The Games That Define Me.

Jumping on the bandwagon that is floating around the blogosphere I decided to dive in with my thoughts on 'the games that define me' as suggested by Frontline Gamer here.


I decided to keep it as a 'positive' list and I have based the entries on RPG's and boardgames that I grew up with, that influenced me in some way (in a gaming sense) or that left their mark through the memories and enjoyment they gave. There is a distinct lack of actual 'wargames' as I have played so many variations in the past (and present) that it is hard to really pull any out for specific mention. Perhaps 7TV, Strange Aeons, SAGA or Point Blank may get a mention at a later date. For now it is mainly about the RPG's and other games that really stick with me.

After playing with Action Men and 'little soldiers' when I was really young and creating in-depth stories and characters in them I soon moved on and played plenty of alternative and sci-fi type boardgames and a even a couple of wargames (with the old Airfix and Matchbox soldiers) in my youth but some of the ones listed are games I regularly played and wanted more of and these inspired me to explore.

1 ) The Awful Green Things From Outer Space (boardgame) - one of the first 'alternative' style boardgames I ever bought. It really inspired me to look past the traditional game and is probably the first thing that started me as a 'gamer'. The 'Alien' film influence really came into play here and had a kind of legendary status with my friends and I at the time. I later picked up a couple of Tom Wham games following this including Snit's Revenge. I still have them both!

2) Kingmaker (boardgame) - just a great boardgame meets wargame of sorts and again, one of the early things bought for me that made me realise there was more out there than Scrabble!

3) Car Wars (boardgame) - another one of those early alternative boardgames that I had and played before (and after) joining the school club and the discovery of rpgs. I also have to give a mention Battlecars, my follow up to the above and a much more straightforward and east to play game. It again ties into my other passion of movies and the host of Mad Max type post-apocalyptic, road-warrior fodder around at the time.

4) Runequest RPG - possibly my first 'real' rpg that I actually played. The truly different fantasy background, with its strange array of creatures (ducks, baboons and scorpion-men!) and pantheon of Gods gave me more than DnD and its dungeon crawls could at the time. I played a human Stormbull worshipper in something run by our GM Robert (still our mainstay GM to this day!) at the school games club and was completely hooked. It was a very short lived campaign but I bought the 2nd Edition (pre-Avalon Hill) and played for ages, practically my default fantasy game until I drifted out of the hobby for a while. One of the reasons for buying it was that I had a purchased a few of the boxed sets of Citadel Runequest figures after the great impression the school club games left on me.  It also introduced me to my favourite system, BRP or Basic Role Playing. Probably not the best by any stretch but always the one I felt most comfortable with.

5) Traveller RPG - this was the first rpg I bought for myself in the mid 80's after playing it a school. It was the big boxed set. I had already bought three of the old 15mm boxed sets of figures and my friend had three as well so added to the multitude of ship floor plans available we liked using the miniatures whenever we could. I loved the career aspect of character generation and the 'world creation' rules were excellent.

6) Asteroid (boardgame) - another weird sci-fi boardgame where you would select a crew from various options to fly out to an approaching asteroid mining base that had diverted course and was now headed for Earth. The base had been taken over by a supercomputer 'brain' that had killed all the human crew and now controlled all the robot workers and security. Good set of random floorplans too that could be used with 15mm figures. Great stuff!

7) Snapshot (Traveller boardgame) - excellent game and still own it. We often used 15mm figures. I was very much into sci-fi at the time and the idea of ship-board combat was really appealing. An exciting game with loads of playability.

8) Call of Cthulhu RPG - my first horror rpg and possibly my favourite game of all time. I bought the 3rd edition of this in the early 80's and ran / played constantly for many years, usually with only one or two players. I still have all the original characters that we used! One of my friends first characters was called Henry 'Harry' Winstanley, the Duke of Braidley Fennel, who somehow survived years of campaigns and whittled his sanity down to about 10 (with a bit of fudging by the GM) - he actually named his son Henry after this character...how's that for life defining! I got into HP Lovecraft after buying this game and it opened up a whole new world of horror authors to me.

9) Pendragon RPG - an awesome game. Other than the superb setting I really loved the system and the idea of creating a dynasty of sorts with your character and their descendants. The epic feel and the traits and glory aspects really raised this above most standard fantasy games. To be honest, by this point I was a complete Chaosium fanboy!

