Re-Exploring Old Games: Leviathan

 Hi!

I seem to be getting a bit of a post hobby slump urge to look at old games again which is always exciting, until I realise the possibility of actually creating said project it decidedly marginal at best but this got me to thinking about ways I can actually incorporate the spirit of the old games I love into a more manageable format.

For todays update I'll be looking at Leviathan, possibly the game that has obsessed me the most over the years.

Released in 1995, I picked up this book in Mac's Models on the Royal Mile and was blown away by how awesome it looked. As with all things hobby related it then sat on a bookshelf for 20 years as I left the hobby and sold pretty much everything I had apart from a few old rulebooks that nobody wanted.

Skip forward to 2008 and I found myself at university as a mature student and for some reason I had taken my now old and battered copy of Leviathan with me and sat down to read it one evening. This reignited my obsession and over the next couple of years I set up and ran my Leviathan blog:

I initially attempted to collect and paint whole armies of massive resin monsters and vehicles as well as sourcing infantry as well as speaking to the original creators about any further material they had for Earthpower, the promised but never released supplement but the whole thing was too much to do while trying to study at uni as well as working part time with a long commute to boot so things basically ground to a halt.

Over the next decade I've periodically ventured back into the game, using cardboard counters or my own sculpts to allow me to play the game or at least skirmishes set in the world of Aeroth. 

I found the game was pretty playable using counters but lacked the visual appeal of actual miniatures and despite getting in at least one or two games a year using them, I've never really done much more with classic Leviathan as is.

This brings me to today where I once again find myself wanting to explore Leviathan again but to actually go into the miniature side of things a bit more. 

Before I go any further though I realise that I just cannot face collecting all the miniatures for a mass battle game, especially with all the massive resin warbeasts and engines of destruction that were required for Leviathan (it recommends one use an 8'x4' board which I most certainly do not have!).

Coupled with the fact that while I love the old sculpts, the range is showing its age and it also has an awful lot of stuff missing from even the core rulebook which surely makes any attempt to play the game a futile endeavour.

But then I got to thinking about a two prong approach. Was there a way of putting together an army in a smaller scale that would tick the visuals but also allow me to play a game without spending a fortune or needing a large space and is there a way of capturing the feel of Leviathan in a different game? The answer is kind of. The thing is Leviathan has a lot of unique figures that just don't have anything like them in other scales which is an issue that many of my old game collection has: they are unique for a reason and its getting increasingly difficult, not to mention expensive to get figures that fit the vibe. Similarly the post apocalyptic setting makes for a difficult choice for fantasy gaming.

Before throwing my hands in the air and admitting defeat, I decided to look through my rulebooks for other games systems that I could use to play skirmish games which are driven by an interesting narrative that I could port Leviathan and the world of Aeroth into and came up with the following:

My collection of random rules gave me the options of Rangers of Shadowdeep, Frostgrave and Brutal Quest. You may notice I've gone for primarily small skirmish games as that will allow me to focus on small warbands and a small playing area rather than having to spend a fortune on figures. 

Of these options, I must admit that Brutal Quest is a firm favourite as I've played it a load of times and feel its sandbox nature will lend itself to playing games really well in the grim post Death world of Aeroth. Similarly Rangers of Shadowdeep and Frostgrave allow for both interesting warbands and narrative driven play that I really enjoy so I find myself pondering on having a go. 

I'll need to see what I have in my collection but I figure I could easily start with Brutal Quest level warbands of 4-5 figures and expand the collection so I can play either Frostgrave or Rangers of Shadowdeep without too much stress.

But what about Leviathan? I really want to play the mad mass battle game that it is so I'm looking at putting together some of my Tiny Troops to build a couple of armies and see how I go.

While not super detailed, they do give the feel of a proper miniatures game and are really easy to make so literally anyone can build at least infantry that fits the aesthetics of Aeroth. If this works out, I'll post my progress here as usual and may end up using this approach to allow me to try out other games in my collection that I don't have the time or money to invest in collecting armies for.

With this two prong approach, I've some high hopes of playing out at least a small skirmish or two using Brutal Quest and hopefully a classic Leviathan session and if it goes well, I will use it as an opportunity to build upon any successes I have to keep the hobby mojo going!

Gosh! Looking back at this post makes me realise I've basically jabbered on about what I want to do in yet another project that may or may not take off, but I find laying out an idea and working on it does help get the creative juices flowing. Hopefully I'll have something to show for the weekend but in the meantime, All the best!

Leviathan Skirmish

Hi!

While I've been enjoying sculpting and painting my own figures, I find myself wondering why I haven't actually played using the rules from the Leviathan rulebook, the reason I started this whole project in the first place!

Leviathan!

The rules themselves are rather nice and simple and the armies all have a different flavour to them rather than being carbon copies of traditional fantasy, usually Tolkienesque races but still I find myself entering the fourth year of my Leviathan project without having actually played it!

I think the problem is that of scale. To play a decent game of Leviathan one needs at least an 8x4 foot board, lots of terrain and models. I don't have the space or budget to really do it justice. I moved into 15mm scale to cut down on costs and space but still haven't got round to playing a full game.

