Station 42 Conflict Update Part 2

 Late March 3031:  After a long pause in the fighting the Hell Knights discovered that Titania Militia forces had re-built and supplied the "Ghost Compound" and were using it as a base of operations.  A sizable force was dispatched intent on either retaking the compound or at least destroying as many supplies as possible.

 The fighting began around the smaller "Specter Compound" when a Hell Knights scout squad engaged mercenary and security forces there supported by a light hover tank.

 Another scout squad attacked the main compound held by "Boon's Irregulars" supported by a sniper.  Supplies were stacked in both compounds and the surrounding area.  

 After a brief skirmish between the scout and militia forces mechanized infantry and armored units from both sides entered the combat.  Hell Knight and renegade Titania Planetary Guard units engaged head on in the open ground between the compounds.

 Casualties began to mount quickly for both sides.  Specter Compound was over run by Hell Knight forces and the supplies there were destroyed.

 The assault on Ghost Compound did not fare as well.  Planetary Guard Tanks stalled the Hell Knight advance and even though a single Lagarev Hover transport managed to break through both it and the majority of the scout squad were destroyed.

At the end of the battle the Hell Knights were forced to withdraw with heavy casualties although they did manage to destroy about half of the militia supplies.

 Early May 3032 near Pleasant Valley:  After reports of increased militia activity in the town of Pleasant Valley the Hell Knights set up a checkpoint on the main road running between Pleasant Valley and Station 42.  Titania Militia units attacked the checkpoint in an attempt to make the road safer for their activities.

 As militia units advanced the Hell Knight armored units moved up to the ridge across from there checkpoint.  The militia were using light civilian vehicles for transports which were little use against the Hell Knights heavier guns.  The militia also had two field artillery pieces and a few improvised armored vehicles.

 The Hell Knights commander piloting a Battle Suit and Light Hover tank pressed into the militia ranks and did significant damage cutting down many of the lightly armored troops.

 The commander managed to also take out one of the Improvised armored vehicles but was eventually stopped by combined fire from the militia and field piece.

 The Mercenary hover tank also took out several militia troops and improvised armored vehicles until it was taken down by the militia's AC 10.

Even though they lost several armored units during the fighting the Hell Knights managed to force the militia to withdraw.  The veteran rifle squads and remaining Lagarev light transport managed to hold the checkpoint against the few militia that made it past the ridge.

Alphonso Marks for the Titania News Network.

Notes:  The 2nd battle of the Ghost Compound was one of the largest battles we have had in the campaign to date at 2500 points using the No Limits system.  We were very happy to bring a number of units onto the field for this one.  It was a lot of fun to have a large battle with combined arms.  The Battle of Checkpoint Bravo was a 1500 point skirmish.  Although we plan to have more skirmishes we plan to ramp the campaign up with much larger battles involving Mecha and air support as well as tanks and infantry.  

Titania Media blackout lifted! An update on the conflict in the Station 42 region (Part 1)

 When a Hell Knights Battle Cruiser arrived in orbit over Titania last August citizens in the contested lands around Station 42 feared an overwhelming escalation of their conflict with the Smith and Wilson Agriculture corporation.  What they got instead was several months of court battles and a media blackout.  Through buyouts, bribes, and blackmail Smith and Wilson managed to gain control of the local media agencies.  Meanwhile their lawyers engaged in several legal battles to try and put pressure on the locals to abandon their property claims.
On August 19th the Hell Knights conducted three small raids on some of the more stubborn locals.  

 The Hell Knights raided a mining camp owned by the Venture Star Prospecting Company.  Expecting only light resistance Hell Knight forces consisted of mostly infantry units.

 Venture Star had however received had received an anonymous tip about the raid so they hired units from Nova Securities and the Wolfhound Friekorps mercenary company.  They were also backed up by renegade Titania Planetary Guards units.

 The Hell Knights situation became desperate early on when they realized that the Planetary Guard units included a battle tank.

 A Hell Knights assassin managed to kill most of the Wolfhound mercenaries and some of the Nova men before being taken down.

