Jericho Anchorage

For at least 4000 years, Jericho Anchorage has been in orbit over the Sub-Sector capital of Rentlaw.  Basically, as long as records have been kept. It is constructed of several asteroids that were towed into position and developed, along with one artificial hab module that was added in the last couple of hundred years.

J1 – Station Control

J1 houses Traffic Control, Customs, and all other Bureaucratic functions. It has a small launch facility for the Inspection shuttles, and a small clearing yard where goods that require special handling or inspection are held.

J2 – Power

J2 is the home of the powerplant. There is a mag-drilling rig that drives a core-tap into the fusion crystals, and it provides enough power for all station functions including the position lock grav drives to keep the orbit stable.

J3 -  “the Hab”

J3 houses all crew and their families. “The Hab” includes all the needed facilities. Apartments, a Med-Center, Schools, Rec facilities etc…

JX – The Observatory

JX has been abandoned for so long and information surrounding the cause of “the incident” has been so severely suppressed that no one is quite sure whether it was operated by the Mechanicus or the Inquisition. It is said to be haunted and access is strictly forbidden. Rumors are rampant, of course, and run the gamut from the Inquisition is still operating the Observatory to whatever catastrophe befell the Observatory, it was so violent, that the ghosts of the lost men can be heard wailing even through the vacuum of space.

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Ok, so why “Jericho Anchorage”?   In short I wanted a cool place to fight Shadow War games. Also, I am putting together a Narrative Weekend Event in a few months and this will be a major battleground for that.

Okay, but why is it named an “Anchorage”?  I thought “Jericho Anchorage” sounded cool.

 BUT, I didn’t want to look ignorant to the smarty smarts that knew the difference. I mean, what the heck is the difference between a “Port”, a “Harbor”, and an “Anchorage” anyway? I had to do some heavy research (30 seconds on Google) annndddd...

Port – where commerce and exchange of goods takes place

Harbor – a protected haven for ships from the weather and large waves of the sea with construction (piers and jetties) where ships can moor

Anchorage – similar to a Harbor, but lacking constructed mooring. Ships “Anchor” themselves.

Ports are within Harbors, and sometimes Anchorages, but sometimes there can be an Anchorage without a Port, where ships assemble before a long passage for example.

Moving on…

The main inspiration(s) come from 2 sources

1.       The old Saturday morning live action serials “Space Academy” and then its follow up that borrowed the same sets “Jason of Star Command” (I’m old, look them up)

2.       Starcraft (the original) had several scenarios set on space stations that were mostly flat stacked platforms with slight rock accents

The whole place is built on MDF bases with short lengths of PVC pipe to give the station a floating look. With the exception of the Hab module, the other 3 modules are carved 2” and 1” HD Foam with details added on top.

The large connecting bridges are made of mdf and carved foam. The foot bridges are from a company called “Wargames Tournaments”. (Great prices, and I think they look very spiffy)

Jericho Anchorage doesn’t have a set configuration. The bridges and pieces can be rearranged in countless ways. (…and this is very important for my future plan for the Narrative Campaign. Remember I said it here, so when you see the big reveal later this year, what happens is no “happy accident”, I’ve been planning that plot twist forever.)

As for the modules themselves…

J1 – Control

This is my second attempt (the first one is in the trash) and I think the weakest in terms of looks. It is simply couple of pieces of carved foam. The control building is a cut up and reconfigured plastic milk crate. This one may need a rebuild based on what I learned from the later modules.

J2 – the Power Plant

My favorite. Over the course of the project I learned that If I used a large 2” piece of foam as the base piece and then cut up what felt like a million 1” pieces of foam  and pinned and glued them in the right configurations, I got the irregular surface I wanted. The crystal effect underneath came out better than I expected.

J3 – The Hab

PVC tube at the core, then stacked mdf circles.

This piece is pretty good but it need work.

1.       The printed stuff is a little dark. This is an easy fix to simply re-print lighter

2.       It needs more 3d elements. I am looking into furniture and bunks

3.       Antennas off the bottom to obscure the pipe to bolster the floating illusion

J4 – The Observatory

I like this piece, and I think it has the most potential, but I need to go back over it and pull out some more detail. Skeletons, accents on the ruins etc…

It has been a fun build so far, and the players at “The Breach” event really enjoyed the setup.

Comments welcome and Thanks for Looking!

The Breach 2: I'm finally back...

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

Apologies for the long time between posts, I have no excuse except the standard “real life” explanations.

