An Ode to Obscure Games: Star Mogul

 Hi!

As my Leviathan plans have hit a bit of a snag with the expense of fixing my car and while I'm waiting for some sculpting supplies arriving I thought I'd spend a bit of time looking at some obscure games, either from my own collection or some of the little niche games that appear from time to time. Some stick around and I fully intend to pick up a copy someday while others vanish into obscurity (and I still plan on picking them up someday!)

One such game is Star Mogul.

Released in the States back in 2006, Star Mogul was very much ahead of its time as it involves rival salvage teams exploring abandoned settlements for loot while trying to stop their opponents from doing the same.

Sound familiar? The Osprey game Stargrave is much the same idea but with more powerful characters. Star Mogul is a decidedly blue collar affair with small forces, averaging about a dozen figures a side and the odd small vehicle or stompy robot to aid them looting out on the frontier in the years following an alien plague that decimated the outer worlds. 

Coupled with a somewhat ineffectual central Earth government these small companies operate beyond the law and fights regularly break out between rival teams.

What made the game so great was you had basic stats for your team but depending on how you used your experience points, resulted in a vast variety of options for how you formed your crew. They could be small in number but well equipped, larger numbers but poorly trained, add robots, quirky crew chief options and different skills and you could really play about with bringing pretty much anything to play.

As for the game, it was rather fun and leaned heavily into an ongoing campaign where your salvage crew would fight to grub whatever loot they could, and that was part of the fun; you didn't have to aim to wipe out your foes as you just needed to recover scrap whilst holding them off!

Coupled with some really interesting fog of war effects and the ability to really develop your characters, the game was a minor success and by 2007 there were two supplements.

Distant Worlds which brought in the Hydrissians, a reptile like race of aliens who had all sorts of interesting tech and the Asteroid Miners, heavily cyborgised humans who had an absolutely brilliant little line of figures.

The second supplement, Alien Evolution saw the arrival of the X-12 Android Cult, rebel robots who sought freedom from the slavery of the humans and the Mephalians, a barbarous degenerate race which has the remains of a long dead species tech and a crude knowledge of how to work it.

Sadly after the release of the Alien Evolution rules, Alpha Forge was sold to someone else who promptly did nothing with it and the game, support and miniatures were eventually sold on to Mega Minis who in turn broke up the range and sold them off piecemeal. 

Now I believe Armorcast has the rights to the rules and some of the figures but the rest have vanished back into obscurity but I highly recommend folks download the rules and have a bash. They are on SCRIBD as are the supplements and with the plethora of sci-fi figures out there these days, its pretty easy to put together a Salvage Team. 

I'd absolutely love to see this game being revamped with new miniatures, artwork and rules as it is a really great wee game with some properly characterful figures but with the status of the figure line, I doubt this will happen. 

The Desert Rose Salvage Crew painted by Supervike

Star Mogul was ahead of its time as it came out when the obsession with massive scale 28mm wargames like 40k were still strong and the niche skirmish market hadn't really developed into what we see today but if you're looking for a small skirmish game that feels a bit Necromunda meets Outland, you can't go wrong.

Looking back at it, I wish I'd picked up more of the range when they were available as I had several teams including the Asteroid Miners but they all went in the big clearout of 2008 when I went off to uni so maybe at some point I'll expend some more time on putting together two salvage crews and playing through the scenarios in the core book.

A Demo-Bot trundles through an abandoned settlement somewhere on the border 

I used to own all the books in physical format but now only have the PDF's so do plan on getting them printed out at some point and will get them bound so I can relive the pleasure of reading them.

A Salvage crew captain with trusty robot minion

Looking through my blog, I can see that I've posted about the game before and even played a game using 15mm figures which can be found HERE and HERE. I'm fairly sure I got some of the rules wrong but it gives a bit of an idea of the game.

I look forward to posting more gubbins over the coming week while I await sculpting supplies to get on with my Leviathan project but in the meantime, thanks for getting this far and All the best!

Richard

New Year Gaming!

 Hi!

I've already covered my interest in working my way through the Rangers of Shadowdeep core rulebook and campaign over the course of the next while but I'm also pondering some other games both old and new for a bit of a spin.

As per usual, Ash over on Guerrilla Miniature Games has got me picking up new rules in the form of The Silver Bayonet and Scrappers. Both are Osprey Games and I'd initially ignored them as they just didn't seem to be my cup of tea but having watched a couple of battle reports, I'm actually intrigued enough to pick up a copy of each to try out!

