I have some mutants and a large mutant to paint up and then I will almost have all of the “monsters” I need to play Zona Alpha.
For the mutants I plan to use these Warzone Plague Mutants from Mantic Games
2 Second Generation Mutants
and a Mutant Aberration
I am in two minds about the mutants jumping the barriers. The modeller in me thinks, “what an awesome action pose”, but the gamer in me is thinking, “how impractical for the table”!
I am short some vermin (rat swarms) but have an eye on some ebay purchases that might do just nicely.
Below is the second lot of Rad Ghouls from Modiphius to add to the Zona Alpha collection.
This will allow me to have three groups of four for Threat Level 1, and 2 units of six for Threat Level 2 and 3.
When I was sorting out my 28mm British Napoleonic troops I was one artillery gun short. All of the artillery I have are “Minifigs 25mm”, so in order to match what I had, I need to buy one from Partizan press who now have the Minifigs rights. The gun arrived a few days ago and I have now completed the battery.
The British artillery of the Napoleonic Wars was well trained, efficient and motivated. Their officers were very much educated professionals.
They did not, and could not, buy their commissions or promotions.
However, the effects of all this excellent training and schooling was often negated by the small size of the artillery corps and the fact that promotion was by seniority rather than by merit.
The battery had 6 pieces and was divided into 3 divisions with 2 guns each. Each division was under the command of a subaltern officer.
That takes the final British artillery collection to 4 foot batteries, one horse battery, and a rocket troop.
I am now getting into some of the larger “Gangs of Rome” terrain pieces. This provincial Roman Villa is from Sarissa Precision and is approximately W290 x D205 x H125mm.
I have finished putting together a Roman Provincial farm and am just doing the finishing painting touches to it. I have also started the Roman Baths which is a very large model and will take a few more days to put together, but I can see the end of the building side of this project, hopefully by the end of the month. Then I have to paint all of the figures.
Hi fellow travellers I have four of these Sarissa Precision ornate vine trellis’ to go with my Provincial Roman Villa (posted tomorrow) and a rural farm (yet to be completed).
The question is how do I make the vines. I was thinking of using pipe cleaners, but does anyone have any better ideas.
Today is the 77th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
For Australians, the war was not over until Emperor Hirohito’s announcement of surrender on 15 August 1945, which brought peace to the Pacific region. This year, 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of this event (although the official surrender ceremony did not take place until 2 September 1945). Australians had been at war since 3 September 1939 so the surrender marked the end of nearly six years of conflict with all the loss, stress and privations that marked those years.
Despite this there was much celebration across Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and all other allied nations on this day 77 years ago.
A drone carrying a Ukrainian national flag flies past Independence Monument to mark Unity Day, the day Ukraine was invaded by Russia and the day gazetted as a national holiday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy.
May we soon feel that euphoria displayed in these photographs when victory over oppression in Ukraine is achieved.
Steve and I organised to play another Lasalle2 game, but this time without any cavalry. This would give us a chance to refine our infantry tactics. Steve, sorry for the delay in getting this one posted!
The French had three identical infantry brigades, each consisting of a veteran infantry battalion, 2 conscript infantry battalions and a foot battery of artillery.
The British had two infantry brigades each with an elite battalion, two line battalions and a foot battery. The third infantry battalion was 3 battalions of Hanoverian militia and and a Hanoverian foot artillery battery,
Despite how the terrain looked everything was considered minor and provided no game impact.
The French columns advanced along the line and fired a volley at the Hanoverians (Brunswick figures) causing a permanent casualty on each as they failed their rally attempt.
On the British right some casualties were also inflicted.
The British return fire caused some minor inconvenience to the French.
The French advance on the far left of their line.
A charge by two French conscript units routs a British line. The one didn’t help their cause at all!
On the French left the British firepower caused massive damage on the conscript units with three (one permanent) and four hits respectively.
Seizing the initiative next turn a volley fire broke the centre conscript unit and caused another casualty on the other. The brigade was in serious trouble.
The artillery opened fire and routed the second unit.
