Four More Survivors (Replacements?) for Zombie RV

    4 more survivors for my Zombie RV games because...well, other ones "got 'et'!" Ha, ha

I decided that it would be a good idea to paint up the occasional survivor for my Zombie RV games just in case we continue to lose people. A couple weeks ago, I dug through my unpainted lead and picked out a eight armed with melee weapons or various firearms. This is the first of those eight. A batch of four replacements - two with pistols, two with melee weapons.

Once again, these 28mm miniatures are from various manufacturers. The tall guy holding two pistols is a Foundry figure from their Street Violence line in the "Scabies Punks" set. The two bald guys are from Battle Valor Games. The policemen was purchased in a flea market, so I honestly don't know what line he comes from. He's very tall, and the slotta base (ugh - I hate those things!) doesn't help with him looming over the other figures!

    My favorite of the batch from Foundry's 'Street Violence' range -- Mick, armed with two pistols

My favorite is the Foundry fig. His musculature really popped with the dark flesh wash I do in the beginning and the brown wash that I do at the end. The leather harness holding his magazines looks great, but my favorite part of how I decided to paint his pants. I went with black pants and metallic decoration on them. The stripe down the leg I painted in an almost florescent green to go with his punk rocker red mohawk and droopy mustache. I was tempted to do some tattoos on him, too, but honestly completely forgot about it! Still, he stands out from the other four already, so I guess he didn't really need the tats!

    Because my friend Keith wanted it, here's a survivor named 'Moe' -- from Battle Valor Games

The two bald guys are very similar figs, just armed with different weapons. Interestingly, they came form different packs. One is from Pulp 06A Civilian/Survivors and the other from Pulp 05A Civilians/Survivors on Battle Valor Games' website. So, to differentiate them more I painted one up black and the other white. I tried to use ordinary looking clothes as these are supposed to be survivors of the zombie apocalypse, not uniformed troops. In Zombie RV, replacements for your gang typically come with just a melee weapon. I wanted to make sure I had a couple of these guys ready in case, you know, the zombies get hungry! Once again, I thought about giving them logo wear or some sort of writing or decoration on their jackets. I ended up deciding not to do it as I couldn't think of anything to inspire me. Lame excuse, I know!

    I like this pose holding the flashlight in one hand and his pistol in the other - not sure who it is from!

The police officer is a pretty cool pose. I like how he is holding the flashlight in one hand and has his pistol raised in the other. Since Rick in the Walking Dead TV series was a police officer, it makes sense that some cops would survive the initial apocalypse. I mean, they're armed and have the training, right? I painted his uniform up to match my other police officers that I painted long ago for both Pulp and my Mean Streets gang warfare rules. He painted up very quickly, considering there are basically two clothes/uniform colors on him!

    An almost identical pose to 'Moe,' C.J. from Battle Valor Games is armed with a knife instead

I decided to go ahead and name these survivors. I found out what happens when I let my players name them...ha, ha! Still, in deference to my friend Keith, I gave him a "Moe." He won't get a "Schmoe," but at least he has one of the names he chose out of thin air the first time we played Zombie RV. So, what else is on my painting desk? LOTS! I have an emergency batch of 9 Dark Age peasants that I hope to get done in time for Sunday's game. Not sure it is going to happen, though, since it is Wednesday as I type this and I have only the flesh completed. I also have some more Sci-Fi terrain and one or two other oddball things. So, stay tuned to see what gets finished next...!

    Another look at the whole crew - and the police department die cast pickup I got at the grocery store!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 239

More RRB Minis Domed Habitats

    Two of my recent Rebels figures guard their small out post of RRB Minis & More Pod Habitats

I am on a bit of a tear right now painting up Sci-Fi terrain. Two more items were finished today that I picked up this past October at Advance the Colors 2024 from my friend Rich Brown at RRB Minis & More. While shopping at his booth, I added two more "3D Printed Pod Habitats" to my collection. If you remember, RRB was also where I got the tracks for some of my modified droids. Rich prints the Pod Habitats in three sizes, and I think the two I purchased (in the foreground above) are the "Large" variant.

