Gallery - Wreck Age and Broken Contract

This post is for all the folks wondering about the scale and detail of Wreck Age miniatures from Hyacinth Games and Broken Contract from Breaker Press.

If you like these miniatures, here are some useful tidbits:

• You can buy Wreck Age miniatures directly from Hyacinth's online store but there are a few retailers who have some (e.g., Noble Knight), including Adpeticon exclusive figures and stuff Hyacinth no longer appears to produce.
• Hyacinth Games is preparing the second edition of Wreck Age and you can download the beta quick start on their forum. They are looking for feedback through February 11, 2017.
• On March 17, 2017, Hyacinth will launch a Kickstarter to fund post-apocalyptic themed vehicles, including two cars, one pick-up truck, two motorbikes, and an ATV.

• Check out the Breaker Press online store if you are looking to buy some of their awesome miniatures for Broken Contract or ...
• ... pledge to their current Kickstarter project to nab some of the minis at a slight discount and help fund printing the rulebook as well as gaming accessories.
• And definitely take a look at creator Nick Baran's awesome Broken Contract blog.

I'll be using a stalwart volunteer serving with the Macragge Defense Auxilla (a.k.a., the ubiquitous plastic Imperial Guardsman) for scale comparisons throughout.

Beginning with the Wreck Age figures -

Here are two mean-looking pieces of work from the Raiders starter boxed set. The Raiders are a subfaction of Drifters. The other (existing) Drifters miniatures are called Nomads.

Two more Raiders, also from the boxed set. I guess you would call these guys "true 32s." I know that Hyacinth Games wanted a line closer to the slim Infinity-style rather than GW's bulky "Heroic" proportions.

And here are the balance of the Raiders. The one on the left is the final of five boxed set miniatures while the figures in the center and on the right are from an expansion booster. The expansion figures are not strictly Raiders and are thematically and aesthetically suitable to join up with the Nomads sub-faction, as well.

Here are the Reclaimers, specifically two from the Reclaimers starter boxed set ... yes comparison to the Adeptus Mechanicus is inevitable! These guys are religious fanatics devoted to the rediscovery and preservation of technology. The Wreck Age core book goes into some fascinating detail about the various strains of Reclaimer philosophy. It will be very tough to resist painting them with dark red robes ... maybe irresistible ...

These two heavily-armed Reclaimers come in an expansion blister. The Reclaimers have access to great tech but their mastery over it is ... developing. Watch out for the Malfunction Die ...

These three make up the balance of the five-figure boxed set: (from L to R) pincher claw, solar panel, and metal detector. While most post-apoc games have some sort of tech-focused faction, I think the Reclaimers from Hyacinth are the best at nailing the look and feel.

Moving on to Broken Contract:

The only two factions are the disgruntled miners in the shackes of indentured servitude called Breakers and the Black Squadron, corporate security goons paid to keep the workers in line. Each boxed set comes with a deck of small-sized cards with equipment and skills.

I am only showing a few of the miniatures as I haven't had time to even assemble them yet - they just arrived on Monday! But you can get a good idea of the scale and level of detail and character from this small sampling.

Yes, this guy does come with arms ... it's Will Kollis, leader of the Breaker crew, one of the taller characters in the line ... not counting of course ...

... Trest the Breakers' Gene-Mod character! The Black Squadron also have a Gene-Mod character, who is just as massive.

Talla Kellerman here is one of the shortest figures in the Broken Contracts line. Before I stood her on that base, I wondered if she was supposed to be a child. I like that Breaker Press has made characters in different shapes and sizes - yes, even including the Gene-Mod body type. No shame!

On the left we have Naria Anlika of the Black Squadron and her colleague Sarie Moerta is on the right. So just comparing Naria, Sarie, and Talla, you can see there is a good amount of body type variety.

And finally, a comparison shot ... I think these look pretty good together. Meaning: they will all be used in This Is Not A Test!

Another ASoBH Demo AAR

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to introduce Scott to Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes. Doug was on hand with his Blightkings to preach the word of Papa Nurgle once again - this time, against Scott's Necromancer and his grouchy skeletal minions.

