Raygun Rayborn and the Red Planet: Factions

 As promised, here are photos of the factions I mentioned in my previous post about the Raygun Rayborn game from Recon 2022. My son will playing in the Raygun game at the upcoming Hurricon 2022 convention. I told him to take plenty of photos. :-)

Raygun Rayborn and the Red Planet: Pulp Sci-Fi Goodness

Alex Paul ran a 10-player, 28mm Barsoom-themed game at Recon 2022, using a lot of custom terrain. Most of the Barsoom miniatures are from Tin Man Miniatures and Bronze Age Miniatures. You might also see some re-purposed miniatures from games like Star Wars.

Alex used his homebrew rules he calls "Stunning Stories." I didn't get to play in the game because it took place at the same time I was playing "To the Strongest," which I wrote about in the previous post. Since I was near this game, I did get to watch everyone having fun. It was a centerpiece game that afternoon, and probably the most elaborate setup of the con. I love pulp sci-fi. Hats off the Alex!

Today, I'm posting photos of the game table before the game began. I tried moving around the table in a logical fashion. Later this week, I've scheduled photos of eight of the ten factions and their objective sheets.

 

Where Have I Been?

BTW sorry for the long delay in posting. Back in May I began having pain in my left shoulder. By the end of the month, it was crazy painful to move it much, so off to the ortho. After X-rays and MRI, looks like I tore one of the tendons a bit and inflamed the you-know-what out of the rest of the shoulder. I haven't slept much in three months! I think I'm going to change my address to the physical therapy office,where I go twice a week. I'm improving a lot, but just typing this post has bothered me. It's been a rough summer. (I did get a new tablet, which has helped me get away from the desk.) Thank goodness Hurricon is coming in a few weeks--I need some good fun! Next Recon I will be running at least one game--more on those thoughts later. I'll do some photo dumps to get the rest of Recon 2022 posted. On to the pics of the game. I hope you like them!

New Idea for Activations in Skirmish Games, Doctor Who Healed Me, Obvious Rogue Trader Revalations, and 50!?!

Well, after lying on my back every evening for three weeks with a heat pad, I'm finally feeling better. Of course, that didn't matter to our hot water heater, which died last Sunday and wasn't replaced until this past Friday. Several days of cold showers in the morning did not help my back nor my attitude! That aside, I did get watch the first 4.5 seasons of the new Doctor Who show. I had never seen the new series, so watching it was educational and overall enjoyable. Plus it eased my pain. But maybe more about The Doctor another day. Oh yeah, did I  mention that today I turned 50?

While resting and popping pain meds, I also "tried" reading some of my old rules that had been sitting unread on my shelves for ages. A big moment came when I finally got to read my copy of the original Rogue Trader. That was an eye-opener because I have many of the 40K books from 1st edition through 4th edition or so, but I've never actually played the game. Reading Rogue Trader from an unbiased (neither a hater nor a fanboy) point of view, I kept wondering if I were reading a set of Ancients or Napoleonic rules instead of one-man-per-base skirmish rules. Honestly, I felt that I could pop out my Space Marine figure and pop in a battalion of fusileers. The push-back and pursuit rules are right out of such an historical game, and sound much like Warmaster's fall-back and pursuit rules would. Anyway, Rogue Trader goodness and oddness is another topic for another day as well, if people would be interested.

This evening, I thought I'd post an idea I had for activating individual models in a skirmish game. It could be used in anything from a Western to a sci-fi setting. I think it could handle single figure activation, which was my goal, or unit activation.

These are just the bare-bones of the activation system. I took the dice cup idea from Bolt Action, though I had been thinking of the same thing ever since I played my first of World at War: Blood & Bridges years ago. Drawing on my love of collectable card games and their use of event and action cards, I'd also like to add that to the final version of the game. Plus, I'd like d10s for all skill and combat tests, but d6s for activation. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So let's see what you guys think. Oh yeah, did I mention that today I turned 50?

