ScrapYard Armory

Irian brings us into the Dark Ages of Battletechs many eras.  Patrick Wynne is at the helm for this adventure which, from the look of the cover, promises to field a diverse collection of interested parties.  I’m excited to dive in and see what the Dark Ages has in store for the Turning Points series!

Words But a Whisper

The opening fiction opens Turning Points: Irian with a battered Capellan loyal infantry squad desperately trying to fulfill their mission in the face of their inevitable death. The secret they carry is hopefully worth their lives.  For the Chancellor.

A well written piece of fiction with a smooth flow to it.  It leaves me wanting more.  Perhaps such a story, or at least the prologue could be expanded into a BattleCorps story.  I think it would be well worth the read.

Irian

The next section covers a brief history of the planet.  While mostly unscathed from the Succession Wars, Irian was swept up in the Blakist Jihad and was held under their control almost to the end.  The Blakists, true to their nature, left some nuclear parting gifts that would thrust the planet into rebuilding for the bulk of the Dark Ages.

Of course there is a secret on Irian that only comes to light after covert operations on the planet discovers something so valuable it would attract quite the cast of characters to usher in a new wave of violence and the subsequent plot of this edition of the Turning Points PDF series.

Terrain tables cover the generic world conditions and the heavy industrial regions that are sure to be hotspots of conflict.  Optional rules are also given for terrain and weather features that are common on the planet.  Par for the course so far.

RATs

Do you like Random Assignment Tables?  Well if you do you are going to love Irian.  We have a unique twist on the regular 2D6 RAT chart we all know and love.  Mech tables go from 2 to 16 with rolls modified by a forces Equipment Level.  The highest quality rating receiving a +4 to all rolls.  To add to the fun we have sub-tables for industrial Mechs.  Vehicle and Infantry tables are here too.  As well as a special table just to cover Irtech Security forces.

There are a lot of entries from 3085 (naturally) so be prepared to find a lot of ‘Mechs you may not be used to playing with.  More fun to add to the mix in my opinion.

Campaign

Irian takes a full two and a half pages to describes the buffet of attempted invaders that took a crack at securing the now not so secret prize on Irian.  The forces taking part in the many invasions and counterattacks are splinter factions of the popular houses and clans and those who spent any time playing the MechWarrior ClickTech games will recognize them instantly.

What a cluster…  Just about everybody invited themselves to this party.  Certainly that will lead to some discontinuity in the tracks later.  What I mean is, it will probably be hard to take a single player force through all of the tracks and stay within the lines of the plot.  In that sense this makes Irian more of a replacement of the scenario books of old than a set of contiguous tracks meant for a single force.  This has been done before with the Turning Points books and is not a bad thing at all.  It scratches a particular type of itch.

Combatants

The combatants section features short bios of the major players on Irian.  Along with the usual Commanding Officer, experience level, RAT, and unit abilities we have an added equipment level which will impact RAT table results when rolling random forces.

Irian features a wide and varied mix of forces on planet.  It was quite the cluster over control of the Irian prizes.  I found the mix of unit abilities to be excellent.  There is an assortment of the standard A Time of War and Tactical Operations abilities but it does not rely on them exclusively.

Some standard abilities have slight modifications to add to the units flavor.  The original force abilities are unique and inspired.  My personnel favorite has to be the Spirit Cats who, once per track, may enter a “collective mystic experience” for a chance at a to-hit bonus for the turn.  The downside is they automatically lose initiative and the combat bonus is not guaranteed.  In fact it can even make things worse if you are not lucky.  Drugs, not even once kids…

An excellent section and well above grade so far.

Tracks

We are treated to a selection of 11 tracks to cover the battle over Irian.  This is well more than than average and continues a steady increase in the number of tracks in Turning Point PDFs.

The first thing that I noticed is that the tracks are all over the place.  With so many different forces on planet making a mess it is hard for Irian to have a focal point.  If anything, it would have to be the Irian Defense Forces and the associated defenders who are taken to task and beaten up by every faction you can imagine.

This is not a bad thing.  In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, I feel that these PDF exclusives are filling the void of the old scenario packs.  The is a collection of missions you can pick and choose from.  Using the guidelines you can make these battles as big or small as your time allows.

The tracks feature a healthy mix of stand up fights, breakthrough, and some more interesting set pieces.  Objectives tend to favor the predictable old standbys (go kill the other guys).  However the combination of special rules do a good job to mix things up.

Along your trip through Irian you may encounter ‘Mech pit traps, Automated Drone Mechs, and Methane Mud Pits.

The Elastic Retreat features an interesting back and forth slug fest designed to use rolling maps in both directions as reinforcements inevitably turn the tide of the battle.

My favorite though has to be Fit to Fight which is a moon fight with programmable Industrial ‘Mechs!  Lots of fun just thinking about that one!  Pray for ECM!

