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Weekender XLBS: The Ben-isode – Lord of the Rings, Age Of Sigmar & More
June 28, 2015 by warzan
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Happy Sunday!
Clan Hamilton
“Through”
Dark Ages are roughly the 6th to 13th centuries.
That’s the ooold definition. Modern historians either restrict the term to the early middle ages (which means approximately the period they talk about in the XLBS), or avoid it entirely as being misleading.
That period was only really dark for the west, so it’s not a very commonly used term anymore (not to mention that even for the west it wasn’t really all that dark, after all, life expectancy for people was higher)
If you were one of tutees I would mark you down for the term ‘Dark Ages’ 😛
The Gordon Clan. Happy Sunday guys, a welcome surprise.
Happy Sunday
MacIntyre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacIntyre
My maternal great grandmother’s family, a Scottish clan with the motto “through adversity”
Family stories were that we had moved from Argyll in Scotland to Ulster in NI and then back again.
In a weird twist, my paternal grandmother owned a lodge in Cladich, near Oban and Inverary, which is renowned for being almost entirely inhabited by MacIntryes!!!
Happy Sunday!! Woot surprise XLBS!
Clan Douglas. (The Black Douglas’)
“James The Good” Douglas fought along side Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
William Douglas was murdered by James 2nd in Stirling Castle.
Archibald Douglas was a Regent of Scotland.
There were some very dark moments of nastiness too, but all families have a little drama.
The motto is “Jamais Arriere” – Never Behind.
Never been sure whether this means never retreat, never be last, always lead, but think my mums family ancestry fascinating.
Clan Kerr, Wardens of the Middle March. Been love/hate with you Douglas’s, also neighbours of the Johnstone of the Western March (bloody nutters, wouldn’t listen when we told them not to attack Carlisle then wondered why the English sent a humungous retaliatory force). Our branch is in Derbyshire now but only come down recently, my parents are both Scots… Serro sed serrio, late but in earnest – we had a habit of turning up just at the right time and declaring for the winning side hehe. Legend has it we were formed from a pair of brothers from Bergen, Norway (Vikings hehe) who settled in the 1080’s, lived in Lancashire for a bit before getting a land grant in the Scottish borders. Been knocking about ever since
It’s a love thing.
As long as there’s no Percy blood in you we’ll let bygones be bygones.
Sadly the habit of the times and the region was to raid either side of the border.
We did seem to be a sucker for following fashion that way. 🙂
Happy Sunday!
Sad to see the Hobbit dropped although obviously not a surprise. I’d imagine the low sales and no further movies out weighed the cost for a further license extension. Loved the game system but GW never really, for me, created a buzz around the Hobbit the entire promotion of core game was very tired.
Clan Buchanan
“Clan Buchanan can trace its chiefly line back to Anselan O Kyan who was of the clan Ó Catháin, provincial king of north Ulster (and had his seat in Limavady, Co. Londonderry) who landed in Argyll in 1016.”
So we’re from up your way before going to Scotland!
Fact-checking: The Varangians fought for the Byzantine emperors. Charlemagne was not one of them.
indeedy. Recruited a lot of English into their ranks after 1066, so many in fact the area around Trebizond was nearly renamed Nova Anglia
I <3 the Hobbit, it's actually still pretty huge here in Australia, we have a great FB group here too.
Several members of the Hubbbard clan have researched the family history over the years, here are some of the highlights.
Some say that we’re descendants of King Hubba
The first mention of the name Hubbard is reference to the Bishop Hubbard of Munich in around 840AD
A Thomas Hubbard was knighted in Crecy in the 14th Century
There is a letter between Wellington and Cornwallis where they discuss a Lt. Hubbard, who Wellington stated was steady in battle bty habitually swayed in the wind…
Great Uncle Bert was a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain
Those are some of the highlights I can remember…..they say that every Hubbard is descended from one of two branches, so that most are related to each other distantly.
Oh as a kid I asked my gran if we had any American relatives and she said yes, though there is one we don’t discuss, because he is a writer, a conman and has created his own religion
Awesome as a relative of old ‘L Ron’ you probably have a natural curiosity about all thing volcano 😉
Actually I don’t but one of my brothers did when he was younger lol
Happy Sunday!
GoT-tabletop wargame is basically Historical-minis for troops.
