Fallout Sandbox: Robot Robbery

Elara tried to tell herself that Marlene would have died anyway had they not found her. She couldn't blame herself that the foulness of the Giant Rats had longer to poison Marlene's system than it did Robbin's. Out in the wilderness, there was nothing Elara could have done.

But she still felt guilty. If they'd only made it Haven City sooner.

Now they were here though, they had a job to do. If she could help Robbin save his brother, she might feel the price they'd paid had been worth it.

All they had to do was break in to an abandoned factory and avoid some old robots. If that 'Protectron' they'd encountered in the Wasteland was anything to go by, this should be fairly straightforward...

Arriving in Haven City, Elara and Robbin picked up some 'hard work' to earn some caps, and met some supportive locals (gaining an Adventure Point and also explaining how I gained a contract to retrieve an item in the previous turn). I gained an extra activity this turn but my attempt to study the RobCo factory came to nothing.

After the minor disaster of the last game, I was keen to get on with both the main quest to get back to the vault and the side quest to rescue Robbin's brother. I also have three turns to complete the contract, so it remains an option after this mission was completed.

Rather than using the Into the Wasteland rules, I opted to create a custom scenario. Elara or Robbin needed to get to the computer terminal on the first floor if the central building and perform a computers check. 

Simply doing the action would be enough to track the Super Mutants and move on to the final part of the Revenge side quest. However, a successful test would be needed to download the data that Scope Havelock had requested.

The only problem was that the factory is being patrolled by a Battered Sentry Bot, which had both the toughness and firepower to potentially make a real mess of Elara and Robbin.

They were going to have to be quick and sneaky.

***

Elara wriggled through the fence and made directly for the staircase.

Robbin had been insistent that she be the one to go for the computer terminal as she has both the knowledge to use it and the PipBoy to store the data.

He had bravely volunteered to draw the attention of the Sentry Bot whilst she completed their task.

Robbin was rapidly rethinking his life choices as the huge form of a Sentry Bot rolled around the corner, raised it's weapon and fired.

Robbin's life flashed before his eyes. As did a missile which screamed past his head to detonate in the distance.

Something was clearly wrong with the old bot's targetters. As Robbin turned to run, he prayed that the machine wasn't capable of recalibrating itself.

Terrified that the next shot would be more accurate, Robbin pinned himself into a corner hoping to stay out of sight of the massive robot.

Elara heard the explosion and hoped that Robbin hadn't been caught in the blast as she made her way up the steps and into the factory office.

The computer terminal dimly glowed green in front of her.

Robbin tried to slow his breathing as he listened carefully for the sound of the Sentry Bot heading in the other direction.

However, the squeaking and changing only came closer, and as the hulking mechanical monstrosity lumbered round the corner, its voice synthesizer boomed out, "Intruders detected. Please leave the area. You have 20 seconds to comply."

Elara tapped at the screen. Scope had been right, the Super Mutants could be tracked and she quickly had a fix on the location of the group heading away from Scrap Hill.

The data download took longer. The status bar on her PipBoy moved frustratingly slowly as she heard the mechanical voice echo around the factory.

"Alert! Alert! Intruders will be neutralised!"

Robbin ran. He knew he couldn't outrun the Sentry Bot's weapons, but if he could just get some cover between him an it, there might be a chance.

With a whoosh of flame the bot fired again, but instead of streaming directly towards Robbin, it arced downwards and impacted the ground between the two.

A large blast of flame and rubble engulfed both the Sentry Bot and Robbin, pitching the Scavenger forwards. When the dust settled Robbin lay still and the scratched for form of the Sentry Bot rolled off in search of other Intruders.

"Target neutralised."

The tinny voice sent shivers down Elara's spine as she edged down the steps, her mother nd spinning.

Had that blast caught Robbin? Had she not been fast enough? Was she responsible for another death? Where was the robot?

The answer to her final question was answered almost immediately when the robotic brute moved impassively to block the foot of the steps, its terrifying weapons slowly coming up to target her.

Elara braced...

...and leapt.

She flew over the railing and down to the ground. Without pause she was up and running, scrambling, half falling asleep she desperately scrambled towards the hole in the fence she had wriggled through, expecting at any moment to be wrapped in flame shredded by shrapnel.

