M Helsdon

Needs a leather grip? Maybe shark skin imported from the Holy Country?

A few thoughts about creating all the spot illos for this project... After a lapse of decades, when I used to draw for a few fanzines (there's some of my earlier work in The Eye of All-Seeing Wonder, and some sf fanzines) when this book went out to designated reviewers, the most tricky comment was: needs some illustrations showing people wearing the armor described. As a result, the first four were sketched out (all now redone or reworked) and it then became apparent that other chapters could do with a few similar sketches. And things snowballed from there. Initially the sketches were done on cartridge paper, and this meant that they were entirely line. One day I wanted to draw a Praxian bison but found I'd left the pad at home, and only had smooth paper to hand... The cross-hatching was easier; the paper didn't tear, and it was easier to create shading. As a result started drawing on this paper, and then had a light box for Christmas which meant it was possible to judge shading more accurately. Cue a redrawing exercise of almost every old picture. So here we are, with around seventy (or eighty?) images (tend to count riding animals separately from the rider). Now, these images aren't to a professional standard; the poses are usually more than a bit stiff, and there are only so many ways to draw a hoplite standing 'at ease' but the style seems to fit what is in effect a text book on ancient warfare, with added magic and gods. Have no idea what this art would cost from an artist (what would probably take a professional an hour takes me a day) but suspect to ask a pro to do these would be approaching $800? Or more? However, they aren't cost free: pens perhaps $40, paper $25, and new 'reading' glasses (waiting for them now) $150? Having assessed the 'white space' there's room for one more half page illo, probably of a Tarsh cavalryman. After that, whether any more get added depends on where this document goes. The pagination is now fairly fixed, so to add more spot illos would require a combination of text and sketches to fill two pages, and there aren't many places that could go. It would be nice for every regiment in the Army Lists to have an illo, but that would take another year to do, and there are three regiments I have no details about, so at present their details are blank; for one, I just have the name.

Interesting, and logical, but can I treat this as canonical? Maybe @Jeff could confirm? Thank you. I'd like to think this project is almost complete. Today's sketch of a Shargash-worshipping hoplite. May do a little digital rework on it tomorrow. Decided to make the helm taller to either indicate or simulate cranial deformation as some worshippers of Shargash appear to follow that custom. This will be going into the Regional Warfare chapter - will probably have to delete a piece of Chaosium owned artwork there to make room for it. Addendum - second version added, as it looked as if he were wearing spectacles. (Trying to merge a Corinthian helmet with an Assyrian conical helmet with a skull mask...)

'Doing something else' would probably be: doing something not related to Glorantha. Have thought so several times, but then either new information comes to light or I think of something necessary but not yet in. This is how what was intended to be a seventy page book became 370+ pages... It is now in the 99.8% complete phase. Yes. Meanwhile, filling in white space in the Appendices. This one will illustrate the 'Phalanx Commands' section. As a rule attempt to ensure that the sketches are relevant to the section they appear in and are not just fillers - but so far one is a filler. Information on Gloranthan sappers and other siege engineers is non-existent so have been wary of attempting to draw one - don't even know what regiments (Lunar/Sartar) they'd belong to. This hoplite is intended to display a mixture of Dara Happan and modern Lunar styles. I now have sketches of Pelandan, Darjiini, Dara Happan, and Lunar hoplites. Hmm, there may be another subtype that might be illustrated...

Yes, you are correct. I haven't seen GoG so don't know if the spell has been renamed.

I have seen an outline of Polaris, but not the GoG preview. 8-( My suspicion is that whilst Humakti Battalion standards (battalion, and lesser standards for each Hundred) might hold the spirits of favored Humakti heroes, they would probably be those assigned by the god, not volunteers. Being sacrificed as ghosts would seem to contravene Humakt's hatred of undead, but I can see favored spirits being assigned their final duty as guardian spirits (suspect the Humakti spirit in the Snakepipe Hollow scenario is an extreme example).

I might - but there's no more room! A few fantastic beasts have already been drawn: a Black Horse and a Unicorn. Plus a giant wasp. Am presently torn between trying to illustrate all the regiments (Lunar, Sartarite, Holy Country etc.) or doing something else. Unless there's a major info dump (Gloranthan or real world ancient warfare) I am leery of letting the page count increase - it is already at 360 + index. And a friend has asked vaguely for some Tekumel sketches. Here's the updated minis image. It doesn't include every ink sketch (missing a chariot and three types of horse harness), and there's also a map, several diagrams, and some montages.

