Page 1238…
Wow. What a week.
Huh? Huh????
🙂
And of course…who wouldn’t like a week that sees our favorite King of Dwarves….BOGNOK, again?
Thank you all for all the wonderful comments!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed this week’s pages.
Have a wonderful weekend!
See you on Monday!
Let’s hope that Felicia isn’t distracted by the show too much. Nick might be looking for a hostage right about now.
This is gonna be… reallly cool to see.
How did they fit HIM into a rock? O.o
I guess it was a really BIG rock…
Fun fun. How did they seal the rocks anyways? How do they open? Is there a catch inside or something, or do they just smash their way out?.. How did they close the rocks?!?!
meh…. Trying not to overthink things…
Yay! Bognok!!!!!!!! This is such a great page!
Just wondering – shouldn’t the dwarfs have some kind of military word for designated military ‘groups’? Like Unit, Battillion, Legion or something that sounds military?
“Group” just doesn’t seem to be the right word, somehow.
Dwarves ROCK!
…sorry, couldn’t resist.
woohoooooo!
What a page! What a week of thrill and suspense. And, of course, a dragon who has forgot this:
Selfconfident, cocky, lazy, dead!
Way to go, Scott! Keep them dwarves coming. Boknok rulez big time! ^^
*dances around in a fit of euphoria*
Gotta love the king.
As far as military units goes, not sure you could really organize by troop units considering the rocks would have been scattered all over the place and he probably just created 2 groups based on where they happened to land.
ahh, the dwarven dramaspeech is back again! How i missed it, Bognok is awesome!
BOGNOK! 😀
About now Ol’Nic is prolly’ seriously regretting he peeved off the dwarves. It looks like Bognok waited for this moment since Nicodemus’betrayal.
Oh, forgot to mention; Rognok looks magnificent in that first panel!
*Bognok*
ugh.. “fat finger syndrom”
LOL! Thanks for that!
ahem… Felicity
That’s OK, everyone is going to call him Bogrock now anyway.
OOOOOOOOH yeah. NOW it’s happening.
And I’m expecting a scene in a bit with the Nightmare Realm birdboys: “He TRICKED us! That nerdy little bastard PLAYED US LIKE A VIOLIN!”
Yes. Yes, he did.
Being miners, they’d most likely use miners’ terms.
Oops.
Awright! No ambiguity about those commands. It is SO on! And I don’t think those Dwarves are gonna be anything but ferocious. Looking forward to see what sort of sword skills Alex has developed lately too. Felicity is unarmed and vulnerable (as far as I know ). Great page, Scott! What a way to round out the week.
Oooer trojan horse indeed!! Yayyy…I’m guessing next week’s pages are gonna be fuuuunnn xD Happy weekend all!!
Don’t you mean Trojan ‘rock’?
We tried a few (my son Logan and I) and he said (he’s going to be 8 on Tuesday) that Battalion, Legion, company, regiment, squadron, etc.
“They sound cool. But they sound too modern. Not something Dwarves would use”
🙂
So. Anyone have ideas for a more “medieval” term?
A suggestion? Use another dwarve’s name. I’m sure he has “lieutenants” that are in charge of the groups. “Grog’s group lower the gate, Hiemmel’s group take out the archers.”
Love this page to end the week!!!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Battalion c. 1580
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/squad c. 1640
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/company c. 1250
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/regiment c. 1350
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/troop c. 1535
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/squadron c. 1555
Fact is, they are ALL reasonably “medieval”. It just goes to show how medieval military jargon is!
Well that will show Nic NEVER to take anything for ‘granite’ 🙂
Well this should teach Old Nic NEVER to take anything for ‘granite’ 😉
*looks at own keyboard*
How big are your fingers?? 🙂
What a tweest! Great so far Scott. I can’t wait for Monday!
Well the believe it or not most of the modern military terms have been in use since the dark ages, so they would be accurate. How ever, I think the dwarfs could pull of old Roman structure. Taht would give you Legion, Century, Centurion and the ancillary forces of Auixllia. Depending on the period you also had Cohorts, Maniples. The individual unit types also had great names, such as the three types of heavy infantry hastati, principes and triarii. I think Dwarfs would qualify as Heavy infantry. Just a though for something different.
