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Lagartija MikeSpectator
I’m not here to dung Napoleon’s memory, I’m equally unenthusiastic about Wellington, Blucher and the rest. At best they seem merely opportunistic, and it’s hard to imagine a more callous spider than Pitt; for all the muscular bravery, murderous elan and pomp of the age it’s a little lean on the deeply heroic.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorCraig, the figures are beautiful. As a long time admirer of Steve Saleh’s sculpts (and a sohei obsessive) I need to ask if there are any plans on him adding to the range (especially the monastics).
Lagartija MikeSpectatorApologies, Cerdic. I just got back in town (Las Vegas) and I was adjusting to the 110° heat with a fifth of Knob Creek. I do, however, stand by my appraisal of the Early Roman Army and the late Mr. McBride’s penchant for thick, swarthy male thighs.
In passing I should note that I did not intend to lump the respected illustrator with that subset within our mighty hobby that craves the meaty smack of the magic batons of tawny jungle he-feys.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorFor better or worse I’m immune to the Napoleonic charisma and have a largish problem understanding extremes of emotion he creates, two hundred years downstream. We’ve had a greater and more efficient butchers, more supremely venal politicos and imperial sociopaths of distinction. Why him?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorHwiccee, it’s a bit of a fool’s errand. I’m aware that most states were in the hands of Spain or Austria, but I was hoping to get a sense of any native elements present in the militaries of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and Milan, as well as the independent forces Venice and the Papal States. My long range goal is to create a speculative league of Italian States to oppose an early French Revolutionary Army I’m putting together.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorAs a small child watching Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon on cable I was in awe at the discipline it took to walk directly, almost courtly, into the mouths of muskets. My earlier exposure to obsolete techniques of hi-volume murder had been all charging knights, rampaging vikings, and the occasional grainy footage of a panzer (almost as blurry as a clip of sasquatch) groaning around nameless gray acres.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorSteel bases, regardless of scale.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorHow is a pike phalanx or a shield wall not lining up to die anymore than any 18th century robo-tricorne plod?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorThere’s a certain type of eccentric third-rate “scholar” who confuses anality for erudition. For whatever reason they find our mutant hobby a warm, damp spot to grow their head fungus.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorVile mites! This way lies the roaring Hell of Abstractofuscation! Cardboard chits are waiting, just offstage, sniggering quietly.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorHe’s the Tom of Finland of softcore milporn. I can only regret Osprey never released his Boeotian Bears and Thracian Tops 437-256 BC.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorGrizzly, as much as I love the revolutionary and 19th century South and Central American campaigns (I need a figure of grandly bearded and demented General Meglarejo on his beloved horse badly) I’m still having trouble warming to the noble citizens of picostan. D’you have any idea who makes ranges in bigger scales (I’d even be ok with 15mm)?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorMaybe the secutor. In black enamel for a culturally precocious BDSM look. I’m reading the Osprey gladiator title and it seems pretty clear to me than the venerable McBride had a hot thing for xtra-beefy Mediterranean dudes.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorHow could he be anything other than an imperial purple thug anymore than Pitt could be anything but the industrious mandible of the British state.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorAs a matter of practicality I’ve decided to go with 28mm. Look for my first figures here on TWW sometime in mid September.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorACW gets props for being the drabbest of all bloodbaths. It was America’s first salvo in our war against flavor. Blue versus Gray in a war with a palette only a dog could appreciate.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorIf you’re willing to consider the Ottomans many of their mounted units filled that role. Poorer sipahis raised by timariot, Balkan and Anatolia volunteers; in North Africa many Maghribi and Tuareg cavalry.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorRight now I’m torn between recreating urban fighting in Heian-kyo during the Onin War and building a ratty army of the early French Revolution against an imaginary league of North Italian States.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorApropos of nothing (or barely), the poor kaukazoidz who formed the backbone of the Confederate armies get regularly dunged for allowing themselves to be exploited in the interests of the southern oligarchs, yet I don’t see a meaningful difference between them and that third of Americans who thought backing noted communards like Jefferson, Washington and Franklin was great idea.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI’m not that familiar with Warhammer products, in any of its tech iterations. I get the sense that when it first began it was much more freewheeling, more of a Metal Hurlant sensibility. I get the sense that it, along with the Bolt Action stuff, is what’s driving (economically anyway) the hobby right now.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI generally have small patience for Ultramodern since it so often serves as an incubator for dwarf brains, but I agree: push it a few decades out and things can get interesting.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorIt is a problem. I forgot my initial info and needed to start a new account. Can it be extended indefinitely?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorThis is pretty inspirational. It’s making me want to design a scifi game with both “planetary” and space combat.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI can see the microscales for the sense of whole armies, but it works pretty well (and infinitely better sense of motion and detail) at big 28mm units. You can never have enough flags, banners etc…. I agree 28mm with a handful of figures for a unit sucks sh!t.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI like large scale 28mm so, at least at home, I use (depending on need) 2 to 8 4×6 boards mounted on easily movable/lockable dollies.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorIt’s an idea, Mike. I’m wondering how much merchandise, rules and figures are purchased by gamers with little or no access to regular events. I’m beginning to suspect the solitary gamer might well be in the majority. I know for myself it’s very easy to become absorbed in modding figures and creating terrain at the expense of trying to find gamers with similar likes in scale and period.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI thought of it more as a hyena cackle, but point taken (tho’ sadly the hermetically sealed Frothers pocket universe is unreachable…).
