An introduction to my WIP Cthulhu Mythos skirmish

One of the rulesets I'm currently working on is a cthulhu mythos themed skirmish game between the different races. It was kind of a no brainer since none of the cthulhu games available focus on the monsters (most are rpgs/horror games set in some period of earth normally). I figured it was time to write about this game and see if there is any interest in it or not.

The Factions :


Unlike PA, I've taken a different approach to the armies within. There are three different slots you can take your units from. The first determine the "core" of your force, the second is determined by which god you choose to worship and the third is like an equivilent of mercenaries where you can fill your force up with a few random monsters that have joined you.

There are Six factions to choose from :


Mi-Go
Yithians
Polyps
Shoggoths
Elder Things
Chthonians

Each of these have an HQ, Troops and Elite type choice which forms the core of your force. These are obligatory, so you will need at least one HQ, 2 troops and 1 elite. You cannot mix any of the six factions.

Those We Worship :

The second choice opens up "god specific" type units. E.G. If your Polyps choose to worship Azathoth, then your god specific unit you must take are Pipers of Azathoth, or if your Shoggoths worship Shub-Niggurath then you must take a unit of Dark Young. This allows civil wars and "themed" armies to be more viable, so no two Elder Thing armies should ever be the same since your opponent will likely be themed around a different god, and this can of course be modelled by paint schemes or conversion work.

The list of Gods currently consists of :

Azathoth
Shub-Niggurath
Yog-Sothoth
Nyarlathotep
Hastur
Zhar & Lloigor

Of course there will be many more, there are dozens of Old Ones and Outer Gods afterall. I will likely add as many as I can!

Eldritch Aid!

The third slot is optional, but contains all the non-aligned one-off type beasts and monsters found in the mythos such as Gugs, Hounds of Tindalos, Moonbeasts, Star Vampires ect. This slot being optional allows a little more variety in units, and allows fans of the mythos to have a few of their favourites that don't belong to any specific faction.

Rules-wise, it will be a heavily modified version of the PA engine - but there will be specific rules for Gods and lots of other insanity. The goal of this ruleset will be to allow mythos fans to enact battles between their favourite lovecraftian aliens across the stars, or even act out famous battles such as the war between the Elder Things and Shoggoths, or the conflicts between the Polyps and Great race of Yith.

I'm not particularly sure what else to write about yet, it's still in it's early days but I will keep people notified on it's progress.

Cyclone Masters and Gusts

Now I've gotten the recasts I've been working on the ol' Tolathians again. The workbench currently contains the second Commander figure, and the second troops-choice the Gusts. Once these are done ill have 7 of the 10 units completed for the Tolathians.

I decided recently I'd rather have all three of the first armies complete because id rather release them together rather than make people wait for Second Waves that I would not know when I'd be releasing. From observing the 40k community, it seems like people don't like waiting for 2nd waves of models especially when they do not know when those waves will be released so it seems a better idea to do it this way.

Heres a few rough fluff tidbits for the Gusts and Cyclone Masters :

Gusts -
Gusts are nearly as common as Wisps and act as the Close-Combat footsoldiers in Tolathian Cells. Gusts are those that have slowly lost themselves to war and over time become more bestial and hate-fueled. Before the process of insanity takes over completely, the Tolathian will submit itself to be lobomtomised. It's eyesight at this point will of been almost lost entirely as a cruel side-effect of losing it's mind, so the eyes will be entirely removed. It's Electro-Talons will be removed and replaced by vicious metallic scythes giving it deadly close-combat weapons. It's mouth too will be reformed allowing it to bite and chew on it's enemies with enhanced stronger fangs. Knowing full well that not all enemies the Tolathian Storm-Empire and it's cells face will be honourable warriors - the Gusts are used as berserkers against these kinds of enemies, unleashed upon the ranks as weapons of pure terror and brutality.


Cyclone Master -
The most common military commanders of Tolathian Cells are the Cyclone Masters. These honourable leaders take their Cells from the front-lines, protecting their brethren with hurricane shields and decimating enemy lines with their powerful Wind-Staff's which litterally destroy the ground and change the landscape in front of them. The Cyclone Masters often use this catastrophic ability to rearrange the landscapes to suit their strategies and tactics. These masters of the elements are often feared by their enemies due to the sheer power built up within their cold souls.

Recasts and Glowing Eyes!

Today I got a package from Ed (of Troll Forged) which had a whole load of Tolathian and Luuran resin recasts. This will mean I can finish the remaining units using the recasts as a base.

I also managed to get one of the first casts of the Tolathian puppet (http://outsidetheuniverseitself.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-i-figured-i-should-expand-this-blog.html)

Tommorow I'll start prepping the puppet, it has some flash, mould lines and bubbles to fix - which won't take very long at all (it isnt finecast :P). Next week I'll start painting the damned thing - which will be interesting since I've never painted anything that big before - and I am also excited to try out the blue glow in the dark paint which I'll be using to paint the eyes and Rune on the body.

The web show will likely take years before it see's fruition - I have to make all the set-pieces which will then need to be recast a lot, and I need to get good enough with the camera and then theres post-FX, props that are specific to the stories ect. I'll keep things updated as to the progress though and maybe ill put some test-footage up so you can see the creature with it's glowing eyes!