6mm: Robotech. ..

For 6mm scale I gotta say they are pretty darn cool.

Although the human side models are pretty  finicky and I am dreading the destroids. But the battle pods are pretty swift. Just look at the instructions.

Only another bazillion battle pods to make!

Urban Combat: The City

I am a big fan of urban combat. When I was into 40K, I could not play enough City Fight games..

Since then, I have been progressing more and more with 15mm and 6mm games and I have been wanting to make a urban map for some time. Yesterday, saying to myself that I want to play some games, decided it was time to start with my city project that I said I was gonna start 2 years ago. Also, when I was on my 5 week voyage across the Atlantic, I was having so much fun making the city terrain out of parts from work, it got me kinda pumped to actually start my table.

The day is finally here...

First of all, a quick tip, when you deal with foam core board, if you go to Wall Mart or some other chain store you are gonna pay an arm and a leg for supplies. I recommend going to a Dollarama (dollar store) and get supplies there. I got 8 sheets of foam core, 2 fold-able project foam core boards, and several small gift boxes (buildings), and some tools for less then 25 bucks.. Yes, its lower quality, its very soft, and it scratches easy, but its so darn easy to work with. So, take it from me, cheap foam core.. the cheaper the better!

Stage 1:

I cut out 8 (10.5 inch) square blocks and glued them to the project board. I chose to go on an angle, as I think game tables look a little better when everything is not perpendicular.

Stage 2:

Then I trimmed off the over hanging pieces and used them to fill in some of the larger empty spots on the table. I also sliced the white sections  along the fold lines of the project board so I can "fold" up the base for storage. Doing it this way also allows me to change the size of the base.. I can have a small game on a 24 x 36 inch table, or a  36 x 36 inch table, or lastly a 36 x 48 inch table.

White squares cut along the fold lines of the board.

Stage 3:

Then I started to mess around with my buildings and see how many different ways I could lay out the buildings..

Stage 4:

After playing with this, I decided to base coat everything with spray paint. I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures of the progress. But I panted everything black first, and then I painted the squares grey. But these are just base coats. Over time, I plan on adding lots of little details (side walks, highway lines, bill boards, removable lamp posts and textures . But till then, I have a functional table that I can use now when I play.

The darker buildings are going to be burnt out ruins, hence why they are charred black.

Well, that's it for now. Maybe over the next week I will be able to get a game or two in and see how it works.

Thanks for reading!

GZG: UNSC Forces

These are my UNSC troops, which are made by Ground Zero Games. His models are by far the top contender for style!

I love the look of these troops!

Some Random 15mm Shots on my game table.

Here is another slide show of some random shots of my 15mm collections. Some are WIP, This slide show also gives a few subtle hints to how my forest table looks like. Not much to see here, but its something.

I have also attached a picture of my barren planet/waste land table.

Looking at this stuff is starting to get me homesick!! lol

The Battle For New Terra (Part 3): A 5150 Campagin

Here is Part 3 of my Transatlantic campaign game of THW's 5150: Platoon Leader. I have built everything I needed to play out of recycled materials found on the rig, and scrap parts from the metal junk baskets.   

Location: New Terra
Mission: Attack, Destroy all PEFs
Star Army Investment Level: 5
Hishen Investment Level: 2

Troops.
Locke: Star, Rep 5
Rocket Launcher, Rep 4
Plasma Rifle, Rep 4

Squad 1
Leader, Rep 3
Troops, Rep 4

Squad 2
Leader, Rep 4
Troops, Rep 4

Squad 3
Leader, Rep 4
Troops, Rep 3

Board Setup

 This mission, Locke kept Squad 3 in reserve.  Locke, the two weapon teams and squad 1 all enter the table in section 8, triggering PEF checks all the buildings from sections 7, 8 and 9. Each of them no spawning any enemy.

Squad 2 entered the board on section 7, triggering PEF checks in the building in Section 4. This also results in no enemy.

At this point, the 3 PEFs are generated via the normal rules, Section 1, 2 and 4. all get one.

PEFs are formed.

Squads moving up the street.

Next turn, results with all the PEFs moving towards someone. The PEF in 4, moves into the building and triggers an insight test with Squad 2. Bad case of nerves.

Locke and Squad 1 moves forward and triggers an in site test with the smaller building in section 1, getting a result of a full squad.

Locke and troops were able to react first, and very quickly dispatched the Hishen squad. After finishing moving just a little further forward, they triggered the last two PEFs in sections 1 and 2. One was a bad case of nerves, and the last one automatically requires a roll on the reinforcements  table.. resulting in a big fat "Nothing"

Star Army Wins, and this results in the moral of the Hishen being reduced to zero and automatically ending the campaign.

-------------------------------------

Final thoughts..

 All though not clear in the rules, the rules do say that for PEFs that fail to produce anything when approaching a building, says that if you enter that building after you need to resolve the PEF again in the building. But it doesnt say to lay a PEF counter down, I have been placing blue tokens on it to remind me. Going forward, I will treat these as a special kind of PEF, that you need to clear in order to obtain the victory conditions of the attack mission. I had 4 blue tokens on the board and I just ignored them.

The low IL of the Hishen did hamper things a lot. As I rarely got any spawns. But Its a good level to allow you to learn the game. I increased it to 2 this game, but as luck would have it.. I got seldom got the PEFs to actually trigger, although I had a ton of re rolls.

