Back to the Future

I don't really have anywhere to post about 40K. This blog was originally about VSF, then some VBCW crept in, and just Imagi-nations stuff in general. So this is probably the place for it. But I may as well admit that this blog is just 'everything that isn't Sword'n'Sorcery'.

I haven't been visiting LAF (link) much lately. I haven't been painting, I haven't been playing, I've just been messing about with flags and alternative histories. I have at least 3 unplayed games lying about (GASLIGHT and In Her Majesty's Name for VSF, Setting the East Ablaze for Back of Beyond) that I'd like to take for a spin but I just don't get round to it.

What I have done recently is get the paints down again and do some work on the piles of lead, pewter and plastic in the loft. This has lead to me actually completing my Space Marine Battle Company (at least, as near as damn it). I have painted six Tactical Squads of Ultramarines (with some alternative Sergeants and special/heavy weapons troopers should I want to take Plasma Guns or Heavy Bolters in lieu of Flamers and Missile Launchers); 2 Devastator Squads (I had to bodge a Missile Launcher Marine with some wonky parts and some broken guitar string); and one Assault Squad (the other Assault Squad is waiting on having its ammo pouches and holsters painted brown - the last thing I have to do for the 100 battle-brothers of the 2nd Company of Ultramarines). I still need to finish a Command Squad and I don't have eight Rhino transports for them but I've done all the troops and that gives me a certain satisfaction. As 9th Edition is being released now, and as I started this during 4th Edition, it has taken me a while, and probably the army is unplayable (I gather there are now Super-Marines now called 'Primaris' Marines but I don't know anything about them, except they're 'better'), but ho-hum.

I rewarded myself with a visit to the LAF and found something that I had missed on many of my last visits. About three years ago, some of the lunatics over there decided to co-operatively build a Space Marine Chapter (link here). This would have colouring and iconography derived from the forum - the Chapter's colours would be based on those of the forum and the Chapter Icon has been taken from the artwork on the forum. The letters 'LAF', possibly in Greek form (lambda alpha phi, λ α φ ) would also form part of the Chapter's iconography in some way.

I love co-operative world-building. I'm always trying to do it, whether that's the Atlantis Campaign I was involved in, or the as-yet unsuccessful attempt to run a Ruritania Campaign. Over on my fantasy blog I've attempted to get involved in a variety of co-operative world-building ventures and even tried to start some.

So, a co-operatively-built Space Marine Chapter is right up my alley. I still have a few random Marines knocking about from my many ebay purchases building the Battle Company over the last 15 years or so, so I plan on donating a few to the cause and painting them up as members of the Lead Legion, a Chapter hailing from the Lead Mountains of Attica. Here's my take on the painting scheme anyway, with a little excerpt from the forum pages to hopefully show how the colours relate.

Space Marine originally from the Bolter and Chainsword Space Marine Painter, here - http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/smpbeta.php

I've simplified the Chapter Icon even further than the proposed version on the LAF thread. I really hope there are some transfers still in existence, because I don't fancy painting that 10 or 20 times if I don't have to. I might be able to paint a white circle to put the transfer over though!

This will I hope keep any further itch to paint Space Marines satisfied, for a little while at least.

Oh, the Ruritanity...!

I'm re-reading Rupert of Hentzau (RoH) and making notes on things that seem appropriate.

On the general topic of uniforms in Ruritania, there are a few references, but with little detail. In Prisoner of Zenda (PoZ), we know that Rudolf Rassendyll wore the white uniform of the regiment of Cuirassiers, and that Fritz was similarly attired later. This is about the only direct information we have as to uniforms in PoZ (except to the odd reference to individual items of clothing such as caps or jackets, without giving further detail). I have written a little on the subject of Ruritanian uniforms before, most recently in talking about Cuirassiers here a few months ago.

Slightly later painting of Nicholas II of Russia in Cuirassier uniform -
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuirassier#/media/File:Nicholas_II_of_Russia_in_the_uniform_of_His_Majesty's_Cuirassier_Guards_Regiment_1896.jpg

Painting of French Cuirassiers, 1887, approximately contemporary with events of PoZ and RoH as I reconstruct the timeline - source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuirassier#/media/File:6e_r%C3%A9giment_de_cuirassiers_1887.jpg

The first reference to uniforms in RoH is that, when Colonel Sapt, as Constable of Zenda, turns out the company of Guards garrisoned at the castle (p.79), they are described as having "gay uniforms" that might make the women employed at the castle forget about their menfolk (p.83). Hope could have called the uniforms 'sober' or 'sombre' or 'dull', 'dashing', or any number of other adjectives. I'd contend that by "gay", he was trying to suggest bright, colourful, showy and maybe a bit frivolous. They aren't I think 'serious' uniforms. There is no other detail, but it does rather speak to my contention that uniforms in Ruritania should be chocolate-boxey, colourful rather than particularly practical.

It is not clear whether they are foot guards or horse guards. I don't have any miniatures for Ruritanian Guards (foot or mounted). I should possibly get some, at some point. If and when I do, I shall try to remember that their uniforms need to be 'gay'. What I think at the moment is that if they are indeed foot guards, they will not be in yellow (this will be the standard colour for Line Infantry), purple (which I intend to use for Artillery), pale blue (the tunic-colour for my Hussars), dark green (which I will probably end up using for a Jaeger regiment) or white (Cuirassiers). Perhaps pale green jackets (the one colour I definitely want to stay away from is red, because red tunics look British to me, even if they people in them are Danes... who also wore red tunics). What kind of miniatures I will purchase, I don't know, but Northstar (who have some great choices for minis of 1850-1900) do Danish Life Guards ('Livgarde' - infantry here and command figures here) that might serve. They wear bearskins (like British Guards, but with prominent crown badges) and greatcoats. They might make excellent Ruritanian Royal Guards. However, other Guards units are available - Ironclad's Grenadier Guards are pretty fine (infantry here and command figures here) and, if painted in some very different colours, might not look so British.

The second reference, that occurs twice, is to the uniforms of the huntsmen of Zenda. "One of them, the King's chief huntsman, Simon, gorgeous in his uniform of green and gold..." (p.99) delivers a message from the King to Sapt and the Queen. The context, and the fact that Hope does not capitalise 'huntsmen', unlike the 'Guard' at Zenda, is because they are as they seem - liveried servants, actual huntsmen, not for example Jägers. Later (p.216), Simon is again described, with a companion, as wearing "... the green and gold of the King's huntsmen". So we can conclude that this was a 'uniform' in the strict sense of a livery worn by all the huntsmen, rather than being a specific set of official clothing for Simon, as 'chief' huntsman. Again, though green is a perfectly practical colour for huntsmen, gold is not, so it may be suspected that the huntsmen were also decked out in slightly showy dress uniforms.

