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

15mm RPG Skirmish Games

I’ve read quite a bit recently about how 15mm sci fi is for massed battles of vehicles and infantry and 28mm is for skirmish games. With respect to those who hold this view, I think its rubbish.

Currently gamers can chose from some great rule sets such as: Laserburn, Blasters and Bulkeads, In The Emperor's Name, The Department, 5150 New Beginnings and AE Bounty; all of which RPG elements such as player controlled characters and scenario driven games play and table top wargame skirmish elements. And there’s also a rumour Ambush Alley Games maybe working on something as an add-on to Tomorrow’s War.

When we look at some of the first 15mm sci fi figures ever available, the Laserburn and Classic Traveller ranges of 15mm sci fi figures, we can see that 15mm sci fi figures produced were for small scale skirmish / RPG type games such as Laserburn (the predecessor to Rogue Trader edition of Warhammer 40K) and Traveller and it’s skirmish wargame counterpart Striker.

A common complaint is that there aren’t enough character models in 15mm. There are quite a lot of individual character models available in the ranges mentioned above but there are also loads available from Rebel, there's Khurasan's Heroes and Villains of the Sepulvedan Resistance and the DPLS Crew, there's GZG large range of civilians and colonists, ravagers and free trader crew, the excellent Critical Mass Games Mercs, to name but a few. I'm very slowly accumulating 15mm sci fi character models over on my own blog so I know the options are there!

That said, there’s plenty of room for new models with bags of character; there’s a notable lack of “force users” and “psychers” and there’s also a shortage of “evil masterminds” in the style of Ming the Merciless or Darth Vader and “heroic types” such as Commander Sheppard or Luke Skywalker who are suitable to represent RPG characters on the table top.

Of course, rather than waiting round for someone to sculpt and cast the model you’re looking for, you can always convert an existing figure. Some gamers may think that 15mm figures can’t be converted but there are quite a few examples of very heavily and very nicely converted 15mm sci fi figures. A little bit of green stuff can go a long way in 15mm but it does take a degree of modelling skill. Fortunately this is something you can pick up with a bit of practice and a degree of perseverance.

Probably the simplest conversion is a head swap. Just look at all the 15mm heads available from Peter Pig for head swaps! And don't forget GZG’s conversion heads and also Astro Miniatures offerings. Perhaps in a future article we’ll take a more detailed look at converting a few different 15mm sci fi figures.

Small scale skirmish gaming is great in 15mm for all the reasons that gaming in 15mm is great. As I’ve said before; 15mm allows you to build forces that don’t take an age to paint and you won’t have to mortgage your home to fund your obsession, or build an extension in order to house it!

What do you think about 15mm sci fi wargaming; are you into gaming massed planetary assaults on rebellious colony worlds, or shoot outs between rival gangs on the mean streets of the far future? I think 15mm sci fi wargaming has room enough for both, and everything in between!

Brigade Models announces annual Xmas Sale

From Tony at Brigade Models-

"Welcome once more to our Xmas sale. As for the previous couple of years, we're running a blanket discount rather than specific special offers, since everyone seems to like them. Although there are a few exceptions^*, this isn't a '15% of selected items' or 'Up to 15% off' sale, it's a real '15% off everything' sale.


So once again that's 15% off all of our models^* - Aeronef, starships, Land Ironclads, 15mm and 6mm tanks, Squadron Commander, Iron Stars, WWI Belgians ... all except Celtos, where the Celtic Gods are being even more generous ... 25% off Celtos miniatures!


And that's it - no minimum or maximum orders, just a blanket discount for the whole of December. So what are you waiting for ? Go out there and shop !

^* - There are just a few exceptions and conditions, as you might expect ... percentage shipping rates will still be charged at the full item cost, since we were unable to persuade the post office to match our offers ! The discount covers our metal and resin models - it doesn't apply to rulebooks, dice, bases, game mats, Xmarx buildings or anything else that we don't manufacture ourselves, simply because the margins on those items are much tighter. However, starter packs with rules, dice or bases in are covered. Even with these limitations, we're sure you'll agree it's a mighty fine offer !"

Click on the link to see full details.


Cheers,
Spartan 117

Review GZG New Releases – Humanoid Bots, NAC and UNSC

Jon over at Ground Zero Games was kind enough to provide the Dropship Crew with samples of his latest releases.

First up, and the most interest to me, is SG15-V16 Humanoid ‘Bots. These are 3 different humanoid-styled servant robots. Jon describes them in his news feed as “the offspring of an illicit liason between C-3PO and Gort with a strong dash of Hajime Sorayama thrown in for good measure.” I think the picture below illustrates this point!

