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Dwarfs Of Karak-Mingol


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#1 Luigi

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 04:48 PM

I've been collecting and playing dwarfs for almost (over? I've lost count) 15 years but it took me until the beginning of 2020 to come up with a colour scheme that I liked.
Soon after, people started to ask me what hold my dwarf came from and since I couldn't find one that I really like I decided to create one of my own, including location, lore, economy, origins ecc.
This thread will see my (slow) progression into what I hope to be -eventually- a large throng of unstoppable dwarfs.

Much like the miniatures themselves, the lore is still WIP and any suggestion is more than welcome.

Let's get started.


The dwarven hold of Karak-Mingol
(also known as Monte Trocchio by the Tileans in the region)

In Khazalid the name Karak-Mingol loosely translates to “tower mountain” this is also what the Tilean name Monte Trocchio means. The Tilean name for the hold is actually the name of a real mountain that I could to see from my window years ago, before moving to Canada.

 

Wh9C92G.jpg

This is the very first dwarf I painted in this scheme, back in early Janury, at that point Karak Mingol didn't exist, not even as an idea.

 

Geography
The hold is located somewhere in the Apuccini mountains in Tilea. It’s in the southern-central region of the peninsula somewhere between the town of Argalis and Karak-Borgo.

The Apuccini are not a particularly impressive set of mountains and they never reach the mighty heights of more northern ranges. The climate here is much milder and forgiving, making the hold relatively easy to reach for travelers, merchants and enemies. This has pushed the dwarfs of Karak Mingol to develop one of the most extensive fleet of flying machines to patrol the area surrounding the hold.
While there are some veins of useful metals (copper/tin/lead/minor veins of iron) and some minor deposits of precious stone, the mountains offer little in what would be considered the foundation of a typical dwarven economy. This is reflected in the hold unique approach to commerce and banking, as well as its very unusual agricultural practices.

In recent times a vast deposit of sulfur was discovered in one of the mountains surrounding the Karak. This, and the numerous caves colonized by bats have seen a huge increase in the production of gunpowder and its related industries.
A small fortified mining settlement has been erected around the sulfur deposit; to this day around 120 adult dwarfs live and work in CastroCielo (literally sky-fort).

 

Sutx8kh.jpg

The first unit I painted after coming up with the idea of my own hold. Some of them still have bronze here and there. But no other dwarfs would have any unnecessary metal, going forward.



Edit: I was having trouble uploading pictures so I had to break down the post in two smaller ones.


Edited by Luigi, 10 December 2020 - 05:24 PM.


#2 Luigi

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 05:24 PM

History
Karak Mingol is a relatively new hold, founded by some the dwarfs of Karak Grom, and its main clan Byrnik.These are the dwarfs that fought in the famous battle of Skull Pass. The fate of Karak Grom is a sad and unfortunately common one in these times of hardship and tribulation. How exactly these dwarfs ended up in Tilea and specifically here is not quite known, although their records seem to indicate a retreat from a massive Skaven invasion. The dwarfs migrated south over the course of a couple of centuries before finally stabilizing themselves where the hold is found today.

The colours of the hold are green and blue, a combination born out of the lost hold blue/gold and Clan Byrnik’s green/silver. The lack of any metal in its symbolism is probably due to the influence of Tilean culture. The Tileans are famous for “piangere miseria”, that is to lament and feign a state of perennial lack of any money as to ward any envy and attract others’ sympathy.
In typical Tilean fashion, the richer the person the stronger and dramatic his lamentations will be. The dwarfs have always been wary of disclosing their true wealth to other races, so this curious habit was one they quickly understood and adopted.
More poetic dwarfs see the colours as a reflection of the deep azures of the Tilean skies and the green sides of the low mountains.

In real life terms this just means that I'll limit myself to a much more subtle palette of blue and green with little or no metal accents. I like the "comfy" look this gives the models and it also provides the added benefit of unifying the look of a whole army. A soft colour scheme, I found, is also easier on the eyes when playing the game and much more forgiving of less than stellar paint-job.

 

r2zTP4R.jpg

These longbeards, Skull Pass veterans, perfectly display the scheme I'm going for: green/blue with as little metal as possible.

