Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 65: Chump Rescue!

 Hi!

So I played a really fun little game of my own rules again last night which pitted the forces of the Inquisition against a Goff warband. 

The Background

Following the skirmish in the slime jungle, Inquisitor Fisher is resigned to having to having to make a rescue attempt on her two captured companions, Vash Hammersworn and Brother Blasius of the Blood Angels who had foolishly allowed themselves to be captured by the forces of Uruk the Unruly, a rather bothersome Goff Boss.

Scanners from The Shrike have identified that the two captives are currently being held in a reinforced shack in the centre of an abandoned settlement some miles from the last skirmish. Determined to dish out some revenge on the Orks and rescue her underlings at the same time, Fisher has landed with a small force in an attempt to sneak into the settlement, rescue her people and shoot up the place on the way out.

The Forces

Inquisitor Fishers Retinue

Inquisitor Fisher is accompanied by Geralt the Wolfbane, Brother Flavius the Blood Angel, a squad of security troopers and Blammo the Wardroid. 

The Captives and Guards

The two captives are currently unarmed but can be handed equipment and weapons if they are freed. 

Uruk the Unruly's Warband

The Orks consist of two Nobs, Uruk and Rugnug alongside six Goff Boys, three Grotbots and a pair of Gretchin who act as sentries and guards.

The Setup

Scanners have identified that the prisoners are being held in the red shed which is close to the edge of the Slime Jungle to the south. 

Fishers force enters from the south and starts the game hiding in the undergrowth whilst the Orks are not initially deployed. Two Gretchin sentries are standing guard of the settlement but as usual are skiving off, either writing rude words on the buildings or having a sneaky fag and aren't paying too much attention so it should be possible for the Imperials to sneak into the settlement...

The Game

As usual, things didn't go according to plan for Fishers troops. Whilst the Inquisitor and her immediate retinue moved cautiously forward, the security troops advanced a great deal less cautiously. They spotted the closer Gretchin sentry and lit it up with both lasguns, a las pistol and bolter, unsurprisingly blowing it to paste and raising the alarm (in hindsight, I should have let them manoeuvre a bit better but figured they were holding a grudge from the last game when Gretchin gunners absolutely slaughtered them).

In response, the remaining Gretchin moved forward and spotting the Wardroid, Blammo skirting the settlement, opened fire but failed to damage the sturdy machine.

This saw the end of turn and I rolled to see what reinforcements turned up and only managed to get Rugnug who burst from the large building waving his axe around and bellowing incoherently about being woken from his kip but seeing the approaching Imperials moved quickly towards the prisoners shack.

 

Inquisitor Fisher moved forward with her retinue to get closer to the prisoners, aware that now the alarm had been raised, it would only be a matter of time before hordes more Orks would arrive and she was painfully aware that she didn't have the forces to fight them all off.

The Gretchin and security troops exchanged ineffectual shots and the Blammo had a short circuit and failed to activate, a result that would have serious outcomes in the next turn.

The next turn saw Uruk himself turn up but no minions and promptly move forward to show his underlings how it was done. He lined up his Orky Blaster on Blammo and pulled the trigger. The ensuing storm of lead reduced the droid to so much scrap (Orky Weapons roll D10 to see how powerful they are and Uruk rolled an 8 and then had a really lucky roll whilst Blammo's armour roll was utterly rubbish!) 

In one salvo, the Imperials most powerful weapon was taken out of action and things began looking grim for Fishers security troops who came under fire from the Gretchin whose autogun clipped one trooper sending him spinning to the ground.

Rugnug, stunned by the sheer firepower his boss had showcased failed to activate but the Gretchin moved again and managed to snipe Geralt (the Imperials were having really poor activation rolls!) causing a wound to the stalwart Wolfbane.

In return, the security troops managed to finally take out the Gretchin and combined fire from them and Brother Flavius wounded Rugnug but failed to bring down the brute.

The next turn saw the entirety of the Ork warband arrive and would prove the decisive moment in the game.

Rugnug charged into Brother Flavius, battering him with his axe and taking him out of action forcing Geralt to bellow a warcry and countercharge the brute but failed to damage the greenskin. Inquisitor Fisher, thinking out of the box, used her powersword to cut a hole in the back of the shack, freeing the prisoners and passing them some guns and calling on them to help fight their way to freedom.

