An Ode to Obscure Games: Exploring Settings and Factions

 Hi!

I've been sculpting furiously over the last week and have got the next batch of figures for my Leviathan project but as I'm trying to get an entire faction at least to a decently playable condition, it's taking a while but my Children of the Worm should be about ready to paint come this weekend which is great.

In the meantime, I thought I'd have a look at how to incorporate some of the obscure games from my collection into something a bit more focused, namely looking at setting a mini campaign in one of them.

For this I've rummaged out my original Void 1.0 rulebook which has the rules and basic background for the game as well as core troop choices for each faction. Weighing in at 48 pages, the original Void rulebook is none the less a really great wee read, chock full of background that helps set the scene for the game that would develop over the following years.

We have an outline of the civilisation, namely the Viridia Solaris-Leviathan binary system where humanity originated from. We then have a brief overview of the binary systems planets and brief history of how the civilisation, originating on Viridia spread initially throughout the system and began to squabble amongst each other resulting in war and a split between the Viridians, Junkers of Ironglass and the Syntha of Prime.

We also get a good overview of how FTL travel works in the setting, largely due to the gravity well of the dead star Leviathan and then the book explores each of the factions in greater length comparing everything from their commerce to military and politics which serves to give a good grounding on how each of said factions will operate in setting.

We have the eco-capitalist Viridians who have a megacorporate democracy and generally good tech level. Its citizens are probably the freest of the settings societies but as they're working for the megacorporations, this is must be taken with a pinch of salt. Their military is well equipped but risk averse so rely more on well equipped troops who can hold the enemy off at range.

The Junkers of Ironglass are a despotic society, loosely based on Rome with the basic citizens life being grim, hard and brutal, not to mention short. Coupled with their tendency to appropriate tech, planets and resources whenever possible, they're clearly not nice guys. The inner council of the Junker's senate aren't even known, so highly do they keep their secrecy. Military wise, the Junkers are numerous and eminently disposable with short range weapons better suited to close in firefights and assaults.

The Syntha of Prime are a technocratic society who believe in melding humanity with machine and develop artificial intelligences using Prime Obsidian, a super rare material only found on their homeworld. Interestingly it is stated that there are two tiers of citizens, the lower class Synthetics such as AI's and synthetic beings while the upper is the Prosthene or cyborg humans. At the same time their society is guided by an AI called Prime. Unsurprisingly the Syntha rely on technology over numbers.

Finally we have VASA or the Viridian Aeronautics and Space Agency who are based on Vacillus and are essentially a combination of scientific administrators, law enforcement, the UN and Nato. They seek to keep peace amongst the members of the Tripartite Confederacy. As such they have access to the best tech and gear and are pretty heavy handed in trying to stop humanity from both wiping itself out and in resisting the Korolan menace.

This sort of information is really handy as it gives you so many handy hints and creative choices if you wish to incorporate the Void setting into your own games or wish to play the game as meant and I do like the fact its all pretty hard sci-fi without the whole mysticism or space fantasy of many other games. 

When you compare it to the older ruleset, Kryomek, you can absolutely see its influences with the Nexus Quarumate and its mixture of megacorporate shenanigans facing an implacable alien menace so it wouldn't take much work to combine the two with just a small amount of effort.

Next we move onto the Void rules themselves, these are a nice, tight and quick skirmish set that is clearly aimed, at least initially at 30-40 figures a side. Looking at the rules, I see no reason why it won't work perfectly well for much smaller skirmishes with 5-10 figures fighting it out with only minor adjustments and may well be a way of trying out the game quickly and easily.

The other option is to use the setting as a guide and instead of concentrating on the big sweeping stuff and instead get down to the nitty gritty. There are plenty of interesting options for the skirmish gamer by just reading the rules. I could easily imagine creating a small raiding party of Junkers seeking loot, Syntha scientific expedition protected by AI troopers, Viridian marines off on a bug hunt or even independent colonists trying to hold off one of the great powers who seek to incorporate them into their fold. VASA could be used as enforcer types, either NPCs with set objectives or as a punishment unleashed on any warband that gets too overpowered in a campaign.

