15mm Sci-Fi Battle Report - Nova Respublik vs. Euro-Coalition

This week the lads came over for a 15mm sci-fi game. We set up a pretty straightforward scenario - seize objectives. The backstory was a bit more fun:

The Republic of Bezerkostan, former satellite of the Union of Nova Respubliks, is in turmoil. The government has been overthrown in a quasi-military coup and unrest is everywhere. The Nova Respublik, alarmed and emboldened by this turn of events, considers military action to safeguard the security of the Respublik-speakers living in Bezerkostan...

Setting: Vladimir Putin Memorial Sludge Reclamation Facility, Republic of Bezerkostan
In the interests of promoting their "peace-loving agenda of universal order for Respublik-speaking-peoples" (PLAUORSP), the Nova Respublik has dispatched a team of Spetnaz troops to secure the Sludge Reclamation Facility.  A detachment of Nova Respublik Motor Rifle troops has been sent from the nearby population centre of Putinograd to reinforce them.  Conflict looms with the well-equipped observers from the Euro-Coalition for control of the Facility, determined by occupation of three different locations on a 6' x 4' table...

Nova Respublik troops... or maybe not. They've removed their insignia and the Nova Respublik officially denies all knowledge of their activities ;-)

Euro-Coalition armour: Leopard 4A2s MBTs and Fuchs 3 APC near the eastern sludge towers.

In the centre, EC Fuchs 3s and another Leopard 4A2.

Across the table, Not-Nova Respublik tanks and APC.

Some hapless worker/observers near the central objective.

Sludge maintenance technicians keep an eye on the western objective.

Meanwhile, the "not-Nova Respublik" forces seize the eastern objective marker.

A long-range shot from a NNR tank blows up a Euro APC.

NNR tank destroyed in retaliation. It's a shooting war now!

Euro troops move on the central objective. We used our home-brewed "Red Storm!" modern rules for the game and it really rattles along. Stuff blowing up every turn!

Euro heavy weapons deploy in the centre; another APC blows up :-(

Zoom out... NNR attacking from the top of the photo.

A nice image of the scrum in the centre with Euros pinned down by NNR firing.

Euro Leopard brewed up... where's the rest of our tanks? Over on the left flank with Jim. "Come in Jim..."

Here we go - Leopards on the move.

Will it be too late for the guys on the centre objective? Here come the NNR...

Epic fail on the spotting roll by Jim. In the rules, armoured vehicles need to spot a target before engaging. The player rolls 2d6 and adds the Training value of the troops and any modifiers for moving or obscured vision. An adjusted roll of "10" or more means the target is spotted. This was Jim's third roll of snake-eyes this game... my basement drywall suffered accordingly from thrown dice. Easy Jim!!! ;-)

NNR about to take their second objective for the win. A fun game! I always like playing 15mm sci-fi and with a larger game like this one, the Red Storm! rules work well. Not too complicated but with a dash of modern design flavour in that they're not strictly IGO-UGO. Good times!

DOE Yeah!

Nova Respublik troops prepare to deploy with their latest reinforcements

My first attempts to assemble Khurasan's exciting new 15mm near-future DOE Gunship were less than satisfying.  With the help of Dallas, who pointed out how to mount the tail fins properly (tip - not straight), I was able to finish two of the models and I got them painted during the NFL games this week. As I watch the Lions are struggle to keep up with the Bears tonight (while I write this, Jay Cutler just took a strength 10, AP 1 hit from Ndamukong Suh), I finished them off!  Here are some pictures.

No more f*cking around - serious drill bit time 

Magnetized lapel logo serves as ideal flying base mount

Serious hole for the serious magnet

My original try at magnetizing the model so it would stay on a flight base was insufficient.  The DOE is a healthy size, and a small magnet is not up to the task.  I was done screwing around, so I took out the large drill bit and bored a large hole in the base of the main body, and then mounted the other piece of the magnet on the top of a GW flying base.  These magnet bits are actually courtesy of a local not-for-profit's logo lapel pins, so in a way these models will be gaming for a good cause. I think I probably overdid it a bit, but these things are NOT falling off...

Strong magnets keep the model safe and sound on the flying base

With the basing riddle solved, I had to figure out how to assemble the damn model properly.  As I said, Dallas gave me the right tip.  For my first model I had mounted the tail fins flush to the hull.  This fit the tabs properly into the hull, but was actually incorrect, as the vertical fins at the back should not be straight up, but should tilt inward, so the joining tail piece will fit.  In order to do this properly I had to shave off the tabs a bit so the would fit properly with the main hull. Not enjoyable.

A further bit of stupidity on my part - I put the adjoining tail fin piece on differently on each model - and I didn't notice until I had primed them! Once again, I will never win an award at IPMS shows...so in a way, each one is unique...

Half-way point on the painting - waiting for the Agrax Earthshade to dry - check out the mix up on the tail joints...

The fun continued when trying to figure out the wing-mounted rocket launchers.  There are four on each model (two of them are hardly visible - or paintable - once the model is assembled, as they are tucked right in).  As I said in my original post, this model is a blizzard of parts, and it is not very forgiving.  I highly recommend assembling and mounting the rocket pods BEFORE mounting the wings to the hull.  For the record, Khurasan does recommend this too :)

Even when you do this, it will be tricky to make sure the rocket pods are all pointing in the right direction.  Prepare a list of useful swears before assembling this model.

