"The Arthurian Family Conflict" An Asteroid Resource Campaign for the Solar Empires.

 Over two centuries ago the Langford Mining Corporation discovered a family of asteroids in the Kuiper Belt rich with resources.  They dubbed this new family of asteroids the "Arthurian Family" and named the individual asteroids they discovered after characters from the Arthurian legends.  The company established basic level terraforming on 30 of the richest asteroids in the group and even set up several fusion reactor satellites as artificial suns.  Things did not go well for the overextended company however and they quickly went bankrupt before they could begin mining operations.

Largely forgotten the asteroids of the Arthurian Family remained dormant until the Venture Star Prospecting company located them again.  The company sold claims to four different mining operations on four of the larger asteroids for a very tidy profit.  With the rest of the lesser asteroids in the family up for grabs the four companies have been scrambling to secure their assets in the region and expand their operations.
      

 In an unusual move the Grau Legion of the Jovian Imperial Legions have established a base on 207485 Arthur to protect the operations of the Imperial House Mining Company.  No one is quite sure why the Emperor would send troops from his personal guard to such a remote region but whatever the reason it must be considered a state secret because representative of the Imperial court would only state that the operations were in the interest of the Jovian Empire.

 The Jovians however were not the only government to send state troops to the region.  The M.S.S.R. have also established a military presence on 207525 Merlin to protect the People's Mining Consortium.  When asked why they sent troops to the Kuiper belt Soviet officials replied that it was of "strategic importance".  It is widely speculated that the main reason Soviet forces are present in the region is to keep an eye on the Jovian activities.

 The Hell Knight Mercenary Company has taken up a contract to provide security for "MacDuff and Campbell Mining".  This company with a major office on Pluto is in the best position to take advantage of the rediscovery of this asteroid family.  The Hell Knights are also based on Pluto so it is no surprise that they have taken this contract.  The Hell Knights are based on 207499 Morgana.

The Star Guards Mercenary Company has contracted with Eagle Heavy Industries out of Titan.  EHI has set up their main base on 207498 Mordred.  Being the smallest mining company in the region they have spared no expense on security hiring the Star Guards who are the largest security contractors in the entire Solar System.  

  

This is a map of the asteroids that are being contested.  The Jovian forces are represented by the white markers and are being played by our friend Curtis.  The Star Guards are being represented by the blue markers and they are being played by our daughter Erika.  The Green markers represent the Martians being played by my wife Michelle.  The Red markers represent the Hell Knights who are being played by me.

We already managed to have a battle encounter in the first turn when the Martians and Jovians both made a move for 208072 Tor.  The Jovians have sent two strike forces and one mobile mining operation while the martians have sent a single strike force.  Strike forces represent 500 points of assets and right now the battle limit is set to 500 point battles for the first three turns.

This is a test campaign for a resource campaign rules system I am working on.  

The Battle of FOB 1138: A 2500 point No Limits battle for the Station 42 War

 Titania, March 8th 3033.  Earlier this morning a force of M.S.S.R. and Titania militia attacked FOB 1138 a Hell Knight base West of Station 42.  The Martians made a slow advance towards the base which allowed the mercenaries to move in several armored units to re-enforce the tiny garrison.

 The Martian attack was spearheaded by a captured Jovian "Liger" super heavy tank and four battlesuits.  One of the martian battlesuits advanced killing four member of a Hell Knight veteran rifle squad but was itself destroyed by combined tank and infantry fire.

 A militia improvised armored vehicle scored a hit against a Hell Knight heavy hover tank but was destroyed by a grenade launched by the surviving mercenary veteran.

 A Hell Knight light hover vehicle traded fire with the martian tank but was destroyed by combined fire from the Martian battlesuits and Militia snipers.

 The martians poured heavy fire into the bunker occupied by a squad of Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry but did not manage to bring it down.  It seemed as if the mercenaries had stopped the Martian advance.
 

 Two Martian battlesuits engaged the mercenary Heavy Hover tank in the middle of the field badly damaging it.  The tank responded with several hits but did no damage to the light walkers.

 Fearing that the bunker they were in was about to collapse around them the Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry exited the structure.

 Taking heavy fire from all sides the mercenary heavy hover tank turned it's particle cannon on a squad of Martian veterans killing three and wounding their force commander.  The tank was destroyed shortly after killing the infantrymen.

 Despite the loss of their heavy tank the mercenaries continued to poor fire into the Martian super heavy damaging it little by little.

