Rangers of Shadow Deep – Lord Arblemarch

The plume of the helmet was snapped off and lost sadly. It would have given her a less masculine leaning and look impressive. Alas, I just crafted the helm flush and (as with all these models…) brush painted on a primer of Vallejo Iraqi Army Desert Sand. The Deathguard Green, Jokaero Orange and Macragge Blue gets used again across this model. The Vallejo German Grey sleaves on show too. Contrast Snakebite Leather for everything leather, Bugman’s Glow flesh and Wyldwood Contrast hair and she’s done.

Elianne Firebrand is a skilled swordswoman. A natural. Her father had died on campaign with Lord Arblemarch and his Lordship had promised to support her in whatever life she chose. He was disappointed and concerned that she chose an army life but his word is his bond.  Once she excelled in every test of agility and skill they could throw at her… She was naturally promoted to the Rangers. This promotion gave his Lordship some peace of mind, that she wouldn’t be flung at a breach or marched into a futile faint attack to serve a general’s strategy, she would be used in dangerous but precision missions that require victory and usually benefit from the Rangers sent returning to fight again.

It was with a heavy heart that Lord Arblemarch sent for Elianne to join him, because he knew that of all the missions she had completed and returned from… This could well be the most challenging yet.

Acrobatics +3

Sword, dagger, light armoy

Enjoying the “on campaign grime” vibe on this warband. The Deathguard Green, Jokaero Orange and Macragge Blue gets used again across this model. The German Grey sleaves looks good and is the same as Adler had on his. The basing is just rubble from metal pieces of sprue. I like that it’s suggested that there’s a horned sculpture or gargoyle broken amongst the rubble with a twisted piece of plastic sprue. This was a stretched heated sprue attempt that went wrong and the line snapped and wind back on itself.

Briar Lapin is the brawn on this team. He knows Gulliver Arblemarch from less than auspicious circumstances. The first time they met Lord Arblemarch was the judge presiding where Briar was being tried and thrown out of the order. His crimes were assault of a senior ranking Ranger. Lord Arblemarch could have had him hanged by his neck, indeed he should have given the law, but he knew the Ranger he had struck had a bearing on the case. The Ranger was a sour bully of a man that his Lordship had on countless occasions had inclination to strike the man himself. But he had resisted where Briar had not. Briar was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years indentured servitude to Lord Arblemarch with the sentence of death hanging over his head should he ever strike another Ranger or seek revenge.

It was a mark of the relationship that when Briar joins Lord Arblemarch in his journey to the Shadow Deep they have been together for 21 years.

Strength +3

Short spear, shield, light armour

Daan Hagraven had an exciting past. Even in the turbulent Kingdom of Alladore, where few have an easy uneventful life compared to us pampered readers into this world. He has lived a life. Daan had been a poacher, a gamekeeper, a teacher, a thief, a soldier for the crown and the leader of mercenary free company archers when he didn’t want the wars to end. Now he is respected as a veteran, teaching the elite of society and the palace guard the skills of archery… but the praise became more patronising, his patrons grew fewer and his standing decreased as he got older and the wars became more distant in the collective memory.

It was a message from Lord Arblemarch himself that inspired him to join this party of rangers. It read… “An honourable death or a wealthy retirement are all I can offer you dear Daan. For when you join me, and I trust you shall, the spoils are rich but the price of failure too dire to comprehend. You are no stranger to do or die endeavours and I guess that you half miss such knife edge encounters as I shamelessly do. I say that a marksman such as you is wasted teaching Lordling’s whelps how to hold a bow. There are enemies that not yet know the lethality of your craft and the aplomb with which you delivered death to those that stood against you in yester years. But I know your true worth as a fighting man in the face of this new dark menace. I also can and will put a stack of Marks against that worth. A stack that would make a baroness blush, a stack that a grateful young king would all too happily pay to “The Hero of Baldrick’s Mire”, “The Terror of Traitors Pass”… And soon to be “The Becalmer of Shadow Deep”. Rendezvous with me. Not as a retainer in my retinue, but in good heart and as my brother. Make haste. Yours expectantly, Gulliver.”

lock picking +3

Bow, quiver, dagger, light armour

This is Adler. Just as Lord Arblemarch returned to conflict at the kingdom’s hour of need, so too did Adler return to the side of his old comrade in arms at his Lordship’s request.

In his youth, in his uniform, in his prime he had been a heart throb with the ladies and he lived life to the fullest. He had narrow scrapes with death in military service but with a younger Lord Arblemarch at his shoulder had survived relatively unscathed. Adler was honourably discharged at the end of the last conflict with their neighbours and spent his middle age in the royal court as a falconer, but after a scandal with a dowager’s daughter he lost favour and left under a cloud. With his savings, some luck and some cleverness he found himself an Innkeeper in a popular tourist location and was a happy but aging bachelor. In his dotage he fell in love with and married a conveniently wealthy woman, was very happy, but the call to arms was surprisingly easy for him to answer. He knew that his sword arm was still strong. His marshall skills still efficient and his debt of gratitude and feeling of brotherhood so acute that Lord Arblemarch was surprised how quickly his old friend Adler had arrived at their rendezvous. Dressed for battle and dropping into a subservient formal man-at-arms role rather than one of over familiar friendship he is prepared to fight for his homeland once again.

Perception +3 (his eyes still as keen as the falcons he cared for so well.)

Sword, shield and light armour.

Jokaero Orange and Macragge Blue to the fore, with Steel Legion Drab trousers and Snakebite Leather Brown boots this was nice to paint. I hit the whole model with Agrax Earthshade to give it a grubby look. Then highlighted back over with the original colours before doing my blood and weathering stage.

