Showing posts with label Post-Apocalyptic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Post-Apocalyptic. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Cincycon 2024 Purchases

    Some of the 3-D 'Scatter Terrain' I bought at Cincycon for my Sci-Fi games
Heading down to Cincycon 2024, I had a pretty good Miniatures Purchased to Miniatures Painted Ratio for this year. I had painted 31 figures so far, while purchasing only 15. I knew that once the convention season arrived my surplus would take a hit. Well, it did in a big way, as you'll see below.

    Not sure what they are supposed to be, but they'll look cool on a Sci-Fi tabletop!
Despite buying from only two stands at the convention, I still dropped about $100. I do feel an obligation to support the vendors at shows I attend. They take time out of their schedule to show up and give us somewhere to browse and shop. Often times it is a money-losing proposition for dealers. They go more as a form of advertising, to get their name out. They hope that, later on, people will remember them and make purchases from them online. Or at least that's my take on it!

    Mounted gorillas for my Planet of the Apes force - these are 3-D printed from JS Wargamer Printing
The first vendor I bought from is one that I've mentioned on here before. Cincinnati area gamer John Leahy started JS Wargamer Printing a year or so back. My Terminators that I painted up where from him. He carries mounted "Planet of the Monkeys" gorillas. I thought they'd be a great troop addition for my Xenos Rampant "Planet of the Apes" detachment. I have three mounted gorilla figures from Battle Valor Games, and I need some more to flesh out a squad of them. There's a troop type called Berserk Infantry (or something like that) in the game, and gorillas charging in to close combat would be perfect for these.

    I am a big fan of 'The Last of Us,' so if I'm purchasing zombies I'll definitely get some infected!
My other purchase from John was part of a new project that I will be working on after I get Xenos Rampant underway. I have finally decided to take the plunge and do a zombie branch-off for my post-apocalyptic games. My idea is it will be a mash-up of Gaslands Refueled and Wiley Games rules. Each of my players will have a vehicle -- pickup truck, SUV, van, whatever. They will have three characters in it and will be road-tripping across the United States. They're heading from the zombie-infected and densely-populated East to the wide open spaces of America's Great Plains and West. Less people means less zombies, so the thought is to make it to the relative safety of "flyover country."

    John from JS Wargamer Printing had three types of zombies -- this was the other type I ordered
The problem is that I own no zombies. Well, I didn't before Cincycon! I sent a message to John asking if he had any zombies he could print up. He did have some files. One is of standard zombie apocalypse folks and the other is the "infected" variety from the great streaming show, "The Last of Us." His prices are hard to beat, so I ordered two packs of 10 each. So, that's 40 zombies plus 4 mounted gorillas. John also gave me some freebies -- 3-D printed figures of Planet of the Apes Dr. Zaius, Cornelius, Zira, and the humans George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova. 

    More of the 3-D printed scatter terrain I purchased at Cincycon - this from A Critical Hit
Since they were free, should I count those as purchased? Well, I guess I could technically call it "Acquired," just in case I trade for miniatures in the future! So, I added in 49 miniatures. That raises my total to 64 acquired for 2024. And no, I haven't finished any other batches, so I've sunk to 31 painted vs. 64 acquired. Oh well...it WAS a good ratio while it lasted!

    Two picnic tables, a phone booth, and Coca-cola machine from A Critical Hit
The other purchases were from a vendor that was new to me. They are called A Critical Hit (Instagram link), or email Blair Oyler at dungeonmaster@acriticalhit.ne. Critical Hit's shelves had quite a bit of 3-D printed scatter and buildings. Much of their printing was done in appropriately colored material so that they wouldn't technically require painting. I would at the minimum do a wash on these, but will likely paint most of them up. I showed my friend Keith their tables and he immediately snapped up even more than I did! Good stuff!!

    A few more from A Critical Hit -- I will likely paint the pipes but do a black wash on the container
Most of these purchases were Sci-Fi related. They'll likely end up on the tabletop for various Xenos Rampant games or Wiley Games skirmishes. It's been awhile since I've painted up a big batch of terrain, so I may likely pop in these pieces and others ones I purchased at Advance the Colors last October from Sailpower and Diabolical Terrain. You can never have too much atmospheric scatter on the tabletop. Now, storing all that terrain is a different thing entirely...!

    You can see the interesting colors that A Critical Hit print their terrain in with the second piece

What's next? I am almost done with the next batch of five "Blue-Skinned Aliens" squad. At some point, I really do need to come up with a name for that faction! With that squad complete, they will be ready for the tabletop. So, look for that update soon...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 31


Sunday, January 28, 2024

3-story Corner Ruin from Jarls Workshop

    Another 3-D printed, ruin for my post-apocalyptic games - this one from Jarl's Workshop
I picked this 3-D printed building up from Jarl's Workshop this past Advance the Colors. I liked the way it looked and that was before I realized the two pieces taped to the side were the floors for the second and third story! Once I got the building out and began to assemble it, I was even more happy. Everything fit together well, and I liked that it had crumbling stone walls marking out the foundations. The inner rectangle was modeled like rough ground, much like some of the other buildings I have painted up from Rusty at Jarl's Workshop.

