Last edited by Belisarius; August 25, 2010 at 05:16 AM.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Last edited by Belisarius; August 24, 2010 at 05:55 PM.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Eagle Standard Exclusive – Roma Surrectum Release Feature
Soon!
Roma Surrectum II, a modification of Rome Total War almost three years in the making, has finally seen the light of day. What began as a vision by dvk901, a rudimentary project by Tone, a "simple" mod by countless other team members, has grown to become one of the most anticipated modifications of Rome Total War. The road to RSII was long. Patiently have you, the ever loyal fans, followed it. Aimed at re-creating the people of the ancient world while still retaining a fun element of gameplay, the journey to bring RSII to you has suffered from inactivity, disappointment, and even death. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the team forged on until from within their foundries a wholly new experience was crafted. And now:
Many total war fans that play Rome: Total War will be familiar with Roma Surrectum 1 which was a modification which focused on the authenticity of the Roman army. It is one of my favorite Rome modifications alongside SPQR and Europa Barbarorum and truly managed to impress me in terms of its stability and lack of crashes common with most modifications. The only other constantly stable mod I remember was Infact SPQR and in terms of game play I find the two very similar in all the right ways. Roma Surrectum was in my opinion a Roman Centered modification and so it was possible to play by house rules and embark on realistic military campaigns. The other factions seemed to be less differentiated and thus I could never excite myself at the prospect of playing the Egyptians, which were similar to the Macedonians. It suited me as I was always a Roman at heart but with Roma Surrectum II one note that the other factions have gone through extensive changes and thus the game play variability will definitely be an improvement from the first mod. This is of course the opinion of one RS fan.
Officially the game will exhibit the following key features –
A completely redesigned environment
Brand new and in some cases custom made faction music
28 unique legions
Brand new models and skins for all factions as well as new factions
Unique campaigns tailored to each specific faction
An immersive yet understandable building tree
Several new battle-map buildings
New Traits and ancillaries, including Roman leadership tree envisioned by Calvin (R.I.P)
Two Roman Rebellions
A redesigned campaign map
New banners and UI
Regional resistance script that generates enemy armies after conquering a key enemy city
Free People Faction to simulate independent kingdoms
Diversified "barbarian" factions to highlight their uniqueness
Diverse Areas of Recruitment
Large mercenary pool
Presence of Historical characters
AUC (Ab Urbe Condita) system of year-keeping to prevent the 66BC CTD
Non-adoptable characters capable of forming new family trees
Greater Population control through buildings
Standalone Launcher
Faction Movie intors available in seperate download
Custom victory conditions for each faction for improved AI and a more difficult game
The most defining feature of Roma Surrectum has always been the legions. There are a total of 28 unique legions, each with their own area of recruitment, appearance, and standards. The 28 legions are divided into two categories: the Hamata legions and the Segmentata legions with the Hamata being representative of the legions that existed in the latter days of the Republic and the Segmentata legions being representative of the legions that were levied after the establishment of the Principate.
The RS Team has been experimenting with Bloom for players to try at higher settings.
Here is a more in depth explanation of the new Rebellions feature -
The Following are examples of the latest RS2 Teasers, The others can be found in the RS2 Main Previews Sub forums, its thoroughly recommended you check them all out!
TEASER 4 (Music by Marios Aristopoulos)
TEASER 5
TEASER 6
Last edited by Belisarius; August 24, 2010 at 05:18 PM.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Written and Compiled by Capt. Fozdike & ToonTotalWar
Hello and welcome to the next installment of the Empire and Napoleon News. The last couple of months have been a bit quiet in the ETW/NTW modding area with only a handful of new mods being released. But never fear! There is still news to be read with some new good looking mods being released and coming out soon. Things in the Tools and Tutorials area have been quite dead but I have still managed to find one to keep you potential modders happy. So please welcome ToonTotalWar to the stage as we give you the news from June and July.
On the Shelves
The latest and greatest! The newest and bluest! The... Well, you get the idea.
The Modders seem to be sitting back in their lawn chairs for the last couple of months. I say we go and raid their houses, take away their beer and their bikini clad women and sit them down in front of their computers and force them to mod! (And keep the bikini clad ladies for ourselves of course) . Anyway, here is the latest news for the last couple of months. Enjoy!
This is a really good tutorial that shows you how you can create your own music mod for Napoleon Total War. If you want to follow in the footsteps of good ol’ Brigadier Graham then this is the tutorial for you.