There is plenty of bread and butter battles too which is fine in moderation.  Moral Melee makes use of standard objectives along with Clan Honor in this curious battle between opposing Clan Invaders.

A few Dropships and even the Bounty Hunter are sprinkled through the other tracks.  I enjoyed the track selections and while many seemed to favor predictable objectives, the numerous Special Rules more than did their job shaking up the experience.

Record Sheets

We are provided five record sheets where each fills a unique role in one or more scenarios.

First up is a militarized RV.  A sporty little wheeled ICE vehicle featuring two King David Gauss rifles to pepper and harass your enemies.

An industrial Mech, Inquisitor II, and a badass Marauder II are the only ‘Mechs.  The Inquisitor looks benign at first.  It is a rather sub-par medium ‘Mech until you notice the TSEMP Cannon.  This changes the algebra and will force your opponent to consider the damage potential.  The Marauder II is a pound for pound slugger.  A primarily long range load-out and armor to last will make this a beast to contend with.  Its only weakness is perhaps the lack of crit seeking and the chance for some heat spikes once you close range.

The last two record sheets feature a scenario required land train.  It’s a train!  Nuff said.

Map

Of course no Turning Points PDF would be complete without the gorgeous planetary assault map.  Interstellar Operations cannot come soon enough!

Final Thoughts

Irian is a mashup at heart.  There are so many contenders it can be hard to keep track.  Speaking of Tracks, Irian makes good use of unique and interesting Special Rules to spice up the game.  Combined with an above average Combatants section and all the other value you expect from the Turning Point series and you have a great product and a worthy addition to the Turning Points line.

The Dark Age era may be a non-starter depending on your mood.  After all there is plenty of material covering earlier and more familiar conflicts.  Those interested and willing to try a taste of the newest and most recent story arc are sure to find great things on Irian.

I picked up this miniature ages ago at a convention.  At the time IWM was selling these turrets and bases in a pick and choose format.  You picked a base and a turret you wanted for just a few bucks.  With plenty of weapons to choose from it was too tempting to pass up.  I went with a LRM variant although there were options for lasers or autocannons.  Sadly I cannot find anything in the IWM store that I could point you to if you wanted to buy one yourself.  This may have been a one time thing for conventions.

UPDATE:

A helpful reader has picked out the turrets on the IWN store!  Mix and match to your hearts content!

• Turrets
• Bunkers

The base coat for this miniature started with Slaanesh Grey (two coats) and Plague Brown on the details on the launcher face.

A quick wash of future floor finish and black ink worked wonders to shade the mini.

Highlighting was done with dry brushing on Stonewall Grey and then coming back with a few choice lines with the detail brush.  The yellow was brought up with successive coats of Plague Brown and Moon Yellow.  Some final details were added with black followed up with Gunmetal Grey to bring our fins or grids where I found them.  Very simple stuff here.  Its only a turret after all!

All together a nice and quick paint job and something to add to a raid or defensive objective game.

Heavy Metal Map is a great program.  It’s oodles of fun and can occupy my time for hours.

On a lark I decided to warm up the old program to make a new map.  The Remote Airfield map is designed to represent a small isolated airport for small craft (not a dropship port).  While mostly flat there are a few key features to break up movement and line of sight.  Light woods and some small water features are scattered about to keep things interesting.

As always I have three different formats available.  Pick what you need and happy gaming!

ScrapYardArmory – Remote Airfield

Printable PDF (0.65MB)

Low Resolution JPEG (3.04MB)

High Resolution JPEG (10.6MB)

Action Shots

Pride and PPCs

An action packed piece of fiction opens up our adventure on Tortuga.  After more than a few slower and more subdued opening fiction entries for recent Turning Points (but not in a bad way) it is refreshing to get back behind the cockpit glass and read about some action!  Very good opening fiction.  It would appear that Pirates and heavy vehicle combat are in our future.

The familiar Geoff Swift is at the helm of this PDF.  Lets see if Mr. Swift can impress with Pirates on his palette.

Tortuga Prime

First off is a one page section giving a rough history of the planet and its surrounding region.  It’s a brief history lesson of Tortuga’s slow but steady rise in prominence, including being noticed by the Word of Blake.  This PDF is dedicated to the Jihad era from here on out.

Tortuga seems to be a barren landscape with only two mapsheet tables to pick from.  You are either in an urban area or are stuck in desert flatland.

Optional terrain and weather rules come from Tactical Operations and include much of what you would expect after reading; sand, heavy industrial, low gravity, and more.

The accompanying full color map is a gorgeous view of the world and great for picking out key battles and providing ideas for battles off the radar.

