Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: UncleRhino on April 04, 2007, 01:07:07 AM
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Hey guys, I am a long-time fan of REH, and have attended the REH festival in Cross Plains TX a few times in the past years as time and money have allowed for me to do so. Last year, I was talking with some of the REHUPA members--Robert E. Howard United Press Association-- a collection of scholars and fans of REH's work-- at the festival, and there was quite an interest in the roleplaying/gaming influence of REH.
Anyhow, I am thinking I will cart along some miniatures and some basic " travel terrain" and maybe put on a demo game or a participation game one of the evenings at the festival. I had to think long and hard about what would be the easiest thing for me to come up with as far as a scenario and all the bells and whistles that will travel easily...
...I figure I always liked Beyond the Black River...so why not find some Picts and Aquilonians and perhaps a certain Cimmerian to have a bit of a forest skirmish...
What I need advice about is....I need miniatures for Picts...I have looked around a bit, and all of the really great looking miniatures I have looked at ( not a great deal, mind you) all seem to have muskets and such...
Any suggestions? I already have a damn fine fig for Conan that I have never seen any of you post a pic of...neener neener neener....some day I will repaint it to be more worthy to post here! I can scrounge up some figs to work as Aquilonian borderer types as well...but the damn Picts are being a nuisance...
Any suggestions?
UncleRhino
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I haven't read any of the REH stories with Picts, so I have to ask a stupid question first: Are the Picts meant to be Native Americans?
IF so, Conquest has a pack of Woodland Indians with Bows, and Eureka makes Powhatan Indians (also with bows, mostly). Of these two I'd go with the Powhatan, as they strike me as looking more primitive.
Eureka Powhatan (http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126_703)
Conquest Indians (http://www.conquestminiatures.com/500-009.htm)
If I'm entirely mistaken about the Picts, then ignore everything above :oops:
EDIT: Oh, and I wouldn't call my advice "expert", exactly :)
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I've never been able to find any relly satisfactory REH pict minis. But, if you want to spend the conversion time, I think Rhoderic's idea would work. The Conquest figs look like really great minis, the trick would be to make them not so oviously native american.
Chuck
btw I sent you a PM UncleRhino
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What about the wilder types from Foundry's Ancient Germans line?
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well...without referencing a lot of REH...the Picts I see in my mind's eye are basically similar to what I am thinking would be the Conquest minis. The only thing that might make things difficult is that Howardian Picts wear mostly just loincloths, and fight with knives, spears, bows and axes. They do covet weapons and " things " from their more civilized neighbors, and it is known that the Zingarans and even some of the more southern Aquilonians do in fact trade with some of the tribes. Keeping this in mind, they would have access to non-Pictish weaponry and other things as well. They wear lots of hammered copper bracelets and ornamentation is primarily in copper and some silver. I don't recall any mention of gold, but torcs and armbands are mentioned in the fiction.
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My own thought for REH's vision of the Picts is, strangely enough, Biblical Era Libyans. They are clad only in a loincloth and an animal skin cape, with feather in their hair, and fight with bows, javelins and sometimes bronze swords.
So they have something of that 'woodlands indians' aspect to them without looking like, say, Iroquois in the slightest! By most standards, they look very odd indeed --
Here's a page from the Foundry catalogue: http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/BIBLICAL/15/index.asp
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Although their civilization is clearly inspired in North American indians, I've always seen the Picts from Hyboria as near-neanderthal men... Maybe some cavemen will do the job. Problem is that most cavemen miniatures I've seen are bearded, and picts do not have beards (at least, in classic Marvel comics)
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I recommend Darkest Africa tribes, just don't paint them as blacks.
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What's wrong with using Foundry's Picts as, well, "picts"? :?
Wargames Foundry Picts page (http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/APICT/2/index.asp)
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Howard saw the Picts as an aboriginal and unrefined race, not at all like the neighboring Hyborians, they were not as tall nor were they " clean of limb" ( if you have an inkling of how to define that, it is more of just an ...ok...I get that image, for me anyway) The Conquest minis seem to be more of what I would want to see as far as the way they are armed, and somewhat of their garments as well. The Darkest Africa miniatures seem like a good way to go, but would possibly take some conversion work to get the right feel from. I am starting to think that different tribes of Picts might look very different, even on casual inspection...with say...the Wolf tribe looking very different from the Otter tribe. In every sense of the word. I am thinking the Conquest and Foundry lines both have some sense of what I am looking for.
I guess, for me, it all comes down to " are my Picts Native American-style in physical appearance? " I just don't feel like they should look Native American, physically. I guess this means it looks like I will have some Foundry Darkest Africa Picts. Hell, I already have some of their excellent witch doctors, a couple of blisters of them should make fine Picts.
Bottom line is, I can sculpt a loincloth, some armlets maybe some hair decorations, but a whole Pict....not so much
Thanks for the opinions guys, maybe someday I will stop living like a Pict and be able to post a picture or two here to show them off.
UncleRhino
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Bottom line is, I can sculpt a loincloth, some armlets maybe some hair decorations, but a whole Pict....not so much
In that case, how about the Bronze Age Miniatures Generics (http://www.bronzeagemin.com/miniatures_html/25MM/GENERICS/generics.htm)? Their anatomy looks nicely Howardesque to me, and then there's just the matter of adding the things you mentioned, plus weapons of your choosing.
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. I guess this means it looks like I will have some Foundry Darkest Africa Picts. Hell, I already have some of their excellent witch doctors, a couple of blisters of them should make fine Picts.
seconded, also my interpretation of the picts, taking Africa savages is the way i would go. And i already have found some suitable minis for my future Conan project, Reaper Malapango Savages :
(http://www.reapermini.com/products/3145_G.jpg)
(http://www.battlefield-berlin.de/shop/Media/Shop/rea03153.jpg)
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@ProfW- if you use them for picts, what will you use for Kush and the other "Dark Kingdoms"?
I'd use GB Picts, and Irish especially, for my picts, and save Zulu for Kush.
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@ProfW- if you use them for picts, what will you use for Kush and the other "Dark Kingdoms"?
Foundry Masai :)
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Have you considered using the Copplestone Amazonian tribes for REH ??? Some of those have no loincloth, but that's something you could fix. They don't look either African or North American.
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I think the largest issue here to overcome is that the REH stories involving the picts...read like James Fennimore Cooper--Last of the Mohicans, etc...
This serves to " color " ones idea of what the Picts " should " look like... perhaps in environment, this is correct, but REH's ideas of their physical appearance is another matter
From this vantage...they do in fact not appear to have Native American features. Culturally are they quite similar? Oh, most definately yes.
Bah, this is sapping my will to live....
UncleRhino
however, I do thank you all for your opinions and input, it has helped a great deal.
UR
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But didn't they also come from the islands that later rose from the sea to become the North American continent? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.