Lost in the Swamp - a Star Wars Battle Report

Friday night at Echidna Games HQ saw host to another Star Wars-themed Laserblade session, this time using the retrieval scenario (page 21 of the rulebook - we're playing 6 rounds).  The action is set on an unnamed temperate moon somewhere in the mid rim.

Having been undercover at a local Imperial base for nearly a year, the Rebel droid R3-BL has acquired vital information about the Empire's plans for the sector and has made his escape.  However, as he approaches his rendezvous, he becomes bogged down in the swamps of the planet's sunken city and with no way out himself, signals to his Rebel allies for help.  Han Solo and Chewbacca gather a small team of loyal troops and head out to find the droid.  Meanwhile, the Empire has intercepted R3-BL's signal and deployed a small squad of Stormtroopers to retrieve the wayward robot.

We join the action as the two opposing forces come within sight off the stranded astrodroid.  The table looks like this...

Ready for action

The team CP limit is 100 points.  The Rebel team Includes Han Solo (Commander, Lucky, Sniper, 26CP), Chewie (Brawler, Marksman, Heavy Weapon, 19CP) and four Rebel Troopers (Marksman, 13CP).  The Empire are fielding four regular Stormtroopers (Armour 9+,  Marksman, 15CP), a weapon specialist (Add Rapid Fire, total 20CP) and a commander (20CP).

The objective - R3-BL

Round 1

The Rebels gain the advantage but then roll a 1 for activations which, even in cohesion with a commander on the field, allows them to move only a single character.  Han moves into the woods and takes a shot.  He needs a 7+ and scores a 4.  Now, Han is lucky which means he could re-roll but the Rebel player chooses to save the re-roll, just in case.  The Imperials follow up with two activations, first moving the weapon specialist.  He shoots at Han, needing a 9, and misses.  The rapid fire rule lets him shoot again but it's another miss.  A regular stormtrooper then advances and cracks of a shot at Han in the process.  Stormie needs 8 and rolls a 10 - bang on target.  Now the Rebel player uses Han's luck, forcing a re-roll with an ever-so-slightly smug look on his face.  But it's a another 10!  The great Han Solo is out of the game in the first round!

The end of round 1 - Han died in the woods and it wasn't until next round that I decided to leave fallen characters on the table!

Round 2

Very rarely does the initiative roll make for an exciting spectacle but this one was good.  The Empire rolls 9 which, with the bonus for having a commander and being in cohesion, means 11.  The Rebels, now missing a commander but still in cohesion roll 10, also meaning 11!  The Rebels then win the roll off and gain 2 activations.  A Rebel Trooper moves forward and takes a crack at the Stormtrooper in the open but his shot goes wide.  His buddy moves up to join him and scores a hit on that same Stormtrooper but ol' Stormie makes his armour save.  No kills yet for the Rebels.  The Imps follow up with two activations of their own, using the first to move that foremost Stormtrooper up to grab the droid.  If  either side can get the droid off the table it'll be worth lots of victory points and the Empire look to have gained an early advantage.  Worse news for the Rebels; the Empire's weapon specialist manages to take out the two Rebel Troopers that just moved up!

The end of round 2 - I put Han back on the table to show where he fell last round!

Round 3

The Imperial team is now out of cohesion which levels the playing field for the initiative roll.  The Rebels win and gain a much-needed three activations!  First, a Rebel Trooper moves into the position just "vacated" by his comrades.  He shoots but nothing seems to be able to scratch that Stormtrooper.  Cue the mighty Chewbacca.  He strolls into the wood and fires at the Imperial.  It's a hit!  And Chewie's carrying a heavy weapon so no armour save for Stormie.  Finally some good luck for the Rebels.  It keeps getting better as the remaining Rebel Trooper takes a shot at the Empire's weapon specialist.  He needs a 9, and gets a 10.  Looking good so far and then the specialist fails his armour save.  Could the tide of battle be turning?  The Imperials gain two activations and advance and shoot but can't land a shot on target.  Suddenly it's anyone's game again!

The end of round 3 - Rebels dug in, Imps in the open!

Round 4

The Rebels win the initiative and gain three activations again.  Surely they have it made now.  Actually, no...  Chewie shoots and the two Troopers advance with blasters blazing but no-one can find their mark.  They have gained control of the droid now though and the Stormtroopers will have to work hard to wrestle it back off them.  The Imps are out of cohesion and roll a 2 for activations.  Even with their commander still in play that's only one activation.  One of the Stormtroopers take a shot; he has elected not to move, making a hit more likely.  All he needs is a 4.  It's a 3...  Lots of shooting this round but not one shot on target.

The end of round 4 - The Imps have the advantage of numbers but the Rebs have the droid!

