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| Ah the possibilities! |
I've been mulling over the many projects I have on the go at the moment - Return of the Magnificent Sven, my Goblinoid horde, Trolltooth Wars (must get started on this one), Dr Who, Dalek Civil War, getting a game of Warhammer Siege in with my two Mighty Fortresses, finishing off my Undead hored, Warmaster, Man O War, Battle of the Five Armies (yep managed to score a right bargain there!), Mighty Empires and my latest obsession with 2nd ed. Space Marine (epic).
Phew! And I'm sure I've forgotten one or two minor ones amongst that lot. It's a familiar situation for many of you I'm sure - too many miniatures, too many ideas and grand visions but not enough time to get them finished, or even started in some cases.
However, this parlous state of affairs still doesn't stop me envisaging even more outlandish and unattainable gaming ideas. Having been laid low with Nurgle's Rot this past week and work sapping all vitality and life out of me I've been idly dreaming of impossible games. Here's a few of my most recent flights of fantasy...
1. Ulysses 31 - I'm a massive fan of this old 80's cartoon - The setting, story, and mostly the mood and music are very evocative. I'd love to pit the crew of the Odyssey against Zeus' Sharkmen legions - Deep Space battles against squadrons of Tridents and a whole host of worlds for the crew of the Odyssey to liberate.
Obstacles to getting this on the table - I haven't really looked but I imagine finding suitable miniatures for Ulysses and his children, the Sharkmen and other distinctive characters could prove tricky/expensive or very time consuming in conversions.
However, apparently there were Ulysses toys made which I was previously unaware of! Also the small number of characters could prove tricky - main character death would have to be avoided in some satisfactory way...
2. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - another Japanese animation that is very close to my heart.
Again it's the mood as well as the epic sweep of the story that speaks to me here. Plus it'd be easier to play a more orthodox war game with the various factions fighting it out in the story - the Tolmekian attack on Pejite or the Valley of the Wind, the creeping advance of the Fukai, the toxic jungle that has spread across the planet after the apocalyptic events of the Seven Days of Fire and the stampede of the maddened herds of Ohmu.
Obstacles - again it's got to be suitable models! There's a very specific aesthetic although I'm sure with time, patience and some nifty conversion skills it'd be possible. There is an Ohmu model although I suspect it'd cost a bob or two to get enough together for a stampede!
3. Godzilla/Gamera!
Hmm, seems to be a Japanese theme emerging here...
What's not to like here though - Giant Monsters, hordes of tanks and jet fighters, lasers, radio-active breath and carnage on a city-wide scale! I defy anyone to not succumb to this very persuasive "advert" done by the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 crew.
Happily, bringing Godzilla and chums to the gaming table shouldn't be that difficult. There are loads of Godzilla toys of varying scales and amassing large numbers of 6mm, 10mm or even 15mm soldiers, tanks and jet fighters would be simple enough. I suppose the only slight barrier would be building a table-wide city scape for the monsters to frolic in!
So there's my top three Would-like-to-play-but-will-probably-never-get-round-to-it-or-would-never-afford-or-be-able-to-source-the-miniatures-for-it games.
How about you, dear Readers - do you have any unachievable ambitions to bring a favoured setting or story to life in miniature?
Hi!
ReplyDeleteThats a fantastic list there! I am going to have to steal it for a blog post of my own I suspect.
I'd love to see Ulysses 31 turned into a game as the tv series was utterly fantastic but you are indeed correct, getting the characters to look right would be difficult. As for character death, them being killed on the battlefield could just represent them being knocked unconscious or captured which requires another scenario as their friends try to rescue them from the evil clutches of their foes!
All the best!
Steal away - always interested in other folks' gaming ideas.
DeleteCapture or being badly wounded would be an option certainly. Also episodes like Rebellion on Lemnos give you a cast of supporting (and expendable!) characters.