PRE-GAME STUFF
Each player will probably have up to a dozen or so models. Each player needs enough six-sided dice to start the first turn of the game. All players must use the same size die, but each player will have a different color. These are the "action dice." (Instead of dice, you could use colored glass beads, small wooden blocks, poker chips, or any other type of token.)

You also need one opaque cup large enough to hold all the action dice.

TURN SEQUENCE:

1. New Turn
At the beginning of a new turn, each player places into the cup a number of his action dice equal to half his remaining models able to perform at least one action at the start of the turn. Round up any fractions.

(For example, Player A has nine models still in the game, so he places five of his action dice into the cup. He then passes the cup to Player B, who places four of his own action dice into the cup since he has eight models in play.)

2. New Round
At the beginning of each new round, draw a die from the cup and give it to the appropriate player, who becomes the active player for the round.

3. Action Points
The active player rolls his six-sided die to see how many Action Points (AP) he gets to spend for the round. See the table below.

Die Roll   AP
1, 2, 3,   1
4, 5       2
6          3

[Design Note: Here is an area where an action card could give a Star model one extra AP up a 3AP maximum. Or add a +1 to the die roll but a single Star model must use all the APs. You get the idea.]

4. Model Activation
The active player selects one of his models without a Spent token and activates it. [Design Note: Spent tokens mark models that have already acted during the turn or who have lost a turn for whatever reason.] He then gives the model one or more actions, spending the appropriate number of AP for each action performed. Some sample actions and their AP costs are listed below.

[Nearly all actions will cost 1AP because I really hate most all action point systems. Only complex, time consuming, or game-balance-issue actions will cost more. Some scenario actions, like shutting down the nuclear rocket launch, might take a character several AP totaled up over a few turns because that is the scenario's goal. Of course, saving and then playing just the right action card at just the right moment might help stop the countdown at the obligatory 0:01 seconds remaining.]

Action  AP
Move 6" 1
Shoot   1
Brawl   1
Reload  1
Unjam   2
Open a new shrink-wrapped DVD case 27AP

(Ok, I'm being silly with the DVD. But I had to struggle doing this earlier today. If I had to do it while being shot at, I doubt I could!)

Assuming the player has the AP to spend, a model can perform the same action multiple times a round and can perform its actions in any order. Resolve each action separately. The player can wait until an action is fully resolved before giving the model another action, activating a new model, or ending the round.

Once the active player finishes giving the model actions, he places a Spent token next to the model. A model cannot be activated again until the Spent token is removed, which typically occurs at the end of the turn.

If the active player still has AP remaining, he can select another of his models without a Spent token and give it one or more actions, spending AP for each action. He can continue activating models this way until he runs out of AP or decides to end the round. Just remember that action points cannot be saved from round to round--use them now or lose them.

(Example: Player A, the active player, has three action points to spend this round. He decides to activate Texas Pete, announcing that he will spend 1AP to move the model 6" toward the nearby stone wall. After Pete arrives at the wall without any problems, Player A announces that Pete will spend 1 AP to fire his revolver at Stinky Bill. Unfortunately, the shot misses. Now Player A has a decision to make. He still has 1AP to spend, but really needs to use it on another model that needs to move into protective cover. But Texas Pete's shot missed Stinky Bill, who hasn't done anything yet this turn and might be able to shoot back, if his player is lucky enough to become the active player next round. Then again, Player A might get lucky and become the active player instead. Or Player A could toss it all to the wind, discard the remaining 1AP, and end his round early. Perhaps he could spend that action card that costs 1AP. Decisions, decisions.)

5. Repeat Steps 2-4
Repeat Steps 2-4 until all the dice have been drawn from the cup or there are no more models to activate.

6. Clean Up
This is a placeholder step for when any end of turn rituals and functions occur--perhaps morale tests, victory conditions, drawing and discarding action cards, removing Spent markers, and so on.

