King Folca of Rohan

It's still too hot. And I miss travelling.

So I've been thinking about places with soaring snow-clad mountains. Rohan!

The new King Theodon model is a lovely sculpt. But all all of the Middle Earth range, it suffers from being tied to a film. And a colour scheme that looks good on an actor might not look great on a 25mm scale model.

So I gave him a different colour scheme. And at first I thought 'well, that's fine then'. But I primarily come at this hobby from a narrative perspective, so I decided he should be a past king of Rohan. 

I knew it shoud be a king from Rohan's second royal line (to explain why he looks like Theodon). Off the top of my head I can't rememeber if the Rohirrim kings carried Herugrim since the days of Eorl, which was another reason to play safe and have it be a second line king. I went with King Folca because he has a cool name and a cool story: he went about, Sigmar-esque, hunting down all the Orcs in the Riddermark. 

Also, I didn't want to choose Fengel (he was a tool) or Thengel (he spent half his life in Gondor, which is very open minded but not quite as Rohan-y). So it was a choice between Folca and Folcwine. I like the name Folca better. 

Forth Eorlingas and so on. 

Shameless promotion time: 'From the Rooftops'

I think it's more important than ever to understand the challenges that under-represented people in the UK face, and their experiences (good and bad).

'From the Rooftops' is a collection of theatrical pieces which can be watched online. They examine the experience of British East Asian people in the UK. The link allows you to register free to watch.

My bro Yvonne is one of the writers of this. She's a fantastic writer and actor, which makes me quite excited about this. I think it's well worth everyone's time.

Genestealers

I'm back.

Genestealers fascinate me. I like how they satirise different things: they satirise grassroots movements, but also the authoritarian perception of those movements. You could well imagine McCarthy accusing someone of being a Genestealer.

The 40k universe at its best is filled with moral complexity, but in a simplistic sense we generally consider Genestealer Cults as 'bad guys'. But I'm not so sure. We should remember that the Imperium which they seek to subvert is almost absurdly brutal and callous, particularly to the working classes of industrial worlds which Genestealers seem to favour. To use a completely random example off the top of my head, you could see an Imperial Governor ordering his workers back to the manufactorums in the midst of a deadly pandemic against which he had taken no real action.

Then again, the Imperium is famously brutal to anyone who doesn't look like their ideal. It's little wonder that there are populations in the hives who are open to the call for rebellion. Imagine living in a world where you work hard, pay taxes and the Arbites still treat you worse because you look a bit different. It's no wonder that the Genestealers can sow unrest. 

I didn't do any conversion to these models because they really don't need it. They're really beautiful sculpts. I decided to use the same flesh tone as I would for a caucasian human because I feel that visual familiarity enhances the innate horror.

The Silence of the Matt

With all the horrible, tragic things going on in the world, anyone reading this would be forgiven for thinking that something happened to me, or that I was incredibly depressed about everything. The truth is a bit more prosaic!

I'm working from home, which is... fine. It's okay. It is a little taxing, but not too bad. I'm lucky to have the job I do. But when I reached the end of Altdorf, there was a degree of emotional exhaustion. I'd written three Age of Rebuilding chapters in a row and I'd finally reached a sort of natural 'end of season one' type conclusion. A break has been required.

But mostly? I'm too bloody hot. I live in a solid Victorian pile which retains heat like mad. I am not a heat person, as this photo of me laying in the snow on an Austrian mountain in my T-shirt like an utter tit will prove:

Seriously, I just become a dazed mess in the heat. As I write this, both of my bedroom windows are cranked open, there are two annoyingly expensive fans pointed at me and I'M STILL TOO HOT.

Point is, more interesting posts will return soon. In the meantime, let's hope that by my next post the world will be a safe and just place for all peoples.