15mm Not-Invid Invasion - Concept To Battlefield

I've made some progress on my 15mm Sci Fi interpretation of the Invid Invasion storyline.  Most of it is planning and shopping lists, but I do have a few figures selected and ready for early games.

Terrain

This will closely match the series that inspired my games.  I plan to make a small (2' x 2' or 2' x 3') table with some kind of dead grass/scrub appearance - this will represent most of the North American interior.  I envision most of the farmland to be long gone, and wind/acid rain erosion has begun to cut away the hills and forests.  Basic styrofoam hills can be added to this tabletop - flocked with a dead grass color, and with random tufts of taller grasses and rocks scattered about.  A muddy river would also be a good addition to this terrain set.

Buildings will be a fun mix of styles.  Ruined urban battlefields certainly aren't out of the question, and are easily represented by my growing collection of Proxie Models goodies.  The few humans that are still free are probably hiding out away from the cities, forming refugee camps out of whatever they can find.  Once again, I already have the right models - GZG Shanties and Battle Works Studios' Startown Slums.  The only buildings that will take a bit of thought are the Dominion's structures.

The biggest difference between my setting and the original series - why did the aliens invade?  What are they looking for?  It was the Flower Of Life in the original Robotech story - a plant that was the basis of the Protoculture power source.  I'm going to change the story a bit here.  Instead of a flower, the Dominion has invaded Earth to harvest some mysterious crystals that appeared after the previous war.  I've had my eye on these Gale Force Nine crystal battlefield sets for awhile now - one set of these will give me enough crystals for a few different setups.

Rules

This wasn't a tough choice.  I want to play an assortment of small games in this setting, maybe 10-25 figures and a vehicle or two per side.  The setting itself will be a blasted, post-invasion Earth, with some alien elements introduced to our ecosystem.  USE ME UM007 Post Apocalyptic, reviewed here, is the perfect ruleset for this setting.  It gives plenty of room to customize figures and vehicles along with some rules for hostile environments.

The Dominion Occupiers

I've decided to go with Critical Mass Games' Kaamados Dominion as the alien invaders.  I'm simply calling them the Dominion for now - no reason to start completely from scratch.  

The rank-and-file troopers of the Dominion will be the Vivipara figures.  These are numerous but tough, and used for all manner of basic military roles.  In scenario terms, these are the figures most likely to be needed for routine patrols, leading attacks upon human survivor camps, and supervising human workers at the crystal mines.  Here's what I came up with for game stats:

These Dominion Warriors will be led by more powerful Battlesuits.  The Kaamados Draco Aganath Imperator will fill this role.  I'll loosely follow the original storyline with these.  Warriors who have proven their worth to their masters may be mentally and physically "upgraded" to wear the battlesuits.  

Those figures will handle most of my games.  I might need something a bit larger for special scenarios.  Ravenstar Studios' Ripper and Slasher drones would be great super-heavy support for the Kaamados figures.  Another possibility is the Mecha Arachnid from Blight Wheel Miniatures.

Earth Expeditionary Forces

In the Invid Invasion series, we see that the Robotech Expeditionary Force makes several (unsuccessful) attempts to recapture the Earth.  Since a 15mm game on a 2x2 table isn't going to benefit from 8" tall transforming jet mecha, I'm scaling my own Expeditionary force back a little bit.  The basic light infantry will be a combination of simple field-capped troopers.  I painted an RAFM Planetary Militia figure as a demo, but the GZG Colonial Militia will provide a better assortment of poses and weapons. 

These basic infantry are augmented by armored jet-pack warriors - those receive the best training and equipment.  I finally have a use for my Blue Moon Orion Republic figures!

Both types of troopers will be supported by Brigade Models Eurofed hover tanks and transports.  There are some good mecha options if I want to pursue that route instead - my Rebel Minis Earthforce HAMR suits are already painted as a fairly close match.  ArtCrime Productions' Assault Valkyries also have a fitting appearance, and might be a better size for this type of game.

Human Resistance

It won't be tough to find a wide variety of human resistance fighters and liberated workers.  GZG Armed Colonists and Ravagers, RAFM Guerillas, Rebel Minis Post Apoc Survivalists... the list goes on.  I'm going to hold off making permanent cards for them for now.  Some interesting characters might develop after my first few games... I can just use the basic downloadable force roster until then. 

Throw Some Dice

I can play a few early-invasion scenarios using figures and terrain that are already finished.  And when the weather clears up a bit more, I'll do another one of my weekend terrain projects to get the scrubland table and some scatter pieces built.  I'll keep posting updates as this setting progresses.

And a Bonus!

