WHFB Albion Concept Artwork by Matthew Klaas de Witte (WHFB)

Buddug

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That design with the eagle crest is very similar to some Gallic helmets that have actually been found, and of course is very fitting for the Great Eagle-riding Toulenii.

 

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl : Aye!

Mutant Tyrant

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Carnyx of the Gods

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As Matt hasn’t created any Albion artwork of late due to other projects, to keep this thread going I’ve been working on a map of Albion and the various factions on it, based upon one that @Warden made for his Dragon Isles Samurai Clans in one of his lore threads (here). I’ve included all three of the major tribes that Matt has devised, plus territory that belongs to the Truthsayers as I thought they would have the same level of power the Druids had over the actual Celtic tribes (I would say akin to that which the Pope possessed over the various countries of Medieval Europe), surviving enclaves of Fimir (as I found that some of them still live on the island), the armies of corrupted tribesmen that follow Be’lakor (which I’ve called the Hordes of Shadow or Shadow Clans) and the Norse, as they’re portrayed as controlling much of Albion in Warhammer: Total War and I thought it would provide continuity to replicate some of that.


The emblems were all borrowed from Rome: Total War, Rome II: Total War (in the case of the Truthsayers emblem) and Warhammer: Total War (the emblems for all three of the evil factions here are Norse faction emblems in the game, but I thought the green one would be good for Fimir because of the central ‘eye’ in the middle of the four Chaos spikes, and the Chaos star would be appropriate for Be’lakor’s corrupted clansmen).

 

Nice work, @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl ! I'll forward a link to this post to Matt de Witte in case it would inspire.

 

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl , Matt de Witte really like your map. He seems fired up with enthusiasm. I'll just copy-paste the E-mails due to lack of time, please see his question:

Cheers

 

Yes of course he can. I’m amazed at such positive feedback for my map, and I’m extremely pleased he is happy with it.

I can make a slight tweak to it to incorporate the Great Ogham into Boreni territory, that’s pretty easy, but I couldn’t see the Tower of Llenog anywhere on the map I found. The best I can do with that is to simply swap the locations of the Toulenii and Belenii around so the Belenii are further west, I simply thought that given the Toulenii are the eagle tribe, I thought they’d be happiest in the most mountainous region, with Bol-a-hat (I see what they did there ) as their main hillfort.

 

I’ve decided to revise my map to acknowledge this segment of Matt’s feedback:


I’ve incorporated the Great Ogham into Boreni territory and swapped the positions of the Belenii and Toulenii around to give the Belenii access to the Tower of Llenog (which actually isn’t on this map but on a similar more detailed version is present in the region I’ve given to the Belenii, between the two lots of marshes).

 

@Karak Norn Clansman I've put up my first draft of my own unofficial Albion army list over on EEFL (I've tagged you there as well):
https://eefl.freeforums.net/thread/2196/warhammer-albion-playtest-army-draft

I look forward to seeing what you, Matt and anyone else interested in this more Celtic take on the Misty Isle think!

 

From E-mail conversation with Matt de Witte:

 

Wicker Man

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From e-mail conversation:

[quote="Matthew Klaas de Witte]Isle of Wights

Albion tribes believe that the souls of brave souls both men and animals go to rest on the Isle of Wights. The island itself is physical, but upon it is an interdimensional portal between realms. The body does not travel to the island. The island is one of the greatest prizes to Necromancers, though none have set foot there of course, it is defended by the God of the Dead, and the dead spirits that inhabit it.

Some souls that go are not finished with their work in the realm of mortals, though they are not allowed leave the island, they can be beckoned by Circle Truthsayers and infused into things like Manhirs, or Wicker Men depending on their personality in life. Even a suit of armour, so long as it is physical. These souls still have thoughts and memories of their lives and may even visit loved ones or descendants. The Circle Truthsayer does not have the final say on if the soul can return, but is a request to the God of the Dead who has the final say in the matter.

Only the bravest men can be beckoned to return as Spirit Warriors, they inhabit their arms and armour they used in life so long as it is not utterly destroyed. They are among the most powerful units available to Albion, because they difficult to banish back to the Isle of Wights, and they were mighty warriors in life.

Examples of Spiritual units: Manhirs, Wicker Man, Manolith, Spirit Warriors, Stone horses (boars and stags as well).[/quote]

 

Interesting to see how Matt has reinvented the lore of the Wicker Man from his original perhaps darker concept, which was more based on the Wicker Men we know from Roman myths of Celtic human sacrifice (and the horror film starring the late Christopher Lee that was spawned from those writings almost two millennia later):

To this new interpretation that turns them into avatars for the souls of the greatest warriors to animate in order to protect their homes and families once again.

I like both and intend to use them both in my army list writing. The original concept would fit better in the Hordes of Shadow army list (as the corrupted Highlanders wouldn't hesitate to perform this method of ritual sacrifice to please Be'lakor, while the Truthsayers, being the living bearers of the Gods/Old Ones' wisdom on Albion, would hesitate at using such a barbarous practice), while I like the newer interpretation as something the true Albionites would summon to battle in times of need, indeed possibly as a direct counter to the Highlanders' Wicker Men.

I also received this excellent piece of lore via email not that long ago, and was originally perplexed when he mentioned the Wicker Man in his list of spirit units given that at the time we only had the original concept to go on, but the new version is much more fitting as a spirit unit. Also Spirit Warriors finally give me an excuse to write rules for these awesome models which would fit his interpretation of Albion perfectly (indeed I showed the box art via email which may well have inspired him to write this very piece):



Looks like a Draft III of my Albion list is on the cards soon...

Additionally I've noticed he's done an impressive artwork of Amber Truthsayers on Deviantart, though with his lore stating that Amber Truthsayers wear very little in order to connect better with nature, the two women in the piece are bare-breasted which, while enticing and fitting to his lore, may not be a good piece to put up here for PG reasons. I just wanted to mention it so that any other connoisseurs of his work who follow the thread here but not his Deviantart wouldn't miss out.

 

Very interesting, @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl !

And damn, I've been so busy I missed the Truthsayers. Need to include them soon in next update. Good catch!

 

Amber Truthsayers

 

I'm here for this. Excellent work

 

@Lord-Marcus : Matt does great work.

Spirit Warrior

 

Great to finally see some development on the Spirit Warrior concept that Matt had been teasing for a while now. My original perception of them was that they would be a unit that could be represented by the Oathmark Revenant Infantry:


But the description of their rarity and their power now makes me think that it would be better if they were a minor Hero-level character, a bit like a Wight King but the one spectral element in an otherwise human army (not counting the spirit-inhabited Manhirs and revamped Wicker Men). Certainly a different way of presenting the concept and in a way manages to avoid the possible balance concerns of having a unit of high-quality Ethereal infantry in the game.

Methinks it's time to work on another revised draft of my Albion army list...

Also, Matt's started to work on a concept for a Warhammer take on Persia - I think it would be worth starting a new thread for that, as it sounds an excellent concept to discuss and build upon.

 

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl : Very nice ideas! Looking forward to it.



King Verartorix

 

Another interesting Albion character that rips off of King Arthur nicely. It sounds like he'd be a good fit as a Hero-level character as part of the Hordes of Shadow army list - that one has been in need of a second draft for a while now and it'll be a good opportunity to pop this chap into it.

Great work from Matt as always, I'll see if I can get back in touch with him about his Persia idea and specifically a Hero-level character *rather than a Lord) for the untainted tribes, as all their characters thus far have been Lord-level.