Pride Miniatures 2025

 For the past couple years I've painted a miniature with colors themed around one of the various Pride flags during the month of June; it's not something I choose to make a big deal out of, but I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself. This year I decided to push myself a little harder and paint three. I pulled a trio of female space pirate-types from Diehard Miniatures out of my stash and set to work; I decided this year I would paint the Bisexual, Lesbian, and Asexual Pride flags. 

Asexual Pride - black, white, gray and purple.

Lesbian Pride - a range of oranges and pinks with white accents

Bisexual Pride - blue, purple, and pink.

Above and beyond recognizing Pride Month, it was an opportunity to use some colors that I don't use all that often. Of the three, I think the Lesbian Pride figure came out the best, and I'm especially proud of the tattoo I freehanded on to her left forearm - a Labrys axe, another symbol associated with the lesbian community. 

Bases still need to be finished, but I'm pleased to have completed the figures themselves before the end of the month.

Figures Purchased in 2025: 90

Figures Painted in 2025: 112

"Directive: Reach For The Sky!"

 Nothing too exciting to post about today, but I did finish a few more figures.

This set of Robot Lawmen/Bounty Hunters from Diehard Miniatures has been sitting primed and unpainted for *cough*a couple years*cough* and I decided I had a use for them with my next Fistful of Lead demo at Harlequin Hobbies.

The yellow casings on these figures were inspired by my days working in a factory, back around 2009-2012. The dents and scratches sculpted on to the figures reminded me of the battered old machines I used to work on, so I copied their industrial paint jobs. 

Figures Purchased in 2025: 40

Figures Painted in 2025: 52

Galactic Heroes: "Bodyguard Work"

 I couldn't have a long weekend without a solo game, and so I got the table cleared off and set up a 3' x 3' battlefield this afternoon. I decided to give the new Galactic Heroes 2nd Edition from Wiley Games a go through, and opted to give the Rebels of Krankor IV another battle.

To recap, in previous games, the Rebels (ex-slave laborers mutated by the toxic working conditions on Krankor IV) failed to kidnap the planetary governor, Baron Hadimir Vlarkonnen, but managed to fight off a team of mercenaries sent by the Baron to capture a set of data crystals detailing the location of other rebel cells. In today's game, the Rebels needed to protect a sympathetic pilot carrying a data recorder from a group of mercenary assassins sent by the Baron. The standoff took place around a ruined factory on Krankor IV. 

THE CREWS

 THE REBELS (Crew Trait: Ranger)

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

ASSASSINS (Crew Trait: Eagle-Eyed) 

• Steve Austen (Leader; Veteran, Impervious, Encouraging), equipped with light armor, an Autopistol, and Optical Sights, granting him the Deadeye trait as a bonus
• Miller (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Quick), equipped with light armor, an Autopistol, and a Medi-Pack
• Flynn (Regular; Steady), equipped with light armor and an Autopistol
• Dirk (Regular; Dodge), equipped with light armor and an Autopistol
• Blue Commandos (Grunt Group; Killer), equipped with Autorifles

The Assassins deployed on the landing pad in the left-hand corner of the board; the Rebels deployed in cover, scattered around a ruined factory. 

The assassins quickly began to spread out and take pot-shots at the Rebels - and the first two Shooting attacks of the game, by Flynn and Dirk, both came up "1," sending both assassins Out of Ammo. Torso Jones rushed to engage Dirk in melee combat, and got shot in the back by Steve Austen for his troubles.

Jones kept trying to fight Dirk, but wound up getting curb-stomped by the assassin. Shortly thereafter, the Maw took a bunch of Shock tokens in quick succession and decided he'd had enough and routed off the table.

The assassins worked their way down from the landing platform to the ground, keeping a constant barrage of pistol fire on the rebels, who darted from cover to cover. From there, it became a tense running gun fight, with the rebels retreating deeper into the ruined factory, the assassins advancing, getting shot at, retreating, and the rebels cautiously stalking forward. 

 

The tide really turned when B'etor unleashed a blaze of autofire from her three pistols, killing Flynn and one of the Blue Commandos and wounding Steve Austen. Miller raced to use the Medi-Pack on Austen, and Manta Claws took out Dirk with a shot from his blaster rifle. B'etor was wounded, by pulled a Queen of Hearts card when she activated, allowing her to heal and stand back up - and using Burst Fire again to take out Miller and the last remaining Blue Commando. 

Cornered and stunned, Steve Austen kept fighting to the last, but eventually he was laid low, and the pilot carrying the crucial data recorder was free to escape off Krankor IV. 

