Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: matakishi on May 15, 2011, 12:38:50 PM
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The idea is to have 3-4 players (my normal group) each controlling a hero such as Conan, Red Sonja etc with an umpire run set of bad guys to thwart.
The settings will be small,.45 Adventure style linked scenarios with 3-5 of these making a story.
I'm painting all-new figures for this but will be using existing scenery elements along with a few new ones for the boards.
I'm trying for a Conan feel rather than generic fantasy but no doubt my Conan 'feel' will differ from other peoples. If I could just have figures that looked like they'd dropped out of a Frazetta painting I'd be happy.
I'm currently writing my own skirmish rules which will be available for free once they're done of course.
Anyhow on to the figures:
The main protagonists so far (Bronze Age Miniatures).
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Thulsa%20Doom%20and%20Conan%201.jpg)
Thulsa Doom's henchmen (Gripping Beast Moors)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Thulsa%20Doom%20henchmen%201.jpg)
Thulsa Doom's pet (Rafm and Grendel)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20snake%201.jpg)
An action shot (not indicative of the final boards)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20and%20snake%202%20600.jpg)
More pics and details on my site:
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
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Excellent.
Great miniatures, great scenery !
Funny thing is, I am doing the same project for next years Tactica and GLAM
I am using the Black Tree Moors for Turanian soldiers. My Heroes are mainly Reaper Figures. One of my Conan is a Black Tree miniature.
Will write my own rules too for this Tactica game.
Looking forward to see more
Regards
Björn
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I've always thought about doing a Conan project and this is naturally very inspiring! Excellent work and I shall be following your progress with interest.
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Nice choice of minis :-*
And, to join in, I've also planned to make a small Conan-Project.
I was thinking about another alternative setting for Strange Aeons, Dark Ages.
Right now it's just collecting minis ;)
He should become my Conan:
(http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt196/Comsquare/0119.gif)
Still Looking for one, by the way ;)
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The choice of minis, painting, & scenery are TERRIFIC!
True to my "odd man out/ Devil's advocate" approach to life, I've never considered doing up a Conan style war game...HOWEVER, I do intend to follow your progress with rapt interest. Have FUN with the Beasty.
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I'm doing a Conan project too! :)
Old school Citadel for my barbarians, Reaper for a few monsters, and I'm dying to get those new Tomb King snake thingys for my Stygian Tomb creature.
I'll be watching this one too!
(psst... Thulsa Doom fought Kull, not Conan! Except in the movie, of course... ::)
You need a Thoth-Amon!)
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(psst... Thulsa Doom fought Kull, not Conan! Except in the movie, of course... ::)
You need a Thoth-Amon!)
And in the old Marvel-Comics ;)
Will also use some of the old Citadel Barbarians :D
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Just send me those barbarians! You know you want to!
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Really look forward to how this project evolves!
Thanks Paul :9
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Very nice!
I also wanted to do a Conan (or at least barbarian project) after my Vikings.
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For crying out loud ... STOP RAISING THE STANDARDS! It's making it difficult for the rest of us to look good! ;D
Superb idea, please post updates.
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:-*
One fantastic entry!
The snake, alter, Conan, naked women... ... really well done! :D
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(psst... Thulsa Doom fought Kull, not Conan! Except in the movie, of course... ::)
You need a Thoth-Amon!)
I know, I'm painting Thoth-Amon and his minions at the moment. :)
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I still haven't found a Conan I like, at least one that matches Howards description...
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Just bought a load of the Conan novels in an excellent 2nd hand bookshop today having been inspired by your LPL entry!
Lovely work and I look forward to watching your project progress as I already have too much on my plate to contemplate starting my own at the moment! :D
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Very inspiring! :)
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Awesome as usual Matakishi!!! :-* :-* :-*
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Does anyone make a Red Sonja miniature....?
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Reaper have one that's very close but I don't like it. Still looking :(
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http://solegends.com/citcat88/0108fighters.jpg
I like #15 for my Sonja.
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Which Sonja are we talking about? The film-adoptation or the comic?
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I saw once a "Not-Red Sonja" which was very close to the Comic one.
If I could just remember the Company-name.
If think they also produce Post Apoc minis ???
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Here I saw her, the one from Blood Moon Miniatures:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13289.15
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Thulsa-Doom is a recurring villian in Dynamites current Red Sonja / Queen Sonja series.
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wow! i really love those!!!
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Great stuff mate - the painting is outstanding.
I really like that Snake - looks fantastic!
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Inspiring stuff, I will have to paint that Conan mini I've been sitting on for years now...
also a great movie, got me into REH and a gritty fantasy style, don't care what the haters want to say.
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Looks great to me, I can't wait to see the finished results.
Are the four teams going to be able to cooperate? Or will they all have differing missions in each scenario? I am curious to see how you work that aspect of things out.
If you need inspiration as to how to bring things together, check out "The Servants of Bit-Yakin" by Howard. It is not one of his more famous tales ("Queen of the Black Coast, Beyond the Black River, The Tower of the Elephant, The People of the Black Circle"...you get my point), however, the level of intrigue and plotting and scheming between the parties after the teeth are really well done.
Ryan
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I still haven't found a Conan I like, at least one that matches Howards description...
Surprisingly difficult to find :(
I have this one from the old Grenadier range which I quite like. Certainly not perfect but he is similar to the covers of the paperbacks I read as a teenager. He has the right physique and a suitably impressive sword, so close enough for me ;)
(http://www.mirliton.it/images/catalog/BA005-A776A.jpg)
The great thing bout Conan is that he went and fought in just about every nation of his world, so once you have him and a suitable "Big-Bad" with a few henchmen, you can use pretty well any terrain and fantasy figures you have as extras. One day I'll get to play some games in the "Black Kingdoms" :D
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Red Box Games barbarians all have that Conan feel to me, might be worth trying those
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For those wanting a Red Sonja without the bikini, she's had a "bit" of a redesign in the comics.
http://www.petervbrett.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/design-red-blue-1.jpg (http://www.petervbrett.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/design-red-blue-1.jpg)
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Bloody nice Matakishi!
LeadAsbestos; great choice for a Red Sonja! There are a few decent ones over at Mega Minis too, if you decide to venture outside of the Citadel path. =)
I have this gal waiting for some paint:
http://freeboardgamesnow.com/femalefighterwernerklocke.aspx
Or we have this, with a darker flesh tone it would be a good fit for Grace Jones' character:
http://freeboardgamesnow.com/amazonwithspearandshield.aspx
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Mostly I envisage the players forming a party to achieve the goal of the scenario but alliances in Conan stories are usually fragile so I might change to a more competative style game. In Agon, my Greek Myth project, only one of the players can 'win' each encounter and so they help each other because teamwork is necessary but ultimately they must out do each other to win the glory.
As with all things this project will evolve as it progresses.
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Nice thread. :)
I don't know where evil snake priests still find these young virgins to sacrifice - I believed there is a shortage of them :D
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have this one from the old Grenadier range which I quite like. Certainly not perfect but he is similar to the covers of the paperbacks I read as a teenager. He has the right physique and a suitably impressive sword, so close enough for me Wink
Gonna keep my eye out for that one!
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Brilliant! Painting and basing are out of this world! Your stuff never ceases to inspire!
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Red Box Games barbarians all have that Conan feel to me, might be worth trying those
And they are a bit more trad.
Lovely stuff by the way,I wish my mob were a little more into fantasy and less into Napoleonics(groan).
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I've been 'away' from any fantasty gaming/modelling for some time, spending most of my effort of modern or weird war 2....
But, I started reading the Conan stories again recently, and of course that led me here. Surprised to find so many projects going on!
I'm starting my own little Conan project as well, although I'm going to allow the Schwarzenegger movie to be a little bit more of my inspiration. Although I grew up with the wonderful black and white Comic THe Savage Sword of Conan, Arnie's version is what I 'see' when I think of Conan.
So, I'm aiming at a bit of a mix between the movie, and the comic, and the traditional stories.
Anyhow, just ordered this figure as my basis for my Arnie/Conan: Will need to do a little sculpting to complete the look.
(http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/catalog/wolf%20dipped%20and%20painted.jpg)
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Not bad a bad choice, SV. Maybe longer hair and more of a fringe at the front, but otherwise he works for me. The extra heads will be useful too! The sword is of unfeasible "GW" proportions, but I can live with that.
Hasslefree, if I recall?
If so, I may have to use my FOD loyalty card at Triples on Saturday :D
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Not bad a bad choice, SV. Maybe longer hair and more of a fringe at the front, but otherwise he works for me. The extra heads will be useful too! The sword is of unfeasible "GW" proportions, but I can live with that.
Hasslefree, if I recall?
If so, I may have to use my FOD loyalty card at Triples on Saturday :D
I'll definately be changing the hair!
I agree about the sword. Looks more like a cricket bat, but I'm not sure if I'm confident enough to change that.
It is indeed Hasslefree.
I move pretty slowly on my 'projects' but hopefully I can get some done before Matakishi gets his skirmish rules finished!
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I'll definately be changing the hair!
I agree about the sword. Looks more like a cricket bat, but I'm not sure if I'm confident enough to change that.
It is indeed Hasslefree.
I move pretty slowly on my 'projects' but hopefully I can get some done before Matakishi gets his skirmish rules finished!
lol The speed Paul works at, he'll probably get the rules, figures and terrain done before I get a suitable Conan figure ::)
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Does anyone do a Conan figure shagging the maid? I bet that was a time of "High Adventure". :D
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Have you guys seen this Conan possibility?
(http://cp.cobble.phpwebhosting.com/~libertywhite/janfebmarch2011/HO47wolfweb.jpg)
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Blimey - now that's a cricket bat :o
Lovely figure(s), in a completely OTT way, but maybe not that practical for skirmish games :(
They would be a joy to paint, though......
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I'm avoiding comedy Conans although I could find a use for that set elsewhere.
I've just ordered some Red Box evil barbarians which I'm hoping won't be too small.
Photos when I get them.
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Have you guys seen this Conan possibility?
(http://cp.cobble.phpwebhosting.com/~libertywhite/janfebmarch2011/HO47wolfweb.jpg)
Brilliant!!!!
I have to have that one!
Is it available without the balls and chains?
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I'm avoiding comedy Conans although I could find a use for that set elsewhere.
I've just ordered some Red Box evil barbarians which I'm hoping won't be too small.
Photos when I get them.
Agreed re: that sculpt being just a bit too much!
All the Red Box I've gotten, mostly dwarves, have been too small. Love Tre Monor's sculpting, but have to get my fix w/ his stuff for Reaper. The RB stuff should be dwarfed by those Bronze Age minis too!
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I only have some old OOP Red Box minis and they size up quite right.
But I heared that the new ones are smaller :?
What do you guys think about him, as an Oldschool Conan, from Viking Forge?
(http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt196/Comsquare/BP-10-1024x768.jpg)
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Very nice!
Just putting the finishing touches on my Conan, the swell Celtos mini mentioned previously in the Prof.'s thread abt Conan. Great mini!
