AAR: The Scarab Plague of Mars!

   As usual, this AAR is short on photos because I was too busy playing to take pictures. However, I did grab a few of the setup. Game was played on 28 JUN 2019 in my gameroom with Zach, his son Nathaniel, and myself participating.

SCENARIO:

   Two rival companies of adventurers, the British Lord Curr's Incorrigibles and the German Empire's Society of Thule have traveled to Mars via aethership. Their goal: seize ancient Martian relics of occult power. Unfortunately, they were discovered and Martian priests have awakened a terrible curse: a massive swarm of flesh-eating scarabs. The scarabs will eat only Earthling flesh, though. So now, the two companies must flee for their lives. Safety lies on the canal running through the nearest village, Golah. The Earthlings want to get on the boats; the Martians want to stop them long enough for the scarabs to catch them and devour them all.

RULES AND FIGURES:

   The rules used were In Her Majesty's Name, my favorite for small skirmish Victorian Science Fiction. The figures are a mixture of North Star (the Society of Thule and Lord Curr's Incorrigibles), Parroom Station (The Masked One, Martian leader and mystic), and RAFM (High Martians, Shield Gunners, and Archers).

An overview of the battlefield.

The mat is from Cigar Box. First time used!

The Village of Golah

Buildings are Plastruct COLORed buildings for SAGA

Custom made canals, ordered a decade ago, only second time used in a game.

Boats are all scratchbuilt and older, too.

British Start point. The Society of Thule is on the other side of the ridge.

The small dots at table edge are the scarabs, advancing as a line.

A Martian Shield Gunner stands guard outside the canal master's office.

The Masked One, a Martian Mystic

High Martian warrior. Savage flying primitives.

   The two companies moved up as quickly as possible but got held up in and around the village. If the random rolls for the scarabs' advance hadn't been very low, all would have been devoured! As it is, the two European teams ganged up on the outgunned Martians and killed all but two of them (the Masked One, who used his Mystic powers to slow up the British advance, and one shield gunner, saved by his heavy armour).

   In the end, the British reached the boats first. Rather than allow the Germans to escape, the British took all of the boats. End result: British victory (44 points, almost all of his company escaped), followed by the Martians (28 points, all because of devoured Europeans) and then the Germans (19 points, for killing Martians). But we all had fun, and that was the main point after all.

   Notes for next time we run this scenario: 

• Martians need more points to offset European gangup.
• Scarabs need to move a flat d10", not d10-2. For four turns in a row, the scarabs did not move at all. This cuts the pressure on the Europeans to get moving!

Some Terrain Pieces

A Great Buddha with some trees around it.

Frostgrave Cemetery

Based on a CD, obviously.
I considered adding names and such to the tombstones but eventually chose not to do so.

These will go along with the Mausoleum and the statue.

A grating for Frostgrave. I should probably put some sort of black card or plastic beneath it to make it seem as if it goes down into the lightless depths of some Stygian underhive...

Another shot of the graves, with a better view of the statue

IHMN at MillenniumCon XX

   The third game I participated in at the convention was the game I brought: In Her Majesty's Name. It's a Victorian Science Fiction skirmish/warband game. 

   I provided four factions: the Society of Thule, the Servants of Ra, Lord Curr's Incorrigibles, and the human Minions of Otto Maton. The mission in this game was simple: escape oncoming death. Having disturbed ancient secrets in the Sahara, a curse of flesh eating scarab swarms is chasing all of the factions. Their only hope is to make it to the river boats.

The village of Ruh Naway and the all important boats moored at the docks.

   In order to escape on a boat, a faction had to have control of it - there could be no members of a different faction aboard. Then, on the following Movement phase, it could leave - but not if anyone boarded that turn. Boats then moved up to 9" in a turn (just off the board was sufficient).

The setup.

Lord Curr veers his Incorrigibles away from the Society of Thule

The Society and the Servants mix it up on the right.

One of the Servants, Sairah the Assassin Queen, dashes far ahead of the rest.

Every cultist would lay down his life for Akhenaton.

Maton's Minions move in a disciplined group along the far left flank,

led by the quadcycle.

   The fellow who played the minions stuck strictly to the mission, and it paid off. He got every one of his forces onto the boat, gaining a game-winning 45 points (plus two kills).

In the village square, "Mad" Mick stands alone against the Jaegers and Todtruppen

of the Society of Thule.

