Bridges and Scuttles from O-Scale Train Cars

Over the past few years I've picked up a number of broken O-scale train cars, and I've finally put them to good use. Most of these damaged in some way, usually lacking wheels and trucks, but that didn't bother me since I didn't need them anyway. Aside from price, the main benefit to using model train cars is the great detail, which makes drybrushing a breeze. Check out those great rivets and ladders!

Here are coal and sand scuttles made from open-topped hopper cars. I used my Dremel 543 blade to cut off the bottom of the cars and smooth them out.

Then I glued in a cardboard bottom and added ballast. The coal is gravel painted black, drybrushed and then given a bit of magic wash for a coal-like sheen.

Done correctly, the ballast will bring the floor level up just enough to allow 28mm figures to take cover but still see over the edges.

I did similar work on two gondolas and a Fisher Price Geotrax bridge. I filled the molded-in tracks on the Fisher Price bridge with cement and gravel, though I probably should have cemented over the whole area. The odd melted section of the middle bridge one came that way, which is probably why it was so cheap. Looks pretty cool to me.

The black bridge simply had the ends cut off.

The red bridge was also shortened.

The Fisher Price bridge was actually meant to be used flat on the ground and had big chunks of ground detail molded on the sides. I cut all that off!

All three were simply spray painted, then washed and drybrushed with tan. The end result is a set of extremely useful terrain pieces for very little money. I've got a number of industrial terrain pieces that have buckets or spouts that will spill nicely into the scuttles. Likewise, sturdy bridges and gangways are an essential part of any Necromunda layout. If your local train store doesn't have a bargain bin, a quick search of eBay will show various lots of broken or outdated train cars that can be had for a fair bargain.

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Frostgrave: Battle in the Ruins

Last week I found time to try out Frostgrave, the new skirmish game from Osprey that's currently burning up my internets. I mean c'mon -- the game recently got its own sub-forum on Lead Adventure Forum, and you know they don't just give those out like peanuts.

The game itself has a fairly narrow focus. It's all about wizards leading bands of soldiers, mercenaries and treasure hunters into the ruins of a once-great city in search of priceless loot. The official flavor of the game envisions the city as snow-encrusted and crawling with all manner of frigid beasties, but I'm already committed to my own ruined fantasy terrain set, which is not snowy but works just fine in a pinch.

In fact, I was very pleased to see how well our terrain meshes with my new cobblestone battle mat. It's a printed fabric product from Cigar Box Battle Mats, featuring scattered turf poking up through a field of cobblestones. The turf happens to match my own standard flock pretty well, as you can see in the pics.

We set up a basic three-player scenario. Karl brought his liturgical warband, with Bishop Stuka playing the role of soothsayer wizard and leading a band of pitchfork-wielding peasants. Josh fielded a pair of wild druids (witches, in the game) backed up by mercenaries and thieves. I went with a necromancer leading a group of thugs and men-at-arms.

(Side note: Frostgrave assumes fairly human-centric warband composition, with typical soldier profiles such as "thug" and "tracker," but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to add a little more flavor to this baseline treatment. You know: a band of elves escorting a mage into the ruins of the ancient library, or a wight sorcerer leading some skeletons on a smash-and-grab at the old mausoleum.)

We deployed 9 treasure tokens (3 for each player) per the game rules. We played on a 4x4 foot table, a bit larger than the recommended 3x3 tabletop, but I thought it wouldn't matter since we were playing a three-player game.

The game began with each warband filtering into the ruined city and angling for the closest treasure tokens (represented by barrels and chests in these pics).

My own warband got a little bottled up at the outset, which took a turn or two to get sorted out.

My treasure hunter ended up scaling an overgrown tower to secure some treasure on the ramparts. A nifty aspect of Frostgrave is that, unless otherwise specified, all terrain is assumed to be scalable. That really helped reinforce the "treasure hunters!" part of the game, as any figure can climb a wall or tree or ruined tower in search of loot.

As he was scrambling up the sheer wall, Karl's bishop cast wizard eye, a spell which allows the wizard to place a token somewhere on the board, which can then be used to draw line of sight for spells -- effectively giving the wizard a secondary perspective on the battlefield.

Here is the wizard eye, hoving atop the ramparts while my treasure hunter investigates the barrel. I kept waiting for Karl to shoot lightning bolts out of the eye, but he didn't have any shooty spells, just buffs and debuffs.

Elsewhere, Josh's druid and apprentice split up to advance on two separate treasure tokens. This proved to be a good strategy, as Josh was able to seize both without much resistance.

Frostgrave uses d20s for combat and task resolution. While some have criticized the system as being too 'swingy,' I found it somewhat refreshing. The potential for a total blowout was real (especially when using the optional critical hit rule) but that's OK -- no one wants to spend hours and hours playing a skirmish game with 10 figures per side.

Eventually Karl and I met in the center of the table near some treasure tokens. He got there before me, though, so I had to send my warhound and apprentice racing ahead of the rest of my team to try and stop him.

