[Rhoderic]

Also a suitable target for Stonehaven riots when the prices of off-world-produced foodstuffs skyrocket after the last cargo shuttle for the next seven months mysteriously disappears somewhere over the Anvils.

[Rhoderic]

Oh. Too small for titans, then. I’ve underestimated the size of 3mm infantry.

[Rhoderic]

Possible Eldar titans of the smaller, less humanoid variety?

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=15ALN-117

I can’t vouch for their size at all (but they’ll definitely be smaller than many of the other figures mentioned as Titan candidates in this thread), nor do I know how big Titans ought to be in 3mm.

On the subject of scratchbuilding terrain, the old 40K computer strategy game Rites of War had some interesting Imperial and Eldar structures of a size and “scale” similar to what one might model for 3mm. Don’t expect to be able to get the game to work on a modern PC (I can’t), but there are screenshots online.

[Rhoderic]

Maybe make some 40K-conducive 3mm terrain while you wait? A gothic fortress, a brutalistic refinery complex, an Ork adobe town, a collection of Eldar maidenworld ruins, that sort of stuff. Maybe some cliffs and jungles in that quasi-cartoonish Oldhammer-y style as seen in Rogue Trader and 2nd-3rd ed 40K. Surely the biggest draw of gaming in 3mm is the sweeping vistas you get to build (but maybe that statement is only a reflection of my personal leanings in the hobby).

[Rhoderic]

Spurious wrote:

There’s also a criminal lack of detailing in certain areas, but then part of building terrain is knowing when to stop adding to it. Detailing is usually the first thing to suffer from that, because it can be so susceptible to being broken through use or just disappearing into visual clutter.

That’s a good mentality. Urban terrain is no different to wilderness terrain in that respect. Many, if not most, sorts of wilderness are really impractical for gaming and difficult to model if modelled to look properly realistic, so a degree of abstraction and representationality (if that’s a word) is required. No reason the same shouldn’t apply for built-up areas. For my part, if I ever get around to making an urban terrain board for real (I’ve had a few false starts), I’ll probably omit the road stripes.

[Rhoderic]

Wow, that beach mat really came alive once you put some terrain down. Very inspirational, thanks for sharing!

[Rhoderic]

That was cool. Almost had a bit of a Miyazaki vibe (conceptually, not visually, of course). Who doesn’t love air pirates? 

[Rhoderic]

I’m jealous! Oh, the gaming that I could do with a set-up like that…

[Rhoderic]

Ivan Sorensen wrote:

I keep seeing One Piece on Crunchyroll and wondering if I should add it to my queue. What’s the style like?

It’s the “class clown” of shounen anime series. It’s childish and goofy even by the standards of most other shounen anime titles like Naruto, but one might admire its unbridled enthusiasm and utter lack of self-reproach vis-a-vis its childishness. You have to be a certain kind of person to enjoy it.

My own three personal favourite series of this sub-genre are Inuyasha, Hunter x Hunter (the original, somewhat lesser-known one – haven’t seen the 2011 reboot) and Saint Seiya / Knights of the Zodiac (the one from the 80s – again, haven’t seen the later stuff).

[Rhoderic]

Ivan Sorensen wrote:

Edge of unity is very cool.

It’s also good for a subtitle, should you choose something else for the title proper, eg. “StarStrike: Adventures at the Edge of Unity”.

“Fringe of Unity” also works.

[Rhoderic]

IMHO, the very most important thing for a game title is not so much to be snappy. as it is to be evocative and to gain a kind of self-motion in the mind of the person reading/hearing it, perhaps by evoking a sense of mystery, narrativity or internal discordance. For instance, Warlord Games hit the jackpot with “Beyond the Gates of Antares” – I’m rather neutral to the game itself, but that title is a winner. It sticks in one’s mind in a good way, it paints a scene and it induces a sense of enticing mystery.

So with that in mind; for a game of space frontier adventure/enterprise in the vein of Rogue Trader, Traveller and Firefly… maybe something like “Sinbad Sector”? “Life and Death in Sinbad Sector” (so as to avoid the acronym “SS”)? “Edge of Unity” (which has that sense of internal discordance I was talking about)? “Gundrone Diplomacy”? Just spitballing here, of course. Never mind me.

