Tarquin's soldiers

[Ron Miel]

What do you think Tarquin's soldiers are? I don't think they are ordinary humans. How could he have recruited a large army? How would he have paid them? I also think it's significant that they are just faceless behind helmets. We haven't seen what they are really like.

What would be the AD&D equivalent of a clone army, as in the Star Wars prequels? Golems, maybe? Or maybe Tarquin's a necromancer, and they are zombies. Other ideas what they could be, please?

[Mr. Snuggles]

The EoB is a nation with territory, population, and a great warlord. It can raise soldiers. Mass use of slaves causes unemployment and unemployed men always cause trouble. Keeping them in the army is a good way to keep them busy, and constant war reduces their numbers. Conscription keeps costs low.

We've seen humans of many races, lizardmen, and kobolds in the army. No women like the Azurite army, though.

[factotum]

Why don't you think Tarquin's soldiers are ordinary humans? Also, don't forget that they're not technically *his* soldiers, they're the soldiers of the Empire of Blood!

[Dr.Epic]

It's not difficult for an empire to recruit people to its army. In fact usually an empire is established because it's army is so big and power. As for being faceless and non-human monster, what proof is that of this? You're just sort of making up a wild theory with no strong evidence to support it.

[Lvl45DM!]

Lizardfolk and kobold women look like the men so there could be men
Oh and the reason he's putting it forward cos he is linking star wars to the arc in yet another way.

[Dr.Epic]

Oh and the reason he's putting it forward cos he is linking star wars to the arc in yet another way.

They are not the genetic copy of some bounty hunter.

[Lvl45DM!]

But they could be golems carved in the image of some bounty hunter.
corpses of a new zealand style nation raised from the dead
Chromatic Dragonborn
Mass Dominated troops
Bunch of troops Polymorphed into the look alike of a bounty hunter
Magic armour with noone inside

Its D and D! let your imagination run wild!

[BridgeCity]

. . . corpses of a new zealand style nation raised from the dead . . .

Huh?

What is it about New Zealand that you think would make our corpses different to those of any other nation?

[Lvl45DM!]

Oh. Jango Fett is a Kiwi. His accent and colouring would make it a shout out

[BridgeCity]

Oh. Jango Fett is a Kiwi. His accent and colouring would make it a shout out

Haha I totally missed that reference. Though his 'colouring' would only represent Maoris, not all Kiwis.

[Firemeier]

There is a thin line between heavily referencing Star Wars and retelling its entire story.

Actually no, there's not a thin line between these, there's a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every 20 feet between referencing Star Wars and retelling its entire story.

So far we have seen the army of the EoB to be comprised of lizardfolks, humans with all kinds of skins tones and kobolds. They are much too diverse to be some kind of clone army. They can't be zombies either because they lack the "zombified skin" look that the Giant uses for undead.

There is no indication whatsoever that they are anything but citizens of the EoB enlisted in the regular army.

[Ron Miel]

There is a thin line between heavily referencing Star Wars and retelling its entire story.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. I apologise for not stating my intention clearly enough.

I am not saying that it is a copy of the plot of the prequels. I just used that as an example of something similar. And that was only one possibility.



So far we have seen the army of the EoB to be comprised of lizardfolks, humans with all kinds of skins tones and kobolds. They are much to diverse to be some kind of clone army.

I'm talking about Tarquin's soldiers, as seen here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0050.html)and here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0756.html), row after row of beings all of uniform height and build, in identical uniforms, with identical face-concealing helmets.

The EOB has it's own soldiers, but I'm not talking about those.


They can't be zombies either because they lack the "zombified skin" look that the Giant uses for undead.

Can't tell that because they all have face-concealing helmets.


There is no indication whatsoever that they are anything but citizens of the EoB enlisted in the regular army.

Except for the fact that he had them long before he came to the EOB.

It seems that he came to the Western Continent already with his army. And his soldiers are nigh-unstoppable. That indicates that they are something more than ordinary humans.

I suspect they are some sort of mindless servants who will obey any order, have no sense of danger, who don't care about their own personal demise, and who are easily replaced. What options for this sort of thing are there in AD&D?

[Roland Itiative]

I'm talking about Tarquin's soldiers, as seen here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0050.html)and here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0756.html), row after row of beings all of uniform height and build, in identical uniforms, with identical face-concealing helmets.

