As discussed in my recent Bug Hunting Actual Play report, I’ve spent the recent past few weeks working to expand my “bugs” collection. I worked with the aim to have at least the distinct types covered first before switching to variants (for example insects prioritised over alien xenomorphs as I have not-genestealers already).
I needed a fast way to get these on the table as soon as possible, without compromising quality or variety.
Spent some time looking on available options and the most suitable models to print for each type. Then planned on the print, paint and sealing.
For printing I preferred types of enemies with at least a few variants, fitting on a standard sized base (didn’t want big or long bugs). Support free as always. I printed sets of 16 at a time, and to increase variants I Mirrored half of them in the X axis. The nice thing about “bugs” is that there’s no left or right side, you just want many, and this extra variety gives the mob look that is needed.
For painting, I decided to spray prime, then use a cheap (20 bucks) portable airbrush to lay down zenithal, and a few base colours. I followed them with a wash and drybrush.
I had never used an airbrush before, and it worked better than expected. Laying down the colours was nice, smooth and fast. There was a learning curve about thinning thick body acrylics in the right consistency, cleaning and avoiding clogs, but overall for batch painting that’s a tool I recommend, and will be using it more in the future.
Finally I did a lot of research on making a dip sealant, and combining it with a wash to tie the miniature together. I went down the rabbit hole of using floor polish, and it wasn’t easy to get out. But I succeeded in the end. I found a floor polish (perhaps the last in Greece) which has an acrylic polymer as an ingredient. I used this as my base. Added some PVA glue in order to avoid it running off a lot (for extra viscosity) and brown and black paint (no exact ratio here, just enough to give a nice tint, without covering the mini). I then did a quick dip, and it worked well! Sturdy enough for PLA also (dunno if it’s strong enough for pewter).
The first batch of bugs I painted was Deinonychus from Brite Minis – I only did the round based ones. They’re meant to be razor lizards and whatever else is suitable to be proxies.
It’s been some time since my last hobby related post. The main reason is I had a plan, and I was working on my plan in a parallel versus a serial manner, yet the completion stage relied on the parallel streams to be finished before release. If this sounds too vague, let me explain. If you don’t want to read about game preparation planning, you can jump down directly to session zero.
For some time now I wanted to continue playing Five Parsecs from Home. However there were some difficulties.
First of all I didn’t remember what happened in my Rogue Fists campaign. I tried diving into my notes and the actual play reports but they all were contradictory and inconclusive.
Secondly I didn’t have the same variety in space miniatures, but I resolved to fixing this by 3d printing several minis, and also purchasing some ground zero games extras. I’ve been working on this the past year or so and slowly increasing my sci fi ranges. I’ve posted about these previously.
Thirdly my sci fi terrain was scarce, really scarce, nothing compared to my fantasy range. So I focused on the past couple of months to print and paint sci fi terrain. I haven’t made separate posts about this, since it’s a parallel step I explain above that I only recently finished.
Finally before starting my new campaign, I read through the Five Parsecs from Home Compendium, and saw the new version of Five Parsecs from Home Bug Hunt which was included in it, and how you could muster out a character to a regular Five Parsecs from Home Campaign. And then I decided I wanted to do this. But this brought along a new issue: I did not have enough variety in bugs, with the exception of some Vanguard miniatures entomorphs which I have used extensively, I have nothing else. So I set down to print and paint sets of 16 miniatures of various bugs. I finished enough to have a good variety and be able to run a game. Haven’t posted these either, as again it was another parallel step.
Having reached the point where I could start my game I decided to jump right into the action rather than make separate posts about terrain and bugs, and explain my half reasoning there. Posts about these will follow, but you’ll be able to see them on my tables until then.
Session Zero
According to the compendium, I generated three characters, and used donjon to give them names. Two men and one woman of the Unity Army.
Using the Compendiun generator, my Hunter Squad belongs to the Red Coyotes regiment.
I like how this generator gives a rudimentary backstory, I’ll try to come up with a quick background for each.
Jake grew up in a prison planet, XP-484, known as Pyre. Criminals sentenced to these planets sometimes have families there during their service. Their children grow up in a tough environment and have the chance to escape their fate by serving in the militia or garisson. That was Jake, a typical run of the mill hardass. A bit unruly, but reliable to cover your six when there’s no escape.
Holbrook had a completely different upbringing. Having lived in a scientific outpost in LD-469, known as Cartwright’s Stand, he quickly joined the Naval Academy and set off for exploring the stars. An academic mind, he saw an extended campaign, gathering experience.
Alyson was a run of the mill soldier in the recon forces. She grew up in the core worlds, in TZ-452, in a city with the name of Rat’s Nest. She did she action policing the region from criminals, and even got a commendation for her exceptional service.
