Mercian Knights on the Conquest Trail

Well I have finished Milestone, a week late, but I didn’t start till a couple of weeks late, so not bad.

Anyway here they are all together.

Slight change I only managed 16 men at arms, but it fits the milestone for 600 pts better.

Well using the fun Army builder sorting out the build for milestone 2 is easy  , this is the plan:

In the great wide mutiliverse life can be found in most , diverse in  form with equally diverse types  of worlds and stars , it should be noted  that the universes without life have no one to report it. In all this diversity, there does appear to some amazing  coincidences, Life often in many seems to take the same general form and various theologians, Wizards and Scientists have waxed long on the various forms that Evolution  or Creation  can take(it is a good idea when they discus the merits of either to wear a tin helmet , armour of some sort and have a good long book to read, preferably in the next county). But the general consensous when they are not hitting each other is that certain basic designs are the most efficient  or ‘bloody minded’ depending on which theology  you go for .

It is i a constant amazement to many ,that the lifeform called ‘man’ seems to inhabit a large number of them (all theologians have debated this and in ‘man’s ‘ case they all go for ‘bloody minded’ )

Creation had previously  developed the life form  Elf  in may ways a better design , but the races overinflated sense of its own self importance,  is annoying, plus creation etc  had forgotten an off switch.

It may take Billions of years but if left to there own devices Elves completely fill up their universe’s with elves leaving no room for anything else.

Anyone visiting  from an other universe will  only find wall to wall elves.  The conversation will  likely go like this:

Oh ! look an elf , oh another elf , and there’s an elf that is pretending be a tree, .whats that sticking its elbow in me ..ooh an elf…what am I standing on another bloody elf!

Despite a low breeding rate quickly, their lack of  natural  mortality , a  predation for removing   any unnatural forms of death ,whilst slowly breeding, elves in even the biggest universe will  fill it up with Elves , no matter how enviromentally friendly they are.

Mankind it( creation/supreme being take your pick), considered was the fix ,the basic design is functional, it is only the central program that they run  iton that is problematical!!!!!

With so many universes having the life form called man ,it is perhaps unsurprising that their various ‘Civilisations’ appear to look very similar at the various stages of their development , all over their  galaxies  the pre space spanning  civilizations, towns  and cities have a  similar look. generally a unfinished, sprawling mess, that can be best described as   ‘grubby’.

(Perhaps this explains why the have a tendency to call their home planet a variant of the name ‘mud’ as in that’s what the majority of human’s spend most of their time in)

All reach a period which equates to late medieval, these cities generally take the form of aseries of glorified mud huts around a central collection of spectacular architecture. These Central buildings are the only ones that seem to stay constant, if one fast forwards time, surviving the various fires  plagues, wars  and the machinations  of ‘ experts’ such as Alchemists, Wizards , Scientists, etc  (here the only variation is in the size of the explosion and the particular shade of purple smoke it creates)

So it would be no suprise that the Great city  of Cross Lesbeuf  in the 100 Kingdoms,  looks like many of it breatheren  across the various multiverses. and that at its center is a  building which in various languages equates to Palace.

Cross Lesbeuf’s palace is one of the more unusual ones in that it is not inhabited by a King or Emperor but a Patrician. In theory this  an elected post, as in one man one vote and he is the ……you get the rest!

‘Lord  Doctorni looked at the reports coming from Mercia’s border with the Spire, an irritated frown crossed his thin face, a quite terrifying prospect as  mere raise of an eyebrow  causes the bravest nobles and merchants to reach for a porcelain potty . It wasn’t an ugly face, it was best described as sharp ,  sharp enough to cut atoms in half. Even  Spires Merchant Princes on their odd occasions that they have met Doctorini are always leave the meeting  feeling for 1st times in their long lives that were the student not the master,  that they had somehow missed something , been tricked, instinctively mentally ticking  of all their body parts to ensure they still had them.

He looked up at his aide and secretary Mr. Lupid Squint, who if Doctorini is the epitome of the look of an assassin,  (polite assassin it must be said, a he cuts your throat or quietly impales you  on his stiletto,  you strangely know that  your ast thought  would be ‘ he was very polite’).

Squint on the other hand looked like clerk, and if evolution had a niche for a clerk he would be it, like most he is invisible   appearing like magic when required . Such men would make goods  assassin , though this would involve some soft of ambition (if clerks do assasinate someone it is because they  were always assasins pretending ) Squint  had absolutely none 

‘Is Lord De Grasse still raising a fuss about the Spires activities  on his border.’

He asked Sqint in an almost totally disinterested manner.

‘Yes Sire, he has got his son Sir Pentyn raising the regiment’s in his area as his gout is playing up something  fearce’

‘ Thank God for that, what do we know about his son Squint ‘,

Doctorini mused. The current Lord De Grasse was could best be described  as ‘tactically challenged,’ his thankfully short military career had been renowned for his ability to get more of his own men killed than the enemy,  only noble rank and political clout had saved him from having an accident in a scorpion pit.

  It was a strange fact that with the De Grasse family either raised military Geniuses or total clutz’s,(though having looked at the record of the family’s military exploits he wondered if the difference was just the former were luckier)  it was one or the other, nothing  in between.

‘He does ‘ Squint replied

‘Seem to be the exception to the rule My Lord, a rather steady lad by all accounts, even  more exceptional in that he actually decided it might be an advantage ,( long pause)if he actually studied warfare, he enrolled at the  imperial college, came 1st in his class ,he has been followed it with tutelage in the field  from the redoubtable Sir Gero’s Sire.

A rare look of surprise crossed Doctotini’s face. 

‘That is exceptional , I assume you mean the samous Gero’s of the Imperial Bannerman fame ?

Are we sure that Sir Pentyn is actually a legitimate aire of De Grasse?’

‘Yes my Lord, he does seem to be lacking the family trait for bloody minded stupidity , he only appears to be lacking in  experience of commanding large formations of troops in the field.’

Doctorini mused on the last comment , and he instantly came up with a shrewd answer that would solve two of his problems, the border one ,and how to deal with it ,as well  as a way to get the Imperial Troops that were languishing in the city from under foot, bored soldiers were always a problem.

‘Is that Imperial Tribune, whats his name, still pestering for an assignment Tiddlesworth ?’

‘You mean Jahnus Waynicus Sire,

Apparently he is bored, he  hasn’t won any wars lately,  put anyone to the sword or  enslaved whole villages lately , plus the Dweghorn killed all the Dragons centuries ago so he hasn’t got a hobby . Shall I send him and his cohort of Steel Legion ?’

‘Yes and attach a couple of companies of the City Militia they have been training , it will give that lad Captain Steelforginson some experience of commanding troops in the field’.

Doctorini in his mind pictured the man, a man  who would be a recruitment posters dream,  over 6ft , manly jaw, heroic stare the face of one of the Kings of Myth, friendly , stupid and honest (which Doctorini knew would make for a bad king but he knew ‘Turnip’ as he was called was anything but)

If he was away, it would stop  him upsetting the guilds (particulaly the theives guild) if  we sent him off for a bit he mused, briefly before the matter was forgotten in the huge volume of thoughts that were involved in  the matters of state.

I started the build with the two player starter box, and then  brought the 100 kingdoms starter army , so having painted most of the former wanted to add some units of the latter and the Box of Steel Legion , so here is the list as is :