#warmachine

[souldregs]

quick rhodeytony... because i love them your honor

[lorcblog]

My growing woodmachine collection

Made from clothes pegs, coffee stirrers, lolly sticks and beads.

[valzhangism]

VALZHANG BIG BANG 2026! 🛠️🐻

We're back for 2026's Valzhang event! Do you love Valzhang? Do you want an excuse to finally make art of them? Do you want to see Valzhang works made by other fans? If yes, then consider joining this year's Bang! More details below.

LINK FOR APPLICATION

What's a Bang and how does it work?

During this event, creators will be trading their works and making art inspired by others'!

The event is split into two: during the first creation period, artists will make a Valzhang work (visual art or writing). It can be anything, any idea or concept the artist wants.

Then the art gets swapped around. During the second creation period, every participant receives a work created by another person during the first half, and they create another work based on it. Depicting a scene from it, making concept art of it, writing a story based on it, etc.

So in short, every person creates two works and receives a "gift" inspired by the first one. If you wrote a fic, you'll receive a companion art piece; if you drew art, you'll receive a companion fic!

What's the schedule?

June 9 - June 31: Sign-ups

July 1 - September 1: First creation period

September 2: First work submission

September 3 - November 3: Second creation period

November 5: Final posting!

What are the rules?

Please keep all works relatively SFW (no explicit sexual content, or graphic violence/gore, for example).

Every fic is expected to be at least 1k words, in English, and with grammar sufficient enough to be comprehensible.

Every art piece is expected to be finished/sufficiently cleaned. The definition of this is subjective and differs case-by-case, so there are no strict standards; just be sensible and make your own judgment about it.

If you need an extension for your work, please let me know at least three days before the deadline of the submissions.

Avoid discussing or posting your work before the final posting date. During the submissions, your work is sent to me personally. Fics can be sent through a PDF/text file. Any image file is fine for art.

If you have a problem with the work you've been paired with, let me know as early as possible so something can be figured out with other participants.

On the day, if posting your works on Tumblr, tag with "vzbang2026".

Have fun!

If you're interested, sign up with the form above! If you have any questions or concerns, just let me know in my askbox (or type it out in the form)!

Let's all have fun Valzhanging out together this summer 💕

[tearcargon]

I don't get to have many opportunities to paint orange, so this was really a joy for me 💙🧡

[yoshukowashere]

That apple core thing

[thecreaturecodex]

Deathjack

Image by Brian Snoddy, © Privateer Press

[Deathjack is one of the BBEGs of the Iron Kingdoms setting, and made a huge impression on me when I first read the Monsternomicon many years ago. This version draws from both the 3.0 and 5e renditions, as well as adding a few new thematic abilities, and is between them in CR.]

Deathjack

CR 20 CE Construct

This mechanical giant is larger than a wagon and stands stooped under the weight of its immense shoulders, which are fitted with two black chimneys near the neck and two distorted humanoid skulls as pauldrons. Its claws are enormous, as are its horns, and in its belly is a grate containing behind it a furnace with eerie green flames.

Deathjack is a single-minded engine of destruction, powered by a strange artifact and by burning souls for fuel. Deathjack is a bogey, a thing of ill omen blamed for mysterious disappearances in lands where its legend is known. Deathjack will sometimes work alongside the armies of undead tyrants or death cults, but demands a high price in souls for its service. Any creature that attempts to magically control Deathjack becomes the next body thrown into its internal furnace.

Deathjack opens combat with a charge, lowering its horns and goring like a bull. Its main weapons are its claws, which it uses to grab creatures and throw them into the soul furnace in its belly. Creatures in the soul furnace have their life stripped from them even as they burn alive, and this soul energy can be used by Deathjack to heal itself or render its natural weapons even more lethal. Deathjack radiates an aura of hatred that shatters teamwork, can smite goodly creatures, and use number of spell-like abilities centered on death and destruction. When Deathjack has won a combat, it uses its spell-like abilities to animate its victims as undead and sends them in random directions to cause terror and death.

Deathjack wears the Skulls of Hate on its shoulders, a set of magical pauldrons that push the living to violent evil and turn any construct equipped with them into the new Deathjack. Who created the Skulls of Hate is mysterious, with a cult of a death god, the nightshades, a renegade necromancer or singularly powerful lich all floated as hypotheses. If Deathjack knows its own origins or ultimate master, it does not say. In fact, Deathjack rarely says anything to the living except to pronounce their doom, spoken through the Skulls of Hate.

Skulls of Hate (major artifact) The Skulls of Hate are an intelligent magic item consisting of a pair of black pauldrons in the shape of distorted human skulls, eyes glowing with green flames. A creature wearing the Skulls of Hate (in the shoulders slot), gains its Charisma bonus as a profane bonus to saving throws, and can smite good as an antipaladin of its Hit Dice (max 20th level) once per day. The Skulls of Hate are chaotic evil, can speak Abyssal and Common, have darkvision 60 ft. and lifesense, and have Int 14, Wis 21, Cha 23. The special purpose of the Skulls of Hate is to slay all living creatures. The Skulls of Hate have an Ego score of 30; any creature that fails its saving throw against the Skulls of Hate’s Ego score is forced to seek out a construct and equip it with the Skulls of Hate, whereupon it transforms immediately into the new Deathjack.

The Skulls of Hate can only be destroyed by a good aligned deity of love or peace.

