Tag: gautrians

Gautrians

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The Gautrians are a fierce race of Northmen who have inhabited the Gautrian Lakes for generations. They are said to have wrested the fertile plains and bountiful lakes from hordes of savage Great Northern Orcs.

The Lands of Gautria, split into two Kingdoms by the waterway connecting Lake Tagova and Lake Sund.

The Gautrian peoples are made up of several clans, the Volsung, the Sverkers, the Vastars and the Skanes. All four clans are represented throughout the kingdoms. The Vastar and Skane clans are by far the largest and most predominant; the Volsung are the most wealthy, and the Sverkers are rising quickly to new power.

The Volsungs King Magnus the Defender and his wife Queen Inga the Warlord rule over South Gautria from their fortress of Loland Keep, built of stone by Magnus’ father King Ulfrik Volsung. South Gautria is a land rich in valuable swamp lotus (hemus flowers or grey lotus)- the key ingredient for the making of healing potions. Orcs and men have fought over access to these lotus swamps since days unrecorded.

King Magnus and Queen Inga array for battle

North Gautria is ruled by King Kvig Melgarson The Usurper, a Sverker warlord, and his Queen, the bewitching Svala. King Kvig occupies the capital city of Mosveld, while he gifted his cousins valuable holdings such as  key North Gautrian coastal towns, and Kvig’s ancestral home fort of Helvik. King Kvig’s lands are not so rich as his southern allies, but Kildarian deep mining at Hellgate has recently brought a wealth of silver and other valuable minerals. North Gautria also has its own small swamps where the hemus lotus grows, ensuring competition in the hemus markets of Gautria.

Mosveld, with the Queen’s Tower at the Harbor Wall and the King’s Gatehouse at the main city Gate

The Gautrian Clans

The Volsung Clan: “The Royal Clan, Horse Clan, Clan of Kings”. The Royal Clan were the first of the clans to establish a Gautrian Kingdom between the lakes. Ruled by King Magnus the Defender and his wife Queen Inga the Warlord, the Volsung consider themselves the champions of Gautria as they are always at the fore in bloody battle against the orcs. In all of Gautria their heavy cavalry is second only to the vaunted Kildarian knights. Known as elitists and considered a disconnected ruling clan by many of their subjects in the south, the Volsung account for the majority of South Gautria’s jarls.

The heavy infantry of King Magnus rushes the gate of the LNH Orc occupied North Gautrian town of Larbro.

The Sverker Clan: “The Iron Clan, The Bandit Clan”. The Sverker King Kvig Melgarson rules North Gautria, but many say Kvig’s uncle Skala Grimson, the Jarl of Jarlin has more sway among the clans. The Sverkers are fierce warriors whose jarls are known for their effective diplomacy and ability to hold together feudal coalitions against Gautria’s many enemies. They are considered the “Iron of the North”. Clan Sverker’s smiths are renowned for their iron smelting and weapon making abilities.

Helvik, ancestral home of King Kvig Melgarson

The Vastar Clan: “The Boat Clan, The Pirate Clan, The Slave Clan”. This once powerful clan has seen many of its jarls slain in recent battles against the Orcs of the League of Nil-ith Horn and their Great Northern mercenaries. In the north, Kvig the Bandit king has conspired to dispossess their valuable holdings. Kvig granted the Vastar’s birthright, the rich mines of Hellgate, to Kildarians of House Voclain. Once known as the hardest working clan, the Vastar are now openly mocked and called the “Slave Clan” for losing so many holdings to orcs and men alike. Still, Clan Vastar are the most skillful shipbuilders and sailors in all the Gautrian Lakes, qualities which allow them to dominate the Hedemark, a Gautrian peninsula between Lake Sund and Lake Kisilev not ruled by either of the two kingdoms. The Vastar of the Hedemark are considered pirates and untrustworthy because of their frequent dealings with the League of Nil-ith Horn.

An angry Vastar mob confront Kildarian guards in the North Gaurian capital city of Mosveld

The Skane Clan: “The Stone Clan, The Bonder Clan”. They are by far the largest and poorest of all four Gautrian clans. No jarls and only a few warlords hail from Clan Skane; instead they are renowned as quarry workers, stone cutters and for their skill in agriculture. Clan Skane is often called the “foundation of Gautria” and their farmers joke that it is the many stones in their fields which earned them their nickname “the Stone Clan”. Some of Clan Skane claim no land or lord, roving the lands of Gautria seeking trade and other opportunities. A few of these traveling merchants or “Rovers” have become quite wealthy plying the dangerous roads of the two kingdoms and beyond.

Rovers stop to give service to a South Gautrian warcamp

Caravan Wagons

Caravan Wagons

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Caravan Wagons

We wanted to explore trade and transport in the lands of Gautria, so my husband began plotting a Caravan Campaign.

Before we could start our travels in North Gautria, we would need wagons.

These were mostly constructed with balsa wood. My husband made a few rough sketches and started building.

