Pig Iron Heavy Infantry

Pig Iron Productions puts out some great sci-fi models, if you're reading this blog in the first place you probably already know that. They're not as cheap as say a box of Sci-Fi Greatcoats put out by Wargames Factory, but you get some solid models nonetheless. These models exude pure military sci-fi goodness and really beat out pretty much everyone else when it comes to near-future troopers.

Equipment is fatigues under believable flak armor, rifles that make sense, and little extras that seal the deal. The figs shown here are single piece molds in cast metal, but they also offer multi-piece figures, equipment packs, a large array of head packs for conversions, as well as robots, vehicles, etc.

I've had these for a while now, but I didn't paint them so I never felt the need to post anything about them, especially since they weren't seeing any action. My very talented brother-in-law painted these up for another friend of mine as a commission. He's the same guy who painted up my Dark Angels Dreadnought too, his brush skills aren't too shabby. Through various trading, haggling, and what-not these troops ended up in my possession.

A pair of five-man fireteams

There hasn't been any dirtside action for these troopers until now. I lamented my lack of any consistent gaming with a single ruleset in my '10 Wrap-up, and to fix that I've decided to look (once again) into the oft-hyped, but oft-frustrating, 5150 rules from Dos Horas la Guerra Juegos. The main reason to go back to these is their reaction system, which facilitates solo play easily enough and allows for a good deal of variety.

Looking through my old notes and papers I found a short 5150 solo campaign I ran way back before I started this blog. It comprised of half a dozen games and I remember having a blast with them. Solo gaming is not my preference mind you, but it's good for something to do and will help me get a better grip on the rules with consistent play. Plus, I can leave the table set up and come back to the game at hand a day later if need be.

I would like to also pick up the Mythic RPG system to piggyback fluff and background to the tabletop mechanics and campaign. As a group, it seems like we're playing a different game every other week, so this way I can have my cake and eat it too. It being a new year and the first month, I'll be posting the first campaign turn here very soon.

Theta Squad Command Team

I have just enough troopers to make a single, good-sized squad / section. My section here (Theta Squad henceforth) consists of a command team and the two fireteams you see below. In the command team you have; the squad leader, communications trooper, specialist (sniper), specialist (combat medic), and protocol droid.

Fireteam Chimera

Fireteam Pegasus

Each of the two fireteams are organized with the R-T-F-A format. Each fireteam consists of a 'ready' element (two riflemen), 'team' element (an NCO), 'fire' element (a SAW gunner), and finally the 'assist' element to round it all out (assistant SAW gunner).

I'm going to use the written 5150 universe as the backdrop to my campaign because I simply don't want to have to reinvent the wheel. I'll make some tweaks along the way so it'll fit as I need it too, but it'll be more or less unchanged. To that end, Theta Squad here will represent troopers from Gaea Prime as Star Army soldiers.