Things have gotten a bit sparse here on the CSW blog of late, but never fear -- we recently launched a new forum and have moved much of our discussion and content posting over there. Check it out!

Big thanks to CSW member Josh for kitbashing this forum for us...we're particularly pleased with the rotating image header, featuring pics of members' painted minis!

We'll continue to post highlights to this blog, but the bulk of the game chatter, photo galleries and related talk will take place on the forum. It's our hope that you'll browse the forum, and maybe even join in the discussions from time to time! See you there!

Last week Josh and I got together to try out Cleared to Engage, a fun, fast-playing ruleset written by P. Todoroff and hosted over at his blog Stalker7. As you might surmise, the intent of the ruleset is to provide a basic framework of rules for running sci-fi, post-apocalyptic and/or cyberpunk skirmish games.

These are Todoroff's homebrew rules used for most of the games featured on his blog. CTE lacks a points system or premade character profiles, but that was no problem for us, as we relish the challenge of crafting scenarios. We were eager to try the rules out! I set the scenario in the Derzhensko Exclusion Zone, which is one of several homebrew settings we've used for our sci-fi and post-apoc games. Here's the scenario outline:

The Lure of the Atom
Location: Derzhensko Exclusion Zone
Area: Unsecured Perimeter K-18

The Zone’s porous perimeter has been compromised by a group of ex-military scavengers, trespassers and adventurers. The goal of the expedition is a single unexploded atomic bomb -- a relic from a past era, when such weapons rained down from the skies. Could it hold the secret to the Zone’s existence? The explorers must first get past the defenders of a small settlement nearby. These hardy folk have spent years rebuilding some semblance of a society in the ruins of the Zone, and they are unwilling to watch their hard work get destroyed by invaders.



The game pitted a group of veteran stalkers, mercenaries and ex-military types (backed up by some rather frightful mutants straight out of the lab) against a ragtag band of dug-in settlers armed with mostly improvised weapons. The stalkers' objective was to reach the atomic bomb and explore its mysteries. Their secondary objective was to reach the water tank outside the greenhouse and restock their dwindling supplies.



The settlers' objective was to annihilate the mercs -- and as we saw in our game, a combination of poor terrain placement and the sheer lethality of "Cleared to Engage" helped the settlers achieve their goal quite nicely.




I deployed my mercs in the wooded perimeter outside the settlement, intending to use the "Snipers in the Woods" scenario rule to lay down withering cover fire while my guys advanced. I knew my weapons and equipment were better than the settlers' pitiful rakes and garden hoes. (That's sarcasm, of course. As you can see in the pics, Josh's guys were lovingly converted to hold all manner of nifty weapons, from a leaf trimmer to a stop sign to a pneumatic air gun!)


I advanced through the woods, sending two groups of guys toward the two objectives. In this pic, Floyd the Mega Mutant and Yadonovsky the stalker close in on the water tank, which is attached to the side of the greenhouse -- and critically, within range of the settlers' firearms!


A turn later, they arrived, taking cover behind the greenhouse before sprinting to the water tank.



Over by atomic bomb, another pair of mercs was advancing cautiously, using broken barricades as cover. Alas, they were ambushed by Josh's recon element, which had been forward deployed near some shipping containers.



Actually it looks like the recon settler killed the mutant berzerker and was then slain herself. Here's the pic -- you be the judge.


Alone and unsupported, Morsov (with the shotgun) darted across the street to link up with the stalkers by the greenhouse. He made it halfway before encountering some defenders. After a brief, fierce close combat, both figures killed each other.



In fact, that happened a lot. Every single one of our close combats resulted in both figures dying in the first round. I'm not sure if that was due to CTE's deadly close combat system, or some misunderstanding on our part. The result was a veritable killing field near the greenhouse! Here's an example of the carnage after three or four turns.


The results were similar over by the greenhouse. Ranged combat thinned the ranks, and close combat took care of the rest. Josh and I both slaughtered each other's figures with reckless abandon! Josh had a medic, which meant that he was able to revive a couple figures -- only to see them butchered a turn later by my guys.



When the dust cleared, I hadn't managed to secure even one of the two objectives, and Josh had decimated my fighting force. His settlers wouldn't be doing much settling anymore, though, as they had left more than half their number strewn about the streets as casualties. We agreed that Josh won the scenario.

CTE proved to be quite deadly, almost to a fault. We couldn't stop our guys from dying! Even the settlers, with relatively poor stats, were able to score hits when rolling buckets of dice with their machine pistols. Some of this came from terrain placement -- the wide open street was an absolute killzone -- but even figures in cover, such as my snipers in the woods, didn't last long once they started to draw fire.

