Scratchbuilt Celestial Bodies

In anticipation of further playtesting of my solo spaceship miniatures game, I built a new planet and moon.

The celestial terrain was easy to build: Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty over a helium balloon for both spheres.  I started the moon first and made gores on paper using some geometric shorthand.  I smoothed the gores over the balloon and then covered with a thin water-putty coat.  

The planet originally started as an experiment to see if I could make a sphere using only the balloon as a former with no underlying gores.  Although it used more water putty than the gore method, it worked better than expected and was easier to get a smoother surface.

I only needed to wait maybe four hours before I could deflate the balloons in each sphere.  I then reinforced the interior of each very thin shell with water putty sausages as longitudinal ribs.  Finally, I poured a very very generous amount of wood glue into each sphere and let it cure overnight.  The reinforcing worked well: I actually dropped the moon from a height of about two feet and it didn't even chip.

    

Vacation is nearly over and I did only a fraction of the gaming I wanted to do.  Roleplaying consumed most of my free time during the break, or rather prepping for roleplaying did.  I finally got to run the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (MSHAG), the SAGA system or "the one with the cards", for the first time in 22 years.  Even better, we're playing using my custom cards.  

The first RPG session was a blast but the second session was postponed after one of the two players cancelled, with the next session questionable due to the same player's new job.  Due to my impending school and work commitments, the Marvel game was supposed to be a three-shot event but now I'm wondering if we'll ever get past that first session.

I am amazed at how much time and effort it takes to do good Game Master prep (or maybe I over-prep).  And I lament all the other hobby time lost to the RPG prep, especially when it never gets used.  

So, we see a trend developing here... I said nearly these exact same words last year around the same time.  And like then, I'm planning to pivot away from RPGs and back to tabletop wargaming.  Wargaming solo works, for me at least, much better than solo RPGing, and with everybody's busy lives that seems to be the only version of Game Mastering I'll get. 

I'm not doing a year end retrospective or laying out my plans for the new year.  Frankly with my work and school schedule, free time will be depressingly scarce.  I will endeavor to post more frequently though.  2021 was my best year in a while and I'm hoping to make 2022 even more blog-prolific.

Just embarrassing...

I posted at the beginning of 2021 some rules I tried to self-enforce, to keep my gaming sustainable and focused.  One rule was: if it's an active project, it has to fit on the drafting table.  Well, we see the unintended consequences of slavishly following rules don't we.  As the picture to the right shows, I've continued to cram new project after new project onto the the table until the surface became unusable as a workspace.  I still like the general rule but I'm modifying to say: "if it's an active project, it has to fit on the drafting table and still leave enough room to work."

WIP Moon

WIP habitable planet

 

Cotton Swabs and Staples: Cheap Flight Stands Redux

Chris from over at the Just Another Wargames Blog commented on my latest scratchbuild spaceship and asked me to expand on how I use cotton swab stems as flight rods and staples as the ship-to-flight rod interface.

I posted back in 2014 how I use Equate brand cotton swabs as flight stands for little 1/600 jets, after discovering that the stems of these swabs are thin hollow plastic tubes (and not paper).  That post also highlights my favorite part about the method: a piece of thick spaghetti inside the hollow stem not only strengthens the flight rod but allows one to make modular pieces for variable height flight stands.  Check it out!

As for the staples, they've been a, um, staple of my scratch building for years.  Staples are great because they're cheap, they're sturdy, they're steel (and hence magnetic), and they come in all sorts of sizes.  Best of all, staples come in long rows, with individual staples held together by an adhesive that keeps them together but is easy to break.

I've found that three "normal" office staples together are just a little wider than the inner diameter of the hollow cotton swab stem.  Since the tube is made of soft plastic, it deforms pretty easily, allowing the staples to fit snugly in the end of the tube.

I start off by using an old used hobby knife that's still relatively sharp but not fresh out of the box to separate the three staples from the rest of the row.  

Next I bend one end of the staple interface down to create the tab that goes into the cotton swab stem.  The other side of the staple-group stays straight to create a little shelf to glue the ship/airplane onto.  The picture to the right shows three staple interfaces I recently made for a group of spaceships on my workbench (ignore the pasta).  This shot shows my new technique, which is to not bend the staples all the way back; this gives a snugger fit when inserted in the flight rod.

The next picture shows a TU-22 Blinder with the staple flight rod interface attached.

The staple interface can be used for the base as well, as shown on this older spaceship base.  Here I simply cut a slit in a plastic bit (from food packaging) and glued the flat part of the staple interface to the inside.

