An Interview With Scott Pyle Author of Blasters and Bulkheads

By Eli

Hello all,

A while back I had a chance to interview Scott Pyle, author of Blasters & Bulkheads. 

If you are not familiar, B&B is a science fiction skirmish game that focuses on the sort of wild and crazy Space Opera adventure common in film and TV series as well as pulpy stories. The game plays with as little as a hand full of figures per side and utilizes the very entertaining Goalsystem rules. It is scenario driven game where objectives are key.

Thanks to Scott for the interview and if you haven't given Blasters and Bulkheads a try, please do. It's a treat.

1.       For those who do not know about B&B, can you give us a quick description of the game concept, in your own words?

In Blasters & Bulkheads, players use the Goalsystem mechanics to play out Space Opera style skirmishes in either 15mm or 28mm.  The game contains versatile, "build-your-own" rules that let players use whatever models they want from their collections. Rules for weapons from primitive to high-tech allow for just about any flavor of sci-fi players want, but with a mostly cinematic feel. You could play a Star Wars style skirmish just as easily as you could a a 40K or Inquisitor style battle.

2.       What would you say is the optimal number of figures needed by a single player to have  good game of B&B?

Five models per side feels best for me. But players can use as few as 1 or 2 models per side, up to as many as 20 or 30.  The Henchmen rules Goalsystem is famous for mean you can move a lot of "mooks" around very efficiently. 

3.       B&B was a pretty solid game to begin with. Why the new edition?

B&B 1st ed. was solid, but it still had some holes.  I wanted cleaner layout better suited to Lulu's print on demand process, a new cover, and slightly less emphasis on aping the tropes of a certain popular space opera series.  I kept Essence as one "source" of weird powers, and added in the idea of Psionics as well as an alternative.  I really wanted to make it so folks could do Inquisitor style skirmishes too.

4.       What would you say are the major differences between 1st and 2nd ed?

A lot of little things. Superior layout and cover artwork.  New mechanics for hacking, giant monsters, and destroying structures also add extra detail.  I added a few new powers as well.

5.       The 1st edition rules seemed very much designed to engage a very specific science fiction franchise that took place in a galaxy far far away, was this the plan and does that carry over to the new edition?

It still does, but as I suggested above, it's been broadened a bit to include other sci-fi tropes.  You can certainly still have your Essence Warriors running about slicing up the Minions of the Galactic Hegemony, that's for sure!

6.       I am a fan of both gritty sci-fi as well as Space Opera, will B&B work well for both?

YMMV, on this one!  You can use the build system to tailor games to your play style.  Want weaker characters?  Start them with less Vitality or lower damage resistance.  Or increase the Damage Numbers on some of the weapons.  B&B has enough dials to allow folks to tinker with the lethality to create killer games. 

7.       I know this is always a tough question, but what is your favorite element of B&B?

I love the character build system!  You can build just about anything, and we include rules for making your own new traits to add other stuff in as you see fit.

  

8.       What do you think is B&B’s strongest point(s)?

Versatile character creation, consistent mechanics, and a slant towards story-based skirmish play.  I like to think of B&B as adventure skirmish role-play in the same vein as some of my other games--SuperSystem and Goalsystem Delves.

9.       One rule, I really like is the Henchmen. Would you mind giving us a brief rundown on the concepts of these rules.

No problem!  The Henchmen rules work under the concept of many models moving and acting as a single model.  So your band of 5 nameless guards (5 being the starting, default size for a group), moves and acts as one model.  You make one attack and one defense roll for the whole group, for example.  If the group takes 3 points of Vitality loss, you remove 3 models. You can buy up a henchmen group to as many as 15, 20, or even more models.  It all depends on your collection of miniatures!

10.   B&B is very setting and scenario oriented. Does this mean we might see expansions of specific genres, an “in-house” setting or campaign books in the future?