Is all this Conan excitement brought on by the new movie, Aug. 19th,?
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The Celtos mini is also a nice choice :D
I'm also thinking about using that Red Box Barbarian
(http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt196/Comsquare/DSC00783.jpg)
Is all this Conan excitement brought on by the new movie, Aug. 19th,?
Not for me ;)
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Be sure to include a love child from one of the servants in there some where. Oh, wait! I'm getting confused......
Anyway, All excellent stuff. You've really captured the look and feel of Conan.
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As usual, MATAKISHI have a WINNER!
Please, let us know about your rules progress.
Best wishes.
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If you dont mind doing some minor conversions (weapon swaps) then these guys from Reaper minis could make pretty superb Conans imho.
(http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/Kanvass/03468_w_1.jpg) (http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt322/Kanvass/03309_w_1.jpg)
Hope this was food for thought.
/Cheers Kanvass
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Avatars of War:
(http://www.avatars-of-war.com/eng/web/images/minis/es/aow07.png)
Heresy's Big Boris (with some hair on, that is):
(http://www.heresyminiatures.com/images/hh010_large.jpg)
if you're going to make picts, this figure is a must:
Mirliton (former Grenadier):
(http://www.mirliton.it/images/catalog/BA008.jpg)
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Great project!
I'm a little late to the party, but Copplestone has a Barbarian queen miniature that might work for Red Sonja.
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/range.php?range=CC
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That's nice. I think that'll do...!
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My Red Box barbarians arrived and I'm happy enough with the way they size up.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20red%20box%20unpainted.jpg)
Better pictures (and hopefully some painting) once my broken lights are fixed.
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Very nice! They have a real Frazetta Cimmerian look to them :D
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I used this guy from Reaper as a Conan for my Cmmerian (Norse) Bloodbowl team. A joy to paint.
(http://www.reapermini.com/graphics/gallery/4/03036_G.jpg)
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/male%20human%20barbarian/sku-down/03036
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Here are a few Conans I've done up.
A little more difficult to find, I prefer Rackham's Drac Mac Syro as my Conan of choice at 28-32mm (second from left in photo). The others here are, from left to right, A converted Boris figure from Heresy, 54mm conversion from BronzeAge, another converted Boris figure, and Reaper's Urich Adventuring Fighter.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/5772824788_962a764439_b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/funpaintytime/5772824788/)
Conans (http://www.flickr.com/photos/funpaintytime/5772824788/)
I like the Rackham version because he's not as muscle-bound as the others; he's strong but still looks like he can "move like a panther." I also like the Reaper figure for a much more down-to-earth look.
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Maybe we should have made another thread about Conan in general.. seems Matakishi's project is all but drowning in different muscle men. lol
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Red Sonja from reaper
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20snakemen%203%20600.jpg)
Snakemen from Reaper and Strange Aeons.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20snakemen%202%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20snakemen%201%20600.jpg)
Rules and game reports will be posted later this week
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
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awesowe, Paul!
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Looks great! Has a certain old school feeling to it.
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nice job, like the use of the SA snakemen too
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Oh, man, that is one awesome project. Great work! Love it!
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Just doing some Fishmen and basing some scenery so that I can take photos of an encounter to illustrate the rules. Shouldn't be long.
In the meantime, Snakemen priests in close up (sort of).
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20snakemen%204%20600.jpg)
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Tsss... Conan the Barbarian trespassing on sacred property, hampering religious freedom, attacking honest and gods-abiding people, and killing their lovely pets, again! He is a multirecidivist, is he?
Excellent! :o
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Great!!
Nice use of the serpentmen.
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Some new figures, Fishmen and Harpies:
(http://www.matakishi.com/Fishmen%201%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Harpies%201%20600.jpg)
Also, I had a first test game for the rules:
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20test%20game%20001.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20test%20game%20015.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20test%20game%20013.jpg)
More on this later :)
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
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Full game report:
http://www.matakishi.com/conantestgame.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/Snake%20Minions%201%20card.jpg)
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Love it! very cool. Great terrain and figures. The terrain is how I envision the land between Stygia and Kush to look :) An exciting desperate battle all with only 12 figures. Very Howard Carter! Please post the rules, I would love to try them out.
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I really enjoyed the game report, the rules were intriguing and the modelling was brilliant.
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As usual your stuff rocks...HARD!
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Epic is always! By Crom, slay the minions of Set!
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Really liked the AAR!
Beautiful minis, pretty scenery, an interesting scenario...
Looks like a fun game!
Waiting to see more of your rules.
Thanks for sharing and best wishes.
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Here are the rules in an incomplete but playable form.
http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/crom%204.gif)
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Very cool looking project. I like the rules too. Very simple structure that manages to keep the game complicated enough to promote action. One of the keys to understanding and gaming in a Howardian manner is pacing. A Howard protagonist always acts, even if it is the wrong choice, they always are doing something. The game must go at breakneck pace to keep players on their toes. You must not let them get comfortable.
Excellent!
Ryan
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the rules look very good to me. Guess I will try them. I like the cards too.
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This might be the clou of the year. Have to give them a read-through on the train this afternoon.
For a couple of weeks I had Brytenwalda pointed out as my favourite free game of 2011, but this seems to have potential for that title. 8)
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Very Interesting set of rules!
thanks Matakishi! I think I'll use them next time I'll play a fantasy skirmish!
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Well I'm glad you like them.
I've just tweaked some of the wording and added some pictures to break up the wall of text. I'm going to re-read all the Howard Conan adventures (I have a nice leather bound volume of them I was given) and see if I can make a scenario or two from each. This will involve writing some more rules for different situations and painting some more figures and scenery too so I should be kept busy over the next few weeks.
I may run some CROM adventures as my BLAM! game this year as the pulp sci fi I was planning isn't inspiring me as I thought it would.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CROM%20001%20600.jpg)
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I really liked the rules as well. I thought the concept of a dice pool that you can "burn" (representing exhaustion/wounds/etc.) was very elegant and intuitive.
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I've got a question for Matakishi - where did you get those wonderful "tufts of grass" terrain pieces? And where did you get those trees? I love the terrain. I recognize the Warhammer Fantasy temple bits - you've done a great job of getting all those disparate pieces together to make a cohesive table theme.
I really want some of those "tuft of grass" terrain bases...
-Alex
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Grimm made the grass, drop him a PM and maybe he can sort you something out.
The trees are from Last Valley, don't ever order mail order from him he has a terrible reputation which i can personally attest to. He attends shows though and sells those trees 5 for £10.00 so if you have local (UK) contacts you might be able to get some.
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Just read your rules, and they sound FANTASTIC!
I'll have to wait to be at home to make any trials, but they appear to be easy to grasp and real fun.
Thanks for sharing.
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Did not quite finish reading on the train, but I like it so far. The idea of the number of dice representing how powerful a character/group of minions somehow combines principles from Pulp Alley and Goal System in a simpler way....
May I suggest you emphasize how the concept of the dice pools work in further detail early on? - I may have missed something as a very nice looking young woman clad according to the very hot weather sat opposite me ;), but it took me a while before I caught it (actually, the game examples spelled it out for me).
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One thing struck me as odd:
You make it very clear, that you want players to roll ALL the dice for a given movement right away - but then in the example, Conan gets to roll another die to complete his charge.
I think, if the player miscalculates the number of dice rolled, he/she should be forced to burn dice for further movement (if not performing another action in between) - thus representing the extra strain required to still go where you want. Otherwise cunning/beardy players might still try to maximize by mis-guessing on purpose.
Am I completely missing something here?
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I really liked the rules as well. I thought the concept of a dice pool that you can "burn" (representing exhaustion/wounds/etc.) was very elegant and intuitive.
I also like the idea of the dice pools and burning! Great new way to play a game! :)
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May I suggest you emphasize how the concept of the dice pools work in further detail early on? - I may have missed something as a very nice looking young woman clad according to the very hot weather sat opposite me ;), but it took me a while before I caught it
This is the first section:
The basic game mechanic in CROM is the dice pool. Each player will have a set number of dice for each of his characters and followers which are allocated at the beginning of each turn between the different action pools that the player wants the character or follower to attempt when it's their go.
The basic action pools that dice can be allocated to are:
Movement, Combat, Special.
Dice may be rolled and totalled or they may be 'burned'. A burned dice is counted as a six but removed permanently form a character's pool. A character's dice pool represents their 'life', specifically their strength and endurance, As a character loses dice either from exertion (burning them) or combat (being hit in combat removes dice) they are able to attempt fewer actions as they weaken and tire. Eventually, if they lose all their dice, they become unconscious, exhausted or even dead depending on circumstances. In any event they are out of the game.
If it's not clear enough the final version will have illustrated examples and pictures of the dice pool card I'm making so that might help further.
Regarding your point about the movement:
Burning dice to move further might be the answer but it might leave characters with too few dice, Winning characters barely survive encounters as it is :)
I don't think I can combat beardy players other than by making the intent clear, their beardyness is then down to them. I refuse to litigate for swinishness.
The intent is that players stipulate where they want to finish up, 'by that rock' or 'next to the guard', and roll enough dice to hopefully get there. most will overcompensate, some may try to get lucky. Falling short can be rectified by going as far as possible then rolling more dice. The reality for some will be to roll one die at a time to gain some perceived min/max advantage and this is then between them and their opponents. We are not like that and CROM is not a competition game so no one here will have to suffer such idiocy.
If someone can come up with airtight wording so much the better and I will be happy to include it and give them a small prize as well :)
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as far as I understood the enphasis is given to the allocation of dice to the several pools before doing anything.
After that, is up to each one!
Honestly I'll have to read the rules with more attention, bacause there were some points which I didn't fuly understood,
but I must admit that the basic mechanics are brilliant! :)
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This is the first section:
You're right, of course - I nearly bit my tongue when re-reading from the start on the train this morning lol
Regarding your point about the movement:
Burning dice to move further might be the answer but it might leave characters with too few dice, Winning characters barely survive encounters as it is :)
I see your point - never the less, I think I'll see how players behave, and then, if/when acting as GM in participation-demos, I might think of some penalties for 'acting out of character' (and bonusses for 'acting well IN character' as well) - just to encourage the spirit of the game. Most of the gamers I know are GW-freaks, and..... ::)
The reality for some will be to roll one die at a time to gain some perceived min/max advantage and this is then between them and their opponents. We are not like that and CROM is not a competition game so no one here will have to suffer such idiocy.
Well put. And I'll try to make more people around here play games in a leisurely, non-competitive, fun way over the winter :)
I also think I may have to get some more Matakishi-dice for playing CROM ;)
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Another question:
Minions are activated in groups. They have low set dice totals for moving and combat (usually two for each) and the controlling player decides what they're going to do when their card is drawn.
The card example (snakemen) shows '3 dice', and then there's a '1' on each side of the word 'minions';
Does the '1's mean anything regarding the dice totals for moving and combat, and if so, how can they use the 3rd die? Or how should the card be read? Maybe they have 3 dice, but may only use one for move and one for combat - the last one is 'reserve life'?
