Federal Gunship - 15mm Sci-Fi

15mm sci-fi gunship from Old Crow

Several weeks ago I finished up a pair of DOE Gunships for my 15mm Nova Respublik troops.  Not wanting to leave my Federal and Control Battalion guys out-gunned I did some air support for them in the form of a gunship from Old Crow.  I finished this a while ago, but forgot about the pictures etc. etc. anyway here are a couple of shots.

Big wings, lean frame on this bird

This model was a breeze to assemble compared to the DOE, and as always the resin was crisp and solid.  It looks cool, but it certainly not as evocative as the DOE. This is the gunship companion to the troop/cargo carrier model that Dallas has done for his 15mm guys.

Size comparison shot with a DOE gunship and some NR troops

Sadly Old Crow is on some kind of hiatus for now (or sad for us, I should say - I think the hiatus is connected to an incredible work opportunity for Jez, so that is good for him!), so these are not exactly available if you are trying to find some air support.  But I understand Rebel Minis has some pretty sharp looking gunship-type flyers in 15mm.

Extremely Belated Battle Report - "Siler Road" - 15mm Sci-Fi

Federal armour in a village - what could go wrong?

Following on Dallas and Mike's cool game from last week, I wanted to belatedly post some pictures of a game Mike F and I played four weeks ago, pitting the Nova Respublik and their new DOE gunships against the sinister Control Battalion.  There are a bunch of pictures in this post, validating Dallas' recent assessment of my blog "style".

Control Battalion, pre-game

Federal column advances, led by Siler tanks

Nova Respublik Motor Fuzileers enter the table to launch their counter-attack

For rules we used Bolt Action (Brian - at least we are not using Lord of the Rings :).  The scenario involved a Nova Respublik counter-attack against a Federal Army spearhead led by a pair of Siler tanks.  I wasn't that specific other than the Nova Respublik wanted to stop/slow/knockout the Silers.  Really the game was an excuse to roll out the DOE gunships and Silers!

Control Battalion infantry advance behind their Claymore APC

Control Battalion mortar teams set up for the firefight

The DOE makes the first visit - ouch for the Federals...

Mike F took the Nova Respublik side, and I played the Control Battalion.  Here are a bunch of pictures of the game. Short game summary - lots of stuff blew up, and while Mike generally failed his rolls to even have his air support arrive (unlike Dallas, who failed his air support rolls in our game the following week to decimate his own attack), when the DOEs did show up, it was pretty devastating.

A DOE lines up Control Battalion targets

DOE propaganda 

The Siler suffers DOE pains - the hits immobilized the tank!

The Control Battalion doesn't feel pain - lucky for them...

Another aerial photo - note the ultra-aggressive advance of the Nova Respublik APC at the bottom

The Silers were tough - meeting out a lot of punishment - also missing a lot.  But they put out some serious abuse on the Nova Respublik armoured vehicles.  However, they were stopped, so the game ranks as a win for Mike - although one with a pretty steep cost in toasted NR vehicles and troops.

This squad was feeling pretty good (in as much as the Control Battalion "feels" anything) until the DOE came 

Another view of the carnage in the village

Control troops huddle in the ruins

Siler dishing out the pain! 

Immobilized Siler still exacts a toll...

Close up of a Nova Respublik Red Eagle - Siler bait

It was fun to get the DOEs out on the table for a first game! Thanks for Mike F for coming out for the game.

Trucks for the Truck Stop and a mini-batrep

Note: click on the photos for larger images.

When playing Warhammer 40K, I very much like playing objective-based scenarios, like the ones written for the Astronomi-con tournament series. One of my favourites is "Truck Stop". The model trucks Christian, Mike and Keith use for Astro were custom built by some generous folks in Ontario. I wanted to be able to run the scenario on my own table, so I purchased a half dozen "Rebel" light utility trucks from Old Crow Models. Also, such vehicles will be useful for any number of scenarios for 40K, Stargrunt II, Gunschwarm, Zombieland and the other sci-fi games we play.

These Rebels are very sweet model kits. Old Crow cleans up the models before they post them out. In addition, the resin they use is of very fine quality, with no bubbles or pitting. The six trucks went together in about the same time as just one 15mm scale T-60 light tank from the Flames of War line (examples are seen to the right in the above picture). Mold lines, mold mis-keys, and thin lead gun barrels that need to be replaced with wire all contribute to the slow progress on my Soviet "Tankovy" battalion. On one truck I added a plastic 40K machine gun from my spares box, mounted on a searchlight stand.

I finished the basic painting on some Rebels in time for a fun game with Duncan on Tuesday (I'll have to go back and weather those trucks at some point...).

***

Duncan rolled with a Thousand Sons Chaos space marines army, and I went with my usual mechanized Eldar. That is, skimmer tanks (with some mechanized infantry), jump troops, and jetbike mounted HQ - very, very fast. As the game started, trucks scattered all over the table. Both sides' Reserve rolls were sub-par; the Eldar forces came on piecemeal, and the Chaos forces only received their Vindicator assault tank late in the game.

Some game highlights:

• The Eldar Farseer accidentally blowing up a truck and its contents (oops!)
  
• The Farseer single-handedly holding up an entire Raptor squad of jump troops for multiple turns (yay!), before finally falling (boo!)
  
• Eldar Warp Spiders trying to keep a truck and its cargo out of Chaos hands but failing to destroy it like they wanted to (rats!), whereupon the Raptors attacked the Spiders and clubbed them down like baby seals (sigh)
• Half the Eldar Fire Dragons being consumed by the explosion of their target, the Vindicator tank (funny!)
  
• Two entire squads of Thousand Sons marines, including a Chaos Sorcerer, brought low by massed gunfire, plus the energy blades of the surviving Howling Banshees (ouch!)
  

At the end of the game, each side had one prize in their hands. A slight advantage was granted to the Eldar due to secondary game objectives - control of more table quarters and having more scoring units alive at the end of the game

In after-game discussion, we discussed how one of the Thousand Sons squads spent valuable time trying to chase on foot after a truck, instead of helping support the other scoring unit. This allowed the Eldar to use their skimmer tanks to keep those squads separated and subsequently defeat them in detail. Mutual support is important in objective-based games. A squad can be doing its job merely by staying alive.

In the picture below, Corporal Parnell's gunner/mechanic, Lance, decides that discretion is the better part of valour after the destruction of the Thousand Sons.

Edited to add Jan. 3, 2010:
Added some light weathering with Country Grey, Burnt Sienna and Skin Tone Base acrylic paints: