NAC/Hammer's Slammers 25mm test model

In the unrelenting world of future war that is Spacekrieg, all of the future combatants need a helping hand once in awhile. My wife knows this better than any of us, and this is why she (in the guise of Evil Robot Santa) got me a platoon of Old Crow Hammer's Slammers blower tanks to lend some compensated endorsement to the causes of FuturKom, Gunschwarm, and/or the Future Britz.

Of course, even a hot-poop mercenary outfit like the Slammers doesn't run on blower power alone - grunts are required to winkle the other space-soldier out of his foxhole. But what is a suitable match for the old-school look of the OC blower tanks? None other than the NAC Royal Marines from GZG's Stargrunt "true 25mm" range.

I started off with a test model - a female trooper from the command pack. I'd managed to pick up a couple of NOS blisters (originally distributed by Geo-Hex!) from an online retailer for cheap. I wanted to make sure that I'd be happy with the models before shelling out for a platoon. I have to say I am I was pretty impressed with the quality of the models, especially considering that they must be 15-year-old sculpts at least.

The detail is finely sculpted and the model was super-easy to paint. The flash makes the jumpsuit seem quite a bit bluer and brighter than it is - I used GW Shadow Grey highlighted with Ultramarines Blue. I'll likely put a tactical number in red on the back of the helmet once I figure out the TO&E for the platoon. But as far as models go I think I'm onto some winners!

Gün Schwarm 28mm Power Armour Infantry - "System Troopers"

Gün Schwarm power-armoured infantry - "System Troopers" from Pig Iron

Continuing with the escalation in the race against FuturKom, I have painted up some 28mm "System Troopers" from Pig Iron Productions to serve as hard-hitting, power-armoured infantry for Gün Schwarm. Pig Iron offers a lot of interchangeable heads, and I opted for the "Kolony Inner Guard" heads instead of the standard issue ones. I find that particular head design maintains the armoured appearance, is slightly less bulky, and makes them appear to be a little more sinister - they are here to fight, but not to help, if that makes any sense.

See how I screwed up the one back-pack for the guy on the right? Didn't notice that until I was painting, and just left it like that to be stubborn - figured he was the "smart one" for the squad...

In terms of battlefield roles, I can't top Pig Iron's own description of this particular figure line: "Seriously heavy futuristic infantry - these figures feature large amounts of armour, equipment and ridiculously large guns (just as we like 'em) and are designed for cleansing pockets of fierce enemy resistance." These guys will help hold off the Kommulist hordes, and in particular look to take on the hard hitting power-armoured troops of FuturKom's elite recon forces.  

Special weapons - SAW on the right, some kind of plasma/energy gun on the left

These are very, very chunky models.  They barely fit on the standard GW round bases.  The weapons are huge, and the figures are big, solid hunks of metal.  The poses appear a bit laboured, but I think that is perfect to match the idea of troopers wearing powered armour that provides extra "oomph" and lots of protection while limiting their flexibility/maneuverability.

Rear angle view of the special weapon troops

In terms of special weapons, I had hoped to see something a little larger.  The SAW-style gun looks pretty good, but the plasma-gun-ish weapon is disappointing, and on troops this size, it looks like a hedge trimmer or something.  I am going to experiment with some conversions from spare GW weapons to see if I can come up with something a little more ominous-looking.

One drawback of the Pig Iron figures is that they are so incredibly chunky that conversions for anything other than different heads or backpacks will require a lot of work. But that's a pretty slight drawback in my view.  In a world of "Finecast", my praise for Pig Iron and their sturdy metal figures is high! I've heard reports they are going to do some multi-part versions of their models. That will be fabulous if it turns out to be true.

Evolution of Gün troops - regular Grenadier on the left, "Schwere" Grenadier in the middle, Power Armoured Trooper on the right - the Pig Iron System Troopers are healthy-sized 28mm figures

In "Tomorrow's War", the rules for power-armoured troops are pretty tough - a small group of power-armoured soldiers can take on plenty of enemies.  They have extra dice for armour, tend to carry lots of heavy weapons, and get first-aid-check benefits that makes them hard to put down. Eight or nine of these figures would be able to take on twenty five FuturKom regular troops, or even more if the differential is there (D10 vs. D8, for example).

