New releases/projects

Well, I’ve finally got them done… the dungeon cards & tokens (that I first tested out in THIS old blog post) are now available for download :)

As you can see in the video, there’s also a sample solo dungeon included with the cards – but the encounters detailed in the pdf could just as easily be used in regular (i.e. a GM plus several players) game as well.

I’ll also add that, if anyone does give the solo adventure a run through (using the cards and the 2D dungeon tiles), I’d love to hear how it goes!

In addition to the new video, I’ve also started up an e-mail newsletter – one where I can do monthly recaps of stuff I’ve released, things I’m working on, purchases made, and other gaming nonsense. I also hope to share pictures of projects that people in the community have built using some of my textures too – as those are always cool to see.

So, if that sounds like it might be of interest, you can sign up for it HERE.

And that’s it for now… for my next project I’ll probably getting back to making more terrain… but more on that if the prototypes work out as planned :)

Playing catch-up… again!

I’ve been neglecting the blog of late (as you might have noticed)… so here’s a quick round up of what’s been going on in my own little hobby world (and some ‘behind the scenes’ commentary ;) ).

VIDEO CATCH-UP

First up is the truck that I talked about in my last post…

...the video went live back in May – but didn’t do very well compared to my other videos (which is fine – that’s just how it goes sometimes).

Next was the hedgerows (which I also mentioned last time)…

...and that episode performed about as well as my usual stuff (which is always nice to see for a pretty niche video).

Some time after that came another of my ‘dungeon in a box’ style of videos…

…and, as I had hoped, this video did rather well (which was also a bit of a relief – as I spent a lot of time on this one – essentially all of June… and then some :) ).

And finally, yesterday saw the release of some more 2D dungeon tiles…

...which isn’t doing terrible.. but it is on the lower side of average.

So, as you can see, quite a mixed bag in terms of content and performance – and while I don’t usually stress too much about the latter (as it’s largely out of my control, and I prefer to make stuff I’m excited about, rather than what I think might be popular/trending), I thought I’d include the briefest of overviews for anyone that might be interested in that kind of thing.

MINIATURES CATCH-UP

Most of the stuff I’ve been painting recently has been skaven related (you’ll see why later)… but this has involved a mix of sorting through some old models…

…painting some that I’d already got assembled (and, of course, buying and assembling a few more)...

...then splashing some paint on the new models too.

 

Now, there was a bit of a challenge here, as I’ve been trying to match the colours I painted my old skaven (with my original Army Painter paint) to my new Vallejo paint range – but I think I’ve got them pretty close.

GAMING CATCH-UP

I haven’t done much in-person gaming this year – but I did get to run a ShadowDark one-shot the other day (note that the chocolates box actually contains a bunch of scatter terrain).

And, of course, I forgot to take pictures during the game (though it was mostly a dry erase layout with some of my terrain pieces scatted here and there to liven it up a bit) – but I think it went OK (despite making a few mistakes).

It was also my first time running (or indeed playing) ShadowDark (and this particular game was a sort of funnel/gauntlet scenario that I’d written – but for a bunch of level 1 characters rather than zero level) – and, like I say I think it went down well*

*I’m also planning on running it for my online group as well – so here’s hoping they like it too.

Another game I’ve been messing around with is the old classic Advanced HeroQuest.

And, as you might have guessed, this is one of the reasons for all the skaven miniatures I’ve been trying to get finished.

It’s also more than a little responsible for me wanting the make more 2D dungeon tiles – as well as providing the incentive I needed to finish off the random dungeon cards (and tokens) that I started working on a while back.

And, since I just mentioned the cards and tokens, there does seem to be some interest in me sharing those – so I think I’m gonna go ahead and make that my next video.

Though please be aware that it’s a fairly simple idea – it only really generates the layout of the dungeon – you’ll need to make the random tables/charts yourself (which will vary depending upon the system you’re running, and the type of adventure you want to have).

Anyway, this has been a rather long post, so I think I’ll leave it there for now.

As always, thanks for reading, watching, and all that – and (with any luck) I’ll try to not leave it quite so long between updates going forward!


