Warsenal Garbage Dumpsters TR-MDF-INF003-2

There's a place on the tabletop for mundane terrain - street lamps, public transportation stops, cargo containers, etc. Not everything has to be an example of exotic technology or arcane processes. And there has to be someplace to put the trash.

So that's where Lin (portrayed by Rosie) found those grenades.

These are Warsenal's Garage Dumpsters. They are sold two to a pack. Most of the pieces are MDF except for the acrylic rod that works with the lids as a hinge. There are plastic and resin pieces available at comparable prices, but lids that open and the durability of MDF appealed to me.

Preparation
I would recommend running a blade around the parts before punching them out of the MDF sheets. A couple parts refused to separate cleanly and needed some fixing up.

Assembly
There are no assembly instructions packaged with this product. The product page includes a link to a YouTube video, but there are no printable instructions. I recommend that anyone putting one of these together for the first time watch the entire video while dry fitting the parts to see how they fit together.

I used Tacky Glue, but any wood or PVA glue should provide a solid bond. Some of the parts need convincing to fit together and super glue may bond too quickly.

On the topic of convincing the parts to fit, I had some issues with the first one I built. The lids don't close all the way since they aren't aligned properly. That's not a problem with the product, but with me not making sure that everything was lined up before the glue dried. I exercised more care with the second one and it seems fine. The lid issue isn't a huge problem - there are plenty of these things with damaged lids and hinges out in the real world.

Warsenal including a thank you card with every order is a nice touch.

Paint Scheme
I was going for a worn, but not decaying appearance. Dust and grime, but not much rust. Green seems to be the default color for dumpsters around here. The lids on these things are often plastic and tend to discolor in the sun, so I took that into account.

Spray Paint - First Coat
Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black. This is a paint and prime product. It doesn't have the coverage or finish of Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Black. Unfortunately, I ran out of that stuff and haven't been able to restock.

Spray Paint - Second Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Brown. I sprayed this at an angle for a zenithal effect.

Spray Paint - Third Coat
I removed the lids and painted the dumpster bodies with Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Olive. Again, this was sprayed to leave some of the previous coats showing in the recesses for a shadowing/weathering effect.

Wash Coats
I reassembled the pieces and hit them with two coats of washes - black and brown. This resulted in a couple of nicely weathered pieces, but they turned out way too dark.

Dry Brush - First Layer
FolkArt 527 Forest Moss. This is a light olive color. I applied it heavily on the edges and flat surfaces of the dumpster bodies while leaving the weathering intact.

Dry Brush - Second Layer
FolkArt 480 Titanium White. A very light gray. Hitting the edges resulted in a dusty appearance that is not out of place here. I've seen enough dumpsters on enough construction sites to know that these things get coated in a layer of light colored grime.

A representation of the years 2020 and 2021.

The interior is just large enough to fit a miniature on a 25mm base. Note that a base that is not exactly 25mm may not work - I tried a couple that are just a little larger and they are a tight squeeze. There might be enough room for a couple of miniatures on 25mm bases, depending on the poses and weapons, but I couldn't find a pair that worked. A 30mm or 35mm base is right out. Of course, the interiors could be filled with setting-appropriate trash or the lids could just be left closed.

I like these pieces. The assembly was a little fiddly, but putting them together and painting them was a fun project to spread over a few weeknights. Their appearance fits in a modern, cyberpunk, or near future setting.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Haul 2021 - Part 2

Here's the last couple of tabletop gaming related items that a combination of crass commercialism and lack of self-discipline put into my possession. Since I've done a fair job of getting things done lately, I don't feel too guilty about adding to the project pile. We will see how long they sit around until I get to them.

From left to right - Magic Portal, Demon Gate, 

Zealot Miniatures

This is a company in the United Kingdom that offers a variety of resin miniatures, terrain pieces, and conversion bits for fantasy and sci-fi settings. My order was processed quickly and arrived as soon as could be expected given the state of international shipping. This order is my first purchase from them.

Magic Portal (Blue)
I've had my eye on this one for awhile due to its resemblance to the means of interstellar transport of a popular sci-fi franchise. It also wouldn't look out of place in a fantasy setting. The acrylic insert is also available in red.

Demon Gate (Red)
A more ominous looking alternative to the above terrain. The appearance is more fantastic than the Magic Portal, but it could work in a sci-fi game as an alien construct. A blue insert is also available.

