7TV - The Fafnir Operation

The Vegemate; Salty-Good Lurker in Darkness

Since this past Cold Wars, I have been working on a Secret 7TV project,  which I revealed at Fall In! this past weekend. The project involved a grass green Shoggoth from RAFM, a super-spy codenamed "Duchess" and his "quadroon" companion, Agent Kane, an Industrial Spy with No Face, a Violent Sadist, a Promising Middle Manager and a dozen or so armed corporate minions...oh, and a 28mm North Sea oil platform.

It was "The Wreck of the Fafnir Alpha".

Taken whole-cloth from the 7TV 1st Edition "United Radionics" Programme Guide scenario "The Fafnir Operation", I ran this game twice (as is my wont). The scenario revolves around an experimental oil platform suffering from an insurrection, provoked by the Faceless Industrial Spy, actively under suppression by the Promising Middle Manager, aided by the Violent Sadist, with the Super-Spy & Friend seeking an advantage, all whilst being menaced by the Grass Green Shoggoth.

UR Corporate Troubleshooters dig in. Figures by Crooked Dice

As the reader may judge, attempting a play-by-play AAR would be nigh-impossible. The result of the first game was the Faceless Industrial Spy was able to escape through his ability to morph his features and the judicious use of an event card. The Super-Spy and Friend were captured by the Middle Manager and Violent Sadist (oh, DEAR!). Many robots and minions died, and the Grass Green Shoggoth went off, sulking and hungry.


In the second game (in which we ran out of time) many robots were destroyed, only to re-appear on the rear edge of the Troubleshooters by a despicable exploitation of an event card's text (brilliantly done, BTW). The Super-Spy and Friend did Somewhat Better, the Faceless Industrial Spy did not escape, many minions died, and the Grass Green Shoggoth AGAIN went off, sulking and hungry, and vowing never to play these naff rules again.

"Ah. Ms. Kane. What a nice set...of pistols."

In both games, the Corporate Troubleshooter team (led by the Middle Manager and Violent Sadist) won with the most VPs.

"Duchess": Beat down by John Chalice and Ian Ogletree

Other high points - using an event card to remove a stairway, thus forcing the Super-Spy and Friend to jump. Nice. Another card (Re-shoots) called for shifting several extras a few inches, resulting in several robots tumbling off the platform and into the North Sea (and you wondered why an occasional Dalek is found in a bog every now and then...)

Robot Bites Dog

Post Game Thoughts:

Fun Scenario, Fun Rules. One of my players (Ed W.) also runs 7TV in 15mm, using the 2nd Ed. While I have been resisting changing the rules, at Ed's encouragement, I will give 2E another look.

"BOSS! Behind us!"

Also, I plan to run this again at Cold Wars, with some Mods.

There will be objective tokens, some mobile, some not, to encourage the Corporate Troubleshooters off the helipad and into the scrum....Ω

TRAVELLERcon/USA 2016 Miniatures

This year's TRAVELLERcon/USA had a smaller number of miniatures games played, but there was still a nice representation.

Pictures below are from Bill P.'s Aslan Vs Centaurs game. I did not get to play - from what I heard, it was a great deal of fun. Bill also has some very nice buildings that he doesn't deserve that he's fortunate to have, and they add quite a bit to the past-future mood.

Bill uses his own home-brew rules, called "Bill's System" or "B.S." which makes me want to publish my "Keith's Rapid and Point-based System" or KRAPS. Time will tell.

Also notable is Bill's use of the same model grav tank as I use for the Aslan - for more of Bill;s work, HIE THEE HENCE. Bill's aesthetics are excellent and coincide precisely with mine...Ω

Return to the Cargo Deck...of DOOOOOOM!

This year's past TravellerCon provided a great opportunity to break out the Cargo Deck of Doom, a generic setting for 28mm Traveller (or indeed, any Sci-Fi) miniatures, and I was able to run two games with rather different results.


The cargo deck itself is composed of cross-stitch mesh, painted gray, on foamboard. with various bits of cargo, and platforms (by Dwarven Forge) providing cover and points of interest. The card-stock raised walkway is from an Italian company (Century XXXI Barricades) and is OOP. I'm sure a resourceful gamer could contrive the equivalent with something in MDF board.

This is essentially a bug hunt scenario, except, as in Soviet Russia, the Bugs Hunt YOU.

To keep it interesting, the boarding party (in this case, the lousy, stinkin', dirty Zhos) are instructed to search the cargo area for a hidden diplomatic pouch (or Cosmo DNA, or Ruby Slippers, etc.) The referee can mark the cargo to indicate the desired goal, roll randomly, or, as I did, use a small bingo/poker chip.

"3 metres is IN THE ROOM!"

The scenario is on with which most old Travellers can empathise - a bug hunt featuring the Chamax horde. The last time I played with the Chamax, I used the 1st ed 5150 rules set. This time, I used Full Metal Anorak, a beta-version of the scaled-down StarGrunt II rules from Ground Zero Games. StarGrunt II is free for downloading - buy some miniatures from Jon at GZG if you like them.

I recommend interested readers use their solid skirmish rules of choice. FMA was never released commercially, as a result, IMO, of "too many cooks". I suspect, someday, there will be a free PDF available. Hope springs eternal...

