The Bots are Coming!

Like other wargaming blogs this blog also suddenly experienced a 'tsunami' of 'mysterious visitors' this September. All this sudden hits are presumably not 'real visitors' or human readers, but more likely 'Web Crawlers', 'Search Spiders' or 'AI Chatbots'. What they exactly was, what their mission was, where they actually came from and why, I don't know for sure. Let's assume it was 'AI chatbots' they were probably searching wargaming blogs to pick up more knowledge of the subject and learn more about wargaming? -And to perhaps also to learn to wargame?? 

This made me think if this 'phenomenon' could be transferred to a wargame, or to a scenario for a wargame? -The Bots are Coming! 

Preparing the game

To be able to transfer this to a skirmish wargame I needed to materialize some 'intelligent' bots into some kind of 'battle-machines'. The answer gave it self, and I searched Thingeverse for some free files that could be resized and 3D-printed to 54mm. It's skinny, but due to the period for my scenario it's probably an early model (T600 or pre T600):

Then they were given a very simple and basic paint job, and a couple of coats of 'blackwash':

The Rules

The Terminators cant't time-travle with weapons, so for this game they are unarmed and they'll only fight hand-to-hand. I think the free FUBAR wargame rules can be amended for a battle between a superior force in close combat VS. a larger seasoned force with ranged combat capacities. 

The Scenario

After several unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate Sarah Connor and preventing her to give birth to the future resistance leader John Connor, the AI defense network Skynet simultaneously tries to assassinate Sarah Connor's father before she's even born, and so to prevent the future birth of her and her son.

Before Sarah Connor was born in 1965, her father was a soldier and fought in an unnamed war. Skynet is therefore sending Terminators back in time to search different conflicts and battlefields in the early 60ies where they have recorded plausible 'Connors'.

In Eastern Congo, 1961 Sergeant Connor is leading a reinforced UN squad which has been ordered to hold a key junction near the village of Kalemie to keep Katangese rebels from moving supplies. The peacekeepers expect rebels — but instead, three T-600s step out of the jungle and advance relentlessly toward the crossing. -What are they, where do they come from and why are they here???

Forces:

• Terminators:
• 3 early and unarmed models of T-600 Terminators which activites independently.
• A Terminator automatically incapacitate a single human opponent per action in close combat.
• Terminators are fast, so I'll let them move 12" instead of 6".
• Terminators ignore moral checks and pinning.
• I will let the Terminators fight as 'Elite' and 'Heavy Tank'. They can be harmed by HMGs (.50 cal.) and RPGs. On early Terminators only their front was heavy armored, so these will have to roll for a save (2+) from small arms if hit from behind.
• Hit effects:
• 1-2: -2 to next activation only
• 3-4: Can only move half speed rest of the game
• 5: immobilized for rest of the game
• 6: Terminator destroyed

• UN :

All UN forces will fight as 'Seasoned' in this game. Their M1 rifles are semi automatic so I'll let them have 2FP on ranges less than 12".

• A squad of 8 soldiers armed with 1 SMG, 6 M1 rifles and 1 LMG are manning the UN-Check Point.
• A Bazooka unit with 3 soldiers armed with 1 bazooka (with armor piercing rockets), 1 SMG and  M1 rifle provides back up support.
• A Jeep with a crew of 3 armed with a .50 cal. HMG provides supporting cover for the Check Point. Luckily they trying out the new Multi Purpose ammunition from Norway.

Mission:

• Terminators: To eliminate the UN unit in search for 'Connor'.
• UN: To pacify the Terminators.

The Game

Time:    55 minutes 

Turns:   9

Result:  This point is a 'spoiler alert', isn't it? It's a win for the Sgt. Connor and his men, but I'm not sure it's a victory for humanity having a battlefield with future artificial killer technology scattered around. One of the 'bots' are even still on.

There are not Katangan Rebels who exits the Jungle and approaches the UN-Check Point outside Kalemie...