I chose some suitable miniatures and went on to my first mission.
Session 1
In this game, I did detailed note-taking as I have done in the past with my Five Leagues from the Borderlands games and Forgotten Ruin. However, due to the massive amount of combat, enemies and status monitoring, the game took too long. I will therefore do myself and you, a favour and not depict all those combat rolls, and just describe the combat and if any rule or mechanism of action was noteworthy, I’ll give it the necessary mention.
Since this is the first mission, I’ll skip the Special Assignments, and jump right away to Mission Generator. I went ahead and setup the battle area, using my new terrain and board.
Fight a Tabletop Battle
For the objectives I rolled up a normal Retrieve objective, and a Vital Retrieve objective. I find that the way that objectives are place is really smart. It’s a combination of randomness and player awareness, so the objective placements make sense, but still the player can’t feel like they’re cheating. Essentially you place the objectives across the map, with whatever makes sense, and then roll to see which ones are removed and which ones remain in place.
For mission difficulty I choose Mess Me Up, which is Moderate.
I rolled for the Priority Rating and it was 5. That’s a high priority mission and my squad is green. Which in turn this means a maximum Spawn Rating at 3.
For the loadout, I give Jake a Hand Cannon and Boarding Sword, Holbrook gets the standard Combat Rifle, and Allyson gets a Shotgun.
Let’s see what force we’ll field. I have 5 Support Points (equal to the Priority Rating) and start with one Fire Team as standard. I managed to get a second Fire Team, a Sarge, a Colonial Militia squad, and some Intel Report (they give a bonus to activating Tactical Locations), and failed to recquisite a Recon patrol.
I placed the Tactical Locations, and decided against using the Signals optional rule since it’s my first game. Also added one Contact Marker to each objective and one at the centre of the table.
Finally, I rolled the battlefield edge, and had to push back one of the objectives and the marker as it was too close to my troops.
USS Astral Monarch returned to sublight speeds as they jumped out in the Wolf-5266 system. UB-643 was in sight, alarms blared and the Red Coyotes gathered in the briefing room.
Lt. Thompsanch was pointing in the system on the star map. Mission Uniform Delta 710620-734335 was on screen. “We lost contact with the science outpost in UB-643, a few days ago. We had reports of hostilities prior, but there is no hint of any enemy forces. Your task is simple: recover the research data. As you know per regulation XC-122E critical classified data are stored in secure access cases with transmitters, so that makes your jobs easier than a subspace courier’s. We cannot let this research fall into the wrong hands. Your NCOs will give you your specific assignments. Roll out.
Allyson looked at Holbrook. “What do you think is in these data cases Mr. Nerdy guy?” she teased. “Definitely something important. They wouldn’t send us for a simple recovery mission.” Holbrook replied with a flat unexpressionable tone. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’re a Soulless, Linkovich.” Jake jumped in. “Come on dudes, you think we’ll be lucky enough to see some action at last?”. “Bradley, you forget. we have already seen action.” Allyson provoked him. Jake shrugged. “Huh, I’m talking about real action.” he turned and started sprinting to the armory “Hand Cannon’s mine!” he shouted as he left them behind.
Battle Round 1
The Red Coyotes appear in the East battlefield edge. From North to South: Colonial Militia, Holbrook, Allyson, Fire Team Bravo, Jake, Sarge, Fire Team Alpha.
Quick Action phase Holbrook reached a tactical location, activated it successfully and neutralized a contact marker. Jake reached another tactical location, but failed to activate it. Allyson moved next to Holbrook.
Enemy Action phase The contact markers didn’t move but doubled in intensity.
Slow Action phase Sarge moved towards the objective, Fire Team Bravo followed. Contact Marker revealed: Contact! We’re counting 13 shambling reanimations. Fire Team Bravo closes in and shoots at the shamblers, all troopers score a hit, but only one enemy casualty. Fire Team Alpha shoots from a distance, only one trooper hits, stunning the shambler. Colony Militia moves.
For the enemy type, I rolled a couple times until I got a "bug" type I had. I have printed and painted 16 miniatures of the Hungry Dead from Ill Gotten Games, but with the numbers for Shambling Reanimations I may need to add more, taking from my fantasy Zombies range.
Spawn phase A Spawn Point is revealed to opposite table edge. Countdown: 2.
