2015 First dice rolling of the year!

I had a fun game this Saturday with Jonathan Rogers and Simon Moules.  Had to get the gas heater on in the garage because of the cold but we managed to stay warm enough to roll dice and push models around. The Pizza break also helped with the cold. 

The Gruntz 15mm SCI-FI game was played on my small 3x3ft terrain table which I normally take to shows as a demo table. If we are not using many vehicles it is a good size, however for a larger game I prefer the 6x4ft size to give armour and grav skimmer type vehicles more room for manoeuvre. 

I had my older East Hyadum Trade forces (Futuristic East India Company troops) and Jon had his mostly Khuransan miniatures Neo-Sov force. 

On around turn 3 I appeared to have the advantage but lost my APC after I had loaded it with my droid unit. It suffered a catastrophic engine failure when destroyed and the Droids perished with it. At that point I resorted to mostly just pounding Jon's NeoSov forces with my mortar from a distance and indirectly. It was a bloody game and I think ultimately that the East Hydadum forces held the ground before the NeoSov's withdrew.  I was successful in holding up his main powered armour unit by suppressing them each round which really slowed their progress. 

Here we are setting up with Jon checking his mobile.

These did not come into play but Jon wanted to show his work in progress on his Grav Skimmers from Antenocitis workshop. He has made various kit bash modifications to the turrets. 

This is my East Hyadum Trade force.  A High Energy Laser specialist, a Mortar an a mix of Gruntz squads all from Ground Zero Games (GZG.COM)

Jon's nearly finished Neo-Sov troops and walker (GZG Crustie Walker).

The full 3x3ft layout aerial view.  Having the stack like hills in place gives even a small board plenty of places for tactical movement. 

An early move got these troops into cover. 

This is a GZG APC which I have modified with a plasma turret and a couple of extra bits.

You can see for speed of play I had 

I wrote Gruntz but I still need to check the rule book! I was reminding myself that a rear shot on my APC was going to get a +2 damage on the damage roll in the rear arc. 

Water vaper blown over the board to give it a smoke filled look for the photo.  Jons Khurasan Power armour troops are modified by using a robotic style head. 

In the distance you can see my shielded Spider droids held the line with their force shields in position. 

One of the Spider Droids shields has been over powered. 

Making use of the shielding provided by the Droids giving the troops an added screen. 

My GZG skimmer grav bikes were able to put pressure on troops quickly with their fast movement but they were a little fragile and were soon wiped out. 

Cards placed for Card activation using the Gruntz activation cards which can be bought on Wargames Vault It added a chaotic feel with random activation of units between players. 

Shields Up! 

Robotic assets. 

Activation cards on the dropship launch pad.

Khurasan GOTA Clans Infantry

This weekend I just finished some new models from the Khurasan Zantin Reconquest setting.  These were a pleasure to paint and have very cool gas-mask helmets with interesting plated body armour which looks great from the back of the models (rear shots attached).

I used 5 pence pieces (UK) to base them and painted using P3 paints. Due to the small size of 15mm I often go for higher contrast on the models to allow things like guns and other details to stand out. So the weapons were a dull black with a subtle grey dry brush to contrast against the lighter colour of the uniform. All the models needed very little clean up and have very well posed stances. Check out the heavy weapon team from behind in the photos below, the model on the far right is walking in a way that suggests the weapon is heavy in his hands, which is amazing detail for a 15mm model. 

The Casualty model had a couple of additional holes drilled into his chest by me and after the miniatures were dull coated I used Tamiya Clear red to give him a gloss-blood look to the injury. 

I painted white into the visors and then used fluorescent red from Life Color over the dry white. Finally after dull-coating the models with spray matt varnish I used a splash of Games Workshop "Ardcoat" gloss varnish in the visors to make them shine a little.

Note that the larger squad heavy weapons below have stands folded back along the side of the weapon. Difficult to see unless you zoom in. So they can be used in prone mode.  Perhaps Khurasan could have some made up in the prone shooting position. :)

15mm Collection Growing

In order to support the playtesting of Gruntz I have been growing the collection to include some painted Khurasan models.  I have a large group of models here which need some base work done to complete them.  Once finished they will feature in a couple of demo games which I will video to highlight some of the changes in the V1.1 rules.  There are limited changes in the updates to the rules but those items that are tweaked will be featured in series of videos to make understanding the details nice and clear. 

New 15mm Khurasan

These are a range of models from Khurasan recently added to the collection.  I have plans for a Prime infected game (From the Heliopause Gruntz setting) on the space station board where the initial engagement will be between some infected and converted colonists and the Hasmat suits before harder battle is played out between Federal Army marines and the aliens themselves.

All of these are based with my standard of a 5pence piece. I find 1p a little on the large size and I don't like the big raised lip you would have if you used the mini-slotta type bases.  The weight of the 5pence piece is great for reducing topple in 15mm models and it looks in-scale with the small models.  Larger figures are put on 1pence pieces and Gruntz Specialists and Commanders are based on 2pence.