Although I have not been blogging, I have been busy gaming. I just ran a 12 person Shadow Wars event. It was great! Basically, it was a huge game of Clue (or Cluedo). There were 6 games and the Kill Teams were collecting Clues instead of Promethium caches. Between games, the players did all the campaign stuff on their teams from Shadow Wars, but also executed a turn of Clue. What really seemed to get the players “all in” was the mechanism for acquiring an Operative for the next game. Since there were no promethium caches to trade in, a player would get access to an Operative if he was the first one to rebut a theory proposed by another player. THAT brought the house down.

Since we wanted everyone to get 6 games in, we didn’t use the rule in Clue, where a player who made an incorrect accusation was eliminated from the game. Instead,  players who made an incorrect accusation, were branded “An Agent of Chaos”, and were hunted by the remaining players for the remaining turns by using the “Ambush” and other scenarios that reflected their Renegade status.

In the end, we had 4 players on the run accused of being Agents of Chaos, and the mystery was solved on Turn 5.

Here are a few pics of the event…

Suspects:

Contessa Luonia Furia

Navigator Miranda Staurakia

Sub Ambassador Sulla Tigh

Governor Donnos Lackdust

Inquisitor Eustathius Guimar

Guild Negotiator  Michale Wagonleigh

Here is a pre-game shot of "Jericho Anchorage", an orbital space station (and yes there will be a follow up post on the construction)

...and a pre-game of the KCS Mary Shelly in Drydock at Temasek Harbor

An in game pic:

I made up a deck of cards and a Case Sheet for players. If you are interested in running this, let me know and I will email you all of the material to print out so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Did I mention I made a shirt?

Here is the player brief and the rules:

The Breach

Campaign Background

Within Sector Six there are worlds and Sub-Sectors that remain loyal to the Empire. The Rentlaw SubSector was one of those worlds until it was torn apart by a violent uprising.  All that is left of the Imperial possessions is Rentlaw Prime.  A Diplomatic and Imperial Services task force was sent to the world to discover the causes of failure and develop plans to recover the situation.

The co-Leader of the team, Minister Rastakaur has been murdered, and the situation is collapsing. The remaining leaders cannot trust one another and the conspiracy behind everything seems to be flourishing.

Situation

Your team has been employed by one of the main suspects. Your remit is to collect evidence by any means necessary, clear your employers name, find the killer(s), and expose the conspiracy.

The Rules

This will be a one day Shadow Wars Event.  There will be 6 games played, and the rules regarding Team progression will be used.

The Murder

The teams are attempting to collect enough evidence to solve the murder. Each round, instead of promethium caches, the teams are attempting to collect evidence (incriminating files, records, weapons with DNA or fingerprints). These pieces of evidence will be represented as cards from a deck.

The cards will be a deck of suspects, weapons, and locations.

SUSPECTS

Diplomatic Special Investigator, Contessa Luonia Furia

Inquisitor Eustathius Guimar

Trading Guild Negotiator  Michale Wagonleigh

Navigator Miranda Staurakia of the Navigator House Staurakia

Rentlaw Governor Donnos Lackdust

Sub Ambassador Sulla Tigh

EVIDENCE

Operatives Cell Network

Financial Records

Weapons Cache Location

Dead Drop Locations

Planning and Timeline Files

Code Files

LOCATIONS

Jericho Anchorage, Abandoned Observatory

Jericho Anchorage, Cargo Transfer Dock

Rentlaw Prime, Governor's Offices

Rentlaw Prime, Hall of Records

Rentlaw Prime, Secret Police HQ

Rentlaw Prime, Hydrowaste Power Generation Plant

Rentlaw Prime, Water Reclamaition Facility

Temasek Shipyard, Command Bridge

Temasek Shipyard, Navigator's Suite

One card from each category will be removed from the deck and set aside. This combination of Suspect, Evidence, and Location is the guilty party and the incriminating case to made against them.

The players will start without any information and will fight to accumulate clues. For each objective secured by a Kill Team in a game a new random piece of evidence will be revealed to the owning Player. Also, at the end of the game, the winner rolls a D3 and gets to see that many additional cards. The Loser will have 1 card revealed.

Players are trying to figure out by accumulating evidence, and then using the process of elimination which card from each category has been removed from the deck and points to the Suspect, Evidence, and Location of the murder.

After each game, each winning player can propose a “theory” to the crime. One player who has seen a card that disproves the theory will show that card to the play who proposed the theory.

Also, after each game, ANY player can make an ACCUSATION, and present their solution. If they are correct, they win the campaign. If they accuse wrongly, their team is branded heretics and traitors, and will be hunted as conspirators for the remainder of the campaign!
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It's good to be back, and thanks for looking!

