Blame it on Clambo

This past Cold Wars I had the opportunity to play in Mark K.’s (of Daddy's Little Men fame) Saturday FireForce game, using 15mm figures and a modified StarGrunt II rules system.

As a result, I am now consumed with a desire to start a new period - 15mm Africa Wars, and yes, my sympathies are firmly with the colonial powers.

Actually, it was my objection to the phrase "Colonial Power" when applied to Rhodesia during Mark’s game briefing that saw me "assigned" to the Rhodesian Light Infantry command, with Megz (and another player) getting saddled with the ZANLA forces. The short end of the stick, indeed.

There were two other players on the side of the elected government: a father/son team that for once were neither annoying nor incompetent - a violation of the HMGS charter , I’m sure, judging on past experiences.

The scenario was pretty basic - ZANLA was interloping Rhodesian territory, intent on burning a church, and the Rhodesians wanted to kill them.

Mark did a fine job of combining GZG’s StarGrunt II with Too Fat Lardies’ B’Maso!. Both sides moved about using "blinds" to represent hidden movement.

The game was fairly low-key as far as action goes, though colonial warefare tends to bring out the worst in gamer trash talking; epithets like "savage", "pimp" and "honkey" flew like 7.62mm ammo, and this continued on the drive home.

Up to that morning, I had successfully evaded spending much on wargame goodies - the two sci-fi purchases on the top of my list either didn’t come to the convention or had not brought enough stock.

This changed after the game, when I began to search On Military Matters shelves for books on modern Africa as well as buying a Rhodesian Light Infantry shirt.

The last two weeks have seen me hunting down reprints of the Osprey Africa Wars books, digging out a book read two years ago on the South African 32 Battalion, acquiring Chris Cocks’ Rhodesian memoir Fireforce and roundly cursing Mark K. (aka Clambo) for starting this little landslide in my gaming world.

Thanks buddy.

And now, if you will excuse me, I have an order of AK47 miniatures going in to Peter Pig. Ω

Work in Progress - 15mm Grav-Copters

Normally I don’t like to display non-finished work; these have been sitting on my workbench since last November. If the topic hadn’t come up on The Miniatures Page, it would never occur to me to put up these pictures.

I've modified two Laserburn 15mm Scythe Jet Copters (available from 15mm UK) to take the wings of Force XXI’s Wraith VTOL Gunship. I realize that a grav frame mightn’t need to look like a ‘copter, however I wanted something that vaguely evokes the MH-6 “Little Bird” for a sci-fi version of “Black Hawk Down” scenario. That’s been under development since last October (I work slow, guys…)

The chin-mounted chaingun is from Stan Johansen’s 15mm/25mm accessories line. 4” clear plexi stands are from Litko.

I had thought to trim off the wing-mounted railguns, since the model is intended as a light support VTOL, but decided that the wings look better as Mel at Force XXI designed them.

Aesthetics are everything.Ω

Gaps in the Posts

Not much new hereabouts – early in December I was in the hospital with a record-setting blood glucose level (think “Battle of Hastings”…:D) but I’m much better now and, as my eyes have gone back into focus, I hope to be adding more posts soon.Ω

Into Every Blog, a little rain...

Khurasan Miniatures, a relatively new miniatures company, has recently entered the 15mm SciFi market.

Khurasan offers various “niche” sci-fi models, almost all of it off-beat. Some of these models are very nice – there is a swept-back grav tank that is very nice indeed.

Sadly, Khurasan doesn’t do so well in the field of customer relations, at least where I am concerned, or at least, not in my latest transaction.

After ordering the swept-back grav tanks, I noticed that the turrets were larger than I expected. Not larger than the picture showed, just larger than I expected.

Now, I like a certain “Traveller” look to my sci fi, and as many Traveller fans know, the later tech designs tend to have smaller turrets. Fortunately, or so I thought, the Khurasan website had different turret versions, so I contacted the owner (who doesn’t sign his emails, so it’s either Mike or John, but more of this anon) and asked if I could buy three alternate turrets. The reply, in toto:

“The pieces are not available separately.”

