The Last Call - Turn #2 Pre-Battle - Finding More Work from the Local Government

The first decision to make is to stay put or put some light years on The Last Call and go somewhere else. There's no assurance that the grass would actually be greener on another world. With the Local Government as a Patron, there's a reasonable chance of making money by sticking around the Pandora Innovation Zone. It looks like The Last Call will be occupying a hangar for another turn.

Crew Pay

This works out to a single credit per campaign turn. Credit Total: 11 credits.

Ship Debt
The accounts are looking thinner than at the start of Turn #1. I spent only a single credit on this item. Since Ship Debt increases by one credit per campaign turn, this is essentially the same as only paying the interest. Ship Debt: 11 credits. Credit Total: 10 credits.

Medical Care
The Med-Patches acquired on Turn #1 give me a way to get the crew roster back up to full. Removing a campaign turn from Bill's recovery time set me back 4 credits. Then the Med-Patches get slapped on Bill and Rocky. This reduces their recovery times to zero and allows them to act normally on this campaign turn. This also leaves The Last Call with a single Med-Patch in inventory. Credit Total: 6 credits.

The Last Call crew ain't broke, but they ain't exactly rich either.

Crew Tasks
With the crew needing a way to keep the credits flowing in, Mina and Freyja go to see if anybody has a job on offer. +3 bonus to the die roll with both of them looking and a Patron on the contact list.
Patron Roll (1D6): "2" modified to "5" - Mina and Freyja get word that the Local Government has work available.

Bill and Yelena go looking for opportunities to barter for new gear or score a few credits to keep the lights on.
Trade Table Roll - Bill (%): "100" - With a grin and an "ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies" attitude, Bill rolls back to The Last Call with a collection of Starship Repair Parts. This counts as 1D6 credits for repairing Hull Point damage to the ship. Single use.
Trade Table Roll - Yelena (%): "40" - Yelena swaps some unneeded supplies for a pallet of Trade Goods. These are worth 1D6 credits when sold on another planet. A die roll of "1" means that they spoiled or were damaged in transit. I'll make the roll when The Last Call makes the trip to another port.

Rocky tinkers with the damaged Plasma Rifle Bill found on Turn #1. She gets a +1 bonus to the die roll from her Savvy score.
Repair Roll - Plasma Rifle (1D6): "6" modified to "7" - the Plasma Rifle comes to life with an ominous hum.

Lin tries fixing the Brutal Melee Weapon she busted on the carapace of a Large Bug. She gets a +2 bonus from her Savvy score.
Repair Roll - Brutal Melee Weapon (1D6): "2" modified to "4" - Lin's just going to have to do without her favorite attitude adjustment tool for awhile. She can try again on the next campaign turn.

Good thing I have a plastic Rosie (the miniature I use for Lin) holding a rifle.

The Job Offer
The Local Government is offering a paltry single credit in Danger Pay for this one. Worse, they are in a hurry. The job must be done this turn or the opportunity is lost. The Local Government doesn't offer any Benefits, but there are no Hazards or Conditions on this job either.

Assign Equipment
With the outcome of the battle on Turn #1 firmly in mind, the crew reaches for more firepower before going to work. The Shotguns purchased last turn would come in handy for that goal. The Plasma Rifle that Rocky got working would help even more. Unfortunately, the crew is fresh out of Frakk Grenades.

• Mina - Shotgun, Glare Sword, Frag Vest, Boosted Leg (permanent, but noted here for completeness).
• Bill - Shotgun, Hand Laser, Dazzle Grenade.
• Rocky - Plasma Rifle, Machine Pistol.
• Lin - Auto Rifle, Hand Laser.
• Freyja - Shotgun, Machine Pistol.
• Yelena - Shotgun, Beam Pistol.

Resolve Rumors
I had a pair of Rumors, but my roll of "5" was too high for anything to come up.

Choose Your Battle
The crew of The Last Call doesn't have to worry about Rivals trying to ambush them yet. An Opportunity mission seems like a bad idea with the Local Government getting anxious about whatever they need done. That leaves the Patron mission for the Local Government.

Readying For Battle
This is actually part of the Battle stage, but I'd rather do it now. It helps to know what miniatures and terrain I'll need.

Deployment Conditions Roll (%): "90" - "Caught Off Guard" - The crew all act in the Slow Actions phase of Round #1. Again.

