Christmas Werewolves

I'm trying to make the most of my time at the moment, so when I start to plan my Christmas gaming activity I have to get started right away!

I've drafted the scenario I'm going to use and have decided it to make it available for anyone who is interested. Here is the link.

The setting is Colonial America, just before the FIW. There are rumours of werewolves in the woods and you need to lead your group of settlers through 3 linked scenarios, starting with an initial investigation and moving to a defence of your home, before ending with a final showdown against the head werewolf. 

The scenarios have been written for use with the "Long Rifle" rules by Two Hour Wargames. 

Next in the process is painting some settlers and Indians while waiting for the werewolves to arrive!

Zomtober 2014 (Week 4)

Well, here we are at the end of Zomtober.  Technically it ended the weekend before last, but I got a little delayed in finishing up and posting on my blog.

I'm quite happy with my output this week, moreso than the previous one. First up are 4 SWAT team members. Easy to paint these, just a black coat, dark grey dry brushing and the hands and faces. Job done as far as I'm concerned!

Second up are the figures I'm most happy with as part of this process. 4 firemen! These will make a fun change from the usual survivors used in zombie games. In fact they have specific firefighting scenarios in Hospital 911. 

I managed to undercoat two reporters, but didn't get to finish them in time. Still, I think Zomtober has been a success and I have added a lot of good stuff to my collection for zombie games. 

Here is my updated spreadsheet for the week. 

Scenario	Models	Quant	Done?
1,2	Hospital Staff	6	Yes
1,2	Hospital Security	2	Yes
1,2	Hospital Patients	3	Yes
1,2	Print and laminate 3rd Floor map	n/a	Yes
3	Police Officers	Min 2	Yes (6!)
3	Gangers	4	Yes
3	Print and laminate Underground level 1	n/a	Yes
4	Police officer (for elevator surprise)	1	Yes
5	SWAT with SMG	4	Yes
7	Print and laminate rest of hospital	n/a	Yes
8,9	Reporter and cameraman	2	No
12	Thief	1	Yes
13,14	Firemen	4	Yes
n/a	Suzie: Zombie hunter	1	Yes

I have removed a few entries which it turns out I already had painted or didn't need. I also removed the 'extras' section as that was just a bonus if I had time. So all in all I think I have done well this month, with only one entry having a  'No' by it at the end of the process.

So what's next? Well, I think it is time to take a break from the painting. I'm working on a Podracing variant for Machinas and am wanting to try out the new dungeon crawl rules from THW. On top of this I have obviously got more zombie games to play. 

Finally Christmas is fast approaching so I need to plan my game for that. But it is all in hand! An order with Rebel Minis has been placed for some figures I've long wanted. That will be combined with some existing rules I have to play a historically themed horror game. Let's just say for now that there are things far worse than the Indians lurking in the woods of Colonial America...

So lots to plan and think about and plenty to fuel blog posts for the rest of the year!

ATZ: Hospital 911

A couple of weeks ago, the PDF copy of Hospital 911, the latest expansion for All Things Zombie, arrived in my inbox. Today, the hard copy, including floor plans for the building and also miniatures has arrived. And it is pretty cool!

I've had a quick read and this looks like a great expansion. 15 different scenarios are covered, with connected ones for different characters including patients, hospital staff, police, SWAT, reporters, firemen and gangers. I'm particularly interested in the SWAT team scenario which asks you to clear out the WHOLE hospital and the firemen ones where you have to battle blazes as well as rescuing civilians. 

What I got: The rules, hospital floor plans and a bunch of 15mm figures

The floor plans, of which there are 6, are varied and decent looking. They seems to be scaled more towards 28mm figures, but this isn't really a problem as you only notice it when a 15mm person is standing next to a bed or other large item of furniture. If I was really bothered I could scale them down, but I doubt I will.

