New Batch of Sci-Fi Figs - Criminal Syndicate?

    Six new Sci-Fi minis from a variety of sources intended for my upcoming Star Wars skirmishes

In my upcoming Sci-Fi skirmish games, I plan to have my players take on the role of various factions in the Star Wars universe. I recently painted my Imperial Stormtroopers, and have plenty of miniatures I can use as either "Corporate Security" or "Mercenaries." However, nothing I have painted up jumps out at me as usable for a "Criminal Syndicate." for this faction, I'm envisioning a half dozen or so individuals with no uniforms, similar armament, or even race. So, I dug through my unpainted miniatures and found a half dozen that I thought might fit.

    Closeup of the riding beast of one of the Wiley Games resin miniatures, 'Rall'

Three of them are from Wiley Games resin miniatures line -- Lord Ordus, Slugrr, and Rall. One of the others was a freebie convention figure from Badger Games -- a very cool looking alien with an elongated head and three-toe, claw-like feet. The other two were also freebie convention figs, but "Pig-man" miniatures from my Cincycon attendance through the years. I think one is supposed to be a superhero Iron Man type, while the other is a 40K-ish pig-man in heavy armor. In the end, there's a chance some of these may end up being used for other factions or even not at all. Still, I want my players to have some variety to select from.

    This Wiley Games fig is very 'Dark Side of the Force' looking to me, and is one of my favorites

One of my favorite figures in this batch of six is the Lord Ordus from Wiley Games. I will probably kidnap him for the Empire, though, as he definitely has the air of the Dark Side about him. His opaque metallic mask, bright green bolts of energy building up in his hands, and dramatic cloak seems to just say "evil" to me. I painted him in suitably sinister colors. I gave him a dark red cloak with orange and yellow trim and decorations. His body suit underneath the robes is a dark, cherry brown. I painted his helmet the darkest metallic I had -- Iron Wind Metals Steel -- with dark metallic red trim. I'm not sure what the apparatus protruding from his back is supposed to be, but I painted it in sinister steel and bronze to match the rest of the figure. As I mentioned, Lord Ordus may end up being a leader for the Empire instead of a criminal, but we shall see...!

    At first I didn't like this 'Jabba the Hut' looking figure, but now I'm happy with how he turned out

Slugrr is an unusual, snail-like alien. The lower half of his body has a very "Jabba the Hut" slimey snail look about it. I painted his flesh a salmon color with pink highlighting. He had more equipment festooned onto him than any of the other miniatures. So, I decided to go with a desert military palette with khaki, tan, and olive drab. I like how Slugrr turned out, though I admit that after I bought him I was thinking to myself, "I will never paint this figure up...!" The pictures on their website don't show the lower half of the body (the snail or slug part). I honestly don't know what the rectangular boxlike thing slung over his shoulder is supposed to be. Maybe some sort of rocket or missile launcher? The four holes in the top look like exit ports for projectiles or missiles. All in all, I think he'll make a suitably...should I say it? Slimy character for the criminal syndicate!

    Too big to be a player character in a skirmish game? Maybe...but still a neat miniature

Rall is one I may never actually use a character for a player. Instead, he may simply be placed on the board as "eye candy." Doesn't just about every Star Wars film have some grotesque creature being ridden through the streets? This boar-like riding beast certainly fits the bill. Its heavy flaps of skin, horns and tusks protruding, and tiny piglike eyes fit the Star Wars creature look, I think. The alien riding him also looks sinister. His goblin-like pointed ears and bizarre goat-like legs make the opposite of "warm and cuddly." No Ewoks here! One of the things I regularly struggle with for my Sci-Fi games is deciding what color to make the skins for the aliens. I want them to be distinctive from each other -- not all green, blue, or whatever. Thus, Rall's almost "Avatar" blue skin, Slugrr's salmon, my Five Parsecs character Cephvarx Hul's lavendar, and the Valkeeri green. I really like how Rall's blue skin turned out, accentuating his goblin features, but not making him look like he is a fantasy character that wandered onto the wrong movie set! Anyway, this is a great model, if very large and somewhat impractical to use as character in a Sci-Fi skirmish. Hmm...if I'm kidnapping Lord Ordus for the Empire and jettisoning Rall to be simply an "eye candy" extra, that leaves me with only four figs from this batch to use as the syndicate. I may have to draft my Five Parsecs crew for criminals after all! 

    Quiddo is a freebie convention fig from Badger Games -- I really like his color scheme & alien look

The Badger Games alien figure (nicknamed 'Quiddo') is very nice, and I'm glad I finally got a chance to paint it up. I really don't remember which convention I was attending when I received the figure. It is a Sci-Fi figure, so I can't imagine it was Historicon. However, that's the only place I tend to see Badger Games have a booth. Anyway, I chose to paint the alien's skin reddish brown and dry brush it Middle East Flesh from Howard Hues. I decided to paint his jumpsuit light blue, then figured it might be cool to use my Turquoise Metallic Paint for the reinforced metal portions. I really like how the color combination worked out and will have to remember that pairing. There were some trim pieces done in various other colors, but all in all, I like how this alien trooper looks. I have to come up with a name for him, otherwise my friends will give him something like "Moe" or "Darrel"...!

