New stuff painted..

My Bachelor Thesis is currently eating up all my time and I'm glad when I finally can leave University behind. Three years should be enough....

Nevertheless in the time between writing and cursing, I managed to paint some stuff:

 The first miniature of a new project? 15mm Game of Thrones has been on my mind since the show started on HBO.This is my version of the "Kingslayer".

 First Praesentia Squad finished.

 Fist Praesentia support weapon. I think the Eldar Design fits them well, two crew man are still to be painted.

 In the background you can see the Manta Carrier (wip) from Firestorm Armada. My Praesentia use it as an antigrav tank that has a particle cannon in it's mouth and launches small attack drones.

Repainted Monsterpocalypse figure, a biotech Praesentia scout mech.

Top view from the Manta.

Kaamados Dominion Aagamid Squad. I definetly need more of this guys, even more because I could finally realise my dream paint scheme: rich purple and a warm gold tone.

Protolene Scout Walker for my Felids plus an Antigrav tank from Khurasan.

This will be my heavy assault mech for the Alien Federation, I think I will use the original paint scheme. Still not sure, how I will convert the head. The figure is the AT 43 A-volution Cog hero.

A Shikaari or as they call themselves "riders of the wind", an alien race that through telepathy managed to tame giant insects and ride on them into battle.

Second rider is nearly finished. The insect is a Shyrack from Wizkids Star Wars and the rider from Critical Mass games (Mercernaries).

This beast was a real pleasure to paint! Best tank on the market.

Grizzly Squad finished, superb miniatures.

Some progress to show on my 15mm front.

Fist of, the beautiful Rhino MBT from Brigade Models. I used a GW landspeeder missile launcher to have it look more like an IFV. I also enlarged the troop compartment with plastic card, to get 5 man in there without the clown car effect. I will soon order one more and have a whole army with transport vehicles.

Some heavy support, a laser armed attack craft. This is actually a Tron glider that I got for 5€ at ToysRus.

Two 1/144 AAV. Got those two for 3€ each and they are big enough to carry four to five subhumans to battle.

My first squad of power armoured troops, I really like how they turned out. The red was a good choice with the grey armour. The miniatures are from Critical Mass Games and as always are of outstanding quality.

One of the two options I'm thought about for starting an alien force. Felid pride guard from Khurasan.

So I couldn't decide between the Kaamados Dominion from CMG (see picture below on the right) and the Felids mentioned above, therefore I'm building a mixed alien force. Doing so I can use all the wonderful alien miniatures I acquired so far. The alien federation is led by the oldest and wisest of all races: The Praesentia (CMG). They are the last hope of the galaxy against an enemy older and deadlier than even the might Galactic Alliance. Only the Praesentia know of this evil as it was lurking in the shadows so far to gain strenght: Space Cthulhu! (another new army: 15mm.co.uk Octopods plus Khurasan cultist and Monsterpocalypse Monsters)

I'm btw very satisfied with my first Praesentia above, because the colours really looks like an old and enlightened race.

Of course I will include Khurasans Ursids, bears with sunglasses, cigars and fusion guns, can't get any better?! I added sime armour and an energy fist to the leader. You should really buy some Ursids, just do it!

Hot Spot markers for Alien Ambush scenarios

For future games where brave marines will be attacked by an endless horde of alien monsters, I needed hotspots for the Ambush Alley rules and my lovely fiancee kept in mind, that everything can be used to build terrain (true love...). Therefore she brought me this:

Out of the lit or top I created this (using the wiremash one fellow gamer gave me as a gift):

 Each shaft or tunnel entrance represents one hot spot and until the marines seal them or blow them, endless hordes will emerge. Imagine a whole abandoned tunnel network down there crawling with aliens...

The poor guy on guard doesn't have a clue, what is in store for him....

This, now disappeared guard doesn't have to worry anymore....

Our first multiplayer game of Force on Force. Again we just used the basic rules, but I really want to use the Tomorrow's War add-on to represent the forces on the table better. 

Four players were present, two of them being fresh recruits to the glorious world of 15mm Scifi. To quote old Ben Kenobi: "You have taken your first step into a larger world".

On to the game, we played the NATO vs. Warsaw Pact scenario from the FoF book and my living room table with structured wall paper and all the terrain we could muster and carry. The goal of the Alliance was to get as many verhicles to the down edge of the board as possible.

"The Alliance has had enough. All over the Galaxy planets are rebelling and dare to attack the government, that has brought peace and order to thousands of worlds. The giant has awoken and is going to show how treachery is dealt with. This time it will not be the giving hand but the iron fist!" Central Galaxy News, 2263

"The lush jungle world of Khalis. Alliance forces approach an outpost deep in the rain forests to use one of the few roads that lead to the space port of the planet. The force was composed of four APCs, one MBT and 36  soldiers led by Commander Marosa. Although on alert because of the dangerous jungle predators, the advancing convoy was unaware of what waited ahead."

"Unknown human forces set an L-shaped ambush in the outpost, ready to spring the trap anytime."

"Two anti-tank droids were brought in position, crewed by elite soldiers, that would make the Alliance pay a heavy price."

What you see here are nicely painted Khurasan Federal Marines.

"Two spider tanks hide unter a bridge as a last line of defense." Both Infinity Yu-Jing drones.

"The Alliance enters the field, one APC scouting ahead, followed by a Reaper MBT. Manned by a green crew, the APC couldn't spot the ambushers and passed right in front of them"

"The rest of the convoy arrives, a mix of several APCs fully loaded with 10 soldiers each."

"The trap is set off! The first APCs gets hit by an anti-tank missle and is immobilized."

"Being more experienced the tank crew spots a squad of enemy soldiers, that wanted to attack the dismounting Alliance troops, and attacks them with accurate cannon fire."

"There! A second anti-tank droid emerges and fire a well-aimed shot at the Reaper tank blowing off its main cannon reducing it to a fire magnet role for the rest of the battle"

That's one of my dice rolles, nothing unusual ;)

"The superior firepower drives the attacker back"

"Commander Marosa personally leads the attack of her War Maidens squad."

"The convoy gets stuck in a bottleneck and is pounded by heavy artillery fire"

"Disembarking the brave Alliance troops try to fight a real battle and not be slaughtered from cowardly ambushers"

Posthumously a soldier named Bob got a medal for being one of the deadly droid teams, that killed one APC after another without fleeing or dying.

"The spider tanks emerge from their hiding and add their fire to the droid teams"

Another nice dice roll...

"The Reaper tank soaks up even more fire, but refuses to succumb to it." Actually it had a destroyed main gun and a damaged firing system, so it was driving around trying to get some machine gun shots off.

"Having done enough damage to the Alliance vehicles and slowly losing to the infantry, the unknown attackers retreat, satisfied with their work"

"One huge explosions lightens up the sky, as the attackers try to play one last ace: A tri-wing attack jet that tries to bomb the Alliance forces, but is shot down by an opposing fighter jet, before it could unload its deadly cargo."

"Returning from a hunting trip, clearing the jungles around the outpost of dangerous animals, a sniper teams adds its firepower to the defenders"

Although we made some grave mistakes e.g. using the anti-tank guided missiles rules, we had a great game. The scenario worked fine and is quite challenging. I was amazed to see how my living room table can be transformed to a full-grown jungle world.