The Night Stalker in 28mm

 

No urban game set in the 70s, which included supernatural elements, would be complete without including a certain newshound who, in the opinion of his editor, "looks like he just came from a road company performance of "The Front Page."

The character is question is, as you have doubtless already concluded, one Carl Kolchack, reporter and journalist, and associate of the Independent News Service.

An excellent proxy model can be found at Pulp Figures, in their "News Hounds" pack, which also includes a potential Obstreperous Editor, plus sundry other Front Page folks.

For 7TV1 purposes, I would use the "Investigative Academic" profile, and purchase 3 Luck points. Our Carl always seems to be able to pull himself out of the fire...Ω

WIP: Columbia Rumble II - The Droogs of War

 

As the Holidays approached,  my wife suggested that the dining room table (upon which rested my partially complete 28mm streets) might be a better choice for Christmas dinner than sitting in the parlour, eating from TV trays...

Her logic was inescapable.

So,  I decided to have one more scrum before I boxed up "Lockdown City",  to await next year's convention circuit...if any.

As an interesting aside,  I've found that setting up my WIP urban terrain for six months did *not* encourage me to finish it - I just moved on to other projects. The Boulevard is now going back into the workroom,  where I will once again start painting bricks and mortar. 

Using the 5PfH supplement Gangwar, along with Full Metal Anorak,  I randomly generated the next opponent for the Africanus Agency: 'Roid Gangers.  Giving some thought, and considering that Gang War is a generic Sci-Fi setting, I decided to use the Friendsies from Crooked Dice, to represent the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange.  In Gang War, they are rated as 'Psycho' and, hopped up on Milk+Vellocet, rate a d10 Toughness, are armed with heavy melee weapons, but only a single figure has a firearm (shotgun) as fire support.

 Additionally, as I could see the repetitive aspects of another solo game, I added an additional mission from Mean Streets, by First Command Games: Bring Him Back Alive; an associate of the Africanus Agency was stranded in hostile territory, and needed an escort back to HQ.

Of course, "hostile territory" can be a relative term - in this case, Clancey Clark,  the Agency's "Banker", had stopped for a barbecued-pork sandwich at a local bistro...that was deep in the enemy gang's deployment zone, while the 'Roid Gangers descended on the West Boulevard.

Miniature by Brigade Games

The Game:

The first two turns were spent either hunkering down behind some cover (if you with the Agency) or advancing headlong towards melee, (if you were the Droogs/Gangers) your leader shouting vaguely Shakespearean insults about 'vengeance arising from a black and hollow shell..." or some such.

"These cats wear cricket whites and talk fancy - probably from Drexel..."

Reverend Bright moves to set up a cross-fire.

Turns 3 and 4: Once the Gangers entered effective pistol range, the Agency let them have it. Due to the chemicals in their bloodstream, the Gangers were difficult to put down, but a suppression is a suppression, and the hail of gunfire slowed them a bit.

The shotgun-toting devotchka, having fallen back to cover by the '63 Oldsmobile, let loose a blast that suppressed Alonzo. 

Turn 5 and 6: It was here that the dice, once again, failed me. I'm not entirely certain what the odds are of rolling two ones, twice in a row, but it sure felt personal. In any event, any advantage the Agency had was now lost, as the Droogs had initiative, threw off their suppression, and charged into melee.

Once again, Dame Fortune uses me a hussy...

Interestingly enough, while I had been dreading a melee, it was in melee that the Agency's higher quality made itself known. Defensive fire from Afrodite Jones had dropped Dimitri-the-Droog during the charge, leaving Leader Alex to attack alone. In FMA, melee resolution is decisive, and a bad roll is often not only a miss, but a self-wound. This is what happened now - Leader Alex bombed out on his melee roll and received a critical wound. 

With their leader and henchman down, the Droog's morale broke, and they scarpered off back up the Boulevard. The Agency had made another permanent enemy. 

"Time to head home for a bit of spatchka..."

Their secondary objective, Clancey "C-Note" Clark, following the gunfire, came sidling up the pavement, up to the nudie bar. He had cash for the Agency, and by his clock, it was lunchtime.

"Hey guys! They're open for lunch!"

Post-Game Thoughts:

This was a quick game, with the Psycho Droogs advancing toward melee and closing by the end of the second turn. Without a lot of firepower, they just muscled their way into the teeth of all that Scipio's posse could throw at them, only to be taken down by rotten melee dice. While I found it a bit anti-climactic, that's life on the Boulevard.

Mean Streets is a useful supplement for the combined Gang War/FMA rules set, and introduces primary and secondary missions to the street fight, also a means of incorporating police reactions - especially to gunfire. I'll need to paint up a few more Coppers, since when they arrive, they arrive in force...Ω

            

Finished 28mm Civilians for The Boulevard

 A wet October weekend hereabouts gave me the time to finish several small painting projects: One being some civilians for my urban-style 7TV/Gangwar setting: The Boulevard. These will also serve as additional investigators for my 1970s Call of Cthulhu game.

Pictured herein are some modern civilians from Old Glory's Civilian Pack 1. While OG describes these as "32mm" they're really closer to 28mm, and are shown next to some 28mm Crooked Dice police for scale.

Figures by Old Glory and Crooked Dice

These where cleanly cast and fairly straightforward to paint - a series of earth tones, blue jeans and polyestre. I plan to add a Jimmy Hendrix decal to the shirt of the guy in the red & white jacket, once I gather up enough nerve. 

