FLAMES IN ACTION

Cheapo flame markers in use.

NEW HARPIES

Reinforcements from China....

I will soon blog about how to make Harpies from them.

KNOCK KNOCK

DO WE HAVE ENOUGH FIREPOWER TO GET THROUGH THIS DOOR ?

RULES: 1 : BASICS OF MOVEMENT

GETTING AROUND

The board could be unmarked and allow free movement.

The arguments against this are many. Measurement is necessary, keeping to limits must be monitored and disputes will arise.

The board could be gridded with squares, offset squares or hexes.

Hexes produce anomalies becuase the 'grain' of movement is not the same in all directions. Offset squares do the same. Basic squares have the problem of diagonal moves to solve but their simplicity means here is where I will start. Maybe a game on open terrain on a planet may argue for ungridded movement or a very iregular ship plan could cater for hexes. However, if we start with squares we can always change it later.

 The basic tenet that the game should be built on as simple a base as posible should be upheld especially at the start. Extra rules and ideas will inevitably come along to complicate matters later.

OPTIONAL RULE 1 : When we get down to playing we can decide which ois the basic rule - either it costs 1 movement point to move diagonallyor it costs 2. This must be evaluated later in game tests - maybe the Harpies pay 1 to represent their agility, and humans 2.

OBSTACLES are also easier with a square grid.

 

We can make 'furniture' to occupy some squares just to make life difficult for the players. Doorways are similarly regular and the problems of hexsides not being in straight lines ... no worries.

NAMING ALIENS

Until now I called my aliens Selenians but now I have to decide on a perment moniker for them. it must be nothing copied from films or books. Difficult, especialy when they have a more than passing resemblance to Giger's monster.

 After their modus operandi and posssible screeching I decided an ancient mythical association was appropriate. The grasping nature of their attacks with the intention of carrying off victims point to Harpyiai - Harpies.

Harpies in a less forbidding form- from a Greek vase

 
So  Harpies it is from now on...

DEEP FREIGHT

Deep Freight is the Mega-Corp which dominates interstellar transport and trade with their monopoly in ship construction. They got in first and buy up all ships on the market to preserve their position.

Selenians threaten the DF fleet. Therefore they created the corps of Verminators to recover lost ships and try to contain the pest which has found a way to parasitically transplant itself across the galaxy using the humans' means of communication.

DENIZENS OF DEEP SPACE

Introducing the Selenians, the interplanetary infestation. Thier egg pods can survive deep space and stick onto a ship's hull. They corrode their way in and hatch .........

 Once upon a time these Selenians were saurians. Evolution was accelerated....

Most ships are lost. The crews are used as food and the infestation progresses.

The heroes of our tale are the Verminators. Equipped with high Explosive Machine Guns,  Heavy Automatic Rifles, Flamers etc. They began their careers as Army Men but were shown the door or left in a hurry. Now they earn a crust by eradicating the only life-form lower than themselves....

DEEP SPACE PEST CONTROL

This blog is about developing a tabletop miniatures game.

The game centres around a team of specialised space mercenaries - Verminators -
who are hired to clean-up spaceships infected with the deadly Selenians.

Any similarities with the ALIEN franchise must surely be coincidental.

The blog deals with making the miniatures and the playing board and developing the rules.