Origins of HS Names

[mvblair]

This is the edited and revised list of HeroScape name origins. Thanks to everybody who made contributions in this thread and elsewhere.

• 
  4th Massachusetts Line – Taken from the “Massachusetts Line,” an army in the American Revolutionary War – the “4th Massachusetts Regiment” was instrumental in the battles of Bunker Hill and Trenton
  • 9th Roman Legion – A Roman legion that attacked the Vikings and other Barbarians in the British Isles
  • Anubian Wolves – Named for Anubis, the God of the Dead in Egyptian mythology
  • Ashigaru - Japenese soldiers
  • Ashra - anagram for Sarah?
  • Aubrien - Aubrey is the name of one of the designer's daughters
  • Braxas – “Abraxas” is a demon in Egyptian mythology
  • Charo – Singer/Actress from Spain "oochi! Coochi!"
  • Crixus – Fought with Spartacus during the slave revolt
  • Drake Alexander - Drake and Alexander are the names of two of the game designer's sons
  • Dzu-Teh - The Sherpan word for Yeti
  • Einar – A surname in Norse mythology and the name for Dwarves in the D&D Dragonlance series
  • Eldgrim – Not sure, but check out eldgrim.com
  • Esenwein - No doubt the makers of HS love the producer of Dungeons & Dragons II: Wrath of the Good Dragon
• Finn – A person from Finland, also a legendary Danish warrior mentioned in Beowolf
  • Guilty McCreech - named for Hasbro employee Will Creech
  • Hatamoto – Samurai employed directly by the Shogun (Taro is a Japanese suffix-name that means eldest son)
  • Hawthorne- Named after heroscapers.com's patron, SirGrungeBob
  • Izumi – A province in Japan, a character in Pokemon
  • Johnny Sullivan – From the heavweight, John Sullivan?
  • Jotun – A giant in Norse mythology
  • Kiova – Finnish name for the city of Kiev
  • Kaemon – A Japanese surname
  • Kozuke – A province in Japan
  • Krav Maga – An Israeli martial art
  • Kyrie – Valkyries in Norse mythology are female demi-gods who choose the best warriors in the afterlife (the word valkyrie literally means "choosers of the slain")
  • Laglor - A gorilla who's missing his eye ("i")
  • Lindesfarme - an English island with a Christian monastery, site of the first Viking raid on the "Christian west" in 793
  • Macdirk – About as generic a Scottish name as you can come up with
  • Me-Burq-Sa - Named for Mike Burque, one of the game's designers
  • Microcorp - An underwater colony in Risk 2210 (designed by a member of the HeroScape team)
  • Morsbane - One of the game designer's D&D characters
  • Nakita – A Russian name (like Nakita Kruschev) and the name from the movie La Femme Nakita, about a female assassin
  • Nerak - Anagram for Karen, a daugher of one of the game's designers
  • Nilfheim – A world of ice and cold in Norse mythology
  • Omnicron - Omni means "all" and cronos means "time" in Greek
  • Parmenio –A general for Phillip II and Alexander
  • Raelin – “Raelian” is the name of an international new-age cult
  • Retchets - diminutive of the word wretch
• Retiarius – A type of gladiator who fights with a net
  • Sacred Band – A unit of male pedophilic Greeks warriors from Thebes who fought alongside their boy-lovers
  • Saylind - anagram for Lindsay, a Hasbro employee
  • Shaolin – a Chinese Buddhist temple where the martial art originated
  • Sonlen- anagram from last name of Hasbro employee Chris Nelson
  • Spartacus – Legendary gladiator-slave who led an unsuccessful revolt against Roman Republic
  • Sudema – Anagram for Medusa
  • Tagawa – A province in Japan
  • Thaelenk - Anagram for Kathleen, someone from Hasbro staff
  • Thorgrim – Icelandic cheiftan from the Gisla Saga
  • Ullar – Thor’s son in Norse mythology
  • Utgar - Utgard Castle was home of a giant king in Norse mythology
  • Vydar – Odin’s son in Norse mythology
  • Weston - named for someone on Hasbro staff, Derek Weston

