intrestingly rare? or just weird unit ideas

[ManicMan]

This is kind a little side on my Skaven army building.. I've been thinking I want to have a regiment or unit of Allies.

I'm mostly doing this via 4ed army books so that allows up to 25% allies, from the list of Undead, Chaos, Orcs and Goblins or Dark Elves.. If I go 3ed, that's more limiting.. while up to a 3rd of the points can be allies, it's limited to Chaos, Orcs and Goblins, and Dark Elves.. seams like undead didn't wanna talk to them..

So I'm more thinking of not really bothering with whats 'Officially' allowed.. fudge it up a bit and easily find some reason why this group has decided to team up or something.. no problem there..

problem is.. some just seam a bit dull and simple.. 3ed gives alot of limits on what makes up an ally contingent and what makes up Mercenaries more then 4ed I would say, but either way.. quite dull i find..

Undead? .. naw.. got figures and stuff but dull really.. same for Dark Elf, High Elf and Wood Elf. other Humoid like the Empire, Old Worlders, Pygmys, Halflings, dwarfs, Nippons, Norse, Orge's and giants are also kinda out..

Goblinoids like Orcs, Goblins, Half Orcs, Hobgoblins... naw.. again, got some stuff but don't feel like it..

I havent really said about Chaos.. Natural ally for Skaven (being they are Chaos Ratmen) but.. while you can get away with alot with the various different Gods.. but not really interesting.

Fimir are a bit more intresting.. GW tried to make a go at them but.. lets be honest, outside of HeroQuest they never really had too much going for them (though i think they brought them back a while ago).. Easy to source models of the type, but.. yeah.. rarer and more interesting but not sure what I want for a small ally unit..


Slann?.. always had some slight interest in them which I think i can blame on the great Mike McVey Warhammer Quest Diorama.. ohh, how many times can that be applied.. Pretty sure a Mike McVey Diorama can sell any figures) but.. not really taken with them.. I think they suffered the same issues with the Fimir.. they just never really took off.

Zoat.. mm.. alot more rare and KotLP is doing nice work on a unit based on a figure by Julien but.. naw.. not quite right..

'S'nethen' - Chaos Snakemen.. mm.. more interesting.. Figures were released (and not really hard to source stuff for ones) but no rule sets ever officially released.. not that that would be a huge problem.. They would be ways around this small detail (like the optional of just calling them something else for the rules sake.. they were meant to be Barbarian like so.. barbarian rules).

of course.. if I'm now openning for something so different rules need a bit of proxying.. that opens up a lot more choice.. species which never really got a WH type.. Beholders. said to be original for DnD and not based on other stuff, created by Terry Kuntz.. however... I'm sure I've seen something.. loosely simpluer.. in that an evil floating eye-like creature in some ancient myths...maybe a japanese obake... (roughtly... a ghost monster.. often seen as a Yokai type..) can't really see me doing a unit of them..

slimes? na... can be interesting with them but no.. Harpies? Centaurs? some interest but... na.. I'm probebly looking for something which would fit, but at the same time be kinda interesting and kinda like 'a extremely rare race which are rarely seen' kinda feel. I got some antro Cats I'll probebly show off end of the month (they should be getting some table action this month ^_^) but.. naw.. not quite right.. something where there is either NOT a figure or not many so i get to do some fun work too might be nice..

anyone think of any WH early races which never got past a picture or just text describion? not looking for animals as such but more a race (as in some form of civilisation)..

 

[Zhu Bajie]

anyone think of any WH early races which never got past a picture or just text describion?

This tended not to happen, as Warhammer factions were built around Citadels existing model ranges, but there are quite a few oddities.

AD&D Beholders appear in WH40K:RT as "Enslavers", they'd make very weird 'allies' for Skaven - but perhaps are mind controlling them or something....

AD&D Mind Flayers got written up for WFB1E as Mind Eaters - again these could be controlling the skaven, also have an urban feel.

Daleks! There's one in CJS86 Vengeance of the Lichemaster, statted as "mechanical warrior" so maybe Gnawdoom finished Bagrians experiment and created a small army of warpstone powered deathbots.

