Battlestar Galactica Starship Battles

This game has not been particularly advertised as it is usual; in fact I had not know of its existence until a couple of weeks before my pal told me he got a copy. I heard people speaking highly of it, so it was a matter of necessity playing it! So say we all.

Your first thought will most probably be 'Hey, that's X-Wing, but in Galactica'. Let me tell you it is definitely not. Yes, you have a couple of fighters per side, you plan your movements in advance and you shoot. But there's much more to this game. I don't pretend to give a full review (you can download the rulebook from the Ares webpage and nothing beats reading the rules first hand), but I will try to give my impressions on the game.

Each ship has a control panel and a deck of maneuver cards. The panel control has some things you have to keep in mind. The most obvious one will be the setting on the right, going from FTL (Cylon Raiders only) down to high/medium/low speed and then to stationary and even backwards.
The round piece in the center is the rotation dial (as you can move in one direction and rotate as you fly -just like in the series, you'll see examples of that, trust me).
The kinetic energy slider down in the panel is quite a thing to bear in mind each turn; you will not be able to use maneuver cards with a total kinetic energy value higher than your kinetic energy value plus tour acceleration (or lower than your current value minus the acceleration). Sounds complicated, but it is not. It's just a way to make you aware that your spaceship has limitations and you cannot plan absurdly bold moves that would tear apart your body under the pressure of G value.
Finally, the up left part is a level slider, in order to make the game fully 3D. It's an optional rule, and we didn't use it; my pal had already played, but it was my first introductory game, so I already had some stuff to hold before making it all more complicated.

Starbuck, what do you hear? Nothing but the rain

The turn is divided in three rounds. You plan your movement, you move and then you fire. When playing the complete rules (not just the quick ones), the rounds are slightly different: first move, first fire, second move (if applicable) and second fire (if you didn't fire in the first round). To plan your moves you will use the maneuver cards:

Mostly intuitive

You can see there are differences in the movement on the same basic maneuvers, depending on your speed. There are 'overboost' cards, which allow you to draw a second card; 'difficult maneuver' cards, which don't allow another difficult maneuver nor an overboost card next turn (there are exceptions, but you get the idea).
The star card is just for bluffing. If you see your opponent drawing two cards, you will assume there will be an overboost move. Well, not necessarily ;)
The radar is a mandatory card if you want to reposition your ship after a rotation. We'll get to that eventually.

Let's see how all this fits into a game, it will be easier...

OK, so we can see only one Raider. This should be easy

My opponent decided to start the game with one Raider out of the board, making a FTL jump as his first move. No need, just for the show [Dramatic drum music here].

Contact!! (oh, please excuse the X-Wing mat. Ahem)

Swift move

When you go with the complete rules you cannot use maneuver cards with a total kinetic energy value higher than your current value plus the ship's acceleration (or lower than the your current value minus the ship's acceleration), so you have to plan carefully what you are going to do!

Next turn. I plan to do this...

...and the Raider rotates! Things are getting warm

On the other side of the table, I rotate my Viper too

Shooting phase! First thing, check your firing arc. You have a range ruler with close/medium/long range modifiers. Easy thing.

[Insert muzzled 'pew pew' effect here]

 Then roll two dice. Check the result. If it's equal or higher than your ship's attack value (usually 6, but keep the modifiers in mind; not only range, but if your target's kinetic energy is 4+, that kind of thing), you made a hit.
Neither of us got anything this time, so I'll have to explain damage rules later!
Let's see what happens with the other couple:

Graphic explanation of being rotated yet moving in a different direction. Step 1

Step 2

In the case above, the ship did not plan any movement, just let itself go by pure intertia; hence the mere straight movement.
I had rotated my Viper too, but I wanted to change route, i.e., move forward in the new direction. It takes some extra movement in your previous direction, determined by your kinetic energy and measured with a drift ruler:

After this movement, you can realign the base dial and then you are good to move normally next turn

General overview of what was happening

 I planned a cunning move with the Viper on the right. See, see:

Haha, no matter your next move, I gotcha, mwahaha

Eh? What was that?? Seriously?

