Of ROCO Minitanks and Hobby Shops

The first time I entered a hobby shop, I was five or six years old. We were there because some older boys on the block had new toy soldiers. They were tiny. My mother had asked where they got them, and they told her about the hobby shop.

The hobby shop was a little storefront on Central Avenue. It was a small shop. There were display windows on either side and a door inside at the center. The windows displayed various models and trains and those tiny soldiers.

We entered a typical store of the time. There was a counter on one side with shelves behind it and some display items. The other side was a wall of wooden shelves with models and trains.

In one of the glass counters was a small display. I think it was white, or maybe a light gray or pale blue. The display was terraced, like steps. On each step were three or four tiny vehicles. They were a very dark color. Most were tiny tanks. Beside the display were boxes of the tiny soldiers.

To buy a tank, you had to tell the counter man which one you wanted by saying its number. He would look through stacks of gray boxes on shelves in the back counter. Each box had six or more tiny vehicles, each wrapped in a small plastic bag. Packed with each was decals: white stars for American vehicles, red stars for Soviets and Panzer Crosses for German tanks. The tanks were 25 cents apiece.

There were two kinds of soldiers in cardboard boxes with cellophane windows., They had a picture of soldiers on the front, and a list of the figures on the back. Only two kinds of soldiers were available. The green drab Infantry Combat Group looked like Allied soldiers. Blue-gray German Infantry had figures of World War II German troops. Each had 48 pieces. For a dollar, you could buy two tanks and a platoon of infantry.

There were other figures for model railroaders by the same company. I remember Farm Animals and Civilian figures in "HO / OO" scale. There was also a marching band set and British guardsmen.

At the time, ROCO only made a few different vehicles. I remember the US M47 and M48 Patton tanks, a US M4A1 Sherman, at least two different Panzer IVs, a German Panzer V "Panther", a Soviet JSIII "Stalin" tank, a 2 ½ ton truck and some other items.

We did not know much about tanks then, except for what we saw in movies, read in comics, or heard from older relatives who were veterans. Our play wars included a few tanks that were from a later era. We did not care. For little boys, close enough is good enough.

Of course, we could afford the little Roco tanks and Airfix soldiers. I remember one year when Halloween fell on a Saturday. My friends and I were out all day trick or treating. Along with candy and apples, some folks gave money. W e gathered nickels and dimes and pennies. One old woman even gave out quarters. That money was enough to buy some tanks at the hobby shop, which is just what we did. Then we returned to trick or treating to get more loot.

ROCO and Airfix continued to add new sets over the years. They all ended up at the little hobby shop. I remember the Airfix 8^th Army, Afrika Korps, US Marines, Cowboys, Civil War guys, Indians and French Foreign Legion. Then came new sets with more detail, such as the Japanese Infantry, Arabs, Robin Hood, Romans and Ancient Britons. ROCO added more modern tanks and upgraded a few others, as well as expanding their World War II lines. In our youthful enthusiasm, we had toy-tank arms races where both sides had too many King Tigers and nothing lighter than a Sherman.

A couple of things changed the way we enjoyed our mini-tanks and min-men. One was a book titled War Games: Battles and Manoeuvres with Model Soldiers by Donald Featherstone. The book showed us a better way to play games with our tanks and troops.( A later book by Featherstone used specifications made to fit Airfix’s inventory of 1/76mm kits for a more advanced type of game. We loved it.)

Another change came over a decade later. Summer of 1972 was spent at the Jersey Shore. I made some friends and found a hobby shop: Air and Armor Hobbies in Belmar, NJ. We had a lot of fun, played our wargames and built models. At Continental Hobbies out by Freehold, I was introduced to the Roskopf mini-tanks. Of course, soldiers were the least of my concerns at the time. Like many youths my age, I would drop everything if a female entered the picture. (She was a skinny Irish chick and we had a lot of fun.) And so it was until mid-Autumn of that year, when I went into the Army....

My collection of tiny tanks and soldiers and other wargame figures were lost in the mid-1980s. A couple of disastrous moves followed by unexpected circumstances upset everything. I had little time for hobbies after that. Many other things needed my full attention. One needs a stable place to work with miniature hobbies. It took another ten years before I got back into them.

 

I have to admit a disappointment in miniature hobbies these days. There is little incentive for young people to get involved in them. Model kits are very expensive. So are trains. The little tanks sold by Herpa, many of which are reissued Roco models, are very expensive. While the Airfix soldiers are priced reasonably for these times, the tanks and other vehicles are not.

