15mm Sci-Fi Game - AAR

Umpired a 15mm Sci-Fi game at the Harrogate Wargames Club on Thursday night.  Gavin, Mark and Simon attacking against John, Mick and Chris in defence.  Rules used - FUBAR Expanded 15mm Sci-Fi.

The attackers had a Hvy Grav tank and 5 Walkers + 2 Armoured Inf Squads and 1 x Power Armour squad against the defenders 2 x Heavy Grav Tanks, a Armoured Grav Flyer, couple of scout vehicles and several squads of Inf with ATGW teams scattered amongst them.
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(Walkers all by made by Critical Mass Games as are a couple of the tanks.  I Grav tank by GZG, as are most of the Infantry and wheeled vehicles. Flying Grav Jet tank by Blade Miniatures)
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An engaging game with an early exchange of Railgun rounds seeing one of Gavs Walkers knocked out and one of Marks damaged (seen below with Railgun KO'd) .
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A further exchange saw both Simon and Chris losing their Grav tanks with my new Walker 'Vera' in action for the first time.
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'Vera' piloted by Jayne

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Mark brought his Power Armour Infantry up through the wood (seen below) and along with the damaged walker chewed out the opposing Infantry and then jump-packed into the town.
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Micks wheeled scout vehicles getting destroyed in the process as Marks armoured Infantry advanced as well.
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Gavin chewed up some Infantry and then moved his other Walker up.
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Johns reserve squad kept its head down amongst the rocks supporting the flying grav jet.
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Gavin then jumped 'Vera' into close proximity to Johns surviving Grav tank, but this brave effort to breach the enemy line was in vain as John made his Initiative role and then destroyed her. 
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At that point we called an end to proceedings.  With regard a result, I judged a slight edge to be have been with Gav, Simon and Mark at the end.   A good game overall :)

Post game notes/thoughts:
1.  A slight tweak to the rules explaining Line of Sight (LoS) with regards to looking in and out of woods is required.
2.  The Infantry ATGW groups should have a +1 sight bonus to hit.

15mm Sci-Fi Walker Photo Shoot

Felt inspired at the weekend to break out some terrain and take a few staged shots of my 15mm Sc-Fi Walker collection.
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15mm Walker Distraction - 'Vera' Makes An Appearance

I'm meant to be focussing what modelling time I have available onto painting my 28mm Bruswick unit I posted about yesterday, but as is the way with wargamers, we get distracted...  In this instance I was looking at some 15mm Sci-Fi on the web and all of sudden felt inspired to build a Critical Mass Miniatures Walker I had picked up some two years ago at the Vapnartak convention.  Different from the four I already have, this one is an ARC Fleet Valkyrie variant which has jump jets on the back and a different arm arrangement.  Fortunately I had a bunch of rare earth magnets in my modelling box, so I've been able to articulate the movement of the torso, arms and chin weapon.
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My son came up with the suggestion for the name, somehow it seemed appropriate :)
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And when dissembled.
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Walker - Modular Weapon Fit

You may have seen the 'Gatling Walker' on one of my previous postings. I've took the next logical step a little while back and made up a variety of weapons than can be fitted.

My person favorite is the anti-armour config with the huge railgun ! It's so OTT ! LOL
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Exam Pressure...

I have an CIPS Diploma exam this coming Monday, so (virtually) all gaming/modelling activity is on hold whilst I inflict some heavy revision on myself over the coming days. This is all very frustrating as I would very much like to read up on the HOF Fire Team rules that 15mm.co.uk are playtesting at the moment. In the meantime here are a couple of shots from a recent photo shoot of a mixed battlegroup of my 15mm sci-fi armour.
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More Dropship Photos

Here's a few more photos of the dropship. The current paint job is a very simple one. I sprayed the entire vehicle in car primer grey, and then painted it with Citadel Catachan Green. I might pick a little bit of detail out, but to be honest there isn't that much on it, so I think I'll stick with the 'plain Jane' look. That said time permitting I hope to add some 'nose-art' in the next day or so :)
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A few other vehicles shown here as well, for size comparison :)
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New Dropship Enters Service

This last week I've been doing a quick re-paint job on what is quite a large transport craft (for 15mm gaming). Here's a couple of photos of some of my troops disembarking :) You might recognize it...
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From Wargaming BLOG Photos