I actually only need to paint one big barbarian, and maybe an evil necromancer, to start trying out the rules - so I need to know how to understand the minion-card ;) - shall use a lot of old Citadel plastic skellies (and maybe some LotR Haradrim) as minions to begin with. Actually - I think I'll just use a stand-in for the Barbarian at first, maybe an Elf or Dwarf adventurer, so I can get started right away :D
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Originally the snake men had three dice for movement and three dice for combat but this made them too powerful (they killed Sonja and Conan in a single turn) so I gave them three in total in the end. Which usually worked out as 1 move and 2 combat which suited them well. Later card versions will probably break the minions' dice into pools. Since human guards get 2 and 2 for a total of four snake men may get 1 and 3 which makes them fearsome if they can catch you. I'll decide finally when I've tried out the options.
The red numbers are to distinguish between different groups of minions because I used the same picture for both.
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Ah, I see, thanks.
I think I'll just stay with 1/2, and maybe 1/1 for skeletons (animated automatons should not fight too well - on the other hand, they might be too weak?).
Have you considered that some creatures could be made hard to kill without being too dangerous by giving them more dice than they are allowed to use?
Of course, you could also add 'special abilities' like 'sure-footed' (no movement penalty for difficult terrain), 'climb' (full move when climbing), 'leap' (some bonus when jumping/leaping), 'regeneration' (regaining burned dice at some rate - VERY powerful, though! Only hydras and the likes...), to add flavour to special creatures....
I'm just ranting off some wild ideas, here, don't mind me if I'm going in a completely wrong direction, I'll find my way back :)
I'll go about making some cards today, and hopefully I can get a game set up for the weekend. I need to get going as long as the fires of inspiration burn in my veins. But, then again, this game needs so few minis, of which I think I have all painted up for the first run, that it simply cannot get bogged down.
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Even 1/1 skeletons (I've just painted another 5 myself) are dangerous in groups. Everything is dangerous in groups! 5 skeletons that attack Conan (for instance) use up a minimum of 5 of his dice just to defend himself (which he needs to have kept back so he won't be attacking/moving much in his go) and, although he'll probably kill some with successful defence rolls he will get damaged too.
Conan needs to take the fight to minions on his terms, move in and attack swiftly to reduce their numbers and move away again if possible. A cautious Conan is a dead Conan. As Uncle Rhino pointed out in a previous post, you need to keep moving and be proactive which I feel is in the spirit of the stories.
I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback once you've had a proper try of the rules.
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Conan needs to take the fight to minions on his terms, move in and attack swiftly to reduce their numbers and move away again if possible. A cautious Conan is a dead Conan. As Uncle Rhino pointed out in a previous post, you need to keep moving and be proactive which I feel is in the spirit of the stories.
This is how I like adventure games to be. All too often I have killed a group of modern day zombie survivours or a human terminator resistance group off, because my opponent did not understand the concept of 'keep moving - reach the objective - get the hell out of here', but let himself be bogged down firing at the opposition instead (very 40K-ish, actually...)
I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback once you've had a proper try of the rules.
I hope to try out CROM and Brytenwalda this weekend - weather should be awful :)
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I have a couple of questions regarding the spirit of the rules, I'm definitely not a rules lawyer, but some questions have come to my mind:
- when a minion receives hits does it affect movement, combat or both?
- when you have minions with 2 movement and 3 combat dice, how many hits do they take before they die? or are the minions supposed to have their movement and combat dice the same?
- can a minion burn dice?
never remember of a minion on a James Bond movie working overtime or a stormtrooper to take his time to aim his blaster, but sometimes there is always a dying outlaw that shoots the girl (which was going to marry one of the Cartwrights) in last minute of the episode
- can a someone burn their last die?
This one seems plausible since in most novels/movies some secondary characters sacrifices themselves in stressing situations in order for the rest of the group to achieve their goals (I can remember Darth Vader, Vasquez in Aliens, Gandalf in the mines of Moria or even Conan when he wrestles a Gorilla until exhaustion in an island where temple statues became alive when hit by moonlight). But on the other hand it could have negative side effects because I can imagine unscrupulous players sacrificing one of their characters (burning all their dice at once) in order to seriously bruise one of the strongest enemies right in the first turn, but actually heroes and villains never sacrifice themselves in the first chapter without some serious reason (the only thing I can remember is when villains sacrifice themselves in order to summon some hideous entity and even so they seem to wait until the last minute to do so)
Regarding the rolling a die at a time while moving, why don't you enforce a rule stating that you can only throw movement dice twice in a row? then you have to do something else and only then you can move again.
It enables Conan to do what he does in the example you've written and at the same time can make the less barbaric approach to movement be less effective
Anyway, I'll try to test the rules when possible, unfortunately I don't have any hyperborean miniatures, so I'll try the rules with Samurai which I think also fit in the rules spirit, with that in mind I've also though of a couple of extra rules, so if you don't mind:
War Banner - someone carrying a standard bearer when activated can give a re-roll to a single combat die to a minion group or a character. In order to do so, it must use a special die if it is a character, or use all it's combat dice if it is a minion. this rule doesn't have to be based on a carried standard it could be a bonus given by an evil idol to undead minions or some sort of relic being defended by a group of heroes.
Musician - it is carried and activated like the war banner, but it gives a bonus of 2 dice to the movement of all characters/minion groups in one side. It can be only use once during a scenario, this is adventure not military band practice. This rule represents the horn of Roland to rally the troops or like some lit beacon in order to alert friends that plan B has to be taken into action
Heavy Armour - who wears heavy armour treats the distance of shooting attacks as double than what actually is. Particularly heavy projectile weapons such as some spells, longbows or teppos can ignore this extra protection. Wearers of heavy armour loose a movement die, before rolling, each time they roll for movement.
There is always a big evil bastard that can catch bullets with his teeth while walking slowly to recapture some artefact from Indiana Jones
Necromancer - A necromancer regains a dice used on spellcasting whenever a good character looses a die in combat
well that's it, hope I'm not exaggerating! :)
Sorry if some of the examples I gave where not completely tied with Conan Adventures, but it was what I've remembered
PS: If you think the rules I've written should be deleted from the forum, just say so, no harm done!
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When a minion takes a hit they lose a die from each pool. For instance, the Snake men minions as shown have 3 dice, 3 for movement, 3 for combat and so they can take 3 hits before dying, each hit reduces their available dice but for each pool unlike characters.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Snake%20Minions%201%20card.jpg)
If a Snake Man took a hit he would have 2 dice for movement and 2 dice for combat next turn (hence the use of markers to record hits).
Where a minion has different totals, and I like the idea but it may get dropped to avoid unnecessary book keeping, they would die when they had taken hits equal to the higher total. In your example 3 hits.
Generally I think things/people with split skills will be characters, albeit minor ones, and minions will stay as equal diced lowly chaps.
Minions cannot burn dice because this makes them suicide bombers. They can run in, burn everything and do an amount of damage not commensurate with their standing in the game. Only characters can burn dice.
A character cannot normally burn their last dice and voluntarily kill themselves. This is a game mechanic to stop certain play styles like the one you mention. Obviously it might be allowed in certain situations (Gandalf) but only as a special consideration based on the story and not as a general tactic.
I think that keeping track of how many times you've rolled movement dice is more unnecessary book keeping and a false restriction to the players' decision making. Most players will play to the spirit of the rules and maybe, when I think of better wording, to the letter of the rules too. I had the misfortune of teaching Magic the Gathering to a future world champion many years ago and he taught me just how far some people are willing to stretch the meaning of rules whilst still not actually breaking them. people like this exist, I prefer not to game with them or write rules for them.
Special rules: Think them up, use them, try them. Whatever you think will enhance your game is fine with me. Some special abilities will be given in the rules as examples and everyone is, of course, free to add any others they wish.
I look forward to your feedback once you've had a game or two.
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This was a good thing to get clarified - I had a wrong understanding of the minion dice pool:
I thought that a minion having 3 dice meant 3 in total, to allocate between combat and movement, but it means 3 for movement AND 3 for combat, then (so they actually have six, but cannot chose how to allocate them, BUT:
Does that mean that you kill the whole group when they have lost 3 dice (your explanation seems to indicate that), or does a minion group lose a model for each wound caused, or does each minion model have to suffer 3 wounds before dying (might cause some fiddly bookkeeping)?
If using Leadership, you may have some minions of a group charging in while others stay behind lurking in the shadows - it would seem strange that the stragglers would die if one of the chargers suffers 3 hits?
It is easy to keep track of a group's loss of dice (just have an extra card for each group, keep their remaining dice on it, used ones beside it, lost ones away), but is that the way to do it? Or can Conan rush in, kill one minion to clear the entrance to the temple, rush to the altar, and fight the sorcerer before he can sacrifice the princess to summon some nameless entity?
I may have to soloplay the rules htis weekend - none of my regular gaming partners seem to be available, and the GW-crowd at the club... well, to call them zombies might be an overstatement, they react slower than that...
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does each minion model have to suffer 3 wounds before dying?
Yes, hence the little red skull wound counters.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20test%20game%20003.jpg)
In retrospect it was a bad choice to use the Snake men minion card as an example because having three dice for fighting and three for moving was too powerful so they were changed after the first game (these were test games after all) to having three in total and the player deciding how to allocate them when the card was drawn which makes their abilities unclear as you read the game report.
Thulsa Doom's Troop minions are a better example as they have 2 dice to move, 2 dice to fight and thus each can take 2 hits before dying.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Troops%201%20card.jpg)
I hope this has made it a little clearer.
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Good, this is how I think it will work best on the table.
Will have to make some more wound markers (I earlier made some 20 mm slottas with 1, 2, or 3 skulls for my LotR:Battle Companies) - or just use some red pente stones for starters.
Thanks. And sorry for being so slow to get the details right ::)
My plan for the first run is to use an Elf adventurer, maybe with a Dwarf companion, as hero(es), then a Mummy King as an evil sorcerer, and a lot of skeletons as minions. There might be a captive to free, if I have (and can find) an approppriate mini...
The Mummy king will be able to summon mummies, and maybe more skellies and some ghouls (the scene will be set in a Necropolis). If I had the Mantic zombies (assembled and painted), I think they would be really nice for Conan games, too. So I may have to get them (which I intended to do, anyways).... along with some snakemen, lizardmen, and... ;D
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Thanks for the info Matakishi! :)
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Looks interesting.
Any thoughts about a "John Carter on Mars" style variant?
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Looks interesting.
Any thoughts about a "John Carter on Mars" style variant?
Would be great!
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Hei Matakishi,
very nice ruleset so far, will as soon as possible runs some testplay ;).
Captures very well the "Conan" feeling.
One question about the dicepools, is there an max-dice-pool for human heroes?
Said, like the 12 dice of Conan?
And, is there an relation between Heroe-dicepool and Villian-dicepool?
Like, if you have heroes worth 40 dices you should have the same pool for villians?
Cheers
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12 was an arbitrary number but it seems to work ok.
balancing forces by totaling the dice doesn't make thing even, the flexibility of a hero with lots of dice outweighs a load of minions who have a higher dice total over all. Really it needs to be scenario driven but equal dice is a starting point.
