Borneo to Venice, 1830-1890 - Sandokan

[Vanvlak]

Hi all,
time for a new, old adventure, and (discounting Mordheim) the start of my progress in this adventuring lark.
And where else to begin than in Borneo? And it ends in Venice.

Many, many (TOO many) years ago the Italian TV stations produced a series based on Emilio Salgari's character Sandokan, a pirate king known as the Tiger of Momprachem. The books by Salgari and the series (and a sequel) presented Sandokan, his Portuguese advernturer friend Yanez de Gomeira, a handful of allies including a native hunter, several notorious pirates, freedom fighters and an Indian prince. His enemy was Lord James Brooke of Sarawak, also known as Rajah Brooke, who included amongst his allies several British and Bornean officers, a few useful traitors, and (at least in the 2nd TV series) a treacherous Greek who could easily take on Indy with a whip.
The interesting bit is that Brooke really existed, and I was lucky enough to bag an oldish book about him (portraits and all) for less than 3 Euros in a book sale. Sandokan was a creation of the Italian author Salgari, a character who combines all the good traits (and none of the bad) of the various pirates and chiefs opposing Brooke.
Salgari himself was practially left pennyless by his publishers, in spite of considerable success (especially in S. America), and ended up committing suicide. Another historical link - apparently Che Guevara was inspired by Salgari's stories of Sandokan and the Black Pirate (another Salgari character, one for the swashbucklers).
In my setting, Sandokan and Brooke will clash time and again in Borneo, India (the settings of the books and TV series) and several other places as well. Why Venice (in the title)? Well, I'd like an aged Sandokan and a doddering Brooke to end up in one of the cities I love the most, in the Med, which is where I live, and where Sandokan will meet an Italian author by the name of E. Salgari.....

The models:
Well, still lagging here, but a good friend who'd known about this project brought me some Foundry stuff from the Indian Mutiny and Colonial ranges, and amongst them are an excellent Sandokan, Yanez (ironically, amongst the colonials), Brooke and a younger British officer. The rest will be Sandokan's friends and allies andBrooke's henchmen. I need to add more of course, and what a cast there is to fill: wildmen of Borneo, native troops, pirates, villagers, British troops, Indian mutineers, adventurers from Europe... and eventually, Venetians.
Not forgetting my wargaming background, I also have a tiny  Aeronef for my VSF stuff, and am plannign a fleet of sorts ranging from Malaysian Prahus to ACW-style monitors.
The journey to Venice of course offers many possibilities - foremost in my mind are Chomolungma, Istanbul, Heraklion and Birgu (in Malta). ANd I'd like a run in with the USN in the Med. And a trip to Morocco, to meet a young  Mulai Ahmed er-Raisuni (the Wind and the Lion). The latter "had been arrested by the Pasha of Tangier, Abd-el-Rahman Abd-el-Saduk (his distant relative), and chained to a wall for four years, until he was released by sympathetic guards." to quote no less an authority than Wikipedia. Sympathetic guards? Pshaw! it was Sandokan and Yanez disguised as guards!

The rules:
ah, yes... so far I've got the old G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. and the Fire and Steel rules, not to mention Legends of the West which could be adopted in the later part of the adventure (Gunfight at Knossos, anyone?). But I'm fishing around for new stuff, with T&T in mind.

There you are. If you're interested I can try to dig up a link to one of the Sandokan books in full, but it's in Italian. And someone in Italy had also posted rules for Sandokan and co. for skirmishes, if I manage to find them again.
Open to suggestions, ladies and gents.

[Malamute]

Wow  What a fantastic sounding project. Lots of photos please

[Vanvlak]

An overambitious one, if you ask me....
Nothing to show for it so far, although my first version of S is almost ready.

For the VSF people, here's Sandokan's Cutlass Spar class 'Parang' of Aeronef, from Brigade. The flag shown here (oversize, if anything!) is taken from some depiction of Sandokan's flag, a tiger head on a red field.




In my 28mm scale stuff I'll be leaving the SF out - or at least, most of it. I might not resist Yetis on Chomolungma.

[Argonor]

Remember that series - was shown on German television a couple of times back ine the late 70's, methinks. Very adventury!

[PeteMurray]

Excellent! I read English translations of Sandokan and "The Black Pirate", and they were quite fun. They're excellent fodder for regular skirmish games and I like what you have planned. The idea of rescuing Raisuni is particularly great! Big thumbs up on that one.