 One of the Martian battlesuits caught the mercenary heavy infantry in the open killing five troopers.  The four remaining veterans responded with well aimed shots that brought the Martian down.

 The Martian Liger was finally destroyed but not after trading quite a bit of damage with the mercenary tanks.

 A unit of Titania militia finished off one of the mercenary medium hover tanks that had been badly damaged by their allies super heavy.

In a last desperate act one of the Hell Knights medium hover tank rammed a Martian battlesuit but only managed to inflict light damage on itself.  Unable to stop the Martian advance the mercenaries withdrew from the field.

Notes:  We actually penalized the Hell Knights 100 points for the bunker because we have decided that fortifications in deployment zones really give the defender an advantage.  This was actually a very close battle that came down to less than 100 victory points.  In fact my last shot of the battle was an attempt to kill the Martian general with one of my snipers.  Unfortunately I rolled a 10 and was not even able to re-roll with the sniper's sure shot ability because of the critical fumble.  I rolled a disproportionate number of 10s during the battle especially when I only needed a nine to hit on most of those rolls.  Of 18 railgun shots fired from the medium tanks only 6 hit and only 3 managed to do damage and the worst shots I had required a roll of 8 or under on a D10.  The dice just were not with me in this fight.  Still my wife fought a very aggressive battle using her tank and battlesuits quite effectively.  

Heavy Tank for M.S.S.R. WIP

I've had this Batman toy tank for a while now are recently picked up another copy of it at a Big Lots.  It converts from a tank to a flying machine but oddly enough in tank form it has no weapons.  I've been looking for something to do to it for a while now when I spotted some toy military trucks at Dollar General with missile racks for only $3.00.  A little kit bashing later with some other bits from my bits box and this is what I came up with.  Fortunately I have enough bits to make the other tank as well.
We are going to use this tank for our Martian Soviet Socialist Republic force as a heavy fire support vehicle.  I just have a few more details and a paint job to add.
 

Battle of the Martian Sector: A 2000 point battle report for the Station 42 War!

January 4th 3033.  Earlier this afternoon the Hell Knights Mercenary company engaged forces of the Titania Militia and the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic near the Martian Military base just a few kilometers south southeast of Station 42.  The Martians released this recording of audio communications between their commander and the mercenary commander prior the the start of hostilities:

Martian Commander:  Attention intruders this is Commander Igor Kovalevsky of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic.  You have entered into sovereign territory of M.S.S.R.  Turn back now or we will be forced to engage you.

Hell Knights Commander:  This is Lieutenant Domingo Gomez of the Hell Knights mercenary company.  You are harboring the fugitive militia leader Ivar "Bear" Belyakov.  He is wanted by the Titania government for numerous crimes and we have a legal contract to apprehend him.  Remand him to our custody and we will be more than happy to depart.

 Martian Commander:  Lieutenant I am afraid you are not understanding me.  This is sovereign territory of M.S.S.R. and is governed by our laws!  Mr. Belyakov has requested asylum and we have granted it.  You must turn back now or we will fire on you!

Hell Knights Commander:  Get back to your base and leave this to us or we'll kick your Marski ass!

End transmission......  

 The Hell Knights force consisted of one Incubus light mech piloted my Lt. Gomez, two light infantry squads mounted in two LAGAREV hovercraft, one Hobelar light hover tank, and three Douglas medium hover tanks.  The Martian force consisted of one heavy infantry squad and two light infantry squads with two Dragunov Battlesuits, and two Degtyaryov Battlesuits.  Bear's militia units consisted of his own squad of light militia, two improvised armored vehicles, and two snipers.

Both of the mercenary light transports were destroyed in the first few shots and several mercenaries were kill when one of them exploded.

 A Dragunov Battlesuit was taken out of action by the combined firepower of three Douglas hover tanks.  The sturdy armored suit took quite a bit of punishment before going down.
 

 On the Mercenary left flank Lt. Gomez engaged two Martian Battlesuits in his light mech and although he damaged the other Dragunov his Incubus was shredded by the twin heavy machine guns of the Degtyaryov.

 In the center of the field a Militia technical fired a fragmentation missile at a mercenary rifle squad.  Three members of the squad were knocked prone but not injured.  The squad returned fire at Bear's unit and a squad of Soviets inflicting several casualties on both units.