Oh yes!  My partners Enrico Nardini, Joseph Dragovich, and I see a lot of potential to tailor the B&B rules to specific sub-genres and settings. Rico is getting ready to launch his own line of miniatures, Dark Vacuum. And we'll be doing write-ups for those models using the B&B rules.  I love the idea of a setting that features Xeno Anthropologists exploring lost worlds and discovering alien species and slumbering gods man was not meant to know about!  That's a possibility! 

Blasters & Bulkheads Part Four - The Review

Now that we've had some time to play a few games of Blasters & Bulkheads, it seems like it's time to give the book a detailed review.  Hopefully this will help anyone who hasn't made up their mind whether or not to buy this game.  I ran these points by Scott Pyle last week, and he gave me some very quick feedback and helped clarify a few design elements for me.  I've included his comments in the relevant sections below.

What works well

• Character creation is quite a bit of fun.  There's a good selection of background an traits, each one adding little wrinkles to the gameplay.
• It doesn't take long to pick up the core mechanics.  There are lots of special rules, but they only tweak the handful of core rules.  
• The fate dice are an amazing feature... they can really make a difference at times when you should be completely outmatched.  
• The vehicle rules are surprisingly robust for a game this size.  Usually these are ignored in skirmish games, or bolted on in a way that doesn't really work with the character-vs-character nature.  But they seem to work extremely well in this game.  
• The post-battle section is equally robust.  You'll very quickly see your characters develop their own personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.  And you get chances to improve them, without going completely over-the-top with upgrades and levels.  

What should to be tweaked

• A quick reference sheet of some kind would be VERY helpful.  I know I'm only two games in, but it seems impossible to play this game without a great deal of flipping pages.  Scott told me this is something they could easily create in the future.
• Having separate range bands for every 10cm doesn't help with the page-flipping.  I think this could have been simplified to fewer increments at 15cm each, but I'll confess that I'm not a fan of range bands in general.  Scott said the feedback has pretty much been that way - people either love or hate them.
• There needs to be a few more alien archetypes in this book.  Some alien figures in my collection would be easy to make (pick a human and give them heightened sense for a Khurasan Felid, etc.).  But how do you represent something fast-moving like a Critical Mass Astagar?  Scott pointed out there are rules for developing custom races.  He also said that a few more races and occupations would be great fodder for a future supplement, so that's something to look forward to!
• The standard movement value (6cm for humans) feels too short.  Essence Warriors aren't able to get into energy blade range for at least three rounds.  I'm going to modify it by using Ganesha Games-style movement (front of base to back of base).  Scott suggested trading fate dice for additional movement as another option.
• An FAQ will definitely need to be published.  There are a few situations I ran into that weren't addressed, at least not in a way that was easy to find mid-game.

What simply doesn't work

• I'm afraid this game simply isn't suited to solo play, at least in its current form.  The greatest weakness to solo gaming is actually the game's strength - the fate dice.  You only have so many you can use in a turn.  I found it was easy to favor certain characters over others by having one use all his fate dice and another "save his for later."  This is definitely a game to play with your friends/RPG group!

This all seems very familiar...

And just to get my biggest gripe out of the way... When you read the book's description and first few pages, you get the feeling that this game was designed to support any kind of space opera you could imagine.  A bit later and you start thinking the designers had a bit of a Star Wars bias.  Then you read a bit further... and the Star Wars analogs become completely overwhelming.

It's especially noticeable in the printer friendly version, which replaces the color photos with several quotes from notable characters.  Around half of these quotes are Obi-Wan Kenobi from the original film, just with a few words rephrased.  Two or three of those?  Sure, no problem, a great mood setter.  But so many of them?  Where are the quotes from Bad Reynolds, Captain of the smuggling ship Glow Worm?  Or a one-liner from Commander Spacebuck, hotshot fighter pilot aboard the Warstar Galacticus?  Seeing Star Wars quotes all over the book leads me to believe that it's only designed to emulate one possible universe, at least on a cosmetic level.

Scott assured me this wasn't the case.  They really did intend for B&B to cover a wide variety of universes.  The overwhelming Star Wars feel wasn't intended.  Why are so many of us getting this feeling from a first impression?  Well, Star Wars is the most pervasive space opera in our culture.  It's no coincidence that we see Star Wars first, even when a certain element could have been inspired by a different work.