    Foxhurst was a Cincycon freebie fig that I modified with a laser pistol and chest gem

The final two figures that were part of this batch were freebie figures I picked up at Cincycon. Some of the Cincinnati group that hosts the convention were (or are still?) part of Ral Partha Miniatures. So, they know sculptors who each year design a new pig-man figure for them. The pig has been the emblem of Cincycon, through the years, so why not a pig-man miniature as a freebie? This is quite possibly the first two pig-men that I have painted up from all those years of freebies, though! I believe the first one is supposed to be an Iron Man style, superhero pig-man. His armor looks very futuristic, of course. It is very cleanly cast with great definition. You can see where each piece connects to its neighbor and was a snap to paint up. I did the entire figure in Iron Wind Metals Steel, then painted each piece metallic Chocolate Brown. I left the seams between the pieces Steel, though. Next, I added a bright gold highlight to each piece of armor. Once I put the black wash over it all, the blending of the three metallic colors looked great, I feel. I ended up going with a yellowish-tan skin color for his head (the only place you can see the skin). I gave him green eyes, black gloves, and once I was completely done flocking and sealing it, I glued on the yellow craft store gem onto his chest armor. One other modification to the figure was I added a laser pistol in his hand from one of my Stargrave sets. 

    'Trooper Rimlee' is a very 40K looking freebie figure from Cincycon who finally got painted up

The final pig-man is probably my least favorite figure of the batch. He was easy to paint up in his 40K-ish armor. I gave him a base of Iron Wind Metals steel and highlights of bright bronze. I think one reason I don't like him much is because I have never caught that 40K Imperial Space Marine bug. Too much like Mechs, maybe -- ha, ha! Anyway, he will definitely work for a heavily armored bad guy for the criminal syndicate. I guess I need to name him, otherwise he'll become "Trunk Monkey" or something like that...!

Final look at this batch of 6 Sci-Fi figs that puts me 12 away from evening up my Painted vs. Acquired

With the criminal syndicate completed, there's only one faction left to paint. The Rebels! Can't have a rebellion with the rebels, right? This morning, I took six figures from the Stargrave Crew and Crew II boxes and assembled them. They were primed this evening, and they'll be the next batch of figures I paint up. Stay tuned to see how they turn out!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 214

Scavenging Among the City Blocks - Post-Apoc Scenario

 

    From left, Allen, Mike W, and Keith check out Mike S's ruined city block terrain

It had been since April that I'd run a game in my post-apocalyptic campaign using Wiley Games rules. My friend Mike S has been working hard on terrain for his own "Fallout" style games and was wondering if he could use his terrain for a scenario. All I would have to do is GM it -- he'd bring the terrain and set up his tabletop at our usual meeting place at Mike W's "Brewpub" basement. I knew it'd been too long since a game, so said, "Sure!"

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' move into the ruined shell of a building nearest them

Mike's terrain is mostly downtown city blocks buildings. All of them were fairly tall with several (or more) partially destroyed floors. Obviously, lots of work went into creating these. Some of the details are very surprising -- gargoyles on the outside of buildings, wires protruding from wrecked walls, and more. I'm not sure how many of them are "in progress" or if some or all are completely done. It was an impressive layout, for sure. Personally, I would have dirtied them up more with rubble, black-washing on the walls, and ageing the wood pieces showing. But then again, I probably never would have gotten SO much assembled like he has!

    With heavy cover and many windows to shoot from, each city block building was like a fortress

I was a bit worried how "fortress-like" Mike's layout was. My guess was it might minimize interactions between the five survivor gangs investigating the downtown. Mike placed a LOT of objective markers -- more than I usually do. I wanted to give him as much control over the scenario as possible, though, so said nothing. Once the game began, most of the factions advanced into a ruined building, climbing between the partially collapsed floors, and scavenging supplies. My guess turned out to be correct. There were only four gun battles that took place between the factions (plus four additional ones seeing factions firing on investigating Scout or Sentry Bots and the denizens of the "citadel." Mike had a very large building that looked like it began as a Gothic Warhammer piece of terrain. He crafted it onto a post-apocalyptic shell of a building, with ruined and crumbling walls. He said he didn't have a preference what was inside the citadel and told me to put in there whatever I want inside.

    Keith (in green) moves one of his miniatures while Mike S to his left enjoys the look of his tabletop!

I decided to make this even more of a joint scenario design. I extended an invitation to our friend Keith to come up with the bad guys or monsters that would be in the citadel. I asked him if he had any figures he'd been wanting to play with but hadn't had a chance to get on the table yet. He said he did, and sent me a link to his Orca Finn's Basement blog and pointed out the post-apoc denizens he wanted to use. I created cards for them and printed them off so they'd be ready if anyone investigated the citadel. I even offered bonus Renown Points to any faction that went inside. I didn't want to tease Keith and promise him his figs would get in a game and not have it happen!

    F Troop's Pvt. Hippie searches an objective marker (suitcase with pom pom) - the goal of the players

With five players on a 6'x4' table, I had two each deploy on the long edges, nobody on the citadel's short edge, and one on the opposite edge from it. They had to deploy all four of their survivors within a foot of the spot I indicated. I gave them extra deployment depth because I wanted to push them forward in the hopes of getting more interaction. Mike W's Bass Reeves deployed on the short edge opposite the Citadel. He groused a bit that there weren't as many objective markers near him compared to the others, likely a valid complaint. Nevertheless, his four figures advanced directly towards the building closest to their zone and began to scale it to reach the objective markers. Mike S had placed most on the upper floors. So, before the game, I asked the players how they wanted to handle scaling the interior of these buildings as there were no stairwells modeled. We came up with a system which was probably very generous. Keith likened his Nightstalker's ascent to"a group of Chinese acrobats." 