 On the mercenary left flank Hell Knight tanks and the Martian Battlesuits engaged each other.  The other Dragunov was destroyed and the Degtyaryov traded fire with tanks suffering light damage and inflicting the same to the tanks.

 Although initially successful the mercenaries holding the hill in the center of the field began to take casualties from the combined fire of the militia and martian light infantry.

 The unit was all but destroyed when it was outflanked by one of the Degtyaryov Battlesuits.  All but the Sargent were killed by heavy machine gun fire.

 Two members of the Martian Heavy Infantry Squad were gunned down by the Hobelar light hover tank's pulse laser as if sped past their position.

 Despite being surrounded and damaged by enemy armor the Degtyaryov Battlesuit on the mercenary left flank fought on.  Two of the Douglas tanks were badly damaged in the exchange.

 Eventually however the Battlesuit was brought down by the mercenary tanks who then surged forward to engage the final Degtyaryov.

 The remaining Martian Battlesuit opened up at point blank range at one of the Douglas tanks damaging it further but not destroying it.  The mercenary tanks lightly damaged the Battlesuit and it took more damage when the remaining member of the Hell Knights squad from the transport that exploded shot it with his plasma carbine.  Bear killed the mercenary Sargent on the hill with his assault rifle.  

As the whine of Martian repulserlift engines were heard approaching from the base the mercenary tanks made a last ditch effort to kill Bear rather than capture him.  His two remaining comrades were cut down by the Hobelar as it flanked their position and the Douglas hover tanks reduced the rocky outcropping to gravel with their railguns but the militia leader survived.

The mercenary forces retreated just moments before Martian Gunships and Dropships arrived on scene.

Notes:  This was a nasty 2000 point No Limits battle between my mercenaries and My wife's militia and Martians.  Those Martian Battlesuits survived a heck of the lot of punishment and did quite a bit of damage to my forces.  After they wrecked my transports and nearly wiped out one of my squads I focused on taking them down which kept me for focusing on my objective of capturing Bear.  They slippery militia leader also survived my best attempts to kill him at the end of the battle.  
We had decided that this would be a six turn battle and I would have needed to be in clear control of the field for a total victory or kill Bear for a minor victory.  Unfortunately I did neither.  All I had left at the end of the battle were four damaged tanks and one trooper with a plasma carbine.   
One funny thing about the battle is that my wife forgot to deploy here field cannon so we decided it was held in reserve.  She then forgot to bring it on the board until the fourth turn.  
It was a pretty good battle and we had a lot of fun with it.  Both sides did some heavy damage to each other and we introduced another faction to the conflict.  

M.S.S.R. Battlesuits Finished!

I finished up this squad of M.S.S.R. Battlesuits this morning for our Solar Empires setting.  These guys will make an appearance or two in our "Station 42 War" campaign as part of the units from the Martian base on Titania.  These are made from the same M.A.R.S. robot toys that the battlesuit I use for my Hell Knights are made from.  They cost about $2.00 each and come in packs of three.  I picked mine up and a local Dollar General.  They stand between 9 and 10 centimeters tall.  Even though they are a squad they are also considered small walkers so they are vehicles and can act independently like a larger mech.
Hopefully we will have a battle with these guys and the rest of the Martian forces up soon.

Martian Troopers and Wolfhound Veteran finished!

 Well we had a productive December 25th and we managed to finish up the troops on the paint table.  I got the Wolfhound Veterans done.  I'm not quite as happy with the way they turned out for some reason.  They look okay to me but not quiet as nice as the other Wolfhounds for some reason.  I did some object source lighting on the plasma gunner and I think I got a bit heavy but OSL has never been one of my strong points.

My wife shamed me by finishing up 13 M.S.S.R. troopers in the same time it took me to finish the 6 veterans I painted and I think they turned out really nice.  The old Vor troopers look a little large next to the Pig Iron troopers but I think they look good.  They are standing straight up and almost all the Pig Iron troopers are crouched a bit.  We may replace the Vor troopers eventually but at the moment we are trying out best to use the things we have and not spend a lot of money.

Martians and Wolfhounds on the paint table!

 We have been working on more forces for the Station 42 War the last couple of days.  Above are some Martian Soviet Socialist Republic forces my wife has been painting.  They are just about finished.  All she needs to do is finish up the bases.

I'm getting pretty close to finishing the Wolfhound Veterans and Assassin as well.  I still have the metallics and bases to do on them.  Hopefully they were all be finish later today or tomorrow.  We hope to have a small campaign skirmish tonight as well so these might not get done as soon as I would like.

