This is Ripley........

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"Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew, Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas, are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off".

 So, you have a chance to remake ALIEN (1979). Who is your Ripley?

For me? It's working mom Bridget Moynahan who makes Sum Of All Fears and I Robot so very watchable. There's a certain Ripley vive going on there. Of course you may want to 'reimagine' Ripley, the movie or both. But let's keep it classic if we can.....

Cheers

Mark

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You shove in all your sausage and meatballs.....

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"Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn't stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh…? And a little bit o' wine. An' a little bit o' sugar, and that's my trick."

No of course it isn't Johner who cooks this meatball sauce, but Clemenza the trusted Corleoni caporegime in The Godfather. Johner is a man comfortable in his own skin, what's left of it. Sure he likes having Annalee or any one of a thousand other broads cook for him, but push come to shove, he can rustle up a mean spaghetti sauce. Just don't call him "meatball".

I learned to love Italian food courtesy of Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola legend has it, put this scene in the movie so that if the film bombed, the audience would at least come away with a good spaghetti sauce. LOL!

You can imagine that for Johner, Friday night is "Spaghetti night". If he did nothing else all week, and you can imagine him doing nothing else all week, he felt he earned it with this sauce. An ex-oppo of mine had wednesday night as "Curry night". Every wednesday, without fail he became Gordon Ramsey and entered this world where the chicken and the curry were all that existed. And we are talking about the days before ready sauces here. God help you if you didn't appreciate the meal out loud when it was finally slapped before you.

Alien Resurrection was on the box this week.  Flawed, but with some great characters, especially the crew of The Betty, who I felt deserved more. Elgyn, Christie, Johner, Sabra, Annalee Call & Vreiss really knock the crew of the Serenity into touch.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still love the Firefly series, Inara, Kaylee, River...was there anyone else? LOL However, in a gritty, blue-collar universe, with lot's of acid-for-blood nasties out there, I'd sign-up with The Betty. If nothing else, the meatball sauce is bound to be a killer......

Cheers

Mark
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Time for structure

Master Chef here. Marines, take a knee...

I've been looking in detail at just what SF stuff I have and have decided that its going to be structured:

1. 28mm - in the loft
2. 20mm - based individually for Tomorrow War, bit heretical mentioning 20mm on a 15mm blog but well, thats life.
3. 15mm - based as squads for Alien Squad Leader 

But there are also 15mm figures based individually....these are the problem. I have bought as the whim took me and frankly, its a bit of a mess. They have guns AND the numbers! I dont want to duplicate TW in 15mm and I'm not sure if I want go back to Laserburn; I like AE Bounty and I am going to use MDRG from Ganesha Games but I want something else - very fast play "shoot em up" rules and much as I like USEME, it's the wound tracking that puts me off. I like the idea of Traveller but the numbers won't allow it. The logical idea is that if I do a game with 3-4 a side, use Traveller or MDRG but if I want to field 16 British Drop Marines vs a shedload of pirates, the stats will sink the game. I have some rough ideas - watch this space.....

Cheers

Master Chef

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Critical Mass Games Sale Ends 28th Feb

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Khurasan 15mm Ti Mohnids

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Whilst the camera was to hand tonight, I managed to get some better shots of a couple of Khurasan's upcoming Ti Mohnids. These are big brutes and I like them for that. They ooze both hideous menace and bags of character. Ideal as an integral part of any anti-human alien covenant.

Khurasan 15mm Sci Fi

Ti Mohnid Captain

I swear the Captain is chompin' on a cigar! And as for Gene Simmonds below........

Khurasan 15mm Sci Fi

Ti Mohnid with Felid Prodeguard gunner for comparison

These guys out Garn the Garn. In fact, I think they out gun every biological lifeform on two legs in 15mm! It goes without saying that the enourmous size of these Ti Mohnid extends their potential to 20mm and 28mm games as well.

Masterful figures that still feel like they belong to our 15mm 'Verse and bring that added WOW factor to the tabletop. Available from Khurasan soon. Watch for announcements.

Cheers

Mark
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Best Wishes

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Heather and I just want to send our best wishes to all our followers in New Zealand. We hope neither you nor your families have not been effected by this morning's natural disaster (GMT).

All the best
Mark & Heather

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Khurasan 15mm Felid Prideguard

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Well, I have Khurasan's new 15mm Felid Prideguard here in my hand - posted on the 16th and dropped through the letterbox this morning. Photos later as I'm only just through the door from work, but I have to let you know these are cracking miniatures - absolutely stonking!

