The Gilded Reavers Army Blog

Fingol23 · Post by **Fingol23** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:37 am

Good to see you back

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:21 pm

1/09/08 -- Happy New Year!

Ka-blam! I am truly, truly back. Back to school, which means back to boredom, which means back to posting inanely and writing fan-fiction. But yes, how are all of you? Good? I hope so. Bad? Come, read a spell with me.

So, I know I promised a battle report against Mike's Nurgletaurs of d00m. But let me summarize it. Victory! Yes, victory for the Gilded Reavers, at long last! By the skin of our collective testes, perhaps, but we did good. I made a couple mistakes, that I'll admit to, but beyond that, this game was utter domination. His movement was largely gimped by my Dark Riders, Dark magic, and his massive mistake in deciding to take a romp through a forest with some of his heavy hitters. My Cold One Knights absolutely owned, with support from Dizaun, and while I usually dictated who got into combat and who didn't, the times he would charge me when I could not respond (Shaggoth+Minotaur Lord & Co. vs. Corsair block, and then the Hydra) caused the game to be so much closer than it needed to be. But who cares!? I won! 8D~

As for the stories, I'm going to try and get a bunch of this damn chapter knocked out. But I do have school work to do (a three page paper; studying for a Japanese test) so don't be surprised if you don't see it tonight. But again -- free time, woo! -- so it'll be soon if not tonight.

Painting? What painting? I have Mordor Orcs and Riders of Rohan to paint/repaint.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 1:12 am

1/18/07

Okay, so I lied the last time. I had a lot of work to do, and I'm having a hard time keeping my life... ah... balanced, we will say. Still, it's not entirely my fault; I accidentally several paragraphs I'd been working voraciously on, and haven't gathered my strength to write them again. But now, fueled by Mountain Dew, BERSERK #17/18, and a spike of reinspiration, I shall have at it again!

And I also lied because I've started painting my Druchii up for a coming tournament. I'm sure I'll end up hating myself and WHFB afterwards -- sort of like I always do -- but at the same time, I feel good about my chances. I've cheesed the list up pretty good for a 1000pt game. So wish me luck next Saturday.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:33 pm

1/19/08

Alright. More solid progress today. I've gotten the paragraphs I deleted done, and then some, so we'll be pushing right along soon enough. I have Sirist's 'Sea of Shadows' music playlist going, and it definately is putting me in the mood. >:|

Also, in preperation for the 1000pt tournament at the SBB, I'm trying to get my Cold One Knights ready. Of course, as I'm using the Lizardmen Saurus Cavalry Cold Ones instead of the Druchii "battle cows", the metal riders don't quite fit. So what I've been doing is taking my side-cutters, jamming them between the legs of the rider, and bending the legs wider. It's worked alright so far; I just have to be more careful about where I brace the side-cutters, because the soft pewter is being gouged by the steel non-cutting edges of my side-cutters, which would normally result in irrepearable damage. So it's taking a bit more thought then I had first supposed. Thank GW for greenstuff. e_e

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:50 am

1/25/07

I am going to kill myself. I swear to god. This chapter is taking forever, and will definately end up being one of the longest chapters in the story. There's so much time that elapses in it, and not only that, but just so much that needed to be put in. I don't know if its one of the better chapters, but I think it's starting to be more a war drama and less a political drama. You'll have to judge it for yourselves, I suppose, when I post it tonight.

As for the army itself, I am hurriedly painting -- but not sacrificing quality in the process -- all the units up for a game against Jeff on Monday. The hope is that they'll at least be based, and the Cold One Knights and Corsairs will be definatively done for the g ame. That is the lowest hope on my Totem-Pole of Hope, though, and I'd like for more to be done. So look out for pictures in a short period of time, too.

Do you smell a massive update coming soon? 'Cause I do. :twisted:

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:20 am

1/26/08

It's up! Oh, so how do you like me now, huh? Still took a long damn time, you say? I know. ._.;; Sorry.

But anyways, I sort of like to do a bit of an author commentary each time one goes up (so that would make this, like, commentary number two [maybe?]). I'd like to start off by saying this is easily the longest chapter in the 'Sea of Shadows' story, reaching a total of fourteen unformatted pages (so, if this was a book, almost thirty pages spent on one chapter). That's nutrageous! Far more than the eight unformatted pages I had aimed for. Originally, I was going to do two pages on each of 'the big four': the initial battle; the march; the epic battle; the return to Port Greystone. But things, well, they sort of got out of hand as things usually do. I know. It's bad. But I kept it as quick and to the point as possible, trying not to hurry too much while still fitting what turned out to be so much stuff into just one chapter. Dizaun was exhausted by the end of it. To think I was fretting over how I was going to stretch it to fit eight pages when I planned this thing out...