The Traffic Sentry shouts them to stop as they're approaching the Check Point. He has not seen 'things' like these before:

The Terminators are ignoring him and keep advancing. Following the Rules of Engagement he warns them that he will open fire if they don't stop:

The Terminators keeps advancing, and the Traffic Sentry gives them a final warning and shoots a warning shoot:

The warning shoot did not scare the terminators off or made them come to a halt. The Sentry aims carefully and fires against the closest Terminator. He can see that he hit, but with no effect at all:

The closest Terminator rushes towards the Traffic Sentry and lethally strike him. The 2 other Terminators changes course and advance towards the Cover Sentry and Search Team. Both the Cover Sentry and the Search Team open fires upon the advancing machines, and score several hits on them with no effect. Not even from their high rate fire LMG:

Sgt. Connor orders his men to retreat:

The UN Jeep covering the Check Point opens fire with it's 0.50 cal HMG, and hits the Terminator which killed the Traffic Sentry:

The UN HMG hits the Terminator with so many successfully shots, that the Terminator stumble backwards, looses balance and fall upon the Czech Hedgehog behind him. The Czech Hedgehog impales the Terminator, and the Terminator becomes immobilized for the rest of the game:

Sgt. Connor's squad are retreating, but the LMG Team falls behind. The UN-Jeep rushes forward and opens fire on the pursuing Terminators: 

Even if the Terminators are hit by several shots of the HMG it doesn't stop them, only slowing them down:

Soon the 2 Terminators catch up with the slow LMG team of Sgt. Connor's squad, and immediately takes out 2 of them:

Even if the UN HMG scores several hits on the Terminators, it doesn't stop them from taking out the last member of the LMG team:

While the Terminators starts advancing towards the Jeep and the threat it's HMG represents, they don't notice the Bazooka team sneaking up from behind:

When ready the Bazooka team aims carefully and fires an armor piercing rocket and hit one of the Terminators from behind, where it's weakest point is:

It was a lethal hit:

The last Terminator turned around and took aim to ram the Bazooka team...

...which made a daring move; They knew that they didn't have time to reload so they started to run towards the Terminator at the same time the Terminator approached them and beat the Bazooka gunner to death. The team leader and loader made to run past him. They immediately turned around and shot the Terminator in the back:

Another success by the 2 remaining members of the Bazooka team! The Terminator was finally Terminated:

Sgt. Connor didn't know he was the target for this mechanical 'kill team', and the androids did not know if they've targeted the right 'Connor'. 

Sgt. Connor gathered his men around the last Terminator impaled at the Czech Hedgehog struggling to get free, but...

... no official reports were given what happened next...

Conclusion

Ironically I used the AI bot ChatGPT to partially create this scenario and figure out a rifle-squad chance vs. a T-600 Terminator. 

I have a soft spot for the free FUBAR wargaming rules, and used the expertise in the FUBAR FB-group to check my suggested stats for the Terminators.

I really do recommend the FUBAR wargaming rules, and signing up to their FB-group. If you haven't tried these rules out, yet, I really recommend you to do.

Blog PostScript

My youngest son is autistic and is not interested in tabletop wargaming. He's very interesting in gaming characters though. While preparing for this game he came with some of his lates acquisitions and played following his own rules. -which I off course let him. In his game the robot (Metal Sonic) was the winner and the Terminators seemed chanceless.

Airfix 1/32 scale Railway Enthusiasts set - Making the set Airfix didn't

In some toy soldiers Facebook groups I follow there was a phenomenon of making AI-generated images of 'What-if' box art of 1/32 scale figure sets by Airfix, actually never made. This phenomenon was trending at the time I had attended 3 Railway Garden meetings in only 4 days, so I was heavily influenced by these impressions when making my contribution:

I also 'stretched' this phenomenon and challenge a little further by adding an image with a suggested content to my suggested 'what-if' Airfix box of 1/32 scale Garden Railway Enthusiasts:

These AI generated images by ChatGPT intrigued me to much that I imagined what these figures, if ever made, would look like beside Z-scale (1:220) or T-Gauge trains (1:450). I don't have any T-Gauge trains (yet), but I do have a starter set of Märklin Z-scale. There was only one way to actually find out, and that was to make the figures myself. So some suitable miniatures was scoured on Thingiverse, which I resized and 3D-printed to 1/32 scale /54mm:

I also found some engines and resized them to look right as garden trains for my 1/32 scale figures:

Then everything was given the simplest paint-job ever:

This is how my miniature garden railway enthusiasts in 1/32 scale looks beside a 1:220 scale train by Märklin. I wonder which scale this train will actually be in relation to the figures?