10) Warhammer Fantasy Battle 1st to 3rd Edition - I bought the 1st and 3rd (and Warhammer Siege) but we always played it pretty free-form and more rpg / campaign / story based rather than a straight up tabletop battle. It is responsible for the massive pile of 25mm fantasy lead that I now own...

11) Aftermath RPG - I only ever played a short campaign run by our usual GM Robert (again!) but it really stuck with me and this, added to my love of Zombie movies fuelled my obsession with post-apocalyptic settings. The system itself may have been over complicated and we always managed to roll the hit location 'groin' but it was a good crack at the genre!

12) Vampire the Masquerade RPG - some of the best character driven stuff I have been involved in. Roberts long running campaign still rates in my all time top games. My introduction to the game was incredibly memorable as I was asked to come up with a basic background for a modern character with a few highlighted skills and personality traits. I was not told what system or game we were playing and had no idea what the concept was behind it. I turned up to our usual session with character notes and proceeded to be excited and terrified as my character was woken and chased through the night by god knows what. Then the thing caught me and apparently I was dead. It was only at this point it I was told I was now 'Kindred' and the name of the game we were now playing was revealed to be Vampire: The Masquerade! The campaign was run to perfection, as background and story slowly opened up and the group of characters (who's players had all endured individual sessions like my own) gradually bonded and grew together. My characters ultimate fate came when he frenzied at an untimely moment and whilst being restrained by the rest of the group, one of them, who had an ongoing issue with my character, decided to take his opportunity and proceeded to rip my head off! There was one more Kindred character for me following this and a brief part of the campaign with a Werewolf character but the game soon ran its course and has never been picked up on since. We have played short games since but nothing has captured the thrill of the original campaign.

13) Earthdawn RPG - another of my all time favourite campaigns. This also had a lovely setting and great concept of 'hero' characters. Despite its apparent clunkyness I quite liked the system too. Yet another favourite character too with the elemental wizard Gustaf Treblinki. We journeyed across Barsaive and undertook many adventures linking years of play both in and out of game. I have literally pages and pages of notes on this campaign and we still talk about a key moment in the characters story - when the annoying thief Sevran (sorry ZM) who was always getting into trouble, tried to pick the pockets of the Troll warrior, Irod, resulting in the death of a character. I intend to set the record straight now as recorded in the ancient journals of Gustaf...


"As the group (Gustaf, Sevran, Irod, Laranus, Bjorn and Carlos) approached a small town called Haven and argument broke out among Irod and Sevran, the continuation of a previous disagreement between the two. There had always been a hint of one upmanship and aggression between them and Sevran delighted in mercilessly stirring up the big Troll at any given opportunity with taunts and digs at his ugliness.
This time things escalated quickly. It seemed Sevran had tried to pick the pockets of the big warrior Troll! After it had apparently calmed down, Sevran suddenly tripped Irod who crashed to the floor, face first. A serious fight began and Irod threw one of his hawk hatchets at the stunned Sevran who retaliated with a deft throw of his dagger. Fortunately all missed. Irod, finally at the end of his tether with the thief, drew his sword and insisted Sevran apologise for all his previous actions and insults over the previous months. Sevran characteristically refused and just before matters grew worse, Gustaf began to cast 'slow metal weapon' in hope of avoiding any injuries between the two. Bjorn, a dapper swordsman and cortisan, tried to grab Sevran to calm him but was too slow and was deftly thrown to the ground. Gustaf shouted at them to stop but by this time Sevran charged Irod, who hit Sevran with the flat of his sword. Sevran then decided this was his moment to apologise. Satisfied, Irod turned and picked up his hatchets from the floor.
Suddenly, Sevran made some form of magical attack that smashed Irod to the ground by hitting him on the back of the head! The whole group then fell into disarray as Bjorn (suitably embarrassed from being out-played earlier) leapt in and attacked Sevran. An arrow then flew through the air, possibly fired by Laranus and narrowly missed - Sevran realised he was in serious trouble. He dropped his weapon and the angry and hurting Troll stood up. Full of rage, Irod then strode over to Sevran and tried to prize loose the blood magic charm (an earlier gift from Irod to Sevran) from the startled thief's chest! Sevran retaliated with his dagger, trying to stab Irod who responded with force, cutting down the thief where he stood! Irod and Bjorn buried Sevrans corpse as the others looked on in shock..."


Even now, many years after the event, this still provokes debate in our group! Unfortunately the campaign eventually wound down, probably in favour of the next big game but I will always hold this campaign as one of the best I have ever played in.

