While I was painting up the Salt Flat Nomads from my previous post, I was eyeing up a couple of other factions - primarily the Forsaken (as I love my "humans against the fantastic" but also the Fire Caste Dragyri as they seemed to suit my play style.
The Dragyri are an alien race brought to Attr (the planet Dark Age is set on) thousands of years ago as a slave race for the more diminutive Alteghrans. After a revolt, the dragger formed a new society, with various castes devoted to the different elemental forces, including Fire. Over time, each caste evolved to mimic the key qualities of their element, which means that the Fire Caste are the embodiment of the raging inferno, barreling down on you with incredible ferocity before moving on, driven by incredibly fury. When I'm new to a game I find it best to try out something familiar, comfortable, to help me get my grounding. The "rush forward and try to beat up everyone" approach worked well for my Ogres in Warhammer, so I figured it would ferrety well with these 10' tall killing machines.
First up we have the Spirit Lord and the female Volcanic Phalanx models (above and below). The Dragyri society is fairly chauvinistic, but the Fire Caste does value the contributions of females in their ranks. Almost all of their unit types have a male and female version, with male characters leading the warbands. I currently don't own the male Volcanic Phalanx, but will be correcting that oversight soon.
These two models are resin, and came with resin spears. I replaced the hafts with brass rods, and added a small bead to the butt of the spears to give a visual sense of balance.
These are the male and female Volcanic Helots. They are the bodyguards of the Fire Caste leaders, ready to step in the way of incoming fire and also deal out quite a bit of damage with their bardiche.
These are the male and female Pyres. They excel at hit and run tactics, using their scimitars to slice apart those wounded and disoriented by their flam bombs.
These are the male and female Brimstones. No, they aren't wearing much in the way of armor. Yes, they are carrying dual flame throwers : )
The outfit worn by the male version reminds me quite a bit of the mechanic in Beyond Thunderdome.
This is the male version of the Inferno, one of the elite troopers of the Fire Caste. I will also be purchasing the female version very soon.
This is the Greater Fire Elemental, and incredible beast of a model/unit. This one is the version cast in translucent yellow resin (available from the CMON booth at conventions) that I painted up the afternoon before driving up to see Ash Barker of Guerrilla Miniature Games. He and I had been doing quite a bit of trash talking the week prior, and when he revealed he had painted up a Cabrakan for his Kukulkani (pretty much Death on legs), I knew I needed something to try and counter it.
You can check out Ash's Dark Age videos HERE, and our Fire Caste/Kukulkani battle HERE.
Then I have a pair of Embers. These are only brought into play when a model with the Emberspark ability kills an opponent, that's why it looks like they are rising from burning corpses : )
And finally, for my currently painted Fire Caste, I have three smaller models. There's the Artificer of the Alteghran on the left, He's now a slave to the Fire Caste and he uses his technical skills to ensure that the ranged weaponry and armor of the Fire Caste stays functional. The other two models are Razor Slyths, subterranean creatures enslaved by the Dragyri to do their bidding. These models are fast, reasonable in combat, but are primarily used for completing secondary tasks.
So there you have it. If you'd like to learn more about Dark Age, click HERE to check out the site, or feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!