Captain Vok of the PCP Starship Drowsy Wombat reqs a New Scamp-About

When news hit that Captain Vok had req'ed a new Scamp-About, the media net went into overdrive.
Headlines like "Captain Vok wrecks a new scouting vessel within days of his latest court marshal trial, which he only escaped punishment from by the oddest of technicalities".

"Leave it to Coyote News to muck up my good name again," growled Vok

"Don't blame me," spurted Bvill, "I told them we'd req'ed for a new scamper, not my fault they assumed I meant wrecked."

Vyoop bubbled to herself.

"They were right about the odd technicality though." began Bvill.  "I mean.. Admiralty Prosecutor Nyai did have a great aunt who was accidentally killed by your grandfather.  Some kind of farming.. accident?"

Vok shot Bvill a look that said 'shut it'.

"Well, no matter.  I'm cleared for duty again and we'll have a new scamper soon, ready for our next long range mission.  I can't wait to get out among the stars again!"

Vyoop bubbled again.

"And the Admiralty can't wait for you to go too." smirked Bvill.

.................................

I've tried to resist Kickstarters lately, with my recent increased expenses and knowing that I have enough All Quiet On the Martian Front arriving about the end of the year to require a dedicated UPS truck just for me.

But then I saw Bombshell Miniatures new 'Scout Ship'.  Well, one small Kickstarter won't hurt right?

Seriously, this thing is soo very cool.  And the aesthetic is ideal for the Crew of the Pangalactic Confederation of Planets starship Drowsy Wombat.  Captain Vok and his crew will be very pleased.

The crew are a collection of pulpy sci-fi that I was using for Empire of the Dead last year.
You can refresh your memory or find them for the first time, begining here: Captain Vok & Crew.
I also made a new search tag for them, 'PCP'.

So let's see what the Scout Ship Kickstarter looks like.
It only has less than 4 days left by the way. It's a quick-run, and the stretch goals are nice, so jump in soon!

Made to be in scale with typical 28mm miniatures, this is a pretty big ship!

The parts: 

That's a big resin kit :)

Check out the possible extras:

If you're not in the market for a big ship you can also join in for $15 for a crew duo, and then get more minis as add-ons. The Robot Team was previously only available as part of a display set.  They did have a brief sale not long ago where you could buy some of them separately, and I did. They are great robots, very fun, and on the kickstarter, a bit cheaper than they were on sale even. 

The 'alien menace' set by the way, would be great for people into 15mm sci-fi, since they are smaller than man-size creatures. 

Some great stuff for the brave crew of the Drowsy Wombat ! 

And spying 'Neema', Vok might have just found a love interest.  Granted, he's known for dating outside his species almost exclusively.  There was that embarrassing incident on Tangon IV with what turned out to be the equivalent of the inhabitants' coat-rack.. with some species it can be hard to tell between a person and an inanimate object. So maybe it's time he found a woman closer to his own species. 

Have Spaceship- Will Travel.

Scott asked for a picture of the Vojik, armed scout ship from the last update, with one of the PCP crew.
I should have done it the first time, but I was too lazy to go get the bag with the crew, and was taking pictures fast.  So this fixes that.

Captain Vok and The Vojik. 

Makes for a nice one-man flyer in 28mm scale and a good sized ship for War Rocket scale. 

Alien Invasion Called on Account of Rain & Fastest Speed Painting

Well hell.
Three Fridays in a row I've missed gaming.  Two from working overtime but this last Friday I was determined to get to gaming.  Time is closing for Empire of the Dead and I wanted to get some more games in, especially since I'd painted up a mini for the Pangalactic Confederation of Planets.

So I packed everything and headed out. Checked google traffic as I always do, to see which of the two possible ways I take was the clearest, and it looked pretty good.  But it was raining.  And maybe people were leaving town early for Thanksgiving week?  I don't know.  But google traffic lied.  In a big way.  Instead of a clear freeway I had a parking lot.  The rain coming down and it took 10 minutes to travel the one mile distance up the freeway to the next exit. Seeing nothing but the same as far up as I could see, and knowing it takes 30-40 minutes to get there on an average day I called it quits, got off at that exit and went home.  Looks like it's the end for this season of Empire of the Dead.  Holidays next, then gearing up for VSF campaign on the Moon.