The Prideguard are detailed, well proportioned miniatures in a good range of poses. The crisp detailing will be a joy to paint!

Cheers

Mark

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Evil Aliens

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Checking out images of movie and console game alien warrriors following an online conversation with a well respected manufacturer yesterday, I stumbled upon this photo from EVIL ALIENS a British low budget B-Movie starring our own rude girl and Geek Princess, Emily Booth (NWS link):

I thought this was a cool picture, and the aliens in the photo have potential in 15mm. Unfortunately Google-Fu uncovered that they were very old style Dr Who aliens, just guys in rubber and fibre-glass head extensions - potential is there nevertheless.

I came across this photo of Jodie Shaw ass-whooping the 'Evil Aliens' - a  woman with 12 bore attitude - and a great character portrait.

Cheers

Mark

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Pizza Base Aliens

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We had a cinema night last night. A full-blown Chinese take out followed by ALIENS: The Directors Cut. Damn! It's still a great movie.

To my mind the best role in the film is Hudson, played by Bill "How do I get out of this Chickenshit outfit" Paxton. Hudson has some of the best lines in the movie and his anti-hero character gets to take the audience on a one-man emotional roller coaster from being cocksure wise cracker, to competent com-tech, scaredy "you can count me out"  'villain' to when he finally redeems himself as "state of the badass art".

So, I must make more of gaming Aliens, well, more Aliens vs Colonial Marines, whether in 15mm or 20mm. Jon at Khurasan has some more new(ish) menacing poses for his Space Demons that I must buy.

TC901A Space Demon  Assault Warriors (textured head)

TC903A Space Demon Infiltrator Warriors (smooth dome head - not shown)

I also came across this photo (below), which made me think - hang on, there's a really good room and corridor design hidden in there for 'pizzabase' gaming.

Sure there's little real logic to the layout, but why does there have to be? Do I really need crew quarters, state rooms and the like? No! Think "Ambush Aliens", a labyrinth of infiltration routes, fire lanes and hidden corners. In true Mass Effect style, the larger open spaces can be altered with crates and containers to provide additional cover, impenetrable walls and ad hoc corridors.

 Mass Effect 2: N7 Hahne-Kedar Facility

I have a good selection of crates and containers from Jon at GZG, but I think I need to add a pack of Antenociti Workshops G.O.T. Secure Crates. These have a definite Mass Effect feel.

The fight in the Hahne-Kedar Facility is one of my favourite side-quest missions in ME2. It's a straight firefight between yourself and 2 companions against up to 40 combat androids amongst a maze of crates and containers. You continually have to keep pushing forward to stop the avalanche of robots spawning from their storage/shipping containers.... but it has to be timed right, between each wave and you need to maximise use of cover, shieid regeneration and firepower.

 That's next weekend's project sorted.

Cheers
Mark
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Catching Up

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I've been dipping into WIRED FOR WAR by PW Singer. Good book about the digitisation of combat in the C21st. Lot's of food for thought and very apt for Tomorrow's War.

MINDSTAR RISING by Peter F Hamilton has arrived in the post and made it to my book pile. But not much further.

Master Chef  has pre-ordered his own hardback copy of Force on Force from Amazon, and made use of Critical Mass Games' sale to order half a dozen buildings. I'll be placing my own order this weekend to extend downtown Mudd Eisley.

Great thing is, I've found Critical Mass Games range of buildings to be suitable for 20mm Near Future/Sci Fi too. I'm quietly impressed by the range of dynamic yet still human poses created by Matt at Elheim. His recent releases span the gap from Moderns to Near Future or even mid-tech Sci Fi Troopers and easily transpose from Force on Force to Tomorrows War.

 The three figures from the left of the new SF Team pictures below, also make good post apocalyptic survivors and the two in the centre are dripping with PA character.

I'm not interested in Afghanistan at all, but both Maff and I see gaming parallels with Jerry Pournelle's epic FUTURE HISTORY. Talking of Pournelle, searching for a post apocalyptic background, I found it in LUCIFER'S  HAMMER, which can be melded with Twighlight 2000 and played with both Force on Force and Battlefield Evolution: Modern Combat. Of course I want to add a Zombie twist. But I wonder whether starving crazed, cannablistic humans will be just as effective and somehat more horrifying.

