A cold rain drizzled down through the trees onto the assembled Trollkin sheltering there. Since the fighting had renewed in the Thornwood, the Kriel had been driven to move, seeking sanctuary where they could.
Finan Firetongue, Kithkar of the Kriel's Fennblade company moved to stand next to his friend on sentry duty. They stood staring for a few moments through the grey mist which hung low, caused by the light rain further out. The drips from the trees plinking off of their armour, the Kriel tabards soaked but still displaying their proud colours.
"This is a miserable place, I miss the wee old grove"
"I know Connal, but our duty is to the Kriel, we must protect our families. Doomshaper wouldn't have sent us this way unless there was something here" Finan replied to his friend.
Connal nodded and resumed his lookout and Finan toured the other sentries, sharing a joke or word with each before returning to Connal.
"You know, I hear Rhiannar has started looking for a mate, maybe..." Finan trailed off as Connal held up a hand to silence him. Normally feasting and mating were the main topics of conversation but Finan now followed Connals' gaze westward.
There the orange fire-glow of steam boilers under power betrayed the presence of a human warparty. Shortly two units of slight humans with cloaks and rifles could be seen trying to stealthily approach the woodland.
Giving their position away the human leader had brought their forces forwards too soon, lightning glowing from swords and the lumbering tread of the huge Warjacks. Each painted a rich blue and white, with the Cygnaran crest boldly shining upon them.
Finan gave out a shrill whistle and the Kriel encampment was suddenly a hive of activity. The other Fennblades raced from their sentry positions to join their Kithkar. Kriel Warriors gathered battered sword and iron cast shield, then embraced their family and moved to join their company.
A great booming song-shout sounded, echoing over the noise of gathering warriors and the rain.
"Brothers and Sisters" the voice sang, "Remember our duty to protect the Kriel, our families are here and need us! Rejoice, for we have a chance to prove our valour and worthiness to belong to Braggs' bloodline! This will be a day for deeds to brag about, to work up a thirst and hunger, we will feast afterward the battle is won! The mating musk will be thick in the air, mark my words, oh you lucky lads and lasses!"
Lusty cheers answered the Fellcallers' rallying speech, Finan noticed that Connal joined in enthusiastically with a knowing grin.
The Trollkin formed a ragged battleline at the edge of the trees and waited for the Cygnaran's to come to them...
*****
Out of all the different factions between Warmachine and Hordes, I don't think there are any real standout factions more then the others.
Sure, there are some which I personally feel are weaker, Legion of Everblight for example, as I'm not keen on the blind, insect look of their models, Skorne with their psuedo-Samurai/Oriental look (remember I already have a historical Samurai collection) and Protectorate of Menoth, which whilst they have some miniatures which I really like (The Paladin of the Wall for example) I'm not keen on their Catholic Church/Middle Eastern mix up inspiration.
Until they began introducing the fairytale stuff and demons, I really am not keen on those sections of the range*.
Of the other factions, I really like a lot of what's going on.
The Trollbloods are as close as it comes to a true "good guy" faction as they're just trying to survive and make a home for their people after being driven out by the more "civilized" factions fighting through the Thornwood.
Even Cygnar, the posterboys of Warmachine and originally portrayed somewhat as the "good guy" faction, have slowly turned into shades of grey, expelling the religious Menites to the Protectorate and trying to use the Trollbloods as a buffer by giving them weapons and such.
But the Trollblood Kriels, as far as we knew by Mk.2 were just looking for a home to settle, and yes, whilst they had driven Cygnaran folk from their land once. They were promised land by the King and been used as pawns to try to check the Khadoran and Skorne borders, fair is fair**.
The mixture of barbarian tribe and Celtic influence is plain to see on these models and I've tried to incorporate some form of patterning on the tabards of the Fennblades.
I'll get better at this the more I practice I do, maybe go for some more complex patterning on the Heroes and Characters, and leave the rank and file troops with more subdued patterns.
I've kept to a core palette of dirty metal and leather, with the blue skintones and tabards drawing the eye to details.
Again I've used my generic light basing paint scheme.
Rok, is a named Diretroll, one smart enough to use an axe it seems!
This model is actually one of the mail order Extreme Diretrolls direct from Privateer Press, which has had the Top upgrade pack attached to it.
I didn't actually mail order this as I got him in a great deal off of eBay, along with a pair of Troll Impalers and a set of the Sons of Bragg all for £30 as a Father's Day gift this summer just gone past.
He's been a different experience painting as it's a lot of blue, which isn't a colour I've use a lot.
I worked his skin up from a dark Kantor Blue bsse, by drybrushing up through Caledor Sky, Calgar Blue and then Thunderhawk Blue all over to give that weather beaten blue-grey look. I then went back and picked out the visible veins on his flesh with pure Kantor Blue.
Likewise the stone sections, his back, shoulders, knuckles, beard, started at Mechanicus Standard grey washed with Nuln Oil.
Instead of starting the drybrushing with Mechanicus Grey, I opted instead to start with Stormvermin Fur, then Karak Stone and finally a drybrush of Ulthuan Grey.
I kept the tanned leather the same as on the Fennblades, reasoning that this guy wouldn't be wearing Kriel colours, but I added a second layer of colour to the leather using Tallarn Sand, when washed with Earthshade the two browns blended together to create a nice interest on the kilt.
Finally as the Leadbelcher was mixing into the grey stone areas too much, I painted his runes with Retributor Armour, reasoning that the Trollblood Kriels would give offerings to this Avatar of Destruction, stamping them with warding runes to protect Rok in battle.
These two units clear another two boxes for an additional Twenty points. This gives me a new total of One Thousand and Fifty points.
Until next time...
* Again this is just my opinion about the factions in the game. If you like them, you do you.
**Mk.2 is the last book I bought when I was playing Warmachine/Hordes regularly years ago (where does the time go?). I know that there has been updates and the story moved forwards a lot, but I work with what I know and like.
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