The Breach: Ep1, Distant Rumors

With the thread of Inquisitor Guimar neutralized, other important matters in the Sector can be attended to.
(See the exciting conclusion to the Project Iowa campaign at this link: The Tartarus Rim

There are disturbing messages coming from the Rentlaw Sub-Sector.

The Governor General and his wife set out on the KCS Passereaux for secret negotiations with other factions in Sector Six to assess the potential threat and plan possible responses.

With the KCS Passereaux under way....

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Hi Folks,
My gaming club and I are planning a Narrative Event open to anyone in Houston for June. However, with the impending release of 40k 8th, we may push the date into July.  If you are within striking distance, I 'd love for you to come! Details to follow...

The Townsend Agency, Beverly Hills, Paris, Hawaii, Sector Six

Once upon a time, three little girls went to the police academy, where they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is Charlie.

The Original Series, of course...

and who could forget Farah's car...

as the Townsend Agency changed "detectives" fairly often, these are a little new...

The psyker on the right is the updated version of the stupid talking box from the desk back at the office. I figure Charlie might (or might not) secretly be the little gargoyle on Bosley's shoulder.

Alternative photo de' action...

The Stupid Plan

Sometimes you just need to throw the toys on the table and have at it. Last weekend 4 of us broke out some big armies and had an epic slugfest.
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Col. Stanislaw looked over the deployment of his 8th Para, and wondered (again) how his men ended up in front of the Grey Knights. Seriously.  According to the Grey Knights, that marauding ork menace known as Kommisar Yardstick had been told by a Shaman that possession of a particular set of bones from a dead warboss would ensure victory in the war on Grovestan 5.

Now both humans and orks were in a race to obtain the bones.

"...aaaaand we have to get it first." Stanislaw thought out loud. Pointing out to High Command that human troops advancing into an ork horde was not a survivable situation, was truly an exercise in futility.

"Move Out!"

Because Guard foot sloggers are so slow, two Grey Knight Interceptor Squads teleport ahead to grab the objective, block the far end, and become the first victims of the "Alley of Death".

The Interceptors are already dead, but they managed to move the bones a few inches.

Col. Stanislaw looked at the oncoming green mass squeezing through the Alley of Death, and mused that tactical acumen was absent on both sides today.
"Holy crap we killed a bunch of orks..."

"But there are always more...."  and the alley refills.

"It doesn't look like there will be any outflanking today..." the platoons assigned to rear guard are redeployed forward.

"Heavy artillery always helps."

"Run Away!"

All the Grey Knights were cut down (except for some higher officer over on the right), but in the end the men of the 8th Para, using a combination of shooting and falling back, hold the objective!

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It was a fun game, and I must say that after we went through the standard scenario creation (rolling for mission, deployment, sides etc.), it was clear that the Imperials were going to benefit from the "long table" setup more than any brilliant maneuver.

I would like to thank our opponents Mike (owner of Goldmine Games) for a great table to play on, and both he and Travis for being such good sports even as things went against them.

Of course big kudos to my teammate Robert, whose Grey Knights did far more than documented here (can you say CLEANSING FLAME!) to gain us the win.

Thanks for looking!

Remember Cadia!

Cheetor (Link: HERE) and the other guys over at the Scale Creep blog (Link: HERE) are doing Cadian themed posts to go along with the destruction of Cadia in the 40k timeline.

As a show of oldhammer solidarity (is that a thing?), I called out all of my painted Cadians to the parade ground.

I present the 8th Jump Regiment in formation during a memorial service for their destroyed homeworld.

305 figures total
consisting of:
209 Cadian Metal
57 Karskin Metal Storm Troopers
7 Pre-Regiment IG Metal
the remaining are a few plastic Cadians and figures of other manufacture

I've had a whole lot of officers command portions of this army in games, but its original (and current) overall Commander is this really vintage figure. The "old man" General Jonah Stanislaw

I have been painting them every now and then since they came out, and I painted these just a couple of weeks ago.

I have probably 100 metal Cadians still to paint.
(Sad, I know)

REMEMBER CADIA!

Donny'K Mods

Can I make “Donny’K” a thing?

This is the follow up to the previous post… (Linked: HERE )

On the suggestion of airbornegrove, I purchased  the Donnybrook rules. They are in a word, fantastic. I have no interest in the pike and shot era, but after one read through the book, I was ready to collect up my matchlock and march off to shoot at the Civilian Mob. It is really great stuff.  However, for deep and personal reasons that absolutely no one cares about, my heart is set on Sci-Fi, so I began fiddling.

