Men of Iron??

Somehow this long weekend I managed to spend the first 2 days either;
1 out drinking
2 sleeping (possibly as a result of 1)
3 watching the final weekend of the rugby season

Well done to Sarries who thoroughly deserved to take The Premiership title, though it pains me to say less than I might have thought.

Congrats also to the Barbarians for an immensely entertaining game against an experimental England side. I look forward to you hopefully spanking the Welsh next Saturday, who are even awarding caps for this one!

I spent the rest of my time with the girlie and had about two hours last night tidying up, pre-basing and washing down my ZV Civilians so not a lot of PPs in the offing at the mo for what was three days off work!

What little I have achieved has involved only my personal brain-power (insert joke of choice) re: Star Wars.

The lads have been literally falling down quite a bit lately and despite my previous threats to make injuries stick I've found the rulebook understandably lacking in this area. Having had some initial thoughts I turned to the power of Google and amongst the weird and weirder found a very interesting article just here.

I like this guy's train of thought which runs similar to my own and has helped me flesh out a potential extended injury system following through Stat Wars RPG's method of dealing with more temporary damage, the Condition Track.

To be clear what I'm looking for here is a real consequence to any of the players going unconscious on a regular basis. I want them to fear it and roleplay correspondingly rather than see it as a "Stat Management" issue bouncing back up and blasting away from the hip again.

My main issue with the condition track, in this particular context, is that it takes a big hit to drop one level whilst spending two swift actions moves you one step back up said track.

I'm happy for heroes to be heroic but not  indestructible super-beings.

Mr C has gone unconscious twice in the current adventure alone, within approx 36 hours, and I NEED there to be a FAIR consequence to that.

So my current ideas run thus;

1. Go unconscious X times within a single adventure and drop X steps down the condition track for X days. I see this as a proper recovery time for what is a major personal intervention.

2a. Go unconscious and make a fortitude check with a -1 for each time you have already done so within the current adventure episode / arc. Further modifiers might affect for severity of nature of incident, such as when Ian recently crashed a speeder bike at 300 kmph.

2b Fail said fortitude check and generate a more lasting injury on an as yet un-written table. Major failure increases the likelihood of a more severe injury i.e. each 5 points you fail by increases severity level by one.

I feel it fair to run both of these house rules on the basis that the players have their own funding and cash-flow and plenty of opportunity to by surgery, cybernetics and bacta-time as required.

Opinions on a fruit basket please!

Out of this World!

As part of my regular "not another work-day" routine I have a quick browse through the latest posts on Tabletop Gaming News whilst supping my second java of the day. I find regular little inspirations which occasionally morph into a cheeky little purchase to keep the day that little bit happier.

Such was the case yesterday with the only differential being the speed with which I wielded the bank card despite its protestations that its still a week til payday.

TGN drew my attention to Otherworld Miniatures (http://www.otherworld.me.uk/index.html) who specialise in "a range of 28mm fantasy gaming figures inspired by the iconic imagery of the early role-playing games". Bloody hell do they! Give 'em a browse if you're wallet dares.

The following all pretty much jumped off the screen and throttled the cash out of me being just the figures that I was looking for to terrorise St Peytersburg. Less cartoony than Malifaux but more characterful and dynamic the West Wind. Premium prices but premium figures!

Duly ordered;

A pack of three Ghouls, with crown jewels to the fore, who will act as full frontal lieutenants to lead the zombie mobs.

This pack of two Shadows beat GW's ring wraiths hands down. I'll paint one white and one black as ostensibly good (sort of) and evil spirits.

Every self respecting backwater burg needs a monthly moon-howler and this chap fits the bill. Wolves and Dire Wolves are also available but were resisted on this occasion.

And finally the gruesome two-some that made the decision to invest such an easy one. A particularly stunning pair of Wights to inspire a fearful legend or two. Hopefully I can do them justice paint-wise.

Additionally I've added a couple of pages to the blog over the last week or so and will probably spend some time slowly tweaking them to acceptability. Quite tempted to add a workbench page as well for WIP stuff but don't want to distract from the main page too much. Maybe just a few photos refreshed weekly with a few words of jabber.

Suggestions welcome if you've got em :)

Children of the Corn

Another Sunday morning quickly to show off what I got finished off yesterday afternoon whilst watching the Heineken Cup Final.

