Trip North to Blissfield to Game with Jim & Ted

    Saturday's game at Jim's 'Toy Box' was a scenario set in a post-apoc Ohio/Michigan 'exclusion zone'

It has become a summer tradition. Gather a group from Central Ohio and drive north to my friend Jim's "Toy Box" in Blissfield, MI, for a weekend of gaming. Awhile back, Jim was given a deal he couldn't pass up on a lawyer's building in the center of his tiny town of 3,000 people. It came with all the furniture and would be a perfect place within walking distance of home to store all his stuff, do his painting and modeling, and host games. 

    A stop by the Michigan Toy Soldier & Figure Company was a fun shopping experience!

This year, five of us drove north on Friday to enjoy good times and camaraderie in small village Midwest. I had been wanting for years to visit the Michigan Toy Soldier & Figure Company not too far away in Detroit. I convinced the others to stop on the way up, and it was definitely a great place to shop. I ended up "winning" the shopping wars, edging out Keith by less than $10. Most of my $150+ purchases were from Hydra Miniatures' Retro Raygun line. As the name implies, these are retro or nostalgic looking Sci-Fi miniatures with a wonderfully unique look. 

   Pictures from Hydra Miniatures' website of the Robot Legionnaire command pack I bought

I purchased two packs of five "Robot Legionnaires" to use for my various Sci-Fi games. They could be a units in a Xenos Rampant game, enemies for my Five Parsecs from Home crew, or just about anything else Sci-Fi. The pictures I'm posting are from their website. I obviously haven't had time to paint these up, yet! Plus, the paint jobs are likely from Dr. Matthias of the Lead Adventure Forum -- one of my favorite painters. If you want to see some amazing paint jobs, check out his web page! 

    Three bots or droids from the Hydra Miniatures line that I picked up at Michigan Toy Soldier store

In addition, I picked up some droids or robots they have as part of the line. I had been looking for non-military, unarmed droids for my Sci-Fi skirmishes, and hadn't thought to check their line. As I was digging through the blister packs, though, I found several that I could use. I picked up two each of Simon 6 and Blocko the Squarebot" (got to love the name!), as well as a pack of five Hoverbots. Once again, the pictures above are from Hydra Miniatures' website. 

    My purchases Friday (including a die cast pizza truck from Kroger to be converted into a RV maybe)

I also picked up some grass tufts I needed for bases, a bottle of Vallejo vehicle wash, and a copy of the Rebels and Patriots rules that we've been using for Keith's Revolutionary War games. Earlier that day, while at Kroger, I'd also picked up a die cast pizza food truck which I can hopefully convert into a RV for Zombie RV.

    The battle around Ted's 15mm scale Alamo rages in earnest as the Mexicans move towards the walls

Next, we drove to Blissfield to meet the gang for dinner. Since we were going to be play testing Ted's Remember the Alamo game this October 11-12 at Advance the Colors 2024, we appropriately had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town. That should have given me a clue to choose to play on the Mexican side, but unfortunately I chose the Texans (Texicans?). Ted is upfront about his game. The Mexicans are going to "win." All who don't run off will be killed. The only way for the defenders to win at the Alamo is to inflict enough casualties to make it a far too Pyrrhic victory for General Santa Ana. The Mexican players, on the other hand, are trying to curry the general's favor by killing or capturing the most Texan leaders and flags positioned at various points around the fort. So, I went in knowing I was going to lose. I should also have resigned myself to bad die rolling, too!

    Jim's Mexicans swarm up the ladders while the number of my defenders along the wall dwindles

Ted's Alamo in 15mm is awesome! If you can come to ATC 2024 in Springfield, OH, to play in his game, I would highly recommend it. Hundreds of 15mm Mexicans in various color uniforms and Texan defenders make for a great spectacle. The rules work very well and are quick and easy to learn. There were a few places during the game where my Mexican opponent Jim and I had questions, but they were far between. Defending the mission alongside me were Mike S and Jenny, who were both making their second Blissfield trip. Besides Jim, the attackers were Gene, Keith, and Jason S, who drove up after he got off work. Mike and Jenny did a decent job causing losses among the Mexican attackers. However, I was abysmal at my die rolling. I would roll a dozen six-side dice, needing 4's or better to hit, and score just 2 or 3 hits routinely. On the other hand, Jim is renowned in his gaming group for his lights-out die rolling. It was an uneven matchup, and my side of the mission went down with a whimper.

    Jenny's Tennesseans, led by Davey Crockett, holding off the Mexican attack early on in the game

Everyone had a good time. I felt bad I almost single-handedly caused our side to lose. Mike S inflicted quite a few casualties against Keith and Jason's troops, but I certainly did not hold up my side of the bargain. If I had equaled his successes, we would have had a chance. It is definitely a different mindset playing in a game where you know your forces will be eliminated. I don't think I minded that part -- Ted warned us at the beginning. What bothered me was my die rolling was so pathetic it almost became a joke. So, if you play the Texans at the Alamo, be sure to bring your hot dice! Either way, you'll be in for a good time with lots of laughs. The climax of the game came when Jenny was down to Davey Crockett and a few Tennessean companions. She decided to have him drop down from the walls and make a run for the river. She rolled the absolute worst she could for his landing, and Crockett suffered an ignominious death, bayoneted while he lay on the ground with two broken legs!