EDIT: I almost forgot - I also went on a solo adventure to the UK Games Expo this year...

 

...and came back with a bunch of loot :)

 

Playing catch-up

It's been a while since I last talked about what I've been doing (terrain-wise) over on my YouTube channel - so I thought now might be a good time for a quick recap!

OK then, earlier in the year I announced another 'community challenge' - i.e. just a fun little project where I put together a bunch of random textures, and then 'challenged' everyone to make something with them (you can see the blog post I made about it HERE).

Anyway, I was very pleased to have nearly thirty people take part... and you can see all of their entries in the following video:

So, I want to say thanks (again) to everyone that took part - it was really great to see how inventive/creative everyone was!

Anyway,  after the 'challenge' I've also released another three videos - the first being a sci-fi shuttle (which I'm quite proud of)...

 ...the next was a bunch of pedestals (to add to 'the dungeon')...

 ...and the most recent was a 'fun' idea for a trap...

 ...which also had a little encounter to go along with it :)

Anyway, if I go back to the 'shuttle' episode - in that video I asked if folks would like to see if I could make similar vehicles using the same chassis/fuselage/hull. And, seeing as how a lot of folks said yes, that has inspired the next video - in which, I'll be showing how to make a 6-wheeled truck.

Here's a picture of an early prototype:

And here's how it ended up looking (note the smaller one is printed at 75% - just to illustrate that you can easily change the size of most of this stuff within your pdf reader):

So, that's the video I'm working on at the moment, and with any luck I'll get that out later this week!

* * *

In other news, I seem to have been bitten by the World War II bug again... and, since I have a couple of Wargames Atlantic sprues lying around, I thought I would assemble a little (early war) British force:

And, I'm thinking that I could use the One Page Rules 'firefight' game (using the 'human defence force' list and a bit of common sense) to play a few skirmish games with them.

Obviously, that then leads me down the rabbit hole of WW2 terrain... and while I'm not fully committed to it yet... the ideas have begun:

 

(though things like 'hedgerows' and 'emplacements' will likely have a wider use than just WW2 gaming).

Anyway, I think that covers most of what I've been up to (aside from painting several more undead models to test out my new paint set)... though I have also given my hobby area a bit of a tidy/makeover - to accommodate this new(ish) Vallejo range of paint (that I recently bought - due to having problems with some of the Army Painter 'fanatic' range):

 

So yeah... that's it for this post. As I say, the next video should follow along in a day or two (or three)... so hopefully you'll tune in for that!

Gaming in the 40K universe: Game 3 – Purging the unclean!

OK then – I previously covered how I set things up for game three – and in this post I’m going to attempt to recap the game itself. So I’ll begin with a bit of background information…

After his previous expedition ended with the death of most of his small retinue, Jops Van Jools (a minor noble from a Rogue Trader dynasty) was a little hesitant to test his luck by entering ‘the hollow’ (as it’s quickly becoming known) for a second time – at least not without a sizeable force.

However, as the days passed, the horrors began to fade… and he realised that he himself hadn’t actually fared too badly (he’d escaped with only minor injuries)… and if he did bring in a larger force – that would likely attract unwanted attention (which wouldn’t be a great idea – what, with the inquisition sniffing around)… and after all – doesn’t fortune favour the bold?

So perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to explore the place a little more – I mean… now he knew what to expect – so things should go better the second time around (a fairly logical assumption).

As such, he assembled a similar sized bodyguard as before… and instructed his men to bring a flamer with them this time – as that would likely prove useful if they ran into similar trouble again.

So it was that, through his contacts, he learned that the local enforcers had been attempting to clear out a specific area – to see if they could get an old generator back online. If this could be done, it might be a section of the ‘hollow’ that could be fortified, and thus, allow the local lawmen to gain a foothold. Having power restored (even residually) might also open up other sections of the ‘hollow’ – and maybe even allow for those areas to be more easily explored (and plundered). But the enforcers had failed in their mission.

However, our young ‘hero’ was of the House of Van Jools… and his men were well trained, well equipped, and well paid (not a bunch of street scum turned enforcer thugs); and since the area had already been partially cleared out, he could perhaps kill two birds with one stone.