Notable Sights Roll (%): "39" - "Priority Target" - A random enemy gets +1 to their Toughness. If that enemy is killed, the crew gains 1D3 credits.

Patron Mission Objective Roll (1D10): "6" - The Last Call crew must Secure the site.

Determine the Enemy: A series of die rolls reveals that the opposition takes the form of eight Psychos. Unsettled by long exposure to deep space, these folks are mostly armed with Scrap Pistols and Blades. Two are Specialists packing Rattle Guns instead. Fortunately, Psychos are also Bad Shots. The gang is led by a Lieutenant. As Criminal Elements, Psychos may have a bounty on them and tend to be vindictive, increasing the chance that they will become a Rival.

Where am I going to find miniatures suitable for use as a criminal gang? Dunno.

It looks like I'll have to paint up my alternate miniature for Lin. And I have some Psychos to prepare! The battle report for Turn #2 might be awhile.

A Brutal Cities Package Appears!

I used some of my Christmas cash on my first order from Brutal Cities, a company offering MDF terrain out of Australia. It's a one person operation run by a gentleman named Ryan. He fulfilled my order as soon as he got back from the holiday break. It took a month for the package to make the voyage from Australia to the United States thanks to the current state of affairs.

I didn't remove the backing on the signs before taking this photo, so they don't look as bright as they should be.

Billed as "Wargaming Architecture" on their website, Brutal Cities terrain has a functional aesthetic that fits into a variety of sci-fi settings. I first learned of the company on YouTube: One Terrain for All Games - Brutal Cities (MDF) by 52 Miniatures. In need of more 28mm scale sci-fi terrain for some reason, I put in a modest order.

Eternity Lab Module A & Module C
Brutal Cities' Eternity Labs is a modular MDF terrain system designed to be stacked up or spread out as needed. Module A is the smallest one and Module C is the largest. Brutal Cities offers a bundle of three Module B pieces in addition to individual pieces. The bundle something I'm keeping in mind if I choose to expand my collection down the road.

Cyberpunk Acrylic Neon Signs
This is a set of eight acrylic signs designed to hook onto a 3mm MDF terrain building. The pink and green are really bright, selling the idea of them being neon - although they would likely be some kind of LED technology even in a cyberpunk hellhole. There's a nice selection of signs advertising various fictional businesses. One's for a milk bar, another for a burger joint, a couple that I'll have to squint at later, and a couple for Brutal Cities itself - which is fair enough, I figure.

One of the signs didn't survive the trip from down under. I haven't decided if I'm going to just leave it as "weathering" or try to glue it back together.

I'm looking forward to putting these together, painting them up, and seeing how they work on the tabletop. There's plenty more variety to choose from if I take a liking to them.

Zealot Miniatures Demon Gate (Red)

This is a resin piece with a translucent plastic insert representing a portal generated by pointy bits instead of a ring thingy. I purchased mine from Zealot Miniatures when I was going hog wild over various Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales late last year. The plastic insert is available in red or blue. I opted for red given the aggressively spiky appearance of the resin model. The glow effect took some time and effort, but I think it turned out well.

Not ominous. At all.

Preparation
There were some bits that needed to be fixed. The plastic insert had a rough edge that needed to be sanded down. I also had to remove a tab on the resin part. The biggest issue was that the resin piece tended to wobble, so I had to sand down the bottom to get it to sit level. Following that was the usual scrubbing in warm soap and water. I set the clear plastic inset aside - no priming or paint was applied to it.

"I think we're guarding the wrong thing." "Yes. Yes, you are."

Primer Coat
Tamiya Surface Primer (L) in Gray sprayed evenly over the resin piece.

First Paint Coat
I brushed on a layer of FolkArt 479 Pure Black diluted with water to darken the gray primer and fill in the recessed details.

Second Paint Coat
Next came a light dry brush of FolkArt 480 Titanium White as a highlight on the uppermost areas.

"How about you go through and see what's on the other side?" "How about no."

Glow Effect
I used layers of FolkArt 437 Lipstick Red, 932 Calico Red, and 480 Titanium White to color the crystals sculpted on the model and build up the glow effect radiating out from the crystals and portal. My initial attempt turned out more pink than red. The solution was to darken it down with washes and dry brush more of the glow colors with more of an emphasis on the darkest red color. The washes were FolkArt 479 Pure Black and 231 Real Brown diluted with water. Excess wash was wiped away to prevent pooling. The second layer of red glow colors worked much better.