Why do I hear the theme music from the Rocky movies in my head? 🙂
Typically, the kind of military unit that defeats armor and fortifications are called dragoons. The dwarves may not specifically be dragoons, but in this case, they are acting as such.
Another way around the unit structures is to give each unit a company name. Group 1’s squadron name might be the Stone Crushers and group 2’s name might be the Goblin Cappers, etc. Also, you could go with tribal unit structures.
As far as how they closed the rocks, I think them being dwarves is sufficient explanation. Geology is their specialty. I expect that each dwarf hewed his own stone and carved out his own chamber. I’m sure one dwarf might even have a pair of fuzzy dice and a cup holder in his rock.
You could go the T Pratchett route and call them different regiments: “ore regiment- go left, slag regiment- go middle, monstrous regiment- go big”
Cry havoc and let slip the DWARVES of war!!!
Well since the dwarves seem to be inspired by the vikings i’d say that they’d maybe use some Old Norse words. Well i myself don’t know any Norse, and at the momment i can only think of one word in Danish that i know for sure is derived from Old Norse, and that is “Hær” (“Herr” in Old Norse, “Here” in Old English and “Army” in Modern English), ofcourse its not a word for a group of soldiers but rather the entire group of attackers, but maybe the words meaning in Dreamland could have changed over the years?
YAY! 😀 Oh darn, too bad it’s Friday and we have to wait a weekend. At least it didn’t stop at Alex saying “alright”. XD
Great suggestions!
THanks guys!
Bognok: “The rest of you…follow me! And find me some ASPRIN!!!”
Bad-DUM-bump! 😀
Go, dwarves, go!!! 😀
YEAY, BOGNOK!! Glad to see he survived the last encounter with ole Nic!
GITTER DONE, BOYS!!
BOOYEAH!!! Rise, Bognok!!! BWAHAHAHA!!
Was that icon serendipitous?
😆
I am extremely exited to see that Bognok survived his previous encounter with Nicodemus. He was way too awesome to not return at some point. I would love to see a flashback, at some point, to see how he did survive, and I can’t wait to see what happens in the future. Dwarves are one of my favorite fantasy races (quite possibly my favorite), so I’m glad they are back, and in force.
Yeah, you won’t find a race out there that is “boulder” than Dwarves, even in the face of terribly odds or Dragons.
When Bognok says “group”, I’m picturing a much smaller division than a “battalion” or “regiment” (or “legion”, or even “century”). “Squad” is probably about the right size, and works well for just about any time period with any sort of military organization at all.
Besides, surely the children of Navy Seals and Army Rangers and other really effective military types dream their way into Dreamland periodically. And military kids might even be drawn to dwarves as their protectors (who knows?). So the Dwarves might not only be familiar with modern military designations, but might also have emulated some of the more sensible customs.
By the way, the use of the word “group” didn’t really even stick out to me…it made sense to this reader. 🙂
This is so exciting!
I am not aware of any medieval (or modern) use of the term for a unit, but the dwarfs were delivered by wagons. “Wagon 1 open the gates, wagon 2 take out the archers”.
Most of the new “medieval” unit types are cavalry–Mongol tumen or ordu, the Roman/Byzantine alae (wings) of cavalry, and so on. I’d go with the infantry, and Roman is most familiar: legion, cohort, century, under legate or prefect, centurions, and the like. You could augment them “guards” and suchlike designations.
One other possibility: use companies, but no higher units, except maybe a “battle” of several companies. Units within a company would be “files”–or, given that they are dwarves, maybe “shift” and “drift” or “oresquad” and other mining terms would give a bit of flavor.
The problem with the military of most medieval kingdoms, or the vikings, is that they were raised as needed, which meant that any organization was very basic and “ad hoc”–there were very few standing units. Even the housecarls of the Saxon (English) kingdoms were small enough to need just a few officers to direct the company.
Felicity may be unarmed–but her skills mean she is never vulnerable, except when she’s unconscious.
