15mm Mars Rebellion Update

Alright, it's been about six months since I posted anything 15mm related so let's check in with the my Mars Rebellion setting to see what's going on.

I'm having a bit of a revival thanks to two things. First is the excellent new NSL power armour troopers from GZG. While I like the design NAC power armour that came out last year, they are a bit too slim for my taste and when I saw the new NSL sculpts I knew those were exactly what the doctor ordered! Big and quite chunky (like the regular NSL troops) and with the head integrated with the torso, a design I think just feels much more realistic when you basically want a walking tank. They come with a nice variety of weapons and I think I might group mine in squads of four with one leader, one rifle, one missile launcher and either one plasma or heavy SAW. Should make for a powerful and adaptable unit! The way I envisage them you might have one or maybe two of these squads against a platoon or more of regular infantry! I want to play up the Starship Trooper angle. :)

EarthSec troops escorting some geologists during an MLA raid.

The other reason for the revival was that I got wind of Nordic Weasel Games' new ruleset No End in Sight (again, thanks Dropship Horizon!). While it is written to cover WW2 to "ultra modern" battles, which means it's missing the proper sci-fi elements like powered armour, the basic system seemed interesting enough to me to get it anyway.

It's aimed at the platoon level or lower, it's D6 based and detailed without being overbearing. There's reaction fire and pinning, with focus on disabling your opponent in some way rather than killing him. Point blank firefights (Assaults) are more deadly, and can be needed to really shift enemies from a position. Leadership is very important and as you play you keep using your leaders to give orders, allowing him to roll a die and give orders to that many troops. Giving orders accumulate Stress and sooner or later your leader will become exhausted and unusable until the next turn. It's a fairly fluid integrated turn system that I really find interesting. I'll write more about the game when I actually try it out later. Oh, and please check out the Dropship Horizon link for a better overview.

There will be a sci-fi version (possibly called No Stars in Sight) of the rules released at a later date which should include all the neat stuff that I want in my games, including some kind of EW/hacking which is pretty cool! When I talked a little bit to Ivan on G+ he mentioned that he was hoping to have it out within two or three months, but that is of course only a rough estimate.

Now as I've collected a number of different forces I've started re-evaluating how these fit into my little Mars Rebellion narrative. I recently painted the NSL similar to the EDF troops from Red Faction, but the UNSC I've painted already fill the role of strong armed Earth army so what should I do with the NSL? Well, I think I might model the whole situation a bit on how it's presented in Jovian Chronicles, where Mars is actually split in two. On one side (larger by area) we have the original Earth colonies where EarthSec (GZG UNSC), which is a proper military force protecting the interests of Earth and her colonies, keep things under control. On the other side would be the the Martian Union that would consist of a number of free settlers and private interests and would be protected by the UDF - the Union Defence Force (GZG NSL). I imagine these two main powers would be roughly equally matched in terms of technology and although Earth has in theory a lot more resources to pull from the Union has better contacts with the Nomads in the belt and a better understanding of Mars as an environment.

Then there are third party interests like the Mars insurgents, the MLA - Mars Liberation Army (Rebel Minis Sahadeen), that is classed as a terrorist organization by Earth but enjoys a more neutral status among the citizens of the Martian Union. While there's nothing official it is more or less understood that the MLA are supported by the Martian Union, bringing them weapons and supplies. Then there are the crusties... these don't really fit in all that neatly as I had planned for a completely human centric story. But! The models are so cool and brings in so many opportunities so I'll simply have to throw them in there in a kind of "alternate universe" version of the setting. I really like the District 9 way of presenting them so will simply rip that off entirely and have them as refugees that no one really knows what to do with. The fun thing about them is that they make for great jokers that can fill mostly any role, be it low level slum revolutionaries or a small core of well armed and equipped raiders!

So with the factions sorted let's have a look at the models...

Incomplete EarthSec platoon. Missing a bunch of regular infantry.