 Recently I've started using these hemispheres for a cleaner look.  I'm constantly casting things with dental plaster and always have extra plaster left over.  Instead of wasting the plaster, I'll take a large ball burnisher and push several hemispherical divots into a piece of clean, smoothed polymer clay and make a handful of these little domes with the excess.  Next, a cavity gets drilled in the center and a piece of thick spaghetti is glued in for the flight rod to slide onto.

 And that's it: pretty simple.  The shot to the right shows everything sliding together.  Go make some miniatures!

Solo Spaceship Miniatures Game Playtest Draft

I've finished transcribing my latest attempt at a solo spaceship miniatures game from my playtest notes (circa March-April 2020) to a PDF.  Please feel free to download it and give it a try. Unlike many of my solo game creations this game doesn't require massive amounts of tokens and other props.  I couldn't completely eliminate on-table markers but managed to reduce the number considerably.

I've yet to write up the (super simple) rules for designing one's own ships.  In the interim I've included 60 sample ship designs in the rulebook so there's no real need to make your own.  

Includes ship counters if you don't have minis

Similar to Starfire (and previous incarnations of my solo rules), ship designs consist of lines of letters, so if you're unhappy with the (randomly computer-generated) sample designs, it's simple to just scrawl down six rows and five columns of letters of your choice and make the perfect ship.

Right now this is a living document.  The game contains all the basic rule mechanics to play but a reader will notice placeholders for incomplete illustrations, as well as omissions like the aforementioned ship "construction" rules, campaign rules, and other ideas I've had like multi-ship element rules.  Hopefully I'll find time to (most importantly) playtest those and add them.  

Spaghetti Spaceships: 5 Dec 21 Edition

48mm long; all pasta

 The Christmas slowdown is finally upon my work and school and I'm greedily anticipating two whole weeks of hobby opportunities ahead.  I figured I'd kick off the happiest time of the year by gluing some clumps of pasta together.

I'm roughly 1/3 of the way through transferring my latest (and hopefully finally satisfactory) solo spaceship miniature game from my notebook to the computer.

Once that's done I plan to get in a few more playtest games:  what better excuse to make some new ships!

I had no real design in mind with this one but I did want to try to use only pasta on the build.  The only components consist of pasta and CA glue for the ship, as well as staples and a cotton swab stem for the flight rod interface and flight rod respectively.

A coat of clear matte acted as the foundational layer, followed by white primer decanted into my airbrush and tinted pink with a few drops of Liquitex red acrylic ink.

    

Pencil and gel ink pen markings simulated distinctive panels followed by green acrylic ink in the crevices for shadows.  I also used a white gel pen to edge highlight (not shown in the picture below).

The logic with the pink foundation and pre-shading was to build up with multiple thin layers of transparent red ink to bring the ship up to a fire-engine red with the details still showing.

Generally the technique worked but I used only one layer since I put way too much ink in the airbrush with not enough water/floor polish to thin it.

Another thin coat of clear matte spray finished off the miniature, which I think meets tabletop quality.  It probably could've used more edge highlighting with a brush but I like it.

      

Custom Fate Deck: Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game (Full Deck)

 Here it is: my custom Fate Deck for the old 1998 Marvel RPG from TSR.

Now go buy (preferably old) Marvel Comics.

Custom Cards: Marvel SAGA (Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game)

I’ve been reading a lot of comic books recently, still going strong at two a day. All this comic goodness, plus a healthy dose of the ongoing MEGS campaign on Jay Murphy’s The Vanishing Tower podcast has got me thinking again about super-hero RPGs. 

My absolute favorite RPG of all time, super-themed or not, is the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game from TSR in 1998, also known as the “SAGA System” or “the one with the cards”. 

Although I have a pristine copy of MSHAG with the cards still in the wrapper, playing the game is extra-problematic in these pandemic days… until now. 

I’ve recently discovered one of the greatest services to mankind in the wonderful website playingcards.io. I don’t know how the site developers make any money, if at all, for their services but this site is phenomenal! Totally free, synchronous, and you can make custom card decks. You see where this is going: MSHAG in the age of COVID. 

Instead of just scanning my official MSHAG cards and uploading them to a custom table on the playing card site however, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make custom cards. 

You see, despite my love for MSHAG I’ve always wondered about some of the character and art choices TSR made. Meltdown? Who even is that character? And that card art for Hercules? Woof. And where is Rick Jones, the ever-present sidekick at so many pivotal Marvel events?  I decided if I was going to make custom cards, I might as well replace some of the characters and find my own art. 

