The Ice-Heart Court: Fey folk for Five Leagues from the Borderlands

The Ice Heart Court are the Unseelie for Five Leagues from the Borderlands; Fair Folk who are at odds with humanity, and they can take many forms. It is they who steal babies from their cradles, replacing them with changelings. They lure unwary travellers into their mounds, only for the traveller to emerge a hundred years later into a world they do not know, thinking that but a few days have passed Occasionally, they engage in open warfare with the people of Utavoll, or their hunting parties just decide that passing adventurers are fair game. Stories of these encounters with the Wild Hunt are many and rarely end well for the human participant.

Goblin raiders

I'm sure you recognise these figures from the 'Roadside Encounters' and 'Lurking Foes' lists. When they are not out raiding on the roads or defending dank dungeons, these Demonworld Goblins can be found hanging out with the rest of the Court. They are the least of the Fey Folk but their numbers make up for their quality. Many an unwary adventurer has come a cropper because they underestimated the Goblin raiders.

The Rank and Vile

Leaders

Forest folk

The denizens of the forest fight alongside the Ice Heart Court. Many different peoples live in the forests, but all are skilled hunters and trackers, who are likely to spot you before you spot them. If they are peaceful, this will not be a problem for you. If not, then they are likely to be leaving you to feed the trees while they take your goods home with them.

Forest folk melee troops (Two Dragons peasants)

Forest folk missile troops (Two Dragons and Alternative Armies)

Elfin hounds

The Elfin hounds in my world are actually giant, supernatural cats (Nekomata cats from Alternative Armies). I was going to use the same figures as I used for the Dust Hounds in the 'Roadside Encounters' section but could not resist buying giant cats instead. It's nice to have a bit of variety.

Elfin Battle Cats are preternaturally stealthy, hyper aware and clearly not of Midgard. Their senses extend beyond the mortal world to other planes, making them almost impossible to surprise. It also seems like they travel through the other planes at times, being literally in two places at once, which means that they often take adventurers unaware, while being substantially immune to magical attacks because of not being quite where they appear to be.

Elfin battle cats (Nekomata from Alternative Armies)

Spider-touched

The spider-touched are a strange sect. They worship the great spider gods that once inhabited Utavoll and are personally dedicated to the Fey Queen.

Elven spears and archers (RPE)

Time-lost warriors

The world of the Fey exists in parallel with with the physical world of Utavoll and intersects at key points like burial mounds and the so-called faerie rings. Many are the stories of people who accidentally cross the boundaries between the two and return hundreds of years later to find that everything they knew has gone. Time runs differently at the Ice-Heart Court. For these warriors, only a week has passed but a hundred years and more have gone by in Utavoll since they crossed over.

Melee troops (Two Dragons)

Missile troops (Two Dragons)

War dryads

The tree spirits known as dryads are normally peaceful, but lately people have been chopping their homes down and now they are understandably irate. They are well-armed and well-armoured, and make formidable foes.

4217A Ice Witch Temple Guards (RPE)

Tree wardens

There are many spirits at the Ice-Heart Court and many that can be called upon to defend it. Even the trees of the forests will stand against intruders if the Elves call upon their services.

Haunted Trees (Ral Partha Europe)

Tree warden heroes and leaders (Ral Partha Europe)

Fey spirits

Fey spirits can take many forms. Some amuse themselves by appearing as small, cute beings that are nonetheless deadly, while others adopt grotesque forms to scare the beholder from their wits. In the end, it does not really matter though. Whatever form they take, they will happily slaughter you and sing while they are doing it.

Fey spirits (RPE)

Fey Soldiers and Winter Legion

Elven soldiers are a sight to behold in their glittering silver armour and their colourful clothes. Mere humans look positively drab in comparison.

Elven spears and crossbowmen (RPE)

Fey Knights

These are the flower of fey chivalry. Riding to battle in a gay cavalcade with a song on their lips and ribbons in their hair, they present a beautiful sight even as they slaughter you.

