Infinity AAR - Ariadna vs Aleph

TERRAIN
This was a good test for the foam terrain.  The lift-out floors were appreciated and multiple doorways gave interesting choices.  In future I'm doing more buildings with multiple entries (3+ doors), but with LoS within the building blocked from entrance to entrance.  I'm keeping all my terrain to 2-story as different levels lead to over-generous firing lanes.

GAMEPLAY
It was only 3 v 3 as we were waiting for others to arrive to play Warmachine (yeah, I know...). I setup with a Naga sniper, a Deva and a Dasyu.  My opponent had a Vet. Kazak, Tankhunter (HMG), and a Sniper scout.

He immediately set up his sniper on a balcony overlooking the central courtyard and his other two together out of LoS.  With no template weapons, I grouped all mine behind a large building.

The Ariadnan scout sniper was blocking the right flank so I moved my (superior) sniper to engage.  Sadly my Naga moved too far out to claim cover, and was promptly hit with a critical. *Boom* headshot.  I moved my Dasyu through the building and took a shot at his Vet. Kazak, pinging two shots off his armour and forcing him back into cover. The Ariadnan armour saving the day,  setting the tone for the rest of the game.

From this balcony the Ariadnan sniper controlled most of the courtyard and put a real hamper on my movements. 


The Ariadnans responded to my advance by setting up a HMG overwatch on the left flank and moving the Vet. Kazak into a central building. 

On the other side of the building, my Dasyu hugged cover out of LoS of the deadly sniper. The Deva cheerleader prepared for a dash across the open ground where my sniper had met her fate, hoping for a flanking move to get into the sniper's building.

The Vet. Kazak moved through the buidling to engage my Dasyu,and was promptly shot with another critical.  The Deva sprinted across open ground, avoiding a sniper shot, and began flanking the right sided buildings, headed for the sniper nest.

The Tankhunter moved to engaged the Dasyu, who was in cover.  In the ensuing firefight the Tankhunter took two hits which he successfully resisted, falling back.  The HMGer retreated into the building to support the sniper, just as the Deva was entering the bottom floor from the other side, intent on murder.

The Dasyu peeked around the corner and engaged the sniper from close range. Both fired from cover, which saved the sniper as two shots rattled off his armour and pinged into the balustrade.   Then - disaster! The Deva ran into the room with the Tankhunter, where her more mobile weapon favoured her, but fell dead, victim to another lucky critical. I felt really unlucky here.

The sniper and the Dasyu exchanged another round of fire, with the Dasyu getting the better of it, but being unable to damage his foe, who cowered back in cover behind the balcony balustrade.

It was with a sense of inevitability that the Tankhunter came back through the doorway to engage the Dasyu, who failed his first reaction roll of the game, to receive two shots through the chest.

The Tankhunter made 6 armour saves, the Scout 4 and the Kazak Vet. 2. With 2 kills to all the armour saves (and passed all WIP rolls) the Tankhunter was undoubtedly the star of the show.  My standout was the Dasyu who won 8 opposing rolls, garnering only one kill.

I feel apart from my stupidity getting my Naga killed at the start of the game, my tactics were sound, with a sequence of phenomenal armour rolls by my opponent making him nigh-immortal. 

I still need more buildings - and I'll be starting to paint and tidy up the ones I have as I feel they worked well for this test run. The foam is rather light and tends to be bumped easily but otherwise works well.

Space 1889 15mm Test Sculpts

The sculptor's site is here.

As you can see, the sculpts look good in 15mm -

 These would be useful for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - which could be a fun gang for Strange Aeons or similar pulp games.

I like the gas-masks - they would go well with a Martian dust storm.

I think this range looks very promising. I am looking forward to the Martian forces...

Space: 1889 in 15mm

This probably isn't a news flash, but in case you're a VSF lover who has been under a rock (or without internet connection) since April, the Space: 1889 universe is being revamped.

In.... wait for it...  15mm!

The sculptor has history with Splintered Light and Rebel Minis who are both top-notch 15mm manufacturers - so I have high hopes for the sculpts. I didn't really get into Space 1889 the first time round (by the time I 'discovered' the universe most stuff was hard to get).  I am especially looking forward to the airships and sky galleons miniatures. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is one of THE pioneering VSF games.

"Role-Playing In A More Civilized Time. Everything Jules Verne should have written. Everything H. G. Wells could have written. Everything A. Conan Doyle thought of, but never published because it was too fantastic. Everything you need for adventures of the century! The Space 1889 role-playing game covers the exciting background of Victorian science fiction: ether flyers and Martian cloudships, the canals and ancient civilizations of the red planet, Venus' swamps and dinosaurs, the honeycombed interior of Luna, and the thrills of inventions and inventors: the driving force behind Victoria's multiworld empire!
Space 1889 is Frank Chadwick's registered trademark for his game of Victorian Era Space Faring. Originally published twenty years ago by GDW, Space 1889 is the original "steam punk" game, even though it pre-dates the term by a couple of years."

Here are some interesting photos from Alan Patrick's Wargaming site.

I have a few of their books and rules (I found the "Iron Clads and Aether Fliers" rather disappointingly 1980s clunky) and their pdfs are put out by Heliograph with most available at the wargames vault. 

