Wako Pirates! Coming Soon...

Archers

Conch blower.

Polearm.

Swordsmen.

More Swordsmen.

All sculpted by the talented Leandro Ventic. 

Ex-Forlorn Hope, Ex-Cavalcade, soon-to-be: The Tekumel Project. 

The moulds are winging their way across the pond even as I type. I intend to offer these as the historical Wako Pirates they are meant to be, and also as proxies for Haida Pakallan Pirates, or Tsolei Islanders in my Tekumel range.

I'll keep you posted as to availability and pricing. I am intending to get them available as quickly as I can. Prices will be comparable to my other figures, sold in sets of 10 - but always ready to make up special packs for people. The prices will be in CAD and the Tekumel Club discounts will apply. 

Medieval Khmer Banners

Medieval Khmer Banners

These are banners I made in Corel Draw. They are loosely based on the types shown in the "Armies of Angkor" book which uses the sculptures on the walls at Angkor Wat (and other palaces) to analyse the Medieval Khmer army. The colours are speculative. In some cases I have done different colours on each side, which might not be correct but I think would make for colourful armies! The standard bearers were apparently almost like gymnasts in that they seemed to balance the banners on their chin or forehead or finger tips rather than carry it in the rather staid fashion of European standard bearers. Of course, they would have been made of silk on thin poles and so very light. The impression I get is that there were a great many banner bearers accompanying the army. 

I am intending to make Khmer banner bearers - in a range of acrobatic poses - for my Garden of Kama range, and it was for that purpose that I made these banners.

Please let me know what you think. These are simple designs. There are other, more elaborate patterns shown in the book. These are formatted for A3 paper. The intent was to use thin wire (as in North Star or Warlord Games spears.) The jpegs above are probably bit low rez but the full version can be downloaded from the link below:

Khmer Banners 

Garden of Kama - Khmer Galleys update

Khmer galley...

...with rowers seats removed.

...with side wicker protection for rowers.

Another view.

And again.

Reverse the seating to get a Tsolyáni River Galley.

(The stern is now the prow!)

A tiny bit of progress this last week. In the first instance I sent the basic galley prototype to a fellow Petal Head who has access to a 3D scanner. Perhaps this will result in a scanned file that will allow me to side-step my resin supplier who is turning out to be a real bottleneck, unfortunately. I just cannot get a reliable supply of product. Fingers crossed!

The other bit of news is while studying the model again I realized that by reversing the rowers seating and turning the vessel around the resulting look is very much like other small craft designs in the region - Burma, for example, where the stern post tends to be very tall. The prow of the prototype is quite bulky, mainly because it is intended to be cut away and replaced by a Naga-head carving. So a proper Burmese galley would probably need the stern cut down a bit. I haven't really pursued this as it occurred to me that I could make my Tsolyáni River Galley variants by using this reversed seating. I just need to determine what form of decoration the bow and stern posts should have.

The final step forward was with the wicker side panels that the Khmer galleys had to provide some minimal protection for the rowers. I have explored many construction methods and debated resin vs metal castings or perhaps even 3D-printed panels. 

A few years ago, a friend of mine in North Bay found a suitable material in the form of shelving liners. Until now I have always looked at it from the point of view of using it as a master to somehow be molded to make a final product. But always there were difficulties. It needs to be flexible to fit the curve of the hull and then there was the question of how to do the supports. And should there be top and/or bottom rails? Last week, however, I finally decided to just use the shelf liner "as is". Its not like I am likely to sell hundreds of these things anyway, if the last five years are anything to go by!

The top two pictures show the basic Khmer galley prototype. It is 12" long and will have a crew of twenty oarsmen and a steersman. And perhaps a captain and one or two others. The second picture shows the rowers seats removed. The rower figures will be cut of below the knee and face backwards as is normal for a galley. Their oars, however, are much shorter than those of the typical Greek or Roman galley we are used to seeing.

The middle three pictures show the cut strips of shelf liner. In addition to being flexible, many of the liners come in nice bright woven patterns which would be difficult to paint. I don't think anybody actually knows what they would look like. The knowledge comes mostly from stone carvings after all. So they could be plain wicker panels or they could be in various patterns. Mine will be in whatever patterns and colours the local dollar stores can provide! :-)

The last picture shows the Tsolyáni variant with reversed seating so that the stern is now the prow. I just have to decide what other changes - if any - are required.

