Titan Dwarf Spears

 

A while ago I bought some of the exceedingly great 'heroic 15mm scale' (more like 17mm scale) Barbarica range from Copplestone Castings.  I'd been reading the Complete Chronicles of  Conan at the time, & had a vague idea to run a adventure/skirmish wargame set in Conan's Hyboria, using these figures - the Barbarians for Cimmerians, the Northlanders for Vanaheimers & Asgardians, & the Picts as... Picts!

 

Then later I became aware of the popular & apparently excellent Hordes of the Things rules, & after that became reacquainted with the Sláine comic series, originally published by 2000AD.   I enjoyed the Conan stories (& really like the original Arnie film), but for wargaming purposes the setting felt a bit dry.  I prefer the Celtic-myth-drenched & lurid setting of Sláine's Tír na nÓg.  On top of having more flavour, more magic, & more fantastical beings, it is also thick with ancient British eccentricities, criticism of patriarchy, the deceptions of religious institutions, the excesses of 'civilisation', & humanity's destruction of the natural world.

 

I've now decided to use the Barbarica figures (alongside others from Alternative Armies & Peter Pig) to create a Hordes of the Things collection set in Tír na nÓg. Here are my first test bases - three elements of Titan Dwarf 'Spears'.  The Titan Dwarves are a relatively obscure race in the setting, unlike the more well-known big-eared dwarves such as Sláine's unscrupulous sidekick Ukko, they are akin to the common portrayal of fantasy dwarves popularised by Tolkien.  They are related to the almost extinct Titans, the previous masters of the world, who survive only as a few dull-witted giants in isolated enclaves.

 

One of these enclaves, amidst the ancient ruins of Titan civilisation, is home to the mines worked by their relatives, the Titan Dwarves.  Although weak in sorcery, they are the only race capable of imbuing magical properties upon weapons & artifacts (& also upon alcoholic beverages!)