As she hauled herself through the fence, she risked a backward glance at the terrifying form of the Sentry Bot, it's weaponry pointed directly at her.

"Intruder has left RobCo grounds. Return to patrol route."

***

Another closely fought battle in which Elara and Robbin (to an extent) benefited from really poor accuracy on the part of the Sentry Bot. Even the shot that took Robbin down actually missed and he was unfortunately caught in the blast.

I ended up using another of my campaign lifelines to save Robbin's life, as I wanted him present for the final chapter of his own side quest, which I will probably do after trying to complete the contract as I think I could do with the money to recruit some extra firepower. Mind you, the News Travels phase threw up some sewers beneath Haven City that might need exploring.

***

Elara breathed heavily. She didn't know how Robbin had managed to drag himself clear of the factory boundary, especially with his damaged arm, but he'd done it.

The mission had been a qualified success. They were both alive, they knew where Ravage's Super Mutants were, and Elara's quest to return home was a step closer to completion.

She supposed that this counted as a good day in the wasteland.

Are We The Baddies?

A sinister cabal formed from the remnants of what was once the government, and led by an inhuman president, send agents and armed thugs out to manipulate, misinform and just plain destroy any sense of community, creating the chaos necessary to maintain control.

Anyway. Enough about current affairs. I've painted some Enclave.

This little patrol has been put together for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I've made Fallout 3 the focus of which Fallout Wasteland Warfare miniatures I acquire, and as the big bads of the game, they were the noticeable gap in my collection.

Secondly, I realised that some of the miniatures in the Star Saga game I've had for some time bore a passing resemblance to some of the Enclave's operatives, and I'm always up for a bit of proxying.

Thirdly, I started my solo campaign recently and decided that I would include the Enclave as one of the threats. They haven't turned up yet, but I needed to be ready if they did.

Obviously, a few proxied officers and scientists weren't going to cut it as a 'threat' to my little corner of the wasteland, and so I needed to pick up some heavier troops in the Enclave's signature Tesla armour.

And so off I popped to an online store and picked up the Enclave Soldier set (as they looked pretty easy to paint)...only I didn't. I ended up, due to poor eyesight and suspiciously similar packaging and labelling, with the Enclave Tesla set.

These are also wearing Tesla power armour, but appeared to be much more fiddly to paint, having cabling and what looks like fairy lights all over them.

However, my fears were unjustified as they turned out to be remarkably easy to paint.

After a bit of research in which I had to challenge my own personal Mandela effect where I was utterly convinced that the armour was green, I settled on a fairly straightforward approach to painting these two models.

I used Black Templar contrast paint over a Ghoul Grey primer before drybrushing the whole model with Leadbelcher. Finally, a wash of Nuln Oil finished off the metallic black armour.

The Tesla coils were just picked out in Brass Scorpion, which is actually more of a coppery colour, and the little were highlighted with more Leadbelcher. The lights were painted white and then give a coat of Magos Purple contrast paint.

They eyes were painted white and then given two coats of Cassandora Yellow.

All in all, I'm absolutely delighted with how these have turned out. And when I do actually pick up the Enclave Soldier set, they'll be really easy to do.

The Enclave Scientist is similar to the model of Elara in a hazmat suit, and I'd actually had the idea to use these for the Enclave before I'd started the solo game.

I drybrushed white over the Ghoul Grey primer and gave the rest of the suit a coat of Apothecary White contrast paint. After that, it was a simple case of doing the face, boots, gloves and metal parts in a fairly standard way.

It's not a perfect replica of the Scientists as they appear in the game, but, as I've mentioned before, these suits have more of a Fallout 4 look.

I have two more models in hazmat suits, similar to those I've already painted, and I think that for at least one of them I might have a go at sculpting the signature Enclave golden visor.

The models from Star Saga that triggered my thoughts about starting an Enclave force were the security guards wearing caps, which bear enought of a similarity to the Enclave officers that appear in Fallout 3.

I've kept things very simple here with Skeleton Horde contrast paint for the overalls followed by black and silver where appropriate.

I have several similar models available but I don't want to do too many officers right now. The model will serve perfectly well as a Warrant Officer, and I might add a Lieutenant when the Enclave presence in the region grow.