The Red Coyotes reached the outpost. There was no movement in sight. Holbrook checked his data and turned to Sarge. “I see that one of the data is further inside the outpost, seems like our initial intel was incorrect.” The Sarge nodded and passed the orders to the team, and then checked his scanners. “I’m picking up interference. Could be movement, life forms or hostiles, stay alert, troopers.” “I’ll take position in this rocky passage, I think I’ll have good overview of the area from there.” Holbrook runs point, Allyson behind him, and then scans towards the interference with his binoculars. “Seems it’s just local pests running abound. We can scratch off this interference Sarge.” He radios over the comms. Allyson looks at him “You and your toys…” she mutters. Jake takes the other side towards the trees, but his investigation doesn’t reveal anything of use. Sarge moves with his troopers along, his eyes on the scanner the whole time, the signal increasing in intensity as he approaches, and then he sees them. Bloody messes of human bodies shambling around. He’s seen things in his time, but that was a bit extreme even for his resolve. He quickly snaps out of it. “Contact! Fire at will!” He shouts, and the troopers start shooting at the enemy, stunning them and eliminating one.
Battle Round 2
The objective marker at the start of the round is surrounded by zombies, so we need to clear the area from hostiles first.
Quick Action phase Sarge fires his shotgun and blasts one shambler. Allyson moves to get a clear line of fire and fires her shotgun, killing another.
Enemy Action phase The shamblers charge into Fire Team Bravo. One trooper is saved by their armor, then stunned, then killed and turned into a shambler. A shambler charges at Allyson, but she defends herself successfully, wounding it. The rest of the shamblers dash towards Fire Team Bravo. A Contact Marker doubles, while a second one moves towards Allyson, and is revealed to be Contact. 4 more shamblers appear.
Either this is a revised rule, or I had forgotten, but it seems that enemies in Bug Hunt can dash into melee combat! Which led me to the reckless decision of closing in with Fire Team Bravo and losing one of them, as I was foolishly believing they'll be too slow to reach me even in close firing range.
Slow Action phase Jake charges at a shambler with his boarding sword. He is stunned, and the shambler is wounded. Fire Team Bravo moves to allow clear line of fire for Fire Team Alpha, and then shoots at the shamblers, killing one and wounding another. Fire Team Alpha moves and shoots at the horde of shamblers, killing two of them. Colonial Militia shoots at the shamblers, while staying in cover, hitting 4 and killing 2. Holbrook shoots at the shamblers, but misses.
Spawn phase A new spawn point appears at Countdown 3, while the first one is reduced at 1.
The fighting begins. Shotguns make short work of the shamblers as Sarge and Allyson kill one each. However the strength of their enemy is in numbers, and one by one they jump onto the closest trooper of Fire Team Bravo. His armour saves him from his aggressors claws… at first, then he’s shook, and then he’s overwhelmed and bitten by the enemies. Moments later he stands back up, growling, looking at his former team mates with a desire to kill. “Sarge! these things are infectious!” a soldier cries out. “Keep your distance boys, and light them up!” Sarge shouts back. A rogue shambler dashes towards Allyson, she kicks it back, and bashes its head with the shotgun’s stock, killing it. Then she notices her scanner, the former blip increasing in intensity, and then a warning of imminent movement. In the heat of the battle she lost situational awareness. 4 shamblers were next to her, too close for her own good. “We need to cut them down!” Jake charges with his sword, however the shambler reacts more quickly than he initially anticipated, so he lost his wind. He did manage to score a wound, cutting off it’s legs in the process. The Fire Teams deliver their training, shooting in unison at the shamblers, eliminating 3 and disabling another. The Colonial Militia fire their carbines at the shamblers closing in at Allyson, and reduce their number in half. Holbrook tries to support as well, but misses his shots. “Come on Mr. Nerdy! didn’t they teach you shooting at Navy school?” Allyson mocks him.
Battle Round 3
Quick Action phase Fire Team Alpha shoots at the shamblers, killing 1 and stunning 3 Colonial Militia shoots at the shamblers next to Allyson killing 2. Allyson moves closer to the objective, and shoots at the shamblers that became aware of her, stunning it.
Enemy Action phase All shamblers are stunned, and thus don’t move, but remove their stun status. A Contact Marker moves aggressively towards Allyson. Revealed: Contact! 5 shamblers are on her. The second Marker also moves aggressively towards her, and 8 more shamblers are revealed.
I'm missing action and status tokens. I'm all keeping it written down, which makes it hard. Also on hindsight I should have recquisitioned grenades from support, would have been best.
Slow Action phase Holbrook runs to activate the tactical location. He activates it successfully, it’s a neutralize marker. Fire Team Bravo shoots at the shamblers, stunning them all, and eliminating one via stuns.
It's not stated in the rules, so I decided to hold to the neutralize marker until when a Contact Marker appears. Decided that it would have been too harsh to let it go to waste, especially given the difficulty of the mission.
Spawn phase A third spawn marker appears right behind the player battlefield edge! At countdown 1. The first spawn marker spawns a contact marker which is neutralized, and the countdown becomes 2. The second spawn marker countdown becomes 2.
Fire Team Alpha continues their burst fire. Their combat rifles, put a shambler down, and keep the rest suppressed. The Colonial Militia do their part, cleaning up the field next to Allyson from any hostiles. “See Mr. Nerdy? the Militia are better shots than you! Thanks boys!” she radios in. “Keep the radio clear for combat related information only Allyson!” Holbrook replies. Allyson tries to get closer to the data cases, but as she does, an enemy turns to her. She immediately blasts it, momentarily stopping it. The gunshots drew the attention, and it seems that the interference detected was more shamblers, they rise from the dirt, jump down from the roof, break through the windows, and suddenly, Allyson is facing more than a dozen. “Gah… guys! Need some help here!” she calls over the comms. Holbrook’s attention is drawn to a console among some crates. He hacks it quickly and finds that it’s attached to the outposts siren system. Perhaps he could use it to direct away some enemies that haven’t arrived into the fray yet. “Common Mr. Nerdy! drop the gadgets and get blasting, can’t you see we’re being overrun?” Allyson starts getting frustrated. Fire Team Bravo in unison with Alpha, keeps the shamblers suppressed, killing one more. “Sarge! look behind us!” a trooper points at the distance, where movement is visible. “We’ll be cut off if they arrive. Get to it trooper!” the Sarge orders him. Holbrook sees movement in his scanners at the end of the outpost, and hits the sirens. He immediately notices the blip move away from their location. “That’s how operational support works. You should read a book sometime Allyson.” Holbrook calls. “What happened to keeping comms clear, Mr. Nerdy?” she retorts.
Battle Round 4
Quick Action phase Allyson moves tactically to support Holbrook. She shoots and stuns a shambler.
The shamblers reach Holbrook, Allyson supports him
Enemy Action phase A shambler charges at Jake. He is wounded and it is stunned. Shamblers charge towards the Colonial Militia and reach the barricade. The other split towards Allyson and Holbrook. 2 shamblers charge Allyson, but both times her armor saves her. 2 more attack Holbrook, his armor saves, him from the first, but not the second and he becomes a casualty. As Allyson is pushed back, the rest of the shamblers turn towards the Colonial Militia who are closer.
Slow Action phase Colonial Militia shoot and wound one shambler and stun another. Fire Team Alpha misses all their shots. Fire Team Bravo misses as well, but two troopers work on closing down the Spawn Point behind them, and succeed. Jake kills a shambler with his hand cannon. Sarge kills another with his shotgun.
Spawn phase Spawns Countdown to 1.
Allyson looks frantically around, and notices how Holbrook has been split from the rest of the squad. “Go!” he shouts, regroup with the rest of the squad. “And let you have all the glory? I’ll be by your side until we send every single of those suckers into oblivion!” she responds. “You’re stuck with me.” She fires her shotgun at one of them, stopping it momentarily. Holbrook smiles for a second, before the first couple of shamblers charge at them with an unexpected speed. They bash and growl at them, sending them reeling back. Their armor scratched, but they’re both still in one piece. They look at each other, realizing what they’ve gotten into. Their thoughts are broken immediately as another couple of shamblers charge onto them. Again, they’re bashed, pushed further back, slow to react. Allyson’s armor holds further. The green paint scratched, the metallic sheen showing underneath. She looks to Holbrook, and sees blood. Splatter everywhere. “No! You bastards!” She screams at the top of her lungs. A tear forms, but then realization hits. She is cut off from the rest of the squad, and alone. She quickly gets her shit together, and thinks her next actions through. Meanwhile the rest of the shamblers split and dash towards the militia. The barricade holds for now, but the enemy has reached them too. Frantically they shoot back, but fear has overcome them, and they miss, merely harming one of the shamblers. Another shambler charges at Jake, he fights back with his sword, fending it off, but not before becoming hurt himself. “At least it’s not a bite” he thinks as he notices the blood trickle down his leg. He aims his hand cannon at the shambler who just attacked him, and blasts it to smitherins. Another shot behind him eliminates another shambler, Jake looks to his right, and notices the Sarge smiling as his shotgun is still smoking from the shooting. The Fire Teams are too preoccupied with the enemy contact to their rear. Worried that they’ll be isolated, their aim is not where it should be, and they miss all their shots. It’s not all to waste though. The troopers Sarge sent off return quickly with news. “We placed the sentry guns to the predefined locations sir. Our aft should be secure for the moment.” the troopers report. “Well done boys, now get back to the fighting!” he orders them.
Battle Round 5
Quick Action phase Allyson jumps over the wall and runs around the tower, delaying her shooting to fire at any approaching enemies. Colonial Militia shoot at the shamblers in front of them, killing 1 and wounding 1. Sarge moves, shoots and kills the shambler in front of him.