    Only the corner remains in this building, the rest having fallen away and been buried
If I were to do this building again, I would probably add some rubble, bricks, and such inside the foundation. I guess I didn't stop and think about it too much, though. I was just happy with how quickly it was coming together. I followed my usual recipe of Krylon matte black spray paint, 50/50 acrylic paint and water. The tan walls did require two coats to cover the black base, but the stone and brickwork went relatively quickly. 

    A final look at the 3-story corner ruin and the Barbarozas on the prowl, looking for salvage
Once again in hindsight, I should probably have "dirtied up" the walls of this building more. As my ruined city grows, I'm learning more and more how to take 3-D or MDF buildings and customize them to look more like what we see in either post-apocalyptic movies or modern day urban war zones. It is just a matter of telling myself to slow down. Don't rush my way through this particular piece of terrain. Still, even if a building isn't dirtied up enough, a good collection of scatter terrain pieces placed around it can give the proper effect.

So, what's next? One of the largest 3-D printed pieces I have ever purchased has been glued together, as of today. If we actually get a letup in the Biblical rain we've been experiencing, I plan on beginning its spray priming. What is it? Well, it is not specifically for post-apocalyptic, but it IS urban. Stay tuned! Meanwhile, I am progressing, miniatures-wise, on a second batch of Heavy Infantry for the Bronze Legion. Stay tuned...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 26

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Even More Ruins! Small, 1-story Corner Ruins for Post-apocalyptic Games

    3-D printed, one-story, corner ruins that I purchased from Diabolical Terrain at ATC 2023
All last year (2023), I was purchasing various ruined buildings in resin, MDF, and 3-D printed. Now that winter has arrived, it is time to start cranking some of these out for the tabletop. These three one story corner ruins were purchased from Diabolical Terrain at Advance the Colors a few months ago. I figured they would paint up fairly quickly, so I made them "next up" on my painting desk.

    One of the ruins was brick - I really liked the brick framing of the windows and dangling shutters
The first step was to cut L-shaped pieces of styrene to base them onto. The pieces were fairly simply, so I wanted to add various bricks and rubble to the bases to pretty them up a little. I did my usual method for painting ruins. I spray painted them first with Krylon matte black. Second, I went over thoroughly a 50/50 mixture of black paint and water brushed on liberally. For the two gray stone pieces, I did a medium gray wetbrush followed by a light gray drybrush. For the brick one, I used Iron Wind Red Brown as a base with a Howard Hues Middle East Flesh dry brush.

    The interior side of the largest of the the three, painted in stone with lighter colored plaster walls
On the interior sides of the corner ruins, part of the walls looked like they had plaster showing. I decided to use some pale colors -- light blue, green, or yellow -- to make it look like some of the paint was still showing on the interior walls. I did a white dry brush on top of the plaster to make it look faded and worn. I thought about adding some pictures or posters, but figured that realistically, those would have fallen or peeled off long ago, beign exposed in the weather.

    I added to the rubble that was part of the print (like the gutter) with bricks and piles of gravel
There was a decent amount of rubble and other details designed onto these ruins. Whether it was the boarded up wooden window or the drainpipe laying on the ground or the pieces of wood here and there, I picked out those details next. I added the bricks and coarse gravel randomly along the styrene base. Finally, the whole thing got a black wash. On reflection, it should probably have been even darker than it was. Still, I feel it "dirtied it up" a bit and made it look older and more decayed.

    The interior side of the brick corner ruins -- I like where the plaster has peeled away exposing brick
I finished the bases off with Woodland Scenics Mixed Turf ballast. I had originally been thinking of using a fine, blended gray ballast to represent stones, but felt the dirt would look better. Now that I am looking at pictures of them, I think they would have been helped by adding some grass, tufts, or clump foliage to represent vegetation taking root in the recesses and corners. Who knows? Maybe I will go back and add it later, now that I am thinking about it.

    The boarded up window was a cool touch on the larger gray stone ruin
So, what's up next? I have another, larger 3-D printed ruin that I bought at the same convention from Jarl's Workshop. I like how it is looking as I glued it together and primed it. So, look forward to that soon, along with another batch of Heavy Infantry for the Bronze Legion!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 26
    These three pieces will definitely make it onto the tabletop in my next post-apocalyptic scenario

 

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Chopper Down! Specialty Terrain Piece

    A helicopter has gone down in a ruined cityscape - a specialty terrain piece for an upcoming scenario
I was trying to think of something to lure my post-apocalyptic survivor gangs back into another free-for-all after their last cooperative scenario. Someone on the excellent Lead Adventure Forum suggested a downed aircraft in the city. Each gangs wants to scavenge ammunition and tech from the wreck before the others. Since my campaign is based around the Terminator concept with the apocalypse being the war between the sentient Machines and humans, this fit in well. I decided to use as my wreck a helicopter, with the story being humans fighting back were using it against the Machines when it was shot down.

