Rogue Stars

So at the FLGS (well, friendly yes, not super Local anyway), Rogue Stars is starting to get to be fairly popular.  I played around with several themes and lists on paper only to discover my idea for each team was going to be super hard to represent in miniatures available or easily attainable.  So finally I just threw all my ideas out and started going through the miniatures I DID have and go for an idea based on that.  And it worked.  Culling through my small group of Imperial Guard (Yeah, I said it and not Adeptus Whatevericus), I pulled enough minis that I like to give a good pool of models to implement a force with some spares in case of character death or just the need to swap things on the list up occasionally.

Now the lists played so far are 2 Pirate Crews and a Star Cops unit so I knew I didn't want to do either of those.  What I did instead was a Mercenary crew based on the old English East India Tea Company.  Thus His Scottish Majesty's East Galactic Trade Company was born, enlisting Royal Scottish Marines as the muscle of the company.

This trading company, based in Inverness, Scotland, establishes trade routes and outposts of trade for Scottish space lines and merchants ... and they establish them one way or another.  The Royal Oak is an armed merchant cruiser with a trade representative aboard duly sanctioned by His Royal Scottish Majesty's government for actions ranging from trade negotiations to armed privateer actions.  A company of Royal Scottish Marines is also embarked for the protection of the vessel as well as EGTC interests.

L to R: McTavish, Forsythe, and Sharpe

Star Cruiser Royal Oak
Captain Richard Forsythe, Commanding officer
Commander Ian Sharpe, Executive Officer
Sir Conner MacTavish, EGCT Representative

L to R: Duncan, Hollister, and Fisher

3rd Company, 44th Battalion (Coldstream Guards), Royal Scottish Marine Corps
Captain Duncan Enwright, Commanding Officer
2nd Lt. Edmund Hollister, Communications Officer
2nd Lt. Dr. Andrew Fisher, Medical Officer

Coporals

Privates

Corporal Victor Haig
Corporal Nathaniel Lockesly
Private Jacob Hearns
Private Lloyd Bancroft
Private Colin Holmes
Private James O'Donnell
Private Douglas Crowelly
Private Oliver MacGuire
Private Paul Yeats

Now the roster for a game has around 5 or 6 models in it, so as I said, plenty of extra models to play around with and some room to do a few other specialists to add to the unit as well.  I think the theme is fun enough as well to have some running adversarial relations with some of the other crews as well.  I should make it up there this coming Saturday and hopefully I'll get my first game of this in.

So that's all for now and I'll see you all next time.  Thanks for reading.

Let's Launch Things Into Space

So the last of what I needed arrived in the mail Friday and my special project for BattleTech terrain is now completed.  This is made from part of a GI Joe vehicle, the radar option from the AA Walker for my British Bolt Action, some 40K bits, and a 1/400 Delta II Rocket with Launch Pad.

 

This is a Slingshot Mk.IV Mobile Satellite Launch Platform.  This dates back to the early days of the Terran Hegemony.  It was designed to allow continued launch of various satellites into orbit, from weather to communications to others, during the colonization period of a planet.  It's capable of only minimal speed but that allows it to maneuver clear of adverse weather or other dangers.

I had the idea for this a while back but it's taken quite a while to find the right scale rocket that came with a launch pad to use.  I really like how this came out and it makes a great objective for my ComStar force to defend as it's just the kind of lostech that they'd be hiding from everyone else, but they'd still be using on sparsely populated worlds to keep an eye on things.

That's it on the hobby front for now.  My last paycheck had my yearly bonus on it and I picked up some DVDs of some of the shows I grew up with, namely Hanna-Barbera.  I got the complete series of Thundarr the Barbarian, Space Stars (which has Space Ghost, the Herculoids, and others), and then Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.  So needless to say, I've been relaxed in the living room with a big bowl of cereal and watching cartoons in the evenings after work lately.  So I'll see you all next time and thanks for visiting.

ComGuard Additions and Terrain

So the ComGuard in BattleTech, even though they use a funky 6 in a lance set-up, are a combined arms unit like the Star League Defense Force that was their predecessor.  While I have a number of tanks in the Eridani Light Horse Regiment and leftover from the same, the vast majority were created in the time between the fall of the Star League and the 3rd Succession War which is the time frame I'm building this unit for.  So with that in mind I went looking for some appropriate vehicles to use.