Random Assignment Tables

Two factions are in the mix on Tortuga; The pirates and the Filtvelt Coalition.  ‘Mech tables are combined for them and provided for each weight class.

Vehicles however are broken up by faction with some crossover.  The Filtvelt Coalition seems to have a wider variety of vehicles to choose from.

It is always welcome to see vehicles in the mix and this Turning Point is chock full.  It will be interesting to see how the tracks make use of the vehicle heavy mix of forces.

History

An abbreviated one page summary of the battle of Tortuga Prime gives us the best look so far at what happened and why.  The story is quite interesting and details the Pirate defense of their capital planet from the invading mercenaries from the Filtvelt Coalition.

It is a good one filled with carnage, traps, and pitched battles.  I am looking forward to seeing how the tracks section tells the rest of the tale.

Commanders

This section gives a brief historical background on the two commanders in the battle.  Buck Tripp leads the mercenary force while William Derer defends Tortuga as a representative from the Word of Blake.

A small list of special abilities are given which is a short collection of A Time of War stats.  Only some of the abilities can be translated to tabletop battle conditions.  Die hard role players are left to fill in the blanks if they ever wanted to include them in a campaign.

Not much to write home about here.  We are given mostly story and a small collection of skill levels (Strategy + 3, Tactics +4, etc) to work with.

Combatants

A special note starts us off in the combatants section indicating that if players do not choose to use the included RAT tables then care should be taken to select units that have been produced for some time.  Pirates and Mercs don’t get shiny new toys apparently.  Not on Tortuga that is.  An excellent addition to the flavor of the game for those players willing to go the extra mile to make it happen.

There are only a few commands in play on Tortuga.  Much less than some other engagements we have seen in the past.  Each force is fleshed out including the commanding officers name, unit experience, recommended RAT tables, unit abilities and notes.

The unit abilities mostly have something to do with initiative.  A few Tac Ops special abilities are thrown in for good measure like Banking Initiative.  A few restrictions on unit composition round out this unit abilities.  Not a lot of interesting material with one exception.  The Tortugan Phalanx are a force of light to medium ‘Mechs loaded with as much TSM as possible.  They can carry loot in their hands above the normal limit and can do so without the normal movement modifier.  I can just imagine a rag tag bunch of pirate ‘Mechs hard marching to their dropships carrying cargo nets full of looted ‘Mech parts, supplies, and whatever.  As the only really unique force in the bunch I am hoping that their special ability comes into play during the tracks!

Something new I picked up on was the inclusion of paint scheme details for some of the forces mentioned.  An interesting touchfor these lesser known forces who may not have an entry in CamoSpecs.com (yet…).

Tracks

Right off the bat we are greeted with a smash and grab pirate raid in Breaking the Wheel.  Earlier I was hoping the Tortugan Phalanx would find a use for their pirate looting ability and here it is.  We see lots more of this theme later on.  As a prelude of sorts, this track comes before the main series of connected tracks.

One interesting nuance is the use of fixed unit counts.  Normally Turning Points PDFs shy away from dictating actual force size but rather rely on ratios (defender is twice the size of the attacker sort of stuff…).  I get a feel that these tracks are designed closer to the original Scenario books of old.  We have a series of set pieces rather than the more open ended framework of the Chaos Campaign while avoiding being so restrictive as to giving a set ToE.

The second and third tracks are our first linked up tracks.  In fact, these two tracks are designed to be fought at the same time.  Each force gets a fixed number of units to divide among the two battles.  Both tracks involve the raid mechanics introduced in the first track and look to be fast and brutal affairs.  Players are left with some interesting choices.  Do you split evenly and hope for the best?  Or do you sand bag one battle with the hopes of holding on with whats left on the second?  Decisions decisions…

Moving on we are treated to a nice variety of tracks.  Breakthroughs, kill em all battles, objective raids, and ambush are all there!  There are technician hostages, chemical weapon suicide vehicles, factories, ammo dumps, and jammers (oh my!).  For most tracks I thought that the selection of optional bonuses were weak, but I just didn’t care.  The character and story crammed into these tracks through the primary objectives are fantastic and will offer more than enough strategy than you can deal with.  Tortuga brings a great story and a great series of connected battles that will keep you on your feet and begging for more.

Combined arms including infantry are everywhere.  Several tracks have one force fielding vehicles only.  Infantry is used in conjunction with either defense setups or specific special rules and objectives that make their inclusion anything but token.

Throughout the series of battles you will be reusing surviving and damaged units from previous tracks over and over.  Each scenario links with previous battles in some way culminating in a final battle for the fate of the planet with anything and everything left standing.

The last battle I have some qualms over balance.  After 8 other tracks of beating each other up I am not convinced that it is obvious which survivors are able to be used and the resulting balance of the fight, but given the robust content up until this point I don’t think I am bothered too much with it.  At the end of the day BattleTech is one giant pick your own adventure book anyways so adding a few forces to one side to even things out and make it interesting would not be the worst thing in the world so long as all players are game.