Looking ahead to 2014 Projects Part 1

 We plan to work on two terrain projects for 2014.  The first one is "Titania City" which is the capital city of Titania the moon of Uranus and the planet our current "Station 42 War" is set on.  Unlike the station and surrounding areas which are very hardscrabble, dirty, frontier style locations Titania City will be a beautiful domed city full of elegant buildings and green spaces.

 There are several serious challenges to this project.  It is much easier to do hardscrabble, frontier, futuristic buildings and terrain than the slick and polished futuristic look.  Another issue is that while we want the city to look beautiful and clean we also want it to look lived in and established.  That will be a kind of hard thing to pull off.  The buildings need to show a bit of age and usage but not be heavily weathered like the station and other locations on Titania.

 Also building multi story buildings always brings problems of scale and playability.  Too many tall buildings can make it very difficult to play around as you tent to knock things over and damage them as you try and reach across the table to move models.  

 All of our current Titania based terrain is as fully playable as we can make it.  That is the roofs come off the buildings and the doors and windows work.  We feel this is very important with certain scenarios especially with role playing games.  Doing multi story buildings is not as simple as it might seem and dealing with them in play can be a hassle.  When you have to pick up upper stories to move miniatures around you can end up jostling the furnishings and miniatures in the upper levels and on the top which can lead to lost game time and even damage.
We will probably limit the number of stories in most buildings to three or four but make the stories a bit higher than usual and design  some of the buildings to have non playable spacers between some of the stories.  We will also probably make some "Space Needle" style buildings where the elevator shafts aren't playable.  

 The other project will be a very dirty and industrial city on the dwarf planet Ceres.  In fact in our "Solar Empires" setting Ceres is covered in one huge city similar to Coruscant or Nar Shaddaa from the Star Wars setting although not quite as overbuilt as either of those settings.  Although it is part of the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ceres is the commercial port of Martian held territories similar to Hong Kong or Vladivostok and it is very commercialized by comparison.    

 Many of the same problems exist for this project as for the Titania City project.  Many of the structures will need to be taller than the ones that we have built and will require multiple stories to pull off correctly.  The good thing is that the dirty/industrial look is much easier to pull off and several of those larger structures can be purely industrial in nature.

One of the solutions I have considered is to make a multi-level table using milk crates or smaller storage crates to support each level than having smaller buildings on each level that are only one or two stories tall.  then having a cloud layer similar to the New York scenes from The Fifth Element and then making underground complexes for the lower levels.

Both of these projects are huge undertakings compared to Station 42 and I don't plan to finish either in one year.  In fact both settings will hopefully consist of several tables of terrain covering the points of interest in each city rather than attempts to do the entire city on one table.  Obviously that would be impossible for Ceres and would make Titania City unrealistically confined.

We are hoping to make at least enough to cover a 4x8 foot table for each project rather than trying to cover the 5x12 foot table that Station 42 sits on.  That table is already more complicated to reach across and we doubt it would be possible to put really large structures on it and still make the thing playable.

This may be more project than we can realistically handle but we are planning on setting our next campaign on Ceres and we have really been wanting to do Titania City for role playing games.  

Solar Empires

I've finally settled on a name for the Sci-fi setting we have been playing our "Station 42 War" and "Maxed Out" games in.  I'm going with "Solar Empires".  I had previously called the setting "3031" and "Moon Miners and Terraformers".  I didn't like the first choice because it seemed silly to name a setting for a single date and I didn't like the second one because it was a mouth full and sounded dated.  I Google searched "Solar Empires" to check for conflicts and found that there was a video game named "Sins of a Solar Empire" but no game or anything titled just "Solar Empires"  Although this is merely a personal setting for my home games I would like to have an original title if possible in case I decide to develop it in the future.

I feel this name reflects the various different factions well.  Governments, corporations, and criminal enterprises can often be called "Empires" and since my setting is based on the Solar System it seemed like the best choice.  

I have some basic setting notes that we have actually been using for a couple of years now that I have not published because I was never satisfied with the setting name.  I have now created a new page for those notes on this blog here:   http://ironworkersminiatures.blogspot.com/p/solarempires-nathan-miller-2013.html
I plan to add some artwork to the page as soon as we create some.  As it stands it is just a big block of text and I want to make it more interesting to read.