One of the criticisms I've head of Void is that it is a bit generic and the figures are bland and possibly compared to the super detailed and even fiddly stuff that GW produces, this is to some extent true but with a bit of a read of the rules and forethought, it does make for a really intriguing setting that lends itself to digging into and exploring.

When you combine this with other rulebooks which are specifically aimed towards small skirmishes, such as Star Mogul or Planet 28, there's the framework for a gripping narrative to be explored in small scale.

Combined with the Battles With Miniatures magazines and Army Books, all freely available to download from Seb Games, there's a lot of inspiration to be found and I do look forward to porting Farpoint into it and seeing what I can come up with 

I'll be posting more of my thoughts when using other games, specifically sci-fi for my next update and we shall see where it takes me but in the meantime, All the best!

An Ode to Obscure Games: Kryomek

 Hi!

Todays post is all about another early 90's game that is still in production but hasn't seen any developments or indeed releases in decades.

Krymomek is a game originally produced by Fantasy Forge in 1991 and is very much in the style of the Alien movie franchise.

I picked up the original rules and its supplement Hivestone from Macs Models in Edinburgh (they're their original demo copy!) and it was one of the first non GW books that made its way into my collection and its stuck with me all these years.

Setting wise, its about a human based spacefaring race that jumps into undiscovered space and finds out that they are not alone. The Kryomek are highly aggressive and a galactic war immediately breaks out with both races trying to wipe the other out.

The rules themselves are based on Stargrunt 1st edition and is aimed at the squad to platoon level with the odd vehicle. Interestingly this seems to jar with the background as its all about either mass battles between the Nexus and Kryomek or small squads infiltrating the Kryomek hives trying to locate the Hive Masters, the brain that motivates the antlike xenos.

Looking back at it, it feels like there should have been a 28mm skirmish style of game with a single squad trying to fight its way through a hive with specific objectives along the way or clearing out infestations like Space Hulk. A second, larger combined arms game in 6/10/15mm scale where you could make the most of the epic conflicts mentioned in the background. It does feel that this was designed with 40k in mind though.

I must admit that the rules themselves weren't what attracted me to Kryomek though, its the background and art. Its a hard sci-fi setting that you can totally imagine being set within the Alien universe with humans using guns and robots to take on a close combat themed enemy. The artwork is also superb, with the likes of Adrian Smith, Tony Ackland, Pete Knifton and Stephan Tappin, all ex GW artists as well as Chaz Elliot, Colin MacNeil and Bob Olley sculpting much of the range, also all ex GW sculptors.

 

The combination of 80's style sci-fi high tech and the grotty, lived in artwork, like the image above (which totally reminds me of a Rogue Trader pic of two renegade marines) and the fascinating pseudo military scientific report that the background is written in, Kryomek is a fascinating object.

There are only two forces in the original rules, the Nexus and the Kryomek. While the Kryomek are very much a horde type of alien menace with their forces consisting of ravenous Hellions, primitive bipedal eating machines, the Warriors, vaguely humanoid beasts with acidic blood and a variety of somatic weapons, be they single molecule blades or acid projectors. The big guys on the battlefield are snake bodied Warmasters, the driving force of the Kryomek on the battlefield.

As for the Nexus, they are split into several sub forces. There are Nexus Marines, essentially marines from Aliens with vests and guns. Next they have Nexus SWAT, power armoured and heavily armed elite troops. The final human option is the CYCLO convict troops who are used as suicide troops. The Nexus also have access to an assortment of AI units including the absolutely terrifying TALOS units and even light combat walkers.

The supplement HIVESTONE brought in Nexus Rebels, Colonial Marines, Megacorporate forces as well new Kryomek sub-strains and an assortment of bits and bobs, not to mention the much needed force lists and point costs that the original book was missing.

Its still free to download and I highly recommend folks pick up at least the PDF or the books which are also still available through Scotia Grendel.

Alas as with so many of my collection, the games creators Fantasy Forge became Grendel and went bust so the figures and game were picked up by Scotia Grendel in the UK and MSD Games in the US so while the game is technically still up and running, there is no real update on the game, be it a revised 2nd edition or supplements, new figures or whatnot.

