SkaForHire

You are right, though I have to build for that. We are going to change it up a little though, it is not going to be a 700 fig battle like the Witherwoods, but more like a stealth mission battle so we can get through it in like three days at the most. I think I can find a way that all of us non-MOC expert builders can participate in the new challenge introduction.

Looks like we have some new Neighbors on the Inland Sea. Awesome fort!

The battle is over, we are just writing up the reports... I have a few minor MOCs I will want to get up too about the end. Whenever Mitgardia's people get done writing it up. Ecc and Kabel have something cooking, just takes a while since this is a hobby for all of us, and it seems like all the GLs have very busy schedules.Which reminds me -- Any volunteers to start helping me make builds for our civil war challenge introduction? This would start in about a month, after Mitgardia's challenge goes live, I would like to start working on our stuff -- any help would be fantastic. (Looking at all you MOC experts in this guild! haha)

The shields were awarded after "Book I", we should have something similar for Book 2. On another random note -- As I prepare builds for our upcoming challenge, I am probably going to have a MOC of the first full meeting of the High Lords Council of Kaliphlin, along with invited minor lords. Does anyone not want included? I will try to represent the figs as close as possible.

I was going by DM's thread -- I knew it was an original city, I thought that like Gideon, you had moved in as the lord there.

Chapter 11 – A quick Setback In the Hand of Bryar Rollins, corporal in the GEAR 5th Mounted Auxiliary. “The Guardians” (Sided with Dugal) We arrived on the field late, as we were kept in reserve. By the time we took the field, Petera’s side had already brought the luck dragon in. We were accompanied by the Local Kaliphlin Guard Legion, who had also sided with Dugal. DSC_3557 by skaforhire, on Flickr We actually had a flanking maneuver on Mikeo and his band of troops behind our main line, but we had watched the 1st Heavy Cav, the Titans, crash against the pike wielding dwarf snake line with no success. They had veered off to attack another thread that had teleported into the back of our main line… along with helping Dugal who had found himself in the same teleport. However, as we marched hard towards Mikeo’s position, he raised his sword and above our heads the sky opened. Out poured razor sharp icicles that tore our flesh, and froze us to the bone. A large portion of the Kaliphlin guard were hit by huge icicles, and they succumbed to their wounds. ice by skaforhire, on Flickr We had barely been on the field, and so many of our allies were dead. Looking ahead of us we could see that Lord Zach’s men were not fairing as well either. Many of their troops had already fallen to Mikeo’s elite solders. To the far right we saw a mage start summoning, and to our surprise four ships came from the deep. Apparently it was some sort of transport spell. The ships included some GEAR Co. Acquisition Officers, Ghoststone Dwarves under Ungrim Ironmaul, and some fancy contraption that is supposed to throw fireballs or something. DSC_3551 by skaforhire, on Flickr DSC_1437 by skaforhire, on Flickr We still rode forward looking to avenge our fallen brothers… now knowing that help was coming from the river. DSC_3597 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Lots of people died today, and the battle is almost wrapped up. Hopefully We will finish tonight and have all the battle reports done in the next two days... along with MOCs of characters surrendering, tending to the battlefield etc...

Gleambeam by game rules is only unconscious, of course, after the battle, if you want him to succumb to his wounds and make a MOC about that you could... or you could do the opposite and make him have a full recovery, that is totally up to you.

The wizard lived, however, the storytelling merc you had, has now been knocked unconscious (the story should be up soon)

POINT OF INTEREST #1 While riding up to save the troops from Carn, the paladin Romak Norr was one of the last surviving members of that advance. surrounded by Mitgardian berzerkers, he was able to fell their Warchief Ivan Goldhorn -- the man responsible for downing Heinsen a few minutes earlier. Despite downing an enemy hero, he has a long fight ahead of him. DSC_3513 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Actually, the orcs that were with the Karshak (the ones belonging to Vladius) were the orcs that were decimated, the Karshak leader lost his warg, but is actually still under the little tree near the rock formation where he lost his warg... since his opponents are very high level characters, and he is a character with a lot of armor, they have been in a stalemate for many turns now. I think he just got wounded today when we played a turn. One of the Karshak are dead, the other is by his side. Earl Jaxon is still alive, and some of his men are too... I can't find a good picture of him though. He doesn't have the laketown helmet, but he has a unique helmet. DSC_3479 by skaforhire, on Flickr All of those green troops are his, and he is slightly to their left, wearing a brickforge gladiator helmet (the really big one) He lost his horse early, but has been killing amazons since. He is still alive as of this moment in the game. Rayskarr did not make it to battle, mostly because we missed him initially when making troops. Sorry!

