Ancient Ruins Part 2!

 Well we finally started painting those "Ancient" ruins we put together several months ago.  So far we have only used rattle can spray paint and there is a bit more work we need to do on them but they are almost done.  We've decided we want to leave the ruins bare so we can used them in different environments.

I'm sure we will be expanding the set in the future and adding some raised levels and other details.  We expect to get quite a use out of them for many different settings although we started them for our Conan project in particular.

Battle of Station 42 in progress! (The Station 42 War)

 Well we are in the middle of playing out big 4000 point No Limits game for our Station 42 War campaign.  We decided to have this battle in Station 42 itself which we set out on a 5'x12' gaming table.  That's 60' square of gaming surface.  This is the way the table was set up just prior to deployment.  

 This is the Hell Knights force.  Two Regular Rifle Squads, one Veteran Rifle Squad, one Armored Assault Squad. two Scout Squads, two Snipers, one Assassin, three LAGAREVs, one "Vampire Bat" combat drone, one "Landshark" AFV, one "Hobilar" light hover thank, one "Douglas" medium hover tank, one "Incubus" light mech, and one mechsuit piloted by my captain.  64 models in total and every model I have painted for my army except one assassin.

This is the Titania force.  Four squads of Titania Planetary Guard and one command squad, three squads of Battledroids, one squad of NOVA troopers, three Snipers, three Improvised Armored Vehicles, Three Badger MRAPs, two Medium Tanks, one "Guardian" medium mech, and Rosie's "Cyclopes" medium mech.  65 models in total.

We are currently on turn 9 of the battle and plan to play to the end of turn 12 unless one side pulls out.  Right now it's a toss up as both sides have taken almost %50 casualties.

The best laid plans and all that.

So we had this big plan to have a 4000 point No Limits battle actually in Station 42 for our "Station 42 War" campaign over the 4th of July holiday.  Unfortunately we didn't quite get it together.  We didn't get all the models done.  We didn't get stats created for the new units and equipment.  We didn't get out army list set up.  We did however almost get those things done and we got the Station set up.  That's a 5x12' table or 60 square feet of gaming goodness.  We hope to be able to do the battle this coming Saturday instead.

Hell Knight Regular Rifle Squad #2

I just finished another Regular Rifle Squad for my Hell Knights mercenary army.  This brings my total number of "troops" up to about 52.  I hope to finish another 10 man squad of Regular Rifles soon to finish out that platoon then I'm going to work on finish out my Veteran Rifle platoon.

Battle of Dutton's Camp (Station 42 War Battle Report)

 July 5th 3032 Titania "Green Zone":  Earlier today a small force of Hell Knights engaged member of the Titania Militia just near Titania City in the "Green Zone".  Regular vehicle traffic inside the zone is restricted to a few roadways so the mercenaries marched a force two kilometers inside the zone to reach the militia encampment.  Militia members under the command of Jim Dutton had set up a hidden recruitment base and the Hell Knights intended to shut it down.

 Hell Knight Scouts and Snipers crept close to the base.  Two NOVA securities officers were shot down in the opening exchange.

 Another group of scouts on Dutton's right flank engaged some Wolfhound mercenaries but in this engagement they did not do as well loosing two of their own.

 The commander of the Hell Knights and two Armored Assault Squads moved in with an Assassin saying in the cover of a large hill.  A militia sniper far on their left managed to take out one of the commanders men.

 The remaining three NOVA troopers closed on the scouts and engaged them but lost another of their member in the attempt.  A militia sniper kill one of the scouts but was wounded in return by a Hell Knights sniper.  That sniper was killed by fire from the commanders squad members who was shot by yet another militia sniper.

 The Hell Knights commanders final squad member was killed by fire from Bear's militia unit.  Another NOVA trooper was gunned down by the Scouts leaving only the Sargent.

 Leaping from the shadows a Hell Knights Assassin dispatched the remaining militia sniper on Dutton's left flank.  The three remaining scouts on the hill killed three of Bear's militia as the other Armored Assault Squad made a steady advance.

 Combined fire from the Scouts and Armored Assault Squad reduced Bear's militia to two members.  The return fire left only the Scout Sargent standing.

 The heavily armored Hell Knights took out Bear and his last militia member as the Scout Sargent withdrew from his position.  Dutton's militia and the Wolfhound mercs continued to close in.

The NOVA Sargent gunned down another armored Hell Knight but the mercenaries managed to break the Wolfhounds with accurate Heavy Blaster fire.  The assassin blew up a cache of  militia supplies and the mercenary commander gunned down one of Dutton's men.
With only seven men left in the battle the Hell Knights commander chose to withdraw from the field.  Although they had bloodied the militia they were unable to achieve their objectives.

Notes:  This was actually one of the more grueling battles we have had for the campaign.  With no vehicles allowed there was a lot of moving but there was also a lot of moving through difficult ground and a lot of cover.  The Militia snipers did a lot of damage to the Hell Knights.  The Hell Knight scouts really had a great position on the hill.  Elevated and with +2 cover from the woods enemy shots were at a -3 for the entire game.  This made them a tough group to take out.  Not only that they managed to give as well as they got in the long run.  If only I had put the other scout squad in an equally good position.  The Wolfhound Friekorps were also particularly nasty.  They dispatched my other unit of scouts in two turns without taking any damage.  The Hell Knights objectives were to take down Dutton and Bear and to destroy supplies and the militia's generator and communications up-link.  This may have been a few too many objectives especially with so many defenders to face.   This ended up being a pretty solid victory for the militia although a hard fought one.  

