Five Parsecs.. solo SciFi fun and speedpaint fun

I mentioned in the last post (Xenos Rampant game) that I never really played any SciFi games.. and that's true. Although, in recent weeks that has changed just a tiny bit. I came across a game called "Five Parsecs from Home" - a bit late to the party I know.. but the fact that it is predominantly a solo campaign game appealed. 

I won't review the game itself, as there are plenty of good reviews and play-throughs out there. I've enjoyed rolling up my first crew, led by Dash Herand, and playing the first game in their campaign. (They came up against three 'Rage Lizard' mercenaries and completed that mission successfully). The game has definite RPG elements, with character backgrounds and sets of skills, really fleshing out the crew.

As well as my crew, I need random enemy dudes for them to fight against..I considered 15mm Lazerburn but was persuaded by Northstar Nick to pick up a box of the Stargrave miniatures at the last Partizan, and grabbed a sprue of the female crew, along with some other figs online. I've since also received an Army Painter Speed Paint starter set and I think you can tell which of these minis received those !

(I've also picked up some Space Marines for future Xenos games, so looking forward to getting some speedpaint on them too!)

Stargrave crew figures (Speedpaint)

Wargames Atlantic lizardmen

Wargames Atlantic 'Cannon Fodder'

Trying out Speedpaint on more Stargrave figs

Dash and some of his crew

A few more 'crew' figures

Dragons and Lions Rampant

On Sunday, Tom and I decided to have a game of Dragon Rampant. We haven't played for a while, but knew that it would be easy on the brainicles! Tom joked that I had posted a 'tutorial' video on Dragon Rampant, so should know the rules..I hadn't thought of it like that, but watching it again, I see what he meant! 

In our pre-game texts, we agreed to take 30 points and to go 'old school'. Tom has GW history and still plays WFB regularly.. I've never really done more than dip my toe, but recently was gifted a rather lovely collection of vintage Wood Elves, which I've been in the process of 'refurbishing'. So, Wood Elves vs Night Goblins it was! *The experts will no doubt spot that the mounted Elves are not GW, but still of a respectable vintage :-)

Tom has written up a nice Goblin-centric account of the game on his blog, so just some pics ..

Love these Troll figures!

Then, on Monday evening, enthused by our Dragon Rampant game, and my recent purchase of the new edition of Lion Rampant, I set out a little solo game on my dining table using some Wars of the Roses figures - I used the standard armies from the book*, and played the second scenario 'Gladiators' - where a pre-battle duel gave each side some extra dice. I played Bourchier, who was 'Rash' with Wild Charge, against Stanley, 'Blessed', which allowed him to reroll a set of dice (he picked the wrong ones as it happens!). This was by no means a historical match up, just what I had available.

It was a very quick game and ended by the untimely demise of Thomas Stanley, one of the commanders, but gave me a taste for more Rampant games!

(*One Elite Foot, One Veteran Heavy Infantry and Two Veteran Archers)

Men at Arms clash, bringing down young Stanley

Ego Pugno! Painting Gladiators for Sons of Mars

Many (many) years ago, I picked up a neat little pre-painted set of gladiators from EM4.. they came with a poster-style fold out arena, some special dice and a set of gladiator rules.. all of which I never used. 

More recently, I grabbed a copy of 'Sons of Mars' gladiator rules and a couple of packs of the Crusader gladiators from North Star when Nick had some kind of an offer on. Within days of purchase I suspected that I'd never use these either.. not because they're not any good.. but because I don't need another project and when am I ever going to play gladiators?

Anyway, the other day for some reason I decided to get them out and try the rules out. Turns out that for solo games, they're quite good.. and the campaign looks quite good too. So, I decided to paint up the Crusader minis. 

Rather than paint them in my usual way, I also thought I'd have a go at trying to match the style of the EM4 prepainted minis.. not a technique I've ever really used, and maybe a little old school these days, but I fancied the challenge. Overall, I'm quite pleased.. not the way I'd normally paint stuff.. but, despite a bit of size difference, they look like a coherent set and I'm quite looking forward to making a little 'arena', thinking up some daft latin names and playing a few games, even if it's solo.

EGO PUGNO! (the EM4 pre-painted and newly painted Crusader minis  together)

Reviving DBA armies - a heady mix of nostalgia and lemsip!