Here I realized the plan to have Allyson herd the shamblers around, and away from the objectives.
Enemy Action phase The two wounded shamblers attacks the Colonial Militia and kills two, turning them into shamblers. The other shamblers charge but are fended off and stunned by the Colonial Militia Shamblers charge at Allyson, she snap fires at the first one, but misses, her armor saves her from the first, but she got stunned by the second. She has retreated away from the rest of the shamblers, who follow.
Slow Action phase Fire Team Bravo turns to support their flank, killing two shamblers fighting the Colonial Militia and stunning another. Fire Team Alpha shoots at the shamblers in the front of the yard, stunning one. Jake moves and tries once more to activate the tactical location, and fails again.
Spawn phase Contact markers appear in both Spawn Points. One is revealed in sight of Allyson, 6 shamblers from the North. Spawn Countdown is unknown for one, and 4 for the other.
Allyson looks at the shamblers in front of her. She knows what she has to do. “Come you bastards, come get me!” she shouts at them, jumps over the stone wall, and runs back to the base of the tower, her shotgun aiming at them. The first one charges, she fires a shot, but misses, and it reaches her. With her thoughts at shooting, she wasn’t ready for brawling, and once more it’s her trusty armour that saves her skin. A second shambler follows and hits her, sending her tumbling back. The rest of the shambling mob follows. The Colonial Militia are in a fight for their lives against the shamblers, they eliminated one and mauled another. Then they get in close and personal and they fend off some, but they broke through their ranks, and amidst the chaos the troopers lost two men who were infected and now fight their former comrades. Fire Team Bravo shoots to support them, killing two shamblers, and suppressing the rest. The militia is too busy and frantic to say thanks. On the southern side, the Sarge’s trusty skill with the shotgun destroys another shambler, Fire Team Alpha provides supporting fire to him against the few remaining enemies. The yard is all but clear. Jake is persistent with investigating the woods. He’s certain he saw something of interest, but the more he searches, the more frustrated he becomes, as the fighting rages to the other side. “Get your ass here Bradley!” the Sarge shouts. He realizes he’s no Holbrook, and should let the research stuff off to others more savvy.
Battle Round 6
Quick Action phase Sarge moves and retrieves the objective. Allyson moves to draw away the horde of shamblers, and she climbs on the building. Another Contact Marker is revealed. Contact! 7 more shamblers. She attempts to activate the Tactical Location, but fails.
Enemy Action phase Shamblers attack the Colony Militia, killing two more. Shamblers charge at Allyson. One hits, she is saved by the armour. The other is a draw, but she is a casualty. Shamblers turn back towards the rest of the battle slowly.
Slow Action phase Last Colony Militia shoots and misses. Jake calls for Evac, but fails. Fire Team Bravo kills 2 shamblers and stuns another. Fire Team Alpha moves by the building and shoots the last wounded zombies in the yard, eliminating them.
Spawn phase Spawn Point Countdown set to 2 for one marker, and down to 3 for the other.
Treading carefully between the disabled shamblers, Sarge reaches the first secure case with the data. “Objective Alpha accomplished. One more to go.” He radios in. Allyson smiles. She knows what she has done has helped the Red Coyotes bring this victory to Unity. “You go get the rest for me Sarge. And give these guys hell.” She calls, and then turns to the shamblers. “Hey dumbasses, here I am, come and get me” she shouts. “We don’t need you to be hero Allyson.” Jake calls. “Get your ass back here.” “I just need to get these maggots away from you long enough Jake.” She replies, and runs and climbs on the outpost hub. She recalls that these hubs have an automated incinerator system both to create a fire-safety zone and to also eliminate any wildlife that comes dangerously close. If only she could hack into the console from the rooftop. “Yeah but double back after. We lost many good men here today. Promise.” Jake tries to convince her over the comms. She’s trying to connect the cables, but in the heat of battle, she fails. Her hands are shaking. ‘Dammit.’ she thinks. “Promise. Same as you promised to stop smoking those cigars.” She teases, but deep inside she knows. She hears growling from the West and takes a good look. There’s shamblers all around her. The first one climbs on the rooftop, and jumps at her. She barely kicks it back, saved once more by her armour. There’s no sliver of paint left on it anymore. It’s almost all, scratched metal. Another shambler follows. She hits it back with the stock of her shotgun, but it barely flinches, as it’s claws dive into her. “Allyson…? Allyson…?” Jake tries once more to reach her, but, there’s radio silence. He turns the frequency to HQ. “Hey Thompsnach! We got your precious data! Get us out of here! We are getting decimated!” “Trooper identify yourself! Bradley? is this you? Learn how to talk to an officer first. Do your job!” Lt. Thompsanch replies, closing comms.
In the meantime, the Colonial Militia is in a rough spot, with two more of their men turning into shambling reanimations after torn by their nonstop assault. The last man of the squad, misses all his shots, but Fire Team Bravo, kills the shamblers threatening him. Fire Team Alpha eliminates the shamblers in the yard “Yard Clear.” They radio in over the comms.
Battle Round 7
Quick Action phase Sarge climbs further up, dashing to the Vital Objective. He can’t pick it up since he dashed, must wait till next round.
Enemy Action phase One shambler that is close enough climbs up and attacks the Sarge. He wins the combat, and kills the shambler. The rest of the shamblers gather around the bottom of the building. Shamblers attack the Colonial Militia who fends one off, and is stunned by the other. Another shambler removes their stun status.
Slow Action phase Colonial Militia shoots and stuns the shambler. Fire Team Bravo shoots and eliminates the shambler and stun another. Jake calls for Evac successfully. Fire Team Alpha moves and shoots the shamblers, killing one.
Spawn phase Spawn Countdown to 1 and 2 respectively for the two Spawn Points.
‘Why is it in the rooftop?’ Sarge wonders as he checks again the intel from the datapad scan. He climbs to the rooftop, and there he sees the data case, next to a relay console, probably whoever carried it there was trying to send the data before they were infected. Before he has a chance to grab it, a shambler climbs quickly up and jumps at him. With sharp reflexes and a slash of his boarding sword, the Sarge cuts the shambler in half. More shamblers start gathering at the bottom of the building. He knows he must make a quick exit. Jake calls in HQ again. “This is Bradley, permission to speak with Lt. Thompsanch sir.” “Permission granted go Bradley.” HQ responds. “Lt. Sir, our losses are mounting we already lost Linkovich and Stoyer, the Militia is down to the man.” He reports. “What about the objectives trooper?” Thomsanch asks. “Objective Alpha is secured, Objective Bravo will be in a few moments, if you time Evac correctly, we’ll have it in the drop ship. It’s vital for the success of the mission Sir.” Jake explains. “Alright Bradley, you’ll have your Evac, we’ll talk about your conduct when you’re back on board.” The Lieutenant responds. “We have Evac!” Jake calls over the comms. “Punching in coordinates now!” Meanwhile the two Fire Teams move in cohesion, eliminating slowly one by one shamblers in their sights, giving precious moments of life to the last Colonial Militia who fights for his life against the infected. Only two shamblers remain in front of him. From the West, and the North, the horde slowly approaches.
Battle Round 8
Quick Action phase Sarge retrieves the Vital Objective. Fire Team Bravo moves and shoots the shamblers at the base of the main building, eliminating one. Fire Team Alpha surrounds the two sides of the tower, shoot and stun the rest of the shamblers at the base of the building.
Enemy Action phase Shambler attacks Colonial Militia and wounds him. Shamblers remove stuns or move closer.
Slow Action phase Jake moves closer to the Evac. Colonial Militia shoots shambler and misses.
Spawn phase Contact Marker is spawned. Countdown set to unknown. The other Spawn Point has Countdown reduced to 1. Dropship arrives.
Without wasting any previous moments, the Sarge picks up the last case. “I have the cases. Provide cover!” he calls over the comms, and the Fire Teams respond in unison. Bravo finds a line of fire from the side and eliminates one of the shamblers, while Alpha in an encircling motion, suppress the rest. Jake, wounded, slowly drags himself towards Evac. He has arranged for it to come to the main compound, near the cases. The mission comes first. Always. The Colonial Militia is on his own against two. His shots miss, the shamblers charge, and he is mauled. Then they all listen to the roaring sound of the shuttlecraft engines meant for VTOL. Even the shamblers stop for a mere second and look at the sky. The troopers cheer, glad they have a chance to survive this massacre.
Battle Round 9
Quick Action phase The dropship shoots at both flanks of the shambler horde, stunning two zombies from the West. The Sarge, Jake and several troopers Evac.
Enemy Action phase Shamblers charge at Fire Team Alpha, where two troopers saved by their armor gain the upper hand, killing a shambler. A shambler attacks the last of the Colonial Militia and kills him, a shambler taking his spot.
Slow Action phase The last of the troopers move to the dropship and Evac.
Mission Complete
Under the cover of light machinegun fire, lighting up the shambling horde, the troopers enter the dropship, Jake and Sarge with the secure data cases among them. He motions for the pilots to wait a few moments as more troopers keep fighting on the ground. They see the fight from the windows of the hovering dropship. The shamblers horde closes in, but is still at a distance, however the last few shamblers are in close quarter combat with the remaining troopers. The troopers from Alpha in the protection of their unity standard issue armour, fend them off, killing one in the process, but the last of the militia falls to them. The last troopers grab the rappel lines and soon, they fly off. “You think they survived?” Sarge asks Jake about Holbrook and Allyson. “If anyone would, it’d be them.” Jake answers while looking below as the outpost vanishes in the distance. His thoughts to his lost battle companions.
