Plastic, Primeval Abyssian and the future of our company!

I'm happy to confirm that the entire future Primeval Abyssian range will be entirely PLASTIC! Yes, proper plastic. This is in thanks to Ed Fortae's new spin-casting plastic technology which you can read about on his site here : http://trollsforge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=notice&action=display&thread=1930&page=1

This will also mean that not only will the miniatures be at a high-quality and detail, but they will also be a very good price. I cannot confirm any prices yet, but if I had to take an estimate I'd say it would be along the lines of Mantic's plastic kits.

And that is not all!! Primeval Abyssian will only be hopefully the first of many wargame's that our company Eldritch Enterprise will be producing. Not all of them will have my input, but some of them will. I do not want to get peoples hopes up as it's still very early day's yet, but I have written a rundown of the Wargames we HOPE to produce in the future :


MANASETH : Manaseth is a joint project that has nothing to do with me, but is made between two of my closest friends who are the other 2 members of Eldritch Enterprise. Manaseth is a very original and unique Fantasy setting - and will do for fantasy what Primeval Abyssian will do for Sci-fi. From the concepts and idea's iv heard, it really sounds like the kind of thing Fantasy needs - as there are none of the cliche races you normally get. Manaseth seems to be more inspired by Chinese and japanese mythology as well as a host of other unique influences. I've been told the first four races are Fire-Giants (non-humanoid), Octopi type creatures, Djinn and a Persian human faction.

ShadowFlux : In the very early stages, I'm still developing the backround for this one - but it will be an original sci-fi game set on a large moon. The scale will be 6mm and will feature 6-7 factions. Massive scale wars. 4 Non-humanoid factions, 1 (maybe 2) human factions and 1 semi-human faction. Very futuristic and takes from all kinds of influences ranging from writers such as Olaf Stapledon  and Gregg Bear to video-game influences like Fallout. Expect a few alien races in my unique style also.

Currently untitled Lovecraftian War game : It still need's a name! but this will be a True Cthulhu Mythos wargame pitting the minions of the Great Old Ones and the various Alien races against each other on strange worlds across the universe. Like Primeval Abyssian, there will NOT be any humans. The scale will be 15mm, allowing for mass armies. So if you ever wanted that Shoggoth, Flying Polyp or spawns of Azathoth army - you will be able to get it!

Currently untitled Present-day skirmish : Well, this one is going to be a small-scale skirmish and has a unique Cryptozoology inspired backround. Yes, this one does have humans in it - investigators, men in black and a host of other factions inspired by cryptozoology and other influences. At current, there will be 10 factions available. The miniatures will be very characterful and have strong personalities and backround, the scale of conflict could be likened to games like Necromunda.

Primeval Abyssian - Race Rundowns

Here are brief descriptions of 19 of the 21 races to feature in the Wargame, Primeval Abyssian :

Tolathians ;
Wise, old, elemental race. Weapons based on lightning, long-range communication based on controlled cloud patterns. Cold, clinical and tough. Their biggest weakness is heat, they feed from the cold-electricity on their planets storms. Their cities resemble giant stone pillars. The inside of their cities is full of clouds, electrical energy - hostile environment to outsiders. They are the primary protagonists of the game.

Luuran ;
Highly religious, believe in an all seeing-eye, seek to master telepathic abilities so as to obtain ultimate enlightenment and eventually a group consciousness. Offending their religious disbeliefs is bad, really bad. They have temples and churches all over the dimension. Play on the false-gods/prophet themes alot. They are heavily inspired by Illuminanti imagery and views.

Jequerita ;
The unending swarm type army. Sentient killer-plants that seek to aggressively refoliate everything in their image. They have a variety of sub-species that include mountain sized plants which spit seeds into space, the equivilent of killer tumbleweeds for a "fast attack" style choice and the ability to "grow" new units in war. Visually they have have a primary stalk with large sharp thick vines covered in spikes sprouting out from the sides and a venus-fly-trap type mouth on the top of their bodies.

