Felid jetbikes from Khurasan Miniatures. Absolutely fantastic figures, although I'm afraid the photo doesn't really do them justice. Paint up really nicely as well...I can't wait to get them onto the tabletop.
Scout Walkers for the Protolene Khanate
The Aphids were still badly in need of some air power, so I have changed my mind about them having drones, and decided that their air assets are a bit more advanced than their ground troops: they have bought in better technology than they have invented themselves. The Aphids now have two types of aircraft: Lilypad-class single-Aphid fighters (featured as part of the 2nd September update) and Tadpole-class two-seater bombers. Both models are from Spartan Games' sci-fi fleet battle game Firestorm Armada.
Here are the Tadpole-class bombers:
And now for something completely different: some anti-aircraft protection for the Protolene Khanate!
Air power is proving an important part of the new, full-length version of the sci-fi rules based on IABSM that I'm writing. With that in mind, I thought I'd better reinforce my ground troops with a selection of aerial drones: sort of uber-Predators.
All the drones, below, come from Spartan Games' excellent range of starships for theirFirestorm Armada game. They paint up very easily, and I would highly recommend them to people looking for this kind of thing. Each of the drone models, below, is about 3-4cms long, so ideal 15mm drone size. So, for my sci-fi armies, we have...
Lilypad Drones for the Aphids:
Stalker Drones for the Felids:
And Cone Drones for the Spug contingent of the Hive:
Those of you who have followed some of the AAR on this site will know what a pain this type of drone has proved to me in the past: time to arrange a game with Neil for payback!
Last Tuesday I took the full version of the sci-fi rules over to Lard Island HQ for a playtest there.
A short AAR from the second full playtest of the full version of the sci-fi rules.
The Hive must hold their position for a randomly generated length of time in the face of sustained attack from the Pelagic Dominate.
One of the great things about gaming in 15mm is that you can fit more toys onto the tabletop. This is especially relevant when talking about any game involving modern day guns: a quick comparison between ground scale and effective weapon ranges should give all guns (from sidearms to anti-tank to artillery) the ability to shoot the length of the table and more.
More toys on the tabletop means that you can fight company-sized games with ease, so it's quite annoying that many ranges of 15mm sci-fi figures still seem to be designed for squad-level skirmish games: yes, they have infantry squads; but no, they don't have support weapons, higher level command figures etc. Try playing a WW2 game using only the figures available in many sci-fi ranges as proxies...it doesn't work!
So you have to work round this, which is why Khurasan's Vornids, already supported by their Fungoids as artillerymen, are now commanded and up-gunned by Hydra Miniatures Slishians. Seven foot of malevolent vegetation: what's not to love?
Well, I seem to be going sci-fi mad at the moment!
The new IABSM-variant rules are now in final playtesting, and I'm painting up units right, left and centre to get as many different combinations of troops on to the table as soon as possible.
Here are some tanks for the Aphids. They are from Blue Moon Manufacturing, ordered via special order from Old Glory UK. Very efficient service, so highly recommended.
The tanks are great: they have a certain "frogginess" about them that fits in well with the Aphids.
The tanks come as one fuselage, the rear turret, and separate "eye turbines" and gun. The turbines and gun need some work to fit and glue them into place, but the models paint up very well with plenty of raised detail to take a good dry-brush. The tanks also come with very good flight stands.
One minor gripe: the raw fuselage has a (human) skull design on the bit between the "eye turbines" that I had to green-stuff over to make a dome. I'm sure that skulls are lovely as tank decorations, but they do then rather limit you to using them for human-based forces!
"Flycatcher" tanks
A couple more units added: a second platoon of Hunter infantry; the Predator Communications/Electronic Warfare Ayame battlesuit variant; and a squad of Predator Ayame Assault battlesuits: the one's with the big jet engines on their backs!
Protolene Hunter Infantry from Critical Mass Games
Vornid infantry and the first of the new Communications/Electronic Warfare variants to the Ayame battle suits...and I've just noticed that I've forgotten to paint the vision slits!
The first of the Vornid: ambulatory plants from Khurasan Miniatures.
I haven't had a chance to photograph the infantry yet, but the Figure Review section shows how they paint up.
In the meantime, here are a couple of Vornid support weapons. Being pirates (and as the range, in common with too many 15mm sci-fi ranges, currently only includes infantry) they have acquired their support weapons from non-Vornid sources. The guns come from Ground Zero Games, and the toadstool crew are from Khurasan's Mystri Island range.
With Critical Mass Games producing a whole load of new Protolene Khanate Ayame walkers, I've re-vamped the Khan's gallery page and started adding more units.
First up are the Ayame Mortar Assault walkers: a departure from the rest of the Ayame range as they aren't assigned to any of the three "branches" of the Khan army: the Hunters, Scouts or Predators.
These are, however, great figures, and provide a much needed indirect fire support capacity for the Khan. As they are "branch-less", I decided to paint them up in grey, but couldn't resist making their claw hand the same colour as my predator models...perhaps as if they had been fitted from spare parts left over after a particularly bloody battle!
I'm expanding the quick IABSM sci-fi expansion I did in one of the Specials, Get Your Frickin' Tentacle Out Of My Face, into a full blown, stand-alone set of rules. It's going to be significantly different to IABSM, CDS and GYFTOOMF, although the basic mechanics (and concepts for the latter) will remain the same (-ish!).
Here's a quick AAR from our first playtest of the full rules.
Drones from GZG
The expanded system worked very well, with a few inconsistencies dealt with minor amendments. What is obvious is that facing a force with aircraft with none of your own or any AA cover is a recipe for disaster, which makes perfect sense when you think about it. Imagine the drones as Apache helicopters...
The much-expanded definitions (of troops, weapons, movement) and core rules worked really well, although much more playtesting is required to check game balance. What was good was the way that Tech Level played an important part in things (increasing chances to spot, targeting, damage etc) without slowing the game down at all. Also fun was the use of a Drone Operator: with the real damage being done to the Felids when the overall commander of the human force used his entire turn to activate said DO, who was hiding behind a hill on the other side of the battlefield, who then used his activation to "send in the drones". Playing the Felids I definitely found the threat of air attack ended up defining my tactics!
Some pictures of Khurasan's new Vornids: ambulatory, thorn-gun wielding plants in 15mm!
Some pictures of Khurasan's new Ursids: gun-toting, cigar chewing bears in 15mm!
The last pictures from my first company of Quar: the Company HQ and Weapons Squad.
The next gallery pictures of the Quar: great 15mm aliens from Zombie Smith.
The first gallery pictures of the Quar: great 15mm aliens from Zombie Smith.
Soviet heavy mortars; Lion class transports for the Felids to join the barn force; and a battery of US medium artillery.
Soviet 120mm mortars from Battlefront
Lion class transports from Khurasan
US medium artillery battery from Battlefront
Vis Lardica is a website devoted to wargaming and military history, with a special emphasis on the company-sized rulesets produced by the TooFatLardies: I Ain't Been Shot Mum (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (science fiction)
Welcome to Vis Lardica, a not-for-profit website mostly dedicated to the company-sized wargaming rules produced by the TooFatLardies, but encompassing my other gaming interests as well.
If you need to contact me, you can do so at:
vislardica@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed visiting this site, please add a link to it on your own wargaming blog: www.vislardica.com.