My EarthSec platoon is pretty much done. I need to paint some more basic infantry and I'm sure I'll add fun stuff for it in the future as well. But I have two tanks, three APCs, power armoured infantry, a couple of mechs and specialist infantry all done. What I really want to add though is a hover jeep or two as they could do with some light vehicles. And there are of course a bunch of new-ish hovertank variants from Jon that I'm not sure I can resist for all that long. :)

My first test squad of UDF infantry. More to come.

I've really only started painting the UDF and although I have a bunch lined up, primed and ready, I need to fill out their ranks with a little more infantry and, especially, a tank or two and some APCs. After some browsing of different manufacturers' sites and careful consideration I've decided to go with the South African wheeled vehicles from Brigade Models (seen here at right). The new 3D sculpted pieces really look great and the wheeled approach makes them feel different both from the hovering EarthSec and from regular terrestrial armies of today. I haven't quite decided yet if I should go with the Wildebeest APC that is available now, or wait for the slightly smaller Buffel that is in the works. Bigger isn't necessarily better, but I do like those six wheels! Oh, and then there's of course the powered armour I mentioned above and a few fanbikes on their way to me now.

The big mech is missing, but apart from that these are all the MLA painted. Eek!

The MLA at the moment consists of three mechs and five or six infantry which isn't really all that intimidating (although the construction mech is big!). As my revolutionist faction have been split up into two, these guys will get the more improvised equipment and vehicles (as opposed to the UDF) so I'm thinking technicals and repurposed walkers. I have a feeling that the colonial rovers and civilian mechas from GZG will be common in their force. Perhaps also armoured cars or a captured tank. But mostly infantry with RPGs.

Crusty test paint.

Finally we have the crusties and they are so far the least painted force yet. I do seem to recall that the guy above did get four or five friends painted as well, but the rest are only primed thus far. Again, as a joker faction anything goes pretty much. I'll start with some infantry and civvies and then add some heavy weapons and crusty walkers. Not sure about vehicles in general, perhaps either super hi-tech grav vehicles or something like the four legged crab walker from GZG. I haven't decided yet.


Apart from the models there's the question of terrain of course. As some of you might know I have a Zuzzy mat that I got years ago, a small GZG shanty town and some other bits and pieces that would be more than enough to make a decent battlefield. The only thing that's missing is paint, which I have now ordered as well. Hopefully I'll have a nice red piece of Mars in my living room before christmas.

Oh, and to round out this Mars themed article: it seems like we might finally get a tv-series made from Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy. It's being made by Spike TV (?!!) which doens't really make me confident, but then there's a co-producer from Game of Thrones who's holding in it and Robinson will be there as a consultant, so who knows.

That's it for now!

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My 15mm Plans

EarthSec troops guiding a group of archeologists to safety during a rebel attack.

A bit like my recent post on spaceship battle games and miniatures that interest me I thought something similar for 15mm sci-fi might be in order. I have a few different projects cooking that all tie together in the miniatures being used.

The Miniatures
Mars is what got me started with 15mm in the first place. I have always been fascinated by the red planet and had just read Kim Stanley Robinsons Mars trilogy so it all fell together very naturally. What I've painted most of so far are the Earth Sectorial Army, or EarthSec, using mainly GZG's UNSC infantry combined with some power armour troopers from Blue Moon and Amakudari Seekers from Micro Panzer. I've been using hover vehicles from GZG as well, although I think I might get some Blowers from Old Crow as main battle tanks. The part of the Mars rebells will be played by the Sahadeen infantry from Rebel Minis with walker support from Khurasan and vehicles from Critical Mass.

Power armoured infantry assaulting, backed up by light infantry and their AFV.

To be able to combine models from all kinds of ranges and manufacturers like this is one of the great strengths of 15mm I think. I love the feeling you get when you have this idea in our head about how a force should look and perform and you don't have to compromise! More often than not what you have in mind is available somewhere at least. I've got stuff from seven different manufacturers just for the two forces above! This great ability to customise can be seen as a disadvantage as well though. I have a couple of friends who would be reluctant to start playing 15mm sci-fi simply because there are so few ready made armies, or codices to show you how your army should look. While I see that as a good thing I do remember back when I had similar feelings - in some way it didn't feel like a "real game" if it didn't come with a number of pre-determined armies. I guess I had GW to thank for that kind of square thinking. Anyway, back to my 15mm plans!