Another issue I've had with Leviathan is its incompleteness. It needs the Earthpower supplement to cover magic, flyers and siege warfare but it never got released. The main rulebook could also do with having been playtested a bit more thoroughly as theres several bits and bobs that have been left out or poorly explained which can make attempts to play it a bit of an adventure. Each time I start playing it I find something else that needs explaining!

I've spent quite a bit of time collecting all the errata and begun work on Earthpower but want to be able to play with a reasonable number of figures in a limited space.

One of Leviathans strengths is the sheer size of the models and I want to be able to field some of them!

Orc Necrosaur

Lesser Goblin Wartower

Therefore I've decided to write a skirmish game set in Aeroth using the Leviathan rules as a basis. I want to be able to use both my 15mm and 28mm scale figures and where possible keep to the spirit of the warped lands of Aeroth and the incredible forces that fight to conquer it.

15mm Scale Orcs

28mm Scale Goblins

The basic idea is to field 10-15 infantry or cavalry with a couple of warbeasts or war engines with an emphasis on converting and scratch building. I also plan on posting my progress here along with the draft version of the rules as I develop them!

I have really enjoyed playing Song Of Blades and I suspect it has a lot to do with the sheer simplicity of the game and the ability to create warbands from any figures you have in your collection!

I think that I am going to incorporate some of these principles into the skirmish version of Leviathan!

All the best!

Goblin Progress!

Hi!

Well I've finally had chance to crack on with painting up some more Goblins!

I've only finished one so far but the rest of the warband are underway so should be making an appearance here over the next few days!

Goblin Archer

I have also been working on a Carnodon riding Goblin to lead the warband and provide some fast moving support:

Carnodon Conversion

I took a Carnodon I had lying around which was missing its rider and sculpted the rider with impressive mace. Its not the best sculpt in the world but should do! In hindsight I should probably have sculpted him with a lance but the mace is more fun looking and he should make for a nice model to paint!

The Carnodon itself had a really bad mould defect in it resulting in its left leg being covered with a big lump of resin which required a fair amount of work to remove and a second defect behind its horn. This gave me the excuse to bulk up his horn a bit as its supposed to be for a leader after all!

Hes eventually going to get a back banner to mark him out a bit and may well get some companions as I suspect he would work best in a pack!

As for 15mm scale, its not been forgotten but I have two sculpting commissions underway at the moment so sculpting time is dedicated to finishing them but worry not! I have a plan to get some stuff sculpted ASAP and now my casting machine has arrived I will be able to mould, cast and sell them once they are finished!

All the best!

Leviathan Skirmish Gaming

Hi!

I've been thinking about the possibility of using the rules from Leviathan as the basis for skirmish gaming. I've been having great fun over the course of the last several months using other rule systems to play games in the Aeroth setting but never really looked into the possibility of the very rules I've been ranting about all this time!

Therefore I am going to bash together a draft version and see what I can come up with as the rules in Leviathan are actually really quite good and I believe they could make an excellent skirmish set with only minor tweaking!

I have rummaged out enough miniatures to allow me to try out some games in 28mm scale and will be cracking on with sculpting and casting some suitable stuff as soon as possible!

I've got enough figures to represent a good sized goblin warband, elves, orcs and even barbarians but am somewhat short of dwarves at the moment so will be sourcing a few more while I develop the project a bit!

Forces will consist of up to 20 figures a side supported by one or two warbeasts. I did consider going for a more Mordheim approach with small groups of adventurers supported by their minions but prefer Necromunda with gangs facing off with their own transport supporting them!

This will allow me to really go to town with conversions and scratch builds as I want to have each figure and creature to look different and unique!

I will be very limited money wise for the project but will be setting a small amount of pennies aside per month to allow me to continue my progress. At present I'm aiming to get the goblins finished before moving onto the elves.

Along side this I hope to be able to actually get some time to sculpt again which will mean my boar company dwarves will be getting cast up along side some new races I've been designing!

All the best!

Orc Wartower and Assorted Gubbins

Hi!

Heres a couple of pictures of the concept sculpt I did for the Orc Carnosaur:

Orc Carnosaur

It was a bit of a learning process as I had to keep in mind I would be making it to cast but it turned out alright. I will now attempt to make a naked (ie no harness or howdah) sculpt for each of the Orc Warbeasts which I will then cast a couple of copies of and use them as dollies for the final models. These will then be moulded once more and the resulting pieces will be ready to go!

I also finished off a few more Orcs in the form of a Ghost Warrior, a Shaman and a warrior:

Orc Ghost Warrior, Shaman and Warrior

This will round out my Orc force nicely and I will be trying it out against my Dwarves in a Leviathan skirmish game soon.

Finally I sculpted up a trio of Children of the Moon so my warband had some nice heavies:

Children of the Moon

I made an Alpha pack leader and two pack members. They are pretty huge, standing twice the height of a human. I am fairly pleased with the sculpts but think I still need to work on getting the look right in future!

I will be trying to get them painted soon as well so my Children of the Moon warband can have another outing!

All the best!

Leviathan Review?

Hi!

Well I am still busy with all sorts of uni work but am planning on writing an in depth review of Leviathan and Levyathan, the upcoming 10mm game by Urban Mammoth.

I will try to cover them in as much depth as possible and if anyone has any specific questions needing answered please feel free to post any suggestions they may have here and I will see what I can do!

All the best!