Fourth Painting Challenge Entry - 28mm System Troopers from Pig Iron

"System Troopers" from Pig Iron Productions - 28mm Troops

After Sylvian landed huge points bomb in the Challenge late last week (like 400 points of stuff!!!), I felt a bit desperate to get something up on the score board over the weekend. I've been away for over a week, but lucky for me I had some primed figures sitting around which had been waiting in the pending pile for ages - and hammering out figures like that is part of what the Challenge is about, after all, right? So here are 10 "System Troopers" from Pig Iron Productions. These came off the painting table while watching the first round of the NFL playoff (go Chiefs!) (update - stupid Vikings!!!).

Heavy armoured troops for our sci-fi battles

If you follow this blog, or sci-fi gaming generally, you have surely seen the "Kolony Militia" range from Pig Iron on a gaming table somewhere - not least with us. Dallas has an excellent collection of them serving his "FuturKom" forces. That range is, I expect, the best-known one from Pig Iron, but they offer several. Pig Iron is home to some of the nicest, chunkiest, full-of-character 28mm sci-fi stuff out there. The ranges are small, but have some pretty decent overall composition and completion to them (as opposed to others who released three figures and wonder why the sales don't roll in, but I digress). I really enjoy painting the Pig Iron figures - nice, proper, heavy, chunky metal figures, the way wargames figures are supposed to be!

A view showing the back packs

These "System Troopers" are the heaviest of the heavy infantry (in fact, I think I stole that line directly from Pig Iron) - heavily armoured, carrying huge, frigging guns. The sculpts are brilliant - the armour gives a sort of exo-skeleton sense, without being all encompassing/enclosing. These heads are not the standard "System Trooper" heads - they are the "Inner Guard" heads from the "Kolony Militia" - there are many head options to choose from with these figures and I thought these heads looked spookier.

Red helmets to set the fire team NCOs apart...

I had painted a small group of these figures years ago - might have been the first or second Painting Challenge, actually, but before sci-fi figures counted in the race. I had a bunch more primed and ready to go back in that initial 2012 rush, but I moved on to other projects, etc. etc. and these have been sitting there, primed and ready to go, gathering dust in my hobby pile for years, until I got home yesterday, was spooked by Sylvain's huge entry, and broke out the paints!

Always like the officers to be pointing at something...

The chaps in the red helmets are NCOs/section leaders. The rest of the fellows are regular grunts. As a group, I think they can represent all sorts of factions, ranging from ominous mercenaries acting on corporate interests to the heavy infantry of a futuristic science fiction army. And they can certainly line up with Gün Schwarm, that enlightened body of hard-working soldiers...

Regular troopers - even the "basic" guns look really heavy, working well with the sculpts

Some variety on the backpacks as well

There is a large round spot on the back of these helmets, and I painted these lense-style. I think of them as part of the armour's "Decision Making Assistance System". The online DMAS helps the System Troopers stay in touch with HQ, know where to direct their fire, understand that orphanages make great firing positions, and realize that asking questions about the morality of their overall orders will have a negative affect on their own existence...

Close up showing the "DMAS" on the back of the trooper's helmet...keep focused, now, trooper!

Some more points for my sci-fi duel, but still not enough...

There are 10 figures pictured, but one of these pre-dates the Challenge, as he was being used as a model to make sure I matched the colours the best I could, so this gets me 45 points. Even with these points, I'm still eating Sylvain's dust... hopefully I can bear down and go full-Millsy this week to get some more stuff ready for next weekend...but in the event I don't, I'm wondering what kind of figure Sylvain will want me to paint...on the other hand, still a good, long time left in the Challenge, so we'll see what comes next off the painting line.

Battle Report: Day Of The DOWA - SpaceKrieg 28mm Sci Fi

FuturKom troops plot the doom of their enemies.

