Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: Game 7

OK, so I played out Turn 7 of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. After our success for Tukera Lines last turn, we were able to get another courier delivery assignment, this time from the Subsector Duke himself. But first, a recap of time spent in the vicinity of the Starport: Asvyaske spent some time Training, O and Aim repaired the damaged weapons, and Iruurlaa and Uekzfu both found Patrons. Uezkfu had also used our last Med-patch to get back on her paws. Another Rumor was found, which resolved into a Quest. A lot is going on all at once!



One thing we have learned on this overgrown pink world of Windsor is that any time something is being delivered, someone else wants to take it. This time was no different, and a posse of Tech-gangers decided this delivery was for them. There were six of them, one a leader and one with a shell gun. The rest were armed with infantry lasers, and they were approaching the delivery point from the opposite direction from Our Heroes.



The delivery point was the main entrance door of a frontier homestead. The general area was overgrown with the damnable pink fluff that seems to cover the entire world. There was an airborne jellypink drifting through the area, and the homesteader had his car parked out in front of his dwelling.



So, to begin with, Aim moved into cover and had a clear shot at one of the tech-gangers and promptly dropped her with a well-placed shot from his hunting rifle. The Gangers then advanced into cover, and returned fire on the entire Crew, but without any effect. As the rest of the Crew moved forward, one of the Gangers decided to run away. This would not be the last time this happened.



After that, Aim took a good shot at the Ganger with the shell gun, but only caused a Stun result. O made the Delivery. Victory secured! The Gangers returned fire without effect. Asvyaske moved forward and dropped the Tech-ganger leader with a single shot from his Hand Cannon. Iruurla, Khirki, and Uezkfu were all unsuccessful in their return fire.





Next, the remaining Tech-gangers opened fire on Our Heroes, and Asvyaske took a hit! Not down, but a bit stunned. Irrurlaa finally found his mark and dropped a Ganger, Aim missed his shot at the Ganger with the Shell gun, and both Khirki and Uezkfu missed their shots. However, the hail of fire was enough to convince another Ganger to leave the skirmish.





Following on, Aim took a shot at the Shell gunner and managed to Stun her. She shakily returned fire without effect. Uezkfu managed to get into the Shiny Bits, and everyone else shot at the remaining Ganger without further effect.





Finally, Asvyaske took a shot at the last Ganger and felled her with his Hand Cannon. That was the end of the skirmish, and we had Held the Field!




Afterwards, we recovered that Shell Gun. It would come in handy! Upon returning to the Starport, we were paid our 3 credits of danger pay and an additional 4 credits for completing the job. Our ship was paid off, and our coffers were growing. Now, about that Quest...




Monday, June 23, 2025

Ruined Plaza, Part 2

I finished the other half of the Ruined Plaza from Dave Graffam Games. This time there was a lot of warping in the walls and upper floor I needed to fix, not sure what was up with that.



Thursday, June 19, 2025

Barricades (Again)

 OK, so I made some Barricades for my Ruined City terrain from (mostly) leftover odds and ends from Dave Graffam Games kits. I had previously made some 2D ones from the excellent sets by Permes, but they were not exactly what I was looking for. So, between other projects, I slowly assembled crates, boxes, and a few tables and then glued them together in 3-inch sections. These are exactly what I was looking for when I started this Barricade journey so many months ago. I think they will not only find use in my games of Five Leagues From The Borderlands, but in the upcoming Frostgrave campaign as well.







Sunday, June 15, 2025

A Tale Of Two Tortles: Game 11

 OK, so I played through Turn 22 of my ongoing Five Leagues From The Borderlands campaign, resulting in the eleventh tabletop skirmish. It was Market Day at The Crossing, but we did not take the opportunity to try and buy Rare Goods. We helped the Town Guard and visited the Blacksmith to repair those damaged weapons... I was hoping the Crafting skill would enhance the roll enough to let both weapons get repaired, but then I rolled a 12! Repairs for everyone! Our Connections resulted in a Contract, but we declined it. Instead, we would combat an Enemy Threat!




We had heard the rumors and seen the signs of the Gnawling Horde, but never fought them in open combat. Now, they had revealed themselves and seemed to be hunting our little warband. We would be investigating, looking for clues as to where they might be found. Instead, they found us! They were The Silenced, notorious assassins. Further, a Duskling Champion had joined them!





They got the drop on us the first turn, rushing forward in a chittering wave. There were eight of them plus the Duskling. Six of them made tracks towards Weppi, Tundaline, and Brarkisy, while the remaining three moved towards Plog The Elder, Morgan, and Grushnag. Weppi and her team moved forward, while on the other side Plog The Elder tried to get up a Wall of Fire but couldn't quite get it lit. Morgan and Grushnag moved forward to protect him.




