Tag Archives: black pyramid gaming

“Vox Populi” from Black Pyramid Gaming

www.blackpyramid.co.uk

The first figures from our new “voice of the people” range are now available, and a jolly nice mix of the real and the fictional they are, too!

VOX001 is the “Scandalous Lady W” £4.00

Lady Worsley may not have involved herself in matters military during her lifetime (well, not outside of the bedroom, anyway), but that didn’t stop us from seeing her potential – the period weaponry portrays her as a woman of more-than-capable means.

Seymour Dorothy Fleming (5 October 1758 – 9 September 1818) was a British noblewoman who, at the age of 17, married Sir Richard Worsley, 7th Baronet of Appuldurcombe House, Isle of Wight, and although the marriage ended badly with a now-famous criminal conversation trial, she was styled Lady Worsley until his death.

Our sculpt utilises the portrait shown here, from 1775/6 by Joshua Reynolds, of Lady Worsley in a riding habit adapted from the uniform of her husband's regiment.

Her later life sees her in France during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, where she may well have been rescued by, or involved with, the Scarlet Pimpernel; and back in England during the period defined by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, where she would certainly have instructed younger ladies-of-note in the finer art of self-survival.

VOX002 is “Old Thunderer” £4.00

Old Thunderer is 58, born to a New England Quaker family in 1792. He first went to sea forty years ago; in his time, he has fought the Spanish and survived being shipwrecked; but he is now a wealthy man, captain of his own whaler, and the finest harpooneer of his time.

However, he is a man obsessed. Many years ago, he lost a leg during an attempt to kill a great white whale. The pain from the ivory stump is now a constant reminder of his loss and a goad, driving him towards revenge, whatever the cost.

Old Thunderer was famously fictionalised by Herbert Melville in his book, Moby Dick, where the character Captain Ahab is given many of the same characteristics and even the same nickname. However, we know that he is still out there, searching for the whale and that at times of great peril he has been known to come to the aid of his long-term friend Captain Nemo, especially if there is a danger to his beloved oceans.

A stunning sculpt, Old Thunderer is perfect for early-to-mid Victorian game settings, or any Victoriana gaming if you are not bothered by such boring things as “time-frames”. He would certainly make for an interesting vampire slayer in Empire of the Dead, or an enigmatic faction leader for
In Her Majesty’s Name.

VOX003 is Lady Jane Digby, Queen of the Mezrab Bedouin £4.00

Jane Elizabeth Digby, Lady Ellenborough (3 April 1807 – 11 August 1881), was born to a very wealthy, although not noble, family. Her grandfather was known as King Coke and was considered one of the most influential men in England; he had refused a peerage to keep his seat in the House of Commons. Her father was Rear Admiral Henry Digby, a decorated war hero who had commanded HMS Africa at Trafalgar.

Jane was considered one of the most beautiful women in the country and at 18 caused quite a stir when she married the 34-year old widower Lord Ellenborough. Unfortunately, this did not go well and seven years later there was a huge scandal; a divorce and an elopement, with our heroine running off to the continent with her lover.
Over the next twenty years Jane basically worked her way down through Bavaria, Greece, and the Balkans. She had four husbands and many lovers, including King Ludwig I of Bavaria, his son King Otto of Greece, statesman Felix Schwarzenberg, and a Greek general (Christodoulos Hatzipetros). Oh, and a duel!

In the early 1850s’ she found herself in Syria, initially on a mission to buy horses for the Greeks; however, another lover later, she met Medjuel al Mezrab, who acted as a guide for a caravan she was travelling in. During an attack by bandits Jane pulled a gun to help defend the caravan and the rest, as they say, is history. They married, and Jane was adopted by the Mezrab, becoming Queen of the Bedouin tribe. She was twenty years his senior, but she was his faithful wife until her death in Damascus.

She spent the next nearly twenty years dividing her time between the desert and Damascus, where she was known for her bravery during the anti-Christian riots and subsequent massacres in 1860.

When her husband was away Jane was left in charge and more than once is reputed to have taken up arms when the tribe was threatened.

So, with this sculpt, we have Jane in her prime (she was still considered a great beauty in her fifties); tooled up and ready to defend her husband’s tribe or perhaps guide her friends the Burtons through dangerous desert to a lost city. It is also worth remembering that although Jane loved the desert and her husband’s tribe, she was always at heart an English woman, so who knows what favours or pleas for assistance may have been forthcoming from the local diplomats on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government. These, of course, would never be recorded; but then, we’re sure you can use your imagination.

Perfect for Middle East pulp-adventure Victorian-era games.

VOX004 is the Middlemarch Fencibles Committee £10.00

VOX005 is the Middlemarch Fencibles Militia £10.00

The Middlemarch Fencibles

Following the declaration of war with France in 1793, it was decided that there was a need to re-raise the “Fencible Regiments” of militia that had been part of the English social landscape during the Seven Years War and American War of Independence.
At first, these regiments were the sole preserve of men, as they had always been. However, with the arrival of the unmentionable plague, the authorities soon realised that things would need to change. The available pool of manpower was just not sufficient to support the ongoing wars against both France and America, along with the seemingly never-ending threat of the undead, and the strain was starting to show.

However, while Whitehall prevaricated, the great ladies of the “ton” (the nickname for England’s greatest and wealthiest families) remembered the glory days of the great militia camp at Coxheath and decided to act themselves before it was too late.

They began to raise militia regiments comprising solely of woman; the ladies themselves, along with their daughters and female relatives, provided the officer corps; the solid and respectable wives of the local middle-class provided the backbone of the NCOs’, with the rank and file coming from the local farms, shops and factories.

Originally frowned upon in certain quarters as dens of vice and iniquity, their cause was not helped when Jane Monrieth Countess Gordon repeated her rather successful recruiting ploy of holding the King’s shilling in her mouth and passing it to recruits via a kiss; but, as she said later, “it had worked the first time and her husband was not complaining.”

Now, after proving themselves at the successful defeat of the French landings at Fishguard, and in many subsequent actions, both small and large, against human and inhuman opponents, the Fencibles are an accepted part of the military establishment and have even been known to take part in overseas raids if required.

There is even a rumour that the Pemberley Rifles have been co-opted with a section of the 95th specially recalled from Spain to assist Exploring Officers with “special duties” unsuited for more regular units.

Perfect for the Regency period, with all its pride, prejudice, and zombies!

See our Black Pyramid Gaming Facebook page for more details and news, and check-in at www.blackpyramid.co.uk to buy the miniatures.