ROCO had competition. Eldon, UPC, Aurora and Marusan made kits that were pretty much knockoffs of Roco vehicles. They were all affordable. The same went for the Roskopf tanks. They were all priced fairly for the time. When I see the price of Herpa kits, I balk, Sure, some are updated and have extra detail. That tooling might have been expensive. However that may be, how does an item that went for 29 cents in 1966 sell for over $20 in 2016? And how are we going to attract young people to the hobby when a single piece costs more than one of their video games?

We need to bring back those competing kits!

 

One of the things this hobby gives is the satisfaction of doing it oneself. I remember how I felt the first time I did a full paint job and decals on a ROCO tank. That is just one of the satisfactions this hobby has. There was the fun of learning about the real vehicles and how they were used. More fun came by painting soldiers and arranging miniature units. There were also dioramas and little battlefields we made, using the old "Village in a Bag" houses. We learned to paint and assemble small things, and to use our creativity with tangible results.

The fellows running the old hobby shops were more than merchants. They knew their products and how to work with them. In our local shop, the owners showed us how to camo-paint our ROCO tanks and told us what paint set to buy. (Testor’s Military Flats). The same guys could tell you how to set up switches on an HO railroad, what track you needed to expand an HO slot car set, and what tricks to use building model kits. I can think of a few other shops offhand where the folks behind the counter could offer expert advice on using the shop’s products. Sadly, all of them are long gone.

I believe that one day, people will realize what they are missing and will again seek activities that require making something. At least, I hope so. The virtual world and video games are ethereal and intangible. People may again seek to make something tangible, They will want that which has physical reality. Likewise, I hope they regain the satisfaction of making something.. For us who know the pleasure of the job well done, the benefits are obvious. Perhaps one day young people will rediscover those benefits for themselves.

****

Most hobby shops were fun, but there were always an odd few where the owners were less than congenial. We called them "Hobby grumps" and "Hobby grouches". Those surly individuals acted as if customers were at worst a nuisance, at best an occupational hazard. Most of them also thought they were the best hobby dealers on Earth and deserved total customer loyalty. As soon as a competing shop opened close enough to them, their customers headed to the new place. Should any ever stop back in the grouch’s shop again, they would hear a derisive remark about being a disloyal customer or some such rubbish.

The hobby grumps were especially unfriendly to younger hobbyists. Instead of seeing children as the future of the hobby, they were rude. By the time those kids became older and had more to spend on hobbies, they were already someone else’s customers.

Fortunately for me, the folks who ran the hobby shop in my neighborhood were friendly to all of their customers. That inspired many to invest more interest in hobbies. Most shops were the province of good-natured fellows who were more than happy to share their expertise. That personal insight is something that cannot be gotten on the Internet. On the other hand, the grumps were a rare hazard in an otherwise pleasant field.

Review: The Corps Elite 120 Pieces Army Playset

 

Our Walmart usually does not have much in the way of Army Men. I was surprised, therefore, to see this large clear plastic can of troops. It was The Corps Elite 120 Pieces Army Playset. The set claimed to include "soldiers, bases, vehicles and more..." I could see that these were army men unlike any others in my collection. I had seen similar figures shown on our Army Men Homepage Face Book page by several members.

Getting the can home, I opened it. Not an easy feat, as it was triple sealed. Inside I found a cardboard cone in the middle. Around it were soldiers in three colors, a tiny tank, small attack helicopter, tiny jet and odd "robot" thing. There were also two sandbag walls, two stands for machine guns, a three-piece wall that looked like a refueling station, six fences and three antitank obstacles.

The tank was about 1/76 scale and was loosely - very loosely - based on the Abrams tank. The helicopter was between 1/100 and HO and very loosely inspired by the Cobra. The jet was small and the robot was about twice the height of the soldiers. Frankly, the vehicles were not much.

Tank obstacles, Wall, machine gun post

The terrain pieces were passable. The sandbag walls each had a machine gun. The odd three-piece wall had an industrial look to it. It would fit Starship Troopers or Aliens. The fences were good enough. There were three each of two different fence types

Sandbag Wall with Machine gun

 

Soldiers come in three colors

 

Included with all this were 96 soldiers. These came in eight different poses. There were equal numbers of each pose in three different colors: light green, tan and terra-cotta. The troops are uniformed along modern lines, but more in the manner of futuristic action figures. They remind me of troops from Starship Troopers, Aliens (Colonial Marines) and Space-Above and Beyond. Weapons have a boxy look to them, except for a man-portable mini -gun. So far as I know, there is nothing comparable in the real world to these weapons.

