Battle on New-Tokyo - a small scale Gruntz Skirmish game between the Hell Divers and Pale Riders (Ex-RUSK)

By Harold
From: http://clearhorizonsalvage.blogspot.com/

Hell Divers from ClearHorizon Miniatures
RUSK from Armies Army
Gruntz available from: WargameVault

Buildings from Gamecraft Miniatures
Sidewalks, Planters, and Barricades from Warsenal
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This game is a little different than what you'll normally see.

Each force had four figures and each figure operated independently.  We built each figure using the Gruntz Specialist rules with a couple of guidelines for damage, sizes and armor etc.

We had a lot of fun.  It turned into a very tactical game where neither of us were willing to push and flank as much as we should have.  With only four figures it seems like any damage was very dangerous to the goal of accomplishing the mission.

It came down to putting the figures in the right places and hoping for luck.  Much like real life.

Both forces were pretty equally matched.  I want to do a game in the future that has asymmetrical forces to really push the boundaries of this ruleset.

It was about 100 points a side and took about an hour or so.

For activation we dealt a card from a normal card deck to each player for however many figures they had left.

Each player would then assign the cards so that the figures would activate from highest to lowest. We decided before hand which suits were in which order.

We would then announce the highest card we have and compare to the other player.  Whoever had highest would activate their figure and so forth.  This had a fun random and planned aspect to it that really added to the game.

We also ruled that grenades could be thrown at spots instead of just figures with normal to roll and scatter.

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Video Reviews by Harold: Gamecraft Miniatures 15mm Scale Marshborn Tomorrow's War Building

By Harold

Note: As this is my first video review, I'd love to hear any comments you guys have, thanks!

The building is available from Gamecraft Miniatures here.

QUICK LOOK: Gamecraft Miniatures Spaceship Consoles

By Harold

Well, on this installment of "Quick Look" I'm going to be a little biased, since I actually designed these  Gamecraft Miniatures spaceship consoles.

I've had these designs for a while, but never had a chance to learn the mold making and resin casting skills to sell them myself.  I teamed up with GameCraft miniatures, through their "Sell your stuff" program and they are now able to offer these for sale.

With that disclosure out of the way, on to the good stuff!

Gamecraft Miniatures, Spacecraft Consoles,
available from: http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1858/spacecraft-consoles for $12 USD

The resin casts were very clean, and really reproduced all the little detail in the buttons and such.  I took a light file to the bottom edges, just to clean them a bit, but other than that I didn't have any cleaning to do.

I then rinsed them in warm water and dish soap, just to make sure all the release agent was off.  I was lazy with these and didn't even prime them, I just painted Citadel foundation paints straight on.  I then washed them with Army Painter Strong Tone, and then, using a brush that was kinda squished flat, I drew the paint over the buttons with yellows, reds, blues and other colors. I then went back with the foundation paint and painted in between the buttons to clean up.

Anyways, here are my painted samples:

Besides spaceships, these would be useful in supervillain lairs, nuclear power plants, and government research stations.  And other things too!   I hope you guys like them, it's cool to see something come to market that I designed myself.

Pangalactic Legion Platoon Pack, Hadai, Starship Consoles, PacFed Reinforcements

Rebel Minis now offers the extremely popular Pangalactic Legion in a platoon pack. From Rebel Mike:

Rebel Minis is proud to announce the next release in our Star Army pack series, the Star Army: Pangalactic Legion Platoon.

This is everything you will need to run a Pangalactic Legion Platoon in 5150: Star Army. The set contains: 24 Infantry, 4 Command and a bonus Extra Heavy Weapons asset! SRP$: $15.99

Sculpted by PF, these are highly detailed and a must for any Sci-Fi gamer! Painted by Jeff Racel! You can see it here: www.Rebelminis.com along will all of our other Star Army packs. You can check out the rules for Star Army here: http://www.twohourwargames.com/.

Thanks!

Kudos to Rebel Mike for offering these platoon packs. They're a great way to start an additional 15mm faction, or introduce new players to the scale.