I guess it is time to redo the roster, with one of our members retiring. So, if you are active and not on the first couple post's lists, then please speak up now. Also, tell me how many main challenges you participated in. TUB, when is your anniversary date for joining? I know you moved to the second tier because of participation.

I had a dream that Rex killed your sister's character last night -- even though they are on the same team, which led to the gnomes chanting "sororicide, sororicide, sororicide!" It was a very weird dream, and probably a sign that we need to wrap the battle up soon.

Barqa is actually one of the main cities, whereas Gideon speaks for it on the high council, many builders have made MOCs there, and it was always one of the "Open" cities in Kaliphlin, along with the capital, Queenscross, and Qarkyr (it has been a long time, someone fact check me on that). Masa, then Gideon took control of Barqa, as most builders that started there have vanished, as the most important trade center on the coast (sounds bitter coming out of the Lord of Eastgate, its trading rival) it was important that we have someone there keeping the city alive. I have built up parts of Queenscross for the battle there, but it is still open for an official high lord to take control of. For the life of me I cannot remember who is based in Qarkyr.(Kai is the lord of Qarkyr) And technically, Dextrus Flagg is based in based in Petraea, but no one has seen him in a long time (hint hint upcoming conflict...)

I get you, we should have done that, this is the first time we have wrote from both sides... so I guess we did not think of that.

Way to make it confusing.... haha.

Chapter Nine Side by Side, Bonded in Blood. In the hand of Darrin Longshot, retainer for Garret Hailfist. Without our master, we continued to rain arrows upon our enemy, but we decided to stick closely to Jakon and his mercenaries. They are clearly the most superior troops that took up arms on this side of the battlefield. I feel as if Dugal himself pales in comparison to the mighty Jakon. DSC_1388 by skaforhire, on Flickr Jakon was fighting side by side with Mark the Yeti, and they were only pausing to be healed by McSquiggins the piper and healer. They seemed to fear nothing, as they fell a large contingent of undead that came to aid the enemy Redguard. Despite the overwhelming numbers, Jakon led our men over a small ruin into the courtyard of the mill. The Blueguard and mercenaries under his command made short work of most of the Cyclops, although they had already killed many of the Amazons on our right. DSC_3547 by skaforhire, on Flickr Jakon helped killed Arven Colest, the leader of the Death’s Head company and then jumped over the rubble to kill their mascot Pickles. I swear he ripped a pound of flesh from its body and ate it raw. Mark did the same, and they bonded in blood. Jakon had also picked up a bad habit from GEAR Co. soldiers. They tend to loot in the midst of battle instead of the battle… Jakon picked up the Redguard Sergeant’s magic sword and used it to slay Colest. DSC_3508 by skaforhire, on Flickr IT was about this time that the ground rumbled from behind us. There was a booming voice that said “Oh brothers, how I long to fight you myself. … But that is not in the cards I am afraid. I bestow onto you one last surprise. Now this war of brothers is truly equal. BEHOLD, MIKEO, long lost – Returned!” I looked to our rear and to the right, and a portal larger than a building opened. Out stepped Eastgates personal merchant protection regiment, the Blackguard – led by someone named Mikeo. This was no good, as they were directly behind us. portal by skaforhire, on Flickr We jumped off the rock and ran to see what Jakon would have us do… Chapter 10 Hammer and Anvil Partial record, in an unknown hand. DSC_1406 by skaforhire, on Flickr … The luck dragon appeared out of the large portal, and we knew it was the second phase of Petera’s glorious plan. Ingenious really, retrieving his long dead twin brother – the other brother seemed to make it out of the underworld too -- and using him as a surprise attack on his own brothers! DSC_3462 by skaforhire, on Flickr The Blackguard he brought, along with the Efrite and some of the most terrifying warriors of Historica were topped off with the Luck Dragon. Although, I would not remove the luck dragon from my presence, think of all the bad mojo that catches up to you when you step out of that monster’s shadow! DSC_3509 by skaforhire, on Flickr Immediately after appearing, Lord Zach’s men were deployed against the new threat. Many of them falling in the first seconds of attack, as it seemed their luck had been sapped from them. Everything according to plan!!! This was excellent. In front of me however, things were drawing to a stalemate. The Red Guard were deep in battle with Aleden Mantherin and his damn Blue Guard. DSC_3522 by skaforhire, on Flickr There were a series of gnomes that were slowly clawing their way through our ranks, but it seemed for the most part the stalemate was holding. This was our anvil, and Mikeo and his men were the hammer. The iron was hot, and Mikeo broke out to strike against the middle while the two far flanks were keeping Dugal’s troops occupied. DSC_3492 by skaforhire, on Flickr But then… Just to my left “King” Fenghen Wade disappeared. Little did we know, this would be much more crucial to the battle than most of the fireballs I had thrown. DSC_3520 by skaforhire, on Flickr To Be Continued…