[Rhoderic]

I’ve never really been part of local hobby outreach activities like that (not sure how and where it would happen here in Sweden, where the gaming club scene is much sparser than in the UK), but I like the sound of it very much; presenting miniatures gaming as a “classical” hobby for casual gentlepersons and cosmopolites. I especially like the bit about not presenting “the usual hairy unkempt wargamer look” to potential new prospects – that’s not to say I much prefer the “ex-military look” per se (if by that we’re referring to the “muscles, buzz cuts and steely eyes” look), but certainly something a bit more… “sartorial” I suppose is the word, but in a warm, folksy and egalitarian (non-elitist) way. I can be rather hairy and unkempt myself, and frankly I’m more of a fantasy/sci-fi nerd than a cultured academic of history, but I do try to scrub up and present a more “gentleman-about-town”-like version of myself when wargaming with others and when visiting conventions, and would certainly do it in any kind of hobby outreach activity. The usual convention-goers uniform of baggy cargo shorts and a t-shirt makes me look like I’ve just crawled out from under a rock 

[Rhoderic]

Oh, I wasn’t suggesting you do it yourselves. As you say, it’s a lot of work – I see it as more of a community-wide thing that would require a number of passionate writers, much like the production of a webzine.

Speaking very generally, I’m of the opinion that there ought to be more beginner-friendly material online and in the hobby magazines. “The Napoleonic Wars and wargaming thereof explained for absolute newbies in four pages” and that sort of thing.

[Rhoderic]

Very nice. Surprisingly, I was able to understand most of it.

I have fond memories of the “Introduction to Fantasy Wargames” booklet that GW distributed for free back in the late 90s. I’ve long been wanting to see something similar done for the “indie” miniature wargaming community that we’re all part of. Like, a high-production-value PDF booklet full of introductory articles to whet the appetites of potential new hobbyists (and give new inspiration to veteran hobbyists, for that matter). Ideally there would be articles covering all aspects of the hobby at a beginner level, so for instance, there could be a tutorial for making some basic terrain pieces, an overview of common painting techniques and styles, a discussion about various philosophies and mechanics of game design, a narrative battle report that demonstrates the storytelling aspect, an exemplifying treatise on how to game/model a historical conflict or battle in a way that engages those who are interested in military history, and so on. Even more ideally, there would be a number of showcase articles on the projects and armies of different hobbyists, presenting a good cross-section of the hobby in regard to genres, periods, scales, scopes, styles of gameplay, etc (excluding only those games that are definitely not “indie”, such as the GW games, WarmaHordes and FoW).

The point of such a booklet being to show off our hobby as an intricate mosaic that has something for everyone. IMO it could benefit the hobby. Introductory games/displays at conventions and shows are nice, but I think there are many potential hobbyists who never come in contact with them. More beginner-friendly introductory material online would be great.

[Rhoderic]

Fred: I have some 6mm samples from Rapier already (and although I find them to be more like 7mm, I’m happy with their quality), but thanks for chiming in! While I have your attention, do any of your Sea Peoples (which aren’t pictured on your website) have Sherden-style horned helmets?

I’m starting to think that I may be prepared to do some converting at some later point for the sake of making a force that at least somewhat resembles Barsoom-style Red Martians, as long as I keep the conversions simple – in other words, mainly swapping heads/headgear. Baccus makes Mahdists and Zulus with rifles. Swapping their heads for ones wearing ancient-style helmets of a suitably decorative and exotic appearance could get me close enough. Another thought is to get some of the Rapier Trojans and convert the ones holding spears at 45 degrees to be holding firearms instead, but that’s a bit more complicated.

[Rhoderic]

More alien riding beasts in 6mm. Excellent.

[Rhoderic]

For airships/skimmers of a weirder and more exotic sort, the following could be good bases for conversions. To be clear, I’m talking about some fairly heavy converting here (they have to look more like airborne boats than the grav tanks, fighters and dropships they are in their unconverted state). Some might also be best turned upside down.

Ultimately, though, there’s a lot of suitable miniatures out there if only one is willing to go to the effort of converting. A bit of a rabbit hole, this.

[Rhoderic]

That’s a good justification, Alexander. I’ve decided to go ahead with this project, at least so far as doing some test paints and conversions. I probably will do some converting of individual 6mm figures, though. I’ve got this idea in my head of converting some Dark Realm Andrayadas infantry – the ones with the bulky armour and giant shoulder pads – to be carrying spears and big shields (taken from other 6mm figures to make things easy on myself). They’d be some sort of elite guard for an as-yet-undefined imperial civilisation. Later on some Onslaught Avians may get a similar treatment (swapping firearms for crossbows or primitive melee weapons) and some Microworld Orangutans may get the reverse treatment (swapping bows for firearms).

Meanwhile, I’ve been looking for more skimmers and airships. Here are some ideas I have:

I’ve already mentioned the Brigade Aeronefs, but their Iron Stars VSF spaceships may be even more suitable for conversion. They have cool-looking fins. Obviously they’ll need converting into open-topped vehicles, though. Or I may just take the fins and put them on other models.