    You can see the three sizes of habitats here, with the 2 in front being my most recent purchases

I had three of his habitats painted up already, two small ones and one "Very Large." They paint up very quickly, I've found. I do a black prime on them, followed up by painting them one of my favorite craft metallic paints, Chocolate Brown. I did the structural support pieces in Gunmetal Gray. At that point, I pulled out my old ones to make sure I was doing them the same. Oops. I wasn't! So, I went back and redid the trim on the two small ones I'd previous painted to match the "new" scheme which I'd used on the Very Large one. Now, all five have the same look. Whew -- these things are important! Ha, ha!!

    The habitat on the left has my replacement MDF door, but I think it fits the look rather well

In addition, I used a Turquoise metallic for what I am interpreting as the windows or skylights. The door control panels I paint black and then gave glowing red,  yellow, and green buttons. Speaking of doors, I somehow lost the door on one of the habitats in between the time I bought them and went to prime them. I looked all around, but couldn't find it. I'm sure Rich had included it in the bag. It probably fell out either when I took pictures of my ATC 2024 purchases, when I stored them away, or maybe when I pulled them back out. No biggie! I was able to find a couple MDF pieces that looked good and glued them on to cover the missing door.

I really like these 3-D printed models, and will be picking up more of them next time I see Rich at a convention. I think I'll buy the "Very Large" size from now on. It is in the middle in the above pictures, and was big enough for me to add some miscellaneous Sci-Fi machinery (which I also bought from RRB!) to the the top of the door's roof. If you like them, I encourage you to pick some up from him. He's got quite the selection of retro Sci-Fi looking terrain and models like these.

Get ready for more updates coming soon. I finished four more survivors for Zombie RV just this evening. Well, I still have to put their names on their bases, as soon as I think of good names. What should I call them...? Schmoe? Trunk Monkey...? Ha, ha - nope!!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235

FASA Starfleet Game - Federation Convoy Smashes Through Klingon Blocking Force

    Mike W, standing with Star Trek ships shirt on, explains the rules to FASA Starship Combat

Our usual host wanted to take a trip down memory lane and play some FASA Starship Combat this past Sunday evening. He and Keith had played the game extensively with counters and hex maps in their college and post-college days. Mike W even showed off his tub with two binders full of ship display sheets. However, wanting to play a miniatures version of the game, he had his son Phil print off dozens of Federation and Klingon starships with base stands and got them ready for use.

    Situation towards the end of the game after Mike S and Joel's Klingon squadron had been destroyed

Awhile back, Mike S had run one of the many iterations of the game Starfleet Battles. Mike W, a FASA fan, had not been impressed with Starfleet Battles' complexity. Excessive complexity, in his eyes (and mine, to be honest)! As a gaming group, we had also played Starfleet Battles decades ago when we were in our 20s. We'd given up on it back then because we recognized it as one of those games that rewards the veteran player too much and makes it next to impossible for a newer player to stand much of a chance (with all other points being even). Most of us simply didn't play it often enough to "get good" at it, unlike the bigger fans of it in our group, who practiced at it regularly.

Mike W claimed FASA rules were "nothing like" Starfleet Battles, and emailed us the Basic Rules. I read through them and thought they were a nice, simple, stripping down of the excessive stuff (or "chewy" as my friend Andy says). I looked forward to giving them a try as I felt that, unlike Starfleet Battles, there wasn't enough variation in weapons systems and other things to handicap the newbie and arm the grognard. That said, I still think they were exactly like a simplified version of Starfleet Battles. You still have a ship display. You still allocate your power to movement, weapons, shields, etc. You still move on a hex grid using an impulse system. When you knock down a ship's shields, you still roll for internal damages (though not 40 times like in Starfleet!). 

    The two Federation freighters, left, and their three powerful escorts - 3-D printed by Phil

Mike W had concocted a three-sided scenario with secret components, he stressed. For example, Keith and I were not to discuss our Klingon squadron's victory conditions with our fellow Klingons Mike S and Joel. Allen and Phil ran the Federation's three starships and two freighters, facing our two Klingon squadrons of three ships each. We had a pretty good idea that the Federation ships, one on one, were more powerful than ours -- especially Mike S and Joel's squadron. We just didn't realize how vast that power difference was!

Our glory-seeking commodore Keith insisted that we move up slowly (we came on board after the first turn) and plan on letting the Federation ships destroy our fellow Klingons first. To score a major victory, both our allies and the Federation had to be destroyed, and both freighters captured by us. Even scenario designer Mike W was surprised by our lackluster approach and strategy. As it was, Allen detached his Enterprise class starship to deal with the three D7 whatevers captained by Mike S and Joel. Phil moved the other two ships, one a smaller one and another Keith said was a "monster" class one, towards us.

