The war of tomorrow in 28mm..... Part 2

Some of of you may recall my first article on aliens/villains for Ambush Alley Games' Tomorrow's War (if not, find it here). I promised then that this would be the first in a series, and here's the continuation. This time I'm looking at minis mostly from the excellent Hasslefree Miniatures, the Druusch and some other odds 'n' sods.

HFSA004 Druuschan Drones (pack of 2) 

The Druusch: Zombie soldiers and cyber zombies. Not very alien, but plenty Sci Fi, right? Here's where I mix it up a bit. The Darghaur (again, one of the big movers and shakers of the 'Tomorrowverse' select susceptible individuals from each race they conquer to 'uplift' as liaisons. I've got a bunch of human psychics already painted (of whom pics below) who can act as leaders for my units. The Druusch will effectively be irregulars under the TW rules, low quality, high morale troops (not unlike Synthetic Humans) who rely on their leaders being alive to act properly. My thinking is that the Zombies are the products of an unscrupulous scientist cadre on an outlying (and isolated) human world, who were made a simple offer through a Darghaur liaison – turn your weapons over to Darghaur service, and be freed from all ethical constraints by your new masters!

Naturally, this provides all sorts of scenario opportunities – kill the scientists, destroy the 'conversion' chambers, free the prisoners awaiting conversion etc.

The Druusch are also a much more flexible race than the Sharclons, with 3 different troop types:

The large 'Jotuns', the smaller 'Strykers', and the regular 'Drones'. 

The Drones are clearly light infantry, no better than D6 quality with TL2 weapons and maybe TL1 armour (hey, they're wearing helmets. Safety first, kids!).
The Strykers are also light infantry (no pics as yet, they're still on the bench) but I'd give them slightly higher quality and each one comes with a SAW or other light support weapon. Probably best used as specialists, 1 per drone squad.

HFSA001 Druuschan Jotun #1

The Jotuns are the big boys (These guys are on 40mm bases!). Heavy weapons, some armour, pokey little brain cases though – high firepower weapons with similar troop quality to the Strykers.

Of course, these are another unit who will be hard going to break down. Very high morale, but easy to kill, unlike the Sharclons. They could certainly have Intimidating as a quality due to their size and their heavy firepower (I'd make that cannon a 4D weapon myself.

I mentioned Psychic leadership earlier. Essentially they'd function as bot controllers in Tomorrow's War, with a limited range and disruptable only by other psychics or the controller being hit by a weapon capable of targeting them specifically (such as a sniper team) or a weapon designed to disorientate like a flashbang. I've got a few minis earmarked for this but I'm always on the lookout for more suggestions. Here they are:

Wyrd Games' Bishop

 When I was painting this guy I decided he was a convict, possibly one of the scientist's original subjects (maybe sold off by the privatised prison he was held in once his government stopped paying the holding bill - a la Mass Effect 2), hence his prison orange jumpsuit trousers, chains, and olive drab gear looted from dead jailers. As such the guy was probably revelling in his new-found power, despite the horrific experiments he had to endure to get there. Sadly, his mind did not survive the process of gifting him mental control of his new undead minions. Room in there for a sub-plot scenario pitting him and some zombies against some lightly-equipped security and the Prison Warden who sold him off?
Painting wise he's quite a simple job, but some of the fiddly details made him take longer than he should have done; a common finding with Wyrd minis. Still a solid mini, one piece and full of character and storytelling potential.

Mongoose Publishing Zombie Mistress

With a name like 'Zombie Mistress' how could I resist this one? From Mongoose Publishing, I think this is a very solid mini. She is clearly posessed of great psychic (and probably telekinetic) power but is likely to be unhinged. She'll probably have Frenzy as a special rule. I envision her as a victim of the scientist cabal, taken prisoner during the initial Darghaur invasion. Possibly not as old as she looks, prematurely aged by the psychic 'enhancement' process. I forsee a scenario with a bounty-hunting team or US Marines headhunter unit out to capture/kill her and her warparty as they try to seize more captives to add to their ranks.
Another mini with loads of scenario building potential. Paint wise, quite simple, the body suit is a more generic pale brown than the Mongoose version (which I suspect is supposed to be made of patches of human skin) using a Vallejo Model Colour English Uniform base, lightened up to GW Foundation Khemri Brown. The cloak is VMC Black Grey highlighted up through GW Mechanicus Standard Grey to Codex Grey. The hair started black and was harshly highlighted up to white, and then a coat of Devlan Mud made it look lank and grimy. The claws (and the greaves) are a Reaper gold I got as a sample pot some years ago, and the blood effect is a mix of Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown 1:1 Tamiya Clear Red, highlighted with pure TCR.

The last mini is this, formerly from Masq-mini (I think):

Edited for those at work!

