Sludge - Royalist Faction: The Barony of Pyrmia V

     Of the many faculties of Throne, the Royal Artillery College at Nossbergen Island is highly prized for its vaunted heavy guns and crewmen. It is from here that graduate crews will be dispatched to many theatres of service; from the gunnery decks of the great arcships on the high seas to the barren mountain fortress turrets. Those whose fortune cast poorly may be sent to the charnel plains of the borderlands from where few ever return, if not in body then in mind.

    Here the esteemed Chimeric Order of Engineers introduce recruits to powerful new weapons and munitions fresh from factory lines. Harsh battery masters drill crews endlessly in accuracy and function on the proving grounds. Lethal new forms of ammunition and cannon are refined to annihilate men and reduce fortifications to rubble from afar. Barons and Dukes from across the royal realm will bid highly to the Hallowsraad Guild for requisition of these mighty war weapons.

Above: A pair of Royal 7.83~ Pack Rifle cannons. A well rounded artillery piece capable of shell and case shot at impressive trajectories and rate of fire.

Below: A 13pdr mountain gun and 2.2 light mortar at the retaking of Tir Fosell. 579CE.

"...from the trenches and dugouts we saw it; as the Tower of the Blasphemous Druids rained down arcane bolts and assailed our thoughts and visions. Even stalwart soldiers and beasts lamented in terror. Then a shell from the royal howitzers struck the flaming crack rent in the great turret, followed by another.

The grim structure groaned out before toppling into the ditch below. Shrill bugle horns sounded down the lines and the ragged Royal Marines and house militiamen sprung forth, pouring into the breach lit only by torch and strobing explosions and rained upon by debris. Even the mad cultists and Zharrian death knights that attempted to hold the ruined gap were cast aside in a hail of bullets and grenades.

They stormed those obscene halls and chambers of that twisted temple and tore down it's awful effigies. It was the royal duelist Callisterus who slew the foul sorcerer Shaudrex at the cost of his own life. We planted blessed root stalks around the ashen grounds in the hopes the earth would swallow that evil place once more. "

-A reading from Ode to the Scattered Lands Last Fading, Archduke Valessen. Ch.27.      

Sludge - Royalist Faction: The Barony of Pyrmia IV

     Of the many martial orders that exist throughout the Chimeras realms, the Knights of the Eternal Star are spoken of in low whispers and archaic books. This ancient sect has served the Throne for time beyond reckoning and their legends are recorded in the oldest Chimeric libraries. Once numerous, the centuries of battle have depleted them to a shadow of their former glory. 

Still in times of strife they ride forth from their fortress at the desolate Abbey of St.Herge in the northern salt marshes, clad in heavy plate mail upon barded warhorses. They do not speak or ever remove their steel helms. Some are even given to doubt there are living beings inside their armor.

Whatever their oath my be, these heavy knights suddenly appear in the most dire of battles to visit terrible violence upon the enemies of the Throne.

  "...we were flanked and the foul soldiery of the dark cabal of Khotish closed in around us. Suddenly the earth beneath our feet began to quake and then they appeared; galloping behind the enemies lines through the smoke. Their heavy bladed lances pierced the foes ranks and steeds trampled men into the gore soaked mud. Those who survived turned to rout.

The sergeants redressed the lines to prepare for the counter attack. But of the Knights of the Eternal Star there was no sign except the bloody devastation left in their wake..."

-Unknown Pyrmian infantryman of the Battle of Montrevose, 452CE

Sludge - Royalist Faction: The Barony of Pyrmia III

Key to the defense networks of the Barons lands are the 12th regiment of Royal Marines, Duke Sigmunds Rifles. From their regimental headquarters at Witrburg in the Kortze Mountains they watch for the lowlands signal fires from the Grand Chimerical Observatory. 

The 12th are a regiment inured to the hardships of the frontier from their constant patrols of the bandit ridden Thornwald Forest and its vital supply lines. With each passing season more aid requests for the airship companies of the 12th Royal Marines grow across the Pyrmian borderlands.

