"Historical miniatures (gamers) + monsters" Topic

A couple of threads here late have presented pictures of specific games played with clearly historical miniatures and these classic minis were lining up to deal with giant spiders in one example and using grand glass sound canons in another.

Now I know there are a few hard noses type floating within TMP that are itching for a fight about "insert" especially when dealing with the subject of historical miniatures…this thread is not intended to rattle any cages and if the opening title and first paragraph have raised your blood pressure well except my apologies and please do not read any further as I am not looking for a war of words.

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I found the image of the gentlemen soldiers facing off against the spiders to be intriguing.

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So here is my question, especially for you hard core historical miniatures gamers out there, would it deeply offend you for a fellow gamer to bring a box of monsters like giant spiders to place against the BBBHM (big beautiful box of historical miniatures) under your arm?

Would you play?

Let us say the monsters have real world stats rather than magic…dog sized spiders count as dogs, elephant sized spiders count as elephants, etc. maybe at the most add an element for webs/entangle and or poison (maybe point out as being on fire for damage).

Anyway, the image of the fine gentlemen facing off against the horde of monsters along with the interesting constructs inspires me…does it repel you or also pique your interest?

Aw cmon, is this April 1st?………..

Sorry…no. Just a curious George asking a question :)

Isnt that what Victorian Sci Fi is all about?

That is a good example :)

If it was planned I might be up for it. If he just turned up to napoleonic game with an army of spiders I wouldn't.

If it's planned, then sure why not? One of the local groups around here just did a "run what you brung" type game using Chain Reaction 3.0 from THW. It involved Sharpe's Rifles going through a time gate, and then fighting whatever popped up. Each time they went through, on a 1 they were back in the proper time. Kind of like the old SPI game Time Tripper. I had to miss the game, but everyone sounded like they enjoyed themselves afterwards.
BWW

Those example shots look like a load of fun to me… I'm not usually a historical gamer but I kind of circle the edge sometimes. Something like this could drag me that bit closer to trying some straight up historicals.
I've had a desire to do some sort of Napoleonic fantasy battle since I saw The Brothers Grimm (scenes of rational troops and a bit of weird tech against fairy tale creatures in an ancient forest).

It depends on what type of fantasy/SF is mixed with what historical period.

I think it works best if the SF/F is in sync with the literature of the period – or set in the period.

E.g. in Victorian times, Jules Verne-like contraptions have their place, but these would make a mismatch in medieval times. OTOH, Da Vinci's inventions could well be featured in a late medieval or renaissance game.

18th century warfare might be combined with fairy-tale fantasies such as that written by the Brothers Grimm.

Medieval can of course be matched with traditional swords-and-sorcery fantasy.

Ancient games might be combined with fantasy elements taken from biblical literature – there's a lot of fantasy stuff to be found in the Old Testament.

Etc…

I would certainly play although I think I'd prefere the historical opponents just having monstrous stuff backing them up as a fantasy version of whatever it was.

So in a Sikh War game I could see the Sikhs using some sort of spider cavalry out of the jungle and the Brits using some sort of dinosaurs or whatever. Maybe even some sandworm or cave worm type things hauling the artillery around. Alternately the regular troops could be guard for some sort of monsters. I'd certainly be up for it.

For ancients it is even more obvious, like with Greeks fighting against monsters like minotaurs, skeletons and whatnot or medieval types lancing against dragons and giants.

I like to play games with toys soldiers. Whether that be purely historical, sci-fi/fantasy, or a blend of the two matters not to me as long as the game is presented nicely and plays well.

More and more here lately I have found myself drawn to the blended genre games. I think that is because it allows me to get more use out of what i already have as well as allowing me to "dip my toes" into a new period that I might have an itch to paint figs for but not sure Im interested enough to just dive right in. Usually, for me, that means I end up painting a couple units of hitoricals for a blended skirmish game then paint a couple more units to face them in a purely historical skirmish. Then if I find I'm liking the period I might go ahead and round out the armies.

Stacy

Most napoleoinc gamers fight with monsters, or atleast one ogre

Lets see I have used Gods in my Troy games does that count? Also in my pirate ships for kids (It's Elementary) I use sea monsters. I have Wampa's in Star Wars Hoth game. So yes with in reason. Zombies are no holes barred. Now would I play Gettysburg with giant bugs? I think not.
VR
James Mattes

For the 18th C., meeting on dry land huge monsters such as the one illustrated is quite uncommon, with the possible exception of unfortunate pirates landing on Skull Island link or R'lyeh en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu or awakening Godzilla.

On the other hand, zombies, vampires and werewolves (and animated scarecrows in the Colonies) are less and less rare:
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I recommend to read the long and so well illustrated 'adventure' "On a moonlit night in Pangaea…." report origin the pic: link (link already provided in the initial post).

Recent TMP threads regarding 'alternate' 18th C. possibilities:
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and even
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Almost parallel, if more restricted in topic, thread: TMP link

Excellent examples of 'home made' zombification by 'pimp my minis' conversions: link

If it offends them I hope they don't play my game at Guns of August or Fall In!

Jason
Stafford, VA

ETA I do think GMs owe it to the players to let them know in advance fantasic elements may be involved in a game. If I signed up for what I thought was a historical Battle on Snowshoes game and my rangers were suddenly attacked by a Wendigo I'd be a little put off…

I always try to conceal at least one Jagdpanther somewhere on the table in any of my horse-n-musket games.

A Idea like this for me came up 30 years ago when the club split from D&D to Napoleonics. Could a wizard beat a Nap Army? We never played it but was the discusion for quite a while. So at least this idea of combining games wouldn't be new, I thought of having my 7YW troops fight my dragon in a Jersey Devil game.

Napoleonics are no longer totally immune: TMP link
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I have used a Modern FLames of War Army and Rules for my Battle Of Yonkers game. I guess someone who never read the book might of thougt it was another FOW game.

Lacepunk TMP link skyships [Three Musketeers – 2011] YouTube link
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For Napoleonics, there was of course the fantasy version 'Flintloque'. Don't know if it's still around, though.

As long as all parties were aware that something strange will happen, yes,

Otherwise Yog shoggoth!

Hi

I don't see any problem with the scenario – but then, if you think hard enough, you could come up with an endless list of possible genre bending situations:

A Walt disney selection of miniature rubberised toys V's the 95th Rifles in an antartic setting OR, perhaps

The airborne bacteria from a t… V's a 'wing' of spitfires in a close to zero gravity off planet environment

At the end of the day the world is your oyster …

I agree there are many options, but in this case with historicals I would relish the opportunity to revisit set events and battles while introducing a small percentage of horror to the setting.

Not so much that it was completely gonzo without any sense of balance.

For me, a 01-05% of a tilt towards horror would be enough to shake things up.

And a nice reuse of historical miniatures.