 

With these troops, we are blurring the line with science fiction. In fact, they would be excellent for near-future combat against aliens, zombies and monsters. A little paint and other touches could produce Colonial Marines or Starship Troopers. A plain paint job is all that would be necessary needed to make Space Above and Beyond Marines.

 

Figures are in the 45 to 50mm range. Because none of the poses are standing fully upright, I had to get creative. A measurement was about 50mm size. They are larger than the 45mm Colonial Marines included in a recent bagged set of Aliens figures. (The Aliens marines look equal in size only because their bases are thick.) The Elite figures also have a much better look. Of course, the Elite figures are shorter than the Tim Mee M16 soldiers. The Elite figures have a thicker look than the Tim Mee figures.

Elite compared with Tim Mee soldiers

 

Elite compared with Aliens marines

******

Where do these troops fit for toy soldier games? In my opinion, they are too futuristic for playing current scenarios. The Corps Elite figures look very much like the Starship Troopers and Space Above and Beyond. They could also be used as Aliens. Characters similar to these figures are often found in post-apocalyptic and dystopian type films. The "vehicles" are pretty much useless. but the fences and walls make for good diorama and gaming scenery. Scale is between 1/35 and 1/40.

 

 

 

Star Wars Command "Epic Assault" army men set

 

The Star Wars Command "Epic Assault" set had promise. I had some luck and found a set for a very low price. The box was far from pristine, which accounted for the discount. Of course, I care most about what is inside the box.

AT-DP Drivers

The set is promoted as having 22 pieces. These include 2 "rev" bases that work like the old pullback toys. Put a Star Wars space ship or vehicle on top, pull back ,and then it wheels forward. I played with some jousting knights like that when I was a kid.

Imperial Storntroopers and Tie Fighter pilot

 

The set had eight Imperial soldiers, five character figures, a robot, two AT-DPs and four spacecraft. The soldier poses included kneeling and standing shooting Stormtroopers, two AT-DP drivers and two Tie Fighter Pilots. The figures that were new to me were the drivers. They had a good pose and were well-sculpted and cast. All of the poses look like those used in the movies, by the way.

C-10 Chpper robot, Ezra bridger, Inquisitor

 

The character figures were unknown to me. These were three light-saber wielding figures, a skinny woman with two pistols and a thick-bodied alien with a huge blaster rifle. There was also a little can-shaped orange robot. I checked online and found that these figures were based on an animated series. The light saber figures were silver "The inquisitor", gold "Ezra Bridger", and green "Kanan Janus". A dark red "Sabine Wren" packed two pistols, and a purple "Garazeb Orrelios" had a the huge blaster. Then there was a C-10 "Chopper" can robot. The swordsmen looked slim and wispy in comparison to the soldiers.

Kanan Janus, Sabine Wren, Garazeb Orrelios

 

The set also had small vehicles. Two of the two-legged white "AT-DP’ land craft were included, as well as 2 black Tie Fighters, a special Tie Fighter and a ship called a Ghost. The Imperial craft were about the N scale (1/160) to TT (1/120) size. The scale of the Ghost was much smaller.

AT-DP Walkers

The sculpting on the ships and the soldiers was good. I like the animated poses and the detail. The character figures were probably based closely on the animated characters, and so have an unreal and spare look.

Tie Fighters

For skirmish games, this set is an odd assortment. The Empire has all the firepower. There are only two Rebel shooters as opposed to eight gun-toting soldiers. Of the three swordsman, one is an Imperial fighter. You can tell Imperials from other figures by the base. The Imperials all have bases with angular ends. The rebels all have bases with rounded ends.

Enhanced Tie Fighter

Of course. I could not beat the price. I had wanted to get a few of the vehicles to see how well they were made. Having a few more Imperials was icing on the cake.

