Sci-Fi Terrain - Scatter & a Building

    Captain Alistair Valentine & Zorina Valthea investigate some newly-painted Sci-Fi terrain

Since Advance the Colors 2024 is coming up, and I will likely be tempted to buy yet more terrain. To keep my conscience clear, I felt I should hurry up and get some that I previously bought painted up! So, expect to see more added in over the next couple weeks until ATC weekend, Oct. 11-12. Plus, I want to have some variety to use in my Sci-Fi scenarios, whether Five Parsecs from Home or games I plan to run on Sunday nights. Three of the pieces are from Diabolical Terrain, who will be at ATC 2024, if you're looking to pick up some really cool 3-D printed terrain. The last is from a vendor at Cincycon 2024 called, A Critical Hit. I learned something new about it when I sat down to paint it, as you'll see below.

    A look at the detail on the tops of three pieces from Diabolical Terrain

All three of the above pieces are from Diabolical Terrain. I believe I purchased them at DayCon 2024. I did my usual method of prepping them -- spray painting them black with Krylon Fusion acrylic black primer. I follow that up, as readers of mine are quite aware by now, with a brush-on 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water (premixed in its own battle). For the large domed structure (which I will likely buy at least one more of if Ron has any in stock at ATC), I painted it a craft metallic paint called Chocolate Brown. I really love its subdued bronze look and use it on a lot of my miniatures. The door and overhead vent fan were painted in a craft metallic called Battleship Gray, with Pewter highlights and bronze accents. The door itself is painted a metallic green ("Christmas Tree" green, I believe). After it was completed, I did a black wash on it to give it a realistic, dusty look.

The piece on the left was by far the most time consuming in this batch of four pieces of terrain. I used a dark metallic red as a base color. I find that the darker shades of metallics tend to look better on the tabletop, for some reason. Brighter colors look almost too cartoony or childish. For the various accent pipes and fittings I used a variety of my metallic colors. For control panels, I painted the surface black, then added in bright yellow, red, and light green buttons. The small video screen is a bright light green. I really like the color combinations for this piece and how they turned out.

    The Alien Nodule and its infestation actually changes colors as you look at it from different angles

The small, cylindrical piece in the center has a duplicate which I just finished painting up, but not in time for the photos. It looks like a control terminal or something similar. Diabolical produces three different sizes of these. This is the largest. I also bought two each of the middle and smallest. I think I am going to turn those into droids. This has a very Star Wars droid look to it, I feel. I love the way the dark blue metallic and battleship gray look together. Very sleek. The bronze accents and the control panels with bright buttons all around it really set it off, too.

Watch this video which demonstrates the color shift effect as I clumsily spin the piece

And now for what I am calling the "Alien Nodule." This looks like a piece of machinery that's been overgrown by some form of infestation. The really cool thing about this piece is that apparently a color shift material was used in the filament. I am providing photos showing three colors and a video showing me spinning it around to give the color shifting effect. I honestly don't remember realizing that when I bought it from A Critical Hit at Cincycon 2024. Had I known that, I would have bought more than one!

    The material takes looks purple at a certain angle -- I have no idea how the physics of it work!

Molded onto the outside of the cylinder are what looks like tendrils of alien vegetation growing up from its base. I painted that dark green and later dry brushed it light green. This was just in case any flocking came off, though. I followed that up with painting white glue directly onto the green areas. I poured Woodland Scenics Blended Grass over it and tapped off the excess. Next, I painted little blobs of white glue on the dried flocking. I pour over it tiny orange spheres that are from a railroad hobby store and meant to represent oranges, I believe. I tapped off some excess then let it dry. Finally, I painted over the flocking and the blobs (some grotesque alien plant life...??) with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm hoping that I don't get too many of them shedding off while using this piece, and that the glue keeps them in place. Quick update, I know. Look for a longer one on my fourth mission for Five Parsecs from Home soon!

    Now the Alien Nodule takes on a green hue - is it mimicking the clothes of my crewmen?

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024 (Next year, I want to tally terrain and scatter, too. If anyone has any ideas how to do that, I'd love to hear!)

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 170
  

Saga Warlord Stands for ATC 2024 Prizes

    The warlord stand that I painted up as a prize for the ATC 2024 Age of Ancients tournament

I recently turned over running Saga tournaments in the Columbus area to other members of our group here in Ohio. However, I am keeping alive the tradition of painting up a prize for each tourney. Since Joe and Lee are running Age of Ancients and Dark Ages tournaments at Advance the Colors 2024, I decided to match what I painted up with the theme of the competition. I am really happy with how these two stands turned out, and it will be a shame to give them away. But that's the whole idea of painting up a prize, though! Isn't it?

