February Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead

Another successful month at the Bunker!  My stated goal for the year has been "one combat unit painted every week."  I exceeded the goal in January, and had no problem meeting it in February.  And I managed to finish a few new terrain projects, just to help move things along.

The completed list for February 2012:

• Two more of my resin modular buildings painted to match my Rebel Minis Droptroopers.  

• A junk-built communications transceiver for those buildings.
• 72" of 3" wide hardboard road sections (6" and 12" lengths)
• Two more Rebel Minis Titan HAMR suits.
• Another unit of four Rebel Minis Droptroopers and a Wild CAT 'bot for my Christmas War campaign.
• Three GZG Cyclops Battlesuits - repainted to match my Eureka Ventaurans.
• Two Rebel VIPER Walkers.  A third was stripped and needs to be repainted.
• A paint test figure of RAFM Planetary Militia.  
• Six Critical Mass Games Kaamados Dominion Vivipara infantry.
• One Critical Mass Games Kaamados Dominion Draco Aganath Imperator battlesuit.
• And finally, three more Rebel Minis Earthforce HAMR suits.  My first mecha army is ready for some test games!

Here's my tentative painting agenda for March:

• Proxie Models buildings.  I have about a dozen ready to be assembled, based, and drybrushed.  That will give me the ruined urban battlefield desired for my mecha games.
• Paint two light walkers and one heavy walker for my GZG Crusties.
• Paint another Ravenstar Silverback mech.
• Start work on my next mecha-based army:
• A unit of Micropanzer Russian Walkers
• RAFM "Buckethead" Infantry with Micropanzer Remote Gun Drones
• Brigade Models South African Wheeled MBT
• Matchbox Armored Transports as APCs
• Repaint my other three GZG Cyclops Battlesuits to match my Eureka Ventaurans.

And the high priority items on my shopping and wish list:

• GZG Colonial Militia to support Blue Moon Orion Republic troopers for my Dominion Invasion game setting.
• More Critical Mass Kaamados Vivipara and Draco Agonath suits (for the same setting)
• ArtCrime Productions Assault Valkyries and Nationalist Infantry.  The Assault Valkyries will be for the Dominion Invasion setting, and the Nationalist Infantry are going to be multi-based to support the above Rebel HAMRs and Ravenstar Thunderfoot.
• More Rebel Minis VIPER walkers and Drop Trooper Heavy Weapons (when released).

Cheers,

Chris

Christmas at the Bunker

Merry belated Christmas, everyone!

I was lucky enough to get a few hobby-related goodies for Christmas this year.  My wife, a sci-horror writer and Giger fan, ordered a few reinforcements to my Khurasan Space Demon forces.  She also bought me a pack each Sepulvedan Control Battalion Riflethings and Heavy Weaponsthings - which I've been wanting to paint ever since I saw them.

Santa also brought us an IKEA gift card.   We picked up a bunch of small things for the house, including a couple of these JANSJO Clamp Spotlights.

I've been having major problems taking detailed pictures of my minis.  For some reason my digital camera (by which I mean my HTC Incredible smartphone) has a hard time balancing a white background under CFL bulbs.  But for some reason, it seems to do well with the LEDs in the new lamps:

That's the same piece of bright white cardstock in the background, so this is definitely an improvement.  I was planning to spend most of my vacation time this week getting my Christmas War campaign started (especially since I hammered out my campaign background).  But now that I have these new lamps, I may also take some time to update my close-up gallery.

Did anyone else get any hobby-related goodness this year?

Cheers,
Chris

"You are two UGLY mother..."

I had all kinds of plans to start working on my Critical Mass Games Kaamados Dominion figures this week.  But, of course, I was one paint color short.  In the meantime, I decided it was a good time to paint my Khurasan Miniatures Vacation Aliens.   

"If it bleeds, we can kill it.

It only took a few hours to do both.  They definitely look better in the flesh... I tried a dozen camera settings and this was the best that came out.  The paint scheme:

1. Vallejo Heavy Khaki on the exposed skin
2. Secret Weapon Green-Black Wash over the Heavy Khaki
3. P3 Cryx Bane Base over boots, straps, armor bits, weapons, and helmets.
4. Vallejo Gunmetal drybrushed over most of the Cryx Bane.  I was only going to use this on the armor and helmet, but it ended up working okay on all of the straps and pouches.  I remember the medical kit in the first movie had some pretty crude elements to it.  I figured using metal strapping instead of fabric webs would be equally crude.
5. Vallejo Blood Red on the eyes, and the targeting lens on the left mini.  
6. Secret Weapon Armor Wash over the shoulder weapons (just to give them a slightly different tone).
7. Wonder Wash Black over the entire mini.

Now I need to figure out exactly how to use these in my own settings.  I've never been a fan of replaying scenarios from movies or shows.  Instead, I think these will be some type of bounty hunting team, or possibly master-race enslavers for something like GZG Crusties.  

Cheers,

Chris

Reinforcements for the Cult of the Crimson Robe

Sorry about the hiatus here, folks... sometimes I neglect this blog when I'm writing for Dropship Horizon.  :)  Still, I've managed to work on a few of my own forces.  I painted these 15mm.Co.Uk HOF Cultists back in October.

These were pretty much demo pieces when I painted them.  I wanted to see how they would look alongside this Kremlin Miniatures Commander Vortan figure.

I had originally painted Vortan to use in a 15mm Inquisitorial Retinue for In the Emperor's Name... this was a way to get some additional mileage out of the same figure.  Obviously the figures work great together, as the basis for some kind of fanatical cult force.  Also, 15mm.Co.Uk added some heavy weapon figures to their Cultists range.  There was no longer any doubt in my mind that this cult could become a full army.

I still had seven Cultists from my first pack.  I painted four more of them this week. Bear with me on the pictures - I'm trying out a new photo box and haven't worked out all the kinks.

These figures are nice and quick to paint.  I'll have to pick up another pack of the troopers, a pack of heavy weapons, and then I should be good to go for cult infantry.  But what about vehicles?  I don't have much left unused in my collection outside of a couple of Old Crow Gecko pickups and a Goanna transport.  The Gecko would be a great technical truck... I even have some GZG freestanding autocannons to mount in the back of the truck.

And the gunner?  Well, there's a reason I didn't paint those last three Cultist troopers.  Inspired by Matt's conversion article on Dropship Horizon, I'm going to try to turn a couple of these Cultist troopers into standing gunners.  It should be as simple as cutting and filing out the arms and gun, filing down the thick cast base on the figure, and making a couple of new arms out of grey stuff.  I don't have much experience with sculpting putty, and this looks like a very forgiving project to get my feet wet.  

On the other hand... is this the direction I want to take my cultists?  The end result would be pretty similar to the Desert Radicals that I've already been playing with.

And, because wealth seems to flow to people of questionable sanity, many of the fanatical cults we see in the real world have pretty substantial funding.  Maybe something along the lines of the Combat Wombat Pitbull, GZG Bulldog, or the Khurasan Atlas would better serve this cult.  Either way, I now have enough figures to run them in a small game of ItEN or Blasters & Bulkheads.  I'll figure out the vehicles after I finish some more infantry.

Cheers,
Chris

15mm Urban Ruins - Proxie Models Test Building

After the last post, I decided to put together the one Proxie Models building I have right now, and worry about the rest of my Urban Table project later.  This is pretty much the same technique I used long ago with my GW Cities Of Death buildings.

Raw materials: one Proxie Models ruined building set, a 6" x 6" square of 1/8" MDF hardboard, and a length of styrene corner stock I found in a drawer.  The Proxie walls don't really have finished edges, so I thought the styrene would be a good option for building corners.  It also gives me a way to quickly change building styles with the Proxie sprues... I'll just use square corners on some, rounded corners on others.

I used an X-Acto hobby-sized miter box and saw to cut the corners and went to work.  Assembly was pretty simple - Tacky Glue held everything together and set quickly.  Gorilla Glue would have been another option.

Then I decided the building needed a floor of some kind.  I cut 1" x 1" squares from an old blister card.  I try to save small bits of packaging that are on really nice glossy stock - they come in handy.  I meant to go back and score these so there would be fore tiles per piece, but I got lazy.  I did cut a few tiles up by the most damaged portion of the building, just to give a broken effect:

And for the rubble - plain old sand that I liberated from a local park.  I piled it up along the foundation, with a few thicker piles over the damaged sections.  It's not a super realistic effect, especially if you go back and look at pictures of WWII Stalingrad and the like.  But realistic rubble would pretty much fill the building - not useful for maneuvering figures!  I think this is a good compromise between realistic rubble and plain ruins sticking out of the ground.

I think this is good enough for my test piece.  I might mix in some larger bits of rubble next time, but this will be a decent start for my war-torn cityscape.  I'll get it painted as soon as there's another day warm enough to spray primer onto it.

Cheers,
Chris

A 15mm Urban Battlefield for Mecha Games?

There are half-finished Mecha sitting on my shelf, taunting me.

I have three Rebel Minis Titan HAMR suits, an Earthforce suit, and a Critical Mass Games ARC Fleet Walker, all waiting to be assembled and painted.  Other projects keep taking me away from them.  But I can't help but wonder how much fun a mecha-centric game would be in 15mm.  

I've gone back and forth on how many vehicles I want to use in my 15mm FUBAR games.  While I have a few Old Crow and GZG tanks finished, I've simply found them to be impractical on 2' x 2' tables.  There's enough room to maneuver just a one or two small vehicles, not enough to run fully mechanized platoons with MBT support on each side.  That's left me playing infantry-oriented games.  Such a waste - there are too many good 15mm vehicles to limit my options.

