On the Workbench: WH40K Chimera!

This evening I have assembled an Imperial Guard Chimera (by Game Workshops), primed it and pre-shaded it. Still a lot remains to be done to bring this humble APC up to spec.

The Space Cockroach's Scrapyard

My name is Omer G. Joel, AKA The Space Cockroach, and I have a problem with gamer Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

The idea for this "section" (actually a Label) - The Scrapyard - of my blog comes from Beedo's Dreams in the Lich House blog: like him, I suffer from the "problem" of having too many ideas running around my head but only one life and a few games to actually put them to use. As I do not wish to ruin the campaign I'm working on (ACKS: The Dark Project), I'll simply post these ideas in The Space Cockroach's Scrapyard (after all, cockroaches and scrap go well together!) and let them sit there until an opportuinity arrises to utilize them.

So watch this space for all kind of crazy gaming ideas shelved for a rainy day!

Now with Labels!

I've added Labels (AKA Tags) to all of my posts on this blog for your browsing comfort and joy! Look at the bottom right side of the blog for the Label list.

The Space Cockroach's post-Hanukah Sale #5: Modern Chechens

Well, I have done some winter cleaning in my large 15mm miniature collection. Turns out there are many minis I no longer need, and will be happy to sell to other wargamers who'll make much more use of them.

Here is a platoon of brand-new Eureka Miniatures 15mm Ultra-Modern Chechens, new in the original blister packs! I'm selling it for $20 including shipping by airmail anywhere in the world in a padded envelope. If you want registered airmail, please add another $5.

If you wish to buy, please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail -dot- com

The Space Cockroach's post-Hanukah Sale #4: Modern US

Well, I have done some winter cleaning in my large 15mm miniature collection. Turns out there are many minis I no longer need, and will be happy to sell to other wargamers who'll make much more use of them.

Here is a 15mm ultra-modern US force (21 troops by Rebel Minis and 3 Hummers and 1 M3 Bradley by Irishserb). I'm selling it for $40 including shipping by airmail anywhere in the world in a padded envelope. If you want registered airmail, please add another $5.

For more details, please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail -dot- com

The Space Cockroach's post-Hanukah Sale #3: Robots!

Well, I have done some winter cleaning in my large 15mm miniature collection. Turns out there are many minis I no longer need, and will be happy to sell to other wargamers who'll make much more use of them.

Here is a large force of 15mm.co.uk Automatons. Most are primed and pre-shaded, with the exception of their fliers, who are unassembled and unprimed. I'm selling the entire force for $35 including worldwide air-mail shipping in a padded envelope.

If you wish to buy, please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail -dot- com. 

The Space Cockroach's post-Hanukah Sale #2

Well, I have done some winter cleaning in my large 15mm miniature collection. Turns out there are many minis I no longer need, and will be happy to sell to other wargamers who'll make much more use of them.

All prices include world-wide airmail shipping in a padded envelope.

If you wish to buy, please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail -dot- com.

Here is a Rebel Minis 15mm Merka-5 Tank, assembled and primed. I'm selling it for $15.

Here are various "anarchists": Rebel Minis Post-Apocalyptic Survivors and Bikers, all assembled and primed. I'm selling the entire force for $20.

Epic (6mm) Space Marine Lot - now for only $30!

-SOLD-

I am selling a large lot of Epic-scale (6mm) Space Marines. Price is now only $30 for the whole lot including standard airmail shipping worldwide in a padded box. Please add $10 if you want shipping by registered airmail. Payment by PayPal. Please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail -dot- com if interested.

What I have:
71x plastic Rhinos
12x plastic Land Raiders
7x plastic Land Speeders
60x assorted bases of plastic Space Marines Infantry and Command
3x metal Whirlwinds
2x plastic Whirlwinds
3x metal Hunters, unassembled

Large Epic-scale Space Marines Lot for Sale!

