It's Dangerous out in the Wastes...

Hello folks, long time no see! It's been a busy summer with lots and lots of gaming, painting, swimming, hiking, fishing, and generally having fun with the family and little time for posting on the blog. Until now...

I had a chance to get together with an old friend who I don't see often enough, and who is pretty new to gaming outside Warhammer 40,000 (which he hasn't played since 4th edition-nor have I). We have been getting together more often recently and I talked him into a game using my Pig Iron sci fi minis and using Disposable Heroes: Point Blank.

The scenario is an Outlander (previously miners) ambush on a Federalist Militia troops convoy. I wrote the scenario with a random element of determining attacker and defender. Both players roll a D10, add their T&E score and consult a chart. The winner determined who was ambushed and the difference in the rolls determined the set up and starting positions of the forces on the table. This difference allowed for a meeting engagement (on a tie roll) to a perfectly executed ambush with hidden forces and a completely unprepared enemy. Both sides could potentially be the ambusher, though the Outlanders had the edge due to their T&E bonus.

I posted some pics of the forces involved before here.

The forces were the miners (I call them Outlanders) from Mining Unit 454 and the forces of the Federalist Militia. I envision the Outlanders as tough, experienced, and wily opponents used to hardships and brutal life and combat in the wastes. They are expert ambushers and use concealment, subtrefuge, and hit and run tactics to win against their foes. Their weapons are durable, simple, and easy to maintain, though not very high tech. They have no higher support weapons, no communication networks and no supply chain. They are humans though, and though their outward appearance, and reputation, casts them as inhuman mutated monsters, they are actually normal humans. They live a harsh, but noble life and use the fearsome reputation of their savagery to scare their Federalist enemies. A select few of their population are actually powerful shamans who can control the weather and elements of their Outland environment (they are rumored to be able to summon and control the dead-called wastewalkers-but this is unconfirmed). The most powerful of these shamans can cause psychic shocks and conjure powerful winds of the wastes, as well as telepathically communicate with their comrades. Unlike the Outlanders, the Federalist Militia are conscripts pulled from the vast reaches of the human Galaxy. They are often undertrained, underpaid, young, scared, and unmotivated to fight for an empire that is always waging an eternal war across some lonely speck of a planet on the wrong side of the Milky Way. They have the best weapons, equipment, vehicles, and support in the galaxy. Their communications, logistics, and heavy support network located on orbitally based ships is impressive enough. However, at the end of an Outland day on the dark side of the planet, they are still unmotivated troops fighting against a determined enemy on a planet the conscripts never heard of and don't want to die on.

On to the game! I allowed my friend Tom to choose, and he liked the look of the Outlanders, so I took the Militia.

For the scenario, we rolled off and ended up with the Outlanders ambushing the Federalists. The scenario is based on an Outlander assault on a supply convoy. One of the results of the chart is the possibility of a Federalist trap based on a fake convoy loaded with explosives. This result did not come up in our game, but I like the possibility that it can.

The game began with the Outlanders deploying on either side of the convoy which was allowed to be set up by me at one edge of the table along the road running down the middle of the table through the blasted remains of an ancient human town.

Here are some pics of the action with captions to tell what happened. I wish I had gotten more quality pics, but all I had was my phone. Hope you enjoy!

The game was a minor Outlander victory. They captured some of the supplies, but despite some casualties, the Federalists ended up holed up inside the town, most likely calling for reinforcements. The Outlanders beat a hasty retreat to the wastes to fight another day!

 The convoy picks its way carefully through the ruined town, wary of the hills and likely ambush spots. Their scanners are running hot, with life signs coming in nearby...

From their position on the hill, the Outlanders prepare to fire on the convoy...

 The Plasma cutter gunner charges up his weapon and blasts two perfectly aimed shots into the sides of the supply trucks, killing the driver of each truck and bringing the convoy to a screeching, charred, and fiery halt.

The Militia platoon leader issues the bailout order. The ramp drops and half a squad of militia run out...

 

And right into the face of a mining hard suit attack! The Outlanders have rigged their old mining suits, excellently armored and easy to modify, into armored fighting suits equipped with flamethrowers and plasma drills. The mining hard suit rushes over and easily chops a gaping hole in the cab of the militia Armored Personnel Carrier.