I'm really quite chuffed with this little lot, with the Tesla soldiers being the stars of the show. Expect the Enclave to start turning up in my campaign soon.

Acquired: 13

Painted: 59

Lead Mountain: 717

Hollywood Heroes

As I'm sure you are aware, my recent glut of Fallout gaming and painting was triggered by the return of the Fallout TV series before Christmas.

It is therefore probably somewhat unsurprising that I have turn my attention to the main characters of the series: the Hollywood Heroes.

I received the boxed set of these miniatures for Christmas and they had been on my 'to buy' list pretty much as soon as they came out.

The characters are, from left to right: Lucy, the 'vaultie', Maximus of the Brotherhood of Steel, CX404 (aka 'Dogmeat') and the Ghoul, formerly Cooper Howard.

I tackled Maximus first because, quite frankly, he looked quite easy to paint, with most of the work being a coat of silver washed with Nuln Oil.

Assembling him was more awkward than expected. I slightly misplaced the hand, managed to snap the stock of his gun (the models are resin) trying to fix it, stuck my fingers together fiddling with glue and ultimately realised that it not attached one if the gun's handles.

However, all of these issues were minor and I'm quite pleased with the result. I'm still aware that I need to broaden the range of skin tones I'm able to do effectively, as this is a bit too dark for Aaron Moten, who plays Maximus.

Next up was the Ghoul, who presented an interesting problem of largely wearing a series of very similar shades of brown. I opted to use several contrast paints: Garaghak's Sewer, Wildwood, Snakebite Leather, Basilicanum Grey, and tie them together with Agrax Earth shade and a dry brush of Ushabti Bone.

One element I'm really pleased with is the skin as I realised that the zombie recipe I used on my proxy feral ghouls wasn't right for 'the Ghoul'.

My answer was simply Gulliman Fresh contrast paint, which I've stopped using fir skin as it's too pastey and pink for my tastes. However. It worked brilliantly on the Ghoul's ravaged features.

CX404 (who apparently gets called 'Dogmeat' at some point, but I don't remember when) is apparently a Belgian Malinois. This gives him a sandy coloured coat, except for around the face and ears.

I used Snakebite Leather for the fur and then darkened up the features using Basilicanum Grey.

I'm never delighted with how the dogs I paint turn out, but this is fine.

Finally there's the series' main protagonist, Lucy. She is the third vault dweller I've painted. So I'm getting more relaxed about the yellow piping.

I opted to give her a drybrush of Ushabti Bone to tie the contrasting colours together and also give her a dusty look.

Perhaps the trickiest part of the model was trying to dry brush the steps whilst working around her legs, as the sculpted base made things a bit tricky.

All in all, I'm really pleased with how these four turned out.

There is a second box of characters which is based on series one: Lucy in her wedding dress, Maximus without power armour, Hank in his overseer role, Lee Moldaver and Thaddeus with his massive bag.

I may get round to picking that up as I'm really enjoying the series. I've no doubt Modiphius are working on a set to tie in to series two.

Acquired: 11

Painted: 54

Lead Mountain: 719

Path of Damnation: Organised Chaos

After a bit of a hiatus, I've finally got around to working on the last few models for my Oldhamner Nurgle army by completing the command models for my unit of Chaos Warriors.

This includes a Chaos Sorcerer of Nurgle. Along with a standard bearer and a musician bringing along a little bit of star quality to the army.

This is because two of these models are actually converted Blood Bowl star players.

The Chaos Sorcerer, however, has nothing to do with Blood Bowl and is one of the frankly excellent range of metal Chaos Champions that were released around the same time at Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned.

This model, along with a small handful of nuglings and a single Pestigor, is one of the factors that convinced me to sell my soul to Grandfather Nurgle, as I couldn't see a scenario where this model would fit into a force dedicated to one of the other powers.

The standard bearer is based on Dorjak Sureclaw, a Chaos Star Player for the second edition of Blood Bowl. He was a somewhat lacklustre player, having fairly average stats, a couple of minutes not skills and the claw mutation.

It always seemed odd to me that he had the Sure Hands skill as he wouldn't be handling the ball with his claw. Mind you, his other hand is massive.