Comments and suggestions welcome! :-)

Hyborian Wars!

Hyborian Wars Map, by RSI

This map is from a PBEM game run by Reality Simulations Inc (RSI). I'm not certain if they are still running games, but I found it Here via this site.

Even if they are not still running, the map is of interest as is the zipped "Set up" file for all the 36 "Player Kingdoms". This lists the starting forces and characters, along with their abilities and the composition of  the starting armies. The troop ratings are very generic - ie. Missile ability: POOR, Melee ability: EXCELLENT, Morale: ADEQUATE, etc. The cost to maintain the troops is given in similar fashion with Amazonian Javelin troops having LOW maintenance costs whereas those of the Black Dragons are VERY HIGH.

It is of interest to me for several reasons:

1) I have always enjoyed and admired Tony Bath's Hyboria Campaign as chronicled in "Battle" and later "Military Modelling". I have his book "How to Run a Wargames Campaign" but have never yet run a Hyborian campaign myself.

2) The map could be used for a "Barbarians of Lemuria" campaign.

3) The map has far eastern nations and so the "Garden of Kama" setting might be introduced into the game.

The Garden of Kama Interpreted...

Way back in February of this year I did a rough outline of the Garden of Kama - I mean, really rough!

Here are those same nations again with the Fortune Deck applied. I rolled 3d6, the first two to determine the card and the third to determine whether it was "reversed" or not. I rolled each heading in order and took the rolls I got - no Fudging! I haven't filled in the interpretations yet but I see some interesting possibilities. 

Aoa  

Past                 4-2-3   Nature – Life Energy

Present           1-5-5   The Defender(R) – Peril

Future             5-1-5   The Satyr(R) – Moderation

Virtue              6-2-3   Trickery – Deceit

Fault                5-6-2   Striking the Dragon’s Tail – Underestimating the Challenge

Fate                 4-5-2   The Phoenix – Rebirth

Interpretation: ???

Ologog

Past                 2-2-1   The Eagle – The Mind Prevails

Present           5-2-5   The Smith(R) – Evil Effort

Future             1-3-2   The Creator – Nurture

Virtue              3-2-1   The Hermit - Wisdom

Fault                2-3-4   Fearing Shadows(R) – Recognizing Safety

Fate                 6-2-1   Trickery – Deceit

Interpretation: ???

Kamjola

Past                 2-3-6   Fearing Shadows(R) – Recognizing Safety

Present           4-6-6   The Priestess(R) – Impracticality

Future             2-2-4   The Eagle(R) – Thoughtlessness

Virtue             4-4-6   The Peasant(R) – Lack of Vision

Fault                2-1-6   Drowning in Armour(R) – True Prudence

Fate                 5-2-1   The Smith – Productivity

Interpretation: ???

Champakou

Past                 3-6-5   Law(R) – Treachery

Present           4-5-4   The Phoenix(R) – Destruction

Future             2-6-4   The Fool(R) – Lack of Connection

Virtue              1-6-5   The Dragon(R) – Blind Fury

Fault                4-5-3   The Phoenix – Rebirth

Fate                 4-5-4   The Phoenix(R) – Destruction

Interpretation: ???

Mara

Past                 3-3-5   Inspiration(R) – Lack of Imagination

Present           4-5-1   The Phoenix – Rebirth

Future             2-1-4   Drowning in Armour(R) – True Prudence

Virtue              4-5-3   The Phoenix – Rebirth

Fault                6-6-1   Summer – Energy

Fate                 3-5-1   Knowledge – Truth

Interpretation: ???

Easterlings (Panam)

Past                 5-3-6   The Soldier(R) – Blind Obedience

Present           6-5-1   Winter – Maturity

Future             4-5-1   The Phoenix – Rebirth

Virtue             1-2-5   The Cockatrice(R) – Recovery

Fault                2-3-3   Fearing Shadows(R) – Recognizing Safety

Fate                 1-5-3   The Defender – Safety

Interpretation: ???