`The chopper wreck lies partially on its side, having crashed into a building and mostly destroyed it
The helicopter in question is one of the $2.99 ones in the bins at Menards home improvement store, where I picked up many of my die cast vehicles. I also decided this would be a perfect time to tinker with the pack of flickering tea candles I'd bought a couple months back. My idea would be that the chopper came down in an urban area, so I'd have a shell of the walls holding it up and it would be resting on the tea candle. I broke out the plastic windows (except for the front) and used wire cutters to trim away the bottom and one of the sides of the helicopter. The candle was still too large (or the wreck too small) for the candle to be essentially inserted into the underside. I decided to try slicing away the top of the candle, and that worked. I found out that really you need only the bottom half of a flickering tea candle for it to remain intact and keep flickering.

    The brick pattern base and the ruins were painted and readied before gluing the chopper into place
I used some Acheson Creations stone and wood post fence pieces to create "U shape", then added more bricks to enclose the wreck on three sides. The base was a piece of brick-patterned styrene plastic from Hobby Lobby. I cut a hole out for the candle to pop in through the bottom (so I could replace it if and when the battery died). I also added in lots of coarse ballast painted black and dry brushed gray like the rest of the stone walls to represent rubble and debris. I even recycled a few slivers of the tea candle's top as pieces of the helicopter torn off onto the ground.

    Two rotor blades were "snapped off" and embedded in the walls, the others bent by the collision
I had fun with the rotors, too. First, I trimmed off two of them and then embedded parts of them in the fence. The other two were bent at an angle to give it even more of a wrecked look. I had painted the walls and bricks first, then glued the spray painted black chopper in place. I used Tacky Glue and hopefully it holds. It seems pretty secure. I added some dark olive to the chopper here and there on the parts that would be furthest from the flames. Finally, when I was satisfied with how it looked, I stuffed in batting (pillow stuffing) and teased it out through the open windows. Then I turned on the candle and was pretty happy with the look of flames still flickering inside the helicopter.

    A final look at the downed helicopter, which you will hopefully see in a few weeks in a scenario!

All in all, I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. I won't win any contests with it, but it should add to the "cool" factor of a nicely set up tabletop! What's next, terrain-wise? I have several corner wall sections primed that I bought from Diabolical Terrain at Advance the Colors 2023. I also am getting ready another 3-D printed ruin from Jarls Workshop. So, stay tuned...more on the way!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 21

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Two New Corner Ruins for Post-Apocalyptic (or Sci-Fi)

    I bought these two 3-D printed corner ruins at ATC 2023 from my friend Rusty of Jarl's Workshop

Here are a few shots of some corner ruins I recently finished up. My friend Rusty Parker, who has a 3-D printing business called Jarl's Workshop, sold these to me at Advance the Colors 2023 because I liked the first one I painted up so much. They are originally from WOWBuildings, who sells the STL files. The kit is a six story corner ruin, but I decided to add some variety by lopping off a level or two on these two builds. Plus, my first one leaned a bit more than I liked when it got all the way up to six stories tall. Maybe that was my fault for not using some steel bases or something to wait it down on the bottom, but I am glad I made the decision to do 4- and 5-story versions. It should provide more variety on the tabletop.

    I used large bricks (Pegasus Terrain?) to simulate tumbled rubble on the base of the corner ruin

I cut my styrene plastic bases that I epoxied the ruins onto wider to also combat the lean. While I was at it, I added a lot more rubble on the bases, too. I want it to represent large blocks that that fell off the upper floors and now lay in piles on the ground around it. I used large red bricks that I bought at Dragons Guildhall in Beavercreek, OH -- which I believe come from Pegasus Terrain. I have long since thrown away the tag that came on the bag, so I can't be sure until my next trip there!

    These are great terrain pieces and really add to the look of a ruined, post-apocalyptic city

I did my usual treatment - spray painting the ruin with Krylon matte black paint and following it up with a 50/50 mixture of acrylic black paint and water. Then I did a dark gray wet brush and a light gray dry brush over the surface. I then added small red bricks and coarse gray ballast (from Woodland Scenics) to each of the floors to represent rubble piled up. For the ballast and small bricks, I went over them with a dark black wash.

    A good view of the small bricks and coarse gray ballast I added to each level of the ruin

You do have to glue the various levels together ("some assembly required"), but they fit together well and were no problem. Rusty sold them to me at a good price and I will probably (eventually) buy even more of them from him. I want to work on some more of the other ruined terrain that I picked up in the second half of the 2023. So stay tuned for more of those intermixed in with my Xenos Rampant figures!

    The original corner ruin -- all leaning six stories of it...!

