Snakes on a Plane

 Latest batch of new models have arrived, these ones from ClearHorizon Miniatures. These were actually ordered last year, but because some of the models were on backorder they took a while to arrive. 

The first models ordered were some air support for the Serpents.

(Obligatory Samuel L. Jackson scene.)

The model is the Night-Stalker from their HADES range. It comes with a large cannon, but to me it's too large and looks a bit comical, so I've left it off. 

Next up is more air support, this time for the Wolf-Knights.

The model is the SX-18 Aurora. It's a little smaller than I prefer for my 15mm aircraft models, but not too small to use. I'm justifying the smaller size by saying that the Wolf-Knights higher tech-level lets them pack the same level of capability into a smaller aircraft. This model was a little fiddly to assemble - 8 pieces, fitting together such that the interior is hollow. The reason for this is you can model it with the rear panel lowered and use it as a transport. But I'm calling mine purely fighter aircraft. 

The last model I ordered I something I am using as transports, the USHI shuttle. I picked up four of these, enough to transport my platoon of fusilier infantry. 

I've painted one up fully to try out the colour scheme, which I'm happy with. I'll get the last three done over the next few days, and at that point the Wolf-Knights will be something like 70-80% done. The last thing left is I've ordered three more of the Wolf-Mechs, but that might have been excessive - depending on how I stat things out, I've probably got enough to field a standard sized force with just the models I already have. 

Sierra Foxtrot - Jan 2021 Review

Some new models arrived yesterday, which means it's time for a review of the Sierra Foxtrot armies. I've decided to aim for six unit types for each force, and I'm getting close to achieving this. I figure two more orders (one already placed, plus one more after that) should do it. 

(Links below BTW are the sites I ordered through; some may be online re-sellers, not direct from the manufacturer.)

Going through army by army...

Zhaleed Empire

The Zhaleed Empire is complete, with the target six unit types, all fully painted.

• The core Shadeen infantry platoons (Rebel Minis) with transports (BTR-60's from Battlefront).
• The Devout Guard, an elite tank formation (KV's from Battlefront).
• The High Templar command unit, with Zealot bodyguards (both Alternative Armies).
• An Ataxs rocket artillery battery (SA-13 Gopher from Battlefront).
• The Sand-Krakens, with their primary and secondary tentacles (Alternative Armies).
• Ground attack fighters (IL-2 Sturmoviks from Battlefront).

The Malroid Swarm

The Swarm is very close to complete, with 5 unit types fully painted and the last unit assembled and in progress.

• Scorpion assault mechs (Rebel Minis).
• Banshee attack skimmers (Aries Games & Minis).
• Reaper infantry drones (Shalur mercenaries from Rebel Minis).
• Apollyon artillery drones (Soriog "Gundogs" from Khurasan Minis)
• The Tactical Node (A Ground Zero Games Outrim Coalition Heavy Cruiser type-B).
• Ground attack aircraft (Ground Zero Games Chalutz Chalal class Heavy Battleship. I've chosen to leave off the metal pieces for the rear engines.)

The Serpents

Serpent ground forces are complete and painted up. While they already have 6 unit types, I want to include air support for all the Sierra Foxtrot armies, and I've found a model I think fits. This is on order and awaiting arrival. 

• The Serpent Warrior infantry units, with transports (the Astragar range through Ral Partha, and Sirrus APC from Alternate Armies).
• Viper Battlesuits (also from the Astragar range).
• Serpent Warrior direct fire cannon unit (ditto).
• Serpent Warrior mortar unit (ditto).
• Anaconda assault mech ("Skuttler" centipede mech from Khurasan Minis; I just left off the legs).
• The Nest-Queen (plastic toy Cobra from Hobby Lobby, repainted).

The Southern Commonwealth

The Southern Commonwealth force currently has 5 units, all painted up and ready. Except for the air support (which are Panavia Tornados from Battlefront) these models are all from Rebel Minis.