This girl is clearly not a willing victim. Brainwashed, probably drugged, maybe a natural psychic, she is held in place by chains and is clearly wrestling with the forces coursing through her mind, trying to break free. I will likely use her as a prisoner/control node of some sort in a base defence scenario, with the guardians being under her control - neutralise her and cut resistance significantly. Free her, and she could be a powerful ally in a later scenario!
I painted her as an exercise in flesh tones. She was clearly designed as a more Fantasy setting mini, looking at her clothing, so I gave her blue hair to make her a bit more punk/SF. I have deliberately left her eyes pure white to emphasise the unnatural forces she is channelling. The chains were a bit fiddly to do, being actual loose chain link, but she was a fun little mini to paint. Pick one up if you can find her!

So how do they look as forces?

Family photo - Say Cheese! :)

 Well I've got to say I'm pretty happy with them so far. I've got a trio of Strykers and a pair of additional Jotuns to add. I'd also like to add some crazed scientists as VIPs. I'm thinking Moonfleet Miniatures' and Crooked Dice's offerings here may suffice. I want looks-good-but-easy-to-paint, basically.

Forward!

 So that's some thoughts on the Druusch.

I have some thoughts on Hasslefree's Grymn to come next. These are very flexible, as we shall see....

Posted by The Doc.

The war of tomorrow in 28mm..... Part 1

I've been a fan of Ambush Alley Games' rulesystems since the original Ambush Alley (I even paid out to have it printed and ringbound from PDF a couple of years ago). When Tomorrow's War came out it seemed to be the toolkit I was looking for – flexible enough to handle everything from Corporate Wars to Martian miners rebellions to Bug Hunts. But I was missing a few things; firstly, psychic rules. I like Psychics, be they Mass Effect style cybernetically enabled Biotics or Star Wars Force users. Secondly, I wanted more detailed aliens rules. Thirdly, I wanted to be able to do various Cybernetic horrors, like Shadowrun/Cyberpunk cyberzombies.

The supplement, 'By Dagger & By Talon', has delivered all of this, and more. It has also given us a fascinating 'master' race in the form of the Darghaur. First mentioned in Tomorrow's War and with 15mm minis produced by the granddaddy of 15mm SF, Ground Zero Games, the Darghaur are a brutal oppressor species, implacable and unknowable – even to those they enslave. In short, fighting species are preserved and weaker ones obliterated.

Even though the Darghaur themselves are only available in 15mm at present, I game mainly in 28mm scale. I do remember an inference on Lead Adventure and there was a poll on the Ambush Alley forum asking who would buy 28s, so there may be hope...

The most useful thing about this from a wargamer's point of view is the variety of models that can be used as the villains. Over the next couple of articles I'm going to walk you through a couple of the ranges I'm planning on using as Darghaur slaves....

First up; Heresy Miniatures Sharclons

I picked these up as new releases at Salute 2013. They're really characterful little guys, clearly not your standard space dwarf. Bulky, clearly heavily armoured and professional, but with no beards! I could see them being converted for Demiurg for 40k as an alternative use – the downside being there are only 2 poses at present.

3 merciless warriors on the hunt for their masters' enemies...

This shot shows the 'weak spot' on the back....

How to use them for TW?

The Sontarans (who the Sharclons are based on) are presented as a warrior race – huge numbers of clone soldiers deployed in en-masse, Soviet/WW1 style wave attacks to grind down the enemy through attrition. This background still works for Darghaur Sharclons, and makes them the perfect disposable cannon fodder for the unscrupulous commander. Given the initial high cost of the minis (make no mistake – they are chunky little fellers) and their clearly heavily-armoured nature, I feel a high armour value is warranted, at least D8, maybe D10. Tech level 2, at least. Weapons wise they are certainly at least tech level 2. But what about Quality? This could be a random factor due to cloning batches. I would certainly see the leaders being decent, but the line grunts maybe not so much. D6-D8 is my feeling. Morale would be high too, due to their disregard for losses and commitment to the cause!

I think you could do something characterful with the 'weak spot' on the back (as visible in the rear shot above). Maybe grant a +1 firepower to attacks made against them from behind (in GM'd games/campaigns, maybe award this knowledge once they've been shot at from the rear?)

The main issue for them is likely to be their inflexible weapon choices (at least until Andy sculpts some more, hint hint ;) ), but this is simply part of their character for me. I would like to add some vehicles for them. Originally the Sontarans used Dr Who dimension folding tech for their craft (not unlike the TARDIS's 'bigger on the inside' schtick (obviously a cunning trick to save the production some cash!). I think I'd like something a bit more conventional for them though. Given the shapes of their armour I'm thinking Scotia Grendel's Void Syntha tank might be a good match? I might get another of the officers to add an 'unbuttoned' commander to the top hatch and have a crack at sculpting a different right arm to lose the pistol.

