One project I am keen to reboot is the Stainless Steel Rat themed stuff that I began my blogging with back in 2009.
I've read and indeed reread the exploits of Slippery Jim di Griz over the years and in my first year of uni actually had quite a lot of fun working on a 15mm scale project when Sci-fi in 15mm was pretty hard to come by and most of the figures were converted historical figures.
I had lots of fun with absolutely tiny forces with a heavily RPG inspired sort of game where Jim would be required to sneak about thieving stuff and outwitting goons before making a break for it in a hotwired vehicle.
I also only had a 2'x3' gaming area so small games were preferable to big ones as I could paint a small force in an afternoon or two and play a few linked skirmishes in no time at all.
While I've really enjoyed painting up all the assorted gubbins over this last two weeks I've found the need to work on some 15mm scale stuff starting to call on me again so I think I'll take a look through my 15mm leadpile and see what I can throw together as I'm liking the idea of having some low tech forces such as Count Cassator's goons below:
I'm also keen to see how my skirmish ruleset that I've been working on runs such a small game and I must admit, I want to go for a less grimdark science fantasy vibe than my Imperial forces. I've even been pondering using this as an opportunity to play some UFO type games set in the midwest with UFOlogists, Grey Aliens, Government Operatives, Investigators and Men In Black as well as some of the more fun Cryptids that have reared their heads in US culture over the last few decades.
I shall have to see how I get on with what I have but I am tempted to make some generic buildings too as it's ridiculously easy to construct stuff quickly in 15mm...
We shall see what I have in my bits box but if all else fails, I already have the Ghoulani Enslavers that I painted a while back to double as sinister Grey Invaders:
Anyhoo, I'll post up some gubbins tomorrow and see what I can rummage out but in the meantime, All the best!
Loving the look of these old models of yours, especially the two droids caught my eye. When I started with 15mm about 6 or 7 years ago there already was plenty of choice; with Khurasan, 15mm.co.uk, GzG,Critical Mass and Rebel being the ones I ordered from the most. Still, nothing beats the look of models you converted yourself. Must be a sense of ownership I guess.
ReplyDeleteAlways nice to see where other people come from and the progression they made. Thank you for the trip through memory lane.
Just curious though, which ruleset(s) did you use?
Your new project sounds interesting, you could even fit your cowboys in there should you want too.
Have fun!
It's fascinating how many 15mm scale sci-fi manufacturers have started up in the last decade!
DeleteI think I used Rogue Trader and No Limits as well as Star Mogul as the basis for my games back then and may need to re-explore them over the next few days!
It certainly is, some have come and gone but it at least seems like there was enough demand to allow others to grow. Somehow it feels like 15mm is gaining in popularity, with games like Flames of War and Ion Age on the forefront.
DeleteNever heard of No Limits or Star Mogul, but I'll check them out. I've done a lot of different rules systems myself and am somehow still searching for the one that suits me best. There are a lot of them I like (like Rogue Planet and Burning Sands), but none that ticks all the boxes yet.
15mm is a great scale to work with as you can put together a force quickly and cheaply and it's still got the level of detail of larger stuff.
DeleteStar Mogul is really great for small, warband size skirmishing and you can win scenarios by gathering scrap rather than just shooting up your foes! I uploaded the first edition along with it's supplements to Scribd a while back.
No Limits is very good too! Its based on the old Vor: The Maelstrom rules but is totally generic and works for squad to platoon level skirmishes.
I've tried dozens of rulesets over the years and lots have really fab concepts but I seem to be having more fun creating my own these days! It might be a bit simple and bare bones but it does what I want!
I found Star Mogul for free on DriveThru as well, but it looked a bit like a board game for some reason, with some counters and such.
DeleteMaybe I should try to homebrew some more too. Most of the games I play are solo anyway.
Here's a link to the Scribd upload of the original: https://www.scribd.com/document/235173426/Star-Mogul
DeleteI know there was a second edition of the game that was very different but the first edition is very much a skirmish wargame!
There's also Distant Worlds and Alien Evolution which were the supplements which brought new forces and more interesting gubbins to play around with!
Cheers!
Delete