Building
the Jacks
#3-
Provisional Meeting
Now that we had a skeleton of a
campaign, it was time to put some skin on it and give it a name. For myself, I find the name is one of the
most important pieces. Once I have a
name, I have a direction. A name gives
me something to hang an idea on. A unit
name like Wolf’s Dragoons implies that someone or something named Wolf is
important. If you know the anything
about the history of BattleTech you know what a red herring that name was and
is. So, yes, our unit needed a
name. From the name came other pieces
that are important to how the unit will see itself, and more importantly to me,
how it will come to be shaped in the fiction that brings it to life for me.
Like everything else in these early
stages, it started with an email. This
one I decided to do in character.
Neil Ikerd <NIkerd@copera.org>
To: Bruce, dave, steve, Brian,
JV
Jun 5 at 6:50 PM
Okay, has everyone got their drinks? Good. It’s time
for us to consider some important early decisions for our little unit. I
may be bank-rolling this little lash-up, but you guys are as important to its
success as the money, probably even more so. Items on the agenda:
Unit Name
Unit emblem
Unit colors and paint scheme
So, what are we going to call ourselves? Someone has
mentioned the Playboy Lance, I think we should go with something more in line
with what I hope our missions will be- killing pirates and collecting
bounties. Maybe something like Pirate Hunter Interstellar, Frederick’s
Privateers, or maybe Goryo’s Gravewalkers. I thought about something like
Reaping Rogers, but that’s just way too fraught with opportunity for
misunderstandings.
Once we have a name, what do we want to do for unit
emblem? (OOC- preferably something easy to paint on small mini’s.)
What kind of paint scheme do we want to go with? Something
flashy and bold like the Davion Light Guards
something like a military field uniform similar to the 2nd Crucis
Lancers
or DCMS Sword of Light divisions
or maybe just a standard field camo.
Thank you for your support.
Frederick di Biasi
I will admit here that Pirate Hunter Interstellar was a blatant ripoff of Larry Corriea's Monster Hunter International series, of which I am a fan. If you've never checked them out, you should.
I rather hoped that people would lean toward a parade ground type paint job for our standard colors. Quite frankly, parade ground paint jobs are just more interesting and fun. Something like the OD Green used for Star League Defense Force mechs is more practical, but just doesn't look as nice on the shelf as a riot of color.
It didn’t take long until others started chiming in as well:
·
Dave
Jun 5 at 6:55 PM
there is a Navy air wing with Playboy bunny emblem vx4...
·
Bruce
Jun 6 at 12:29 AM
Combine the playboy theme and what we want to
do ... "Vorpal Bunnies"
Bruce will get in on the in-character emails
as well, which can be fun and gives me a good sense of what his character is
like so that I can play off it in future write-ups.
Bruce
Jun 6 at 12:48 AM
A young man sits back in his chair, nursing his coffee. He
looks exhausted and you can see traces of ground armor on his jacket.
"Well, Boss, I really do not care what we call ourselves. I
just say we take no contracts against the First Prince."
"As to a paint scheme, how about the opposite of a Snake
paint job. Mostly black with red highlights, like the 1st Argyle
Lancers?"
"Name...Andalusia Avengers?"
I knew I had looked at the 1st Argyle Lancers before, but couldn’t remember what their paint scheme was. Once I found it, I was immediately on board.
JV
Jun 6 at 9:48 AM
One-eyed Jacks with the bunny insignia. So many jokes in one.
JV doesn’t email a lot, but when he does it’s usually pretty
good.
·
Bruce
Jun 6 at 10:05 AM
Oooooh ... or a pair of Jacks with the top one being the bunny
as the bunny. And if we go with the black and red scheme it could work
with that idea.
· JV
Jun 6 at 11:21 AM
Go with the jack of spades for the bottom, replace the jack of
hearts with the bunny for the top card (since those are the one-eyed jacks),
spread on a black and white target with red border. "Never bet
against a one-eyed Jack" either on the border or on a scroll
beneath. After I get my printer back up tonight, I can work up a rough if
you want...
"nunquam bet contra leporum"
He did prepare a rough sketch, one that I particularly like and
has become the unit patch. I’ve even
managed to somewhat duplicate it on a small scale on painted figurines.
I went and did a bit of digging and found that the word we were looking
for was sponsione, or wager. This would make the slogan Nunquam Sponsione Contra Leporam,
literally Never Wager Against the Charm.
If we wanted to be more literal we could go with Luscus Eques or One-Eyed Knight, but I personally like the double
entendre of Leporam- Fred being such
a charming guy and all.
·
Neil
Jun 11 at 3:18 PM
I’m starting to get
attached to the idea of the name “1-Eyed Jacks,” particularly after JV’s write
up had “my” email address as @1iJacks.andal.net. I went and did some
digging, there will be a merc unit named the One-Eyed Jacks, but they don’t
come into existence until 3062. So, there’s no reason we can’t take that
name.
I also like the black
paint scheme with white and red trim. Something similar to the 1st Argyle
Lancers would be cool.
Maybe white trim with
gold accents instead of red; though the red is more evocative of playing cards.
Within a couple of days, I had painted the first unit in the
colors of the 1-I-Jacks; but for that you’ll need to wait for the next
installment.
Next Installment: Painting the Jacks, part 1.
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