Which part of Conan's Hyboria to start with?

[Rhoderic]

I've been talking about my Hyborian project at length lately, but haven't actually gotten started yet. I've decided that for a start, I should pick one little part of Hyboria, and model enough stuff for that so I can game multiple scenarios with it. Question is, which part? Here are the "hot spots" I've been considering:

Pictland - Picts, a foreign military expedition (Aquilonian or Zingaran), neanderthal-like cannibals, northern Eurasian wildlife (including mammoths), pine forests, wigwam-type huts etc.

Zamora (or some other exotic, decadent city) - City/castle/temple guards, ragged-looking thieves, cultists, priests/priestesses, middle eastern-type buildings, temples, minarets, a bazaar etc.

Black Kingdoms - Tribesmen, Barachan pirates, African wildlife (including some monstrously big specimens), hostile walking plants (from Hydra miniatures), jungle, African huts, ancient overgrown ruins etc.

The desert - Western and Eastern Shemites (Assyrian-style and Bedouin-style, respectively), a Turanian expedition, a caravan, desert terrain, Arabian-type tents (with lift-off tops if I can get that to work somehow), more ruins etc.

Which sounds best to you guys? As I've said before, Hyboria or "not-Hyboria" is really of no consequence, the basic elements are all the same anyway. I'm choosing to go for Hyboria because that world is already well-defined, but I could easily change my mind at any time and create my "own" world without needing to change a thing.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Black Kingdoms. And one day you could use the stuff for Darkest Africa gaming, too  

[Operator5]

I would actually start with pirates. You can take figures from any realm you want and simply drop them on a ship together. Then you can raid whatever kingdom you want (or have figures for).

[matakishi]

Why not start in Cimmeria and follow the wanderings of Conan?

[The Hooded Claw]

When I think of games like this I tend to think in two directions.  Setting or Saga.  Each has its own prosand cons.

With the "setting" option you have he advantage of focusing you purhases and time spent for maximum effect, but you can end up feeling hemmed in and are not as free to flex your story.  I think this route is best for getting a lot of games in in a shorter period of time.  You will be better able to reuse your minis and terrain.

With the "saga" option, you have less cohesion with you figures but you do have a greater variety of directions to take as you follow the adventures of your heroes.  The drawback here is that you have to produce a lot of minis and terrain that mght not be able to be used over as many adventures as with those takng pace in a constant setting.  Better if you want less frequent games but really want the feel of the world-spanning adventures.

Sure there are shades of grey but it really comes down to what you have and how you want to run your games.

[Rhoderic]

Well, I want to do a setting in the short run, but a saga in the long run. Ultimately I want to cover the entirety of Conan's world (within reason), but I have to start somewhere that lets me combine the smallest number of elements into the largest number of scenarios possible.

Out of any of my aforementioned settings, I should be able to get several campaigns worth of gameplay with ease. And once I feel tired (temporarily) with, say, the Black Kingdoms, I can move on to my next setting, maybe using the Barachan pirates as a bridge to transport the characters to Pictland. Each new setting should hopefully get a bit easier to do as I can recycle some of the stuff I made for previous settings. For instance, the jungle terrain I built for the Black Kingdoms can be used when I game Vendhya as well. The pirates fit in many settings as Rich stated, and they could also serve as land-roaming bandits. Later on I might rekindle my interest for one of the previous settings and return to it, adding new stuff I missed the first time around.

But coincidentally, the "Setting vs Saga" argument is very relevant to my 45A gaming/collecting. I need some smaller projects in between the mammoth ones (BA and Gloire), and I've decided 45A will be one of these small projects. With 30's Pulp being such a vast field that's easy to get lost in, the natural choice is to pick one small-ish setting and try to squeeze as much out of it as possible. I've gone for a South Seas theme, as it's a perfect excuse to mix up some Tiki drinks while I play  :wink:

Anyway, I haven't chosen my setting yet. The Black Kingdoms are tempting, but so are the other ones. I already had some plans for scratchbuilding some minarets for Zamora, and Bedouin tents would be cool too, and I'd love the opportunity to paint up a mammoth, and...

[Rhoderic]

OK, after a lot of vacillating between Zamora and the Black Kingdoms, I've decided to go for Zamora. It's sensible as I already have some buildings and a good cobblestone-textured gaming mat, and I have some cool ideas for new buildings too. I also have some miniatures that would make good cityfolk, I'm going to start painting these presently.

From Black Tree (they have a January Sale going on right now), I ordered some fantasy Saracens that will make excellent Zamoran guards and assassins:





I also ordered some of their historical Persian peasants, which I'll use as thieves/bandits once I've armed them with clubs and daggers:



Also got some extra cityfolk, quite generic-looking so I can use them in many different parts of Hyboria:





I still have a lot of enthusiasm for the Black Kingdoms, so that will come later.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I still have a lot of enthusiasm for the Black Kingdoms, so that will come later.

