5 Parsecs from Home - First Mission for the Inconceivable Crew

Crew of the Interstellar Yacht 'Inconceivable,' undertaking their first Five Parsecs from Home mission

Captain's Log

Ship's Log, Interstellar Yacht Inconceivable, Capt. Alistair Valentine recording. My crew and I have arrived on the planet Taxore to take possession of our ship. My unending thanks to my friends on the Varxian Ambassador's staff who were so instrumental at arranging the purchase. We are still in debt 17 credits, but my hope is that we can use this ship to ferry passengers and cargo, and perhaps utilize the impressive skills of my crew to pay off that balance quickly.

I immediately gave my crew a week's shore leave, as I had to spend significant simulator time onboard to get familiar with flying my new ship. In the second simulator pod on board, Zorina Valthea is practicing combat skills. She is a Valkeeri, a mostly human race with green skin and the dogged fierceness of a vent crawler. My second in command, Security Officer Gunny McBride is paying a social call to the local HQ of the Galactic Marines, which he recently retired from. Actually, he's hoping to scare up a job for us on this incredibly expensive planet. The prices here are outrageous for a retired captain who was cheated out of his pension by those bastards at Amazonas Galacticus. I think Engineering and Medical Officer, Doc Mecrosus, is doing the same, looking for work. I can't believe how lucky I was to hire this strange and cerebral man. No one I know has ever seen his face, as he always wears his environmental suit to protect his non-existent immune system. His capabilities are amazing, though.

    Table setup for the Inconceivable's first mission - cyborg Infiltrators at top, crew at bottom left

My frequent passenger from my captain days at Amazonas Galacticus, the Varxian ambassador, also arranged for another of my crew members, Cephvarx Hul. These tall, lavender skinned Varx aliens are fierce, proud, and honorable warriors. I'm happy to have one of them in my crew. The last member of my crew, or at least I consider him a crew member, is the security bot SAS B61. I pulled every string I could to have this dependable and humorous (but don't tell him that!) bot discharged from service at Amazonas Galacticus and sold to me as surplus. His programming is superb, and he acts with almost no input once given mission and standard operating procedure parameters. Perhaps his most endearing trait, is his insistence on learning human humor. Every conversation includes a joke of his creation (or repetition?), for which he actively scans for reactions. Alistair Valentine, captain commanding, concluding entry #0001...

Security Officer's Log

Alistair insists, so here it is. Ship's log, supplemental entry SO #0001, on the planet Taxore. I guess, after a career as a senior enlisted man in the Galactic Marines, my old friend has conned me into retiring and becoming an officer. Hmmph! Knowing our crew has a miniscule 17 credits to its name, and that we are on this high-cost planet appropriately named Taxore, I figured I would scare us up some work. 

    Six 'Converted Infiltrators' - cyborgs disguised as humans scouting the planet for invasioin

I don't know if the captain realized it when he was hiring them, but we have some serious muscle aboard this ship! Both the Varxian Hul and that Valkeeri Zorina are nifty shots. I would be proud to have them as grunts in my squad. And Alistair has told me stories about the droid B61's blazing fire with its short range, large caliber burst gun. Doc Mecrosus is an unknown quantity, though. But any "doctor" that brings his own colony rifle, which has obviously been zeroed in and customized, can't be that much of a slacker!

When I sat down in front of Marine Col. Zebrowski's desk, it was an odd feeling being out of uniform. It took every bit of self-control to not salute him. We exchanged some news about mutual friends, bitched about our last few postings, and he shook his head over my retirement. "Gunny, I can't believe you actually left the Corps. I thought you were a lifer," he chuckled. I leveled with him that I was honestly worried about my friend Alistair. When those leeches at Amazonas Galacticus cheated him out of all 40 years of his flight captain's pension, they left him virtually credit less. I thought he was going to take the easy way out and space himself. You know, in space, no one can hear you scream? Imagine - everything you'd worked all your life gone! Bang - like a landmine going off while you were on liberty! If I ever get Chuff Betzos in the sights of my hand cannon, well, the largest starline corporation in the galaxy will be looking for a new CEO. Bastard!

    Gunny, Zorina, and BR61 deployed to left to move forward under cover of the power generator

The colonel nodded and said some politically correct officer style platitudes to my rant. Then he leaned close over the desk. "Gunny, you come at a good time. I need someone I can trust for a mission. Is your squad trustworthy and dependable?" I said yes, in my evaluation, we had six good men who could be counted on to not jack things up too badly. The colonel thought for a moment, then made his decision. "We think we are being scouted by the Converted. An infiltration team has landed on the planet and is in the city, by my Intel. I have a pretty good guess, based on how they operate, where they're going -- the city power station, which is also the auxiliary planetary shield power source. However, those cyborg bastards are disguised as humans, of course. So, I can't send my grunts in there, and if we're wrong, shoot up citizens. P.R. disaster, right?"

How many? I asked. He held up six fingers, and flipped his computer screen around. He punched a button, revealing the face, profile, and full body shot of what looked like an ordinary person. "This," the colonel said, "is what their interplanetary communications cyborg units look like. Blow up this bastard and the other five have no way of getting a signal to their fleet -- wherever it may be hiding!" I felt my com device buzz as he transferred the file to me. "That's all I am asking, Gunny. Kill that one, call in my Marines, and we'll take care of the rest. I don't expect you to go toe-to-toe with Converted Infiltrators. The good news, though, is they won't have any heavy weapons or built-in armaments. They'd never made it past planetary screening if they did. Probably just handguns they've purchased planet-side." I nodded, giving him a thumbs up, showing we were game for the mission. "Good luck, Gunny! If I am wrong and they're civilians, I swear I will get your asses out of this and off-planet pronto! I promise!!" We shook on it, and the crew of the Inconceivable had its first mission.

