Sakbe Road Gallery

Ssooo... another week gone by! I had hoped to post more but as it was I awoke the morning after my last post to find I had been sat upon by a bad cold. I tried going in to work one-and-one-half days last week but eventually realized I needed the bed-rest more!

So no posts. But I did manage some work on BoJH, so it wasn't a total washout.

Today I was again reminded of the Displaced Miniatures site. In the past I have never got it to work and have always left in frustration. Today I tried uploading all the pics of our Sakbe Road model. More frustration, but I finally got it semi-working. The main problem now is I can't get the bloody gallery sorted into a coherent order. The pics are named in sequence and were uploaded in order so I don't understand the problem. Plus, there are 34 pictures, but the DM site says 39 - go figure.

Anyway, the gallery is at:

Sakbe Road

I may try and re-order it at a later date...

Home Sweet Home

Ahh...back home after a "wargamer's weekend" in the north - North Bay, Ontario, to be exact. Had a pleasant couple of days of gaming but glad to be back - for one thing I had no email and no opportunity to write anything. (And I am trying to make up for last years lack of posts!)

Visited my friend Terry Peacock, proprietor of North Bay Games and Hobbies, and gamed in his store with frequent breaks between turns to browse his well-stocked shelves!

The only Tekumel-related things accomplished: I picked up a second warmachine boxed set so as to have a full contingent as discussed previously, and also a blister of Mordhiem Amazons with a view to possible headswaps. (The poses are a little wooden but I like the hairsyles of some.)

War Machines 3 - The Legion of Mengano the Jakallan

The Legion of Mengano the Jakallan, 12th Imperial Artillery, is based in Jakalla but typically was broken up into elements and distributed where needed. At the start of the war with Yan Kor it was largely posted to Khirgar, and presumably served in the Western Theatre for the balance of the conflict.

The Armies of Tekumel, Vol 1: Tsolyanu book lists it as having light, medium and heavy ballistae (dart throwers), medium and heavy stone-throwers and trebuchets. There is an obvious problem with terminology and the crew levels stated are higher than the models provide, but for my purposes I am going to ignore all that. The WG set provides the bolt throwers and the stone throwers. I can safely ignore the trebuchets for the moment as they would not be likely to see battlefield service.

How large should the contingent be? A second set would give two bolt thrower sections (of two machines each) and a single section of stone throwers, also of two machines. That is probably good - I could later upgrade them to three machines each with a third boxed set. I wouldn't want the war machines to dominate the battlefield however.

As far as painting goes, the brief colour guide gives:

helmet - base: blue, no plume, trim: green;
body armour - base: blue, kilt: white, trim: green;
shield* - base: green, 2nd colour: silver, trim: blue;
standard - base: blue, 2nd colour: green, 3rd colour: white.

*the shields would be those borne by the guard contingent and officers, but also the mantlets the book says the legion also uses. I'm planning on using Assyrian Siege Mantlets from the Wargames Foundry range for this purpose. I think, being from Jakalla, that the legion might have greater access to reeds than wood.

Mantlets: scroll down, way down

War Machines 2 - Corrections.

Checking the box details, I see that the "Centurian" is actually an "Optio" - oopsio. And two of the scorpian crew are also unique to the boxed set, same as him.

Looking at the figures, I'm going to add a plume taken from one of our helmets to the top of that baton or staff that he is wielding. It will make a nice staff of power.

And I think I've found a suitable oval shield (with a raised pattern) from my Foundry Gladiators to take the place of the standard one he comes with. So, still technically a Roman shield, just a little less run-of-the-mill.

War Machines

I picked up a boxed set of Warlord Games new Roman War Machines last month to add some artillery to my armies. I already have some RAFM ballista, and some catapults and dart throwers from Mega Miniatures, but this set had some nice crew and extras that tipped my hand. I think I will use the Warlord machines for one of the Tsolyani legions and the others for Yan Kor, with crew scrounged and converted from our YK figures.

Boxed Set

The set I picked up wasn't cheap - at $59.95 CDN - but none of the WG stuff is. It comes with one large, stone-throwing ballista and two dart-throwing scorpions. These are all in resin, light-weight and nicely detailed. The ballista had a bit of flash and some tabs that will have to be trimmed off. The "extras" are a pile of round stones for the ballista and a tub of darts each for the others. Each scorpian is in two pieces, the ballista in four - plus the "extras".

