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OK, it’s official – I’ve gone mad. Over on WAMP, a challenge was set – paint an army (defined as at least two units and a character) by February 1st 2011.

Now, that seemed a little easy – if I felt like it, I could do a Cygnar force like that in 6 models – so I decided to puch myself a little. I said I’d cover that minimum for not one, not two, but three armies – WM Cygnar, WHFB Dwarves and WAB Romans.

It gets better.

Honest.

Having thought about it for a while, I went back and said I might up my aim – to six armies by that date, adding Trolls, Minions and Mercs into the mix.

Anyway, having failed to sleep properly overnight, I’ve moved on to planning for this ker-azy project. In fairness, the minim criteria are fairly straightforward, and I’ve got roughly 3 months – so let’s call it 2-3 weeks per army. Some would argue that it is even easier, now I’ve had clarification that current WIP stuff is OK, and that 2-3 warjacks/warbeasts can count as a unit. So, bearing that in mind, here are my plans for the various armies. Anything in italics is currently WIP, anything in bold needs to be bought, and anything underlined is an if-I-have-time option.

In the order I declared them…..

Warmachine: Cygnar
Commander Coleman Stryker, alternate sculpt
10 Sword Knights + UA (UA and 2 SK need scabbarded swords attaching, all need basing & painting)
Defender heavy warjack, Hammersmith Heavy Warjack, Firefly light warjack (Not really thematic ‘jacks, but they need doing)
10 Longgunners

Warhammer Fantasy Battles: Dwarves
Lord/Thane
20 Miners
12 Thundererererers
Bolt Thrower
Cannon/organ gun (haven’t decided which yet)

Warhammer Ancient Battles: Roman Legion
General
8 Western Archers
30 Legionnaires

Hordes: Trollbloods
Grim Angus
2 x Impaler Light Warbeast
Axer light warbeast
10 Scattergunners
10 Burrowers

Hordes: Minions
Lord Carver
War Hog Heavy Warbeast
2 Gun Boar Light Warbeasts
10 Farrow Brigands
Full unit of Bone Grinders

Warmachine: Mercenaries
Magnus the Traitor
Mangler Heavy Warjack, 2 Renegade Light Warjacks
10 Steelhead Halberdiers
10 Forgeguard

Total (minimum):138 figures
Total (all in): 173 figures
Timescale: 14 weeks, give or take a couple of days…..

Can someone go get me the white jacket with the fashionably long sleeves now, please?

I’ve spent most of the last two days either at, or travelling to and from, the Derby World Wargames* show, where the Sheffield Irregulars had a stand to display some of our work, as well as to run three types of demonstrations. Boris, warhammergrimace and I manned the stand over both days, though Rob Richmond turned up on day 2, which was cool.

Having spent two days demonstrating urban basing, flora basing, and the role of UHU in creating blood effects, it came as a surprise when a small canary clutching a glass of wine came to tell use we’d been voted as having the Best Demonstration stand at the show. I’ll let Boris tell you more about the show over on the Sheffield Irregulars blog.

For anyone interested in meeting up with the Irregulars, then other than our usual painting sessions the next show we’ll be at will be Fiasco in Leeds at the end of the month.

* – Apologies for anyone with design sensibilities who followed the link; unfortunately, it’s the easiest way of getting you the important information about the show. Why do so many shows not get someone who knows what they’re doing to do the website?

Whilst walking in to work the other morning, I set to thinking about the large range of roleplaying games available which are based on a popular TV, film or book license. I’m not quite sure why I was thinking about this, but it may have been linked to the recent release of the Dresden Files RPG, based on the novels by Jim Butcher – I’ve been working on an unofficial setting supplement for it, which will cover Sheffield and should be available via Irregular magazine in the near future.

Anyway, while there are a large range of licensed games available at the moment, there were a few licenses I could think of that weren’t available, and which I’d enjoy seeing as games of their own. While there aren’t games available, I have tried to make suggestions for systems which might otherwise fit.

In no particular order, here are five licenses (or groups of licenses) I’d like to see as roleplaying games:

1, Indiana Jones (film)

Dum-de-dum-dum, dum-de-dum, dum-de-dum-dum, dum-de-dum-dum-dum…..

