Two armoured combatants collide at the centre of a chaotic battlefield, a red-suited fighter with a wide-brimmed cap grappling against a hulking, tusked purple-skinned brute wielding a jagged bone weapon. Around them the fight spills outward, more fighters locked in combat against a backdrop of jagged rock formations and a smoke-choked, fiery orange sky, small silhouetted birds circling above the carnage. The central duel is rendered with particular clarity against the murkier chaos surrounding it, the red fighter's helmet and gauntlets catching sharp highlights while his opponent's mottled purple hide and curved horns give him an unmistakably monstrous silhouette. Streaks of blood mark the purple creature's forearm, evidence that the fight has already been underway for some time before this frozen instant, and the low, close framing puts the viewer right in the middle of the melee rather than observing from a safe distance. The title's reference to purple and blue armies suggests this scene belongs to a larger tribal conflict, likely drawn from the same colour-coded factional warfare that runs through much of Slaine's Celtic-mythology-driven world, where opposing tribes are frequently distinguished by their paint and armour rather than by uniform national identity. Bisley's tight, almost cinematic close-up on the central grapple, rather than a wide establishing shot, keeps the emotional stakes personal even within a much larger battle.
The purple and blue armies fight