***

Great game, I had a ton of fun. This game ran for a staggering nine rounds; usually my solo games run about six. The light armor made a surprising amount of difference; figures wearing it could reduce the severity of a wound by rolling 8+ on a D10, and the assassins rolled a lot of 8+s. It definitely kept them all in the game much longer than they would have stayed otherwise; the grunt group of Blue Commandos was impressively useless, with two dying and one routing off the table to a failed Recovery roll fairly early in the game, and other than putting two Shock markers on the Maw, failed to accomplish much. 

If you're interested, Wiley Games is running a sale through tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend; I ordered some more Wound and Shock tokens (because I would like to get some larger games going). Most of the miniatures on the table today are from Diehard Miniatures, who currently have a Kickstarter going that I've pledged to.

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!

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

Diehard Sci-fi Troopers and an AAR

 I'd hit a bit of a painting slump again - I'd start projects but feel no sense of passion towards them or desire to finish, but finally got myself motivated and finished off a couple figures this weekend while watching Reaper Miniatures' virtual convention.  They won't win any awards but I'm pleased with them nonetheless.  

 These are "E-Corps" Sci-fi troopers from a recent Diehard Miniatures' Kickstarter - I've got a fifth figure with a rocket launcher but I didn't want to put two special weapons figures into a squad for Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes, so I stuck with the sniper.  I've got a Warbot on the way from Diehard which will be painted in these colors and added to their squad.  

I also got motivated enough to clear off the dining room table, set up some scenery and hold a solo game of Galactic Heroes.  I decided on a simple scenario: A corporate spy carrying a hard drive full of secrets has crashed and hidden out in an abandoned, overgrown colony town.  The E-Corps asset recovery team has been sent in to retrieve him and the hard drive (I pulled an old Grenadier robot I'd previously painted to stand in for E-Corps' Warbot).  Unfortunately, a gang of Space Orks had also seen the ship crash, and were looking for the spy...for lunch.  

 

I decided that any time a figure spent an action searching a building, I'd roll a D10, adding 1 for each building that had previously been searched.  On a modified roll of 10+, the spy had been found; if I didn't get a 10 before the last building, he'd be there.  For added mayhem, I decided a natural "1" on the D10 roll would mean that an Alien Monster had been lairing in that building, and had been awoken.  

Naturally, a "1" was rolled on the very first building checked, and suddenly the Orks had a Ravenous Bug-Blatter Beast on their hands:

"Davy," the Ork in the coonskin cap, managed to hold the Bug-Blatter Beast up in a draw, locked claw to bayonet, until "Cap'n," the Ork in the officer's cap, managed to run up and kill the Beast instantaneously! "We ain't got time for dat nonsense!" says Cap'n!

Meanwhile, Pvt. Sit-Down leveled his shotgun at the Ork Boss and...click! Out of Ammo! Seeing this, "Bomba," the Ork in the bomber cap, raised his SMG and...click! Out of Ammo! "Tanka," the Ork in the tanker cap, charged Pvt. Blaze and obliterated him in a single go.  

The Ork Boss charged at Sit-Down, chainsword raised, and got clocked right between the eyes with Sit-Down's shotgun butt for a solid Wound! Taking advantage of the situation, Captain Ando of E-Corps advanced to the edge of the roof he was on and took a long shot with his autopistol - which paid off in spades when the Ork Boss collapsed to the ground stone dead!

Tanka then charged Sit-Down and, much to his surprise (and Sit-Down's), got hit in the chin with the shotgun butt hard enough to lift him off the ground and send him sprawling, out of action.  Why Sit-Down even bothers loading that shotgun is now a mystery, given what an unstoppable weapon the butt of it is. 

Davy, though shaken by a sniper bullet, wasn't about to accept Sit-Down's battlefield supremacy, charged in and headbutted the shotgun into metallic splinters.  He and Sit-Down began shoving back and forth, neither gaining a clear advantage but Sit-Down definitely beginning to weaken.  

Meanwhile, Captain Ando found himself dueling Cap'n on the roof of one building, Sgt. Clutch the E-Corps Sniper took out Bomba with a well-placed shot, and Wally the Warbot climbed the tower that Baldy, the Ork heavy weapons specialist, had holed up in and began punching him with metal fists.  

Sit-Down finally fell, out of action, but by that time Davy was the last Ork left on the field.  He turned and half-staggered, half-charged Sgt. Clutch - and was knocked out by one swing of the rifle butt.  

Exhausted, with two men out of action and Wally spilling oil from a hole blown in his side, E-Corps grabbed the corporate spy and called it a day.  They had completed their mission. 