I believe that following the demise of Warzone, John Robertson, the creator of many of the wonderful games of the 90s, Kryomek, Leviathan, Warzone and Chronopia tried to regain the rights but wasn't able to do so, possibly because of the split between UK and US companies and went on to develop VOID, which is most definitely its spiritual successor.

Kryomek has such brilliant potential but needs new miniatures as the three sculptors for the original range had such different styles that the figures don't really fit together very well. Also I'd love to see a redeveloped 2nd edition with fully playtested and revamped rules but this seems a bit unlikely.

Unlike quite a few of my games, Kryomek does seem to have a player base that is keeping it alive with a fairly active Facebook group so its well worth looking it over if you are on social media.

I'll be posting some more bits and bobs tomorrow with the last of my Obscure Games series for a while as I'm hoping to have some Leviathan stuff finished as the week goes on but its been loads of fun to post up all these lovely niche games so I suspect that I'll be posting more of them as the year goes on!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 31: Make it Your Own!

 Hi!

I've tried to put together todays update twice now and have waffled a great deal of nonsense but on re-reading them, decided to delete them as they were utter guff.

Instead, I'm going to take a quick peek at some inspirational baddies that I'm planning on importing into my alternative Imperium!

The Pharon

The Pharon hark from the pocket dimension of Vor and are one of the big bads from the setting. In Vor, the Pharon gained immortality but at a terrible cost with much of the population turned into decaying mummies but the nobles being rather better preserved. They have a lot of similar vibes to the Necron from GW so I can see combining elements of both into my own version of the Imperium.

As my own version of the Imperium is heavily based on Greek and Roman mythology, the Pharon will symbolise a different pantheon to allow me to incorporate Egyptian gods, goddesses and monsters into my own setting with the Pharon being the ruling caste but also allowing for human and other, xenos races as followers.

The Kryomek

The Kryomek are an awesome concept that comes from the game of the same name and incorporate elements of the Aliens movies and the Tyranids. I've been tempted by a bio-organic alien race for some time and love the style of the utterly alien species and want to get these guys infesting abandoned ships and overrunning settlements on the border!

The Dark Legion

The Dark Legion are the villains from Warzone and hail from another dimension and seek to destroy humanity and rule supreme! I plan on having these monstrous types as the followers of The Titans, the ancient gods who the first Emperor chained forever but whose followers seek their return. I've never been a fan of the whole evil chaos of GW and far prefer these insidious bad guys with their bio-tech, zombies and all manner of other dimensional horrors!

They will allow for cults to destroy the Imperium from within too! Elements of The Dark Legion will be representing the assorted Warp Entities from the original Rogue Trader book too and I've got lots of ideas for tying them all together in the Alternate Imperium.

The Plague

The Plague are created by an alien pathogen and tinkered with by unscrupulous megacorporations in Mantics Warpath and Deadzone games. I like the idea of hordes of infectious zombies with some big tank like genetic monstrosities rampaging through frontier settlements. Alternative Imperium wise, are they going to be unleashed due to an ancient pathogen, a punishment of the gods, genetic experimentation gone horribly wrong or a sinister scheme of the Dark Legion? Only time will tell!

I hope to put together some more background fleshing out in the next few days as well as show some more completed miniatures and terrain so until then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 19: Rogue Trader Mash Up

 Hi!

I've decided to delve back into my alternative 40k in a small way with a bit of a mash up of Rogue Trader, 40k 2nd Edition and Shadow War Armageddon along with a bit of bodging.

I've settled on using Shadow War Armageddon as it gives a streamlined version of 2nd edition 40k's rules along with squad sized warbands which simplifies things greatly but I don't plan on being too fussy about carefully following the armylists, instead using the spirit of Rogue Trader and using whatever I fancy!

I've got some odds and ends that I've been working on to keep with the style of the older era of GW where bright was right and green was the way to go with terrain too. I'll slowly add to the assorted stuff I have lying around and want to try to keep to the spirit of Oldhammer style but not sticking too closely to only using old school figures as they are getting a bit expensive to get hold of.

Instead I'm using whatever I have to hand, so for example, I have some of the plastic EM4 Miniatures troopers kicking around which will be making an appearance as Imperial troops:

Imperial Troopers

Whilst not the most detailed figures, they do paint up rather nicely and they're sculpted by Bob Naismith too so they do have some Citadel credentials. They do remind me of the old plastic Imperial Guard troops and they're cheap as chips too which is a real plus for those of us on a tight budget!

Having looked back at my blog over the last ten or so years, this sort of random project is what I've had most successes with and it certainly seems to be the sort of thing that folks are interested in reading and it will give me the chance to work on a wide variety of figures.

I also plan on using elements from several other game systems, rules and backgrounds. Primarily this will be Void 1.1, Kryomek and Vor: The Maelstrom but I have loads of other rules lurking in my collection that I hope to have a bit of a read through.

I really want to make some scenics of an old school nature as this really sets the scene and feel of things so I'm aiming to make some suitably 2nd edition gaming set ups. Its interesting to see how many MDF, resin or plastic kits which are available but I'm a firm believer of doing it myself and want to try making my own gubbins.

Having had a good rummage through my leadpile, I have a decent number of Orks and Eldar and an assortment of other odds and ends and will paint what I can and if something catches my eye, I may pick up the occasional bits and bobs and we shall see if I can't get a game or two going!

I'm going to keep going with the other assorted projects I have set myself too as the lockdown doesn't look like it's going anywhere for the foreseeable future so I may as well make the most of it. 

In the meantime, All the best! 

Lockdown Day 66

Hi!

Here's the newest additions to my Battletech project:

Pirate Panther and Jenner

I added more bits and bobs to each with small pieces of plasticard, paper and card which I think has helped make the sculpts a bit more successful.

I went to town with giving them a chipped and rusty finish as pirates operating out on the Periphery aren't going to be spending much time painting their machines. I gave them a bit of graffiti with the snapping jaws on the Panther and it's pilot has scrawled His Red Right Hand on his Particle Projection Gun. I'll try and get some better photos when I've got the rest of the lance finished.

I'm also working on a Hunchback to give my Pirates a bit of punch:

Armed with an Autocannon 20, the heaviest weapon mounted on a Mech in the 3020's and capable of blasting a light Mech to scrap in a single shot.

I'm quite pleased with the sculpt thus far and I'm looking to getting it finished so I can get some more heavy machines built and added onto my roster. It's been great fun working on some of the bigger machines and at 50 tons, the Hunchback is going to be getting some assault class machines which are considerably larger!

Last but not least, I've got the next of my Papertech Kryomek gubbins in the form of Warriors:

I still need to get a second sheet of the gribblies done to add more variety to the weapons options and I've got one or two more weapons and the Warmaster is needing done too!

I've still got lots more to add to the papertech Kryomek project including Nexus Marines, SWAT and Colonial Marines as Talos Units, Kryomek Drones and all manner of vehicles. Still it's been fun and I'm heading towards having enough of the little guys to play a game or two.

I'll try and get another sheet put together in the morning and I've also been having a bit of a peruse of Critter Commandos and Fairymeat which may be getting a few test sculpts to see how I get on.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 64

Hi!

Here's the latest additions to my Papertech project in the form of more Nexus Cyclo's and the first of the Kryomek!

 Lots of Cyclo Convict Troopers!

I've now got pretty much all the weapon options for the basic Cyclo troopers but need to add one or two onto the EVA heavies but the latest drawing session has seen me add quite a few more bits and bobs to the mix.

 Gauss Rifles

SMG and Autopistols

 Recoilless Rifles

Next up, there's some EVA heavy troops:

 Pistols and Ballistic Shields as well as Combat Rifles

Heavy Weapons

Assault Specialists

Sadly I've not had chance to stick this batch onto bases yet but will have at them in the morning and it's not just Nexus troops I've been drawing, we've now got the first of the Kryomek:

Helions

Apologies for the quality of the pics but they'll have to do being as I managed to take them after 11pm and seem to have run a bit late with the posting today!

I've also created a bit of a Papertech page here on my blog with black and white images for folks to download and colour in themselves so they can play Kryomek on a budget too.

I hope to keep adding to it with odds and ends but will need to spend tomorrow working on my Battletech sculpts and I've had a couple of requests for Battletech standees too so will see if I can't put together the light mechs from the 3020's as well and get them up for folks.

All the best!

Lockdown Day 63

Hi!

