Khaös Warband: Otherworld Miniatures

Looking at my randomly generated Realms of Chaos warband, the thing that immediately pops into my mind is to use Otherworld Miniatures range of D&D inspired minis. One reason is that I already own several of these and I really like them!

WARBAND 

Pigfaced Orc Warband

wolves a

wolves (b)

dire wolves
WE8c Wolf Pack

OG7 Ogre Mage

Me1a Berserkers

OK, so Pig Faced Orcs are Orcs, not Broo, can I get away with it? besides the fact they're Kevin Adams, maybe I can paint them red...  Oh and I've decided to refer to GWs beastmen as Broo, because it's more oldschool, and true to the roots. Jo Brumbys wolves are lovely, seriously nice, naturalistic wolves. The Ogre Mage, I can just imagine him on a flying cloud - Monkey style, so he's got a kind of oreintal trollish mystic vibe. Whether he's a Troll or an Ogre, hmm, I don't think it matters. The Berserkers are just spot on.

CHAMPION

UD3c Zombies III

I think the Champion is going to cause me most problems finding a suitable miniature. The Zombie on the right could work if painted in natural-ish skin-tones, but it's not quite there.

Overall I think these are pretty great figures, and I already own some of them (half the wolves and all the orcs required).  Total cost, £93.00, and I'll use these minis again for other things. But on the other hand I do feel like replacing the Broo with Orcs is cheating a little bit too much.

Amazonia: Hail to the Goddess

In the grim dark past that was Thatchers Britain, the default setting of a game called Warhammer was a place called Lustria. The mutant brainchild of then GW game design supremo Richard Halliwell, Lustria promised us a land of adventure, lush rich visuals, an exotic mesoamerican wilderness populated by the remnants of lost civilisations and strange, alien peoples. 

Sure, the quasi-medieval Empire well established today was there, but really, alien frogmen, zigguraut pyramids, dwarven treasure-hunters and feathered serpent magicians were where it was at - but none of these were as central to the conception of Lustria as Amazonia: The Empire of the Amazons. And none so central to the Amazons than the Goddess Rigg.

Riggs Shrine | John Blanche | 2nd Citadel Journal

It is quite commonly suggested in Warhammer fandom that Richard Halliwell named his Amazon goddess "Rigg" after the screen actress Diana Rigg, possibly most famous for her role as Ms. Peel, the original leather cat-suited Avenger, long before Scarlett Johanson stole fanboys hearts doing the same thing. But, back to the plot, why Halliwell should choose this particular actress? seemed somewhat of a non sequitur the 1960's British leather clad icon of modernism of The Avengers seemingly at odds with Lustrias blend of archaic exoticism and sci-fantasy weirdness.

Until I unearthed this:

The Goddess Rigg | Diana Rigg | Klytemnestra | via

The Serpent Son, BBCs 1979 adaption of Aeschylus' Oresteia combined Minoan and science-fiction influences (erudite and informative article here). Notable credits include set and costume design by Barbara Kidd, probably better known for her work on Doctor Who in the 1970s (and New Who as well). Puts me in mind of a more dusty and autumnal version of Jack Kirby's costumes for Julius Ceasar.

This was no dry, worthy adaptation of Greek myth, but rather an avant garde, post-Star Wars affair, no doubt designed to get the spotty oiks who were busy playing D&D to read some "proppa kultcha". Well done Auntie Beeb. Unfortunately there is no Youtube video or DVD release, so exactly how entertaining it is will have to be left to our imaginations.

Diana Rigg | Klytemnestra

Diana Rigg | Klytemnestra | Make a mighty fine Witch Elf / Drow Priestess or Priestess of Mongo to boot.

While it can't be said that the costumes (both John Blanche and Tony Ackland drew the Amazons for the 2nd Citadel Journal, some 6 years after  The Serpent Son broadcast) exactly follow the designs worn by Diana Rigg, some of the design ethos does seem to have translated. At its most basic it is the marriage of archaic and futuristic which is so beloved by sci-fantasy pulp writers. With Lustria and The Serpent Son there are more specific ques, in the words of erstwhile TV pundit Clive James "Diana Rigg had a wardrobe of Pocahontas numbers for day wear. They came with a complete range of Inca, Aztec and Zulu accessories." Emphasis mine. The serpent-dress is evidently not classed as day-wear by Clive

The Goddess Rigg

The Goddess Rigg |
from the collection of Bruno Galice | via

Putting aside authorial influence, Rigg as Klytemnestra is perhaps servicable as inspiration for the deity of the Temple of Karra or the attire of the Royal Palace of Genaina, things only hinted at by the original text...

Blood for the Koka Goddess | Diana Rigg

I've updated Riggs stats to be compatible with 2nd/3rd edition (that's the 2E S+T kicker and numerical T), and points value calculated as per the Oldhammer Points Value calculator

Attribute		M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Int	Cl	WP	PV
Rigg		8	8	7	5	4	10	10	1	4	10	10	10	156

Rigg has one knife and four throwing knives (18" short range only, S4 hits). Evidently with an LD of 4, she's a go-it-alone sort of gal, not given to leading others.