I used Microsoft PowerPoint and lots and lots of hours to make these puppies; amazing how powerful simple Office software is in 2021. Visual Basic for Applications macros also proved useful, allowing me to just build a single card template and then populate the card-specific text, textures, and suit icons. Unfortunately VBA would not populate the comic art work so that was a tedious placement and cropping affair. 

I present a few samples here, including the card back image I created as well as a screenshot of the virtual tabletop over on PlayingCards.io.  I'll edit this post later to show some comparisons to the official cards.

Custom Card Back

ROM Spaceknight replaces Adam Warlock

Virtual Tabletop showing a few cards

I’m happy with how these turned out. I wish I could make them available for download but the characters and associated art are Marvel’s and even if I offer them for free I don’t have the right. It’s not my intellectual property. I’ll certainly use them in my own private games however.

I replaced characters and chose art to reflect my personal tastes and my own journey as a Marvel Comics reader. My primary reading years were 1983-1998 with the most intense period being around ‘86-‘94. Significantly, during this time not only did I buy a lot of contemporary comics but also frequented comic book stores to get back issues from the 60s and 70s.  Accordingly, I have my favorite artists and storylines and the custom cards reflect this.

Personally I think Keith Pollard is an under appreciated illustrator who does the definitive Doctor Doom. And of course although Gene Colan is known for his work on Doctor Strange, I don’t think anyone can touch Steve Ditko’s original otherworldly mysticism. John Buscema’s work features prominently because…seriously, do you have to ask? Just look at those pictures! And his brother Sal always did the perfect Hulk in my mind, apologies to any Herb Trimpe fans out there.

I want to stress that I don't own any rights to the likenesses of any Marvel characters depicted here and I'm displaying them without permission.  I will say however that by showing the characters I hope to inspire other gamers/comic book fans and hey, maybe by seeing my blog a few people will go purchase a subscription to Marvel Unlimited.  Yeah, that's it.  Come to think of it, Disney should be paying me for the advertising... 

EDIT: I've added a picture comparing the back and front of an official MSHAG card featuring the Leader, and one of my own.  Please excuse the shininess on the official cards: I still haven't taken the shrinkwrap off them.  As you can see, the aspect ratio of the custom cards differ from the official ones, since mine are optimized to use on the playingcards.io site (160 pt x 103 pt size).

I prefer my cards to the original but I'm a bit biased!

Official cards left; custom cards right

I’m planning on actually running this game online at some point and am working out how best to use the playingcards.io site.  The virtual table allows multiple card decks: a neat aspect that facilitates character sheets in card form by giving each player a one (or two or three) card "deck" for constant reference.

Character sheet card front

Character sheet card back.  Shitty formatting courtesy Blogger.

My Prescription: Two Comic Books a Day

Slowly rebuilding the collection...

The world sucks right now. My prescription for the pain? Two comic books a day.

I sold off my entire ~1500 issue collection of Marvel comic books in 2003, a collection that included some real gems like an entire run of Rom Spaceknight, the entire run of GI Joe, and first appearances of some cool characters like Captain Marvel (Mar-vell of the Kree), The Stranger, and the Abomination. I still regret that decision.

I stopped reading comics around 2001 but really my interest began to wane earlier, in the late ‘90s with all the “Heroes Reborn” garbage and the first reboots of the classic Marvel titles. It just wasn’t the same Marvel I grew up with. I convinced myself I “outgrew” comics about 20 years ago.


I was contemplating my favorite tabletop games the other day, as well as perusing my bookshelves and suddenly I realized: I still love comics! My bookshelves are filled with artist biographies and in-depth histories of the creation of our favorite spandex-clad mythologies. Meanwhile, Super Mission Force has quickly become my go-to wargame while my favorite RPG experiences have always been comic-book games like TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes and Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game, as well as Mayfair’s DC Heroes. Surprisingly, I haven’t been too interested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, catching (but thoroughly enjoying) only a handful of the movies but still upon reflection I realized: yeah, I still love comics.

Work, school, and domestic duties still occupy nearly all of my time but I can usually steal just a few minutes of each day to read. I try to always have a novel going or an interesting website cued up. Then it hit me: why not read the Marvel Universe, from the start?

I managed to pick up quite a collection of the official high-quality scans of Marvel comic books on DVD-ROM released by GIT Corp from 2005-2007. Unfortunately, those discs came out right when the MCU, and associated interest in the source material, really started to gather steam. Instead of continuing the contract with GIT Corp and offering scans of the entire library, Marvel stopped licensing the scans. The technology has almost caught up now to bring Marvel’s plans to fruition: there are now streaming services allowing one to read almost any title at their heart’s content. Unfortunately these books are recolored when digitized and just don’t look the same. I’m thrilled that all these old comics are available, I just want to see everything: those benday dots, the old sea monkey ads, just to maximize the nostalgia.

