Usurper: Claim to Power (The God in the Well)

Okay, then.  Time to take this system for a spin.  I've got a little hamlet with a problem, and Sukeribi right there in the middle of it.  Let's find out what happens.

While travelling about, searching for resources, Sukeribi stayed a few nights in a tiny hamlet near the woods, named "Ranu".  The people were weird, but that's small towns for you.  Then, just as he was getting ready to leave, Sukeribi thought he heard a cry for help coming from the old well at the center of town.  Suddenly, a couple of the nearby villagers got really loud, and another came to talk to Sukeribi, drawing him away from the well.

Renegade Scout - Crash Landing

Great Mountain Mercs vs. Stinging Willow Precursors

The Department - Sixth Mission

Mission Six: Murder Sweep!

Hey! Didn't you already do one of these?

Well, yes, but that's part of the game. There are only six different missions, plus the unique "boss" missions, so there's going to be some back-tracking in an effort to earn the required evidence. Actually, I would have rather have had a go at the Nightclub or Bust the Lab missions, but I don't currently have a 25+ cm nightclub interior, or 6(!) such interiors to represent the floors of an abandoned building. It's something to work towards, though. :)

For now, we get Murder Sweep again.

The Department of Fabricant Management - Fifth Mission

Mission Five: Bust the Dealer!

Wait!  What happened to the fourth mission?

Well, I wanted to do this mission, but I didn't have enough People Evidence to afford it, so I had to do "Grass the Neighborhood" again.  You've already seen that sort of mission, and not much happened anyway.  I spent 5 Budget, and came away with 1 People Evidence and 1 Place Evidence.  Good enough.  This mission is pretty short, too.

Drug dealers, at least the better ones, have tons of contacts.  Sure, they're probably not tied directly into what you're investigating, but they might know somebody who knows somebody who is.

So, Agent M decides to look up Vinnie Verdun, and ask him a few questions.  The mission costs 5 Budget, plus one of my People Evidence, that I guess lead me to this drug dealer in particular.

Usurper: Claim to Power (Building a World)

Despite my attempts to ignore it, I've become fascinated by this indie RPG, "Usurper: Claim to Power".  I've already made a character, an outlaw scribe from a fallen family, seeking revenge, and this tells me a little about the place he's from, but what about the larger world?  Conveniently, Usurper has a "World Builder", which is what I'm going to go through here.

(Sukeribi's character creation, if you missed it.)

Usurper: Claim to Power (Sukeribi's Revenge)

A few years ago, I stumbled  across the little indie RPG title, "Usurper", but I honestly was not impressed. However, recently it has received some praise on the internets, so I thought I would give it a second look.

How can I describe this? The core system is a sort of minimalist thing. Encounter a problem? Say what you're trying to do and then roll on this table. That's it. No modifiers. No penalties. Just roll and deal with the consequences (or rewards). But that table, and its many variable results, and context, make for a game where the story can really go anywhere, and even the GM doesn't know exactly what's going to happen next. And that's exactly the kind of game I like.

OMG! SO MANY BRICKS! (Ruined Tower Terrain)

Greetings, humans!

Sorry I've been quiet for a bit.  I've been in a bit of a creative funk.  However, I did recently finish a nice terrain piece.  I should have been painting minis, I suppose, but the heart wants what it wants.  So my unsightly, gray warband will be having adventures at the feet of this lovely, ruined tower. :)

Five Leagues from the Borderlands 2e

Nordic Weasel Games recently released the second, expanded edition of "Five Leagues from the Borderlands", and I was so excited to try it, but I just didn't have any fantasy stuff to play with.  Over the course of a month, I put together a modest bit of terrain and collected some fantasy/medieval minis, and tried to get them ready.  In the end, I couldn't hold out anymore.  As such, please forgive the primer grey and black figures. :(

"Five Leagues" is a fantasy solo campaign skirmish game, designed with easy to use rules that are optimal for solo play without being boring.  You start with a party of (usually) four Heroes and four Followers, and a few villages suffering the depredations of Outlaws, Border Tensions, and Dark Secrets.  Each of these Threats has a rating, and your goal is to bring them to zero, eliminating the Threats and rescuing the villages.

Making Post-Apocalypse Road Terrain

Greetings, humans!

Today, because this is what I do sometimes, I'm going to show you how I made some post-apocalypse themed road segments.

Please to enjoy.

Hardwired: Cyberpunk Mayhem!