Troglodytes (big lizardmen) never really got expanded beyond the original box set and rules in WFB2, possible as cave dwellers they'd work with skaven to attack surface dwellers.

But you know it's a great opportunity just to go miniatures shopping and buy a unit of whatever you like, develop rules and background to make it work.

 

[ManicMan]

yeah.. early on they did more do the figures first (thus the S'nethen).. Daleks are sooo easy and cheap to source... but no real interest in doing some of them..

mind Flayers/Mind eaters.. Got a model for one.. not really taken with them really.. can see the idea..
Troglodytes would probebly come too much under the slann and like them..

yeah, a good idea to see what I can find but haven't really seen too much that catchs me interest right now.. Driders have some interest but.. not sure.. (half spider, half ... erm.. human/elf).. trying to think of anything fun from a game or film or book... most use some standard stuff or ones i don't really think apply much..

though nice ideas to think about ^_^

 

[ManicMan]

I've had an idea.. but I think it's a bit beyond me right now.. atleast, how I want it.. I've had the 'concept art' of it in a folder of stuff for ideas for miniatures where I put some stuff even if it's only colour ideas.. It's a character from a computer game which... I felt the in-game model was a joke.. didn't work at all, but the concept.. oohhh that is something else.. Making a unit of these would be.. yeah... I'll show the art a bit later.. but it's .. something nice.. and would kinda fit pretty well too..

 

[ManicMan]

okay.. this is probebly gonna fail...

In 1999, Surreal Software released a pretty good PC game called 'Drakan: Order of the Flame'. while some of it is a bit dodgy in the controls it's pretty good. The Story forcuses on a fantasy world of Drakan, where years ago The Order of the Flame' worked as kinda global peacekeepers. Each member of the order was bonded to a Dragon, so any hurt felt by one, is felt by the other (though there is a weird bit about while they aren't meant to, Dragons can surrive the death of the partner..) anyway, things went bad as one becme evil, huge war, big evil guy trapped away, order no more with most dead.

Years later, the evil guys try to come back and free their leader. You play as a young woman who's villian is wiped out and brother kidnapped. You then find one of the dragon's who is in a deep sleep and bond with him, so you get half the game where you are running around, picking up any weapon around and uses it to chop up enemies (it was a M rated game due to the gibbing and blood) while the other half you can fly on your dragon, fighting aerial enemies or just flaming the little guys on the ground.. Good fun..

a few years later, a sequel was made.. but for PS2.. which was weird and kinda exclused alot of the fanbase (cause it was a PC game ¬_¬).. still, despite it not really answering some questions from the end of the previous game, and kinda also having a weird end, it was pretty good.. There are some really nice enemie designs and i would love to make some miniatures based on some of them.. but the one that got me was the cahracter Yutaji the Flesh Mage.

in game, his design is pretty comical but not meant to be.. concept art is FAR FAR better.. Yutaji was.. while, they call him a flesh mage, he created a pretty damn rocky golem.. but at some point, he went insane and even the main bad guys fear him. He is locked up in his palace where they send him human 'brides' to keep him happy.. There, it is said he strips his brides of their flesh and wears it as a cloak.. while they does kinda look like his in-game design where he is kinda a blobby mess with rib bones showing, and the skin cloak, his early concerpt art by Susan Jessup, is this:

oooohhhhh... looks like he is mostly bone with elongated arms, where his flesh and a hood is made from the skins of his brides, with a tail like lower bodie..

Can you picture a unit of these things? basically a flesh golem design, so would probebly come under undead, which is completely fine and okay for skaven allies making them though... damn.. that's gonna be a challenge for me.. I guess i could use some skeletons as a base upon which to extend the arms, add on the basic skinny flesh, then add the tail to replace the legs, and stuff.. allow weapons.. I can easily come up with a nice story character theme for them.. using the flesh of there enemies to keep there rotting decaying frames together, which hardly hides the corruption of their putrid remains...

I'm planning to vist my local gaming shop on thursday, so I'll see if anything better then skeletons for a frame or anything but.. .yeah.. looks interesting