Tuesday 28 April 2015

Stunties, and some mecha

Lately I've been busy trying to learn sculpting, both digital and otherwise. Progress is slow, and it takes up a lot of my time, but I'm ever so slowly getting better. I also started to build a 3D-printer with a friend, leaving even less time for painting..

Some things I have managed however, and I thought I'd share a few now:


The beginnings of a Dwarf Warband I started putting together for my friend.

 The Clan chief, with his adamantine hammer and family shield.

A rune-priest, acting as spiritual council and right hand to the chief.

 The veteran warriors have fought many battles by their chief's side, and toasted to an equal amount of victories.  

Dwarven musketeers stand apart from most other missile troops. Trained to use the dangerous and somewhat unpredictable blackpowder muskets, these musketeers rain lead onto the enemy.

I also have a few mecha that featured in a recent all-armour battle of Starstrike:


  The green mecha, painted up to match their source of inspiration.


The tan mecha, with a pj also inspired by a certain show.

Lastly I thought I'd share a WIP from my sculpting efforts:

A poor angle for the little guy, he stands about 7mm tall, so he ended up a bit taller than intended. The mech is the first of what will hopefully be a full squad, if I can manage to replicate the look..

That's all I had for you right now, but there's 2 AAR's waiting in the wings, and hopefully a few successful sculpts for the warband I'm trying to make!

Til next time!

Friday 17 April 2015

Starstrike Playtest 4

Continuing the playtests of Starstrike, today we introduce some vehicles and slightly larger numbers than Before.

Union troops were tasked to break through a small blockade of a Warg Industries force in a rural part of the colony.

The forces were as follows:

Warg industries and Mercenaries:



Warg Infiltrators
Sp  5
Su  5
Tr   6
Mo 7
Di  6
Ld 1
3 assault rifles, 1 SAW, 1 rocket launcher. Everybody had AT charges.



Doc
Sp    5
Su    5
Tr     6
Mo  6
Di    5
Ld   2
Doc is a hero and carries a shotgun and AT charges


Doc's dogs 4 models
Sp    5
Su    5
Tr     5
Mo  6
Di    5
Lead by Doc, carries 1 pistol, 2 assault rifles and 1 sniper rifle, along with AT charges


Mercenaries 5 models
Sp  5
Su  5
Tr   6
Mo 7
Di  6
Ld 1
5 heavy rifles and grenades



Warg APC
Sp  20 
Su  10
Ta +1
Se +2
Sa 8
Armed with machinegun
Crewmembers:
Sp  5
Su  5
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Carbine


Warg Medium Tank
Sp  15
Su  12
Ta  +1
Se +2
Sa  8
Armed with M.Cannon and HMG
Crewmembers:
Sp  5
Su  6
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Carbine


Union:





Union red squad
Sp  5
Su  6
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Ld 1
3 assault rifles, 1 SAW, 1 rocket launcher and AT charges


Union white squad
Sp  5
Su  6
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Ld 1
3 assault rifles, 1 SAW, 1 rocket launcher and AT charges


Union PA
Sp  5
Su  8
Tr   6
Mo 7
Di  6
Ld 1
3 assault rifles, 1 SAW, 1 rocket launcher and powergauntlets


Union APC
Sp  15
Su  12
Ta +1
Se +2
Sa 8
Armed with HMG
Crewmembers:
Sp  5
Su  5
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Carbine


Union MBT
Sp  10
Su  12
Ta  +1
Se +2
Sa  8
Armed with M.Cannon and HMG
Crewmembers:
Sp  5
Su  6
Tr   5
Mo 5
Di  6
Carbine


The rural valley that served as battlefield:


The Mercs makes the first move, positioning themselves for a strike as the Union vehicles move deeper into the valley.





It doesn't take long for the Warg transports to be spotted though, and soon cannon shells and machinegun bullets are bouncing off the hull.





 Equal in it's alacrity is the response from the Warg tank traveling with the APC, the return shots clanking on the Union tank's armour.


Doc's dogs hired on with Warg, not knowing they would go up against trained Soldiers!

But when they sight the Union PA, their combined fire brings down one of them, taking him by surprise no doubt!