These are some of the best tracks I’ve had the privilege to read in some time!

Technical Readout

I hope you like Brigands.  We are treated to a full TRO entry for the ‘Mech including record sheets for six different variants.  Lots of medium lasers in almost all configurations.  For a 25 ton ‘Mech some players may find the speed profile limiting at 6/9/6 and even 5/8 in one variant.  A bit light on the armor makes me think that this ‘Mech would like to avoid a pitched battle, especially against  PPCs and AC10s.

Rounding out this section is the custom Awesome piloted by the attacking commander Buck Tripp.  It is a scary looking fast variant moving at an impressive 5/8.  A perfect amount of heatsinks will keep this Mech running cool even when alpha striking every turn.  It includes the latest internal technology to make weight, including XL engine, XL gyro, and Ferro Fibrous armor.

This section provides more than usual.  Very nice to see the additional TRO material to make the campaign feel right!

Map

Of course no Turning Points PDF is complete without the multi-page planetary assault map.  I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Interstellar Operations to put these to good use.

Final Thoughts

Tortuga pulls out the stops with a wild ride on this pirate heavy campaign.  From the combined arms to the linked tracks there is a lot going on to keep you interested.  Any time I was able to find a potential fault with one section or another I found more than enough to make up for it in the tracks.

Tortuga joins the ranks of the best in the Turning points series.  My mind is already racing thinking of how I can run this campaign for myself.  I may be hitting up Iron Wind Metals for some Brigands soon!

Clan Invasion was played at TotalCon 2015 in Mansfield Massachusetts.  Thanks go to James Kirtley for providing the miniatures and terrain as well as running the game.

SITUATION

The Clan invasion has begun and an Inner Sphere company is caught in the crossfire.  The Clans have their sights on control of a hydro electric dam and the Inner Sphere defenders have rallied to its defense.  Can overwhelming numbers sway the battle in favor of the Inner Sphere for will the superior technology rule the day?

FORCES

All pilots for this battle have gunnery and piloting of 3/4.

The Inner Sphere

• CN9-D Centurion
• ENF-5D Enforcer
• WLF-2 Wolfhound
• WHM-7S Warhammer
• DV-7D Dervish
• VTR-9K Victor
• PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk
• AS7-S Atlas
• LCT-3S Locust
• VLK-QD Valkyrie
• HCT-5S Hatchetman
• AWS-9M Awesome

The Clans

• Daishi Prime
• Madcat Prime
• Loki Prime
• Vulture Prime
• Warhawk Prime
• Elemental Battle Armor x 5

The Battle Field and Deployment

The battle takes place at the site of a hydro-electric dam defended by the Inner Sphere.  The Clans deploy at the southern edge of the map and are the attackers in this scenario.

Dark green hexes are light woods.  Brown hexes are sand.

Turn 1 – Inner Sphere Wins Initiative

The Clan units advance slowly keeping a relatively loose formation.

The Inner Sphere units inch up into better firing positions while keeping several of the lighter units back in reserve.

Long range weapons fire concentrates pot shots on the Atlas and Loki with minimal damage to each side.  Nothing but a few paint scratches.

Turn 2 – Inner Sphere Wins Initiative

The Clans form up on a line around a batch of woods while the Inner Sphere continues to hang back.

The Inner Sphere forces take long range shots on the MadCat and manage to scratch some armor but little else.

Return fire from the Clans concentrates on the Atlas.  An ERPPC obliterates the Atlas’ cockpit.  First blood to the Clans.

Turn 3 – Clans Win Initiative

The Loki and MadCat rush forward while everyone else drop most of the elemental units off.  The Daishi parks in the woods it is currently occupying and settles in for the battle.

The Inner Sphere, shocked at the sudden loss of their Atlas, start to look a bit flustered.  The light units begin to form up, possibly lining up a rush into the fray.  The remaining heavier units continue to park themselves for now, content to trade long range fire with the Clans.

The Inner Sphere concentrates fire on the MadCat.  Most shots miss but a few PPCs scatter damage around the torso.

The Clans line up shots on the Awesome and slag a few tons of armor away.  A lone shot hits internal on the left torso and manages two criticals; a heat sink and an engine.

Turn 4 – Clans Win Initiative

The Clans begin using their now deployed battle armor to sink initiative.  All remaining elementals are dropped this turn.  The Loki and Madcat move backwards after shedding their infantry.

The Inner Sphere begins to look frazzled and they lurch forward in a disjointed attack.

The Inner Sphere splits fire against Battle Armor and the Madcat while the Clans concentrate on the Victor.

One elemental bites the dust after a PPC and some LBX cluster shot.  Two PPCs land on the MadCat who shakes off the damage.

The Victor is brutalized by a hail of ERPPCs, ERLL, and UAC5 shots.  The left leg in particular is crushed by the barrage resulting in foot critical hit.  Against the odds, the Victor keeps his balance and remains standing.

Meanwhile the MadCat fails his own pilot check and falls down (rolled snake eyes!).

Turn 5 – Inner Sphere Wins Initiative

The Inner Sphere light units begin to rush forward while the Elementals jump to meet them on the banks of the river.  Assaults and heavies creep forward beginning to be seem desperate to close the range and bring more weapons to bear.

The Madcat rolls snake eyes again and falls again.  The second try brings the Mech to its feet.

The Vulture and Loki fade back, seemingly content to dance back and forth keeping their long range weapons in range with a decent movement modifier.

The Inner Sphere concentrates fire on the MadCat with some secondary targets chasing Elemental units.  The Clans begin to argue about target selection and end up spreading shots around.  Elementals go after targets of opportunity.

Early shots on the MadCat miss needing mostly 10s.  A few long range weapons hit home and manage to concentrate damage on the left leg and right torso.  Damage goes internal but fails to hit anything important.  A lucky PPC hits the head and also fails to score a crit.

Secondary fire from the Inner Sphere obliterates two elementals and scatters damage on others.

The Clans return fire in dramatic fashion.  After taking some light damage from UAC5s the Phoenix Hawk is summarily head capped by a Large Pulse Laser from the Warhawk.  The Phoenix Hawk is notably one of the few designs that NEVER fields full head armor.

“Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?”

The MadCat brutalizes the Victor after the Vulture and Loki mostly miss.  The left arm is shredded and lots of internal damage is dealt out but amazingly no critical hits.  Two squads of elementals fill in the holes with SRM fire and manage to find a box of ammo.  CASE saves what little remains of the battered ‘Mech.

The Victor and MadCat both fail their piloting checks and hit the dirt.  The Victor is left with no arms, no side torsos, and one remaining leg hanging on by a single point of internal structure.

Turn 6 – Clans Win Initiative

The Clan Loki and MadCat continue to dance back and forth.  The other Clan units are content to snipe from wooded positions and offer little movement.

The Inner Sphere Locust makes a long run, swinging wide of the main battle and is appearing to be trying to flank the Clan position.  The remaining Inner Sphere units bunch up along the waterline with some attempting to ford the river.  Elementals jump at the Inner Sphere units as they are slowed up by the terrain and begin making attacks on the Centurion and others.

The Inner Sphere opens up fire on the MadCat desperate to score a kill to get the ball rolling on their end.  Some shots are designated on the Loki and Vulture as well as numerous secondary targets on elementals.

The Clans continue to spread the love around and target the Awesome, Warhammer, Wolfhound, and Valkyrie.

Finally some decent hits start to come for the Inner Sphere who are able to slag a few tons of armor off of the MadCat.  The left torso is ripped open and the left leg is blown clear off sending the ‘Mech to the ground once more.  Unfortunately most of the big weapons fail to find the target and the MadCat is left alive able to prop and shoot next turn.  The Loki and Vulture come away mostly unscathed.

The Clans core out the Warhammer’s left torso and destroy a leg as well.  The first set of shots on the Awesome scratch the armor but do little to worry the massive assault ‘Mech.  As weapons fire finishes up, one last last ERPPC from the Loki hits the Awesome’s head, crushing the cockpit and silencing the great machine.

Elementals launch swarm and leg attacks on the Centurion but only succeed with the swarm attack.  The Centurion pilot begins to worry as the clatter of battle claws can be heard scurrying up his ‘Mech.

Turn 7 – Inner Sphere Wins Initiative

The Locust finally wades into the river well behind the Clan forces.  Another turn and the ‘Mech will be able to sprint into the Clan flank.  The Wolfhound, Centurion, and Enforcer rush forward to close the distance with the Vulture.

The Clan Loki and Vulture continue to dance back and forth satisfied with their progress so far in the battle.

Targeting for both sides devolves into targets of opportunity.  No focus firing or concentration is evident.

Weapons fire for the Inner Sphere is stunningly ineffective.  Scattered shots slag armor from multiple Clan units but no significant damage, internals, or criticals are reported.  A single PPC scores on the head of the Loki but no criticals result.

The IS Wolfhound is crushed under several withering volleys of ERPPCs and more.  The whole right side of the ‘Mech is destroyed.  The Victor gets a leg blown off by elementals.  Further damage results in no less than 6 center torso criticals.  The Valkyrie has its left torso and center torso cored out by a hail of fire from the Daishi and Warhawk.

The swarming elementals on the Centurion tear into the center torso resulting in two critical hits.  The engine and gyro are both hit once.