My guys kept his foot troops at bay, but eventually he prised away the barrel and began dragging it off the board. Nearby, his guys tumbled over a shattered pillar to seize an other treasure token.

But shortly afterward, as they were celebrating an early victory, Josh's druid swooped in and eviscerated them piece by piece.

That knight on the left side of the picture was really hoofing it, moving as fast as he could (carrying treasure cuts your move in half) but he was no match for the swift druid spellcaster.

My attempts to stymie Josh's advance were starting to bear fruit -- I raced my man-at-arms up to a treasure token while my wizard perched atop a ruined wall, ready to fling spells if needed. They were opposed only by Josh's warhound ....

But he proved more than capable in taking down the armored soldier. (I think a natural '20' was involved...) That left my wizard alone and exposed. Before he could retreat, Josh sent in a mercenary, and a few lucky dice rolls later, my wizard was toast.

Shortly afterward, we reached our time limit. Everyone had secured at least one treasure token (and Josh made off with THREE!). Even though this wasn't a campaign game, we decided to go through the post-game stuff to see whether or not our casualties survived and to figure out what treasure we had dredged forth from the ruins. As you can expect, this involved lots of rolling on random tables to determine exactly what we got. It was great fun!

This is definitely the strength of Frostgrave -- the old-school nature of the rules, which seems to offer a game experience that is by turns zany and unpredictable, often at the same time! I mean, this game literally has wandering monsters -- yes, please! We also liked that you only need to track experience for your wizard ... everyone else is expendable, for better or worse.

As others have pointed out, Frostgrave's rules engine and campaign system seems easy enough to exploit, but we don't play that way at Chicago Skirmish Wargames. Our games are flavorful and narrative experiences first and foremost. There is plenty of room to hang your own house rules onto the basic framework of the game to correct any mismatched expectations.

Doubtless we'll play this one again soon!

-- Patrick, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

The Dogs & The Dust: Dead Man Walking

Last week we gathered at Games Plus for our regular game night. Due to the availability of tables, our merry band was a bit scattered, and tucked away in the back corner were Josh and I, setting up for a game of The Dogs & The Dust, the sci-fi ruleset from the paint-addled mind of fellow club member Mattias.

We've played it a few times now, each time exploring a bit more of the game's design space. With this game, though, we decided to try a scenario. It occurred to me that the default mode of play for TD&TD (scavengers looting a battlefield) is a perfect way to game STALKER (that peculiar, post-apocalyptic video game that is just ripe with tabletop possibilities). Here's the setup for our scenario:

Dead Man Walking

Derzhensko Exclusion Zone

Area: Akulinin Industrial Sector

Once again, the lure of loot and artifacts in the Derzhensko Exclusion Zone has proven too strong. Two teams, outfitted and equipped to scavenge and survive in the harsh conditions of the area, crept into the ruins of the Akulinin industrial plant. A fortune in decrepit loot was scattered around the facility -- if the two crews could survive long enough to turn a profit.

I schlepped a plastic tub full of terrain (plus my gorgeous Zuzzy mat) up to Games Plus and set up a compact little 3x3 foot tabletop battlefield. In the center was a sprawling industrial complex (terrain created by fellow club member Karl) around which were strewn six objective markers. Our task was to explore and secure these objective markers -- but a random encounter table meant that each objective could hold both plunder and terror in (un)equal parts. Here are a couple:

Josh and I deployed on opposite table edges. He fielded his Wreck-Age Reclaimers, and I was trying out my newly painted Russian scavengers from Lead Adventure Miniatures.

Each figure in my crew has his own name -- written in Russian, of course. Here are Igor and Pavel gearing up to explore the zone.

As the game began, Josh advanced his Reclaimers and seized the first objective. One lousy encounter roll later, he found himself surrounding by fleshy, wet, glistening mutants, the result of some experiment gone terribly awry.

Not to be outdone, Volodya the Russian scavenger poked around a heap of abandoned equipment and drew the ire of a pack of mutants as well, eager to devour his flesh.

At this point, we realized that the scenario could really benefit from a gamemaster. Combat in TD&TD consists of a series of opposed rolls, so it was really a lot of extra work to basically insert a third faction (the  mutants) into the gameplay without a third player to roll the dice and move the mans. I would finish my turn, then play the zombies while they attacked Josh, then he would play the other zombies while they attacked me, etc. Just a lot of dice rolling. Not a shortcoming of the game, more like an oversight in the scenario.

Anyway, back to the action. Seeing that Volodya was in trouble, Zhenya unlimbered his double-barreled shotgun and waded into the fray, peppering the mutants with buckshot.

While I occupied myself fighting off the mutant incursion, Josh was busy securing objectives. We rolled randomly to see how loot and mutants each objective would contain, and the dice were definitely in his favor. Here is an objective that spat out one measly mutant while accounting for a huge chunk of victory points.

Meanwhile, my guys were having trouble securing even one objective.

Eventually we got close enough to begin exchanging fire with each other (in spite of the mutants). The end came when the Reclaimers caught Igor, the leader of my crew, all alone out in the open. He was trying to jimmy the lock on these computer cores and didn't even see the Reclaimers coming. Oh well!

