RR12 Flying Gargoyles of Barda

So, in my never ending quest to only paint up the most obscure and useless races I've now moved on to 1985's 'Flying Gargoyles Of Barda' (along with a couple of Gargoyles from the later 'Night Horrors' range, as champions:

They're one of the lesser known regiments of Renown, but one of the nicer ones, then again, I always liked the odd ones!

More photos and details after the cut...





The Story of the Gargoyles of Barda

Barda Von Micklestein was neither the most famous, nor the most powerful wizard ever to live within the confines of the busy seaport of Marienburg. He was, however, almost certainly the most careless. It was as a result of his personal ineptitude that a horde of flying Gargoyles were to be released upon the unsuspecting folk of the city. The ensuing orgy of destruction lasted for a week; 7 days in which hellish, abhuman forms stalked and slew the petrified citizenry. By the time things quietened down much of the city lay desolate, and Barda Von Micklestein dangled from a hastily improvised gibbot outside the Dog and Duck Inn.

The Barda Gargoyles were a new and previously unknown type of Lesser Demon, but other wizards were soon to learn how to safely summon and control them using the level 2 Summon Lesser Demon spell. The Gargoyles can fly as swoopers, and have a profile as given below. They have normal Lesser Demon powers, causing fear in living creatures under 10' tall and having psychological and routing immunity (except when caused by Greater Demons or Deities). In addition Barda Gargoyles have an affinity with fire, and cannot be affected in any way by fire or fire based magic.

The Great Standard carried by these demons appears to carry the device of some unknown, but undoubtably powerful God. So long as the Barda Gargoyles carry this standard no other demonic troops will dare to attack them, not even Greater Demons.

The foul Double Horn carried by the Gargoyle musicians is also magical, for its blast causes severe pain, or even death in any one unit of living creatures within 20". This is the equivalent of a missile attack with D6 automatic hits at Strength 4.

The Barda Demons are led by Demonic Champions with improved profiles and the ability to use limited magic. They count as wizards, with a Constitution of 10 points and the ability to throw I level 1 Fire Ball spell per turn. Constitution points cannot be regained whilst the demons remain in the Known World, but are replenished automatically when the demons return to their own plane. 50 points are added to the demon's points total for this ability.

Equipment - Armament - Sword and Spear Armour - Shield and Mail

Battlecry - A croaking howl, or insane cackle.

Deeds - The assault upon Marienburg may have given these creatures a taste for human blood. In any case they have fought on numerous occasions on behalf of the wizards of Marienburg, always with barbaric ferocity.

Shield - Both the standard and the shields carry the same strange device, almost certainly the emblem of the Deity which the Gargoyles serve.

Uniforms - No uniforms are worn as such. The Gargoyles themselves appear to be able to change their colour - some appear black, others green or red. Their mail armour is made out of shining brass. Spears have red shafts and brass tips.

Note - Fly as swoopers

Profiles - 2nd edition

	M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	Points
Demonic Champion Leaders	4	6	6	5	3	1	7	2	10	10	10	10	134
Gargoyle Trooper	4	5	5	4	3	1	6	2	10	10	10	10	80 Standard = +400 Horn = +160

Here, we can see Barda Von Micklestein, atop his Tower of Magic, about to summon the gargoyles that were to bear his name: 

Next, as the first gargoyles start to materialise: 

And finally, we can see the exact moment the unfortunate Barda realises it's all gone tits-up:

There's not really a huge amount to say about the models, much like most preslotta-era stuff they don't have a massive amount of detail, but they have a charm of their own. The bases are just made of some resin pillars I had knocking around. They're a bit incongruous up in a tower, but look ok in a movement tray. 

Not really sure what they'll end up being used for, but I've recently picked up a rather unique vintage Chaos Cultist Army that have some wizards they could be summoned by, but I'll cover that in another blog post. 

So, there you go! I've been a bit lax on the blog front recently, but I've a few more painted bits to write up in the next few days. Enjoy!