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Hello Loqers’ Everywhere! All of you who are reading this column are fans of the unique experience that is Black Powder Fantasy gaming. You came to the excellent Orcs in the Webbe online resource site for the treasures it holds in this special section of the great hobby that is miniature wargaming. I hope that this column will add to this superb resource and make loading a musket more fun for every Orc out there. While Black Powder Fantasy includes many game systems by different designers none would argue that Flintloque is the premier game among them, indeed it's the one that kicked off the whole genre for players and it’s the largest out there as well. As a result of this, and my friendship with Craig, I was asked if Alternative Armies would like to write a series of short columns about the World of Valon, Flintloque and all things Black Powder Fantasy. I jumped at the chance. I did literally... well I was excited! A few of you will know me in person, many perhaps by email and on the Notables Yahoo Group. I am often asked about the concepts behind designs, games and what’s in the pipeline for Valon. This material usually kept secret was something, I thought, that all players might be interested in and as a result here I am for your pleasure! This first column takes a look at Halloween and the fifth of November and how these annual occurrences are treated in the World of Valon. The next column will give you an insight into the frozen tundra that is Death in the Snow – the next book for Flintloque 3rd edition. Is it simply Deadloque re-released or is it more? Now while not as readily stocked as Cryptmass and Eastur (don’t ask me about exploding eggs and Burrovians in leather shorts I beg you!) the end of summer festival called Auld Hollows Eve in Great Britorcn has lots to offer. Auld Hollows Eve includes the customs of ‘Tricked and Eaten’ and ‘Hollows Jacke’ among others and these lead to plenty of carnage in Londinium and Edinborge alike. Auld Hollows Eve is the time that the bonds of Magicke that keep down the old gods of Valon is at its weakest, when the Power Ring cannot stop raw elder energy seeping out into the wider places of the world. The Orcs of Albion, fearing the worst, appease the gods anger at being bound by hollowing out and carving their ancient images into root vegetables or sometimes wicked children who aren’t abed when told. These leering carvings are lit with fatty flickering candles and hung in yellow glass windows at night. Sometimes the rage of the gods cannot be appeased however and the Hollows Jacke in the window is brought into an agony of temporary existence with a fiery vegetable head, wooden body and glass claws as it bursts into life. Pistol play ensues and it’s not odd for an elderly Orc, toothless and bent double with age, to sit in his chair and keep a fowling piece trained on the Jacke all night. Tricked and Eaten is practised in the savage places of Albion such as Porcsmuff. A gang of ruffians accost a house or inn and after breaking down the door demand the answer to a riddle. The riddle often has no answer that will suffice and unless the inhabitants can defend themselves they are declared tricked and summarily they are bludgeoned to a pulp and then consumed! The Palace of Westmuster, where the governance of Great Britorcn is conducted, was the target of a plot early in the Age of Black Powder by Elvish agents attempting to destroy the emerging power of the Orcs. Under the House of Tribes in the palace the Elves planted a huge magickal lodestone and primed it to implode, to suck the whole palace and all in within into the void. The organiser of the plot one Git’ta Fawke was captured after a bout of musketry under the House. Now every year he is burned and then stuffed into the House of Tribes chimney as he was the first time... which was of course fatal. All of these customs and events provide great material for scenarios and adventures using Flintloque. If you are interested, statistics for the Hollows Jacke creatures can be had from Alternative Armies for the asking. There are not many dedicated Halloween theme miniatures in the Flintloque range as yet but there is the excellent Headless Horseman (code PRM01), a headless wraith riding a nightmare horse, pumpkin head in hand) you can see it online here. Lots of fun to be had if you ‘head’ for this pack! So until the next column, keep playing, keep having fun and make sure your Flints are sharp and your Loques greased! Gavin Syme
Early November 2009 Webmaster's Note You can contact Gavin Syme at Alternative Armies for the stats for the Hollows Jackes or about anything else he's mentioned here on
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