Additionally:

• 
  Harquebus - a front-loading gun taken to Japan by the Portuguese (and later taken away from the military in a buy-back program)
• Icaria - a Greek island
• Wolf Swamp Road (scenario)- A street near the Hasbro Games Office

Originally Posted by mvblair

Original from February 1, 2007

I first started noticing/getting irritated with the names HeroScape when my buddy complained about Sudema: “what, they couldn’t get the rights to just use Medusa?” Then I read about the Sacred Band in Larry Gonick’s “Cartoon History of the Universe” and, while researching an argument against Ehud Barak with my brother, I saw that he was trained as a Krav Maga specialist. And everybody knows about Spartacus.

With the help of Google, I put together the following list of HeroScape name origins. Some of these are probably a stretch, like “Kiova” coming from the Finnish name for Kiev, but other names seem like they were just completely lifted off a map. Anybody know some others?

• 
  • 4th Massachusetts Line – Taken from the “Massachusetts Line,” an army in the American Revolutionary War – the “4th Massachusetts Regiment” was instrumental in the battles of Bunker Hill and Trenton
  • 9th Roman Legion – A Roman legion that attacked the Vikings and other Barbarians in the British Isles
  • Anubian Wolves – Considering Khosumet’s Egyptian style, there is a connection with the Nubian people who live in Sudan and southern Egypt – during their days as the Ku****es, they conquered Egypt and kept the Romans at bay
  • Ashigaru - Japenese soldiers, see this recent thread and some others
  • Braxas – “Abraxas” is a demon in Egyptian mythology
  • Charo – Singer/Actress from Spain…”Coochi! Coochi!”
  • Crixus – Fought with Spartacus during the slave revolt
  • Einar – A surname in Norse mythology and the name for Dwarves in the D&D Dragonlance series
  • Eldgrim – Not sure, but check out eldgrim.com
  • Finn – A person from Finland, also a legendary Danish warrior mentioned in Beowolf
  • Hatamoto – Samurai employed directly by the Shogun (Taro is a Japanese suffix-name that means eldest son)
  • Izumi – A province in Japan, a character in Pokemon
  • Johnny Sullivan – From the heavweight, John Sullivan?
  • Jotun – A giant in Norse mythology
  • Kiova – Finnish name for the city of Kiev
  • Kaemon – A Japanese surname
  • Kozuke – A province in Japan
  • Krav Maga – An Israeli martial art
  • Kyrie – Flying humans from the D&D Dragonlance series
  • Macdirk – About as generic a Scottish name as you can come up with
  • Nakita – A Russian name (like Nakita Kruschev) and the name from the movie La Femme Nakita, about a female assassin
  • Nilfheim – A world of ice and cold in Norse mythology
  • Parmenio –A general for Phillip II and Alexander
  • Raelin – “Raelian” is the name of an international new-age cult
  • Sacred Band – A unit of male pedophilic Greeks warriors from Thebes who fought alongside their boy-lovers
  • Retiarius – A type of gladiator who fights with a net
  • Shaolin – A Chinese martial art
  • Spartacus – Legendary gladiator-slave who led an unsuccessful revolt against Roman Republic
  • Sudema – Anagram for Medusa
  • Tagawa – A province in Japan
  • Thorgrim – Name for Dwarves in the Warhammer series
  • Ullar – Thor’s son in Norse mythology
  • Vydar – Odin’s son in Norse mythology

I just want to know why they use Spartacus or Jotun and then they mix up Medusa’s name. That really irritates me. I don’t know why.

Now, I know some of the contributors have a penchant for flaming first-time posters and you’re going to think I’m trying to ruin the game for you or criticize me for not knowing every thread on the board. Just know that I’m having fun with the game.