• Lion Main Battle Tanks.
• Infantry platoon with their transports.
• ATGM variant of the transport.
• Rocket artillery variant of the transport.
• Ground attack aircraft.

For the last SC unit, I debated the option of adding a humanoid mech (this guy was being considered), but now I'm leaning towards some sort of scout/recon unit. Maybe something like a humvee or a dune-buggy type vehicle.

The Wolf-Knights

The army probably furthest from being finished is the Wolf-Knights. Being generous, I'm counting the cannon-armed, missile-launcher armed, and Black Wolf mechs as separate unit types. So with the Outriders that's four.

So two new unit types needed, and it's straight-forward enough what they should be - infantry and air-support. And models for both have been ordered. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year all! Fingers crossed that 2021 is less crazy than 2020, and going back to in-person gaming is possible. 

One small bright spot from the last days of 2020 - I made a new gamer friend. One of my neighbors noticed that a package for me was labelled "miniatures" and mentioned that he painted models as well. A couple of hang-out-painting evenings have seen rapid progress on projects that had previously been moving along very slowly. I'm almost ready to have to order some more models.

First units finished were the Reaper drones for the Malroids. Both units of these are now fully painted and based up. 

Next up is some minor additions for the Zhaleed Empire. I've finished some elite Zealot infantry (who for now will serve as bodyguards for the High Templar), and a couple of ground attack aircraft stands. (Anybody who recognizes the retro ground-attack aircraft type... congratulations Comrade, you earn 20 Great Patriotic War geek points).

But the addition I am most pleased with is a snake-mech for The Serpents. 

The model is a Skuttler centipede mech from Khurasan Miniatures. A purchased it with the intent of probably not using the legs, and this has worked out quite well. 

So I have now caught up with basically all the 15mm sci-fi models I had sitting around... so its time to order some more. :-) My thoughts for next expansions at this stage (in rough order of priority); 

• Some infantry with transports for the Wolf-Knights. There are quite a few ranges of human(oids) in full power armor, so I just have a select which design I like. 
• Air support for each army. The Zhaleed have theirs, and I've found a model I like for the Serpents. So I just need to find suitable models for the Wolf-Knights, Malroids, and SC. 
• At least one other type of infantry-scale combat drone for the Malroids
• The "Tactical Node" command stand for the Malroids. At this stage my thought is actually to look at starship combat miniatures, and in particular at space stations or spherical ships. 

Raise Shields!

With several 15mm sci-fi armies now painted up, my focus has started to shift towards finding and/or writing some rules to actually use them in tabletop games. 

15mm sci-fi armies on my painting table

My internet searching didn't turn up any 15mm sci-fi systems that really appealed to me. Stargrunt or Tomorrow's War work at 15mm, but I'm not a fan of those. Epic: Armageddon, while intended for 6mm, would probably work at 15mm. But while Epic is an extremely good system (one of my favorites) I already play it a lot, so I kind of want to use something else just for variety. I looked at a couple of homebrew systems people had shared on the internet. Most of them looked decent enough, but none really jumped out and grabbed my interest. 

In the end I've landed exactly where I started - writing a sci-fi adaptation of the Flames of War / Team Yankee system, which I'm referring to as Sierra Foxtrot. 

(If I'm being honest with myself the internet searching for 15mm scale systems may have been a waste of time, since this was what I had in mind from the beginning. Even just the way I based up the models was deliberately styled on FoW / TY units.)

Now the core Flames of War / Team Yankee system is (IMO) very good, so at least initially I'm not going to change much. They do use a simple IGO-YGO turn structure (versus many games I've been playing recently that use forms of alternating unit activation). But there's nothing wrong with simple IGO-YGO, so I'm going to stick with it. Really the main thing needed (apart from the huge task of writing, and especially balancing the army lists) is not so much changes as additions - writing up special rules for various sci-fi specific situations. Things like force-fields, giant creatures/mechs that might take multiple hits, teleportation, vertol or grav vehicles, and all these sorts of things. 

The first special rule I'm going to take a crack at writing up (since I have the tokens made up for them) is force-fields...

