Progress on the Astrodani

Being still in New Zealand I've been limited on what wargaming projects I can make progress on. But one that I can work on (at least a bit) is the Astrodani for Sierra Foxtrox. A burst of enthusiasm has seen the infantry transports, AA vehicles, and rocket artillery mostly base-coated; 

So just most of the black segments and washing/drybrushing still to do. Then all I need is the infantry models to go with them. Which nicely segues to...

Projects Waiting At Home

Trying to look on the bright side of things, when I finally do get home there will be two complete armies waiting for me - a mechanized infantry company of Thrainites (Space Dwarves) and the remaining Astrodani units. 

As an aside here, I owe a huge thanks to Khurasan Miniatures. Despite the order being returned unclaimed not once, but twice (the neighbor I gave as an alternate address moved out at exactly the wrong time) they still contacted me both times to ensure I received it. 

I've ordered a mix of different Thrainite infantry models - base infantry, heavy weapons, command units, and (if I remember my order correctly) some of their nobles in power-armor, along with enough transports for them all; 

• Trainite Troopers
• Trainite Power-Armor Infantry
• Cane Toad IFV

As an aside, the Thrainite list is one of the few where I am using the models with the same backstory (or pretty close) to that provided by the manufacturer. With most of my 15mm sci-fi armies I've just been mixing and matching whatever models I think look cool and/or fit a concept I've come up with. The name and background fluff  given by the manufacturer I seldom use. But in the case of the Thrainites, the Khurasan fluff is pretty close to what I was going to go with anyway - originally a human colony, but became isolated, and conveniently evolved into Space Dwarves. I've changed how they became isolated to fit the history of my sci-fi universe, but left them otherwise unchanged. 

Other Gaming Stuff

While I haven't been able to paint many models while in New Zealand, the lack of COVID restrictions has meant I've been able to get in far more in-person gaming than I did during the whole of 2020. Last weekend my brother and had another Dreadball match, this time my Nameless versus the Kalyshi.

 

Another fairly close game (hence why just the one picture, I was concentrating too hard on tactics and forgot to take more). Vaughan got an early lead and never gave it up. I put four guards on the table and played fairly defensively, but Vaughan did a decent job of carefully picking the defense apart. In particular the Undulan/Sticky guards proved to be very vulnerable to Slams from behind... especially against the Kalyshi Backstab ability. 

Sports Events Man Was Not Meant to Know

 My brother and I had another game of Dreadball this afternoon. For a change of pace we were both using the "Nameless" team. Gibbering tentacled monstrosities... that for some reason want to play a sports game and not eat the ref. 

This was our first like versus like game. Despite the distinctive concept, rules-wise the Nameless are mostly a fairly vanilla team. The default team is 4 Strikers, 4 Guards, with the Guards distinguished between the Feromite (AKA "Crunchy Guards") and Undalan (AKA "Sticky Guards"). The Strikers are move 6 with no special rules, the Crunchy guards are Strength 3+ and have the Steady rule. So both can perform their roles, but neither is particularly remarkable. But what really makes the Nameless team distinctive is the Undalan/Sticky guards.

With just Strength 4+ the Sticky guards aren't that imposing. But their key advantage is their special threat rules. First, they threaten not just the three hexes immediately in front of them, but the next layer of hexes beyond that as well (i.e they effectively have reach). Second, if they threaten an opposing player, it's not just -1 die, its automatically -2. Used well, this ability can be a massive edge.

For our initial on-field players I went with 3 strikers, 2 crunchy guard , and 1 sticky guard. Vaughan went with 2 of each. 

Compared with our previous games using the Vyr-Meen and Kalyashi (both high speed, offense-focused teams) this game went at a slower pace. During my first rush I picked up the ball, one of my Steady guards fell over trying to evade... and that was about it. Thankfully Vaughan's first rush didn't do much better, so with possession at the start of my 2nd rush I scored for 3 points.

