The Joy of DRD Refinery Rig

September 26, 2023 at 8:28 am (Miniature Gaming)
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I was looking for some interesting terrain – specifically something oil rig-like in 28mm, and ordered myself one of Death Ray Design Refinery kits. It arrived the other day, and I got right into it. TLDR: Amazing kit, quickly assembled (I got through it and painted it yesterday in a few easy hours), and looks great on the table. 

One arrival, it looks like the usual stack of MDF sheets. DRD has clear instructions posted on their website. The pieces were all well laser cut, and came out of the sprue without challenge. Clean fits for assembly as well.

The central column of the hubs and tower took a bit of patience, but fit together nicely, and once glued, felt sturdy. The rest of the kits walls and buttresses were easily added per instructions. I was frankly surprised with how quickly the kit came together, which fed my interest in getting it done.

It settled for a basic battle-worthy paint job. First a good primer layer of black – I used Rusteolium 2x flat black primer, which DRD recommends anyway. From there, I did a sort of zenithal spray of GW Lead Belcher, and called it done.

With drop in walls, bridges and ladders, the set is quite configurable. Just this set nicely dominates a 2×2 or 2×3 space (or even centers a 3×3). I think it’s got great value for the cost, and would make an easy center piece or eye catching display for a board. If you’re looking to promote your game, demo, store or club’s sci-fi minis gaming, this would make an excellent piece to get some attention, especially with the main tower standing about 13″ tall.

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Incoming Tangoes!

September 20, 2023 at 9:24 am (Miniature Gaming)
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One of the indie skirmish games I’ve been enjoying this year has been InCountry, from Enemy Spotted Studios. This was a surprising one for me, but in hindsight, after binging on Seal Team last year, I could have seen it coming. InCountry is a small scale (1-2 teams on a 2×2 board as a default) skirmish game of modern combat – think any of the endless conflicts (or cinema based on the same) from 2000 on. Stat line is minimal, and there’s a lot of action/reaction in addition to alternating unit activation. In 2023, InCountry (INX) has topped my play chart actually, and most solo. Most games run 30 minutes, if that.

Yesterday I set up and played through the first mission of the (free) Deniable Operations mission. As the HVT is data in a server room, I added a little sketched map for the server building objective. Less than 30 minutes later, scenario was over with a BlueFor win.

Game play with InCountry is pretty smooth in my experience. There’s not too many moves (Measures or Reactive Measures), and there’s not a ton of numerical detail to weapons, systems, etc. It’s very streamlined for play. I find it feels like a good episode of Seal TV, and delivers a fast, cinematic experience.

The digital version of the rules are free, along with some supplements (like the Deniable Operations pack) and the more competitive-based InCountry Recon. The default rules are non-points based, so coming up with scenarios and forces is easy as long as you don’t have a desperate need to have “points balance” (in which case, Recon may be your speed).

I’ll talk more about the ESS minis for InCountry and KillWager (their near sci-fi setting and game) in a separate post.

Be well, and good gaming!

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Welcome to the Hotel Kabuki

September 14, 2023 at 8:53 am (Miniature Gaming)
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One of the things that’s really surprised and delighted me about miniatures wargaming over the past several years has been the availability of so many great terrain kits and options. Between 3D prints and MDF kits, it’s never been easier to get a home table looking really nice. I’ve taken the opportunity over the past couple years to get into MDF kits especially. I’m not the best modeler, but I find as long as I choose a difficulty within my range (extra bonus points to TT Combat, who mark their kits with difficulty and time icons). One kit I thoroughly enjoyed assembling was Black Site Studio’s “The Kabuki Hotel”, from their Zaibatsu line. After assembling last night and letting it dry, I just had to share the results of this awesome kit build.

Three levels plus roof (all removable), painted, and with some nifty die cut acrylic for the hotel neon signs, this turned out to make a really cool model. I didn’t prep it with any great results, so you can see some of that in the model … I’m all about good being the enemy of done these days, so good enough for me! The kit went together fairly easily – probably not the first kit someone wants to do, but if you’ve done a few kits, this should be achievable (plus the instructions are on line).

At first, of course, it looks like nothing more than a pile of MDF sheets, but after a couple hours … wow!

