Random character creation...

 Greetings fellow Oldhammerers!

Nothing painting wise to show at the moment I'm afraid (although I have painted some stuff, I just need to photograph the damn things), but recently I dug up the gang sheets from my old Necromunda campaign, and looking them over brought back some fun memories of games past.

The campaign I played just involved me and my brother so whilst we each had our own gang (Escher for me and Van Saar for him) we also included "NPC" gangs from each of the other Houses. Later I believe we added Ratskins and Skavies when we got Outlanders.

We played our own gangs against each other or one of the "NPC" gangs, or even fights between two "NPC" gangs. We mostly played with the card terrain from the box, and the NPC gangs were proxied using the plastic Goliath and Orlock gangers (unpainted I'm ashamed to say...).

Looking at the gang sheets now shows some questionable naming going on (the Delaque gang was the MIB's with several X-Files references for example...).

Thought I'd throw in a bit of art since I don't have anything else to show off

However I remember some fun developments over the campaign. My Escher gang was somewhat lacking in womanpower (due to being built around the 8 models in the gang boxset) and a recall one game where due to a poor deployment half of the girls were taken out by a single frag grenade!

Some of my fondest memories are how some of gangers gained personalities purely from the luck of dice (and sometimes irrespective of their characteristics).

My brother's gang contained a ganger named March, who developed a reputation for never missing (it wasn't like my brother was overly lucking in his dice rolls, except when it came to March's to hit rolls anyway). He literally never missed a shot, and it was a good thing he was armed with a lasgun due to all the ammo rolls he had to make. No doubt this capability was why March appears to have accumulated the most experience of any ordinary ganger in the campaign...

The Delaques had a ganger named Crycek (that would be one of the X-Files references...) who also developed a reputation for never getting hit, no matter what was fired at him.

"It's spelt 'Krycek', with a K damn it..."

 Probably the defining moment of the campaign was when the Van Saars and Delaques faced off against each other. During the game the moment came when March took a shot at Crycek. The unstoppable force had met the immovable object! The impossible marksman versus the invisible man! Which would retain their reputation untarnished!

We both watched the roll with bated breath...

And... It was a hit!!! March's unbroken record remained intact! Crycek's was in tatters.

Reveling in his triumph my brother made the roll to wound... 

A natural 1. Crycek escaped unscathed (well apart from the, for him anyway, new experience of being pinned I suppose)...

It was moments like that made Necromunda the game it was for me. Unfortunately the campaign never really reached a conclusion eventually being abandoned as other parts of life got in the way.

But I can still recall that epic moment, and how those names written on a piece of paper and the little plastic men they were assigned to came to life through the whims of those tiny cubes of fate.

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Aren't you a little short for a Tempest Scion (or whatever it is they call Stormtroopers in 40k these days)...

Anyway I've done some more painting on a number of minis since my last post.

First up are the remaining members of my original Necromunda Escher boxset to go with the heavy I showed last time.

And a group shot of the whole gang.

But my main effort (getting back to the title) are three more of my Star Wars inspired models for my scenario idea. These three round out the faction including the crew of the Perennial Sparrow. 

First we have Olken Binobe, last surviving member of Mystic Knights of Deij.

Still yet to master painting white

Discovered that it was quite difficult to fit his backpack with all the gubbins on his belt

This model was the actually my original inspiration for the Star Wars inspired minis back when I first saw it. Took some years to actually acquire one though. The armour colour comes from the source character's get up in the Clone Wars series.

Then we have Binobe's new apprentice, known to Hanz as the "Kid".

When I started looking around for a suitable figure for this part I couldn't find any in the old Rogue Trader ranges that really worked for me, so I started looking further field.

First it occurred to me that the character is from a desert world. Then I thought that the Van Saar enviro-suits look a bit reminiscent of the get up worn by a group of desert dwellers in a certain other Sci-Fi setting (the David Lynch film version at least). Given that that setting is itself a major inspiration for 40k (and probably also Tatooine in Star Wars as well) this seemed highly appropriate and this is the result.

Finally is the faction's objective in my possible scenario. The Contessa Elia von Olderon, leader of a failed rebellion against the Imperium on the world of Nova Spero.

This is Romana from the old Citadel Doctor Who range. Although as she isn't on a slotta base I believe she is from the RAFM manufactured version of the range. I actually acquired the model years ago after seeing one on Axiom's blog but never actually found a use for her until now.

I deliberately tried for a warmer white in comparison to Binobe starting with a Bleached Bone basecoat rather than the Elf Grey I used for him.

Not sure what I'll paint next, possible start on the third faction for the scenario.

Till next time...

Cap's Smyrk

Human-Cyborg Disintegrations...

