(Last update -main text or comment: O3.18."14)
According to recent threads on the TMP 18th C forum (18th Century VSF?, The Seige of Vechta, 18th Century Sci Fi, Steam Tanks and War Wagons, Anyone Ever Tried 18th Century Air Balloon Wars? Advice Wanted for Basing Hot Air Balloons French SYW Steamtank?) and the SOCDAISY group, there is currently a surge of curiosity, if not deep interest, about the spicing of Lace Wars battlegames with a few Sci-Fi elements.
I have been for more than 50 years now oversatiated with 'historical accuracy' (it began when the French Military History Societies I joined filled their Journals with knowledgeable but boring articles about the shako plate worn by the Xth rgt of Napoleonic French infantry in winter 1808, and the like). Thus it was not only refreshing, but a real real illumination to discover the concept of *fictitious* 18°C countries and uniforms in Grant’s ‘The War Game’ and Young’s ‘Charge!’. Firstly it eliminates national characteristics, which can lead to arguments over how faster this army marched or shoot than that one, and dispel any uneasiness the feeling of ‘blaspheming Holy Historicity’ may cause. Wargamers often feel oddly liberated after taking that plunge.
And then with your own fictitious mini-country you are a creator. Nowadays to paint a fully historical army is no longer meritorious: with all the resources at hand on the Internet, the exchange of information by the forums, everybody and his brother can do that. With your own brainchild Imagi-Nation you *create* something totally personal. It's like writing a novel instead of merely, passively, reading one. Among the 6+ billions of humans the only YOU can describe the flags & uniforms of your country, they are unique. Envisage it like increasing endangered biodiversity! And the history, mores and idiosyncrasies of a fictitious country may be funny to imagine and develop.
I got the 'Lacepunk' idea from the 'JamesBondesques' gadgets of the old TV series 'Wild Wild West': why not having such in my dear alternate mid-18th C.? Thus I enjoyed the use of such gadgetry by the hero of The Scarlet Pimpernel (and to some degree of Jack of All Trades).
Update O7"12: relevant links gathered in a post on the Royaumes de l'Imagination Australian forum.
Update O3"14: N.B.: on my blog, to keep all information bits relative to a given topic together I tend to treat each post as a 'folder', with the initial messages (generally edited & amplified afterwards) as the first 'file' in the folder, and to add new 'files' as *comments*. Totally Google-reader unfriendly, since the updates are not spotted, but a complement to 'labels' to easily and exhaustively retrieve later all information relevant to a given subject. Thus this very 'Lace Wars Sci-Fi and Fantasy' post of sept. 2009 has more than trebled in its main message and is developed in now 149 comments below about diverse (yet hopefully relevant) topics:
Some 10 late 2010 ones (we are now limited to 4,096 characters / comment) are devoted to suggestions about the adaptation of Japanese OVA 'Hellsing Ultimate' to a mid-18th C. (quasi-)European setting (such as Pangaea...) and to what miniatures are propitious to conversions to specific characters & types....
Older and more recent comments try to address, at least on a preliminary level, among other topics:
. Munchausenian steamtanks & APC, munchausenian animal-based war engines, air power and H&M warfare;
. Earthlings on Mars, Martians, origin and nature of life on Mars, Christian clergy on Mars: missionaries or demon hunters;
. Demons and political correctness, biology and ethics of vampires, reproductive strategy of long-lived species (Elves...);
. Minis and painting for 18th C. vampires, werewolves and undeads;
. Intersection of parallel universes, 'Hellmouths', aluminium and 'supernatural' creatures;
. War Hammer Chaos Gods <-> 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse <-> 3 'functions' of Indo-European mythologies, the 5th Rider <-> the 'Triple Goddess';
. Computing engines, automaton orchestra;
. Wargaming in the 'Monster Blood Tattoo' Half-Continent;
. SYW Horror / Pulp; 'zombies' vs 'ghouls': choice, conversion and painting of appropriate miniatures;
. 18th C. 'Roused Rabble & Rioting Mob';
. Munchausenian realization of Da Vinci's designs: Tortoise tank, helicopter, ornithopter;
. 'Lace Wars' Hellsing Ultimate
. Origin, characteristics and biology of various 'undead' types;
. Links to relevant threads on diverse forums;
. A draft of listing of 'Lovecraftian' miniatures (search also Mc Farlane's Spawn action figures / Twisted Fairy Tales for *huge* creatures / Old Ones; and CP Models);
. Playing 'Chaos in Carpathia', 'Strange Aeons' and 'Malifaux' in the 18th C.;
. 'Credible' non-humans in 18th C. settings;
. 'Anatomy of winged and egg-laying Mammals;
. Bioweapons for 18th C. Pulp and Sci-Fi (updated O8."12 there)
. Inspirational movies and RPG
. Swashbuckling on Mars or in Mu
. In defense of 'cheesecake' on table-top in 'alternate 18th C.' games
. Scandinavian Huldra and appropriate figurines
. PP Cygnar Tempest Mages as Lacepulp special agents / forces
. The Gulliver group & 18th c. Torchwood?
. Origin and biology of Shambleaux
. Lacepunk, Clockpunk... with links
. The Chevalier d'Eon as a Lacepulp character
. In Her Majesty Name in the 18th C. and Alternate History 18th C. female soldiers
. Historical Lacepunk weapons
. A self-propelled gun on a reversed Fardier hull
. Robida-inspired Lacepunk heroines in miniature
. Using 'Victorian Horror / SF' IHMN rules in the 18th C..
. IHMN companies ± inspired from French movies...
.
.
But as for going further and adding Science-Fiction elements…
- Lacepunk - Munchausenian contraptions?
- Space 1745 -tricorns on Mars?
- Female soldiers for the Lace Wars (now that's SciFi!)?
- Castle Falkenstein 1745 [Lacepulp?]- sorcerers, werewolves and zombies?
With reference to ‘steampunk’ (Victorian Sci-Fi = Sci-Fi in the Age of Steam), Lace Wars settings including Sci-Fi elements can well be labelled ‘Lacepunk’.
(Milady de Winter's skyship)
I like Lace Wars warfare and wargaming as they are, and would not add Sci-Fi elements in an
unrestricted manner. If you introduce historical or Sci-Fi Victorian technologies in a mid-18°C background, you’ll merely end wargaming historical or Sci-Fi Victorian battles, or even WW1, with minis wearing tricorns: may be fun once, but no more (the French comics series "Empire" -see at the end of this post- is a graphic example of Victorian Sci-Fi in Napoleonic uniforms; here is another video example -also here). A 
combination of flying frigates (right: these based on an authentic 17th C. project by the Jesuit Francesco Lana) and steamtanks can be eye-candy, but if I wished to play late 19°C wargames I’d merely do so, albeit probably using fictitious minicountries as proxies of the historical Powers (some 40 years of Cold War were fought in that way by at least one side, yet with real countries and casualties): thus I would not put a sacrilegious hand on History, nor change in any blasphemous way the Holy records and battle honours of historical units (to design fictitious uniforms similar enough to historical ones to make ‘identification’ obvious, yet at the same time original, would be an additional pleasure).
Then, I’m not to the slighest hostile to *spicing* a Lace Wars background with a *pinch* of Sci-Fi. As a matter of fact, in the height of my gaming days, I ‘masterized’ a ‘Spies vs Counterspies’ RPG campaign set in 1745 (using the D&D rules with some input from ‘En Garde’, specially to proportionate the characteristics of gunpowder weapons). ‘Advanced technologies’ were the object of most of the errands: «Your mission, if you accept it, 
is to steal /retrieve the prototype /working scale model /plans of the Puckle machine-gun /Paixhans howitzer /Chassepot rifle / Babbage computing engine. This paper will autoignite in 5 seconds». Of course descriptive designations were substituted to historical names, e.g. ‘Fusil Culassier a Repetition’ to ‘Chassepot rifle’. Actually the background itself was fictitious, the adventures being of the ‘Cloak & Rapier’ / 'Swashbuckling' genre (3 Musketeers…: some inspiration from the Flashing Blades set): I had to suppose that the Fronde of the nobles had be so successful that by the mid-18°C 
France was no more centralized, policed and the nobility no more under royal control than historically a century and a half earlier. The whole idea sprang from the collision between my fondness for the WAS period and the discovery of Victorian ‘James Bondesque gadgetry’ in the ‘Wild Wild West’ TV series..
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Such «more or less almost likely» prototypes are illustrated as:I-Weapon Systems, II-Ground Mobility, III-Naval Warfare and IV-Air Mobility.
..Even historically, there was the fashion during the 18th C. for "Classical" inspiration, such as Saxe's Legion. Many of these used those neo-classical style brass helmets in place of tricornes. Therefore, it is not beyond the realms of possibility for a monarch to field 'modern' scythed chariots. A conversion of Eureka ‘Triumphapedes’ to Ancient Persians-like scythed chariots (the seated soldier driving instead of pedaling) can be envisaged; see also the comment below posted on O1.10.08. Along the same vein, an improvement over manhandled simple rocket lauchers, an interesting contraption (possibly a variant of the 4-horses Triumphapede'?), the Belisarius' Katyushas Chariot.
Similar to an Ancient war chariot , without scythe blades or spear heads since it is a long-range missile platform; slightly longer, and open at the rear. Almost at the center of the chariot, slightly excentred to the right, a solide pole 5 feet tall: atop it, swiveling on a simple joint, a tight bundle of 6 rocket launchers, 3 abreast on 2 tiers. For the safety of the men and horses, the chariot runs at an angle of the target and the crew crouch when 
all the rockets are fired at once; then, having the multiple launcher on a kind of metallic shield with the edges raised at the rear and along a good part of its length (like a very elongated coal shovel) would be safer and allow a 360° arc of fire. As soon as the rockets are hissing toward the enemy the chariot races away to reload at ammunition carts: a kind of caracol / harassing horse archers manoeuvre at several hundred yards range. With a troop of such chariots, the sheer number of rockets -specially with fragmentation / schrapnel warheads- would 
make up for the lack of accuracy of individual missiles, shredding the ranks of the enemy (already unsettled by the sight and banshee-like screams) by a hail of explosive warheads.Aberrant sand surfers with wooden spoked wheels 'reversed' -2 in front, a wheeled rudder at the end- & converted weapons and crews,could represent a different approach of fast-moving weapon platforms; bogdanwaz fielded a larger version of armed 'landcraft' under sails (functional 'Land Yachts', far faster than racing horses, are known since the mid 16th C.).An interesting sctachbuilt airboat -though imho the 'balloon' is too small with regard to the hull, unless this last is made of Lightwood.
A great steam walker: its wooden construction looks more 'Horse & Musket' than 'Victorian', but unfortunately the lack of Rococo decoration is more 'Napoleonic' than 'Lace Wars'..
If a member of the Gaslightrules Group, look at this Steam coach, rather similar to a Lacepunk 'blackkettle', though I should have painted the under-frame in the same color as the coachwork; also this spectacular 'VSF in the Age of Reason' photos album, with steamwagons and Munchausenian airships!.
This excellent model of steam wagon looks too ‘advanced’ for the 18th C. (even fictitious): as set, the guns have to be breech-loaders (if successful may be the final version would have looked like this 'Tortoise tank'?). I’d prefer a single carronade in the front, with a limited arc of fire (‘13bis’), sliding back to be muzzle-reloaded. Thus the engine to be displaced backward; the ‘point defense’ swivel gun with 360° arc of fire, of course. The headlight is far too 'modern' for the 18th C., and some all-round protection (swinging-up mantlet in front, like the cover of a warship gunport) -planking covered with cuir bouilli? Could look great painted in the 'Golden Compass' cab dark red- would make the whole look better, more 'operational'.As a matter of Steamtanks, the 'pre-VSF' wargaming reference is the GW arsenal with the (light?) Mk4 and the (heavier) Mk5. Both suffer the GW syndrome of 'hypertrophied' major weapons , but this can be easily remedied (earlier models of Hellblasters, Hellstrorms, mobile mortars... were far more 'sensible'). Both could benefit from a 'tender' to increase their autonomy, btw. (Note that if the steamtanks and warwagons crews minis cannot be directly used, a lot of 'special' weapons -multibarrelled pistols and muskets / Repeater Handgun, blunderbuss, long musket, Hochland long rifle. with scope... deserve to be salvaged an re-used). Among the tempting "variants" to entice the enterprising converter one would be a 'bridge-layer' -such steamtanks are obviously unable to cross even minor obstacles: the turretless Sigmar's Hammer could provide the basic chassis and de Saxe described an ingenious articulated bridge in his 'Reveries' (wealthy converters can use the Revell ponte di fortuna , if they can manage to articulate it in the middle: given the difference of scale, such bridge could support the heaviest steamtanks). The Alter Kamerad and Unfehlbar may interest some daring mechanists. Yet the most tempting is an APC to carry the accompanying infantry and chiefly the 'assault engineers' (probably wearing a full cuirass like H&M military miners, but with same helmet as the steamtank crews: that of the Clermont-Infanterie with a thicker, more padded turban ) needed to clear the pass of those clumsy contraptions; the worst solution would be to put the body of a 'warwagon' atop the hull of a steamtank, allowing to keep the main gun of the steam vehicle: even ignoring the fact that open-toped APC are out-fashioned, the whole looks ridiculously like a double-decker bus threatening to overturn at any instant; rather remove the hull cannon to leave room inside, open the top of the hull (Unfehlbar fashion?) and have the infantrymen inside just high enough to shoot (through crenellations?) -remember to have doors or to modify the front to a drawbridge, the rear of the contraption is blocked by the engine; but the most 'advanced' design (specially appropriate for the assault engineers) would have an 'enclosed' APC, such as the hull of this scratch-built steamtank: replace the light gun by a mere swivel-mounted amusette and have a drawbridge at the front; open loopholes through the 3 'crosses' on each side- you can ever have blunderbusses permanently set there, 40K Chimera -fashion.
[Chaos] Dwarves engineers enjoy a flattering repute, thus some Fantasy models such as the Leviathan Goliath (with spoked wheels) and even the OG Steamwagon (Chinese?) could be converted to Lacepunk engines; with some restrictions, a crane to load the bomb into the barrel and *two* 'steam tractors' to move it, the GW Dreadquake mortar could be a spectacular (if highly unreliable) Munchausenian piece; after 'deChaosation' the magma cannon could perhaps become a superheavy flamethrower (pulled by a steam tractor [# -> disarmed & 'humanized'] to long moves, pushed by it in battle); the steam landship looks too 'medieval', but maybe after conversion to 'rococo' decoration could become a gaudy mobile command post?
The Russian movie 1622 features an interesting tank, though the power source is unclear -then, since the movie also features unicorns...
A basic tenet of VSF / Steampunk is that whatever seemed possible then actually work: the same applies of course to 'Lace Wars Sci-Fi'. Perpetual motion was indeed seen as a possibility by then -it was still in later times. thus this horseless carriage would be functional -if not reliable?- in a Lacepunk setting. Or would it use Vril energy, known as a Hyperborean (Extra-Terrestrial, ultimately?) heritage for more 'Pulp' spicing -though for the 'libertine' 18th C. I'd have a preference for Orgone! The video game 'Empire Total War' offers a few 'advanced' engines of war: multiple rockets launchers, Puckle guns, percussive shells...
'Munchausenian' (for Western Europe) biologically-based weapon platforms, such as the use of Jingal elephants (or 'worse') & Zamberek (or rockets-launcher) camels, 'bullocks & elephants' self-propelled 'artillery wagons' (though I harbor doubts about some details: I'd prefer a far heavier piece on a 2 axles 'Navy' carriage, multi-spoked wheels for the wagon and a less 'modern' front protection (Thanks GWZ); or this Indian contraption: 'A block of one hundred musket barrels mounted in five rows, with a stubby 6 pounder cannon on each side…the whole thing on a fairly normal wheeled carriage' {even more bizarre than the Russian Russian 'regimental gun' combining a 3-pdr cannon with 2 Coehorn type 6-pdr mortars pointed horizontally (used as caseshot- or grenade-throwers?)} on a Western European theatre of war, bringing there totally new troop types requiring additional rules, are best treated exactly in the same way as balloons and steamtanks (see O2.28."08 comment below).
Update 12"10: those curious about the good Baron Munchausen's improvements on the war engines depicted in the Da Vinci Code and the experimental weapons designed by that young Colonial Benjamin Franklin to use the power of the thunderflash of lightning, should absolutely subscribe to that Etherograph Gazette entitled 'Gaslightrules Group' (it's free) to peruse and enjoy Jeff "bogdanwaz" W's. two portfolios of fascinating and inspirational illustrations entitled 'Age of Reason' and 'Ben Franklin's War'. A partial report of B.F's Wars is generally available there; the author reposted most of the inspirational photos on his blog.(Now, about celeriferes and with an ample pinch of salt, a work of work of passionate dedication).
For such 'Benjamin Franklin / Mesmer 'electric' weaponry' , among "Colonel O'Truth''s marvelous VSF models the Galvanic Field Gun (below), in animal draught and without many rivets, could well appear in a Lace Wars battlefield (preferably with bits of rococo decoration).
While Wrath of Kings VSF Herald of Blood, converted with a tricorn, would make a great 18th C. adventuress wielding a short range 'thunderbolt thrower'.
An 'alternate' century of Benjamin Franklin, Galvani, Mesmer, Volta... has to know Galvanic weapons.
An 'alternate' century of Benjamin Franklin, Galvani, Mesmer, Volta... has to know Galvanic weapons.
...
Indeed all is a question of *scale*: the few Ferguson rifles and the single ‘Turtle’ submarine did not change the nature of warfare during the AWI, because they were used on a very limited scale. Gaming-wise, they could appear in a RPG, make a cameo in a skirmish game, but would be ignored in at battle scale. Thus IMHO historically Victorian and Steampunk technologies can well be already present in a Lace Wars setting, but at a so limited scale they could not change in any way everyday life and the nature of warfare. In a Lacepunk setting, weapons as well as engines and machines of common use by historical or Sci-Fi Victorian times (= Steampunk technological level) should only exist as single prototypes, working models or drawings, according to their degree of ‘futurism’. They can spice a RPG, appear as minor elements in a skirmish game, and would be totally ignored (or be merely 'ornemental', but inefficient) in a large battle - more like a a costly encumbrance on a battlefield, actually: a ruler fond of mechanical novelties can keep trying and fielding them, but their repeated failure would prevent their widespread appearance. ‘Historical’ 18th C. was not devoid of ‘Military Innovations’ -how (in)effective being another question: one could indeed be tempted to combine them, at ‘experimental’ level, with earlier to contemporary ‘less realistic’ projects in the hope that the whole would work better than the parts?
Note that the introduction of a few experimental contraptions would not be 'wild Sci-Fi', only a rather mild 'What-if?'. By the early 18th C. steam engines were already used to power mine-draining pumps; unmanned hot air balloons had flown; marine propellers were an old idea (just the 'reverse' of a watermill - illustrated in Byzantine manuscripts!), fully formalized and materialized by 1750 (Bernoulli...). Meaning that Cugnot's Fardier and Jouffroy's Pyroscaphe, the Montgolfiere, Bushnell's Turtle (nice 28mm model) and Fulton's Nautilus could have be built 50-60 years earlier, and immediately improved. The Heliograph, Chappe's telegraph... required nothing unknown by 1700 -or even by Da Vinci's lifetime!
The same for individual firearms: the (repeating!) Girandoni air rifle could have be designed 50 years earlier: identical to a 'normal' rifle in 'large' battle games, but the ideal sniper / assassin weapon -no noise, no flame, no smoke- for 'skirmishes / adventures' games. Preloaded cartridges were used by the early 18th C., Puckle placed them in a removable revolving cylinder; thus a 'revolver' using a firelock was perfectly feasible -indeed working prototypes were built at the the end of the 16th C.! By Lace Wars times, for sustained fast fire it should have a removable cylinder, and the barrel could be rifled: a rather delicate, very expensive but workable flintlock handgun at least equivalent to the early Remington (maybe more cumbersome? Then with the lever replacing the hand crank of the Puckle design set under the barrel, for additional grip). It would be the Lace Wars equivalent of the Thompson SMG, while historical early revolvers such as the Stopler (built in1597!) (with preloaded cartridges) and the Collier (both improved with the Colt mechanism associating the rotation of the cylinder with the cocking action), with their barrels rifled, would be the Uzi of the time. Such preloaded cartridges would also make contraptions similar to the Billinghurst Requa Battery and Ripley (nicknamed 'Ellen'?) volley guns perfectly workable during the WAS. For ordinance pieces Chevalier de Folard's canon de 24 très court predates the caronade by several decades.Such 'departures' from 'our time-line' require only a slightly increase of a single individual curiosity: an extremely minor 'historical accident' with 'butterfly effect'.
Now, discreet and powerful, a crossbow is still a weapon of choice for an assassin
Clockwork Punk: automatons? Doctor Who Micro Universe offers two clockwork men.
Not all discoveries and 'futuristic' inventions are to be of warlike nature; yet very view, if any of them will never be given a military use...
A Lacepunk setting with potentially Lacepulp spicing: a 18th C. 'post-apocalytic' land (a quarantined island, more likely).
Another possibility is to introduce Sci-Fi technologies allowing interplanetary travel (typically to Mars) but perfectly useless in a planetary atmosphere, leaving both everyday life and warfare totally unaffected- at least on Earth.
For instance, suppose that the antigrav capacity of ‘Lightwood’ at sea level (barely) balances its own weight: useless on Earth, Lightwood not being hard enough to be used in cabinetmaking, carpentry or ship building, and being anyway extremely rare and expensive. But let the antigravity increase with the cube of the distance: you’ll just have to rise your airtight capsule high enough with a balloon (*not* a dirigible, so the vehicle can emphatically not be used as an airboat) -actually a pair of balloons, or a number of pairs. In the upper levels of the atmosphere the balloons will be progressively emptied (interestingly Jules Vernes uses water electrolysis to furnish both oxygen and hydrogen) and in the void will be used as sails catching the ‘aether wind’. Since we require to have both the anti-g capacity of the Lightwood and the access to the power of the aetherwind increasing with altitude, it is tempting to have more than a coincidental correlation between the two: Lightwood would use the aetherwind power to become antigravitional. Without an 'aether keel' they will have to be lowered on either side of the hull, otherwide the aether wind would tilt the conveyance over. As a spaceship the machine is perfectly manoeuvrable, and if the aether wind moves fast enough and gives constant *accelaration* (then, why not?), can reach a respectable speed (shaped with craftmanship into a gutter, Lightwood keeps an almost 'normal' gravity in the inside, whatever the actual acceleration of the vehicle...).
Nonetheless to keep crew and passengers well and alive during the interminable travel, they would have to be in some ‘hypersleep’, perhaps obtained by the combination of voodoo drugs and electric mesmerism (fitting well in a 18°C background).Somehow at the end of the journey the 'sails ' would be set so that the aether wind 'sucks back' the spaceship instead of pushing her, to slow her down below escape velocity (inversion of electric charge in the material?). Landing would be rather uncontrolled, as for our earliest space capsules, the partly refilled balloons acting as parachutes/ delta wings/ kites. Better to ‘land’ on water –on our Mars its indeed fills the canals, which intersect at very large lakes– then to finish the journey using the emptied balloons as (collapsible) sails, complemented by oars [or a manpowered screw-propeller] (the ‘boat’ can be the size of a galeasse: hull 1 m = 1.1 yard long in 1/60! Probably as squat as a medieval nef or carrack, so 370mm = 1.22 ft wide in 1/60: quite a modelling challenge…).
Given the distance, time of travel and cost, settlement on Mars would be extremely limited. Indeed only rulers of very powerful and overwealthy countries would tempt the adventure, and only if obsessed by a world-conqueror passion or a paranoid fear to be outraced in a domain that could one day turn out to be important. Thus at most you’ll play the FIW, or skirmishes between small rival explorating columns like during the early stages of 19°C exploration /colonization of deep Africa, with Martians {e.g. the excellent Parroom Station minis -now available through Brigade Games; the Imperials, Warrior Women and Corse from ‘Dead Earth’ Bronze Age minis seem to complement them well} as natives –hostile, merely curious, allied or enlisted as sepoys. If the Martians developed large Kingdoms and some advanced technologies (airboats, e.g.) it would be more similar to the Anglo-French competition over India in the 18th C., but with far, far less 'white' ('Human', here) troops.
May be quite enjoyable and refreshing, and without any interference with wargame campaigns on Earth (unless you bother to check the Treasury of your warring countries, of course).Possibly the Aberrant Games Vatacina Guard Lt., who seems to wear a tricorn, could provide the basis for some 'Human' officer (clearly a grim and grizzled veteran NCO, promoted to commissioned rank when transferred to the 'Native' troops).
(I would not have missed an opportunity to post a photo of female fighters!)
Tin Man: 'Wild ride of a lovely maiden'(also available in a more Barsoomian 'topless' version)
To expand the diversity of Martian types, unfortunately, the RAFM S1889 'official' range (including at least some of the original GDW S1889 minis) is rather bland and uninspirational; specially, their Colonial (Native) troops look even more WWI than Victorian, and offer far too few subtypes. Blackhat is unlikely to duplicate in 28mm his 'Martian Empires' 18mm range, that includes Askaris. Too bad, with at least 2 Terran Major Powers in competition and the climatological + ethnocultural of a whole planet more than a single type of Native troops are required. Now, since we are dealing with Sepoys... European rulers sometimes 'carried' an 'exotic' uniform from a continent to another, dressing Poles and Bosniaks as Turks, West Indies Blacks and Pondicherians as Algerians. Thus, after an appropriate headswapping (with Elves in their 'typical' suppository-shaped helmet?), various 18th C. historical Indian sepoys could well be 'martianized' -paint them with thin tights under the pants. Then, with a suitable skin color, Alternative Armies Dark Elves of Catalucia Light Infantry, with their not-totally-human features, can be used as Martian Sepoys. Certainly not too hard to make them compatible with Parrom Station Martians. Wonder if the A.A. Catalucian Cabaleros can ride a Parroom Plorse?
. As a source of additional 'free' Natives, given the similarity in facial features, to use Elves as ‘erzatz’ Martians is almost a ‘classic’: a recent post on the TMP described an interesting conversion from a specially propitious set (a good view here). Rackham’s style is certainly not suiting everybody's taste, but here its very ‘oddity’ is a plus: some 'Elves' could be used as bases for conversions to another Martian ethnical group.
. Reaper 'Andromedans' would have a lot of 'Martian' potential, if they were more than 3 'characters'= only an extremely skilled (and stubborn) converter can build a little army; perhaps with another skin color (and maybe greenstuff noses?) they would make great Martians.
. Another possibility is provided by the Eureka (now by the Tékumel Club) warriors from Tekumel; imho the ‘heavy’ Tsolyani are more suitable (e.g. to be converted to ‘musket + pavisa’ types) than the soldiers of Yan Kor, who look more like ‘humans in odd Ancient dress’– 100% personal of course.
. Then what about Privateer Press Skorne 'Horde'?
. The female warriors of Sphere Wars Alliance also look appropriate.
. The female warriors of Sphere Wars Alliance also look appropriate.
. If they are of adequate size, the Phoenix Icons Jaffas in skullcaps (maybe provided with a ‘Martian’ helmet by headswapping?) could provide a good basis for a conversion to (armored) Shieldgunners; could not be as ludicrious as the RAFM ‘Renaissance European Knights’ Canal Martian Infantry that are often used as the basis for this troop type, anyway…
. And what a merry opportunity to field 'Martian Amazons': Maidenhead Babes that time forgot & Ferals, Shadowforge Tribals & Dionesian Maenads, Reaper Andromedans completed with
converted Black Orc Games Donellas and even simply some ‘Black Amazons’ but with an orange skin?
converted Black Orc Games Donellas and even simply some ‘Black Amazons’ but with an orange skin?
(for a synthesis see the O3.14."08 comment below -add Dark Tree 'Shadow Elves' and Gamezone 'Dark Elves' with some Calvalcade Amatzl Warrioress and GW Amazons, Armorcast (L&L) 'feathered' female Lunar peltast, and Privateer Press 'Skornes' to pseudo-Tekumel types; update: O7."11 updated summary and a rant on TMP, see also these Wood Elves).
Edit sept."12: the new Red Planet Martians are humanoid but even away from 'our' human form than the S1889 (Rafm, Parroom) ones; which does not preclude their appearance in a rich extraterrestrial ecology. No females, but supposing an extreme sexual dimorphism as in Burroughs' Opar the equally hooved but cute Raging Heroes Praying Mantis can provide appealing ones.
While I suggested in a previous post to envisage the appearance on a mythical 18°C european 
theatre of operations of a few native oversea units, here the distance and cost are such that even myself wavers… Then, as a source of 'prestigious exoticism' "E.T. Sepoys" would be head & shoulders above any 'imitation janissaries' or 'Giant Black Guard, Caliphe fashion'. And, if your small unit of Martian light infantry on Earth behaves on the tabletop just like any historical body of Croats, Grenzers or Jägers, why not?
theatre of operations of a few native oversea units, here the distance and cost are such that even myself wavers… Then, as a source of 'prestigious exoticism' "E.T. Sepoys" would be head & shoulders above any 'imitation janissaries' or 'Giant Black Guard, Caliphe fashion'. And, if your small unit of Martian light infantry on Earth behaves on the tabletop just like any historical body of Croats, Grenzers or Jägers, why not?
Choose the uniform of your Martian Askaris / Sepoys!
(variations on a drawing of Redcoats in Canada with the GraphicConverter ‘color permutation’ utility)
Would apply, not only to the RAFM, but also to the Parroom ones if you give them Hungarian-like tight trousers by paint conversion: nail varnishes and, specially, thick *wall* paints are very convenient for such ‘dressing’.
Then Mars offers you the possibilty to enjoy 'Tricorn' wargaming with dirigibles without any alteration of warfare on Earth: suppose that on Mars 'Lightwood' is more efficient (less interference with the Sun's gravity?) or / and eatherwind penetrates down to the ground (less perturbations by the solar wind?) so can be somehow used to increase the anti-grav. properies of 'Lightwood'. Thus you may have there (and there only) perfectly functional dirigibles. The marvelous 'Cloudships of Mars' may be inspirational for modellers, with suitable modifications. For the Martian models, on 'Cloudships' substitute the sails with propellers (maybe a nacelle with multiple screws in tandem -an interrupted endless screw, actually- on each side of the hull), to have another (non-ramming) type of 'Screwgalleon'. Then have both types hanging under an ovoid balloon (larger in the front, almost pyriform, and switched backward for the 'hullcutters', in order to balance the extra weight of the bow and leave a field of fire to a possible 'lob gun'; overall shorter and more 'rounded' for them, more elongated for the 'galleons'); for increased 'character' the blades may look like bat wings and the woodwork could look like Aztec masonry and use only pegs and dovetails.
On the opposite, for the Earthling models, with quasi-historical decoration of the enveloppe, the hull would have a "typical" 'gondola' shape (more than in the 'Munchausen' movie), and helicoidal screws would be used for propulsion. Banish any Victorian technology and weaponry: no rivets, no steam engine -noisy, dirty and supremely inelegant. Only swivel guns and 'historical' 18°C. naval pieces carriages: with the balloon above, cannons don't need to be raised at high angle; at most, to increase the arc of fire, put some on 'barbettes rotantes', specially if on sponsons. Note that in 'Space 1889' purely Human designs are fast but rather small, here the equivalent of early 19th C. gunboats (British Channel 'Sea Fencibles', or 'Jefferson'), notably smaller than the 'galleys' and 'gondolas' used on the Great Lakes during the AWI. Larger models (e.g. for troop transport) would be modified, partly rebuilt and totally repainted -to suit the Human requirements, propellers and tastes- Martian Sky Galleons.
With a large ovoid balloon above to make it fly (Lightwood not being sufficient) this one could be a nice private pleasure craft; of course in case of need it would be requisitioned and receive 2 very light guns and 2 heavy jezzails on swivel mounts, and be loaded with explosive or sharply (multi-?)pointed items to be dropped on 'hostiles'. Similarly this (soon OOP) Freebooter 'pirate boat' if with a 'Rugby Union' oval-shaped ball instead of a mast.
A far-fetched "narrative gimmick"? Indeed, but one allowing to wargame in a Lacepunk setting 'on Mars' while keeping wargaming 'on Earth' totally unadulterated !
For an 'Ancient' level civilization in such 'Lost World' Tékumel miniatures are ideal;
see also the new Bronze Age 'Not Red Martians'.
For warmachines, the GW Elves and Dark Elves bolt-throwers look fittingly 'odd' for mobile field pieces, while Megalith scorpion (and probably catapult) could provide the 'fortress artillery'. The poses of Tsolyani light infantry seem fitting for war engine crews.
Scratchbuilt Umbar-type ships with 'bat wings' sails would nicely add to 'exoticism'.
But then, does one have to go that far to encounter such a world – without any risk of ‘spoiling’ warfare elsewhere?
.Not necessarily: by the mid-18th C. exploration of the Pacific Ocean by
Cook and La Perouse is still in some uncertain future. Thus, the existence there of an immense 7th Continent (called by most of its inhabitants by the justified and ancient name of Mu, often rendered as 
Lemuria by European explorers) is still a likely possibility. For some reason –a geostationary disturbance in the troposphere allowing the aetherwinds to reach ground level?- Lightwood displays its full anti-g capacity (probably the Lightwood tree grows only there, btw) and dirigibles are more or less functional in its sky, but there only. Its inhabitants are fully humans, but at least a large ethnic group is obviously different from all other races on Earth, and its various ethno-cultural subgroups display striking similarities with the VSF Martian cultures…
Additionally –in an other part of this Continent, an exceptional convergence of ‘ leylines / telluric lines’ allows Magic to work (well, sometimes and somehow, at least) but again, only there and nowhere else on your planet.
For various reasons (including simplicity –no conversions required- and ‘logical parsimony’ –see comments) for me I should not have there the extraordinary Martian fauna (so much the more as this continent is intended as a setting for wargame campaigns, not for skirmish level / RPG adventures), only our familiar horses, bovines, may be according to the region musk oxen, reindeers, yaks, camels and elephants. The flora, on the other hand, may be quite spectacular and extraordinary (contributing to the aesthetic appeal of the table-top) specially in the jungles.
What I should emphatically NOT allow would be flying mounts / riding flyers: they would totally alienate the nature of warfare, and it would be hard to explain why they are restricted to this part of the Earth surface!
Such ‘Antipodial’ setting offers all the potentialities of any ‘Extraterrestrial’ one, without the
storytelling ‘complication’ of space travel. And provides an excuse for wargaming '18th C.' cavegirls in fur bikini and rival 'Amazon' cultures.
Alternatively, this so far Unknown Land can be an underground 'Lost World', a la Pellucidar. .
.Utterly monstrous graboids roam there.Not necessarily: by the mid-18th C. exploration of the Pacific Ocean by
Cook and La Perouse is still in some uncertain future. Thus, the existence there of an immense 7th Continent (called by most of its inhabitants by the justified and ancient name of Mu, often rendered as 
Lemuria by European explorers) is still a likely possibility. For some reason –a geostationary disturbance in the troposphere allowing the aetherwinds to reach ground level?- Lightwood displays its full anti-g capacity (probably the Lightwood tree grows only there, btw) and dirigibles are more or less functional in its sky, but there only. Its inhabitants are fully humans, but at least a large ethnic group is obviously different from all other races on Earth, and its various ethno-cultural subgroups display striking similarities with the VSF Martian cultures…Additionally –in an other part of this Continent, an exceptional convergence of ‘ leylines / telluric lines’ allows Magic to work (well, sometimes and somehow, at least) but again, only there and nowhere else on your planet.
What I should emphatically NOT allow would be flying mounts / riding flyers: they would totally alienate the nature of warfare, and it would be hard to explain why they are restricted to this part of the Earth surface!
Such ‘Antipodial’ setting offers all the potentialities of any ‘Extraterrestrial’ one, without the
storytelling ‘complication’ of space travel. And provides an excuse for wargaming '18th C.' cavegirls in fur bikini and rival 'Amazon' cultures.Alternatively, this so far Unknown Land can be an underground 'Lost World', a la Pellucidar. .
As another ways to access such Unknown Land, think of Oronegro: according to the travel logs of the ships reaching it (or leaving it to be seen again) and to its position repeatedly assessed by all known methods this country is located somewhere in the North-Eastern coast of Brazil. Yet, while the place is settled since 1492 no land expedition through the jungle as yet managed to reach it; and the native Kaxad Empire controlling its surroundings is still unaware of any other 'White' population. Now, to reach or leave Oronegro ships have to travel under an aurora, suggesting the possibility of a Bermuda Triangle -like 'portal', though 'safer'?
For an 'Ancient' level civilization in such 'Lost World' Tékumel miniatures are ideal;see also the new Bronze Age 'Not Red Martians'.
For warmachines, the GW Elves and Dark Elves bolt-throwers look fittingly 'odd' for mobile field pieces, while Megalith scorpion (and probably catapult) could provide the 'fortress artillery'. The poses of Tsolyani light infantry seem fitting for war engine crews.
Scratchbuilt Umbar-type ships with 'bat wings' sails would nicely add to 'exoticism'.
With a ‘Cosmos 1745’ setting we ‘displace’ *historical* tricorned minis in space, and if not in time, at least of genre by using them in a quasi-VSF game. 
What about a symmetrical ‘poaching’ of minis (only this ‘symmetry’ justifies the insertion of this § here, since they’ll end in a ‘non-Sci-Fi’ background) from their intended VSF games to ‘normal’ Lace Wars battles? Painted in more 'exotic' colors {'ventre de biche' coat & green lemon trousers?} (here they wear a quasi 'French of the FPW' colors pattern), these OTW ‘England Invaded’ Turk soldiers could well be used (with the addition of a huge bayonet) as ‘Charging Irregular’ Fanatics. The mask then would not be a protection from lethal gases, but some form of religious obligation (‘heretic’ Muslims could fight for a Christian State: the Haschishins did it on occasion, during the Crusades). Or these minis could provide an outfit of suicidal lepers –there was such a knightly order in Christian Jerusalem. Actually the two ‘motivations’ can be combined nicely.
What about a symmetrical ‘poaching’ of minis (only this ‘symmetry’ justifies the insertion of this § here, since they’ll end in a ‘non-Sci-Fi’ background) from their intended VSF games to ‘normal’ Lace Wars battles? Painted in more 'exotic' colors {'ventre de biche' coat & green lemon trousers?} (here they wear a quasi 'French of the FPW' colors pattern), these OTW ‘England Invaded’ Turk soldiers could well be used (with the addition of a huge bayonet) as ‘Charging Irregular’ Fanatics. The mask then would not be a protection from lethal gases, but some form of religious obligation (‘heretic’ Muslims could fight for a Christian State: the Haschishins did it on occasion, during the Crusades). Or these minis could provide an outfit of suicidal lepers –there was such a knightly order in Christian Jerusalem. Actually the two ‘motivations’ can be combined nicely.
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Speaking of uniforms, the 'alternate' 18th C. 'spiced' with either Fantasy or Sci-Fi elements described in novels such as 'L'An 2440' (1770!) and the far more recent 'Monster Blood Tattoo' is a potential source of uniforms – probably for light troops, given their 'oddity'. I posted in a comment the fictitious army I devised after reading ‘For the Crown & the Dragon’.
The ‘Temeraire’ novels are "reimagining the epic events of the Napoleonic Wars with an air force of dragons, manned by crews of aviators". Warfare would so alienated that the historical differences between the WAS and Napoleonic practices become negligible, so the series may be inspirational for some ‘tricorns’– but one would no longer be playing Horse & Musket games at all! An aerial element would change the ‘face of battle’ far more drastically than the invention of gunpowder did, so if you wish to give the idea (or ‘merely’ a Dinotopia-fashion pterosaurs-riding Air Cav) a try, better to invent a reason to forbid the flying reptiles to live outside Mu in the Pacific Ocean (or on Mars!) : see 01.15. "09 comment below. (In short, flyers if allowed at all have to be used very cautiously, their introduction having potential effects even more drastic than that of gunpowder: all 'traditional' fortifications are instantly obsolete, tiny creatures with fire pots can easily burn down a wooden war fleet without running a risk at all, CiC cautiously in rear can be marked as priority targets... Thus if 'Da Vinci' helicopters or 'Air fusiliers' (converted GW 'birdmen of Catrazza': with its all around pad the 'Volontaires de Clermont' helmet should be fitting for hazardously airborne infantry as for steamtank crews, and as 'experimental types' they could receive 'engineers' weapons': multibarrelled pistols and muskets , repeater handguns, blunderbusses, hand mortars / grenade throwers, large bore shotguns, musket/short rifle combos, light 'Perry' amusettes with folding rest, Hochland long rifles with scope) are introduced, they should be inefficient and their contraptions probe to failure.)
Now, what about *female* Lace Wars units
-not really off-topic here, since the idea is as ‘weird’ as that of colonies on Mars? While in my wargaming days I had no scruple to build, paint and field a huge ‘Amazons’ army in an ‘AncMed’ setting, I feel the very idea of «jeopardizing the Charms of Aphrodite on the Fields of Ares» totally alien to the European mid-18th C. ethos. Then, as the fancy creation of some Queen or Princess (a French Queen, following her husband to the Crusade, raised a body of female followers dressed ‘like Amazons’ and ‘ready to fight as such’)? Or, in the ‘Age of Enlightenment and Liberation', some form of ‘Women’s Lib’ mercenary warband? Then, Robida in La guerre au vingtième Siècle prophetized that women would be enlisted in the Territorial Army: thus female Regiments are indeed a Science-Fiction feature in a Lace Wars setting….
-not really off-topic here, since the idea is as ‘weird’ as that of colonies on Mars? While in my wargaming days I had no scruple to build, paint and field a huge ‘Amazons’ army in an ‘AncMed’ setting, I feel the very idea of «jeopardizing the Charms of Aphrodite on the Fields of Ares» totally alien to the European mid-18th C. ethos. Then, as the fancy creation of some Queen or Princess (a French Queen, following her husband to the Crusade, raised a body of female followers dressed ‘like Amazons’ and ‘ready to fight as such’)? Or, in the ‘Age of Enlightenment and Liberation', some form of ‘Women’s Lib’ mercenary warband? Then, Robida in La guerre au vingtième Siècle prophetized that women would be enlisted in the Territorial Army: thus female Regiments are indeed a Science-Fiction feature in a Lace Wars setting….
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A full range is under development for years and grows slowly; it is not on display on the Eureka site since it’s a kind of ‘private venture’ variant of E100; its appearance on the general market is currently partial and irregular. Note that the 'Sandra' range introduced Lace Wars gamers to Navel Wargaming, already popular in the Fantasy community.
A full range is under development for years and grows slowly; it is not on display on the Eureka site since it’s a kind of ‘private venture’ variant of E100; its appearance on the general market is currently partial and irregular. Note that the 'Sandra' range introduced Lace Wars gamers to Navel Wargaming, already popular in the Fantasy community.
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The ‘Sandra' range is a ‘spin off' from some Eureka Female Pirates minis, and of course a very ‘irregular' unit can be built by mixing ‘tricorned' such from a variety of ranges; painted in uniform colors, they would make a good ‘Charging Infantry' (in WRG parlance) Militia unit: headwapping (later concealed under a ‘dog collar' necklace) can increase the available diversity. 
Useful «Tricorned» (or bareheaded and in suitable dress: ‘land' breeches…) female Pirates appear afaik in (at least) 31 ranges :
(btw, I was glad to discover that I'm not alone with a -very long-standing, in my case- taste for 18th C. ’fighing sea wenches’ and piratesses') "Pirettes"/ daring "Piratexxes"?(the Alderac E.G. 7th Sea range- cf. the 'tricorned piratess' mini on the right- being unfortunately OOP, though a few seem to be occasionally available
Armalion/Fanpro had 4 D. Schwarze Auge female pirates, a leader and 3 sailors -OOP?
