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  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 1:34 pm on November 22, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Bug Hunting – S2E3 

    Took me a while to get this Five Parsecs from Home: Bug Hunt game played, photographed, cleaned up and blogged, but here it is. It was really frustrating having to play the same mission again, which delayed me in setting everything up, and then doing the work as doing something repetitive usually takes the fun out things, but I must say beforehand that I actually enjoyed it.

    Mission: Re-take Star Port (sheltered)

    1. Special Assignments

    Ariana: Officer Training Course: Failure
    Kato: Marksman Training : Success
    Ulla: Harsh Environment Course: Success

    2. Fight a tabletop battle

    Objectives: Secure, Scout, Hack
    Priority: 3
    Spawn Rating: 2

    Loadout:
    Ariana Boarding Sword + Hand Cannon
    Kato Minoru: Hyper Blaster + Pistol
    Ulla: Combat Rifle + Pistol

    Support: 3+1 (-1 Reputation)
    Fire Team: Success
    Sarge: Success
    Soulless: Failure
    Weapons Support: Success

    Pre-Battle Roster

    NameReactionsSpeedCombat SkillToughnessSavvy
    Ariana Raschke16″+04+3
    Kato Minoru36″+25+1
    Ulla Voight15″+34+2
    NameCompleted MissionsXPOriginTrainingService History
    Ariana Raschke83Trade Hub– Planetary militia
    – Technical Training
    – Leadership Training    		– Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Kato Minoru65Military Outpost– Ground forces (Scouts)
    – Survival Course
    – Harsh Environment Course
    – Physical Training
    – Marksman Training    		– Police Action
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Ulla Voight56Trade Hub– Naval forces (Security)
    – Physical training
    – Marksman Training
    – Harsh Environment Course    		-Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    NameMissions & InjuriesStatus
    Ariana RaschkeS2E1, S2E2
    Kato MinoruS2E1Service Pistol +1″ Range
    Ulla VoightS2E1, S2E2

    Post-battle

    1. Determine Casualties and Lost Marines

    Ariana: Minor Injuries 1 Turn in Sickbay
    Kato: Torso Wound: 4 Turns in Sickbay

    2. Update Completed Missions

    Done

    3. Check for Mustering Out

    Ariana: Muster Out!
    Kato: Failure

    4. Determine Reputation

    23 Initial
    -1 For Support Points
    +1 For Rescuing 1 Troopers
    +1 For 2 Objectives Completion
    +1 For Objectives Roll
    +1 For Hanie Riffin Origin
    26 Final

    5. Experience and Leveling

    Ariana: MVP (she sacrificed herself to Hack the objective) 2 XP
    Kato: 1 XP, will increase Speed to 7″
    Ulla: 3 XP, will increase Toughness

    6. Roll for Operational Progress

    1 Support Point Claimed: 7 Total
    Enemy swarms: Industrial Zone: Place 2 additional Contact markers at the beginning of battle

    7. Roll for Military Life

    Kato: You’re getting in shape, at least. You may immediately raise Speed by +1 for a cost of 5 XP (can’t…)

    Session Summary

    I had to use 2 Movie Magick cards: Evac Called & Reinforcements. I did not want to drag this battle out or fail it, so I used everything in my power to win.

    I may have missed bringing up a Screamer or two of the variants, but I don’t think it would have much of an impact to the end result.

    Well I finally got a character to muster out – and the one who didn’t have any advance to her Combat skill at that, also she doesn’t get to muster out with the service pistol, so I will have to spend her blood-earned Story Point to get it. On the other hand, she has a high Savvy score, and received Leadership training, which means she’s a perfect fit for a crew leader figure.

    This means I will be switching to a regular Five Parsecs from Home campaign going forward.

    I did spend some time preparing my crew for the Five Parsecs from Home campaign, and you can find a teaser shot here. I custom-designed Ariana’s civilian version using Titancraft and some digital kitbashing in blender. She also has her hair dyed differently this time – guess she didn’t want something that loud in her civilian life.

