Happy Birthday to The Weald
By Kip, Pierre and Julian
Five years of community and creativity
In late 2020 the legendary Max opened the Weald Discord Server. Since then some 500 members have joined The Weald. A small number compared to other more hyped Indie game servers. But we are still alive and kicking…and thriving. We invite you to a nostalgic trip into some highlights and milestones of The Weald as a game and as a creative community.
The Weald Logo – the Eyetoad
The Weald Community
In the very early stages of the Weald Discord it was mostly about the game, miniatures, kit bashing, terrain, inspiration and motivation to create something together.
But quite soon – on a very subconscious level – things started to change. People became more familiar with each other. We had regular hang out calls and the chats drifted into spaces which only sound communities drift into.
There were times when the motivation to create something for the Weald specificly became low, but that never stopped the community from being engaged, helpful, and supporting.
And then a wide variety of creative activities started which made the Weald more than just a game.
Another side effect was that we started sharing know-how and supporting each other in completely different topics.We shared tips for and supported each other in crafting, setting up 3D printing, Mycology, even personal issues. That has built a strong bond over time.
The First Eyetoad Challenge
The first Eyetoad Challenge (back then it was called the Grand Eyetoad Challenge) was announced in December 2021 and had a jury of four. In its infancy, it was a simple competition to make an ‘Eyetoad’ model – the winner would receive a gift voucher and we even donated money to a UK based toad charity (because apparantly they exist!)
“I created a D100 4 column eyetoad generator – that rolled up names like ‘Stinkhorn of the Wetlands, Scorner of Farms’ or ‘Bramble the Putrid One, Haunter of Swans’ – it was such a fun little project, we should probably revist it sometime and make more Eyetoads!”
The Weald community regularly runs the Eyetoad challenge with the latest being number 13! We’ve had some insane entries and its really become a staple of our community, and its creative output.
The First Secret Santa and How It Evolved
The first Secret Santa started in 2021. Kip organised who sends something to whom. It started as a Secret Santa in the common sense, i.e. you send someone something and they send the next person something….everyone gets a little gift!
Later Secret Santas in the Weald were more creative as you had to kitbash a miniature for someone, and send it. Each participant opened their gifts on a video call and revealed the miniatures received, sharing the incredible creations people had put together for one another.
This trend continued for three more occasions between 2021 and 2024. More recently Secret Santa has mutated but remained creative in a different way. This year (2025) the idea is – you create a prompt and the receiver builds, kit bashes, sketches, photographs, paints something according to the prompt. This year’s theme is “Winter in the Weald”.
We are looking forward to see the unique creative outcomes by all participants.
The Game Rules of The Weald
The first compendium was released on January 5th, 2021.
The rules in version 0.6 were released in July 2021. It had a cover illustrated by the amazing Samuel Allan.
In the meantime the rules went through some more iterations. Especially after WealdCons we were able to refine the rules, and erase contradictions.
Today we have the text-only version 3 available for free to download (if it’s applicable for you) in the Download section.
Fun fact about the game: some Wealdians played the game with actual miniatures first time at WealdCon 2023, including one of the original authors.
The Toad “Bits Box”
In 2021 the concept of a roaming bits box was created – aptly named ‘The Toad’ it was a small box initially, filled with kitbash materials, however as it made its way to different members of the community it got larger and larger… it travelled to Europe and back to the UK – its currently taking a rest but we hope to get him moving again!- who knows maybe it with spawn offspring and they will go to America and Australia?
In 2025 Mik started yet another EuroToad which is again filled with awesome bits for pushing the creative boundaries of The Weald Community.
The Weald Workshops
In early 2022 Steve came up with the idea to run workshops for the community. Since then we had multiple workshops run by different people. The fist Weald Workshop took place in June 2022 with the topic oil painting in miniature painting. since then we ran workshops for topics such as cleaning the airbrush, resin casting, miniature photography, photography basics and colour theory.
More facts, more creativity
- The Weald has its own language created by ElvesOfZion, an incomprehensible unit system and a currency called knots
- Next to this website we also run the Instagram account Enter the Weald
- there were roadshows in France at Les 30h du jeu de Givry, in Germany at BerlIndieCon and in England at Fringe
- The Weald has an insane amount of random tables for whatever you might need. And it is constantly growing.
- The Weald has an insane amount of gossip, infamous characters and places which were all created by the community
- Stories and background stories were written already by those joining in the earliest days
The first get-together in London
The Future of The Weald
The fifth anniversary of The Weald is also the birth of a new era. From now on behind The Weald stands an officially legal entity, because we founded a non-profit association for The Weald:
The Eyetoad Creative Society e.V.
More on that in the near future. Stay tuned.
Works from the early months of The Weald