Despite being laid almost completely low by man-flu this week, I managed to stick some grassy finishing touches on to a project that I've been enjoying over the last month or so.

Fairly recently Steve (of Steve's Painting Shed) posted some Facebook pictures of some 15mm Greek DBA armies he'd been renovating. (obviously gorgeous!)

Although I pretty much only ever played DBA solo, (or maybe because I pretty much only ever played solo) I loved it. I played out a couple of mediterranean campaigns, and the first ever wargaming experience my son had (when he was about 3 or 4), was charging elephants into Roman hastatii. 

That was a while ago. Fred's 21 now and the figures have long been consigned to a rather scarily disorganised and uncared for pile of 15mm memories in a box in the loft.

Inspired by Steve's posts, I dug them out and worked out that I could salvage Roman and Carthaginian armies, (all Essex I think), and cobble a strange collection of Donnington Italians into II/8a italian army.

Following his advice, I picked up DBA 3.0, which definitely brings a few changes that I've had to get my head around, both to the rules, but also some small army list changes. I ordered some new MDF bases from warbases... and a few weeks later we have two DBA armies ready to rock! 

Nearly twenty years since they last met!

Polybian Roman II/33

Later Carthaginian II/32a

My old 2x2 board has been given a repaint, and a few bits of felt and stuff will provide the scenery for now, as I add suitably shaped and modelled bits. I've got an old scratch-built BAU which will work as a city but 3.0 brings some new BAU types, so that's something to look at.

Falling back in love with these little armies, no doubt mostly due to a heady mix of nostalgia and lemsip, and looking forward to playing more DBA. (next up, finish the Italians, then plan the next armies)

Frostgrave.. the rivalry begins

Not managing to arrange a 'proper' game for various reasons, I had finished off a few more scenery bits recently and thought I'd have another solo bash at Frostgrave. Rather than play one of the solo scenarios, I rolled up two warbands - Zaleus the Summoner and Brankus the Enchanter and thought I'd just play a 'standard' game.. I may try a little series, taking these two warbands in head to head 'campaign'.. we'll see.

It was a fairly close fought affair, with Zaleus coming out on top with 3 of the 5 treasures. Although his apprentice was struck down by Renauld's crossbow (a natural 20), she survived. Both warbands escaped any 'serious' losses in fact.. Brankus lost one thug, but they don't count!

During the game I realise that I had picked a few of the same spells for the two opposing wizards, so that could have been better planned, but we'll see. Brankus has gained 1 level and learned a new spell from a Grimoire they found, whilst Zaleus jumped up 2 levels, improving a couple of existing spells. 

Stan and Cnut investigate an alleyway

Brankus in sullen mood

Zaleus commands a zombie to join Astrogoth fighting the skeleton

Izith about to catch a crossbow bolt badly 

Stan and Cnut encounter two wild dogs

Aggie, Brankus' apprentice, looks over the scrapping bands

Having dealt with the dogs, Stand and Cnut are jumped by thugs

A snow troll wanders into the street, must have heard the fighting

Lucius and a construct are outnumbered by Zaleus' men

New britches for Ulf!

Writhing Fumes.. a Frostgrave solo game

Jingzel sat in the shelter of a ruined archway breathing hard..'By Ozziak's balls!' he swore, 'That was hard!'.

Jingzel was the sole survivor of his band.. every single one of them.. including his apprentice, Dax.. had fallen to those Vapour snakes.. there were so many of them.. and they just kept coming. Dax had undoubtedly saved his life, casting Curse and Blinding Light spells with ease, whilst his own magic failed him. Maybe it was panic. Yet somehow, he alone had made it past those damned serpents, and the two constructs guarding the door.  He recalled the two thugs he'd only hired last week, going down to the endless snake attacks and groaned as he remembered the treasure they'd dropped.. nothing he could do now. 

Nothing but return to the camp before dark, raise another band and carry on!

Writhing Fumes scenario from the Perilous Dark book

Jingzel and his band 

Wulfred leads a group of thugs into yet another Vapour snake

A zombie raised by Jingzel fights alongside Helga in the alleyway

Wulfred leads the way

The party approach the doorway, Dax blinding the constructs

Helga, having lost the zombie, accompanies a raised Imp

Jingzel failing to cast spells, looking for an exit

Certain death awaits the party

A rare moment of triumph when Ragnuld hits a construct hard with one shot