band of Siblings

I managed to get a batch of fantasy fighter figures completed over this last week. The fighters in this picture are a batch of early Citadel and Ral Partha minis. I was pleased with the shield on the figure on the right when I first finished it, but looking at it closely it is not as nice as I first thought. Still, it is freehand and from above the tabletop it looks quite good - which is the effect I am aiming for.

Here are three female fighters. I don't know why, but the sculpting on these is not as good as the male fighters even though they are from the same ranges. The figure on the right must have had a nightmare coming out of the mould as the face is really bizarre.

In the next picture are two fighters from Denizen Miniatures. Another couple of male fighters. One seems to be of Norman descent and the other of Greek. I'll use them as generic fighters but this will always be at the back of my mind. I tried to find an appropriate shield design for the "Greek" fighter but due to the curvature of the shield none of the stickers would adhere properly. I wasn't brave enough to freehand paint anything this time. Maybe next time I get a figure/shield similar to this I will give it a go.

Finally, here's a picture of the whole motley crew. A nice batch of mercenaries if ever I saw one.

Next week should see some more orcs and dwarfs for Hordes of the Things. I also have a few more villagers (a crone, some kids and their mongrel pooch from Warlord Games), another troll and a few other bits and bobs in the pipeline.

Celts and Romans

Well, I finally got round to photographing my completed Roman Century and some of the Celts to fight them. Here's the first of the Celts denying access to a ford somewhere in the wilderness...



Here's the Roman century about to cross. They have fanned into ranks to better repulse the Celtic onslaught about to occur...

Finally, here's the view from behind Roman lines towards the defended ford...

All the photos are a little skewed as the table they are on has lots of junk on it, so all the Roman century cannot be seen in its entirety. I think they look rather impressive ranked up and would certainly put the fear of the gods into any enemy's mind.

T-KoL Turn 12-13 (Evening/Night)

T-KoL Turn 12 (Evening) REPORT

After spending what seemed an eternity waiting for Xox the Ranger to catch him up to see why he was being followed, Rollo the Barbarian slaked his thirst at Dewar's Well before striding on to the Linkwood Forest Road.


T-KoL Turn 13 (Night)

Rollo the Barbarian had not gone far along the Linkwood Forest Road, when up ahead, in the dappled, golden light of sunset, he saw a young woman. His eyes widened with unabashed appreciation of her lissome form as the slanting rays shone through her muslin dress. She stopped, terrified.
“Fear not, pretty maid!” Rollo held out his open palms to reassure her, “I am no footpad or forest thief, but a brave blade in the service of the Laird. I am pledged to bring order and to protect the peoples of his fief!”
Her eyes still wide with terror, An Cnoc the maiden staggered backwards. Too fearful to speak, she merely pointed.
Rollo looked down at himself and saw nothing that had ever inspired such terror. What was it about him that terrified her so?
An Cnoc pointed again, this time frantically stabbing the air.
Finally, concluding he could not be the cause of such unfettered horror, Rollo followed the line of her finger and turned. He gasped, for there in the deepening darkness, following in his very footsteps, shambling and staggering disjointedly behind him was the animated bare bones of a long decayed cadaver. Fleshless fingers clawed the cold, black air. Its jaw fell and in a voice torn from beyond the grave, the skeleton screamed, demanding their very souls.

“So this is Dewar’s Well, at last?” Strongbow, sighed and placed his pack on the floor and looked up to the darkening sky.
“Just a resting-point in our journey, young man,” replied Bash the Cleric, “take a seat, you deserve it.”
Strongbow rested against the wall of the well. There was a crack and he nearly fell as a stone gave way beneath his hand, falling to the ground.
“Are you hurt?” asked the cleric.
“No, only startled.” Strongbow bent down and picked up the stone. He stopped, and began brushing the decayed mortar from the underside of the stone. “Look, there are strange marks on it!” he held the stone out for Bash to see.
“That,” observed the cleric, “is known as writing,” he paused. “Let me have a closer look, it appears to be a quite ancient script!”
Muttering a few words, Bash’s sacred talisman glowed, and by its holy light, he slowly traced the letters with his finger. “It is ancient,” he confirmed, “but it is legible to one as learned as I. It tells of a passage built half way down the wall of this very well. This corridor leads to chamber that houses a shrine mounting the famous ‘Pearl of Wisdom’!”
“Can it be true?” gasped Strongbow.
“Do we have,’ asked Bash, “any reason to doubt?”

Secundus the Mage felt uneasy. Darkness had crept upon him quite suddenly. The crags towering over Longmorn pass crowded the sky, blotting out its feeble light. Staff in hand, he kept walking. Perhaps he would arrive at somewhere less unnerving by midnight. Then he stopped. All around him small stones and pebbles clattered down the endarkened screes. The clamour grew as one skeleton warrior after another pulled itself from its forgotten grave, to stand bold and erect, silent in the cold night air. Then, one by one, with long-rusted blades they began beating their mouldering shields. Thud! Thud! Thud! Each beat louder than the last as yet another dead warrior joined the dire, dreaded rhythm of the decayed.