Spring of Scenery 2023: Part 11 - Mercenaries vs. NAC Marines

 Mercenaries defend a hidden facility.

Doorway & bricks.

These photographs show some close-up detail of the doorways (3D prints), bricks (Linka) and stonework archway (Hirst Arts).

Stone arch and doorway.

NCC Combat Cyborgs with a Claymore support vehicle prepare to assault a mercenary outpost.  This is a Linka building plus a few Fir trees.

Mercenaries ambush an NCC Marine Lancer IFV.  Some Woodland Scenics deciduous trees add some variety to the usual preponderance of Firs.

NAC GPMG gun team

 Finally finished my other GZG NAC Marine support weapon team.  The figure on the right has had his base trimmed so that he fits neatly next to the prone gunner.

The ammunition boxes come from "The Scene" in a pack of 10 and are ideal for adding a bit of character to vehicles or figure bases like this.  Yes, I know that they don't match the one the gunner is already using but I think that he was using a lightweight ammo hopper in the mobile role and is ready to switch to larger boxes now that he's in a sustained-fire position.

As with all my NAC support gunners, the barrel has been replaced with a bit of brass rod to make it easier to identify as a heavier weapon - though in this case it's pretty obvious anyway because he's been based up with his buddy as a weapon team.

GZG NAC sniper

I've had some of Ground Zero Games' snipers kicking around for ages.  I've followed my usual colour scheme for them - grey fatigues with green camp splodges, brown armour with green and grey drybrushed camo patches.

It makes a change to have a sniper with a weapon that's something other than along-barrelled version of their normal rifle.  In this case it's a laser system as you can see by the power cable and the stubby shape.  If you really wanted a long barrel (perhaps to make it easier to tell the sniper apart on the battlefield), the chunky nature of the weapon would make it easy to drill a hole and pop a bit of brass rod in.

I've done a couple of weapon teams with the prone sniper figures, will post them in the next few days when I've had a chance to download the photographs.

Power Armour

The latest powered armour suits are currently being issued to units.  These new suits retain the features which have made power armour so effective but add new abilities to enhance their effectiveness.  It is envisaged that the 2 types of armour will function alongside each other for many years to come.  Though similar in appearance, there is little commonality of parts between the 2 designs, so they will not tend to be mixed within units.

Left to right: missile trooper, standard trooper, tribarrel SAW gunner

The older suits have a characteristically chunky appearance with the head sunk between the shoulders for added protection.

Rear view of old style power armour

Different back mounted pods provide attachment points for missile pods, SAW ammo packs or other useful items.

New style power armour equipped with grenade launchers (left) and LSWs (right)

The new suits have lowered the shoulders, resulting in an increase in situational awareness from the better view.  With newer technologies, the armour can be slimmer and more flexible without sacrificing any protection.  Units tend to be equipped with an even split of light support weapons and grenade launchers.

Rear view of new style armour showing manoeuvre packs

An enhanced firepower and manoeuverability pack adds to the effectiveness of the new armour.  In addition to making it jump capable, the pack includes 2 triple barrelled grenade launchers, one firing over each shoulder.  The grenades will usually be either smoke or high explosive depending upon mission requirements.

Comparison shot of old and new style power armour suits

These are the old & new versions of Ground Zero Games' NAC Power Armour.  They're painted in the same standard brown/grey/green camo as my other NAC troops.

My Tomorrow's War stats:

Old style armour:
Confidence: High
Supply Level: Normal
Tech Level: 2
Grid: Yes
Armour: Powered 3D
TQ/Morale: D10/D10
Weapons: Basic troops have assault rifle
Special troopers have either:
Tribarrel SAW (Med AP:2)
Missile pods (AP:2 AT:1(L))
Notes:
Advanced Sensors
Active Trauma Treatment
Intimidating
Inspiring


New style armour:
Confidence: High
Supply Level: Normal
Tech Level:3
Grid: Yes
Armour: Powered 3D
TQ/Morale: D10/D10
Weapons:
Troops have either LSW (AP:1)
or Grenade Launcher (AP:2 ATL:1(L)
Notes:
Advanced Sensors
Active Trauma Treatment
Intimidating
Inspiring

Manoeuvre pack adds:
Shoulder Grenade Launchers (AP:1 AT:1(L))
Makes armour jump capable (Move 8" standard / 16" rapid)

Weapon Team Week - Day 7 - Mystery weapon team

 My final weapon team of the week.  I wonder, can you spot what's missing?

