Relics. Ridend. The Brass Duke

The signal fire burned and threw its light into the darkness, in the distance light flared as the next tower lit up and carried the message on.
Nearby he treelike moved and begun to light up in reflection. As the message sped on to the heart Ridendea, those closest had answered its call and mustered once more against the raid of the C'thu.
The flickering light washed over the polished armour of the Brass Duke as he emerged from the copse and moved forward with his retinue and mustered forces, they had stood before and would stand again.
Duke Ito Baras, known as the Brass Duke, moved forwards on his armoured Kopalop and approached the bright pyre and the ridden peasant that had lit it.
' My Lord' , it stammered out 'Our village is under attack,. The C'thu, they are here again. They came in on the fishing fleet . Please help...'
The Brass Duke nodded and raised his golden hand to signal the rest of his party to follow. For all their horror the C'thu could still bleed and in the name of the Lady he would drain them dry.


One of the strengths of Relics is how unique each of the faction are, drawing from traditional fantasy archetypes but twisting them and making something new. The Ridend draw from Goblin and romantic ideals of knights and damsels, Games Workshops Bretonnia remade with the artistic vision of Brain Froud. A generous dose of Excalibur, Legend and Labyrinth.
the Ridend have sat in their boxes the longest as I could never decide on a paint scheme for them but after a recent incident with a friends having his Ridend warband stolen ( with such short supply available alternatives are being planned which will be for another post!) I reviewed my own and found inspiration...

The prototype Ridend and one of the most iconic for the faction. Knight on Kopalop!

Dark metal with Brass elements that will tie in with a Brass Duke!

The knights will all have different plates in brass to give them a more individual look as each suit is a family heirloom. Brass plates are added on to emulate the Duke or were given by him as rewards.

Going though my Ridend I found I had enough for 2.5 units so used three banished knights with their backpacks removed and made three shields for them. With one per unit they blend in despite being slightly less bulky than the regular knights

First Unit with cheque pattern to match the Duke. Other units will have an equally somber patterns

The Brass Duke

A limited release resin figure as opposed to the metal. One of my favourite in the range, full of detail from the Kopalops armour to the lance and helm it has been a joy to paint!

The back and white colour scheme of the heraldry and bird allow the Brass to stand out and works well with the red skin.

When the range gets restarted i would love to see this used as a model for Ridend Heavy cavalry with  armoured Kopalops and lances

Hi name is inspired from Michael Moorcocks Count Brass

The lance is magnetised to make it easier to transport and also allow for weapon swaps as the model also comes with a sceptre/mace option

The Pride of Ridendea so far

Bloodbath. Terrain P3. The Latrine

A quick build and tick of the terrain list is the latrine.

Image from the Townscape version

5mm Plasticard base and walls made from wooden drinks stirrers 

panels scored to add age and texture

Assembled with a plasticard roof tiles 

Finished Latrine with some added lichen and leaves

Smallest engaged sign I have ever done, thankful for my Optivisor glasses!

Finished business

Two down..

Bloodbath. Terrain.P2 The Ruined Cottage

One of the most complex components of the Bloodbath project will be the terrain as I intend to use the cards to build full buildings and the other pieces.

The original scenario contained the card buildings needed to play each battle. The sheets were also released as part of the iconic Townscape book. I decided to start with the ruined cottage

The full set of buildings and elements from the boxed set.

The Ruined Cottage 

Foam Card measured and drawn to match the original dimensions

The damaged sections were dug out...

...and replaced with Green Stuff with the exposed stonework sculpted in

the assembled framework. 

Small modifications from the original were the inside detail which was absent, wooden door frame and some additional height which meant the outside steps were a necessity but allowed the floor boards and hole to be more realistic 

Coffees stirrers provided the planking

Holes in the floorboards

Ruined second floor was assembled with more stirrers

Second floor and roof frame with plasticard for roof tiles

Roof tiles laid and extras scattered around the base to add more realism

Sand and stone added

Assembled and undercoated

Initial paints. I decided in the end not to try and match the original colours too closely and to leave the roof tiles a dark grey rather than red which matches up better with the Projects overall more subdued palette.

Moss added with a PVA and Flock mix which will be ink washed afterwards

Featured Grafitti as on the originals

The Completed Ruined Cottage

Bloodbath.The Linden Way Militia.P1

With the completion of the Osrim Chardz and only the unit banner to do I moved on to my next Command Sheet and decided to tackle the big human unit, the Linden Way Militia.
This is quite a large sheet with 36 units split between 25 militia and 10 villagers plus the command figure, Mayor Leofwine.

Assembling the figures for this was one of the longest due to the number of villagers and Mayor Leofwine. The 25 strong Militia I picked up from Wargames Foundry and were originally released by citadel as Feudal Levy for their Bretonnia range plus a couple of their medieval archers.

 The villagers are from the citadel C46 villagers range and were a slow find from eBay over several years

The first six done. From left to right, The Stable Boy, The baker, The Miller, The Storekeepers Wife, The Store keeper and The Libertine.

The Store Keeper is not the figure used in the set as this one seems to be particularly rare and still eludes me, the Baker and the Libertine are not part of the  BB@OD set but I picked them up as part of a larger group 

 I have gone for quite an earthly colour scheme which will give them a unified feel despite the individuality. the figures have loads of character and i have really enjoyed painting them and can see why they are a collectable set.

the remaining six