Stand Off at the Precinct House

Sergeant Kanter paused as he stirred his coffee. He had been in mid-conversation with Officer Dien who was taking a leisurely stroll along the local area, when his subordinate gave what seemed to be a strangled cough. In the background, Kanter thought he heard a burst of automatic gunfire.

'Dien? Did you hear that?' DIEN!

The only thing audible was the hissing of the comm set, and the gentle sighing of his officer's last breath, though he didn't quite believe it at that moment. In the street, a couple of citizens peered around corners to see what was happening.

'Narlo, get up on the roof and see if you can spot Dien down by the square- he's dropped off the grid.'

Officer Narlo dragged himself off the chair, pulled an assault rifle from the rack and headed for the short ladder that led to the ceiling trapdoor. He disengaged the security clamps and pushed the trap upwards. The cool air struck him as he levered himself on to the rough surface of the flat roof, then he drifted across to the low walls of the observation platform and squinted down the street towards the statue of Colonel Cordoba, astronaut explorer and Governor of the City three decades ago, that graced the column in the centre of Distral Square. His eyes flickered in disbelief as he saw the prostrate body of Dien at the foot of the statue. Before he could register his horror, a movement beyond the square caught his eye. Several shadowy figures were emerging from the distant buildings, dressed in an assortment of untidy rags and hoods, but with glimpses of body armour peeking out from between the folds. Without bothering with his comm mike he shouted loudly through the trapdoor-

'Rebels, Sarge, they're coming down the street! Pablo's dead!'

Kanter nearly froze, then instinct kicked in and he reached for the direct comm link to the Army barracks on the edge of the precinct.

'Priority One for Captain Lerner- insurgent incident this precinct- follow this link for location, enemy strength unknown.' He signed off without waiting for a reply. He turned to look at the prisoner in the corner of the station house who was bound and blindfolded. He knew immediately why the rebels were daring to venture to this part of the city, so close to the Barracks. If this man was taken to the Government offices for interrogation, his information could harm the Rebel cause considerably.
With an economy that defined the attitude of the Army, he heard a voice issue from the comm set that merely stated-

' Response Squad en route your position.'

Meanwhile, on the roof, Narlo watched the Rebels move swiftly towards the station house.

He spotted another rebel squad to the right of the first, sidling up the right hand side of the street, as quickly as they dare- time was short to liberate their comrade and they knew it. Narlo slipped the safety catch on his weapon and sent two bursts down the length of the street, but with no success.

As the echoes of his first volleys started to die away, he could see from his vantage point the stealthy appearance of a small squad of troopers from the recon company garrison as they cautiously moved through the alleyways to his left. Dressed in urban design camouflaged uniforms, they looked hard and competent. Seemingly, without a spoken order, they fired their weapons at the first rebel squad by the walls of the square, but the concrete around the monument protected them from the flying rounds.
Undeterred, they fired again and watched with satisfaction as two of the enemy crashed to the ground with fatal injuries, and another wheeled away with blood seeping from a wound.

Narlo dragged his eyes away from the sudden action in time to see a third group of rebels running towards the vacant lot further to the east, heading for the rear of the building.

Down by the square, the Army and the first rebel squad were engaged in a fierce firefight, but neither side were able to inflict any casualties. Narlo barely had time to register this fact when several bursts of fire made him duck down behind the parapet of his rooftop position. Bobbing back up, he retaliated with a couple of bursts of his own but to no avail, as the rebels were now close to the wall of the station house. Sgt Kanter pointed his pistol through the window and loosed off a couple of rounds and the assailants swerved away unhurt. At the rear of the building, the third rebel squad had arrived inside the compound walls. The station house shook as it received concentrated fire at the doors both front and rear, but they held fast.

In desperation, aware that time was ebbing away, the rebels continued to pour fire onto the doors of the building to try and gain entrance. Down the street, the army troopers suffered an injury as a soldier had his armour opened up, but he only sustained a light wound and fired back with extra venom.
The Recon squad leader was growing tired of the fruitless exchanges of fire with an enemy safely hunkered down behind solid walls, so he issued the order to withdraw, and his men followed him down an alley away from the immediate threat, and towards the station house.