I'll write up some scenarios over the next couple of weeks and compare the totals and see how things play, a pattern might emerge.
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Fine.
So, meanwhile I will fool around with different dicepools and see what happens ;)
Now I just need an proper base modell for my "Death Dealer" conversion :?
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I'm painting two Death Dealers right now :)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Death%20Dealers%20WIP.jpg)
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Wow, that's what I'm looking for :o
What brand are they, like the left one pretty much
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I was sent these by Bronze Age Miniatures but they aren't on sale. If you contact them maybe you can get one.
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Will try that, thanks
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Red-clawed owlbears, named Thorbjørn and Nielsen after their father, and a ferocious earth-pig.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Owlbears%201%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Cerebus%201%20600.jpg)
Everything's better with owlbears and no Conan game is complete without Cerebus.
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
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Honest to God, that statue's facial expression is SO APPROPRIATE on so many levels. lol
Marvellous work, as could be expected.
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Oh snap!
Look what I just based up!
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VN5Ydkq0wmg/TjpKHSrBsbI/AAAAAAAAAOw/oWD4VbIEvLQ/s1600/newbases4.jpg)
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Red-clawed owlbears, named Thorbjørn and Nielsen after their father, and a ferocious earth-pig.
Everything's better with owlbears and no Conan game is complete without Cerebus.
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!! lol lol lol
I'm feel HONOURED!
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Brilliant love the rules also , looking forward to some stat lines, the minis as always are stunning works....
Tony
(that looks like noggin the nog?)
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I knew he reminded me of someone.
@Dave it was seeing your Cerebus that reminded me I had one I could use.
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Do you have a stat card for Cerebus yet?
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And where did the Cerebus miniature come from?
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Matakishi, the painting on those owlbears is really very good,I mean really good :-* :-*
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Cerebus is an unlicensed Citadel miniature from the late 70s.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Cerebus%20card.jpg)
I've posted a complete set of the Initiative cards I've made so far in case anybody can use them in their own games.
http://www.matakishi.com/conancards.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/Thorbjorn%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Nielsen%20card.jpg)
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There is one thing that all your various projects have in common; i.e., they are a TREMENDOUS source of PURE INSPIRATION. Thanks MUCHO for everything, Paul...WONDERFULLY WELL DONE!
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A caravan is a much needed accessory for many Conan scenarios. Here are the camels, the humans are in the post.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Camels%201%20600.jpg)
And what use is a caravan without some bandits to rob it?
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Bandits%201%20600.jpg)
More of these are on the way too.
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
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Sweet, who are you geting the caravan guard from? And who makes the Camels?
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Sweet, who are you geting the caravan guard from? And who makes the Camels?
Quote (http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm):
Here is the start of a caravan, the mounted caravan leader and his guards will be following along soon. The camels here are from Ellerburn Armies (the three with double loads), Essex Miniatures (the pair of large, light coloured ones) and Dixon Miniatures (the two dromedaries). One of the Dixon camels, and I don't know which one, was my oldest unpainted miniature. I bought him in 1979 and he has survived numerous old figure purges to finally get the coat of paint he deserves in August 2011. I don't think Dixon even produce this figure any more. Personally I think it was worth the wait he's a lovely figure.
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The caravan guards are coming from Perry Miniatures.
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Love this thread!
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I got side-tracked this weekend (Friday I was impersonating a Death Eater all day at a Wizard's Market in Svendborg, so I had to go to work some of Saturday; Saturday afternoon the weather was fine, so I cut my 88-year old father's hedge, and also Sunday the weather was too good to 'waste' on indoor activities, so the garden, and krocket with my daughters, sucked up my day).
And the last couple of days (evenings) after slug-killing I've been busy finding and dusting of my painted 1/72 Polybian Romans and some not-painted 1/72 Celts to construct two Basic Impetus armies (guess, Carthaginians will follow..).
BUT:
Tonight I'm going to take pics for CROM! cards - I have more or less planned the scenario I want to try the rules on, and I have located all the minis I'm going to use, so it's just putting them on the table and shoot.
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Your work rate and the quality of your work continues to astound Matakishi!
Fantastic stuff - I always enjoy looking through one of your threads (and your site)
Cheers,
Ben.
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Death Dealers given to me by David Soderquist of Bronze Age Miniatures and an old Citadel archer to play the part of Subotai.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Deathdealers%202.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Deathdealers%201.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Subotai%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Deathdealer%201%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Deathdealer%202%20card.jpg)
It just keeps getting better doesn't it :)
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Fantastic stuff :-* But now you've given me an irrational urge to paint fantasy again after 25 years o_o
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More excellent additions to this great project. I only wish that I had a gaming chum as visionary and prolific as you!
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All what the others say and id like to add , one thing amazing, insperation and complete wonderment. love the idea and you minis , its making me want to do my Gor fantasy, love the bronze ages stuff i must buys some dolls to make some stuff... 10 /10 always and you blog is a delight....
Tony
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It's nice to know others are finding my little project inspiring :) Your encouragement keeps me going so it's a two-way process.
I'm currently working out some building ideas so it shouldn't be long before a couple of structures appear.
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Really like the death-dealers, Paul!
They do remind me of the beautiful Drune models by Rackham, and I realised thst half that range could fit directly into your setting without lube and shoehorn :)
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I wasn't familiar with the Drune but having looked them up I can see you're right. Shame about the prices- I seem to have come to the party too late. Oh well...
As a consolation I do have a stone head that I like to think of as a representation of Crom and a pair of hunting dogs, one of which is sitting next to the skull of Conan's father...
(http://www.matakishi.com/Crom%20head%202%20600.jpg)
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I wasn't familiar with the Drune but having looked them up I can see you're right. Shame about the prices- I seem to have come to the party too late. Oh well...
That's the price you pay for being under-underground lol
And I might have some of them, well I know I do, but I might have some left-overs. I'll pm you if I find anything :)
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New card designs allowing Minions and creature totals to be shown split between the three dice pools.
(http://www.matakishi.com/new%20Conan%20card%20blank.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/NEW%20Conan%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/NEW%20Snake%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/NEW%20Snake%20Minions%20card.jpg)
http://www.matakishi.com/conancards.htm
I'll add new cards for everything already covered soon.
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Read with ever increasing wow expression! Excellent work. Very inspirational.
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Scenery, you have to have scenry.
To begin with, a tower:
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20Tower%2014%20600.jpg)
Details and step-by-step instructions here:
http://www.matakishi.com/conanscenery.htm
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Some really inspiring stuff 8)
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yes, you need a tower and this one is awesome !
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Like it. The Tower of the Elephant?
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Really cool project.I love the way that you give all of the dimensions in your blog too.I can see these popping up all over the place.
I have a few pieces put away for such projects too.
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Only just caught up with this Thread. Deligthful stuff, the tower is lovely, Will look forward to playing this later in the year :)
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I say! Even by your consistently high standards, that one is quite the corker. ;)
So much great stuff in here. I really need to look into reviving my Conan project once I get settled down again.
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Love the tower!
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Corktastique Paul.
8)
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Indeed, the Tower of the Elephant! :) it's looking good!
Anyway, I've tried the rules yesterday, and I must admit they were simple and fun to play, hopefully torradas will post some pictures later
we played 4 ninja warriors against a group of undead lead by an evil necromancer and his ghoul minions
the stats we used were:
ninja warrior: 8 dice, and they could make ranged attacks (shuriken)
Necromancer: 9 dice, master wizard, could also make ranged attacks (some kind of chill blast attack)
Undead warriors (1 group of 3): 2 dice
ghouls (3 groups of 4): 1 die
we placed the necromancer, inside his devil cart, in the centre of the table surrounded by his bodyguards, near the necromancer was a devil dog statue which could be summoned counting as a 10 dice monster, the ninjas were randomly deployed using a die to see in which table edge they would appear, fate wanted that they approached the fight in groups of 2 in adjacent table edges, one group was formed by the white and red ninjas and the other one was formed by the blue and black ninja
I was playing with the ninjas torradas had the necromancer, the objective would be to assassinate the necromancer, since the 4 ninjas were representing mercenaries from different clans, hired to stop the undead menace while the necromancer was approaching their realms
in the first turn nothing special happened, no initiative rolls were taken, but one of the ninjas (the red one) which allocated 4 dice for attack used them a against a ghouls leaving him "dead" without much chances (I though that the ranged attack was pretty powerful but since the ninja was only 3" away from the ghoul and it was only a minion didn't thought that it wasn't overpowered at the time), unfortunately that ninja was only able to retreat 1" from his enemies, which approached him. the same happened with the other two ninjas approaching the necromancer in the other table edge, they moved and killed an undead warrior with shuriken. On the other side the necromancer was trying to summon the devil dog and though on allocating 4 spell dice to summon him, but since he was alone and would not be possible to summon the monster in due time, he used the summoning points in order to raise from the dead one of his undead warriors
on the next turn torradas used some initiative in order to push early his minions which were close to the red ninja, fortunately the red one dispatched them but had to burn some dice, since the white ninja was without any enemies to harass him he approached the necromancer and threw some death stars wounding him 3 times (at this point I though that the ranged attacks used by heroes were definitely powerful and refrained to attack the necromancer with skuriken, just to keep the game going), on the other side of the battle, the undead warriors charged the blue and black ninjas but were repelled at the cost of a few burnt dice. a question arose at this point since we had one of the ninjas in contact with an undead warrior but he already used his attack dice, but had some movement dice available, should it be possible to disengage from the attack? or should he be subjected by some penalties? since we didn't knew, the ninja kept engaged in combat, without being able to use his dice
the third turn saw the ghouls trying to retreat back to their master in order to aid in his defence, but the ninjas advanced relentlessly, I had to use the non-barbaric movement with one of the ninjas wich wanted to charge a minion just 3" away, I thought it could be possible with just one die but rolled a 1, then I rolled another die and another one, and finally rolled the last one and charged my enemy, It was a non-barbaric way of moving the ninja, but we both thought that it wasn't pushing the rules, because after all he used all his move dice and only managed to kill a ghoul, in other words a struck of bad luck we thought
on the other end of the battle the white ninja lept to the cart and attacked the necromancer, both enemies had 4 attack dice and could easily be defeated on a bad roll, we secretly choose how much dice we would burn in this attack, we both chose 3, and I rolled the 4th die scoring a 5 but torradas rolled a 6, killing the ninja with some death curse!
on the following turn the necromancer was too weak to do anything and the blue ninja cut his throat with ease
all in all an hour very well spent!
now some thoughts about the scenario we've played:
- both parties should be matched in number of heroes wise, on the evil side the necromancer was too busy handling the troops and defending himself, in order to be effective, while the ninjas were comfortable enough to make some sacrifices and still have the upper end of the fight. Next time some helping hands to the necromancer, and lower the dice of the ninjas, perhaps using a 6 dice ninja hero and some ninja minions or lesser heroes to help. this fight was truly unbalanced.