I know, crazy to complain about the weather: spoiled Californian.  I know many have much worse weather to deal with.  I tease my girlfriend that she lives in the Ice Age half the year as it's already snowing and below zero.  But driving 5 miles an hour in the rain for a couple hours.. no. That is why the PCP have spaceships.

Here is the mini I painted for the PCP.  It was very much a speed painting job.  I had converted this months ago for the faction, but deciding I wanted a chance to field it at least once, I primed & painted it the afternoon before I left.  After priming, it took less than 20 minutes to paint.

The Vojik: armed scout vessel. 

I went for a metal finish, for a retro sci-fi look. 

I forget the manufacturer of this mini. I saw it on sale and thought it was just right for the PCP crew. 

It had big bulk boxy weapons, so I ditched those and converted some eldar bright lances for its weapons. 

In Empire of the Dead, one of the pieces of gear a character can get is a steam powered gyrocopter.  

It allows the person to fly, and still perform an action even though he moves.  I thought this would be a perfect sci-fi version of this.  Give the character a repeating rifle (2 shots) and have this fly around and shoot twice- like it's weapons would suggest.  A model with flight can perch on top of terrain- like trees and roofs, so would be ideal for keeping a rifleman out of charge threat of werewolves and vampires.  

I kept the base black, since I can now also use it for War Rocket! 

Someday it will get some use on the tabletop.  

Depending on the rain...

Enjoy!

PCP Away Mission: Secure Test Subjects

Local Date: Second Solar, Tenth Calendar Month of the year as known 1888.
Location: Sparse settled diaspora of dominant city of focal island, locally known as "Breh-tahn"
Mission: Secure a few of the primary life forms for evalutory medical analysis.
Mission Compliment: Pan-galactic Confederation of Planets starship captain, Vok of the Drowsy Wombat, Science officer Vyoop, Tactical Officer Tag-At-Ot, Engineering team ensigns Tibbit and Plon, Tactical Away Team Force A.
Note: First Officer Bvill refused to report for duty, stating grievance over vacation time, reprimand issued.

The away team landed the scoot in a copse of nearby trees, covered it with bushes then proceeded to the shelters. The crew remarked at the poor visibility once on the ground, it seems this planet has a moderately thick moisture at all times.

A large artificial stone shelter was nearby and as luck would have it, there were two members of the mostly-hairless species walking around it. These would be their first target.

"The mission is simple crew," barked Vok, "grab some of the people of this planet, stun them, and bring them back to the scoot.  Don't be seen by any of the natives, but if you are, bring them down and we will wipe their memories.  It may be that we will become friends with one or more of these species, but until that is known, we operate in stealth."

Shortfield scans indicated the approach of a highly armed group of the same species, though dressed differently.  Vyoop identified them as "Amerkhans" and said the slim file indicated that this offshoot tribe were never without several projectile weapons and should be considered dangerous.

As some of the Tac-ops squad moved to secure the two wandering primates, the rest of the crew moved to investigate the approaching war party. They took cover behind a large vegetation while Tag-At-Ot singled out a target should it be needed.

There was a lone primate near this position, a perfect opportunity for another specimen. Red-3 scanned and will-numbed it.

They were spotted!  How were they seen in such thick wet atmosphere?
The 'Amerkhans' let out a savage war cry, with long whooping calls and piercing cries of  'Yeee haaa'.
Most likely an invocation to their war god.
Loud cracks erupted from their many projectile weapons.

The first hit was Vyoop, who retreated behind the fabricated stone-like wall, which the projectiles could not penetrate.  Their presence could not be reported, so the crew returned fire.  Tag-At-Ot, the consumate hunter, brought two of the creatures down, and the scatter-rays of the Tac-Ops team silenced a few others.
Plon fell from a shot, but it was a minor wound and he regained his footing.

With just a few of the aggressive aliens left, they retreated.
Vok made the command decision to get the three captured primate specimens back to the scoot.
The primary mission was more important than the fleeing aliens, who likely could not have seen their forms clearly in the thick atmosphere anyway.

Once back on the ship, after repairing her wounds Vyoop began the scans on the creatures.
There was much to learn.