Koreans (Jong Yu)

Past                 2-3-5   Fearing Shadows(R) – Recognizing Safety

Present           6-1-4   Summer(R) – Exhaustion

Future             5-4-5   Sowing Stones(R) – Ceasing Fruitless Labour

Virtue             2-4-3   Fertility – Growth

Fault                5-2-2   The Smith – Productivity

Fate                 5-1-6   The Satyr(R) – Moderation

Interpretation: ???

Lohwand

Past                 3-2-5   The Hermit(R) – Isolation

Present           4-3-4   Overlooking the Diamond(R) – Recognizing Opportunity

Future             2-2-2   The Eagle – The Mind Prevails

Virtue              6-6-2   The Usurper – At War

Fault                1-4-1   Death – Change

Fate                 4-5-5   The Phoenix(R) – Destruction

Interpretation: ???

Also, I've just noticed that I left one nation out...have to correct that tomorrow!

Basic Khmer Spearmen Commissioned

I've commissioned some basic 28mm Khmer spearmen based upon the illustrations from the "Armies of Angkor" book. I also commissioned female versions to serve as the Amazon factions in the Garden of Kama setting.

K is for the Garden of Kama

All work on the Garden seems to have ground to a halt. I am waiting...waiting for resin hulls of the galleys and canoes to send to sculptors; waiting for those with sculptors to get worked on; waiting for Mara to be cast up and mailed to me, waiting for the first figures to be sculpted (they are in the queue), waiting, waiting, waiting... *sigh* ;-)

C is for Chariot (or Cart...)

Fire Chariot...

The image of a fiery cart - sometimes called a chariot - being pulled by a Demon seems to be common in Buddhist art. I've come across several examples, including one that had a demon pushing as well. Unfortunately that example was very small - so small as to be barely visible. I would like to find a better version of it, but these images are the only two I could find. I believe it is also called a "Hell Cart". I'm sure the one saw had Mara standing in the back, but it has been a while so I could be mistaken. 

...or Hell Cart 

A cart inspired by these will be part of the Mara range in the Garden of Kama setting. The Mara themselves have already been sculpted and can be sen here.

B is for Banner Bearers

Excerpted from the Armies of Angkor, by Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h 

Khmer banner bearers to be exact. One of the factions from the Garden of Kama setting is largely based upon the medieval Khmer armies as detailed in the book this illustration is taken from: The Armies of Angkor: Military Structure and Weaponry of the Khmers, by Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h. 

According to this work the armies were accompanied by large numbers of musicians as well as these acrobatic banner bearers who are shown balancing the banners on forehead, chin and - if the illustration is to be believed - lower back! (In this case the illustration is a reproduction of a carving at the palace of Angkor Wat.)

A modern-day variant of flag balancing is still practiced in various areas in SE Asia. 

For the Garden of Kama setting I have commissioned some banner bearers to follow behind the army. At the same time I've been trying my hand at drawing up some banners in Corel Draw...

I've made over 60 designs so far. Each banner is 90mm tall before being put on a pole. The intent is to get the figures sculpted with the banner-base as part of the figure - on the forehead or chin, for example. That will provide a point to drill a support hole with a pin vise to allow the banner to be attached. I've done so many designs because I want each unit to be accompanied by a party of banner bearers, with each banner being different.

In addition to making for a colourful display, there could be a practical benefit to mark casualties (as in Hail Caesar, for example) by removing a banner for each "hit" the unit takes. 

Mara Ordered!

The Mara, sculpted by Andrew May

My news for today is that I've ordered 50 sets of the Mara, or Tibetan inspired demons. Sculpted by Andrew May, they will be sold in sets of six demons. They come with separate hands and heads to maximize the individuality of your warbands. Six different bodies with six different heads and over twelve different hands (I can't recall the exact number of hand/weapon variants done) is 432 combinations, at least, by my calculations. Each set will be $30.00 US with Tekumel Club discounts applying, even though these are not technically related to Tekumel.

If interested please email me at: green27 -AT- sympatico - DOT- ca

Postage is a fixed rate: Canada $5.00; USA $10.00 and International $15.00.

I hope you like them!

In the line-up are their beautiful but deadly sisters: the Daughters of Mara, also sculpted by Andrew.

