A Look into 2019 for me…

It has been a whirlwind of a year for us and now that it is at an end we thought we would give you a little snapshot into what is going on at Alternative Armies and the plans we have for what we will be doing in 2019. Possible and Confirmed Projects. What can you look forward to roughly in the first half of the next annum? 
Perhaps things like En Garde for Valon (the follow up to classic The Duel game) and Hazabot for Science Fiction (can you clear an infested space station?).

Confirmed is a follow up title for Sengoku, three more USEME books, a lot of 15mm and 28mm miniatures, expanded 6mm and more besides.

Plus there is news on The Ion Age. A lot to read.

Find out in full with the whole article which is over on Orcs in the Webbe.  Go HERE to read it and thanks everyone for your support.

Gavin Syme (GBS)

Baron Book update and snippet one

The Ion Age ended September with a short update on the progress of the fourth book for Patrol Angis namely Baron. Baron was outlined HERE on its blog in an article and during September I had been attending to several parts of the build of the book. This included assembling the play test results of exotic weapons and new equipment as well as organising the feedback from the Alternative Armies Tabletop Wargaming Group on Facebook where we had been chatting it over with IonFans. The selection process for which star systems will be detailed in the book is over and the selection of which Condot Mercenaries will feature is done too. Notes have expanded to form in the story of the Civil War and lastly some very over powered mechanics for the Starvaulters were rejected! Starvaulters are the best of the best but one versus a Battlesuit was a little much.

I want to share with you a little snippet…from the exotic weapons and equipment section which is part of the advanced rules in ‘Baron’. Here are the first few hundred words….

“You want this little sparkling box? You want to try and take it from me? Don’t even think about it. My father gave me this when I joined up. Told me to use it when the time came. It’ll turn you into a wet stain on this grey dirt before you even get your rifle up. It’s my box of tricks.” 
Private Ricky Falacan, 403rd Regiment, Fulton Prime. 4322 IC 

There are places in the Prydian Precinct which were never the remit of Humanity. Places where other creatures ruled and something of their technology remains behind them. Sometimes such things are unearthed or relics from the dim past of the Ban of Prejudice are found. Many of these rare weapons and items of equipment find their way into the hands of far traders, rich nobles or sons and daughters of the original locator. A lot of them are located to the edge of the Precinct that leads to the Galactic Core. Cost in points is given and follow the special rules as laid out. 
Note: If you wish to add any of these items to an existing template type of infantry, infantry scale vehicle or vehicle you can do so using the rules for them if allowed. Simply remove a weapon and its points cost and replace it with your choice modifying the points cost total appropriately. 
Clade Dancers: Often coming up illegally among Far Traders for sale these large slab like objects are too heavy for ten men to lift and are thought to have originated in one now totally ruined and abandoned temple complex on Clade Prime where they were its floor tiles. They are inert and can be fitted into structures or larger vehicles. They have no effect upon machines but they tamper with the complex minds of Humans. When one is nearby to people they describe strange visions of dancing shapes which grow stronger with proximity with an influence much like excessive alcohol when very close. They can be destroyed and are so when the structure (a Hab Dome) or large vehicle (like a Mullo or Taranis) is destroyed. When one is in play there is a chance of losing Activation Tokens during the Initiative Phase…… 

I intend another update on the book at the end of October with another snippet but I hope you enjoyed the above and the pictures too…man I had some fun with the new Cold Climes planetary militia. They use the exact same rules as the typical Planetary Militia which are in The Khanate Return but geared up for Arctic conditions. I want to thank everyone for their support of The Ion Age and my living from it.

GBS

Caracan and 2000 words in under two hours

Over on the blog for The Ion Age I published a little story about Caracan the Strider; a light mecha used in the Patrol Angis game system in 15mm scale.  I write a lot of fiction and non-fiction but on this occasion I decided to set myself a challenge in that I would try and create 2000 words of fiction in less than two hours with only five minutes of editing afterwards and then straight to publish.  I just managed it and the article went live half a day later.  Responses have been kind and nice and sure I made a couple of mistakes but all in all it worked.   Have a look and enjoy if you like science fiction with a military leaning.

Writing Two Thousand Words in Two Hours…How?

So.  You might be thinking how do I write a story of 2000 words in 120 minutes.  Well there is no magic formula really.  From my point of view I have and do write a lot so my typing speed is faster than typical.  It helps I use a wired full size keyboard as smaller boards and wireless can pose problems and slow you.  I am a great believer in the motto of ‘just start’ as it works.  When you try this just begin with one sentence which sums up what you are going to write about.  Such as ‘This mecha, what is it, who is its pilot and where are they fighting’.  Then drop a few lines, I use open office mainly in single page view, and type in salient points of the story you are now thinking of.  So any action or dialogue or description you intend to hang the story on.  It could be the opening or last line for example.  By this time you are five minutes in and have the skeleton of a two thousand word tale.

Now.  Do not stop.  Type typing and ignore everything else if you can.  Take your salient points and begin to build on them with paragraphs.  Name your characters and identify places.  Ignore the beep of the phone, the call from mates and such (if you are on fire then put it out of course!) and carry on.  Frankly I am ignoring Messenger and Whatsapp right now!   By the time you are an hour in you should have nearly a thousand words and a story that would work if left as it is.  It would be somewhat vapid and missing elements but it exists.  Now take a minute and read it back.

The second hour is the power hour.  You are in the zone now and you are burning up the virtual paper.  Now is the time for the main focus of the tale to take place, focus on the action scene or the central trunk which readers will remember.  Get it done and then jump back and expand upon the beginning then hop to the end and write it out and then expand it.  Two hours goes fast.  You should now have your story…

Pompous eh?  What am I like.  A fast thinking, fast typing, veteran scribbler telling you it is this easy.  Well it ain’t easy and I got there with seconds to spare.  It is perfectly fine to try for 1000 words or for three hours when you begin and I recommend you try and do an exercise of 500 words several times if you are very new to this.   If you manage to craft a tale then you deserve some applause as many people simply never do it.

I began with books like the one above and they are well worth reading.  I will end on this notion.  Begin with the End clearly in Mind.  It makes all the difference.

GBS

Welcome to 2017!

New beginnings, fresh starts, reaffirmations of love and promises for a brighter future all come to mind for a New Year.  We resolve to get in shape, lose weight, improve career paths, and the like. Then, there are the heartfelt promises we make to others, whether aloud or in our minds. We want to care more, express love more, reverse bad feelings in old relationships or seek out new loving relationships. We try our very best to put these desires into words. Though New Years can be a time of celebration and cheer, there are many people who are facing difficult circumstances. They may be entering this time of year with apprehension or anxiety. I send out a hope of encouragement and for prosperity to you at this time of new yearly birth.

My own plans for this new year are as they were for the last one.  To do much, to enjoy and to bring happiness to as many people as I can manage in person and by proxy online with words and with miniatures from my work.

If you like the look of the picture above that is great.  It is the free miniature for January 2017 at my little Ion Age which you can see online.

GBS

My copy of Callsign Taranis for The Ion Age

cst_one_200616

“This last decade has seen suffering on a scale not seen for centuries since the obliterating horror of the Aldan Crucible. In the twenty years since the murder of my father in rightful battle and following this my abduction as a child, Prydia has been aflame and never more so than in the this decade now closed. None know the true count of this conflict but it is in the billions of needless deaths. All these deaths needless and the result of the ambitions of the rebel barons and their leagues. Now, here, in the liberation of Bosworth IV we have reached the high water mark of the Leagues. They will rise no more. Edmund Bluefort, leader and lord of the League of Canlaster, is dead this very day in fair joust. With his death and the returning of this planet to freedom I send out this message across all the systems in the Precinct. Freedom is coming and the darkness will be lifted in the months and years to come. As long as it takes, you will all be liberated and returned to a worthy peace. Coming from the skies the red and white of the Prydian Army will drive out the rebel barons and their lackeys one planet, one settlement at a time. The flame that threatened to burn us all and reduce us once more to savages will be put out. Already it gutters and fails. That which has been ruined will be rebuilt and restored. Prydia is rising once more and now more than ever before we must stand united against threats that may come to us from beyond our own stars. This civil war will end!”
Princess Daphne Cyon addresses the Precinct from Zone 62 New Bosworth 4330 IC

My space opera setting just doubled in size!

You can read all about my latest book Callsign Taranis online on its page of the website. I am very proud of this expansion book and though it took longer than hoped or expected to chisel to a finished monolith it is now crossing the globe to all those who made the choice to order it up early. Thank you! I only wish to add some pictures here of what the book likes like internally. Its pages and their quality. We decided to get the book printed in Scotland and went for a high quality paper and bind meaning Callsign Taranis will stand up to the rigours of long term use by wargamers.  It is a thing of beauty and that is important and I think we will do this again.  It costs more and means we make less money but at the same time the customer gets a ruddy good product and we keep people in work here.  This also applied to the larger format pre-print with new cover art of the original Patrol Angis book to which this new one is the expansion sequel.