Anyways, I’m giving myself 5 years to read the first 30 years of Marvel comics. Actually I can’t cram in every Marvel title, far from it. I’ve got seven of the biggest titles on DVD-ROM (Hulk, Iron Man, Amazing Spider Man, Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, Captain America, and Fantastic Four). In addition to these I’ve added Thor, and Daredevil (to get the street-level perspective). I’m also anticipating a few “floater” spots in the reading schedule, so I can work in old favorites with smaller runs, like Captain Marvel (Mar-vell of the Kree from the 60s-70s), or X-Factor, or Secret Wars, or something.

My start date is November, 1961, with Fantastic Four #1, and I’m reading the books in publication order. My stop date will be November, 1991, exactly 30 years after the publication of FF #1. I’ve selected this seemingly arbitrary date because: 1) I don’t want to continue this project to my death, and 2) it lets me avoid the Liefeld years at the X-Men, teenage Tony Stark, Onslaught, the reboots, and all the other stuff that showed that comics should’ve ended in the 90s. Really I just want to read the height of Marvel like Gruenwald and Claremont in the 80s, while finally capturing all the key moments those creators built on like Lee/Kirby/Ditko’s 60s work, and the Buscema/Thomas 70s.

My goal is two books a day. Right now it’s easy since I’m reading the early 60s stuff which was frequently 10-13 pages of material max, with less exposition than the real angsty stuff of the 80s. Also, when I finally get to the books I had as a kid (~’81-’96), I should pick up speed, as I read some of those books backwards and forwards a hundred times. Some of the panels are still burned into my psyche. If I can keep up the pace, over the next five years I’ll read the first 30 years of continuity for approximately 10 Marvel titles.

‘Cause you gotta have goals.

Super Mission Force Game 2: Rooftop Rumble

So I've been putting off continuing my Super Mission Force (2nd Edition [SMF2]) campaign because of terrain. Actually because the real world is just too damn busy right now but terrain was my excuse.

At the end of my first SMF2 game, I rolled the next scenario and got "Rooftop Rumble". I like a nice-looking board and planned to make some convincing rooftops with water tanks, air-conditioning units and such. When life intruded and delayed my terrain-making, I stubbornly refused to play until I could get back to the rooftops.

After a particularly busy few weeks I realized, for my sanity, I needed some gaming. So I slapped down a couple of foam board sheets I sprayed with gray acrylic paint, cut one of them into two parts, and put all three resulting rooftops at slightly different vertical levels. I raided my bit box to grab a few nurnies and greebles to act as roof vents, antennas, and other scatter. I would rather have painted all the bits gray as well but hey, at least I now had a board.

And I'm glad I broke down and played on a "substandard" board. This game is so fun! The narrative that emerges through play is incredible.

The bad guys, The Phantom Satellites lost the first game when their secret Weapon was destroyed by the heroic team, The Cabinet. The MVP of that first game was most certainly Master Astra, the shuriken-wielding Street Level character whose rocket-powered nitro-stars did the bulk of the damage to the weapon including the coup-de-grace. My subplot rolls for the second game revealed an "Art" connection, which didn't make much sense. Since it was a "Rooftop Rumble" game, and Master Astra is definitely a Daredevil-like gritty urban character, I said that the evil mastermind known as The Phantom Sun had tracked down the source of Master Astra's shuriken arsenal. The villains then intended to abduct the hero's artist friend, secretly a brilliant inventor who crafts Master Astra's various hi tech throwing stars. For some weird reason, the intense battle during their first encounter also caused Master Astra and the mentalist frog-alien Ssluuzurom to develop a temporary psychic bond, making it difficult for them to attack each other in this game.

Heroes on the right

The game started with all characters randomly placed, except for the Free Radical Squad, who I decided could begin mounted on the armored hero Heavy Fist. I regret this now because it gave the heroes an advantage. I should have let the villains begin with the psychic frog-alien adjacent to his boss, The Phantom Sun, so that the cosmic mastermind could've carried him into battle.

Combatants rush forward!

