Imagi-Nation Wargaming

Hi!

As per usual, I find myself run off my feet with work with precious little time for anything else but something I've been pondering for a bit is to delve into Imagin-Nation wargaming.

This interest has partially sprung from following the AK-47 Republic group over on Facebook which has had all sorts of interesting bits and bobs posted but I'm not too keen to delve into historical gaming as I must admit I'm a bit uncomfortable with playing games set during actual conflicts. 

Boarhound Armoured Car

Instead I've been pondering more on my Farpoint setting and using some of the fantastic historical ranges out there to come up with my own imagi-national games as just look how cool the Boarhound British armoured car of WW2 looks! 

Looking back through my blog, here's some examples of Rdnrundt forces that I painted up years ago:

Count Cassitor and Henchmen

I'm still unsure as to what sort of basing to go for as the single figure style I've been using for years is perfect for small skirmishes but for slightly larger games, I'm not so sure and may go for a Flames of War or similar style but still can't decide.

Converted Civilian Armoured Car

Many moons ago, I picked up some vehicles from Peter Pig and in the ensuing years lost the turret and ended up bodging up Old Thunder here using a turret purloined from a Mechwarrior Dark Age clicky tank:

This is the sort of vibe I want to go for, low to medium tech level with a decided dieselpunk style to things! I've got some bits and bobs kicking around that I'm going to see if I can get a coat of paint on to see how I get on with this random side project.

Galactic League Peacekeepers

I don't know exactly what I've got lying around at the moment but I'll see what I can rummage out and in the meantime, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Day 1: Kermit Delaney

Hi!

As promised, here's the first of my September Character a Day Challenge!

Behold Kermit Delaney, sludge sub driver! I ended up with the following prompts and story cubes to give me some inspiration:

Kermit Delaney was once human but following a series of unfortunate events, caused by en large by his OCD, the former bus driver found himself turned into a frogman by an incensed wizard and catapulted into a strange new world. The rather confused Kermit has found himself a job in the Imperial frontier settlement of Brimcome Glades, a swampy sort of a place inhabited by swampy sorts of settlers.

He operates one of the few public transports in the settlement, a beaten up old submersible which Kermit's obsessive care has resulted in about the only vehicle that runs well and on time to boot. Kermit has found a new lease in life, freed from the alimony monies from his four failed marriages back on Earth and has found his niche. 

Fortunately for the reality jumping frog, the locals are all somewhat gene-spliced in order to survive the rigours of Brimcome so look pretty froggy themselves and Kermit has managed to avoid Imperial entanglements thus far but Inquisitorial agents have been hearing rumours of his story but have written him off as a bit of an oddball and generally harmless.

I've really enjoyed putting together the first of my characters and may end up statting up the characters for Planet 28 if folks are interested. Hopefully I'll get the next post up tomorrow so watch this space.

All the best! 

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 73: Planet 28

Hi!

I'm taking a quick break from my usual updates to post a quick look at Planet 28 by Nicholas Evans. I have heard good things about the zine sized game but not a huge amount of details so backed the Kickstarter for Nicholas' new game Brutal Quest.

I also downloaded Planet 28 and its assorted supplements as having read the blurb, it sounds just my cup of tea!

Planet 28 is a simple set of sci fi skirmish rules for quick narrative games between warbands of warriors, mutants, and outcasts.

Inspired by the amazing work of kitbashers and converters the world over, planet 28 is intended as a pick up and play rule system for quick games when a longer rule system isn't viable.

Rules include -

Custom character creation.

Basic weapons and custom weapon creation.

A story generator for setting up and adding narrative to your games.

A campaign system that lets you build and develop your warband between games.

At a mighty 16 pages, Planet 28 seems to manage to jam in a really nice, simple game that has enough detail to it to allow me to play small skirmish games and indeed a campaign with character progression.

I'm a big fan of simple rules and Planet 28 looks like it will be great fun with models having stats for Fighting, Shooting and Agility as well as how fast they move and how many hits they take. 