  'Firing line' of Doc, Alistair, and Cephvarx Hul sheltering along the hedge row to pick off the cyborgs

The Game

After many weeks of painting up miniatures, re-reading the rules, I was finally ready to play my first game of Five Parsecs from Home. This solo or co-op, Sci-Fi skirmish game is known for the intricate and detailed storyline it weaves for your characters. In an earlier post, I gave the basic backstory for my crew members. I was now finally ready to roll everything up. I chose the flexible option which let me roll five backgrounds, motivations, and classes, and then assign them to the figures and characters I'd envisioned. Once I was done rolling everything, Alistair and his crew were ready.

    Zorina, BR61, and Gunny advance past the machinery out of line of fire of the cyborgs

Importantly, we had two Patrons (benevolent organizations, individuals, etc.) on our starting planet of Taxore. One was a government organization, so it made sense it was Gunny's local branch of the Galactic Marines. The other was the Varxian ambassador's office -- an individual who'd flown on Alistairs flights many times and become friends with. Gunny and Doc were sent off to look for work, and both were successful. You will see the friends Doc made in the next mission. They'll be a one shot patron, though, and will be done with us after our first mission. We also rolled up a rival -- a terrorist organization that disapproves of any Varx citizen leaving their home world and mixing with other cultures. Luckily, they had not located us, yet. 

    Seeing the crew with weapons drawn, the Infiltrators spread out and take cover, ready for a fight

Gunny's contacts gave us a mission that had "Danger Pay" of 1 credit, the presence of "Shiny bits" (loot) and an objective to eliminate one enemy character in particular. I rolled up a Converted (think of the Borg from Star Trek) Infiltrator team as our enemies for the mission. They were obviously scouting Taxore prior to invasion. These could be tough opponents. I believe that Converted never check morale (at least that is the way I played the game) and have a Toughness higher than a typical human, making them harder to kill. However, I was very lucky in the combination of enemy A.I. (I rolled 'Aggressive") and weapons (handguns). In other words, they'd come to us. All I really had to do is sit back, snipe and kill their communications cyborg, and we could bug out.

    Alistair shows the crew how its done picking off the communications cyborg at extreme range!

I created a 3'x3' city table using my terrain. The rules give you guidelines, but a lot of this game is taking what the rolls designate and adapting that to the story you are envisioning. Same with terrain. I deployed the Converted Infiltrators 6" away from their board edge and my crew opposite. There were lots of terrain pieces to break up sight lines and give cover, as they recommend. I deployed my crew in two groups of three. Alistair, Cephvarx Hul, and Doc lined up along the hedge in the small park. They would be my covering fire group, as both Doc and Alistair had colony rifles with an 18" range and Cephvarx Hul had a military rifle (24"). On their left, next to the fountain, was Gunny, Zorina, and SAS BR61. All three had shorter range weapons. Gunny had his high caliber pistol "Hand Cannon," Zorina had a beam pistol, and BR61 was fitted with an equivalent of a shotgun (pellets that would not penetrate the spaceship hull, but deadly at close range). As they moved to their position, BR61 called out to the fire group, "Don't worry about my feelings. I won't be upset with you if you kill the cyborgs -- they're only part machine." The other five crew members grinned and shook their heads at the bot's attempt at levity.

    Alistair and Doc move out of the park and to get a better line of sight on the advancing Infiltrators

In Five Parsecs, you roll for initiative each turn, one die for each member. Alistair has a Communicator, so rolls two dice and selects one. If you roll equal to or lower than their Reactions skill (typically a 1 or 2), that figure assigned that die can operate first before the enemy. After the enemy completes its actions, the rest of the crew takes their actions. You may move and fire (not vice versa), and also take a "free action," unless you're stunned. One nice tactical twist is that if you are slated to act in first you can hold your fire and wait till an enemy moves, then fire at them. Even if you miss, this automatically prevents them from moving. So, it allows for true "covering fire." I intended Doc, Alistair, and Cephvarx Hul to use that to keep the Infiltrators at a distance until we picked off their communications cyborg.

    Zorina, blending in automatically in her shimmer suit, spots the loot top right near a domed hut

Combat itself is relatively simple. You're trying to roll a "6" on 1d6 to hit a target in cover. You need a "5" to hit one that is beyond 6" and in the open, or a "3" if within 6" and in the open. You add to this die roll your combat skill, which for starting characters is usually +0 at the start of the game. I was fortunate in that BR61, Cephvarx, Alistair, and Gunny rolled backgrounds that gave them all +1. Still, the dice were not going my way in the beginning. We rolled high enough to get a free turn before the start of the game (Seizing the Initiative, it is called), but Cephvarx missed his free shot against our target. In fact, he also missed the communications cyborg on Turns 1 and 2!