There are two well proportioned human-sized "male" and "female" bots, but the gem of the 3 is a larger cargo-handling bot who’s exterior plating closely resembles the armour of GZG’s New Israeli range (perhaps it’s a product of the NI arms industry!?!).

I’ve been crying out for more 15mm humanoid robots and these guys certainly fit the bill. These could be used as anything from casual bystanders in colony space port to murderous Fabricated Human Simulants for the game The Department. The pack contains 6 figures (2 each of the 3 different bots) and is £3.00 inc. VAT.

Next up is SG15-A22 NAC Power Armour with Hand Weapons. This is the second pack of the newly re-sculpted NAC power armour and contains 6  figures (3 each of two, quite similar, poses) with hand weapons, supplied with separate (optional) assault jump packs - pack contains 3 "standard" jump-packs, 2 jump-packs with over-shoulder micromissile clusters, and one command jump-pack with sensor/comms systems.

As you can see from the pictures above, these new sculpts compare well with the older NAC PA sculpts but are a little but thinner and have different integral back packs. You can particularly see the benefits of the resculpt in the details on the legs of the new figures. You can see our review of the first pack here. The weapons and pose options available also expands the possibility of fielding larger power armoured forces without the same few poses repeated over and over. The pack contains 6 figures plus 2 sprues of jump-packs: £3.00 inc. VAT.

Lastly we have SG15-U26 UNSC Light Troopers with GMS(P) light portable anti-armour missiles. This pack contains 8 figures, four each in prone and kneeling poses, all with single-shot missile tubes in firing positions.

The prone figure is the same that which is currently supplied in pack U24 and Jon will probably revise U24 into a different figure mix in due course. Pack contains 8 figures (4 each of 2 different) and is £3.00 inc. VAT.

All in all some nice, useful, releases. That said what I, and many other 15mm sci fi gamers, really want to see is what GZG are going to produce as part of the official figure line for Tomorrow’s War!  But we may need to be patient... Jon has a Christmas Sale on at the moment so what better excuse to pick up some GZG stocking fillers!

Breaking News - Sale Season

###Flash####Flash####Flash####Flash####Flash####Flash####Flash####Flash####



In breaking news, the long anticipated Ground Zero Games Christmas Sale has been announced.

This just lifted from the Ground Zero Games Webstore:

"Our 2011 Xmas Special starts from 00.01 (UK time) hours on SATURDAY 26th NOVEMBER and runs until MIDNIGHT (UK time) on Wednesday 21st December. All qualifying orders (which are all those for over £30 of product, EXCLUDING VAT AND SHIPPING*) will get TWO specials included:

"1) All orders for £30 or more of goods at list prices EXCLUDING VAT* get a FREE GOODIE BAG of extra minis and stuff - how much you get depends on the size of your order, and we'll tailor most of the contents to fit the kind of items you are ordering (plus the occasional odd item that might tempt you into other ranges and scales...). What goes in the bag is OUR choice, so no cheekily asking for particular things please, but those of you who have had our previous Xmas deals will know that we give you a generous selection of things that you can actually use for your armies/fleets!
Sometimes we put in the odd special or unreleased item too, so you never know what you might get....

"2) In addition to the Free Stuff, qualifying orders will also get a VOUCHER that you can use to get a generous DISCOUNT off a further order placed after Christmas - so you can get your pre-Xmas stuff now, and then use the voucher up when you have some gift money from all those relatives who have absolutely NO idea what to buy for you!

Read the full text on the Ground Zero Games webstore.

## ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ### ##

And from Splintered Light Miniatures via their Facebook page:

"Greetings. I will be putting this up on the website with the sale prices changed but my web-guy is very busy at the moment so I wanted to go ahead and send out the announcement and let everyone know they can start the sale in the old fashioned way. I am going to be offering a 20% off sale from today through midnight December 31, 2011. For anyone who responds to this post and as thanks for another year of great customers, I will be offering you 25% off.

"I do have some new items not on the website. Feel free to include them in the list of what you want.

