The Faces of New Hope City

I've been collecting, building and painting odds and ends for a few years with the intent of a Two Hour Wargames 5150: New Hope City campaign series.  This morning I pulled out most of what I've finished; I'm overdue to get this going.  

This started as a shopping center for All Things Zombie, but I just never was all that into the Night of the Living Dead and it's reboots.

S-Mart is 22" X 28" and can be the entire scenario.

I'm still getting around to stocking this with Binford tools, especially chainsaws.

Foree Electric was my first project making paper terrain on a computer to cut, fold and glue.  The building started life as a Starship Troopers base game box lid and I did almost nothing to disguise that.

The Drunken Clam and Mike's Hardware were actually made from leftover material when I made S-Mart.

Soylent Industries is inspired a little by the movie and a lot by the scenario from Irrational Number Line Games

Jerry Rivers, Investigative Reporter, Hank the Cameraman and Pavel the Engineer are from the West Wind 'Nam series.  Paulie & Joey Baggadonetz are Hasselfree Legends of Gogol figures.




The moment I first saw Hasselfree's Maddog I knew he'd be a Street Preacher.  I don't remember where, when or from whom I acquired the platinum haired, leather clad young lady.  Beach Babe Libby shall be playing the recurring role of Trophy Wife.  The photojournalist is from the same 'Nam set as the TV crew; this fellow just screams, "Dennis Hopper" to me.  Mr. Belushi will likely be the proprietor of every establishment in NHC.  Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner started life as a Bolt Action Chindit given to me by my best friend, Scott.


I don't know of a scenario in which Those Meddling Kids aren't appropriate, useful and fun.

Armorcast's Big City PD were specifically bought for the Soylent Green scenario, but are just darn useful all the time.


Old Warzone Imperial Wolfbanes were going to play the part of mercenaries until I found these Foundry Urban Violence mercs in a bargain bin.  I've painted them so that they can reasonably be a SWAT team when required.

I picked up these Star Wars Battle Droids along with a dozen Trade Federation droids for $0.25 each and I like them as Symon better than the idea of fully human appearing, "Data" androids.

Some concerned citizens who've formed a highly proactive neighborhood watch.

New France Episode 1: The Hunt

Prelude

Predawn, Fort Frontenac, 8 September 1638

Captain d'Iberville has sent Cadet Olivia Pierre and Pte Adele Miroir to hunt the camp's afternoon meal.  Orders are to return with either an elk or enough turkeys and rabbits to present Her Majesty, Queen Anne and the Cardinal Richelieu with a proper welcoming feast.

Meanwhile, at the ford across the Hudson, one of the Witches of Salem has a different type of welcome for the visiting dignitaries.

Olivia and Adele first try a clearing known to be visited by elk and deer, and they are rewarded for their good idea.

In Sight reactions are rolled; Olivia and Adele both fire their muskets before the elk can react - both successfully strike it in the chest, immediately eliminating it's heartbeat.

Realizing that the fort has sent out hunting parties, the witch whips her conjured goblins into a frenzied charge at the fort's front gate, then she casts a spell of blindness (Dazzle) on the two gate guards.  The goblins race forward unopposed.

Back in the clearing, Adele cheerfully exclaimed, "Most excellent, Cadet Olivia, our prey will not require tracking", and both hunters reload their muskets before moving in and beginning to dress the kill.

"Yes, this is very good fortune", agreed Olivia, "let's be quick about this before something comes to investigate the shots".

Olivia had no idea how portentous her words were as nearly immediately two wolves began charging across the clearing, intent on taking the elk for their own breakfast.

Their muskets stacked beside the tree, Olivia desperately drew her pistol and fired her one shot into the gaping maw of the charging carnivore, while Adele stood by, too stunned to react.  Fortune was indeed smiling upon the young cadet as the musket ball flew between the massive fangs and embedded itself inside the wolf's brain, and it fell Obviously Dead.

"W-was that your shot or mine?" were the only words Olivia could form in her trembling mouth.

"I never had a chance to shoot, you saved both of us", was Adele's gasping reply.

Both heaved a sigh of relief as the second wolf silently retreated back into the woods across the clearing, but that relief was short lived when the women heard the cracks of muskets and war cries coming from the direction of the fort.
 
Hearing rather than seeing the oncoming horde, Sergent Jaques Martinez ran through the construction site inside the palisade ordering soldiers to prepare for immediate battle, but too late to rescue the guardsmen.  Blinded by the witch's malign spell, the goblins head toward their target inside the Captain's quarters.  Only Sergent Jaques' quick action to strike down the leading goblins in melee prevents the garrison from giving up the day.

Hearing the gunfire and shouts of battle back at the fort, the realization quickly came to Olivia that serious danger was afoot, "Drag the meat between us, we must leave now while there's still a fort to defend!", and the two hunters began their return to the fort at their fastest possible speed.

Emerging from the wood-line, Olivia and Adele were greeted by the sight of a goblin horde pressing an attack against the fort's garrison, but then an even more frightening sight:  a Salem Witch striding toward the melee with a gloating expression on her face.  Suddenly, the witch stopped, turned and locked eyes with Olivia.  Both knew that their survival depended on immediate action; in a moment there would only be the quick and the dead.

As Olivia raised her musket to shoot, the witch raised her wand so that she could Blink away to a hidden position from where she could strike unopposed.  Olivia desperately thumbed back the flint on her musket, but the witch's arm was over her head.  Suddenly, there was a flash of smoke and a hiss, but from Olivia's left and the witch froze as Adele's musket misfired, but the distraction was all the young cadet needed and Olivia fired.  The ball flew true and struck the witch just beneath the brim of her hat, causing her head to explode in a fountain of ichor.

