Napoleon

Napoleon Fourth Edition! A new 4th edition, funded on KICKSTARTER, will be available on June 15th 2013. For those who missed the Kickstarter period, this PREORDER edition is available until June 1, 2013. It is the same as the Kickstarter version, except it will not be signed.

Preorders will have a mounted map, battle terrain markers, metalic foil labels, 12 wooden dice, and a free deck of Eagles cards. The 4th edition brings the game back to its 1st edition roots with some improvements.

http://www.columbiagames.com/cgi-bin/query/cfg/zoom.cfg?product_id=3201

Napoleon

Napoleon is on Kickstarter!

The 200th anniversary of Waterloo occurs in June 2015 and the time has
come to produce a new 4th edition of this classic game.

Napoleon 4th ed. will be released in June 2013.  We have stretch goals with plans to add more value. You can help make this great game even better.

Reserve your limited edition game now.Kickstarter deadline:
Sunday April 14th.

A while ago, about 3 years in fact, an article was written on the Small Mammals of Harn. It was to be released with the Hunting and Trapping article rules. Well, CGI decided it wanted the article expanded, and the groups of animals to be fleshed out a bit more.

I like drawing beasts and creatures, but usually prefer that they be snarling, nasty, and huge. Also, it would be nice if they are firebreathing.

So, with a list of animals that one would consider pretty mundane, my job was to come up with interesting images, that are useful for game play and are fun for me to do.

When it came to the intro page for Rodents, I got the idea that it would be fun to paint a medieval manuscript page image as it might appear in a Peoni illuminated manuscript on the saints. Just so you know, I will be doing these instead of the woodblock images I have done in the past for Harn articles.

St. Vusa and the Mice Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I chose a peaceful religious image of a saint dealing with a plague of rodents damaging crops (I know, it has been done). I got to thinking, this could be a miracle or even an example of a Peoni invocation at work. Maybe a prayer is said that will drive out pests from a field saving the villages crops. For the text I chose, “Saint Vusa of the Garden Drives out the Mice”. We looked at the Harn Religion Team page for info on the Saints and I thought St. Vusa fit the best. Special thanks to  Rob Barnes, who I have do all my translating into Harnic. I  use the Harnic Font to type the text and then draw over, twist and pull it to give it a more natural look.

Fanon Opportunity!

I want to offer this image up for use in any fanon Peoni invocation article that someone may want to write for this illustration. The image is a story all its own that could use a good imagination and some text to flesh out. Anyone? Comment or email me if you are interested in using this image in your fanon article. I thought a single page invocation on this, the saint and possibly the book it is found in would make a good little fanon addition. Could even be used for a Peoni temple article if the manuscript is in the library. Maybe this invocation is on a scroll found stored away that is found by the players. Anyway, someone do something with this image?

The other image in that article I was particularly proud of was the Harnic Squirrel. The text was changed after I drew the image to include info about them being ‘pack rats’ that collected shinny things. This little gray squirrel could result in an entire adventure hook. Say a player spotted a squirrel in a tree with something that looked like a gold coin. Or…. if a party buried a chest of coins in the woods only to come back to a dug up and nearly empty box, as a PC sees a squirrel scamper up a tree with coin in its mouth. What fun having to scour the woods for your hard earned treasure. What a great way for a game master to torture their players.

The Hoarder Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I hope you enjoy this article and can find some interesting ways to incorporate it into your game- even though rodents are not your typical fantasy game beasts.

For the recent HarnQuest release for Columbia Games, I had to color a very old illustration of Kiban. I believe this was first published in the original HarnView in 1983. Wow, 30 years ago!

Here is the original image as it appeared then.

Kiban  Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc.

I had to color the image and update it for the recent expansion of this Harnic Castle. The original is by Eric Hotz and I believe the inspiration is taken from a real world castle in England called Bodiam Castle. 

Along  the way, a map was drawn for the fictional Harnic version. As I started updating the image, I realized that the mapped castle and the image did not quite match up. So I started tweaking it. Also I thought some of the castle above looked a bit like a building in ruins rather than a living breathing fortress.

Kiban  Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc.

If you compare you can see, towers were moved and adjusted. The tops of the castle were cleaned up, and a lot of the windows had to be shifted around to match the floor plans in the article. Once everyone agreed on the adjustments I started in on color. I try to use digital coloring like water colors, doing washes over the line work- well, technically in photoshop, the color is done under the line layer.

Kiban  Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc.

I usually erase any lines in the sky and just paint the clouds in. After I was done one of the writers pointed out that the front window was still wrong. It was not one big single window on the floor plan, but two smaller ones.

