Tanks, Tanks, Tanks

 A few years back I made some 1/72 Armourfast tanks for my British/Commonwealth forces.  Armourfast are cheap, come two to a box, but are definitely basic, and at the time I wasn't too impressed with the Shermans in particular (the Cromwells aren't bad).  Since then I've mostly built Italeri or PSC.

That said, I've seen a few build of these kits recently that looked quite nice, so I thought I'd revisit them using some of what I've learned in the intervening years, and I'm very glad I did!  With an all over wash of GW Agrax Earthshade, then a drybrush with VJ Russian Uniform and khaki for edge highlights, plus a few bits of stowage, I think they've brushed up quite nice!

Two Shermans (one Firefly).  Crewman is from the HAT Tank Riders set.  Details are still a little soft, but hatches etc look much better.

The Cromwells.  These are a better kit than the Shermans overall, much better detail on panel lines, rivets etc. and took shading and highlighting very well.  Although still with the Armourfast aversion to including any tools on the mold.  Another HAT crewman, although this one looks a bit like he's been caught short (not good for the gunner or loader!).

Bit of a curate's egg here - a diecast commonwealth 105mm Sherman, treated same as above.  As far as I can tell these were only used by Canadian and Polish forces in Italy.  Ah well, it's another tank, and when I'm playing solo I'll just squint at it!

A post for Blacksmith!

Blacksmith, who runs the 'Javier at War' blog (well worth checking out, he's recreating the old X Com games with miniatures, a fine project!), has asked me a couple of times where the minis I'm using for Five Parsecs are from.

I've been terribly remiss in not replying; so, just for him and anyone else interested, they are from Games Workshop's old Dark Future range.  I used to love the game and had quite a few foot warriors for it, which I've supplemented with a few careful ebay buys (they sometimes turn up for stupid money as well though).

Scale-wise they are a bit of an oddity.  Smaller than 'true' 25mm, but slightly bigger than 20mm/1/72.

Here's one compared with an airfix model and Hasslefree's Grant, for comparison.

And here's a few more that were painted up for the last game.

Terrain is mostly printed card (wish my printer was better!) from various sources including:

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/167915/SciFi-Style-Buildings?filters=0_40209_40014_0
http://www.toposolitario.es/workshop/index_scenery.html
http://www.germy.co.uk/paper25mm.html

Five Parsecs Campaign Turn 10 - High Noon!

Upkeep -4 credits

Reece traded, gaining 2 basic supplies.  Mila trained, gaining +1XP.  Nat explored, gaining +2 XP.  Kari sought to track down the raiders that had ambushed the crew, but with no luck.

Despite having a pile of quest clues, I didn't roll up a quest mission this turn.  Instead playing out an opportunity mission.

Word had got to the crew that a Press Gang had been raiding farming settlements in the badlands, taking the able bodied to work in mines and factories.  A tip off had them raiding a small, one street settlement next, and the crew would be waiting for them.

With Noah still in sick bay, deciphering the cult records, and Anul still absent, it was down to a reduced team to deal with the problem.  With both sides having the same numbers, Reece was hoping that being better armed, they could intimidate them into backing off.

I was interested to see if starting the two sides within pistol shot would even the odds given the crew's effectiveness at range.  They also needed to try to avoid using explosive weapons and causing property damage!  The Press Gang had five members, including a leader with 2 hits, and a heavy with a shotgun.

Yep, time for High Noon, Five Parsecs style!

I used a similar system to the previous negotiation, drawing cards to see what would happen as the two parties faced off, and who would draw first.

Turn 1

Not an auspicious start for the crew, who only rolled up two fast actions, going to Jak and Kari.  In a break with the normal turn order, the Press Gang leader drew and fired first, hitting Reece but not causing a wound.