Inside the fort, Sergent Martinez bought enough time and space that the garrison defenders were able to form a firing line, which shot as soon as Jaques was clear of their field of fire.Three goblins fell wounded from the volley, and the goblins, always unreliable, scrambled out the gate.

With the smoke cleared and the goblins retreated back across the river, Captain D'Iberville had the fort secured while His Eminence gave Last Rites to the two fallen gunners, nobody else had even a scratch.  Olivia and Adele retrieved the Elk and began butchering it near the fort's open roasting pit when they heard a feminine voice new to them.

"Captaine, Sergent?"  Neither girl paused from their work.  The same voice, louder and sterner, "Ladies, if you please?"

The young soldiers turned in surprise from their bloody task to discover Her Royal Majesty, Queen Anne, His Holiness, Cardinal Richelieu, and Pierre D'Iberville, now wearing the sash of a Colonel.

Her Majesty offered a sash toward Olivia, "We would be honored if you would accept the sash of your commander for your commission, mon Capitaine.  We have an urgent mission for someone of your skill and initiative."

Olivia was stunned and could only stare wide-eyed at the well-worn Captain's sash held inches from her chest.  Adele gave Olivia's arm a nudge, forcing the new officer's hand to accept the badge of rank.

"Once again, quick and excellent thinking Serjeant", the Cardinal congratulated Adele as he began to pin the badge of rank upon Olivia's collar.  Now it was her turn to be shocked into silence at the same time Olivia bowed so that the Queen could drape the sash over her head.

Episode 2

The Longest Running Project I've Ever Had

Actually, I think it was around 1998.  (Checks Google) Nope, had to be about January 2000.  Episode I came out in May of 1999, and while shopping an after Christmas sale at my local Target, I saw this on clearance for seven dollars:

Most importantly, it came with this one plastic figure.  About 35-40mm tall, close enough to my Warzone 28mm for a horrible groaner of a joke:

I bought it and later that afternoon presented it to my then seven year old daughter, who expressed little interest, but was polite enough to try to play the game with me.  Moments into actual game play, with all the brutal honesty children of that age are loved for, she said to me, "Daddy, this game is stupid.  Jar Jar Binks is stupid and I don't like him.  Can I have some chocolate milk?"

These words filled me with joy and inspiration, and I immediately said, "you're right, this game is just junk, let's make some chocolate milk", and I made glasses for each of us that we drank while ceremoniously throwing the game into the trash can outside.  Everything except that orange plastic symbol of everything wrong with George Lucas' decision to prioritize merchandise sales above making a great movie.  That went to the Mountain of Lead in preparation for what was to come.

Fast forward to Dragon Con 2000, the last one I attended.  Chris (Valpurgius) Seebacher and I were hosting our third Warzone demo and tournament; the 'gang' had grown to the point where we had ten tables in continuous use, only two were for demos. That JarJar figure had been painted and made cameo appearances in nearly every photo of tournaments and demos as everybody passed it to each other.  After the third and last round of the tournament, we presented swag as prizes at our "#1" table, which had been cleared of most of the terrain while Jar Jar stood alone in the center of the battlefield.  After the prizes were awarded we asked the group, "now, anybody who wants to can grab one squad and one individual to try and kill Jar Jar Binks".

I had figured this would get a few laughs and smart comments and that maybe two or three people would want to get in a quick pickup game.  The reaction was intense as some people actually ran to retrieve their miniatures before the table filled completely.  We ended up with 11 or 12 players crowding each other as they placed their units on the edge of a 4'X4' battlefield, and the smack talk was loud and proud.  Initiatives were rolled and the order of play sorted out; when I announced that JarJar would be taking his actions fourth in the order, the table went silent as every pair of eyes locked on me with the realization that killing JarJar was not going to be all that easy.

Units surged forward under command of the first three players and then I leaned in, rolled a d12 and scatter dice and read the results from my chart.  "Jar Jar runs from the advancing troops into a unit of battle droids, becomes tangled with one and it's blaster begins firing randomly", and measured Jar Jar's random movement, rolled the scatter dice again and placed a blast template which caught two figures and told the controlling player to make an armor save.  Evil grins developed on every player and the rest of the turn involved movement that was much more tactical than the first players, and then it was Chris Seebacher's turn.

I have to take an aside here to properly describe Chris Seebacher.  The guy is frighteningly intelligent, has a photographic memory and is a brilliant tactician, whether you're programming a computer, role-playing or fighting a battle, but the really scary part about Chris is his positively evil sense of humor.  I served five years in a Long Range Surveillance Company with Chris and wasn't the first person to call him by his well-earned nickname, "Blue Falcon".

Seebacher examined the tactical situation for only an instant before announcing, "I'm firing at Aimee's squad", and rolling to hit his neighbor's unit.

Shouts of, "oh, it's ON!" erupted from the group and for several game terms, everybody prioritized eliminating their competition over the actual game objective.  Eventually, the players, with only a tiny bit of assistance from JarJar, killed each other until there were only two players left, with only a few miniatures each, but every single player stayed, commented and cheered as if they were watching the Superbowl.  I don't remember who won, because I believe to this day that everybody walked away from the table, "winning", and the entire group went for pizzas in a cloud of nonstop laughter.

Here's some previews of my "new and improved" game of killing Jar Jar Binks.