Fortunately for the Imperials, only three of the Orks activated and began moving towards the security troops who had been forced to seek shelter from the greenskins in a patch of fungi.

Sensing things were looking grim, the security troops opened fire on the approaching Orks in the next turn but failed to do any damage after some more rubbish shooting. 

The remaining Orks and Grotbots activated and began moving towards the Imperial positions. Uruk once again let rip with his Orky Blaster but rolled poorly so his gun failed to do anything other than make a loud noise.

Meanwhile, the Inquisitors retinue piled into Rugnug with Geralt finally striking the killing blow and the newly freed Brother Blasius seeing Uruk took a potshot at him but the bolt bounced off the brutes crude armour leaving the beast bellowing insults at the red clad warrior.

As the Orks closed into range, Fisher called on her retinue to run for it and for a second time she was forced to flee with the remains of her force from the victorious Orks.

As a final insult, her remaining security troops panicked and failed to activate and were overwhelmed by the greenskins and butchered.

Conclusion

Gosh! That was a good game! Once again the Imperials were forced to run for it but kind of won as they recovered their captives, even if the security troopers got wiped out and another Blood Angel got killed.

What really swung things in the Orks favour was Uruks lucky shot blowing Blammo the Wardroid up. It was a combination of lucky rolls but I think I need to tone it down a bit. If Blammo had been able to survive the shot, it would have probably killed Uruk with its multi-laser and mown down the Orkish reinforcements but such is life. On paper, the Imperials had a bit of an advantage with longer range guns and more firepower in general but rubbish rolls saw them squander this and the randomness of the Orkish guns really do them in!

After this ignoble retreat, Fisher called an airstrike on the settlement, reducing it to rubble but scans indicate that at least some of the Orks have escaped.

Needless to say, Fisher will not be satisfied until she has Uruk's head mounted on the wall of her chambers and the next encounter will see a full battle squad of Blood Angels drafted in to bolster her forces.

The game has brought up a few odds and ends that I need to work on ruleswise but I'm rather enjoying the vendetta between Fisher and Uruk and will be bringing events to a head with the third game of the mini campaign which will see the Inquisitor finally bring the Orkish boss to justice, or at least the business end of a power sword...

Hopefully I'll get enough painted this week coming to be able to round out the mini campaign with a bit larger game but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 64: Day Off 2

Hi!

I've got a bunch of bits and bobs on the go and the battle report to get sorted this evening but it's meant that I've not got anything finished today I'm afraid.

I have been having a bit more of a think about some fantasy skirmishing with a theme based around various elements but it's still a bit nebulous so I'm going to hold off posting about it just now until I've got it fleshed out a bit.

Tomorrow should see a return to normal as I post up the battle report that I've got planned and I hope to be able to post a few other odds and ends of completed figures too but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 63: A New Ork Nob

 Hi!

I've finished another Ork Nob for my Goff warband!

Rugnug Red-Axe

He's originally from the newer Ork Boy box that came out a while back which comes with the bits and bobs to make a Nob to lead them. I've had him built and base coated for quite a while now but gave up on him and he's sat unloved and unwanted in a box ever since. With the success of my latest project, I thought it was high time I painted him up!

In hindsight, I'd probably paint him in components to simplify painting as the Ironjaw made getting the details in a bit of a struggle and is why I do prefer the older figures as they aren't covered in details that requires a bit more effort to get a good finish on them.

Uruk the Unruly and Rugnug

He's a bit smaller than the other Nob I've painted which came from the Nobs box but that's ok as I like Orks appearing in all shapes and sizes, Rugnug is just a bit lower on the pecking order of Orkish society!

I'm hoping my Ral Partha delivery arrives today so I can crack on with some more 15mm scale stuff and do a bit of a delve through Crucible but with postage taking a bit longer than usual due to lockdown, I suspect I'll get it next week so in the meantime I'll keep painting assorted bits and bobs and will try and get the first of my Random Encounter cards put together.

I also need to rummage around to see if I can find some random jungle denizens to menace my adventurers with but that's a post for another day.

