Q13: Another 15mm spaceship from Ravenstar

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Along with the Stinger that featured in a post on Monday, I also took advantage of Ravenstar Studio's recent sale to pick up a larger model: the Horizon Transport.

This rather retro-looking ship will do nicely as transport for the Ikwen Logisitics Technicians attached to my Chuhuac troops. It looks like something a bunch of newt-like techies would travel round in!

The model was really easy to put together. The main body comes as one chunk, with the landing skids, engine nacelles, and rear fins as separate bits. They glue in place without much difficulty, leaving you with a model that sits very nicely on the tabletop, looking just like a transport should look.

My paint job is really no more than a spray and touch-up that doesn't really do the model justice, so I'm also posting the picture from the Ravenstar site.

Yes: perhaps a little bit better looking than mine...although I've just fully comprehended that actually the 'professional' job is also very much a spray and touch up job: just a better touch up job than mine!

Anyway, it's a great model that will do the Ikwen proud. Cost from Ravenstar is $25 which, as I said before, used to be good value!

Q13: 15mm spaceship from Ravenstar Studios

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Back in May, Ravenstar Studios had a 30% off sale and, as I'm trying to build up the aerial side of my sci-fi armies, I decided to indulge and pick up a couple of models.

First up was a small flyer for my Protolene Khanate force. This is the Stinger Flyer from Ravenstar's Land Core range (the same range as the Horrid).

Lovely model that glues together really easily. I undercoated in grey, then got out my roll of masking tape and carefully cut a number of squiggly strips out of it and stuck them in place. I then sprayed again in green, peeled off the masking tape, and achieved not a bad camouflage pattern.

A quick wash, a few bits of red paint, some decals left over from the WW2 Italians, and the little craft was done.

Unfortunately, as you can probably see, I did have a little bit of a problem with the finish. For some reason everything came out quite dark and dusty. 

Still, not a bad little model and now the Protolenes have some air support. Cost of the Stinger is only $14...which used to be quite cheap!

Q13: X-14A Raven Class VTOL

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Following on from yesterday's post, here's the second of the 'big' things I've finished despite now having the black paint needed for my Israeli infantry: an X-14A Raven Class VTOL from Clear Horizon Miniatures.

This is a cracking little kit that is really easy to put together: literally you just stick on the engine nacelles and the weapon pods and then paint. I modified the kit slightly by using a spare twin-MG turret from a Khurasan tank as the under-nose weapon.

As for painting, I sprayed the whole thing desert yellow, then covered patches of it with blue tac and then sprayed the whole thing again, this time in army green. This wasn't entirely successful, as the paint peeled away with the blue tac in a couple of places, but these were tiny little patches and a bit of a re-paint over the top with a brush just gave the thing a bit of a worn-in look.

I then washed the model in a light brown wash, painted the weapons in the pods, and then blacked in all the intakes. The cockpit was done in a dark green, and then given a shine with white lines...which also hasn't worked quite how I wanted it too, but looks okay.

I then used spare transfers from the Egyptian 6DW set from Battlefront to dress the Raven, and Bob's your uncle.

This will serve with my Space Dwarves: either as roving ground support or as a means to 'battlefield' insert a couple of squads. What's also good about the model is that the back door opens on a hinge, so that you can actually have the model on the table with its ramp down. 

A lovely little kit:  highly recommended...especially as Clear Horizon also produce a bigger version called a Condor Heavy Lift VTOL, which will also shortly be added to the roster!

Q13: Big Oil Tank!

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In yet further attempts to avoid finishing the last 6DW Israeli infantry platoon (my latest mojo for painting 15mm infantry has finally deserted me!) I have run out of the black paint I need to do their rifles and boots.

I'm on my way to get some now, as part of the Saturday morning chores, but in the meantime this gave me the excuse to polish off a couple of large bits (i.e. as far away from 15mm infantry as possible) that have been sitting on my painting table for some time...in one case, for a very long time.

First up was a large tank-for-holding-chemicals from Critical Mass Games. I bought this as part of a set of habitation/factory pieces some time ago at Colours (before the skipped year due to the racecourse renovation!). It was a very good deal, and although I quickly painted up most of the pieces, this one (and the humongous factory bit) just didn't get done.

Well it is now!

It's a great piece that could also serve as some kind of tank in almost any post-industrial revolution game. Here it is shown with my Vornid/fungoid artillery crew for size comparison purposes.