Though I've just said that these are real huntsmen and not part of a regiment of Jaegers, there's no reason not to posit a unit of 'Jägers of Zenda' or even 'King's Jägers', with a uniform of (probably dark) green, perhaps with gold frogging (or as it's called in German, ,,Husarentressen'', Hussar-bindings, a very Ruritanian word I feel). From the very beginning of the project to build some Ruritanian units, I have intended to have Jägers. They're a quintessentially ,,Mitteleuropa'' unit I think. However, I'm not going to find heavily-frogged Jäger miniatures, Austrian or Prussian, from either Northstar or Ironclad, as by the latter half of the 19th century frogging was not so much in evidence. For my purposes, I think I'll go with Prussian Jägers, though the Austrian ones do have natty hats (here). The 'gold' will then have to be accessories I think - cap-badges and the like (the Prussian Jägers wear shakos - some Ironclad here and some Northstar here). It's likely that I'll be able to find more VSF choice with the Prussian Jägers. I know for sure that Northstar do some zombie Jäger models (here) and generally I think the chances are higher with Prussians of being able to pick up VSF equivalents.

Later, we learn some details of the uniform of Bernenstein. On the steps of the royal palace, he waves his "helmet" (p.264) while whipping a crowd into a chant of "God save the King!", and later that night comes a reference to his "heavy cavalry sword that belonged to his uniform of Cuirassiers of the Guard" (p. 297). This unit, I think we can assume, is the same as the Cuirassier unit whose white uniform Rudolf and Fritz wore in PoZ, and which is later referred to as being worn by Rudolf - "the white uniform in which he had been crowned" (p. 303). If the identification of the two Cuirassier units is accepted, then we know that they are a white-uniformed unit of horse guards.

I'm therefore sure that Rudolf, Fritz and Bernenstein are all at various times dressed in the white uniforms of 'Cuirassiers of the Guard', and I will definitely get some of those at some point, possibly from Northstar but I would definitely prefer my cuirassiers to wear a breastplate (as it's my understanding that this what makes them cuirassiers).

The only other mention of uniforms I can find in RoH concerns the police in Strelsau. Here, Rudolf notes, on encountering a mounted policeman, that "...the star on his collar and the lace on his cuff..."  marked him out as a sergeant (p. 159). It is not at all certain that these rank badges apply to anything other than the mounted police in Strelsau; Rudolf may know them from his previous visit when he spent some months there. But it is more likely that these badges pertain to all police (foot and mounted) for the whole country, and it may be that these rank markers apply to the army too, so a sergeant is perhaps marked out by (for example) three bands of braid or cord on his cuff and a star on his collar, or some such. This needs further consideration I think.

Anyway, the list of current and projected (ie, ones I have minis for and ones I want to buy minis for!) units for my Ruritanian army is:

Line Infantry - Northstar and Ironclad Prussian infantry, Westwind Zendarians: Yellow tunics, black trousers; ensign: gold eagle on black.
Hussars - Northstar Prussian Hussars (these I think should perhaps be 'Queen Flavia's Own'): Pale blue tunics, maybe blue trousers: ensign: red rose on gold.
Artillery - Northstar Prussian Artillery: Purple tunics, black trousers. I haven't decided on an ensign yet, possibly a crown (they may be 'royal' artillery), possibly gold on black, but I shall check the crew to make sure they don't have any badges (thinking about it, they may have eagles, in which case I shall have to make them some other colour than gold eagle on black, maybe black eagle on white).
Cuirassiers of the Guard - haven't decided which models yet, I really want breastplates. White tunics and trousers; ensign: as yet undecided.
Foot Guard - probably Grenadier Guard models, maybe from Ironclad. No decision on the tunic-colour yet but possibly pale green, as I'm running out of options; they may have a castle on their ensign as they could possibly be actual 'Zendarian' guard (as opposed to Strelsau or Modenstein or Hentzau or any other location, or the 'King's Guard' or anything else).
Jägers - probably Ironclad and Northstar Prussian Jäger models: dark green tunics with gold trim (possibly, yellow trousers); ensign: will depend on whether they have eagle badges, if so gold eagle on dark green looks about right.

The units I don't have are the ones based on things from the books. The units I do have are based on nothing. This is not really how this should work! The actual 'historically-attested' units will probably have to wait until I sort out the existing line infantry, Hussars and artillery I already have in my lead mountain. Only then will I get on to the units that we can be fairly sure (perhaps not the Jägers to be fair) actually existed in the Ruritania of Rudolf and his companions.

Return to Zenda (again...)

Sadly I have to report a crime - against history no less. A chunk of the Wikipedia entry on Ruritania has been removed. I shall of course argue for it to be re-instated, as soon as I can remember what my Wikipedia log-in details are.

The section removed is as follows:

Hope depicts Ruritania as a German-speaking, Roman Catholic country under an absolute monarchy, with deep social, but not ethnic, divisions reflected in the conflicts of the first novel.

Geographically, it is usually considered to be located between Saxony and Bohemia; the author indicates that the capital city, Strelsau, is reached by railway from Dresden. The distance and direction are not clearly stated, but to reach Strelsau from Paris the hero must pass through Dresden then cross the border and travel some 60 miles to the capital. It is probable that Hope had Prague in mind for Strelsau, described in the novel as second only to Paris in terms of desirability for an ambassadorship. In The Heart of Princess Osra, set in the 18th century, Hope refers to a palace "which stood...where the public gardens now are (for the Palace itself was sacked and burnt by the people in the rising of 1848)". In this novel, it emerges in passing that Jews were not then allowed to hold an interest in land in the capital.

Other, more recent authors have created homages set in Ruritania, such as Simon Hawke's science fiction re-working The Zenda Vendetta (Time Wars Book 4) (1985), John Spurling's After Zenda (1995) and John Haythorne's The Strelsau Dimension (1981).