28mm Figures by Old Glory Miniatures

28mm Figures by Old Glory Miniatures

The kid in the middle is another photographer - this one is a young cub, like Jimmy Olsen. I like the James Dean hair. The woman on the end is another favourite of mine, wearing that "Casual with Jacket" look of the late 70's.

The other projects compleated this past weekend were for my D&D game. Those interested are invited to view my Fantasy Blog: Countless Hours of Real Effort...Ω

WIP: 28mm Columbia Rumble

Most of my readers already know that I don't like to show gaming on unfinished projects - it's simply one of my little peccadilloes. The lock down, however, has me stalking about the house, muttering like the mayor from "Jaws" - "Get past Memorial Day...Maybe we can save the summer...etc..."

And so I decided to have a wee scrum, using Nordic Weasel's Gang War rules and Full Metal Anorak, setup on some terrain that will eventually look like 1970's West Columbia Boulevard, Philadelphia.

Please excuse the foamboard pavement and unfinished buildings. Also, don't mind the gaps - they will be covered with crossing lines and other road markings.

Scipio's Squad L to R: Scipio, Ravelle H., Afrodite J., Alonzo H.

The scenario was generated using Gang War, with some modifications to make it less Apocalyptic. Five orange "Points of Interest" were set up around the 4-foot square playing area. These are either worth money ($100 each), are worthless, or result in a hazard (large sink hole, crazy wino, crack head, etc.) As these can remove a figure from play, they are best collected after resolving all game combat.

Also, it's a smoggy night, and all missile ranges are limited to 9".

Scipio "Africanus" Norton and his agency squad are cruiz'en the hood, collecting debts and looking to keepin' it peaceful, when they spot a group of Tong Boyz fixing to expand their territory. The squad sets up to defend.

Red Elephant Oriental Boyz

"Get some cover!"

The Boyz are the Red Elephant Tong; in FMA terms they are Trained/Motivation 3, with some Improvised Hand Guns. They are rated for Gang War as 'Aggressive', meaning they will advance on their opponents by half their movement at least, and will use available cover. Their leader is rated Average.

The Boyz advance

Scipio and his Agency are slightly better - all are average, with MOT 3, and armed with pistols, except Ravelle (who is rated 'Trained' and armed with a shot gun).

Turns 1 and 2: were spent with the Tong Boyz advancing and Scipio's Squad taking cover (using "In Position" markers for an additional bonus).

Alonzo and Afrodite take cover by the Chevy Chevelle

The Tong Boyz gather by the Pontiac.

Turn 3: Two of the Tong Boyz peeled right to flank Afrodite and Alonzo, who have taken cover by a 1970 Chevy Chevelle (as seen in the 2K release of "Shaft"). The leader and his two Tong-mates took cover by the phone booth and yellow Pontiac. Ravelle fired his shotgun at the lead Tong and missed. The Tong returned fire at Ravelle (crouching by the cab) and managed to knock him out/seriously wound him. "This game is rigged!" he muttered as he passed out.

"Do Not Scratch the Trim!"

Turn 4 and 5: With Ravelle down, Scipio was outnumbered. The lead Tong member fired, missed and then charged. Scipio shot him down...mutha&#@%!  This while the two Tong flankers, sheltering in a burned out building, negotiated the uneven ground over the two turns.

"One Saturday Night Special, coming up!"

Turn 6 and 7: Scipio put the charging Tong down, when the leader followed in a shoot-then-charge moment. Scipio was hit, but shrugged it off ("Ain't no thing at all...") and capped the leader with a Spectacular Death.  The rest of the Tong failed their morale, except the phone booth shooter who charged. 

"Nuh-uh man. Big mistake..." BLAM!

Turn 7 (continued) Scipio took a point blank shot at the charging Tong, and missed. The TongBoy then failed morale, and ran for the cover of the phone booth. Scipio put one into his back, and the TongBoy went down. That was enough for the last two survivors, who fled down the boulevard.

The result was a clear victory for the Agency. They made an Enemy of the Red Elephant Tong Boyz (We'll Be Back!), but between picking up POIs and winning the scenario, they netted $600. Ravelle had a local "Doctor" check him out, and the wound was light, only keeping him out of the next tussle.

Scipio was thinking "It doesn't get much better that this..." when his fav'rite bar suddenly opened for business.

"The Light is On and I'm Open for Business..."

"Well, Aw right!"

Post Game Thoughts:

This scenario was originally being prepared for a 7TV 1st Ed. game, only I hadn't finished adapting those rules from their British oeuvre to an American, Blaxploitation-themed one. Full Metal Anorak is flexible enough to handle this well.  Nordic Weasel's Gang War, though set in a post-apocalyptic world, also adapts well to handle a vigilante campaign, revolving around a neighbourhood "fixer" and his cohorts.

The odds are in favour of our protagonists. Despite that, Ravelle went down in the first exchange. I made a mistake with the Tong leader, as I should have sent him down the right side with the other two Boyz - I thought about just arbitrarily moving him, but then I heard Scipio (in my mind) say "Don't you mess wi' them figures, boy." I decided to let the action unfold automatically.

There was a bit of after-action drama - one of the POIs turned out to be a hazard...

"We Had a Noise Complaint..."

A successful Save vs. Int and a Franklin disarms the situation...Ω