    Cpl. Killer climbs onto the roof of the citadel - modified Warhammer (?) building he incorporated

To the Bass Reeves' right, Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet similarly moved into a city block building. They began to ascend to the second and third floors, where several markers were scattered. To his right, his brother Joel marched his F Troop forward, climbing the Citadel's roof, as well as moving alongside the building the Followers were exploring. Across from him, Mike S's Bucknuts entered the building to their front or moved down the street alongside it. We tease Mike S for his invariably aggressive play, and true to form, he fired the game's first shots. His leader Coop (yep, same figure from the Zombie RV games) squeezed off a shot at Pvt. Killer of F Troop, immediately knocking him out of action. Next, Coop fired through the opposite building's ruins and picked off Allen's Yeshua, who fell three stories to the ground, unmoving. Yep - same Mike, aggressive as ever!

    Two Bucknuts - Earle & Wrich - investigate a rubble pile in the lobby of a ruined building

Coop got his comeuppance immediately after, though, as another F Trooper climbed onto the roof and blasted away with his assault rifle. Coop toppled to the ground, wounded. The next thing to happen shows the advantage of playing a campaign over a one-off battle. Rather than firing at the shooter, Coop's compatriot Jackie dragged her wounded leader inside the building and out of line of fire. Mike knew that Coop was his team's best weapon and didn't want to lose him to a poor post-battle roll if he was knocked out of action. However, the two out of action figures meant the threshold had been reached for the Machines to be drawn by the sound of firing. In my version of the world of "Terminator," each 10% of out of action players draws a chance for the arrival of a Scout Bot. Because I was afraid the action would be limited by the terrain, with each city block a mini-fortress, I had increased the chance by an extra 10%. Sure enough, a Scout Bot rolled onto the map between Keith's Nightstalkers and Mike W's Bass Reeves.

   Scout Bot rolls onto the table drawn by the sounds of gunfire and dispatched by 'Skynet' to investigate

Seeing no Nightstalkers, it rolled in the direction of three of the Bass Reeves sheltering behind a burnt out car. Mike seemed unconcerned and was instead focused on payback against Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet. Allen had knocked out one of the Bass Reeves last game, as well as a member of F Troop. He would pay for it as Mike sent nearly his entire force to pick off Napthali, who was actually on an errand of mercy. He'd jumped down from the second floor of the ruined building to check on Yeshua, and then carry him off-table. I give a bonus to the post-battle roll if an out of action character has been carried off the board by his comrades. Three members of the Bass Reeves squeezed off shot after shot at the black-robed survivor. He fell to the ground wounded, and then was shot again, while he lay there. Mike was relentless, though, and kept firing until Napthali had accumulated three wounds which takes a character out of action. In fact, that may be the very first time a player was taken out in one of our games because it reached its wound limit of three! Usually, a fortunate roll on the wounding table knocks them out, instead.

    Joel, Allen, Mike W, Keith, and Mike S enjoy the chance to get their survivor gangs out onto the table

This brought another Scout Bot onto the table. It ended up by Mike S's Bucknuts -- probably not a good place as his band is loaded with particularly lethal shooters. Sure enough, it was blasted several times before finally being knocked out of action. Shortly thereafter, a replacement came on board, though. This time it was a Sentry Bot clomping its metallic heavy feet in the path of the Scout Bot that was engaging the Bass Reeves. The Scout Bot had closed to within range of Big Bass and began thumping away at the concrete wall with its machine gun. The cover and the shock hit inflicted on the Scout Bot kept Big Bass safe, even though the machine missed by only one several times. Once Big Bass's men had finished off Napthali, they scrambled to the windows and doorway of the building and added their gunfire to the battle. Scout Bots were originally designed to by humanity to patrol vehicular traffic -- not intervene against heavily armed survivors. The three vs. one gunfight could end only one way with the bot knocked over, its wheel spinning as it sparked and smoked.

    Mike W's 'Bass Reeves' stalk across the streets on a mission to exact revenge on Allen's gang!

Downed bots are another source of scavenge in my games. Players can snag ammunition, valuable circuitry, and even guns from the disabled machines. Both Mike S and Mike W pounced on the bots they'd knocked out of action and quickly salvaged some parts and pieces to take back to their encampment. The Nightstalkers soon engaged the Sentry Bot as it clomped ever nearer to their location. The Sentry Bot, also only lightly armored, met no better fate. The combined gunfire of two Nightstalkers sent it crashing to the ground. Specialist Cypher of the Nightstalkers whipped out his toolkit and pounced on it. He had soon removed a valuable hunk of machinery and his gang members nodded at each other and took that as a cue to depart. The next bot to arrive, likely a Military Bot, would be much more difficult to defeat. They decided it was best to get out of the ruined city center while the getting was good!

