A jalebi for anyone who gets the title reference without resorting to Google
, so this is going to be an interesting one to explain. Awhile back, on one of our festivals while i was working on a commentary-piece, I had this sudden rather strong feeling that I should be uh .. doing exactly what it says on the tin. Building up a skirmish-sized narrative-wargame a la Necromunda/Mordheim - or possibly more aptly the old "Path to Glory" rules published in White Dwarf from back when the 7th edition Chaos books came out; based around Hindu mythology & religion.
I mean, in some ways it's not exactly a novel idea. After all, there's already a few games out there that do this with Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Viking and other such mythoi. But other than a few concepts here and there that appear to have permeated into other games, systems, and settings ... there's a bit of a curious gap with regard to my own.
Anyway, enough preambulatory rambling.
The way this works in my head - and I'm yet to craft a rulesset or anything so basic like that - each particular miniature will attempt to represent a creature from either Hindu mythology [like Maruts, Pishachas, Vanaras, etc.] and/or elements from more 'real' Hindu history and practice [for example, particular sect-lineages like the Kapalika, Astra-Dhari Nath, and others], equipped with weapons and wargear [and, for that matter, abilities] which *also* draw from both 'directions' so to speak.
Each figure will, kinda like Age of Sigmar atm, have a number of keywords associated with it that will guide warband building - for example, "Shaivite", "Vaishnava", "Asura", "Undead", "Himalaya", "Brahmin", "Kshatriya", "Naga", "Marut", "BhutaGana", "Storm", etc. etc. etc. etc. ; with the general idea that players are therefore a little restricted to compositions that make theological/mythological/metaphysical sense in what they're putting together.
Although given just how broad and diverse the sorts of groupings you might find in the mythology are, I don't think this will be huuuugely limiting; however, in a manner akin to how 40k in a previous edition did Datasheets and Detachments and suchlike, there'll be bonuses for having an 'appropriate' composition [kinda like "Battleforged"] as an incentive.
Now, at this point it's probably worthwhile to note that I'm not doing this as a trivialization, a "cultural appropriation", or an exploitation. I, and most of the guys I've got working on this with me from time to time [in between all our *other* OTT numbers of hobby projects] are pretty pious Hindus. This is us putting some of our own mythology into miniature form, I mean. And we wouldn't be doing it if we didn't think we could be respectful in the process.
As well as taking the opportunity to learn quite a lot in the process!
With that needfully said ... on to some of the miniatures I've managed to put together as 'proof of concept' [I'm part-way through building up a Shaivite warband].
Now first up, we have this chap. The idea here was to put together a Pandit [Priest] to form the core of such a warband. The GW Empire Wizard kit provided the body and head [which has a rather nice 'blown in the wind' effect going, appropriate given Rudra's portfolios]; while in terms of equipment I've hand-constructed a Trishul [Trident] with Damaru [Sacred Drum] [you'll often see Shaivite holy-men carrying the latter, and Shaivite Sadhus in particular are known for the former. There's even a particular monastic order devoted [inter alia] to the mastery of the weapon].
The hand, meanwhile, is iirc from the Empire Free Company kit, and was chosen because it's a surprisingly close approximation of Vayu-Mudra [Mudras being hand-gestures of metaphysical resonance] [Vayu, meanwhile, referring to 'Air' or 'Wind']. [the ability to perform certain Mudras having in-game effects - just as you'd expect]
I've actually started painting him since this photo was taken, in Saffron [aka Jokaero Orange] and Yellow for the prayer-shawl - which will eventually wind up with Devanagari text in red running along it. But I dislike posting photos of incomplete work when it comes to paintjobs, so you'll have to wait and see.
Next up, we have a Brahmin weapons-master. Now, contrary to popular belief, the way Varna work'ed [and, for that matter, still works .. somewhat] in Hindu society *doesn't* absolutely strictly demarcate the way you perform your 'function'. So while we customarily think of Brahmins as being priests, academics, and suchlike ... there also exists quite vibrant traditions of Brahmins seeking to carry their pursuit of 'knowledge' and suchlike over into the Martial sphere - becoming weapons-masters and supreme martial artists.
This miniature represents just such a figure; wielding two swords [and with the facial scarring to suggest he's seen the 'other end' of a similar style perhaps] in his slightly tattered mendicant robes.
He'll no doubt represent quite an interesting dynamic on the tabletop - as the differentiation from more familiar Kshatriya warrior-types other htan equipment may include an array of highly specialized techniques, and even metaphysical abilities.
Third, we have this rather large fellow. I'd grabbed an AoS Khornate character for use in the Unification Wars stuff I'm also doing [as a Proto-Astartes or something], but at Temple one day, the idea just *hit* me that due to his armament and physique, once he had all the Chaos bits and pieces removed he'd have an eminently logical place within this project instead. So with that in mind ... he's been partially painted up with sky-blue skin, yellow trousers pending tiger-stripes [this is once again, a customary Shaivite element], and will either represent a Marut, or possibly a character who's been invested with a certain quotient of Divine essence [perhaps in the manner of a Scion if you're familiar with the game].
Now, obviously there's a few 'gaps' on the miniature where the chaos bits and pieces have been trimmed away, so I'm still looking about for what to put in their place, if anything.
Finally [for now], there's this chap - who's lacking a head and a strong concept other than his wielding of a rather large axe. [There's some traditional associations with Axes in the relevant mythology that I wanted to explore ]
Although I've also been playing around with parts to attempt ot make an archer [the bow and arrow being a strongly connotated traditional Rudran weapon], which is still mostly conceptual at this stage.
And, on another note, had considered some Durgans built from GW Sisters of Silence and/or Dark Eldar plastics.
This'll probably be quite a 'slow-burning' project for me, particularly with everything else we're working on ... but figured that a project-log might help keep things ticking over.
Any thoughts, observations, insights etc .. don't hesitate to drop a line.
