"Does miniature gaming have a Patron Saint ?" Topic

Or do we just rely on the Gods of War to look after our hobby ?

Ares, of course.

--Ares just hasn't been Canonized or Glorified yet. ;-)

All hail to our lord "BEER"

Ares was no saint, but a cowardly murderous scumbag who ran away crying from the first person to wound him, Diomedes. You can look it up in the Iliad.

St. Martin, a soldier who cut his cloak in two to cover a naked begar, is usually considered the patron saint of soldiers. A few Byzantine soldier Emperors are considered Saints in the Greek Orthidox Church. St. Louis was a French king who went on Crusade.

It is more difficult to come up with soldiers who played games in a religious setting. The best I can come up with are the soldiers who threw dice for Jesus' clothing at the crucifixion. I don't think we want them, either...

That is "Orthodox", of course.

John the self-correcting GF/OFM

I always called upon St Jude. Patron saint of lost causes.

As a nominal Protestant (and I protest a LOT!), I find myself often calling on Saint Jude. Although not consistent with Protestant beliefs, sometimes an intermediary is needed.

It really doesn't matter whether I believe in God. It's more important whether God believe in me.

If you want your unit to fail morale after one casualty, by all means go with Ares. Apollo and Athena did much better service in the Iliad.

John Carroll

Extensive research (i.e. two minutes on the Internet) offers little solace for us poor, sinful wargamers, relying on the chances of dice, as we do. Those that our miniatures represent, however, seem to have options. THEY could pray to the following, as appropriate:

Soldiers - St. George (especially if English!), or Joan d'Arc (presumably a French favorite)

Artillery - St. Barbara (no idea why)

Those in peril on the sea (naval gamers!) - St. Michael Archangel

Aviators (air gamers) - St. Joseph Cupertino

And, lastly for all of us as painters - St. Joseph.

Of course, checking the spleen of a kid goat always works for Assyrians. (Grins.)

John,
That's the same St.Martin from the medieval/renaissance movie "Flesh&Blood" renamed something else later (sword &rose?), starring Rutger Hauer who probably wouldn't admit to being in it now?

As a collector of all things unusual I have a felt painting of said St.Martin in my basement hobby studio. I saved him from being tossed into a dumpster by a neighbor when I lived in an apartment many years ago. Before anyone asks- No, I don't have a matching felt Elvis painting (I don't consider him to be the King of Miniatures).

Going by the influence to the hobby thread we could find a current saint or two. And Sainthoods are easily available in certificate form on the internet for 19.95 :)

I'm always in peril on the sea...

I prefer a patron saint certified by a large bloated slow-moving bureaucracy, and that sure depicts the Vatican. $19.95 is so ... common. Even Ares could pay that!

The Old Testament won't help much. All the kings of Israel and Judah who were successful soldiers were condemned by the Clergy for trying to unite their kingdoms by being religiously tolerant. Try to please everybody, I ask you! Oh, wait. Joshua! There you go.

Opium is the religion of the people!

Errrm....No...that's not right...hang on, I've got to check my references...

;o)

Saint Jude. No doubt.

Anything but a one!!

If you're fighting against long odds, Saint David is your man (especially if you're into firepower).

And the patron of sailors is Saint Elmo.

I'll take St. Joseph since he makes aspirin.

St Michael. Patron saint of Underwear - in the UK at least.

I nominate Job.

H.G. Wells? Oh, you mean a real, Vatican-sponsored, Saint-type patron saint. Well, since the Good Book certainly spends a large amount of busy ink relating the charitable and pious pursuits of wiping out whole heathen tribes and generally smiting the unrighteous with any eye towards volume, you know, divine wrath style, there should be _somebody_ in the canon who fits the bill.

But for my money Herbert George is the man. All hail Herbert!

Mark

What about Bill? Our glorious and true leader, although he is unseen his words and deeds are known to us. He appears and judges all that disobey. uh-oh I think we already a Patron Saint!

Well, if my humble efforts can be considered to be supporting the hobby, then that might make me a patron of some kind - though not with godlike powers...

As for being a Saint - by religion I'm a Latter-Day Saint (LDS = Mormon), so I'm already a saint (small "s"). :-)

Well, that settles that...

Hmm. Nobody mentioned the Dice Gods. Who is the patron saint of dice anyway?

I think that would be St Vegas for dice.

[Who is the patron saint of dice anyway?]

Lot? :-)

You are all wrong. Our Patron Saint, per commander Garibaldi of Babylon 5 fame, is Daffy Duck, the Patron Saint of Frustration.

Since we're acting like generals, St. Genesius is the patron saint of acting. He is also the patron saint of lawyers, for all the rules lawyers out there, so we're covered.

Sorry guys, but the 'Saints' don't care for the minis. We are strickly in pagan territory here.