For our last ASoBH demo AAR click here ... especially if you don't like Elves.

the field of Mars

The Blightkings started on the hill at (A). Doug won the roll off for initiative and charged toward Scott's entrenched position at (B) with two Blightkings while the Lord of Plagues commanded the center of the field and ordered the third Blightking to flank from the south.

the live action version

Scott meanwhile moved his Skeletons into position to trap the eager Nurgle worshippers at the neck between the cliff face and rocky hill. For this game, both Scott and Doug had leaders to wrangle their Q4 minions so getting into position was not a problem for either side. Scott had to work with his Skeletons' Slow trait but was probably content to set up defensively anyhow and meet the rotten onslaught with superior, if creaky, numbers.

oh man look at those bonemen go

Battle first commenced at the bottleneck at (i) on the map above. Frustrated by his Skeletons' inability to cleave through the heavily armored Blightkings, Scott sent in his Skeletal Champion. Because of his Weapons Master trait, the Champion could make an attack with every action once engaged. Unlike in the last demo game, the Blightkings were no longer burdened with the Lumbering trait, ensuring that the Skeletons would not just walk away from them without repercussion. Only the Lord of Plagues had the Tough trait this time, however; the others had to make do with Hard Hide.

nyaaaah!

The Skeletal Champion waded in to great effect, ultimately laying low the dreaded shield-bearing Blightking. The Lord of Plagues, however, took advantage of this distraction to finally join the battle, charging in to threaten the Necromancer. I gave the Necromancer the Standard Bearer trait to help with the morale issue Undead mooks have in ASoBH: namely they crumble to dust if they fail on two or three morale tests. Plus, felling the Necromancer would immediately cause them all to take morale tests.

team work!

The Blightking on the Hill had the Double Strike trait and came down on one of the Skeletons like a ton of bricks - double 5s gave him a result of 12 overall! But Scott ended up with a 7 and then rolled a 6 for Block. As soon as he had initiative again, Scott charged the recoiled Skelly back in and rolled some more 6s, knocking the Blightking prone with one bony minion and then finishing the rotten one off with another. For the second time, Hard Hide was no use to Doug. Had he lost Nurgle's favor? Too many showers the previous week, perhaps?

nap time, I guess

The Champion arrived too late ... to help the Necromancer fell the Blightking with the Huge Weapon. The -1 to C for using that weapon "one-handed" really hurt this guy. The Lord of Plagues meantime found a Skeleton popping up wherever he took a step.

and yet he found a way!

Taking advantage of his comrade's demise, the Lord of Plague finally managed to get into combat with the Necromancer. This was Doug's big chance to pull the ripcord. All he needed to do was cut that frail wizard down ...

swarm him, my pretties

... but instead found himself recoiled by the Necromancer's single spell - Blast - giving the Necromancer enough space to move away and put some bones between them. The wind of Shyish was blowing at gale force now.

drag him down into the mud

The Lord of Plagues quickly found himself surrounded and although he managed to stand back up and fight again and again, the increasingly grouchy skeletons bit and clawed and stabbed and cut and bashed until there was nothing left but the memory of an overripe stench.

Scott rolled his way to victory with 6 after 6 after 6 while Doug struggled to overcome the numerical advantage. He did not take out a single skeleton until the final scrum at point (ii), which lasted for at least five or six turns. By that point, the Necromancer was safely perched on the hill, cackling as his soulless minions tore apart Nurgle's chosen fall guy. Oh that's a pun because he was knocked prone about five times.

We really should have taken the time to come up with a scenario to make the fight more tactical. Even so the Trait make-up of the warbands did give rise to certain tactics which both players immediately understood and took advantage - or tried to take advantage - of. The important thing is, we had yet another game with thrilling moments!

Figures For Rogue Stars

Just a gallery of miniatures I have painted up for use with Rogue Stars, especially my Merchant crew. You can read about their first adventure in this Rogue Stars AAR.

La Capitana and her old pal Rogue

She is from the Urban War militia line - so are most of her crew. Rogue is from Reaper. These guys are the "core members" of the crew and have the best equipment and stats.

Chief and Doc

Both are Urban War sculpts. These are my specialists with Tech 3 and Medic 3 respectively. Chief was the unlikely hero of the first adventure - at least until Rogue went down. Both Chief and Doc took some rough hits in that caper but fortunately came out none the worse.

Grenj Aminbrim and Klaus K

Grenj is also from Reaper. He is just hired muscle but he does tote the crew's most impressive weapon so far ... a lowly SMG. What do you expect from Merchants? Klaus K, another Urban War sculpt and probably my favorite of the bunch, is a psyker.

Chief and her Buddy Bots

I'd love to give Chief a couple of drones and have been dreaming up some houserules for them to act as equipment/pseudo-characters. I am not sure about the name of the product line for these guys. There were part of a Kickstarter that I did not back but I ended up getting all the miniatures via ebay for a song.

attack of the ravagers!

The Ravagers are Reaper's not-Terminators. I would like to use them as an Antagonist Squad or maybe something like hostile terrain (a la Zombie games). Speaking of which ...

fishbats

Rogue Stars locations need some fauna. These are Angel Minnows from Maelstrom's Edge. I love these little guys - they are so creepy and bizarre. They are probably going to have psychic powers.