I have smashed through over 6k of new Dwarfs this year. That's been fun, but overall I am actually quite hesitant to really expand any of my existing collections, especially those without fancy new 4E Books and offerings. It's a bit of a weird, contradictory position, I know. The new slot and battalion approach has really done a number on all of my collections. Even with the new book bringing reinforcements and some returning units, about 1/3 of the old Herd is gone (Lycans, Stampede, Harpies, etc.), another 1/3 is legal, but in a difficult spot thanks to slots (multiple Warlords, too many units per slot etc), and the last third (~3k) is strong and viable.
While I am hesitant to really expand my collections, it is still a new edition, with plenty of new units and interactions and stuff to explore. I need to rebase my Guardian Brutes, but that it taking longer than I'd hoped, so up now for the Herd is the Great Totem, and a Ydrin Thorncreeper!
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| The new stuff, together! |
For whatever reason, I completely forgot the name of the Great Totem here until this project was just about finished. I had gone with a rock. I liked the idea of some kind of magical marker for travelers in the know, or something like that. I skewered some leftover 1" insulation foam together, then carved bits away with a sharp knife until I got a towering, irregular shape that I liked. I coated it all in a layer of PVA glue for protection, before realizing that carving runes or something into the rock would look cool, but be much more difficult now. I decided to double down, and mixed up a little drywall compound to roughen up the rock texture, and then coated it all in another layer of PVA glue.
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| A rock! |
I like when a work has enough thought put into it that one can drill down to tease out and then explore sources that inspired the newer work. I never really got deeply into Game of Thrones in any form, but do enjoy listening to several devoted youtubers pulling deep lore and real history from those pages and then talking about things. In-universe, there are a handful of objects and structures built with an oily black stone, leading some readers to suspect connections between far-flung locations, or suggestions of non-human influence on the world and story.
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| The same rock from another angle. |
My Herd are old Beastmen, and a little more vicious looking than Mantic's new line of miniatures, so I mixed it all together, and we have this oily black stone sitting in the tundra. Painting-wise, it's is black craft paint, with a very dark green drybrush (Castellan Green) with a tiny bit of edge highlighting near the top ridges of the rocks (Warboss Green), and then a few little spots of snow. Is it corrupting stuff, and turning the Herd more brutal? Who knows, but it stands out and I like it.
On the table, I really like the design of this too. I've been a bit enamored with the Dwarf Rangers recently. They aren't amazing, but they are versatile, and seem like their require a lot of skill to use well, and that seems like a fun challenge. The Totem is in that same vein as well, having Very Inspiring, Rallying, a 9" Vicious Aura for Combat, and is able to issue command orders like a Champion. It has a TON on offer for a supporting piece.
The twist is that the Great Totem has Advanced Deployment, which is a very unique rule, and where the need for high skill need comes into play. The Totem doesn't deploy in the movement phase, but instead comes down after deployment, but before Scout moves. It's is a US1 drop anywhere you want, which could be clutch for something like Control, but you also really need to correctly guess the flow of the game in order to drop it somewhere that the buffs will be useful, as it cannot move for any reason (Sp 0, no Wind Blast, etc). Lastly, as it is classified as a War Machine, all combat attacks into it are tripled, so there is a chance it can be broken during the game. I really like the design of this, and can't wait to get it on the table soon!
Also ready now is a generic Faun hero, which I'll run as the new Ydrin Thorncreeper, or maybe as a Tribal Songweaver, should the need arise for either. The model is from Reaper Mini, picked up a while ago from a FLGS. I snipped the stand off, hobbied them up, and just added them to a tundra base. There is nothing noteworthy going on here for hobbying.
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| Ydrin? |
Ydrin is a new Champion model from Mantic's line. He's got a unique collection of special rules too, with Leaper for line of sight ease, flying on his charges, and even Feint. This seems quite disruptive, but with just Def3, I don't know how survivable he will actually be. Magnilde fulfilled a similar role for my Varangur in 3E, flying out and booping something to tie it up, but she could take a hit.
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| Or a Songweaver? Maybe that's a big ol' contrabass wooden flute. |
The alternative use for the model is a Songweaver, which is the Herd's equivalent to an ASB. Pathfinder could be good for scenario play, and while they really want an item, Shroud of the Saint seems like a fine one to carry, or Zephyr Crown for Wind Blast 5 might be good too, if one is playing a tighter, positionally-minded game.
These are options, but I've really been liking my Champions to be Inspiring Spellcasters, and the Druids are top-notch. I don't know how often Ydrin or the Songweaver will actually see the table, but they are now ready, along with the Great Totem!