Great Kingdoms warband for SAGA! Age of Magic

This is what I've been painting up for the past month. 

This is my great Kingdoms force for SAGA!.  I've based this warband on my military unit resource from Empire lrp.  Yes I based this on the LARP I go to.  Given that it is Empire lrp based I deliberately gimped myself.  Horses are extinct in Empire so no cavalry for me.  These are the House de Loup colour scheme, which is this

My freehand is shit, so I didn't bother painting the house heraldry on it.  You may notice that some of the dudes have different coloured skin.  That's because they are lineaged.  The pale guys are draughir, the greeny dudes are merrow and the guys with the green bits on their cheeks.  Note that I can't sculpt for shit, and I'd be buggered if I was going to sculpt dozens of tiny horns, so no cambions.  You can find more about lineages here.

Let's go n to the close ups.

First I have 2 points worth of levies with crossbows.  These are my ranged yeofolk.

Next I have I have 3 points worth of warriors.  These are my fighty yeofolk.

Next I have 2 points of hearth guard.  These are my anvil knights.

Also I have 2 points of hearth guard with heavy weapons.  These are my hammer knights.

I also have a couple of paladins that I converted.  One has a heavy weapon and one doesn't.  These guys don't cost any points, but to use one them I have to sacrifice 2 hearth guard, 4 warriors or six levies. 

My warlord a.k.a tiny me.  Earl Bertrand de Loup and his retainer and spear holder; Guy.

My tenth point is a behemoth in the form of Paul the war bear.  She's a delicate feminine flower.

If I expand this force I'd like to add a unit of quadruped creatures in the form of hunting dogs.  I'd also like to add the Conclave unique unit, because a unit of wizards is peak Dawn.

The plastic footmen and knights are from Fireforge Games.  The warlord is from Footsore Miniatures, he was their model of the month for May.  The model of the month is given away free with every order over £20,  they're usually released 6 months afterwards for general release, so you can probably get this guy from Novemberish.  The bear is from Atlantis Miniatures.
 

Empire Autumn Equinox 382YE

By the virtues that was even better than the last one.  I've already done my hots and nots on the Dawn facebook group, but fuck it I'm doing them here again with more detail. I'm also going to show off my loot and talk about improvements to my character, kit and house.

Before I continue I'm going to add in my recruitment code.  If you use it to buy your first ticket you get £15 off, it also helps me out.  9066.16781

To start here's a picture of me absorbing the atmosphere.

Now the E3 loots.

Here are my swords.  I bought a two hander at the last event as a placeholder weapon. I wanted a spear, but there's no way I was fitting one in my Clio with all our kit in it.  This time we borrowed Sarah's dad's truck, and that has plenty of room for a spear, so hopefully we can borrow it gain in future.  The other sword is my fallback blade.  It's a bit off brief for Dawn, traditionally the Dawnish use arming swords, whereas I've opted for a falchion.  That's because my character is more used to fighting four legged opponents rather than the more usual humanoid ones, so he's more used to brutally hacking at things rather than fancier swordplay.  The big sword is from Light Armouries and the little one is from Eldritch.

This is my circlet.  I got it from Wanderlust Couture.  I bought it to keep my hair out of my face.  Its so annoying when your talking to someone and the wind launches your hair down your throat.  I've actually started wearing it round the house instead of tying my hair back.  It also blings up my head.


So what about E4?

Let's start with the good bits


1. Sleeping in character.  After our tent was murdered by the weather at E3 we were in the market for a new tent.  I asked my mum for a bell tent as an early Christmas present, and she got us one (best mother ever).  Back to the point sleeping in character it is big and clever.  Now having done both ic and ooc camping, I prefer ic camping.  Camping in character means you get the full experience, you really absorb the atmosphere.  You also get to know people a bit better, you see them before you go to bed and you see them when you get up, you see them ic and you see them ooc, you fight with them and you die with them.  It's really hard to describe the feeling of being a part of your camp, having a little bit of it that's yours, you are part of your nation not just visiting it.  There's also that little sad feeling being there when the camp starts to get demolished.

A picture of the House de Loup tent taken on Thursday night (time in doesn't start until 6pm Friday for those who don't know).  The Dawnish camp is dark at night, as can be seen here

That's the same shot without the flash.
We were situated next to the big House Orzel tent (used for the Earl's council) right on the glory square.  Basically the one of the best spots in the entire camp.  I can say one thing those Orzels know how to party.