Right:  off to get the black paint now...

Salute 2016

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Yes, yes, I know: another post-Salute post to join the thousands already floating around the ether!

Well this one is just a quickie, focusing not so  much on the event itself* but on some of the games on show: specifically their terrain.

Terrain isn't really my thing: I'm getting better, but still feel my efforts are weighted towards my figures rather than the earth on which they stand. 

There were three tabletops that I would really, really like to have had the opportunity to get my figures onto:

First up was a terrific Vietnam set-up. Wrong scale, being 28mm, but absolutely lovely:

Then there was the sci-fi Hammers Slammers 15mm sci-fi set up. I was definitely working out whether this one would fit onto my tables at home. It would, by the way, so if the owner ever gets bored of it and needs more space, I will quite happily give it a very good home! 

And finally the sci-fi set-up from Critical Mass Games was great as well: 

Three amazing tables that really inspire.

*Actually I thought Salute was quite good this year.

I had a great journey in: I drove and didn't encounter any of the roadworks that have blighted previous years' journeys...it's almost as if they have finally got that area sorted out road-wise. The £15 for all day parking was a bit steep, but at least the machines were accepting credit cards instead of demanding two fistfuls of coins to satisfy them.

I arrived about 10.15 without a ticket. Walked straight up to the ticket booth and bought one, no queue. Got myself a sandwich and a coffee, ate them, then walked straight in to the show with no delay at all. Another amazing improvement on years gone by.

I thought the show was busier than last year. Still the same horrid floor and dull lighting, but I can put up with them: the eyes soon adjust and there's plenty of places to sit down.

I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of new, teeny-weeny traders as well as the expected big ones. That bodes well for the hobby: lots of new trader blood coming in. I understand that a couple of the massive stands (GW, or a derivative thereof) were collection-only...and that they seemed to be the ones with the queues. In all, however, a good mix, and I was able to find some decal-softener.

Good lunchtime drinks at the Fox with some of the Lardies: some of whom seemed to have led very sheltered lives, but I digress...

I ended up spending far too much money, as per usual, and on a real mix of things. Some Battlefront pre-painted terrain from Team Yankee; some trees; a hill; some of Battlefront's new Pacific-theatre Japanese tanks; some more Israelis; decal-softener; and a few sci-fi bits and pieces. A good haul that will doubtless be on show here at some stage in the future.

One thing I did notice that was different to the last few years: more BO! Maybe because it seemed busier visitors-wise this year, but there were a couple of occasions when I caught a full blast of sweaty wargamer: not very nice and, as I said, unusual compared to previous years. 

In all, a good Salute this year. 

 

Q13: New Releases from Khurasan Miniatures

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A quick glance at the Quadrant 13 galleries and army lists on this site will show you that I am quite a Khurasan fanboy. Their 15mm sci-fi ranges are, I believe, some of the best available.

Khurasan are still not posting news of their new releases on TMP (a dispute about sock-puppetry, I believe) so you'll have to like their Facebook page to keep up with what they are doing...or read about it here, of course!

Their latest release is an expansion to their rather nice Soriog range. For those of you unfamiliar with the Soriog, they look like this:

Soriog infantry with energy rifles

Now added to the range are the Raug infantry, client soldiers to the Soriog in the same way that the various states in India provided troops to the British Empire throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Just to hammer home the point, the Raug infantry are even known as Ceepays!

Here they are:

Raug infantry with autoguns

Squad support weapons

Platoon command: Soriog magnate-officer, officer's veteran Soriog assistant, prostrate Raug Ceepay runner, and Raug Windhowler.

Now these are rather nice, and I like the way that the platoon command gives you a bit of character to work with.

I'll produce a Q13 army list for the Soriog/Raug in due course (I like to have the figures in my hand when I do so), and am even wondering how they would fit in with Critical Mass' Protolene Khanate range:

You can visit the 15mm sci-fi pages of Khurasan's website by clicking here.

Q13 Army Lists: Sisterhood, Brog and VOTT added

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Whilst I've been adding the tabletop stats to the Q13 army lists, I've found the time to add a couple of new ones to the list: both based on ranges of figures that I'd love to start collecting...once, of course, the lead mountain is down to manageable proportions!