The claw and big hand perhaps suggest Dorjak might be more suited to the service of Slaanesh or Tzeentch, but the gods of Chaos are fairly easy going when doling out mutations.

I'm not massively happy with the banner. It feels a bit too simplistic but I'm never great with free-handing.

Also from the second edition Blood Bowl stable of Star Players is my musician, Galmen Goreblade, who was much more useful in a Chaos team, being fast, strong and having the Mighty Blow skill.

I really like the fallen noble aesthetic of this model.

To make him a musician I have used the same trick I used on my Age of Sigmar Skaven. Giving him a bell-flail. This is also a nod to a very old model in the Chaos range that has a similarly blank helmet and was armed with a mace and a bell.

And so there we have my full unit of Chaos Warriors on foot (the Warhammer Quest model will be the unit champion).

I want to do something more with the banner and there hasn't been an edition of the game where 10 expensive and easily avoidable heavy infantry haven't been a bad choice, but perhaps having a sorcerer in their ranks will bring the enemy to them.

I just have a handful more thugs/Beastmen/marauders to finish off and my Path of Damnation will be complete.

Acquired: 11

Painted: 50

Lead Mountain: 723

Fallout Sandbox: Wilderness Walk

"You see," Scope continued, "Super Mutants aren't too hard to track visually, but they do leave traces other than a trail of blood and gore.

They disrupt background radiation in identifiable ways, if you know how to look and have the right tech."

He smiled, "fortunately for you, I can teach you how to look and tell you where the tech is."

He explained that the old RobCo factory just outside Haven City had the necessary sensor arrays but Elara and Robbin would need to bypass the security measures.

Scope studied their faces and pointed to the PipBoy on Elara's wrist, "I can programme that to do what's necessary when it's linked with the RobCo system, and I'll also programme it to download the data I need in return to get you back into your Vault."

Elara and Robbin looked at each other the back at Scope and nodded. If Scope was right, Robbin could rescue his brother and Elara could be one step closer to going home.

Following the mission to find the tech-salvager Scope Calder, Elara and her companions, Robbin the Scavenger and Marlene the Settler decided to head to Haven City before making for the RobCo factory.

The reasons for not going straight for the factory were twofold. Firstly, although Robbin had recovered from his rat bites, Marlene was still poisoned as I've decided that 'injured' on the recovery table means the character has a condition. Poisoned made most sense.

The second reason was that Robbin managed to injure himself again whilst foraging and would miss the next battle. Therefore I needed to get to a settlement and get my team healed before making for the factory.

Unfortunately, the travel table had other ideas.

I was once again 'waylaid by foes' and so another 'passing through' battle needed to be fought, this time in the 'wilderness' and on a 4'x1' table.

I was going to have to run the gauntlet.

To complicate matters, I was without Robbin (at least this would save on medical bills) as he was injured and bringing up the rear whilst the others scout ahead. Also, unless I found some healing, Marlene only had five rounds until she collapsed from the poison coursing through her system.

I was going to have to get moving.

The closest inhabitants were generated as a pair of Feral Ghouls. They are least should be slower in getting to me, but they had the punch to cause me real issues if they got close.

Two more inhabitants tokens lurked further down the table, waiting for Elara and Marlene to get closer before revealing themselves.

"That's the direction I saw movement in," said Elara. "We need to check it out, but it's probably best if we let Robbin rest that ankle of his."

Marlene nodded silently.

Elara had noticed that the settler she had saved had barely spoken for the last hour and was not looking too well. She tried not to think too hard about it. She could let them both rest, who knew what was lying in wait.

Suddenly the all too familiar shapes of Feral Ghouls lurched towards them. These seemed more robust that those Elara had encountered in the vault, but they were definitely suffering from the same dreadful affliction.

One of the stumbled forwards but to Elara's surprise suddenly ducked behind a ruined wall.

Could they think? Were they sentient? Elara's mind raced.

Two loud shots boomed out of Marlene's pipe-rifle and the still visible ghoul crumpled into a heap. Marlene was one hell of a shot!

Seeing no reason to wait around for the hidden ghoul to jump out at her, Elara darted forward, trying to draw the creature into Marlene's deadly sights.