All this success with painting has got me thinking of putting together some 28mm fantasy adventuring parties too but I'm resisting temptation for the time being as I've got enough to keep me entertained for the foreseeable but I'm keeping the idea on the back burner as I think it could be quite a lot of fun, especially as I'm having a blast working on my random sci-fi shenanigans at the moment!

Maybe I'll have a look though my slowly depleting lead and plastic pile and see if I have anything I fancy painting but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 62: Orkish Progress

 Hi!

I've got another Goff Boy finished for my slowly expanding Orky warband!

Much like the rest of these 2nd edition 40k starter set, they're pretty simple paintjobs which I'm trying to keep things fresh by varying the paintjobs so while the sculpts are all identical, they still have a bit of variety to them!

I'm edging closer to the 10-12 that I need for a full sized unit for my random encounter but will need to cut some more off the sprues that they've been languishing on for the last 25 or so years!

To break up the monotony of all the mono pose plastic, I've started up on one of the newer plastic Nob miniatures as I need about five of them all told. Also on the paint table are some more Gretchin autogunners and I'm also rummaging around for some ammo carrying Grots and Snotlings to give my Orks something to bully.

I'm going to try and get as many odds and ends painted up for the weekend so I can play the rescue mission of my mini campaign which will see Inquisitor Fisher and some assorted reinforcements raiding the Ork encampment to recover her captured retinue. I'm also hoping to throw together some Orky themed terrain to make things more interesting but will see how I get on!

In other news, I'm champing at the bit for more news on the new edition of Chronopia and Warzone but there's nothing to report as yet which is really frustrating but understandable that both companies are keeping things under their hats until they are ready for launch but I'd dearly love to see some more previews for both as I'm so excited to know more!

Hopefully we shall find out more soon but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Daily Project Log Day 61: Wardroid

 Hi!

I've finished off the first of my Wardroids for use in an upcoming game!

Hunter Class Wardroid Blammo

Created by Vash Hammersworn, the Hunter Class Wardroid is a quick moving machine intended to deploy rapidly and engage targets at long range with their lascannon before redeploying if foes get too close.

This particular Wardroid is designated Blammo by it's creator Vash and Inquisitor Fisher intends to use it to rescue it's erstwhile creator.

Originally an Em4 Miniatures plastic mech, I reversed the torso and like how it turned out, having a more dynamic look than the original. I plan on making another three of them, one armed with a support micromissile pod.

Vash and Blammo

Although they'll be used primarily for 28mm, they are scale neutral enough to be used in 15mm and indeed 6mm and are painted up in a similar colour scheme to my security troops. I had been tempted to go full checkers like the old Rogue Trader era figures but couldn't quite bring myself to put in that amount of effort!

I've got a few more odds and ends in the works and have a small order on the way from Ral Partha Europe which I'm hoping will arrive tomorrow which will allow me to get some more 15mm stuff added onto the to do pile.

In the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 60: Reinforcements!

 Hi!

I've managed to get some odds and ends finished for my Imperial retinue and my Ork warbands!

First up, there's the second of my Blood Angels done:

Brother Flavius and Brother Blasius

I painted Brother Flavius using a mixture of red and orange as I wanted to get a better coverage than the red alone which took about 5-6 coats to get a smooth finish. The reddish orange mix gave a nice smooth finish in 3 coats which was far better. It also has a more traditional Blood Angels finish than the Blasius' armour.

I've got another three of the these guys to finish and am looking forward to being able to play a battle squad of five of the Empresses finest in the not too distant future.

Next up, there's a fifth Goff Ork:

Nothing too exciting about him but he will either bulk up my first mob or start  a second. I hope to eventually have about a dozen or so of the original Goff boys done and dusted which will give me enough for a good sized random encounter for my Imperial adventurers to have to deal with.

I'm planning on using a random encounter card deck, much like Warhammer Quest's back in the day but theming it for individual encounters so for example, a party exploring a region inhabited by Orks may encounter something like the following:

D6 Orks 

2D6 Orks

D6 Gretchin

2D6 Gretchin

D3 Nobz

Wierdboy plus D6 Madboyz

Mekboy plus D3 Grot minions

Runtherd plus 2D6 Grots

Escaped Slave

Looted Vehicle

Dreadnought!

