Living On This Island Earth

On June 10th, 1955, a humble little scifi B-movie hit theaters called THIS ISLAND EARTH. It starred Rex Reason and Faith Domergue as atomic scientists kidnapped by Exeter, a mysterious yet seemingly kindly man with white hair and a large forehead, and taken to his home planet of Metaluna. Metaluna was under attack by the forces of the planet Zagon, and Metaluna needed the earth scientists' aid to synthesize enough uranium to fuel their defensive screens long enough to evacuate Metaluna's population to Earth. While Exeter argues for a peaceful coexistence with Earth, the leader of Metaluna instead suggests a future where earthlings would be subservient to the "superior" Metalunans. The question is moot, however, as it's too late; Exeter and the earthlings narrowly escape as Metaluna, under heavy bombardment, transforms into a new star. However, a Mutant (or Mu-TANT, given the enunciation in the film), a synthetic species of humanoid insects used as slave labor on Metaluna, has stowed away on the flying saucer and attacks, delivering a fatal wound to Exeter before being destroyed itself. 

I'll be honest, while it's got its charm it's not an amazing film, and these days might be best known for being included in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie," which I used to have on VHS back in the day. I certainly tend to think of some of the jokes made by Mike and the Bots in that when I think of this film. 

The Mu-TANT, however, has achieved a degree of iconicness; because the film was produced and distributed by Universal Studios, it does get included with the Universal Monsters in some tie-in media (action figure licenses, etc), and coming just a year after the Creature From The Black Lagoon, I applaud the inclusion. Modernized version have also appeared in the films MEN IN BLACK 3 and LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION in scenes paying tribute to the sci-fi boom of the 1950s. 

Which is a long, roundabout way to explain who these guys are. BigMrTong did a limited release of metal figures inspired by the Metaluna Mu-TANT, and I picked up three of them. They're now available as an STL file through his patreon, but I got three of the metal release, bending the arms slightly to create some variation between them. They'd been sitting primed on my desk for a while, but on the 10th I saw a notice on one of the B-movie pages I follow on social media stating it was the film's anniversary, so I got my rear in gear and started painting. 

 

Nothing too fancy, and I avoided trying to paint the sculpted veins on the arms - I just don't have a fine enough brush and enough trust in the steadiness of my own hands not to bodge it up repeatedly.  

 While I was at it, I knocked out another bit of scatter terrain for my modern tables - a hot dog cart, ready to be parked on a street corner dishing out delicious street meat to hungry pedestrians. 

 This is a 3D print I got from Miniature Building Authority, given a simple metallic drybrush for that stainless steel look, and the hot dog and soda logos picked out in full color. 

"This kid's been back four times today... he's an eating machine!"

 

So let's get that tracker updated:

 

Miniatures Acquired: 149

Miniatures Painted: 129

Terrain Acquired: 4

Terrain Painted: 6

Scatter Acquired: 0

Scatter Painted: 9

 

Majestic 13: Operation Acid Reflux

 It's been a few months since my last game of Majestic 13 from Snarling Badger, and I decided this week I'd get the table cleared off and and play a game this weekend. A big part of that decision came in the form of a complimentary 3D printed "Giant Plague Toad" (totally not a Nurgle beast, scout's honor) I received from an Etsy seller, TableTopTradesman, earlier this week that immediately struck me as an excellent monster for Majestic 13.

Unfortunately, last night I had to take my wife to the Emergency Department at our local hospital following an accidental over-ingestion of medication. While she was discharged after a few hours, neither one of us slept much (or at all, in my case) afterwards, so I'm more than a little foggy-headed and prone to slight nod-offs currently. Naturally, this is the best possible state to be in when playing a game and writing an after-action report. 

The Force Discreet were once more deployed to a wilderness battlefield, this time to oppose a creature called an Ichor-Spitter. These creatures are capable of flight, ignoring terrain penalties on movement, and can spit powerful acid. 

Left to right: Javier, Pilar, Ortiz, Emilio, Anna-Maria

Secondary objective was a medical supply pickup - each of those neon green radiation symbols marks a piece of terrain with a supply point on it. I got a little hosed in two different ways with this mission:

1. Rolling for bureaucratic foul-ups as part of the mission generation, I got "Drop Zone Confusion," meaning my team deployed in a randomly-selected board quadrant. 
2. Rolling to see which terrain pieces on the table would be Clear, Difficult or Dangerous terrain, I rolled abysmally. Almost every hill and forest, plus the bridge and cabin, were Difficult Terrain, meaning movement was halved moving over them. One hill was Dangerous Terrain, meaning figures would potentially take wounds trying to cross it. Trying to obtain secondary objectives just got twice as difficult. 

