Choreographing battles has a tendency of being a whole lot of work – while I usually have a good idea of what I want to acomplish with a scuffle and a few loose images in mind that I want to have in, much of it is simply just a combination of trial and error and shooting from the hip. In particular page there was a fair bit of things that changed around until I finally settled on one thing; my initial idea was actually to have Hani just pounce the watcher and being prone + extra mass simply being too much for its rickety inner construction. I ultimately decided against that because I felt it didn’t provide a visual enough cue as to what’d actually happened.
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Beyond the Tree, the Misadventures of Hani and Tiny 
…did that watcher just drop on the gnome?!? In the second last pane, it looks like its about to fall over backwards onto her!
Anyways – love the comic, and keep up the good work :)
Pwease dont be crused nice lil’ gnome :<
awsome comic espiacially the gnome almost getting crushed
i dont realy get how hani took the watcher down. did she slash the sword in its neck? why would that kill a machiene
Same way you can have a bleed affect on them, or drain life. In the warcraft world they are living machines.
distraction so our heroic gnome could hit it in the kneecaps if you look in second last pane. sub rogue so I can see that from a mile away (more or less)
*looks again* That’s it! Hee hee, it’s one of those moments where I was totally overlooking the obvious. Now that I know what to look at, it’s perfectly clear :)
Lovely tactics too, btw ,-)
I’ll admit I was starting to get worried if I’d been a little too obscure – especially since the result was put together to make it more apparent! (irony abounds)
This page – and the prior – are part about fighting the unknown; neither Hani nor Areen have extensive experience battling mechanoid creatures, and in this instance it’s implied they don’t even know it is a mechanical construct. In that, even a feeble and rickety example like this prove some danger and force them to get creative, which brings me on to the second part: Working Together.
Though I’m sure Hani damages the thing (it does start making odd noises), the more important gain is that it allows Areen to topple it over with a well-placed shove; and the only reason that was possible was because Areen had grabbed its attention at the end of #142.
Third part is just to work with the differences of Hani and Areen – their indiviudal strengths, weaknesses and ways to approach a problem. Hani is larger, stronger and more agile – she has a whole lot more mass and force she can apply, and is also the better aggressive fighter. On the other hand, Areen is a much smaller target, has a shield to swing and is better on the defensive.
I would have figured Areen would have experience with mechanical enemies, or at the very least been able to identify it as such.
The only telltale, though, is sound; visually, it’s more demonic than mechanical in appearance, what with huge claws and red glowing eyes and all. And even if Areen knows roughly what it is, she still won’t know the particular construction enough to make use of the fact. So it’s very much a case of kill first, dissect later.
It probably uses either steam pistons or hydraulics to move. Cause a leak, and down it goes.
i think in the next page we’ll be seeing a good and nice finishing move(mortal combat style!)
sword through the chest or something, if it will stop the damn machine is another thing.
So amaze us! :)
i think they just made it turn around too fast and it fell over…its not like that can stand back up
when the watcher turned to swing at Hani it put itself off-balance enough for Areen to knock the one leg out from under it, and now Hani’s on top about to finish it off:)
reap what you sow. Obvious word play with Linkin Park lirycs. :) Me like. Gief moar. :)
Hmm, not to be nitpicky (love the comic) but I’m not quite sure if the grey rectangle next to Hani’s sword in panel 7, where she’s slicing the Golem’s neck, is a speed blur or a mountain in the background ’cause it’s not a gradient and it sorta cuts off above the ground.
One other idea, it might help disuade the impression of Areen getting smushed (pun not intended) if you show the side of her head or shield or something near the edge of the last panel.
I actually noticed the gray box myself awhile after the comic was done and spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out how it’d ended up like that because none of the other motion blurs had ended up like that – until I realized it isn’t a motion blur at all.
It’s the Harvest Watcher’s hat, just miscoloured by the swing trail.
Looked a bit like Hani threw the head/blade of a shovel at it to gain its attention.
Considering what she seems to be holding in panel 4 and how much smaller it is than her actual sword in the other panels. (Yes, I know it could be a dagger, but that would look different if she chucked it.)
Five curses and spite live in each gnome, this truth can’t be ignored!
The best way to get rid of a gnome is to throw the gnome overboard!
Or throw a harvest watcher on him…
TIMBEEEER!
I hope Areen managed to kneecap that harvester hard enough for her to just run under its legs before it actually landed, else she’ll have some problems getting out from underneath that hunk-o-junk – not to worry, she still wear plate, though her face is quite vulnerable – I wonder if she would fit with a helmet. =/
it’s very unlikely that Nhani would have Areen Bubblehearth to get out of being crushed, as amusing as it would be, it’d also be counterproductive to the mission to have to run back from Stormwind. I think she got out of the way as it fell.
I love how Hani’s face is visible through the planks on the back of the Harvester. Its a classic “OHAI!” moment hehe.
My respect for gnomes being a pain in the ass in the heat of battle is certainly living up to my expectations. Always have a gnome on your side for a good distraction :P
no update today? Where is my rope? must, take, suicide
No update today – I’ve been busy throughout pretty much the whole day. I might try to catch up on it on monday, but failing that it’ll be up on thursday.
suicide is a bit extreem
No it isnt
Yes it is, unless there’s a healer close… which isn’t the case… so a bit extreme. But what’s the use… I’m telling a ghost that suicide is extreme? Sounds a bit useless…
Keep up the good work with the comic Nhani! One update less wouldn’t kill us… most of us…
theres a druid nearby tho :)
Yeey! thursday! Update time!! wait..
Waiting for Thursday to come to see if the little fellow is alright…
its Tuesday now if an not having the wrong day thing again.