   The warlord stand I painted as a prize for the Dark Ages Saga tournament

The Age of Ancients warlord stand was the hardest to find figures for in my unpainted lead pile. I decided to go with a Reaper Bones figure for the big man himself. It is a classic Ancient Mediterranean looking figure with a Corinthian helmet, sweeping cloak, and leaf shaped sword. I'm sure it is supposed to be a Greek of some sort, but you could easily use it for many of the Graeco-Roman cultures. The armor is a tad bit fantasy and a bit less historical, I felt. However, I did my best to tone down the crazier parts and make it simply look like a heavily armored warrior. The shield is interesting, with its almost figure eight design. I'd picked the figure up at the Guardtower East when I was planning to paint my Thracian army as the shape is almost like it is from that culture. I ended up not using the figure, though, so had no problem donating it to be a prize.

    A good look at the ancient standard bearer, a Crusader miniatures Thracian

The standard bearer is one of my leftover 28mm Thracian figures from Crusader Miniatures. He is holding his hand up in the air, which I felt would make him look like a perfect standard bearer. He is also more Greek and less Thracian looking, which make him a good fit for a warlord stand that I am purposely painting up to be "generic Ancient Mediterranean." His Corinthian helmet matches the general's, so even though he is smaller in height, this is mitigated a bit by the uplifted army and the banner he is holding. 

    Close up of the priestess figure on the Ancients prize, and the Gamers Grass columns

I went back and forth over the third figure for the warlord's base. Typically, I choose a musician or sometimes even a pet dog. Dig as I might through my unpainted lead pile, I couldn't find anything that looked like an appropriate ancient trumpeter or other musician. So, I expanded my search through the Dark Ages figures, but likewise came up blank for a Greek-ish warlord stand. I kept going into my Pulp figures, which is where I found this priestess in a dress. I was actually looking for a Reaper Socrates figure I bought years ago (but never did find!). I thought she would be a cool addition to the stand -- the priestess of Apollo (or some other god) giving the omens of battle to the general! She was easy to paint up. I really like her braided hair with streamers attached, and the wreath around her head. 

    A nice look at the Medusa banner I created from Google Images using Photoshop

I had a wealth of choices for the Dark Age warlord. I have been regularly buying Gripping Beast general packs from Cotton Jim's clearance bin at Historicon. Looking through the giant ziploc bag with Dark Ages generals, I didn't have any mounted figures generic enough. So, I decided to go with an all-foot warlord stand for this one, too. This figure (I believe) is from their Varangian Guards pack, but I could be wrong. I love his balding head, drooping mustache, and relaxed stance with his helmet tucked under his right arm. His left hand was open and I went back and forth about what to put in there. I decided to go with an upright sword. I figured that would look more inspiring than a grounded ax or similar. I chose brown for the fur cloak over his shoulders as it would contrast better with the chainmail armor. The bright red (but not too bright) cloak and dark blue sleeves show his wealth in poorer and less fancy age.

    Zooming in on the three figures that make up the Dark Ages warlord base

His standard bearer is about as generic as you can get for the early Medieval period. His conical leather and banded steel helm, chainmail, and round shield strapped to the back made him an obvious choice, as well. I decided to go with a faded blue tunic and sleeves. In fact, both these warlord stands seemed to have its share of blues! I really like how his Raven shield design came out. I used a black micron pen to do the wings, tail, and head. It didn't stand out as much as I wanted, so I added the streaks of light blue and that really made the design pop. I decided not to put any other weapons in his hand, but considered a sword for awhile. I didn't like how it looked with the pose, so kept it simple.

    A nice look at the Viking runic stone, which I added to the base to set it off a bit

The final figure was another easy choice, a chainmail armored musician with a sweeping cloak. Since blue seemed to be the theme, I gave him a medium blue cloak. I was happy with how the colors came out on both stands. As I was finishing them up and eyeballing the 60mm round stands, it looked like both needed something else to make them come to life. I looked in my closet and picked out one of the 3-D printed Viking runic stones that I'd picked up from Scott Gray at Sword & Scabbard Games. I am going to have to get around to painting up the rest of these runic stones (I bought two packs!). They were easy to do and look great! For a Dark Ages general, it really makes the vignette pop. Scott will be at ATC 2024, so pick some of these up from him if you will be there! I also added a couple more small boulders to complete the stand! 

    A look at the raven banner I created in Photoshop, and the standard bearer's shield

For the Ancient stand, I remembered that I bought two packs of Gamers Grass Ancient ruins from Michigan Toy Soldier and Figure Company at Historicon 2023. Scale-wise, they probably would work better with 15mm figures. However, they have such a great variety of broken and complete Greek or Roman columns that I was able to figure out a combo that looked nice. In addition, I added a chunk of plaster cobblestones to the blank area in the middle. All together, the vignette worked out really well. 

