Friday 2 August 2019

(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...

20 comments:

  1. Some good plans mate. The board sounds fun. I need to make some B&B terrain at some point with all the bits I have been amassing.

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    1. Thanks very much Simon. Not my idea obviously, but I've been itching to give it a go since Michael first drew my attention to it.

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  2. Much to enjoy here, Simon. I'm unsure about the new TWD skirmish game so will be interested to hear what you say about it.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Tbh at just 150 points there's very little difference between "Call To Arms" and "All Out War" at all, and apart from noise being replaced by mayhem - which causes a similar effect, the game was the same, imho. However, the ultimate goal is going to be to play the game on a 40 x 40 board with 500 points, and a couple of zombie herds - that should make things very different I'd have thought :-)

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  3. Those star trek figures are real quality castings!

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    1. Indeed they are Fran, albeit at £40 for 8-10 resin figures you'd ruddy well hope so!! LOL!!!

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  4. Yes, the price tag put me off the Star Trek figures.

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    1. Not surprised Phil. Apart from the Romulans, which I bought direct from “Modiphius Entertainment” so as to get a 'free' limited edition figure, I've bought all my other sets at a significant discount. Indeed, the Borg were less than £29 when I shopped about.

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  5. Good luck with the bingo Simon (and thank you for the kind words). I managed to chip a few more squares off it recently, but know that there are one or two that I won't get anywhere near. That said I have allowed myself a hobby related treat if I get a line!

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    1. Thanks Michael. I've been itching to have a go at the Bingo since you first posted about it, and have so much on currently, which would undoubtedly hit many of the squares that I thought now was the time to get started. I look forward to seeing what your treat is :-)

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  6. Those Romulans look really nice. Hobby bingo? Whatever helps motivate you to paint is a good thing. Enjoyed our game of TWD Call to Arms and with a few more I think we will know the rules better and have a speedier game.

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    1. Cheers Undercoat. The "Star Trek" minis do indeed look good, and I'm hoping to get a ton done with the Hobby Bingo. I do though have a bit of a posting backlog currently, so some finished Romulans will be a little way down the line yet.

      I thought "TWD: Call To Arms" definitely had potential, and I'm pleased to say I now have my hands on the rulebook and some minis. Looking forward to another game in a fortnight's time :-)

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  7. Nice start on the Romulans Simon, and good look on the hobby bingo. Will watch with interest on your thoughts of the new walking dead game

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    1. Thanks Dave. I'm a fan currently of "TWD: Call To Arms", with plans to get another game in in a couple of weeks time. Whether I'll have my own faction painted by then though is another matter ;-)

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  8. I'm always a bit suspicious of any rule set that has a "New, improved, special advanced" or whatever, so I'll be waiing to see what you think of these and whther they're an improvement.
    Well done getting a game in - it did sound very interesting !

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    1. Cheers Joe. I really can't see much of a difference between the two "The Walking Dead" rule-sets currently, except that I've forked out a sizeable sum on the new ones...

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  9. Those Mophidius sculpts do look very tasty, but goodness they charge an arm and a leg for them! O_o

    Interested to hear what you think of the new tWD rules.

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    1. Thanks Dai. I'll be giving "TWD" quite a bit of coverage, as I have a few minis to paint for my party, and a few games planned over the next few weeks.

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  10. Brilliant work on these Romulans mate, they look like they're fun models to paint.

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    1. Cheers Wouter. The Romulans are great to paint, but not assemble sadly. Still the entire Strike Team are now all glued together and based, so should be painted soon.

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