Neither Hawke nor Spurling adheres to the Hope canon; their works show influences from the film adaptations. Hawke relocates Ruritania to the Balkans, and makes it smaller and more socially cohesive; Spurling, who places the country in the Carpathians, thus hinting at its being in fact the former Habsburg province of Transylvania—today part of Romania—introduces ethnic and linguistic divisions; Haythorne puts Ruritania on the Northern side of Czechoslovakia to Spurling's setting, in approximately the same location as Hope's original.

Hope's novels resulted in "Ruritania" becoming a generic term for any small, imaginary, Victorian or Edwardian Era, European kingdom used as the setting for romance, intrigue and the plots of adventure novels. It lent its name to a whole genre of writing, the Ruritanian romance, including the Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon. An early reference in a non-canonical story is the mention in "The Adventure of the Illustrious Client", a Sherlock Holmes short story from 1924, of an ocean liner named the Ruritania. In Evelyn Waugh's 1930 comedic novel Vile Bodies, one character is a deposed and maudlin "ex-King of Ruritania"; he is presumably the same figure who appears in several witty P. G. Wodehouse stories, mostly as the doorman of Barribault's Hotel.

Later authors develop the idea further. Ruritania inspired other fictional countries, such as Ixania in Eric Ambler's The Dark Frontier, Riechtenburg in Dornford Yates' Blood Royal and Fire Below, and Evallonia in John Buchan's Castle Gay and The House of the Four Winds, which share with the original the depiction of complex power struggles in which a visiting protagonist from a real country becomes deeply involved.

In 1970 Neiman-Marcus selected Ruritania as the subject of its annual fortnight, in which the arts, culture, and goods of a country are highlighted both in the store and through special events. Previous subjects included real countries including England, France, Italy and Denmark.

In the 1974 novel Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, Ruritania is claimed to be a fictional country based on the (equally fictional) Duchy of Strackenz that borders Germany and Denmark, and the events of The Prisoner of Zenda were simply imitations of the adventures of Harry Flashman whilst in Strackenz.

In Uncanny X-Men #204 (April 1986), Nightcrawler rescued a New York businesswoman, Judith Rassendyll, from the X-Men's enemy Arcade; she subsequently learned that she was the hereditary queen of Ruritania and relocated there to claim her crown.

In 2006, Ignacio Padilla published La Gruta del Toscano (ISBN 84-204-7072-4), a novel in which Ruritanians discover a cavern in the Himalayas, somewhere on the border between China and Nepal. The cavern seems to be an earthly replica of Dante's inferno, and several expeditions try to reach its ninth circle, including one directed by "La cofradía de Zenda", a group of Ruritanian mountaineers. Part of the action is set in Strelsau, capital of Ruritania.

Ruritania is featured in the animated series Count Duckula, in which it is depicted as a popular ski resort, with competitions in winter sports held in the Ruritanian town of Danglegoggle.

Ruritania is mentioned in "The New Traveller's Almanac". In Back in the USSA, Princess Flavia of Ruritania marries into an alternate history Romanov dynasty.

A rare Rurtanian find

Nearly 10 years into my Ruritanian research, I have discovered a map!

I found it in a scan of the first two chapters of a French edition of 'Rupert of Hentzau', but the annotations are all in English. It seems that the map was produced for use in one of the English editions but was then used for the French edition.

There is a small amount of information available, along with some illustrations from the various books, at the Ruritanian Resistance website. I visited this several times many years ago (it's one of the sites in the Links section in the bottom left) but I've never come across the map before. However, it is there (a colourised version). Perhaps it has been added fairly recently, or maybe I just never noticed it.

According to the info from the Ruritanian Resistance, it seems to be a map from 1923, prepared for the Grosset & Dunlap edition of 'Prisoner...'.  I haven't been able to find out anything about Howard Ince yet, nor have I been able to decipher whatever is written under the signature.

Illustration by Howard Ince, possibly 1923

The text is not so easy to read, so I have transcribed it:

Reference to Plan

I The Old Castle
II The Keep
III The Chateau
A The Moat
B The Drawbridge
C Gateway where de Gautet was Killed
D Stair to the King’s Cell
E Guard-room
F The King’s Cell
G Jacob’s Ladder
H Hall of the Chateau
K Door which Johann was to open
L Black Michael’s Apartment
M Apartment of M. de Maubin
N Window from which Hentzau leaped into the Moat
O Tree to which the rope was made fast
P Road to Tarlenheim
Q The Avenue

The map is the first I have come across for the Castle of Zenda, and doesn't make me feel so bad about my own attempts to map it. These are my sketches of the castle. I have left the drawings pretty much as is but changed my captions. I think my representations of trees are clear enough, but there is no way I would make anyone try to read my handwriting.

Preliminary sketch

Second more detailed sketch: The boxed area around the tree (on the 'southern' bank) required moving to the west, as being on the opposite side to the drawbridge

Upper and lower floors of the 'King's Cell' area, The door closest to the drawbridge in the first sketch is the same door as is shown in the second. Originally these were positioned to the south side but I realised that they needed to be on the right-hand side when looking from the new to the old portions of the castle.

Inset of chateau in second sketch

Apart from the fact that I have assumed that the avenue approaches the castle from the east (it is described as looping around the hill but no starting point is given), my sketches I think show the basics: there is an island in the moat, the castle is in three parts, there is an broad avenue and so on.

Composite sketch, mostly rotated through
90 degrees, annotated using Ince's key.

One thing I notice that I did do from the first to the second sketch of the whole castle was change the relationship of the 'Keep' and the 'Ruins/Another Portion'. This is probably an error, and in the second sketch the area marked 'Keep' is probably the 'Ruins' from the first. However, this part cannot be too ruined as the guardroom is above the King's Cell, and so on.

I have tried to rationalise all of the sketches into a single plan, and because I can, I've annotated it using Ince's key. The only thing that he has included that I do not is the window from which Rupert jumped in the moat. My 'Black Micheal's Apartments' and 'Mme. de Maubin's Apartments', however, are not shown on the ground-plan as they are on the first floor, which is why I've marked their locations (thus).

I shall of course, from now on, use Ince's map. Mine were only intended to help me visualise the place.

Jolly updates...

On the VSF front: I have recently taken delivery of a large quantity of Prussians Ruritanians from Northstar - a pack of 24 Infantry, two cannon with crew, and 10 Hussars. These (along with the dozen or so Ruritanians, composed of Zendarian Troopers from Westwind, and some officers from various places, that I already posses) will form the basis of my long-delayed Ruritanian forces.

