Spectre Runthrough

A test game of Spectre Ops

     I'm a big fan of modern/near future games and Spectre miniatures has a set of rules, Spectre Ops, that we gave a test play of.  The Spectre minis are comparable to Eureka and Empress.  The poses and various factions are great and would be a great addition to anyone's modern forces.  Very fine casting (yep, separate NVG to glue!) and well thought out equipment loads.  The Spectre Ops rules feel like a mix of Skirmish Sangin and Black Ops, enough detail for rivet counters but not so much that large force battles bog down to a stop.  Weapons are grouped by class and the thing I like most, ranges are long and damage is lethal.  Being hit is a bad thing, no hit points to absorb point-blank shotgun hits.  The game we played had two SF teams infiltrating a militia camp in Lbotu (my African imag-nation).  Their goals were to kill/capture the militia leader, rescue a doctor and nurse, rescue the chief's daughter from the guerrillas, and kill the guerrilla leader.  This was not meant to be a balanced game for points and it was unlikely the SF groups would get all the objectives, it was just  to see how the rules work, what we didn't understand, and get an overall feel for it.  Terrain is important in the game since ranges are long and when hit the effects are harsh.

  The board at the start.  The SF teams will come from the left and bottom.  The fur area is dense jungle and the Any area of scattered foliage is concealing terrain.

    One group of bad guys, guerrillas in the barracks.  They are unalert.

    Rebel army troops on stand-by near the supply dump.

   HVT in the form of a rebel leader, and bodyguarrds.

 The doc and his nurse, and militia overseer.  One SF team came in from the far left of the pic.

 HVT militia leader and local chief's daughter are in this 2-story house.  A gathering of militia troops are also present.

 Another view of the camp.

 A collection of tango casualties.  Sorry no in-game pics, too busy making sure we weren't doing something really wacky with the rules.  It is less than half of the total enemy force on the table.

     Some game notes:  high quality troops are better than low quality, and you'll notice it.  We played a narrative style game where I played the bad guys and Chuck & Bill played the SF teams.  I like this style play instead of point games as it allows for unknown tango reactions and hidden forces.  The tangos play as I've got it scripted in my head and "what would they really do", and I don't care if the SF team wins or not, just that we have fun.  With that said, I don't fudge dice or just walk into mg fire either, but if they are equipped with AK47's that's what they're getting, not restricted to a total point value.  Explosives can kill outright if you're in direct contact with them ("are hit") and also do damage to those in a radius.  The hit results are harsh compared to some games, lots of chances to be down and bleeding out.  Terrain therefore is vital to the game because of the range increments. and the hit results. That's not a problem for me since I like to make, and have a lot of terrain bits.  We didn't use snipers or have any fixed mg positions, we also didn't use IEDs or vehicles (those were just obstacles).  Overall I really like this game and the players had fun.  It plays quick but not in a way that it feels like just a roll off of dice.  

Back after a break

Buying, and painting, and more painting!

     It's been a while but the fall of 2017 was pretty busy when it came to gaming related hobbies.  I picked up some new tools and started scooping up Matchbox cars for Gaslands.  Instead of reading it all I'll just start with pics and descriptions.

I had to get some items from GameCraftMinis.  This is one of his mdf compound kits I got (the roofs for the rooms aren't pictured) along with a couple more tank transporter boxes and the templates he makes for the spacecraft interior rooms.  Those are scaled down 2d pieces that will help you determine what you can match and how, along with how big it will be (you multiply your length by a set number depending on size, 20mm or 28mm).  After building the compound I covered edges with wood putty, put small rectangles in the corners (see upper left room) and then gave it a coat of non-skid paint, paint with sand in it.  Instead of having the roofs built into the kit I closed up their assembly holes and trimmed off the locater tabs.  It just needs a drybrush and some light weathering and it'll be ready for doors.

 

Soviet defendeers, Mig-21s and SU-24s

    For Little Wars 2018 I'm going to run an Invasion of Monster Island game using ufos, 1/285 Soviet aircraft, an alien mothership (to be built) and of course giant monsters.  The ufos come from ebay and were  one of eight styles in a package of  144.  I think they are for a boardgame.  I painted them up and put magnets in the bottom so the CorSec flightstands will work for all my air units.

1/1200 Japanese planes

  Aircraft in Naval Thunder  can be abstracted with d6s but I like modelling so I had to add some planes.  These are 1/1200 Japanese planes with which to harry any allied ships.  They are mounted on 18x18mm basswood bases using a thin brass rod.  Yes, I put propellers on them!  I do this for my 1/285 planes and I have the small punches to make them so why not?  At tabletop distance it doesn't add anything but I like it.  I have Betty's, Zeros, Vals, Kates, and a ton of seaplanes (including 15 individually mounted Jakes for my  IJJN).  In the future I may get some allied planes just to paint up.  In the background are 1/2400 French battleships waiting for their planes and labels to be done.

Jakes in progress.

     After poking around and reading some painting forums I figured I had to upgrade my paint shaking.  I have a Robart and it works fine but they can break (I'm on my 3rd).  I picked up this one from Amazon and it does a great job.  It has a setting so that it's off until you push down a paint bottle to mix and shuts off automatically.  Not super cheap but if you amortize it over the years of painting to do, it's a good investment.  

     We've been having painting challenges each month to motivate ourselves and this was the output from one of them, Panzerschiffe sinking merchant ships and some scratchbuilt barricades.  No labels needed on the merchants since they're more for dramatic effect than actual game objectives.