Close-up on the "tarmac" - you can see the casting challenges with the missiles on the wing tip

Khurasan also provides options for the landing gear - up or down.  I went with down - it doesn't look as slick when "up in the air", but gives a little flexibility in terms of having the model land or using it as an objective on the table.  If I ever do another one of these - or if I manage the save the first one I tried to build - I will build it with the gear up.

On the flight bases

There is a very cool sensor mount on the top of the main body

I painted the models with something along the lines of a "sand & spinach" camouflage scheme.  I used some decals (from a British tank division, I think - it's 15mm scale, so I didn't get too worried about that as they are hard to recognize) to give the Gunships unit and tail markings.

Providing air cover for a Nova Respublik armoured column

The DOE gunships buzz an armoured column advancing through a village

I am very jazzed to have these finished.  These models were not simple - there was lots of flash, tricky parts and a great deal of refining needed with a sharp hobby knife.  The surface of the resin bits was a little pock-marked in some places, and had a bit of a rough finish in others that was a bit tricky to paint.
But all the swearing and crayon-snapping was worth it in the end!  Now to get them on to the gaming table, where they can get shot down on the first turn...

Pile Of Treads - Khurasan 15mm Sci-Fi Tanks

Nova Respublik tanks - ready to roll

I continue to channel my frustration over the ridiculous NHL lockout (hockey fans see here for some rage-inducing content) into cleaning up the pending pile for 15mm sci-fi.  Up next, following some Federal Troops and Control Battalion, as well as some massive frustration with Khurasan's new DOE gunship model, was a pile of Nova Respublik armoured vehicles - six tanks and four APCs.  Here are a few pictures.

From left - the Red Banner, the Red Banner U, the Red Eagle, the Red Lightning

The Red tank series represent, to me, the very best of the Khurasan design approach.  The tanks are a perfect fit for the near-future, pseudo-Soviet Nova Respublik faction.  The basic tank design - the "Red Banner" is very, very evocative of a T-55 or T-72 of the distant-near-future.  It mimics a great deal of the Soviet design philosophy - low to the ground, massive main gun, eggshell turret that is surely a horrifically cramped nightmare for expendable crews - while looking a little sleeker, a little cooler, so you "know" it is sci-fi.

The Red Banner - tried to make this more weathered than the others, as it would be the oldest mark in service

The Red Banner U - featuring a tank commander in the cupola - this has better protection than the basic tank

The Red Eagle - very evocative of the rumoured Russian T-80 "Black Eagle"

The tanks then literally build from there - you can add reactive armour plates and storage bins to make the "Red Banner U", even thicker armour and a big turret bustle to create the "Red Eagle", and thicker armour, a scary-looking main gun and likely very unsafe bustle mounted battery contraption to create the "Red Lightning".  You get all of the bits you need with each tank to make any tank you want from the range.

The Red Lightning - having all that stuff on the back exposed to artillery is probably not safe...

The "Red Lightning" looks particularly cool - likely as dangerous to the crew as to its enemies.  Exactly the sort of thing a Soviet-style government would put into the field.

A Federal Siler tank in between two Nova Respublik tanks - the Siler is bigger, a little beefier 

Not only do these tanks look very cool, these model designs manage to mimic the design progression of late model Soviet armour, while still standing on their own as awesome sci-fi models. Brilliant.  Also, they are easy to assemble and paint (rather the opposite of the DOE).  I loved the tanks and was all over the place when building the models, so I ended up doing two Red Banners, two Red Banner Us, one Red Eagle and one Red Lightning.  Considering that Soviet style tank platoons contain three vehicles, this was kind of dumb in hindsight.  The platoons will have to contain mixed vehicles.

NR troops pose with the tanks - you can see the tanks are very low to the ground

Ominously, these models are currently listed on Khurasan's website as "Temporarily Out Of Production".  They have been for some time.  Let's hope that doesn't last too much longer...

NR tank commander in the cupola of a Red Banner U; the tank behind in this shot has a different green hue thanks to a defective can of Testors Dullcote.  Frigging spray cans...

I also did some of the "Hedgehog" heavy APCs.  Again, excellent design, blending sci-fi look with basic elements not out of place in the current era. The APC looks not too far from something like a German Marder IFV, but covered in bricks of special/reactive armour.  The gun mount looks spooky too.

Ready to carry the commies of the future to battle

When I first started painting individual Nova Respublik models, I had flirted with using BMP-3s (a favourite IFV of mine) for the APCs, but the models, available from QRF miniatures, just look too small for my taste. Cue the circular and pointless TMP discussion of scale vs. size.  I'm pleased with the Khurasan models, so that will do for me.

NR fireteam poses near their IFV

The paint jobs on all of these vehicles - tanks and APCs - were very basic green, with weathering and powder applied here and there.  I painted some red stars and "Guards" type liveries on the front fenders of a few of the tanks, but these are otherwise pretty plain vehicles. They painted pretty fast.

These models look cool, and look like they would be cramped and uncomfortable, meeting two key requirements for all IFVs in the universe

With like 40 infantry and 10 armoured vehicles, my Nova Respublik forces are more than ready for action.  Just one or two tanks is a lot in a game of Tomorrow's War, so I don't think I will be hitting the table all at once with this stuff.  This would be a ton of armour for even a Bolt Action game too, or Future War Commander.  Whatever rules we play I am looking forward to getting these suckers out on to the table some time.