Battle Brother Captain Solidus Mercesius and Venerable Dreadnought Ladislaus Crassus

I finished two more of my salvaged Space Marines, bought used from the Troll Trader. They spent a few months in the stripping tub and turned out quite okay after the painting process.

They join my Turul Rangers custom chapter. I know technically the terminator guy is a lieutenant, not a captain, but he's humble enough.

The Last Knight Ep. 1. - Red Fox in the Sheep's Pen

This month I promised myself to play at least one game. Naval and sci-fi games are preferred because they require less prep work and fewer models!

On my Battle Campaigns blog I wrote a small summary for a sci-fi space battle campaign featuring the forces of rebellious Mars against the oppressive Earth Government. Thus the time has come to launch that campaign.

In this first scenario, the squadron conisisting of MSS Phoibos (Cmdr. Ian C. Nisom commanding), MSS Sub Rosa and MSS Walkyr, without fighter support, arrive at a junction point in dead space where they expect much EarthGov civilian traffic. Their goal is to hurt EarthGov shipping as much as they can, without risking their own skins.

The theme of the entire campaign is asymmetrical warfare: the Martian Sphere squadron does not get replenishments and any damage made against them is permanent. EarthGov forces are dispersed but get a lot more reinforcements during the campaign.

I use pre-made Lego ships which I built from scrap parts of multiple sets, including Star Wars ones.

I set up a simple entry/exit point system: the MS squadron enters the table first, and then each turn a new ship arrives until I exhausted my current stock. I just set my existing models in a row and picked them up in a sequence for their order of entry. There are no EarthGov capital ships in this scenario. 

The entry points are numbered one to six, starting from the bottom right corner and moving clockwise. I roll a d6 for each ship's entry point. A civilian vessel may exit the table safely by moving to the opposite entry point (so 3 to 6, 1 to 4, 2 to 5 etc.). An EarthGov Navy ship may exit via the opposite point or its point of entry. MS ships entered the table at point 6 so that's their extrication point as well.

Let's see how the scenario goes!

A Chance Find

You might have noticed that I added two more of my blogs to the right sidebar:

"Battle Campaigns" is a miscellaneous blog to find my solo campaigns in one place instead of leaving them around R&C.

"Llamamen vs. Squirrelmen" is a pulp/sci-fi/grimdark future parody project that stems from my bored maths classes in grammar school.

I have added the followers widget to both, so please do sign up if you are interested.

Now as it happens, we went to Lidl this weekend and they had a big shelf full of Hot Wheels vehicles for about 1.90EUR/piece. I dug in... and found a diecast model of the JJ Abrams version USS Enterprise NCC-1701. I couldn't leave that behind, and got another one too.

They will be repainted to more agressive/military specifications, and join the Jazygian Space Navy, to stem the tide of advancing Squirrelmen and Llamamen. As per my approximations, the ships should be about cruiser size (I think the original Enterprise was classified as such). 

How did ST ships reach the Squirrelmen end of the universe? That should remain a mystery for a while.

I'll scour other Lidls too, in hopes of finding some more.

...And now, for something completely different

Some time ago I purchased a group of twenty WH40k Orks, used, from a local shop. They are 2002-ish, based on the imprints at the bottom of their bases. Some young person painted them enthusiastically, but rather badly. I stripped them, reassembled where necessary, and gave them a lick of paint. 

I did not want to go overboard, especially on the various clothes, so I chose a rather simple paint scheme, with red as the defining colour. The remaining ones will have blue and yellow accessories, so they can fight against each other and tell the difference.

I do not have any non-Ork opponents for them just yet, but this, of course, might change, in relation to the other projects I have planned.

Krustacean War Fleet

And now for something completely different...

The Great Empire of Krustacea was founded some 10,000 years ago, on the remote planet Casserole-MDV-835. Its origins go back even further, to the mad genetic scientist Dr. Schnauzer von Blauberg. He moved to said planet to conduct illegal experimentation on shrimps, and as a result, his test subjects gained intelligence, soon overpowering him. Many millenia later, Krustacean war fleets are roaming the galaxy, spreading fear and mayhem.

This is a 50pt fleet for an escalation campaign I have designed to play with my brother, based on One Page Fleets. The models are built using scrap pieces of balsa wood and toothpicks. I did use some more complex techniques like dowels and joinery in the procedure, finishing off with two layers of PVA, then an iridescent turquoise-blue-green paintjob. The beads representing the cockpits or somesuch are a thrift store find. Please come along and inspect the various units of the fleet below!