Greetings once more...

I've managed to complete another model in the past week. This one took a little bit of work but I'm pretty happy with how he/it turned out.

This is another member of the crew of the Perennial Sparrow, commonly known to Hanz as "Goldenrod". It refers to itself as Zi'Phreap'Yoah when not willfully misinterpreting the orders it has been given.

The definition on the right leg is better than this picture shows.

There are some green wires in his midsection that also don't show up here.

This was a freebie that came with White Dwarf back when the Necrons were first released that has sat in its blister pack for the last (god...) 22 years. I didn't find the Necrons particularly interesting at the time and thus didn't do anything with it. I finally found a use for it.

I even thought to take a few work in progress shots with this one.

Started out with a base grey

Then painted it silver, with some wash shading

Then brushed a vallejo bronze over the body and brass on the gun

In play Zi will be a Chaos Android harking back to the Necron's origins. I rolled up some random robot stats from the Rogue Trader book. I probably won't use the Compendium robot rules, given its actually a daemon, and I don't think they will work well in the confined spaces the game is intended for.

I wanted his gun to be something a little special without having to make up any new stats and not too powerful either. So I came up with the idea of randomising its effects.

Each time it fires roll a D6.

    1-2 - Fires as a Neuro-Disruptor.

    3-5 - Fires as a Graviton Gun.

    6 - Fires as a Plasma Gun (doesn't need to charge up but cannot be fired during the next turn).

This gives it some weird effects and most of the time it won't cause any actual damage, but occasionally it will be very destructive.

Finally a quick group shot of all my "Astral Conflict" inspired models so far.

Till next time...

Cap'n Smyrk

Scoudrels and Scenarios...

Following on from my sinister mostly bionic inquisitor I have painted a couple more models inspired by a certain series of "science fiction" films.

These models and more that I have planned are part of a plan I've been formulating for a while. This involves a (possibly solo-play) Rogue Trader scenario that I actually might be able play, inspired by the aforementioned film series.

This is partially driven by my lack of much in the way of terrain on which to play a game, and not really having any space to store terrain if I were to try my hand at making any. I do however possess a copy of the old GW board game Ultramarines, with its fit together board sections (as well as some additional ones from old issues of White Dwarf). As such the scenario involves using these board sections to play on.

Anyway these ideas are only partially formed at the moment, so on with the models. These are at least part of the crew of the Perennial Sparrow.

A pair of scoundrels

Firstly is Hanz Ollow, the captain of the Sparrow.

The colour scheme is based on his getup in the second film which fitted best with the clothes the model is wearing.

Complete with yellow trouser stripe

And his beastman first mate Broo'Chakka.

I tried to get some of the variation from very dark to bright browns on the fur, although its only really noticeable on the head. Originally I tried out a bone colour on the horns and hooves, but my shading didn't really work out and after checking out some pictures of actually goat horns and hooves I switched to a brownish grey base colour.

Tried a dark red drybrush over the teeth of the chain dagger.

Still need to acquire the model for one of the other main characters, if I can find one at a reasonable price. And some suitably well-armoured minions for the Inquisitor.

Till next time.

Cap'n Smyrk

Rampant battling Dragon Gods...

So to keep up with my resolution to post something at least once a month and realising that the end of the month has snuck up on me I've thrown together this post on the fly without anything specific to show off.

As such I'm mostly going to be talking about some of the stuff I bought whilst at Salute a couple of weeks back. Unusually given my predilection for Rogue Trader and sci-fi subjects these mostly consisted of Fantasy rule sets...

I will admit to being somewhat of a collector of rules possessing many which I've never really played but enjoy perusing. Anyway this post isn't going to be a review of these rules, I leave that to more qualified observers but will mostly be my rambling thoughts.

First up was Dragon Rampant which is obviously fairly well known in the old school gaming scene along with its historical parent Lion Rampant.

The other was Foundry's God of Battles by Jake Thornton. I will admit to having fairly fond memories of Jake's tenure as White Dwarf editor (despite it being during the dreaded 'Red Period'), possible as it was around that time that one of my favourite GW games, Necromunda, came out.

Notably there are are some similarities in the basic rules concepts of the two sets although they are intended to work on slightly different scales and Dragon Rampant is of course a lot more generic not being tied to a specific world or miniatures range.

Having said that creating your own lists for GoB wouldn't be particularly difficult, and the concepts behind some of the armies included are quite interesting. The army based terrain tables and weather charts add a touch of flavour to the proceedings. The Habitat rules which have terrain pieces inhabited by various denizens that will defend their homes violently (often against both sides...) are also quite amusing.