Malroid Scorp-mechs with 3 shields

Serpent Nest-Queen with 5 shield tokens

Shields

Some models have Shield tokens (also referred to as Force-Shields, Deflectors, or Force-Field tokens). Shields are usually assigned to individual models (infantry stands, vehicles, etc.) not to whole units (platoons or companies). Exceptions to this (area shields) will be noted.

The size, color, and appearance of shield tokens doesn't matter. Likewise where they are physically placed around the model is irrelevant; they can be placed anywhere near the unit and even moved around as convenient. All that matters is it is clear which model the shields belongs to, and how many there are. 

Shields have an Armor Value which works in most ways similarly to tanks and other armored vehicles. When the shield is hit the defending unit gets an Armor Save (or presumably "Shield Save" in this case) of d6 plus Shield rating. If the result is greater than the AT value, the shield is unaffected. If equal to AT value, roll FP to "bail out" the shield. If less than AT, roll FP to destroy the shield, otherwise "bail out". 

A destroyed shield token is removed and is no longer part of the game in any way. 

The equivalent to "bailed out" for shield tokens is "shield fluctuating". The shield has been partially weakened and will provide less defense for the rest of this turn. The shield token should be placed on its side or otherwise marked. A fluctuating shield that suffers a second fluctuated result is destroyed in the same way as a vehicle suffering two bailed out results. During the starting step of the next turn the player may roll to "remount" (restore) the shield. If this roll passes the shield is put back upright and acts normally. Otherwise it is left on its side and is still considered fluctuating.  

Shields are completely ignored for the purposes of Morale Rolls. Intact shields do not count as surviving units, and destroyed shields do not count as destroyed units. 

Sierra Foxtrot - Fall Update

OK, latest batch of models has arrived, so time for an update. 

I forgot to mention last post that the Alternative Armies order also included a few of the Sirrus APCs. The very distinctive (but clearly sci-fi) look of these appealed to me, so I grabbed some as transports for the Serpents. They are now nicely equipped as effectively a mechanized infantry formation. 

The sandworm models are also coming along nicely - just some highlighting and texturing the bases to go and they'll be done. In setting I've decided to name these animals Ahzi-Dhaka, or Sand-Krakens. The assumption is there is an armored body which remains underground, and the primary and secondary tentacles emerge to attack. So I guess maybe more similar to the Graboids from the Tremors movies than the Sandworms of Dune. Each Sand-Kraken formation will include a unit of "Callers" - the humans who in some manner are able to guide and control them.

(As a minor aside, it wasn't until I was painting them that I realized quite how phallic some of the sandling models are. But I'm choosing to look on the bright side and remember that laugher is good. Even juvenile snickering about formations of "sand penises" (penii? ... oddly enough, not a word I have ever needed the plural of much). )

But the most recent arrivals (and last items I have ordered for the moment) is a second batch from Rebel Minis. This was a mix of new models, and extras of things I already had. In the box was; 

• The second Sahadeen platoon to round out the Zhaleed Empire force
• Some Sahadeen heavy weapons, which will be assembled on BF medium bases. Then the question is whether they should be distributed as teams in the infantry platoons, or formed up as a separate heavy weapons platoon.
• Three more Wolf animechs to expand the Wolf-Knight force
• And a few other random models to be blogged about at a future date

Wormsign!

Latest batch of random 15mm sci-fi models have arrived, from Alternative Armies based in the UK. 

The main purpose of this order was to expand out the Zhaleed Empire force. The Greater Sandworm and Sandworm Swarm models were perfect for this Dune-themed army. On top of that they had some figures in robes that will fit nicely as a priestly Templar caste, which I'll scatter through the force as officer/HQ models. 

 

So the models for the initial Zhaleed Empire force are mostly received and assembled. A second platoon of Sahadeen infantry is still on backorder, but once those arrive the force will be ready to put on the table. 

