Hero Forge - Modern Anubite (night camo) by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

Back in December I stumbled on Hero Forge, which seems to be the best-quality and fullest-featured custom miniature maker on the Web. How I found it is lost to memory, but I had so much fun with it that I bit the bullet and registered an account, as it lets you save mockups for free.

Revisionist interpretations were fresh on the mind when Taniciusfox launched the ill-fated ATEN in 2013, and the Black Guard was a foolish attempt to play to the GM's furry bias. As I opted to recycle the United Arab Republic for the superior Imperium Offtopicum XIV, the Guard was put on the bench as I figured out a feasible sci-fi angle. The result was, narratively-speaking, a much richer product; unfortunately, I'd barely even scratched the long-arc before that game too imploded. Ironically, despite heavy suggestions in chat, I never explicitly described what they were.

Night camo version of this piece. Strictly speaking, if this was proper kit they'd be wearing helmets, but for the purpose of the model this makes a sleeker profile.

Fast fact: Khamsin, chamsin or hamsin (Arabic: خمسين ḫamsīn), more commonly known in Egypt as khamaseen (Egyptian Arabic: خماسين ḫamāsīn), is a dry, hot, sandy local wind affecting Egypt and the Levant. From the Arabic word for "fifty", these dry, sand-filled windstorms blow sporadically in Egypt over a fifty-day period in spring, hence the name. When the storm passes over an area, lasting for several hours, it carries great quantities of sand and dust from the deserts, with a speed up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph; 76 knots), and the humidity in that area drops below 5%. Even in winter, the temperatures rise above 45° C (113° F) due to the storm. The sand storms are reported to have seriously impeded both Napoleon's military campaigns in Egypt as well as Allied-German fighting in North Africa in World War II. . .

Hero Forge © Sky Castle Studios.

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt July 2022.]