But there are two things which I really like about this expansion. The first, is that there now exists a more 'board game' approach to ATZ, which I can use to get people playing who may otherwise not be interested in a miniatures game. I'm also interested in the possibility of using gridded building plans and the rules from H911 for exploring buildings in ATZ. What will also be interesting, is porting these rules into other THW game sets. I may not have the time to play a big game with my Star Wars figures, but now I can break out the old gridded floor plans from the WotC game and have at it. In fact the same might work for Lord of The Rings figures and some of the RPG wilderness tile sets. Basically there are now lots of possibilities for when I don't have the time to set up a full table. Sure, it probably wasn't that hard to do this just by calling 1 square 1 inch, but it is nice to have some of the other tables 'officially reinterpreted' for a gridded layout.

The second thing is that this looks like be a very interesting way to set up an ATZ campaign. Play through the scenarios as patients, police and firemen. Survivors of the ordeal in the hospital are then all set to go out as a group in the wider, zombie infested world and have a ready made shared background explaining why they are together. 

Here a a few shots of the figures received as part of the project:

4 Police (sorry, I don't know why Blogger insists on having this sideways).

4 firemen, a reporter & cameraman and 2 "characters" for the scenarios

4 gang members

4 SWAT (sorry, sideways again)

12 terrified civilians.  Their poses will add some variety to the games, for sure!

Technically these are zombified hospital staff and patients, but I will probably paint them up as humans as I don't have any doctors etc at the moment.

Zombies. I love the crawling ones. These are all newer poses, so a great addition.

The figures are available from Rebel Minis.

You can read about Hospital 911 on the THW website and also their blog. The PDF is available for $15, including the floorplans to print. I'd say it is worth a look just to add a different dimension to your zombie games. I hope to get painting some of these figures and reporting on a game or two as soon as my current painting project is finished.

Using Star Army with other settings

(This is the second of two related posts about 5150: Star Army. The first being my general look at the game, which can be found here.)

If, like me, you want to use 5150: Star Army in other settings, such as Star Wars or Warhammer 40k, there isn't a great deal you have to think about changing. This post (perhaps of rather limited interest!) is to look at some of these points and maybe help those who are thinking about using these rules to fight battles with figures from specific ranges.

Weapons and Armour

This is pretty straight forward. Most armour can be closely fitted around one of the SA categories or, if not quite accurate, the abilities of SA categories can be added to or removed. Maybe BTA is a close fit for 40k Terminator armour, but you want to ignore the movement bonuses it gives.

Weapons are equally straight forward really. Most categories are covered, but given that they are all a combination of different ranges impact values and firing rates, it is easy to make something up. For my Star Wars project I use an online resource for the old RPG for weapon ranges and use the damage dice rating as the basis for the weapon's impact value. It should be easy to do similar with other rules. 

Army Organisation 

I try and stick fairly closely to the basic organisation as presented in the rules, but if you want an army that is wildly different then it should not be a problem. Just tweak what is already there.

My Imperial platoon: 3 squads with two repeating blaster assets. One command half-squad

Assets

Platoons and companies have different assets available depending on the investment level and the type of engagement. This is really a case of spending some time and seeing what is available in your collection and suits your force.

Imperial assets: Repeating Blaster, Blaster Cannon, Heavy Repeating Blaster and a Probe Droid.

Reinforcement tables

Depending in your setting and how 'colourful' your army options are, this might be a big or small task. Near future settings where your army would mostly consist of 'standard' squads with a couple of vehicles in support would be easiest. Settings with a big variety of troop types which don't operate under 'usual' military organisation (40k Orks maybe?!) might be a bit trickier. What I am doing is looking at the figures I have available and deciding what might be available to each side. So my campaign is based around a rebellion on an Imperial factory world. Rebel reinforcements include Rebel Troopers, corporate security and some battle droids and vehicles. In essence, figure out what you have and draw up a chart to roll on! My suggestion would be to start simple and develop it as you go.

Infantry Reinforcements chosen to reflect my campaign setting: Battle droids, corporate mercenaries, planetary security and Sith troopers.