 

 

Economy

Karak-Mingol is a bit of an oddity in the dwarven realm. The hold lacks access to many precious metals and its geography makes it nearly impossible to grow the typical dwarven crops. Because of this, KarakMingol had to turn to the only resource that never seems to diminish in Tilea; civil wars and mercenaries.
The ever-warring nature of the Tilean city-states means that the nearby humans are always in great need of both money to recruit mercenaries or weapons and equipment to arm soldiers. The dwarfs have thus learned to loan money to the Tileans, well knowing that when a clients somehow ends in power, another rival will soon rise, becoming a new customer.

The sale of armors, weapons and, most importantly, war machines, is also another important part of the hold’s economy. The dwarfs are exceptional engineer and weaponsmiths, their guns rarely misfire and are exceptionally accurate; their artillery is capable of massive destruction while still being reliable and (relatively) safe to use. Even their skill as engineer and architects means that often they’re hired by Tilean lords to erect buildings, build fortifications, design and plan cities; providing both money and prestige to the hold.

 

The sulfur and guano mined by the settlement of CastroCielo also proved to be a boon to the economy,as  it spurred an increased production of gunpowder. Dwarven guns, bullets, blackpowder, and artillery are always in high demand by the Tilean princes that wish to arm their soldiers with the best weapons money can buy.

The same artillery sold to the Tileans (and built to the buyer's specifications) is frequently used as collateral when approving loans. This explains why Monte Trocchio often deploys cannons that aren't what you'd typically expect from dwarfs; someone couldn't fully repay the interests on their loan and so the dwarfs took back the cannons as  part of the payment.

As far as agriculture goes, the rocky yet warm terrain of the Apuccini makes for the perfect place to grow olive trees and grapevines. Many, more traditional, dwarfs have often expressed disdain for such a thing as dwarven wine, but even they can’t deny that a dwarf can make better (which often just means stronger) wine than an elf.
And in a sense, both olive trees and grapevines are similar to the dwarfs themselves: they thrive in rocky and elevated terrain, they are slow growing but extremely resilient, require lots of constant attention but yield products of great value and can live for hundreds (if not thousands!) of years.
And while it might have started as a joke, a now typical product of Karak Mingol is durazmakk, a sort pasta of all shapes and forms created by integrating stone powder in the flour mix. Most Tilean dwarfs like to eat their durazmakk al dente.

 

Another minor aspect of the economy is the production of pot, pans and many cooking utensils.
Tileans are proud people and often boast and brag about having "the best cuisine in the world". Dwarven cookware, being of much higher quality and lasting seemingly forever is a very sought-after commodity. Often given as a wedding gift or as a token of alliance, Tilean merchants come from all over the peninsula to KarakMingol to buy kitchen utensils, well knowing that they can be re-sold for a small fortune.


Guilds

Mining guild: The hold’s very existence is due to the miner’s guild of Monte Trocchio. The miners that survived the gobri attack at Skull Pass were responsible for collapsing the greenskins lair and turning the tide of the battle. After rearranging themselves into their own mining guild they were tasked by their thane to find a suitable site for a new hold. No one is quite sure on how this particular spot in the Apuccini mountains was chosen. The legend of its foundation goes as follow: while consulting the map, the main prospector, still bleeding from the recent fight, had a drop of blood fall where the hold is located today. The prospector swore revenge on that particular mountain and the rest is history. Other dwarfs suggest, hardly containing a smile, that rather than blood that was wine that dripped from the prospector’s mouth.
Since the holds doesn’t have an abundance of metal, the guild focuses mostly on stone work and architecture; as well as providing the labour for the earthwork and terracing needed for the planting and cultivations of olives and grapes.

Nowadays the Mining guild deals with exploring and mapping the mountains (outside and inside) as well as discovering any deposit of precious or useful minerals. 
The guild is also responsible for the founding of the mining settlement of CastroCielo. Young members of the guild often get started here with an apprenticeship period of 10 years.

QZ8Ga7s.jpg

These miners sport an all green uniform. They're also upset that I haven't painted their flames yet.

 

Engineering guild: When being initiated into the guild, the dwarfs of monte Trocchio are made to choose between one of the two “houses” that form the guild. The two houses are based on its members love or hate relationship towards gunpowder. To become a member of the house a dwarf has to build handgun or a crossbow and fire  it in front of his mates. While there’s definitely a lot of rivalry between the two houses; over the years this has led to an ever-increasing standard of quality and craftsmanship in the weapons sported by both quarrelers and thunderers.