    Jenny's Michigan National Guard unit sets a road block at the intersection and defends it zealously!

We were right back at it on Saturday morning, rolling dice again. I'd requested Jim to run a scenario of his post-apocalyptic campaign for us. Normally, he has just 2-3 players, so I appreciated him cooking up a bigger scenario than he's used to running. Jim uses the Wiley Games rules, but with a dose of Zona Alfa thrown in. His "exclusion zone" (think Chernobyl) is based off of an actual nearby nuclear facility. In his campaign, there has been an "incident" and the area is blocked off from the public and patrolled by various government agencies. Well...supposed to be blocked off! The Zona Alfa concept is players are crossing into the zone on behalf of various employers or looking for valuable equipment and artifacts.

    Much to their surprise, the road block includes Mike S's police cruisers! 'No one' means nobody!!

Interestingly, Jim had picked an actual location near the nuclear facility from Google Maps and recreated the terrain on the tabletop. The miniature version of the intersection of the county and state routes resembled it in a very skillful and realistic way. I was playing a crew of four from an unnamed government agency driving in a black SUV (of course). My goal was to investigate reports of "lizardmen" in the zone, and if possible, bring one back alive or dead to study. I wasn't friends or enemies with any of the other five factions played by Jenny, Ted, Mike S, Jason, or Keith. In fact, my briefing said I was fairly "dismissive" of them! Jenny was a Michigan National Guard unit rotating in to keep trespassers out of the zone. Ted's group was another army unit taking on a semi-independent role exploring the exclusion zone. Mike S was the local police in two patrol cars. Jason was the "Cold Ones" -- Eastern Europeans who have been mutated by their forays into other exclusion zones and show up to loot them. And speaking of Looters, Keith was simply local looters hoping to score some stuff and make some money.

    A patrol cars spots a looter exiting the window of a home and sets off a game-long gun battle

The action began when Keith's looters were accosted by the zealous local law enforcement, who saw one of Keith's guys suspiciously exit a home via the window. The two would engage in a running gun battle which saw none of Mike's officers or Keith's looters actually get knocked out of action! Shooting was very Hollywood style (LOTS of misses!). Meanwhile, my government SUV passed them by and parked in a driveway between two patches of woods. Two of my agents got out to investigate each patch of woods. We were looking for Lizardmen, and animals live in the woods, right? What we found was not what we were looking for, as an "anomaly" sent a massive heat blast scorching its way across the board. Apparently, these happen frequently enough in the exclusion zone that we'd been warned about it in our briefings. Of course, it happened right after my four guys exited the air-conditioned SUV! The agent nearest the anomaly was knocked out of action, two others were wounded, and the leader momentarily stunned. Similar effects happened to everyone else on the board not inside an air-conditioned vehicle (or not a Cold One -- Jason's guys were apparently immune).

    My federal agents bypass the looters and pull up in a driveway to investigate two patches of woods

The wounded agent spent several turns dragging the unconscious one back to the SUV, plopping him in the back seat, and getting back behind the wheel. Meanwhile, my leader and his pal explored the other woods, finding nothing. My leader, skeptical from the beginning about "lizardmen," began to think that a giant game of "telephone" had taken place at his agency. You know the game, right? Someone at one part of a circle whispers something to his neighbor, who is supposed to repeat it to the next in line. By the time it makes its way back around to the original one, the message is unrecognizable. Hmmm. "Cold Ones?" Lizards are cold blooded. Maybe I am supposed to capture one of Jason's Cold Ones? That became my leader's new goal as he worked his way through the woods.

    My leader and another agent begin a trek through the woods to the opposite side of the table

Incidentally, in the Wiley Games rules, you can heal wounds/stun with a Queen of Hearts/Spades, or any Ace which you play and declare as one of those cards. Jim even included a Joker in this deck, which also acted as an Ace. On the very first turn of the game, I was given two Aces. For the next 11 turns, not only did I not receive a queen, I also did not receive an Ace in the four cards I was given each turn. That's 44 cards out of the deck of 53 with no Queen or Ace! Needless to say, it appeared that my luck was continuing from last night!

    Lizardmen? On the Ohio-Michigan border?? This comes as a surprise to these hapless civilians

Of course, no one was paying attention to my skulking around by this point. Jenny had decided to enforce her road block in the center of the table zealously and enthusiastically. When anyone tried to pass -- including local law enforcement or fellow soldiers (Ted's faction) -- she blasted away at them, disabling their vehicles. This began a running gun battle between the rival U.S. Army soldiers and anyone else that decided to join in. Meanwhile, Keith and the local cops were continuing to fire away at each other ineffectually. Jason's Cold Ones on the far edge of the board shot a young, hoodie-wearing man when they spied him through the window. No questions -- just shoot first! Eastern Europeans!! When they went into the room to ask him where they might find artifacts, the man was unsurprisingly uncooperative. In fact, it took three of the Cold Ones several turns till the wounded local was knocked out. 