As the names suggest, these pieces represent generators for space-time distortions that can be wandered through to end up at a far away destination. Both are part of Zealot Miniatures' Dungeon Scenery line. Each is made of resin with a clear acrylic insert representing the distortion. The resin body comes in multiple parts, requiring assembly and painting.

Zealot Miniatures also included some Christmas freebies with my order. These are tiny resin pieces resembling a stocking and Christmas decorations. I'll put these aside until I get around to a Christmas themed board.

Atmospheric Water Condenser Scatter Terrain

The Atmospheric Water Condenser is a device for extracting drinkable water from air. The harvested water can be stored in an adjacent collection tank or underground cistern. Piping the water directly to a hydroponic farm or into a settlement's infrastructure for immediate use is also common. Larger models are available for harvesting water in the quantities required for industrial applications, but arrays of standard models are also used for this purpose. Similar technology is commonly employed in agricultural projects on backwater worlds in a far away galaxy.

- Kessler's Upcycling Sales Catalog

I had no idea of what this piece would represent while building it. The process started when I noticed how well some of the recovered printer and computer parts fitted together. Things snowballed from there. I posted a WIP photo on the Trash Bash International Facebook group to get some feedback. Thanks to Gary Golding for inspiring the name!

Rosie giving another bit of tech the once over.

Assembly was straightforward - I just dug around my boxes of greeblies and fit things together where they looked good. Most of the parts are joined with Gorilla Super Glue. The main tower needed a more robust solution to convince it to stay put. Fortunately, all my scavenging has resulted in a collection of suitable screws.

First Spray Coat
Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black sprayed evenly over the piece.

Second Spray Coat
Krylon Camouflage Ultra-Flat Khaki sprayed at a downward angle to achieve a zenithal effect with the black.

Wash Coat
I mixed a black wash and applied it to all surfaces, taking care to get it into the recesses. The excess was wiped off to prevent pooling.

First Dry Brush Coat
FolkArt 420 Linen. This was a heavy dry brushing to get a weathered, been-out-in-the-blazing-sun-too-long appearance.

Second Dry Brush Coat
FolkArt 480 Titanium White. I brushed on just enough to achieve some highlighting.

Sometimes glue just isn't enough for the job.

This piece will likely see the most use as scatter terrain in sci-fi games. I could use it as an objective marker. In that case, its stated function may change to a sensor array, communications relay, terraforming widget, or other technobabble gadget depending on the scenario.

The Last Call - Campaign Start and Turn #1 Pre-Battle

In the previous post of this series, I described generating a crew and their stuff. Here I kick off the campaign and take all the steps just short of my crew's first battle. I get the feeling that a battle report will take up a post by itself.

I've settled on the following names and miniatures the crew of The Last Call. The Background, Motivation, and Class previously generated for each crew member are also listed.

Captain Wilhelmina "Mina" Derring
Bombshell Miniatures 36003 Wanda Whitestar
Industrial World, Adventure, Scoundrel

William "Bill" Baxter
Reaper Chronoscope 50028 Kirby McDowell, Space Privateer
Drifter, Glory, Scavenger

Roxanna "Rocky" Gaussi
Bombshell Miniatures Bug Spray
Wasteland Nomads, Discovery, Mercenary

Yelena Waverly
Bombshell Miniatures 36020 Science Officer Helen Salinger
Dystopian City, Technology, Trader

Freyja Niobe
Reaper Chronoscope 50132 Jessica Blaze, Smuggler
Mining Colony, Wealth, Negotiator

Rosalina "Lin" Johansen
Reaper Chronoscope 50016 Rosie, Chronotechnician
High-Tech Colony, Survival, Technician

The rulebook, miniatures, and dice. Now all I need is the time to set up a board and play.

Last Call Campaign Start

With a crew ready to go, I just had to decide on which options to take going in. These decisions would influence how things would be handled from here on.

Story Track - No. This would have introduced mechanics for an overall story arc to the campaign. I decided to keep things simple for my introductory campaign. There would still be narrative elements, but no overarching plot in the background.

Victory Condition - Play 50 campaign turns. There are a variety of Victory Conditions available in the rules. This seemed the most straightforward.

Difficulty Mode - Normal. This indicates no changes to the rules. There are more challenging modes in addition to an Easy mode.