Chapter 8 Commanding Courage In the Hand of Ediz Falconi, Arkbri Falcons. Battle Report, Personal Journal. Our presence at the battle of the Wither Woods was requested by a secret bidder. The Falcons were represented by two crossbowmen and two heavy fighters, along with myself. It was to be a routine fight, a field battle as we have seen many times before, but many oddities happened. We arrived a week before the battle, and my repetition for cunning tactics had arrived long before us. I was given command of the far right flank of our army, which consisted mostly of mercenary corps, a few wizards, a necromancer, his skeletal army, and a pack of Cyclops. The latter was awkward, as I had slain a few of their brethren at Queenscross. DSC_1321 by skaforhire, on Flickr As usual, I made sure that my troops hung back as the rival mercenary corps went forward. A wizard by the name of Ravencroft teleported some heavy troops a way in front of us, stupidly, but they seemed to hold their own for a bit. The mercenary corps of the Death’s Head and Kaliphlin Stars, along with some minor other group tried to make it to the unit of Redguard that had been teleported forward. DSC_1357 by skaforhire, on Flickr We hung back, and I quickly made friends with the Kharkhon the Necromancer. I decided he would be valuable asset with so many mages on the battlefield. His company of mercenaries had moved with the Yukar tribe up the line, but he had been misdeployed from the beginning. Their loss, my gain. We agreed to protect his person if he did as I said. So I stationed Ral on his back (as we had just learned the fate of one of our mages who had been assassinated in the back) and I gave orders from the back. It became obvious that we were under matched, as many of our flank siphoned off and engaged more towards the middle. DSC_1375 by skaforhire, on Flickr The Death’s Head company along with the Kaliphlin Stars had made it to the Redguard, but had been overwhelmed by the Amazons, Alleenridders, and Dugal himself. The far flank along the river had been crippled by some man named Jakon along with a Yeti named “Mark.” DSC_3491 by skaforhire, on Flickr Immediately in front of me the famed Black Boars and their leader Harold the Smooth engaged the Amazons and Dugal. The idiot crossbowmen of Alfred Hamlin’s company shot two of these Black Boars in the back, decreasing our number. DSC_1394 by skaforhire, on Flickr The Matriarch of the Cyclops was the first one killed from her brood, she was raised as a zombie by Kharkhon, and she joined our defenses close to me. Also, the last of the red guard broke and ran towards me, and I successfully rallied them to join my squad. DSC_3481 by skaforhire, on Flickr Still, the mercenaries, along with a man by the name of Sir Rex Marizrack beat back almost all of the Amazons except their leader. A fireball from Ravencroft killed one of the Aleenridders, and we were holding our own well. That is until the far right broke, as Arvon Colest of the Death’s Head company fell. It was at this point that we had a decision to make. Run or Fight. DSC_3531 by skaforhire, on Flickr To Be Continued.

Funny you both should post back to back. The mage just stunned the Yukar leader this turn, and he just lost his horse. One of the Yukar are dead, the other two besides Hattaman are still fighting I believe. Saddly the Yukar have been silent partners in the original Horsten push up the middle. They have been helping a lot, but nothing to momentous at the moment. She has already been healed up and summoned more pets... We are actually behind a bit in stories. There are a good 3 or 4 turns more . After I get these papers graded, I will try to get up another one.

