Historicon 2016

Ok, not Oldhammer or Rogue Trader, but I will be running a game set around a sally during the Siege of Derry in 1689 known as the Battle of Pennyburn Mill. The rules will be Beneath the Lily Banners and for those who don't know, I am half of the creative team for that ruleset (along with Republic to Empire and Donnybrook). My partner in these endeavors, Barry Hilton (if you ever read Wargames Illustrated you know who he is) is making the journey from Scotland to join me. A good thing too as I am TERRIBLE at remembering rules! I'm liable to just tell you to throw some dice, pretend to figure in modifiers, and judge the results by the number of 1's and 6's I see (just kidding... well, mostly).

The shot above shows about half of the 4x8' table I built specifically for the event. The trees in the upper right corner don't go there. There is a low wall and a camp near that spot, but I was too lazy to dig those bits out and the trees looked good for the photo. If this is the first you are hearing of this, there are months of posts, WiP shots of the table, features on the unit and more at the League of Augsburg blog (of which I am also partially in charge of). There's a 'Historicon 2016' tag is you scroll down to labels - currently at 22 posts and maybe a few more over the next couple of weeks...

The game is small for BLB with 87 models for the attackers (plus a small ship with two guns on the side of the board you can't see here) and 113 models for the defenders (coming on in waves - they are terribly outnumbered initially). Most of the models are painted my me, though we have some detachments of single models that Barry commissioned as neither of us had the time to paint the additional models needed. I'm in the process of basing them all know so they will fit in well with the rest of the collection. I kept the scenario small to allow for a conclusion to be reached during the four hour session which will also include time for teaching the basics of the rules). The game is designed for three players per side, but if all of the games are full and extra people show up and want to get in on the action, we'll figure out what to do with them!

I know from Facebook and several other forums and blogs that several Oldhammerers (?) and Rogue Traders will be there and trying to get in some games. I regret that I don't think I'll be up for more games after eight hours plus set up and take down every day (don't think it will be safe to leave everything in the venue for long), but I'll try to stop by a game or two and bring some models to show off. I guess we'll figure out how to meet up somehow - maybe on the Oldhammer in the New World Facebook page? Certainly I hope everyone gets the change to come by the League of Augsburg/Quindia Studios game. I'll be the guy with the ponytail. If you introduce yourself and I look at you funny, try your blogger name - then I'll know who you are!

I am seriously looking forward to this! I'll be back to some proper wargame projects after Historicon...

Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team

More models for Last Stand at Brandons Star IV!

My initial intention was to use Citadel's old Judge Dredd line for my Adeptus Arbites. However, when I dug them out of the cave they have languished in for decades, I discovered they were waaaay to small to go with the rest of the models. They are nearer true 25mm and while I'm not completely hung up on small differences in scale, these models were a head shorter than most of the others - not something to inspire fear among the citizenry!

Undeterred, I dug through my collection and found these Citadel Paranoia Security Guards and decided they would do nicely. I wish they made more of these. I may get a second set and try a little more drastic conversion work to build them from a 'team' to a 'squad'. I might also look at Warlord's Judge Dredd line - the sculpting seems to have a certain Rogue Trader charm, but again I'd have to see about how they fit in scalewise (anyone have some of these?). I managed a few quick weapon swaps with Bolt Pistols and a Plasma Gun to seat them more firmly in the Rogue Trader universe.

I chose to paint them in a scheme inspired by Judge Dredd rather than the more modern black and white. To tone down the garish combination a bit, I chose a green that had more of a blue tone and substituted a more earthy terracotta for the red. I am well pleased with the results and they should look great on the table! Their armour should give them a little more staying power than the average rebel model...

The Imperial force is taking shape. The models I've collected so far...

1 Astropath

1 Adeptus Arbites Suppression Team (3 models)

1 Adeptus Mechanicus
1 Tech Priest
2 Servitors
1 Skitarri Security Squad (5 models)
1 Robot

The Imperials will also have several scribes and administrators that will probably be of little use in combat, but may serve as shields for the Astropath! I intend to work out a rough point total and then work out the rebels. They outnumber the Imperials three to one, but are mostly standard humans. If I need to add models to the Imperials, I can always pull Marko Steelknife and his crew out for reinforcements!

Astropath Malconius Bell

I finally got around to painting a few models for my next Rogue Trader Scenario, Last Stand at Brandon's Star IV.

First up is the Astropath around whom the game centers, Malconius Bell...