Federal Hasmat suit types with weapons.

Infected by Prime alien spawn.

Primes for the Gruntz Heliopause settings (models Space Demons by Khurasan)

This is the terrain planned for the Prime infected battle at Salute. Resin terrain from Ainsty casting and construction and airbrushing by me in 2004.

Powered Armour walkers.

Two ARM squads for the Heliopause Gruntz setting (models evil troopers from Khurasan).

These models were painted by Tom on commission at onfirepainting.blogspot.com 


For those interested, here is some background story from a section of the Gruntz rules about the Prime. 


Makken’s face dripped with sweat and his ears rung with the screeching whine of the whirring Gatling Rail Cannon’s rotating barrel. The ground around him was strewn with red hot casing that the gun spat out disgustedly in a brassy waterfall. The GRC was supposed to be used to take out fast moving skimmers or lightly armoured APC’s but right now Jerrit Makken swept it in wide arcs mowing down Prime warriors with brutal ease; the high velocity rounds passing through multiple aliens as they coursed through the air. It was grim work as the unrelenting horde refused to give ground; their basalt coloured corpses stopped 15 feet from where Makken was holed up underneath one of the Mule skimmers and were 4 feet high if it was an inch.
Then they stopped. No Prime came clambering over the bodies of its fallen brethren; Makken let the gun barrel spin down and looked around the makeshift perimeter.
“One hundred yards – volley fire – FIRE!” bellowed Sergeant Lippham his lips cracked from the burning sun and the screaming of orders.
A sharp crack of laser fire rang out around the valley as the platoon poured it’s small arms fire into the onrushing Primes; shadowy figures fell to the ground the white hot pock marks of the laser strikes glowing against their dark flesh.
“Independent fire boys – pour it on now”
The sound of laser fire broke up like the pattering of rain broke out as individual troopers picked their shots; howling gushes of Nitromethane added their voice to the concert of killing and the occasional dull crump of a Personal Ordnance Missile weighed in with their heavy percussion. And still the Prime came on.
Lippham caught a glimpse of Forbes firing a pistol in each hand, his face contorted with hatred and smeared with the dust from the heavy roll he took down the valley wall to warn the relief column of its impending danger. The Major so calm, so polite normally was screaming blasphemies upon the enemy. A man not 10 feet from the officer was spun around as a Prime dashed away his face with one mighty blow; gore sprayed up into the air like a grotesque rainbow showering those unfortunate enough to be near the poor man before a quick witted trooper gutted the beast with his Iridium combat blade. Still the Prime jerked towards the nearest man even with its innards spilling across the dry earth before even it’s mighty frame twitched still.
Then they stopped. Corpses littered the valley floor but no more Primes appeared.  Lippham turned on his heel.
“Cease fire! No point wasting ammo. Well done boys well done”
And went to find the Major.
Major Forbes shot another Prime in the face; the dark ichor misted up in front of his goggled eyes as the creature sank to its knees. He shot another in the spine it arched double exposing it’s rib cage to the trooper it was tangling with; the man needed no further invitation and coldly ran the creature through. The tip of his blade glinted out of the other side of the Prime and Wripley grimly smiled the mouth bending upwards to crack the desiccated corners.
Then they stopped. Sergeant Lippham approached across the charnel scene.
“They’ve stopped saar.”
Yes Sergeant it appears so. Please can you get together a party to tend the wounded and pass my thanks to the men.”
“Yes saar. What about the bodies saar – there’s ‘undreds of them”
“Burn them Sergeant. Burn them all”

Painting update 15mm Chewks

Last week I finished painting some of the Chewks models I have for Khurasan. They were airbrushed initially with the aim of making them look a dark brown colour. The Drill tank itself has a flat drill (not your traditional pointy drill), so is initially a little confusing to view, however it is bursting out of the ground.

The Chewk canon is is designed to be mounted onto the side of the drill tank as an extending platform. For the purpose of Gruntz rules it will take one action to deploy the Chewk canon from the side of the tank.

The Chewk canon can also be setup as an independent artillery piece in its own right, being pulled by a Chewkamel (shown here in blue). It has two crew and in this unlimbered setup I have placed the Chewkamel beside the canon on the base.

You can view unpainted video details on the Chewk tank in my video update here: Chewk Tank details.

15mm New Products

In this news update I feature myself on camera, which is both disturbing and bloody difficult to film naturally! 20 takes later and I was able to say "Kaamados Dominion - Dragamaa Heavy". It is another un-boxing overview video with a mix of Critical Mass Games models and Khurasan.

The featured new item is the Chewk Drill Tank which I have filmed in its unpainted state. Along with a couple of the little Chewks, which are nice tiny aliens.

I also picture the Kerr and King bases which are perfect for small artillery or vehicle bases, if you want a urban or rural look.