My Conan Collection!

Hail Fellow Conan Fans! Well, as some of you may know, I just recently moved into a new house with enough space to give me my very own room, which I have dubbed "The Nerdatorium". The best part of having my own space (it's actually a home office, since I'm starting to work from home in 2 weeks) is that I finally get to dig out all of my collectibles from their Rubbermaid prisons and get them out in the open on a shelf where they belong.

Foremost in my collection of toys, comics and books is, of course, my prized Conan collection! No longer is it sealed up in storage! Finally, my collection can see the light of day and take up its rightful place of honor!

And since I had it all out on some shelves, I thought I'd snap a few pics and share with you all.

On the lower shelf we see my collection of Conan novels and pastiches. And yes, I have read all of these (well, most of them). Standing guard over my beloved paperback collection are my various Conan figures. More on them in a bit.

The upper shelf contains my larger Conan books; a couple of retrospectives, hardback novels and trade paperbacks. Sadly, I know for a fact that some are missing, so there must be another bin somewhere. probably in the garage. Good grief.

By the way, you see the two big books on the left? I highly recommend both of them to any Conan fan!

The first of the figures is my NECA "I'm gonna kill all your slave bitches" Conan, as seen in the first movie. I love this figure despite its utter lack of articulation. Also, note the missing index finger. Again, must be rolling around at the bottom of a bin.

Here we have a small Conan statue originally released by Dark Horse comics. This is a repainted special promotions piece originally seen in the "Frost Giant's Daughter" PVC set. I got this bad boy at a discount bookstore for $2. They had a pile of them and I'm now kicking myself for not buying them all and having a give-away or something. Sorry, gang.

Ahhhh, yes... the Comic Book Legends Conan! He came with his Marvel Comics arch nemesis, Wharrl: the Devourer of Souls!

And, of course, my prized Mego Conan. A gift from my homie Greg and still one of my very most beloved toys in my entire collection. Thanks Greg!

While I was digging through another bin, I stumbled across a few Marvel Comics Treasury Editions. I've found these here and there over the years and actually forgot that I had a couple of these. The last one appeared on this very blog after I found it at the Emerald City Comic Con and had it signed by the great Ernie Chan himself! (Look in the center "N" in CONAN)

Well, that's the collection so far, minus a book or two. And I also have to track down an original piece of Conan trading card art from my good friend, Bubbashelby. It's around here somewhere.

And of course, this also does not take into account the hundreds of Conan comics I have, which are all sitting in a giant stack right now. I'm picking up some comic book long-boxes this weekend and plan on putting them all in order and then making a list of which ones I need. I'm sure I'll have a ton of doubles, so I think I smell a CROM! give-away on the horizon! ;)

Thanks for checking out the collection!

In Memoriam...

Dino De Laurentiis

1919-2010

To read more about the legendary producer of Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, among many other incredible films, click HERE.

You Can't Be a Barbarian Without Some Barbarian Babes

Just sayin'. Cromsblood has treated us to several fantasy realm hotties, so I thought I'd contribute a few I found as well. ;)

(click images to view full size)

"The Riddle of Steel" by Dan Hipp!

If there's one thing I love, it's big boobs. But if there's another thing I love, it's killer Conan art! I stumbled across this awesome piece of work by artist, Dan Hipp, an illustrator with several comics and graphic novels under his belt and his unique look, with his chunky shading, sharp angles and inspired color schemes deserve a solid shout out here on the blog.


(click to view full size)

Swing on by Dan Hipp's blog (click HERE) to fill your eyeballs with even more awesomeness!

Conan in Japan!

Hail fellow barbarians and savages! It's really great to see the CROM! blog back to it's former self (and then some) with the return of Cromsblood and the addition of our newest blogging brother, Atom Kid. And to hold up my end of things a bit, i wanted to take a quick moment to tell you all about an email I received from a Conan fan all the way from the land of the rising sun.


A blogger called "Banjin" （蛮人）, which means "barbarian" in Japanese, set me a link to his website, which is all devoted our favorite sword-swinger Conan!

You can visit Banjin's site, "Conan the Oblivioner" (???) by clicking HERE. It appears that Banjin has combined two of his favorite things: Conan and the popular sandbox style video game (which I have sunken many hours into myself), Oblivion.

And good luck navigating the site because it's all in Japanese. Maybe Cromsblood can help us out with some sort of translator?

Anyway, check it out and, as always, make sure to die not in hunger... but in combat!

This is a Crusader Miniatures Dark Age Irish figure that I painted. The Cimmerians were based on Dark Age Irish and Scottish culture along with Robert E. Howard's own ideas.

