Someone Call the Guard!

How many times has that imperative wrung out in a fantasy RPG? I've been getting ready to run my first session of the Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin, and I've decided to set a lot of the campaign in the city of Denerim, the largest city in the nation of Ferelden. It's a teaming 'burgh, as cities go in this campaign world, and I realized I would need a crack unit of City Guard to enforce the major laws, or perhaps engage in a bit of institutional corruption themselves!

I decided to use some Bretonnian Men-at-Arms models. I re-based these guys on 20mm metal washers, and used some muted tones for their uniforms.







Although it is a magical world, magic is neither frequent nor accepted enough to be used to make everyday things like communication easier. Taking advantage of all of the cool bits on the Bret. sprue, I decided the Denerim City Guard would use trained birds to carry messages to and from their barracks. This could let them call for reinforcements, or report on a pressing investigation, or perhaps even make a corrupt sergeant aware that his smuggling contact had just entered a certain tavern.

Here's the Guard Sergeant with one of his messenger birds:



This is a perfect example of how sometimes fleshing a concept out in miniature can spawn new ideas for my campaigns. It's why I believe so strongly in using miniatures for most of my games. Anyway, I've got at least two more guardsmen to work on, and then I will move on to some other characters.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

--Scott