Pocket version of OGRE returns

Image via SJ Games

As one of the bonuses for its super-successful Kickstarter project, Steve Jackson Games is bringing back the micro-sized version of OGRE.  That's right, no minis, no 3-D cardboard counters, just the original version of the game, with the little half-inch black & white counters on an 8.5" X 11" paper map. 

This version will be a lot more portable than the 14-pound Designer's Edition.  Maybe if this edition sells well, they'll produce a pocket-sized version of the sequel GEV as well.

Not only are the components retro, but so's the price: $2.95, just like when OGRE first came out.  Who's planning on picking up the OGRE pocket edition when it comes out in 2013?

Sunday Starships: completed Terran escorts

 

Since some friends canceled their plans with us on Saturday, I had a productive day of painting, as you can see.  I painted six Mars-class starbombers and four Swiftsure-class stellar destroyers, all from the Terran faction in Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights.

Since my Terran White Fleet is understrength when compared to my Red Fleet, I painted most of these guys to augment the smaller force.

I also have plenty of these vessels painted in an assortment of different paint schemes, so I wanted to give the Red Fleet some starbombers in their own livery.  Therefore, I painted the rest of the Mars craft in the standard Terran crimson.

 With all these ships finished, I'm gonna have to update my group photos of the Terrans.  I guess that goes to show, your minis collection is never actually complete; you just get caught up every now and then.

Painting goals for the weekend

Here are all the things I want to get painted this weekend: a quartet of Terran Swiftsure-class stellar destroyers (from the Starfleet Wars/Galactic Knights line of spaceships); a half-dozen Mars-class starbombers (also for SfW/GK); a pair of Federation Scorpius-class hyperspace submarines (part of the Stardate: 3000 line); two Fed Pegasus-class h-subs (ditto); and a couple of homemade asteroids (from some rocks I found while mowing the yard).

I don't know if I will be able to complete all these in the next couple of days, but it will give me something to do while I'm watching football.  Anyone else painting over the weekend?  To paraphrase that credit card commercial: What's on your workbench?

This week's gaming score--

--but not from Half-Price.  Instead, Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy was downsizing his collection before the moving van arrives.  He was gracious enough to offer a few rulebooks to me before taking the lot to sell at HPB.

I went home with Song of the Splintered Lands, a campaign sourcebook for Song of Blades and Heroes. This book should provide me with plenty of scenario ideas, and maybe even get me to run a SoBaH campaign.  I also snagged an actual print (as opposed to PDF) version of the second edition of Full Thrust from the early '90s.  Even though I have an electronic copy, and it's been superseded by all the sourcebooks, it's a cool artifact of miniature spaceship gaming.  Finally, I picked up the rulebook for Noble Armada, a spaceship combat game set in the Fading Suns universe (which I don't know anything about).  I've just skimmed the rules, and it has a vector system and what looks like pretty detailed damage and weapons.  Unfortunately, this was part of a boxed set, and I don't know what the ship record sheets are supposed to look like, but I like reading different rulesets.

Thanks, Ed, for letting me have these rulebooks.  They should entertain me, but not as much as our weekly game nights.

Playtesting All Things Zombie-Final Fade Out

This week was my last game with Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy, who's moving out west.  We playtested his revised zed game, All Things Zombie-Final Fade Out. 

We picked up where Ed had left off, with the adventures of Jim Bob Joe, a Rep 4 Grunt.  A random event came up: cell phone ringing nearby, so Jim Bob went to answer it (no one was on the other end).  He then went into a nearby building to search for loot.

He found food, but because he got distracted eating Snickers, he forgot to lock the door, and a couple of undead followed him into the building.

Melee against zombies is pretty easy if you have a friend with you, but with a solo character there's no room for error--one bad roll with no backup and you're history.  Jim Bob made some poor rolls and ended up getting chomped on by the pair of zeds.

I quickly rolled for another grunt, a Rep 4 ganger.  Unfortunately, she ended up in a room in hand-to-hand combat with four or five zombies.

It was easy to roll for another character, this time a Rep 5 ganger grunt.  He found a Rep 3 survivor in another building, and they scored some good loot before making it off the board.

 It was a fun test drive of the new ATZ rules; you can tell a great story using the dice and the FFO rules.

It was great getting one last chance to game with Ed.  I'm lucky I got to know him over the past year or so, and I'm sorry to see him move.  Still, we'll keep in touch via the internet, and I wish him and his wife the best in their journey to their new home.

EDIT: Here's Ed's after-action report of this game.

Modular space station

Another painting project: some space station modules from Monday Knight Productions.  Again, these aren't for me, but for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy. 

 

Like with all the Galactic Knights (formerly Starfleet Wars) minis line, there's tons of detail on the top and bottom of each unit. 

 

 

Notice the dense amounts of detail on these miniatures.  They make very nice space stations, either alone or linked to other modules.

Completed fighters

Here's a flight of Terran Comet light starfighters from Monday Knight Productions.  They're not in my usual Terran scheme because I painted them for Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy, to match the painted spaceships he acquired some time ago.

They're mounted on some "Flare" fighter bases, also from MKP.  Frankly, I'm not impressed with these stands--you can see pitting and even holes in the surfaces of the bases in these photos.  I prefer my own stands made from nails, wooden discs, and steel fender washers.

I don't know how close the paint job on these fighters will resemble that of Ed's Terran fleet (we'll have to wait until they're side-by-side), but I think they look fine for tabletop gaming.