7. End of Turn
Return to Step 1 and begin a new turn.

So, Humans, Tell Me What You Think
Does it bring anything to a game or just add more complexity without any real payoff? I want to avoid IGOUGO or being able to activate only one figure per round. I want some fog of war, but I also want some planning, but not too much--this isn't chess. I want to be able to have the Earps stroll down the street together, but die rolls might force me to activate other models before I can roll 3AP, which is part of the game. Hmmm.

Take care. Oh yeah, did I mention I turned 50 today? :-)

Old Glory Female African Explorer

One of the figures from Old Glory's large pack LAT-10 Explorers Missionaries Renegades and Constables. She definitely has that Old Glory look to her, but painted up better than she looked in raw metal. I started her three years ago, but left he unfinished until recently. Not my best work, but I had fun painting her hair red. Unfortunately, I still can't find my notes on what colors I used. I also can't find the rest of the figures from her pack! Sigh. I seem to lose miniatures, like a black hole suddenly opens and sucks them in. Same thing happened a few years ago to my box of 6mm Eldar from Space Marine and a box of my Heroclix. Who knows.

Still gotta finish her base!

Doing the Mummy Shuffle

Three years ago, I had so much fun painting these mummy figures for some The Mummy pulp games, but I've yet to play such a game. The four figures in the front are from West Wind's pack GHM-02 Mummy Servant Priests. The figure in the rear is from Reaper, which I got at a Hurricon learn-to-paint table. I love the WW figures so much more than the old Reaper figure, which is a whole lot less scary and less animated. I really need to paint some more mummies. They are dead simple to paint and so much fun.

As I mentioned three years ago when first posted (bad) photos of these figures, here is how I painted them: I primed the figures black and then painted the linen wraps using Folk Art Linen. (If I were doing them today, priming white would be an easier road to take than black.) When the Linen dried, I brushed on a black "magic wash." I then drybrushed with Ceramcoat Antique White. For the flesh, I used discontinued Ceramcoat Hammered Iron, though any German WWII uniform gray would work. I painted these guys in a couple hours.

Are they attacking or just doing aerobics? Sometimes it's hard to tell with mummies. :-)

Safari Ltd Toys for Mighty Joe Young Pulp Gaming

The local Jo-Ann Fabric craft store in their clearance section has been blowing out toy figures from Safari Ltd. I left the fairy princess, sorcerer, and other such human figures for kids who would appreciate playing with them, but I did grab the two Lowland Gorilla Males they had, paying only .99 cents each instead of the $7 retail for each.

Being a fan of everything pulp I right away thought of the classic 1949 Ray Harryhausen movie, Mighty Joe Young. I figured the size of the gorillas would work well with 25mm-28mm figures and was right. The photo below shows the toys with some of my figures. Ok so the Soviets are not in the film, but the film sure does have enough cowboy explorers in it. (A nice part of Western gaming is that you can use many of the figures in Wild West shootouts, Africa exploration, mummy hunting, and more--something people overlook.)

I'm thinking about repainting the gorillas, but they look pretty good as they are for now. However, they are glossy toys. I've thought of shooting them with some Dullcote, but I've heard on other forums that Dullcote can have a bad reaction with vinyl figures if the Dullcote contacts the vinyl (A while back I sprayed some Star Wars miniatures with no ill effect, so take that for what it's worth.) Perhaps brush matte varnish would be just as good?

Oh yeah, over the weekend I also picked up a toy elephant from a local thrift store, paying only $1, which at the moment seems to be my favorite price point! Now all I need are the Sergeants 3 pack and some Thuggees from Pulp Figures, and I can game Gunga Din, which I watched for the first time a few weeks ago on TMC. (BTW that project is on the burner.) So keep your eyes out for cool and cheap toy animals, monsters, dragons, and the such for gaming.

I think these scale great. With 15mm pulp figures, you can use the gorilla as King Kong.