As she ran, she tripped on what seemed to a pipe jutting out of the ground and a jet of noxious fumes billowed out, enveloping her and sending her Pipboy's Geiger counter into overdrive.

As Elara coughed a spluttered in the toxic fog, she turned just in time for her streaming eyes to see the ghoul staggering towards her...as planned.

Marlene's pipe-rifle sounded and a chunk was blown out of the creature's side, but it still came one.

Narrowly avoiding it's clawlike hands, Elara managed to bring her pistol up beneath its chin and blow the ghoul's head clean off.

Her head still spinning, Elara pushed on. Looking over her shoulder she saw Marlene following.

Elara was glad she had the support. Marlene's deadly aim was reassuring, although the way her shoulders were sagging and her head dropped were equally worrying.

A rattling and whirring sound drew Elara's attention back to the mission at hand as a battered pre-war Protectron lumbered slowly into view.

The robot was walking steadily forwards and didn't seem to have registered their presence.

Elara hoped it would stay that way. She was not sure that either of them were in a fit state to take on the Protectron's deadly lasers.

The robot continued trundling forward, as if on some preprogrammed route. Marlene was right in front of it, leaning on a pile of rubble got support, but the Protectron carried on past, oblivious.

Looking further ahead, Elara though she saw a larger shape emerging from behind a burned out car, but breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just a knot of tumbleweed caught on the fender.

A noise behind her caused Elara to look back.

The Protectron had stopped and was apparently facing her. Had it recognised a threat?

After several tense moments Elara realised that the robot had responded to the noise, just as she had.

It was the noise of a body falling to the ground.

Marlene lay in a heap by a ruined wall. Whatever she'd been struggling with had finally overcome her.

Elara didn't know what to do. She had no medical supplies and they were far from help. With Robbin injured, she would not be able to move Marlene, let alone get her to Haven City.

At least the route was clear. Well, it would be when that damned robot stopped staring at her.

***

For the second time, and Into the Wasteland scenario begins with life-threatening danger and peters off into tense, anti-climactic exploration.

I will admit that with Robbin injured, Marlene poisoned and Elara on half health after drawing a danger card from searchable token, I thought the mission would be impossible to complete.

However, I got very lucky drawing a Battered Protectron that did not engage and the third inhabitant token turning out to be nothing.

On the other hand, I got less lucky when the recovery roll resulted in Marlene's death. It's a shame because she never really got into the storyline and her accuracy was a massive boost.

To add insult to injury, she broke the bolt-action pipe-rifle in her fall, so I only managed to retrieve her measly switchblade.

The only upside of this mission was that the News Travels roll turned up a contract when we get to Haven City. Maybe this was the reason Marlene was heading in that direction and Elara found the details on her body. I'll wait and see what theduce turn up before making a final decision.

Elara and Robbin look like they are going to have to face the defences of the RobCo factory without any backup.

Fallout Sandbox: On the Trail

"I'm coming with you, you know."

Robbin looked at Elara quizzically. She smiled.

"You're obviously thinking of going after these Super Mutants, or whatever they're called, and given how close we came to being killed by just one of them, you will need some help."

Robbin looked about to protest. Elara interrupted him before he could raise an objection, "look, You've saved my life twice already, and it's not like I've got anywhere better to be. I just have one question before we head off."

Robbin looked stunned, "if it's about where we are heading, I know this guy, Scope, a tech salvager, who might no how to track..."

Elara interrupted again, "no, not that. I just need to know...why does your brother have a Minigun in his tool box?"

After the last game in my Five Leagues/Fallout campaign, I knew that Elara and Robbin would be going after the Super Mutants that have taken his brother Indy, and I knew that would mean going after the quest giver that appeared as a result of the News Travels roll.

Calder Havelock—known in Scrap Hill as “Scope”—is a reclusive pre-war tech salvager and signal tracker. He comes and goes from the town, but Robbin had seen him a few days earlier in the foothills of Rockwind Ridge and figured that if they moved quickly, the pair should be able to catch up with him and get his help locating Ravage's Super Mutants.

