Friday 10 November 2017

Oooooohhhhh bugger!!!!

 My brain, my silly, silly, silly soggy, messed up, backwards, useless brain!!! why do you do this to me DAMN YOU!!!!!!.

  ....ehum, 'scuse me i have been thinking about the setting i have been making up in the Mentally Terrorforming sections of this blog and, well, i'm a tit!!. You see my brain cant set a course of action and simply see it through, no, my brain sets out on one path and goes 'oh look, a tree' and wonders off for a frollic. Then it sees a butterfly and skips happily after it. No sooner has the butterfly got all scared and buggered off my brain sees a stream and its rolling up its trouser legs for a paddle!!. What i'm attempting to get across is that i tend to...er....rethink things that i  thought were all thunk through!.
So picture the scene, its a grey, brooding autumn day in Somerset. Your hero (and i use that term very loosely) is musing on the setting he has put several years into bringing to life. 'I can do better' he thinks to himself, 'it needs some tweaks, the relationships between the many nations should be more complex yet they should rely on those closest in some way while still being able to bash seven shades of stab wounds into them if desired'. That man ladies and gents, that man is a world class TIT!!!!. 

You can improve on this?, never, get away!!.

 I have come up with (and collected) 18 nations to populate the setting, that seems a little unworkable so i have 'trimmed' a little and 'streamlined' my thinking. Nations within the six main regions of the setting are now sort of melded together, the individual forces are still there and can be separated but come together to form six 'wholes' that work together for better or worse for reasons of mutual protection, economic need, fear, blackmail, debt or belief among others.This gives the required complexity but gives tidier forces on the table top that have tonnes more character but can split down in smaller games. It also means that i have (potentially) six massive forces to play around with!!. It also means that the stuff i have already written requires, how to put it, a heavy edit!'. I also had the brilliant idea that i should use the coloured bases type system  i use to identify which region they are from with a main colour and use the trim colour to identify which force they are from within said region ( blue for north for example with maybe black trim to identify the Lamavic clans and white for the Icejaw Outlanders).
This coloured basing here.

 This rather fantastically means that almost all of my 5000+ minis need bloody RE-BASING!!, brilliant, well done brain, and you wonder why we never talk.......

Nice army, shame the bases have to go! (gulp!).

.....so yeah, i'm happy to have a play with the setting and improve on it and all but...well...i don't make it easy for myself.......

.....Oh before i go i forgot to mention last time out that Mr Remco (you can see him in the followers section on the right) is the author of the brilliant blog  Remcos Miniatures which is well worth a look, go and do that while i go and sit in the dark and sob.......Till next time........

8 comments:

  1. Wow - I see a massive project in your future mate.
    Should I be keeping any spare cardboard to send to you ;)

    If it helps, I may have some 3mm cut mdf in various sizes. 20x20 and 25x25 and 37x37 and some larger variations... which are surplus to requirements here at chez le duc

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    1. Yeah, card may be an issue, if i'm smart most of it will be swapping existing bases rather than starting fresh. Thanks for the offer of the mdf, i think i have enough card but appreciate the offer sir!, if not i will just have to kill another tree or five!.

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  2. Hi, deeply interesting and funny at the same time, I particularly appreciate how you describe your brain travelling :) Well, to be honest, it is always so, for everyone, no ?
    If I may suggest, instead of rebasing, you could maybe repaint the existing bases ? And in case the alliances between the different people change through time, how will you adapt your system ? You always have to be ready for reorganizations - See EU for instance :D

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    1. Thanks mate, glad i could make someone smile! :). Its quite lucky as i use electrical tape for the bases which makes them kind of quick and easy to change and i have gone through most of the colour combinations so may just be swapping as i said above, however i do have the fact that once i have finished i will come up with more ideas and have to start over again!.

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  3. Sounds like you´ve thought yourself into a Corner with the basing. Why not try this.
    You´ve got 18 clans divided into 6 main factions..correct?
    Each Faction is given a main colour and each clan has a Symbol. Eg; Faction 1 has black as its main colour and clan 1 has a White circle, clan 2 a White square, clan 3 a White triangle.
    You can have then as the base colours...White (black / blue/red Symbols)
    Black (White or yellow sybols)
    red (yellow or White)
    Yellow (black Symbols)
    blue (White/yellow Symbols)
    Green (White or yellow)
    Sort of along the lines of the japanese Mons
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_%28emblem%29
    The squares, triangle or circle Symbols could be used as possible allegiance Signals..ei; a red faction clan with a triangle would have tendence to be more acceptable to a blue faction clan sporting a triangle, neutral in regard to a blue faction square clan but totally apposed to a blue faction circle. Usefull in Moral situations...two totally opposing sides, triangle and circle clans would fight to the death and give no quarter, but a triangle /triangle would be more reluctant to fight and give quarter.
    Keep colour Cards that you can Change so you don´t Need to Change the bases as alliances etc develope.

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    1. Thats a very interesting idea, i could use the idea of trim colours in some cases representing extra alliances around the place. I will note that the peoples (and the rulers) in this setting do not have any where near the honer of the medieval Japanese culture and such agreements can be broken with enough outside encouragement! some have all the backbone of a minced jellyfish!. The bonds between factions the symbols (or trim) would signify could be a great narrative device for some political wrangling......

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  4. Where would we be without big changes of plan? Sat comfortably with feet up I expect, but where's the fun in that?

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    1. Your right jack, the changes are exciting its just the extra work that is a bit of a ball ache!. It can be done sitting down however so every cloud n all that!

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