Polyxena, Spear of Helios

Although the relationship between Polyxena and the god Helios is unknown, those that have met the warrior will tell you that she surely cannot be entirely human.

She is taller than most men, and slender with it, which alone makes her stand out amongst the warbands she is hired by.  But the most striking thing is the shield and ornate spear that she carries - both of which glow with the light of the sun itself.  The blade of the spear sears flesh with every strike, and her shield blinds those she fights against.

Polyxena, Spear of Helios
Auxilia - Demigod
+1 Agility

Heavy Armour

Eldritch Weapon - Spear (Enchanted, Flaming)

Mystic Shield (Applies permanent Light of Sol, but does not increase Presence of friendly models within 12")
Pts: 69

Stats/Retainer are as Broken Legions Rulebook

This miniature is from Mierce Miniatures Atalantes range.  She was originally planned to lead my Argonauts warband, but I changed that up a little as she stood out just a tad too much.  Given that she is taller and more slender than all the other miniatures for Broken Legions I decided she could become a Demigod from the Auxilia options - which I view as flexible to represent true Demigods and heroic individuals that are blessed (or cursed?) with abilities beyond that of normal humans.  I gave her bespoke wargear to suit the background/paint of the miniature.

Los Devotos del Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte v1

"Blessed Holy Death,

Today I pray for your protection as I begin this day.

You are my hiding place, and under your wings I can always find refuge.

Protect me from trouble wherever I go, and keep evil far from me

No matter where I am, I will look to you as my protector

Blessed Holy Death, you are the one who fights for me every day

Your love and faithfulness, along with your goodness and mercy

Surround me daily, so I will not fear whatever might come against me

Blessed Holy Death my trust is in you

Blessed Holy Death I give thanks to you for your love and protection.

In Jesus’ name, Amen"

Prayer of Protection said by Los Devotos del Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte

Joining this Faction aligns your posse with the Cult of Our Lady of the Holy Death - those Mexicans and Tejanos who have sought the protection and patronage of the mysterious Santa Muerte in these dark and uncertain times.

Generally gathered around a truly devout and seemingly blessed individual, Posses belonging to this faction are drawn towards the conflict playing out in Dracula's America.

Faction Benefit: The Piadosa/Piadoso
When you join this Faction your boss is a Piadosa/Piadoso (Pious One) and automatically becomes an Arcanist for free.  One of their chosen powers must be Summon.  Should the Piadosa/Piadoso die, the replacement automatically becomes the new Piadosa/Piadoso as described above, in addition to their existing Weapons, Skills and so on.

Faction Benefit: Visitación de Nuestra Señora
Los Devotos may Summon the unique entity - Visitación de Nuestra Señora.  This follows all the rules for Unique Summons set out in the Dracula's America core rulebook.

The Visitación de Nuestra Señora appears as a skeletal female spirit, clad in robes and wearing a richly decorated headpiece.

Base size: 25mm
Move: 4"
Grit: D10
Special: Major Entity, Fearsome, Ethereal, knows the Bless and Curse Arcane Powers but does not count as an Arcanist.

After watching (and thoroughly enjoying) the Penny Dreadful City of Angels series I was inspired to put together a Posse themed around Santa Muerte.  I admit that I've taken liberties as I've seen nothing to suggest the veneration of Santa Muerte was really taking place in the time Dracula's America is set, but given the supernatural elements of the game it feels right to me - and includes ethnically Mexican posses which aren't specifically addressed elsewhere in the rules (despite many fine ranges of suitable miniatures).

So, once the idea was fleshed out a bit my mind turned towards putting together a posse - of course I needed a miniature to represent the Piadosa (I knew I wanted it to be a female leader).  I thought about the concept of a relatively novice nun who has been gifted with powers following a vision of Santa Muerte - then the trick was finding a suitable miniature... I eventually found and went for 'Mother Matilda the Blind Nun' from Lucid Eye's The Beast of Birchwood range.  The other 'must' was the representation of Santa Muerte herself in the game - I got lucky and found this piece from a boardgame from some eBay boxsplitter (if anyone is interested it is from 'Court of the Dead; Mourner's Call'):

I'm pretty pleased with these two options - I decided to stick with the lantern for the Visitación rather than convert it to a scythe or something purely for aesthetic reasons!

No posse is complete without a selection of Gunfighters however, so I had a look around at various Mexican/Bandito ranges but ultimately went for a couple of packs from Black Scorpion's Tombstone range.  First up, Mexicans 1:

And to bring a little extra firepower in the form of more shotguns/rifles - Mexicans 3:

As always, the Black Scorpion minis are superb quality.

I'll have to playtest this Posse when an opportunity presents itself - but I think this is a good basis to work from going forward.