The actual rules allow for far more flexibility (example: the Cyborg rules didn't remind me of any specific characters from Star Wars).  You certainly CAN create forces without any "Essence" Warriors" (Jedi).  But it seems you're only using 75% of the game's potential if you ignore that section.  Essence powers aren't an appendix - they are definitely a core mechanic of the game

But we have seen these types of powers outside of the Star Wars universe.  What about telepathic and telekinetic abilities in Babylon 5?  The power of certain artifacts found in the Star Trek or Stargate franchises?  The Essence Powers actually handle these quite well.  I just wish the designers would have taken some time to open the system up to a wider variety of universes.

Overall conclusions

Make no mistakes - this really is a great narrative skirmish game.  Playing a campaign will feel like watching a movie or reading a book - far more satisfying than "line up and shoot" or "occupy objectives 1-3."  I'd love to see this game grow and expand into a major franchise within itself - and it seems like Scott and company are on the job.  And it very strongly reinforces our belief that 15mm is the perfect scale for narrative games - not just for company-sized battles!

Blasters & Bulkheads Part Three - The Escape

This is the second AAR from my Blasters & Bulkheads micro-campaign, pitting adventurer Gann Helray and his Black Falcons against Beros, Chosen of the Shadow Worlds (see the forces I created here).  After the last scenario (full AAR in the previous article), Helray learned that an old flame was attempting to smuggle an artifact out of the spaceport of Zillium.  She is being pursued by Beros, who has been sent by the Shadow World Elders to retrieve the item in question.  The orders didn’t specify anything about keeping the courier alive - but the item must be retrieved intact.

BACKGROUND

Alina Jax had almost reached her ship when she caught site of Beros The Chosen.  She cursed the alien who paid her to steal this artifact - he had obviously lied to her about its origins and importance.  She’d have to pay him another visit... if she managed to survive the next few minutes.

Scenario Two Setup

This scenario takes place just after the last battle.  Helray’s alien companion Kwah’Koo was badly wounded (KO’d) in the last game, and operates at a speed and strength disadvantage for this battle.

This game is the second scenario from the Blasters & Bulkheads rulebook, with just a few minor changes.  In the book, both parties are trying to stop the Courier (basically a moving objective with character stats).  In my storyline Helray wants Alina to escape safely, so his side’s objective is simply to delay Beros’ forces long enough for Alina to escape.  Beros’ objective is to take the artifact from Alina before she can reach the ship.  She can move up to 10cm per turn, so Beros must act quickly to stop her.

Alina is a GZG Civilian Colonist.  A mix of other GZG and Laserburn civilians were scattered around the table.  Scenery is a mix of GZG Shacks, Battleworks Studios Startown Slums, and The Scene Desert Dwellings.  Alina's ship is a Titanium-series Battlestar Galactica Raptor toy (which I need to repaint).

ROUND ONE

Alina ran toward her ship at the start of the turn.  Helray won initiative and charged to intercept her.  Beros also charged directly forward.  Kwah’koo charged as well, but couldn’t keep up with Helray due to his injury.  Nazaeran advanced and had a clear line of sight to Helray.  He fired his Sun Gun at the young nobleman - Helray lost two Vitality.  Sarge and the Black Falcon Troopers couldn’t activate until the end of the turn (see last AAR), so the activation passed to Beros’ Guardian henchmen.  Beros ordered them to set their rifles to Stun and fire on Alina.  They weren’t successful due to the range.

Sarge caught up with Kwah’koo and took a potshot at Beros.  It was unlikely to succeed at this range, but Sarge likes saying a proper “hello” to old friends.  Surprisingly, he was able to knock a couple Vitality off the dark warrior.  Sarge ordered his troopers around a nearby shack, hoping to gain to a better firing position.

ROUND TWO


The spaceport civilians were now fleeing into their buildings.  Alina managed to find temporary shelter behind a rusted shack, still inching closer to her ship.  Helray won initiative again and caught up with Alina.