Royal Armies of The Hyborean Age: Army List (Argos)

(Image used from The Hyborian Age)

Black Amazons 500 points

No Banner

Though not a true nation, the Black Amazons could field a force large enough that it should not be overlooked. Their army would be all infantry and it would include elite light archers. The Black Amazons would have uniforms in the sense that all women in a given unit would wear the same animal skins or colors. Below is the breakdown for their army:

Regular Infantry - -MI- -B- -36- -50-100
Light Archers- -LI- -B- -18- -25-50
Elite Archers- -LI- -A- -18- -0-25

Black Amazon Medium Infantry would be able to move as lights in rough terrain and would not suffer the usual medium penalties.

EVEN MORE Conan Art by Rodney Buchemi!

One of the blog's favorite artists, Rodney Buchemi, who's work was showcased HERE, was kind enough to drop me a quick note and send us a couple of new pieces of art for us to share here on CROM!

Rodney is one seriously top-notch artist as clearly evidenced in these two pieces. Have a look and see for yourself!

 

 

Thanks for sharing Rodney!

Conan Lego Minifig!

Here's another cool little custom I spotted on eBay. This custom Conan Lego minifig wins for cutest Conan custom ever!

 

Conan And The Songs Of The Dead - A Review

Conan And The Songs Of The Dead from Dark Horse Comics by Joe R. Lansdale with art by Timothy Truman is, as you have guessed, another Conan story. But Joe Lansdale writing a Conan story?!!! How awesome is that, and he's a Texan to boot. Who better to understand Robert E. Howard than another fellow Texan!

Conan meets an old aquaintance, Alvazar the thief, who was hired to find a particular magickal tome known as "The Book Of Nameless Cults" (Ring any bells)? On their quest they join forces with a female warrior named Ohala who is also looking for the book. Husbas, an evil sorcerer and student of Thoth-Amon, is also looking for the scroll so he can use it to call forth the Elder Gods. Conan and his companions fight their way through mummy warriors, Picts, demons and even The Worms Of The Earth to obtain the scroll.

Joe R. Lansdale's writing style has been described as "Gonzo", and this story is no exception. The story itself was decent but at times the anachronistic language got a bit old. And it is a bit risque in parts, just incase you were planning on letting your 10 year old read it.

Timothy Truman's artwork is superb! He's well known for illustrating Grim Jack. His depiction of Conan is spot on! He's a battle hardened roque, not a hollywood pretty boy.

Over all, I really enjoyed the graphic novel and would highly recommend it to Conan fans. Some of the anachronistic language and situations seemed out of place.

The Great White Barsoomian Ape gives it 3 thumbs up!

Conan The Cimmerian miniature

Here's a mini I did a while back using parts from historical wargaming miniatures. I wanted to do a mini of young Conan to go along with my Crusader Miniatures dark age irish miniatures (which I was using for Cimmerians). I decided to use Wargames Factory's Numidian bodies mixed with ancient Germans arms, head, shield and sword. Then I used some Pro-Create to make the cape and the hair.

I wanted him to look like a basic rank and file character, but still very Conan like. So I gave him plain, drab colored clothing that a Cimmerian tribesman would probably have worn. After all, he didn't become a king until his late 40's.

I think it turned out pretty decently.

Royal Armies of The Hyborean Age: Army List (Argos)

(Image used from The Hyborian Age)

Striaght from the army lists from Royal Armies Of The Hyborean Age.

Argos 1500 points

Banner: Purple Field with three gold balls up and down center of flag.

Most units in the army of Argos are hired from Ophir, Koth and Shem as there are very few native units. These Mercenary units should be treated as native as opposed to hiring Free company Mercenaries which could be up to 20% of an Army for Argos.

As all cavalry was hired abroad their uniforms would be similar to similar units in their countries of origin. The same applies to the infantry with the exception of the Royal Guard, which was seldom used in battle. All units use the banner of Argos.

The Royal Guard was a unit composed of members of nobility who favored the use of gold armor and shields. Their golden shields would have three purple balls as a device.

Cavalry is all hired and is B class heavy cavalry in units o ftwelve figures. Cavalry was 25-33% of the army.

Infantry is broken down as follows:

Unit Designation-----Type----Class--No. of Figures-----% of Infantry

Hired Spearmen ------HI-------B--------24-----------50-90
Shemite Archers ------LI-------B--------18-----------10-25
Royal Guard ---------HI-------A--------30-----------1 unit

Conan Mego!

I spotted this minty carded vintage Conan Mego figure and just had to post the pics. You can practically smell the 1970's coming off this thing...