- if left alone heroes with ranged attacks can prove quite deadly, the best way to avoid this is to not use that much ranged weapons, or limit the amount of dice you can use with some ranged attacks, in our case we will be limiting the attack dice of shuriken and other light thrown weapons to 1, because it also limits their range
- for the undead horde we are planing to have a raise dead spell, which can raise a dead minion back from the dead by using the same amount of magic die than the ones they have, ie, a dead 1 die ghoul can be awakened with a single special die, hopefully this will give the undead horde feeling to the game. summoned undead will be processed just like any other summoned monster
definitely will be skirmishing again with the CROM rules, probably with pirates or with james bond versus somali insurgents and rusty mini-vans
once again, thanks for the rules Matakishi they are truly fun to play :)
PS: sorry for spelling and other bits, my English is not that bright and I have no spell checking on this laptop
Edit: made a spell check
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An excellent report Meninobesta, I hope some pictures will appear soon :)
The ranged attacks you used do seem very powerful, you were allowing the targets to defend? Ranged attacks work like melee but with the added problem of having to score high enough to cover the distance. I also realise I haven't included the cover rules and the Necromancer's cart might have aided him in this respect.
I'll look into this as your results are much more successful than mine and maybe I'll change the mechanic.
If you're adjacent to an opponent and it's your go you can just move away without suffering an attack. I left out free attacks because it usually gave a model an extra attack even if it had no dice left which was against the core mechanic and most fights ended without the combatants wishing to disengage anyway.
If a character disengages from a minion then, so what? The character's greater skill and importance to the story means they back away and the minion is too scared to press the advantage (if any). I'm fine with this. If a minion runs from a hero, the hero looks on at his fleeing opponent with satisfaction and looks for another target. If one character backs away from another, they are pausing to taunt and threaten maybe. All the combinations work for me in the spirit of the setting.
For balance, yes, it looks like the necromancer was badly outmatched, I'd have given him a group of Undead for each Ninja and the ghouls as extras. this would give him time to summon his dog (maybe) 1 die ghouls are not much of a threat, but, I've got some horde rules which will change that.
I like the idea of having short ranged weapons limited to a maximum dice total.
Necromancy and other magic effects are written, I'll write them into an understandable form as soon as I can, Mako has just arrived in the post so he'll encourage me to complete them.
Rusty mini vans? I suppose I better work out some vehicle rules then :)
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we were using attack dice in order to defend the minions when they were shot! just like it is written!
my opinion is biased by the situation, on the few shots that I've made I closed in before shooting, so the distance was not that much of an issue on the final result, which helped to make it more deadlier. And is always easy to kill a 1 die minion by just using 2 or 3 dice depending on the distance to the target.
What scared me the most was when using the ranged attacks (with lots of dice) against other heroes that have spend all their dice (in this case the poor necromancer was really busy trying to get hold of the situation and he barely had dice to protect himself), in other more balanced scenarios this probably would not have happened and the bad guy would have stored some dice to dodge the ranged attacks (I don't recall that much adventure characters dying from a shot from afar... well Aquiles did, the poor bastard, but he had it coming! :) )
I the tables were turned I really cannot imagine the ghouls making that much damage if they were the ones with ranged attacks
me and torradas were speaking in using this rule set applied to other situations where range combat is more common; like the Old West, Mogadishu, Captain America or James Bond, and the first thing that came to our mind was to have rules for cover, like the suggestion you've given about the cart giving some aid to the necromancer.
If you want a balanced game don't give too much shooting options to only one side of the fight. And if you do, just keep them to a minimum and don't give them to heroes with many dice (I think you can make an exception for Robin Hood)
To summarise, I think that the shooting rules are good and that they don't need much change, just add a tweak about cover bonuses, and advise players to sometimes limit the number of dice they can allocate to shooting
Regarding the disengage, I think your explanation covers well the spirit of the game, it's an odd situation, and as is it explains perfectly what could have happened, and doesn't add more rules (most rules sets always have some special paragraph about this and about interpenetration of units, which is a word that sounds really bad, and the odds are so bad to the one that wants to do that that we never try this during a game).
A little bit of resting time to taunt the other player is more than enough. How could ever Luke Skywalker knew who his father was if he didn't back up 2 dice of movement to take a rest?
thanks again!
I'm also looking forward to see the pictures, although I don't expect much since they were taken with an iPad
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Hi there. First of all - congratulations Matakishi on an excellent and original play-system. Very intuitive and we barely ever had to consult the rules after an initial read. We had about 20+ minis on the table and were far from overwhelmed. The system absolutely begs to be transferred into multiple "cinematic" scenarios. Beautifully simple.
A quick note regarding vehicles (or possible future inclusion). Me and meninobesta had a quick think and were considering having fixed movement die for vehicles (that you absolutely had to use) and correcting those value by the amount of dice used by the driver (would, in our mind, accurately represent the driver focusing more or less on controlling the vehicle). Also, for Somalis, we will be using summoning rules. Might seem weird, but represents the leader getting on his radio/cell/twitter/etc to get in more insurgents.
Back to our Ninja/Undead extravaganza - the Ninja absolutely steamrolled me. we have to work on the balance of the scenario, either by pumping up some Evil Undead Samurai do 3 dice (2 dice is Auto-death if beaten) or adding more of them at 2 dice. For balance we also discussed:
1) limiting dice used on shuriken - 1 die per throw seems about right for the range. We would allow multiple shuriken per turn but at different targets (sounds cinematic without overcomplicating the system, which we definitely want to avoid).
2) Allowing raises on in-table casualties at a 1:1 ratio but keeping new raises at 2:1, forcing some decisions on the necromancer between bringing in new undead or raising the ones already down, but keeping that steady stream of enemies on the table.
3) either increasing enemies on the table or powering down the ninjas. 8 dice each was plenty.
That said, it was extremely enjoyable and adaptable to settings outside the Hyborean Age. As meninobesta said, Pirates (Errol Flynn style) and Bond vs. Minions + Boss are a direct adaptation.
We did use a deck of vintage playing cards that is NSFW, so all the appropriately naughty bits are covered :)
Pics are not best quality. Sorry about that :P
An overview of the initial "Evil" deployment. Necro in is Demon Cart plus 4 groups of minions - groups of 4 ghouls (1 die) at NE, SE & SW and 3 Evil Bushi (2 dice) at NW.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jrn289E-cQc/TkaCg5WzK7I/AAAAAAAAL3g/g2_D2blanjw/s640/11%25252014%25253A56%25253A16.jpg)
A couple of Ninja on the table edge watch as the Necromancer, unaware of their presence, chants in his Demon Cart:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HJqU5QvJLZM/TkaClpJajjI/AAAAAAAAL3o/au5AyI3iYIM/s640/11%25252014%25253A56%25253A33.jpg)
An improvised playsheet (Ninjas). I did a box for each dice pool and an indication of the cards that represent the characters in the deck:
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gkK3ayYuy2s/TkaCnDyhHZI/AAAAAAAAL3s/vKTvSyvB29w/s640/11%25252014%25253A56%25253A42.jpg)
Evil Bushi look alert in the background as Necromancer stares down a puddle of blood in the foreground:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ujjOsuYjMk4/TkaCp0pR3II/AAAAAAAAL3w/yw_HCw8e7_Y/s640/11%25252014%25253A56%25253A49.jpg)
Red Ninja faces four foul-smelling ghouls:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m35VxsDB5f8/TkaCuGrwlDI/AAAAAAAAL34/diS1AZXiVWc/s640/11%25252014%25253A57%25253A08.jpg)
A shuriken is sent speeding towards a rotten frontal cortex:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-htjwq-Zv9KQ/TkaCr2ON1wI/AAAAAAAAL30/35Ujh4K67YU/s640/11%25252014%25253A56%25253A59.jpg)
And only 3 Ghouls are left standing:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_tuq_6ingfs/TkaCwlLuWMI/AAAAAAAAL38/ZedO_7PMIM8/s640/11%25252014%25253A57%25253A18.jpg)
Near the end of an enjoyable 30 minutes the White Ninja jumped up on the Demon Cart and faced of against the Necromancer. As meninobesta mentioned, both burned 3 dice and rolled a fourth. Necromancer rolled a 6 versus a 5 of the Ninja who promptly fell from the cart, dead before he hit the ground, a full 4" below. (he would be avenged by Blue Ninja who took full advantage of the frail state of the Evil wizard):
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_EbK32eQWcU/TkaCyvQaMGI/AAAAAAAAL4A/B6_6L5Gs1GQ/s640/11%25252014%25253A57%25253A27.jpg)
And that was it.
Wait - did I promise Vintage Censored NSFW playing cards and then showed none? You must remember I was the Evil Player! Bwhahaha!
Ok - here they are:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uxfXrcu3LNY/TkaC0Dh6JEI/AAAAAAAAL4E/USmbSKAVuzE/s640/11%25252014%25253A57%25253A35.jpg)
We will update our experiences on our next Playtest. Thanks, Matakishi!
Cheers,
Torradas
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The Tower is an EXCELLENT piece AND immediately brings the Tower of the Elephant to mind. VERY WELL DONE!
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Great pictures of your game Torradas, combined with such a vivid description from Meninobesta they make for compelling viewing :)
I'm heading out now so I won't have time to add any details but here's a teaser pic of the Demon Gate before I go.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Demongate%2009%20600.jpg)
Now everything's starting to take shape...
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Wow, this certainly is a tease. I just love your work, sir.
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Oh, NO! Not Marmite!! :o lol
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For shooting it might be worth getting some small dice of a different colour, representing ammunition. The tiny 5mm dice might work nicely. Once they've gone, no more shooting. Cuts down on the hail of long range shots.
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And a lovely looking gate.
Will there be a set of templates to build it as well as character cards?
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Very impressive piece of terrain, Paul!
:-*
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UBERCOOL! The leering expression on the gateway is a very effective touch.
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Added a house.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Domed%20house%2014%20600.jpg)
http://www.matakishi.com/conanscenery.htm
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Awesome! You're projects are always full of inspiration.
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Taking shape nicely, really nice work already.
Also, I noticed the oven with gas burners. My father would love to have one unfortunately they are pretty rare here… :(
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the oven with gas burners. My father would love to have one
Conan the Barbarian certainly wants one too, and the last picture shows that to have it he must go through the tower gateway. Otherwise why would he want to fight all these priests? lol
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That is fantastic!
Great tower mate.
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looks kind of like a snake head, is it?
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I feel like I have just gate crashed the party,
Paul, this is a great project, but then all of your projects are great :D
dodge
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Love the whole project, but that design for the tower just blew me away! :o
Watching with much interest.
Keep it up!
Please..........
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Just found this thread as well :-* :-* :-*
Inspiring stuff. Makes me want to dig out my old Conan books for a re-read.
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:-* :-* :-*
Blimey - how did I miss this thread? :?
Great work Paul can't wait to see them in the flesh.
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looks kind of like a snake head, is it?
It was going to be a snake but I had to flatten the head so it's a kind of snake if you squint at it :)
Doing a prison next I think.