The same eagle eyed writer also commented that on the map the bar of land in front of the castle was mostly stone and would not have grass on it. I of course ignored this comment as we all know rocks in a stream can and will accumulate silt and allow river plants to grow at the edges of the rocks- So Shut The Hell Up!

But in order to try to appease I offered this image as a possible solution. The knight covered the window and takes care of the grass.

Kiban  Copyright © 2013, Columbia Games, Inc.

This image was rejected for some reason by Tom at Columbia Games as being “inaccurate”.

Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

I just finished the illustration for the upcoming Columbia Games article on Thay. Should ship in a few weeks.

“Thay is a seaport at the mouth of the Horka River in the mainland part of the Kingdom of Melderyn.”

We were all getting tired of the same old distant castle view across the river that often appear in these articles. Rob, one of the writers, suggested a view past two major buildings looking towards the castle. I also thought an early morning scene of the town waking up with workers walking to their respective jobs would be interesting.

I find it pretty tough to illustrate a believable scene that matches the maps, without some sort of physical reference. I select a portion of the map that will be in the view, create a jpeg that can be imported into Sketchup. I always make sure I include the map scale so I can enlarge the map image to the scale in Sketchup- To do this I just make a block that is 50 ft (you can type in exact dimensions), and then enlarge the map until the scale matches.

I do a rough layout, using some smaller models I have already built and saved- like castle walls, towers and a few medieval looking houses. Then I tackle the fancier buildings. If I can find a real world reference I will model off of that. Often in the Sketchup Warehouse, you can find a model that has already been built which is close to your needs. I will load that model into the image and place it on the map. Harnic building are usually smaller than those on Earth. So I usually have to scale them down, and often need to reduce the height. The temple on the right of the image, is based off a real-world Greek orthodox church. I was using it for a Peoni temple, which are described as simple in design, so I had to alter and delete a lot of the fancy parts off the original model. I push and pull the  model until it fits the map. Then I can basically walk around in the model looking for the best view.

Rough sketchup view

Here is the view I selected. I now can use this image to draw from. I approximate the drawing from this image of the model and then use a lot of artistic license to make the image interesting. Moving window and doors and changing some proportions and even placement, but at least now I know what will and will not work. In all honesty, it is not so much about exact accuracy and slavish following of the map, but making sure I will create a pleasing image that gives the feeling of a living breathing city. A cold computer model does not do that.

I thought I would post a few other views  to tease out some fanon map projects. Hint, Hint!

If anyone wants to mess around with these, feel free to email me and I will send you the Sketchup model.

It would be awesome to see a few maps done for the Palace of Kerpyne and the Peoni Temple.

I have been busy, also color art for The Silver Way, Menekod, Dyrisa, Telumar, Lia Kavair, and Dunir.

Thieves in the Night, by Richard Luschek Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

If you want to run a game or Hârn Event registration opens up January 11. Bring your big GM club so we can trap some “newbies” in the alley and beat them about the head and neck, showing them just how great Hârn is.
Contact Columbia Games if you have any questions about running an event on Harn or a CGI Block Game.

• Nurisel Castle
• Gelimo Chantry
• Qualdris Castle

All Hârn Classics contain the text from out-of-print Columbia Games articles. Local maps and floor plans have been redrawn and the articles have some new color artwork and additional new features.

Coming in January 2013: City of Thay and Telumar Earthmaster site.

From the Blog of Richard Luschek:

Using the art from the old, out of print articles, each of which was a black and white image by Eric Hotz,  I was trusted to update and color all the art. Some needed parts added or adjusted to fit the new layout, but mostly I am just coloring them in. I occasionally add my own twist- like adding a flag with the castle heraldry and a few birds as was done for Nurisel.

The Qualdris Castle was drawn from a high view point and I thought it would be nice to add a wispy bit of background to it. Using the map as reference, I did my best to make up what I thought would be a good looking background. Using some photographic reference and a few laid in textures, I was able to rough out the distant landscape. Some of the image had to be cropped out in the document, so I thought I would post the whole thing. I like early or late day scenes so I can get some contrast and interesting lighting.

Qualdris Castle, by Eric Hotz, Colored by Richard LuschekCopyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Below is the original illustration by Eric Hotz.