"Ghost" Rebel Space Ship

Again, folks, these sets have been discontinued. I believe it was done because of the movie that was recently released. I have found that if you shop Amazon for the Star Wars Command sets, you can sometimes get better prices from "other vendors." Just remember that when using other vendors, there is a shipping fee, so calculate accordingly. The best deals I saw on Ebay were from the Hasbro Toy Shop (HasbroToyShop). Most of the other sets on Ebay were woefully overpriced. Big Bad Toy Store had a few sets reasonably priced.

Sci Fi Galaxy Laser Team and Star Wars figures

 

Just for fun, I decided to compare several Galaxy Laser Team figures with the Star Wars characters who inspired them. Or did they? On closer inspection, some Galaxy figures are entirely different from those they supposedly portray. Star Wars may have inspired some of the Tim Mee brand figures, but both sets are distinct.

 

 

Chewbacca and Chompsnuffa

 

The main similarity between Star Wars’ Wookie and the Galaxy Fur Alien is the fur. Granted, the Galaxy figure was an attempt to take the place of the Wookie, but the facial features and weapon are entirely different. My suggestion for those who paint their figures is to use very different colors on these funny fellows. An imaginative modeler could get a very distinct miniature from the Galaxy fur alien just by creative use of paint. Green fur? Maybe...

 

Darth Vader and Magnutto

 

Darth Vader is a very distinct character. Side by side with the supposed Galaxy Laser team version, they are very different figures. The Tim Mee counterpart looks like a Marvel Comics character. Thigh-high boots, a pectoral chest-plate and pro wrestler belt are very different from Vader’s clothing. The helmets are also unique. The Tim Mee figure wears what looks like a variant of an open-faced Greek helmet. His cape is shorter and so is his weapon. A light-club? With a little work, it could be a Greek-type sword. Again, a creative painter could make the Tim Mee figure look stunning.

 

X-Wing Pilot and Soldier with Pistol

 

These two have more in common than the other pairs. Helmets, though distinct, have a similar overall shape. However, the pilot is obviously in a flight suit. The Tim Mee figure could be anything from a security officer to Buck Rogers type soldier. He wears a very different outfit and unique boots that seem to flop over the top like those of pirates. While he could fit in the realms of Buck Rogers, Death Star personnel or Rebel infantry, he is unique enough to stand out. It is all in the paint work.

 

Tusken Raider and Turto-lob

 

These are so distinct as to have no middle ground between them. The Tusken is a desert character. If not humanoid, it is still likely mammalian. The Turto-lob (Turtle + lobster) is reptilian with a bird-like beak, buggy antennae and lobster claws. Still and all, both are cool aliens to add spice to your spice adventures.

　

 

R2D2 and the Washboard Robot

 

Mistakenly called "droids" in the movies, short tin-can robots were a common feature of the Star Wars franchise. (Droid is short for android, a robot having a basic human shape. C3PO from Star Wars, Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation and the Terminator are androids. R2D2 and his type are not.) R2D2 is a small, cylindrical machine with a dome top and three legs. By comparison, Tim Mee’s Galaxy Laser Team robot is a flat, rectangular-bodied machine with two legs.

 

Small robots like both of these examples were common in the Star Wars movies. Another movie using small robots was Silent Running with Bruce Dern from 1972. He had a pair of two-legged, boxy robots. Cute robots seem to have been a thing of the times. For instance, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, a 1970s show, had a comical little robot named Twiki. (Think Hello Kitty goes Andriod: Twiki.)

 

Of course, Star Wars was not the only inspiration. Three of the characters in the Galaxy Laser Team had other origins:

 

The Astronauts

 

The two astronauts in the Galaxy Laser Team are somewhere between Gemini and the Space Shuttle. One pose is reminiscent of the early MPC "Mercury" type astronauts. The other has similarities to two other poses. However, these Galaxy astronauts are more modern. For instance, the air supply on the astronauts’ backs tells the tale. The MPC astronauts have tanks similar to a scuba diver. The Galaxy men have a boxy pack instead. It would have been more like that worn on the Space Shuttle. The Apollo air pack was much larger, wider and taller.

　

 

What happened to the woman with console? She is apparently based on the female crew of the original run of Star Trek. Unlike the others, there is no previous plastic figure on which she might be based.

　

The Galaxy Laser Team is a good source of affordable 50 to 54mm scale space figures. Because they are different from the characters of popular sci-fi movies, there is a lot of leeway as to how they can be painted and their use in games. A skillful modeler could get more than a few good conversions from them. The recent Hasbro "Star Wars" plastic figures are a great asset, but they will be getting scarce due to discontinued production. Perhaps Airfix will reissue their fantasy space men soon. They can accompany both of the aforementioned sets of spacemen.