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You could try doing it as a stone mosaic
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Good idea :)
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Seems like somebody else is working on a similar way of doing things in a game:
http://www.monomergames.com/index.php/products/pirates.html
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Wow. 8)
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Inspired by Elhion's little prison (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=30928.0) I made this:
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Prison%20012.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Prison%20013.jpg)
http://www.matakishi.com/conanscenery.htm
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The dog's proverbials, fantastic :-*
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this makes sense, Conan Spent a lot of time jail!
fantastic! :)
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VERY COOL! The corner tower is really a striking structure. Keep up the FINE WORK!
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You NEVER cease to AMAZE me.
Those buildings are just FANTASTIC!
And the pics showing the pieces AND measurements (following your link) are really useful too.
Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks for sharing this project, matakishi--you've really brought it to life. Great environments.
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Those Death Dealer minis are fantastic! :-* :-* :-*
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Wonderful idea and wonderful work Matakishi! :-*
Warms the heart of an old Conan fan.
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More bandits and some assorted gribblies.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20blue%20bandits%201%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20critters%201%20600.jpg)
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Is that Khosatral Khel?! Nice one, Matakishi! :-*
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Fantastic !!!!
I need a Devil In Iron.
What Miniature is that giant Matakishi ?
Björn
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Reaper Stone Golem
I have one too
Ryan
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As seen here:
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/golem/latest/02751
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Those Perry Azerbaijani figs come in useful don't they! 8)
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I have no idea how you get things done this fast, but keep it coming - it serves as inspiration and reminder of pending tasks :)
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All VERY COOL & WELL DONE! The skeletons conjure up Harryhausen images of Heroic Warriors led by Steve Reeves...shows what too much T.V. at an early age can do to one's mind...such as it is in my case. INSPIRATIONAL STUFF!
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Great project - hope to see ideas for massed battles too... but will certainly be trying out these skirmish rules...
For ideas on E. Howard's Hyborian world, and possible army ideas the following may prove helpful:
See: http://billinghurst.spalding.gen.nz/Webstuff/hobbies/armatihyboria.html, which also provides good summaries so one can easily familiarise oneself with Hyborian armies and cultures and start thinking about possible miniatures to represent them.
The various Wiki articles relating to Conan are also surprisingly good see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquilonia_%28Conan%29, which describes the Battle of Venarium the earliest known encounter we have of Conan with the Aquilonians.
http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/armies/varhyborian.html This is DBA specific so ideal for HOTT fans and the like but some good ideas for army organisation etc.
Otherwise the best source is evidently Lin Carter's "Royal Armies of the Hyborian Age" a must for anyone wanting to create Hyborean armies.
Can't wait to see more Matakishi, Crom would be proud.
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See also http://hyboria.xoth.net/history/index.htm for a Hyborean History lesson.
I also think that the Nexus Conan game see http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3291 could make an excellent campaign setting for then table top Conan games - has anyone done this?
I did similar with many of the old Avalon Hill games like for example using Kingmaker as a campaign setting for War of the Roses as we had 8 odd players representing then key nobles this was great fun! Another board game that worked well for this was also their cute little Robin Hood game which then translated well to Medieval skirmish games.
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See also http://hyboria.xoth.net/history/index.htm for a Hyborean History lesson.
I also think that the Nexus Conan game see http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3291 could make an excellent campaign setting for then table top Conan games - has anyone done this?
Nice idea. Also, if someone has Mighty Empires, it could be used - just use 'Hyborean' minis to mark the whereabouts of characters, standard game pieces for armies/warbands.
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Finally, my caravan leader and his two sons:
(http://www.matakishi.com/Caravan%20leaders%201.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Caravan%20leaders%202.jpg)
And some rules changes and clarifications as well.
http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm
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Fantastic! :-*
The caravan looks great.
I am amazed at how you are so prolific whilst still achieving such a high standard.
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the weaker shooting is very conan-like, hand-to-hand combat rules the game and not hordes of weaklings with bows
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Poison (very nasty) and fire rules, also co-operative actions mechanic added.
http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/New%20Poison%20card.gif)
(http://www.matakishi.com/New%20Fire%20card.gif)
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Ace new ideas! thanks!
the caravan and the new bandits are fantastic!
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Brilliant all of it.........(the fire and poisen look good) the moster tables are what i did for my bits so far so same lines.....
Tony
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And... finally. I'm going to have a game on Sunday.
I can just get the updated rules read in time, then get the final adjustments of the scenario done :D
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This is all great stuff - really like that squatting/sitting Demon you did a while back - cheers for the tip with the Perry bandits too.
Now read quite a few of the REH stories and along with your fantastic progress here my next planned project is in serious danger of being derailed by Conan! lol
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I saw the preview for Conan 3D last night, it looks great but might give me expensive ideas.
You project looks really good and I think I'm going to be paying better attention to it now.
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I'm nearly stunned into silence.
Matakishi, you never cease to amaze me!!!
Fantastically inspiring! :-* :-* :-* :-*
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This project is tipping me over into an interest in Fantasy and 15mm rather than 10mm. (I just cant get the figures i like for this in 10mm), and the Copplestone barbarians are perfect! Shame though in a way, i love the smaller scales and the Copplestone 10mm range has just enough character, shame its so LoTR orientated.
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Nice Caravan
like theose camels :D
dodge
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Played today, lots of pics, the fastest Dwarf in history carried the day, while whimsy Elf bit the dust at the claws of a couple of Flesheaters (Ghouls) ... Shall begin write-up of report and evaluation tomorrow (I'm exhausted from rolling dice ;D ).
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(http://www.matakishi.com/New%20Poison%20card.gif)
Jumping spiders aren't even venomous to humans... ',:/
Aside from that, this is all pretty gosh darn awesome.
Keep up the good work!
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Apart from that, they have pretty scary 'faces' lol
May I suggest, that poison counters can also be removed by a fellow character (by cutting/sucking the wound or something like that) with a Special Dice difficulty of something - but only if this succeeds BEFORE the poison card comes up (speed is essential)? So, even if you do not have any remedies for poison, you stand a chance of not slowly succumbing to a lucky dice roll of some critter - losing one dice each turn will be really crippling for a hero.
My black cobra shall be venomous from now on :)
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Apart from that, they have pretty scary 'faces' lol
d'oohhhh, come on.
dey's so adowabwe with theiw big fwiendwy eyes and fuzzy faces~<3
But yeah, a gradual declination of health is undoubtedly a better poison effect than instant death.
May I suggest poisons of varying power that subtract more dice each turn?
For instance, a weak contagion subtracting one, a stronger venom taking two, and so on and so on until there's a poison so nasty it DOES kill you right out.
Just a thought of course.
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Hello,
though about this yesterday:
When being fired at characters/minions may choose to use move dice in addition do combat dice, in order to retreat that amount of inches and make the shot more difficult, it could represent pinning the enemy
just a thought, don't know if it's a useful one... but anyway :)
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Reading Matakishi's excellent Crom Wargame rules got me thinking...
So here with some feedback/ideas:
Fatigue/Exhaustion
If I weren't so tired opined Conan, "I'd soon make a brainless corpse out of you."
If a character uses all his dice in his dice pool (I.i: keeps no dice in reserve) in a single turn (during their initiative) then he/she/it suffers fatigue or exhaustion and so loses one dice from their dice pool akin to if it had been burnt. In this way characters (miniatures) may be forced to always keep one dice in reserve. The thinking behind this is that firstly it may slow the game down (this may sound odd given that as wargamers we tend to like to speed things up), secondly it may take out some of the heroism with the feats being performed by a character not being as incredible (a good option if using these rules perhaps for more historical like encounters), thirdly it introduces a fatigue exhaustion factor to the game which in doing so creates another tactical consideration for the player (do I expend my character this turn and lose a dice from the dice pool or should I conserve his energy for latter in the game – type questions). Alternatively this is a silly idea as the burning dice mechanism already accounts for exertion, which ultimately is fatigue and or exhaustion by another name.
Differentiation and difficulty checks for random actions
“His horned helmet was such as was worn by the golden-haired Aesir of Nordheim; his hauberk and greaves were of the finest workmanship of Koth; the fine ring-mail which sheathed his arms and legs was of Nemedia; the blade at his girdle was a great Aquilonian broadsword; and his gorgeous scarlet cloak could have been spun nowhere but in Ophir.”
One excellent aspect of the rules at the moment is the lack of mechanisms, factors and clutter - by which I mean there is very little one has to consider, par perhaps the number of dice in ones dice pool. However this does perhaps leave little scope for differentiating characters and minions. With the number of dice they are assigned being the only major difference in quality etc. The system may therefore need to account for factors such as armour, weapon type, racial characteristics, experience, traits etc. So I was thinking how best can this be achieved. One proposal is to give a modifier that can then be assigned to a dice roll so a +1 for instance added to a dice roll a 5 then becomes a 6. Here follows a few clearer examples: The Afghuli are renowned for riding and climbing so when an Afghuli is is trying to scale a battlement he would get a +1 to a dice roll (assignes 2 dice to his attempt, roles a 5 and and a 3 which is 8 plus 1 then for his racial skill and we have a total of 9 halved because he is climbing is equal to 4.5). To keep these aqdditional factors simple minions get +1 and characters get +2, using the example above then an Afghuli minion riding a horse get +1 movement but a Afghuli character would get +2. One could also add a attempt action with an assigned difficulty – at the moment the rules have dice being allocated to either combat or movement and yes magic as well but what about just random actions. Here are a few examples, a Stygian with his knowledge of arcana and spellcraft wishes to use a magic scroll he just picked up the difficulty factor is for purposes here 10 so he decides to roll only 2 dice knowing that he gets a +1 racial factor. An Hyrkanian is sopposedly good at spoting things and thus can make a random action check to see if he spots a trap, by virtue then of being an Hyrkanian character he gets +2. Note then these bonuses are added to the total dice score not to every dice being thrown. Though one can also improve a paticular dice roll so I have a Cimmerian barbarian using a +1 magical sword in combat he rolls 2 dice one scored a 5 so he adds +1 getting a 6 and this has disastrous consequences for his enemies! See my previous post on resources which may illicit ideas on racial Hyborean characteristics. The difficulty check system I have therefore proposed works a bit differently to the “Other Tasks” in the rules whereby scores of six are required – both need playtesting I feel and I do not see any reason why both could be used difficulty for scenarios and the 6 Other tasks rule for random attempts to do things.
Mounted vs unmounted
"Not if there were three thousand desperate Hyborian horsemen fighting in a solid wedge such as I could teach them," answered Conan.
Firstly on a side note an unattended horse which a character or minion then wants to steal for himself may require a difficulty check – see the random action difficulty checks mentioned above. The rules state that “A horse being ridden may not be targeted separately except by missile fire or other distance attacks such as magic”, I am not sure I like this rule for 2 reasons namely one when using missile weapons against a mounted target I would say it is more difficult to target either rider or mount and two that in hand to hand combat it is easier to target either rider or mount. For missile and magic attacks I have a simple proposal the proverbial 50% chance to hit, so roll one dice on a 1, 2, 3 the mount is hit on a 4,5,6 the rider is hit. For hand to hand attack which ever one you like but be warned attacking the mount may expose you to a better attack from the rider as you battle with the mount it is difficult to maintain an effective guard against its rider so minus 1 dice (My character assigns 3 dice to attack your mount only 2 of those dice can then be used to defend me from your riders attacks, use coloured dice should answer you next question namely how do you know which dice are for the attack and which dice are then for the defence).
