Swords Against Darkness: Old School Dungeon Party #1

Great were the realms of the Kings of Law in ancient days.  Far have they fallen.  Their empire has withered, their culture has decayed.  Their descendants have been pushed against the great western ocean and here, in a narrow and constricted realm, they cling to life and to the memory of their former glory.  The lands they still control are small, overpopulated, often swept by famine and disease, hemmed in on all sides by the forces of nascent Chaos.  The armies of the latter day Kings of Law are small and weak, pale shadows of the mighty legions which broke the power of Chaos a thousand years past.  These armies are largely provincial and immobile, barely enough to hold back the darkness of encroaching Chaos, quite unable to take the offensive.  Thus it seems that the Kings of Law must finally fall.  But there is a new cult growing in the dying realms of Law.  Each year a bold and seasoned few strike out in small bands into the territory of chaos, raiding and plundering it's strongholds, laying low it's beasts and champions, waging desperate war in dark places, and often with no-one to know. 

Some are crusaders, determined to rid the realms of the threats which press upon their borders.  Others are soldiers of fortune, desperate but ambitious men hoping to carve their own tiny kingdoms out of the wilderness.  Some are seekers, scouring the ruins of the ancients for traces of lost knowledge to bring home to their dying homelands. For such men and women, often raised in abysmal poverty and the absence of hope, the thought of an anonymous death in the dark is less a source of terror than the that of a life of fruitless toil, or of the final fall of the ragged remnants of their homelands.  Careless of hardship, contemptuous of death, It is men and women such as these who daily take the fight to the powers of chaos.  If there is any hope in the world for Law and light, it must surely lie with the emerging Adventurer class.  Indeed, some dare to hope that the Adventurers are the vanguard of a renaissance which will restore the Kingdoms of Law to their former glory.  A vain hope, perhaps....but men must find hope somewhere, if they are to have any chance at all...


  

Well, here are a few representatives of the Adventurer class. I have actually really been struggling with these old lead minis...It took a long time and a lot of strippings and re-starts to get a party together that looked passable.  I don't know if it's the quality of the metal, or the smaller scale, maybe some of the details have been distorted over the decades or the dark tint of the the old lead or what but it's been hard to get them to look as nice as I'd like...much more difficult than it tends to be with figures cast more recently...

  

Grenadier Fighter and Citadel Paladin....

Grenadier Halfling Female Thief...

Grenadier Dwarf Cleric...

Our Heroes clash with a brace of Shamblers...

Citadel Wizard...really disappointed with how the face came out but from a distance he looks okay, I guess...Anyway, lots more of these still in the lead mountain, so plenty of opportunities remain to get it right.  As my collection of painted monsters grows, I hope to start throwing these adventurer types into mini dungeon skirmish campaigns...

Huzzah!