 Their other troops were however no match for the Planetary Guard Tank.  Most of their riflemen were cut down quickly and only a few assault troopers managed to escape the fighting.

 The Hell Knights also dispatched a force to the Redwing farm where they believed a number of Titania militia units were hiding.

 Hell Knight scouts managed to gain a good position early in the fighting using stealth to infiltrate deep within the compound.

 Another Hell Knights assassin was seen during this battle.  These types of troops have previously not been seen in this conflict.

 The Hell Knights Heavy equipment moved into the center of the compound and engaged the militia units and light vehicles.

 The Titania Planetary guard also arrived with a tanks but even that was not enough to secure the farm.  The Planetary guard tank and all the militia light vehicles were destroyed and the Militia units routed.

 The Davis Farm also came under attack by a Hell Knights infantry force backed up by fast moving Lagarev apcs.

 The defenders consisted of Planetary Guard and Militia units with a few improvised light vehicles.

 The battle was a close one and both sides took many casualties but the militia units took the brunt of the damage.

 At the end of the battle the remaining militia member retreated into the farmhouse as Hell Knight assault troopers close in.

Among the militia casualties was Mrs. Davis who was shot during the fighting at the farm house.  The Hell Knights were able to secure the farm and destroy a cache of supplies dealing a heavy blow to resistance forces.

For several months afterwards the conflict in  the Station 42 Region died down.  The Militia and renegade Titania Planetary Guard units had suffered numerous casualties and loss of supplies just as the Hell Knights received some significant reinforcements.  It seemed as if the conflict would finally be settled in the courts although that battle still continues while hostilities seem to have flared again in the region.  More reports on the renewed conflict coming soon.

Alphonso Marks, Titania News Network.

Notes:  We had a long unexpected break during this campaign and didn't play any battles through the last four months of 2012.  The last three battles we fought were a set of 1000 point raids using the No Limits rules system we have been using for this campaign.  We decided that the resistance had been dealt a pretty nasty blow and had mostly gone into hiding while the Smith and Wilson Agriculture Corporation went back to the courts to settle disputes over their claims.  We have had some other battles this year but I just kept putting off the updates about the campaign so I never posted that information.  I will be posting another report in the next day or two hopefully to bring things up to speed and get back on track.  We hope to bring this campaign to a close in the next few month with some larger battles.         

Flying Lamborghini for Station 42

A while back I picked up a Hot Wheels "Custom Motors" kit that was about 1/43 scale with an option to create a flying car.  I liked it quite a bit and it turned out looking really nice all painted up.  The only problem was that there was only one model and I was only able to pick up one copy before they were off the shelves.

I really wanted more flying cars so I decided to try and make a few myself from other 1/43 scale cars.  My first attempt is this flying Lamborghini.

Here is the shot of the car with my scratch built repulsor drives.  I made them mostly from different sized zip ties.  The fins are from some super cheep toy airplane party favors I picked up at Dollar Tree.  I stripped the tires off the wheels and took the axles out but used the plastic wheels to fill the wheel wells so the drives stuck out far enough.

 Here is a shot with the drives glued in place.  This was a very tedious process because I just glued them in the empty wells.  On the next one I'm going to glue some thin plastic inside the wheels because the holes where I cut the axles from made it harder to glue the drives in.  The Lamborghini is just a cheap die cast toy I picked up at Dollar General for less than $3.00

I've got a bit more work to do on this.  I'm thinking of adding wings and some other bits.  I kind of feel like the Hot Wheels car looked a bit over done but this one doesn't quite look finished so I think I'm going to add more.

More "Station 42 War" battles coming soon!

From the 2nd Battle of the Ghost Compound

Our Station 42 War campaign got a little sidetracked when I took over the local Battletech campaign a few months ago.  The last battles we fought were three 1000 point skirmishes using the No Limits system back in August 2012.  I never even got a report up for them.  We finally managed to pick the campaign up last night with a 2500 point battle when the Hell Knights assaulted the Ghost Compound for a 2nd time.  

