MATT HASTINGSHOMEFRONT END PHILOSOPHYPROJECTSTHREE HAMMERS
Art · Sep 25, 2026

First contact: the humans

The buildings were approved on sight. The soldiers were sent back for more armour, came back in plate, and are learning to walk.

By Matt Hastings ·

The human faction's concept art: buildings approved on sight, soldiers sent back for more armour, the second pass approved, and the animated pair.

The King's Toll needs humans: a swordsman, an archer, a border keep and a watchtower, drawn so they read as a different race standing next to the dwarves. Concept candidates came back this week as contact sheets, with nothing imported until a pick was made.

Border Keep candidates A, B and C at four by four tiles, a destroyed keep, and Watchtower candidates A and B, beside the dwarven Forge, Hall, a trogg burrow and the dwarven watch tower for scale.
Border Keep candidates A, B and C at four by four tiles, a destroyed keep, and Watchtower candidates A and B, beside the dwarven Forge, Hall, a trogg burrow and the dwarven watch tower for scale.

The buildings, approved

The verdict on the buildings was short: "I like the human buildings." The Border Keep is candidate B, a half-timbered hall with a hoarded corner tower, a walled yard and a gate. The Watchtower is candidate B, a jettied half-timber storey with an open archer deck. Warm limestone, dark slate and half-timbering are now the direction for every human building to come. Both are imported and stand in the game with construction frames and rubble.

The soldiers, sent back

The first pass: Swordsman A and Archer B in the Warden's blue and in red, facing the dwarven guard, bowman and worker.
The first pass: Swordsman A and Archer B in the Warden's blue and in red, facing the dwarven guard, bowman and worker.

The first soldiers did not pass. "The characters are a little bland. The dwarf characters are a little more exaggerated and armored; I think the human units could be chunkier and more shiny and armored as well, like classic WC2/3 human units." That became the brief for a second pass: plate with big pauldrons, polished highlights, a large team-colour shield, an exaggerated silhouette, while keeping humans taller and slimmer-limbed than the dwarves so the two races never blur together on the field.

The second pass

The second pass beside Keep B: Swordsman A and Archer A in blue and in red, the rejected first-pass pair, and the dwarven shieldguard, guard and bowman for scale.
The second pass beside Keep B: Swordsman A and Archer A in blue and in red, the rejected first-pass pair, and the dwarven shieldguard, guard and bowman for scale.

The verdict this time: "yea, that is the direction we want." The Swordsman is a great helm, huge brass-trimmed pauldrons, polished plate, a big heater shield and a broad sword. The Archer wears a studded brigandine with the same pauldrons, a big quiver and a pale bow. Both stand about 56 pixels in the cell, taller than the dwarves and with smaller heads, so a mixed field still reads at a glance.

Learning to walk

The animated pair: the Swordsman idle, walking and striking, the Archer drawing and releasing, both in blue and red, and both dead, beside Keep B.
The animated pair: the Swordsman idle, walking and striking, the Archer drawing and releasing, both in blue and red, and both dead, beside Keep B.

The Swordsman now walks, strikes and dies in all eight headings. Four attack headings are clean; three point the strike toward screen-right no matter which way the unit faces, the same failure the Sharpshooter had, and are flagged rather than accepted. The Archer is held at two headings until the generation quota refills. None of it is in the game yet: the next lane imports what passed, and the flagged headings get another roll.

← back to the log The roster →