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Thank you to everyone who purchased a pack of cards at Wellington Armageddon expo. I will try make it to the Auckland expo too. I have around 100 decks left over although i haven't done an official count my box of 200 is half empty! if you would like a deck, PM me and we can try figure something out i’m happy to sell them at $20 NZD then on top of that figure out shipping. Thanks again for your continued support. cards feature all the artwork bellow this post standard 54 pack of playing cards. historical figures for rulers and creatures for numbers, plane aces and some sketches that aren't featured on the blog for the jokers. thanks again!

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Nafanua of Samoa Queen Chief, Toa Tama'ita'i. lived approx. 1200 A.D. Avenged her uncle & brought piece to Savai'i. in the great battle the fighting stopped when her Tiputa (shirt) blew up in the wind, the opposing group realizing they had been bested by a women felt so humiliated they surrendered.

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Tama Te Kapua - captain of Te Arwa Canoe that came to New Zealand in 1350. him and his brother set out from Hawaiki after stealing breadfruit from chief Uenuku. He was around during/in-the-aftermath of Rangitoto's (large volcano) last eruption. Sole victor in the battle of Te Karihipotae where all other chiefs were slain. more: https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/tama-te-kapua

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Cuauhtémoc, 11th Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, part of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Last Aztec king, who stepped up in place of Moctezuma II during the Spanish siege of Tenochtitlan & defended the city against Spanish indigenous Spanish-allies ,muskets, cannons for 80 days all during an outbreak of smallpox. eventually captured then killed.

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Winrich Von Kniprode, Longest operating Grandmaster of the Tutonic Knights, he served as grand master for 31 years from 1351-1382.most of his military career was served in the wars in Lithuanian at the time in both battles, sieges and in peaceful occupation. Also known for establishing schools & building up Marienburg his hometown in Germany. fun fact about the Teutonic knights is they also operated as hospital and their part in battle was half heavy shock mounted troops and half hospital, medical and priest for injured troops.

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Richard I the Lionheart, King of England. Remembered favorably compared to his brother King John due to his popularity with the church. he didn’t know how to speak English and Neglected his kingdom, taxed & sold England to fund his life abroad crusading. He died of gangrene after being shot in the shoulder by a peasant crossbowman while besieging Châlus-Chabrol.

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Matilda of Tuscany la Gran Contessa Vice Queen of Italy Reigned from 1052-1115 A.d. One of few medieval women to be remembered for her military achievements,she was an exceptional tactician and politician. Best know for her victory against Henry IV, where she led her army and rode at its head against Henry and forced their retreat.

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6. Vlad III Țepeș aka Vlad the Impaler, also Dracula meaning Son of the Devil/dragon. Infamous for the Ottoman War wher he utilized guerrilla tactics & burnt and poised half his country to stop their invasion, at Târgoviște his castle they found the forest of the impaled: 20,000 people on pikes and they retreated.

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Saint Olga of Kiev, obliterator of the Devlian people as revenge for her husbands death at their hands. By first burring the marriage proposal envoys of the Devlians alive, burning their visiting politicians alive then visiting under the rouse of marriage her 500 got 5000 soldiers drunk at a celebration party then killed them all, at this point the leftover Devlians surrendered the terms were: a roosting bird was to be taken from the roof of each house and handed over to Olga, the Devlians who expected to be stripped of their belongings and wealth jumped that these strange but generous terms as it seems like a easy enough request to fill. Once she obtained the birds she had them caged and she left the city. She had her men then bound burning sulfur to the feet of each bird and in their hundreds released them, in their panic to reach safety the birds flew home to their nests and the whole city went up in fires simultaneously. There were too many fires to fight with buckets and the whole city burnt down and thus ending the Devlian people. the survivors dispersed out into surrounding towns and country. How much of the story is truth is debated but its pretty bad ass regardless.  shes still a saint, credited with bringing Christianity to Keiv.

