Staff Armada Fleets – Kirsten and Jonny

We're back with another exciting instalment of our staff fleets. After being introduced to Martin's and Rob's fleets yesterday, today we're hearing from Jonny and Kirsten. Over to you...

JONNY

Ey up,

I'm Jonny and I normally work in the warehouse; however, I am currently helping cast an eye-watering amount of little resin boats!

I am often referred to as the warehouse's resident northerner, with an ever-amounting pile of grey plastic on my hobby table, I have yet to challenge myself to make a Yorkshire themed "T' Northern Alliance" army for Kings of War (it's a lot of flat caps to green-stuff!).

With this in mind, when Armada first set sail, I thought I'd give the Northern Alliance a bash, but with a Basilean twist. It's a more achievable project and still allows me to give plenty of fluffy Yorkshire themed backstory.

I often play Nightstalker's, Orcs and other grim, dirty and evil armies, my painting style is normally very dark and drab. I saw the Basilean ships at concept stage and thought they'd be a real good challenge for me, something a bit different both in terms of being small scale ships not 28mm figures but also in the style, much more glamourous and cleaner than anything I'm used to painting and so I will be using them as my base for a Northern Alliance fleet.

This being said, I don't intend to paint them as clean, bright and well, holy as the great Basilea ones we'll see on the box art. I am hoping to give them a regal look but battered by many a harsh winter. The stunning cathedral that sits proudly on the Aft of the Abess, I want to paint like a great ice palace. The Gur Panther I intend to convert a bit and rename the Direfang. I want to get really creative with the basing and use water effect clear resin to make waves.

Being a Northern Alliance fleet, I felt it necessary to try remove the Basilean iconography from the sails. This was achieved by sanding it off using a rotary multi tool. It isn't the neatest job but I want the sails to look windswept and icy, so it shouldn't be an issue once painted. I'm sure with a bit more patience I could get a nicer finish if needed.

The fleet will be led by Captain Jjàms kyøk on his mighty ship "the Kindeavour" and is harboured in the Bay of Tarivek , there it can oversee protection of the crystal sea and more importantly the Iceblood coast that leads to the city of Chill.

I intend to give names to all the vessels in the fleet in time and have lots of backstory. I am yet to have a game of Armada but I'm excited to try something very different to what I normally play. It's great seeing how excited all you guys are getting about playing too!

KIRSTEN

Hi folks, I am Kirsten, normally the resin caster at Mantic and currently supervisor to the evening shift. We are literally working day and night to make sure Armada ships successfully. It's full sail ahead to bring these models to you in time.

Last year I picked Basileans to be my very first Kings of War army for our previous round of staff blogs. So really Basileans were the obvious choice for Armada. It helps that they're my favourite fleet too.

Initially my plan was to use them for my Order of the Brothermark, but on reflection I will need to convert a lot for them to work, which I don't have time to do right now. Next year…

So the colour scheme is designed to match my Basilean KoW army, black cloth, white details. Black and white is often associated with pirates. But on the massive, stately looking Basilean ships I think it gives them an imposing, stately look to terrify the opponents.

My plan is to have a significant Basilean force allowing for multiple types of fleets. In playtesting my preferred force was two Abbess, and three Elohi, so that will be my starting point. I also intend to make a Sisterhood fleet consisting of many Abbess and Gur Panthers.

Finally I will add multiple Dictators, because they are just too cool not to have at least two of them. I particularly love the rules for the named Basilean Captain Katrina von Spectra, so she will absolutely be in command of the force. Mobility and positioning is key in Armada, and she is fantastic for getting those all-important shots off when you need to.

We've been working on these rules all year and I've been very fortunate to be involved in the creative process. I'm extremely excited to see the game in the wild, and see what people think of it, and do with their ships.

I need to complete my first of at least three Abbess to test the colour scheme, then try to get the rest of the fleet done in between casting sessions. Must stick to it and not get distracted with ideas of undead fleets… to the miscasts box!