Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Interwar => Topic started by: Harry von Fleischmann on April 20, 2019, 06:39:54 PM
-
I’m posting this here as it’s SET interwar - though it’s subject does lend itself to pulp. I’m a bit more inclined to see it as a historical period.
Anyway - having watched it and previously read the books I’m quite tempted to at least paint some suitable figures (errr gangsters) as Berlin cops and what have you (sadly no polizei in jäger caps). As for gaming, it’s pretty much skirmish stuff - perhaps with a bit of “turf war” thrown in - I’d be tempted to have an attack of amnesia and leave the SA out of it.
-
Most enjoyable series. I watched it a year or two ago when it came out on Sky in the UK.
There is one pretty unbelievable moment late on in season 1 which somewhat spoiled it for me. But it's very evocative of the period - despite the weirdness of Bryan Ferry providing some of the music.
I believe there's another season due later this year.
-
Well, I’d say there was a moment which stretched my credulity too and I think I know the one you mean. Perhaps that’s where it lurched out of interwar, into pulp and then back again?
I believe s3 is due later this year. Yes, Brian Ferry’s appearance (and use of some Roxy Music tracks in 20s mode) seemed at first odd but then fitted rughtvin
-
I think this was one of the best (couple of) series I've seen in a while - all the more galling that there doesn't seem to be any civilian German police out there! (in 28mm anyways)
Have fun
Finn
-
I found it addictive viewing. I think it has gaming potential in a gang context - the reds, the polizei, the shadow reichswehr and the criminals are all “gangs” with varying drivers for victory points or similar. I’m not comfortable running the SA as a playable faction. Perhaps they’d exist only to be battered by the player factions?
It’s certainly had me looking at the Tsuba German Revolution stuff and the Copplestone gangsters...
-
Babylon Berlin is very inspirational. I'm finishing the first book now. But the tv series was much more entertaining, mostly because it followed multiple characters and not just Gereon Rath. More perspectives made for a richer plot. Looking forward to the next season.
Not quite sure how to game it, but I'll use Pulp Alley. Prefer to start in 1919 rather than 1929 though. The whole Weimar period is facinating.
-
You are spot on about the differing plot style. I was told that in Berlin a few weeks ago and that’s really why I watched it.
I think there are two routes - the pulp (find the missing film or the negatives) and a more gang style game in which the factions try to control areas - so the Reds start with control of Wedding, the Polizei of Mitte etc. Though as you say the 1919 period may work better
-
I would say that the Jäger from IHMN would work rather well as SchuPos:
http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=5258 (http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=5258)
-
Most enjoyable series. I watched it a year or two ago when it came out on Sky in the UK.
There is one pretty unbelievable moment late on in season 1 which somewhat spoiled it for me. But it's very evocative of the period - despite the weirdness of Bryan Ferry providing some of the music.
I believe there's another season due later this year.
Just watched the first two episodes-which I thought were really good.
Regarding the incongruity of (Bryan Ferry appearing in) the soundtrack-I thought the use of Nick Cave and PJ Harvey etal in Peaky Blinders was absolutely inspired-Bryan post classic Roxy/Eno is admittedly another matter.
-
It is addictive, and a reason I restarted a Freikorps project.
-
It’s certainly had me thinking along those lines or a gangster type game set in Berlin.
-
Great German TV series! I was very much surprised on how good it was when I saw it. We usually have TV shows about Docs in Bavaria or TV crime investigators in there 70ˋ s on Tv since the 80ˋs so that BB was refreshing!
-
I knew about it but was sold on it on a recent visit to Berlin when I was told that the series was better than the books. Having been through Hermanstrasse Station - changing trains to go to Battlefield Berlin (and that is a fine shop btw) and walked around a fair bit, it seemed foolish not to try the series. I was hooked from the off.
-
My point about starting in 1919 is that the Gereon Rath series misses an entire decade of the intriguing Weimar period. I would love to see some pre-quels featuring either Gereon Rath in Cologne or the Bruno Wolters character in Berlin starting November 11, 1918. But even without that, we miniatures people could use those characters in games set well before 1929.
-
Well, yes, the Bernie Gunther series started in 1934 iirc and reached 1946 in three books. Kerr then went back using flashbacks from the 50s; only now in the last book (as Kerr died last year), are we seeing the 1920s.
It looks to me as if the immediate post war period has the Freikorps and Reds in a classic civil war while the later Babylon period gives us the pulpier, cops, robbers, Reds and thugs. The question is if anyone would play SA. I for one would not.
Oh - and I’m certainly looking at the Tsuba German revolution range.
