Sci-fi Terrain

As I mentioned in the last couple posts, I am preparing for sci-fi skirmish rules that will be released in the near future, as well as for current rules that I already own.  I have completed the acquisition of miniatures.  The next step is terrain.

I have the battle mats and containers from Infinity, which are nice and work in a pinch.  But I wanted something more, something modular and with lots of walkways and stuff.

So I dug around on the internet, looking at buying terrain or building my own.  But then I saw Battlesystems (http://www.battlesystems.co.uk/), which is exactly what I want.  They even have their second sci-fi pack up on kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621774283/battle-systemstm-sci-fi-ii-terrain).  But I don't want to wait a whole year to get that kickstarter, and their first sci-fi pack only lets you build so much.

But, paper terrain, that sounds like a viable option.  And I believe I found the solution.  Stones Edges' Orbital Starter (http://www.stones-edges.com/scifi/orbital).  Obviously they designed it to be a spaceship layout.  But I see so much more potential.  And so I have begun the laborious process of building a modular system out of the basic starter pack.

Here is a sample layout with what I currently have assembled.  

Here is everything glued currently.  The corner walkway on the left uses walls from a different paper terrain maker and is on foamboard, which lets me plop it down on any section of walls as a second floor addition.

Deadzone - sci-fi miniatures assemble!

As I look to the future; with Rogue Stars from Osprey in late December and Harder than Steel from Ganesha Games sometime next year, or as I think of Double Tap by One Page Rules and In the Emperor's Name and FUBAR by Forge of War, I have come to the conclusion that I'm severely lacking in my sci-fi miniatures collection.

With this serious injustice to my meager miniature stockpile, I have searched for ways to inexpensively augment my horde.  One option I discovered was the starter boxes for Deadzone from Mantic Games.

I picked up three starters; Forge Fathers (Dwarves in Space!), Veer-myn (Ratmen in Space!), and Marauders (Orcs in Space!).

Due to a slight error, I was sent the faction booster instead of the actual starter, but it contains plenty for my needs regardless.  Here is a big cannon-tank thing, a couple engineer/pilots with tracked drones (which I put weapons on), and a couple motorcycles.

Here are the grunts of the Forge Fathers.  I made a sergeant stand on an orc head while holding a maul and one-handing the rifle.

I made one of each special/heavy weapon and one hussar.  Then there are the Brokkrs, which would make great space pirates or miners or engineers or scouts.

The Veer-myn, space rats.  I made one of each type of rat ogre then the two progenitors/leaders.  The giant drilling machine is a cobbled together contraption from random bits, I love constructing stuff out of leftovers.

The swarm of Veer-myn.  Up front are the 12 pistol/knife wielders, then three heavy weapons, and in the back are the rats from the Project Pandora boardgame.  

The Marauders, or Space Orcs.  The two big guys I outfitted each with heavy ranged and close combat weapons, instead of making them only one type.  Then there are the four mutant dog-things and goblin snipers.  The fourth goblin sniper was supposed to look like he is scared or running away, so I modified him to look like he is sneaking up instead.

And the Orc horde.  In the back are the Marauders I picked up many moons ago, they have pistols and close combat weapons, along with two heavy weapons and a couple with power claws.  The Marauders up front are more like commandos; with rifles, shotguns, and a guy with a flamer.  The commando captain has some kind of power spear thing.

At this point, I have plenty to use for sci-fi games.  Coupled with the Sedition Wars' Vanguard, Deadzone Enforcers, Infinity Haqqislam/Nomads/Panoceania, and miscellaneous Reaper Bones Chronoscope minis, I should have enough variety to play anything.

Now I just need to paint....alot.

Infinity - Operation Icestorm

I've already dipped my toes a bit into Corvus Belli's Infinity (http://infinitythegame.com/) by purchasing the Haqqislam Starter Box (http://www.data-sphere.net/starting-with-haqqislam/).  I really like all the details in the miniatures and the character concepts are so original.  I have yet to play Infinity, but that might change soon.  I bought:  OPERATION ICESTORM.

The box has some gorgeous artwork and showcases the fantastic painted models (which I have no chance of replicating).  Inside are 14 miniatures, dice, lots of tokens, rulebook, and paper terrain.

The tokens were flimsy, so I glued them to thin cardboard.

Here is the paper terrain and battle mat.

I had this Infinity terrain from a while back, I should be able to combine it with the ones from Operation Icestorm to make an even bigger playing field.

Here are the miniatures; all glued and primed.  The goal is bright colors.

Once all the miniatures are painted I will try out the missions in the rulebook.  I'll most likely be playing solo, so hopefully the rules will allow some friendly solo play.  If that fails, I'll try out Double Tap again from One Page Rules (which is no longer found on their website), but I have a copy still and shouldn't be too difficult to augment as needed.

As well, as mentioned in the previous blog post, I'll have these miniatures ready for when Rogue Stars comes available.  Or for even further down the line, Harder than Steel from Ganesha Games.  Its nice having multiple options on rules to use for sets of miniatures.

Rogue Stars

One of my favorite game designers, Andrea Sfiligoi (creator of Song of Blades and Heroes, Of Gods and Mortals, etc.), has penned another ruleset for Osprey Games, called Rogue Stars.  According to the description of the game:

Rogue Stars is a character-based science fiction skirmish wargame, where players command crews of bounty hunters, space pirates, merchants, prospectors, smugglers, mercenary outfits, planetary police and other such shady factions from the fringes of galactic civilization. Crews can vary in size, typically from four to six, and the character and crew creation systems allow for practically any concept to be built. Detailed environmental rules that include options for flora, fauna, gravity, dangerous terrain and atmosphere, and scenario design rules that ensure that missions are varied and demand adaptation and cunning on the parts of the combatants, make practically any encounter possible. Run contraband tech to rebel fighters on an ocean world while hunted by an alien kill-team or hunt down a research vessel and fight zero-gravity boarding actions in the cold depths of space - whatever you can imagine, you can do.

Of course I had to join in on the pre-order program available from Osprey and North Star, called a Nickstarter:  http://nstarmagazine.com/ROGUE_STARS.htm

It won't be shipped out until late December, but I've already started making plans and purchases in preparation.  I had to beef up my sci-fi collection and progress is looking great.  Standby for more posts....