-SOLD-

I am selling a large lot of Epic-scale (6mm) Space Marines. Price is $130 for the whole lot including registered airmail shipping worldwide in a padded box. Payment by PayPal. Please contact me at golan2072 -at- gmail.com if interested.

What I have:
71x plastic Rhinos
12x plastic Land Raiders
7x plastic Land Speeders
60x assorted bases of plastic Space Marines Infantry and Command
3x metal Whirlwinds
2x plastic Whirlwinds
3x metal Hunters, unassembled

The Space Cockroach's post-Hanukah Sale: VDV Platoon

-SOLD-

Well, I have done some winter cleaning in my large 15mm miniature collection. Turns out there are many minis I no longer need, and will be happy to sell to other wargamers who'll make much more use of them.

I'll start with a mechanized Soviet Motor Rifle Platoon, circa 1980 (could be used to represent many Eastern European forces even at much later dates):

3x 15mm BTR-70s (made by QRF)
23x 15mm Motor Rifle Infantry (made by QRF)

All are painted and ready for play.

Cost is $40 for everything together including shipping by airmail anywhere in the world in a padded envelope.

For purchase or further details, please contact me - golan2072 -AT- gmail.com

Mandatory Lizard Interlude

The sun was shining (so much for the Israeli "winter") and the lizards came out to bask and prey on insects. These are wild Starred Agamas (Laudakia Stellio Stellio) I photographed today around mid-day on the wall of the Weizmann Institute of Science in the main street of Rehovot, Israel where I live.

ACKS: The Dark Project - Duchy Map

I've named all the duchal seats (and thus also the duchies who, as a rule, use the same names) on the ACKS: The Dark Project map. Also made a few minor fixes to the map itself. Next step would be to roll up an economy at the duchal level!

ACKS: The Dark Project - Initial Campaign-level Math

Let's do some basic math for my ACKS: The Dark Project.

The City is the largest urban settlement in the campaign area. In terms of realm size, The City and its rival city-states are Principalities, with 18-65 or so 24-mile hexes each. The City is ruled by a Prince (a title which fits the ACKS domain system better than a lowly Baron, IMHO) and so are its rivals.

The City has a realm of 47 24-mile hexes, a sizeable Principality; its main rival, Blackbrook, has 44 hexes; Cyric has 35 hexes; and Bohn has 27 hexes. Everything else on the map is no man's land, either badlands between the city-states' realms or wilderness into which the forces of Chaos creep.

The Thief world is a relatively advanced one, technologically speaking, but also a world well past its age of Imperial glory. So I'd use the default average population density, especially since not all hexes in a realm are proper farmland - most realms have many hexes of mountains and woods, which, while providing rich resources (such as timber, metal and coal) in many cases, have a much smaller population than typical farmland. So, on average, it's 50 people per square mile, 300 families per 6-mile hex and 5,000 families per 24-mile hex.

Also note that most of these people do not live in the countryside but rather in the city-states themselves.

So the base population sizes would be:
The City - 250,000 families, 1,250,000 people total (I bumped this to 250,000 because this is the most developed realm in the setting)
Blackbrook - 220,000 families, 1,100,000 people total
Cyric - 175,000 families, 875,000 people total
Bohn - 135,000 families, 675,000 people total

However, urban demographics greatly vary from the ACKS norm, as this is a world of city-states, and advanced ones at that. So The City and Blackbrook realms go 2 rows downward on the Urban Population table AND 2 rows downward on the Largest Settlement table. The other two cities go 1 row downward on the Urban Population table and 1 row downward on the Largest Settlement table

So how does the urban population look like (in families)?
The City - 250,000 families total, 125,000 urban families total, 62,500 of whom living in the largest settlement (The City) which is a Metropolis and a Class I market.
Blackbrook - 220,000 families total, 50,000 urban families total, 30,000 of them live in the largest settlement (Blackbrook) which is a Metropolis and a Class I market.
Cyric - 175,000 families total,  35,000 urban families total, 12,000 of them live in the largest city (Cyric) which is a Large City and a Class II market.
Bohn - 135,000 families total,  27,000 urban families total, 10,000 of them live in the largest city (Bohn) which is a Large City and a Class II market.

