Preparing for the Apocalypse!

Working on a Fallout/Borderlands/Mad Max/every Post Apoc movie you have ever seen game.  Got distracted while doing some research and played around in paint. Well, here is what I did...

Inspired by a similar image I saw somewhere on the Web.

Just Another Bughunt, Drums at the Rapids 2014

This past weekend was the HMGS-GL convention Drums at the Rapids. Organized and run by Doug Johnson and the Colby Street Irregulars group, and held at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg Ohio. It is, in my opinion, one of the best small conventions I have ever attended.

The HMGS-GL guardian on duty outside the Ft. Meigs Visitor Center.

My contribution this year was my newly finished "Just Another Bughunt" game.  The rules are simple and the players really only need a 3x5" roster sheet to play.  Loosely based on the Aliens franchise using Khurasan Miniatures' 15mm Space Demons, Federal Defence Force "Exterminators", plus a mix of 15mm figures from Rebel Minis, a few RAFM, and even some old Martian Metals figs from way back for civilian/Merc types.  The terrain is mostly home made or free card buildings from Toposolitario along with one one of Blue Moon's fine buildings, and craters generously provided by The Plastic Guys.  See my earlier post on how I made the mining facility.  There were five human factions with more or less similar objectives (some more, some less) and loads of "bugs" (unlimited really).  Designed for six, I ended up with  seven players total. We had five for the humans and two for the bugs. With players wanting to play the bugs I was able to focus entirely on my GM duties!  

The situation: Marines have landed near the Prin-Gles Mining Co. on mining planet LV-4347. It is a routine mission to re-establish contact or retrieve civilians if the situation dictates. At worst they are expecting just another bughunt. Unknown to them, there are other human factions who want to retrieve what is at the Prin-Gles Mining Co. research facility. Meanwhile, the miners, Sheriff Ric and his deputies, along with the other civilians, just want to survive.  

Everyone carefully watched the opening moves of the others.

Things went well for the human factions as the bugs got eliminated (as planned) almost as soon as they spawned.

The WY Corp. Operatives and the Colonial Marines form an unholy alliance as bug spawns increase.

Now things begin to come unhinged.  Bugs seem to be coming from everywhere (no one checked any buildings!) and shots start to fly between the human factions. Human casualties mount, as more and bigger Bugs arrive. 

The commo tower, only link to the orbital extraction ships, is ready to be breached as bug numbers continue to increase.

At this point, the WY Corp. operatives were wiped out due to poor tactics, and the Marines were down to just a few men. Still, the surviving PG Security relief force, PG Lab security, and the civilians managed to work together to fend the Bugs off.  If the remaining groups could negotiate their way to fulfill at least some of their objectives, they might all survive.

The Queen appears, leaps the power fence and attacks the gate while hordes of bugs gather.

In the end, the civilian survivors ran for the refuge of the lab building, while the scattered PG Security teams fought for their lives.  Unfortunately for them, the lone Marine Corporal (yes really), reached the now deserted commo tower and announced his plans to call for extraction and nuke the planet from orbit.  As he put it: "It's the only way to be sure."

I had a nice mix of enthusiastic players who all had a great time.  They all grasped the basic rules, if not the tactics, well.  But then, tactics take time to learn and we had some young players. Even the young lad who got wiped early ran off to get a hot dog and returned to watch the outcome of the game!  

Drums was a great event as usual this year with many outstanding games, run by great GMs. The only game I played was the 15th Annual Toledo War.  This is a "what-if" game based on the actual "war" of 1835-36. Played with some of  Doug Johnson's elegantly simple Home rules, this annual game is always a bloody affair.  It can literally come down to the last man!  This year it did, for Michigan!

My Ohio Militia on the right.

My Ohio Militia on the ground, while our cavalry flanks the Wolverines as the rest of our boys close in!

The lone surviving Michigander was then run down by the Ohio cavalry before his initiative came up.  It was a resounding victory for the glorious Buckeyes! So, the record stands at: 

 Ohio 10, Michigan 5!!!

The World at War Game Day at Ft. Meigs

The World at War Game Day is a fun little event that is held the first weekend in November at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, Ohio. It is a one day mini-con with a strong family focus.  Rusty, Ted, and I from the Black River Area Wargames Society  ran "Looking for Bigfoot".   The Toledo Blade was there and took some photos of the event.  Here are a few shots we took of our game.

Players chased Bigfoot with a civilian figure of their choice.