Kallistra has a “Ratmen Air Balloon” in 10mm. I’d omit the balloon itself (which is a ping-pong ball that doesn’t come with the model anyway).

A couple of Irregular’s 6mm fantasy flying machines look perfect.

The Stygian Barges from Onslaught have also already been mentioned.

The Darkest Star Grav Rafts/Sleds could look the part with a change of crew and some artsy exotic details added.

Various rocketships from Hydra’s War Rocket range would be excellent for converting into open-topped skimmers and aircraft (personally I’d remove the rocket engines, and I imagine the Zenithian ones might look best upside down).

Spartan Games has some interesting ships.

Tin Man has an interesting little skiff in 28mm that would be a great basis for a conversion.

Recreational Conflict has something similar in 15mm (hidden away in the 28mm Lead Bones Pulp section).

And some 18mm flying craft from Martian Empires.

Anything I’ve missed?

[Rhoderic]

A few more thoughts:

Some fantastical “post apoc feudal” knights/warriors, tanks, flying machines and civilians in the style of the Nausicaä manga and anime, in pretty much any scale from 6mm to 28mm. Maybe some animals to go with them, including invertebrate megafauna that don’t look “evil”.

Adding to the list of pop culture figures: “The Tatianas”. A group of female clones with divergent personalities, including the street punk, the psycho killer, the prissy housewife, the indie scientist and the domineering corporate b-word 

More 28mm fantasy figures with that unmistakable Gary Chalk aesthetic, sculpted to modern standards of quality. Fortunately, according to Joe Dever when I asked him a few months ago, Minifigs is already working on it. I just hope there will be more Giaks with the same weapons but different poses so I can make a good warband with some uniformity in their armaments.

Oh, and as for the Escaflowne-style mechs, I could take them scaled for 6mm, too (not that I expect anyone will make them). I’d even take them in 3mm. They could also be mechs that combine the similar-but-not-identical aesthetics of Vision of Escaflowne, Magic Knight Rayearth and Five Star Stories.

[Rhoderic]

Ivan who? Never heard of ‘im. A prominent TWW user you say? Well I’ve never noticed any posts of his 

[Rhoderic]

Pijlie wrote:

Andrea Sfiligoi is working on an expansion that also includes these rules

Interesting to know! I sort of had the impression that Osprey was getting into the business of releasing “trend rulesets” at regular intervals and not paying them much attention afterwards. Good to know that A Fistful of Kung Fu will have an expansion.

I like your homebrew rules as well. I’ve always liked the idea of chase/race games with “scrolling” terrain. I’d like to do something like it in a cyberpunk-style setting (but won’t right now).

Oh, and the wheelie stand is cool!

[Rhoderic]

Love the infiltrators and the gilded space nomads!

[Rhoderic]

The link doesn’t seem to work for some reason (despite being the correct URL as far as I can tell), but clicking the page header took me to the blog post. Interesting article! I did not know there were Greek triremes available in so many scales, or that “naval skirmish” in the sense discussed in the blog post was a concept in wargaming.

Keep up the good work!

[Rhoderic]

To me it’s not just that ads on TWW aren’t intrusive; they’re enjoyable. They’re to do with the hobby, and make me feel more immersed in the community. As I’m writing this the ad at the top of the page is for Matakishi’s Tea House, an excellent resource of which I’m glad to have been reminded.

It’s when I can’t follow current world affairs without being pestered by absurdly aggressive advertisements (that slow down my computer and start blasting out sound whenever I accidentally hover the mouse cursor over them) for things like charter airlines, DIY centres and estate agents that I lose my patience.

[Rhoderic]

Stroezie wrote:

Why? Why did I have to read this thread?

BWAHAHAHAHA! Another thrall for the empire of sandals and rayguns!

Rules, I have no idea about. Haven’t really been following developments on the rules front for the past few years.

By the way, I just noticed Onslaught’s upcoming Aztec-style space lizards (previewed on their front page). They look practically tailor-made for a project like this.

If I do proceed with this project, my main concern will be how to modulate the balance of primitive and high-tech weaponry. I imagine the Exodite-style nomads having fairly advanced firearms (and armour), but does that mean I want them all using firearms? None armed only with swords or spears/lances? Also, at some later point I might want to add an Empire of the Apes using Microworld’s Wildland Alliance figures, but unless I convert them they will only have primitive weapons. So do I want bows and arrows to be able to compete with magi-tech firearms in this setting? Maybe some sort of magi-tech explosive-tipped arrows…

[Rhoderic]

Transcription is always problematic, whatever the language. There’s no easy fix. Once frustrations have mounted high enough, one may get to believing one can solve it all by simply putting the onus on others to conform to one’s own standards for the sake of purportively self-evident noble ideals like unity and universality, but really, at the end of the day one is just being yet another dictative voice trying to shout down all the others.