Even small power-armoured fireteams are very hard-hitting in "Tomorrow's War"

But we won't just be playing "Tomorrow's War".  At some point, I know we will want to fill a 6'x4' table with tons of troops and vehicles again, and that will call for good old SpaceKrieg.  For when that day arrives, I'll need a lot more than eight of these guys, so I hope to paint about 24 of the figures.  I hope this will provoke Dallas into seeing his six power-armoured guys are outnumbered, and respond in kind...

Pig Iron's figures are an absolute joy to paint, and I do really like that "Kolony Inner Guard" head look, so I am experimenting with a paint scheme or two using the heads on the Kolony Militia figures.  Whether they will end up as stand-ins for 40k Imperial Guardsmen, or some new faction for SpaceKrieg, who knows?

Contest Entry - FuturKom "Strike Force"

Following Conscript Greg's lead , here's a FuturKom Strike Force for Tomorrow's War, as an entry to the Strike Force contest.

 

As we all know, the far future is not a nice place. In our own twisted time-to-come, "FuturKom" is the dystopian future society that mirrors the former Soviet empire of our own time. Strangely, so many people (myself included) are quite taken with the notion of a future empire that reflects the former USSR... do we all conveniently forget that the real USSR only lasted 70 years or so before collapsing under its own weight? In any event, the future world of "50-Year Plans" and "Socialist Workers' Paradises" has to be defended, and the FuturKom Socialist Army of Workers and Space Peasants fulfills that important role.

Major Markov commands the strike force, part of the 356th Guards Army of the Dnieper-System Front. He is accompanied by his ADC, the standard bearer, and a supply bot. (Models by Pig Iron, flag from Vaubanner Graphics.

Although the FuturKom forces largely consist of conscripts, there are elite elements too - like these power-armoured recon troops, the "FuturKommandoes".

As a "quick reaction force", these two FuturKom fireteams enjoy riding to battle in their BTR-600 APC. Troops from Pig Iron, APC is a Russian "toy-scale" BTR with conversions.

 

The heavy punch of the strike force is provided by a pair of T-340 medium tanks, armed with twin autocannons in the turret and a hull-mounted "laser projektor". Note the ubiquitous searchlights provided to all future forces by "Future Industrie Gmbh", aka Games Workshop from their tank accessory sprue. Model is another toy-scale Russian diecast.

So that's the strike force, but while I had the models out to photograph I couldn't help but snap a few shots of the rest of the FuturKom army I've accumulated. Here they are...

Kom-bot converted from a WotC Star Wars Miniature Battles walker.

The T-640 heavy tank - a converted 1/35 T-64 with lots of added goodness including an unfeasibly-large main gun.

The one that started it all - the SU-300 assault gun. Converted from a toy-scale Russian diecast.

Another shot of the T-640.

T-640 commander.

Futur flyer.

Captured Gunschwarm prisoners... now "re-educated" and ready to sacrifice themselves for the glorious cause of Kommulism ;-)

 

 

 

So there you go - "Onward to the glorious future-Kommulist future - FUTURKOM!"

New Wheels for Gün Schwarm

Gün Schwarm fire team tries out the new IFV from Old Crow.

In my post last month about the project pile for the fall of 2011, I mentioned that I was working on some reinforcements for Gün Schwarm, the future-retro sci-fi fascists that do battle with Dallas's FuturKom and Mike F's Future Brits.  The Güns have been able to count on important fire support from all sorts of silly, over-gunned vehicles, but they have been behind their opponents in one key areas - APC/IFVs for the troops.

Dallas' FuturKom lads ride to battle in modified BTRs, and Mike's Brits roll out in modified Rhinos.  The Güns? They walked to the fight.  They have two Space Panthers and a Space Hetzer for backup. Even a VTOL! So no complaining!

But in the game, mobile protection for the infantry is still useful, and with the streets of New New Old Berlin looking pretty rough in the wake of FuturKom's "Occupy Everywhere" operations, it was time to give the Gün Grenadiers a battle-worthy ride.

Front view of the Claymore APC, showing the standard "support" turret.

The challenge was finding the right model for the job. At first, I wanted something that fit the WW2 theme, that I could cover with searchlights, hatches and missles (standard SpaceKrieg conversion process) and just fit in.  German WW2 halftracks seemed to be one way to go, but in the end even the 1/48 die-cast models are too small, in my view, to fit the mood/look of the force.  I tried a GW Chimera, but it looked like...well, a GW Chimera - not horrible, but not...different enough.