 

In recent decades, the love for gunpowder has indeed increased (especially since its tied so closely to the local economy) but dwarfs are quite stubborn and many just refuse to ever adopt such frivolous innovations. 
Quarrelers are some of the proudest and most stubborn members of the hold.
Their house also supplies weapons to rangers, who prefer a quiet crossbow bolt to the loud cracking of an handgun.

The guild has always adopted an open-door policy towards engineers from other holds or even outcast ones; because of this the guild is very open minded (by dwarf standards, at least). The fact that most of the time innovation comes from a client's absurd requests also helps a lot in somewhat loosening the Dwarven standards.
In Karak Mingol, the engineering guild gets as much freedom as it does because it's directly responsible for a large portion of the hold's wealth and fortune.
Technological ideas and innovation combined with the dwarfs’ skill in producing high quality artillery has in fact proven to be a driving factor in ensuring the wealth of Karak Mingol. The hold has a vast arsenal of cannons, bombards, mortar, catapults, bolt throwers; as well as more exotic pieces such as flame cannons and organ guns. The Engineering guild is also responsible for arming and maintain the large fleet of flying vehicles that crisscross the sky patrolling the area around MonteTrocchio.

The guild often collaborates with the mining guild in developing and using tunneling machines.

Additionally, the guild provides the weapons and training to the many regiments of quarrelers and thunderers that make the standing army of Karak Mingol.

Some of the engineers leave the hold for a few years, trying their luck in Tilea by providing their services in training soldiers in the use of handguns or crossbow; or by instructing the Tileans on how to properly care for a piece of artillery.
Others are hired by lords and princes as architects to build walls, castles, monuments ecc.

Banking Guild: No one is as good as keeping records as the dwarfs are, and no one likes money and wealth as they do. As such, it only took a few entrepreneurial dwarfs that saw the potential in the constant need the Tileans lords have for money before the hold realized it could become rich by lending money, charging interest, and keeping tabs on who owns what.
Tileans, on the other hand prefer dwarfs bankers to other Tileans because they know a dwarf won't go back on his word in matter of interest rate, payment plans ecc. 
It happens sometimes that a client can't fully repay their loan. To avoid this, the dwarfs have started using the same artillery they sold the humans as collateral for the loans.
in the past few decades the guild has also started offering services unrelated to banking: members are often called to act as notaries, sort out property disputes, settle historical arguments ecc...
A few dwarfs from this guild end up travelling the world as historians or researchers.

8bFTQRD.jpg

Someone couldn't fully pay their debt back, so KarakMingol reclaimed some artillery.

 

Weaponsmith guild: I haven't come up with anything yet. They provide the armour as well as tools and weapons to dwarfs.

 

TBmlLBv.jpg

The warrior with great axe sports an inverted colour scheme to distinguish it from the shield+weapon troops. For some reason he seems really happy about his job.

Runesmith guild: nothing much yet, just that it's fairly small guild.

Additional bits of trivia.
*The very first cannon of the hold is the same the dwarfs used in the battle of Skull Pass. It’s called McDaddy the slayer of deamons after killing a massive deamon of Nurgle  in a game in real life in which my opponent kept screaming "who's you daddy?/come to papa Nurgle" every time he'd move his Great Unclean One around.

*Twice a year the two houses of the Engineering guild have a competitions in which the members test their aiming skills and show off their craftsmanship in developing and building the finest crossbow/handgun. The competition consists of trying to hit moving targets (often captive goblins or skavens let loose from their cages) and it is divided in two rounds; one before and one after drinking copious amount of dwarven wine.

*Due to the lack of metal in the hold, the dwarfs of Monte Trocchio have special units that pick clean all fallen enemies of their weapons and armors. This equipment is then melted, and the metal used to craft weapons and armors of much higher quality.

 


Edited by Luigi, 10 December 2020 - 06:16 PM.


#3 Skull Krusher

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 11:36 PM

Well done Luigi!!! A keg of Ale on my tab...  Well done in deed.  If you are into writing short or long fluff stories post them in the Preachers Corner... Keep up the good work....



#4 Luigi

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Posted 11 December 2020 - 02:13 AM

Here's also an engineer/gunner for one of the many warmachines KM's army operates.
Easily one of my favourite models from BfSP set.

 

qlQHevm.jpg?1

Working on artillery as crew members is a common way for apprentices engineers to better understand the trade and learn the ropes of creating and bettering warmachines.

 

Well done Luigi!!! A keg of Ale on my tab...  Well done in deed.  If you are into writing short or long fluff stories post them in the Preachers Corner... Keep up the good work....

thank you Skull Krusher! This forum has been an endless source of inspiration over the years. And I might actually take you up on that, maybe to justify a piece of lore or two, including a particular model or whatnot.

Also let me know if including lore explanation  (as in the first two posts) is appropriate over here. If not I'll move any future addition elsewhere. :)


Edited by Luigi, 11 December 2020 - 02:14 AM.


#5 Glyfi Ironbeard

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Posted 11 December 2020 - 10:32 AM

Keep the lore snippets here as well! At least that is my vote. I appreciate the time and dedication of a fully rationalized and painted force.

#6 Skull Krusher

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Posted 12 December 2020 - 12:43 AM

Keep the lore snippets here as well! At least that is my vote. I appreciate the time and dedication of a fully rationalized and painted force.

 

I concur with Glyfi



#7 Luigi

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Posted 12 December 2020 - 02:58 PM

Some WIP pictures this time.

I experimented a bit with the helmets.
nKqH9aR.jpg?2

I tried for a few "less metallic" helmets. I like 2/3/4 better than 1. I think I'll keep most helmet from being completely in metal from now onward. 
as far as metal/color combination 2 is ok, but I prefer how it looks on the engineer from yesterday (with the rims in metal and the centre in green or blue).

I definitely like 3 and 4, I might alternate a few in each unit.



#8 Luigi

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Posted 31 January 2021 - 04:20 PM

It's been over a month since the last update, but I've finally managed to sit down for a bit and get some painting done.
 
nAOgMqc.jpg
 
 
drqjXEO.jpg
 
yQ0bzoj.jpg
 
MDhuVBX.jpg
 
And a final shot with the detail of the engineer 
A2fwH5g.jpg?2
 
The more I proceed, the more I'm pleased with the colour scheme.
 
The progress is slow, but patience is key. Hopefully I'll managed another miniature or two before the end of next week.


#9 Thunderförge

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Posted 31 January 2021 - 05:47 PM

That’s a really simple design of stone-Thrower, looks perfect for the low-metal fluff of your army.
I recognise the crew figure, but where is the machine from?
Great paint job as well! :-)

#10 Luigi

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Posted 01 February 2021 - 04:36 PM

Thank you TF!

the cataput is a (very) cheap miniature from Red Box Games it was something like 6 $ for 2 catapults and 8 crew . it's supposed to go on the back of a troll (just like in the LOTR movies).

the sculpt is alright but the quality of the plastic is really bad. 
Especially for square and framed shapes as it gets all warped and bent. I'm hoping to fix that with some clever basing.



#11 Luigi

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Posted 06 February 2021 - 05:38 AM

Latest addition to my Tilean hold

sQVJImw.jpg

Rodomonte Collera, somethingSlayer of Karak Mingol.

Even before taking the slayer oath, Rodomonte was quick to anger and easily upset, which granted him his name (Collera) when working as a trainer and commander for the militia of a Tilean village. The name stuck and, after taking the oath, the sight of his bright blue crest instill fear and terror into the hearts of his enemies.

No one is quite sure why he took the oath, or why he painted his hair blue, but no one - dwarf or otherwise- has had the balls heart to ask him.



#12 Luigi

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Posted 08 February 2021 - 03:42 AM

Rejoice, for these days I'm being productive!

Two more dwarfs done. The first one is one more hammerer

udpfzlB.jpg

Two things, I really dislike this sculpt, not so much for the way it looks (it's not particularly good but still serviceable) but for the fact that ALL of the hammerers from  this generation of models have the exact same pose; furthermore, this pose makes it impossible to reach the left side of his face underneath the hammer.

Also, I've painted the hammer head in green. I really like this, this will also make sense once the unit is complete, as I have a name in mind for them already. The name is going to be a pun on their weapon that works both in English and Tilean.
10 points to Gryffindor  whomever guesses it. Hint: it's the title of a movie.

and here's the second dwarf. Ladies and gentleman, Cateno Manovella.
d7U5nOx.jpg
Cateno is one of the oldest veteran servicing the artillery of Karak Mingol. Over his many many years of services he's has operated more machines and delivered more hits to the enemy than there are hair in his beard. or so he says.

 

EBYaAzK.jpg
It's a hard, sweaty job, but Cateno doesn't seem to mind.

 

 



#13 Dourin

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Posted 09 February 2021 - 10:24 AM

Aaah the old metal dwarfs. I started back in 6th and these guys will always have a soft spot in my heart. Looking good!