I´d however really like a company to do individual characters from the TV-series in 28mm. Knight Models mayhaps? 🙂
Dark Sword Miniatures have a stunning line of GoT miniatures.
Excellent Weekender!!!
Loads of fun subject matter and logical looks at rumours.
I have loved the look of Saga myself but never got into it.
Looking forward to some coverage of rules and ways into the game.
The Perry plastic dark age minis look excellent and work out very cost effective.
I think Saga could do with a conventional starter set to get people involved more.
Swap your Bolt Action French farm houses for some Dark Age churches and your terrain is sorted.
Nice surprise to find this great start to Sunday. On annual lads gaming weekend. Just setting up for a massive 6mm Waterloo game we have been planning for the last three years for 200 anniversary.
Ohhhh!!! Please post pics!
Just saw your request. Have some pics but they do not do the game justice. Will see what the rest of the guys have and pick some. We have been gaming for 30+ years and general consensus was this was probably the most tensely epic game we have run. Stunning, brutal on both sides, allied victory with a real twist.
Yay. A Sunday surprise!
A surprise XLBS!!! Just for me! Brings a tear to the eye.
Happy Sunday!
Or should I say Happy SAGA!
Dark ages are really from the fall of the Roman Empire to about the time of the Battle of Hastings. Although the term is used less and less these days by historians.
As for interesting ancestory – dads side Sir James Brunlees, who was knighted by Queen Victoria for his work on the Mersey rail tunnel and was a founding member of the original Channel Tunnel Company
mums side there is a family tale that we are related to Clementina Walkinshaw, who mothered the children of and some say married Charles Edward Stuart ( Bonnie Prince Charlie )
much of it is to do with the idea that after Rome, everything was crap which should rightfully be disregarded these days, whether it’s the Moors in Andalusia with the great library at Corduba, the Ostrogoths eventually breaking up and forming the beginnings of the Italian states and the growth of universities in Italy, the great administrative machinery of the Holy Roman Empire, hell, even the Danes – look at Denmark just before the viking age and they were a centralised, incredibly well organised country. Single national army and navy, strong government, massive public works whether it was round forts, military canals, new harbours, new roads, all went well until Charlemagne had the King of Denmark murdered, threw the country into dynastic dispute and the north ends up with a massive power vacuum that isn’t sorted for centuries… Even Britain, the early monasteries, early Frankish castles are testament to the abilities of the church and state to attempt the replication of old Roman building techniques
Happy Sunday! I was very happy to see the weekender today. Great show, get Ben to be on the show more he did a good job. Looking forward to the Saga coverage I’ve been thinking about getting into that game as well.
The disgust on Justins face at 31:35!!
Happy Sunday, a really nice surprise to have a weekender show as well this weekend to watch, cheers for the extra effort to the team and great to put another face to a name Ben.
Clan O’Hanlon. I believe we hail from somewhere near the border twixt north and south.
Still confused about all these Warhammer rumours. There seems to be a lot of contradictory stuff in the ether – ain’t it always the way, I suppose.
Someone should just kidnap and interrogate a high-ranking GW employee and let the world know!
Happy Sundayyyyy
Nice surprise – Happy Sunday!
Tried a demo game of Saga and found it tactical and very enjoyable.
Hope you do a ‘Saga Week’ as it is worth the airtime.
There is a German site I have seen that has both LOTR And GoT conversions on it for SAGA
I think its https://tabletopdeutschland.wordpress.com
GW – Game of Thrones franchise would be a a bad idea for long term business as there are only two seasons left of the show. You’d have the same pattern as LOTR… lots of cash thrown at them for a year or two and then a huge drop off down to hard core fans only
Clan O’Kane, from up near you in Limavady. We basically were the bodyguards of the O’Neills and one of my ancestors was Niall of the Nine Hostages who kidnapped Saint Patrick from Britain and brought him to Ireland.
Also the tune for Danny Boy was originally a lament for one of our chieftains. Other claim to fame is that a myth about one of the O’Kane’s may have heavily influenced Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Would love to see the line back and What manuscripts were used to draw the line
Harald Haldrada was possibly the most famous warrior of the age. Was the head of the Varangian Guard in Byzantium and had a small claim to the English Crown and died at The Battle Stamford Bridge against King Harold a few weeks before Hastings
Cheers for the surprise Weekender, Lads- after this I’ll be catching up on the Infinity Boot-Camp, so that’s my morning sorted!