Rear view of the model, showing the access ramp for the Gün troopers.

I finally just ordered some APCs from Old Crow.  I was already using Old Crow products in the 15mm lineup, and I thought the 28mm scale ones would be nice too. So the Gün Schwarm War Ministry ordered some Claymore APCs.

The Claymore model resembles many of the IFVs currently serving in armies around the world, but still keeps a futuristic, sci-fi look to it.

I love the model - brings to mind many of the modern 8-wheeled APC/IFV vehicles in service currently with armies around the world today, like the BTR-80 and the LAV, while still managing a bit of sleeker, sci-fi look to it.  It also looks like it would really carry a squad of 28mm infantry models.

I changed my painting approach slightly for these vehicles - no wash of Devlan Mud, so they aren't quite as dark as the other Gün vehicles.

Top view showing additional access hatches for the troopers.

One of the great things about the Old Crow models is that there are multiple turret options.  The standard turrret is the "support" version - and even there you can choose between types of barrels to go with a "cannon" look, or a "gatling gun" look. 

The Claymore APC will provide good support, and cover, for the Gün fire teams.

And if you are anticipating real trouble, you can mount the "tank hunter" turret.  I love that turret - kind of brings to mind the idea of the Stryker Mobile Gun System.  When you see the size of the gun barrell in relation to the figures in the picture, I'm pretty sure that thing will be able to hunt more than just tanks...although with the FuturKom arsenal, we'll take all the help we can get.

Another variant of the "support" turret, with gatling-style cannon barrels - good for dealing with FuturKom infantry, and university protestors.

The "tank hunter" version of the turret - what kind of tanks are they thinking about? Can probably take out apartment blocks as well...

There is a third version of the turret - "multi-missile" - but I haven't got one of those yet.

The worst thing you can say about Old Crow is that actually getting the product can take a while, but that is it for problems, and I assure you it's worth the wait.  Old Crow's stuff is really sharp, and really, really easy to work with.  The quality of the casting is absolutely top notch.

I have three of these models for the Güns - I'll do up a mix of turret options for the vehicles. One vehicles is finished, another is painted and just waiting for decals, and the third is primed and waiting to get going.  I hope the vehicles will see some service on the table sometime soon!

Belated battle report - a FuturKom Kristmas

Oh tannen-bot, oh tannen-bot!

The holiday season is upon us, and to mark it we gathered at Dallas' place last week for a game of SpaceKrieg, the wierd and wonderful 25/28mm sci-fi setting where in the unpleasant shade of the distant future, there is only armed conflict...and tanks with huge guns.

Dallas set up the table in a suitable Christmas theme. About 40 Kommulist troops - including some new armoured infantry, backed by a scout vehicle, an odious new Kombot (christened "O Tannen-Bot" for this game) and the devestating SU-3000 took on a platoon of 30 Gün grenadiers, who were backed by a mortar, a recon tank, an APC and the dreaded Space Hetzer.



Check out this great holiday candle guys - I'm sure it will inspire the public once they are properly "secured"

The objective of the game was to recover the majority of the objectives before the other side - three bomb-zombies on the table. Because otherwise the bomb-zombies would ruin Christmas, right? Mike F and Dallas rolled with the Kom, while Dave V and Cam joined me on the side that advocated peace through war.



Patience lads - need to be sure we get priority...

As the game progressed, it became clear the Futurkom side would have an even more devestating secret weapon than any robot or tank - the violin!



Deluded young kommulist interns display the new FuturKom weapon during a youth re-education session

Several turns of whinging about the abilities of Gün Schwarm ("They hit on a three?" "The mortar hit how many people?" "Their training is WHAT?"), together with other big-lip tactics managed to obscure the fact that FuturKom actually WON the game. The Gün Schwarm certainly piled up Kommulists like cords of firewood, but it was not enough, as FuturKom managed to secure a majority of the bomb zombies by the end of the game.



The SU-3000 lost out on the duel with the Space Hetzer



Dave V was Vegas with the Gün mortar team - it basically held one flank for most of the game

Hopefully Dallas can add a few more photos to show the Futurkom side of the battle. But a good time was had by all - even Mike and Dallas after they realized they had won!