Unfortunately I cannot invoke Gu-Gle to provide a colour image of Helen Mirren as Cassandra, Clive James states "Helen Mirren played her as an amalgam of Régine, Kate Bush and Carmen Miranda. In a punk hairstyle the colour of raw carrots." Again  emphasis is mine, but I am slightly concerned  about Clive James  identifying what appears to be an acid perm as "punk". Punk, of course being one of the major design themes of the Amazons, with mohawks abound.

Helen Mirren | "Punk Hairstyle" | Cassandra | Koka-Kalim | via

I can't possibly have a post on Sci-Fi Greek Myths without another trip into the Broom Cupboard for some mid-80s cartoon nostalgia. No real connection to Lustria at all, but past the fantastic sing-long theme tune and dodgy dubbing, the soundscape effectively evokes the blank erieeness of floating through empty space in a deserted spacecraft, in a kind of ambient progfunk way,  while featuring blue skinned, white haired psionic Drow aliens (no doubtan influence on Daft Punk's Interstella 5555) and vast, alien architectures based on ancient earth cultures, this episode: an ancient egyptian space-station.

It is the 31st century, Ulysses killed the giant Cyclops when he rescued the children and his son Telemachus. But the ancient Gods of Olympus are angry and threaten a terrible revenge...
Mortals, you defy the Gods? I sentence you to travel among unknown stars. Until you find the Kingdom of Hades, your bodies will stay as lifeless as stone.

Khaös Warband

Here goes creating a Realm of Chaos:Slaves to Darkness warband for Orlyggs chaos warbands game at the forthcoming Foundry do.

These are my HAUS-ROOLZ:

• illustrate using only the work of Ian Miller
• dice fall where they may
• obey with the will of the gods (in this case Khörne) 
• abuse diacritic marks
• quote non-gaming 80's pop-culture in a sideways self-referential manner

THE CHAMPION

Roll1: 74 Human
Ok, bit dull there Khörne, human the most likely type, with all the fun options, to say the least, I'm truly disappointed.

Roll2: 3 Standard profile
Fair enough.  I'm determined to play by the dice, so standard human profile is what I get, along with a vague feeling that the will of Khörne is against me. Young God, I wanna help you, collect blood and stuff, so come on..

Roll3: 714 Plague Bearer
Plaguebearer of Khörne.  Sub-roll: 1 The Shakes - attacks cause  T-1 and A-1 loss, whether they hit or not. Oh great, but also gives him  T-1 and A-1 losses, but as stats can't go below 0, so no effect, phew. Otherwise my Champion of Khörne would be unable to actually attack anything, which is exactly what a god of war would look for in a follower, ah but, his friends and his foes, would rather die than have to touch him.

So there we have it, my Chaos Champion, a weak, ill, low-level human, probably spent his whole life in ruins, because of people who are nice. Champion gets chaos armour for free, and a chaos steed or weapon. Seeing my luck I'd probably roll up a broken bicycle, on a hillside de-solate.

The Experiment

THE WARBAND

5 rolls for a level 5?  I'll drop one as my champion is no-level, so 4 rolls on the retinue table, lets see what depraved creatures of chaos decide to join my Champion on their quest.

Roll: 3: Beastmen
Sub-roll: 9. Nine mortal beastmen doomed to die... again, the most common type...

Gor Un Gor

Roll: XX : Wólves
Sub roll: 10. OK, I like wólves, or maybe Woolfs of a Virginian persuasion.

Who is Afraid of the Virginian Woolf?

Roll: 93 : Trôll
Trôll! Regen and everything. Plus 2 attributes...

538: Levitation
Levitating Trôll, yeah! With complex point-spend flying rules to boot. That's really fun, a troll hovering around,  out of harms way, regenerating a bit, then deciding there is nowhere to go but down. Perhaps it's some kind of tantric-farting troll that brings a message on an ill-wind, thanks Khörne looks like the blood red light of your blessing is shining down on me...

892: Temporal Instability
Oh no, Khörne has changed his mind again. Temporal Instability means every turn I have to roll a D6, on a roll of 1, roll another D6 and the Trôll is out of the game for that number of turns. So I've got a flying troll that probably hardly even appear on the field of battle. Truly, truly, dissapointed.

Flying Trôll, if he bothers to turn up on time.

Roll: 73 : Humans
Subroll: 3. I'm beginning to suspect this warband may lack style, you know, but each blood must blossom and grow...

3 Men | The City | Ian Miller

This is supposed to be the Realms of Chaos, where's my Dragon-ogre with a plasma-cannon for a head? Or my chaos dwarf were-harpy?  Apart from the Floating Troll of Tardiness, this list is just about as miserable a list as you can get. Hey Khörne, read these lines: truly disappointed, truly, troooly truleh ooooh oh ah ha ha.

Mörrrissey : Dissapointed

Ah, good night, and thank you.