Orders
“That's where the queen's guard should have been, but they were drawn up at the foot of the palace stair, as puzzled as we, though they had come fully armed, in spite of the queen's order. “
I love the fact that because one is assigning dice to actions the miniatures then have orders which they intend to follow. This comes through for me strongly when reading the rules for example: “Conan has been speared by a guard for a total of two hits (a successful defence with a six rolled, yes Conan failed in his attack). Conan must lose two dice so the player looks at his pools. He has three dice left in movement and four in combat. Conan was hoping to move on and attack another opponent once this one had fallen but since the situation has changed he has to re-evaluate.
He decides to lose the dice from his movement pool which means he won't be able to reach a new opponent. No matter, he has four combat dice left and, grinning wolfishly, he uses them to slaughter the guard who winged him. With his single remaining movement dice Conan slips around a corner and ends his turn.
However, the damage is done, Conan is a little weaker than he was and next turn he will have two less dice to allocate to his pools.” Similarly then that ones best intentions are not always achieved. Players must then be clear on what they wish to achieve and how many dice they will be assigning to these aspirations. Likewise I love the initiative rules and again these could be affected by the differentiation factors Conan could get a +1 to initiative rolls whereas a lumbering oaf or indecisive commander could get a – 1.
Shooting
"Give me a bow," requested Conan. "It's not my idea of a manly weapon, but I learned archery among the Hyrkanians, and it will go hard if I can't feather a man or so on yonder deck."
What about range? I propose the following: One a maximum range, two minus dice for ranges so minus 2 dice for long range 1 dice for medium range and no dice for short range thus someone wanting to shoot long range would need to assign atleast 3 dice. Range is thus akin to cover with dice being taken away.
General
"Stop yammering and tell me what happened!" she cried harshly.”
Thus far I like the magic, and look forward to seeing more... so I'll stop yammering...
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@Golgotha
I appreciate you taking the time to give me your thoughts.
Fatigue: The game is all about fatigue. The mechanics simulate the effects of fatigue on the participants already and don't need a further layer of book keeping/remembering/decision making. In fact the game has no book keeping other than the reclaiming of a spent magic dice each round and keeping score of co-operative actions (which are rare) and these will probably be changed to remove the book keeping aspects.
Players need to be concentrating on what they want to do in the turn, what their opponent may do in the turn, and how they are going to achieve their aim despite their opponents' actions. This is enough for anyone to be thinking about.
Differentiation: "The system may therefore need to account for factors such as armour, weapon type, racial characteristics, experience, traits etc." This sort of detail is covered by the dice pools. Conan has 12 dice because he's a Cimmeriean, because he's an experienced fighter, because he has the grace of a panther, because he's mean and tough. A minion has 4 dice because he isn't any of those.
Having said that, special, scenario-specific items do have a mechanic, which will be explained when I publish some example scenarios.
But...
No dice modifiers. Ever. No looking up on tables, no shuffling through a rule book during play. Players should be concentrating on what they want to do during the game, not how the rules cope with letting them do it.
Mounted: You could shoot someone's horse from under them, however it's now going to take you a minimum of three shots to do it so this will be removed since shooting has changed. A mounted figures is now a single entity for the duration of the encounter.
Orders: No dice modifiers. Conan has dice to spend on initiative if he wants to, if he wants to try and ensure a higher roll than an opponent he allocates more dice. His choice.
Range: Range is already factored in. Shooting rolls need to overcome an opponent's defence, overcome any cover and still score enough to cover the distance or they miss. Shooting is a minor part of the game and is getting as little time allocated to it as possible. Since the game is designed to be played on a 1 metre square area long range is not a factor.
Yammering: You weren't, you were making some good points but most were moving away from the underlying design ethos of the game. There is no reason for you not to include any additions you want in a game you play, especially if you feel it adds more of a Hyborean flavour to it.
Poison- General comment to others- All spiders are venomous, hideous, freaks even if they try to conceal it :)
There is no time in a standard encounter for a character to try to aid another in the case of a poisoned wound which is why it happens between encounters and is considered to always be successful.
A scenario may have an antidote present as stated in the rules but that's up to the writer. Encounters should generally last 4-6 turns so death by poison shouldn't be an issue.
Sudden death, however, isn't an option for a character and poison will remain doing 1 hit a turn for now.
The above seems rather negative in tone, maybe I'm tired, it's not meant to be. I do appreciate all feedback, thank you all :)
I'm off to photograph some figures I've painted, back soon with photos!
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Not at all negative the feedback was excellent. Look forward to the pics...
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Bronze Age Miniature's orcs, based on a Frazetta drawing and a couple of ogres to lead them.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Orcs%201%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Orcs%202%20600.jpg)
Big group shot on my site
http://www.matakishi.com/conan.htm
A little scenery piece. I wonder what's inside...
(http://www.matakishi.com/Sword%20cave%201%20600.jpg)
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Looks a lot like Holger Danske, that one :)
Have started writing up an AAR of my Sunday game at: http://argonor-wargames.blogspot.com/2011/08/crom-rise-of-mummy-king-part-one.html
I shall post a couple of pics on my own thread, but the main action will take place on my blog, because 1) it's easier, and 2) I'm lazy, and timewise challenged :)
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wonderful more insperation, i considered the rules for a devils rejects game also hehehehheheh
Tony
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Inside the tomb sits King Kull on his throne holding his Atlantean sword. And a few guards.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Kull%20on%20throne%202%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20Kull%20on%20throne%201%20600.jpg)
And elsewhere, Red Sonja, Bêlit and Valeria to add some much needed feminine gentleness to the proceedings.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20women%201%20600.jpg)
All figures from Bronze Age Miniatures.
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You every time excell, wonderful and superb ..........................................
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Yet more superb goodies!
You are setting the standard for excellent work in tandem with productivity.
Love all of 'em but the King on the throne is my favourite from this batch. :-* :-* :-*
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Not much productivity, I'm back at work and so I've slowed down dramatically on the painting front. I'm going to spend time making some buildings for my CROM presentation game next so there probably won't be anything to see for a couple of weeks. I'm not going to post WIPs until everything's been unveiled at my party on October 1st.
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Very, very nice :-*
Simple but effective conversion on King Kull and his throne.
Did you raise the backpart of the throne?
Great job, as ever.
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It's not a conversion, the miniature is just as it arrived from Bronze Age.
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The Orcs, Skeletons, Mysterious Cairn, &, of course, the Lovely Ladies are BEAUTIFULLY DONE in your own unique style. It's fine to see all the Bronze Age pieces;re, David is a very talented sculptor & a wonderful person to deal with.
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It's not a conversion, the miniature is just as it arrived from Bronze Age.
Including the Skeleton?
The throne looks like the dwarven Kings one, thought it's not so high.
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wow all those miniatures , brilliant :D
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Inpirational stuff, love it :-*
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I really have to commend you for your great choice of figures for these themed gaming collections. My wish list keeps growing with each new addition! I plan on doing some Song of Blades style Conan action.
-edit- Also forgot to add a cool link to a great Cyclops figure from PAPO collectibles, this would be a good figure for Conan or the Greek Myth themes.
http://www.amazon.com/Safari-Cyclops/dp/B004I2CJ5U/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1315882725&sr=1-5
http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/7/1629/saf801829.jpg
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By Crom, that's great work!
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-edit- Also forgot to add a cool link to a great Cyclops figure from PAPO collectibles, this would be a good figure for Conan or the Greek Myth themes.
http://www.amazon.com/Safari-Cyclops/dp/B004I2CJ5U/ref=sr_1_5?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1315882725&sr=1-5
http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/7/1629/saf801829.jpg
Thats a good find, Onemanworkshop!
There are other figures in that range that would work well, depending on size; Posiedon and Medusa, in particular.
Any idea of sizes?
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The Cyclops is about 4 inches tall, but looks good with 28mm figs. The others could look good on appropriate bases with some debris to give them some sense of being large 28mm sized figures. And of coarse they'd all look better repainted to fit with my collection.
I really do hand it to Matakishi for choosing and building these themes sets so well, I really suffer from new project-itus!
1 Man Workshop
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For those that haven't seen them on the Tea Party Thread here are some pics and a brief description of the scenario I ran at my birthday bash.
The basic idea was that three of Conan's erstwhile girlfriends were vying to be the one to free him from jail and thus gain ascendancy over the others in his affections.
Arranged against them were a garrison of guards with a captain and a priestess stationed in the jail and three sets of slaver bandits roaming the town on the lookout for prime girl flesh.
As well as this there were four objective markers scattered around that revealed Conan's Atlantean sword, Subotai or a couple of Death Dealers depending on a draw from the event deck.
The setting:
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20Conan%205%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20Conan%203%20600.jpg)
The garrison:
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20John%2001.jpg)
The slavers:
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20John%2002.jpg)
The girls:
Red Sonja
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20KD%201%20600.jpg)
Belit
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20Karl%203%20600.jpg)
Valeria
(http://www.matakishi.com/MTP%202011%20Karl%202%20600.jpg)
The game coped well with five players (sometimes more) and no one had to refer to the rulebook (luckily because there isn't one yet). Gameplay was fast and fluid as I'd hoped and the scenario was exciting and fun with many memorable moments in each of the three games I ran.
In light of this further playtesting I am removing leadership, it will be automatic if followers are involved, modifying minion movement to reduce dice rolling for them and making shooting a special action as well as changing the mechanics. All this will allow the game to proceed at its fast pace throughout and reduce the occurrence of 'choke points'.
I have also finalised my design for player dice organisers.
All this will be written up in the fullness of time for those who wish to incorporate the changes.
Oh yes, the results :) Conan was freed and escaped once but at the cost of all his companions' lives. The other two times the girls failed, once very nearly succeeding and the second time being a long way from victory. Not co operating a little more was their downfall although, to be fair, the odds were stacked against them a little.
A big thank you to all my players who played with humour and elan and displayed, once again, the remarkable levels of good sportsmanship and manners that I have come to expect from members of this forum and their ilk.
edit: There are loads more pics and words here:
http://www.matakishi.com/teaparty.htm
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Looks fantastic, as usual! A great and inspiring thread (again).
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Fantastic! I've been looking forward to your update for weeks! Funny that the dice gods saw fit to slay the girls and grant victory to the slavers and guards, when if it were a novella or comicbook conan would have freed himself, slain all who opposed him and rode off with the three gals at once!
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I haven't managed to chew my way through Howard's book yet, but I would to try this in November. ;-D
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Some Grey Apes from Obelisk via Black Cat Bases.
(http://www.matakishi.com/CONAN%20grey%20apes.jpg)
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Inspiring stuff indeed!