    Under fire, the Infiltrators and down one,  begin to hug the cover even more as they advance

As the battle opened, Gunny led his team forward behind the power generator and out of line of sight of the Infiltrators. The other three hunkered down and started shooting or pre-empting Infiltrator movement. Doc was particularly effective at that, frustrating the cyborgs several times when they attempted to move. A secondary objective in our mission was the "Shiny Bits" (loot) which Zorina dashed towards, keeping the domed huts between her and the cyborgs. After watching the Varx miss three shots in a row, Alistair called over to him. "Breathe, Cephvarx, you're too tense!" The alien looked over, his expression unreadable. "Like...this!" Alistair slowly exhaled, squeezing off a shot. At the edge of his colony rifle's range, the communication cyborg's head exploded in bits of metal and fluid. "Yes!" he pumped his fist, grinning at the alien.

    Two cyborgs sweep right to circle around the power generator outflank Gunny's group of three

With the loss of one of their team, the Infiltrators began to advance more rapidly through cover. They were out of range, armed only with their handguns. Two broke off to the right to circle the power generator and outflank Gunny's team. The cyborg leader and the remaining two move forward, hugging cover while shots ricocheted all around them. Meanwhile, Zorina had snagged a pack full of electronic equipment leaning next to one of the hut doors. "This should fetch some credits!" She froze in mid-step as Alistair voice called through her helmet speakers, "Target eliminated. Retreat back to the hedge line. Repeat - retreat back." One by one, the crew began falling back, with Doc and BR61 provided covering fire.

    Having snagged loot already, Zorina spots more possible goodies next to one of the domed huts

The cyborg leader paused in its dash forward when it caught sight of BR61 at the corner of the power generator. It blasted away with its pistol, missing. The bot whirled to track on the cyborg and the short-barrelled gun barked twice. Metal and fluids sprayed in a cloud behind the leader and it fell, unmoving to the street. Two cyborgs down! Should the crew continue to run away, or take the chance in battle to "hold the battlefield" and get an extra roll on Loot? As Zorina dashed back, stopping and crouching in cover behind each hut, she caught sight of another pack. "Hmm...this looks valuable," she thought, seeing the glint of electronics inside. She risked Alistair's wrath to step forward, grab it, and then hightail it back to the next hut.

    The Infiltrator leader pauses in the open to fire at BR61, who returns fire and eliminates him

Alistair kept glancing over at Cephvarx Hul. He knew the Varx were a warrior race, and his constant missing his targets had to be galling to his pride. "Breathe!" Alistair hissed, again. He was rewarded by a shout of triumph from the alien as another cyborg fell backwards, fluids spilling from the holes punched in its outer shell by Cephvarx's rifle. Three down! Alistair called over the communicator to see how Gunny and his team were doing. 

    The cyborg's outflanking force rounds the corner to find Gunny's crew has already pulled back

"We're good, captain!" the marine answered. I'm in cover behind the fountain. BR61 is beginning his exfil, now. We'll fall back to the hedge next." He laughed. "Haven't fired a damned shot, yet, but have two cyborgs closing in on me and the bot from our left." The Infiltrators fired when they finally moved within range of BR61, but the machinery in the way them kept them from hitting. As they sought cover behind the same machinery, they came into line of sight of Cephvarx Hul. The Varx took careful aim and slowly pulled the trigger. Another cyborg pitched backwards and lay twitching on the pavement. Four down! At this point, I wondered again if I should shoot it out with the Infiltrators, or keep moving backwards? I decided to pull everyone back to the hedge line and see how things went. If things got hairy, we were one dash away from escaping off the back table edge.

    Alistair insists everyone pull back behind the hedgeline, in cover for the final gun battle

From the beginning, the Cyborgs had been outgunned. Their handgun range was only 12", while the three crew in my firing line had either 18" or 24". Once they closed within their range, they also came within BR61's deadly firing range, too. It was the only weapon on the battlefield that fired two shots with each action instead of one. In the final firefight, as the crew of the Inconceivable hunkered down on the hedge line, blazing away. The bot took out yet another cyborg. The final one was taken down by Gunny's high caliber pistol. We had won, totally eliminating an enemy that was not subject to morale or panic.

    Outgunned from the beginning, the remaining Infiltrators are now seriously outnumbered

Once you finish your combat, there are a number of post-combat rolls you make for loot and payment from your patron. I will cover those in my next blog post. In the meantime, Alistair and Gunny met beneath the brightly-colored Taxorian trees and slapped each other's shoulders. Alistair quipped, "I'm getting too old for this, Gunny." The marine laughed, and called over to BR61, asking what it thought of that statement.

    An aerial view of the battlefield shows where each of the six Infiltrators was shot down by the crew

BR61 whirred his head slowly towards the two friends. "Remember, captain, old people are just young people that have been alive for a very, very long time." Alistair and Gunny caught each other's eyes. Gunny's mustache twitched, but Alistair shook his head mouthing, "Don't." BR61 paused, then called again, "Old age is better than the alternative, captain..." The two friends couldn't hold it in any longer and chuckled. BR61 was improving his humor...

Four Characters from Brigade Games Post-Apocalyptic Miniatures

   Four post-apocalyptic survivors from Brigade Games -- I love the minis, they have tons of character!

With the success of my two games of Zombie RV...er, meaning the RULES were a success -- not necessarily how it turned out for the survivors -- I decided I needed more survivors. Considering we were losing them at a 25% rate, maybe I need even more than I think! Anyway, when I went to Historicon 2024 one of my missions was to find a survivor armed with a crossbow. All the rules sets seem to have mechanisms for these silent killers, and I don't own any figures armed with them. 