In the first link, it's probably certainly just soldiers of another Kingdom/Empire/Whatever. They're identical because every medium-sized male humanoid in OotS have an identical build (if you put V, Roy and Elan in identical, face-concealing armours, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them either). They're all dressed the same because they're using uniforms.

In the second link, the blue army isn't even composed of Tarquin's soldiers, they're the soldiers from the Empire of Tears. You can see one guy with a face-concealing helmet and the EoB's colour scheme (probably the leader of the EoB soldiers, as he seems to be talking with the leader of the EoT army), but that's all.

[Leecros]

row after row of beings all of uniform height and build, in identical uniforms, with identical face-concealing helmets.


you'll notice that all of Azure City's soldiers all had the same build, look, and armor. Hell they even have the same facial features and hair cuts(except for important characters and the paladins). I somehow doubt that they're secretly monsters or clones.

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0421.html

If they had a full helm all of them would look exactly the same too.



i doubt this has some meaning to it, most likely it's just an easier way to draw a very large number of soldiers without spending weeks making them all unique in some way.

[Firemeier]

I'm talking about Tarquin's soldiers, as seen here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0050.html)and here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0756.html), row after row of beings all of uniform height and build, in identical uniforms, with identical face-concealing helmets.

The EOB has it's own soldiers, but I'm not talking about those.


Oh, I thought you were talking about the soldiers he is currently commanding, which is the EoB's army. I can kind of see your original point now, however I think it's an unlikely theory. Mainly because you seem to be under the common misconception that the soldiers marching into the Free City of Doom are Tarquin's troops. They are not. These are the forces of the Empire of Tears taking over the city from the EoB's soldiers. You can see another soldier in that kind of armor standing guard next to the Weeping King here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0758.html).

Now, these might be the soldiers Tarquin brought with him to the Western Continent but there is no indication of this in the strips so far. I always assumed he had lost his original army when his first attempt to take over the continent was thwarted. At least he doesn't seem to have a big entourage when we see him running through the desert here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0725.html).

And for that


I am not saying that it is a copy of the plot of the prequels.

I truly misunderstood you there, it seemed to me that you were implying that, since this story arc has been heavy on the Star Wars references, clearly there has to be a clone army around somewhere .

[Swordpriest]

Well, my personal opinion is that the only cloning going on here is the kind that lets you repeat an image over and over again to produce a large army without drawing it taking weeks for each frame -- like the Hobgoblin Horde and the Azurites.

[ThePhantasm]

Well, my personal opinion is that the only cloning going on here is the kind that lets you repeat an image over and over again to produce a large army without drawing it taking weeks for each frame -- like the Hobgoblin Horde and the Azurites.

Exactly. This.

As for some of the visors looking like Boba Fett's helmet... well, there are only so many ways you can draw a visor, folks.

[grimbold]

personally i dont think the warriors will want to be there
i am pretty sure he just has drafts or something like that

[slayerx]

I'm talking about Tarquin's soldiers, as seen here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0050.html)and here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0756.html), row after row of beings all of uniform height and build, in identical uniforms, with identical face-concealing helmets.

The EOB has it's own soldiers, but I'm not talking about those.

As others have pointing out this is just a simple matter of copy and paste for the sake of simplicity. It would be a waste of time for the Giant to actually make their soldiers unique; its a detail that would take a LONG time to do and would not get all that much notice by the readers; readers would much rather get a new comic than to wait for the giant to spend several more days making a detailed army.

The hobgoblins, the goblins, the zombies, the azurites... the Giant has done this before and will continue to do so



Except for the fact that he had them long before he came to the EOB.

It seems that he came to the Western Continent already with his army. And his soldiers are nigh-unstoppable. That indicates that they are something more than ordinary humans.

but they WERE stopped. For all his conquering his armies were eventually totally and completely crushed

[Nimrod's Son]

this story arc has been heavy on the Star Wars references
I really don't get why so many people think this is the case, let alone the idea that Tarquin and Vader are pretty much the same character and will have the same plot progression. There have been a grand total of THREE Star Wars jokes in this arc - and the last two were deliberate nods to the first one, not separate in and of themselves; more like self-referential in-jokes. And yet people are acting as if the two stories have somehow merged together.

[Firemeier]

I guess it just feels this way because they came in quick succession. And the whole father and son affair keeps it going.


And yet people are acting as if the two stories have somehow merged together.

Fully agreed. That was kind of the point in my original post too.