2. The House de Soleil setting of the sun festival.  They put on a puppet show (complete with hurdy gurdy), there was a Chinese dragon for the kids, and then there was the remembrance ceremony once the sun went down (complete with sparklers and a brazier of multi coloured fire).  The ceremony was to remember those who had died in the past year, with tales of glory and fond memories for the fallen.  The puppet show was hilarious.  

3. Embarrassing a Varuskan (at least I'm think he said he was Varushkan) so hard he fell out of character.  He came over to our fire and started talking some shit about a light ball.  He spotted my walking cane resting against my chair and mistook me for a mage, to which I retorted "I'm not a wizard I'm a cripple!"  He laughed so hard he nearly fell over, he also told me that I'd  just made his weekend.  It kind of made mine too.

4. Fetching some water for Lady Sophia Orzel while everyone was away drujing it up on the Saturday. My good deed for the day, which she paid back later that evening with a slice of cake left over from the House Orzel wedding earlier in the day. Delicious delicious cake. Mmmmm 

5.  The food. From Conspiracy Catering to House de Gauvain breakfast leftovers (that was some amazing black pudding thank you) we ate well all weekend.  The food available at Empire is amazing, not just the flavour but the sheer variety.

6. The House Vandale kids. They are adorable. The grin on the wee girl's face when we gave her a toasted marshmallow would melt a frozen heart and I couldn't help but giggle when one of them told Lady Danica to cause less mischief.  On the subject of House Vandale there was a Freeborn in the queue at Conspiracy Catering who decided to not insult the Dawnish in front of Lady Danica, his face was an absolute picture when he realised that the rest of the queue were Dawnish nobles.

7. The Earls' Council. I love these meetings. Eventually I hope to be brave enough to speak at them.  Personal highlight was when the Queen of Bones admitted she was leaving Dawn for Highguard and every Earl and Enchanter stood up and toasted her, fucking epic moment.

8. Everything is starting to make sense.  It's all starting to click in my head.  My roleplaying is getting better too.  Roleplaying is a hard skill, it needs practice to flourish.  One of the Orzels has started to do public speaking classes before time in of the Friday's of the event, I missed this one, but I will be attending at my next event.

9. And last but not least Ser Bors convincing Tyrion of house Tallstag to put a dress on the House de Loup pet bear. Not that he took much convincing. I'm really looking forward to my downtime now.  Honestly there's a few in jokes cropping up about this already.  Who says that roleplay needs to be serious?

now the not so good bits

1. My knee giving out halfway through Saturday. My knee has been giving me trouble all week so luckily I anticipated that that might happen and I remembered my walking cane.  I think it's arthritis. I'm now wearing a knee brace and have started doing knee strengthening exercises.  I will fight again.

2. Going non-com. Not that I mean anything against non-combatants, I just like hitting stuff. My armour needs a fair bit of work before I feel comfortable fighting in it again, which is the main reason I wasn't fighting. I brought my weapons to try and get some sparing in. But then my sodding knee gave way. Now I'm feeling a bit angsty.  I wanna hit something.

3. The drive to the site. Thanks to a crash on the m6 a 5 hour drive took 9. That sucked big time.  

4. Nervousness and anxiety. These are still hampering me in game. Mainly when it comes to starting conversations with people. I was more confident this time than last, but I'm not at a stage where I'd like to be. It's something that I'm going to have practice.

And now my E4 loot

I got a new bag from Darkblade.  One of my buckles went on my old one so I treated myself to a new one.  This one is more supple, which makes it easier to get into.  The old bag took fucking ages to get into, this one takes seconds.  It's about A5 in size and is really light.  I love it.

I got some padding for my lower legs.  This should prevent the bruised legs.

I also got some padding for my forearms.  This is more to stop my vambraces moving when I fight.

We also bought a shit load of reading material, including the last ever issue of the Pledge.  Most of these are books we bought from the library.  The most useful resource there is The Wanderer's Guide to Anvil.  It's a fantastic guide to the game, and I'd recommend picking one up.