 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

  • Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
  • Miniatures painted in 2024: 14

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Year in Review: Three Threads for 2023

    One theme that remained constant in 2023 was work on my post-apocalyptic terrain

Three main projects dominated my painting and terrain building for this past year, 2023. One thread remained constant, though at times it faded almost completely into the background. The other two surged for awhile into the spotlight, in essence battling for my attention. The one that remained constant was my post-apocalyptic campaign. The other two that saw periods of intense focus were Ancient/DarkAge/Medieval Saga and Science-Fiction gaming.

Post-apocalyptic

The constant thread was my post-apocalyptic campaign. I entered the year with nearly all of my survivor gangs painted up, adding only one to the ranks in 2023. This occurred only as it became obvious that I might need to play occasionally to balance out the numbers in games. So, I reached into my Battle Valor Games purchases and created one more gang -- the Green Dragons. They first hit the table in February. They were an Asian-American gang, and saw action in the second scenario we played in the campaign, "I Smell a Rat." 

    

    I made some modifications to Monster Fight Club's chain fences (like the thin strand of barbed wire)
Most of my efforts on this project were in terrain building. From barbed wire compounds to burnt-out vehicles, I cranked out the tabletop scenery. Those were probably my two favorite additions to the scenery. The barbed wire compound was a store-bought purchase from Monster Fight Club scenery, using two of their "Chain Link Fences" boxes. Of course, being me, I couldn't just use them straight out of the box. I modified them fairly heavily and these are one of the best additions to my terrain collection this year, in my opinion. We have used it in two scenarios so far, "Searching an Abandoned Army Base" and the most recently, "Where the Dark Things Gather."

    I was really pleased with these die cast vehicles that had been set aflame turned out
I was also very happy with my addition of damaged and burnt out vehicles for the desolate urban areas in my post-apocalyptic world. I had done some research on how to get the effect of a burnt out vehicle and was shocked that the consensus was to actually set on fire die cast models. First, I used pliers and wire cutters to remove the wheels and much or all of the plastic. Then, on a warm April evening, I swabbed them down with rubbing alcohol and lit them on fire. Thankfully, no neighbors were outside to see what the amateur pyromaniac was doing. I was fairly happy with how they turned out. The ash-like char seemed to never be sealed in by numerous clear coats, though. So, I still have to handle them carefully. I would end up doing two more batches of damaged/burnt vehicles, but who knows? Maybe one day I'll make some more!

    My favorite Jarls Workshop building was the six-story corner ruin (with some of my own bits added)
I also constructed a number of new buildings for the an urban, post-apocalyptic battlefield. My favorites were the ones I bought from Jarls Workshop (Rusty Parker) at the previous year's Advance the Colors 2022. They turned out great, and I would end up buying more from him in October at the 2023 convention. My favorite was the six-story corner remnant that I jazzed up with wooden beams and bricks. I bought more of these this year, but have yet to assemble them and get them ready for the tabletop. They will probably be the first terrain that I create in 2024, though! Rusty's 3-D printed buildings paint up very quickly and I highly recommend them. 

    We got in four games over the course of 2023 of my post-apocalytpic campaign
Finally, we got in four post-apocalyptic games over the course of the year. That was way under what I was hoping, but it did remain constant throughout the year. I am happy with how the Wiley Games Core Rules are working out for these skirmishes. Each player selects four characters for that scenario from the 7-8 that I had created for their survivor gang. Sometimes, characters who are wounded have to miss the following scenario or die of their wounds (only one character so far...sigh, mine!). The players have gotten the hang of using Renown Points to purchase new Traits and upgrade their force. I am having fun with running the scenarios, and will probably step back from playing in them with the Green Dragons unless we have a very small turnout. Look for more games in the coming months -- especially during January and February when our usual Sunday evening host will be out of town.


Science-Fiction Gaming

As the year closes, Sci-Fi gaming is the one I am focused on, now. It was also how I began 2023. I'd picked up Space Station Zero from Snarling Badger Studios, intrigued by the possibility of co-op skirmish as crews explore a derelict space station on the edge of the galaxy. I went all in for a few months, creating a playing surface of metallic looking tiles. I also made various bits of Sci-Fi scatter terrain that would work great for either the interior of a space station or on a planet's surface. Some were store-bought from Mantic Games, Acheson Creations, while still others were scratch-built from wooden pieces at craft stores. Jazzed up with metallic paints and various metal scatter consoles from RRB Minis & More, they set the stage for a new period of gaming in a new year.

    Our one and only game of Space Station Zero (so far, to be fair) using my game mat tiles & terrain
Except it never really went very far. Jenny and I played one scenario of Space Station Zero. We had fun, but after playing, I felt that its scope and scale wouldn't fit in as well for our Sunday evening gaming sessions. Even switching from co-op to competitive play mode in the rules, I felt that we'd struggle with so many players to have a game session for what was originally designed as a solo miniatures gaming adventure. Jenny and I swore we'd play the next scenario some winter evening when we had nothing else to do, but never got around to it. I'd painted my crew -- Dave and the rest from the spaceship Jupiter in 2001: A Space Odyssey -- but it looked like the Jupiter was grounded back here on Earth.