However, before they set off, there wwre a few things to do in Scrap Hill first:

 - Elara sold the Minigun and flip lighter they had found;

 - they also engaged in 'hard work' for 10 caps, which I reasoned was a bounty from the sheriff on bringing in a Super Mutant head;

 - Elara then used some of the caps to upgrade her profile to Sole Survivor (which is how I'm addressing levelling up).

 - I equipped Robbin with the board and Elara took the spare bolt-action pipe-rifle as a back up.

With no encounter or location to explore when they caught up with Scope, there was just the small matter of a Travel roll...which naturally turned up a 'waylaid by foes' result.

This result plays completely into the format of the Into the Wasteland scenario generation system, which is designed for random encounters.

The only changes I made were pre-selecting the 'passing through' purpose card, reducing the range of possible locations and having the number of searchables and inhabitants due to the size of my party.

The goal was for Elara and Robbin to get to the other end of the board, dealing with any hostile inhabitants. Most of these were general wildlife, but there was a possibility of coming across a Battered Protectron, a Radscorpion or even a Deathclaw.

As per the Into the Wasteland rules, the closest inhabitants were immediately generated to be somewhat oxymoronic 'protective' Rabid Mole Rats.

As you can see, I'm using alternative models. Given that I've just encountered Giant Rats for the first time in Fallout: New Vegas, I'm really pleased how appropriate my proxies look. Let's hope they are as non-threatening as their digital inspiration has proven to be.

Elara and Robbin looked out carefully across the ruined buildings. Elara could swear she had seen movement amongst the rubble.

She'd already learned the value of caution, and was determined to not get herself hurt again by rushing in without thinking.

Suddenly Robbin was knocked backwards by huge rats that appeared as if from nowhere, desperately trying to bring his pipe-rifle up.

Before she could respond, more of the critters leapt out at Elara, who ducked and dodged, feeling eerily calm as she put a 10mm round through first on rat, then another, then another.

She briefly pondered why nuclear fallout seemed to have made everything bigger except humans.

As she put her boot through the skull of the final rats that was troubling her, Elara turned to see Robbin getting the worst of his fight.

Without pausing for breath, she raised her pistol and ran to his aid.

As she engaged the rats, Robbin seemed to sag. He was clutching his arm and the colour was leaving his face.

Concern growing in her, Elara fired into the monstrous rats, and kept firing until all that was left was twitching fur.

Robbin had managed to prop himself up against a wall, but something was very wrong. The would in his arm had already gone green. There was clearly something foul in the rats' bite.

"Stay here," she said, "I need to check these ruins are clear before we try to move you."

Robbin, seemingly exhausted, just nodded.

Advancing cautiously, Elara found no more rats, even when she encountered what appeared to be their nest. It was empty, save for a switchblade knife, which gave Elara a moment's pause before she pocketed it.

Suddenly her attention was drawn to a quiet groaning from behind a rusted vehicle.

Curled up by a wrecked Phoenix Fizz machine, Elara found an injured woman clearly suffering from more similar, but more advanced, symptoms to Robbin.

Unable to help her immediately, Elara promised to return for the woman after she'd scouted the area for further threats.

However, smdespite jumping at shadows a few times, not further creatures materialised, and shortly Ekar returned to Robbin and the woman, hauled them both to their feet, and the trio made their way extremely slowly towards their destination.

***

After a very rough start, I got extremely lucky with no further inhabitants showing up for what remained of the game. On the other hand, very few items were retrieved.

I made the decision to recruit the wounded farmer, Marlene, as a Settler, and equip her with the spare bolt-action pipe-rifle and the switchblade. We might learn more of her story later, but for now she's sticking with Elara, mainly because she's still poisoned.

Fortunately, Robbin made a full recovery.

The other reward for completing this mission was reaching Scope Havelock and being given what I shall now be referring to as the main quest (as a way to differentiate between this multi-part odyssey and the card-based quests like Robbin's Revenge mission.

Scope stared greedily at Elara's Pip-boy. Once he had seen that she was a Vault-Dweller, the old man had been only too happy to provide Robbin and Marlene with anti-venom, offer a solution to tracking the Super Mutants and even help Elara to gain re-entry to Vault 26.

His price: that Elara run a few potentially hazardous errands for him, and, when the time came to return to the Vault, she would take him with her.

With no real alternative, Elara had agreed to his terms.