Somewhere I have a booklet with a set of beer and pretzel rules for Godzilla style games. Just a very simple ruleset, but always looked quite fun. It was called "Trash Tokyo", and I think everything from the booklet is here: http://www.wilsonclan.org.uk/Games/trasht/intro.htm
ReplyDeleteIf I find my copy of the booklet, I'll review it for my blog.
Nice one - that does indeed look like a lot of fun!
DeleteI'll look forward to the review if you can dig that booklet out.
rules for godzilla? look here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ganeshagames.net/product_info.php?cPath=1_11&products_id=19
There's some really interesting game mechanics there - I like the coloured dice you use as your monster suffers injuries.
DeleteThanks for the link!
I know you feelings. I'm finishing painting all the minis needed to play X-Com; also I bought 10mm infantry and tanks to play all Squad Leader boardgame scenarios. Rules for X-Com are half made but for SL I only have some ideas so far.
ReplyDeleteThen, my main project wich is painting around 10 28mm fantasy figures of each race to skirmish and explore a full new world. Rules for skirmishes are half made and for exploring just some ideas :)
Apart form all that I'm still painting and playing Epic, Warmaster and WFB 3rd edition :P
I think having too many projects is a good and healthy sign that our hobby is alive and kicking :)
Glad I'm not alone and quite right Blacksmith - definitely a sign of a vibrant scene. Places like the LAF just show what an amazing breadth of creativity there is out there.
DeleteMy dream projects are the battle of Camlann in 15mm w/ Splintered Light, the assault on Conan's village from the Milius movie in 15mm w/ Copplestone Barbarica, and a giant table for Troy, which actually may happen!
ReplyDeleteI could get behind those two ideas. I remember being rather inspired by Rosemary Sutcliff's The Sword at Sunset, which has Arthur as a more historical character in the form of the Romano-Celtic Prince Artos - great read.
DeleteA bit of Conan is always fun too and the siege of Troy would be fantastic - I'll keep my eyes peeled for that!
I just realised that Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is something I watched when I was about 9 or 10 while visiting a friends house - which I never knew the name of!
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of service!
DeleteI think I must have seen it when I was much younger too and mixed it up with the memories of watching Castle in the Sky as it all seemed very familiar when I rediscovered it a few years back.
Ulysses 31 would be sooooo cool. Let us know if you do track down some suitable figures. The toys look cool but go for a bomb on ebay...
ReplyDeleteCertainly would - in fact it was these Sharkmen minis that made me consider the possibility of gaming Ulysses in 28mm.
DeleteDon't hold your breath - it's a bit of a pipe dream!
Oh gosh, I must have new ideas for projects every day. Journey to the West in the style of the 1970s Monkey series (with maybe a dash of Jamie Hewletts opera). Epic Scale Horus Heresy rebranded as the Cola Wars with Titans and tanks dressed up in the livery of soft drinks manufacturers. Heroquest remixed into Labyrinth, Brian Froud goblins and David Bowie as the Morcar figure.
ReplyDeleteUlysees 31 could be great, but it would have to really reflect the design of the series to work, gluing some ray-guns onto some Hoplites might be OK for some punky 2nd Ed Warhammer, but that clean Franco-Japanese vibe has to be done properly. And what's with those robot toys? They only appeared in the end title sequence, odd choice. I don't think they even sell DVDs of it anymore, so the chances of someone like Crooked Dice, Mongoose or Cubicle 7 (they should do minis) picking up a license and doing a doing a proper job of it are pretty slim.
Loving those ideas Zhu - especially the Cola Wars. I reckon the Squat Land Train (not necessarily canon but hey) would paint up lovely like a Coca Cola truck off the Christmas ad.
DeleteCrooked Dice would do a wonderful job, judging by the other stuff they've done, were they to produce some minis but like you say, probably not going to happen.
I think the robots made the odd brief appearance in various episodes - Telemachus uses them against Sisyphus when he tricks Ulysses and tries to steal the Odyssey. Trident attacks often gave them a few fires to put out too! Some bad guy figures would have been good instead though.
