Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Ooops! Almost forgot! Here's a selection of the First of the First for you; this is some of the figures that have been produced by first Ral Partha, then by me and Gronan, and then by PHD. The darker red tunics on the left are the first Mu'uglavyani that I painted with Phil, long before the 'official' color scheme was published, and the rank on the right is in the "Armies" color scheme. The pikes are from North Star, and I think they really look great!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UJBcd7jdh-...0/DSC00117.JPG

These are some long pikes!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I very strongly doubt it. It'd be a violation of the Great Concordat, and the Imperium - as well as the higher-up in both temples - would come down really, really hard on whomever was doing this. Player-characters would be hired to go out and exterminate the culprit...

(Says the Imperium's usual hatchet-man...)

Hence my comment about "out in the boonies". A small temple of Sarku somewhere in a city with few followers, some bandits actually dare to rob the place and get away, the local priests need some Mrur for guards, worshippers are in short supply, who will ever know...

..."Chirine, we've been ordered to take three cohorts and investigate a rumor. I cannot give details of course, and it is only a rumor, but I would esteem it a favor if you'd ask my batman to pack my worm-proof kilt."

Originally Posted by AsenRG

These are some long pikes!

That's because they're pikes and not spears. In ancient Greek times the pike was a response to long spears. First they started at sixteen feet (I think), then eighteen, then twenty, then twenty-two. Seriously, they did. Twenty two feet was the maximum length used.

This was as long as the pike got, also known as the pike's peak.




(shamelessly stolen from "It All Started with Stones and Clubs" by Richard Armour.)

Truth to tell, I honestly prefer the more muted red of Chirine's earlier Mu'uglavani troops.

And notice the colored and lettered spots on the bases, class; each stand is clearly identified as to nation, legion, cohort, and I think place in the cohort.

Originally Posted by AsenRG

These are some long pikes!

They are indeed, and they scare the crap out of the people I play. Gamesmanship, as we say...

And they do look the part, I think...

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

That's because they're pikes and not spears. In ancient Greek times the pike was a response to long spears. First they started at sixteen feet (I think), then eighteen, then twenty, then twenty-two. Seriously, they did. Twenty two feet was the maximum length used.

This was as long as the pike got, also known as the pike's peak.

(shamelessly stolen from "It All Started with Stones and Clubs" by Richard Armour.)

Nyuk! Nyuk! We're here all week, folks! Try the veal!

Seriously, I do try to model the different lengths of pole arms on the table; it helps the players, and looks cooler. I shudder to think how much piano wire has gone over the workbench in the past forty years...

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

That's because they're pikes and not spears. In ancient Greek times the pike was a response to long spears. First they started at sixteen feet (I think), then eighteen, then twenty, then twenty-two. Seriously, they did. Twenty two feet was the maximum length used.

This was as long as the pike got, also known as the pike's peak.




(shamelessly stolen from "It All Started with Stones and Clubs" by Richard Armour.)

Didn't they reach something like 27 feet under Alexander? I'm not sure about the exact number, and it was a historical novel that mentioned it, using meters (8m) at that. But I seem to remember longer than 22 feet.
Either way, you were following a good historical example. My exclamation was because most people that make models seem to assume pikes are about as long as a spear, and it's always nice to see people that didn't do that.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

They are indeed, and they scare the crap out of the people I play. Gamesmanship, as we say...

And they do look the part, I think...

They sure look the part, and I can't help but think that I'd treat them with utmost caution, if I ever was to touch them.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Truth to tell, I honestly prefer the more muted red of Chirine's earlier Mu'uglavani troops.

And notice the colored and lettered spots on the bases, class; each stand is clearly identified as to nation, legion, cohort, and I think place in the cohort.

Thank you! The guys never did any 'test shots' of their color schemes in the "Armies" series, and they got a little odd-looking by the end of each troop list. (Which is why I have so many individual 'orphan' cohorts floating around the collection.) Phil told me 'red', so I airbrushed all of the original Mu'uglavyani with a Polly S 'Boxcar Red', which is what you see here. Details to suit.

(If I may be immodest for a moment, I have five airbrushes in the arsenal. Two are vintage Thayer and Chandlers, a 'AA' and an 'E'. Both are older then I am, and still work just fine. Yes, I am an airbrush snob.)

The dots arose out ot he use of my troops as the 'demo armies' for the games we ran at conventions. The dots help new players identify the units, and really speed up play. (Not my I idea, either; I used the concept first used by the Egg of Coot for his miniatures.) In my system, they read from front to back:

Dot color: (unit type) (nation) (armor type)
Letters/ numbers: (unit) (region / palace) (cohort)

I had originally noted the stand's place in the individual cohort, as Gronan notes, but gave it up after a few games - the information wasn't needed in actual game play, so I dropped it.