    Keith's Nightstalkers demonstrate their 'acrobatic skills', ascending to the upper floors

There was one last act to be played out, though, before we called it an evening. Allen had darted his remaining two Followers into the citadel (carefully avoiding the firing lanes of the Bucknuts!). As they neared the open doorway, they heard loud and somewhat incoherent shouting from inside. The two nodded at each other and ran through into the room. They were met by three red-skinned mutations. They were humanoid in form, and even sported a large shock of blond hair sprouting from their skull-like heads. Their blue uniforms looked for all the world like 20th century suits. The creatures gesticulated at the two and shouted curses and profanities the two struggled to understand, but seemed too frightened to actually charge and attack them. 

    Allen's 'Followers of the Dark Prophet' encounter the citadel's annoying, verbally abusive mutants

The Followers shook their heads and raised their weapons. They fired on full automatic and soon all three were on the ground, twitching but no longer shouting. They rushed through the next doorway and first heard, then saw, three more of the annoying beings. "What the Hell are these things?" they mumbled to each other. More automatic gunfire and the creatures began to back off. From the next doorway, they heard more incoherent shouting coming closer to them. "Should we get out of here?" The two nodded to each other, and turned and ran back towards the entrance, followed by the insults of the creatures. 

    The textured round discs mark figures that have moved this turn in my games

We decided to call it at that point. A couple of the players' survivor gangs were already leaving the table. They had picked up the most accessible objective markers, and the Machines would soon be sending in its heavier warmachines. It was time to go! I was happy to see the players seemed to have fun. All five players took down at least one enemy, so the game wasn't without action, like I'd feared it might be. Still, I think I learned a bit about cramming too much hard terrain on the board. It was good to see the survivor gangs out on the table again, though. Hopefully, it won't be another six months before it happens again!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Two Styles of Acheson Creations Barricades Painted Up

    Concrete barriers from Acheson Creations manned by some of my post-apocalyptic survivors

My favorite terrain manufacturer for many years was Acheson Creations. Through my decades of miniature gaming, I've bought many buildings, walls, scatter terrain, and more from this company, which unfortunately has stepped back from active production. There are a few companies out there, such as Miniature Building Authority, that carry some of their scatter terrain. Another was a regional vendor at local conventions, Armory Hobbies. At Drums at the Rapids this May, he also decided to hang up his business and was selling his remaining Acheson products at 50% off.

    I got 8 of the barriers for 50 cents each -- an awesome deal from a vendor going out of business

I snagged two types of barricades up there, among other items. I figured it was time to get them ready for the tabletop. I had no pressing need for them in an upcoming scenario, but these concrete barriers and tire and oil drum barricades are generic enough they'll fit with just about any modern, post-apocalyptic, or Sci-Fi period. The one thing you have to know about Acheson Creations products when painting them, though, is to beware the very strong mold release agent. I have always been able to remove it by placing the pieces in the dishwasher and running them on a quick cycle. This time, I made the mistake of not adding soap because we had switched from the powdered to the "pods," and I didn't want to use up a full pod. As Short Round said in my favorite quote, "Big mistake, Indy!"

    Concrete barriers can be used in various modern, post-apocalyptic &  Sci-Fi games -- you name it!

I detailed that a couple posts back when talking about the Acheson Sci-Fi building I had painted. Once taking them out of the dishwasher, I spray painted them with Krylon Fusion Acrylic Matte Black. I followed that up with my usual 50/50 mix of acrylic black paint and water. However, I noticed quickly that any light scratch or rough handling of the barriers was removing the black layer. D'oh, not again! I touched them up and decided to be even more careful handling them during the painting progress. I would definitely NOT be using the same clear coat sealant on them as I did on the Sci-Fi building!

    What are the barriers keeping out? Zombies? Rival gangs? It's up to you and your scenario...

Anyway, painting the concrete barriers was easy and quick. I did a medium to dark gray wet brush, then a lighter gray dry brush. I went over them with my black wash, and then did the bases my usual brown ground color. I painted the surface of the ground with white glue and then sprinkled on Woodland Scenics Blended Earth Turf. After it dried, I did a couple green grass patches and glued in some clump foliage, as well. I went back and forth whether to put graffiti on the barriers. However, I felt this would make them a bit less generic, so decided to keep them plain. Finally, rather than spray sealant on these pieces, I painted them and the flocking with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. Hopefully, that does the trick on protecting them from wear and scratches!

    I bought six of the tire and oil drum barricades at Drums 2024 - should I have bought more?

The tire and oil drum barriers took a few more steps, of course. I prepped them exactly like the others (yes, they were in the same dishwasher batch as the Sci-Fi building and the concrete barriers). Once ready for the brush, I did a wet brush of a dark gray over the tires. I followed that up with a medium gray dry brush. Finally, I painted the rims on the tires in Iron Wind Metals Steel. 

    It was a great idea to design these pieces as Acheson did -- they look realistic and convincing!

Switching to the oil drums, I pulled out six colors: pale blue, pale green, Parchment Yellow, terra cotta, tan, and a lighter gray. I did the math. There were four oil drums on each barricade piece and six pieces. That's 24 drums to paint. So, I used each color on four drums -- never using the same color twice on a single section. I tried my best to mix it up, so the green and blue ones weren't always together, and so on. I let them dry overnight and then dry brushed them in an appropriate lighter color.

    I was happy with the rust effect on the oil drums -- these are very handy and versatile terrain pieces!