   This is the first time I have managed to get the Todtruppen (zombie jaegers) on the field. They are fun, but slow. Mick was abandoned to his fate by the rest of the Incorrigibles.

The boats casting off. In the lead is Akhenaton.

   Note that one boat is missing: Sairah stole it by being first to the docks. This ensured that one team would not be able to escape. A clever strategy. As it turned out, the Society of Thule was doomed. Even more fun, the mummified priest used his power of the Path of Shadows (essentially a teleport spell) to board the boat after it launched.

   After the game ended, we had a bull session about how to improve the scenario. The best idea was to change the motivation of the Servants of Ra. The suggestion was to use them as a blocking force in the village, and reduce the number of boats to three - or maybe even just two. Most importantly, everyone said they had fun, which was the whole point.

   I want to give a special thanks to Jim Johnson for helping me out by bringing a few pieces of really nice terrain. A couple of those buildings are his, made by Crescent Root, and excellent pieces. 

MillenniumCon XX Flash Report

   Just got home from Round Rock. Overall, I had a really good time at the convention. Photos will follow soon (ish). Highlights:

• My game went really well. A few bumps, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I got some good feedback for a future refinement... this one may return.

• I played in five games. Of those, I won four (one was a co-operative win). The other was determined a draw.

• Bought a good deal of new toys.

• Met a lot of new people, mainly gamers from Texas.

• Ran into a lot of people I have met over the years at various other stores and conventions.

• Best of all, I ran into someone I knew a long time ago. Tim was one of my fish buddies when we were in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. We are both Class of '94 members of Company A-2, 7th Btn, 1st Reg't. We hadn't seen one another in almost 24 years, but we got a chance to catch up some while we played a game of OGRE together. Information exchanged.

   Basically, I have to say that MillenniumCon is the best small convention I have ever attended. The atmosphere is fun and relaxed. The venue is good (could use food service) and clean.

   That's the FLASH report.

Recent Purchases

   Since the storm I have been engaging in a great deal of retail therapy. I know it's probably not real healthy, but I've spent a fair amount of money lately on a wide variety of games and accessories. SO, just to keep it in my mind, and give you faithful few an idea of where my madness has been leading me lately...

Rulebooks...

• Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord

• Starfinder RPG Core Rulebook

• Bolt Action, 2nd Edition
• Armies of Germany

• Gothic: An Expansion for In Her Majesty's Name
• FOW 4E: Desert Rats

And Accessories...

• FOW 4e: Desert Rats Command Cards
• FOW 4e: Desert Rats Tokens

• Dystopian Wars: Cards
• IHMN: Tokens/markers
• Vallejo Paints and Brush On Primer

And boardgames...

• Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City

• SmashUp: Big in Japan
• SmashUp: Monster Movie Mashup
• SmashUp: Cease and Desist

And minis...

• Red Vectors Martian Skiffs (x2), custom scaled to work for 15mm.
• Trollbloods Starter Battlegroup

• Circle Oroboros Starter Battlegroup (old)

• Dystopian Wars FSA Valley-class Airship
• Ogre Miniatures: Hover Trucks and Light Artillery Drones (x3 each)

• Ogre Miniatures: Paneuro GEVs (x6)
• WH40K: Necron Canoptic Scarab Swarm (x6 bases) for use as Automaton Insects
• Bolt Action BEF Vickers MMG Team
• Bolt Action Home Guard Blacker Bombard Team

• Bolt Action BEF 3" Mortar Team

And a lot of terrain, too...

• Battlefield in a Box: Pacific Landing Mats
• Battlefield in a Box: Extra Large Dune
• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Escarpments

• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Scrub
• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Administration Building
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Building Set (x2)

• PlastCraft: Colored Desert 2-story Desert Building
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Dwelling
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Dwelling with Stairs
• Ainsty 28mm wooden jetty
• Four Hirst Arts molds and plaster

   Ummm... I may have a problem.

Prep for MillenniumCon, Chapter 3: Terrain

   I have ordered and received several 28mm buildings and a bit more terrain - desert oasis, sand dune, and piers.

   These have several advantages: they are lightweight, they are easy to assemble, and they are already painted. So I just have to glue them together and toss them into the bucket. I bought a total of seven buildings to give the impression of a small riverside village.

   For the base, I am using my Cigar Box Battles desert cloth. I love these things. Again, lightweight and portable, but they drape well, and they don't pill up.