    A final look at the Ancient warlord, with a close up of the Reaper Miniature's shield

The banners I did in my usual method. While painting the miniatures, I had decided that I would use a medusa for the Greek standard and Raven one for the Dark Ages. I spent about a half hour looking through various Google Image searches until I found the ones I liked best. Next, I found fancy square and rectangular borders to go around the images. I imported them into my venerable version of Photoshop on my MacBook from two generations back. I manipulated the colors and sizes, then put them on a USB drive and took it up to the local office supply store. I prefer using their color laser printers for my banners. You do have to paint the edges after you cut the banner out and glue it around the brass wire pole. Otherwise, the white paper shows through noticeably. 

All in all, I think these two stands came out to be a...shall I say it...a "winning" pair??

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 170 (I'm back to even again!)
  

LAST of the Zombie Horde (and a Vehicle)

    My final batch of zombies (hopefully!) along with a 3-D printed car from Diabolical Terrain

Okay, so I swear -- this is the last of the batches of zombies that I will be painting up for awhile. Hopefully, for quite a while...maybe forever??  We shall see if my horde proves to be enough, though. I think it will be. The ultimate goal is to be able to play a game of Zombie RV with three vehicle's worth of survivors (a dozen) on the table. This should be enough. If not, I have some more of the original 3-D printed on from John Leahy of JS Wargamer Printing I could rush into service.

    Though there is a lot of possible variety with the WF zombies, I was getting tired of painting them

These are the last 10 male zombies from the Wargames Factory box I bought in the flea market at Historicon 2024. It was a great deal ($15), so 50 cents a figure! I do admit I am tired of painting them up...ha, ha! My friend Keith did a nice job putting them together and varying bodies, heads, arms, etc. Still, there are only so many of each type and it is beginning to feel repetitive. Still - my friend Jason M in South Carolina informed me that I have now eclipsed his zombie horde. Keep an eye on his blog (Miros' Games) to see if he paints some more to regain the upper hand!

    Three of my gaming friends as zombies -- Keith, Joel, and Allen (from left to right)

I had been threatening all along to paint some of these WF zombies up as my gaming friends. I made an attempt with this final batch, painting up a Keith Zombie, Joel Zombie, and Allen Zombie. Not 100% sure I nailed it or not. There's only so much you can do with the paint brush and finding a pose that matches my (thankfully) not undead friends! Still, it might be good for a laugh on the table. Especially if Keith Zombie kills Keith's character in a game...

    Guys go off in search of snacks, Allen in his Bexley shirt and Keith in his Rules Lawyer one

These were painted exactly like the previous batches, so I won't bore you with repeating my recipe. Interestingly, I did run out of 1" circular bases with this batch. So, that means I've painted more than 100 figures using this size and shape base this year. I'll take that as encouragement that my production is continue to hum along since retirement. I am looking forward to painting some new stuff. I'm also eager to get back to painting some Sci-Fi stuff, soon. Thanks to a friend's recommendation (Steve P from San Diego), I picked up a set of rules called Space Weirdos from Wargame Vault. They seem quick and easy, and I like the rolling of two dice to get a more consistent average as opposed to a single die. The dice progression aspect, with players rolling as anything from a pair of d4's to d6's, d8's, d10's, and d12's sounds like a nice mechanic, as well.

    Are these the last zombies I will paint up? If I have enough now, then the answer is YES!!!

I intend to try them out for Sci-Fi skirmish games for the Sunday evening crew. We have been playing Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes, which works fine. I'm not crazy about the short ranges for futuristic weapons, though. Yes, yes, I know. Stormtroopers can't hit anything even at close range in Star Wars. However, the short ranges in Wiley Games rules somehow feel wrong in this period. Ranges are line of sight in Space Weirdos. There are modifiers for some weapons if they are further away, but every shooting weapons can hit everything else, range-wise, in the game. Of course, the board is smaller, 2'x2' or 3'x3' being what they recommend for two player games. I will probably have to extend that horizontally for six-player games, of course. We'll see if it feels "weird" shooting the whole length of the board!

    Aww, I think I hurt their feelings...they are walking away. Come back, guys -- I didn't 'mean it...!

The other thing I painted up in this blog post is another 3-D printed vehicle from Diabolical Terrain. Rather than sitting down and painting up everything I bought from Ron, I have been mixing them in here and there. As always, I spray paint the vehicles Krylon Fusion Matte Black, which is followed up with a 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. I decided to paint this one silver as it is such a common car color on our roads, nowadays. Plus, it will show any discoloration and rust a bit better. I went back to painting a blue band at the top of the windows to represent the sky reflecting off the windshield and windows. And of course, I added in cracked windows because most of my games that I use them in will be post-apocalyptic (or zombie apocalypse). 