The French were only marginally more successful on the right flank with the Polish Vistula legion routing one Hanoverian militia unit, but the second held its ground, bouncing the attacker. The militia unit facing the British guns was shaken and only one hit of routing.
Luck was about to change for the French as the sole surviving battalion in the French left brigade charged and routed the British line on contact. However more disaster was to befall the British……….
The French Swiss conscripts charged the elite 42nd Higlanders and smashed straight through them. The Black watch were sent back to Scotland on the “low road”! The two permanent casualties and another roll of a one it could be said were self inflicted!
Advancing bravely on the guns in the centre the French conscripts finally succumbed to the grape shot and headed for home.
A Dutch militia unit moved up to charge the guns but could not withstand the close range fire and also headed for home.
The turn ended with another Hanoverian battalion routing. With both sides reaching their one third break point in the same turn we called it a bloody draw.
Another fine game of Lasalle2. The British troops have excellent training but Brigadier “Steve” needs more training in how not to roll ones at critical times!
*Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is slang for a common soldier in the British Army, but many soldiers preferred the terms PBI (poor bloody infantry) “P.B.I.” was a pseudonym of a contributor to the First World War trench magazine The Wipers Times (depicted in the 2013 TV movie of the same name).
I admit it I stuffed up. Guru has made a mistake. On the rare occasion this does happen! For some reason my May the 4th post did not go out so, with a little modification it has become May the Sith!
The Star Wars canon is full of proverbs, wise sayings and philosophy. The Sith Lords are no different here are some examples:
“I am not a man of words. But I respect the power of words, for that is what transformed me. The words of the Sith Code…”
“Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light.”
“True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation.”
“Peace is a lie. There is only Passion. Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power.”
I have a small collection of very old school West End Games 25mm figures. Most are painted but a small box of very important “stuff” remains.
I have most of the “good guy” characters and of course Darth himself.
Here is the box of unfinished figures. They are a true 25mm figure so do not fit in with the exaggerated Star Wars Legion current range of figures. They have remained unfinished due to the lack of an opponent willing to play and the lack of a good set of rules.
I have the original West End Games rules set which is not only a museum piece but also a very average set of rules.
A while ago I found the Fubar Star War Rules set which looks as if it will work quite well. The normal one or two page set of rules are augmented by a set of cards for each major character you will find.
Some examples below:
The force is treated as a range weapon – see “Force Lightning” above. Some characters also have special “force” rules – see Luke below.
To finish with: When do you shoot a Sith Lord? When you can see the yellow of his eyes!
“The true test of our philosophy is war; the real measure of our Force mastery is power; the highest truth of Sithism is victory.”
Monsters from the sea depths have been common place in Pulp fiction.
The giant octopus that terrorized San Francisco in “Terror From Beneath the Sea”.
The giant squid from “20,000 Leagues Under The sea”.
A large Octopus “thingy” in “Mysterious Island” where all the animals are overgrown monsters.
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” where a submarine is attacked by a large octopus.
In “Deep Rising” a Luxury Liner has a large octopus with long sharp teeth!
The “Lost Continent” is a bit weird and has a steamer being attacked by carnivorous seaweed.
In “The Beast” we have Jaws with eight tentacles!
Another Giant Octopus goes on the rampage in “Tentacles”.
In “Reap the Wind” not even the “Duke” is a match for a giant squid!
Finally in the Lord of the Rings we have the Watcher in the Water” guarding the entrance to Moria.
So with all of this stuck in my head, we had promised to take our two Grandsons to see the Melbourne Museums newest acquisition, the most complete skeleton of an adult Triceratops that has been found.
that has been found.
Standing over three metres tall the specimen’s is massive. With 266 bones, including the most famous trio of horns on the planet, and an entire vertebral column. At an impressive 85% complete it weighs around 1000kg.
The museum staff are not silly as they have the Museum shop just near the exit. With two grand children aged six and eight we were about to enter their favourite part of the outing. With a plastic dinosaur each and and a dinosaur game in hand we headed for home.
But not before Grandpa had bought himself something!
With all of those D grade movies in my head what do you think I ended up with.
You guessed it in one.
The model was cut away at an angle so that it would sit flat and look as if it was twisting to get out of the water. This gave a good look at its evil eye and one fin!
