musical composition musings... 3a

So,
there have been a few things on the musical front,
that people wondered how might be achieved - and it has been a lot of fun locally to attempt to collaborate to compose some things.
I have to confess; I am not terribly 'musically literate' - I am not trained as such, and do not read sheet music (I dabble, and play by ear).
That said, as eclectic as other facets may be, so too are the sounds somewhat altered - I'm in quest of variants of other things often - and am fascinated by non-standard sounds.

Preamble aside,
a friend and a couple of other friends in a local band were wanting more 'experimental' compositions to play - and I recommended they look at Barry Gray's alternate compositions,
and of course, the Dr Who theme.

Barry Gray's "They walked on the Sun" is quite seldom heard, moreso even in medley with the Thunderbirds b variant - perfect for 30 piece band etc. Oboes, clarinets, and cellos would be mainly needed, as would alto and tenor sax, and tuba/trombone. A euphonium would be also appreciated, or a french horn. The counter melodies would be great to have fiddles and a sabkh-ur...

As to Dr Who's theme...
the Big Finish rare alternate (which was inspired muchly by Williams ST:Ep V bespin duel soundtrack) was cool,
but I was particularly fond of a person called Roy Budd, who, along with the London Philharmonic, made a variant which collected all other 'alternate' variants. That was a fascinating combo also...
It comes as no surprise to many 'in the know', that the Dr Who theme is taken from a Veda... it is an oriental prayer hymn, part of a mantra, and very much in the 'regeneration' theme of the show...

The internet compilation inspired in me a want to hear a variant which contains musical styles from all the cultures of earth - just because (and not for cosmopolitan imposed, and effacing reasons, but to prove that people can make a temporary union of convenience and make awesome music across cultural divides). This version, would also aim to set a world record - largest orchestra AND longest orchestral song played in one sitting! We can dream, right? 

Moving away from the heady lofty variant to a more practical route,
I've always wanted to hear a variant, which achieves much of the sound complexity with people.
  based on the musical glass, (percussive glass also for the time vortex part)
with a choir (preferably seniors and a mixed) and the musical saw for the 'synth',
teak snapping... tambourines and 'musical bottle caps', musical spoons,
the bag-pipes, an organ...
improvised cymbals
alto, tenor,
trombones,
muted trumpet,
bongos,
euphonia and french horn. (English horn, oboe and clarinet for the Doctor's leitmotif)
Musical triangle, glockenspiel, glass muted xylophone.
Timpani, Grande Cassa, and taiko drums.

the whirring noise achieved via two sets of strings and wood-wind sections,
alternating between staccato and pizzicato (I need two sets, to reduce the chance of wrong notes AND be fair to the players)
The wind noise could be achieved via a leafblower or two, along with the choir making the (fwooooosssshhhhh) 

This composition would be based somewhat on Henry Hall's alternate works, along with Roy Budd's alternate orchestration, with a few new improvised moments by yours truly.
I'd also then switch to a more synth-y version,
inspired by Daft Punk, Phil Collins/Genesis, Nobuo Uematsu, and the Youtube "What if Vangelis made Dr Who?" -
a faster paced and 'asymphonic' composition, with discordant cacophony and different patterns/doppler effects.

That concludes this particular musing,
and hopefully you find it as interesting a concept as several local bands and orchestra members thought.

-----
what orchestral music ideas have you had?
how would you achieve the "Tardis" noise, if you couldn't use synthesizers?

even more stats 6

It's been a productive gaming session,
and we feel they're finally ready, so another wave of customs is upon us again.
We look forward to seeing the minis you make for these also.

 Above: Slugakken, a slow and calculating race - these would ultimately form a Separatist Holdout in the outer rim, along with several other baronies. A contingent were present on Ord Mantell during the Clone Wars, and a minor party were at The Battle of Muunilist - procuring schematics and droid manufacture licensing...

 Above: v4 of Max Rebo - probably undercosted -looking forward to feedback and concrit on this piece. A great proxy figure is the Pepsi Max Rebo Bottletop (if you can get one for less than $25USD), or the Hallmark bauble figure.

Above: Friends love Gundam, and specifically ZGOK (they're marginalised in the show, but they look so cool) - inspiring many Japanese friends into Robotics/cybernetics --- moreso even than Astroboy. Although this is a 5 story war robot, the Bandai Gashapon/bottle top ZGOK is a great proxy for miniatures scale. If you have access to the intermediate scale, or the 3 & 3/4inch figures - those too would be fun.