Kushites v1.1 - rules for Broken Legions

You might remember my v1 rules for the Kushites in Broken Legions.  Well since then I've acquired the warband and got it prepped ready for joining the painting queue.  All the minis (except where indicated) are Warlord Games from their Hail Caesar range.

As with all warbands, my Kushites needed a leader - here's the chieftain, Hêtshepsu, and his warcat, Nebibi:

I had to take a Priest of Apedemak - here's Anok Sabé and the lion Baraka:

Baraka is from DeeZee Miniatures - it's a hefty piece of lead.

My Champions are (L-R) Khenti and Mkhai:

Next is a warrior carrying the warband's standard - his name is Ashai:

Here are the warriors - (L-R) Mdjai, Buikhu, Nomti, Urshé and Wati:

They are all armed with shield and club, providing a solid core to the warband.

Finally we have the archers - couldn't take a Kushite warband without them! Here are (L-R) Mshai, Adjo, Shenti, Benipé and Sebi:

So, I've slightly tweaked the rules I came up with - I can't lie, mostly because I wanted to use the warcat miniature that came with the Kushite King mini by Warlord.

The Kushites

Former rulers of Egypt, the Kushites may be diminished in power and influence, but they are not a defeated people.  The Kushites now send their warriors out to claim ancient mystical artefacts to help the Kingdom reclaim its true place in the world, aiming to topple Rome in the process.

Warband Special Rule: Land of the Bow
The warriors of Kush are famed for their skill with the bow.  Whenever a model from this warband list rolls a Critical Hit for a ranged attack, he may immediately make one extra ranged attack (should there be any eligible targets still available).  A model may only benefit from this rule once per turn, no matter how many Critical Hits are rolled.

Warband Composition

Hero	ML	AC	PQ	AG	PR	HP	FT	Type	Special Rules	Wargear	Number	Points Cost
Chieftain	4	4	4(+1)	3	4	4	3	Infantry	Leader	Hand Weapon, Light Armour	1	30
Priest of Apedemak	2	3	3(+0)	3	4	2	4	Infantry	Miracle (Heart of the Lion)	Hand Weapon	0-1	30
Champion	4	3	4(+1)	3	3	3	2	Infantry	-	Hand Weapon, Light Armour	0-3	14
Henchman	ML	AC	PQ	AG	PR	HP	FT	Type	Special Rules	Wargear	Number	Points Cost
Warrior	3	3	3(+0)	3	3	1	-	Infantry	-	Hand Weapon	1+	6
Archer	3	3	3(+0)	3	3	1	-	Infamtry	-	Hand Weapon, Longbow	0-5	9
Horseman	3	3	4(+1)	3	3	1	-	Cavalry	Devastating Charge	Hand Weapon, Cavalry Spear	0-3	13
Warcat	4	0	3(+0)	4	3	1	-	Beast	Act on Instinct, Deadly Natural Weapons	-	-	-
Lion	4	0	4(+1)	4	3	3	-	Beast	Act on Instinct, Deadly Natural Weapons, Multiple Attacks (3)	-	-	-

Options

Hero	Option	Points Cost
Chieftain	Take a Shield Take a Warcat (gains Animal Handler)	2 5
Priest of Apedemak	Take a Lion (gains Animal Handler) Take Miracle (Foretelling)	9 8
Champion	Take a Shield Take a Longbow	2 3
Henchman	Option	Points Cost
Warrior	Take a Spear Take a Shield One warrior in the warband may take a Standard (may not also take a Shield)	1 2 6
Archer	Poison its Longbow arrows	7
Horseman	Take a Shield Exchange Cavalry Spear for a Bow	2 No cost

Obersturmführer Klingemann - new Konflikt '47 Special Character

Obersturmführer Klingemann sat in his crimson leather chair, his right hand absent-mindedly swirling a deep red liquid within a fine glass. He let out a contented sigh – it had been a long time since he had taken to the field, but tomorrow he would personally lead the forces of the Okkultekorps to secure an ancient artefact of immense power for the purposes of the Reich. Klingemann relished the thought of returning to combat against the hated British!

Mere months ago he had been confined to desk duty – a disgrace for such a decorated soldier – but no more. Klingemann’s thoughts turned to the Verlängerungspille that Professor Lange had supplied him – by some miracle of science they had cured the illness that had kept him away from the war, but more than that…Klingemann felt truly awake for the first time in his life. He knew who he was, who he really was, an immortal warrior reborn to defend the Reich, a Son of Dracul, a Vampir.

Klingemann raised his glass to his thin lips and drank deeply.

Professor Lange’s Personal Notes – Project VP:

Entry 1K
Despite several failures with other Subjects, I believe Project VP holds great potential. I have identified Subject K as suitable for inclusion in the project but suggest that the true status of VP be withheld to avoid possible repercussions from Okkultekorps High Command.

