A Song of Ice and Fire in 25mm

[Devoted of Slaanesh]

Very nice mate!

[sukhe_bator]

Reading these posts I agree that we sometimes take the refs we base our modelling decisions on too much at face value. So I took some time out at the weekend to review the original source material for the sigils and banners. Its amazing what you can glean by simply poring through the books again - as my extremely battered paperback copy of Lord of the Rings can also testify. 

It has changed my thinking slightly about how I might represent the lesser houses of the Riverlands. Frey (notionally) being subject to House Tully, I'm assuming that the minor houses under Frey don't put in an appearance until the Red Wedding, but in GoT a Frey bannered contingent is seen at the Green Fork (GoT, p.662). This puts representing House Haigh, Erenford and Charlton on the back burner for me at least for the immediate future.

The actual refs to House Marbrand leave a lot of freedom for expression...
GoT, p.668 Ser Adam Marbrand is decribed as 'a rangy man with dark copper hair that fell to his shoulders armoured in burnished bronzed steel with the fiery tree of his house etched in black on his breastplate'.
GoT, p.660 the Marbrand sigil is described as 'a burning tree, orange and smoke'.

So far I can't find any ref to the brown bordure on the Bracken sigil
GoT, p.279 'the red stallion badge of the Brackens'

Other refs indicate that the banners were the 'floppy' kind, with lots of references to swirling and flapping, and the Northerners mostly used war horns but the Mallisters and Freys had trumpets at the Battle of Whispering Wood (GoT p.674), while the bulk of the Northern foot under Roose Bolton also had drums at the Battle of the Green Fork (GoT p.661 & 662). I hate to think what the Bolton drumskins might have been made from (eugh!)

It was a useful exercise and I now have a few more sigils to add to the list of bad guys I can use in the War of the Five Kings... you know who... 
Ser Harys Swyft, (GoT, p.660) 'the bantam rooster of Swyft'
Ser Amory Lorch, (CoK, p.420) 'a manticore'
and prisoners taken at Whispering Wood (GoT, p.674)'Lord Westerling, Lord Banefort, Ser Garth Greenfield, Lord Estren, Ser Tytos Brax'

I will be applying the same rigour to the other books in due course...

[LordOdo]

Maybe it might be worth to keep a database of all Wetseros heraldy here at LAF. Like with quotes from the books with it, so we know how to.
We could even put photo's next to it, once someone on here has painted that shield or flag. For inspiration.

[sukhe_bator]

I like that idea LordOdo. We'll have to see what the other Westerosi LAF'ers think

[Dilettante Gamer]

Second that, not just for heraldry, but all clear references that can guide (But not dictate!) our design choices.

On a related line of thinking, dovetailing with my own desires to stay motivated, I've been wondering how we might band the various GoT enthusiasts a bit closer together.  I don't have any specific thoughts on this except I don't think it's a child forum. Maybe it's a thread or series of threads by topic. Off the top of my head.

GoT Enthusiasts: Heraldry

GoT Enthusiasts: Kitbashing Households & Bannermen - Design references & Ideas

GoT Enthusiasts: Scenery

GoT Enthusiasts: Gaming Scenarios

Not sure if this helps shared focus or creates a clutter of semi-neglected threads.

Does that spark anything for you chaps?? Perhaps even better ideas. ("Leave it be." is a valid response . )

[Captain Blood]

I think that's a good idea 

If you look on the Age of Myths, Gods and Empires (ancients) board, you'll see Mad Doc Morris, the moderator on that board, has done something very similar to list and index all gladiator related threads...
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=57121.0

This is a model that could work for GoT-related threads?

We could ask White Knight, Fantasy Adventures board moderator, if that would be acceptable? And then have a sticky.
But... Whoever takes ownership of keeping that index thread up to date, would have to make the first post listing the current crop of threads, so that it can be edited and updated as new LAF GoT projects appear... 

It's a kind of halfway house to a full child board.

[Dilettante Gamer]

It's a kind of halfway house to a full child board.

We belong in a halfway house.

"Hi, my name is Wade and I admit my powerlessness over hobby projects that exceed my discretionary hobby time.  Welcome, Wade! Keep coming back."  

Just took a gander at that forum. Have a few more thoughts but want to hear from others before I spout off again. Curious what GS, TomRommel, SI, LordOdo, Sukhe_Bator, CyberAlien and others think.

Hope Sukhe doesn't mind a momentary hijacking of his thread!  

[Hupp n at em]

I hope to add to the clutter of GoT project threads at some point this year.    I concur that this is a good idea. 

[Silent Invader]

I think a child board for GOT is a good idea.

I'm not sure if it's being considered but the only thing I'd be against is the splitting of my own thread into mini, terrain, game etc parts, as I want to keep it as one whole project. 

[Hupp n at em]

I think a child board for GOT is a good idea.

I agree, only because I think that master threads tend not to be maintained after a while, or only sporadically.  And it does seem like there are enough Westeros threads hanging around to justify it.

[Charlie_]

Count me in.

However, I'm not sure if a full child board would be a great idea. My GoT thread is in the medieval section rather than fantasy, as I'm approaching it from a very low-fantasy angle, basically it's a historical 15th century blog with fantasy sigils. I'd like to think my project is of great interest to to anyone into the late medieval period, whether they are into fantasy and GRRM or not. If it was hidden away on a GoT board, it would potentially only be seen by GoT fans (though admittedly there are lots of us!).

Similarly, I don't really have much interest in Frostgrave, so never really go on that board, and may well be missing out on some projects I'd be really interested in regardless of what game they are for.

A sticky thread would be a great idea though, with links to all long-running GoT project threads, of which there are many. Could also be used as a general discussion thread for all things to do with wargaming in Westeros?

[Dilettante Gamer]

However, I'm not sure if a full child board would be a great idea. My GoT thread is in the medieval section rather than fantasy, as I'm approaching it from a very low-fantasy angle, basically it's a historical 15th century blog with fantasy sigils. I'd like to think my project is of great interest to to anyone into the late medieval period, whether they are into fantasy and GRRM or not. If it was hidden away on a GoT board, it would potentially only be seen by GoT fans (though admittedly there are lots of us!)...

A sticky thread would be a great idea though, with links to all long-running GoT project threads, of which there are many. Could also be used as a general discussion thread for all things to do with wargaming in Westeros?

Charlie, thank you for this perspective. I too had my Westeros thread over in Medieval Adventures until I asked Cap'n Blood to move it here this weekend.  Like you, I'm more interested in it as low-fantasy/alternative medieval but reasoned, as Richard articulated, that as the actual story becomes more fantastic - Dragons, White Walkers, magic - the critical mass of enthusiasts might look here first.

If we had a sticky with the first post being an index or roll call of all ASoFaI related work, then the links could take them to other forums where they reside. Not only Medieval Adventures but also Workbench or who knows what all.

I'm ready to volunteer to start/help create this for the forum moderator as I'm keen to see a complete inventory of everyone's projects in one place.

[Silent Invader]

My project is, essentially, medieval with zombies!!! 

[white knight]

Sounds like a good idea.

[sukhe_bator]

Seems there's a corpus of GoT work here by enough enthusiasts to warrant a child board. I think I'm with Silent Invader that subdividing further might be counterproductive. I think even a butterfly like me might get lost between terrain, scenery, figures etc. but there might well be a case for a separate 'source material' topic. I like the idea of building up a Westerosi armorial. Perhaps one for scenarios and battle reports?
I too am also a low-fantasy gamer... more like 'Ivanhoe with Zombies'
There's already some cross over between boards e.g. Colonial x Inter war x Back of Beyond x Pulp x even Railway gaming so I don't think it would necessarily hurt. We are bound to get some Medievalist tourists and vice versa. Everybody has their own favourite boards they browse at regular intervals and groupies/followers of the likes of Cap'n Blood and Jimbibbly will visit and we can rely on them to spread the word.