Mecha might be the answer for those smaller games.  They tend to move around the same speeds and maneuver the same way as infantry, but make louder and more satisfying explosions in sci-fi settings.  But what's the best terrain to give mecha some cover and concealment?  My desert and snow tables currently lack terrain features taller than 2".  Even my Red Planet table only has a few spires and buildings at that height.  And besides... when you picture a mecha battle, do you envision an open desert valley?  No.  You picture two armored giants fighting it out in a cityscape.

It's time for a new table.

This will be another 2' x 2' battlefield - which I still think is the perfect size for solo 15mm games.  I'm thinking this one will be covered with a mix of fine light gray, dark gray, and dark brown flock.  The buildings  will be mounted onto tiles - those tiles will use very fine flock to achieve a poured-concrete appearance.  And the buildings themselves?  I have my eyes on Proxie Models' Gothic Building:

If there's one aspect of Warhammer 40,000 I sometimes miss - it's the sight of a proper Cityfight table.  Ken's Gothic Building is about as close as we can get in 15mm (other than a few HO-scale churches that could be chopped up).  And the price is unbeatable - two sprues for $4.  I already have one of his brick buildings, so I know the quality is good and they can easily be chopped up and modified.  So if I include that brick building, here's what I can make with $32 worth of Gothic buildings:

So my shopping list for this project will be:

• 2' x 2' x 1/2" sanded plywood for the table itself
• 2' x 2' x 1/4" MDF hardboard for the building bases 
• Extra fine grey flock for the building bases
• Fine brown flock to mix with my existing grays for the table itself.
• Cheap gray primer for the tabletop
• 8x Proxie Models Gothic Buildings.

This entire set should only cost around $50-$60 to make, and could easily be finished in a week.  I can always go back and add fancier buildings, street furniture, and other random items later.  But this would be enough to start - and give me an excuse to add some bigger mecha to my collection:

From Ravenstar Studios - love that MK3!

Gruntz Imperator

I think this is just the setup I'll need to run small 15mm mecha games... maybe three HAMR suits on one side, with one or two bigger Imperators or Thunderfoots (er, Thunderfeet?) on the other.  

Cheers,

Chris K.

Not a bad week...

In terms of painting my minis, this has been one of the most productive weeks I can remember!

Over the weekend I painted a 5-man squad of Mad Robot's excellent TMC Jump Troopers.  I started with a single mini, just to get the paint scheme figured out.  I used that test mini to take some comparison shots, as well as post the review for the whole pack on Dropship Horizon.  I was pleased with the paint scheme, but I also realized it was going to take longer than usual to finish entire units of the jump troopers.  After I got the basecoat on the remaining four "ground" poses, I needed a break from infantry.

Looking at my shelf, I noticed some nice resin desert buildings from The Scene, still stacked up and unpainted.  So I grabbed a small building and tried an experimental, complex, and resource-intensive paint scheme.  Here's all of the many steps:

• Step 1.  Paint the mini with Rustoleum Textured Spray.

That's it.  No primer, no details, no sealing.  And guess what?  It looks fine on my desert table.

That was enough for Saturday's painting.  On Sunday I painted four more The Scene buildings and finished my Mad Robot Jump Troopers.  

I then laid out my desert table for a skirmish game (see the earlier pic).  But no brilliant scenarios came to mind.  I flipped through my old Rogue Trader rulebook for ideas, and then decided to solicit some from the TMP 15mm crowd.  Here's that thread... some great ideas from the group!  

The scenario ideas led me to take a look at my collection of 15mm civilians and other small forces.  Some of those scenarios would benefit from having tons of civilians on the game table.  So I painted a Ground Zero Games hovertruck that had been sitting on my shelf... then I went on to complete an Oddzial Osmy journalism team.  

But what about some raiders?  The best candidates were the 15mm.Co.Uk HOF Post-Apocalyptic Warriors that I painted earlier this year.  I added another four warriors to the collection, painted a HOF Trator as the gang leader, and converted a Khurasan Rockjumper by lopping the head off a GZG gunner, adding a HOF Trator head, and mounting a spare Laserburn heavy weapon onto a bit of styrene tube.  I now have a leader, eight warriors with SMG-type weapons, and a "technical" truck to support them.  Not a bad skirmish force at all...  

By now I was bored with painting humans.  So I decided to paint a bunch of my spare Oddzial Osmy Spaceworms... these will be used as some kind of living weapon/invasion drones.    

That gives me some mindless creatures for invader scenarios.  But what about smart aliens coming to my desert colony in order to reclaim lost artifacts?  My Rebel Minis Scourge, the first 15mm army I ever finished, seemed like a good candidate for that type of game.  Just for fun I decided to add a new mini to that army... one of my Heavy Battle Robots from The Scene.

