Friday, February 23, 2018

Some Painting, some gaming

First, some Hobgoblins I painted from a Greenskins war Kickstarter. Sculpted by old-school greenskin god Kev Adams. These fellas are HUGE. Just look at them next to their GW brethren. Guess they'll be "big Hobgobs"?

Next is a Drantakh mini I'm painting for a contest at Adepticon. If you're going, stop by Regiment games and vote for me!

The impending ice storm kept most of the gaming crew at home (it never happened. That's right, I'm calling you out!). The Wastelands Cup stands unclaimed.
The depleted ranks let us try out a Kickstarter game I've been wanting to play: TechNo Bowl. It's got a lot of similarities to Blood Bowl, if Blood Bowl was streamlined and was more like American football. Made to look like an old video game of a similar name, it was a lot of fun.



Things are crazy right now. Getting ready for a out of town convention that needs a bunch of minis painted, and will coincide with the launch of our latest Kickstarter. Also have a couple of supplements to finish that would go well for the con too, plus freelance, plus work,....
You get it.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Twister Con, March 16-17th

Wiley Games will be at TwisterCon XV in Oklahoma City March 16-17th.
We'll be running a Wild West game Friday night, a Maximillian Adventure game Saturday morning, A French & Indian War game Saturday afternoon and a preview to Galactic Heroes, our newest game, Saturday night.
Stop by and play, say "Hey" or enjoy a St. Paddy's Day pint!

Monday, February 19, 2018

February 99¢ Mostly Monthly Scenario now available

"The war is seems almost over. Looks like the Yankees are gonna win. No one would notice if a few of you slipped away to get a decent meal from one of the sympathetic locals.

First, you smell the smoke, then through the trees you see a group of Blue-bellies looting a farm. Well, maybe the fight isn’t over after all."
This scenario is for Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket, but can easily be converted to a Fistful of Lead: Reloaded game by changing the factions to good guys and bad guys or looting Natives and Cavalry riding to the rescue.

Available at: Wiley Games
and Wargames Vault

Friday, February 16, 2018

Fistful of Lead SciFi playtest #3: Prisoner of the Machines!

On a planet without a name, strange things are afoot. The survivors of a long ago war were eking out a meager existance when a man from the stars arrived to show them a better life. The warring tribes united under this Star Man and things were looking good...until the machines appeared.
They took the Star Man and built bigger machines to transport more of their kind to strip the few remaining resources from the planet.
Then a new stranger arrived promising the free their savior and destroy the machines...


This was play test #3 for we call Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes. I wanted to try out the new rules for Goons, a few new weapons and Psionics.
The Daleks (let's just call them what they are) have a built a transporter. Every time a Joker is played, a new one appears on the transporter at the end of the turn. But they have to man the transporter for it to work. They all had Armor and were armed with a Death Ray, but were Slow (only moved 4" per action) and Lousy at Close Combat (used a d8). Their mission was simply to hold off the attackers.




Three factions were attacking. Krumbo's Kommandos, a group of greenskin mercenaries looking to collect on the bounty on the Star Man, and Mongo's Marauders, looking to do the same.
Then there was Wilja Stind (my Jedi name according the internet), a Light Templar. He's a Galactic Hero (wields a d12) and has Psionic powers. He led a group of locals including a group of Goons. Goons come in groups of 3, but activates as 1 model. They only take one hit and only use a d8.


The game started with the much anticipated Wilja Stind zipping forward to set an example for the locals. Even using a d12, he missed, and the Daleks counter attacked. Wilja Stind, Templar of the Eternal Light, went down first turn....
His furious locals charged forward to avenge him. The Goon squad missed, but an ancient piece of lead (we'll call him Ugly Joe) was the first to blast a Dalek to pieces. He went on to take out two more.



On the other side, the Kommandos were taking it on the chin, despite the heavy Flamer scorching, but not actually hurting, two more Daleks.
Mongo's men were protected by the woods for awhile and emerged to get 3 wounded in one turn. But the very next turn, Mongo was blessed by 2 Aces and the Queen of Hearts! Three wounds disappear.
Ugly Joe had punched a hole through the Daleks and one of the Goons managed to get to the cell only to snap his flint spear in the lock!
 An old Inquisitor masquerading as a Jedi
 Ugly Joe
Daleks left their posts to steady the line, but this meant no reinforcements would come in. The tide was changing. Wilja Stind appeared! Turns out he had "9 Lives" and can ignore the first Out of Action. He helped free the Star Man and made a run for it. Aaaaand got shot down again.
With only a Goon to protect the Star Man, Krumbo and Mongo decided to split the bounty and made quick work of both the good guys and Daleks.


Friday, February 9, 2018

Fistful of Lead SciFi playlets 2: Running the Gauntlet...

... or the Emperor Weeps for his Fallen.
Second playtest went well. Whereas last week was more of a straight up "hard SciFi" shoot out, last night reminded me more of the glorious days of Rogue Trader. We even packed it with ancient lead from those times.
The Mission: a group of heavily armored, genetically enhanced super soldiers, let's just call them "Space Marines" for now, had to get through a disreputable backwater space port with a robot carrying the plans for a super weapon: the Doom Moon! They had to cross the length of the table to landing pad 1, where a group of not-so heavily armored, and definitely not genetically enhanced super soldiers, had secured the pad.