14) Kult - one of my favourite modern horror games. An extremely dark background and I loved running it but it was almost too bleak and horrifying to maintain. I wrote multitudes of deep background for this game and had a good stable of non-player characters. My style was to focus on stories for each player-character with different scenarios. We left this one hanging somewhat, a particular player-character was technically a zombie...perhaps a return to this is due one day.

15) DnD RPG - the first rpg I ever saw and I created a wizard character for it but I never actually played DnD until years later with one of the school groups. Much later, with the release of the 3rd Edition and the whole d20 craze, Zombie-Masters horror / fantasy crossover campaign was one of the best things I have played in. Ulfgar Rannaheim, the Dwarf Cleric of Moradin, was one of my great characters. This game introduced our group to the whole d20 mechanic and became our standard system for several years, leading to everything from Conan to Judge Dredd and modern settings. Conan d20 should get a special mention here as it looked like this could be our next big fantasy game but the enthusiasm waned and we have yet to pick it up again. ZM has recently been spreading tempting rumours that he would like to resurrect (such an appropriate term here) his horror / fantasy game. Unleash the undead horde ZM!


Some other games that I should mention:

Twilight 2000 RPG - I ran some good games with this. A good military game and in my opinion a solid attempt at a believable post-apocalyptic setting.

Fading Suns RPG - should get a mention too. Another great campaign by Robert - I remember my  character, Ratchet the engineer, very fondly! We have essentially replaced this game with Dark Heresy that we still currently play.

Bushido RPG - definitely gets any honorary mention. Another school club game in the 80's. Hardly played it since then so this is more about good memories - who can forget the desperate charge down the valley with arrows whistling past you in the first scenario! I would like to play this again sometime.

Ars Magica RPG - would make the list as a new game for me. I only recently discovered this with the 5th Edition and have bought every supplement since. We definitely don't play this enough. I love the medieval / low fantasy Europe setting and the idea of 'troupe' play. Some of the best characters in our campaign are Grogs!

Judge Dredd RPG - a good filler game, easy to drop into as most people are aware of the background to some extent and have at least seen the character in the comics. As a massive 2000AD fan back in the day I loved this! Played the first version a lot and quite enjoyed the d20 version too.

Cyberpunk RPG - just loved this game. As a fan of the genre I also played with several different groups outside the normal crowd so I would put it in the list it for that. I even ran this with a couple of 'non-gamers' who really enjoyed it and got into the spirit of things.

Paranoia RPG - was great fun and very different but would never make the 'A-list' of games that influenced me.

Luther Arkwright RPG - was really good but only played a couple of times so I cannot justify it being in the main list.

Fighting Fantasy Books - worthy of a nod? Like a lot of folk, I picked up the first book in the early 80's and this probably helped set me off on the RPG path.

Others played and not forgotten plus a few I owned but never got to actually play! - Space Opera, Top Secret, Gangbusters, Star Wars, Millenniums End, The Morrow Project, James Bond, WHFRPG, AFMBE, Amber, Conspiracy X, Chill, Skyrealms of Jorune, Wheel of Time, Champions, Golden Heroes, Chivalry & Sorcery, Dark Conspiracy, DC Heroes, Marvel Heroes, Feng Shui, Gamma World, GURPS, In Nomine, MERP,  Recon, Shadowrun, Space 1889, Stormbringer, Elric, Underground.

Our current crop of games includes Outbreak: Undead, Dark Heresy and Lankhmar / Heroquest.

Fantasy Miniatures.

Not exactly an update, more of a "look what I found" whilst digging through the massive box of old fantasy miniatures I have. We have been leaning toward fantasy stuff of late as a good distraction to the Historical miniatures we have been concentrating on. Most of these are from old 1980's to early 1990's Citadel, Ral Partha and other manufacturers of the time. Some of my figures are long since sold off or gone to who knows where but I managed to keep hold of the vast majority, stuffed away in a box in the loft. The level of detail may not match todays standards but for pure character I choose these old school minis over the 'big n spikey' trend for current GW models.

A small selection below to reminisce on. I managed to find these chaps -

Lorabeth, Corabell,  John-Boy and Willy.

Above: I have a whole host of this Citadel range (the C46 Villagers) but these were of interest as I believe they were specifically from the "Terror of the Lichemaster" range. I am sure I had more from it but they seem to have long since disappeared.