After a few players glance around the table it is agreed that it is safe to call the game at this point in favor of the Clans.

The End

To say the least, it was a rough game for the Inner Sphere.

Perhaps the addition of Clan honor rules may have allowed the Inner Sphere to pick their battles more effectively or at least been able to buy them time to cross the river and have a chance.  The early loss of the Atlas also stung quite a bit and a few players lamented how a point or two of Edge may have been useful to iron out the randomness of head hits from Clan ERPPCs.

All the players I had a chance to talk to still had a good time and enjoyed slinging dice even when the odds seemed out of whack.  I was impressed with the setup and the miniatures provided. Looking forward to next year!

Deep within the snow banks of the North East, Total Con 2015 stumbles forward to provide good games and good times for all.

TotalCon 2015 was held in Mansfield Massachusetts and marks a return to the convention scene for myself after a bit of a hiatus.  There was a lot of BattleTech on the agenda with lots of different people running events.  Lets take a look at all that TotalCon had to offer.

BattleTech Games Galore

I was impressed with the volume of games offered.  As I remember I think there were at least four different people running games ranging from scenario driven big battles to lighter grinders.  All of the events were well attended.  It was not uncommon to see upwards of twelve players surrounding a table throwing dice and marking record sheets all convention long.

Battle of the Clans

The Inner Sphere makes a stand against the technologically superior Clan invaders.  Can they stop the tide of war sweeping the Inner Sphere or will they be swept away by the might of the Clans?

This battle put on by James Kirtley saw an Inner Sphere company fighting against a Heavy-Assault Clan Nova against the back drop of a hydro electric dam.  I will feature a full after action report on this battle in the near future.

More Snow More Problems

One of the more annoying and disturbing elements of this convention was the abysmal condition of the parking lots at the venue.  The snow that had piled up over the last several weeks was obviously still quite present and made a mess of all attempts to find legal parking.  It was bad.  Really bad.  For Saturday I had to find parking at an adjacent building (worrying the entire time if I would be the target of the tow trucks searching the area) and hoofed it over in the wind and cold.

The venue just seemed to strain from the volume of humanity it tried to contain.  Even inside and aside from the BattleTech events I overheard frequent complaints about scheduling errors, wrong tables, incorrect time slots and more.  Lots of frustration all around.  Just the full gamut of errors and calamities was on display.  It felt from the outside-in that this convention was at a tipping point.  From my perspective a venue change may be warranted to properly service the convention goers in the years to come.

Sometimes conventions can be the victim of their own success.

All the Rest

While I spent one really good game recording the action for the blog I tended to stray from my usual fare of BattleTech games.  I ventured out and tried a variety of board games and wandered the halls taking in the convention as a whole.  Not quite the same as my normal schedule of dedicated Heavy Metal Mayhem but enjoyable none the less.  Gaming is a diverse hobby and it is nice to try out new things from time to time.

One thing I noticed right off the bat was the volume of podcast celebrities that were in attendance.  With them they brought demo copies of several games that were not yet available for retail purchase.  I had a chance to see Trickerion (which is still finishing up its Kickstarter campaign) as well as a quick chat with the designer of Specter Ops (a very nice guy) which is available for preorder from Plaid Hat Games as it makes its way across the Pacific.

All together a nice selection of games to be had for the enterprising gamer.

The dealer room had absolutely nothing related to BattleTech.  A bit disappointing.  Board game were the deal of the day as well as the odd vendor hawking copies of Dead of Winter for $20 over retail.  I decided to save my money for another time.  I think my past trips to conventions like Historicon and Cold Wars run by the HMGS and attended by Iron Wind Metals have spoiled me rotten.

I took in a brief demo of a Mech inspired game with 3D printed components called Mech Deck.  It seemed like an interesting concept not entirely different from a game like BattleTech.  I’ll keep an eye on it for the future.  Details can be found at MechDeck.com.

I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and get some gaming in during 2015.  Here’s hoping to a great year!

I got back to the painting table again and finished up some reinforcements for the lonely infantry I painted last time.  I used a very similar procedure as with the infantry.  The most notable difference from my usual routine is the use of The Army Painter Quick Shade.

The process was a simple one and produces decent table top ready results.  I did not opt to jewel the cockpits this time around mostly due to my own laziness and the desire to clear the work bench for something new.  I may do future painting efforts in smaller batches.  As it is, I still have another three Liao minis base coated and ready but just did not have the energy to push them further down the line.

Base coats were done with Khaki and Warpstone Glow.  After dipping in Quickshade I used Moot Green to highlight the green while the Khaki was brought up by mixing in some Bone White into the Khaki.

Additional highlights were easy as they come with Gunmetal and flat black.  The bases were done in Beasty Brown.  I dry brushed it up after shading with another coat of Beasty brown followed by some mixed in Dead White.