-
I like it a lot to. I was not aware Bryan Ferry was involved. I though the music wass a bit to modern for the period which may be explained by that. On hte other hand Ferry has that decadent quality which fits well with Weimar Berlin.
-
Exactly! I was looking at the soundtrack on iTunes and I noticed Bryan Ferry. Somewhat surprised to say the least but the period version of “dance away” is now on a loop in my mind. And yes, Ferry does seem to suite the period. A bit louche, a bit world weary.
-
Great German TV series! I was very much surprised on how good it was when I saw it. We usually have TV shows about Docs in Bavaria or TV crime investigators in there 70ˋ s on Tv since the 80ˋs so that BB was refreshing!
Who doesn't like Tatort or der bulle von tölz :D
-
The songs in the club and the audience dancing to Zu Asche zu Staub seems a bit too modern for the 20`s but... there is always a but....Its a knack of art or directing. It shows how progressive Berlin was at that time. Pople gathered there for fun, entertainment, art and to forget ww1 and they all mixed up in a huge melting pot because they knew how short life can be so they lived life to the fullest.
Anyway...great show
-
Yeah...Bulle von Tölz ist a good example :)
-
Yeah...Bulle von Tölz ist a good example :)
Just finished (binged) the first season and it is a really mature and well executed show capturing time and place very well. Going back to an earlier post the use of a wholly modern soundtrack in Peaky Blinders was a stroke of genius,IMO, underscoring the mood and action in 20's 30's Birmingham brilliantly
-
Well....I found an image of a banner for the “Reichsbanner Black Red Gold” which seemed to have been formed to protect the Republic from the left AND right. There was a display about it - which was closed - when we visited the Resistance Museum at the Bendler Block. I’m quite tempted to use Tsuba Spartacist command and civilians as the start of a small force for whatever I do in this period. I’ve managed to resize and print the flag - I just lack figures....for now
-
There was a display about it - which was closed - when we visited the Resistance Museum at the Bendler Block.
Sounds interesting. I’m planning a trip to Berlin later this year. I’ve never been, but always been intrigued by the reputation and history of the city. Especially after watching Battlefield Berlin and reading all of the late, great Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels...
Recommendations for interesting places to visit gratefully received :)
-
Recommendations for interesting places to visit gratefully received :)
[/quote]
There are so many places, depending on your interests but for me https://www.berliner-unterwelten.de/ is a great starting point.
I was interested in Flak Towers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_tower and stumbled across the Berliner Unterweltern, in 2006. They have a several tours including the remains of the tower in Humboldthain park. At that time the guy who ran it was born in the Humbolthain tower which, doubled up as an air raid shelter. Other than that cut of behind the Neue Wache, on Unter der Linden, and you can still clearly see the scars of war.
-
Sounds interesting. I’m planning a trip to Berlin later this year. I’ve never been, but always been intrigued by the reputation and history of the city. Especially after watching Battlefield Berlin and reading all of the late, great Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels...
Recommendations for interesting places to visit gratefully received :)
Just finished Metropolis,reading the first Berlin Babylon novel at the moment,interesting that people think the series is better than the books; my feeling is, that they would be possibly better in German,the translation can be a bit whiffy...
-
Do not miss the STASI museum; the DDR museum is also good. A trip up the TV tower is well worth it - and back on topic it’s on Alexanderplatz so you get to see that. The Resistance museum is worth a visit. Tbh we focused on Cold War when we went.
There is also a wall watchtower up a side street near Potsdamer Platz; for a few euro you can climb up the interior ladder onto the platform. Value for money. And yes, if you look you’ll notice bullet scars on older buildings.
Regarding translations, a German friend told me he’d read the Flashman books in English because the translation lost the tone. I heard the dubbed version of Babylon and turned it off. The books are good but I think the TV version is just immersive.
-
Do not miss the STASI museum; the DDR museum is also good. A trip up the TV tower is well worth it - and back on topic it’s on Alexanderplatz so you get to see that. The Resistance museum is worth a visit. Tbh we focused on Cold War when we went.
There is also a wall watchtower up a side street near Potsdamer Platz; for a few euro you can climb up the interior ladder onto the platform. Value for money. And yes, if you look you’ll notice bullet scars on older buildings.
Second all of that in particular the Fernsehturm (TV tower) which I only went in on my last visit and wondered why I hadn't done it before the views were amazing and the decor was kitsch plus. There is also the Topgraphy Of Terror Museum on the site of the Gestapo HQ.
Ps the Berlin Underworld people also have tours of the Cold war Bunkers and Speer's model for Germania which is also worth it-think Robert Harris's Fatherland.