    Klingon squadron of D-somethings controlled by Keith and I, taking our time advancing

Allen needed no help from his ally to blow up the three Klingon ships, one after another. The slight bit of damage they put on him did not stop him from crippling my ship later in the game when our squadron belatedly arrived to fight the Federation. In fact, I fired only once on the very last turn of the game. I did zero damage to Allen (his shields absorbed it all) and Allen staggered my ship nearly destroying it in one salvo of phasers and photon torpedoes. I told Keith that my ship sent a transmission to Klingon High Command accusing him of sabotaging our chances of victory and blaming him entirely for the our losses...ha, ha!

    The doomed squadron of Klingon Mini-Ds commanded by Joel and Mike S

It was an overwhelming Federation victory. Whether it was Commodore Keith's tactical fault or scenario designer Mike W's imbalanced forces, we called the game as we had no chance at victory, at that point. The rules were very easy to pick up, though. Allen, who had never played FASA before, swatted aside Mike S and Joel's starships like he was the valedictorian from Starfleet. No one made any major rules blunders that I was aware of. If I am going to play a starship combat game, I am fine with FASA. 

    Counters mark where Mike S's 2 ships have blown up as Allen's Enterprise prepares to destroy Joel

Although Mike W insists the sides were more balanced than we (especially Keith, who'd played the game extensively) contended, I think it might take some adjustments to provide a more balanced game. For example, the weapons of Phil's monster class Federation ship (I forget what name they keep saying it was) and Allen's Enterprise class outranged ours noticeably. Their energy systems were more efficient, granting four points of shield protection for one energy unit vs. our two for one.

Of course, it could also be a case of "Federation bias" among the rules designers -- much like some World War II rules like to make Germans into supermen with super tanks. Or maybe not. I honestly don't know, but do know that the two most experienced players disagreed whether it was a balanced scenario. However, who am I to talk? I set up a scenario last week that (much to my surprise) gave the Vikings almost no chance of winning...! 

    Should the Klingons have been worried the GM was wearing a shirt with Enterprises all over it??

Still, it was fun to get together, roll some dice, move some ships around on a hex mat, crack jokes and have fun. Next week, we are trying a completely different take on my Viking raid on an Anglo-Saxon town. It will be much smaller, with each player controlling three Viking raider figures. We'll be using Ganesha Games' Sellswords & Spellslingers rules. The SS & SS rules have the "bad guys" (Anglo-Saxons) controlled by A.I. and cards, with all rolls being made by the players. It should be interesting, and hopefully a lot of fun. Stay tuned to see how it went...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 227
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235

Giant 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games

    28mm water tower, 3-D printed from Bad Goblin Games -- a bargain at only $20!

Some of my favorite purchases this past summer at Historicon 2024 were from the Bad Goblin Games booth. This water tower was one of them. It has been looming over my painting desk since I brought it home in July, impatiently waiting for me to get it painted and ready for the tabletop. It'll be perfect for modern and post-apocalyptic games, and a nice piece of eye candy on the tabletop. Probably the most amazing thing about it to me was that it cost only $20! They also make a ruined one, by the way...

    Big Bass or my survivor group the Bass Reeves checks out the view from halfway up the tower

It is 3-D printed, so I gave it my usual treatment that I do for terrain. I spray painted it black first with Krylon acrylic paint and then went over it with a 50/50 mix of water and acrylic black paint when dry. I went back and forth about what color to paint it. My current water tower, a 15mm MDF one bought years ago from Impudent Mortals, is painted in a steel color. I like how it looks and have used it numerous times in my 28mm games, too. I mean, how tall is a water tower supposed to be to be "in scale?" So, I decided to copy that minus the rust effects I gave the MDF one. I struggled over the "to rust or not to rust" decision for awhile, too, but in the end thought it might look best with no rust on it.

My base coat was one of my favorite metallic craft paints, a Folk Art bottle called "Gunmetal Gray." I left the grooves between the square steel plating black, but painted the rest of it entirely in that color. Next, I used another Folk Art craft metallic called Pewter and did highlights were I thought the sun would be shining off of the tower. Parts that were underneath or would likely be in shadow I left that base coat. Finally, inside the irregularly shaped patches of Pewter, I added a splash of Bright Silver.

    I went back and forth how to paint the water tower but ended up going with boring steel...ha, ha!

