Category Archives: Last Days

Unnamed blog post

Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, new arrivals, painting, RPG

And we’re back. This post is going to be all over the place (when aren’t they?) But we are starting off with a look at the progress I’m making with the Alien miniatures to use with Last Days (and the RPG).

I have 13 aliens assembled which includes the Queen. Which means I have 12 more left to do. However I decided to paint the assembled ones before putting the remaining ones together.

That meant I needed to decide how I was going to paint them. So it was off to the internet to look for some painting tutorials. Luckily with the older now out of print AvP game and the new Alien game there are one or two posts and videos about painting the aliens. And you guessed it they all had different colour schemes! Which means choose the finished look you like the most and follow that. And that’s what I did.

Here is the tutorial I decided to follow.

So far I have primed the figures with a black primer. Then dry brushed the models with Runefang Steel (which I just realised is the wrong paint! It should have been Leadbelcher! But I actually like the way it’s turned out.) Finally after the dry brushing I applied a wash of Nuln Oil. Now I just have to wait for that all to dry now before proceeding with more dry brushing. But that’s tomorrow’s job.

Painting progress of the Alien miniatures

You’ll also see above that I have some more supplies in to start painting the Big Bang Theory figures with. The important one was the orange brown for Raj. The others were just getting more in off paints I already had.

Not board game related but I do talk video games from time to time on here. And let’s face it I have been playing them since the dawn of the entertainment media that it is.

A couple of years back the Royal Mail issued commemorative stamps celebrating the rich history and achievements of the British video game industry.

Back then I didn’t have the resources to get a set of the stamps. But I did now. So when I saw that I could still buy them whilst pre-ordering the upcoming commemorative stamps celebrating British sci-fi. Well I snapped them up.

Royal Mail commemorative stamps celebrating the British video game industry.

I’m not a stamp collector. But these like the Asterix stamps that I have are just pretty cool to own.

The stamps bring back some find memories of simpler, more care free times. There was a sense of pioneering, pushing boundaries with the games back then.

The only drawback I see with these stamps is that Llamasoft and Jeff Minter are not represented. I love Llamasoft games. They have a unique feel, almost purity to them. Minter has been a gaming hero of mine since the early 80’s. He’s a coding god in my eyes.

Alice is Missing arrives

Finally I’ve been able to get a physical copy of the silent RPG Alice is Missing (I have a digital copy).

I just now need to organise a game or two using the discord server I have access to. Oh and learn how to assign roles, etc in discord. But that’s an apathy thing to overcome.

BBT Squad Prep and Aliens

Alien, Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

It’s been a couple of days since I last graced this blog with my shallow thoughts and poorly formed opinions. But isn’t that just the way things are during this global event?

Although gaming has not been taking place in meat space, we did have another virtual game night last Wednesday. And our four player game of Wingspan has reached just over the mid point of round three! But that is all hardly worth writing about (unless I get really desperate for something to say, and that includes a massive misplay by Jonathan in our game of Love Letter).

I did dig out the Zombicide figures for the Big Bang Theory characters and primed them ready for painting.

The Raj figure presented me with a problem painting that I hadn’t come across before. That problem being skin tone. Luckily Duncan was able to point me to some great resources online, such as this CMoN post and this one. I now have a Vallejo Orange Brown on its way.

Looking back at the post where I spec’d them out as a Last Days squad to use I felt a bit embarrassed by what I did. So I will be revisiting this squad and “fixing” it.

I did spend some time this morning cutting and gluing some of the Alien miniatures that Gale Force Nine sell and that have ended up in my possession. The plan is to try and do some of these each day. Or every other day. Or the mood takes me! Look apathy is a real thing ok?

At the moment I have 20 more warrior aliens left to put together. Plus the Heroes of Hadley’s Hope which is 13 figures. And at some point hopefully in the near future the assets and hazards model pack will also drop through the letter box, and that also gets added to the model building queue.

Now you can see why I came up with the above plan to tackle the number of models that need building.

After all that building I then have to paint them! Although I think I might be able to get away with not painting the aliens!! Plus finish off the outstanding bits I need to do rules wise.

All this to add Aliens to Last Days and to use if I get to run the RPG. But I think it’s going to be worth it. Last Days has the potential to be the best Alien based game going!

Triffid Apocalypse Imminent

Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting

I’ve been quite the last couple of days. The creative bug came over me and I painted the triffid minis!

After doing a test mini, I streamlined the process by having a gradient from just three colours. Which speeded up the painting production line.

So that’s the triffids are “table ready” for using in Last Days.

Now all I need to do is work out is what the collective name for a group of triffids is!

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! Another Update!!

Last Days, miniatures, Skirmish

After the first update to the stats I got some further feedback. Which raised some good points. So I’ve included once more the feedback from Facebook below, but not the feedback/comments from the first update (you can view them easily enough if you click on the link).