Finally, it was time for a rust effect on the drums. I pulled out my brown Rust color (appropriately enough), and did various splotches and speckles and lines of rust to match what I saw in some Google Image searches. Once dry, I used my bright international hunter orange and dabbed specks of it inside the rust. Finally, the drums and tires got a black wash. This was followed up by flocking them with just the blended turf. Both the flocking and the paint was sealed in with a 50/50 mix of white glue and water. I'm thinking this worked. I believe I have averted the disaster of not sufficiently getting rid of the mold release agent before painting.

The pieces look great on the tabletop. It was nice to be painting Acheson products, again. I understand Craig Acheson's desire to retire -- heck, I'm retired! I just miss his excellent, easy-to-paint, affordably priced terrain...!

What's up next? I have six 28mm Sci-Fi figures that I have begun sitting on my desk right now. They're meant to be random figures that could be used by a number of factions. They're definitely unusual figures, so I'm looking forward to how they turn out.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Zombie RV: Exploring the Creepy Farms for Halloween

    Zombies chase survivors at 'Creepy Farms' -- a game with 6 players and 12 survivors on table

I had been wanting to run a big game of Zombie RV with all the players on the same board. Halloween being this week was a perfect excuse! I set up a countryside board this time, centered on two creepy (zombie-infested) farmsteads. We had a great turnout in my friend Mike W's downstairs "Brewpub" at this house, while the ladies partook of a Halloween-themed charcuterie upstairs. I had six players, including the return of our good friend Tom. It was great to drink beers and game with him on a Sunday evening, again. Welcome back, Ptomas!

    An overhead look at the 'Creepy Farms' table, with the locations of objective markers circled

The board was 5'x3', bigger than the three, individual 2'x2' areas we used last time we played (see Zombie RV Times Three). What difference would the 15 square feet vs. 12 make? Honestly, I wasn't sure! I thought it would be less compartmentalized and the players would feel more like they were all in the same mission,  and hopefully cooperating. I established two spawning points along the center line of the board, 18" in from each side edge. I represented the spawn point as the doorway to the farmhouses. Apparently, the local families had holed up inside and the zombies had broken in and were feasting on them. Lots of zombie feasters...as well as feasted-upon family members! Honestly, I think "spawn points" are one of the hardest things to rationalize on a gaming table. I can see when it is a board edge or street corner leading off-table, or something like that, but something in the center of the board requires just a wee bit of suspension of disbelief. Think of it as watching a play. A zombie play!

    Daisy & Coop leave the RV and set off to scavenge for supplies at the zombie-infested farmsteads

However, I was throwing in a twist in this game. Since each player controlled two survivors, there would be 12 total characters. That's equal to three, 4-survivor groupings in the base Zombie RV rules by David Bezio. My third spawn point would be completely random each turn. Each zombie arriving from that spawn roll would then have a separate calculation to see where on the board edges they would arrive. I divided the perimeter of the board edges 12" lengths and numbered them #1, #2, etc. We would roll to see which point we would start at for that particular Ordinary zombie, Fast zombie, or Nasty zombie,. This was followed by a d12 roll to see how many inches counter-clockwise from that point along the board edge it would be placed. 

    Jackie and Wrich set off to explore the ruined stone cottage looking for some supplies to scavenge

Afterwards, I asked the players if having to worry about zombies showing up behind them was too devastating and they all agreed it wasn't. The players get a movement after the spawning and before those just-spawned zombies move. So, they could clear out if a nasty zombie showed up just inches away -- which did happen. Ask Joel's "Earle" character, who spent most of the game running, it seemed!

    Meanwhile, the first set of zombies at the spawn point become restless and head toward the survivors

The players as a group would also start on a board edge, specifically either (or both) of the two long edges. I gave them up to three vehicles to "arrive" in. They would place the vehicle on either of the gravel roads running along the long edges of the board, and all their characters much start the game in contact with their particular vehicle. I gave the players some time to talk strategy, first pointing out all the objective markers on the board, what was difficult terrain, and so on. Although Tom tried to engage them in a tactics discussion, the group spent less than a minute doing so. NOT an auspicious start! Anyone who has played Zombie RV probably knows how cooperation amongst survivors is key to success. This dirty dozen's mission was to successfully grab at least eight of the 10 objective markers and then get off-table for the "win."

    Junior and Roman cross the ditch beside the road on the footbridge to investigate the veggie stands

As it was, they split up into three groups of four -- just like in classic Zombie RV. Mike W and Allen began on the near corner, not far from the pond. Keith and Joel began in the center, where the burnt out wreck blocked the driveway. On the far side of the board, Tom and Mike S parked my new RV model next to the toppled over truck blocking the other driveway exit. And then they scattered! Yes, they were spreading out to snag as many objective markers as quickly as possible. However, it seemed there was little cooperation or communication. Mike S turned his guys away from the shed he was heading towards once he saw that Tom's guys were going to get there first. Keith darted off down the road to the footbridge leading across the ditch which ran alongside the road. Allen's boys meandered towards the pond while Mike W's survivors split off from them towards the ruins of the old stone house. It seemed like it was every pair of survivors for themselves and -- crucially -- no group really close enough to the others to support them if they ran into trouble.