It seems like skirmishy solo games are all the rage lately, and that works for me, since I don't have a lot of victims friends to try new 15mm games on.  I also, for some reason, like the cyberpunk genre for these sorts of things (witness the terrain).

So, eventually I picked up Hardwired, with the hope that it would be a cool solo cyberpunk game experience.  (Unfortunately, the awesome cover didn't actually come as part of the PDF.  I am sad.) 

Anyway, here's how it turned out:

Blood in Space(...ace...ace..ace...)!

Blood.
In.
SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaace!

So, @Dutch_Law implied that I should try out Blood In Space.  I already owned it, but hadn't played it yet (after all, I have plenty of games to play already).  Blood In Space is a solo or cooperative game of sci-fi shoot-em-up.  It comes with a few pregenerated characters, but you can make your own.  It also has a campaign system of interlocking scenarios, which is nice for a solo game.

This is Not a Test: Cold Vengeance

This is not not "This is Not a Test".  As a matter of fact, it very much is "This is Not a Test" (TNT).  TNT is a post-apocalypse skirmish warband game.  I like to play in 15mm, though I think 28mm is the default.  It's a pretty cool game with some nice features and not a lot of fiddling with the numbers.  It also seems to have a robust campaign system that my friends and I are looking forward to starting.

Also, it's a post-apocalypse game, so I get to use my homemade "Red Rocket" terrain. :P

So, now that the end is here, let's get to the beginning.

DOOM SQUAD!

Doom Squad is a solo minis game from Alternative Armies.  I like solo games, so I definitely decided to give it a try.  I think it's kind of like a modern era "Sengoku".  You've got your little crew of guys, and you wander around the map encountering enemies and events.

I only played on session, and a very simple mission, but it seemed to be pretty fun (assuming that I'm even playing it correctly, more on that later).

Anyway, here we go.

The Goal's Not That Far...

Some more scripting nonsense.  Can you find the stairs down to the next level?
"Bwaaaaaaaaaaawump!"

(This clearly has problems, but I'm working on it.)

No canvas for you!

Unity Field Agent: Unity Field Agents vs. Fringe Spacers

UNITY FIELD AGENT

This is one of my favorite games, though I might be biased as involved as I was in the play-testing.  The system is simple enough, but robust, and the card-activation system keeps you on your toes and offers interesting choices.

This is one of those "warband" sort of games, like Frostgrave or Kill Team, where you can track XP and such if you want to.  Or you can just work up a points-limit worth of figures and have a one-off game.

The Department of Fabricant Management - Third Mission

Mission Three: The Murder Sweep!

There's been a murder downtown.  No, not that one. No, not that one.  Yes, I know there are a lot of murders.  But we think this one might have a connection to our case.  It's time to go in there and examine the crime scene itself.  Maybe ask around.  The murder is probably still nearby...

This mission costs 2 Budget, and might provide People and Place evidence.  I'm also spending 2 Budget to bring a Lab Technician, hoping to improve my odds of getting good evidence from the scene.

Fallout 4: Red Rocket Filling Station in 15mm

Looking for a terrain project, and having done a few "cyberpunk" buildings already, I decided to look for something fun and iconic that I could use with "This Is Not A Test" or maybe "Scrappers" or one of the zombie games out there.

Digging around, I settled on the "Red Rocket Filling Station" from Fallout 4.

Cue "Rocket 69"!

Blast Pistol: Attack on Malproksima Colony

Hi!  Until I have time to set up something new, here's another battle "report" from the pile of stuff underneath my desk.  This time, it's Nordic Weasel Games "Blast Pistol" (a "pay what you want" bundle at the time of writing).  It was originally planned as a "living ruleset", but I don't know how that turned out.  The game was pretty fun, though.

I apologize for some of my half-painted terrain.  I was still new at this at the time.  (Not that I don't have half-painted terrain now, I just try to hide it better.)

Fun fact: "Bloo" is a lady here.  I think I've got my first transgender character.  Huh!

Anyway, here's what happened:

Komrades in Arms: Satellite Reign with FiveCore

A little something different.  Here's a thing I did a few years ago, but hosted elsewhere.  I thought I'd add it here just to make it easier to find, and to generally consolidate things.  This is actually the second mission in this series, but I've lost the images for the first mission.

This uses Nordic Weasel Games' "FiveCore" rules, with custom advancement and a "Satellite Reign" theme.

Republishing this also gives me a chance to spell "satellite" correctly.