Entry 2K
Subject K has seen remarkable improvements in his previously diagnosed condition since commencing the programme of VP. All vital signs show a return to normal human levels, in several key measures exceeding expectations and displaying equivalent performance to Rift-enhanced individuals. VP may yet hold the key to gaining the upper hand in this war!

Entry 3K
Subject K is displaying severe and alarming physical changes - complete loss of hair, skin lightened, unusual change in ear shape and increase in length of canine teeth. K has adapted well to these changes and reports that he feels ‘better than ever’. Continued monitoring of side effects of VP in Subject K is required.

Entry 4K
Subject K has developed delusions and psychological changes of a scale not yet seen during Project VP. High Command have cleared K for field duty, although I fear there will be continued decline of cognitive functions. Suggest move to next Subject and provide placebo VP to Subject K for remainder of study.

Obersturmführer Klingemann here was a gift from the awesome Trials of a Casual Wargamer.  Inspired by a mention in an Intercepted Transmission he is now able to take to the table with his own special rules (again thanks to Trials of a Casual Wargamer):

Obersturmführer Klingemann 179pts
SS Okkultekorps Captain
Veteran
Tough
Fanatic
IR
Fast
Motivate (once this model is activated you can choose an already activated unit's order die and put it back in the bag)
Blood Fuelled (once this model has killed an enemy in close combat it gains Resilient and Strong for the remainder of the game)

The Kushites v1 - rules for Broken Legions

While browsing for miniatures to provide warriors for my various Broken Legions warbands I discovered the Kushites.  Now, I accepted my absolute ignorance of this civilisation so undertook to educate myself a little. So, based on my limited research, the Kingdom of Kush existed in some way until at least the rough time setting of Broken Legions (which isn't stated expicitly from what I can see, but can be placed due to the reference to Roman Governors of Egypt).  Anyway, I think it would be supremely awesome to have another African faction to use in this fantasy game so decided I'd have a go at putting together a list for the Kushites.

Well, of course all that, along with the evocative miniatures from Warlord Games such as this Kushite King and Chieftains:

 

Anyway, here's my first attempt at a list.  Any feedback will be gratefully received!

The Kushites

Former rulers of Egypt, the Kushites may be diminished in power and influence, but they are not a defeated people.  The Kushites now send their warriors out to claim ancient mystical artefacts to help the Kingdom reclaim its true place in the world, aiming to topple Rome in the process.

Warband Special Rule: Land of the Bow
The warriors of Kush are famed for their skill with the bow.  Whenever a model from this warband list rolls a Critical Hit for a ranged attack, he may immediately make one extra ranged attack (should there be any eligible targets still available).  A model may only benefit from this rule once per turn, no matter how many Critical Hits are rolled.

Warband Composition

Hero	ML	AC	PQ	AG	PR	HP	FT	Type	Special Rules	Wargear	Number	Points Cost
Chieftain	4	4	4(+1)	3	4	4	3	Infantry	Leader	Hand Weapon, Light Armour	1	30
Priest of Apedemak	2	3	3(+0)	3	4	2	4	Infantry	Miracle (Heart of the Lion)	Hand Weapon	0-1	30
Champion	4	3	4(+1)	3	3	3	2	Infantry	-	Hand Weapon, Light Armour	0-3	14
Henchman	ML	AC	PQ	AG	PR	HP	FT	Type	Special Rules	Wargear	Number	Points Cost
Warrior	3	3	3(+0)	3	3	1	-	Infantry	-	Hand Weapon	1+	6
Archer	3	3	3(+0)	3	3	1	-	Infamtry	-	Hand Weapon, Longbow	0-5	9
Horseman	3	3	4(+1)	3	3	1	-	Cavalry	Devastating Charge	Hand Weapon, Cavalry Spear	0-3	13
Lion	4	0	4(+1)	4	3	3	-	Beast	Act on Instinct, Deadly Natural Weapons, Multiple Attacks (3)	-	-	-

Options

Hero	Option	Points Cost
Chieftain	Take a Shield	2
Priest of Apedemak	Take a Lion (gains Animal Handler) Take Miracle (Foretelling)	9 8
Champion	Take a Shield Take a Longbow	2 3
Henchman	Option	Points Cost
Warrior	Take a Spear Take a Shield One warrior in the warband may take a Standard (may not also take a Shield)	1 2 6
Archer	Poison its Longbow arrows	7
Horseman	Take a Shield Exchange Cavalry Spear for a Bow	2 No cost

None of the above is newly made up (with the exception of the warband rule, but even that is a ranged version of another warband's rule) - it is taking the relevant parts from across the existing lists to tie in with what I have been able to find out about Kushite warfare.  Any comments, suggestions or ideas I have missed? Let me know!