 

Space 1959 - They Really did It!

Space 1959 - They Really Did it!

1961 was a big thing for those of us fascinated by space missions. In short order, we had shifted focus from the X-15 to the Mercury Space flights. The X-15 looked like a space ship. The Mercury capsule was bland. No fins, no spiraling antennae, no blast of rocket fire out the back.

In 1962, some of the older boys up the block had a new toy. It was an outer space base with lots of rockets, space tanks, astronauts and weird aliens. They would not let us touch it. They were stingy. We younger boys thought it was fascinating. That was my first glimpse at the Marx "Operation Moonbase" playset.

A very popular book at the time was "You Will Go To the Moon." Written in 1959, it was based on articles about space travel by Werner von Braun. There was a lot of speculative fiction about space travel, especially in those years.

I have recently done some of my own speculation on what would have happened had there been a means to go into space in 1955. I was surprised to learn that both the Army and Air Force had been planning for it in the 1950s. They were also planning to build a facility on the Moon. In 1959, the Army presented its program entitled Project Horizon.. The Air Force plan was called Lunex. Both had ambitious plans to put a man on the Moon. Further, both wanted to build a facility on the moon that could house men for at least a year. The amazing thing is that most of it could have been accomplished with the technology of the time.

The Army wanted to have its base built by 1966. The Air Force thought it would be 1967 or later.

Both reports claimed that a major obstacle was lack of knowledge of the conditions on the Moon. Both were optimistic that they could be discovered in time.

The Army plan included sending supplies in cylinders. These would be used to build an underground facility that could house up to 12 men on a regular basis, and 16 temporarily. Moonbase Alpha, indeed!

The Army had plans for a lightweight vehicle to do the digging and place the cylinders. Power was to be supplied by small nuclear plants. The space vehicles were lunar landers and a vehicle to lift off from the moon.

The concept driving the plans was to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon and to use the Moon for military as well as scientific activities.

As usual, the Army plan was more comprehensive and better thought out than the Air Force plan.

Here are links to all three:

Project Horizon, V1 http://www.history.army.mil/faq/horizon/Horizon_V1.pdf

Project Horizon, V2 http://www.history.army.mil/faq/horizon/Horizon_V2.pdf

Lunex, USAF http://www.astronautix.com/data/lunex.pdf

Link to web page with Lunex file, better text and drawings http://astronautix.com/articles/lunex.htm

This ought to be no surprise., The military is constantly drawing up plans for almost any conceivable scenario. That they went into moon landings is understandable. Project Horizon is itself impressive because of the scope of it and its practicality. Knowing what we do now, we can see that this plan was feasible. Granted, it might not fit into the Army timetable to get it done by 1966. Nonetheless, it could be done.

Why id they not build a base on the Moon? Other technology came along to go do the surveillance and other tasks that were proposed for the Moon base. It was not cost effective. At the same time, our military’s funds were focused on the Vietnam War; the Moon became a purely civilian project. Or was it?

Conspiracy theorists might claim that a secret base was built, and that NASA’s work was just a cover for it. There are so many conspiracy theories about the Moon and space exploration. At best, they might be a good basis for a game scenario, such as the US versus USSR on the moon in....1970?

(maybe 1980...after all, it is the Russians and they are backward.)

 

************

I am impressed at the efficiency of the Army’s plans for making a Moonbase. I assume it could also be built on Mars. With the improved technology of today, a variant could be developed into a quickly-made outpost. The shape of future space bases to come? Who knows? According to NASA, plans are in the works for an above-ground habitat and facilities. These are modular in nature. The NASA plan includes a place for astronauts to live, laboratories and science buildings, plus facilities for landings and launches. Their plan looks to be heavily dependent on solar power,

Moon or Mars, we are still at a stage of technology that would require us to bring everything needed for survival. That means habitat, air, food, and water as well as the means to land and to leave. The Moon is airless and would require a supply of breathable air. The atmosphere of Mars is thin and cannot support Earthly life. While there have been improvements in systems to recycle air and water, they have their limits. Like all other closed systems, they will have a degree of entropy and need to be replenished from time to time.

