Scratch built APCs finished!

We finished up the three anti grav APCs.  I'm really happy with the results!  I thought I should show them with some troops. 

Three little AFVs

Well I have all three of my cardboard AFVs to the same stage of painting.  I also put a wash on them after I took this picture.  The wash got a little dark but I think I will be able to fix them.  I'm still really happy with them.  I should have them done completely tomorrow. 

Scratch built APC painting WIP

 Just a quick update.  I've got the base paint job done.  Now I just need to add battle damage and a wash then go back in and add the final details.

We have two more of these in the works at the moment and we plan to make a few more.  We even have a tank body we are working on as well as a staff car and a couple trucks.

Scratch built anti grav vehicle!

 We built the hulls for a few anti gravity vehicles a couple months ago for our Station 42 War campaign but we shelved them because we thought we might find a better alternative.  Unfortunately we did not find many alternatives that we felt we could afford.  In fact only a few companies make anti grav or hover AFVs in 28mm.  There are a hand full of hover or anti grav tanks but very few APCs and they are almost all quite expensive resin cast models.  To top that off most of those models that are out there are made by small companies in the U.K. and shipping is also quite high.

 My wife made the hulls and added the hatches and windows and plating then I added the details.  I'm calling it a Light Anti Grav Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle or "Lagarev" for short.  It's intended role is somewhere between that of a Humvee and an M113 APC.  It's a lightly armored multi role vehicle not intended for front line combat.  It is however very fast and can carry a variety of support weapons.

 Most Lagarevs are also drone rigged so they can be piloted remotely from a remote base well behind the front lines although the drone drivers and gunners are usually less effective than trained crew this feature allows the Lagarev to deploy troops then return for a pickup without the need for a crew.  It also makes it easier for comrades of wounded troops to provide medical assistance during evacuation rather than be concerned with vehicle operation.

 Here is a shot of the front of the vehicle.  I'm not totally satisfied with this angle.  It doesn't look very interesting but I may add some stowage when I finish painting the model.

 Here is a rear shot.  It's slightly better looking than the front.  I think I'm going to paint the zip tie strips I used for detailing up as light bars rather than adding traditional headlights.

 Here is a shot of the anti grav drive made mostly from disposable razors and zip tie bits.  There is also a piece of plastic canvas between the drives to add some more detail to the bottom of the model.  I figure if I need to flip them on their side to show they are wrecked I don't want just a plan underside.

Here is a shot of the weapon mount with a different weapon.  I have several of these that I got from a set of cheap toy robots.  They are intended to be shoulder mounted on the robots but I like the look of them as automated weapons.

I've considered going in and trying to clean these up with some putty but they kind of are what they are and I need to have the three we have started done by Sunday for a game so it's unlikely I'll do any more detail work.

I'll be painting these in my Hell Knights cammo pattern with markings.  I'm hoping that will make them look a bit nicer.  All in all though I'm pretty happy with the results especially since these are made from scrap cardboard and junk.  They probably cost less than a dollar in materials.

2nd Battle of Bunker 1138

 With the ammo recovered by the crew of the "Maxed Out" the Titania Planetary Guard and the local militia units decided it was time to re-take Bunker 1138.  The Hell Knights have been using the bunker as a Forward Operating Base since they took control of it early in the conflict.  The Hell Knights were outnumbered two to one but they had superior skill and equipment.

 The first shots exchanged were between the snipers.  The Hell Knights sniper wounded Redjack from Boon's Militia but Redjack and the other militia snipers returned fire and took the merc out.

 The Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Watch moved into cover behind some discarded barrels on the left flank of the Titania forces but many were gunned down by the Armored Assault squad in the bunker.  The heavy blasters of the mercenaries were more than a match for light militia troops.

A militia technical moves in to support the Titania forces.  These lightly armored but heavily armed vehicles have proven quite dangerous in previous battles.

 More technicals come into play providing cover for Dutton's gang. as they advance into cover near the center of the Titania Forces line.

 On the left flank of the mercenary line the Hell Knights Scouts trade fire with Titania Planetary Guard units.  Both sides take heavy casualties.

 On the mercenaries right flank another technical arrives and cuts the other Hell Knights scout squad to ribbons which causes the survivors to break and run.

 A Titania Planetary Guard tank enters the field on the Titania forces right flank.  Armed with a laser cannon and a scatter laser it is well equipped to handle heavy and light threats.

 One of the technicals is taken out of action by the mercenary "Marksman" battle suit but it take some damage in the exchange.

 Dutton's Gang doesn't find any more protection from the chemical barrels than the Pleasant Valley crew did.  The Hell Knights veteran rifle squads prove their marksmanship.

 Two other technicals are taken down by the battle suit and armored assault squad.  The open ground in front of the bunker is proving to be a nasty kill zone.

 The Planetary Guard Tank moves in and starts trading shots with the veteran rifle squad.  The tank takes some damage from the battle suit but continues to advance knocking down a tent in the middle of the field.

 One squad of veteran riflemen are taken down through the combined fire of the tank and the Planetary Guard troops on the opposite ridge.

 Dutton's Gang retreats from it's position in the center of the Titania line after suffering heavy casualties.

 Bodies begin to pile up in a crater on the Titania forces left flank.  The rest of the Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Watch lie dead or wounded along with several Planetary Guards.

 The Tank and the Battle Suit continue to exchange fire.  Both are damaged but not taken out of action.

 Carson Boon is shot down near the wreckage of one of the militia technicals.  His force field fails to protect him against the heavy blasters of the Armored Assault Squad.

Though they had inflicted serious casualties on the Titania forces the Hell Knights commander could see that it was unlikely that he or his men would survive.  The mercenary contacted the Planetary Guard commander and offered terms.  The Mercenaries offered to withdraw with their wounded if the Titania forces would halt their assault.  The Planetary Guard commander agreed to the terms.

Notes:  We played this battle out over a month ago.  Since then we have also played another Episode of "Maxed Out" that I need to put up.  I'm not entirely sure if I got all the details correct but this is basically how things turned out.  I believe we gave the Titania forces a point advantage because they were assaulting a fortified position.  I think the next battle will be a straight up fight.  

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday......

Hey folks we have started working on Pleasant Valley which is a small town near Station 42 for our generic Sci-Fi setting.  This is a basic "test" layout.  We are going to build a raised shuttle landing pad in the bare front corner of the table.  Of course we will be using vehicles, barrels, crates, and other scatter terrain to fill in as needed.  I hope we can wrap this one up in the next couple of weeks so we can use it for our Station 42 War campaign.  

100 bottle cap barrels

Sometimes we do something completely insane for our games.  This last weekend we put together and finished 100 bottle cap barrels.  Before we had about 35-40 so this will provide us with a lot more scatter terrain for our games which is important because our Station 42 table is 5'x12'.

Our other barrels are all generic so we decided these should have corporate labels as well as warning labels. Cutting out and pasting on the labels was by far the hardest part of the project.  We cut and pasted literally hundreds of them.

You might recognize some of the fictional corporations we used.  Not bad for a weekend project I guess.  These are part of a larger supply depo project we are working on.  Next up will be some other containers and we hope to have some large shipping crates as well.  We already have a lot of labels printed out.