    Lizardmen stalk towards the gun battle between the army units, leaving an unconscious one behind

About this time, Jim made a decision. He may have noticed me shaking my head every time I looked at my cards, but he decided it was time for the Lizardmen to make an appearance. REAL lizardmen! The leader of my agents whipped off his sunglasses cinematically and muttered, "I'll be damned...there really ARE lizardmen in here!" He called the wounded agent to bring up the car. He headed towards the house which Jason's Cold Ones were hurriedly vacating at the sight of humanoid lizards carrying guns. The Cold Ones piled into their pickup so fast that they left one of their own behind upstairs. The truck peeled off and headed to the opposite board edge, encountering Mike's two patrol officers afoot (their wheel had been shot off by one of Jenny's trigger-happy guardsmen). Because the local police were being played by his dad, Jason opened up on them -- of course!

    The Cold Bloods in their battered pickup fire upon two local police officers, wounding them

The lizardmen, robbed of their cold-blooded prey, began to track down a civilian vehicle that had unwisely driven onto the tabletop. One chased the car, stuck its head inside the window, and was knocked senseless when the driver floored it and smacked him with the car as it sped away. The other lizardmen were having none of that and chased the car. That led them straight to where the Cold One who'd escaped out the second story window was stalking the soldiers battling each other. The lizardmen proved once and for all that being reptilian beats simply having cold blood, and knocked Jason's unlucky guy out of action. The other lizards smelled blood from the gun battle raging between the two army units and stalked forward, as well.

    Distracted by all the action around the army units, my agents make off with a knocked-out lizardmen

Perhaps the most humorous part of the gun battle for me was Jenny's sergeant firing her turret-mounted .50 caliber machine gun at Ted's guy armed with a grenade launcher. Each was about 10 feet from the other, but as turn after turn went by, neither was knocked out of action. Hmmm. I mused about the feasibility of firing a grenade launcher at someone so close. Jim asked, "Have you fired one?" I had to answer yes, that I indeed had fired an M203 grenade launcher when I was in the military. Still, it is a game, and adjustments are often made to weapon effectiveness by rules writers!

    The board at the end of  the game - most of the action was near the road block in the center

Meanwhile, Jim had done my federal agents a huge favor. The other three lizardmen left their unconscious egg-brother laying in the dirt by the house. My agents crept as quietly through the woods, trying to remain as out of sight as they could. Once they were near the house, my leader darted out, picked up the lizardmen, and drag him off into the trees. He was joined by another agent, and together they carried the creature back to the SUV. They bundled him into the back and got ready to drive off. By the way, this was the final turn of the game. After 11 turns of drought, Jim had dealt me an Ace and a Joker! Still, it helped speed our way back to the vehicle, and make good my agents' escape from the table. Once or twice, Jenny said she'd been tempted to shoot up our SUV with her .50 caliber machine gun. However, since I wasn't bugging her, and Ted's soldiers were actively shooting back, she left me alone.

    Jim smokes a cigar in front of his 'Toy Box' in Blissfield and next to the sign the village installed

So, we decided to call it a game. Although my four agents had fired only once the entire game (long range at a lizardmen), we had accomplished our mission. I was kept entertained by the success and failures (mostly the failures) of my friends as they tried to carry out their missions. We had a more than two hour drive back home to Columbus, so we said our goodbyes and headed out. We enjoyed our two days of fun gaming in Blissfield, and were heading home with loot in the back of Mike's SUV from Michigan Toy Soldier store (but thankfully, no unconscious lizardman!), and lots of stories to recount on the drive home. 

Thanks, Jim, for having us up to your Toy Box, again! As usual, it was a blast!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 168
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 140

Zombie RV Times Three!

    The chaotic aftermath of the Shell Station board, overrun by zombies and on fire

I taught the Sunday Evening Gaming crew how to play Zombie RV last night. I had each of them create two characters using the campaign adaption that I am playtesting upon hearing the author's ideas. They paired up and were each given a 2'x2' block of zombie-infested city to explore. Jenny and I used our crew, back for their third mission with yet another new face, Curly. Having lost shotgun-wielding Mophius in Mission 1, rifle-armed Coop in Mission 2, would we actually make it through a game with all four surviving? Time would tell, but we were down to just two pistols for firearms, with both Woody and Curly armed only with hand weapons.

    Quon takes on the roll of the "rabbit," again...shooting at the zombies to lead them on a merry chase

I reworked my Quick Reference Sheets emphasizing in all caps that the first thing the survivors do is roll to see if anyone gets a third action ("6" on 1d6). Lo and behold, with us not forgetting to check, we actually rolled quite a few 6's! In fact, I would say the third actions that Quon and Woody (especially) rolled were key to our success. Quon chose to be the rabbit, again. He dashed into an alley way near the spawn point and fired upon the initial five zombies. Guess what? I rolled another natural "1" on my first shot of the game! That meant one of our two pistols was out of ammunition! Meanwhile, Jackie stealthily investigated Sams Quickie Mart while Woody began an end run to the water tower (where he could see a pile of boxes peeking out from the underbrush). New-guy Curly was given the job of investigating the factory nearest where our pickup truck was parked.