My character, as the caravan leader and primary financial backer, got the fancy wooden carriage. This wagon came complete with locking door and attached chests.

The other merchants’ wagons were constructed of balsa beds, with canopies of glue-dipped packing paper draped on wire frames.

All of the tops come off, and various cargoes can fit inside.

Fantasy Jarl’s Hall

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The most recent (and ambitious single building) project in our workshop is a jarl’s hall/inn with front deck, rear room overhanging the street, removable roof, and removable top story.

This building went from idea to foam pretty quickly.

Here you can see the roof removed, and the upstairs with wood-grain carved foam floor.

The upper story comes off, revealing a large common area with 2 smaller rooms.

The two downstairs rooms have doors that open into the main hall. What appears to be the front door in the ground floor is mostly a hallway, as you’ll see further down.

The details outside are balsa, placed into a layer of wood glue.

The foam is then carved on the inside to match the posts. Wood glue is then smoothed onto the carved side, and the details are scraped clean of excess glue with a toothpick.

The “wooden” overhang is foam, carved and coated in wood glue.

Even the roofs are carved foam.

We wanted a stone floor in this hall, I like the way the ground looked in the orc fortress. That needed to be carved and plastered.

You can see the front hall, and entry door set in place here.

So, time to paint 24 individual sections, front and back.

My husband began to glue the walls by himself, but soon needed another pair of hands.

I had to put the camera down to help, and by the next day, we were able to play with this:

The top roof comes off to reveal the upper story.

Then the upper story comes off.

 

Many patrons were found in the inn tonight!

 

Some patrons retired early,

While others drank the night away.

 

Castle Courtyard Houses

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The workshop wheels are turning. Since repainting the castle & walls, we decided it was time to replace the 20+ year old card houses with something a little more fitting.

Choosing pink foam and balsa wood as our materials, my husband designed a set of four buildings that would fit up against the inside of a castle courtyard set-up. The roofs are removable.

He began with simple walls.

Then applied a layer of white glue, and the balsa for timbers.

(on the left is a trial piece, we kept the spacing between timbers much smaller in the final pieces).

The bottom piece of foam was carved, then layered in spackling.

Timbers on the inside walls were carved to match the outside, then a layer of glue to give the foam tooth, followed by a couple coats of black paint.

The front wall detail:

inside:

and the rough out:

I took over with paintbrush, and laid down a base coat of dark browns: one for the plaster walls, another for the “timber”.

A few dry-brushes and washes later, and the walls looked liked well-worn wattle and daub.

 

However, a slight miscalculation has resulted in the bases being too small, so we made other houses to fit the finished bases.

The rooftops are a very simple construction of carved balsa wood.

Some glue on each edge-to-side and a little tape to allow the house to dry in shape.

Then we glued posts over the corners, and secured the walls to the bases.

Completely painted, the half-timber houses were ready for use in the capital city of Mosveld.

 

Battle of Turlin

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Turlin_Battle_Map

The men of North Gautria gathered outside the town of Turlin to meet the massed forces from the League of Nil-ith Horn.

For this battle, my husband did double duty as referee and bad guy. He joined the League’s side and played the Grunevaldians with their elite heavy cavalry, a unit of elite heavy infantry Gautrian Guardsmen, and a unit of orc heavy infantry. His compatriots kept their armies from their earlier encounters of the event; Graf Stukkin with his three units of heavy orc infantry, and Alarun with two units of heavy and one medium infantry. Each had two urog heroes as well.

Turlin_101Bleddyn and I shared command of the North Gautrian army. Bleddyn took the King’s elite cavalry and elite heavy infantry, a unit of light infantry, and a unit of light ulfhednar. I played 3 units of heavy cavalry, and one heavy and one light infantry.

turlin_005

The League of Nil-ith Horn carefully plotted their strategy, while Jarl Kvig provided a morale boost to the Gautrians.

 

On the hilltop against the forest wall, Jarl Skalla Grimmson’s light bondi eagerly closed with the League of Nil-ith Horn heavy infantry elite Gautrian Guardsmen.

The bondi took high casualties and routed in the first combat round, which allowed the Gautrian Guardsmen to rush forward and pin Skalla’s cavalry in the next round. Adjacent to them, the two heavy infantry units of blue and green clash.

Poor rolling prevented the cavalry from taking down many orcs, while the League of Nil-ith Horn forces were able to rout a second unit of Gautrian infantry, also in the first round.

turlin_013Gautrians fell on the field at every combat roll. King Gorm himself was lost to an urog’s sword. It seemed the gods were not with the Gautrians this day.

turlin_015Jarl Skalla’s heavy troops battled on, but the last orc units were closing on them.

With the odds overwhelmingly against him, Jarl Skalla took his cavalry and fled south to his keep in Jarlin. By days end the League of Nil-ith Horn army had won a decisive victory at Turlin and were later able to establish a winter camp and beachhead on the coast at Larbro.

Kingdom Under SiegeKingdom Under Siege