Angle Warriors

[Screenblind]

Irish Army

[Screenblind]

Offo of the Angles ~ in full regalia (source from the 'Sutton Hoo' helmet) ~ sent as an assassin to King Ryan of the welsh - & depicted in a tapestry (source bayuex) attacking the Welsh army in force after the assassination attempt failed.

[Screenblind]

The Norse Throne-room

(I don't know if any of you have read the comic Slaine, which originally appeared in 2000AD, but it has inspired me to persevere with some of the Characterisations of the various forces from a game of Diplomacy. In Slaine, the Celts (Picts, Irish, Welsh) were depicted as Earth-Mother-worshipping heroes and the 'Drunes' - their foes, were essentially the same, but their religion had corrupted into a death-cult.

The Shores of Avalon setting isn't so fantastical as to include dwarves, dragons and living gods: As all of the players might guess about the 9th Century, it was simply a brutal time filled with brutal folk.

These are the Norse... The Angle envoy finally managing - after rowing between longships in the cold north sea - to reach the throne-room of King Randolph.

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A Welsh scout is ambushed by Saxon huntsmen.

[zpapageo]

Hey, Ben. Very cool stuff. This is an interesting style. i especially like the pattern textures you used in the first image. The bright colors are a departure from the dark, muted tones often used for this era. Its really pretty fitting, seeing as how archeological evidence suggests that these people liked bright, loud colors and ornate jewelry.

I dont know how finished these are, but one thing im not crazy about is the blurry airbrush effect. I think it takes away from the bold graphic treatment.

btw, Slaine comics kick axe! I love the combo of Frazier's Golden Bough type themes with good old fashioned sword and sorcery. Incidentally, what are these for? What is The Shores of Avalon? A game, book? I'm intrigued.

[Screenblind]

Thanks Zanne,

My girlfriend will appreciate the comment about the backgrounds as I used some scans of her paintings as a starting point!

Most are just roughs as this is just a bit of fun, but I'm keen to know which blurry airbrush effects you are refering to specifically, in which pics?

The initial yellow Angle Warrior, the Norse throne room and Welsh scout are 'finished roughs'.

I've been doing these to accompany a variant of a game of Diplomacy I'm playing via email: If you're unfamiliar with the standard game, it is an excellent waste of time - I've never played the face-to-face board game version, only via email, but the basic premise is that you have to use your fleets and armies to conquer Europe, with two turns each year starting in 1900 AD. There is however, no element of chance involved in the game, it is up to each player to persuade the others to cooperate in attacking and supporting each other... lots of backstabbing ensues :)

The Shores of Avalon variant uses standard Diplomacy rules, but is based around the British Isles and Northen Europe / Scandinavia and the game starts in 850 AD.

A current map - hosted by the 'GM' of the game can be found here (http://www.stab-room.com/avalon/avalon_home.html)

The bright colours are used on the map to identify the forces of each player, which was the initlal reason I used such bright colours for the images, but I agree that it makes a nice contrast from the usual 'grim' mediaeval stuff - as did Bisleys' work on Slaine.

Other tribes/races I have yet to illustrate are The Britons, Scots, Picts, Danes, Frisians and Saxons.

The game is in progress, and I'm finding it fun to choose events that occur in the game as illustration briefs.

Thanks again for your comments - as we all know - it always means alot to get feedback.

Beno

[zng-Y]

Nice to see you got your own style there m8. On some images it didn't work out that well, but overall you got some nice concepts going on! Keep it going!

[Screenblind]

Thanks for looking in Teun. Some of the images are very rough - I'm not sure if I'll go back to them or not as its just a bit of fun. I like the look of your photo thread, its a good idea.

[zpapageo]

Well, for example, in the first image, the softness of the banner and spear, and around his hand just seems out of place. For me, the soft brush doesnt go well with the rough inked look. Elements like the faces, the trees, the quick suggestion of the army, the guy's kilt and cloak seem very self assured and spontaneous. Whereas the soft edge brush, to me, seems a little tentative and unsure. Anyway, that's only my opinion, and i'm no expert. I'd love to see more.

Thanks for the info on the game. It seems very interesting. Im a sucker for that sort of thing, which is why I must avoid it like plague.

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