Replaying Stargrunt II

A few months ago I thought I'd try out Stargrunt II GZG's grand daddy of a Sci-Fi combat game. I had a few hours to spare as SWiMBO was away riding a horse. I have a copy and it has been out of print for a long time but I think I am right in saying that it is still available for download for free on GZG's web site. Given the economic climate, it seems like a good idea to do stuff for free especially when it's something I once paid twenty pounds for.

So I set up a dummy game. Quickly so there were really no time for frills. The marines were going in to check why contact had been lost with a village (any similarities between this and AVP: Requiem are purely coincidental). The marine have no vehicles because they know that the road through the village is blocked.

The Marines Arrive

The Marines arrive and take up a commanding position at the corner of town. Another team is going down the main road. A third team are going to sweep round the far side of the village. A forth team gets up on the roof of a building to get a better view of the situation. Whilst this is going on, the 2nd Lt and the Sergeant keep in an over watch position on the hill with the third team between them and the errr, action. At this point they have no idea what is going on so they are adopting a better safe than sorry approach.

The aliens have four teams of six that are going to try and get the Marines. In addition to this, they have three bio booby traps that they have placed on the village. 

Sneaky Sneaky

On the left hand side of the picture above, out of sight of the soldiers, a small swarm of aliens creep up on them ready for a flank attack.

In the picture below, the soldiers move on with their recon they trigger one of the booby traps. Thanks to some goof/bad luck two of the marines die instantly and another get injured. The screening squad move round the outside of the village in an attempt to outflank anything that might be in the heart of the village. The aliens continue sneaking around. They stop just short of revealing themselves to the marines and make ready to charge towards them an attack.

And The Battle Starts

The marines attempting the flank advance past another booby trap. This did not go so well for the aliens. It explodes and does no damage at all. I can only imagine the looks on their faces. Then they get jumped by six aliens. The aliens perhaps jumped a little early but I thought they would capitalise on the shock on the explosion. They don't get all the way there so the marines get a chance to fire killing two of the aliens and injuring another. The marines are still facing a closer assault  which would be bad for them. The aliens are almost certain to kill them if they get into hand to hand with the marines.

The lone survivor from the team in the centre of town retreats towards his last position and sees the aliens waiting to pounce.

"Poop"

Thinking better than waiting around for the aliens to charge, the marines use discretion and run away firing. They get lucky and manage to kill the injured one, injure another and kill a third. Meanwhile the aliens sneaking around start their attack. It takes them a turn to get up the wall so they have to wait around. Sadly this is bad news for the survivor of the team that got hit by the booby trap earlier and he gets munched by two of the aliens. Meanwhile the marines on the roof get an opportunity to hose the aliens below injuring one of them.

"Our Father...."

The Marines on the flank finish off the remaining alien with the help of the platoon leader and sergeant and continue their redeployment to their platoon HQ. The aliens get on the roof but but only some get into hand to hand combat. The marines fire at them knocking them off the walls. Both sides take a couple of casualties.

The Marines Say Goodbye

The aliens get shot before they get a chance to move on the marines. This is where it all ends. The marines don't have much of a chance of completing their mission until reinforcements arrive. The humans have a casualty left behind so they might want to go and retrieve him assuming the aliens don't stop for a snack first.

Even More Modern US Infantry

The main reason for the Rebel Minis order was to get some zombies and some more US infantry. I wanted these for Force on Force. I keep reading the rules but haven't had much chance to play them. When I looked at the book there should be plenty but when I look at other TOEs I think I might need some more.

US Modern Infantry Command Pack from Rebel Minis - Nice

here are not quite as many this time. I need fewer of the figures and there are a couple of extra M240 teams and some AT launchers. They need to be inked and of course based(?) and I'll show a few more pictures as they are done.

Get Your Geek On - Red Dwarf X

It's just over a month away.

I am giddy with anticipation.

Where will you be on October 4th?

More Painting Time - Rebel Minis Armed Cabras

Another post so quickly?

I am not sure why I purchased these figures. I think it's just because I wanted some. I can see a use in a horror game. There is a kind of Lovecraft vibe to them. I think I am hedging against the day that I will start a fantasy collection to go with the modern and Sci-Fi stuff. i could see a post apocalypse race arriving if I could get someone to play in the game.

This is a group of eight figures (still need basing properly...sigh). The paint job was a quick one GW shadow grey topped off with some asurmen blue wash and a little highlighting. The blue was a bit of an experiment. It seemed to work on the police so I thought it was worth a try.

A few close ups of the figures. They are difficult to not like. They have a certain gargoyle quality (got some of them to paint too). The cabras are not quite those of the Mexican legend but make nice monsters.

Game On?

I moved to Warrington last year, miles away from any gaming group that I know of. It's the town where my father was born and I know at least a little about. It's also a lot cheaper to live here than Manchester. On the downside I am finding it difficult to get a game. Having searched the web a few times I am still drawing up a blank. If I am feeling the urge to pick up a paintbrush I am feeling the urge to pick up some dice and a tape measure even more. I have even been feeling the urge to play a bit of Blood Bowl.

I have looked around and there is a role playing club
that isn't open to new members and doesn't answer
it's e-mails anyway. there is also a war games club
who i was about to e-mail when their web page
rolled over and got suspended. There is a club in Runcorn but firstly it's in Runcorn and secondly it seems like they only play GW stuff and other than Blood Bowl I am not really interested. I was thinking I should change the exclamation mark into the picture to a question mark and take my ball home. I was hoping that life would actually be getting a little easier.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Painting Time Again

I have had the impulse to pick up a paint brush again which is one of the reasons I haven't posted much in the last weeks. To paint some actual figures.  I got some stuff from Rebel Minis last week and I think that was the impetus I needed. Funnily enough it wasn't their minis that I picked up first. I had started some Khurasan "Police or Security Guards." I like these minis and have some immediate use for them unlike the fifty or so zombies that arrived.

There are two sets of five miniatures that have been painted up. I have varnished them but then realised that I still need to ink the faces and of course the bases still need to be flocked.

Nice miniatures. They have a kind of cyberpunk look (Cyberpunk? Remember that? It's like Shadowrun without the stupidity and a bit more plausible) which I kind of like. Now that I look at them again I can also see a hint of Rebel Troopers from the opening scene of Star wars although that may be wish fulfilment on my part. I figured that they would do for starship crew who were repelling pirates for Traveller as well.

Rebel Minis - Great Customer Service

I have had some dealings with Rebel Minis recently. I have purchased their stuff before and quite like what they do.  Amongst other things they make great modern, fantasy and sci-fi stuff not to mention having more zombies than anyone else.

Without going into too many details, these dealings have shown me what a great company to deal with that Rebel are. I cannot praise them enough without sounding like a bit of a fanboy.