We agreed to try out more multi-wound figures in our next game, as well as lower benchmark combat values across the board. The great part about this ruleset is that it is very easy to modify and tinker with. After the game, we were just brimming with ideas for possible tweaks and enhancements to better suit our play style and figure/terrain collections.

Hats off to Mr. Todoroff for crafting a fun ruleset that has energized our players. Doubtless we'll try this one again soon!

-- Patrick, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

"There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold…"
- Robert W. Service

The wretched Harba watched from the shadows as the his tales spun from straw... tales of gold and vast wealth filtered down through tellings and retellings down to the mercenaries, villains and adventurers who now searched the ruins in the valley below looking for plunder and treasure... but just as likely to unearth moldering artifacts and glittering gewgahs of fearsome uncanny disposition... better left in their grimy cairns and dungeons... laid to uneasy rest eons, and eons ago...

On a dark and... well… not so stormy night, five Chicago Skirmish Wargames members met in a... well… not dark and dingy basement… and split into two games of Song of Blades and Heroes. Michael brought forth his custom converted and based Mordheim-esque terrain buildings, and Tim set forth a farm with stone cottages.


On the first table side, three warbands blundered and crept through the ruins searching for rumored treasure.  The three competing teams were Michael’s warband ("The Debauched Ones" led by Samira the Salacious), Joe’s Men at Arms, and Jon’s "Calibans Cursed."

The scenario rolled was a treasure hunt, the goal being to find and spirit the treasure off of the table. All three warbands focused on the treasure hunt, rolling to score a 10 or higher (rather than a 12) for each terrain piece encountered. Given the focus, minimal combat occurred with only a few casualties on the board. Jon’s Medusae effectively removed Michaels mounted character from the round. Within four turns, the treasure had been located and removed from the battlefield. Samira the Salacious took the win, finding an extensive amount of money, a magic item, and several gems ...in suspiciously archaic settings of gold.

We quickly reassembled for another three player game. The scenario was a King of the Hill, with victory going to player with the most points of models on the hill at the conclusion of the scenario. We configured a tower as the ‘hill’ and a massive melee ensued outside one of the doors to the tower. Jon flew Oinkos, his flying warthog warrior, over to the tower to enter from the top, his scorpion and skeletons moved towards the base of the tower. Michael likewise moved his ogre and warriors to advance towards the same side that Jon was approaching. Tim moved in from both sides, and some of his models easily avoided the massive melee developing other side of the table. Jon moved a skeleton inside, and then melee began in earnest as each player attempted to delay the others from entering the tower.


Fluffy the scorpion climbed the tower wall using, his clinging and poison traits to attack very effectively from above his opponents. Tim moved a smaller portion of his force, including the assassin, toward the large melee, and further slowed Jon’s forces from entering the tower. Jon’s skeletons and Oinkos added their prowess to the melee, and with Medusa shooting into combat with nary a care for her own, they were able to slay several of Michael’s warriors, including the ogre.


While the melee ensued, Tim had subtly moved three models into the building. The final game turn was a rush to enter the tower. Jon successfully moved another skeleton and Oinkos into the tower. The scorpion, having dispatched his last opponent, scaled the outside of the tower but couldn't quite make it to the top. Michael was able to get a single character into the tower. Final counts saw Tim and Jon both with three models inside the structure. Once the dust had cleared, Tim’s force secured the victory.


That same evening, Tim and Karl played the Surprise Attack scenario with Tim as the defender. Most of his guys were spread across the board, but the monk and cavemen were reinforcements that would come in later. Karl was the attacker.

Karl quickly surrounded and overwhelmed Tim's piecemeal defenders. Tim’s autumn priest then used his wall of fear spell to break up Karl's warband and provide some cover while his remaining members regrouped.  This wall of fear had the desired effect, and slowed down Karl's attack enough for Tim’s monk to come in and help. With his leader surrounded, Karl chose to withdraw rather than risk his life. So, despite being very beat up, Tim's warband pulled victory from the slavering jaws of defeat. In the campaign resolution, Tim’s tourist died of his wounds, and his warband caught an illness after a botched role on the exploration table.  Karl warband came upon a cursed glade in their own encounter, but emerged away unscathed.


The second battle saw Bishop Stuka’s crusaders facing off against Joe’s Men at Arms. Joe was able to successfully sequester his leader within a stone cottage, while keeping his warband in range to be take advantage of his leadership and defend him from attack. This strategy allowed Joe to win through against the crusaders. As a part of the exploration, Karl’s crusaders sacked an Evil temple and escaped with a portion of the temple’s gold for their trouble before heading again down secret paths, with "secret tales, that would make your blood run cold." (Robert W. Service)

…Old Harba... he knows...