My mystery weapon team has a suitable gap to accept various spare weapons (or maybe their weapon has a cloaking device?)  Here they are with a couple of missile launchers.

The launchers come from GZG's SG15-HW5 heavy weapon pack.  The pack included a pair if tripod plasma guns too but I've only got the missile pods ready to use so far.

And so ends weapon week, but stay tuned for BLIP - the "Badger Life Improvement Programme"!  All will be revealed at a computer near you very soon...

Weapon Team Week - Day 6 - NAC RAM Mortars

Although this may look like SG15-A14 RAM Mortars, a fair portion of it is actually SG15-A10 Command/Comms figures.

The original pack came with 2 kneeling crewmen with datapads (as seen in the team on the left) and 2 kneeling with magnoculars.  I'm assuming that in the hi-tech sci-fi age, they'll have a spotter who can advise on the fall of shot via com system (or the grid if playing Tomorrow's War).  This being the case, I've used the figures with magnoculars elsewhere and substituted the two female comms officers from the command pack.  Their nonchalant non-combat poses match perfectly with the idea of being on the mortar line well out of normal weapon range of the enemy.  (I've noticed there seems to be a lack of female front-line troops in the NAC.  Colonist/civilian and colonial security packs tend to have a 50/50 male/female mix, but these are the only 2 females I've spotted in the NAC military!)

RAM mortar = Rocket Assisted Munition?  Any thoughts?

Weapon Team Week - Day 5 - Gauss HAMR

 Today's post features a couple of Gauss HAMR teams, the other half of the Ground Zero Games SG15-A12 NAC Anti-Armour Weapons pack (the first half was the GMS(L) teams).

 I assume that HAMR is an acronym for "Heavy Anti Material Rifle", although "High Acceleration Magnetic Railgun" also fits.

You can tell that this is one of the first teams I put together from the fact that I have only used the figures that came in the pack.  The very flat appearance may be more authentic for troopers hugging the ground and keeping in cover, but it's not as interesting to look at as most of my other weapon teams.  If I get another set, I'll probably use a couple of different assistants to add some variety, and perhaps one of the matching gauss ammo boxes from accessory pack V15-ACC01.  Being a railgun, I suppose it's actually a high capacity battery rather than an ammunition box, but you know what I mean...

Weapon Team Week - Day 4 - Tribarrel gun team

 I think I received SG15-A13 NAC Tribarrel Autocannon Teams as a freebie with a larger order from GZG during one of their special offers.

To start with, I based the figures but left the weapon separate (having made sure it would still fit!).  When I covered the base in putty, I waited until it was well on the way to hardening before moistening the base of the gun and pressing it onto the base in the correct position.  This left a good clear impression showing where to stick it afterwards.  I avoided that area during texturing & painting the base, then it was easy to glue the tribarrel on after painting.  Made it much easier to paint the figures without the gun mount getting in the way!

They'll make a handy support unit for defending key positions.

Weapon Team Week - Day 3 - GPMG gunner

I'm away on Monday night, so I'm posting it tonight instead!

Today's offering is a GPMG gunner with a spotter assisting him.  I've replaced the gunbarrels on all my NAC gunners with small pieces of brass rod.  This makes it easier to identify who has the support weapon in the squad.  I'll probably paint the edge of their bases a different colour at some point, buy I like the look of the heavier barrel anyway.  When I was speaking to Jon Tuffley the other day he said that it's difficult to cast them with longer barrels like this because too often the metal cools before it reaches the end of the mould.

I preferred the figure mix of this SG15-A09 NAC SAW gunners pack to the more recent UNSC SAW gunners.  The NAC pack consists of 2 each of 4 different poses, only one of which is prone, but the UNSC have only 2 poses, meaning half the pack are prone.  The NAC pack makes for a nicer variety of figures in each squad.

I have another waiting to be glued to his base when I've selected a suitable assistant for him. As before, I've used a 2p piece as the base with some of the larger chunks from a bag of sharp sand as the "rocks".  For use in Tomorrow's War, I'm treating this as a GPMG rather than a SAW - it makes sense for it to get an extra firepower die if it's set up on a bipod for sustained fire (yes, I know a real L7A2 GPMG has a tripod for this purpose but I'm working with the figures I've got!).

Weapon Team Week - Day 2 - NAC GMS(L)

 When a GMS(P) isn't enough, it's time for a GMS(L)!