WOEL08A Wood Elf Cavalry Command on Elk (6) $12
WOEL08B Wood Elf Cavalry Command on Horses (6) $8
WOEL09A Wood Elf Light Cavalry on Elk (6) $12
WOEL09B Wood Elf Light Cavalry on Horses (6) $8
WOEL10A Wood Elf Medium Cavalry on Elk (6) $12
WOEL10B Wood Elf Medium Cavalry on Horses (6) $8
WOEL11 Wood Elf Eagle Riders (3) $12
WOEL12 Wood Elf Princess on Unicorn (1) $2
ORC15 Orc Warriors 2 (12) $10
MISC23 Elk (6) $9
MISC24 Eagles (3) $9
DWARF14 Dwarf 2-H Axes
DWARF15 Dwarf Cutting Edge Axemen (12) $8
DWARF16 Dwarf Rune Guard (12) $8

"If you email a list of what you want, I will be happy to send you a paypal invoice. Also. The goblin huts will be 10% off. I have the following available

Set of Four Huts (4) $8
Shaman's Hut (1) $8
Chieftain's Hut (1) $8
Lean-To Tents (6) $8
A-Frame Tents (6) $8

Thanks,
David
splinteredlightminis@earthlink.net"

While Splintered Light specialise in Fantasy figures, they do stock a very nice Science Fiction freighter crew, and some of their Fantasy figures could easily be repurposed as low-tech alien hordes, exotic animals, or modified as character figures. Their Dark Elder make very nice Darrians with a little modification.

Playing By The Rules - A Guide to 15mm Rulesets

UPDATE - A more updated version of this guide is permanently available on this page.

For new gamers, one of the most daunting aspects of 15mm Sci-Fi is the wide variety of available rulesets.  When it comes to traditional "big games"  (Warhammer 40,000, Infinity, Battletech, Firestorm Armada, etc.), you typically buy your rules and miniatures from a single company.  Sure, you can proxy other minis or use those minis with other rules, but the overwhelming majority will use those rules and figures exactly as the manufacturer intends.

15mm is different.  The manufacturers are one- or two-man operations, so you won't find much of their product in game shops (yet).  Some do publish their own rules, but all expect and encourage their figures to be mixed, matched, and used in any way we desire.  But if you're a newcomer, or even an experienced 15mm gamer wanting to try something different - where in the world do you start?

There are numerous rulesets available - we cannot hope to cover them all, or properly illustrate the differences between each set.  But we can break them into general categories, tell you how much you should expect to pay or where to download the free PDF, how many figures you can use, and maybe some of our personal opinions on how they handle 15mm games.

Battle Rules with Multiple Figures Per Base.  These games are generally played by mounting fireteams of 2-6 infantry onto round, square, or rectangular bases.  Ideal for balanced tournament-style play, or for playing massive armor-heavy games.  The main options in this category are:

• Critical Mass.  The flagship game from Critical Mass Games - it is specifically tailored to their factions.  £11.99 for a 100-page printed book.  Available here.
• Future War Commander.  A very flexible and open game system, reviewed awhile back by Mark.  It did feature premade army lists of the 15mm lines at its time of publication, but it hasn't been updated with any of the last few years' worth of new products (it does have a robust system for generating your own stats and forces).  Publisher's webstore here for £20, also available from many online and brick-and-mortar retailers.
• Hammer's Slammers: The Crucible.  Plays armor-centric battles in the style of David Drake's novels.  The game's homepage is here, with a collection of eye candy you'll have to see to believe.  The rulebook can be purchased here for £25; there are also starter sets with Old Crow tanks.
• Alien Squad Leader. Designed to capture that classic b-movie feel.  Also reviewed earlier by Mark, so we won't go into many details here.  Available here for £12.
• Galactic War I.  Blue Moon Manufacturing's game supports the Space Opera styling of their miniatures, but it's open enough to use with any models you have.  Available here for $25.
• Valkyrie.  Designed to support ArtCrime Productions' line of miniatures.  Currently available as a PDF download with their boxed army sets - soon to be available as a standalone product.
• Traveller: Striker.  One of the granddaddies of 15mm Sci-Fi gaming.  No matter which versino of Traveller you prefer (Little Black Books, GURPS, New Era, etc.), there's a Striker game available.

Battle Rules with Single-Based Figures.  These are probably the most common type of science fiction wargame.  You'll have anywhere from a few fireteams to a platoon-plus per side, along with some support vehicles, flyers, walkers, tunnelers, and just about anything else you can imagine.  This is a very broad category - feel free to let us know (and don't be offended!) if we missed any major player.

