Its my second day off in a row and I'm sat waiting on someone coming to fix the boiler (no hot water for three days doth not a happy Richard or Amy make).
Following on from my ramblings of yesterday, I have been considering the possibilities of attempting a Chronopia project to feed my love of the old and sadly now out of production game. Down the years, I have actually painted up a fair few of the figures, even going as far as having complete Dark Tusk and Sons of Kronos forces. Sadly they are long gone, sold off when I moved house or lost in the depths of time.
About the only figures I still have are the rather brilliant Viridian Lord and a couple of Fallen swordsmen:
While the range tended towards going for cricket bat sized weapons and big shoulderpads, it certainly had a visual style very unlike any game that came before it and it really resonated with many gamers while the rules themselves were really fantastic and the background itself was totally immersive and presented the usual fantasy races in a fresh light.
While the miniatures do still crop up from time to time, I have found that many of them suffer from lead rot which degrades the sculpt and puts me off actually wanting to get any more. This, coupled with some of the sculpts not really living up to the concept, has inspired me to revisit the game in 15mm scale.
While I am working on this project, I plan on mashing it together with two other game systems to allow me to try them out as well. The two systems are Leviathan and Crucible, both great games with interesting settings and fresh takes on the usual fantasy races.
The main problem I am going to face is the very uniqueness of the style of these games. In Chronopia, the Orcs are brown skinned, ruled by Ogres and are very much of a Saracen inspired vibe while Dwarves are walking tanks, literally covered in heavy plate armour. Some of this can be sorted out by simply converting or proxying but I am seriously thinking of sculpting some new figures to cast.
Some years ago, I sculpted up these fellows:
The Boar Company
Could I produce something similar now but to a quality that I was happy with? I don't see why not but could I take it a step further to sculpt some suitably unusual fantasy races and mash ups? I think I am going to have to get some sketching done and try sculpting up some test pieces and will see how I get on!
All the best!
...as you said, those game have a non generic imaginery so would be hardly fitting in any other universe, ecept for crucuble orcs = WFB savage orcs with those bones and african look. Other than that, and Leviathan and Chronopia being relatives, can't see i.e. crucible goblins nor cultists matching other system's minis.
ReplyDeleteImpressive minis, BTW. Can't wait to see your approach to Stygians (those being the most suitable as generic lizardmen).
We just had our boiler replaced by our landlords last week (after a week and a half of no hot water), so I can sympathise!
ReplyDeleteI somewhat missed the boat on Chronopia and Warzone, I have the rulebooks (which I crack open every once in a while) but I never got to play either game before they all but vanished from the scene. I do love many of the miniatures though, they do indeed have a very unique look to them.