Last edited by Belisarius; August 24, 2010 at 05:31 PM.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Written and compiled by - Verrückt, Viking Prince, Dewy & The Dutch Devil
Welcome to the First installment of Medieval II and Kingdoms News. Before we get into the news and information, staff is a shuffling. Augustus Lucifer has decided that being an editor is more than a full time job. I am going to make an attempt to fill the gap however modestly I do it as the new team leader. The staff has also shuffled. Dewy and The Dutch Devil are going to slave away gathering and writing all the tidbits that you crave. I was not the good team leader giving credit this time. I did on the few bigger articles, but let's just say the smaller ones were a team effort. If there is a mistake here, I take the blame. If anything seems outstanding and worthy of compliments — rep my assistants. They deserve the rep even if (oh never mind — you get the idea). Now on to the NEWS!
Last edited by Belisarius; August 25, 2010 at 05:04 AM.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Modding Resources for Eras Fresh ideas for tools, tips, tutorials, and resources
This is a report on what is good, great, and notable from the Rome Workshop. This is a huge resource base that expands literally daily (OK, this is an exageration). Please make it a regular stop for the latest ideas.
Well that is a wrap on Modding Resources for Eras. Until next time, may all of your edits avoid a dreaded CTD. And if there is that rare problem, stop by this forum first to help find a solution. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Featuring various forms of Arts Projects and Activities
Written and compiled by - Juvenal, Killerbee, Mega Tortas and Sun
Welcome to Artist's Gallery, dedicated to bringing you the news about the creative arts at TWC.
It's been a while, but now we are all back up to speed; so plump up the cushions and prepare for a Mach-2 trip through the vast dark caverns of writing and picture making at TWC. If you like, you can start with a video! The monthly TWC Video competitions share the same forum as Picture of the Week here - follow the link for a visual feast.
This month, as usual, we cover the Monthly AAR competition, Picture of the Week and Tale of the Week; and thanks to Sun, RPG Headquarters also makes a come-back!
Come to think of it, nothing from Mega Tortas can ever be fairly described by the word "usual". His submission is gargantuan, colourful, eclectic and filled with formatting tags (now mostly purged). Please don't skip over it, there are some amazing things happening in Tale of the Week these days!
If I have missed any forums with active AARs then please let me know and I'll put them in next time.
MAARC XXI
In which Juvenal watches another triptych of winning stories sail serenely off into the sunset
Despite the long gap since the last issue of Eagle Standard, we only have one completed MAARC to report. But, golly! What a fabulous set of winners they are!
Tale of the Week:Nanny de Bodemloze vs Lucky Lewis title bout Come see the action, in the Challenge/Duel thread then vote.
This edition of TotW coverage brings lots of excitement and frenetic activity your way. First off, we have a changing of the guard, Caretaker to be precise. Fresh off his smash up engagement at the CdeC, Nanny de Bodemloze boots his Parent right out the door and assumes Editorial control over TotW proper. Lets zoom in on the conference as it happens...
In addition to the Bloodless coup, a format change took place and now ALL weekly story competitions are open to Free Style writing. How this works is....
Da rules: Write about whatever you feel like.
1. Min 200words. Max don't make it longer than"War & Peace" Paradise Lost.
2. The Storyboard {picture} is just the placeholder, you are not obligated to write about it, However you can if you want to.
3. You are not obligated to provide a picture or music links, or vid links. However...you may use them in your presentation if you wish.
4. You are honor bound not to read other submissions until yours has been posted.
6. Submission (teehee) {Nanny's Tee Hee, not mine}deadline, late Sunday evening. Goes to vote early to mid Monday morning.
7. The folks here at TotW threw out the rulebook, , long long ago....
LuckyLewis has come over from the ETW/NTW forums and single handedly, restarted "The Renaissance". With unequalled and tireless efforts he has archived all the Winning Tales from inception 'til now, in a single repository of Glory. That may be found here...
TotW Winners Story Archive
TotW Winners Story Archive Links to all previous competitions and to winners' profiles
Yes, yes another one of Mega's insane scheme's is to construct a repository where every Tale "ever" written will be contained and accessable with ease and comfort. He has no clue how to initiate the project so he would appreciate it if you'all would keep the notion under wraps for the time being....
