Giving Rebels & Patriots AWI Rules a Try

    Our second game of Rebels and Patriots was considerably bigger with 3-4 units each instead of 1-2

The last couple weekends of Sunday night gaming have been trying out Rebels and Patriots: Wargaming Rules for North America - Colonies to Civil War. These are written by Michael Leck and Daniel Mersey and are from the "Rampant" series of rules. So, the concepts would be familiar to us who had played Xenos Rampant not too long ago. As each iteration of the Rampant engine is slightly different, a key part is learning those changes. Since Keith was the one hosting (and owning) the rules, it was up to him to explain the differences.

    The British are marching from the top of the photo and attempting to exit off the opposite edge

Our first game was a very simple affair -- refighting the British attempt to make it from Lexington to Concord on the day of the "shot heard round the world." The British players (Jenny and Joel) had two higher quality units each, while the Rebels (Mike S, Allen, Mike W, and myself) had six lower quality units. All of our units were Skirmishers and we would not stand up to any British charges, hoping instead to pass our discipline check and shoot and scoot away. Sometimes it worked as planned, other times not as much.

    Allen's unit of militia is the first to take a stand against the advancing British regulars

A key feature of Rampant rules is you need to roll to activate a unit on 2d6 vs. a certain number. In Rebels and Patriots, this activation roll (Move, Fire, Skimish, etc.) is modified by your unit's discipline level. Most of the British force were +1, while much of the Rebel force was -1. The target number is "6". Doing the math, you will see most rebel units would actually need to roll a "7"to succeed. This is modified by +1 if the army commander is within 12". Allen did a great job moving his commander to where he would be able to give his bonus often to as many units as possible.

    A key point of the battle as when the British attempted to push the Americans from a small village

My rolling to activate was awful, nonetheless. Most of the game, my single unit I commanded was within 12" of General Allen. However, I failed more than 2/3's of my activation rolls. So, that means on 2d6 I rolled 5 or less two thirds of the time! Waaaay under average!! Still, other Rebel players (particularly Mike S) were doing much better. They were wearing the British down with their fire. Our goal was to knock the British under half strength. Once we did that, we would have achieved our victory condition. Thanks to my teammates, we did so. I think I actually shot and killed enemy figures only once during the game. Thank goodness for the others, though!

    Keith was excited to get his "true 25mm" troops out on the table after years of languishing in boxes

We decided that we liked the rules well enough to give them a try again the following week. I recommended Keith do more of a straight up battle, this time. He'd found the Lexington & Concord scenario online, and wanted to follow it. I said commanding one lone Rebel unit with a -1 discipline (like both Mike W and myself did) doesn't make for a really tactically interesting evening. I said give us "X number" of points of troops and let us line up against each other and test out the rules. Keith listened to my suggestion, and we each were given about 18 points of troops. For the British (which was me this time), that meant three units. For the Americans, that usually meant four. However, I was to find out that not all of the Americans were as bad as my poor militia last week.

    Here's what my three units of British troops were facing in the second game -- outnumbered 7-3!

In fact, I found myself matched against the cream of the Continental army. Mike W controlled four units -- the Continental artillery, two Continental Light Infantry units, and one Militia unit. He rolled "box cars" (12) to activate once and was given yet another unit. Three of his units had a Fire Factor (score needed on 1d6 to cause a hit) of 4+. None of my outnumbered troops did (we were 5+). He had two units with Discipline +1, while I had one. I was definitely facing a superior force -- more so because I was also facing two units of Joel's command when we lined up. At one point it was my 3 units vs. 7 American units!

    I sent my unit of Lights in skirmish to keep the Brit left at bay, and advanced my others on the center

I decided the smartest thing to do would be to delay and distract the enemy, allowing my compatriots to beat the rest of the enemy army. I sent my British Light Infantry in skirmish formation to catch the attention of the artillery and left wing of the enemy. My other two units obliqued towards the center to help Mike S break through with his Hessians. My Lights were in the most danger, so I moved them forward and backwards, trying to keep the hilltops or woods between us and the enemy cannon. They were getting worn down, though. I had occupied Mike's superior forces for 4-5 turns, so I moved them back once they fell to 7 figures left out of 12. In Rebels and Patriots, once you fall down to half strength, bad things tend to happen. Your attack dice are halved and you receive a permanent disorder marker (which gives a -1 to morale checks and activation checks).