One of the things I noticed as I wrote the chapter was that in all the Prestige Actions the Ashen Fleet made, only one captain is every mentioned, and they're mentioned in every one: Dizaun. So if Dizaun seems to rush in and save the day in all of these battles, there's a reason: that's how it was originally written, and so that's how it stays, I suppose. But in order to do the chapter right, I read everything. And I do mean everything. I went to the Ogre Stronghold and dug up some fluff Mountainfist wrote about his army. I went continuously to the WHFB rulebook for 6th and 7th Ed, looking over spell descriptions. I kept looking at the ISC map, ensuring my bearings were right and making guesses as to distance on the map and the length of a day IRL versus in the campaign. I went over the Druchii book as I consistently do to make sure I have the right name for each piece if armour (I think I have that diagram memorized now). I dug up the old 'Dark Elf Background: Day 18' for guidance on how to do the battle. In short, this was a research-intensive chapter. Getting more of an idea why it took three months? Okay, so I'm still a busy, busy guy besides all that. Still lazy, you say? Tough crowd...

As a more personal reflection, I wrote this chapter and the last one thinking heavily about the importance of the twins as brother and sister. I won't go too far into detail, but it forced me to examine two relationships of my own in a similar fashion. Both times, its been very painful, and so I tried to write that pain into the story as best I could without bringing the story and the reader down, or turning any of the characters into emo-freaks (though I think it might be too late to save Haspera...)

I won't get too far into the specifics of the story itself. I'll leave that for you to examine. It's up! In its thread! You go now! Me go sleep like Dizaun. :cry:

Fingol23 · Post by **Fingol23** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:18 pm

Really like it and it was well worth the wait now whens the next bit up? lol

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:19 am

Fingol23 wrote:Really like it and it was well worth the wait now whens the next bit up? lol

Soon. I'm going to be working on it today and tomorrow, and see if I can't get things back to a more manageable size and pace.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:34 am

2/15/08

A bit of an update, though I admit I haven't any pictures to put up. I sort of ran out of batteries. Soon, though. Rechargeables aren't cheap.

Still getting my tournament list together for the 2000pt tourney. I'd really like to use the Reavers for it, considering the painting would be less and more pertinent, but balanced lists just don't seem to cut it in a tourney, especially with Druchii. Still, I'll make up my mind soon enough.

Sea of Shadows gets more and more intriguing as time goes by, but I do feel the need to get on to not only Weathering Winds, but my personal work -- the stuff I was working on before I became engulfed in this project. Still, I think in the end it will be worth it. The Nemesis Crown lacks cohesive official fluff, which makes it somewhat fun to consider what I'll be putting down for it. I think everyone will be very happy with that book, as well. But I'm thinking a bit too far ahead.

Oh well. As I said a post ago, look for a new chapter very soon. I have notes on Japanese history to write up this weekend, so it'll be a welcome distraction.

Jeff! · Post by **Jeff!** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:05 am

Whar were you today!?

We had a packed LotR tourney, it was epic!

Anyways, if you just want my cell #, so you can stop awkwardly calling the store, just lemme know, it's way easier to coordinate that way.

Also, we desperately need you for Friday Night Pub Quiz night, where apparently people don't know anything about anything.

Mostlyharmless · Post by **Mostlyharmless** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:13 pm

That's cause I'm not there. It's difficult to go to a pub quiz night when you're a 200 mile drive away. Besides, I thought I was disqualified for winning too much.

Jeff! · Post by **Jeff!** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:58 pm

Pub Quiz Night has changed to a Jeaopardy format where you accrue points (and lose them for incorrect answers) and then spend them afterwards on prizes. No limit on how many questions you can answer, and how many prizes you can buy with them.

Its awesome.

Post by **Rork** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:17 pm

Guys, take it to PM if you want to talk about things like this.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:17 pm

Jeff! wrote:Pub Quiz Night has changed to a Jeaopardy format where you accrue points (and lose them for incorrect answers) and then spend them afterwards on prizes. No limit on how many questions you can answer, and how many prizes you can buy with them.

Its awesome.

WTF!? Oh mah gawd, son. I'm comin' down for SBB Pub Quiz fo' sho'. Fridays, right? I'll come down and pick up my Spearhead Friday if that's the case.

Edit: Sorry, Rork. >_>

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:59 am

2/28/08

I thought I would stop by and say that I am officially putting myself on hiatus from D.net for the moment. The current trend of the forum is just not indicative of a good community, and not up to par with the board I would like to believe D.net is. As such, I'm going to be taking a several month "step back" from the forum, and I will probably be gone until the new book is out, and the senseless, unfounded arguments and personal attacks I've observed come to a close.

What does this mean? It means that SoS will not be updated here. For the next several months, A.org will actually be recieving the story. It means there will be no updates to this thread until the release of the book, and perhaps not until later than that. When things calm down, I will be back, but until then, my friends, sayonara.