A set of Crooked Dice's Scary Scarecrows to bolster St Peytersburg's supernatural contingent.

I had the idea of having each of them themed to potential era settings so from left to right it's "Frenchie" (16th / 17th C), "Billy Yank", "Little Jimmy" in the remains of his zoot suit and "Jr G-Man" all in black.

It all ended up with plenty of wash work giving a nice grubby feel to suit their many years out and about in all conditions. Fairly easy work so 6 PPs for the set.

Don't have nightmares!

Return of the Jedi

Da da daa, daa da da, daa da da

Back to Star Wars RPG and another fine mess that the lads had got themselves into last time out. Jon who plays the Zahn, the group's force adept had missed that session and it had been a group effort to cover. Returning this week he soon had a major impact at a critical point as he is now making a habit of doing!

With Sable Dawn's dark side enhanced hit squad revealing their double-cross mind controlling two of their potential opponents including the group's leading gun-man!

After last session's troubles I was honestly sat on the train working out how things would go if / when the lads all hit the floor. If it happened I was happy enough for it to do so. But cometh the hour....

Jon / Zahn simply strode into the carnage, prompting my spidey-sense to go off big time, to use one of his force powers that none of the rest of us even new he had. This was Sever Force cutting my Sable Dawn adept from his pile of dark side points which would severely affect his ability to maintain the mind control so central to my plans!

BUGGER!!

Launching my counterattack I quickly put down about half of the group including Jon / Zahn. Reinholdt, the SD adept, concentrated solely on maintaining the mind control. I had to jam it a bit as it was keeping things so tight ruling that he wouldn't be able to do much else.

With Jon / Zahn on the floor the SD edge their way towards victory, paying for it in blood which was a price that they were happy to pay.

Critical point 2 belonged to Ian's Duros gambler. Busted and bruised from his recent bike-crash and some SD attention he watched, with 6 HPs remaining as Rob struggled to hold off the last SD marauder girly. Risky shot into combat.......... NATURAL 20. She fell!

So when el glorious leader finally returned toting the extra firepower of an appropriated speeder-bike Reinholdt copped some damage, lost the mind control and legged it.

With four on the floor it was a quick patch up job and exit stage left as the authorities returned. Bloodied, bruised but victorious though there are still a few loose ends to tie up.

As Brucey says.... good game, good game :)

The Odes of Frank "War" Arnus Prt III

Jupiter's balls!

I takes two days for the whole Ludus to travel to some dung-heap town up North, Bradford I think it was called, only to find out that none of our challengers had made it and the event had been postponed.

Something about and outbreak of pox and someone's carts being stolen. Turns out the messenger sent to us had got lost and arrived the day after we left. If I get hold of him then the boys can use him for practice!

Having turned up we at least put on a parade for the plebs and some exhibition stuff. A bit tame but the crowd weren't exactly the cultured type and were getting it all for free. I even got the drivers to don the spare sets of armour and just stride about geeing up the crowd. Worked well enough and got the local magistrate to at least cover the overnight costs.

I also wasn't going to waste all the Dinari invested in the lad's new kit and togs. That blue woad doesn't come cheap but knowing the docks as I do a suitable supply was found at a very competitive price. Almost robbery in fact, hur hur hur...

Seven more gladiators painted adding a further 14 PPs for the month. Vaguely ropey photos bar one which is strange as I took them all at the same time as near to the lounge windows for natural light. Must have been a cloud, will try again at the weekend.

Hopefully the postponement will exorcise the fresh paint daemons!

UPDATE: Much better photos as I actually paid proper attention to light sources etc. Lazyness vs effort!

Paint my B'Atch up

A few more inhabitants for St Peytersburg that might be vaguely interactive.

The Scary Statues set from Crooked Miniatures and some wolfhounds from Warlord all to terrorise visitors to differing degrees. Just a bit of drybrushing so 3 PPs for the lot.

Having caught up on the weekend's Rugby today the Gladiators just need a couple of highlights tomorrow for a fully painted Ludus. As such I expect them to be horribly butchered Tuesday night due to their freshly painted status and whiff of varnish.

Nil Secundus!

Best Intentions

Tuesday night was a fairly quiet one down at the club and to be honest I was cream crackered so we all jumped in on one game of Crooked Dice's 70s action TV inspired 7TV.