Observations

1. This might be skirmish level for the period written BUT…

in the batrep, these were the smallest armies (4 points) that could be chosen.

for a Sci-Fi (Oldhammer 40k) game, that looks like forces ready for battle to me.  OUTSTANDING!

2. The card driven turn system…

If used with the “Turn Over” card, the rules makes an Army list with distributed lethality much more attractive than an Army list built around one killer unit.

What I mean is, in 40k, the IGOUGO system ensures that if a player concentrates killing power into one unit, that killer unit gets to act every turn to full effect. Donnybrook’s card driven turn system removes that guarantee that any given unit will act in a timely manner. On a bad day, a unit will not act for a couple of turns (and conversely, some units seem to act over and over). Players are rewarded for distributing killing power among all units, so whichever cards come up, you can be dishing out the carnage. This appeals to me a lot.

3. Random Events…

Certainly the chart for this game adds to the battlefield chaos and to the narrative aspect I enjoy.

So what did I modify?

I don’t know.  Stuff.

The base engine of the game plays fast: stuff blows up, crazy sh*t happens.  I was very reluctant to touch anything fundamental.  I really just worked in a few special rules around the edges for the genre and put in some rules for APC's and Tanks.

Disclaimer

These are choices made to suit my own preferences, and any other mods could be just as valid. I don’t know the authors (but I’d sure like to shake their hands), so I cannot claim any special insight. However, Clarence Harrison was kind enough to comment on the batrep, and his input, plus reading some of his own batreps and design notes, leads me to believe I lean toward a little more abstraction. 

I don’t designate special or heavy weapons within a Unit.  Those are absorbed into a Unit's overall dice throw. I chose instead only to separate characteristics for Heavy Weapons in Units where they would be concentrated for a fire support role. 

I started with with some basic infantry unit profiles:

-Imperial Guard, d8, 8 Figures, Rifles -24” Range

-Space Marines, d10, 4 Figures, Armored (5+ Save), Rifles -24” Range

…and worked everything else relative to that

  

There are no Armor Values or changes to game mechanics for shooting or attacking Vehicles.

The idea is that there is a basic Anti-Tank capability built into each Infantry Unit (this is the corollary to what I wrote above about abstracting a Unit's integral Heavy Weapons) and when firing at (or Assaulting) a Tank, the Infantry Unit is simply using these organic Anti-Tank weapons.

For example, when a Space Marine Unit throws its 4d10 against an enemy Tank, it’s not shooting bolters, it has a Missile Launcher and/or Anti-Tank grenades.

Special Rules

Tank (or, for the snobby, Armored Fighting Vehicle)

The Special Rule "Tank", always includes the Special Rules "Wounds" and "Heavy Weapons".

Tanks can move 12” normally and still fire, or can move 6” through difficult terrain and still fire. If moving through Difficult Terrain, a Tank must also make an Ability roll.  If the Tank rolls a 1, it fails to penetrate the obstacle and stops its movement at the edge (or fails to move if already in difficult terrain) until it's next activation.

Unless equipped with “Tank Close Combat Weapons”, Tanks can never Assault or Strike (or Strike Back) in Close Combat. Tanks can be Assaulted, and if any unsaved wounds are inflicted on the Tank, it loses the combat and must make a morale check.

A Unit that assaults a Tank is not locked in combat and can be targeted as normal.  A Tank may move out of contact with a Unit without penalty.

 A Tank cannot move through an enemy unit, and the Tank’s path must stay 1” from an enemy unit’s table footprint.  If moving away from a unit that is in contact from an assault, the Tank must move a path that minimally violates the rule in the previous sentence.

Wounds

I didn’t want to add Armor Values, so instead I added “Wounds”.  A Tank has multiple “Wounds” and is fully functional until all wounds are gone, and then it is destroyed. After a couple of run throughs, 6 wounds combined with the Armored special rule (“Armored” as defined in the rulebook) for a Main Battle Tank seems a good combination. If you wanted to represent a Light Tank, or some other less robust Vehicle simply lower the Wounds and/or take away the "Armored" special rule.

Heavy Weapons

In the Donnybrook Rules, there are no blast templates just a dice roll for how many figures could be hit.  Sooooo how to model a Tank’s or other Heavy Weapons into a unified attack?