My first stop was to visit Lon Weiss of Brigade Games. When I asked him if he had any, he immediately walked me to the box full of his Post-Apocalyptic Miniatures. He pulled one out and said (I think) the character was meant to represent Darryl, the crossbow-armed survivor from the series The Walking Dead. At that point, I had not watched the series, so shrugged and snagged the pack of four survivors. It also included ones named "Curly," "The Fixer," and "The Mechanic." This week, when I went looking for more survivors to paint up, it was only natural to pull out that pack and get them primed and painted up.

    The crossbow armed survivor, who I painted up as Hispanic and named, 'Hector'

One of the things I like about painting post-apocalyptic miniatures, is I can portray them as different ethnicities. For the crossbow-armed figures, listed as "Bo" on the Brigade Games site, I decided to make him Hispanic rather than good old Georgia boy Darryl. I used a medium leather base color for the flesh, dry brushed in lighter shades. He appears to be wearing a leather vest and pants. So, I gave him a sleeveless, brown leather vest and blue jeans. His straps for the quiver and bag over his shoulder were painted as canvas or lighter leather. I painted the crossbow a very dark gray with lighter highlights. The flights on the crossbow bolts were a fluorescent green -- hey, that's what came up when I Googled it! I really like how Hector came out, and he will doubtless see use on the tabletop one of these days. In the meantime, if anyone knows where I can buy separate 28mm crossbow weapons to strap to the backs of other miniatures, I would love to get some!

    'Junior' is an iconic good old boy dressed in jean bib overalls and t-shirt, carrying a shotgun

Probably my favorite pose of the pack is called "Curley" on the Brigade Games website, but I immediately nicknamed "Junior." He is a walking stereotype of a good old boy. Heavy set, blue jean bib overalls, stained t-shirt, shotgun -- he checks all the boxes. I decided to give him a faded, light green t-shirt underneath the bib overalls, but otherwise, there weren't a lot of decisions to make on how to paint up this miniature! I really like how he came out. He's sculpted with a double chin and rotund body shape that is exaggerated but believable. Great miniature! I know Jackie and the boys could use Junior and his shotgun to beef up their ranks in our Zombie RV games!

    This pink-haired, punk rocker carries a shoulder bag with tools, as well as packing some heat!

Another figure that oozes character is named "The Fixer" on the Brigade Games site. She looks for all the world like a punk rock mechanic. She has a very punk rocker looking midrift vest, mini-skirt, and oversized, fancy boots. Her hair is shaved on one side and unruly, virtually screaming to me, "Paint me bright pink!" I faded out the hair color a bit, though, figuring that finding the time and supplies to re-dye hair might be hard to come by after the apocalypse. I gave her lots of tattoos, a black leather outfit, and impractical powder blue, knee-high boots to go with her pink hair. The tattoos were done with black and red micron pens and give her a hard-bitten look, which I really like. I named her "Daisy" because it sounded like a good name for a southern girl.

    Cleaner cut and more nicely dressed than the others, 'Jimmy Chin' seemed to be a city boy to me

Listed on the Brigade Games site as "The Mechanic," this figure looked anything but your stereotyped automobile mechanic. He looked very...well, almost "metro-sexual." Relatively clean cut, modern hair style, neat clothes -- I wasn't sure what to make of him. First, I decided to paint him up as Asian-American. Then I went with the city boy look, giving him a dark gray track suit pants and lighter gray long sleeve shirt. I gave him white tennis shoes and a dark red scarf around his neck (to pull up when splattering zombies, so none of their blood gets in his mouth). I gave him a military style web gear belt with a pistol in an olive drab holster. In the end, I really liked how he turned out, too, and named him after a former Asian-American coworker. 

   Junior, Jimmy Chin, Hector, and Daisy hanging out at their fortified trailer home

These figures painted up very quickly, I felt. They are not carrying a lot of excess equipment to slow things down. They're very cleanly cast and required almost no clean up of flash or excess metal. Not that I am hoping more of my Zombie RV crew dies, but at least if they do, I'll have some cool characters to substitute in! 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 111

Aliens 3D Printed Figs - 'No One Can Hear You Scream'

    3D-printed minis from JS Wargamer Printing - 'aliens' from the famous Sci-Fi horror movies

I just painted the easiest miniatures I have ever done in more than 40 years. I have been getting various enemies ready for my Five Parsecs from Home Sci-Fi games. I decided it was time to paint up the pack of six 3D-printed "aliens" (think of the movie series starring Sigourney Weaver) that I bought off of John Leahy at CincyCon 2024. I had seen a painter on the Lead Adventure Forum post pictures of the alien creature models he'd received with the board game, "Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps." So, I looked up the post and followed his recipe. I was seriously amazed at how quickly I finished them.

    There were three poses in the pack of six, including this crawling pose - love the detail on the head!

As with most 3D-printed figures, I spray-primed them black with Krylon Acrylic Black Fusion primer. And as always, I followed that up brushing on a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I do this in hope this acrylic shell gives the figures a bit more strength and flexibility. Some 3D-printed figures are a bit brittle or fragile. Not counting flocking, there was literally only one more step to do. What, I hear you ask? All you did was prime them!