So this is the real fun of the game, planning your moves ahead and trying to guess what your opponent is going to do. As you can see, I was pretty naive and these mistakes are likely to not give second chances, glups.

Meanwhile, on the left side of the table...

Nothing happened in the shooting phase. Phew. New turn.

Right side. Shoot that toaster!

Seriously? Oh, COME ON!

The other Cylon made a FTL jump. Suddenly the balance was totally broken:

My Viper on the left was useless and the one on my right was in trouble...

We can have a look at damage. When you receive a hit, you draw a random damage counter and look its value, but without revealing it to your opponent. That way, whenever you hit your enemy you can tell you did something, but you can't tell how bad you damaged the other ship.
If the token you draw has a '+' sign, then you must immediately draw a second counter (if it has a '+' too, you don't have to draw a third one). So there will be some times in which you can guess you caused some serious harm to your enemy, but without being able to tell exactly. This adds some realism and emotion to the battle, I really like that.

Damage Counters can go from 0 to 6, so you can receive a hit and get nothing or be in serious trouble. There can be special tokens (damage on the wings or whatever, with additional effects)
In the pic below you can see what happened to my Viper on my right flank. I had already received a hit (3 damage points). But now I got a 4+, so I had to draw a second token. Oh, Lords of Kobol!

A 5!! I got 9 damage points in one turn!

Vipers have 14 structure points, so things didn't look good...

So, the damaged Viper was in distress and the other one hurried to get closer.

[Drum music from the OST here] You are humming it, don't bother to deny

You see those two ships so close in the pic above? Let me explain what happened next. I thought the Raider woud finally move forward instead of letting itself go with inertia, as it had done the two previous turns.

But it didn't! The frakkin' toaster slipped with inertia another turn!!!

As I had so wrongly guessed otherwise, my move was suicide (Remember, these are done simultaneously)

No need to say, my Viper was destroyed

I made my second movement as I had chosen an overboost card

Shot and caused some damage on the Raider

Then made a difficult evasive maneuver

I slowed down my pace while the Raiders approached...

...then rotated and left myself go with inertia. I can play that game too!

Eat this, toaster!

After that I changed course and prepared myself for more maneuvers

Our job isn't to be careful, it's to shoot Cylons out of the frakkin' sky!

Oooops

Another movie moment. I rotated my Viper 180 degrees and waited for the Raider to be in shooting range...

This should work, this should work...

It did! Die, toaster, die!

Well, the Raider exploded in space

I think this gets the series vibe pretty accurately. Such moments call for desperate, bold maneuvers, and they sometimes end quite spectacularly. Anyway, as you can see in the pic above, I had hit my opponent many times, but he had drawn 0 damage not once, but twice. But he got a 6 too, and he suddenly got two damages in a row thanks to the + sign, so a ship can last for hours or be obliterated in a centon (that's an obscure reference, hehe).

So it's one to one now

It all will be decided here...

Ouch! I got a 6. I already had 10 damage points, so I was destroyed

The other Cylon was close to be destroyed too, but things went this way and I definitely lost. Mankind is a step closer to its extinction! Will what's left of the Colonies endure? We'll have to see in next chapter!

The game is enormously cool. You can see there are some quite cinematic moments, which translate in lots of fun. Tension can grow in seconds and anything can really happen. The complete rules can be learned easily and they add a lot of depth to the game, I strongly recommend them and not yet the basic core rules alone. This game took about a couple of hours, including the time for me to learn how to play; so it was great in the end.
You can see I made some serious mistakes, but also learned (from the bitter experience!) to make things work once I was familiar with what I could do. I guess the most obvious comparison is to be made with X-Wing. You can see the philosophy behind has some things in common (they both deal with fighters and dogfights in space!), but this Galactica game relies less in characters and special features (though I suspect they will eventually come as expansions if the core box sells well) and has quite more depth in maneuver and general movement terms. The fact of everything being done simultaneously and not depending on initiative or prowess is another important factor, as you won't be able to play the card of knowing that your uberpilot will do the hard work first. You have to think of your turn quite differently and then let your plans simply happen.