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15mm Sci-Fi Game - 'Battle For The Ruin' - AAR

My friend James and I battled it out at the Huntingdon club again on Thursday night using the basic FAD rules. We both took 500 points to start with, which gave a Platoon of Infantry and one Walker. To this we then each added another Walker and Heavy Grav Tank. We used this game to explore the vehicle rules and the effect of vehicles on Infantry. I had three small 8 man squads, James opted for two 12 man squads each with a squad weapon attached (gulp).
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We had the game objective as a small ruined building in the middle of the board, and both sides deployed 6" in. FAD ranges are huge, so to make the game somewhat different we decided that it was in the morning and a heavy fog was in the process of lifting. To start with visibility was down to 12" and every turn this would increase by 6".
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Initial Set-up
James went for an equal spread of vehicles along his start line, with more of his infantry deployed on his left, including a small Power Armour squad. I concentrated my armour opposite the objective.
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Turn 1
Both sides were out of visibility and everyone move forward unmolested. I occupied the church with an RPG Tank Hunter element, and moved all vehicles forward, along with remaining troops who went to cover. James moved all his troops forward, one of the big squads occupying a hill top.
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Turn 2
I got lucky with the initiative roll and moved my Gatling Walker forward at a cautious 6" walk.
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CONTACT !! Five heavy gatling guns made a mess of one of his squads, which although in cover was reduced from 12 to 3 men ! I moved my second Walker up to provide flank protection, but he got knocked out immediately by James's Walker. Seeing the carnage my Heavy Grav tank waded in and immobilised his second Walker with a well placed shot from his Railgun.
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Turn 3
With the fog lifting my RPG team opened fire on James's walker on the hill, near the objective, and with a lucky shot Immobilised that one as well. I dashed my Power Armour infantry squad forward and occupied the objective. My Gatling Walker feeling confident after last turns slaughter off-loaded on James Power armour squad. Their extra armour made a huge difference though, and only one man was killed. His Heavy Grav tank then powered in from the flank and immobilised my Gatling Walker :( which was also fired on from his immobilised Walker in the hill, to no effect. The driver of the Walker turn his chin Gatling onto my squad in the objective, but with them in heavy cover from the ruin, they only took one casualty.
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As this point we stopped the proceedings as we had run out of time.

This was a very good natured game with the actual result unimportant to both of us. It was great fun using the Walkers, and James enjoyed using his new one, and his recently finished Rebel Minis troops, which look great in the paint scheme he had done.

The rules as whole worked well again, although IMHO the armour element could do with a couple of slight 'tweaks'. We may introduce our own house rules to cater for them. I look forward to our next game :)
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Gatling Walker - 'Firepower Test' - Stop Motion Movie

I've been thinking about another stop-motion movie for a while now. The main issue as ever is time, or should I say, lack of. Anyway, in-between entertaining youngster and pushing on with a homestudy course I managed to find time to rattle off a quick one today. I find the editing always takes 3 to 4 times as long as actually taking the photos, although on this occassion to my amazement Windows Movie Maker behaved, and didn't crash once ! :)
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15mm Gatling Walker Arrives And Brings Platoon Up To Full Strength

Just about finished painting my latest Critical Mass Games walker, the one I mentioned on my Sunday posting. I couldn't resist banging some photos off this evening, even though the lighting conditions do leave a lot to be desired.
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This is my most heavily modified Walker to date.
1. Both main guns have been replaced with spare twin mounted gatlings.
2. Both gatlings are fully elevatable thanks to being fitted with Rare Earth Magnets.
3. The torso is twistable, magnets have been fitted between that and the hips.
4. The chin mounted gatling can swivel, as that too has been fitted with a magnet.
5. A GZG missile launcher has been installed on a fixed mount direct to the body.
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Painting pretty much as described in my previous posting regarding the Walkers, with the exception that the legs were given a Citadel Gryphonne Sepia Wash.