Our group likes to roll out to support local gaming events here in Manitoba, and this past weekend we attended LegioCon in Winnipeg and ran a demonstration game of SpaceKrieg, our home brew 28mm sci-fi skirmish rules.  The scenario was set in the horribly abused city of Staliningrad and pitted the antagonists of FuturKom against the other antagonists, Gün Schwarm.  Here are some pictures and a short account of the game.

Table setup showing the DOWA in launch position.

(Click above to see a short video of the table)

The Kommulist Marshals have tired of the constant conflict in the city, and the occupied spaceport that is keeping the Gün Schwarm troops supplied.  So a Device Of Widespread Annihilation (DOWA) has been moved into position to, ahem, "deal with" the situation.  Gün command noted the arrival of the DOWA, and sent crack troops to capture it.

FuturKom squad manning Community Outreach centre.

The table was 6' x 4', covered with Dallas' awesome urban ruins and his outstanding 40k landing pad and strong point (known generally to us as the "community outreach centre").  The DOWA (a 1/50 scale model of a Soviet SCUD done beautifully by Dallas) was set in the middle.  The Güns would approach from either short table edge, and to stop the launch they had to get an infantry model to base contact with it by the last turn - they could not shoot at it with AT weapons as the "local incident risk" was a bit high for that.

FuturKom commander provides early interview to KNN.

"We're going to take it one battle at a time, and try to move the ball forward with each play."

The game would be eight turns.  Dallas and Mike F took the Kommulist side, while Dave V and I rolled with the Güns.  Both sides had an ample assortment of infantry and tanks.  The Güns had a Valkyrie with some heavy infantry, and the Kommers had the support of the FuturKom flyer.  For fun we also put a 28mm sci-fi media crew on the table.  They were from KNN - Kommulist News Network (a division of FuturPravda) and they had no impact on the rules, but made for some entertaining photos.

Gün recon brews up on the first turn.

"Stay tuned to KNN for more on our special report about flank shots!"

Valkyrie lands on Dallas' awesome platform, complete with flashing lights.

Gün heavy infantry disembarks, not long for this world.

Dave and I divided our forces, pushing the armour ahead with the hopes of either clearing the enemy vehicles and troops away, or at least ending up with well-placed burning hulks that would serve to cover the last minute dash of our infantry. We used the Hetzer and the Valkyrie as diversions, and sent a Panther, the SchwarmBot and the Flakpanzer down one road, hoping to clear a path for two APCs loaded with troops.

SU-300 draws a bead...just not very well.

Nothing says "tank country" like a city street.

Our diversionary stuff got lit up (damn Mike F and his hot-rolling) but served something of a purpose. Our main thrust was slowed by a visit from the FuturKom flyer.  We did manage to knock out the KomBot and then ram a Space Panther and the Flakpanzer right up against the DOWA. 

SU-300 performing some local community renovations.

FuturKom flyer buzzes the table.

Our efforts were greatly assisted by the inability of the FuturKom SU-300 to hit the broad side of a barn.

Gün vehicles head for the DOWA.

"So, how does it feel to be hit with a 120mm high-velocity round?"

The FuturKom BRDMs, however, were having quite a day, knocking out both of our APCs,  and we lost a lot of infantry from that. The surviving troops made a mad dash for the DOWA, and were trading blows with the FuturKom troops (who had difficulty engaging due to the blocking of our armoured vehicles) when we had to call the game.  I would Thorpishly say it was a draw, but a draw with a definite tinge tilting toward the Kommulists...

The Güns cling to the objective - but Futurkom has more troops...

"And we now go live to an opposing lackey officer. At what point did you think this game was lost?"

Thanks to Dallas, Mike and Dave for braving the inclement weather that day to join us for the game.  I would note that LegioCon enjoyed a healthy attendance, despite the weather and the best efforts of its website (inside joke).  It was great to share some Fawcett Avenue craziness with the crowd.

*********************************************************************************
One quick PS - while we have some fun with journalists in this post, we acknowledge that there are some serious professional people who do it for real, and in some cases they pay the ultimate price for it so we can have some idea of what is happening while we are safe in Canada. Check out Reporters Without Borders for more information.