Qualdris Castle, by Eric Hotz, Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc. and Richard Luschek

Borodino

Columbia Games, a long-established publisher of games on military history and other topics, has released in November 2012 its latest title, Borodino 1812, part of its Great Battles of History series.  This game is based on the famous battle between Napoleon’s Grand Armee and the Army of Imperial Russia under Kutuzov on September 7, 1812, immortalized by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace.   2012 marks the 200th anniversary of this battle, the single bloodiest day of the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the most significant conflicts in history.   Borodino 1812 is available directly from Columbia Games for $69.98, and also through many game and hobby retail stores.

The historical battle of Borodino was a French victory, leading to the fall of Moscow to Napoleon, but a strategic defeat.  Losses were terrible on both sides, but the Russians could replace theirs.  One week after the battle Napoleon occupied an undefended Moscow, hoping to impose a peace, but after four weeks was forced to retreat home with calamitous results.   By December 1812, Napoleon was driven out of Russia, and of the more than half a million men that had invaded Russia with him in June 1812, only a handful remained under his command after the disastrous withdrawal in the Russian winter.

In the game, the players command Napoleon’s Grand Armee or the Russian Imperial Army.  To win the game you must outperform history.  The French player has several possible lines of attack, and the Russian player must try to counter them all.  The historical battle involved wave after wave of frontal attacks by both sides, focusing on the Russian redoubts, with tremendous artillery bombardments.  However, the game shows all the options available to Napoleon and Kutuzov, including some not attempted historically.

Movement and combat in the game are resolved within areas.  The game plays using a fast-paced Move-Move-Battle sequence seen in Columbia’s previous Shiloh game, but this game stands on its own and does not require knowledge of any other Columbia title.  In the game, players activate corps leaders to command divisions of the same corps, or army leaders to command a limited number of divisions from any corps and army reserves.  Units of the two armies are represented by wooden blocks, with information about the type and strength of the units hidden from the other player until a battle takes place.  This “fog of war” system, commonly used in Columbia’s games, helps to preserve the uncertainty faced by real commanders. The game also captures the flavor of Napoleonic combat, emphasizing the tactical interaction of Napoleonic infantry, cavalry and artillery, including cavalry charges and infantry squares.   This makes for exciting and tense gaming.

The Borodino 1812 game has two scenarios, a shorter Shevardino one covering the preliminary fighting around the Shevardino redoubt on September 5, 1812, and a longer one covering the main battle of Borodino on September 7.   The main Borodino scenario takes about 3-4 hours to play, while the Shevardino scenario can be played in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.   The two scenarios can be linked into a campaign game covering both days of the battle.

Columbia has published on its website, www.columbiagames.com, more historical information about the battle and dramatic photographs taken at the annual reenactment of the Borodino battle on the historical site in Russia.   One of the designers of the game has twice visited the battlefield site, and had the opportunity to watch the annual reenactment involving many hundreds of infantry, cavalry and artillery in historical uniforms.   The game map and pieces similarly reflect attention to historical accuracy and detail.   The release of Borodino 1812 should be of great interest both to gamers and those intrigued by Napoleonic history.

This one was tough for me. For some reason I had an easier time getting into the mind set of the Rethem Kingdom module- not sure what that says about me. For one thing, Rethem is anything but subtle. Melderyn is a bit more mysterious and subtle with influences from many sources on Ketheria and beyond. I did my best to sneak in those influences without it being to high fantasy and over the top.

I am having a great time adding more color to Harn releases. The following image from page 3 of Melderyn is one such example.

Bringer of Storms, pen and ink and digital. Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc., Richard Luschek

I did a very rough sketch in the space left to me just to test out the idea.

Melderyn page 3 layout sketch, Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc., Richard Luschek

After refining the sketch, I then shoot some reference shots. I thought this character needed to be very handsome and powerful, so I posed for it myself. I did find the bald spot to be a bit upsetting. Thankfully, I don’t get to see myself from that point of view very often.

I did not have a wind blown cliff overlooking the ocean on which to pose. Since Columbia Games was too cheap to fly me to Ireland for accurate reference shots, my wife’s dressing room worked just fine.

The great actor and illustrator- Richard Luschek

I am pretty excited with how the kingdom came out- probably my new favorite. Of course I say that almost every time don’t I?  We even changed the settlement pages with a color heraldry symbol on each page. This was done in Kaldor using the full heraldry symbol- though it was in B&W. This idea was dropped in Rethem to make room for text. This time by using only the shield part of the coat of arms- and some artful layout design by Brent Bailey, we were able to fit the art, heraldry and keep all of the text.

Get yourself a HarnQuest subscription now!

Melderyn page 61 (Zuilos), Copyright © 2012, Columbia Games, Inc., Richard Luschek