There will be a time when we can make further use of resources on a faraway planet. An immediate resource is water, which is believed to be frozen under the surface of both the Moon and Mars. There ir probably very little on the Moon. Perhaps science will develop a technology which can be small enough to send in a space ship that would make use of a planet’s minerals for life support. We cannot predict what the future might bring. As things stand now, we have to bring everything for life support with us.

That is a tremendous supply mission! Difficult as it might be to the Moon, which will likely be reachable in two days, the six-month journey to Mars will require extreme logistics.

And so we conclude the Space 1955 talks for now. What with the Army and Air Force doing their own work in 1959, we have a lot of genuine material for our own scenarios, be they miniatures, dioramas or games.

***

 

Thanks to Mike Creek for informing us about Project Horizon and the files.

Sci-Fi: Hive Minds, Telepaths, Terminators and Demons

There are aspects of science fiction which border on the esoteric. Some might even be considered the dark side of mystical. Others are extrapolations based on observations of nature. Demons are an occult phenomena, plain and simple. Hive minds exist on our world in the communities of the beehive and the ant colony. Let us take a brief look at them from a sci-fi perspective.


Hive Mind

The Borg of Star Trek share something with the Bugs of Starship Troopers and the monsters of Alien. They are controlled by a higher level of intelligence. In effect, this is a Hive Mind. It works similarly to the unseen intelligence that coordinates an ant colony and bee hive. The hive mind of Starship Troopers was embodied in a class of Bug known as a “brain.” The Borg collective seemed to have a hive mind centered on its ship. In fact, the top of the hive mind was killed off in the first Next Generation movie. Skynet served like a hive mind for all the mechanical weapons and robots in the Terminator franchise.

Member of a hive mind have little or no volition. They are 100% obedient to the Mind that controls them. They can only make choices insofar as fulfilling their assigned work. Even then, it is pretty much reactive. A bee can choose the flowers it visits, but these choices are governed by instinct rather than reason. The bee follows its programming, so to speak, in fulfilling the command of its hive mind.

The A.I.s of Space Above and Beyond are coordinated through a “modem” each has, allowing it to transmit and receive to other A.I.s. However, they are independent units and not part of a hive.

As most hive minds go, the over-mind gives the individual units their orders and dispatches them to where it wants them. The individuals take it from there when they get to the place to do their job. In most cases, these units will do everything in their power to do that job. How far they go is a matter of the degree of volition and intelligence they have. For instance, suppose a large fissure were opened up in the ground between the unit and its objective. Some types might be stopped in their tracks, unable to move.  Others may be stalled until they get new orders. There are some, like ants, who would use members with special capabilities. The rank and file workers might be stalled, but pathfinder units would be alerted and look for a route around or through the obstacle. Once found, they would lead the workers through the new route. A more intelligent type might begin its own efforts to bypass the fissure. It would be driven to fulfill its mission and be possessed of enough intelligence to deal with most unforeseen circumstances. No matter how they stack up, however, the hive creatures would be stalled for a time when confronted with an unexpected obstacle or problem. The amount of time it takes depends on the species. Ants would remain confused until the pathfinders were alerted and went into action. A Terminator had enough programming and artificial intelligence to solve problems on its own. It seems that when one member of the Borg collective solved a problem, others in his hive also gained that ability.

The hive mind provides command and coordination. Destroy the hive mind or block it from communicating to its units, and they would normally hesitate for a turn. Some types would resume their mission and some would hold in place or return from whence they came. Terminators would not hesitate, as they are not reliant on Skynet to direct them through their mission. Skynet never solved the problem of transmitting and receiving signals through time.

Hive minds have their limits. They take time to make changes in their plans and the directions given their units.  Hive minds are predictable because they each have their distinct ways of doing things. They are ponderous, and that makes them slow and predictable.

 ***

The Borg leader of the first “Next Generation” movie reminded me of Terminator in having living flesh over metal parts. Her attempt to implant living tissue on the android Data is much like the living flesh developed to cover a Terminator robot. Star Trek’s Borg and the Skynet of the Terminator movies both have aspects of a hive mind. The individual Borg and the Terminators both follow the will dictated by their respective controlling minds. They are programmed to obedience and act at the behest of their hive minds. What makes Terminator different is that he cannot transmit his info back to the future, whereas Borg can relay info back to their hive ship.


Telepaths and empaths

Science fiction has had its share pf psychic types, despite the claim that such practices are un-scientific. Despite all the science, sci-fi has had various characters with telepathic abilities.  They may be mind-readers or persons with the ability to communicate mentally, or both.