    Since I commited so much time in printing and painting terrain for Bug Hunt (I burned out actually while painting my industrial zone terrain) and I really want a tough trooper like Ulla to be part of my crew (Combat skill +3!) I may continue running the Bug Hunt campaign on the side, and may get her to muster out as well. Should that happen, there’s always going to be a spot for her in Ariana’s crew.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 12:45 pm on November 4, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Bug Hunting – S2E2 

    I am still getting the hang of this comic-book approach. It takes a bit longer to edit and process, but I really like the new refreshing look.

    For Bug Hunt specifically I will continue on this level of detail. As I have said before, Bug Hunt is resouce intensive on the solo player. Lots of bookkeeping which I have reduced via the use of tokens. I have also reduced the journaling of all those rolls and movements of blips as it is tiresome, and I need to have this balance between enjoyment and effort.

    When I return to regular Five Parsecs from Home, I intend to perhaps have some more detailed mechanics text alongside with the comic panels, for a better understanding. It remains to be seen though, as planning doesn’t always mean it’s good in practice.

    Pre-battle Roster

    NameReactionsSpeedCombat SkillToughnessSavvy
    Ariana Raschke16″+04+2
    Kato Minoru36″+15+1
    Ulla Voight15″+34+1
    NameCompleted MissionsXPOriginTrainingService History
    Ariana Raschke75Trade Hub– Planetary militia
    – Technical Training
    – Leadership Training    		– Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Kato Minoru64Military Outpost– Ground forces (Scouts)
    – Survival Course
    – Harsh Environment Course
    – Physical Training    		– Police Action
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Ulla Voight40Trade Hub– Naval forces (Security)
    – Physical training
    – Marksman Training    		-Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    NameMissions & InjuriesStatus
    Ariana RaschkeS2E1
    Kato MinoruS2E1Service Pistol +1″ Range
    On Special Assignment
    Ulla VoightS2E1

    Mission: Star Port (sheltered)

    1. Special Assignments

    Ariana: Officer Training Course: Failure
    Kato: Marksman Training x2: Failure
    Ulla: Harsh Environment Course: Failure

    2. Fight a Tabletop Battle

    Objective: Scout
    Vital Objective: Patrol
    Priority: 2
    Spawn Rating: 1
    Loadout:
    Ariana Boarding Sword + Hand Cannon
    Ulla: Shotgun
    Support: 2+1 (-1 Reputation)
    Fire Team: Failure
    Sarge: Success
    Soulless Recon Team: Failure

    Post-Battle

    1. Determine Casualties and Lost Marines

    None

    2. Update Completed Missions

    Done

    3. Check for Mustering Out

    Ariana Raschke: Failure

    4. Determine Reputation

    22 Initial
    -1 For Support Points
    +1 For Rescuing a Civilian
    +1 For 2 Objectives Completion
    23 Final

    5. Experience and Leveling

    +4 XP each, MVP: Ulla (+5 XP)
    Ariana will spend 6 XP for Savvy

    6. Roll for Operational Progress

    1 Support Point Claimed.
    2 Support Points found from Supplies.

    Enemy Moves: Enemy assault: A cleared Sector falls to the enemy. Priority Level 3: The Star Port.

    7. Roll for Military Life

    Kato: A Dear John letter. Ouch!

    Post-Battle Roster

    NameReactionsSpeedCombat SkillToughnessSavvy
    Ariana Raschke16″+04+3
    Kato Minoru36″+15+1
    Ulla Voight15″+34+1
    NameCompleted MissionsXPOriginTrainingService History
    Ariana Raschke83Trade Hub– Planetary militia
    – Technical Training
    – Leadership Training    		– Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Kato Minoru64Military Outpost– Ground forces (Scouts)
    – Survival Course
    – Harsh Environment Course
    – Physical Training    		– Police Action
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    Ulla Voight55Trade Hub– Naval forces (Security)
    – Physical training
    – Marksman Training    		-Anti-pirate operation
    – USS Astral Monarch Campaign
    NameMissions & InjuriesStatus
    Ariana RaschkeS2E1, S2E2
    Kato MinoruS2E1Service Pistol +1″ Range
    Ulla VoightS2E1, S2E2