Vehicles

Although the lists in the book describe a variety of vehicles, the rules themselves go through, step by step, the different things which need to be defined. So this is a case of start from the beginning and work through, deciding how to define the different aspects of your vehicles. You'll want to note the possible Rep of the crew for when you roll them up and also create a chart of available vehicles for reinforcement purposes. Worth noting is that the rules expect the 2nd and 3rd vehicles rolled as reinforcements to be the same as the first, the idea being they are part of the same platoon. Personally I don't bother with this as I don't have 3 of the same vehicle and don't think it is really required in Star Wars games. So a key point here is the rules are definitely your tool to use as you see fit.

Potential vehicle reinforcements: TIE Crawler, Viper war droid, AT-ST walker and speeder bike

Other stuff

There are rules for retrieving wounded and using the skills of medics, so these along with other bits and pieces will have to be decided upon as you go, or discarded if inappropriate to your setting. You may also want to tweak the random events so they are more specific. 

You will also need to decide which reaction tables you will use for your forces, which will determine the outcomes of them coming under fire, taking cohesion tests and so forth. For the time being I am using the Star Army reactions for professional, soldiers and another for less well trained chaps. It's also not too hard to look at the options and create your own. 

The main work that would be required is probably if you want hero types in your setting. Personally I think it should be kept as simple as possible. So Jedi can just be very high Rep characters with a large melee bonus. But there is definitely scope for deciding on the effects of various psychic abilities and such like if you want. 

The rules also don't use a points system, so this should be seen as an opportunity to jump on in and experiment! 

Final word

There are plenty of generic systems which can be used for gaming in your preferred sci-fi setting. But I find that 5150 Star Army brings together a lot of interesting elements which make it worth the (not too large) effort needed to play Star Wars games with it. In fairness I have probably gone to the extreme of what is required!

Hopefully this post has been of some interest or given you a few ideas to try out. Maybe it's even encouraged you to pull out an old collection and try using it with whatever your current favourite rules are. Comments are welcome as always and thanks for reading. 

A look at: 5150 Star Army

I thought I'd kick off my 'new-look' blog with a couple of related posts. A look at 5150 Star Army by Two Hour Wargames and my thoughts on how it adapts to different settings.

5150 Star Army is Two Hour Wargames' rule set for platoon level sci-fi wargames. It is set in their 5150 universe, but easily adapted for whatever setting you like.

How does it work?

SA uses similar mechanics to other THW rules, with an integrated turn sequence centred around their reaction system, meaning that players don't have an unrealistic control over their forces. (For more info see my post about Chain Reaction 3.) The main difference from other rules by the company is that figures are organised into squads of 8 figures and players typically control a platoon of three squads or a company of two platoons. Same side, solo and opposed games are all possible.

Bugs everywhere! (From the THW Blog post found here)

Any aliens?

I won't dwell too much on the different races available, but the rules cover various humans along with setting specific aliens and generic bugs. What is worth mentioning is that they are all neatly represented by different abilities. If you want to play in your own setting, you can easily pick and choose from these to create your own alien races. It works well without making things over complicated.

BatRep of 5150 Used for WH40K. From this blog

And the scenarios?

Patrol, attack and defend scenarios are available, although the reality is that, combined with things like the enemy investment level, variable reinforcements and PEFs, there is a lot of variation in actual gameplay. 

Reinforcements can appear for either side during the game. Squads, vehicles, off board artillery, snipers and strafing runs are all covered. This really varies the basic scenarios and forces you to respond to a changing situation on the fly.

Assets are also available at platoon and company level with their availability being dependant on the type of mission and the investment level. They include flame throwers, machine guns, plasma guns, satchel charges and more.

Great looking game from this blog. Note the recurring theme of "Ace for solo gaming"

Hang on! Enemy Investment Level? PEFs? What...?!?

The Enemy Investment Level determines how much effort the enemy is willing to put into defending or attacking the region the battle takes place in. This has a direct bearing on the strength of resistance you are likely to find. PEFs are 'Potential Enemy Forces', markers placed at the start of the game which are resolved when in line of sight. They could be enemy squads, vehicles, defensive emplacements, or just a false signal. 

Sci-fi is about the tech! What gear and equipment is available for my troops?

There is a good range of weapons and armour represented in the game. Modern style projectile weapons as well as lasers are present, with the differences represented by varying the firing ranges, the number of targets which can be shot in one turn and the impact values against different armour types. 

