Abraham Lincoln - 19th Century Superhero

What can I say? I really, thoroughly enjoyed this film.

As it's so new I won't give a lot of info for fear of spoilers, but this film manages to be a nice period piece, a fun bit of alternate pulp history and a great superhero flick all at the same time.

From costuming, to sets, to effects, it's an over the top ride through a period of history that is compelling, full of political and social tension - just the right setting for a good superhero tale.

I think as a gamer, I could not watch something like this and find myself taking notes and inspiration away from it. After the movie, I began thinking of what other historical figures could be blended with the supernatural for an entertaining ride through untold history. It's been done before both with historical characters and classic literary characters.

Some ideas I had -

1) Davy Crockett: Werewolf Fighter

Davy finds himself forging into a wilderness populated not just with the dangers of the wild and indigenous people, but also with the unspoken unknown of the unexplored in the form of a savage pack of shape-shifters. Unhappy with settlers invading their traditional hunting grounds, these furry fiends assault the newcomers with Davy defending them with his bear-wrestling talents.

2) Lewis and Clark: Explorers into the Unknown

This one would make a great ongoing series or campaign. Drawing on similar themes as the Davy Crockett idea, this story would have the explorers and their retinue moving throughout early America encountering one supernatural mystery and threat after another. This might make for a pretty cool series of connected miniatures scenarios.

3) John Henry: Man vs Machine

In an age of burgeoning industrialism, the unbeatable John Henry must take up his hammer to beat back the less savory side of increasing technological advancement. In a bold fight against an almost Steampunk back drop, the former railroad worker will bash his way through one mad scientist and evil robber baron after another.

4) The Hidden Adventures of Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison uses his fortune and scientific know-how to fight off evil forces threatening to plunge America back into the darkness of myth and terror. Science versus the supernatural prevails as the Wizard of Menlo Park is nothing short of just that, using his secret gizmos and gadgets to bust ghosts, battle demons, and slay the undead.

There are likely dozens more iterations of such stories. Take a historical figure, find their angle and go from there. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter really is a crafty piece because it really doesn't tie directly into anything the character was known for. It subtly weaves its tale around the real world elements of his life.

-Eli

More Bouncing Ideas

   If you liked my post yesterday (and I hope you did), then you will enjoy this discourse. Otherwise, you probably won't. I love simple logic like that.

  Oh, and anything in brackets is my own addition, usually a further thought I have had while putting this post together, or a clarification of what is going on from previous posts if you missed out on them.

 So, building on yesterday's ideas...

ME: Can't you just see the disciplined legions marching forward, and the indians in a horde of skirmishers, loosing arrows and javelins and then running off... For my money, the legions walk over them. Easily. You could fight out the battles in Fields of Glory. I don't see the native light infantry standing up to Roman heavy infantry. Push the warriors out of the way, burn the towns, enslave the captives, and breed a new generation of Romans.

ELI: In an open fight, the Legions would do well, but the natives could easily pick them off, bide their time, pull a Tutelberger an ambush them on the march. The biggest issue I can see is replacements and supplies. Foraging is okay, when you know the plants and the animals. Replacement metal for reparing weapons and armor might be difficult but it's also unlikely that their equipment would suffer much more than dents from stones and the occasional nicks in blades from hitting bones or terrain. Fortunately the Romans were wordly enough that they had no real hesitation in mixing with other cultures. The Lost Legion would likely use locals as auxilia as well as support staff. Native guides would be recruited to educate the legion i n the new land. Roman's weren't stupid and I'm sure any commander with a little political sense (most of them did) would use a little savvy in dealing with the locals in the immediate area.

 

ME: Don't forget that the conquistadores, who had essentially the same equipment (well, except for the arquebus, which was of dubious assistance) whipped much larger native forces. Metal armor is a massive advantage. Oh, and a typical legion also had an artillery train of about 60 ballistae and onagers. [And about 600 artillerists].


   

ELI: Alright, how do we get them [the Romans] there [North America]? The best theories are, in order of historical likelihood -

1. Legion Lost - A flotilla bound for Britain is blown off course and ends up having to eek its way along the coast of Greenland and into america, effectively following Erikson's route.
2. Exiles - Exiled from the Empire a Roman leader takes himself and his loyalists across the sea.
3. Western Expansion - Rome decides to expand beyond the western ocean following tales of strange new lands.

 ME: I like the Lost Legion, personally. I always like a good lost legion.

ELI: Would a Lost Legion be a sustainable Roman population?

ME: Figure about 1,000 men for a late Imperial period legion. Add in crew from the ships, perhaps another 200 men [total guess there]. Auxiliaries, camp followers, etc. - maybe another 1,000 total [actually, probably closer to 2,000]. I think they could establish themselves quite securely. Follow the old scheme of "conquer and absorb the natives" by giving citizenship to the nobles of the tribes conquered in exchange for their cooperation in the system. Marry natives and start breeding yourself more Romans. They might not be Latins, but they'd be Romans.