Jazygian Space Navy, Sweetwater Squadron

Following a lengthy discussion with Edward under one of my posts about One Page Fleets, I've quickly published some rules amendments and options, and then proceeded to build a small-scale 50pt fleet. They are made from various bits, including a GB plastic shield, balsa wood and a gutted DVD player.

15mm Sci-Fi: Finally Fighting

While we played with Lego models before, this was the first outing for my 15mm sci-fi forces. We fought two battles: one, a Stalingrad-type game that was a bloody win for the Darwinists against the Rebels with Orc weaponry (the DU had one artillery unit remaining on the entire table).

15mm Sci-Fi: Medium mechas

Put together this pair of scratchbuilt mechas. They're very menacing. One is Beta and has a death's head on its shoulder armor, the other is Lambda and has a very threatening blue flower.

They serve in the Darwinist Union's land forces. A medium mecha is very useful in Easy Sci-Fi because it has good firepower, defense and two or three hit points. Its hindrances are its low mobility and firing range. The Union uses them as support for their heavy mechs.

Anybody who can identify three or more parts (other than plasticard) wins two Internets. The little circular things on top are especially risky, so I can tell they're made of wood.

During the last week I was pretty much dead with a swollen throat that first infested my lungs, causing a bronchitis then my left ear, so now I'm eating antibiotics that could purge all of the bugs on an elephant. The exams continue. See you soon.

15mm sci-fi: Tree Monsters

This is the army that was effectively made with no cost. I went out to the woods and collected a bunch of dry twigs. Based them, washed them with green and added a coat of PVA for protection and extra ugliness.

They are for 'Easy sci-fi' and are grouped as such:

Left corner - Medium 'mechas'

Center - Heavy 'mechas'

Right corner - Artillery

Middle row - four pairs of 'tanks'

front row - infantry teams.

More spaceships

First of all a battle between an invading Space Worm fleet and a forlorn hope Darwinist Union battlegroup.

Parents went to the city one weekend and as they had the advantage of the car's trunk and a good hobby/paperware store was close I asked them to bring these 100x70cm black card pieces. Very good for spaceship gaming. 

Space Worms Death Fleet

There are some days when you just want to build a Space Worms Death Fleet.

There's a large walnut tree on the neighboring parcel which reaches over the (otherwise very ugly concrete) fence. I've collected all the walnuts when they fell off the tree. The insides of most were eaten, either by the wildlife or us humanoid lifeforms. This also means I had the idea at least since November, but haven't gotten to it because I ran out of green stuff. Now I ordered a good amount, glued the pieces together and filled the space between them with GS. 

15mm Sci-Fi: buildings and vehicles

A quick post to let you show my latest paint works (OK, the dreadnought was done months ago, I just kept forgetting to include it in a blog post). Some miscellaneous buildings, a Matchbox tank and a WH40k dreadnought that will be used as a heavy mecha. The infantry guy is there for scale.

The buildings are rather simple. Some boxes, tins and whatnot glued together and painted. The bullet dents on the tin are actual bullet dents, and the rust effect was achieved with an umber wash over a gunmetal surface.

The Matchbox tank was a lucky find I believe and the paintjob is acceptable. With the dreadnought I had some problems but in the end it looks acceptable. It was bough on ebay, originally a part of the Assault on Black Reach starter set and it was comparatively cheap (and a one time only sort of acquisition).

Painting diary XXXII.

Hello and a late Merry Christmas to all the people of blogland. During the short (for me) holidays I had not been idle and completed this bunch of stuff that I posted earlier. 

This is the Ortosilian artillery train with two Gribeuval guns and a multi-purpose cart.

Giant Murder Mecha

You could see spoilers at the end of the previous post - now here the great murder mecha is in all its clockwork glory! I had asked at a previous scratchbuilt what you thought it consisted of, but this time it would be too difficult I believe - so I would like to grab the opportunity and tell in detail what I've used for this model:

15mm sci-fi: Darwinist Union Battlegroup

I have had some spare time and lots of unused models so I built a human force for One Page Sci-Fi. These are going to be part of a large campaign (hopefully), when all enemy factions are done, to test the campaign rules I have written. I've gone with a blue/grey pattern on everything: like the ships, the flyers have a blue main colour while ground units are mainly grey.