• Tomorrow's War. Ambush Alley and Osprey Publishing's beautiful sci-fi game, based on their successful Force On Force engine.  You can read Matt's detailed review here.  
• 5150: Star Army.  A unique game from Two Hour Wargames, using their Chain Reaction engine to provide some very unpredictable situations.  Available here as a $20 PDF or $25 printed book.
• Gruntz 15mm. Instead of creating a generic book, author Robin Fitton made a tremendous effort getting the 15mm manufacturing community's support in this ruleset.  Thomas' detailed review is found here.  PDF format, available for $9 from Wargames Vault.  
• Fast And Dirty. Author Ivan Sorensen offers one of the most complete game systems you'll ever find for free, and it gives most pay-to-play rulesets a run for their money.  Available here.  
• FUBAR. A very enjoyable one-page game from Craig Cartmell's Forge Of War Development Group.  Experienced gamers will appreciate not having to flip through pages of rules, charts, or reference sheets to figure out what's supposed to happen.  Free download here.  
• USE ME (TITLE 001). A very slick little game.  These are generic rules, but it takes very little time to create detailed stats for any model in your collection.  You can buy the printed A6 version here for 3.50, or as a downloadable full-sized PDF here for $5.
• Forge Of War. The flagship game from the development group of the same name. This ruleset started out as an alternate way to use Games Workshop miniatures, but has grown into a very solid game system.  Free download here.  
• Beamstrike.  An open-source game based on the old Imperial Commander rules.  Download rules and supplements from here.
• Defiance: Vital Ground.  We can't find many reviews or battle reports with this system from Majestic 12 Games.  But it appears to have a very robust points-based army creation system.  There is a free demo on their website; the full version is a $20 PDF or $30 printed book.
• Stargrunt II.  Jon Tuffley's classic game, designed for the Ground Zero Games ranges but suitable for any miniatures.  Free PDF download here.  
• Imperial Commander.  The battle version of the Laserburn skirmish game (see below).  Printed book available here for £5.50.
• WarEngine.  A free online continuation of the old ShockForce game.  These are presented in a Wikipedia format.  Available here. 

Small Skirmish Games.  These games are played with just a handful of miniatures per side.  They usually have an emphasis on heroic characters, cinematic skirmishes, tracking money, resources, and injuries between scenarios.  These are hybrids between Role Playing Games and full Tabletop Wargames.  We should mention that most were originally designed for use with 28mm figures, but they still provide very satisfying games with 15mm minis.

• Blasters & Bulkheads.  A cinematic space opera game pitting bounty hunters, smuggler captains, Essence warriors, and teams of henchmen against one another.  $9.95 PDF, available here.
• 5150: New Beginnings. A very detailed RPG-with-miniatures set in the 5150 universe (see above). Available here as a $20 PDF or $25 printed book.
• Mutants and Death Ray Guns/Flying Lead.  Both titles are from Ganesha Games.  MaDRG has a post-apocalyptic feel (mutated animals, broken-down cyborgs, etc.), while Flying Lead can very comfortably handle conventional near-future skirmishes.  Both are $8 PDFs available here.
• AE: Bounty.  Publisher Darkson Designs uses a unique system of templates to create crews of mercenaries, bounty hunters, and other types of intergalactic scum.  $25 for the printed version here, $15 for the PDF here.
• In The Emperor's Name. In its current form, ItEN is designed to play small skirmishes in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  However, it does have a robust character creation system, and its scenarios and campaign system are equally suited for 15mm games.  The Forge Of War Development Group is adapting it into a generic sci-fi skirmish under the working title of Blaster.  Free download here.  
• Gut Check/Throwdown.  A solo game developed by SpaceJacker.  It's still a bit of a work in progress, but the game is playable with just a bit of troop-creation effort. Free download here.  
• Laserburn. The father of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader.  40K fans will quickly recognize the concepts presented in this skirmish game.  Printed book available here for £6.50, advanced rules and record pads are also available.
• We Can Be Heroes II.  Designed to be a very light-hearted game - imagine playing out an action/adventure movie on your tabletop.  $12.95 PDF available here.  
• Star Mogul/Salvage Crew.  Pits crews of adventurers, mercenaries, and alien treasure seekers against each other in small skirmishes, with an emphasis on campaigns and resource tracking.  Free PDF download here.  

So which is best for you?  There are no right or wrong answers (no matter what you might get told on some blogs or forums). If you really don't know where to start, the best thing you can do is paint up a few minis, download a few of the free games on this list, and try them out.  From there, you can try out other free sets, or purchase one or two of the commercial options.  You'll quickly discover what kind of mechanics you like, what you dislike, how much of your own work you're willing to put into the game, and what type of game experience you ultimately want to have.