There's a major distinction between community wyters, which are primarily defensive, and regimental standards, which are not. Whilst a clan or tribe, or city could take their wyter to war, its loss or depletion would be catastrophic. Many regimental wyters, whether of Humakti battalia or Stone Wall phalanxes are centuries old, if not more, and correspondingly powerful, and often supplemented by lesser military standards of companies. The third group are magical regiment wyters which act to focus the combined magic of their magicians, their servants, and any others bound into their ceremonies. I am probably wrong, but the rules at present, seem to mainly deal with the first variety.

Latest, and perhaps 'last' as all gaps, save in a chapter I don't intend to mess with, are now full. Have to decide whether to continue sketching... If I don't draw for a few days, seem to lose some of the control in my fingers - maybe it exercises the arthritis to a degree? The book is effectively 'done' until new information becomes available. For more sketches to be added, would require 8-10 infantry or four or five cavalry, or a mixture thereof, or more text. All the sources available to me are exhausted, and the last book on ancient warfare I read a week ago, inspired a single extra sentence. This is a member of the Green Bow cult, wearing green woad camouflage... Woad can be used to make many colors, not just blue.

Here's what they look like on the two page spread.

Latest, and perhaps last. There's no more gaps in the book. EDIT: having reformatted the text, there's still room for one more.... Also, the picture which inspired this sketch.

Today's sketch. This hoplite has his closed helm propped up on his head because they are claustrophobic to wear and significantly reduce vision and hearing. He'll slip his helmet down when combat is imminent.

And... done. Am now filling white space in my layout, so this sketch isn't related to the chapter it concludes. In the book it occupies about half a page. Almost as much remains at the end of another chapter, so I am deliberating whether to do two infantry sketches, or one cavalry... ADDENDUM: figures re-merged as the rider is a little bit too large... Now sketching out the next two (they are related).

First component of the next sketch: 'complete'. These days tend to draw complex pictures in bits so that if, for example, the rider or mount goes wrong, I haven't lost the entire thing. It's all ink crosshatching, but oddly when scanned looks more like pencil. There are some supporting chains for the harness to be drawn, either with white ink or digitally. Might adjust the nose ring. This is a Bison Priscus, but not one in Prax. The extinct priscus were larger than modern species. I suspect that being charged by a regiment of these beasties would be a bit... daunting.

If I recall correctly (it's a few years ago) there were issues (availability of any free time) so that the promised article was never written. When this was mentioned, during the reviewing phase of the Guide, I volunteered to write a text box and it was included in the Guide on page 704 - my primary source was Cults of Terror, so there's no new insights there.

Well, the book is again about 98% complete (though with every delay it grows...) and whilst the level of illustration (in both quality and quantity) doesn't approach that of a Chaosium book (there's roughly one picture on every fourth page) it doesn't look too bad. Probably only room for one more sketch, and I believe it will feature a bison rider from Jarst... Here are the first forty pages...

Latest.

Well, I now have 70-75 sketches (uncertainty caused by some being composed of multiple figures) and there's now only one chapter with space for more: Gods of War. So... I'm going to have to thing about drawing more priests/magicians, though hopefully in regimental panoply. At present my mind has gone blank - other than I don't want to draw more hoplites! Not quite all of the sketches in miniature below.

Latest.

New drawing. Darjiini traditional hoplite (based on very slim canonical material so might be non-canonical). This was supposed to fill a gap in the document, but such are the vagaries of Word, the chapter still needs another picture...

240,446 words. Tomorrow I start another sketch.

Ah. Now two thirds through proofreading. One problem is that whilst some of it involves detecting duplications and removing (most of) them, am also finding places where I can add more stuff: realised I had a reference to Granite (not to be confused with Granite Man I believe) but no real explanation. Then realised someone had shared an old draft document with some information about Granite... Also accidentally found the Chaosium RQ writing guidelines, so have implemented those, and then downloaded and installed the Rune font. Only about twenty Runes in the book, but it improved on using other symbols...

I am minded of ancient Rome where prisons were used to either hold people awaiting legal action, or subsequently (and not for very long) for execution (which could involve strangulation etc. or later being sent as fodder for the Games); 'detention' included being made a debt-slave. You have to go several centuries after the end of the Republic to find prisons holding people as a punishment. In ancient Mesopotamia, several law codes included imprisonment, but this wasn't by the state but the injured party, often with several penalties if the prisoner was seriously harmed; it is unclear how the prisoner was released save by paying their debt and a fine. States preferred to have the 'prisoners' employed in work gangs.

Thank you - but I went for bottom row, second from right. Wanted to find a combination that displayed as much as possible. Another constraint was allowing text to wrap around image; in my layout this is on an even page and there's a text box in the right hand column.