Victory is short-lived though, when an Union APC pulls up behind a nearby hedge..


..And soon decimates the entire group! Only Doc himself is spared when the staccatto of automatic rifle fire dies down.
The optics in a Union Powered Armor is impressive, and so are their shots. A missile hits the Merc's transport knocking it about quite a bit. But it's still operational..

More incoming fire from the Union tank slides of the armoured flanks of the Warg tank.




A hail of incoming fire hits the mercs, knocking out 2 of them, as the first Union APC guns it's engines and head right for them.



Return-fire from the mercs skips off, scratching paint and ratteling the crew, but no more.
  Doc' APC takes a few more hits, nothing critical, but enough to keep it from getting far..  

Top of the 3rd turn. While nothings decided yet, Union troops decidedly hold the better position.

Doc aim's to take advantage of the fact that the soldiers in front of him have clustered up, so he hurls a grenade.. It lands dead-center a perfect pitch, but as the smoke clears it's obvious that the heavy suits of the Union troops have saves their lives, they all go heads down though..




The infiltators poke their heads out to take a shot at the charging APC, as does the tank. Some glancing hits are all they manage to inflict.

Union PA takes out 2 of the infiltators while their AT trooper manages a shot that starts a fire inside the merc's APC!


While the Union APC moves into position and then the troops carried inside disembark. One stunned merc on the edge of the forest is quickly taken down and 2 troopers attempt to place AT-charges.
On the left side, 1 of the disembarking troops is cut down by machinegun fire from the Warg tank.
Union regulars finally wrecks Doc's APC, and a single crew member stumbles out of the wreckage, dazed.




At the end of the turn, the raging fire inside the merc APC finally explodes the vehicle..



..Taking out the 2 Union troops that were placing charges and forcing one of the mercs to the ground, knocked about from the blast.

On the left side of their APC, the SAW-trooper finishes of the closest merc with a quick shot.



He and his remaining comrade then gets back into the APC.

Meanwhile the Union and the Right-most Warg tank continue their duel, slowly denting each others armour.
 Doc sees his chance to take out the tank and makes a go at it.
Unfortunately he can't quite get the charge to stick properly, so it doen't damage the tank in any significant way.



The poor crewman from the now destroyed apc is an easy target for the Union troopers, who quickly takes him out.
When his other gamble failed, it left Doc exposed. So in a rash moment he storms the Union squad responisble for disabling his team and transport! he easily wins the fight, but the durable armor of his opponent saves him yet again!

Both PA and Union regulars fire upon the tank, but causes no lasting damage. The incoming barrage does serve to keep the tank-crew operating at very poor efficency however. The PA trying to join up with their AT-specialist is quickly pinned in place by surviving infiltrators and the tank.




Making another daring charge, the Union APC moves up and concentrates it's machineguns on the last merc. He is easily defeated.

Disembarking from the APC, the union soldiers waste no time gettign into firing positions.
 Their foe is caught flat-footed, one of their number fall, while the remaining are heavily supressed (5 heads down counters between the 2 of them).


 More incoming fire, including a lucky un-aimed shot from one of the PA takes out one more infiltrator, leaving the last one with 6 heads down counters, firmly pinned in place.

The Warg tank disables the engine of the Union APC, but is quickly immobilized when a rocket fired by the PA takes out the threads.



The Warg tank's number is finally up, as a rocket from the regular's AT-specialist wrecks the tank. 2 of the 3 crewmembers make it out of the tank.
Like it's counterpart, the Union tank also succumbs as a cannon shell rips through the armour. Only a single crewmember makes it out.

Another close combat is fought between Doc and the regulars, the amount of stress is getting to him.
He is both wounded and his stress increases by 3, for a total of 5.

At this point I called the game, the 6 turn were up, and they Warg forces could only put up token resistance.

Here are the two last pockets of resistance:

The 2 crewmen are really all that's effectivly left, since the infiltator will have a hard time shaking all 6 heads down counters.

 Doc was taken down in the last melĂ©e, his stress penalties and sustained wound made it impossible to win more fights. So for now, he's in Union custody.

