On the Fringe of 15mm Space

Hi friends, once again I'm playing around with one of my old, but never forgotten projects.  These folks have been sitting in the lead pile for some time and I finally just said, "Let's paint!"  Well, really I painted and the little miniatures made giggling noises as I rubbed paint on them with the brush.

One of my plans for 15mm Sci-Fi was to have a setting on the fringe of space in a colony pretty far from everything modern.  Think of it has kind of a "Firefly" TV show setting.  The Wild West in space.  Luckily, Darkest Star Games has a lot of figures that match this setting with their "Colony 15" miniature line.  First up, I'm adding some more colonist...

And then there are the primitive inhabitants of the land.  Traded older equipment and weapons for access to their lands.  But sometimes, they don't like seeing what the colonists are doing... or perhaps jealousy and the need to grab more technology is their motivation?  Who knows?  But sometimes they get aggressive and attack weak gatherings of colonist.

Inspired by several projects people are doing with the French & Indian Wars, I took that same idea when I started painting the Zonii.  I thought bright and flashy colors with nothing to give them a real uniform look like the old North American Indians.  Here's how the Zonii warband turned out...

What's next?  I'm not sure.  I have enough 15mm to play some fun games now.  So either I'll add some more terrain for this game.  Maybe some more Infinity?  Whatever the case, I'm happy to say I will be starting a new job on September 5th.  So I have a few weeks of unemployment to actually get some painting done!

Cheers!
Rod

15mm Vehicles for Sci-Fi

Recently I got in the mood to put the brush to some of my 15mm Sci-Fi toys.  Both of these vehicles come from Darkest Star Games.  Really not much to say, so just enjoy!

Fuel Truck

I really liked this retro-style tank.  Really had a Studio Ghibli feel to it.  :)

Light Hover Tank

More 15mm Sci-Fi posts coming this week.

Cheers!

Rod

My AHPC Bonus Round 3 - "Home" Entry

//ProxyHost/*/.../Tx/DoucetCorp/ANewHomeOfDiscovery

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Do you have an adventurous spirit?  Dreams of traveling to a newly discovered world and being one of its early pioneers?  Want to earn an advanced degree in leading technology fields?

This is your opportunity!

Doucet Corporation has the answer for you!  We are looking for young couples willing to live and work on remote research stations on newly discovered worlds.  You will have your own home right next to your work.  This home will have all the most modern amenities to help you feel comfortable and safe on your new world.  A new life of discovery is waiting for you and we'll provide the job, the home, and the advanced education.

This picture is our newly built research station on Oizys.  Two couples currently occupy this research station and are at work analyzing weather patterns, minerals, agriculture, and many other subjects to help prepare for colonization of this planet.

Interested in joining one of the Doucet Corporation research teams?

Requirements:
1) Young married couples (30-45 years of age).  No children.  [Families may be started once on location.]
2) Both must have Masters degrees.
2) Must pass physical and mental examinations.
3) Must be willing to attend school for doctoral degrees selected by Doucet Corporation [based on current research needs].
4) Must sign a 5 year contract to work on research station.  Options to continue staying at the site will be based on job performance after completion of initial contract.

Please click the "Apply" button to get further details.

[APPLY]

Doucet Corporation is a registered corporation on 17 worlds, including Sol Prime.  Name and logos are trademarked by the Federation of Human Planets and protected by its laws.

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The buildings are all 15mm and made by Brigade Models.

The Hard Choice

A group of scientists under the employ of the Saito-Federov Corporation are currently on the surface of Oizys performing a geological survey.  They are heading South in a company grav hauler to a series of survey sites around a very large canyon.

At the edge of the canyon, the scientists get out of the vehicle to stretch their legs and have a look at the canyon.  They also need to decide which survey site they will visit next.

Dr. William Hurst:  "Well, site T-2-A is closest in distance due East, but the terrain is pretty rough so it will take us about two hours longer than it would to go to T-3-B which is straight West."

Dr. Debra Stanton: "That sounds more appealing to me.  Maybe the shuttle's maintenance will be done by then and it can lift us to the other sites."

Dr. Victor Johnson:  "The satellite team shows the movement of some hazardous bios that will be in our path if we go West.  I know its a faster trip, but may not be worth the risk right now. These are very large worms that are known to be aggressive."

[Satellite Image]

Dr. Pam Talley:  "Oh don't tell me..."
Dr. Victor Johnson:  "And the larvae have a very phallic appearance.  Locals have taken to calling them P-Worms.  They will attack just about anything that moves."