But it was all in good fun, since Josh and I had a fun game of The Dogs & The Dust. This was something of a milestone for me, as it was my first regular game night since becoming a father three months ago. It was great to get back in the saddle! You'll see more of me on the blog, too.

-- Patrick, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Necromunda Campaign: Lower Wacker Hive, Session #2

The second round of our Necromunda campaign took place a couple weeks ago. Here's the account of the two encounters between the Panther Moderns and Fjord's Folly. 

Van Saar leader Fjord is not known for his success or his common sense, so it was no surprise that when his gang Fjord's Folly encountered the Delaque-affiliated Panther Moderns, they immediately instigated a showdown (we played the Shoot-Out Scenario). The Panther Moderns were outnumbered and drew first.

If Fjord's men thought the quick draw was a sign of weakness, they were in for a rude awakening, as the Moderns quickly outgunned them and took Van Saar ganger Iver captive. This was, of course, cause for the Folly to attempt a rescue mission scenario as our second game of the night. 

Things went smoothly at first. Fjord's Folly carefully advanced on the Moderns hideout where Iver was being displayed on a second story balcony.

However, the Folly were too quick to reveal themselves and began taking fire almost immediately.

Fjord himself went down, but quickly recovered. Soon thereafter, the Panther reinforcements began arriving. 

Concentrated fire drove off the first reinforcements, but it wasn't long before jammed weapons and casualties blunted Fjord's advance. Panther Antonio with his heavy stubber was particularly fearsome perched on atop the gang headquarters.

When the balcony guard was taken down and a weapons malfunction took Antonio's big gun out of commission, the Folly made one more attempt to take the balcony -- only to find another ganger holding the line with his shotgun and steely gaze.

Thus beaten back, the Folly bottled out. 

After the battles, the Panthers took pity on their captive Van Saar gangers and sold them back the Folly. However, Fjord's relief was short-lived, as ganger Erikki died that night from wounds sustained in the battle. 

The campaign is going well so far. The Panther Moderns are the clear frontrunners, but no gang seems to have sustained massive losses, and all continue to accrue experience and advances. I'm especially impressed with the scenarios. The original authors clearly put a lot of thought into them, and the author/editors of the Necromunda Community Edition seem to have made some nice subtle tweaks to balance them a bit. 

Despite a 1-2 record with my gang Fjord's Folly, I'm having a ton of fun and am looking forward to the next round of Necromunda. Here are a few shots of the layout and game that was going on next door to us. Mattias' "Madame Two Swords' Gang of Horrors" Eschers await the arrival of Jon's "Red Scare" Redemptionists at an abandoned transit node. 

You can see Jon expressing disbelief at the surprising ineffectiveness of his Redemptionist's many flame weapons. 

Until next time!

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

More Toybashing: Creepy Crawlers and an Egg Box

I'm back with two more pieces of sci-fi terrain made from old toys and cast-off junk. These started life as a "Creepy Crawlers" molding station and a vintage refrigerator egg box that Josh gave me.
 
For the egg box, I flipped it over and used the lid as the roof. I used a bunch of Rokenbok pieces both as supports and as flat sections for the floors.

I added some plastic slabs on the sides and roof, plus a few bits from the Pegasus Chemical Plant kit. This kit has become hard to find in the USA and I highly recommend buying it if you can find it. I use pieces from the kit on almost every terrain piece I make.

The end pieces are plastic doors are upgrade pieces from the Sedition Wars game. The ladders are cut from pieces of toy Power City train track.

Here's a look at the original Creepy Crawlers kit. I don't have any in-progress pics of the Creepy Crawlers piece, but here's what it was made from.

I separated the toy from its base to shrink the footprint a bit, then rebuilt it into a sort of forge.

I covered up many of the screw holes with either plaster or round bits of plastic punched from blister pack plastic with a standard paper hole punch.

Except for a small grate and a few other pieces, almost all the added bits are from Mantic Battlezone accessory sprues. This thing just screams Necromunda to me. Though it's finished, I feel that I need to build some kind of gondola or reservoir to hold whatever it dumps out of its bucket.

The egg box building doesn't have quite the same Necromunda look, but it's a nice piece that is perhaps a bit more futuristic. It looks to me like some sort of chemical storage facility.

The simple orange, green and gray scheme has some nice contrasts.

I really like these Sedition Wars doorway bits, though I wish I'd chosen a color other than aluminum, which looks an awful lot like the grey walls after a couple washes and a dusty tan drybrush.

The bit in the middle is a hatch that lines up with a ladder from the 2nd level. The roof looks good enough, but perhaps I should have done something to split up the one-piece look of the lid.

Overall, the egg box building has a very unique look that sets it apart from the rest of my collection. I particularly like the way miniatures can be on a second level elevation and still have overhead cover. Now that I'm occasionally playing Necromunda, I'm thinking a lot more about multilevel terrain and cover. Both of these pieces are well in that vein.

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member