    After leaving the RV, Red and Mophius sneak inside the shed to find more supplies

Allen's Big Bass and Benny drew the attention of the zombies first. Benny drew the short straw and got to wade through the green water of the pond towards where a boat was tethered. There were a couple closed bins on it that looked promising to Allen. Oh, a side note on game mechanics: the players know the location of the objective markers. I marked them with pumpkins for this game! However, they must make a successful "Brains check" to actually find the items there. A Brains check is a d6 roll added to the character's Brains stat, which could be 1, 2, or 3. Guess what Benny's was? A "1"! Now we know why he drew the short straw! "Sure, Big Bass. I'll wade out there and search the boat if you say so." 

    Big Bass and Benny survey the farmstead before heading down the road and across the ditch

Meanwhile, Keith rolled an extra action for Roman (not "Moe" or "Schmoe"...ha, ha!), who was able to hustle down the road, across the bridge, and to the marker next to the farmer's fruit and vegetable stands. Roman is no dummy and successfully snagged some supplies. In the center of the table, Jimmy also had rolled an extra action and tiptoed quietly through the ditch, over the fence, and into pumpkin patch. He also found some supplies (probably some unharvested veggies which he quickly tossed in his backpack). Joel's other character, Earle (not Darrel!) crept along the same fence line towards the second cabin. The zombies who'd been clustered near the door ignored him and shuffled towards Big Bass and Benny, as did the ones from the opposite farmhouse.

    After popping off a couple shots at zombie horde, Earle soon decides to run back to the road

Annoyed at being deemed insignificant and not a threat, Earle popped off a rifle shot and splattered the head of the nearest zombie. That'll teach them, he thought. This changed their trajectory, as the horde quickly hurried towards him, as did the next batch to spawned by the farmhouse door. They ignored Jimmy in the pumpkin patch, who breathed a silent thanks to his friend Earle's bravery. Earle proved that bravery by promptly firing one more shot then bolting back to the gravel road and behind the ditch. Jimmy felt he owed his friend one, though, and raised his pistol and splattered a zombie pursuing Earle. He then hightailed it through the pumpkin patch, vaulting the fence, and entering the cornfield. He was joined by Junior and Roman, who pointed back towards the footbridge. A randomly spawned zombie had appeared on the road next to the bridge and was crossing in slow pursuit of the pair.

    Meanwhile, the zombies keep coming -- a minimum of 3 from each of the spawn points each turn

To the left of the pond, Mike W's Jackie and Wrich located the supplies and found some extra ammo. Jackie began the dangerous trek past the water tower and towards the other cornfield, all alone. Wrich wandered towards the farmhouse, took aim, and shot a zombie that was shuffling towards the pond. On the next turn, thrilled to see the zombie's head explode, he squeezed off two more shots. Two more zombies went down. The mob heading towards the pond ignored him because Big Bass was busy blasting away with his shotgun with both his actions. Meanwhile, Benny was puzzled by the latches on the bins. They appeared to be locked or resisting his efforts to pull them open. 

    Junior & Roman are surprised by a zombie spawning on the road behind them & dart into the corn!

Although Wrich was out of sight of the door to the farmhouse, the zombies who had just spawned there heard his gunshots clearly. Unfortunately for Wrich, one of those zombies was a Fast zombie. The whole crew spilled around the corner towards the surprised survivor. Wrich was even more shocked when one ran fast enough to come into contact with him. Uh-oh. Things were about to go south in a big way for our host's survivors!

    The zombies chasing Jimmy, Junior, and Roman wade into the cornfield, hopelessly slowed down

On the far side of the table, Tom's survivors were able to locate and secure the objective marker in the shed. Red and Mophius did a great job playing cat and mouse, staying out of sight of the zombie spawning points. Meanwhile, Mike S's Coop and Daisy headed the other direction towards another fenced field near the corner of the board. They also stayed out of sight as best they could. Unfortunately, that meant by far the bulk of the zombies headed towards the near side of the board and Big Bass and his friends. One group of zombies chased Jimmy into the cornfield, but had little chance of catching him. The rest all seemed to converge on the pond, or on Wrich. Jackie stopped her trek towards the far board edge and came back to help her friend, but she missed with her pistol fire more often than not. 

    Too far from the others, Jackie & Wrich are swarmed by zombies, including a deadly 'Fast zombie'

The Fast zombie had wounded and knocked Wrich down. Amazingly, though, he was able to use the medicine he was carrying, heal himself, and back up one move. However, that wasn't enough distance when facing a runner! She caught him again and knocked him down and wounded him once more. This time, some of the ordinary zombies were able to catch up, too. In our experience, when a survivor is wounded, knocked down and surrounded by zombies, he's dead meat. Wrich fought for his life desperately, though. Jackie waded in and tried her best to help him targeting the zombies with her pistol (and unfortunately, continuing to miss more than she hit). However, Wrich eventually was taken down. Jackie got too close, and was also caught and eventually killed, as well.

    Mophius faces off against a horde of zombies, while Red is wounded & knocked down by a Fast one

Far away on the opposite side of the board, Junior was doing a much better job using the cornfield to keep distance between him and the zombies. When random zombies showed up on the board edge near him, he blasted them effectively with his shotgun. Between Junior and Big Bass, they probably killed three quarters of the zombies I was putting back into my magnetized box as quickly as I was taking them out for spawning! Jimmy hung out with Junior and Roman, and the three eventually linked up with Coop and Daisy, who had not really accomplished much. Two pistols (Daisy's and Jimmy's), a rifle (Coop's), and Junior's shotgun were unfortunately all far, far away from where their companions were being swarmed and overwhelmed. 

