Travelling in Utavoll can be dangerous, what with the weather being so changeable and the possibility of meeting bandits or hungry wild dogs. With dangers like these around, most travellers will travel in larger groups and prefer to wait for a merchant caravan that they can join, rather than setting out on their own.
Dust hounds
Wild dogs are a nuisance to most, but can be deadly if encountered in large packs. Utavoll is home to packs of wild dogs. Mostly they avoid settlements, but they are opportunistic when food is scarce and will enter a settlement in the winter to pick off whatever they can get their teeth into.
I'm not particularly happy with the rank and file here, but I like the look of the two leader figures. Can't be bothered going back and repaintng them all yet though.
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| Iceborn curs (RPE Demonworld) |
Petty robbers
These minor thieves are only minor in the sense that they are poorly armed and equipped. If there are enough of them and few enough of you, they will pick your corpse clean.
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| Unarmoured bandits (Two Dragons and Essex Miniatures) |
Roving fiends
The beastmen of Utavoll are rarely seen, but they are generally hungry and not interested in pre-dinner conversation.
There are many different types of beastmen and I am using my werewolves here until I have painted up the beastmen for my Gnawling Horde.
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| Werewolves (RPE Demonworld) |
Rag-tag Brigands, Organised Robbers and Infamous Marauders
Petty robbers aspire to become rag-tag brigands with better equipment and organisation. Rag-tag Brigands are more experienced and better able to take on larger groups of travellers. They may be based in a nearby village and supplement their earnings with a little light larceny.
Similarly equipped to the Rag-tag Brigands are the Organised Robbers, who are outlaws of the greenwood. These well-organised brigands live outside normal society in the forests of Utavoll. They are prone to singing, slapping their thighs and knifing you in the back so that they can take all your wealth.
The most dangerous of the outlaws, the Infamous Marauders have survived their time as Rag-tag Brigands and Organised Robbers to become the most feared and well trained of the robber groups a traveller is likely to meet. Woe betide the poor traveller that is set upon by them.
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| Light armoured bandits (Two Dragons) |
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| Bandit leaders (Two Dragons) |
Goblin war party
There is a reason they call it goblin mode. Mostly goblins want to stay in their caves and slob around. This makes them happy. As long as they are left alone, goblins keep to themselves and rarely bother anyone except on the occasions that they steal a sheep from a local farmer. That can be avoided by not putting your sheep out to pasture near a goblin cave. These guys are not in goblin mode. Someone upset them and now they are on the warpath. They are organised and can be deadly when met in large numbers.
N.B. Goblins rarely go anywhere in small numbers.
The Goblin entry here calls for slingers, but I cannot find any suitable figures, so my Goblins will have bows.
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| Goblin warriors (RPE Demonworld) |
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| Goblin archers (RPE Demonworld) |
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| Goblin heroes and leaders (RPE Demonworld) |
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| Goblin shamans (RPE Demonworld) |
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| More Goblin shamans (RPE Demonworld) |
Sometimes the dead do not stay in their tombs, because they have unfinished business on this side of the veil. That said, they seem to have difficulty communicating what they actually want. As a result, Zombies can occasionally be seen roaming the wilderness. They are slow but that does not mean you should ignore them, because they are also relentless and do not need to sleep, unlike you.
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| Zombies (Alternative Armies and RPE Demonworld) |
Northern wolves
Wolf packs generally avoid human settlements unless it is a hard winter. However, this does not apply to travellers in the wilderness, whom the wolves consider to be fair game. It is always best to travel in larger groups if going off the beaten track, because lone travellers may be set upon by a pack that is not able to find its usual prey. If the traveller is particularly unlucky, the pack will be guided by a goblin captain.
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| Wolves (RPE Demonworld) |
Robber baron patrol
Not all hazards are outlaws, brigands and feral beasts. Sometimes the local lord decides that taxation is not enough and sends out his troops to encourage travellers to contribute to the lord's retirement fund. Occasionally, the minions will be accompanied by the baron's champion, or even by the baron himself!
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| A robber baron and his minions (Two Dragons) |
Strange troops
Travellers occasionally report being attacked by troops "who b'ain't from roun' 'ere." No one knows where these troops came from or where they go to, but all report that they are unrelenting in their savagery.
I must admit to feeling a hefty dose of nostalgia while fettling these figures for the table. I have had some of them since the early 1990s and even got them painted then! I've lost track of the number of times I have repaired damage to their paint jobs and rebased them, but they are still here and ready to be fielded.
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| Partial armoured bandits (Two Dragons) |
Half-fey raiders
The half-fey are often not welcome in human or fey society and are driven to the edges of civilisation where they are forced to prey upon others to survive. They are vicious and strong.
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| Elven warriors and Archers (RPE Demonworld) |
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| Elven heroes and leaders (RPE Demonworld) |
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