   I'm still working on the layout of the whole setup. And I hope to get a playtest or two in before the convention. Next I think I need to finalize which troops each force will be fielding. I'd like to give most of them a vehicle of some sorts, because if not, I fear the minion quadcycle will race ahead to secure the landing stage with its machinegun. I might be able to use buildings to give cover to approaching companies though.

Prep for MilleniumCon, Chapter 2

   I think I have decided upon the minions of Otto Maton to be the fourth faction in my convention game, just because I like these guys so much. I will probably take the gentlemen of the Sapphire Club as well, in case I need to squeeze in a fifth player.

   And I think they need a vehicle. I happen to have one already painted and good to go - the nefarious All Terrain Quadruple Wheeled Lightly Armoured Autocycle (Machine Gun), more commonly called the "Quadcycle" or even simply "Quaddie." 

You've seen this before, no?

So, I need to stat it up for In Her Majesty's Name. Probably best to treat it as a walker, I think, as far as the rules for hit allocation are concerned. This is what I am thinking:

Pluck: 5+ (2 pts)

FV: +1 (1 pt)

SV: +3 (4 pts)

Speed: 9" (2 pts) - based on Bestiary from HVF

Armour: 10 (4 pts)

Weapon: Machine gun (26 pts)
Equipment: Steam Dynamo (10 pts)
Equipment: Lined Coat (Steersman, AV 8) (1 pt)
Equipment: Pistol (Steersman) (3 pts)
Equipment: Breath Preserver (Steersman) (2 pts)

Note: Can not enter Difficult Terrain

What says the collected wisdom?

Prep for MillenniumCon, Chapter 1

   I will be running a game at this year's MillenniumCon XX, held in Round Rock, Texas, the second weekend of November. I'm running a game of In Her Majesty's Name, my current favorite skirmish VSF rules. Here's the basic story:

  After weeks of exploration in the desert, the Tomb of the Lost Pharaoh was found. Unfortunately, the myths about the Regalia of Osiris being hidden there were just that: myths. Even worse, your rivals followed you and one of those fools triggered the Lost Pharaoh's Curse. Now, a storm of flesh-eating scarabs pursues you across the arid wastes. Your only hope is to be the first to reach the safety of the coastal town of Al Maja, where you can board a ship and escape the doom which follows close behind you!

  I plan to have four Adventuring Companies in this game:

• Lord Curr's Company, 
• the Society of Thule,
• the Servants of Ra (naturally), 
• and either the Sapphire Club or Otto Maton.

   I also have the figures for a werewolf company, or a Scotland Yard company, but they don't seem right for an adventure in the North African desert. My other mad scientist company, belonging to Professor Vardu, isn't ready yet either, and I don't think they'd fit in very well anyway.

   The scenario is pretty simple: 9.1.7: Death at Your Heels, with the following modifications:

• Table size: 4' x 6', with coastline along the long edge.
• Two boats, not one, each having a jetty 18" from the table edge
• Must convince captain to sail*

*Convince the Captain to sail: any figure with a Leadership characteristic can attempt to get the Captain to cast off, but only if there are no enemy figures on the boat. To make an attempt, roll a die in the figure's Movement phase. Add the Leadership characteristic and the total number of figures on the boat. Modify the roll by +1 if the scarabs are past the center of the table; add +2 if they are within 12" of the boat. A total of 8+ indicates the ship leaves, stranding anyone not aboard. The ship will automatically leave when the scarabs would reach it.

   For terrain, I don't have much, all of a sudden. Dammit, Harvey! I have a Cigar Box Battle Mat desert mat, and a few desert palms. That's about it for 28mm compatible desert terrain. I just ordered a number of Plastcraft Colored Desert houses to build a small village along the coast. I think I am going to embellish this with the addition of a few fishing nets hanging to dry, easy enough to make a simple frame and net. I do have some of the sand colored cobblestone roads and some older dirt roads to put out, as well.

   So, any ideas for improvements? Especially terrain. I was hoping to put some sort of ruined wall up on the desert side.

Be Careful if you look at this.

The image of an angel becomes an angel, after all.

   These are Reaper Bones figures. I have another pack as well. I like how these came out, and will enjoy painting the others as well. They paint quickly, too.