Assembly
I glued on the red plastic insert with a drop of Tacky Glue. This was to avoid any potential issues with using superglue on clear plastic. No primer or paint was used on the plastic insert.

What happens if somebody goes through the back of one of these things?

This was a quick and fun rainy day project. The completed piece has a distinctive look and works well with 15mm and 28mm scale miniatures. I'm really pleased with how the red glow came out. I'm not sure if I can convince any players to risk their characters on a trip through it, but I can always have something step out of it for a visit.

Warsenal REM Shack TR-MDF-TER-REM-SHK

Known as "The Barn" or "The Red Shed" to the local population, this structure has changed hands (or equivalent manipulator) many times over its existence. The businesses it has hosted include: a small machine maintenance bay, the branch office of a repair services company, a chop shop disguised as a robotics workshop, and a portable communications device outlet. The communications and sensor arrays have gradually been upgraded over the structure's history. The initial set up was a dispatch system for service technicians. The largest expansion took place when the structure briefly hosted a pirate subspace radio station. The original sensor gear was a diagnostic rig, but was later expanded to monitor the nearby area for law enforcement activity during those periods when the structure was used for illicit enterprises. The structure is currently unoccupied and has passed all required inspections.

- Kessler's Upcycling Sales Catalog

Rosie considers a fixer upper for her new workshop.

This is the REM Shack from Warsenal. It is marketed for use in Infinity, but what caught my eye was its potential as a versatile scale-neutral terrain piece. Besides, Five Parsecs From Home turns out to need more terrain than I thought it would.

Assembly
The REM Shack is all MDF except for the plastic antenna. I had a relaxing time putting it together. The instructions - available from Warsenal as a .pdf download - were clear enough. None of the parts needed convincing to go where they needed to go. I used Tacky Glue, but any white glue should work. If I were to get another REM Shack, I might leave a few parts off until after spraying on a base coat. Getting paint into some of nooks and crannies was a little annoying.

Some 15mm scale GZG Survey Team personnel for comparison.

First Spray Coat
Krylon Fusion All-In-One Matte Black sprayed evenly on all surfaces.

Second Spray Coat - Base Only
Krylon ColorMaxx Paint + Primer Matte Deep Gray on the flat base only. This is intended to represent concrete or some sci-fi equivalent. I masked off the base after this coat dried.

Third Spray Coat - Metallics
I picked out certain areas for a layer of Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Metallic Aluminum. These areas were masked off afterwards. I also sprayed the upper surfaces to achieve a zenithal effect.

Fourth Spray Coat - Red
All of the remaining (unmasked) areas got a layer of Krylon ColorMaster Paint + Primer Matte Poppy Red. The red is noticeably lighter in the areas previously sprayed with Metallic Aluminum and darker over the Matte Black.

I'm not sure what that duct is supposed to do, but it looks nice.

Touch Up
I found some overspray after removing the masking tape. It happens. These areas were corrected by various means. I brushed on a little gray paint where the Poppy Red got on the base. A Silver Metallic Sharpie covered up the Poppy Red that showed up on the metallic areas. There was also some Metallic Aluminum showing on some of the Poppy Red areas. I used some diluted black paint to conceal it and simulate grime.

Detail Pass - Yellow
The REM Shack has some small rectangular details that I decided to bring out. They looked like some kind of futuristic fasteners to me, so I was originally going to go with a metallic gold or copper color. However, the yellow I picked to go under the metallic really popped against the Poppy Red. I liked the effect enough to leave it as is.

Weathering Pass - Metallic Wear and Tear
I used a Silver Metallic Sharpie to simulate areas where the red chipped away.

Wash Layer
Finally, I finished up with the messy stage - brushing on a dark wash over all surfaces and wiping off the excess. I used a downward motion where possible to simulate grime flowing down the structure. I followed up with diluted black paint in areas where I wanted the weathering to be darker.

The back is also well detailed.

I've been ordering scatter terrain from Warsenal for quite awhile, but this is the first building I've purchased from them. Overall, I'm happy with it. There is a great deal of complex detail added to a relatively simple shape. It works with both 15mm and 28mm figures and will make a good display piece in between seeing action on the table.