We tried to make the terrain as diverse as possible

"Looking for Bigfoot" is the brain child of Ted who is a really big Bigfoot fan.  No, I mean he's really big and looks kinda "Squatchy" (sorry Teddi couldn't resist)! The rules were a collaborative process between those two, their children, and myself.  Initial game development took place on the car ride to and from Historicon.  I was taking notes and could barely keep up with all the flying ideas!   When we got back I worked the notes into the semblance of a game and we started play testing.

At one point we had 3 Bigfoots running around!

 The action was fast and furious as the players searched for, then chased Bigfoot all over the place!  According to the feedback we got, from kids and parents alike, I think we succeeded in our goal of making it a kid friendly, challenging, fun game.  Everyone had a great time including us!

Martians invade NOWSCON

I ran my Victorian Science Fiction game at NOWSCON back in September.  Northern Ohio Wargaming Society runs a small convention every year.  They are a diverse group of gamers who enjoy playing all sorts of games.  The scenario I ran, Aristotle Down, is the same one I have run before at other events.  It is a large battle based on John Carter of Mars. I use Black Hat's wonderful 18mm Martian Empires range along with some trusty Old Glory Brits! My friend and constant opponent, Rusty was there helping me run things and taking pictures.  It seems we are only ever on the same side if we are the ones running the game! It was an intense battle full of surprises, and everyone had a good time!

Carl Scheu, president of NOWS (far right), plots a devious move while I go over things with other players.

Things get deadly around the downed HMSS Aristotle!

The British end of the board empties out.

Carl's Green Martians overwhelm some Imperial Martin cavalry. In the meantime, his Calots had gone ahead and overrun the British supply column giving his faction a victory!

Zulus at Historicon 2012

I have always wanted to run a game at Historicon. So, when my friend Rusty wanted to run his Myer's Drift scenario there and asked me to assist him, I said yes! The game ran Friday evening and we had a great bunch of gamers playing.  There were several no shows, but we still ended up having to turn away some who wanted to play.  Sorry guys, next time.

The main forces facing off across the Intombi River.

Our glorious GM "Sir Albert" surveys the pre game troop deployment.

The field of battle with assistant GM and one of our intrepid player.

 The scenario was based loosely on events along the Intombi River on 12 March, 1879.  For those not familiar with the situation the British, with wagons, were hit in camp at the ford, but some troops managed to get away and take cove at a local farm.  In this scenario they take cover at Myers station near the river, while the Zulus loot the camp. The British relief force arrives as the Zulus decide to attack rather than fall back as they did historically.  There was cover for the Zulus to sneak up on the Brits so there were some hidden units involved.  We were using the tried and true The Sword and the Flame rules, modified somewhat of course.

The opening moves...Both Zulu Horns attack.

Both sides were allowed to move all troops simultaneously for the first turn as opposed to the usual card based initiative. This had the players literally thinking on their feet for the first movement turn, and made sure the action started immediately. Both Zulu horns and the Zulu body rushed forward and the British relief force advanced.  The initial volley by the Brits was quite devastating, but the Zulu Impis persevered and actually returned some rather devastating fire on the Boers out on the British right flank.  After that we returned to the usual card initiative of TSATF.  Thanks to good initiative draws and high movement rolls by the Zulu they immediately closed the gap with their lead units to go after both flanks and the center almost simultaneously.

Impis swarm Myers station and advance on the British center.

Zulu luck continued and the British right flank began to crumble, due in part to some unfortunate rolls by the Boer commander.  The Brits coolly reformed as the Zulu abandoned their assault on the buildings and started coming for the infantry in the open.  The problem the Zulus faced was one of driving the Brits back too quickly which created a gap between the lines where British firepower quickly came into play.

The British reform and get ready for a fight!

There was a slight lull on the battlefield as the Brits re-dressed their lines, and the Zulu concentrated for the next big push.  The Zulu advance began to slow, and British marksmanship started to take its toll, but the Zulu commanders pushed forward despite their mounting losses.  

The Gatling gun never jammed once!

 The Naval Brigade and Gatling gun formed an important part of the line as victorious Zulus from the fight on the flanks caught up with their steadily advancing Body.  However, it began to look bad for the Zulu as British rifles did their work.  However, the Zulus again persevered and crashed into the British. They hit first on the British right flank, then on their left, all the while keeping the building occupied and threatening the center.  The hand to hand fighting became intense along the entire line as both sides hoped for victory.  Ultimately, the Zulus swarmed the British left, fought ferociously, and washed their spears in British blood! The result of this can be best seen in the photo below.

The British left is crushed!