    I have been pleased with the 3-D printed vehicles I've bought from Diabolical Terrain

For the rust effect, I painted the area a dark brown first, followed by a lighter "rust" brown inside that area, leaving a dark brown line. Inside the rust brown, I painted a Georgia Clay to show the brighter, more flaky, rust. I am happy with how this one came out. I know that I ran out of 3-D printed vehicles when I set up my board for Hold the Line, so I need to get cracking on working these in more regularly!

    These 3-D prints paint up quickly and look nice on the tabletop, I think...

Speaking of getting cracking, I am actually nearly done with my next batch of figures -- two warlord stands to donate as prizes for the Saga tournaments at Advance the Colors. I also have some Sci-Fi terrain that I have spray painted. So, quite a bit should be coming up soon! Stay tuned, and see what's next!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 164
  

Five Parsecs from Home - Campaign Turn 3

    In the hinterlands of Taxore, a Planetary Militia unit has gone 'rogue' - setting for our 3rd mission

 Captain's Log

Ship's Log, Interstellar Yacht Inconceivable, Capt. Alistair Valentine recording. I received an invitation from the Varxian ambassador on Taxore. He requested a meeting as soon as was convenient for us. He had matters that he needed to relay us concerning the well-being of the crew. I took along both Gunny McBride, my second in command, and Cephvarx Hul -- my Varxian crewman.

Capt. Alistair Valentine, Gunny McBride, and Cephvarx Hul sat comfortably around the oval-shaped table in the ambassador's office. The Varxian ambassador had invited Alistair to his office to discuss a possible mission the crew could undertake for him. Alistair was happy he'd brought his Cephvarx Hul along. He could tell his crewman was enjoying the company of his own race, chatting with the office staff excitedly before they were seen in to the ambassador's office. 

"This mission," the ambassador continued, "unfortunately could land your crew in trouble here on Taxore. Of course, my office will exert diplomatic pressure on your behalf, if things go badly. So, if you refuse, my old friend, I completely understand." It always amazed Alistair how talking with the alien ambassador, his passenger on many flights during his career with Amazonas Galacticus, seemed so normal. His language skills were paramount, and he had even mastered the art of human body language. He nodded, leaned forward, and even sighed as a native speaker. 

    Capt. Alistair & Doc Mercosius deploy in Taxoran woods with a good line of sight of the militia base

Gunny's voice interrupted Alistair's thoughts, "Exactly what kind of trouble, Honorable Ambassador? There are some on Taxore who are still simmering a bit from us shooting up the guards at the spaceport..."

The ambassador laid his huge palms on the table. "I want to be 100% upfront, Gunny. I know it is your personal mission to keep your captain -- your friend -- safe." Gunny leaned back and folded his arms. "Apparently, a Taxore planetary militia unit has recently gone rogue. Gunny's marine contacts can confirm this. They are not answering communications with their superiors at the capital. Satellite surveillance confirms they are alive and well, though, and still training at their barracks site."

    Gunny takes up the best position with a military rifle equipped with a bipod for long-range shooting

Gunny shook his head. "How does this concern the Varx? Sounds like a matter for the Taxorans to work about amongst themselves."

"We believe they have made contacts with a terrorist group that unfortunately originates from my planet -- the Pure Brotherhood of Varx." Upon hearing the name, Cephvarx Hul sat upright. He looked from the ambassador to his captain several times. "Yes, Cephvarx, I am worried they are concerned with your own activities. You see, my friends, the Brotherhood feels no Varx should go off-world and associate with alien races. Contact with other races pollutes us, they feel. Their goal is to kidnap or kill all Varx in the employ of non-Varxian organizations or working off-world. So, as you can imagine, we in the diplomatic corps are always trying to monitor their activities."

    Zorina & Cephvarx advance through the vegetation on one side of the road, SAS B61 on the other

Alistair placed his hand on Cephvarx Hul's chair, "So, by hiring Cephvarx I have endangered his life? My honorable crewmate and warrior, I know you welcome this fight as a true Varx would. If you feel the call to resign your post and devote yourself to this challenge, you are free at any time." The ambassador reached across the table and placed his lavender-colored hands on the captain and Cephvarx.

"Captain Alistair - you truly understand our race. However, Cephvarx would lose honor if he resigned. He doubtless forgives you for your concern, but likely welcomes this challenge to face dishonorable terrorists who would kill in their cowardly ways. The terrorists have contacted this territorial militia unit and offered them heavy weapons in return for being granted shelter, information and logistical help on Taxore. The Brotherhood plan to strike out from this militia unit's base at Varxian citizens on the planet, murdering and then returning to the safety there."

    Taxoran Planetary Militia deployed on the roof of the barracks, next to their heavy laser droid

Gunny cleared his throat, "These terrorists sound despicable, but is the crew of the Inconceivable to take on an entire militia unit, Honorable Ambassador?"

