And that was October. Through all work and family related activities cluttering the agenda I managed to get in an enjoyable full day off board gaming and during the week some online gaming through VASSAL with a visit to Crisis 2011 in Antwerp as the cherry on the cake. Everything left very little time to spend on the blog.
On the positive side I did get some - minor - input out on the v1.1 rules for Gruntz. Hopefully this helps the further development of the game and with input from all volunteers results in a clearer, better readable rule set that is easier to understand. And ...
In addition various miniatures came available online last month which helped me extend the basis for several of my factions. During free time, walking the dog in the woods, those helped me further on some ideas for background and for scenarios and adventures that at some point I hope to develop for Planet QDX.
Faction ideas -
First one is a humanoid faction consisting of a light armored security force, the 'Light of the Fox', complemented by drop troops, the 'Storm Hammers'. Once initial skirmishes with the Mabinogi and their subs have taken place there will be some heavily armored reinforcements available to augments these forces. It will be with a different background and different miniatures to add variety.
The next faction will be the inhabitants, the Mabinogi and their subs. Here I'm looking for a mysterious race who is involved in something called 'substance'. As a race it is highly intelligent and as a result adapts quickly to challenges and changing circumstances. Starting out as a primitive race wielding only hand to hand weapons and executing mass assault tactics it soon becomes a force to be reckoned with with capabilities exceeding those of humans. I don't want to disclose to much yet but the idea here is to tell their story through a series of scenarios.
The last faction will be, the Chy~yr, which is an insectoid race who uses robotics quit extensively, or is it a mechanoid race that has enslaved insects? Not sure yet and not sure we will ever find out either. This race will have little respect for life and will be using scorched-earth and no-quater tactics to rid themselves of enemies in order to obtain what the are after.
Crisis 2011 -
Last weekend I also managed to sneak into Crisis for 2 hours of looking around and seeing some stuff in real life. Last year there wasn't much going on, on Sci-fi 6mm or 15mm but this year was different. Probably also because I now had some notion of what I was looking. Anyway I hope there will be such a massive attendance again and perhaps some slot available for a demo game.
Present were -
CMG - http://www.criticalmassgames.com/default.asp?category=homepage - Had I known they had a demo going I would have rearranged my schedule and spend the whole day in Antwerp.
Brigade Models - http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/index.html - Who had their new 15mm buildings on display. I actually forgot to buy some, maybe next year
Ironclad Miniatures - http://www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/shop/page/1?shop_param=# - This was a surprise for me and I was glad my eye got stuck to their 15mm range (not in the store yet).
The Scene - http://thesceneuk.com/ - Glad to see them in real life and the work they are engaged in which is currently not in their online store (it seems). I also had to order some minor items.
Darkrealm Miniatures - http://www.darkrealmminiatures.com/ - I finally got to see their 6mm range and get an idea of how they compare to 15mm. Must admit that some of their ships would fit as well as some of the larger robots and insects.
More info on the Crisis event van be found here - http://www.tsoa.be/crisis_general.html - perhaps see you next year.