From the Gossipy side of TotW comes word that GrandPapa de Bodemloze has thrown down a moritorium against clutter and disorder and has decended upon the forum to maintain law and order with an iron fist. He's holding the forum to around 7 threads plus active competions as opposed to Mega's House of disorder and insanity with blown out/Maxed out upper and lower forums. Our imformants tell us that Mega seethes with rage at the mere thought of creativity being contained by order. Looks like Hesus de Bodemloze better sleep with one eye open and a "Glock" under his pillow. Nanny ever the phenominal diplomat is staying away from the fray, happily in ignorant bliss as he conquers the other side of the forums with his unbridled enthusiasm and zest for accomplishment.
Why on earth anyone would want to join the "Freakshow" that is the House of de Bodemloze is beyoooooond me!!!!! Well enough of the claptrap, let's move on to the competitions themselves...
TotW 80c: During the run of a belligerent VOTE OFF, Solid Snake flattened Mega Tortas de Bodemloze's unique tale of wedded bliss. At one point during the match it was rummored that Mega chucked his Monitor and PC out the window, thus explianing his two day absence from the competition.
TotW 80c The Storyboard Picture
TotW 80c: The Tale
The people of the bad-herb
I was there; I was there right beside my Uey Tlatoani on the most glorious day of all our history. I was a member of his personal guard; I was a Tlamahuichihuani Cuaútlic, a Champion of the Order of the Eagle. The night before I had ordered my house´s servants to polish the golden claws of my armor, I had told them to take out any loose strands of the shield that proclaimed my name and my rank, I told them to make sure that my helmet, made after an eagle´s skull that covered my head between it´s beak functioned properly, and then I myself flattened out the feathers that covered the cotton that composed the armor in both chest and arms. And early on the morning I had risen at the chant of the bird Papapiqui and had put my armor, my helmet, and also adorned my face with many gold jewels that were carved into representations of animals or just forged into a beautiful shape by the talented artist that made them.
Finally I put on a mantle to endure the cold of the early hours, the mantle was made of pure cotton white as snow but the brooch that fastened it upon my shoulder was carved out of jade, our most sacred stone. My sandals were made of deer skin and it had golden sutures all over it.
I set out of my house in the neighborhood of Iztacalco north of the city, on firm land and set out south to cross the northern Bridge-Roads that joined the great Mexica´s capital to the ground.
The lake of Texcoco glistened like a blue emerald under the growing rays of sunlight, Tonatiu, the Sun was joyous upon seeing his beloved city, even though the hour was still early, the Bridge was already full with regular macehualtin and proud pipiltin carried in high chairs by their tlacotli, the smell of the flowers, of many Xochitl´s the smell came. Of course everyone had to make way for me at once, even the pipiltin had to order their slaves to move them away of the path of an Eagle Champion.
When I finally entered the City in the middle of Texcoco´s lake I took a breath of fresh air, even though I was still afar of the Main Square I could smell the copali that the priest´s burned in the teocalli, temples. The houses, all painted with bright colors, some with banners made out of feathers of many colors gliding away in the wind.
Tonatiu was rising in the sky and the population of the Great City was converging in one place, it´s center: Cem Anahuac Yolotli, the Heart of the Only World. In the fringes of the gigantic square, many vendors were making good business selling beverages and food, even some were selling snow, yes, snow brought down from either Popocatepetl or Iztaccihuatl and then flavored with the nectar of many fruits to refresh the throat of the many citizens that poured into the square. Many cacao seeds and gold powder changed hands on that day.
And there dominating the scene, there was it, the biggest teocalli in the whole world. The Great Pyramid. Taller than 200 men set atop of one another, covered in a white mineral that we extracted from the island of Xaltocan, it glistened under Tonatiu with the force of a thousand suns, blinding anybody that looked at it directly. On the high top of the Pyramid two smaller teocallis dominated the landscape from above: two small rooms that contained images of our most revered Gods: Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. The God of the Rain and Water, and the God of War, Tlaloc ruled over the times of peace, caring for our crops and making sure the water supply of the city was never shortened, and Huitzilopochtli gave us strength and fury in the many wars we had undertaken, making sure that we were victorious, in return they only asked for a small sacrifice: the beating hearts of prisoners of war or of voluntary xochimique that wanted to spend the after life in the Golden World of those who gave their hearts to the Gods. Our religion demanded at least one sacrifice a day for Tonatiu the God Sun, the Sun was everything it gave life to our plants and crops, it gave us hope and happiness, the Sun was life, so it was only fair to repay him with the same coin, with life.
But today, today was special, today was a great victory, today we had more than 5 thousand Texcalan prisoners to sacrifice in our recently completed teocalli, Nezahualpilli, Uey-Tlatoani of Texcoco and son of the great Nezahualcoyotl had won us a great victory a couple days back. In a single day he had completely destroyed the Texcallan army, our hated rivals that lived East of our domains, if only Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan ahd sent real armies we could have conquered the hateful Texcala. But aiya, it had not been that way, and only a hundred Mexica warriors were sent, under my command to support Nezahualpilli and his thousands of Acolhua warriors. The battle had been glorious, Nezahualpilli´s tactics were perfect and in a deadly ambush he had obliterated the pride of the Tezcallan army, but his people also suffered great losses while us Mexica only stood on the sidelines watching how the Acolhua took all the glory. We had captured a few that were trying to escape, but the army from Texcoco had procured the vast majority of the prisoners including the most dreaded Texcalan warrior: Tlaui Colotl, Armed Scorpion, Champion of the Order of the Jaguar, he had killed more than ten Champions on the battle, but rest assured that in his list there were hundreds of Mexicas, Acolhuas and Tecpanecas victims. Now the powerful Tlaui Colotl, who had lost both legs in the battle, was at the head of the row of prisoners that was entering the Square at the moment I gained the side of the Great Pyramid.
My thoughts drifted to the past while I gazed upon the heights of the Pyramid. Mexica that’s how we called ourselves and our name was feared throughout the world and was enough to put entire nations to tremble. The might of our undefeated armies had put fear in the hearts of many enemies, no one dared to challenge our power. But we didn’t named ourselves Mexica, that name was given to us by the people that lived in the valley long before we arrived from the North, reluctantly they had given our ancestors a patch of land in the middle of a lake that no one cared about and had let us to die in the wild. We didn’t have proper lands to grow corn and even though we invented the chinampas it was few food that it gave us, the main aliment in our ancestor´s diet was a rough herb that was called Mexixin, mocking us, our neighbors called us Mexica, the people of the rotten herb.
And even so, through many generations, the Mexica rose from their humble beginnings, building their city in the middle of the lake and taken lands ashore as payment by acting as mercenaries to other nations we slowly became a nation of our own, a powerful nation. With time we begun to expand, always on the move, always defeating a more powerful enemy on each battle…
Today, today us Mexicas take pride in our name, in the beginning it was a mock to us, well we decided to play along the joke, and now our name is feared throughout the Only World, and after our recent victory we had cemented our domain with an obsidian fist. No one can match our power. That´s what I thought as I looked upon the many feathered banners that adorned the Pyramid´s stairway. And In my heart I was sure that they would remain there forever and that nothing and none could possibly ever overthrow us of our place as Cem Anahuac´s Uey Tlatoanis.
TotW 81a: New-comer Devil'sDaughter77 {Becky} decimated the competition with her heartfelt rendering of angst and sorrow. Unfortunately Becky has yet to re-enter the competative ring after her resounding victory. Becky when will you come back to us?
TotW 81a: The Storyboard Picture
TotW 81a: The Tale
My heart is wild and free
It's easy to capture
And hard to set free
You captured mine on a rainy night
False promises and broken dreams
You said them all to get me to trust you
Set me free and lie no more
Tell me the truth and make me believe
This is the end to a summer romance
It's time for me to take back what's mine
I can't let you hurt me anymore
I never should have let you hurt me to begin with
Sometimes I wish this was all a dream
A dream that dies away quickly
Never to return again
Whenever you hurt me
It breaks my heart
Should it hurt this much to love someone?
I never thought it would
We spend so much time together
By now we should know each others habits
Most of the time, we compromise on things
But not lately
You have changed into someone I don't know
Why let me back into your life?
Why continue to hurt someone that you have feelings for?
I may never know the answers to these questions that I want to ask
But I do know that as humans, we tend to hurt those that we love the most
Or the ones that we share the pillow with
Love is a common ground or feeling that we share
Cherish what you have
One day it might be around when you need it the most
TotW 82a: The "Reap what you Sow" concert shattered and oblitterated all previous TotW records. 600+ for the storyboard alone, not to mention the 10 sterling entries. It was a very compeditive meet with Bucket of Lithium claiming victory by merely a single vote. Mega was so distraught over the failure of his piece "The three times that I fell in love with you" that he collapsed of was wisked away to a "Rest Farm" for the better part of the following week.