I have made a provisional decision on colour-schemes. A long time ago, I discussed on Lead Adventure the notion that Ruritania should look 'chocolate box-y'. As such, using Prussian minis from 25 years before the general setting will not be out of place. Also, for 'colourful medley' effect, each regiment will have its own tunic-colour. The now traditional 'Ruritanian Gold' jackets (which in themselves are a reference to Colonel Mustard, rather than anything in the Zenda books) will remain the uniform of the Ruritanian Infantry. Artillery will be dressed in purple tunics, I think. That will I believe look 'well natty'. The Hussars I'm thinking will be uniformed in pale blue; I'm not sure about their hats yet. Future additions to the force may include Uhlans or Cuirassiers, or both, if they aren't the same thing, I'm really not too knowledgeable about this stuff. Rudolf Rassendyl is definitely described in Zenda as wearing a white Cuirassier uniform, perhaps something like this rather natty illustration:

Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Anton_von_Werner_-_Garde-du-Corps-K%C3%BCrassier.jpg

This implies that Prussia at least had some! So maybe I just need to look harder for the minis. Should I source any, they will be dressed in white (a damn tricky colour to paint effectively, I'll agree). If I can't, then the Uhlans will have to stand in, though Northstar's Uhlans don't have breastplates, which is rather what defines 'Cuirassiers' as far as I'm concerned. Also in the pipeline, some Jaegers, as Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart (the mini is another Westwind Zendarian, one of the Vampire Slayers) has a lovely dark green jacket, and can lead them when they have been purchased. However, I spent my Christmas-and-birthday money on the latest batch, and can't really justify getting more toy soldiers at the moment.

In other news, I'm finally reading Vile Bodies and have a little more information on the 'ex-King of Ruritania' featured in its pages. Vile Bodies is set around 1928. The ex-King is a godson of the Archduke of Austria (he does not say which), was a reigning monarch, and refers to the end of the monarchy being occasioned by WWI. This means he is likely to have been an adult before 1918, so at absolute minimum he was born before the turn of the century. He has a wife, called Maria Christina, currently in a lunatic asylum somewhere in southern England; his Uncle Joseph was assassinated at the opera, by people throwing bombs (likely, Anarchists); his unnamed sister also foiled at least one assassination attempt on herself involving bombs; there was indeed a plague of political bombing in Ruritania before the War; there was a Liberal minister in Ruritania called 'Count Tampen' who stole the King's favourite pen (a gift from his godfather); and the Prime Minister at the end of the war (it is not stated whether this is Count Tampen or not) was thrown from a window by an angry, indeed rebellious, mob. That is as far as I can get at the moment, but it does provide some clues to the post-Rudolfian history of Ruritania which I am trying to tie together with the other info.

What I would like to be the case is that I can make the chronology fit with the ex-King being the eldest son of Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and Princess Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen of Scandinavia. This would tie the events of Zenda with those of Scandal in Bohemia... except, Wilhelm in this case is not King of Bohemia or even King of Ruritania... because Flavia is the reigning monarch. He may actually be King of Bohemia if this is not the same as Ruritania, and heir-apparent to Ruritania, perhaps, but I think I'll just demote him to Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein. Anyway, if their marriage was in 1888, as I think is perhaps the case, it is perfectly likely they had a son who was born in c. 1890, and was old enough to inherit the throne of Ruritania before the war. 'Uncle Joseph', perhaps Wilhelm's younger brother, was in this case probably assassinated around 1905-8.

The last thing I'm going to post today is a couple of newspaper clippings from the Strelsau English Gazette (Ruritania's only English paper!) that I made and then forgot about.

These are successive editions that relate to the projected beginning of the Ruritanian crisis. But perhaps nothing will come of it...

Flags of Ruritania

Well, playing around with Scrontch of course...

Variations on a general theme of red and white, with a gold eagle. It should probably be two-headed but Scrontch doesn't support that. Obviously, I could go back and do most of these with a diamond not a roundel and other variations. I may do that another time. The last one is the problem for that as I haven't used a roundel anyway - I've actually used a white cross on a vertical-striped red-and-white background. This produces a flag divided into three, with a central white bar and two side-panels of white crosses on red. It actually looks a bit Danish to me. I've used the same technique (but reversed) to produce a VBCW flag with St George's crosses, that I've thrown in at the end as a bonus.

There are two with thin horizontal red and white stripes. One goes red-white-red... the other white-red-white... but they're so similar that they would be indistinguishable on the tabletop. They could only be used as variants I think, so I've listed them as 2a and 2b. When I get around to it, variations of these will be accompanying my Ruritanian troopers, who will see the light of day at some point I'm sure.

Ruritanian unit 1

Ruritanian unit 2a

Ruritanian unit 2b

Ruritanian unit 3

Ruritanian unit 4

Ruritanian unit 5

Ruritanian unit 6

Ruritanian unit 7

And, for a VBCW unit or something similar, perhaps Anglicans from Exeter given the tower motif and the St George's crosses...

South Devon Anglican Defence Force

New Old Things

I've been helping my parents clear out their loft as they're moving house. Little by way of my gaming stuff left at their house, but I did find one of the old Matchbox Models of Yesteryear.

This is what it looks like (though the pic was ripped from the web):

Jaguar SS-100 from Matchbox Models of Yesteryear

It will possibly see service in VBCW gaming - that's the plan anyway. Maybe as the personal transport of the leader of any Fascist forces. I can just imagine it with a couple of pennants flying from the radiator grille.

Another find at my parents' house was a very old game called Scoop!. It's a newspaper game: the basic idea is that the players are the editors of daily newspapers (The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express and the News Chronicle, which ceased publication in 1960 and kinda dates the game). The editors spend resources to get stories that they use to fill in blocks on a mock-up of a front page; the winner (as far as I remember, I haven't played it in more than 30 years I don't think) is the first to complete the page.

The reason I bring it up is that there's a certain amount of Imagi-Nations goodness going on. One of the stories that editors can ... bid for? ... is about a war between the Stentorians and the Ugonians. I haven't examined the game in detail yet but there may be other stories which mention imaginary countries or other significant events. At the very least, there is a war between two Imagi-Nations that needs to be taken into account sometime in the 1950s (at a reasonable guess). The likely explanation is a Cold War conflict but like tension between Greece and Turkey or Chile and Argentina, it could be two Western allies that were in conflict. Or, like the USSR/Vietnam v China/Khmer Republic conflicts it could represent strife between different 'communist' countries. I shall do more research and think on.