Schwarm Tiger

The Schwarm Tiger out for some preliminary maneuvers on the dining room table

In the annals of the wargaming hobby, what could possibly be less original than doing up a German Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, the notorious "King Tiger"? Well, how about a Schwarm Tiger?

Up there with the French Old Guard Grenadiers and the British 95th Rifles of the Napoleonic era, and any  40k faction(s) involving input from Gav Thorpe, the Tiger tanks of the German WW2 panzer lineup are one of the great paradoxes in wargaming.  There were not very many of them, and compared to the other weapons in the arsenal, they saw very little action.  Yet every wargamer seems to have them, and every rules system that makes an accommodation for them bestows them with a table-dominating prowess that belies the numerous actual problems and challenges that dominated the day-to-day action they did see.

Left to their own devices, I'm sure many hard-core Flames of War gamers would roll with an "army" where the King Tigers are so prevalent they might as well be staff cars, and the non-Tiger support choices are all direct-firing Hummels with a few Jagdtigers thrown in for variety.  They would smile and tell you it's all good, because they "paid the points".

I like to laugh at this, but in truth I am a hypocrite. I am as stuck into it as any gamer. I may not do the "all King Tiger army", but I still like to roll with the heavy kit. Big guns are fun. I've got a Death Wing force for 40k (although ironically this not actually powerful on the table, but anyway).  I have super heavy tanks for my Imperial Guardsmen in 40k. We've played spearhead scenarios pitting the big cats against the Soviet hordes - and in one funny instance, they didn't even need to engage. We've also used the King Tiger in the odd 28mm WW2 game, either as an objective or as a participant (last stand in Berlin - that was a fun game, although I recall Brian H knocking the King Tiger out with a bit of an iffy shot that left me doing a bit of a sulk).

These are fun games, and as long as the scenario is sensible, you avoid an actual 40K-i-fication of a historical encounter.  Pushing tanks around is fun - and using the toughest tanks with the biggest guns out there is lots of fun.  Knocking them out of action is even more fun (well, for the other players)!

And so the Gün Schwarm. The Güns already have Panthers, and a pimped-out Hetzer. In this context, the Schwarm Tiger will fit right in.  Besides, we face the deadly T-640.  Time to embrace the enjoyment of the big tanks and big guns, and get one for the Güns.

Hobbymaster had put out a 1/48 Scale King Tiger, so last year I acquired one on EBay and took the old hatchet, some tank sprue bits and tried to see what I could come up with.... then I moved, etc. etc. blah blah delay etc. I finally found the thing last week, and thought "what the heck, let's see what I can come up with..."

"Before" - a Hobbymaster 1:48 scale King Tiger tank

First off, just a quick acknowledgement that the Hobbymaster model is quite beautiful.  It felt like sacrilege to hack it.  But once I had cut the barrel off, I was kind of committed....

I mounted the requisite absurd smooth bore cannon and a co-axial laser. I hacked off the cupola, and replaced it with a cupola from a Space Marine Predator/Rhino kit.  I wanted the model to have a bit of eminence, so that called for a tank commander in the hatch. I opted for a Death Korps tank commander and heavy stubber combo from Forge World.  I popped a couple of technical-plate looking things from assorted GW kits on the odd open spot - and there were not too many because the model already has a beautiful bunch of stowage, cables etc. A heavy bolter went to replace the MG on the hull.

The GW tank search light is mandatory on all SpaceKrieg vehicles, no matter the faction

And of course, we needed the standard issue Future War searchlight.

Gün Grenadiers on propaganda maneuvers with the Schwarm Tiger

So far my Gün Schwarm vehicles have all been a single colour - a dark mustard-looking yellow.  A heavy hitter like this tank should stand out, so I bucked up and decided this would be the model where I would try a bunch of different stuff - the Battlefront spray paint, the airbrush, pigment powders.  What the heck?