I Don't Get This Whole Zombie Gaming Thing

Could someone please explain for me the appeal of zombie gaming, other than "because it's fun"? I've really been having a hard time understanding why it is so popular, with many gamers devoted to the subject. There are miniature games, board games, card games, and I think even a zombie dice game. How much strategy and tactics are involved in a zombie miniature game, especially for those playing zombies? All I can see is "mindlessly shuffle towards enemy" as the main strategy. Am I alone in my confusion? Please use the comments section to educate those ignorant of zombies like myself!

Interwar Pulp Western Back-of-Beyond Excellence: The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)

If you like crazy spaghetti Western action. If you like crazy interwar Pulp action. If you like crazy Mad Max action. Then you will love The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008, Rated R) from South Korean filmmaker  Jee-woon Kim. You can watch it streaming on Netflix or pick up the DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon for about $11. Do not let subtitles put you off from watching this film. I give it 5/5 stars, which is rare for me. The train robbery at the beginning alone is worth the price of admission! The ending has some nice twists. Check the official UK website for more info.

This movie is really hard to describe. According to IMDb, "The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1930s Manchuria and their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the Japanese army and Chinese bandits."  I'm horrible at writing reviews of anything, so just let me say that this move has everything I love, plus the soundtrack is amazing. I kept asking myself, I wonder where I can get figures for these characters! (You can bet that I will be blogging about that soon!)
 
The directing is over the top and often tongue-in-cheek. The R rating is for violence and some language. (Ok, it's not a family film.) I had been fearing a lot of guts and gore, but there really isn't any of that. Kim makes you imagine the gory parts, such as someone's finger getting chopped off, which I find better than seeing it.

One last bit of advice: keep watching into the beginning of the credits. Like most Asian films, the "real ending" is in the credits. After that, they just show stills from the movie while finishing up the screen crawl.

Clever Models: PDF Model Train Kits For Gaming

This evening, I came across Clever Models. They sell craftsman card stock model railroad kits that you can download and print. They offer a wide variety of models in O (1:48), S (1:64), HO (1:87), and N (1:160) scale all done with photo-realism. The variety surprised me. They have buildings usable for Western gaming (I love the small train station!), pulp gaming, WWII gaming, and more. Nice industrial buildings as well. Prices are very inexpensive IMO.

Though made in model railroad scales, shrinking them to gaming scales should be no problem. The owner even mentions doing this at one point. I'd get the O scale kits for 25mm gaming. You can shrink them as you see fit or use them as is for a slightly larger building. Same goes for 1:72 gaming. The HO buildings will work fine as-is with the new Blue Moon 15mm (aka 18mm) figures, or shrink them a bit for regular 15mm. You get the point.

Below are just a few buildings I like:

Horus Sarcophagus

After riding The Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster at Universal Studios Orlando, you are exited into an Egyptian-themed gift shop, which should be no surprise to theme park goers. For pulp gamers, though, it's like uncovering the treasures of the ancient pyramids. Aside from the obscenely-large plastic Mummy cups and Mummy t-shirts, all sorts of Egyptian nick nacks clutter the shelves, nick nacks you can use as scenery in a pulp or VSF game set in the ancient pyramids.

After passing up the excellent golden thrones, statues, and other items I could not afford at the time, I settled on this "Small Horus Coffin With Mummy" from Veronese for $9.95, minus my passholder 10% discount.

According the modern repository of all knowledge, better known as Wikipedia, "[Horus] had a man's body and a falcon's head. He only had one eye because after Osiris was murdered by his brother Set, Horus fought with Set for the throne of Egypt. In this battle Horus lost one of his eyes and later this became a sign of protection in Egypt. Horus united Egypt and bestowed divinity upon the pharaoh. The pharaohs were viewed as the reincarnation of Horus."

As you can see in the photos, the sarcophagus and mummy are huge and impressive. Since the mummy is way too large for a normal human being, I won't be using it, but I will be using the sarcophagus, which could contain a smaller mummy from a company like Reaper, a vast treasure, a passageway to another level, or spawn tomb guards. One never knows in a pulp game. Finally, one word of advice when opening any ancient, potentially cursed sarcophagus--be careful!