Kari took cover behind a building corner, and Jak behind a green dune buggy.  Kari scored two hits on the gang member in the long duster coat, causing no wounds, but receiving a 'stun' in return!  Jak's shots at the shotgun wielding ganger missed, but in response the target unloaded his shotgun back in Jak's direction, causing a second stun on the crew, followed up (in the enemy part of the turn) by taking a wound off him as the ganger took cover behind another buggy!

One ganger then dashed down an alley to flank the crew while the other took cover with his shotgun armed colleague, firing at Kari to no effect. The long coated ganger took cover behind a building corner, firing ineffectively at Reece.

Mila and Nat both took cover behind the same buggy as Jak, firing on, but missing, 'Shotgun' (although Nat got a 'stun' result).  Reece ran down the alley past Kari, planning to use his jump belt next turn.

 Press Gang, who I will refer to (left to right) as 

Mask, Shotgun, Boss, Long Coat and Long Hair

Kari, Jak (new model), Reece, Nat and Mila 

"go for your guns!" 

Jak takes a wound and stun from Shotgun (top right) 

"You're getting both barrels!" 

Long Hair goes for the flank 

 Boss in the middle, Shotgun and mask at the top, 

Long Coat behind the building 

Reece heads past Kari 

"Let's all hide here..."

Turn 2

A better start as the crew roll up four quick actions - only Reece didn't get one.

Jak swiftly took out shotgun, causing Mask to run for it.

"Bang!"

"Run away!" 

Kari moved up to the buggy that shotgun had been hiding behind and managed to put a wound on the Boss.  Nat and Kari tried to follow up but unsuccessfully.  The Boss then moved up to take Shotgun's former position and fired at Kari; no hit but he did cause another stun.  Brown Coat then fired on Kari from across the street, not hitting, but causing a third stun, forcing Kari to 'bug out'.  She rolled high for movement and ran!

"I'm getting out of here!" 

Meanwhile Long Hair worked his way around behind the takeaway.

Reece used his jump belt to get on top of the building above the Boss, but couldn't cause a wound.

"Look out below!" 

Turn 3

Two quick actions went to Jak and Nat.  Jak charged over to the boss and beat him down in a brawl using the suppression maul.

Nat attempted to ambush Long Hair behind the takeaway kiosk, getting a stun result but nothing else.

Browncoat fired at Jak but it was a no sell against his combat armour.  Jak snapped a shot off quickly and dropped Browncoat! (rolled a six for 'return fire').

Long hair came around the kiosk and fired a Mila, hitting her but not wounding.  In return she charged in to a brawl with him, but lost, taking a hit but, fortunately, no wound.

Meanwhile, Reece took down Mask from his vantage point, and Kari left the table!

Down to only one member, the Long Hair took a morale test, somehow managing not to fail on four dice!  Nonetheless it was clear his only chance would be to get out of dodge as quick as possible in the next turn.

Turn 4

Unfortunately for him, it was not to be, as Nat and Jak got fast actions and Jak finally took him down in a three on one brawl.

Conclusions and Aftermath

A short, brutal, fast moving but really fun game!  Keeping everything at close range meant the action was pretty fast and furious (the rules for return fire and stuns helped) and we had more brawls than usual - even with higher Combat Skill it's a bit of a lottery how it will turn out!

Kari is not going to cope well with having run, only for Jak to mop pretty much everything else up!

The grateful townsfolk contributed three credits and seven alien relics (who knows where they came from!).

Jak's wound turned out not to be serious, with no long term effects or time in sick bay needed.

Reece +3 XP )levelled up combat and gained a veteran rank)
Nat +3 XP
Kari +3 XP
Jak +5 XP (levelled up combat)
Mila +3 XP (gained a veteran rank)

Reece gained another +2 XP from reflecting on his adventures so far, and another one because of the local food!

Five Parsecs Campaign Turn 9 - Office work

At the start of turn 9, 6 credits were spent on upkeep.

Reece, Noah and Kari all spent time training.  Reece and Noah levelled up their combat skill, and Kari her reactions.

