" A GAME OF FOUR QUARTERS "

" RESULTS"

First off the results of last week`s competition, there was so many great entries and it was really hard to choose just one, as I liked a lot of aspects of all of them I have decided to award every entry a prize. All you need to do is email your choice of Death Match figure to 

wargamesterrainworkshop@yahoo.co.uk 

... with your name and address you want it delivered to. 

Just mark your email with "COMP CHOICE"

"EXPANDING OUR REALM"

So we've been showing you recently, new models and concepts of other races we are adding into the Death Match universe, and I have two more to show today. 

First up is the Moretanites, these are a race of sentient crustaceans that are prolific hunters, and are heavily recruited for the hunting parties. Adept on both land and in the water, their hard carapace makes them a tough opponent for any beast. These will also be added into the arena at some point as well once I've designed suitable weapons for them.

These aliens have a huge disdain for humans after a flippant comment in a bar:

   "I wonder what they taste like cooked in butter"

The inspiration for these creatures came from watching Australian Master Chef, where they quite often use Moreton Bay Bugs. while watching the program I thought the heads of these creatures look awesome, and it would be cool to build an alien around this element. 

I have taken elements from other crustaceans as well and combined them up, so these creations now have ten limbs like normal crustaceans, but I have moved the appendages around to look different: two are in his chest as second legs  to make a stable platform and four are in the head as feeding claws.

Next up is a creation by Hils.. the Furries. 

These cute creatures are very inquisitive and adept with technology, they are native to the Ceratid home world, and employed to help the Ceratid's (with some of the delicate operations) in their personal struggles... caused of their unwieldy lack of dexterity.

The drawback to these creatures is they love shiny things, and will often secrete items into their marsupial like pouches. Usually these `items` do not actually belong to them. Oh dear, what more can I say haha.

Now I'm going to pass you over to Steve, for some more cool background, but will be back at the end of the post . . . 

Cheers Dave,

 *clears his throat before carrying on*

Anyone keeping pace will know by now that Lord Vallatrix (the inventor of `the Death Match games`) comes from the planet Traventi. Traventians are tall (compared to humans) blue skinned race of humanoid looking aliens. For the Death Match game itself, the background `fluff` about this race is really just for atmospheric immersion. But for the Skirmish game being created, all this `filler` will become very important indeed, as the sandbox campaign world and its surrounding inter-steller star system (which will be fully self contained, yet be carefully created to  allow individual gamers to `drop` the game into their existing favourite campaign worlds, with little or no difficulty at all) will reveal.

Vallatrix`s palace... its intrigues, political skulduggery, its loves.. its hates.. its scandals, is pivotal to bringing this world to life. Imagine if you will the court of Henry VIII, or the plot machinations of I Claudius. Then add in some Ankh-Morpork, Gormenghast, a large dose of Sci-fi Queen Cleopatra (Star Gate), then a liberal (but measured) twist of Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and you have the basic essence of what this is all about. And that`s just the goings on surrounding Vallatrix`s court. On top if this we have all the other houses (think... Necromunda), and their various and diverse intrigues, and then toss the whole thing into space, and you have a hell of a space romp saga.

I call it Science Fantasy, as opposed to straight Science Fiction.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I always know the Vallatrix Palace guards would be an important part of the imagery... in fact possibly theplace to start to flesh this whole idea into form and purpose. Not just as Guards for Vallatrix (resplendent in their royal purple robes), but also as soldiers in the employ of the various other major and minor Traventi lords (and of course, their rivals). What individual gamers will wish to use these guards for is.... well, basically up to them to decide. But the new Skirmish game will be lavish with examples to help and inspire your own creativity: from noble houses, banner and crest designs, important family trees, planetary geography and maps, and all the usual yummy campaign material you could hope for, to bring a game alive.

I am massively proud to be able to show off Dave`s finished and painted male and female Traventi Guardsmen.

From a few concept sketches of Hillers, to Dave`s skillful diversity at sculpting miniatures in resin, in just a matter of days, Dave was able to come up with these two beauties... on top of all the other creations I keep throwing at him to make haha.

God knows how he manages to keep up, but I can tell you now, wow, there are some amazing things coming up in the pipeline.

Back over to you Dave...

" THE BIG ONE"

Now then....

Last week`s competition was really just the prelude to this week`s much cooler competition. If you're interested this is where you can influence the realm that "Death Match" resides in!

So what's the competition I hear you say? Well what we would like you to do is design an alien, or beast or costume for one of the races; or anything you would like to see ( Dave and Tarot`s idea for creating some space pirates, for example?). This can be done as a sketch, or a description, or as a sculpt: then simply email it to the address at the top of the post. You have three weeks from today to get your entry in.

So what's the prize, well there will be two.. as the cupboard will choose a winner. But then you will choose the second as we will do a post with all the entries..... at which point you can vote for your favourite, being the "people's choice".

Each winner will receive the model of their design, and you will also receive a converted and painted gladiator of your choice as well, so you will truly have a one of a kind prize.

Let the creation begin . . . 

Cheers Dave