In The Future There Will Be Robots!

I just wanted to show off some of the toys we have amassed for our Mecha project for Station 42.  I've already shown one of the mechs with the Titania Planetary Guard update.  Here are some of the others.  Many if not all of these will make and appearance in our "Station 42 War" campaign.
We will still be using "No Limits" as our rules which will make it easy to create stats for these models but we will also be adding several house rules and some new equipment which I will publish as the project progresses.  Eventually I would like to pick up some nicer models but for now we are using these to kind of test out our rule ideas.

"Maxed Out" Episode 2:

New Vladivistock on Ceres, M.S.S.R. After their first attempt to work their way to Ceres aboard the heavy freighter "Ugly Betty" Jennie and Rocky decided to take a commercial transport to New Vladivistock to avoid trouble. They planned to find an used ship dealer there named Tommy "8 Toes" who they had purchased a "Skysweeper" attack craft from that they planned to use for their bounty hunting career. They were to meet their contact Johnny Walker at a pub called the "Red October".
New Vladivistock on Ceres is the most open city in the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic and is the most important trade city in the Republic. It is much easier to do business in the city for foreigners but it is still a tightly controlled city.
Upon their arrival Rocky and Jennie head to the "Red October" but their contact is no where to be seen. They wait for a couple of hours but he still does not show up or answer his com. After doing some investigating they find out where Johnny lives. Rocky also discoverers there is a small bounty out for him. On their way to Johnny's apartment they are stalked by a man in a long coat but aren't able to discover who he is.
After trying to contact Johnny a few more times Rocky and Jennie decide to break into his apartment. As they are investigating his apartment a number of his friends come in and hold them at gun point. Johnny eventually shows up and after some negotiation decided to help them get ahold of Tommy. He helps them acquire guns and forged papers to get them outside the city to where Tommy's business is.

After a little trouble getting out of the city they arrive at Tommy's place of business.

Jennie and Rocky investigate the office with Johnny and Trisha his girlfriend. They find the office door forced open and the office ransacked. Even Tommy's dog 'Scraps' is missing.

As they are investigating Tommy's office three vehicles pull up and a number of armed thugs get out.

A shootout takes place around the office area. Trisha is badly wounded and Johnny takes here back to the city for medical help. Rocky and Jenny question one of the wounded thugs that attacked them and find out that Tommy was taken by a local crime boss named "Bad Boris" for failing to pay his protection money. Boris had sent some of his goons back to Tommy's office to find the access codes to the ships on Tommy's lot. After searching the office and a ship that Tommy was working on they find a data terminal on the ship that is powered on. After a couple attempts to hack it they try using "Scraps" as the password and gain access to the information. On the terminal are the access codes to the ships on Tommy's lot. After fixing up the ship they had purchased using parts from some of the other Skysweepers on the lot they call up Victor "Bluetooth" Jones the illegal arms dealer Johnny had sent them to so they could purchase guns to find out if he had any ammunition for the 40mm cannons on their ship. After about an hour Victor showed up with about 100 rounds for the ships guns. Not a lot but it would have to do.

Rocky and Jennie loaded up the ship and took off to the location they had got from the thug they captured. When they got their the found an old Martian style military bunker that had a communications array on top. Rocky opened a channel and demanded that they release Tommy or she would level their bunker.

The gangsters called her bluff so she swung around behind the bunker and destroyed one of their vehicles with a burst of 40mm cannon fire.

Undeterred the gangsters fired back with assault rifles and a light machine guns. Their ship took a hit and Rocky lost control. Fortunately Jennie managed to help her re-gain control before they crashed.

All the fire they received had come from the top level of the bunker so Rocky hovered their craft just high enough to target that level. Jennie then used the cannon to start shooting the gangsters inside.

Their ship took a few more hits but nothing substantial. Rocky kept hovering the craft around the bunker as Jennie fired the cannon.

Eventually Boris and his gangsters decided that they weren't going to win the fight especially after loosing their light machine gunner.

They released Tommy and Scraps. Tommy was very happy to be released and he helped Rocky and Jennie do further repairs to their ship which they decided to name "Maxed Out".

Note: This was the 2nd episode in my home RPG campaign "Maxed Out". This is set in our 3031 setting. We used the "Savage Worlds" roleplaying system for this game but we also used other rule systems for games in this setting. This is also the setting for our "Station 42" project which will frequently be used in this campaign.