Rogue Stars - the beginning

Rogue Stars published by Osprey and created by Andrea Sfiligoi, (https://ospreypublishing.com/rogue-stars), is a very dense skirmish game.  Not complex or overly difficult, just crammed with so much information in such a thin book.  I imagine if they had no page limit the book might have been 400+ pages easily.  I am not going to do a review of the game, as there are quite a few out there already and describe all the mechanics perfectly.  In fact, here is a video about how to play: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P71OHehKktk&t=104s)

Instead I will give my opinions and show what I have started on in preparation to play the game.

Here is the book in all its glory.  It is 64 pages of tightly compacted rpg-lite skirmish goodness.

The book is filled with characterful artwork (much like the cover) and overloaded with so many options, it really is a sandbox and you can design just about anything you want for your teams.  With all the missions, locations, and complications you will have plenty of exciting gaming in your future.

These "official" tokens/markers came from Andrea Sfiligoi himself via Ganesha Games (http://www.ganeshagames.net/product_info.php?cPath=1_58&products_id=311)

The game mechanics rely heavily on tokens and markers.  The majority of the negative reviews pertain to the use of tokens on a gaming table.  Its all about personal preference, as I don't mind using tokens and plan on putting them to the side on the characters' sheets.  Stress, Pins, and Wounds will be used most frequently, the rest of the shown markers are based on certain situations and will rarely come into play.

So I picked through my miniatures collection, trying to make a few random teams.  I was not prepared for how many options were available.  I kept adding and removing traits, weapons, and equipment.  The paper I was writing on is filled with scratches as I changed my mind so many times.  But once I settled into the rhythm of 'looking' at the miniature to decide what weapons/traits it has, things smoothed out some.

Deadzone Enforcers - Theme: Cyborgs, Tactical Discipline:  Opportunity Fire -  Captain (Power Armor, Molecular Slug Thrower, Vibroblade built-in, Veteran), Engineer (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle, Tech 2, Neuro-jack Array), Heavy Gunner (Light Power Armor, Machine Gun), Trooper (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle), Assault Trooper (Light Power Armor, Slug Pistol, Vibroblade)  - 201 XP total

Sedition Wars Vanguard - Theme:  Militia, Tactical Discipline:  Cool Under Fire - Sergeant (Light Combat Dress, Plasma Pistol, Vibroblade, Slug Pistol, Veteran, Weapon Master 3, Free Disengage), Sniper (Light Combat Dress, Musket w/ Accurate, Marksman 3, Stealth 1), Medic (Light Combat Dress, Slug Pistol, Molecular Slug Thrower, Medic 2), two Troopers (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle, Marksman 1) - 201 XP total

Infinity Panoceania - Theme:  Star Cops, Tactical Discipline:  Determined - Repair Bot (Artificial, Nonreactive, Tech 2, Medic 3, Fast 2, Extra Legs 1, Zap Rifle, Neuro-jack Array), Father Knight (Monowire Scythe, Light Power Armor, Weapon Master 2, Veteran, Free Disengage, Electromag Shackles), Jumper (Assault Rifle, Light Power Armor, Slug Pistol, Jump Pack, Medic 1), two Troopers (Assault Rifle, Slug Pistol, Light Combat Dress, Medic 1) - 200 XP total

Infinity Nomads - Theme:  Pirates, Tactical Discipline:  Hard to Kill - Leader (Light Power Armor, Submachine Gun, Veteran, Marksman 2), Sister Knight (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Slug Pistol, Ambidexterity, Medic 1), Ninja (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Monowire Blade, Slug Pistol, Difficult Target 3, Weapon Master 2), two Troopers (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Slug Pistol, Tech 1, Medic 1) - 200 XP total

Reaper Bones Chronoscope - Theme:  Merchants, Tactical Discipline:  Opportunists - Captain (Kevlar, Powered Gauntlet, Molecular Slug Thrower, Veteran, Marksman 2), Engineer (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Tech 3, Medic 3, Marksman 1), Twin Guy (Kevlar, Zap Pistol, Vibroblade, Fast 1, Weapon Master 3, Difficult Target 1, Marksman 2), Twin Girl (Kevlar, Zap Pistol, Monowire Blade, Fast 1, Weapon Master 3, Difficult Target 1, Marksman 2), Sister Penitent (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Vibroblade, Weapon Master 3, Free Disengage, Marksman 2), Tome Raider (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Submachine Gun, Ambidexterity, Fast 1, Difficult Target 1) - 200 XP total

As you can see, there is just so much variety in creating teams.  In my opinion, just like in roleplaying games, character creation is one of the best parts of the game and becomes a mini-game of its own.  I'm sure there are ways to 'break' this process to make ultimate soldiers and odd pairings, but if you stick with the WYSIWYG philosophy (that is: What You See Is What You Get) and design characters based on what they look like, then there won't be any problems.

Now I just need to play a game or two to really see how things work.

Miniature conversions and bitz-mashing

After receiving my Mantic Crazy Box 2016, I wound up with some miniatures that needed to be spruced up for some sci-fi skirmishing.  As well, there were some left-over bits itching to be glued together to make something.

Here was a Dreadball guy that I turned into a heavy machine gun toting beast.  It kinda reminds me of a Warzone HMG Trencher (http://www.displacedminiatures.com/images/3.img.1287691960ImperialHMG.JPG)

This Veer-myn Dreadball player received some weapons from his kin, now he can spread joy with toxic fire.

The Forge Father Dreadball player now has a little pistol and a HUGE axe (from Kings of War Salamanders).  Size matters when your entire race is shorter than everyone else.

And the Orc Dreadball player now has some cobbled together mega-ray-death-gun, prepare for loving.

I was able to make 'something' out of the random Mantic Battlezone stuff.  Its an industrial platform with crane and a staircase.  Hopefully it holds together.

Last, but not least, is the Forge Fathers' fast attack hover craft!

You can see an excited Forge Father piloting this odd craft.  It kinda has an aircraft carrier deck.

This view you can see the magma cannon and the anti-gravity boosters on the bottom of the craft.

This side has the autocannon.  Nothing spreads cheer faster than thousands of rounds of bullets.

Triumphant return!

Been absent for a while, but now I have returned with all new reports and pictures too!

First up was a game of One Page Rules' Grimdark Racing.  (https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/portfolio/grimdark-racing/)

My son and I enjoyed the game.  Fast and easy rules.  Reminds us a lot of Mario Kart racing, nothing wrong with that at all.

My son played the Rebels (snowspeeder and X-wing) while I had the Empire (Tie Fighter and Tie Bomber).  We used them all as Skimmers.

The Tie Fighter led the way and would maintain the lead the entire three laps.

   

This was the start of the second lap.  The Tie Fighter had a commanding lead and I used the Tie Bomber as a wrecking ball and prevented the Rebels from getting close to the leader.

 

End of the third lap.  The Tie Fighter crossed first, X-wing second.  

Next up, my son and I decided to give One Page Rules' Kill Team a test.  (https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/portfolio/one-page-kill-team/)

I played as the Orks (Warpath Marauders) and my son played as the Space Marines (Deadzone Enforcers).  I really enjoy the simple approach from the One Page Rules.

Orks to the left, Space Marines to the right.

WAAAGH!  Orks advance, and get shot along the way as usual.

As you can see, many Orks did not make the trip across the battlefield.

The end of the match.  I lucked out in slaughtering many Space Marines with the Orks' brutal close combat abilities.  But after four rounds I lost, with most of my force decimated by Space Marine gunfire.

And finally, my oldest daughter played my son with One Page Rules' Skirmish (https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/portfolio/one-page-skirmish/)

Using Reaper Bones miniatures we attempted to create a couple possible warbands based off of the Warhammer Fantasy army lists.  My son went with the Tomb Kings (lots of undead naturally).  And the daughter chose Wood Elves.  Tallying up the points and upgrades was quite a chore.  In the end, point wise, the warbands were even.  As far as model count, the Tomb Kings undead severely outnumbered the Elves.

My daughter faces my son across the battlefield.

The Tomb Kings's undead shamble onto the scene.

A couple Wood Elf archers are able to set up on a tower in the deployment zone of the Tomb Kings.  They were able to rain down terror from their high vantage point.

This is the remainder of the Wood Elves.  Vastly outnumbered by the undead.

Skirmish has a whole load of special abilities to keep track of, as you can see my son looking at his reference sheet.  But by the end of the game, he was victorious.  The leader of the Wood Elves was slain and their warband decimated by the never ending undead.

FUBAR 40k with Mantic minis - 9/24/15

Since I have all these Deadzone/Warpath miniatures now, and I'm extremely slow painting anyways, I figured I might as well play a game with them.  As I contemplate my sci-fi skirmish rules, I decided to try some other rules out there.  One of the rules I downloaded was FUBAR (https://fubarwargames.wordpress.com/downloads/).  It seemed simple enough, fitting on one page too.  Then I found the 40k variant, which seemed to fit in with the Mantic figures I have.  So without further ado, I give you FUBAR 40k with Mantic miniatures....

So nice to have rules that fit on one page.

Here is my latest addition; Deadzone scenery.  I tried to stretch out as many 'buildings' that I could from what was provided.  Its at least a start to my collection.

The Veer-myn hold the front lines while the Marauder Orx cover the rear.  There are three objectives, those little crates.

After the first couple turns, the Enforcers move in and clean house with authority.  I gave the Veer-myn no armor, so their lives were wasted.  Then again, I had put them out in the open, no cover.  Brilliant thinking....

The Enforcer Captain and Assault guys, all with jump-packs and power weapons, versus three regular Veer-myn.

Veer-myn just about wiped out....

Marauders charge out.

An Orx 'nob with powerklaw' leads an assault.

First objective captured as the Enforcer Captain clashes with another Orx 'nob with powerklaw'.

The heavy weapon Enforcer were decimated.  The lone sniper would not survive much longer.  The Enforcer Captain handles the other Marauders.  The Assault Enforcer was laid down to show Suppression, but I forgot that close combat failed saves are casualties not Suppression.

End of the game.  Only the two Marauder heavy weapons remained.  I was certain this would end in clear victory.

All in all, FUBAR is a quick simple game.  Fairly straight forward with no convoluted rules to worry about.  I believe its geared to slightly larger warbands than I have.  Perhaps closer to 30+ models per side.  I'll try FUBAR out again in the near future.

Sci-fi collection grows!

I have collected a handful of sci-fi miniatures from Mantic's Warpath.  Starting with 10 Marauder Grunts and from Project Pandora; 10 Corporation Marines and 10 Veer-myn Night Crawlers.

I am planning on backing the Warpath Kickstarter, which will be live tomorrow.  Hoping for a good deal to significantly increase my sci-fi collection.  Then I'll have a wider selection of playtest applicants as I continue to work on Song of Tomorrow, or whatever it will be called when I'm done with it.

Here are the Veer-myn.  One is Master Reekish (ray-gun and knife), Exterminator (chem-thrower), and the other eight have ray-guns.  Assembly wasn't too bad.  There were two body types for the eight regular Veer-myn while Master Reekish and the Exterminator had a third body type.  No bases were included in Project Pandora, so I had to improvise using the last of my Reaper Bones 2 kickstarter bases and a Sedition Wars base for Master Reekish.

Here are the Corporation Marines.  One is Sgt. Cruise (powerfist and pistol, though I strapped a rifle to his back for 'close encounters') and nine regular marines.  I strapped 'special weapons' to two of the marines, in case I ever want to include a plasma gun or flamer to the squad.  Apparently I would have had to carve up the included arms to install the special weapons, so opted for the lazy-man-strap-to-the-marine's-back method.  Assembling the arms was a pain in the butt, real fiddly in their design.  

Here are the Marauder Grunts.  I've made two of these guys Nobs (40k lingo for bigger orx with powerclaws and pistols).  There are two support weapons, one is the included heavy weapon and the other is a bastardized weapon from cobbled together bits; so a plasma cannon or a laser cannon.  The other six Grunts have pistols and melee weapons.  One of them is carrying some sort of tech gadget, like a scanner or something.  Assembly wasn't difficult for these guys.  The only problem was in deciding who got which arm/weapon.  So many choices, lots of mix-matching went on with the available sprues.  I've still got lots of random bits left-over and I was trying to use it all up.