Mila, Jak and Nat all went trading.  Only Nat found anything worthwhile, some good quality food and booze.

After a degree of 'persuasion', the prisoner gave up the info that the church had stashed records of its activities on this planet in a non-descript office masquerading as a haulage firm.  Unfortunately he also revealed that if it was believed compromised, a specialist team would be sent in to 'sanitise' the site.  The race was on...

This mission would see the crew (minus Anul, wherever he's gone) take on a black-ops squad of four (including a leader) in a race to secure the cult's records.  The Crew had the numbers, but this time would be facing a more tactical enemy, well armed, with higher combat skill and body armour.

The office is in the centre building.  Crew entering top left, black ops bottom right

 Team one - with the leader

Team 2, the marksman team

The crew rolled up three fast actions for the first turn.  Kari and Nat headed for a nearby building to get a higher vantage point while the rest headed for the target.  The black ops team 1 headed for the haulage yard, while team 2, with the marksman, also headed for high ground.

Turn 2 saw the our 'heroes' roll a staggering five fast actions.  Reece used his jump belt to gain a position on top of the target building overlooking the yard - a decision he would rapidly regret!  All the others moved up into position, Kari climbing onto a rooftop position, as did the black ops team... right overlooking Reece!

Kari takes the High Ground...

As does the sniper!

The Ops Team 1 moved up amongst the crates.  The team leader and trooper both opened up on Reece.  Despite being in cover Reece took two wounds, reducing him to one hit point! (+2 on Combat Skill really hurts when the opposition have it!).

Turn 3
Three quick actions this time, given to Jak, Reece and Kari.  Kari moved up to the parapet but couldn't quite draw a bead on the enemy leader.  Jak took up position behind a truck and fired off a burst at him, but failed to hit.  Reece did better, moving out of site of the trooper and taking a wound off the enemy leader, but was still in a highly precarious position, overlooked by the sniper team.  Fortunately they didn't have their sites calibrated yet and both managed to miss him!

 Reece hits someone!  That's twice in the whole campaign!

But Jak misses 

Black ops trooper repositioning, trying to flank Jak

Reece's position looks tricky...

Reece had been lucky so far, but was under pressure as turn 4 started.  The crew had 3 fast actions, the first of which went to Kari on the rooftop.  Breathing carefully, she rested her auto rifle against the parapet, and lined up the sniper team in her sights...

The targets are in the centre top building, in cover.  A tough shot...

...Or not

In a perfectly aimed burst, Kari took down both members of the sniper team, halving the opposition at a stroke.  Nat knew immediately that she'd be bragging about this for weeks...

Reece and the Black Ops leader, and Jak and the trooper, exchanged shots but with no success on either side (although Jak had cause to be thankful for his new combat armour). Mila and Noah also opened fire but with little effect, but the Black Ops team ended the turn with their first morale failure anyway.  However they were far from being out of the game yet.

Turn 5

Reece, Mila and Noah all struggled to hit their targets.

Jak decided to take a risk, and moved out into the open to get a flanking shot on the remaining trooper - he levelled his rifle and let of a perfect burst, causing two hits, but the trooper's armour held.  Remaining calm, despite the hammer blows of bullets on his armour vest, the operative snapped off a burst back at Jak, dropping him to the ground (despite combat armour and 2 hits points!)!

"Jak's Down!"

Things then went from bad to worse as the ops team leader leaned around the container and snapped off a burst that saw Noah also crumple to the ground!

"they got Noah too!"

Seeing Jak drop, Nat and Kari came down off the rooftop and sprinted towards the firefight, but it was going to take them a couple of turns to get there.

Turn 6

Things were looking grim for the crew of the Envoy - but then, with a grunt of pain, Jak hauled himself to his feet again and opened fire (The compendium rules allow for checking the effect of wounds mid-game, Jak rolled 'Scratched') again his shots were stopped by the trooper's body armour, but this time Jak's Combat Armour did its job and shrugged off the rifles shots that flew back at him.