TotW 82a: The Storyboard Picture
TotW 82a: The Tale
Westron wind, when will thou blow?
The lyrics came unbidden, bursting forth from half-remembered fireside nights and the cajoling of taverns. Here they were out of place upon fields of grassy sheen and striking shades. In the city of longing and of love and of life they deserved to roam, free to enter the ear of the young, foolish men away from the battlefield.
The small rain down can rain.
The building patter of the swelling storm’s downpour had long endured. From one side it appeared a cascade of tears upon the faces of the other. That purplish beast above would not relent until a mighty upheaval capable of rending the heavens. A horn sounded faintly from behind, a dim murmur drowned by the now marching of feet.
Christ, if my love were in my arms,
The feet fell harder and faster and the horns boomed louder and no halt could now be made. Onwards and onwards the minds of men focused, yet each carried the selfsame thought. What would be left behind in this mad dash, this flurry of arms and clash of speed, lightening crash and tearing force. Love could not catch this pace and still ever onwards the charge! Thunder! Soldier shattered with splintering shields and swung swords and storm breaking!
And I in my bed again.
TotW 83a: Valadur squashed any semblance of competition with his entry "the beginning of the end". Mega thinking there was an easy victory to be had {boy was he wrong} Lollygaged with his entry and missed the cutoff. After putting his fist through the nearest wall, once he was told that his entry was invalid, he followed this up by smashing one of the TV monitors on his way out of the assembly Hall. Never fear, he wasn't charged for damages, with the expense being syphoned from TotW's quarterly budget.
TotW 83a: The Storyboard
TotW 83a: The Tale
The gate rumbled as the foul demonspawn beat against the metal hinges again...
One hundred Boletarian soldiers, the last bastion in Boletaria, all armed to the teeth and prepared to fight to the death, stood ready to beat back the invaders. The city of Boletaria had fallen prior to the Demon assault on the Palace, the Boletarian Army had been masacred on the walls and over a million citizens of the once great Kingdom were devoured by the Demon Horde.
When one died, two more took its place, and when one of us fell, there was just an empty hole in the line. Beings all mythical appearances, blob throwing javelins, flying humanoid beasts, hordes of Zombie like creatures, skeletons of the conjured dead...and dragons, flying dragons that breathed fire.
The whole of Boletaria had fallen to these creatures. Millions of men, women, and children lay dead across the once peaceful plains. We never expected this...never...
"Soldiers of Boletaria!" shouted a uniformed Officer standing on an overturned wagon. "We are all that is left. We defend the honour of our Kingdom, and we will honour our dead by driving these foul creatures back into oblivion from which they came".
The Boletarian Palace was an ideal place to defend. A pass in the mountains seperated it from the city itself and at the end of the pass was the gate which we were defending now. Behind us is a long, bridge like staircase, on which the other end lies a gate, and a labryinth of Palace rooms. Beyond the second gate lies a large chamber, and a corridor that leads to the a long bridge, guarded by battle towers of immense structure. Then lies another, narrow gate, which behind lies what used to be an Arena where all the Boletarian national games were held. Beyond that is a maze of alleys and majestic pathways that lead up to the Palace itself, and the throne of our King, Allant XII.
The Demons beat upon the gate again with whatever dreaded force they had mustered behind it. Dozens of Boletarian soldiers poured down the stairs by the second as whatever man governed the city ordered the final strength of Boletaria to defend the gate.
I stood in the third row of the massive shield wall that nervously held together behind the gate. Behind us stood dozens of crossbowmen, ready to fire a rain of bolts into the first enemies that breached the gate. On the barbican of the gate itself stood nearly fifty crossbowmen, already subject to the sight beneath them.
"What do you see?" cried the Officer upon the wagon.
"A mass of Dreglings and Skeletons gather beneath us", cried the Officer on the wall. "I'll report anything capable of breaking down the gate". Dreglings, those are what the Zombie like creatures are called. Easy to kill and usually armed with nothing, but dangerous in masses.
"Once they take this bridge, the trebuchets on the wall will be fired to blow the bridge, okay!"
"Do you think they'll break through?" asked a green face recruit behind me.
"Definately", answered an older veteran, "from my experience, they'll bring something that'll cause us all to die within seconds".
I sighed. The man was probably right. I'd seen towering monstrosities destroying the largest buildings in the city below. Entire fortifications had been overcome in minutes because of how much the Demons outmatched the Soldiers. And now they have numbers on their side.