The Orc Man-Mangler.

The old Citadel Orc Man-Mangler for Warhammer Fantasy Battle. Although I had a pretty big (unpainted) Orc army (more on them later) this never actually saw action!

A Marauder Dwarf guards 'The Special Rock'.

Dwarf from the Marauder Miniatures range, the company set up by Ally and Trish Morrison around 1988. Some of their Dwarves were quite nice sculpts but I never managed to get hold of many as I was drifting out of the hobby at this point. Although I have over 170+ Dwarves I still like the idea of getting hold of some more of them.

A C18 Liche and some C17 Skeletons.

Early eighties Citadel C17 Skeletons.  I used to have loads of these but most were sold off, which I kind of regret now. I still have the plastic boxed set in reasonable condition though! The hooded creature is one of the old C18 Undead 'Liches' (as they were referred to) I also have a variant of this chap who represented one of our old Warhammer campaigns big-bads. This was the Liche leader who went by the name of 'Martin', formerly known as the sorcerer Tamalar Fogg. He served, grudgingly under the Liche King 'Oliver' and his Army supported by 'John' the Lord of Darkness. Another of the Liche leaders was 'Nigel'. The reason for the names was our obsession at the time with the TV series 'V'!

C26 Man-at-Arms and an excellent slouching C16 Orc.

Above is a C26 Officer from the Medieval Men-at-Arms range by Citadel. They became the C26 Fantasy Men-at-Arms and subsequently were produced as a War of the Roses range by Wargames Foundry. I have a whole host of this range, mainly the bowmen and crossbowmen with a few halberdiers and spearmen thrown in. A few of these were released later as slotta-based but most of mine are pre-slotta. They fit in nicely with the Perry War of the Roses range which is not surprising as they were sculpted by the Perry twins! The unlikely servant that attends him is a wonderful 'slouching' unarmoured Citadel C16 Orc. This chap is probably my favourite Orc figure! I am not 100% sure but I gather a fair few of these early Citadel Orcs were also Perry sculpts. Please correct me if wrong! I have over 100 Orcs from several companies but mainly Citadel and some are even painted (shock) so I will post more of these brutes later.

Alternative Armies 'Cavern Fighter' Dwarves mine 'The Special Rock'...

More Dwarves. These are from the Alternative Armies 28mm Fantasy Dwarven Host range. I have a selected 15 from the 40+ available and they are excellent figures but to be honest the range is overall a little hit and miss. The two stout chaps above are a couple of my favourites from the Cavern Fighter pack, which I highly recommend. I can picture them now, mining deep into a cave swarming with goblinoids. More Dwarves to come later.

...unaware a Ral Partha 'Grendel' and a C18 Liche King lurk nearby.

Next up is another from the C18 Undead range. This is the aforementioned Liche King. He is the figure that represented 'Oliver', the 'leader' of the evil / chaos forces in our early Warhammer 1st to 3rd edition games. I actually recently purchased him from ebay as the original 'Oliver' belonged to a friend who long since sold him. In a moment of reminiscence I couldn't help buy him again...

With him is the Ral Partha 'Grendel' model from the Personalities and Things That Go Bump in the Night range. He / it is another recent purchase that I just could not resist. I was first aware of the figure last year when I was researching suitable figures to represent Grendel for a possible fantasy / myth angle to our Dark Ages and Viking campaign - see my posts on my Viking blog Gjallarhorn for more on this. He was a bit of a pleasing discovery on ebay as I thought I would never get hold of one! 

Mystic Spirals Barbarian.

The above fab barbarian in true 'Conan' type pose was a lucky find when I was trying to look up some more info on the miniature painter John Morris, aka Mystic Spirals. He decided at some point to sculpt and sell a few of his own miniatures and most of these were very limited in their release. I managed to get hold of a few, the 'Barbarian1' being one of them. Unfortunately, according to his blog all of his figures are now out of production due to illness in the family. I wish him all the best an hope to see more of his figures in the future.

Little John and Friar Tuck by Foundry.

More Foundry figures above with Little John and Friar Tuck from the Robin Hood collection. These are great fun sculpts full of character and 'Little' John is by no means little in any way. Friar Tuck is fairly 'large' but the huge figure of Little John towers above most in 28mm and is comparable to the immense Foundry Viking 'Rollo the Ganger' figure from the VIK011 pack. For some reason I have an obsession with buying 'monk' figures from various ranges and I also picked up the Trent Miniatures 'Friar Tuck & Maid Marian' off  North Star. I think I prefer the Trent Miniatures version.