Masters of Unlife ;
Alien lords from a universe of "undeath", the universes real name is the Necroverse. A kind of anti-life faction. Huge hulking biomechanical drones reach out into dimensions with "life", lead by their ancient masters for ultimate "cleansing". Their weapons are based on Anti-matter. "Sight" is gifted to only the masters themselves.

Ekimmu ;
Ancient wind based species. They appear as swirling columns of constantly distortjng faces appearing and disapearing. They are Parasitic vampiric beings who suck souls from the living to fuel their addiction. Their technology is based on strange harnessed Vacuum technology. The Ekimmu drill holes into the fabric of space to some vacuum dimension whee the sheer ferocity of power is enough to be shaped into all kinds of eldritch weaponry.

Prymarsiam Dominion ;
An isolationist race. They are an aquatic leech type species. They live in large sea shell style domes on the bed of the oceans. Their realm of space is like a cosmic bermuda triangle. Hostile to outsiders - being that the triangle is liquid-space. Many ships have been lost or vanished in this liquid-space, and nightmarish tales of the legendary Prymarsiam have created an element of Fear that ensures few but the desperate travel through this hell.

Lumenenion :
The Lumenenion are the guardians of doomsday technology. Long ago they developed weapons beyond what the Ether had ever seen - but due to sabotage or some other reason, many of the weapons self-destructed, annihilating the Lumenenion's material bodies, leaving behind the liqenergy forms. Now they reside on their doomed worlds watching over their past-mistakes and guarding them from outsiders, pirates and those of greed.

Yltaran Nexus :
The Nexus are an intelligent and nightmarish race of yellow, wirey entities that see the Etherium as a perfect home. Their bioforms and technology are naturally dimensionally-transcendent - allowing drop-pods to contain a vast amount of infantry due to them being bigger on the inside. Ancient scriptures tell that they have conquered entire dimensions in the past - and the Etherium is the next target.

Iaethlein :
A wise species who gave up the flesh to become Hard-Holographic forms. The Iaethlein have advanced stellar engineering technology. Their Commander Node-warriors have the ability to create Hard-light factories which create limited/inferior holo-clones of the parent Commander. Their realm of space is like a large cosmic holographic circuit-board.

Paradox Smiths :
Techno-lovecraftian mechanical abominations from a giant robotic galaxy. Originated from a world of liquid-metal which became sentient and used it's vast mass and form to shape and convert star-systems into an extension of itself.

Gcnuroids :
A genetically engineered Macro-Virus race of disc-like cells created by a long dead alien-race as a bio-weapon. The bio-weapon however effected the creators as well as the enemy and over centuries the microbes gained sentience. The Gcnuroids learnt to mimick themselves on a larger scale with trillions of them forming into larger and varied forms until a visable cluster could be seen. Their technology seems reminscent of alien biological systems.

Quarzen Anomoly ;
The White Ether was built around a hidden realm, the Quarzen Anomoly, a crystaline paradise where forests and rivers ran with crystal energy that converge into glowing pink diamond roots and liquid electricity. The roots of the anomoly have watched and waited for aeons waiting to grow forth outside the anomoly into the real space of the Etherium where they can expand their elemental paradise. Their first victim was the Shardrak Galaxy, which they very nearly obliterated, turning almost the entire mass of the galaxy into a crystal paradise.

Shardraks ;
Many would think this is an alien race, but they are far more than that. The Shardraks are actually the physical and energy remains of a long destroyed galaxy which have become sentient. Their ultimate plan is to rebuild themselves into a new galaxy, where their minds and bodies will expand and merge together to recreate the lost star systems and burning black stars of their past.

Adrifell ;
Long extinct, they were the cosmic-engineers that created the Etherium using advanced Hadron Collider experiments. There are evidence of their civilization everywhere on most worlds in the Etherium - ancient ruins, crumbling citadels and vast arrays of glowing coffin-like structures that other races dare go near.