Take a Trip with PCP : Touch of Sci Fi comes to Empire of the Dead

These are the voyages of Starship Drowsy Wombat.  Well, that isn't the actual name of the ship, but there are no direct translations into English, and the imagery certainly looses something in the translation... but trust me, it's a pretty slick and stirring name in native Vel.  That aside, these are their voyages.  A half-goun mission of exploration, to seek out new and strange life forms, and see if they might be nice neighbors, or not.. you never can tell, especially out in the boonies like where they are now. To recklessly wander and hope for the best, in the name of the Pan-galactic Confederation of Planets and offer non-binding membership contracts.

Oh things didn't go at all well with the Centaurans.  Right beastly.  Smart enough mind you, but without an ounce of desire to pursue it... no clothes, no building anything that lasts, not even an appreciation for record keeping in triplicate.  The crew could not have gotten out of there fast enough!  Pushing further out, the next stop is a promising yellow star, nice and cozy... have you noticed how any peoples from blue stars are simply unfriendly? I'm just saying... well anyway, right away they could see that the mostly-water planet had the most potential, and sure enough even from low orbit it was easy to see that some areas had the thick oily smoke that showed an appreciation and propensity for needless productivity: very good sign indeed!  Where it was the thickest was a medium sized island off to one side of the longest landmass, rather near the north, shaped like a sticky-sweet. 

Technology levels did appear rather low, but science officer Zyoop did find trace readings of energies that suggested trans-reality tapping.  Most curious!  Perhaps things were more advanced down there than it appeared!  Following the PCP code of contact, when first encountering an unknown and possibly hostile environment, the Captain, first officer, lead science officer and anyone else aboard with any significance should go down and explore. And so this is what they did, much to the annoyance of first officer Bvill, who was supposed to be on vacation! One way or another, he was determined to find a spot for a bit of holiday.  

He didn't know it at the time, but no one in 1888 went to London on holiday, even if the last place they'd been was Alpha Centauri.  And that is saying something.  

And while we're on the subject of desirability... Oh sure, everyone thinks aliens are hot for their women...

But really, humans are just not that attractive.  Maybe to their own species, but most of the galaxy is just not that interested.  Truth be told, in most of these cases, it's the primitive natives who come throwing themselves on the visitors with strange requests about 'probes'.

Not that the PCP would prohibit such activities: 

what two members of sentient species agree upon is their own affair after all

So let's meet our brave heroes! 

Captain Vok: Brave, loyal, with overconfident self-importance that is the mark of a great leader. 

First Officer Bvill : "I'm supposed to be on vacation drammit!"

Science Officer Vyoop: Brilliant mind.  Has a tendency to send out eruptions of hyper-static electricity when flummoxed.. often when Bvrill is around. She, He, It (?) seems to have a secret crush on Bvill: secret meaning no one has told Vyoop that everyone knows. 

Tactical Officer Tag-At-Ot: Violence is low priority in the PCP, and therefore wages are sub-optimal, even for the exploration division.  So Tag-At-Ot moonlights as a Bounty Hunter

Tactical Violencebot, Certified 1-5, or TVC-15

Some situations call for more than what an exploration crew is certified for, in these cases protocol insisted on a 1-5 certified tactical violencebot. Provided they are well maintained collateral death is rare. 

Engineers Tibbit and Plon: If they can't fix it, no one can.  

Good thing, since they're often the ones who break it.

Tactical Away Team.  Off all the species of the Pan-galactic Confederation of Planets, the Pyan-oon are consistently the most aggressive, and so more find their way to enlist in the Tac-ops than any others. 

Don't let their small size and big gentle eyes fool you! The tally marks of Pyan-oon killed in action on the PCP con-congress house now stretches all the way down the expanse to the dome of ennui. 

The Brave Crew of the PCP Starship Drowsy Wombat

(click for bigger)

............

I love to come up with -more unusual- ideas for warbands and teams, and this time I've taken the Gentlemen's Club for Empire of the Dead and asked: Must Gentlemen be Human Beings? I say no. 

I've seen enough Doctor Who to know that Victorian England was thick with aliens. 

This crew have come to London to explore, to find out what the strange readings are, that show unusual energy signatures, and once here, to find out which species might wish to join the PCP: the relatively hairless ape-folk, the large mutating canine creatures, or the living-but-not sanguinivores,or maybe they all will? 

Stay tuned for their adventures! 

Enjoy!