The Assassin one is also OOP, but appears on e-bay)
Black Cat Bases (a few characters),
Armalion/Fanpro had 4 D. Schwarze Auge female pirates, a leader and 3 sailors -OOP?
The Assassin one is also OOP, but appears on e-bay)
Black Cat Bases (a few characters),
Black Scorpion (again, a few characters), range in expansion,
Blue Moon (id°),Brigade Games (for 1 or 2 useful characters and parts of 2 sets of 'Ladies'),
Bombshell Meagan, if given a tricorne,
Blue Moon (id°),Brigade Games (for 1 or 2 useful characters and parts of 2 sets of 'Ladies'),
Bombshell Meagan, if given a tricorne,
Bronze Age Minis Female Pirates –currently 12, most very original,
Center Stage Bethany looks closer to 40mm?
Center Stage Bethany looks closer to 40mm?
(too bad Crusader as yet offers none!)
Eureka Miniatures ‘Pirate Ladies',
Fenryll (only 2 so far),
Foundry has a a few,
Four A minis have at least Alexis (+1 alas in 40mm),
Freebooter: characters -probably too large and of a special style? See also,
Hasslefree?,
Irregular Miniatures 'Lady Pirates',
Freebooter: characters -probably too large and of a special style? See also,
Hasslefree?,
Irregular Miniatures 'Lady Pirates',
Magnificient Egos offers a 'Pirate Queen' (OOP, see Valiant),
Monolith Designs (1 or 2 characters, 1 Lady),
Monolith Designs (1 or 2 characters, 1 Lady),
Moonlight (1 or 2 'living girls'),
North Star had at least one, and will offer new ones for 7 Seas? One already.
North Star had at least one, and will offer new ones for 7 Seas? One already.
Rebel Minis has at least one,
Stronghold Miniatures (id°),Tales of War: Grace, Lady, Marlene, Mary, Melinette,
Tradition with a few sailor girls,
Valiant (Pilgrim, in tricorn if not in 'classical' pirate outfit),
War Crow: Da Silva,
Tradition with a few sailor girls,
Valiant (Pilgrim, in tricorn if not in 'classical' pirate outfit),
War Crow: Da Silva,
WestWind Productions (50 Fathoms with Pinnacle: again, for 1 or 2 ‘characters' at most -OOP?).
(too bad these are in 54mm!)
Hope some 28mm manufacturer will judge 'Pirates' and 'Pirates 2' inspirational!
Giving those with a slouched hat or a silly bicorne a *tricorne* would make them looking more '18th C.': there is a spare tricorne in some 'pirates accessories' set, but Wargame Factory WSS plastics are an abundant and cheap source of conversion bits.
Giving those with a slouched hat or a silly bicorne a *tricorne* would make them looking more '18th C.': there is a spare tricorne in some 'pirates accessories' set, but Wargame Factory WSS plastics are an abundant and cheap source of conversion bits.
Then, according to my 'Ancient' experience, numerous enough «Pirettes» 'characters' can provide a spectacular irregular warband, in the same way as suggested for a (male) mixture of pirates, highwaymen and smugglers. Tabletop units must 'show' their nature: thus, a regular close order regiment has to look as if ready for a 'clones war'. Even if representing the same historical unit at the same nominal scale, figurines from different sculptors show differences, not only in the rendition of the human body, but in the size and details of hats, of weapons... Thus, miniatures from any other manufacturer can be included only for 'special characters', mounted officer, drummer &c. On the opposite, a fully irregular bunch has to appear as an aggregate of individuals, all as different as possible. Here clothes and weapons are personal issue, thus variations are *expected*; people vary widely in height (there would be a difference of # 2.5mm between '28mm' miniatures of Sarah Shahi and Sigourney Weaver) and bulk (compare Kate Moss with Pamela Anderson). In this case the wide differences of style and interpretation of 'scale' between manufacturers are precious; so much the more as one can easily gain (or lose) ± 1.5mm by playing with the thickness of the bases (variations of bases thickness are obvious when the minis are in a display case, but disappear on a playing surface). Thus any figurines within the 25<->30mm or 28<->33mm ranges are fully compatible. Even more, indeed: an old French sailors song (telling a Jackaroe-like story) states that a girl was barely 15 when she dressed as a man and joined a ship crew: thus a few members of a totally irregular warband / ship crew, or of a collection of individuals, may still have to grow; on the other hand, people taller than Sigourney Weaver by 8 inches or more *do* exist. In a 18th C. setting, if Militia maybe give it a more homogeneous look by dresses in uniform colors, at least for the upper garments?.
Otto of the SOCDAISY has a unit of: «Tradition has, in the Suren/ Willie French Early Napoleonic Range, figures for Italy & Egypt. One of them is a figure of Madame Foures-Bellitote 'a la-Hussard'» as Princess Trixie’s Own Hussars (in tight breeches, riding astride 'man-fashion' but probably unarmed?). Badly illustrated on the manufacturer's siteeems to, unfortunately, but she appear in St. Maurice. I also read somewhere (unable to retrieve the ref.: Phil Olley's preparation of Sittanbag 2006, no longer on-line?) that among their 18th C. military types they have an ambiguous, Chevalier d'Eon-like young mounted officer:?
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I wonder which minis will be used for the Scandalusian Guard Gretadiers?
Then, additional types of 18th C. female soldiers can be obtained by seemingly not too difficult conversions.
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I wonder which minis will be used for the Scandalusian Guard Gretadiers?
Then, additional types of 18th C. female soldiers can be obtained by seemingly not too difficult conversions.
Shadowforge, specialized in very appealing 28mm female minis (I’m no longer building an Amazon army –for that, between them, Eureka and Maidenhead, my treasurer thanks Any Power Above), offers three very interesting characters -really Monte-Cristan agents-
in their ‘off-topic’ Laughing Monk range: hopefully to be expanded. Will they do a full Lace Wars army, as a complement to their fantasy and Sci-Fi ones? Indeed, following these three very good 'I emphatically never saw that "Brotherhood of the Wolf" movie' female adventurers, I was hoping for some 'I emphatically never saw that "Pirates of the Carribean" movie' female marines. Unfortunately, their 'Lady Jane Rifles' (left) are cruelly disappointing: not only the girlies wear a ludicrous hats, but with their baggy gaiters they seem to suffer from elephantiasis!.
3D Models has 'Napoleonic' female soldiers actually in tricornes -equivalent to the 'Sandras' in smaller size; 1/72 but of use as nubile Maiden Guard / Princessinjugen?
Too bad this Hussarette was Chick Challenge "limited edition"! Somehow she would make a nice pair with the female member of the PP Cygnar gun mage strike team.
The Hinterland (excellent) Victorian Hussarettes, unfortunately, are 'tagged' late 19th C. by details very difficult to erase or hide (conversion may be less difficult for the mounted lancers?)...
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Is the Freebooter Assassin # 2 female or just effeminate? No doubt about the feli/mi-nity of the 3rd, and even less for Bella Cigna and the Queen of Shadows.
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.The London Warroom mysterious Zuffur Plutun Hyderabadi Women Sepoys are unfortunately not illustrated -and now the LWR is down: will Brigade Games re-introduce them?
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Conquest has a few armed, if not actually fighting, female colonists; similar minis may appear in other FIW ranges, e.g. RAFM has 3 poses of 'female settlers'. Foundry offers two 'armed matrons' as part of the Revolutionary mob. Btw, any armed guerilleras in Napoleonic ranges (other than the uninspiring Redoubt ones)? In the same 'mobilized female civilians' category, Eureka has an AWI female gunner, French revolutionaries and Napoleonic Tyrolean women.In the same vein, OWS has a 'Highwaywoman' on foot and mounted (on a horse, I mean); (Foundry also has one, greatly improved by the addition of a tricorne).
Conquest has a few armed, if not actually fighting, female colonists; similar minis may appear in other FIW ranges, e.g. RAFM has 3 poses of 'female settlers'. Foundry offers two 'armed matrons' as part of the Revolutionary mob. Btw, any armed guerilleras in Napoleonic ranges (other than the uninspiring Redoubt ones)? In the same 'mobilized female civilians' category, Eureka has an AWI female gunner, French revolutionaries and Napoleonic Tyrolean women.In the same vein, OWS has a 'Highwaywoman' on foot and mounted (on a horse, I mean); (Foundry also has one, greatly improved by the addition of a tricorne).
Black Orc Games’ «Mousquetaire Feminin» is too skinny and would need a tricorne; Black Hat "Duellist" (hidden in a SF range) is better proportioned, but unfortunately bare headed and in a rather static pose
Too bad the cute Bronze Age ‘Female Werefox’ in ‘human form’ is not in a more active pose…
Then, some 'armed' female minis NOT intended for the 18th C. may be pressed into service:
.Old Glory has a set of Female Cossacks (of doubtful usefulness imho: perhaps as Light Cavalry, after shortening drastically the 19th C.-looking oversized plume of Yrina? But even after costly head- or torso-swapping with the 2 dismounted minis in fur hat, the diversity remains poor; Artizan could provide an officer on foot); Foundry had (has?) a rather cute Cossack Lady.
Amazon Minis offers (offered?) an interesting all-female Harem Guard with musket (Brigade Games also have Daughters of the Desert on foot and horse); Hasslefree Nubian Harem guards look so good but have hand weapons only; for an officer Asmodee has a nice Sarrasine; see also Resina Planet. Hartwood offers some cute but dangerous 'oriental' girls, Reaper has useful 'Arabs'..Eureka female Black soldiers are unfortunately not of use, given their pose and weaponry; too bad the 'Female Orcs' Dixon rendition of the 19th C. Amazons of Dahomey is so *disappointing*. More faithful to the contemporary photos, after addition by 'paint conversion' of shoes, stockings and perhaps a blouse (transparency effects on a dark skin!) to field them under our climate, how well they would have satisfied the mid-18th C. European taste for 'exoticism'!
.A kind of light troops can be provided by these ACW female Zouaves, though they would look less ‘19th C.’ with a greenstuff turban around their chechia. The range also includes the corresponding 'character'.Unfortunately Hinterland (dismounted) female Hussars are too obviously 'Victorian': their 'modern' guns, ammo pouches... would require heavy conversions before they could be turned into 18th C. Pandour Maiden Guards...
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Freebooter Minis offer with their ‘Arquebusieres’ what could be used as a Lace Wars "Warrior Princess"’ Own Unit. Blue is fitting for blondes, but even it it means painting them as brunettes, what about substituting blue with dark pink and white with a very clear 'Victoria's Secret' bleu turquoise, for some Leib Standarte Prinzessin Nathalia? Or *black* and scarlet, for any color of hair? Their 'slashed' shoulderpieces can make them specially fitting for a 'quasi-Spanish' Imagi-Nation.
.For campaigns in an ‘alternate Africa’ («Afrodizia?»), Black Amazons –including good Obelisk ‘Zulus’ - are available.
For Natives of an even more ‘exotic’ setting –on Mars or on the lost Continent of Mu - Bronze Age Dead Earth Warrior Women could provide the ‘fighting females’ (Macho Women with Guns?) of an advanced, ‘technological’ civilisation, and their Female Barbarians those from ‘primitive’ cultures. Other ‘primitives’ cavegirls in fur bikini could be provided by the Shadowforge ‘Tribals’ & Maenads and by Maidenhead - ‘Babes’ but also (with the pointed ears ‘normalized) ‘Ferals’. Tin Man 'Cave Girl' is iconic. Cavalcade Amatzl warrioresses, Juza Miniaturas Dark Elf, Rackham (long OOP but now recast) Kelt Fiannas, those not too armored female minis for Tekumel as well as Raging Heroes Blood Vestals (while more 'civilized), Alionas cave babes, Armorcast shamaness and (exL&L) 'feathered' female Lunar peltast, Black Orc Games Donellas, Blood Moon Amazon, Copplestone cave women, Dark Sword wild Elf, Fenryll panther and tiger queens, Freebooter Amazons, Guild of Harmony Vanys, Hasslefree Gayle, Kalee..., Paizo-Pathfinder shaman, Privateer Press wolf riders, bloodtrackers and bloodweavers, Reaper cavegirls, Annazian and with some conversion Isiri (ex.) Red Box (green), Shadowforge Shiva, Sphere Wars Barbara, Zenit Adiestradora and Calo look compatible (While in need of an update, the FUUK! review of 'Amazons' minis is an useful starting point.). Wonder if some shieldless types could be easily converted to receive matchlocks, perhaps with plug bayonets for the ‘fighting hant-to-hand’ poses?
For Natives of an even more ‘exotic’ setting –on Mars or on the lost Continent of Mu - Bronze Age Dead Earth Warrior Women could provide the ‘fighting females’ (Macho Women with Guns?) of an advanced, ‘technological’ civilisation, and their Female Barbarians those from ‘primitive’ cultures. Other ‘primitives’ cavegirls in fur bikini could be provided by the Shadowforge ‘Tribals’ & Maenads and by Maidenhead - ‘Babes’ but also (with the pointed ears ‘normalized) ‘Ferals’. Tin Man 'Cave Girl' is iconic. Cavalcade Amatzl warrioresses, Juza Miniaturas Dark Elf, Rackham (long OOP but now recast) Kelt Fiannas, those not too armored female minis for Tekumel as well as Raging Heroes Blood Vestals (while more 'civilized), Alionas cave babes, Armorcast shamaness and (exL&L) 'feathered' female Lunar peltast, Black Orc Games Donellas, Blood Moon Amazon, Copplestone cave women, Dark Sword wild Elf, Fenryll panther and tiger queens, Freebooter Amazons, Guild of Harmony Vanys, Hasslefree Gayle, Kalee..., Paizo-Pathfinder shaman, Privateer Press wolf riders, bloodtrackers and bloodweavers, Reaper cavegirls, Annazian and with some conversion Isiri (ex.) Red Box (green), Shadowforge Shiva, Sphere Wars Barbara, Zenit Adiestradora and Calo look compatible (While in need of an update, the FUUK! review of 'Amazons' minis is an useful starting point.). Wonder if some shieldless types could be easily converted to receive matchlocks, perhaps with plug bayonets for the ‘fighting hant-to-hand’ poses?
Several 'fighting chicks' intended for totally different settings can become female heroes (heroines scream and need to be rescued) in a 'weird 18th C.' (if a purist, strap a pistol to their thigh or waist, turn the archaic sword into a Karabela or Palas -in Herrschaden they know how to mould tricorns -an a little greenstuff can do marvels): totally unexpected here the Glorathan Ibex Moon Initiate, with her shield removed and a (greenstuff?) cloak wrapped around the left arm; a few of the Darksword Fantasy Females (in tight trousers and boots), as with several of the 600-some Reaper female minis, e.g. their assassin, thief, 'fighting' nuns...; in the same vein (but probably larger): Aberrant Games Dravani & Sister Carmine, Acheson Scarlet Huntress (the sculpting allows to paint a generous cleavage), Adepticon Kommandant, Antenocitis CID female; from Asmodee's (soon Cipher's) 'Hell Dorado': Soeur Eloise and Voyageuse, Ax Faction Darling (a tricorne replacing the hat and goggles, greenstuff garters), Black Hat (Cobalt) Barbarian, Bombshell Mira if given a tricorne, Bronze Age Merc2 (with a converted blunderbuss and a scabbarded sword on the left; the boots and 'cavalry' gloves are OK), from Brother Vinni: Marishka, from Cipher Studios' 'Anima Tactics': Bellith, Celia, Cenette, Dead Moon, Kristen {Valis, her ears 'normalized', would become a good Zorin Blitz for a 18th C. transposition of Hellsing Ultimate}; CMON Abigale (a tricorne replacing the hat and goggles) and Assassin, Corvus Belli Moira, Naga, Penelope... and perhaps some Dark Elves (with their ears filed down) {Infinity Reverend Moira, mainly by conversion of her gun, could become one of the sorellas, the fanatical fighting nuns of Hellsing Officio XIII}, Cruch-Waffle Beatrice, Dark Sword female assassin and thief, DGS Taneyva (paint her skin-thight trousers), Uveyn 
and Erolis, Dwarftales female "squires of Kraakov" (shield removed, double-barreled fowler or turok instead of bow), Enigma Katherine,(left, painted by 51.cent), Fenryll thieves and voleuses, Fiendish Fabrications Agent Lefebvre (despite her goggles), Flying Frog 'monster huntress', Four A BA 11 - Lady Blade (ninja?), Freebooter Brahyn, Raleah, Teniente or Zauberin and also 'huntress' (see also their pirates and recent assassins) {the Arquebusieres sergeant could be turned in the Rip Van Winkle of a Hellsing by Lace Wars times: see also Sodapop}, Hasslefree 'Andreah' (with a 'weapon swap' she would become a fine State / Torchwood agent {= assassin?} wearing a greatcoat over her Mord-Sith-like skin-tight leather suit) and 'Kat', some feminines from Hazgaard, Infamy 'Henrietta' (with a tricorne & garters), Infinity comely Moiras (converted weapons, of course), Ironclad Mina Harker (with rapier!), Jeff Valent Josey, KingdomDeath Pin-up TL Knight, a few of Mage Knight Amazons, Minipainters Nenqua, Newboldworld Valentine could be of use; Paizo-Pathfinder's Merisiel looks a little like the 'fighting female gypsies' of "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and their Assassin is interesting -almost nun-like; Parroom Agatha can be converted to a Highlander; several possibly interesting characters in the Privateer Press Warmachine and Iron Kingdoms ranges (back to poached Sci-Fi minis!): Eiryss, Taryn, Anastasia, Madelyn, the female Cygnar warcaster and the Khador manhunter (& several other female 'solos' and 'warcasters'), now the Khador 'Kayazy Eliminators' and Alexia; but seemingly Rackham is yet to reappear? Raging Heroes 'Van Helsing' Kurganova (with a tricorn) would make a good 'Lace Wars Buffy'. Ral Partha female vampire hunter Tara Kolyana is unfortunalely OOP, ex-DSA rogue would need a tricorne. Rattrap Dark Age Chitin and 'female Forsaken' Haniel, X'Cess & Warmind; Ravage Valkyrie, Reaper Ailyn, Astrid (with a huge arquebuse or musket instead of her guitar!), Chivane, Depora, Grace, Lonnia, Master Spy, Trinia and even Elise (& Sophie(s) -weapons strapped to the back to replace the wings), Calistria and Lodoni -their boots are fitting{Reaper Whitney, converted with a hunting dagger, a one-hand held de Saxe's Amusette, garters and 'fittingly' painted could become a good Seras Victoria for a Hellsing Ultimate in tricornes}, Red Box Ravenna and Reyviande, several minis from
Resina Planet, Sodapop Rin Farrah (to be converted in a 18th C. Victoria Seras? OOP Candy was a challenger), SVFM 'Free Trader', Sphere Wars Lookout, Oteadora and Recaudadora; (StudioMcVey Isabella is nice and seemingly not too difficult to convert -with a razor blades-edged fan or a shuriken in her hand?- but the mini is probably too large); SuperFigs 'LadyBlade'; Taban Ninja & Kandjara; Tablewarfare Islia, Tales of War Buller and Cova; Terragnosis Carrion, Valiant Esmeralda, Westwind 'Lady Luck' (her hat turned into a tricorne), WotC D&D Doomguard, Wrath of Kings 'Gortisi' (would make a good officer for the Freebooter Arquebusieres; probably not too difficult to give all of them a tricorne from the Wargame Factory 'Generic WSS cavalry' plastic set) while VSF 'Herald of Blood' converted with a tricorne would make a 18th C. 'practical philosopher' armed with Mr Franklin 's short range 'thunderbolt thrower', Wyrd Alyce, Cassandra, Justice, Lilith, Sonnia, Viktoria and at least one of her 'alternatives'... All better suited to depict characters, 18th C. monster huntresses / tomb raiders or officers than to build a whole unit. Don't forget to give them pistols -in hand or hooked at the waistbelt or fastened along the thigh (packs of weapons are provided by various manufacturers) -and if appropiate and at all possible a tricorne, to clearly mark the period (WF WSS plastics are an abundant and relatively inexpensive source of tricornes)..
‘Non fighting’ and ‘barely fighting civilian’ 18th C. women appear (if we include some entertainers / performers- wonder who manufactures the 'charmant and full of espieglerie mini of a charming Young Person, riding a horse side-saddle & swathed in a cloak'?) in a good score of ranges: 3D Model Studio for their '3 French beauties' -beautiful indeed, AA Lady Wintermore (on a 'normal' horse!), AEG (±OOP), Aurora street girl, sleeping beauty -with furniture, Beasts of War (Carnevale: promising minis if in the # 30mm range), Black Cat Bases, Black Hat, Black Scorpion –look at the ‘Governors daughter’ (appearing here painted by Jeffrey Cavender as Lady Patronelle d’Anis, the lovely Cavenderian representative in Monte-Cristo), Blue Moon (coach, duellists), Brigade Games, Conquest (‘Last of the Mohicans’, settlers), Degra (a Lady of royal or at least princely rank, interested in ships -or sailors?), Eureka (incl. a cute laundress), Fenryll 'working women' & Gypsy, Fiendish F. (Mother Mutton...), Foundry (not forgetting the 3 among their Victorian 'Ladies of the Night' and 3 among the Knuckleduster Miniatures soiled doves who can well appear in a 18th C. game), Flying Frog (their 'A Touch of Evil' boardgame includes unpainted 18th C. figurines, with several women), Front Rank, Hovels 'Inn staff', Hardwood Ellie (& others), Impact, Jacdaw -already offering two 'camp followers'- (with more to come) / Old Glory UK (and a whole 'Old School' 18th C. civilians range, including ladies: confirmed), Les Higgins (OOP, yet sometimes turn out on ebay), Masquerade, Magnificient Egos, MicroArt (Pratchett's!) E. Wetterwachs,
Minden (riding Ladies &c.), Minifigs (under napoleonic / wagons!), Old Glory (Blue Moon), Old Glory UK, Outcast Figures female 'Napoleonic civilians' (1/72 but can pass as barely nubile girls -children of lower classes were put at work very young), Outpost, Parkfield, Perry, Privateer Press wharf faerie (the 'lure' of the press gang), a few RAFM? (thigh trousers painted on), (OOP) Ral Partha gypsy dancers & Natalia and damsel & gypsy (if you can find them), Rattrap Productions, Reaper and their strumpets and townfolk (could Brigit because of the cuffs, be '18th C.'?), Redoubt Enterprises (see also their ECW range), Resina, Shadowforge for 'Scarlet', Tradition (Willie incl. semi-military vivandieres, -D 13 French Vivandiere (not illustrated, but see below) & D 35 British Sutleress- 'British' buttoned up the neck, 'French' with a generous decollete (as seen in the service of St. Maurice); riding ladies to be painted as honorary colonels while the Sicilian Banditti Girl and D WC 8 Lady in Country Dress with fan or parasol have potential to be converted into vivandieres, as well as, for mounted troops, ladies in tricorn riding side-saddle -initially from their 18th C. 'Boar hunting' set- and in their 'Bonaparte in Egypt' range a lady in hussar uniform, but with skirt and also riding side-saddle {for miniature vivandieres or, more generally, Lace Wars ladies in semi-military dress (daughter of the regiment / regimental god-mother / inhaber's wife / honorary colonel Prinzessin…) see O5.07. "09 comment ; Foundry has 'camp followers' vignette, e.g. Prussian; Jacdaw (/ Old Glory UK) already offers a sultress and will add a 'female hussar'; now, 'Napoleonic' ones such as the nice Eureka cantiniere, Fine Scale Factory’s cantiniere and Warlord's vivandiere (see also Foundry & others) need only to change hat, while Eureka’s AWI female gunner and at least one of their Tyrolean women, as well as Blue Moon’s 'Californian' with straw hat and 2 or 3 of their Romanian women seem propitious to conversions: but no Highlander in bonnet so far -convert a propitious Hinterland female hussar?: here a conversion in the opposite direction}; also interesting women minis in their Civilians and Harlequinade ranges), other from West Wind (Gothic Horror: Elders, nuns)… CFM Mexican women of the Alamo are surely generic enough to be used in 18th C. South-Western Europe, as some of Eureka plantation workers, Blue Moon Californians, Fenryll villageoises, Mutineer Minis female civilians and Perry Spaniards. Cipher's Cordelia and Dinah, Cipher's-to-be Alazais and AOW Mrs Smythe can appear in a 18th C. setting, as could some VAC 'women brawlers'. Among the Bronze Age Bar Maids, some are 'generic' enough to appear in a Lace Wars setting, as are the Redoubt ones. Look also at the unumerable Fantasy ranges: some female characters are dressed in a very generic fashion, specially 'female thieves / rogues' without armour or 'medieval' heavy blades, and wearing close-fitting trousers; some dancing girls and witches are also quite 'atemporal'.(Too bad Blue Moon 15mm does not 'pantograph up' to 28mm their good FIW 'Colonial Civilians' and chiefly the *excellent* 'Civilians' of their Pirates range! Too bad also that the 'barockes' Piepp Minaturen are in (large?) 54 and 45 mm.)
Even the 5 Foundry female Revenant Elves are in quasi-18th C. dress and can easily be converted; as are a few Mordheim personages such as Marianna Chevaux -and see her conversion to a 'fighting chick'; in a similar vein, giving a tricorn to the WHFB Lahmian Vampire Countess makes her readily ''Lace Wars compatible' -a little eccentric maybe, but as a character Direktorix Katarin Lahmia is indeed out of the common (photo courtesy of 'OIIIIIIIO', the creator of Der Direktorat). At least one of the Alionas Court-elven Maiden can also pass for a 18th C. ‘exotic’ type, perhaps a performer; the same for some Newbold World 'humans' such as Magda -and don't forget female bards and dancing girls from Reaper and others and Gypsies such as the Harwood one. Dark Sword dancing girl and Wyrd performer are more... exotic. Valiant (exMag.Eg.) Bloody Rose would fit specially in a Carnevale setting. Hasslefree -of Barwench fame- has a few non-fighting girls –including a ’Harem’ series {while their Liralith could perhaps provide an officer for the Arquebusieres?}; Eureka offers a (19th C.?) harem set. Tinman Miniatures 'Princesses' would not be out of place there, neither the Fenryll dancers, serpent trainer and even magiciennes. Ironwind offers the classic Ral Partha Slaves auction -as I remember Ral Partha had several others: availability? See also their ‘Slaver’s victims’. Once Reaper had a ‘Slaves market’. Chiltren has at least one set of a similar 'feel'. Other generic ‘harem’ /’captives’ are produced by Amazon minis (see also their ‘Legends of Araby’). I'm afraid the Poison Candy minis are too large -their price is certainly out of scale! Specialized minis at Excalibur Miniaturen -and one from Assassin; Bronze Age offers now two different Harem sets, Cryptlock has slaves, Khorosho / Harwood at least two harem girls, Black Orc Minisculpt one; some medieval bathers would also fit, as would Armorcast (exL&L) nymphs and sirens. Michels Miniaturen "exotic dancers" are 1/72, but girls can be petite. Tin Man has Princesses, one well-endowed, and is starting a series of Nudes. You could also try Fatal Fantasy Miniatures («the scupltor is on the 25mm_Miniatures Yahoo group and has a .pdf catalog»). And maybe some of women in the mysterious MIR ‘Classified X’ set are left 'independent'? Aurora captive, Black Cat Bases Betty, Brother Vinni's captives, Chiltern 'Victorians', Dark Sword 'Amazon' and Shae, several GZG Gentlemens Collectible, Miniature Building Authority Yoder's Dancers... are not far away, as well as two attendants of KingdomDeath Wet Nurse; 'Sacrificial victims' offer another type of 'Damsels in distress' -re. the four (so far) Tekumel captives for a sacrifice.Now, to spice a vignette of your C-i-C's tent, what about a 'French courier' (mounted on a horse; wonder if these two and this one could ride a horse, btw?) and several ladies in their bath tub? And, in an 'alternate' 18th C., could the Mobile Field Theatre and Music Hall of an Imagi-Nation's army already have Cancan dancers?
Between Sci-Fi and Fantasy:
swashbuckling if
not 18th C. in any way, yet Stardust combines magic and a nice 'munchausenian' airship in a very Falkensteinian way: inspirational for 'multigenre Weird Lace Wars'.
But then... what makes a mini -or a setting- "Sci-Fi"?
I'm ready to have Elves, but as a cute subspecies of Homo sapiens, not as pointed-eared immortal Faerie people.
swashbuckling if
not 18th C. in any way, yet Stardust combines magic and a nice 'munchausenian' airship in a very Falkensteinian way: inspirational for 'multigenre Weird Lace Wars'.But then... what makes a mini -or a setting- "Sci-Fi"?
I'm ready to have Elves, but as a cute subspecies of Homo sapiens, not as pointed-eared immortal Faerie people.
What is 'Pulp' and what is not? 'Pulp' adventures are of a type, a *genre* of adventure stories popular in the 'pulp magazines' of the 1920-30, contemporary to the readers: a kind of 'swashbuckling' set later than the 3 Musketeers AND involving secret societies, criminal cults, arch-villains and a dose of supernatural ('Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'The Mummy'...). 'Horror' tales exemplified by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft were published -and thus set- in the same time frame. Given the 'supernatural' element in most 'Pulp' stories, the frontier between the two genres is blurry and both can be covered by the more general calling of 'Pulp'. 'Pulp' contrary to 'Fantasy' suggests neither 'Tolkienesque' humanoid races (Dwarves, Elves, Orcs...) nor powerful wizards and a culture overtly impregnated with the reality of magic: the paranormal / supernatural is *occult*, its existence officially denied; thus, a 'modern' (post-Renaissance) rather than 'medieval' intellectual context.
Now, because the original stories were set in the "20-"30, 'fundamentalists' following their *letter* claim that Pulp and Lovecraftian games can only be set in that same time frame. But these stories were so much the more impressive for their intended readers that they were contemporary: it would be faithful to the *spirit* of the texts to play such games in the 21st C.. Actually for 'Lovecraftian Horror' Cthulhu and its kind were here long before 'us' and started recruiting cultists as soon as the early Humans could be influenced through their dreams; for the traditional elements of 'Pulp' adventures, Egyptian mummies can be resurrected since the New Empire, Templars of Cathars secret successors (guardians of 'Elohim' knowledge, of great Artifacts of Power such as the Spear of Destiny or the Grail...) could exist since the late Middle-Ages. Thus 'Pulp' adventures can actually be set in any period from the Renaissance (Leonardo di Vinci!) on. The name is extremely convenient to describe the *nature* of such adventures / games and "18th C. Pulp" is commonly used, e.g. for years on the NPU wargaming forum. So, what about Lacepulp for 'Horror / 'Pulp' games set during the Lace Wars?
An -almost- *credible* ('Sci-Fi explainable'*) werewolf: an explosive growth of hair, probably of claws and, it's true, of canines (retractile, maybe?); but only 'soft' parts and the general posture are deformed, no ultra-fast reversible modification of the skeleton!
*: mainly psychosomatic symptoms of a periodical cataclysmic crisis, associated with dramatic personality disorders, of kind of rabies? The correlation with night / moon being of purely psychological origin?
This one, on the other hand -and even if available as a beautiful figurine- is beyond the limit of my capacities of 'willing suspension of disbelief'.
Now, because the original stories were set in the "20-"30, 'fundamentalists' following their *letter* claim that Pulp and Lovecraftian games can only be set in that same time frame. But these stories were so much the more impressive for their intended readers that they were contemporary: it would be faithful to the *spirit* of the texts to play such games in the 21st C.. Actually for 'Lovecraftian Horror' Cthulhu and its kind were here long before 'us' and started recruiting cultists as soon as the early Humans could be influenced through their dreams; for the traditional elements of 'Pulp' adventures, Egyptian mummies can be resurrected since the New Empire, Templars of Cathars secret successors (guardians of 'Elohim' knowledge, of great Artifacts of Power such as the Spear of Destiny or the Grail...) could exist since the late Middle-Ages. Thus 'Pulp' adventures can actually be set in any period from the Renaissance (Leonardo di Vinci!) on. The name is extremely convenient to describe the *nature* of such adventures / games and "18th C. Pulp" is commonly used, e.g. for years on the NPU wargaming forum. So, what about Lacepulp for 'Horror / 'Pulp' games set during the Lace Wars?
An -almost- *credible* ('Sci-Fi explainable'*) werewolf: an explosive growth of hair, probably of claws and, it's true, of canines (retractile, maybe?); but only 'soft' parts and the general posture are deformed, no ultra-fast reversible modification of the skeleton!*: mainly psychosomatic symptoms of a periodical cataclysmic crisis, associated with dramatic personality disorders, of kind of rabies? The correlation with night / moon being of purely psychological origin?
This one, on the other hand -and even if available as a beautiful figurine- is beyond the limit of my capacities of 'willing suspension of disbelief'.
Science in a 18°C setting. It was the Age of Reason, the Century of Enlighenment, yet most people still believed in spells and charms. Just before the Revolution the French Court was enthralled by the astrologer Cagliostro who followed the steps of de Saint-Germain, an adventurer who claimed to be an immortal alchemist!
.
- If you want the nature of your games to be unchanged, be as cautious and restrained with Fantasy additions as with Sci-Fi ones: keep them at the very rare individual (RPG, skirmish game at most) level.
- Gamers who allow a little paranormal in their background would be benevolent toward those who prefer to add a few Sci-Fi elements. Many gamers playing a campaign run (in the pure Tony Bath Hyborian tradition) some kind of RPG campaign in parallel. Even among the more historically minded, some playing in a Lace Wars setting introduce a little sorcery in their RPG, feeling it in accordance with the popular beliefs of the era. Thus, following the use by a hostile agent of ‘evil eye’ / bewitchment, a character has too much ‘bad luck’ for a mere coincidence. Such gamers would be sympathetic with those adding a little Sci-Fi spice.
- Fantasy and Sci-Fi are totally redundant. For this reason I have personally be allergic for long to their co-occurrence in a campaign background (as in ‘Shadowrun’ or ‘Castle Falkenstein’). Yet you can play on the ignorance of the characters (and players) of the real origin of the ‘abnormal’. In my Sci-Fi minded Lace Wars RPG the ‘unknown’ sometimes intruded: was the mindless flesh golem a living man controlled by Voodoo drugs /thunderbolt power or really a corpse reanimated by necromantic magic? Was the man always wearing a full mask and gloves, with fur disclosed sometimes, the victim of a ‘Dr Jekyll’ experiment gone wrong or of a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ type of bespelling? Nobody knew, not even me. Yet a balanced project of 'weird FIW' described on TMP, a French possible foray in 'weird SYW' and a proposal of Eureka 100 'SYW zombies' all sound interesting; rumours of werewolves and other unnatural creatures or behaviours come from the Antipodeal Continent: 
vampyrs, monsters and swarms of giant spiders in Pangaea, even a whole 'Underworld' War' in Vorlund? Vampire hunting in Paris and London, fantastic events in Galatea, Wolfman eating peasants (maybe a whole pack of werewolves) in Ardoberg, (were?)wolves in Saxe-Huack and now vampire(s), ghosts (?) in New England, the Pumpkin Patch and witches in the Colonies, a devil in Jersey? 'Cthuluesque' creatures / cults in Nouvelle France, moving images from Old England, Chaos invading a Paris of sorts 
and even 'Horror' in Venice during the Carnevale... Indeed 'Pulp' adventures seem less and less uncommon in 'our' Lace Wars times. Zombies (and other 'oddities') spotted in various parts of British America and in Canada, where Indians challenge 'white' witches and Rangers had to face Malsum the Wolf and his pack; on the island of Pacifica the colons -descendants of Royalist Exiles from the ECW- face very odd Natives; 'Zombies' pirates adventures belong to the same category. The Walking Dead 'Knights Reliquar' *are* somewhere in Europe -watching or being more active? I suggested in a series of posts (conclusion) that Japanese Hellsing (the OVA, emphatically NOT the TV anime) can be converted to great mid-18th C. 'Horror / Pulp' campaign (several Nov.-Dec."10 comments below -Taban 'Lycal' look like Alucard in 'dog' form), as could easily several other players' campaigns set in later periods.As for the location of encounters so spiced with fantasy elements, while skirmishes can take place in 'traditional' Lace Wars settings, for plausibility sake major battles are better restricted to newly discovered, 'mysterious' oversea lands such as 'Melnibonean' Ameri-Go and the Half-Continent.
(reconstruction)
{current leaders: the Révérend Pères de Roopett and Teilhard de Rouston}
{current leaders: the Révérend Pères de Roopett and Teilhard de Rouston}
[nicknamed 'Blackwood' by the skeptical members of Torchwood]
['Torchwood ' already being the self-given nickname of the informal group formed by John Dee -famous for his translation of the Necronomicon (with later Francis Bacon as second and eventually successor) yet still (semi-)officially known by the British Crown only as Bookworm, the 'innocuous' name initially given by Dee to his secret gathering of scholars specially knowledgeable in the esoteric and the occult (because of the time they spent deciphering 'many a quaint and curious volume of a forgotten lore'). 'Torchwood' -a counter-reference to Wormwood- is to become its official name only when the group receives more official support with the creation of the Torchwood Institute; for it Mycroft Holmes is to found the Diogenes Club as a cover, and it will copied far later in America by 'The Threshold'. Since the mid-17th C. those (very few) outsiders suspecting its existence often referred to it -or at least to its 'directorial board'- as the 'Invisible College': a confusion? Probably not entirely. For the time being when in need of 'strong arms' Torchwood relies on daredevil highwaymen ('persons', actually) and rogues with their own demanding sense of honor.
records are prudish and bowdlerized, that's why for instance they don't mention Emily, Harriet & Louisa -yet the very ones who, fast friends of Lucy Lockit, Polly Peachum, Edgeworth Bess and Poll Maggot, put the group in touch with Torchwood- and for a time Moll Flanders -and now her skilled daughter Flora- as members of the Fellowship. Then censorship let slip a quote of a high-rank member of Torchwood affectionately referring to the Fellowship as "Fanny's Brothelhood"). While according to their centuries old tradition England and France are at war, Orlando currently serves the French Crown as the Chevalier d'Eon (and Amber's long lasting friend Geneviève Sylvie d'Isle Dieudonné is in Monte-Cristan service): but patriotic loyalties are irrelevant when facing dreadful supernatural threats.
While at times unpredictable, whimsical Mary Barley-Quinn ('the whore of Nancy who stopped the cavalry': ??) is a precious trump card / wild card of the Fellowship. Dracula would not interfere: two generations ago he left for an oversea land following the trail of Erzsébet Bathory; Genevève's friend Carmilla would help but not leave South-Eastern Europe. Various characters can be added to the cast such as a young Baron Münchhausen, the Comte de Saint Germain, Cagliostro if born some 20 years earlier in this time-line... as well as some incarnation of Jeremy Cornelius, Una Persson von Bek -she would go very well with Fanny's group- and Catherine Cornelius De Barra.]
(As for the French Cabinet Esotérique its field operatives are led by one Guy de Vere known in some circles as El Desdichado, with such 'colorful' characters as Angélique de Longueval and l'abbé de Bucquoy)
.
In addition to secret 'Services' (including those of the Vatican, a still occult Opus Dei among them) and secret Cults, Secret Societies (possibly without paranormal / supernatural elements) can be added to the mix.
On one side the 'real' Freemasons if -as they claim- they are the heirs of the masons of the Temple of Jerusalem they could own the knowledge, or at least the practical know-how, of the builders of the pyramids. And this could be of importance, in the hypothesis: "'Elohim' = true plural (not 'emphatic' singular) thus 'CreatorS' = E.T.; 'Sons of G*d' (angels) mated with 'daughters of Man' -> Nephilim [-> Gibborim] (Elves / Melnibonéans?); educated Humankind -> Atlantis (& Mu); the Flood and the sinking of Atlantis caused by a war between E.T. colonies or hyper-advanced prehistoric 'half-breed' civilizations (the battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata); knowledge partly saved (artefacts: the Ark, the Lance of Passion...) -->Pyramids builders." Other (rival?) heirs probably in Agartha? The Freemasons would be, according to the obedience, mainly aligned either with Protestant countries or with the 'rationalist' philosophers. Maybe manipulate Reformed rulers (Great Britain, Prussia). At this time were the -still underground- Illuminati an inner secret circle or already a dissident branch?
Facing them , the Prieuré de Sion. In addition to its first duty of protecting the Sangreal -the bloodline of the son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene who came to Provence with the Saintes Maries de la Mer. Not surprisingly the Prieuré''s fiercest enemy originated as a dissident branch: during the Crusades some members who had joined the Knights Templar had an epiphany and understood the old French name of the Holy Grail as 'San Greal' rather than 'Sang Real'. Nowadays Die Zwielichthelden are the secret descendant of those Templars having taken refuge in Germany. They compete with the Priory in all fields but specially to preserve (and [mis]use?) the Grail –and the Cathars' secret heritage; yet they hate the French Crown and the Vatican as feverishly as the Frères do, but because of curse placed on the French Bloodline and the Church by the last Grand Master Jacques de Molay when burnt at the stake.
Nothing forbids to add the Witchblade (Joan of Arc also is a favorite topic of conspiracy theories) to the Great Artifacts of Power involved…
The Priory *hates* the French monarchy and the Vatican, but uses Catholic countries as pawns.
Could the SYW be the currently visible part of the centuries old underground war between these two secret societies?
As a non-Cthulhuesque Cult with claims of magical knowledge, what about an earlier form of the Golden Dawn / Thule Society led by 'Frater Perdurabo' aka 'The Great Beast' (to be reincarnated, or to reappear publicly, as Aleister Crowley) gathering around it, beside practising Thelemites, a cluster of Mjölnir-amulet wielders, neo-druidists, wicca adherents and worshippers of the Triple Goddess.
Likely to be in relation (or at least trying to make contact) with Agartha and Atlanteans Successors sheltered in the 'Hollow Earth'. Members actively seeking 'old knowledge' in shamanist cultures around the Baltic Sea, in Siberia and as far as Mongolia and North America. An intriguing potentiality is the possible knowledge (and even tries to use in practice) the Vril.
The Rosenkreutz / Rose-Croix may have been an earlier form of the Golden Dawn / Thule-Gesellschaft in Lutheran Germany; may survive as a weak 'fundamentalist / traditionalist' secret Church faithful to its Christian roots?
And what about the Hellfire Club?
As other possible 'factions' what about La Fraternité de Jean le Presbytre, the Sons of the Martyrs, a kind of 18th C. Bene Gesserit, the Bennet Circle and the Children of the Lady-in-the-earth.
On one side the 'real' Freemasons if -as they claim- they are the heirs of the masons of the Temple of Jerusalem they could own the knowledge, or at least the practical know-how, of the builders of the pyramids. And this could be of importance, in the hypothesis: "'Elohim' = true plural (not 'emphatic' singular) thus 'CreatorS' = E.T.; 'Sons of G*d' (angels) mated with 'daughters of Man' -> Nephilim [-> Gibborim] (Elves / Melnibonéans?); educated Humankind -> Atlantis (& Mu); the Flood and the sinking of Atlantis caused by a war between E.T. colonies or hyper-advanced prehistoric 'half-breed' civilizations (the battle of Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata); knowledge partly saved (artefacts: the Ark, the Lance of Passion...) -->Pyramids builders." Other (rival?) heirs probably in Agartha? The Freemasons would be, according to the obedience, mainly aligned either with Protestant countries or with the 'rationalist' philosophers. Maybe manipulate Reformed rulers (Great Britain, Prussia). At this time were the -still underground- Illuminati an inner secret circle or already a dissident branch?