Best Regards,

Howard Fielding

Galley Seating...

...is better than coach! Well, maybe not so much. :-)

Anyhow, I made a tiny bit of progress today, finishing the benches and gangway for the Khmer galleys. There will be ten oarsmen down each side. This will be molded and cast in resin and included with each galley. The figures will be sculpted sitting, cut-off just below the knees.

There are meant to be wicker screens that provide some small bit of protection (see my previous blog entry) but I haven't figured out exactly how to make those yet. Per the last entry I have some strips of styrene that I hope to weave together to make the wickerwork. It seems likely to be very fiddly and I'm still working out how exactly to approach it. When they are done - if I can do it - they will also be cast in resin by JTFM. They will be very fine, but JTFM specializes in super-fine detail! :-)

Here is one last picture, showing one of our Swamp Folk standing on the gangway...

28mm Wicker Work

The Khmer galleys had a wicker screen that shielded the rowers and I have been agonizing over what to do about it. Tony made a version but I think I want something finer. Today I picked up some .25mm x .5mm stripstryene by Evergreen Scale Models and I'm going to try and weave a screen. My thinking is if I do a panel I can get it molded and then either stick a bunch of the moldings together to make one long screen or just have them so that several are used on each side of the boat.

Sounds easy, eh?

Canoe WIP

Canoe Prow - WIP

Andrew sent me this work in progress picture of the prow of one of the war canoes. Some progress at last...Yay! :-)

Unfortunately the paddlers and fighting crew, and the crews for the galleys, are pushed back. The unfortunate negative side-effects of Kickstarter... :-(

More progress on the galleys...

Just a small update: today I learned that 1) Andrew has received the Galleys and War Canoes I sent him and will be fitting them into his schedule, and 2) Jeff has mailed out additional copies to go to sculptors to have crews done.

Crews...

So the galley and war canoe are on their way to the UK to be customized.

I've asked for additional copies to send to a sculptor to get the crews started on.

Also, currently looking into the possibility of doing other variants some time down the road. In particular: Dong Son (bronze age Vietnamese, essentially)

Of course, we need to translate this into some concept art first!

War Galleys and Canoes...some progress!

Khmer War Galley (top) and Canoe (bottom) - cast by JTFM

Jeff Trnka of JTFM sent me these pictures today of the Khmer War Galley and War Canoe models. He has cut the prow and stern off about five of the plain versions. The bits will be sent to Andrew May in the UK for him to add some funky Khmer detailing similar to the examples below:

The idea is that the prows, body and stern will all be interchangeable to allow for maximum customization. Once that is done, I'll start thinking about crews. These are intended for the Garden of Kama setting so there will be Kamjola (Khmer), Champakou (Cham) and the Amazon nations of Ologog and Aoa.

The galleys were sculpted by Tony Harwood. The galley is about 12" long, and the canoe about 8".

Oh, yeah, almost forgot - the Mara are going off for molding and casting tomorrow. :-)

Daughters of Mara - group picture...

The Daughters of Mara

To be honest, I don't think this is a finished pic but it is the only one I could find on the fly showing all six of the Daughters of Mara. Sculpted by Andrew May.

K is for Kalidah

Illustration by W.W. Denslow

With the heads of a tiger and the body of a bear, I think the Kalidah would be a great creature for the Garden of Kama setting, even though it doesn't come from any eastern mythology. Instead it comes from Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz", from whence this illustration comes.

H is for Hanuman

Hanuman is a character from the Hindu epic the Ramayana. He is one of the Vanara, a race of ape-like half-men who dwell in the forests. In the Garden of Kama, he is a hero of the Vanara, who are one of the non-human factions.

G is for Garuda

Common Representations of the Garuda

The Garuda is a creature that is half-man, half-eagle. Often identified as the King of the Birds, Garuda is sometimes referred to as a singular entity and at other times as a race of beings. The Garuda feature in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions all across south-east asia from Tibet, to India, to Thailand and beyond. The Garuda is the traditional enemy of the Naga.

In the Garden of Kama setting, the Garuda are a race. The intent is to produce miniatures with both male and female versions. They aid Solar Dynasty of the Kshatriya and war with the Serpent Dynasty.