Thanks again to Dallas for hosting, and to all who came to play!

FuturKom on the March!

If nothing else, the Painting Challenge has concentrated me on finishing stuff that has been hanging around unpainted seemingly forever.  Two great examples are in this post.

I picked up these models out of a bargain bin at Phoenix Games in Minneapolis, several years ago.  (Phoenix is now defunct and has been for some time if that gives any indication of how long they've been laying around).  I decided to paint them as "FuturKommandos" in advanced power armour suits, the pinnacle of technological advancement of the latest 50-Year Plan.  Five are armed with plasma rifles and one with a heavy plasma cannon.  For the tactical markings, I used some red star decals from Company "B" that were in my decal folder.

Behind the Kommandos stands another converted walker I have dubbed the "KomBot".  The base model is from WotC's Star Wars Miniatures game line (I have no idea what it's called) and I picked it up cheap a couple years ago at a local shop, thinking it might come in handy someday.  I reckoned that for about $3 it was a great deal.  Some GW weapons (and of course a standard-issue spotlight from Future Industrie GmbH), a Futur-green paintjob with chips and rust, and it is ready for battle, with the addition of decals from Company "B" and GW.

"Onward to the glorious future-socialist future -- FUTURKOM!!"

FuturKom: Монстр

Of course, with Greg working on his TruKom rebels, the Spacekrieg escalation must continue.  With this in mind I set about painting a mechanized death machine to serve as an example of revolutionary engineering prowess and the inevitability of victory for the latest 50-Year Plan.  So what if a few million peasants starve in the process -- look at this frickin' cool giant robot we built!!

The base model is, of course, the Destroid "Monster" from Robotech - "the largest mech ever constructed by humanity" or something.  All I know is that it looks vaguely Russian and has some very big guns.

I was pretty lazy and just painted it straight up - no conversion.  Me, I'm not that familiar with the Robotech universe so it doesn't look odd to my eyes to see a Robotech vehicle in FuturKom livery.  

This shot gives a good impression of the large size of the Monster - it's big!  Look out Space Panthers!!

The "tru" believers...

We have been having several games of 40k lately, but that doesn't mean we are forgetting about our own, bizarre, parallel world of Spacekrieg, where in the unpleasant dimness of the distant future, there is only armed conflict...and Future Gordon Brown.

Dallas really set the bar for this "period" with his awesome FuturKom guys featuring infantry from Pig Iron Productions. Pig Iron basically has a huge hit (in my subjective opinion) with their "Kolony Militia" and related figure lines. The Militia models are outstanding, and Pig Iron has released some companion lines to go with them, including "Kolony Rebels". I thought these would make an excellent faction for SpaceKrieg...and so I would like to introduce "TruKom".



I figure on some world somewhere in the Interstellar Union of Kommulist Worker Planets, you might have a situation where things don't always go the way Future Kremlin wants them to. Some Motor Fuzileer regiments maybe get a little close to the population, and shared their concerns. Or maybe said regiments went into the desert, and got too close a Top Secret Unknown Arcane Thing (TSUAT), and maybe this thing influenced them to somehow hang all of the FuturKom leaders in the capital of Groovzny before the orbiting Kom fleet blasted them for treachery...

In the meantime, FuturKom has dispatched troops to quell the rebellion. And nobody needs to worry about anything in the desert. At all. Reports that something like a TSUAT might even exist, much less affect you psychologically and physically, are just GünScwharm propaganda....



I picked up a few packs of the various rebels - infantry and troops with special weapons. So far I have finished 14 models, and overall hope to have a force of between 20-30 figures. The Kolony Rebels are great figures. They are, of course, similar to the Militia, but the clothing is a bit ratty, there are some holes here and there, some of the armour bits are missing, surplus bits of rags etc. are starting to appear. They look just like guys who have been out of the sci-fi supply chain for a while.

Weapon-wise, they have a lot of weapons that the Militia have - missile launchers, SAWs and sniper rifles. At this point, no flame-throwers. They also have a little panzerfaust-looking AT weapon (which can be seen a little bit in the front row of the very top above).

