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.
Preparing for 1st game
While waiting for v1.1 of the Gruntz rules I found some time to work on models and further ideas for a 1st game.
Introducing the inhabitants of Planet QDX, the Mabinogi race and there Trwyth units. Starting out as a primitive and peaceful race but, as humans discover soon, do adapt very easily to displays of aggression. Well sort off. The 1st game will mostly be focussed on getting used to the mechanics of Gruntz, a long overdue task of mine. So the idea is to start simple and land a drone on the surface, do some discovery and have an expeditionary force on the way after that.
For the first game I will be using Lhurgg from Khurasan, known as Trwyth on this planet. I find them having a rather angry and primitive look and feel and, they are slightly bigger then 15 mm, are a perfect match for the perkz I intend to give them to balance for their primitive fighting style. Here is a shot of some WIP on them -
And a unit stats I'm considering to use -
I'll be using a GZG model for the drones that will do the initial exploring on the planet surface. In addition some terrain featuers I'm working on below. Not sure I master working with green stuff yet and I have some difficulty drybrushing flat surfaces but both were a good practice. Here is a shot -
Introducing the inhabitants of Planet QDX, the Mabinogi race and there Trwyth units. Starting out as a primitive and peaceful race but, as humans discover soon, do adapt very easily to displays of aggression. Well sort off. The 1st game will mostly be focussed on getting used to the mechanics of Gruntz, a long overdue task of mine. So the idea is to start simple and land a drone on the surface, do some discovery and have an expeditionary force on the way after that.
For the first game I will be using Lhurgg from Khurasan, known as Trwyth on this planet. I find them having a rather angry and primitive look and feel and, they are slightly bigger then 15 mm, are a perfect match for the perkz I intend to give them to balance for their primitive fighting style. Here is a shot of some WIP on them -
 |
| Trwyth early infantry card subject to change. |
Pre-face
Blog entry - Stardate 13 March 3050
Cold. The solitude of deep space were friends becomes such a hollow word. . But then again ... what else can you expect? Mom warned me for that, could she be right?
This mission was noble and one for peace. It boosted our morale when we mustered this ship but since then we have drifted from our course. Or ... should I say it collided with us, left broken in the confines of our minds.
We've gone through so much and we thought we learned but commercial interests is the driver and prevails over peace once again. Mom, did we learn from what they educated us?
Once we were forced to cooperate and find in peace our way to prosperity. It reminds me of Planet QDX, perhaps I should remind them as well.
We devistated the planet, brought it close to the end when we discovered the Cairn and the Horgr. The portals to the world of the Mabinogi and their subs ... is what that has opened our eyes. Mesmerizing memories of a golden age.
I have access to the history and the tale of Planet QDX. I can ... I have to remind them once more but there is much work to be done and little time left before the board meeting tomorrow. I'll have to tell them, they have to know.
Signing out - Bob Slade, pre-senior culturalist, functionality Commonwealth Navy, Steiner cluster.
Cold. The solitude of deep space were friends becomes such a hollow word. . But then again ... what else can you expect? Mom warned me for that, could she be right?
This mission was noble and one for peace. It boosted our morale when we mustered this ship but since then we have drifted from our course. Or ... should I say it collided with us, left broken in the confines of our minds.
We've gone through so much and we thought we learned but commercial interests is the driver and prevails over peace once again. Mom, did we learn from what they educated us?
Once we were forced to cooperate and find in peace our way to prosperity. It reminds me of Planet QDX, perhaps I should remind them as well.
We devistated the planet, brought it close to the end when we discovered the Cairn and the Horgr. The portals to the world of the Mabinogi and their subs ... is what that has opened our eyes. Mesmerizing memories of a golden age.
I have access to the history and the tale of Planet QDX. I can ... I have to remind them once more but there is much work to be done and little time left before the board meeting tomorrow. I'll have to tell them, they have to know.
Signing out - Bob Slade, pre-senior culturalist, functionality Commonwealth Navy, Steiner cluster.
Starting the blog
Well, decided to pursue this blog in order to get my ideas for a game world on paper and organised.
The initial idea started to grow when I was looking for a new war game, after having played WWII themed boardgames for more then 25 years and in need of something else, easy to learn and simple to play in order for it to fit my schedule and interest from friends. Miniatures seemed the way to go. But before heading there I also was part of an RPG on-line world and, by taking part in adventures and writing little stories about them, discovered that I actually enjoyed this part of the on-line world.
With regards to miniatures I remembered seeing a group of friends regularly playing Classic Battletech at a convention so decided to get my old rules and boards out and see if I could join those guys somehow. I had no access to CBT miniatures so, in order to get a collection going, ordered some online. Soon I realized that those things need some work and particularly it was painting them which drew my biggest interest so spend quit some time searching the web for info.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, one of the CBT forums directed me to Gruntz, linked to the Blog and Yahoo group and slowly ordered small troops of 15mm miniatures. I like the idea of Gruntz as an open system that allows for developing your own unique environment and I notieced a lot of blogging going on in 15mm so the idea of a blog and Planet QDX was born.
My live is kind of full at this point in time. Responsibilities at work and at home and interests in other games keep me away from developing my ideas very quickly. This blog therefore comes in handy to keep track on developments, linking lite stories and AAR's together to tell a bigger story but also some WIP, DYO rules and other randomness from time to time. A schedule of monthly updates is already a very steep target for me but I'll give it a try. You probably noticed that I'm not born English so I'm sorry if the grammar isn't always correct.
Despite the slow updates I hope this blog will also be interesting for you.
P.S. for those interested this is the link to Gruntz - http://www.gruntz.biz/ - Have fun!
The initial idea started to grow when I was looking for a new war game, after having played WWII themed boardgames for more then 25 years and in need of something else, easy to learn and simple to play in order for it to fit my schedule and interest from friends. Miniatures seemed the way to go. But before heading there I also was part of an RPG on-line world and, by taking part in adventures and writing little stories about them, discovered that I actually enjoyed this part of the on-line world.
With regards to miniatures I remembered seeing a group of friends regularly playing Classic Battletech at a convention so decided to get my old rules and boards out and see if I could join those guys somehow. I had no access to CBT miniatures so, in order to get a collection going, ordered some online. Soon I realized that those things need some work and particularly it was painting them which drew my biggest interest so spend quit some time searching the web for info.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, one of the CBT forums directed me to Gruntz, linked to the Blog and Yahoo group and slowly ordered small troops of 15mm miniatures. I like the idea of Gruntz as an open system that allows for developing your own unique environment and I notieced a lot of blogging going on in 15mm so the idea of a blog and Planet QDX was born.
My live is kind of full at this point in time. Responsibilities at work and at home and interests in other games keep me away from developing my ideas very quickly. This blog therefore comes in handy to keep track on developments, linking lite stories and AAR's together to tell a bigger story but also some WIP, DYO rules and other randomness from time to time. A schedule of monthly updates is already a very steep target for me but I'll give it a try. You probably noticed that I'm not born English so I'm sorry if the grammar isn't always correct.
Despite the slow updates I hope this blog will also be interesting for you.
P.S. for those interested this is the link to Gruntz - http://www.gruntz.biz/ - Have fun!
Abonneren op:
Posts (Atom)