Wood Elf knights (RPE)

Queen's Own

The Queen's Own are the best of the best. These Elven blade dancers have perfected their art over many human lifetimes. Well-armed, well-armoured and with combat skills honed to perfection over hundreds of years, they are foes against whom even the stoutest of hearts will wilt. As elves, they completely lack humanity or feeling for those whose lives are so short that they are gone in the blink of an eye.

Elven blade dancers and supporting missile troops (RPE)

Roll Call: The Seelie (Humans and related monsters for Oathmark)

 The Seelie forces are the humans and their allies against the Unseelie. The Unseelie consider humans to be a blight on the land, and they may have a point from their perspective: humans cut down holy hawthorn bushes, plant their farms over the grave mounds of the Fair Folk and block access to the Other Realm by tolling their bells and chanting their prayers so loudly that none can find their way from Here to There. Humans think that the Unseelie are being unreasonable and making a fuss about nothing.

For more on my head canon for this conflict, see my roll call of the Unseelie. There I lay out the basis for the two main forces of any future game: The Seelie versus the Unseelie.

The Figures

This is the full roll call of human-related figures. The whole force works out to somewhat over 6000 points. There are a few unit types that I do not have for the human forces, but there is still plenty of choice, especially when considering that I can draw on the other species as well. Most of the figures here are Two Dragons Vikings and Normans, with a smattering of Tabletop Games fantasy adventurers plus some ogres from Ral Partha Europe's Demonworld range, and a couple of figures plucked from boardgames.

The whole army arrayed. What are the chances I shall ever field all of it at one time?

Human leaders and champions

These are the elitest of the elite in the human armies. They lead and inspire the other humans to greatness, and many are legends in their own lunchtimes. I have way more character figures than I shall ever field in a single Oathmark army, but it is nice to have a choice.

Tally: 5 mounted and 14 dismounted

Two Dragons Normans and Essex Miniatures Vikings

Human spellcasters

Battlefield support is provided by an eclectic bunch of sorcerous types. Again, I have more than I need but they will all get names and become beloved to me as they achieve glorious sorcerous exploits.

Tally: 7

Ral Partha Europe and Tabletop Fantasy Sorcerers. The TTF ones are scrawnier but carry a much greater weight of nostalgia for me

Human soldiers (and possibly spears)

The rank and file of every human army is a person with a shield and a spear or other hand weapon. Because many of these have spears, I could field them as spear units instead if I choose to, but I am listing them here as soldiers, because I also have an idea of buying figures for a high medieval army with long spears or pikes to use as spear units. I wonder if this is one of those ideas that will never come to fruition. Either way, soldiers or spear units, they are the backbone of the army. Some of these figures have been in my Pile of Shame since the early 90s, so it is a great feeling to have got them all painted at last.

Tally: 80

Two Dragons Vikings and Normans

Human archers

These basic missile troops gain strength from their numbers rather than their individual skill. The carry a range of missile weapons from bows to crossbows to thrown rocks. I lump them all together as basic archers. After all, you cannot afford to be fussy when you are recruiting from the lower echelons of society. At least they do not smell as bad as the militia!

Tally: 43

Two Dragons Vikings, Normans and peasants

Human warriors

The better class of soldier has a chain vest or hauberk as well as their shield and sword/spear.

Tally: 35

Two Dragons Vikings and Normans with two Asgard 15mm barbarians towering over the others at the back

Human linebreakers

Men with big axes or two-handed swords are useful when the heavy cavalry are not suited to the terrain. The linebreakers are just such a shock unit. Armed with large axes and good armour, they are well-practised at cleaving their way through their foes.

Tally: 17

Two Dragons Vikings

Human militia

What they lack in quality they make up for in quantity and pungency. They are also useful for carrying things for the rest of the army.

