DARK AGE - The new 2-player starter set!

I started this "Month of Dark Age"because we're releasing the 2-player starter set this Friday (or Thursday if you happen to be at AdeptiCon). If you'd like to get a good look at the contents of the box, you can do so HERE. 

In preparation for the NOCF Raffle being sponsored by CMON, I've painted up the Saint Isaac half of the Path To Glory set. Jason Craze of Slowfuse Gaming is painting the Ice Caste half. 

Here are the St Isaac model and his two Centipedes from the set. They are all plastic models with incredible detail and crispness, they go together very quickly, and are very sturdy.

Here's a comparison shot between the plastic model (left) and the original resin model (right).

And here are the plastic Controllers from the Path To Glory set. Again, great detail.

Last year I painted a set of Saint Isaac (above) and Ice Caste Dragyri minis (below) to take to Beasts of War. We raffled these off and you can check out the detailed post on these HERE.

AdeptiCon starts on Thursday, so I'm not sure if I'll have time to post another set of minis before then, but I'll try : )

Cheers

Dave

WRECK-AGE - A Kickstarter for Post-Collapse Vehicles

I've been working recently with the guys from Hyacinth Games on their latest Kickstarter campaign to bring vehicles of various sorts to the world of Wreck-Age.

If you are into post-apocalyptic gaming, check out the Kickstarter and see if you're interested in the cool things they are working on.

DARK AGE - The Shadow Caste Dragyri

One of the cool things about doing work for a miniatures company is, of course, being able to get your hands on minis early. This is one of those cases. I was able to get a hold of some of the lovely Shadow Caste Dragyri miniatures that surfaced for the very first time last year. These are models that I painted up pretty quickly so that we could take them to Northern Ireland to use in some Dark Age videos filmed at Beasts of War last September.

This small force is 700 points, and it wouldn't take much to bring it up to 1,000. A standard game of Dark Age is 500 points, so you have a bit of flexibility.

The Death's Device of Shadow and the Gatherer.

The Naedrae and the Keeper.

The Goliath

The Shadow Caste Dragyri have quite a few trust issues, so they don't make use of slaves like the other castes (but not because of thoughts of morality, they just don't trust them). Instead they have subverted a couple of CORE robots to use as manual labor. These include the Shadow Menials (above) and the Shadow Finder (below).

DARK AGE - The Fire Caste Dragyri

While I was painting up the Salt Flat Nomads from my previous post, I was eyeing up a couple of other factions - primarily the Forsaken (as I love my "humans against the fantastic" but also the Fire Caste Dragyri as they seemed to suit my play style.

The Dragyri are an alien race brought to Attr (the planet Dark Age is set on) thousands of years ago as a slave race for the more diminutive Alteghrans. After a revolt, the dragger formed a new society, with various castes devoted to the different elemental forces, including Fire. Over time, each caste evolved to mimic the key qualities of their element, which means that the Fire Caste are the embodiment of the raging inferno, barreling down on you with incredible ferocity before moving on, driven by incredibly fury. When I'm new to a game I find it best to try out something familiar, comfortable, to help me get my grounding. The "rush forward and try to beat up everyone" approach worked well for my Ogres in Warhammer, so I figured it would ferrety well with these 10' tall killing machines.

First up we have the Spirit Lord and the female Volcanic Phalanx models (above and below). The Dragyri society is fairly chauvinistic, but the Fire Caste does value the contributions of females in their ranks. Almost all of their unit types have a male and female version, with male characters leading the warbands. I currently don't own the male Volcanic Phalanx, but will be correcting that oversight soon. 

These two models are resin, and came with resin spears. I replaced the hafts with brass rods, and added a small bead to the butt of the spears to give a visual sense of balance. 

These are the male and female Volcanic Helots. They are the bodyguards of the Fire Caste leaders, ready to step in the way of incoming fire and also deal out quite a bit of damage with their bardiche.

These are the male and female Pyres. They excel at hit and run tactics, using their scimitars to slice apart those wounded and disoriented by their flam bombs.

These are the male and female Brimstones. No, they aren't wearing much in the way of armor. Yes, they are carrying dual flame throwers : )

The outfit worn by the male version reminds me quite a bit of the mechanic in Beyond Thunderdome.

This is the male version of the Inferno, one of the elite troopers of the Fire Caste. I will also be purchasing the female version very soon.

This is the Greater Fire Elemental, and incredible beast of a model/unit. This one is the version cast in translucent yellow resin (available from the CMON booth at conventions) that I painted up the afternoon before driving up to see Ash Barker of Guerrilla Miniature Games. He and I had been doing quite a bit of trash talking the week prior, and when he revealed he had painted up a Cabrakan for his Kukulkani (pretty much Death on legs), I knew I needed something to try and counter it.