    Session Summary

    Although low priority, the mission wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. Since I am focusing on mustering out my team, I really take care of not placing them too much into harms way, and the rest of the troops are more dispensable. My main characters almost have plot armor in this regards, but things can always turn sour, as you never know if the dropship will arive in time.
    Having this bad roll on the Enemy Movement was a bit disheartening as I need to fight another battle to gain the starport sector, and this time at a higher priority level.
    On the other hand this gives me some extra time to prepare my industrial zone terrain (printed, primed, but not painted yet) and have a full assortment of terrain to cover all sectors.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 8:47 pm on November 1, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Terrain pt18 – Sci Fi Outpost 

    Another of Sablebadger’s terrain sets. This is the Sci Fi Outpost. Once more it is scaled down to 60% for 15mm scale. The buildings are a bit on the smaller side, but they’re bunkers/hubs so it’s to be expected. I did the red painting with an airbrush and red acrylic ink, masking away the parts to be painted different colours. Using ink instead of diluted paint in the airbrush, was a blast as coverage was immensely easier to achieve. Removing the masking tape or white tack was a pain, and perhaps the whole process would take the same amount of time had I used stipple drybrushing (didn’t have my acrylic markers back then), but it wouldn’t look as good. I gave the whole outpost a blood angels look, inspired from the days when I was playing Dawn of War on the PC.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 8:29 pm on October 30, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Terrain pt17 – Tech Gothic Ruins 

    What begun as a simple paint job got more and more detailed as time went by. I really love how these tech gothic ruins from Sablebadger turned out. Again printed at 60% scale, in black PLA. Spray primed dark grey and airbrushed zenithal and various grey ones. Washed with a brown black wash mix, drybrushed tan. I went above and beyong and did some window glass panels using PVA glue undiluted into the window panels. Followed with some spot washes for grime and sealed with a matt spray sealer, which gave a foggy effect to the windows. I am thrilled with how they turned out. I have enough to fill out a 2×2 table in 15mm.

     
    • Onibaba's avatar

      Onibaba 9:21 am on October 31, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      Wait, wait, wait, explain further the PVA “glass”, just simply glue and wait to dry? Noice

      As always amazing job, i’m tempted to scale down ^_^ but i must be strong

      Liked by 1 person

      • giorgis's avatar

        giorgis 12:27 pm on October 31, 2025 Permalink | Reply

        Thanks!

        Yes, you just need thick enough PVA so that it stays in place and doesn’t flow down. The size of the small panes matters as it can’t grab a really big gap.

        Like

  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 1:23 pm on October 28, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Terrain pt16 – Sci-Fi Ruins 

    Grid city sci-fi ruins I had gotten as sampler from Saucermen studios. Printed in black PLA, and painted in grey tones with metallic details and added rust effects.

    I mixed and matched to create different builds but I failed to also Mirror the clones, and break the uniformity even more.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 9:05 pm on October 26, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi,   

    Terrain pt15 – Barricades 

    Something else that I needed for my games, and especially bug hunt is linear terrain in order to create funnels of routes, so in addition to the prior geonosis terrain, I went with the sandbag and modular trench barricades from Sablebadger. Also printed the trench barricade tower, so that I can make an outpost quickly a la starship troopers style. The sandbags were printed in beige PLA and painted in a similar way to the geonosis terrain. The trench barricades were printed in black PLA and painted in gray tones, but because they ended up too monochrome I added rust effects, which ended up contrasting a lot with the monochrome look.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 7:34 pm on October 24, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Terrain pt14 – Geonosis 

    I needed some rocky terrain, and especially for sci-fi look (can also work for desert fantasy) I found the Geonosis style terrain from Sablebadger. I got them from his patreon at the 2nd level which includes access to his back catalogue. Printed at 60% scale, in Beige PLA. Washed in a red-brown wash (Burnt Umber + Yellow Ochre + PVA + Floor Polish) and drybrushed Tan. The idea is if they get knocked around too much and chip, the lighter beige color will show throw and it will be like a highlight. Though with the softness of PLA, floor polish seal, and lack of knocking around (I am a solo player after all) I doubt this extra precaution is necessary.

