Age of Conan

[KeyanSark]

Fantastic News!!

http://theminiaturespage.com/news/792830/

I like very much the idea of Conan being a "force nature" that the players must try to use but they never control...

[Rhoderic]

I'll definitely buy this. My boardgaming friends will love it for sure.

[Driscoles]

Something to look forward. It sounds definately interesting !
Björn

[Argonor]

Probably another 'must have'  :cry:

[Operator5]

I'll get it when it's out in the US. Can't help myself, I'm a Conan fan.  

[loki]

This is more interesting:
Nexus Announces 2008 Line-up: Conan x2,
Italian publisher Nexus Editrice has announced its 2008 line-up.
Other items in the Nexus line-up:


    * A Conan the Barbarian miniatures game, with prepainted 35mm figures; the first release in the series will be Cimmerian Rage, and additional sets with figures from the Conan storyline will be added in supplemental figure packs.

[Rhoderic]

35mm :cry: Not for me, then.

[Argonor]

I'll get it when it's out in the US. Can't help myself, I'm a Conan fan.  

And still you make us wait 'til August....  :cry:     :wink:

[Operator5]

I'll get it when it's out in the US. Can't help myself, I'm a Conan fan.  

And still you make us wait 'til August....  :cry:     :wink:

It will be WORTH the wait.  

[Argonor]

I do not doubt it. I have basecoated the skin of two old 'non-Conan' Grenadier Fantasy Warriors Barbarians (which is to say they're practcally covered in paint  :: ) in sheer anticipation  

[UncleRhino]

I knew when I met the guys from Paradox in Cross Plains they would be doing good things with Howard's creations.  This only affirms my belief that we will be seeing a new emergence of Howard in the mainstream.  You all do know that there is currently a Solomon Kane film in the works?

Reading the review for the game, I guess I am most concerned that the four factions represented in the game include Hyperborea.  Hyperboreans are secretive and clannish, a very primitive and brutish people.  With the exception of slaving, they are not known in the Howard canon for being much other than isolationists who occasionally raid the near south ( Zamora, the Border Kingdoms and of course Brythunia, for the blond bombshell women...) for slaves.  I just don't see them as imperialists.  The Turanian/Hyrkanians, the Stygians the various and sundry Hyborian nations (Aquilonia, Nemedia, Koth, Argos, Zingara, Ophir and Corinthia--although, in truth, only the Aquilonians, Nemedians and prehaps the people of Koth have any sort of imperial designs during the Age of Conan) all make some sort of sense, I just don't see the inclusion of the Hyperboreans.  

From another standpoint, who would you include as the " fourth imperial power"?  The Pictish Nations are right out, they are not imperial minded, and so are the Cimmerians and Nordheimer.  The same holds true for the Black Kingdoms and the Afghulis/Iranistanis.  Based on what HOWARD wrote about Khitai, which was very little, they must be dismissed as well.  The answer, in my mind, is the kingdom of Vendhya.  They have a far more imperial mindset than the Hyperboreans and have a much more stratified society and military system.  On the other hand, they are held in check ( in part at any rate), by the presence of the Himelian mountains and the fact that the inhabitants there constantly raid Vendhya, and would make the passage of an entire army large enough for conquest very highly contested through the Himelian passes.

Ok, that is getting pretty deep, at any rate...I suppose they took a look at a map of the Hyborian continent and decided well...Aquilonia is our Hyborian group, the Stygians represent the evil and decadent south, the Turanians/Hyrkanians represent the Eastern conquering menace....Hyperborea makes good sense in terms of geographic placement, and not much else.  There really was not a great choice other than the Hyperboreans, for game play purposes, I suppose.  You could not have the two fledgling empires of Aquilonia and Nemedia starting right next to one another, they would just attack each other immediately and then the Turanians/Hyrkanians and Stygians would come in like vultures to pick the carcasses of the two.  

Anyhow, it does look like a great game, and I will be certain to pick up a copy as soon as it is available.  For atmosphere and variation of setting, you just cannot beat Howard's Hyboria.

UncleRhino

[KeyanSark]

I thought the natural election was Nemedia... However, although I agree with you about the Hyperborean election, I think it has been done for playing reasons. Think of it: Nemedia has frontier with Aquilonia, so these players would be fighting from the beginning. However, the kingdom election offers a north-east-south-west election so the players are long from each other...

And hyperborean were some kind of black magic users, as the Stygians, maybe some interesting rules for a different faction are involved.

[Rhoderic]

I haven't read all the Conan stories yet, but I view Hyperborea the same way as Stygia. Both are quite reclusive nations politically and militarily, but they're ancient civilizations with great magical powers. I wonder if this is their intention: Two young, political powerhouses (Aquilonia in the West, Turan in the East), counterbalanced by two ancient, magical ones (Hyperborea in the North, Stygia in the South). Asymmetric, yet symmetric in a way.

Vendhya is alright, but it would have too much uncontested territory that far in the east. And anyway, it's not one of those "special" nations that Howard lavished on, like Aquilonia, Turan and Stygia. I also choose to view Hyperborea as one of those special nations, as it certainly seemed to have the potential, judging from what he hinted at in "The Hyborian Age". He just didn't get the chance to write more about it.