So, the Mars rebellion is purely human-centric, fairly low-tech (relatively speaking) without any weird aliens or FTL engines. However, since there are so many nice looking miniatures out there I naturally felt that I had to expand a bit. So I'm getting a bunch of non-prawn Crusties and Control Battalion. I'll be doing pretty much a straight rip off of District 9 when it comes to the prawns, complete with off-white guns and dark blue walkers. They'll also get some heavy support from some larger walking tanks from Ravenstar Studios. The Control Battalion will play the role of thr traditional sci-fi Sinister Corporation™ - oppressing the little people and generally doing evil corporation stuff. They'll be supported by the Lion super heavy transport and the Locust patrol truck. I see them mostly as a para-military force so probably no proper tanks for them. I've been toying with the idea of using the Chewks as some kind of symbiote species with the Crusties so we might see some of those in the future as well.

Sinister Corporation™ super heavy transport.

Then there's my Colonial Marine side project as well. Using Exterminators and Space Demons from Khurasan with a Konami Aliens APC. I'm not sure if I will do the red Mars basing for these guys or some interior basing instead for use in dark, infested corridors...

Of course, there are a lot of other miniatures I would like to get my hands on in the future. Reading Tomorrow's War made me want to put together some future Russians using Khurasan's Nova-Republik (or perhaps the recent releases from Armies Army!) with vehicles from Micro Panzer. I would love to paint myself a small force of Garn and recently I've been thinking about making a true hi-tech force with antigrav technology using vehicles from GZG (like this) and post human infantry from Blue moon. Rebel Minis' Titan Marines would also make excellent Kerberos Panzer Cops/Jin-Roh inspired soldiers. Ahh... so many ideas, so little time.

The Rules
There are a lot of rule sets available for 15mm gaming; Stargrunt II, Gruntz!, FUBAR, 5150: Star Army, Tomorrow's War, Fast and Dirty and Future War Commander, just to name a few. Actually, there'a much more comprehensive look at the different rules available over at the Dropship Horizon. Highly recommended!The two rule sets I'm focusing on at the moment though, are Gruntz! and Tomorrow's War.

Gruntz! is written by Robin Fitton and is a great toolbox for creating pretty much whatever you want with a robust unit builder available. I've tried it a little bit and like what I've seen so far. It feels traditional in some ways while adding some more modern mechanics as well. As I imagine it Gruntz! is probably what I will use for slightly larger games involving quite a few troops and vehicles.

Tomorrow's War (that I'm currently reading) is a lot more detailed and is more "gritty" in a way. I think it has a higher introduction threshold than Gruntz! but does reward you for persevering. I will probably use it for smaller conflicts featuring mainly infantry. The system has a number of things in common with the venerable Stargrunt II although it also uses an action/reaction system similar to Infinity!


Of course I would like to try all the other systems as well, but there's a time and place for that later. At the moment I'm focusing on Tommorow's War as I'm learning the rules. For the first time my friend Anders has expressed a slight interest in actually trying it. I think it's the high production values that won him over (he's one of the guys I talked about above. Hehe!).

The Terrain
I have miniatures and some cool rules, but I don't actually have any proper 15mm terrain. I intend to remedy this during the spring. I bougth a 90x90cm Zuzzy mat last year together with some sulfur mounds that I will turn into the surface of Mars! Recently I bought a set of Colonial Settlements from GZG that will serve both as rebel homes as well as Crustie shanty town. I think this will prove enough of terrain to get started playing. I'm looking to add some rock outcroppings and some proper hills as well though. What a realistic Mars board will be missing is soft cover like woods or bushes. I've been considering making some anyway for use on a terraform-in-progress Mars as it adds a lot to the game. Most likely I will make some different alien plants as well for when we're not specifically playing in the Mars Rebellion campaign.

Archeologists about to explore Mars.

The more hi-tech sci-fi buildings from Blue Moon are definitely something I would like to add, although they are a bit pricey and I'm wary about the shipping cost. Then there are the new/upcoming buildings from Brigade Models as well that I really like. Oh, and lets not forget the System Infinity from Sarissa Precision that will supposedly be released in 15mm scale as well. Hmm...