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Here's the action from a recent session of our Song of Blades & Heroes campaign, written in glorious narrative fashion by new club member Joe!



In retaliation for last harvest season's peasant uprising instigated by Bishop Stuka's outlaws none less than Burggraf Wallenstein of Vildeburg himself dispatched Ritter Ludvig VonDraken to bring the holy man and misguided followers to heel. Ritter VonDraken's lads pursued the fleeing cleric to a questionable tavern on the edge of town.


"How many peasant hovels did we torch during the rebellion?" the knight asked the other armored horseman. Custrel Berndt Schnitzel only smiled grimly and nodded in response. "War without arson...is like sausage without mustard!" bellowed VonDraken. "Fetch your tinderbox, boy, we'll make up firebrands!"

The page-boy, Willi, rapidly set about the task, and soon every knight had a burning torch in hand. Confidently they marched directly towards the inn, except for Custrel Schnitzel. He galloped his horse on a wide left flank, flaming brand casting twisted shadows on the derelict houses.


Just as VonDraken and his three halberdiers passed under an arch, the Bishop sprung his trap!


Three outlaw knights rushed from the shadows and hacked VonDraken from his horse, and the rest of the Bishop's men poured from the inn like rats from a sewer. Some of the leaderless soldiers began to edge away...but not Berndt Schnitzel. The Custrel was no coward! He would show those bastards how to burn a building down! Just as Schnitzel rounded the corner, torch in hand, he noticed a glowing halo about the priest's head as the old fool kept babbling some prayer... The mounted knight's jaw went slack and as his eyes began to roll Ridley Boughdodger rode up and knocked the Custrel from his horse and into unconsciousness.


One of VonDraken's crossbowmen managed to send a quarrel whistling through Brother Roberto's robe, knocking him down. But when the henchmen saw both armored horsemen go down, things began to unravel. One of the crossbowmen, a weakling from Vildeburg no doubt, soiled himself and ran off crying. Willi fell back with the standard trying to rally the faltering warband upon him.


The Bishop's three knights, Sires Chopenblok, Dogget and Hakkenslosh, pressed VonDraken's halberdiers, knocking one to the ground. Being tough mountaineers from the Valkenrath Palisades, they refused to yield. "Spank me with your distaff again, granny," the fallen man jeered. "I seen yer mum's arse," shouted another. Junker Monika Frohlich, now in command, had seen enough. "Retreat, run like hell!" came the cry.

-- Joe, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Before his departure to Hawaii, Mattias and I arranged a trade of terrain and miniatures. Earlier I showed off the buildings and cliffs that I built for him. Today I've got 15 Necromunda figures that he painted for me. All but one of these are unmodified Games Workshop Escher figures, based on Inkwell Industries resin bases.

The smaller size pics don't do these justice so I've uploaded large versions of each. If you really want to see them close up, go ahead and "open in new tab" any of these images to see the figs in their full glory.

Juves
The lowly cannon fodder of the gang. I had asked for a variety of skin tones. In Mattias' unique grayscale-based painting style, this results in a range from an elfin pale to a shadowed grey.






Ranged Weapon Gangers

At first I was a bit confused by the somewhat monochrome bases, but now I think it's really a nice unifying effect.





More Gangers and Heavies 
Note the great sludgy wet effects. Most of the figures have a bit of it on their bases, but it's particularly notable here. Also, I'm really glad to have the plasma gun figure. The weapon is a nice in-between size that could easily be work as a plasma or heavy plasma gun.





Close Combat and Leader Figures
Very glad to have the iconic (and now ridiculously expensive) "Mad Donna Ulanti" figure as seen on the right. Also, the figure on the far left is not Games Workshop and has a rather interesting history. The original sculpt was a "Mutant Dominatrix" in the Shockforce game. Mega Minis (now Johnnyborg) acquired the rights and re-released her in a slightly resculpted form without her mutant characteristics (gills, tail, etc) and this was the example I acquired.

Unfortunately, the arms and hands were just terrible, so I chopped them off just below the elbows and attached the arms from a Heroclix Elektra figure, with a Necromunda autogun attached. She also has a Rogue Trader-era bolt pistol holster on her right leg. I think she fits in pretty well, and for those interested, she is still available here. 