   We added a new wrinkle with a second survivor drawing off the zombies chasing Quon

Quon got a third action to start the second turn, and boldly ran up to the closest zombie, smashed its head in, and then scampered off, leading the zombies in merry pursuit. Both Jackie and Curly found more supplies in their respective buildings. Something weird, dice-wise, was happening in our rolls once we discovered a Resource Token. We only roll 1-2, which yields generic Supplies. We had plenty of food! However, we had yet to roll any weapons, ammunition, or new survivors. As a side note, Keith and Joel would roll TWO new survivors in their searches in their game. Side note #2: Don't let Keith and Joel name characters. Their choices for their four new characters? Moe, Schmoe, Darryl, Darryl. Their two new guys? Trunk (because that was where they found him hiding), and something I didn't even write down because it was equally silly.

    After leading the zombies into the underbrush beneath the water tower, Woody backs away

Meanwhile, Curly decided to get the zombie horde off of Quon's tail by moving closer and shouting. One of the rules I think I am going to add is you can always voluntarily add +1 Noise to your actions. This freed Quon up to slip around the corner and investigate the second factory. Meanwhile, Woody had waded through the underbrush beneath the water tower and found...a box with a grenade! A new weapon? Woo-hoo! He pocketed it, while keeping an eye on the new batch of zombies from the spawn point surging towards him. One included a mutated, Nasty zombie! He made sure they were scrambling over the wall into the underbrush before backing off and ducking behind the car on blocks. 

    Jackie prepares to blast away at the zombies until she rolls a "1"...CLICK!

After grabbing supplies from the Quickie Mart's shelves, Jackie fired out the window of the rear door, splattering a zombie. This led several of them to shamble towards her. She retreated out of the shop, with three zombies staggering after her in pursuit. Taking position near the overturned semi-trailer, she saw Curly round the corner running as fast as he could. She yelled at him to get in the driver's seat of the pickup truck and start the engine. She faced down the zombies staggering towards her, raised her pistol, aimed for the head of the nearest and...click! Our of ammo, again! What??

    As Curly drives the pickup truck, Jackie jumps in the passenger seat and Woody dives into the bed

Our crew was completely out of ammo, but had gathered all four resource tokens. Quon had quickly searched the warehouse and found more supplies (of course!). Woody continued to roll 6's for extra actions, so sped away from his zombie pursuers along the alley beside the Quickie Mart. Using our speed and the lack of any Fast zombies, we each made our way back towards the street. It was a close call, but Woody and then Quon dove into the bed of the pickup truck as Curly kept the vehicle just out of reach of the zombies. Our first truly successful mission!

    Firing from the barricade at zombies mired down in the brick pile, these guys had an easy mission

On the table to our left, Allen and Mike S were having a cake walk of a mission. The tire barricade left in place by the apartment complex (before it was overwhelmed), was a natural firing position. The brick rubble field near the spawn point meant all the new zombies s-l-o-w-l-y made their way towards shotgun blasting Big Bass and a rifle-armed survivor who looked like Coop's brother. Those two blasted away pretty much the entire game while their two compatriots quietly infiltrated the buildings containing the supplies. Once they'd collected all four, they ducked back through the alleys, hidden from the center commons were all the zombies seemed to be. All four were able to load up in their van and drive off. Yeah, I definitely made their board way too easy! That, and the only character on their board who rolled a "1" for shooting was the guy who had the extra clip!

    The 'new guys' - Blue Van Crew - laugh Jackie's boys as they drive by after their cake walk

The third city block, dominated by the Shell gas station, seemed to be a mess, though. Keith and Joel's survivors were scattered along the edges all across the board, with zombies swarming everywhere. Things looked grim until one of Keith's survivors (Moe or Schmoe, who knows?) found a Molotov Cocktail. He immediately tossed it into the biggest horde of zombies he could find, frying half of them instantly. Joel and Keith were also helped by two new survivors they rounded up hiding in the vehicles. With their clubs and cleavers, they were able to turn the tide and escape every time the zombies got too close. When Jenny and I had first finished our game, I looked at the gas station and thought they would lose two characters, at least. However, with Molotovs, fortuitous rolls, and skillful redirection of zombies, they were able to all escape. Barely!

    No cake walk at the Shell station! Zombies swarm towards three different survivors

Had I made the tables too easy this time? I definitely think Allen and Mike S's board was too easy. We agreed that their should have been gaps in the barricade where the zombies had broken through to overwhelm the residents of the apartment complex (and become the new zombies they were facing). Our board probably had too much terrain, too. I had been really happy in Mission 2 how survivors could lead zombies into difficult terrain to slow them down. I think I need a little more open board here, too, to give the zombies more of a chance. The gas station seemed okay, though. I clarified with the rules author that ordinary zombies should not clamber over vehicles, but instead be channeled around them. I'm not so sure, now. Maybe I will simply count them as difficult terrain and they will swarm around or over them, whichever is quicker? We'll see.

