View Full Version : HP Lovecraft in 6mm : Eldritch Empires
Asymmetrical Xeno
08-27-2015, 07:38 AM
As a side-project and break from primeval Abyssian, I’ve been wanting to sculpt in a differnet scale, so I’ve decided to try and fullfil my dream of an HPL set mythos wargame. No idea if itll ever happen, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to try doing some sculpts and see how things go.
I have a ton of ideas for this, assuming there will be enough interest for it but at the current I want it to be a mass-battle game between Flying Polyps and Yithians, with a Human faction (who are imbued with the power of Nodens). Theres lots of things i’d like to do such as titan-scale stuff including enourmous lovecraft monsters and gigantic floating temples and the like. This is all just a pipe dream at current though, so I guess it will depend on whether anyone is even interested in anything like this.
To start with, I decided on doing a couple of Polyp figures. The smaller one (roughly 8mm) and the larger one (roughly 13mm) would make up the bulk of a Polyp force :
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/polyp_invaderanddominator.jpg
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/polyps1.jpg
I plan to try doing a yithian next.
Morgrim
08-27-2015, 09:36 AM
That is very small. I compliment you on your ability to sculpt tiny things. I do think you'll need something 'recognisable' to give it a sense of scale though, which could be tricky when one is talking of eldritch abominations.
Asymmetrical Xeno
08-27-2015, 09:54 AM
That is very small. I compliment you on your ability to sculpt tiny things. I do think you'll need something 'recognisable' to give it a sense of scale though, which could be tricky when one is talking of eldritch abominations.
I agree, that's what i am developing a human faction for the game :) They will be pivotal to the backround of the game too.
Wolfshade
08-27-2015, 04:32 PM
Brilliant xeno sculpts as always ax
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
08-27-2015, 08:43 PM
Very nice - reminds me of that Epic Enslaver sprue diagram you posted up somewhere yonks ago (ran into when googling their fiction - you've got a noticeable online footprint in terms of Enslavers!).
In terms of recognizability/human factions, I'd be down to help out with a bit of 3d-printed stuff, if you'd like (a 6mm tank or car is a fairly simple 3d model, after all).
Asymmetrical Xeno
08-28-2015, 12:14 PM
I seem to be getting some great responses to this on beasts of war! http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/painting/forum/topic/hp-lovecraft-6mm-mass-battle-game-eldritch-empires/
or if you can't be bothered to read the thread -
the idea I had is that at some point during the 1920′s, a worldwide detective agency and organisation unearth ancient Yithian technology and manage to reverse engineer it. They also manage to make contact with the Elder God Nodens who imbues them with power and sends them back millions of years in the past to primeval earth when the great war between the flying polyps and great race of yith occurs. They intervene and destroy them. This creates an alternate time-line, and the humans become a high-tech space-bound empire of mostly lobotomised humans that fight the alien races and the great old ones.
Ideally i’d have polyps, yithians, the human faction as well as elder things, shoggoths and chthonions as the primary factions - but I also likethe idea of them being ablt to choose a deity you can worship. So you could buy an expansion pack that is specific to say Shub Niggurath and could include her spawn and thousand young which can use to ally with your primary army.
I’d definitely want to flesh out the alien races and create various units for them too. For the polyps I want to give them a giant airship shaped polyp that is slower but much larger than the others and can drop bombs of a sort, while you have the smaller ones as seen in the photo above as the primary horde and hte medium size making up the elites - of course you have to have a few massive centrepiece models and with lovecraft you could have enourmous and horrific monsters, giant floating temples and nightmarish technological horrors alike. Yithians would have all kinds of high-tech stuff based around lightning weaponry and the like. The Chthonions I imagine to have different dynasties and a bit of an ancient civilization feel.
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Very nice - reminds me of that Epic Enslaver sprue diagram you posted up somewhere yonks ago (ran into when googling their fiction - you've got a noticeable online footprint in terms of Enslavers!).
In terms of recognizability/human factions, I'd be down to help out with a bit of 3d-printed stuff, if you'd like (a 6mm tank or car is a fairly simple 3d model, after all).
Yeah I've had a long interest to do something 6mm, but I think this is the thing I want to pursue in that scale.
Seriously? that would be pretty awesome, would you be able to give them that WW1 crossed with retro 50's look? I kind of see them having a focus on things like hovercrafts (because I shamelessly love hovercrafts), big transports and tanks. I also think they should have priests of nodels to add a religous look and a direction connection to Nodens. I think the game will probably need some CAD sculpted stuff as there are some things I just won't be able to sculpt myself. The entirity of the human faction being one of these things.
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
08-28-2015, 04:05 PM
This fellow's (http://i.imgur.com/6eNtCQS.png) probably my high point of 3d printing - although I haven't got the level of detail down yet to match into 40k's 28mm scale, detail like rivets and access panels wouldn't be visible at 6mm. The linked sculpt was done with a so-so resolution Makerbot, but for 6mm we'd definitely need to use a quality service like Shapeways.
In terms of adding 50s style to WWI equipment - are you thinking purely mundane stuff, like vehicle/architectural, or also including elements of raygun scifi? Glad you mentioned transports - armoured car full of Nightgaunts would be fun.
The majority of my 3d sculpting experience is in Sketchup, which was built for architectural modeling, so I'm much more at home with mechanical details than organic (prefer handsculpting for that), so not sure if I could pull off human soldiers. Then again, the requirements for sculpting a good one-piece 6mm human soldier are very different than the multipart 28-32mm humans I've experimenting with. If an army in this game might include a thousand human-sized troops, I suppose they'd need to be relatively easy to work with/paint.
Asymmetrical Xeno
08-28-2015, 08:14 PM
I have some very specific ideas of what I want but I need to collect my ideas together and write them down from my head first, so will get back to you on that! Will edit this with detailed descriptions later.
I have done some more polyps though.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/polyps-wip1.jpg
the Polyp heavy infanty (Dominators) and airship unit (still work in progress!)
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/polyps-wip2.jpg
Light infantry polyps (Invaders)
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/forumfiles/polyps-wip3.jpg
These are pretty hard to take photos of for an amateur....
I kinda want to make something a lot bigger next...
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
08-29-2015, 02:43 PM
I have some very specific ideas of what I want but I need to collect my ideas together and write them down from my head first, so will get back to you on that! Will edit this with detailed descriptions later.Sounds good! It'll be cool to see the precise angles of a 3d printed vehicle alongside the "perfect imperfection" of an organic sculpt. Also, worth checking out stuff like the M1917 tank - lots of cool looking equipment made too late for WWI, but too early for WWII.
What sorta function does the airship polyp fill? Vomiting out Invaders, pure offensive or?
Asymmetrical Xeno
08-31-2015, 04:45 PM
For the light infantry, I want them to all be wearing hazmat type suits with 50's esque weapons, I also want the same kind of infantry to ride tripods. Instead of heavy infantry they would have religious priests of nodens (with robes, staffs) then they'd have tanks and hovercrafts ect(underused vehicles imo)
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Airship is a bomber, used to soften targets up before the main swarms get there. Polyps should be a purely offensive force as they were described as aggressive invaders. They are definietly the faction I like the most so they will be getting most of my attention for now. SAying that I've started a squad of Yithians and have finished a prototype Chthonian..
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
09-04-2015, 12:22 PM
Sounds cool - the typical hazmat design lends itself well to 6mm, removes some fiddly joints from the equation (neck in particular), lends itself well to ease of painting (basecoat, highlight/wash, detail face window, weapon, maaaaybe backpack/boots/gloves).
Agree that thoughts/progress on the human faction is a secondary goal - the gribbly monsters of Lovecraftian fame are the big draw to the setting, the same way the 40kverse largely exists to support Space Marines.
Looking forward to seeing the Cthonian - going for the massive, gribbly sandworm look? Despite liking the idea of humans being restricted to a minority of the factions, the idea of a Dune-esque Cthonian rider is intriguing to me :P
Asymmetrical Xeno
09-04-2015, 04:09 PM
Sounds cool - the typical hazmat design lends itself well to 6mm, removes some fiddly joints from the equation (neck in particular), lends itself well to ease of painting (basecoat, highlight/wash, detail face window, weapon, maaaaybe backpack/boots/gloves).
Agree that thoughts/progress on the human faction is a secondary goal - the gribbly monsters of Lovecraftian fame are the big draw to the setting, the same way the 40kverse largely exists to support Space Marines.
Looking forward to seeing the Cthonian - going for the massive, gribbly sandworm look? Despite liking the idea of humans being restricted to a minority of the factions, the idea of a Dune-esque Cthonian rider is intriguing to me :P
I've always loved the look of hazmat suits and it doesn't seem to be used in SF wargames at all Iv'e seen - it's either bulky power armour or the infinity/high-tech style with lots of surves and futuristic lines or more "realistic" contemporary based military gear and of course I have to be Mr Different, so why not high-tech hazmat suits. If they are going to other planets, they'd need environmental suits anyway so from that point of view it makes sense too.
Dr who's Fendahleen (which are basicly Chthonian ripoffs anyway) is what I went for with the basic Chthonian :
http://www.anony.ws/i/2013/08/24/LBinZ.jpg
The sculpt I've done so far is about 10mm and would represent the most numerous Chthonian or "Larva" stage ones. The oldest ones "the ancients" would be the largest ones and make up their "titans". The ancients would be the dune-esque ones you are thinking of yeah.
Also, I think I am more open to other sculptors and them adidng their own ideas to this project (if it takes off), I guess cos it's because I have PA to be a control freak "my way or the highway" with. Hell, I think I'd even possibly let someone do a cthulhu faction and I f**king hate Cthulhu.
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
09-04-2015, 04:45 PM
Also, I think I am more open to other sculptors and them adidng their own ideas to this project (if it takes off), I guess cos it's because I have PA to be a control freak "my way or the highway" with. Hell, I think I'd even possibly let someone do a cthulhu faction and I f**king hate Cthulhu.Heh, I think Lovecraft would've liked hearing that, considering how happily he encouraged people to share his mythos.
Cthulhu does suffer from his less intriguing design (fat dragon + octopus) and the way he's become such a common punchline, but there's some good stuff - I'm liking the increased trend of Sauron-y partial manifestations.
http://i.imgur.com/xow0dX2.png
World of Warcraft and Transformers: Infestation, respectively. His lore's heavy focus on awakening could make his introduction a fun "event".
Asymmetrical Xeno
09-04-2015, 05:25 PM
Yeah, I think he is the most unlovecraftian mythos creature ironically. He suits a Kaiju giant monster setting far more IMO, and would be awesome in that context! but as an edlritch horror? the true mascot of the mythos should be Nyarlathotep objectively I think. It is the messenger of the outer gods so it has more excuse to get around and it has more variety of forms (which are more interesting, mostly)
An open end 6mm wargame could be interesting in many ways, and yeah I don't own the mythos - no one does, so if someone wanted to sculpt 6mm deep ones and a giant cthulhu, then more power to them!
Morgrim
09-05-2015, 10:55 AM
Depending on what models you end up with and how many, for the eldritch faction you may need to give them some distinguishing feature to make roles. Sort of "oh, so the ones with horns are troop movers" or "a cluster of spaded tentacles means a HQ" or however works for your ideas. Just... something that makes it a little easier to tell which is which at arm's length. At the moment I'm having trouble telling Dominators and Invaders apart.
Asymmetrical Xeno
09-06-2015, 12:34 PM
The Dominators are larger than the Invaders, so it should look fine when they are all painted up and on bases. I plan to put 20 models on a base for the invaders and about half that number for Dominators so I think it should work out.
Rev. Tiberius Jackhammer
09-21-2015, 11:06 AM
Hmm. I wonder how readable the size difference would be at this scale? If a typical army could include 100s of small scale troops, a 2mm size difference might not be that readable. The fact they'd be mounted on different sizes of base with different numbers of models would help, but usually better to err on the side of more distinguishing features, I suppose.
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