The Kabuki Hotel currently retails (direct) $49 US, and I feel I got my money’s worth on it. I’ll look forward to getting a few more in the line. Maybe that nifty Medical Center …

Be well, and good gaming!

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A Grimdark Indie Future

September 13, 2023 at 6:27 am (Miniature Gaming)
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When I had the itch to start pushing some of my WH40K models around the table a few months ago, I found myself looking for some alternate rules options and learned about One Page Rules. They make their own versions of grimdark sci-fi and fantasy rules, in unit and skirmish flavors. After reading the rules, I liked what I read well enough to give them a try … and really liked the results. OPR just released their version 3.0 of the rule sets, which I just downloaded and look forward to getting into.

Grimdark Firefight is the skirmish version (small warband / fireteam) and Grimdark Future is their unit-based wargame (think WH40K or Xenos Rampant). OPR has an Age of Fantasy line for regiment, unit and skirmish flavors, and a spaceship combat game as well.

OPR offers the basic rules for free, which will get you a fine skirmish game. It’s with the paid rulebooks that they fold in more options and optional rules – several of which are my preferred home rules/adjustments. Random unit activation, patrol phase, more actions/options, and such. All d6 based, and minis agnostic. If you have some six-sliders, you can pretty much be playing OPR at no cost and have a fun time.

OPR has the advanced rulebooks for each game at ~ $5/each. If you really like what you see, I’d recommend considering the $5 Patreon option. It provides all of the advanced rulebooks as part of monthly $5 fee, along with some discounts for 3D models (printed or STL), monthly mission downloads and other perks. There’s a $10 Patreon level with all the same perks + STLs of all sorts (and it’s an amazing amount of them). If you’re 3D printer enabled, I think it’s worth a look.

OPR also features some free intro/starter kits, which include 3D print STLs

I think another fantastic feature of the One Page Rules offering is their online army builder. Browser-based, it provides a very easy ability to put together an army list and output to cards or listings for easy use. Most of the WH40K factions have analogs, along with some additional science-fiction favorites like Imperial … er, Human Defense Stormtroopers, plucky rebels and such. Patreon supporters also get access to create their own units for use with the army builder, which is functionality I’ve only begun to play with. But if you wanted to model up your own forces using Wargames Atlantic’s range, for example, you could build units to make that line, your own interpretation, etc. It really is a top quality army builder, and at the free level, I think with the rules makes an incredible package.

I’ve been a PDF-level Patreon backer for the past few months – since WH40K 10th edition release, more or less – and in that time, I’ve enjoyed more play with my Space Marine and Ork models than I had prior.

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Discovering Heroes of Adventure

September 1, 2023 at 9:53 am (RPGs)
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I recently discovered the Heroes of Adventure rpg, thanks to the fine folks at the Mr. Mean Speaks community. Heroes of Adventure (or HoA for the rest of the post) is a free, minimal(ish) fantasy rpg by The Nameless Designer. They’ve put out three core books (64 pages each, which makes my old school heart warm) – the basic trinity of Players Handbook, Referees Guide, and Monster Book.

They’ve also released a series of four supplements, including an introductory module (The Lair of the Mutant) and a sandbox (Fortress on the Wild Frontier).

The rules strike me as a clean unified mechanic (a d20 plus a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12 for things a PC has abilities/talents/skills in) vs. a target number from 5 – 30. I found the presentation to be clean – almost a bullet journal style of delivery – and it really clicked with me. The rules are pretty present in the PHB, and the GM book is mostly a wide ranging resource set of tables and support.

I ran the Lair of the Mutant for a group of 4 earlier, and really enjoyed the experience. Having only downloaded the rules a few days earlier, I nonetheless felt I had a good handle on the rules, as well as the nicely outlined and presented adventure. The game in play felt D&Dish without being just a D&D retroclone (not that I don’t like me a good retroclone).

With a $0 price tag and generous Creative Commons license, Heroes of Adventure might make an excellent choice for budget minded players or club play. For introductory purposes, I’d recommend included some references for GMing – HoA doesn’t spend much time introducing the chops (and there’s enough resources out there that I don’t think it’s a capital crime).

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