#round shields

[archerinventive]

Happy Makers Monday!

To help celebrate this creative day, I have a new batch of round shield headbands, and dog collars now up in the shop.

Both can be customized to match house / heraldry colors.

A huge thank you to Sr. Buckus for joining me out on a recent adventure to Rattle Snake Ridge to test out both designs.

10/10 a good boy.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArcherInventive

[heroineimages]

Viking Girls with Guns

One thing that I cannot thank Ubisoft enough for was letting the viking gals in For Honor be freaking jacked. And not just the bruisers like Raider in that lower pic. The Berserker in top pic is a fast, high-dex assassin character, while the Valkyrie in pic 2 is a shieldmaiden with a lot of reach. And just look at the arms and waists on all three of them!

I’ll admit that the Raider’s lack of abdominal protection bugs me a bit. But I remind myself that it’s A) clearly not done as a pointless sexualization for the pocket-mining demographics, B) shows solidarity with the bare-chested male Raider, and C) we know from the Icelander Sagas themselves that riled-up viking women weren’t afraid to rush in the the fray, tits-out and screaming. 

[katybriantart]

This time round, I've gone for a different kind of design,branching out down a more historic avenue. This design is a viking round shield featuring a helm of awe, based off of one of my viking round shields, minus it's battle scars. Check it out over on Redbubble store on a variety of products, it will be joined by more weapons soon.

[kiabugboy]

The assignment for my final day doing internship in Jakarta was 'draw whatever I like' so... Naturally I did some historical inspired stuffs, reskinned as Vikings

[heroineimages]

Janissary!

So Hero Forge added some new desert apparel recently! I could finally finish the lady Janissary I started ages ago, but set aside because I didn’t like the available aesthetics.

[heroineimages]

So how come no one told me how insanely hot the fem!gladiator is in For Honor? I mean, just look at how built she is...

[heroineimages]

Shieldmaidens in Thrones of Britannia

So I found this pretty cool in the Britannia 1066 mod for Total War: Thrones of Britannia. Bonsai, the modder, added shieldmaidens to the Northymbre faction. They’re called skjaldmaer and function as a medium spear unit, able to hold ground, form shield walls, and repel cavalry. 

I honestly didn’t get into Thrones of Britannia until I found this mod, the skjaldmaer being one of the key selling points. More screencaps below the cut:

[heroineimages]

Going Viking!

So I’ve been playing Expedition Vikings here recently, and I seriously love so much about it. The basic premise is that your character is the new thegn of a minor viking clan in 790 AD Denmark. Apparently the character’s father was a great warrior, but a very poor thegn, letting his clan and holdings deteriorate while he ran around playing raider. It’s up to the new thegn to return their clan to it’s former glory. Discussion to follow. @we-are-viking, @weareadventurers

Firstly, I love that shieldmaidens are exactly as common and exactly as valid as men-at-arms throughout the game. They can equip all the same gear and have all the same stats, regardless of gender. In fact the developers even gave men and women the exact same body types:

Thin

Medium

Large

Put armor on them, and you can’t really even tell the men from the women, which I think is how more games should be developed, frankly. And story-wise, about the only difference gender makes is which characters the main protag can romance. (Supposedly there are a couple of bi characters that anyone can romance. Still scoping that out.)

Next, I appreciate that the thegn gets to upgrade their homestead, improving the clan’s power and prosperity. The ‘stead’s defenses start as a mound with a sad little fence on top of it, but through upgrades can become a decent palisade with gates and protective watch towers. Other upgrades can be done to farms, roads, the smithy, the training yard, etc to bring the clan greater wealth and power. 

Also, I deeply appreciate the importance placed upon shields in the game’s combat system. Most games include shields merely as a few extra points to armor, while a rare few allow characters to knock their opponents around with their shield. Expeditions makes round shields actually quite crucial to the party’s front line. Shields have a chance to block ranged and melee attacks, preventing characters from taking any of that damage whatsoever. Though melee attacks can damage shields, wearing them out eventually, ranged attacks get blocked altogether with a satisfying thud. 

All-in-all, Expeditions: Viking is a terrific turn-based RPG, with competent graphics, strong story, terrific game-play, effective characterization, and believable world-building. It’s one I strongly recommend to anyone interested in viking history or video roleplaying games.