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.  

Hell Knights Scout Squad "Troop" selection.

Two Hell Knights Scout Squads prepare to assault a communications bunker defended by renegade Titania Planetary Guard members during the Station 42 War

Scout Squad

Scout: AC 8/ RA 5/ CC 4/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 6/ AR 2 (+29)

Sargent: AC 8/ RA 5/ CC 5/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 7/ AR 2 (+33)

Composition: 1 Sargent and 3-5 Scouts

Abilities: Infiltrate

Equipment: Battle Uniform, Light Laser rifle.

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 member of the squad may exchange their light laser rifle for one of the following options:

*Heavy Blaster +3 points

*Plasma Carbine +6 points

*Flamer +3 points

*Frag Grenade Launcher +14 points

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

Notes:  Another entry for my Hell Knights army list for our home setting using the No Limits free wargame rules.  Squads with the "infiltrate" ability may only have a maximum of 6 members.  

Hell Knights Veteran Rifle Squad "Troop" selection

A Hell Knights Veteran Rifle Squad defends a supply depot from and insurgent attack during the Station 42 war on Titania

Veteran Rifle Squad

Trooper: AC 9/ RC 6/ CC 5/ S 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 7/ AR 3 (+35)

Sargent: AC 9/ RC 6/ CC 6/ S 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 8/ AR 3 (+41)

Composition: 1 Sargent and 4-9 Troopers

Equipment: Flack Armor, Light Laser Rifle

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:

*Heavy Blaster +3 points

*Plasma Carbine +6 points

*Flamer +3 points

*Frag Grenade Launcher +14 points

*The squad may be equipped with bayonets for +2 points per model.

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

*The squad may be assigned a single detachment from the detachment list.

Hell Knights Regular Rifle Squad "Troop" selection

A Hell Knights Regular Rifle Squad secures a militia compound on Titania during the Station 42 War

Regular Rifle Squad

Trooper: AC 8/ RA 5/ CC 4/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 6/ AR 3 (+25)

Sargent: AC 8/ RA 5/ CC 5/ ST 4/ T 4/ W 1/ CO 7/ AR 3 (+29)

Composition: 1 Sargent and 4-9 Troopers

Equipment: Flack Armor, Light Laser Rifle

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:

*Heavy Blaster +3 points

*Plasma Carbine +6 points

*Flamer +3 points

*Frag Grenade Launcher +14 points

*The squad may be equipped with bayonets for +2 points per model.

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

*The squad may be assigned a single detachment from the detachment list.

Notes:  This is the first entry my my Hell Knights Mercenary Company army list using the No Limits free wargame rules set.  The Regular Rifle Squads form the core of most Hell Knights armies.  

X-WING "Courier Escort" game report

We picked up a copy of Fantasy Flight's X-WING game a few months ago but never got around to playing it despite the fact that we have been buying ships for it.  After going down to the FLGS today for a quick demo I purchased 5 more ships then came home unboxed all my ships and painted up a star field table.

My wife and I decided to play a 75 point escort mission.  The Rebel goal was to escort a Y-wing courier off the far corner of the sector.  The Imperial goals was to stop them.  My wife played the Rebels and I played the Imperials.

The Imperial force consisted of:
Two TIE Fighters from Black Squadron
One TIE Interceptor from Alpha Squadron
Maarek Stele in a TIE Advanced with "Swarm Tactics"

The Rebel force consisted of:
Two X-wing Starfighters from Red Squadron.  Red 2 had R5-K6 astromech droid and Red 3 had R2-F2.
One Y-wing Starfighter from Gold squadron with an Ion Canon Turret and R2 Astromech.

  By turn 3 we were already in a heavy furball.  The Alpha Squadron Interceptor was hit by the Y-wings Ion Canon.  Red 2 lost it's shields to combined fire from the Black Squadron TIEs and Maarek Stele.

As the Interceptor drifted the Black Squadron TIEs and Stele took out the Y-wing's shields.  The Y-wing scored another Ion hit on the Interceptor.  The X-wings ended up completely outmaneuvered.

As the Rebel ships came about Red 2 destroyed Black 27 scoring three hits against no evades.  The Y-wing took a couple hits this turn as well.

The Interceptor preformed Koiogran Turn (Immelman?) and scored an impressive long range critical hit on the Y-wing doing double damage.

 The Y-wing scored an Ion hit against Stele after taking another hit from the Black Squadron TIE who had preformed another Koiogran.

Black 26 scored the final hit against the Gold Squadron Y-wing dashing the Rebels hope for victory.

This game ran very smoothly and all the ships preformed as expected.  The Rebel ships were hard to damage with their shields while the imperials were weaker but highly maneuverable and evasive.  The Imperials scored a lot of critical hits that only served to weaken the Rebel shields.  We played this game in just a couple of hours and I had only played one session of the game if that gives you any indication of how simple the rules are and yet they did not seem all that simplistic.

Hell Knights Army Book coming soon for No Limits

Hey folks I'm working on getting a Hell Knights army book written for the No Limits free war game rules system.  As we have been playing the Station 42 War campaign I have been developing this army and I have enough material to star putting together a more formal book.  I not only be including the army list but also pictures of every unit in the book as well as information about how I built and painted the miniatures and models.  I hope to release the book as a free PDF on the No Limits web site.
This will be a major undertaking so I plan to provide samples of the content here as I put the army list together.