Again, I would like to say if you are just starting to get into wargames/miniatures this 5150 Platoon Leader is an ideal ruleset due to the simplistic nature. Although its too simple for me in the big picture tho.. not enough variety in the results. But, 5150: Star Army, although the same basic game concepts, with its more detailed rules, a little more clunky rules offers me a pretty good game complexity that I like.. Picture it as Platoon Leader as 5150 Basic, while Star Army is 5150 Advanced. I have yet to try 5150: Battalion Commander.. That one is on my list to try out hopefully in a few weeks.


 

Battle For New Terra: A 5150 Campaign. Part 2

This is part two of a campaign game of 5150: Platoon Leader by THW that I am playing while sailing across the Atlantic for work. Making everything out of things I was able to scavenge from the recycle bins. It may not be lead, it may not be painting, or fancy terrain.. just good old simple gaming :)

 
Battle of New Terra:
Mission: Attack
Investment Level: 3
Enemy Investment Level: 1

Locke: Star, Rep 5
Platoon Asset 1: Rocket Launcher; Rep 4
Platoon Asset 2: Plasma Gun Rep 4

Squad 1: Star Army
Leader: Rep 3
Troops: Rep 4

Squad 2: Star Army
Leader: Rep 4
Troops: Rep 4

Squad 3: Star Army
Leader: Rep 5
Troops: Rep 4

With the ruse foiled by Lockes last recon mission, the Star Army now decides to strike out at the invading forces. Locke and his platoon, along with his special weapons team are ordered to attack. Lockes mission is to move 3/4 of his troops of the board sections of 1,2 or 3.



Locke and the weapons team move and take the first middle building while squad 1 and squad 2 move up on each flank. Squad 3 moves up and moves to support Locke.

The first 3 buildings in sections 7, 8 and 4 turn out to be empty, while PEFs are generated in sections 1 (one PEF) and 5 (two PEFs)

 This caused a few things to happen, the 2 PEFs directly in front section 8, where the Locke and the weapon teams, were the first to trigger the insight tests and turned out to be just bad nerves. This left the last PEF in section 1 in LOS to both Locke and Squad 2. It turned out to be a full squad of Hishen troops.

In sight tests were made, and Squad 1 lost to the Hishen, while the Hishen lost to Locke and his team.

The Rocket Launcher managed to be the only team to get a shot to hit, and its 5" blast decimated the entire Hishen squad.


Squad 3 then move to the sector 5, while squad 1 and 2 moved up the flanks. Each time they triggers PEF checks on the buildings as they moved near them. With the Hishen investment levels so low, they all turned out to be nothing.

The reminder of the mission, Locke ordered all troops to dash off the field. Knowing full well, that now the only way enemy troops could spawn, is if his men entered a building or the Hishen got lucky on its reinforcement roll.

Squad 3 and Locke were able to make to the edge of the board with making several fast moves, while Squad 1 and squad 2 were both short, inches away from the edge.

On the last turn, the activation rolled turned up a seven. A 6 and a 1.. sure enough it was the Hishen that rolled a 6 and got reinforcements. Right next to the edge of the table, in sector 1 a lone Hishen rocketeer arived in the same building where the previous Hishen squad was previously blown apart.

Fearing the worst, as I have seen a RL in action just a few turns before, Squad 2 needed to get the in sight test, which they did. With the whole squad opening up, only 1 shot managed to hit!! I thought it was over, but the damage roll turned out to be a 6+ killing him outright.

With this last building being cleared, squads 1 and 2 leave the table to complete the mission.
Results:
Star Army Morale: 5
Hishen Morale: 1


I know I have been kinda lucky with the low investment levels of the Hishen. So on my next game I am going to bump it up to maybe 3.. See how different it will be.

So far, I am liking the 5150: Platoon Leader rules, as it deals almost entirely then foot based troops. So you do not vehicle models, or anything else for that matter. The rules are very fast once you understand them, as this game took me all of 30 minutes to play. Which, for me, being on a rig. I can get a quick game or two in before I head off to bed before the next shift.

Compared to 5150: Star Army, SA has a more serious feel to it and is considerably slower but it has much more detail and customizing to it. I would assume that Star Army was designed for those who like more complex games that involve a larger range of models.

 

The Battle of New Terra (A 5150 Campaign)

This is my first attempt of an actual real campaign game. The last few days I have been practicing with the rules and getting a rules down pat. Now its time to begin the campaign.

Controlling Star Army (Moral 3, IL 3) vs the Contesting Hishen (Moral 4, IL 1)

Patrol Mission. City Outskirts of New Terra, 0900
Mission: Recon sector and confirm if any Hishen have advanced into this sector. Avoid unnecessary casualties and return upon completion.

Locke moves his squad into the SE corner of town. His mission is to confirm enemy sightings in the area.
3 PEFs appear, sectors 1, 3 and 5. Sector 5 turns out to be the bad case of the nerves and nothing is there.

Locke fails to activate while the PEFs in sector 1 and 3 move towards him.

There are sounds of movement ahead that seems to be coming from the building, but again it turns out that there is only a few rats in the old warehouse.

Locke and squad moves towards the warehouse and no PEF is generated, meanhile a in sight check is made vs the last PEF. 2D6 passed, and its a roll on the enforcements chart. Total result:3 Nothing! Locke and his squad complete the recon with out incident.
 

 

It appears that the rumored contact in the outskirts was nothing but enemy propaganda, as the sector contains nothing but shadows and silence. Not falling for the bait, the Star Army can send its troops on the full attack.

This was my very first game, with no contact what so ever. It was an easy win, but Ill take it none the less.