All he had to do was succeed where the enforcers had failed – thus placing them somewhat in his debt… while at the same time, this mission had the potential to open up new avenues for exploration – ones likely to have been sealed off for centuries.

And so the mission began...

Game System: StarQuest (from one page rules)

Primary Objective: Investigation – Make a Dex check in rooms 1 and 5 to ‘awaken the cogitators’

Secondary Objective: Safeguard – Make three successful Dex checks in room 4 to make sure the generator comes online

TURN 1

The small force entered the abandoned complex, treading carefully as they observed the damaged caused by the recent small arms fire. Making sure to be as quiet as possible; Servitor CF-HB-1 and the sergeant watched over the first dead-end passage (where one blip was registering on their auspex), while Jops and the flamer squad approached the first doorway.

Unfortunately, it would seem they had not been quiet enough, as the blip in the passage began to advance, and was quickly joined by another (i.e. I rolled a six on the reinforcement die… and randomly determined where it appeared – which happened to be here).

TURN 2

With no signals inside the first room, the troopers moved to open the door and made way for the young rogue trader to (attempt to) awaken the cogitator. However, the room was filled with noxious fumes from toxic sludge seeping out of an old pipeline (i.e. dangerous terrain) – which caused Jops to cough and hack… leading to his failure (despite spending ‘two stress’ to make a second attempt).

Meanwhile, outside in the passage, more of the blighted undead put in an appearance… lumbering down the hall with murderous intent.

TURN 3

Inside the room, Jops continued to struggle with the fumes (causing another 2 wounds – for a total of 3), but managed to awaken the machine spirit despite this… before quickly exiting the room to join his retinue in the corridor outside.

Speaking of which, in the passage outside, two of the poxwalkers were slain by the sergeant and servitor (initially from range, and then as ‘strike backs’ in close combat)… and everyone regrouped and made ready to fend off more of the foul creatures (as a similar thing happened with my reinforcement roll – and another blip appeared at the far end of this passage).

Note that I made an error here – I think you can only move and shoot – not shoot and move… but I did the latter, and might have done similar later in the game).

TURNS 4 - 8

Thus began the fight in the hallway…

...as more and more creatures were attracted to the sound of battle (i.e. a blip was revealed to be cultists arriving at the party’s rear, and yet more blips kept appearing in the same ‘dead end’ passage)...

...but luckily, the one moving from room 3 to 4 turned out to be a false reading (little more than a mutated rat fleeing the disturbance).

Though one of the troopers were lost in the exchange with the walking undead.

And then, just when all the visible enemies had been dealt with, a demon appeared!

Note that I made another mistake here, as I must have had my screen scrolled up a bit – so that when I counted down to number 4 on the visible part of the list, I read it as being a plague bearer – when in fact, that creature should have been represented by the ‘6’ blip – but never mind – I later realised my error and swapped the 4 and 6 listings around.

TURNS 9 - 13

And so, the battle in the corridor continued – with the (depleted) squad of troopers and the heavy bolter servitor attempting to hold off this new threat, while our brave rogue trader and sergeant hurried off to awaken the second cogitator bank.

Not surprisingly, things didn’t go well for the remaining troopers, and by the time Jops had got the cogitator up and running, it was only CF-HB-1 that had survived the demonic encounter (which slowly made it’s way to rejoin what was left of the group).

TURNS 14 - 22

With residual power restored, the doors were opened into the generator room – uncovering another wave of ambulatory, pox-ridden corpses. These rabid ‘things’ took down the servitor with little trouble, and put up quite a fight (dealing several wounds to Jops) before they themselves were put down.

The young rogue trader then got to work on the generator while the various ‘blips’ all seemed to converge on their position (i.e. at this point, rather than rolling randomly, I simply had any blips that came into play converge on room 4).

TURNS 23 - 27

Unlike the cogitators, this was taking much too long… so much so that Jops was barely two thirds way through the procedure when more gun-toting cultists appeared in the doorway…

...and by the time this latest threat was dealt with, the sergeant lay dead in a pool of his own blood – and Jops himself could barely stand (but luckily, an approaching blip turned out to be little more than a glitch on the scanner).