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VERY WELL DONE those Mega-Monkeys! Now if I could only remember what story they came from...senility can be such a drag.
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"Out of the shadows of the cliffs moved a monstrous shambling bulk - an anthropomorphic horror, a grotesque travesty of creation. In general outline it was not unlike a man. But its face, limned in the bright moonlight, was bestial, with close set ears, flaring nostrils, and a great flabby-lipped mouth in which gleamed white tusk-like fangs. It was covered with shaggy grayish hair and its great misshapen paws hung nearly to the earth. Its bulk was tremendous; as it stood on its short bowed legs, its bullet-head rose above that of the man who faced it; the sweep of the hairy breast and giant shoulders was breath-taking; the huge arms were like knotted trees." ~Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard
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I am sure my wife will blame me for finding another reason to buy miniatures. Can I forward her concerns on to you? :D
Seriously though, this is a great project overall and the system you have created is a very nice system.
-Eli
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Nice work!
I saw these models at a show and didnt think they were particularly good.
How wrong I was! I now know better......
You have certainly brought them to life with a cracking paint job. :-*
Great thread, am enjoying following it.
Will continue to do so with interest.
Thank you!
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Well I've been busy with this project over the last couple of weeks getting it ready for BLAM. I've been making buildings and painting figures and writing rules and scenarios so that I can present as good an adventure as I can to the participants on the day(s). I've settled on a 'campaign' of 8 or 9 linked encounters that will bring all the elements of the system into play and hopefully show it off to its best advantage. Each encounter will cope with up to 6 (sometimes more) players and should last around 30-45 minutes except the last one, the finale, which will take longer for the heroes to win but might be over much quicker than that if they fail.
Everything must remain secret of course so no real pictures to share, just these teasers to whet the appetite (and show I've not been slacking). First some items:
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20riches%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20wine%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan%20Ancient%20Mail%20card.jpg)
And finally, I don't know what these are going to be but I bet they're important :)
(http://www.matakishi.com/BLAM%20teaser%201.jpg)
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Nice :-*
Can't wait to see more
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You're as inate with that cork as a monkey with a banana. I bet you could build Taj Mahal in a day if you had the need lol
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OOooo..treasure cards.
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OOooo..treasure cards.
More importantly Boobie cards. Boob cards should add bonuses to initiative.
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a nice development again
Maybe a "Drugs-Card" ;D for a shortliving enhancement / bust of special / magic abilities?
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a nice development again
Maybe a "Drugs-Card" ;D for a shortliving enhancement / bust of special / magic abilities?
Ooooh. Black Lotus!
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Here's a quick preview of the Dark Citadel without its surrounding jungle. I was going to keep it secret until after BLAM but I like it too much :)
(http://www.matakishi.com/The%20Dark%20Citadel%201.jpg)
Dark and unspeakable rites will be going on here at some point...
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Awesome as a metal album cover!
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Dark and unspeakable rites will be going on here at some point...
Oh my God! Does this mean its a Masonic Lodge?
That isa a VERY COOL& HIGHLY ATMOSPHERIC piece. The statue/altar looks TERRIFIC up there...I love the flames. As always, your work is a tremendous source of inspiration. VERY WELL DONE!
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big fat evil citadel :-*
can one open the voluminous part in the center and play inside?
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HA! The Matakishi Conan Evil Temple Playset
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Looks like just the place for Conan to hurl an evil Wizard off the top and down to his doom. :)
Great stuff.
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Love the addition of the lights for flames. This will be an epic objective, very movie like dramatic set piece.
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can one open the voluminous part in the center and play inside?
No, it's designed to add height to a skirmish board nothing more (although there are some surprises that I won't reveal here).
Looks like just the place for Conan to hurl an evil Wizard off the top and down to his doom. :)
I'm pretty sure this will happen at some point :)
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OMG!!! terrific :-* Excellent color choice
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Mako (and his house).
(http://www.matakishi.com/Mako%20composite%201.jpg)
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HA! That lil' dude is on my shopping list too.
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Woderful, love the otherworld idol, simple yet very effective (esp the fkame reflection!
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Wow!
Can't wait to see that castle in real life! :-*
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Matakishi.....I'm blown away by not only your creative execution of fantastic models, but your sheer volume of work as well. What's your secret? I wish I had that level of quality output. Highly inspirational my friend! :-* :-* :-*
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VERY COOL & IMAGINATIVE! The Little Wizard turned out VERY NICELY...I love his Easter Island digs.
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Really looking forward to seeing this next weekend!
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Fantastic!
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Based on the extensive testing at this year's BLAM I have made the following changes and incorporated everything into the main text of the rules.
Shooting has been streamlined.
No ganking rule introduced.
Magic had been expanded.
Leadership has been removed.
Conan (and other major heroes) have had their dice pools increased from 12 to 16.
http://www.matakishi.com/crom.htm
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The thing from the pit that did for two groups of heroes on the day.
(http://www.matakishi.com/Tengu%20Shoggoth%202%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Tengu%20Shoggoth%203%20600.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Tengu%20Shoggoth%201%20600.jpg)
It's a Tengu Models Shoggoth of course that I had to paint quickly for the game. Happy eith the result though :)
Also, a very poor picture of the Dark Citadel in use.
(http://www.matakishi.com/BLAM%202011%20CROM%204.jpg)
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The Pit Thingy has lovely eyes...VERY NICELY DONE!
Battling WAY UP THERE on the Dark Tower separates the real heroes from the lesser men/women. It looks like a spectacular game setting.
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Woderful, love the otherworld idol, simple yet very effective (esp the fkame reflection!
Just saw the pics on Blame live and take back the simple after seeing close ups, hope I didn't offend you Mata. It is anything but simple, except it is simple genius!!!
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Congratulations - very impressive building and game :o
The thing from the pit
You really need a Health and Sanitary Service inspection in these buildings if such animals are allowed to run free in there... lol
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The Dark Citadel from another angle
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t50/Whiskyrat/BLAM%202012/P1010022.jpg)
And those lights on top of the towers are individual matches from a book of 20 ... they were a real nuisance to have to keep lighting throughout the game. ;)
A close up of the fishmen and their minder.
(http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t50/Whiskyrat/BLAM%202012/P1010023.jpg)
Their arrival was shortly followed by Conan and allies calling for fries and ketchup. :-X
The Dark Citadel was very cleverly constructed and the game itself was great fun. :)
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Fantastic i love the pit monster awesome ...just gets better and better, the master shows the way...
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:o :o :o
More beautiful stuff!
I always look forward to your next installment, to see what you have produced this time. Always top notch.
I love this thread, very inspirational!
:-* :-* :-*
And those lights on top of the towers are individual matches from a book of 20 ... they were a real nuisance to have to keep lighting throughout the game. ;)
And I thought that they were tea lights. Not just amazingly talented- Patient, too!
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Ive written up the campaign I ran at BLAM, all eight scenarios illustrated with pictures by various LAFfers since I took only three myself. I've added in all the new cards and rules so you can easily play through it yourselves :) A huge thank you to all the players who participated, I had a great time and it made all the work worthwhile.
http://www.matakishi.com/cromcampaign1.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan05.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Black%20Lotus%20Conan%20Card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Anacient%20Fishmen%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/BLAM%202011%20CROM%202.jpg)
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Ive written up the campaign I ran at BLAM, all eight scenarios illustrated with pictures by various LAFfers since I took only three myself. I've added in all the new cards and rules so you can easily play through it yourselves :) A huge thank you to all the players who participated, I had a great time and it made all the work worthwhile.
http://www.matakishi.com/cromcampaign1.htm
(http://www.matakishi.com/Conan05.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Black%20Lotus%20Conan%20Card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/Anacient%20Fishmen%20card.jpg)
(http://www.matakishi.com/BLAM%202011%20CROM%202.jpg)
I didn't get a chnace to play the whole thing- only two scenarios. I've got to say that I loved it! Really really good fun , it captured the heroic feel of conan very well.
Cheers again paul!
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Very interesting citadel :)
I bet that every tower could open on a different magical universe (only when the light shows, otherwise it is "temporary closed for maintenance"); the central building acting as a magical railway hub ??? :D
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I am just blown away by the sheer brilliance of this project. Every time I think you have hit the pinnacle, a new, unexpected (but very welcome), peak is risen beyond.
I absolutely love your choice of miniatures - they gel together very nicely and fit the Hyborian theme aptly.
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Hey all
Newbie here, find my way here with thanks to google :D
This whole project is awesome, in fact i find my way here through trying to start my own Hyborian project...I hope you don't mind, but i've got a few questions...
Where did you get the serpent terrain? It's awesome and so Conan-y
Are the Death Dealer miniatures still unavailable? I know they're not on Bronze Ages site, but i'm not sure if theyre available elsewhere.
And lastly...The Arabian style town and deserts look great. How do you go about painting the building and statues to have that sandy/pale stone look? My painitng skills generally stop at grey stone :)
Thanks, I look forward to showing some of my minis off, as and when i get them done.
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BEAUTIFULLY INSPIRING WORK! I love the jungle flora in particular. Oh, if only I were as prolific as you...or even close.
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Which terrain are you asking about? The arches are from Games Workshop if you mean them.
If you write to David at Bronze Age I'm sure he'll sort you out some Death dealers.
To paint the town I use sandy colours, usually from matchpots of household paint, creams, browns, terracottas etc. I have had some emulsion mixed up to match Foundry Sand B and C which I use on my bases and for the stonework too.
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Which terrain are you asking about?
Thanks for the reply. The terrain i was asking about are the snake fountains and gate that are on the first page of this thread, in the picture with the giant snake. They're perfect for a Stygia based campaign.
I'm going to give building a couple of Middle Eastern style buildings a go this weekend and hopefully save a bit of money instead of buying plastic/resin pre-mades. Hopefully it'll turn out ok :D
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Take a look at Matakishi's own site.
There is ample advice on there for making plenty of different things, buildings included!
If you want to have a go at a similar project, there is no better place to go.......
http://www.matakishi.com/
Oh, and welcome to the forum, gmanrocks!
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The snake scenery is from Scotia Grendel (in their historical catalogue, not fantasy).
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The snake scenery is from Scotia Grendel (in their historical catalogue, not fantasy).
Ah great. Thanks for that.
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Top Notch!!! Love it all, especially the fishmen. :-* :-* :-*
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Rules are available as a 64 page pdf. Includes Conan and the Dark Citadel, all eight chapters, card templates and a printable dice mat. Fully illustrated with original artwork and in-game photos.
Unbeatable value at £5.00
(http://www.matakishi.com/CROM%20advert.gif)
http://www.matakishi.com/apps/webstore/products/show/3525005
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Man, I'd really like to play this campaign. So many projects in the pipeline :'( 8)
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Great use of The GW Temple - really like what you have done with the plastic kit.
Tony
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Cool! Haven't played many games at home since my first run of CROM!, as reality has been bearing down on me ever since last winter, and time/money/energy is in short supply these days, but I highly recommend this product from my experience back then. LOTS of fast-paced fun to be had!