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Speaking of aliens, I neglected to mention the release of the Hadai Scout Pack from ArtCrime Productions a few weeks back.

Sculpted by PF, the Hadai are a great new felinoid race for your 15mm games. Or a possible range to serve as Aslan for all you Traveller gamers, or as the Emirate of Hacan for fans of the Twilight Imperium board game.

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 GameCraft Minis has added a set of resin computer consoles to their Spaceship Interiors range.

This is a handy little pack - good not only for the GameCraft MDF interior sets, but they would work fine with Khurasan's resin system, any print-and-play set of rooms and corridors, or even the interiors of 15mm buildings.

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Hot on the heels of the new Cougar MBT and Wombat APC, Brigade Models has expanded the PacFed vehicle range. The Ocelot Light Tank follows the overall Cougar design, but reduces the overall profile. The result is a combat vehicle that looks very nimble - ideal for escorting the Wombat APCs.

Then there are two variants of the Minigwal Recce Vehicle. The crew compartments on these are fairly small - intended for two crew sitting in tandem. As David B. so pointed out on the Google+ community, these really blur the line between ground combat vehicle and support aircraft. Both versions have two beam weapons attached to the front of the hull. The first variant has a small twin-gun turret:

And the second has a light missile turret.

They would be great hit-and-run vehicles for attacker/defender scenarios, and would be ideal for outflanking a more ponderous opposing force. The entire PacFed ranges is shaping up to be a very advanced force. It would be ideal for high-tech human infantry - Rebel Shalur and EF Droptroopers come to mind, as do the new Tomorrow's War DPRG from Ground Zero Games. They would also match well with alien factions - something just like the Rebel Pangalactic Legion or ACP Hadai mentioned above.

Cheers,
Chris

Wired West, Pacific Federation, Power Armor, and Giant Lizards

If you've been following the development of Krazy Ivan's Wired West buildings, or if you're just looking to add some Firefly-themed buildings to your terrain collection, they are now available from GameCraft Minis.

Ivan designed a complete range of modular two-story buildings - complete with billboard-style signs and covered sidewalks. They are designed so that the roof and second story are removable, and you can fill them with apartments, saloons, jail cells, surgical clinics, terraforming research labs, or whatever else you can imagine. 

I could easily see colonists adopting this building style, especially for "early setup" of their settlements. The modular nature implies that these would be inexpensive and flexible, and they are a practical way to combine workspaces with living quarters. One of my own gaming settings is a moon terraformed for metal mining - primarily copper and titanium. I can see a moon like that having a single, centralized, wealthy spaceport (easily represented by GameCraft's Tomorrow's War buildings) distantly surrounded by a handful of mining settlements made with these buildings. I would just need to turn one of these buildings into a grav-train station, make sure both sets of buildings are painted in a way that they could be related (yet not identical), and have numerous tabletop options for a linked campaign setting.

I hope this trend of 1:100 Science Fiction MDF terrain continues. While they may never be as detailed as pewter or resin castings, they are a great way to quickly (and cheaply) build a dense battlefield for 15mm games.

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After teasing us with previews for the past few weeks, Brigade Models has released the first items in the Pacific Federation vehicle range. 

First up is the Cougar MBT. I like the turret weapon - it implies a higher level of technology than we've seen on many recent 15mm vehicles.

The Wombat APC follows the same general shape and style as the Cougar, but trades the massive turret for a smaller IFV-style version. It also adds troop access points to the main body - and it looks like passengers may be able to fire from overhead hatches. 

They're designed for a terrestrial faction, but I think the PacFed vehicles will end up serving in quite a few alien forces. I've been thinking about different armored vehicles to use with my Rebel Minis Pangalactic Legion and Khurasan Minis Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalion - these might fit the bill.

Keep an eye on the PacFed range - the Minigwal recon vehicle and Ocelot light tank won't be far behind these two vehicles.

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Khurasan Miniatures has added two new packs to the End Times post-apocalyptic range. 

The Government Forces in Power Armor now have command and heavy weapon figures available. 