I was reminded of another game from my childhood that features an Imagi-Nation, possibly the most famous of them all. As a kid I played a game called Contraband, which belonged to one of the friends of my parents. The game was a kind of card game that involved smuggling. Different cards involved different things that needed to be smuggled. I seem to remember these included some diamonds, a gun and the Ruritanian Crown Jewels. The game seems to have started production in the 1950s. I definitely played it around 1979, which suggests that between those times, the Ruritanian Crown Jewels were missing. I guess the reason is, Ruritania was an Eastern Bloc country between the 1950s and 1970s (probably something like 1948-1990) and the Royal Family (if it even survived) was in exile. We don't know exactly what the history of Ruritania is but that seems a reasonable supposition. If the 'ex-King' (or possibly ex-Kings) that feature in the works of Evelyn Waugh and PG Wodehouse are anything to go by, Ruritania had suffered at least one deposed monarch by the late '20s, though whether deposed by Communist uprising, a liberal democratic republic, or Fascist takeover is entirely unclear. But whatever happened between the wars, after WWII Ruritania was likely in the Eastern Bloc. The definitive history of Ruritania is yet to be written, but there are hints at least. Sadly I don't have a copy of Contraband but I'm thinking I might try and get one. Probably should get hold of Vile Bodies too.

Death of Lord Burlesdon

Full text of the obituary is...


It is with great sadness that this newspaper must report the death at his London home on Saturday last of Robert James Augustus Hugh St John Bathley Crane Rassendyll, 12th Earl of Burlesdon and 29th Baron Rassendyll.

Countess Burlesdon has confirmed that the Earl became ill during a stay at Burlesdon House over the New Year. Returning to London to consult with the Earl’s doctor, it was found that the illness had rapidly progressed, and after too-vigorous a Burns’ Night Supper on Thursday last, the Earl took to his bed, and gave up his life during the night of Saturday 27th.

The late Earl’s eldest son, John Heatherley St. John Augustus James Hannay Rassendyll succeeds his father as the 13th Earl of Burlesdon and 30th Baron Rassendyll.

Born at the family’s London residence in Park Lane in 1840 to his parents James, the 11th Earl and Lady Charlotte, daughter of Augustus and Philomena Bathley-Crane of Devonshire, and named for his late uncle Robert, the 10th Earl who had died two months before, the young Robert Rassendyll spent much of his childhood in North Surrey, at Burlesdon on the family estate.

He was educated at Rugby, Jordan College Oxford, where he studied Political Science, Divinity and German Literature, and the English University of Weser-Dreiburg. Following his successful matriculation, he achieved a commission in the Royal North Surreys, a regiment with which his family has been intimately connected, and served with distinction in the First Kamistan Campaign and then the Matoboland Wars, rising quickly to the rank of Major.

After resigning his commission in 1867, he returned to Burlesdon and married Miss Rose Virginia Constance Heatherley, daughter of Jebediah Heatherley of Esher, the noted manufacturer of marmalade. Over the next eight years, the Countess bore him six children, John, William, Henry, James, Constance and Gustave, who were brought up at Burlesdon in the idyllic surroundings of the family estate.

Following his marriage he stood for election to the North Surrey parliamentary constituency in June 1868 for the Liberal Party, and took the seat with a majority of 3,461. A follower of the maxim ‘change is too important to be rushed’ he was also the author of several works of political philosophy, including ‘The Ultimate Outcome’, and ‘Ancient Theories and Modern Facts’.

The late Earl regarded himself as a ‘conservative Liberal’ and served under Prime Ministers from both parties. His first government position, serving under Lord Fotherington-Thomas, in the Liberal administration of Lord Marlingbury, was from 1869 as Under-Secretary for Indian Affairs, where he put his intimate knowledge of the Kamistan situation to good use. In 1873 he joined the first Conservative administration of Lord Crindlehurst, also holding a position in the Imperial and Foreign Service. He resigned from his post on the death of his father, the 11th Earl, the following year, and returned to Burlesdon.

The life of the Earl has not been devoid of tragedy. Nine years ago, the Earl’s brother Rudolf Rassendyll, a former Captain of the 27th Lancers, was killed during a visit to Ruritania. The exact circumstances of Mr. Rassendyll’s visit have never been made public but the Ruritanian Government has issued a statement to the effect that Mr. Rassendyll was working in a personal capacity for the Royal Family, when he was attacked by agents of Count Rupert of Hentzau, a notorious villain who was later killed by the late King, Rudolf V of the House of Elphberg, in a duel occasioned by an attempted assassination.

Lord Robert will be fondly remembered, especially by the inhabitants of Great Burlesdon, for his generosity and concern for the welfare of the simple folk who live there. He sponsored the provision of the electrical and gas supplies to the village, and no blame can be attached to the late Earl for the unfortunately fatal incident that occurred shortly after the supplies were connected. A patron of the Parish Church of St. Igwulfa and St. Michael at Burlesdon, his strong singing voice was a welcome addition to morning Psalms and will be sorely missed by the congregation there.

The body of the late Earl will be conveyed to Burlesdon House, where it will lie in state until the morning of the 17th of February; the funeral will take place at the Church of St. Igwulfa and St. Michael at 1 o’clock.

Apologies and other such fumblings

Well; real life (and also other gaming projects) took a bit of a toll over the second half of last year, but in the midst of it all I put in an order with Ironclad and snagged a bunch of their lovely minis. Some Prussians and whatnot, which will be going to wards my Ruritanian/Astro-Hungarian Empire forces (some for use on Earth, some for Mars...), and few other things.



 And then I got another set of Northstar miniatures for IHMN, this time the 'Whitechapel Anarchists' set. Still havent played a game, but maybe someday!



And I've just put in a Reaper order - mostly for other games projects I have to admit, but including a couple of Steampunk-esque figures - possibly for use as some of Kaptein van Dango's Sky Pirates, maybe - because I had to really.



Yes, there will be photos - at some point; no, none of this currently has any paint on at all.

More Martian Wars troopers

As I'd painted up one of these chaps, I decided to try my hand at a few more; unfortunately, the khaki wasn't quite right, they look a little greenish compared to the chap on the extreme right of this picture,who was the first one painted. I think they're looking rather good, can't wait to get their Astro-Hungarian counterparts painted up so I can maybe get some Martian action in.

I've also been bitten by the Brigade Games bug - they have a  great VSF range, including these gems -

- link to Brigade Games here (check out the 'VSF - GASLIGHT' as well as the 'VSF - Steampunk' range, even more beauties there!)

