Design Diary: Army Standard Bearer (Patreon)

When I started designing the Evil Dwarf Army Standard Bearer, I knew I wanted the main army standard to be an enormous icon rather than a traditional cloth banner.

It needed the bull iconography, heavy metalwork and industrial elements that tied it directly into the rest of the Evil Dwarf army, but it also needed to be big. When this thing appears amongst the ranks, there should be absolutely no question about what the legion is marching beneath.

Where the project became much more interesting was the magical standards.

Looking back through the Old World material, there were several magical banners with brief descriptions but not a lot else to visually define them. As far as I'm aware, these had never really been represented as physical models either.

That was both creatively freeing... and surprisingly challenging.

I couldn't really imagine an Evil Dwarf army, with all its iron, armour and heavy industrial character, marching beneath great flowing cloth banners. So I ruled those out pretty quickly.

Instead, I wanted each standard to feel like something the Evil Dwarfs had built, captured or desecrated.

At the same time, they still needed to look like they belonged to the same army. No matter which standard you chose, it couldn't suddenly feel completely disconnected from everything standing around it.

That gave me some fun boundaries to work within.

The Ashen Banner

The Ashen Banner is supposed to spew clouds of ash across the battlefield, obscuring the troops marching beneath it.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to mix magic and industry.

The standard essentially has a magically powered furnace built into it. Fire erupts from the eyes and mouth of the great bull icon while the chimneys above belch smoke and ash into the air.

It's easily the largest of the magical standards, and between the extra height, furnace and fire effects, it should make for a pretty impressive sight amongst a unit.

I also anticipated this one having a little more weight when printed, so the connection point was deliberately made more substantial.

The Enforcer Glyph

This one is much simpler, but probably tells one of the clearest stories.

The central glyph means "Slave", fitting for a standard whose purpose is essentially to enforce obedience amongst those unfortunate enough to serve the Evil Dwarfs.

Manacles form part of the icon itself, while two Hobgoblin heads have been skewered onto the standard as a fairly unsubtle reminder of what happens to those who aren't sufficiently devoted.

Simple. Symbolic. Sadistic.

Very Evil Dwarf.

And yes... you may notice a few design elements here that could prove useful when some Hobgoblins eventually start skulking around the forge.

The Lamassu Head

This might be my favourite of the lot.

There was something incredibly Evil Dwarf about taking a powerful magical creature and rather than revering it...

Ripping its face off and turning it into a banner.

The idea is that the magical properties of the creature remain within the severed head. So rather than waste that power, the Evil Dwarfs have crudely chained it to a standard and marched it into battle. Just another source of power to achieve their goals.

It's brutal, practical and completely irreverent towards the magical creature whose power they're exploiting; which feels very much in keeping with the philosophy we've been developing around the Evil Dwarfs.

There is another little reason I enjoyed making this one.

You'll be seeing this particular creature again next month.

Although that version will hopefully be considerably more alive...

The Flayed Skin

And then there's the unpleasant one.

The lore describes this as being rumoured to be the flayed hide of an unknown ancestor.

I initially considered placing the skin inside some sort of elaborate reliquary, but that started feeling far too respectful.

This isn't supposed to be the honoured remains of some revered ancestor.

So instead, the ancient hide has simply been nailed to an iron standard, surrounded by chains and Evil Dwarf iconography.

I imagined the skin as incredibly old rather than freshly flayed, almost like ancient leather, dried and cracked with tears and holes appearing as the centuries have passed.

It also creates a nice opportunity for painters. Runes, scripture, symbols, bloodstains or whatever else you want to add can completely change the story behind the banner.

Building an Army's Identity

This ended up being one of those projects where a relatively simple idea—"make an Army Standard Bearer"—opened up a much bigger design exercise.

And I think that's a good thing.

The modularity of the Evil Dwarf range isn't just about swapping heads and weapons anymore. As the range grows, we're starting to build the visual language of entire armies.

What banners do they march beneath?

What symbols do they recognise?

What magical artefacts have they created?

What creatures have they captured and exploited?

And, perhaps most importantly, what combinations will you use to make your legion different from everyone else's?

For now, though, the standards have been raised.

MM