Highland clansmen

[Anaerin]

Could a pictish UU be a Druid? Maybe replace the Great Prophet? And give it combat experience points to dish out?
What do you think guys?

As all early Picts were Druid in their worship... guessing you meant a Druid priest?

Would certainly look cool to replace the great prophet, having a Pict in white robe, blue woad, leave crown or maybe some antlers and a staff

 

[Bagdemagus]

Thanks! I like your skins the tattoos look very good. I didnt use blender the spikes are actually the praetorian swords reduced in size. In my summer hols (approaching) I intend to try to learn as much as I can about Blender. I Installed it recently.

Yeh i did consider adding the dirk can't remember why i didn't. Ive grown up surrounded by these guys on prints and in books at my parents so should have added a dirk. I originally did a skin using the male settler and gave him a dirk. Might have it tucked away somewhere. I like your skins think they're cool. I think its very hard to inject originality in those Vanilla units but think you've managed it.

 

[Anaerin]

Thanks for your comments, glad you like him. All the early Pictish units will be similar, different tattoos and looks, but very much unified in appearance.

You grew up surrounded by pictures of Highland clansmen? You sound like you have Scots ancestry

Maybe we should collaborate on a Scottish civ, or help each other with a few units?

I searched high and low for a kilted Infantry and Machine Gunner, like the Blackwatch 42nd Regiment. Thought it would look great in both the Scots and Pict civs. The only thing I found was for a Civ 3 unit, which was a shame. http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12063 It's on my list of 'to do's' to find a way to create these units, or seek help in creating them.

Feel like creating them? As an artist my strength is in artwork, not modelling. I do some 3D stuff in DAZ 3D and Poser, but the Mac is not suited to Blender it seems. Although I can open and look at stuff.

As I couldn't find a model for the kilted Infantry, for now I had to go with another infantry with a Glengarry hat (images attached). OK, but nothing special.

 

[Bagdemagus]

Yeh would definitely be interested in any collaborations. I like your infantry man and machine gunner - pretty good! Well im not a 3d modeller (yet) I just use nifskope to its maximum potential (probably). Have been editing the textures thru nifskope which can prove handy.

My dad is Scottish and very proud to be so. So know all about Culloden and have heard all about Scottish football too! lol

And you gotta admit the whole traditional highland dress is quite a fearsome and stirring image.

What I would like to do at some point is a Brythonic Civ or an Arthurian civ with some semblance of fact in it according to recent theories.

I do think it would be good idea to have a kilted infantry man (as many regiments were still kilted in WW1). Like I said I have a scottish civ but maybe at some point i could send it to you and then see what you think? And likewise with your civ.

 

[Anaerin]

Yeh would definitely be interested in any collaborations. I like your infantry man and machine gunner - pretty good! Well im not a 3d modeller (yet) I just use nifskope to its maximum potential (probably). Have been editing the textures thru nifskope which can prove handy.

My dad is Scottish and very proud to be so. So know all about Culloden and have heard all about Scottish football too! lol

And you gotta admit the whole traditional highland dress is quite a fearsome and stirring image.

What I would like to do at some point is a Brythonic Civ or an Arthurian civ with some semblance of fact in it according to recent theories.

I do think it would be good idea to have a kilted infantry man (as many regiments were still kilted in WW1). Like I said I have a scottish civ but maybe at some point i could send it to you and then see what you think? And likewise with your civ.

I am not sure how the units are constructed, and how easy or difficult it would be to create a WW1 kilted infantry, but think it would look very cool. The great thing about the database is that there are so many units that we can combine pieces from. Would be great if there was a way to convert that Civ 3 unit to a civ 4 unit, would make life easier.

Funny you should mention a Brythonic civ, I had an intention to create one too. Love Boudicca, an inspiration, though I am not keen at all of the Civ 4 leaderhead and would like a re-design. I created a Civ called Iceni-Britons, edited the flag to a triskelle triple spiral, but have added no units, although I have a lot of ideas on reskinning current models out there. My intention was to have 2 Pictish cultures, the Caledonii and the Caitti, a Scots civ and the Iceni-Brythonic culture. I like playing against Rome and the Vikings, usually with a Pict ally... makes for some great fun.

The Caitti and Caledonii are coming along fairly nicely. Will include 3 sets of workers and settlers for age changes. They will function a little different to other civs and some poeple may not be fond of that, but people can pick and choose what they like about the civs to incorporate into their own games. There will be no elephants or chariots, or even the warrior unit. There are instead some other units such as the Horse Raider, Headhunter. The Scouts are pretty tough, and without a warrior, all you can do is defend until you have archery and can make the Spear Warrior. So the game starts off pretty risky and defensive, like the Picts life. Should all make for a fun game.