Post Battle Report
Determine Casualties and Lost Marines Holbrook: Death or crippling injury Allyson: Gruesome fate
So I had to roll two new squad members.
Name
Origin
Basic Training
Service History
Ariana Raschke
Trade Hub
Planetary Militia
Anti-pirate operation
Kato Minoru
Military Outpost
Ground Forces (Scouts)
Police Action
So they have the following stats
Name
Reactions
Speed
Combat Skill
Toughness
Savvy
XP
Completed Missions
Ariana Raschke
1
5″
+0
3
+0
4
1
Kato Minoru
2
5″
+1
3
+0
0
1
And they bring one point of Reputation with them.
Ariana grew up in the Ross-3910 Star System which has a major Trade Hub. As part of the citizen life there she had to serve in the Militia, and saw action fighting off space pirates. She’s professional.
Kato was the son of a traditional military family, going from outpost to outpost, not staying in one for long. He quickly joined the Scouts, and saw some police action against dissidents.
Update Completed Missions Jake Bradley +1
Check for Mustering out No chance
Determine Reputation With the rolls and the completion of Objectives we get 2 points of Reputation, for a total Reputation of 5.
Experience and Leveling Jake earns 5 XP
Roll for Operational Progress Break through: We pushed the enemy back in critical sectors.
Roll for Military Life I rolled that it is about Jake: You spend time in the brig. Adjust Reputation by -1 and miss the next mission.
Check entitlement to R&R Only R&R right now is the brig.
Ready for Another Campaign Turn Let’s check our Roster, taking under consideration that Jake won’t join in the mission.
Name
Reactions
Speed
Combat Skill
Toughness
Savvy
XP
Completed Missions
Jake Bradley
1
5″
+1
4
+0
6
1
Ariana Raschke
1
5″
+0
3
+0
4
1
Kato Minoru
2
5″
+1
3
+0
0
1
Reputation 4.
They arrived back on USS Astral Monarch, in orbit. Lt. Thompsanch was waiting for them. “It was a gruesome fight down there Sir, and he lost two of his close friends…” Sarge was cut off by the Lieutenant. “The way trooper Bradley conducted communications in the mission shows that he doesn’t need anyone speaking for himself, but perhaps he needs someone to speak instead of himself. Some time in the brig will make him the principles of military life.” He turns to Jake. “Trooper Bradley, 1 month in the Brig for Unbecoming Conduct and Improper use of Communications. Dismissed” Jake suppressed the urge to spit, punch or headbutt the Lieutenant. Instead he stood face straight and calmly said “Sir, Yes Sir.” Turning to Sarge. “If you learn anything of their fate… let me know.” Two officers from research arrived to get the data, and the rest of the troops went for debriefing.
A few days later, news of the gruesome fate of Allyson and Holbrook reached Bradley. He held hope, but deep inside he knew they couldn’t have survived the horde. Any recon and scans showed no human life back on the planet. The Lieutenant and the Sergeant had a conversation. “Sir, you took one of my best troopers off the roster, and I just lost two more, how are we going to field a proper force in the next mission? The grunts are only so much good, I need this quality of troopers for battle.” Sarge asked. “Don’t fret too much Sergeant. We’re all expendable. But just so you know, we got reports that we had a break through in this sector. And with the success of your squad, and data you retrieved, I’m confident it might take a while until the next mission. Perhaps you’ll have Bradley back until then.” The Sergeant didn’t look happy. “Take a look at this.” He hands over a datapad. “We have two new replacements tomorrow, for the troopers you lost. You’ll only be one trooper short.” “Ariana Raschke and Kato Minoru…” the Sergeant reads out loud. “They look good in combat but they have no brains. I need someone to cover for the skills of Holbrook, he was a wizard with tech. Sir.” “You’re pushing it Sergeant. Get them acquainted with the squad, and let them know what happens if they speak out of order to an officer.” and with this the Lieutenant dismissed him.
Session Summary
Whew that was a long one. The battle lasted longer than I expected. Rules wise, there are a few subtle differences than the core Five Parsecs from Home, but they’re to the point. As usual, I made a mistake or two while playing, but overall it was a smooth experience. Loved the battle, the lack of balance, the fight against all odds.
I enjoyed how I had to adapt tactics according to what was happening on the field, and these tactics had as much a say to what was happening, as the dice rolls. Choices are simple, terrain and miniatures worked fine. I absolutely enjoyed using the stuff I finished.