I had a hard time calling this one, the writing was on the wall of the Warg/Merc force, but they had stopped the majority of the Union from advancing across the valley.

In the end I think it has to be considered a Warg victory for stopping the Union forces, but only a minor one since it cost them many precious resources and they inflicted little damage in return.

As I'm writing this there has been a slight revison of vehicle stats, so for my next playtest there will most likely be a armored engagement, without or at least few troops save the crews of the various vehicles!

Look forward to it, see you next time! 

Tuesday 14 April 2015

First Warg unit and lots of reinforcements

I realized that some of my sci-fi and fantasy groups were very unevenly populated, so in an attempt to rectify some of it, I have made some reinforcements.
Before posting the latest playtest of Starstrike I wanted to show off these reinforcements I painted up, since one of the units actually feature in said playtest.


First we have some Sci-fi:

Warg Infiltrators. The first unit of the Mega-corp to be reintroduced, they are a sabotage and demolitions unit that gets sent in when the obstacles are too big for the standard troopers.





I also finished some more characters to represent heroes, villians and such:

The group shot, but one models is missing from this shot.

An mysterious warrior with an alien energy blade. Is he a friend or foe? It depends on your point of view..

Even on the fringe there is jobs to be had for investigators. Not all of them work for the authorities or the big crime-lords however, some walk the dangerous path as a freelancer. Men like Reese here.

Quick with a blaster, and even more so with his mouth, Hans usually gets into trouble as fast as he can get out of it..

A skilled mechanic is valuable, doubly so in a place where everything is on the verge of collapse. Vern is just such a man, and don't he just know it.

Being unassuming can sometimes be a big asset, especially if you deal with some of the less savoury elements on the fringe. Russ is in no way defenceless however, a mistake that has been the last of many.

Few choose to come to the fringe, most are driven here, escaping something from their past in the mostly lawless zones. Fitz hunts just such people, cause someones gotta cash those bounties, and it might as well be him.

Dolly looks harmless enough, and that might be because she is one of those rare souls on the fringe who has yet to cross the line from which you can't come back. Her search for answers brings here ever closer though, and what will she do when faced with the truth?


The space nomads were looking a bit short, especially compared to the Union, so I bulked them out with some proper reinforcements too.

More of the high-ranking warriors.

A energy cannon, this sort of weaponry is seldom used in their natural environment, but when they go planetside for raids or to stock up, a cannon comes in handy.


I also painted up a few more of the lower-ranking warriors, giving them some more bodies and heavier weaponry.

A nomad with a assault cannon, a deadly weapon with a high rate of fire, not unlike an LMG.

A breaker, troopers specialized in close quarters fighting. Armed with auto-carbines and a energy pike, they are adept both at breaking bulkheads and enemy combatants.

A energy cannon, same type as the one carried by the high-ranking warriors.



On the fantasy side of things, we have some reinforcements as well:

Lizardmen, obligatory group shot.

Another Ceratopsid warrior, differently colored crest this time around.

The standard of the fallen king. A artifact from a time of great upheaval, when kings of men tried to drive the Lizardmen from their ancestral homes. The upper body, along with the crown of the last king to fall, decorate this standard.

A Lizardman shaman. They are in communion with gods much older than most, and are privy to things we could only dream of..


Undead reinforcements.

The banner of Decay. This banner features the sigill of the lord of death,decay and disease. The tattered banner is woven with foul magic, and mortals tremble before it.

A Lich. This skeletal mage have trancended death, and unlike many of his fellows, he retains all his faculties, even in unlife.

A Blackguard, elite Wight warriors. He marches endlessly toward his goal, whatever his master commands. he obeys.


The Men of the Ashen wastes got a pair of reinforcements too, in the form of 2 poleaxe-armed warriors. One of them could even fight for the Undead, given that his skull helmet make him fit right in.

Lastly, two pieces of terrain: A mushroom patch, made mostly to see if it would work, and it did, so I might make more. And secondly an altar, devoted to the 4 dark gods.


That's all for today, but I have a Starstrike playtest to share, along with some other stuff coming later this week I hope.

Til next time!