And here are a couple of video shorts running the train with my miniature garden railway enthusiasts:

 

This was a quick and fun little 'project'. What I'm going to use these hastily made miniatures for now I don't really know yet. Any suggestions?

Blog PostScript

As earlier mentioned, this Facebook phenomenon and challenge was initially about soldiers and  military sets. Last week when I posted a blogpost with some photos from a Norwegian model railway exhibition I'd been visiting, showing a Norwegian WW2 themed layout, Mark at the Man of Tin Blog 2 followed up with an epic blogpost on his Sidetracked blog on how this could be transferred to a wargame. Please have a visit on his blog to read about his ideas. One thing he suggests in his post is what kind of miniatures to substitute as 'WW2 Norwegians' in his wargaming ideas. Well, this blogpost was originally about Airfix What-ifs, so at least I can suggest the Box Art for Mark's Norwegians:

More Garden Railway Rallies - 3 meetings in only 4 days

Shortly after a very busy week described in this blog post, our members were involved in running Garden Trains on several occasions again. These times there were not the usual 'Trains & Coffee' or 'Trains & BBQ' meetings, but meetings with some sort of other purposes.

Swap Meeting at Pletten Railway

First out was Thomas who invited the public to a 'Garden Railway Swap Meet' and a running session (to set the scene) at his Garden Railway; Pletten. 

I've experienced that my Heeresfeldbahn HF130C Diesel has reduced battery capacity since I mounted the rechargeable battery 2 years ago. Ok, I've used this loco for about 13 hours the last 10 days on very wet and slippery rails or a hauling a heavy rake, both on inclines, which again is taking a toll at the running time between each recharging. -But from about 3 hours to 2 ???!!!???

-So  for this session I decided to bring my Heeresfeldbahn Diesel for another outing, but with a shorter and lighter train this time to see if the length and weight of rake in combination with steep inclines and slippery rails was causing this problems. An armed and empty goods this time, for a pick up goods close to the demarcation line are getting ready in the fiddle yard:

A nice thing with the combination of swap meeting and running session is that you can try the 'goods' before buying them. I found a heavy model of a Caterpillar tractor with rotating metal belts. I think it's been kept outside as it looks 'naturally weathered'. I tried it as a load, and found that it looked so much like a 1917 5 ton Artillery Tractor that I decided to buy it as I got a good price. So the question is to paint it and weather it, or not? Since it's loaded on a German train on the Eastern Front it's probably some captured Soviet lend - lease equipment originally from the U.S. that my empty goods train picked up this day. Now my 'empty' wasn't so light anymore:

Since this was a swap meet, did I buy anything else except for that '1917 Artillery Tractor'? I got these couple of wagons as a real bargain. They're very well used, missing some pieces here and there and awfully painted. It looks like I'm having some (Heeresfeldbahn-) projects this winter:

Thank you Elaine and Thomas for the invitation and hosting this swap meeting and running session and for your hospitality!

Did the running time improve much on the battery? It's inclines on Pletten Ry. too, but the weather and tracks were dry, and the rake not too heavy, so I'd expect running time close to 3 hours. In 2 hours and 15 minutes the battery was discharged. Luckily I have another one, so I can swap when needed. 

Running trains for a Reportage at Opsundbanen

Heine was asked by the Swedish model magazine Allt om Hobby if they could come and make a reportage and article of his Garden Railway. He was delighted and wanted to add traffic to his layout while the journalists was there, so he invited to an 'early bird' running-session. I don't think I've ever been up this early before just to run trains in a garden before. According to the fiddle yard there were many early birds this morning:

Since this 'audience' is new to it, it would be another re-appearance of my trusty Heeresfeldbahn train again. This time my Heeresfeldbahn Diesel ran flawless on only one charging for the 2+ hours of this venue:

I'll also added my Live Steam War Department locomotive to add some variation and interest. This time loaded with my newly acquired Artillery Tractor I bought 2 days earlier:

I let the editor of the magazine run my W^D train, which allowed me take some photos and videos of it while running. It takes so much concentration to run a Live Steam locomotive, so this is actually the train I have less photos and videos of whilein action:

There was actually more trains on the line that I could record them all this morning, but here are some impressions:

This Rätische Bahn work train is scratchbuilt by Arne. It has a lot of functions, just like the real thing:

The Main Character today was naturally Heine who has constructed this amazing garden railway, and keeps inviting us over for running sessions and are actively contributing to this active garden railway society:

Heine served coffee and breakfast in the garden this morning:

Thank you for inviting us over and for your warm hospitality Heine!