This is typically the recipe I use for large, steel-colored metallic areas on miniatures or terrain. I really like how it looks once I put a black wash over it. The effect is to soften the lines between the different colors and blend it all together. Except this time it didn't. To me, the Pewter and Silver patches stand out too brightly still. At first I thought maybe I was being too critical of my work. Once it is all flocked and on the tabletop, it will look great, I told myself. Except I am still unhappy with it. No, I'm not going to repaint it or sell it or throw it away, or anything like that. It's just that normally I am fairly excited about how my terrain looks. The water tower is an exception.

    Out of breath from the climb, Big Bass admires the view from high above the tabletop

I would love to hear from readers of the blog what they think. Am I being too critical of myself? Who knows? Maybe next convention I see Bad Goblin Games at I will buy another one (it's only $20!) and try again next year...ha, ha! The flocking was done similar to how I do my standard bases with an irregular dirt and grass look. After finishing it, I also debated whether to "junk it up" with trash, discarded machinery bits, or whatever. In the end, I decided not to do that. Still, there certainly was a lot of indecision and self-doubt going on with this terrain piece!

Either way, though, the water tower itself is an amazing piece of 3-D printed terrain. The only modification I did to mine was to cut a hole in the upper platform so that the ladder comes up from the basket and through the hole. I had to cut to size the two 3-D printed ladders that came with the model. I took the trimmed off pieces and placed them along the railing inside the metal cage halfway up. I actually snipped a piece awhile back to use for my "Zombie RV" that I converted from a die cast pizza truck. Next time I am going to see them, I may ask them if I can buy more of those ladders. They could be useful for a number of things. Sure, I can scratch build them, too, but these are certainly more convenient!

    This very tall terrain piece will definitely catch the eye of passers by at a convention or game day

I highly recommend Bad Goblin Games 3-D printed scenery and buildings. I have more of it to be painted on my "short list," so you will likely see more from them here in the future. If you get a chance, please let me know what you think of the water tower and any changes you would suggest.

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Tatooine Sci-Fi Buildings from Diabolical Terrain

    3-D printed Sci-Fi buildings in the vein of Star Wars Tatooine from Diabolical Miniatures

One of the bigger purchases I made at Advance the Colors 2024, at least size-wise, are these three Sci-Fi buildings from my friend Ron at Diabolical Terrain. Fans of Star Wars will recognize them right away as being a great stand-in for the desert planet, Tatooine. On his web page, you can find them under "Science Fiction: Tatooie Desert Buildings." Note that prices on his website defaults to 15mm size, so make sure to hit the drop-down menu to get the right size. Mine were printed at 32mm, or so his website informs me! Anyway, these are great 3-D prints and are incredibly quick and easy to paint up.

    These are printed to '32mm scale' according to Ron on the Diabolical Terrain website

 Unlike most 3-D terrain, I spray painted these buildings a "Sand" color purchased from the local Menards store. I made sure I covered them thoroughly because I was going to skip my usual 50/50 water and paint step. I simply dry brushed them white next. With that, most of the surface area on these three buildings was done! Next, I used both Iron Wind Metals Steel and Folk Art craft metallic Gunmetal Gray to pick out the pipes, doors, window grilles, and various other details. There doesn't appear to be anything made of wood depicted. It's all metal and the adobe/mud brick inspired by the Tunisian desert town of Tataouine. In case you didn't know, that's where George Lucas got the inspiration for the setting of the first Star Wars epic.

    These buildings were SO easy to paint up and look great on the tabletop - highly recommended!

After picking out the metal pieces, I highlighted them with craft paint "Pewter." Next, I painted some of the doors Chocolate Brown, one of my favorite craft paint metallics. I did a dark vehicle black wash over the metal pieces once they were dry. The final step was to use my brown vehicle wash over the mud brick surface of the buildings. These were thirsty buildings, though, and it took up quite a bit of wash. I doubled up in cracks and crevices to give it a more dirty look. 

    The 'back sides' of the 3 buildings -- I will definitely be picking up more of these

And then I was done! Seriously -- these went about as fast as any building I have painted in a long time. I will likely pick up more of them the next time I see Diabolical Terrain at a convention. His website shows six different styles and I bought only three of them this time. I highly recommend these! They make great Star Wars terrain (despite the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer on his site). No Jawas were harmed in the making of these buildings...