I particularly liked the 'Miracles' magic system in GoB which is a relatively simple card based (using normal playing cards) system but includes a lot of tactical depth at the same time.

I suspect that overall Dragon Rampant is likely to be more useful to me if I ever feel like getting any fantasy games, mostly as I'm only likely to ever be able to field a enough models for a skirmish.


On the painting front I'm currently painting some Hasslefree villagers (also bought at Salute) to use a non-combatants.

Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

Adventurer in Progress...

Thought I show a few work in progress picks of my Eldar Adventurer.

He has his base colours and is just waiting for a bit more shading and some highlights. Still need to paint his various gem stones as well.

And a pic of him with my earlier Scout to show where he should end up.

Also remembered that I have this Necromunda Wyrd lying around who might end up taking on the role of the Wizard in the Rogue Quest party.

 Till next time.


Cap'n Smyrk

More Hideous Mutants and Suicidal Agents of Chaos...

So continuing my adventures in Chainsaw Warrior...

I once again managed a pretty impressive character, 14 Endurance, 13 Wounds, 11 Close Combat, +2 Marksmanship, 8 Agility and 6 Equipment Points.
I managed to get the Chainsaw and a number of other useful bits of kit. The only down points were his average Agility and the fact that the gun I picked up was the mostly useless Blaster...

Suitably equipped I set forth into the building and happily carved my way through a multitude of Zombies, Chaos Agents, Rat swarms and doors. Until I encountered the most powerful of the Mutant Things (Combat Value 16).

Why hello there Ugly...

My Rad Suit minimised the amount of radiation he inflicted on me and it was straight into the hacking and slashing. A handy piece of equipment gave me a close combat of 15 just one less than my opponent and I was not especially worried.

What followed was one of the most frustrating displays of (computerised) dice rolling I have ever seen...

The Mutant proceeded to roll a series of 10 and 11's which I had to roll box cars to beat or even draw against, which I simply couldn't. On the few occasions that it did roll low I proceeded to manage just enough to draw...

Finally vanquishing the monster I was reduced to just 4 wounds but I plunged on until just a few cards later I met up with the bane of my computerised existence the Suicide Chaos Agent!

Oh no not you again...

Swiftly my battered Warrior drew his Blaster and snapped off a shot.

Which promptly missed and he was blown to smithereens...

On the next game I managed to get my hands on a Teleporter a nifty bit of kit that allows you to go and get a replacement Laser Lance without having go back through all the cards again. Brilliant that will make the Suicide Agent less of problem, although I was stuck with the pathetic Blaster again.

However despite having an Agility of 10 I failed to dodge an exploding trap which proceeded to destroy my (guess what...) Teleporter. Thus when just a few cards later the b*@$!&d Suicide Agent popped up again (and my Blaster once again missed) he blew up my Laser Lance. Aided by several Secret Passages I made my way back out and in again with my new Laser Lance (and finding a gear cache on the way where I replaced my useless Blaster with a Sub-Machine Gun).

At this point I met another Suicide Agent who (dodging my shot... again...) blew up my shiny new SMG. Fortunately I was a eaten by rampant Zombie just a couple of cards later saving me any further frustration...

Notably this was not the first time a seemingly ridiculous series of dice rolls have hampered me in fights against one of the tougher opponents. Whilst I'm tempted to go for one of the lower difficulty levels these only increase your chances of getting better stats and equipment, which as my first play through proved is of no help when you are let down by the vagaries of the (computer-generated) dice.

Next time Darkness... Next Time...

On the modelling front Regis d'Sarck and her bodyguard are both coming on nicely so hopefully I'll be able to show them off by the weekend.

Till Next Time...


Cap'n Smyrk

60 Minutes To Save New York...

So something a little different some actually gaming!

Well sort of... Not the tabletop sort.

As you may have guessed from the title I'm talking about Chainsaw Warrior the classic GW survival board/card game.

Now I don't own and I've never played the original game but reading various online reviews and play throughs has inspired me to get the new digital version for my tablet.

Now this has several different difficulty levels but I've felt compelled to play on the Hard difficulty as this matches the original board game.

I've managed about six plays through so far, my first time I lucked out stats wise apart from agility but eventually fell foul of a suicidal Chaos Agent who blew up my Laser Lance and I had to fight my way back out again to get another one.

On my third play through I actually managed to make it to the second deck, but never found Darkness. My recent plays have been mostly sabotaged by poor a hand-to-hand skill or endurance.

The game has proved just as difficult as suggested but I'm having a blast none the less.

On the modelling front I've just started on painting the personal bodyguard of Euphoria's governor replete in his ceremonial armour so hopefully I'll be able to show him off soon.

Till next time...


Cap'n Smyrk