    SOOOO easy to paint up! Black, then a dry brush of gun mental and you're done (besides flocking)

"Michi" on Lead Adventure Forum said all he did was paint them black and then dry brush them with a gunmetal color. I did that, using the color I often use as a base for weapons for my Sci-Fi figures. The dry brush brings out the excellent detail on the figures from JS Wargamer Printing. Anyone who has seen the movies know the creatures are supposed to be dark, scary, and difficult to see much detail on. They also seem to be dripping with their acidic fluids, so after I was done with the flocking, I hand painted them with Vallejo Gloss Clear. And I was done! That was it!!

    I also gave the aliens a gloss coat to replicate the wet, acid-dripping look from the movies

Granted, I'm skipping talking about the flocking stage, mainly because I wanted to stress how quickly they painted up. In fact, I am thinking of NOT bothering to put together my board game models from my recently-purchased copy of Another Glorious Day in the Corp, and simply buying a couple more packs off of John. The models from the board game are supposed to be VERY difficult to put together. The ones from JS Wargamer Printing are one piece and look awesome, I think. So, I will likely be contacting John to get some more figs! If you want some easy-to-paint Aliens, I recommend you do, as well.

    "What are we going to do? We're in some pretty s%@$ now...!!!" I plan on picking up more of these

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 107

Gatorfolk Converted for Sci-Fi

    Beldolor Studies 3d printed Gatorfolk converted for Sci-Fi skirmish games - very cool Origins find!

One of my favorite finds in the Exhibit Hall at Origins 2024 was Beldolor Studios.  They have created an imaginative line of 3D printed miniatures. Most are anthropomorphic animals, such as the "Gatorfolk" that I picked up. They have various other animals, including an abundant Fishman line with everything from salmon to bass to several types of sharkmen. I picked up only two poses, the Gatorfolk Gig armed with a primitive looking spear, and the Thagomizer, with a laced-on Stegosaurus looking spiked tail.

    These three of the same pose were given modern/futuristic weapons and painted different colors

My intention from the beginning was to use them as aliens for my Sci-Fi miniatures, particularly as enemies in Five Parsecs from Home. The spear (or "gig") armed ones were bought from their "damaged" box that had the back half of the spear broken off. I was going to give them modern or Sci-Fi weapons anyway, so it was no big deal. I dug through my bits box back home and pulled out some large weapons to match their bigger size. Trimming the rest of the spear away was easy enough, but getting the weapon to settle realistically in their clawed grip was difficult. I'm sure someone more skilled at converting miniatures would have done a much better job!

    I love Beldolor's name for this pose -- 'Thagomizer' (after the Far Side comic) & barbed tails

My next dilemma was figuring out what color to paint them. I wasn't as concerned with the alligator aspect, as these were going to be aliens. The first one I painted had green scales on its topside and a faded yellow underneath. I liked how it looked, but decided that I wanted them to be all different. The animal kingdom has lizard-like creatures in all varieties of colors here on Earth. So, why not in space? So, I made each figure unique, adding in purple, blue, orange, and red scaled varieties. I decided to keep the underneath scales the same basic color for all five, thinking that would give them a unifying look, as well. 

    I decided to individually paint the scales & give highlighting rather than dry brushing

First, I primed the miniatures with spray acrylic black primer to give them more strength. Sometimes 3D printed figures can be a tad fragile, and I wanted to give the Gatorfolk the best chance at surviving handling during gaming sessions on the tabletop. I followed the spray up with my usual 50/50 mix of brush-on acrylic black paint and water. Now, the true dilemma: do I paint the scales individually, or attempt to dry brush them? I was worried that the detail of the scales might not be raised enough to avoid getting color in recesses between the individual scales (which I wanted to stay black). 

    Love the highly-detailed mouths and teeth on these figures -- look scary facing you down, don't they?

Masochistically, I decided to paint each individual scale -- for all five figs! It was very time consuming. However, I did them one at a time and was very happy with the first one when I was finished. For the top scale color, I added in a lighter highlight in the areas that would be exposed to skylight the most. For the bottom scales, I did not do that, rationalizing that part would be hidden from the sun most of the time. I hand painted each of the claw nails a light tan, with white highlights. I also painted the insides of the mouth a dark, blood red and the teeth white. The 3D printings were very crisp, and the mouth, tongue and teeth had particularly fine detail and resolution. I did the eyes yellow, with a black gator-like slit.

    I plan to use my converted Gatorfolk as enemies in my Five Parsecs from Home games

The weapons were done in my usual Sci-Fi theme. First, the entire surface of the weapon was done in Folk Art Gunmetal Gray. I then picked out details in their metallic brown, pewter, and silver. I gave some bright bronze accents, too. After those were completed, the figures were mostly done. My next decision was whether to do a black wash on them. I wanted to, but was worried it would darken them up too much. I decided to take my current black wash and water it down even more. I tried to avoid the eyes and teeth, but otherwise hit the top and bottom scales with it. I was happy with how it looked, softening the edges between colors just a bit, I feel. I used my black wash full strength on the weapons, because I like the effect it has on metallic colors. 

