Galactic 40K Heroes Mash up

The lad has almost finished painting a squad of Tau for 40K and very nice they are too, give or take a little bit of basing to make them really good. As a result and with the holidays in a couple of days, I thought it would a good idea to dig out my copy of Galactic Heroes for a few squad level skirmish games in a grim, dark dystopian future. I've given him the rules to read through, so that he can work out the profiles for his Crimson Fists and Tau squads, with an initial playtest scheduled for the weekend. The best of both worlds!

Sandbox Skirmish Terrain Cloth

I've splashed out on a new 3' x 3' terrain cloth for both my Sandbox Skirmish 15mm post-war / modern skirmish games but also for my Fistful of Lead wild west skirmish games in 28mm. It's from Deep Cut Studios and is listed as a Wild West cloth for 28mm games but also as a 15mm cloth, so it should be compatible with both scales. I may have to re-paint some of my terrain pieces to match the tone and shade of the cloth but I will probably only do this for the 15mm stuff, as I still want to use my 28mm terrain with my larger 6'x4' table cloth for the Back of Beyond et al.

I don't have much terrain in 15mm anyway, so I can always start again from scratch, using the stuff I do have for the 28mm games. This should make it easier for me to set up games at the club, as it's far more portable than my home made terrain board, which has unfortunately warped out of shape anyway. It will also be useful for future skirmish projects including Strontium Dog and Galactic Heroes, so it's a worthwhile addition to my cloth collection. If I'm lucky, at least some of my existing terrain pieces will be a decent match anyway?

Aratech 74-Z Speeder Bikes

I have a couple of scout trooper speeder bikes from the Star Wars Legion boxed set but like them so much I have now got a couple more via eBay, second hand but new, so that I can make a full scout patrol for Galactic Heroes. I think one of them will be converted to a captured rebel bike, using the figure from the scout walker model, which I don't really like and probably won't use otherwise. These things are so cool after all, that you can't just have two of them!

Galactic Heroes Star Wars Cards

I've been enjoying the after action reports of Galactic Heroes that have been popping up on Jaye Wiley's highly entertaining Baron's Blog and most recently over on the excellent A Wargames Gallimaufry blog, both of which have inspired me to have a go myself.

https://wargaminggallimaufry.blogspot.com/2019/10/galactic-heroes-skirmish-on-tatooine.html

http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/2019/10/fistful-of-lead-galactic-heroes-star.html

I am a big fan of the Fistful of Lead rules but have only used them for the conventional western shootout setting until now. I do have a good selection of the Star Wars Legions plastic figures, however, so I'm now thinking of scheduling a Star Wars skirmish project for next year, involving only a handful of figures for each side. 

To give me a kick start, I've found a really nice set of Star Wars themed playing cards, none of which have any of that new fangled prequel or sequel gibberish, only the original trilogy images. I really like the black and white set which has Star Wars c1977 written all over it, so I have no excuse not to start planning this as a  viable project if I actually want to use them for more than a game of snap.

"Echo Base, this is Rogue Two. I've found them!"

Last year I was given a set of Star Wars Legion Snowtroopers as a Xmas present, which was a nice surprise. The problem was that I didn't have any rebel troops in polar gear, so couldn't make any use of them, despite having some winter terrain. Now, however, I've acquired some Rebel Veterans on eBay, which I will eventually get round to painting up, not for Star Wars Legion but for Galactic Heroes. Cool!

May the Fourth Be With You

Even the dog loves Star Wars (the original films, not that new ****). It reminds me that I've got some Stormtroopers to paint for Star Wars Legions and Galactic Heroes!

https://jeffthedogblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/jeff-likes-star-wars.html

Fistful of Lead Core Rules

I'm a big fan of the Fistful of Lead rules by Jaye Wiley, so I was very pleased to see the publication of a core set of the rules, adaptable to any historical setting. I've played a lot of the original western rules and was an enthusiastic backer of Galactic Heroes, the sci-fi variant, although I still haven't got round to playing a game yet. Now that I have some new Star Wars figures, that shouldn't be too after off, assuming I get round to painting them. 