    JS Wargamer Printing 'Machine Wars - Exterminators' very cool 3D printed Terminators

In August, Sci-Fi gaming showed another flicker of life. Keith ran a Star Wars scenario using Wiley Games Galactic Heroes rules. He had a lot of the Wizards of the Coast pre-painted Star Wars figures. I was intrigued. We knew the rules. Both Keith and Mike S had tons of figs, but school had just started up again and I was hitting my busy point in the year. Sci-Fi gaming seemed to be an empty void once again until just last month. I decided to paint up one of my purchases from CincyCon 2023, JS Wargamer Printing's 3-D printed Terminators. This, and the purchase of rules books from the "Rampant" series at Advance the Colors 2023, convinced me to give Xenos Rampant a try.

    I was really pleased at how these various robots and droids came out with their metallic paints
This is a bigger size game than either Space Station Zero or Galactic Heroes. Each player will likely control 4-6 squads of figures, making it just a bit under Saga sized force, in my planned scale. Since then, I have been busy cranking out sets of Sci-Fi miniatures. After the Terminators (for a Machines force, of course), came a couple batches of droids or robots. I continued on with some 3-D printed space marines bought from Wiley Games. I called them the Bronze Legion, and bought and painted up a second squad's worth of the figures. And, for those who follow my blog regularly, you know that has continued apace with some Blue-skinned aliens and a squad of Star Wars B1 Battle Droids.

Aliens from the Strargrave Mercenaries box and actually painted to match one of my survivor gangs.
I'm anticipating my first game of Xenos Rampant in January. If not, at least by February. It's kind of cool that I started and began 2023 with Sci-Fi. I'm a big fan of the various Star Wars streaming series, so it is almost unusual that it hadn't found its way to the tabletop for me.

    It seems I never choose a simple army to paint, and that was definitely the case for 2023's Thracians!
 

Saga Ancients/Dark Ages/Medieval Skirmish

The third thread of my year of gaming was playing Saga, the skirmish miniatures game from Studio Tomahawk. In fact, it took over the majority of my painting and gaming from about late summer through Advance the Colors 2023. Two main reasons for this was that I had undertaken painting a new army, the Thracians. Also, I was painting up prizes and prepping for my two tournaments I was going to run at ATC 2023. I had queried local and regional Saga groups and they gave a thumbs up to adding a Friday Age of Ancients tournament to my 3rd annual Saturday Age of Melee one. Ancients includes the six armies each from Age of Hannibal and Age of Alexander. 

    At least the Thracians had only one unit of mounted -- unlike an entire army with the Mongols!
In fact, the Thracians I was painting up were from the Alexander book, and had caught my eye for their interesting "Loot" mechanic. They were also an army almost no one was talking about, and I enjoy painting the fringe armies. Greeks and Macedonians were sure to be popular choices from that book, but I wanted to do something a bit different. Naturally, if they're an army that I am picking they MUST have complex patterns or something to make them a challenge to paint, right? Of course! Greek pottery gives us a wealth of primary source material on the geometric (and assumed) colorful cloaks that the Thracian warriors wore. I borrowed my friend Mike's Osprey book on the army and sketched out about a dozen simplified versions of the patterns to use on my own miniature Thracians. With 28mm minis, we want to give the effect of something -- not necessarily a 1:1 recreation of it. Too much often ends up being, not surprisingly, too much.

    One of my three victories with the Picts at CincyCon 2023 - this one against a Norman foe
As December comes to its end, I am not strictly done with the Thracians. I have about one batch of javelin-armed warriors to paint up. I also have yet to do the custom fatigue markers I will create for this army. I borrowed some spare heads from friends who have plastic kits (where they provide options for players to use). I will mount these heads on the markers because the Thracians were known as a head-hunting tribe. Luckily, I already had suitable markers created for the loot tokens from a past gaming project.

View of the action at ATC 2023 weekend, which saw more than 30 participants from near & far
Our monthly Saga Sundays at the Guardtower East continued, but attendance seemed to die down a bit, this year. We were down from 12-16 attendees to the 6-10 range, most months. Unfortunately, the trips to Beavercreek and the Dragons Guildhall also decreased, on my part. I probably made it only about 4-5 times this year instead of being a regular. Honestly, the reason for this was likely the increase in the number of tournaments we had in the area. The year started off with a Saga tournament run in Ft. Wayne, IN, in February. The tournies continued in March with Cincycon 2023 -- where my Picts were victorious overall. I did not make it to Adrian John's next tournament at DayCon, but did actually participate in a small one at Historicon in July. In September, I also drove north to Port Clinton, OH, for Rusty and Jim's Hold the Line convention. That was followed by the success at Advance the Colors, with 14 players in my Ancients Saga tournament and 24 on Saturday. So, lots of tournaments probably meant fewer people at our monthly game days, I imagine.