The Moment
So... what am I doing right now? Well, I'm "finishing" my current collection of EarthSec miniatures and then I will get cracking on the Crusties. Hopefully I will get started with the terrain as well simultaneously. A lot of it is probably destined for the Lead Painters League so don't expect to see anything until next month though.


The goal is to paint the forces needed for the first scenario in Tomorrow's War (Lost and Found) using the UNSC and Crusties. While the UNSC are almost done I haven't really started on the Crusties yet.

That's all for now! I hope I've inspired some of you in some way to maybe try out 15mm gaming yourselves! Also, I definitely need a better camera.

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LPL Sunday: Round 5! And round 4 recap

A recon element of the Earth Sectorial army.

Last round was a real nailbiter as I went up against Mancha's Mouse Patrol! I don't think we were ever more than eight or nine votes apart during the week and in the end I won with but a single vote, one more and it would have counted as a draw. Phew! Although I really liked the mice, I'm glad my 15mm guys finally managed a win.

The minis are UNSC marines from GZG (I'll insert a link later when the new online store is up) and they're great sculpts with loads of detail! The vehicle is the comanche MATV from Rebel Minis. I was actually slightly surprised at how rough a few parts of it were when I got it and I had to do some cleaning to get it in shape, however when painted you don't really see the flawed areas and it just looks beautiful! It also comes with some different weapon options and a small shield/turret as well and I had a hard time deciding if I should use that or not. In the end I went for the leaner look without the turret, but I'm not sure I made the right decision. What do you think:

Some of my favourite entries from round 4 was:

• Bamboo Raiders - Great painting and great minis.
• Nemo's Army -  Two words: Crab. Tank.
• Imperial Escort - Although not to scale, some really nicely painted Star Wars ships.
• Ah, with ever anxious heart, the blossoms are falling... - My absolute favourite entry this round! Maybe not the best painted, but the composition and those sakura trees made me melt.
• Die human scum! - Some awesome sci fi right here! Made me want to get some AE Bounty minis.
• Wolf Pack - Definitely an underrated entry. Probably because of its "mundanity" compared to the terminators. But have a look at the painting again... that fur is amazing!
• 'Relax men, it's only a couple of gau...' - Again, maybe not the best painted, but Andys scratch built bio-titan just looks awesome! Good work man!

In round 5 I'm unfortunately missing out on both the newly painted team bonus and the additional Africa theme bonus. I have a strict rule not to paint anything that I won't be able to use later for gaming, and since I'm mostly a sci fi kind of guy the Africa theme was tough. What I really wanted to do was get some non-prawn "crusties" from GZG and make a small District 9 scene. But I was a bit slow and the GZG store is now temporarily closed for updates. Bummer.

So instead I decided to enter a few of my Northern Guard gears, and to spice it up I painted a squad of infantry as well! They turned out great, so I'm very happy in any case. See my entry and all the other great stuff over at the Lead Adventure Forum. And don't forget to vote!

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LPL Sunday: Round 4! And round 3 recap

My Earth Sectorial Army Ma.K Heavy Infantry

In round 3 I continued with my little 15mm Mars theme and submitted the power armoured infantry seen above. The minis are from Blue Moon Manufacturing and it was love at first sight so I actually bought 30 of the little buggers. They are good sculpts and remind me of the Japanese Maschinen Krieger model line. Also all 10 are actually unique which is kind of cool. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, but I'd like to make the next batch with a kind of tan/terracotta camo and see how it turns out.

My opponent this time around was Pil and his creepy Nightmare Legion, a very characterful entry! I actually believe that's why I lost; in my (very personal) opinion my guys are slightly better painted, but Pil's have more character. I'm wondering if it would have been smarter for me not to include the entire squad but just five or six instead. The end result was 232 vs 134.