These guys are proper Pith-Helmeted Victorian British, in breathing gear - just as I was planning for my aetherines (which are still on the modelling table...). Of course, now I'm going to get these rather than faff about building the breathing apparatus and they can go up against my Westwind Prussians-cum-Ruritanians, who also have natty breathing gear. I love it when a plan comes together...

And to inspire myself, I have to post this pic that I found trolling round the web but sadly now can't remember where it came from, otherwise I'd be saying 'hey this is _____'s groovy picture!' with a link to the artist's page and whatnot. It's a German-looking mechanical cavalryman and is most lovely - in a grimey, diesel-y sort of way...

Newly-acquired forces...

Latest additions to the leadpile... quite when I shall paint them, who's to say?

Sherlock Holmes and some London Policemen from Westwind Games

Thanks to the lovely majorsmith at Lead Aventure Forums (who also supplied me with the Ironclad British Line Infantry ages ago that started this whole crazy business) for swapping these minis with me. A bit of a mixed bag here, the Westwind stuff will be perfect for those slightly more normal settings involving consulting detectives, the police, and angry London mobs (perhaps connected with the whole 'Food of the Gods' business).























Sinister Prussians in Gasmasks from Ironclad Miniatures

The Prussians will of course be pressed into service for my Ruritanian forces, on Mars or some other sector of the Astro-Hungarian Empire. And the Sanwar too look like they'll make an interesting diversion on the Martian highways (or canals possibly). I feel a Martian campaign coming on...






















Sinister 'Sanwar', Martian desert dwellers from Ironclad Miniatures

Strelsau Police Issue Photograph of Anarchist Plotters

The Chief of Police in Strelsau has taken the unusual step of issuing a photograph of four men thought to be involved with revolutionary activity among the working classes in Ruritania.

Following the recent announcement by the Paris-based 'People's Truth' group that they opposed the recent campaign of terrorist outrages, the international revolutionary socialist movement has been riven by a dispute between those who support 'direct action' - a euphemism for terrorism - and those who support factory organisations to wrest control of industry from the bosses.

These four men are believed to be from the direct action wing of the revolutionary socialist movement and active in Strelsau. All loyal citizens of Ruritania are asked to be vigilant and report anything suspicious to the authorities!

New UNIT pictures

Meet the gang, 'cause the boys are here...

Commadore Archibald Frazer Lethbridge-Stewart

Sergeant Benton with Portable Galvanic Projector

Steam-powered Walking Engine

Latest shots of my UNIT unit. With nefarious contraptions.

This lot is statted up for GASLIGHT ... wonder if I'll get round to using them soon?

Don't tell anyone, but 'Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart' also looks quite Kolonel von Kartoffeln-onhne-Umlaut, the commander of my Ruritanian Jaeger unit...

The Ruritanian Succession, Part 2

Kolonel Heinrich von Sanf-und-Schinkel, Queen Flavia and Cousin Albert - all Ruritanians together

Reminded the other day that I hadn't posted part 1 of this, I thought perhaps I should get on with part 2.

The Rassendylls, according to the testimony of Rudolf Rassendyll, derive their red hair and long straight noses from a liason between Prince Rudolf of Elphberg (later Rudolf III of Ruritania) and Countess Amelia, wife of James, Knight of the Garter, 5th Earl of Burlesdon and 22nd Baron Rassendyll. This liason is thought to have taken place in 1733; subsequently, James died and a posthumus son was born - though what happened to the title at this point, is not known, as it should have passed to his closest living heir. The death of James and the birth of the red-haired child that would become the 6th Earl can be presumed to be in 1734, though potentially they could both be in 1733 (or less likely, the death of James could have occurred very late in 1733 and the birth of the future 6th Earl in 1734).

When discussing the portraits on the wall of the family home (p.10), Rudolf comments that 'five or six' of the portraits of the Rassendylls of the 'last century-and-a-half' (of which there are 'fifty ... or so') show the Elphberg red; furthermore, his brother Robert remarks (p.8) that the red hair and long, straight nose come out once a generataion.

'Five or six' implies five or six generations from the 6th Earl (inclusive). Taking a standard genealogical generation of 25 years this would give 125 or 150 years since 1734. We might then expect the youngest Rassendyll to be born around 1834, or perhaps 1859 - very roughly. The first of these, if it applies to Rudolf, would give a date of 1863 for the events of Zenda; the later date, however, of 1859 is unsupportable, as it would give of 1888 for the events of 'Zenda' and as has been demonstrated, unless there is a way to explain the absence of Fritz von Tarlenheim's 10-year-old youngest son, the events of 'Zenda' must have taken place before 1883 or thereabouts. However, Rudolf also say that these portraits are of the previous 'century-and-a-half'. 150 years from 1734 gives 1884 - remarkably close to the date of 1883 calculated as the latest reasonable date of the events of 'Zenda'.

'Prisoner of Zenda' was written after the events it describes, though before the events of 'Rupert of Hentzau', which take place four years later. In other words, there is a four-year gap in which 'Zenda' must have been written. If we are to take the 'century-and-a-half' seriously, it seems likely that it was written in the years either side of 1884. To claim that it and 'Hentzau' must refer to events before 1871 is shrinking 'a century-and-a-half' down to 'a century-and-thirty-seven (or fewer) years'.

Furthermore, it can be pretty confidently asserted that 'Zenda' was written earlier in the same year of the events of 'Hentzau', which were in October. So perhaps August or September of that year, before Rudolf Rassendyll's meeting with Fritz von Tarlenheim at Wintenberg.

If publication of Fritz's memoir came shortly after writing, then the date of 1898 for publication suggests that the year the events of 'Hentzau' took place was 1884. There is a detailed timescale involved in 'Hentzau' which relates to events of 'Thursday 16th of October' and the days following. In 1884, the 16th of October was a Thursday; other possible years (post-1852) are 1856, 1862, 1873 and 1879.

The main objection to all the later dates is that Ruritania is in Germany, and effectively ceased to be after the incorporation into the German Empire. Thus, for the purposes of this argument, 1873, 1879 and 1884 are much of a muchness. All preserve an independent (or relatively-so) Ruritania after 1871, so they can be ruled out - if Ruritania is German, rather than Austro-Hungarian.