Good vs Evil vs Neutral (Commie) was the order of the night raiding the Commies wharehouse hideout and atempting to carry off as much of thier admittedly 2nd rate kit as possible.

Myself and Rob took the evil role and recieved a sound kicking engaging in racing forklifts with the Red Menace rather than concentrating on the loot.

We did thieve Little Nelly though mainly as a means of escape for Dr Nah who was quickly left to his own his tod.

The only downside was no more playtesting for Peytersburg, though I haven't got as much done as I'd hoped I might so no great loss.  I have now settled on Ganesha Games' Fear and Faith rules mashed with Songs of Drums and Shakos to give period feel and detail.

The project list stays as is but i've obviously been thinking past the figures currently clustered around my painting station. More Fear and Faith flavour is required so i've been scouting around hunchbacks, fiery preachers, merchants, nobility as well as vampires, ghouls, werewolves and various of beasties and livestock.

Some of the Malifaux Wyrd miniatures have attracted my attention but are likely to tower over everything else. Reaper and Foundry are likely to be hit up next month though. First more Gladiators next week at the club so I want to finish painting my current Ludus over the weekend.

Anyway, tea-break over. Back to work ;)

Trading Places

Sunday afternoon I finished off the sign and final details for "Peyterson's Trade and Supply" wilderness emporium and as such the current set of scenery projects  for what will become St Peytersburg. Settlement planning for the 1800s if you will. A dedicated blog page soon to be unveiled.

So by adding the store, stables, bridge, out-house (personal favourite) and a baker's dozen of graves Peyterson's Landing has winked into existence.

The Peyterson family arrived in the American colonies as Dutch emigrees before the War of Independance started. Orginally cereal farmers, keping livestock primarily for home consumption, fortune smiled on the second generation as thier land neighboured a soon established wilderness route of trade and travel.

A newly established trading post has quickly seen profit from pelt and dry goods, allowing the construction of a stables, with the farm continuing to prosper.

I'm sure they could probably still do with a barn and likely to be god fearing types a small church with which to save their immortal souls from damnation. All that will have to wait a few metaphorical years (months) until a few more settlers arrive.

Meanwhile I have French, civilians and scarecrows to paint along with some as yet unacquired Indians. More imnportantly the rules / campaign set is still in flux, though Tuesday night at the club will be a second run through. Plenty to do but more and more getting done.

Rather pleased with myself, feel a bit like a wargaming deity a la Civilisation! Bwaa haa ha ha!!!

P.S: 14 PPs by the way, 5 for the store, 4 for the stables, 3 combined for the bridge and outhouse, 2 for the graves.

Tumbling dice

Two nights gaming on the trot, result!

Wednesday night I dropped in on Rich to try out Crooked Dice's 7TV ruleset, which I had seen in action several times but had yet to play. Apeing various 70s adventure TV series Rich has set up a not really Stargate campaign that he has been running.

I really enjoyed the ruleset, which Rich has entertainingly written up on his BLOG,  consisting of a simple set of mechanics allowing an excellent set of event, prop and bonus cards to add spice. Good clean fun I'm sure all, but Mary Whitehouse, would enjoy!

Last night meanwhile was the latest installment of Star Wars RPG and one that I have been looking forward to with great glee. For as GM I have been working a number of plotlines together to converge / collide at this point.

I don't wish to say too much more as due to the chaps extended planning "debate" we had to leave off halfway through this particular scene with the sting in the tale having been primed but yet to strike!



Continuing to play almost every faction of against everyone else lead to a somewhat fluid plan of assault upon the wharehouse base of one afore-mentioned party, ostensibly to execute arrest and search warrants on behalf another afore-mentioned party!

The boys eventually effected access to the wharehouse, quickly sending in their accompanying "Red Shirt" associates who they soon subjected to a withering cross-fire, in their case from the rear, along with those in the wharehouse.

With the plan beginning to unravel at this point no-one wanted to take the lead instead engaging in the school yard antics of egging each other on whilst shuffling feet.




Sticking to MY plan I then proceeded to reveal a third party, Sable Dawn, and the first part of my double-cross. the SD boys and girl had no such reservations about getting stuck in much to the chagrin of those had eventually shuffled their feet into the new front-line.

Cue one glorious leader running off in the opposite direction to "get help" some sharp intakes of breath and the prelude to some good old fashioned recrimination!
And I haven't even delivered my final punchlines yet :)