The Guided Missile System (Light) comes from the Ground Zero Games SG15-A12 NAC Anti-Armour Weapons pack.  You get 2 GMS(L) firing posts with attached gunner plus a couple of gunner's mates ready to fix the next round onto the firing post.  The other 4 figures are Gauss HAMR gunners + assistants - post to follow later this week.

I thought I'd be a little more creative with these weapon teams, so I've added some spare missile rounds to the bases.  They're made from brass tube with a small plasticard carry-handle on top and the ends stopped-up with epoxy putty.

One of the launchers has already been used, you can see the burnt-out tube discarded next to the firing post.

One down, 3 to go...

Weapon Team Week - Day 1 - NAC GMS(P)

I've been working on some weapon teams recently.  This is a couple of prone GMS(P) troopers from the Ground Zero Games SG15-A11 NAC Support Weapons pack.  They are armed with the Guided Missile System (Portable) for anti-personnel and light anti-tank work.

 I don't usually use prone figures as part of my infantry squads, so I have an ever-growing collection of rarely-used troops.  You'll probably have seen the recent discussions on this topic over at Dropship Horizon.  I've decided to start turning them into weapons teams.

 I've selected a couple of figures from the SG15-A10 NAC Command/Comms pack to act as spotters.  The figure bases are trimmed down as required and stuck to a 2p piece with epoxy resin.

Some cheap 2-part epoxy plumbers' putty is used to smooth over the base, then a few small rocks followed by a sprinkling of sharp sand.

Still to come in Weapon Team Week... GMS(L), Gauss HAMR, SAW, Tribarrel, RAM mortar and missile teams!

Special Forces ideas

I've decided that I need some special forces types for certain missions.
 
I do have a set of Rebel Mini's SAS, but they're more of an anti-terrorist or hostage rescue mixture of figures with gas masks and anti-flash hoods, armed mainly with pistols and SMGs.  The force I most commonly use in games are my NAC Marines from GZG, so I'm going to use them as the base figures.  The majority of their equipment will be the same as that carried by the regular troops, so there are only two main changes that I'll want to make to them:

1) Head swaps.  I'll be replacing all the heads with some of GZG's replacement heads, probably those which include night vision goggles.  I haven't decided whether I'll have 8 with goggles or split a pack so that 4 have goggles and 4 have something different.  I could give them gas masks, though I've also been considering some MPs.  If I get Jon's other pack of replacement heads I could use berets or something similar to help differentiate them from the other Marines.  Of course, I could just get the "NAC Marine in Berets" pack for my MPs, which would be a whole lot easier...

2) Weapons.  My special forces team will use the standard marine assault rifle, but with a large sound/flash suppressor attached.  I plan to cut off the existing barrel and drill a hole into which I will insert a thin piece of brass rod.  This rod will act as an attachment point for some brass tube to form the suppressor.  I could fix the tube directly onto the barrel as it comes on the figure, but I don't think that would stand up to much handling.  I don't want to be forever hunting for the loose suppressors rolling around in the figure case ready to glue them back on!

An artist's impression of the finished product.  I'm happy to report that the artist has been given the sack after producing this poor quality image.  Hopefully the physical result will turn out better than this (and without a curious greenish stripe along the bottom).

Colour scheme will need to be different from the normal troops, probably a dark grey/black so that they look suitably menacing.  If I go for MPs as well, they'll be painted to match the regular troops, but with one or two changes such as coloured shoulder pads to emphasize their
importance.  (I imagine they'd have coloured, elasticated patches they can pull over the armour panels, easily removed if they get involved in fire combat.)

Yet another 15mm Sci-Fi blog!

Well, I thought it was about time that I joined in the fun and started a blog of my own. I've been meaning to sort out a web site for years but never got around to it, but the inspiration from all those other blogs out there has finally overcome my inherent laziness.

Although I'll try to add things at least once a week, this blog won't be updated as often as many out there - mainly because anything I want to add will involve a trip to the library in the next village in order to use their computers!

I'll be covering mainly 15mm sci-fi miniatures & modelling, though the odd 1/300th ("Epic" scale item might creep in, as will a few starships...


What's a blog without a few pictures? Here are a few snaps of the start of my 15mm army, along with some home-made scenery:



First, some GZG NAC marines.











Then a familiar looking team of space adventurers...

Light Vac-suits from GZG









A new use for a repainted Mechwarrior construction 'Mech (10mm but fits in nicely as a big robot for 15mm!)














Next time, I'll try and get a few close-ups of my NAC marines along with some notes on how they were painted.

TTFN

Paul