Tally: 60

A mix of Two Dragons peasants and Essex Mniatures monks

Human cavalry

These are lightly armoured cavalry, usually younger men who have yet to prove themselves, but they are fast and can still hit hard with all the enthusiasm of youth and a young person's firm belief that they will always survive and win.

Tally: 11

Two Dragons Normans

Human heavy cavalry

The heavy cavalry are the elite of society, just one rank below the commanders and champions. They are well-armed, well-armoured and their foes know to fear their thunderous charges. While they might do poorly against a fully-formed unit of soldiers with spears readied, they will almost certainly sweep unprepared infantry away.

Tally: 24

Two Dragons Norman cavalry supported by a couple of Essex Miniatures Vikings

Ogres

These can be either normal ogres or ogre linebreakers according to whim. With the large swords and axes, they are more like the latter, while the former should technically have shields. However, the terrain that gives you ogres makes you choose either normal or linebreakers, so there will be no confusion there.

Tally: 6

Ral Partha Europe Ogres

Buggane

Buggane are large, shaggy ogre-like beings with an innate magical ability. I am using bugbears from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame for these. They are larger than I would really like. In scale they are about 25 feet tall, which makes them as tall as giants are meant to be and thus far too large, but I have them and do not need to buy more figures, so I am content with that for now. If I play enough Oathmark, I might replace the figures with some that are more in scale and use the bugbears as giants, but that is a plan for another time.

Tally: 3

Bugbears from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame doing sterling proxy service

Giant

Massive humanoid monsters. They are constantly hungry because it is hard to gather enough food when you are this big, so they will fight for food. This is a Mage Knight berserker, who is very giant-like when placed next to 15mm figures.

Tally: 1

Mage Knight Berserker doing service as a giant

Roll Call: The Unseelie (Orcs and related monsters for Oathmark)

 I have enjoyed Oathmark so far, and am planning to play more. So, that means it is time for a roll call and march past of my armies, especially because ... *drumroll* ... I have painted every single Orc and Goblin figure that I have in my collection (unless there are some in hiding in the attic somewhere).

Oathmark's kingdom design system does not constrain you to a single race/species for your armies. I really like this, because it allows for a glorious mix of different peoples in one and the same army, and I think that was a brilliant design decision, despite it leading to analysis paralysis on my part. I mean, with so many good choices, how do I choose just a few? Well, fortunately there are ten territories in your kingdom, so that means plenty of room for all most of my favourite figures. The problem then is deciding which ones to include in any given army for a game.

That said, this post catalogues all the figures I have for territories marked as Orc or Goblin plus Orc-related figures that stand in for other troop types, such as my bear horde which I am treating as Human Cavalry. Although the lists are for Orcs, I am using the same stats for Beastfolk and Lizardpeople, who are honorary Orcs as far as my Oathmark games are concerned.

Time to get on with the last of the human forces now, I guess.

The Seelie versus the Unseelie: My Head Canon

There is a war between the Seelie and the Unseelie. That is, those that side with the human kingdoms and those that oppose them. All non-human types are considered Fair Folk, although whether they appear fair to human eyes is variable. Some definitely do not and the Unseelie often deliberately adopt forms that are repellent to humans! The Orcs fall into this latter category. They are hard to control because they are massively individualistic, but are more numerous than their fairer cousins, the Sidhe (Elves).

Not all Orcs are opposed to the humans, just as not all humans oppose the Orcs, so you can see Orcs in some human armies. That is the joy of Oathmark! However, the majority dislike humans because they desecrate and build on the Fair Folk's sacred spaces, albeit unwittingly in many cases. Even though armies can contain figures from both factions, my plan is to use the two armies that I have for my games, until I add more. Human and Orc figures will not be mixed in the same army until I have more of both, but I am using Human and other stat lines to field equivalent figures. For example, my Bears and Iguanasaurs will be fielded using the Human cavalry stat line, while the Orcs get their air support from Harpies, who will be fielded using the Gargoyle stat line (a neutral faction).