When I was looking through my storage bin this week to find  those HOF Post-Apoc Warriors and Trators, I also noticed a pack of HOF Robed Cultists.  I thought about these last month when I painted my Kremlin Miniatures Comander Vortan, but moved on to other projects.  So I finished the week by painting three Cultists to support my Vortan.  

So there it is... a pretty good variety of skirmish minis, now ready for the battlefield.  Not a bad week of painting!

Cheers,
Chris 

"Corporal... did you bring the Garn repellant?"

I've been experimenting quite a bit with washes lately... using different ones over bare metal and solid basecoats to create interesting (and fast) paint schemes.  Mostly I've been working with Citadel and b, but I finally added some Secret Weapon washes to my mix.  One of my favorites, both in name and as a color, is their Baby Poop.  It produces a great sickly greenish-brownish tint (as would be expected...), and goes on very heavy.  I tried a few experiments with it, and then realized exactly where I could use it in my collection...

So I ran downstairs and grabbed the pack of Khurasan Minis Garn that had been sitting in my drawer for the last year or so.  Until now, I never knew how I wanted to paint them.  But my new wash techniques seemed like they should be perfect for this type of mini.  Here's the results:

It was a pretty simple paint scheme.  I started with white primer, then two coats of Secret Weapon Baby Poop over the entire mini.  Then I picked out the eyes with drops of Vallejo Blood Red and the weapons/energy packs/backpack shields with Vallejo Gunmetal.  I used two different colors on the belts, straps, and boots - P3 Underbelly Blue with Secret Weapon Blue Wash on the hunt master, and P3 Cryx Bane Highlight with Secret Weapon Light Black Wash on the two hunters.  I finished the minis by putting Secret Weapon Drying Blood wash over the silver back shields, a final coat of Wonder Wash Black over the entire mini,  and finished the bases.

I really like the way they turned out.  The maroon or green schemes seen in the Khurasan website pics and on SpaceJacker's blog are very nice, but just a bit cartoonish for my taste.  The Baby Poop (stop giggling!) Wash gives them a flesh tone right out of a dinosaur movie.

So... what to do with only three Garn?  I've been playing quite a bit of In the Emperor's Name lately, and three Garn could be a tough little retinue.  But I decided to play around with Gut Check instead.  It's a game I really enjoyed playing last year, but haven't looked at it since we started development of ItEN.  This seems like a nice time to try it again.

Here's the rules I came up with for the Garn... they should be able to handle quite a few inferior enemy minis. I'm going to try to sneak in a game or two this weekend.

Cheers,
Chris K.

Another 15mm army in one weekend

Based on the success of my last effort (see http://basementgamingbunker.blogspot.com/2011/06/complete-15mm-army-in-one-weekend.html), I decided to have another go at a one-weekend force.  And once gain, I am very pleased with the results.

Eureka Miniatures released the Ventaurans through their 300 club last month, and I was lucky enough to be in on the pre-orders.  If you haven't seen much about these minis yet, my colleague David B. reviewed them on Dropship Horizon (link).  But once I had the minis in hand, I realized that I didn't quite know what to do with them.  They are very detailed, but I typically prefer simple color schemes.  

Then I remembered the 300-second Halo Spartan method (link).  

Just like the Sons of Thunder project, I decided to create a 100-point Alien Squad Leader force.  This time, I loosely based it on the Alien Imperial list.  These minis screamed "superior energy weapons" and "aiming devices" rather than plain infantry.  The paint job was very simple - two coats of Citadel Leviathan Purple wash, Vallejo Gold helmet lenses, Vallejo Heavy Warmgrey weapons and backpacks, Model Master Euro Gray on the bases.  I then based them two per stand (1-1/4" fender washers again), and flocked them with a new "gravel/ash" blend.

But what support options could I use with these minis?  I looked at several spare vehicles I had lying around, but none seemed to match the Ventaurans in technology level.  Then I noticed a couple packs of GZG New Israeli Jetbikes that I was going to use in another project.  I think the tech level is perfect, and the body armor is pretty compatible with the Ventaurans.  I may swap the New Israeli heads with Ventaurans someday, but even now they look fine in the same force. 

So here's what I came up with for an army.  It follows the Alien Imperial list, but doesn't hold to the required units.

• 4x Imperial Soldiers (1 as command stand)
• 2x Imperial Heavy Weapon Squads
• 4x Imperial Recon Light Vehicles (1 as command stand)

I look forward to using them against my Sons Of Thunder (Human Imperial) in the near future.  Alien Squad Leader is one of my favorite rulesets, but I haven't been able to properly use it with my single-based armies. Now I have no excuses!

Cheers,

Chris

Basing, basing, basing...

It's been pointed out to me that the color scheme for my Conquest Development Center Storm Troopers army (Titan Marines with Old Crow vehicles - gallery here) would look great on Mars-type environments. My first 15mm terrain was a desert table, so it never occurred to me to use anything but desert sand on their bases!

