The Expanse: Season 3 (and the show in general).

This is of course largely a gaming blog, and aimed at the pulp genre of the early part of the last century. How futuristic sounding is that? That being said we take ideas and inspiration from everywhere and there is a lot of good content out there these days. Despite my feeling that more and more people simply do not read books, we have a plethora of authors out there writing and creating worlds.

The Expanse is, IMHO, some of the content that you should be consuming on the sci-fi level. Written by James S.A. Corey, the series tells the story of humanity in the near future. Earth, Mars and the Belt working to survive at odds with each other. This post is about the TV show running on SYFY, but I think you should pick up the Expanse novels as well, and the first three are on sale AND on Amazon Prime right now!

April 11th saw the debut of this much loved series, and I got to sit down and watch it last night on Google Play. True to form, the opening of this season was tense and full of action. The story arcs of our main characters are told and they themselves as people grow. We see some characters step up and be incredibly bad ass in their environment, while others we know to be strong be forced to take the back stage. The TV series doesn't follow the books exactly, or maybe not at all. They tell the same story. They follow roughly the same story paths, but apart from that the writers have taken the material and pulled it apart and rewoven it into an exceptional TV show with compelling on screen characters.

Do I think this is a perfect show? No, but I was looking forward to the new season. So what don't I like? Casting wise the characters have grown on me and I understand the reasoning behind not using really famous people. Having read the novels, as is often the case, the characters didn't fit how I had imagined them, sometimes strikingly in some ways. The actors have grown on me and more often than not when I am reading the novels they have supplanted my original imagined views of the characters.

Specifically in Episode 1 of Season 3, I liked it all. As I said it was tense and well executed, I don't recall any time where it was slow, we had some excellent character growth and a few revelations. As well there were a few well timed moments of levity to ease the tension. The worst single part of this show right now is that I need to wait a week till the next episode. Is this really how we watch TV now? :(

If you like Sci-fi and are not watching this, you need to. If you like Sci-fi and are reading this and think my praise of the show is misplaced because you couldn't get through the first few episodes, I urge you to try again. This show is smart and visually pleasing. The near future version of space travel and combat are well conceived in the novels and executed well on the screen.

The Expanse on TV gets a solid..... 4 out 5 Skulls of My Enemies!

Printable Miniatures. Part 1, Getting the Image.

In Part 2 we talk about basing options!

We all love miniatures, or at least I suspect you do if you are reading my blog. If you play a system that uses a lot of smaller level fodder type characters, such as a 2d20 system or Savage Worlds, you might find it hard to have 15 or 20 of a single figure type. Even for me, with the Conan board game to pull from, it can be hard to have enough bad guys.

Custom Minis from a Ghoul stock image I got from DriveThruRPG

Enter the paper miniature, sometimes refered to as flats. I first came across these when I was getting back into gaming and watching the various channels on youtube that exist. Check out Wyloch's tutorial on how to make your own.  He goes through how to make these props, step by step using images found images.  Please be respectful of copyright when you are building printable minis this way.

We also have Printable Heros over on Pateron. For a couple of bucks you can get access to the cool collection of figures he has produced. For me though, I often need something fairly specific and I am building them pretty close to the last minute. I don't have time to search the net for the image and cut and paste it, trim it up, size it and get it ready for play. Sometimes I just want to do a quick search, print out the figure and get it on my table. For this I go to DriveThruRPG.

I am sure you are all aware of DriveThruRPG. If you are not click the above link and it will take you to a wonderland of digital products, BUT back to printable miniatures.

	These guys are probably my favorite shop creating printable miniatures. They are have a wonderful distinct style and he has a wide variety to fill many many different gaming roles! Get them here!
	Another store that has an excellent selection of figures for use with your games. Like Okum arts there is a wide variety of figures from fantasy to sci-fi. Get them here!
	The ICRPG Core set is more expensive but comes with a wealth of content, including a selection of printable miniatures for your table in Hankerin's distinctive black and white style. Get it here!
	These guys have a wide selection of printable miniatures(some are even free!) as well as papercraft buildings. Get them here!
	A later entry to this list, as I just found them recently is Trash Mob Minis. Like Okum Arts above these guys have an impressive collection of paper figs in a very distinctive style. I recommend checking them out!