    One of Joel's 'Darryls' and Trunk shelter behind a rubble pile as a Fast Zombie scampers their way

The Sunday Evening gamers enjoyed Zombie RV, though. They handed me their character sheets and said they wanted to play it again, keeping the same survivors for a loose campaign. Jackie's Crew even traded some supplies to the Darryls & Schmoes so they wouldn't go hungry. In return, we recruited one of their new guys to our crew. I think I will be doing some renaming, though. I'll paint a name on the base of the new survivors I've painted up, like I had done with the others for my post-apocalyptic campaign. I didn't spend hours on them for someone to slap Moe or Schmoe on them...ha, ha! 

    Earle (who Joel renamed Darryl) and Moe? Schmoe? sneak around the back of the Shell station

Now the new challenge will be to tweak the rules to manage a bigger game with 10-12 characters on the board. I'm thinking of trying that rather than having three separate games going on. Some ideas:

• At least a 3'x3' area, maybe bigger. 
• Multiple spawn points. 
• Wandering zombies arriving on random board edges each turn.
• A chance that each room a survivor enters may have one or more zombies in it -- like in the Army Base scenario we played for Mission #2.

    A fortuitous find of a Molotov cocktail blasts the zombies moving towards Trunk on the rubble pile

I would love to hear suggestions from others who have done this, or have ideas!

    Zombies mumble and groan about the Keith and Joel that got away on the Shell station board...!

Undead Ladies of the Night - Zombie Women from WF

    A horde of zombie women stagger from the gas station where they just made a pit stop for brains...

As mentioned in a previous post, my friend Keith gave me 10 of the Wargames Factory female zombies from their "Zombie Vixens" box. I decided to try to individualize them more than I did with the last batch of male zombies. So, they took a bit longer, but still painted up pretty quickly. Some of the poses were pretty active, so I decided to make them "Fast" zombies, or Runners. This mean re-imagining how I flock them so that it is clear on the tabletop which ones are ordinary zombies and which are fast ones.

    For this batch, I tried to do a bit more to individualize their clothes -- like the patterned dress on right

I prepared them the usual way - Krylon Black Fusion spray followed up by a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint. The skin is a craft paint called "Wild Rice," and for these I decided to go back over it with a second coat to make sure it covered the black primer a bit more thoroughly. I used relatively bright colors, or at least ones that are more vivid. The zombie women are all depicted as relatively young and fit, so I stereotyped and decided they would be dressed more nicely than I have been painting the guys.

    I thought the red and white polka dot halter top & jean shorts worked well on the blonde at right

I also made sure I bloodied this group up a tad more than some of the others. All of the figures seem to be molded with bite wounds either on their legs or somewhere. I also gave most of them bloody hands and mouths, which makes them a bit more horrifying, if you ask me. I gave them a variety of hair colors, including the strawberry blonde on a couple figures. 

    A smiley face shirt and red bikini certainly made these zombies "Runners" different!

For the "Fast zombie" poses, I decided to redo how I flocked them. Since the ordinary zombies use Fine Blended Gray Ballast from Woodland Scenics to replicate asphalt, I felt the Fast zombies needed a different color tone to stand out. I went with a brown dirt look, using sand which had been given a dark brown vehicle wash a couple times. Hopefully, my players can tell them apart easier than what I was doing before. And yes, that mean I went back and re-flocked the previous three "Runners!"

    The zombie in the pink party dress with the missing right hand is a good example of the unique poses

The zombie party girls will get a night on the town when I run Zombie RV for my friends, this evening. I should have six players, and setting out all my zombies made me realize one thing: Unfortunately, I need more zombies! That's okay, as I have several batches in line to join the party. I have two more batches of 10 Wargames Factory male zombies, two more batches of 3-D printed zombies special ordered from JS Wargamer Printing, and a handful of metal figures I culled from the lead pile that will make good "Nasty zombies," I hope. That will also help me correct the disparity in 2024's Miniatures Acquired vs. Miniatures Painted! Zombies paint up easily, and with the next batch, I will be back in the positive range!

    Having picked up (& eaten) any available men at the gas station, the party girls are hitting the streets

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 149
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 140

Five Parsecs from Home - Campaign Turn 2

    Battle raging at Taxore's spaceport during Mission 2 for the Inconceivable's crew

Captain's Log

Ship's Log, Interstellar Yacht Inconceivable, Capt. Alistair Valentine recording. I decided to take the crew of the Inconceivable out to dinner after the amazing success of our first mission. None of us had been injured, and we had been paid handsomely by Gunny's contact at the Galactic Marines. While enjoying drinks before dinner, I proposed to the crew that we use most of the profit to pay off every last bit of debt on the ship. No longer would we have to worry about crooked companies, lawyers, or banks trying to reclaim the ship, I explained. Sure, we could instead build a sickbay or some other new module on the ship, but why do that before owning it outright? Going around the table, I asked each of the other four what they thought (SAS BR61 had remained on board the ship). All four of my crew agreed or voiced no dissent, even though it meant we were left with only 6 credits to their name.

When I went to pay the bill, the restaurant manager pulled me aside. The meal and drinks were on them, he said. He'd heard through the grapevine about a Converted Infiltration team being discovered and taken out by the crew of a recently-arrived ship. I quipped, "I wonder who those heroes could be?" The manager explained he'd recently watched a show about the Converted, and the half machine, half humans had given him the creeps. Anyone who did anything to save him being "converted" into one of those inhuman machines deserved a meal at his restaurant any day!