Rotundo, my favourite Citadel C11 Halfling.

I have never been one for Halfling figures but at some point I decided my huge mass of Dwarves needed some camp followers / cooks and decided to add a few of the little fellows to the mix. Mine were from the Citadel C11 Halflings and include Hog, Smallfoot, Mattock the Plump, Hari the Hammer, Proudfoot ("ProudFEET"), Bill Benno, Lando the Large and Cecil Ogre Slayer. I also got hold of the Hornblower and my favourite of the lot, Rotundo. Love that belly Rotundo! All these little guys made there way onto the ebay pile not too long ago but I had a last minute change of heart and could not bring myself to separate from them. Whether they will ever be painted or added to is another thing but at least I know they are 'there'.

Duck with short sword from the Runequest boxed set 4 (Beastmen).

A Runequest Duck. Finally got hold of this chap after much searching. My previously mentioned obsession with Runequest Ducks has led me on a great quest to track (quack?) down as many of them as I can but this one has always eluded me until recently! I paid more for him than I would ever dream of paying for a single figure but I just had to have him! I now have a grand total of 12 Duck miniatures from Citadel and Ral Partha. I also picked up two from Rapier Miniatures along with a couple of their Scorpion-folk. All are on the rather large side and do not mix well with the Citadel and Ral Partha ranges. Having said that they are quite nice figures, just not very usable with what I have. All I need now are the Mongoose boxed set that I missed out on...

Rapier Miniatures Scorpion-folk.

The Scorpion-folk from the Beastmen selection are also monstrous in size but probably more usable. They are suitably horrible, measure about 50mm tall by 60mm long and genuinely scare the bejesus out of me! In the background of the picture is a Dragonman / Draconian of some description but I am not sure of the manufacturer, maybe Grenadier? He is not on the heroic side of 28mm but gives an idea on the vastness of the Scorpion-beasties!

Well, that's it for now but next up is Orcs, Dwarves and Beastmen!

Minotaurs.

Found a couple of my old Citadel minotaur figures and had to dig them out. One is an old Fiend Factory FF17, the other is a 'Runequest Minotaur with Battle Axe' from the Runequest Box Set 4: Beastmen.

Two minotaurs challenge any takers...

One of my old paintjobs but actually not too bad. I have started to rebase them and they definately need a little 'tlc' but not a lot of work to be done on them. Will try to post some better pics at some point...

A brave Humakti warrior chances his luck!

The last figure is a 'Non-Cultist Adventurer' from the Runequest Box Set 2: Adventurers.

Runequest - Broo.

Broos, otherwise know as 'Goatkin' or 'Beastmen'.

These are creatures of Chaos, twisted hybrids of men and beasts. They are the Beastmen of legend and engage in the foulest practices, worshiping the 'Unholy Trio' - Ragnaglar, the Mad God, Malia, the Goddess of Disease and Thed, the Goddess of Rape.

Mongoose Broo.

Most often they are human bodied and 'goat' headed, they are tied irrevocably with the Rune of Chaos. They are known to indulge in atrocities and foul practices and carry with them numerous loathsome diseases that they themselves are immune to. It is hard to say anything positive about broos. They have none of the savage nobility of Trolls and their personal habits are despicable. It is unlikely that anyone would have anything but antagonistic dealings with them.

Early Citadel Broo Boxed Set.

They will occasionally hire out for pay and carry various weaponry and armour, usually cuirbolli, spears and swords but will use whatever they can steal or capture from raids. They are seldom seen near settled lands unless it is to raid and pillage, but are as common as nomads in Prax, even more so in the Wastelands. Often feared, folk may even treat with them rather than fight if they think they can.

Citadel Compendium Broo.

On sighting men, broos typically either flee or attack based on their estimate of the opposition, though they may well taunt and posture at a distance to prove their courage to companions. When raiding, the broo rely on stealthy ambush, covered by darkness or undergrowth.

Armorcast / Lance & Laser Broo.