That’s it. Not even a “sorry” to dull the sting. Just a lofty, third person declaration. It’s not hard to surmise that the writer is thinking by the tone taken: “Next time, order the right bloody model.”

Tsk. Playing the blame game lets one party shift the blame and thereby relieve one’s self of any expectation for resolution. It’s best done when you already have your customer’s payment. I wanted to BUY extra turrets I wasn't looking for a hand out.

Also, this is my third order with Khurasan Minis - do I not get a bit of sympathy? A drop? ;) (Apparantly not - so siddown!)

Finally, I keep in mind that while Khurasan is not a big company, the owner has shown little hesitance to post on The Miniatures Page, usually often and at length. I’m not sure why his emails would take a different tone, although the idea that a customer complaint might create an adversarial response does occur.

So, armed with a sense of being slightly “had” (but only slightly - I did receive everything I had ordered - I just wasn't happy with it) I emailed back, explaining my dissatisfaction and disappointment. This resulted in a longer email explaining that all model pieces are cast in a single mold. Since Khurasan doesn’t cast in house, the owner couldn’t send any extra turrets without taking them from those models, rendering them useless.

Fair enough. Especially when you’re paying someone to cast your minis for you. I was a bit more mollified.

Hopefully, after some discussion, I was hoping that the owner might conclude that a little straight talk first is better than cryptic replies. (And if you think “cryptic” is too strong a word, consider how many other ways the question could have been answered (thusly:)

Dear Sir, unfortunately, our casting process does not allow us to sell individual parts at this time. Selling you “bits” would result in severe wastage for Khurasan Miniatures. We’re a small company, as you know, and couldn’t survive that kind of loss.

We do apologize.
The Man With No Name

Certainly a better reply than the first. Although anyone in business will tell you to sign your business emails, at least initially.

However, I then received an email from Khurusan stating that even if asked on the Miniatures Page, the Khurasan Policy (no substitutions/replacements) would still hold. Hey? I had only mentioned that Khurasan should try to keep his direct business emails as conversational (and not clipped and adversarial) as his TMP posts. Clearly, whoever is writing emails at Khurasan isn’t reading them properly, at least not mine.

To my way of thinking, there’s something suggesting unseen stressors at Khurasan Miniatures, and until these are resolved, the jury remains out. Either that or we have someone who keeps a different face on The Miniatures Page than he does in direct email with unhappy customers.

As a post script, the final exchange (aka blowoff) ran thus:

From: Khurasan Miniatures
To: kmfrye
Subject: RE: Notification of payment received
Date: Oct 26, 2009 6:55 PM

Well, whatever you think is best. Happy gaming!

------------------------------------------------

This is a thinly veiled "whatever!" and was in reply to an email wherein I clarified the point about TMP:

KMFrye wrote:
> Mike or Jon(?)
> I'm not suggesting that you would not apply a policy evenly, or make an exception for TMP.
> I'm pointing out that you post on TMP often and at length in a conversational tone, but your personal emails in this issue began terse and off-putting (even adversarial). I would have been less likely to feel badly treated if you'd explained why in your first response.

> Remember, none of us *need* your product, we only *want* your product. That want can change at the speed of thought, and you can have a big impact on what we think by how you talk to us.
> It certainly has on me - I was thinking about placing another order (parasarachnids, artillery tank) but I'm now put off the idea.
> Sincerely,
> Keith F.
> P.S. It wasn't going to be a very big order anyway, and the artillery tank can be represented off-board.
> P.P.S. Not signing your emails is very unprofessional. And evasive.

So, a note to self to beware any further trade with Khurasan Miniatures. I never did have a problem with him, until I had a problem with him. And when I asked for some satisfaction, I got a shirty, adversarial, kinda arrogant (though not really enough to be certain of that last - he might just be that thick) set of replies, which left me feeling…discarded.