"Gann Helray... We must stop meeting like this."

Kwah’koo moved to a cover position with the Falcon Troopers.  Beros ran to intercept Alina and Helray, while Nazaeran advanced and fired on Sarge.  Sarge was hit for three Vitality.  Beros’ Guardians charged towards Alina’s shuttle.

Sarge aimed and shot at Nazaeran, but his rifle was no match for the Enforcer’s heavy armor.  The Falcon troopers took a firing position behind a pile of containers... all they could do was wait for targets.

"No, Trooper, you may NOT stop to pet the dog."

ROUND THREE

Helray escorted Alina to her shuttle.  They almost made it when Beros caught up with them.  He struck, draining two Vitality from each.

"What, you mean this package?  It's just a birthday present for your mother..."

Kwah’koo scurried to assist, but ended up in Nazaeran’s sights once again.  Kwah’koo had some miserable rolls for the attack - he lost six Vitality to the Sun Gun’s blast.  He was KO’d for the second straight battle.

"Dear Santa - Power Armor.  Soon . Thank you."

Beros’ Guardians attacked Sarge.  The dice finally went against Beros’ forces - the Guardians only rolled a single success on their attack.  Sarge happily returned fire, dropping three of the Guardians.

"I get the feeling they don't like us."

His troops abandoned their cover and raced to the aid of Kwah’koo.  They broke out his Med Kit, but were unable to revive him.

ROUND FOUR

Alina was unable to break away, and Helray couldn’t harm Beros.  Beros used his “disarm” Essence Power to grab the artifact from Alina.  He left the melee.  Once he was clear, Nazaeran slipped around the corner and fired his flamethrower at Helray and Alina.  They were both KO’d while still on fire... not an impressive end to their mission.

"Boss, you need anything?"
"An ice pack would be lovely. It's a little warm in the middle of this bonfire."

Sarge managed to shoot down the last two of Beros’ henchmen.  The Falcon Trooper who attempted to help Kwah’koo carried him back to the table edge.  Two Falcon troopers laid covering fire towards Nazaeran while the other two ran to extinguish Helray and Alina.

Sarge took a potshot at Beros, then assessed the situation.  The boy, the girl, and the blue thing were all down, possibly dying.  Sarge himself had also been wounded in the firefight.  He ordered his troops to grab the wounded and fall back... if they didn’t receive medical attention soon, the baron would probably execute Sarge for allowing his son to die fighting a Chosen Warrior.  

Beros and Nazaeran had no problem reaching their ship.  The elders would be unhappy that Beros’ Guardians had been killed, but he had accomplished his mission.  He had also dealt a blow to that Helray boy... a lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.  Nazaeran set course for the Shadow Worlds, and Zillium quickly became a speck behind them.  

Yes... that Helray boy was proving to be quite troublesome...

That's all for my little Blasters & Bulkheads field test.  A detailed review of the rulebook will follow shortly... in the meantime, pleas send flowers to Helray and Alina in the burn unit.


Cheers,
Chris

Blasters & Bulkheads Part Two - Shootout at Zillium Spaceport

Today we continue in our Blasters & Bulkheads series, using the two forces I described in the first article.  I’m going to make this first AAR a bit detailed - if someone familiar with the game notices that I made any obvious mistakes, please tell me in the comments!

BACKGROUND
Scenario #1 from Blasters & Bulkheads is a straight line-up-and fight set in a bustling spaceport.  A good learning scenario, but it doesn't offer much in terms of built-in background.  So here’s my own attempt at filling it out...

Kane Beros was recently chosen to wield the Shadow Blade, one of the most ancient and powerful weapons in all the Shadow Worlds.  As a final test, the Elders sent him on his first mission.  Alina Jax, a free-lance intelligence agent, was going to take posession of a small artifact in the spaceport of Zillium.  Beros was instructed to retrieve that artifact - Alina's life was of no consequence.  Since this was his first mission as The Chosen, the Overseers sent Nazaeran, one of their most experienced enforcers, to advise him.  Beros was allowed to take five of his best disciples for this mission - each one training for the day they may succeed him as The Chosen.