Several miniatures manufacturers have produced Broos or Beastmen over the years with Citadel's Runequest range from the early 80's being the most obvious. A few boxed sets were released, including 'Attack of the Broo', 'Broo' and 'Broo 2'. They also sneaked a couple in the 'Beastmen' set. This excellent range was later added to with several blister packs. In the mid 80's, presumably due to the licence running out, the Citadel Broo morphed into 'C27 Chaos Beastmen' as seen in the Second Citadel Journel of 1985. The Beastmen were slowly adopted as an offshoot chaos army and this has developed over time including an appearance in the 'Flames of Empire' Mordheim supplement. The current Games Workshop Cloven Ones / Beastmen range is quite broad and they even have their own army book!

Later Games Workshop Beastmen.

According to the Warhammer Fantasy world the Beastmen race (also known as the Children of Chaos) are a race of humanoid monsters. A fusion of animal and man that invaded the world when the old ones opened the warp gate at the far north of the world: their bodies are tough strong frames layered in knots of muscle. The tangled fur of Beastmen are matted with dried blood, filth, dirt and dung that nest countless varieties of ticks and fleas: as a result of this, Beastman live in a state of countless agitation and rage always seethes in the heart of every Beastman. Ram-like horns emerge from their goat-like heads (However Ungor Beastmen only have small stubs of horns), their mouths are chasms of sharp rotted teeth for tearing flesh and the feet of all Beastmen are cloven hoofed. The very stench of any Beastman is enough to make even seasoned warriors gag; their brays of bloodlust and the gleam of malice in their dark animalistic eyes can unsettle even the staunchest of troops.
All Beastmen are spiteful and mean-spirited creatures that revel in bloodshed and chaos and loathe order and the very concept of civilisation in all its forms. Beastmen are not creatures of nature for there is nothing natural about their existence. The Herdstones and rituals of the Beastmen corrupt the very essence of nature itself: it is for this reason Beastmen are especially loathed by the Wood Elves of Athel Loren who the Beastmen have been fighting a long gruelling secret war with for centuries.
For the purposes of Warhammer Fantasy Battle they are subdivided into various levels reflecting their appearance, prowess and ability in battle.

• Beastlords are the largest and most brutal they command the beast herds.
• Wargors are second in command to Beastlords.
• Bray Shamans are the spiritual leaders and advisors to the herd leaders. They are also powerful spellcasters.
• Bestigors are the most heavily armed and armoured Beastmen and rate as elite units.
• Centigors have the upper body of a Beastman and the four-legged lower body of an oxen.
• Gors and Ungors make up the majority of the infantry units or "Beastherds." The Ungors, however, due to their more human appearance (in comparison to other Beastmen) and smaller horns, are on the bottom of the herd hierarchy.

A mixed warband of Broos.

Armorcast took on the old Lance & Laser Heroquest range and this too contains some decent Broo minis, some with the usual Goatkin look and a couple with a slightly more bestial countenance. In 2006 Mongoose took over the Runquest line and released several books and supplements and also produced their own small line of Runequest miniatures to support the RPG during their period of MRQI and MRQII. Among the figures on offer were a decent set of traditional 'goat' headed Broo rabble.

Foundry Beastmen.

More recently, Wargames Foundry have started releasing their own Beastmen range with several packs of 'Brutes' and 'Younglings' available. These are definately in the GW mould (excuse the pun) but have some great looking figures to boost any Broo warband!

Figures are a mix of Games Workshop, Mongoose and Citadel.

Runequest - Dragonewts.

Dragonewts claim to be the eldest creatures, descendants of neotenic dragons from before the Dawn of Time. Even elven Green Age tales mention dragonewts. Dragonewts are peculiar creatures who continually reincarnate and metamorphose, ever-striving to achieve dragonhood. They are an enigmatic race, misunderstood and mistrusted.
Individual dragonewts trace descent from whatever dragon or dragons laid the initial clutch of eggs which resulted in their existence. Dragonewts of the same clutch call each other "egg-brother". They organize themselves into variously-sized settlement-nests.
Normal dragonewts are intended to be a race of mystery, alien and irrational to human understanding. Their language (Auld Wyrmish) includes visual, auditory, olfactory, and empathic components. But they are unconscious of their own language and cannot teach it, and because humans are not naturally empathic they can never gain more than a basic understanding of the language. Dragonewts have no written language, and have little need of one, as they are immortal, ever-reincarnating, and learn needed facts directly from other dragonewts.
Regular contact of normal dragonewts with outsiders is usually assigned to one individual in a group, who tries to act according to human expectations. It learns human languages, and learns to write or otherwise communicate ideas to humans. Sometimes it will own or be an interpreter dragonewt who has been surgically altered so that it can stumblingly speak human words. Altered interpreters may have guards, servants, and so on. Such dragonewts not infrequently become outlaws. When an outlaw dragonewt -- one who has ceased to believe in the dragon way -- dies, it is not reincarnated and never reappears. No one knows where its soul goes.
Some places in Glorantha have large colonies of deviant dragonewts, and they differ from the norm given here. But all of those variants have the same heritage.