I'm not a RPGer, but apparently Savage Worlds are porting the 1889 universe to their system which I suspect will be a bit more user-friendly than the old GDW stuff.

Although aeronef are mostly (in my mind at least) associated with Brigade games, I like the ones by Irregular Miniatures

I must say I have avoided Irregular in the past as people say "they paint up well" which is usually a polite euphemism for "the models are rather ugly and chunky." But what with 1889 re-launching, my resolve is weakening...

Secrets of the Third Reich - an excuse for cool toys

I must say that of all my 'toys' the ones that attract the most comment (even from non-gamers) are mecha.  Suckers like these:

They are primarily Rackham Red Blok walkers.  Left to right: AT-43 Urod, AT-43 Kolossus, M.a.K., Dust Tactics German panzerkampfer, AT-43 Dotch Yaga.

They are all prepaints.  To give you an idea of what they look like with a good paintjob check out this guy at DakkaDakka

They are startlingly cheap. The Rackhams are OOP but the largest (the 4-legged walker) cost me $15 from an online store.  The Kolossuses, similar to a GW dreadnought, cost only $5.  The Dust Tactics mecha are less sci fi (but by the same sculptor as the Rackham ones) and new ones are being released - about $25 from Maelstrom with free P&P. All the models, combined, cost me less than a single GW dreadnought.

If you know nothing about M.a.K., then I suggest you go here. A fantastic dieselpunk series in various scales - some truly awesome models.  Mine was a $5 prepaint - the proper kits are awe inspiring. Go here and check out the gallery, or google images of "Maschinen Krieger"

Here is a random sample:

 The MaK universe seems to attract talented scratchbuilders too. 

What do all these models have in common?  The weird war II game, Secrets of the Third Reich. The build-it-yourself points system so you can include random mecha is a fantastic idea, and what sold me on the game. 

In a nutshell, the game reminds me of 40k-style mechanics, with actual tactics added - such as overwatch, alternate move, etc. A very decent game system, which I am now switching to from AE: WWII. 

For more info, I recommend Anatoli's blog in my links section, which has a large SOTR section with lots of fun AARs.

Do yourself an favour - get SOTR, and have an excuse to collect and play with more cool toys!

15mm GZG UNSC

This is my last, and favourite army.  As with all my 15mm, their bases are incomplete, which detract from the models.  However, these have my usual muted paint scheme and, I feel, carry it off better than usual in 15mm (where few colours and strong contrasts usually carry the day).

The bronze visor contrasts well with the grey and the drybrushed grey layers well enough to avoid the need of extra colours.  A little bland for some, but I prefer my troops in plausible paint schemes rather than bright yellow, blue, green or red armour worn by the marines of a certain company.

I feel drones will be more common in future battlefields in fire support roles, so I am increasingly including them in my armies, to the rate of 1 per squad or fireteam. The GZG spider drones are my favourite and will also star in my Terminator-themed army (which is a WIP).  They ride clamped to the top of the APCs until they need to deploy.  They will be very useful for clearing space stations and built up areas.

The hovercraft are among my favourite GZG vehicles and this platoon is a rapid-reaction marine team able to deploy rapidly after making planetfall. I feel I am falling into a bit of a pattern with my platoons - 3-4 transports, a scout vehicle or two, and a heavier fire support vehicle (either a tank or up-gunned APC).  Mechs or some other unit is added to give some individuallity.

Gundams for Space Games

I always liked my giant robots with a modicum of 'realism.'  I like the gundams that are seen being reloaded, serviced, repaired, re-armed, etc. 

Giant robots doing somersaults or riding jet sky surfboards whilst waving lightsabres or giant scythes have always seemed a bit ridiculous.  Special powers or magic power-ups or combining with other robots *cough* Godannar *cough* - no way!

 MS 08th team was probably the best at giving a 'gritty' feel.  The earlier ones are also good - MS IGLOO recently has brought back the old Universal Century Zakus vs Gundams with nicer animation:

While I liked the 'combined arms' feel, I think gundams really belong in SPACE.  Here is why:

-Ability to maneuver in any direction (in fact I think the RG-Ball is a very logical shape) and wide shooting arc would give an advantage over atmospheric-shaped space fighters

-Can board enemy vessels or space stations/habitats; or even clamp to the deck and act as an extra gun platform

-Can be used on the ground as a support unit as well; dropped in from orbit

For ground combat only, the superior off-road mobility, jump jets, and ability to interchange weapons is, I doubt, worth the extra complexity, size and weight compared to an advanced MBT.*  

*Yes, Veritech Valkyries from Macross, with their atmospheric flight ability, probably are more all-rounders than gundams but transforming robots, I feel, fall in the 'magic robot category.'

15mm Khurasan Felids

Khurasan produces many quirky, interesting sculpts and I feel is the most 'innovative' of the 15mm brigade.

One of the big successes has been the Felids - my first 15mm army.

As usual, my minis are scandalously under-based. I'm holding off decorating 15mm bases until (or if) I decide on a FoW-style multi-base scheme. 

My Felids are a mercenary force, equipped with battered metallic armour that is passed down from father to son.  They use cheap wheeled APCs for transport. Automatic grenade launchers and heavy energy beams provide fire-support to their "Claw" fireteams.  I do need to acquire some of the new helmeted Felids to add a bit more variety.