I don’t have a clan- but I’m a Haythornthwaite (corrupted from Hawthornthwaite), which means ‘a clearing of hawthorn trees’ in Norse- many years ago my Father and I were approached by a Professor from another branch of the family tree who was interested in the genetics of the name. We sent him some cheek-swab DNA samples and eventually discovered our ancestors were indeed originally from Norway!
Hence, SAGA holds a special place in my heart and is probably one of my top 5 games- really hope we get a theme week or series for this fantastic system…
The McLarens “CREAG AN TUIRC!” Happy Sunday guys
Happy Sundayyy!! Cool surprise!
My surname means I’m part of the clan McMillian. I have a tie in the tartan, but that’s about as far as I go.
If you want to known anything about the Inniskillings, take a trip to Enniskillen and visit the regimental museum in Enniskillen Castle. I was there years ago and remember enjoying it. I do known the Inniskillings lost 478 out of 750 men at Waterloo but were vital in saving the centre of Wellington’s line.
Did you not see the leaked images from next weeks WD then? 🙂
@grumhelden No to squeeze this in it was recorded before they dropped, so it would have changed opinions in the vid a bit, but no enough to can the video … so we opted to put it out anyway. 🙂
I think the one of the major problems with family trees and descendants is that in Ireland and Scotland and probably in Wales,not sue about England is that the local peasants and serfs often took the name of the local lords when identifying themselves to others. So these days while a surname can very common it will be only probably be one family that can trace its line back. Usually these are the ones who are still living in the big houses with all the money
A big shed doesn’t count then 🙁
Is it gold plated?
Can see your point. The same occurred with slaves through history too, all the way back to ancient Rome when a slave may be granted manumission on the death of their owner. As I understand it though, the money in the gentry followed the firstborn son, the other siblings were sired in case of the early demise of the firstborn. They were the ones who tended to become soldiers or members of the clergy.
Mind you go back several centuries and mathematically you could be related to anyone.
Well technically everyone with a European Heritage is related to Charlemagne,
Fan of QI?
You but I heard it before then I think. No idea where though if I had
I found out that Clan doesn’t mean family. It translates closer to Father. I thought as a kid everyone representing the Douglas Clan in a battle would have Douglas as their surname or at least be related in some way. (I wasn’t a smart child)
I found out that a group of families would affiliate themselves to a Clan, usually heavily due to regional, traditional and political reasons and history would brush them all as a particular Clan name for ease of explanation and to show who was basically leading and commanding the fealty of those at the battle.
Sort of curious now, that if Justin’s clan were allegedly kicked out of Scotland for sheep stealing on whether they were one of the clans that were border reivers. Actually thinking about it that could make an interesting game, Justin’s clan robbing Warren’s clan of it’s sheep.
I can’t understand why my brain is having trouble NOT thinking about the possibilities of this lol 😉
he should be happy his family weren’t further north the (glen co) massacre was to do with cattle/sheep rustling.
YES! More @brennon on camera please. It’s time for BoW’s very own Wizard of Oz to step out from behind the curtain 😀
Seriously though, met Ben at Salute this year, and what a class act!
I’m liking the sound of Saga – would be very happy to see more coverage of this on BoW
There you go @brennon another one who shares my opinion 😉
Oooh … well that has intrigued me about what’s going on over in Games Workshop. I hope the Game Of Thrones miniature game is untrue. They need to focus in getting one fantasy game working. They can certainly make the Sigmar universe more Game Of Thrones-esque.
Wow SAGA! SAAAAAAAAAAAGA! SAAAAAAAAAAAGA!
Vikings. We had a thing every one had to learn for our wedding where if any at the head table shouted Viking, everyone stood and shouted the following:
We are Vikings, we are vikings
Flagons of ale,
Axe in my hand
Shield on my arm
Enemies at my feet!
HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAA!
Then drink what ever they had in front of them.
We convinced Victorias 12 year old niece she had to wear her hair in pigtails to denote she was a girl not of marrying age. She was absolutely terrified. Her mum rang us and said tell her your kidding we did not!
SAAAAAAAGA SAAAAAAAAGA!
