Steampulp? Sure, I Suppose

 I finished up the Malifaux models I included in the previous post. They painted up more quickly than I was expecting. I didn't go gangbusters with the highlighting and all that. Just colors and inks. Rough and ready, looking for some table time.

And a reverse of the lot

I can't explain the blue base edges; it just sort of happened. 

I did test out a new set of skirmish rules I've been working on Saturday evening with my wife. The intention of the rules is "group friendly" and "very little explanation needed." The test went well. We used my 15mm toys - it was an X-Files episode again.

Gaming and Painting and Coughing

 I've been under the weather the last few days. I've been hard at work watching Mythbusters and assembling miniatures while coughing, snotting and aching. Feeling much better today, though the congestion will be with me a while I suspect.

Zig and I pulled out X-Wing on Saturday. It had been a while for both of us. We used the updated "2.5" rules by Atomic Mass Games. Some minor changes but nothing game-changing.

I put my Galactic Republic Jedi + Clones out there, including young Anakin, Obi Wan and Yoda. How's that for a triple-crown?  Ziggy's Separatists had difficulty finding the fire button and it ended up as a pretty one-sided affair. Either way, it was nice to play the game again.

I finished up some oddball miniatures I had on the table. Some cultists, a vampire, a sweet truck, a creepy guy in a big hat and a piece of steampunk machinery. 

Fun stuff to paint for sure. The machinery objective is from the out of production Spartan Games Dystopian Legions game. It's been on my paint table's "back lot" since March 2016. Holy shit, that's longer than my father's been deceased!

And here's a quick pic of the eleven Malifaux miniatures I assembled over the last two days.

Fairly vanilla "guys and girls with guns" in very dynamic Malifaux poses that I hope to put to use in a pulp game that's been bouncing around inside my noggin for a few weeks. Wyrd makes some fabulous models. Holy crap they're good. 

Small Paint

 I put together some Battletech bases a week or so out of spare hex bases I had, combined with 6mm WW2 and cold-war leftovers. It was a fun little project which netted five AFVs and six infantry stands for my Marik forces.

Soviet infantry and heavy weapons getting time-machined forward quite a ways.

And just the vehicles:

The APCs are Leopard 1 / Roland carriers without their turrets / launchers. The smaller tanks will be SRM tanks and are M3 Stuarts with the Roland turrets! 

A Bit of Gaming

 The crew got together for a Saturday of gaming yesterday. It started as just a Check Your 6 Jet Age game but Mike and I threw a Battletech Alpha Strike game in giving us a full day with two games.

Wayne set up the first game, an air battle set over Kashmir 1971. The Indians (Wayne, Mike and David) flew Mystere IVs and MiG-21s while the Pakis (me and Ziggy) had Sabres and Starfighters. There was also a bit of AA on the table that was ultimately nothing more than a distraction. 

My F-86es (nearest in the frame) hooked in to go dance with whatever they'd find in the center of the table. The Indian Mystere IVs were being played by Hawker Hunter models. 

And boy, howdy, they found it! Some real fortune maneuvering resulted in my Sabres catching Wayne's pair in a vice.

And one goes down in a hail of .50 caliber bullets!

A turn later a were were in a conga-line of DOOM. More gunfire resulted in me losing an F-86 and Wayne losing his second aircraft!

Adding insult to injury, Ziggy loosed Sidewinders from his F-104s way in the distance and managed a hit on one of Mike's MiG-21s, sending it into the ground below! In no time, things had gone south for the Indians.

A few more turns of maneuvering and we wrapped up. The Pakistani air force had clearly won the day.

I set the table up quickly for the Battletech scenario. I GM'ed and supplied the attacking force of Steel Viper Clan mechs. Mike supplied the Inner Sphere Davion defenders. 

The defenders start with about 40% of their force on the table, defending four objectives which the attacker must destroy. For a complete victory, the attacker must destroy all objectives and at least half his force (5 mechs) must exit the table edge from which they entered (the far upper left in the picture above).

David's very fast mechs made haste and got things going in no time.

Another conga line of DOOM!

The IS force was fortunate to get reserves in the clan backfield. They certainly had their hands full with Ziggy's Stone Rhino!

David made easy work of the objectives. It would be a clan minor victory for sure. Now they had to get out of Dodge!

Mechs started dying left and right! There are three smoke puffs in this picture. The Davion force gritted their collective teeth and managed to keep the Steel Vipers from escaping!  An excellent job of minimizing the loss. The scenario worked very well for something I threw together in a few minutes while on a 90-minute waste of time Teams call at work last week. I'll keep those scenario notes around for sure.

More Mechs!

 I added to the Battletech collection and finished up some new minis over the weekend. These were new purchases for a change, not hand-me-downs. Enjoyable as always to paint up!

Left to Right that's a Incubus II, Incubus, Icestorm, Griffin IIc and a Sun Cobra.

Painted up for my Clan Fire Mandrill force.

Here's the entire group. Lots of speedsters and snipers in this force. 

I also painted up some old plastic "uglymechs" Wayne gave me last week. Instead of Battletech, they'll be used as 28mm droids / automata. 

Beautiful!