There are quite a few unique units, but all other units are just reskinned to look artistically Pictish/Scottish. I intended to use similar units for the Scots civ, but I think you may be further along than me. Would be happy to set up your Scots civ and take a look, and will likewise forward you on the Picts civs. Am in the process of making a few changes to units and gameplay, so give me a couple of weeks and we can have a look.

It would be great if the Pict and Scots units were actually different, or as different as possible, baring in mind that they are actually the same peoples, just in a different time period. The challenge is in modern era's... If the Picts did not merge with the Gael's to become the Scots, what would they look like? Pretty much the same as the Scots I guess The great thing about the Scots is that the regiments are still there, so we know what they look like. So for the Picts I may just try variations on uniforms, camo-paint for vehicles etc.

Between our combined skills and any help on this site, we should end up with a few great civs to play.

 

[Spillsandstains]

looks good, I made a pict/alba civ using extra celt unit art (there's 1 billion out there). i like your unique - civ style of development, it's a lot of work (but a lot more fun).

I used William Wallace (Brude) and a fabalous 'Darius' leaderhead for Calgaich (the one where he's covered in piercings and stuff, he looked ultra barbaric with a few added tats, i think inspired by that film <<the 300>>).

There was an old stone circle kicking around (I think it was in an old TAM mod) for a unique building, an early monument sort a thing.

Anyway, I will be following this thread and look forward to seeing your artwork.

 

[Bagdemagus]

Hi, all sounds very cool. Any help would be appreciated and comments on my scot civ. Ill probably pm it to you if that's possible?

In my screenshots are a Corieltauvi Warrior, the tribe of the East Midlands (England). The shield and helmet are my representation of the Witham Shield and Witham Helmet. These are actual objects found in the River Witham near to where I live.

Yes the two civs would probably look very similar (Pictish and Alba/Scottish) however in the images of Pictish warriors I have seen based on images found on stones and ceramics their tunics seem longer and they use a lot of square style bucklers/shields. You probably know this! But it would at least differentiate the two visually. Y symbols stones could be the UB? Or stone symbols?

Also in the screenies is a skin of Gaelic style spearman although not as much historical accuracy here. And the pattern on the witham warrior's clothes are anachronistic but i felt it looked ok.

 

[Spillsandstains]

... dude, lovely art, i'm from colchester originally! the place where it's rather difficult to avoid the iron age . . .

i love your witham bloke! i'd love to do stuff like that

shall i post this old bit of artwork? it was called "shaman temple" originally, it's a stone circle with a dolmeny thing in the middle, or maybe i could knock up a "pict symbol stone" if you like (but it will be very simple, and basically cannibalized rather than a graceful work of creation). xml? maybe monument that doesn't obsolete? that's a good one.

i have a totally customized civIV game as i got bored with the basic one years ago. It was easier with civIII, there were loads of silly/fantasy units. so congratulations on the unusual civ design, i really understand. my civs are lead by unit art availability! if there's lots of art they get loads of units, or i knock up a new civ . . .

... now i know you're from Essex i think you're really cool

 

[The Capo]

Those last few units look great (Scottish Infantry/MG, Gaelic/Celtic units etc.) I'd like to get my hands on them. I have a Scottish civ I made for my last mod, but that was a year or two ago, and I'd like to update it quite a bit. Let me know if you want any of the stuff I have.

 

[Anaerin]

looks good, I made a pict/alba civ using extra celt unit art (there's 1 billion out there). i like your unique - civ style of development, it's a lot of work (but a lot more fun).

I used William Wallace (Brude) and a fabalous 'Darius' leaderhead for Calgaich (the one where he's covered in piercings and stuff, he looked ultra barbaric with a few added tats, i think inspired by that film <<the 300>>).

There was an old stone circle kicking around (I think it was in an old TAM mod) for a unique building, an early monument sort a thing.

Anyway, I will be following this thread and look forward to seeing your artwork.

Thanks! Glad you like the ideas. Would be interested to hear your thoughts when its ready. I am hoping there should be some interesting leaderheads too, I have the charters in mind, but may need some help with the modeling of the LH as my specialty is only in skinning.

I am very interested in the stone circle if you know where it is? I haven't got to buildings yet, but was hoping for a distinctive Pict/Scot feel to them.