Did Brittanium by TFL is pretty good game as well
I have played the campaign for it. It complements SAGA quite as they deal with different eras in the Dark Ages (*ahem* Early Medieval Period).
I for one would like very much to see some Saga coverage. Picked up the rulebook a little while ago but have not, as yet, had the chance to play a game. They do seem to be a cracking set of rules though.
If you can get to it add it to the list of things to do/visit York Viking Festival “Yorvik 2016” the 31yr of the festival this is the largest Viking fest in Europe. Look up previous years for a simple taste of the events. Great days out, dramatic tellings of saga’s in medieval buildings. Just come, it’s that simple, just come. Feb 11 to 19 to be confirmed.
I second that, the York viking festival is most certainly worth a visit.
Happy sunday folks! :
Oh and YES, Ben needs to become a permanent fixture! 🙂
Weekender clubs. Nice surprise
Happy Sunday! 🙂 You have made my day guys, thank you!
warren the unofficial carry on character…. Justins face at the horse and women gag priceless, a very enjoyable start to the day
It is great, that you will cover SAGA more in the future! I’m looking forward to that.
SAGA focuses on the “Viking Age”, which – according to the authors – starts at Lindisfarne 793 and ends with the Norman Conquest 1066. I think the “Dark Ages” cover a longer period but anyway, almost three centuries is quite a long time, to be covered in a single setting. Some of the factions would have never met on the battlefield.
Happy Sunday!
Did you know there are already experimental battle boards for integrating GoT armies/houses into SAGA out there in the interwebs 🙂 Great combination, in my opinion, ’cause the SAGA ruleset is just amazing. @brennon: Double thumbs up for your enthusiasm for SAGA drag the rest of the Beasts in 🙂
Nice surprise, I was not expecting any XLBS this week. I don’t come from a clan but I’m of German ancestry and my family has a code of arms.
Happy Sunday!
Part of the McCabes on my maternal grandmother’s side, our motto “Either Conquer or Die” rather appropriate for gallowglasses 🙂
My paternal grandmother used to claim we were part of Clan Wallace though I’m not sure how true that one is.
I’d love to see a Saga week or just some Saga on the site it’s a great game
Happy infinity boot camp Sunday!
Thanks to a step-mother who is a genealogist:
Clan Duncan
Motto: Learn to Suffer
20th century Canada – carpenters and church builders
19th century Canada – church building and working on the Rideau Canal
1835 – descendant grandfather lists place of birth as Magherafelt, Lunndunderri
Prior to that there’s nothing specific, but the Duncan’s were part of the transplanted Scots, and there is a Clan Duncan listed as fighting for the Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Further back, there are some who claim relation to the 4th century settlers to southern Scotland who were Irish Celts, but there is no good link other than a Lord with the first name Duncan, so it seems more likely to be a modern anachronistic connection; having looked at the source in the Annals of Ulster, the theory smacks of an attempt to show that N.I. Duncans are really more Irish than Scottish if you look far enough back. (And knowing my family, it probably started in a pub, something like “no, we’ve been here longer, I’ll prove it to you! 20 quid to make it interesting!”)
Little known fact @apocryphal
Magherafelt is also mine and @lloyd‘s place of birth too 🙂
I’m not surprised it’s little known. Don’t think I would let it become public knowledge either. Though I can’t say too much after where I was born
So we get a warning about the mentioning of some explicit Game of Thrones content, but not about Warren’s viking raid fantasies involving bestiality and women trafficking? You guys need to get your priorities straight. 😉
From the introduction I think that the company behind SAGA would be a much better match for a Game of Thrones battle game than GW. As you mentioned GW will have huge problems with the sexual content, but I think also with the graphic violence. The Warhammer universes are indeed violent, but it’s a glorified ‘poetic’ kind of violence. You won’t see any of the horrendous mutiliation you get in GoT.
Another good candidate for making the miniatures might be Scibor. They are already familiar with some naughty content. But they’d probably up-play instead of downplay that. 🙂
On Age of Sigmar, the previous multi-cultural starter list got me a bit excited for the game. The miniatures shown for the Cult of Sigmar don’t really help that though. I feel they are medieval Space Marines. And the ‘new’ starter box list just sounds plain boring. I already own pretty much everything in there, so that wouldn’t be a good way to get me into the game. I hope it’s just some misinformation.