Sergeant Kanter pointed his sidearm through the window again and shot a rebel trooper dead, right in front of the station house. Looking around himself, the rebel leader spotted the army troopers emerging from the shadows of the buildings behind him, looked at his comrade face down in the road in a spreading pool of crimson, then grunted into his comm mike the order to withdraw. In seconds, the rebels melted away out of the city as the members of the Recon squad arrived at the door of the Police building.

Later that day, a TV camera crew visited the area to report on the day's action.

'Record it in the junk yard Semmi- more atmosphere.'

This was an AAR of a solo game I played today whilst listening to the torrential rain down here in Wales. I tried the USEME rules, and I'm not entirely convinced I followed them perfectly, but they worked just fine for me. This is the first time I have actually set up my 'Cityscape' terrain boards, and I was quite happy with the way they turned out. The rebel figures were, appropriately, Sahadeen from Rebel Minis, the Recon squad were from the GOTA Clan range from Khurasan, and the TV crew were from Oddzial Osmy. Buildings were mostly from Mad Mecha Guy, with two from Warbases (the ruins), and one from Critical Mass Games. Roads were also from Mad Mecha.

Today I ordered a set of the Gruntz rules and downloaded the Barracks app, and I'd like to see if the card based system I've heard about can be adapted for solo play .

Lastly, I should like to thank my blog buddy Jay for nominating me for a Liebster award. I shall find time tomorrow to nominate some blogs that I enjoy but it's getting late, and I'm whacked, and I want to post this tonight.

If you have managed to struggle through this post, thanks for persevering. It's my first attempt to report a game as a narrative, and I quite like this as a way of summing up a game. Any helpful tips more than welcome!

Thanks for looking.

Urban Development

It has been a while since my last post, but I haven't been entirely idle on the modelling front. I wanted to create some urban terrain  for regular wargaming, and I thought I might try a little zombie bashing, and 5150 New Beginnings. I have had a number of buildings from Mad Mecha Guy, pictures posted before, but I wanted to make a bit more of them. So, I attached them to some 150 X 150mm  MDF bases (from Warbases) to give a little uniformity, and the appearance of a prefabricated colony. I also wanted a scruffy and neglected look, so used a few washes, yet this isn't apparent from the pictures.

First up, a single storey commercial establishment with a suitably unspecific name. All the bases of these buildings were marked out with a fine permanent marker, then the joints dry-brushed with GW's Bestial Brown. I think I may have been a little over-enthusiastic here, as less is probably more.

Now a two storey 'shop' with posters printed out from a quick trawl on the internet, and the sign on the roof made from an offcut of MDF that came with my order from Mad Mecha Guy- Joseph doesn't waste much, and sent me a nice selection of bits and pieces with my order.

A two storey habitation block with a feeble attempt at some graffiti....

and Quite obviously a severely un-secure banking establishment. I couldn't think of anything clever for the name so stuck to the obvious. These rooftop signs aren't glued in anyway, just held with a couple of 'pins' so I can change them when and if.

Another two storey commercial property with different window configuration.

I could have done a bit more with this 'shelter' but by this time at night my enthusiasm is waning!

Police Department- very utilitarian. I used the aluminium mesh that you can buy from car part shops for mending bodywork in all the windows- maybe for a 'Precinct 39' type scenario.

And so to 'Kelly's Bar and Grill'. I thought it would probably have obscured windows, what with the pole dancing and all, so covered them over with some picture mounting card.

These two buildings are from Warbases, but I've tried to dress them up with broken 'tile' pieces which I bought some time ago and never used, plastic girder, plastic tube for pipework etc. It wasn't until I'd put them on a base that I made more of an effort with them.

I just took one of the bases and threw a few things on to make a scruffy vacant lot. Exotic future crate from Atenociti, skip from The Scene, but I can't remember the origin of the vehicle.

This is just another improvised base, with a plastic container for the column, a mini from CP Models, I think, an MDF 15mm base for the plaque and some walls I picked up at a wargame show. Very simple stuff I know, but good cover nevertheless.

This is my first attempt at zombies. these are from Rebel Minis, but I also have some on order from Khurasan. I'm fairly happy with the result. I painted the flesh a sort of mid grey and highlighted it, then picked out top detail with Vallejo Game Colour Dead Flesh. I've seen much better on your blogs out there, but this will do.

Finally, I have seen pictures posted of various bloggers work spaces, so I took a quick picture of my own chaos.....we're all the same!!

