Chuhuac 24-Hour Mark!

The title says is all! We're at the 24 hour countdown for the Space Raptors Kickstarter. The response to this 15mm project has been absolutely amazing, and of course it's simply overwhelming. We're pushing the 1000% percent mark as far as the initial goal is concerned so what does that mean?

 

Add-ons.  Lots of add-ons.  The initial goal of just getting the foot troops was reached easily, then we added special ops troops, troopers in assault poses, fast attack grav bikes, heavily armored battlesuits, a hover APC, and even a 28mm squad of troopers.

 

What's more, you can add these on as single code packs for small reinforcements or there are larger unit add-on packs with even more troopers (and a bit of a discount to boot).  All of this space raptor goodness is now going into the regular lineup of the Chuhuac post-Kickstarter.  The goal is they will all be made available through an online store with future releases further down the road.  There are no hard dates for that, however, this Kickstarter project ensures that you will get your initial orders in now, and these figs are projected to ship in January of 2013.

 

If you want a unique (and awesome) 15mm force, you can't go wrong with velociraptors in armor with guns.  Get a bunch to make an army, go for a few to stalk a starport.  Pick up some great APCs to taxi troops you already have.  Don't like 15mm in general?  The 28mm packs and sculpts were put into place just for you.  Either way, time is running out!

 

Space Raptors by Loud Ninja Games!

Did Someone Say Space Raptors?

His dream was velociraptors with guns.  His vehicle was Loud Ninja Games.  His fuel; Kickstarter.

I can't say Eli of "I See Lead People" fame anymore, from this point on it's Eli of Loud Ninja Games, or more to the point just Loud Ninja Games, period.

Let's face it, chances are if you game in sci-fi 15mm on the tabletop and follow this blog, you've already seen this announcement.  Maybe you're not a 15mm gamer per se, but our circles have overlapped anyway, so you already know.  But did you know that I've recently become part of the team over at Loud Ninja Games?

Yup, me, bet you didn't know that!  Now you have two reasons to plop down for some Chuhuac action.  Need a third reason?  Well those raptors you see drawn here are by none other than Minions of the Monday Night Miller Master, Chris.  In the initial planning stages in getting the raptors from idea to paper (and then eventually to sculpt) Chris and Eli worked closely together getting every last detail to be as exact and thorough as possible.

I've talked more than I intended.  I was going to just post the link and yell, "Go!" but when have I ever exercised brevity?  The sweet spot is definitely the $50 dollar mark, and that's what I opted for.  You get an entire company of space raptors, plus you get all of the cool stretch goals as they become available such as assault raptors, APCs, attack bikes, even 28mm Chuhuac!

Warming up the Brushes

In an effort to paint more and button-mash less I painted up these excellent Critical Mass mercenaries you see here.  A couple of months back I posted the Combined Army Infinity figs I whipped up, but those don't really count.  I kind of blacked out at the painting desk and when I came to they were already done.

These guys were different.  In an effort to both paint more and kind of revive the cold husk that was my starport project I dove right in.  Lots of ideas started cooking as soon as I got some paint on them, which is what I was hoping for!

This batch is the first half of a well equipped pirate crew that will be squared away solidly in the universe I've yet to build.  They'll have their own ship and everything.  Next up will be the rest of this crew.  After that I've got some great figs lined up sculpted by my buddy Eli over at I See Lead People.  Then I guess it's time to get into that massive starport queue I typed up so long ago!

Thanks for checking these out, they were a blast to paint up.  I should also point out that the Instagram feed was blowing up with WIP pics of these over the last week or so.  I'll try to get a post up with more details photos and angles, plus some fluff material to boot soon.  Until then, enjoy!

Fast Attack Rebels

Sometimes a new project just pops onto your plate by accident, as did this one. I'm sure I will tie it into the Starport series in some fashion, so let's see what we've got. I got my Armies Army ten man pack in the mail and they are very cool figs. If you haven't picked some up yet, I highly recommend that you do as soon as you can, plus, they're 10% off right now!

The details are crisp and the lines are clean on these figs, they are equipped with recognizable weapons but have cool, little extras that could easily plant them in a near-future setting, namely their full-face helmets. Holding figs in hand always lets you appreciate them even more.


There's a lot of personal favorites out there in Starportlandia, and when I think of the bigger picture I think of Ironworker's Station 42. He's got the Starport station itself, but he's also got designs on large chunks of the planet in general, like farming communities, outlying stations, junkyards, and more. I'll be taking a page from there and expanding the lands beyond just the station itself. Which brings in this little project.


Call them insurgents, rebels, guerrillas, or whatever, these figs will make for perfect "civil disobedience" fighters. With a handful of cool looking toy cars ripe for recruitment, these rebels now have fast attack capabilities too. I envision the planet being rocky and barren with isolated 'nourishment' zones. The troopers here (and now I'm really liking the term 'rebels') will have a hidden outpost somewhere deep in the badlands.

It lends itself well to a couple of linked scenario games taking it all in. Game one; rebels raid the starport, with the SPPD having to fend them off (and probably losing). Game two; Military PDF shows up to the firefight to save the SPPD and rebels have to escape being outnumbered. Game three; PDF tracks down rebels hideout in the badlands and you have the big, final battle. Sounds good to me, all you need are the figures, this stuff writes itself!