If you're going to be cavorting around the Med, perhaps Sandokan can be in pursuit of some fantastic Templar artifact, maybe stolen by the Black Pirate and hidden away in a previous century. You're more likely to encounter the Brits in the Med than the USN. Maybe Brooke is some sort of naval attache at that point? Also, if you're slightly fuzzy on the years involved, The Great White Fleet could be sailing around the world at the same time that Sandokan passes through there, and that might be a good way to get into an encounter with them.

If you're looking for new rules, you might want to check out "The Sword and the Flame" and "The Sword in Africa" (the latter is more for small unit actions). I might even humbly suggest .45 Adventures for some of the very small actions, but I'm not exactly an objective observer on those rules. :roll:

Very neat Nef, too.

[Plynkes]

Flashman says that Rajah Brooke had no penis, having lost it in a fight with Dyak pirates, as I recall.

Strangely enough, the Wikipedia entry on Brooke makes no mention of this.

[Geudens]

The Sandokan series (and sequel "the return of...") were available on dvd, at least in Belgium.  Not sure if this is still the case.

Rudi

[Hammers]

Flashman says that Rajah Brooke had no penis, having lost it in a fight with Dyak pirates, as I recall.

Strangely enough, the Wikipedia entry on Brooke makes no mention of this.

There is a footnote refering to this in Flashman's Lady, but the note says it was a social rumor.

[Vanvlak]

Thanks Pete; the Americans were inserted as Old Ironsides herself (USS Constitution)had been touring the Med - she even made it to Malta. So it should be no big deal to have a US ship around.
The RN would have to be featured of course - and Brook could even be stationed on a certain small island in the middle of the Med....
The dates will be fuzzed over; and the Black Pirate link sounds good  

As for the rules - thanks - I'll take a look starting with .45  :wink:

As regards the - ah - endowments or lack of, there's funnily no mention of this issue in Brooke's biography....  :roll:

[Gluteus Maximus]

<snip>
The rules:
ah, yes... so far I've got the old G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. and the Fire and Steel rules, not to mention Legends of the West which could be adopted in the later part of the adventure (Gunfight at Knossos, anyone?). But I'm fishing around for new stuff, with T&T in mind.

There you are. If you're interested I can try to dig up a link to one of the Sandokan books in full, but it's in Italian. And someone in Italy had also posted rules for Sandokan and co. for skirmishes, if I manage to find them again.
Open to suggestions, ladies and gents.

The Sword & the Flame is very good for large-scale Victorian gaming, especially using the "800Fighting Englishmen" variant. There is a supplement specifically intended to game Rajah Brooke's exploits available here:

http://fauxtoys.com/tvag/079-rules.html#TKATF

This lets you integrate naval craft in with 15mm land games, but is easily converted to 28mm. I have a copy & it's very good indeed.

There is also another ship/land supplement " Breechloaders & Boilers", intended for riverine/coastal gaming in 28mm, which is also well worth having:

http://fauxtoys.com/tvag/079-rules.html#Boilers%20And%20Breechloaders

There is also an "unofficial" supplement available free on the web for adding landships etc, whose name escapes me for the moment

I'd recommend the whole TSATF system for colonial gaming, as it's a great deal of fun easy to learn & simple.

I love simple


 ::

[Hammers]

Eureka makes sarawaks/dayaks if you need native headhunters.

[Vanvlak]

Thanks GM and Hammer;
a supplement on Brooke himself! Now THAT is something to look into. Nice find, GM. Thanks for the tip-off.
Eureka - will take a peek. Sounds good stuff. Thanks Hammer.
Lots to do!
Trouble is, this project won't get into top gear before January - I'm writing my PhD and hoping to get it done by then, hence the ultra-low state of modelling productivity.
cheers,
john

[Vanvlak]

ANd some progress in model stuff, at long last.
Mr. Sandokan himself, after a spot of rough and tumble, I dare say.
Foundry miniature from the Indian Mutiny range.

http://pauljamesog.blogspot.com/2007/11/sandokan-revealed.html
I'll be making another Sandokan in different garb for different occasions - probably.

[warrenpeace]

Flashman says that Rajah Brooke had no penis, having lost it in a fight with Dyak pirates, as I recall.

Ah, Flashman!  What a great source for Victorian history.  Essential to read Flashman's Lady (that's the right one isn't it?) for a different perspective on Rajah Brooke before launching this kind of project.

[Chairface]

Definitely. My view of Brooke is positive, from not only what I know of him historically, but from his description in Flashman's Lady. Its interesting and a bit startling to think of him as a villain.

Btw, does anyone make a Brooke miniature? And if not, why not?