Round 5

The Rebels win the initiative for the fourth round in a row despite being out of cohesion and leaderless.  The Rebel Troopers withdraw and manage to dispatch two Stormtroopers as they go, even with one of them being encumbered by the droid.  The Imperials open fire with their two activations but try as they might, their shots go wide of the mark again.  At the end of the round, the Imperials are forced to make a valour check because of their losses.  The regular Stormtrooper stays in the game but the commander gives up the fight.  The Imps are down to just a single man as we enter the final round.

The end of round 5 - Who would have thought flimsy plastic armour could be so ineffective?

Round 6

On the final round, the lone Stormtrooper wins the initiative and scores two activations.  As he's on his own, the extra activation will give him a re-roll.  He manages to blast the Rebel Trooper with the droid at the second try.  The Rebels gain themselves 3 activations which, as they're now down to just two characters, also earns them a re-roll.  Chewie blasts the Stormtrooper on the re-roll (no armour saves against the wookiee's heavy weapon) and the remaining trooper grabs the droid.  The Rebels do have a valour check to make but both Chewie and the Trooper pass.  It'll be a win for the Rebels but the question is by how much.

The end of round 6 - A close up of the action as Chewie exacts his revenge.

The Imperials score 65 points for Han and the three Rebel Troopers.  To score a decisive victory, the Rebels need at least double this total.

The Rebels score 100 points for defeated Stormtroopers plus a bonus for being in possession of R3-BL equal to a D10 roll x 3.  The roll is a 7 so that's 21 more VP for a total of 121.  Not quite a decisive victory but close to it.  Time for the Rebels to find out if that data was worth the price they paid...

If you fancy trying Laserblade for yourself then you can pick up a PDF copy at wargamevault.com

Laserblade in Action

Firstly, a belated Happy New Year from Echidna Games!

I've been busily at work on the rules for Battleblade these last couple of weeks and am pleased to say that I am drawing to a close on the first draft.  Although I expect numerous corrections and revisions between now and the final edition, it's none-the-less satisfying to get that first draft banked!

The revised close combat rules seem to work quite well and I've just been putting the finishing touches to the rules for magic, both elements that will hopefully set Battleblade apart from it's older sibling Laserblade.

Speaking of Laserblade, I've seen two different but equally exciting examples of people around the world playing  our game recently. Earlier this week I posted a link on our Facebook page to some in-game shots of a Star Wars themed Laserblade battle in progress.  Click here to visit our Facebook page and check out Steve's photos!  I love Steve's no frills approach - Star Wars Command toys, packing inserts for bunkers - it's the quick and fun approach to wargaming that I hoped I could encourage with my own games.

Here's a photo from one off our own games using a similar approach:

Our "scenery" took mere minutes to make...

At the other end of the spectrum are some frankly fantastic photos from a chap called Timothy Hall.  Timothy's images were posted to a closed Facebook group this week so I can't link to them but with his kind permission, here are a couple of my favourites:

Timothy's "Necromatons" Advance

A "Skree" with Heavy Weapon

I'm sure you'll agree that those models and that scenery look amazing.  I really like the red armour on those aliens and the tin hats on the androids.  Exceptional stuff!

 

If you fancy trying to emulate Timothy's figure paining then be sure to visit our ebay shop - we have the aliens and the androids for sale!

 

It really I great for us to see other people playing and enjoying our games - long may it continue and I look forward to seeing Battleblade being played in the near future.  Back to work for me it is then...

Robo Ninja!

About a year ago, I bought this guy from a place called Northstar Models. 

 

 

 

I'm finally getting around to painting him so I thought I'd share my method for doing so with the good people of the internet.  Now, I am no expert, far from it, but I am generally happy with the results when I put brush to plastic, and I enjoy doing it.  This will not be so much a "how to" as a "how I do", but you might gain something from it.  Anyway, shall we crack on?

 

Step 1 - Prepare It!

 

This little guy was a multi-part job so putting him together was first on the list. Some models can be a real pain to assemble but putting old Robo Ninja here together was easy, just a bit of superglue and I was done.  Sometimes models have extra plastic around the edges.  This is caused by the moulding process and is called flash.  This model had a little, mostly along the sword, which I scraped off with a craft knife.  Gently does it when you're de-flashing as you don't want to accidentally carve off any details.

 

You can see that I also mounted Old Robo on a base.  This is a laser-cut, 50mm wide, 3mm depth MDF disk.  There are loads of folks on ebay selling these, in various sizes, shapes and depths so just about every scale and system is catered for.  With our friend  assembled and mounted, it was time to get to work with the paints.

 

Step 2 - Spray It!

The next job was getting him sprayed.  Spraying your model with a primer will help make sure that your paint sticks to the surface.  You can paint straight on to most surfaces, but the paint can chip easily if it doesn't have something to cling to so a primer layer is recommended.