    The largest of the 3 buildings that I painted up - can't wait to use them in some Star Wars skirmishes

What else have I been working on? Speaking of Star Wars skirmishes, I have been thinking that I need a new mat for my games. I anticipate that I will have six players regularly. Since it is technically every faction for itself, though some may have common goals, I wanted to make sure deployment is fair. What better way than to have a hexagon shaped playing area? Not being a math whiz, I found the dimensions and angles for a hexagon which is four feet across from one flat side to the other. 

    My 4' hexagon shaped battle mat (flat sides are 4' from each other) made from felt and flocking

I picked up a likely color of felt from the local JoAnne's Fabric store. I got out my yardsticks and a Sharpie, and measured out the dimensions. Jenny helped me out, especially with her angle finder to make the required 60 degree lines. We used her uber-sharp rolling wheel cutter, too, ensuring the sides were straight and smooth. I flipped it over so that the Sharpie lines were on the bottom, and put a plastic sheet underneath it.

Next, I filled a screened sifter with Woodland Scenics Blended Turf. I dug out my spray bottle filled with a 50/50 mixture of water and Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium. I sprayed the surface down relatively thoroughly -- my squirt bottle unfortunately doesn't do a fine mist and instead is only slightly more diffused than a squirt gun. Once it was wet with the sticky liquid, I heavily sifted the turf onto it. I refilled the squirt bottle -- I really can't believe it hadn't dried up in the years since I used it! Then I squirted the area down again. I made quite a mess on the plastic sheet, but I avoided getting any matte medium on the floor or chairs surrounding my 8'x5' table.

   Close up look at the mat with the Woodland Scenics flocking affixed with Liquitex matte medium

I waited for it to dry overnight, then sprayed it with some acrylic clear coat. I just used the same thing I use on my miniatures. Voila! In just one day of work, I had a 4' across hexagon battle mat that looks really nice. I will also likely use this same mat in my playtest of my Viking raid using Sellswords & Spellslingers rules. In fact, that will probably happen before my first Star Wars skirmish (which will likely be in January). I need to decide on rules and scenario and everything for the games I will run at Origins Game Fair by the first of the year.

Anyway, lots of production in the past few days. I'm very pleased with both how the mat came out and these "not-Tatooine" buildings came out! Stay tuned for more...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Cool 'Rebel Alliance' Figs from Several Manufacturers

    Decided to do 1 more batch of figures for my Star Wars skirmishes - this one for the Rebel Alliance

So, I thought I had all the Star Wars figures I needed for my first skirmish. However, I decided to paint up one final batch specifically for the Rebel Alliance faction (as opposed to the Local Rebels). I was making cards for each faction and I noticed the Rebel Alliance figs were being pulled from several different projects. Unfortunately, that also meant they'd have several different basing schemes and flocking. Call me anal, but I wanted each faction to match - so they at least looked like they belonged together. I know, I know. Think of this way, though -- it gave me a chance to paint up these really cool figures.

    These 5 figs are from 3 different manufacturers - I think they nicely show a polyglot alliance

This might be my favorite faction as far as looks go. The Criminal Syndicate is close, but the Hydra Miniatures I used for the combat droid and the Valkeeri sniper are top notch! I wanted this squad to reflect that the Rebel Alliance was pulling from different races and trying to unify all the anti-imperial forces in the galaxy. So, I went through all of my unpainted Sci-Fi figures pack by pack, and picked out four that I really liked. A fifth I would assemble from the Stargrave Crew boxes. The sixth would be one from the Mon Calamari batch I painted earlier this year. I'm shooting for squads of six figures, though I will likely have players initially start with 3-4 miniatures per force until we get used to the rules we'll be using.

    These awesome figs are from Hydra Miniatures - I really like their retro look & how they turned out!

I mentioned the Hydra Miniatures, so let's start with them. Awhile back, when I was painting forces for Xenos Rampant, I ordered a few packs of their Valkeeri and Astro Angel lines. I painted one of them up as a crew member for my Five Parsecs from Home campaign, but hadn't touched the others. And on a trip up to Michigan, I stopped by the Michigan Toy Soldier & Figure Company, I picked up a few packs of their Robot Legion. Because...you know - that's what we miniature wargamers do! They are incredibly cool figures and I don't know why I didn't think earlier about painting some of them up as a faction. So, I pulled out one of the robot legionaires and one of the kneeling Astro Angel figures to include in this batch.

