Well, here we go. Almost.
Yes, this is the long-awaited guest story, written by Chris Wrann, and drawn by the fabulous people you see listed above. This is my “title card,” which I did by way of introducing this fabulous event. I’ve hyped this so much that there’s really nothing more to say but “Here it goes, everyone!”
Seriously though, this is so totally awesome I don’t know what to say. All these terrific artists and writers have really done me a huge service by doing this, and I’ve just been blown away. I know I’m not anywhere approaching being a “pro,” but these guys all gave me their time and effort to back me up while I took my chances on getting this book together, and I seriously can’t possibly thank them all enough. This week was particularly tough for me, with a lot of moments that really dragged me down emotionally and shook my confidence in my own work and abilities, and it was this huge outpouring of support that I got from all of you, and from these really talented artists, that kept me going.
And speaking of that, I wanted to show you all THIS, which came to me from someone on the Ogre/GEV forums at Steve Jackson Games:
Yes, that’s right, it’s a custom counter and game statistics for Mike-One-Echo, so you can now take him into battle against the Combine and Paneurope! That was just so totally cool I couldn’t contain myself. And between this, and 6-Commando making its rounds on forums across the interwebs, from SJGames to Dream Pod Nine to Boardgamegeek, and even Kickstarter, word of mouth is spreading, and boy did that all just give me a lift right when I needed it the most!
So really, that’s just enough out of me. Enjoy the show, everyone! And as always, you can vote to see what progress I made this week!
So much stuff to comment on, but mostly I’m gonna comment on the gun again. I didn’t realise untill now, that it had an underslung on it, but this is not that surprising. There have been real-world handguns, with underslung barrels, although to my knowlage none have been in common use since the American civil war.
I can’t remember what it was called, but there was a revolver, used by the Confederate forces, that featured an underslung single-shot shotgun barrel. This on the other hand appears to be firing some kind of high velocity anti-armour round that looks uncannily like a SABOT tank round. I feel queesy just trying to imagine using that on a human being and the sheer mess it would make.
Suddenly, Detective Harold Callahan feels seriously inadequate when he sees this…
It’s a very conscious homage to the pistol Deckard carried in the film Blade Runner, with an antitank rocket underneath. As you can see in the revised opening scene, it comes in handy against powered armor. Unlike the guns the UNA armies infantry use (which are encased tungsten penetrators fired from a gauss gun), these are cased slugs it fires, with a heavy charge and a secondary “tandem” jet boost that gives them extra punch.
And yes, most of the Wastelanders would think twice before messing with someone toting this thing. The problem is getting that expensive ammo for it.
–M
Actually, the reference was to Dirty Harry. Detective Harold “Dirty Harry” Callahan?
Wow, you one upped me! I was thinking Fallout 3! Which of course, apes Dirty Harry. So there you go.
😀
–M
Do you feel lucky, punk?
And this does indeed look as if it really could blow your head clean off. Hell, fire that underslung at a human being, especially from close range and I think their entire upper body may simply turn to bloody mist
Or think of the other options and ammunitions available. Incendiary rounds. Shrapnel canister charges. Slugshot.
Fun for the entire family!
I am totally honored by him posting this on such a cool webcomic! I have been playing OGRE/GEV and reading Keith Laumer for longer than that. Mike, the comic of 6-Commando, makes a good story with original, personable artwork. You can tell he enjoys what he does.
🙂
I make a lot of counters for the game – but not many for just one person…
Hey hey! The man himself. I wad thrilled to see an Ogre makeover for Mike! By the way, I noticed on your blog that someone thought he wad undergunned. On that, Mike’s missile launchers carry multiple weapons each (enough that whenever I need him to launch a missile, he has one). He retracts each tube after it fires and a new weapon is loaded in, with a new warhead attached based on what he wants to hit next. For Ogre purposes giving him three missile racks with three missiles each would make him very formidable, especially with the heavy main gun.
–M
Maybe each missile could have a few 5/6 or even 4/5 missiles in them? Multimissile launcher? Many missiles tucked into one missile seems to separate a few moments after launch. Is that by design? I find that interesting…
Francisco is a guy in Puerto Rico that has written a LOT of articles about OGRE. His articles are so good that they have to be in Pyramid or something. I sent him (x2) 8″x11″ sheets of clear counters (all cut down to 1/2″x1/2″) and a few CRT dice. Maybe if you email me I could extend to you the same game package! Email me for more information. Harmlesshamster(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to hearing from you mate!
