End of March

 Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate.

It's a pretty quiet weekend here. I have actually gotten up to some painting, finally, after returning from the con, getting asbestos flooring removed (stayed in a hotel for a week while that was done) and just stuff.

No nice pictures because the lightbox is hidden away somewhere since our house is still in some amount of disarray.

Some 28mm Halfling Braves. My best attempt at a tartan pattern. Cross your eyes slightly and stand back a bit, it'll look fine I tell ya!

I added a third ox cart to the collection. It's the one in the center with the mismatched flock.

A couple of Bad Squiddo Mummies.

And some retro spaceships for a game I'm developing. Very excited about this. Watch this space!

Last weekend the Space Cadets got together for some more Battletech. It was again some Solaris VII gladiatorial fighting with three different environments, teleporters connecting them and some nasty NPC enemies.

My two cardboard beauties, a pair of vanilla Locusts gave Mike fits and tore his Rifleman a new one.

Action shifted to the wooded zone. We eventually bagged the Hunchback that was terrorizing the lot of us. I sacrificed one of my mechs simply to end the game! 

AAR - Stargrave Saturday (Game 1)

 We started our Stargrave campaign Saturday afternoon with an outdoor get-together on my patio. The weather was cool but otherwise quite pleasant. Wayne, Ziggy and Mike were able to join, Mark and David having other commitments. Because it was essentially everyone's first game of SG, we played "no specific scenario" so we could learn rules and figure out what we're doing.

The table. It's 48 inch square area. There's a raised area 18 inches deep into the table. Loot counters are scattered hither and yon.

My crew and starting corner. That's Bruce Dickinson and the Local 151. Captain Bruce is a Tekker and his 2IC is a Rogue. Turns out The Tekker / Rogue combination was terribly popular; Ziggy's and Wayne's crews were both Rogue/Tekker. Mike's is a Veteran/Tekker. Everyone loves movement Powers and Drones!

Today's motley crew.

My Runner, Scoop, was able to get to a Physical Loot counter (the bolt & nut) and begins extraction. Katie Kaboom makes her way towards a Data Loot that's not in frame. She's a Codebreaker, ideal for going after Data Loot.

She makes it to the Data Loot but of course flubs the unlock roll! Mike's crew of militant goons is bearing down on me. 

Up top, Ziggy's got a guy making it towards a Data Loot. I guess I won't be getting that one.

Wayne's crew pushes across. His captain in front of the pond is working on a Data Loot while his Drone drops a claw down to grab a Physical Loot near the yellow drums in the center. The 2IC is trying to figure out how they're going to get the PL from atop that blue box.

Katie Kaboom is feeling rather lonely over there! She'd be knocked out a moment later.

Meanwhile, it's a robot shoot-out in gumball alley. Mine get's the better of the Sniperbot, hitting it twice, then scuttling away. These two droids now officially have history.

My 2IC and his cohort continue to maneuver around up top while Mike's crew nab the DL below. You can see (only just) that I've sent my Captain down to deal with the problem. Bruce is the one with the green batman-wings. He's accompanied by recruit Jesus Rodriguez (the octopoid alien)

Ziggy's captain heaves a grenade at my 2IC group, wounding Roy and the Medic, Beverly. Casecracker Sweet Mama String Bean was OK. You can see below that Jesus had taken a beating, poor fella.

Beverly Kills uses her action to un-stun Roy who darts over to Zig's Captain and opens up a can of whoop-ass.

Mike pointing out where he's aiming a grenade. Bruce had given chase to pretty much all of Mike's crew and he was doing everything he could to slow me down.

It's nearly over... We agree that the game will and after turn 7. 

At the end of the day, we all had a great time. My casualties included Recruit Jesus and Codebreaker Katie, both of whom made full recoveries. Roy Christmas, my 2IC was taken out in the last turn, Robocop-style by Wayne's crew. He was badly injured but he'll be back. I only secured a single Physical Loot which turned out to be a Hardsuit worth 200Cr. I'll probably hawk it since I have no treasury. I did have a successful run though, with SIX knock-outs and four successful Power activations. That's good for 200XP, enough for two level increases. I'll figure those out later.

We're all looking forward to the next for sure! If I don't post again before next weekend, Merry Christmas everyone!

Supercharger - Star Fleet Battles AAR

 Howdy all. The Space Cadets gathered for another episode of Star Fleet Battles Saturday, July 9th. This time around we played in a Starbucks coffee shop. David had a scenario idea and as I was putting the actual scenario together, he provided details and specific answers. It was a good game-building process for sure. I set the game up for five players; this time we added Wayne and Mark as additional players.

The basis for the campaign is a Klingon incursion into the region of the WYN Cluster closest to their border. The incursion is viewed unfavorably by the Klingon's enemies, particularly the Federation and Kzinti. So, while the Klingons will fighting against WYN forces, Feds and Kzinti will keep a steady flow of materiel streaming into WYN hands. We will be ignoring the WYN radiation zone "P" rules as we play. They're unnecessary for the scope of our campaign which if you didn't figure it out, if based somewhat on current events in Ukraine.

SUPERCHARGER

The Kilingon incursion into the WYN zone is proceeding well. Today’s mission is reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. The PF Tender Arceus and her escort Cudgel are to proceed to the WYN power station near planet Buckstar in invasion sector 10. The task is to remain close to the power station for a period of time to gather and transmit details back to the high command. It should be assumed that the WYN locals won’t be too crazy about this presence. Expect some resistance.