It’s not Oldhammer 40k without breaking out the SUSTAINED FIRE DICE

When firing, a Unit equipped with Heavy Weapons rolls 2 Sustained Fire Dice. The total result is the number of Ability Dice rolled to hit against the target.  Additionally, when executing a shooting attack, the unit’s Ability Dice are upgraded one die type (to a max type of D10) due to the power of the weapons employed. If a jam marker is rolled, that die cannot be used again until the “Reload” card is drawn from the deck. Range 36”

An infantry Unit (called a Battery) can be given the Heavy Weapons special rule with the following additional rules:

1. The Battery cannot move and fire

2. Whatever the total model count for the Battery, two of the models should be modeled with Heavy Weapons (Heavy Bolters, Auto-Cannons, whatever).  Each Weapon rolls a Sustained Fire Die for firing.

3. The Unit has no other firing weapons. No double dipping.  Additional figures standing around with rifles are just wound markers for shooting purposes.

3. At least one figure is needed to man each weapon, so if the Battery is reduced to one figure, only one Sustained Fire Dice is rolled.

4. The Battery cannot Assault, but if Assaulted, eligible soldiers can strike back

Tank Close Combat Weapons

This can be any type of close combat weapon, from giant robots with mighty swords to explosive belts or massive electrical charges on the hull.  The tank may initiate or participate in an assault following the standard process in the rulebook. The Tank Unit uses its Ability die type and throws the number of dice associated to that type. Meaning: 12D6, 8D8, or 4D10.  The number of dice thrown is not reduced by wounds taken. A Tank throws the full number of dice until destroyed or it routs from the field.

Mechanized

An Infantry Unit can be upgraded with this Special Rule.  A Mechanized Unit can move up to 6” and still fire, or it can move up to 12” but not fire.  Mechanized Infantry use the standard Infantry rules when moving through difficult terrain and Assaulting. 

IMPORTANT

I depart from usual convention on how a Mechanized Infantry Unit is depicted on the table. There is no “mounted” or “dismounted” designation. A Mechanized Infantry Unit is trained to work with their vehicle. They are aboard when needed, and dismount when needed.  On the table, the infantry are placed as if a regular infantry unit, and their APC is placed anywhere conveniently nearby. The vehicle itself is treated like a status counter. Purely an indicator that the unit is equipped with extra mobility, it has no effect other than to confer the “Mechanized” designation. The APC should be re-positioned if it obstructs  firing, an assault, the destination of another moving unit, or any other gameplay.

Jump Packs

As a guide, a unit with this rule behaves almost like Cavalry in the rulebook. An Infantry Unit equipped with Jump Packs can move 12”, but is reduced in model count.

D6 Quality = 9 Figures

D8 Quality = 6 Figures

D10 Quality = 3 Figures

1. Characters created from this Unit during Army construction are also equipped with a Jump Pack. Characters that later “attach” themselves to the Unit are not equipped with a Jump Pack.

2. Units may leap over difficult or impassible terrain without penalty. 

3. If a Unit moves 6” or less, it treats rough terrain just like any other Infantry Unit. If the Unit moves over 6” and ends its move in rough terrain, an Ability die is rolled for each figure in the Unit.  On rolls of a 1, a figure becomes a casualty and Characters must roll on the Character Wound Chart.

I’m gonna play about 50 games with my “OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL SUPREME EXPERT RULES EVALUATOR”, also known as my son Robert. He is a big fan of the “Grey Knights” and currently building ORKS. So, I’m sure some thoughts about Psychic Powers, what does a “WARGH!” mean in Donnybrook, and crazy Ork contraptions will be forthcoming.

Again, these rules hit my gaming sweet spot for detail vs abstraction, and I’m sure everyone leans a little more than me either to one side or the other so take them as suggestions. Constructive discussion is welcomed.

Here are some sample profiles we’ve been using:

Space Marine Tac Squad, Sgt Blackfist
D10
Special Rules - Armored, Vet. Sgt. w/Power Weapon

Alpha Battery
D8
Special Rules - Heavy Weapons, Targeting Drone

3rd Platoon, Lt Mboye
D8
Special Rules - Officer

Wun Wun, Imperial Combat Construct (he's a robot)

D10

Special Rules - Tank, Tank Close Combat Weapons, Armored, Wounds(6), Heavy Weapons

Using Wun Wun soaks up TWO Character/Upgrades for an Army

Eight Ball

D10

Special Rules - None

...actually, they spend their upgrade to create the special Character below

Sgt Q'Taupa, Eight Ball Sniper
D10
Special Rules- Character, Poacher (from Civilian Mob Faction), Long Rifle (Range 36")

Honschu Mercenary Riders, Cpt. Paulus
D10
Special Rules - Cavalry, Vet Sgt., Inferior Rifles (roll down one die type from Ability when shooting)

Stormy McStorm Storm (with Storm Cannon)
D8
Special Rules - Tank, Heavy Weapons, Armored, Wounds(6)