But now that I have a proper Red Planet terrain set (link), I thought it was time to take another look at how my CDC infantry are based. I've also switched from Citadel to Vallejo and P3 paints since the last time I painted these figures, so I wanted to figure out a revised palette. So I grabbed an unpainted Titan Marine, found a penny in the couch cushions, and went to work. It turns out... you guys were right:

Red Planet flock looks far better with this color scheme. The change from Citadel Mechrite Red to Vallejo Bloody Red with a Maroon Wonder Wash Ink also made a huge difference. I think this is going to lead to a bit of a change in my Conquest System setting's background... now CDC will be based on a planet with red soil instead of a desert world.

Their vehicles also look pretty good on the Red Planet terrain:

So... now I need to figure out the best way to remove the sand from the old figures' bases. :)

Cheers,

Chris

Paint Test and Army Design - Micropanzer Aliens

Like most gamers, I have a pretty large pile of unpainted minis. A good chunk of that pile consists of Micropanzer Krystrial aliens. I had been waiting to figure out a paint scheme that would let me get them painted quickly, but still look good on the battlefield. Here's my first attempt:

Paint steps for the Raivaui Handler:

1. White Armory Spray undercoat
2. P3 Underbelly Blue basecoat
3. Vallejo Heavy Grey details (weapon, back plate)
4. Vallejo Gunmetal whips
5. Wonder Wash Deep Sea over the Underbelly Blue
6. Wonder Wash Dirty Dark Brown over the entire mini
7. P3 Bloodstone on the base, flock with my Red Planet blend, seal with white glue + water

Paint steps for the Vaethaka Hounds:

1. Model Master Guards Red undercoat
2. Vallejo Heavy Grey armor plates
3. P3 Menoth White Base horns and teeth
4. Wonder Wash Dirty Dark Brown over the entire mini
5. P3 Bloodstone on the base, flock with my Red Planet blend, seal with white glue + water

It only took me a couple of hours to do the test minis. A playable army should be doable in a couple of evenings. Then I just need to spend a little time on the Overlord and get them onto the table! Here's my thought for a force organization:

• One Command Unit - 1 Krystrial Overlord, 1 Raivaui with Banner, 1 Raivaui Handler, 2 Vaethaka Hounds
• Three Battle Units - 1 Raivaui Leader with Halberd, 4 Raivaui with swords and blasters
• Three Hound Units - 1 Raivaui Handler, Four Vaethaka Hounds

This should give me another good "horde" army for my 2' x 2' battlefields.

Cheers,

Chris

Finding a place for Kremlin's Red Banner MANITOU

A few months back, I picked up an assortment of Kremlin Miniatures' 15mm range. I was very impressed with this range. The photos on the website simply don't do them justice... their size, detail, and posing is as good as anything on the market today. I included them on my catalog of human power armor article, hoping they would get some more attention.

The minis that interested me the most were the MANITOU suits - their versions of Power Armor. The Red Banner MANITOU appared to be man-size suits of power armor with heavy guns and shoulder-mounted mini-missile launchers. I picked up two packs in my initial order. I liked the look of them on the website, but wasn't sure where they would fit in my 15mm forces.

The order arrived pretty quickly - I was very impressed with their service. And once I had these particular figures in my hands... well... their place was pretty obvious.

My favorite 15mm Sci Fi infantry range, even after building new armies on a monthly basis, is still the Titan Marines from Rebel Minis. These great figures immediately became my Conquest Development Center Storm Troopers - the fast-strike military and security force for my game setting's largest corporation. It's the first human army I created in 15mm. I originally added some GZG Cyclops Walkers to be the elite commandos for that army, but the aesthetics have never really worked.

I think I have now found the perfect match for my Storm Troopers.

These really are fantastic figures. Big and bulky compared to typical 15mm infantry, but not so big that you couldn't picture them stomping through a Space Hulk's corridors. But these minis have far more in common with Khurasan's Special Assault Brigade than with Space Marine Terminators... Their blasters seem very high-tech, the missile pods are very Anime-ish, and each has a very detailed jet pack molded onto the back (see picture).

I just need to finish the other five, decide on their base finish (desert sand like my existing CDC forces, or Red Planet blend?), and test them on the tabletop. I see these being useful both in games of FUBAR and in the upcoming second edition of In The Emperor's Name!

Cheers,

Chris

Rebel Minis Drop Troopers - Review and Paint Test

The heat and humidity we've experienced lately has really stifled my hobby time. Since I haven't been able to use any spray primers or base coats, I decided to try something different. Two years ago, Maff and Mark posted an excellent Halo Spartan tutorial on Dropship Horizon. It is a very straightforward process - two coats of an undiluted Citadel wash over bare metal. I'm not a Halo player, but I do like the look of the troopers.