I know this from personal experience of some heated (non-wargaming-related) discussions over Japanese transcription, wherein I’ve been the overbearing crusader trying to convince everyone else to take the effort of learning the basics of kana and Japanese phonetics for the sake of the “greater good”. Only with retrospective distance do I see what a petty sandbox dictator I was being.

The only thing one can rightfully do is to take the extra effort to be accommodating of everyone else.

[Rhoderic]

I probably wouldn’t stay true to the ERB source material. Red Martians of the style I want are one thing that’s kind of missing (I’d want them to look like the 28mm ones from Bronze Age and Tin Man) but I can live without them given all the other suitable figures available. That said I do believe Michael Lovejoy sculpted some big four-armed aliens in 6mm at one point, but I don’t know which company they were for. I only saw the sculpts on his website years ago – never did see them in production.

I envisage a world that maybe has the slightest whiff of a “saturday morning cartoon” feel to it. That is to say, a planet that has lots of non-human races scattered about so as to allow all available, suitable figures to be used. Several almost-human races (along the lines of the blue-skinned fellow that’s my avatar), some zoomorphic humanoids (mainly of reptilian, avian, insectile and simian natures), and maybe some centauroids, four-armed bipeds, humanoids of considerably-bigger/smaller-than-human size and the like. There could be a few dominant civilisations and prominent barbarian/nomad races, with the remaining races being more like mercenaries, vassal tribes and incidental allies. Were VSF humans to land on the planet with colonialist intentions, many of these less prominent races would probably side with them.

The thing that sparked this idea in my head was the realisation that there’s quite a profusion of alien riding beasts in 6mm. I’d love to include some of those. To that end, one idea I’m toying with in my head is a faction that’s pretty much Eldar Exodites transplanted into a sword-and-planet setting, perhaps with a bit of a Bedouin/Tuareg aesthetic mixed in. Some sort of lizardmen or insectmen could be good adversaries. The critical difference to 40K-style science fantasy is that there would be no tanks, warbuggies, warbikes or anything of that sort rolling around, nor jet fighters/bombers performing air strikes, artillery firing at targets they can’t even see, drop troops performing orbital insertions, etc. Colonialist VSF-tech Earthlings might come later.

As for scope, I suppose “big skirmish” would be a good start, perhaps with a view to making bigger armies later. But come to think of it, a smaller skirmish scope could be a nice way of testing the waters.

All of this is still hypothetical, though.

[Rhoderic]

Thaddeus Blanchette wrote:

But what would we use for high-tech Eldar tanks?

Maybe someone could sculpt a single 3mm Falcon in two pieces (main body and turret) and make a press mould of that. As long as the tanks hover close enough to the ground, their featureless undersides need not be a problem. That said, I’m aware that press moulds are a far-from-perfect method.

If you want to torture yourselves you could trawl through spaceship/spacefighter ranges for something that’s the right size and shape, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

[Rhoderic]

Another environment I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is enclosed subterranean spaces. One of the big advantages here is that as long as one doesn’t get carried away it can be quite easy to model. For sci-fi, a set of almost-featureless concrete walls could represent all kinds of locations like a bunker complex, an asteroid base or the “down below” of a cyberpunk mega-city. Where fantasy is concerned, I’m not terribly into the “kitsch” dungeons of games like Dungeons & Dragons, but something more like the Mines of Moria or the catacombs of Paris (as portrayed in a fantastical way) would be awesome.

[Rhoderic]

Vehicle-heavy Orks, possibly? There’s motorcycles in the O3 WW2 range, and some other vehicles might make good Battlewagons and whatnot with a bit of converting. Looted Imperial vehicles might also have a place in an Ork army. Infantry could be a problem, though. Orks in 40K are more gorilla than human.

[Rhoderic]

Rules Junkie Jim wrote:

I always find myself speculating as to how the hell a human being would fit inside power armour outfits as depicted in miniature. The arms frequently seem to begin too far from the body, and as for the crotch region… yikes.

If that’s in reference to the Golems/APEs, bear in mind that they’re in 1/144 scale and stand roughly twice as tall as a man. The legs, arms and crotch of the wearer/pilot aren’t where the legs, arms and crotch of the suit are. The head of the wearer/pilot, however, is inside the suit’s head, so it can be argued that the head of the suit is effectively a helmet, which speaks for the whole thing being a suit of powered armour as opposed to a piloted mech. Then, of course, there are other factors which speak for the reverse – hence a hybrid.