Running trains at Gylmer's Garden Railway during an "Open Garden" arrangment

The following day Gylmer was having a nearby 'Garden Society' over for a visit and an 'Open Garden' arrangement. This was coincidentally the same day as our regular club-meetings so Gylmer invited the members over for a running session to add traffic to his Garden Railway. One of the purposes by this arrangement was to show the members of this 'Garden Society' that trains can be added to a lovely garden just to make it even more spectacular. The weather was also lovely for running trains outside.

3 days earlier Gylmer acquired some G-scale buildings from the 'Swap Meeting' described in the first paragraph in this blogpost:

He had already serviced them and placed them on his layout ahead of the 'Open Garden' arrangement. It looked really good! Just compare these recent photos with photos from last time we visited Gylmer's Garden Railway:

Even if we've been to Gylmer's lovely Garden Railway before, I haven't made any Cabview video of it. Yet. But here it finally is, both the outer and inner circuit:

Since the outing in Heine's garden the day before, I didn't have time to unpack my trains at home (like several other members). So this was another outing with my German Heeresfeldbahn- and my British War Department trains. They were 'new' to this audience anyway. The W^D livesteam locomotive seemed popular among the spectators:

The Mallet locomotive in the foreground is actually also a German ex-Military Heeresfeldbahn locomotive. 20 were built during WW1, but all were scrapped. A 'replica' was made in 1925 and is the only one left. I wonder when Heine is going to paint his locomotive 'Grey'...

This time I kept my rake light and short and combined with that there isn't so steep inclines on Gylmer's layout, my Heeresfeldbahn Diesel was close to 3 hours of running time again. It didn't actually discharge at all during this day out.

I was so busy driving trains that I almost didn't have time to take photos or videos this time:

There were about 50 people visiting Gylmer's garden this afternoon:

It's really 'hard' to run trains in the garden, so refreshments were received with gratitude:

And it was not only the 'scale staff' our hosts cared for:

Trains & Coffee (and 'LuftwaffLe'). -And actually it turned out to be a 'Trains & BBQ' arrangement as well: 

This day was actually also the 'International Dog Day', so this is to honor our pawed friends:

This time I noticed a small scene or cameo on Gylmer's layout, reminding me of our accommodation at the small mountain farmhouse during the Grand Opening of Hummelfjellbanen in Dalsbygda. It's a prototype for every thing 🙂

Thanks for the invitation and your hospitality Gylmer. We had a great day out in your garden!

The members in our model railway club have attended 3 garden meetings and running sessions in only 4 days. -And the weather has been warm and sunny and perfect for such outdoor activities! We usually run trains no matter weather, but it's always nicer to be outside when it's hot and sunny. -We were lucky, because the day after the last running-session in this blogpost it startet to rain for a period. 

I guess these meetings was also to mark the 'Seasonal Finale' for our running sessions.

This Blogpost is dedicated to Thomas, Elaine, Heine and Gylmer who has invited us and hosted these days out. Your hospitality is warm and highly appreciated! I am grateful!! Thank you!!! 

Blog PostScript 

At the final stages of writing this blogpost there was another phenomenon that was about to trend Facebook again. This time it was AI generated images of box art from "what-if" Airfix 1/32 figure sets, never actually made. There are surely a lot of creative people out there, but there was 'one set I missed', so I decided to make a contribution my self. Too bad Airfix never made this as it would be nice to add along Z-scale and T-gauge model trains:

I tried to 'stretch this phenomenon a little further' by trying to add some contents to the suggested Airfix box of 'Garden Railway Enthusiasts':