Painting

The base colour is GW Dark Reaper with an edge highlight of Dawnstone on the armour plates. I then applied a Druchii Violet wash to the bodysuit and the deepest recesses between armour plates.

Following that I painted in the outline for the unit markings in Dawnstone, and then went over this with Wazdakka Red. The eyes were also picked out this way, and both unit markings and eyes were given a slightly thinned coat of Tamiya Clear Red (of which and blood effects in the next article) to bump up the shine.

Weapon casings were edge highlighted with Vallejo Model Colour Black Grey, and the silver is simply GW Leadbelcher with a Nuln Oil wash. The glowy power cores were done with a Vallejo Model Colour Fluorescent Green, highlighted with VMC Fluorescent Yellow and finally given a wash of Tamiya Clear Green.

I wanted high-contrast bases, so I went for a light sand colour (VMC Dark Sand), which I inked with GW Agrax Earthshade and then drybrushed back up with Dark Sand.

They won't win any prizes for painting, but I'm very happy with their presence. I have another two to finish up for this squad, and I'm looking forward to getting a couple of hours to finish them off.

My review verdict?

For those who like no-nonsense metals, these are pretty good! 3 parts for the infantrymen, (body, weapon and head) and 2 for the officer (body & head), with good-fitting parts. As I noted earlier, they're not the cheapest bulk soldier out there at £4 apiece (£3.20 while Andy's currently got his sale on), but they do have a particular character and I don't feel that's an unreasonable price for well sculpted minis these days. They are a joy to paint, and the large open areas would lend themselves to extra blending or freehand very nicely. These three were finished in about 6 hours, all told, and the quality of the sculpt shows itself there in my opinion. They are limited by the very small number of poses, but I hope that once Andy's got some of the Dragon backlog out of the way these will appear – I'll be picking them up as and when they do!

Score: 6.5/10 due to the tiny range. If there were more options, I'd push it up to 7.5 easily.  

Posted by The Doc

Paulson Games Mecha Front NorAm Raptor review (Part 1)

So, as a long-term mech-head (I'd be a member of MechAddicts Anonymous if there was such a thing!) I jumped at the chance to get a couple of these models in advance of the planned kickstarter. After pulling the trigger on the order, I eagerly waited about 10 days for the international post to arrive.

So, here it is;

Bags o'parts and bases!

Here's the parts laid out –

A note on bases - they look like the ones from Proxie Models – though I'm yet to confirm this - and if they are I'm favourably impressed. I've been hemming and hawing on whether to take the plunge and order some from over the pond (I always need more unslotted bases for GW figs, there never seem to be enough) , and after seeing these I think I will!

Look at all those parts!

Resin Quality – The parts are all cast in a good quality resin, light grey in colour. It feels more like Forgeworld resin than Finecast or Mantic's 'plastic resin', which is a good thing, in my opinion.

Score: 9/10

Cast quality – there's a lot of mould ventings, meaning very few air bubbles and a very clean cast. There is some mould slippage – very minor, but it is there and it's in a couple of noticeable areas, mainly along large flat plates, as you can see in the pics.

Mould vents on the back of the torso (from beneath)

The dreaded mould slippage!

Nothing a little liquid green stuff and sanding won't fix quickly, however. Overall though, the parts are very well cast and strong.

Score: 8/10

Components – The only thing that would complete the job would be cast-in holes for magnets, but I'm stretching here to find problems. Two lots of each the triple laser mount and two of the larger cannon. I will come out here and say that I really like the more realistic barrel size of the cannons.

Score: 10/10

Build time – once you've completed the usual resin cleaning (sanding, washing, filling, sanding again etc), these will build up very quickly with standard cyanacrylate super glue. You could pin them if you wanted, but I really think they'll stand up to normal handling quite nicely. Again, if you wanted to magnetise them, you'd be looking at a little more time but I doubt it would take long to do.

Score: 8/10

Final thoughts

In summary, I like these a lot. Given that these are both from the Nor-Am military forces, I've got a few thoughts on colour schemes in mind (one suggested on Dakka, an ace's black-and-flames hot rod style job, the other more strictly military) and I can't wait to get started and see how they look. I'll keep posing simple for now, but I have a few spare 15mm infantrymen from some other projects (of which news soon) who I might use to give a sense of scale to the bases. There are now a few weapon variants in the line, all of which, in my opinion, look great, and the NeoBloc (main enemy of the NorAm faction) light mecha has also now been added to the store.
As a fan of all things big and stompy, I am really looking forward to the kickstarter for these, and will be watching this line with great interest!

Overall so far – 9/10.

Get yours here - Mechafront
Next – Paint!

Posted by the Doc