Galactic Heroes: Caught in a Tight Spot

 One last AAR for the year; following up on the previous game, after escaping from Lursa's rebels, the Baron contracted with an E-Corp Security Team to launch a retaliation strike. Mission objectives: Kill the rebels and retrieve a series of data crystals containing plans for future raids and the locations/identities of other rebel cells. 

THE CREWS

LURSA'S RAIDERS (Crew Trait: Ranger) 

•  Lursa (Leader; Encouraging, Impervious, Deadeye; Mutations: Life Leech), armed with a Blaster Pistol 
• B'etor (Specialist; Killer, Deft; Mutations: Extra Arms), armed with Pistols 
•  The Maw (Regular; Bloodthirsty; Mutations: Gaping Maw), armed with an Autorifle and Chainsword 
• Torso Jones (Regular; Thundering Charge; Mutations: Iron Hide), armed with a Blaster Rifle and Buzzsaw-Axe 
• Manta Claws (Regular; Steady; Mutations: Fangs and Claws), armed with a Blaster Rifle

E-CORPS SECURITY TEAM (Crew Trait: Advanced Comms) 

• Captain Hudson (Leader; Two Guns, Veteran, Encouraging), armed with Pistols
• Sgt Hicks (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Deadeye), armed with a Sniper Rifle
• Barry Hercules (Regular; Killer), armed with a Shotgun
• Shiro Hagen (Regular; Observant), armed with an Autorifle
• Wally the Warbot (not pictured; Regular; Soulless), armed with Titanium Fists 

Scenario was "Caught in a Tight Spot" from the Wasteland Warriors rulebook, with the E-Corps team cornering Lursa's Raiders in their camp; Betor and Manta Claws began the game deployed at the center of the table with the four data crystals (Loot tokens by any other name), and the remainder of the gang entering the table as they activated.Night had fallen, reducing visibility to 12" and giving everyone a -1 to Shooting rolls.

Things got off to a quick and bloody start, with Captain Hudson swiftly moving into position and unleashing Burst fire with his two pistols on Betor and Manta Claws, wounding both. Betor struggled to her feet, returning fire before getting a shotgun blast in the back from Barry Hercules that put her out of action and put another wound on Manta. Torso Jones and the Maw entered the table, taking up positions and returning fire once they were within range, and Sgt. Hicks getting into a covered position and taking aim with his sniper rifle. 

 

This very quickly became a knock-down, vicious fight, with figures moving from cover to cover, getting wounded, knocked down, crawling to the next bit of cover, standing up, shaking off shock, firing again...at one point I think a total of five figures on the table were prone with wounds. Both Manta and Shiro Hagen got wounded, crawled a short distance, and then succumbed to their wounds while trying to stand up. E-Corp figures would move in, grab a data crystal, and promptly get shot, dropping it as they fell prone. The Maw was taken out of action by a second Burst of fire from Captain Hudson, with Lursa being wounded in the same burst. 

With Betor, Manta and the Maw all going Out of Action in the span of two rounds, it looked like it was going to be E-Corps' game; but Torso Jones charged out of cover and beheaded Sgt Hicks with a single wild swing of his buzzsaw axe. Lursa shot and wounded Captain Hudson in a phenomenal shot (she needed a 9+ on a D10 and got it) and then Torso jumped on the prone man, finishing him off before catapulting himself at Wally the Warbot and demolishing the 'bot as well.

At the end of the game, Barry Hercules escaped off table with a single data crystal, Lursa had a wound  on her and Torso Jones was standing victorious. Everyone else was Out of Action. But the rebels maintained possession of 3 data crystals, giving them the victory. 

So now the Baron possesses a data crystal full of plans and the locations of other cells...I smell a rematch!

Wasteland Warriors: Annette's Gang, and some Holiday Cheer

 Last figures for the year; I'm packing up my painting desk (i.e., the back half of our dining room table) tonight and leaving it be until after New Year's. 

Wiley Games' Post-Apocalyptic variant, "Wasteland Warriors," is one I'd like to do more with in the new year; it's very influenced by the likes of Gamma World, Thundarr the Barbarian and Kamandi: Last Boy on Earth, which is a lot more fun than some of the other post-apocalypses out there. 