This is an escort mission: Get the former corp guy into the UZYKORP lab to steal a prototype weapon.  We gave our charge an empty pistol.  Don't want him getting himself hurt.  I should note that I'm not using random events, because there's too much to keep track of in a solo game as it is.  Also, since I've only got four figures, the activation level (figures activated on a normal turn) is "2".

Beginning mission... GO!

The Department of Fabricant Management - Second Mission

The previous mission, "Grassing the Neighborhood", wasn't particularly fruitful.  Agent M managed to pull a rogue Fabricant off of the streets, but that's about it.  It's time to draw on the Department's resources and talk to one of their paid informants, a "snitch".  "Meeting the Snitch" costs 5 Budget.

The meet is set in a rough part of town.  Tensions are high, and violence could erupt at any moment, so Agent M is bringing along some backup (at the cost of 3 Budget) in the form of Officer Nolan, a specialist Riot Officer, armed with a blaster rifle (on stun) and stun grenades.  Officer Nolan is in full uniform, but even if he wasn't, the residents can smell bacon from 60cm away, and neither officer starts out hidden.

Skirmish Outbreak: Zombie Apocalypse

It's time to play another game that I purchased years ago and then sat on forever!  This time, it's "Skirmish Outbreak" by Radio Dishdash Publishing.

Ok, first of all, for legal reasons, this game has been renamed "Skirmish Ragers".  So if you're looking for it, that's the new name.  Also, if you buy the PDF from Wargame Vault, it's locked so you can't print it, so be warned.  Also, the print book is printed with a bright yellow background, which doesn't bother me, but does bother some people, and probably isn't a best practice, since nobody else does it.

"Ragers" is what they call the fresh, fast, angry zombies.

Elder Soul Relay

Over the weekend, I knocked out a relatively quick little terrain project.  I wanted to make a thematic piece of terrain for my friend, something that would match his army of reincarnating robots (which is why this is green and yellow).

Let me tell you, though, light green and yellow are BEARS to paint.  I must have put on at least seven or eight layers.  Yeesh!

Anyway, here's a stat card I made to go with it.  The stats are for Squad-Hammer.  The idea is that it can be used to (re)load souls into the damaged robotic shells of a diminished Elder squad.

I apologize to whoever is responsible for the image of this building.
I don't know where I got it, and wasn't originally intending to share it.

Squad-Hammer Core: Great Mountain Corporate SWAT vs Bloo's Gang

Nordic Weasel Games recently came out with a trimmed-down and updated version of their Squad-Hammer rules, called Squad-Hammer Core, just in time for my weekend gaming.  It's supposed to be a solid beer & pretzels framework for some fast fun with friends, but with enough structure to build your own house-rules or setting-specific information into.

Alien Squad Leader 3.0: Human Imperials vs. Outlaw Gang

A friend of mine asked that I try this game out, and it's been sitting on my shelf anyway, so I thought "Sure, why not?"

I missed the first two.  Am I going to be able to follow the plot?

The Department of Fabricant Management - First Mission

The Department is a game that I like to describe as "Bladerunner: The Skirmish Game".  You play (alone or with friends) special detectives in the Department of Fabricant Management.  Your job is to hunt down renegade fabricants (ie "replicants" or "androids").  You can just play any random mission, but the fun is in the campaign rules.

...of Fabricant Management

Sci-Fi Billboard Images

I've been asked to share the images that I used to make the billboards for my terrain.  And so, here you go.  This is a good idea, right?  I think you should be able to copy them at full resolution (300 ppi).  If not, I guess I'll have to think of something else.

Mi esperas, ke vi ĝuu tiujn ĉi.

Mmm! Savory!

Unsavory!

Big Brother is watching!
(But at least murders are down this week.)

- Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E

Close Quarters Skirmish: Unity Regulars vs. Great Mountain Veterans

I had a very long weekend, so I played another game.  This one I wasn't familiar with, but it was new (to me) so I thought I'd give it a go.  Close Quarters Skirmish from Legionnaire Games is some kind of spin-off from their board games, and is a pretty flexible sci-fi skirmish tabletop rules set.  You can build your own units, but I basically swiped some of the existing units because I'm lazy.  The game is scenario based, so I went with the smallest and easiest scenario, "Patrol".  My goal (as Unity) is to kill more points of Great Mountain guys before the end of the 4th turn.  Unity had 16 Regular figures at 99 points, and Great Mountain had 8 Veteran figures at 88 points.

The table setup