"Captain!" shouted a man upon the wall. "A dragon! And...Captain there is a huge..." Suddenly the krenels on the Barbican were blown from the wall as a huge blade, the size of a small tree, decaptitated them as if they were bread. Dozens of soldiers were blown off the wall, their dying screams ending as the ground rushed up to meet them. Suddenly dozens of winged beasts, humanoids but with demon faces and wings, rushed over the barbican, lifting the few remaining soldiers on the wall and dropping them into the huge moat next to the large staircase bridge.
A stone the size of a melon bounced off my shield as I lifted it to shield myself from debris. If a Demon could just destroy the barbican as if it was thin air, then what good could I do with this sword? And this shield? Fear nearly overcame me in that moment and I felt like fleeing, I had better chances surviving then than I do here now.
Suddenly the gate rumbled a hole, the size of a large shield, was blown open in the metal doorway. I tensed and tightened the grip of my sword and shield. It was only moments until I would meet death in some horrible fashion.
"You three", said the officer, pointing to me and two other men. I hoped he would send me off to run messages back to the Palace and save me from this disaster. "Go check whats on the other side of the gate. Just looks through that hole...and report to me". I nearly succumbed to despair in that moment. Out of nearly the one thousand soldiers waiting in this general area, me and two others would be sent on a suicide mission.
I stepped forward first, followed by my two companions, which happened to be that recruit and that veteran who had spoken earlier. All was silent as we approached the gate, not a sound from the outside, or a sound from our own comrades.
I tried to edge away from the hole as I walked, but the Older Veteran noticed my movements and grabbed me by the shoulder. "I've seen enough death to know that my life isn't important", he said, "I'll look through the hole".
"That's very kind of you sir", I stuttered.
"It wasn't a favour", said the man.
Me and the recruit, who's name was Teryadrin, leant back against the suddenly weak and fragile gate as the Veteran slowly approached the gate with his sword drawn. He stopped and looked through, and then suddenly drove his sword through the gap, which was followed by the groan of a dying Dregling. I looked at the Veteran and noticed him smiling, but suddenly his face turned into an avatar of shock as a long, sharp and glowing blade penetrated through the gate and lodged itself deep within the man's spine.
Teryadrin cried out something incoherent and I quickly grabbed him and began to run back towards our own lines. Suddenly the world behind me seemed to explode as a huge, studded boot, smashed through the gate, shattering its hinges and sending shards flying in every direction. I nearly dove back into my own lines, Teryadrin in tow, who I nudged back behind the first row, where I now stood.
I turned and face a horrifying site I would remember for the rest of my life. A lone figure stood there, standing abot seven feet tall and holding a sword nearly the same length as his height. He was clad in gold and silver armour, but his figure seemed to be covered in a blue glow.
Suddenly the figure swung its sword and the body of the Veteran, which had been impaled on its tip, landed uselessly in front of our line.
"It's the Penetrator!" cried one of the soldiers.
I couldn't help myself from snickering at that comment, and I knew I wasn't alone. However, the comic moment was soon replaced by fear as a horde of Dreglings charged us, with fists, knives and the broken swords of the damned. The Penetrator strode in behind the horde, but what really captivated our view was the horror upon the broken barbican. A dragon, its scales the same colour as the fire it breathed, perched and suddenly leapt into the air.
I barely glanced away and managed to intercept the first Dregling that crashed heedlessly into our line. I shuddered as my blade pierced its corpereal flesh. I raised my shield and let a second one crash into it, while skewering a third one which dodged it. I quickly took the initiative and swung my shield across to my right, knocking away two Dreglings while stepping forward and stabbing the one that had fallen to the ground from bouncing off my shield.
I realised the men to my left and right had been quickly slain, leaving my flanks unprotected. I tried to step away but fell over the body of one of my fallen comrades and landed on the cold, blood soaked ground. One dreglings leapt onto me but recieved a sword in its throat for its stupidity while a second Dregling was left with a slashed stomach from coming to close. I tried to edge away from the fighting, but was still a few metres from our broken line and two Dreglings leapt atop me before I could gather me defences. One held a knife and stood ready to plunge when....
A huge blade swept across just a metre above me head, slicing the two dreglings in half and as far as I know, everyone standing up within a radius of twenty metres. I looked up and saw what had caused the gate to crash...