Playing requirements are also minimal with one just needing a handful of figures, a small playing surface (the battle report I've read featured a 30x50cm surface and a total of about 5-6 figures), and a selection of Dice.

Activation is handled by using the characters Agility score rotating down through Agility from the most to least agile which is a really interesting little mechanic that I do like. Each activation allows a model to perform two actions, be that to move, shoot, fight, use abilities or hold. The players may chose to perform these actions in any order or indeed do the same twice so it's possible to move and shoot, shoot and move into cover or indeed shoot twice!

Although it's a simple game and as mentioned, only 16 pages long, I keep finding nice little creative touches such as characters losing stats when they take 50% damage which I prefer to a model playing normally until they are dead.

There's a neat little warband creation system which allows you to personalise your figures stats and really seems to be geared towards fast skirmishes with small numbers of figures centred around a strongly narrative scenario based encounter.

Not only can you alter your stats, you can add traits and abilities which while simple, can really add personality to your force. There is even a magical system to allow the use of Psykers and whatnot which looks like fun.

Weapons use different dice to damage on a successful hit and the selection given seem to be aimed towards a small, skirmish so there's no massive cannon or deathrays, more small arms and melee weapons that one could imagine a small retinue carrying rather than a large military force.

I do like the fact that the author has included the method of creating new weapons and adding some special rules to give them a bit of a quirk for each.

Finally there's a nice little scenario designer and campaign system that even includes an injury chart!

Although not lavishly illustrated, Planet 28 does have some really nice line illustrations that remind me of the old school Laserburn and are rather fun.

I plan on putting together a bit of a skirmish using Planet 28 for later this week once I have some more odds and ends painted up and will post my impressions and a battle report when I get chance but at first glance, I am really liking what I've seen thus far and am a bit surprised that I've not seen it used more.

I'll also do a bit of a review of the two supplements, The Death Machines and Death on the Periphery when I've got the hang of the basic rules.

In other news, folks may have noticed I've added a couple of new pages to Tales From Farpoint as I explore my reimagined Imperium setting. I've posted up some initial waffle for it but its still a bit rough and liable to be revamped as I keep thinking of more odds and ends and things seem to be developing into something a bit different from the Grimdark of the 40th Millennium into the renaissance/neoclassical 45th Millennium.

I'm in the process of reacquainting myself with all manner of mythology, both classical and from further afield which I am incorporating into the Imperium and am rather enjoying the experience. I'll update the pages as I go and will introduce fresh elements into the odd update too.

In the meantime, All the best! 

Inquisitor and 40k Skirmishing

Hi!

Well I've got a day off already and decided that it might be a plan to use such opportunities to put together a post!

I'm currently re-reading the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett and it's got me to thinking about putting together a Rogue Trader type of narrative skirmish using some of the Imperiums enigmatic Inquisitorial agents as the basis.

I remember picking up the Inquisitor rulebook when it first came out and quite liking some of the concepts but finding it neither fish nor fowl as it had elements of rpg and wargame but was a bit too granular for my liking. In the following years, the appearance of In the Emperor's Name and Inquisimunda have both provided a more user friendly skirmish sort of a game which may make for quite a good way to play some games.

There's also the classic Rogue Trader rules which were such a sandbox sort of a set that you could use them for almost anything, even if it was a bit clunky at times, especially when vehicles or robots were involved.

It may also be a good way for me to make use of the assorted 28mm stuff I've got lying around unpainted and unloved.

I must admit that I've not been a fan of the super Grimdark of 40k but I seem to have found an appreciation of the gothic horror of humanity versus a dark and dangerous universe and reading Eisenhorn, I'm struck by the possibilities of playing around with my own version of the Imperium and seeing what I can come up with.

By incorporating bits and bobs from several settings and adding a liberal dose of classical mythology and renaissance elements to move things on from the techno dark ages into something a bit more interesting I'll be seeing what I can bodge together.

What about a crime lord with a bunch of Orky enforcers or incursions of the followers of the Titans wanting to wreak havoc on the Imperium? Maybe a rogue planetary governor making shady deals with rebellious factions or Adeptus Titanicus adepts experimenting with forbidden technology...

