From deep within the blood soaked Asylum cities pour the creatures of nightmare known as the Asylumists. From the moment they enter the world, from the cold, lifeless mechanisms of great machines, they are set upon by their own kin. Only those who survive the onslaught with sheer brutality and ferocity make it beyond the machine’s confines to wreak havoc beyond. Their numbers incalculable, the survivors swarm over and under the lands, seizing weapons and vehicles to aid them in their bloody slaughter. Such is their lust for violence that the piles of their dead reach high into the sky, but even then they do not know peace. Weapons roar and screams echo as the fight continues, the combatants crushing the bodies underfoot and deep below, the shunting engines of mechanical worms plough their maws through the mass to mash the corpses into biofuel. The frenzied hordes are not along as many find themselves under the influence of sinister minds that turn them into cybernetic soldiers or walking weapons. Now you control the horde. Where you point, they destory. Send forth your frenzied masses to swarm your enemy or surgically remove threats with specialised units. Your Asylumists await your command.
-
Asylumist N-Force
£40.00 -
Death Head
£15.00 -
Death Spider
£35.00
Forged in blood – the Asylumists
Text
Lore
Units
Horde
When the first reports of attacks began to emanate from the Asylum cities the Coalition, that would later become the Confederation, took this as a clear sign that their long time enemies the Guardians had returned to stake claim to the planet once more. Instead of sending help to the cities, having been declared enemies of the Coalition by refusing to help in the ongoing fight with the tribes of the Dark Blade, the Coalition pulled all of its forces back into it’s own territory. Seeking to perhaps let their enemies weaken each other, the armies were scattered all across the Coalition held territories and placed on guard should the Dark Blade join the fight. Preparations were finished long before the cries for help ceased and the Coalition braced itself for war. Far to the east of Asylum 2, the second largest Asylum city, large convoys of vehicles were spotted moving at great speed. They were from the cities and so were deemed of less importance than readying for the Guardian assault, and so the majority of the forces remained on guard while about a fifth of the army was sent to intercept the believed to be fleeing denizens of the Asylum cities. As the army waited, great plumes of smoke and dust kicked up by the massive gathering of vehicles filled the skies. The Coalition force was led by an inexperienced commander, Cavvel Vaxi. When the fighting suddenly erupted against an unknown enemy that seemed to spill like water over the land in numbers incalculable, piloting the vehicles and attacking without mercy, Vaxi was able to frantically scream through the comms a single misguided sentence before he was killed that would inadvertently give a name to this new enemy. “The Asylumists are attacking!”. It is noted that \”Fresh\” Asylumists are donned in a biological armor that seems to deteriorate through damage. An average Asylumist is inhumanly strong, fast and posses an intelligence most sinister, allowing them to quickly become adept at using weapons and technology. Their talons and teeth alone are able to pierce advanced armors and the signature head spines appear to grant enhanced sensory capability and even a natural deflector field as if technological in nature. A popular saying amongst those who go to fight this enemy, “It’s not your life that flashes before your eyes just before you die, it’s the Asylumist smile.”
Death Squad
In the beginning the Horde swept over the land alone. Smashing all aside with sheer numbers and ferocity, the unprecedented waves of the Asylumists almost annihilated the forces of the Coalition. It wasn’t until the Coalition final stand at their Capital, Magmanon, that the tides finally turned. With the introduction of the Council’s Tin Men, the Horde’s numbers were countered with advanced A.I and sustainable, throwaway infantry. Victory followed victory until the army of the Coalition managed to push the waves back to the ill fated Gragon Line. Suddenly the army found itself assaulted by a new breed of Asylumist that used advanced tactics and weaponry. Attacking from the shadows of the silent battlements of the Line, these new Death Squads wrought havoc with the Tin Men whom up until now had only needed to deal with the Horde’s frontal assaults. The Death Squads worked together to co-ordinate attacks and guerrilla tactics to slip in and out of sight, attacking swiftly and disappearing into the ruins. Combined with the incoming waves of Horde, Tin Men were dispatched from afar leaving the Horde to clash headlong into the more vulnerable units of the Coalition army. If it hadn’t been for the aid of another army, the hunting packs of the Dark Blade’s Underan Tribe, the Coalition may have fallen back into disarray. Unknown to the Coalition at the time, back in the Asylum cities, great factories now began to churn out horrific weaponry and vehicles suited for this new kind of Asylumist. Within the massive factories preparing to outfit those who would become Death Squad Asylumists an even more intimidating prospect loomed. The Blood Engine were arming their kin for War. The Death Squads are made up from selected Asylumists, captured and dragged back to the Blood Engine factories, augmented and equipped for battle. They are the personal army of the Blood Engine and as such have access to the weapons and equipment that they provide. As is the nature of the Asylumists, infighting provides the Squads with battlefield practice as convoys sweep the corpse laden streets, putting down attacking Horde and staving off attacks from other, independent Asylumists like the Scarecrow or Bogeyman.
