April Preview: Kingdoms of Mikaelhelde Acolyte Guard

Almost, what, three years since I began modelling for what would become Solwyte Studios? How time flies!

Anyway, today I bring to you the first of April's release previews, and indeed the first of a new range of miniatures (don't worry, the Aventine Dynasties and Taekolta haven't been forgotten, I'm just waiting until such time as I have a more fully developed concept to continue creating infantry for them).

The Kingdoms of Mikaelhelde are a faction composed entirely of Mystics - psychically attuned individuals all, wielding the might of sorcery in tandem with the blade and the bullet. Such mastery of the mystic arts have they, that few can stand against them and hope to survive, however such power is not, nor has it ever, been without dire consequences.

Acolytes of ancient Mikaelhelde are members of disparate, marauding clans, part of a long dead Kingdom fractured by the summoning of a great evil, the vanity of noble mystics resulting in the destruction of their home. Naught now reside in the ruins of their city, save for the great Dæmon Strattenheim, the Shadow of Mikaelhelde, to which the scattered remnants of the city owe fealty. Some say that the shadow holds sway over them, others that they pay their tithes out of fear rather than loyalty, and others that the destruction of Mikaelhelde was deemed a necessity to bring their god into the material realm - nevertheless, it has been observed that, from those few surviving accounts that described Strattenheim, the various augmentations and mutations its Acolytes possess seem intended to represent him, with increasing numbers of limbs and a progressively less human form.

Indeed, for all the monstrosities brought forth by the Covenants of Astyri, no matter the atrocities wrought by the warriors of Skjalos, each of these pale compared to the creations of the Kingdoms of Mikaelhelde. By looking at many of them, it's hard to imagine they were ever human, mutated beyond any recognition, forms of multitudinal arms and legs, creatures brought forth from the darkest nightmares of gods and men.

Unlike so many other wasteland-bound tribes, the scattered Acolytes of Mikaelhelde do not bear scraps of weapons, rags and beaten metal armour, but instead the garb of priests atop banded metal, drilled and fasted into their bones. Their mutations, numerous and celebrated, are the blessings of their patron, and each warrior among the Acolyte ranks is an emissary, enlightening their quarries of their higher purpose - that the body parts that they take will serve the will of Strattenheim, and what remains will sow the earth upon which their lord will grow its empire.

In terms of models, which I can imagine will interest more of you, these guys will come as a set of five different body poses, with Acolyte heads pictured above, and two options for Judges Aspirant - one with a haloed crown, and the other with a distinctly mutated head. Unfortunately, because of the way in which arms overlap, I don't expect these guys will have multiple arm options, but I'll be doing more in this vein in future to spice things up.