Yes, The City is HUGE.

Now, on to realm subdivision into Duchies:

The City is a Principality.  The Prince himself rules only The City directly - it is wealthier than any Duchy under his command and enough of a hassle to manage all by itself. All his lands outside The City are divided between the five Dukes.

Blackbrook also has five Duchies.

Cyric has four Duchies.

And Bohn has three duchies.

Generally speaking, each Duchy is dominated by a City of about 3,000-4,000 families, a Class III market.

So here's an updated work-in-progress Campaign Map:

ACKS: The Dark Project - Preliminary Campaign Map

I've made a preliminary campaign map for ACKS: The Dark Project in Hexographer. It still lacks many of the details (such as borders, smaller towns and settlements, dungeons and so on) but it does show the general lay of the land.

Late to the D&D 4E Bandwagon - First Impressions

Heh... I am very late to the bandwagon. Four years have passed since Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition has come out, and I have finally played it. First and foremost, I must say that I'm "on the fence" in regard to editions - while I still like ACKS and D&D 3.5E better than 4E, I don't think that 4E is a bad edition. In fact, it has its own strengths (as well as weaknesses).

So far I played in three sessions of D&D 4E, two of them in a short, abortive game with friends, and one in a local mini-convention (Nexus-Con in Rishon Lezion). In the campaign with friends we made our own characters, which took us two-thirds of a session (more on that later); in the convention we had very well-presented pregens with very effectively laid-out character sheets. All in all, I think I have about 12 or so hours and 4-5 encounters of 4E play experience under my belt, compared to hours over hours of 3.xE and even more 2E experience.

So what do I think of 4E? Let's see:

The Good

1) The skill system. In the hand of a competent (or even half-competent) DM, the 4E skill system is versatile, very easy to use and intuitive, especially when compared to the very long skill lists of 3.xE. Everyone has the same small number of skills, with different modifiers; the skill modifiers are 1/2 of your level + ability modifier + 5 if you are trained. No fiddly skill-point allocation. As the skill list is simple and it's very clear what every skill does, all while you can creatively apply any skill for a multitude of purposes, it seems very easy to adjudicate.

2) The At-Will/Encounter/Daily Power system and Healing Surges. While, unfortunately, most powers are combat-specific (more on that later), the amount of accounting needed for actual combat powers is smaller than in 3.xE, and the "15-minute adventuring day" issue is greatly mitigated. A big battle in 3.5E, taking a few minutes of actual in-game time, can burn through many of your spells, powers and HP, forcing you to go to rest minutes after getting up from the previous rest. In 4E, you might have burnt your Dailies, but you'll still have your Encounter and At-Will Powers ready for the next battle; and with healing surges, you'll be able to go through a lot more battles per day than in 3.xE without spending too many precious spells. Also, the fact that Clerics don't really have to choose between healing spells and other spells is liberating; you can even have a very good adventure without needing the mandatory Cleric to fork out healing. Oh, and Fighters can do a lot more than just "I hit him with my axe". Oh, and you no longer have low-level spellcasters pin-pricking enemies with puny daggers once they run out of spells; they all have a few low-grade at-will spells.

3) When using pregens and well laid-out character sheets, the game seems very friendly to newcomers. While character creation is very long and somewhat tiresome, once you have a character on a well-detailed character sheet, it's very easy to use. I have seen a lot less page-flipping in 4E than in 3.xE.

4) Static defences. This is a Heresy, I know, but this makes some sense from a game-design PoV - a magic attack is an attack like any other and the attacker (caster) rolls to-hit rather than the defender a saving throw.