    One of the six warlord stands I painted up and gave away as Saga prizes in 2023
One thing that my friend Mike has cautioned about is getting to the "burn out" stage with these rules, like we eventually did with DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis). This is my fifth year of playing Saga. We played DBA for a couple decades, so it is nowhere near the same longevity. However, I do see a similar vibe with a tournament at every convention beginning to happen with me and Saga. I have also noticed my enthusiasm for hosting new episodes of my Saga Ohio Podcast waned over the course of the year, too. Mostly, this is because school is always so busy -- "180 days of triage", I call the school year. Possible burn out IS something to keep an eye out for when scheduling my gaming and painting, though.

Obviously, this isn't every bit of gaming that I did in 2023. It is a good sampling to reflect upon, though, and I hope readers enjoyed it. As we head towards 2024, my production seems to be picking up speed. What will 2024 bring? Hopefully, more faithful readers of my Lead Legionaries blog like yourselves! Happy New Year!! 😃

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Where the Dark Things Gather - Post-apoc Scenario #5

   A truce was struck between rival gangs to investigate who was snatching their people
For weeks, the local survivor gangs in the area had been talking about their encampments being stalked at night. Sentries disappeared at night and no trace of them could be found. Unwary women and children out too early in the morning or late in the evening were snatched up by what the locals began to call the "Dark Things." Those who had caught sight of them, described them as manlike, hairy, and dark. Every time anyone tried to follow their trail to hope to discover clues of their missing people, the trail was lost. 

    Players would select 4 gang members from their team of survivors to join the expedition

At first, some survivor gangs blamed it on each other. The Bass Reeves, in particular, were singled out as they also tended to be "dark and hairy." Worried about what might happen if the other gangs seized upon them as the culprits, Big Bass devoted all his resources and intellect to investigating the disappearances and attempting to track them. Finally, one of their scouts was able to follow a faint trail back to what appeared to be a research facility, or perhaps a prison. Several of the "Dark Things" were actively patrolling its perimeter, including along sandbags lining the roof. Cages stood out front and back, each with one or two people inside. The Dark Things entered and exited the steel doors from time to time.

    Big Bass, leader of the Bass Reeves survivor gang, worked behind the scenes to negotiate the truce

At that point, Big Bass took a risk and visited the encampments of the rival gangs in the area. He gave each a sketch of the location and facility made by his scout. He proposed a truce and a joint expedition to the research facility. The goal would be to get their people back, if possible, and find out who and what these creatures were. Not all of the gangs agreed. The Green Dragons' leader Ting was terse, "I will let you leave with your life, Bass, but don't come back. We know it's you taking our people - get lost!" The Barbarozas drew their weapons on him, and it was only the very ugly-looking shotgun he had pointed at the Barbaroza's leader which kept gunfire from breaking out.

    Three of the Bucknuts creep cautiously forward, out of the woods, and towards the fence

Big Bass was encouraged, though, that leaders of the Blood Brotherhood, Bucknuts, F Troop, Nightstalkers, and Followers of the Dark Prophet sent a message saying they would meet at the proposed rendezvous on the full moon. Each leader was to bring three men, so no one would be suspicious of a planned double-cross by a rival gang. After a day's travel, they reached a hilltop overlook where they could see the L-shaped building in the valley, surrounded by a chain link fence. The gate on its rollers appeared to be stuck more than halfway open, as grass had drown up around it. In the back, the two corners of the fence had gaping sections bent open. The Dark Things obviously used these to exit and enter the woods on either side.

    The Nightstalkers approach in column, hoping their optics and armor spot any foes and protect them

After a quick pow-wow, it was decided F Troop would approach along the treeline running beside the road towards the front gate. The Bucknuts would approach from the opposite side towards the back part of the building. The Blood Brotherhood and Nightstalkers would approach one of the other sides, and the Bass Reeves and Followers of the Dark Prophet the other. The six survivor gangs would close in on the facility from all four sides like a vice, hopefully preventing any escape. They decided to approach in daylight, as the Dark Things were obviously comfortable operating at night and no one had any night vision equipment. Coordinated, the six gangs crept closer and closer, keeping out of sight of the four massive Dark Things toting assault rifles on the sandbagged roof. They looked like massive gorillas, but walked upright like men and wore clothes and boots. These were nothing any of the men or women had heard of before or since the war against the machines.