Thanks for stopping by.

First Contact

Sgt. Alden peered around the outcrop of rock on which he was leaning at the low building in front of him. His mind went back to the recording he had heard in the Comms centre an hour before-

'There seems to be a disturbance outside, I....I think I hear gunshots....clear the room everybody......(interference).....where's the.......Oh God, what IS that?.................(muffled shout from another scientist)......Dr. Olsen, are you alright? For God's sake, can't you............(silence).

Alden could just make out the body of a security guard on the floor to the right of the research facility building, the three Hab units standing behind. This was a remote scientific research station, very small, but regularly served with supplies from a light shuttle that called twice a month. The work was relatively unimportant, but all attempts were being made to gain greater knowledge of this Northern Hemisphere of the planet, discovered a mere 68 years before. The South was settled in many places, with some large towns and even cities. Large mining corporations, eager to exploit the vast riches that no doubt lay beneath the surface of this enormous planet, had set up mining camps, then huge facilities and refineries, taking advantage of lucrative licences issued by a government in a hurry to establish a stable world, and who needed resources to be supplied as quickly as possible to achieve their aims. The military, of course, were seconded all over the planet to address the paranoia felt in higher echelons that other greedy civilisations were eyeing this, their greatest prize.

Alden muttered into his comms mike; 'Jena, are you in position?'

Corporal Jena's voice came clearly through his earpiece, 'Copy that'.

'Moving now, three possible contacts detected in the area, all to our front at the moment, hold where you are'

'Copy'.

The Sergeant looked back at his fire team and signalled that they were moving out towards the research building. As they carefully stalked up  to the west side of the building, Alden kept an eye on the screen of his wrist data unit. The three red blips were moving slowly towards them, converging on the clutch of buildings.

A bead of perspiration trickled down his temple- was the data feed correct? This planet still had some magnetic variations that the comms boys hadn't yet worked out. Was there someone or something waiting for them beyond the building? He whispered into his mike again: 'Jena, move into those woods to the north of the facility, and see if you can get eyes on anything that might be giving me these readings.'

'Moving now Sarge' came Jena's reassuring voice.

Another blip moved on the wrist display, and Alden realised that he had to make a move or they could be overwhelmed if these possible enemy forces moved around them. Making the decision, he motioned the fire team forward across the front of the building and swung around the corner to find the cause of the radar blips. Five figures wearing curious red-sheened body armour were crouching in the lee of the building, their unfamiliar weapons to hand. They wore no helmets, and their skin was a startling blue colour, surmounted with hair of an even lighter blue. All this information entered  Alden's brain a split second before he gave the order to open fire. His well-drilled team instantly poured fire on to the alien figures, and watched three figures go down instantly.

Recovering from their surprise, the red-clad monsters returned fire, their laser rifles scything at the troopers and dropping one. Behind them, Alden could see another squad of 'Reds' turning in their direction, weapons coming up to train on them. Before he could call a warning, this second squad opened fire at them, carelessly aiming through the remainder of their comrades, as if these lives were immaterial. Sergeant Alden felt the searing burn as a Red with a heavy laser targeted him and sliced through his armour as if it was just so much paper. As he fell forward he saw the other members of his fire team had fallen, smoke whisping from armour that had been cut open with ease. In his earpiece he could hear excited shouting, but could not make it out, and gently slipped away.

To the north of the facility, Corporal Jena had been listening to the firefight through his own earpiece, and when the cries of pain and fear crackled through it, he frantically called out to Alden and other members of the fire team, but received no reply. He led his own team across a clearing and took cover just inside the tree line to see if he could spot the enemy that had accounted for the lives of his comrades. He just had time to make out the positions of these unearthly creatures before he directed fire from comrades. He saw one alien figure stagger back and fall under the weight of fire, but the enemy seemed to have no fear of being caught in the open, and stood their ground, returning fire with grim ferocity, slicing the trees and undergrowth with searing beams of light. From the corner of his eye, Jena spotted the survivors of the first firefight skirting around the front of the building, re-appearing on the other side, to add their firepower to the assault.

 He watched as one alien hefted the heavy laser on to his shoulder and swung round to his bearing. He was no coward, but someone had to return and give a report to Headquarters. With a brief glance, he looked towards his fallen brothers, then took the remainder of his team and melted into the woods.


