From the release post

We did a lot of research on this release to give it a special feel. We had already worked a lot on 15th-century imagery for King Arthur's first release. And this time we went even deeper to bring to life some very unique pieces.

For example, you'll get to discover the beautiful Lady Elainne, who we have imagined as King Arthur's Personal Squire. And we gave her a very special mount and I wanted that mount to be very much inspired by Heraldic animals, youn know, the ones that you can see on coats of arms and similar medieval illustrations? And that’s how we designed Aethonhart, her mount, as something that would have an appearance that is not completely natural. Its mane and tail look more like the kind of panache that you would find on knights' jousting helmets. And the silhouette of this creature is very much based on how animals would be represented in Heraldic illustration at the time.

In a similar vein, we made a very special Centerpiece by taking one of the craziest war machines of that time and making it even MORE crazy by ornamenting it with all types of heraldic and architectural ornaments, just like precious ornamental objects were made in the 15th and 16th century.

This results in a completely insanely over-the-top but very gothic looking machine of destruction that is surely imbued with a lot of holy magic to defeat the forces of evil.

We also know that there are a lot of role-players among you, and we thought that we could easily imagine one of Arthur's companions trying to find secret passageways into the cursed pyramids to help his mates find their way and defeat evil more efficiently. And this would be perfect to make a roleplaying character exploring endless corridors in subterranean dungeons. And that's how Cadoc the Bold was born. He has a very adventurous attitude in the sense of a Dungeon and Dragon adventurer character. And this gives him a very unique appeal.

We also wanted to have a Spellcaster that would have a very special vibe. We came up with Lady Isolde and I don't think I ever saw a Spellcaster with those looks. She definitely looks like a medieval noble lady, and at the same time, she has that massive presence of a high-ranking Spellcaster.

And I think she is a really unique character to field in your war games or in your role-playing adventures.

The creation of Seraphina the Valiant was a strange event. We started working on this character thinking, “Oh, we need to have a Joan of Arc type of character in this release”. And it's only when we were very close to the end of this project, that we realized, “Oh damn, we did a similar character a few months ago. We cannot do that a second time.”

But it was too late to create a completely new character. So we decided to make a variant and give her a more warrior-like attitude pointing a sword to the sky. So this is how we came with her alternate version. But the first creation was so beautiful and so full of storytelling that we decided to keep it anyway and to share it with you as a bonus, if you are a Hero's Infinite Overlord subscriber.

Of course, we needed a powerful Knight to lead the crusade alongside Arthur, who, by the way, is still available in our first Arthurian release. So we created Sir Agravain.

We wanted him to look like a broody, determined, powerful Warrior who would stand over the desert sand dunes, at sunset, preparing for the order of evil to show up at night. I think that this guy has very strong charisma and he is a very cinematic character.

Crafting the Villains

But let's talk about the evil guys, too, because I think we did a very cool job on them. First, of course, we have the Queen of Darkness and Undeath, Neferkha, who comes in three different variants, depending if you want to have her with her giant zombie snake, or if you want her with her queen crown, or without it.

She is a somewhat simple yet very commanding character. And I like how we were able to mix the feeling of horror and fantasy sensuality into that decaying eternal woman who must have been a magnificent woman when she was alive and who is now hiding the decay of her flesh behind a mask of gold.

Then we have Anub'rek, the High Priest of Shadows, who, in my opinion, is one of the most amazing undead spellcasters I've ever seen as a miniature. I absolutely love how the spell coming from his magic tablets comes and whispers in his ear. And how, at the top of his staff, there is that scale measuring the value of a human heart against a feather.

If you're not familiar with this story, it was said that when you would die and cross the river Styx, your soul would be measured against the weight of a feather, and if it was heavier, you would go to hell. So we thought that we would represent that story here in the staff of our evil spellcaster.

Then you've got Amseth, the Eternal Queen's Champion, who, like her Queen, must have been a stunningly beautiful warrior when she was alive. And she is now covered in mummification bandages and amazing gold armor.

I really love that character because she has such a simple but powerful pose. And her silhouette is very unique.

Then we have Khepri, the Architect, who will be ready to sacrifice endless hordes of slaves to build his insane and cursed necropolises. He is one of the key players in the Eternal Queen's power scheme. As he will turn any territory that she invades into a new maze of endless dungeons, temples, and hidden treasure chambers.

Troops and Customization Options

Then, of course, we've got some very nice Troops. 

You've been asking for more customizable troops. And it might seem like nothing to add a few heads and a few arms, but it turns out that the truth is more complex than that. The amount of work necessary to do that is way more than you could imagine, mostly for logistical reasons. And I will explain that a bit more in detail in the video I will make to answer and follow up on the poll we did recently.

Anyway, for this release, we decided to try a few things and see exactly how we could manage more customization options in the very short time that we have to produce such a massive release. 

So, this time you have two sets of troops who have more options than usual. And we'll see how we can do something similar or not for the following releases. But once again, more about that in a future video. 

So, here we decided to add new Arthurian troops, with a group of Knights on foot and a group of Mounted Squires.

And to face them, we needed to have Skeletal Warriors.

The Skeleton Warriors on foot are available with many options and I wanted them to have very expressive faces that would really make you feel the madness that has rotted their souls through the centuries they've been waiting in their tombs.

The Mounted Skeletons are a bit more special. I wanted to do something more out of the ordinary. Very often, I find that skeleton riders look a little bit ridiculous because the truth is that if you look at a horse skeleton, it's not very interesting. It looks a little bit stupid. So I wanted to give them a little bit more mass and also to give them some kind of magical feel.

And my idea was that those Riders probably had been slain in battle a long time ago. And suddenly they are brought back to life by the power of their Queen. And they will jump out from the sands in which they are buried into a whirlwind of sand and magic. I really like the energy that those sand trails give them. 

The Viperion Guard was also something that I wanted to do in a special way. There's a lot of snake warrior creatures out there in miniature shape, but I wanted these guys to look even creepier. 

So, I injected a bit of insectoid vibes into them and gave them this alien-like skull that I think fits them perfectly.

Finally, you've got two amazing Undead Monsters: a Giant and a Sphinx. I think I don't need to comment much on them. Those two pieces just look simply amazing and will no doubt be the focal point of your Undead army.

Picture this

So here it is. I honestly think that this is quite a fantastic release. Very often when we have a release, there are one or two hero characters that I'm a bit disappointed about because I think that we could have pushed them a little bit further or made them more interesting.

But here, I love the mix that we have. Every single one of them is completely different, and they are all stunning in their own way. I hope you will feel the same. 

And when you add to that those amazing Monsters and the Troops and that crazy Centerpiece, and that you stage that on your tabletop using all the crazy, insanely cool Modular Scenery Elements, you've got something that is utterly crazy cool. 

I hope you will feel like me, but I definitely think that this release is one of our best. And I'm very excited by the result. I hope you'll like it very much. And if you already have the Arthurian release, I hope that you will add some of these characters to your army to make it even more cool and strong.