I love the green hair for the dwarves. Tell me, what do they eat to get the green hair? I want some! 😀
Another great cliffhanger spot as usual Scott.
Another possible is to ignore the idea of a single group name, and have each one given its own to a degree. From the Warhammer table-top game, Dwarfs could be grouped by type (“hammerers”, “slayers”, “longbeards”, “ironbreakers”…I figure it’d have to be other names than these, but you get the idea); or stealing unashamedly from the old David Gemmell tale, Legend, each group could be named after a revered Dwarf hero, after which you could have almost anything.
Also, if they’re actually miners, then “team” makes a sort of sense, though it seems to lack a bit of color.
They must have used wide-mouthed hinges 😉
Those that didn’t get the memo might think that the invasion was off to a Rocky start.
That’s some stone cold tactic’s right there. ^_^
*gets dragged out into the street and pelted with rotten vegetables for bad (and LATE) humour*
So…
I was thinking I should have added Lightning behind Bognok.
Thoughts?
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LIGHTNING!
Wooh!!! Its time for some butt kiciking! Haha! Nic is soo oblivious. Great way to end this week, Scott..
The Lightning only adds to the powerful aura already surrounding Bognok’s character. I think it fits perfectly for both Bognok and the end of a week piece. Can’t wait to see more!
Lol Rally? sweet wanna race Bognok? lol sorry I play way too much gaia
*gaiaonline addict for years*
definitly love the lightning Scott the angle and size is just perfect to show his power and the extremity of the situation.
I think Squad works a lot better. I think you should mix that with the excellent idea mentioned by Rob giving the squad a name: WarHammer Squad Eliminate the archers!, or even by a Captain’s name: Ørlygr’s Squad Open the gates! would be a better fit for the scene.
(And YES with the Lightning behind Bognok!) 😀
I say go with the lightning.
i am reminded of pokemon.
Bognok i choose you!
Haha! Et Morrey my dwarven brethren! For the hammer!
Nice touch.
awesome lightning!!!!!!!!! 🙂
I have to pay real-estate tax for them…..
Yes. DO!
Panel without Lightning said “Yarrrrrr!”
The Lightning Panel was like the Battle of Helms Deep.
Do lightning.
It looks way more awesome WITH lightning, even though I kind of had to look twice to really appriciate it.
1. Lightning: OH YES.
2. Nic, allow me to present to you, the brand-new “Can of Whooping”, now, with 300% more angry betrayed dwarf king content than the original one! 🙂
It will leave a beautiful taste in your mouth. Asuming, that is, that you still have a mouth by the end of the day.
goooooo Sava! 🙂
Whoohoo Bognok! It’s so ON!
I say go with the lightning- dramatic effect, shows the storminess of the sky and most of all, shows off and emphasizes Bognok’s gargantuan, brawny shoulders and mace by the way the eye goes.
playing in my head, after thinking about that:
We will
We will
ROCK YOU!
I havnt had a chance to read in the last couple of days. Oh just brilliant i love it. Awesome man.
Is that avatar the guy from iron giant? I loved that movie as a kid, (pauses to reminisce on old times)
LIGHTNING – great touch!
Sure–it adds atmosphere–and you might get some more mileage out of all the work you did to add the raindrops for the storm.
The lightning looks great.
Unfortunately, it causes an issue for me. You see, I live in one of the most lightning prone areas in the world. I can tell you with no small measure of authority that lightning is very noisy. So my first thought on seeing the lightning picture was “how can the other dwarves possibly hear Bognok over that?”
Of course, I immediately justified it to myself by guessing that that particular lightning bolt is actually occurring about a mile, or slightly more, behind Bognok, so the sound of the thunder would be delayed by five to six seconds*. That way the CRACK! would come just after he finished his rally cry.
* Assuming the barometric pressure and laws of physics in Dreamland are roughly analogous to those of Earth.
I would think that the Dwarves would be more analogous to ancient Vikings, and use similar terms. Vikings were pretty relaxed in military organization, however (still fitting for the dwarves I suspect). The basis of the army was a unit called the “hirth” (hearth in English), all the men sworn to a given lord, and in his household. This hearth could vary in size depending on the size of the lands of the lord. The leader of the hearth for the king was called the Marshal (some countries still have this rank around as the one rank higher then General). Not much use for military ranks, essentially Rookies and Veterans (dreng and thegn).