 

[Anaerin]

Hi, all sounds very cool. Any help would be appreciated and comments on my scot civ. Ill probably pm it to you if that's possible?

In my screenshots are a Corieltauvi Warrior, the tribe of the East Midlands (England). The shield and helmet are my representation of the Witham Shield and Witham Helmet. These are actual objects found in the River Witham near to where I live.

Also in the screenies is a skin of Gaelic style spearman although not as much historical accuracy here. And the pattern on the witham warrior's clothes are anachronistic but i felt it looked ok.

MAN those units look great!! You should definitely design the Brythonic civ, I bow down to you on that one Would be glad to help in any way I can, although I am just an artist, and it looks like your skins are great! In my visions of the Brythonic Britons / Pritenni, a few of them had that helmet you put together, so am really pleased to see your unit. It's nice to have realistic units, but I favour units that look artistically enticing rather than just realism as this is a game. It's great when a unit can look both artistic and realistic.

Yes the two civs would probably look very similar (Pictish and Alba/Scottish) however in the images of Pictish warriors I have seen based on images found on stones and ceramics their tunics seem longer and they use a lot of square style bucklers/shields. You probably know this! But it would at least differentiate the two visually. Y symbols stones could be the UB? Or stone symbols?

Yeah, don't mind so much on the similarity between Picts and Scots.... think they will different enough. For example, the Scots can have your Highlander clansmen swordsman, where the Picts will have Pictish Raider's. It's only in the modern era's that I was concerned with. I am sure we can make them look different enough.

The images of the Picts you mention tend to be towards the end of the Pictish culture before merging with the Gaels. As the Picts had a continually culture for around a couple of thousand years, maybe more... for the most part we can only guess at what they looked like in the beginning. As I understand it, those early tribesmen mostly wore fur's and skins. The early Picts certainly did not wear kilts and bright tartan. When I started creating the units I could only use others models and re-skin, so my Picts currently wear kilts. Ideally I would like to have the first few units to be naked, just covered in tattoos and woad paint... as they would psyche themselves up and psyche their enemies out by turning up for battle thus. Think this would look good with the way I have my units set up. Then as the Picts move in to later times they can wear tunics/kilts of checkered or tartan material. On a few I have used the earliest Pictish regional tartan the Falkirk...

As for the bucklers, they used square as you mention, but also a small round buckler and an interesting H shield. I favour the small round buckler but wanted my axemen to have the square, while the spearmen would have the H shield. I have some concepts for the design which I was going to post in the Unit Request area as I cannot make the models, only skin them. If someone can help create the shields, then I think they would look awesome!

 

[Spillsandstains]

Hi Bagdemagus, went looking for the stone circle thingy art file and it's not in the site DB, I guess it was made for warhammer or something, I'll get it for you, but I may run foul of site etiquette; no idea who created it. Will post it here tomorrow.

 

[Bagdemagus]

To Spillsandstains, Yeh thanks for that. I think your idea of the dolmen/stone circle would work really well. Thanks for the compliment on the units too! What's great is that everyone seems to be "chipping" in with great ideas and thoughts (not to mention units). Any help from my point of view is truly appreciated. I guess Colchester is probably the centre of a lot of iron age archaeology and history. Wasn't it the capital of Roman Britain for a while?

I am not totally convinced that the helmet on the Brythonic warrior would have really been used in battle it may have just been made to be a votive offering. But if you saw a guy wearing one of those it would certainly make an impression.

Anaerin thanks for your positive comments I certainly like your thinking on the unit categories. The headhunter unit sounds v cool as does the raider. And I totally agree with the lack of warrior units as I have always though it to be a little contrived? Surely you would have hunters or raiders before "warriors"? Who knows? But I like your thoughts like I said sounds interesting and a little more realistic to me.

You seem to know loads on this subject, I came across a book the other day and it mentioned the "Atecotti" a Pictish tribe who were still cannibals during Roman times. Could be an interesting faction? Oh and yes feel free to use my highlanders or any other units I post or send to you. I was working on a lochaber axe last night could be a scottish civ pikeman although there is also the Scottish Schiltron.

 

[Spillsandstains]

I agree with your pointy - 1950's - bra helmet thing, it's just too impractical, but hey! It's a game right? It looks fantastic. Could always be meshed with a couple guys in cuir armour with spears, but . . . it's less fun. It's like not giving your Obama leader Islam as a recommended religion, or not giving a +50 class bonus against settlers and workers for US Cavalry.

