Thursday, April 17, 2014

MERCS with Deadzone Terrain - Part 3

After taking all the photos with the individual pieces, I thought I'd take some action shots of a table I set up for MERCS - enjoy!












Sync out.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

MERCS with Deadzone Terrain - Part 2

In my last post, I covered the scatter terrain and walls I made out of my Deadzone Kickstarter Terrain. In this post I'll go over the buildings and structures I made:

All the pieces I made out of my Deadzone Kickstarter pledge

4 high walls

4 high walls - 'outside' low angle shot

4 high walls - 'inside' low angle shot

4 platforms, 2 with rails and 2 without

4 platforms - lower angle shot

4 platforms - rail shot

4 half-buildings, 2 with low walls on the top, 2 without

Buildings - low angle shot

Buildings - from the other corner

Buildings - from the back

2 half-buildings combined into a full building
(that's why I made them half-buildings!)

4 bridges - unfortunately having rails on the bridges prevents 30mm bases
from standing on them!

Bridges combined with the buildings and platforms

I've taken some full table action photos as well, which I'll post up next - stay tuned!
Sync out.

MERCS with Deadzone Terrain - Part 1

Being a fan of both Mantic Games and sci-fi skirmish games, last year I backed the successful Deadzone Kickstarter.
I pledged at the Strike Team level, which got me a whole heap of miniatures and everything I needed to play Deadzone. And on top of that, it gave a whole heap of terrain that I could use for other sci-fi tabletop games, like MERCS!

I've spent the last week planning and assembling my Deadzone Terrain, and here are the completed pieces!
This post will just have the scatter terrain and walls, and I'll cover the buildings in my next post.


All the terrain pieces I made from my Deadzone Kickstarter pledge.
There was so much terrain in the pledge - I still have leftover bits and pieces!
Oh, note the 2'x2' Deadzone Deluxe Gaming Mat, which is a phenomenal
product! The design is highly detailed and very sci-fi, the material is
soft to protect your models from accidental falls, and texture is smooth
and 'grippy' so your models don't slide around.

All the scatter terrain from the Accessories Sprues
[edit] Dulydude reminded me that I actually added some extra Accessories
Sprues to my pledge, so I'm not sure how much came in the standard
Deadzone Kickstarter Striker Pledge

Scatter terrain

4 short half-cover walls

4 long half-cover walls with street lights

4 long half-cover walls with street lights - lower angle shot

4 short full-cover walls

4 short full-cover walls - lower angle shot

4 short full-cover walls

4 short full-cover walls - lower angle shot

I'll cover the buildings I made in my next post - stay tuned!
Sync out.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

MERCS Battle Report - Basic Games

My buddy came over on the weekend, and we kicked off our Getting Back to MERCS Battles! We played two games over the weekend, and here are some short battle reports!

We played two games, with me playing KemVar (Assault Leader, Assassin & Demolition), and my buddy playing CCC (Assault Leader, Incinerator & Demolition). The terrain was set up quite simply, with a symmetrical layout to ensure a more balanced game - just for these basic battles.


Game 1

Fairly standard deployment

Both squads moved up the board, spreading their forces across the table
 to ensure that the opfor couldn't break through for the touchdown.
 The KemVar Assassin's speed caught the the CCC by surprise, rushing
down the right flank, and making short work of the CCC Demo.

The KemVar Leader then engaged the CCC Incinerator, in an attempt to
ensure the KemVar Assassin had a clear run to the endzone.

The  CCC Leader, seeing that the KemVar Assassin had broken the right
flank and had a clear run to the endzone, turned back to try and stop
the KemVar Assassin's rush - but the KemVar Assassin's Active Camo
saved him from the burst of gunfire.
The KemVar Assassin  gave the CCC Leader a Worm Grenade in the rear
 for his troubles.

The KemVar Assassin made the final rush to the endzone, cinching the
victory for the KemVar!


Game 2

The deployment started out similarly to our first game, however the CCC
moved more slowly up the board taking more defensive positions.
Again, the KemVar Assassin's speed brought him into melee with the CCC
Incinerator and dealing 2 blood with his Charge ability.