 

Digging into my box of primed but unpainted figures, I pulled out some Mark Copplestone-sculpted Future Warriors, originally from Grenadier but now produced by Forlorn Hope Games. I supplemented these with a Female Mercenary from Mark Copplestone's own Future Wars line (effectively an extension of the older Grenadier line) and a Reaper Troglodyte from their Bones line. Just like that, I've got a gang of wasteland warriors!

These are very quick and dirty paint-jobs, mostly just basecoat and wash with a minimum of highlighting, but they're effective and get the job done. I went a little bit more in-depth with the Troglodyte - gave him the full Reaper Triad of Stormy/Cloudy/Misty Gray, then glazed his back with GW Guilliman Blue and his throat and gills with GW Bloodletter. I'd just like to add that he was a bit of a bitch to get the mold-lines off, and some remain in place because I was shaving off scales trying to remove the mold-lines. 

All in all, about two nights' work that I'm pretty happy with. And finally, since it is Christmas Eve...

This is a Scibor Miniatures' "Christmas Snowman Slayer" Dwarf, which was gifted to me as part of a painting group I'm in; it is the first resin figure I've ever assembled and painted, and it gave me some challenges - I realized just now I'd glued the ice-skate blade to his halberd on upside down, and the spike on the back shattered trying to remove it from its sprue. I decided to go for a grubbier, less-pleasant Santa vibe; more "Billy Bob Thornton in BAD SANTA" than anything else. Hence the alcohol-induced rosacea on his nose and cheeks, and I used GW Seraphim Sepia to stain his fingers and beard as if from heavy nicotine use. Not sure how much comes through in the photo, but I'm pleased enough with how he turned out.

So that's it for me for 2021. Happiest of holidays, whichever you may celebrate, and may 2022 bring you games and painting time aplenty.

Da Black Fire Boyz

They're veterans of Sigmar alone knows how many skirmishes against the forces of Averland for control of the Black Fire Pass. Hulking greenskins, their low cunning has somehow granted them a glimmering of insight - their own howling mobs having broken and been repulsed by the Imperial pike formations over and over again, these orcs have begun to crudely imitate a pike block themselves. They've also begun dressing in uniforms stripped from Averland's casualties; it remains hotly debated whether this is a simple case of imitation, or if the orcs are dressing in these uniforms as an act of psychological warfare.

 

As a corollary to the Old World Army Challenge, a bunch of us in the OWAC Facebook group did a 10-figure side challenge this year from October 15th through December 15th. I took the opportunity to paint ten of the Mercenary Orc Spearmen I'd primed for this past OWAC but hadn't gotten around to during the Challenge. These figures are from Warmonger Miniatures. 

I'd specified in the fluff I'd written about the WHFB Orc and Goblin army I painted for the OWAC that they originated in the Black Fire Pass of the Old World, linking the Imperial Province of Averland to Tilea, the remaining Dwarf strongholds, and the Border Princes. Averland is my favorite province of the Empire in Warhammer (and a good buddy of mine has been talking about building an old school Averland army for a while now), so my Orc army is peppered with little nods to the province - a dead Averlander under a troll's foot, another in the chuck wagon awaiting his turn in the stew pot, etc. 

It was a no-brainer, then, to paint these Landsknecht-style orcs in Averland's colors of yellow and black, and Da Black Fire Boyz were born. Red sashes and feathers provide a unifying third color across the figures.

The standard bearer was originally a halberdier; I cut away his weapon, drilled out his hand and inserted a 4" steel pike from North Star Military Figures to serve as a banner pole. I considered a lot of different designs for the obnoxiously-large banner (2.5" square) including a traditional "Evil Sunz" design, and a very-ambitious "Gork and Mork breaking the two-tailed comet of Sigmar like a Thanksgiving wishbone" idea. Ultimately I traced a heraldic boar head on to both sides of the banner and painted it in the yellow-black-red scheme and I think that worked out best. 

The bugler is also converted; he was originally holding a musket in his right hand, which I trimmed away, drilled out and replaced with a plastic spear I had laying around from I think Fire Forge Games. 

Galactic Heroes: "Labor Negotiations"

 On the planet Krankor IV, a toxic industrial hellworld, exposure to the planet's radioactive reserve of Nydynium has caused most of the (slave miner) population to develop horrible mutations. When planetary governor Baron Hadimir Vlarkonnen decides to personally inspect a minor outpost, a band of rebel ex-miners decide it's a perfect opportunity to kidnap the Baron and "negotiate" better rights for the populace. 