I have caught the EPIC bug and would love someday to recreate the battle for macragge complete with 10k ultramarines and nids. I'd splurge on a frontline gaming alpine mat, and rocky arctic terrain, and multi tiered cliff facings using this technique
ReplyDeletehttp://www.3t-studios.com/archives/2642
But first 3k skaven!
That's a whole lot of Skaven!
DeleteMacragge would be fun. Not to distract you from that mammoth task, but did you know that Onslaught Miniatures do a very nice line in Nid style gribblies with their Legion faction?
Good choices :) Two of those are quite high on my favourites list too.
ReplyDeleteKaiju games are quite achievable if your Oldhammer history includes the Adeptus Titanicus/Epic era. I used some Epic models to make motorcycle cops and firefighters and Power Rangers a while back:
http://sho3box.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/epic-emergency-services-and-mechagodzilla/
"Gashapon" (I think that it means "capsule" or "capsule toy" or something in Japanese. Basically the big Kinder egg things that you can get from vending machines) toys are available on Ebay for any of the named kaiju, If you would rather some generic monsters, plenty of suitable toy ranges come and go (Gormiti was one the last time that I checked) and cheap dinos are easy to find. Plenty of 28mm monster types would fit in well too.
Ganesha Games Mighty Monsters is a good choice for some fun, straightforward giggles with tiny giants. I got a playtester mention in that book :)
I started kitbashing a Ulysses 31 warband in 28mm a long time ago, but left it to one side. It was very much intended to be some sort of reimagining of the characters rather than a direct - and therefore very time consuming - port. Replicating the show in miniature would be beyond my patience levels Id say, but having a Sensei warband or something that has a U31 vibe is something that I still want to do. I even have a small little robot that doesnt look exactly like Nono, but is close enough for me to do some stupid impersonations if I had it painted red and on the gaming table :)
Thats a cool list, but maybe those two dont need to be written off just yet
Those traffic cops are brilliant - just got some of those Imperial Bikers on the painting table as well!
DeleteCheers for the tips and congrats on the mention with Ganesha Games - I think it's more a case of the weight of other projects making a Kaiju game unlikely in the near future rather than availability of minis. I might be tempted yet though!
Your Ulysses warband sounds very interesting - i like the idea of a Ulysses style RT warband too. More achievable like you say.
Get that robot painted red and post it up!
The movie adaptation of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is awesome, yes, it does remain one of my own personnal favourite movies, however, if you've not read the Manga, you are missing out. There's a huge huge difference in the storylines (similarities and core ideas still there) between the movie and the manga and indeed the Manga brings in the war of the Torumekian empire with that of the holy Dorok principalities, where the valley of the Wind is one of a number of independent kingdoms on what is termed 'the periphery' all allied together to the torumekian Empire. It is surprisinglya wesome and there is scope for anything from small on the ground skirmish games through to full blown army on army encounters, seiges, and aerial combats, throw in the insects, the ohmu, and the artifical slime mold amd the appearance of The God Warrior and there is pretty much room for almost anything your imagination can come up with. I'd love tos ee nausicaa models, models of the soldiers of the dorok's and the Wormhandlers especially would be insanely epic.
ReplyDeleteIf you've not read the manga, go buy the new combined hardback edition: It's english printed, 2 hardback novels, and a poster and so good value:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1421550644/sr=1-1/qid=1376059168/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1376059168&seller=&sr=1-1
You certainly sound like a true connoisseur Auretioustaak! I did come across some online version of the Manga and got quite absorbed by a sequence with Nausicaa travelling with the God Warrior which seemed to regard her as his Mother? I'd definitely like to read the whole thing and it's been on the Christmas list for awhile.
DeleteCheers for the link and no doubt getting in trouble with the wife for buying more stuff online!
Oh and the epic battles and sieges you mention have me wondering if there are any suitable 6mm minis out there...