    Daisy & Coop call for the others to head back to the RV while Red tries to fight off the Fast zombie

Big Bass and Benny ("Hey Bass, it's like these bins are tugging back on me...! I can't get them open!!") were about to be inundated with zombies slowly slogging through the pond. Big Bass was magnificent, though, firing blast after blast with his shotgun. He never rolled the dreaded natural one on his attacks, though, meaning he was out of ammo. I have ruled that since the shotgun fires in a cone and allows you to attack multiple targets, you are out of ammo only if the natural one shows up on your first roll of that cone. Zombie after zombie went down in the pond, sinking to its green depths. Earle was slowly backing up towards the duo, though, calling to them, "Nasty zombies, guys! Big ones! Coming our way. We gotta go!!" This was followed by Benny's surprised shout. One of the bin's had finally come open. Inside was a man who had been trying to hold it closed against Benny's tugging. 

"Man! I thought you was zombies!! You scared da crap out of me!" The survivor, who they'd later learn was nicknamed Curly for his bald, black head, leapt out of the boat into the pond, wading desperately towards the shore, away from the horde of zombies in the water. Benny followed him towards the gravel road, as did Big Bass. Earle zipped by all three of them, firing one final shot behind him. A pack of zombies were on his heels, including two Nasty zombies in the lead.

    Things look grim for Big Bass - out of ammo, wounded twice, and facing two Nasty zombies

Big Bass cocked his shotgun again, shaking his head and planting his feet. "Muthaf...BOOM!" He blasted away at the pack of zombies, again and again. His friends called to him to run, but Big Bass refused. The shotgun boomed out again. Suddenly, he was down and wounded. Still he raised his shotgun and aimed, "CLICK!" After being reliable all game and never running out of ammo despite the odds, Allen finally rolled a "1". Big Bass continued to fight, though. His friends had seen enough. They darted for the van to escape.

Across the table, a similar scene was played out. Tom's two characters were both in contact with zombies. Amazingly, Mophius was able to break away and make it back to the RV. Unfortunately, Red (not Trunk Monkey!) went down. A Fast zombie caught him, and when the ordinary ones caught up with the downed and wounded survivor, it was a brutal end. As three vehicles spit gravel as they pealed out, putting distance between themselves and the creepy farmsteads, silence soon returned to the area. The screams had stopped and the only noise was the sibilant, sickly sound of zombies feeding on fresh human flesh.

Roughly two and a half hours after we'd begun, it was over. My big game experiment with Zombie RV seen one of the highest percentage of survivors lost (33%) in any game so far. Had I made the game too difficult? I don't think so. In my opinion, a lack of cooperation had doomed the survivors who died. Wrich and Jackie were far away from any other survivors. So, when they hit their first setback, no one was there to help them out. Similarly, when Red went down, there was a lot of firepower unable to help him. Big Bass' end was probably a foregone conclusion. He had defied the odds all game long, dispatching hordes of zombies. He simply held his position too long. Benny took too long getting the objective marker, and Big Bass stood when he should have ran. 

I liked the big battle version of Zombie RV. Hopefully the players did, too! I will give them their experience points and let them buy new skills or improvements for next game before we try again. Feel free to comment below if you have questions about my additions to David's excellent rules. Oh, and Happy Halloween!!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208

Hopefully, These are the Droids I'm Looking For...

    A dozen droids from various manufacturers, including a few scratch-built from scatter terrain

As I gear up for running Star Wars themed skirmish games, there was one thing I was certainly lacking: droids. Not war bots and military stuff like that -- I had painted up a good number of those already. I'm talking about the civilian type ones like C3PO or R2D2. They didn't have to be copies of those two. Any unarmed, robot or droid-like figures would work. Remember the scene inside the Jawas vehicle when those two were captured during the first Star Wars movie? There were LOTS of different sizes and shapes, so I felt I had a relatively free hand.

    Remember the 'Walking Trash Can' droid from Star Wars? Here's my version of 'Gonk'

One source was the Retro Raygun line from Hydra Miniatures. On our trip up to the Michigan Toy Soldier & Figure Company, I snatched up three types there. I also picked up some from RRB. Minis & More from the venerable Reviresco 28mm line. And finally, while painting up some of my 3-D printed scatter from Diabolical Terrain, I noticed some of the cylindrical pieces looked very droid-like. They would needed treads or something to give them mobility to be attached underneath, though. Rich Brown of RRB came to my rescue and pointed out stuff in his catalog that would work. 

So, once assembled, I had a very large batch of miniatures to paint at once. I prefer to work on about a half dozen or so at a time, but this was twice that size -- 12 figures. I started out with putting them together. My friend Jason had told me a trick to use with superglue -- have a light dusting of baking soda on one of the halves to be joined together. According to him, it would cause the glue to cure superfast. Since I am so untalented with superglue, I figured superfast superglue might be easier to use. I tried it out when assembling the various arms, heads, etc., together. I did seem to work much faster and hold strong. Thanks for another modeling or painting tip, Jason!