The Sisterhood

Onslaught Miniatures produce some of the best sci-fi lines out there. The trouble is that the vast majority of their output is in 6mm: very frustrating for the 15mm gamer when you can see all these beautifully developed ranges and not be able to use them!

They have produced a couple of packs of 15's, however: one for the Sisterhood (sort of space nuns with guns) and one for the Tzacol (more primitive lizardy types).

So, in homage to their single pack of 15's, I've created a list for the Sisterhood for Q13 based on their much more extensive 6mm range. Perhaps this will get the rest of the range up-sized as well!

Here's a couple of pics to show you how good these figures are: one pic of the Athena squad in 15mm, and one of the 6mm command group, showing other types of Sisterhood trooper.

The Brog and VOTT (and VIPERS)

Another manufacturer who carries several ranges that I might eventually just have to buy is Rebel Minis.

Unfortunately, they fall into the category of manufacturer who produce great basic infantry squads, but no more i.e. great for platoon-level games, but not a complete enough range to create a company-plus-supports force.

Two examples of this are the Brog and the VOTT: both available as a three-squad platoon plus command, but with no support weapons or vehicles.

The two races also look quite similar, and seem to use the same weapons...so I've decided to brigade them together into one list.

As they don't have any designated support weapons or vehicles, and Rebel Minis produce a lovely range of support walkers they call VIPERS, I've also decided that, much like Critical Mass' Protolenes, the support for the Brog or VOTT will come from the VIPERS, of which there are five types, so plenty of flexibility as regards weapon loads and therefore role.

Here's a few pics showing the ranges: the Brog infantry platoon, the VOTT command, and a the VIPER with Mk3 weapon package.

Both lists, and all the others, are available from the Q13 Army Lists page. More to come!

Q13 Army Lists Updated

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Aphid "Flycatcher" Tanks move into action

Aphid "Flycatcher" Tanks move into action

Over the last few weeks, I have been working on updating all the Q13 army lists. In addition to the usual tweaks, there are two major changes to format. These are the addition of a section for Tabletop Stats, and the addition of a section for Points.

Tabletop Stats

Tabletop Stats gives you all the info you need about the army when actually playing Q13. So each type of infantry squad has the usual figures/Actions table, but now also has how many dice and what modifiers you make when firing, its movement over different terrain types, its saves against hits, its anti-tank capacity etc. Vehicles have the same sort of info, but their firing is defined as what dice you roll vs infantry, and what dice you roll vs other vehicles, and so on and so forth.

This is in response to people saying that because Q13 covers ANYTHING that's possible in a sci-fi setting, it can sometimes be hard to remember the SPECIFICS that apply to the particular squad you're currently commanding...which is a fair point, well made!

Vornid Chitin Bio-Tank moves past a KO'd walker

Hopefully, once you've downloaded one of my lists, or built your own and filled in the Stats section, you should now be able to play without having to look anything up...perhaps even without the Quick Reference sheet provided in the rulebook.

Points

The Points section does exactly what it says on the tin: it just lists the points value for each type of infantry squad, for each vehicle etc.

Should make life easier for those people who like to use points when building their forces.

Other

On top of the above, there are all sorts of little tweaks to the existing lists. The Aphids get their wheeled APCs; the Chuhuac, their Vasseth Strike Tanks etc. As I've said many times before, the lists are designed to be updated on a regular basis as you add new units or decide that the way you've defined an existing unit needs changing.

Not all the lists are updated yet: most are, but not all. If you can click to get the pdf, then the list is updated. If you can't, then it isn't...but will be soon!  I have updated the Excel Blank.

Click here to go to the Q13 Army List page.

Q13: New Figure Manufacturer

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Here's another new 15mm sci-fi figure manufacturer: White Dragon Miniatures.

Their first releases are for what their range background calls the Marine Tactical Units of the Earth Exploration Fleet. There are some nice looking infantry and tanks, and some enormous anthropomorphic walkers as well. 

The infantry are exquisite: highly detailed and nicely animated. The tanks look fairly standard to me (like squashed modern MBTs) but I am loving the Multiple Rocket Launcher System and Mobile Gun System: very innovative. The walkers...well, most of you will know what I think of giant humanoid robot-types with BFGs! That said, I have rather taken a fancy to the Armadillo Support Mech, and will probably buy a few to use with one of my existing armies.

Q13: Vasseth in the Jungle

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Here's the final squad of Vasseth Strike Tanks for my 15mm Chuhuac army: this time painted up for jungle operations (matching the camo of the 1st Platoon).