The Bad

1) Character Generation complexity. Well, honestly, this is quite typical for games such as D&D 4E where you get tons of chargen options and specific powers. The first time we made characters for 4E, it took us two or three hours to get all characters ready and all their powers copied to index cards. We probably copied also stuff we didn't need on the index cards, though. However, compare that to the 10-30 minutes necessary to generate an ACKS character (roll 6 stats, choose class, record attack roll and saving throws, choose proficiencies and buy gear) or the 5 minutes necessary to generate a character in Classic Traveller. Well, that's a good reason why characters don't die easily in D&D 4E, die much more easily in ACKS and die even more easily in Classic Traveller - after all, if all you need to roll up a character are 5 or so minutes, it isn't so much of a setback to the game to have one eaten by acid-blooded arachnids...

2) Combat grind. Combat takes a long time - seemingly as long as in 3.5E and maybe even longer - and both monsters and heroes have high HP, so it takes a lot of time to kill one even with Encounter Powers. The fastest kill in the convention game was does with a Daily - a Fireball - killing several enemy archers in one hit in a particularly satisfying manner. Other than that, people die slowly.

3) Everything seems to be very combat-oriented. Almost all powers are combat-specific and anything done out of combat uses the good, though quite sketchy, skill system. I don't recall seeing any exploration-oriented spells in 4E, but I might have just missed them due to the combat-heavy nature of the convention game.

Bottom Line
Well, it doesn't seem like a bad game. Not necessarily 100% my cup of tea but could be a nice option to try. I wonder, should I get my grubby hands on the three 4E core-books, or should I rather stick with ACKS (or wait for D&D 5next)?

Stalingrad 2072 - Post-Apocalyptic T-34s

I've converted three Zvezda 1:100 plastic T-34 tank models into something more futuristic/post-apocalyptic for my Stalingrad 2072 project, using bits from Ground Zero Games and 15mm.co.uk.

Here is a work-in-progress:

ACKS: Dark Project - Map Work-in-Progress

I've overlayed a 40x30 hex grid over part of the Thief map. This will give me a rough estimate of what should be in every hex in the ACKS campaign map. So here we go:

From here I will proceed to an ACKS-style campaign hex map.

ACKS: The Dark Project - Setting Concept

How ould a Thief: Dark Project inspired setting for the Adventurer Conqueror King System (ACKS) look like? In a sense, apart from a certain difference in technology and societal trappings, many of the basic concepts of ACKS actually fit very well with the Thief world. The world is full of the relics of the past, both the recent past (the Old City) and the distant past (Karath Din - The Lost City); the forces of Law fight to preserve civilization in face of a never-ending tide of Chaos, while Chaos sneaks through the cracks in the rotten civilized society. Nobles maintain their own men-at-arms, indeed sometimes armies, and the rule of swords reigns rather than the rule of law; beasts and beastment dwell at the thresholds off civilization, raedy to devour the wary.

So how would the camapign look like? Here are ten basic concepts:

1) After Karath Din - the old civilization - fell to an onslaught of Nature, Chaos reigned and men lived as animals in bestial savagery, worshiping the Trickster. But then, 1,600 years ago, the Master Builder fashioned the First Hammer out of stone and wood, and led Humanity in rebellion against the Trickster and the Forces of Chaos. Once free of the barbarian past, the victorious Men built a new Empire out of the ashes of the old, building The City, one of the principal cities of the Empire, on the ruins of Karath Din. Eventually, 700 years ago, the Empire fell due to infighting between its Princes, and city-states arose from its ashes. This is the world of the present - fragmented and, thus, somewhat weak in face of Chaos.

2) The Order of the Hammer (AKA the Hammerites) sternly guards against the forces of Chaos led by the Trickster. Though staunch and sometimes fanatic in their struggle against Chaos, the Order of the Hammer is now quite ossified and concerned with tradition and with stern punishment of criminals and heretics more than with actual struggle against the Trickster. However, the Hammerites hold a significant military might and also benefits from its technological mastery. Lawful Clerics and Paladins are all Hammerites (probably using slightly different classes than in the core rulebook, more similar to Dwarven Craftpriests).