 

With his next rush Vaughan responded by absolutely pounding my sticky guard into the arena floor - with a 7 success Slam versus 1 success Dodge, that guy/thing was a sticky pile of goo. With him having two sticky guards on the field to me having none (and with Vaughan having just demonstrated how good they can be) I wasn't feeling great about things. Thankfully a very lucky scatter put the ball nicely in reach of the striker who scored the first time, and he/it put in another three points. 

With a six point lead the game was mine to lose. But then Vaughan replied with a 3 point strike of his own, and I brought my reserve sticky guard out from the subs bench to even things up.

However scoring that 3-pointer had put Vaughan's players out of position. With essentially no opposing players in their half, one of my strikers simply picked up the ball, doubled for a free Run action. One free action from a card and not fluffing a strike roll later, and it was game to me.

Overall I like the Nameless team. They aren't too extreme, but the Undalan/Sticky guards just make them that little bit different to run and to play against. And the models are cool. I could see using these as Cthuloid monsters in a sci-fi or modern investigative RPG campaign.

Dreadball 2nd Edition

Recently my brother acquired a massive bundle of Dreadball stuff secondhand. And he got quite a bargain - apparently somebody was no longer into the game, and just wanted to offload what they had quickly. The lot included 5-6 full teams and various miscellaneous odd models. 

With this windfall renewing both of our interest in Dreadball, we played a couple of games using the 2nd edition. The biggest change (at least that I noticed) was the 1st edition Skill attribute has been split into Skill and Speed. Jacks also now get +1 die on Dash tests, giving them a much needed boost. 

For the first game I decided to try out the Kalyashi - a very fast but fragile team of 4 Strikers and 4 Jacks. Against this Vaughan took his main team, the Vyr-Meen - also a fast and fragile team (but not as extremely so as the Kalyashi), with 6 Strikers and 2 Guards. 

The Vyr-Meen Team

Kalyashi Team

Initial deployment

This game was very much a tennis match, with both sides scoring during most of their rushes. The score never beyond 2-3 points in favour of either side. Apart from a couple of early Slams which merely pushed a couple of my Jacks around, it was a non-violent affair. In the end I held onto a 1 point lead. 

After a bit of a break for lunch, we played a second game. This time Vaughan took the Kalyashi, and I took the Neo-Bots - a very mediocre, average at everything team, with 3 Guards, 3 Jacks, and 2 Strikers. This game went wrong for me in pretty much every way it possibly could have. My brain simply seemed to have shut down for the duration... starting with me absent-mindedly making the mistake of putting all 8 of my team on the field, rather than just 6 with 2 on the subs bench. Neither of us noticed this for the first few rushes. And by the time we did, Vaughan's Jacks had successfully smashed two of my Guards into the injury box. 

Vaughan's strikers just ran rings around me. While I had placed Jacks or Guards to defend all of the strike zones, he very successfully used gang tactics with 3 of his players taking on one of mine at a time. That, combined with some exceedingly poor dice rolling on my part meant he rapidly built up a massive lead, and I was never in this game after the first rush.

Still, it was good fun. Dreadball is a great low-investment boardgame with some fun and cool looking models. Vaughan has given me the Nameless army from his haul (he already has one) so I'll have to get started painting these up. 

Current Projects

Most of the time I have multiple gaming projects on the go at once. Impulse purchases result in many models that can sit around for years before a random burst of enthusiasm means they finally get painted. The projects that I have had the most enthusiasm for lately have all been 28mm sci-fi.

First, a Terminator with Thunder Hammer, which I had previously blogged about. These were a TradeMe purchase that came already painted, but a couple of days soaking in Simple Green followed by a good scrub with an old toothbrush got it back to bare metal. It is now painted up in Red Hammer chapter colours.

Next up were an OpForce to face the Red Hammers, in this case some Dark Eldar warriors. These are mostly done, just a bit more drybrushing and some details left to paint.

