The Imagi-Nation Of Yerp

Last summer, just prior to the July Painting Challenge, I began to dabble in world building and the notion of Imagi-Nations. Now, all was going well, and I put up a couple of videos on my channel, which you can see here : Building A World: Mapping the campaign world and Building A World: What I am using to make my maps. The July painting challenge arrived and to the outside world, at least, the map making and world building ceased.

Well, that was not the case, I have been doodling and imagining in the background.

I started with Napoleonic “gaming” - making a start on Peninsula British and late Prussian armies in August 2014 and a model railway at Christmas time. To the outside observer, this had taken all my attention, but in reality my mind has stayed on the Imagi-Nation project.

During the summer of 2014 it became apparent that to imagine a whole world was just too much, so I have scaled it down to part of a continent and wrapped this in the Horse & Musket period rather than Ancients to Late Mediaeval. This means I can have the odd Pike & Shot unit to Zulus but I fear it will be heavily concentrated on the Seven Years War to post Napoleonic periods - fashion wise at least!

My next decision is the various rules for engagements, I want to make sure that some of my lead warriors can still be of use on the conventional battle field so I am aiming to use Black Powder rules as a formal set of rules, with Polemos and DBA and Song Of Drums & Shakos used as and when needed. I am keeping in my preferred scales of 28mm, 10mm and 6mm for troops .. but I am torn about painting up 28mm figures in "imaginary" unforms and facings.

Over the last few weeks I have been finalising the economies of the maojor nations and putting a lot of thought in how to create some interesting minor nations, city states, principalities and the like. Getting the economic system at least believeable and workable from the outset is crucial as changing it down the line will cause issues. Besides, certain states will be better off than others, have more or less minerals, have better access to trade and so on, what better basis for conflict can there be than simple greed!

Once the wealth of nations is complete, I can then begin to craft the principle players (and also begin to paint up their loyal, brave and gallant troops) . The Royal lines, the Lords and Ladies, Govenors and Generals (maybe an upstart Artillery officer or two) will spring to lifeand the world will be born. I will make heavy use of Henry Hydes articles in Battlegames on the subject, along with works of William Silvester, Tony Bath and the like. Of course, all this being written matter, I shall be updating the blog on a more regular basis than of late.

More then to come .. South Western Yerp is almost complete.