Karuthrax ;
Stubborn yet honourable race of squat abstract fleshy forms with large talons, pores and other strange edifaces. They mine the worlds of the Karuthian Cluster Domain. Nomadic tribes of Karuthrax travel the Cluster Domain in search of new worlds to mine. They can be allied with by other neutral races such as the Tolathians and Iaethlein.

Mind-Harvest ;
A race of disembodied telekinetic Brain monstrosities. The Mind-Harvest Brain-Organisms have high-technology and as such merge themselves to a wide-variety of techno-suits, the most common being various forms of robotic spinal-chord type constructs. The Mind-Harvest live up to their name - they gather knowledge and information as almost a drug to them, however to extract the information they need to devour the minds of other races.

Dimension Talons ;
When an entire species is made extinct in the Etherium, the life-energies "fall" to the very walls of the very Ether itself, sometimes these energies coalesce and form new species to rebalance the cosmic-nature - but sometimes the natural order goes wrong - and abominations are born unto the Ether. These abominations are the Dimension Talons, disgusting brutish hordes of chaotic half-formed creatures with no goal beyond revenge.

Asag ;
Little is currently known of the crusading empire of the Asag beyond the fact they are rock-formed monstrosities created from fire and brimstone within the depth of the Volcanic worlds known as the Saagurath. It is said their technology is based upon intricate stone-circuitry and powered by the lava and magma substances from their firey homeworlds.

Scions Of Thulhux ;
The insane tentacled scientists of the planet Thulhux are a species of mad-scientists who have constantly experimented on themselves and other living things for aeons, now their tendrill-laden bodies are hidden under corroded robes and garments. They seek only to experiment on other races.

Primeval Abyssian : The Iaethlein (Unedited backround)

Here is the backround written for the newest introduction PA race, the Iaethlein. It's all a bit rough and unedited, but hope you enjoy reading!

  An Overview of the Iaethlein Race

The Iathlein were born unto the Ether many cycles ago. Like many of the denizens of the Etherium - their forms were tall, thin and wirey and levitated above the inverted plains of their world. However, unlike other of the civilizations forged across the sapphire suns of the Ether the Iaethlein's lives were short and their mortal bodies fragile. Throughout the cycles of their lives - their offspring would continue the great work - a master plan to increase their lifespans and research into science and learning.

As the generations watched through their focal-telescopes they saw the horrors of the Ether before them. They saw the violent and increasingly dangerous species war and bring chaos down on each other and it was at this point the latter generations decided that they put all other goals and ambitions of their forefathers aside and focus on survival. The collective research of the past to present on the strange energies beneath the surface of their world and the stars around them inspired them to turn  their science to that of holographic technology, and so would begin a time of transition from the flesh to the hard light.

The Iaethlein made many mistakes during the period of transition and many a life would burn as sacrifice to the greater goal. Indeed, some of the early experiments into Holo-graphic bodies ended in half-holographic and half-flesh abominations which would die within seconds and it took many years for the process to be perfected so as to be safe. To harness the power of self-sustaining holo-bodies - the Iathelin began heavily researching into Stellar Engineering, and from the research they had found they could take shards of a star and compress the energies into small stable and mobile powersources which would be encased inside their holo-bodies. The new holo-technology was enhanced and modified over the next century and it was near the
end of the century that they developed the first Holo-crafts. The Holo-Craft's had larger cores and basic AI that allowed them to explore and colonise the worlds within their star-system that were previously uninhabited.

The same technology as the Holo-Crafts was eventually used to generate a powerful holographic defence network surrounding their entire star system, protecting them from any lethal intruders - this system was powered by over a dozen stars they had harnessed, an epic feat of Stellar engineering. As the technology evolved and became better - so did the Iaethlein and when the time came to convert into their new holo-bodies en-masse and give up the flesh entirely - they became something new and stronger and a high scientifically enlightened race was reborn in the Ether. Those that had previously been able to convert to holo-bodies, including the crews of the Holo-Crafts upgraded themselves with the enhanced technology also. As the defensive capabilty of their empire was complete, the Iathlein took to using their scientific knowledge to advancing their race further in other ways including expanding the size of their Holo-shield and thus enlargening their empire. As the Holo-Shield expanded, many worlds were annihilated and various civilizations began to fight back against the Iaethlein through sheer need of fearful survival and fearful desperation.