The options are endless and I'm keen to get myself moving again with my version of The Imperium with Governor General van Dorn and his agents conducting a secret war in the Farpoint sector with spies, treachery and monsters aplenty!

I think I'll need to have a rummage through my leadpile and see what I can put together both in 15mm scale and possibly 28mm as it would be interesting to have larger skirmishes with 20-30 a side plus vehicles in the smaller scale whilst small, 4-8 model operations in 28mm.

It may come to nothing but I'll see what I can put together and if nothing else, I will try and post more on my Imperium, its movers and shakers as well as the competing forces arrayed against it.

In the meantime, All the best!

40k 15mm Style: Orks Part 1

Hi!

I thought I'd spend a little bit of time pondering on playing games set in my re-imagined Imperium in 15mm scale and thought I'd get the ball rolling with the Orks!

Now in my version of the Imperium, Humanity has moved from a scientific dark age into something a bit more like a renaissance where the Imperium once more ventures out into the stars and human life is no longer short brutish and bloody with pretty much everyone being doomed.

My current Ork warband is pretty small and I will be using the next few updates to post some details on my plans for them...

The Orks are still a rather brutal and warlike culture but the long arm of the Imperial Code has encouraged several clans to settle relatively peacefully in Imperial space. Saying that, the Orks are by nature a warlike culture and the Imperium has sought to channel their more violent tendencies into something practical, namely unleashing them on their enemies.

The most integrated of the Ork clans are unsurprisingly the Blood Axes who settled en-mass in the Imperial frontier sectors and regularly supply enthusiastic regiments of warriors to the Imperial warmachine as it gives them the chance to have a good ruck with some dead snazzy dakka! (forgive the Orkish!) and the Imperials tend to send them to the bloodiest of warzones for some reason resulting in the survivors being dead hard and bedecked in medals (not to mention scars, bionic replacements and many, many war stories to tell yoofs!)

Others such as the Deathskulls and Badmoons will join Imperial forces if the money's good but are also prone to raiding their sometime allies when bored or in search of loot. The more traditionally minded Goffs and Snakebites tend to be more antagonistic to the Humies as they feel they are watering down Ork Kulture. The Evil Sunz agree to some extent but the temptation of laying grubby hands on Imperial tech is often their deciding factor.

In the Farpoint sector, the largest Orkish Klan is the Badmoons under the command of Orko Fatbelly, a scoundrel of an Ork who has risen to power due to his low cunning and vast wealth. He's thus far managed to keep the Imperium from unleashing a full scale attack on his holdings by bribing the previous Governor and supplying troops when paid to ward off attacks from rebel forces. 

As his name suggests, Orko is a massively fat Ork, something he is inordinately proud of and he tends to spend most of his time lounging around eating vast meals with his equally chubby Nob retinue but when angered can be a terrifying opponent. 

His warband is armed with the best gunz and equipment his Mekboyz can provide and also has quite a decent amount of looted tech to give him an edge in combat and the new Governor General is becoming rather alarmed at his sway in Imperial space, a matter not helped by the Governors own lander being recently shot up by some of Orko's boyz.

I had hoped to put together a quick guide to my reworked Song of Blades but have currently got a games table covered in books as we got a couple of new and larger bookshelves to store our terrifying book mountain so I'll be using the downtime to put together some of my thoughts on the reimagined Imperium instead.

Hopefully I'll have a couple of updates in the next few days covering all manner of Orkyness as well as looking at what miniatures are on the market at the moment for the 40k gamer in a smaller scale!

In the meantime, All the best!

Rumble in the Jungle

Hi!

Well it looks like my decision to return to 15mm sci-fi has borne fruit!

I've spent a few mornings before work repairing some damaged paintwork on my assorted miniatures and giving them a good varnish to stop it happening again and have even managed to play a quick skirmish!

The Governor General has been performing an inspection tour of an Imperial construction project on the edge of the slime forest when a Badmoon warband decided to raid the camp for supplies.

