Mini Gangs Review.

Hello and Welcome Back.

Recently I have been playing Mini Gangs, so I thought I would write up a quick review. 

Mini Gangs is a small scale skrimish game by Curtis Fell of Ramshackle Games. It is set in the same Post Apocalyptic setting as the Nuclear Renaissance gane and is figure agnostic. Games take less than a hour to play.

Mini Gangs came out back in 2017, I backed the Kickstarter. At the time, the rules didnt suit my gaming needs. I loved the figures released with the rules. To my shame, I still need to paint up a couple of those gangs.

Then again 25 years ago, I thought Babylons Burning was the best rule set. A few years later I couldnt be bothered with all the faff of going through all the tables. Tastes and needs change with time. It's worth keeping a open mind.

I have been seeing a lot of people playing the Mini Gangs online, so as I own the V1 rules (V2 was realised a couple of years ago) I decided to finially give them a spin and see what the fuss is about.

The original version 1 rule book is some 60 pages long (version 2 comes in at 74 pages). In addition to explaining the rules there are lots of beautiful pictures of Ramshackle figures in action, pictures and background fluff from the Nuclear Renaissance universe.

The Game comes in three flavours. Gateway, Casual and Hardcore. I will explain each flavour in turn. The rules use a D6 and the scale/measurements is in cm. Mini Gangs can be played on a small table top. Any surface with 50cm to 60cm square is more than enough. There is also a group of scenarios to play in the rule book. There are no vehicle rules in the game, but given the size of the tabletop vehicle play would be impractical. 

Gateway Mini Gangs: 

Mini Gangs is a quick, easy to learn game to introduce people new to tabletop games to the hobby. Gateway is the basis the rest of the rules is built upon. The game is built around gangs of 4 figures, each with a Awesomeness value. This is the only stat in the game, which prevents it being daunting to new players. It also helps players with Dyslexia or Dyscalculia. Each gang has a Leader, Fighter, Shooter and Medic. The game is played performing an action and rolling a D6 above or below the Awesomeness value depending on the action. Gateway gives a balanced game.

The Gateway rules are available for free from:

http://download.ramshacklegames.net/MiniGangs/MiniGangs_Gateway_web.pdf

Casual Mini Gangs:

The Casual Mini Gangs builds on the Gateway rules. It uses a card deck in addtion to the rules. The players deal 8 cards each. The cards give weapons, armour, food, skill and strategies to be used by the Gang. These give the gangs random advantages during the game. It can make a game feel unbalanced as a character could end up with power armour and a plasma blaster. But then who said life was fair? It makes for a good story if nothing else. Some of my favourite games have been challenging ones.

Another cool thing, at least to me anyway, is that one of my minis is used as the picture on one of the cards. Free autograph if you can guess which card! 

Hardcore Mini Gangs:

Hardcore Mini Gangs is more like a traditional tabletop game. It is played using the Gateway Rules, but using points values and will need the Mini Gangs rules book. The players are allowed to taylor gangs to suit according to the agreed points value for the game. You can equip them and add figures according to the points build. I would like to play 6 or 8 figures at some point just to see how the rules handle them. The points calculations are quite simple case of adding single numbers. There are mechanics for campaign games and given how long it takes to play, a campaign can be finished in a evening.

Thoughts: 

I have played a few games of Mini Gangs at each level. It is quick to learn and play. Most of my Gateway games took under a hour. It does give a good game, with only the one dice. The above and below rolls allows one stat number (Awesomeness) to function in different ways and works well. The Hardcore level allowing custom gangs can give a more traditional game. 

Mini Gangs is great for quick games and is good to scratch that dice rolling itch when you dont have a lot of time. Gateway allows you to grab a handful of figures, a D6, some terrain and play. It could allow you to game while on lunch at work, on holiday or out and about. I have seen games played in the park, beach and woods, on the ground using local materials. 

No one dies while the game is running. Injured figures can crawl about usually trying to get the medic. While the Medic is unarmed and has low Awesomeness value, do not make the mistake of ignoring this figure. Medic's keep your figures in the fight. It's worth protecting them in play.

Given the figure agnostic nature of the game, it can be played in any setting allowing gamers a huge potential for play. I just grabbed a bunch of sci fi figures and added a couple of magic users to use as medics. 

The rules allow for monsters and other nasties to be created, should you feel like going on an abandoned vault/bunker crawl, bug hunt or monster hunt.

I am now looking at my favorite existing gangs looking to add medics, as medics are unarmed and have bags or pouches. Ramshackle games carries suitable figures. Some of my gangs might also need dedicated looking fighter figures, as they a bit too shooty. Any excuse to expand my own gangs. I will also be looking to make some game boards, which can also serve as higher ground on a bigger table. There is a couple of 2 x 2 foot blue foam boards laying unloved in my hobby stores.

I think that Mini Gangs is going to be a regular game for me in future. Nice one Curtis. I better get the Version 2 rules ordered. 

Thanks for reading, stay safe out there.

Project Scrapjacks #1

Hello and Welcome Back,

Earlier this year, I picked up the Scrap Jacks rules by Patrick Todoroff. The game is about salvage teams working for the Vaststar corporation, cutting into wrecks, abandoned space stations, and bases to run salvage missions. In typical fashion, the crew has to make its quota for the corporation or face financial penalties. The corporation doesn't care about the safety or well-being of its operators.

