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Post by dijit80 on Aug 25, 2010 16:34:44 GMT -5
I know there are some British units out there, and going with the mythological approach I've been thinking of some other possible units:
A faun/pan character, a little ala werewolf, but allied, fast and agile rather than fast and strong melee character.
The Black Dog - there are loads of black dog stories in England, about ghostly black dogs that save the day, haunt places, lead lost people, guard treasures. A Black dog as a unit that could give bonuses to the models within 6" or whatever as it leads/protects/guards them in their duty.
Elementals - pretty self explanatory really.
Sceaduganga - shadow walkers; mythological shapeshifters and a little dark/gritty.
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Post by xGIxJOKERx on Aug 25, 2010 17:51:23 GMT -5
Speaking as someone who plays MOAA, I think these sound awesome.
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 25, 2010 18:26:03 GMT -5
A barghest is one of the creatures we are very much looking at as an MoAA expansion beastie. Elementals and fauns, probably not going to happen - they're just a bit too D&D-ish for my tastes. Though there's always a chance for some Hellboy-style representatives of the Unseelie Court as allies of the MoAA.
One caveat on elementals while I'm at it. While you probably won't see the RPG-style elementals, there's a chance we may exploit occult elementals: malignant invisible spirits that do nasty things to people. Could make for a cool theme for a Scottish witch or some other British occultist.
I'm unfamiliar with the Sceaduganga. If we think up a cool look and rules for them and the folklore behind them is appropriate, they might be something we'd look into.
Always remember with the occult forces: it is a delicate balancing act. Overspice the mixture with too many monsters and spirits and you loose focus on the war. And at that point you don't have AE-WWII anymore. You have something entirely different.
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Post by dijit80 on Aug 26, 2010 12:25:06 GMT -5
Sceaduganga are british/celtic creatures that take a human form, but can shapeshift. Their said to haunt the shadows (particularly forests) and prey on the weak and dying. Maybe ghost/sceadugan driven steam mecha (see below).
Another interesting take on the British could be more steampunk tech. Steam guns, chain guns (that fire chains), steam-mecha. Lots of rivets ala the Cromwell tank. Or a Stiff upper lip, British bull dog style, never give up type, particularly good as a hero type (carrying an umberella and a flask of tea of course).
Whilst on elementals as well, whats so different with the green man, he is after all a type of elemental (a forest elemental rather than the classical greek elements)
Also in the Brits will we find rules for the different commonwealth countries (Canadian, Aussies, New Zealanders, Indian/gurkas) and the Poles and free French who fought with british equipment?
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 26, 2010 17:20:00 GMT -5
The Australians are getting their own full-out army with the AMF. However we do have plans to include other Commonwealth forces under the British umbrella (though the Canadians may get their own army in a manner similar to the Aussies). The one exception would be the South Africans who, In AE-WWII have become independent a bit earlier than in real history and have a neutral status similar to Ireland. My plan for them might be to do a sort of mercenary list that could be employed by any of the main factions as allies.
We already have plans for the weird-tech angle with the British laid out and there's a small teaser for what's going on with them in Basra.
On the elementals front, I think it is a matter of taste and folklore. You do have legends about the Green Man in the lore of the Isles. You don't have the same thing for the standard RPG elementals. The occult forces are an area that has to be handled quite carefully and when we use something, I want it to have a good foundation in the folklore to justify its presence.
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Post by kazakcossack on Aug 26, 2010 18:32:07 GMT -5
I'm using the British list and the MoAA list for my Polish Para's for the moment. I'm looking for some Polish specific units to give them their own "flavor", for lack of a better term. Might add a 17th century winged hussar or knight for the mounted hero type. Already have an abomination hunter which is about the most Polish unit out there for now.
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 26, 2010 22:47:24 GMT -5
I've been looking at several ideas for the Poles, more than one of which may surface. Obviously there's the Polish government in exile working with the western Allies, but I think the Soviet-puppet LWP (People's Army of Poland) and the Polish Underground State might also be viable forces for the game.
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Post by Scorpio on Aug 28, 2010 13:15:02 GMT -5
Interestingly, you could use a Green Man in your Polish force, and say it's a leshy.
Two supernatural units I'd like to see in a Polish force would be the mora and the strzyga,
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 28, 2010 22:45:19 GMT -5
Again, we need to be careful about overdoing it with the supernatural. The focus is still WWII, not Mordor invades Europe.
That's not to say if we have a neat way to do it, that there won't be some sort of occult element to the Poles.
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Post by Cilionelle on Aug 29, 2010 7:08:48 GMT -5
The focus is still WWII, not Mordor invades Europe. "One does not simply walk into Mühldorf..."
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Post by xGIxJOKERx on Aug 29, 2010 9:18:02 GMT -5
Can that be the next expansion? Gondor: 1947
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Post by dijit80 on Aug 29, 2010 9:38:41 GMT -5
Can that be the next expansion? Gondor: 1947 Yeah, Orc Commandoes fighting Nazi Elves! ;D I can understand the need to be reserved with occult units; but they're just ideas to be mulled over, chewed a bit then either spat out or digested as necessary. To me it just seems odd that the Nazis get portrayed as the meddlers in the occult and fantastical (and therefore get loads of fun/exotic units), whilst the allies who have almost just as good reason to meddle with new/weird tech get a few rocket packs and a bang sticks. Why was there no No.13 Commando for example? Were they a secret Commando unit tasks with dirty deeds that the ministry of war didn't want to let out?
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Post by abbysdad on Aug 29, 2010 16:45:29 GMT -5
The allies get a lot of occult nasties. The SS are the only Axis occultists currently. I don't think they have too much. The ROA kind of play both sides, and they have the most straight out weirdness in their options. Other options will be added in time to each of the factions. But the key point to consider, the driving admonition in the story behind AE-WW2, is that if you take away the weird, you still have WW2.
One more detail to consider, the SD and the SS do not work together. The Section Q boys and MoAA don't have much reason to work together. The ARPA and OORD, there's potential for a different story there...
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Post by mkcontra on Aug 29, 2010 17:23:27 GMT -5
The ARPA and OORD, there's potential for a different story there... Buffalo-armored Skinwalkers!
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Post by skorzeny on Aug 29, 2010 17:26:05 GMT -5
With the British, not to give away too much, we're considering a wide range of magician types rather than loads of weird monsters as their occult theme or style. Given the scope of Empire and Commonwealth, you have an excuse to use everything from Nepalses lamas to Scottish witches to Aborigine wirureen (which I know I just mis-spelled badly). So while the Nazis get their vampires and werewolves, the British will have a wide array of different spell-users at their disposal.
Aside from the British and Germans, and the heretical ROA, most of the other nations are occult-light. The Americans, for one example, are going to be more like a kid brother to the British when it comes to the supernatural. MacArthur simply doesn't have the faith in and won't allocate the resources to the OORD the way Churchill will to the MoAA.
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