   I am trying to think up some sort of mechanic to use them as a sort of landmine or something for In Her Majesty's Name. I think that they activate if a) any living creature approaches within 12", and b) no one actually has them in their line of sight, based on the figure's facing (again, within about 12"). The Angel then moves adjacent to the target (nearest first) and makes a melee attack. The merest touch sends the afflicted model back in time. A successful Pluck roll means that the model is saved by a Mad Man in a Blue Box (yes, I have a TARDIS in 28mm). At the END of the next turn, the Blue Box appears in a random location, disgorging the model. A failed Pluck roll means gone for good.

Project Review, Fall 2016: 25/28mm

A recap of what's going on:

    With the start of fall coming on, I decided I need to survey my madness. To wit, I am looking at each wargaming project I have ongoing, and what the status of said project currently is. 

   To define, a 'project' is a faction or force for a particular genre in a particular scale. Therefore, 15mm British WW2 and 28mm British WW2 are two different projects, as would be a 15mm DAK force, as would a British Paras vs. a British 8th Army force. Since there are so many and in so many scales, this shall be a short series of posts rather than one mega-post.

   For status, I shall use 'planning' (want to buy minis), 'active' (not playable but I am currently working on it), 'inactive' (unplayable but on to-do list), 'dead' (can't play, not doing anything, don't plan on it), 'playable' (enough to play, still adding to it), and maybe rarest of all, 'finished' (can play, no plans to add to it).

   I've already done the Small Scale projects, and the 15mm projects, if you missed those.

25/28mm

1. VSF Eureka Pond Wars: dead
2. VSF Lizardmen: inactive
3. VSF/Colonial British: playable
4. VSF German: playable
5. VSF Automaton: finished
6. VSF Martian: inactive
7. VSF Vardu: inactive
8. VSF French: inactive
9. VSF Russian: dead
10. VSF Japanese: dead
11. VSF Turkish: dead
12. VSF Parrotmen: inactive
13. VSF Characters (HM Victoria I, others): playable
14. Skyrunners VSF Racing: dead
15. EOTD/IHMN Werewolves: finished
16. EOTD/IHMN Gentlemen: finished
17. EOTD/IHMN Police Constables: playable
18. IHMN Lord Curr's Company: playable
19. IHMN Servants of Ra: playable
20. IHMN Society of Thule: playable
21. Colonial Boers: dead
22. Gutshot Cowboys and Lawmen: finished
23. Gutshot Banditos: dead
24. Terrain Old West: dead
25. Terrain Sci Fi: inactive
26. Terrain VSF: inactive
27. Terrain Fantasy: inactive
28. SAGA Normans: dead
29. SAGA Vikings: dead
30. SAGA Arabs: dead
31. Roleplaying Heroes: playable
32. Roleplaying monsters: playable
33. Doctor Who Daleks: inactive
34. Doctor Who Doctor and Companions: active
35. Doctor Who Angels: active
36. Doctor Who UNIT: planning
37. VBCW Free Welsh: playable
38. Warmachine Cygnar: playable (marginally)
39. Hordes Circle Oroboros: inactive
40. Hordes Minions: inactive
41. Warhammer Empire: inactive
42. Warhammer Lizardmen: inactive
43. WH40K Imperial Guard: inactive
44. WW2 British Paras: planning
45. WW2 Germans: planning
46. AT-43 Therians: dead
47. AT-43 UNSC: dead
48. AT-43 Red Blok: dead
49. Star Wars Prepaint: dead
50. Warhammer High Elf: dead
51. Warhammer Bretonnian: dead
52. Highland Badgers: playable (old and need re-paint)

Note: EotD is "Empire of the Dead," IHMN is "In Her Majesty's Name," VBCW is "A Very British Civil War."

   As you can see, there are a lot of dead projects in this scale. Ambition and ooh shiny got the better of my good sense over the years, and I almost never get rid of anything. Most are things where I have only a few figures, just testing the waters really. Which is good, I suppose. It's also by a fair margin the single longest list, which honestly surprised me. I thought the 15mm list would be the biggest.

   Also, I am shocked to see that I was considering up to 20 (!) different VSF projects in just 28mm. Twenty! I'm a sick man, really, I need help.

New Issue of The Aethergraph

...is available via Google Drive in PDF format. You can get the link on the post on my VSF-dedicated blog, Victoria's Boys in Red. Or just click on the link below if you don't want to visit my pretty VSF blog. *sniff*

   Volume 3, Issue #3 is pretty much dedicated to In Her Majesty's Name, a great set of VSF skirmish rules published by Osprey and written by Craig Cartmell and Charles Murton. But, there are ideas in it that I think you can use with any set of rules.