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Ivan III Vasilyevich the Great, Grand Prince of Moscow gatherer of the Russian lands. Grandfather of Ivan the Terrible. He tripled the size of Russian territory & chased the Golden Horde out of Russia thus the ending vassal dependence on the Horde and the 250 year mongol control. of Russia resulting in the founding of Moscow as we know it today.

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Lapu Lapu legendary hero in Philippines history, portrayed as giant, young and muscular he was actually likely in his 40′s and quite short. famous as the First to resist Spanish colonization. He killed explorer and Spanish colonist Ferdinand Magellan in the battle of Mactan where the Spanish were securing an alliance with Philippine royalty through campaign. the battle was won in 1521 and delayed colonization of the Philippians for 40 years. He won against a superior number of Philippine Spanish-allied forces and the technologically superior spanish who were brandishing muskets, cannons, crossbows, swords. Lapu Lapu’s forces famously fought unarmored or in padded garb with swords and spears against these foes. lapu lapu is featured in the garb and tattoos recorded by Spanish in the Florentine codex .

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Date Masamune - the One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu. Daimyō Lord of Sendai, in japan from 1600-1636 when he died age 68. He survived smallpox as a child which was the cause of his missing or cataract right eye. At age 14 he led his first campaign in stead of his father and was victorious, his military career started here and lasted until the end of his life. A tactician, economist & great builder responsible for a surge in development in Sendai. Pictured here with gold helmet and get black Armour sporting the famous asymmetrical crescent moon shaped decoration.

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Empress Wu Zetain - only ever sole empress of China, she started in court as concubine to Emperor Taizong  and then married his successor Emperor Gaozong. She took control after he had a stroke in 660 and was unable to speak or move properly, she ruled in his stead. after he died she continued to hold power until she died age 81, she reigned from: 655-705.A.D.

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Taniwha - sea serpent/monster from Māori mythology, it lives in the ocean or in deep lakes and rivers, likely a story to stop people from going into dangerous waters as this is where it is said to dwell. as with many legendary monsters the origin can be placed as a deterrent to stop youths getting into danger. I based my Taniwha of the Mosasaur, a common predatory marine reptile during the Cretaceous (now extinct). Mosasuars are one of the cryptids of New Zealand. and is theorized based on some sightings to still survive, a fun theory. I added the Tā moko style skin patterns to make my Taniwha match what is portrayed in maori art. I think it doubles as a realistic-ish looking kind of camouflage pattern that could appear in nature.

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Fenghuang - mythological bird from East Asian mythology. she has the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow. In the modern representation. this leans towards more bird like examples where the older tells talk of the body of a turtle. the body of a mandarin duck fits much better as its easier to see how these feathers that can look scale-like could be mistold as a turtle shell etc. all together when I started to average the features described in my head the most fitting shape for the bird was a parrot. In my depiction I imagine the Fenghuang as a paradise parrot sporting beautiful eccentric feathers like those that have been described and are only comparable to other spectacular birds in nature.

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Fūri - A Japanese legendary tree dwelling creature, possibly some kind late surviving and now extinct mammal. Described as something between the size of a tanuki and an otter marking it most likely mammalian. Long sleek and flying it could may have been some kind of flying squirrel, but based on the description i tend to lean towards a possible an unknown type of gliding ferret/weasel. In this variation is went for a weasely design. It is described with spots along its hide with a dark fur on its back which is featured above.

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Cerastes is large serpent from Greek mythology, said to have ram like horns with four pairs of smaller horns behind them. It would bury itself in the sand and wait for prey to come along thinking its horns were pants or worms. The legend is most likely based on the real life Cerastes-genus of snake (the genus is named after the mythical snake Cerastes) they are a group of small venomous vipers found in deserts in north Africa and the middle east whom sport two horns above the eyes. Not meeting the exact specifications of the myth, the Cerastes of myth could be a yet unknown extinct variant of 4 horned Cerastes but more likely more horns were snowballed into retellings about the creature.