Warhammer armies: Cathay v2 is coming

[therisnosaurus]

Long time Warseers may remember a fan made Cathay army book that was released in early 2006. Six years have passed since that portentious time (giggle), during which a whole edition of warhammer has come and gone. 8th edition has brought many more sizeable changes to the game and army list formats and styles have changed greatly. It is time for Cathay to be brought up to scratch.

I will be performing most of this task myself, I have in fact already done a lot of the basic design work and begun writing content. I have even in the intervening years taught myself to draw not too badly, so I can produce some more stylish graphic design and artwork for the book. However, to produce a work of the quality of (actually of significantly higher quality than) the original book, I'd like to gather interested souls once more to assist me.

If you are interested and skilled in one of the areas noted below, please drop me a PM or send an email to TheCathayProject@Gmail.com . (Note that I'd like all participants to subscribe to a Gentlemen's NDA during the project, though I can't enforce this) All participants will be referenced clearly with their role and contributions and I will do my best to ensure you are rewarded with more than just glory, though I certainly won't be able to pay people for their work. This is a project for fun, to produce high quality content for your fellow hobbyists and for professional development for those interested in working on highly produced creative projects.

The goal is to produce a work as close as possible to a contemporary warhammer armies book, with additional reference for modellers and gamers interested in undertaking a Cathayan army, such as how to make a list that can be fielded as both a Cathayan army and an official GW list. The end result will hopefully be something you would be proud to stand alongside any of the best existing army books in all regards but overall art quality (I think it's too much to hope that the whole book is illustrated to the level that GW artists bring to the table) and miniature galleries (for obvious reasons)

Concept artist(s):

Concept artist(s) will produce rough designs and sketches to develop the visual feel of Cathay. They may also produce small scale production artwork such as weapons, spacefillers, maps and unit vignettes.

- solid drawing or painting skills, with the ability to digitise artwork with good quality.
- a high level of creativity and willingness to iterate and develop ideas within requirements.
- a knowledge of the styles and nuances of warhammer fantasy artwork and the ability to reproduce this style conceptually- army coherency, symbol proliferation, grim fantasy, heroic exaggeration etc.

Production artist(s):

Production artist(s) will develop and produce small amounts of high quality artwork for areas such as the title page, backing page and section breaks. Depending on style/enthusaism/response might also produce smaller work to illustrate individual units or sections of background. The goal of the production artist is to take the ideas generated by the conceptual team and polish them to a high degree, rather than act creatively on their own. However, there is nothing stopping you from fulfilling both roles, it's just a lot more effort.

-a high level of technical proficiency in drawing/painting complex colour and greyscale artwork in dark fantasy styles.
- ability to digitise artwork easily and with high quality
- willingness to work with conceptual artists to produce high quality renditions of conceptual work.

Existing modellers:

Did you like the original Cathay book? Convert some models based on it? I'd love to see your work! Almost all units in the old list are carrying over into the new one, so chances are your work will be fantastic to demonstrate potential conversions to a new generation of Cathay fans.

-a good camera or ability to get good photos of the models taken
-models based exclusively on scratch or GW produced parts (this book is trying to be as GW friendly as possible to avoid any potential legal wrangling)
-willing to have your models displayed in the book as examples of hobbyist work.

Potential modellers:

Converting Cathayan models is perhaps the trickiest aspect of the project. There aren't many eastern influences in GW models at this time, so this is a challenging modelling project for even the most dedicated greenstuffers and kitbashers. The results, however, can be spectacular from personal experience. Up for a showpiece challenge? I need people who can have a shot at converting a few models here and there- no need to do whole regiments or armies, just show what you can do with some bitz and an open mind.

- willingness to purchase own supplies for projects- there may be a competition with a prize for best effort during the project, but I can't guarantee this based on my current finances.
- willingness to work with exclusively GW or scratch products to achieve the required effects
- ability to get good photos of the models taken, preferably with easily editable backgrounds for professional editing and presentation.
-good painting skills not necessary, but a plus. The goal is to provide inspiration for producing models rather than super high quality showpieces.

Playtesters:

The last Cathay book was pretty exhaustively playtested over the period of a year or more. I'm aiming for a faster turnaround this time, but I still want a rigorous period of playtesting that unfortunately I cannot accomplish alone. Playtesters will become more involved later in the project when a functional army list is available.

- play games of fantasy regularly against opponents who would be fine playing against proxy models/homebrew rules.
- have a good selection of models for trying different army styles- lots of 20mm infantry, cavalry and monster bases.
- willing to build specific kinds of list to test certain army styles
- ideally have a variety of opposing races and army styles amongst your regular opponents.