With Silver Bayonet, I plan on using my Flintloque/Deadloque collection to play games with as I must admit that I'm quite looking forward to giving it a try out! As for Scrappers, I think I'm going to rummage my leadpile and see what I've got and also use the opportunity to try to get some games of Star Mogul in too.

I also got a super cheap copy of Supersystem 2nd edition which I'm contemplating sculpting some supers and villains for in my own style.

I also think I'll try out the rules for a quick skirmish game featuring Inquisitor Fisher and some foes as I've heard really good things about the system and it's based on the old White Wolf Trinity Battleground game which was great fun.

I'm also contemplating putting together a couple of articles about Rogue Trader and the basics of putting together a small force and the basics of character building and how to get the best of the rules from my own somewhat limited experience.

Finally, I'm finding myself somewhat tempted to try something completely different.

I left the hobby when 40k moved from 2nd edition to 3rd as it was so simplified and I never played it but I recently got to thinking that I love Epic 40k because it took a granular, somewhat clunky system and streamlined it right down to allow for a quick playing but still enjoyable system. What if 3rd/4th edition 40k is similar?

I doubt I'll do much with it in the near future but I may pick up the core rulebook and the odd codex if I can find them cheaply enough and instead of the £100+ for Rogue Trader and 2nd edition, the later rulesets seem to be pretty cheap at about a tenner for the core rules. I'll need to delve into it a bit but I do wonder if I can put together a 250-300 point combat patrol sort of force and see how things go.

This is very much something I'll be putting on the back-burner for the foreseeable but it may be a nice long term aim for the year to end up with a little force thats a step up from my usual skirmish warband.

We shall see what I actually manage in the next month or two so watch this space!

All the best!

Star Mogul Project Part 3: The Rules

Hi!

Here's a quick link to the Star Mogul Rules!

Star Mogul Core Rules

The original rules! They contain everything you need to get started with the core rules and a guide to putting together your salvage company along with some hired guns and pirates to liven up games. It's also got the campaign system too along with an assortment of scenarios to play out!

Star Mogul: Distant Worlds

Distant Worlds was the first expansion to the rules and came with a guide to playing forces of Asteroid Miners and Hydrissians, an alien race with an interesting appearance and very different motivations to human warbands.

Star Mogul: Alien Evolution

The last supplement was Alien Evolution which introduced the X-12 Robot cult, a renegade group of mekks who seek freedom from their human overlords and the Mephalians, a degenerate remnant of the Mimjip Empire who operate ancient alien tech.

I'll post up a bit of a guide to the rules next time but in the meantime, All the best and I hope folks enjoy perusing a rather fun set of old rules!

Star Mogul Project Part 2: Background

 Hi!

As part of my Star Mogul project, I've decided to get the ball rolling with a quick look at the background to the setting so without further ado, let's take a peek at what we've got!

In 2227 the Tread Lightly Corp launched the Tachyon drive which allowed FTL travel and humanity began spreading across the stars. 

At this point, there were already working colonies on several of Jupiter's moons, Mercury, the Asteroid belt and Earth's Moon. Terraforming and settlement of Mars was already underway but the Tachyon drive's creation allowed for exploration of new worlds far from Earth. Initially it was the Earth's great powers who launched expeditions using the Tachyon drive to establish colonies on newly discovered worlds and exploit their natural resources but the blueprints for the drive were stolen and soon smaller groups were launching their own colonising efforts. These smaller expeditions sought to establish new and free societies, far from the overcrowded and tightly controlled Earth.

This time period became known as the Young Exodus as many of the colonists who enlisted were chosen for their youth and vigour. The call of the colonies lured many out into space to an uncertain future but many saw the benefits over a crowded and stifling life on Earth. 

The colonies were initiated, some over 100 light years from Earth but soon several began reporting discovering the ruins of an alien civilisation and further research and excavations revealed the ruins to be over 400,000 years old. These discoveries resulted in a fresh wave of exploration further into unexplored space as many sought to delve further into the mysteries of this lost alien society and the Great Expedition phase began with a new gold rush as prospectors rushed to the new frontiers in search of lost alien tech and the mysteries of the Mimjip civilisation.

By 2340 humanity appeared to be forging an empire amongst the stars. Earth had begun to regulate its population and biosphere thanks to the resources that poured in from its offworld colonies and recovered alien tech.

Things weren't all rosey though as many colonists began to resent the amount of resources and money they were being required to send back to Earth, despite a lack of political freedom or representation they had been promised. 

Soon several established colonies declared their independence from Earth but this wasn't too much of a concern to the Earth government as trade continued to flow and the sheer distances involved meant a military response wasn't feasible.

Then the discovery of the ‘Forge’ at Alpha Centauri occurred and relations broke down rapidly. The ‘Alpha Forge’, as it became known, was an orbiting starship construction platform the Mimjipani race had left behind. Its technology relied upon the gathering of rare elements from the local asteroid belt which were then shaped and tempered slowly into a near indestructible starship hull deep in the fires of Alpha Centauri itself. 

It was the outer colonists that discovered the forge and worked out its operating procedure, but the obvious military implications of the new starship hulls became apparent quickly to Earth and the governing bodies of the home system. Using heavyweight diplomatic and economic muscle, the council of Earth attempted to obtain possession of the forge for itself. 

The whole situation deteriorated badly not long thereafter when earth’s council declared all members of the newly formed ‘Federal Union’ on the Outer Rim in violation of their legal obligations and sent in a cohort of storm troopers to obtain the Forge by force. The assault was repelled, just barely, by the efforts of a lieutenant engineer Thomas Redcloud (awarded the ‘Gold Aurora’), who fixed the entire docking area to self destruct, catching the storm trooper reinforcement party off guard and allowing the defenders to consolidate their defences in time.

After this, the Frontier Union organised the Alpha Forge with heavy artillery in case Earth tried to take this valuable artefact by storm again. There was no declaration of war – the Frontier Union had no army. So they had no choice but to organise one in response to the actions of Earth, and also, the growing number of slave raids by the Hydrissian ‘devourer’ cult on the fringes of known space that began in 2442.  The Federal Defence Force (FDF) was organised and ties with the home system became much more restricted as the colonies strove for self sufficiency.

Around this time, shortly after the century turned to the 2400’s, a new threat loomed on the horizon.
The discovery of the ‘Mimjip Pathogen’ reared its ugly head, though too late for many on the frontier. Somewhere among the exploration and exploitation of the ancient Mimjip ruins a deadly virus had been released. 

The virus had lain dormant for many thousands of years, and was probably thought of as an innocuous infection by the ancient Mimjipani race. The accidental release of this virus had devastating consequences on humanity as it lay semi-dormant for several decades before it was discovered and made itself felt. By this time it had spread throughout the colonies and throughout the home systems. The resulting pandemic killed many millions, and has brought mankind’s fledgling empire among the stars to its knees.

Entire space colonies have now lain deserted for decades and much that was built has now been laid to waste. Finally, in more recent years, the Mimjip pathogen seems to have played itself out, and cases are becoming much rarer. Perhaps only those who are naturally able to fight the virus have survived. Nevertheless, the road is now open for those who are brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough, to begin the process of rebuilding what was lost.

This is where the game takes place with small groups of salvage experts exploring lost colonies for tech and fighting over the ruins of a once great empire. It is a lawless place but fortune favours the bold and money is to be made amongst the stars.

I'm hoping to take a look at what is required to play in the next instalment but I'm still humming and hahing about what miniatures to use. Do I go 28mm, 15mm or sculpt my own? Each option has it's pluses and negatives so I'll need to get my thinking hat on and figure out just what I want to do before I get the that point but I have plenty of other stuff that I can be getting on with, including putting together a bit of a campaign map showcasing the region that the action will be happing so watch this space!

In the meantime, All the best!

Star Mogul Project: Part 1 Musings

 Hi!

I have managed to get myself a new laptop (many thanks to my brother for being awesome!) which should allow me to get my blogging up and running again which is rather exciting and I'm looking forward to getting things running normally again.

I'm interested to see what Stargrave develops into as what little I've read makes me think of the old Star Mogul rules and I've been thinking of using that for the next while to give me a nice small project that can then get used as a building block for some warbands for Stargrave in 2021.

Back in about 2008, I had a blast putting together forces for the game and a few years ago I played a couple of games using 15mm scale figures and I'm rather fond of the game, despite not playing it much and it may be a fun little project to round out the year and indeed clear through some of the odds and ends from my lead pile!

My next post will cover the background of the Star Mogul setting and I'll see how I get on with choosing some suitable figures for my two salvage crews.

In other news, I've also preordered Gamma Wolves as I rather like the setting and think it might be a good project to put together in a scale smaller than 28mm and with there only being the need for a half dozen figures per side in total, it should be a fun side project too!

In the meantime, All the best!

Re-Exploring Old Rulesets

Hi!

I can't believe it's almost the end of June and I've not posted anything here for almost a month!

Saying that, I've been rather busy both with my lovely wife's birthday, two weeks holidays and organising our spare room/man cave/library. This has given me the chance to finally have a bit of a sort through my old ruleset collection which has given me the urge to have a good rummage through the books and have a peruse!

I'm often struck by what a shame it is when great games vanish or are left in a zombie state where they are still available but never get any support, be that new releases or indeed anybody playing them. It's doubly so when some of these games have a fascinating setting with some great ideas that really lend themselves to brilliant fun gaming possibilities.

Take a look at Kryomek for example. It's never been out of production, the rules are freely available to download and the miniatures are still being made but it gets very little attention these days. I must admit that I'm just as guilty as any as I originally picked up the books back in the 90's from the long lamented Mac's Models in Edinburgh as well as a handful of miniatures but never seriously tried to play a game.

Similarly, Void 1.1 is still readily available, the rules are also free downloads and the figures are still available. I even had a VASA force fully painted back in the day but sold it off when I went off to uni and never really got back into it which is a real shame as the rules are really good and the setting is rather enjoyable!

For fantasy gaming, how about Crucible by FASA? While the company is long gone, the core rule book is still available from Ral Partha Europe and the forces are generic enough to allow proxy games without too much issue. The rules themselves are actually really good and the setting is brilliant but nobody plays it.

I think part of the issue with these games is that they are aimed at the GW sort of large scale gamers with multiple units, large gaming surfaces and infinite time to paint stuff for them whereas my interests have moved onto smaller scale skirmishing with at most a couple of dozen figures a side. But should this stop me from incorporating the settings, forces and ideas into the sort of games I play now?

No! Having re-read quite a few of my old books, I'm sorely tempted to put together some small skirmish bands and explore the settings. Imagine a UNION marine squad from Vor: The Maelstrom being dispatched to scout a new world and encountering some unfriendly Growlers or Nexus Marines being tasked with searching a hulk and discovering a Kryomek infestation. How about Principality adventurers exploring ancient ruins for artifacts of power in Crucible or grim survivors fighting over precious supplies in the endless wastes of Leviathan's Aeroth.

The list is infinite and the possibilities for some really fascinating games are out there and it's well worth having a peek at some of the old, forgotten and unappreciated rulesets that are sat in many folks collections.

These possibilities are even greater when using 15mm scale figures as it's possible to create a decent sized skirmish force for under a tenner. For example, Star Mogul only requires about a dozen figures and a vehicle a side while Nuclear Renaissance only needs a handful plus suitably converted vehicles.

With this in mind, I hope to use the opportunity to put together some small forces by rummaging my leadpile of 15mm gubbins to see what I can put together. I will be using the month of July to see what themed forces I can clobber together and see how feasible such a scheme would be.

A good example of this is my Bauhaus Jaeger squad that I put together a while back:

Bauhaus Jaegers

They are Ground Zero Games miniatures with added shoulder pads which gives them the suitably 90's Warzone vibe and with a few additions, I have a Warzone 1st edition force ready to rock!

It's going to be an interesting process and we shall have to see what I come up with but hopefully I will resume regular posting here and I even have a couple of batches of 15mm stuff that I've finished off over the last couple of weeks that needs posting up so watch this space!

A Guide to Forgotten Games Part 2

Hi!

Following on from my previous post, I thought I'd post some more of the forgotten games from my collection that in days gone by I really enjoyed but are now largely forgotten.

Star Mogul

Star Mogul was originally produced by Alpha Forge Games in the US and it grabbed my attention with the quirky miniatures that were produced to go along with it. The game itself is set in our future when humanity has colonised a fair chunk of space but an ancient alien pathogen has wiped much of the frontier worlds out. Over a century later, salvage crews have begun exploring these lost worlds and fighting each other to gather the riches they find.

One of the things I really liked about Star Mogul was the fact that it wasn't super soldiers fighting gribbly aliens but working joes eking out a living on the frontier in a new gold rush amongst the stars.

That's not to say there weren't any aliens in the game. The supplements brought in the Hydrassians, Asteroid Miners, Android Cults and Mephelians, each with their own motivations and rewards for scrap recovery.

Looking back, it kind of reminds me of a cross between Necromunda and Gorkamorka but without the fantasy elements. Sadly the game went out of production when Alpha Forge was sold off. There was a brief hope of a revamp when Mega Minis took over production and a revised edition was produced of the rules (I still prefer the original though as the artwork on the new one just didn't do it for me!).


Alas, Mega Minis closed its doors and Star Mogul faded into obscurity again. Its not all lost though as I have uploaded the original rulesets onto Scribd so you can download them and have a bash at gaming out some small skirmish actions in a ruined future!