TURN 28 ONWARD

So it was that, alone and badly injured, Jops staggered back over to the generator… this time managing to complete his task without any further disturbances… thankfully.

 

AFTER ACTION REPORT

As with my last mission, I will be rolling a d6 for each unit that was taken out during the game – with the result being the number of games that these particular ‘models’ will have to sit it out (while repairs and purchases are made, allies and replacements arrive on the scene, and so on). And, luckily, my habit of rolling low actually worked in my favour this time:

 

Sergeant: 1 mission before a replacement arrives 

Flamer Squad: 2 missions before replacements arrive 

Heavy Bolter Servitor: 1 mission before a replacement can be acquired.

 

That being said, it does mean that I will need to use another group of models in my next mission (as everything other than my ‘hero’ is currently awaiting replacements/reinforcements)… but I have more painted… so it shouldn’t be a problem just yet.

I also feel that the appearance of a demon (albeit a minor one) would ramp up the tension somewhat, and be something Jops Van Jools would (at the very least) pass on to the ‘higher ups’ within the family (perhaps even to the Inquisitorial agents present in the hive).

So I’ll have to figure out how that will play out – but for now I think it’s time I brought this blog post to a close :)

Anyway, before I go I do just want to quickly say that I hope a few of you are enjoying these solo bat-reps – because, even though they are mainly just serving as a journal of sorts (to help me keep track of things), I think it’s good to see some of my terrain ‘in action’ so to speak (as I always forget to take photo’s when playing games with other people).

Gaming in the 40K universe: Setting things up for game 3.

After playing my last solo game, I had a few ideas about how I could improve things a little… nothing major, just some ‘quality of life’ improvements and some slight tweaks here and there.

The first of these was to make a few more ‘blips’ that could be used for ‘false signals’ on the sides that get revealed when the token comes into sight.

I also decided to (use the StarQuest app to) generate twice as many enemies as I needed this time…

1. Three Plague Zombies (poxwalkers)

2. Three Plague Zombies

3. Three Plague Zombies

4. Three Plague Zombies

5. Three Plague Cultists with Rifles

6. One Plague Warrior (plaguebearer)

...so that’s six enemy models/units, and the same amount of ‘error’ blips.

I then mixed up all the numbered blips and separated them into two piles – and each of these piles also had three ‘false-signal/error’ tokens mixed in as well.

That way I could use one pile (that contained 3 random enemies and 3 false signals) to populate the board at the beginning at the game, and a second pile (that also contained 3 random enemies and 3 false signals) to use as reinforcements during the game itself.

(Note that ‘reinforcements’ are my homebrew way of introducing extra enemies instead of the ‘wave’ system in regular StarQuest. Basically, at the end of each turn I roll a d6… and if I roll a six, I then place a blip from the reinforce pile at a randomly determined dead end).

Anyway, for the table set-up I used my random dungeon tiles and cards again (to generate the layout) – but like before, because I only have a small table to play on, I did have to jigger things around a bit to get it to fit (I’ll also be using my ¾ size ruler again to measure distances).

So, pictured above is how things were laid out… which I then tried to tie to some of the mission objectives in the StarQuest book.

As such, I placed a computer terminal in each of the ‘special’ rooms – and used these for the markers for the ‘Investigation’ Primary objective. So, my hero had to get to each of these and make a Dex Test to get them back online (thus restoring power to the doors to the Quest Room).

Then, as the secondary objective, I chose ‘Safeguard’ – which meant I had to get to the quest room and make another three successful Dex checks to make sure the generator came online.

Some of the other interpretations where:

A blip was placed in each monster room and the quest room. The remaining 3 blips where each placed at one of the dead end ‘monster spawner’ points (you can’t see it in the picture – but the last one is at the end of the passage in the bottom right).

As before, I numbered all of the rooms (1 to 6), and rolled a die for each blip (except the one in the quest room). The number on the die then represents where that particular blip is moving to. When a blip reaches its destination, it remains there for one round, and I then roll a die for it again (note that all blips simply make a 6” move on their turn until they are revealed).