Rust splotches courtesy of Forge World pigment powders

I primed the whole thing black, then sprayed a coat of "German Armour (Mid/Late)" paint from Battlefront.  This was actually a big change for me - I only spray black, and then paint everything else, as it seems to be the only way my painting approach can cope.  But several people have recommended these sprays, and they were right.  I can see how people can crank out FOW tanks by the platoon using them. I'm glad I tried them, and look forward to using them on other models.

I imagine that the environment on FuturKom worlds would be hard on paint coats

Up next was the air brush.  Oh man, what an adventure that was.  I wanted to replicate some variant of the infamous German "ambush" camouflage pattern - aka the pattern that was already pre-painted on to the model (don't get me started - I like to paint things, or try to, myself - it's a hangup). I have always been wary/afraid of airbrushes, and envious of those who are not.  I like to paint camouflage on to troops and vehicles, even "sprayed" patterns, and will try every trick I can think of just to avoid the airbrush.

Why don't I like airbrushes? To me, adding a mechanical element with all sorts of variables to painting just seems like a big pain in the *ss, and minimal value for the effort. But now was the time to be bold! So off I went...

The Hobbymaster vehicle had great stowage already on the model

Let's just say it was a very messy process.  I hate a lot about airbrushing.  The airbrush is so needy. The paints have to be thinned - or at least some of them do.  The containers involved all seem to be designed to preclude the notion that you would ever be pouring the paint or the thinner into yet another container, so it's a frigging mess. 

The results were uneven, to put it mildly.  The brown and the green worked out OK, but I found that I had covered too much of the yellow.  So I tried some Tamiya yellow-green, and I think it had too much thinner, so it went on kinda funny.  And the whole time I was not really protecting my tank commander from the paint, so he was acquiring many layers of paint for no reason. My summary of using an airbrush - @#$@#$@#$@#$!!!!

I tried to put a lot of rust coloured pigment powder on the vents and exhaust

Thank the powers-that-be for GW's Devlan Mud wash!  A wash of that stuff served to bring a useful tint back to the yellow.  I followed up by using a sponge to dab spots of GW Desert Yellow over the airbrushed Tamiya yellow-green.  I concentrated on some areas where the border between the yellow and the other colours had turned out really runny-looking.  I then dry-brushed the whole thing with the same GW Desert Yellow, and found the pattern had become serviceable, if dark.  But that is one of the advantages of an imaginary sci-fi setting - any camouflage you apply will be appropriate for some place.  It's a terrible rendering of German WW2 ambush camouflage, but fine for Gün Schwarm.

The Templar decal serves as an air identification marker for the tank, to try and keep the SchwarmWaffe from strafing its own side on the battlefield...

I used an Americana black paint to cover the stowage, tank commander, treads etc and go down to some more standard painting for these elements.  Finishing the tank commander was tricky, as he had many extra layers of paint already on him from the priming and various airbrush coats, but here didn't turn out too bad. I painted the tops of the open tank hatches with GW Kommando Khaki to mirror a different internal paint colour for the vehicle.  A layer of gloss was next to prepare for the decals, which were a mix of tactical numbers from the excellent "Company B", and Black Templar decal from a GW Space Marine sheet.  The model then received a hit of dullcote.

The suitably absurd-sized main gun; advanced tech on the turret prevents decapitation of the gunners due to recoil on the gun mount...

Weathering was up next.  I tried to get all clever and mix some rust coloured weathering powder with an acrylic medium.  I hoped to get the pigment to wash into crevices etc.  This didn't work - as opposed to some kind of wicked IPMS-style rust effect, I ended up with a dab of brown-looking acrylic paint.  Oh well. Plan B - a dry application of the pigment powder, and this worked much better. I went really hard on the spare track sections hanging on the turret - I wanted those to have rusty finish, to show the vehicle has seen hard service on some FuturKom industrial planet. I used some black pigment powder on some of the exhaust areas and the muzzle of the main gun. I also painted some chipped areas using GW Dark Flesh and GW Boltgun Metal.

