Musings on gaming an Ape Uprising

Ever since seeing one of the new Planet of the Apes movies (Rise or Dawn, I don’t remember which one), I’ve been intrigued by the idea of gaming out the early days of the Ape uprising. I have some thoughts on how I would organize such a game and will lay them out here in hopes of refining them for possible future use or inspiring others.

Because the ape faction starts from nothing and expands to have thousands of followers, the scope of the game will vary massively with battles increasing in size as the game progresses. My thoughts right now for the start of the campaign involve a small skirmish style battle in which the Apes attempt to break out of their cages and take control of the facility in which they are held. Their opposition would be weak, mostly lightly-armed security guards and unarmed researchers. The apes, however, would be spread out and totally unarmed, yet more numerous. After the apes eliminate resistance in the research facility, they’d likely spread out into the streets of San Francisco where they would face a mix of police, armed civilians, and perhaps later National Guardsmen (to refight the Battle of the Golden Gate Bridge). An ape victory there would be followed by a breakout into the California suburbs and countryside, where the apes would find the US army, National Guard, and militia.

I’m not entirely sure what would happen then. I envision a series of battles between the growing ape army and the disintegrating human forces. I would like to integrate California secessionists, armed autonomous anarcho-primitivist militias, human collaborators (PETA with guns?), and other oddities into whatever it is that happens next. As of right now, it seems like a series of battles of varying sizes against opponents of different strengths.

I admit there are several problems with this concept. I have a specific plan for what battles would be fought and in what order, something that might irk any potential players.  More importantly, perhaps, most of the battles require an ape victory in order for the campaign to progress. An ape loss at the research facility would effectively end the rebellion and end the necessity for gaming any future battles. An ape loss at a laterdate could be recovered from and might actually advance the plot in an interesting direction. Another possible problem is the requirement of many different ape figures. As their army will progress technologically as the game goes on, I would need figures without weapons followed by ones with makeshift arms and finally apes with captured human weapons. I’m not entirely sure the required moulds exist and if they do, I’d probably be shelling out a hefty sum to get such a variety of figures.

I also foresee some issues in acquiring the miniatures to actually game this campaign.  I’m also unsure exactly what scale this game would be played out in, but several reasons have me leaning towards 10 or 15mm (or perhaps a mixture of the two). I have my eye on several different ranges of 15s that would fit with this idea. Secondly, I have much more experience with smaller scales, and would feel more comfortable painting models of those sizes, than, say 28mm. Finally, there is the fact that a variety of figures will be needed. It would be a lot lighter on my wallet to buy hundreds of 15s, as opposed to 28s. Of course, it’s also possible that I could use different scales for different parts of the campaign. The initial fight for the laboratory might be better gamed in 28s while something smaller would be easier for the larger battles later on.

I’ve come to like CP Models 15mm “Hairy Beasts”. This set only has three poses (one of which seems to have an insect head…), but the same company also sells chimps in boiler suits and lab coats. Admittedly, they have no armed apes, but if needed, I could always model my own weapons and add them into the hands of these figures.

For later on, I’ve found Highlander Miniatures “Monkey Boys”. These “boys” look fairly chimplike, and are dressed in modern-looking military fatigues (which can pass for civilian clothing relatively easily). Unfortunately, they appear to be out of stock, and are also limited to five poses. Still, they look good and are worth acquiring if I never need armed apes.

I can't seem to find the original home of this picture. I prefer this paint job, but have seen ones in which the chimps are less uniform. 

For years I’ve really liked the look of the 10mm Pendraken Samurai Ape range, though I don’t think they’d really fit with a revolt in the early 21st century. I’ve ordered a few of them recently, but they are yet to arrive.

Samurai Apes.  Painted by Arsenus of Pendraken Forums.

Finally, there is always the option of purchasing figures intended to represent humans and converting them to be apes. While the erect posture of the humans might not be entirely accurate for apes, using humans as substitutes would definitely be cheaper and make finding figures cheaper.

On a less speculative note, I’ve received news that my order from Irregular Miniatures arrived several days ago. Between that and the new order from Pendraken (to acquire Lawn Gnomeesque “pixies” and small samples of Space Minotaurs, Ratsburgers, Samurai Apes, and a few others), I’m a bit anxious to return home and begin painting. I certainly enjoy it out here and will be sad to go, but there’s a lot waiting me at home.

The box is a bit smaller than I expected.