Not signing emails – especially business emails – is unprofessional and evasive.

I wonder what Mike or Jon or whomever really is Khurasan Miniatures is evading?…Ω

Babylon 5 Full Thrust: Earthforce Sourcebook

Meanwhile, in Space, in an altogether different franchise…

Back in the Golden Days of TV Space Franchises. we would gather in a friend’s basement to play war games. But first, we would watch a series that told of the Third Age of Mankind, and a place named

BABYLON 5

(Cue dramatic music)
My circle of wargame pals have been Bab 5 enthusiasts since the mid 90’s. Me, I liked the pilot, though I must admit to initially only catching the last half. Anyway, we’ve been table-top gaming B5 for a good while.

When an invitation from my friend DJ (in gaming aka Ming the Merciless, and not because he looks like Max von Sydow) arrived to teach the Full Thrust system to his friend, Jay, I decided to teach it using the B5 Earth Force Source Book modifications.

The scenario was set during the Earth Alliance Civil War (and sometime before the episode “Severed Dreams”). An EA Loyalist patrol (commanded by Jay) of two Omega Destroyers and an Olympus gunboat encounters an EA Separatist patrol (commanded by DJ) of two Hyperion cruisers and an old Nova dreadnaught (these are the B5 side, cheer for them!). Each side’s objective was to clear the enemy from this sector (which happened to be the Euphrates Sector, but more of this anon).

BTW, Jay vs. DeeJay? Isn’t that a bit confusing? Such is the tragedy of a civil war…

Turn One: Both task forces began the game at speed 4, representing a normal cruising speed. The Loyalist taskforce enters through the jump gate, accelerates to 8, and deploys fighters. The Separatists also launch fighters. Both sides are evenly matched with fighters - this does not bode well for the fighter jocks.



Turn Two: Both sides fighters flashed forward, and immediately locked themselves into a series of furballs. The Separatists turned to starboard to attempt to keep distance, while charging up the lasers on the Nova. A single flight of starfuries slipped past the otherwise-occupied loyalist fighters to strafe one of the Omegas. The Loyalists accelerated (rather unexpected by both the Seps and the ref, who thought Jay might be more cautious, considering his first game and all…impetuous youth) and by doing so caught the Nova at medium range.


The Loyalist heavy lasers flashed, and an entire damage row disappeared from the Nova. Several lasers fell off, including those charging. Oh dear.

Turn Three: The Loyalist Olympus gunboat had zipped forward last turn, wee little railguns powering up. As the two rough battle lines passed, and pulse cannons exchanged a deadly caress, the Olympus discharged two high velocity depleted uranium sabots at the Nova. One struck, dealing two points of damage, which is really a pittance, unless it leads to a threshold check, which this did. More systems went down, fell off, or were sold off by the PTEN.

Turn Four: The Separatist commander considered that without his main laser platform (the Nova) his two cruisers were no match for the Loyalist taskforce, and accelerated for the jump gate. The Loyalists let them go, having a bigger fish to fry – a 2.5 million ton fish...a place named:

BABYLON 5…(cue dramatic tag music)…















Post-Game Thoughts

It had been about four years since I’d played the Full Thrust/B5/EFSB mod. Back in the day, we had migrated over to this from Babylon 5 Wars, a fun but somewhat slow game from the now defunct Agents of Games. Even back then, we tended to avoid using the elder races, as they were just too powerful for an enjoyable game. For FT purposes, we stick to the Narn-Centauri conflict, the EA Civil War, and some White Star – EA/Shadowtech scenarios.

Due to the nature of the conflict, EA fighters tend to charge into dogfights like English Civil War cavalry rush into melee, thereby removing themselves from the rest of the battle. Ah, this war without an enemy…

Fighters in Full Thrust are too effective as written for use in B5 games, so we usually halve their effectiveness – 1 die attack per two full starfuries. Starfuries are rated as heavy, so they take a hit on a 5 or 6, with a 6 eligible for a re-roll.