Free rules does sound interesting. But I think a 4 page ruleset will be more like a teaser with the basic gameplay mechanics than a complete rulebook. You will probably still need to buy a weighty volume to play the game in full.
And I support the motion for getting Ben on the show more often. He brought a lot of interesting topics to the show and was able to talk about them eloquently.
We can argue all we like about rules but GW can get more models to market faster and to a higher standard than pretty much any other company
Great bonus, cheers guys.
Saga would make a really cool bootcamp….
One of my ancestors was convicted of necromancy!! I keep expecting a visit from some unholy creature everyday.
Me and a couple of mates created our own Game of Thrones game using 10mm models and the Warlord Pike and Shot rules system. The game works really well although it does miss some of the politicking of the books.
I was thinking about Age of Sigmar and the size of games. One good thing about it is that maybe some of the old sets GW used to produce like Blood Bath at Orcs Drift, Terror of the Lichmaster and McDeath would be able to be used straight from box as there quite small affairs. Maybe GW could go down this route again
a nice Sunday surprise weekender.
if Warhammer is a big hit will the axe be on the 40K rules next?
SAGA sounds good.
wasn’t the isle of man a Viking capitol for a time? don’t forget the monks the Vikings didn’t @warzan ?
Happy Sunday Warren,
My wife’s family is the Johnston’s of Middleshaw, here in Annandale near Lockerbie. What a surprise to hear you mention that your family are also from this area. Her family tree includes both Johnston and Johnstone.
My family is the Scott’s, one of the wildest, badass Border Reiver families here in the Debatable Lands.
Saga is a great game – I’m looking forward to it getting some air time.
Clan Hunter….Normans invited to Scotland by the Scottish King. Wierdest ancestor Mungo Hunter….Can you imagine going around saying Hi I’m Mungo.
You’d be fine if Mary and Midge were with you to make sure the elevator door was shut
GoT – I think you might just “get away with it” if you called it Song of Ice and Fire (though you’d lose the brand power) seeing as I don’t see kids reading the novels …
… that being said a GoT war game surely could never be sold to kids due to the fact that it will always ultimately be a Medieval War of the Roses type war game, which lacks the fantasy and imagination aspects of the usual LOTR type genres that children are attracted to.
The fantasy elements of GoT are very subtle and low key for the most part – dragons, giants etc were slowly introduced. This is because Fantasy doesn’t seem to do very well on TV unless you reconfigure people’s prejudices which is what GoT by HBO seems to have done, though it took 5 seasons to do it.
So it will always be a game that could only be sold to Adults, anyway.
Do you really see a ten year old kid saying “oooh look at my House Frey spearmen! I’ve thrown in some Armoured footnights for good measure!” … don’t see it myself :p
There are a multitude GoT add ons for dark age and feudal wargames in all scales already out there.
@warzan How’s this for a clan …..
“Boses belong to the Kayastha clan, a sub-caste of Kshatriyas (warriors/rulers) that originated from Kannauj, the capital of India during much of the classical period, and emerged in eastern India during the 11th century AD. Boses are Kulin Kayasthas, the highest-ranking group amongst all Bengali Kayasthas, and were originally accorded kulin status by King Ballal Sena.”
When we finally get to have a proper chat and a beer, I’ll tell you about the distant relative who led most of the British Indian Army to rebel against the Brits and fight alongside the Japs in Burma mate. There’s a massive monument to him in the memorial park right outside the family home in Shyamnagar.
I am also from Clan Shaw, so welcome clansman Ben! The Shaws weren’t all ‘runners’, in fact we took part in Culloden (on the losing side, where it all went pear shaped). There was also occasions where The Shaw clan would settle bouts of ‘honour’ with an equal amount of opposing clansmen. These were extremely bloody affairs where the winner was the last clan standing, so to say the Shaws were a bit ‘cowardly’ is probably not correct. ‘Strategically versatile’ is a better descriptor
You should have Ben on more often. This was really interesting.
Happy Sunday
I’am Pictish Cameron
Haven’t got a clan, and despite my name being Irish I don’t know of any real significant celtic descent in my family, but my mothers family name, Young, is actually descendant from a Chinese man whose last name was Ying, and changed his name to young when he immigrated to Australia to better “fit in”
GW picking up GoT… I have to confess, though I love books and show I dont think its such a good fit for them. I dont see unit variety and a general limitation through the fluff already. It also is strongly generic and basicly you already can buy all kinds of kits representing the Units ( Deus Vult f.e.) and characters (by Darksword ). Besides there is, if I am not wrong, already a SAGA mod for GoT factions.