You can check out Ash's Dark Age videos HERE, and our Fire Caste/Kukulkani battle HERE.

Then I have a pair of Embers. These are only brought into play when a model with the Emberspark ability kills an opponent, that's why it looks like they are rising from burning corpses : )

And finally, for my currently painted Fire Caste, I have three smaller models. There's the Artificer of the Alteghran on the left, He's now a slave to the Fire Caste and he uses his technical skills to ensure that the ranged weaponry and armor of the Fire Caste stays functional. The other two models are Razor Slyths, subterranean creatures enslaved by the Dragyri to do their bidding. These models are fast, reasonable in combat, but are primarily used for completing secondary tasks.

So there you have it. If you'd like to learn more about Dark Age, click HERE to check out the site, or feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!

DARK AGE - The Salt Flat Nomads

Welcome back! I know I have shown some of these before, but I figured I should start this look at my Dark Age collection with where it all began - the Salt Flat Nomads.

Dark Age has seven different 'primary" factions, and these are then (typically) broken down into a number of sub-factions as well as the "unaligned' faction models. The Salt Flat Nomads are a sub-faction of the Outcasts and, as their name implies, they are a people who were outcast from civilization and are now nomads on the great salt flats the occupy much of Samaria (where Dark Age is set).

I have titled the image above "The Tribe". These are the core of the Nomads, the regular rank and file, and their focused military and spiritual leaders.

First is Bendahrin Durshe, the Bladelord. Duarte is the leader of the Durshe tribe, largest amongst the Salt Flat Nomads thanks to his aggressive policy of raiding and assimilating other tribes.

This is a Caravan Keeper, a nameless leader of one of the smaller scouting/scavenging/raiding parties the Nomads have active at all times.

The Oathpourer is the keeper of the tribe's honor, and it's water. She keeps track of all transactions, including life debts.

These are Tribal Warriors, the backbone of the... well... tribe.

The infiltrating Thornwinds use shards of fulgrite glass in their lethal blowpipes.

The image is titled "The Herd". The Salt Flat Nomads "tame" various beasts from the wilds of Samaria, android them forward into battle. At the front of the photo stands Lynette and her two Dust Jackals (sadly I don't yet have a separate shot of them).

The Herders were some the first models that drew me to the Nomads. They're certainly not great in combat, but their shock prods can keep the beasts headed toward the right fights.

The dino-avian Vrocks are incredibly cool, although they require a bit of patience to assemble and keep assembled.

The Molokai are sand crocodiles that love to ambush unsuspecting passers-by.

The other model that really grabbed my attention for the Salt Flat Nomads was the Dust Bull. He also draws the attention of my opponents.

This image is titled "The Loners"

Kane has a very interesting story behind him, which helps explain the reason he isn't lithe and clothed in flowing fabric like much of the tribe, but rather clad in thick steel plates.

The Dishonored is someone who has caused the tribe a significant loss of resources, either through ineptitude of negligence. Stripped of all their normal belongings, they become the Dishonored and must now work to repay their debt to the tribe.

The Berserker is a warrior who has strapped on armor made from the skin of the spiny rock sloth. This armor has hallucinogenic qualities, and the tribe can never be sure exactly how it will affect the wearer.

Finally, these are the Hands of War (left and right) and the original Hand of War, Moonless Night (in the center). In combat they are each a whirling dervish of flashing blades.

I hope you like these models. If you want to check out more about Dark Age, visit the site HERE.

DARK AGE - A month of posts!

Over the last 15 months of so, I've been doing quite a bit of work for CoolMiniOrNot, primarily focused on grassroots promotion and marketing for Dark Age and Wrath of Kings. 

Over that time I've painted a LOT of Dark Age models. In honor of the game's first 2-player starter set being released this month, I thought it'd be cool to present you all with a series of posts that covers all the models I've painted for the various factions, including my own personal collection and those painted for other purposes. 

Stay Tuned!

Cheers

Dave

INQUISITOR - Power Armor comes in ALL shapes and sizes

I had time over February to paint up another two models for the ongoing Inquisitor commission that has now entered its second year. I chose two models that differed in size and detail, but were both armored and loyal to the Imperium.

The first is Brother Hexanchus of the Deathwatch (formerly of the Carcharadons).

This is, of course, the Brother Artemis model, with a slightly tweaked scheme.

I painted on the Carcharadon symbol, and his name - which comes from the scientific name of a pre-historic shark.

And painted a shark-tooth campaign badge on his knee.

The second model was this (as yet un-named) daemon-hunting Inquisitor, hauling around a fresh kill.

I hope you like these as much as the client. He'll take delivery of these at AdeptiCon.

Cheers
Dave