Making the British weird...

[dm]

Dont forget Morris Dancer's and Pantomime horses

[Steve F]

What a splendid group of models, Rigel.

[SiamTiger]

@ Rigel

Great idea, especially the use of the Hell Dorado Miniature. Might as well work for the weird war spaniards as a templar.

But for the troopers, i´d look after the warzone trenchers, as they even look more british.

[Monster]

@FramFramson: Interesting ideas! We're still experimenting with Nuts! as a ruleset but we're bound to have some sort of campaign system. I think I'm definitely going to include some sort of witch alongside my forces.

@Rigel: Fantastic figures! Arthur looks great but I really like what you've done with the space marine bodies. I think I might copy the idea if you don't mind. I've got a few marines lying around.

[Rigel]

Than you for the comments about the knigths.

@Monster: Please, feel free to copy the idea, it's an honour.

[jp1885]

Cracking unit there Rigel!

A few more random thoughts... How about a druid type chap, summoning ancient celtic magic in defence of the realm? Or something more sinister - a Wickerman kind of vibe?

Don't forget that back in those days we still had an empire, so there are loads of exotic myths and legends to draw from (multi-armed goddesses from the Indian Raj, African witchdoctors, Canadian Wendigos etc. etc.)

I'll let you into a secret - if I ever started a miniatures company, I'd love to produce a unit of Zulu warriors, partially clad in British battledress, ready to fight for the King...

[Luddite]

NOW then.  Now then.  Then now.  Now then...   

What's going on here?

Firstly, I think you'll find that being in the middle of the map at the top, where God put us, makes the British normal. 

Its the rest of the world that is wierd.

And, since we decided to stop running it for a while, that world has become increasingly wierd of late...

 

Hehe...


How to make the British wierd eh?

Well, i think you'l struggle to top the reality of the British war effort, what with Barnes Wallace and Maj Gen Percy Hobart on our team.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart's_Funnies

 

However, i'll echo and recap the excellent suggestions made so far.

The Once and Future King (Arthur Pendragon) is certainly a way to go really wierd...especially if rules-wise he 'inspires' the British troops to put down their SMLEs and pick up a longsword for a glorious mounted charge...

Our climate is 'foggy, raw and dull' (according to the French in Shakespeare's Henry V) and is definately a supernatural mine of wierdness.  Mist-revenants, trolls under bridges, Cornish giants, witches and wise-folk, brownies, sprites and assorted forest spirits (including the elf-kind of the Seelie and Unseelie court) are all possible allies that could be brought forwards.

Technologically speaking...well...i refer the honourable gentleman to Hobart's Funnies...Also a browse through the world of Heath Robinson is highly reccomended.

In general, British technology, and our relationship to it is at best by casual acquaintance.  A walking tank is all very well, but nothing beats 'a bayonet with some guts behind it'.


Rules?

Well, the teabreak is vital.  British troops should be able to call a tea break that restores their morale, and stops the fighting for a while (foreign types can spend the time doing whatever it is they do when they should be supping a mug of hot milky tea (digestive biscuit optional)).

Stiff upper lip.  The British unwillingness to look facts in the face, or to admit defeat; and their ability to disregard, denigrate and generally feel superior too and sorry for foreigners should definately give them the ability to shrug off panic, worry, morale failure and in many cases bullets.

Getting stuck in.  One thing the British do well is 'get stuck in' to problems.  Don't get me wrong, we think things through beforehand - usually to an illogical conclusion....but nothing beats getting stuck in for actually achieving things.  How else do you think we built an Empire?  British units should be able to act where others couldn't (during suppression for example).  Of course, this capacity to act is somewhat compromised when we're 'getting stuck in' to a teabreak.

Cricket.  The sport of Empire, and the ultimate test of colonial manners...(some of them are dashed rude).
Also a cracking good chance for a 'gentleman' to show his worth in the face of profession 'players', proving once and for all that breeding, good manners and an amateur expectation of superiority will always beat skill and competence.  Of course being a jolly good chap at the crease is also handy for knocking grenades for six...