[Satellite Image]

Dr. Pam Talley:  "P-Worms.  Just our luck.  The whole thing would be captured on satellite too."

[Each team member envisions the attack]

. Debra Stanton:  "Ok, let's vote then.  East or West?  I vote East."

Dr. Pam Talley:  "East.  I don't won't to be remembered in a company dispatch as the team that was eaten by a very large..."

Dr. Debra Stanton:  "Willy?"

Dr. William Hurst:  "Definitely East.  I have no desire to tangle with a huge worm that looks like a..."

Dr. Debra Stanton:  "Johnson?"

Dr. Victor Johnson:  "I vote East."

Dr. Debra Stanton:  "Alright, that's four votes for East.  Let's mount up and get out of here."

And so the team headed East.


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This was my entry for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge Bonus Round # 2.

The theme was "EAST".

28mm Worms from Excalibur Miniatures
15mm figures from Ground Zero Games
15mm Grav Hauler from Darkest Star Games

The cargo in the back of the Grav Hauler was made out of plasticard, random bits of wire and plastic, and some green stuff.

The worms were a gift from my wife who bought them for me for Christmas.  They didn't arrive until after Christmas because she had ordered them from Germany and shipping took a bit longer during the holiday season.  I know I spent most of December wondering what this present was going to be because she giggled every time she thought of them.  I opened the box when it arrived and looked inside and was like, "Worms?"  And she says, "No, penis worms!  For your Sci-Fi!"  And sure enough... they do have that look and that's when I got the idea for this theme round.

Thanks you all of you that stop by and check out my little blog.  I appreciate you all!

Cheers.

Rod

Patrol Angis - An AAR and Thoughts on the Game

I have gotten several games of Patrol Angis played through now.  4 solo games and 1 with my buddy Darby using the miniatures from the starter set I bought a while back.  First I'll let you have a look at the game I played this evening.

Scenario:  The Prydian Forces (Red/White) are planning to break through a defensive position setup by the League of Yordan (Green/Yellow).

League of Yordan starting positions...

The Prydian Assault.

For the first turn of the scenario, I gave the Prydian forces the initiative.  They did a normal die roll to determine the number of activation tokens to be issued out to the two sides.  The Prydian forces move up one of their assault rifle teams and hit the enemy team on the hill.  The fire is devastating, killing over half the enemy team.  They fail morale and lost their activation token.  A good start for the Prydians!

The League of Yordan troops send in the Duxis battlesuits and hit the assault rifle team pretty hard.  This takes up their one activation for the turn.  The Prydians had put 2 activations on their support weapon team, so they moved up and on the second activation hit the Duxis battlesuits managing to put down the suit with the howitzer.  Things are looking even better!

During the 2nd turn, using a their jump jets the Prydian close assault team gets in a close as they can to hit the support weapon team on the hill.  Sadly their fire is pretty ineffective (only 1 casualty) due to having to snap-shot on the run.

The 3rd turn is a hard swing in favor of the League.  They have too much fire power.  Especially with the Espaten team on the far hill.  The large mounted lasers rip the assault team to shreds leaving only 1 survivor.

The remaining Duxis have also been doing some cleanup work on their end.  Finishing off the Prydian support weapons team and the assault rifle team.

The Prydian leader calls for the retreat.

Meanwhile, the poor soldier left on the hill offers the enemy a chance of surrender...

Patrol Angis Thoughts...

I have to say I really like this game.  It definitely holds to it's claim of being a One-Hour Wargame.  The action is fast and brutal.  Cover is very important for survival, but it basically comes down to the fact that if you can shoot someone, they can shoot you back.  So if you don't like taking heavy casualties, this game will be tough  for you!

Another thing that's pretty important in this game is winning initiative.  Not only do you get an extra activation.  But you get to pick all the casualties that a both sides take during that turn.  As in the case of the first round when the Prydian support unit managed a total of 5 wounds on the 3 Duxis battlesuits.  Each Duxis has a total of 5 damage points it can take before being destroyed.  If the Yordan player had the initiative, they could have distributed the 5 wounds between the 3 Duxis figures and kept them all in action.  Instead the Prydian player had initiative and was able to put them all on one Duxis, and also picked the one with the indirect fire weapon (that ignores cover bonuses)!

There's quite a bit of flexibility in how you can create your forces.  It certainly lends itself to a space opera feel.  One thing I have noticed with the starter though, is that it's pretty easy for this game to get imbalanced.  5 games so far and the Prydians have lost every game.  I think I can even it up pretty soon with a few tweaks once I get some new troops painted up.  But the warning here is if you don't have friends that like a gentlemanly game, it could be very frustrating.