I think I spent all of an hour painting this guy, I used Wargames Foundry Boneyard for his skin with a wash of GW Carroburg Crimson under the eyes to give him an unhealthy pallor. Originally I painted the eyes as normal, but he looked much more haunted and haunting with black pools of the warp staring out from his face so I went back and painted out the whites. The sculpted eye sockets are so deep it was hard to get them to look right anyway so I think was better.

I chose to make him a minor hero so he wasn't too much of a badass. I mainly need him sending the alarm through the warp, but his psychic abilities may be necessary for defense as well.

More Imperials soon!

Frostgrave

Like many among the Oldhammer community, I've taken a liking to Frostgrave which has a very retro D&D feel to me. I posted these oldschool style roster sheets a while back on my Quindia Studios blog, but thought I might post them here for those who may not frequent my other site...

They are designed to be printed double sided and folded in half. There is also a version in French...

My current warband led by his most awful majesty Madcap Toddlekin and is made from a mix of Reaper, Wargames Foundry, and Frostgrave models. I started with an apprentice named Kip, a barbarian called Urich, a thief named Raker, two crossbowmen, and four thugs. My first game saw Madcap rise to second level, earned the moniker 'Nine-Toes' for Kip, saw one of my crossbowmen taken out of action for the next game, and buried one of my thugs. I earned enough coin to replace the goon with a dead hard Captain named Bornad the Archer. So far I've only played one game as part of a campaign, but it was a lot of fun and we have the next round planned soon. I am also collecting a proper Oldhammer warband from vintage Citadel models as well. More on that in the future...

Reading Rogue Trader, Part Thirteen

Seems to be difficult to keep these regular, but I'm on a bit of a RT kick so hopefully I can manage to be more consistent.

Following the intro to equipment from Part Twelve, let's start looking at weapons! Again, I'm not covering every blade and barrel, but there are some things I want to highlight. There is a surprising bit of fluff tucked away at the beginning of this chapter that wonderfully illustrates the character of the Rogue Trader setting.

We've already mentioned in the introduction that ranges and effects have been deliberately kept low to make the game playable. Some people find this very hard to accept. Try to remember that the universe of the future is very different than that of today, brute force and fear are the most potent of all weapons. The hand to hand fighting reputation of a unit may be in itself sufficient to put down a rebellion! Technology and sophisticated weapon systems have no place in this universe. Equipment must work and, where possible, be easy to manufacture on worlds where the only building materials are wood, stone, and metal ores. Try to remember too that a weapon's combat effectiveness is measured in terms of durability and ease of production as much as its theoretical performance - hence the relatively low powered laser is the most common weapon.

There are optional rules included to extend ranges up to ten times for those who desire more 'realistic' weapon ranges. Firing at these ranges first requires the roll of a '6', followed by a normal roll to hit and weapons strengths are reduced by one. Again, probably a bit of complexity not needed in a wargame...

Many of the weapons presented have similar stats to the ones that followed in later editions. For example, the Bolt Gun has a short range of up to 12", long range of up to 24", and a Strength of 4. In addition, it has a +1 to hit at short range. Many ranged weapons have modifiers to define their accuracy at short and long ranges. Weapons also have an armour save modifier that was independent of the weapon's strength, similar to AP of the modern version of the game. They are divided into mostly familiar categories - Basic Weapons, Close Combat Weapons, Heavy Weapons, etc. - though there is one category of Very Heavy Weapons that probably equates to the D-Weapons or Apocalypse level armament of the modern game.

Something else that hearkens back to RPGs of the day and completely absent from most modern wargames are random generation weapon tables. While it is more likely that any random weapons I include in a game will have to do with the models I have on hand (if I don't have a model with a plasma cannon, there won't be on the table), I find these tables interesting because they are weighted to the availability of the weapons. For example, looking at Basic Weapons, Auto-guns make up 25% of available rifle-style weapons, making them much more common than they would be in later editions. Lasguns come in at 18% with Bolt Guns, Plasma Guns, and Shuriken Catapults (they were not just for shiny Eldar in Rogue Trader) both at 10 %. The rest of the Basic Weapons are rated 5% each. The chart also includes bows, crossbows, and muskets, but rather than assign percentages, they have marked them with my favorite "GM Decides" tag.

More on weapons in a few days...

Bugman's Rangers - Command Group

And here we are all ranked up!

So far, I like how they look as a group. I can't wait to add a few troopers to make this into a proper unit!

Hopefully more next week...

Bugman's Rangers - Musician

Here's the final model for the command group. As he is a musician, he's a bit more flamboyant than the rest with his blue tunic (Bugman worries about 'Owd' Tom's swashbuckling stories corrupting the young dwarf), but still ready with his axe when it's time to get stuck in!

I'll have a shot of the whole crew tomorrow...