Story Points - 8 total. Since this is my first campaign, the rules state that I roll two D6 and keep the better result to determine the number of story points I have at the start. A good thing, since my first die roll was a "1" and a "6" came up on the second die. This combined with the 2 story points from crew generation for a total of 8.

I noted the options available in "The Stars of the Story" section. These are rules that can be used to keep the campaign going in the event of a disastrous set of events. Each allows the game to be fudged a little to prevent an unrecoverable result. However, each option can only be used once during a campaign.


Turn 1 Start

Travel Steps

It is assumed that a campaign begins with the crew already on a planet. Thus, most of Travel and the first two steps of New World Arrival are skipped. These rules will come up should I choose to go elsewhere.

Licensing Requirements - I rolled a "2" on a D6. This world doesn't require a Freelancer License for my crew to operate.

World Traits - "01" on percentile dice. "Haze" - visibility is reduced to 1D6+8" during battle. Why a planet has a particular trait is left to the imagination of the player. I decided to make it the home of Mina - an industrial world. The haze is the result of smog from various pollutants in the atmosphere. I named the world the Pandora Innovation Zone.

A fist full of credits. A small fist.

World Steps

Upkeep - 1 credit. This represents the crew getting paid.

Ship Debt - With a fair amount of starting funds, I chose to knock the ship debt down by half by spending 11 credits. This put the new ship debt total at 11 credits and left 12 credits remaining in the war chest.

Normally, things like repairs to the ship and medical attention for the crew would come up at this stage. Fortunately, the ship and crew are in good shape - so far!

Crew Tasks - I already had a Patron for work and didn't a have Rival to worry about. The temptation to just have everyone Train to get some XP coming in was strong, but I wanted to try my luck rolling dice and checking tables.

• Mina, Rocky, and Freyja hit the gun range and gym. Each received 1 XP.
• Yelena and Lin wanted to see if they could Trade for a deal or two at the local markets. I rolled percentile dice for the results of their efforts. "94" indicated that Yelena obtained 2 Stim-Packs and 2 Med-Patches. "59" revealed that Lin turned up 3 grenades - 2 Frakk and 1 Dazzle.
• Bill went out to Explore the town. Rolled "03" - he ran across a deal he couldn't pass up, represented by a roll on the Trade Table. That roll was "89" - a roll on the Loot Table, but the item received would need Repair. A series of rolls resulted in Bill striding back to The Last Call with a "gently used" Plasma Rifle.

Job Offers - It was time to determine the identity of the Patron and what kind of work they had in mind. A series of rolls revealed that the Patron was the Local Government, was offering 2 credits in Danger Pay, and was willing to wait for awhile - the job could be done in the current turn or in the following two campaign turns. Checking for Benefits, Hazards, and Conditions turned out some bad news - this was a Dangerous Job. The enemy force would be increased by +1.

Assign Equipment - I distributed what was available to the crew. I didn't have as much firepower or protective equipment as I would've liked, but the extra stuff that turned up during Crew Tasks would come in handy. Too bad the Plasma Rifle would need some time and attention before it could be used.

• Mina - Machine Pistol, Glare Sword, Frag Vest, Boosted Leg
• Bill - Hand Laser, Frakk Grenade
• Rocky - Auto Rifle
• Lin - Hand Laser, Brutal Melee Weapon (represented by the wrench on the miniature)
• Freyja - Machine Pistol
• Yelena - Beam Pistol, Frakk Grenade

Resolve Any Rumors - I had a single Rumor from crew generation, but my roll of "2" was a little too high for anything to come of it. The Rumor would remain and be added to any others that might come up.


Choose Your Battle

With no Rivals (yet) to get the jump on my crew, I had a free hand in deciding what to do. I could always do an Opportunity mission, representing whatever odd job that came my way. In the end, I decided to go ahead and carry out the job for the Local Government. Sure, there was still plenty of time to get it done, but I wanted to get it out of the way.


Readying For Battle

Technically, this is part of the Battle stage, but I got excited. Besides, this way I'll know ahead of time what I need to set up the table.

Deployment Conditions - "89" rolled on percentile dice. "Caught Off Guard" - the crew would all be acting in the Slow Actions phase of Round 1! Argh!