Royal Armies of The Hyborean Age: Army List (Aquilonia)

The following is directly taken from the rules of Royal Armies Of The Hyborean Age by Lin Carter and Scott Bizar. A lot of the specifics of coats of arms and some of the make up of the armies were purely creations of the authors. I presenting them here as they were written. I'm currently researching the original Robert E. Howard stories and will be making adjustments to the rules, just to keep it more in line with the Conan stories.


(Image used from The Hyborian Age)

Quoted from the rules:

Aquilonia - 3000 points

Probably the major power of the Hyborean Age. An Aquilonian army in the field could include up to 20% mercenaries. The following descriptions refer to the native portion of an army.

The Poitanian knights were the levy of Poitain and were known for their use of a two handed broadsword. These mounted knights would carry the heraldic device of Poitain on their shields and banners. This is silver leopards rampant on a red field.

The Aquilonian knights are the barons of Aquilonia and their mounted men-at-arms. These men would have their own coats of arms or would be in the coat of arms of a unit sub-commander who would be their own baron. They would use the aquilonian banner.

The Black Dragons are the mounted portion of the Aquilonian Royal Guard and would be characterized by black uniforms and plumes, silver armor and shields, and by a regimental device of a black dragon on their shields. They would have this dragon on a white field as their banner unless Conan is serving with the unit, in which case they would use the Aquilonian national banner.

The Bossonian Archers are the elite border guard from the Pictish frontier. They would wear green or brown earth tones and plain steel. No banner for this unit.

The Gundermen are pikemen from the province of Gunderland and would all be blonde. They would tend to wear dull colors and plain steel helmets and armor. Their baner would be the Aquilonian Lion.

Aquilonian foot is the bulk of the infantry and it is made up of the men-at-arms of the various barons. There might be contigents from more than one baron in a given unit. These troops would wear the coats of arms of their baron and carry his banner. In those units composed of troops from several barons the Aquilonian banner would be carried.

The Black Legion is the Royal guard on foot and would have uniforms like the Black Dragons.

Cavalry is 25-40% of the army . It's composition is as follows:
****A note on the abbreviations H,M,L=Heavy,Medium, Light; C=Cavalry; I=Infantry, P=Pikes****
Unit Designation -------Type -----Class ------ No. of Figs. ----% of Cavalry-

Poitainian Knights ------HC-------- A-----------12-----------0-50
Aquilonian Knights ------HC --------B-----------12 ----------40-100
Black Dragons --------- HC --------A ----------12-----------1 unit

Infantry makes up 60-75% of the army. The following is a breakdown of the units:

Bossonian Archers ---- - MI -------- A -----------24 ----------0-25
Gunderman-----------HIP--------A-----------30-----------0-30
Aquilonians -----------HI---------B------------24----------40-100
Black Legion ----------HI---------A-----------30-----------1 unit

I'm currently converting some miniatures to fit into what I think that an Aquilonian army would look like. I'm using Medieval Spanish knights, but I'm removing the heads and adding Russian Knights heads in it's place. These give it a more "other worldly" feel but still remain true to the book descriptions. I'll have some pictures up of a command stand. One figure will represent King Conan, with a standard bearer and a Black Dragon Guard. The conversions are complete, I just need to sculpt shields and paint them.

Introductions

Hello fellow Hyborians!

My name is Chad Thorson and I'm a new blogger here at Crom! My posts will mainly be focused on posting wargaming ideas for Conan's world. For the most part I'll be using Fantasy Games Unlimited's "Royal Armies Of The Hyborean Age" (Hyborian being intentionally misspelled for copyright reasons).



I'm currently working on converting some 15 mm historical miniatures to look like Aquilonians, pictures will be forthcoming.

Thanks for having me, and I can't wait to start posting on Crom! more regularly!

Chad Thorson

CROM! Wants YOU!

Hey! You! Yeah, YOU! I'm still looking for more contributors to our blog and if you think you've got some stuff to say about Cimmeria's wandering son, then email me at reisobrien@gmail.com and let me know what you're made of. A sample blog post will go a long way, so be sure to include a link or at least a paragraph or two of your writing.

Maybe you have a specific angle you'd like to cover? Maybe you're an expert on Conan the Destroyer. Maybe you're an actual sword maker. Maybe you're fascinated with the Conan cartoon. Whatever! I wanna hear from you!

Now for your moment of zen...

(Sorry for the lack of a credit on the above artwork. It was emailed to me ages ago! If anyone knows where it's from, please let us know!)

Vikor!!!

Hail fellow Cromites! I'm slowly getting back into the swing of blogging again and I wanted to take this time to hip you all to an upcoming release from Mattycollector in their Masters of the Universe Classics line of a character called "Vikor", who is the spitting image of a certain barbarian we all know and love.