D6 Freebooterz

D6 Stormboyz on route march

Warboss and Retinue (big bad for the end of a mini campaign)

The plan is to get a bunch of stuff painted up and draw 1 card at the start of the game and another at random times during the game. Coupled with some scenario driven objectives and said encounters appearing from random places, it should make for a fun game.

By adding some optional extras into the cards, with the odd heavy weapon and/or Nob having a chance to be part of the Ork mobs or the Gretchin having some Squigs or whatnot, there's lots of possibilities for bringing in new and interesting game options.

I'll have to get on with the painting and see if I can locate the figures but it's giving me some fun ideas and if I drop in some wildcards such as wandering beasties, boobytraps and so on, it should make for a lively sort of campaign.

I've got another Ork almost finished as well as one of Vash's Mechanicus warbots just needing it's base finished and will post them up tomorrow along with whatever else I may finish in the meantime but 'til then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 59: Smallhammer Forces

 Hi!

I'm slowly painting my way through my collection of 15mm fantasy and they're starting to look like small regiments are starting to form!

I've made a start on the humans that I've had since 2014ish and will need to find the rest of the figures that I've had lying around for such a long time. I've really enjoyed painting up the little guys and will need to order a few more once I've got this lot finished!

Here's a picture of everything I've got done thus far:

I've put together a bit of a display board using some painfully bright flock that I had lying around. I'd been unsure about using it as it's rather patchy and streaky but looking at the photos, I'm pleasantly surprised by how it looks. I think I'll need to add another layer of flock onto the board to get a smoother finish.

In other news, I've been adding some reinforcements to my Goff Ork and Imperial retinues and will post some photos tomorrow once the bases are finished.

I'm really enjoying just cracking on with painting stuff and it was great to get a game played and speaking of which, I recently backed the Kickstarter for Brutal Quest, a fantasy skirmish by the same author of Planet 28 as it was the princely sum of £8.00 which isn't too bad for a game and I'm looking forward to giving it a try once it arrives in May.

I'll keep working on my assorted gubbins and will try to get another game played in the next day or so once I've got the reinforcements finished but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 58: Skirmish in the Slime Jungle

 Hi!

Somewhat unexpectedly, I found myself deciding to play a quick game last night and thought I'd share a quick battle report!

The Forces

The Ork force consisted of one small squad of Goff Boyz lead by the forces Warboss, Uruk the Unruly and accompanied by a pair of Gretchin sharp shooters and a trio of Grotbot gun golems.

The Inquisitorial retinue consisted of Inquisitor Fisher, Vash of the Mechanicus, Geralt the Wolfbane, Brother Blasius the Blood Angel and four security troops requisitioned from the local garrison.

The Battlefield

The game would take place amongst the ruins of an abandoned settlement deep in the slime jungle of Pesh, a hotbed for malcontents and fugitives from Imperial rule. The settlement shows recent signs of inhabitation but initial scans from orbit cannot identify where the settlers are due to the copious life signs emanating from the slime jungle.

The Objective

Inquisitor Fisher has brought her team to investigate rumours of a lost shrine that may contain valuable relics but upon arrival has discovered the settlement is being looted by the uncouth Orks and has realised that in order to secure the shrine, she must first drive off the raiders.

The Game

I was trying out some new variation on my own ruleset which is in turn bodged together from many different rulesets so there wasn't much of an objective as I wanted to see how a different activation method would work.

The Inquisitorial retinue began moving forward through the ruins at the edge of the settlement, mindful of the Orks rapidly approaching from the other side of the clearing they stuck together and prepared to lay down some fire on the greenskins.

The Orks meanwhile rushed forward as fast as they could, eager to get into combat with the Humies. Meanwhile the Gretchin sharpshooters split up in order to get a better bead on the approaching security troops and the Grotbots had a glitch which meant they failed to move during their first turn.

The initial manoeuvring done, I moved onto turn two where things began to heat up!

In a stunning show of Imperial might, the Inquisitorial squad let rip with their pistols and Brother Blasius' bolter and killed two Orks outright (I rolled a natural 10 with an attack D10 twice in a single turn!) and knocked a third off its feet. At this point things were looking promising for the Imperials but events were about to take a turn for the worse.