By the time the British left failed, our time was about up so we had to call the game.  It was a Zulu victory, but the British still had some teeth left and might have pulled victory from what looked like certain defeat.  Still, the survivors were facing a rather large number of Zulu who had not been in action yet! 

In all, it was an intense, eventful, and extremely bloody affair!  At any given time it was uncertain who might win.  In fact, it turned into such a confused fight for survival that one British player did not realize the Zulu that charged him had been hidden. There were so many Zulu coming at him all he noticed was more enemies in his sights.  All our players were relatively new to the period, and the rules, but they enjoyed themselves immensely to a man! I have to say, Rusty and I had a great time too!  The credit for that goes to Rusty and his devious scenario planning, love for the period, and thorough play testing.

A grizzled survivor surveys the field.

Of course the (by now infamous) acoustics of the Fredericksburg Convention Center, and my penchant for talking, made sure I had lost my voice by the end of the night.  That said, it was a much roomier place to run a game than GMs usually get, and a more than adequate venue in my opinion.  I had a great time at Historicon, and I want to thank my friend Rusty for inviting me along and providing these photos.

The Steam Tank Project

Prussian improvised steam tank.

This is one of my latest WIP for the new Martian scenario.  My Prussians just did not have enough support vehicles so...  The chassis  is a Black Hat Martian Empires wheel kit for their steam tanks.  The super structure is card stock with some wood and  plastic bits added.  The gun is simply a Krupp field piece.  When it is finished I will get some better photos of the boiler side, and interior. Right now she needs a little more paint to be ready for action.  The plan is to use flags instead of hull markings so I can switch nationalities if I want.

Prussian steam tank with panzegrenadier option.

Here is the steam tank with troop carrying capabilities.  I was deliberately trying for as rough an appearance as possible (read poor modeling skills here), since this was all cobbled together on Mars far away from the European halls of industry!  The trailer wheel was cut from the core of a roll of receipt paper and the body  from card stock and various bits.  The rivets were an experiment with a seam marker from the sewing my basket (yes, I sew too). This is a handy device which has a handle and a small spiky wheel that I used to perforate some card stock in nice (somewhat) straight lines. Then I simply cut strips and glued in place. 

Sorry I don't have more photos yet.  I'm still getting used to this recording everything I do step by step thing.  My rather chaotic, completely unplanned, methods for this type of project are not really conducive to my recording them.  My engineer friend Rusty cannot believe I can make things like this without so much as a concept drawing.  I think it shows in the extremely rough, some might say crude, finished product.  My aim in this type of modeling is to get a reasonable representation of the object, for not much money or time consuming procedures, on to the game table.  I like to make terrain, models, and love to paint figures.  However, I also like to come up with scenarios, write rules, run games at Cons and our RPG campaign (Middle Earth...another whole topic), and just plain game...a lot!

The Martian Frontier

I have been working on my 18mm Martian game lately.  I'm testing a new scenario right now, but have not got the canals finished yet so no pictures.  When I get it all finished I will post some pics, and maybe a tutorial if I can manage it.  Anyway, here are a couple pics from one of the games we ran using my first scenario "Aristotle Down".  The rules were my own home rules Her Majesty's Martian Expeditionary Force or M.E.F for short.

The situation: The transport "Aristotle" went down in Syrtis Major.  The troops, and her cargo were relatively untouched, including the two new Gardener MGs.  The British have hastily fortified their camp, but there is a large force of Imperial Martians heading straight for them.  The Brits have cobbled together a relief force out of various elements of the M.E.F. , and is on the way as well.  However there are other interested parties.  The wild Green Martians and the Prussians are also very interested.  Where is John Carter when you need him?

HMSS "Aristotle" assaulted by red Martians.  Will they hold?

Part of the British relief force.

Imperial Martian artillery takes the high ground and opens up.

The British artillery answers.

Green Martians thunder in from the wasteland attacking anyone in their path.

Imperial Martian flyers at work.

The battle is joined in earnest by all sides as the Prussians arrive only to side with the Green Martians!

Imperial Red Martian Cavalry supports an infantry Utan.

The John Carter Brigade comes to the rescue.  On the side of the Red Martians!

 In this game the Brits squeaked out a victory, but it was very close.  Especially since everyone else basically ganged up on them!  Every time I have run this game it somehow turns into a bloody free for all!

Drums on the Mohican Game

Here are some photos from a game I ran recently:

The Raiders leave the farm.

 Rangers cross the Mohican.

 French and Indian re-enforcements move up.

The British stand ready.