The ‘T’ token represents dangerous terrain filling that tile (in this case noxious fumes from the toxic spill).

The ‘R’ tokens means that I need to roll a random event if/when I enter those tiles (and try to interpret the result in a fitting way… re-rolling if necessary).

When I got a ‘room feature’ on a card… I simply put some crates on the tile, and these would be treated like a search token (I only got one this time – as seen in the corner of room 6).

And I think that was about it. As you can tell, I’m not always using the cards and tokens in the same way – but instead just trying to make them fit whatever mission (or indeed whatever game system) I’m playing at the time.

So, last time the ‘special rooms’ where areas that could be searched… but for this mission I’m using them as part of the main objective (and I’m instead using ‘room feature’ results as things that can be searched). It’s really just a matter of using them to inspire ideas, rather than giving them set values.

Anyway, because my Rogue Trader and his (heavily armed) servitor where the only survivors of the last mission… he needed to add some new members to his retinue…

…and here we have (from left to right) a sergeant of the household troops, the servitor that survived the last mission, the main man himself (Rogue Trader Jops Van Jools) and a small squad containing a flame thrower (as I reckon that will come in handy for killing swarms of enemies).

So, as you can see – like before, I’m not using multiple heroes for my game (like you are supposed to), but instead creating a small retinue worth the same amount of points as my character. So that’s a total of 220 points (110 for my hero and 110 from various ‘firefight’ lists… and it’s that 220 points that I used to create the custom ‘wave’ of enemies listed above).

And I think that’s about it for this little pre-game ramble… in my next post I’ll do a quick recap of the game itself (and we’ll see who managed to survive this one :o ).

Gaming in the 40K universe: Game 2 – Part 2 (going rogue).

The last time I posted here, I got to talking about how I was going about running/playing a solo game of (One Page Rules) StarQuest – but with a few changes so that I could have just the one hero (accompanied by a bunch of retainers) exploring a dungeon-like environment.

So, for the sake of completeness, I’ll post a link to that entry HERE, and I’ll also re-post the photo of the table set up:

Though something I forgot to mention last time was the fact that on smaller boards, OPR recommend that you half all the distances (movement, weapon range, etc.) - however I feel that really slows things down too much.

As such, I thought that maybe reducing everything to three quarters might be a better way to go… though that does mean a bit of extra maths. However, to simplify that, I thought I could still use all the listed ranges in the rules as written – but instead, make a little ruler that was reduced to three quarters size.

So here it is pictured next to a regular ruler…

...and, I have to say, it worked rather well :)

Anyway, now that I’ve got all that out of the way… let’s get to the mission itself.

 

BACKGROUND

As mentioned previously, all of these games are being set in a little homebrew corner of the 40k verse – with the possibility of certain outcomes influencing other games (so the result from a solo or co-op skirmish game could have ramifications in an RPG one-shot, and vice versa).

So, with that in mind, the first game that took place (a co-op game using the firefight rules more conventionally) saw an inquisitorial agent (accompanied by a captain of the local branch of enforcers) retrieve some valuable information (of Vermillion level security clearance) from an old abandoned section of the Magna Prime hive city… an area that has recently been rediscovered/reopened.

And, as has been detailed already, other miscreants and ne'er-do-wells have also been exploring the area (despite the best efforts of the Magna Prefects – the local enforcers) in the hope of retrieving valuable archeotech and the like.

Therefore, when Jops Van Jools (a low ranking family member of a Rogue Trader dynasty) appeared on the scene (as part of a scheduled visit – providing various delicacies and even a few illicit goods to the upper hive), he quickly learned of this new development within the depths of the hive – and not surprisingly, it was something that piqued his interest.

Through his contacts, he also learned that the inquisition have involved themselves (though, so far, somewhat unofficially) – but that has not perturbed him from undertaking his own investigation… as any potential secrets/artefacts of ‘the hollow’ (as it is becoming known) might well prove to be valuable… possibly to the extent of elevating his position within the family.

