A is for Aoa

The two Amazon nations in the Garden of Kama, Aoa and Ologog, are alike in many ways but are bitter rivals, often being found on opposite sides of any conflict. Both are ruled by a Rani of the Kshatriya warrior caste and both revere the Goddess Kali. The Kshatriya of Aoa are of the Fire Dynasty, however, while the Kshatriya of Ologog are of the Solar Dynasty and this is the source of their great rivalry.

More information about the Kshatriya can be found here.

Galley Pics

Scans from the "Armies of Angkor" book, used as a basis for the galleys. There are other illustrations, but I am just uploading these as an example.

Galley - almost done...

Basic Khmer War Galley, by Tony Harwood

Here are some not-quite-finished pics of the basic war galley. There is some rattan wickerwork that runs down each side, offering the oarsman a little bit of protection, that still needs to be added. This will be a separate piece on the model.

The plan is to send this off to be cast in resin. The prow and stern posts will be cut and made so they slot together to allow for modularization. There will be a couple of versions of the hull, which often had Makara heads carved at the front; of the prow, which featured various Naga or Garuda heads; and the stern which was often fashioned into a Naga tail.

Khmer Galley WIP...

Crafted by Tony Harwood

Tony sent me a few WIP pics, including the one shown above. The stern is upper left, the prow lower right. There are going to be a few modifications but this is the basic look. It is just under 12" long.

Pretty Sweet, eh?

Khmer Galleys...

Khmer and Cham Galleys


And Again...





WIP pics of a basic galley, by Tony Harwood

Inspired by the drawings of the Khmer navies in The Armies of Angkor, I've commissioned Tony to make some models for the Garden of Kama setting. The intent is that the prow and stern pieces should be modular in order that a variety of designs can be used. The carved prows typically feature Naga, Makara and Garuda head designs. The galleys are going to be about 300 mm long by 46 mm wide. The figurehead is going to be slightly taller than they probably were historically, but that is OK as the Garden in primarily a fantasy setting anyway.

In addition to the galleys I am planning on getting some slightly smaller war canoes made as well.

It should be noted that while the artists impressions shown above are great for action, their depiction of the vessels is a little off. For one thing, they are too high out of the water - especially in the first painting - and they are not quite wide enough either. The galleys were apparently carved from a single log but then the sides were spread wide apart. A row of oarsmen with fairly short oars ran down each side; their only protection being a sort of wicker fence. The galleys were large enogh for warriors to stand in the prow and between the oarsmen. In the stern sat a single steersman.

Tinkering...

Revised Armour and Shield Protection Chart for Barbarians of Lemuria.

I find I am always tinkering with rules; I don't think there is a rule set that I own that I haven't at least tried to tinker with at one time or other.

In this case, I didn't like that shields were only worth 1 point of protection. I wanted to add different sizes of shields and make larger shields better against missile fire. As far as armour goes, while I liked the variable protection values, I didn't like that the heavier armour could provide so little protection at times.

Barbarians of Lemuria

I've added "Barbarians of Lemuria" to my list of projects for 2012. This comes from a desire to use my Dwarven Forge terrain for some "Dungeon Crawl" expeditions. I've been pondering what rules to use for a while - we tried modifying Broadsword Adventures/Fantastic Worlds from Rattrap Productions. These are good rules - really good rules actually - but the magic in Broadsword Adventures was a little too vague as I recall. Then I tried converting D&D magic - in sort of a D&D-BA Mash-up, with limited success. It wasn't that it didn't work, it's just I wasn't too inspired by it all in the end.

I've tried the Song of Blades and Heroes from Ganesha Games, but some aspects of it were a little too loosey-goosey for my tastes. Two Hour Wargames has some good ideas, and my "Band of Joyous Heroes" rules is based on that system, but those rules are still being developed. Why not use this as part of the development process? Well, maybe I will - but right now I have set those aside. Maybe I'll come back to them, maybe not.

Barbarians of Lemuria is more an RPG than tabletop skirmish game, but it offers a certain flavour that makes it attractive to me. For one, it emphasizes the Conan-style Sword & Sorcery - lightly armoured barbarians over plate armoured knights. It isn't medieval Europe or Tolkien's Middle Earth, which is a good thing. The rules are simple, but I have yet to determine if they actually work in the role I intend. I was up in North Bay last weekend, and on the 5 hour drive back we worked out the stats for a party of adventurers:


Wulfgar
Attributes:
ST 3
AG 1
MD 0
AP 0
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 2
Ranged 1
Defense 1
Life Blood: 13
Careers:
Barbarian 2
Blacksmith 1
Hunter 1
Gladiator 0
Hero Points: 6
Homeland: Valgard
Boons:
Marked by the Gods
Valgardian Blade
Flaws:
Country Bumpkin
Languages:
Illiterate
Valgardian
Broken Lemurian
- this a fudge to allow him to communicate with the rest of the party. In game terms it means the character has to talk with a thick Austrian accent and I (as GM) get to roll to see if the others [mis-]understood from time to time. You know what that means...

********************


Athanaseus (or Anatheus)*
Attributes:
ST 0
AG 0
MD 3
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 3
Life Blood: 10
Careers:
Magician 3
Scholar 1
Noble 0
Minstral/Poet 0
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Sartala
Boons:
Great Wealth
Flaws:
Arrogant, City Dweller
Languages:
Literate
Lemurian
Sorceric
Old Tongue of Man

********************


Bakkistabbo
Attributes:
ST -1
AG 3
MD 1
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 0
Melee 1
Ranged 1
Defense 2
Life Blood: 9
Careers:
Assassin 1
Beggar 1
Merchant 0
Thief 2
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Halakh
Boons:
Escape Artist
Fighting Knife (Kir)
Sneaky
Flaws:
Landlubber
Untrustworthy
Languages:
Illiterate
Lemurian

*******************


Valeria (or Venusia)*
Attributes:
ST 1
AG 1
MD 0
AP 2
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 1
Melee 2
Ranged 0
Defense 1
Life Blood: 11
Careers:
Dancer 1
Gladiator 1
Soldier 1
Mariner 1
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Parsool
Boons:
War Cry
Flaws:
None
Languages:
Illiterate
Lemurian

********************


Hestia (or Rolla)*
Attributes:
ST 1
AG 1
MD 1
AP 1
Combat Abilities:
Brawl 1
Melee 1
Ranged 0
Defense 2
Life Blood: 9
Careers:
Priest 2
Farmer/Peasant 0
Physician/Healer 1
Scribe/Scholar 1
Hero Points: 5
Homeland: Lysor
Boons:
Disease Immunity
Learned: Flora & Fauna
Flaws:
Delicate
Languages:
Literate
Lemurian

* In the car we couldn't remember the names used in the Broadsword Adventures/D&D Mash-up. Not sure which names Bruce has decided on for this...

Note: All the above pictures are of Reaper Miniatures from their website. Head on over there, and use their Figure Finder utility to find your perfect character miniature!