Nothing forbids to add the Witchblade (Joan of Arc also is a favorite topic of conspiracy theories) to the Great Artifacts of Power involved…
The Priory *hates* the French monarchy and the Vatican, but uses Catholic countries as pawns.
Could the SYW be the currently visible part of the centuries old underground war between these two secret societies?
As a non-Cthulhuesque Cult with claims of magical knowledge, what about an earlier form of the Golden Dawn / Thule Society led by 'Frater Perdurabo' aka 'The Great Beast' (to be reincarnated, or to reappear publicly, as Aleister Crowley) gathering around it, beside practising Thelemites, a cluster of Mjölnir-amulet wielders, neo-druidists, wicca adherents and worshippers of the Triple Goddess. Likely to be in relation (or at least trying to make contact) with Agartha and Atlanteans Successors sheltered in the 'Hollow Earth'. Members actively seeking 'old knowledge' in shamanist cultures around the Baltic Sea, in Siberia and as far as Mongolia and North America. An intriguing potentiality is the possible knowledge (and even tries to use in practice) the Vril.
The Rosenkreutz / Rose-Croix may have been an earlier form of the Golden Dawn / Thule-Gesellschaft in Lutheran Germany; may survive as a weak 'fundamentalist / traditionalist' secret Church faithful to its Christian roots?
And what about the Hellfire Club?
As other possible 'factions' what about La Fraternité de Jean le Presbytre, the Sons of the Martyrs, a kind of 18th C. Bene Gesserit, the Bennet Circle and the Children of the Lady-in-the-earth.
Emma, a sorceress associated with the Comte de Saint-Germain by the time of Louis XV (cosplay from the Japanese anime Le Chevalier d'Eon): she DOES wear a tricorne, indeed!
Possible 'monster hunters' / 'witchers' / 'sorceliers':
Fenryll Chasseur de sorcières, Valiant (Magnificent Egos) Pilgrim (male and reincarnated as female: Orlando? Note that Orlando is a member of the Lemuel Gulliver Fellowship, the 2nd League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Flying Frog Katarina and Enigma Catherine (painted there, but nothing compels you to paint her with metallic greaves).
Youtubing 18° C. werewolves: Rammstein’s "Du Riechst So gut" and a spectacular scene of shapeshifting from "The company of wolves" (The Little Red Riding Hood revisited).
(For those interested, Crododile Games Ghouls have a very ‘Lovecraftian’ look {'Pickman's Model'} and would made great werewolves {other ranges of ghouls -also and there-are more 'traditional'}; Fenryll Lycan and Masquerade 'Wolfhyaenas' are of the same style.Westwind Jager-werewolves are 'traditional' but very fitting for the 18th C. with their trousers reduced to short breeches. The same with some of WW Lycaons & SuperFigs werewolves -and at least 2 are female, though not blatantly in the 'wolf' form- but you have to buy their human form in modern dress; the Noble Knight 'Streetfight' ones require some conversion. Acheson Vincent Malakov, Mortebrume 'Bipede', D&D Minis werewolf lord and Valiant Wolfwere are impressive, the Corvus Belli Ogre werewolf even more so but armored; WotC D&D also offers a *female* werewolf, Otherworld a manly male. The cute Bronze Age "female Werefox" can well pass for a 18th C. (lovely) lycanthrope (Werevixen?: no 'tale-telling tail'!); too bad her mini ‘in human form’ is not in a more active pose, she would have made a good adventuress / vampire slayer. Uncle Mike (Strange Aeons) werewolf turned giant during the shapechanging, so probably his trousers now look like breeches.
'Naked' werewolves can be appear in any setting: Reaper, Heresy, Otherworld, Black Cat Bases, Black Orc... The 'anatomically complete' SLAP minis ones are perfectly balanced between human and lupine, and females are in the pipe-line. The Wolfen (from the defunct Rackham 'Confrontation') and the PP Warpwolves use weapons and wear some clothes, but then, why not? Some of them could be of use; some Reaper 'Lupines' , as well as a few 'Fantasy Football' werewolves: e.g. Willy Miniatures, look not dissimilar. Puppetwars' werewolves heads and arms allow conversion of human minis in 'period' costume.
A 'wyrd' female werewolf hunter {amazing how adding a tricorne can make a mini '18th C. compatible'}?
A Touch of Evil includes a monster huntress (witchress / sorceliere?). Copplestone castings’ Yetis would make excellent degenerate 'Martense' of the 'Big Boss type for a 'Lurking Fear'-type adventure; for the 'basic' types better to use ghouls -also and there.
Crocodile Games Ice warriors and wendigos, horned carrying weapons, look too much like 'beastmen' for my taste -even with the horns removed they could not make 'Martense'but rather some kind of Bigfoot / Yetis- but their 'howlers' and perhaps 'snowbeast' are more... credible; for those who prefer felines, DGS has a witchcat, and their Alpha Plakhra is original, while Reaper 'Moor Hound' is specially impressive; discussion of other 'Big Foot / Sasquatch' minis there.
'Naked' werewolves can be appear in any setting: Reaper, Heresy, Otherworld, Black Cat Bases, Black Orc... The 'anatomically complete' SLAP minis ones are perfectly balanced between human and lupine, and females are in the pipe-line. The Wolfen (from the defunct Rackham 'Confrontation') and the PP Warpwolves use weapons and wear some clothes, but then, why not? Some of them could be of use; some Reaper 'Lupines' , as well as a few 'Fantasy Football' werewolves: e.g. Willy Miniatures, look not dissimilar. Puppetwars' werewolves heads and arms allow conversion of human minis in 'period' costume.
A 'wyrd' female werewolf hunter {amazing how adding a tricorne can make a mini '18th C. compatible'}?
A Touch of Evil includes a monster huntress (witchress / sorceliere?). Copplestone castings’ Yetis would make excellent degenerate 'Martense' of the 'Big Boss type for a 'Lurking Fear'-type adventure; for the 'basic' types better to use ghouls -also and there.
Crocodile Games Ice warriors and wendigos, horned carrying weapons, look too much like 'beastmen' for my taste -even with the horns removed they could not make 'Martense'but rather some kind of Bigfoot / Yetis- but their 'howlers' and perhaps 'snowbeast' are more... credible; for those who prefer felines, DGS has a witchcat, and their Alpha Plakhra is original, while Reaper 'Moor Hound' is specially impressive; discussion of other 'Big Foot / Sasquatch' minis there.
(from Carpat'land) Fiendish Fabrications has 'authentic' Old Carribean zombies, Studio Miniature has an 'all periods' zombified priest, Armorcast Anti-Pope and Strange Aeons evil priest already have quasi-undead facial features, Alkemy Caelina has potential.
Black Cat Bases have skeletons in 18th C. uniform and tricorne to escort AA '18th C. skeleton gentleman' carrying an occult grimoire.
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(Defunct) Mississinewa Miniatures had good-looking zombie dogs, as Wyrd still does, Gamezone zombie wolves, WotC D&D a gravehound..
Cipher "Jaws" with a little paint conversion, Privateer Press wardog, GW "Thing in the Woods", Sphere Wars Sorrep, Maelstrom Maru and Zenit "Battle Hyena" would make great 'tamed' armored warbeasts of the "Brotherhood of the Wolf" famous Bete type, while Raging Heroes 'Cyberwolves' do have potential, but require some conversion (+ spikes on the hinges &c.) to change their mechanical parts into pieces of armour with spurs; WotC D&D Minis Vampire Dire Wolf, Reaper Moor Hound as well as GW LotR wargs and their chieftain can become interesting 'wild' beasts of the Gevaudan type; some Alkemy Khalimans could be used as 18th C. werepanthers.
Animated scarecrows seem peculiar to (British) American Colonies.
As for Vampire Countesses less well known than the GW ones mentioned above and the new Isabella, Avatars of War, Black Cat Bases (vampire queen in rococo dress!), Custommade, Freebooter, Mad Puppet, Resina Planet, Valiant each have at least one -although only the BCB is really in 18th C. dress; Freebooter Lady Death and JoeK Baroness are perhaps a little 'too much'? The coat of Freebooter Chaos Sorceress has a 18th C. look; Crocodile Ice Witch, Gaspez Banshee, Magnificient Egos Tyranta, Rackham Azael, Reaper Terezinia, Red Box Dagny, Thunderbolt Elf Lady, Tinbits Daughter of the Night and Zenit Thetis could also play the part; the Foundry female Revenant Elves in addition wear clothes more suitable for the period (would make great 18th C. witches with their ears 'normalized'). Freebooter witch has a certain charm. West Wind (and to a lesser degree Blue Moon) have several female vampires and richly offer for both their potential retinue and their opposition. Wrath of Kings 'Blood Dancers' do have potential here. Now, if you could give her a tricorn... PP Alexia is a good (not beheaded! Galanterie oblige) Headless Horsewoman, and Reaper 'Steampunk witch' would become a comely 18th C. one.
Animated scarecrows seem peculiar to (British) American Colonies.
As for Vampire Countesses less well known than the GW ones mentioned above and the new Isabella, Avatars of War, Black Cat Bases (vampire queen in rococo dress!), Custommade, Freebooter, Mad Puppet, Resina Planet, Valiant each have at least one -although only the BCB is really in 18th C. dress; Freebooter Lady Death and JoeK Baroness are perhaps a little 'too much'? The coat of Freebooter Chaos Sorceress has a 18th C. look; Crocodile Ice Witch, Gaspez Banshee, Magnificient Egos Tyranta, Rackham Azael, Reaper Terezinia, Red Box Dagny, Thunderbolt Elf Lady, Tinbits Daughter of the Night and Zenit Thetis could also play the part; the Foundry female Revenant Elves in addition wear clothes more suitable for the period (would make great 18th C. witches with their ears 'normalized'). Freebooter witch has a certain charm. West Wind (and to a lesser degree Blue Moon) have several female vampires and richly offer for both their potential retinue and their opposition. Wrath of Kings 'Blood Dancers' do have potential here. Now, if you could give her a tricorn... PP Alexia is a good (not beheaded! Galanterie oblige) Headless Horsewoman, and Reaper 'Steampunk witch' would become a comely 18th C. one.
Btw witches do NOT have to be old and ugly, quite the opposite; most of Uncle Mike's are decrepit, but their 'Brown Jenkin'-like familiars have some 'charm'.
Hasslefree 'NOT Raven' Lenore could be a rather subdued witch, aptly backed by Aberrant Sister Carmine.
Hasslefree 'NOT Raven' Lenore could be a rather subdued witch, aptly backed by Aberrant Sister Carmine.
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Not enough male characters? Mordheim 'Highwayman', his ridiculous 'bonaparte'' bicorne turned into a tricorn, could make a good "18th C. Van Helsing" -using as a cover a mobile theatre: the re-decorated Plague Cart -add a lot of feathers to the horses and the 4 corners of the car and change the driver! With Elvish & Amazon cheerleaders on stage? Painted identically, converted (armed) players of the same teams would ensure in case of need that the 5 girls are not merely 'decorative'; for the driver a beardless dwarf- Musket from Westmark actually, but he would fit with the troupe: give a 28-30mm head to a 22-25mm mini, the disproportion will explain the 'dwarfism': ideally you should have 3 versions of the same character, sited as a driver, on foot sabre & pistol on hand and playing a musical instrument (pipe & tabor?). Shadowrun LM Macintyre and Fenryl chasseur de sorciere would made good sidekicks for the major character; with a tricorn each, Black Army Wich hunter, Armorcast (ex-Spinespur) Booth and Rusted Heroes Jerimiah Black would nicely complete the team. D&D Minis Inquisitor as well as various GW clerical, monastic and inquisitorial types for WH, Mordheim and even 40K, possibly after some conversions, could also be of use. Some 'not 18th C.' minis could become interesting '18th C. Special Agents'.
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(Too bad the Fontegris' "werewolf huntress" is in 54mm, Fenryll does not produce a female version of their chasseur de sorciere and Ral Partha female vampire hunter Tara Kolyana is OOP...O. Bredy 'NOT Anna Velrious' would make a good sorceliere.
As for the very original Precinct Omega's Aliens / Faeries unfortunately they are '40mm'. While -are they Extra-Terrestrials, Elves, vampires (either of the 'Twilight' or the '30 days of night' type), demons / angels / Elohim came from their parallel universe through the Sunydalle Hellmouth or Atlants / Nephilims emerging from Agartha under Shangri-La through caves in Ultima Thule…- the fact they dress (approximately) like 'us" means that they wish, if not to pass unnoticed, at least not to look too 'alien' / frightening.
Now, most 18th gamers tempted by the occasional excursion into the 'weird' use 18-30mm figurines; with reference to such, the Skapyard creations correspond to creatures some 8 feet / 2.4 meters tall: any hope to not be terrifying monstrosities is vain.).
As for the very original Precinct Omega's Aliens / Faeries unfortunately they are '40mm'. While -are they Extra-Terrestrials, Elves, vampires (either of the 'Twilight' or the '30 days of night' type), demons / angels / Elohim came from their parallel universe through the Sunydalle Hellmouth or Atlants / Nephilims emerging from Agartha under Shangri-La through caves in Ultima Thule…- the fact they dress (approximately) like 'us" means that they wish, if not to pass unnoticed, at least not to look too 'alien' / frightening.
Now, most 18th gamers tempted by the occasional excursion into the 'weird' use 18-30mm figurines; with reference to such, the Skapyard creations correspond to creatures some 8 feet / 2.4 meters tall: any hope to not be terrifying monstrosities is vain.).
[Btw, 'fantasy' does not necessarily imply supernatural elements: O8."09 comment, yet is used here with this usual meaning]
A intriguing questions: "Can Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies... breed true?"
What happens when a vampire and a werewolf bite each other?
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.A intriguing questions: "Can Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies... breed true?"
What happens when a vampire and a werewolf bite each other?
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A *cute* Red Riding Hood (converted and painted by DotE -great painting blog!)
Anyway, Fantasy can always be submitted to a 'materialistic / rationalist' transformation into Sci-Fi. Typical of this approach is the "Matheson model" of vampirism: a contagious disease transmitted by biting. Resulting for the parasited host in metabolic *and psychological* changes (when you have to survive feeding on human blood your values / worldview have to be quite different -what is classically translated as 'loss of soul': parasites *can* do that). Indeed while the infection has unpleasant consequences -hyperreaction to the actinic components of solar light, perturbated social life…) it also brings extented (youth and) life -does the parasite stop the natural 'ageing' of chromosomes? Thus *if vampires could breed true* it would even be seen as a symbiosis.
Cf. a wider exemple in the O3.21."09 comment below..
(Now, if I'd have 'real' vampires and werewolves in my campaign, for reasons given in the march "09 comment below, I'd have silver and wood -and aluminium- equally efficient against both types -and also against zombies. Yet, to play safe the monster hunters' blades of choice would be hollow with a piece of wood inserted -in order to introduce wood in the wounds- and with a serrated edge with silver inserts -to introduce silver in the wounds. And they'd probably wear an oversized gorget extending in a surgical collar / neck brace as in Carpenter's 'Vampires': vampires and wolves attack at the throat. Such blades would also have some efficiency against 'psychosomatic' werewolves and vampires.)
The Marquis
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The Marquis
While The_Age_of_Unreason is set in a ‘magical’ version of our past, The Tales of Alvin Maker series on the other hand is parochially yankee (and ‘bicorne’ rather than ‘tricorne’). Did not read (as yet) Fires of Memory - but the soldiers on the cover are in shakos?
‘Jonathan_Strange_&_Mr_Norrell’ is set in an ‘alternate’ England where magic works –more or less. The story unfolds by Napoleonic times, but may be inspirational for a mid 18th C. background –by comparison with what working magic would bring, the cultural and technological differences between ‘our’ 1745 and 1815 are trivial.
The Monster Blood Tattoo series is set in a continent (at least) of its own and despite the vocabulary used is actually Science-Fiction (with an emphasis on biology / chemistry instead of mechanics and physics -some details are reminiscent of "A Planet Named Shayol") rather than Fantasy. Full of wargaming potential, this 'Land' could well be located in the Pacific Ocean.
Lloyd Alexander’s non-fantasy ‘Westmark’ trilogy is a ‘juvenile’ (the poor boy rescues a beggar girl that turns out to be a despoiled princess – they end as Prince Consort and Queen) yet of thoughtful tone, set in an alternate 18th C.: said to be quite good, with RPG and WG potential. No (major)‘paranormal’ features.
But reciprocally Fantasy races (such as Melniboneans) can be 'carried' to Lace Wars times.
In the comics 'Revere' the American hero was a kind of monster hunter.The comics short series The Marquis is a very good, if a little extreme, example of Lacepulp.
Joseph DeLaney's series The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles and among children books G P Taylor's Shadowmancer / Wormwood (heavily catechist) series and Marie Rutkoski's Kronos Chronicles are pure Fantasy set in (implicitly or explicitly) some 'mid-18th C.' background, seemingly without much (war)gaming potential.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with its prequel & sequel could easily be set by Barry Lyndon times.
The fantasy video game 'Fable' seems to be set in a (loosely) 'tricornes' era -even with a touch of Lacepunk at least in the #III.
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As for the advanced ‘Lacepunk’ technologies above, my suggestion, if you want to give widespread efficient magic a try in your Lace Wars setting, is to have it for some reason (a hole in the ozone layer / tropospheric whirlwind allowing mysterious radiations to reach the Earth’s surface; some unique convergence of ‘geomagnetic lines’…) to have it working only in a Great Britain-sized remote island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
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‘Jonathan_Strange_&_Mr_Norrell’ is set in an ‘alternate’ England where magic works –more or less. The story unfolds by Napoleonic times, but may be inspirational for a mid 18th C. background –by comparison with what working magic would bring, the cultural and technological differences between ‘our’ 1745 and 1815 are trivial.
The Monster Blood Tattoo series is set in a continent (at least) of its own and despite the vocabulary used is actually Science-Fiction (with an emphasis on biology / chemistry instead of mechanics and physics -some details are reminiscent of "A Planet Named Shayol") rather than Fantasy. Full of wargaming potential, this 'Land' could well be located in the Pacific Ocean.
Lloyd Alexander’s non-fantasy ‘Westmark’ trilogy is a ‘juvenile’ (the poor boy rescues a beggar girl that turns out to be a despoiled princess – they end as Prince Consort and Queen) yet of thoughtful tone, set in an alternate 18th C.: said to be quite good, with RPG and WG potential. No (major)‘paranormal’ features.
But reciprocally Fantasy races (such as Melniboneans) can be 'carried' to Lace Wars times.
In the comics 'Revere' the American hero was a kind of monster hunter.The comics short series The Marquis is a very good, if a little extreme, example of Lacepulp.Joseph DeLaney's series The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles and among children books G P Taylor's Shadowmancer / Wormwood (heavily catechist) series and Marie Rutkoski's Kronos Chronicles are pure Fantasy set in (implicitly or explicitly) some 'mid-18th C.' background, seemingly without much (war)gaming potential.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with its prequel & sequel could easily be set by Barry Lyndon times.
The fantasy video game 'Fable' seems to be set in a (loosely) 'tricornes' era -even with a touch of Lacepunk at least in the #III.
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As for the advanced ‘Lacepunk’ technologies above, my suggestion, if you want to give widespread efficient magic a try in your Lace Wars setting, is to have it for some reason (a hole in the ozone layer / tropospheric whirlwind allowing mysterious radiations to reach the Earth’s surface; some unique convergence of ‘geomagnetic lines’…) to have it working only in a Great Britain-sized remote island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
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(from this forum: re TMP)
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Relevant (well, almost: Napoleonic rather than Lace Wars) to this post, a series of French ‘Bande Dessinée’ (comics, but in ≈ A4 size and with hard cover –what would be called ‘graphic novel’ in the USA?), «Empire»: in the very late 18th C. Bonaparte marched East from Egypt and conquered most of India. By 1815, additionally, and chiefly, technology had evolved sooner and faster than in ‘our’ History (but with constant reference to historical inventors): steam powers artillery tractors, warships, dirigibles and even warwalkers; improved 'steam' Puckle’s machine guns are not uncommon, an ‘Enigma’ coding machine is coupled with Chappe's telegraph and a very improved version (using perforated cards linked by cloth, the invention of Jacquard) of Babbage’s computer is used as a powerful 'military advisor'. Napoleon and Wellington are battling for the control of the Indian sub-continent, the two sides suffering from raids by Afghans in Russian pay, and Mary Shelley is both an English spy and the controller of the 'mechanical general'; a tamed Yeti but no werewolves as yet. Indeed, what is more, magic may work, Kali's Thugs work for the British and as in the 'Van Helsing' movie Frankeinstein meets Dracula! Of the 2 French 'main characters' ('heroes' would be an overstatement!), one is born in India and knew a Mowgli-like childhood; the other claims to be an alchimist who, if not 'directly' immortal, benefits from the fortunate hazards of metempsychosis. VSF with H&M uniforms, exactly what, for me, I do NOT wish to happen to a Lace Wars setting; drawing rather awful, 'Natives' in British service wear Victorian uniforms, but an enjoyable storyline, most vehicle designs are very pleasant and 'realistic', and those of the corresponding inclination would find the background very inspirational.
The same authors published a series «The Secret History» (upper right), between Sci-Fi and Fantasy, following the confrontation of hidden ‘Masters’ from the Neolithic to WWII; the illustrated tome depicts them manipulating the young Bonaparte.
The very inspirational ‘Le Scorpion’ (vertical column right) is set in a 18th C. without truly Fantasy element but with a powerful Secret Society – that obviously doesn’t care for discretion!
Quasi-historical 18th C. is not an unfrequent setting in French Bande Dessinée, mainly for ‘Pirates’ stories –a tradition dating from the Barbe-Rouge (Red Beard) series started in the early sixties, with a current total of 35 volumes. This series has a few elements relevant to Lace Wars mythical uniforms & Sci-Fi, such as Spanish garrisons in the Carribeans still wearing morions, and Barbe-Rouge upgrading his ship with Da Vinci’s machine guns and Greek Fire-throwers.
Then, the New World, Venice, Scotland and humour are not ignored.
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148 comments:
A few LaceW_SciFi comments
-1°) Armed, horse-drawn conveyances
(but could easily be converted to steampower… No, more Steampunk than Lacepunk)
Ambrose Hawk posted on SOCDAISY (#7597) about a (joking) design of an armored coach for Napoleon: « they placed the horses in the rear, so that the trail pushed instead of pulled the contraption : this would require some sort of quasi modern steering system to work. Secondarily, they placed the coachman in an exposed copula in front of and above the structure: I would have placed the coachman behind the compartment, as was done with several kinds of English cabs. Third, the wheels and suspension were grotesquely inadequate». Well, maybe, but I’d like to see drawings of the design, even better a scale model! Ambrose called it ‘victorian sci-fi’, but as Napoleonic it is closer to Lace Wars: a Lacepunk vehicle!
Not dissimilar to the scratchbuilt "Troika Kampfwagen" here:
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http://tinyurl.com/2uf5es
(but here the horses –3– are in front of the vehicle). The front armor, while certainly almost useless against shooting, looks perhaps too ‘modern’ for the Lace Wars? Anyway, for a 18°C setting, twin-linked Puckle machine-guns would fit better than a flame-thrower, and the ‘decoration’ would have to be somehow inspired by Louis XV furniture…
Now, what about converting Eureka light & heavy Triumphapedes:
< alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5112292993633433954" />
http://tinyurl.com/3avg3v
into more conventional (!) self-propelled artillery, by having them drawn by two and four (abreast, as for a Roman racing chariot) horses respectively? The ‘five barrels (parallel ?) machine-gun could be an alternative (light ?) weapon system, specially if modified to ba able to fire as a ‘Flugzeug Abwehr Maschinegewehr’.
With ref. to Ancient Chariots you could even add spear heads and scythe blades... Da Vinci had a more original design, with a ‘meat mincer’ (4 horizontal scythe blades whirling, powered by the wheels of the vehicle) in front of the horses; Citadel did a Chaos Dwarf-Centaur with a ±vaguely similar set of flails.
For a Lace Wars setting, the crew would have to be substituted (or at least heavily converted), but this would not be too hard to work out.
-2°) War Balloons
Victorian Sci-Fi Cloudships here:
http:// tinyurl.com/yp5r5l
‘Terran’ and ‘Improved Native’ designs are too 'modern', but the 'Martians' types are inspirational: just have them hanging under a balloon!
Well, some decoration of the balloon (in the imitation of the 1st, very adorned Montgolfieres), adding a swan's front part to the prow and the rear part at the stern, painting some details in Louis XV furniture style, would be required to fully give them a 'Lace Wars' look.
Anyway, they are to for sale… but one can find some ideas there.
-3°) Chemical warfare
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Given the necessary airthight and resistant scaphandre, some Scheltrum minis could be directly incorporated in a Lacepunk setting, specially the "VSFM22" Gas Gunner Squad.
http://tinyurl.com/2d3jbe
1°) Cosmos 1745: Inspirated perhaps by the awesome models of
Martian Cloudships you may wish to have your Martian setting more Sci-Fi, while keeping the ways of life unchanged on Earth – while having Martian technology less advance than in classical Barsoom-like settings, more in adequation with Victorian Sci-FI.
This would be possible with no more than a single additional hypotheses: e.g. that the antigrav properties of ‘Lightwood’are enhanced on Mars (less interference of the Sun’s own gravity… ?) or / and that on Mars the aether wind penetrates more efficiently down to the ground (less ionisiation of the upper atmosphere by the solar wind… ?) and can be capted by the balloons enveloppe to help power the ‘airscrews’ proppelling them. Thus you can have very vulnerable zeppelins on Mars, and only there, the technology could not be applied on Earth.
Model-wise, you could take inspiration from the *Martian* cloudships –the Terrian devices are far too ‘Steampunk’– specially the Screw Galleys, and have them hanging under a very decorated –quite gigantic- oval balloon; Terrian copies would have a distinctive ‘gondola’ shaped hull. No ‘modern’ guns or machine-guns on pylons & behind a shield, use at most the early 19°C rotating support historically used on gunboats (see Project 13bis in the MC Mil R&D III-Naval Warfare post). No steam power, of course. No visible rivets, brass or red copper instead of iron / steel…
2°) A better jpeg of the Eureka Triumphapedes and ideas for their conversion into armes carts:
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This post was a development of a message on the TMP 18th C. Discussion board: browsing the SOCDAISY archives I just stumbled on the messages that were the very first form of this texte:
#4396 (Sat Mar 4, 2006)
Homothecy between Lady Pettygree and Lacepunk: 'Homothecy' in the allowance of unhistoricity, mainly in Lace Wars settings.
Bill Protz and Altefritz field only historically painted units, but sometimes indulge in unhistoricity at *character* level, Lady Pettygree (as a 18°cent. female 'adventurer', if not "My name is Pettygree, Diana Pettygree 007") being a typical example.
For me, while I like the idea of unhistorical (but credible, likely) uniforms /units/ *small* countries (*small*: see later why), keeping strictly historical weaponry, organization and tacticts, I nevertheless indulged in unhistorical (warfare) technologies (Lacepunk setting) at *character* (RPG) level.
Developments:
= *small* mythical countries. Perhaps a handicap from my professional background, I tend to worry about medium- & long-term consequences.
Now [taking the question of (un)historical uniforms as the starting point] military largely fashion reflects 'historical accidents'. See how, in South America, Napoleonic uniforms were popular in the 1820-30, then the Prussian spiked helmet after 1870. The French conquest of Algiers in 1830 had the unpredictable effect that both sides fielded colorful zouaves during the ACW…
Then, a *major* unhistorical power had probably been here from decades if not centuries, changing history, influences… and thus the cut & 'look' of 'current' uniforms. Indeed by throwing a new major player on the scene you shift in a full 'alternate' history and details, incl. uniforms, depart from those in 'our' time line at an exponential rate from the date of divergence. The neo-Byzantine army of 'Emperor vs Elector' could be an exemple of such major departure from both our History from the Middle Ages and the appearance of military dress by the 18th C.
By contrast, the addition of 2 or 3 minor countries to the 300+ historical states of the Lace Wars HRE is of no consequence, totally disappearing in the historical 'noise'. Thus, the 'historical' uniforms of Gallia and Germania are plausible only if mythical countries in the background are either rather small, Grant's VFS fashion, or are recent conglomerates such as Otto's Saxe-Burlap.
(In the same way, if one games a major european conflict in the 1780, the only certainty about what 'historical' uniforms would look like would be that after some years of campaign they'd be quite different from what we know in Our Time Line…)
= unchanging historical Lace Wars weaponry and tactics. From the very reading of `The Wargame' I've be hooked by mid-18° cent. european warfare, its simplicity, the fact that opposing armies are almost mirror images colored differently, the elegance of moving units like in a ballet and the elegance of 'mind' in a time of professionalism when even the humble R&F tend to have a gentlemanly behabior. This I'd not change, and, like Otto, I'd not throw in rifled breech-loaders and machineguns (otherwise, I'd rather play the FpW of 1870 or a mythical French-British war over colonial interests -almost happened- or even steampunk / victorian Sci-Fi).
But at the *character* /RPG level I had no hesitation. First, 'innovative technologies' in our games were (james bondesque Wild Wild West gadgets excepted) manuscript equivalents of blueprints, just pretexts for an errant. Add the fact that, even if the mission is successfully accomplished, a covert/ secret operation is a major failure if more than 1 or 2 handfuls of people in the whole world know that 'something' happened: thus, very odd evenements/ alliances/ devices can harmlessly turn out at the 'Spies vs Counters-spies' RPG level.
To taste, you can add additional levels of cover with:
_the various Kings' secret services (see § for their implication),
_the Brotherhood of the Wolf, intended to throw back Europe to good old feudal times,
_the secret Lodge of Zion, heir from the Knights Templars who brought back the Ark, the Grail,the Holy Spear and the Witchblade from the Holy Land,
_the spiritualists of the Brazing Dawn of Ultima Thule, descended from Atlants descended from Nephilim (human/ {angels= extraterrestrials} half-breed), who wish to keep the monopoly of advanced technologies,
_the Jesuits, aimaing at the suppression of any discovery/ intellectual breakthrough not yet explainable in Pope/ Opus Dei approved terms (specially checking advances on the origin of species and biological evolution, and Holy Land archeology, but not restricted to these fields),
_and the Spanish Inquisition (was somebody expecting it?) watching over the secrecy of anything related to Da Vinci, his drawings and his Code.
(§ : As for the implication of sovereigns, one can suggest that, in this century of Reason and Enlightement, they collect plans of advanced weaponry not to use it, but to prevent them from falling into wrong hands, to prevent anybody else from building using them. Nobody wants an arms race to start : sounds rather optimistic, but in this age of professional armies widely resorting to foreign mercenaries, a country's military strength was limited by its treasury, not by the size of its male population. It would only be later that Powers would be tempted to provide their professionals with Horrendeous Devices of Messy Destruction, when facing tetramultidunious hordes of ideology-crazed volunteers.
BTW, that's one of the reasons why I see the AWI belonging to the Revolutionary rather than Lace Wars/ Tricorn times ; another being, of course, that by then lace was disappearing and tricorn loosing one 'orn'.
More generally I'm not tempted at all by wargaming any form of civil war (incl. 'independance' & religious ones), fundamentally waged by hatred-motivated mobs; where you enjoy collecting the foe's eyes or genitals by the bucket, and routinely burn his babies in bakers' owens to eradicate this detestable race -as done by republican volunteers in French Vendée: the exact opposite of Lace Warfare as I see (dream?) it.)
And finally, to have a prototype built in no way implies that the novelty soon becomes of common use . The first functional steam-propelled boat dates, I believe, from 1743; the 1st
working steam-propelled ground vehicle (explicitely endvisaged by Gribeauval as an artillery tractor!) dates from 1769. In the 18° & even 17° cent. prototypes were built (for the navies, probably as an alternative to swivel guns against boarding parties) of what
can only be described as primitive machine-guns, and that indeed worked somehow. De Saxe's amusettes are quoted as (endvisaged as, at least) rifled breechloaders; he had a lot built when retired ar Chambord, but their only recorded use is a Feu-de-Joie to salute the visiting Louis XV.
So indeed, one can have drawings or even working prototypes of such, and even more advanced devices, in a Lacepunk RPG without quailing because of the risk of 'polluting'/ 'disfiguring' tabletop battlegames.
#6887 Aug 12, 2007
I love Lace Wars warfare and wargaming as they are, so I'm against any Sci-Fi elements with enough weight/ influence to change them. Yet it is a matter of scale: had the Ferguson rifle and the 'Turtle' submarine any impact on the nature of land and sea warfares during the AWI? No, because they intervened on a too limited scale.
Battlegaming-wise, they could appearin a skirmish game but would be neglected in a 'real' battle, Grant's refighting of Fontenoy or even Young's Blashof (spelling?) battle.
In the same way I'm not hostile to the introduction, in the general background, of a few, carefully chosen Sci-Fi elements: either without interference with everyday life (such as balloons aether-propelled only out of a planetary atmosphere) or still at the stage of drawings (the Chassepot rifle drawings being 18)C equivalents of Da Vinci Sci-Fiesque drawings) or single prototype at most (could appear in a RPG, in a skirmish game at most, without effect in a full-scaled battle).
Now if you are intellectually allergic to the idea of Sci-Fi elements in a 18°C setting, remember that an advanced enough science (relatively to that of the witnesses) cannot be distinguished from magic. And, as Bill Protz underlined in a comment about the mysterious Milady de Winter, people *believed* in sorcery then. Weither your balloons are propelled by aether or by 'spirits' (as in reg Keyes'"Age of Unreason" series), weither you use a single Colt or a magical Kraftpistole, the effect, the perception by other people, will be exactly the same. For me I prefer Sci-Fi over sorcery in any setting technological enough to use gunpowder, but it's strictly personal.
Someone raised on the TMP ‘Victorian Sci-Fi’ board the question of ‘Science’ (‘hard’ / ‘serious’ / ‘realistic’ / ‘credible’ Science) in ‘Science-Fiction.
The answer is obvious: with very few exceptions (A.C. Clarke's ‘Rama’?), one cannot have a good "Sci"-Fi story with totally 'realistic' science. Even in a 18th or 19th C. setting –avoiding the problem of faster than light travel- without totally ‘weird’ pseudo-science you can’t have Science-fiction, only ‘Alternate History’.
The ‘irrealism / fictitious nature’ of Science is generally quoted in the field of Physics, but (it comes my professional background in Evolutionary Biology) when I think of it (which I carefully avoid to do!), the SCIENCE element is specially violated in Biology.
And then I don't care!
What are the chances of an humanoid Martian (I like the Parroom Station minis)? Zero, null, nada: we cannot be sure of what an E.T. could look like, but we *are* sure it would not be *that* humanoid. The chances of so perfect 'parallel evolution' are just null. And this even without drifting to the wold of chlorine-breathers with a silicium-based chemistry!
Oxygen-breathers, OK: the true cell, required for the building of multicellular organisms, appeared only when there was enough oxygen in our atmosphere. Animal and *mobile*: fixed animals (crinoids..) have a very regressed nervous system. Thus, bilateral symmetry (the apparent radial symmetry disappears in really mobile urchins) and 'cephalisation': the 'brain' and most sensory organs concentrated 'forward' in a 'head'. Upright stance, so at least a pair of limbs is 'free' to use tools. Air-breathers (you cannot discover fire under water), and thus a skeleton… But then? Endo- or exo-skeleton? How many pairs of limbs? The bipedal stance has peculiar requirements, it would be easier to have a pair of free 'arms' with at least two other pairs of limbs for locomotion -> centaur or praying mantis silouhette….
And then, most of 'our' details are 'historical accidents', with very remote or no chance to have happened twice: e.g. the noise / association between breathing and digestive systems; at 'best', respiratory apertures could be on both sides of the neck. And chiefly, chiefly, our jaw born from embryonic gills! The Predator masticating apparatus in infinitely more 'likely' than a 'terrestrial vertebrate' jaw: this later is the result of such a unique series of 'historical accidents' that we can exclude to see it on any living being not born from our own phylum.
And, if less obvious, what are the chances that life on another planet uses the same 'building blocks' as on Earth – the same amino-acids (of the 'right' stereochemistry), nuclear bases, sugars? Totally null. Thus E.T. living things, 'plants' as well as 'animals', would be not only inedible but terribly poisonous. To the point that even in a perfectly breathable atmosphere humans would have to wera an airtight scaphandre, because of the (at the very least) highly allergenic of the micro-particles of biological origin suspended in the atmosphere…
And then *WHO CARES*???
Not me, for sure -if in my 'Lacepunk' ('Sci-Fi by Lace Wars time') setting people with tricorn reach Mars, they'll meet humanoid Martians, eat the local products and bring back to Earth a few Bottatarus, Plorses &c… (which'll thrive on terrestrian food) for the Menageries of the wealthiest Kings and Martian Sepoys as hyper-prestigious Guard troops!
And it's not merely a matter of "we follow the Science of the time, what was not yet dsiproved *may* work": even by Pharaonic times it was known that John Carter would have met very unpleasant ('mechanical') surprises when trying to copulate with an egg-laying female…..
So the initial question of this thread is fundamentally pointless /irrelevant….
Cheers & enjoy your gaming!
COSMOS 1745: toying with a few Martian ideas
MARS: climate and ecology
There is no reason why Mars would be notably less diverse than Earth. Thus, while most of the planet can be rather similar to Egypt and Mesopotamia –semi-desert and dry savanna criss-crossed with Nile-like canals, there could be a belt of ‘Venusian’-like jungles, the air saturated with hot fog, around the Equator, and (reduced) ice caps at the Poles.
Air is breathable, plants and animals basically edible. Unless the Martians are ultimately oh human stock, carried there by Elohim or Great Ancients in far remote times (and thus evolutionary disconnected from local fauna), Vertebrates *have* to be tetrapods. Yet it will make conversion of ‘Earth’ animals minis to representatives of the fauna of Barsoom (and Kregen and Mingo) easier! This does not apply to ‘insectoids’ with exoskeleton, of course: but if you want (semi)-intelligent ones, a ‘centauroid’ stance (1 pair of ‘arms’, 2 or more of ‘legs’) is more likely (and original) than any humanoid, bipedal silouhette. Sentient crawling octopi, jellyfishes and worm-like inverterbrates are too much incredible for my taste! Being poikilotherms, ‘intelligent’ insectoids would be encoutered in the jungles (instead of those silly Lizadmen & ‘Reptiliads’).
The MARTIANS:
Diversity of cultures
NATURE: one frequent failure of Sci-Fi litterature is to suppose that a single, homogeneous civilisation covers a whole planet. It’s obviously not the case nowadays on Earth, after some 1.5 century of trains, steamer, telegraph and a century of air travel, so it would be ludicrious to have iton a technologically less advanced world. Yet if (in order to have a setting not too similar to ‘our’18th C. Indies) we suppose the knowledge of air travel, *technologies* would have been homogeneized among the most advanced culture, and perhaps a common scripture / alphabet would have emerged.
All in all I endvisage 1745 Mars to be quite similar to mid-17thC. – early 19th C. Africa and Asia (supposing India still independant): less than a handful of ‘advanced’ cultures (equivalent to, say, Turkey, Persia, India and China), knowing the technology of air travel and keeping it for themselves far more jealously (and efficiently) than Powers struggle here against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Not all have to be centralized Empires –one at least more a congregation of practically independant kingdoms, and all with a shaby control of their outmost provinces.
Besides, one would find a whole range of technological levels. Some countries (equivalent to Egypt, Japan, perhaps Ethiopia, Siam and Corea) would miss only the knowledge of air travel. At the other extremity of the spectrum you’ll find hunter-gatherers, nomad herders in the Great Plains, and all the range of sttled cultures from Late Neolithic to Late European Midle-Ages.
The major Powers, like European ones on Earth by the mid-17th C., would have established colonies, or at least factories and trade post all over the planet (on a probably more restricted area for the few ‘advanced’ countries restricted to water travel). Thus, ‘trade’ muskets could be found everywhere.
TRANSLATION: miniatures: the potential wargamer is restricted by the available minis, but the ‘standard’ Martians (Parroom ) are humanoid enough to widen the possible choice. Elves are of course a primary source, but if one is ready to de-emphasize the ‘non-humanity’ of Martians, a *lot* of human minis can be used: Ancients (Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indians), pre-columbian Amerindians, Haïtans, Maoris… Some fantasy types could also be used, specially the types designed for Tekumel (imagine the Legion of Sérqu with Martian muskets instead of halberds, e.g.; Eureka minis are rather ‘heavily’ dressed, so would be fiting for the Martian civilisation living under the colder / less warm climate).
Now you don’t need to reflect the diversity of the whole Martian specie, according to the scope of your campaign, 2-4 ‘major’ civilisations (or subcultures within) & 1-4 ‘tribal’ cultures are quite enough.
Painting
-ethnical variations. The Parroom Martians are generally given a yellow skin (to avoid copyright problems with the Red Martians of Barsoom?), but even if the species is ethnically more homogeneous than ours, allow for some variation. What about a range from buf-yellow to pumpkin / carrot?
Btw, what is the color of Martian blood? I did not read (or forgot) the ‘canonical scriptures. Blood takes part in the skin color (even if the latter is darkely pigmented, at least at lips, nails, palms &c…): Martians are not melanized, so a black, blue or green blood is exluded. Either milky white or from butter-yellow to red beet juice; of course may be phosphorescent, Predator-fashion, if you like. Then, if Humans and Martians can breed true (one of the silliest elements of Barsoom; and John Carter would hva know the surprise of his adventurous life when that sensitive part of him would have encountered the eggshell-laying apparatus…), their biochemistries hav eto be quite similiar.
Now, unability to breed true in now way forbides amiable copulation….
-Cultural variations: best translated by the color patterns and decorations of the clothes. Even if a pain to paint, avoid solid colors (good enough for the Humans and their sepoys). Each culture could be characterized by a combination of:
°a favorite (range of ) hue(s) –to look ‘E.T.’ use ‘intermediate’ shades (orange, violet, cyan..) rather than ‘pure’ ones,
°a peculiar ‘pattern’ of decoration: Maya, Cuneiform and Chinese alphabets, Celto-scythian, Pueblo, Dogon.. traditional decorations are possible sources of inspiration.
HUMANS ON MARS:
WHY?
Scientific curiosity would justify at most the equivalent of the NASA exprdition to the Moon, so you need a strong incentive to have a permanent Earthling presence on Mars.
A possible motivation –which I emphatically do NOT want to deal with, for me– would of course be Religion. For Christian (and Musilm) religious authorities the question would be: «Do Martians have a soul –then they are in dire need of conversion, for their Eternal Life & the Greatest Glory of God– or are they Satan-bred parodies of Humankind, to be exterminated?».
Anyway this would intervene mainly at the ‘political’ level of a wargame campaign, and I guess the motivation would be less ‘burning’ (and /or the Pope & Reformed Bishops less influential) in the mid-18th C. than by Renaissance times.
No, Humans would be on Mars only to make profit.
What can they find here?
-Exotic pelts, furs and flowers, beautiful artifacts and works of art would only be priceless ‘curiosities’ for the Kings and Overwealthy. Certainly NOT, given the distance and the cost, one could have the equivalent of the fur trade in Northern America, precious wood trade from Brazil or the sugar cane extensive cultivation in the Caribbean.
-I do NOT want Martian technologies to be usable on Earth, so no ‘Martian aluminium’ that, by some pseudo-scientific miracle, would be as easy to work as copper.