As a bonus, here's a neat figure I picked up from Mattias when he was selling off a few of his painted figures. Lots of potential uses for him (cultist, mage, mutant, you name it) in a variety of genres, but I particularly thought that in Necromunda he could be a Wyrd, which is a sort of independent magic user. He scales pretty well with an average ganger. Not sure of the manufacturer, but I'm pretty sure he's a vintage sculpt of some sort.



Lastly, my pictures have made the paint jobs slightly more muted than they appear in real life. Here's a shot with flash that washes out the figs a bit, but still shows off a bit more of the contrasts and certain details and reveals the wet effects on the bases.



And there you have it! Fifteen excellently painted Escher figs with enough variety to cover most any gang arrangements. I'm very happy to have these, as the Escher have long been favorites of mine, but I never felt that my dip-based painting style would have been appropriate for these sculpts.

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

Our friend Sean Atkins, owner of Brainstorm Comics in Chicago, was recently diagnosed with cancer, so mark your calendars for Sept. 12, when you'll have a great opportunity to play games, buy stuff and support Sean at his upcoming benefit.

The event -- which will feature games run by several Chicago Skirmish Wargames club members -- starts at noon Saturday, Sept. 12 at Brainstorm Comics, 1579 N. Milwaukee Ave., Suite 321 (that's the third floor of the Flatiron Building). They'll have raffle tickets for $1 (drawings held every half hour) as well as demos of board games and miniature games. Also: baked goods!

Email Matt at matthewsears81@gmail.com to buy raffle tickets or if you have any questions about the benefit. If you just want to support Sean, click here for his GiveForward page. Otherwise, if you're in Chicago, we'll see you on Sept. 12!

"My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie" 
-- R. Browning

Three bands of warriors approached the barrow wastes cautiously. Unbeknownst to the others, each had been approached in the city of Vildeburg by a gnarled stranger clad in rags. Filthy bandages were wrapped haphazardly around a withered leg, and the figure had crabbed and lurched toward them across the cobblestones in horrible locomotion. Yellow eyes turned towards them, and the slit of a mouth opened from his ludicrously aged countenance. "Heard ye of the Eyes of Silence?" rasped the grotesque. "Old Harba himself … he knows…"  Lured by rumors of wealth untold, the warbands converged on the ruins and barrow mounds the dotted the hills just beyond the High Road to the Wilderlands, just southeast of Vildeburg.

Game 1
Tim, Joe, and Jon rolled the "Gemstone Hunt," an objective-based scenario with the goal to take and hold treasure placed throughout the ruins during setup. The warbands quickly advanced towards all four of the ‘Eyes of Silence’ gemstones hidden within the ruins and cairns. Tim’s forces were known (and avoided) far and wide as "Rufus’s Enduring Expedition" quickly advanced towards two of the ‘Eyes’ on the western end of the map, while Joe’s mounted captain, knight, and men-at-arms moved to claim the jewels on the eastern side. Jon’s warband "Caliban’s Cursed" found itself split and arrayed against both Tim and Joe’s forces. 



Caliban led a force of three skeleton warriors and another warrior (with a cursed visage like Caliban himself) into the western ruins and clashed against Rufus's minions. Broderick the Lightning Warrior and James the Gnome (calling him a lawn gnome to his face is not recommended) moved in and claimed the gemstone 'Eyes' before Caliban's Cursed could collect them. A fierce melee ensued -- Tim’s assassin Tindae struck with quick, silent slashes, and Niphrid the Autumnal Spellcaster summoned forth a Wall of Fear. Caliban’s mutant and skeletons shrugged off the attack with effort. Tim’s warrior Ebufurth the Caveman Berserker found himself surrounded by skeletons and was stuck down by the aptly named Slack-Jaw.



The skeleton Bonehead likewise dispatched Daichi the monk in a gruesome manner, causing much of Tim’s warband to disperse in disarray, with gemstones in tow. Caliban attempted to raise the berserker with necromantic arts, but was unable to do so before game's end.

On the eastern side of the ruins, Oinkos the flying mutant warthog was able to swoop in and gather both of the gemstones in the area over the course of several turns.


Fluffy the Giant Scorpion blocked ingress via a narrow path and faced off against Joe’s men-at-arms and crossbowmen. His armor deflected arrows and strikes alike for multiple turns and stalled forward advancement. Using Fluffy as a defensive front, Medusa hung back taking shots at billmen and knights while slowly advancing, but she was unable to pierce their armor.



Despite multiple knock downs, the scorpion only managed to slay a single billman in the broiling combat.  Rolling three failures on activation on his final roll ensured he was unable to remove any additional opponents and laid the foundation for his demise. Additional billmen and the mounted lord moved in each turn until the even the massive insect's reflexes were overwhelmed by multiple opponents.  Fluffy was severely damaged and slunk defeated from combat to nurse his wounds.