The ambassador reached into a desk drawer, pulled out a strange device that seemed more fitted to Varxian hands rather than human. He showed it to Cephvarx Hul. "You know how to use one of these, Crewman Cephvarx?" The Varxian reached across, took it from the ambassador's hand, and turned it around in his long-fingered hands several times. He spoke a few words in Varxian. "With this device, Cephvarx can verify the presence of any of our race nearby. If he can get close enough to this base, he will have proof of the Brotherhood's presence. From there, Gunny's old companions will take care of cleaning out these rebels and terrorists. All you have to do is get Cephvarx close enough, give him enough time, and then get him out. Do you accept?"

    Right hand side of the sentries on duty at the Taxoran Planetary Militia base that had gone 'rogue'

After the meeting, Alistair returned to the ship and briefed the crew on their mission. First, he smiled and welcomed back Zorina Valthea, who had just returned to full duty after being wounded in the last mission. The mission would also include a repositioning of the Inconceivable. Officially, in response to threats made against the crew by the spaceport guards' families and friends, the interstellar yacht was being relocated across the planet. No charges were made against the crew in light of their previous hero status for discovering and taking out the Converted infiltration team, though. Conveniently, the new spaceport where they would land after their first flight on their ship was close to the militia unit's base. Gunny took over the briefing, and pull up images of the militia unit's base and its surroundings. He began to explain his and the captain's plan.

    Another look at the base - the Inconceivable crew would come in on the left side of the board

The Game

I used my MDF prison that I'd made for my post-apocalyptic campaign as the militia unit's base. I surrounded it with 3-D printed sandbags and a few other bits of Sci-Fi scatter terrain. For the area covering where the Inconceivable crew would approach from, I used some colorful jungle scenery pieces I'd made long ago for Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago games. I was a bit worried as the militia unit, who would have six members, had military rifles, which are longer ranged weapons than all but one of our weapons. We needed to get one of our crew, Cephvarx Hul, within 2" of the center of the table. I placed a little mechanical droid to mark the center point of the table. Near him, behind the sandbags, was a civilian technician who would grant a "story point" if I could interact with him.

    Doc moves down from the woods to the cover of a massive mechanical drill to get within range

Gunny's plan would first make a tactical switch in the crew's usual deployment. Gunny traded his "hand cannon" pistol to Cephvarx and took up the military rifle with bipod. Gunny's Combat skill is +1 and the bipod would add another +1, meaning he'd hit targets in cover on a 4-6 on 1d6. Though Cephvarx had a similar combat skill, he also has melee bonuses that the crew was not taking advantage of with the alien acting as the crew's "sniper." Gunny taking on that role would be more efficient, it seemed to the ex-marine. Cephvarx, Zorina, and the security bot SAS B61 would advance up the treeline on either side of the track leading to the militia base. Gunny would deploy in the woods with the best line of sight on the base, while Alistair and Doc, with their slightly shorter-ranged colonists rifles, would deploy in the other corner's woods.

I rolled up "Cautious" for the militia's A.I., and deployed them as specified in two groups of three. The one carrying the short-ranged, hand flamer would be on the ground. The other five would begin behind the sandbags on the roof of the base's main building. Their plan would be to aim and fire and pick us off as we advanced. Unfortunately for them, they were of a poorer quality than the Inconceivable's veterans. They were +0 when shooting, meaning they hit only on 6's (they would Aim, though, which would allow them to re-roll 1's). Gunny's plan seemed solid. Let him snipe them, hitting on a 50%, while they hit only on a 1 in 6 chance.

    Gunny opens the game sniping one of the militia sentries, as another panics and loses heart

The crew did not roll well enough to "seize the initiative" and receive a free move or shot. In addition, of the seven dice rolled for "Reactions" (Alistair has a Communicator which gives a bonus die), I scored only a single "1" or "2" (which would allow the character assigned that die to act first, before the enemy). Gunny took the die, aimed, rolled a "1", then re-rolled that one for a hit. The militia were Toughness 3, also, which would make them easier to knock out of action when hit. Gunny rolled high enough and the closest militia man leaning against the sandbags pitched backwards with a cry. On their turn, two of the militia moved up to the sandbags to get line of shot on the crew. The flamer, held fast behind a small control building until the enemy came within range. Those armed with military rifles all fired, missing completely.

The rest of the crew began to execute Gunny's plan. B61, Zorina, and Cephvarx dashed forward as fast as they could through the thick underbrush. Alistair squeezed off a shot and stunned one of the militia on the wall, who ducked behind the sandbags. Doc Mecrosius realized the closest target was out of the range of his rifle and dashed forward behind one of the iron supports of a mechanical drill. I rolled to see if any of the militia panicked after losing one of their own, and lo and behold, rolled a "2." One of them called to the others that he would go and get help. They should stay and hold off the intruders as best they could.