The Figures

So, here's the full roll call. This lot adds up to about 6000 points of Orcs and Goblins, depending what options you choose for the characters. It is more than enough for a lot of gaming with a bit of variety. Despite that, I would really like to be able to field huge numbers of Goblins, but that would entail buying and painting them first. Shame, because the idea of swarming my opponent with cheap troops just appeals. I would also like to add more wolves and wolf riders, plus more Orc warriors and linebreakers to the army as well as some artillery, but that is also a project for another day

The massed forces of the Unseelie Court. That should be enough Orcs and associated types to give almost anyone a headache.

Orc leaders and champions

Big Orcs with big weapons and good armour. Nuff said!

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Orc shamans and wizards

The Orcs have a range of spellcasters available to them to provide battlefield support.

Tally: 3

Orc soldiers

The rank and vile of any Orc army is its soldiers. Oathmark has a stat line for Orc spears, so these could be used as those. However, I feel that units of spearorcs imply more discipline and teamwork than my Orcs are supposed to have.

Tally: 80

Orc archers

I don't have many archers for the Orcs yet, but these provide a useful ranged ability. I am inclined to deploy them in small units as skirmishers for the most part. Somehow massed units of Orc archers do not feel quite right to me.

Tally: 30

Orc warriors

Tougher Orcs with better weapons and armour, who fight in a more orderly fashion.

Tally: 20

Orc linebreakers

Orcs with big choppers. They like to get stuck in fast.

Tally: 20

Orc Huntmaster

The Orc Huntmaster leads a troop of cave lizards into battle. This is actually a stat line from the Elf lists, but I felt that the cave lizards fitted this, even if the unit will be far more disciplined than the average Orc unit. I guess cave lizards are more inclined to cooperate than Orcs. Another option would have been to field them as wolves instead, but I already have a wolf pack. I suppose I could have several wolf packs...

Tally: 1 huntsman, 12 lizards, 7 medium rats

Wolves

Sometimes the Orcs and Goblins ally with wolf and rat packs, and some few wolves allow themselves to be ridden by Goblins.

Tally: 9 wolves, 4 giant rats

Bears and Iguanasaurs (Cavalry)

Orcs use bears and iguanasaurs as cavalry troops. They hit hard and fast. These guys use the human cavalry stat line. If I ever buy Orc bear riders, they will be fielded as heavy cavalry.

Tally: 22

Goblin leaders and champions

The toughest and most intelligent of the Goblins.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin shamans and wizards

Battlefield support at a budget price, but with an opportunity cost. They are more likely to cower in cover than their Orc colleagues.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin soldiers

Weedy by Orc standards, but they normal appear in huge numbers, although not in my army yet. I really need a lot more Goblins! Although there are only 13 of them, I could use spacer bases to bulk them out to a unit of 15 to 20, but then they would look even weedier than they do now.

Tally: 13

Goblin archers

Speed bumps? If they get lucky, they can still cause you to have a bad day. There are 13 goblins here. I reckon that fielding them using spacer bases to bulk the unit out to 15 to 20 archers would make it look like a skirmish unit, which might not be too bad for these guys.

Tally: 13

Knucker

The knucker is a giant snake with poisonous breath. Here I am using a 28mm DDM Naga figure.

Tally: 1 Knucker

Trolls

Trolls are some of the larger and more feral of the fey types.

Tally: 6

Harpies

Aerial support for the Orcs. I am using the Gargoyle stat line for these fine ladies. Although I only have 10 of them, they look ridiculous when fielded as a unit of ten because of their big wings, so I use unit spacers to make them look less ridiculous and to field a larger unit while simultaneously cutting down on painting time and saving money. Win win!

Tally: 20

Giant Spiders

These are in the Elf terrain selections, but I just associate giant spiders with Orcs and Goblins from reading The Hobbit when I was wee, so they are in the Orc list for now. I have more if the Elves want their spiders back.