This is what was waiting for me in my character pack.  Who wound have thought massacring  Druj farmers was so proffitable?  I still had my 18 rings from E3 so I went on a bit of a spending spree.  I kept hold of the crowns though.

And here's a better look of our banner.  It's about 8 feet tall.  We managed to fit it into the truck with about half an inch to spare.  I've been told that this banner is so big that you could see it from the Marcher camp.

Improvements to be made.

1. fix my leg plate.  My armour hasn't moved from my car since E3.  I need to get on that.

2. I might take a line of links out the front of my chainmail, up to the groin.  At E3 when I ran my maile kept getting caught under my cuisses.  I'm hoping that a split in the middle will allow me to run without getting tangled in myself, or at the very least allow me to untangle myself easier.

3.  Acquire a 7 foot spear.  I'm looking at Saxon Violence for this.

4.  Get some yeolfolk, especially a seneschal .  We don't have any.  Need to work on this.

5. Add some loyalty trappings to my soft kit.  House de Loup is a loyalty house (we're wolves after all).  I'm looking to add some light chain to my kit.

6. Tart up the banner a wee bit.  I need to whittle a finer point on the pole which should make it easier to plant the thing in the ground.  We also need to add a tab to the bottom of the flag to stop it dancing in the wind.

Empire has quickly become my favorite hobby.  I'm finding it difficult to think about anything else.  I'm totally buzzing for next year.

Empire Summmer Solstice 382YE

I'm back from my first Empire and I had a blast.  I have to admit I'm sore, tired, battered and bruised.  At this event there were over 2000 friendly nutters (the best kind).   I have to admit that it was a bit overwhelming, but then again it was my first time.  Honestly I can't wait to go again in September.

Here's me just before time in of the Friday.  I totally upped my kit game over the weekend.  I bought myself a circlet, which had to benefits.  It kept my hair out of my eyes and made me look a lot more noble.  I'll have a ratch through the official photographer's websites over the next couple of days, I know I'm in a few of there pictures.


Hots

1.  Being part of the most glorious nation in the Empire, Dawn.  We're all a special kind of nuts.

2. The Empress joining the Earls Council on the Friday night.  She came, gave some plot, we applauded, twas good.  It was a really cool moment actually.

3. The three kids kicking the shit out of about half a dozen Dawnish knights in the Glory Square.  That was hilarious.

4. The Dawnish Egregore.  I didn't catch his name, but he was the man.  He was keeping an eye on the camp, fixing loose guy ropes, hammering pegs and making sure everyone is okay.  When we walked into the new player meeting he complemented our costumes for being a very high standard for newbies.

5. Accosting a YouTube personality.  I bumped into Rickvanman in the out of character area.  Thanked  him for his videos, and asked him for a bit of advice.  He's a very nice man, go check out his channel.

6. The food.  The food is amazing.  I'd go again just for the food.  We went to Conspiracy Catering for a roast dinner two nights in a row.  Best roast pork I've ever had.  And the guys that run it are nuts.  They even treated us to Shakespeare in a Brummie accent, which is amazing.  We also got lunch from Spice of Africa.  I saw a picture someone took of their bowl on facebook and thought "That looks good."  I wasn't disappointed.

7. Water carrying.  One of the rules of Empire is if you go to battle you must monster the other one.  I can't wear an orc mask due to my glasses, so I joined the water carrier team.  Our job was to keep the orcs hydrated.  It's hot in those masks and they are very grateful.

8. The battle.  This was a chaotic mess.  But it was fun.  I was invited to join a lance by one of the yeomen, and he tried to keep an eye on me during my first battle, good man that one.  Even the orcs were good folks, three of them stopped attacking me when I fell a bit hard after suffering a strikedown, and they checked I was alright before wailing on me while I was on the ground.  Then I got saved by an angry purple blur, who summoned a medic to revive my prostrate arse.

9. The tribute for Bessie the Bard.  This was very entertaining, as well as being a bit emotional.  I never met Bessie (she was murdered at E2), but I knew of her legacy.  The performances were amazing.  It was a really memorable event that I will remember fondly.

Nots

1. The weather.  Friday was really hot and Anvil was a bit of a dust bowl.  Saturday we had gale force winds and on Sunday it pissed it down.  More importantly the weather killed our tent.  However we're looking at getting a bell tent for next time.  Then we can sleep in character.

