The Lodge Darkrom, a Tale of Ancestors and Fire (An Animosity IV/Army Project Blog)

[flamingwalnut]

Welcome, friends, and gather round the fire! Here we have the story of The Lodge Darkrom, a quickly growing Fyreslayer lodge who's tales of conquest, curses, and the deepest secrets of Aqshy. When this tale is done, I hope to have a defined and painted horde of Duardin berserkers to truly make an impact on the Mortal Realms. 

For the moment, this thread will be slow moving and a bit bare. While progress is steady, much is unfinished. The good news is, with the help of the awesome Animosity Campaigns (Chapter IV) I have some push for progress moving forward. While I will ammend this intro to include more background on my Lodge, I need to get some progress pics for the campaign.

The Animosity Story thus far: Barak-Drak is a skyport that, though wild and calamitous magic, has fallen out of the sky. Runedaughter Dura Forgeheart has struck out to prove herself and gain some allies and pledged herself to the Kharadron's cause. Within hours of her pledge, she has duties to attend to and immediately sets out on a mission (or two!) of utmost importance...

For the first report, a hobby report. Vulkites need to be built, so here we go!
Eager to test the mettle of her newest recruits, Dura Forgeheart gathers her youngest Vulkite Berserkers and takes them with her as a personal retinue of sorts on their first mission. To aid Barak-Drak, Dura marches with the wide variety of warbands to seek out and secure the engineering books in the library currently sinking in the Dungmoot. The Fyreslayers had no need for engineering, but were happy to carve up both beast and ambusher as her fellow Skyguard plunder the ruins of the library. 

(Before and After some building for Vulkite Berserkers)

But that is not all! Each week has multiple paths, so to help cover more ground, I made a Storytelling report as well: After a long debate with her friend and confidant Kragi Shadowbane, Dura Forgeheart's Hearthguard retinue go off an another mission. Their goal? To defend an ancient ruin filled with Chaos magic from being unleashed by wild cultists! The Realm throws all manner of beasts, weather, and warbands at them, but the Hearthguard of Lodge Darkrom have fire in their very souls and refuse to back down! 

(Dynamic shots to cover the Storytelling report. And a sneak peak at my color scheme!)

That concludes the adventures for Week 1 of the Animosity Campaigns! More to come very soon!

[Akylas]

Looking good. I joined Animosity this week and I'm super excited.

[flamingwalnut]

Hobbies for the hobby god! 

Here we have my Magmic Battleforge. This came a lot earlier than you might expect for a free terrain piece. lol I was pondering how best to convert it, as the usual headpiece did not fit in well (I had gotten it second hand) and I wanted something unique. My lodge has a penchant for summoning Fire Elementals, which I'll flesh out a bit more with future units, likely my Auric Hearthguard. For now, I have a Fire Elemental adornment on my Forge and I rather like how it turned out. 

This is for my Hobby report for Week 2 of the Animosity IV campaign! 

 

Hope you all like it! Cheers! 

[flamingwalnut]

I am not too shocked at the quiet responses. It's alright, this hasn't been the EPIC ARMY BLOG I had always dreamed of. One day I'd love to have something like that, but for now, I post for Animosity and get in the hobby that I can. 

Here are my reports for Week 3!

Hobby Report for Week 3! Newly built/recruited Vulkite Berserkers head out for some Exploration to help find supplies, parts, and people for Barak-Drak! (I rather love the new GHB for making Vulkites rather interesting choice, IMO)

 

And the more fun one, a nice scenic shot for my Week 3 Storytelling Report! Lodge Darkrom are skilled wielders of Elemental Powers. With priests dotting along vital, magical places, they channel in the power of their forges and the very heart of Aqshy to bring strength and power into the mountain, hopefully stabilizing the wild magic and destructive forces surrounding Barak-Drak!


That is all for Week 3! When Animosity is over, I might do a more in-depth blog to showcase my Fyreslayers. For now, hope everyone is enjoying their hobby!

[Fulcanelli]

I very like the fire elemental on the Forge 🔥

[flamingwalnut]

Another week, another bout of Animosity reports! This week I finally got in a full set of 3 reports thanks to a quick demo game I did for a new guy to the shop. 

First up we have the Storytelling report for Week 4. I do love doing these, it is fun to set a scene and really showcase the models in something other than a game setup.

 

Next up, the game I referred to! It was a barebone teaching game using my Fyreslayers and the Dominion demo orruks we keep at the story, but it was fun to show someone new the ropes and get some more Fyreslayer action!

 

And finally, the one I am the MOST excited about! A big part of my Fyreslayer's lore is that there are no Runesons. The Runefather has only had Daughters, but they lead the charge and fight with the fury to make dad proud anyways. It is mostly an excuse to find some cool dwarf female models and incorporate them. 

For Animosity IV, my character of choice was one of those Runedaughters, Dura Forgeheart. After a lot of searching, I found these AWESOME Artisan Guild minis and felt they fit the role well. From 3D print to paint job, here we have Dura Forgeheart in the fiery flesh! 

 

And that makes it for week 4 of the Animosity campaign! Next week is the finale with one more week to report! I am not sure how the story will end, but I am excited and hopeful that some of my personal wishes come true! 

[flamingwalnut]

And the final week of the Animosity IV campaign comes to a close. It was a wild ride and honestly, I have been very pleased with this one, even if I wanted to do more. My Fyreslayer army is still far away from finished, but I got a good chunk done and a lot of lore fleshed out! My hope is still to have them finished by the end of the year! 

Here is a short rundown of how the campaign went for me:

1) Got to play as Duardin with a Duardin heavy faction! Felt cool, Duardin/dwarves are my favorite race. Excited to do more with them.
2) Got my custom sculpts for my characters. The world needs more dwarf ladies and I plan to do my part.
3) I found a great love for storytelling through model dioramas. Might have to do some of my own, though even posing and setting up cinematic shots with the terrain my shop had lying around was fun!
4) While the character RP was light, I got to have fun cozying up to the awesome Admiral that led my faction.
5) Last but not least, we completed our secondary goal! It was, honestly, my biggest desire to snag this campaign. At least the Skyport is safe! ❤️ 

Now, onto my final reports!

First is a quick hobby report, I build 5 Auric Hearthguard! Now I have only a few things left to build/convert before I can call this faction done. Then onto more painting!




Next is perhaps my favorite report this campaign! Dura and her warband know little about engineering, but their elemental powers have kept the lights on and the power burning bright as the Skyport takes off. Was neat mixing AoS with 40k, but that is the cool part about Kharadron Overlords. 

Whew! It feels good to be done. I hope the final narrative brings us good fortune and I hope the few people who looked in on this enjoy what they saw. I would like to perhaps do something MUCH more narrative and impactful as I finish the Fyreslayers. Wish me luck! And may a blessed hobbying be had by you all!