The same turn, Joe's billmen and knight were able to break through to Medusa. While shielding his eyes from her baleful glare, the knight was able to fatally pierce her scales, removing her as a threat

The end result found Tim in control of two gemstones, Joe with no gemstones but two kills worth seven victory points, and Jon with two gemstones and three kills totaling nine victory points, and leaving Jon in control of the scenario by only a couple of points. The giant scorpion will miss the next campaign round due to injuries, and Medusa will have to roll at the start of each game for how her "brain injury" will affect her performance during that battle. Should make for some interesting gameplay...

Old Harba's mad eyes gleamed with feverish guile watching the departing warbands. The Eyes of Silence loose again in the waking world?! "... Never ye mind the curse..."

Game 2
While the three-way melee was going on the other side of the table, Kevin and Karl faced off in an urban battle. The object of their game was to be the first to reach an alley in the center of town, read a vital clue and then deface the wall before the opponent could do the same. In this case, the alley was a small brambly patch between the local church and watchtower.


Though Kevin fielded some fearsome foes, victory would be mostly a matter of speed and maneuver. With a few lucky moves (or perhaps because the objective was next to a church) Karl's ecclesiastical followers rushed forward and filled the alley. Despite facing generally tougher foes, they managed to read the message and deface it before taking too many casualties.


For winning the scenario, they received the "Strange Map," which they can use in the future to modify an exploration roll. While exploring, they were ambushed but they fought bravely and slew an evil shaman. Unfortunately, luck was not entirely with them this week, and one of their angry townsfolk succumbed to his wounds. Though having lost two warriors, the Bishop's Crusade carries on in its quest to bring the light of truth to Qaarra.

-- Jon, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member

There's a lot of painting talent in our club. One member in particular has a very unique style that I like a lot. Mattias's approach has a palette and look that is quite unlike most other painters. You can see it on his less-than-accurately titled Amateur Hour blog.

When it came time for Necromunda, I really wanted him to paint my Eschers for me. I simply don't have the skill to paint these amazing miniatures in a satisfactory way. However, knowing his schedule, and my inability to pay him what his skill would deserve, I knew I would have to make a big offer.

I convinced him to accept two Macross models, a mess of custom terrain and use of the Eschers in the our Necromunda campaign in exchange for him painting up a 14-member Escher gang. In a few weeks we should be able to see the entire gang (his starting warband is already finished, and some are in this post), but today I will present my half of the bargain.

The rocks are seat cushion foam, torn by hand and then painted black with drybrushes of brown and bamboo.



A few of them have tunnels running under them. The piece near the middle with the monster on it was cut from the piece in the upper right with an electric carving knife. It perfectly matches and can be used separately or together to make a taller piece.



I hadn't though much about it, but Mattias showed me how they can be combined for some cool looking formations.

The buildings below are made with my typical methods of Dremeling away any sections I don't want, then covering the resulting openings and details I don't like with corrugated cardboard and sci-fi bits, plus lots of additional greebling. These first two in particular have lots of nice junky bits in the receptacles. Feel free to ask any construction-related questions in the comments section.

The first two buildings are similar in style, both based on Thomas and Friends railway buildings. I've painted them similarly and made them into a sort of recycling center.





I'm particularly proud of the spot on the back where minis can be placed in a lookout.



This second piece is more like two buildings on the same base.



I've cut away the chute that once connected them and put a dumpster in between them. A few bits on the other side implies a covered trash compactor.



This third building is a stock model from Dust Tactics Airfield Quonset Hut Accessory Pack with an added smokestack.



I really think that 28mm wargamers owes it to themselves to buy a box of these. About $20 will get you 4 incredibly useful buildings that can fit into any setting from 1941 through the far future. They even have opening doors! I've also found them useful as roofs on top of Dust Tactics Warzone Tenement buildings.

The final building is a converted Fisher Price toy.



I removed a window to allow access to the upper story and added a bit of machinery inside.



I also removed a variety of other parts and bracing from the boom and bucket to make the area accessible to miniatures.



An added shelf makes the upper first story window a nice lookout.



I was so happy with this one that I didn't want to let it go, so imagine my joy at finding another one at the resale shop a few weeks ago! I'm eagerly awaiting the completed Escher gang, though I will have to wait until the end of the campaign to take possession. When they're ready, I'll post them up and you all can judge if I made a good bargain.

-- Karl, Chicago Skirmish Wargames club member