    Our goal was to break through the patriot lines, so all three of us marched forward to give it our best

Speaking of morale checks, the Rampant games usually require units that take casualties from fire to roll a 2d6 roll vs. a target number (6 in this game) to pass. You subtract the number of casualties you took from that roll. This is the key mechanic of the game, in my opinion. You want your opponents to fail that morale check and get a disorder marker. Then, if they try to rally it off, each marker is a -1. Roll low enough and you retreat or even flee the table. You don't usually eliminate an entire unit from musketry in this games, it seems (which make sense). You instead try to give them so many negative modifiers that sooner or later they will have a big failure and run away.

    Our best chance at smashing through was with Mike S's center command of Hessians

The other key mechanic in the rules is units roll 12 dice when shooting or attacking in melee as long as they are above half strength. Success is rolling your Fire Factor (remember my 5+ and Mike W's 4+). Each success is a "hit," and hits are grouped together to create casualties. The base number is two hits = 1 casualty (figure removed). However, long range, terrain, target in skirmish, etc., all up that number by one. So, I had my Lights in skirmish formation and kept them at long range meaning Mike caused one casualty for every four hits. Unfortunately, Mike W was rolling hot that night and wearing my units down. He wasn't rolling as well to activate, though. So, that enabled me to keep tying down a superior part of their force with my inferior one. Success, right?

   Although they got slapped around by cannon fire and musketry, the Brit Lights did a great job occupying a much superior force

Well, that all depended on Mike S and Allen's attacks being successful! Allen started out well against Keith, but was battered in the end and had half of his troops destroyed or flee off-table. All our money rode on aggressive-playing Mike S coming through with his attack in the center. I had pulled away some of Joel's center to face off against my other two units who were attacking in echelon in support of the Hessians. Mike S had been the hero of the American victory last week. Could he be the hero again tonight as a Brit? 

    Hessian command slams into the patriot center, and one by one, the American units begin to break

It looked like Mike was going to pull it off. He pierced Joel's line. On Joel's resulting morale checks, he suffered a disastrous series of failures. A number of his units fled the field. Soon, there was no British center. Unfortunately, Keith and Mike W had wheeled forces to fire upon the exploiting Hessians. Ranges in Rebels and Patriots are long (18"), and on what we said would be the final turn of the game, they blasted away at the Hessians, disordering all three units. Ugh! There went the clear victory!

    The Brit (Hessian?) high water mark -- table edge in sight with no enemy in between!

Based on troops remaining and losses, we decided to call it a bloody draw. We had been very close to securing our breakthrough that was our victory condition, but a last effective turn of American fire and poor morale rolls on Mike's and my part blunted that. Still, it was a fun game. Doubtless, we will be playing more Rebels and Patriots on future Sunday evenings. We have to because Keith went out and bought more figures, right?

    The American counter-attack on their last turn took some wind out of our sails, forcing us to stand around and debate who really won...

Zombie Horde Grows - 10 Wargames Factory Zombies

    First batch of Wargames Factory plastic zombies - they look fairly close in size to my previous ones

My only purchase at the Historicon 2024 flea market was a box of 30 Wargames Factory zombies for $15. Eyeballing them, they seemed close in size to the 3-D printed ones that I'd special ordered from JS Wargamer Printing. Getting them home and opening the box, I was a little dismayed by how many pieces the figures came in. There were heads, torsos, arms, and lower section with legs. I will happily admit that I am fairly incompetent when it comes to assembling miniatures.

Luckily, my friend Keith is a whiz at it. He doesn't seem to mind assembling the odd box that I buy that requires assembly. It took him little more than a week to glue all 30 together. What's more, he based them on MDF 1" round bases for no charge. The bases were a bit thicker than the plastic ones I was using for the other zombies, but that's my fault for not thinking of getting him bases to put them on. Once all painted up, the difference in base size thickness won't really be noticeable. What's more, the following Sunday he showed up at our game night with a box of 10 female zombies from Wargames Factory all assembled for me. For free! Keith's a generous guy normally, but sometimes he goes overboard!