I really enjoyed it a lot, I'm looking forward to playing it again. So say we all!

Second Silly Sancho

You may remember (and if you don't I'll provide the links) my wasteland walkers, i. e., the Quixote Project ;)

I started with Don Quirixote of Manchae Prime and his faithful Sancho Panzer. I accepted a commission from a pal to make another version of Don Quixote for him. But now, of course, you can see that this project was unfinished, as he also needed a Sancho of his own.

Until now. Here I ride again.

I clearly didn't have enough

While this dapple had to look chubby and funny too, I wanted something else. My first approach was a classical one, with the rider on the long neck, in front of the hull itself.

A saddle over there, you know

But a friend convinced me to do otherwise. What if I put the driver on the back? Hmmm, interesting. With that in mind I had to use an old Ork biker (and some parts of the warbike). I'll show:

The body has a nice fat belly. Just remember that 'panza' is Spanish for belly

If you look really close, you'll see the contact key

Standard postapocalyptic cap

So I cut the neck of the dapple and repositioned the whole thing a little bit to get this:

Still chubby

Not exactly Akira toriyama style, but still works

From now on it's all about adding stuff

So it's just a huge walking trunk. Or a pot; still undecided

Here you have the finished result:

It is always better to make a journey in good company...

Here you can compare:

Now it's up to my pal to paint them! I'll be sure to share over here when he does so.

Dammit, this shit has me hooked, these are fun to do. However, I have no immediate plans for more walkers, as I still have a hell of a mountain of work on the bench! But in due time... Hmmm...

The Order of the Ossuary

I backed the Black Crab Miniatures Kickstarter last October. Andrew May is a guarantee of success and job well done. No second thoughts, as soon as I saw the minis I knew I needed them. The KS ran smoothly and I got my minis a few weeks ago. Being just three of them, I have slipped them between my current projects, eager as I was of painting them.

From the upcoming Terramortis range by Meridian Miniatures

 No point in taking WIP pics, so...

The Ghost of Christmas past, the Ghost of Chris... Ehm. No. Sorry, my mistake

The colours used in the original pics (and original lovely art) were dark red and black. I tried a different scheme, all in blues and greys.

And checkers, of course. I cannot paint without checkers

I used quite a limited palette, as I wanted to give them some uniformity. In my mind the concept of some weird cult took shape immediately. In my Rogue Trader Warhammer 40,000 setting I can easily see them as strange monks taking care of old relics. This is how the Order of the Ossuary was born.

Also known as the Order of the blurry pics

The Order has the venerable mission of collecting bones and relics of fallen Imperial heroes, in order to keep and venerate them. The monks themselves are former servicemen who were severely injured but didn't earn martyrdom. Declared no longer fit for active duty, most of them bearing horrendous scars or burns, some of them seek for a life of contemplation and service to the Emperor in other ways.

They are more charming than you believe. He's actually smiling behind the mask

They are a common view on battlefields once the fight is over, assisting medical services in retrieving bodies with Ministorum priests and clerks who help to record the deeds of Imperial warriors all over the galaxy. They determine who behaved heroically, became martyrs of the Imperial cause and deserve the honour of being preserved.

Look at the numbers on the bones on the three minis. I bet for the most macabre puzzle ever

Once the bodies are properly dealt with, the bones or other suitable items can be used as relics. They go under proper Ministorum consecration rites and then are incorporated to Ecclesiarchy banner poles, shrines all over the Imperium, taken to battle by Imperial Preachers or Adepta Sororitas or whatever other use is considered appropiate. The ossuaries of the Order ar quite well known, and even turn themselves into peregrination sites for the common people who just want to pay their respects for the most humble Guardsmen.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Order of the Ossuary (if you come with a better name I will gladly take it under consideration, I'm simply making up all this stuff as I write).

The amazing thing about these minis is that they can fit into a number of sci-fi settings (specially 40K, of course)...

No heroic bones in sight, brothers

...as well as fantasy!