Please also remember that my inspiration source is the 1981 BBC tv series adaptation of the book. Although where there are gaps that need filling I use the resources linked to in the original post. The aim has also been to try and keep things rule light as possible while getting the triffid theme over.

I need to think about the spawning rules, and if they need changing from the core rules, and see how things feel. I do like the points raised. So once I can play test these with my friend there may well be a future update covering this.

The fire weapon doing double damage, see what you mean when I reread the Head Shot trait. Hopefully fixed that.

I have added stats for a triffid gun now. The disclaimer below really does apply to this.

On the first aid front, yep not thought that out enough. I think for this to work medical supplies needs to be something that can be equipped from the start, and used in game with the interact action. If used this way it’s gone and can not be used again. One and gone so to speak. I’m thinking a cost of 2 scavenger points to add medical supplies to a character.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress (this is the third interation). They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

To Do (still):

▪ Play test this!

▪ Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

The source I used to help with the Triffid Gun stats is this link.

1 Triffid Down…

Last Days, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

I know I should be finishing the stat update for the triffids. But hear me out. I started painting the triffids instead.

Basically what follows are notes for me so I don’t forget what I did. All paints used are Army Painter.

Despite painting the base coat of all the triffids, I decided to do just one to completion to iron out any kinks in the process.

The base coat for the stem of the triffid is deep yellow and white mixed together (equal parts). I think this when dry works very well, and gives me the colour I wanted on the stem in the middle.

I then used Pure Red, Lava Orange and Phoenix Flames for the layering/gradient. I didn’t go straight from one to the other when painting. I would mix equal parts of the previous colour with the new colour first and do a layer of that, before moving onto the new colour. I’m not too happy with how the “flower” front came out. It’s too solid one the red, and needs a bit more orange coming through.

The base of the triffid is Wet Mud, with the bit around the prongs Wet Mud mixed with equal parts white. And the prongs are ash grey.

A diluted Green Tone wash is applied. I like the green tinge the stem takes on. And I think it has really worked wonders on the lower half.

Once dry I super glued the triffid to a base. The I flocked the base. For once a little glue sticking flock to the triffid bottom works in my favour and makes the whole thing look better!

1 triffid down, 20 more to do!

FN-2187

Last Days, lego minifigs, miniatures, miniatures painting, painting

At the weekend for some reason I got it in my head I wanted a Finn Lego minifig with the now infamous First Order helmet with the bloodied hand print on it.

Naturally that isn’t something Disney or Lego are likely to sell.

So I did a quick Google to see if anyone was selling a custom figure. Instead I found a post/video showing how to do it myself using a toothpick and red paint.

I just needed Finn as a First Order trooper. Ok technically any First Order trooper would have done. But not for me. So eBay helped out by allowing me to purchase Finn in his First Order uniform. Which arrived this morning.

I then dug out a First Order trooper and removed its helmet. Then using a toothpick, and the Army Painter Zombicide Glistening Blood paint that I had, I painted on the infamous bloodied hand print on the helmet.

Which I think has come out looking quite good.

Yesterday I did finish off removing the supports from the final 6 triffids that Duncan printed for me.

I’ve now primed all 21 triffids ready to be painted.

After doing some research in how to paint the triffids. Which was mainly looking at triffid pictures from the 1981 BBC tv adaptation. I have a colour scheme that I will be using (just waiting for the Army Painter Wet Mud paint to arrive). At the moment I’m looking at tutorials on layering/blending because that’s the main technique I will need to painting the triffids.

Lastly the Alien miniatures arrived from Thirsty Meeple this morning. I just need the alien egg/face hugger pack to arrive.

Last Days: Xenomorphs Part 1

Alien, Last Days, Skirmish

The Alien movies, especially Alien and Aliens hold a special place in my fandom heart. I loved the late 80’s, early 90’s Dark Horse comics. Even some of the books are pretty good.

So with the introduction of the Evolutions and Timelines rules in the Blaster magazine (available on DriveThruRPG) it was only a matter of time really before I tried to add xenomorphs using these additional rules.

But aren’t there miniature based games already for this franchise? And yes indeed there are, like the official Galeforce 9 Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps and it’s expansions (link at the end of the post). However I think Last Days has a much more flexible rule set that will allow for a great cinematic xenomorph experience.

Getting miniatures for us to use is pretty easy. And doesn’t require us to buy a game that we are only interested in it’s miniatures for. Galeforce 9 actually sell the miniatures for their game separately! It is these miniatures that will determine the various evolutions that I will spec out for use with Last Days.

How many miniatures will you need? 24 alien warrior miniatures (3x the number of tokens we’ll be using), 1 alien queen, 5 eggs (closed) and 5 open eggs, finally ideally we should have 5 face huggers. I appreciate that this will require buying multiple copies of figure packs. But at the moment these are the cheapest way to get the figures.