Highly trained and disciplined, the Royal Marines are loyal to the Chimera Throne unto death. Armed with the finest Strithian bayonet rifles they often fight in close order drill, hailing the foe with a withering fusillade of lead.  

Royal Grenadiers are specialized shock troops often found alongside the marines. Equipped with carbines and pig iron stick grenades they are skilled at storming enemy fortifications or breaking line formations.
   

                    Royal Grenadiers in combat at the Horn of Jotanin - spring of 578CE

   

"...into that blasted field the Royal Marines advanced, with each volley of fire scores of the Khans infantry toppled from the earthworks. They pressed onward into the trench lines, bayonets and rifle butts slick with blood. They overran the palisades and put the artillery pits to the torch. Their wrath was furious.

By dawn the marine flag flew over that infernal blockhouse. So it was by the divine will of the Chimera that the siege of Vanheim was ended...   
-excerpt from Duke Sigmunds Memento Mori - The Royal Marines at Vanheim

   

Sludge - Royalist Faction: The Barony of Pyrmia II

 The Archsentinel, Duke Galerik, sixth of his name, Warden of the Hallowsraad. 

Duke Galerik is a haunted man who has seen much in his lifetime. After a decade of service in the Fensguard in distant Q'wara he returned home to find his native Pyrmia on the verge of collapse.
Rising quickly through the ranks of the Barons court he oversaw the restoration of the Harakan and the re-mustering of the Chimera Thrones armies.

It was Duke Galerik who led the defense of the Zimhausen Gates, the razing of the cult temple of Elaos and the scouring of the Jontalbahn hinterlands. But for his many glories he is cognizant of the withering Royal tithe numbers and the rising tide of the Manticores creeping aggression. Still he holds true to the Chimeric disciplines in the face of doom.

An ancient Pyrmian epitaph in the hilt etching of his family greatsword reads:

 "Conquered by none, I will be free."   

 

Sludge - Royalist Faction: The Barony of Pyrmia I

     Beyond the Scattered Plains and the bleak northern barrens, the Barony of Pyrmia has stood loyal to the Chimera Throne for centuries past. Its solemn networks of fortified cities and towns hold bulwark against the onslaught of the raiding hordes from the Elucian archipelago.

In those wild lands beyond, foes of the Chimera gather in the Broken Steppes. Each winter the glow of camp fires from the hill lands grow ever brighter in the night skies. The baleful gaze of the Manticore is cast across this ancient realm.

But the claws and horns of the Chimera are still sharp. The resolute armies of the Barony are made of a variety of corps of professional soldiers such as the 12th Royal Marines. From their garrison at the strategic mountain aerodrome of Witrburg they stand ready to be ferried by fleets of dirigible airships riding on the swift updrafts to the beleaguered strongholds in the lowlands below. Their actions in the lifting of the Siege of Fusehill in 611CE is still sung in the old Marine hymnals.

 Added to this are the Pyrmian bannermen and royalist tithe troops who wade into the battle mire alongside the marines with pike and shotte. It is by their stoic deeds that the Harakan Wall still holds back the terrors of that cursed pass.

                   Pyrmian infantry at the Battle of the Valkern Fields, early 655CE

 At the fore the Barons court would employ loyal servants of Chimera Throne and the Royal Academy to lead their ranks into dire warfare. Royal Officers are often men of distinction and veterans of campaigns past, often found barking orders over the din of battle or in the bloody press of melee.

 

Captain Geopauldus and a Chimeric Chaplain bearing a reliquary of Ste.Austina  

 Defenders of the ancient faiths, sanctioned Royal Chaplains accompany the Barons armies as they march to war. For those about to face the horrors of battle, the prayer dirges and sacred incenses bring hope and conviction to the living and comfort to the fallen and dying.    

The aristocratic Royal Magicians can be seen among the ranks, extolling mystic courage and fury to men amidst the storm of gore and lead with arcane rites in the name of their monarch.

Coveted by many of the Barons warlords, the squadrons of the volunteer 11th Royal Hussars "Arnauds Finest" are an elite regiment of light cavalry. With a reputation of renegade bravado, many a tide has been turned by the timely charge of the 11th. The thundering hooves of raucous mustangs and flashing razor sharp sabres heralding their arrival.  

     

 

 "...It was in that moment that the Vostermach Freikorps spearwall broke that all hope seemed lost, then with bugle-cry the 11th Royal Hussars burst from the thicket woods. They cut into the Red Viziers flanks like the wickedly curved sabres they carried. With vengeful cry we knew the day was won...."
-Excerpt from Van Ruzes Commentaries on Pyrmia.Volume 5.Chapter 11.

Sludge - Foreword

               in another thread of time - there was A DARK AGE OF NIGHTMARE, AN Age of

The following installment brings us to the world of Sludge - a fantasy war game set in an ahistorical black powder age apocalypse from Metal King Studios. 

A great cataclysm has shattered the world. Black storms blot out the sun and churn the dying earth. Great armies languish in the land like locusts. They greedily consume the now scarce resources. Barons, dukes, and princes gather warriors to scavenge what they can as they conduct bitter warfare to settle ancient grudges.

The cruel wars of men compound the nightmare and death
would be a small mercy. But for fear or hate, the warriors will not yield. The latent magic of the
world tree spurs cycles of endless violence.

Dark worlds beyond our own merge into the sludge mire. The great exposed roots of the world tree will heal any wound at a price, and men have turned to the dark practice of harvesting its vital fragments. It is a dark age of sludge and doom...

{{{ An excellent indie tabletop war game from 2020, followed by Sludge Nations released in Blaster Magazine Vol4 in 2022 which introduced 4 individual factions; The Imperial, Royalist, Free Peoples and Cult Factions.

The game itself features fielding points matched armies of individual units. Players alternating activating units to perform actions like moving, shooting, charging melee. D6s, D10s, an a inch measure and some tokens is the only materiel needed.

Metal King Studios does have a number of great official figs, but also encourages kit-bash converting of historical & fantasy lines to create your own unique army (Kits from Perry Minis, Wargames Atlantic, Frostgrave for some examples).
The artwork is dark and brooding in a stylized martial way and very eye catching. 

 Black powder armies of infantry, cavalry, artillery, beasts and heroes clashing in mud and gore soaked battlefields of an alternate historical time of doom.

Great room to let the hobby imagination run wild and free. -Ak }}}

Necromunda - Hive War Ikarus - Scavengers

 Somewhere in the polluted depths of Hive Ikarus - two gangs converge on a black market trading post belonging to the Black Sun tech syndicate. Underworld intel rumored that these traders carried caches of off-world tech looted from a downed voidcraft in the badlands and a hefty amount of credits. 

For the Gilded Serpent (House Delaque) and the Vendetta Vixens (House Escher) The rare promise of such lucrative riches was impossible to ignore. 

(+++ The following is a Necromunda (N18) match - House of Blades Escher vs standard Delaques, mission is Scavengers - Book of Ruin. Objective to steal the loot counters (7 in this case).

  

              Judex Tul and his henchmen begin shaking down the locals for the void tech loot.

From the shadows of the south viaducts a group of cloaked gangers emerged, agents of the Gilded Serpent. Others snuck along the catwalks overhead and side corridors. The emergence of Vendetta Vixen gangers one shop stall to the west exploded the trading post into chaos.

The west alleyway exploded as stun grenades were lobbed in. Gilded Serpent gangers descended from the catwalks above, several gangers fell in the vicious close quarters struggle as sharpshooters picked away at the combatants.

 The Death Maiden - Nyxa duels with Spider Khot. He missed the twisting assassin and was struck by lasfire.

The Gilded Serpent controlled the trading post but the Vendetta gangers had already made off with three loot boxes. There was only one left to claim victory for both sides, to the northern alley.

The Gilded Serpent gangers swarmed toward the objective, blazing las shots at the Death Maiden about to claim the final tech loot. She seemed guarded by some unearthly ward preventing her from being struck by the red hot bolts stitching the alley.

Her luck held and the assassin escaped with her prize into the maintenance tunnels below. Tul vowed revenge as his gangers slinked back to the shadows with a significant amount of the void tech in tow.
He would have his chance again.