Daelrog's Dogs of War Fluff Competition!

[daelrog]

Trying to avoid my usually long-windedness, I'll try to summarize this best I can.

The premise
The Dark Prince of Araby wants you to join his exclusive (not-so exclusive) army to take back his lands from an evil plague that has befallen his city. Earn riches and prestige beyond your wildest dreams as you go on the adventure of a lifetime.

I am creating a 2250 point dogs of war army to help get me back into the hobby-aspect of Warhammer and to get to creative juices flowing for my warband project which is still in the brainstorming stage. In spite of my usual habit to keep any creative rights to anything I do Warhammer all to myself, I'm giving this one chance for others to pitch in and create some fun units that will be in the army.

How do I enter?
Post on this thread an idea for a single dogs of war unit (types of units will be listed below). Although I'm not going to set any standards, things such as a group name, leader name, homeland, fighting style, appearance, personality, and brief history will no doubt help. You can enter more than once, but keep in mind I'll most likely not have more than one unit per member win. I think about 1,000 words is a more than fair cap, though I think 300-500 is a good reference for most people to go by.

Any rules?
Yes! Though not too many...

DON'T make your unit a blantant ripoff of other existing material such as Warcraft, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings. Original ideas only!
DON'T make your unit all-powerful. This army is for the guys who aren't good enough to be legends.

That's it.

So how do I win?
Once a deadline which is TBA is reached, there will be a poll. At that time 3-6 units will be picked via poll (# TBA), while I will handpick any remaining slots.

What do I win?
You unit WILL be turned into life (well, miniatures anyway). I will model them as closely as I can, name them what you name them. I will adhere to their backstory and style in any writing I do. The ONLY thing that may change is I may change its unit type if it turns out all the best ideas are crowded into one category.

Any last advice?
I'm looking for variety. Some comical, some serious, some from here, some from there. The idea is the army to be pretty rag-tag. If two entries are very similar, only one will be chosen.



The army

The Dark Prince (name is unoriginal on purpose)
Wizard Lord w/ lvl 4 upgrade, pegasus, staff of sorcery, power stone

Paymaster w/ barded warhorse, heavy armor, shield, lance, warbanner

Wizard w/ lvl 2 upgrade, 2 dispel scrolls

Wizard w/ lvl 2 upgrade, 2 dispel scrolls

25 Pikemen w/ full command

25 Pikemen w/ full command

10 Crossbowmen

8 Duellists w// pistols

7 Heavy Cavalry w/ barding

7 Heavy Cavalry w/ barding

5 Light Cavalry w/ bows

5 Light Cavalry w/ bows

25 Paymaster's Bodyguard w/ full commad, heavy armor

Cannon

Cannon


The Units that you can enter for...
2 slots for pikemen
1 slot for crossbowmen
1 slot for duellists
1-2 slots for heavy cavalry
1-2 slots for light cavalry
1 slot for paymaster's bodyguard
0-2 slots for cannon
7-11 slots total!


Entries so far...
member - entry - preffered type
kithre's "les Diables Rouge" (heavy cavalry)
ArtificiallyEnhanced's "Johan the Actually-I'm-Perfectly-Sane-Don'Cher Know Scientist (cannon)
CaptainSarathai's "Captain Sarri's Praetores" (paymaster's bodyguard)
battle_pilgrim's "The Damned Bears of the North" (pikemen)


Feel free to ask any questions regarding te competition.

[Akaroth]

very interested, I'll start thinking immediately. Good idea as well, mercenaries have to have one the most interesting back stories

[Arklite]

well i'm in, big fan of the dogs of war and accordingly i shall claim one of the pikemen units for my nefarious purposes.

Captain Valora and a Detatchment of Median middlemen perhaps?

[Deadstar_MRC]

This looks somewhat interesting... I might even have an idea I can use for it, although it possibly comes precariously close to rip-off territory at the moment so needs some work...

And even if I don't end up entering anything, it should be interesting to see what others come up with!

[daelrog]

Hey, looks like we have a couple to a few people interested already. Good! There's always that good 24 hour period where you don't know if a thread will flop or not.

I think I'll set a preliminary deadline for December 1st, dependent upon how many people enter, if people can't reach the deadline, etc. Those of you scanning by this thread and thinking about it, feel free to make a post stating your interest. That way eveyone (myself) will have a better idea of what to expect and will plan accordingly.