Turn Two saw things get very messy very quickly. Weppi lunged forward to engage the Duskling Champion and felled him after a few exchanges (Meta-game: that +1 to Wound with the Bastard Sword came in handy!) The rat-men rushed forward, one knocking Weppi out of the fight and another died trying to fight Brarkisy. Tundaline was engaged, but managed to repel all of her attackers. Morgan too went down beneath the blades of The Silenced. Tundaline, now unengaged, uncovered one of the clues they were looking for. Plog The Elder was able to Summon a Construct, which then moved forward and killed another Silenced. Finally, Brarkisy leapt over her dead for and Weppi's inert body and killed another enemy. Seeing the carnage Our Heroes were causing, one of the rat-men promptly fled the scene.





On the third turn, Our Heroes gained some momentum. The Silenced were unable to effectively land any blows, and our follow ups killed three of them, including Plog The Elder's first-ever melee engagement (I think.) Brarkisy investigated the second clue, thereby securing our Victory Condition. There was one bad guy left. I rolled the dice and got three ones. He decided to leave before we could catch him.




Turn Four opened with us Hoding the Field. The skirmish was over and we had been successful in gaining some valuable intelligence about the Gnawling Horde.




After the game, we gained seven Adventure Points, and I burned one of Weppi's Luck points to survive unscathed. Morgan, however, would be out for two turns recovering from a Moderate injury. We were able to loot a Bastard sword, and reduced the Gnawling Horde Threat level by one.














Ruined Plaza

OK, so I built half of the "Ruined Plaza" papercraft model from Dave Graffam Games. I made an Amateur Hour mistake, I printed one wall as Brown Stone and the other as Red Brick. It is what it is, I'm keeping it.



Sunday, June 8, 2025

The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: Game Six

 OK, so I played Game Turn 6 of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. This one was a little bit different: we managed to find a Patron during the World Events or whatever it is at the end of last campaign turn, and so Tukera Lines hired Our Heroes to do some sightseeing on Windsor. Except it was really to test out some new performance-enhancing drugs for the corporate security team that would intercept us at the site. All we had to do was move through the scenic area and leave. While under fire, apparently. We should have known something was up when there was a Hazard Pay bonus of three extra credits.




There were three special effects going on during the game: first, it would be a brief engagement and the game could end at the end of any given turn by the roll of the dice; two, we needed to get at least two crew members of the opposite table edge before the game ended, or eliminate the enemy with at least two crew members left; and finally, there were some Really Shiny Bits worth two credits about six inches from the center of the table.




The opposition rolled was 9 Skulker Mercenaries; as I have no sci-fi rat dudes, I came up with the "corporate security team testing the running drug" idea to account for the enhanced speed. I used my Cannon Fodder miniatures from Wargames Atlantic for them. I had a great idea: I would run my guys down one flank and the opposition would be light, except I did not account for just how fast said opposition would be.




There really wasn't much to the game. Our Heroes pushed forward and whittled down the bad guys when the opportunity presented itself, Asvyaxke looted the Really Shiny Bits on Turn Four (I was so excited I forgot to take the Turn Four picture,) things were looking really bad for us on Turn Five and then the game spontaneously ended. O, Iruurlaa, and Uezfku all went out of action, with O and Iruurlaa having damaged weapons and Uezkfu needing emergency surgery and will be in Sick Bay for two turns. It could have been worse!





After the game, we got the Hazard Pay but not the payout for completing the mission, as the game ended before we were able to get anyone off the opposing table edge. There were a couple of Stim Packs looted as well. We had the opportunity to trade a Blade for a Handgun, and the local food was agreeing well for Uezkfu, reducing Sick Bay time by one turn.





And this leaves me in a bit of a conundrum. My original campaign goal was to get the ship paid off. I've got 4 credits left to pay on it, and 30 credits in the stash. Do I finish this campaign and start a new one? Do I draw this one out for several more turns? I must ponder for a while.







Thursday, June 5, 2025

Papercraft Pink Gundam Car

OK, so I built a paper car that os apparently from Gundam. I didn't put the little "V" flash on the front grill. I resized the file to match 28mm miniatures, and I lightened it to a pinkish instead the original burgundy. The fit wasn't very good and the rear end was too long and needed some surgery to make it fit. The finished product looks reasonably good, but I know the flaws in there lol!



The Voyages Of The Century Flamingo: Game 7

OK, so I played out Turn 7 of my Five Parsecs From Home campaign. After our success for Tukera Lines last turn, we were able to get another ...