Saturday 12 November 2016

The Next Big Project is...Jason & the Argonauts

Hi Folks

Now that I have completed my Zulu Wars project its time to talk about my next project that I'll be working on over the the winter months.

This was a relatively easy task given I have never done anything in this genre before - it opens up new opportunities for terrain builds, different figures, monsters and fits with the current passion for skirmish games....oh and did I say it contains monsters?

Ever since I was a little boy I have always loved the movie Jason and the Argonauts...for me it epitomises this fantasy period and I think its probably a favourite of most gamers. I say most becaiuse my friend John came round earlier today and cl;aimed he'd never seen the movie.

The Movie itself came out in 1963 (two years before I was born) and as a cinematic story I don't think they get any better. A group of heroes sail across the Aegean sea facing various trials whilst trying to obtain a fabled artefact. It has all the right ingredients for a wonderful table top game.

In fact the whole Greek Fantasy period seems to be having a bit of a renaissance at the moment - check out the Mythic Battles Pantheon Kickstarter an no doubt there will be a Frostgrave does Greece and Olympus Rampant.

So without further ado let me tell you whats going to happen...


Of course the stars of the film are the various mythological creatures that are bought to life by Ray Harryhausen, the pioneer of stop go motion filming.At its time it was cutting edge and even today we can only marvel at the patience and imagination that was used to bring these models to life on the silver screen. 






So over the last few weeks I have started accumulating the various pieces I need to bring this adventure to life on the games table...

Of course I need a Talos -the large bronze Titan statue (can't help thinking that my bark cliffs look uncannily like those in the picture below)


So a quick hunt on ebay found this brass figure for £5 inc postage - ok so he's holding a shield and is a little small compared to the movie version but I reckon with a new paint job he'll do just fine




I'll need the Hydra guarding the Golden Fleece...




Again ebay was my friend here and I managed to pick up a Reaper bones Hydra for £16


I'll need the skeletons that fight Jason and his Argonauts at the end of the film



Hang on - I have these already...


I am going to need the Argo - The Bireme that carried them all across the sea...


A quick google search revealed that Grand Manner produce onme for a very reasonable £40 - so an order has been placed and should arrive on Monday



Of course I am going to need the Harpies and the temple where they are defeated....



Actually  I already have the temple...this is a very large fish tank piece I bought in the states last year




The Harpies have been ordered from the same vendor as the Hydra. I also decided to buy some other beasties that do not feature in this fil but are of the same mythos eg minotaur, medusa etc 

Of course I'll need the crew and other personalities. Having bought some Black Tree Greeks I discovered that Foundry produce a range of Argonauts so these duly went into the basket. These arrived today so a post will be forthcoming

My checklist also has a note saying terrain - the base of which will be my desert boards but I'll need to add some custom pieces (eg a beach and cove). I have actually started the first piece which will feature in another post.

Finally there are the rules...I already have some ideas fore these and as they get fleshed out I'll post up some thoughts...

Wish me luck

For part 2 head here

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/jason-and-argonauts-part-2.html

edit...

I was able to pick up this 12 inch tall model of Athena on ebay for a fiver - Ill break this up as a fallen statue for scatter terrain



23 comments:

  1. One of my favourite all time films and what a project!

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  2. Wonderful stuff! Really looking forward to seeing this come together. It seems a shame to break Athena. Could you make a plaster copy and break that leaving you both options? That might make for a cool scenario idea...

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    1. Funny you say that I have just bought some latex mould and Crystacal - molds are going to be a new venture for me

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  3. Great idea for a project - I look forward to following your progress on bringing it all together.

    You might want to check out WS&S 86 - Joseph McCullough has an article in it for adapting Frostgrave for Greek mythology, which might provide you with some ideas.

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  4. Great stuff! One of my favourite films, too. The Foundry Greek Myths figs are lovely. A few pics of mine here...all statted up for 7th Voyage http://ihavewroughtmysimpleplan.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/7th%20Voyage%20Cast

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  5. Great looking project. Have you seen the Mythic Battles: Pantheon kickstarter? That should provide plenty of greek mythological fodder if you wanted to take the theme further

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  6. Love it! This should be terrific

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  7. I've been not so secretly building up my own collection of Greek heroes and have bagged a nice Talos made from PVC that's pretty big. I'm probably going to use 7th Voyage for our games, how about you? That temple is great btw!

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  8. Lots of fun! There are a few different rules sets that would work well - 7TV has a specific module for this from memory

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    1. Working on my own ruleset which will get discussed here

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  9. Cool project... Looking forward to seeing more!

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  10. So many good ideas there, I await the next issue with bated breath!

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  11. It looks like 2017 will be the year of wargamers remakes....
    Excellant stuff :-)
    Cheers
    Stu

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  12. Fantastic, Sinbad would also be cool

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    1. The rules I have in mind will work equally well for this genre

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  13. I've also had an inkling to do this but in my case the project was going to be 40mm miniatures rather than 2bmm.

    Maybe one day.....

    Tony

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  14. Legatus has a Talos model , theres also the plastic ones in the USA http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TALOS-Jason-and-the-Argonauts-Figure-Ray-Harryhausen-X-PLUS-8-5-tall-/182345225356?hash=item2a749f548c:g:YCUAAOSwcLxYH4Gm

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    1. Yes indeed but don't you need a valley of Titans?

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