Once back at the ship, I called the crew together on the bridge to watch me make the electronic payment and receive the communication confirming the ship was ours. Several cheered and Gunny let out a marine whoop. I informed them that I'd spend this week again in the simulator. I wanted to be 100% comfortable with the controls of the Inconceivable before we took off from Taxore. Zorina said she'd like to keep working on combat training in the other simulator if no one else minded. Gunny, Cephvarx, and Doc all said that was fine. Gunny said he'd take Cephvarx with him and try to trade for some stuff we might need. Doc said if it was okay with everyone else, he'd like to explore Taxore a little. It seemed like a fascinating world, and the people seemed interested in his environmental suit and eager to chat. 

I dismissed the crew, leaving BR 61 on security duty. As the crew left the bridge, the security bot called out, "Don't worry about me, my friends. I'm so good at sleeping I can do it with my eyes closed."

    Zoomed in photo from Alistair and Gunny's drone reconnaissance of the spaceport

Security Officer's Log

Ship's log, supplemental entry SO #0002, on the planet Taxore. I'm taking Cephvarx Hul with me to do a little trading in Taxore. I figure the big, purple-skinned lug might scare the merchants into giving me a better price! I'm glad I took him along, as we were checking out a weapons dealer and he called me over where he was sorting through a box of random equipment. He held up a cylindrical cloth bag. "Bipod," he said. "My rifle's model, specifically." Cephvarx is our squad's sniper, for want of a better term. Giving him a bipod would make him even more deadly. Since his rifle model is a relatively uncommon one, the bipod was not of much value to the dealer and we got it for next to nothing. 

That's great, because prices are normally high on Taxore. We didn't see any other bargains and were on our way back to the ship when Cephvarx stopped at a vendor selling electronic tomes. He'd noticed some in Varxian language and was examining each one closely. While he shopped, I browsed the other titles. One caught my eye, The Lost Treasure of Chuff Betzos. Alistair is obsessed with this urban legend of a ship carrying an extremely valuable cargo owned by the founder of Amazonas Galacticus disappearing, and never being located. Alistair thinks it would be just deserts if he were to locate it and sell the contents to replace his lost pension that Amazonas stole from him! He even carries an electronic map that supposedly details the route of the ship through star systems. I bought it for Alistair, knowing he'd devour the text! (This is a Quest Rumor that we received as part of our trade roll). Cephvarx picked up a couple electronic books in Varx, as well. Then we headed back to the ship.

    We would be facing the spaceport's veteran security guards during our infiltration mission

Engineer's Log

Ship's log, supplemental entry EO #0001, on the planet Taxore. Ship's Engineering and Medical Officer Mecrosius recording. Taxore is an amazing planet, and other than the expenses, I like everything about it. Last week, I had been searching out possible jobs for our crew and had made contact with the deputy minister of the Free Trade Association of Taxore. We'd had lunch and he explained how they are fighting trade rules that keep the prices artificially high here on the planet. In the course of our discussion, our captain's plight of his lost pension from Amazonas Galacticus came up. The minister was very sympathetic and outraged by the mega-corporation's actions. He promised to find us some work to help out the caption.

This week, though, I wandered just for the fun and fascination of it. The people are incredibly polite and are accepting of my condition that requires me to wear my environmental suit at all times. They love to watch how the bottom "beak" opens up for me to deposit food, then closes back up. I described how it scans it for possible toxins then, if it is safe, delivers it to my mouth to be chewed. I never saw anyone stare impolitely or point or do anything rude. Even the little children do not giggle when they see my outfit. They simply watch and take it all in, turning away if I gaze at them so they don't seem impolite. As much as I love being part of the Inconceivable's crew, it will be hard to leave this planet. (When I rolled up the results for Doc's exploration, he received "This place is rather nice". We will have to spend a story point to keep him from remaining on Taxore when we eventually leave!). 

    The Inconceivable crew deploys behind the spaceport's customs house and air conditioning units

 

The Game 

 Since Doc had found a second job for us on Turn 1, I decided to play that one out for this turn's mission. The Free Trade Association of Taxore hired us to escort and protect a VIP. Our opponents would be "Veteran Enforcers" -- think police or hired, good quality security guards. From that kernel, I decided that the association wanted to install a device to monitor transmissions and logged entries at the city's spaceport. They wanted to be able to cull data of ship arrivals, cargo offloaded, port duties, etc., so they could prove that the authorities were artificially keeping prices high (and likely skimming off profits).

    The guards' specialist with the auto rifle begins to redeploy around a quonset hut for a firing position

Doc had explained the mission to Alistair and the crew last turn when we chose to complete Gunny's mission instead. We had till Turn 3 to undertake it, but I figured this meant doing it now meant one more character out trading, training, or exploring rather than searching for a job. Captain and crew approved of the nature of the mission, though the prospect of breaking into the spaceport and facing off against private security did worry them a bit. However, the residual goodwill from eliminating the Converted Infiltrators, and their status as relative newcomers on the planet, should give them some degree of "forgiveness." Or at least that is what the crew hoped!