If getting across a space port teaming with underworld scum wasn't enough, the robot in question only had half the plans. The other half were being carried by a random robot somewhere in the space port.
The underworld factions consisted of the Robot Legion: mechanical mercenaries for hire, Team Green: Brutish Ornk bandits, Orange Julius and his gang of female miscreants, and desert scavy scum.
The sketchy spaceport security would also prove to be a factor. These "Mall Cops" were of questionable ability, and only used a d8 for the game.
The game started with a Team Green mini Ornk sneaking up behind a grazing Reptosaur and blasting his blunderbuss in the air. This spooked the otherwise docile beast and sent it careening toward Orange Julius's gang. They scattered but had attracted the attention of waiting Guardsmen. Julius and a few his girls went down in a blaze of pulse rifle fire. The Reptosaur rampaged most of the game.
In retaliation, one who become known as "Bare-assed Betty" stepped forward to avenge her boss. In the swirl of combat, poor, conscripted Guardsmen had bunched up. Betty stepped forward and caught 3 of them in a burst template. One became shaken and two taken out of action.
The Guardsmen at the landing pad managed to find the other robot carrying the plans on their first try! Now it was a matter of keeping it until the Marines arrived.
Speaking of Marines, they were attracting buckets of bullets from every direction. One went down immediately. Grab his Geneseed!



The Joker was shuffled in and had a dark purpose to sew chaos into an already chaotic battle. Whomever played it got control of the security team until the next player played another Joker. Their ever shifting alliance was a joy to behold. We wrote this off not as deviousness on their part, but complete ineptitude. The shooting started and they had no idea what was going on. They just fired at whoever they thought were bad guys at the moment.
The Spaceport landing pad was set up to be a fortress. The Guardsmen manned the walls (much to the chagrin of the Marines who really needed them to come out and clear the streets). They blasted the oncoming Robots to pieces. That was, until the they came within range of the Robot's mazers. These little beauties fire focused microwave beams. As long as the robots could see them, cover was no protection! Whoever didn't die the horrible death of bursting like an egg in a microwave, was at least getting a tan.
The chaos continued with Marines and Guardsmen dropping under the unceasing blaster-fire. Finally one lone Marine, escorting the plan laden robot, made it to the landing pad. He had only to cross the no man's land between cover and ship.


I pause here to point out a rule we tried, the Hold or Overwatch action. On your first action you can elect to hold your fire, If, later in the turn, someone crosses your field of fire, you can interrupt to fire at them with your second action at a -1. I never liked it for Fistful of Lead. I turns most games into defensive affairs with everyone hold up in their cover. However, it felt right for future combat.
No one uses it, until now. Three different shooters were now on overwatch waiting for that Marine to cross that space. Only his armor, and his faith in the Emperor saved him.
Plans delivered, game over. Time to call in an Orbital strike!
 RIP Betty. Orange Julius would have been proud.
Marine 4 feels the heat.
Some things we tested:
Robots: Having no sense of self preservation, they do not dodge and weave like most living things. Therefore, they are a +1 to hit. However, their fearlessness also means they cannot be pinned (or shaken as we now say).
The Super Soldiers: Hardened Vets. They use a d12 for everything. Armor, they are a -1 to hit and have a -1 to be wounded. More than once they took no kind of damage. Enhanced Comms: they get an extra card as long as their are at least 2 left. They then discard a card of their choice. Things they probably should have: Fearless, ignore multiple shock markers (something we are also trying).
And a host of new weapons.
So far, so good.

Friday, February 2, 2018

Fistful of Lead: SciFi rules playtest

Alliance Troopers move in.
I've been slowly whittling down the last few ideas fir a ScienceFiction version of Fistful of Lead. After all, what are great SF tales but simply Westerns in space?
 The Outpost
I wanted to try a few new rules last night, and they seem to have worked. We kept this a slightly even affair as far as forces go, except for the addition of the Joker. If the Alliance player used it, they got an orbital strike (giant template), It never happened. If the Rebels played one, they got reinforcements. They ended up with 6 new Rebs for the meat grinder.
 Rebel forces on the move.
 The objective.

Demo charge fumbled!
The Mission: Rebel forces had managed to down an Alliance courier Drone. Drones like these are used when digital communication has been compromised. The Rebels had to get to it's black box before the Alliance did. Meanwhile, the secondary mission was the supplies scattered around town.
Some really hot dice meant the body count was high. This, along with burst fire and allowing "Pins" to stack, meant that troops in the open tended to get hammered.
 The effects of burst fire! A figure with an auto fire weapon can use a "Burst" at close range. It uses a 3" template, but figures under it are hit at a -1 to Shoot. This automatically put the shooter "Out of Ammo".
 Brave but doomed Rebels
Alliance Commandos clear the Outpost.
The Rebs got to the drone first, but two went down to Alliance fire before the black box was seized. Get the box required two actions and a die roll of 5+ to do.
Meanwhile the first attempt to blow up the supplies by the Alliance resulted in an Alliance trooper being blown up by own charges (he rolled double 1s).
It was great game. I got lots of notes.
The Rebels lost 21! troopers to the Alliance's 9. They have plenty more.
Next week we'll add in some more stuff like armor and special Traits.