As you have probably guessed from the posts title this isn’t everything needed to play Last Days using Xenomorphs. There is a lot of work going into this (more than triffids). Which means it will take me much much longer to get these initial thoughts down. Despite not having finished the updated triffid stats I had to get this post written. The spawning stuff just hit me one morning and I needed it written down so I didn’t forget it.

But first my disclaimer.

Please note: These stats/rules have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress. They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

Setup:

During the game setup after the supply token deployment we are adding an eggs deployment stage.

The player that chose the deployment zone first will go first in deploying the eggs.

A Last Days Xenomorphs game will have at least five eggs deployed on the table.

The rules for deploying the eggs will be the same as those for deploying supply tokens with one exception. Eggs can be deployed next/near to other eggs.

“The first will always be deployed on ground level as close to the center of the board as possible. The other four will be deployed, two per player, anywhere on the table but not within 6” of a table edge, deployment zone,…”

Spawning:

For this I’m going to be using the alien tokens that you can get for the Alien role playing game (photo below). On one side you have a motion tracker symbol, and on the reverse side an image of an alien.

First we need to build a pool of tokens. To do this we will need one token with an alien queen on, and eight tokens with a regular alien on (token k in the image below). Turn them motion tracker symbol face up, and shuffle/mix up.

When an alien spawns instead of placing a miniature, a token gets placed instead, motion tracker symbol facing up. Until a character miniature has line of sight (LOS) on that token it remains a token and gets moved according to the rules.

Once a character has LOS the token gets flipped revealing the alien type to be added to the board. But this is aliens, life isn’t that simple or easy. You now roll 1d6, and half the value, rounding down. So you should get a value between 0-3. This is the number of xenomorphs that will be spawning at that tokens position. Unless it is an alien queen being spawned. There will only ever be one of them. By having a chance of zero aliens spawning we’re simulating a false motion tracker reading.

If a character is within 5ft (1 inch) of an egg it will open and spawn a face hugger. That egg can no longer spawn a face hugger. Replace the closed egg with an open egg, and place a face hugger between the egg and character.

That’s my thoughts so far. As the following to do list shows still a lot to do. I’ll try and get the triffids finished first though.

To do:

  • Add a table for spawning for those without Alien RPG tokens.
  • Stats for the Xenomorphs
  • Timelines rules
  • Play test

References:

Triffids and co arrive

Last Days, miniatures

This will be a brief post for a change.

A parcel arrived this morning from my friend Duncan. As you can see below, it contained the 3D printing he’d kindly been doing for me. And no before ask Duncan did not send me instant coffee as well. That also contained 3D models he’d printed.

I have a lot of printing supports to remove now from the various models. As you can see below I have only got round to doing that to two of the triffids.

But once painted they will look soooo cool on the table.

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! Updated

Last Days, miniatures, Skirmish

I did something brave and possibly foolhardy after publishing my post Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse! I shared it on the Last Days Facebook page.

I was nervous about sharing my work. How would it be received? Luckily people seemed to like it and I got some useful, constructive feedback as well. Which I have included below. I was rather star struck that Ash Barker liked the Facebook post. Did he read the blog post? No idea.

I’m pretty sure I read that triffids can’t go indoors, and their size would hint at that. But can I find where I read that? Not a bloody chance.

Below are the updated stats for a triffid.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress. They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

I’ve added a Sway and Hit the Head special rules for the stinger. And tweaked the notes on the behaviour and traits.

I don’t think that there needs to be a hidden rule as described above. I think this would be counted as cover. But I need to think more about this.

UPDATED: to avoid confusion over units used for range of stinger.

I think these take on board the advice given, and make the triffids feel on theme! Any character that becomes out of action from a triffid attack and part of a campaign still needs additions made to decide if they die, blinded or seriously ill for a period of time. But that’s for another day.

To do:

▪ Play test this!

▪ Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

Hope people like this update.

Last Days: A Triffid Apocalypse!

Last Days, miniatures

The other day I wrote about how I was excited to be getting some 28mm triffid miniatures printed, and that I’d be using the Last Days: Evolution rules from issue 2 of Blaster with them in a Last Days game.

However to do this I need to come up with the stats for the triffids (I need to fill in the template below). Considering the miniature design is that of the 1980’s BBC adaptation of Day of the Triffids. I want the stats to reflect that as much as possible. Although I will use aspects of the other portrayals of triffids that make sense or fill in any gaps.

So off to the internet to research triffids!