A crew has a limited air supply which dwindles as the mission goes on. Incidents such as injuries or suit damage also use air. This looks to be a good way to build tension into the mission. If the air runs out before exiting the unit, thats it. Your crew is dead. Game over. Don't worry, you might find air supplies in the wreck. Might.

A typical mission runs across 6 Modular Hab Units (MHU), with the crew cutting into each MHU and looking for salvage one at a time. As each MHU is 12 inches x 12 inches in size, you can play on a small table or desktop, setting up each MHU as your crew cuts in. Another attraction is that the rules can be played solo. 

I am lucky enough to already have enough terrain to populate such a small board. I built a board from double-layered corrugated cardboard. Embroidery mesh and EVA foam make up the floor. A quick and dirty paint job finished it off. I will be able to use this tile in future Starport Scum posts. 

An entry and exit door will be required. There are also some resin doors in the pile of shame, which will be painted up as entry and exit points, once I find them.

To play the game, I will need 4 to 6 EVA-suited figures for the crew, depending on your ship size. I have used different colored shoulder pads and helmets to distinguish the different crew classes.

My crew color class ideas are:

Torch (cutters, breachers, burners) - Orange pads

Rigger (mechanics, splicers, hackers) - Blue pads

Patch (medics) - White pads

Yarddog (muscle/bodyguard) - Green pads

This is the lot I have painted so far. I have so many so I can field a rival crew or raiders.

This will be my crew. The figures are from Anvil and Brigade Models. The sharp-eyed among you will note that the webbing on this team is brown.

This will be either a rival crew or raiders. The figures are from Anvil and Brigade Models. These are marked out with green webbing and pad markers. Cunning, eh?

This lot are additionals, to be added or mixed with the other crews as needed. The figures are from Ramshackle Games, Gardens of Hectate Range. I chose red webbing to ID them. 

I have another use for the EVA suited figures, the game Expendable Employees. Which is in a similar vein but planet side. 

One of the first threats a rookie crew encounters are maintenance robots. These are small bots. 

These wee robots are from the Reaper Bones line. Looking at these guys they might be also handy for 15mm scale games.

Some more small bots. The small two at the front are Stargrave objective markers. The two hovering bots are 3d prints from the DaveandDavesArmys Etsy store. 

These are the larger bots. Some of them look more like construction bots. All of these figures are from HeadBunnyGames and DaveandDavesArmys Etsy stores.

You need a boss level bot and I have this Death Marble by Reaper Bones. 

For the security bots, my rusty 40k Necrons or Mantic Asterians will fit the slot. I will need some apex bots too. 

This game has gotten me fired up to get more bots painted up. There are others in the pile of shame that will suit this game and my Wild Galaxy settimg. The robots will also be handy for other Sci Fi games such as Stargrave or 5ParsecsFromHome.

Up next time Infected Crew and Cargo Mules. 

Thanks for looking,

Stay Safe and dont let your air run out.

Big Numpty

Hello and Welcome back, 

The post-apocalyptic world has many strange mutants living in it.

This large green creature is known as "Big Numpty" due to its low intelligence, which often leads to comical behavior that the locals consider entertainment. Although potentially dangerous to wastelanders, Big Numpty can easily be fooled, confused, or baffled, which gives its victims a chance to escape.

I am not too happy with the paint on this figure. It just feels off to me. Maybe I should have tried a different skin colour.

The Big Numpty figure is a reward from the Big Numpty rules Kickstarter, which is a game of large trolls, ogres and giants beating each other up. I now need a bunch of extra Big Numpties to play this whimsical ruleset.

Thanks for reading,

Take Care Out There. 

A new Beadbot for the Bangarang

Hello and Welcome back,

Time to take a look at a couple of new Beadbots. The frist one is called "Smashy" and is for the Bangarang game by Bill Making Stuff. 

As the name suggests this model is built from beads, plastic tubes and square section, a pen top, buttons and scraps of eva foam. 

Smashy is armed with a power clamp and hammer. So it has to get in close to do damage.

The Berkbot

A spin off of the Beadbot line was a Berkbot, which was intended as a personal assistant, nanny and house keeper. This Berkbot (known as Berk) was brought to Corrosion by the Mayor of Pusterom. Berk works in the basement as a servant and maintains the "mansion". He is always complaining about the weird creatures that crawl up from the depths beneath the mansion. 

Berk is inspired by the character of the same name, from the claymation series Trapdoor. 

I think I now need a 40K Necron Skull and tiny robot spider for the other two characters (Boney and Drutt) from Trapdoor. 

Thanks for looking, 

Take Care and dont open that trapdoor! 

Deathclaws

Hello and Welcome Back. 

The Wastelands are a dangerous place. One of the more terrifying mutants in the wasteland is the Deathclaws.

Any Fallout player will be familiar with terminal encounters with the fearsome Deathclaws. I usually find the best way to deal with one of these things is to run away. If you can get someplace it cant get at you, you might be able to take it down....eventually. This figure came from the Fallout Boxset.

Thanks for looking,

Stay safe and keep running.