Propaganda maneuvers with Panzer 2050 Ausf. F

And so we have a Schwarm Tiger, ready to join the fight against Kommulism.  I imagine this will operate much like its WW2 inspiration - dispatched to the front in a battalion-sized unit that was worn out by the FuturKom hordes to platoon-sized detachments in no time.  The tank is slow and prone to breakdowns. The Gün techs struggle to perform the maintenance needed on the vehicle's complicated systems, including its insane 135mm smooth bore high-velocity cannon, even as the commanders clamour to keep the thing in the front line.  I'm looking forward to putting this thing on the table, and watching it get knocked out on the first turn...

As for the airbrush, at least I've tried it.  Like anything, I'm sure it will get a bit better with practice.  But I remain envious of those folks that know how to make them work properly.

Gün Schwarm Heavy Duty Sniper Team - System Troopers from Pig Iron Productions

"Starbucks spotted at three kilometres...."

Sometimes you need to sure something will get put down. With that in mind, we have a really heavy duty sniper team from Pig Iron Productions' System Trooper line.  The team has two figures, a spotter and a sniper sporting the sci-fi power armoured version of a Barrett Sniper Rifle.

Bird watching? FuturKom watching? Both?

Why do power armoured troopers need a sniper rifle? Who knows? But if power armoured troops are going to need to snipe things, you might as well have a very heavy looking sniper rifle, and Pig Iron delivers on this score.  The trooper holding the sniper rifle is a large casting, and it would not fit on a normal 25mm base so I mounted it on a larger 30mm one.

The super heavy sniper rifle of the future...

The models are also wearing camouflage cloaks.  I made a bit of an effort to match the camp pattern to the colours of the groundwork I've been using on the Gün Schwarm bases.  I think the results were a bit mixed, but it still turned out OK. 

Camouflage cloak - 3XL for the power armoured troops...

Maybe the only drawback of these figures is the lack of separate heads - the only System Trooper models without the separate heads.  So I couldn't match the helmets to the "Kolony Inner Guard" ones I used on my other Gün Schwarm power armoured troops. Looking at the castings, though, I'm not sure how sculpting the separate heads would have worked out.  Also, the helmet is mostly covered, so the difference does not stand out too badly. 

I really enjoy the heavy duty look of the rifle on this model, and I can easily see them putting a heavy calibre futuristic anti-everything round through all sorts of FuturKom stuff, including the driver plates on APCs (a virtual certainty if Mike F is rolling to hit).  I'm continuing to add more power armoured troops, and hopefully they will be ready for a confrontation with FuturKom (and their mercenary allies?) on the table soon. 

Gün Schwarm Medical Bot - Pig Iron Productions

Medical Bot on the move

Another bit finished for the Gün Schwarm lads - a medical bot from Pig Iron Productions.  This robot is a model from Pig Iron's Kolony Militia command group.  Dallas has one of these already for his FuturKom lads, and since the factions of our distant, conflicted far future seem to source a lot of a equipment from the same suppliers (for example, all armoured vehicles have the same searchlights), I thought Gün Schwarm could use a bot as well.

"Make the 'bot carry it."

Like all of the Pig Iron figures, this model is a lot of fun to paint, and is a wonderful sculpt. Naturally, when AI technology comes on line, the troopers make the poor robot schlep as much stuff as it can manage.  The sculpt portrays the robot loyally trying to keep up while carrying important supplies (ammo? refills for the coffee machine? both?). It's a great figure.

Important supplies - medi-bot is a reliable schlepper on the battlefield 

In addition to being a fun bit of fluff, or even an objective, the Tomorrow's War rules set has rules for medics, and specifically medical bots (referred to as "care bears"), and they have a significant impact on the game, lowering the odds that hits turn into KIAs and serious wounds.  This particular bot will be a good addition to the power-armoured system trooper models I'm doing for the Gün Schwarm troopers.

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?