In an impressive and annoying (in true Gretchin style), the two sharpshooters let rip at the security trooper squad who had foolishly relinquished their secure position in cover behind the pipework to make a break for the shrine, possibly in an attempt to impress the Inquisitor with their zeal. The autogun's proved more than a match for the feeble body armour the troopers wore and two of them fell, riddled with lead.

The remaining two blazed wildly at the nearest Grot but their panic was evident when they shot wide and left bullet holes all over the facade of the shrine and left the grinning Gretchin unharmed and making rude gestures at them.

Finally, the Grotbots moved forward and opened up on the Inquisitor and her retinue but their guns were out of range. Not so for the mighty Uruk the Unruly! He barged past the prone form of his last remaining Boy and kicked him to get up and unleashed a hail of fire from his uncouth blaster and despite being well armoured, Inquisitor Fisher was wounded as a bullet found a chink in her gear.

Turn three was the deciding event in the clash as first the Grotbots closed into range and opened fire again on the Inquisitorial team, the wall of fire felling Fisher and taking her out of the fight. 

Seizing the opportunity, Uruk hurled himself into melee with Vash of the Mechanicus and bludgeoned him with his axe taking the impetuous mechanic out of the game too. The Ork Boy engaged Brother Blasius in combat and despite having superhuman combat training, Blasius got knocked over.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Gretchin once again shot up the security troopers and killed another. Seeing the rest of his squad shot to pieces around him, the last trooper fled shrieking into the slime jungle.

Seeing how things were going, Geralt slung the unconscious form of Inquisitor Fisher over his shoulder and ran for it deciding discretion was the better part of valour (the exact same thing he did last game!).

Conclusion

Inquisitor Fisher was patched up quickly by a med kit that Geralt had secreted about his person and has established contact with her ship, The Shrike and has summoned reinforcements to rescue her fallen retinue and deal some vengeance on the Orks for daring to raise their hand against Imperial law. Next time she will be leading a rescue mission to discover if Vash and Blasius are still alive!

Whee! That was a fun game! I had been tempted to give up after the first round of shooting which proved so brutal but kept going and really enjoyed the resulting chaos. Interestingly, the Imperials got a similar thrashing last time by the Orks so maybe I need to add another member to the party to even things up a bit.

The Orks will be getting a second squad and another Nob at some point but I'll need to paint them first and following their outstanding shooting, I think they will have more Gretchin soon too!

I had been a bit hesitant about playing games in 28mm on a 3'x3' table but with a decent amount of terrain to hide behind it results in a good little firefight and played out over the course of about half an hour which was an added bonus. Next time I will try and add some random events as well, be it denizens of the forest taking an interest in the game or discovering cashes of equipment that spice things up a bit.

Theres something about playing an actual game that inspires me to get more stuff painted so next time I can have a bit more options and play a slightly larger skirmish.

For a bit of retro charm, I may even use Rogue Trader next time but till then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Day 57: Smallhammer Progress

Hi!

Just a quick post today as I'm still working on the large colony building that I started yesterday and am finding it a bit more of an engineering feat than I'd expected!

In the meantime, I've got the last of the Dwarf crossbows finished for my Smallhammer project and have made a bit of a start on the Humans:

Painting the little chaps has been a nice distraction but I'm only capable of painting a couple at a time as too much uniformity get me bored. I've got a small Human swordsman unit that will eventually be 20 strong and some human spearmen, bowmen and barbarians still to paint as well as a handful of other odds and ends which I hope to eventually build up into a full sized army.

It's quite a fun project to have a go at as I can collect a good sized army for about £20-£30 which will allow me to put together first an Empire army and then possibly an Orc and Goblin one but we shall see how I get on over the coming weeks as I'm also tempted to try a Vampire Counts force...

Once I have the sci-fi scenery done, I think it's going to be high time that I made some fantasy 15mm scale scenery so I can get a decent game in. I've already got enough stands of trees but could do with some hedges, walls, buildings, roads, rivers and hills to give a more visually pleasing finish to the whole project.

I'll post another update in the morning on building progress but in the meantime, All the best!