THE CREWS:

 

LURSA'S RAIDERS (Crew Trait: Ranger)

• Lursa (Leader; Encouraging, Impervious, Deadeye; Mutations: Life Leech), armed with a Blaster Pistol
• B'etor (Specialist; Killer, Deft; Mutations: Extra Arms), armed with Pistols
• The Maw (Regular; Bloodthirsty; Mutations: Gaping Maw), armed with an Autorifle and Chainsword
• Torso Jones (Regular; Thundering Charge; Mutations: Iron Hide), armed with a Blaster Rifle and Buzzsaw-Axe
• Manta Claws (Regular; Steady; Mutations: Fangs and Claws), armed with a Blaster Rifle

 

THE BARON'S ENTOURAGE (Crew Trait: Deadeye)

• Administrix Mugo Citlax (Leader; Slippery, Smart, Amphibious), armed with an Electro-Mace
• X-10-1 (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Soulless), armed with an Autorifle
• Butch (Regular; Coolheaded), armed with an Autorifle
• Coop (Regular; Deft), armed with an Autorifle
• Moe (Regular; Killer), armed with an Autorifle

Special: Baron Hadimir Vlarkonnen (D8s for all rolls, Dodge), Unarmed 

The Baron's Entourage started play in the middle of the table, with Lursa's Raiders entering from a randomly-determined corner. If the Baron's entourage could escort the Baron to the landing pad and call the orbiting shuttle, it would be a win for the Baron; if Lursa could stop the Baron from going off-table, it would be a win for her and her rebel band.

Things got off to an explosive start; advancing towards the rebels, X-10-1 was charged by the Maw and promptly swallowed whole! The rest of the entourage had to save versus Shock, with almost the entire crew taking Shock tokens at the sight of the Baron's assassin droid-bodyguard being swallowed whole by this fang-faced mutant. 

Things looked like they'd end poorly for the governor, as the Maw and Torso Jones tore through his security team. Baron Vlarkonnen himself panicked and almost ran off the opposite table edge from the waiting landing pad before rallying and, with three Shock tokens on him, activating on a Queen of Spades card that removed all three of them. Newly invigorated, the Baron rejoined his administrative assistant Citlax and made his way towards the landing pad, ducking into a grove of purple flora to avoid being shot at.

With the three-armed B'etor guarding the entrance to the landing pad and Torso Jones and the Maw advancing on their position, Baron Vlarkonnen made a mad dash for the door and knocked B'etor flat with one punch from a beefy, ring-bedecked hand. Administrix Citlax was taken out the Maw and a well-aimed blaster shot from Lursa, while the Baron narrowly avoided a blaster shot from Manta Claws before making his way up the elevator to the waiting shuttle. The Baron has escaped, leaving Lursa's raiders to lick their wounds and await retaliation.

I don't have a ship model currently. Pretend it's cloaked.

This was a great game of Galactic Heroes and one that I think shows off one of the primary appeals of the game; with the card-based activation system and certain cards having special effects tied to them (such as the Queen of Spades allowing the Baron to shed a LOT of Shock tokens that were weighing him down), even when it seems like the game's a foregone conclusion - it isn't. I was fully expecting Lursa and her gang to corner the Baron on the far corner of the table from where he needed to be; instead, he made it to safety while sacrificing all of his underlings in the process, like any good self-serving galactic autocrat would.

So funny story. I had everything I needed ready to play this game last night, I unrolled my battle mat on the table, put that first piece of terrain down...and the power went out! High winds knocked out the power and took down a number of trees around our apartment complex, and we were without power for 13 hours. This evening, once my wife and I had taken care of replacing the contents of our refrigerator and the domestic stuff, I started to set up the table again. "You're tempting fate," she told me. "If the power goes out again because you started setting up a game, don't say I didn't tell you."

Lursa's Raiders

Here we have a merry band of Chaos Cultists/Mutants from Diehard Miniatures, from their most recent Kickstarter. These will be a gang for games of Fistful of Lead using the scifi (Galactic Heroes) rules or the Post-Apocalyptic (Wasteland Warriors) variant.

Lursa and her sister B'etor, the brains behind this operation

The Maw, always hungry for violence

Manta Claws, ready in a pinch

Torso Jones, looking to get ahead