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Aethelflaeda was framed wrote:

I certainly don’t need the friction of needing to remember whether the icon is a one or a six.

I agree completely.

Weird dice is one reason i don’t want to buy in to SAGA ( i suppose I could use normal dice as well, no?)

You can use regular dice. But by using the “special” dice you actually remove the friction of needing to remember which dice are your Saga dice and which are your normal D6s.

There are hurdles to starting Saga. The special dice are not one of them.

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Wow, what a fully realized narrative campaign you have made up. Some wonderful story telling and with such exquisite models. Thanks for this.

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Mark, I can remember when you were just starting your Aztec forces, and I deviously suggested you look into collecting the Maya next. You thought against it at the time, but it’s good to see you have changed your mind.

Unfortunately, Outpost Wargames Services have shut down. They were a good source for Mayan troops, and they also made Inca figures to supplement the fine Foundry sculpts.

Oh dear, I mentioned the Inca, didn’t I? I’m doing it again.

Well at least the same Conquistador forces can be used against all three. Looking forward to your work.

Ralph

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Jim Webster wrote:

we tend to ‘tweak’ the activation system in the Rampant series. Normally we say if a unit fails, you just move on to the next unit and the failing unit is the one that doesn’t do anything

Honestly, that makes more sense to me than the rules as written. One of the units in your warband has failed to do something. In doing so, it seems inconceivable that the other units would just stand around and do nothing in sympathy.

I may have to steal this.

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Ya, thanks Tony. Now I went and ordered the book too. Damn peer pressure.

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Hey CC,

It’s good to be as accurate as possible but there are some practical things to think about:

So I base my 28mm figures on 30mm mdf round bases or metal washers. Using your scale, this is 6 feet across, correct? Do you want your figures to enter through the doorways?

I use both 3mm and 1.5mm tall mdf bases, depending on the scale creep of my figures. That may impact how high to make your ceilings.

Also, what if they are carrying weapons like halberds or spears? What if they are holding weapons over their heads?

And finally, what are you doing with 28mm figures? I thought you were a confirmed 15mm man?

Ralph

 

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Receiving end of artillery? Personally, I don’t recommend it.

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I like this idea, Tony. But I must admit I prefer the whole planet instead of cutting the foam ball in half. Of course, using your way gives you twice the terrain. Lol. Full disclosure: I didn’t make these. They are from the internet and the planets look stunning.

[Bowman Stringer]

One funny thing I forgot to add…..

The scientist in the yellow hoody, without the Hazmat gear, is a 3D print of a figure that is Mel the Terrain Tutor. And I have no idea where I got that. He’s carrying a notebook (probably of terrain sketches) so in this game he is the leader of the scientists.

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irishserb wrote:

Fantastic work! I love that large Zone inhabitant. Maybe its friendly?

I don’t know…….I wouldn’t count on it.

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Even a 3D printing misprint can be re-purposed. At least with some games.

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Beer cans put to good use. We all make sacrifices for our hobby.

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The scientists and their guides have lost their Government forces escorts and have blundered into a large Zone inhabitant. Oh dear.

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Renegade Stalkers who are in the business of black market artifact sales.

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Government troops whose job is to keep others out of the Zone and prevent the Black Market sale of alien technology

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This is a gang of religious fanatics, who worship the alien artifacts, and will kill any interlopers into their territory. My son rescued a corroded bit of copper piping from the plumber at my father-in-laws house. He thought I could do something with it. It is to the right of the APC (I am Captain Obvious here).

[Bowman Stringer]

Partially destroyed Data Center with it’s valuable computers and computer discs. This is one of the targets of gangs in the Zone.

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Another overview of the game

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Cacique Caribe wrote:

What happens if one of them falls in the water? Drown? Swim? Sharks? Krakens?

Apparently, wolves are excellent swimmers. So a simple dunk in the canals for werewolves shouldn’t be an issue. Unless silver is involved somehow.

Interesting use of IHMN as a game mechanism for horror games. Thanks for the reports.

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Not my scale, Dan, but those are wonderful looking models. I like the terrain ideas from the castrarunis blog too. Thanks

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Interesting, as Zombiesmith is still producing their wonderful figures. I don’t need any new projects but the Quar have always fascinated me. Thanks for the heads up, Tony.

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Some nice builds there, Willz. Thanks.

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Thanks for the reply, Javier.

In my experience, the pink and blue XPS is virtually the same material. The blue colouring is Styrofoam by Dow, and the pink colouring is Foamular by Owens Corning. I have been using both brands for years and I find them interchangeable. YMMV.

Here, some of the white polystyrene insulation boards are EPS and not XPS. They are distinctly worse for terrain boards.

There is also a Canadian company that makes a dense XPS foam with a higher compressive strength. It’s called Isoloform and it is also green. However, I have never seen it in any hardware store here in Canada. I wonder if it’s properties are similar to Styrodur.

As an aside, my next door neighbour is currently building a new house. I was hoping to “steal” some of the excess and off cut insulation material for my builds. Unfortunately, they are using Energy Shield brand insulation which is closed cell polyisocyanurate foam. Good insulation but impossible to use and even more toxic that regular XPS foam. Oh dear.

Edit: Where are my manners? This is excellent work, Javier. Thanks for the video.

