Bullshott Goes Underwater - pictures from Beachhead show game

[Chairface]

Great looking project. Nicely done.

[Bullshott]

With the discovery of humanoid races on other planets and the many accounts of such creatures amongst the legends and folklore of Earth's nations, mankind was still in a total state of surprise when underwater explorers first made contact with the gillmen. The famous British anthropologist Sir Nicholas Malamute named this race the Merrow after aquatic creatures of Celtic myth, while other nations named them after such creatures of their own folklore. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the popular press just named them "mermen" and devoted a lot of column ink to hypothesising what the females of the species looked like!

An important ritual and social occasion for the Merrow appears to be the hunt, wherein Merrow hunting parties seek to kill dangerous prey as a mark of their leaders' prowess. Typical hunting parties comprise one or more groups, each of which has a warrrior leader and a number of armed followers/assistants. Most encounters to date with Merrow have involved such hunting parties, probably as a result of humans inadvertently moving onto Merrow hunting grounds. This has ended up on a number of occasions with the humans becoming prey for the hunt, while at other times they were ignored by the hunters and became witnesses to the kill.

Other encounters have been with solitary Merrow, who appear to be young warriors seeking to hone their fighting and hunting skills. In some cases these lone warriors have acted as scouts for human exploration parties.

With the exception of the limited information gleaned from encouters with solitary Merrow or hunting parties, little is known of Merrow physiology or society. Merrow have both gills and lungs, enabling them to operate in the air as well as under water (although their bodies are optimised for operating in water, making them somewhat clumsy moving on land). They have good technological skills, being able to manufacture spearguns using compressed gas. Their artistry and manufacturing skill is undisputed; as shown by the intricate work on their weapons and their unique armour fashioned from the hides of creatures of the deep. Nothing more is currently known about settlements and culture of this elusive race, although many have hypothesised, especially in the popular press.

Merrow scout equipped with human speargun:

[OSHIROmodels]

Great stuff 

[Sterling Moose]

Fantastic!!

[3 fingers]

Your merrow are outstanding 👍

[Bloggard]

absolutely brilliant.

[Panama]

Very cool.

[einarolafson]

Very interesting thread!!

[Bullshott]

While I am finishing painting the spearmen for my first force, I thought it would be a good idea to share some pictures that show what 'look' I wan to achieve for this project. We're talking VSF, so I want the game to have a recognisable 19th century feel, rather than go yoo fare in the direction of steampunk mad science (well, at least for now ...).

My original inspiration was 20000 Leagues, so let's start with some of the original illustrations:



More recently, I've discovered the illustrations of Albert Robida:



Finally, the real 19th century technology that influenced the Verne and Robida's: the Rouquayrol-Denayrouze diving apparatus; designed in 1860 to save miners in flooded mines and adapted for diving in 1864.

[Bullshott]

To add some variety to available weapon options, I've converted a some divers to replace their spearguns with boarding pikes (in the style of the Robida illustrations):



The complete crew:

[gamer Mac]

Nice project really starting to come together

[OSHIROmodels]

Good stuff Dave 

[Elk101]

Looking good. I like how you're using the old illustrations as a basis for your conversions.

[Malamute]

Underwatertastc.

[Bullshott]

Thanks for the comments chaps. Painting has started on the next faction plus the first item of VSF technology. Watch this space ...