It appeared on a naked hilltop on the edge of the grasslands one day; a tall tower of dirty yellow brick wreathed in a mist of the same hue: The Tower of Kobel Yar. Some of the simple folk of the hills left their cliff dwellings and ventured down to the tower, and Kobel Yar came down among them. Some fled from Kobel Yar and his troop of stone devils, but others were over-awed by his power. Foolishly, they chose to enter into his service, and they passed within the doors of The Yellow Tower. Years later they would re-emerge as his mutant servants, twisted and degenerate, utterly loyal to the fiend who had enslaved them.
Here Kobel Yar rides into battle astride the shoulders of one of the gargoyle servants who invariably accompany him on his evil errands.
The figure is the classic Ral Partha 'Wizard on Flying Demon' by Tom Meier, an old favorite from my childhood.
"Taste the wrath of Kobel Yar!!"
The people of the cliff-dwellings were not the only ones to be seduced into the service of Kobel Yar. The creature known as The Mutant Giant was once the Mountain Giant Furmm. During the years after he entered into the service of The Yellow Tower, Furmm became twisted and distorted beyond recognition by the potions and torments of the Master of the Tower. Shunned by his own kind and nearly mindless, the thing which once was Furmm the giant now roams the jungles and deserts, seizing and devouring luckless travelers, and spearheading the attacks of the host of Warband in battle.
Old Grenadier Gug. A gift from my best chum, J. Have wanted him for many years.
The ultimate reward of service to The Yellow Tower is written on the bodies of Kobel Yar's mutant servants, some of whom are shown here. All were once ordinary men.
The misshapen thing now known as 'Mother Mutant'. Once she was the matriarch of an important clan of cliff-dwellers. Now an obscene flesh sculpture, she leads her clan into battle for The Master of the Yellow Tower. An old pre-slotta Citadel Beast Man.
The clans-mutants are almost all ancient Ral Partha demons and hunchbacks, with a couple of RAFM Sand Dwellers stirred in...
Some of the mutants doing what they do best...gesticulating menacingly and threatening mindless violence.
More mutants...both hunchbacks from the old 'Children of the Night' line...
From the battlements of The Yellow Tower the Gargoyles, Kobel Yar's oldest and most trusted servants, leer down at the plains below.
Sadistic and depraved beyond the ken of ordinary men, these creatures terrorize the countryside for miles around, flying out day and night to spy out the land and to seize captives to carry back to unimaginable torments in the belly of The Tower...
Most of these are figures Tom Meier did for Ral Partha but this fellow is a Metal Magic Sculpt.
I'm not very pleased with how the Gargoyles came out but I guess they will have to do. I also had a pack of giant bugs I was going to use as lesser war beasts. All nice old Grenadier sculpts but I screwed them up and they are going into the dip for another go round on another day. That's ok because I'd like to add another Mutant pack and some other creepy crawlies to the horde soon so I'll be visiting The Yellow Tower again anyway.
This came about in large part because of
Daniel Mersey's Dragon Rampant game. For years I'd been looking for a simple, flexible alternative to Warhammer which I could use to create armies of the classic Ral Partha, RAFM and Grenadier minis I love so much and pit them against each other in blood curdling skirmishes. Dragon Rampant is nice for this because everybody uses the same army list and what figures you use to represent the generic troop types are largely a matter of taste. My tastes often run toward the weird as you can see. DR allows me to give full rein to my twisted imagination when I create my war bands and I appreciate that. The game is very simple, maybe too simple to be able to hold my interest forever but I've played a few games with old friends and so far everyone has enjoyed it. There will be a lot more of these weird little armies appearing here in the future so if you liked this one watch this space.
The War Band of Kobel Yar:
Kobel Yar and Gargoyle Mount: Leader, Light Missile unit, Flier, Spellcaster.............10 pts
Gargoyle Troop: Bellicose Foot, Fliers............................................................................6 pts
Mutant Pack: Light Foot....................................................................................................3 pts
The Mutant Giant: Greater Warbeast................................................................................6 pts
Total...................................................................................................................................25 pts