There is a wealth of people creating these printable heros and monsters! Part 2 of the series will talk about the supplies I use to make mine, as well as some alternatives. Once we have all of our supplies together we will see about putting together some of these creations!

Until then, keep it weird!



The above post contains affiliate links, using them will give this blog a small commission on the sale.

FG extension going forward

With a more or less working version, meaning I have a working PC and NPC sheet, I look to places where things can be better.

The combat tracker is the obvious one, it can be a powerful tool within FG to track an encounter, but I think it might be better to update it once we have a look at the full core book.  

One of the things I think that is needed is an additional momentum track.  ie one that stores current generated momentum, and that once a turn is complete can be transferred to the stored track.

To facilitate this I would ALSO like to make it easier to see momentum generated.  And for that I am looking at implementing task difficulty for the PC.  This will probably be implemented as a numberfield and perhaps a group of buttons.  Ideally it will be a numeric entry on the Combat Tracker. 

If we know the difficulty we can roll and determine success/failure as well as how much momentum was generated, which can then be transferred to the character sheet.

Anyhow that's all for now!

John Carter Fantasy Grounds Extension

I am posting what I am calling v.9 of the extension for people to have a look at and play with a little.

There are some things that need to be done to make it really slick, but it should be functional for the quickstart.

As this is a MoreCore extension you will need that ruleset as well.

The link here should allow you to download it.

John Carter Extension

There are a few static height anchor issues but that shouldn't affect anything functional.

I will try and get a demo up via livestream in the next day or so. Finally, the only thing the CT will really be good for right now is to see who is in combat, none of the JC fields are linked.

John Carter Fantasy Grounds Extension v.99, a quick tour.

On the last to do list we have the following items:

• Stress boxes
• Spend button for Luck
• Chat messages for momentum and luck spends
• Finish adding in the stat rollers
• Resolve the static anchor issues

After a little more work I can label all of those as completed, except for the last item. There is still some work to be handled with the momentum pools, but for all intents and purposes that are functional.

With that information completed I wanted to take a quick tour of the sheet, and I hope to do a live feed demonstrating it soon.

I wanted to make a quick note that I got an e-mail last night saying 3.3.4 of FG was released. I have yet to install this and I also need to update my verion of MORECORE. This could introduce new errors to the extension, but I can not confirm or deny that at this time.

Initial version of sheet with chat window showing some basic rolls and momentum spends.

Togglable stress & affliction buttons, as well max stress levels which control the useable stress boxes.  Stress on these maxes at 16, but another 4 could be added.

Momentum and luck, momentum can be on, off, selected or disabled.  All selected momentum is spent when the spend button is double clicked.  Luck can only present or not.  I need to cut this back to 5 max as well and change the graphic.  Double clicking on the spend button spends a single point.

Dice selector, defaults to 2.  They can be toggled on and off to set number of d20s to roll

Basic list allowing for talent entries with reference buttons to the descriptions.

Character inventory window showing a shortened list of the inventory from the inventory page.

Weapons list.  Taken from the Conan extension, will probably need some more work for the final JC rules, but functional for the quick start

If you have any feedback or comments, please drop me a note and let me know, I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on this project!

FOR HELIUM!

JC: FG Extension Update.

As expected I managed to get sometime to work on the project over the weekend. I sadly squandered some of my Saturday in Age of Conan, and although I didn't stream the session I did managed to escape Tortage and begin my quest into the main world.

Even having squandered that time I managed to get a fair it done.

Completed

• Finish inventory list.
  • Completed the core inventory list on the main screen, pulls from same source as the MORECORE inventory tab.
• Add talent list.
  • Completed a working list that ties to the talents tab of the MORECORE sheet.
• Add weapons list.
  • Completed the Weapons list using the 2d20 weapons class, rollable, may need a couple of tweaks, but essentially functional.
• Create graphics for Momentum, Threat and Luck.
  • Created momentum tokens, Luck tokens and threat tokens. Will re-design the luck tokens in the future.
• Create momentum, luck and threat counters as well as spends.
  • Added selectable tokens for luck and momentum.
  • Momentum can be On, Off, Selected or disabled.
  • Momentum can be spent by double clicking the spend button.

To Do

• Stress boxes
• Spend button for Luck
• Chat messages for momentum and luck spends
• Finish adding in the stat rollers and resolve the static anchor issues

Latest version of the Character sheet showing Inventory, Talents, weapons, Momentum and Luck.

Quickly! To Barsoom!

Today Modiphius released the quickstart rules for John Carter. We get our first taste of the system.

I wanted to jot down what I see as the major differences between Conan 2d20,as I am most familiar with this system, and the mechanics in the John Carter game.

Dice
The system is the same as Conan in this.
2d20+up to 3 bonus d20s
combat dice are calculated the same, 1,2,0,0,effect,effect.

Accomplishing Tasks
The Same
Roll 2d20, buy up to 3 extras.
Roll vs 2 numbers, get under the TN = 1 success, get under the lower value = 2 successes
Opposed tests work the same. Each side rolls, if both succeed, the side with the most momentum wins.
The Differences
Skills vs attributes
Conan uses Attributes+Skills. Skills have an Expertise and a focus and these plus the attribute provide the TN and Focus to roll against. Example: Melee attack: Agility=9, Melee Ex=4, Fc=4. Melee TN=13, Fc4.
John Carter uses attributes. Each test utilizes two of the attributes. Daring+Might for example. The sum of these is the TN and the lowest of these is the target to gain a second success. Example. Daring=5, Might=6. Daring+Might test: TN=11, FC=5

Momentum, etc.
The Same
You gain one momentum for every point above your target difficulty. Task is Difficulty 2, roll 3 successes, momentum = 1
You lose one momentum at the end of each scene
You can spend momentum for various effects
The Differences
No group pool. Players are allowed to save momentum past their turn, but it is stored in a momentum pool with a maximum equal to the players lowest attribute. Players may contribute to another players momentum pool, but it can't exceed it's maximum. Doom becomes Threat
Fortune becomes Luck

Zones
The Same
The world is broken into zone vs measuring squares. Distances are therefore abstractions.
The Differences
New names for the zones
Immediate - Within arms length. (Melee)
Near - not next to, but easily reachable. (Same zone)
Away - areas apart from others either due to distance or obstacles. (Adjacent zone)
Far - Visible range (2 zones over)
Too Far - Out of visible range, beyond the ability to engage without special tech.

Action Phases
The Same
Broken into rounds and turns. Each round is composed of player turns.
Players go first in initiative. GM can interrupt for the cost of 1 threat.
The Differences
Phases are simplified. Movement, Conflict, spoken.
Movement allows moving to any point within away. Moving further costs a momentum..
Conflict actions. Generally things that require tests.
Spoken actions. Simple quips and spoken commands.
Free actions. Not listed in the quickstart, but references are made to it.

Damage
The Same
Essentially broken into stress and harm. Harms are renamed as afflictions.
Having an affliction causes a penalty on the appropriate stat.
Reducing stress to 0 = 1 affliction.
Causing 5+ points of stress in a single attack = 1 affliction.
The Differences
One additional damage category. Confusion. It's Affliction is called "Madness"
When characters take damage they look at the two attributes used in their defend reaction and choose which stress track to take the damage on. Ex. A character parries with "Cunning" and "Daring", this brings the "Confusion" and "Injury" stress tracks into play and either can take the damage.
Blacking out instead of death at 5 wounds.
Optional note that an affliction can be caused at EACH 5 stress if the GM desires

What other differences have you noticed in the rules between the various 2d20 systems and this "lite" offering? Drop me a comment below and let me know!

John Carter FG Extension, a first look.

Spent a little more time on the project last night.  Largely working on graphics items; choosing and modifying.  Although I didn't get THAT much done I did get some work done include creating the start of a new JCM roller to handle the 2d20 Momentum system.


After last night and this morning I currently have a good start.

Complete.
Desktop - updated - will need further updating to allow for tiling, but this is a good intermediary step.
Sidebar - Updated
Decal - Updated
Chat box - updated.  Framedef needs to be updated still. - Framedef updated
Added a titlebar graphic lifted from the kickstarter page, slightly modified.
Dice rolling fundamentals - completed
New character sheet tab added back into the charsheet allowing the build of a JCM specific sheet, still contains CONAN 2d20 at the moment.

To do.
New character sheet graphics
New NPC sheet & graphics
New CT Graphics
Update the roller with proper documentation

John Carter for Fantasy Grounds. The Beginning.

Last night I started working on a re-skinning of the MoreCore ruleset for use with John Carter of Mars by Modiphius.

I have decided to handle the big graphical components first.  Desktop, decal, sidebars, chat box and option buttons.

After last night and this morning I currently have a good start.
Desktop - updated
Sidebar - Updated
Decal - Updated
Chat box - updated.  Framedef needs to be updated still.

To do.
New character sheet graphics
New NPC graphics
New CT Graphics
Update the character sheet to use the new 2d20 system using 2 attributes.

I hope to have some screenshots available tomorrow.

My Advent on Mars

Like Conan, I came to Barsoom later in my life.  These early works of fiction eluded me.  I had certainly heard of Conan, but I head read none of the comics and NONE of Howard's writing till about 7 years ago.  I considered myself a fan of the character and the movie. 

Barsoom was different.  I have certainly heard of Tarzan, but not of Barsoom.  Maybe I saw the occasional comic cover here and there and didn't know what it was.  When they decided to make a movie, I looked into it more.  I became excited for the movie.  I *ENJOYED* the movie.  Did it have an amazing plot?  No.  Did it have a fun plot?  Sure!  Earth man on new world rescues the Princess and finds love.  What did it have?

Action.  Adventure.  Visuals.

This movie for me is visually stunning, and so the world created by ERB captured my imagination.  Hordes of inhuman, tribal, green Martians with 6 limbs doing battle against the Red human men of Barsoom.  A dying world of violence and conflict.  A world where airships glide across the skies like our ships on the ocean.  The movie showed me all of this and more. 

After the movie I immediately sought out and read the first three of ERBs books set on Barsoom.   They are of course different than the movie.  It seems obvious the writers were going for a more connected set of books starting from day 1.  They had an advantage over ERB in this respect.  They had all 3 books. 

So now I find myself a fan of John Carter of Mars.  The world captures my imagination.

I was delighted to learn Modiphius was planning a series of games centered around John Carter of Mars and I looked forward to the launch of the Kickstarter for the RPG.  The system is based around the same system as their Conan 2d20 lineup, which I am familiar with having played it for the last year and participated in the various forums for a longer time.

So come!  Join me on Barsoom and save YOUR Princess!

John Carter of Mars: Adventures on a Dying World

"Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung broadside toward us, and bringing her guns into play returned our fire, at the same time moving parallel to our front for a short distance and then turning back with the evident intention of completing a great circle which would bring her up to position once more opposite our firing line; the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening upon us as she swung into position. Our own fire never diminished, and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. It had never been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim, and it seemed as though a little figure on one of the craft dropped at the explosion of each bullet, while the banners and upper works dissolved in spurts of flame as the irresistible projectiles of our warriors mowed through them. "
-Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars

Modiphius is bringing another piece of classic pulp fiction to the tabletop.  This time we visit the dying world of Barsoom with it's Red and Green men.  With the constant war between peoples.  With it's Airships and hordes of Tharks.  With it's mighty cities like Helium and Zodanga.

It is currently LIVE! on Kickstarter right now!  It has more than met it's desired goal and is cruising through stretch goals.

The game uses a skill-less based 2d20lite system.  Instead of skills you will combine 2 attributes to determine the outcome of your action.  If you desire to run into melee combat with the Thark about to kill your lover, your GM will probably tell you to roll against your attributes of Daring and Might.  Daring deals with movement and Might physical combat.

Check out the cool character sheet!

I've not seen the whole system, but what I have seen I find exceptionally interesting with a lot of potential to increase narrative story telling.  I look forward to the quickstart rules arriving soon!

If you want to get in early on the community stop by the google+ group, it currently only has 14 members!

Check back often here and on youtube for updates as the kickstarter progresses and we get a chance to play the quickstart rules!

15mm GRUNTZ AAR: RESD vs DROIDS

Last week we set out to spend the afternoon playing 15mm wargames.  Specifically we wanted to finally give Gruntz a try and see how it worked, following Gruntz we played the essentially same game with the Tomorrow's War rule set. 

We were both familiar with TW, although neither of us had played in awhile, and although I didn't choose to chronicle that game, I did try and chronicle the Gruntz game so I could give an AAR on it.

If you are unfamiliar with Gruntz it is a 2d6 based system.  Basic ranged combat is based on the stats, SHOOT, GUARD, DAMAGE and SOAK.   Basically 2d6+SHOOT needs to beat GUARD to hit and 2d6+ DAMAGE needs to beat SOAK to damage.  Rotten Lead Games has a fairly comprehensive playlist on how the game works: Rotten Lead Gruntz Videos.

In general we liked Gruntz.  It was easy to play, resolved fast enough and was easy to pick up.  It has a built in points system that allows you to easily build comparable forces, although it is not without issues.  I stated up my power armor suits as "Specialists" for about 37 points.  After the game we decided for 37 points if they were stated as "Mechs" I could have had a far more useful unit for the same 37 points.

For those interested I did an AAR video for this battle for the companion YouTube channel. Colony Report

SCENARIO:
Kill 'Em All:  Head to head, elimination scenario.

FORCES:
RESD:
1 Commander
3 Death Guard power suits
3 squads with heavy plasma
1 Mongoose Missile Tank




Droids:
1 Commander
1 Droid Soldier Squad w/plasma
1 Droid Solider Squad w/missile
3 Droid Scout Drone Squad
1 Droid Hunter Killer
1 Hex Droid w/ plasma
1 Hex Droid w/ Gatling Laser

BATTLEFIELD:
Small Colony complex

Colony Complex

DEPLOYMENT:
Rolling for initiative the RESD (myself) gain the upper hand and elect to deploy second.

Final deployment of all troops prior to Turn 1.

TURN 1: (RESD wins initiative)
RESD
Forces advance further into position.

DROIDS
Forces advance further into position.

Droid and RESD move further into position.

TURN 2: (RESD wins initiative)
RESD
Units move up into the tree lines on both sides of the base in response to the droid advance.
Mongoose tank moves up to building corner to cover the main base road.

DROIDS
Move up along pond and fire at exposed troopers, scoring no hits on the unit.
Droid Hunter Killer flanks on the right and opens fire on the light Mongoose tank, range and the chaos of the battle field result in no hits being scored.

Further advance and reorganization of troops in cover positions.

HK flanking in on my right side.

Turn 3: (RESD wins initiative)
RESD
Tank swivels and looses a barrage of missiles at the Hunter Killer unit, missing.
On the left side, the power armored Death Guard open up with their plasma on the incoming droids and miss the small nimble hover drones.
Plasma Squad moves back and prepares to fire on HK unit as well.
Plasma Squad moves up taking cover against the southern building.

DROIDS
Hex Droid at long range opens up with a gatling laser against the tank, it’s lasers pinging harmlessly off the armor of the tank.
Second Hex Droid moves up unleashing the hell fire of plasma against the tank, it’s super heated charge melting into the tank, but causing only minor damage
Hunter Killer drops down increasing range between it and the RESD plasma squad and fires on the tank, missing again, but it’s massive burst catches the squad of plasma troopers within it’s hellfire, knocking a man to the ground.
Droid Soldiers move up into a position in and on the main colony building.
The Drones moving down on the middle, maneuver and fire into the squad of men hunkered beside the southern building, knocking a man to the ground.

Mid Turn as the Droids advance on the RESD.



Droids drop the first RESD trooper.

Turn 4: (DROIDS win initiative)
DROIDS
The Hunter Killer fires against the tank missing as well as missing with weapon's area blast.
Plasma armed Hex Droid opens up on the tank again, again breaching the armor, but causing no critical damage.
Gatling Hex Droid fires on a squad of RESD troopers knocking 2 men to the ground.
Drones come down the middle and scores no hits on the plasma squad.
Drones fire on the Death Guard taking cover in the forest, scoring no hits.
Second unit of Drone Scouts fire on the Death Guard scoring 1 hit, resulting in minor damage.
Droid Soldiers fire shoulder mounted rockets at DG causing 3 damage.
Droid Soldiers miss with their rifles.

RESD
Mongoose swivels and closes with the HK before unleashing a barrage of rockets against the HK, causing massive damage but failing to drop it.
The RESD Commander turns and fires an expertly placed shot with his plasma rifle scoring a hit and crashing the HK to the ground.
RESD Plasma squad on the left side fires and misses Drones.
Death Guard open fire, their plasma finding one drone.
RESD Troopers move up from building cover to try and close distance on Drone Scouts and Hex Droids.
RESD Plasma on right, moves left using the south eastern building as cover.

Thick of the battle as troops move, fire and try and hold their position.

Combined damage from the Mongoose and Commander destroy
the Hunter Killer.

Turn 5: (RESD wins initiative)
RESD
RESD Plasma squad on the left moves up scoring one hit on the left unit of Scout Drones.
Death Guard opens fire scoring 1 hit on a second unit of Scout Drones, destroying one and suppressing the unit.
RESD Plasma squad in the middles misses.
The Mongoose tank fires it's missiles against the Plasma Hex Droid missing it.
Commander moves up.
The Plasma Squad on the right continues it's advance

DROIDS
Commander removes suppression on drone unit.
Droid Soldiers move up and fire on the RESD Plasma Squad suppressing it with 2 hits.
Droid Soliders fire their heavy weapon against the Death Guard failing to penetrate it's armor and having no effect.
Scout Drones move and fire against RESD Plasma Squad causing 2 hits and suppressing the squad.
Drones fire on the Death Guard causing no hits.
Hex droids, both gatling and plasma fire on the Mongoose, but fail to hit and penetrate it's armor.
Down the middle of the Colony the Scout drones fire on the remaining RESD Plasma scoring 5 hits on the remaining squad, wiping it out.

Left side: Scouts and Soliders exchange fire with Death Guard and Plasma troops.

Tank firing on Hex while Troops advance.

Droids wipe out middle RESD team and cause casualties on left RESD Team.

Turn 6: (DROIDS win initiative)
DROIDS
Scout drones coming down the middle fire on the RESD Commander, their shots impacting harmlessly against his armor.
Gatling Hex Droid, fire on full auto against the remaining RESD Plasma, knocking down 3 men, suppressing them.
The Plasma Hex Droid opens up with it's heavy plasma, striking the tank and causing it to finally explode into a shower of molten and twisted metal.
Remaining troops, Soldiers and Scouts, on the left open up against the Death Guard. They cause an additional wound, but the Guard holds strong, but it is only a matter of time.....

RESD
Commander moves and shoots, no damage.
Plasma Squad moves and shoots hoping for a lucky shot against one of the Hex droids, but fails.
The Death Guard, still a lethal force, fire their heavy plasma against the Soldiers dropping 3.

Mongoose is destroyed, middle RESD troopers down.

Death Guard holding, majority of RESD wiped out.  Colony is lost.

We called the game in favor of the DROIDS after the completion of the 6th turn. The only units I had left that were at all effective against the DROIDS were the Death Guard and they would start falling in the next round or so.

Jungle Vegetation: Aquarium plants revisited.

Another look at aquarium plants.

This is my first attempt at a tutorial video hopefully people find it useful....

Attack Track

I found myself in Walmart the other day and while I was there I went through the matchbox selection hoping to find an elusive Rotowarrior. I came up empty handed. I did find a LARGE number of Matchbox Attack Tracks though, and bought a couple for $1 each. I had picked up a dual launcher a little while ago that was decent scale, but I thought these might be on the small side, but for the low price I figured why not.


As I suspected it was a little small, but not uselessly small.  Here is one of them taken with a small force of Sahadeen from Rebel Minis

For the low price these could easily be a remote launcher platform, or perhaps something cooler with some conversion skills.  I'm not sure what I will use mine for, but I am sure I will figure something out.

MAN & MACHINE: RULES & SAND

As I worked on the rules and made a few changes, I started messing around with Roll20 and building a few units.

I came to the conclusion that it needs re-working, that for what I see in my brain the number of stats I have is too many.

This means some mechanics simplification and changes in ideas.  So for now my brain is chewing away on that and I am trying new ideas, some I love the idea of, but don't seem to work on paper.

In other news I have completed my first two command groups for my Dessert army.  Loosely inspired by the Fremen of Dune and largely populated with Sahadeen miniatures from Rebel Minis.


Based miniatures.



Primed and washed.



Base colors added.  Dark brown and flesh tones



Lighter brown jackets, washed with a dark umber and then dry brushed.

 

Command group with dessert bases.

RESD and a new Force and a little Man & Machine as well.

Spent a little time last night finishing up the bases on my RESD power armor, as well as adding a few highlights. Still need a protective coat, but they are essentially done.

 

 

In the background of the above image are a new force I picked up sometime ago from Rebel Miniatures: http://www.rebelminis.com/sahadeenarmy.html

I am planning on a Dune inspired Fremen desert army.  Color schemes will be along the lines of dark brown and lighter brown,  ala this image search for Fremen.

 

 

The first six of the new force all based up and ready for a final cleaning and prime.

On the Man machine front I have started running some quick tests of the combat rules via the roll20 engine.  There are a few issues to work out I think, but I will need to use more than just a few random stats.  I will need to sit down and make a couple of actual soldiers with points value to see if what i am seeing is something realistic to the game or not.

 

 

Man & Machine.....

Still plugging away at the rules formatting and changing of a few things.  Currently looking at a way to simplify terrain and movement effects.

Other than that, which will be a significant re-write of the rules, I need to set up a stats card for mobs, fill out a table of contents and finish the points system.

Then I will have the Alpha version completed.

Man & Machine Update

Just a quick update this afternoon. Updated the order dial to be round.  Same order selection, but this will allow the addition of more easier.

Also picked up some new sci-fi art from RPGNOW.com, some example stock art, as well as continued to work on my own abilities so I can do the cover art.  I have a new idea for that.

Also did a little more formatting.  Booklet is looking to be about 20 pages right now.  Rules are pretty much finished and formatted.  Just need to finish the points system and put that in the rules and I should be pretty much at a playable alpha stage.

Blockade Buster Conversion - Missile Pods

One of my original posts detailed a conversion of the Matchox Blockade Buster into a Grav tank.

This little tank from Matchbox is a pretty cool base for light/medium vehicles for 15mm sci-fi.  I bought a few of them.  My current project is to build a base that I can cast in resin and just plug the tops into to mass produce the grav tank from the earlier post.  That is an ongoing project and the subject of an upcoming post.

Today is an overview of a simple missile pod conversion I did.  The first step is to remove the turret leaving a pretty simple APC looking vehicle without a top.  You can see the blockade buster here with a 15mm robot from Ground Zero Games and a Matchbox Stryker.

Once the turret was removed the next step was to cover the hole that was left.  I did this with some 2 part putty.  Shaped a basic hatch and pressed it into the space and left it sit.  I also prepped the tank to take the launch pods by drilling a hole and gluing in a piece of brass rod.

 The next step was to set up the missile pods.  They were created from two quick electric connectors, the front of a bic pen and a piece of wire. 

using my pin vise I drilled a small hole in the bic pen and the two electric connectors.  This allowed me to use the small wire to work as a connecting axle for the two pods. 

 The next step was to afix the missile turret (minus the pods) to the body of the tank.  I did this with both a 2 part putty in the hollow of the pen and super glue.  I felt this would make the missile tank fairly robust.

 

Finally I attached the missile pods to the turret and affixed a small plastic gem to the top to act as a radar or perhaps a laser based active defense system.

And the completed missile tank.  Basic paint job n the pods and a quick wash to bring out the body details.