[avatar of khaine]

I'd be interested in this, time permitting. Paymaster's bodyguard could be interesting...

[Akaroth]

I'd like to do one of the heavy cavalry units, in light of russian history last year maybe some exiled boyars from kislev. Just to check though, this army will be set after the storm of chaos? Or some other time, just to keep a bit o' guideline?

[battle_pilgrim]

This sounds fun, I was thinking maybe light calvary and duelists. I have a few ideas brewing

[kithre]

Heavy Cavalry...

Right then - here's my take on a mercenary cavalry unit - "les Diables Rouge"

Baron Andre DuChamps was a minor noble allied to the Duke of Qunelles, Tancred, and as such was responsile for several small hamlest and marches of land between Quenelles and the Loren Forest.

He was a very proud and arrogant man, prone to arguing and duelling at the slightest perceived dishonour, and maintained a core of hardy and proficient Knights ever ready to answer his call for a champion, although he rarely sought this recourse as he was an accomplished fighter himself. Indeed, he earned for himself the nom de bataille "the Red Knight". "Fils de Fer (son of Iron)" and from enemies, "le Diable Rouge (the red Devil)". Wherever his banner waved, depicting the fighting spirit and ferocity of Bretonnia as a rampant devil armed with a trident, his enemies quailed and his comrades felt a surge of strength.

His tempestuous nature and disregard for authority was tempered somewhat by an astute command of his troops, one that made him a formidable battlefield leader, if somehwat wasteful of lives of his serfs.

As time drew on, and the Tancred faced more and more calls for his baron to be reigned in, Baron DuChamp took to drinking heavily, until the fateful day that a cousin of the King, visiting the court of Quenelles, insulted the Baron's nose, calling him a "vieux nez rouge" or old red nose.

DuChamps drew his blade and severed the upstarts sword arm, but was quickly restrained by his knights, who drew back their baron and fought an escape from the keep, pursued by the retainers of the Duke. A fortunate landslide allowed the Knights to make good their escape. Much innocent blood was spilt that night, and the surcoats of the knights was forever dyed crimson in the image of their master...

Getting back to his decreipt castle, the Baron rounded up what followers he could, mounted all his arms and treasure on makeshift carts and made for the Iranna Mountains and Tilea...a stone cold sober ex-Baron, now forced to turn his hand to Soldier of Fortune for his very survival.

Since that time, the Baron, holding much in the way of plundered treasure and rewards from Quenelles and commanding an exceptional hevay cavalry unit, has held the dubious position of a commander to various different Mercenary generals. His knights have always fought in the vanguard of the mercenary army, but only agaisnt the common foes of mankind, and never against the forces of Bretonnia, as their shame spurs them to greater deeds of derring do to recover their lost honour.

Banner - le Diable Rouge - a red devil figure, shackled by the lady of the Lake as anger and destruction harnessed as a destroyer of evil

Colour scheme - scarlet caparisons and surcoats, emblazed with golden chevrons. Shields are argent pile on a field of rouge, charged with a devil rampant en or ( I know - disobeys metal on metal, but charges can do that in certain circumstances)

Rules - as Bretonnian KotR with full command and a war banner - note that only other Knights will panic these boys. Only allied units with a save of 2+ or better will cause panic in a unit of mercenary KotR.

They also have the Impetuous rules (see Knights Errant) against the following armies:
Warriors of Chaos, Orc and Goblins, Beastmen, Ogre Kingdoms

This is as they see redemption in killing the nastiest, most horrifying enemies...

Edit: Ok noted that these would just be standard Heavy Cavalry in a Mercenary army under Dogs of War - or potentially an alternative to Voland's Venators....

[daelrog]

@Akaroth: Yeah, let's assume that this takes immediately after Sotrm of Chaos, or at the very end of it. I think the current Warhammer timeline is frozen right now. After all, the campaign after it was flashback in time, and all the books stop at Storm of Chaos, or at its very end.

@kithre: Looks good. One thing I'll tell everyone is that the untis are using the speciifc Dogs of War rules (basically none), but I'm sure friendly opponents won't mind a little bump up for untis to make things a little more interesting. Unless of course they want to say, "No. Now face my gunline/bloodthirster/20 power dice/army that does everything you do but better.


I'll be gone unil Friday, but I'll be back then to answer any questions. Like I said, no rush to get them in, but I do want to know who's interested. However, if you have a great idea already like kithre feelfree to post it now too.