I like the purple color scheme for the Valkeeri sniper's uniform. That and the bright bronze metallic seem to go well together. I kept the green skin I used for Zorina of my Five Parsecs crew. It is Sci-Fi after all, there HAS to be green-skinned aliens! Otherwise, I painted her jet pack exactly like Zorina's, but made one or two other changes. The main one being substituting purple for the color shift paint I used on Zorina. For the Robot Legionaire, I painted him a base Gunmetal Gray metallic. I gave it Pewter and Silver highlights. The accent color I decided to do as a Turquoise Metallic. The baby blue color looks "good guy" enough so he's not confused with an imperial droid. I gave him some panel lights on the front and back, too. I am very happy with how these two miniatures came out. I need to find a reason to paint up more of them!

    If Star Wars can have Chewbacca, why can't my Rebel Alliance have this Battle Valor orangutan?

Seeing how Chewbacca is part of the Rebel Alliance, I thought I could use a big furry guy for my faction, too. I had one unpainted Orangutan with gun from our order with Battle Valor Games. I had already painted one up for my Planet of the Apes forces, but remember that thing about bases? I wanted his base to match the rest of the crew's, not be completely different. I tried a slightly different color scheme, too. I base coated him in Georgia Clay, then did a Salmon dry brush highlight. I think this was a mistake, though. The colors were too similar and the highlights don't show up in the fur as much as I'd like. I probably should have stuck with the red-brown base coat and the more orange highlights. Oh well. I made sure I gave him a good dark brown wash, though, so that would help out with some depth. His face, hands, belly, and feet were done in dark brown with medium brown highlights. Even though he didn't turn out perfect, I still like the miniature and how it looks.

    Plastic Stargrave mini on the left, Battle Valor metal on the right - enjoy the metal much more!

While going through my post-apocalyptic figures searching for suitable rebels, I found several left over unpainted from my Followers of the Dark Prophet survivor gang. One of them had a very cool heavy weapon, so I picked him out, cleaned up his extensive flash and mold lines as best I could. I decided to go with a more desert look for his color scheme. Starting with a white headdress and face mask, I stepped down a shade in lightness for each layer. The cowl that covers his shoulders was done in a light tan, the tunic in a dark khaki, and the pants in a lighter brown. His boots were dark brown. I pulled out the micron pens to give him some decoration and really like how he turned out. This is probably my third favorite figure of the batch mainly because of how his color scheme turned out. 

Finally, I put together another one of the Stargrave plastic figures. I was initially thinking he would be a leader type, but now I'm not sure which figure I want to be the leader for the faction! I chose one of the heads with an interesting helmet, and then gave him a pistol in his right hand and some strange zapper looking device in the left. Once he was all assembled, I had to choose colors. I decided to go with the light olive for his tunic and gray for his pants. One thing about the Stargrave miniatures: they don't take dry brushing well. The detail is simply not deep enough, I feel. It is too smooth. I tried to give him some decoration and ornamentation a bit, but he didn't turn out quite as exciting as the others.

Still, throw in the 3-D printed Mon Calamari guy and this is going to be a pretty cool looking squad! I've very happy with how it turned out. Now, I can finally say I am truly done with painting the player's initial factions. I promise! I will still have lots of Sci-Fi terrain to work on in the upcoming weeks, but the miniature part of the project is completed. In fact, I am working on a set of three Sci-Fi buildings right now that would be quite at home on Tatooine. 

With this batch completed, I am firmly in the green on my Acquired vs. Painted. I think I can say 2024 is going to be a "Plus" year where I finished more than I bought. I like how it makes my purchases more focused and will definitely continue this next year. 

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 235  

Playtest 'Saga Lite' - Viking Raid

    Saxon forces advance against Viking raiders to protect their town from being looted

Ever since first playing Saga a number of years ago, I was struck by the simplicity of the "bones" of the game. You have just a handful of troop types, with each class being proportionally "better" than the others. The point system gives you fewer of these better troops and more of the lower class troops. I thought it would be a great game to teach folks quickly at a convention, except...! For when you put on the flesh and hair and everything on the bones, it does add a significant layer of complexity.

    Viking raiders were looking to loot the monastery (right), church (center) & livestock from the village

What if I strip that back off, though? Do I have a good, simple system for friendly multiplayer games or a convention to teach to new players? That's what this playtest was all about! I was considering running a Viking raid on an Anglo-Saxon village using "Saga Lite" at conventions this year. It gave me a chance to pull out my Saxon church, which I feel is probably still my greatest scratch-build, my monastery, and a host of Dark Ages buildings by Acheson Creations. 

