Sci Fi Week

Last week I spent most of the week visiting the kids.  A (who's now 9, 10 in a little over a month) called me a month or so ago and asked me if I had any sci fi figs.  I rattled off what I had painted and raw lead and asked him why.  He told me about a video he had watched on YouTube by a Warhammer gamer about making your own buildings.  He was stoked and proceeded to cut up some a plastic bottle and glue a straw and bottle cap to it to make a storage tank.  Well, he never got around to making the building out of foam-core board, but I showed him an even easier way to 15mm sci fi buildings - spray painting some plastic electrical boxes.  We got a piece of tan foam-core board and lightly over-sprayed it with green spots.  We got some fake aquarium plants at Walmart and had an instant game board.  I painted up some Rebel Minis Earth Force figures and brought them with, along with some Scourge and some Khurasan Huntarrs, for us to play around with.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of the Scourge.  We got in three games.  He beat me each time.  The first game was very close, but when he understood the concept of creating rules, he just couldn't stop! 



Initially, the rules were very simple.  Turn order was Move, Conduct lightning strikes, Shoot.  Figures could move 6", 3" if climbing on the "mountain" or moving through/up/down inside buildings.  Range to shoot was 12" and you had to roll 8+ to hit, with a -2 if the target was in cover, and a +1 at less than 3" range.  All shooting was simultaneous.  Figures were figured to be in cover if they were partially behind something from the shooter's perspective.  Initially, I didn't intend for figures to be able to shoot multiple times, but it quickly devolved to that, with no additional modifiers. 

So, yes, this planet has a problem with electrical storms.  On a 5+, lightning struck the board.  We divided the board up into 36 equal areas, each 3-1/3" high by 5" wide (the board was 6 areas wide by 6 areas high - roll a die for each axis to determine which area was struck).  If a figure was in an area struck by lightning, it rolled for a hit, just like shooting.  On an 8+ it was dead.  The nails sitting on the board are lightning rods.  If the figure was within 2" of the longer nails or 1" of the shorter screws when lightning struck the area, the figure was safe.  (The lightning strikes were A's idea, needless to say!)  We didn't have any figures die from lightning strikes, but there were a few close calls where it struck an area adjacent to the figures or struck an area where figures were near a lightning rod. 

We had a lot of fun shooting each other up and moving figures around on the board.  With eight figures a side, games were short and bloody. 

The upended figure at left is dead from opposing fire.

A private and corporal (from left) rounding a building.

Enemies square off on a roof top.

A Huntarr (you know what this really is).  We used them in a

game but the rules we used didn't work too well.  The boy

wanted two hits to kill the good guys and three to kill

the Huntar, but the Huntarr had to be visible to attack or

 shoot, and could only shoot 6".  He died faster than he

could kill his opponents.

A pair of soldiers looking for the Huntarr and sticking close

to a lightning rod, just in case.

The mastermind himself, along with one of

the board set-ups we used. 

 

 

We had a grand time, but I have to paint up some new figures now as I left the ones I painted with him to play around with.  We also got in a game of Settlers with sister J.  I won that one.  And we played our first game of Flash Point, a cooperative fire fighting/victim rescuing game.  We used the basic rules to get a feeling for the game, and it was close.  J was pretty lucky for most of the game and there wasn't much fire on her edge of the board.  A and I kept running into more and more fire and at the end of the game, most of the house was on fire with the exception of J's corner where it was still mostly under control.  We did lose three victims, though, so getting the seventh out safely was a necessity.  Fortunately, nothing bad happened and we were able to rescue her.  A and I also watched The Empire Strikes Back.  All in all we had a great time.  Next week, J comes to stay with me for three weeks.  Wondering what we'll get into then!