    Meanwhile, Zorina, Cephvarx, and B61 all dash forward as fast as possible through the undergrowth

On Turn 2, I rolled two dice to act first. From his advanced position, Doc raised his rifle, aimed, and missed as the round slammed into the sandbags. Gunny switched targets, steadied the bipod, aimed, and rolled another "1." I re-rolled for Aiming and bang! Another militia man went down! The militia man with the flame thrower ducked around the corner and estimated the enemy were still out of range, so stayed put. Two others fired, one putting a stun marker on B61 as a slug ricocheted off the droids metallic head. Next, the rest of the Inconceivable crew acted. Alistair aimed and stunned the same militia man he had last turn, as the man cautiously peaked his helmet over the sandbags. 

    Hard luck Zorina Valthea, entangled by Taxoran Grasping Vines, is out of the game!

Zorina, B61, and Cephvarx continued to hurry through the alien vegetation. In fact, on Random Battlefield Events, I rolled "Lost! A random crew member loses their way and is removed from the battlefield." I numbered my crew and rolled and hard luck Zorina was the designated one. I reasoned she blundered into a patch of Taxoran Grasping Vines, and was pinned in place by the vegetation. Meanwhile, on the panic roll, another militia member lost heart and fled away from the sandbags. We'd "lost" Zorina, but they had two men down and two run off the battlefield already by the end of turn 2!

    Gunny's second shot drops another militia sentry showcasing the ex-marine's military skills

Turn 3 began with Alistair firing at the same militia man and stunning him again. The militia man carrying the flamethrower saw the intruders were almost within range, so dashed up to the sandbag wall protecting the base. Gunny saw him stop at the wall, shifted the bipod slightly, and squeezed off another shot. The militia man was hurled backwards by the force of the bullet and lay motionless. Gunny was in his element! Three shots, three enemy out of action! The remaining militia man fled the sandbags lining the rooftop (all three panic rolls had been failures -- fortune was favoring the crew this day, for sure).

    And once again, after seeing one of the number fall, another militia man panics and runs

The rest of the game was spent mopping up. Cephvarx moved out into the open (not far from the small tracked droid) and used the device the ambassador had given him. He scanned the complex thoroughly for two turns and then said he was ready to move out. He dashed back to help Zorina, who was still trapped by the vines. B61 continued forward to where the civilian technician lay crouched and cowering not far from the dead militia man. He leaned over the sandbags and assured the technician that he would not be harmed. The two had a conversation for a minute (story point!), when the droid thanked him, and instructed him to lay there till they were gone.

    As the crew gets closer to the base, the militia man with the flame thrower dashes up to the sandbags

When Cephvarx's called that Zorina had been freed from the Grasping Vines, the Inconceivable crew began to quickly back up. Alarms had been sounding inside the base for several minutes. It was time to get out of there before more militia came back for vengeance. As they regrouped a kilometer away from the base, Cephvarx held up the ambassador's device. "The ambassador's information was right. The Pure Brotherhood of Varx is inside the base." 

    That sentry becomes Gunny's third enemy knocked out of action -- truly, the ex-marine was on fire!

Gunny waved the way forward, "Let's go everyone! Double-time on the trails back to the ship. I'll call the marines when we get there."

    Wrapping up -- Cephvarx scans the militia base, while B61 goes to speak to the "person of interest"

I was surprised how easily this game seemed to go. However, I honestly feel it was due to some great die rolling on my part. Gunny was three for three in his 50% chance of getting hits on militia. His two misses were both 1's, permitting re-rolls, which then hit. All three damage rolls exceeded the enemy Toughness. And all three militia panic rolls failed. When shooting at us, the militia rolled only one hit, albeit that was probably not far off from average, with only a 1 in 6 chance. When Doc went over to check on the militia man carrying the flame thrower, he found he was dead. Scrounging through his pack, he found a Stim-Pack, along with a couple damaged pieces of equipment that he snagged and took back to the ship.

However, the post-battle roll resulted in the Taxoran Planetary Militia becoming a Rival. Things might get tougher, now, with both the terrorists and the planet's militia gunning for us! We earned only 4 credits on this mission (our least amount yet), barely paying our expenses on Taxore. If I can roll well enough in the in-between mission rolls for Alistair to finish his Pilot Training Course (which I rationalize is familiarization with the Inconceivable), we may take off and leave Taxore behind. We shall see!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 164 (see next blog post)
  

Zombie RV at Hold the Line 2024

    Zombies running amok in a trailer park during my games of Zombie RV at Hold the Line 2024

I hosted two sessions of Zombie RV at Hold the Line convention inside the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, OH. I had three 2'x2' boards set up and was planning on two players teaming up to run the survivors on each board. Four players signed up for the 10am session and two in the 2pm session. Hold the Line is a relatively new convention with a LOT of tournament players and it is still growing its standard, non-tourney games. I feel there were definitely more attendees at the show this year compared to its debut last year. So, I was happy with a 50% fill rate.