Last was the flocking, which I did in an identical style to my Five Parsecs crew. I paint the base medium gray, then paint it with white glue and swish it around in a tub of Woodland Scenics Blended Gray Fine Ballast. I did a spray coat, then a dark wash on the gray flocking. This was followed by some accent stones and darker colored grass tufts. I'm very happy with how my Beldolor Studies Gatorfolk turned out and am tempted to order some of their Fishmen...or Frogmen. They're all so cool, and I encourage everyone to check out their miniatures line!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 101

Valkeeri Engineer - Color Shift Paints & Hydra Minis

    My first experiment with 'color shift paints' - which is the sparkly purple-blue of the uniform here

This single figure represents two "firsts" for me. The figure is from Hydra Miniatures "Retro Raygun" line of figures. It was sent to me as a freebie gift along with an order of their Valkeeri female soldiers I picked up for use with Xenos Rampant. It is the Astro Angel Engineer figure, which being female, fits well with the all-female Valkeeri force. I intend to paint them up as my next Xenos Rampant detachment...eventually. I did this one first because I found after I had painted my crew for Five Parsecs from Home that I was supposed to start with six (not five) characters. Serendipity, I guess!

    This was also the first Hydra Miniatures fig I painted - Astro Angel Enginner from 'Retro Raygun'

The other first is my first real use of color shift paints. This is a relatively new concept (I first heard about from John Leahy at Cincycon 2024 in March, though I'm sure they'd been out longer). The paint is essentially a glaze that reflects the light shining on the figure in a prismatic effect. The bottle I bought was from Folk Art, and advertised itself as having a Violet-Blue-Red shift. When I look at the miniature under my painting lamp, it looks mostly blue. However, when you change the lighting (as I hope you can see in some of the photos), it looks more purple. I think you really have to work with some strange lighting (or lack of?) to get any red out of it, though.

    The uniform's blue is what I see under my paint lamp. The purple comes out in other light

I had a color scheme in mind for my Valkeeri detachment, so figured this was a great opportunity to test and see if it worked. Ostensibly, I don't need this figure for my 24-point detachment, so it is a great test subject. I went back and look at how one of my favorite miniature painters, Dr. Matthias from the Lead Adventure Forum, painted it. Click on the link above where it says "Astro Angel Engineer" to see how much better a painter he is than me! Anyway, I decided to paint the unitard that goes from the boots to neck and gloves with the color shifting paints. I shook up the paint a little extra and then opened it up to see milky white. I figured that I hadn't shaken it up enough, so did it some more. When it was still milky white, I put an old brush in the bottle, stirred it up, and pulled it out. It was all the same color -- the paint was shaken up enough. It was then I noticed the tiny glitter-like flecks.

    I love the very retro 1950s Sci-Fi look of the rocket packs, raygun pistol sand helmets on these figs!

Okay, I thought, here goes! I researched beforehand how to prep the surface for a color shift paint. You are supposed to prime it black and then do a clear gloss on the black. As I brushed it on, I was thinking, "This isn't working." It looked the same milky white (and didn't appear to be covering the black at all). I came back about an hour later and said, "Wow!" It did indeed dry opaque, but what a color that was! It was very sparkly -- think of a gold lame dress. That's how I felt it sparkled. As I said, though, it looked blue under my paint lamp. I was planning on a purple and black color scheme -- which I felt would look cool with the light green skin I was going to give my Valkeeri. Now what to do for the rest of the figure?

    Is the uniform blue? Purple? Both? This prismatic effect is an interesting feature of color shift paint

I decided to give her purple boots and gloves, and make the flexible joints in the uniform black to see how that turned out. The helmet and metallic portions of the uniform I painted with a steel base coat and bright bronze highlights (also a Folk Art color). I thought this almost coppery tone would be a good accent and make it look suitably retro. I had decided my Valkeeri skin would be light green -- think of the Orion slave dancing girl that Capt. Kirk in Star Trek goes gaga over. Dr. Matthias paints his in a normal skin tone, but he is a master painter. I need something to make mine stand out...ha, ha!

    A final look at my sixth crew member for my Five Parsecs from Home - a very cool & unique fig!

So, how do I like my experiment? I do like it. I may change up the other uniform colors when I get around to doing my entire Xenos Rampant force of Valkeeri, though. In the meantime, the engineer will be my sixth crew for Five Parsecs from Home. Yes, yes, I know I haven't said anything about the game since my first post awhile back. That's because I've been so busy working on the Beldolor Studies Gatorfolk (which will be my next post -- if the confounded Columbus humidity ever lets me spray seal any figures!). This figure was actually painted after the Gatorfolk, but completed while I was waiting to be able to spray (still waiting, by the way...). Important note: my research says NOT to spray seal color shift paints. They are a sealant, in addition to a paint, glaze, and first-time use by me...! Hope you like it!!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 96

Zombie RV - Into the Compound!

    Jackie, left, eludes mobs of zombies by skirting a muddy area, which would slow them down

It was time to give the Zombie RV rules from Grey Area Games another try. Our survivor's first foray onto the zombie-infested streets had been less than successful. We had lost Mophius and picked up only a couple supplies before being forced to flee (see "First Playtest of Zombie RV"). Now that we knew the system and what to expect, surely this outing would go better for Jackie and the boys? 

    Woody (near his noise marker) is first out of the van and quickly opens up one of the quonset huts

I picked one of the scenarios from the basic rules, "Into the Compound." I used my quonset huts and barbed wire fences to create the compound, which had been meant to keep people safe. From the looks of the zombies roaming the interior, though, it was clear that idea had failed as spectacularly as our last mission! We had picked up a new survivor named Quon. When he told Jackie and the crew he was a good shot with a pistol, Woody handed him the pistol he'd scavenged last game. "After what happened to Mophius, I don't trust the damn things!" He hefted his crowbar. "This hasn't failed me yet...!"