Telepathy is one of the psychic powers acknowledged by New Agers, parapsychologists and occultists. Others include clairvoyance, divination, psychokinesis, telekenisis and astral projection. With my background in esoteric spirituality, I know the theory and reality. These are not great powers that make people wise and all-knowing. One thing I will warn you is to avoid those psychic parlors that advertise themselves. The other is to take anyone’s claims of being psychic with a grain of salt the size of a medicine ball.  I have known a very rare few people who had some kind of psychic talent, and even then, it was not 100% and was not all the time.

A telepath or any other psychic is easy to jam by a person who is focused. He can also be jammed by noise, confusion, and anything that interrupts his concentration. They have very limited power to influence others, if at all.


Terminators

The Terminator franchise centers on a type of robot that is programmed to find and eliminate a target. It is provided with flesh over its metal frame to pass as a living being. A later type is “liquid metal”. There was a comic series from DC in the 1960s called “Metal men” which were a team of robots made of various metals. The one made of Mercury was a liquid robot.

The Terminator is based on a primal fear that shows up in dreams: the implacable pursuer that will not be stopped.

Robots are machines that can be programmed for various tasks. Some can be programmed and then set out on their own to complete their assigned tasks.  Others need to be guided from a control center, much the way drones are controlled. They are implacable because a robot can only follow its programming. It has no alternative choice. Artificial intelligence would give a robot the means to solve problems encountered while fulfilling its mission. A.I, would not give it volition.

For science fiction stories and skirmish games ,a robot could be programmed to attack a specific person or place. It would be a modern-day Assassin, much like the Assassins of the medieval Islamic Ismaili sect in the Middle East. Both are often sent on suicide missions. While the Ismaili would do it for a better place in his afterlife, the robot does it because of programming. The human assassin may feel fear and a host of other emotions that may make him hesitate or change his mind. A robot has neither emotions nor fear of harm to deter it.

Other human versions are the modern suicide bomber and the Japanese kamikaze.

A robot could be programmed to kill by a direct attack on an individual, such as battering, stabbing or shooting. The robot might also carry an explosive which detonates when it reaches its target. During World War II, German combat engineers had a small tracked vehicle called ‘Goliath.” it was packed with explosives and sent on tasks ranging from blowing up anything from barbed wire obstacles to tanks. This was controlled through a long wire and was an early form of attack drone and robot.


Demons

Most of the so-called demons are actually breakdown forces happening in realms other than the physical. They are intelligent, and are psychologically programmed to find places to fulfill their purpose. In their rightful place, they are fine. It is when they are taken out of that place that there is trouble.

Think of wood decay. Like it or not, but it has its uses. Without wood decay, our forests would be choked with the remains of dead trees. Take wood decay and place it in a new place, like a house, and it is destructive.

Wood decay’s nature is to seek and find places to do its thing. Offer it a new place, like a porch and it will go to work with the same mechanical efficiency in which it tackles dead logs.  It will stop when it is stopped and returned to its natural place. So it is with demons. Those who invoke them invite them to a place where they can do their thing. If they get out of control, they remain a while and wreak havoc. The reason for problems is this is not their natural place. However, as it is not their place, they eventually go back where they belong, much as a fish that gets beached tries to return to water. There is nothing to keep them here.

In a sci-fi context, a demon would do what it could to prolong its stay, providing their were enough opportunities to do its thing. It would leave only if forced to fo so, or if it no longer found enough opportunities to sustain itself here. Like a robot, it is “programmed” to fulfill its specific mission.

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Sci-Fi; Adding Mystical Power to Games

 

The mix of mystical powers and science fiction is hard enough to reconcile. Though the Warhammer 40,000 series of games seems ot have done it, they are a genre all their own. Warhammer blends science fiction and fantasy and technologies that have long since passed plausible reality. It is strictly a game that stands alone. Most science fiction does not blend the two easily. 

The following examples are ideas on what might be usable in sci-fi games. They are general concepts which can be adapted to fit within a game. I wrote them with the intention that they serve as idea which others would want to alter and adapt to fit their own games. Please feel free to adapt as you see fit.

Shambattle Spy Rule: Each side designates one soldier of the enemy to act as a spy. This figure is played as a normal soldier on the other wise. The spymaster chooses when to activate him. At that point, he is operated by the spymaster. He can be used to attack enemy soldiers.