Tally: 6

Orc army reinforcements! Waargh!! (Oathmark)

I'm making slow progress on getting things painted, but work means I cannot do both painting and playing. Or even much of either right now, to be honest. I hope to be able to focus properly on the important things in life (gaming) once the current deadlines have passed. Have you ever noticed how much of adult life involves telling yourself you'll have time once the current urgent thing is done, and yet there is always another urgent thing that appears after it?

Me being me, I always need to collect as many options as possible for my armies. For Oathmark, that really means being able to field as many different troop types from as many different territories as possible. My main focus at the moment is sorting out my Orcs and associated monsters. Orcs are associated with two monster types: Trolls and Knuckers. That does not mean that these monsters are only found in Orcish armies, but it does mean that it is easier for armies led by Orcs to include them.

Trolls

These trolls add one more territory to my kingdom with the option to field the maximum amount of trolls. They will have names like Rocky, Smashey, Gneissey, Chalkey and Grant (he's a bit hard!). Hopefully none of them will be too schist when they take to the field, and I really hope that they offer the Orcs something that can help deal with the human heavy cavalry, which has shown itself to be very hard-hitting.

Trolls are associated with the River terrain type in Oathmark, presumably because they live under bridges. In Utavoll, these are known as troll bridges and are usually marked at either end with a troll booth, so that unwary travellers quickly become wary.

U18-4004 Trolls (2 packs)

I really like these sculpts from the old Demonworld range that Ral Partha Europe now sells, and they were quick to paint so that is a major bonus.

Knuckers

Knuckers are giant, limbless, amphibious serpents that breath clouds of poisonous gas and live in the most inhospitable bogs and swamps. They only ever appear alone and are unmitigatedly evil from everyone else's perspective. No one has ever asked a Knucker what their perspective is on this. Or, if they did, they did not survive to report back the answer.

A giant snake with very bad breath (28mm DDM Naga)

My Knucker is a DDM Naga that I had lying around. It fits nicely on the standard big monster base for Oathmark, which is 30mm x 60mm for my 60%-scale, 15mm games, and looks suitably monstrous next to my 15mm figures. I have dipped and highlighted the pre-paint a bit, although that does not really show in the picture, except on the face. It's an acceptable level of painting for the tabletop IMO, but I am not as happy with it as I am with the trolls.

15mm Doors from Ral Partha Europe

 Not the most exciting post, perhaps, but my early activities this year are all about accessorising my games in free moments, because life is otherwise very busy. One thing I have wanted for a while is some doors for use while exploring dungeons. Ral Partha Europe has some as part of their Terraincards series that the furniture I posted about a couple of weeks ago came from. These come in two flavours.

The rustic doors are standard wooden doors that would not look out of place in a dungeon or as part of a typical medieval house. They are wooden doors with a bolt, a wooden lintel and a wooden frame.

The stone arch doors are for fancier dwellings or dungeons. They are arched doors set in a stone surround.

Both types of door come on a small lasercut, 3mm thick plywood card that you need to press or cut them out from. Each card has eight doors. They are set up so that four have the hinges on the left side and four have the hinges on the right side, so that you can glue them together to make a single door with each side having hinges on the same side or just glue them to a structure for making houses.

I bought two of each card and made eight freestanding doors of each type by gluing them together and sticking them to 15mm square mdf bases so that I can place them where needed on a 2D or 2.5D dungeon floorplan. This will let me keep track of open and closed doors more easily. The paint job is nothing special, but coloured in is better than not. I feel sure that they will look fine on the table. Time to start planning a dungeon bash.

Bonus pic for those that could be bothered to read this far:

Paper and plywood terrain in action

The bold adventurers tied their pack horses to the ominously fresh gravestones that stood near the door of the creepy castle ruled by Prince Killemall. They opened the double doors into a large pillared hallway. Ahead stood double doors ajar as if the servants were too slapdash to close them again after passing through. To either side were closed doors. Who knew what horrors lay beyond? Or what treasures?