Armour can be one of four classes: soft body, hard body, exo-suits and battle tactical armour. The latter two also afford the wearer extra movement, targeting, communication and other benefits. I see hard body armour being like Storm Troopers, exo-suits like GW Space Marines and BTA like in the Starship Troopers novel. 

All of this makes it quite easy to create new weapons to fit your preferred setting and figure out their effectiveness against various armour types.

Want an asymmetric game with a modern/near-future feel? Look no further than here!

So, tell me about the options for a campaign. 

When you start a campaign you pick your side, who you are fighting against and decide who is attacking and defending the planet. You undertake two missions per month, the results of which will cause your campaign morale and that of your enemy to rise or fall. The side whose morale drops to zero first loses. 

Your first mission will be a patrol, but after that it could be any of the three types depending on the outcome of your last game. So you may find yourself on the offensive or defensive at various times depending on how you are doing. 

Before each game you need to determine various factors, all of which work towards making a seemingly small range of scenarios actually quite varied. The investment level has to be determined along weather conditions and what kind of intelligence is available. This last point is very important as entering a scenario with poor intel can result in your force being outflanked or running into a much larger enemy force than expected. Simple rules to implement which allow for unexpected situations to crop up and make even setting up interesting!

Following the battle, you find out if you have received replacements for your losses and any gaps in your command structure are filled by promoting soldiers. You may feel cocky at the onset, but try to fight a campaign on an enemy planet when your senior command doesn't care too much about the platoon it sent in as a token gesture to gauge the enemy strength. Soon you'll be begging for more soldiers, even green recruits, and every battle becomes a balance between preserving your force and achieving the required victory. Tough times, soldier, so just man-up and get on with it!

And is solo play actually any good?

Solo play is well catered for. In addition to the variability from the PEF rules, there are charts to determine enemy behaviour during the game. These are used by rolling against the enemy Rep to decide what action they take and vary depend upon the type of scenario. There are also basic tactics which the enemy will follow in addition to the mission specific ones. Added to the ongoing campaign, this means lots of fun and variation for the solo gamer. 

Any other points I should know about?

Here is a list of things I could think of that I haven't covered:

• Random events including snipers, mines and artillery strikes. 
• Variable insertion: enter the table on foot, in APCs or even by dropship!
• Rules to cover all kinds of vehicles without being overly complex. 
• Structures including bunkers and other buildings
• Rules for 'Stars' so you can heroically lead your forces into battle. 

There has to be something you are not so keen on, surely?

I think there are a couple of gaps to fill if you wanted to game the whole gamut of sci-fi settings. Things like psionics or independent heroes are not covered, and there are no rules for droids, specifically thinking of single ones like Imperial Probe Droids. But in truth it is pretty easy to figure out the odd special skill here and there, or construct a special set of reaction tables for droids to make them act like you want. If you really wanted a game focused on the exploits of larger than life heroes like Han or Luke from Star Wars, then you'd probably want to check out the more skirmish focused 5150 New Beginnings.  But these are minor quibbles given the game's remit of delivering fairly 'hard' sci-fi platoon battles. This it does very well indeed.

Final words to sum up?

I'd like to finish with a quote from the designer's notes which summarises what I like about the game:

5150: STAR ARMY is all about potential. We're giving you the tools to play the sci-fi games you want, as big as you want, and as detailed as you want. Not the crunchy "what bolt was hit" details rules to cover all aspects of sci-fi warfare but easy to follow rules that cover all aspects of sci-fi warfare.

STAR ARMY is not for everyone. You'll find that you do not have total control of your forces, this isn't chess, that you will often not know what you're facing, and the reinforcement system can be cruel at times. But you will be presented with challenges every battle and the tension that comes from uncertainty.

Star Army is great as a solo game and for playing campaigns that are focused on the games to be played rather than lots of paper work. Despite what I said in the section above, in practice it is very flexible in terms of adapting your favourite setting as well. I always used to play Star Wars using Star Grunt. But I'll use Star Army from now on. And that's strong praise from me!