 Above: special thanks to D.A. User, "Kogane53", for your awesome sketches you encourage some to pastiche - you are awesome! If people enjoyed the kogane-inspired stat cards, support Kogane.
The Mibit are Ishi Tib racial enemies, but otherwise are peaceful creatures.

what's a few more statcards amongst friends? pt 5

Here we have some collaborative customs from the local game scene;
a younger, fearsome Yoda - as a young jedi knight or master, but not yet the awesome leader and powerhouse later -

Above: This card is for the Yoda figure from Epic Duels.
Intended more as a force battery and force canceller, he can also be very damaging in close combat,
with Use the Force allowing up to 14 attacks (assuming 12 Force Points in the tank), with a 1 in 85 chance that from those 14 attacks, he gets another 2-3 attacks.

To balance this, and his awesome CE, Yoda is a force ascetic and force empathic, he takes 10 DMG each time an ally with a force rating dies.
Karmic Mettle can also harm Yoda more than it helps, for his "Force Redirect 2" power.

That said; this Yoda also represents the Old Republic times, when Yoda was tempted by the darkside, or collaborated with a few places to preserve their sovereignty and prevent their amalgamation with the Republic, during his time in the Agricorp and as a Sector Journeyman Selector (Yoda did a hundred years or so voluntary service in the expeditionary arm of the Agricorp, and discovered the broadest array of force-sensitives in the history of the order --- adding to the diversity of the order).

Yoda's Rivalry would go by the era antagonists as per the rulebook, so often,
he can't team up with characters the fan would know to be outright evil... that said, Yoda did team up with some sith cultists or Dathomir Sith Sorceresses or Witches; trying to redeem them etc.
That empathy, and the ability to reform from a few mistakes, are why Yoda speaks with authority when cautioning Luke later - Yoda walks that fine line.

This is v3, and I personally prefer a less combative, more force powers based Yoda
(+0 ATK, +0DMG, force heal, force redirect, force cancel, mind trick, force repulse)

We're keen to hear the feedback - if you think this is too alt or 'fanboy/fangirl' ish, I'll be sure to convey any constructive criticism and encourage alterations =)

 Above: Tahl, Jedi Master(-ess?) Image is a pastiche; I'm amazed this awesome Noorian jedi wasn't more prominent in the past.

In game terms, Tahl is better when teamed up with Adi Gallia or Qui-Gon.

In narrative, Tahl was an awesome Jude Watson creation.
Tahl is versatile, fast, and taught Adi Gallia how to use Niman along with other techniques.
Tahl was prematurely killed, and not only did she take her peace-bringing skill set with her... she took the fighting spirit Qui-Gon had too. Qui-Gon was not the same afterwards, and some conjecture that because Qui-Gon missed Tahl, he wanted to lose his fight with Maul. It is also conjectured that Tahl shared the "Whills" technique with Qui-Gon, who in turn shared that technique with Yoda, Obi Wan, Ferrus etc...
Tahl may have learned these deeper secrets from her time in the archives of the order, and possibly from a captured Sith Holocron (hence, why she did not more broadly share the technique, and also why Anakin may have later been able to learn it).

Tahl was a long-lived Noorian, and was some 200 years old around the Phantom Menace era -
she had a deep respect for Qui-Gon, but their relationship was strictly platonic. Tahl suggested Qui-Gon take a sabbatical from the Order to reflect on whether he could accept that. Qui-Gon, at first despondent with unrequited feelings, later returned and overcame his earlier feelings to develop a better friendship.

Tahl was a unique, 'Grey" jedi, and preferred to be pro-equity - she recruited many force sensitive beings from all kinds of backgrounds; including those others within the order might consider 'dark jedi' or too old to be trained.
Ferrus Olin would later recall that were it not for Tahl's outreach, perhaps not as many Jedi would have survived the Purge.
Tahl also helped to negotiate many truces and peaces - notably an early cease-fire in the Stark Hyperspace conflict - Tahl's approaches would inspire Obi-Wan in his role as a mediator. 

even moar statcards, part 4

Here's another batch of stat cards;
simply scale to 64mm W x (|2x88|+/-|1-3|)mm L, and print at 600DPI. Watermark if your printer smooshes the kerning, and you're set!

 Above: not the greatest picture, but it is intended to represent the Heavy DRK1 Turret Droid. This is v2, so its still a work in progress.

 Above: These were fearsome opponents from many videogames and comicbooks, so these are rare but useful to counter pesky jedi. You'll want to keep these from line of sight, as you can bet they'll be missiled and grenaded if they're in line of sight...