Wait... Hold the phone -- this post snuck in here! You are quitting? That is very sad! Um, super cool, even though I don't play any GW games anymore, I would so like to go there. Such an amazing bunch of models artists.

Chapter 7 Holding the Crown In the hand of Marty El’Dron, Marksman for Lord Sansael. Things seemed to get worse from here. We heard screaming below us at the foot of the crown. It turns out that Assassins led by Falmoir the mad appeared behind a detachment of mages trying to hold our right flank. Some of their backstabs found the innards of our mages, including the sorceress Byarssh, whose critters were in battle before her. In the hand of Marty El’Dron, Marksman for Lord Sansael. One of the red sisters, and the fire mage that was present avoided being wounded too deeply, but Byarssh was not as lucky. Her animals came to her aide, but were also slain by Petera’s assassins. DSC_3500 by skaforhire, on Flickr Next blue Spears reached upon the crown and struck down some of the PGTC’s archers. DSC_3467 by skaforhire, on Flickr The crown was falling quickly… and this became truer when the healer Nammuat took an arrow to the gut from Belig of Mitgardia. His archer corps seemed unstoppable. Bilis, my good friend was also killed by their fire and he fell to the ground below the crown. DSC_3525 by skaforhire, on Flickr The crown was all but lost when our final mage was killed by Belig’s arrows. Nothing seemed to be able to stop those fierce warriors. I glanced in front of us to see the general Hailfist blink from his saddle in mid combat. I am not sure what had become of him, but he seemed to vanish. DSC_3521 by skaforhire, on Flickr Beyond us the Avalonian line seemed to be faltering to Leander mercenaries, but the orcs that were with us were all but decimated. The right flank was quite tenuous with the line almost broken – especially with Blue Spear mercenaries at our back. DSC_3476 by skaforhire, on Flickr I looked down the field to our left, hoping there would be more support… and to my terror I saw a portal the size of a building open. portal by skaforhire, on Flickr Out stepped who I thought to be Petera MacLean. Fear dropped from pit of my stomach. It was surely all over. And on cue, Petera’s voice boomed over the battlefield. “Oh brothers, how I long to fight you myself. … But that is not in the cards I am afraid. I bestow onto you one last surprise. Now this war of brothers is truly equal. BEHOLD, MIKEO, long lost – Returned!” Portal2 by skaforhire, on Flickr The man that looked like Petera wielded an Ice sword, and he appeared with a full contingent of warriors, along with the Eastgate 3rd Heavy Infantry – The Merchant Princes / AKA the Blackguard. He also was flanked by Snake Dwarves prepared against the charge. However, that was not the only surprise they brought. A moment later an Efrite stepped through the portal, and more terrifying… some sort of giant lizard chained to a man. Something I had never seen before, but I later learned was a “Luck Dragon” Our luck had changed… the right flank was crumbling, and now the whole line had been attacked from behind. DSC_3510 by skaforhire, on Flickr

Yeah. Its coming. Maybe tonight, unless my wife gets greedy and makes me catch up on television shows. haha. I think stepping back here is appropriate, remember we can't always judge the tone of others on a text based communication like this. I think He was just saying that he would like to see more MOCs before more story. Part of the GOH experience is that we illustrate our stories with our builds, so that others can imagine how it fits into the grand scheme of things. We understand that you are waiting on your blocks, but I think your stories will be 10x better with the visuals attached. That is not to say that we do not want to hear from you though, just that lets leave the major story elements until there are some MOCs to go with them.

I shoot on full res with a 24 or 16 mp camera, it gets eaten up quickly. On the other hand, I was totally half asleep when I wrote that... I think... I meant 10 gigs I actually deleted a bunch too... I don't know why I was thinking of terebyte. Seriously... very tired. Glad my second trip got cancelled (that was a disaster though). Excellent to have you here Siedna Ruadh! Your city sounds incredibly intriguing.

Taking the known historical documents into account, as you have kindly attached a copy of their murals here, this seems to be a reasonable telling of the early Iron Age, long ago.

The wither woods is a big place, yeah more residents are welcome. I would wait until you at least have some figs or buildings to show, just to keep it more in line with the project goals. The kaliphlin talks to much was an old joke that Avalonians used to make, they said we like to discuss a lot and never build. Although our builds are worth three of theirs. :P