Then I would rather see them doin the new Star Wars. Movies that are developed with the mindset of selling toys and thus creating and placing such in movies.
Man, I bet the product manager/developers at Star Wars sit at the same table as the writers and director.
Nice surprise for this Sunday; weren’t expecting this. For Game of Thrones I pretty much think FFG holds all the rites to supplies games, they have the excellent board game and card games and also a battlelore game called Battles of Westeros which uses plastic figures. They have the care game and six expansions for the different wardens ect.
Hello,
Just wanted to drop by and say thank you for the shout-out and the kind words for ‘Grevious Bodily Harm Limited’. 🙂
– GBHL Jamie
Welcome aboard @gbhljamie drop me or @brennon a message mate if we can help out 🙂
Seeing @brennon “come out from behind the curtain” was a great surprise. Indeed he’s a great editor, with plenty of patience for (ahem) contributing writers who routinely blast beyond any semblance of the word count limit . . . 🙂 . . .writers who want to submit new drafts at **nearly** the last minute, writers who submit too many photos . . .
And thanks for the shout-out (29:19), @dignity !
One of these days I HAVE to get across the water and meet you guys in person. 🙂
A pleasant surprise, wasn’t expecting a show with you guys having your hands full with the Boot Camp. Will help me fuel my Sunday painting session. Thanks
You. Guys. Are. TROOPERS! Happy sunday!
Happy Sunday, good show guys. Though, did I hear right, talking about flags without Llyod about?
Well done Ben
no Beasts of War kilts!
Nice surprise, thanks!
There’s also http://www.one-ring.co.uk, it’s a great forum for SBG
Lord of the Rings game is one of my favourite rule systems to play. I really like the sculpts and think its one of the better products produced by GW. I’ve been expecting them to drop it after the Perry twins left the company. It’s a shame as it really is a good skirmish game.
I have a habit of scouring ebay for cheap 2nd hand LoTR bits and bobs lol
Happy late on Sunday… phew what a scorcher it might have been had the weather been better!
happy sunday and why is it freeze on 27th minute?
Happy Sunday!
Oh, please get Myth on the show. Ben’s account got me really interested in the topic.
With GW buying IP for Game of Thrones we can be sure of one thing. The minis will look exactly like the TV series actors = awesome.
Clan Matheson (the migrated to glasgow ‘mathieson’ branch though) motto, “fac et spera” meaning “Do and Hope”
Well just seen this, a bit late…lol Still have been busy all day, nice to know that you guys listen ..:-)
As to Clans well difficult as my family have Scottish ties but be are tied to the Clan MacKenzie.
Saga at last
Thanks Ben
Well the leaked photos have completely put me off age of sigmar, warrens idea for the game would have been a day 1 purchase but now I’m intrigued at saga. You guys made it sound amazing.
Clan Ryan
‘Malo More Quam Foedari’
your motto wins mate
hmmmmm
My great grand parents on my father’s side was from the Clan Graham.
My surname is Lomax and we traced our lineage to John Lomax who came to he US prior AWI and we have had a Lomax in every conflict the US has been in. John Lomax’s siblings moved to Ireland about the same time just not sure where.
Really great seeing Ben on the Weekender great energy with Warren and Justin.
Happy Sunday! Ben is great!
Ben is a Legend, has to relocate!!!!
Maybe they could just put him on the screen like Holly in Red Dwarf
Ó FLOINN—I—O Floine, O Floinge, O’Flynn, Flynn, Flinn, &c.; ‘descendant of Flann’ (red); the name of several distinct families in different parts of Ireland – that’s me
Clan Cumming (original spelling is Comyn) Scottish clan from Edinburgh way.