    I have not taken single pictures of every single item, rather, filled a table with them and took pictures. When combined with different terrain I think they will look even better, but there’s enough of them to fill a 2×2 in 60% scale, or 3×3 in full scale.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 8:38 pm on October 22, 2025 Permalink | Reply
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    Terrain pt13 – Sci Fi Buildings 

    There are tons of sci-fi stl buildings in the internet, so many that I got overwhelmed. I finally settled on some samplers from Corvus Game Terrain (Tycho Starport, Magna Fortuna, Compound) and a retro Bunker from Doctor Spork. I can’t recall where I got the alien monolith from. Again, spray primer, airbrush zenithal, airbrush basecoat, washes and drybrushing. I decided to give different colours to the Corvus Game Terrain buildings from Magna Fortuna series, but perhaps I overdid it, and I don’t think they look good if all of them are placed together on the table. On the other hand 1-2 of them are good to break the monotony of the uniform color I painted the Tycho starport line.

    Magna Fortuna 2×2 block front
    Magna Fortuna 2×2 block rear
    Magna Fortuna 2×2 block front
    Magna Fortuna 2×2 block rear
    Magna Fortuna 2×4 block
    Magna Fortuna 4×4 block
    Modular Tycho Starport front
    Modular Tycho Starport rear
    Sci Fi Compound front
    Sci Fi Compound rear
    Retro Battle Bunker
    Alien monolith
     
    • technoalchemist's avatar

      technoalchemist 9:21 pm on October 22, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      The alien monolith is from dutchmogul (Ill Gotten Games). I have too, but still haven’t printed it.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Onibaba's avatar

      Onibaba 9:17 am on October 23, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      Very nice as usual, some of them remind me the deadzone one’s

      Liked by 1 person

  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 8:26 pm on October 20, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , scifi, thatwhatgrows   

    Miniatures pt151 – Space Orks 

    With Orktober underway, I could not leave my space Orks unpainted. These are all 3d sculpts from thatwhatgrows patreon back catalogue. Bear in mind that their patreon is no longer active, but they also have some support-less sculpts in their itch.io store, from which I got the space goblins but haven’t gotten around to printing and painting them yet. Also while support-less they’re more oriented to resin printing, as I noticed some overhangs while printing in FDM. Could also have to do with the fact that I scaled them down 60% for 15mm scale.

    Anyway enough talk, here are gathered: 1 armored ork boss, 2 ork bosses, an ork shaman, an orc with sword and pistol, and 6 orks with rifles.

    Printed in Elegoo PLA Pro, at 0.06mm layer height on a Bambu Labs A1 mini with a 0.2mm nozzle. Painted with layering techniques (which I admit was hard to do on the FDM print) and I also used oil washes. Perhaps the contrast is too stark, and I could have gotten a similar result with less effort, but I like evolving my skills as a miniature painter.

    I also changed my desk lamp with one with a led light and magnifying lens to assist with painting, but this had an impact to the photography, and for the particular figures I had to switch to a black background, and try to find the optimal exposure settings.

    Armored Ork Boss
    Ork Shaman
    Ork Boss
    Ork Boss
    Ork with Sword and Pistol
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Ork with Rifle
    Space Ork Warband
     
  • Unknown's avatar

    giorgis 4:25 pm on October 19, 2025 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , scifi, Vehicles   

    Vehicles pt1 – Delivery Boat MTV Type D 

    A new category! after Miniatures and Terrain, I have printed, assembled and painted my first Vehicle. Since vehicles (and cavalry/flying mounts) tend to move fast, they don’t play a major role in smaller tabletop boards like mine. Vehicles can be something movable, like a tank, mech walker, to a prop/objective marker like a dropship or shuttle, up to a whole terrain board for a large starship.

    I currently haven’t focused much on them, because I didn’t find many use cases, but I felt like I was always missing a space ship for my Five Parsecs from Home games. So a while ago I spent time and printed and assembled a shuttle, but it still sits in my closet in the pile of printed shame – I’m not going to share what it is until I have this painted and finished.

    But lately I pledged on the MTV Kickstarter by games-art-by-Philipp on a small shuttle that would work perfect as a Five Parsecs from Home: Bug Hunt dropship. The files were delivered on Monday, and I got to printing them immediately. I realized it was smaller and more manageable than the shuttle I printed. Also I loved the assembly, as it uses Gridforge lock system which makes changing the floors very easy.

    It would probably sit in my closet as well for a long time, but on my last trip to the dollar store, I found a pack of 100 acrylic paint markers for about a dozen bucks, and thought they’d be perfect for painting terrain and vehicles. So I decided to give it a shot and see if it makes my job easier or faster.

