Sci Fi: Battle for Ghenna IV Continues....

.... as I continue to test out gaming theories on my unsuspecting fellow game club members!  But I digress...

Basically, I ran two games, one very small and short, and one larger and longer, to watch the integration of light scout walkers with infantry.  The walkers seemed to attract most of the attention, and they had a pretty high casualty rate by the end of the large game.

Here was the basic table set up for both games (slightly changed between games)...

Somewhere near the water processing station of Ghenna IV, Ni'Hon PLF have deployed a small force of infantry supported by light scout walkers.  Startled Free Miner militia race back to their housing units, and the battle begins...

The first shot of the game tore the legs from a Ni'Hon walker, effectively crippling it for the game...

Yes, and if that walker looks suspiciously like an oop Battletech Archer, you'd be right.  I am a cheapskate, and if I have boxes full of 6mm scale 'mechs that look great as 15mm light vehicles, no one is going to stop me from using them.

The Free Miners were pretty effective in cutting down the Ni'Hon elite infantry, and gained convincing possession of at least one objective, winning the short game.

In the meanwhile, a strong force of Pride Warriors (affectionately nicknames "war cats" by the locals) landed.  Daunted by their inhuman ferocity, the Ni'Hon PLF and Free Miners hastily formed an alliance of convenience to fight the common foe.  The following are images from the larger, 4 platoon game.  You will notice a number of different walkers, each side having its own "color".

An early shot of the game, as war cats have already screamed onto the table, apparently unfazed by the looming mechanical Ni'Hon menace to their fore...

The Free Miners surged into their living area, moving aggressively to dislodge the Pride Warrior invaders.  They even experimented with charging into hand to hand combat...

... but after losing an entire team of 6 models for eliminating only 1 Pride Warrior, the experiment was not repeated again during the game.

A giant hand looms across the land, as tiny figures scurry for cover....

A Ni'Hon walker (looking suspiciously like a Rifleman) maneuvered on the Pride Warrior infantry, inflicting some casualties.  The war cats responded by sprinting one of their Daishi-like medium walkers into the rear arc of the Ni'Hon machine... and lined up the shot....

...cat-BOOM!

Unfortunately, the war cat celebration was short lived.  Apparently, the green hued walker positioned itself with its side to an alert PLF ATGM team.  The Yabu AT-12 missile burned towards the war cat walker....

... and slammed into the side of its head, with devastating results.

While the Ni'Hon were continuing to inflict losses on the Pride Warriors on one side of the table, on the other side, the Free Miner militia was completely out classed and out numbered by their opponents ( the miners only fielded 1/3 of the total human point value, and it took some time for PLF elements to begin to engage the cats on the miner side of the battle).  Below, one of the cobbled together Free Miner scout walkers (I think they named this one "Hussar") lurks behind a solid worker dorm, in an attempt to avoid spontaneous combustion as Pride Warrior medium walkers and teams of fast moving infantry advance.

To no avail....

But at least at this point of the game, the Ni'Hon PLF were beginning to engage both war cat platoons.... notice another downed Ni'Hon walker, and the accumulated penetrating hits (green markers) assigned to both Ni'Hon and Pride walkers.

The next to last war cat walker soon fell, leaving only 1 badly damaged Ni'Hon walker facing off against 1 badly damaged Pride Warrior walker.

In the end, there was little doubt that the war cats had won the battle.  The miner force had been gutted, and though the PLF still had measurable strength on the table, the cats had firm control of one of the objectives.  Casualties were moderate in both the Ni'Hon and cat infantry.

The walkers, on the other hand, took a beating.  2 of 3 Pride medium walkers destroyed, the survivor badly damaged.  2 of 3 Ni'Hon light walkers destroyed, the survivor badly damaged. 2 of 2 miner light walkers destroyed, no survivors.

Not sure what I learned about integration of walkers and infantry, other than everyone likes to shoot at vehicles.  A lot. 

But all the players had a good time, there were plenty of tense dice rolls.  The scenario was a simple, straightforward meeting engagement... simply further playtesting. 

I did include most of my "electric box buildings" in the game, as well as another sci-fi terrain piece, I call the globe trees... here is a close up of one...

A pretty simple method that produces a completely alien looking form of vegetation.  I planned these for 28mm John Carter of Mars games, but they look great in 15mm too (though as quite large plants), and mixed pretty well with the aquarium jungle.  I should look for more of these to put together.

Thanks for reading, it is starting to appear to me that things have not gone very well for my miners.  Their best success was against the Ni'Hon... who in their turn managed better success against the Pride Warriors than the miners did.

Will this spell the end of Ghenna IV and the birth of Lidderbachs IV?  Only time will tell...

