Stargrave – The Last Prospector
With Quarantine 37 covered, we move on to the second full supplement for Stargrave: The Last Prospector, released in 2022. Where Quarantine 37 leaned into science-fiction horror, The Last Prospector takes the game somewhere different entirely – the space western.
What is it about?
The setup arrives as an intercepted message. An old contact, known only as the Prospector, has found something big in the Honereb System – a run-down cluster of asteroid mining operations near the edge of a forgotten galactic arm. He wants to cut you in. By the time your crew arrives, the Prospector is nowhere to be found.
What follows is a ten-scenario campaign built around tracking down your missing contact while navigating the politics of a system that nobody with options would choose to visit. The Honereb System is populated by five factions, each with their own agenda: Pa, the mysterious authority running the decaying Penthalia Station – nobody is sure if Pa is a person, a council, or a computer; the Honera Collective, a semi-socialist operation on a jungle planet with strict border controls; The Gliders, a pirate gang operating out of a scuttled ore hauler called Saint Mollia; United Minerals Incorporated, a pre-war corporation that is now functionally a dictatorship; the Freeholders League, independent asteroid miners who pool resources for mutual survival; and the Darksiders, a secretive, robe-clad group in the third asteroid belt that nobody quite understands but most people leave alone.
Joseph A. McCullough is upfront about his inspirations. The space western as a genre has a long history. George Lucas built the Mos Eisley cantina on it, Joss Whedon ran with it for a single glorious television season, and the British film Outland put Sean Connery in a mining colony and filmed a remake of High Noon. For tabletop hobbyists, the reference points extend further: Marshal BraveStarr, The Mandalorian, the whole visual grammar of the frontier in space. The Honereb System is built from these materials, and the supplement wears its influences without apology.
Stargrave – Quarantine 37
We covered Stargrave extensively over the years on this blog, starting with the core rulebook and the several plastic kits for Crew, Troopers, Mercenaries, Scavengers and Automatons. The last supplement we took a look at was Dead or Alive, the solo supplement that started as a free PDF and received a major overhaul in 2024. Now it is time to work through the remaining supplements – and that means going back to where it all started: Quarantine 37, the first full supplement for Stargrave, released back in 2021.
What is it about?
Imperial Research Station 37 once housed nearly ten thousand scientists working on biological and chemical research. Six months before the Last War, it went dark – no distress signals, no escape pods, just a single repeating broadcast: This station is under quarantine. Do not approach. Now, with the war over and independent crews picking through the ruins of the galaxy, the station has been rediscovered. Whatever happened there, the technology inside is worth a fortune.
That is the setup for Quarantine 37, and it is a good one. Joseph A. McCullough freely admits in the introduction that he could not decide between two classic sci-fi horror archetypes for this supplement, zombies or alien bugs, and in the end simply chose both. The station is big enough for both threats, depending on which airlock you enter through.
The result is two separate mini-campaigns of four scenarios each. The first, The Shuffling Dead, sends the crews deep into the zombie-infested sections of the station before they are surrounded and have to fight their way back to the ship. The second, Strike from the Shadows, pits the crews against a swarm of alien bugs that herd them steadily deeper into the hive, culminating in a face-to-face encounter with the alien queen. Beyond the scenarios, the book adds two new captain backgrounds (Aristocrat and Hunter), eight new powers, six new soldier types, a table of advanced technology to loot from the station, and a bestiary covering zombies, bugs, and everything in between.
Stargave – Automatons
Of all the recent Stargrave releases, I was particularly looking forward to the Automatons, which I am happy to share with you today.
Designed by Northstar Military Figures in cooperation with Osprey Games, these half-human, half-machine creatures have so much potential, which we are going to take a closer look at. Like the other multi-part plastic kits in the Stargrave range, this one contains 20 28mm scale miniatures and has an RRP of 22 GBP.
As usual, there are four identical sprues containing five miniatures each, as well as two sprues with flat, 25 mm round bases. These are very similar to the Renedra bases and do not have a lip or raised edge.
Stargave – Scavengers
We are picking up two more plastic kits from Stargrave, starting with the Scavengers (SGVP007), which were released a while ago but which I haven't had time to review yet.
These impressively well-made sci-fi kits are produced by Northstar Military Figures in cooperation with Osprey Games. They cover 20 multi-part miniatures and have an RRP of 22 GBP.
Although they are designed with Stargrave in mind, they can obviously be used for a wide range of sci-fi settings. They are kept in a 28 mm scale with slightly heroic proportions, and of course they are interchangeable with the other kits in the range (such as the Mercenaries), and you can also use bits from the Frostgrave range.