I picked up a pack of Rebel Minis' Earthforce Droptroopers after seeing Jeff Racel's excellent paint schemes (see here). The minis are excellent - very detailed clamshell armor that require almost no cleanup. The rifle is identical to that found on the Earthforce Infantry and Homeguard minis - these can easily be a specialized unit in an army using other Earthforce minis. But I'm using them as their own force. The Earthforce rifle is great - it can be a near-future variant of something like the FN P90 with a stick magazine, or it could be a blaster rifle from 5000AD forces. The pack contains nothing but rifle-armed troopers - no heavy weapons are available yet. But I have a plan to work around that (probably in my next post).

But once I had the minis in-hand, I realized they could also work as Halo Spartans using the Dropship Horizon tutorial. So here's the test mini:

My version of the paint scheme:

1. File the mini and superglue to a Universal 15mm Figure Base (a US penny)
2. Two coats of Citadel Thraka Green wash. I learned not to apply this too quickly - it tends to pool very at the neck
3. Paint the weapon with Vallejo Heavy Bluegrey
4. Paint the visor with Vallejo Glorious Gold
5. (my only change from the old Dropship Horizon formula) Coat the entire mini with Wonder Wash Black. This much thinner wash brings out details on the weapon, fingers and small joints, and surrounds the visor extremely well.
6. Paint the base with P3 Bloodstone and flock with my Red Planet blend.

I'm knocking out some more infantry to go with this test figure - the first wash is drying right now. I'll post my Heavy Weapon support idea very soon.

UPDATE: The first squad is complete.

Cheers,

Chris

A Ruthless Terrorist Organization...

One thing that we always have plenty of in 15mm Sci-Fi is human infantry with faceshields and helmets.  I'm not complaining... they are all excellent sculpts, and the "hard sci-fi" settings most of us prefer allow for a wide variety of human factions to be fielded.

But where does one find inspiration to paint these different forces?  Noticing my old comic book collection reminded me of a pretty cool source of color and uniform ideas... and here's the first one I picked.  The ubiquitous Cobra Viper has been remade many times by Hasbro over the years, but they keep coming back to the basic blue uniform.

So I figured... why not?  I still have an assortment of Rebel Minis Earthforce Marines waiting to be painted.  I whipped together a quick unit to see how it looked in 15mm.  Here's the outcome:

Works for me!  Another squad of these, some heavy weapons support, and a few vehicles should give me a fun little army.  These would be great as a mercenary regiment, security force, or even something more like their action figure counterparts.

Speaking of vehicles... what to use?  Once again I ransacked my box of old die-cast toys.  I found an interesting old vehicle called the Space Van.  Its angled cockpit and hull shape reminded me quite a bit of the old Cobra Hiss tanks... perfect for this project!  Another Hot Wheels vehicle (an Assault Crawler - very useful even on its own) provided some good tracks to replace the Space Van's plain and undersized wheels.  I think they work pretty well together... now I just need to find a turret and get this thing painted!

Cheers,
Chris

Reporting for duty at Dropship Horizon!

The last few days have been a whirlwind.  To make a long story short... six other bloggers and I decided that the loss of Dropship Horizon would leave too much of a vaccuum in the 15mm Sci-Fi world.  While we discussed creating a new collaborative blog, Mark H. generously offered to let us take control of Dropship Horizon!

http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-crew-for-dropship-horizon_05.html

So while I will continue to update Basement Gaming Bunker with details of my own projects, you can expect to see my name appear on Dropship Horizon a few times a month.  I am very honored to be a part of not only Mark's legacy, but to be associated with such a great group of 15mm sci-fi gamers.

Chris

A fond farewell to Dropship Horizon

Mark Hannam announced that he will no longer be updating Dropship Horizon.  This is a huge loss, and Mark had long-standing relationships with most of the 15mm sci-fi manufacturers and several of the major rulebook publishers.  But people's interests change (my own blog started as alternate rules to Epic, then some 40k Badab War stuff!), all we can do is thank him for his years of news, inspiration, and support of our corner of the hobby world!

I know when I started to outgrow 40k, Dropship Horizon was one of the places that kept me from leaving wargaming completely.  Mark showed me that there is a whole world of great miniatures out there, and that we should never allow our own imaginations to be confined by someone else's rules and background.  And his legacy will certainly be with us for years... contributions to everything from Khurasan's Federal Army to the highly anticipated Tomorrow's War rules from Ambush Alley Games.

I'll keep a permanent link to Dropship Horizon over in the sidebar widgets.  His archives will be of interest to 15mm sci-fi gamers for years to come.

Chris

Detailed FUBAR Battle Report - Crusties vs Sulians

I’m going for something a bit different with this battle report.  Rather than simply posting the overall results, I’m going to attempt play-by-play commentary of the game as it was played.  This is so readers who are curious about the FUBAR system can see how it works in game, and how you can tweak it into just the kind of gaming experience you want to have.

BACKGROUND
The moon of Caris is a narcotics and weapons smuggling hub for the entire Conquest system.  Crusties have set up shanty towns near every major starport, cooking their hallucinogens and hiding them in government shipping containers.  Corrupt government officials pick up these drugs at set times, taking them into the starports.
The Sulian Alliance will no longer allow this.
A small force was sent out from the Sulian encampment near the starport of Lumeii.  Their mission is to destroy the Crusties narcotics labs, and make an example of all Crusties they find.

SCENARIO
3’ x 3’ desert table, with scattered Startown Slums and GZG shanties.  The Crusties were pre-deployed into the buildings and behind assorted crates and debris.  For this FUBAR game, the attacking Sulians will automatically receive initiative to start the game, but all Crusties count as being on guard during the first round.  This will enable them to take the first shots as the Sulians move into the shanties.
Each shanty is a target building.  The battlesuits and infantry are carrying demo charges, and the Stalker Tank’s weapons can also destroy them.  A charge is clamped on by a model in base to base contact.  It detonates the next turn, destroying the building.  For each building destroyed, roll a D6.  On a roll of 4-6, that building was a drug lab with unstable chemicals... each unit within D6” takes a hit, counted as a successful shooting attack.
The Sulians achieve victory by destroying  every target building.  The Crusties will only survive by either wiping out their opponents, or at least getting them to retreat from the table.

CRUSTY FORCES

• The Crusties have six fire teams of four Crusties each.  Crusties have a basic training level of Seasoned, allowing them to Activate on a D6 roll 4+, and successfully hit their targets (Expertise stat) on 5+.  They do not wear armor, but their resilient exoskeletons give them an armor save of 5+.  Their basic energy rifles can fire 2FP at 8”, or 1FP at 16”.  Most fire teams have a Plasma Gun, which has 3FP at 16”.  There are also two Arc Gun teams on the table, which have 3FP at 32”.
• A Guncrab walker is hidden behind the dunes.  It is Seasoned, a vehicle armor save of 4+, and is armed with an Arc Gun.
• Additionally there is a Command fireteam.  These have a Veteran training level, giving them an Activation of 3+ and an Expertise of 4+.  

SULIAN FORCES (Critical Mass Protolene Walkers with Khurasan Felid infantry)

• The trooper squad is Seasoned (Activation 4+, Expertise 5+), have an armor save of 5+, and are armed with Blasters (2FP at 16”)
• The Battlesuits are Seasoned, have a vehicle armor save of 4+, and  ar armed with two Assault Blasters (each has 2FP at 32”)
• The Stalker Tank is Veteran since it’s the command vehicle (Activation 3+, Expertise 4+).  It has a vehicle armor save of 3+ and is armed with two Stalker Cannons (3FP at 48”).  Sulian units may use the Stalker’s Activation stat as long as it is on the table, but are -1 to Activation the turn it is destroyed.

TURN ONE

The Stalker Tank activated and advanced into the slums.  It targetted the two immediaate threats to the infantry... two Crusty fire teams  hiding in the closest buildings.  Its right cannon fired at the Crusties covered by the triangle-shaped slum building, and the left cannon fired at the closest shanty.  One hit was scored on each.  The Crusties took the hit as a suppression counter, and the building did not contain a drug lab.  Nevertheless, the smouldering wreck was in base contact to the second Crusty fire team, so I gave them a suppression counter as well.  Seems like a viable special rule for this scenario!  The Stalker did move into line of sight of the two Crusty Arc Gun teams, so they burned their On Guard  counters and took their shots.  One scored a hit, and the Stalker Tank failed its armor save.  Rolling on the Vehicle Damage Table gave it a weapon destroyed result... not a good way to start the game.

The Battlesuits activated next.  They advanced quickly around the damaged Stalker tank and engaged the two Arc Gun Teams.  Since the Gun Teams were in cover, the Battlesuits needed to roll 6 to hit.  Three hits were scored on one, one on the second.  All but one passed their armor saves (that’s a LOT of 6s in a row).  I took that one as a casualty instead of as a Suppression marker, so they could be more effective in combat.
The Infantry failed their Activation roll and went on guard.  The assault isn’t looking good att his point.
The Crusties went next.  I rolled to activate the Guncrab first.  It failed and remained on guard.  Two fireteams did activate.  One fired upon the Sulian infantry, missing entirely.  The second fired and caused one casualty.  The Sulians burned their on guard counter and returned fire, killing one of the Crusties in the closest slum building.  The remaining Crusties went on guard.

TURN 2
The Crusties won the initiative roll.  They began their second turn by activating a Gun Team.  It activated and took an Aimed Fire action, gaining +1 to Expertise.  The Arc Gun fired on the closing Battlesuits, but the Plasma gun and rifle in that fireteam were still out of range.  The gun scored one hit, and the Suits failed their save. One Battlesuit became immobilized for the rest of the game.  The second gun team activated and selected the same option.  It scored five hits, four of which weren’t saved.  The four Vehicle Damage results were three 1’s (stunning all three suits), and a 6 (destroying one entirely).  The Guncrab took the next turn, rolling only a 2 for its activation die.  It remained On Guard and play passed to the Sulians.