At this point the Iaethlein had become selfish with a sense of supriority - and so put their science into military
technology. Some Iaethlein converted their Holo-bodies to include new hard-light technology which allowed them to take energy from nearby stars and use the lightstreams to produce self-sustaining Holo-factories which would then create inferior replicas of their own holo-bodies which could be used purely for military useage. These war advancements continued as new factory-types and hard-light replicas were created - all for different strategic and tactical purposes. The Iaethlein Commanders would land in their Energy-Ships and begin harvesting light-sources to create factories on enemy homeworlds which they would then attack en-masse once enough forces were built up. 

After this period - a time known as the Penance begun as the Iaethlein became aware of their horrific changing of ways. They witnessed much of what they had done to other species from seeing a violent plant-species named the Jequerita do the same, aggressively re-foliating worlds and wiping out civilizations. As the Iaethlein bore witness to these tragedies the Commanders of the Iaethlein began a never-ending Penance war against that which they had become and brought war on the Jequerita - restoring the lost worlds and saving any civilization they could. The Scientist caste would do the same - abandoning military technology advancement and instead going back to Stellar- engineering as well as experimenting with growing new stars to replace those that they had stript away.

Minds of Energy
The Minds of an Iaethlein work by partitioning a part of their hard-light bodies and slowing the light down - allowing complex arrays of signals to exist, these signals make up the Iaethleins complex brain. Because of the mass-storage capacities of slowing these sectors of light down they are able to learn and take-in far more than what a flesh-bodied creatures could, and far more than they could in their own flesh-forms.

The Field Of Batteries
The sector of space within the Solar Circuit realm of the Iaethlein's named The Field Of Battery is a vast heavily defended array of Holographic Dyson Spheres which a star or sometimes even a few stars. This field of Dyson Spheres are used as a great energy station to feed power to the vast amount of Holo-Worlds which make up the great Solar Circuit. Every Holo-World is linked to The Battery in some way, normally through nodal electro-roads - fragile wires that are linked from the shells of the Dyson Spheres across the expanse of space to meet with the hosted Holo-Worlds to feed them power.

Introducing my Sci-fi web show...Tolathians : Outpost Cyclopean!

So, I figured I should expand this blog to incorporate some of my other stuff - and my biggest project isnt just my own wargame. It will be, hopefully a full-on science fiction web-series! Oh, what makes this one any better or different from the masses of others out there? Well for starters, it's set in the Primeval Abyssian so it is to be entirely extra-dimensional in setting! and secondly the protagonists arent humans or anything humanoid, nope - they are the Tolathians!

The basic premise is a Cell of Tolathians whom have travelled out into the Etherium and made a small scientific research outpost on an unnamed planet in a sector of space that seems to be a focal-point for strange anomolies, dimensional cracks and other assorted phenomena. It is like the region of space is weaker than the space around it and so it has cracks in it.- cracks that can let all kinds of strange things through.  Like the Wargame, it will be a mix of Eldritch/lovecraftian visuals and hard/abstract science fiction concepts.

The first season and (any subsequent ones) will follow a format of fifteen 10-minute webisodes which will make up five multi-part stories. The first season is currently being written (as of this moment there are 3 episodes scripts finished) to have three 3-parters, one 4-parter and one 2-parter. Unlike the wargame, there will be little to no battles or action and instead it will be focussed more on the science, atmosphere, stories and characters.

Here are pictures of the Tolathian puppet sculpt which is apparently being cast as we speak in the US :

So, I hope you enjoy these pictures and look forward to seeing this show!