Death Spider
The Death Squad were the first variant of the mass waves that came spilling from the Asylum cities. After their emergence more and more varied and terrifying Asylumists emerged. Back in the depths of the Asylum cities the Blood Engine had furthered their experiments and had began selecting those from their Death Squads that showed promise. Once selected they were recalled, prepared and transplanted into a new body. The new killing machine, aptly named the Heavy, proved to be a valuable bodyguard and front line soldier. As soldiers of the Coalition moved into the ruins of their fortresses, laid waste by the waves that had attacked before, they came face to face with these creatures of metal and flesh. Hunkering down, silent and still, the Heavies kept hidden until hapless soldiers wandered into their view. With a roar and red flash the Heavies engines would spring to life as the bulk of metal rose and unleashed its weapons on its prey. The Spider variant, able to traverse terrain with ease and armed with a terrifying array of flesh rending weaponry proved time and time again to be the end of countless units. Heavies come in many shapes and sizes, sculpted and altered for the task at hand. Their design often incorporates living flesh as to the Blood Engine, working with flesh is just as valid as metal and wire. If a beating heart would suffice for a pump, or a muscle as a pulley, onto the structure they go, often straight from a unwilling victim. The perceived weakness of the flesh is remedied by the Heavies deflecting fields, augmented and altered tissue samples and a Blood Engine’s ingenuity and imagination, of which there appear to be no limits.
Twisted Horde
There is no limit to the machinations of the Asylumist Blood Engines. From within their strongholds, they toil on all manner of nightmarish creations. One such horror is the Twisted Horde, a mutilated, grafted form created by melding the bodies of Asylumists into a singular form driven only by the desire to kill. Wielding technology similar to the Death Squads, the Twisted Horde dart in and out of the swirling Horde masses, shrugging off damage as they leap into their victims who are eviscerated in a flurry of bloodied blades.
Death Squad Shredders
The Asylum cities were a haven for the Asylumists to arm themselves and proceed with their bloody murder. Stockpiled with weapons, equipment and vehicles, the Horde quickly amassed a formidable armory and turned it against the Coalition during the Asylum War. As time passed, many would fall to the mighty canons of the Tin-Men, Gritguard and Drones and even more to their own kin. Alone the Horde would not hold back the reprisals of their victims but in truth the Horde were the least of the other races problems as the Blood Engines churned out their machinations from the industrial sectors within the cities.
First came the Death squads, captured Horde cybernetically augmented into obedient soldiers, then came everything else. The Death Squads acted as the private army, bodyguards and general go-getters to the Blood Engines and they were outfitted for each sinister task. The Shredders, whose name is, unfortunately, the outcome of their weapons ability, were found amongst those who had been given the duty of keeping Horde out of nearby ruins so they could be explored and raided. Many Asylumists have been felled by this gruesome weapon and many other races shall as well.
The Shredder is a furious weapon that sends high energy particle beams slamming into enemies at such speeds they can literally shred them apart into piles of mucus and metal. Their high firing speed has its drawbacks however as it renders stealth ineffective and the Death squad must remain stationary to fire. Speed is not this units preferred boon. Instead, it lies in wait within darkened ruins, watching for movement, ready to open up onto anything in range and shred.
Death Head
Not all Death Squad are created equal. As more Horde are dragged through the factories of the Blood engines, some are used as test subjects for weapons, others are fitted with explosives to become aptly named Fizzers, and some are grafted to machines and frames to create new soldiers. The Death Heads purpose is to aid the already formidable tactics of the Death Squads as they engage enemies. They can relay information rapidly between squads and keep their Blood Engine informed of developments.
Their 360-degree view of the battlefield is complimented by an array of weapons that can be quickly deployed to deadly effect. Anything unlucky enough to get close is torn to pieces by the relentless barrage of the Reaper repeaters. For larger targets, the Eradicator unleashes its wrath.
Butchers
Deep within the Asylum cities the endless hordes of the Asylumists fought. From the very moment they emerged into the world their waking moments began with the lust for slaughter. They would kill or be killed, only the most savage able to fight their way out from the center of the machines that brought them into the world where they could find more worthy prey. The Asylum cities descended into a hellish landscape of blood and war, bodies clogged the streets as fighting continued all across this landscape of dead. The Blood Engines watched as their kin tore each other to pieces,how they learned to quickly utilize weapons and adapted to their quarry. Although they could enslave vast numbers to serve them like the Death Squads and Heavies there would never be enough. The same unending waves that tore through the other races on the planet would also set their sights on them as well. Power was needed, stronger more destructive weapons and machines had to be deployed to keep the horde, and other would be attackers at bay. The Blood Engines devised a way of gaining access to an abundant power source for their endeavors, the endless mass of bodies that now piled up amongst the buildings. Soon giant machines drilled and tunneled through the sky scraper tall piles of the dead, spewing out blood and puss. In some areas of the Asylum cities it literally rains blood as the gargantuan machines mash up the biological waste into a usable bio-fuel. With their fuel source secured the Blood Engines made their way into the old factories of the former residents of the Asylum cities and set to work on their production lines. All across the cities, glowing factories sprang up billowing black smoke into the air, the sound of machines and roar of forges echoed out across the plains carried along with the screams of murder. Although they now had access to an abundant power supply to fuel their experiments, they knew that the Horde would attack their Grinders mercilessly to get to the pilots, and so a bodyguard was created. Butchers would ride atop the huge caterpillar like Grinders to ensure any hitchhikers with the intent on killing the driver were quickly seen to. Pumped with chemicals to make them hardier, stronger and regenerative they serve alongside the machines of the Blood Engines, and in some cases venture onto the battlefield for their masters.