I've also tinkered around in 20mm with the Viva la Revolucion! supplement for the Mexican Revolution, but that's still an on-going project and one that I've sidelined this year, which is a reminder for me to get on with it. Anyway, I'll get a .pdf copy of the new core rules to see if I can use them for the Back of Beyond or WW2 squad level skirmish scenarios, although I'm not sure if they can handle tanks or support weapons like AT guns?

Star Wars Legion

When I was down at my Dad's in Cornwall last week, I picked up a couple of belated birthday presents, which were too big to be posted up to us. These included a pack of Imperial Snow Troopers for Star Wars Legion from my sister and the core set from my Dad. I will probably use these with both the official rules but also with Galactic Heroes, for which they will be perfect. Lovely minis too!

Laserburn Blast from the Past

I was up the loft last night in search of the Xmas tree decorations, which is always a good excuse to have a rummage in the piles of wargames magazines, rules and models that I've banished to a higher plane. In one of the box files of rules I found my old copy of Imperial Commander, which is a platoon level skirmish set of sci-fi rules based on the Laserburn system and written way back in the early '80's by Bryan Ansell and Richard Halliwell no less. 

I haven't played it for years and it's probably very, very clunky but, in a moment of nostalgia, I decided to bring it down from the loft for a read through. I was thinking that it could be another possible use for my desert terrain board and scenery, especially as I have lots of the old TTG 15mm figures and quite like the idea of some retro sci-fi gaming, even if I ditch the rules and use something else like Gruntz or Galactic Heroes, for example...

...and you've got to love the 1980's pen and ink cover art!

Strontium Dog Skimmer?

As part of the excellent Kickstarter bundle for Galactic Heroes, I was given a very nice 28mm 'Rockets and Rayguns' style resin hover car. This is a lovely model and very well designed, with loads of Flash Gordon 1940's pulp stylistic features. It is, however, not something that I have any real use for, as I'm not going to do pulp sci-fi for my Galactic Heroes games. 

On the other hand, I thought to myself, why not re-purpose it for Strontium Dog? This would require a little light surgery to remove the obviously pulp sci-fi bits and the addition of loads of stowage to give it more of a 'spaghetti western in space' look. I think this would work well and would make a useful extra element for scenarios. It's worth a try at least?

Galactic Heroes Goodies

I had a nice surprise this afternoon when I got home from work in the shape of a parcel from the USA containing all of the Kickstarter Galactic Heroes goodies. These consist of the rulebook, a cheat sheet and two supplements, one of background and the other for vehicles, a couple of packs of tokens and a badge, some neat resin objective markers, a cool resin hover car, a blast template and, best of all, a pack of custom cards for use with the game. 

These are my favourite bit of the bundle and really look very professional. Nice work Jaye! I have no idea when I'll get round to playing a game, however, as I don't have any figures (yet) that are suitable for space opera style scenarios, which is where these rules really fit in. I may have to take a short cut and paint up a handful of 15mm Laserburn figures in the interim, so I can try out the rules. A big thanks to Jaye Wiley for making this happen and for delivering such a brilliant bundle of stuff.

Galactic Heroes is Here!

I had an email from Jaye Wiley yesterday evening with pdf's of his new sci-fi rules, Galactic Heroes, and a pack of several scenarios, all based on the Fistful of Lead system. The rules run to a comprehensive 60 pages and, although the core is familiar there are numerous tweaks, additions and extras to fill out the sci-fi aspect of the game. I'm looking forward to trying them out but I am still undecided about which way to go with this, either 15mm or 28mm. 

The former has the advantage of being both compact and cheap, as I have loads of figures already and like the idea of using the old Imperial Commander (Laserburn) range for this, while the latter is a bit more 'skirmishy' and detailed, assuming I can find a range of figures that I like and that isn't all 40K spikey bits.  I also have a shedload of 15mm GZG figures that would be ideal for more hard sci-fi settings and the 28mm Strontium Dog figures can also be re-purposed as well.

I'll just have to make up my mind!

