(Lead) Mountain Musings - "Star Trek Adventures" August 2019

"Star Trek Adventures" WIPs - Two Romulan Uhlans

Inspired by a past posting by Michael Awdry over on his simply stunning blog “28mm Victorian Warfare”, I have decided to try and chip away at my embarrassingly big lead mountain by trying to successfully complete a Wargame Hobby Bingo Challenge over the next twelve months. This twenty-five part trial was actually originally conceived by Rob Hawkins (“Rob Hawkins Hobby Blog”), and as I plan on utilising his hobby bingo card exactly, there’s every chance I’ll end up doing quite a bit more than simply paint models during the forthcoming year (e.g. one of the tasks is to make a modelled game board with integrated terrain, at least 2’ x 2’).

Coinciding with this ‘bit of fun’ has been the arrival of the “Star Trek Adventures Starter Set” by “Modiphius Entertainment” and some figures from the London-based company’s 32mm “unpainted resin” miniatures range. I’ve already started work assembling the ten drones which come in the Borg Collective box as they’ll help me achieve painting “all of the models in a faction starter box” reasonably swiftly, whilst the Captain James T. Kirk figure from the Original Series Bridge Crew set will ensure I also quickly succeed in painting “a new version of one of your old character models.”

Wargame Hobby Bingo

Enthused by all these Gene Roddenberry inspired shenanigans I’ve additionally dug out a pair of partially-pigmented Uhlans from the Romulan Strike Team box which I bought at “Salute” 2018. I’m not sure why I stopped working on these figures so shortly after purchasing them, but now I have  decided upon a ‘quick and straightforward’ colour scheme for them, their predominantly grey uniforms have been appropriately washed and dry-brushed with “Citadel” Nuln Oil and “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey respectively.

Equally as intriguing is the release of “The Walking Dead: Call To Arms” by “Mantic Games”. I’ve only played the odd game of its skirmish-based predecessor “All Out War” and was somewhat disappointed with the game; albeit not to the point where I don’t own a shamefully still sealed copy of the starter set. However, this larger-scale rule-set appears to be more my ‘cup of tea’, so I have pre-ordered the book, cards and gone so far as to pick up the Prisoner Booster Pack and Wave Two Retail Exclusives Bundle. I’m even considering using the rules with my “Star Trek” models, with the Borg playing the role of the zeds, as the Federation battle the Romulan Star Empire for technological loot…

Carl and Lori start the battle hiding behind a bloody Police Van, as a line of the Undead approaches Patrick

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, I've also managed to get in a skirmish battle "amongst the Walking Dead" before actually laying my hands upon my own copy. Fielding a simple 150-point (Lawful) Atlanta Camp faction against a (Ruthless) Scavengers raiding party, I initially found Rick Grimes' "Sound Tactics (Special Order) extremely effective in helping a fleet-footed Glenn get within range of some loot objectives. But ultimately, some poor shooting by Cynthiana survivor Carl arguably lead to the death of both his father and later his mother, Lori Grimes, when she succumbed to a zombie bite inflicted whilst fending off a zed attacking her child.

Derek and Reggie fend off a zombie, whilst Glenn races towards a valuable loot objetcive

Still, not everything went the way of bruiser Derek and the Scavengers, with Reggie eventually discovering that Rick Grimes' bullets were fatal when he finally fell before the fangs of a brain-hungry ghoul after being shot to pieces by the Atlanta Camp Leader. Sadly though, the baseball bat wielding Patrick was undoubtedly the star of his party, with his deft avoidance of no less than seven zombies at the start of the game, and battering of Rick into dead mulch towards its end...