Deathjack CR 20 XP 307,200 CE Huge construct (tsukumogami) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., lifesense 60 ft., Perception +20 Aura hatred (30 ft., DC 30)

Defense AC 36, touch 9, flat-footed 35 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +27 natural) hp 362 (28d10+168 plus 40) Fort +17, Ref +18, Will +24 DR 15/good; Immune construct traits; Resist cold 20, fire 20; SR 30 Defensive Abilities profane ward, soul powered; Weakness haunted

Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee 2 claws +34 (4d10+8/19-20 plus grab), gore +34 (4d12+8) Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks armored stomach, necrovent, powerful charge (gore, 8d12+16 plus trip), soul furnace, smite good (7/day, +6 to attack and AC, +20 to damage), swallow whole (AC 31, 72 hp, 8d6 fire and 2 negative levels) Spell-like Abilities CL 20th, concentration +26 (+30 casting defensively) At will—animate dead, cause fear (DC 17), death knell (DC 18), rage, shatter (DC 18) 3/day—create undead, enervation, harm (DC 22), inflict critical wounds (DC 20), slay living (DC 21), shout (DC 21), quickened true strike 1/day—create greater undead, destruction (DC 23), disintegrate (DC 23), earthquake, implosion (DC 25), wail of the banshee (DC 25)

Statistics Str 26, Dex 13, Con -, Int 14, Wis 21, Cha 23 Base Atk +28; CMB +38; CMD 49 Feats Cleave, Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Exhausting Critical, Fatiguing Critical, Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Critical (claw), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Quicken SLA (true strike) Skills Climb +12, Intimidate +24, Knowledge (arcana, religion) +20, Perception +23, Sense Motive +23, Survival +23 Languages Abyssal, Common

Ecology Environment any land Organization unique Treasure special (Skulls of Hate)

Special Abilities Armored Stomach (Ex) Deathjack’s stomach gains its full natural armor bonus to AC and has twice the hit points as normal. However, because it must be opened and closed again every time a creature is thrown into the soul furnace, a creature already swallowed when Deathjack uses its swallow whole ability can make a CMB check against Deathjack’s CMD to slip out of its stomach by readying an action. If a creature cuts its way out of Deathjack’s stomach, Deathjack cannot use swallow whole until it has healed back to full hit points. Aura of Hatred (Su) All creatures within 30 feet of Deathjack must succeed a DC 30 Will save or be unable to treat any creatures as allies. They cannot provide flanking, use or benefit from teamwork feats or aid another actions, or allow allied creatures to move through their space. Any spell or effect that requires a willing target fails if used on an affected creature, and other beneficial spells still must succeed an attack roll and require affected creatures to make a saving throw. This effect lasts as long as the creature remains in the aura of hatred. Creatures that succeed their saves are immune to Deathjack’s aura of hatred for the next 24 hours, and creatures who failed their saves must make another saving throw if they leave Deathjack’s aura and enter it again later. The save DC is Charisma based. Haunted (Ex) Deathjack is treated as both an undead and construct for the purposes of spells and effects. It is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy. Necrovent (Su) As a swift action, Deathjack can vent necromantic smoke from its smokestacks in a 30 foot radius. All creatures in the area take 8d6 points of fire damage (Reflex DC 30 halves) and 1 negative level (Fortitude DC 30 negates). The smoke remains in that radius for 2d4 rounds, blocking vision as per a fog cloud spell and dealing 2d6 points of fire damage every round to creatures who begin their turns in or move through the smoke (Will DC 30 halves). Deathjack can use this ability 3 times per day, and must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. The save DC is Charisma based. Profane Ward (Su) Deathjack gains a profane bonus to its saving throws equal to its Charisma score. Smite Good (Ex) Deathjack can smite good as a 20th level antipaladin. Soul Furnace (Su) Any negative level dealt by Deathjack’s swallow whole ability adds a point to his soul furnace. Deathjack can spend one or more points from its soul furnace as a swift action, to a maximum of its Charisma modifier (+6). A point spent can be used either to deal 1d10 negative energy damage with a natural weapon or heal Deathjack of 1d10 points of damage. Deathjack’s soul furnace can store a number of soul points equal to its Hit Dice at a time (28), and when Deathjack is encountered, it typically has 1d4+6 soul points. Unused charges dissipate within 24 hours. Soul Powered (Ex) Deathjack adds its Charisma modifier to its Hit Dice as hit points, as if it were undead.

[angelanvar]

Aspiring chaos champion and Doombull from Warmachine minis (I think the human type is supposed to warp into the monster? I don’t know anything about warmachine but these minis are cool).

[corvidous]

Aww this came up in the old FB memories! 2016, some of my first foray into painting minis, Warmachine Protectorate of Menoth. I used cheap brushes and craft paints from Walmart (with some dedicated P3 paints for specific colors) because I wanted to "give myself permission to just paint and not worry about wasting expensive materials."

WELL guess what?? Cheap craft paints fucking suck ASS for painting miniatures! They're so thin and translucent that you need 4 or more coats to get any kind of coverage and even then they don't look very nice, which made painting such a dispiriting repetitive slog that I never got most of that army painted at all! Sometimes it's worth it to invest in the good materials. Sadly I got rid of most of this army years ago for space reasons (before I discovered model agnostic wargaming). Literally just GAVE it away to some guy after failing for several years to sell it. I sure wish I had kept it now, but I DID keep my two best painted and favorite lil guys: the Vigilant Light Warjack and the Reclaimer solo.