The Trading Post with No Name

Vagabonds China Station

I’ve long admired the photographs I’ve seen of Bob Murch’s China Station and always wanted to emulate, read steal his idea and place some games with a connected storyline in South East Asia. I envision a setting that is a crossroads between East and West, a mix of Asian, Chinese and Japanese workers, merchants and crooks forming the East. Combine them with Western adventurers, Imperialists, Missionaries and of course crooks it’s an interesting combination of cultures and characters that a fair number on my figures will fit into.

Over the last week or so I’ve been building a trading post and finishing it yesterday I wanted to try and put a bit of flesh on what is still a fairly loose idea. Hopefully anyone who reads this might like to throw in some ideas either of building styles, culture or storylines that I might follow.

This is a picture of one of Bob Murchs games You can see the mix of building styles, oriental obviously but also generic trading warehousing and workshops. The one with the corrugated roof behind the steam launch is the one I’ve taken for my inspiration.

This is another picture of the same game setting. I will set my station on a river in a similar manner; I intend to create a quay/wharf structure as a separate piece or pieces so the building’s that I make will sit on top of that, rather than have their own stilts. I can then also use the buildings in a more standard setting, planted on solid earth rather than over a river.

If you look at this picture you can see that there is no base under the wooden piles front centre and front right and I’m not sure how I can build this so that it is substantial enough to store and wargame with. Does anyone have any ideas how I could get sufficient glued area for that to work, and if I have a number of legs, how I can glue them accurately enough to not wobble in play. I believe the wooden piles under the wharves will only be 10 to 20mm high, I need to check on my boat height to see what’s going to look best but it’ll be fairly short.

I don’t have a name for the place yet, I’ve been seduced by Bobs name ‘China Station’, it conveys everything that I want to include, but of course I can’t pinch his name as well as his ideas. I did think of Little Shanghai because I had thought of using Shanghai as my Oriental setting until I came to my senses thinking about the amount of work building something even remotely like that.

This is just to show the style I went for with the building, a mix of painted wood and printed paper, the sign is just rested there because I’ve not decided who will be the owner or operator of the first warehouse in the trading post with no name.

This is just an atmospheric picture that I liked, it doesn’t add anything to the post, except maybe a little class.

This is a more useful shot to show that side of the building.

And round the back, my idea is that the other side will face the river and this side will be for truck access. The outhouse shows my normal old wood painting style which is why I went for printed paper on this build. My only issue with the paper is that it looks a little clean. I’m sure I read of someone who used tea to distress and age printed paper, any thoughts?

I’m thinking that the trading post will be on a large river that runs down from the Golden Triangle, Opium will flow down and guns and other desirables will flow up, I haven’t got round to looking at the geography to see if this is feasible but maybe I don’t care either.

Lian Su Smith on the right, the head of the Mabel Street Mob from the States is in complex negotiations with members of a Chinese Tong who are intending setting up a river shipping business. The existing river traffic operators are unaware of these plans.

Meanwhile Lian’s second in command Nicole is in similar complex negotiations with Amelia Eckhardt to see if they can fit floats on the Peashooter and cut down on shipping times along the river with no name.

Honey Driver is inspecting the radial engine in the Peashooter and wondering how she might turn putting sugar in its tank to her advantage. It would mean she needs to acquire a plane herself but that wouldn’t be a problem to a resourceful woman…..or would it?

The woman in red is from the British S.I.S. You may have come across Miss Scarlet before and if so just be pleased to be alive. The shifty character in the red fez may even turn out to be the owner of the Trading store with no name, in the trading post with no name. and so for the minute he will remain nameless.

I’m hoping to use a number of my building from other genres and periods, the flat roof workshop is from my Viking village and fits in quite well I think.

Once the goods have arrived from up river they will need to be transhipped by road and this character is wondering how to get into road transport, with no truck and no money. This should be easier than getting into the air transport business……probably.

Ok that’s as far as I’ve got which as you can see isn’t very far, I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have both on construction and storyline, maybe even names for the post/station.

There are rumours of a gangster who died back in the States having interests in these parts but these are only whispered rumours and no one is sure what his interests were and if anyone would inherit them, but even then, finder keepers, is the general rule in my part of the Orient.