    At the other quonset hut, Coop forces open the door, releasing a zombie which shambles towards him

For Quon, I chose "Shooter" and "Sprinter" as his two skills. I figured being a little quicker on the tabletop might come in handy when you're trying to track down resource markers and outrun zombies. I didn't quite realize how key "Springer" would be to the survival of the crew this game! In short, Quon more than proved his worthiness and was doubtless the star of the game.

    More zombies emerge from Woody's hut to shamble towards he and Quon

We pulled through the open gate in our van, and slowly braked to a stop in front of the main part of the compound. We were braving this zombie-infested military compound in the hopes of finding some weapons and spare ammo. All of our firearms were running low, which didn't seem to be a problem with numbers of zombies. Jackie made a quiet, chopping motion and whispered, "Let's go. Quietly, if possible..."

    3 more zombies spawn in the center of the compound while those wandering shamble forward

Woody was the first out of the van and sprinted towards the closest quonset hut on the left. The door appeared to be jammed, but he passed his Might check and was able to force it open. Seeing the shambling movement within and the hearing the moaning of the zombies, he backed out of the doorway so he wouldn't block his teammates' line of fire. Meanwhile, Jackie slipped noiselessly out of the driver's seat and crept quickly and quietly towards the quonset hut on the right. She fiddled with the door, but it appeared locked. Throwing her shoulder into it had no effect. As always, Coop was at her side and whispered, "Let me try..." The door ground open noisily. A quick scan showed what appeared to be only one zombie lingering near what looked like a crate of ammunition. Coop also backed away, as Woody had done.

    Quon quickly proves his usefulness, splattering the two zombies in the hut with head shots

The sequence of play for Zombie RV has the survivors move, one by one, in whatever order the players choose. Next, the zombies move and attack, if in contact. Finally, noise markers are removed (survivors get them for moving, shooting, melee, etc.), and a roll is made to "spawn" more zombies -- typically in the center of the table. I had placed the center long quonset hut so it's doorway was at the spawn point, so new zombies were emerging from it. That seemed to make the most sense. Our goal would be to collect supplies from each of the four smaller huts (and a key to the larger one), and then enter it and collect any weapons or ammo we found. Would we be able to get supplies from all four AND survive entering a building whose entrance was the spawn point?? We would see...

    More zombies close in, most heading towards Quon as his two pistol shots made the most noise

Woody and Coop's backing off tactics worked. The zombies spent both of their actions moving into contact. On the next turn, Quon splattered both of their zombies with head shots from the pistol, and Coop crushed his zombie's skull with his rifle butt. Woody then dashed in and as my "Prepper," was quickly able to find some supplies -- a cache of food which he tossed in his backpack.  Jackie also darted in, but had to search around a bit before finding some ammunition on the next turn. Meanwhile, the newly-spawned zombies and those wandering the compound began to close in. Even though they move only 3" per action, they seemed to be closing fast!

    Jackie and Woody had to put off their 'end runs' to rescue their partners -- teamwork paid off!

The survivors hatched a plan to send Woody and Jackie to the far quonset huts, while Quon and Coop would attract the zombies with their rapid gunfire. Dangerous plan -- especially for those two! And it became even more dangerous when Quon missed one of his shots and Coop ran out of ammunition. Yikes! The zombies closed in quickly, and by the end of turn 3, three zombies (including a 'Runner') had him surrounded in melee.

    At the end of the next turn, Quon is in a tight spot - surrounded by zombies, including a Runner!

Somehow, both Quon and Coop survived to fight off the zombies clustered around them. At this point, Quon had an idea. He would use the muddy areas throughout the compound to slow the zombies down. What's more, as the fastest of the crew, he would try to draw as many of the zombies towards him as possible. He would lead them away from his companions, and hopefully whittle down their numbers some while maintaining his distance and keep from being swarmed. With that, Jackie and Woody were freed up to head towards the back of the compound. 

    Jackie & Coop are also in a tight spot near the van -- was this mission going to end like the last one?

The zombie "A.I." for movement dictates a zombie not in contact will move towards the closest survivor -- unless there is one within 9" that made more noise. Quon's challenge was to keep as many of the zombies within 9", but use the mud to make it so none ended their turn in contact with him. He would be unable to fire at them with his pistol if that happened (his specialty). The effect of this was that about three quarters of the zombies piled after Quon while those furthest from him would shamble towards Coop or Jackie. Meanwhile, Woody was careful to keep his noise down so that they zombies would be drawn towards Quon and would not notice him sneaking into the other quonset huts.

    Quick on his feet, Quon is able to keep the zombies j-u-s-t out of reach as they slog through mud

 

Jackie had to go back and help Coop once, so she had not gotten very far towards the back of the compound. Woody opened the door of one of the quonset huts and was relieved to see just one zombie. He backed off again, letting it emerge through the doorway before crushing its skull with his crowbar. He darted in and quickly found more supplies inside. They'd finally be able to fill their bellies tonight -- if they survived.