The unit cards that I've shown for USE ME, FUBAR, and Blasters & Bulkheads were all made using Microsoft PowerPoint.  I know Omer Golan already shared his Paint.Net version - and if you're comfortable with graphics programs, you should definitely use that one.  But I don't know a layer from a lasso tool.  So I work with what I can, and my cards seem to be well received..  So - I share them with you:

USE ME BLANK CARDS

This is a blank version of the above USE ME cards.  The cards are 2.5"x3.5", and the pages are US Letter size.  If you have any basic knowledge of PowerPoint (or OpenOffice.Org Impress), you should have no problem altering the text, adding pictures, changing the background to a cool camo pattern, or whatever else you need to do.  Enjoy!

Cheers,

Chris

Settings from Existing Worlds - Invid Invasion for 15mm?

The previous article about gaming universes inspired some pretty lively discussion.  I'd like to share my own example of adapting a well-established background into a 15mm game setting.

The Dropship Horizon crew has recently been engaged in a pretty good discussion topic - Post Apocalyptic settings.  Most of the discussion has been about small-scale, inexpensive projects - like a few warbands for Mutants & Death Ray Guns.  But what could I use as the basis for a bigger post-apocalyptic game environment?  Well, there’s one setting that I’ve always wanted to game - the Invid Invasion storyline from the Robotech: New Generation series (Genesis Climber MOSPEADA in its original Japanese form).  That particular Palladium game is the only RPG that I remember fondly from my younger days, and Robotech: Invasion is one of few video games in the last decade to hold my attention. 

But let’s face facts...  Harmony Gold is not going to license some tiny company to produce 1/100 miniatures from that IP.  Maybe it’s something to hope for in the distant future.  But hope doesn’t put minis onto my gaming table.  So, building on the Adapting Universes article, here's my way to turn the Invid Invasion storyline into a playable 1/100 Sci Fi setting.

We'll start by stripping away the characters, visuals, aesthetics, and other specific details that we'll never see from a 15mm range, and see what remains.  Here's the basic story elements:

• A massive global war has just concluded.  Humanity is in the process of rebuilding, but Earth’s governments, militaries, and global infrastructure are devastated.
• A hivelike alien species invades with the entirety of its population - untold millions of dronesa nd warriors descend upon Earth.  The fragmented states of Earth aren’t able to resist the invasion.  They are taken over, one by one, and most of humanity is either caught or killed during the invasion.
• The captured humans are enslaved and forced to help the invaders gather and process... something.  This something didn’t appear on Earth, or wasn’t significant enough to merit attention, until mankind’s previous war.  
• It gradually becomes clear that the something is the reason the aliens invaded Earth.  It is critical to something in their society, either technologically or biologically.  
• Some humans are still free, and others escape the work fields.  Most of these humans are concerned with their own survival.  But some form together into small groups of freedom fighters - attempting to overthrow the aliens and free humans from the work camps.
• A handful of these freedom fighters have discovered the location of aliens’ hive center.  They are trying to coordinate an assault - hoping if the hive is overthrown, Earth will be free of the aliens’ grasp.

Well, look at that.  That's not just a list of plot points... it’s a complete game setting.  It has enough depth and detail to play everything from a random encounter to a detailed multi-player campaign.  All that remains is figuring out what miniatures will best portray the factions in that setting.  So, building on these elements:

• Alien invaders.  There are several good options for a hive race with some technology aspects.  It would be possible to adapt Khurasan Space Demons to this role, but they’re far more “biology” than “technology.”  Or we could go “technology first” with a biological core - ArtCrime Makat or Rebel Scourge would be great choices in this role.  But I’m going with the line that has the closest aesthetic fit to the Invid - Critical Mass’ Kaamados Vivipara, Agaamid, and Draco suits.  
• Enslaved humans.  There are probably some good fantasy ranges to consider - especially the further this setting’s timeline advances.  But minis as simple as GZG Unarmed Colonists would work perfectly as human workers/objectives for rescue scenarios.
• Human freedom fighters.  These willl be the most enjoyable forces to create.  We can tap into GZG armed civilians/colonists, GZG Ravagers, Rebel Post-Apoc gangers and survivors, minis in the Khurasan post-apocalyptic range, Laserburn and RAFM characters, HOF Post-Apoc Warriors and Rim Mercenaries... the list goes on and on. 
• Human military remnants.  We could go as low- or high-tech as we want with these, depending when the previous war took place and how much technology survived.  I can see some of the more "sci-fi: human infantry being useful in this role - GZG NAC, Islamic Federation or OUDF with helmets stand out in my mind.  But you could go with more conventional near-future minis like Rebel Homeguard, Khurasan Nova Respublik or Oddzial Osmy NVL, or even higher-tech like GZG New Israelis, ArtCrime Federals, or Rebel Minis Drop Troopers.
• Human vehicles.  Thinking back to the original TV series - 4x4 vehicles and motorcycles were the most common human vehicles (especially for civilian freedom fighters).  Lots of good options from GZG and Old Crow in those categories, and a few good items from Rebel, Khurasan, and others.  
• Mecha. Large flying mecha like the Alpha/Beta are simply not viable at this scale/size of game.  But the most iconic vehicle from that series was definitely the Cyclone.  So, ignoring the motorcycle transformation mode, why not look at mecha/battlesuits in that size?  The GZG Cyclops battlesuit is a pretty good option, but I think the best choice is the ArtCrime Valkyrie range.  They are the perfect size and bulk, and would look great squaring off against the Critical Mass Draco battlesuits.