    Alistair and Gunny leap over the low wall behind the warehouse, intending to go in the back door

There would be Danger Pay, Benefits (an extra roll on the Loot Table), and Shiny Bits (more loot) on this mission. Unfortunately, I rolled that our crew was "Caught Off-Guard" by the enemy, so we would act after them on Turn 1. No chance to "Seize the Initiative" and get free shots this time! The enemy worried me a bit, as they were all +1 Combat Skill and Toughness 4 -- better stats than all but Cephvarx Hul and SAS BR61 on our crew. They were mostly armed with 12" range Hand Lasers, which would be out-ranged by Cephvarx, Alistair, and Doc. However, the specialist (thankfully, they had no Lieutenant) was armed with a Auto rifle. That would be the best gun on the table, so we would need to knock him out ASAP.  

   BR61 & Zorina escorting the Technician, while Cephvarx Hut gets ready to climb the customs house

The Enforcer's "A.I." would be "Tactical" -- likely meaning they wouldn't be aggressively charging forward like the Converted last mission. However, with only one weapon with more than a 12" range, the security goons would need to advance to get in range. Cephvarx Hul would be key to our success. His military rifle -- boosted by the bipod we got from trading. His spent experience points at the end of last turn had raised his Reactions to 2, making him our ace in the hole. Gunny, recognizing that, gave the Varx the Stimpack. If he were to be knocked out, we'd need him back on his feet ASAP. Of course, I promptly forgot to add the bipod to Cephvarx Hul's stat card -- whoops! He was shooting with one "+1" tied behind his back, so to speak...ha, ha! 

    Meanwhile, the security guards move forward along the wall to investigate the alarm & get in range

Our mission was to take the VIP technician to the center point of the table and give him time to install the device. Once he did that, we will have won the scenario. Next, I set up the spaceport tabletop. Dead center was a domed building containing the control console that our technician had to access. Once again, I used my acrylic floor tiles in concrete gray, as I assumed this would be another city mission. I wanted to put a landing pad for a space port, so used one of my 12" square asphalt road tiles and surrounded it with a low stone wall with two gates. I positioned it off-center, so the row of domed huts could be running dead center down the middle of the table. Behind the domed huts were some warehouses and a customs office. On another side of the landing pad were two long quonset huts (more warehouses? Security?). Opposite them across the pad were some power grids. Various other pieces of small terrain were scattered around the board. 

    Doc Mecrosious opens the garage door a crack to a perfect shot on one of the security guards

I was pleased with how the board looked, but I definitely need more futuristic terrain so I don't have to use as much of my "modern" stuff! I wanted to set the board up as fairly as possible, with a somewhat logical layout. I realize the game will be vastly different depending on which side of the table my crew sets up, and where the Enforcers deploy. I rolled for the crew's side and got exactly the side I wanted. We will come in behind the warehouses and the enemy will come in on the more wide-open side near the landing pad.

    It was a poor "tactical" choice on my part of loop the guard's best weapon around the hut

Re-reading Five Parsecs from Home's battle rules, I understood the enforcers had to deploy in three squads of two figures. Each squad would be within 8" of another and the members of each pair had to be within 3" of each other. Since they had the jump on us, I pondered what they would do. Perhaps an alarm had been set off and their equipment showed my crew was approaching from behind the custom's house. I measured the range from the auto rifle-armed specialist's position and discovered he would be out of range if he just hunkered down along the wall. The rules say "Tactical" enemies will more to outflank. So, I decided he would circle around behind the quonset hut (to be out of line of fire) and take up position between the two. The other two pairs would go the other way and remain along the wall.

    BR61 guns down another security guard from the cover of the customs house pillars

Alistair and Gunny's plan was to have Cephvarx climb the custom's house and take up a firing position on the stone balcony. Doc would enter through the back door of the left-hand warehouse then take up a position from a window or doorway on its front. Gunny and Alistair would take the right hand warehouse and do the same. BR61, Zorina, and the Technician would sneak up to the custom's house, then dash around to the cover of its stone colonnade. From there, the technician could dash to the domed hut, enter it, and install the device.

    Cephvarx Hul from his covered sniper position on the customs house balcony railing

Both sides followed their plans for the first two turns. I did notice that the recommended movement rate for Tactical enemies was probably too slow for the specialist's decision to circle the quonset hut. I should have overruled it and had him dash once he was out of my crew's line of sight. On Turn 3, Cephvarx Hul took his covered position on the balcony and squeezed off a shot, which missed, ricocheting off the stone wall in front of the closest enforcer. The Enforcers then all did their moves, as we had rolled poorly and only Cephvarx acted before the enemy. Gunny, realizing the line of sight from the warehouse wasn't good enough, dashed out and over to the closest quonset hut, where he could see the specialist moving up. Alistair shifted to the doorway to have a better view than the window provided. 