Even in it's old beta-form, FMA was more satisfying that 5150. Both groups said they really enjoyed the game. That gave me a happy.

Post-Game Thoughts

I ran an encore game the second night (Saturday). The first group had been fortunate in their rolls, the second group somewhat less so. Being psionic, the Zho command was ably to pass actions outside of the normal FMA command radius. It was also amusing to watch the Zho commander telekinetically lift a cargo barrel and slam it down on a chamax - the resultant acid burst killed two adjacent bugs as well. Nice.

"Err...Mr. Rico?..."

For future games, I'm going to make the chamax slightly easier to kill - death on serious wounds or better. It would also be fun to add some Imperial opponents, marines and navy crew, to give the Zhos something else to worry about...Ω.

GZG 15mm Vilani Imperial Officers and Staff

Between phases of building my next 7TV extravaganza, I was able to finish some Vilani Imperium officers, staff and gunners.  Included in the photo is an old Force XXI ACV Infantry Carrier.

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games and Force XXI

These are from GZG # SG15-J14 and SG15-J15, being part of Jon's new updated Japanese Corporate release. They are smart little figures, and I'm looking forward to deploying them as part of my Imperial 484th "Nusku" Infantry Brigade.

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games and Force XXI

Animation: 5
Detail: 5
Proportions: 5
Variety: 5
Overall: 5 out of 5

Miniatures by Ground Zero Games

The two chaps on the single "squad" base are from the initial, pre-2014 GZG release. They are fully compatible with the new sculpts - though they lack some animation...Ω

Downing Street has Fallen: The Invasion

Last week saw Megz and yrs truly visiting the WAMPS (Wargame Association of Metropolitan Philadelphia) and running two sessions of the 7TV scenario "The Invasion".

Inspired by multiple invasion plots from such series as Doctor Who and The Bionic Woman, this scenario depicts an attempt by the maniacal Dr. Argo to kidnap the British Prime Minister by employing his mechanical terrors, The Argonauts.

In a nutshell, Dr. Argo is using his Argonauts to kidnap the British Prime Minister (played herein by Lindsey Duncan).


We were using the 7TV First Edition - there is a 2nd edition which seems to be designed for faster play (from what I gather, mainly in how the information is organised). Having finally put a few 1st Ed. games in me hamper, I'm happy enough with it and unlikely to migrate the 2E, at least not yet.

Outside Downing Street - Mrs PM under duress.

The gate to Downing Street is from a model train scenery set. Funnily enough, I purchased the set back in the 90's, and it lay unused in a box for nearly two decades. Even funnier, I couldn't find it, so I had to track down the company and buy another one. Eh? Because it's perfect, that's why.

Argonauts Advance

All figures used were from the Crooked Dice range, with the exception of the PM - that came from the Space Vixens from Mars range as Mrs. Plumber. I painted her as Mrs. Thatcher - admittedly, Britain's first and only female PM was elected in 1979 - but that'll do, Mags, that'll do. I have another fig I can use as Ted Heath if I want to set the scenario earlier.

A squaddie about to be torn between two mechanical lovers...

Building facades for the end of Downing Street were constructed from foam core/board with either paper or thin plastic sheeting for details. The gray basswood buildings were purchased about ten years ago from a hobbyist at a convention - I plan to paint them white to simulate the Ministry of Defense buildings across the street.

The general melee and firefight. The Army's Laser Team has arrived, bottom left.

The scenario is taken from the 7TV Programme Guide "The Argonauts" and features such surprises as Fembots infiltrating as innocent bystanders, only to open up with a twin set of Vickies, I mean Vickers. The army is supported by a Department X laser rifle team (changed from the as-written bazooka team) which proved capable of destroying an argonaut with a single shot.

BTW, I've registered this game for NJ.Con on June 10th...

MK III Mechanical Smackdown: Incoming

Mrs PM escapes her captors...on the #14...for now.

Invasion of the Argonauts

During the last week or so, I was able to paint up some figures for the Crooked Dice 7TV programme: The Argonauts.

These mechanical menaces are the creation of the insane scientific genius, Dr. Argo. Maimed in an experiment gone horribly wrong, Argo dispatches his minions, dubbed "Argonauts", to visit death and destruction upon his enemies, real or imagined.

"Bronze, Iron and Steel..."

As a counterpoint to the brute strenght of the Argonauts, Dr. Argo's more insidious creations: The FemDroids.

"It's colder in here than I thought..."

With synthetic flesh, armed with 36mm double-D cannons, these alluring automatons specialise in "surprise attacks against soft targets."

When the face-plate drops, all bets are off...

Both Crooked Dice sets were a delight to paint. The Argonauts are packeaged with an additional alternate head - allowing for the creation of a "Cyber-toaster" from the classic "Cattlecar Galaxia" relaunch. 


The FemDroids each ship with a single head - two humanlike, and two with exposed circuits and LED eyes.  All four sport retro-1960's hair.


Plans are to have a sufficient Argonaut force to assault White Hall in a 7TV/Dr Who crossover: Doctor Who and the Invasion of the Argonauts...Ω