 

The first unit is a pair of Marksman Artillery Tanks, a pair of Alacorn Heavy Tanks, and then will get two bases of Mechanized Infantry.  The Marksmans provide plenty of long range artillery power while the Alacorns with their triple Gauss rifles will be murder on advancing enemy mechs.  With two mechanized platoons to screen them, it's a good force to provide supporting fire.

The second unit is a quartet of Puma Assault Tanks, which will also get two bases of Mechanized Infantry.  A PPC and 2 LRM/20s give the Puma plenty of ranged power with a pair of medium lasers and an SRM/6 for closer defense.  It even has a small laser and a flamer to deal with any pesky infantry that get past the two accompanying platoons of mechanized infantry.

Now after getting that terrain shown in the last post, I got an itch for getting some more CBT terrain.  So I hit the bits boxes and saw what I could come up with.  First up I had some old containers that ended turned into 5 storage tanks that will make a nice defense or attack objective/target.

Then I turned a couple Tau drone bodies into what will be a pair of bunkers/  Once they get flocked around, they should work quite well for that.  The last piece is going to be a small missile launch station with a comm tower and small bunker to go with the two launchers.

As far as mechs go, the Scout Level II of Hussar, triple Mercury, and dual Assassin got black paint highlights but still need to be touched up in a couple places with white and then get based.  They will hopefully make the next post.  So progress continues and I'm slowly accumulating a decent mix of BattleTech terrain.  I'll see you all next time and thanks for reading.

Battletech and a Bit More Battletech

So we've got some progress on the ComGuard force on both the miniature and fluff side of things.  The force is now part of the 7th ComGuard Division under Precentor Xavier Stoughton.  This unit is currently stationed on Galedon V in the Draconis Combine and is assigned to protect the HPG and other ComStar facilities on the planet.  It's a bit weird using 6 mech units rather than the normal 4 mech lance, and I'm still trying to figure out the Latin alphabet designation for the Level III layers when you figure in the infantry and vehicles.  But all in all, it's progressing well I think.

As to the painting, after using a test model to try black wash followed by touching up with white paint and then trying an ultra fine black modeling marker in place of the black wash .... I have discovered that I have the skill to pull off neither method on white models.  So they'll all get painted white, get a silver for the view ports, and then black to hit some of the weapon barrels and such, and that will just have to suffice.  I've got the first three Level II's through the two layers of white primer and then a layer of Vallejo White.

Level II Alpha Light
Adept Kevin Barrows
    Hussar Light Mech
    Mercury Light Mech
    Mercury Light Mech
    Mercury Light Mech
    Assassin Medium Mech
    Assassin Medium Mech

The first is a Light Scout Level II.  This is a nice fast and mobile unit made up of classic Star League Defense Force mechs.  It definitely should be able to perform it's role as scouts for the main force.  These are the first Mercurys and first Hussar that I have owned.  The Hussar blister was slightly intimidating with all the parts in it, but it went together quite easily.  I like this mix of mechs for this role and it makes a nice looking unit.

Level II Alpha Heavy
Adept Vincent Wellingsby
    Flashman Heavy Mech
    Grasshopper Heavy Mech
    Grasshopper Heavy Mech
    Grasshopper Heavy Mech
    Wolverine Medium Mech
    Wolverine Medium Mech

Next up is a striker/reaction force Level II.  All six mechs are in my list of favorites and offer good hitting power while maintaining good speed and maneuverability.  Again all are designs common to the SLDF and are what you'd expect to find in the hidden ComGuard force.

Level II Alpha Assault
Adept Carissa Allenby
    Orion Heavy Mech
    Stalker Assault Mech
    Stalker Assault Mech
    Stalker Assault Mech
    Exterminator Heavy Mech
    Exterminator Heavy Mech

This is the assault force of the unit.  It's a hard hitting force that's designed to punch through an opposing force.  Once more, common SLDF units and what you'd expect for a linebreaker force.

I also made some progress on some terrain for my BattleTech and thought I'd work it into this post as well.

The HPG Station that's been posted in this blog before.  A mix of GI Joe parts and various bits, it works well for the role I think and will give my ComGuard force something to protect.

Next is a factory complex that is numerous bits added to a switch box.  It's not the greatest but again should work well for what it represents.

Lastly we have a mix of small terrain options.  There is a small electrical station, two defense missile towers and a quartet of sensor towers or mining platforms as they could work for either depending on the map set up.  I think this gives a decent mix of terrain to work into the normal hills, forests, etc that go on the board and could lead to some interesting scenario driven games as well.

So that's it for the moment and I'll see you all next time.