54mm or Fight Blog And Fantasy SF Scenarios And The Next Wargame

 One of the many great blogs I follow is 54mm or Fight. Anyone wargaming with 54mm is going to get my attention. 54mm or Fight! is on my reading list.

One of the topics there is the topical world of Venus, invaded by Victorian era armies. The main local enemy consists of reptilian warriors, some mounted in howdahs on dinosaurs.

That reminds me that my next wargame is Aztecia versus Zoohoo. The former started off as 'just' Aztecs but in a different world geography. No doubt I am being influenced by the Lizardmen of the GW Warhammer world but I am going to give them the possibility of dinosaur mounts, probably large plant eaters with howdahs. This will give them some balance against better armed invaders. 

In previous wargames I have played Aztecs versus conquistadores, Vikings and Fezians (Renaissance Turks mixed with Saracens and Persians). Recently, after concluding battle between Confederates and Chaos (I make ample use of Warhammer references but in 1/32) Mat and I rolled dice on a 28 nation chart for the next matchup and came up with Zoohoo versus Aztecia. I had not thought of that possibility.

The chart we roll for wargame possibilities is meant to be for an alternative Earth in the late Victoria/Edwardian period. However, I added 'Lost Worlds' for some inter-period game possibilities. Zoohoo represents one of the 'colonial' armies, the other being Lionia (based on Abyssinia). Zoohoo is a confederation of Sudanese, Arab and African tribal types. The reason I came up with this is I have not painted sufficient numbers of Zulus or Dervishes to come up with the numbers I want for any one on its own. As I am basing everything in a fantasy world I can pretty much do what I want, although within certain parameters.

The Aztecs are like their real history inspiration except for the following: 1/After fighting the Fezians they have obtained horses. This means I can use a couple of horse mounted units (basically Plains Indians with bows and spears) 2/ Some of the Aztecs are experimenting with metal armor. It hasn't been fully used because of the tropical environment but previous invaders did make an impression. 3/ They have priest sorcerers who have real magic. 4/ They may have dinosaurs. As the dinosaurs are notoriously difficult to train and potentially dangerous to their own side the numbers will be limited.

A future scenario I may do but based on my medieval-Renaissance world is one where rival units of Fezians and Beersteiners explore Aztecia in the hope of finding treasure or dinosaur eggs to take back to their own countries where the dinosaurs can be hatched and raised as parts of their armies.

The Zoohoos are mostly sword and shield men but with some with relatively modern firearms.