Highlights:

• New official rules from Craig and Charles about using mercenaries in IHMN
• A biography of Lord Ronan Curr by Craig Cartmell
• Paul O'Grady's Armoured Naval Landing Party
• A brief history of Otto Maton's Minions
• New Mystic Powers
• Venusian Saurian Tribe Adventuring Company
• Some thoughts on adapting IHMN for Extraterrestrial Adventure

   Plus some photos, adverts, classifieds, a little fiction... 16 pages of totally free VSF fun. Please let me know what you like, what you don't like, and any constructive suggestions to improve the magazine would be greatly appreciated. As would submissions! Always looking for art, battle reports, house rules, unit histories, biographies, reviews, classifieds...

Society of Thule Todtruppen

Just a few photos.

A bit of painting done

   Hi all.

   Real life has been a bit tiresome and irksome and keeping me away from fun playtime stuff this past month or two. Sorry about that.

   However, I have been able to steal a bit of time here and there to work on the lead mountain a bit. I promise I will try to get some photos taken care of soon, as well, but for now a textual description of progress is better than utter silence, right?

   Right?

   Anyway, I have painted up a little bit more Dystopian Wars land-based stuff. Six infantry tokens, three A2-L 'Ritter'-class light tanks and two HM-1 'Recke'-class heavy tanks. The contents of the Armoured Assault Group box. Mine are painted differently, of course. Darker green, with a lot of brass accent.

   I also finished the Society of Thule box set for In Her Majesty's Name, finally. Only took the best part of a year - that's pretty quick for me! That's eleven Prussians to face my already completed Lord Curr's Incorrigibles and the Servants of Ra, plus the Mechanickal Minions of Otto Maton, and a British Rifle Company. I could probably just about field a company of cowboys, too, if ever there was an adventure in the United States. Hmmm...

Making Cards for IHMN

   This was previously published (about two minutes ago!) on Victoria's Boys in Red, my VSF blog. So if you read it there, you needn't read any further. Otherwise, check this out!

  I downloaded a free Magic Card Editor program a few years ago. I don't play Magic: The Gathering any more, but the program is very useful for making reference cards for gaming. I have used it previously for GASLIGHT units, and now I am making a set of cards for In Her Majesty's Name.

This is a Talent card. It gives the rules and point costs for a Talent.

I have all the published Talents done.

This is a Beast card.

I am making one for each creature in the published Bestiaries.

A Character card.

I have finished Lord Curr's Company, the Servants of Ra, and

the Mechanickal Menace (Automatons).

Mystic Powers.

Phase, Range, Duration, Save, Effect, and points cost.

   If you like these, the program is free. You can get it here.

Lady Felicity and Friends...

   The lovely Lady Felicity, the last member of Lord Curr's Company to be completed, is now ready for viewing. Please do not ogle her; it's both unseemly and dangerous. Those pistols she's packing aren't for show!

   The next miniatures is the first of a batch that I was given by my good friend Eli Arndt, proprietor of Loud Ninja Miniatures, blogging wizard, and all around great guy. He sculpted them (his first comercial sculpt, if I recall). They are 15mm scale anthropmorphic owls, called 'uhul.' Unfortunately, the sunlight is sort of washing out the color on him. Since it only took me about two years to get around to painting him, I figure the rest will be done by about 2020...

   This last photo is a fellow you've seen before. Now he's all finished, with a flocked base and some protective clear coat. Here's Ape-X, from Reaper's Bones Chronoscope line. He's supposed to be a mutant supervillain or some such, I think. I am using him as a mind controlled slave to the nefarious and secretive Doctor Vardu...

Recent Projects Completed...

  A big update today. Lots of photos, and a few more are coming up on Victoria's Boys in Red, as well.

The Galvanic Ray Cannon

Germany's Newest Landship

A Simian Mutant Bodyguard for Doctor Vardu

OGRE meets Gojira!

IHMN: Lord Curr

IHMN: One of Lord Curr's Incorrigibles

A Texian Walker (French design) - a matched pair.

British Balloon Scouts (and nine friends)

     In addition to the items pictured above, I also managed to finish two more of my India Pattern Carriers for Flames of War. I don't have any photos of them, though.

   Plus, I have almost finished Lord Curr's Company for In Her Majesty's Name. Just lacking Lady Felicity, and she's still on the painting table. Once I finish her, I need to work on more Dystopian Wars vehicles - Prussian land forces this time!