These I painted in the same way as I do WW2 Soviet tanks, just added a lot more of the lighter colour dry-brushes. So they are sprayed in the Army Painter Soviet tank base coat, then washed with GW Agrax Earthshade , then dry-brushed with GW Loren Forest, and finally what used to be called GW Bleached Bone (I think it's now called Screaming Skull!).

Very easy: and the longest part of the process is waiting for the initial spray and then the wash to dry.

I am liking these very much, and can't wait to get them onto the tabletop.

Highly recommended!

Q13: Vasseth in the Desert

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As promised, here's the next batch of Vasseth Strike Tanks for my 15mm Chuhuac army. This squad is camouflaged for desert operations, matching the Chuhuac 2nd Platoon colouring.

Someone saw the command tank I posted yesterday, and asked me what I had used for a hover stand i.e. where did I source that little black post keeping the vehicle off the base.

It's actually a cut-down Chart Pin: you know, those flat headed pins available in different colours designed to be stuck into charts. The flat head makes it easy to push in, the fact it's a centimetre or so long and half a centimetre wide makes it easy to pull out!

These are ideal as hover stands: just the right height, and the flat head makes it easy to glue them to a flat bit of the underside of the vehicle. Even better, the bases are mdf, so if you leave a little stub when you cut the pin bit off (eye protection, please, as clipping them shoots the sharp bit in very unpredictable directions) you can push the stub into the wooden base as you glue it, giving you an even better bond.

Tomorrow I'll post the squad camouflaged for the jungle.

Q13: Vasseth Strike Tanks for the Chuhuac

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One of my favourite sci-fi ranges are the Chuhuac from Loud Ninja Games. These are like mini velociraptors with body armour and guns, and paint up really beautifully.

Up until now, however, the only armoured support they have had is from what are called 'Battlesuits' : one man fighting vehicles with a big gun and missile launcher on top and a couple of small guns in front. Nice, but not proper tanks!

Now, however, that gap is filled with the release of the Vasseth Strike Tanks. These are wedge-shaped hover vehicles with the same asymmetric armament as the Battlesuits. I bought seven of them: one squad of three for each of my platoons, and one for the Company HQ.

The models come with loads of different armament options. I used the big main gun for them all, and added either a twin-barrelled autogun or a small missile launcher to all except the Company HQ vehicle: that one I fitted with a much larger missile launcher that I found in the bit box.

Here it is:

Watch this space for the jungle and desert camouflaged versions coming up tomorrow and Wednesday!

Q13: New Manufacturer Added: Evil Bear Wargames

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Another new 15mm sci-fi figure manufacturer added to the list: Evil Bear Wargames.

So far, EBW have but two listings in God's own scale, but they are very nice indeed. First up are hard suits: 21mm tall armoured suits with weapon and shield. I particularly love these and will get some as soon as the lead mountain is small enough to justify a rebuild:

Next up is a very nice patrol/command and control vehicle: the British Army Panther. Again, a lovely piece of kit:

You can get to the Evil Bear Wargames website by clicking here. Note that both the above are also available in 28mm.

Q13: More Dwarves in Space

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I've finally got around to basing and finishing my first platoon of not-powered-armour space dwarves: the Lethlings platoon from Khursasan.

These are lovely figures: as detailed (and just about as big!) as any other 15mm figures out there. These I painted as if they were full-size 15's i.e. basecoat, wash, then two highlights. Although the photography doesn't really do them justice, they look great.

Highly recommended.

You can see the whole Space Dwarves gallery by clicking here; and visit the Khurasan website (if he's open) by clicking here.

Sci-fi Buildings: The Next Generation

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One of the other things I saw at Warfare was some incredible sci-fi terrain from the Laser Terrain Company.

This is best described as slot together, modular corridors and rooms made out of plastic, and with the option to include working lights - achieved through very thin, almost paper-that-lights-up that can sit behind or underneath pieces of plastic with holes in them to look like panels, signs, floor lighting...whatever!

Now this terrain was 28mm, too big for the God's own scale (15mm) that I use, but the lads on the stand did mention that they were considering 15mm as well. Consider harder please!

You can get to their website here, or they have a Kickstarter going here.