Vikor is based on a original concept sketch from back in 1981 when Masters of the Universe was still being developed and was highly influenced by the Conan image and mythos. (And don't you all start that "He-man was supposed to be Conan" shit again. It's been dis-proven a thousand times over.)

But looking at Vikor, we can clearly see the influence.

Check out the figure... (click the images to make them barbarian sized)

 

And here's the original '81 sketch the figure is based on...

Pretty rad, eh? You can bet your Hyrkanian ponies that I'll be buying one of these figures and displaying it proudly along with my other Conan swag. Vikor is scheduled to go on sale in December (I think, I'm too lazy to check).

Been a While, eh? How About This Kick Ass Conan Custom Action Figure to Make it Up to Ya? ;)

So, yeah, I haven't posted in a long time, but that's how it goes for me in the world of Conan fandom. But I'm coming back and have some cool stuff to post and I thought I'd dip my toe back in by posting some pics of this killer Conan custom action figure that I stumbled upon on eBay.

I didn't bid on it (it was a little too rich for my blood), but the next best thing to owning it, is to swipe the pics and post them on my blog!

Enjoy... (click the pics for full size)

This badass custom comes with some sweet barbaric gear! And I especially love that shield. Basically, this all adds up to the heartwarming fact that Conan fans are still going strong out there, making killer Conan stuff and keeping the torch alive. I imagine that this will only increase as we get closer to the release of the movie.

More Conan stuff to follow!

State of the Aquilonian Union Address

Hail Fellow Conan Fans!

I know that a lot of you are probably wondering about the fate of the CROM! blog, what with our illustrious contributor, Cromsblood, taking an extended leave and I'm sure that my absence and the ending of my main blog, Geek Orthodox, may have a lot of you thinking that CROM! is about to go the way of the dodo. But I'm here to assure you that it is NOT shutting down!

Let me repeat this; CROM IS HERE TO STAY!

I have talked with Cromsblood and the dude just has a ton of other stuff to worry about right now and just needs the break. He's okay, don't worry. But sometimes life just piles enough crap on you and you gotta take some serious time to clean it off, you know? Anyway, he will always be a part of this blog and I have told him that our door is always open for whenever he wants to come back. :)

As for my absence, I know that many of you have gotten to know Cromsblood over the past several months, because he was pretty much keeping this blog going all by himself, and you probably have no idea who I am. Well, I'm Reis, the dude who started this blog back on Myspace several years ago. Pleased to meet you.

I'll tell you what I told Cromsblood. The truth is that my level of fandom ebbs and flows. Sometimes, I'm crazy about Conan, other times, I'm focused on other things. Lately, I've been distracted. That doesn't mean I don't still love Conan and all things Conan related, but I'm just not researching as vigorously as I do at other times, and am a little less inclined to post about it.

However, that will change. It always does.

So, CROM! is not going anywhere, but the posting may be a bit sparse for a while. Sorry about that.

On a related note, I have to say that Cromsblood taught me just how awesome a collaborative fan effort can be. And with that in mind, I would like to officially send out an open invitation to any Conan fans who would like to join the CROM! team!

So here's the deal; send me an email at reisobrien@gmail.com and introduce yourself. Tell me why you'd like to write for CROM!, and if you have a special angle you'd like to claim (like a Conan web-comic, or a focus on the movies or books or comics, etc.), and finally, send me a link to a sample of your blogging if you have one.

I'm looking for original voices, an even keeled demeanor, attention to quality and an overall cool vibe.

If chosen, you'll be granted access to the blog and will be welcomed to blog about all that is Conan!

So let's hear from you!

In the meantime, I have a few small Conan things to post, and will get those up as soon as I can pull myself away from searching eBay for vintage toys. :)

So, in summation; CROM! is alive and well and I'm inviting YOU to help keep it that way!

Anyway, than you all for making CROM! such an awesome place!

More soon...

-Reis

The Riddle of Latex!

Have you ever wanted to armor up and run around a field with several of your best friends hitting each other in the head with gleaming swords, but don't like cleaning up blood and chunks of brain matter? Well fear no more! Now you can wail away at all of your enemies and never worry about a murder rap thanks to Museum Replica's latex Conan LARP weapons and armor!

Get yourself the squishy and huggable Atlantean Sword of Conan himself!

Re-enact your favorite MMO moments with this sweet Age of Conan armor!

If this doesn't convince you, watch this action packed video that's just jam-packed with epic battle scenes and actual bouncing female breasts!

Go HERE to plunk down some hard-earn Hyrkanian rubies for any number of killer latex weaponry, or swing by Big Bad Toy Store, who has many of the same swords and axes for a little cheaper.

And then once we've all bought our swords, I say we all meet up for one serious battle, by Crom!