[Bowman Stringer]

I like the compression techniques that create different bas relief results from a single piece of XPS foam. But according to Gerard of Shifting Lands and Jeremy from Black Magic Craft, the Styrodur (BASF) brand of XPS is a bit different from the Corning and Dow brands that are available to us in North America. The Dow and Corning versions cannot be impressed as well as the BASF version. The pressed foam seems to rebound much more. Does anyone have experience with this?

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Jim Webster wrote:

Open forest like you’re producing is a sign of livestock grazing.

Not exclusively. Channeling my Plant Ecology undergrad studies from decades ago…..

Other causes are natural (deer) depredation, water content, humidity levels, canopy density, soil chemistry, organic debris, flooding and wildfires, amongst others.

Forests are not monolithic, uniform things. Some are extremely dense, and some less so. And they can be in constant flux. Major disturbances such as fires, flooding/soil erosion and severe windfall will deplete a forest locally. The forest will then develop in various stages. An open forest could be indicative of the “stand initiation stage” and the early “stem exclusion stage” of forest development. Local conditions and tree species will determine how long these stages last. All these stages will eventually progress to the “old growth stage”, which many of you are describing above.

(pedant mode off)

Therefore you are not wrong in making your terrain a dense forest, or a less dense forest, or even open scrub/shrub land with only intermittent trees. Whatever works for your wargame.

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I am at Historicon and asked the people at Badger if they still had some Outpost product. They still have some small quantities and you should email them to enquire. (They didn’t bring any of it to the show).

They did indicate that they were interested in acquiring the Outpost line in case Outpost couldn’t start up on it’s own.

With that in mind, my best wishes to Jeff and his family.

[Bowman Stringer]

Astounding! Excellent looking game. Thanks for that.

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Nice work, Mark. Great looking tables.

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CC,

great work as always. Will steal some of these ideas. I’ve been in large mangrove swamps and they are intimidating. Not only do they make landfall almost impossible but you have to worry about who is lurking just behind all that growth. Lol.

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The great thing about Bernal Diaz was that he was there from the beginning, recording all the events. He was present at both of the first forays into the Yucatan, under Cordoba and Grijalva. Of course, he was with Cortes all the way to the fall of Tenochtitlan. The downside is that his book was written about 3 decades after the events. I’ll cut him some slack because his book was in response to de Gomera’s writings, which Diaz thought was full of inaccuracies. Lol. Another excellent write up, thanks.

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The problem with Aztec warfare is that Aztecs didn’t organize themselves as European armies did. So a rule set like Quetzalcoatl Rampant has to represent units of Eagle Warriors, units of Otomitl, units of low capture warriors, units of macehualtin skirmishers, etc. Problem is, Aztecs never fought like that. All their units were made up of a mix of every type of warrior, from the highest veteran “suit wearer” to the lowliest green youth. To maintain an “Esprit de Corps”, all the combatants within a combat unit came from the same calpulli, or barrio of the city/town. Mayan armies and Inca armies are different again.

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Found some Sci-fi Roman helmets for potential kit bashing. Wished they came with some bare faces to drop the heavy GW vibe. Which they are undoubtably designed for. Even with the mandatory “skullz”. https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/um-roman-helmets

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Judging from the video, the car looks a bit small for 28mm figures. Let me know when the cars arrive, Dan.

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The figure looks great. Adding a green stuff “maxtli” loincloth where the belt buckle is would make the figure pop.

But I have to be “that guy” and mention that indigenous people couldn’t really grow substantial beards. In fact the Aztecs had proscriptions against any facial hair. Young male children had hot compresses applied to their faces to stifle hair follicle development. Apparently, elderly Aztecs of high social standings could wear beards, which were small and wispy.

“That guy” mode off. (And I do realize this is in the Fantasy section)

[Bowman Stringer]

Works fine on iOS here, even with a VPN.

 

[Bowman Stringer]

Mel the Terrain Tutor has a great video on the topic of warping. 26 minutes well spent:

[Bowman Stringer]

2001 and The Arrival are science fiction.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Planet of Vampires and Flash Gordon are pulp. (The latter film is also camp, but that’s over complicating things.
And in between those examples, are many, many transitional forms. It’s a slippery slope from one extreme to another.

If your game (or the movie) plays out like something you’d expect from those cheap pulp novels then it’s pulp. Therefore, I suspect there will always be a large subjective component to what is and what is not pulp.

Personally, this Kickstarter seems pretty far into the Pulp camp (see reason #5 above). But that’s just me and others may disagree.

[Bowman Stringer]

Agreed, Dan. I’ve also enjoyed following your WIPs.

[Bowman Stringer]

Cacique Caribe wrote:

Wow, Bowman, nice terrain!

Hey Dan, good to hear from you.

Ralph

[Bowman Stringer]

OldBen1 wrote:

Wow, this must be a huge board.

Not really, at least by 28mm standards. The gaming area is 3′ X 4′ including the vinyl sheet that is supposed to be the water.

Still working on a usable scenario. The Government Agents, Soldiers and Police are arriving by boat during a foggy day. The clear figures are male and female “ghost” markers. They are 3D printed with clear resin. They represent the townsfolk that are as of yet unidentifiable to the government forces. Once you get to a certain distance you recognize the identity of the figure. The “ghost” marker is removed and a proper towns person is put in it’s place. This could be a hostile fish man or woman, or a hostile human member of the Church of Dagon, or a civilian that needs rescuing. Even the belligerent figures are supposed to be captured for further study, but that may not happen that often.

And that’s as far as I’ve thought for now. Thanks for all the kind words.

[Author]

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