The Sulian Infantry activated and advanced into the shanties.  A distant Crusties fireteam burned its on guard counter and fired a plasma gun, but missed.  The Sulians managed to wipe out the Crusties in the closest building, and would be able to destroy those buildings in the next turn.
The Stalker Tank activated next.  It fired on the middle of the three remaining shanties, destroying it.  It did contain a drug lab, which exploded and killed another Crusty trooper.  It also hit another nearby building, which did not reveal a second drug lab.  Three of the nine targets had now been accounted for.
The Battlesuits needed a natural 6 to activate.  They rolled a 1, and went On Guard.  

TURN THREE
The Crusties won initiative, but the first unit failed to activate.  Play passed to the Sulians, who activated their Infantry.  Three troops went into base contact with buildings, clamping charges.  The remaining infantry fired upon the nearby Arc Gun team.  They scored six hits - more than enough to kill the Crusties.  The Crusty command team now burned their on guard counter and fired sniper rifles at the Sulians.  They hit two, but one made his saving throw.  The Stalker Tank activated next.  It took an Aimed Shot at the far distant building, scoring two hits on it.  It held another Drug Lab and exploded, killing a Crusty in each of the two surrounding fireteams.  The Battlesuits activated next.  The immobilized suit fired some covering shots while the mobile suit Assaulted a nearby fireteam.  The covering fire didn’t hit anything, but the Assault succesfully killed another Crusty.

Play passed back to the Crusties.  The unit that was just assaulted failed to activate, and retreated since it was at 50% strength.  The Guncrab finally activated and advanted toward the Battlesuits, but its Arc Gun missed.  The surviving Crusty Arc Gun team activated and took an aimed shot, stunning the crew of the stalker Tank.  Another fire team activated and chose a duck & weave action, rushing to engage the Sulian infantry.

TURN FOUR
The Crusties won initiative.  The command team attempted to activate but rolled a 1, going on guard and passing play back to the Sulians.  The Sulian Infantry activated and advanced to the final two target buildings.  The three buildings they had just set charges to detonated, two rolling as Labs.  One was close enough to hit a Sulian trooper, but he passed his armor save.  The Sulian infantry fired at the Crusties hiding in the final two target buildings, but only scored two hits.  One saved.  The other was taken as a casualty - the battle is too far along to suppress any troops!  The Crusty Command Team now burned its on guard counter and fired - hitting three Sulians and killing one.  The Sulian Battlesuits activated next.  They both took aimed shots at the Guncrab.  They caused four hits - three were saved, one rolled for damage.  The Guncrab’s weapon was destroyed.  The stunned Stalker Tank needed a 5 to activate, but only rolled a 2.  Play was passed back to the Crusties.  The fireteam that had just been engaged now returned fire.  They scored two hits - one saved, one was taken as a further casualty.  The remaining Crusty rifle team failed to activate (going on guard), but the Arc Gun team activated and took an aimed shot. They hit the Sulian Battlesuits four times, destroying two weapons on the immobilized suit and one weapon on the second.  Since one suit was now immobilized and disarmed, I decided to let the pilot bail out on a roll of 4-6.  He rolled a 2 and remained stuck in his damaged battlesuit.  

TURN FIVE
The Sulians won initiative.  The infantry activated first - two Felids moved into base contact with the remaining two target buildings, while the remaining three fired upon the Command Team.  Two Crusties were hit, but one passed his armor save.  The final two buildings now had charges clamped to them, effectively achieving the Sulian objective.  The Stalker Tank failed to activate and went on guard.   Play passed to the Crusties, and the Command Team activated for an Aimed Shot.  The shooting was effective - all of the remaining Sulian infantry were wiped out.  The nearby Crusty fireteam fled the rigged buildings and fired their plasma gun at the Stalk Tank.  They scored one hit, but it was saved.  Only one Crusty unit activated succesfully for the rest of the round, but it didn’t have any heavy weapons that could affect the Sulian vehicles.  
The final charges detonated.  All of the target buildings were destroyed, but at a very heavy cost.  One damaged Stalker Tank and an equally damaged Battlesuit are the only things that returned home from the fight, but the Crusties would need months to recover their narcotics operations.  

AFTERMATH
This scenario was far more balanced than I realized!  I thought the advantage would definitely be to the Crusties, as every single one of their troops were in cover for the entire game.  I also thought that the lack of higher Expertise ratings among the Sulians would be a handicap, but it was a pretty thrilling game.  I’ll have to play aa follow up scenario of some kind... the Crusty drug kingpins won’t take kindly to this level of Sulian military intervention!

Chris