    I took pieces of scatter terrain that looked vaguely like R2D2 and gave them treads

I began with the Diabolical Terrain scatter pieces. I chose the smallest size of three different types of cylinders I'd purchased back at DayCon 2024 in April. I used my hobby saw to separate the bottom quarter or so from the rest of the piece. Only one cut went awry or uneven, but I hoped I could hide it with the RRB treads I would be gluing to the bottom of them. I cleaned up the treads and they were perfect size. They came from three of their Sci-Fi vehicles -- two tank-like ones and one "Jungle Bot." The hardest part was setting them upright for the cylinder to rest upon. Afterwards, I thought "Duh!" I should have glued the treads to the base first! I didn't use superglue for this, I used modeling cement that I have been using for assembling multipart plastic figures. They came out pretty good -- one or two has a gap if you look closely, but all in all, I was happy with how they came together. 

    Good view of the treads which I scavenged from Reviresco bots I bought from RBB Minis & More

I primed them with white artist's Gesso (another Jason tip), because I wanted the main color for most of the droids to be white. It seemed to be a predominant color in the Jawas collection in the movie, at least. Once drying overnight, I gave it a coat of white. I chose to do one accent color on each droid, doing red, blue, and green ones. I also painted the little rectangular panels black and gave them glowing buttons like I did my scatter pieces. I went back and forth whether to give these a wash to dull them up (they were really bright white), and finally decided to go with a dusty brown. After they dried, I gave them a spray clear coat. Upon examining them, I felt they were too dirty, and did a very light white dry brush over the darker parts to brighten them up, again. I know the droids were probably sitting there thinking, "Make up your mind...!"

    Two 'Simon 6' robots from Hydra Miniatures' 'Retro Raygun' line that I liked

Next up were the Retro Raygun robots, Blocko the Squarebot and Simon 6. While assembling these miniatures, I had noticed that the torso and legs of Block looked quite a bit like Gonk, aka the "Walking Trash Can" droid from Star Wars. So, I decided to not glue on the arms or head and have him be my take on Gonk. The others were put together correctly and primed with gesson and given a white base coat. I did the two Simons first, giving one of the red trim on a white body. The next, I left the trim white and repainted the body blue. This reversing of colors has a nice effect, I thought. I gave them a glowing green power indicator in their chest and red eyes. Otherwise, they're painted to be similar in theme to the scatter droids I did first.

    'Blocko the Squarebot' as envisioned by Retro Raygun and then re-imagined as a Star Wars 'Gonk'

Blocko I wasn't sure how to paint. I decided to go with a dull yellow as his basecoat. I painted the arms and legs a pale blue. I guess I decided to depart from the white and trim color theme here because I wanted it to look different than the two Simon robots. I gave him some dark blue metallic trim that I think sets him off a bit. He got the usual lighted yellow, green, blue, red, and white lighted buttons and dials, too. As I was painting him, I felt he looked so retro as to be almost cartoonish. However, once he was done, I was more pleased. After all, C3PO has theose shocked eyes and mouth, too.

    One of the easiest droids to paint up, two of Retro Raygun's 'Hoverbots'

Finally, it was on to the little ones. From Retro Raygun, I picked up a pack of five Hoverbots. Since this batch was so big already, I decided to paint just two of the five. To pick up trash on the ground, I bought a pack of three Reviresco Monowheel Scavengers from RRB Minis. These are pretty cool looking figures, being built around a single wheel, with metallic cover and body. Attached are two robot arms. What really sets them off is their wide open jaw with metal teeth at the front of the robot. I figured these guys buzz around the streets picking up trash and depositing in their mechanical mouths.

    3 'Monowheels' from Reviresco -- I imagine them as rolling garbage collectors scooping up trash

I wasn't sure how to paint them, so did a little bit each time. I began with a gesso and then white base coast. Next, I did the wheel a dark gray rubber. I made the metallic cover for the wheel Iron Wind Steel. I finally decided to use a color for the various trim pieces like I did with Simon 6. I decided the trim would be in normal flat acrylics, but the wheel color would be in a matching metallic color. From being unenthused about them initially, I'm pretty happy with how they came out. Strangely, though, I managed to have one of the blue one's arms come off and have yet to find it! So, I painted over the socket and I have one Mark I version and two Mark II's...ha, ha!

All of the droids and robots got my new Sci-Fi flocking. Rather than putting on Blended Gray fine ballast and then giving it a dark wash, I decided recently to buy a fine black ballast from the local model train supply store. I then dry brush this gray, cutting out a couple steps and using less of my black wash. Add in some brownish tufts and an occasional large patch of stones, and they're done. 

    Another looks at the back of 'Blocko the Squarebot' and my modification of it for 'Gonk'

This batch of 12 took a long time to paint up. I did it in stages, as I mentioned. I'm happy with how they look, though. Will a dozen civilian droids be enough for my games? Wellll, I do have two more Reviresco models I bought, and there are three more Hoverbots. Oh, and I have three more of those Diabolical scatter pieces I turned into droids. We'll see. I'm hoping, as the title of this entry suggests, that these are the droids I've been looking for, though!

What's up next? I am finished with two batches of Acheson scatter pieces. They are barricades made of stacks of tires and oil drums and also tall concrete barricades. As soon as I finish the flocking and take pictures of them, I will put them up here. As far as miniatures go, I'm thinking that the next minis I paint may well be the 'Criminal' faction for my Star Wars skirmishes. Stay tuned to find out!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 208