The freehand on the shield was fun. Similar style to his Lordship’s, the Welsh looking feathers, but more battered and inferior… more fitting his standing.

Lots of details on this mini made it slow to complete, even using Contrast colours for the cloak and the red parts.

I brush primed with Iraqi Sand primer. Trying to keep things light with the base being rather dark.
I used Flesh Eater Red Contrast on the shield etc with a Mephistom Red highlights after.
I used Leadbelcher and a silver highlight on much of the metal.
I used a mixture of Army Painter Weapon Bronze and Retributor Gold for the bronze parts. The cloak was Dark Angel Green Contrast Paint.
The skin is a mixture of Bugman’s Glow, Army Painter Barbarian Flesh and Reikland Fleshshade wash which has become my routine approach to flesh. This time I added a bit of Kislev Flesh in the highlight mix but it has a bit of a yellow tint that didn’t seem to suit him so dialled it back a bit.
There’s a sash or cloth behind his shield which I assume was to whipe his sword clean so left it the primer colour and dabbed some blood on there.
The base is off cuts of Reaper slotter tabs / sprue from another model. (Metal ravens I think). The letters add some interest. I will need to ensure I have some ruins around my terrain to make the base make sense.
The wolf pelt is a mix of dry brushing over quite a lot of wash. Wanted it to look old. The light brown drybrush around the edges was Rhino Hide. The white was a build from Morghast off white, to Celestra Grey and Grey Seer dry brushes.

Hadn’t intended on starting with Tabitha, but as she was already in my collection and based i brush painted here with black paint.

This was one of only a couple of attempts I have made at Object Source Lighting (OSL).

I used Macragge Blue as the base for the dress and Nighthaunt Gloom, Talassar Blue and Nihilakh Oxide for the OSL.

On the belt… I used Zandri Dust, Morghast Bone and Wraithbone on the scrolls, Warpstone Glow on a pouch and Mournfang Brown on the leather bags and cross belt.

The basing was coffee stirrers cut into sections and in half. I chose these smaller boards because I wanted it to look like a damaged house rather than a ships deck as done on other minis recently. The Agrax and Snakebite Leather washed Vallejo new wood floorboards and flint stones and a touch of grass finished the look.

Kyteler was taken from a list of witches names from Irish history.

Tabitha was from the TV series Bewitched. ?

For the initial gift of opening stats I went with +3 in Survival.

As a conjurer she gets to pick from 2 spells every scenario. They can only be used once, but you don’t have to risk losing health like in Frostgrave on failed spell casts. Spells are not desperately powerful, but they do cast automatically, are often a useful buff for your team and most creature targets are unlikely to avoid any damage effects.

There is only a small selection of spells to pick from so i printed off a version from the RoSD Facebook page to make selecting spells easier.

Tabitha has a personal interest in returning to the fray with the bold and enthusiastic Lord Arblemarch. Tabitha is only an apprentice wizard, though a very accomplished one, many years into her studies and ready to face her final mage college trials. Sadly in the first encounters investigating the Shadow Deep her mentor had been killed. Lord Arblemarch knows the risk of taking a companion that may be bent on revenge, but he trusted this young sensible woman. She knew the stakes they were playing for and would honour her dead mentor, not by wanton slaughter of creatures in their path but by giving her all to the survival of the warband and the success of the mission.

My delivery arrived quickly along with four Dwarf pirates. They all look great with minimal clean up required. Really looking forward to getting these based and primed. I have already begun preparing names and back stories for my miniatures. ?

I already had my conjurer in mind, a Sigilist apprentice from a Frostgrave Nickstarter. As she will only be able to cast two spells per battle being slightly less dramatic in attire and pose makes sense.

To make a Ranger you are given 10 points to spend. Without giving you the complete rules breakdown on how that works (Buy the rule book, the game is great) I will just say how they were allocated.

I was conscious that he will be a heavily armoured Ranger, much like my other hardened veteran Archibald the Grim. So I was conscious that he needed to be different and that the warband should include a conjurer, so I get to experience that element of the game too.

• 2 Points on improving the opening Ranger stat line (+1 Move and +1 Fight)
• 3 point on skills (This allows 8 skills per Ranger Point to have a +1 during test rolls.) In keeping with an older Ranger I chose – Ancient Lore +3, Armoury +3, Leadership +3, Navigation +3, Perception +1, Read Runes +3, Stealth +1, Strength +1, Track +3 and Traps +3.)
• 4 Points on Heroic abilities, that are usually once per scenario buffs (Parry – to add +10 Fight to win a combat (but not inflict damage), Powerful Blow – to add +3 to damage to a successful attack, Frenzied Attack – To add a +5 Fight to a combat result before rolling and Shove – an option to increase a 1″ pushback into a 4″.)
• 1 point on recruitment, to improve my companion Recruitment Points by 10 points to 110.

I also gave my Ranger a sword, heavy armour and a shield.

The Ranger’s back story is that Lord Gulliver Arblemarch is a very senior member, in age and authority, of the Rangers Order. Even though many of the King’s advisors were against the move, his lordship insisted that he be freed from his role at court and sent to support his rangers in the frontline. He has a sense of duty only rivalled by the young king he serves, but admits to himself that this return to active duty is not just an operational necessity. The lord wants a chance to prove that his standing and privilege have not softened him and that he’s not too old to be an effective ranger in the field. His eyesight, his hearing and his old warwounds have only dulled the blade a little. Lord Arblemarch is still more effective in a fight than half the men in the ranks of the armies of Alladore, some of them 25 years his junior. You don’t get to be a leader of the Rangers Order without having a long and decorated career in the shadowy elite unit.