 BOOM! The APC goes up, with the rest of the surviving squad bailing out the back. The Militia Squad Automatic Weapon immediately goes into action against this threat and several rounds penetrate the armor of the mining hard suit. Despite the fire, it's not out of the action yet!

The Outlanders pour fire and merciless shamanic attacks of psychic power at the Militia. Several militia are cut down or suppressed. 

The Shaman then conjures up some of the dreaded wastewalkers to his aid and sends them at the enemy. The Militia manage to cut down a few before they reach their lines, but one gets through and eats an unfortunate Militia whose gun had jammed and who had been suppressed by the shocks of the shaman's attack. Up near the front of the column, the SAW gunner destroys the mining hard suit in a hail or hardened armor piercing slugs. However, his comrades at the rear begin to take withering return fire.

Outlanders pouring fire down into the enemy...

The reason for the ambush? Supplies! The Outlanders pull a truck along side the convoy which had been disabled by the plasma cutter's shooting. They perfected this tactic of using one of their own trucks to pull alongside convoys because the Militia had developed security measures that automatically shut down Federalist systems on board trucks to prevent them from being used by the enemy. A commanding officer could request an orbital system link to shut down any system feared to be captured or used by the enemy. This was also a handy method of calling for direct orbital fire support on the GPS tracked trucks. The Outlanders knew from experience that the Federalists were perfectly willing to fire down onto their own equipment and obliterate any Outlander foolish enough to stick around too long to loot.

"Just pull up here and I'll unload!"

The end of the game. My friend Tom (seen here) wins a small victory over my hard pressed Militia. I cut down the mining hard suit, shot up an Outlander truck (not pictured) that tried to make a dash towards the convoy, and I secured a pretty tough position in the ruins of the town. From there, Tom found there was little chance the Outlanders were going to win the fight by assaulting me. Turns out, they didn't have to...the position of the supply trucks outside the town at the rear of the convoy meant Tom was able to sneak up and steal some of the supplies. However, he was only able to make it off the board with one truck's worth, since the other truck was well covered from the positions in the town and he wasn't willing to risk any more casualties to my fire.

It was a great, tense game with a good friend.

Zero Sum Oblivion.

Hello again. It has been quite a long time since I updated the blog. I have been pretty busy working on projects but haven't had time to post updates about them. Sticking to my plan no matter how tempting other distractions were, I recently finished several projects at once. For 28mm sci fi in anticipation of Chalfant's Zero Sum Oblivion sci fi rules from Iron Ivan Games, I finished up some of the Pig Iron Miniatures I will be using for Outlander Miners and Planetary Militia Forces.

I am basing my sci fi setting on a mineral rich planet that had been terraformed and colonized centuries ago by a group of hardy frontier miners. However, after years of isolation from control by any central authority, the miners quit working and have begun attacking government forces in a bid for planetary independence. After years of living in the outlands of the planet, these miners are tough, resourceful, and savage in their desire to resist. They excel in ambushes and the individual miners are skilled fighters able to blend into their surroundings as well as live off the land using the barest resources and outdated technology. The government forces are made up of unskilled, unenthusiastic, and mostly young recruits from off world drawn from across the planetary system. They are cannon fodder for the war machine. They are well equipped and armed, but die like flies.

A savage war of resistance is waged across the barren landscape of a planet once terraformed and teeming with life. Now, after solar storms, the industrial waste of mining, and devastating war, the planet's surface is mostly burnt grass, shattered trees, rusted iron rocks, and gleaming crystal columns.

The miners once worked to remove the highly prized Cobalt Crystals used in starship jump drives. The miners who originally settled the planet were guaranteed the freedom to sell to any planet they wished under the terms of their own contracts. Once the planet became isolated and lost contact with the other planets in the system, the miners turned to survival by underground farming, and their mining operations lapsed into disarray. With the return of the government and demands for new sources of crystals under severe restrictions in contracts, fixed prices, and forced labor demands, some of the mining teams have refused to return to work. Unit 454 was one of these teams, and they have since gone into the wastes to ambush and attack government forces whenever they can.