The CCC Incinerator and the CCC Demo made quick work of the KemVar
Assassin before the KemVar Assassin could deal more melee damage.
The KemVar Assault Leader made a rush for the endzone, but the CCC
Incinerator was able to stop him in his tracks.

This just left the KemVar Demo to deal with - the CCC Demo and CCC
Incinerator made haste to corner him.

The KemVar Demo made a final stand, but couldn't hold off the assault
from the full CCC force - CCC take the victory!

Sync out.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Sci-Fi Dice Tower - The Second


I finished up a second 'Sci-Fi' Portable Dice Tower for my terrain collection - I was just so happy with the first one I had to get a second! Now there is one for each player!
I've added a model into this photo for scale to demonstrate the half-cover elements of the pieces.

Sync out.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi Crates - Complete

After initially constructing the crates, I found the size awkward for 28mm wargaming, as the crates stand at 32mm tall - which is tall enough to prevent a model from seeing over the crate, but not tall enough to completely obscure the model.

Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi Crate next to a MERCS model for scale

I solved this by sticking the crates on MDF 'Pallets', which brought the height up nicely, and added some necessary weight to the pieces. So with the eight crates I had, from the two sets of Plastcraft Games Sci-Fi crates, I was able to make four pieces of LOS blockling terrain.


Sync out.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Getting Back into MERCS – Basic Battles

With our newborn taking all my time and attention, organising time to game has been really difficult - but my buddy is coming around this weekend for some dice and carnage!
It's been a while since either of us have played, so the plan is to take baby steps - hence our upcoming battles will have the following basic format:
  • 3 Megacons, 1 Round Robin Tournament
  • 3v3
  • No ACMs
  • Touchdown Scenario



3 Megacons, 1 Round Robin Tournament
Because we aren't playing with ACMs just yet, I’ll be leaving the USCR and sefadu out of these basic battles - not having Suppression greatly devalues both the USCR's Intimidate and the sefadu's Fearless Corporate Abilities.
Some of the Megacons have abilities outside of my definition of 'baby steps', so I'll be leaving these guys out of these basic battles - the Keizai Waza and their tactical nuke, the Texico and their traps and the ISS with their deployable turret
That leaves me 3 Megacons to play with, which is a perfect number for a little tournament - 3 Megacons means a 3 battle round robin tournament!
  • CCC
  • KemVar
  • FCC

3v3 - Team Composition
As I’ll be doing 3v3, each team will consist of the Leader, plus two other models chosen from the faction. Oh, and no Black Ops for the FCC - that's would bring the game to whole other level!

No ACMs
I won’t be using Bounding, Suppression or Overwatch – just until I get into the MERCS flow again.

Touchdown Scenario
The first team to have a unit in the enemy deployment zone wins. A simple enough scenario, that encourages a good amount of bloodshed - though not particularly thematic, but should still be fun.

That's the plan for the weekend, battle reports to follow!
Sync out.

Friday, March 21, 2014

CNC Miniatures Scenery Sci-Fi Shipping Containers - Review


A staple of most tabletops - shipping containers! Versatile in a number of scenarios and great for blocking LOS, I thought it was time to add some to my terrain collection.
The CNC Miniatures Shipping Containers look absolutely fantastic - so fantastic in fact, that I didn't know whether to get them or not, just because I knew I wouldn't be able to match the awesome weathered paint job. Well, I picked up the Value Pack with four containers anyways...

Each container comes on a single sprue

Each piece punched out of the sprue and base coated using Fiddly Bits
spray paints

And after adding a little colour to the pieces, assembly was simple enough

CCC Assault Leader corners the KemVar Assassin - or will it be the Leader
falling under the Assassin's blade?

Overall, very happy with the kit. As you can see, the pieces come so that you can spray paint the metal frame pieces separately to the container pieces. Assembly was very simple and straight forward, and although I didn't get mine looking as good as the house job from CNC miniatures, I'm still very happy with my purchase and the new additions to my terrain collection.

Sync out.