Rather than do a full play-by-play since my brain's packed to capacity with cotton right now, I'll just touch on a few highlights:

• In my mentally fogged state, I was looking at the "Phase 2" profile for the Ichor Spitter (in Majestic 13, once your team has a certain number of victories under their belts, the monsters upgrade to a second, more difficult unit profile) for the first two turns, meaning it was hitting my operatives more easily than it should have and the negative side-effects of its attacks were harder for them to resist.
• The Ichor Spitter caught four of my five operatives in an "Acid Spray" blast, wounding and blinding half of them because they'd stayed clustered together pouring firepower into the monster instead of spreading out. 

• On turn 3, I rolled for the game's FUBAR mechanic, came up positive, and rolled on the results chart. A randomly-determined terrain piece, in this case one of the escarpments along the riverbank, collapsed, injuring any figures (human or monster) within a certain radius. Only Ortiz was in range, and I rolled almost minimum damage; I think he only took three points of damage from the collapse.
• Javier got caught in one Acid Blast too many, and was reduced to a steaming puddle on the forest floor.

• Ortiz scored a critical hit with his light machine gun, dealing an exceptional 34 points of damage to the monster in one go, which was enough to put it into its "In Extremis" state - every monster in Majestic 13 has an "In Extremis" threshold, where if it's reduced below a certain hit-point total it gains an extra action, but also takes extra damage as its body consumes itself with violent rage to fuel that extra action. 
• On Turn 4, Pilar successful performed a Call for Aid, calling down a drone strike on the Ichor Spitter and finishing the terrible beast off.

I didn't really accomplish the secondary objective of collecting all three medical supply drops; I got one, but the Force Discreet really is spec'd around pouring as much damage into the enemy as possible, and everything else is a bit of an afterthought. 

In the post-game:

• While Agent Javier did die of his wounds, he was successfully cloned and Javier Jr. will be ready to join the team in the next game. 
• The Force Discreet filed requisition requests for two Medic Kits and received one. Requisition requests to add a rapid response helipad to their base were also denied and/or lost in the bureaucratic maze. 
• Ortiz and Pilar used accumulated XP to improve their Dexterity scores, while Javier Jr. put XP carried over from Javier-Prime to improve his Combat score. 

Next game is a Special Mission, pitting the Force Discreet against the shadowy puppetmasters dropping these alien monsters on Earth. 

Additionally, in the aftermath of last night's Emergency Department adventure and my willingness to sit up all night making sure Gina didn't experience a seizure or cardiac troubles relating to her accidental overdose, Gina asked me to fill a shopping cart with miniatures she could buy for me. I had a coupon for 30% off from Etsy seller TableTopTradesman (see the top of this post), so I picked out enough gribbly 3D printed monstrosities to get us free shipping and we placed the order. So soon enough I'll have another five twisted brutes on 40- or 60mm bases ready to try and gnaw through the Force Discreet. 

Time to update the counter:

Figures Acquired in 2025: 127

Figures Painted in 2025: 123

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. 

Sci-Fi Terrain Collecting Initiated

Well, with science fiction skirmish gaming apparently being the order du jour around my place, I decided to start collecting some futuristic buildings and other terrain pieces to liven up the table.  These are 3D prints purchased from Panhandle 3D Printing on Etsy, and I am very, very happy with the service.  If I had a 3D printer (or the room to have one set up) I'd print my own, but lacking that I'm happy to pay someone else to print for me. 

On the viewer's left is a "Sci-Fi Cafe with Canopy" designed by Imperial Terrain, and to the right is a "Lookout Tower" from Corvus Games Terrain.  Next to the Tower are the doors and windows that plug into the Cafe.  The prints needed only a little bit of touch-up work with a file and X-acto, arrived quickly and were packaged very securely against any possible damage, and I'm looking forward to buying from this store again. 

I haven't decided on a color for the Cafe yet, but I'll be hitting the Lookout Tower with a coat of battleship gray spray-paint as soon as I pick some up; I see it as a prefab, mass-produced building that colonists and settlers can just drop into place and get inside five minutes later, and that kind of put me in mind of how in the original Star Wars trilogy, all of the Empire's vehicles are the same shade of gray.  So I figure battleship gray with details picked out and some weathering applied will be good. 

I'd like to be able to put on games set in bustling spaceports, mining towns on backwater planets and isolated outposts, and this is a big first step in that direction.  It's funny; even just a few years ago I never would have imagined I'd end up such a fan of skirmish gaming on terrain-dense tables, but boy howdy, it makes for a real visual treat of a game in a way "4x6 table with a green cloth thrown over it, pushing regiments of figures around" just doesn't.