Galactic Heroes: Solo Play

I just played a quick solo game of Wiley Games' "Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes," to familiarize myself with the rules ahead of trying to demonstrate the game for other people at my FLGS next week.  I actually used the mission charts in Osprey Games' "Rogue Stars" rules to generate a mission, and then played everything out with Galactic Heroes.

The set up was simple: A gang of smugglers, led by the flamboyant, electro-whip-wielding Lillith, had to move three parcels of "Frigian Ice Jewels" across a snowy, ruin-dotted plain while evading Captain Crash Carter, his trusty assistant Doc Libra, and a squad of Stellar Legionaries.  Complicating matters, a snowstorm reduced all visibility to 12".  The smugglers were deployed in the middle of one table edge, while Carter and Libra deployed on one adjoining edge and the Legionaries deployed on the other.

During the first turn, Lillith used her jetpack to dart at Captain Carter and Doc Libra, hoping to distract them from the three troopers carrying bundles of precious gems.  Carter tried to take a pot shot at her, but rolled a 1 - Out of Ammo! Doc Libra pointed his Photon Wand at her and pressed the firing stud, catching her in a roiling cone of radiation, leaving her Shaken.  Meanwhile, her second-in-command, the cyborg Steve Austen, led the three jewel-toting regulars on a mad race across the tundra to safety, while the Stellar Legionaries fanned out and took up firing positions.

On the second turn, Crash unjammed his blaster pistol, and before she could react, Doc fired his Photon Wand again, reducing Lillith to a smear on the ice.

The rest of the smugglers quickly found themselves pinned down between two ruined buildings.  One of the Legionaries, Private Altax, took a bullet in the stomach from Dirk, a smuggler, quickly rolling over and succumbing to his injuries.  Before Dirk could celebrate, however, Crash threw himself over a ruined wall and shot the smuggler in the back, killing him instantly.

Flynn, one of the other smugglers, turned and fired point-blank at Carter with his auto-pistol despite being already injured by blasterfire, and successfully put two wounds on the Captain, knocking him flat on his back in the snow.

Doc raced over to try and perform first aid on the Captain (despite Doc not having the "Medic" trait, I decided on the fly that on an 8+ roll he could still negate one wound) while the Legionaries mopped up the remaining smugglers.  As Crash staggered to his feet, the Frigian Ice Jewels were recovered.

All in all, from set-up to breakdown took about an hour and I really enjoyed myself.  The game had a couple of great swings I wasn't expecting, both when Lillith unexpectedly bit the dust and when Crash almost followed her into the great beyond.

I did have a couple things I recognized as needing fixing - Crash's team had a distinct advantage in that while visibility was reduced to 12", that was still within short range for the Legionaries' blaster rifles, while the smugglers were all armed with auto-pistols - which had a long range of 12".  So a Legionary at the maximum extent of visibility could hit a smuggler on a 5+, but that smuggler would need an 8+ to shoot back.

Also, I definitely need to pick up a new deck of cards.  The one I've got, the cards are very cheap, very thin plastic and don't shuffle nicely at all.

Galactic Heroes - Demo Crews

I've been puttering away on 11 figures from Diehard Miniatures for the last week, and last night I finally finished them.  I now have two demo crews for Wiley Games' "Fistful of Lead - Galactic Heroes" sci-fi skirmish game, so I can run a few solo games and teach myself the rules and then, hopefully, teach other people as well. 

LILLITH'S HIRED GUNS:
Bounty Hunter Lillith, equipped with a jet-pack, blaster pistol and electro-whip, has hired a few mercenaries, led by cyborg Steve Austen, to strengthen her bargaining position.  After all, sometimes the extra money is worth bringing them back alive. 

BLACK SKULL'S SPACE GHOSTS:
Once an ordinary space pirate, the villain known as Black Skull became so much more upon his discovery of the Staff of Unlife.  The Staff granted him the ability to raise the dead and compel their service, but at a hideous cost: his own face withered into a blackened skull.  Now, completely mad and attended by terrifying revenants, he roams the spaceways taking what he pleases. 

Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong; can you hear me, Major Tom?

The way his visor leaves just his teeth and chin visible reminded me of the cover art
for Megadeth's album "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?"

This sculpt reminded me of the undead airmen in the "B-17" segment of the 1981 animated
film "Heavy Metal." The segment had been written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote
1979's "Alien."

He's wearing the same style of armor and helmet as the guys in Lillith's crew above,
so I decided to interpret him as a "new recruit" in Black Skull's forces.

His armor made me think, not of Space Marines, but of the astronaut ghost from Scooby-Doo.
Hence, he is the Space-Kook.