Cheers

Mark

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In The Pipe...... 300 Club 15mm Ventaurans

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Eureka have contacted me to say that sufficient interest has been received in the 300 Club Ventaurans for them to now judge if it's worth going ahead with the order.

Mike Broadbent will sculpt the helmeted figures shown below:

Over the past twenty plus years up to just three years ago, I would have eaten their hands off. Two years ago, there was still merit.  I put my name down in March 2009. Now, February 2011, yes 2011, why would I want standy abouty figures when there's ranges like GZG's New Israelis and Khurasan's Federal Army available  in a wide range of active combat poses with a full package of command and support weapons?

Whilst I still love the design of the helmets and armour, I'm sorry but I really cannot support what I see as a backwards step and have declined.

Cheers

Mark

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INCOMING....... Khurasan 15mm Felid Prideguard

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The Felids remain my favourite warlike sentient alien. So it's maybe no surprise I have Jon's new Prideguard Battle Circle on the way. I mean how can you resist these big bad kitties.......

Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi

TTC1302 Felid Prideguard

Now, following the release of the Felid Baron, folks asked for Felid warriors in helmets, and once again Jon has stepped up to the mark. The great thing about these new minis is that with the helmets, you can have a complete new race of razor clawed bipedal alien troopers. Under that armour they could be lizard or fly or genetically engineered warriors. But equally, they do make some hard ass Felid armoured troopers.

Good to have something to look forward to in the post over the coming week!

Cheers

Mark
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In The Pipe...... Force on Force from Osprey Publishing

I have in my hands a review copy of Osprey Publishing/Ambush Alley Games' forthcoming hardback Force on Force: Modern Wargaming Rules.

Without doubt this has to be the most professional and visually stunning set of wargame rules I've ever seen.  Wargame rules aside, it's a joy to have, to read, to dip into and simply just browse.

Force on Force is illustrated throughout with good quality colour photos of painted modern 15 & 20mm figures in action settings, plus in theatre photos of real troops and weaponry, all supplemented by colour images culled from Osprey's catalogue of modern uniform, battle and campaign titles.

The book is threaded throughout with scenarios, and has a dedicated scenario section at the end. Force on Force also includes sample small scale unit information for all the major nations, unit and vehicle attributes, vehicle charts, special rules for asymmetric warfare, a campaign game, and finally full colour Fog of War cards and Quick Reference pages to cut-out or copy. All in all 224 pages of inspiring goodness!

Is it just for Iraq and Afghanistan? No!  Scenarios run the full gamut from Vietnam, to Top Malo House in the Falklands, Golan Heights to the centre of Grozny.

If you've already played Force on Force from Ambush Alley Games, you know what to expect. For the rest I'll cover the rules in more detail at the end of this coming week. But do check out the FoF Primer on the Ambush Alley website.

RRP is £25 and Amazon.co.uk are currently taking pre-orders at £17.50. Is Force on Force worth £17.50? Damn, it's worth £25! I own the original pdf and I would still have bought buy the new hardback if I hadn't been sent this copy by the publisher.

Force on Force: Modern Wargaming Rules represents a line in the sand in wargames rules publishing. I can see this book appealing to many non-wargamers let alone non-C20th gamers. It is nothing less than a tribute to the hobby and a great ambassador for wargaming.

The rules are cracking too!

Review of Road to Baghada: Iraq 2003

Cheers

Mark

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INCOMING....... Khurasan 15mm Control Battalion

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One of the things I really like about Khurasan Miniatures is just how diverse the range has become. So many elements stand on their own and can be dropped into any gaming genre. You can buy your platoon, and at the same time, drop a pack of this or that or the other for just a few dollars each, into your order. It makes the package feel that bit more substantial and interesting when it drops through the letterbox.

Take for instance the new Control Battalion - Jon knows it's going to be a 2-4 squads plus command and heavy weapons deal for me. Maybe, even more, as something is prompting me to look on these minis as Weird World War 2 protected Soviet troops.

Khurasan Miniatures 15mm Sci Fi

Control Battalion

BTW I love the embedded drone. The drone adds a uniqueness and character to the force that a generic drone just can't. In fact, the command pack itself turns my next order into a Jamboree bag this time round. And you know, I think the command pack looks quite 'Pulpy'...... "Patches O'Halloran and the Space Pirates of Mong!". LOL!