Happy Sunday 🙂
@warzan, this is a seriously weird weekender mate, after you left us in the bar on Saturday night we started talking about two of the topics you mentioned here and I’d like to give a shout out to two guys on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/athilith and https://www.youtube.com/user/oodyswe
Last year Athilith and Oodyswe were getting into Saga and started to do a series of vids on their channels about the warbands they were building and painting, but to make it more personal they called it the Heritage Project and built them based on Athilith’s Estonian background and Oodyswe’s Swedish Vikings. They then invited others to join in mostly as painting projects, so I picked up some stunning Gallowglass from http://www.claymorecastings.co.uk/ as my own little part of the Heritage Project, because I am Gerry mcCabe of the Clan mcLeod (insert there can be only one reference here)
The mcLeods are more or less the descents of Scots and Viking settlers and in the mid 1300’s the mcCabes as a sept(family) more or less moved en masse to Ireland settling in Cavan. The gallowglass were mercenaries and wielded massive two handed swords and huge Dane axes, which was probably a left over of the viking heritage. The mcCabes became known as the constables of the two breffanies, so descended from peelers 😉
PS my longest comment ever stopped me from adding the Clan motto
aut vincere aut mori,
Victory or Death.
PPS, did you really leave the bar or did you hide close by listening for topics for the weekender?
Take her easy
Gerr
Would I like to see GW do Game of Thrones? Absolutely. The LotR miniatures range contained some of the best miniatures GW ever made – especially the sculpts of the film characters. I think GW are the company to do Game of Thrones if anyone is going to do it at all. I’m not sure I can name another company that can produce the same quality miniatures in the quantities that would be required. I think there are companies that can produce miniatures to the same quality and there are companies that can produce miniatures in the same quantity but none that can do both. Feel free to disagree.
Do I think GW will pick up the game? I’m not sure. In addition to the adult nature of the Game of Thrones TV show (and it will be the HBO TV show for which they will have negotiated), the other issue is that it potentially has another short life-span. Interest in LotR waned significantly after the last film (The Return of the King) and it didn’t really pick up again with the Hobbit. Game of Thrones is now already on Season 5 and the makers have been on record as saying they expect it to run for about 7 season. At the current rate of around 1 season per year, Game of Thrones has around 2 years left to run, after which Games Workshop are potentially left holding another system with dwindling interest and an IP that is no longer in the media spotlight. Also, factor in manufacture lead times and even if they agreed the deal recently, it’s going to be next year before they release anything. My thoughts are that if they’re going to do it, then the decision must have been made a number of years ago and kits are already in production or at least ready to go to production. I’m unconvinced.
‘Game of Thrones’ wouldn’t work as a wargame due to it mainly being cerebral but, if done right, it could work as an RPG.
Course it works. The story doesn’t actually need to give any details of specific engagements, only create a reason for them to be happening and in that respect it’s got everything it needs to be a tabletop wargame.
It has a detailed background.
A story detailing a massive power struggle and the factions involved.
A big budget TV show visualising all of those factions.
There already is a Game of Thrones RPG.
Rumor has it that my Great Grandmother was the decedent of the Romanov (like cousin). As for my last name Gutschenritter apparently mean “carriage driver” and what makes them fun is that we are German, but lived in Alsace, which we immigrated to when Germany attempted to out settle the French. We then were members of the French Army and illegally emigrated to the US right before the French Revolution.
@warzan
GW might find it difficult picking up GoT because there is already a miniature manufacturer making models for it! Unless they bought out Dark Sword Miniatures licence of it. Or they could get the TV show licence separately to the book one.
http://www.darkswordminiatures.com/shop/index.php/miniatures/george-r-r-martin-masterworks.html
I don’t think it would be a problem. There’s more than one company making LotR miniatures. GW got the licence to make miniatures specifically related to the New Line Cinema franchise. I suspect if (and it’s a big if) GW have obtained a deal to make GoT miniatures, I suspect it will be a deal with HBO and not a deal with GRR Martin. They’ll want the rights to an IP that’s getting serious media attention.
I’m certain that if this rumour is true, then it’ll be the TV version that GW will be getting the license for. Even if Dark Sword weren’t already doing minis based in the books, I can’t imagine that would be the license GW would want anyway.
I agree. They’ll want the HBO Franchise licence.
I’d love to see it but I’m not holding my breath. Also, I don’t really need any more excuses to be buying miniatures. I’m already playing catch up with stuff I haven’t painted the last thing I need is more. On the other hand, a Game of Thrones license might be the push my wife needs to play wargames. She already likes boardgames but the current selection of wargames doesn’t exactly thrill her.
