I have been working on several maps of Hyboria to go with an article by Mark Cordone. He has modified the Ancient rules from DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME and the first PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM to make them suitable for fighting battles set in the Hyboria Age.
The first map is a slightly tided-up copy of the late Tony Bath’s original Hyboria map …
… and the second is a version of the map based on a number of other more recent maps of Hyboria.
By clicking on the maps shown above, blog readers can see enlarged (and somewhat clearer) views of them.
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A color version of the original Tony Bath map is available in part 2 of the original Hyboria documents: https://snv-ttm.blogspot.com/p/tony-baths-hyboria.html
ReplyDeletePhil Dutre,
DeleteThanks for the link. I’ve looked at the map and will Br adding it to my blog tomorrow.
All the best,
Bob
Sounds great Bob - I wasn't aware Mark was working on a PW Hyboria! Can't wait.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteOver recent weeks Mark Cordone had been painting several suitable armies, and they have been featured on the PW Facebook page. He has used some interesting 20mm plastic figures from a variety of sources.
All the best,
Bob
I think this is the first time I've ever seen a map of Bath's Hyboria. It's inspiring in its simplicity - it seems well within reach of the average wargamer's abilities.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing Mark's changes to the Ancient rules. Is this going to be for the next Compendium or is it for publication elsewhere?
John Y,
DeleteI’m very pleased that I’ve managed to fill a void in your wargaming knowledge. The map is a very simple but effective campaign map.
The rules will certainly be in the next Compendium although an earlier version is available as a post on the PW Facebook page.
All the best,
Bob
I love the maps. I discovered the Tony Bath Hyborian age on line resource a while ago and it's a great read, lots of inspiring stuff and I recommend it to anyone who is interested.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, Howard never published a calendar for the Hyborian age, and while there were a number of them put out over the years I decided to throw a simple one together for use in my Hyborian age games. I just posted it on the Portable Wargames Facebook page in case anyone was interested and wants to use it.
Mark Cordone,
DeleteI understand that the late Rudi Geudens had an original copy of Tony Bath’s HISTORY OF HYBORIA and that a PDF of this is available online here. John Curry of the ‘History of Wargaming’ also plans to publish this document to go alongside the other Tony Bath book that he publishes.
I’ve seen the Hyborian calendar that you’ve put on the PW Facebook page and hope to include it as an appendix to the forthcoming Compendium … with your permission, of course.
All the best,
Bob
Yes, by all means.
DeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteCheers!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteDare I say it?
“CROM!” (Best spoken in an Austrian accent….).
All the best,
DC
David Crook,
DeleteBy Crom, you’re right!
All the best,
Bob
Given Tony Bath’s love for fantasy fiction I suspect that he would have preferred the credit for the map to have gone to Robert E Howard#, even though old wargamers like me will always link Tony’s name to Hyboria. The first map looks like it was redrawn from that in the Lancer Conan paperbacks from the 1960s, though losing a fair bit of detail. Tony produced a much neater version at some point which appeared in part 1 of his “The Campaign That Grew” series in Battle for Wargamers Magazine. If there are no copyright problems I think that this latter version would look better if it is to be reproduced in the Compendium.
ReplyDeleteI also wish to thank Phil Dutré for the link as I had no idea that this website existed, and it has a lot of useful documents. When I found that my copies of the two volumes of Tony’s “History of Hyboria” were suffering from severe fading of the duplicator’s ink I turned them into an e-book – lots of work with a scanner and OCR software – which I am now hoping to improve by filling in the places where the originals were unreadable. I was intrigued by your comment that John Curry intends to publish the “History of Hyboria” as I discussed this with him in an email exchange early in 2016. I’ll have to keep an eye on his website to see what appears.
# though I think the real credit is belongs to a number of people who created maps based on REH’s notes and sketches.
Mike Hall,
DeleteThanks for reminding me that the real credit for the Hyborian Age lies with Robert E Howard, although - as you point out - the name of Tony Bath will always be linked with it in the mind of wargamers.
There are several different versions of the map of Hyboria. There is the black and white one I used in today’s blog post and the coloured one from the HISTORY OF HYBORIA that is in the PDF that was produced by the late Rudi Geudens and that I will be featuring on my blog tomorrow. My coloured version was based on the map on the end plates of THE COMPLETE CHRONICLES OF CONAN: CENTENARY EDITION which was published in 2006.
John Curry has quite a large back catalogue of books that he wants to republish as part of his ‘History of Wargaming’ Project. I know that the history of Hyboria is one of them … but I’ve no idea where the book is on the list.
All the best,
Bob