Stargrave – Tales of the Outer Rim
A new project is incoming - the Tales of the Outer Rim (TOTOR), and I want to include you in the creative process. But let us set the tone.
It is a time of upheaval.
Nine years after the fall of the Emperor, new powers are struggling for influence in the galaxy. In the Outer Rim, old feuds are simmering, pirates and bounty hunters are making the fringes of civilisation unsafe. Amidst the chaos, small groups of smugglers, deserters and freedom fighters are gathering.
In search of artefacts, credits and a place in the new age, they face the dangers of a shattered galaxy.
With the rules from Stargrave and miniatures from Star Wars: Legion, these stories come to life.
Small skirmishes, great adventures — a new hope on the edge of the stars...
Stargrave – Even more Sci-Fi goodies
As Miniaturicum is a not only distributor but very often on board with the Nickstarters, I had the chance to pledge to the starter and get some freebies, along with a few blister packs for review purposes to show you. This was a while back and simply got swamped in the backlog, but here it is.
- SGV101 Biomorphs
- SGV115 Veterans
- SGV205 Specialist Soldier Medics
- SGV201 Specialist Soldiers Hacker / Codebreaker
- some loots from the first Nickstarter - Loot markers, D20 and a Rogue
The miniatures are cast in metal and usually single pieces. They do not have tabs or small "hills" on their feet, but are "barefoot", so you can freely put them on the bases you intend. Each blister comes with a matching number of 25mm round bases by Renedra, and each pack is 7 GBP (around 8,50 EUR on the European market).
Stargrave – More Sci-Fi goodies
I got myself some individual blisters from Osprey / Northstars Stargrave sci-fi skirmish, to cover generic roles in sci-fi systems but to add some depth to my Necromunda Collection. In detail I got the following sets
- SGVX001 -The Old Rogues
- SGV203 - Specialists Guard Dogs
- SGV305 - Plague Zombies I
- SGV306 - Plague Zombies II
Dino’s annual preview 2023
Aha, so it's 2023, anything special coming up this year? Well, I'm turning 42 and as everyone knows, 42 is the answer to all questions! To all questions? At least to one question I have the answer: do I need more minis? No, not 42...
The Great Moderation is a concept that I have been following for several years now, where I limit my budget to 20,- € per month, with the goal to increase my painting output of existing miniatures and to limit the new purchases in my hobby. As it turned out, 240,- € per year is quite a lot if you already have a bunch of miniatures at home and the pile just grows and grows. For this reason, I plan to cut my budget again - ironically, my strategy has also found approval in the forum of the Tabletopwelt and a group project has emerged from it, so to speak, the not so anonymous round of addicted hobbyists, in which if possible no new purchases should be made. However, everyone receives 150, - € annual budget - for slip ups. This seems feasible to me, since I have everything here, within the projects I pursue
But before I move on to tackle one of the leftover projects, I want to paint the new acquisitions from last year first, because there is also a part remaining. In addition, I will set myself a fairly small annual goal in 2023, since my hobby time continues to melt due to my professional commitments.
Dino’s December 2022
As announced in November, I painted the last lineman of the humans for my Old World Alliance team. With that, half of a Blitz Bowl team is already done and I'm considering stepping on the gas again in January and paint the remaining three players so that the next time I'm at the club in Bedburg, I can field a completely painted team.
As you can see, the players look much better with the decals, as it breaks up the large green areas better. While I think the contrast between the light and dark green is sufficient by now, the decals add a certain polish to the overall look.
Stargrave – a Star Wars Story isn’t shattered
So, while I'm preparing my own Star Wars skirmish on a squad based level with Stargrave ruleset - using the platoon level range of Star Wars Legion miniatures and after market 3d print files, Atomic Mass Games announced that they will release Stars Wars - Shatterpoint, a squad based skirmish.
But as I pointed out, why Star Wars is a problematic tabletop IP and why FFG/AMG/Asmodee isn't doing that kind of a proper job supporting SWL, I came across this meme and it really brings it to the point. From the first looks it is a white label of Marvel Crisis Protocol, so even from a Star Wars skirmish point of view, this seems to be a very high fantasty skirmsh-scale hero brawler. On top, with yet another scale, to cut of the repurpose of miniatures from other ranges.
Like us on Facebook
Follow me on Instagram
Categories
- events (206)
- fantasy (599)
- General (160)
- historical (632)
- Little Big Adventures (4)
- offtopic (5)
- reviews (536)
- science fiction (687)
- showroom (107)
- terrain (117)
- work-in-progress (418)
