Preparation... another Sunday post.

This week has been one of preparation. I have been tinkering away on my cyclist sculpt (which should have been finished by now) and working to complete the conversion of all of the Tengu Models greys into Visitors. Well, the cyclist still hasn't been finished but all of the Greys have been converted and there is an additional bonus... can you spot it?:

Click the pic!

Not only did I manage to convert and assemble the second dreadnought and undercoat everything... but I also managed to finish off the five painted Visitors by basing them:

Click the Pic!

You won't see it but the blue dreadnought has had his legs properly base-coated but I need to finish the rest before the wash stage starts.

So... I now have 20 Visitors, 8 dreadnoughts a walker and a grav platform. I have been productive on E-Bay with a further dreadnought on the way along with two further grav platforms. I am also bidding on something else and have bought a further 20 Greys from Tengu.

The plan is to use the grav platforms for some leaders, use the new greys as honour guards and the remaining greys will be standard Visitors. Eventually, I want five Visitors for every walker/dreadnought and each leader base will have a leader and four guards.

I have been thinking about how the Visitors will operate on the battlefield and this is what I came up with:

Invasion of the Visitors.

• When the Visitors decide to invade, their first course of action is to launch the gate meteors.
• Each gate meteor is a ball of rock that houses a teleport gate safely within it.
• Each of these gate meteors has a psychic conduit that links it to the control ships of the Visitors.
• When the meteor is launched it will enter the atmosphere and plummet to earth and once it has landed, it will remain dormant until a psychic command is given to activate it.
• The psychic conduit within each meteor enables the Visitors to map the position of each one that has survived.
• Once activated, a teleportation gate opens that enables the Visitors to travel to the surface. Initially, the gates are one way but the visitors can switch them if they need to return to their ships.
• Each gate has the capacity to allow vehicle sized travellers to pass through them due to a broad focus teleportation beam.
• Initially, the walkers will arrive to pave the way for the Visitors to enter the battlefield.
• Only after the Visitors have made sure that the landing zones are safe will the leaders arrive with their honour guards. The leaders travel on hover chariots/thrones.
• Each Visitor is psychically shielded and is able to manipulate psychic energy to either move objects or project waves of force. They provide support to and are supported by the walkers.

In game terms, I would suggest that a number of dice (3d6) are rolled broadly across the table before the game starts and where the dice settles is where a gate meteor will arrive. Depending on what the number on the dice is and where it lands would depend on how successful the landing had been.

• If the dice lands in or on a terrain feature the meteor is destroyed.
• If the dice result is a 1 then the meteor is also destroyed.
• If the dice result is a 2, 3 or 4 then the meteor has deviated 2d6” inches in a random direction.
• Any deviation that results in a meteor landing in or on a terrain feature will destroy the meteor.
• If the dice result is a 5 or 6 then the meteor is safe and does not deviate. A few notes on using gate meteors.
• Each active gate meteor on the table is able to teleport one unit each turn.
• Each unit must be placed within 6” of the gate meteor on arrival.
• Only Visitors and their equipment may use the gates (and any captives that they happen to have in their possession).
• If a Visitor unit returns to within 6” of a gate meteor, it can choose to leave the battlefield but may not return.
• Each turn after the Visitors arrive a further 1d6 extra dice can be rolled and treated just like the ones rolled before the game starts. This is not compulsory but will add tension to the game.
• You may choose to use whichever gate is available but it is not compulsory to use them all.
• Once the first Visitor unit has arrived on the tabletop, the enemy will have worked out that they are under attack and will also realise that the meteorites are gates. If there is an enemy unit within line of sight of any gate meteor that has been used then the whole enemy army will be able to attack the gates. Gate meteors will have a toughness characteristic that, once beaten, will render the gate destroyed.

The gate meteors provide an excellent way of limiting the arrival of Visitors and also provide a hugely random deployment that will provide a fair amount of tension to both players. Do you roll the dice in a small area or do you go for a wide dispersal at the risk of your gates being destroyed by landing in terrain? Will the dice be kind or will the game finish before it begins?

 Comments are welcome.

Finally, Henry has some lovely new neck-wear:

Click the Pic!

It seems that the Visitors obsession is here to stay for a little while.

See you from the Mother Ship!