Who can honestly say they’ve not watched the Indiana Jones films, and not wanted to play the role of everyone’s favourite whip-cracking archaelogist? Travelling the world during the 30′s, 40′s and 50′s, meeting unusual cultures, solving puzzles and trying very hard not to get shot by Nazi’s or Russians on the way to the treasure?

Of course, with a typical gaming group you’d have to be careful to balance the roles – after all, would anyone really want to get stuck as the Short Round of the group? Having said that, playing Dr Henry Jones could be quite funny – any excuse to break out the Connery…..

Suggested system – Savage Worlds, using the Thrilling Tales sourcebook

2, NCIS/CSI franchise/Bones (TV)

As you may have guessed by the selection of licenses in this group, I’m a fan of the American crime procedural show. Fortunately, they’re not all the same, ranging from melodrama – CSI: Miami – through action – NCIS – to being darkly humourous – Bones. Each of the shows interests me, and the different spin each puts on the genre makes it worth watching them all, though buying the box sets isn’t exactly cheap.

One of the key aspects of these shows is that you don’t have to worry about whether they will find the clues – all the necessary evidence is found eventually. I’d expect an RPG to behave in a similar fashion – let the players come to their own conclusions, but don’t make them have to describe every test they’re going to do. Interrogation could also allow for interesting scenes. Finally, you’d need to allow to some degree for combat, as not every criminal will come quietly.

Suggested system – Gumshoe system, such as Esoterrorists, if you scale back the horror aspect

3, Planetary (Comics)

Planetary was a 27 issue comic series written by Warren Ellis, published between 1998 and 2009. The world it presented where many of the novels we view as fiction were real – so Sherlock Holmes existed, as did Dracula and Captain Nemo. Equally, there were analogues of many comic characters layered through time – I’m always amused by the Superman who shows up. However, as would be expected, much of what has happened has been glossed over, and the protagonists spend much of the series exploring this history to provide technology to work toward’s humanity’s greater good.

If I were to create a game for this, I wouldn’t have Century Babies as player characters – instead, I’d have the PCs be a response team working for Planetary, but at a lower power level. You’d have the freedom to explore pretty much any aspect of comic, pulp or science fiction, depending on what the GM wished to look at – and, of course, there’d be assorted villains for you to work around (or possibly through).

Suggested system – Mutants and Masterminds

4, The A-Team (TV, film)

Dum-de-dum-dum, dum, dum, dum….. OK, I’ll stop it with the theme tune renditions.

The A-Team is possibly the classic 80′s action show, which was recently revamped in a big-budget Hollywood film – and it’s a license that many of my generation will have grown up with a soft spot for. Who wouldn’t want to be able to play Hannibal, Face, B.A Baracus or Howling Mad Murdoch, taking on some corrupt group on the behalf of an innocent?

Given the structure of the TV episodes, I could see this working quite nicely as a two-session game, with most of the set-up in the first session, with the pay-off in the second. I’m not sure how you could run it as a campaign, but as an occasional one-off I think it’d work quite nicely.

Suggested system – D20 Modern

5, Ghostbusters (Film, TV)

Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver, the Stay-Puft Marshmellow Man, and many unpleasant things happening to Rick Moranis – there’s something for everyone in Ghostbusters. Withthe current penchant for revamping old licenses (see: The A-Team), I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a Ghostbusters 3 at some point.  And if we do, I hope someone is ready to grab the license with both hands, and make a game to please the geeks.

Anyway, a small group of humans against various supernatural nasties, with only proton packs, ingenuity and a sense of humour to defend a city – sounds like a suitable challenge to me. Don the beige boiler-suits, prep the PKE meter, and get on with the job…..

Suggested system – InSpectres

NB – While discussing this post with the owner of my local games shop, he pointed out that a couple of these licenses had had games in the past, but that they were currently out of print. Having done a little digging, I found that TSR produced an Indiana Jones game back in 1984, and that West End Games produced a Ghostbuster’s RPG in 1986. I couldn’t find anything for the other licenses, but I have heard rumours of a possible NCIS game being in the works…..