The scenario plan actually came from the FT/Traveller mod, Power Projection: Fleet. The PP:F scenario engine is useful beyond measure.

Losing his main laser platform is hardly like DJ on a normal day. Post-game discussion had us agreeing that the Nova should have been kept back, behind the Hyperions. This would have allowed the cruisers to coordinate their fire with the Nova, which could easily have knocked out an Omega Destroyer. Jay’s rapid advance caught DJ off guard – apparently Jay has learned from other games not to let DJ’s battle plans develop.

Upon seeing the miniatures, Jay commented that he remembered the Babylon 5 series from when he was a kid. Saying nothing, I could not help but notice the umbilicus trailing him as he walked about the game table.

Impertinent youth…Ω

Space Demon MADNESS...

Seems that everyone and his blogger has been fascinated by Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Space Demons.

And I am not immune.

I ordered a set of the Hammerhead/Alien hybrid with an idea to play some scenarios out of the Film "Pitch Black". To that end, I painted four of the demons in a pale sand colour:

(Sadly, my camera isn't quite up to capturing the detail, so I'll have to nick Megz's when she isn't looking. Still, you an see it's a nice mini.)

The second set of four were painted a pale dolphin grey. I couldn't decide which colour scheme best captures the beasts from the film.

In either case, I'm well pleased with the figures, and not half happy with the painted result.

Now to work on some colonists/crash survivors for them to terrorise. Ω

Just Another Bug Hunt…

"5150" from 2 Hour Wargames

This past Sunday, Megz and I had a quiet, post-Easter-dinner game using the 5150 rules. While I’ve read the rules through several times over, this was the first time I was actually using them - to resolve an encounter between a squad of Star Marines and a bug infestation, aboard a derelict freighter.

Using the Traveller Universe as background, the freighter I.S.S. Trope-McGuffin arrives in-system several weeks overdue. She was to deliver an important case of hamdingers to the Viceroy of the planet Torgo X. When she proves unresponsive to radio hails, a squad of marines is dispatched via cutter to investigate and if possible, recover the all-important hamdingers.

.

Oh, and find out what’s become of the crew. Carry on.

Using a combination of Denizen Federation Space Troops and WOTC D & D aberrations, I set up the Cargo Bay of Doom. One of six red cannisters was marked “hamdingers” and then placed randomly so that even I wasn’t sure where it was. Then, with a clang and a hiss, the airlock door opened and the marines entered.

Each marine was assigned a 5150 reputation of 4, which represents your average military, a jobbing squaddie just trying to get through a sidereal day in an uncaring universe. Reps range from 1 to 7, with 7 being roughly demi-godlike (Alice from Resident Evil 3 springs to mind - as she often does *numnumnums* - as does River from the film Serenity) while a 1 represents a particularly inept, sickly, or aged role-playing gamer type). The lieutenant leading the squad and his sergeant were rated as Rep “5”. The infesting bugs were rated as “4” as they too, were just trying to get through the day.

Turn 1 was spent with the marines advancing cautiously into the cargo bay, led by fire team 3 (aka “The Young Expendables”), while yours truly added to the atmosphere by making alien skittering noises under the table with his hand. Megz doesn’t much like bugs, so I would think my attempts at humour had a soothing effect on her nervous disposition.

Turn 2 was going smoothly – fire team 3 opened their red canister, but no joy. Fire team two entered the next floor tile and thus triggered an encounter. 5150 has a table (5150 has lots of tables, but let’s come back to this, shall we?) that has you generate numbers of xenomorphs randomly. Megz rolled a maximum encounter (and that was the last decent roll she made all night) and suddenly the marines found themselves being charged by large, spiderlike aliens from opposite directions – they were caught in the middle.

5150 has squaddies make a reaction roll as the aliens sped towards them:

“Holy f---, they’re chamax!” someone yelled into their comm unit.