I'm looking forward to tweaking my armies and getting some more games in.  I also picked up the new vehicle rules so I'm sure there will be some more heavy hitters appearing on the battlefield as well.

Have a good week friends!

Rod

Kh'Erian & Kh'Erasin MBTs

These are some 15mm Sci-Fi tanks I picked up from a Darkest Star Games kick-starter a while back. These will be part of my forces for the hard-core military sci-fi gaming.  For some reason I've always planned for this to be on a desert style planet, so with that in mind I wanted some desert style camouflage patterns.  These painted up pretty quick with the help of my trusty airbrush.  Added some desert sand pigments and washes to give them a nice dirty used look.  And here they are...

There were two choices of turrets, so I gave 3 of them the smaller barrel.  The one in the back has a longer barrel.  I'm not sure which is which as far as the names go.

Anyway, quick post today.  Hope you all are enjoying your week!

Rod

3 Battlesuits and the Ion Age Starter Set is Done!

This week I sat down and assembled the 3 Duxis Battlesuits that were the last pieces of the Starter set I bought for the Ion Age: Patrol Angis game.  Feels good to have it all finished and now I can test out some games.  The Duxis Battlesuits were the last unit for my League of Yorden force.  These were cool mini's and really about the size of 28mm figures, as you'll see in the picture when compared to the 15mm.

With those done, I decided to take the "family" shots of both forces.  So here goes!

Prydian force:

Once again I'm struggling with taking pictures of the 15mm guys.  So there's a bit of blur.  Also, I noticed when I was taking the pictures that I forgot to paint one of the guys armor bits white.  There's a gray guy in the mix.  I'll fix him later.  Funny how you miss that stuff.  I guess I was tired!

And now for the League of Yorden force:

Now to play some games.  After that I'll order some stuff here and there to give options to each force.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your weekend!

Rod

Retained Knights for the League of Yorden

I'm back to working on my Ion Age starter set (plus extras).  I have 3 more battle suits to complete before I'm finished and ready to actually play a game.  It's about time I wrap this project up so I can have some fun to go along with all the work.

Anyway, here's the last unit of Retained Knight I needed for my League of Yorden.  Four of these figures are being reposted from earlier this year, but I wanted to show the completed unit so they're all together.

In addition, I'm not sure where I got this next figure.  I think it was the freebie that came from buying the starter box.  I'm not 100% positive though, and I couldn't seem to find the figure on the website.  Any-who, I believe this was labeled as a Knight Errant.  I decided to put it in the League of Yorden colors in case I wanted some more options for this army list.

Sadly, that was all I got to accomplish this weekend since I had to deal with a sinus infection.  If you ever get the opportunity to visit Texas I'll just go ahead and warn you that January through November is pretty much allergy season here (although December might get ya too...)  Good times.  Yeehaw!

Have a good week friends!

Rod

Hippogriff Aerodynes

After wrapping up the unit of French Lancers (see previous post!) I wanted to do something in 15mm just for a bit of a change.  I had a couple of the Hippogriff Aerodynes from Darkest Star Games.  One is for my buddy Darby, and the other one I bought for myself.  These were a little frustrating to assemble, but once they were completed I think they look pretty neat!

He plans to use his in a more anime-esque style game with special police/military units fighting foes with nefarious plans. Think "Ghost in the Shell" or "Appleseed" for a general idea of his plans. So I painted it with the shiny dark colors.  I didn't put any decals or markings on his so he could do whatever he wants with it.

As for mine, I wanted something that would pass for a well used civilian version that will be seen at my little colony on the fringe of the civilized universe.  After taking the pictures, it came out looking a little more "dirty" than I anticipated, but I kinda like it.  Folks don't have as much money and time for repairs like they do in the more prosperous cities.  The main thing is to keep the thing flying no matter how beat-up it looks!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend friends!

Rod

Knights with Boobs and a French Lancer

Right now I'm still working my way through a unit of French Lancers,  but I took one night to knock out a few more figures for my Ion Age gaming.  These are some more retained Knights for the League of Yordan.  This whole unit is female, so to prove it beyond just having expanded chest armor, they decided to take off their helmets to show off their lovely hair styles.  Not sure how practical that is in combat, but I'm sure it helps with miniatures sales!

Also, I've finished my first lancer.  Took a bit as I worked on finding the right colors.  It will be hard to tell anything from this picture as I ended up washing out all the highlights with the lighting... oh well.  Miniature photography is harder than you'd think, no matter how many tutorials I read!