   One of the security guards redeploys out of line of sight of Doc and then takes aim at Zorina

The security guards moving first turned out to be perfect timing. Doc opened up his warehouse garage door a crack, revealing a wide-open shot on the closest enforcer. He fired his colony rifle at the outflanked security guard. The man jerked, then slumped to the ground, motionless. Seconds later, BR 61 rounded the custom's house, squeezed in behind a pillar, and fired his shotgun at the next closest guard. Blam, blam! Another guard fell behind the wall with a grunt. Two enemy down on the first turn of firing - woo-hoo! Meanwhile, the technician dashed to the back of the control hut, crouching down to stay out of sight. Zorina moved forward to another of the huts, staying in cover in her shimmer cloak.

   ZAP! Zorina's shimmer cloak camoflauge doesn't help against the guard's deadly aim with his laser

I realized at the end of turn 3 that I had once again forgotten to roll for Battlefield Events at the end of turn 2. I rolled, and one of the remaining security guards had a +1 Toughness. However, they suffered losses in turn 3, so had to roll for panic. They were considered veterans, so would panic only on a "1" on a d6. They suffered two losses, so I rolled twice. One roll was a 1! The rules say the enemy closes to their deployment area "bails," so the specialist's companion, hearing two of his compatriots down on his headset, decided to "go get help." Turn 4 began with Gunny ducking inside the quonset hut to try to get within range with his pistol. Cephvarx fired another shot and missed. Obviously, he needs more practice with using the bipod! BR62 moved from the customs house to the cover of one of the domed huts.

    With Zorina down, the Inconceivable crew blazed away with their weapons on the next turn

The guards moved next. The tough guy shifted position to be out of sight of Doc and sighted his hand laser at Zorina. "A shimmer cloak!" he thought. "I read about those in an Enforcer of Fortune magazine article. To counter its distortion, I need to aim right about...there!" He fired, and Zorina let out a yelp and flopped to the ground, unmoving. At this point, I used a "Story Point" to make the tough guy re-roll. Wouldn't you know it? He rolled another hit and rolled to exceed her Toughness, as well. The other security guards all continued to move up. Doc fired and missed. Alistair moved from the warehouse door to one of the domed huts, and the technician dashed inside to complete his mission.

    Auto rifle armed guard finally gets to where he can shoot next turn and Gunny takes him out!

The Inconceivable crew was spurred into action by Zorina becoming a casualty. Doc aimed and fired at the guard he could see along the way, and dropped him. BR61 moved to within range of "tough guy" and blasted him. He scored one hit in his two shots and then rolled to exceed the guard's Toughness. Down he went! The only security guard left was the specialist, who finally made it to the space between the two huts. As he began to creep to get a view of the battlefield, Gunny opened the door of the quonset hut, and at point blank range, blasted him. All six were down, and we'd completed our mission. 

I think in the future I will be less literal in following the enemy A.I. It dictated they moved only half moves and would stay in cover. Once they were under fire, they should have been moving faster to get within range, not slowly creeping forward and taking shots. That said, I think I did a good job on picking which of my crew would move before the guards and which would move afterwards. For example, both Doc and Gunny opened a door after a guard moved and were in short range of an enemy that thought they were in cover, but wide open from where they appeared from. My rolls -- except for poor Cephvarx Hul -- were good, and once again my weapon range was superior. One of these days, I am going to roll up an enemy armed with all auto rifles...! Post-battle report in the next episode!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 149
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 130

More Purchases and Acquisitions to Ruin my Painted vs. Unpainted!

    Most of the miniatures I buy from JS Wargamer Printing were STLs designed by Papsikels

So, each time I have gone to a convention this year my 2024 totals for Painted vs. Unpainted takes a hit. Then, I get painting again, and pretty soon I am back in the black, so to speak. Or green in my tally at the bottom of my posts. I had just recovered from my Historicon 2024 purchases when I made another order from JS Wargamer Printing. So, now I am in the red, again! I thought keeping track was supposed to help me keep my spending down...right?

   Alien Grays that I picked up -- cool figs, eh? They'll work for any of the Sci-Fi games I'm playing

What did I buy? Well, I was so impressed with the Aliens I painted up (especially how quickly I could complete them), that I decided to order some more. Knowing that I would be charged shipping, I figured I should defray that a little by ordering more. Makes sense, right? Makes the shipping cost less "per figure"?

    There were actually 11 resistance figures that John sent me -- all have lots of character like these

So, I picked up a pack of the Alien Grays, which looked so cool. They'll fit in with the retro look of some of my Sci-Fi stuff, as well as be a good enemy for Five Parsecs from Home. I also really liked the look of the Terminator Human Resistance figures. They'd make good survivors for a post-apocalytpic campaign or even zombie games. I think John appreciates the promoting of his company that I've been doing, too, because he tossed in two extra resistance and two extra Alien Grays. 

    The female zombies Keith gave me came from this pack, I believe...

Finally, I mentioned in my previous post Keith gave me 10 female zombies from Wargames Factory. Not technically a purchase, but I should count it in the "Acquired vs. Painted" totals. So, that puts me behind, again, as you can see below. I expect to catch back up relatively quickly with the Aliens and zombies going fairly fast. Oh, but wait! I have that upcoming trip to the Michigan Toy Soldier Company at the end of this month! And I did say I was going to pick up more of their Retro Rayguns Sci-Fi line...

Oh, no! Will I  get back in the black only to slip back into the red, again...?

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 149
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 130