    A pack of 100 acrylic paint markers from the dollar store

    Printing was done in White Elegoo PLA, at 0.08mm layer height with a 0.4mm nozzle. The model was scaled down to 60% for a 15mm scale. First I assembled the ship and glued some parts that I knew that wouldn’t need removing in the future, and that wouldn’t interfere with spray priming. Also I printed the screen in transparent PLA – this is not the final screen I used.

    The printed dropship with the roof and screen installed

    Then I spray primed the entire thing in dark gray using the Army Painter Gamemaster Ruins&Cliffs Spray Primer. Once dry, I decided to start giving my acrylic markers a test. First I tested the coverage on a spare screen part I had spray primed, and then I tested overall painting techniques and behaviour on the under-the-gridforge floor (it’s not going to be visible when playing even when the top of the craft is open, so I could “fail” without needing to repaint.

    Overall I discovered that the acrylic markers behaved well. Coverage isn’t perfect (they’re dollar store after all) but this could give some nice blending and artistic line effects. I used two different grays for the tiles and a deeper gray, closer to the primer color to repaint the grooves. What I absolutely loved was how I could stay within lines – the grip and control is much tighter than when using a brush – and how fast I could paint everything. With that done I decided to go ahead with basecoating (most of) the entire thing.

    Testing the acrylic markers on the floor.

    I decided to go with a Unity (from the Unified Space of Nordic Weasel Games) colour scheme, some red panels, different grays for the outside. Added some metallics with a brush, and gave some light yellows for the headlights. Despite having printed and primed several different interior choices (crates, passenger seats and console terminals) I decided to focus on the core set which only has the pilot seat and console and some different empty floor tiles.
    Doing the basecoating with the acrylic markers was a blast! Felt like a kid again playing with markers. Lines were tight and controlled; yes I needed to go back again and do a second and third coat, but I was building up from dark gray, and I hadn’t done a zenithal priming job. The alternatives would be to either do extensive masking and airbrushing or stipple drybrushing, or try to do everything with a brush, none of which would be easy at all.
    Something to note here that I first tested on the under-floor was how the marker paint job behaved with my washes, and I noticed reactivation if I applied it while the paint was touch dry – something which was not a problem with regular acrylics. This was important information for later, as I didn’t want to ruin the exterior paint job.

    Basecoating complete

    Once it dried well, I place back the wings, and followed up with a white drybrush all over the ship exterior to pick up the edges.

    Edge highlighting with white drybrush.

    I then applied my floor polish brown black wash. Also added some spot washes at the mechanical parts for oil grime and at the headlights with a soft tone. Once that dried, I followed with a final white drybrush all over the interior and exterior.

    Overall I am thrilled with how it turned out. Took me about one day to finish it, but it was a joyful experience. Some pictures of the finished thing with my Five Parsecs from Home: Bug Hunt troopers.

    I replaced the transparent PLA screen with a reprint using rectilinear solid infill for a grid look, but finally settled on a Hilbert curve solid infill as seen in the last interior image. I think it looks best as it gives this reinforced glass look.

    Interior shot from the rear door.
     
    • Onibaba's avatar

      Onibaba 9:26 am on October 20, 2025 Permalink | Reply

      Really amazing! Seems a resin print! Even the pilot seat and the controllers, so tiny and yet so detailed. The markers (simple markers not even the AP/AK ones) paint job unbelievable good, i’ll try it! One question, why did you use the gamemaster’s primer? Keep going you are truly inspirational

      Liked by 2 people

      • giorgis's avatar

        giorgis 11:08 am on October 20, 2025 Permalink | Reply

        Thank you so much!
        I got used to the army painter Gamemaster spray primers back when I bought the set, and I love how it isn’t toxic and doesn’t eat away at styrofoam.
        Last year I bought a bunch of them when they had a sale (at Black Friday I think) for €5 each.

        Like

        • Onibaba's avatar

          Onibaba 9:25 am on October 21, 2025 Permalink

          I didn’t think it would work on materials other than styro, good to know! Maybe i’ll try myself some paintjob with makers (i’ve got some from amazon in my “token period”)

          Liked by 1 person

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