Norm, for me it’s about bringing some new blood and cross pollination to the US wing of the hobby. My take may be wrong but, aside from shops marketing Warhammer and similar juvenalia, the numbers seem to be dwindling. I started playing WRG as a precocious kid in the mid eighties and gave it up shortly after, only to return to it a few years ago. Despite a 1000kt burst of new rules and figure ranges, despite social media and useful sites like TWW and LAF I get the sense it’s become increasingly fractured and ghettoized. I’d like to create a regular event where all scales and all periods would be welcome, especially to beginners who might be daunted by arcane Napoleonic arguments or lofty idiots nattering as if their knowledge of Sassanid balloon hat sizes of December 3, 506 AD was somehow charismatic. So, ultimately, I’m willing to put some sweat in if I think I can grow the hobby.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorNorm, I agree that it would be ideal to work through existing clubs but, at least to my eye, the US scene doesn’t have enough or large enough clubs to work in partnership. I divide my time between NYC area and Las Vegas (where I’m trying with dubious results to form a club), I’d have zero problems renting out a hall or small convention space for a day/night once a month if I thought the interest was there. In the tristate area (for UK guys that’s the strange juncture point of NY, Pennsylvania and Connecticut) I’d probably rent space in Westchester or North Jersey.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorGenSlade, Minifigs, like many older ranges, are unknown to me. How do they stack up in terms of size and sculpt with more contemporary manufacturers?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorCherryh’s Faded Sun trilogy is excellent as well. As is Brian Stableford’s Beast series, especially Days of Glory.
Starship Troopers, along with almost everything Heinlein wrote, is exactly the kind of fascist-lite indoctrotainment that kills, along with a deadly poverty of imagination, most modern miliscifi.
One last rec, and a great one if you can find a copy, is Richard Lupoff’s Space War Blues. Totally f@cked and brilliant.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI’m not a fan of military science fiction and it’s cynicism disguised as “realism” attitudes but I can recommend some excellent scifi/fantasy with incredible military aspects:
The Book of the New Sun
by Gene Wolfe in 4 volumes.
Light, Nova Swing and Empty Space
by M John Harrison
Desolation Road and Feersum Endjinn
by Ian McDonald
……just the tip of the thermobarbic iceberg.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI’ll be blunt. What keeps young gamers from the table are old gamers. The following should not be misconstrued as mere hot monkey shit flung at velocity, it’s the truth. In the US by far most of the players are males on the gray slide after forty. A little weird. A little obsessive. Frequently unhygienic and obese. And with the angry politics of the scared and marginal. Young guys, and for sure young girls, have zero desire to bask in the ripe warmth of their krayzee konzpirazy kulcha.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorBecause a few days ago I glanced at my profile and his icon was there in a grey box marked “ignore”. I x’d it out. It’s not important, just….odd.
Update: I’m grossly techtarded and managed to accidentally block QRF, not the other way around. My apologies.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorNo idea Mike. At all. I could understand other people (many, many other people) but I didn’t even know he existed.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorI’d look into QRF but for mysterious reasons known only to 6mm brains he’s put me on ignore and I suspect he’d return my checks covered in rabidly scrawled lipstick NO! NO! NO’S!
Lagartija MikeSpectatorYes it will. I think my first foray into microtopia will be an alt war during a variant American Depression between the iron fist of the Wichita Blood of the Lamb Apostolic Republic and the El Dorado Soviet.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorIan, I’m looking to field as early an army as possible before dress in the French manner became customary. Also, I’d like to field a force with elements from as many of the “dwarf states” as possible, probably on the division level tho’ that’s not written in stone.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorDoes anyone make Russian Civil War armored trains in 6/3mm?
Lagartija MikeSpectatorMac, proportion to terrain is important, yes. But it’s never realized. Even in your very optimal examples the 6mm Prussian infantry are scowling into the second story windows of the houses. It’s not unnatractive, just sacrificing detail for mass effect (which, given room, can be realized at bigger, more lavish scales). I can’t argue with the portability and economy but, towards Grizzly’s comment on the poverty of maneuver, a trip to Home Depot and a few bucks can net you all the pine board terrain you’d wish, just set them up in sequence.
@AB: I checked out H&R, Rapier and a few other manufacturers and while I was surprised by the amount of available detail (sometimes equal to the more deformed among the 15mm ranges though well below, say, Xyston) I think the blur affect would obscure all but the most genius efforts. In an effort to be fair, and to see if I can pull off a solid paint job at that scale, I’m going to pick some up and see how it goes.
Lagartija MikeSpectatorKyote, as a testament to your status as one of the very few surviving homo sapiens sapiens in the TMP Total Control Zone, you’re membership is gratis and for life.
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