The Chamax Plague, a nasty species of arthropod the size of a great dane, with a mouth like a buzz saw – an hungry buzz-saw.

Reaction dice were rolled.

And everyone froze.

Except the bugz.

Oh bugger.

Xenomorphs in 5150 move at a constant 12”, whereas a human moves at 6” to 8”. You can see the potential for troublesome interactions.

The squaddies of team 3 just stood there as three chamax rushed them from the shadows.

Turn 3 – fire team 3 ran for the stairs to the upper walkway, while team 1 took the charge from three chamax that had rushed out from under the platform. One chamax was knocked back while another took an “Obviously Dead” result. Time to check for where the blood sprays.

“Don’t tell me they have acid blood…” said Megz.

“All right, they don’t, except this one, which does.” Quipped I. Megz was not amused.

The acid blood splashed on the floor harming only the finish (I just can’t have nice things…)

Turn 4. Team 2 was getting frightfully chewed up. The chamax were rated as Rep 4 and “vicious”, which meant that in melee, they are given an extra d6 advantage. A squaddie throws two d6 to successfully roll his rep (or under), while a chamax rolls three dice (including advantage). There isn’t really any “wounded” result in 5150, either a figure is dead, alive, knocked down or out of the fight. (Out of the fight is similar to StarGrunt’s “Incapacitated” – you don’t know how bad it is until a medico looks at it…)

From atop the walkway, a hail of grenades rained down. The way she was rolling for firing, Megz decided a little area-saturation was in order.

Standard grenades in 5150 seem like they’ve been neutered by the game designers, possibly because the rules governing their availability are relaxed – if a squad has them, they have all they need (kinda like the US army – take all you need but use all you take, we’ll make more)… Grenades have an impact of 2, so you must roll a 2 or less for a grenade to be effective once you hit. One more chamax burst, spraying acid blood.

Turn 5 (and wrap) – the grenades had some effect, as did the Eltee and Leading Sergeant entering the mix. The last two chamax died messily. Five squaddies were down, and the marines had only explored two tiles.

Megz was not amused.

Then I told Megz her squad had really been whacked by a random encounter, there were more chamax waiting on other floor tiles.

“How many more of those things can there be?” asked Megz.

“Well” I said “the ship’s probably full of them. The rules say that we roll two d6. You could be outnumbered by two-to-one.” (In my mind, I had already replaced the “Bugs” table with the Xenoform table to avoid the possible outnumbered-four-to-one result…)

Megz was several-light-years-from-amused.


Post-Game Thoughts
“To Hit” in 5150 is non-intuitive. All skill checks are based on rolling Rep or under, but not so ranged combat. You must roll a 10 on a d6 to score a free-and-clear hit (you can roll a hit on an 8 or a 9 , but some cover will negate the success). You do this by adding the firing figure’s Rep. Or not, as the dice would often have it. Little square bastards.

Possibly I’m jaded by StarGrunt and the Full Metal Anorak system, but it would seem to me to be more consistent to adjudicate a hit using the same skill system that REP is based on. Pass 2d6: hit in cover, Pass 1d6: hit in open. This would require the use of a saving throw, which to me seems faster than searching for a chart.

Grenades – I’m inclined to dispense with the “Everyone’s Got the Grenade” rule. With the availability of Litko tokens, keeping track of grenades should be a simple task. In doing so, I’m inclined to give a standard grenade an impact of 3. Or possibly not.

There. Are. Too. Many. Tables…
Truly.
Or so it seems to me. Possibly we’ll get the hang of it in the next game, as the author often maintains this will happen when posting on The Miniatures Page. We’ll aye see….

Plans for the next 5150 game will involve two sides of opposing sentients, to provide a more traditional feel to the firefight. Probably Imperial Marines vs. Zhodani, sans warbots (since 5150 doesn’t cover bots, just yet).

Right now, the jury still deliberates on 5150. Does it simply read better than it plays? Ω