Taranis_new_cover_web_750pix

cst_two_200616

cst_three_200616

“In Callsign Taranis you will find the expansion rules covering the use of Vehicles in play as well as Structures and other bolt on mechanics. There are also game statistics for the vehicles of the Prydian Civil War and additional skills, equipment and items for your troops. Following on from Patrol Angis is part two of the Prydian Civil War background. Also in this book is the Support Phase and the Between Games development of your forces. Rules for how to play larger games of Patrol Angis and how to generate random terrain. A bolt on section for Building your Forces with Vehicle and Mixed platoons. This and more all in a packed sixty four pages! 15mm Wargaming!”

The Ion Age is my own baby. My forth child as it were. It is by a long margin the smallest compared to Alternative Armies and 15mm.co.uk but it is growing and between myself and Sam Croes we are creating something special, something unique.

Angis_cover_new_600pix

I have made the choice that although I will not be posting much here on my own site I will be putting up short articles with my own look at some of the books and products I am involved with closely. What I have written or been impressed by. If you want to see what I am up to most every day then look to the right and follow me on Googleplus and or Facebook. My own site is for musing and mutterings beyond these.

GBS

Patrol Angis and Callsign Taranis will be larger format books!

sketch_new_pa_may2016_600pix

Do you like what you see? I do…and I have seen the finished art that this sketch was the beginning point for. There are great things a foot at The Ion Age. In a few weeks time we will be all about Callsign Taranis the book and the pre-order offers too. Before that we will put the new and improved production method IAF035 Adder Combat Cars (all six different models) back on the website shortly and we will tell you just what is in Callsign Taranis the expansion to Patrol Angis. But first this little article by way of introduction to what will come.

Both Patrol Angis and Callsign Taranis will be published as A4 larger format books moving away from A5. We have responded to customers and shortly the smaller A5 format Patrol Angis will be removed from our website meaning that if you have one of them it will be a collectors item for there will be no more smaller format books in this growing series. If you want the smaller format book get it now as it will be removed with the pre-orders begin or sooner if stock is exhausted. Simply put I placed so much value and word count in Patrol Angis (and Callsign Taranis) that it needed more space for everyone to be able to enjoy it properly!

I have shown the cover art of both books before and now I will tell you that those two great pieces of art are NO LONGER the cover art for the books. Sam Croes the lead designer and artist at The Ion Age has created two new much larger works of art for the covers. So in conclusion the existing Patrol Angis rulebook will be re-issued as a larger format with new covers but with exactly the same content and Callsign Taranis will be larger format too and will have new cover art and totally new content. Hope you liked the sketch.

GBS

p.s.  This article is taken from the blog for The Ion Age and marks my small return to my own website here after a haitus which saw illness, joy and sadness as well as accomplishment too.  More to come.

Blasted out of Blast-Tastic 2014

This Saturday the long anticipated wargame show Blast-Tastic is happening in Bristol in the UK. The show is a new venture specialising in science fiction wargaming mainly in the 15mm scale. I had long planned to attend the show (one of the first to sign up to it!) but due to circumstances beyond my control (other meetings scheduled on the near thousand mile round trip pulled out on us!) it had to be cancelled.  This is actually rather upsetting as I had been really looking forward to going and had already got the stock ready and the demo game of Patrol Angis too!  The game is near completion and this would have been its only gaming public appearance before publication.

But all I can do is put a link to the details of the show and ask if you are near Bristol to consider attending on Saturday.

Seems a weekend in the rain of Ayrshire is now mine.  🙁

GBS

Mullo AFV goes public on the 18th September!

I know something huge is happening on Thursday 18th and to be honest regardless of the result I am sure I will survive and prosper.  But I am fairly tired of talking about it and being pushed for an opinion.  So while I will be putting up the results and my thoughts on it..for the moment lets look at something awesome instead.  The latest 15mm model designed by my good friend Sam Croes goes up on offer at The Ion Age upon the morrow and its a beauty too.  The Mullo Armoured Fighting Vehicle a space opera dream made real.

iaf042_mullo_snow_1000pix

Ain’t she lovely! Thanks for looking.

GBS