ELI: A full Legion is like 4000+ men. I imagine support personnel would move with them, though the Legions tended to be their own support.


ME: Depends on the era. Later empire legions were much smaller than Republican legions.


ELI: The Lost Legion is certainly romantic but it does invite some problems in the whole chain of logic. It actually requires more "bending" than it would to justify a planned expidition. Any Legion blown off course and deposited in the New World would be relatively depleted in numbers and bereft of supplies and equipment. Perhaps it is easier to justify a planned expedition blown off course. They would still have legionary support, but with more resources.
 
ME: A move to, say, conquer Hibernia (Ireland)? [And colonize, naturally!]
 
   And so ends this afternoon's episode of "Occidentally Roman," brought to you by the generous support of Kalva Soap, and viewers like you. (Bonus points if you know the book Kalva Soap appears in. Hint: Tim Hamner owns it.)

How We Do It.

   I am often stopped on the street by the curious public. They recognize me, of course, as a famous blogger and wargamer. Anyway, the first question I usually get (after exclamations of how yuoung and handsome I am, for someone so knowledgeable about, well, everything) is "How do you and your assistants come up with all of those creative ideas?" It is especailly embarassing when young, attractive females approach me publicly - my wife is not amused.

   In order to save time, I have decided to share with all of my adoring public the secret to our process. I'll track a new idea that Eli and I are working on currently. I call it the bouncing ball theory of development. It starts with an email from one of us to the other:

Eli: "The United States as a 14th-15thC feudal states...  Rome cross the Atlantic in it's Prime and establishes colonies on the American continent. When Rome falls, you are left with a very different medieval America."

Me: "Interesting."

Eli: "I imagine you could go with the whole Rome gets ancient Chinese ship building technology and is able to cross the Atlantic with sufficient numbers and support to gain a foothold. The rest is built from there."

Me: "The Occidental Provinces, or Transoceania?"

Eli: "Interesting to think that the Vikings might come to America and find the descendants of the Roman colonies there, living in their own fragment of the Empire."

Me: "So a Viceroy for the Emperor of Rome ruling in Dark Ages America, with connection to Roma Mater severed for centuries."

Eli: "Or the Americas broken down into post-Roman warlord kingdoms. Another way to go would be for the Viceroy to have decided that no new news from Rome means that it must be done entirely and he renames himself Emperor of the only remaining portion of the Empire. 'Rome is dead....WE are Rome!'"

Eli: "Roman America would make a great RPG setting. Think about a Roman version of the Lewis and Clark expedition?"

Me: "Tribune Marius Agrippa Lewix (a Gallic Roman descendant) and Marcus Brutus Clarkus lead the XIIth Legio across Occidentalis to the Mare Pacifica, slaughtering numerous tribes of the red-skinned barbarians as they traveled. A slave girl, Sacagawea, acted as interpreter and guide through the newly discovered territory. Her assistance in crossing the mountains was invaluable, and in return, she was awarded citizenship and enrolled in a plebeian family."

Eli: "Works for me. Would the Romans call all Occidental tribes by their tribal names or collectively like they did the Gauls, Germans and Britains?"

Me: "Probably just one generic name. I don't know what it would be. My Latin isn't that good, sadly. I may have to figure out "red man" in Latin."

Eli: "I am trying to find a map with Indian place names for the eastern US."

Eli: Place names might be given out much as they were by later Europeans as a combination of Latin and Latinized versions of local names. Apalacia, for example was named after a local people. Manhattan is named after the local native name for it which really just means "island". Don't Latinized people names often have an "i" added at the end?"

Me: "Massachusetts as well, and Mississippi, and Illinois, Lake Huron, Ohio, Miami, Kentucky, Tennessee - all native names that were Anglicized. I think you would be correct in saying adding the terminal "-i" makes it plural, so it would indicate the tribe as a whole, as opposed to a single member of the tribe."

   For the record, this conversation has taken place over the course of the last two days. It is still an idea very much under development. Anyone stealing it will be sued until his britches are our britches. Then I send my good friends Guido and Salvatore to have a little 'talk' with them.

The Dropship Lands In The 1970s

For anyone who's followed the this blog for a while, it's no mystery that I enjoy alternate histories, imagi-nations, and alternate timelines. I'm not a huge fan of time travel, but I do like the what-ifs of history. Well, it just so happens that Mark over at Dropship Horizon has started on a non-scifi project and has kicked off a new blog chronicling the adventures of he and his partner in crime The Master Chef.

The blog, titled "The Winter of '79" is centered around an alternate history that spawns from the unrest following the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Of course in Mark's version, things got worse than they did in real history. I have it straight from the mouths of the gents involved that this will all be played out in both larger scale conflicts such as riots, suppressions, and police actions and on a smaller street level involving the "small ops" side of this conflict.

I'm excited and am now adding a new section to the side bar of my blog to feature fun alternate history blogs.

Take care and check out Mark's new blog!

\-Eli