While designed primarily to enforce the will of wasteland overlords, it's been pointed out that the Government Power Armor are ideal 15mm proxies for Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines - especially with the bare-headed leader. And if you don't see the resemblance in the catalog picture, take a look at Jeff Racel's use of the Crimson Fist chapter colors on the infantry figures. They're a pretty darn good option for the aspiring 40K-in-15mm gamers out there.

Also joining (or trying to eat) the Government Forces on the wastelands is the Mojave Pilgrim. These venomous beasts are regularly seen at lengths of 50' or more, as shown by this specimen:

Lots of potential with a monster like this, especially in games like Mutants & Death Ray Guns. The Pilgrim could be a complete opposing force by itself in a 15mm post-apocalyptic skirmish game!

Cheers,
Chris

End Of The World Sale at GameCraft Minis

To celebrate this Friday's potential apocalypse, GameCraft Minis is having a sale. From the release:

It's the End of The World Sale!

Shop before it's too late!

15%off everything until the end of December 21st (midnight GMT) or when the earth explodes... whichever comes first

This is absolutely the last sale of the year.... Is it the last sale ever????

How can you resist a sale like that? I'm going to grab a few more of the Tomorrow's War buildings seen in the last article. 

Cheers,

Chris

Colony 15 - In The Emperor's Name AAR

After painting and reviewing the Colony 15 figures from Darkest Star Games, I thought it would be fun to play a little game with them. It will be good to field larger armies of these figures as the factions are expanded. But for now, I had more than enough figures to play a small skirmish. 

First, I broke out my template for In The Emperor's Name cards and had a go with the figures. 

Veterans Day Sale from GameCraft Minis

GameCraft Minis is having a sale in honor of Veterans Day Weekend.

It's a great opportunity to pick up buildings from their modern and Tomorrow's War ranges. Some of the recent additions:

Cargo Module with Frame and Stairs

Mecha Hangar/Shop

Security Walls

And don't forget about the MDF Spaceship Interiors for building your guncrawl tables. Check out The Angry Lurker for a great review of those items.

GameCraft Miniatures Afghan Hovel - Upgraded

The GameCraft Miniatures Tomorrow's War structures are definitely ready for 15mm sci fi games right out of the box. But what about their modern buildings? Are there any simple-yet-effective ways to take their MDF Afghanistan and Middle East buildings and turn them into science fiction structures?

You bet!

I started with one of the MDF two-part Afghan hovels:

I figured a building like this would have tons of applications in a space colony. It could combine a small one-man residence with some office or work space. Maybe the colony's doctor lives in one side, and his examination/procedure room is on the other part. Or a planetologist - replace the exam room with a research lab. The colony's mechanic could use this design - an open workbay in the middle, a fabrication shop on one end, and a retail counter on the other. Even the security forces could use one side as a basic patrol station, with the other holding the colony's brig.

No matter the application - this building would need just a bit of work. I decided to start simple - by covering the square openings. So I fired up the old CAD program and whipped up some futuristic two-layer doors and windows. 

I printed these on cardstock, cut them out, and glued the layers together. They aren't remotely as nice as the building accessories available from The Scene, GZG, or Brigade, but they were good enough for a basic proof-of-concept. 

A few bits of scrap made for some decent roof accessories. The solar array is made from four tiny scaps of Evergreen Plastics 1/8" grid plasticard, a lid from an old film can, and a few scraps of plastic sprue from my Games Workshop days. A kebab skewer became two lengths of power conduit, capped by another scrap of plastic sprue and based on a scrap of leftover cardstock. 

Finally I hit the whole model with some black spray primer. Then it was just a simple matter of finishing it with cheap craft paint. 

For a few hours' worth of effort, it's really not a bad little building. A little texture on the roof would probably help - extra fine black gravel, or even flock to represent a "green roof." The results have definitely convinced me that any of GameCraft's buildings can be useful in 15mm sci fi games.

Cheers,

Chris

Tomorrow's War Refugee Huts by GameCraft Minis

Earlier this week, I gave you an overview of the 15mm MDF buildings from GameCraft Miniatures. I was eager to get some of these buildings onto the game table once they were assembled  I decided to start with the Tomorrow's War Refugee Hut.