I like Insidious Madness..yes I do

I like to keep on the lookout for cool miniatures and more than that I enjoy just reading and seeing what companies are putting out - regardless of taste I can usually appreciate various things such as the skills, imagination and talent involved even if it's something I'd never personally invest in.

One of these companies in question produces a game called Malifaux. It's not my thing but it is certainly well done and creative - but then I suddenly found that needle in the haystack. That one figure that DOES in fact appeal to me - and it does so in spades. I will definitly buying it. And I'm sure you're wanting to see it so here it is :



It's a very great looking eldritch abomination. An awesome shape and sillohette full of asymmetry and plenty of classic lovecraftian tropes such as tentacles, eyes and mouths - all arranged into a very (for me) appealing model. It's only $10 so I'll certainly pick 1 or 5000 up when I have the chance.

Khurasan Miniatures

I didn't quite get into 15mm scale miniatures until I discovered this wonderful little company called Khurasan. To my joy and surprise they had released a set of seven fantastic little figures called "Things from beyond".

I ended up buying these and got them through the post a few weeks ago - the quality of the castings is excellent, there was little assembly - and what there was was very easy to do. I found the two top middle figures (the pink and black ones) were my favourites - an excellent mix of asymmetry and weirdness that appeals to my aesthetic taste. I certainly look forward to painting them and will show you pictures on here when I do.

Khurasan also has several other ranges on they're site which I found to be imaginative and creative such as the fantastic Vornid range : 

 

These excellent little Plant aliens have a full range including HQ's, troops and heavy weapons - a rarity in the wargaming world, and really shows just how cool proper non-humanoid alien armies can look. Yes, I will be buying these as well. Definitly a good company to support. Ironically, this is much of what I think warhammer 40,000's "orks" should of been like too. Eldritch fans will likely agree with me that these Vornid's are far more imaginative and interesting to look at.

You can check out Khurasan Miniature's here : http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/adventure.html

Got Eldritch Terrain?

Cthulhuminati are a new rising company that produce some incredible lovecraftian/eldritch "artefacts". However, many of the artefacts they produce could double as terrain for miniature wargaming - indeed, this picture shows a miniature next to one of the artefacts :

Man, I am totally buying THAT.

Anyway, for those that want some awesome terrain I'd highly recomend checking this company out. Personally, I will be using a few of the pieces, namely the piece in the picture above to produce some of the Eldritch terrain needed for alien worlds for Primeval Abyssian - as well as Cthulhu Wars and other related games that share that style of aesthetic.

I find it nice and beyond that rather refreshing - to see that a company is filling a niche like this - as it's something one would think they'd have to do and make themselves especially when one looks at wargaming terrain in general - the results are often generic and uninspired, so it makes this companies imaginative pieces stand out further. Besides, who wants boring deserts, forests, trees and rocks when you can have giant non-euclidean battlefields rife with ground made of eyeballs and mouths ? Yep, I know I prefer the latter.

Check them out here : http://www.cthulhuminati.com/

Well well, what do we have here? yep, it's a brand new wargaming blog. If you're reading this you're probably wondering why should you read it? well for the most part I am going to be writing and updating on my own wargame Primeval Abyssian and our companies other games (Manaseth and Cthulhu Wars), as well as writing about other strange and eldritch miniatures and games I find interesting.


To be quite honest - I am mainly into non-humanoid aliens, and no I do not mean the one millionth "I saw Alien's last night" races or insect people ect. Nah, I mean proper gribbly, nightmarish, squiggly (important word I will likely reuse a LOT) and eldritch. So to start with, I have some previews of the master models (pre-cutting them up stage) I've been using to build the first two factions of Primeval Abyssian.

First up are the Tolathians :

And a speed painted "test model" to show what they look like painted up, I mainly did this one for myself but decided to show it here anyway :



And here are the Luuran cast's :

I will leave this first post as it is for now, but be sure to bookmark and come back as I talk more about Primeval Abyssian and other miniatures and companies I enjoy!