Viking warfare was more suited to quick raids on longboats, land warfare was a rather disorganized affair. But I could see King Bognok having his whole Hearth with him, and naming the companies that he has divided them up to as one would name baseball teams. (“The Furies, open the gate! Darock’s Devils, eliminate the archers! The rest of my Hearthmen, follow me!”).
Not trying to rewrite you, Scott. Just making a suggestion.
I really like that!
Thank you!
But… How did they even plan the rock action without the wraiths noticing?
I think Daniel decided to task Alex with actually remembering to tell that plan orally. They left that detail out of the written plan as a red herring to the wraiths. If that’s true, depending on Alex might have been the most daring part of the whole plan.
Nah, Alex did a good job.
I read “Furries” (all soft and fluffy).
They also have that high-Elven-tech Write Once Read Many sword.
Hey all!
These scenes are getting heavier and heavier (over 3 gigs each per frame).
So saving, rendering, and just working in them is getting REALLY slow.
Add to that the Super Bowl…and my renders will not be done tonight.
I SHOULD be able to update in the morning.
So PLEASE check back and we’ll kick this week off right.
Thank you all!
Scott
3 gigs? Is that the file size for a rendered image, or the amount of RAM it takes to process it?
Because if it’s file size, it’s just insane! You would be rendering huge images and saving them in RGB or something… (Are you?!)
If it’s RAM, then maybe upgrading your hardware to 8 Gb (if that fits on you mobo) would fix the problem.
If you need help with any of that, just shout!
Actually that’s the SCENE file. THe application file with all the data.
The rendered frames are only about 150-200 megs each.
As I’m sure you know, RJ, upgrading to 8 GB RAM might entail an OS upgrade as well. I can’t remember what Scott runs off the top of my head, but if it’s a 32-bit version of Windows, it will need to be upgraded to a 64-bit version before it will see more than 4 GB (unless he’s running a server OS, which I doubt).
(Sorry, but not only to I do this stuff for a living, but I happen to be taking an Operating Systems class this term – one of my last before graduation! – so the barest nudge against my poor aching brain causes this stuff to start leaking out … )
😉
The computer I’m on for this is a Gateway with 4gig of ram.
It’s 64 bit Vista.
I need to upgrade my machines. They’re a couple years old.
Just waiting for the checks from the studios for the movies.
Indeed, 32 bit OS’s cannot see more than 4 gigs and, if he’s using an add-on video card (which he most likely is for this kind of work) rather than an integrated, what ever memory that video card uses, the OS will count. IE: if you have 4 gigs of RAM on a 32bit OS, but a GPU with 1 gig, the OS will only see 3 gigs of RAM. (I also do it for a living 🙂 )
Win 7 64bit has been extremely stable for me ever since I installed it, and handles graphic design applications quite well, so that would be my recommendation.
Well it was quite an igneous use of wordplay.
If you have Vista 64bit, then the easiest thing to do is add more memory to whatever the Gateway can physically handle, probably 8gb at the least. Getting a new machine is a good option, however, the big problem is reloading all your applications and configuring it to your liking. It depends on your patience. But then again, you could probably do both (when you get the checks) and have the time to set up the new machine while continuing to use your upgraded old machine so we can keep reading the wonderful comic with minimal interruption.
I’ll click on some ads to help fund the RAM upgrade. 🙂
Sorry, but most of those terms originate in the post-renaissance period, NOT medieval times (which were primarily in the 7th to 10th century.) So they are indeed ‘too modern’, depending on if you insist that Dreamland follows our historical progression….which seems a bit unlikely. Anachronisms are to be expected, due to the cross-over with the human world.
Lightning = awesome. That is all.
You really need to upgrade. I do build custom rigs for friends, so let me give a little advice:
(1) Windows 7 x64 Pro/Ultimate.