Fenced-in facility, with 4 Dark Things atop the roof. F Troop would lead the approach along the road

The Nightstalkers approached in a column towards the back corner of the open fence. The optics on their helmets clearly revealed a well-trodden path from the facility into the woods. As Hunter Ryker swept his gaze to his left, he spotted movement in the trees. He called out a quick warning and pointed, "Dark Thing -- in the trees, 3 o'clock!" As his compatriots swiveled their heads to the left, a long burst of automatic rifle fire rang out and dust kicked up around the first three men in the column. Ryker and Commander Zander both went down. "I'm good," Ryker said, more in surprise as he picked himself up. He could see dents from the slugs in at least three places on his armor pads. Meanwhile, Zander stayed down, shook his head and grunted, "I'm hit!"  

    A chimpanzee scout in the trees opens up on the column of the Nightstalkers as they approach

We use Wiley Games' Core Rules for our post-apocalyptic games. The Nightstalkers have Light Armor as a team trait, and Keith rolled VERY fortunately. Needing an 8+ on a d10 to deflect the hits with his armor, he was 2-for-2. I was controlling the Dark Things and had actually rolled the Wounds before we remembered his armor save. Zander should have been "Out of Action" and Ryker wounded. However, the drawback of burst fire (which allows a shooter to hit multiple targets) is that there is a chance for being out of ammunition. After the shots, I checked and the Chimpanzee Scout had indeed emptied his clip. He hopped down out of the tree and withdrew deeper into the woods so he couldn't be shot at with the visibility rules.

    Gorilla guards on the rooftop proved tough to hit, being in heavy cover and initially at long range

All Hell began to break loose. In addition to the four gorillas with automatic rifles in heavy cover on the roof, there were four chimp scouts in the trees at the corners of the battlefield. One of the Followers of the Dark Prophet went down wounded from another ambush shot from the trees. One of the gorilla guards took out Coop, the leader of the Bucknuts. We then recalled all the gang leaders have the"Nine Lives" trait. This reduces the first out of action result to "Wounded." Coop went down wounded until a Recovery roll could be made. However, it became apparent that simians were NOT good at trigger control. Three of the chimps and one of the gorillas were out of ammunition and had to spend a turn reloading after their first shots.

    Unfazed by the hail of automatic rifle fire, the Nightstalkers & Blood Brother dart towards the fence
One of the mechanics of the Core Rules is the order of activation. Players are dealt a hand of playing cards equally to the total number of figures they control. Some suits or numbers allow free actions, such as any "6" allowing a free reload. A Queen of Hearts grants an automatic wound recovery, or an Ace can be used as whatever card the player chooses. As good as the Dark Things' luck had been on shooting (the players were conspiring at several points to confiscate my orange, 10-sided die!), misfortune began to strike the simians. First, so many out of my out of ammo rolls were failed (only a 20-30% chance). And, on the following turn, I received no "6" cards or aces. This gave the survivor gangs a chance to catch their breath while more than half of the Dark Things had to reload. Not only that, all of the players with wounded figures seemed to have been dealt a Queen of Hearts or an Ace and were soon back on their feet!

    A chimp knocks Pvt. Hippie out of action, but Pvt. Lombardi of F Troop bravely rushes to the rescue
Although two of the chimp scouts withdrew into the woods, one remained in the trees to keep shooting. I figured that, with a -1 for light cover and another -1 for the chimp's "Stealthy" trait, he'd be okay. However, the Followers of the Dark Prophet charged towards the shooter aggressively, narrowing the range to Short. Oops! The "10" on a d10 to be hit just dropped to a "7"!! Allen is know for his "in your face" aggressive tactics and he was the first to fire back and take out a chimp. The out of ammo chimp who'd wounded an F Troop soldier decided on another tactic, though. He charged the nearest enemy -- Private Hippie. One of the chimp traits is "Brawler," meant to reflect a savagery in hand-to-hand combat. I also played a "2," which allowed me to roll two dice and choose the best result. The ex-National Guardsman went down, out of action, to the howling, angry chimp.

    The Blood Brotherhood advanced quickly through the fence and took position against the wall
Rather than be cowed by its savagery, the veterans of F Troop stepped back and gunned down the creature. On the opposite side of the table, the Bass Reeves had steadily been taking a shot at the closest gorilla guard on the roof, then ducking into the woods to avoid return fire. Eventually one of the shots hit home, and the force of the Dark Things continued to dwindle. Things were equally bloody on the Bucknuts' side of the table. Brutus and Jackie O were sprayed by gunfire from the gorilla and Brutus went down hard, out of action. The team's medic, Wrich, crept over to where his leader Coop lay, and eventually was able to heal him and get him back into the fight.

Chimp scout (not really armed with a flame thrower!) faces off against the Bucknuts' Jackie O
Jackie O decided to deal with the chimp who had retreated back into the woods towards the team's rear. She moved into the woods, but the clever scout was on "Opportunity Fire." True to ape form, he pulled the trigger and sprayed the woods till his clip was empty. Jackie O managed to avoid the fire and her return burst rattled the scout (shock marker). The chimp was enraged by the bullets whistling past his ear and charged. He walloped Jackie O, but her armor saved her from a wound. She then was able to get a clear shot and knocked him to the ground, wounded. This exchange was another sign that the simian die luck was fading. In melee, I had three die rerolls between the Brawler trait and my "2" card, The highest I could manage was a "6" on a 10-sided die. Still, Jackie had rolled a "1", so I should have had a chance to put her out of action. Nope. Another "1" -- just a shock marker!