- Gold? Given the distance and cost, profit would be marginal at best –if you bring back too much, the price fall, anyway.
Which lefts:
- Gems –of marvelous types unknown on Earth, phosphorescent, changing color progressively when illuminated, with inner ‘mobile clouds’, ‘micro-thunderbolts’, ‘kaleidodoscopic changing parts’….
- Spices in the widest sense. Spices, medicines and drugs, extracted from some animal glands as well as from plants. For cooking, apothecaries, perfumery and cosmetics and also as narcotics. If they can be processed locally to concentrated quintessence or cristallized end-product, they would pay large, even transported to Earth.
WHO?
Only the richest countries with a motivation born from custom could endeavour such adventure.
Powerful non-European cultures (Turkey, China) would lack the know-how, and probably the incentive.
The German States (Austria, Prussia) and Russia have no colonial tradition.
Portugal and the Netherlands have the tradition, but would lack the means.
Given the scale of the enterprise, association is recommanded, and I see only two ‘Powers’ present on Mars :
- Great-Britain, more or less openly supported by the Netherlands (at least with Dutch investements, possibly a treaty of military assistance: given the climate –and risks– Sepoys from India and ‘our’ Indonesia, respectively, would provide the bulk of the –few– troops sent to Mars).
- France, at the head of a ‘Bourbon’ joint venture, with Spanish and Napolitean support (and, for reasons of religious alignement, a very strong but discreet support from the Vatican -expect Jesuits, if not the Spanish Inquisition).
HOW?
- Status: Two Private ‘Companies’, following the model of the West and East Indies, but under a tigher control of the States, who would be the major investors anyway. Specially, the Companies would be denied any military abilty, they would have to rent (at a very high price!) troops from the States, who would control even the locally recruited Sepoys.
Aether travel would be under the strict control of the Navies –probably all aether ships would be military-owned ones, given the secrets to be preserved. On the French side, following the colonial tradition, troops and administration on Mars would be under the control of the Ministère de la Marine.
- Location: One major ‘legation’ in the capital city of the most friendly Martian Empire / Kingdom; a few factories / trading posts scattered on most of the planet, wherever gems and spices can be obtained from the local. Air travel for fast liaisons, water travel for bulk products and ‘ordinary people’.
Settlements / colonies? Unlikely; then, if you wish to ‘game’ the equivalent of the FIW (on a very limited scale, but with the occasional airboat thrown in), each of the two ‘Powers’ may have began a limited and scattered colonization in that single area with the most favorable (less unfavorable) climate for Europeans: a good, if at first expensive, way to get rid of convicts, prostitutes, beggars… Probably NOT in the country where the main legation is set (too ‘civilized’ to allow foreign settlers)?
MARS:
The main 'Legation' of each 'Company' harbors its 'spaceport', and a small yard to built dirigibles according to a combination of Martian technology and Human designs.
Even if 'Light Wood' is more efficient, and Aether wind usable, on Mars -allowing the use of dirigibles in its atmosphere- the safe protocol is always to end the interplanetary travel on a water surface and process as a ship. Thus, 'Legations' are on the shore of a major canal or lake.
Waterways having been the major way of communication of 'advanced' Martians cultures for millenia, major Martian cities are situated on shores, anyway -thus, being close to an Imperial capital, 'Legations' from Earth would have been located close to a shore in any case .
HUMANS ON MARS: HOW MANY?
A tricky question, the answer being dependant on your wargaming intents and how 'realist / reasonable' you want to stay.
- Barely more than a thousand overall if you want to play the War of King Georges on a reduced scale and thus suppose an emerging (forced) settlement.
- A few dozen at most otherwise, quite enough, given the cost and distance, to have a diplomatic mission and manage the 'Main Legation' and the few outposts of each Company.
Thus on the wargame table 'Human' minis would appear in numbers only in a skirmish game. In a 'large battle' a single Human model would represent the 'Great Man / Advisor', his staff and escort. Or, at most, you can field an unit of Martian sepoys with a weak Human cadre.
Uniforms-wise, the French would have raised a special 'Compagnie Franche de la Marine' with perhaps a minute peculiarity of dress -a small standing collar, very dark indigo as they went through 'deep space'?. Spain had recruited 'Moors' for centuries in its possession on the atlantic coast of Maghreb: a few could have been sent as 'accustomed' to a similar climate?
On the British side an 'Independant Company'would have only a cadre of European (British and a few Dutch) officers and senior sergeants, most of the troops being Sepoys from British India and Dutch 'Indonesia'.
No horse -transport would be prohibitive, and Martians already have mounts perfectly adapted to the environment and food. More generally, even if settlement is tried, the only animals brought from Earth would be a few couples of birds -specially enthralling by their song or plumage, as prestigious gifts to specially cajoled rulers.
THE USE OF AETHER WIND
In Space
To allow directional control, one has to suppose that the aether wind 'push' varies according to the curvature and 'polarity' of the 'sail'. Thus a concave sail with a given polarity will be 'pushed' and a convex one with the opposite polarity will be 'pulled back'. By playing on the differential states between the two 'wings' the aethership can move at any angle in relation to the direction of the aether wind (¿!?)....
In the Martian atmosphere
In order to have dirigibles on Mars but NOT on Earth, one has to suppose that -given the distance from the sun- on Mars 'Light Wood' is more efficient and the energy of the aether wind can somehow be used in the propulsion of the airboats. Then to keep the Martians 'Cloudships' at a rather low technological level -in par with Human science by the mid-18th C. rather than with Victorian SF technology- one has to suppose that the energy of the power wind cannot be used to *initiate* a movement of cog wheels and rods -only to *increase* the power of such movement. Thus the energy of the 'oarsmen' is multiplied perhaps ten times (lustifying a small team of rowers), but without the rowers to initiate the propelling the aether wind is useless (¿!?)....
Note that, while the Martian peculiarities allow an aether spaceship a more controlled, smoother and safer landing than on Earth, even on Mars such (re)entering spaceship can in no way be treated as a dirigible: no more than one of our space shuttles, despite looking vaguely like an aircraft and using basically the same technologies, could be treated as an atmospheric fighter.
MARS, COSMOS 1745 AND LACEPUNK: a few additional comments
« Strange-looking » Martians: a painting trick
Dissymmetry: Humans strongly favor *symmetry* in their clothes –cut as well as decoration. Not a peculiarity of a given culture, the phenomenon is universal, with deep roots in evolutionary biology.
Thus, bother to paint Martian clothes with strongly dissymmetric decorative patterns. The result has not to be blatant, but would convey, at almost a subconscious level, a feeling of «strangeness».
GENERAL GUIDELINES
This ‘Cosmos 1745’ background is just a superficial, preliminary rough sketch, with suggestions about a few detail thrown in here and there. A very ‘light’ result, given that I periodically toy with this setting since I discovered ‘Cosmos 1889’ and ‘Sky Galleons of Mars’ when they were first published, decades ago!
I ‘built’ this background according to two main guidelines:
-Keep warfare on Earth unchanged
I wish to keep ‘normal’ Lace Wars-gaming *unadulterated*, as I discovered it in ‘The Wargame’. Because of my evolutionay biology background, I tend to endvisage not only the present state but its likely evolution, so I wish to unsure that warfare (everyday life, more generally) stays ‘historical’ / ‘in character’, not only at the given instant of a campaign, but ‘frozen’ for at least decades. Thus I went rather far, using the most far-fetched / unlikely ‘narrative tricks’, to unsure that, not only is the ‘Sci-Fi’ element strictly restricted to Mars, but is there, and here on Earth, in a kind of ‘technological dead end’. No further technological progess is to be expected in the direction open centuries ago on Mars with the discovery of airlift; neither is it any hope to transfer it to Earth. I took ‘narrative precautions’ to insure that the technologies allowing interplanetary travel can have no application at all ‘in atmosphere’.
As for the ‘Human’ scientific / engineering breakthroughts, if sometimes a few years in advance with regards to ‘our’ time line, they are *not* to be of practical use sooner than historically. Thus, no more (working) steam-powered trains, artillery haulers, tanks or warships, no more (working) war balloons for decades in ‘our’ alternative mid-18th C. (whole 18th C., actually) than in the ‘historical’ one. In a Lacepunk setting, Steampunk (and historical Victorian) technologies, specially weapons and engines of war, can exist only as futuristic drawings or, at best inefficient prototypes.
-Keep the Sci-Fi element ‘in character’ with the Lace Wars
The aim is emphatically to avoid ending with merely playing ‘Steampunk in Tricorns’, even on Mars. The background has to be kept ‘in character’ with our beloved mid-18th C., there as well as on Earth. Not only are we not to play (historical or Sci-Fi) Victoriana on Earth (the Crimean, AC or FP Wars ‘in tricorns’), but on Mars (historical or steampunk) Victorian-type colonization and colonial wars are to be avoided. This requires that the civilisation as a whole, the culture, the scientific and technological levels are kept strictly at our mid-18th C. stage, or at a ‘compatible’ level on Mars.
The Space 1889 Martian ‘Cloudships’ are, in their own way, consistant with steampunk armored dirigibles and steamtanks.
Thus, even on Mars, no (efficient) breech-loading rifles or howitzers, no (efficient) machineguns, no steam power, no trains, no gaslight, no electricity and thus no telegraph.
To fully remain in mid-18th C. character, basically on Mars you play the British-French competion in India during the first half of that century, or the FIW in Canada. With ‘oddly dressed’ Natives, and with very ‘exotic’ fauna and flora in the background. Then of course, not to merely play *that* but in an original setting, you have to throw in a few Sci-Fi elements. I’d restrict them to rare, clumsy and not very reliable dirigibles.
Too bad the RAFM Martians are so uninspirational, and the Blach Hat ones 18mm, they would have provided a needed additional diversity (provided they could be mounted on Parroom PLORSES, which beat the riding beasts of the competition by head, shoulders and even waist). With two Human Powers competing here you have use for at least two neartly different types of Sepoys / Askaris. Indeed, given the diversity of climates and ethnicities at the scale of a whole planet, both the (Reformed) British-Dutch ‘Channel League’ and the (Roman Catholic) Franco-Napolitanean-Spanish ‘Bourbon Alliance’ would have use for more than a single type of ‘Native Auxilliary’. Bronze Age minis look very good, but suitable only for ‘Natives’.
MUNCHAUSENIAN WAR ENGINES
On the TMP 18th C. Discussion Board, ‘The Gray Ghost’ (who else?) started a thread about «Steam Tanks and War Wagons»: "I'm trying to think of ways to include steam tanks (Warhammer) and Hussite war- and gun-wagons into my game, while still playing a 18th Century style game. "
He then made clear that:
-the main cannon would still be a muzzle loader,
-thus ‘the tank having to return to a safe place in order to have it's muzzle loader reloaded’,
-the ‘tank’ type contraption "would be best employed to clear heavily defended places, like a wagon laager, for the attacking infantry."
The whole thread is rich and inspirational, and deserves to be read.
‘Grelber’ underlined the technical limitations of the age, and thus, firstly, the cost and time required to built such ‘advanced’ devices, secondly their relative inefficiency: "You wouldn't have the power to crush through saplings or up steep slopes, so they would have been limited to roads or level ground, unable to climb stream banks or break down stone walls, particularly if they were wheeled and not tracked (another invention, there) {tracks: far too much ‘advanced', for my taste –JL}. You'd want some infantry specially trained to operate with them, who would--for example--rush forward and tear down the stone wall separating fields while the conveyance provided covering fire. An opportunity to design uniforms, if such things appeal to you. {Warmly supported –JL}
‘Fun to speculate about! " {Again, warmly supported –JL}
A rewritted (for clearity sake) synthesis of my posts:
The Da Vinci drawing –a monstruous circular contraption, with seemingly only a few heavy handguns / falconets in a fixed turrret– don’t look very promising, nor ‘in character’ for the Lace Wars.
Starting with the GW Steamtank (the old, turretless model: the current one is both ‘incredible’ and off character), if restricted to a muzzle loader, we indeed face the problem of reloading behind cover. But, if mounting a *light* caronade (not *that* 'futuristic even by WAS times) inside a long vehicle, the recoil would push it back enough inside to be reloaded under cover? (mobile mantlet,like on a warship's porthole, at the front of the vehicle): a 'Sturmgeschütz' / 'Sturmpanzer', actually.
Would work well only with steampower – the engine being at the rear of the vehicle. You can ever have the coal in a 2-wheels tender in tow.
With horses (or oxen?), unless you manage to have them pushing the armored wagon, they would block the line of fire, I'm afraid?
The "Troika Kampfwagen" ( = http://tinyurl.com/2uf5es ) has horses in front under 'armor', but is only armed with a flamethrower (out of character, I guess –and I hate to think about the reaction of the horses to the roaring flames above them!): a cannon high enough to shoot over them would make the contraption too top heavy. Now, with a light howitzer in a casemate of sorts…? Short enough barrel for easy muzzle reloading; did not the Russians designed a ‘secret’ howitzer specially for cannister shooting?
An animal-pulled contraption cannot be very large –the upper limit being far lower that can be endvisaged for a steam-powered; so much the more if ‘pushed’ to keep the animals behind cover, and remain controllable in direction.
Rules-wise, I doubt the contraptions would be able to shoot on the move ('modern' tanks were in practice 'move OR fire’ systems for decades), [Anyway, given the spatial restrictions around the gun, would probably be allowed to fire only on alternate periods, even if motionless] so they would better work by pairs shooting in alternance.
Now, if the main gun can be reloaded from the inside, not only the vehicle would not have to fall back to cover for the reload, but it would keep moving forward during the reloading 'move / 'period'. Shooting only in alternate periods would fit with the difficulty of reloading in the cramped space of the 'hull'.
Usefulness? Mainly as *direct support for infantry* attacking in 'difficult' conditions (just like early WWI tanks such as the British MarkI - IV); e.g. Frederick II lamented about the bloody cost of attacking densely cultivated areas (low walls everywhere) and villages.
WWI tanks were also supposed to open passages across the barbwire for the infantry: it would make sense that the less advanced ones of Lace Wars time would, on the opposite, as Grelber wrote, need pioneers to open them passage through low walls and hedges. Pioneers following on foot or carried in Hussite-like wagons ‘APC’?
A caronade muzzle-reloaded inside the vehicle would require length but little width. If the contraption can be large enough (allowed by steam power) it can keep a reasonable width / length ratio, allowing a rank of infantrymen on either side, shooting through loopholes for 'point defense' / all around (well, almost) shooting e.g. in street fighting.
Hussite war wagons were mainly intended as *anti-cavalry systems*, forming laagers where and when required (mobile blockhouses / mobile infantry squares behind cover). Artillery wagons (either animal- or steam-powered) with an *axial* gun, as endvisaged here, would not be very suited for that use, but what about the Late Renaissance 'organs' specially devised to built 'on the spot' anti-cavalry barriers? *Not* ribauldequins, as 'organ' earlier implied, but 4 – 6 superheavy muskets ('amusettes’ in 18th C. parlance) individually swivel-mounted along an element of palisades carried on 4 wheels. Some even had a raisable mantlet for protection, and chevaux de frise could be transported.
Actually one has to endvisage two distinct categories of Munchausenian Lace Wars contraptions, corresponding to 2 clearly different types of mission:
-direct support of *infantry* attaching heavily defended place {laagers, villages, cultivated areas criss-crossed with low walls..): basically heavy, ponderous vehicles, steamtanks or their horse-pushed (?) equivalents. Exactly the initial role of the earliest WWI tanks, as a gimmick to break the stalemate of trench warfare. Thus, a steamtank (probably larger than the GW model), playing the part of the heavy French 'Schneider' and 'Saint-Chamond' or German 'A7V'.
Horse-powered types cannot reach the weight (& protection) of steam-powered ones, so would correspond to the Renault F17 and the Whippet tankette -light, more mobile (?) but 'infantry tanks' nonetheless. Specialized 'infantry tanks' were still part of the official doctrine of some (rather retarded, armored warfare-wise) major armies in 1939, such as the French and British (?) ones.
'Panzergrenadiere /Sturmpionere' could escort them in 'APC' (Hussite war wagon type; would probably be too expensive to have them steampowered).
-direct support of *cavalry* (more or less the initial role of armored cars; in France 'fast' tanks of the mechanized cavalry were still officially 'automitrailleuses' in 1940).
Either >-a light coach (2 axles) as in Sadler's 1798 design of 'Flying Artillery': a coach armed with twin-linked (shortened) swivel guns mounted on a pylon in the center of the vehicle. (Arc of fire limited by the head of the driver: indeed with a steam engine at the rear of the vehicle and the driver, no longer needing to see over the horses, sited lower, arc of fire would be 360°… BUT a steam-powered coach would be too cumbersome and slow to support cavalry).
Or >-an adaptation of ancient chariots (1 axle) as suggested by Da Vinci, BUT which I suggest to combine / merge with Eureka 'Triumphapedes' to have some fire support capacity (the man in front driving instead of pedaling):
°the light ‘Rattler' into a 2-horses one that can received Da Vinci's ‘man mincer',
°the heavier ‘Thunderer' into a scythed 4-horses chariot, Persian-fashion.
(illo)
The combination of fire support (Puckle's machinegun or cannister-shooting ‘amusette', respecticely) with ‘infantry mower' would prevent infantry from forming squares –almost impregnable to cavalry, but overdense targets. Well, at least that's the theory…
Historical but almost equally ‘Munchausenian’ on a Western European battlefield: zamberek camels and jingalelephants …. Speaking of them, I commented to a post
by ‘The Gray Ghost’ (Again! A kindred mind, indeed –not blogging yet, alas!): "Spikes that could be dropped onto infantry": I agree, cheap and efficient, but without panache / glamour. But you could fasten whistles and long, brightly colored ribbons to them, in order to reach a minimal degree of (quasi-Chinese) elegance?
Then, what about hand grenades? Not the common, merely explosive type: rough, brutish, common, trivial – inelegant again. But grenades lauching fireworks, for instance: they would provide a pleasant spectacle, a welcome relief for all those poor souls in bloodbath -almost bring a litle poetry to the battlefield.
And they would play hell, not only with horses, but with zamberek camels, jingal elephants and any other exotic weapon systems with which some fancy Sovereigns may wish to spice Western European warfare, somewhat insipid despite tasty Hussars and Pandours brilliance.
Now, Medieval Chineses had a peculiar 'nauseous gas stunning grenade' -basically filled with a mixture of sulphur-enriched black powder and dried feces. Most soldiers –simple, uncultivated minds, to tell the truth- would enjoy its humorous nature.
Started a thread "Anyone Ever Tried Lace Wars Sci-Fi?" on the TMP, in the hope to elicit a few interesting and inspirational responses.
Relevant threads on the TMP
(probably not exhaustive)
- Anyone Ever Tried Lace Wars Sci-Fi?
- Steam Tanks and War Wagons
- 18th C Science Fiction Book
- Horror in the time of The F&I War
- Lace Wars Sci-Fi?
- Anyone Ever Tried 18th Century Air Balloon Wars?
- The, very fictious, Seige of Vechta
- 18th Century Sci Fi
- 18th Century VSF?
- Fictional/Fantasy Horse and Musket
- Fictitious armies with historical equipment?
-> On the GASLIGHTrules Yahoo group, Jeff ‘bogdanwaz’ W. posted an almost Lacepunk battle report in the Files: ‘GASLIGHT in the Age of Reason’ and a series of fascinating photos in the ‘Age of Reason’ photo album. Both deserve to be perused and enjoyed. Hopefully their author did use his models of skyships and steamwagons in other games since, and now has a *lot* more to share – even a blog, maybe?
Does anybody have news of this project?
OF MARTIANS, DEMONS, VAMPIRES AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
MARTIANS ARE SO HUMAN-LIKE...
that it may raise a theological problem. Recently on theTMP VSF board an interesting thread about the Victorian attitude toward Martians, from the religious pov.
The conclusion was that a Vallaloid-like controversy would conclude about their souls - or lack of. If 'souled', they have to be converted (forcefully if required, for their own good); if soul-less they are blasphematory Satan-bred parodies of humankind and must be exterminated to the very last. Glad this aspect is ignored in most games!
More generally Aliens in comics and on the screen are as a rule too human-like to be biologically credible (we cannot know what E.T. could look like, but we KNOW what they certainly NOT look like: humans - a simple matter of infinetely close to zero probability of convergent enough evolution). It's largely a matter of cheapness -Star Trek make-ups are less expensive than the digital effects required for more credible Independance Day / War of the Worlds extra-terrestials. But if it reflects an -almost subconscious- creationist idea that all sentient creatures, being God's creature, are built on His likeness, then Orcs, Daemonettes and whatever are humanoid enough to be built on God's likeness: amazing, and loaded of intesting philosophical and theological consequences.....
For me, I guess that some Elohim carried proto-humananoids to Mars (on Earth we have the full paleontological sequence) a handful of millions years ago.
AND HUMANOID ARE DEMONS
Indeed, but oddly, Fantasy creatures evade the difficulty of 'infinitely unlikely convergent evolution in the same universe' - since they come from 'another world): suffice to suppose that Universes *multiply*, and that 'their' universe and ours diverged only a few millions years ago: their humanoid structure no longer raises any difficulty. The main difference is that they evolved 'paranormal' / 'parapsychologic' / 'psionic' capacities (magical at our eyes) - and thus are technologically retarded. This would explains why steel is often said to be lethal to Elves. They progressed no further than the Bronze Age level (with magic you don't need advanced technology), devised 'psionic' healings to bronze-caused wounds, and were totally disarmed when they first encountered human steel....
An alternative (or maybe complementary) hypothesis would be that 'demons' are not humanoid at all, but that we *see* them as such. Perhaps partly by suggestion / mesmerism, but chiefly because it's how our brain 'understands' the images sent from the retina. There is no homunculus in our brain watching the images on our retina like a movie on a screen. The (digitalized) neural signals undergo a complex process of reconstruction and interpretation by comparison with memorized references: somehow we see what we already know.
Possible test: when in wolf form, do werewolves see demons as peculiar canines? As the rule when back to human form all memories from the wolf are suppressed -a matter of sanity survival, as with Jekyll / Hyde- but could be retrieved under hypnosis.... The Monte-Cristan Academy of Sciences will try it as soon as we can put together a werewolf and a demon.
VAMPIRES AND ETHICS...
I enjoy to 'rationalize' fantasy, translating them in Science-fiction terms: thus I see vampirism is a contagious disease (the Matheson Model) which alienates the psychology of the contamined person. In order to survive he (/she: let's be PC!) has to drink the blood of other humans, *bearable* only if his / her set of values are deeply modified (parasites often change the behavior of their host, in order to insure their own perpetuation; with sentient humans, it has to be done more subtly, by changing the moral references of the host). That alienation of the morals is how I translate, in 'materialist' terms, the (heavily loaded with religious undertones) so-called 'loss of their soul' by the vampires (e.g. in 'Buffy').
But of course their heart *beats* and their skin is as warm as our: otherwise they would have to be etheral bodies, not material ones.... These details come from the initial form of the mythos: in the original Transsylvanian legends, as recorded in the 18th C. by Austrian investigators, were quite different from the depiction of Dracula: the 'vampire' corporally stays in his grave, but somehow leaves in an immaterial form (long before the Spiritists coined the 'astral' travel) to invade the *dreams* of a living person -i.e. someone starts dreaming of the lamented departed. Then the person dreaming of the deceased 'vampire' has a part of his / her blood 'beamed', Star Trek fashion, to the corpse in the grave, allowing its survival. Indeed in some (physico-chemical) circumstances not only the corpse does not decay, but the blood does not coagulate, and 'fresh blood' spouts out if the corpse is wounded: but of course the geart does not beat and the corpse is cold.
For other so-called characteristics -burned by holy water, repelled by the cross- it could be a mere matter of conditionnal (partly psychosomatic) response, reflecting the educational background before the 'vampirisation'. Test: if purely cultural, then Musilm, Jew or Buddhist vampires would not be burned by holy water nor repelled by the cross?
As for garlic... it main protective validated effect is against Enterobius vermicularis, the mini-worm that causes anal itches, and you have to eat it first, so it would probably protect you against sodomite vampires...
Are vampire 'evil'? The traditional answer is that vampires are 'evil' since they gain immortality in disgusting selfish ways.
But, can vampires be *objectively evil*? Subjectively, of course for us they are -as wolves may be 'evil' to sheeps; but objectively (and leaving aside the fact that predators are *good* for their preys as a population, eliminating sicks, weaklings with inadequate genome &c...)?
(Zombies escape this very question, being non-sentient: objectively a being without conscience is neither good nor evil, it *IS* - like a storm, a tsunami... And since they are even less conscient / sensitive than a spider, you can mass-slaughter them without remorse.)
But vampires? Being sentient, they are accessible to moral judgement. Then... even if they have with us a predator - prey relationship, if I manage to forget a moment that I belong to the prey species (easy, here at my keyboard, knowing vampires do not exist), are they objectively evil? Can we judge the spider more evil than the fly?
As a biologist I know that new species emerge and eliminate older ones. Thus the question is: are vampires an incipient species? Firstly, *what* are they exactly? If you rationalize 'vampirism' as a microbial disease transmitted by bitting, is the human part of the vampire a poor parazited host, or is the whole new entity a *symbiosis*? The human part gains (near-) immortality. (at the cost of an extreme sensitivity to actinic light)... And a symbiosis can give birth to perfectly 'respectable' living beings - our very cells result from the symbiosis of 3 different types of bacteria, some 600 millions years ago...
Thus the question is now: are vampires a viable new species? The single criterion I see is: can vampire breed true? If they are sterile, then only the microbial entity survives, evolves and is a biological species - one i'd have no scrupule to eradicate, as the pox virus &c.. The human is lost, cannot be rescued / recovered, thus you can gain good conscience by seeing his death, not as a sad collateral damage, but as a merciful act of euthanasia.
Now, if vampires can somehow breed true, [even if the 'vampirism' has to be transmitted 'additionally'? The case becomes arguable]... then, ethically, if one tries to be totally unbiased, as looking to the struggle between two colonies of ants...
Thus, the question contracts to: from an evolutionary point of view, are they a *different* species, naturally struggling for its survival, or 'merely' corrupted humans? In this last case they are *evil* -or, if one tries to keep away from ethical judgements, *mortally dangerous*- but no more, no less than other degenerated humans (White Zombie's "The devil's rejects", e.g., ).
But, if no-more-humans, if a an incipient new type of biological entity they are not, from un unbiased pov, evil.
Furthermore, and in any case, if somehow humankind and vampirekind can reach a balanced equilibrium, if vampires can live on animal blood as we live on animal flesh -or on synthetic one- then a vampire without anti-human 'racist' prejudices are not evil at all, even from our prejudicied standards....
So they are more and more in TV series, and I prefer these modern vampires -humans with a heavy secret (a parabol of concealed homosexuality?).
(Image / perception of ) Vampires correlated with (those of) Homosexuality?
If you see the vampire (a fully sentient human with a very 'transgessive' behavior) as an image of any human with a cruel, shameful secret (shameful with regard to any other, and in some case to himself), a human potentially perceived by every 'normal' one as some horrendeous monster with totally repulsive anti-natural tastes and practices... then the current appearance in the media of 'agreable' vampires may be (unconsciously) correlated with the (official, superficial, but PC) acceptance in the same medias of homosexuality?
{Guys being what they are, female vampire have *always* be lesbians}
Perhaps not always unconsciously: in 'Buffy', Willow (that new type of character, the "exceptionally gifted in informatics, often homosexual, Jew sidekick" that seems to compete with the classical "Black sidekick" in American TV series: satisfies *two* communities / minorities at once, 3 if a woman) has her homosexual inclination announced implicitely by her 'vampiro-demonic' twin from 'Another World' long before she -and us- discover it.
Btw, did you notice that everywhen a female character has an 'evil' twin - Willow in 'Buffy', T'Pol and the Asian girl in 'ST Enterprise'- the 'evil' version is *always* more pretty, cute, feminine, sexy? Reflects the Abrahamanic idea that the Female is basically *Evil*, the agent of Satan, the 'Temptatrix' that damned Humankind... Thus, everywhen a girl or women turns 'evil', the transformation is visually translated by showing here more *feminine*, with more (sex) appeal...
Rather saddening POV, for me...
Conclusion: by Lace Wars times homosexuality, while as frequent as to-day, was *horrendeous* - except in tolerant Monte-Cristo, of course. Thus, the only place by then where you had a chance to meet a 'good' vampire is MONTE-CRISTO - that very exceptional tiny country where girls and women are sexy without being evil...
BIOLOGICALLY-BASED MUNCHAUSENIAN WEAPON SYSTEMS
Even some very ‘historically-minded’ Lace-Wargamers toy occasionally with ‘Lacepunk-like’ ideas: so is Der Alte Fritz with balloons. Ioannis for him fantasized about «A personal gift of the Sultan to Fritz as a token of anti-Austrian friendship: a platoon of Jingal elephants armed with a 3 pder and 2 swivel guns in the howdah, and a troop of Zamberek camels armed with one swivel gun each». Yet, while such types are ‘accurately historical’ for 18th C. India and Persia, to try and field them on a Western European front is pushing the ‘extrapolation’ one step further as they would represent a totally new troop type here, requiring additional rules: thus I prefer to treat them as part of possible Sci-Fi / Lacepunk ingredients (such limitation would be left in some types of oversea colonization campaigns).
What would they look like?
-Basic models: being ‘historical’ in Persia and (chiefly, from the manufacturers p.o.v.) India, the bases for such models are commercially available, e.g. (if not directly from Redoubt, who nonetheless offers another potentially amusing system, the Gun Mounted on a Bullock Cart) from Foundry in their India range, and from an unsufficiently known manufacturer, Bear's Den.
Modelling wise, the 3 pder in the elephant’s howdah is probably too heavy and powerful to be set on a swivel mount: rather have it sliding on a wooden rail, carronade-fashion, the contraption itself on a trestle mounting allowing some arc of fire.
-Uniforms: how much ‘Turkeries’ may have been fashionable then, I doubt Frederic II would have given his Prussians themselves ‘exotic’ costumes. One may refer to some historical precedents: on Alexander’s (& Successors) elephants the mahout was (dressed as) an Indian, while the soldiers carried were typical Macedonians; Bonaparte in Egypt had local camelmen in their native clothes attached to his camel-riders in European uniform. Thus, the Jingal elephant could have a crew of 1 mahout in ‘Indian’ costume and 4 (2 for the 3 pders, 1 for each swivel gun) Prussian artillerymen in their normal uniform (well, maybe in Hesse-Seewaldian uniform to underline their ‘unconventional’ nature). Similarly the Zemberek camel would be led by 1 ‘Arabo-Turko-Persian’ camelman on foot and would carry 1 ‘European’ artilleryman proudly riding the beast. If you add the ‘self-propelled’ gun on a bullock cart, the crew would be the same as for the elephant: 1 ‘Indian’ driver and 4 ‘European’ crewmen (either the gun is heavier, or a very light gun is complemented by 2 swivel ones or 2 jezzails?).
How much of the very decorative elephant caparison Frederic II would have kept is questionable, though the ‘exotic’ look was fashionable; anyway it would be suitable to have its main color assorted to that of the Prussian artillery carriages. Similarly the ‘non-European’ costumes would be assorted to the artillerymen’s uniform: black turban with white / silver stripes, dark blue uppergarnment, a touch of red, buff baggy trousers…
Rules?
- The Zamberek camel is the easier to deal with: the camel kneeled down (providing a kind of shield) and the gun was shot ± perpendicular to it; clearly a ‘move or fire’ weapon system. With its driver afoot, the camel would move as infantry in column.
- As for the Jingal elephant, it can well be a ‘move and fire’ weapon system; if your rules already allow a generous arc of fire (e.g. ± 45° / perpendicular to the front of the model) the 3 pders would not receive an increased one, while the 2 swivel guns would have a 180° arc of fire each.
Many H&M rule sets (e.g. the WRG 1685-1835 one) cover Indian elephants, and can be used as a basis for the ‘translation’ to your own rules. Each swivel gun could be treated as ‘1/2 very light gun’ or a ‘rifle’ or (best?), with reference to very light Amusettes / rampart muskets, as a new intermediate type.
- The gun on cart would be treated as the elephant, minus the desordering effect on horses (if any), plus a far slower move and the terrain effects on wheeled vehicles.
OF MARTIANS AND OCKAM’S RAZOR
William of Ockam was a monk-cum-philosopher burned at the stake for ‘Heresy’ in the mid-14th C., best remembered for his Principle of Logical Parsimony: «Among competing theories / models / historical scenarios, one has to choose, by default, that requiring the less ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses. » . A principle, indeed, with disturbing effects as soon as applied critically to *any* theology / mythology.
Then, what is an ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis? An unjustified, unwarranted, groundless –useless, basically, not being required by the available data- hypothesis allowing to keep a theory / model / scenario viable once the facts have refuted / falsified it. With enough ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses one can make a flat or hollow Earth compatible with available astronomical observations!
It may be surprising that ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses are merely counted: surely some are ‘larger’ / ‘more far-fetched’ than others? Actually such ‘huge’ ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses are like the peak of the iceberg, they imply a far larger unseen substratum – here of other, additional, ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses. Thus, once unveiled, counting them is sufficient.
An example: when carbon isotopic analyses dated the Turin Shroud from the Middle-Ages, a Jesuit (that Papal Branch of Service dealing with Middle-East archeology and all Sciences) put forward a typical ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis: the existence of (as yet unknown) subatomic particles, released when the ‘Holy Spirit’ leaved Jesus’ body, and able to change just in the right ratio the isotopic balance of neighboring carbon…. In addition to the introduction of this ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis, a fundamental logical fault is obvious: the reasoning supposed already established what precisely is to be demonstrated, i.e. the authenticity of the Shroud. Typical petitio principii / circular reasoning. As for the ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis itself, it’s a *huge* one, having other such implied: firstly the very existence of this ‘Holy Spirit’ (itself a *huge* one, implying that an Intelligence –a flow of ‘working’ information– can exist without material support {cybernetic viruses permanently have one} and somehow retrieve energy from the material world, &c…: ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses imbricated in other ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses, as so many Russian Dolls).
But where are the MARTIANS? To explain their (biologically incredible) likeness to us Humans, we have to introduce a typical 'ad hoc 'hypothesis: that Someone seeded Mars with a founding population from Earth. The direction of the transfer comes from the fact that on Earth we have the whole paleontological sequence, while Martians are less kindred to the local fauna (about which more anon) than to Humans.
I don’t wish to deal with the nature of that Someone: maybe the Elohim, but they pose a biological problem themselves, since they are said to have bred true with human women, giving birth to the Nephilim. Which implies either that they were also members of the Homo sapiens species (rising the question of their own origin) OR were E.T. extremely advanced in Applied Biology and with an irrepressible taste for what was, for them, zoophily…
Can we date the (hypothetized) transfer? Martians are so similar to Humans (look at the female minis…) that it cannot be very old, at evolutionary scale. If Martians can breed true with Humans (unlikely, given the large morphological differences), since the current view is that Neanderthals could not breed true with Cro-Magnons (our direct ancestors), then the transfer cannot be older than the common ancestor of both Terran species (150.000 years ago at most?).
If, more probably, Humans and Martians are biologically separated, yet the divergence cannot be *very* old on the paleontological scale. Upright, bipedal stance in no way implies the existence of only two breasts, thus the common ancestor cannot be a primitive Mammal (because undoubtly Mammals they are…), but a Monkey, probably an Anthropoid, already with this feature; what is more, Chimps are less similar to Humans (divergence some 5 My ago) than the Martians, so at *most* the separation took place some 4 My years (but not much less, given the large anatomo-morphological differences between Them and Us?).
Then, to explain these anatomo-morphological differences (those external ears fitted for the amphibious Creature of the Black Lagoon, those very odd feets…) requires additional ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses.
All in all I’d prefer the Martians to be far more humanoid, just like Elves e.g.: it would be so much more parcimonous! Just a single transfer during our Prehistory…
Can Martians be egg-layers, Barsoomian-fashion? Unlikely: the divergence between egg-laying Protherians and placental Eutherians (us) is far *too old*, leaving too much time for strict ‘parallel evolution’ keeping up to now such high degree of similarity. Besides, since we are ‘building’ our Mars, an egg-laying apparatus would be very inhospitable for the exiled Humans (not to speak of the embarrassing fact that Protherians, just like Marsupials / Metatherians, require a *double* penis….).
How old is the Martian civilisation? To have it notably older than ours –to endvisage a very advanced ‘Sci-Fi’ culture on Mars millions years ago- is blatantly anti-parsimonous, requiring additional ‘ad hoc’ hypotheses, such as a strong initial impetus / helping hand from the ‘transferers’, as some suggest in the case of their ‘advanced’ Atlants.
What about the martian fauna?
For most of the large animals, also originating from Earth, the hypothesis is unavoidable. Not only martian animals ‘look’ like Vertebrates from Earth, but they share with them that totally unique character (synapomorphy): the vertabrate jaw. It would be parsimonous to hypothesize a single transfer, humanoids and all the remainder of the fauna together, but it’s, unfortunately, highly unlikely. Plorses, Bottatarus, Baralanths, Grosks, Gashants, you name them… are far more different from their Terran counterparts than Martians are from Humans, thus the divergence has to be far, far older.
What about those various Hexapodials and all the (Barsoomian : no longer in production as minis, it seems and other) Octopodials Vertebrates? If we allow them, we imply an additional ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis: that whoever did the ‘transfer’ was / were genius in Biology, able to toy with the Vertebrate ‘bauplan’ and embryological development programming in order to duplicate a pair of Tetrapod limbs into something functional (and yes, btw, Green Martians, Angels and Centaurs –and some dragons– are Hexapodials ).
Dinosaurs on Mars? Sorry, totally unlikely: it would require that on an immense area, perfectly isolated from immigrant ‘more recent’ fauna –and flora– environment in the widest sense, climate… remained absolutly unchanged, in ideal stasis, for more than 65 My. AND the total absence, during all that time, of any coevolutionary stimulus (the elegant and fascinating Red Queen model) from the simple plants, soil microflora, pathogens, parasits… which naturally evolve at a fast rate! ‘Too much!’
Related: Sentient Reptiloids on Mars? Unparcimonious! Would require both a transfer of reptilian ancestors from Earth (that Vertebrate jaw, again) AND their evolution toward intelligence… while other, avian and mammalian, forms were present (as on Earth) to compete with them… And the minis are quite unimaginative, actually.
Sentient Invertebrates on Mars? Why not? In the end, they look different enough from their Terran counterparts to have evolved independantly, to be the true *Natives* of the Red Planet, so avoiding the ‘transfer’ extra ‘ad hoc’ hypothesis (we already have more than enough of such, including non-obvious ones such as several about the identical biochemistry allowing martian plants to be edible – and possibly able to digest us).
Thus sentient Insectoids (the upstanding ‘tetrapodial’ ones are far too humanoid), Arachnoids, Jellyfishoids (well, these last less credible in a terrestrial environment than undersea) are not unlikely.
Nonetheless, for me I’d be extremely reluctant to introduce them in a Lacepunk setting, feeling them totally ‘out of character’ with the Tricorns and Lace Wars (Humanoid sentient Martians (being more ‘in character’ for FIW / Clive in India types of ‘adventures’ -besides, ‘bizarre’ extraterrestrials or antipodials described or pictured during the 17th – 18th C. remained as a rule very humanoid). Anyway, whatever their weapons may look like, keep them at a technological level no higher than that of the most advanced non-European cultures by the historical 18th C….
P.S.: Martian weaponry: for me I should not field Martian warriors armed only for hand-to-hand combat. Not only they would not have a chance, in the open, against troops with muskets, but on a world that has known for a long time both air travel and gunpowder they are simply anachronical, out of character. Even bows are far less likely than trade carbines or imitation muskets. This does not precludes that some types could indulge in fanatical, even suicidal charges: flinching Britishs received such in the North-West frontier, but the howling ‘wild men’ madly charging them were sniping at them less than a minute before. Actually I’d grant the most ‘primitive’ Martians the technological level of Victorian Afghan Hillmen.
ON THE REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGY OF ELVES (/ELDARS) AND OTHER EXTREMELY LONG-LIVED LINEAGES
«lineages»: not only Elves look quite human, but according to the Canon the two ‘types’ can breed true, so belong to the same biological species. I’ll not enter any hairsplitting nomenclatural controversy: subspecies, physiovar, vicariant population…? ‘Elves’ are mutated Humans, period. I’ll argument later that, at least in the female Elf x male Human case, the extreme rarity of half-breeds reflects a cultural prejudice rather than a low fertility rate of the mating.
(Btw, the ‘pointed ears’ are apocryphal and a recent addition –maybe from Disneys’ Peter Pan, who in the novel was NOT a kind of Elf, and had normal ears; then Disney spoiled everything he touched –think of Hiawatha and Merlin…)
The extremely long life expectancy of the Elvish race has fascinating consequences on their population biology and reproductive strategy. Since Elves have a repute of magicians, and thus can be suspected to use ‘paranormal’ means to control their fertility, I’ll base my argumentation on the ‘technological’ Eldars of WH40K (a very enlightening example); yet all the ‘discussion’ can be applied to Elves, and indeed the comparison Elves / (Drows) Dark Elves leads to the very same observation as the final Eldars / Dark Eldars one used at the end of the argumentation.
Any long-lived race faces the problem of overpopulation; Elves are not immaterial spirits, they have to breath, drink and eat as everyone. Indeed we know from the Canon that Elves *eat*, but without any reference to agriculture. If they are hunters-gatherers the ‘overcrowding’ hazard is all the most threatening, such way of life requiring an extremely low population density.
The limiting factor of the reproductive rate is the number of *fertile females* in the population. This number can be controlled at 2 levels (and, to play safe, either with magical means, biological engineering, pharmacology, natural evolution and even social pressure, be sure that you’ll encounter widespread *redundancy*).
-Before birth: control of the sex-ratio (normally = 1, males & females in equal numbers):
. °Positive discrimination of spermatozoids bearing the ‘Y’ sexual chromosome (&/or negative discrimination against those bearing the ‘X’), possibly at (at least) 4 levels :
. =unbalanced meiosis during gametogenesis,
. =differential survival in the testicles,
. =selection by the female secretions during the ‘journey’,
. =differential success in cytogamy (penetration of the ‘male’ nucleus into the cytoplasm of the ovule),
. °Positive discrimination of male embryos (&/or negative discrimination against the female ones):
. =differential success in fixation of the zygote to the uteral epithelium,
. =differential spontaneous abortion (anti-abortion movements carefully ignore that some 2/3 of human embryos abort spontaneously: do they suppose The Great Bearded One, confortably seated on a cloud, to choose the potential good Christians (or good Jews, or good Musilms, or good whatever) He allows to live? Then, between you and me, are only good Christians (or good Jews, or good Musilms, or good whatever) born?).
. For cultural reason (see later) we can exclude any differential survival of male and female babies / children.
-At puberty: reproduction rate is limited by the number of *fertile* (sexually mature) females. Not only do ant and bee queens ‘sterilize’ their workers, but mature female mice delay the puberty of younger ones. Thus, under pheromonal pressure, ‘excess’ young females may have their puberty delayed. This would explain the ‘androgynous’ look of so many Elves / Eldars (at the origin of the politically incorrect, yet constantly worded sayings: ‘All Elves are queers’ / ‘Eldars = fags’): almost half of the ‘male’ Elves / Eldars would actually be females that grew up keeping a prepubere physiology -and thus morphology.
Do available data support the idea of an unbalanced sex-ratio? Here the Eldars are specially informative, since their ‘Guardians’ are not a selected force, but the ‘mass levy’ of all the population in fighting age, regardless of sex. Thus the Guardians are fully representative of the Eldar population as a whole. All ‘canonical’ illustrations (in GW magazines, &c.) show females to be very minoritory among Guardians, thus support the ‘model’ of an extremely unbalanced sex-ratio among Eldars.
Can this hypothesis be tested? According to the very rigorous Popperian approach, one can never demonstrate a theory / model / explicative scenario to be ‘true’; at best one such resists (currently) all attemps of refutation. Thus to be ‘scientific’ a theory (model / explicative scenario) has to logically allow, in a totally unambiguous way, predictions. These predictions are submitted to the test of possible falsification by the data. As long as the (most parsimonious, see previous comment) theory successfully passes all tests trying to refutate its logical correlates (predictions) it is seen as the (currently) best approximation of ‘truth / reality’.
Does the model developped here allow a falsifiable prediction? Yes: if this unbalanced sex-ratio reflects the very long life expectancy of Eldars, it MUST disappear in any Eldar society with a notably shorter life expectancy. The Dark Eldars provide the required source of data: among them life is harsh and rather short. Then females account for a notably higher proportion of adults. The same applies to (Drows) Dark Elves as sampled by GW ranges, and this difference with ‘good’ Elves is so much the more significant as Dark Elves are matriarchal, thus the dominant females are less likely to appear among the ballista-fodder poor bloody infantry…
The extremely low fertility of Elves has unescapable sociological and cultural consequences
Children being extremely rare are extremely precious
Thus:
-to give birth to a child is not a ‘right’ but a rare *reward*.
And certainly accompanied by ‘eugenic’ controls, additionally.
Then, child-bearing cannot become the monopoly of some ‘upper-class’: any ‘privilegied’ need ‘inferiors’ to do the hard & dirty works; while an ant queen has no scrupules to turn her daughter into slaves, own children are too cherished in the Elvish context to be so treated. Thus, any ‘lower class’ is allowed the same reproductive rate as their ‘betters’.
-it explains the extremely low occurrence of Elf x Human cross-breeding
While Elves are extremely long-lived, an Elf-Human half-breed will have his life expectancy *halved* with reference to his Elvish parent.
Thus for an Elf, it's just like giving birth to a baby suffering 'progeria' –that horrendeous disease which have children ageaing at demential speed and dying -hairles, toothless, crumpled little crones- of old age at the age of 8.
Now, what do you think of a person who, consciensciously, deliberatly, would -to satisfy her selfish passion- condamn her own children to an untimely and horrendeous death because of a genetic deficiency -the human half of their genome?
This, specially, in a society where children are terribly rare and precious?
Note that most examples –specially in the Canon– refer to a female Elf as the mother.
For male Elfs as fathers of half-breeds… We have the (ambiguous) mention of ‘Elohim’ mating with ‘the daughters of Man’ to give birth to the (abnormally long-lived) ‘Nephilim’. Regardless of their relevancy here, those ‘Elohim’ appear as a very (and unrestricted) lewd, lustful lot.
Another example may be provided by the so-called ‘Immortals’ (who have to be beheaded to die) –for me still and only ‘Elves’, neo-appeared by a spontaneous mutation among a ‘normal’ population instead of be born in an homogeneous ‘Elfish’ population. ‘Immortals’ are said to be sterile, but it is not uncommun that in crossings between to (genetically) distant lineages or subspecies the fertilty varies drastically according to the ‘direction’ of the crossing. Note that most ‘Immortals’ are male, btw.
What about the other extremely long-lived races?
Vampires are the most obvious example. Then, there is no consensus about the fertility of vampires, not about the way ‘vampirism’ is transmitted to their children, if any. As to control their population (which has to remain extremely slow, not to be hunted down by Humans), they have a very simple way to avoid overcrowding by newly bitten Humans: to KILL them *definitively* before they turn into additional vampires (see ‘30 days of night’).
ELVES in a Lace Wars / Lacepunk setting?
Possibly. But NOT openly and as a whole Nation, as in Castle Falkenstein.
Humans fear death, dream of eternal youth, so much that ENVY would break their sanity if they learn of a (quasi)‘immortal’ race. Known ‘Elves’ would be either progrom-murdered by a maddened mob, or hunted like game by Powefuls wishing to extract their body fluids in a grape press and drink them.
Thus Elves, if any, just like the possible Vampires and the (equally possible, but short {= ‘normally’}-lived) Werewolves and Wisemen [those heirs of Atlantis, Salomon and the Knights Templars together, with their HQ in Agartha] would live anonymously ‘among us’ as a very, very secret Secret Society of 'Humans'.
TOYING WITH DREAMS OF MINIS (OR MAXI-DREAMING OF TOYS) ABOUT MARTIANS
MARTIANS: what would they look like?
-General appereance: strictly humanoid
°Why?: 2 reasons:
_Theoretical: more parsimonious (see older comment): one has to ‘explain’ *only* (!) the presence of humanoids on Mars, but not any ‘odd’ morphological evolution.
_Practical: ‘Martian’ minis can be used ‘on Earth’ as Natives of some ‘Spices Islands’ or part of a 7th Continent in the Pacific Ocean.
The idea sprang when the (fictitious!) ‘Levitzer Rabbinate’ colonies in several Asiatic islands were mentioned on the SocDaisy Group, while I was thinking of Parroom Sepoys: people with yellow skin, with skirts… Auxiliary Natives from the Fidjis and Samoas in Westerner Service during WWII were ‘in skirts’: bingo!
This conveniently eliminates the ‘flying’ Martians –totally incredible, not only because of the Laws of Physics (which already know ‘a fate worse than death’ here) but anatomically: they would require a gigantic breastbone, birds-fashion, and their arms would be set right across the hypertrophied flight muscles! Active, efficient flying troops would change drastically the very nature of warfare, which I want to keep very similar to the historical one in Canada and India during the Lace Wars -the rare and barely controlled dirigible would not have such dramatical impact.
°Facial features: the single ‘peculiarity’, and to be kept to a very low key.
_‘Elves can be used as erzatz Martians’: thus, small, narrow chin, small mouth with thin lips, thin and reduced eyebrows, high jawbones, large cat-like slanting eyes; the pointed ears are apocryphal, thus at most ‘slightly so’ ears as described for Elric of Melnibone. All the ‘Elvish’ / ‘cute’ features less marked in males.
_‘Neanderthal’ features, to increase discreetly their ‘originality’ –and to suggesting a date for the transfer of their ancestors: forehead, eye-brows, nose edge between the eyes... males only (Martian girls remain cute –cranial sexual dimorphism is not unknown among higher Primates, e.g. the male Gorilla skull crest).
Not very different from T’Pol, in the end.
_Superimposed to the basis of diverse Human ethnic groups, to have some diversity at planet level.
°Skin color: OK, a matter of painting –but at my advanced age, one can dream of pre-painted minis…
I suspect S1889 Martians are yellow to avoid copyright infringement vs. the red Martians of Barsoom? Not such problem in this purely virtual elaboration!
_Add a shade of light melon flesh, abricot, orange, carrot, dark pumpkin flesh… to the ‘initial’ hue of the ethnic group taken as a basis (the darker the original color, the darker / ‘red(d?)er’ the added hue and the stronger the addition.
_mottled? If so, (mahogany?) only locally and discreetly as that Star Trek character (rear of the neck, between the shoulder blades and soon norrowing down along the backbone) … and females less than males.
°Other common features:
_Black straight hair; actually (like on Earth) extremely dark brown, a single ethnic group has ‘true’ (‘Han Chinese-like’) black hair. In some cultures, specially among the Nomads /Hills‘men’, hairdress may look like dreadlocks ± Battlefield Earth fashion.
_hairless-faced males except in a single ethnical group, where unshaved males have a little facial hair, as with extreme North-West Americans e.g..
_Subtle dissymetry in the clothes and equipment, to introduce an (almost subliminal) feeling of ‘abnomaly’; ± absent from the Askaris / Sepoys uniforms.
_Almost all fighters with a shoulder weapon: the Barsoomian chivalric code is simply unbelievable. Minis with sword + pistol (or, worse, 2 cold steel weapons) can only be used as officers (or as a minority of ship crews): for ‘irregulars’ this requires a multiplicaton of models with carbine / musket by ‘alteration’ of minis suitable only to hand-to-hand combat. Two-handed bladed weapons can mostly be converted to muskets with (oddly shaped?) plug-bayonets (de Saxe, advocate of shock tactics, was still favourable to them).
-Ethno-cultural groups
°Rationale?:
_Planet-scale, some diversity is to be expected –not only ethnically but also, despite the homogeneizing air travel, culturally.
_Sepoys: with (at least) 2 Earthling colonizing Powers, each major group would provide 2 (series of) Native Troops. The easiest way is to have a choice of at least 2 head(gears), and count on the painting to compleate the differenciation.
Thus, after gathering various sources of inspiration (Nothing *original* here, as always!) I came with 6 major ethnic groups, some represented by more than one cultural sub-group –federations of tribes, kingdoms… each with a few characteristic peculiarities of its own (not reflected at ‘Sepoy’ level: colonizers tend to dress all their auxiliaries from a given [large] area basically the same –the French called all Tirailleurs recruited South of mid-Sahara ‘Senegalese’ and gave them the same uniform; besides, one subgroup may be allied to a Terran Power and its traditional rival to the other).
=1°Barsoomians:
_Generalities:
* perhaps the most numerous and widespread group, thus statistically the 1st encountered by Earthlings?
* Following the model of Dejah Thoris the most human-like (and even, to be blunt, ‘White-like’) ethnic group, probably with the most obviously cute-but-bazooked (Frazetta!) women.
Skeletal facial features (but not skin nor hair) at most as Kabyles or Ethiopians. ‘Tanned White’ skin with a red-golden addition. Most men with a ‘Mr. Universe’ look (Frazetta again) and wear rather (modern Human) short hair.
_Subgroups: Barsoom having been richely illustrated –and copied– one encounters more complexity here: 2 types of cultures and a total of 6 cultural groups.
**1a 1b Most true ‘human’ Martians -Red, Black, Yellow- their differences of skin and hair color disappearing, belong to the same *large* cultural group; yet the rich diversity of illustrations (disregarding the early ones who showed the Martians # merely as Ancient Greks – Egyptians in tunics) allows at least 2 different advanced / urbanized subcultures (non-similar helmets, straight swords or curved sabres, males with ‘pants’ , loincloth or thong … so much the more as you can add the °equipment° / headgear of the Chessmen).
* 1c BronzeAge ‘Imperials’ and ‘Warrior Women’ (with muskets!) can provide the armed forces of a 3rd ‘state’.
* 1d Old (late "70?) 20mm minis from Stan Johansen JF series, with armored ‘legionaries’ and unarmored ‘Sitans’ (some riding multilegged ‘reptiles’ and ‘Sirexes’), complemented with (Archive?) ‘Space Foxelles’ provide a 4th subculture, with a slightly different military doctrine.
* 1e Nomads: ethnically / visually identical to the other members of this group, but combining the dress and equipment of the various ‘White’ Martians (Orovars, Lotharians , Holy Therns) with the equipments and culture of Burroughs’ Green Martians; note that they know the wheel and use (3-wheeled?) carts.
* 1f ‘Primitives’ (albeit converted to gunpowder weapons, and with other mounts than mammals from prehistoric Earth): I’d like to think –merely because they are cute– that Maidenhead Babes that time forgot and Ferals could be converted and added here.
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: a loincloth is obviously NOT the mid-18th C. European idea of a military uniform. If the ‘Barsoomians’ were the first Natives encountered and enlisted, these ‘Sepoys’ would wear the most ‘Terranized / Europeanized’ uniforms. What about the Flash Gordon costume fashion on Mongo, with that bizarre tradition of wearing your thong above your trousers (so much the more as John Carter himself has –apocryphally- be shown in such garb). Then some details are too ‘modern’, e.g. the ‘late 19th C. boots to be substituted with less dated models (on the left or here). The color strip along the leg most be serrated or onduling. Officers may wear a cloak.
And, for this most ‘Europeanized’ martian uniforms to ‘look Lace Wars’, they must have *cuffs* -just like those worn by the B5 Centauri -who can provide other ‘quasi 18th C. fashion’ details for officers.
Note that the *harness* / system of belts / characteristic paraphrenalia of the Barsoomian fighter must be worn *over* the clothes, in order to be ‘on display’.
As for the *helmets* (two types required), I envisage them based on current French riot squads and firemen (both without the face mask, probably with the neck guard), with the ‘mane’ of ‘Barin’s Honor Guard’ and the ‘Snow Lancers of Fria’, respectively.
Light Infantry may wear, for one "side", the odd helmet-cap, with a feather on the side, of Barin and his bowmen in the original comics, for the other side (potentially the 'opposition') Dale’s feathered beret;
maybe with some details of the Foresters uppergarnments, mainly for officers?
=2° Chadwickians: the Space1889 / GDW / RAFM types.
_Generalities: Burmese / Tibetan cranial / skeletal features; darker skin than the next group; 2 types of cultures (Canal Martians and Hill Martians) and a total of 3 cultural groups. The RAFM range direly needs to be complemented from the original GDW illustrations!
_Subgroups:
** 2a 2b Canal Martians: with complementary minis from the illos and some High Martians details of equipment one can have 2 ‘Powers’ differing at least by details of their respective militaries.
. Shieldgunners (and all ‘infantry in heavy armor’) derivated from [Phoenix Icons] Jaffas in skullcaps (and their ‘unofficial’ equivalents) with vizored helmets from the old Flash Gordon serials and the Horseclans book covers –which can provide additional elements of armor and weaponry (such as the heavy ax, since they are specialized in shock tactics).
I see no reason to keep the peculiar S1889 unit composition of ‘1/2 shooters / 1/2 close-combat specialists): more flexible to have paired but independant units.
* 2c Hill Martians / Queln: are basically Steppe Riders, a fact non obvious from the available minis range!
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: see RAFM , but with some modifications to look less ‘WW1’: cuffs, breast pockets erased (substituted with ‘regimental patches’?), 18th C. cartridges pouch… the remainder mainly from painting ; all artillerymen on a given side with the same headgear, either the larger turban around a spiked helmet *or* a smaller turban without helmet.
As for the (infantry + cavalry) *helmets* (two types required), the RAFM range provides 1 type; taking inspiration from a TMP VSF poster who converted Crocodile Games Asars into Martians, I’d use the ‘small turban around a rounded helmet’ as the distinctive headgear for the ‘2nd type’ of Chadwickian Colonial Infantry and Cavalry.
=3° Parroomians -or Charettes if met at first by the Frenchs?
_Generalities: Viet-Nam Mountaineers cranial / skeletal features; darker skin than the very 1st group but lighter than the previous one; 2 types of cultures (City Dwellers and Nomads) and a total of 3 cultural sub-groups.
_Subgroups:
** 3a 3b City Dwellers: with complementary minis from converted close-combat types and a systematic distribution of helmeted minis –maybe take additional helmets from the various renditions of Flash Gordon Hawkmen– into 2 more homogeneous sets, one can define 2 ≠ ‘Nations’.
* 3c Nomads.
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: Parroom provides the basic type, requiring only minor modifications: cuffs, the cartridges shoulder belt turned into a Klingon-like ‘Warrior’ one with sets of 5 individual cartriges cases (similar to those on the breast of late 19th C. Cossacks);
at least in some circumstance close-fitting trousers (Hungarian infantry-fashion –paint conversion ?) and shoes, the cavalry always with Hussar trousers and boots, and wearing a far shorter jacket (perhaps of ‘Maghrebin – Mameluck’ type for one "side" and dolman-like for the other?).
*Helmets* (two types required): 1st the Parroom one but non-metallic of black (to fit with the tricorns of the Terrans) lacquered leather; then the Asar pointed type with a small turban worn around.
=4° Imperials:
_Generalities: Viet-Nam Lowlanders cranial / skeletal features; darker skin than the 2nd ethnical group; I’d willingly add Hussar braided ‘cadenettes’ or at least pigtails hanging from the temples, to give them more ‘individuality’.
_1 single cultural group: *4a: hopefully more details can be obtained from artwork than from the minis themselves! A variant of cavalry can be derivated from the ‘Giants’…
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: the original
Askaris would require a (single) different cartridge box, a bayonet scabbard, probably a (native?) sidearm… For the foot troops the trousers can be ‘translated’ as 2 ≠ types of baggy ones, of ≠ length; socks and shoes at least in some circumstances-; the cavalry is poorly inspirational…
*Headgear* (two types required): the Ghost Archers provide a flamboyant helmet (more suitable for French service?); for the ‘other side’, searching inspiration on the Blackhat site, what about the headgear of the Dromedary Corps, with the plume shotened and without peak?
=5° Presleys (because they are ‘Elvish’… OK, OK, I withdraw it!):
_Generalities: exaggerated ‘Elvish’ facial and skeletal features, very tall, slim and slightly androgynous; males with long floating hair or a ponytail, according to the cultural subgroup; skin color between ethnic groups 1 and 3.
_2 cultural subtypes:
* 5a ‘Classical’ Elves are generally depicted in ‘medieval’ costume, Robin Hood fashion; thus remember that in ‘Native’ dress the males are NOT ‘men in tights’ but wear hoses and a loincloth; for additional leg cover and shoes (specially for the mounted types) the Conan movies and Hercules TV series may give some inspiration –see also here. The conversion of the Xbows into pleasant heavy muskets / jezzails was described on the TMP.
* 5b Rackham Elves may suggest an interesting variant for the males (musket + pavisa), including a kind of ‘warrior sect’; here a potential ‘musket’ and a spectacular sword.
In both cases, for the dresses of the women, the Conan *comics* are far more inspirational!
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: dress more ‘Terran’, thus indeed ‘men in tights’ of the years "30-"50 Space-Opera type; the various renditions of Barin and his Foresters may also be quite fitting; add (Polish?) cuffs.
*Headgear* (two types required): one could be the classical ‘Robin Hood’ feathered hat, but without the sides and rear as to turn it into a peaked *cap*; the other could keep the full hat look and bear a larger feather. Uniform colors would provide other differences.
=6° Tsolyanis:
_Generalities: facial and skeletal features of Natives of the extreme North-East of Siberia, the Aleutian Islands, the Amerindians of the North-West; true ‘black’ hair, darkest skin, males may have a little facial hair.
Tsolyanis as a rule do not *ride*: they inhabit a Nepal-like region of very hard mountains, rich in giant birds.
_2 cultural subtypes differing only by the dress of their military types: ** 6a 6b the city-states of Kéttukal and Sérqu . The raising extremity of the pointed military shoes is seen as an adaptation to mountain and snow. Convert to musket (with removable Tibetan rest), shield larger and can be set as a pavisa when closing a defile.
_Native Troops in Earthling Service: a type of skirmishing light infantry –give them the same boots as the ‘Native’ soldiers, and cuffs.
*Headgear* (two types required): 2 different models of fur cap; but add to each one (or more? Size and perhaps number varying with rank) *huge* feather.
MARTIAN GEOGRAPHY & ECOLOGY
Combine Barsoom and the VSF Mars, depart from the S1889 model in several points, mainly:
-ice caps at both poles,
-a chain of (small) seas by chance concentrated between the tropics [a kind of ‘reversed archipelago’ around the planet] allowing an equatorial belt of dense jungle, of the type where VSF adventurers go dino-hunting, or similar to those sometimes endvisaged for Venus.
MARTIAN FAUNA
For the Vertebrates, combines the various ± ‘martian’ sources mentioned above: Barsoom, Stan Johensen and Bronze Age animals, Maidenhead riding birds, the GDW, Parroom and Blackhat ‘martian fauna’; one may add the very ‘Barsoomian-like’ fauna of Kregen ‘under the suns of Scorpio’, but I would not allow to ride these giant birds.
E.T. animals in comics are rarely interesting or credible (see Flash Gordon!) but I remember a pack of ‘humped wolves’: with a single hump like the arabian camel (but more forward, as that of the bison) to survive in desertic conditions; if in an hyper-hot desert they would have fennec-like hypertrophied ears, but alsmost none –and a lot of wooly fur– if adapted to freezing cold (two subspecies?)…
Besides, ‘futuristic’ Vetebrates such as those endvisaged in the books After Man: A Zoology of the Future, The New Dinosaurs, Future Evolution, the web Speculative Dinosaur Project and the TV series The Future Is Wild would me more interesting (and far less unlikely) than animals from Earth’s remote past well and alive on Mars!
For the Invertebrates, some of which in the jungle, ponds and swamps *may* (?) be ‘collectively sentient’ –a hive mind of low intelligence and *not yet technological*– one could add various bugs and crabs, *perhaps* (???) some ‘reasonable’ Starship Troopers types -but be *very* careful with them!- and even the LotR ‘Lake Lurker’.
Of uncertain Taxonomy, some Lovecraftian creatures -if neither flying not too humanoid- may be ‘amusing’…
MARTIAN TECHNOLOGY
From this very good model of fast Martiancloudship the major modifications, as always, would be to delete the (useless) keel and the lower sails –they would just be cumbersome when landing– and, starting with a ‘kite’, add screw propellers on the sides. The sails above the hull to be substituted with a single ovoid balloon.
Several other models (of lower quality) of S1889 Martian cloudships are on display in several photo albums of the Sky Galleons of Mars Yahoo group.
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64 photos of a 25mm Sky Galleons game!
The models are less finely detailed than the marvelous South London Warlords ones, but a very laudable effort nonetheless. A simple remark: the guns are generally *too large*: remember they need room to recoil, and that they are mouth-loaded, thus the whole barrel must be well inside the hull after shooting.
See previous comment for hints / guidelines for their ‘translation’ into a Lacepunk setting. With the huge balloon above, mortars have to be discarded! At best if on the very extremities of the hull they could be used as very powerful short-ranged howitzers (low trajectory).
‘HUMAN’ DIRIGIBLES IN THE MARTIAN SKY
(& a POST-SCRIPTUM to a RECENT MESSAGE)
Reminder:
° to keep ‘wargaming on Earth’ unchanged, I suppose Lacepunk technology to be (as yet) unable to build dirigibles functional on *Earth*. 'Aerials' would totally change the nature of warfare: first, of course -like gunpowder- siege and naval warfares (all fortifications becoming obsolete, a fleet of wooden ship easily destroyed by fire pots); but this mid-18th C. land warfare we know and like to 'play' would also be alienated.
° But at the same time, to be able to play ‘Sci-Fi’ somewhere, I suppose that dirigibles –albeit slow, vulnerable, barely controllable in strong winds and not very reliable– are a possibilty on *Mars* (Lightwood anti-g potential uses the power of the ‘aether wind’, and this last penetrates the Martian atmosphere far better than our own –less interferences from the Sun…).
Thus ONCE ON MARS Earthlings –already knowing both balloons and Lightwood– would soon try to copy the Martian Cloudships. But their mastery of the technology being still partial and uncertain, they would build smaller ‘Skycrafts’, at best ‘Skyboats’, rather than ‘Skyships’. Their constructs would be at most of the size of the early 19th C. (anti-Napoleonic) British gunboats and contemporary Danish, Scandinavian and American ones –at the very most the size of the Lake Champlain models. Yet, ‘for the look’ –and to appear Munchausenian enough– they would be gondola-shaped (thus with 2 ‘chase’ guns at the prow) and decorated as ‘scale models’ of miniaturized warships, with an excess of Roccoco decoration. Like their Martian models they would be hanging from a single ovoid balloon, but an abundantly painted one.
A comparison
bogdanwaz posted in the GASLIGHTrules Group Photos Folder a fascinating visual report of a ‘Munchaunesian’ battle set in an 'alternate' late 17th C.
His models of steamwagons are very well done, but here I’ll compare his (*realized*) Airships with my (only *dreamed*) Airboats.
The ‘flying + propelling apparatus’ –4 spherical balloons + sails– is ‘HISTORICAL’, being directly copied by him from a 17th C. design. I really *like* how his Airships look, but I thought that a more ‘modern’ shape of balloon would fit better in a Lace Wars setting.
So our designs differ on a few minor points (the major one being that his are allowed to ‘work’ in the sky of OUR Earth):
`-the shape of the buoyancy container,
`-the lack –seemingly- of propelling devices on his contraptions: he his faithful to the original drawing, while I prefer to have ‘screws’ at least as much to control the direction vs the wind as for true propulsion,
`-his are far larger than I would allow to Humans, even on Mars.
Maybe I’m too ‘serious’ and too concerned with ‘realism’: his models are really beautiful.
[2 complementary threads on the TMP]
PS: a potential source of MARTIAN *ASKARIS / SEPOYS* I knew and forget to quote : the Wargames Supply Dump ‘NOT Flash Gordon’ Dick Garrison range.
The Khang Troopers are full of potential –the weapon is moulded separataly, and the visor may probably be converted into [almost Sutton Hoo] ‘Viking’ helmet ‘spectacles’ (Pathfinder-fashion); they even have a would-be ‘heavy jezzail / amusette’ team.
*The Disidian Troopers could provide an additional type of light infantry (add feathers to their caps; paint the privates with tight sleeves, to have them assorted to their officer).
Is the fact that –given «Khang»’s facial hair– they are obviously of Tsolyani origin (an ethnical group already treated in the first comment posted yesterday) embarrassing? Not really. Tsolyanis do not provide cavalry, thus both the British and the Frenchs may wish to raise more diverse infantry types from them.
For the ‘heavy’ type (converted from the Khang Troopers) either add a huge feather to the original helmet or swap the whole head with a Yan Korani one (but erase the peak so that the headgear looks less ‘shako-like’).
The same for the skirmishers: either add a Tsolyani feather or substitute with a (modified) Yan Korani head.
Both of course would have their boots converted to the ‘up-pointed’ Tsolyani model, and would receive ‘European’ 18th C. complementary equipment : cartridge pouch, bayonet, infantry sword…
While the Flash / Flesh Gordon movies (including the earliest serials) offer fascinating inspiration for some civilian women minis of the ‘Elvish’ race!
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MARTIANS AFTERTHOUGHTS
-’BARSOOMIANS’
=>My mistake: my memory was in fault, Burroughs’ ‘Human-looking’ Martians with a peculiar culture that make them a suitable basis for the ‘Nomads’ (receiving some Green Martians features) are not the ‘White’ but the ’Yellow’ ones. Treat Okarians with Orluk hide as ‘ordinary’ types and Marentinans wearing white fur as leaders.
=>Primitive ‘Amazons’: Shadowforge Tribals could be converted and added here.
-’TSOLYANIS’: Sepoys : 2 possible additional types:
=>Aberrant Games Vatacina Guard,
=>KILLER B: ‘Captain Gamma’ «NOT Flash Gordon» range provides the Protectorate Guard
Both could receive (by headswap) the same heads as the WSD Khang Troopers (previous comment), and of course would have their boots converted to the ‘up-pointed’ Tsolyani model, and would receive ‘European’ 18th C. complementary equipment : cartridge pouch, bayonet, infantry sword…
LET’S STAY HOME: MARTIANS ON EARTH!
Well, no longer Martians, actually. As added yesterday to the Lacepunk paragraph, if one prefers to restrict his setting to our good old ‘planet of the Naked Ape’, most of what has been described ’on Mars’ can instead be found on the continent of Mu, somewhere in the Pacific ocean.
NOT the ‘exotic’ and obviously ‘extraterrestrial’ fauna –at most Yetis instead of White Apes?– but the ‘Human’ cultures (and maybe part of the flora).
Ethnically, most of the Lemurians (I failed to decide how to derivate a qualificative from ‘Mu’, and ‘le’ can be a prefix meaning ‘inhabitant / master of’ in some local tongue), the ‘Orange Skins’ are an original ‘race’, from an early pre-Cro-Magnon tribe that ca. 120.000 years ago moved westward, generation after generation, to reach ‘the Cradle of the Sun’. They came there tens of millenia before Australia was populated.
Another, minoritary, ethno-cultural group can come from a second, far more recent (12.000 years ago?) wave of ‘pseudo-whites’ sharing a common ancestry with the Ainus. They provide a good opportunity to use costumes looking as a deviation from the contemporay European ones, re. descriptions of ‘alternate 18th C. fashion’ in ‘L’an 2440’ and ‘Monster Blood Tattoo’.
The general techno-level would not be very different from Europe, supra-Saharian Africa, Persia or India by the early 18th C.: ‘parallel evolution’ having be favored by the intermittent arrival of shipwrecked sailors, first only from Eastern Asia, then also from Cipango and more recently from Spanish South America.
As developped in the post, with a few ‘safety rail’ hypotheses restricting them to the sky of Mu, a few dirigibles can be used there. Even the ‘Aethership’ described in the post as an interplanetary vehicle can –once the properties of Lightwood and Aether known by scientists in other continents- be kept, but only as a very fast, but hideously expensive, mean of stratospheric intercontinental travel : a Lacepunk ‘Concorde’.
With the same restriction, some form of ‘paranormal’ could ‘work’ on a limited part of the continent, if you are so inclined.
A *huge* simplification of the storyline, requiring far fewer far-fetched hypotheses, yet keeping the same potential for RPG-level adventures, and far more propitious to wargame campaigns. Here Great Britain, France (and possibly other Nations , including large and powerful ones such as Cipango) can send (small)*armies*, not merely a handful of crazy explorers.
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The ‘primitive’ all-female tribes of Mars (or Mu on Earth commented upon yesterday.
Air Power and H&M Land Warfare
If correctly depicted (I never was totally convinced by what I read in Fantasy and Science-Fantasy novels), adding an efficient ‘Air Power’ to pre-20th C. warfare would change it far more drastically than gunpowder changed medieval warfare. As with gunpowder, naval and siege warfares would be the first and more drastically modified: wooden ships are extremaly vulnerable to a few firepots dropped from above musket range, and traditional fortifications are instantaneously obsolete.
I doubt all-metal large ships could navigate without efficient steam engines –and the sails remain a liabilty. Thus one would have to use at least the equivalent of ‘La Gloire’, the first ocean-going ironclad warship (1859) – which carries us really to far away from the Lace Wars!
A more ‘reasonable’ answer could be provided by the like of the Korean ‘Turtle ship’.
As for fortifications, I suspect troglodytic constructs (into the faces of cliffs, high above ground level, connected by underground passageways) would provide the the most efficient protection.
Elsewhere built-up areas would require the combination of:
-a metallic network overhead, set high to the top of numerous minaret-like structures, with a second one between the lower end of the roofs, just above street level,
-very strongly built houses with stone-covered very steep sloping roofs; the roofs covering all levels above groundfloor and 1st floor and extending above the sidewalks, so that only the middle of the streets (for large vehicles and animals) or inner courtyards would be left uncovered. Roofs without windows but a lot of loopholes to cover the facing roof –the basic idea being that on vertical section a building would look rather like the groundplan of a Vauban bastion. House builts in (hexagonal?) ‘cells’.
Thus to ‘save’ Lace Wargaming elsewhere, one has to restrict such air force –would it be using primitive dirigibles or flying mounts- to a limited area, at least on Earth.
For the balloons, crude dirigibles could work only using «lightwood». Some plants –on Earth a single peculiar species living only in Mu- concentrate soil ‘cavorite’ (a mineral with anti-g properties) in their cell walls, in the same way as other accumulate silicium or selenium. Now on our planet cavorite exists practically only in Mu –and maybe the ‘lightwood plant’ needs it as a cofactor for some essential enzymatic reaction? Our ‘lightwood plant’ is rather small and has to be compacted in a form of chipboard / masonite to make usable planks; ‘elsewhere’ (on Mars?) lightwood may be produced by large trees? Now lightwood fiber can be spinned and used to make a fabric absorbing the ‘aether wind’ (on Earth reaching ground only under a tropospheric ‘hole’ – geostationary over Mu…), a wire carrying the collected ‘aether power’ as copper wire conducts electricity…
For the flying reptiles on Earth at least they cannot live outside their native island. Why? For the same reasons why the Spice can grow only on Dune? Because they need some endemic plant as the unique source of an essential vitamin? Because they cannot fly without the ‘aether wind’ (on Earth reaching ground only under … see above!)?
If both types coexist the simplest answer would be to have the flying reptiles requiring the ‘lightwood plant’ itself as a vitamin source. But no doubt primitive dirigibles would be helpless against Pterosaur-riding fighters!
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A DA VINCI CODE PIECE
From Louys of Monte-Cristo to his Brother Karl Frederick of Tradgarland
‘Man-powered’? Then Tradgarland has nothing to fear. Indeed «Wow ! That ‘thing’ is impressive!» (as foreign ladies touring Monte-Cristo are often heard to exclaim – but I digress…) and the apparition of such ‘moving fort’ on a battlefield would for sure have a dramatic morale effect – but at first and only once.
Only steam power could make this rolling oversized blockhouse to move steadily – even if entirely covered with (spiked to prevent boarding) steel plates à la Korean ‘turtle ship’): the whole would be then proof to musketry, but still hopeless against artillery. If astutely deployed and deplaced, this kind of contraption may be initially of some use against Turks, who keep their artillery behind earthworks. But such ‘land Leviathan’ would be useful (as an ‘mechanized’ version of the ‘gulai gorod’, the ‘running castle’) mainly against swarms of Tatars and other light horsemen of the steppe –if a *very flat* steppe with a *very firm* ground. Maybe also against hordes of primitive savages in some favourable areas oversea: indeed the Huguenots of Bonne-Esperance are rumoured to built mobile pillboxes of similar design (but oxen-powered) to escort their ‘treks’ inland (?).
Now, would any Enlightened Sovereign be interested (address of our Board for Lucrative Patents available on request), Monte-Cristan mechanists are current developping several projects of lighter, faster, realistic ‘war vehicles’.
One pattern is a steam-powered evolution of the proven Hussite ‘artillery’ war wagon, but with the protected gun at the front, the char d’assaut (‘assault wagon’) being intended to be used not as part of a laager but *offensively*, in direct support of advancing infantry. Musket loopholes on both sides for the embarked half-squad of heavily armoured ‘sturmpionere’ (the project is managed by one Herr Henschel, who disgruntled came here after his ideas were ridiculed in Berlin and Vienna) –they would disembark to clear any obstacle hindering the progression of the vehicle; a mini-organ (a brace of carbine barrels) on a swivel mount for point defense of the rear.
A ‘flute’ variant, with a drawbridge in front and armed only with an amusette ‘en barbette’ over the rear of the passengers compartment, would safely carry the infantry forward.
Such chars would be specially precious to cross the ‘killing ground’ when assaulting edges, lines of fieldworks, barricades, villages…
A lighter project corresponds to a ‘mechanized’ equivalent of the jingal elephant (as lately on display in the London War Room): a light steam-powered coach with a 2.5 pder ‘Rostaing’ in front and a giant jezzail / amusette on each side. Hopefully on good going the voiture de guerre (‘war car’) would be able to keep with the (heavy) cavalry.
Then, Brother Mine and between you and me, it must be confessed that, in their current stage of development, the effect of such steam-powered engines of war on a battlefield would be mainly psychological, and would not survive for long the initial surprise. For that matter, some equatorial savages are said to field fierce bodies of amazons: their apparition on one of our battlefields surely would have a more drastic (if of different nature) and longer-lasting unsteadying effect. But Monte-Cristo owns neither patent nor import licence for such.
I seize the opportunity of this message to deny with the most outraged indignation those malveolent rumours (seemingly from Waldreck: I’m every day more certain people there share a common, if illegitimate, ancestry with the Stagonians) suggesting we had this Da Vinci Code piece to appear *for free* in Saschen-Vindow: in order to entice customers (a sound, if disgusting, marketing practice) and start an ‘arms race’, with Monte-Cristo selling more and more advanced designs alternatively to both sides, keeping the momentum of the escalation. Nothing could be more abject and alien to the Monte-Cristan basic honesty and ‘peace and love’ ethos. Of course. Obviously. It goes without saying. Evidently . And all that kind of things.
Please accept my brotherly embrace.
Louys
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While for lightness the voiture de guerre would be open-topped (with at most a collapsible cover of oiled canvas against strong rain or snow) the various chars d’assaut, which could be intermingled with enemy infantry and have to come close to walls and buildings, would be ‘roofed’ –at least with hardened leather on a wicker frame- to prevent lobbing or dropping hand grenades inside and to give a good protection against bullets from above.
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To have a clear front, both the char d’assaut and voiture de guerre received a ‘boat’ configuration with the ‘helmsman’ at the rear of the passengers compartment, just before the engine. Both are rear-wheel drive contraptions, but while the voiture de guerre kept the orientable front axle of classical carriages, the char d’assaut rear axle is the directional one –as a whole it functions like a wagon moving backward or pushed rather than pulled by the team. Our engineers are currently trying to convert both patterns to 4 wheel drives.
On the prototypes currently under trials in Monte-Cristo the ‘driver’ and ‘stokers / firemen’ are from the Palace Ecuries et Equipages (in waistcoat and fatigue cap), the ‘military crew’ from the professional Carabiniers of the Palace company in formal uniform; the contraptions are painted red and brass.
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18th C. ZOMBIES, VAMPIRES & WEREWOLVES: do we need special minis?
(re. the "28mm SYW Zombies… and worse?" and "French and Indian Weirdness?" TMP threads, the French «Weird Seven Year Wars» campaign and some "Pirates" scenarios)
Given that very few of us are enterprising and skilled enough to sculpt their own minis…
Wargame minis being seen from a distance and often en masse, I fully understand that some characteristic features have to be emphasized / exaggerated. As such I’m a firm partisan of ‘overbazooked’ female minis, and while I painted hundreds of bare-breasted Amazons I never painted a single nipple. Instead, as for the lips, I used ultra-fine felt pens (waterproof red –for overhead projection: wonder if with the generalization of PowerPoint and the like they are still available?). Inaccurate color but highlightening an essential distinctive feature.
But on the other hand (conditioned by 40 years of biology-related job?) I tend to be niggardly with the ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ required by Fantasy, and thus, in this context, to favor restricted morphological and anatomical modifications –if at all. And thus I’m not sure special ‘undead’ minis are really needed for 18th C. games.
Let’s see type by type:
Vampires:
I confess to prefer the ‘Sci-Fi’ origin –the «Matheson Model»- of vampirism (contagious disease / semisymbiosis) over the ‘Fantasy’ one –loss of soul and image in mirrors, silent heart (how can oxygen and glucose reach brain and muscles?), cold body (no metabolism, and yet they think and move?) and sometimes reversible facial deformations (elastic bones…¿! -headswapping with bareheaded Elves, to obtain the ‘special facies’? Unfortunately they generally wear their hair long. Anyway cut down those silly pointy ears! Now, for military types –want to raise a full unit of vampire fighters, ‘Underworld’ fashion?- Alternative Armies is said to sell heads independantly : bare heads, in fatigue cap, and some of their helmets can pass for 18th C. ones).
But regardless of their ‘nature’ (and I prefer when neither the organizer nor the players are really sure of it) best movies vampires, except at the very moment of biting, are not distinguishable from ‘humans’. Typical vampires are noticiable at most by their pointed eyeteeth (which often leave bites as if needdle-thin incisors:!¿?) and sometimes pallid complexion. ‘Historical’ minis sometimes already have suspiciously long teeth…
Certainly vampires do not require special minis, 'paint conversion' would suffice.
‘Moronic’ Undead:
Agian I prefer when neither the organizer nor the players know for sure if these are real ‘reanimayed corpses’ or living persons controlled through drugs and mesmerism (including in the 18th C. meaning: using electricity : brain frying?).
As 18th C. minis one already has the Black Cat Bases Undead Marines; Black Scorpion promises ‘Pirates’ in all the Tolkienesque Fantasy races, so maybe undead types will be included. (I strongly dislike the various ‘skeleton pirates’, rejecting the idea of bones moving without muscles to power them and a brain to command). Besides, some of Alternative Armies’ Zombiski Cossacks (in fur hat or bare-headed, not these in flat cap) and Kryptofski Death Guard (if the ‘napoleonic’ high plume is cut down –amazing how shortening such a plume can push back some military headgears by 50 years!) could pass for 18th C. ones?
Besides most Fantasy ranges include ‘generic’ zombies: but most are in obviously ‘modern’ clothes –long trousers… that make them usuitable for ‘our’ century.
But do we really need special ‘undead’ 18th C. minis?
If the ‘reanimated’ are rather ‘fresh’ –and for my rational mind they have to be, if what remains of the brain is able to command still functional muscles- then some scarifications of the body with a cutter or pin point, degradation of clothes with a nail clipper… of ‘normal’ minis (some recent Foundry SYW Frenchs already look like swelled up by inner fermentations!) followed by an appropriately 'vomitory' Nurglesque painting would suffice. Additionally according to my experience 'dipping' the finished mini in 'clear oak' matt wood varnish give a grotty / shabby look that may suggest (impressionism) the idea of 'freshly unearthed'… (a quasi subliminal message –for an a posteriori rationalization appliable to military types let’s say the undead soldiers are unable to clean and repair their clothes).
Indeed what would be far more useful –and of far more general use- would be sprues of 18th C. heads for headswapping: tricorn, bearskin, generic 'Reformed + Russian' mitre, mirliton, busby, fatigue cap – perhaps even a Schomberg helmet easily customisable into a British light infantry / light dragoon type) one could have: grenadiers in stingy Prussian-like uniform but bearskin or in Austrian-like uniforms but mitre (such existed in the Reicharmee); fusiliers in 'normal' uniform but miriliton (Volontaires de La Morliere, Chasseurs de Fischer..); grenzers in tricorns (several regiments during the SYW); grenzers in busby (=> Hungarian infantry of the WAS); troops (including dragoons) in fatigue caps (pioneers, pontooneers, militia / forteress / home guard troops…); reciprocally with tricorns French in fatigue cap –in India, Marines in Canada- would become sergeants and junior officers; Napoleonic Spanish guerilleros with tricorns would become good proxies for 18th C. ‘miquelets’… : useful for historical gamers and of tremendoud potential for builders of Imagi-Nations. Relevant here, with blatantly 18th C. heads –including bare-headed one with the typical haircut / wig- scantily-clad types from earlier times (Eureka had some Portugueses ‘gone native’ in South America –the corresponding link to Chronofus seems dead, unfortunately) could provide good bases for ‘Lace Wars’ zombies. And of course such heads would visually set ‘generic zombies’ in the 18th C… The idea was suggested for the Wargames Factory League but could equally be proposed to Eureka100.
‘Patchwork’ reanimated corpses, according to that good Dr. Frankeinstein’s recipe, differ only by sewings instead of open wounds: agian amatter of painting.
Werewolves:
People periodically thinking as / they are wolves.
According to the level of remaining consciousness and importance of shape change, appear as:
- giant wolves (*giant* because I *hate* the idea that global mass may vary with shapeshifting!): available in many ranges;
- humanoid wolf-like creatures / furry anthropoids with wolvish head: available in many ranges again, but many may have unsuitable (medieval…) weapons? Generally clothes are torn away when shapechanging; for reason of prudishness it happens that werewolves in ‘bestial' form (just like the Incredible Hulk!) may save the ‘essential' part of their trousers. Thus ‘modern' ones may pass for earlier ones previously in breeches; basically silly, of course, but potentially convenient here…
- humans with extra fur, nails turned into claws… Maybe the ‘less unlikely’ of Fantasy (Sci-Fi if a form of disease or the effect of a ‘Dr. Jekyll & Mister Hyde’ drug) type but the very type that remains in full dress, with the clothes clearly indicating the timeframe: a little greenputty sculpted with a pin point for the furand a good painting?
- maddened cultists wearing a wolf pelt Ulfhednar-fashion: conversions, using a cheap plastic toy wolf for the head and greenstuff? No hope to have them commercially!
Thus for 18th C. werewolves also one could (and would, anyway) have to do without special minis.
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OF ALUMINIUM AND VAMPIRES
The recent (re?)discovery of aluminium in ‘our’ mid-18th C. may come timely to face the current emergence of ‘paranormal’ activities.
The basic idea come from the fact that iron is reported to be deadly to Elves in the older tales, while this peculiarity is absent from most ‘recent’ ones. This suggests the following hypothesis:
- ‘Elves’ (= ‘Demons’ of e.g. the ‘Buffy the vampire slayer’ background) live in an universe parallel to our own.
- The divergence of these two universes is quite recent –less old than the emergence of the Cro-Magnon Man- given that, not only ‘they’ are extremely similar to ‘us’ (French medieval ‘Fees’, the Fays of the Arthurian Cycle, looked perfectly human, if specially beautiful), but can breed true with Humankind.
- An ancillary possibilty is that the ‘time vectors’ of the two universes are not strictly parallel. The ‘cosinus effect’ would explain why *they* appear almost unchanging, and extremely long-lived, against ‘our’ calendar; and the numerous reports that time ‘flows’ differently there and here.
- Anyway the major evolutionary difference is that this ‘alternate’ human line developped ‘paranormal’ / parapsychogical / psionic (‘magical’, according to our standards) abilties. As a consequence they ignored technological / scientific progress (you don’t need medical research if you can ‘mentally’ heal wounds and diseases, e.g.). All their technological / material knowledge above the Stone Age standards comes from us, and in their own world they don’t care for it.
- Passage between the two ‘universes’ is not extremely difficult, at least for those with such ‘psionic’ abilities.
- Humans of our own world (vampires, werewolves) can be somehow ‘contaminated’ by the ‘alternate’ one, gaining some of its ‘paranormal’ features. Two different kinds of microbial disease, transmitted by biting?
How is all this concept related to the old tales? Creatures of the ‘other’ world had developped ‘parapsychological’ healing of wounds caused by bronze. When Humankind began to use iron weapons, they were (relatively) defenseless against this new threat, as natives of New Continent against European diseases. The ‘immediatly lethal’ effect of iron may be attributed to exaggeration by storytellers; then, having broken through the ‘psionic’ defenses, iron may have caused the equivalent of immunodepression / anaphylactic response?
Then with time –either by natural evolution, or by an unconscious process equiavalent to immunity, or by conscious research- a healing response to iron-caused wounds appeared. But any ‘new’ metal would reproduce the same initial effect.
The ‘model’ as such doesn’t explain all traditional defenses against e.g. vampires and werewolves, but as with the ‘cargo cult’ initial sound observations may have been misinterpreted, and the practices later distorded when ritualized.
As for garlic, it is a sovereign remedy against some intestinal worms. To have any effect in our material world, ‘supernatural’ creatures have to interfer with it *materially*, down to the atomic and molecular levels, to abide to the Laws of Physics and Chemistry – and the interaction works in both directions. As a very peculiar case, phytochemical deterrents can work on some ‘paranormal’ creatures.
As for the Holy Cross and Holy Water, vampires met by Christian narrators are themselves, generally, of Christian background. Thus the effect reflects a psychological conditioning: it is doubtful that Musilm or Buddhist vampires would be greatly affected – at most, if impregnated with religion and of oecumenical tendency, they would feel some unease to be faced by any ‘hostile’ holy object / symbol. But a convinced atheist vampire would be totally unaffected.
Werewolves are unaffected because during the lycanthropic crisis ‘higher conscience’ including ‘high human ethics, is abolished.
And perhaps the initial observations were neither complete nor totally exploited. For instance the special effect of silver weapons on werewolves may reflect that silver-caused wounds are so rare that no ‘automated healing response’ developped: but then in all likelihood silver would be equally efficient against vampires and ‘Elves’ / ‘Demons’. Symmetrically for the vulnerability to wooden stakes, reported only for vampires – wounds caused by pointed wood indeed became rare since the Metal Age, the corresponding ‘healing’ would have regressed.
Zombie-type undead (*if* really ‘reanimated’ fresh corpses, their basic vital functions provisionally restored, if to a minimal level – and not living humans drugged to stupidity, after a moment of ‘apparent death’, part of a mind-controlling process) ‘s inability to cross running water suggests that they may be ‘disconnected’ by brutal variations of the electrical / electromagnetic field?
Anyway, this hypothesis predicts that, the metal being totally ‘new’ to them, all ALUMINIUM blades, spear- and boltheads, buckshots, bullets… will be extremely efficient against ‘paranormal’ creatures.
Worrying as they are, the disturbing reports of current bursts of ‘paranormal’ in the wilderness North-West of Nouvelle France, in Eastern Europe and even in Saint Maurice provide Monte-Cristan agents with precious opportunities to test this prediction.
[As far as I remember I first read about the special vulnerability of ‘magical creatures’ to a new, tech-loaded metal in the ‘Doomfarers of Coramonde’ novel. Then I developped the full ‘concept’ when toying with a ‘materialistic rationalization’ of the backgounds of the French series of graphic novels 666 and the ‘Buffy’ TV series.]
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SYW PULP?
Thanks to Pz. Ferdinand for reviving this inspirational discussion, and to Cardinal Hawkwood for enlarging the contributing team.
An intriguing, exciting idea with a lot of potential fun.
Reports of 'weird' encounters are already heard from several place in North America and from Europe.
'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Hellraiser: Bloodline' spring to mind, but 'The Company of Wolves' (Little Red Riding Hood in the 18th C. -more or less) is more immediately relevant, as could be 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' with 'real' ('Underworld'-like) enslaved werewolf/ves (Kate Beckinsale meets Monica Bellucci...!). And I deeply regret that Gabriel Van Helsing (and the undertaker) don't wear tricorns instead of such silly hats, Anna Valerious would make a great 18th C. vampire slayer...
Of course Voodoo is already thriving in the Gulf of Mexico - Caribbean area (that could be named 'Antiglia' on some 'alternate' timeline), thus one has to envisage Lace Wars zombies.
And obviously "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" was already true by then.
Always been obsessed with the idea that our beloved Lace Wars times could be the setting of adventures / campaigns 'normally' played in other eras. For instance, and by decreasing 'weirdness':
'Horror / Pulp' indeed -already introduced not infrequently in 'Pirates' games -browse the TMP Pirates board; but also:
- °VSF / steampunk turned to 'lacepunk' (Munchausen meets Da Vinci);
- °'Victorian' exploration of lost worlds / hollow Earth:
hollow Earth, in the style of Doyle - Haggard and Verne.
- °'Victorian' (historical or VSF) colonial gaming -expanding e.g. upon the historical mini-war between Britishs and Frenchs in Senegal, the expeditions to Madagascar... a 'tricorn' wargamer tempted by colonial expeditions doesn't need to buy and paint 'Victoria's Boys in red', only the 'natives'.
Looking forward with great interest and expectation for future developments!
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HORROR / PULP GAMES SET IN THE 18th C.?
TMP threads about 18th C. zombies / 'Pulp' adventures in 28 and 15 mm -with relevant links therein.
The'Heirs of the Elohim / Atlantis / Da Vinci Code' genre is also related.
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OF RIDERS...
An avid reader of ancient texts, Dieudonne E. Tronssec, the Permanent Secretary of the Monte-Cristan College of Heraldry, recently published a controversial essay (from an 'external', historical and literary point of view since like most Monte-Cristan he is a convinced atheist) on the 'Book of Revelations'. The most innovative part was, thanks to a comparative study of many apocryphal texts, the determination of the 'true name' (and 'heraldic' color) of the Four Riders, together with their associated planets and constellations:
- white-horsed Pestilence (plague): Nurgle (bile green; Jupiter, Sagittarius),
- red-horsed War: Khorne (blood red; Mars, Perseus),
- black-horsed Famine (because of poor harvests due to constantly changing weather): Tzeentch (violet; Mercury, Libra),
- pale-horsed Death (taking 'fornication' as a metaphor for "impiety'' - 'the death of the soul'): Slaanesh (pink; Saturn, Scorpion).
While in the oldest known texts mentioning them they are presented by (opposed) pairs (Khorne ≠ Slaanesh, then Nurgle ≠ Tzeentch), Dieudonne maintains that they appear in the Book of Revelation in their *reversed* order of 'seniority'. Plague, famine and war cause deaths, thus death is at a higher 'level of universality', they are agents of Death. He compares their arrival in the book to that of an invading army: first the light outriders / scouts, then heavier and heavier types and finally the elite Household Guards. He even suggests that this very image can be at the origin of the (secondary) substitution of 'Conquest' to 'Pestilence'; and that according to other, independent sources, the horse of Pestilence should not be pure white but 'spotted' on a white coat (Appaloosa / 'true leopard' type).
This would make Slaanesh the most powerful, 'senior' of the Four; some texts make him the youngest of all: according to Dieudonne, a clumsy translation of the truism that death comes *after* whatever caused it.
Interestingly, it later appeared that the symbolism used for centuries by a (rather secretive, but obviously apocalyptic) Crusader Successor Order reflects exactly the same interpretations / understanding of the Four Horsemen.
During his research Dieudonne got extremely excited over obscure passages that could refer to a '5th Rider', who would have left ('split off') the (war)band before it got to record(s). After analyzing innumerable 'quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore', he is now convinced that passing allusions to 'The Laughing Goddess', 'The Mask of the Red Death', 'The Lady in Red', 'The Soulcatcher', 'The Genestealer', 'The Belle Dame Sans Merci'... all refer to this elusive character. Despite the red of (part of) her dress, her 'heraldic' color could be a pinkish purple, or black: maybe her symbol and livery are somehow 'party per pale'? Her mare could be 'scarlet', her planet Venus, her constellation Scorpion, or rather only the star Antares within it...
But for sure she has nothing in common with the 'woman clothed with the sun' of the Revelations.
... AND ARTIFACTS OF POWER
As the senior member of the College of Heraldry, Dieudonne's example encourages several of his younger colleagues to conduct their own unconventional researches during their spare time. The most enthusiastic group makes profit of their background of learned historians and familiarity with ancient documents to systematically search the oldest religious texts from the whole known world for references to some 'advanced' prehistoric civilization. According to their current conclusions, in some pre-cataclysmic age beings that were perhaps not totally similar to modern humans (the 'Elohim' of the Bible, appearing under different names in almost all mythological texts) had flying vehicles and weapons of tremendous power. They disappeared, probably absorbed by the 'normal' human population, but their immediate descendants (the 'Nephilim' of the Bible) were long-lived 'giants' who ruled over the primitive peoples in many parts of the world: the mysterious ruins of green glassy stone found in all continents are their work, Atlantis was one of their 'kingdoms'. These were destroyed by misuse of their overpowerful technology (wars or accidents), but part of their knowledge was saved: for instance, artifacts and 'textbooks' from Atlantis in Ancient Egypt, kept then by the masons of the Temple of Jerusalem and recovered by the Knights Templars. After the dissolution of the Order the survivors ultimately found sanctuary in Agartha, where most of the pre-cataclysmic heritage is now gathered. Nonetheless in all countries and cultures secret societies preserve a part of it; several of them in sporadical contact with Agartha.
Famous Artifacts of Great Power, such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Mjollnir Hammer, the Caudron of the Dagda, the Spear of Destiny, the Grail, the Witchblade... are indeed relics from the Nephilim, or perhaps the Elohim, that surface now and then in the mundane world. Several of them *could* be kept in a mountain fortress-monastery somewhere in the disputed territories between Transylvania and the Ottoman Empire (?).
Dieudonne is following these researches with great interest, yet cautions for more restraint in some extreme conclusions. He is specially skeptical about the possibility of a subterranean 'continent' (the Monte-Cristan Academy knows well about photosynthesis, its importance and requirements) and of a world-wide network of tunnels connecting yeti-guarded grottoes in the mountains over Shangri-La to secret caves deep under the Taj-Mahal, Arabia Petrea, several 'lost cities' in the Sahara and 'Dark Africa', the Vatican, Narbonne, hyperborean Thule somewhere between Greenland and the North Cape, Glastonbury, one or more Mysterious / Skull Island(s), Arkham on the Miskatonic and the ruins of a pre-columbian temple in that place named 'Sunnydale' by an English traveler...
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THE 5th RIDER: UPDATE
New inferences just born from confrontation of obscure reference in scrolls from the Death Sea, rupestrian graffiti copied in yeti-guarded caves in the Himalaya, ancient Chinese ideograms and pre-Mayan pictograms from ruins of green glassy stone recently discovered in Axtecalt.
All compiled writings, whether ancient references or details 'fossilized' in popular tales, are extremely short, fragmentary and uncertain, yet their sum is self-consistent.
The name of the elusive '5th Rider' or 'Horsewoman' of the Apocalypse sets in the semantic field 'Conquest by Night' / 'Night Conqueror' / 'She who must be obeyed from dusk to dawn'.
Her 'scarlet' mount would be 'the Night Mare', and while unable to *fly* like Sleipnir, could run on water and do tremendous leaps Al-Buraq fashion; in extreme occasion it seems she could 'gate' (instant teleportation?) through a wall. Intringuingly several of her extraordinary abilities are shared by Bayard, the bay 'fey horse' of the four sons of Duke Aymon ; both are also capable to lengthen their back and carry several riders -for the Night Mare, ravished victims in biased secondary texts (of which Goethe's Erlkönig could be an ultimate, totally distorted echo), but the oldest, probably least adulterated reference, though obscure, seem to mention rescued persons. Also, Bayard's 'red fox' coat is close to the Night Mare's 'scarlet', itself twice compared to 'a red doe'.
Associations of the '5th Rider' with the Mesnie Hellequin / Chasse Gallery / Wild Hunt/ the 'Ghost riders in the sky' as the female leader were envisaged during the turnmoil of feverish mysticism in apocalyptic Christian sects with the coming of the An Mil. Although a passage refers to 'her Warhound and the Pain of the World', it seems that initially the Warhound was avenging / bringing solace to the 'Pain of the World'.
The '5th Rider' is associated to the Black Moon, but is clearly different from Lilith, though they were identificatied as a single character in a few 6th C. Hebraic texts by fundamentalist Jews 'bamboozled' by the coming of Islam.
In Provence during the Late Dark Ages a few similarities led to some mutual contamination with the Fada Esterella.
All in all, while the rare 'recent' (dating from less than 2000 years) echoes are heavily 'negative', the most archaic formulations suggest a character at worst 'ambivalent' -"a redhead with a heart of gold and the mind of a fox" may well refer to her. 'Conquest' was interpreted as Christ himself, indeed a 'positive' if sometimes rather dreadful character.
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THE 4 HORSEMEN AND THE EURO-INDIAN 3 'FUNCTIONS'
The very same group of Monte-Cristan scholars having studied, on the one hand the 'trifunctional ideology' of ancient Euro-Indian mythologies, on the other hand the Riders of the Apocalypse -proposing to identify them with the 4 Chaos gods of another pantheon- they naturally searched for possible influences of the former on the -more recent- later.
Not that they really expecyed to discover any: the omnipresence of the number 7, the multiple appearances of biblical images and formulations, mark the text of the Revelations as deeply rooted in the best Hebraic tradition. But, possible sources of Euro-Indian cultural influence were never absent from ancient Middle-East since the Hyksos brought to Egypt, together with the war horses and the iron blades, the 'novel' concept of a warrior class inserted between the ruling clergy and the general populace. Their descendants the Marianni charioteers-knights were the ruling aristocracy of Palestin before the arrival of the Hebrews, and later remained that in large parts of the area. Chiefly, the Jews -specially their elite during the last part of the exile in Babylon- were confronted with mazdeism: historical documents report that theological debates occured there between the priests of the two monotheistic religions. The Zaroastrian reformation had fully kept the trifunctional structure as the framework of the Persian religion (the king's prayer was for Persia to be preserved from 'impiety, foreign invasion and poor harvests') -down to the disinguishing features of the major arch-demons. Now, the man who wrote down the Revelations was well-learned, knowledgeable and proficient in astronomy as well as theology. Could the 4 Riders somehow carry 'negative images' of the 3 'functions' (praying, warring, producing)?
_° The Gods
- Death / Slaanesh as 'death of the soul' is clearly associated with the 1st function. Typically the corresponding god is at the same time a king and the ultimate priest / sorcerer supreme (thus avoiding the touch point of protocole giving the druid / brahmin precedence over the king). But he is also the guardian of the 'good, established' Order: Slaanesh's hermaphrodism is clearly antithetic. This rather unexpected way to 'negate' the sacerdotal function may stem from a detail of the original, ancestral mythology fully developped in Scandinavia: Odin is sometimes derided for being 'feminized' by the use of 'seidhr' -shamanic- magic. Indeed Loki, a greater user of shamanic magic, sometimes changes to a *female* animal form -as such he is the *mother* of Spleinir, Odin's 8-legged horse.
- War / Khorne: obviously corresponds to the 2nd function. The straight opposite to war would be peace, but it could hardly be taken as 'negative'. Abstracts concepts such as defaitism or pacifism cannot be easily embodied in a major deity.
- The domains of the 3rd function are multiple, but mostly belong to either *Abundance* -weatlth from high-yielding agriculture- and *good health*: Famine / Tzeentch and Pestilence / Nurgle are their exact negations.
Most Euro-Indian mythologies kept a single male god for each of the 2 'noble' functions, and for the 3rd a pair of male gods dominating of rich pantheon: The 4 Riders / Chaos gods conforms surprisingly well to this general pattern:
- Varuna - Odin - Slaanesh
- Indra - Thor - Khorne
- the Asvin twins - Njordr & Freyr - Nurgle & Tzeentch.
(continued)
(continued)
The 2 gods of the 3rd function are distinguished -if rarely- by their affinity with one of the other 2: one of the Asvin is the patron of cattle -sacrificial animals- the other of horses -warmounts. Their semi-incarnations in the Mahabahrata fully express this difference. Now, Tzeentch's use of sorcery brings hime closer to the 1st function; while the classical presentation of the Chaos Gods in two symmetrical pairs sets Nurgle in a position homolgous to Khorne's.
The documented hostility between Slaanesh and Khorne may be an exacerbation of the occasional outbursts of vociferal disagreement between Varuna - Odin and Indra - Thor. 'Good' deities have to cooperate -even if the 'inferior' gods of the 3rd function, Asvin or Vanes, needed a war to be accepted by the haughty gods of the 2 'noble' functions. 'Evil' chaotic deities ignore such restriction.
_° The Goddess
In the most archaic form of all Euro-Indian mythologies the patron gods of the 3 functions are collectively associated with a single, trifunctional ("immaculte - saint / strong - heroic / wet - fecund") goddess. In the Mahabahrata her partial incarnation is the polyandric wife harmniously shared by the representatives of the 3 functions. Whenever mythology is transposed to mythical history she appears as 3 different women, such as the 3 Macha of Ireland.
While terribly limited and fragmentary, what is currently known of the female '5th Rider''s mythology has her interventions scattered over the 3 functions. This is all the more significant when confronted e.g. with the Monte-Cristan Fada Esterella: while far better known, her mythology restricts her to the 2 'noble' functions [a sorceress - queen -or at least 'giver of sovereignty'- with a warrior aspect.] Thus, she too fits well in the general Euro-Indian pattern.
In addition to her trifunctionality, she appears as a kind of 'tricskter', along the same lines as the young Loki: malicious but not basically 'evil', most often than not a good -if embarrassing at times- companion of the major gods. Several references, such her mentions as Xiombarg the Queen of Swords / the 'Swordmistress of Chaos' -according to what is known of such a character from other sources- suggest the patron deity of a potentially positive, 'rejuvenating' minor form of Chaos. An Asura she may be, but while the name is genarally translated as 'demon', initially an Asura was not signicantly more 'evil' than a Deva, a 'god': merely, it is 'religiously correct' for humankind to worship the Devas and nourish them with sacrifices.
Perhaps her very nature forbidded her raising to the 'exalted' status of major 'evil' god of eschatological scale, denying her the cast of the Apocalypse. Or maybe she was merely redundant, the 3 functions already representated by the male Riders.
_° Conclusion
While not perfectly demonstrative -the known mythologies of the chaos gods are lacking detailed anecdotes as valuable as the one identifying the Latin god 'humanized' in Mucius Scaevola with the scandinavian Tyr (a lawful character pays for a pious lie with the loss of his right hand).
, such an accumulation of suggestive similarities cannot be coincidental: a copycat of the 'apocalytic riding team', the 'chaotic tetrad' is -subliminally perhaps- minted in the old Euro-Indian trifunctional mould.
To pass from 'Famine' caused by impredicabilty of the grain market to the 'Lord of Change' was subtle but neat. To exploit the -documented- use of 'fornication' as an image of 'impiety causing the death of the soul' in order to identify Slaanesh with Death and then to allocate their combination to the 1st function is more far-fetched: the unveiling of this process is probably the most (and only?) original contribution of the Monte-Cristan study.
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[(4 Riders = Chaos Gods)*3 Functions]
A summarized presentation posted
on SOCDAISY (to illustrate how easily one can 'retrieve' from texts information not put in by the authors!).
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28mm MARTIANS
on TMP.
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'WHAT-IF?' VS 'WEIRD' IMAGINARY COUNTRIES AND CONFLICTS
Along a recent TMP thread about post-18th C. Imagi-Nations and federative 'period' collective blogs for imaginary countries and countries, the difference between 'alternate' / 'what-if?' and 'weird' settings was heavily stressed.
Yet this difference is not as clear-cut as one may think at first, and has to be qualified. For instance, Cugnot's fardier rolled in 1769: yet steams engines were used to power pump stations since the late 17th C. Thus a steam-powered variant of Da Vinci's 'tank *could* have be built since the GNW / WSS times -an impressive at first, but *totally inefficient* monstruosity. Thus, if the ruler of a mid-18th C. imaginary country, or 'historical' country wagging an imaginary conflict, experiments with a 'steam war wagon' (probably, like earliest historical tanks, more for breaking through 'defense' lines than for pitched battles in the open) -or 'merely' a steam-powered version of Sadler's flying artillery, as long as the contraption: -crawls / trudges with difficulty, forward only, no faster than a line of close order infantry advancing while shooting -and this only in very hard and perfectly flat terrain; takes a little infinity to turn; prone to engine failures; and is a sitting duck for atillery... *then* one is still in a 'perfectly likely, reasonable, 'not weird' "what-if?"' setting. It would turn to 'Lace Wars Sci-Fi' -Lacepunk ("steampunk by Lace Wars time")- *only* if the war machine is granted the (unrealistic) capacities of a Warhammer steam tank.
Along the same lines, while the first steam-powered craft dates from 1776, the Turtle submarine from 1775 and the first montgolfiere from 1783, *all* could have be built decades earlier. Thus for instance 'alternate WAS' (slow, unreliable) *inefficient* paddle steamer gunboat and hot air observation balloon would not be out of place in a 'realistic' "what-if?" setting.
And the 'historical' Puckle's machine gun was patented in 1718...
More efficient -they actually worked- Chappe's telegraph and the heliograph could well appear in a 'sensible' alternate 18th C. -though the first would be of use mainly at strategical level (and the campaign umpire would see that the building of the semaphores network requires a lot of time and money), and the second in skirmishes in mountainous terrain.
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Think ahead...
Now, 'Lacepunk' worldbuilders *should* think about the immediate consequences of introducing 'weird' engines of war. For instance, barely controlled dirigibles -even merely defensive balloons and kites- would be the bane of those potential fire ships that are wooden men-o-war, triggering a frenzied building of steam-powered, steel-armored 'cuirassés'....
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Your top 3 favorite wargames "periods" to play
- Ancient-Medieval 3.500 BC - 1500 A.D.: I decline to enforce a given culture's peculiar calendar at world scale at times when different *civilisations* collided: 'Renaissance' Amerindians were of the same technological level as Ancient Kingdom Egyptians, and are easier to wargame against Ancients than against their 'historical' opponents. I set the limit when gunpowder weapons got a decisive impact on the open battlefield, i.e. the early 16th C. in (Western) Europe. Then, when -more decades ago than I care to count- our group played a kind of 'Hyboria' campaign one of us fielded a 'Southern Kushite' Victorian Zulu army perfectly fitting in the background. The extreme diversity of troop types, armies, costumes... is an enthralling source of never-ending wonders.
- The Lace Wars: mid-18th C. 'Western European' warfare, preferably with Imagi-Nations.
Few troop types -C. Grant successfully refought major historical battles with only 'well trained professional infantry, cavalry and artillery'- simple rules (not preventing subtle tactics: no rules are as simple as those of chess, all said!), elegant warfare and uniforms...
- These are the only 2 periods I actually played, but were I to try a 3rd it would be Lacepunk: an early Steampunk / tuned down equivalent of Victorian Sci-Fi set in the mid-18th C.
Now, if one is ready to allow for cavorite / liftwood or whatever, they were already here to be discovered: thus, if so inclined, you can have the 'Georges' Boys in Red' (DAF's 1st Foot Guards) and the Compagnies Franches Altercelestriales de la Marine warring on some ± Barsoomian Mars -the FIW or even the Plassey campaign on Mars, 'Natives' vs Habits Rouges (Graham's Albians, here), these Earthling characters (Bill Protz' ) welcoming Princess Delia... And these 'Cloudships' , perhaps turned into dirigibles (please replace shakos with tricorns!) to look more '18th C. compatibles', are too good to be ignored.
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WARGAMING IN THE 'MONSTER BLOOD TATTOO' WORLD
D.M. Cornish, author - illustrator of the "Foundling" series (firstly known by "Monster Blood Tattoo") just posted on his blog some very exciting uniform plates for the main armies of his 'alternate 18th C.' Half-Continent.
At least two '18th C. wargamers already took up the challenge to launch a campaign in this complex, exotic 'quasi - Lace Wars' setting: 'El Grego' and 'Tradgardmastare' .
Btw, despite the vocabulary used, the series is Science-Fiction rather than Fantasy: no supernatural 'magic' but extremely advanced (weird) biology and biochemistry instead of the mechanics and physics of 'normal' Sci-Fi; some details are reminiscent of 'A planet named Shayol' : the biological enhancements required by some trades are the 'flesh and bone' equivalents of the cyber / mechanical enhancements favored by the Cult of the Machine God in WH40K.
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HELLSING BY LACE WARS TIMES?
Hellsing is a Japanese 'vampire hunters' epic declined in three supports: a manga, a TV animated series and an original video animation. A rich, unconventional setting and an exciting storyline: the top agent of the British 'anti-vampires' ('anti-evil', more generally) secret organization and long time friend of the Queen), Alucard, is none else than Dracula himself! The primary enemy Millenium is a Nazi organization, creating artificial, practically remote-controlled vampires -its achievements in biological engineering would be the pride of Melnibonean Dr Jest and of the 'alchemists' of the Half-Continent; the position of the Vatican is ambiguous, Great-Britain is ruled by a secret Convention of Twelve...
By the mid-18th C., Austria would replace Great-Britain: closer to Transylvania, and appropriately under a female rule -a secret government of great feudal nobles and archbishops would not be unlikely; the Hellsing Organization would become a *Catholic* group ('The Royal Order of the Knights of Jesus Resurrected'?) -its retinue of vampires would be enough to keep the Vatican and its secret 'supernatural' agency unfriendly; as for Millenium, the name is to be kept for a millenarist sect: undercover Hussite fanatics would be a fitting to Nazis: their secret base could be in some close area (barely) under Ottoman control...
Dates and a few names would have to be changed, the 'historical' background suitably redined, but complex, refreshingly unconventional and bloody Hellsing can certainly become an exciting quasi-'Pulp' RPG / skirmish 18th C. campaign: its cast of characters by itself would justify the attempt!
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HELLSING (ctnd.) IN ANTIPODIAL PANGAEA?
This faraway Continent is already the secret battlefield of those centuries old enemies, the Damned Followers of the Bat and the Grand Order of the Wolf; an 'underworld' situation which thus may be already complex, if there also a female vampire (this one?) is fighting on the werewolves' side.
This setting is specially propitious for a mid-18th C. transposition of Hellsing. The place of England as homeland of the 'Hellsing Organization' (there the 'Order of the Catholic Knights of Christ Resurrected'?) would be taken by the Electorate of Vorlund, a quasi-Austria suitably close to 'Sylvania' and fittingly ruled by a Maria-Theresa-fashion 'Queen and Empress' (even if generalized sexism prevented her to be elected otherwise than as the new Emperor's wife), heiress of the first ReichKaiser and WolfBruder, with a very special affinity with wolves -and thus no sympathy for anyone associated with bats. Given this 'cultural peculiarity', Vorlund Catholicism is likely to be somehow 'deviant' and the relationships with the Vatican almost a stressed as were those of the English Episcopal Church in the 18th C.: contributing to the hostility of the 'Iscariot' armed branch of the Vatican's Special Section XIII.
Of course dates and a few names would have to be changed, the 'historical' background suitably redesigned -e.g. the origin of the Hellsing Organization and why and when Dracula joined it to become 'Alucard'; Seras Victoria, rather than a novice policewoman (unikely in the 18th C. outside Monte-Cristo!), could be the orphan of a bounty hunter trying her young hand at her father's trade; 'Millenium' with those fascinating characters First Lieutenant Rip van Winkle and Schroedinger (both of them too interesting and lovable to be killed: to be 'converted' at most), would indeed be a fanatical Successor Hussite secret organization, its secret base laboratory not too war away from Vorlund, a wilderness (barely) under Ottomanian control (a kind of 'tribal zone'?) probably not far from Sylvania & /or Skanderberg; its artificial vampires would still turn humans, not into 'true' vampires, but into a 'resident evil' of blood-sucking, anthropophagous if uncontrolled, highly contagious ghouls. She -a kind of vampirized Alice- does not have to be dead, and if freed would turn back against her 'creators'.
- For Dame Integra Schoenbach Windgatter Hellsing, one of Hinterland 'Victorian' female hussars could provide the basis for a conversion: this riding skirt will make her look 'businesslike' yet feminine -Shadowforge Delina is another possibility, while Cipher's Voyageuses bears the right cross;
- for Alucard, his obsolete costume somehow reminds me of Adam Ant with a 'Spawn' cloak : a hussar on foot would provide the basis -give him a pistols with an incredibly long barrel;
- for Seras, Reaper Raine holding a portable 'Amusette' / rampart musket / wall gun instead of the sword could play the part?
- for the Organization own troops, Black Scorpion 'marines' would do as well as they did for Milady de Winter 's Black Legion.
- For Rip van Winkle I'm not aware of a 18th C. gretchen with a very long rifle (except perhaps some of Freebooter Arquebusieres) and an umbrella (too bad Ferryl does not a female version of their 'Witch hunter': could 'he' receive greenputty breasts?);
- a young Elf in passably 18th C. dress (? or ?; see also the pseudo 18th C. Foundry ones) would do for Schroedinger;
- for the ghouls, suitable 'paint conversion' of FIW / AWI militia would do the trick (supposedly they'd have lost part of their clothes during the fight that turned them into Millenium's semi-zombies)...
- for the'paladins', the (OOP) Rackam Griffin Fusiliers (preferably old pattern) are suitabled dressed, but would receive other weapons and of course a tricorn -Privateer Press Taryn could do for Heinkel Wolfe, I mentioned several 'fighting nuns' in the post above that could receive a naginata to become Yumie Takagi.
Most of the characters would require a conversion of commercial minis: it's amazing how the mere addition of a tricorn can 'label' a mini 'mid-18th C.', would it initially be medieval, fantasy or 'historicals' from another period.
. Playing on the thickness of the bases, possibly cutting out the lower part of the feet (concealed by flocking) could balance huge differences of size between *characters* minis.
. Btw I dislike spectacles on female characters -and they were not that commonly worn in the 18th C.
. The Millenium 'ghouls', being 'fresh' they don't need a 'freshly unearthed' look (comment)
. While adapting minis, the addition of a blunderbuss or of some gadgetry -multibarrelled rifle or pistol, even a repeating crossbow (of the historical Chinese pattern, not the silly thing in the 'Van Helsing' movie) [supposed to shoot wooden bolts, I guess- would give a '18th C. Pulp' look..
A quasi-'Pulp' RPG / skirmish campaign based on the definitively, complex, refreshingly unconventional and bloody Hellsing can certainly become an exciting part of the 'Secret History of Pangaea': its cast of characters by itself would justify the attempt! And zombies are not unheard of there. Of couse Keinnahmen and Lola could occasionally join the dance...
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"VON HOELLESINGEN" IN PANGAEA?
An essentially unknown fact: Vorlund is the home of the very secret Order of the 'Katholische Ritter wiederbelebten Christi' -so secret that theoretically, in addition to its enemies (mainly the apocalyptic Millenium sect and its artificial vampires spreading a 'resident evil' of highly contagious blood-sucking ghouls), only the Great Wolves and Waehlerin Erzherzogin Annabel of Vorlund are aware of its very existence. The Orden is devoted to 'uproot unseen Evil' -not unlike the Vatican-sponsored Paladini di San Michele Arcangelo in antipodial Italy and Langdouc, but acting in uttermost secrecy rather than semi-openly, and with in addition an ardently patriotic nature. This organization is under the total 'Fuerhership' of Dame (Graefin) Integra Schoenbach Windgatter von Hoellesingen, the direct descendant of the founder and first Oberhaupt of the 'Hoellesingen-Organisation'. The Wolves approve of its aims and actions, even if feeling a slight uneasiness about the nature of some of its 'trump cards', specially mighty Anculard.
As only child and heir of the Emperor, Archduchess Annabel was informed early about the Organisation and introduced to its two major characters (Anculard can be the ultimate bodyguard): she and Integra immediately got on very well, both being the only child and future heir of an oustanding father burdened with overwhelming responsabilities; they remained more than fast friends -the 'Hoellesingen-Organisation' is fanatically devoted to the Vorlund bloodline- yet Annabel never took up Integra's habit of constantly smoking elegant small cigars 'with a natural, round shape, full-flavoured and double aged for a smoother delivery' (though she appreciates to light one when under stress). Did Annabel informed her husband? Possible but not certain: he is, after all, the Elected Emperor of the Germans but not the heir of the Vorlund ruling bloodline.
Katholische the Organization may be, but given the centuries-old bond between the ruling line and the Great Wolves, Catholicism in Vorlund is resented as 'deviant', not to say heretical, by the most intelorant parts of the Church such as the Holy Inquisition. With its burning patriotism and the 'dubious' nature of its 'top guns', the Organization Hoellesingen is under the deep hostility of the Section XIII, the Vatican's secret 'troubleshooters': rising to pure, unmitigated hatred in the case of the Gruppo Iscariota, the 'Assassination Branch'.
If indeed there is a 'Romeo and Juliet' romance (Selene?) within the struggle between the Damned Followers of the Bat and the Grand Order of the Wolf, then Integra Hoellesingen will feel a deep sympathy for the unlikely young couple, she who feels more closer and trusting to Anculard than to any 'normal' human...
MONTE-CRISTAN VIEW OF THE MAJOR FEMALE CHARACTERS IN VON HOELLESINGEN
The women of the Presipapal 'Service', as all Monte-Cristans, abhor fanaticism (their own excepted), but acknowledge that the mutual trust and admiration between Integra and Anculard reveals in her a laudable tolerance: thus they grant her their unreserved admiration for her dedication, determination, courage and intelligence. Yet, Monte-Cristans being ignorant of social classes, neutral and unprejudiced, they also think highly of some among her female subordinate (with a rampart musket ?) and female sworn enemies.
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MINIATURES FOR HOELLESINGEN
(Hellsing in mid-18th C. 'Europe')
Of course one could use 18th C. minis as such, but to get the 'feel' of the series at least the major characters deserve some conversions of commercial figurines.
Cheap plastic minis and *toys* from 20mm to 54mm can be a source of weapons, crosses and other accessories.
Characters [between brackets] stay in their organization castle / monastery / secret base and would not appear outside their HQ.
General
Bases: I don't know the actual size of the mentioned minis -and real people are not all of the same size anyway. Then one can gain easily 3 - 4 mm in either direction by playing with the thickness of the base, ≥ doubling that of 'smaller' minis or removing the original one of the taller figs and glueing / soldering them on very thin metallic bases -even the lower half of the feet can be amputated, flocking will conceal the mutilation.
Would not work for a regular unit but perfect for individual characters or a mob. And major characters can be slightly 'larger than life'...
Weapons: to make them 'look 18th C.' most of the suggested minis need to be given adequate weapons. Packs of weapons are available from several manufacturers. Major characters can wield 'venerable' swords of medieval style, but then give them appropriate *pistols*, in hand or hooked at the waistbelt or fastened along the thigh. While adapting minis, giving to some -among the 'troops'- blunderbuss, multibarrelled rifle or pistol, even a repeating crossbow (of the historical Chinese pattern, not the silly thing in the 'Van Helsing' movie) would add a '18th C. Pulp' look.
Cross: a few characters require a cross hanging from a necklace. Unfortunately the minis already having such (AOW, Cipher) don't look directly usable. Then, cross-shaped bits can be recuperated fom plastic sprues, or they could be 'painted' as suggested for medals.
Spectacles: many major characters wear glasses; then, such were far less common in the 18th C., and anyway (despite the French saying 'Femme a lunettes femme a quequette') I prefer women without spectacles: we will ignore them in most cases.
Tricornes: *essential*! The mere addition of a tricorne 'labels' a mini 'mid-18th C.': would it be fantasy, medieval, Napoleonic or ACW. In extreme cases -a feminine mini originally with an ugly face- headswapping may be favored.
On 'exotic' costumes (exclude any in long trousers) slouched hats may be kept, but any flat top (19th C. looking) is to be filed / sanded down to a round one. Yet in most cases (AWI southern militia, Black 'rebels' / freed slaves -again, exclude those in long trousers) other hats are better converted to tricornes for 'period color'.
MINIATURES FOR HOELLESINGEN 2
HOELLESINGEN
A (deviantly) Catholic secret organization based in (quasi-)Austria. Known only by the female Ruler and a part of the Secret Police.
Integra Schoenbach Windgatter von Hoellesingen
With an headswapping to give her a pretty face and a tricorn, the Hinterland 'princess' (or sergeant or standard-bearer?) in narrow riding skirt would provide a 'business-like' yet feminine appearance. Alternatively, Shadowforge (LM) 'Delina'?. Needs a cross.
Anculard: old-fashioned attire, thus for 'our' period dressed like Adam Ant ( black dolman, red cloak): headswapping (black tricorne) on a dismounted hussar, add a 'Spawn' cloak; would wield a pistol with a carbine- (at least) length barrel.
Siega Wirstsein: very young, short hair, petite, a microskirt and a monumental set of gazooombies; can carry (and use) with one hand the equivalent of a 25mm sniper rifle: maybe Reaper 'Rhaine', with a sword hilt on her scabbard and holding a kind of amusette in her right hand? Now, if of appropriate size Aberrant 'Carmine' would fit well, provided her shafted 'thing' can become the barrel of a *huge* handcannon. The problem is to start with a figurine small enough.
[Wauter F. Schlafen: Integra's butler-cum-bodyguard since her childhood. Eureka 'Voltaire' could reflect his age? A type in waistcoat would better reflect his 'indoors' costume.]
Troops For the Organization own elite force Black Scorpion marines as for Milady de Winter's Black Legion (in dazzling white with ice blue facings, re.Virgin Mary?).
For the 'auxiliaries' (agents of the Crown or Wildgaense) field the types used for de Winter's Regulators, as well as some Foundry & OWS highwaymen and Shadowforge (LM) Chateur & Macintyre; his silly bicorne turned into a tricorn, GW / Mordheim 'Highwayman' could provide a good leader (Kern Bernhapunkt -then with a patch on the left eye-?).
Lot of 'police' blue.
MINIATURES FOR HOELLESINGEN 3
ISCARIOTA
A murderous trio makes up the 'top trump cards' of the 'Squadra Assassinio' of the Vatican's Officio XIII; dressed in black, 'clerical' collar and cross.
Padre Alessandro Andreoti: fanatical leader of the Gruppo Iscariota; fights with a pair of 'blessed bayonets'; Avatar 'witchhound' would fit if the hat is turned into a tricorne -save the cross for his collar- the pistols transfered to the waistbelt in mini-holsters concealing the 'surgery'and replaced with blades. Cipher Azriel is another interesting possibility, with a second blade (and a cross at the collar).
Sorella Macchia Lupa: a gunslinger nun in rather masculine (# priestly?) dress. Enigma 'Katherine' could be used almost as such (add a cross over her stock; enhance the 'tricorne' look of the hat?); Privateer Press 'Taryn' is another possibility -painting the front edge of her hood white would be a 'reminder' of her monastic nature.
Sorella Irichina Ragbione: a katana-wielding berserker nun; she and Macchia are inseparable (and their relationships rather ambiguous). Several 'fighting nuns' can be considered for conversion, specially the Cipher / Hell Dorado 'Eloise' and two good Reaper ones. Then Taban 'Ninja' would be more faithful to the character's origin -painting the front edge of her hood white would be a 'reminder' of her monastic nature.
Troops: added to numerically balance Hoellesingen's devout soldiers and Millenium's ghouls. Figurines of 'armed monks' do exist in many ranges: fantasy, pulp / horror, historical from the Wars of Religion, Napoleonics (Spain, Tyrol). and the Perry armed clergy of the Carlist War. Of course, and as well as with the 2 other 'Organizations', any attempt of conversion (of any sex) that turned not good enough to represent a major character joins the 'auxiliaries'.
MINIATURES FOR HOELLESINGEN 4
MILLENIUM - 1
A fanatical (and uttely secret) Hussite successor sect; shrine / partly troglodytic fortress in a Transylvanian-like country. 'Logo': a gold chalice on a red field.
Mainly in black with a little red, though those in uniform (the Major, Captain, Doctor for a part and the Catboy; and the 'human guards' if any) would be in red uppergarnments with black facings; red breeches, except for the Catboy and the human guards: black.
Maximalni Hora, the Zamestnanci ('Major'): plump and haughty (and partially a cyborg?). Freebooter Imperial Noble (with a tricorn and maybe at least one Goetz von Berlichingen hand) seems adequate.
Prokop Veliky, the Kapitan ('Captain'): for originality, Aberrant ' Vatacina Guard Captain' (with a 'true tricorn and converted pistol)?
The Doktor: the genius behind Millenium's tremendous achievements in bioengineering; the only character with noteworthy glasses / spectacles: a drop of clear glue on each eye and some 'paint conversion' would be enough . Black Cat Bases ' ship surgeon (or his Foundry colleague) is an obvious candidate; yet the mini does not reflect the Dok's 'unusual shirt which revealing his lower torso'. With a greenstuff 18th C. wig and an apron, Taban ' Stipan' would better fit to the description; so would, (in more 'military') after the same additions Freebooter ' Torpe.
Zraly dne Spac, the Pruni Porucek (the 'First Lieutenant'): an outstanding sniper using a very long, ancient musket. A vampire, but perhaps an Anculard's prey of old rather than an artificial one. Freebooter ' Sergeant Escopeta' looks perfectly appropriate. Could have a (yellow) folded umbrella slung across her back (a 'daywalker', but still...).
Zofie Bourhom, the Druhy Porucek (the 'Second Lieutenant'): a tall, massively muscled female artificial vampire wielding a kind of giant war-scythe; the right half of her body is entirely covered with tattoos (a pain in the pot to paint!). Various 'bases' can be considered: Taban 'Barbarian Huntress', Four A 'Alexis', Wyrd Games 'Viktoria' and 'Cassandra'... As always, those not good enough to represent a character receive a tricorn and join the 'troops'...