The bit of backtracking I have been able to do the Sanders are Septs of Clan Donald or Clan MacDonnell. Of course the family history I have been given to this point could be a load of shite.
Great weekender as always. Well done to Ben.
Love those Age of Sigmar leaks. Can’t wait for this game.
On the subject of new games to look at…. When is Malifaux going to get a turn? Please.. pretty please?
Clan MacFarlane (Mac Pharlain) were a warlike clan that fought constantly with all of our neighbours.Descended from the ancient Celtic Earls of Lennox, the MacFarlanes occupied the land forming the western shore of Loch Lomond from Tarbet up-wards. Clan MacFarlane took part in several conflicts including brutal fighting for Scottish Independence alongside Robert The Bruce. The clan was also noted for its daring night time cattle raiding of neighboring clan lands, (particularly those of Clan Colquhoun),and as such, it is said that the full moon became known throughout the highlands as “MacFarlane’s Lantern”. For many years Clan MacFarlane was one of the most respected and feared clans in the highlands until the clan was denounced by the English government.
In 1544, Mac Pharlain (the clan chief) lead three hundred of his men in coats of mail with two handed swords, bows and wardogs, and joined the Earls of Lennox and Glencairn at the Battle of Glasgow Muir.
Later in 1547 the clan suffered grievously at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, in which the chief, Duncan was slain along with many of his men.The clan’s part in the battle is related to by Holinshed: “In this battayle the vaiancie of an Hie-land gentle-man named M’Farlane, stood the Regent’s part in great steede; for in the hottest brunte of the fight, he came in with three hundred of his friends and countrymen, and so manfully gave in upon the flanke of the queen’s people, that there was great cause of the disordering of them”. After the battle, the clan also boasted of capturing three standards of the Queen’s army, which were preserved as trophies for a long time afterwards. For his clan’s aid, Andrew was awarded the crest of a “demi-savage proper, holding in his dexter hand a sheaf of arrows, and pointing with his sinister to an imperial crown, or, with the motto, This I’ll defend”. The crest bestowed on the MacFarlane chief alludes to the defence of the Crown and Kingdom of Scotland, as Mary was seen as rebellion against the Crown.
The clan was denounced by the Government in 1594, to have committing theft, robbery, murder, and tyranny. Later, in 1624, after the Battle of Glen Fruin when the MacFarlanes and their friends the MacGregors killed about 80 members of Clan Colquhoun and their allies, several members of the clan were tried and convicted of such acts, with some being pardoned and others executed. Many others were removed to Aberdeenshire and Strathaven in Banffshire, where they assumed the names M’Caudy, Greisock, M’James and M’Innes. Some to fled to Ireland, and with the potato famine there, emigrated further to America where the surname would evolve to McFarland
Jason McFarlane
Am I the only person not in the least bit interested in my ancestry?
The Western Roman Empire fell in stages across the fifth century CE. The last emperor was deposed in 476 though by that point the empire was already in a very sorry state and Romulus Augustus had no real power. As has been mentioned already by others, SAGA doesn’t cover this early period and concentrates on the Viking Age. Dux Britanniarum by the Lardies is set in the first couple of centuries after the end of Roman rule in Britain and covers the conflict between the native Britons and invading Germanic tribes from Northern Europe.
No, I’m not overly fussed. If you look at surnames in the UK, they fall into very distinct categories; occupations (Smith, Fletcher), places of origin (England, France, town names like Bolton), clan names (Mc, Mac, O’ etc) or patriarchal names (Nickson, Anderson etc). Mine is an occupation which is usually Saxon and doesn’t really have a clan history. One of my aunties has done some genealogy on my mum’s family tree and I think she’s either got as far back as 18th or 17th centuries and as yet there isn’t any hint of any Scottish or Irish influence. On my Dad’s side it get’s even less likely because half of that tree is German – not much chance of Irish or Scottish influence there. So to summarise, as far as I know don’t even have a tenuous link to a clan and we haven’t found anything of interest in the genealogy that we’ve attempted thus far.
My mum did our family tree. Got back to 1750. Couple of divorces some re marriages and a lot of public records being lost and the whole thing ground to a halt.
Dux Bellorum is nice game for the Arthurian period and is set a slightly larger scale, though I do know people playing Dux Brittanium in 10mm by gluing 4 10mm figures to a 2p and it looks impressive