Dragonewts go through the following stages in their life cycle.
Scout Dragonewt: The scout (or crested) dragonewt is small, short-tailed, and has an arched crest upon the head. A vegetarian, it prefers leaves and fruit. Its betters will train it as a slinger to bring down birds and rabbits, and teach it the art of scouting and skirmishing, and to serve as a slave.
Warrior Dragonewt: The warrior (or beaked) dragonewt is larger than the scout stage, and is carnivorous. The tail now reaches to the ground, and at first the skin is covered both with scales and with small protrusions. They are most often found as hunters or guards of dragonewt nests.
Most warrior dragonewts ride upon creatures called demi-birds. Demi-birds are feathered, beaked, and lay eggs, but their bones are solid and they have vestigial arms, not wings. The demi-bird is fearless and carnivorous, adding to the fierceness of the dragonewt warrior.
Noble Dragonewt: Second-stage armor and natural weapons are, in the third stage, nearly replaced by frills, spines, wattles, pouches, and other decorative and communicative devices. Skin colors become more vivid, and the number and variety of scent glands increase. This stage is omnivorous.
A noble dragonewt will lead and represent; the stage is expert at living peacefully with the outside world. In some regions this stage is known s the 'tailed priest'.
Ruler Dragonewt: These rare dragonewts are almost never found outside their own nests. One is usually found in each small nest, and several in a town cluster. Their community functions, diet, and powers are unknown. The appearance of a ruler dragonewt (sometimes known as a 'full priest') resembles that of a noble, but they have wings.
Presumably, a ruler dragonewt meditates upon the secrets of dragonhood in preparation for the final metamorphosis. Such a dragonewt will, one day, awake to find itself a full dragon. It will then depart from its nest, to go to wherever dragons go.
Dragonet (Inhuman King, Fifth Stage): When a Ruler Dragonewt progresses fully, it will be reborn as a True Dragon and will be taken out of the Dragonewt Cycle. Sometimes, a Ruler will be reborn as a Dragonet, or neo-Dragon. This form is intermediate between Dragonewt and True Dragon.
There is only one Dragonet in a traditional Dragonewt society. While the Dragonet is alive, Dragonewts will be reborn as normal. However, if the Dragonet dies then there will be no rebirth until a new one is created. In this case, a Ruler which has progressed far enough to become a Dragon but has not chosen to will ceremonially kill itself and be reborn as a Dragonet, thus allowing the cycle to be restored. Although there is only one Dragonet in any society, there may be more than one alive throughout Glorantha. The Dragonewts of Dragon Pass have a Dragonet at Dragons Eye, but the Dragonewts of Kralorela have their own Dragonet. The Dragonewts of Ralios do not have a Dragonet, but if one were to be manifested, they could rejoin the Cycle.
Nobody knows the powers or abilities of a Dragonet. It is rumoured that one has all the powers of a True Dragon, able to think others to death and to shape the land with but a thought.

These are from the Citadel Runequest Boxed Set 5. A fairly quick paintjob but was pleased with the way the demi-birds turned out. The pic above shows (on the back row) a Full Priest Dragonewt (Ruler), a Beaked (Warrior) on a demi-bird, a Crested (Scout) riding a demi-bird, (front row) a Beaked (Warrior) with 'Klanth', a Newtling with sling, a Crested (Scout) with a javelin and finally a Tailed Priest (Noble). I have a few more of these yet to be painted.

Citadel Dragonewt Boxed Set.

Armorcast/Lance & Laser also do a small Runequest/Heroquest range that includes a few Dragonewt miniatures such as Fighters, Scouts and demi-bird riders.

Dragonewt Champion from Lance & Laser.

Dragonewt Demi-Bird Rider from Lance & Laser.

I would imagine you could use the various available 'Lizardmen' as Dragonewts, such as the wonderful Otherworld Miniatures Lizardmen Warriors.

Lizardmen from Otherwold Miniatures.

For more info on Dragonewts have a look at:

The Dragon Pantheon.

The History of Dragonewts by Simon Phipp.