While the alien races may be a tad harder to proxy, the human salvage teams are fairly easy to rework using pretty much any sci-fi range out there and I'd highly recommend at least downloading the rules and having a peruse as they contain some really nifty ideas for games at the smaller end of the scale.

I must admit that I've always intended to someday collect up an X12 Android Cult so that the AI's can fight for their freedom from human control!

Kryomek

Kryomek was one of the first games I picked up post GW and I loved the Aliens vibe that the artwork and background had but found the rules a bit clunky and uninspired.

I must admit that I have mixed feelings about the game as the setting is decent and the artwork on show is petty great and really sets the scene for humanity to discover it is not alone amongst the stars. A hive mind of an alien intelligence called the Kryomek is living out there and promptly attack forcing the two races into a war of extermination amongst the cold outer worlds.

While the setting really gets one interested, the rules themselves aren't fantastic and as is the case with several of the smaller rulesets, the game hasn't been well playtested or proof read as there are gaping holes in it that need sorting out.

Fantasy Forge did try to sort this out by releasing Hivestone which fleshed out the setting a bit and provided points costs and armylists but I firmly believe that Kryomek as it was could really have done with being produced in 15mm scale to cover the grand sweeping battlefield with hordes of Kryomek trying to overwhelm the firepower of  Nexus marines.

Now it may sound like I'm trashing Kryomek here, but its worth downloading the rules from Scotia Grendel (They're free too!) as they make for interesting reading for a setting and the Kryomek are a nice alternative to the likes of the Tyranids for 40k or Xenomorphs for alien type games. I must admit that I'd love to see Kryomek being re-released as a proper skirmish game featuring a squad or two of humans against alien menaces as they try to clear out a hive or settlement ala Aliens!

Chronopia

Ah Chronopia! Possibly my favourite fantasy game!

Produced by Target Games, the same company which brought us Warzone, Chronopia was a cracking game with innovative rules and a grimly compelling setting. It was also a game of large shoulderpads which some folks were put off with but I loved the over the top styling of the assorted races. 

The Elves wielded massive axes and the humans all looked a bit chaotic with their oversize plate and chunky weapons. The Dwarves were fantastic and animalistic whilst the Orcs, or Blackbloods as they were known were actually pretty civilised!

I fondly remember collecting up and painting a Dark Tusk Dwarf force and avidly reading the rulebook and subsequent forcebooks that were released and I was really saddened when Target closed down and Chronopia was relegated to the dustbin of forgotten games.

There was a brief last huzzah when a US company gained the rights for a while but it too folded and Chronopia vanished once again. Even the miniatures are virtually impossible to get hold of now as they were terribly prone to lead rot and I've not found any over the last few years which haven't suffered from that complaint making collecting a force rather a difficult prospect.

Over the last few months, I must admit that I've been thinking of trying to put together some proxy forces for the game but the unique styling of most of them has thus far proved a difficult obstacle to overcome and I am having to face facts that if I want to make a proper go of it, I am going to have to sculpt the stuff myself. 

This isn't too serious an issue but it is very time consuming so I have no idea when I will actually have the chance to complete such an ambitious idea!

Crucible

Crucible is another of the games produced by FASA briefly before it shut up shop but I always found it rather an intriguing game. It centres around the discovery of a new continent and the scramble to colonise it and exploit its resources by the various fantasy races who inhabit Ashkelon. 

The setting itself is rather good and the races have been changed enough to move away from the usual fantasy tropes. The Elves are all a bit cruel and perverse, the humans are ruled by an eternal woman, the Orcs are noble savages defending their homelands from imperialist invaders and the Dwarves are homeless vagrants. The list goes on but needless to say, it's a really great source of inspiration by itself.

The rules themselves are really very good and cover different formations and from the few times I played it, work really well and would even give the best editions of Fantasy Battle a run for their money. What let it down, other than going out of production within six months with the closure of FASA, was the miniatures!

The sculpts were a bit of a mixed bag with some really nice sculpts alongside some truly awful ones, plus the fact that no unit had more than two sculpts making for an annoyingly repetitive look. That being said, it is fairly easy to proxy pretty much every unit type so it's another game I fancy having a re-explore of this year (if I can find my copy which I seem to have mislaid!) 

Whee! 

Well I've listed a few of the games I hope to spend a bit of time with over the coming months and I am sure I will find more as I go through my collection and I am hoping to use the opportunity to paint some stuff, game a bit and actually enjoy my hobby!

In the meantime, All the best!