In my opinion, there have to be limits. He cannot be an officer. You may have to limit what kind of soldier he is. Maybe he cannot be a heavy weapons man, or an elite trooper, etc.

Telepaths and empaths: there is little use for telepathy in the heat of a battle. Like most psychic skills, its use is for non-combat situations. Indeed, most psychics cannot use their skills when under duress, such as in a gunfight. They need time and enough calm to concentrate. The one use in a battle game would be to expose the spy. Should a telepath come within a half move of a spy, the agent is exposed. To make it harder, neither the telepath nor those within a half move of him can have fired that move. The also cannot be involved in hand to hand combat or the operation of a weapon.

Zen / The Force: A fighter using spiritual power will have certain advantages. The use of Zen and the Force are both legendary in their respective fields. The first obvious effect is to enhance the fighter’s offense and defense in close combat. A fighter can strike and deflect weapons.

A second enhancement is for those fighters who may use aimed weapons. They will have improved accuracy, like snipers. Think of Luke using the force to aim his missiles in the first Star Wars movie, or a Zen Kyudo archer hitting target.

The Force allows a fighter to move objects and attack at a distance. He can push an enemy or knock him down, depending on his skill.

With Zen and the Force, there are levels of ability. We can simplify this for game purposes. These would be Novice, Average and Master. We think of a novice as Luke first learning to use the Force. A Master is a highly accomplished fighter. Historical figures like Miyamoto Musashi and fictional characters like Obi Wan and Darth Vader are masters.

A Novice gets +1 when defending and attacking with a sword or light saber. If using the Force he can also deflect one shooter per turn using a standard firearm. (This is not a Zen power, except whe ndeflecting arrows and hand-launched projectiles).

An Average warrior gets +2 on attack and defense. A Force user can deflect 2 shooters per turn using standard personal firearms.

A Master gets +3 on attack and defense. Usoign the Force, he can deflect three shooters with personal weapons or one squad-level heavy weapon.

As novices have yet to develop enough concentration, they must roll before using the Force. On a six-sided die (not the nerdy D&D dice) 1 and 2 he fails the concentrate and so fight as a normal fighter.

An average Force fighter who is not shooting or in close combat can stop an opponent at 1/2 move away. This does not work on other Force users, nor on officers, as they have developed sufficient will to be unaffected. The affected individual cannot move for 1 move.

A Master force fighter can push an opponent to the ground at 1/2 move. The individual cannot move for 1 turn and fights at -1 for one turn. If the opponent is an Average Force user, he can only push him back. A Master can use this skill against anyone with whom he is not engaged in combat.

Like a telepath, a Force fighter will detect a spy at up to 1/2 move away.

A Master is going to be a very powerful piece in a game, so steps must be taken to retain game balance.

Rule of Three: to make close combat more practical ,we had invented the Rule of Three for the updated Shambatte (A Game for Old Fashioned Toy Soldiers) and OMOG. A figure attacked by three figures resolves combat thus:

In a 2 to 1 fight, the single fighter is penalized:

He fights at -1 against the first enemy

He fights at -2 against the second foe

If there is a third enemy in the fight, the defender still fights the first and second enemies as above. The third automatically kills him. This Rule applies to all normal fighters and the Novice.

　

For fighters using the Force, an Average level fighter has the Rule of three extended to a Rule of Four. He gets -1 for the first enemy, -2 each for the 2^nd and 3^rd enemies, and is automatically killed if there is a 4th enemy.

For a master, he fights the first enemy at no loss, the second fighter at -1, and additional enemies at -2. He is not automatically killed, no matter how many are in the melee..

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Thinking of Sci Fi commanders, who would be my picks? Kirk was too much of a hothead and too impatient. He got a lot of people killed. Not a guy you want on your side in a gunfight. Adama was too laid back. Picard was passable., Archer and Crichton both would be good in small actions with a squad or smaller. Darth Vader was good with small units and larger operations. He would be a good man to have on your side in a small gunfight and a larger assault.

Vader’s problem is the material with which he must work. Let’s face it, folks, Imperial Stormtroopers are matched by Star Trek’s red-shirt security for coming up short in a fight. If Vader had troops like the mobile infantry of Starship Trooper, he would have done wonders. Even with mediocre troops, Darth Vader got things done