Not some of my best work but it feels damn good to scratch the itch.  I have a closet full of unpainted minis to dive into and I can’t move forward unless I am willing to be done with what is on the table.

Last Patrol

Hesperus opens up with a slow bit of fiction that introduces us to the hot and tropical climate of Hesperus II.  This is one of the least action packed opening fictions in any Turning Point pdf I’ve yet reviewed.  But what it lacks in action it makes up for with a slow build up of tension before the final reveal.

Joshua Perian makes a repeat appearance in the writers seat for this adventure deep within the Word of Blake Jihad.  Will experience prove effective in this next installment in the series?

Hesperus II

This section describes the planet of Hesperus II in short detail that is half history and half geographical.  Mapsheet lists are provided that represent the varied terrain on the planets several land masses and covers the gamut from harsh jungles to barren mountains and hills. Special rules and terrain modifications come exclusively from Tactical Operations.

So far par for the course when compared to other Turning Point pdfs.

The Battle for Hesperus II

This section gives a play by play account of the Blakists assault, sabotage, and capture of Hesperus in a bid to cripple the Lyran military machine.

After four years of occupation a combined force of Comstar, Wolf, and Delvin Stone came to the rescue and over months of heavy losses the last of the Blakist forces were eliminated.

I’m impressed with the scale of this battle.  Sure we have seen this before in earlier Turning Points but it is still nice to see such a robust battle covering multiple years, multiple factions, and dripping with enough personality to excite the fan boy in all of us.

RAT

RAT tables cover only ‘Mechs for the four factions involved.  Those wanting to spice up their battles should consult vehicle and infantry RATs found elsewhere online and in other Turning Point offerings.

I liked the fact that they specifically mentioned generating pilot abilities using the Total Warfare tables.  I fully endorse such a recommendation.

Lots of usual suspects on the list.  I find it interesting that the Word of Blake Celestials are not as common in the Shadow Division than I would have expected.  Also there are a few Clan Omni Mechs available to the Word of Blake in the 12 slot.  I wonder how they managed to score those Prime Omnis?

Combatants

This section opens up with some excellent detail on advanced RAT options, using Total War and other resources to their greatest effect.  Each covered unit includes information on their commanding officer, experience level, appropriate RAT tables, unit abilities, and notes.  The notes section is often my favorite due to the extra nuggets of storyline that helps tie the battle together.  Three pages are needed to cover the major players in this battle.

The Lyrans special abilities section may as well been called their inabilities.  They have mostly negative impacts to deal with.  Luckily (unluckily?) they are wiped out rather early in the campaign.

There seems to be an over reliance on initiative linked abilities for all combatants.  Not much imagination in play here.  Other abilities are related to impacting the RAT table or apply stock Tactical Operations bonuses like Overrun and Bank the Initiative.

The BattleCorps Legion unit makes an appearance in this battle. Always interesting to see this force in play.

Tracks

The tracks section is by far my most favorite section in any Turning Points PDF.  Hesperus II delivers a nine tracks spread between three distinct periods of the assault and eventual liberation of the planet.

Overall I felt underwhelmed by the selection of optional bonuses and objectives.  There was not a lot there beyond the standard “Go kill the other guy” objectives, paired with “Oh by the Way its Dark Out”environmental based optional bonuses.  The tracks keep the story line going and allow the battles to be retold but there is not a lot of unique concepts or synergies at work.

If anything the sheer quantity of tracks helps out.  You may not be getting a lot of quality scenarios out of the deal but at least you can take solace in the quantity.

Don’t get me wrong, this PDF and those like it in the series are always an amazing deal.  At only $5 you really can’t go wrong.

Unique Units

Two custom record sheets are included in this section.  The first is actually a generic conventional vehicle that was in production at Defiance Industries.  This is possibly used in one of the later tracks which allows reinforcements that roll off the assembly line while the battle progresses.

The second is the custom ride of Demi-Precentor Delta Laodices, a Galahad loaded with PPCs of various sizes, backed up with a Light Gauss Rifle.  The armor load out seems a bit light considering the heavy frame but there is an excellent complement of electronic warfare equipment to play a role in certain scenarios.

Map

Last but not least there are four pages of planetary assault maps with hex delineation.  With the upcoming printing of Interstellar Operations these maps along with all those in the rest of the Turning Points series is likely to see new avenues for use.

The map looks gorgeous and begs to be played on.

Final Thoughts

Hesperus II provides a full nine tracks and all the assorted accompaniment seen in other entries in the series.  It fails to break any new ground or provide compelling force abilities, objectives, or optional bonuses to set it apart from the crowd.  Instead it relies on tried and true formulas that set the scene and then let the players blast each other to bits.

