Being an experienced gamemaster/storyteller/dungeonmaster means I have a lot of little fantasy worlds tucked away in the corners of my mind. They are built from the best bits and pieces of different fantasies I have encountered that really inspire me. One story that really effected me when younger was one of Tolkein’s so called ‘lost tales’ (essentially rougher versions of what would later become the lord of the rings and the hobbit) was one that had an exceptional canine called Huan, captain of dogs. He was fully non morphic, capable of speaking with the main characters, massive in size, and incredibly brave and self sacrificing.

The admiration I have for that chartacter grew into a fantasy race of my own; The ‘Mountain Marching Dogs’. These are packs of canines who use pack structure integratied with allies to follow what they see as the path of a good dog. In a far flung wilderness far to the north and east of the lands that man regularly inhabit these packs patrol forgotten mountain road ways perilous with goblins, evil shadows, and occasionally far worse. They do this in the spirit of a kind of charitability to softer places that cannot shoulder the burden of maintaining a vigil to keep doom at bay.

As you might imagine there are not a preponderance of models of that sort,.. so I have had to make my own when I wanted to use them in-game. These two are sort of polar opposites of the sort of personalities that Mountain Marching Packs are built off of.

Tramp dogs travel light, often pretend to be more ‘domesticated’ than they actually are, and prefer to keep to themselves more than stick with the other members of the pack. They have a reputation for fighting and living dirty and they never let it bother them. They often have their own acquaintances and allies separate from those of the pack and sometimes even against the wishes of their packs.

Although Mountain Marching dogs think of themselves as a kind of soldier or warrior most fight according to instinctual relation to other members of the pack and less with direct tactical insight. A dog at arms is one who is familiar with more sophisticated tactics and the use of equipment that would merely hinder other dogs. They often make me most of the thumbs of any of their traveling allies and often know more about the maintenance and use of equipment than those required to physically serve it. Heavy barding and co ordination with their direct allies are their hallmarks.

These were both made using cheap sixty-five cent toy models and sculpting on additional detail. They both hail from the days back in California shortly after Moth had been helping me with play testing. The Tramp was the first of the two and done as a proof of concept to myself. I used the fur patterns of dogs personally known to me in order to try and get a realistic look to their palette as well as to provide that little personal inclusion.