I will be posting a campaign update about the three skirmishes and what was going on in the campaign story since last August.  After that I will be posting a two part report covering the last battle we fought.  The first section will cover; the terrain set up, scenario, and force selection.  The second part will be the actual battle report.  I may decide to use this format for other reports.   

Hell Knights large hover AFV and Drone painted!

 I've had the build on this large hover AFV finished since August but I've just now managed to get it painted. I'm really happy with the paint job but I'm a little disappointed with the Krylon matte varnish I used on it.  I use the Krylon because it's decently priced and because there are several places in town I can pick it up.  Normally it comes out decently flat.  Not as flat as Testorss but usually flat enough.  Every now and again thought I get a can that comes out more satin the flat in nature.  I'll definitely be varnishing it again with Testors when I get another can.  

 Here's a back shot showing the doors open.  This was a nice feature on the toy I converted this hover craft from so I wanted to retain that feature since this is suppose to be used as a troop transport.  The GW Stormtroopers are shown for scale.  I used these minis for my Armored Assault Squad troopers for my Hell Knights Mercenary Company and this transport was designed specifically for them.  I will be building at least one more of these transports since I have enough troopers for two squads.  Now I just need to stat it up and start using it in our campaign.  

I showed this Hotwheels Batman "Bat" toy yesterday that I picked up for about $8.00.  I decided to paint it up as a combat drone.  For one thing the cockpit was a bit small for a manned speeder and I would have had to tear the toy apart to paint it because they structure made the side windows very hart to get at.  Since it was rivet constructed instead of screwed together that would be been much more difficult.  The other reason thought is that this version of the Hell Knights are not Imperial guardsmen.  They are not stuck with 1930s era weapons and tactics like the Imperial Guard.  I thought using this model as a drone instead of a speeder seemed even more high tech and it still fit within the armies theme.  I used a missile launcher from an Imperial Guard Sentinel walker to give it a bit more firepower.  

Hotwheels Batman "Bat" toy

I picked up this Hotwheels "Bat" speeder from Batman to use as an air speeder for my Hell Knights army.  The cockpit area is just barely large enough to be considered for a 28mm scale pilot but I may paint over it anyway and just use this thing as a kind of drone.  I think either would work reasonably well for this design.  One weird thing about the toy is that the army mounts are positioned asymmetrically which isn't so bad because they are clearly designed to be able to sweep back and forth to track targets.  It does come with a flying stand which is nice but it is awfully short for an air speeder type craft.  I will probably upgrade it eventually.

 Another thing about that model that is kind of strange are these roto blades on the bottom.  They are however made of soft plastic so they were easy to clip off.

This is a pretty good model as is.  It's a bit on the Iconic side of things but I think painting it up in Hell Knights cammo will make look different enough to make it work.  I may add a missile launcher above the cockpit areas to change it up a bit and add a bit of fire power but that's something I can do anytime or even as an upgrade.

Hell Knights Armored Assault Squad "Troop" selection

A Hell Knights Armored Assault Squad engages a squad of N.O.V.A. Securities troopers on Titania during the Station 42 War

Armored Assault Squad

Trooper: AC 9/ RA 6/ CC 5/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 7/ AR 5 (+47)

Sargent: AC 9/ RA 6/ CC 6/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 8/ AR 5 (+52)

Composition: 1 Sargent and 4-9 Troopers

Equipment: Medium Carapace Armor, Heavy Blaster, Pistol

Options:

*The squad may be equipped with fragmentation grenades for +8 points per member.

*The squad may be equipped with thermal grenades for +9 points per member.

*The squad may be equipped with nova bombs for +11 points per member.

*One in five members of the squad may exchange their light laser rifle for one of the following options:

*Plasma Carbine +6 points

*Flamer +3 points

*Frag Grenade Launcher +14 points

*The squad may be assigned a heavy transport from the motor pool.

Notes:  Another troop selection for my Hell Knights Mercenary Company army list for the No Limits free wargame rules.