Notable Sights - "81" on percentile dice. "Peculiar Item" - the item is placed 2D6+2" in a random direction from table center. Acquiring it involves moving a crew miniature into contact and foregoing any other actions that round. Getting it would be worth +2 XP.

Patron Mission Objectives - "3" on a D10. The Last Call crew had been hired to Eliminate a target.

Determine the Enemy - A series of die rolls revealed that the crew would be fighting 8 Large Bugs. I'm not sure why the Local Government wanted one in particular knocked off, but this crew wasn't getting paid to ask questions. I'll come up with a narrative reason why by the time I get the chance to sit down and play it out. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Next time in this series - The Last Call crew guns down Large Bugs in the smog!

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Haul 2021 - Part 1

As with previous years (2019 Part 1, 2019 Part 2, 2020) here's the first batch of tabletop gaming stuff I couldn't quite resist getting at sale prices. I'll present the rest when it shows up.

I need to make sure I have enough glue.

DTRPG

Both of these products were purchased in .pdf form.

Five Parsecs From Home Trailblazers Toolkit
An expansion for Five Parsecs From Home, 3rd Edition. It adds all kinds of options for running a campaign or battle. I've only flipped through it, but I can see the appeal for a player who already has a campaign or three under their belt. For me, still starting out, it has limited utility at this time. I'm looking forward to exploring these options a campaign or two down the road.

Desert Moon of Karth
A setting for the Mothership RPG. It's a desert world that pulls inspiration from a variety of sources. Mostly sources that take place on desert worlds. The western vibe is strong and mixes well with Mothership's quirky feel. I'll be waiting for the Mothership boxed set to come out before running it, but a setting book like this is a handy source for ideas in any sci-fi game.

Ah, the smell of freshly lasered MDF. Smells like future terrain projects.

Warsenal

Garbage Dumpsters TR-MDF-INF003-2
This is a pair of identical terrain pieces. They are mostly MDF with a plastic rod to work with the hinges on the lids. Although other companies offer similar terrain pieces in plastic, I wanted something more durable and the price was competitive. Best of all, since the lids open there is enough space for a figure to stand inside.

Comanche Tower Lamps TR-MDF-TWR-LMP
Three street lamps for the urban terrain tiles I made awhile ago.

REM Shack TR-MDF-TER-REM-SHK
I got this for its potential as a multi-scale piece. At 28mm, it can serve as a small workshop. At 15mm, it can represent a garage for servicing a small vehicle.


Now I just need to finish some of my current projects to make room to work on these. Another shipment is on the way from further off - I'll post that stuff when it arrives.

Five Parsecs From Home Turn 0

I finally have barely enough painted miniatures and terrain for my first Five Parsecs From Home campaign. More of both will be needed later, so I'm continuing to get more ready for the table. The biggest hurdle remaining is also the hardest - time. I got the work of generating the start of the campaign done this past weekend, so I'm sharing how that went in this post.

I'd like to say that this made a significant dent in my pile of shame, but...

As mentioned in a previous post, Five Parsecs From Home is a solo miniatures game built around campaign play. The player runs a spaceship crew for hire. They do jobs for employers who prefer to keep their dirty work at arms length. Violence happens, the interests of the employer is advanced, and the crew gets paid - in theory. Things have a way of going off the rails.

Preparing a new campaign involves generating a crew and the resources they have at their disposal. It mostly involves rolling dice, checking tables, and recording the results. Those results only offer the basics. Providing more narrative details is left to the player.


The Crew

The standard crew size is six characters. There are rules for starting with a smaller crew that I'm looking forward to trying out sometime. But this is my first Five Parsecs From Home campaign, so I decided to stick with a standard crew.

I used the "first timer" method. All six characters are Human. As with many rules systems, Humans have middle of the road statistics and minimal special rules. An all Human crew simplifies both character creation and running them during play. It also means that I don't have to find miniatures to represent an unusual character.

Below are the results from the Background, Motivation, and Class tables. The numbers are the die rolls using percentile dice. The names of each result are paraphrased to keep them relatively short. The rules effects of each result are also noted.