I use Army Painter Matt White.  I know a lot of people prefer a black base layer, but I find white gives me brighter, clearer colours and helps me spot areas I haven't painted as the white shows through the cracks.  I use a disposable rubber glove to hold onto the model's base with one hand while I spray with the other and this helps me get into all the nooks and crannies.  If you don't have a glove then you can rest the model on a cardboard box or something but whatever you choose, be prepared for it get covered in paint.  The kitchen table is not generally advised.

Make sure you spray in a well-ventilated area and if you are doing prolonged spraying, wear a mask.  I always spray my models in the garden.  Sometimes I end up with white patches on the lawn.  I tell my wife it snowed...

Step 3 - Colour It!

Anyway, after the spray basecoat, it's time to get the paints out proper.  I didn't know where I was going to go with the guy but in the end, this was my palette:

Honestly, I spent years on-and-off trying to find a set of paints that suits me.  I've tried Humbrol enamels, Games Workshop's Citadel range and others that I can't even remember but for price and quality, the Army Painter can't be beaten.  I was honestly never quite satisfied with my results until I tried them.  That does kind of coincide with my first foray into 54mm scale but I have since revisited 25mm with the Army Painter and again, I'm a lot happier with my work.

When I'm painting, I squirt a little bit of the colour I need onto an old tile and give it a swish with a brush.  All of the paints are water-based so you can thin them out with a little of the wet stuff as and when required.  The bulk of the model, I did in Desert Yellow.  Yellows usually need a few coats to take effect and the trick is to apply several thin coats rather than one thick one.  If you splodge it all at once it'll take ages to dry and you risk losing the detail.  When I was finished, our Robo Ninja looked like this:

As well as the Desert Yellow, I used Gun Metal for the mechanical arm, feet and respirator, as well as any other metallic bits on show.  The exception is the sword, which was done with Shining Silver just to set it apart.  The lizard was done with Army Green and the sword handle and other bindings are Leather Brown.  I assumed this guy had to be a black belt, so that's I went with, along with a few other black embellishments.  I also added some touches of Weapon Bronze to the metal sections.  I find that contrast between a silver colour and a brass really makes a model stand out.  I actually thought he looked quite good at this stage, but I knew my work wasn't done.  He needed some depth!

 

Step 4 - Ink It!

 

Alongside their paints, the Army Painter gang also produce a range of inks which they call Quickshade.  As well as some colour-specific inks, they offer three neutral shades; Soft Tone, Strong Tone and Dark Tone.  I opted for Strong Tone (a dark brown) to shade the yellow outfit and Dark Tone (essentially black ink) for the metal and leather.  The great thing about using inks like this is that your painted model doesn't have to be perfect.  As the ink flows into the lines, joints and creases on your model, it draws a natural line between areas that will mask any ragged edges.

The shot on the left shows our man after his inking. The others show the basing process.

Step 5 - Base It!

The second-to-last step in the process is to finish the model's base.  In the middle picture, I've used sand to add texture to the MDF disk.  Simply apply a coat of PVA glue, dip the model in some sand and you're done.  Word of warning - do not attempt this while the  paint is wet.  You model will end up looking like Sandman!

Once the PVA glue has dried, I painted the base with Monster Brown paint.  Once that had dried, I gave the base a layer of Dark Tone ink.  It runs into the gaps between the grains of sand and gives the base a bit of depth.  I also edged the base with Matt Black then once all that was dry,  I splodged some more PVA glue on the base, a bit more haphazard this time, and sprinkled it with static grass.  See the third photo above.

 

Step 6 - Protect It!

 

The last step in the process is to give your model a coat of varnish.  There are several spray varnish products on the market and unlike the paints and inks, I can't really choose between them.  As with the paint, use your spray in a well-ventilated area.  You won't want to hold on to the model like before, so put it on a piece of cardboard or similar.  A coat of varnish does not have to get into all the nooks and crannies in the same way paint does.  Anyway, once your vanish is dry, your model is ready to do battle on the tabletop!

And that was our Ninja done and dusted.  Here he is with a friend from the Galaxy Laser Team:

The Robo Ninja matches the scale of his retro-styled chum perfectly.  They are going to look great on the table together!

So there we have it.  From start to finish was about three hours including drying time.  Not bad at all and this was a nice figure to paint.  I think looking back that I might have preferred to use Soft Tone for the fabric but the dark, comicbook lines have grown on me.

 

I do have issues with the price of the models from Northstar as they are a lot more expensive that the likes of Timmee or Tehnolog but they are designed as collectors' items as much as they are game pieces and the price is maybe worth it if you want some cool, unique characters to compliment your forces.

All told, I'm happy with it and I'm looking forward to seeing how it performs in Laserblade!

Want to try Laserblade for yourself?  Then download the PDF rules on DriveThruRPG.com