#14 Luigi

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Posted 14 February 2021 - 03:22 AM

Thank you Dourin!

Here's more progress on my Tilean dwarfs. all of these come from a batch of used miniatures o bought years ago and I just now started to strip and repaint.

i've been having a few issues with these; the problem is that they were all assembled with plastic glue so I can't take them apart and it's nearly impossible to paint behind weapons/shields and be precise with faces and eyesDepcugO.jpg?1

 

 

These two are definitely my favourite out of the 6

6YHWHkJ.jpg

the drummer boy is missing a drum,but compared to some of his friends missing arms and hands, he really can't complain.
 

ADtJJeH.jpg

Mastro Lindo is an old grizzled gunner, with many years under his belt. Under his careful eye it's very rare that a cannon misses or misfires.


Edited by Luigi, 15 February 2021 - 12:00 AM.


#15 Luigi

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Posted 17 March 2021 - 01:42 AM

Finally some update. 

 

Eps3LJm.jpg
I've done some more longbeards. I'm calling these guys finished (apart from base and assembly) I can't be bothered anymore and I think the original owner sprayed or dripped some plastic glues on their faces since I've had the hardest time with their eyes and features (some had holes instead of eyes that needed filling).

 

I've never liked this generation of plastic dwarfs as they always felt too... anonymous and undefined. But I'll admit that they fill their role ok. I'm still pleased with my colour scheme (green/blue and no metal) and I'll probably eventually phase out all metal helmets in favour of coloured ones.

A4ooHbH.jpg

And here's the back. I am pleased with how the cape came out and grey is a good enough colour to match the main pairing.


Edited by Luigi, 17 March 2021 - 01:44 AM.


#16 Luigi

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Posted 21 October 2021 - 06:43 AM

It's been a while since I last updated this thread (March! :( ) but that doesn't mean i have been idle. 

I'll post here some of the few miniatures I took pictures of.

 

 

 

Egnc57m.jpg

First a frontal picture of the BFSP longbeards with a "freehand" banner

I really do like this colour scheme, and think I made the right choice in keeping the palette limited to two colours and have no metal beside armor and weapons,
the banner isn't really freehand. It was some 40k transfer, I just painted over it with blue (on black) and white/grey on the white as it would look way too unnatural otherwise.
the second guy from the left looks like he's worried that the Thane to his right is about to lead into certain death

 

yYR6mRI.jpg

A couple more longbeards, this time with random shields I had floating around in my bitbox,

Originally I wanted ALL the longbeards in the unit to have the same shield design, but I found myself painting these two shields and decided to just use whatever I had right under my nose. The majority of the unit will still habe the same anvil shield though.

 

ddOCXCm.jpg

you don't like this guy and he doesn't like you, either.

 

Definitely one of my least favourite miniatures to paint, but still part of the batch of used dwarfs that I couldn't disassemble. He came out alright, albeit he looks like he's out of it. I was too when painting him

 

3bmfBLl.jpg

pYX9hx1.jpg

These two guys, on the other hand, were a pleasure to paint.

 

I particularly like the inversion/symmetry of the paint job.
not too shabby for glorified wound markers

 

2ontW4Q.jpg

Dude, chill! They're just grobi, don't let them get to you

 

definitely my favourite of the bunch, I wanted to go for a face that said "I just want to go home and have a drink instead of having to put up with this grobi BS".

I think he came out rather well



#17 Kallstrom

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Posted 21 October 2021 - 07:05 AM

I really like your effective painting style, it looks great up close and will probably look great from further away too (like from the point of view of playing with them on a table) with all the clever uses of focal points and bold colors. Keep up the good work!



#18 mousekiller

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Posted 21 October 2021 - 10:07 AM

These are great, really love these particular dwarves!  They have such a nostalgic feel to them.



#19 Luigi

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Posted 21 October 2021 - 10:26 PM

Thank you both! And yeah Kallstrom, you actually bring up a great point I have to force reminding myself. Miniatures have to look good primarily when playing. I always try to keep that in mind, but sometimes it easy to forget that and get stuck on insignificant details

#20 Luigi

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Posted 01 November 2021 - 09:26 PM

Here's another update. I finally based this little guy.

 

aFhwdVx.jpg
I went with a simple basing scheme so that I can easily repeat it across hundreds of miniatures. I also find the grey to be a good complementary colour to the green/blue scheme of the army

 






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