 Above: a great sketch found on DA in the style of the Tartakovsky show, so locals came up with this. A very heavy-hitting anti-personnel turret, yet, it is not very mobile at all. The stats aren't quite as good as WotC official droids either, so they're still more useful in many situations, and aren't entirely replaced by this.

 Above: a cool looking rare droid from the Expanded Realm of Star Wars. Having only 50HP will easily kill this otherwise OverPowered droid, and in playtesting, Force Repulse and reflect/redirect and Soresu style easily countered this droid. Ion weaponry also easily took care of this droid, and Jawas with Jolt/Scramble simply stunned the droid and ignored it until last. So, it's very much a niche droid. That said, with GG:DAC, it makes a great Dynamic Duo...

 Above: The Generic form of L8-L9, which is somewhat less useful compared to other options in the same points range. The ability to move 14 and attack is nice... though this is v2, so future versions may have Scarce Materiel to reflect their rarity, maybe no more than 3 on squad at any time?

 Above: A blatant redo of a previously lame unit. This will still not replace the other variants of battledroid, but will be handy in some themed squads, along with the Aerial Battle Droid variant...

Above: I don't know why the Kerning messed up in GIMP... anywho, here is a statcard to match the Epic Duels figure. If she doesn't move, and is attacking an unique enemy who has not yet activated, she can do: +23ATK for 20+10+10 DMG, with a 1 in 258.349.. chance that the second attack disintegrates the opponent or adds +60DMG. She basically will hit anything she can see on a 2+, and if that's not enough... she can take the stats of an adj medium or smaller living character. It is intended that, if Zam does this, and the character she takes the stats of has more HP, she can "heal up" to her new HP cap --- so, she could take the SA from a Gundark or Durge, or Regenerate... etc... and their DMG stats... but she loses her shooting ability...
oh... and it's not guaranteed to work, and from playtesting, it will often kill her when she desperately tries to shapeshift too late in the game...
(an allusion to what she tries to do in AotC; shapeshift to a form which is immune to the toxic dart).
this is v2, so it's also a work in progress, but locals feel this doesn't make the other Zam's any less attractive options, because this is one of the more fragile variants.

Enjoy, and thanks for all the feedback! I hope people all around continue to enjoy what StarWarsMinis has to offer, and I am happy to also make Transliteration Cards into your preferred language - English isn't everything hehehe

droids ahoy!

Droid Stat cards inbound, which are somewhat different to other variants elsewhere

 Above: A generic sight in Battlefront and elsewhere, this was a fun concept borrowed from an older custom set on Bloomilk. Unobtrusive is the lesson learned from the Mouse Droid fiasco... and with Limited Programming, compensates for the potentially broken Turbolaser Beacon... (but, those were fun on the Bespin map, and will be fun in the new battlefront). 9 pts for auto 30-60dmg? 18 points can kill most beatsticks or vehicles from playtesting, it was mostly causing friendly fire though.

 Above: "Many Hands Make Light Work" is supposed to quickly activate multiple adjacent allies with "Industrial Repair" (including, Itchtoki Tech specialist, jawas, Verpine Tech, Human Scientist etc...), to all quickly team up, at the risk of being activated for nothing - these droids could really help quickly get things re-assembled, especially if used in a swarm. The trade offs are, must have mounted weapon, and the risk you might activate 8 allies who could otherwise have attacked or fled for gambit etc... There will be a variant which uses "Swarm Repair" or similar. Another variant involves a "when defeated, place token" system, where certain characters can make a check to turn the junk into another unit (a junk droid etc)... that was deemed too complicated after 3 years of playtests though hehehe.

These will keep your droids in the fight!

Above: Darth Maul is both a 'Sith" faction and a "Separatists" faction, so locals made a compelling argument to make his personal scout droids fringe with Rapport. These may be restricted to only Maul via errata... but, they're nasty... they swarm and jolt... just like in Jedi Power Battles or elsewhere in the Black Sun slaying comics. Can't go past a 9pt unit which gives a Maul +2 attack against anything within it's line of sight - this will replace super battle droids or security battledroids in many Maul builds.  If you like this, you'll like the " Darth Maul's Heavy DRK-3 Assault Drone"

There'll be more to follow for sure,
and hopefully now a style exegesis is completed, I'll be making more visually consistent stat cards.
They print nicely in full color max DPI at home, or as watercolored/watermarked Grayscale too.