I've spent much of today sculpting or drawing! I've got my four Mechs finished and ready to paint and have spent a bit of time putting together some papertech Nexus Cyclo's for Kryomek:

Cyclo Troopers

I went a slightly different route with these guys than with my Battletech stuff as I scanned them into the computer first which allowed me to quickly churn out a force and I am pretty pleased with the results.

 Combat Rifles

They're a bit stylised but were lots of fun to work on and I have enough of the little guys to play a decent sized skirmish using Kryomek or Song of Blasters or any other game I fancy that needs some poorly armoured convict troopers to get shot up.

 Pistols and Xeno Prods

Thus far I have one sheet of them drawn up but am working on another which will round out the weapon options and possibly add some casualties, command or even some EVA heavy armoured troops.

 Assault Specialists

I used 25mm squares of cardboard to give them a bit more heft so they don't fall over whenever you look at them which has proved rather handy too and I'm looking forward to rounding out my Kryomek infantry collection tomorrow.

Heavy Weapons

Once I'm done, I'll post up the sheets as jpegs so folks can download them and use them too and plan on putting together a bit of a page with lots of stuff for people to print and play as it's the least I can do during the lockdown!

If folks want, I can also put together a Battletech sheet or two so they can print them out too. Each sheet will be black and white and folks will be able to colour them in to whatever colour they fancy to make them more usable.

Once I have all the Kryomek stuff done, I'm planning on moving onto Void 1.1 and Chronopia and Warzone 1st edition so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown Day 62

Hi!

I had intended to post up either the next installment of my Battletech Alphastrike campaign or show some pics of my latest sculpts but have been somewhat distracted by pondering on the possibilities of playing more games using the papercraft approach.

Whilst it's certainly not ideal as there's something really pleasing about having proper painted figures in whatever scale trundling around the table as it gives a visual hit that paper cannot, my recent success with playing five Battletech Alphastrike games in short order with twenty mechs all told at the cost of an hour or two of drawing cannot be sniffed at.

Over the years I have fallen foul of the Ooh Shiny Syndrome where I see a range or game that I like the look of and spend amounts of money on them only to not get them painted. Whilst the Lockdown has seen me paint my way through some of this, there are games that I'm really keen to explore but the cost of figures or indeed the difficulty of getting ahold of them is a decided issue.

Whilst out for our daily allotted socially distanced walk I had mentioned this to my wife and she suggested that I should make more of the cardboard standees for short term use and if I liked the game, I could then slowly replace them with my own sculpts.

This struck me as a rather good idea and I have decided to roll with it and see what games I have that I'd love to play but on a super tiny budget during the Lockdown. A little bit of rummaging later, I have settled on trying out this approach on a handful different games. The plan is to draw up a small force for some of the factions available and use the process to get a feel for the rules and possibly even play out a small campaign with them as I have done with my Battletech stuff.

This approach will hopefully see me playing a bunch of games, some of which I played back in the day and others which I have the rules for but never had chance to game.

While this may not be everyone's cup of tea, and to be honest, I would prefer to have lots of miniatures to paint but beggars can't be choosers. On the plus side, I hope to use the process to work out how I'm going to sculpt my own bits and bobs.

The games I plan on trying out are as follows:

Now I know that Kryomek and Void 1.1 are available but I want to try playing a game or two with my papertech stuff as the sculpts just don't appeal to me. Warzone is a brilliant game but getting the figures is pretty difficult these days so a papertech approach seems to be a good way to get some games in and speaking of an out of production game that the figures are hard to find, Chronopia is up there as one of my favourite games that I've not played in about 20 years now and getting figures for it that aren't covered in leadrot is really difficult.

I plan on spending an hour or two tomorrow morning putting together an initial clash with two small forces as well as finishing my Battletech Alphastrike game and working on some more sculpts so watch this space!

Don't panic though! I will be regularly posting pics of actual painted miniatures as well as I see this approach as a gateway into playing and enjoying games whilst sculpting all manner of interesting things for my own enjoyment.

I suspect that 2020 will see the end of my buying figures and me really sinking my teeth into sculpting my own stuff as it is just so much more enjoyable than working on other folks stuff.

In the meantime, All the best!