Maybe 10 years or so ago there were a series of articles in Miniature Wargames magazine on adding character traits to commanders etc to the original Black Powder rules from Warlord Games. A nice idea and a good way of adding a bit of detail to the game or even a campaign. I kept them in a wallet but sadly lost them sometime ago, which is a shame, but such is life.
These came to mind recently whilst travelling the long journey to rural North Norfolk to see family. The 4 hour journey passes many villages with interesting names that I thought would be perfect for Georgian and Victorian type chaps as they battle 'Johnny Foreigner' in some far flung field for fame and glory. Given the forthcoming HEIC bash in 18thC India I thought it high time I did more with this idea.
This is not new to me, nor others for that matter, as I have done something similar for my AVBCW commanders. Of course there are many ways to come up with names, with wines and cheeses having had a good run our over the years. All it needs is for a theme to tie everything together. So far I have:
Names
Hawkesbury Upton
Preston Bisset
Barton Hartshorn
Chetwode
Marston Moretaine
Stratton Audley
Naturally there are more to be had, but these have struck as rather fun and with a bit of character to them. To add a bit of chrome to them, one could add the following:
Titles
Mister
Doctor
Sir
Lord
The Honourable
Again more to be made, but you get the idea.
Combining Them
The fun starts when you begin to combine the above, such as:
Mr Chetwode
Sir Hawkesbury Upton
The Honourable Lord Stratton Audley
or
Chetwode's Light Horse
Bisset's Irregular Horse
Moretaine's Light Infantry
Upton's Frontier Guides
Well these are just my initial ideas and as the show approaches and units are painted and finished, these will be firmed up and labels made, so that I can refer to them during the game, just to add a bit of fun to it.
TTFN.
Great idea! The names are terrific and certainly lend character.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I can't claim the idea per se, but it's nice to add a bit of fluff to the forces and commanders. My aim is to do this for all my ImagiNations forces so that they can develop their own character as games progress etc.
DeleteI agree Steve, works especially well for the AVBCW as well. Given that Harry Doyle - Leader of the Severn Riverside Wharf Labours Federation made it into the source book. He will have to appear in every game :-)
ReplyDeleteI certainly had fun with the 'bad guys' for my ABVCW force, with Norton Malreward ( a local village) being a bit of a favourite!
DeleteVery nice bit of chrome, that works really well!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain and glad you approve!
DeleteGreat idea and choices Steve! Reminds me of the stand up comedian whose stage name was taken from the Lincolnshire village Boothby Graffoe.
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
Thanks Chris and as mentioned above, not my idea originally but nice to resurrect it. Rather like Royston Vasey being the real name of a comedian (so called) that was used for the fictional village in the superb League of Gentlemen comedy series.
Deleteha ha! I thought of Boothby Graffoe too!
DeleteReminds me that David Crook of 'Wargaming Odyssey' fame has a fictional ACW (naval?) commander named Kyle E. Minogue...
I'd forgotten David had a character called that!
DeleteSome very cool names there Steve - our group have often tried to use puns - a favourite being (insert rank here) Effingham-Pratt for a British officer!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith! I think it just adds a bit of fun to the games and a bit of character too. I was thinking this morning that I could easily use some of the character trait table from the Dan Mersey books should I wish to go down that path of a bit more chrome...
DeleteAlways interesting having a few names characters, particularly with a campaign or connected scenarios.
ReplyDeleteThat's the long term aim for my ImagiNations forces Peter. Sam Mustafa's 'Maurice' rules had a nice campaign system where unit could go up or down in quality after battles, which I would like to take forward as well. Plenty of painting to be done first before this can happen!
DeleteWe often ponder “I wonder what his/her Victorian name would have been?”. So “Steve” for example might become something like Steevington, Stevsworth or maybe even Stevediah.
ReplyDeleteWe also got onto the subject of modern American names - so my wife (June) becomes Juneequah.
Plainly we don’t have enough to keep our minds busy…
Cheers,
Geoff (Gefferidge) 🤣😂
A fair point Gefferidge;)! Now my mind is pondering tweaking my name into a Victorian or Georgian gentleman to command my armies. Certainly no rest for the little grey cells, that's for sure!
DeleteStephanaih has a certain ring to it...
DeleteIdeas for character names of all sorts are always most welcome. I'm working on a fictional scenario set in Bavaria in 1809, so I'm thinking of silly Germanic names for villages, woods, hills, etc...
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned for my ImagiNations forces then more detail is going to be added than in my other games. The good thing with German is that you can simply join words together to make new ones:). Technical German has to be seen to be believed!
DeleteThe French don't like adding new words to their language, especially if they are foreign in origin. the Germans simply make up new words using combinations of old ones. I have a basic familiarity with German, having studied in college as a Chenistry major; it was recommended in order to be able to understand the century old standard reference for Organic Chemistry synthesis, Beilstein, Then there is the famous story of the origin of "panzer" for German tanks; shortened from Panzerkraftwagen. German is such a delightfully odd language! Of course, English, being at heart Germanic in origin, is perhaps stranger stull! :-)
DeleteI did German 'O' Level and failed badly, but enjoyed studying it nevertheless! Watching Scandi Noir films and series over the past 10 years or so has been fun, listening out for common words that we have in English, given that it is a complete melting pot of languages and influences. We had a German student at work years ago and talked to him about making new words and he gave us some brilliant long ones, but sadly I can't remember any of them now!
DeleteI still remember an ancient Ripley's Believe it or not, with the longest known curse word. It was of course, German: HimmelherrGottkreuzmillionendonnerwetter!
Delete