3) Civilization, as a whole, is crumbling under the onslaught of Chaos. Fragmented into wrring city-states, the civilized lands are besiged by wilderness and chaos on all sides. Chaos also seeps through the cracks of civilization and festers in its rotten heart.There are many Chaotic gods, but chief amongst them is the Trickster, also known as the Woodsy Lord. Chaos stands for the savagery of untamed nature, for bestial inhumanity. Where Law is not present in force, Chaos invades, be that vines undermining unattended buildings or the dead rising in vile mockery of the Builder's humanity. Pagans work to bring about the reign of the Woodsy Lord and his Beastesses and Nymphs, and the end of civilizaed life. Chaotic priests will probably use a different class than Cleric (maybe the Shaman from the ACKs Player's Companion?).

4) The Keepers are True Neutral and belive that either extreme, be that of Law or of Chaos, is a threat to humanity. As long as Balance is kept, humanity flourishes. If the scales are tipped, then the Keepers intervene to restore Balance. Keepers probably use the Thief and Assassin classes, but some might use something more along the lines of a Nightblade.

5) There are two main groups of magic-users in and around the City. The first is the Brotherhood of the Hand, a mostly-Neutral mage guild; the Brotherhood follows an Elementalist tradition, and most of its mages take the Elementalist proficiency; while mighty, they usually keep to themselves. The second is Necromancy - quasi-Chaotic meddling in life and death, usually to call forth undead and unnaturaly prolong the Necromancer's life. While illegal, and punishable by death if caught by the Hammers, they thrive inside the cracks of civilization. They usually take the Black Lore of Karath Din (AKA Black Lore of Zahar) as their first proficiency. Ironically, both traditions originate from the lost civilization of Karath Din.

6) The Fey frolick in the wilds. There are two kinds of Fey - the Seelie Court (who are Neutral) and the Unseelie Court (who are Chaotic). Both have a habit of kidnapping human babies from their cribs and replacing them with Fey babies. These Changelings - Fey raised by human parents - are represented by the various Elf classes in ACKS and the Players' Companion. Their social status is quite low in the City, and some of the more fanatical Hammerites hate them (and they get -2 to Reaction and Loyalty rolls from Lawful humans if their Elven origion is known), but they have mighty magicks at their disposal.

7) While some elements of the City might seem modern, on the most basic level this is a profoundly feudal society. Lords - from the lowliest noble to the mightiest Earl (the term I use instead of "Baron" for the City's ruler to avoid confusion with other noble ranks) - have the right to bear arms in public and raise their own men-at-arms and even armies if they so desire. The Order of teh Hammer is also heavily armed. And so are the various criminals in the City, usually posing as men-at-arms of various "nobles" of the type of Ramirez.

8) The City's underworld is ruled by the Wardens - mighty crime-lords, usually holding a formal noble title of one kind or another, who fight each other for their share of loot. Independent thieves might encounter trouble from the Guilds and Wardens who, naturally enough, do not like competition by independents.

9) Some areas of technology are far more advanced than in 'vanilla' ACKS, though most follow the ACKS norms. Steam-powered generators power elevators, pumps and forges, as well as electric lights. These technological comforts, however, are relatively expensive, so even the average noble - or, indeed, the current-day Hammer cathedral - uses torches instead of electric lights on many occasions. Electric alarm systems are also common, though often primitive and relatively easy to tamper with.

10) Beasts of all kinds, eincluding beast-men, roam the wilds and even invade the less-well-guarded parts of civilization. The most common are Giant Spiders, Cray-Men and Burricks. In wilder areas, where Chaos holds sway, civilization is besiged by Spider-Beasts, Bug-Beasts, Snake-Beasts, Rat-Men (who are NOT lycanthropes in this world but rather Beastment who replace Orcs), Goblyns, Bugbears, Ogres, Ape-Men and Tree-Beasts. Undead abound in all Sinkholes of Chaos, even inside civilization, and include Zombies, Greater Zombies (who are more similar to the Zombies in Thief: Dark Project), Haunts (powerful undead swordsmen and archers), Fire-Shadows, Apparitions and Ghouls.

What do you all think of this?