Gann Helray, a young adventurer and son of a prominent baron, had meanwhile been looking for a way to prove himself to the nobility.  His dearest friend Kwah’koo learned of Beros’ and Nazaeran’s mission, and they decided to act.  Taking out the Chosen would certainly earn Helray a title of his own, and Kwah’koo had long held some sort of vendetta against Nazaeran.  Helray ordered his bodyguard, Sarge, to grab a squad and accompany them to the spaceport.

ROUND ONE
I rolled for initiative - Gann Helray scored four successes on his seven dice (Mind 3, 2 for being the leader, 2 for the Born Leader trait) while Beros rolled two on his five (Mind 3 and 2 for being the leader).  I assigned the +2 Edge bonus to Gann, and the +1 to Beros (need to make counters for these!).

You know you're a villain when even the guard dogs back away from you..

Gann is only armed with blaster pistols, so I charged him into the nearest cover.  Beros, utterly fearless and focused on his quarry, charged directly toward him.  Kwah’Koo joined Gann in cover.  Nazaeran decided to allow Beros the pleasure of killing Gann, and brought his Sun Gun to bear upon the Black Falcon troopers.  He rolled four successes on his attack, while the Falcons only rolled three succeses to oppose.  A hit. I rolled the Falcons’ damage resistance (six dice with re-rolls on two ) against the Sun Gun’s Damage Number of 7.  Even after the re-rolls, the Falcons only managed three successes - four were KO’d.

"How much is this kid paying us again?"

Sarge moved toward the cover and fired his rifle upon Beros.  He burned two Fate counters and hit Beros with four successes - Beros added two fate to his opposed roll, but only scored three.  Beros added three fate to his damage resistance rolls.  He was able to defend the shot.  Beros’ henchmen then inched forward - moving only 2cm so they could use their heavy weapon.  They scored six successes against Helray, Kwah’koo, and the Sarge - but those characters were at maximum range and in cover.  The dice did not favor Gann and his companions - none were able to stop the blast.  Gann and the Sarge each lost a Vitality - Kwah’Koo lost two.  The surviving Falcon Trooper also took a shot at Beros, but missed.

The victory conditions specify that a side that loses a character may choose to withdraw... henchmen don't really count as characters in Blasters & Bulkheads.

“Lord Helray, were are quickly losing our bodyguards.”  “I’ll buy you some new ones tomorrow, Sergeant. Fight on!”

ROUND TWO
Beros charged forward.  Helray, staying in cover, moved to within 10” of Beros.  Helray unloaded with both pistols, taking four Vitality from Beros.  Nazaeran advanced and fired his Sun Gun at Sarge, but didn’t hit.  Kwah’koo moved to Helray’s side and fired his pistol at Beros.  He missed.  Spurred by their previous success, Beros’ henchmen tried again with the launcher, this time using all their Fate counters.  Eight successes!  Helray rolled four successes against that, but Kwah’Koo only rolled two.  That put the DN +1 against Helray and a whopping +2 against his alien friend.  Both were reduced to 2 vitality.

Sarge marched forward to intercept Beros.  Even at close range, he only managed to hit with two successes.  Beros easily deflected this.  Sarge’s last Falcon Trooper also closed in on Beros and took a shot.  He hit, knocking one more vitality from Beros.

"What... do you guys not like me or something?"

ROUND THREE
Beros won initiative.  Since Sarge was so eager to protect Helray, Beros charged him.  He used the Cloud Minds ability first - Sarge lost two Fate for the upcoming melee.  Beros’ attack successes outnumbered Sarge’s by five.  Sarge burned his last three Fate on his Damage Resistance rolls, but still lost two Vitality.
Helray charged out of cover and attacked Beros.  Two measly successes, even with the charge bonus and burning some Fate counters.  Beros deflected.

"Fine... I'll swat both of you like the insects you are."

Nazaeran ignored the melee, looking instead at the lone surviving Black Falcon trooper.  Caught in the open, the trooper couldn’t hope to withstand the attack.  Kwah’koo saw this and took a shot at Nazaeran.  He hit, but Nazaeran’s armor absorbed the shot.