I can see a game or three coming on! Maybe against a U-Boat? You never know!
It has been a few weeks now since I received the 3D prints of the Halo Spartans from Chris, but I have now finished them and am please with how the came out.
Halo Silver Team
Blue Team in the games consists of MCPO John-117, Lieutenant Junior Grade Frederic-104, Private First Class Kelly-087, and Private First Class Linda-058.
The new fireteam in the TV is set up as an element meant to help John from inside following his going rogue by fleeing the Reach UNSC base with an insurgent and unknown artifact aboard. Some Halo fans may see a similarity to the storyline of Master Chief going rogue to the Halo 5 plot, with Silver Team playing a similar role to Blue Team from that game.
John-117, a.k.a. Master Chief
Master Chief serves as the team’s leader and one of its two assault members.
Vannak-134
Vannak serves as John’s second-in-command and wields heavy rifle for fireteam support.
Riz-028
Riz-028 is the team’s communications specialist, tasked with keeping the Spartans’ comms footprint minimal and signal to the UNSC clear.
Kai-125
Kai-125 serves as the team’s designated marksman wielding a high-caliber sniper rifle.
The weapons configuration used by Silver team is the standard one, however each of the Spartans are equally proficient in all weapons, some of which are shown below.
Although only one Spartan team has appeared so far in the Halo TV series I have a spare just in case the Covenant punctures your first, and they appear riding on a massive Rhino!!
There are many diverging plot points from the Halo show relative to the games. Perhaps the biggest is that humanity has not yet discovered the mythical “halo” rings, nor have they interacted with Forerunner technology. While the UNSC is aware of the Covenant threat, they’re still researching them.
In this universe, the Spartans are also still actively being used as tools for ONI’s anti-rebellion efforts. In the established Halo canon, Spartans were rapidly tasked to address the Covenant threat rather than counter-insurgency use.
The Master Chief’s interactions with an alien artifact are likely to put humanity at odds with the Covenant, and will result in them battling over the halo rings. These ancient rings were designed to be used as a last resort against the star-spanning parasite known as the Flood. There’s no sign of The Flood so far in the Halo show, but they’re likely to come hand-in-hand with a ring.
While some roles have changed, many familiar characters still remain. Miranda and Jacob Keyes are still career UNSC soldiers adjacent to Halsey and her Spartans, and Doctor Halsey continues to be the morally ambiguous creator of the super-soldier program. More details and differences will become clear as the series progresses but for now, the Halo TV show’s canon feels familiar but distinct.
I am really happy with the contrasting colour of the cracked earth bases also printed and supplied by Chris.
I will organise to purchase some of the Covenant 3D files soon so that I will be able to refight the battle of Thermopylae, which is a mountain pass somewhere on the planet Madrigal.
The figures are the Toxic Ghoul set from Modiphious Entertainment’s “Fallout Wasteland Warfare”, however I am planning to use them for Zona Alpha Games. These are the first six painted with another six to come.
Below is the Modiphious description of the Ghouls but it aptly fits the Zona Alpha universe just as well:
The Ghouls of the wasteland are twisted by radiation and fallout. Many are able to live normal lives, even conversing with others and taking part in settlement life with little ill effect other than their off-putting appearance. The radiation from nuclear weapons has affected them to the point of flensing their skin but gives them an unnaturally long life.
In others, it has worse effects. The degradation of their bodies reaches to their minds as well, turning them feral and reducing their actions to little more than a shambling corpse, nothing of their humanity remaining. When not angered by intruders or riled up by the unfamiliar, ghouls stagger and pace around their familiar hovels viciously defending areas that are often little more than a hole in the ground.
They tend to congregate in packs, often hunkering in bombed-out buildings or subway stations where they were first changed. Woe betide anyone who enters such places unprepared – their wandering in the wasteland will usually come to an abrupt and screaming end under the dirt-encrusted talons and chipped, jagged teeth of a pack of feral ghouls.
Zona Alpha Rad Ghouls are fast and powerful and in groups of six are a dangerous enemy to face.
Soon to be showing on a Zona Alpha table near you.