Battle was on a 60 cm x 60 cm board, 15mm scale miniatures, based on 15mm radius bases. To accomodate for the smaller board size and terrain, I did a small conversion of distances to double the value measured in centimeters instead of inches, which gives an 80% adjustment, and I find it works well.
What I need to change is the note taking, as it took me a good while longer to write everything down, and kind of broke the flow of the play. But to do this, I need to have some proper markers. This will take away a lot of the mental and note taking load. Furthermore I’ll need to rely more on writing down stuff in a narrative prose directly, and only take notes of status and effects not actions. For the markers I’ll probably turn to 3d printing as I don’t have a regular printer.
Overall I really enjoyed the session and looking forward to playing further, in a more effective manner, by applying the lessons learned. I also enjoyed sitting down and writing the story afterwards, instead of rushing to get the content out.
It’s been more or less two years since the generative AI breakthrough in text and images. As someone technologically oriented, I was eager to experiment, but also cautious about the ripples in the artistic community.
Given that this is a free blog about my personal solo games, and the major obstacles in solo roleplaying are avoiding meta-knowledge and the risk of narrative burnout, I found it justified in my own perspective to use AI, to help me overcome them.
Back in 2023, I’ve used it for:
helping with worldbuilding in the Aristrax Marches, my Five Leagues from the Borderlands campaign. After 22 episodes my world had grown to an unmanageable size, and I used ChatGPT to help me generate location, NPC and item descriptions.
describe the narrative of ruleset results. Due to narrative burnout I resorted to feeding ChatGPT with concise result prompts and getting a description. To my recollection I mainly did this in some Aristrax Marches, Trollshaws and Call to Glory actual play reports.
work as a gamemaster. Only as an experiment, never used it to run a game as I wasn’t happy with the results.
create images to help with immersion in the story I was playing. To my recollection I’ve done this in some Trollshaws, Call to Glory and Savage Warhammer actual play reports.
The main concern back then about using AI was copyright issues. My reasoning at the time was that even though AI art generation was damaging to the artist community, personal usage for something that one would not pay an artist for, such as a personal free art blog, and of course I was not creating a product for sale of something that was not of my creativity. I did try to document where AI was used, but I wasn’t very pedantic about it.
Two years have passed, and with all information settled down, I think it’s time to revisit the topic.
I like to experiment with new technologies, always did, but the use of generative AI has gotten me worried. It has slowly crept up to being used in every single topic. Search engine results, white collar jobs, college essays, email composition. Whatever you can think of. I want to revisit the topic, because what worries me today is not the concern of 2023 about copyright. It is the effect it has on our society and the environment. I’m a Millenial, I’ve learned to use maps, I’ve learned to read a dictionary and browse an encyclopaedia. All this took brain power, we had to think to navigate, think to find where a word comes from and think to memorise the paragraph from what we just learned. Today we just click buttons and discard the knowledge immediately as we don’t need it any more. If we don’t use our brains we’ll become dumber, and now with the use of GenAI, we’ll settle it for good, as we’ll have the AI do the thinking for us. But this is not all, the generated results are dangerous, as GenAI has no critical thinking, it just generates stuff that sound valid from a grammar standpoint. The quality of the results is also average at best. Combine this with the real-looking fake news and ability for scams and spam that can be generated, and it’s very worrisome. Finally, consider the computational power needed for this on a global level, at a time when environmental crisis warnings are not heeded, and all of this because we just don’t want to put our brains to think instead.
I had read once something along the lines of “we were supposed to build machines to work so that we have more time for creativity; not the other way around”, and this resonates with me now more than ever.
And hence the connection now to Solo Roleplaying. What begun as a tool to help, has the capacity to become a crutch, and one that won’t let you free yourself from it. I’ve seen a lot of low effort AI generated solo-oriented rpg products. This hurts the hobby, as human created products have to compete against them. Creators put their ideas into their works, this takes time, inspiration and effort, and should be rewarded accordingly. But now they have to rise above the flood of low effort AI content, in order to have a chance to be distinguished.
As a solo player, I’m now of the opinion, that we need to hone our skills in solo roleplaying, instead of relying on tools to do it for us. There are other ways to avoid mental and narrative burnout.
With these in mind, I’m going to limit AI use in my blog to a bare minimum, with a target of zero use if possible. I will go back to the posts where I’ve used AI and at the very least tag them accordingly, and on a later stage drill down and find the parts where AI was used to generate content and describe them as such.
These opinions are not foundational beliefs. Perhaps in the future things will change in another direction, and once more I will revisit the topic, and reach a different outcome. I’ve had this happen in the past (for example trying to abstain from social media, but I ended up returning to them, but on a lower level of interaction), so I’m trying not to deal with absolutes.
Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice 
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