Robots for Strontium Dog

I meant to get a few extra figures for Strontium Dog at Colours last weekend but, as I didn't go this time round, I decided to find some more online. I wasn't particularly taken by the official range of Warlord figures, although they are otherwise fine, so decided instead to use something else. This turned out to be a pack of two Gunbots and the Big Bot figure from the Rogue Stars range, sculpted by Mark Copplestone and Mark Owen, two of my favourite designers. They aren't too far off the visual style of Strontium Dog and will make the basis of an excellent and different band of characters or just allies for another faction. I'm sure I can work out some relevant profiles using the rules for character generation and so on. I can also use them for Galactic Heroes when that arrives, which should be pretty soon?

Search and Destroy

It's Friday, so although I'm not paid due to the holidays, I thought I'd keep supporting the UK lead industry by adding the Strontium Dog Search and Destroy boxed set to my set up. I always loved these skimmer bikes in the original strip and think they are one of Carlos Esquerra's most iconic designs, really giving that Wild West in space look to the storylines. I particularly like the dust cloud effects on the models, which are a key feature of the images in the 2000AD storyboards. I also don't have a miniature of Wulf yet, so this is a good start, even if he's riding a bike rather than standing up. Cool!

The Good, the Bad and the Mutie

I finally cracked and have ordered a set of The Good, the Bad and the Mutie at a decent price from an eBay outlet, which means I have yet another project to fit in somewhere before Xmas, if I can find the time. I was going to wait until Colours to get the Strontium Dog starter set and perhaps a few of the extras, but this was a good deal, so I thought I'd go for it now. If the rules turn out to be wonky, I can always use Galactic Heroes instead, although from what I've read and seen, they look pretty good. I still can't quite believe that Warlord have published this or that they've created a range of really nice 28mm figures but I'm really pleased that they have, as it is my all time favourite 2000AD strip. I just hope it doesn't get dropped like some of the other franchises have been in the past.

Strontium Dog!

How did I miss this? My absolute all time favourite 2000AD strip and some superbly sculpted figures including Johnny Alpha, Wulf and Gronk, not to mention the assorted hangers on! The rules might be OK but, if not, there's always Galactic Heroes to fall back on. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until I get back to the UK to put in an order for the starter set, by which time I may be able to get a good deal. I can't wait!

Galactic Heroes Play Through

A really straightforward run through by the game designer of the turn sequence, shooting and close combat mechanisms for Galactic Heroes. This shows how the Fistful of Lead system works and some of the modifications for sci-fi that the Galactic Heroes version features. It's really interesting and well worth your time to watch it if you are wondering what all the fuss is about?

Galactic Heroes..in 15mm!

The Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes Kickstarter is now fully funded with only a couple of the Stretch Goals yet to be reached, which is great news. Well done Jaye Wiley! I'm really happy as this means that my set of rules, cards and other bits will be arriving sometime later in the year, by which time I should be ready to play some scenarios. I've decided to go for the 15mm option rather than 28mm, primarily as I already have lots of unpainted lead, resin and lasercut mdf to use for this project (which doesn't mean I won't add some more, of course!)

The figures will be from the old Laserburn (Imperial Commander) 15mm range for space opera style games and from GZG for more hard sci-fi purposes. The Laserburn figures are still very good even after thirty years and really capture the look of 1980's sci-fi in a 2000AD style. The GZG figures are more conventional but also great for more hard nosed, gritty sci-fi settings. I also have plenty of cool terrain and structures to use including a stonking resin fortified 'habitation base' outpost thing from Alternative Armies, which has been sitting in a dusty box for far too long.

So, all this will be kicking off over the summer holidays, ready for the rules publication date in September.

Galactic Heroes

I've just backed the new Galactic Heroes Kickstarter as my reward for a week of hard graft, with a Bounty Hunter level pledge that includes the rules, a pdf copy and access to the Stretch Goals and extras that will be unlocked as the Kickstarter rolls out. I'm really looking forward to this sci-fi, space opera style version of the Fistful of Lead system, although what I'll use it for has yet to be decided. I quite fancy the idea of Strontium Dog, if I can find some suitable mutant bounty hunters in 28mm?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/592450292/galactic-hereos