Sci Fi Buildings for Ghenna IV

Howdie.  As I continue to work on my 15mm sci fi project, I thought I would share the progress on my buildings.  The beleaguered Free Miners of Ghenna IV need some place to stay, and defend, after all.  I personally like inexpensive (CHEAP) and easy methods when working on gaming projects.  So, when it was suggested to me to try to use electric boxes as the shells of buildings, I was all over it.  Some of the following boxes cost as little as $0.37 (in my area, anyway) and none that I bought cost more than $0.99.

 Those are finished dormitories.  I added steel bases for "windows" and "doors" (having something glued makes them seem more real than my normal preferred method of just painting that kind of thing on buildings)... used a self adhesive cable bracket for a roof hatch (and they look pretty good for this purpose)... and a wire nut as either a communications or ventilation device (take your pick).

Keeping with my story line... the buildings are designated as "TC" for temporary construction.  During the initial founding of the Ghenna IV mining colony, the miners held a flimsy contract with a subisdiary of Marano Industries.  Among the many articles modified, reduced, or completely ignored by M.I. were those related to the gradual updating and replacement of the TC buildings.  As you can see, despite the robust nature of the original materials (hey, even Marano Industries can't go cheap on everything), decades of abuse by the miners and the weather of Ghenna IV have taken their toll.  Oxidized materials have left indelible stains as they slough off from vulnerable entrance ways.

 Here some miners enjoy recreational shooting with newly arrived visitors.  The TC dormitories feature ground level de-contamination chambers, storage, independent power sources (mostly offline at this point), and some repair facilities.  The second floor is given over to individual med centers (woefully undersupplied), kitchen and food storage, recreation center, sanitary facilities, and supplementary bunks.  The upper floor is entirely for bunks.  Overcrowding is a major issue on Ghenna IV, but at least with three shifts going full time, the dorms are never full at any given time.

The poor housing and maintenance may be one of the prime causes of the miners going independent in the first place (that, and the lengthy distance from the nearest United Terran military site).  But Marano Industries has never forgiven or forgotten a transgression from any mining colony...

The following is an image of some "works in progress" which will represent major buildings (I am thinking of a water capturing plant, with monitoring station and clean storage tank... and also a small factory or vehicle repair center).  I still need to complete the painting on these.

It certainly has not improved inter-species relations that the new visitors have been referring to the planet as "Lidderbachs IV", whatever that means...

Finally, here are some "off the rack" models.  For the round boxes, one is destined to become Das Wunder Bar, the tavern/rec center that usually ends up being the meeting house for most important discussions.  The other will be the "real" command center, featuring a small hospital, and communications center.  The other rectangular boxes... well, I don't know yet....

I have seen many examples online of people using these boxes to good effect.... those with the dedication to dremel the "wings (actually, brackets for nails and screws) probably end up with a better looking product.  And there are definitely a number of companies selling sci -fi terrain add ons, like doors and windows, which look much better than my simple, mostly paint-detailed, jobs.  Still, I am satisfied with how these have been turning out... and the fact that everything cost me about $20 (that's all of the components) is fantastic.

Hope you enjoyed your tour of downtown Ghenna IV, come again, and don't forget to pack your beam rifle next time!

Chalfant

Sci Fi ... 15mm!

Howdie.  Long time since my last post, been very busy.  I have been spending some time working on a science fiction project, and thought I could at least share the miniatures I am using.  It all started in a galaxy far far away....

Meet the beleaguered Free Miners of Ghenna IV....

15mm Rebel Minis

 Normally hard working, they like to spend their off hours in Das Wunder Bar, the colony watering hole.  They live in a small settlement, isolated on a habitable moon in an otherwise deserted system that just happens to lie in the Sea of Sorrow between the "Unity" expansions of the United Terrans and the less-than-friendly Ni'Hon Empire.  Times used to be good, but not so much anymore.  To augment their obsolete Marano Industires MI-12 assault rifles, they have converted sterilization units into man portable flamethrowers, and inter-ship signals into missile launchers and heavy lasers.

You see, they have had a few too many hostile house calls lately.  The UTMC or Ni'Hon Planetary Landing Forces might arrive any day, but in the meanwhile the Host of Prides have landed a "visiting" party or two already.  The cat-like warriors of the Prides, known as one of the Fighting Races, only take prisoners when they are hungry.

15mm Khurusan

Their martial technology, including battle armor and heavy beam rifles, is well advanced of the primitive weapons of the Free Miners.  Luckily the landings on Ghenna IV have been small raids rather than full scale invasion for the purpose of conquest.

Sometimes you don't have to look further than your own back yard for trouble.  And sometimes miners "delve too deep"... finding something they wish they hadn't.  No one knows where the chitinous horrors came from, only that they were completely.... alien!

15mm Khurusan

Exoskeleton armor, stronger than steel teeth and talons, they exist only to find hosts for their parasitic broods... though they have been known to munch on the odd miner now and again.

The life of a miner in the Sea of Sorrow may seem full of adventure, and the union benefits may sound like a treasure beyond your wildest dreams, but son, I'm telling you, you need to stay home on the farm!

Thanks for looking!