Map is fixed.  Power station in 0815  Radius 1 planet, no atmosphere, in 2015

Klingons

R3.7 E4 Escort (B, 175, Fast Drones)  Cudgel

R3.157 Light PF Tender  Arceus

3 x R3.PF1 Fast Patrol Ships (Fast Drones, Shield Upgrade)

 WYN

R12.5 KG2 Police Ship (Fast Drones)  Harp

3 x R12.PF  Fast Patrol Ships (Fast Drones)

6 x F-18 Fighters 2 Type-I Fast, 2 Type-VI Fast

 

 Mark drove the Klingon E4, Wayne, the PFT, and I commanded the Klingon PF group. Mike ran the WYN fighters and G2 while David controlled the WYN PFs.

Mike and David

Wayne and Mark

 

Looking at the map in the previous pictures, the Klingons entered the map at the far back left corner. The plan was for the E4 and PFT to haul ass to the power station in an attempt to start the timer on the information gathering requirement ASAP. My PFs would hold back a little and act as a screen, distraction and spoiler.

The WYN enter from the flank halfway through the first turn. Wayne and Mark continue their charge towards the objective while doing everything they can to deal with the drone swarm unleashed by the fighters. A second drone swarm appears from the flankers!

The E4 and PF Tender run like scalded dogs from the WYN drones, towards the power station. WYN fighters will be waiting for them. The two groups of PFs prepare to rip each other to shreds. I was fortunate to get an early heavy hit on one of David's that was not returned since he was occupied firing at Mark's vessel. This put my squadron at a slight weapons advantage for the forthcoming smackdown.

We each lost one PF entirely. I was left with one completely healthy and one at half-strength. David was left with two crippled badly and a total of one weapon system between the two PFs.

To start turn three, Mark and Wayne had posted up nicely by the WYN target base. Mike's G2 was cutting in behind them, fighters approaching them from their front. I was reasonably sure that Mike didn't realize that my squadron was still pretty dangerous so of course I charged him hard and fired the kitchen sink at him. That sure got his attention!

For the rest of turn three, Wayne and Mark defended handily against the swarms of drones while Mike and I flew around each other while our weapons cycled.

But then, Mike being the boarding-combat fan that he is, couldn't resist the urge to send a boarding party onto my better-condition PF. The PF was captured! Woe is me. Mike was ecstatic. Me, less so. No worries. As long as Mike is living out a grudge match against my PFs, the E4 and PFT are hanging out winning the scendario. My job of being a distraction and spoiler was working quite well.

When turn 4 began, a lot of drones hit the table once again. Wayne and Mark again were brilliant with their drone defense and held fast. Mike's continued to hate on my surviving PF. Even this late in the game, the distraction was in play!

On impulse 4, we called the game. The Klingons had completed their objective of keeping an uncrippled ship within 4 hexes of the power station for 64 consecutive impulses. Wayne's PFT was still at 100%. and Mark's escort was slightly better than crippled. 

Everyone enjoyed the scenario and the game itself was a lot of fun. The quantity of drones slowed things a lot so we'll reduce those going forward. SFB never fails to amuse and this outing was quite spectacular. Next mission... capturing the power station. 

Thank for checking out the blog; be well and good gaming!

Firestorm Armada Ships

 If anyone's interested, I've got 40 Firestorm Armada ships in need of a new home.

There's the lot

And some close ups.

Auction on ebay or email me at stardustgame at outlook.com if you're interested.

Saturday Night Stardust

  Zig and I dusted off Stardust, my first set of complete tabletop wargame rules which I put wrote about seven years ago. It's a starship a battle game set in a generic, non-specific universe that allows players to use whatever starship models they have in their collections. Stardust has always delivered an entertaining game and it was nice to see it back on the dining room table.

I commanded the Elip fleet - the tan and teal, while Ziggy pushed the Khans in red.

My starting units were much stronger than Ziggy's but he had reinforcements on the way. I needed to do some real damage quick before I'd be at a disadvantage.

Some opening moves and some idea of which ships are which.

Things start heating up. Khan frigates start disappearing at an alarming rate. Rather than sending both heavy cruisers into the middle and risk them both getting chewed up, I send one back around the asteroids to be intact for the reinforcements.

And there they are, at the earliest opportunity. I send one heavy and one light cruiser to deal with the new threat as the other pair and the interceptors hang back to mop up the carrier group. I was starting to lose interceptors, in part due to "ACD" or "Asteroid Collision Death."

 

And there they are. two destroyers, two frigates and a heavy cruiser.

The Khan fleet moves to consolidate whilst I look for early opportunities to do some damage to the new arrivals.

Allowing the reds to consolidate wouldn't be prudent, so I figured it would be wise to focus on removing the carrier which I had a real beef with at this stage of the game. I hammered it hard and a lucky hit from a torpedo sent it to the space graveyard. You can't tell it, but I also lost one of my light cruisers at the same time. :(  

Setting up for the final exchanges.

My cruisers brace! It's going to be nasty.

Loads of damage is dealt. I lost a heavy cruiser to just one destroyer killed. The carrier's escort began fleeing, having had enough of battle for a day.

The intervening 10 minutes since the previous photograph was rather eventful as I lost another heavy cruiser, the Khan heavy cruiser was sent packing as were the red frigates. The escort regained its composure and rejoined the fight. 

The remnants of the fleets savage one another.

And all that's left is a couple Elip interceptors and the fighters from the carrier. An utter bloodbath with no real winner except for Death himself!

Well that was a blast! I wasn't sure about game and strength balance when I put the scenario together, I was just hoping for something "sort of close." That was VERY CLOSE! Of course, ZIggy's miserable dice rolls helped balance things a bit - there was one point where he rolled 12 eight-siders needing 6+ to hit and landed exactly { 0 }. The only regular success he had was shooting down my torpedoes. All in all though, it was a well-fought affair and we both had a really fun time.