   Cooly, Quon contines to use one action to splatter the nearest zombie and then back off out of reach

As Quon continued to back up, a collection of barrels behind him caught his eye. The words "Flammable" were visible and it gave him an idea. Why not draw all of the zombies towards this collection of barrels? And then when they are close enough, fire into them? Even if there was only a little gas left inside, the fumes should be highly explosive. When he saw Woody emerge from the quonset hut, tightening his backpack with whatever he'd found inside, Quon set the plan in motion. He warned Woody to back up further, out of what he hoped would be the blast radius. He sprinted there and joined him. Waiting till the zombies shambled closer, Quon eyed the barrels and fired.

    BOOM!! The zombies following Quon are vaporized in the resulting explosion!

 Meanwhile, Jackie was sprinting towards the final quonset hut. However, as Quon disappeared from the spawning zombies' view, the newest arriving of them began to key in on her. Having finally dispatched the zombies near the first set of huts, Coop picked a few of the spawned zombies off with his rifle. However, things were looking dire for Jackie, so he jogged around the hut and began to move to assist her.

    The zombies begin to focus on Jackie, hear the fence at right, as Quon has disappeared from view

Meanwhile, Woody took advantage of zombies being distracted and headed towards the final, smaller quonset hut. He forced the door open with a metallic groan. Quickly, he recoiled as three zombies staggered towards him. He called to Quon for help as he hefted his crowbar and waited for them to come nearer.

    Finally in the clear, Coop begins skirts around the quonset hut to help Jackie

Just as the zombies began to corner Jackie, Coop appeared holding his rifle like a club. "That new ammo you gave me jammed my rifle," he explained to Jackie, who looked relieved and confused at the same time. "I'll keep them off of you -- just start picking off the ones coming out of the mud."

    Loyal as ever, Coop jumps in front of the zombies shambling towards Jackie

While gunshots and thuds of a crowbar signaled that their companions were taking care of the zombies emerging from the hut, Coop and Jackie began to struggle. Coop missed on two attacks, as did Jackie. Last game, Jenny and I joked how my dice rolling was awful and was a big part of our failure. This time, it was Jenny whose luck had run dry. And specifically, Coop's luck. The burly marksman and brawler was surrounded by zombies and knocked down, wounded. Coop struggled to his feet while Jackie looked on in horror. More zombies closed in on her friend as she fired desperately. "Get out of here, Jackie!" Coop shouted.

    Quon bravely rushes in to draw the attention of the zombies from Coop, who has been knocked own

Frozen in indecision, She saw a blur of green as Quon sprinted into the midst of the zombies clustering around Coop, firing as he ran. "Jackie, go!" he shouted. I will draw them off - they can't move fast enough to catch me.!" Reluctantly, Jackie turned and ran for the back fence of the compound and began to follow in the tracks of Woody, who was similarly moving away along the barbed wire fence. "God damn it!" she hissed under her breath, tears starting in her eyes.

    The survivors exfiltrate from the compound with Quon luring the zombies away from his friends

Quon was in a tight spot -- no question. He began his turn with three zombies in contact. He smashed one's skull with the pistol butt and then ducked and sloshed his way out of the mud. The remaining two grabbed for him. Zombie RV rules allow a survivor to leave combat with a zombie, but the creature gets a "free hack" as he goes. Jenny picked up two dice to roll their attacks. Early on, we decided to roll the attacks of the zombies on each other. Snake eyes! Both missed!! Quon avoided the arms of both zombies and surged through the mud onto firmer ground. With a 7" move, and the zombies needing both actions to go 6", Quon was essentially in the clear at this point. Our spawn rolls brought no "Nasty Zombies" and only two "Runners," which we'd dealt with previously. 

    Woody and Jackie hoofing it towards the van as the closest zombies peel away to follow them

Unfortunately, the zombies in contact with Coop did not miss. Jenny rolled to see the effects of the hit and rolled a "6" -- Coop was dead. What's more, he would transform into a Nasty Zombie next turn. It was time to get out of the compound. Forget about the firearms that may be in the central hut! Time to run and live for another day! Quon was first to the van, and started it up. He threw it into reverse, slowing down as Woody and then Jackie came running up. Both piled in and they peeled out, exhilarated to be alive, but still in shock from the loss of Coop.

    Time to burn rubber and get the heck out of there! The three survivors speed off in the van

Well, how did we do? We searched all four resource tokens successfully, this time. Last time, we grabbed only two before having to flee off board. We also made it back to our van to escape, which was somewhat questionable last time. However, we did not complete the mission. The scenario rules dictate that we don't get the "key" for the last hut until we search the last smaller one. So, we had to do them in the order we chose. Nevertheless, I would count it as a "mission failure," according to the campaign rules I've been brainstorming. What's more, we lost Coop, who had the skills Shooter and Brawler. AND our only rifle! So, in two games, we'd lost our shotgun and rifle, and were left with only two pistols. So, at best, this was a partial success -- even though it felt MUCH more successful than last time.

Most importantly, we had a blast. The more I play Zombie RV, the more I like it. I like the modifications I've made to it, as well. I am looking for a fast-moving game that I can take to conventions and play with up to eight players. I'm beginning to think that this might be it. Jenny and I seem to be having fun controlling just two survivors each. So, if I pair up the players, I could have two per vehicle containing four survivors and have multiple vehicles entering at different points on a much larger board. Maybe the next test is to try it out on the Sunday night guys? We shall see. Until then, I hope you enjoyed the report. Feel free to download the rules from Wargame Vault -- they are a bargain at the $1 suggested price (though feel free to pay more, like I did!). 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 95