2. Nervousness.  Both of us were quite nervous.  Since most of the folks in camp know each other we felt quite awkward inserting ourselves into conversations.  However a few of the Dawnish folks on facebook have offered to give us a hand.

3. An armour malfunction.  My left poleyn and cuisse slipped down over my greave locking my knee in place.  I spent half the battle limping because my leg couldn't bend.

4. Wood chip.  It's a necessary evil.  It stops the pathways getting too muddy.  But it doesn't half get in your shoes.

5. A mace to the eye.  Totally not cool.  The head is only a target of last resort.  I  was using a greatsword, I had plenty of target.  How his blow went under my glasses and into my eye I don't know.  I do know that shit rattles your brains, even if it is a foam latex weapon.  So wandering about dazed for half the battle, not cool.

6. My knees.  My knees are battered and bruised.  I really need to up my armour game.  My knee caps are bruised from bashing against my armour.  The tendons in the back of my knees are sore from the straps.  I really need some padding.

I think I might miss the battle out at E4, and try and up my armour game for next year.  It'll give me time to get involved in more plot, build alliances and what not.

My LARP Journey - Prepping for Empire part 1

I said at the beginning of the year I was going to do some larping, and that my larp of choice was Empire by Profound Decisions.  Let's say I've been busy gathering kit.  Mostly soft kit mind you, I've had armour lying about for ages (I buy dumb shit when I've been drinking, incidentally I don't drink anymore).

The setting of Empire really interested.  The Empire consists of 10 nations;  The Brass Coast, Dawn, Highguard, Imperial Orcs, The League, The Marches, Nevarr, Urizen, Varushka and Wintermark.  Each has it's own distinct clothing style and ideology.  I chose Dawn, because the Arthurian style of dress really speaks to me.  The Dawnish are all about the glory, are very hyper competitive and driven.  And each Dawnish house has its own heraldry and colours, which means the Dawnish camp (and battle lines) are a riot of colour... they way medieval society is supposed to be.  Take heed Holywood.

If you pick a human, you can be a bog standard human like me, or you can pick a lineage like my other half did.  There are six lineages in all; Briars, Cambions, Changelings, Draugr, Merrow and Naga.  Sarah picked a Naga by the way.

So who is my character?  My character is Bertrand De Loup, Earl of house De Loup.  Slayer of wolves and lover of confectionary.  Honestly if you want to know more about him you're going to have to ask me in game.  I've been building his backstory for 3 months and have even worked my gammy knee into it.  I can tell you I created my own noble house, because I suffer from anxiety and didn't want to step on anyones toes.  It also gives me a chance to build some leadership skills, and build on my real life character.

Empire runs 4 times a year.  I will be attending the third and 4th events this year.  I wont have my kit ready in time for the first one, and I can't make the second due to work.

I'll go into Empire a bit more later on.  But if you want to find out more check the Empire Wiki

That's enough waffle, how about some pictures?

Yes that is a rapidash on top of the mirror.  This is me in the start of my soft kit.  It needs a lot of work.  I'm awaiting a hood that I can wear chapperon style.  I need trousers or hoes.  I can't go about in my jeans.  I also plan to see the optician about contact lenses.  I don't mind wandering about camp with my glasses on, but I'd rather not go onto the battlefield with them on(I'm really blind so the last time I got glasses it cost £240, only £30 of that was the frames).  I think I look a bit too Wintermarky, and definitely not noble, so I plan to get a more noble looking coat as an outer layer.

This picture is fucking blurry.  Sorry for that, but that shit is heavy and I'm not putting it all back on to re-take it.  You'll just have to wait for the next one.  That isn't the tabard for the the final outfit.  The sent me the wrong one, I wanted a quartered one, not halved.  But it never hurts to have a spare.  Annoyingly my gambeson shrunk.  No I didn't get fat, it's too short, so I need a new one.  The hard kit is nearly done aside from a few odds and ends.  I need a decent pair of stiff boots.  My greaves dig into the tops of my feet.  I also need a better arming cap and padding for my thighs to stop the chaffing.  Most Dawnish players have go for gleaming plate, but I've went for mainly maile.  I think it looks more Arthurian.

Well that's it for now.  I'll go through my the individual parts of my kit at a later date.