P.S. Love the strip – keep up the good work man. Keep it up!
This is where the fun begins!
The re-vamped site looks great. The attention to detail is stunning as always.
Bonus niceness: The spin-doctored reverse-correct info doubletalk in that newspaper article. The UNA is just another punch of [protofascist] scumbags.
Do you want to know more? 0_O
Proto-fascist? In what way?
And you’ve invented a new english word for a group – “A Punch of Scumbags” 😀
Proto-fascist in the sense that the UNA is becomig more and more a military government and a police state in it’s once noble goal to subdue the threat of communism.
In a dog-eat-dog world the UNA and the FSR both justify the means by the end. The path to hell is often paved with good intentions. The UNA with it’s politics of “interventions” is no different.
I wouldn’t call it fascist, just political.
–M
We all know how this has to end. It starts with “Matters of internal security”, the age-old cry of the oppressors.
You mean the page I think? Cause the site is still the same.
About the “newspaper” on the page above, in a former life I was a journalist (after a fashion) and so doubletalk comes remarkably naturally to me. 😀
–M
1. Yes!
2. I mastered the art of double talk and lying to dodge work and responsibility in the office I was forced to work in once in a while a few years ago. Like any other skill lying and double-talk need constant practice to maintain a certain level of excellence.
One can never know when such skills might come in useful! 😀 Xp
Newspaper article? Do these people that still put out rags know that their time is nearing an end? Do they not know that the internet and comic strips likes yours is more interesting than any comic they put in the newspaper? Read the newspaper and you will see how bland and uninteresting their comics are.
Well I mean, it’s just fiction. And there is no internet in the 6-Commando universe.
–M
Food for thought: The 6-Command world is 1997, but not even close to todays mindset, way of life, scientific standards and so on.
It would be interesting to see how people think, live, work and how they see their own world. I’d imagine it to be like the era between the two [RL] world wars with the occasional SciFi element here and there.
I put the cultural development of the 6-Commando world at an equivalent to something like the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. Though they’re advanced in some areas, namely race relations and the gender gap, in others they’re VERY far behind, as in civilian technology. They’ve all been on an almost continuous war footing for close to eighty years, so they let the little things go to the wall, and can be very nationalistic in a way that we would probably find in poor taste.
–M
So, your universe is sort of in the alternative universe category?
This is very exciting. I can’t wait for it to start!
Me, too! I have the advantage of already having seen the beginning of it, and it’s a real doozy – everyone’s outdone themselves!
–M
I just noticed — International Red Helix?
Yes, that happened as one of many compromises after the Scarlet Revolution in the ’70s. The FSR is technically atheist and refused to recognize a “Christian” symbol (even though it’s not explicitly “Christian,” just an inversion of the Swiss flag). The Western countries continue to use the Red Cross, while the Arab League uses the Red Crescent. The FSR member states use the Red Helix, and that is the official name of the organization. It’s based in Geneva, which is part of the Swiss People’s Federative Socialist Republic, but remains an internationally neutral organization by special agreement between the FSR and the UNA, and is overseen primarily by the Southern Coalition to ensure its neutrality.
–M
OK, one more comment. That gun is absolutely gorgeous. It’s enough to make an artist weep.
😀
Thanks! I do like the gun.
–M
The size of the Anti-Exosuit armor shell reminds me of a handheld revolver cannon i once drew up just to make something that irritates Gun Nuts on /k/, yet actually worked.
The Slide ended up being so long and heavy that a shell of that size was required to cycle the cylinder around, push out the shell and on the next shot, push it into the next spot where a new shell would be pushed in as the slide went back into the default position, so it had a total of three cylinders to do that.
What use it could of been, i have no idea.
A handgun that can defeat clamshell armor would have to be either fissionable material that goes nuclear when squashed or it’s a shaped charge warhead.
A handgun that can defeat clamshell armor would have to be either fissionable material that goes nuclear when squashed or it’s a shaped charge warhead.
P.S. you got me to watch Blade Runner again. I love that movie. It has all the Noire and all the science fiction I like in a balanced package!
BTW, check my blog for other counters. I made one for your GEV…