So, this is a 'dramatised' account of a solo game I had today- very simple and quick, using some expanded FUBAR rules kindly supplied to me by Vulture, and bolting on the solo/campaign rules from SA5150 with my own variations. The indigenous troops were all 'Regular', and the Aliens were Veteran, my thinking being that any expeditionary or scout force would be made up of good quality troops. Miniatures were from Rebel, Armies Army, and the casualty figure was from GZG. The Research building was from Critical Mass Games, the Hab domes from The Ion Age, and the grav sled from Old Crow. The game was played over my own hand made hex terrain from Warbases.

It was a quick and simple game, mostly to test out the amalgamation of these rule sets, but it was a bit of fun. I have a hankering to expand the background of my imaginary universe, with the threat from the ruthless 'Red Menace', and incorporate the story into similar AARs, but with more thought and detail- does anybody have any ideas or (polite) suggestions as to whether I should pursue this?
Obviously I am no Sci Fi author, but I feel I would like to build the story and introduce actual characters (well, apart from poor old Sergeant Alden- his race is run!).

Anyway, if you have struggled down this far, thanks very much for persevering, and if you have commented, thanks for that too!

Oh, and Happy New Year for next week!

A Few More Armies Army..........

I have to confess to having taken the day off work today as it is my birthday (don't ask, it's too embarrassing) so I have taken a few self-indulgent hours to paint my other new Armies Army figures, the PLA/Sino forces.

Since I started this blog, I have agonised over the standard of my figure painting, as a lot of posts I see display a level of competence that I cannot possibly emulate. However, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that if I want to move some of the enormous backlog of minis I would like to paint, then I will have to compromise a bit, so these figures, and the Unknown Enemy figures from my previous post have had a fairly simple treatment, using washes and dry brushing. For the wargames table, I guess they are good enough!


So, here are the minis I have painted today, the PLA/Sino Forces from Armies Army:

Brush-on grey undercoat from Vallejo, base colour of GW Dheneb Stone, wash of Army Painter Strong Tone, then dry brush of base colour again- that's just about it, apart from boots and weapon details.

I also finished the rest of the Enemy Unknown, so here is a collective picture of these minis too:

I have made a start on the 'Hab' units I bought from The Ion Age recently. As usual, I have sort of pinched their colour scheme to a certain point, but it looked so effective! I like a well-weathered look, so plenty of staining and washes. They fit beautifully on the Warbases hexes I use for my terrain as well, so that's a bonus!

All the above items need varnishing and static grass adding in order to hide the lack of attention to detail in the basing, but as I'm away for a few days from tomorrow, I wanted to make a quick post before I go.

Having seen Eli's preview of some of the new releases fron Jon at GZG, I committed a few measly quid on 4 packs of the new sculpts. They are really good, and Jon was kind enough to send me a few samples of upcoming ranges too- they are all great sculpts- and so my determination to cut back on hobby spending will be sorely tested. However, thanks Jon, I'm really looking forward to painting these guys too!

Thanks for looking in as always, and helpful comments are welcome!

Latest offerings from Armies Army...and a bit more!

It's been a little while since my last post, for one reason or another, but I'm quite a bit lazier than most of you out there. Before I continue, I would just like to congratulate Keith of Armies Army for more than achieving his goal with the Kickstarter- I'm so pleased personally, because it will give me, and you, another range to explore. Well done all those that supported him.

So, my latest offerings are from the aforementioned stable, and are the last few in what I thought was the latest release, but now I have Militia and Spetsnaz to catch up with!

Here's a group shot of the last few RUSK HQ troops that I have finally finished. I managed a head swap for the commander, and used one from the GZG sprues.

I tried really hard to get the end of his cigar to glow, but I'm pretty sure the camera hasn't picked it up! A simple head swap, and a little coil of green stuff for the neck scarf.

Here are the others- I think the painting is a bit tidier than the last batch I posted. I was a little impatient to finish them and make a new post, which doesn't make for a good job usually.

I'm afraid I couldn't come up with anything too inspiring for the Mule colour scheme, so just did a basic green, and then used some of the fantastic product from Modelmates that I saw on a couple of blogs called, not surprisingly, Rust Effect. I haven't really used it properly, but it really is a top effect. There are a couple of good videos on the Modelmates website to show this stuff to its real potential. Well worth a look if you haven't done so already.