MINIATURES FOR HOELLESINGEN 5
MILLENIUM - 2
Kot Kvantove, the Kadet-Uchazec (aka the 'Catboy'): a very young 'construct', somewhat androgynous -yet he and Siega Wirstsein are not indifferent to each other... Ideally, an Elf or Half-Elf mini in 18th C.-compatible dress and looking young enough (25mm?)!! Some Foundry Elves have suitable clothes but do they look young / are they small / enough? If one is content to reflect his youth, Black Cat Bases 'Cabin boy' is appropriate, if a little tubby. Reaper 'Finaela' would be the *best choice*, if she could be made a little less obviously female?
The other 'artificial vampires': only 3 of note in the original, all looking perfectly human -only a matter of chosing among 18th C. 'normal' minis; then, while none of the 'canonic' is female, the Black Cat Bases 'pirate lass', and perhaps Reaper 'Lanura' and 'Lauren' (pointed ears can be clipped out / filed down) seem to good to be ignored? 3 more, then?
The ghouls: bitten humans turn to ghouls very quickly (faster than in the [rec] movie), so are represented by 'ordinary' minis with at most tears on their clothes (wire cutter!) but chiefly by 'paint-characterization': 'zombie-like' eyes, blood on the throat (the were bitten first), mouth (they bite and contaminate), soaking the front of their shirt, dripping from the hands... FIW / AWI milicians, but also some pirates and black rebel / freed slaves in short breeches can be used (they may have lost part of their clothes while trying to evade the bite..), but make sure all hats are (made into) tricorns in order to 'mark' immediatly the period.
Since the bitten humans get up again as ghouls so fast, it may happen during a game that 'rank and file grunts' figurines ('characters' seem immune) of other factions (or even 'passers-by') are 'ghoulified'. If the minis are protected by a good varnish, drops of red waterpaint (easily washed out) would mark the transformation.
Human guards: none in the Japanese original, but since any James Bond 'Evil Big Boss' has an uniformed retinue... For homogeneity with the Captain, Aberrant 'Vaticina Guard Squad' with tricornes by headswapp and 18th C.-looking weapons would be more than adequate. Again, any attempt of conversion (of any sex) not enough to become a 'character' would join them.
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PULP / HORROR CAMPAIGNS IN THE 18th C.
Latest relevant TMP thread (with links).
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LACE WARS FANTASY, PULP / HORROR AND SCI-FI (contd)
Tried to 'spread the Good Word' in front of a wider audience: on two different groups of TMP boards and two different subforums of 'NPU'.
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HOELLESINGEN - 18th C. Hellsing: errata & addenda
(see mid- to 23 nov. "10 comments above)
=> Should be [between brackets] since they are not supposed to leave their respective organization mansion / monastery / secret base (except maybe for basic 'troops' in the case of an 'all or nothing' attempt to storm the base of a rival organization):
- the basic 'armed churchpeople' for Iscariota,
- for Millenium the Major, his bodyguard the Captain, the Doktor and, if any, the 'human guards'.
=> Minis: several Privateer Press figurines could be of use, specially the Warmachine 'Arcame Tempest Gun Mages' for Vorlunder "police officers" auxiliary to Hoellesingen.
=> Conversions: - the portable amusette of Siega Wirstsein and the the long-barrelled rifle of the the 'First Lieutenant' should receive a scope;
- while converting the weapons of the Aberrant 'Vatacina Guard Captain' and 'Vaticina Guard Squad', to obtain a fitting 'pre-steampunk' look give them individually different 'gadget' weapons: blunderbuss, multibarrelled rifle or pistol, grenades-throwing blunderbuss (Russian 'hand mortar'), Tennessee long rifle with scope, even a Chinese repeating crossbow... If additionally slightly altering neck / shoulder / elbow angles, the numerical strength of the 'Vaticina Guard Squad' can easily be doubled without giving an impression of 'repetition'.
P.S.: 3 recent TMP threads relevant to this post: 1 typically 'Lacepunk': French SYW Steamtank?, 2 dealing with '18th C. Fantasy': American Colony mysteries & miniatures 'cast' for Lloyd Alexander's Westmark series. Are Lace Wars Fantasy and SciFi making their 'coming out' at last?
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HOELLESINGEN: LAST AFTERTHOUGHTS ABOUT CONVERSIONS
Hoellesingen: specially if his collar can be raised, Fenryll's chasseur de sorciere and 3 of Rattrap Characters of Gevaudan would make appreciable additions to the Wildgaense.
Among the 'auxiliaries', while some (<=> more to the Secret Police Operatives) may be fully uniformed (in lighter than 'police' blue?), the Wildgaense being a bunch of mercenaries could have smallclothes of diverse colors?
If in search of more firepower you don't fear a quasi-doublet of Siega Wirstsein, Sodapop Rin Farrah (if the mini is small enough) can be the base for the 'other' Draculina in Anculard's service, Griselda Kaethe (from the quasi-prequel 'Legend of the Vampire Hunter') -though she would wield a 'more mundane' weapon (multibarrelled carbine?).
Iscariota
The Aberrant 'Cardinal' could do well for the ambitious (but non-fighting) [(Arci)Vescovo Enrico Massimibene], head of the Officio XIII.
Among the Perry 'Carlists' priests in tricorn the sword-bearer could be his bodyguard Padre Renaldo and the unarmed one his cautious counselor Padre Benito.
If you need hordes of maddened 'civilian' Catholics to support an all-out assault led by Iscariota, re. next comment about civilian minis usable for ghouls!
Millenium
For the Kapitan and the uniformed human Guard I'm still fond of the Aberrant Vatacina Guard, but with elaborated conversions:
- headswappings with Prussian or Austrian musketiere giving them 'Germanic' tricornes with typical corner bobbles.
Note that the Kapitan is a werewolf looking extremely young when in human form: give him the head of a junker / kadett / young drummer? Besides he always wears his collar raised, almost 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' fashion. As weapons a pair of extra-long pistols: to make them clearly different (far older) from Anculard's, of Late Renaissance type: 2 petrinals with the butts converted to late 16th C. cavalry pistols grips. His cold steel weapon (always sheathed) is a kind a long hunting dagger, not a sword. In addition, he always wears at his waistbelt a leather bag containing a first-aid kit (can you paint a caduceus on it?), not for himself but for the 'heroically wounded' of *both* sides.
- for the troops, to add diversity (Aberrant announces a 2nd team), besides slightly altering the angles of heads and limbs, multiply the diversity of weapons, all 'unusual': multibarrelled pistols and muskets , repeater handguns, blunderbusses, hand mortars / grenade throwers, large bore shotguns, musket/short rifle combos, light 'Perry' amusettes with folding rest, Hochland long rifles with scope, Chinese repeating Xbows, individual Greek Fire siphons or Chinese flame-throwers...: with few initial minis you'll built a 'big battalion' with no 2 identical figurines.
VOODOO vs HOLLYWOOD - ZOMBIES vs 'GHOULS'1
In an interesting TMP 'Weird FIW' thread, a learned poster indicated that "One does not become a zombie instantly" while in most movies the 'contamination' of the bitten victim is quite fast. I agree that 'true' zombies (buried and later leaving their graves -with a straw hat or a tricorn this Voodoo Witch would be perfect for the 18th C.) would be treated differently -including in minis preparations and gaming rules- than 'contaminated' persons.
Anyway, while any gaming requires 'a willing suspension of disbelief', I have the greatest difficulties with the so-called 'undeads' of any type. To be able to move and attack (otherwise, where would be the fun?) they need active muscles, thus a functional circulatory system and heart, lungs to re-oxygenate the blood, a digestive system and a liver to feed the muscles; a nervous system to command the muscles, a sensory system to spot and follow the preys, a central nervous system -decaying maybe, but still operational to coordinate the whole… The entire body is in rather bad state (specially for the 'slow moving / clumpsy' "undeads" of the Romero school) and probably wearing away -slight hope of a very long survival. So, sorry, their 'humanity' may be dead, but their body is still alive, NOT a *corpse*.
That's why for the 'contaminated' I favor the 'Matheson model': a highly contagious disease transmitted by the bite. Once bitten the victim turns to a 'ghoul' (Hellsing OVA), 'zombie' (?) (Resident Evil), 'possessed' ([REC]) or 'vampire' (I'm a legend), name this as you will according to your cultural background, but it's all the same: some unfortunate people who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and turned into a rabid, cannibal maniac. The incubation period may vary with the importance of the bite and maybe the infectious strain, but is generally short enough for the 'transformation' to appear during an average game session.
For 'real' zombies I simply cannot think of 'animated corpses' but of victims of a death-simulating drugs combined with suggestion / mesmerism / brainwashing…
What are the consequences regarding the miniatures to use?
- First of all all commercial zombies / undead minis are unusable: even disregarding their clothes unfitting for the 18th C., all are depicted in a spectacular but so advanced state of decay, mutilation, evisceration... that they could not stagger more than a few steps before dying.
- Thus what we have to use is 'normal' minis for the period, and convert (slightly) and *paint* adequately to reflect their peculiar 'state'.
We are to consider, chose and treat differently the 3 main types of such 'rabid cannibals':
- the 'true', unearthed zombies,
- the 'ghouls' of long standing,
- the members of *your* own band / troops contaminated during the game.
= Choice of miniatures:
The very first rule is to select minis in an appropriate dress for the 18th C., having (or easily paint-converted to have) short breeches and changing any inadequate hat (slouched, round hat, turned-up hats, tall flat-topped hats) and id possible most caps / bonnets to *tricornes*
ZOMBIES vs 'GHOULS' 2
- a Ghouls organized in an army by some Evil Genius: well armed civilians: FIW / AWI militias, armed colons, some adequately dressed and armed 'pirates', 'highwaymen' or smugglers'... I
- b Recently contaminated passers by and zombies: most have (or are able to use) only ± improvised weapons: many types are of use: French Revolutionaries, revolutionary mob horde, mob army deal; Chouans; Irish Insurgents and Italian rebels; Spanish guerilleros; Tyrolean patriots; revolting Black Slaves.
= Conversions of miniatures: only for the types a & b above: some scarifications of the body with a cutter or pin point, degradations of clothes with a nail clipper (both far more marked for the 'true zombies', with 'pustules' and more 'scars', than for the 'ghouls'?).
= Painting:
- For the types a & b(including the 'true zombies' above::
> the *eyes* are of importance, ringed with black, with black bags circles under; 'true' zombies may have all-white eyes, 'ghouls' the 'mad rabbit's red eyes';
> 'true' zombies may have a waxy skin, 'ghouls' a more normal, even ruddy one;
> blood at the mouth for 'original' zombies and ghouls, blood at the throat (and possibly elsewhere) for the 'recently contaminated';
> ± dried blood on the wounds and scars; 'true' zombies may benefit from an appropriately 'vomitory' Nurglesque painting, pus or bile pustules and spots...
> some 'dirt' (or 'dried blood'?) on the damaged parts of the clothes
- For the types c above:: If the minis are protected by a good varnish, drops of red waterpaint (easily washed out: child washable pastel / waterpaint) at the troat (and later mouth) would mark the transformation.
= 'Weathering': mainly for the 'true zombies' to give them a 'freshly unearthed' look; for the 'old time ghouls a 'dipping' the finished mini in 'clear oak' matt wood varnish give a grotty / shabby look that may suggest that the ghouls are unable to clean and repair their clothes. For the 'true zombies' on the other end, I had surprisingly satisfying results with such an unlikely mixture as home-made prune juice / roughly filtrated watery puree of dried prunes, intensively honeyned to 'cling' when dry: as always with dipping the 'ink' accumulated in the hollows and at the lower extremities of clothes and weapons, and its 'texture' due to the plant micro-particles gave a 'freshly unearthed' look that no purely liquid ink, paint or varnish would have provided.
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REVOLUTIONARY MOB / ROUSED RABBLED- I
A kind of generalization of the '2nd class / basic troops' types described for Hoellsingen in several comments above.
GENERAL preliminary considerations
We are concerned here with 'generic' 18th C. 'armed crowd' , i.e. 'Western European' (or culturally equivalent): meaning that the dress is to be 'common' (no kilts or sailor trousers or Hungarian thigh trousers) and the tricorne the hat 'by excellence': it's astounding how a tricorn can label minis '18th C.', were they initially ACW or characters of the Robin Hood set!
Another point is that such a 'roused rabble' may contain almost as many rabid women as men; a listing of 18th C. female minis is useful, but remember most of the 'rioters' are civilians who need to be converted: packs of weapons are produced by several manufacturers (also Front Rank and the Assault Group); don't feel restricted to 18th C. weapons: a peasant with a shovel or some housewife with a broom can easily be converted to brandishing a fauchard, warscythe or fork.
And if you can find packs of Napoleonic muskets, all the best.
Some commercial sets e.g. among the Westwind 'Gothic Horror' ranges offer 'vengeful mobs', unfortunately in inappropriate dress (and difficult to convert, though as always the addition of tricornes would be an essential step). But they bring an important suggestion: torches: people brandishing flaming torches even in full daylight suggest the will to 'burn down the "Lair of Evil"', would it be the Governor's Palace, the Temple of another Faith, the castle of a reputedly vampire count, the mansion of a 'mad scientist', the General Bank or the Foreigners' quarter. Remember the importance of such torches when doing conversions, specially of 'basically unarmed civilians'.
REVOLUTIONARY MOB / ROUSED RABBLED- II
COMPOSITION: what different types can be distinguish in / use to build such a 'mob'?
Keeping in mind that the men at least must 'look' 18th C. i.e. wear (or can easily be converted to wearing) tricorne, short breeches and stockings (having / receiving a tricorne is 'labeling' enough for women).
- Secular 'Leaders' and 'characters': well-dressed pirate officers, Army or Navy officers without lapels painted in 'civilian' dresses (preferably with an eye-patch), good-looking smugglers, 'privateers' in great coats e.g. Black Scorpion) and highwaymen (Blue Moon [Old Glory], *Outpost*, Front Rank, Foundry, Redoubt, even GW/Mordheim...), even if masked (the secret police may have agents hiding in the crowd) fell also in this category; some can be moulded quasi-uniformed, paint them differently; well-armed and experimented snipers, witch- or beast- hunters (if -> with tricornes!) complete this 'elite individuals' category. Many of the 'female heroes' (fighting nuns excepted, out-of-character in this context) quoted in the main message, with a tricorne, would also belong here.
- Originally 'well-armed civilians' (remember the rule: at the end tricorne, short breeches and stockings):
2 categories spring to mind, 'FIW/AWI armed colons and militiamen', and 'pirates'.
- Continental North-American types: remember they must fit well in an 'European' crowd, so no hunting shirt, Rangers with mitasses, French in 'capot' or 'coureurs des bois'; make sure they are (eventually at least) in short breeches and convert any round / slouch hat into a tricorn.
-Pirates: two difficulties: many are in wide trousers and are to be excluded or converted; favor those with shoulder weapons (which drastically reduces the choice) -they are not here for a manly brawl with sabre and pistol- or give them a blunderbuss, carbine or musket slung across the back to make them more 'impressive' (we can be less demanding for the 'piratesses); conceal bandanas under a tricorn, or they'll stand out in the mob as Tyroleans with short leather hosen! Also remember that in those times men did not go outside in one's shirtsleeves; they wore at least a sleeveless waistcoat above their shirt (paint conversion?).
REVOLUTIONARY MOB / ROUSED RABBLED- III
COMPOSITION 2: 'Civilians'
- Originally 'badly-armed civilians, most with impovised weapons' (remember the rule: at the end tricorne, short breeches and stockings: this restricts the choice or requires conversions for some types: Sans-culottes', some Spaniards, Tyroleans, Haitians...): manufacturers offer 'roused rabble': French Revolutionaries, revolutionary mob horde, mob army deal; Chouans; Irish Insurgents and Italian rebels; Spanish guerilleros; Tyrolean patriots {remember: neither in long trousers nor in short leather hosen, or convert; as always turn the hats into tricornes}; revolting Black slaves(you can well paint as 'Caucasian)...
to be completed by a *lot*of ingenious conversions of civilians (mainly women -'civilians'-of popular classes- they are under-represented in the commercial sets).
- Composition of 'units': it may be tempting to let together minis of same origin and range; and indeed people from town or countryside, or from differentquarters of a city, would indeed 'look' slightly different. But you'll get the best impression of an 'uncontrolled, totallly wild' rabble but mixing all types of minis and armaments in maximally heterogeneous 'warbands'.
- 'Badges': it may be tempting to give any rioter / rebel a badge, in the fashion of the 'Sacred heart' of the Chouans. But you'll have to set up a mass production of decals easy to place, and even easier to remove otherwise your 'mob' will be irreversibly 'tagged', politically or religiously.
REVOLUTIONARY MOB / ROUSED RABBLED- IV
- PECULIARITIES of 'RELIGIOUSLY motivated uprisings' - 1
Common feature: the (OOP) Rackham 'Griffin Fusiliers', silly-looking as they are, already bear a cross and, all dressed in black and with black tricornes added would provide 'stormtroopers' for any Christain Faith.
It may be caricatural, but 'Protestant' mobs would be more soberly dressed, with a lot of dark browns, very dark greys and black, while 'Catholic' mobs would use a wider palette of hues and lighter colors?
Religious cadre / staff: Protestant / Reformed mobilization:
Not much choice here, minis of 18thC. clergymen and preachers don't seem to abound. For the HQ, clergymen / preachers from Salem during the witch hunting times , given a black tricorne, could do the job: such people tend to be very conservative in their dress; they may even keep as bodyguards some of their favorite witch hunters (Abel, Booth, Jerimiah [Xbow turned into a blunderbuss?]...), again if with a tricorne and entirely clad in black.
Otherwise, find some soberly clothed gentlemen, dress them entirely in black, paint them a rabat or clerical collar and you have your preachers stirring up the popular elation: if he may hold a Bible in one hand and a cross, weapon or torch in the other all the better.
REVOLUTIONARY MOB / ROUSED RABBLED- V
- PECULIARITIES of 'RELIGIOUSLY motivated uprisings' - 2
Religious cadre / staff: Roman Catholic mobilization:
A wider choice here, both for the HQ and the 'men of God' mingled with the crowd to arouse and lead it
At the higher level, safely to the rear, there is a lot of bishops and inquisitors available from the medieval (fantasy?) ranges to the modern: you can also use the Aberrant Cardinal or even the Armorcast Antipope! Perry's Carlist 'armed clergy' has 2 priests in tricorn to act as ADC/ bodyguards; a priest (note that by then they generally wore black tricorns when coming outside) with a crucifix atop a long shaft (like a standard of a sort: O:51) would nicely complete the HQ
{with a coach ready to run away {this last needs two more pairs of horses}? Would apply to *any* cautious 'high persons behind the arousing' of such rabble, btw}.
Front rank at least has a 'blessing priest in tricorne' (rashly moved forward ADC?).
Fighting nuns are out of character, but potentially 'nursing' ones (such as the 4 from West Wind -sure you can easily find many others) ) would be; you can even add *parts* of the Alternative Armies 'Elves field hospital' and the Black Cat Bases'Ship Surgeon', and thus RAFM 'Panicked Holy Sisters'!
Leading the mob: Figurines of 'armed monks' do exist in many ranges: fantasy (incl. ≠ GW: FB, Mordheim and even with converted weapons 40K), pulp / horror, historical from the Wars of Religion -even Robin Hood?, america from the Conquistadors to the wars of Liberation and Napoleon III, Napoleonics (Spain, Tyrol); dont' hesitate to add Orthodox monks -every conviction has its own bearded fanatics. Unarmed monks are also abundantly available and can be converted;, brandishing a weapon + another weapon, a crucifix, a torch or a church banner...
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OFFICIO XIII 2ND RANK TROOPS and 'FRENZIED CATHOLIC MOB': ADDENDA
- BOTH can have use of the Westwind (Vampire Wars ) "Vatican Hit Squad " -though the bareheaded 2 should receive a tricorne, and all 3 would greatly benefit from wielding weapons of more general use.
- Among the 'auxiliaries' supporting Iscariota, the "Mad [Orthodox] Monks" of Westwind Romanov Holiday have their natural place: *any* confession has its bearded fanatics.
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HOELLESINGEN: 'INDEPENDENT / UNALIGNED CHARACTERS (FEMALE VAMPIRES)
I - ORIGINS:
One not directly from Hellsing, but reflecting the peculiar situation in Vorlund: for centuries Pangaea is the secret battlefield of those centuries old enemies, the Damned Followers of the Bat (vampires) and the Grand Order of the Wolf (werewolves). Given the very special bonds between the pure-blood rulers of Vorlund and the Great Wolves, in this country at least werewolves are not perceived as 'monsters' but as respectable, if a little weird, members of the population, on the Secular Power sides with the werewolves. The Hoellesingen Organization is intimately associated with, and fanatically devoted to the 'True' Vorlund ruling line; thus while dedicated to 'eradicate Evil and fight the enemies of the Faith or of the Crown', it cannot but be most than tolerant to werewolves -in the worst case of individuals turned insane and criminal, an unfortunate lesser evil to suppress; normally, 'Chaotic Good' persons and in extreme cases potential allies.
If an 'Underworld'-like 'Romeo and Juliet' occurs between a female vampire (Lua Mondschein) and a seducing young werewolf, Integra Hoellesingen could not but like the young couple, she who trusts and likes (and perhaps more) 'her' vampires Anculard and Siega Wirstsein. Thus the 'rogue vampire girl' would -at the very least and at the start- not know hostility from the 'Organization'. How in her 'alone against the whole world' situation she will interact with Hoellesingen remains undetermined.
The second is a minor character in Hellsing: "Sie" ('She'), the original (natural) vampire upon which all of Millennium's artificial vampires were based -keeping her wrapped in bandages and chained to a wall between 'experiments' (before using the male 'Incognito'?); "Once before, sanity and insanity fought over her, they trampled her underfoot and she is just what is left over" - no wonder after decades of such treatment. I like the idea that she is Elizabeth Bathory evaded and in exile, but doubt herself remembers it. If freed -at a moment the Doktor seems to be tempted to liberate her, but it can happen otherwise- she'll at first be utterly mad and totally uncontrollable. Yet her hatred will be focused on Millenium, who kept her for decades as an animal for lab experiments, and on the 'traditional' Catholic Church who condemned her. As a little sanity comes back, she'll remain fiercely independent, a 'wild card' with nonetheless the vampires of Hoellesingen as the less alien and detestable potential interlocutors. I guess Anculard, as par of the cure of her madness, will persuade her to be called Erzsebet Nadasdy rather than by the anonymous and inhuman 'She'.
HOELLESINGEN: 'INDEPENDENT / UNALIGNED CHARACTERS (FEMALE VAMPIRES)
II - MINIATURES:
(Both entirely clad in shiny black leather)
Two likely candidates:
- for Sie / Erzsebet Nadasdy the Anima Tactics "Kristen", with 2 pistols at the waist and a 3rd strapped along a thigh.
Black hair (with a white lock / part, 'Aunt Polgara fashion', because of her sufferings) and deep green eyes, very pale skin.
- for Lua Mondschein the Dwarftales "Kraakov female squire": her equipment and weaponry are modular, you can forget the bowcase or replace it with a musket, keep the (silver-bladed) spear -she's a vampire on the run in a country full of werewolves- replace the shield with a pistol and a dagger in scabbard, give her a pistol in her left hand and one strapped along each of her thighs.
Raven-black haired with clear blue eyes, pale skin (she's not -yet- a 'daywalker').
(PS: btw, for Kot Kvantove, the Kadet-Uchazec (aka the 'Catboy') of Millenium, the ideal solution would be that Black Scorpion includes in their new 'Elfish pirates' range a cabin boy or (armed) very young sailor....
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MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS:
THE TORTOISE TANK I
[Preliminary note: I'll use the WRG 1685-1835 rules to express the efficiency of wepons, vulnerability and mobility of the contraptions... Keeping the relative values translation to another set is straightforward. Remember that the 'representational scale' is different for 'models' (ca. 1<=>5) and 'figurines' (ca. & <=> 15): applies specially when 'individual' weapons of the musket type are mounted on a model]
I doubt Leonardo's various sketches gave a precise scale, and the simplicity of the general shape is propitious to scratchbuilding, yet I'll discuss the 2 "20 - 30mm"-sized commercial models I know of.
- The Retrokit stated as 1/72: a 'Tankette' for 28-30mm armies, interesting nonetheless, in that it can be treated as slightly different from the other.
- The Black Army stated as 1/57 and thus a 'heavier' AFV. Of course both can be used as behemoths with 15-18mm minis, but we will discuss their use with 25-30mm ones.
Motorization: by 'Lacepunk' times these tanks are to be steam-powered.
The simplest solution is to carefully cut out the door and place here what is visible of the engine, i.e. the extremity of the boiler and the chimney stack(s) {1 for the Tankette, 2 for the MBT?}. Given the slope of the 'roof' only the 'diagonally upper rear' half of the extremity of the boiler is visible; the whole does not have to be very complicated / detailed. The smokestack(s) are angled at right angle backward, so that the smoke does not hamper the vision from , and the stacks are below the field of fire of the weapons of, the turret.
As for the original door, use it as a basis or model from 1 (Tankette) or 2 (MBT) *narrower* ones glued at 90° of the engine.
Desorders horses within a given distance in the same way as 'burning building / path of rockets'; can have at short distance a *potential* (diced for unless the vehicle is 'charging' the enemy unit?) unsteadying effect on hostile foot, specially low-grade one
Armament, generality: given the lack of room inside the vehicle all weapons are breech-loaders: not a difficulty, such are known since the middle ages and in the 18th C. the regulation 'swivel guns' of the French Navy were breech-loaders. No weapon can be elevated enough to shoot upslope.
MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS: THE TORTOISE TANK I I
The turret: Armamanent: depicted as unarmed on the Retrokit, the useof the moulded holes in the Black Army are optional 'given the uncertainty'. I prefer (far more useful) the 'armed' interpretation' with 6 (musket?) barrels evenly distributed all around.
Functioning: Shooting: of course if required by the situation the 'turretgunner' can fire successively each weapon in a different direction. But the great interest of the turret is that, with a treadle, the operator can freelu rotate the turret 360° in both directions; with a handle he can set a 'triggering device' anywhere along a complete (fixed, independent from the rotation of the turret) 'toothed circular' and each weapon fires when the rotation of the turret carries it over this 'trigger': a voluminous, clumsy but sheltered version of the Puckle gun, in some way. By varying the position of the 'trigger' the operator can keep aiming at the same point regardless of the movements of the vehicke as a whole. Thus, the turret can fire a burst of 6 shots in rapide succession (within a 'move') at the same target.
Can move AND fire since the turret is mechanically independent.
Efficiency: treat each barrel as a pair of infantrymen' "unsteady matchlock massfire" for the Tankette, "unsteady musket massfire" for the MBT.
Reloading: with a single man to reload 6 breechloaders, even of an advanced' design, the turret can fire only any other move (regardless of the movements / activities of the main hull)
The 6 main guns: Nature: According to Da Vinci, his tank was to be used like Ancient war elephants, i.e. to spread disorder and terror in the successive ranks and lines of the enemy: thus the main guns are not intended for long range shooting, but basically to use cannister / caseshot (of course the MBT can carry 2-3 rounds of cannonball -for the whole vehicle, not for each barrel!-to deal with 'harder' target or an enely steam tank).
Functioning: Shooting: modern observers criticized Leonardo's wheels gear as 'faulty': they did not understand that it was to allow the whole tank to rotate 360° on the spot (at tabletop scale), so if necessary the 6 guns can shoot in rapide succession (within a 'move') at the same target.
Efficiency: use 'heavy gun cannister' for the Tankette, 'heavy howitzer with cannister but 550 paces range' for the MBT; when using roundshot the MBT guns will count as 'medium'.
Reloading: the builder of the Black Army model assessed the hull had room for 4 men; with 1 driver & 1 fireman for the engine this leaves 2 'pure' gunners. Thus it takes 2 moves to reload the 6 'advanced' breechloaders if the tank moves in any fashion (or if the engineers are repairing a mechanical failure), 1 move if the vehicle (disregarding the turret, which is totally independent) is totally motionless, as the engineers help reloading.
MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS: THE TORTOISE TANK III
Mobility: very low and restricted: can 'declare charge' but no extramove, and the 'rout / pursuit' speed is just the 'normal' one.
Both types cannot enter 'difficult terrain', are stopped by a low obstacle such as low wall or hedge, and cannot cross a stream. On the other hand change of direction adds no penalty / is 'instantaneous'.
Tankette: 75 paces, can climb 'gentle slopes' at 1/2 speed.
MBT: 50 paces, cannot climb 'gentle slopes'.
Mechanical failure: not purely a 'random event' since the chances (initially very low) increase with the number of ininterrupted movement (remember that rotating the whole hull to shoot the main guns at a single target counts as 'movement')'; turret unaffected; 1 move without other activity to repair the 1st failure in a game, 1 d3 (d6?) moves for the next failures
Vulnerability: to simplify imprevious to individual weapons, cannister and schrapnel;
then MBT slightly more resistant then the Tankette
MBT basically counts as 'Protected', Tankette as 'Covered'.
generous saving throw against very light guns, grenades, rockets;
vulnerable to roundshot and to a lesser degree to howitzer shell: efficiency of the hostile fire increases obviously with the weight of the piece; thus a preliminary saving throw (more & more difficult as the weight of the enemy missile increases, more difficult at short range for cannonball, more difficult for the Tankette than for the MBT), then "3 {Tankette} 4 {MBT} *confirmed* artillery hits (from short range if cannonball) destroy the vehicle" + something like the WRG rules against boats .
Annex: MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS:
THE LAND LEVIATHAN
Actually the design was that of a MULTI-CANNON GUNSHIP, but with the 'oars' removed (and the planking completed?) and if the model is indeed 1/35 it can be turned into a semi-mobile fortress.
Here the steam engine is central, part (as well as the protected circular axial 'command plateform' emerging at the center) of a 'fixed' chassis, and it's the whole hull carrying the 16 (?) siege guns that can rotate. Let's be reasonable such a mass cannot rotate quickly, so only half of the guns can be shot in a blast at single target during a 'move' (but the other half can be reloaded in the meantime). 'True' siege guns, able to shoot roundball as well as cannister, and perhaps schrapnel up to 2000 paces.
Move OR Fire
Point defense: 4 or 6 swivel- mounted de Saxe's amusettes evenly distributed around the central 'armored crow's nest' / command post'; can move AND fire, they are neglectible in relation to the mass of the monster.
Other characteristics: basically as for the 'Tortoise MBT' but:
- mobility drawn by herds of oxen at campaign level, but on the tabletop left to its own means; 25 paces, but on the otherhand given its mass simply ignores streams, low walls, hedges... 50 paces of wheeling radius.
- vulnerability: saving throws such as the monster is almost invulnerable against anything lighter than siege guns or howitzers / mortars; requires 8 *confimed* 'siege' hits (from short range if cannonball) to be 'destroyed'.
MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS:
FLYING CONTRAPTIONS I
[Preliminary note: I'll use the WRG 1685-1835 rules to express the efficiency of wepons, vulnerability and mobility of the contraptions... Keeping the relative values translation to another set is straightforward. Remember that the 'representational scale' is different for 'models' (ca. 1<=>5) and 'figurines' (ca. & <=> 15): applies specially when 'individual' weapons of the musket type are mounted on a model]
Common points: use 'sea battle' rules as inspiration for the effect of the wind (the 'helicopter' being more affected than the 'flaping wings').
Effects on reaction / morale:
- something like elephants - camels / horses in WRG Ancient rules vs unaccustomed horses (all animals, actually);
- count 'uphill' and give no 'safe' flank or rear;
- cause 'react at first contact +surprise' when coming for the 1st time within 300 paces of a given enemy unit;
- the 'leaded darts' affect all animals as 'path of rockets' because each has a whistle incorporated.
Movement: can 'declare charge' only against other 'flyers', but no extramove, and the 'rout / pursuit' speed is just the 'normal' one.
basic speed 600 paces for the 'flaping wings', 500 for the 'helicopter' , decreases 'normally' (% <=> HC) in rout / pursuit; unaffected if *drops* items while flying over an enemy on ground, but for 'birdmen' halved when individually *shooting*.
altitude: to simplify, either landed or flying at 50 paces height.
Shooting at / from: range assessment: add 50 paces to the horizontal distance to determine the range of ground to air shooting; use the horizontal distance for the air to ground and air to air shooting. Note that swivel-mounted guns on airboats cannot fire vertically!
Shooting at: possible fireweapons: from the ground only 'individual' weapons, swivel-mounted very light guns, heavy jezzails and amusettes; and rockets (all treated as 'hand-hurled) with a 75% saving throw for the lack of accuracy.
No restriction to air-to-air shooting.
Shooting at: target type: despite their speed, given the size and fragility of their wings 'flaping wings' count as 'clumped', as 'normal' for 'birdmen' individually shooting; helicopter as the most vulnerable of ' dispersed' and ' rapid'. But all count as 'dense target' (at 50 paces height for helicopter, at ground level for 'flaping wings') during the taking off and landing moves.
Dropping missiles: when passing right over the target, takes no time at all. Two types: explosive from hand grenades to bombs of 'siege mortar' size; 'banshee scream' leaded darts.
Hand-to-hand: no 'boarding' allowed, only 'charging' to shoot at minimal range and use what remains of the move to 'pass by'; true HtH possible only between birdmen (in flight).
Nature and efficiency & losses assessments:
- Birdmen are treated in all respects as individual miniatures, similar to infantry or cavalry;
- Vehicles are treated as 'models', similar to boats.
MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS: FLYING CONTRAPTIONS II
HELICOPTER:
Propitious to scratchbuilding, but I'll discuss the Revell model: with an 'airscrew' of 230mm diameter you can built a real 'airboat'.
You'll to add a circular 'gondola' for the passengers, put many men to power the airscrew; for a better control of horizontal direction a pair of small 'wings' (acting like the rear giant oars of Ancient Egyptian ships) seem necessary.
Armament: mainly for air-to-air combat, 4 swivel-mounted de Saxe 'amusettes' and an embarked 'element' of 'Air Marines;
for air to ground an (unlimited at battle level) supply of bombs: treat as if with 1 siege mortar with range = 0 (must fly over the target).
ORNITHOPTER: Da Vinci's original was for allow a single man to fly, but the Revell model with its 410mm wingspan screams to be converted into a 'flying galley' (re. Moorcock's ornithopters of Granbretan): you'll need a number of 'oarsmen' to power the wings. The hull is to be narrow, probably with raised extremities like a Venetian gondola, perhaps the whole sculpted in the semblance of a dragon; 4 light articulated (with springs) 'legs' can provide a kind of undercarriage.
Armament: mainly for air-to-air combat, 4 swivel-mounted ultra-light guns near the rear, 2 more on each side and 2 swivel-mounted very light guns close to the front;
for air to ground a limited (4?) supply of heavy bombs (treat as heavy howitzer shells, but the 1 to 4 can be dropped at once) + an unlimited supply of leaded darts (treat as I element of steady close-order infantry 'shooting' with howitzer cannister factor) -cannot be dropped *at the same time* on the same target as the bombs.
MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS: FLYING CONTRAPTIONS III
BIRDMEN:
Require scratchbuilding, since the GW "birdmen of Catrazza" are OOP (and would have required a drastic conversion of the soldiers), while the Eureka 'Limpopo' ones are 'humoristic'. Seize this opportunity to make the flying contraption more 'realistic' (wider wingspan...).
I suggest that they receive the same helmet (with a padded turban) as the steamtank crews in the main message but with a 'bird' crest -and stuffed knee pads.
Remember when assessing their combat effectiveness and casualties that they are 'individual miniatures' as infantrymen are only parts of an 'element' when dicing for combat results.
Armament: each can carry an individual weapon + 1 single '0 range' grenade OR pack of light leaded darts (count each as a single individual shooting with gun cannister factors). They can drop their single charge and shoot, possibly during the same 'move' and at the same target.
Since they are 'experimental troops' you can mix different weapons in the same unit: multibarrelled musket, hand mortars / grenade throwers (Russian type), heavy blunderbusses, = large bore shotguns (50 paces range but count as twice their number of individuals with 'steady mass musket' factors, very light amusettes (twice their number of skirmishing jezzails), skirmishing long rifles with scope= range 500 paces)... but it would terribly complicate the casualties computation.
Unit: small (1 'element'?), no flag, orders given by whistle...
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'WEIRDNESS' IN THE (EX?-) COLONIES AND CANADA?
A very promising introduction to what, hopefully, will be a long 'narrative campaign'.
A good hope of "Lovecraftian FIW" here.
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MUNCHAUSENIAN EXECUTIONS OF DA VINCI'S DESIGNS: FLYING CONTRAPTIONS IIIbis: BIRDMEN 2: erratum
Since you are scratchbuilding flying soldiers make them more 'realistic' than GW's 'Birdmen of Catrazza' -one wonders how they flap / power their wings, to start with- and thus make them more conform to Da Vinci's design.
Thus you immediately realize that part of the weaponry I described was ludicrously unrealistic, since the hands of the 'birdman' are not free. Thus he can be armed simultaneously:
=>1°) with a single load fastened under his belly -right under the overall center of gravity, so the contraption is not thrown out of balance when the load is dropped (dropping triggered with a string going to the left hand handle). This "one use only during the game" can be:
- a (small) bag of hand grenades, [the fuse lighted by the dropping]: treat each birdmen as 3 individual minis skirmishing with grenades,
- a single shell/ bomb (idem): given the difference of representational scale between figurines and models, count as 1/2 howitzer?
- a bundle of leaded darts: treat as 1/2 howitzer using cannister, or say 9 individual bowmen?
=>2°) with a pair of carbines (the gunpowder weapons must be *light* and without too powerful a recoil), fixed to the frame, # above the shoulders of the soldier (orientation is that of the whole vehicle, like machine-guns on fighters: at wargaming scale we can allow a 'supposed' *short* diving or 'rearing' of ≤ 45 °; implying a minimum range). Given that the birdman cannot, obviously, reload in flight (i.e. during the game), let's suppose each carbine functions as a mini-Puckle gun, allowing several - 6?- shots before landing. Each pair of simultaneous shots is triggered with a string going to the right hand handle. Given the unavoidable lack of accuracy, each individual counts only as 1.5 figurine skirmishing with carbine...
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ANIMATED SCARECROWS?
An idea I'm specially not at ease with, given my preference for 'Sci-FI' explanations. I'm at ease with a 'flesh golem' such as Frankenstein's creature: a *complete body* 'reanimated' with electricity: Sci-Fi using 19th C. science.
But a 'twigs and straw' animated golem... this indeed *requires* a very powerful supernatural intervention: the 'puppetmaster' has to 'tape' energy somewhere (twigs and straw require kilocalories to move), to provide the sensory input, to 'delegate' some minimal form of 'intelligence' to coordinate the actions, even if only reflexes and stereotyped behavioral sequences, to play the part of the general nervous system to have the limbs obey the orders of the (micro-)brain....
The simplest explication (and the one, I think, complying best to Ockham's Law) is to suppose that the scarecrow is 'inhabited' and animated by a captive ghost, spirit, imp, immaterial extra-terrestrial... (in the same ways as the statue of a deity can move when the deity embodies him/her/itself in the sculpture).
Wargaming-wise, scarecrows are probably harder to 'kill' than ghouls or zombies (the 'spirits' embodied in them being 'diffuse', not concentrated in a peculiar point) but easier to disable -they are not *that* solid- so the overall effect may be identical?
A peculiar problem with scarecrows is their potential flammability: of course their creator may have tried to make them, if not fireproof, at least less flammable? On the other hand the captive, enslaved, immaterial being inhabiting a scarecrow can hope to be free if its material jail is reduced to ashes, so may fight this 'fireproofing' at the opportune moment?
An interesting question is: 'What becomes of his various 'controlled' creatures, ghouls, zombies, scarecrows... when their controller is killed? -or simply disabled / unconscious? (You'll ask: and when he sleeps? Well, either he has colleagues / apprentices to maintain the control, or he carefully put his creatures "off" before going to bed).
The answer varies with the type of controlled creature:
- with relatively fast and smart "ghouls" (I use the Hellsing nomenclature) they simply become more feral, attacking / biting / eating any human within reach, friend or foe; they may even attack ghouls of other 'packs' (a *great* idea in '30 days of night' was to give vampires the social structure and behavior of a pack of wolves);
- for "traditional /'true' zombies" -slow and moronic, clumsy flesh automatons- it can be diced individually: most will carry on what they were doing (if it was 'fighting', now it's at random, see the ghouls above); a few will move at random, scaring horses and disordering units they interpenetrate, but not fighting, except -but probably not, even in self-defense; a few will fall in total apathy.
- for scarecrows inhabited by immaterial captives, it's simple, their prisoners escape and each scarecrow is now a very ordinary, normal, immobile scarecrow.
An ancillary question: what happens if the 'controller' is severely distracted -stunned for an instant by the physiological shock of a severe wound, engaged in personal hand-to-hand combat, in rout with pursuers still in contact or still within, say, pistol range? I think he is at risk to losing control of some of his 'creatures': dice for each of them, for those now out of control see above. When the 'controller' regains his nerves and his mo longer disturbed, he can try to regain control -again dice, probably easy with zombies than with ghouls, impossible for scarecrows the evaded 'spirit' will not get back to its jail.
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HOELLESINGEN IN PANGAEA?
A secret 'Convention of Twelve' in Vorlund?
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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE... AND ZOMBIES
A little too late for 'our' area, but full of *funny* gaming potential nonetheless.
Some illustrations from the book and the 'graphic novel' are inspirational; the video promotional teaser for the prequel is amusing indeed.
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CTHULHU vs THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS?
Announced on TMP, a very different approach of both Mythos, 'simply' by combining them: cheers!
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ABOUT UNDEAD HUMANS, THEIR NATURE AND ABILITIES
Two TMP threads about vampires and zombies.
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SHAPESHIFTERS AND THE LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MASS
In the literature, approaches vary: Poul Anderson took it fully into account in 'Operation Chaos' -the range of 'were' forms is thus limited (even a hulking wrestler makes a rather small bear, and no flying form is possible: the Andean Condor weights 33 lb at most);
Eddings asked the question in the 'Belgariad' and chose to ignore it with a shrug -then, why not?
The worst approach is to try to take it into account while allowing a wide difference of weight between the 'human' and 'animal' forms: not only it implies *weird* hypotheses about changing inter-atomic distances and atomic diameters, but a human changed into a tit, not only could not fly, but would break his legs under his own weight!
Now, since Lavoisier expounded the "law of conservation of mass" in 1777, maybe it can be ignored in a 'Lace Wars' [GNW -> SYW: O6.15."11 comment] setting? Then an ogre sized werewolf can well be *any* human (of any mass / weight) in 'shapeshifted' form, including 'a stunningly beautiful woman, about 5'5" and 110 "perfectly distributed" pounds'.
Btw, an intriguing question: how many teats does a wereshewolf possess? Clearly Bronze Age pitched on 'one pair', and personally I support this choice.
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MILLA JOVOVICH PROMOTING 'LACEPUNK'?
As Milady de Winter ("Alice de la Fere"?) in the Three Musketeers 3D (2011).
Gives some hopes for 'useful merchandizing' on TMP.
Not directly on-topic, but not far: Da Vinci 'Code' (!) Add a steam engine to the 'tank' and paddle boat -it was in use since the early 18th C. at least to power draining pumps in mines.
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POTENTIALLY INSPIRATIONAL NOVELTIES
For Lacepunk and Lace Wars Fantasy / Horror /Pulp: the Dreadquake Mortar, 'authentic' Old Carribean zombies, some 'in bicornes' (hope the range will move back to the Lace Wars) and Hinterland 'Hussarettes' ones. A 'light' (?) -but I love the accent- Quebecois movie easily transposed to the FIW (as could this Red Riding Hood); while Cipher "Jaws" and GW "Thing in the Woods" with a little paint conversion would make great 'tamed' armored warbeasts of the "Brotherhood of the Wolf" famous 'Bete' type; some Alkemy Khalimans could be used as 18th C. werepanthers.
