Another BLKOUT unit at good-enough-for-table-use completion. This one is Szabla, a PMC offshoot of a Polish heavy industrial corporation’s security arm. Two riflemen, a marksman, and a jammer specialist who makes every model within 12″ immune to data attacks:
Continue reading →Tag Archives: BLKOUT
Harlow Kinetic Solutions
I won’t say that the most recent painting drought has broken, but I spent a fair amount of time at the bench the past couple of weekends, getting my recent BLKOUT purchases into usable shape. The photos aren’t my best – I would swear iOS 26 lost some camera control capability. The paint isn’t my best either, but I think it’s good enough for use on the table.
For my initial force, I’ve chosen to go with Harlow Kinetic Solutions. In-universe, they’re a PMC of South African origin. On the colony world of Abol, they’re largely under contract to the Authority, a somewhat mustache-twirlingly evil offshoot of the remnant United Nations that is ostensibly the planetary governing body.
Mechanically, Harlow’s things are mobility and some of the better combat drills (limited-use maneuvers) in the game. In theory, this design supports aggressively going after objective points on the board over getting bogged down in fights.
Continue reading →Blacked Out
Been a while since I got any updates posted here. Head full of other things.
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped in at one of the FLGSes in Roanoke. They had a new section of shelves devoted to BLKOUT. The game had been on the edge of my radar for a while, but the last things I need are more unpainted miniatures and another game system played by no one I know. Also, the last time I’d looked at the publisher, Enemy Spotted Studio, they were still leaning heavily into dudebro/vetbro mouthbreathing idiocy in their advertising, with the owner/founder doing balaclavaed videos under the nom de tube of “Head Goon.” Ugh. Hard pass.
Having said that… I got to chatting with the shop owner, who indicated that the game was starting to get some traction with his regulars. I went home without more minis (but an as-yet-unread copy of Dolmenwood purchased in the name of supporting a good FLGS). I spent enough time poking around the net to come away with a slightly more favorable opinion of BLKOUT. The minis have always looked good (and they’re made in North Carolina, which is a plus these days), the *bro advertising schtick appeared to be dead, and accounts of play seemed pretty good. I reached out on the shop’s Discord server and made contact with a guy who’s been running demos in the area.
Last week, I wandered back up to Roanoke for one of said demos and came away more impressed than I expected to be. The game lore could use a serious professional developer’s hand to rationalize some of the more hyperbolic elements, but the rules are really appealing. My opponent and I were both novices who’d read the rules but not actually used them before, and we knocked out a 3-unit vs. 3-unit game on a 2’x2′ board in an hour. I’d expect experienced players to resolve such a skirmish in 30 to 40 minutes. The level of complexity is not overwhelming, and any given mix of units provides interesting tactical choices.
More to come on this if I don’t lose focus and can motivate myself to get back to the blog.