    Morning session with four players trying to scavenge supplies from the Zombie Apocalypse

One of the boards featured my two fortified, 3-D printed trailers from Bad Goblin Games and one heavily-modified MDF trailer from Sarissa Precision. There were various other bits of terrain on the board, including burned out cars, smaller storage trailers, and a small patch of woods. This board was chosen by the players to explore in both sessions. It was nice to get my newest painted terrain out on the tabletop, and I got lots of praise from players and passers by for how it all looked.

    Zombies wandering the industrial board trying to track down the player characters (their next meal)

Another board featured an industrial area, with two factories, a convenience store, ruined building, water tower, oil storage tank, and even a smoldering, crashed helicopter. This one was played in the morning session. The third board, that did not get chosen, was my Shell service station with a parking lot full of burnt out vehicles, gasoline pumps, and various other bits of trash and rubble. I even jazzed it up with something new. I had saved the plastic windshields from the die cast vehicles that I had burnt up. I put them inside a ziploc bag and broke them up into tiny pieces. I poured this around the building to represent broken glass from all the windows. Looked cool even if no one played on that board!

    Zombies move towards survivors according to an "A.I." in the Zombie RV rules

In addition, I had created stat cards for each of the characters, listing their scores in each attribute (Might, Brains, Quickness), their two Level 1 skills (and which die rolls they affected), along with the equipment they were carrying. As per Zombie RV, one character had a rifle, another a shotgun, the third a pistol, and the fourth only a melee weapon. Two other melee weapons and one supply of extra ammo was also distributed among the characters in each four-character survivor group. I had also created a pair of double-sided QRS sheets with all the relevant charts and tables, as well as detailing the zombie "A.I." which directs their movement. Finally, I had created noise tokens from wooden disks, flocked to resemble asphalt, and featuring a number of grayish-white stones equal to the noise token number. I arranged the pattern of the stones to mimic the pips on a 6-sided die. It is one of my things, I realize. If a game calls for markers on the tabletop, I want to create something that blends in with the battlefield and adds to its look rather than detracting from it.

    Junior with his noise token indicating "2," is in trouble with zombies coming at him from both sides!

Everything was all set up for the players, including a vehicle as each group's starting point -- van, pickup truck, or RV. Five ordinary zombies were already lurking at the spawn point, ready to shamble towards the survivors after they took their first turn. I explained the rules first, and everyone agreed they were easy to pick up and had no problems running the game themselves after the first turn. Typically, I have the players make all the die rolls for the zombies, too, rather than trying to be everywhere and do them myself. My role was to dole out the zombies each turn, help adjudicate any questions, define the terrain, and so on. 

    A wounded 'Roman' is chased behind a trailer by one Nasty zombie and 3 ordinary ones

As I'd hoped, Zombie RV ran great as a convention game. All of my players had fun and some said they were going to pick up the rules themselves, too. Only one of the three games was a complete victory/success for the survivors. I define a completed mission as one in which they pick up the resource tokens on all four quarters of the battlefield, return their vehicle, and drive off. Even that one success was a near thing, too. We did a kriegsspiel at the end and talked our way through what would happen on the last couple turns. It appeared fairly likely the last straggler survivors would make it unscathed back to their vehicle. So, rather than move the enormous number of zombies they'd spawned during the two hours of the game, we did some measurements and agreed they'd make it off. Barely!

    Zombies attacking the survivor's van where two of the characters have taken refuge

A similar thing happened in the 2pm game. A pair of survivors were trying desperately to run from cover to cover along the edge of the board and stay out of sight of the various hordes of zombies that had collected. One was wounded and moving at essentially half speed. Meanwhile, another of their original group had bailed out and exited off the back edge of the board. With two wounds, he was fairly certain that he'd never make it back to the van. He hoped to link up with his friends later, but it would be suicide to try to run the gauntlet. The other two survivors in the van (they'd located another survivor armed with a melee weapon in their first search), were driving the van back and forth running over zombies and trying to keep the attention of all the zombies on the board before the van was surrounded and overwhelmed. It was a tense ending to the game, with the player controlling those in the van ready to abandon the other two more than once!