   I like the pose in the lab coat -- a nice touch, I think

Anyway, I pulled all 30 males out and separated them by pose. Keith had done a great job mixing and matching heads, arm positions, etc., but there seemed to be about eight basic torsos, as best I could tell. Once I'd sorted them, I picked out one of each plus a couple extra (I loved the ones in lab coats!) and got them ready to paint up. I decided to treat them exactly like 3-D printed miniatures, as some of the hands and arms seemed a little thin and liable to snap. Readers of my blog know that method begins with Krylon Fusion acrylic black spray paint followed by brushing on a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water. Hopefully, this gives the miniatures a bit more strength to face handling on the tabletop. 

I normally don't paint in batches of 10 figures, preferring smaller lots. However, zombies don't have a lot of equipment (well, none actually, except for one guy carrying around a foot in case he starts to feel peckish). So, I can handle a bigger number of figures and not feel overwhelmed. Sometimes, I think back to my 15mm days when I would try to paint an entire army of 50+ miniatures all at once, doing all the flesh, then uniform color, etc. I can't imagine painting that way now. It would be too much like work! I like smaller batches as you are more frequently rewarded with the accomplishment of a new batch of minis completed.

    The pose in the middle appears to have a leather vest, so I gave him a biker logo on the back

I began with the flesh, as normal. For zombies, I use a craft paint called "Wild Rice" for their skin color. It is way too pale for living humans, but when given a black wash at the end gives it a nice, decaying, grayish tint. Next up were the pants. There were a number of zombies with shorts in this batch, so I did those in lighter colors. The long pants were done as blue jeans, gray or khaki dress pants, or "Carrhart" brown paints. Once the base color had dried overnight, I went back and did a dry brush highlight on each.

The were a lot more decisions to make on the shirts. I would love to jazz up every single one of the shirts with something special, but considering the number of zombies I need to paint, I unfortunately don't want to take the time. I did make one of them a leather biker's vest, another shirt was given a couple stripes, and a third was done as a kind of flannel. Otherwise, they were basic shirts (that is, if they were wearing shirts -- two were bare chested). As mentioned before, I really liked the poses in the lab coats, so did two of them in this group. I think on the next batch of these Wargames Factory zombies, I will try to do more special details in the shirts to give them a little more personality. I'd love to be able to paint one zombie up as each of my Sunday night gaming group, if I can find a post that matches...ha, ha!

    One of my favorite poses is the guy in shorts and salmon colored muscle shirt in the center

Otherwise, I did these exactly like the 3-D printed zombies I ordered from JS Wargamer Printing. The shirts and pants got highlighting, the obvious wounds were painted in blood red, and the eyes were done with no pupils or irises. Just black with a white area in the center. I made the mouths and hands a little bloody, and smeared a couple places on their pants and shirts with dried blood color, too. I liked how it looked on the hands. This was the first batch I did that way, so will likely do it some more on the forthcoming batches of zombies.

So, you may ask how many batches of zombies do I have in line? The 10 female zombies Keith gave me are up next after these guys. As a bonus, a couple of the female poses look like they could be used as "runners." I think I need to come up with something more distinctive on the bases to make the runners stand out. I should probably go back and re-flock the other three runners I did and just simply use a different color of flocking like I did with the "nasty zombies." But I was counting zombie batches, wasn't I? Well, after the 10 female zombies, I have two more batches of 10 from Wargames Foundry. And I also have 9 more JS Wargamer ordinary zombies and 7 "Infected" ones. And then there are the six child zombies I bought at Historicon from Brigade Games! So, that means I have 52 more zombies on the way?? Wow...methinks I will be tired of painting zombies before I complete all of those! Stay tuned and see, though...

    Street level view as a horde of 10 zombies lumbers towards you, "Brains...!"

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 130

'It's a Trap!' More Sci-Fi Figures - Mon Calamari from Star Wars

   'Fishman Troopers' that I purchased from JS Wargamer Printing at Cincycon & painted up recently

The more I paint JS Wargamer Printing 3-D miniatures, the more I am liking them. Here's another batch I recently painted up for my Sci-Fi games. They could be either a unit for Xenos Rampant, a couple squads for Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes, or an enemy force for Five Parsecs from Home. All Star Wars fans know Admiral Ackbar, the squid-faced, fleet commander famous for his line, "It's a trap!" Well, apparently his home world is a water one named Mon Cala. And his people are -- you guessed it -- Mon Calamari! 