Lastly, my Teratons for Dreadball. I've done 6 of the 8 starting team members. Painting the last two really should be my next priority, but as I have two gaps on my roster due to casualties I can afford to let this slip for a couple of weeks. But I have finished another Dreadball related model - an alternative ref-bot. I'm not a fan of the ref-bot that comes with the game, so instead I've painted up a floating ref-drone.

My main priority for the next little while will be finishing the Dark Eldar and last two Teratons. Beyond that I'm not sure. One or two stormbolter Terminators is a possibility. But the main game that seems to be being played locally is Infinity. Space Marine models could be used for this, but they don't really suit the aesthetic. The Dark Eldar on the other hand fit in nicely, so I might use what I have as a starting point and pick up some Infinity models to round it out to a full size force (they have some very cool looking quadruped drones...).

Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.

Our local Dreadball league continues. Last Sunday my brother Vaughan came over and we played the official R.O.U.S versus Centurions match. This was a close game; the score never went above 2-3 points for either side, and the lead changed hands a couple of times. But in the end the sneaky rodents had scrapped a one point victory.

Start of the first rush

After the first rush. Centurions have the ball, but their defense isn't as strong as it usually is.

Fulltime. The ROUS have snatched a 1 point victory.

Late in the match Ben had showed up to observe, and as we had time left he and Vaughan played their match. As usual Ben was a master at using his dirty, dirty, Strikers to score and score big. He not only ended with an overwhelming victory, he also earned enough XP to advance three of his players (two Strikers and a Guard) to level 2, gaining the Roll, Roll, and Keeper skills.

ROUS versus Tigers

Ben contemplating his next play.

A couple of days later Jamie and I played the Centurions vs Blooz match. Predictably for two basher teams this was a brutual and bloody affair. In the end the Centurions had won by two points... but with 3 dead players for only a single Orx killed, it was very much a Pyrrhic victory.

Tidy formations before the whistle...

...which quickly descended into a brawl.

First casualty of the game, an Orx. Three Teratons (2 Guards and a Jack) also died.

With just one match left of the first round (R.O.U.S versus Blooz) the table stands as follows;

Team	Points	Played	Ranking	Species	Coach
Terracorp Tigers	8	3	1st	Human	Ben
Chelonia Centurions	3	3	2nd	Teratons	Jonathan
Redwall R.O.U.S	2	2	3rd=	Veer-Myn	Vaughan
Orcland Blooz	2	2	3rd=	Orx/Goblins	Jamie

At this stage it's a mixed bag for the Centurions. On the upside they're in second place, and have two players at level 2 with useful skills. But the downside is they won't stay in second for long (the winner of the R.O.U.S/Blooz match will displace them), and due to casualties they will play their next match with an empty subs bench.

The Neo-Canterbury Sector Championship

Recently some friends and I have been playing Dreadball. The concept is it's a sci-fi sports games. So yes, similar to Blood Bowl, but sci-fi rather than fantasy, and the rules are different. It's a neat little game, great fun, and only needing 8 models per side and maybe 60-90 minutes per game. After a few practise games to figure out the rules and get the hang of it four of us have organised a league - the Neo-Canterbury Sector Championship. The participating teams are;

• Chelonia Centurions (myself, Teratons)
• Orcland Blooz (Jamie, Marauders)
• Terracorp Tigers (Ben, Humans)
• Redwall R.O.U.S. (Vaughan, Veer-Myn)

The plan is to play an initial round-robin of 6 games (no fixed schedule, everybody just arranges games until all 6 matches have been played). After the first round by mutual agreement we may go around again for a second six-match round-robin, or potentially even a third. At the end of this the top two teams will play a final, and we'll have a champion.

Pre-season warmup match between the Centurions and the R.O.U.S.

Centurions vs Tigers

The Centurions form a rolling maul to secure the ball

So far things haven't gone well for the Centurions - in their first match they lost overwhelmingly to the Tigers. The only upside is one of my players has gained a level and the Can't Feel a Thing skill.