I'm committed to this project one way or another. By myself it might take me a couple of years to produce everything, but I will still do it. I'm hoping however there are still enough like minded hobbyists around who see the task of creating quality work for your peers as reward enough in itself to be interested ^^. If you think you can contribute in a way not noted above, don't hesitate to get in touch! Those are just the areas I feel that are essential to cover.

I'll see you on the battlefield
Stefan/Thereisnosaurus

[StygianBeach]

All the best on completing all your goals. I am looking forward to seeing the results...

Your 6th ed book was the first custom book I saw which looked good, so I can imagine that the update will look impressively 8th.

The modelling section will make the final pdf huge, but that is not such a problem these days.

[Last Edition]

I will with mighty interest follow your progression on this project. I loved your last book, so I am very curious what you (and hopefully others) can produce for 8th edition Cathay

Good Luck!

[therisnosaurus]

Reconstruction of the army list is complete. Cathay clocks in with the following:

unit distribution:
7 lord choices (including 3 special characters- 2 returning, 1 new)
8 hero choices (including 3 special characters, 1 returning, 2 new)
4 core choices (broadly the same as before)
6 special choices (including 2 new units, one more unit possible)
5 rare choices (including 1 new unit)

total of 30 unit choices (24 not including special characters). Compare to ogres 24(20) and tomb kings 31(24)

unit types:
9 character types (4 lord/hero pairs and 1 unique hero)
4 ranked infantry
2 cavalry
1 war beasts
1 monstrous infantry (possible)
3 chariots
5 skirmisher units
2 monsters

2 lores of magic written:

lore 1: 6 augment spells, 1 direct damage spell. Spell 6 allows the caster to make a single attack against every model in an enemy unit.

lore 2: 2 hex, 2 direct damage a magic missile and 2 special effect spells. Spell 6 deals hits based on number of models in unit (d6+d6 per 10 models). if hits > wounds remaining, unit is immediately destroyed.

[Last Edition]

text...

lore 2: 2 hex, 2 direct damage a magic missile and 2 special effect spells. Spell 6 deals hits based on number of models in unit (d6+d6 per 10 models). if hits > wounds remaining, unit is immediately destroyed.

It all seems nice, but how does the last spell work? The way I understand it, it can only destroy units containing 1-5 models or 10-11 models...d6+2d6 vs 20 infantry models (wounds) can never be destroyed. Same goes for 30, 40, etc.

[Hellebore]

If you need any help with layout etc I can do that. Indesign is my favourite program of choice. Here are some of my latest productions for the Dragon Age RPG as an example.

http://www.wupload.com/file/21807812..._1_-_Vault.pdf
http://www.wupload.com/file/21807812...2_Bestiary.pdf
http://www.wupload.com/file/21807812...pothecaria.pdf

Hellebore

[therisnosaurus]

It all seems nice, but how does the last spell work? The way I understand it, it can only destroy units containing 1-5 models or 10-11 models...d6+2d6 vs 20 infantry models (wounds) can never be destroyed. Same goes for 30, 40, etc.

when you put it like that it is a bit odd that there's that sweet spot where you can eat a unit at 10-12. The instagib is mostly in there to finish small units of cavalry/skirmishers/flyers/characters (it doesn't work on big stuff). I might have to rework the hits to something like d6+d3 per 10 models so it can never gib a bigger unit.


@hellebore, it'd be nice to have you on board, it's nice to see you still around and kicking too ^^. I'm reasonable with ID myself, but it's quite possible you're better than me and having help in that department would be great. I'll let you know as I go forward

[therisnosaurus]

some early production work. I still haven't really heard from anyone other than hel so I'm going out on a recruitment drive soon ^^


The first is a draft page texture for the book. Made by using a variety of filters to mimic parchment weave with some added smudging and tears, plus a trial of the font I'll be using for headings.


the second is an example of a 'quotemargin', small art stuff that will border quotes, special rules, small stories etc. displayed at around 150%. this uses the same font, but I'm not sure I'll use it for body text as it doesn't mimic the GW books font quite closely enough. I've identified that font to be close to this one, but I can't find somewhere to DL it: http://www.identifont.com/list?17+id+0+G4Q+3+5RE+4

edit: I should point out that all artwork, miniatures and writing in this book will be entirely original. No copying stuff. I may use some of the work out of my old cathay book but only that.