Darwinist Union Space Fleet

The Darwinist Union is a democratic alliance of human-inhabited planets at the furthest end of the Universe. The humans reached there through a wormhole and began their rule on a small number of planet systems. The current regime tends towards an expansive policy and currently huge amounts of money and resources are pumped into the starfleet and the military. The fleet has a number of standard ship variants and as the navy's colour is blue, the ships are painted like that. 

26 ships made out of plasticard and match sticks - very simple designs but I imagine warships wouldn't look like Age of Sail ones - modern warships and planes have very simple, ergonomic designs as well. 

I used a black undercoat (sprayed on some, brushed on the majority), a mix of VGC Wolf Grey and VMC Prussian Blue, a blue glaze and brighter highlights - nothing too fancy. Some ships have cosmetic damage but this just gives them a war-torn look.

Martian Rebellion Campaign Ep. 2. - Zaqasdari Incursion

The united Martian-Terran fleet has to cope with the xeno threat. The battlefield is kind of 'hard terrain' with a large asteroid field and an ancient shipwreck occupying the centre. 

The Zaqasdari have a slight disatvantage in points which they make worse by moving in linear formation. The opposing fleets station on the two sides of the asteroid field and plan to launch their fighter squadrons throughout the field impassable for larger units.

Two small notices before continuing: first to welcome Warlord Paul, the 77th follower, and to tell I am not entirely sure I will be able to finish this campaign because I plan other uses for the Lego material involved - an Age of Sail naval game along the lines of One Page Fleets. Working on some terrain right now, well perhaps I could scratchbuild some ships too.

Martian Rebellion Campaign Ep. 1 - Viribus Unitis

The Martian Red Fleet was well prepared for an attack of the Terrans. They knew too well the conflict won't end peacefully this time. However the fleet commanders did not favor the violence with which the Overseers met, there was just enough patriotism in them to launch the fleet, trying to intercept the Terran attack. 

That attack came soon enough. 

The Terran centre of battlecruisers moves forward slowly.

Martian Rebellion campaign - rules and background

We are at the beginning of the Space Age: Earth is ruled by the Federal Nations' Overssers; mankind's first colony is the terraformed Mars, and outposts had been built throughout the solar system. A good two hundred years ago a fleet of colonists left Earth, seeking for other habitable planets, but no news were heard of them. 

After warp speed had been made possible for humans, so-called warp holes spawned around Sol in the outskirts of the system, and sentient aliens appeared - one species, the Zaqasdari being aggressive, while the others look for trading and forming new alliances. These Zaqasdari usually appear, cause some trouble then leave with their massive ships. These actions called for the commission of a united Martian-Terran fleet, together a formidable force of several types of ships.


Before continuing, I strongly advice to check out the magnificent Back to the Minis blog  where giveaways are held and the prizes are worthy of a comment. A non-paid advertisement this was.
Also check out the Principality of Schultze-Böhnstadt where I uploaded two battle reports with tons of pictures.

Thoughts on OPF (One Page Fleets)

This little rule set is made for space combat with the aim of being simple and fun, both of which it manages to achieve. There are a few observations though which I'd like to share, had anyone got the idea to use them.

Here's a link to the rules in PDF. Written down they really take only one page. 

Dice beating highest. When rolling an obviously higher die (example: 7 on d8 against a d6), it saves some time to apply the damage directly instead of triggering an opposed roll.

Flanking speed& Aft shields critical save. When a unit's die is d4 on DV and is shot in the rear 90° of its perimeter or performed a flanking move (and according to the situation it would be interpreted as d0 - a single hit, no matter what the defensive roll is, would destroy these units, which is really unfair), no attack die is rolled, but the unit being attacked rolls 1d4 and remains on the table if scores a 4.

Above, a photo of the first test game with various ships engaging each other.

While I am used to play with an I go, you go mechanism (where one player is the agressor and by winning initiative is able to move all his troops at once, and the other player may only react to these) the movement sequence used by OPF is alternating movement between single units or fighter squadrons of each player which sort of defines the whole gameplay and requires more situational awareness (as it really matters which unit a player chooses and where that unit is moved on the table). It also, surprisingly, doesn't give such a good flow of events as the games in which one entire army is moved then the other one follows. Combat is more fragmented.

Here's a shoutout to two new readers, Geordie an Exiled Fog (blog here) and j.d. (blog here). Welcome aboard guys!