Summer 1856 for the writing of 'Zenda', and the October of that year for the events of 'Hentzau', seem extremely early. Apart from anything, writing in 1856, Rudolf Rassendyll is unlikely to have referred to portraits of 'the last century-and-a-half' if he meant post-1734, a mere 122 years previously. He may, of course, merely have been referring to portraits hanging in the house in general, including those from before 1734. We cannot know for certain, but the context suggests that he means that the portraits of the last 150 years post-date 1734. The mention of 'Imperial' beards would also weigh against such an early date. If the events of 'Hentzau' take place in 1856, then 'Zenda' takes place in 1852 - too early for the 'Imperial' style to be known. The portraits - though not, admittedly, the beards - would also mitigate against the potential 1862 date. Furthermore, both these dates would require the manuscripts of the memoirs to have remained secret for several decades.

Of course, it is possible to raise the objection that this is exactly what did happen - Queen Flavia, born approximately 20 years before the events of 'Zenda', would have been born around 1832, and 62 when 'Zenda' was published, and 66 on the publication of 'Hentzau'. 'Bob' Rassendyll, Rudolf's older brother, born around 1815, would have been approximately 79 when 'Zenda' was published. Either or both may be expected to have died in the meantime. If the manuscript of 'Zenda' were among Rudolf's papers, held by Robert, they may not have been published until after Robert's death. Likewise, it is perhaps unlikely that Fritz would seek to publish 'Hentzau' until after the death of Queen Flavia.

So there are two possible streams of historical thought: the first is an 'early' composition, 1856 or 1862 for the events of 'Hentzau'. This means that Ruritania could be in Germany, is absorbed into the German Empire, and Queen Flavia lives until the age of approximately 65 and dies before Fritz publishes his memoir in 1898 (though it would have been written no later than around 1870, if the events it relates to were in 1856). Likewise, in England, Lord Robert Burlesdon has recently died, perhaps in 1893, aged around 78, and Rudolf's manuscript published as part of his papers. The problems of the 'Imperial' beard and the 150 years of portraits can perhaps be explained away - the 'Imperial' style perhaps being known by that name when the manuscript of 'Zenda' was written in 1856, though the style itself predated the naming thereof; the portraits are those going back to the early 18th century, not necessarily those post-dating the birth of the 6th Earl in 1734.

The other possibility is a 'late' composition, close to the publication dates. In this case, on the other evidence, 1884 for the events of 'Hentzau' fits best with the interpretation of the 'century-and-a-half' and the 'five or six generations'. In this case, Ruritania is more likely to be in Austria-Hungary. This also fits more closely with the (circumstantial, but not negligible) information that later, an 'ex-King of Ruritania' worked as a doorman at Barribault's Hotel in London. Fritz's manuscript in particular shows no signs of revision - though it is written perhaps 14 years after the events it describes, there is nothing to suggest that it was subsequently re-worked in the perhaps 30 years it lay in drawer (if the early date is accepted). Queen Flavia is alive, and Fritz and Helga's youngest son is 10 years old. There is no dedication to the dead Queen, no suggestion that the manuscript derives from a preceeding epoch.

=============================================

Added to the links at the side is a frankly brilliant site that generates calendars for historical years. It's been invaluable in finding out which years in the second half of the 19th century had Thursdays for the 16th of October. It probaby means all my newspapers will turn out to be very very wrong but so what? I just have to do them all again...

UPDATE: Also added a site I should have linked to long ago, called 'The Ruritanian Resistance' that is one of several around the web trying to get a handle on Ruritanian history and culture. A great site, even if I don't agree with all its conclusions. For instance, I don't think Black Michael's mother was Jewish, I suspect she was Slavic - I don't hold with the notion of a 'pure' German Ruritania, there are enough people called Nikolas, Stanislas, Ladislas, not to mention that fact that 'Strelsau' itself has a Slavic termination, to convince me that Ruritania must have had a least a minority Slavic population. Even so - great site, brillliantly researched and put together by people who love Ruritania!

Sherlock Holmes, Atlantis, and... Dwarves?

Inspired by the latest round of the Robert Downey Jr/Jude Law Holmes & Watson caper ('Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows', available at all good Kinematographic Projection Emporia and Electric Theatres), especially as it seemed to be set exactly 120 years before I watched it (like the Atlantis campaign over at the Lead Adventure Forum) I decided it would be fun to tie the two together in order to round off the Atlantis capmaign.



As a result, I uploaded this, from the London Evening Messenger of December 20th, 1891, to the LAF site, with the rest of the text as it (somewhat inexplicably) breaks off with "... German E ..." and then stops. "Empire" of course. And then some more words, which you'll have to visit LAF to find out about, probably.

Anyway and such, the idea had entered my head of there being a peace conference at Reichenbach, where the fate of the Interventions on Atlantis was to be decided. And so it is; for the next few days at least, the Castle of Reichenbach will play host to a peace conference involving Britain, France, Russia, Germany, USA, CSA, Japan, China, Spain, and the Caliphate of Khosind (a small North African state which declared its independence from France some years ago, apparently), all of which have forces in the field in Atlantis, and at the very least Austria-Hungary, which doesn't, but is keen to discuss among other topics the Ruritanian Question.

So if there is to be Peace in Our Time, with Chancellors and Prime Ministers flying by aeronef back and forth carrying pieces of paper bearing the forged signatures of heads of state, it may be that I can finally draw the Atlantis Campaign to a close. Which brings me to the subject of Her Majesty's Native Forces, enlisted as soldiers of the Queen during the campaign. I have gotten a few steps closer to finishing them, and would like to present, for the first time anywhere, a sketchy but still colourful Daguerrotype of the Morlock Allied Native Infantry Corps (part of the Combined Atlantean Rifle Brigade).



Wearing old kit from the Zulu War and only now retrieved from storage, they are a little out of place in the brash modern world of 1891, but I don't really mind that much. They'll make a fine addition I think to the Thin Red Line (or in their case, the Quite Short but Stought Red Line).

Plans obviously are now to base them, and stat them up for GASLIGHT - shouldn't be too hard, they may be Dwarves, but they're British Dwarves, don'ch'know?

WIP shots of my various forces

Apologies for the bad lighting, but in the end I figure that bad photos are probably better than no photos.

This was the state of my painting tray about 3 or 4 months ago, round about mid-May. Since then very little has happened (a few arms glued on, that sort of thing) but hopefully more will occur this weekend (and it'll be months before the pics surface, probably...)