    Viking archers advance through the town's fields, followed by the rest of the force coming ashore

The game would be set for three players per side, each controlling 4 points of similar troops in Saga. The Viking players would have one more unit of Hearthguard (elite warriors), while the Saxons would instead have an extra unit of Warriors. Twelve points of Vikings would face off against 12 points of Anglo-Saxons on a 6'x4' table. There would be no "Advanced Abilities" on the battle boards. Units activated could rest, move, shoot, or charge. I was also trying a suggestion from the Firelands Games Group of simultaneous Orders phases followed by alternating activations. Each Viking player would activate one unit, then each Anglo-Saxon player would do the same, alternating until all players had "passed" and were done.

    Allen's Vikings storm ashore and begin their advance towards the Saxon church in the center

Otherwise, all the normal Saga rules applied. How did it go? I think the only Basic Abilities and alternating activations worked well. In light of the alternating activations, I did change up the Orders Phase a bit. Players were free to leave all their Saga command dice rolled in the "Inactive Dice" section and simply assign one when it was their turn to activate. I felt that worked very well. One major effect I saw of this was the increased use of Combat Bonus. Players would answer their opponent's use of playing a Saga die on Combat Bonus with one of their own. This back and forth had a tactical component, too. More than one player would try to force another player to use his dice to even the score in Combat Bonus in the hopes of limiting how many dice their opponent would have left over when it came to Activations. 

    Mike S's Vikings begin their advance with their archers and lighter-armed warriors leading the way

Was that bad? No. It did slow things down a tad. However, stripping out all of the Advanced Abilities would doubtless cause more dice to be spent on Combat Bonus anyway, right? Since each player had one unit of Levy archers, managing their "Uncommon Dice" (which activate Levy troops) became a concern for players. All in all, I think the Saga Lite modifications flowed well. I don't think it unbalanced the game or slowed it down unduly. In fact, a three per side game of Saga Lite plays WAY faster than a corresponding one using Saga's own big battle, multiplayer rules.

    My warlord, left, watches the Saxon levy archers get into firing position, supported by warriors

As for the scenario, it was not the success that I was hoping it would be. I had created three looting spots for the Vikings to try to get to during the game. The church was in the middle of the board, the monastery on the Saxon left (capturing the monks and taking them captive), and the pigpen and stables for "animal loot" was on the Saxon right. I made the mistake, though, of putting them up against the Saxon baseline. As it turned out, there was simply no way the Vikings would be able to fight their way through the Saxon defenders and loot those spots. Each side had equal forces, so the Vikings would do well to simply inflict more losses on the Saxons (another victory point consideration besides the loot).

    My fellow Saxon Joel also pushes his troops forward on the left to delay the advance of the Vikings

We talked about it after we played the game and decided it we were going to re-run it, the loot spots should be put on the centerline of the table. Plus, perhaps the Saxons should have one point of troops less per player to give them a chance to drive off the defenders. In our game, the Saxons were actually winning and inflicting more losses. They knew they could sit back and simply wait for the Viking advance and use their Saga dice to shoot or charge them when they came close enough. 

    Keith, protecting his precious pigs, deploys his forces to guard the gaps between the homes

The game was fun, of course, but the Vikings had no chance of winning the way I had set it up. So, scrap the scenario for Saga Lite, but save the rules adaptions is my verdict! I actually have an idea of how to run a similar version of this scenario with a different set of rules. The players would ALL be Vikings, competing to garner the most loot, slaves, or provisions. I recently purchased Ganesha Games' Sellswords and Spellslingers for possible fantasy or semi-historical coop games next year. In this game, the opposition is played by the game's AI and cards. All the players are on the same side. 

    Saxon warriors and Viking hearthguard clash swords and shields as the battle is joined on the left

So, that's my thought going forward. Have all my players control a few Viking warriors or heroes and they're running around in a Saxon town fighting townsfolk, soldiers, guards, etc., to loot the place. Stay tuned and hopefully I will have a playtest of it before the end of the year. If it works out and is fun, I plan on running it at Cincycon, Drums at the Rapids and Origins Game Fair.