The mad minute.  British naval and army fire discipline has always favoured 'rapid, accurate fire'; a doctrine that led to the sinking of HMS Hood, and to the Old Contemptibles of WWI giving the Germans the impression they were facing machinguns.
Being ammunition-hungry, this rapid fire in the army was restricted to 'the mad minute'.  See...thinking it through and getting stuck in...
This desire to conserve ammo is why the MOD refused to issue our chaps with assault rifles until 1985...(41 years after pretty much everyone else)...
So, the British should have a ratherwierd capacity to lay down machinegun fire with anything at hand (bolt action rifles, pistols, longbows, thrown stones, etc.)


Ooh...longbows!!!
Yeah, got to have something wierd to do with longbows...

 

[carlos marighela]

The MOD, or rather the War Department as it was then, would have issued an assault rifle in 1951 had it not been for Churchill kowtowing to the Yanks and hoping they would pick up a NATO standard rifle  in 7.62mm. They did pick up 7.62.mm, selected their own rather indifferent rifle and then promptly dropped it and chose the M16  seven years after selecting the M-14, thus invalidating the whole exercise. Actually the EM-2 was given limited issue as early as 1951 but ultimately wasn't adopted.

As it happens, the SLR, the rifle Britain did adopt in the late 'fifties was a bloody good bit of kit. Robust, accurate and largely soldier proof. The idea that you could really clobber someone with the butt or poke them with a sharp object attached to the front of it was quite comforting in an odd atavistic way.

[tnjrp]

I don't think the author Ian Tregillis has been mentioned in this thread yet (although there is one reference on the forum to him)? His novel Bitter Seeds has British magicians warring against German psychics/superhumans in a sort of a turnabout on the old "Nazis iz teh Okkults" plotline. That might give some ideas although probably nothing that hasn't been mentioned yet (e.g. witches, druids).

[jp1885]

His novel Bitter Seeds has British magicians warring against German psychics/superhumans

Speaking of British magicians... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne

[tnjrp]

Well, yes, if Mr. Maskelyne had been a real "English Practical Magician" (see Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which touches upon the subject of "weird Napoleonic wars" and thus could well serve as an inspirational source) then I'm sure his war efforts wouldn't have been so open to question as to their efficency

There is another (young adult) book the name of which, as well as that of its author, escapes me as it did yesterday... What I recall is that in it, Brits went to a WWWI with Germans who were utilizing supertechnology in the form of mecha tanks using a supertechnology of their own: that of genetic engineering. Apparently much more enamoured by Darwin than in the real world, they had geneered "dirigible beasts" and the like. Using that idea would at the very least make the British to stand out on the battlefield.

[FramFramson]

In general, British technology, and our relationship to it is at best by casual acquaintance.  A walking tank is all very well, but nothing beats 'a bayonet with some guts behind it'.

If there's one thing I've learned about British Engineering it's that a proper British Engineer will never use one part when four will do. 

[Luddite]

Well indeed...and its come down to us in the modern world today.

I personally have never constructed a piece of flat pack furniture without at least two pieces of wood and a handful of nuts and bolts left over.

I presume these are spares throughtfully included by the Scandinavian manufacturer.


This is after all the Scandinavians fault in the first place as Lego supplanted the far superior and generally impressively British Meccano (the instructions of which were often deliberately wrong to train our young engineers properly from the cradle)...

[Mr.Dodo]

I suggest you have a look at the various stuff the Very British Civil War folk have been up to for some time. Taking quintessential Britishness and bending it to a martial end! Eccentricities abound!

[MajorTalon]

Well, yes, if Mr. Maskelyne had been a real "English Practical Magician" (see Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which touches upon the subject of "weird Napoleonic wars" and thus could well serve as an inspirational source) then I'm sure his war efforts wouldn't have been so open to question as to their efficency

There is another (young adult) book the name of which, as well as that of its author, escapes me as it did yesterday... What I recall is that in it, Brits went to a WWWI with Germans who were utilizing supertechnology in the form of mecha tanks using a supertechnology of their own: that of genetic engineering. Apparently much more enamoured by Darwin than in the real world, they had geneered "dirigible beasts" and the like. Using that idea would at the very least make the British to stand out on the battlefield.

That's Leviathan! It was an awesome book, although the plot, being designed for young teens, was a bit bland for my tastes.