-
The TV tower does a great job of putting it all in context and as we went towards the end of our stay it was fun working out where we’d been. There was a street market at Hackescher Markt station (R or S Bahn I think) when we were there and that was great for a currywurst and pfannkuchen
We are keeping the underground stuff for next time.
Meanwhile I am wondering - any ideas on uniform for the Reichsbanner chaps? The pictures I’ve found sugggest that what with boots, kepi and so on, they look like SA. I presume a grey shirt not brown?
-
Thanks for the tips.
I do love currywurst :)
-
He does !
-
Well then....
-
Well then....
I have to ask: is the story true about how curry ketchup came about? A cargo of curry and ketchup getting smashed during the cold war Berlin airlift? :)
-
Die Entdeckung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm reveals the whole story, well nearly :-*
-
I’m just wondering - I think I know the answer - but in a game set in 20s Berlin, would anyone play the SA? I personally wouldn’t but would some see them as “just another faction”?
I know the echoes the questions some feel about fielding SS units and the sense of unease I had seeing the FOW partisans and polizei box. No matter how much I liked the flak truck....
-
Well SA would certainly not be my faction of choice but if I was to do the period I‘d include them as frankly I don‘t think the Reds behaved any better in regards to their political enemies. To my eyes it‘s only what happened after 1933 with the Nazis actually taking over power in Germany what made the difference in the end. Just to play the devils advocate: If the Reds had won that power struggle and errected their Gulags and what have you, maybe we‘d today sit here and ask ourselves if we could justify it to ourselves to play the Rotfrontkämpferbund?
I feel a little disclaimer is in order here:
I certainly don‘t intend to belittle the abhorrent crimes to humanity perpetrated by the Nazis and their henchmen. But at this point in the timeline these deeds are still in the future and I don‘t think most German, let alone foreign, contemporaries really thought it possible that Hitler and his chronies really could pull off the things he‘d laid out in „Mein Kampf“.
Thus I think it‘d be wrong to exclude the SA, which were an essential part of what was going on back then. Actually unlike the SS in WW2, which on the battlefield (as that’s still what we’re recreating on our tables), didn’t do anything other Wehrmacht units couldn’t have performed.
For Babylon Berlin though I actually think if one was to play the period you need to factor in the SA to fully understand the going ons back then.
I can perfectly understand if one is hesitant about giving those bastards their „place in the sun“, but then maybe the Revolution of 1919 itself is probably better suited.
-
Fair comment. I remain torn between:
A) they were a feature of the period as much as the Reds for example and to airbrush them out gives a false impression
And
B) I’m uncomfortable with a faction with their track record of applying a disgusting policies on the street
As you say, 1919 is a bit more straightforward
Perhaps by 29 we are edging into pulp and in that the Nazi / SA is a goon there to be fought.
I did think of a random faction name generator - you could always reroll if you generated national socialist....
-
I did think of a random faction name generator - you could always reroll if you generated national socialist....
Some thing like the AK47 republic name/faction generator should work with a little bit of work.
-
Just watched the whole series.
Love it.
A question if I may ask.
Does the series cover just the first book?
Or did they mix the second and third books in?
Thanks for any replies.
-
just the first book I think; the 2nd book features the film industry....
-
So....a Tsuba Spartacist painted up as a member of Reichsbanner Schwartz Rot Gold
Cap badge and armband don’t bear close scrutiny.
Quite why the pic posts sideways I have a clue.... I apologise fir any cricked necks
-
Nice! Looking forward to seeing what else you make.
-
Just watched the whole series.
Love it.
A question if I may ask.
Does the series cover just the first book?
Or did they mix the second and third books in?
Thanks for any replies.
I would describe the first TV series of 16 episodes as a hugely expanded version of the first book. I read somewhere that some elements of the second book were included, but can't confirm that because I only just finished the first book. Some plot elements in the first book are greatly altered in the TV series.
What's really different is that the book is only told from the viewpoint of Gereon Rath. So you don't really get as much of the story of Charlotte Ritter, and none of the stories of Kardakov, Sorokin, Greta, etc. In the TV series there are several story lines being followed from multiple viewpoints. The TV series is much richer and more entertaining because of that.
-
I think that’s the best summing up of the series/books differences. I think I prefer the series. That said I’ve just bought book 3 so will be interesting to see if I change my mind.
I’ve a few more Tsuba on order from Empress, so I’ll have a few more DBSRG and Communists in a few days....thank you Commissar!
-
Thanks for the replies guys.
I really hope we get to see more.
Loved the different stories lines in the series.
-
It's rare that a movie or tv version is better than the source book material, but in this case it definitely was. And I definitely enjoyed that first book so its not a matter of being better than junk - the book is very good.