Here are some pics to wet your whistle:

Looks amazing in daylight

And lights up at night

Some details

At Warfare, Laser Terrain were giving away samples. As I was with Neil and Tahir, and they didn't ant theirs, I have thus ended up with three barricades. Yes, they are 28mm, but they will do for gates, roadblocks, all sorts of things in 15mm. Here they are with one of my space dwarves:

Ruined Buildings from Commission Figurines

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One of my purchases at Warfare were some of Commission Figurines 15mm ruined buildings in laser-cut wood.

I was quite excited by these, so let one of them jump to the head of the painting queue, and knocked it up in a few hours late on Sunday.

This particular building, Konig Strasse, is easy to put together: four walls slot together and then mount onto the four pavement pieces if pavement is required.

Painting was pretty simple too: I painted the whole thing orange, then put a very heavy black ink wash over the top. Once that was dry, I dry-brushed very lightly in orange again, and then in a bone colour to bring up the relief. The doors I did in brown, the pavement in three shades of grey. The interior I just painted all grey, with no washing or dry-brushing.

I'm very pleased with the result, and can't wait to build the others. I think they'll do for any big city: Berlin, Stalingrad and even sci-fi...and at £13 for the one below, quite good value too.

Q13: Updated "Dwarves in Space" Army List

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As I work my way through painting my space dwarves, I find myself needing to tweak and amend their army list. This is all part of the natural evolution of a Q13 army list.

For simplicity, for example, I've now consolidated the space dwarf infantry into two basic types: squads of 8-10 in armour; and squads of six in powered armour. This should make managing them on the tabletop slightly easier.

I've also added a few bits and bobs. The Goanna tanks can now carry shield generators in their turrets (see previous post), with a platoon now consisting of two 'fighting' vehicles and one 'shielding' vehicle...something that really adds a bit of flavour to things.

Likewise on the flavour front, I've finally succumbed and added a couple of GZG's excellent civilian CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering) Mecha to give the little fellas some engineering back-up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what one can do with a shearing laser and a chainsaw!

hercules "b" mecha from ground zero games (click on the image to go straight to gzg's website)

hercules "b" mecha from ground zero games (click on the image to go straight to gzg's website)

This is the great beauty of Q13: you can field anything you like provided it can be properly represented on the tabletop and fits in with the coherence and consistency of your army's story.

You can download the revised space dwarf army list from the Army Lists page of the Q13 section of this website, or by clicking here.


Q13 Gallery: The First Dwarves in Space

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I've always liked dwarves...right from my days playing basic edition Dungeons & Dragons through to GW's Squats through to Gimli in The Lord of the Rings and now through to the sudden explosion in 15mm space dwarf models.

My intention is to collect and paint up all the figures available, making each manufacturer's collection into its own contingent: the sum of which will combine into the space dwarf army as a whole. I'm seeing each contingent as coming from a different "mine", or whatever the Q13 equivalent ends up being.

The first contingent being painted are the Thrainites from Khurasan Miniatures. First up of these are the easy-to-paint armoured infantry: a platoon of so-called Young Nobles in four squads of six each:

With them are three MDMS Cane Toad APCs:

The rest of the Thrainites are currently on the painting table, so more to follow soon!

Q13: Chuhuac Herdmaster

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What I should be doing is continuing to paint my Six Day War lead mountain: no point in having ten Egyptian T-55s if they have no supports and no-one to fight.

What I actually did this weekend, of course, was to dive into my sci-fi lead mountain, painting up a few bits and pieces from projects that needed completion.

Here's the commander of my Chuhuac mercenaries, the Herdmaster, and his APC:

I'm still loving the Chuhuac: just got to get them onto the battlefield again.

You can see the rest of the Chuhuac gallery by clicking here.

"Dwarves in Space" and Related

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I've added a new figure manufacturer to the list of companies that make 15mm sci-fi miniatures: Cactus Games.

They have a line of what they call Gruntlings that includes troopers in armour, and troopers in ornate powered armour.

At the same time, I note that ClearHorizon have just launched a range of what they call High Gravity Mercenaries. These come just as a single mercenary squad of eight, but are wonderfully full of character.

Both of the above are obviously space dwarves, dwarves in space, squats, whatever you want to call them...so I have updated the Dwarves in Space army list as well by adding stats for Gruntlngs and the Mercs, and standardising the overall squad sizes slightly.

All I have to do now is paint them all: five platoon's worth of infantry, and a couple of squads of vehicles!