Well, why not? You can always have Zamoran Slave traders raiding the Black Kingdoms & get the best of both worlds!  

[Rhoderic]

Ah, hell. The buzz over at TMP is that Black Tree has been incommunicado and not been sending out orders for over a month. I'd been hoping to get the stuff as early as tomorrow, but now I doubt I'll be getting it any time soon. This puts a serious cramp on things.

Might order some Old Glory and Obelisk Darkest Africa stuff and start off with the Black Kingdoms after all.

[Old Dwarf]

Are you doing this for a skirmish type game,dunegon crawl or
mass battle :


I just finished a Royal Hyborian Mass battle project based on
Baccus 6mm figs(mostly) that covers everyone of the Nations.
Collecting & painting took a little over a year.We use a varient
of HoTT for the rules & developed our own generators for
campaigns & board set ups.

Previously I did a Dawn of The Hyborian Age Setting to cover
the conflicts between ancient Archeron & the Hybori Tribes using
Warmaster 10mm figs.This uses a Saga Mode & again the HoTT
varient rules.

So obviously the Hyborian World Setting interest me & if doing
a skirmish game or adventure type thing I'd be interested in hearing
what rules/system you plan to use.

In somewhat response to your question,I started out with the
basic W.Hyborian Nations(which was all that was orginally planed for)&
then did addendas to cover the Black Kingdoms,The Far North
& the Far East.

It a big project but interesting I wish you well on it & hope to here more.

OD

[Rhoderic]

While 10mm or 6mm massed battles are something I'd like to do in the future (as a whole separate project), this project is purely for skirmish gaming - or not even that, but rather "adventure" gaming. The ruleset I'll be using (and which I'm currently helping to playtest) is Broadsword Adventures from Rattrap Productions. A nice adventure-oriented ruleset that dispenses with army lists and things like that in favour of being more free-flowing - and the ruleset is specifically meant for Howardesque pulp swords-and-sorcery.

I received some of the stuff from Black Tree the other day (but not all of it, some packs were out of stock) and I've started painting the fantasy Saracens to use as Zamoran soldiers. Keeping with the Zamoran theme, these will be followed by a band of thieves (Persian peasants with weapon swaps - I haven't found any seller that makes separate knives and daggers, but Hammershield has promised to make me some), then maybe some cultists (from Eureka) and pit fighters (various manufacturers). I'll also be painting up civilians of various cultures so I can properly convey the "bustling" nature of a city like Shadizar.

Then of course I need to make some terrain. I have city scenery already, but I'll be augmenting it with a few more exotic-looking structures (minarets, domed temples, that sort of stuff) and some tents and shanties so I can represent the "slum" parts of the city. An "indoorsy" game board and caves/sewers are also on the roster.

[Hammers]

I haven't found any seller that makes separate knives and daggers, but Hammershield has promised to make me some...

I have not forgotten.

It is going to be interesting to see how you make this ecclectic bunch of miniatures fit together. Mixin' and matchin' is something I enjoy quite a lot myself.

[Rhoderic]

I haven't found any seller that makes separate knives and daggers, but Hammershield has promised to make me some...

I have not forgotten.

It is going to be interesting to see how you make this ecclectic bunch of miniatures fit together. Mixin' and matchin' is something I enjoy quite a lot myself.

There's still no hurry with the daggers, as the Persian peasants were one of the things on back-order at Black Tree, so I probably won't have them for a couple more weeks.

As I've said before, one of the loveliest things with gaming Hyboria is that I get to take miniatures from all kinds of ranges and redefine them as Hyborians just for the hell of it. Black Hat's Chinese vampire hunters rubbing shoulders with Foundry Norsemen, Crocodile Games' pseudo-Egyptians and Gripping Beast's Ben Yusef. Eclectic indeed.

What I forgot to mention in the previous post, is that obviously I have some heroes and villains lined up as well. My first batch of personalities will include a Foundry Valkyrie, Hasslefree's Akanke (hubba-hubba!), a Battleline Mongol, Heresy's Dark Lord and a very appropriate-looking sorcerer I found in one of Black Tree's fantasy ranges (I forget which).

[Old Dwarf]

I was hoping it was the adventure option,so I'll be looking
forward to how this evolves

I wonder if the Conan Board Game that is due out this summer
would be a good source of figs?

OD

[Gluteus Maximus]

I was hoping it was the adventure option,so I'll be looking
forward to how this evolves

I wonder if the Conan Board Game that is due out this summer
would be a good source of figs?

OD

You and me both!

I've not heard of this new board game

Do you have any more details?