'You see, (adopts lecturing tone) modern miniatures is little more than an exercise of sympathetic magic.
By placing the correctly prepared and selected fetishes on the holy board, the participants seek to exercise power over the other by quoting the ritual text and engaging in divinations through use of dice casting. Indeed the participants seek to experience the conflicts of their ancestral past as well as the future to come. Becoming, for a brief moment the very avatars of those they emulate'.(end of lecture)

I can't see how miniatures fit clearly on the Judeo-Christian approved list. Miniatures probably fall under the First and Second Commandments (the bits about false gods and graven images) and considering I most of my painting on Sundays...well there ya go, 3/10. ;)

Jack Chick could explain it to us all...

-Sean (off to go find my 28mm Moloch idol)

Patron saints:

link

For dice, I looked up "Gambling", under "G", and cot St. Bernardine of Siena. His linked bio gives very few clues why, except that he preached. A LOT.

Soldiers have Sts. Martin of Tours, George, MAurice and Sebastian. American soldiers, oddly, have Joan of Arc, as do French, who also have St. Louis. Paraguayan soldiers have Mary, on the feast of Her Assumption.

Sailors have Sts. Brendan, Erasmus (Elmo), Francis of Paola and Nicholas of Myra.

Arms dealers (!) have Adrian of Nicomedia. I think he should look after the Dealers area at Historicon, also.

Artillery, indeed Barbara, possibly because her tyrannical father was struck by lightning, immediately after beheading her for refusing to renounce the Faith. That showed him!

There a lot more, including cavalry, etc. But the number one Patron saint for wargamers: Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of asses.

Saint Buffy, our lady of suspicious miracles.

St. Hubbins is the patron saint of casual footwear, according to Spinal Tap. Thats what you need for your feet, so it works for me.

Actually I like to think that the good Lord has more important things to look after than having dispatch someone to look after my dice. Besides with the way I swear at the dice sometimes I dont want anyone that will be there on judgement day to hold it against me.

St. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Quebec (why else is the the provincial holiday set on his day). But I'm not a Catholic, so I don't bother with that.

I'm kind of still angry that they made some medieval monk patron saint of the internet instead of William Gibson.

Now if only they would canonise Genghis Khan...

You LDS as well Bill? How nice.
I've always been partial to St. George. Charming story & his image is everywhere in the Christian communities here.

From the movie Waterloo as the French are closing on the allies in the rain.

Napoleon "Tomorrow we will dry our boots in Brussels."

Ney, "God willing sire."

Napoleon, "God? Gods got nothing to do with it!"

Cheers Neil T

I for one agree with Tabletop, St. Jude :-)

Grimm

I always thought it was St. VISA...

Shalom,

Maksim-Smelchak.

Someone once said to the Spanish during the Peninsular War "A pox on your saints! The English only have two saints, St. Powder & St. Ball....."

I have coins of the deified emperors Hadrian, Aurelian and Probus which I carry for good fortune in gaming. The Hadrian coin I make a point of touching in its plastic case to every place connected with that emperor like the vallum in Britannia.

Ave

Lead and Paint! Lead and Paint! Lead and Paint for my Lord Arioch!
-- Actual quote from Elric that Michael Moorcock incorrectly transcribed

Barely relevant aside time - as someone mentioned a patron Saint of dice.

Einstein once said (in a critique of quantum physics)
that he refused to believe that God plays dice with the Universe.

To which Neils Bohr (I think) replied: "Alby, stop telling God what he can and cannot do."

Personally I don't pray or ask for favor from a saint while on the gaming table. There are other men and women in harms way that need their help more than I. I only ask to have what common sense with me on the field that day and I will take care of the rest.

ST. Barbara is now accepted as the patron saint of those who work with explosives - The Italian drillers who built the big tunnels for the Lake Taupo power scheme here had a shrine to her some 200metres underground. Also, the chapel at White Sands and Kennedy Centre arededicated to ST. Barbara, as was the chapel in "Space Cadet" by Bob Heinlien.

And if anyone is in New Zealand any time, drop me a line aforehand, and I can take you to see the Throne Of ARES himself.

No kidding. From the Xena show.

Oh man I'd so love getting a picture in that thing!

Covert Walrus, I'd only be impressed if you had Xena in person in a giant mylar sleeve attached to your wall ...

Saint Anger- Metallica's new album

Saint Kilda- Aussie rules football club

Saint Elsewhere- a compelling reason not to own a TV

hail Eris!

He is unknown at this point but my vote is that brave ancestor of ours who, upon looking at some random grains lying bubbling in puddle of rainwater in a depression on a rock, thought "hmm I wonder what that tastes like?" And thus was born fermentation!

Brendan the Navigator
Feast Day: May 16

Patron Saint of
.Sailors .Mariners .Navigators .Whales
.Travelers .Older Adventurers