This guy is from CP Models. Because of scale creep, he is a fair bit bigger than 15mm, but as he is now the top man in my Rebel force, I can tolerate the size- a big man for a big job!

When I saw this walker on The Scene's website, I thought it would fit well with my lo-tech rebel force, so I  distressed it a bit with the Rust Effect, and then added some dried mud from MIG Pigments. Not particularly well executed, but I'm still finding my way with both these effects. Also, this is the first time I used my airbrush. I didn't get too ambitious, and just went for a two-tone camo, but there isn't sufficient contrast to show on the pictures. However, I was pleased with my first experiments, and it has given me some confidence to try for a better effect next time round.

Just the other side, featuring a nice rusty oil drum, again from The Scene. Incidentally, when I got the walker, amongst the order I bought some of the 15mm skips for scatter terrain- they are fantastic!

Some time ago, I painted these two APCs from Peter Pig in an awful desert colour scheme, having first undercoated them black! I don't know what possessed me, because they looked awful and went in a drawer to be forgotten about. However, since I set up my airbrush and spray booth, I stripped the paint off and started again. They have the same two-tone camo scheme as the walker, again not too easy to see here, but as part of the Rebel force they needed to be made a lot tattier and 'reclaimed', so I went with the rust and mud as mentioned above. I'm starting to get the hang of it, although still plenty of room for improvement!

Here's the other one, similarly treated. I rather like these APCs and have a hankering to order a couple of Vulcans from the AK47 Range from PP.

I've just realised that I have more figures painted that have yet to be photographed- Khurasan's Seal/ DEVGRU team, and their Exterminator squad in extreme environment suits, the latter with a stolen colour scheme- yep, I'm up to my old tricks again.

Yesterday I took delivery of Armies Army's Militia and Spetsnaz minis, and based them last night, so I'm off to prime them now, with a view to painting some up as soon as possible. A slightly different colour scheme for both, I think, but with something in common to tie the whole force together.

That's it then, thanks for taking the time to look in. Any hints/tips/advice always gratefully received!

More Armies Army Weapons Teams and Kickstarter plug.

At the weekend I managed to paint up some more heavy weapons teams from Armies Army- The Rusks. They were a little rushed, so the painting is probably a bit untidy, but I do enjoy these mini dioramas!

First of all, a manned gun crew, with a weapon pinched from a GZG set because that's what I wanted in my set-up.

Reverse view

These are all mounted on their own 30mm bases, but for a little bit of interest I've posed them in one of my terrain hexes (also knocked up this weekend).

Rocket launcher/heavy laser doohicky....

Obverse view.....

Plasma Gun or similar (help me out Keith!), with loader and spare power pack.

And here's the other side.

All bases are from Warbases, in fact I also took delivery of some of their destroyed buildings last week, also made of MDF, and I'm really pleased with them. Pics when painted.

I also would like to mention the Armies Army Kickstarter that has commenced recently. Keith has some great ideas in the pipeline, and a good level of support already, so I wish to put in a plea on his behalf for a little helping hand, and we'll all benefit from another range of figures to add to the lead pile, or better still, sneak to the front of the queue! Details on the Armies Army blog.

Thanks for  looking in!

New Toys from Armies Army!!

I was fortunate this week to receive some of the new releases from Armies Army, both from Mr Armies Army, and also his distributor Black Hat Miniatures. I thought I would get a few painted and posted asap, so here they are. They are from the support weapons pack and the command pack- a few samples of each.

This guy has what I imagine to be a scanner of some description in his hand.

Ah yes, my favourite- big hairy gun of much destruction!

Is that a grav tank yonder, or do my eyes deceive me, well, if the lazy **** had painted in some eyes...

Yep, another big-ass gun, can't get enough of 'em. Er, I'm starting to wonder if this is saying too much about me and my inadequacies?!

And last, but certainly not least, a sniper/spotter team.

I have a good number of these miniatures to paint, and quite often I find painting the same colour scheme for a lot of minis tends to get a bit stale, but I have to say that it isn't the case with these figures for some reason. Mind you, ask me again when I've done another 30 or so!

So, thanks Keith, these were fun to paint, and I hope that I have not ruined your rep with this painted post!

Thanks for looking in folks, and please feel free to criticise (but remember I do have feelings!).