Well first I clicked on the link Duncan had shared with me (The Prop Gallery – link at bottom of post). The link goes to a page about the BBC 1981 triffid prop. Apart from the cool photos that will come in handy when it comes time to paint the triffid miniatures, the relevant bit of info for me was the height of the triffids made, “Standing over nine feet in height“. The Wikipedia page adds to this with information from the novel, “Adult triffids are typically 7 feet (2.1 m) in height. European triffids never exceed 8 feet (2.4 m), but in tropical climates they can reach 10 feet (3.0 m).” and from a sequel story, “a small number of North American triffids reach 60 feet (18 m) in height.”

I was going to have the triffids move slower than a zombie until I came across the following snippet, “Nevertheless, ungainly though it looked, it was contriving to cover the ground at something like an average walking pace.” (Wikipedia)

I got an idea for how tough a triffid are from this “blasting with a shotgun or decapitating with a triffid gun (which fires steel boomerangs called ‘bolts’). Bullets are less effective since a triffid can absorb much damage before dying.” (RGtDotT)

So I think if the attacker uses a shotgun or machete then they can “decapitate” the triffid and kill it.

Let’s look at the triffids weapon, which is its stinger. “a stinger which, when fully extended, can measure 10 feet (3.0 m) in length. When attacking, a triffid will lash the sting at its target, primarily aiming for its prey’s face or head, with considerable speed and force. Contact with bare skin can kill a person instantly.” (Wikipedia)

“Have you noticed that when they attack they always go for the unprotected parts? Almost always the head—but sometimes the hands. And another thing: if you look at the statistics of casualties, just take notice of the proportion that has been stung across the eyes and blinded.” (Wikipedia)

Over on the Readers Guide there was this interesting little snippet that I want to try and use if possible. “… but the range can be increased by 1.2–1.5 meters/4–5 feet if it sways forward beforehand.” (RGtDotT)

So how does this translate into stats and all those key words for behaviour and traits?

For the Action Points (AP) I am giving the triffids the same as a basic zombie. This should give it the movement of a walking person. Triffids can’t run. Naturally for Close Quarter Combat (CQC) this just isn’t applicable. Triffids are a ranged attack only. Although technically not a fire arm, the stinger is a ranged weapon. The Fire Arms (FA) stat needs to give the triffid a reasonable chance of hitting it’s target. So I am going to take that from the stat block of a survivor. As defined in the core rule book (page 12) I don’t see the Strength (S) stat being relevant to a triffid. For the time being I’m not sure that Endurance (E) is applicable either. But that may need revisiting. For Damage Capacity (C) I’m making the triffids tougher than humans, but this is mainly for use when being attacked by a weapon that is not a shotgun or machete. I think a triffids might be deadlier than a zombie, but not as scary. So I’m initially giving them a slightly lower “Horror” value. But once gain this may need revisiting. Although a triffid displays signs of intelligence, I am giving them a zero value for this just like a zombie.

I can see “stalking” or “shambling” being suitable here for the Behaviour. But my gut tells me to go “shambling”, but noting that a triffid can’t use the climb action.

What traits to give the triffid? I think “massive” for sure. Triffids can’t enter buildings, and they are a lot bigger than humans. They are easier to hit. For “frequency” I’m going to mimic that of the regular zombie spawning. The other one I am adding is “You’ve Got To Shoot Them In The Head!” if a shotgun or machete is being used.

Next I have to spec out the stinger. I think if a target is under a foot away from the triffid then it can’t hit the target. I’m not sure how to implement the sway yet to extend the range. I think it will be a brand new special rule. Damage is interesting, and initially I’m making it the equivalent of a gun. Rate of Fire (RoF) is easy the triffid can only use it’s stinger once per round to attack. Knock back isn’t applicable, nor is reload.

For the special rules, the stinger is definitely silent. However I think that there will need to be a new special rule to handle the sway to increase the range of the stinger by up to 5 feet. I also think there need to be special rules to cater for the triffid targeting the head and also whether it hit bare skin. This later point is more important for a campaign and deciding if the character becomes blind. The head shot will be a kill shot. But need to think about this. I think maybe 1d6, with a 6 being the headshot.

Please note: These stats have not been play tested. I repeat have not been play tested. They are my initial thoughts, and a work in progress. They are likely to change once I get a chance to play test them.

I hope you find these stats useful. Let me know what you think. Did you use them? How did you get on with them? What did you tweak? I really would appreciate any feedback you have.

Taking this further and adding evolutions is a possibility. The sequel mentions “Aquatic triffids” (Wikipedia), along with using the different sized varieties of land based triffids, particularly the 60 foot American variety one. Maybe use the different appearances of the triffid from the other adaptations and the original book. But I’ll leave that for others to investigate, and spec out, for now.

To do:

  • Play test this!
  • Special rules for sway, head shot and bare skin.
  • Come up with campaign additions to cover a character becoming blind if they survived an attack and got hit on bare skin.

References used: