Bodak

Bridge too Far: 21-30

I think this set is the first time I made a conscious effort to create characters who you'd see looking nervous before the fighting stared; shooting back once the battle began; getting hit as the battle progressed; and finally lying dead as the fighting raged on.

Bridge Too Far: 11-20

Angel Corps: Bridge too Far: 1-10

I had so much fun making this set, though it took bloody ages! Still using good old Vicky 4 and the original bodysuit, though now completely re-textured with icons and really tiny names that you can hardly see!

T7: Alba

Things weren't going to plan; that much was obvious. In all the chaos and the shooting, Alba had rather lost track of how many of the black-clad gun-women she'd encountered, but the definition of 'light resistance' had been stretched to breaking point. There were more of them up at the top of the stair-well, shooting down, their pistol slugs cracking against the concrete balustrade and the wall behind her. She braced her own weapon and fired back, her toned thighs beginning to burn a little f...

Elves vs Goblins: 21-22

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, the sky is thick with hissing shafts that plop into the mud and crunch into timber. Some crunch into flesh as well: Poorly-made and poorly-aimed, nevertheless there are enough Goblin arrows that some find a target, if only by ill-fate.

Luned cries out as she feels the bite of one, even as Heulwen and the other Rangers return fire. Falling, her dying eyes  behold the distant Goblin fort; forever out of her reach now. Purging it will have to fall to her ...

Battle at the Forest's Edge

First Tier 1 render of 2025!

It'll be a while before the hand-to-hand fighting starts in my Elves vs Goblins story. Here's a battle scene I put together for the fun of it, using some of the characters from the story.

Cyberpunk Subway

I think I posted one of the renders from this set earlier- these are the other three that made it.

Elves vs Goblins: 18 - 20

Cautious, tense; the Elven Rangers come closer. The Goblins have left wagons, axes, hewn timber and up-rooted stumps out in the cleared area. Their cloying stink hangs on the still air.

Lurking behind their palisades and perched in their towers, the Goblin archers stretch their bows, eager with anticipation. Strings stretch; barbed arrow-heads ready to fly- the She-Elves are well within range now. One eager archer can wait no longer…

One crooked shaft flies through the dawn air,...

More meat for the grinder!

The fight for the goblin fort was always intended to be pretty brutal, but now that I've decided to go back and add in some attrition in the shield-wall before the close-combat fight starts, I've realised that I need a lot more Glade Knights.

I've had a bit of time today and yesterday to crank out some more warriors for the battle: Now I just need to go back and slip a few of them into the earlier build-up scenes.

Underwater effects

Although Jollypops kindly shared with me how she does her underwater renders, I confess that I didn't really understand it. I also reckoned I'd be quicker using pre-saved GIMP overlays and distort effects rather than something in-render.

Here's the look I think I've settled on. You've already seen the originals for all of these renders- I've used a ripple effect on the base layer, and then two noise layers at different opacity levels, in dodge mode to create the caustic light effect. 2024-12-28 21:28:26 +0000 UTC View Post

Scene components

Although I'm mainly working on the fight at the gate in my Elves vs Goblins set, I've also felt the need to go back and add a few extra renders earlier in the story-line: In particular, I thought that the part where the shieldwall of Glade Knights approaches the fort needed a little more flavour.

Creating the shield-wall has been a big job, requiring multiple renders from left to right. Its even more work when done from the front, because then the woods and the Rangers need rendering t...

Elves vs Goblins 16, 17

Excited by the coming slaughter, they pick out their cruellest arrow-heads, gleefully imagining the pain and the suffering they will inflict. Goblins are maliciously inventive when it comes to tools of war; their arrows are festooned with jagged barbs and wicked hooks: Accuracy willingly traded for the chance to cause a little extra anguish.

Behind their stockades, the archers impatiently await the command to loose, already imagining the sweet taste of Elven blood on their tongues.

Elves Vs Goblins 14, 15

The Goblins, of course, have not fled. If there is one single thing that Goblins can be said to excel at, it is stealth; sneakiness; hiding; ambush; murder.

They are waiting.

Even if the arrogant  Elves had made any effort to conceal their approach, the Goblins would have sniffed out the sweet scent of Elf-flesh approaching from a mile away. Individually, they are cowardly specimens: In a pack, led by their chieftains and surrounded by their own kind, they are possessed of an...

Angels

Last Tier 1 render of 2024: Angels in floaty dresses taking on some Doom Demons! There's a photo-story in the works for a similar concept...

Street by Street

Another of December's renders- I did this for a Men of War II mod I made, using a model based on the Quiet character, downloaded from the internet (sorry, I can't remember where I found it).

Angel Cathedral 21-30

What possessed me to make the McGuffin into an old man, I'll never know.

Angel Cathedral 11-20

Angel Cathedral 1-10

The debut of the Angel Elite! This one follows on straight behind the Angel Grave story as part 2.

Angel Crave 21-25

Angel Grave 11-20

Angel Grave 1-10

This is the second Angel Corps story I made; complete with gothic ruins and boltgun-toting aliens. Obviously heavily inspired by Games Workshop.

Coming up in January

'Tis the season to be sat near a fire, drinking booze and eating too much, and I doubt I'll be much near a computer next week- though I may drop in to do an update somewhere between Christmas and New Year.

Accordingly, I'm going to drop a big update tonight and hammer those inboxes, including the rest of the pre-battle fluff for the Goblins story and another load of Angel Corps pics, plus the outstanding battle pics for Tier 1 subscribers.

In January, I'll be carrying on wi...

Elves vs Goblins 12, 13

Older, more experienced warriors like Haeledd know better than to cling to such hopes. As she advances, she looks in disgust and horror at the harm done to the sacred forest’s trees and she feels its hatred and grief.

It is not reserved solely for the Goblins.

Nor do Luned and Heulwen permit themselves to cling to any vain, selfish hopes of an easy battle. They know that the wounded forest cries out for blood to be spilled in restitution, without which it will know only ever-inc...

Elves vs Goblins 10, 11

Even to eyes as sharp as Elven ones, the Goblin fort appears deserted. Younger, less experienced Rangers like Blodwyn advance with confidence: Perhaps only a handful of Goblins defend the walls, even now quaking in fear and too frightened to come out and fight?

Some, like Ceridwen and Eiriol even dare to hope that the cowardly little creatures have fled entirely, as the Elven women advance unmolested into the killing field. Perhaps the sight of so large a host of Elves has scared them a...

T6: Lola

Stepping cautiously past the slumped body of one of the defenders, Lola kept her eyes and her weapon focused on the top of the stairs. The winding stair-well was heavily defended- they'd already dropped several shooters.

Behind her, Alba's pistol cracked twice, making her flinch. A bullet hissed well overhead, crunched into concrete. "Shooters on the upper landing!" Alba barked, crisp and determined. "Keep moving- push up!"

Easier said than done- Lola quickened her pace slightly, ...

Temporary Notice

Edit: OK, so I've thought about it a bit and I've decided to take the whole thing down for now.

The censor was triggered by the 'T' word, but I'm not sure why this was the first time it had been spotted. It appeared occasionally in some of the other stories too, so I think it's safest if they get deleted for now.

At some point in the future, I'll post a suitable replacement.

5-8: Descent

Ejected from their mothership, the shower of drop-pods plummet towards the world below. As they strike atmosphere, they begin at first to tremble, then shudder, then to shake uncontrollably.

Amy has done this before: She's calm and collected, her mind on the coming fight.

Lola squeezes her eyes shut and clenches her jaw- this is her first orbital drop. She can feel the rising temperature prickling her skin as the fires of re-entry lick the pod's exterior: The thing feels like it ...

Elves vs Goblins 9

They know their duty: The Rangers begin to advance out onto the muddy, barren plain, towards the ugly blight that is the Goblin fort.

The Lady of the Glade watches from her mount, inscrutable and silent. There’s no hiding- no pretense at stealth. The Goblins must know that justice and vengeance has come for them. The forest, too, must know that the Wood Elves are willing to do what is necessary to restore the covenant.

Elves vs Goblins 8

At the vanguard are the Rangers, Aeronwen and Sioned amongst them.

Swift of foot and sharp of eye, these peerless markswomen and expert trackers can put an arrow through a keyhole at super-human distances.

To them falls the unenviable task of leading the assault on the Goblin fort, picking off the archers in its towers to clear the way for the Glade Knights to advance across the muddy, denuded plain. They must bear the brunt of the defending Goblins’ archery, and- outnumbered-...

Elves vs Goblins 7

In the rear, stand the Leafguard: Youngest and poorest of the Sylvan kindreds, they are called to battle only in direst need. That they are here at all speaks to the severity of the threat.

Nervously, they wait to be called forwards, if their elder sisters are unable to do what is needed without aid.