88. Not-Star Wars, in 15mm

Hello, beautiful people!  Long time no see.  The blog, as usual, has been quiet, but the activity behind the scenes has been on-going.

I started watching The Joy of Wargaming's YouTube channel late last year, and señor Mollison there inspired me to revisit my 15mm sci-fi interests.  (I do have a 15mm sci-fi blog, as well, but it's even less-updated than this one.  Orbital Barrage if you care to take a look.)  To than end, I received my ruleset of choice at Christmas, and then spent several months searching, mostly in vain, for 15mm not-Star Wars miniatures.  Yes, there are some, but mostly there are not.  (Maybe here, not sure if they're still being sold, but the price was a bit too high for my wallet.)  You want 25mm?  There are tons.  Plus, 3D-printing out the wazoo, but I'm not there yet.

I just wanted some 15mm not-Star Wars figures.

Khurasan Miniatures came the closest to having anything that could stand in.  And their "Curious Chaps" are legit Troopers of the Storm, but for everything else I was going to have to improvise.  Which is part of what makes 15mm so fun.

At any rate, what follows is what I came up with.

Speaking of my ruleset of choice, it's Blasters & Bulkheads 2nd Edition by Four-Color Studios.  The Joy of Wargaming had been using another of FCS's rules, called Void Pirates, but that one didn't interest me as much (based on the fact it was not more aligned with the Star Wars vibe I was looking for, as well as I didn't really like the single die-roll mechanic; but I have not played it myself, it's just from watching TJoW's channel.)  However, I did like the overall "goal-roll" mechanics (just like in FCS's "Goalsystem Delves" [which I helped Kickstart], and their "Chaos in...." series too), so after digging deeper into their catalog, I settled on "Blasters & Bulkheads," especially since it was advertised as being good for not-Star Wars-style gameplay.  I mean, just look at the cover illustration:  a droid with a lightsaber!

The only thing I'm not happy with regarding the rules, is I was hoping for a more-robust campaign system.  But FCS acknowledges that deficiency in other forum posts, and so I've now bought both their Techno-Fantasy Adventure rules as well as their Farthest Star rules, both of which promise more of that (I have only just purchased them and so I cannot comment).  I also like supporting small businesses when I can.

On a side note, another rule set that I think would work well is Buck Surdu's forth-coming Star Patrol:  Genesis, which uses the Combat Patrol mechanics.  You can actually use Combat Patrol for Star Wars with the free Star Wars supplements, but I don't have Combat Patrol, so I've been sort of waiting for Star Patrol to finish.  The playtest rules for Star Patrol are currently free, I just haven't had time to give them a try.

Anyway, on to the pictures!  All of these are from Khurasan Miniatures, mainly because I didn't want to buy one model here and one model there, and pay big $$$ for shipping one figure.  I ended up buying more models than I need ("need," that's a funny word for this hobby!) but they'll be used eventually.  Most of these were in packs of 3 or more, so there are a lot currently un-used.

First, let's meet Our Heroes:  from L to R:  Jedi Knight 'Zar Bee,' human, from "Yayoi Japanese warrior with spear;" Bounty Hunter 'Fofa Bett,' human, from "Alien Bounty Hunter;" the Wookiee 'Buchakka,' from "Ursid Bearman;" and Gloob the Rodian, from "Alien Bounty Hunter."

For the lightsabers, they were originally spears that I carefully cut the bottoms off of, and filed the spearpoint flush with the rest of the pole.  Yes, they do look thick like pool noodles, but at 15mm they're fragile enough as it is, I didn't want to file them any thinner than they already are.  And I realize they both have shields.  Just deal with it!  There was no way to remove them.

Now, the Bad Guys:  from L to R:  that's Sith Master 'Pon Farr,' human, from "Yayoi Japanese warrior with spear;" the assassin droid A55A551N, from the "Small Spaceship Crew;" Murg, the devaronian, also from the "Small Spaceship Crew;" and 'Leeloo' the Twi'lek, from the "Female Auxiliaries in Light Armor with energy weapons" pack.

Those are supposed to be head-tails on the Twi'lek girl on the right.  Just painting them on was the best I could do.  I am not skilled enough to carve out her modeled hair, especially in 15mm scale!

The following pictures are just some other 15mm sci-fi miniatures I was working on, not necessarily Star Wars.  These are from the Laserburn range at 15mm.co.uk, aka Alternative-Armies.  They were in a sample pack from years ago, that I painted up just to get back in the mindset of painting 15mm scale.  It's a different animal than 28mm+ size!  Much faster.

From L to R:  119 Law Officer (Standing), 114 Adventurer (Laser Rifle), 206 Spacesuit (Rifle), 322 Guard (Power Armor), 300 Imperial Trooper (Bolt Gun).

They were not painted up with any particular plan in mind.  Blue just seemed like a good color.  Perhaps they're all on the same team.

From L to R:  501 Mercenary (Assault Rifle), 108 Thug (Knife), 602 Law Module MkIII, 111 Female Civilian, 118 Guard Dog (whom I named "Bullseye").

Yep.

And finally, a short battle report of my first play-through of Blasters & Bulkheads.

The lay of the land.  This is pretty well all of my 15mm-scale terrain.  I am going to need more.  Our Heroes enter on the lower right, and the villains enter from the middle left.  They both want to retrieve the Gooberspongemelf for themselves (it's the little fuzzy purple thing in the center).  What does it do?  Who knows!  But it must be theirs!

After several turns of moving closer together, we see Pon Farr & Murg closing from the left, with A55A551N providing cover (and Leeloo was getting into position atop a building).  On the right, Buchakka is looming, while Zar Bee & Gloob take cover.  Fofa Bett is on top of a building out of view.

A fierce battle:  Murg made it to the Gooberspongemelf first, but before he could grab it Zar Bee accosted him.  Murg is pretty tough, and for the moment Zar Bee was stymied.

Escaping!:  Several things happened between this photo and the previous one.  First, Buchakka arrived and assisted in taking down Murg, but at the same time, Pon Farr was able to slip in and steal the Gooberspongemelf.  Here he is, running away; while A55A551N and Fofa Bett & Gloob trade ineffective shots.

In order to help her boss, Leeloo (atop a building off screen to the left) took a shot with her rifle at Zar Bee.  Zar Bee was able to deflect it with his lightsaber, and rolled enough goals to re-direct it at someone else close by.  Naturally, he chose Pon Farr (who had been wounded during the scrap before he stole the Gooberspongemelf), and this new damage was enough to take him out of the fight!

I like rolling lots of dice.  I thought it was hilarious, and appropriate, that in my first game, I got to use a Force power to take out the bad guy.

Of course, in Blasters & Bulkheads, they don't use The Force.  It's called Essence.  And they're not Jedi and Sith, they're Essence Wielders, and Dark Essence Wielders.  Zar Bee is an Essence Wielder, Fofa Bett is a Star Stalker (a bounty hunter), Buchakka is a Primitive Warrior, and Gloob is a Techno Savant / Ship Captain.  Wookiees are Yetoids, Rodians are Aquans, Twi'leks are Aethons and Devaronians are Shivans.  Or at least, that's how I'm playing them.  They don't fit exactly but that's O.K.

The most difficult part of the game is learning and remembering all of the abilities each character has.  There is a boatload of Special Traits and Essence Powers to choose from, and just recalling what each can do slowed me down some.  But like anything else, the more you play, the easier it gets.

I'm currently finishing up my Stormtroopers and Rebels, so that will be next, hopefully soon.  What I really need is more scenario ideas, so I'm looking forward to the campaign rules in Farthest Star.

Thanks for reading!