Green Eyes
No one has been within view of the Asylum cities since the end of the Asylumist War. The statements from that time, now hundreds of years old, speak of cities that might as well have been gateways to hell itself. Mountains of bodies lay amidst the jagged, torn buildings. Huge Caterpillar-like engines whirled and burrowed through the corpses, spewing blood and tissue, pumping the mashed remnants back into the power plants that belched black smoke into the air. Atop the hellish landscape of metal and flesh, the horde could be seen in their endless fight, lighting up the smog-saturated skies with gun flashes and explosions. If you were to glance over the same lands today much of those grizzly scenes would remain, now joined by the unmistakable sights of the Blood Engine factories and workshops that whir with activity and nightmarish production. Many of these fortresses churn out bodyguards and agents like the Death Squads and Heavies. Cheap, effective labour to capture other subjects or remove a threat. Others like those surrounded by a florescent glow, with pipes and canisters leaking chemicals and radiation house the ones named the Green Eyes, for obvious reasons. They serve their masters by delivering death by the gallon, their bodies now vessels for whatever the Blood Engines brew up.
Asylumist biology is incredibly resilient and can store many chemicals for transport, but even so, the suits designed to diminish exposure are also needed to hold the bodies of the Green eyes together as they slowly deteriorate. When breached the suits disperse plumes of gas and toxins that erode and melt anything unlucky enough to be nearby. Their very presence causes the air to thicken and churn as the apparatus they wear, containing the corrosive mixtures, as opposed to helping their wearers breathe, vents and leaks out.Like the Death Squads, the Green Eyes operate as servants and agents for the Blood Engine who control them with technology. As a result, forces like the confederation are able to tap into the transmissions between them. Although unintelligible they serve as a warning. When the threat is near and as communications slowly pick up the garbled, droning screech of the green eyes many forces know it’s time to retreat.
Green eyes loader
Many machines shunt and haul within the Blood Engines factories. The Twisted Masters of the Asylumist forces are consistently tinkering to find faster, more efficient ways for their minions to do their tasks. Armed militias are given newer, more deadly weaponry to address potential threats. Scouts gain greater recon gadgets and stealth fields. Green eyes, with their endless toil amidst corrosive waste, are granted greater tech for handling the dangerous materials their masters love to play with. Hence the loader was quickly adopted by the Green eyes in the factories beneath the green smog skies.
Loaders enter the battle, held aloft by primitive hover technology. This mechanism, made to avoid toxic pools, allows them to traverse many obstacles easily. Where before they were designed solely for transport, they now wield a huge Reflux Cannon that taps into the containers it hauls. These fast-moving vials of death can drive headlong into enemy lines, delivering streams of sludge, before retreating again to harass other victims.
Green eyes cauldron
As the smog gathers overhead and the air becomes filled with toxic fumes, strange glowing lights can be seen moving between the ruins, the shadows of sinister constructs flowing over the corpses of those who have succumbed to the chemicals. Moments later, a blinding flash and deafening screech breaks the stillness of the battlegrounds as a flume of sludge launches high into the air, crackling with electricity and heat, only to come down with a pulverizing thud. The chemicals boil and burn as they dissolve even the strongest battlements, eating through rock, metal and armour with ease. The lights then move again, the sludge now settling and becoming inactive, before another plume erupts from the ruins.
When a Green eyes deteriorates to the point it is no longer able to carry out its tasks, it is normally added to the sludge and melded into the soup to be used as a weapon. Some however are spared that fate, grafted onto a cauldron for transporting the chemicals to continue their toil for their masters. Cauldrons are also fitted with a large cannon, if the need arises, to rain down death onto any foe that should threaten the experiments of the Blood Engines. Like their variants, the Green Eyes, they carry numerous chemicals that alone are able to be kept confined, but when combined, often in mid-air, they form an almost unstoppable chemical that turns any victim unfortunate enough to catch even a spec into a melting mess of flesh.
Know more
LEARN YOUR ARMIES RULES
Read, Learn and Unleash your Armies upon the Battlefield.
LEARN YOUR ARMY STORIES
Deepen your understanding and find your place in this faction.