Turn 1 began with everyone moving forward on the offensive, with Heavy Fist's leaping power carrying him and his shrunken infantrymen passengers to the rooftop blockhouse for cover. Since this was Rooftop Rumble and anyone leaving a building edge suffers falling damage (excepting flyers and a few others), I knew the villains' strategy was to use Ssluuzurom's Mind Control to force the heroes to "willingly" leap to their own dooms. The heroes felt the dreaded effects of the Mind Control last game and therefore targeted the alien mentalist immediately. The evil android known as The Upgrade used Power Blast with its awesome 30 inch range to hit Madame President, the good guy leader, with a massive 5 Body attack. First blood almost had the heroes down one figure!

The Phantom Sun activated his Flight power and rushed forward to intercept Heavy Fist, not quite reaching his prey. Master Astra then revealed their X-Factor chosen for this game: the rocket-powered grappling-line shuriken (adapted from the Archer Archetype's special maneuvers), which allowed the hero to effectively duplicate the Leaping power. Using the special throwing star, Master Astra swung across the rooftops, engaging a surprised Phantom Sun in aerial hand-to-hand combat. The mastermind proved a worthy opponent, shrugging off the attack.

11 hits; daaaang!

Turn 2 started with a bang and proved to be the most exciting turn, although as I write this I realize I violated the rules to the villains' detriment. The heroes won initiative and Heavy Fist activated, managing to recharge his jet pack (Leaping) and blast across the board, conducting a Death from Above attack against the feared amphibious alien. Action-packed as this was, I realize now that Heavy Fist began without line-of-sight to his target and therefore could not have made this attack. Dang. Well, the following is what happened, based on my illegal attack...

The armored hero smashed into the alien psychic rolling an incredible 11 point melee attack, which the unfortunate Ssluuzurom could only reduce to 9 damage. I was unsure of what to do with that much excess damage but the game's creator, Mr. Scott Pyle, graciously and quickly provided me with the official ruling (excess damage is lost). Remarkably, the alien villain made his KO roll, staying conscious while suffering an incredible 18 inches of knockback! I then rolled for his last ditch attempt to hang on and he made it, preventing himself from flying off the roof to the street below. Pulling himself slowly back onto the roof, the alien's eyes glowed as he activated his Mind Control, commanding Heavy Fist to leap off the building, with his tiny soldiers in tow. Perhaps our hero had built up a natural mental shield after being manipulated so often last game: he shrugged off the attack!

Multiple Arms power = distance melee!

The Free Radical Squad rushed forward and despite their short legs, could still pummel the alien with the Reach ability afforded by their Multiple Arms power. Another amazing roll saw the frogman face 6 potential points of damage, enough of which got through for the auto-KO. Combined with knockback, the blows sent the alien plummeting to the concrete below.

Master Astra attempted a similar maneuver against The Upgrade, swinging on a grappling line across two roofs to plant a foot in the android's face. Despite the telling blow, the android remained standing and nearly felled the shuriken-wielder with a devastating energy blast.

KA-RACKATHOOM!

Turn 3 saw the villains reduced to three but still pressing the attack with the Mindhound leaping into the Free Radical Squad's midst, causing terrible damage. Returning the favor to the villains, Heavy Fist activated his jump jets and sailed a giant power fist straight into The Phantom Sun's face, knocking the would-be world conquerer cold with one blow!

The Upgrade went down in a flurry of punches from Master Astra, after the helmeted mystery-hero blocked the android's energy blast with a brilliantly timed albedo-cloud star! (Note: that's flavor only, my interpretation of Master Astra winning the melee combat with the help of some Gadget rerolls. 

The final melee

The Mindhound was the only villain standing at the beginning of Turn 4. That didn't last long. The Free Radical Squad pounded the beast with dozens of tiny fists. Although still suffering a severe injury from the previous battle, the strange beast mounted a a vicious counter attack, knocking out the little trooper squad. Master Astra then eliminated the threat, swinging into the melee and onto the beast's back, knocking it unconscious.

So, at the end of turn 4 it was a decisive ass-kicking with every member of the Phantom Satellites unconscious and three of The Cabinet's four still standing. In hindsight the illegal attack Heavy Fist conducted against the psychic delivered the easy victory to the heroes. It shouldn't have been that close.

The post-game had the Cabinet earning two "bumps", one of which I gave to the Free Radical Squad, the other to Master Astra. The Squad earned a +2" Move increase, an incredibly useful bump as they suffer from the Slow hindrance normally, and had their already low movement temporarily lowered due to a severe injury suffered in this fight. Master Astra earned another +1D bonus die to Image-based Pre- and Post-game Sub-Plot rolls.

The villains managed to avoid capture or death but both the Mindhound and Ssluuzurom suffered severe injuries. The Upgrade woke up unscathed while, fittingly, The Phantom Sun woke up ready to "Settle the Score" (giving him a bonus to next game's attacks).