[Rhoderic]

I like power armour / mecha hybrids – the sort of things you can’t be quite sure whether to categorise as armoured suits or small mechs, often having elongated arms and/or legs that subvert the humanoid shape somewhat. The Edenite Golems / Utopian APEs from the Heavy Gear universe are particular favourites of mine:

 

[Rhoderic]

Norm S wrote:

I love these sort of posts that show good games being squeezed out of small spaces.

Agreed. It’s a growing trend that’s very much up my alley.

I’m a bit ambivalent to the OGRE setting (the whole idea of a final apocalyptic war that ends mankind is too heavy for me) but I respect the vitality of the game itself (there’s so many OGRE fans out there that I can only assume the game is an exceptionally well-designed one), and this project is cool in any case. Thanks for sharing!

[Rhoderic]

Paul wrote:

The entire Game of Thrones cast

You’d have to engage the full-time services of multiple highly prolific sculptors for a period of several years. And presumably you’ll need each character sculpted in a second, dead, pose 

[Rhoderic]

3mm early middle ages, especially for the Mediterranean region (El Cid, Normans in southern Italy, First Crusade, Komnenian Restoration and all that).

3mm Sengoku-era Japanese.

6mm fantasy figures of the same quality as Microworld’s but in a less cartoonish, less Warhammeresque style. Alternatively I could go for 3mm fantasy.

28mm “Not Eldar” of an old-school (Rogue Trader and 2nd ed 40K) aesthetic, so I won’t have to wade into the market for expensive OOP GW figures.

A small range of Escaflowne-style fantasy mechs, scaled for 15mm or 10mm or thereabouts.

[Rhoderic]

“Microgames” is a very broad concept. It’s everything from DBA to Bommerz Over Da Sulphur River. The former is a microgame in the sense of covering a very broad scope with a set of simplistic catch-all rules. The latter is one in the sense of only covering a very narrow scope, which allows for tailor-made rules that wouldn’t work well in a broad-scope catch-all sort of game but are all the more conducive for a specific pre-determined scenario.

Which variety of microgames is this thread about?

[Rhoderic]

It’s Richard the Lionheart and Bad King John all over again.

*Skitters off toward the nearest treeline wearing green tights and an archer’s hat*

[Rhoderic]

How would movement/positioning work in this hypothetical game? Would that also be abstracted, like with a Peter Piggish grid system (or node system)? Or would there still be a more elaborate and organic set of rules for movement/positioning in “non-discrete space” as in most other miniatures games?

Just wondering, now that you’ve grabbed my attention.

[Rhoderic]

I like the general sound of a system along those lines, and it sounds fun to try. But I’d be concerned that the specific system you’re describing does not, as you say, distinguish between types of pressure. I might be one of those players who tune out when a sniper does not “feel” like a sniper in the way it projects its pressure, if that makes any sense.

Also, depending on how the player’s force and actions are represented in terms of game mechanics, it might be the kind of system that, like many boardgames, makes the player have to think more like an economist (viewing the game as a bunch of “points” to be allocated/countered/collected in the most rational manner possible) than a storyteller. That’s one of my main gripes with boardgames – the best player is the one with the most rational, most mathematical, least creative mindset.

[Rhoderic]

Nathaniel Weber wrote:

My limited understanding would suggest that “Titan Maru” would mean ship for the Titan corporation, right?

Well, no, not really. “Titan-maru” would just mean “(the) Titan”. The “-maru” doesn’t mean “ship”, but rather “circle”, but in this context it has no real meaning – it’s just added to the end of Japanese merchant ship names out of a tradition of unknown origins. Kind of like a suffix that’s used as a term of endearment, except not really. There’s no suitable Western parallel that I can think of drawing.

Treating it as a separate word, like in the classic case of the Kobayashi Maru from Star Trek, is an imperfect result of transliteration. It’s really more like a suffix. Putting a -maru at the end of a non-Japanese word is eccentric by today’s standards, but I chose not to comment on that as one could easily imagine different standards being in place 250 years from now, so I don’t see that being a problem.

Anyway, in a far-future sci-fi setting there’s nothing wrong with the name “Titan-maru” or even “Titan maru” (assuming one accepts the imperfection of transliteration, as it is often accepted, especially by the Japanese themselves who can be frustratingly inconsistent and cavalier with the way they transliterate their language). But it means “(the) Titan”, not “ship of the Titan Corporation”.

I may be overexplaining some of this and you may know it already, in which case I apologise for potentially sounding patronising.

EDIT: By the way, I also think 80s style anime is a wonderful flavour of sci-fi.

[Author]

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