The standard Hut kit consists of the two side walls, the front and rear walls with the curved beam-structures, a separate center beam-structure, and a roof piece made of high-quality cardstock. The Small Hut is similar, but omits the center curved beam. I also ordered the optional surface detail kits, which augment the front and rear walls. The geometric details are etched well into the surface of the building and into the card roof. It wasn't obvious to me on the GameCraft website, but the etched details were quite prominent even after painting. When I buy more of these Refugee Huts in the future, I'll probably skip the surface detail kits (though I still think they'll look great on some of the larger buildings).

Assembly was easy. The card roof is sturdy, but flexible enough to conform to the curved beams. Once I assembled the MDF parts, I put a thin line of superglue along the tops of the beams, flipped the roof and building over, and gently rocked the structure back and forth against a soft surface until the glue set. It worked - the roof doesn't look bunched or pinched.

I started by painting the Small Hut. It took a basecoat well; I used flat Krylon black primer, but any spray primer will work. The card roof didn't warp at all while the spray paint was drying (which was my only real fear with this building). Once it was dry, I simply drybrushed the whole structure with a few different metallic colors, applied some rust weathering powder, and my Hut was ready for the battlefield. I got a bit carried away with the rust powder (that stuff goes a LONG way!), and my first Hut ended up being a very nice match for my GZG Shanties and BWS Startown Slums.

But then I started to wonder about it in other applications. The support beams really do give the impression that this building could have been made from a big space transport (similar to the buildings in the BBC series Outcasts, or some of the concept art for Stargate Worlds). So maybe this was the first building in the colony - an improvised structure to shelter the settlers until the main buildings were complete:

It works. 15mm structures tend to mix fairly well, especially if you're trying for a colony that had to expand more quickly than expected, a crowded spaceport, or a refugee village. There's some great skirmish scenario fodder. Your opponent has to search your buildings for a VIP or a critical piece of alien tech. They could drive themselves mad going through all your shiny futuristic structures, while you actually kept it hidden in the old rusty hut behind the hill...

Either way, these Refugee Huts are going to see very frequent rotation on my battlefields. Based on my experiences with these buildings, the Tomorrow's War building ranges are going to be the first place I start whenever I need new 15mm terrain. They're inexpensive, easy to build, and look great with a minimum of painting effort. Could we ask for anything more?

Next up from my GameCraft order - my attempt at "futurizing" one of the modern Afghan hovels.

Cheers,

Chris

A look at GameCraft Miniatures' MDF range

GameCraft Miniatures offers one the most expansive ranges of 15mm wargame structures. When they ran their 4th of July sale last month, I really couldn't decide where to start. So I decided to just get a little bit of everything.  My order consisted entirely of MDF products, from three different sub-ranges:

• A Tomorrow's War hex landing pad
• One each of the Tomorrow's War small and standard refugee huts
• Two of the small Afghan-style hovels with slanted roofs and one of the two-room versions
• One of the middle-eastern walled compounds

I figured the Tomorrow's War buildings would be great out of the box, and the modern buildings could easily be sci-fied into something useful for my games. The walled compound in particular, is to serve as the base of operations for my HOF Cultist figures. I want to turn them into something like the Holy Order of Byzantium that Mark described a couple years back.

All GameCraft products are made to order, so there was just a little bit of waiting time to receive my goodies. But it was well worth it. The first thing I noticed opening the box was the strong woodburning aroma. My wife still claims that was the best part of the whole experience. :) I examined the building components. Their cut and fit was flawless (as it turns out, lasers are fairly precise cutting tools), and the engraved detail would make them very easy to paint.

I decided to start simple, with one of the small Afghan-style hovels.

White glue or carpenter's glue would work just fine on these, but I decided to go with superglue just to get them together quickly. The superglue works perfectly to assemble these buildings - no problem with the MDF soaking it up. Even though the parts fit squarely together, I decided to assemble a super-deluxe, high-tech, MDF wall squaring device for this step.