Bryan Campbell
a.k.a. Aleraen

AleraEdit: I've decided that, despite my minimal activity on D.net considering the current quality of its discussions, A.org is not much better, and that since SoS is a story about Dark Elves, it really belongs on a Dark Elf site, so I've reconsidered that portion of it. All in all, besides that story, the Gilded Reavers are definately retiring until the new book comes out.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 10:36 pm

3/17/08

A chapter of 'Sea of Shadows' has gone up. Have you read it yet? No? And you call yourself Druchii! What? It's only been up for a minute or two, you say? Oh. Well, then, I guess I can wait for you to read it, but I would read no further on this post! You may ruin the chapter! For those of you deserving of the icon in my sig, you may read on.

Since the chapter is up, my usual author commentary must follow. There are a few things to be said about this chapter. As you can see, it's a bit shorter than the last one (about two-thirds as big). That's largely because X was a beast, and really should not have been that big -- I should have cut it in two. (it was twice the size of any of the HoT chapters, and FOUR times the size of the original chapter of SoS). As a result, the next two chapters will be closer to this size. It's more manageable, and now that finals are over and I am largely unemployed, I hope to get back on track with my two-week turnover.

There are a few influences in the chapter of 'Nipponese' origin. The fact that I've been taking this damn Japanese class, raped by Ito Hirobumi's nation-building manhood, and forced to memorize every aesthetic in Japanese culture was no help. But still, there are some similarities to Muromachi era Japan and the Druchii, and Dizaun's a well-traveled beauty-seeker when not killing people for the sheer joy of it, so I figured the easy adaptation of their culture to his own -- and the fact that Nippon used to be a High Elf colony? -- aids this. This was also done in part to pay homage to Sirist, who was partly Japanese, as well as the former and new members of the crack team of artists that have given life to Dizaun and Disuan over the years. Thank you, all of you!

Also, there's a lot of mention of Clan Vittsisk in SoS. This is because they were the Ashen Fleet's greatest allies, and when Sirist passed away, some of its members and others from the Under-Empire were a great comfort, and made a beautiful memorial picture that, someday soon, I hope to share, if they would allow me.

The next chapter of SoS will be from Haspera's point of view, and is called 'Gossip'. I'll leave it up to your imagination as to how it goes.

Until the next chapter (or the new Dark Elf book)!

Fingol23 · Post by **Fingol23** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:13 am

Same brilliant quality as the rest now write faster! :twisted:

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:25 pm

4/16/08

Well, it's been a month, so I suppose I should at least give some measure of an update. I bought a new copy of WHA: Dark Elves (the one I was using was mauled by melting snow and shards of glass as a tree hit my car in a snowstorm), and I've been toying with making a new list all together, but I still think it would look largely the same with only a few exceptions, so we'll see what happens.

In a week, I go to Japan - my first stay that lasted longer than a day or two, and my first stay that I'll know what people are saying - and I'll be there for about a month and a half, so expect even less posting from me. I know: how could it be any less? Again. I'm waiting for the wild speculation to die down and the release to start posting regularly again. Until then, it's all about SoS.

And yes, I know, it's been a month since a new SoS chapter came out. So expect two very shortly, before I go.

And when I come back, expect two more.

Laters, until I get those chapters up.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Mon May 26, 2008 12:42 pm

5/26/08

Hellos! This is Aleraen in Kyoto, Japan, wishing my now frantically rumor-reading Druchii compatriots a good night from half the world away.

It's been a long trip, and it's almost over. It's been very pleasant, very relaxing, and very sobering all in one. The last half in particular has been somewhat difficult.

Obviously, however, I didn't post two chapters like I said I would, and I probably won't post four when I get back immediately. In fact, my main concern upon returning is getting a different job (perhaps with my local GW?) and schoolwork. Still, as I'll be done with school for the forseeable future, expect SoS to get records amount of progress upon my return!

As for the army? New plastic Corsairs. Lots. Oh the seas will run red, and the armour of the Reavers will shine golden in the dieing light of the sun.

Aleraen · Post by **Aleraen** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:15 pm

6/12/08

Yes, things have gotten very Spartan here for the mo'. Do forgive. After today, though, I will be getting more done, but here's what stuff looks like right now.

I'm not entirely sure what the policy on art is here, but there has been a recent explosion of Dizaun- and SoS-flavored art, including a rather sexy "pin-up" of female-form Dizaun. I laughed so hard. xD Forgive me, but I couldn't help it. I may or may not be posting it here, depending on whether the artist allows me to (which I unfortunately doubt), and whether people are even that interested. On a related note, please remind me to have Dizaun visit a medieval tattoo parlor. xD

Sea of Shadows is not far from my mind. I've got the story open in Word 24/7, so I'm not allowed to forget about it. Having a bit of trouble with Haspera's chapter, but when do I not?

The army... Well, let's simply say I have pre-ordered the spearhead. Now that plastic Corsairs are coming out -- with some very wicked options in weaponry -- I may end up starting the entire army over from scratch. But only time will tell.