    Go ahead, say it...you know you want to mimic Admiral Ackbar's voice and declare, "It's a trap!"

What's more, according to Wookiepedia (yes, that is the Star Wars fan site's name), there are various skin colors for the natives of the planet. So, this "fact" let me inject a little variety into this squad besides Ackbar's reddish tones. HMGS Great Lakes member John Leahy runs JS Wargamer Printing, and his prints were fairly clean and had none of the lines you sometimes see in 3-D printed models (especially terrain). I've been pleased with everything I've purchased from him so far, so I recommend his company highly. These figures came on "slotta" style bars, which I snipped off and cemented their feet directly to the base. I've always hated slotta bases. There are 10 "Fishman Troopers" in the pack, but I was careless in snipping off the slot and snapped one poor Mon Calamari's foot off. So, perhaps it was a trap!

    Two Fishman troopers, green and blue-skinned, armed with a light saber and blaster

As I do with 3-D printed figures, I primed them with Krylon Fusion acrylic black. Then I go over it with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I feel this gives it an extra shell to strengthen any fragile parts. I chose five different base skin colors, which I then dry brushed in lighter tones: blue, green, dark orange, red-brown, and salmon. I really liked how the dry brushing brought out the detail on the face -- especially the wattles or whatever the skin flaps under the mouth are called. As I looked over each one, I had to fight off the temptation to say, "It's a trap!" Still, I couldn't help myself sometimes. So, for the heck of it, I decided to keep track of how many times I said it during the painting process!

   Three more Mon Calamari, front and back, showing the subtle differences in color I used for variety

The outfits I decided were two basic garmants. The first was for the shirt/poncho that went down to the elbows and below the waist, and was slitted up on the sides. The "pants" I decided were actually a one-piece outfit that was worn underneath the shirt poncho. In addition, I screwed up and thought it also extended beneath the folded sleeves. I was wrong. Upon closer look, I saw that it was the trooper's skin beneath the folded sleeves -- not the underall and gloves. So, I had to go back and redo the skin on the forearms and hands of each Fishman trooper. I used pastel colors -- a light gray, light green, and dun yellows -- for the shirts. The pants were done in grays, tans, and dun yellows. I regularly referred to Google Image searches of Admiral Ackbar and Mon Calamari on the internet to get inspiration for colors. I didn't want them to be completely uniform, but I wanted them to have a relatively common look.

    I liked the varieties of poses, too, in this pack of 'Fishman Troopers' from JS Wargamer Printing

I did the same for the belts and shoes, switching it up and trying to make each as individually different from the others as possible. For example, for the three figures with the light gray shirt, I would give one gray pants, one khaki, and one yellow. I have been doing things like this on miniatures for decades to give an irregular but unified look to armies. The eyes I painted a dark brown first. I then did a yellow arc and tiny point to do my best to replicate the Mon Calamari's almost cat-like eyes. In the movies, Ackbar's eyes are very shiny and wet looking. So, when the final spray coat was done, I went back and brushed on clear gloss over the eyes.

    If you are a Star Wars fan, I recommend picking up this bag of Fishman Troopers!

The blasters were done in Gunmetal Gray with Pewter highlights. The nose cone of gun I painted metallic red, for the fun of it. The light sabers were done in metallic chocolate brown with gold highlights. Brown and black washes were done over the colors, depending on which would look better. Tans and yellows tend to get the brown, while the blues, greens, grays, etc., get black. Weapons get the full strength black wash. I flocked them up like I have been doing for my space forces, and was done. Overall, the Fishman troopers painted up very quickly and will make a nice addition to my Sci-Fi forces. Oh? How many times did I say, "It's a trap!" during the process. I counted eight -- which I felt was very reserved. I wanted to say it many more times...ha, ha!

    One final look at the Mon Calamari on my space station boards with Sci-Fi scatter terrain

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 104
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 120

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