One of the best features of this whole line is the interchangeable heads. The Kolony Rebel heads look...a little off. I think it's very cool. You get several to choose from as well. I am sticking with the "I still have my gas mask, but lost my helmet" head for nearly all of the guys for now, but will sprinkle a few other ones in later on. I may put a few standard Militia heads in as well to represent new "volunteers" who have seen the light and joined the armed pursuit of true Kommulism.



I don't see TruKom having a ton of vehicles - being seperated from the FuturKom supply chain, and being blasted from orbit have limited their options somewhat, driving them into mountains. But I will hopefully bodge a tank or two together for them so they can have some support when they ambush deluded FuturKommers who don't see "What's Really Happening".



Pig Iron has a still-developing line of models called the "Kolony Ferals" too. While the Kolony Rebel figures appear to be low on supplies and need some uniform repairs, the Kolony Ferals look like guys who have definitely been out somewhere way too long and are way messed-up looking, which is awesome. I intend to integrate some of these into the TruKom lineup, and use the "Feral Elders" as commanders. Of course, they will only look weird to people who don't see "What's Really Happening"...

Final Defeat for Future Gordon Brown

Future Gordon Brown is briefed on the outcome of the engagement

Well, given the few highs and many lows of Gordon Brown's prime-ministership, it is hardly surprising to see the future mimics the present when it comes to the exploits of Future Gordon Brown and the FutureBrits in our entertaining SpaceKrieg setting.

Since the British electorate has now deprived us of Gordon Brown, last week we played a tribute game to the hapless outgoing UK PM. Set on the otherwise non-threatening Planet K, the sinister FuturKom has marshalled a Device Of Widespread Annihilation. At the (possibly enabled) insistence of FutureHansBlix, a coalition of Gün Schwarm and FutureBrits swung into action to protect interplanetary order and secure the DOWA for, er, "research" purposes. This represented Future Gordon Brown's last gambit at achieving a military success which might convince the voters of FutureUK to at least accept his party in some kind of coalition government.

Dallas' outstanding "DOWA", a 1/48 SCUD missile model kit, made for an awesome objective

The game was set on a 6'x4' table, with the DOWA and accompanying FutureKom escort in the middle. Dallas and the elusive Cam rolled with the Kom, while Mike F pushed his hard working Brtis, and I went with the Schwarm.

An odious FutureKom detachment prepares to escape with the DOWA, aided by the ubiquitous T-340s

Mike and I set the Schwarm and the Brits in a blockade on either side. The Kom had to get the DOWA off one of the short edges of the table. Beyond establishing that the "Coalition" side could not fire direclty on the DOWA, we really did not get too precise about the conditions, but as it turned out this didn't matter, since the Coalition turned in a pretty lousy performance.

FutureBrit troops move into position, privately relieved that FutureKom seems to want to run over the other guys instead...

Dallas and Cam opted to try and push through the GünSchwarm line, which I thought was foolhardy. After all, I had a Space Panther and the beloved Schwarm-Bot. How could we not prevail?

"Seriously - there are no enemy troops out there - now stay off the radio...

Pretty easily, as it turns out. Try as I might, I could not convince the Panther crew to spot anything, and the tank was ultimately knocked out by the Cam and Dallas' T-340s. Schwarm-Bot had a good time knocking out some FutureKom suits, but overall added little to the battle other than a few beeps and a pleasant retro-GW figure vibe. The Kom broke through my line easily, spearheaded by a few bomb zombies. Hardly Operation Bagration material...

Artist image of Gün Schwarm Space Panther commander

The Brits had a not-great outing too, but to give Mike F credit, his lads ultimately got their stuff together and began to mow down the Kommies. By that time, the DOWA was just about safely off the opposite table edge. In the very last turn of the game, my Gün Grenadiers realized how bad they were going to look in the after action report, so they suddenly took the safeties off their weapons and shredded some FuturKom troops, but this was way too little, too late. I talked smack about a Gav Thorpe moral victory, but the fact is that the Kom got the job done, and will now be able to threaten Planet K with a DOWA. No doubt Future Nick Clegg will be gloating at this last set back Future Gordon Brown.

"Another example of the failure of Future Gordon Brown!"

If this is a sign of the abilities of Coalitions, I fear for the people of the UK.

Up next will be some warm up games for Prairie Con, which the Conscripts will be rolling out to Shock and Awe once again this year. Thanks to Dallas for hosting, and to everyone who rolled out!