Stand tall, look imposing, and blast anything wearing blue

Beros’ henchmen advanced and fired their blaster rifles at Kwah’koo.  He was KO’d.

"I'm not WEARING blue, you bastards - I AM BLUE!"

This was too much for Helray.  He ordered an immediate retreat...  today was clearly not the opportunity he had hoped for.  Beros ordered his henchmen to search the spaceport.  A frightened civilian worker finally answered him - Alina had escaped during the fighting.  She was making her way to the opposite end of the port... a small courier ship was waiting for her to make a quick getaway.

POST BATTLE
First and foremost - what was the fate of poor Kwah’koo?  He passed all of his Resolve dice - that should help him on the post-battle roll. He suffered “Serious Injuries,” and would suffer from weakened stats during the next scenario.  Each character gained +1 experience.

Then I rolled for income.  Helray’s group didn’t earn enough credits to pay everyone’s upkeep - two characters (or henchmen groups) would have to suffer a shortfall next game.  I rolled “must activate last each round” as the shortfall.  I assigned this to Sarge and his Trooper group - it made a certain kind of sense since they would all be replacements.

Now we move on to Beros’ group.  Beros earned one experience, and Nazaeran earned two for delivering the KO to Kwah’koo.  They also rolled well for income - three extra credits in the bank after upkeep was paid.

Beros led his men through the streets of Zillium, searching for Alina Jax and the item in her possession.  Helray carried Kwah’koo to Zillium’s med facility, while Sarge called in another team of Falcon troopers.  A spaceport worker raced into the med facility to tell Helray what was going on - and who Beros was trying to get.  Helray only needed to hear her name.  The memories of that one unforgettable night gave him a new sense of purpose.  Kwah’koo was patched up - he’d be slow, but was eager to have another shot at Nazaeran.  And now they knew they didn't have to kill Beros and his men - just slow them down long enough for Alina to make a clean getaway.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Cheers,
Chris

Blasters & Bulkheads Part One - Force Creation

Now that I've read through the Blasters & Bulkheads rulebook, I think I have a good feel for the rules.  Here are two forces I've used for In The Emperor's Name, adapted into B&B teams.

I started with the bad guys (not sure what that says about me), working from my Laserburn Redemptionists.  In the world I'm slowly developing, the main antagonists will be from a demonic or religious cult.  This will be a very large and powerful organization... it will have basic cannon fodder troops (haven't selected these yet), a group of elite warriors (my Redemptionists) which follow one of the paths to power (I'm going with The Path Of The Chosen for now), and yet another group (my Redemptionist Dreadnought) who wield the deadliest ancient artifacts associated with the temple.  One of the warriors on the Path is granted special gifts or trained in special abilities, which I will use Essence Powers to represent.  So, after spending some time in the Character Creation chapter, here's what I came up with:

It's obviously been awhile since I've played an RPG... my first attempt had some very underpowered characters compared to the book's sample forces.  I originally went with one or maybe two traits per character, but I beefed them up a bit more.  These printed out to twice the size of ordinary playing cards - 5" x  3.5" - and I actually printed two per page plus two card backs.  Since I would be using these cards for bookkeeping instead of one of the paper rosters, I made some counters for Fate and Vitality.  

Then it was time for some heroes.  I decided to go with my G.I.Joe Cobra Viper-inspired Rebel Minis Earthforce Troopers, with a Laserburn character and a Critical Mass Merc as an alien companion.  If you're wondering where the "Black Falcons" name came from - take a look at classic Lego Castle sets.  I'm going to base a bit of this still-unnamed universe's background off of some of my childhood Lego adventures. :)  Gann Helray will be a brash young Imperial Baron (or maybe just an heir at this point)... Black Falcon will be part of his family crest.

Neither force costs the full 80 points suggested by the book, but I figure I'll do some tweaking or adding after my first few games.  In any case, it's time to see how Blasters & Bulkheads performs on the tabletop.  So watch this space for Blasters & Bulkheads Part Two - Scenario AARs.