First up are the members of UNIT - the Uniformed Naval Infantry Territorials - who will sport rifleman green uniforms and khaki Glengarry caps, as a nod to the 'classic' look of UNIT in 1970s episodes of Dr Who, as modelled by the second and third chaps in the first column. Part of the point of the photo was to demonstrate the relative lack of poses with the Wargames Factory figures. Two Body types, and two rifle positions, and two head designs, means 8 basic figures. There are a couple of 'loading' arms, and I've used one to make a chap actually loading his rifle (I can never remember if these are Lee-Mitfords or Martini-Henries) and another I've used to give the sergeant an alien or future-technology weapon.




Close up of the UNIT sergeant (Sergeant Benton, I did think of making him Petty Officer Benton but then decided that he could have a Royal Marine rank instead) with his 'Galvanic Projector' AKA lightning gun (AKA laser rifle, though the concept makes no sense in the late 19th century). It's bodged from two bits of sprue, and yeah, maybe it looks it. Never mind, these are toys for playing games with.


Some of my Victorian characters in various states of paintiness - the first two columns are all from Ironclad, third column is Westwind and fourth is Artizan. I tried to show how they all look next to each other but it doesn't work very well.

The Ruritanian Succession, Part 1

Well, now, how will this work? According to the 'history' we have, Flavia is the last reigning monarch of Ruritania - at least, the last we know about, up to the end of 'Rupert of Hentzau'*. I'm not counting Haythorne's 'The Strelsau Dimension' (1981), Simon Hawke's 'The Zenda Vendetta (Time Wars 4)' (1985) or Spurling's 'After Zenda' (1995), partly because I've never read any of them, and partly (at least in Hawke's and Spurling's cases), because it's not 'our' Ruritania, being variously in the Balkans and Carpathians. Haythorne gets Ruritania in more or less the right place it seems. Maybe worth picking that one up from somewhere.

WIP shot of random Artizan Texas Ranger (painted as generic cowboy) with Westwind Tsarina, Tsar and Zendarian Vampire Hunter; aka, in this context, Queen Flavia, her potential cousin Albert (of Molvania? Of Graustark? Of Strackenz?) and Kolonel von Sanf-und-Schinkel

There's a non-canonical Holmes & Watson story called 'The Seven Percent Solution' by Nicholas Meyers (1974). This sets the action of 'Zenda' in 1891. An additional possibility is a book that I've only just discovered called 'Sherlock Holmes and the Hentzau Affair' by David Stuart Davies(2007). Curioser and curioser...

And there's always 'Royal Flash' by George MacDonald Fraser of course.

Anyway, at the moment there's little we know about the Ruritanian monarchy after the death of Rudolf V (who is, as we now know, Rudolf Rassendyll). Flavia continues to rule; some time later 'Rupert of Hentzau' is published. Finding the gap in time between 'Prisoner' and 1898 (publication of 'Rupert of Hentzau') is something of a matter of taste.

Fritz von Tarlenheim relates the story to his son, of whom there is no hint in the novel: we are left with the impression that the events of 'Prisoner of Zenda' take place some 14 years or more before the time of writing 'Rupert of Hentzau'. If, as we may suspect, publication of Fritz's memoir was swift, we may believe it was written around 1897; if Fritz's son had not been born at the time (as seems reasonable), the events of 'Hentzau' would be around 1886 at the latest (though of course, they could have been several years earlier). The latest date for 'Zenda' is thus c1883. The only times that they must post-date are the building of the railway line from Dresden to Strelsau (around 1840 - actually, having checked this, the first part of the line from Dresden to Prague was opened in 1848), 1848 (when riots burn down the White Palace in Strelsau) and 1852 (the Second Empire in France; Rassendyll has an 'Imperial' beard of a style fashionable in France after this period).

So at some point after 1852, and before 1883, the events of 'Zenda' take place. After that is where it gets tricky.






*However, both PG Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh refer to an 'ex-King of Ruritania' who works as a doorman at Barribault's Hotel. As Waugh is also a source for the Royal Corps of Halberdiers (of which more to come) and the Loamshire Regiment, as well as other fictional regiments; and Wodehouse is the source for things that definitely exist in the 1920s yet to come, their credentials check out. So we know that there must have been another ruler of Ruritania after 1898. Either a new husband for Flavia (seems unlikely, frankly) or some distant cousin, perhaps? What about some relative descended from Osra's brother (Henry? The one who left anyway), or perhaps from the House of Graustark even?

Things and stuff

Well, May has almost departed us and hardly has my paintbrush touched paint in the last 6 weeks or so, such have been the demands of what I laughingly refer to as 'real life'.



Here is a little teaser for what will be coming up over the next few weeks (I hope) - actually it's an old WIP shot of my much-talked-about but rarely seen Colonel Hammond-Mustard, who also doubles as one of my Ruritanian officers.

He's one of the leaders in my GASLIGHT force that I'm slowly assembling; which brings me on to the new GASLIGHT Compendium - I'm hoping to get it as soon as the hard copy is out; the PDF is already available from many a reputable online retailer.

I have managed to find another unit I can add to my forces - either pro- or anti-British, I'm not sure yet. But I managed to pick up a game called "Impact" (in fact I got the expansion, "Impact - Battle for Wolf Ridge" as well) from a local charity shop. It's a funny game, there are various spring loaded weapons in the sets, and missile fire is resolved by actually firing little rubber-tipped bullets and knocking your opponents' models over; hand-to-hand is handled similarly to chess or draughts or something. But never mind, it's the figures I was after.




Within, as well as about 15 humans and some robots, armed with futuristic weaponry, there were also about 20 dino-lizardy types, mostly with weird rifles. The humans will no doubt see service for my sci-fi gaming, but the lizards might make a nice substitute for the ubiquitous Kroot Parrotmen of Cytheria that everyone seems to be doing.





There are about 15 Lizardmen similar to this, including a couple with smaller weapons. Also included in the Lizardman force were 4 larger more dino-like models with shoulder-mounted 'missile launcer' type heavy weapons, very odd affairs that seem to be made out of some kind of animal. Whether I use them as enemies or allies (perhaps Venusian Lizardmen Sepoys, for instance), or both, is yet to be decided. They may even be found on Atlantis, I suppose. I might even be able to do an entire Atlantean engagement, Lizardmen v. Morlocks, that would be fun.




Seen here with an Ironclad Brit for scale, they seem to be fine (size-wise at least). Maybe some repainting might be in order, but frankly as I'm rubbish at painting perhaps I shouldn't bother.