    Sonny & Woody (new guy found hiding) race back to the van to get off the zombie-infested table

That's one of the things I really like about Zombie RV as a game. It is cooperative, and the players have to brainstorm how to get to all the search spots and not be surrounded and overwhelmed by the zombies. Players are forced to take risks, and you can feel the tension when important rolls have to be made or otherwise a survivor is likely to be swamped by numbers and taken down. That happened twice in the morning game in the trailer park. The players lost two of their four survivors and eventually fled the table back to their van. The players had to take the same risks that the other survivor gang did in the afternoon game. In the afternoon game, fortunate die rolls allowed the survivors to escape the clutches of the zombies. In particular, shotgun-wielding Junior managed to escape what looked like certain death not once but twice! However, in the morning game, Daisy and Sonny were not so lucky. When the zombies closed to contact, and the survivors tried to flee on their next turn, they were knocked down and wounded. That spelled the end of each, as there was no way to get away as it takes a wounded player's only action to stand up.

    Per the player's plan, Big Bass waits in hiding behind the helicopter, ready to ambush these zombies

I did not run out of zombie figures, which I admit I was worried about. I'm very glad I finished my most recent batch of four "nasty zombies," though. A couple games had two to three of them running around on their board. There weren't many "fast zombies" rolled, which was fortunate for the players. Their speed (equal to the survivors and twice as fast as an ordinary zombie) has a way of throwing carefully choreographed plans out the window! In fact, that's one thing that successful survivors must do -- mentally map out where the zombies will end up and ensure that survivors are able to keep their distance. If more than one zombie is able to close with the same survivor, things definitely look bleak in this game.

   Things are looking bleak for Daisy as she is chased by a horde of zombies through a burnt out truck

Zombie RV is NOT a game of mowing down hordes and hordes of zombies. Ammunition is short, firearms are in a questionable state of repair, and you never know when you're going to either run out of ammo or have the weapon jam. Then the survivor is left with a glorified club! Actually, in game terms, you do know when it is going to happen. If you roll a natural one when making a shooting attack, the gun is out of ammunition. I rationalize this as possibly also meaning badly jammed. Only one of the three firearms carrying survivors has extra ammo, too. So, if you are planning on manning a barricade and mowing down zombie after zombie to cover for your friends, your plan can fall victim to a poorly-timed "1"! In most of our games, this has led to the death of that unlucky survivor.

    Sonny confidently holds off a group of zombies until rolling a "1" -- CLICK! Out of ammo!!

With the success of my games at Hold the Line, I am satisfied that giving each character two skills instead of one special ability in the original rules does not make them too powerful. The brand new skills I added (such as Sprinter, giving an extra 1" of movement for each action), did not seem unbalancing either. The rules author had also given me his ideas of introducing three attributes (Might, Brains, Quickness) for each character. He wanted to use them to be used for various checks in the game. For example, when survivors come to a door, there is a 50/50 chance it is locked. If locked, they need to pass a successful "Might Check" to force it open. The character adds their Might score (which is between 1 and 3) to the roll of a dice, needing a "6+" to successfully force it open. If they fail, they can try again next action. Notably, this does make more noise...

    Sonny tried to run, but when the zombies made contact and knocked him down, the end was near

Since characters are still scrambling to complete the missions successfully in our games, I think the balance has not been thrown off by these additions. Next, I plan to introduce my experience points ideas. I'll have the Sunday night gang choose to spend the experience they gained when we played it a few weeks back (see Zombie RV Times Three). Then we will play some more games. I plan to keep track of how many "skill improvements" each survivor gang has earned and either add in more zombies or modifiers to the spawn roll each turn to balance it out. That will probably be a judgement call based on how successful the players have been.

    After a handful of turns, the entire board seems to be crawling with zombies

The other thing I have planned is to try one big game with up to three vehicles of survivors rather than each band of four on their own 2'x2' board. I would like to go with a 3'x3' or 3'x4' board. I will include one spawn point for each vehicle's (4 characters) worth of survivors. I am also thinking that instead of a third spawn point, perhaps have zombies show up randomly on board edges? I would number the board edges and roll to have three lone, wandering zombies show up. Or perhaps I will randomize the number of wandering zombies? Roll 1d6: 1-2 = 3 zombies, 3-4 = 4 zombies, 5-6 = 5 zombies. One roll would establish which board edge they're coming in on, and then a D12 to see how many inches from that corner it arrives on. I think this would definitely foul up the survivors' plans more with the uncertainty of where they're coming from.

    You can also find other survivors in hiding on the board, as was the case with Woody in red

Plus, I always enjoy miniatures games where we get the whole group playing together. I am imagine there would a be a lot of hilarity as we laugh at the struggles (or poor die rolls) of our fellow players! So, while my painting for the zombie project is coming to an end, the playing of games is hopefully heating up! Stay tuned for more highlights from my zombie apocalypse!

    His friend inside searching the trailer, Sonny covers him from the porch, blasting away at zombies

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 170
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 154

 

Drawn by the noise of tires squealing and the crunch of a van hitting bodies, zombies hurry forward 

    Despite 2 zombies in contact, Junior was fortunate on his rolls and was able to slip away and survive