It took just about as much time to put the Legos together as it did the building itself. I kept the plain door off for now - figured that step could wait until I figure out how I want to "upgrade" these buildings.

But overall, this is a fantstic little structure for just over four dollars. As is, it looks like anything that could be found throughout central Asia. But its size and shape also reminds me of those sustainable living small houses that are getting so popular (see here for an example). Small homes like that seem like just the thing that will exist on future colony worlds, and it gives me some good ideas for finishing the buildings. 

Meanwhile, I decided to assemble everything in the order.

The only thing that I didn't glue together was the landing pad - I might try to hack up some old action-figure playsets and turn it into an elevated platform. Everything else assembled without giving me any problems. While I can't vouch for GameCraft's resin or foamboard products yet, I have no problem recommending the MDF products. They're an excellent value - and you can fill a whole tabletop without breaking the bank.

In the next article: the small Tomorrow's War refugee hut from assembly to painting.

Cheers,

Chris

Weekend Sale at Gamecraft Minis

Need a project to distract you from the heat wave? Gamecraft Minis is having a 15% off sale this entire weekend.  

Gamecraft Minis offers official Tomorrow's War buildings in two distinct styles.  The Human Structures range has military-industrial buildings and landing pads, cargo modules, and colonial huts.  The Marshborn Crusties range has some very unique elevated buildings and walkways - useful for a variety of alien factions.

Or if you want to get away from the normal battlefield games, the 15mm Starship Interiors are pretty darn tempting...

Even the modern and historical ranges have a lot of potential.  Many of the ruins would be great in post-apocalyptic settings.  And just to try something different, I'm going to try to sci-fi up one of these walled compounds.  It will be some kind of missionary compound for my HOF Cultist figures.

Cheers,

Chris

Releases, releases, releases!

Sorry everyone - we fell a bit behind in the last week!

First up, we have a new addition to 15mm Sci Fi. Mega Miniatures has released a 15mm version of their Salvage Crew minis.  

The poses are a bit... retro (at least by 15mm standards), but they are very faithful reproductions of the popular 28mm range. 

Next, we have tons of new goodies from Khurasan Miniatures.

• The long-anticipated Earthdoom range is now on the web store.  The Corsair Battle Suits and alien Intruders (pictured above) are the first of many promised releases in this range!
• The End Times post-apocalyptic range has been updated with The Infected - transhuman savages.  Even if you're not a post-apoc player, these would be great proxies for Serenity Reavers or the creatures from Pandorum.
• And check out the new Space Demon Great Queen (the Demon Dragon) added to the Federation Forward sci-fi range.

Gamecraft Minis has updated their range of official Tomorrow's War buildings. The Structures For The Humans series now includes a variety of really cool elevated walkways and a raised landing platform.  And a second faction, the Marshborn Crusties, now have their own elevated gantries and multi-story buildings.

Brigade Models is steadily upscaling their vehicle range to fit with most current 15mm figures.  The M-83 Curtis Hover Tank (pictured above) adds some heavy firepower to the American Republic.

And finally, Combat Wombat has added a range of building accessories and street furniture.  These bits are becoming quite popular - excellent for converting electrical boxes, plastic storage containers, or even card/foamcore buildings.

As always - apologies to anyone I missed!

Cheers, 

Chris

New 15mm Scifi Structures From Ambush Alley and GameCraft Miniatures

Just released, a partnership between GameCraft Miniatures and Ambush Alley Games has produced a set of laser-cut, MDF, science fiction colony buildings. They come in a number of styles from small garage type structures, as pictured above, to large, stackable residential habitat blocks (below). They have even released some cool first generation colony shelters that look as if they were built using hull panels from the ship that brought them there(bottom).

All of the buildings are constructed with a fantastic accuracy and though I have not handled one personally, my experience with GameCraft's Old West buildings tells me that these will be easy to collect and build by the ton. The smaller habitats have the option to be built with the etched details or you can purchase detail bits that add extra relief details to the structures as portrayed in the top image.

I cannot wait to purchase some of these to fill out my scifi terrain and I am hoping that the larger structures will get some detailing kits as well.

-Eli