So it is that Jops has used his influence to gain access to a secluded section of ‘the hollow’ - one that appears to be fairly self contained... and one with a faint glimmer of power – the source of which is worthy of further investigation.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: RETRIEVAL (recover the power source from the quest room, and return to the entrance/exit passage)

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: NONE

 

THE MISSION

Jops and his crew (a squad of three household troopers, Maximilian the cyber mastiff, and heavy weapon servitor CF-HB-1) entered the abandoned structure and immediately picked up multiple movement/lifeform signatures on their scanners. Hopefully these would be little more than rad-grubs and tox-crawlers (or other underhive pests) – but it paid to be cautious nonetheless, as it could just as easily be mutants or cultists… that is, if you gave any credence to the rumours surrounding this place.

TURN 1

CF-HB-1 was sent to keep watch over the left passage, and Maximilian the right, while the young Rogue Trader and his guards investigated the first room on their way to the power source. The ‘blip’ reading from the left proved to be a false one… as did one from the right… but the third one marked a bunch of lumbering corpses – each of their faces contorted into an unsettling rictus grin as they advanced towards the party.

TURNS 2 TO 8

Jops took one of the creatures down with a blast from his plasma pistol, though the panicked guards missed will all three of their shots.

Things then escalated quickly as Maximilian was overwhelmed by the remaining two pox-ridden walkers… and yet more mutant dead-men appeared at the group’s back (from deeper within the complex).

In the resulting battle, things went poorly for the household troops, as they were torn to ribbons while trying to hold back the initial group of monsters (to give Jops and CF-HB-1 time to deal with the newcomers).

And all of that commotion must have alerted other denizens of this portion of The Hollow… as no sooner as the undead beasts were slain, a group of foul smelling cultists (clad in tattered rags, and clutching rusty weapons) entered the room – forcing the remaining members of the expedition to turn and face them.

TURNS 9 TO 16

Luckily, these cultists were dealt with quickly, and Jops was able to search the old consoles in the room (finding some kind of discarded stim wedged behind them), while the servitor opened the door to reveal yet another glitch ‘blip’ on the scanner.

With only one distant blip on the scanner, the remaining duo made their way to their target…

...though it was no simple task to remove this ancient power cell (or whatever it was) – so CF-HB-1 was set to watch the door… while Jops did his thing (i.e. it took several rounds for me to make a successful skill test to retrieve the object).

And all the while, new blips started to appear on the scanners (i.e. this was the first time I actually rolled any ‘sixes’ at the end of each turn – to indicate ‘reinforcement blips’).

TURNS 17 TO 20

With the ‘goods’ (finally) secured, the pair started to make their way back to the entrance - breathing a sigh of relief when the next blip proved to be nothing at all…

...unlike a new reading that suddenly appeared at the end of the passage they had just traversed – as more pox-infested cultists crawled out of the drainage system (i.e. another six was rolled in the ‘reinforcement phase’ – and a blip was placed at a random dead-end).

However, since they had the prize in their possession, Jops Van Jools decided that discretion was the better part of valour… and made a beeline for the exit (lamenting the loss of his troops and the expensive cyber mastiff that would be left to rot in this emperor-forsaken pit of corruption).

 

AFTER ACTION REPORT

And that was about it. All things considered, I think it worked out pretty well.

There’s a few things I might change up for my next game – but I’ll discuss those more when I get to it.

In the meantime, I’ve also decided that any models that get taken out during the game cannot be used again for 1d6 missions (as repairs/purchases are made, reinforcements arrive, and so on).

As such, I cannot use my cyber mastiff model again for 2 missions, and these particular trooper models can’t be used for 4.

I can still use the same unit types if I paint more models to represent them (or paint up entirely different units) – but for the next mission only servitor CF-HB-1 will be rejoining him from this particular crew… any other units I include will have to be freshly painted models.

Hopefully, this will encourage me to assemble and paint more models – because if this particular mission is anything to go by, these extra ‘filler units' don’t last long once combat is joined.

Anyway, I hope this was an interesting bat-rep of sorts. I’m mainly ‘journaling’ them for my own benefit/reference (as is often the way with solo gaming)… but I’ll continue to share them here on the blog… along with any session recaps of any RPGs or co-op games that I play in this setting (whatever the system). 

But that’s it for now… I’m off to see what models I can muster for my next game :)