Just working on a script for another Stop Motion Movie.... :)
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Walker In Progress + Terminator Hunter Killer

A few weeks back James (who incidentally has started his own blog) and I swapped unbuilt vehicles. He took a Critical Mass Games tank off me, and in exchange I took a Walker off him. Well yesterday I finally finished assembling it.
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Currently I'm on with the painting, and making fair progress. Base colours are all sorted, and the base is sanded. Just need to give it a good dry-brush, and add some extra detail. With a fair wind I should be able to post some photos maybe Wednesday.
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A posting on the TMP last week pointed me in the direction of Toys-r-Us who had a sale on. They have been selling the Terminator Salvation Hunter Killers off for £5.99. I was so sure they would be the right size for either 28mm or 15mm, I bought two ! Anyway they came on Saturday, and are excellent. I'll post some photos later in the week.
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FAD 4 Game AAR

At the Huntingdon & District Wargames Society last night I had a much looked forward 15mm Sci-Fi game using the Fast And Dirty (FAD) rules with two of my friends James and Francis. As we are still getting to grips with the rules, (my 3rd game, James's 2nd and Francis's first) we used just the basic set. The battle took place on a 8'x4' table across the width. The objective for night was to secure the damaged gunship in the middle of the board. We had pre-planned forces of 500 points apiece. I was 99.9% certain that James would be using one of a pair of Critical Mass Walkers that he has recently bought, so I (cunning so I thought) decided to counter this by buying a light scout AT grav vehicle and having a specific AT squad armed with RPGs. The walker being armed with two autocannons and chin mounted double Gatling gun would slaughter my (clean living god fearing) infantry if it wasn't taken out quickly. With the remaining points I bought a light APC and 3 squads of Heavy armoured infantry armed with a mixture of high-tech assault rifles and SAWs.
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The battle with the initiative going to James and he aggressively used his walker to tear my APC apart. Francis and I countered by moving our AT Grav forward, and with a good dice roll took it out of play ! (At this point the weakness in my strategy of buying an entire team with RPGs came to light, as now they had nothing to do !) Both sides maneuvered for position, exchanging some fire as various units came into sight.
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Whilst James feinted with a couple of squads he managed to rush another to the dropship, at the same time deploying a pair of HMGs on a hill and tearing up a squad of mine that was trying to make for the objective. Losing 5 out of 8 men in one turn, left them Pinned (unable to move, and unable to fire).
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Francis and I riposted by damaging several of his squads with small arms fire, and launching missiles at the HMGs teams took one out and routed the other.
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At this point in the evening we ran out of time, and had to stop, with James although not in the gunship, certainly right next to it.
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Overall an excellent little game, enjoyed by all. We're now planning out next one in a fortnight, where we'll use double the number of points probably.
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AFVH10 MkII Heavy Grav Tank (Command Variant)

Guys
Here's the second Critical Mass Games tank I've completed, the AFVH10 MkII Heavy Grav Tank. The basic vehicle is identical to the MkI tank I covered on the 3rd Jan but with the additions of two crew men in the turret. I've made a few modifications to personalise it somewhat, as I wanted this vehicle to fill the role of company command tank :)
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Like with the MkI I've left off the side turret weapon mounts, although on this occasion I've used the recesses for aerials; I've added a GZG sensor ball, satellite dish, and automatic close in defence robo-turret. A rare-earth magnet helps keep the turret in place (a bit wobbly otherwise).
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As before, I wanted to go for a dirty / weather-beaten battlefield look.
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The painting / assembly sequence I used was a follows:
1. After assembly, a spray of car primer grey.
2. Figure base painted with Colour Party Paints MA19 'Green'.
3. Entire vehicle painted in a Coat d'arms 233 'Linen'.
4. First camo line of Foundry 33A 'Arctric Grey' added.
5. Second camo line of Citadel 'Catachan Green'.
6. Some recessed areas painted Foundry 39B 'Storm Blue'.
7. Entire model given a Citadel 'Devlan Mud' wash.
8. Very light dry brush using Foundry 33C 'White'.
9. Metal areas, painted 'Black, along with crew visors'.
10. Metal areas lightly brushed with Citadel 'Boltgun Metal'.
11. Figures painted with Citadel 'Catachan Green'.
12. Figures dry-brushed with Citadel 'Rotting Flesh'.
13. Crew visors painted Foundry 22B Vivid Blue'.
14. Crew skin painted with Citadel 'Bronzed Flesh'.
15. Artwork and lettering added.
16. Base gritted.
17. Aerials added.
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I really like these models, for a sci-fi tank they are just the ticket.
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