Reece, in a bold but risky move, used his jump belt again to land on the container right about the ops team leader, but his neither his handgun, nor Mila's rifle could penetrate his military grade body armour.

Turn 7

Using one of the 3 fast actions rolled up, Kari managed to catch up with the action.  Getting around the flank of the enemy leader, she took him out with a quick, but well aimed burst.

Jak and Reece caught the remaining trooper in a crossfire.  Although they didn't manage to land any telling shots on him, it was enough to make him drop back behind the next container - clearing the way for Mila whi, after briefly checking Noah was still breathing, charged into the office to look for information on her sister.

Kari makes another long shot!

Reece and Jak force the remaining trooper back

Turn 8, 9 & 10

A fierce firefight emerged between the remaining trooper, Reece and Jak, as they tried to either finish off or drive off the remaining threat.  Isolated and Alone, the Black Ops trooper decided to live up to his unit's reputation and didn't budge, even when Jak started lobbing grenades, only to finally succumb to a rifle shot in turn 10.

The flanked trooper decides to go out fighting... 

...But there's only one way this is going to end!

Aftermath

Well, that was tougher!  With a D6 based system, +2 on combat skill has quite an impact, cover becomes a lot less useful for one thing.  A combination of Kari's shooting and having multiple hit points kept the crew in the game, but it was looking quite tricksy for a bit there

Loot - colonist rations

Noah - Minor injuries, 1 turn in sick bay, no long term effects

Jak - School of hard knocks, +1 XP

Reece - no long term effects

XP

Reece + 3
Nat + 3 (levelled up reactions) +1 vet rank
Jak +3
Kari +5 (first to inflict a casualty and enemy leader) levelled up combat skill up one vet rank, gained a skill.
Mila +3
Noah + 4 (+1 for becoming a casualty)

Campaign Event - Alien merchant -5 credits, gain Grav Flinger
Character Event - Jak is injured while working on the ship and must spend a turn in the sick bay

Used med supplies to get Jak and Noah out of sick bay

Five Parsecs Campaign Turn 8 - Raiders of the lost Argh!

Upkeep cost a full 7 credits this turn.

Nat and Noah both spent time training, gaining +1 XP each, which was enough for Nat to level his Combat Skill up to 2.

Reece and Anul went trading.  Reece used his ‘Trading’ skill to re-roll one result, resulting in gaining 2 credits in local currency and more trade goods.  They also traded in one lot of alien relics for another roll on the trade table, gaining a repair kit (could have done with that at the end of last turn…)

Kari continued to try and track down the raiders, but with no luck (despite her new skill bonus).

Jak and Mila went exploring.  Jak had a nice time, seeing the sites, a change from training.  Mila, however, had a different purpose in mind.  In the aftermath of the raid on the cult compound, she’d noted a familiar looking symbol on papers scattered around the compound, and sought out an information broker to answer some questions...

Mila found Reece with Kari, checking over the ship's growing armoury. "I know this might be difficult, but I need some help from you all...".  Mila then laid it all out for Reece.  How, when she was still part of the Church of New Horizons, she'd had a sister; and the day that sister had been dragged away by the church's inner circle, while the rest of the congregation, including their own parents, did nothing.  And about the symbol her hooded abductors had worn, one that she had never seen again until that raid on the cult compound.  After the raid she had gone looking for more information, only to discover that the same group had been hiring equipment and workers for an archaeological dig site outside the city limits, and the name on the paperwork was a known fixer for the church.  Reece thought for a moment or two before speaking, "Well.  I guess we'd better round up the crew then."

The background to this mission came from Mila rolling an encounter with an Information Broker when she was Exploring, and then rolling up my first 'Quest' result for the turn's encounter, and it all seemed to fit.