While not the best in the series it is well worth the price of entry.  For the low cost of entry you are sure to get a lot of play time out of it.  Collectors should not hesitate to pick up Hesperus.  For those new to the series, I would recommend other PDFs to be your first purchase.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Liao so it comes as no surprise that my miniature collection from that faction was sorely lacking.  Time to make amends and add some Capellans to my collection.

Truth be told I had intended to make this post about a full reinforced lance of Liao units (hence the ‘Mech and vehicles in the early pictures) but the way things were going I really needed to get something into the DONE column.  So here it is, my attempt at cooking up some excellent Iron Wind Metals infantry figures in a plausible Liao color scheme.

Preparation

One thing I’d like to mention is my selection of miniatures for this group.  I included some infantry figures from the 3075 line from Iron Wind Metals.  The sniper looking units are actually Word of Blake units.  But from two feet away (or possibly closer) I challenge anyone to positively identify them as anything but cool looking snipers.  That is one of the great things about the available infantry figures.  If they look like snipers, use them as snipers.  If they look like heavy shock troopers use them in whatever faction makes sense.  The WoB doesn’t have the monopoly on snipers and these minis fit for what I was going for.  No need to unnecessarily restrict yourself.

Rounding out the infantry squads are a motorized infantry squad and three Liao Battle Armor squads.

All miniatures are from Iron Wind Metals and were in excellent shape right out of the bin.  Not much to clean up.  Quick work with a sharp exacto knife made these ready for paint.

Base Coat

Base coat for this round of infantry was my usual collection of Vallejo Game Colors.  Khaki forms the base with some Snot Green highlights (not on all of them), GunMetal, and Stonewall Grey.  Very basic stuff here and not too carefully applied.  I hope it all looks good in the end and it usually does.  Base coats are just that, a foundation on which you will build the rest of the shades and highlights.  The shading is what is going to bring these miniatures to life so my base coat is pretty basic.

A New Method

I decided to try something new this time around.  A while back I picked up a can of Army Painter Quick Shade at a convention.  This is my first opportunity to use it on a painting project.  From what I’ve been able to tell the Quick Shade mini dip is normally used for human miniatures like historicals.  It works as a wash on steroids, providing instant and detailed shades on your miniatures.

So how would this product perform on BattleTech miniatures?  I was curious to see how it stacked up against my normal wash of Black Ink and Future Floor Finish.

After a vigorous shake I pried off the lid with a screwdriver.  This stuff stinks like turpentine so use it in a well ventilated space.  I used a set of pliers to lower each figure into the goo and shook off the excess.  I was concerned at the time that the presence of bubbles would impact the finish but it worked out ok in the end.

I set everything aside in my garage for the dip to dry.

After the Dip

This stuff took a very long time to dry to a non-tacky state.  Definitely not for use if you are in a rush.

One additional benefit to using this dip is the super thick layer it leaves on the mini.  This can act as protection of sorts from frequent use.  On the down side because it is so thick there is at least a chance for some details to be filled in if you don’t shake off excess well enough.

Some Details

Very few details were added to these minis.  I was pleased enough with the shading done with the Quick Shade that additional details and highlights were few.  Part of that was the small size of the minis.  Would you really see the difference from a few feet away if I added additional highlighting?  Probably not.

I touched up a few areas and added some blue to the snipers scopes.  Other than that I was good to go.  A bit of flocking finished off the miniatures and I applied a final finish of DullCote to take off the shine.

Final Verdict

I found the Army Painter product to work pretty well.  Not bad when compared with the ink washes that I normally employ.  I was skeptical at first but I think I would like to try out this technique on the rest of the lance when I get the time to finish them off.

Until next time, keep those dice rolling!

For those of you who may have been frequent readers in the past you may notice that the frequency of my posts here at the ScrapYard has declined somewhat.  I wanted to take a moment to say I’m still here, still kicking and keeping very busy.

The majority of my free time these days is going into the maintenance and improvement of the Succession Wars game.  That is not to say that I have forgotten about this blog or BattleTech in general.  I have plenty of post ideas, miniatures to paint, and battles to play out.  Time is just not on my side at the moment.

In lieu of a more proper post I’d like to show off some of the games currently underway at the SuccessionWars site.  Click on any map for a larger version.

This game is just getting underway and features a increased player count to include the Terran Hegemony and the Rim Worlds Republic.  This Order of Battle is an example of a user generated setup.

Steiner is in control in this game with Liao putting a hurting on the normally dominant Davions.

Another fan made Order of Battle features the Clans invading the Inner Sphere for conquest and honor.  It is still relatively early in the game but the Clans have proven they are worth their mettle and have driven almost to Davion space.

This game features the Davions in the driver seat with Liao almost gone and Steiner and Marik battling for survival.