It's going to be a long war...

Here are some of the pics of the first units in the armies. First up are the miners. I used Pig Iron's Kolony Ferals as the basis for my mining forces. These models are covered in the tattered remnants of their mining gear. They wear the outdated, but rugged life support mask. They are equipped with the standard self defense rifle. It is a robust, accurate, and easy to maintain design. They proudly retain their mining unit number (454) on their clothing. The layers of cloth are worn in a way that allows them to blend into the dusty planetary terrain and is colored similar to the rusty iron deposits found across the planet. When they attack, they rise like ghosts out of the ground. Some of the miners have even been reported to display strange shamanistic abilities. One of these shamans has been rumored to be able to control the dead...

All of the miniatures are from Pig Iron, with the gas mask cables being converted from power cables from Dragonforge Miniatures modelling supplies.

Here are some pics of the militia forces. These are also all Pig Iron Miniatures from their Kolony Militia range.

The Militia are backed up by some vehicles from Old Crow Models range of 28mm vehicles. These kits are awesome. The resin is great to work with, they go together easily, and they take paint like a champ. Unfortunately, it appears Jez is currently limited in what he is selling due to real life business obligations. But if you can get a hold of these models, do it. They are excellent.

 And last but not least...some terrain to fight over. I still need to finish a lot more rocks and crystals, but the basics are done. The rocks are just railroad ballast taken from some train tracks near my old house. They are painted gray but I layered on several base coats of rust browns and oranges and then drybrushed successive layers of dark gray up to almost white for the final sharp edge highlights. The grass is all green static grass drybrushed with a bright orange color to make it look dead. The crystals are from Acheson Creations range of 28mm fantasy terrain. They come in a variety of colors. I chose the emerald green crystals. They come in a bunch of neat shapes and sizes as well. I need a bunch more of these...

2012 Spring/Summer Projects Preview.

Now that Cold Wars is over and I picked up some new lead to add to the pile, I thought about the projects I want to do for the coming Spring and Summer.

I have been painting a few individual figures here and there as test models for brand new projects. They are a motley assortment of WWII, Sci-Fi, Old West, Weird War II, and Moderns. Here are a few pics to preview what I will be up to as the weather gets warmer.

Early War SS.

Buffalo Soldiers. (cue Bob Marley).

Kolony Militia Test Paint.

Goumier.

The Sarissa Precision Charcuterie (butcher's shop).

AT-43 Red Blok Kolossus converted and turned into Weird WWII "Iron Ivans".

Iron Ivan tank hunter team.

The barrel on the grenade launcher has been replaced with a turned tapered plastic barrel to make it into a 37mm ATG.

Dust Tactics "Luther"

Dual Pak 43 ATGs. Is that overkill maybe?

Oh good, this one only has one Pak 43...

The Project List for Spring Summer (in order of what I want to finish first):

Mordheim Kislevite Warband (using Old Glory Cossacks-the old OOP GW models are WAY too expensive). 15 models.

28mm Buffalo Soldiers group for our club Old West project (Artizan Designs Miniatures). 10 models.

28mm Early War SS (Warlord Miniatures). 30+ models.

28mm Early War Brits (Warlord Miniatures). 30+ models.

28mm Kolony Militia and Rebels (to help Chalfant playtest the forthcoming sci-fi system from Iron Ivan Games-tentatively titled "Zero Sum Oblivion"). I also picked up some vehicles to go with them (Old Crow Models). 50+ models.

28mm Modern USMC in current day operations gear (Eureka Miniatures). 14 models.

28mm Moroccan Goumiers (Artizan Designs Miniatures). I want to do some conversions for these to add heavy weapons that aren't currently available and to add some variety so they are usable from Italy all the way through the Vosges Mountains campaign and into Germany 1945). I really look forward to this one. Painting the traditional striped hooded pullovers they wear is really fun. 30+ models.

 28mm Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais (Warlord Miniatures). 10 models.

More Dust Tactics and AT-43 stuff as it becomes available and I can find it.

Ongoing: Finish the rest of the Sarissa Precision French Village I started...