The mission rolled up was a 'capture' mission, which would take place at an archaeological dig site against a group of Zealots.

Reece took the viewer off Jak and took another look at the encampment in the valley bottom, a collection of prefab huts and equipment around the remains of some old stone structure, local workers were loading up into trucks as the evening set in.  "So what have we got?" he asked Nat.  

"I tracked down where most the the workers drink after their shift" said Nat, "Local rumour is that the first settlers landed here and built some kind of church on the site.  No one knows what they're digging for, just that that's one guy in overall charge and a handful of armed guards, religious nutjob types".  He glanced at Mila and Noah "no offence intended", Mila just flashed back an almost feral grin. "The locals all shut up shop at the same time and are driven back to town every evening.  Everyone else stays on site".

"Okay.  We wait until the last truck is well away then we go in.  Remember, we want this guy alive".

The first turn was quiet, with the crew simply moving up.  Reec, Jak, Mila and Kari moved to the shelter of the earthmover ('borrowed' from the little miniature's sandpit!) while Anul, Nat and Noah moved wider to get around the flank of the encampment.

Turn two saw the crew roll 3 quick actions - Kari took overwatch by the digger while Jak and Mila moved up.  Then the faecal matter hit the big rotary thing...

"Uh, Reece?" shouted Kari, "lot of angry red bedsheets heading our way!", as a hoard of robed figures emerged from the huts and ran towards them.  Kari raised her autorifle "like they knew we were here..."

Kari, on overwatch, was first to fire - immediately dropping the nearest zealot.  Reese took cover behind the digger's blade, drew his pistol and fired.  Another robed figure fell to the ground (Reece actually did something useful in combat, finally!!!).  Nat took another shot but missed, dodging the return fire from his target.

Kari and Reece(!) hit

but Nat doesn't

The crew failed to roll any quick actions for turn three but luckily none of the zealots were quite able to reach anyone despite running at full speed (enemies with the 'Psycho' rule will always try to close to brawl with the enemy).

First blood to the crew of the envoy

Kari steadied her aim and dropped another target, and Anul blasted another zealot who was almost on top of him (the Zealots have higher toughness than normal, so this wouldn't have been a kill without Anul's blast pistol causing +1 damage).  Reece, Noah and Nat all missed shots - and Reece then took a wound from his target's return fire (reducing him to 2 hit points).

Anul takes down a Zealot who clearly shops at the same thrift store

Jak stepped up in his new combat armour, drew out the suppression mawl and promptly clubbed another zealot to the floor in a brawl. Mila steadied her aim (+1 to hit), and put down the last zealot with a single shot (the crew's dice rolling for damage in this game was pretty hot).

 "Infidel!!!"

Thump...

Where'd they all go?

The crew rolled two quick actions and Kari and Anul repositioned closer to the camp.

Unnerved by the sudden loss of his bodyguards, the church leader made a break for the last remaining truck on the site.

"Gotta get out of here!"

The rest of the crew moved to try and cut him off, but it was looked like it might be close.  Or at least it did until they rolled up four quick actions for turn five...

Reece remembered his jump belt and leaped behind the target, unloading a full clip into the ground around him (using the suppression rule from the compendium), Kari did the same from the flank. 

With two stuns in place, Jak strolled up, tapped him firmly on the head with the suppression maul and slung him over his shoulder.

Thump (again)

Job done.

Aftermath

The crew gained four credits and two rolls on the gear table in loot, resulting in one frakk grenade and a nano-doc. 

Kari and Jak gained 4 XP each, the rest 3XP.  This was enough for Jak to level up Reactions and Mila Combat.  Jak gained veteran rank three and Noach veteran rank 1.

The Campaign event saw the crew meet a shady character who traded a grenade for a credit (won't ask what they plan to do with it, I'll put than one down to Kari).  Anul received a coded message and told the crew he would have to leave temporarily but wouldn't explain why (character event, he'll be back in two turns.

The quest continues...