From this point, it's just a matter of prioritizing armies, selecting figures, and getting units ready to play.  It helps to start small - say one pack of Critical Mass Vivipara infantry with a Draco suit on one side, and a squad of GZG New Israelis for the opponent.  Get those forces assembled and painted and we're ready for a small game of USE ME or Forge Of War.  As time and budget allow, we can expand those initial forces, add more armies, and create special terrain pieces for this new, and mostly original, gaming universe.

Cheers,
Chris

Creating New Game Settings from Existing Worlds

I've noticed something about us 15mm Sci Fi gamers.  We suffer from tunnel vision.

It's not something to be ashamed of, and it's certainly not exclusive to our little corner of the world.  Everyone gets it sometimes.  But when we get it, it results in months of delayed purchases, unpainted minis, general disappointment in the hobby, and at worst - frustration and anger at the manufacturers.  And one of the leading causes of this tunnel vision?  Settings for our 15mm games.  

We switch to 15mm for all the right reasons.  Tons of products available, excellent variety, good value, very inspiring (and obviously humble) bloggers, you know the drill.  So we take the plunge, buy some figures, buy some more figures, paint a couple of them, buy a bunch more figures, buy some vehicles, print some rules, buy some figures... and then we're stuck.  No idea what to do with them. There's no Codex - how do we paint them?  There's no novels or movies about these figures - so what are they fighting over?  

So we look for inspiration.  We all have a creative side - we wouldn't be shopping for 15mm sci-fi miniatures if we didn't.  But ultimately, we want our games to be familiar.  A favorite movie, book, TV show... or an existing RPG, maybe even a miniature game in a different scale.  That's what we want to play.  So we decide to play it, especially since we know exactly how it should look on the table... 

But wait.  Nobody makes a 1/100 version of that particular figure, that vehicle, that aircraft.  Now we're stuck.  What do we do now?  We talk to our buddies, we write blog posts about it, we turn to TMP and other message boards for advice.  How many threads have the title "What's a good ??? in 15mm?"  "Looking for ??? in 15mm!"  "15mm Proxies for ???"  Or requests for manufacturers to create a knock off version, just so we can get those perfect minis in 15mm...

"I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see one..."

For the most part, it's never going to happen.  Because of intellectual iroperty laws, copyrights, etc., we're never going to get those specific miniatures made in 1/100.  So we get stuck.  We have piles of unpainted lead and we stop playing games.  We beg manufacturers to release things they'll never get away with.  We do everything possible to get that specific setting, in its original detail, onto our tables.  What we never do is stop, take an objective look at that entire setting, and figure out the reasons we like it in the first place.  

What if we make the fundamental storylines into something which fits current miniature ranges?

Look at it this way.  We can wait months, years, or forever for manufacturers to release that "proxie" that gets us close enough for our lofty expectations.  Or we can apply just a bit of creativity, and change a few aspects of the story, the aesthetic, the technology... whatever it takes to play that theme, that idea.  If we do this correctly, we may end up liking our new creation even more than the original setting.

I really think anyone can do this with any novel, comic series, movie, TV show, or video game.  Do we really want to play the Battle of Naboo, but are disappointed by the lack of 1/100 Battle Droids and Gungans?  Let's stop looking for proxies, open ours mind, and create our own version with hordes of Khurasan Mekanoids attacking a jungle full of technologically-outmatched Blue Moon Fereen.  Want to run the final battle in Avatar but can't find any Na'Vi?  Let's relax and play a fun intepretation with Splintered Light Leonines.  Or here's a common one: 40K in 15mm.  Do we want to wait for the perfect Space Marines, Tyranids, and Tau to be released?  Or can we focus on the basic theme, and create our own interpretation with Blue Moon Orions, Khurasan Space Demons, and Eureka Ventaurans.

It's tough to do this, especially when we have such specific visions in our minds.  But let's choose the most important elements of the stories and be creative with the rest.  There are dozens of great figure and vehicle ranges in 15mm Sci Fi, and more new items are coming out every month.  It isn't worth sitting around waiting for that perfect "proxy" or "not-this" to come out.  We should make use of the nearly-unlimited game possibilities available right now.  

Cheers,

Chris