Little box of joy from Khurasan Miniatures! Federal Infantry

 This last Sunday I placed and order to Khurasan Miniatures for a platoon of Federal Riflemen plus some support weapons.  35 miniatures came to a total of $53.95 with shipping!  That's roughly $1.54 per miniature.  What a steal!  Not to mention I got the order today.  Just 3 business days after I placed the order.  I'm very impressed.    

 The miniatures are very nice.  Not the best sculpts but they are very good and very well styled.  The weapons seem reasonably sized and their equipment is very "Soldier of the Future" in nature.  There are 17 different sculpts in this line and a good selection of heavy type weapons.  Easily enough to make a nice platoon sized force for a 28mm skirmish game.

They fit well with other 28mm lines.  They are a bit on the shorter and slender side and don't scale quite as well with more "heroic" scale lines but they look acceptable for most of the lines I use.

I plan to use these guys as Marines for the Confederacy of Outlying Systems in my Moon Miners and Terraformers setting.

Hell Knights Medium Hover Tank Finished!

 I finished the medium hover tank for my Hell Knights.  The model is converted from a Matchbox toy. The missile launcher is scratch built from different sized zip ties.  I have two other toys I've started converted so I will have a full tank squadron.

I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and hopefully I'll have the other two assembled and painted shortly.

Battle at Boon's Trading post (1500 point No Limits battle report for The Station 42 War)

 June 30th 3032, Titania:  After being turned back in their attempt to occupy Station 42 the Hell Knights made a direct attack on "Boon's Trading Post" owned by militia leader Carson Boon.  Expecting trouble Boon had fortified his business with a sandbag wall and barricades.  In addition to Boon's own men other militia forces were present including sharpshooters from the Titania Hunting Club and a unit commanded by militia leader "Bear" Ivar Belyakov.  Also present was a unit of mercenaries from the Wolfhound Friekorps.  The Titania forces also contained four improvised armored vehicles and a battle cannon light artillery piece.  

 The Hell Knights attacked with two Veteran Rifle Squads, a Scout Squad, two Snipers, three LAGARV apcs, a Hobilar Light Hover Tank, and a Mechsuit.

 The Hell Knights scout squad took a forward position near a rocking outcropping on their right flank.

 Militia units took up position around the trading post while the Wolfhound troopers occupied and rooftop of a house to their left.

 Carson Boon himself took up a position inside his house intent on defending it personally.

 The Hell Knights made an aggressive push destroying one of the improvised armored vehicles.  The APC on their right flank suffered heavy damage in the assault and was forced to withdraw.  The scout squad in the rocky outcropping also took four casualties but held their ground.

 On the Hell Knights left flank a squad of Veteran Riflemen took up a position in a rocky outcropping with the support of their APC and did significant damage to the militia units there.

 Hell Knight armored units on the right flank destroyed more improvised armored vehicles.  The mechsuit was lightly damaged by the Wolfhound unit who also took some casualties.

 Bear's unit managed to destroy the Hell Knight APC attacking the trading post with concentrated assault rifle fire.

 The Hell Knight Veteran squad who had been forced to fall back used the range of their light laser rifles to their advantage shooting down the rest of the Wolfhound troopers outside their range.  The rest of the technical vehicles were destroyed as the Hell Knights secured their right flank.

 On the left flank the damaged APC arrived to support the remainder of the Hell Knight veterans mop up the rest of the defenders.

Carson Boon was forced to to escape from his home by breaking out a window.  Bear's unit covered him as they withdrew from the battle.
This battle was a major loss for the Titania Militia.  Boon had been using his workshop to build improvised armored vehicles for militia forces and they suffered fairly heavy casualties.  Boon has already vowed to have revenge on the Hell Kights for attacking his home.

This has been Alphonso Marks for the Titania News Network.

Notes:  We could have almost called this "The Battle of Too Much Terrain".  Normally we like a lot of terrain but I think we got it a little heavy in this battle.  The Hell Knights actually had a slight point value advantage in this fight of about 150 points.  My wife was allowed to set up the sandbag wall and scatter terrain around the Trading Post however she wanted and normally the militia has proved pretty tenacious in defense.  Normally the "technicals" do a lot more damage as well but I think they were restricted a bit by the dense terrain.  Even my hover craft felt a bit hemmed in.  All in all though it was a good battle the played pretty smoothly.  We didn't really have any new units to play with so it was a pretty easy battle to manage.  I did seem to have better luck with the die rolls which is usually something my wife has more luck with.    
We are both employed at The University of Central Missouri and the new president there has given us a four and a half day holiday for Independence Day so we are planning to play a few skirmishes and one large 4000 point battle in Station 42 itself.  We had originally planned to wrap the campaign up by the end of the summer by we may extend it to the end of the year.  We plan to pick up with a new campaign early next year based on Ceres and the asteroid belt pitting the Martian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Jovian Empire against a rebellion supported by the Confederacy of Outlying Systems and several mercenary armies in the employment of various corporate interest.