In terms of expanding the force, I have enough of the robed figures I could base them up as a full platoon (maybe an elite "zealot" unit or something). And since I'm already using the BTRs, any modern Soviet equipment would fit in. The ZSU-23 is one of my favorite armored vehicles (why are AA vehicles always the coolest looking?) so I might add a unit of them.

Serpent Army is Finished

I think I must be violating some law of the wargaming universe - recently projects are being completed at a faster rate than new ones are started.

Latest project completed, the Serpents for 15mm sci-fi.

Apart from the core infantry units, the formation has two heavy weapon sections. First, a heavy direct fire unit.

And second a mortar battery.

While completing the last units I also improved the basing and details on the Nest-Queen (which is now officially the commander of the whole force).

I'd really like to add stuff to this model - some armor, comms, maybe weapons or something that could represent shield generators. But that would depend on my modelling skills, which I'm not sure are up to it. For now the naked model looks decent, so rather than risk ruining it I'll use "psychic powers" as a convenient excuse to give it the capabilities I want it to have on the table.

The next step for this army will be to find a game system to use them with. My googling hasn't turned up any 15mm sci-fi systems that look interesting, so I'll likely end up writing one myself. Possible working title - Sierra Foxtrot. It's likely to be very strongly influenced by (if not to start with just directly a sci-fi version of) my favorite 15mm game system, Flames of War / Team Yankee.

Terrain Update

While the Serpents have been my main focus recently, I've also had a few side projects for a change of pace. The hills for my terrain collection are improving.

I still haven't mastered a good technique for flocking large areas in a nice even layer. So for now the method is to do an initial coat as evenly as possible, then touch up any patchy areas. This produces a decidedly uneven layer, but the end result looks decently realistic. I'm tempted to start experimenting with patching using alternate flock types (particularly some sandy/rocky textures) and see how that looks.

Robotech Reinforcements

I've added some new units to my Robotech forces. On the Zentraedi side, a couple more heavy weapon battlepods.

And for the UEDF, a couple of Phalanx destroids.

The models are actually Huo-Che battlemechs from Steel Warrior Studios, but they're more than close enough for me. I've also acquired 4 Apache helicopter gunships from GHQ. Right now they are still in their packaging (only received today), but once assembled they can either reinforce the UEDF or be part of a 6mm modern force.

A Growing City

Lastly, as part of the same order with the "Phalanx" destroids I picked up a few more buildings from Steel Warrior Studios to add a couple of extra tiles to Sixmillopolis.

More Serpents, More Scenery

The Serpent army is coming together. Here is where it stands right now;

Battlefront large bases for the heavy weapon teams and battlesuits have arrived and everything is based up. So I no longer have any excuses, the last units need to be finished.

Battlesuits are nicely based and done.

A couple of new units have been added. First, a couple of recon/attack drones. These models were originally medium fliers from the Covenant of Antarctica fleet from Spartan Games Dystopian Wars range. The colors and design aesthetic fit in perfectly here. [Hat tip; these were painted by my brother Vaughan, who gifted me his CoA fleet.]

The next addition is a bit random. The model is just a bargain-bin plastic toy cobra. But the detailing is decent, and once repainted it actually came out looking pretty good. It fits perfectly with the overall theme of the army.

I'm not sure yet exactly what role this model will play in the list. It could just be a giant trained war-beast. But the other option (and where I'm leaning) is to have it as the "Nest Queen" - overall commander of the army, with impressive psychic powers able to throw around tanks, generate a tough protective field, that sort of stuff. 

The Hills Are Alive

After thinking about being lazy and having hills made on commission, I came across this YouTube tutorial. Which reminded me I have made my own hills in the past, so there's no reason I couldn't do so again. I mostly followed the tutorial's method, except I skipped the sanding stage. If you're covering the piece in paper-mache anyway, what does it matter if the edges are perfect? Results have been overall fairly good.

The image above shows the hills at different stages, from raw carved polystyrene, to paper-mache covered, basecoated, and then textured. The overall result I'm happy with, but the texturing could use improvement. Flocking large areas is tricky, and it's hard to get a nice even layer. This is something I'll have to practise.