(2) 8GB or 12GB DDR3 RAM (depending on if you are on socket AM3/LGA1155/LGA1156, or LGA1366 (either OCZ or Corsair)
(3) Intel Core i7-920/930 (socket LGA1366) or AMD Phenom II x4 970 (socket AM3)
(4) eVGA nVidia GeForce 470 GTX 1GB PCI-E graphics card
(5) Gigabyte or eVGA motherboard (if you game, the X58-UD3R, if not the EP45-UD3L)
(6) 750W-850W Power Supply (I recommend Antec or XFX)
(7) Drives of your choice (SATA3G or 6G, and a Blu-Ray/DVD burner)
(8) 28″ LCD monitor at 1920×1200 res native.
If you price the parts around, it would work out to around $1500 or so….if you already have a good enough monitor, the main system would be around $1200.
Also, if you update to the exact same version of Windows 7 from Vista (i.e. Vista Professional ->7 Professional: Vista Ultimate -> 7 Ultimate, etc.) then you shouldn’t have to reload any applications, since it would just rewrite the OS folders. Of course, a full system back up wouldn’t be a bad idea beforehand. Still, since you’re running a 64-bit OS already, upgrading your RAM would be the quickest, most cost-effective way to speed up your computer (and, subsequently, your renders).
a quick addendum… upgrading from Vista Professional to 7 Ultimate, or anything where it’s not the same version would require a full system install, and you’d have to start installing programs from scratch. It wouldn’t require a freshly formatted hard drive, and all your data would remain, but all your program files folders would get shoved off to the side and the programs wouldn’t exactly work right, which is why you would most likely have to reinstall them.
“Red Leader, open the gate; Yellow Leader, get those pesky tie fighters (Oops, I mean archers!) Rogue Squadron, to me!”
lightning? that close? while looking cool, that looks like it’s striking close by, and the thunder sound would drown out his commands.
They “drew” the fake plan for the wraiths to see, and that’e what Alex brought orally to the table, but he also sent a private note to the centaur shaman in the native american dream catcher thing. That’s where the true plan was.
And there is still to be seen what is in the arrows that are also being used to “poor effect” attacking the high parts of the city. The fairies are hiding somewhere… just saying 🙂
Not bad suggestions but I would like to add that kingston tech for RAM and ASUS mother boards are also good choices in their respective fields. for DDR 3 ram you would want timings around 7-9-7-24 or 7-7-7-24 if you can find it, the lower the numbers the better. And yes 7 64 is a good OS I’ve been running the professional version for over a year and no complaints so far. By the way Scott I applaud you on your patience I’m running on 8gigs of RAM and I think my machine is too slow for the type of work you’re doing lol. Great job on the comic I read from page one to here in a single day since I just discovered it.
Thank you guys!
I will DEFINITELY post some questions when it’s time to upgrade (meaning I have money to spend).
🙂
Love having some advice. I usually just buy something from Costco.
UPDATE:
Renders are done.
I’m painting raindrops.
Hopefully 30 more minutes.
Raindrops keep falling on my head …
I also build computers for fun and friends. And mod and overclock and game… But I digress. A new Core i7 system with 8-12gb (or more) of RAM and some SSD drives in RAID would work wonders for your rendering time. I’m not sure what software you are using, but if it can take advantage of the nVidia Quadro or ATI FireGL cards (and you dont have them) it would be a good investment.
As for specific parts, there are many that are good. Brands like XFX, Gigabyte, Asus, Kingston, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, OCZ… and many more, are all good. It looks like if you want to build a system you have no shortage of knowledgeable people around here who would be willing to give you advice. 🙂
you don’t think it was a bit sedimentry?… sorry just had to add that one to the SLATE. I think I’m losing my Marble…s. do you think the basalt of the castle can continue now???
But that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red…
Blasphemer! 🙂 It’s not a dream catcher, it’s a medicine bag.
Cryin’s not for me
‘Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’
Because I’m free
Nothin’s worryin’ me
Dwarves of Hilmdel are pretty damn awesome. 😀
Indeed…
Considering the breakout from Astoria prison and the fight on the airship, Felicity may actually have the highest kill count in the group so far…and never used a weapon.
I love the fact that so many of the most intelligent people I have met in the last ten years, are web comic junkies,….