I've got 2 files in the attached zip, a stone circle with trees (trees can be removed) and a blocky thing that could be customized with a glyph - covered texture. There's also some xml, and the original buttons. Amazingly I think I've managed to upload it sucessfully, it's going to be a good day! It's called arable_kidney because I am stupid.

The Shaman Temple is from Stone Age Mod by The_Triturador on this site. It's well thought out and has an uncompromising Peruvian bias that I find inspirational.

The Orkhon Inscriptions is from cybrxkhan's Gokturk custom civ, also downloadable here. Thanks to stuff like this I've become a total smart - arlec over the years . . . and in this case scored points with Turks I've met. Nolidge is powa!!!!!

Arrrrrgh! i did skin some cruithne up (I think), they're not very good, I'll wrap them up and post them for you. As I said, there were 60 billion ancient celt units so I just used the 'leftovers', but there weren't any "celt advanced stealth close support strike bomber" units . . . not surprising really! I think I'll split up my celt civ eventually, but there's 1,000,000 other things to do (including earning enough money to eat and servicing my 17 supermodel girlfriends).

 

[Anaerin]

Anaerin thanks for your positive comments I certainly like your thinking on the unit categories. The headhunter unit sounds v cool as does the raider. And I totally agree with the lack of warrior units as I have always though it to be a little contrived? Surely you would have hunters or raiders before "warriors"? Who knows? But I like your thoughts like I said sounds interesting and a little more realistic to me.

Thanks!! Am looking forward to you trying it out!

You seem to know loads on this subject, I came across a book the other day and it mentioned the "Atecotti" a Pictish tribe who were still cannibals during Roman times. Could be an interesting faction? Oh and yes feel free to use my highlanders or any other units I post or send to you. I was working on a lochaber axe last night could be a scottish civ pikeman although there is also the Scottish Schiltron.

I have always been interested in ancient history, but there are certain areas that really draw me in, such as Scots and Pict history. It is actually what drew me to the game in the first place... although I seem to spend more time designing characters than playing... probably the same for many here

Ah yes, the strange Atacotti. I don't think they were Picts, as in indigenous Caledonian tribesmen, I think they came from somehwere else like the Gaels (Scotti). They seem to be classed as seperate from the Gaels, Picts and Britons. Although they joined in the fun of tearing down Roman walls and raiding the Romans when least expected... thier idea of actually eating the Roman's may have been a step too far

Possibly they were a tribe from europe? Certain tribes fled the Roman machine to the bare wilderness of Pritenni - Briton... settling and becoming some of the tribes in Briton and Pictland that were not indigenous to these isles.

Scottish Schiltron... aye I was calling my Pikeman a Pict Schiltron... but alas I have not found a good enough unit so far. May need to be created. The spears need to be pretty long. What are you using for your Scots Schiltron?

 

[Anaerin]

Ah, spillsandstains... just had a wee look at your stone. Not sure how to implement it yet, but this could be great! I would love to replace the 'monument' that appears in every town, from being a statue to being a lone standing stone with the Aberlemno symbols carved into into. (Have included the Aberlemno stone to show what I mean). I will reskin it and give it a go. Thanks for posting this!!

 

[Spillsandstains]

Hi Anaerin

I didn't make the stone(s), I suspect they were knocked up for fantasy mods, but not sure who by! I'm terrified I'll be beaten up (even metaphorically) for not crediting the creators properly.

Would love to see/use your art, I am a great cannibal and compiler . . . then I can split up my "Celts" civ into a bunch of minor civs.

I assume you and Bagdemagus have trawled the art repository here for artwork?

Oh! There's a sacred grove thing I've got as well . . . might be useful.

 

[Bagdemagus]

Thanks for the "tel shrine" Spillsandstains. That is going to be v useful!

As far as replacing the monument for a civ I might be wrong as Ive never tried it but in a modular civ you could create a Civ4ArtDefines_Building document with schema and a Civ4BuildingArtstyleTypeInfos document also. never tried this but it works with units and i am sure you could do this also in a non modular/regular format although i think you might then have to redefine building styles too.
Does Verietas do something similar?

Anyhow Verietas replaces buildings as well as units with new styles. So it would be be just a case of seeing how they do it. Obviously I might not have the full picture here as I've never done it myself!

Also included a Romano British cavalry man. An (authentic) v early image of the Virgin Mary is on his shield as I think the monk Nennius described Arthur (if he existed!) as having an image of her on his shield.

 

[Bagdemagus]

Here are some units done recently...

Romano British cavalry from different angle, axeman, Lochaber axe as requested from "Lindsey".

 

[The Capo]

Where can I download these units?