Cheers,
Chris

Blasters & Bulkheads Released!

The Dropship caught up with Scott Pyle author of the blog Four-Color Figures to find out about Scott’s new wargames rules, Blasters & Bulkheads. Scott was kind enough to me a give a peak at the pre-publication draft of the game and respond to the questions I bombarded him with!

So first off, what is Blasters & Bulkheads (B&B)? B&B provides rules and scenarios for playing skirmish games in a science fiction universe of exploration, adventure, and cosmic mysticism. These rules strive to emulate conflict with a “Space Opera” or “Science-Fantasy” flavour rather than near future, hard science fiction conflicts. You've probably noticed something a "not-Star Wars" theme from the pictures... This is a table top wargames rule set for fast-moving, heroic or “cinematic” skirmishes.

Whilst this isn’t a detailed review (there's a good, more detailed, review over on TMP), it’s worth mentioning that the goal system is based on a simple system of successes (or ‘goals’) achieved on a fixed target number of 4+ on one or more d6, with a 6 counting as two goals. The number of goals achieved in a roll is counted against a required target number based on the difficulty of a task or the power of a weapon for example.

Characters are made up of 4 attributes: Strength, Agility, Mind and Resolve rated in terms of numbers of dice, as well as a variety of background traits, combat skills, special traits and equipped with a variety of weapons and equipment.

The system is IGOUGO, with players determining initiative each turn with dice roles and taking turns to move characters or units in descending order of initiative until all models have had the opportunity to move and the turn ends.

DH: First up, what makes Blasters & Bulkheads different from the 15mm science fiction wargames rules available already?

Scott: Blasters & Bulkheads has been written as a small group action, character driven skirmish game.  It contains rules and material inspired by the Space Opera genre.  It is less hard sci-fi and more cinematic sci-fi.

DH: What's special, innovative or interesting about the Goalsystem?

Scott: Goalsystem has been around since 2002, and it has grown and matured over time.  It utilizes a D6-based dice pool mechanic to help players decide the action.  It features henchmen rules that allow players to move a lot of models around with minimal bookkeeping, a full-fledged campaign system, a system for mysterious powers, and a character-driven sensibility.

DH: A large proportion of 15mm sci fi gamers seem to want to wargame 'hard' sci fi conflict between platoon to company sized 'conventional' forces, do you think there's a market for a smaller scale 'space opera' alternative?

Scott: I sure hope so!  Of course, you adjust the measurements to play with 28mm figures, but I wrote this with 15mm figures in mind. I believe 15mm fans will also want to delve into skirmish, playing their games out on 2' x 2' squares, or even in non-traditional environments like old space-ship toys or play-sets.  These sorts of pieces can be re-purposed nicely as play environments for 15mm skirmish.  Also, imagine how much farther your resin Dwarven Forge sci-fi corridors will go in 15mm.

DH: What type / size of forces do you need to build in order to play Blasters & Bulkheads?

Scott: At the minimum, you'll need 3 figures per side, but most warbands will consist of 4 - 5 character models and a 5-10 henchmen group.

DH: When are the "Space Knights" used in many of the pictures in Blasters & Bulkheads  and on your blog going to be available?

Scott: Great question!  I am hoping they'll be available by January, 2012. Blue Moon has been really busy with a host of other products, so we'll see.  The idea is to release the two figures you've seen the Four-Color Figures blog along with at least a half-dozen others. Thanks for the opportunity to answer questions on Blasters & Bulkheads!

Blasters & Bulkheads is available now from www.wargamesdownloads.com. For $9.95 you get the full-color version (at 101 pages) and the printer-friendly, largely black and white, version (at 100 pages). You can also view full colour sample pages here.

Several of the Dropship crew are now planning to putting together forces to play this fun looking rule set! It's a great excuse to paint up Khurasan Miniatures' DPLS Crew, some of the figures from the Laserburn range, some of excellent Mercs from Critical Mass Games or a host of other unique and interesting 15mm sci fi figures!