   Building provided no protection to the chimp leader & orangutan once the men reached the windows
As the survivor gangs closed range, their fire on the chimp scouts and gorilla guards was proving much deadlier. Soon, three of the gorillas and all four chimps were out of action. The remaining gorilla darted to the hatchway in the middle of the roof and descended into the complex. The battle began to shift, with the survivor gangs moving closer to the walls of the facility. The Nightstalkers and Blood Brotherhood moved to the windows and spotted a chimp leader and a huge, hulking orangutan. Before the simians could react, the Blood Brotherhood sprayed the room with gunfire. The orangutan jumped in front of his leader and was riddled with bullets, out of action. The leader fell wounded, too. 

    Escape out the front door is cut off for the Dark Things by the Followers of the Dark Prophet

This started a cascade of bloodshed for the Dark Things inside the facility. The Nightstalkers opened up on full auto down the hallway, and more simians fell. What should have been their fortress proved to be a killing field. Eventually, unbeknown to the players, all survivors were heading towards the back door. They could tell enemies were outside the two front doors by the pounding on it as F Troop and the Followers of the Dark Prophet tried unsuccessfully to break in.

    With his brothers providing covering fire, Brother Foresight gets ready to slip through the window
Meanwhile, the Bass Reeves had entered through the rent in the fence on their side of the facility. They quickly recognized some of their children inside the wooden cages who'd been snatched by the Dark Things. One by one, they began to release the terrified kids and order them to dart out the fence towards their fellows waiting outside. Just as they released the second pair of captives, the metal double doors at the back swung open. Out leapt one of the gorilla guards, using the steel door as cover. He fired a long burst at the Blood Brotherhood clustered outside the window, hitting both the Grand Master and Brother Willpower, who fell to the ground wounded.
Bass Reeves begin to free the captives from the wooden cages the Dark Things were keeping them in

A few second later, another gorilla guard and then a smaller and more elderly looking orangutan hurried out. The gorilla fired at the survivors, but the orangutan headed for the pathway to the forest. Shouts from the survivor gangs alerted everyone to the attempted escape and multiple shots rang out. "Got him!" shouted Coop as the orangutan fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Brother Willpower shrugged off the effects of his gunshot wound, and stood to his feet. He hobbled over to the Grand Master, and applied first aid to him, bringing him back to his senses and up on his feet.

    Gorilla guards burst out of the back door spraying the area and knocking down three surivors
Next to fall were the gorilla guards who'd tried to cover the escape of their leaders. What had started out as a hazardous looking rescue mission for the survivor gangs, ended up as a turkey shoot. One by one, the gorillas and chimps were gunned down. We called the game when all that was left was a single chimp with two shock markers inside the facility. All captives had been freed from the cages, and the survivors could now go in and find their snatched fighters from the cells inside. The allies warily prowled the corridors and rooms of the combination research facility and prison, looking for clues. They were able to decipher that the Dark Ones were a product of the facility, and had apparently somehow overcome their creators and taken control. Best guess was that they were created during the war with the machines as a "super soldier" weapon to use against them.

    An orangutan attempts to escape through the gauntlet of gunfire from the survivors, but falls

Something had obviously occurred, though, allowing the simian soldiers to overcome their masters and kill them. Refuse strewn in the facility and outside led to another grisly guess. The people the Dark Things had been snatching? Those captives were food, and were butchered and eaten by the out-of-control simian biological weapons. Luckily, their rescue had come in time for each gang to rescue the one night guard from each of their gangs that had been snatched. Much as their curiosity tempted them to linger and discover more clues, they guessed that heavily trodden paths indicated that the Dark Things had spread out to other encampments. Some could be returning at any moment. So, it was agreed to pack up their things and go. The truce was renewed and grudges put on hold for one more day. The gangs carried their wounded out and back into the hills, splitting up to go their separate ways.

    The bio-engineered apes were the product of a "super soldier" program meant as a weapon against the machines
The fifth scenario of my post-apocalyptic campaign was a success, I felt. The players had fun and overcame their past grudges against each other. They cooperated well to take down the guards. I think this alliance was also forged and tempered early by my great shooting and wounding rolls to start the game. In the end, only three players lost fighters as out of action. All rolled well enough to save them and have them available for later games in the campaign. I liked the co-op feel of this game and will probably do another like it sooner or later. I think the next will be a free-for-all, though. I just have to figure out an objective for the next game with some immediacy to encourage them to give up their trust and detente and aim their guns at each other, again! Stay tuned for more adventures in the post-apocalyptic world of the war against the machines...!