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ZOMBIES GAMES SET IN 'UNCONVENTIONAL' PERIODS
An interesting TMP thread - in addition of traditional ''Pirates vs Zombies / vs Ghost Pirates'' games, of course. For some reason, undeads of various types are long accepted in 18th C. Pirates games than in 18th C. 'Land' ones.
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VIDOCQ AGAINST ZOMBIES?
A new TMP thread.
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HISTORICAL GAMERS MAY BE TEMPTED BY 'FANTASY'
Another recent TMP thread.
Rather cheering for the long-times 'geeks' :)
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UNSOLICITED LACEPUNK SUGGESTIONS
On TMP:
- to a marvelous VSF modeler to extend his creations to the Lace Wars period,
- to a Weird WW2 player intending to use the 'Hollow Earth' (generally associated with the Nazis), to add it also to his 'alternate' 18th C. campaign.
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'NAPOLEONICS' NO LONGER TOTALLY IMMUNE!
A (pleasantly) surprising post on TMP: enjoyable 'Napozombies' pics.
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18th C. PULP?
Another attempt to have the sub-genre known by a wider audience by cross-linking between threads posted on different TMP boards and then to NPU...
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RECENT INTERESTING TMP POSTS
- "Zombies with guns and swimming zombies"
- "Are Zombies and a Ghouls the Same Thing?"
- "What happens if YOU eat a zombie before they eat you?"
- "Zombies vs werewolves in the 18th Century who would win? "
- and a potential 'weird FIW' scenario.
Updated accordingly my Inspiration for 18th C. Pulp message on NPU.
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18th C. VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES & ZOMBIES... A-TEMPORAL STORIES ON THE FRINGE OF 'CIVILIZATION'
Posted on NPU a message drawing attention to, and commenting upon, recent relevant threads on TMP.
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SPREADING THE GOOD WORD... AGAIN
Under the excuse of sharing an outstanding photo posted on a French blog, I posted the same message on EvE, TMP and NPU (this last I edited to add new links to relevant minis).
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DUNGEON CRAWLING AND 'FANTASY' RACES IN THE 18th CENTURY?
A debate on the 'Tradgarland' blog.
The author's lamplighters could be included in his campaign, imho...
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LOVECRAFTIAN [NON_HUMAN] MINIATURES - 28 mm
Actually of potential use in numerous settings, from 'pirates' adventures or 18th C. 'Dungeon crawling' to fully reflect the variability and weirdness of 'nickers' (from ±humanoid to totally shapeless protoplasms) several manufacturers offer 'Lovecraftian' miniatures ('Lost Minis Wiki' has a good, but in need of an update, overview; id° for the partial Warseer one).
Mainly, as whole devoted ranges:
- RAFM
- EM4 (ex-Metal Magic)
- Mirliton (ex-Grenadier),
- Black Cat Bases
- SOTA Nightmares statues are huge monsters of *exorbitant* price...
- An upcoming (hopefully) venture will propose 'non humanoid' aliens: some look quite 'Lovecraftian' and would be of use in any period (provided the high-tech weapons are not cast with the 'beings').
Then, other manufacturers offer several 'Cthulhuesque' creatures among wider ranges:
- Fenris Games
- Tengu Models
- Reaper Miniatures
- Otherworld Minis produce 'classical' Dungeon Monsters and 'vermin', incl. very Lovecraftian slimes and DM8 purple worm
(Continued ->)
LOVECRAFTIAN [NON_HUMAN] MINIATURES - 28 mm 2
- Among the PP Monsterpocalypse monsters the Lords of Cthul are obviously 'Cthuloid', but some other are useable; each 'big boss' has a retinue of smaller 'minions'
- Ramshackle
- Red box Games (Infernals)
- FUUK (e-bay?)
- Armorcast
- WotC D& D minis included some nice, creepy 'dungeon nasties'; / Wizkids
- Deadland minis (oop: ebay?) had several offerings
- Wyrd Minis (for Malifaux) are 'steampunk' and mainly offer cyborgs, but a few purely biological / non-mechanical / / creatures / entities / constructs are suitable for this use
- Kingdom Death 'Wet Nurse' and 'Gorm' while not 'Lovecraftian' are... disturbing enough to be mentioned (gigantic 'living corpse' of 'The shunned house' ?)
At last some ranges even propose a single (so far) remarkable 'Lovecraftian being':
- Black Ball Games
- Fenryll (also)
- Gribbly Bileworms (& Vilespawn if the mace can be removed)
- HorrorClix
(Continued ->)
LOVECRAFTIAN [NON_HUMAN] MINIATURES - 28 mm 3
- Kurashan (15mm, but the larger 'monsters' can be used as such with 28 - 30mm minis, the smaller as creepy annoyance)
- Maximini to come?
- Rackham (to reappear?)
- Rattrap
- RPE crypt worm (see also Reaper Purple Worm)...
Some companies produce 'whole games', i.e. combining background / scenarios, rules and miniatures [#kind of boardgame] : in the Lovecraftian vein, and for their 'monsters':
- Uncle Mike Strange Aeons
- Fantasy Flight Mansions of Madness
- Beasts of War Carnevale (18th C. Venice!).
For the Pickman 'canine' ghouls the Crocodile Games ones are perfect.
On the other hand, for the albino, degenerated, cannibal population (probably plagued by endemic laughing sickness) of 'The lurking fear', Heresy 'generic' ghouls (practically naked, so period-fashion independent, and still 'human' looking) are most appropriate.
(Continued ->)
LOVECRAFTIAN [NON_HUMAN] MINIATURES - 28 mm 4
Not directly of Lovecraftian origin, but Cthulhuesque with their octopus-like head, the old D&D Mind Flayers / Illithids got a renewed interest after one similar creature featured in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Huge list, plus:
- WotC
- Reaper Bathalians
- Calvalcade (Dragonblood) Dark Mariners
- Four A cultists (unfortunately, similar minis with the hood on are, I'm afraid, 15mm Kurashan..)
- Black Orc Kalovon [:) !]
- Wyrd Coppelius
- and in 18th C. costume Tinbits Calamari among 3 'weird' pirates.
For an idol: the 'Cthulhu bag' (a similar idol exists also as 150mm resin single )
The Cthulhuminati products are 'terrain pieces', but at least one could be taken as a 'protoplasmic' shaggoth.
Some *weaponless* GW / FG Tyranids look quite Lovecraftian
Out of Lovecraftian inspiration, for nickers and the like, some minis of the Dark Age 'Brood' range (the odd beasts, and as 'humanoids' Gazelle and Scion?) may also be of interest; same for the Crocodile Games 'Wendigo' range .
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LOVECRAFTIAN [NON_HUMAN] MINIATURES - 28 mm A few additions
- Troll Forged: some 'Aliens' look 'Lovecraftian' in the Tyranid way, but their Worm Grubs are straightly 'chtonian', specially the types B and C
- Troll Forged: some 'mutants' look 'generic' enough; and their rats swarm is... impressive.
- Troll Forged: their 'Fishmen' really look like 'Cthulhu spawn'
- Armorcast Decapussywhipper (a kind of giant 'walktapuss', in more 'credible')
- Mantic Games: their ghouls (& zombies) almost naked and seemingly not too 'cartoonesque', could be used in any 'period'
- Some of Black Cat bases Demons
- Spinespur Cerebeast
- Several (ex Maginificent Egos) Valiant ± shapeless... things (click for images).
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A STRANGLER CULT OF KALI IN 18th C. EUROPE?
The 'true' Gypsies came from India, and Saint Sarah, their Saint Patron they come in pilgrimage to venerate underground at the Saintes Maries de la Mer (probably a 'recycled' Black Madonna?) is called in their tongue Sara e Kali. This suggests the possibility of a 'Strangler' Cult among the Gypsies -utterly secret, of course, and specially towards other Romani, who already feel mistreated and mistrusted more than enough by the gadje.
Thus anywhere in Europe 18th C. 'Pulp' adventurers may have to face Thuggees -unknowingly supported by a loose but omnipresent semi-underground network...
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LACEPULP seems to have the winds in its sails: at the same time it benefits from a commercial game, Carnevale, at Hallowwen time it seduced a so far 'historical' gamer of the FIW: "The Wabenaki of St. Francis set great store by the Virgin of Chartres, a silver statue of the Madonna, sent by the friars of that renowned cathedral, in appreciation for some devotional wampum belts sent thence by the Wabnenaki. The idol was reputed by the Indians to ward off the Sons of Malsum, fiends of aboriginal lore; however it failed to ward off the Roger's Rangers. In 1759, the statue disappeared in the wake of that doleful village's destruction." What happened to the fabled statue is now fully reported and illustrated.
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AFTER THE FORTRESS CRUMBLED DOWN...
when the forum changed server, all previously posted links are dead.
The forum administrator opened a new one Colonel Hawkwood's Regiment of Foote. He transferred there the Moonlit in Pangaea Lacepulp game report, I did the same for Hellsing in 18th C. Vorlund and started to carry Lacepulp & Lacepunk material.
In the meantime, the updated links to NPU / The Fortress:
Moonlit night in Pangaea report
SYW Pulp
Inspiration for 18th C. Pulp?
Mid-18th C. Fantasy / Horror / Pulp
Creature of the month..Werewolf
18th C. werewolves and zombies..
Inspiration for 'A moonlit night in Lusitania' game?
Vampyrs & Chaos Gods
18th C. Hellsing?
Hellsing in Vorlund
Mid-18th C. Sci-Fi: Lacepunk
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18th C. VAMPYRS & WEREWOLVES
In friendly Ardoberg-Holstein,
- on TMP (enlarged the topic),
- updated on the (sinking) Fortress.
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Some editing of and illustrating added to the main text above.
On TMP posted messages -taking initial inspiration from 'Le Scorpion' - aimed openly at Eureka- suggesting designs for 18th C. 'adventuresses / female heroes'; actually more for a 18th C. 'winsome warrior' (specially the last post 06 Dec 2011 1:31 p.m. PST).
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PLAYING MALIFAUX IN THE 18th C.?
Some 'Horror' games set by tradition in the 'Gothic 19th C.' period such as 'Chaos in Carpathia' can obviously be played with 18th C. miniatures -as was demonstrated recently in Ardoberg-Holstein.
A cornucopia of 'human' miniatures is available in 28-30mm size in historical (incl. highwaymen and smugglers) and pirates ranges; a few are hidden in unexpected places, such as Enigma Catherine, Valiant Pilgrims (female and 2 male), the female Duellist (sic) in the Cobalt SF range re-issued by Black Hat...
The boxed game 'A Touch of Evil' includes 18th C. minis, with a (not very sexy) 'monster huntress' (wood bolts with a silver head would be equally efficient against vampires and werewolves).
'Monsters' and 'Supernaturals' are to be (almost) naked not to be 'labelled' to a given period by their clothes.
Naked Werewolves are widely available: Heresy, Otherworld, Reaper... The Crocodile Games 'Ghouls' (Pickman's model) can be used as spectacular werewolves. The Wolfen ('Confrontation') and Reaper Lupines are almost naked but carry hand-to-hand weapons. Other turned giant Hulk-fashion when shapechanging, so their trousers now look like 18th C. breeches (Black Orc, Uncle Mike, Westwind...). Puppetwars' werewolves heads and arms allow conversion of human minis in 'period' costume. Now, the Bronze Age '18th C. female werefox' can pass for a specially cute were-shewolf (no tale-telling tail!).
Naked -but not too decayed to be 'credible'- Zombies are quite rare but naked 'generic' ghouls can play the part.
A few 'undead Marines' can be painted as zombies.
Yet still 'zombies' in movies are humans with some cosmetics, the easier way to obtain zombies in costume period is to slightly convert 'normal' human miniatures: great Victorian demonstration.
(Continued)
18th C. Malifaux 2
Vampires? According to the 2 seminal novels, Carmilla and Dracula, vampires can mix with humans totally unnoticed, so would NOT require special minis when in human form. Yet for those wishing to have vampires victims of the 'Sunnydale syndrome', Foundry 'Revenant Elves' are appropriate, specially the females, as well as Reaper 'Skinsaw man', Zenit Thetis -and Reaper Gnome wizard for a young girl.
(Those can of course be used 'straight' as 18th C 'Elves' -though I maintain Elves do NOT have pointed ears).
The WF plastic 'generic WSS infantry' is an abundant and relatively inexpensive sources of tricornes, for conversions in 28-30mm. Amazing how the mere addition of a tricorne can 'tag' a figurine "18th C.": Leader from Gierburg (outstanding blog: Gieburg, a 18th C. Mordheim); Katarin from Herrschaden.
Btw for those *embarrassed* (given the blood feud between vampires and werevolves) by the rumor that master vampires can turn to giant wolves, Hellsing Ultimate offers a caper: Alucard turns into a giant *dog* (with more than one pair of eyes), and Taban Miniatures has a fitting figurine (and I find changing to a flock of bats -in the same way as a sorceress turns into a flock of crows- more 'in character' than turning to smoke').
As for vampires in 'human-bat' form, Zenit has a nice 'bride of the Count'.
(Continued)
18th C. Malifaux 3
More 'specialized' Horror games such as 'Strange Aeons' can also be played in the 18th C.. Again the Lovecraftian monstrosities are widely available; 'pirates' ranges offer suitable complementary figurines (surgeon with saw, carpenter with ax, 'hired hands'; the Privateer Press Warmachine mercenary 'press gang' also has potential as denizens of some 'mansions of madness', as do some unconventional Freebooter 'pirates' ...) and now Carnevale has 'mad doctors' and people having missed their sanity roll.
(Btw some recent additions to PP 'Everblight' huge warbeasts are quite 'Lovecraftian'.)
(Continued)
18th C. Malifaux 4
But then can even a game with such a specialized setting as Malifaux be transposed to the 18th C.? YES.
As for 'human' figures many are not in blatantly 'period' dress and can be used. 'Normal' 18th C. minis can replace those in 'steampunk' costume; additionally 'quasi-18th C.' minis such as the PP Cygnar 'Arcane Tempest Gun Mages' could be thrown in the mix e.g. such as Guild Guards.
The difficulty mainly comes from the typically Steampunk 'mechanical' constructs. For 'Lacepunk' I suggest to substitute them (stats unchanged) with bioconstructs: some are already in the Wyrd range, but one can add not a few from Privateer Press 'Hordes' Warbeasts and from other sources, such as Zenit Graft, Patched and Rotten; Enigma (available also through Taban) Dushatâr and Rotten scum... and the Flesh Demon from Helldorado; Valiant (32mm Fantasy) also offers some bizarre'... things.
As for the mechanical tunneling worm, giant worms of the Dune (but undersized) / Tremors type are available, while arachnoid / insectoid aliens in 15 or 28mm (too numerous to link) can be substituted to the mechanical arachnids; the Ramshackle 'Slag Dragon' is spectacular...
So, yes, to play 18th C. Malifaux certainly can be attempted.
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Re. characterizing Lacepunk with an atmosphere different from Steampunk thanks to bioconstructs, see the discussion of the 'mechanically enhanced' rhino in Carnevale (20 Dec 2011 and later).
Btw the 'character class' and the missions of the Witcher could well be set in a 'fantastic' 18th C....
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LACEPULP UPDATE
- TMP debate about what is, and what is not 'Pulp': everlasting controversy, new thread;
- Rules seemingly suitable for 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (but better to play it in the 18th C.: same British gentry and a larger choice of minis!);
- They area what they are, but the 'Van Helsing' movies as well as the 'Solomon Kane' one - even 'Black Death'- could be replayed in the mid-18th C. {but don't kill Kate! The 1st 'Van Helsing' was a merry patchwork of references and visual 'private jokes', Anna Valerius referred to Valeria in 'Conan the Barbarian', which unfortunately required her death and funeral pyre.};
- Lovecraftian monstrosities in resin: the sculptor of the 'Young Dark' and builder of the awesome terrain used for the demo pics of Carnevale is part of a team of sculptors trying to sell their non-commissioned work directly: the Young Dark, Golonac...;
- For other Lovecraftian monstrosities (or 'bioconstructs' to replace mechanical contraptions in a '18th C. Malifaux'), the Spanish 'Sphere Wars' range offers 'interesting' beasties among the 'Vastagos-de-Kurgan', and 'Island of Dr Moreau'-like men-beasts / 'original' werecreatures among the 'Adeptos-de-Malesur'.
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HUMAN 'TROLLS'?
(No, NOT those running wild on the Web!)
In the old Swedish song 'Herr Mannelig'(*) a 'female Troll' offers marriage to a Lord, who declines not because she is 'not human' or ugly, but only because she is not Christian. Exquisite gallantry toward a 'woman'? No, because in 'Konungen och Trollkvinnan' the 'Troll witch' is so beautiful that she catches the King's heart [and... lust:)]. Thus it seems that in these cases 'troll' is simply a pejorative for 'Pagan'. Denying 'humanity' to your enemies is a very old, but still used and efficient, 'public relations' trick.
It may have helped that 'Pagans' were reputed to used 'magics': magic itself becoming more and more 'evil' with time under the Church's propaganda. The 'good' magician Merlin (son of a devil and a nun) is 'off the loop' in the most Christianized part of the Arthurian cycle, the Quest for the Grail. In the 'Matter of France' Fée means 'magical', with Fay swords and horses as well as peoples: and a cheval fée, Bayard, is a 'hero' (while [Saint] Charlemagne is a rather 'bad' type). Later Fées became only 'humanoid' females, gaining progressively an 'evil' repute of lethal temptresses. Morgan le Fay is 'good' in Geoffrey of Monmouth and Chrétien de Troyes, 'evil' only in the later texts.
And with time Christians mixed up 'pagans' with their (minor) deities: a 'Fay' is a purely human female magician as well as a 'Faerie people' heir of the nymphs and Elves (**). In countries with Germanic influence (including France, the country of Franks) the restriction of 'Fay' to women may have been helped by the purely feminine (or shamefully feminizing, for males) nature of the seidhr magic of the voelvur: a shamanic magic (shamans often wear feminine dress) probably of Finno-Ugric origin (and also allowing shape changing to animal forms: there is a lot of such shapeshifting in the Finnish Kalevala, and Loki himself -who got pregnant in female animal form- is probably of Sami origin). But the main factor remains that for all 3 Abrahamanic religions the Woman, Eve or Lilith, is basically *evil* and a temptress, the death of the Man or of his soul. Re. the transition Huld (witch) -> Holda / Huldra, initially 'good' but later turned into lethal temptresses like the mermaids (including the 'degraded' and very sexual Morrigan of Britanny), the Lorelei...
The shapeshifting associated with shamanism (a shaman follows / becomes an animal spirit) is probably behind the 'hybrid' nature of the Germanic Huldra. In France Melusine, the typical Fée with an animal feature, is afflicted by it because of a curse, and only during some days of the month....
(Continued)
HUMAN 'TROLLS'?
Such a curse is not uncommon, re La Blanche Biche, the 'White Doe' hunted, killed and eaten by her own brother. If such curse exists in an 'alternate' Lacepulp 18th C. the first mission of the Witcher can be re-played with figurines in tricorne!
Anyway, coming back to the original topic, 'female Troll' = [beautiful] pagan woman suggests an entirely new vision of what a 'Troll hunter' is chasing: this (Snow White & the Hunter, precisely) rather than that :)
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*: the Haggard 'baroque' interpretation -fittingly of an Italian translation- is stunning; the In Extremo one is pleasantly lively, perhaps too much for such a sad story.
** : What are Elves, btw ? The oldest texts we have are already confused. On the one side Elves are mixed up with Dwarves (in the Nibelungenlied the Dwarf is called ‘King of Elves’; the ‘Elves of Darkness’, expert smiths ‘living under the ground like maggots’, are obviously Dwarves); on the other side they are mixed up with the Vanes, the fertility deities of the « Health and Wealth » ‘3rd Function’: when Loki insults the Gods, one complains to be insulted ‘in front of Ases and Elves’. Then, semi-deified ancestors –their most likely origin- can easily turn to minor local deities, specially of the 3rd function.
As the Germanic culture mixed with (Gallo-)Roman one, Elves became mixed up with the (Gallo-)Roman spirits of nature to give the Fées; and in Ireland with the Aes Sídhe. In all cases, they were initially far different from Goethe’s *evil * ‘King of Elves’.
As for the Dwarves (Dwarfs before Tolkien), I suspect they came from pre Indo-European graves with a rich funeral treasure and bodies buried in foetal position: a possible origin of their name being ‘torn’.
And maybe the hairy Trolls killed by sunlight came (through the Finno-Ugrics) from those Siberian frozen mammoths that decay so fast when exposed to the sun…
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JUMPING ON ANY EXCUSE
to promote (once more!) Lacepulp on The Miniature Page.
The excuse? A presentation of (very well painted) minis for playing 'Witchfinder General'
(re. corresponding blog post).
Btw, while intended for 15mm gaming, Rebel Minis Sci-Fi Bugs and Creatures if in swarms can well appear in a 28mm game as 'creepers' or, for some, 'bioconstucts'.
An opportunity to update recent Lacepulp posts on the NPU forum.
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The PRIORY OF SCION AS A LACEPULP CULT?
Topic submitted on TMP.
Carried on to the 'Fortress'; updated the Lacepulp and Lacepunk threads.
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O2. 05, 2012: A FEW UPDATES
In order to keep promoting Lacepulp on TMP
I started a new thread:
"The Priory of Sion as a 'Pulp' cult?",
revived old threads of mine:
"Lacepulp: 18th C. vampyrs and werewolves"
"Playing Malifaux in the 18th C.?",
and shamelessly hijacked several ones:
"Witchfinder General pics"
"A Cthulhu Cult"
"Pirates in the deep jungle";
same to 'advertise' Lacepunk:
"Space: 1909 or Space: 1939???"
"Interested in doing 19th Century or VSF Imaginations?"
"John Carter and Gods of Mars"
"Imaginations in the World of Greyhawk?".
As a consequence of these TMP novelties I also updated several relevant threads on the 'Fortress':
SYW Pulp
Lacepulp
18th C. werewolves...
18th C. Hellsing
and
Lacepunk.
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'CREDIBLE' NON-HUMAN RACES
I strongly dislike their traditional 'caricatural / cartoonish' appearance of non-human races in illustrations and miniatures. It dates largely from pre-literate times, when story tellers and illustrators distorted / exaggerated the 'exotic'. Look at the illustration of medieval bestiaries, and how some real animals (seals, spermwhales…) and even plants (cotton tree: a sheep upside down on the top of a trunk!) are depicted and drawn! Image intended for mostly illiterate viewers use gross exaggeration to translate 'graphically' any slight 'strangeness'.
In the same way, the 'beastmen' auxiliaries of the Imperial forces mentioned and illustrated in Rogue Trader disappeared from later 'canonical' texts: a 'rationalist' interpretation is that they were no more than a very 'graphical' collective reference to all ab-humans in Imperial service (ogryns, ratlings, squats) visually 'emphasizing' their 'not really human' nature. 'Official' miniatures are simply copied on these distorted images, as if Pharaonic Egyptian miniature soldiers were done in 3D following slavishly the Egyptian perspective!
All these reserves and arguments because with my locally limited abilities of 'willing suspension of disbelief' as soon as biology is 'raped' I prefer to see all humanoid non-humans as actually variants of Homo sapiens.
Dwarves: old references are confused: the Dwarf in the Niebelungenlied is called 'King of Elves', while the 'Elves of Darkness' -skilled goldsmiths and armorers living 'in the earth like maggots'- are clearly 'our' dwarves. But there was no indication initially that they were specially shortish (nor chubby): all 'magical' humanoids shrank as people believed less and less in them.
Minis-wise I have difficulties to accept Dwarves with the knees either at the hip or at the ankle! 22mm (1/72) minis or better 'true 25mm' ones with greenstuff beards among 28mm 'human' figurines, on the other hand…
As for Orcs, as generally represented they are imho a very distorted, maligned, prejudiced rendition of Neanderthals à la 13th Warrior (or Conan's Picts) by illiterate groups translating 'graphically' their slight 'strangeness'. Tolkien did not give much detail, and wrote from a biased perspective: actually, even after being stricken with an 'evil' repute, gobelins, korrigans, brownies... were not depicted as specially ugly. As for the 'green' skin, olivâtre in French is used to depict the Lebaneses and Hindus.
Minis-wise 'normal' human figurines, but of 'Old School' (crude sculpting) style: Willie, Jacdaw (Dixon?)... would suffice to express their 'roughness' in an 'impressionist' way.
(Continued)
'CREDIBLE' NON-HUMAN RACES - 2
Elves don't have to be semi-immortal magical creatures (even if a few gifted individual show some paranormal abilities). They can breed true with humans (a rare event for cultural / ethical reasons) so belong to the same biological species. A subspecies of Homo sapiens having diverged probably before the individualization of the Cro-Magnon line and evolved in isolation, keeping fiercely its 'blood purity'; yet the differences with normal humans are mainly psychological -ethical, cultural. An immense certitude of their total superiority, mental and physical, leading to a deep contempt of 'semi-animal' other humans. Moorcock's Melnibonéans (and Vadhaghs) correspond to such subspecies. Tall, slim, a triangular face with high cheek bones, narrow pointed chin, slightly slanting 'cat's eyes', *so slightly* pointed ears for the purest blooded. Btw 'Elves' / Fées as understood here seem also to correspond to the (extinct?) 'giants' who build these citadels of glassy green stone Conan discovered in several parts of his world. Even if their hypothetical semi-divine origin ('Angels' half-breed Nephilim, or their Gibborim immediate descendants) is seen as mythical, they may indeed enjoy a significantly higher life expectancy (hence their repulsion to mate with 'short lived' humans: to them, the offsprings of such union hideously die of Progeria). They do NOT have Spock-like pointed ears (I suspect such date from Disney's 'Peter Pan'); and they don't have to be albinos.
Minis-wise 'normal', preferably tall and beautiful, figurines would fit. Black Scorpion (even 'human') ones are reportedly taller than most ranges; so are most Redoubt', but seemingly too bulky. For those wishing their minis to show their 'nature' in an exacerbated way, some Alternative Armies Elves and the Foundry 'Revenant' ones would be adequate (their ears filed down), as would be some 'subdued' vampires in period clothes.
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'CREDIBLE' FIGURINES FOR 'NON-HUMAN' FANTASY RACES
Developed the ideas above into a (lengthy) post on TMP
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OF WINGED *MAMMALS*
I always complain about representations of humanoids with an additional pair of wings on heir shoulders (angels, demons, succubi, some vampires in 'intermediate' form): not only they have, like centaurs and most of dragons, to come from a world (Barsoom?) were vertebrates have more than two pairs of limbs, but the 'normal' front limbs / arms are set right across the powerful fly muscles (which are missing, as is missing the huge breastbone to attach them).
Insect-type wings (think of Tinkerbell), being purely skin expansions, are anatomically less problematic, but the muscles powering them have still to be put somewhere….
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and EGG-LAYING ONES
(Re. the Disney John Carter movie and the American studio self-censorship)
As an egg-laying Mammal (nobody will deny Dejah Thoris her mammal nature), the closest parent of the Red Martians on Earth is the platypus.
Thus -Biology can be entertaining!- 'total frontal nudity' of Red Martians as required by Burroughs' texts could be far less… problematic than expected / suspected. Red Martians are egg-laying Mammals (Prototheria) and we know of such beings: they are called 'Monotremes' (Greek for 'single hole') because of their cloaca. The 'intermediate' position of such would render it invisible in 'frontal nudity', and as for males their reproductive apparatus is retracted and hidden 'inside' when not in use (as for those other egg-laying higher vertebrates, birds and most of reptiles. Meaning that totally nude Red Martians would appear as sexless as Barbie and Ken dolls – biology can be amusing, sometimes :) This… less obtrusive morphology would explain why Red Martians don't share our… prejudices regarding this peculiar area.
Of course this would not prevent children from asking questions -children are by nature curious, less prejudiced than many adults, and know perfectly at least how *themselves* are built. Thus many little girls would ask: 'Mummy, why Dejah Thoris have no….. like me?'. But the question would not be really embarrassing, the obvious answer being: 'But, darling, she is a MARTIAN!'.
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ODIN - WOTAN = VARUNA + INDRA
As described in the november 2009 comments above, the primitive Indo-European mythology had 2 warrior gods, Vayu (the 'lone raider', the individual 'scout' armed with a mace) and Indra (the god of armies) in pre-vedic India. Vayu declined with the importance of individual heroism, to a demi-god (Herakles) or human (Rustam). Except in the Germano-Scandinavian domain where the god of the 1st function, Odin, became also the god of battles : there the 'lone raider' god survived as Thor.
Scandinvian Odin as many 'varunian' features but in battle acts within the limits of the 1st, sacerdotal, function, using magic. His 'Indra' heritage is kept in the Germanic traditions, having him leading the Wütende Heer (furious army) / Wilde Heer (savage army) i.e. the "Wild Hunt across the skies : just like Indra leads the Maruts.
Vayu, being the Wind, already had the 'skyrider' aspect of Thor. Mjölnir was probably at first a stone ax: ax heads of polished stone were called 'lightning stones' in old Anglo-Saxon / Germanic areas.
HELLSING IN 18th C. VORLUND
Rescue archeology: after the successive sinking of 'The Fortress' and 'Wargamer Australis' I reposted my preliminary rantings about "Hellsing in Vorlund" on the new Royaumes de l'Imagination forum, seizing this opportunity for a little editing.
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- Potentially 'Lovecraftian': Fractured Dimensions Joiblexx, Slime Lord of the Bleak Fens; see also some of their humanoids.
- West Wind 'Empire of the Dead' has some interesting monks ('Brotherhood'), vampires and werewolves useable for the 18th C.
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BIOWEAPONS FOR LACEPULP / LACEPUNK?
Mechanical contraptions are typival of VSF, thus to give 'Lacepunk' an atmosphere / character / 'feeling' clearly different from 'Steampunk' I'd see *biological* rather than mechanical experiments. 'Frankenstein' is early 19th C., and clearly antedates the Victorian period.
The GW Tyranids bioweapons are silly, firstly because they seem to imply that the Tyranids have absorbed genes for swords, pistols and guns! But chiefly because they are *held* in 'hand'. Now bioweapons are living organisms, actually ectoparasites of the wielder. They have to be fed -totally, in oxygen as well as in nutriments- just in the same way as an embryo is fed through the placenta. Thus bioweapons would not be held but pulled on *like a glove* and root themselves in the forearm of the wielder through a dense network of tendrils. Like the 'Witchblade', but of bone (for the blade) and flesh (for the 'body') with a -rather disgusting- network of tendrils instead of the vambrace.
Such a biowepon could be the cephalothorax of a giant spider put on like a glove -with the mouth and the poisonous chelicerae, and the 8 limbs; spiders produce their silk -sometimes like a retiarius' net- and for some throw a cloud of venomous hairs, with their abdomen, but 'bioengineered' why they could not do it with their front half?
These to arm a human; but variations are unlimited. think of a brainwashed human slave, or a gorilla, with the 'unfolding' mouth of the super-vampires of 'Blade 2' + the 'biting tongue' of the 'Alien' creature... The Carnevale rhino rather than flexible pipes and other 'steampunk' looking additions, could carry on his back a 'biocannon' -the head of the 'spitting' termite, but the size of a little barrel, and orientable on 270°...
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SUGGESTIONS FOR 18TH C. FEMALE CHARACTERS AND SOLDIERS IN MINIATURE
Starting from the excellent Eureka Sandras and from inspirational images from the French comics series Le Scorpion I posted on TMP suggestions for 28mm miniatures of 'alternate 18th C.' female characters and soldiers.
Since Eureka and Shadowforge are located in Australia, I also posted on the new '18th C. Imagi-Nations' Australian forum.
Let's hope...
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STILL TRYING TO SPREAD THE GOOD WORD
now on the Lead adventure forum;
initiating a specially devoted thread,
or shamelessly hijacking other threads:
about a
'gothic horror' book
a (marvelous) series of fantasy models
or fantasy miniatures...
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WEREWOLF - The Beast Among Us
could easily be turned into a Lacepulp adventure (with a touch of Lacepunk: fire siphon, Puckle machine-gun...).
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SYW PULP: EOTD? A TMP THREAD
As SYW Pulp / Lacepulp, what about playing Empire of the Dead' in the 18th C.? Some of the minis would be directly usable...
Why this suggestion?
Since I come from (quasi: Hyboria &c...) 'historical' gaming, the concept of a 'compulsory' association between a setting, a set of rules and a range of miniatures feels quite 'strange' to me (if a neat marketing trick ): if you chose to re-fight Gaugamela, the free choice or rules and minis manufacturer is still yours. Thus I'm sure many games originally set outside the 18th C. can be played by the time of the Lace Wars / with figurines in tricornes. Not only rather 'generic' ones such as 'Pike and Shot and Zombies', 'Witchfinder General', 'Witch Hunter', 'Chaos in Carpathia'... But also more 'specialized' ones, as was done with 'Strange Aeons': I toyed (publicly) with ideas about '18th C. Malifaux', which is perhaps a little extreme (?), but to transpose 'EotD' would certainly be possible without much modifications ('Lacepunk' weird weapons -maybe giving some the appearance of bioweapons to be further away from the 'mechanized' 19th C.?- can be given the stats of the original 'steampunk' ones).
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A 18th C. WITCHER?
or a whole brotherhood / sisterhood of them!
(started a TMP thread and updated the Fortress and Wargamer Australis ones & the relevant comments on Emperor vs Elector)
I know this video game only through Youtube, but the little I saw has gaming potential -even for the 18th C.
- The mission: to lift the curse changing periodically a lovely young woman into a murdering monster. Not an uncommon curse -think also, without the murderous aspect, Ladyhawke and the old French tale of the White Doe.
If you don't want magic, for a 'Sci-Fi explanation' (Lacepunk rather than Lacepulp) the 'curse' can be the long lasting effect of a Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde-type drug, triggering cataclysmic crises by night time.
- The character: in an alternate 18th C. where monsters exist -even if parents "My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are" and governments deny knowledge- a (secret) society of professional, alchemically-enhanced monster hunters is almost compulsory.
Figurines-wise, a swashbuckler in 18th C. clothes: a 'leader' from a pirates range, a highwayman or more 'topically' a 'Gevaudan' type such as Fenryll 'chasseur de sorciere' (also Brigade Games?).
Now in 'alternate' 18th C. not a few women take a 'manly' life and profession, so what about a sorceliere? The A Touch of Evil game contains suitable (if not great) minis of both sexes available separately but there is a rich choice of female fighting minis that could be simply converted -give them a backet-hilted broadsword and a crossbow slung across the back and a quiver of bolts (supposedly some silver-tipped, some of naked wood), accessories widely available in 'medieval' ranges -Freebooter & others also have pistols, to be hanging from the waistbelt or / and strapped to the thighs, blunderbusses, muskets... If in suitable size, the 'NOT Anna Valerious' 'Lahmiane' looks like a natural choice.
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'GOTHIC SWASHBUCKLING' RPG AS SOURCES OF *LACEPULP* INSPIRATION
Just discovered on the web 'All for one: Regime Diabolique'
"EN GARDE! FIGHT FOUL BEASTS OF THE NIGHT!
The year is 1636 and France is a troubled nation. A great and terrible evil gnaws at its core and darkness stalks the land.
All that stands between chaos and order are the King’s Musketeers.
Explore a France of swashbuckling action, powerful magic, daring deeds, courtly intrigue, witty repartee, and vile monsters! The characters are France’s bravest and proudest defenders, the King’s Musketeers. Pitted against them is a plethora of corrupt nobles, black magicians, fell demons, and twisted secret societies. Set at the height of power of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII, All for One: Régime Diabolique mixes the action of literary works such as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers with horror and intrigue to create a unique, vibrant setting.
Strap on your sword, salute the King, and prepare to cross swords with the creatures of darkness!"
The game is supported by a sourcebook and a number of (reportedly short and expensive) pdf supplements.
I mentioned it on the LAF and TMP. A comment quoted another similar game: 'Witch Hunter: the invisible world'.
Such RPG (plural: be eclectic, pick here and there) can provide elements of background, ideas of scenarios and some game mechanisms for a campaign of 'skirmish' scale (think Morheim / Necromunda) played mainly with rules such as 'Gloire' or 'Chaos in Carpathia'.
All 3 are intended for the time of the 3 Musketeers, but could equally be set, for the tricorne lovers among us, in 1745 in an 'alternate' France where the Fronde des Princes triumphed, thus the central power exerts no more control than a century earlier in 'our time line'. I used this setting decades ago to play 'Flashing blades' in a 'Lace Wars' environment and it worked quite well.
For games set in the 18th C. Freebooter Assassins and Carnevale characters spring to mind.
And if you need troops, what about Freebooter Arquebusières?
The subtitle of 'All for one: Regime Diabolique' is Paris Gothique: reminds me of Venisalle, the mid-18th C. 'quasi France' of the Marquis.
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IN DEFENSE OF 'CHEESECAKE' ON TABLE-TOP IN 'ALTERNATE' &/OR 'OVERSEA' LACE WARS GAMES
Regulars of TMP and the Royaumes de l'Imagination are well aware of my long-lasting interest with female soldiers and 'characters'. Hence I could not resist to join, after a not very pleasant controversy about 'Why female troops?', far more friendly debates about 'busty female adventurers' and 18th C. 'cheesecake' figurines. It was a development from comments about the Eureka 'Sandras' and the 3D Models 18th C. female infantry & artillery, and the unveiling of a possible WSS 'kickstarter' (rumor is that another -WAS, this one- could be maturing in Australia). [I even managed to drift from a 'Need more Boobies' thread to the trifunctional goddess of ancient Indo-European worldview!]
In any case I hope these ventures will come to fruition and be commercially successful.
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HULDA AS AN EXCUSE FOR 'ADVERTISING' LACEPULP
A recent Norwegian movie featuring a 'woman with animal tail' of Scandinavian folklore allowed me to start a Lacepulp-biased thread on TMP and to resurrect an older '18th c. werewolves' one; also to hijack (again!) a [not ´18th C.] werewolves LAF thread. There I also eagerly answered a query about the 'Colonial Gothic' game.
Accordingly I updated the 'Lacepulp' links on the RdlI forum.
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HULDRAS AND WEREWOLVES (Cted)
On the Royaumes de l'Imaginations updated suggestions about huldras and werewolves.
Posted on TMP about werewolves in Lacepulp.
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THE GULLIVER FELLOWSHIP AND 18th C. TORCHWOOD?
Having edited the corresponding § in this message I started corresponding threads on TMP and the LAF.
Posted a link to them on the active RdlI forum and updated the relevant threads SYW pulp & Moonlit night in the archives of the 'dead' NPU (but "yet with strange aeons even death may die." ^-^).
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SHAMBLEAU
Posted on the Royaumes de l'Imagination forum a fanciful "Origin and biology of Shambleaux: a (pseudo) scientific model".
45 years of biology at the university leave indelible scars ^-^
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LACEPUNK, CLOCKPUNK...
Joined -twice- a L.A.F. thread, inserting a number of relevant links in my messages.
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UPDATES ON THE ROYAUMES DE L'IMAGINATION
- Hellsing in 18th C. Vorlund,
- Lacepulp & lacepunk links.
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TRICORNES AND ZOMBIES!
A wargamer regularly granting us with eye-candy and excellent action reports launches into 18th C. Horror.
LE CHEVALIER D'EON AS A LACEPULP CHARACTER
On a 'lacepulp' LAF thread someone mentioned the Japanese anime Le Chevalier d'Eon as relevant to the genre: indeed with secret societies, talking skulls, sorceresses and undead swordsmen it looks like full of '18th C. Gothic Horror' potential.
Besides, I appreciate the reference to the Secret du Roi: the name -and very existence- of Louis XV's secret service is not that widely known.
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CONVERTING 'IN HER MAJESTY NAME' TO THE 18th C.
Keeping to try & promote 'Lacepulp / Lacepunk' I shamelessly hijacked a LAF thread. This led me to update the 'Space 1745' post on the OFWL.
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FEMALE SOLDIERS OF THE 1700...
Les Carabinières de la Reine posted on the Alternate History Forum
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LACEPULP !
"Bogdanwaz" of spectacular 'Ben Franklin Wars' and 'A Devil in Jersey' fame posted on his blog his -awesome, as usual- adaptation of the boardgame 'A Touch of Evil' as a full table-top game with miniatures.
On my modest level I try to keep 'spreading the Good Word' by shamelessly hitch-hiking threads on TMP (recently about 18th C., VSF and Lovecraftian miniatures) and the LAF; and "necromancying" my Lacepulp / Lacepunk threads on the Royaumes de l'Imagination and Odd Fellows Wargaming Lounge...
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LACEPULP LADIES?
Californian artist Deborah Oropallo's re-interpretation of 18th C. paintings of military and civilian nature.
Possibly inspirational for miniature sculptors wishing e.g. to represent in 1/60 Geneviève Sylvie de l'Isle Dieudonné in the mid-18th C., when the predecessor of the Diogenes Club was collaborating with the Lemuel Gulliver Fellowship?
DONNYBROOK
Hitch-hicked on both the LAF and TMP a thread about this new set of '18th C. swashbuckling' rules to ask for 'weird' extras.
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HISTORICAL 'LACEPUNK' WEAPONS (TO PLAY EOTD / IHMN IN THE18th C.?)
Posted on TMP, the
LAF, the Odd Fellows Wargaming Lounge and the Royaumes de l'Imagination!
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LACEPUNK?
Entered a controversy on TMP about TMP about Lacepunk and its definition -mostly to post several informative links.
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A LACEPUNK STEAM 'TANK'?
Hitch-hiked shamelessly an 'ACW steam tanks?' thread on the Alternate History forum; updated accordingly my 'Historical Lacepunk weapons' on the LAF.
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ROBIDA-INSPIRED LACEPUNK HEROINES IN MINIATURE?
Suggestions posted on The Rum Corps Tavern, the Royaumes de l'Imagination, the Odd Fellows Wargming Lounge, the LAF and TMP.
Not that I really hope to raise a burning interest among figurines manufacturers, but...
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USING 'VICTORIAN HORROR / SF' IHMN RULES IN A SWASHBUCKLING 18th C.?
I shamelessly hijacked the French new IHMN-devoted forum to post this heretical suggestion (in French, but the links therein mostly lead to messages in English).
Actually it has already be done : a pirate company faced so far Atlantians and a Death Cult: spectacular!
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3 LACEPUNK & STEAMPUNK IHMN COMPANIES ± INSPIRED FROM FRENCH MOVIES
Posted on the IHMN board of the LAF, development of preliminary ideas posted on the French IHM-devoted forum.
- The Fraternity of John the Presbyter (from 'Brotherhood of the Wolf' , with a twist: Kali-worshiping assassins among the gypsies associated with the 'Brotherhood'):
priests and monks leading fanatical but inexperienced zealots backed by a few veteran military types and an assassin,
- The Sons of the Martyrs (from 'Crimsom Rivers II' , spiced up with details from 'Hellsing Ultimate' ):
'enhanced' humans leading 'controlled' artificial vampires and a giant werewolf,
- The Eugenist Circle of the Thousand Daughters (from 'The Crimsom Rivers' , a kind of Bene Gesserit secondarily building bioconstructs):
the all-female staff of a Lebensborn led by psionics and supported by a flesh golem.
Of course they can equally be factions for EotD, bands for Chaos in Carpathia…
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