    Towards the end of the battle, the Viking "high water marks" is nowhere near the town's loot

In the meantime, stay tuned for a couple more updates. I am on to the flocking stages for both the 28mm Water Tower and my Rebel Alliance batch of figures!

    "LOOSE!" My Saxon archers in the center gave a good account of themselves, killing many Vikings

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 230  

    Allen in the center made a hard push towards the church, but the Norse dice gods weren't with him

Mega Miniatures Civilians for Modern Games

Random modern civilians from Mega Miniatures -- whose products you don't see much anymore   

Last week, after I'd finished the "Rebel Scum," I had a moment of indecision. Usually, the queue for what miniatures I want to paint is fairly well established -- at least for the next several batches. However, with being away on vacation and it taking very little time to complete the Rebels, I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do next. So, I dug through the various drawers of my unpainted lead and looked things over.

I was stumped. In my mind at the time, the Rebel Scum completed the Star Wars project. Since then, I've decided to do a separate batch for the "Rebel Alliance," as opposed to the local rebels (I would use the "Rebel Scum" for those). However, at that time, I believed I was done. The zombie project was done. I may add more survivors here and there as potential replacements when my players' current characters die. There was nothing I felt I needed to paint up for Xenos Rampant. It was too soon to start painting things for next year's big project ("Shhh - don't tell them, yet!"). I wasn't motivated to paint anything up for Saga. So, yeah, what to do??

    A 28mm (25mm?) Mega Miniatures skateboarder and a little girl -- both turned out fairly good, I feel

In the end, a batch of modern civilians from the defunct Mega Miniaturess caught my eye. I think I bought them in a flea market, as there were only seven -- not the entire set of 20 it originally included. I had the female jogger, male and female businessmen, skate boarder, lady with stroller, and other cool stuff. You can always use more civilians as eye candy on the tabletop, right? Sure! So, I cleaned this batch up and got them ready to be painted. Mega Miniatures are not the highest quality figures. Their niche was weird stuff that you might not find otherwise (like the modern firemen a friend gave me to paint up as a gang for Mean Streets). The miniatures were relatively simple with a minimum of equipment, so they should paint up quickly.

    The jogger was probably my favorite pose and the man in the suit was probably my least

And that they did! After priming with Gesso and painting the flesh on all of them, I did the first color on the whole batch. After that, I kind of went off script from how I usually paint and focused on them one at a time. The little kid with the box of cookies (?) -- I think it is supposed to be a girl scout, but I wanted the fig to be more generic -- was the first to get done. Next, I did the jogger, and quickly worked my way through them all. Even inside this batch, the quality of the scuplts was uneven. I think the kid and the jogger are nice, simple sculpts. The male businessman is awful, though, and looks like he's from a different manufacturer and figure line altogether!

    The stroller was a bit of a pain to paint up with its somewhat 'mushy' sculpting, but I like it now

The woman with the baby stroller ("pram" for my European friends) was probably the most difficult. It wasn't easy to tell what all the various parts of the stroller were in a couple cases, and the baby itself is so tiny and undetailed that it was a bit of a challenge. What's more, the stroller's wheels hang off the edge of the metal base like the back wheels are on the curb and the front is hovering over the street. I had to fix that in the flocking stage, and am fairly happy with how I built up the ground. I based all of the figures on the same 1" round plastic bases I've been basing my Sci-Fi stuff on. I guess I wanted to be able to toss them onto a Sci-Fi table as civilians, too!

    You can always use civilians in modern games, right? If nothing for eye candy on the table...

All in all, they turned out fairly well. By no means are they my favorite figs I painted this year. Hey, that reminds me, I am only a few weeks away from another "Year in Review" post! Not sure when these less than magnificent seven will see the tabletop. Still, they were a good time filler while I got my bearings on what I want to be working on. Much as I do with my day-to-day activities, I've now created a "To Do" list for both Minis To Be Painted and Terrain to Complete. It's sitting on my painting desk right now so I don't have that momentary indecision anytime soon!

With these seven miniatures painted, I am not on the positive side in my Acquired vs. Purchased. Those two Stargave boxes I picked up at ATC 2024 (40 figures, when I had no intention of painting them all) really set me back. Otherwise, what's next? I have begun painting the 28mm Water Tower from Bad Goblin Games. I've also assembled and primed five figures for my Rebel Alliance faction for Star Wars skirmishes. It's good to be back on track with a plan...ha, ha!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 226
  
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 230