Some other great entries this round:

• They Came from the Frozen Wastes - Just great theme and painting.
• Withering Plague - Great painting combined with those really increadible water effects got my vote. Probably my favourite entry this round.
• Scary Monsters - Excellent mix of good sculpts and solid painting skills. Love it!
• Inmates of the Asylumn - Kind of like scary monsters, but more disturbing. Hehe!
• Trolls... in... Space! - Great minis and very impressive painting on the.
• Keep it in the Family - Very nicely painted mix of old and new Space Hulk miniatures. And those bases!
• Batteries not Included - Retro robot goodness and mad scientists!

Round 4 is more Mars madness from my part and it'll be interesting to see how it turns out. My 15mm stuff so far has been well received but hasn't won yet. Maybe third time is the charm! See them and all the other entries at the Lead Adventure Forum. And don't forget to vote!

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Beautiful Phobos!

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft that is orbiting Mars made a close (only 67 km) flyby of Phobos on March 7th and the pictures were released yesterday. It will continue to observe the small moon until the end of March when it will pass out of range.

It also spotted the planned landing sites for the Russian Phobos-Grunt sample return mission that will launch in 2011 or 2012. Beautiful stuff!

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Don't forget to wave hello to Mars!

So Mars is currently in opposition which makes this an excellent opportunity to take a look at the night sky and wave hello to our red neighbour. It was closest to Earth on the 27th, at only 99 million kilometers, but it will still look basically the same until some time later next week.

You will be able to see it just next to the Moon as it shines really brightly in its rust red colour. You don't need a telescope, but if you have some binoculars handy grab those! Your next chance will be in 2014. Read more about the whole spectacle at Mars Daily.

This is what it looked like last night here in Saitama. Even with the cloud cover and all the light pollution there was no mistaking that red dot. And surprisingly I managed to snap this with my crappy little 5 megapixel pocket camera. Weee!

Speaking of Mars I thought I'd share this as well. I found it somewhere a while back and I really like how it manages to make a boring chart into something much more appealing!  

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Appetite for Destruction!

A few weeks ago Steam had a real bargain where you could by a bundle of 17 THQ games for $50 and seeing as I've had my eye on Dawn of War II since its release I just had to grab it. Among other games in the bundle were S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Company of Heroes and of course the original Dawn of War games. Then there was the Red Faction trilogy. I remember the release of the first game in 2001 and how they went on and on about the destructive terrain features, but more than that I didn't pay it any attention. Then last year Red Faction: Guerrilla was released to rather positive reviews. 

I downloaded the demo from Xbox Live but for some reason it didn't click with me and I actually only played for a few minutes. But then I decided to try the full game the other day since I got it in the bundle and the scales fell from my eyes! When I played the demo I got the impression that it was a linear shooter a la Gears of War but it turns out it's an open world game where you work for the resistance movement for a free Mars. You do this by doing missions as well as sabotageing and destroying key Earth Defence Force buildings and equipment, and I got to say; it's a LOT of fun! It should be noted that it wasn't really the fault of the demo, but rather because I was lazy and didn't play it through. I actually downloaded it again just to see what I missed and it turns out it was quite a bit!

It probably helps that I'm a big fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy since it's obvious that it's been a great influence on the game. But looking at the reviews it seems that non-Mars nutts like it just as well. The portrayal of the Martian landscape is excellent and the industrial, utalitarian design of the structures, rovers and equipment is just as I imagined it when reading the novels.

 

Then of course... there's the destructible environment. The game starts with a tutorial level where you just learn the basics and get a bunch of structures to demolish and as I realised that you could destroy anything and how realistic the physics were I felt like a little kid in a sandbox! Just looking at a bulding and trying to figure out how to destroy it as quickly and effectively as possible turns out to be great fun in itself. Where to put your blasting charges for maximum impact and what load bearing pillars to knock out with your trusty sledgehammer. And then seeing the fruits of your labours as the building slowly topples over just as you'd planned (except for those times I didn't plan and it landed on top of me).

So anyway, I just wanted to give my warm recommendations for Red Faction: Guerilla. If you like open world games like GTA, Mafia or Crackdown I think you should give this a chance. And if you also have an interest in Mars or has read the Mars trilogy you owe yourself to! I have it on the PC, but also trying the demo on the Xbox this game really screams console to me so get it for the 360 or PS3 if you can.

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