There are eight crew figures. Two for each dart thrower, three for the ballista and a nice Centurian figure. Warlord games also does metal versions of these weapons but my understanding is that the centurian only comes with the boxed set. Obviously they are dressed as Romans but I don't think that will be too much of a problem. Some are unarmoured, the others in chainmail or lorica segmenta. I think the Roman helmets that some wear will make fine "siege helmets" and overall, when painted in Tsolyani colours I think they will suit the part. The Centurian's helmet has two small plumes at the front and he is directing fire with a wooded mace, resting his other arm on his shield. This is separate and will be swopped out for something more exotic. One of the figures has a headband - any ideas for a symbol or slogan to paint on it? The figures are slightly shorter and a little stockier than our figures but I don't see a problem. I stopped being anal about figure scales a long time ago.

I am now debating whether to paint the machines Tsolyani blue, perhaps with colourful designs somewhat in the fashion of Indian War Elephants. I am mindful of something the Professor wrote once about the shields and armour being elaborately decorated in Hindu fashion. (It's in the "Miniatures for Tekumel" booklet.)

War Machines page

A Band of Joyous Heroes

What is it? I've been calling it a Tabletop Adventure Game. And that's what it is: it isn't exactly a roleplaying game, but neither is it strictly a wargame, though skirmish wargaming comes pretty close. It is in the same school of games as Rattrap Productions "Pulp '45", "Gloire" or "Fantastic Worlds", or Howard Whitehouse's "Astounding Tales". It's played with figures on a tabletop. Typically one scenario per evening, or maybe a couple in an evening if they are short. Each scenario represents part of a linked series of games, together forming the overall adventure which itself is generally part of an ongoing campaign. At least, that is how we run our Fantastic Worlds games up here in Kingston.

So - what is it? A Band of Joyous Heroes is my attempt to do the same thing, but on Tekumel. It is currently a draft - I'm calling the latest version the 45% draft - which is far advanced on the version I inflicted on some people last week. (Out of the blue, mostly, as well - apologies for that guys.) Since then I have revised the combat somewhat, added poison rules, and added the talents and flaws (special attributes) used to flesh out the characters. Currently working on the Challenge rules, which along with Combat make up a large part of the game. I've also been working on magic. I think I know how it will work - I'm just not sure how many spells I can fit into a 60 page book - that is a 60-page book that isn't 60 pages of magic!

Anyway, that is what is going on - if anyone is wondering.

The Hlaka, Shen and Ahoggya are still in the sculptor's queue, but will hopefully get worked on soon. I'll keep you posted.

First anniversary of the Null Blog...

Well, I guess I am not much of a blogger, as evidenced by almost a full year of inactivity! Funny, as people are often saying I talk too much! ;-)

Timeshadows asked if anything is going on. The answer is "Yes" - just not very quickly.

This is the request I recently sent to our sculptor:

"Here is a list of the projects I would like to get sculpted between now and this time next year - assuming you can fit them in: 

1) The Hlaka. This release will require two new flying figures - one with javelins and another with rock and/or flame-pot. From the existing blanks we will need four figures: a leader, pointing; a hlaka w. javelins, a hlaka w. flame-pot; an Imperial Herald, based on an illustration from the blue solo book. Also required is the human from the same illustration (representing Prince Eselne).

2) The Ahoggya. This release will hopefully be a multi-part creature. My idea is for two main torsos with the four legs attached. There would be sockets in the upper torso for the four arms to fit and a the upper carapace would plug into a hole in the top of the torso. One body would have armoured legs, the other unarmoured. There would be multiple arms: pointing, with shield, spear, two different sword, mace, bare hand, and possibly crossbow. There would be two carapaces: one armoured, the other not. Comments on this welcome.

3) The Shen. This release will feature the following 12 figures: Officer with Lightning Sword; Musician with drum; Standard bearer; Halberd/Pike 1; Halberd/Pike 2; Axe-sword 1; Axe-sword 2; Pistol Crossbow; Berserker; Unarmoured Shen 1; Unarmoured Shen 2; Official in Cloak.

4) The Legion of the Red Devastation. This release will feature 10 figures appropriate for this legion as per our previous method. As this legion has no bowmen there will be Warrior-priests and the like filling out the numbers.

5) Additional Yan Kor standards and special figures to enable us to complete the legions already started. Also blanks for other specialized legions."

He has apparently been getting over a bout of illness, but has promised to send me a response as soon as he can.

Any comments, questions or suggestions are always welcome!

Regards,

Howard Fielding