Yup, the Stormcast Eternals really messed up with our bussiness

I'm enormously delighted with the minis. If there are more of the like incoming, I'm definitely in. The only thing that really bugs me about all this is... that I need to build a friggin' ossuary now!! :P

A game of AvP

First of all, happy new year to you all! I hope you are doing well and you still have some Christmas spirit left.

I have to ask you to forgive me for starting the year in such a barbaric, ungentlemanly way, but I'm afraid I'm posting a game of unpainted minis. I know, I know, I'll look for redemption, but I'm afraid this is the way it is.

I gave a try to the Aliens vs Predator game. Yup, the Prodos one; you all know what happened. BUT not my own game (it would have been painted). My pal got a copy of the 2nd edition of the game at about the same time I received my KS copy of the first edition. Cool, uh?

It exists! My own copy is in its box

I won't make more drama over a game, the internet has proven enough for it for years. The relevant data today is that I have played a game :)

A quick overview of it: The minis are nice, I have to say, and so is the board. The rules are understandable (though they can be a little fuss at the beginning) and the game is better than I expected. I'll try to explain in a few words.

I'll be playing Aliens and my pal the Predators. So the name of the game will make some sense.

Definitely not Space Hulk

At the beginning, all the minis are hidden, you use only tokens. My mission will be to reach the round room (top right) and leave there a couple of tokens. My opponent's mission will involve getting to the tile next to that same room and destroy it (the clash is guaranteed).

The Aliens go through the air vents and unveil the Predators

Man, these guys are tough

That's a thing you get to know. If you have just three Predators vs fifteen Aliens, that means something. Predators are like the Space Marines while Aliens are... well, maybe some funny Gretchins. Each Predator is a meat grinder, with different skills and weapons (and 3 wounds each!!), while Aliens rely on their numbers to overcome their enemies.

Each mini has a couple of activation points, which can be used for movement, attack, running, etc. You know how that works. Each turn both players roll for the initiative and then they both activate minis alternatively. So pretty classic. In this case (3 vs 15 minis) it's kind of weird, but I guess it turns much more tatctical when the numbers are more even.

Every turn both players can play a couple of strategy cards (from a deck of five). Some will allow you to re-roll dice, others will give you extra movement, some modifier on dice rolls... They are essential, as a card well played can turn the scales in a second. But we'll get to that.

On the pic above you can see a couple of tokens. When an Alien dies, you make a die roll; depending on it they can spill some acid blood, which can eventually harm the enemy. So you better kill them at distance!

Everybody moves!

At the beginning of each turn, the player with the initiative draws an event card which can affect everyone on the board. A defensive laser, hatches closing, gravity being affected... that kind of stuff.

My Aliens kept harrassing the Predators, but they had a mission...

Everyone's on the run!

You can tell where the main fight is going to take place...

Predators can open doors, but Aliens can't (oh, come on, even Velociraptors are smarter!). They can but attack them in the hope of harming them enough to let them go through. But well, that takes some time.

Ooops! Where did you come from?

Seriously, I started with 15 guys. Now we are even???

My pal was such a gentleman that he gave me the chance to do better. Seeing how desperate my situation was, he gave me some reinforcements. A true gametleman (a word I've made up for cases like this).

Five more little buggers

I finally caused my first casualty!

Let's see what happens here!

Minis are cool, just imagine how will they look when painted

Well, things are getting interesting...

Well, this will be the battle that decides it all...

A few turns later...

Wow. The last remaining Predator had only one wound left, but not even with my five extra Aliens I was able to get rid of him. What a beast of war.

Being my first game I think I played quite recklessly, not knowing the pros and cons of both factions. My oppponent played more wisely and you could see he knew what he was doing.

Well, I have to say that, after all the inconveniences with the kickstarter, I had simply (and angrily) storaged the box on a shelf. But I liked the game, I have to thank my pal for that. I will have to take the box out and paint my own minis, the game certainly deserves it.

First post of the year, first game! Let's cross fingers and see how many more I manage to get!

(but with painted minis, I promise...)