Background Table Results:
87 Industrial World - +1 Gear
33 Drifter - +1 Gear
96 Wasteland Nomads - +1 Reactions, +1 Low-tech Weapon
07 Dystopian City - +1 Speed
16 Mining Colony - +1 Toughness
02 Peaceful, High-Tech Colony - +1 Savvy, +1D6 credits

Motivation Table Results:
36 Adventure - +1D6 credits, +1 Low-tech Weapon
19 Glory - +1 Combat Skill, +1 Military Weapon
53 Discovery - +1 Savvy, +1 Gear
48 Technology - +1 Savvy, +1 Gadget
06 Wealth - +1D6 credits
24 Survival - +1 Toughness

Class Table Results:
66 Scoundrel - +1 Speed
98 Scavenger - 1 Rumor, +1 High-tech Weapon
25 Mercenary - +1 Combat Skill, +1 Military Weapon
48 Trader - +2D6 credits
44 Negotiator - Patron, +1 story point
09 Technician - +1 Savvy, +1 Gear

I put the results together and assigned miniatures as follows:
Industrial World, Adventure, Scoundrel - Wanda Whitestar
Drifter, Glory, Scavenger - Kirby McDowell
Wasteland Nomads, Discovery, Mercenary - Bug Spray
Dystopian City, Technology, Trader - Helen Salinger
Mining Colony, Wealth, Negotiator - Jessica Blaze
High-Tech Colony, Survival, Technician - Rosie

I'll come up with names later.


Their Stuff

Character generation provided the following starting equipment:
2 Military Weapons
1 High-Tech Weapon
2 Low-Tech Weapons
4 Gear
1 Gadget
4D6 credits

In addition, all crews start with the following:
3 Military Weapons
3 Low-Tech Weapons
1 Gear
1 Gadget
1 credit per crew member

Finally, the rules provide a benefit for characters who rolled a Savvy increase. Each time that occurs, the player can take a High-Tech Weapon instead of a Military Weapon. With three characters rolling Savvy increases, I opted to substitute three High-Tech Weapons for Military Weapons.

Below are the results from each equipment table. As before, the numbers are the percentile dice rolls.

Military Weapons
70 Auto Rifle - a heavy rifle with a drum magazine used for fire support.
76 Rattle Gun - a belt-fed machine gun of obsolete or dubious design.

High-Tech Weapons
17 Hand Laser - a directed energy weapon in the form of a pistol.
98 Glare Sword - a glowing energy blade projected from a shiny handle.
41 Beam Pistol - a military grade sidearm.
25 Hand Laser - more handheld pew-pew.

Low-Tech Weapons
36 Machine Pistol - a submachine gun or PDW.
99 Brutal Melee Weapon - an unsubtle approach to melee combat.
06 Handgun - a conventional pistol.
17 Scrap Pistol - a conventional pistol bashed together from the parts that happened to be around.
38 Machine Pistol - see above.

Gear
07 Beam Light - gun mod that improves visibility.
47 Frag Vest - armor for a single character.
90 Sector Permit - handy on planets that require a license to operate.
73 Med-patch - single-use item that reduces the recovery time for an injured character.
38 Fake ID - handy for acquiring legal documentation via less than legal methods.

Gadget
05 Analyzer - provides a bonus when looking for certain information.
18 Boosted Leg - cybernetic implant that improves movement for a single character.

Credits
Rolled 18 on 4D6 and added 6 for a total of 24 credits.

"You shorted me five credits." "Uh, taxes?" *Sounds of violence.*

The Ship

The crew's spaceship is handled abstractly. The rule book mentions that a player could have a model for the ship that might appear in a battle, but the ship isn't the focus of the game. The main thrust of the game is the crew and the trouble that they get into.

That said, the ship does have an effect on the game. The debt that the crew owes on the ship - a nod to games like Traveller - provides a motivation and complication. How the ship is fitted can provide benefits for the crew. Finally, an equipment that the crew isn't carrying is assumed to be stored aboard the ship.

I rolled a 38, resulting in a retired scout ship with 25 Hull and the fuel-efficient trait. A rolled a 2 for debt, resulting in 22 credits owed.


Flavor Details

These tables are optional and don't effect gameplay, but add a little extra inspiration for the narrative behind the campaign. Die rolls used percentile dice.

55 The crew met at a bar.

62 "Somewhat honorable bandits" - I choose to interpret this as a collection of lost souls with nowhere better to be and no better prospects that as independent troubleshooters for hire.


I've got some ideas to flesh out the bare bones generated by these results. Names for the crew and more details for their backgrounds. The fact that they all met at a bar has already inspired the name of the ship: The Last Call.