 Imperials and Orks deploy

The game was played over a 2'x2' board with about a dozen or so figures a side in under half an hour using a bit of a bodged version of Song of Blades and Heroes and the Imperials firepower saw off the Orks before they managed to breach the fence line.

I must admit that I really enjoyed the experience and have an idea to re-run it with some more Orks as they needed more numbers, not to mention some bullet shield Gobbo's to soak up incoming fire.

Ork squad on the move

The rules worked surprisingly well, especially when I changed some of the dice mechanics and gave the rules a bit of a reworking to suit my needs and I quite liked the fact that a small skirmish could be played so quickly and satisfyingly in such a short time.

I am feeling the need to expand my forces a bit too as already mentioned to build my Badmoons up to 20-30 models so they act more like the horde they should be and want to add another clan to the mix as I seem to be going through a bit of a yellow and black phase painting wise!

Imperial drone footage  

As I have limited space and hobby time, this small scale battle is just the thing I need and I am very aware of the fact that I can put together a warband in a weekend for the cost of about a fiver which is great!

I'm planning on further tweaking of the rules to make them better suited to what I want to play but have made a decent start to things and look forward to more gaming sessions over the coming weeks.

Imperial defenders stand their ground 

I am also in need of more scenery which I always enjoy building so expect to see some more gubbins soon!

In the meantime, All the best!

The Re-Imagined Imperium Revised!

Hi!

Well we're back from an amazing week in Rome and countless hours of investigating aged ruins and beautiful art and I've found myself re-exploring my re-imagined Imperium.

Whereas my previous attempts did away with the Grimdark and moved tech forward a bit, having visited the glories of Rome, I feel I need to take things a few steps further and really get my teeth into the setting and rework it some more to suit how my ideas are slowly developing!

To begin with, I am thinking of doing away with the Gothic feel of the Imperium and replacing it with something altogether more classical with more than a hint of the British Empire, Dune and quite a few other sci-fi novels added to the mix!

With that in mind, I've been poring through my art book collections and the thousands of photos we took whilst on holiday for suitable inspiration and hope to begin fleshing things out over the course of the coming week.

I'm thinking of the Imperium at large being more like the Roman Empire at it's height with lots of marble columns, grand sculpture and a more classical look to them. Also in the past the Imperium was much larger but due to The Horus Heresy and assorted wars and pandemics, the Imperium shrank back within it's borders for over a millennium but now fresh armies and explorers are setting out to reclaim lost worlds.

Imagine Imperial Conquistadores leading small expeditions in search of lost cities of gold, Rogue Traders plying the frontier and trading with civilisations of aliens and humans outwith the Imperial remit and the Imperial forces themselves getting a bit of a rethink too with Legions of power armoured troops, Imperial Auxiliaries and at the heart of the Imperium, Empress Lionstone playing off the noble houses against one another to further her plans.

I am hoping to crack on with using a mixture of figures from a wide assortment of manufacturers from sci-fi to fantasy and historical to start fleshing out the inhabitants of the Imperium and will also be sculpting my own bits and bobs when needed as I've got some cracking ideas I want to try out!

I also need to re-explore my scenery collection and really go to town with building some suitable locales for the inhabitants of the Imperium to live in, fight over, loot and explore!

This will give me the opportunity to play around with lots of monolithic ruins as well as a lot of new buildings and scenery to work with and I am also taking lots of inspiration from the Orientalist painters with their rather fabulous illustration of twisting alleys and lush, exotic decorations on buildings for Farpoint itself.

Imagine something like this but with alien traders, weird beasts and ramshackle vehicles, not to mention bulky tech liberally strewn around the place with Imperial Legionaries patrolling the streets!

All in all, I need to spend quite a bit of time going through my original notes for my Re-Imagined Imperium but I am rather looking forward to the opportunity!

In other news, I have been slowly painting through some Xenos scum for my Imperials to mix it up with and hope to show some pics later on this weekend once everything's painted and based. I am also going to be showing a few NPC's for Farpoint as well as exploring the setting in a bit more depth so do check back!

All the best!