A huge Knight like figure, twenty metres high and clad in silver armour, knocked aside the broken barbican as if it was a twig and lifted his blade from his timely saviour of myself. Only thing is now, he wasn't going to accidently save me again. His shield was nearly as high as himself, and to myself, he appeared to be unstoppable.
I looked around and tried to hide myself in the masses of the dead that surrounded me. Only half of our initial force stood standing and most of those were routing back into the Palace Complex. Only about twenty soldiers stood fighting around me and those were quickly being overcome by the masses of Dreglings.
Suddenly I remembered the Trebuchets atop the wall...they were gonna break the bridge...Without thinking I leapt to my feet and ran towards the side of the bridge. Several Dreglings noticed and moved to intercept me, but fear had taken a hold of me and my own goal was to get off this bridge.
Suddenly I stopped, without knowing, it was as if my feet had turned to stone. I slowly turned around and looked at the shadow that had suddenly shrouded my view. It stood there, the Tower Knight, with its massive shield, ready to end my existence. And then I leapt off the bridge, facing the icy cold water dozens of metres below.
It was my only hope...
The water felt like knives digging into my chest...
Nanny de Bodemloze and Lucky Lewis are currently ducking it out with lots of gut-buster laughs to be had. Folks from all over the site have showed up to be part of the goings on. Don't miss the action...
Well folks, that's about it for this edition of TotW coverage. Please stop by next time to catch all the latest up dates. This is Mega for the Eagle Standard saying Godspeed and safe journey...
Last Word
In which Juvenal looks back with satisfaction on another issue
Well, there it is. I am most grateful to my loyal crew: Killerbee, Mega Tortas de Bodemloze and Sun without whom you would have been subjected to nothing more than my own inane ramblings and my obsession with lists. So, if you liked Artist's Gallery this month, please don't forget to direct your rep towards them.
Feel free to post your comments. Praise, (constructive) criticism or suggestions for changing our scope are all welcome. If you have a hankering to join our merry crew of writers then please PM our esteemed editor, Saint Nicholas.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Captains Cabin AKA Modder Spotlight and Interviews
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the next edition of the Eagle Standard! This month I have managed to track down an elusive Welshman. Welshmen are extremely strange creatures and hopefully by this interview you will learn a little more on their natural habitat.
Modder Interview by Grimbold
Advance to Contact is a mod for Sega's great game "Empire: Total War". Led by the ambitious Darkhorse, the team has so far made great strides in making new skins and models for the project. The premise of the mod is that it hopes to accurately portray the war in Afghanistan. Featuring an aggressive AI and battle formations for factions like the Taliban, this mod will surely be one of the best for ETW once it's released!
Follow Grimbold as he interviews Darkhorse about the mod.
Well, if I, Belisarius, the Black Prince, and you all agree on something, I really don't think there can be any further discussion.
- Simetrical 2009 in reply to Ferrets54
Re: The Eagle Standard Total War Resouce Publication Volume IX Issue I
Thanks for another great issue Belisarius and the rest of the team. I have been missing this over the last month!
You have missed the first content box tab on Mitches interveiw is my only critisim (oh and that i wish i had a lawn and chair to sit on, id probably take my laptop and keep modding while i was out there though)!
Re: The Eagle Standard Total War Resouce Publication Volume IX Issue I
The Eagle has landed. Nice edition guys!
The NTW based French RPG started and raised by our very own Captain Fozdike, and his chummy Amaz, still lives: a very respectable feat for an RPG up against the giants of GSTK and YATS as most usually die within the first month.
So, firstly, a congratulations and round of applause for Fozzie for making a RPG that caters to the tastes of both the RPG enthusiast and the Imperial nut, so it is unsurprising that in the first week of its birth it received 14 registers for new characters! Neither YATS or GSTK, in their first weeks, had that many. The game features an unprecedented array of professions for players to follow, so that each person can carve their own legend into the game without having to crawl through the muck of common-hood. Professions include scholars, generals and Clergy.
Now to the events that have transpired: the game has already encountered exciting obstacles such as war, a difficult case of diplomacy with the Danes, and the notorious assassin, Mr Cutts, has kidnapped the Emperor (!) What is to become of him is not certain, but what is easy to foresee is the rich and vibrant amount of RP liable to stem from this.
I almost missed this. Thank you for the comments, Sun.
Son of Major Darling | House of Caesars | Content Writer | My Workshop | Moderator