I used to maximise my orders - squeeze as much as I could out of the postage rates - but all I ended up doing was unconsciously maximising my lead mountain instead.

So I am going for smaller and more quirky orders. I'd rather buy a couple of platoons over 2-3 separate sessions than in one big heap. This allows me to add a side 'dish' or two, curry house style - a Vacation Alien, Jolina Jolina, a Sponk or pack of Jon's latest aliens. It also has the benefit of allowing me to tackle the 'lead elephant' one bite at a time.

Cheers

Mark

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Outcasts: ASBOs in Space

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Well.....Firefly? No. Bad day at Holby City? Yes. Ray Mears would be more convincing and watchable than Jamie Bamber. I managed 39 minutes before retreating to the kitchen to work on some 20mm Moderns.

Cheers

Mark

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INCEPTION: The Wargame

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INCEPTION. Brilliant. Mad. A visual apocalypse. I watched it again this evening from chapter 7, where the real action kicks off as I just wanted to experience the rush from that point forward. 

The caper takes place within a dream. Not just one dream either. The story moves between layers of sub-conscious as the action unfolds. Like any dream, reality can shift and yet seem perfectly normal. For example, the ambush in a downtown city street just after the caper begins is worthy of RONIN, yet suddenly there is a train tearing through the middle of the road. In a hotel corridor, gravity shifts and the combatants find themselves fighting gravity as well as each other.

This isn't a review of the movie. I'd been working on my 20mm armed civilians for Winter of 79 / GEEZERS,  earlier in the the day and something brought them back to my mind as I watched the movie - the gaming potential, admittedly madcap gaming potential, just flooded me with ideas.

Think....INCEPTION: The Wargame. The context is that your scenario takes place within a dream. Within that dream, mission parameters always remain the same, but there can be a 'reality shift' at any time - friendly characters or enemies can can morph their abilities during the course of the action (card system such as IABSM or Ambush Alley), for instance gain super strength, ability to fly or defy gravity CROUCHING TIGER style. Weapons may become more or less powerful, additional allies, enemies, cover, obstructions can be spawned.

Then you can incorporate the odd 'reality morph'. The bank becomes a Samurai fortress, but still within a modern city, as if it's always been there.

Regardless of how far you want to go in changing charcaters, abilities or settings - the mission should always stay the same to provide an anchor for the game. You can introduce sub-plots such as rescuing the bank manager's daughter or saving Carmen in the office at work from terrorists led by your boss.

More cinematic and heroic rules such as WE CAN BE HEROES II are probably best to replicate the more fluid and high action style of gaming required, but even game systems such as Ambush Alley would work.

Cheers

Mark

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FALLEN DRAGON

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I'm currently reading FALLEN DRAGON by Peter F Hamilton. It's an absorbing read. Grimy with real world future technology yet set on the expanse of a Space Opera stage.

The idea of intersetllar asset-stripping corporations protected by their own militaries has a certain resonance at this time, given the government sanctioned asset stripping going on in local authorities the length and bredth of the UK.

Imagine, a colonised rock, which some anonymous accountant has declared to be uneconomical, being forcibly stripped of all salvageable assets. Multiply that by hundreds as man's endeavours to carve out a toehold on and colonise new worlds is reduced to a bottom line. Plenty of scope for role-playing, tabletop battles and a mini campaign with what are essentially corporate vikings.

Anyway, good read. Has me hooked and making the daily commute something to look forward to.

Cheers

Mark

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Outcasts: New BBC Sci Fi Drama

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Coming this Monday, 9pm on BBC1.....



Gritty Sci Fi drama, OUTCASTS is set on a newly colonised world which holds a secret......

Some heavyweight British TV talent and what appears to be real world Sci Fi tech will make the first episode worth watching.  I don't buy any Battlestar Galactica meets Firefly analogy -will this be the BBCs attempt at  LOST?

Been a dearth of good Sci Fi on this side of the Channel. I can only keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers

Mark

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Incoming......15mm Zas Mercs

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 Harkonnen's Finest!
The Baron Needs You

Zas Mercs (Merc13)

Take advantage of Critical Mass Games' 

SALE to recruit your own Harkonnen forces.

Sad day in the Dropship Headshed as my GZG Harkonnen Sand Troopers are finally retired. But no time for tears, as it's another glorious day in the Corps! The Sand Troopers have been reimagined with the new Zas Trooper miniatures pictured above. All hail the Baron!

Cheers

Mark

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