Science Teams Hit Dirtside

Got my Ground Zero Games stuff in and slapped some superglue on them to get an idea of what my Starport science teams are going to look like. I went with a single pack of eight vac-suited humans and another pack of six 'motion picture' robot helpers. And a couple of APC thingies.


I love the robot helpers pack, I forget what it is really called, but you have some classics in there; the ubiquitous astromech droid, the 'bots from Silent Running, and a Wal-E model. The science teams will be split into two groups of four each, and have one of each type of droid per group. Obviously the Phalanx APCs will house one team each.


Which brings us to the Phalanx APC itself. What a love/hate relationship I have for this model. On the one hand it looks great, it screams 'science rover' to me and works perfectly in this role. It's big and has a neat overall design, not unlike the Mako from Mass Effect. On the other hand this is a technical nightmare of a model and it doesn't seem very thought out in the construction department. The top and bottom halves are just heavy hunks of metal you slap together with epoxy, superglue won't cut it. There are zero tabs, nooks, seems, or connections between the top and bottom halves, just two smooth sided hunks of metal sliding around. After you do your best to guess how they should line up, and hope the bond holds, you have to assemble the wheels, axle by axle, hubcap by hubcap. Getting the axles to line up with one another underneath the chassis was a nightmare as well. Overall I love the design, hate the parts.

Well there you go, a couple of Starport Science Teams now officially in the queue.

First Wave of Prepped Galctic Citizenry

On the heels of last week's debut of Galactic Citizens sculpted by Eli for 15mm.co.uk I began prepping them for painting. I've gotta hand it to these figs, there was pretty much zero flash and basically no trimming needed. A couple of them did need some work to the bottoms of their bases to get them to stand flat however.


As you can see, and after more debate than I intended, I have decided to base these up the "Spacejacker" way. By using 20mm plastic bases each figure gets its own, little display plinth as well as plenty of space for basing medium. Also, in Spacejacker's own words, "it looks classy". I'll PVA their sand on tonight, prime them in the next day or two, and hopefully start painting on them soon after that. Also taking another tip from Spacejacker, I'll be painting these up in groups of five at a time. EDIT: I scrapped this idea about day after taking the pics, haha. The galactic citizens are still at the forefront of the queue, but the basing I went on and on about here has been changed quite a bit from what you see here.

Oh, and happy Leap Year by the way!

Khurasan Order Arrives

As you may have noticed, my 'miniatures bought' tally to the right has jumped up from a mere seven to a whopping sixty-three. As I had mentioned to Blacksmith about the last HUD, it keeps me focused if nothing else. I placed a few orders, enough to fill in everything needed to tackle this year's HUD all in one shot. Above is the Khurasan bundle.


Starport PDF was on the HUD and here they are. Khurasan's Federal Defense Force are perfect matches for Colonial Marines, so I opted for two packs of them. Each pack will be further divided into three separate fire teams of three members each. Two of the fire teams with a SAW, the third with a Lieutenant and flamethrower. Of course to get around, each pack gets their own APC, or Heavy Attack Transport. I absolutely love the look of these vehicles, and you just don't realize how massive they really are until you see one in person. Longterm planning will have to include a garrison for the PDF including a hangar bay for both of these.


Another item on the HUD was Starport Security, or SPPD. The Federal Police are perfect for this. Shown behind them are a couple of sci-fi cars I got with the order for street decoration, but the SPPD will be riding around in these hover tanks I showed a while back. Each of the four hovers will have a pair of SPPD within. I am still looking for 15mm scaled police decals, I've found a lot of 28mm, but if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be cool.

So there you have it, two entries coinciding with the HUD; Military PDF and Starport Security.

Future Citizens of the Galaxy

Now we're getting on with the meat and potatoes of it, bring on the first wave of starport denizens! These are more from the SHM (Self Help Miniatures) line offered up by 15mm.co.uk and like the Uhul yesterday, these have all been sculpted by ISLP's wünderkind Eli. Whereas the Uhul however were a 'just because' groups of figs, these space guys, gals, and others are pretty much a must-have, especially with dreams of starports dancing in your head.

For the record, what I've shown here include a good number of non-released figs and only five of the above figures are currently available in 15mm.co.uk's online store. Of course, the rest you see here are slated to go into production, it's just a matter of time. I See Lead People has a good preview page here with most of these on it.


Not yet released...


Nope, not these either...


Burgansian (left) is available, Mr. Toad (right) not quite


The Fragalian (right) is available, Merc Trooper (left) not yet


The middle figure, the Horansi, is the only fig currently available but as I said up top, all of these will be making their way into the line eventually. As you can see from everything here there's loads of character and variety, not to mention plenty of alien goodness.

I can't help but think of the Mos Eisley cantina of course, but a lot of the activity taking place on the Citadel in the Mass Effect franchise also comes to mind. 15mm.co.uk have a lot more to offer than just the SHM line where you'll find these excellent figs, they've really got a huge selection overall. The best part is that these are all singles, no packs to buy, which is really nice if you're looking for just that right character or alien.

Though the HUD isn't exactly in chronological order, it does list 15mm Starport Denizens first however, and well here they are in the unpainted flesh. Hmm...

Future Owlbears of the Forest

A large chunk of some of my recent acquisitions have been 15mm, of said 15mm are these half dozen Uhul, Owlbear-kin offered over at 15mm.co.uk as part of their fantasy SHM range. Their SHM range gives aspiring sculptors and designers a chance to get their stuff in our hands.

Of course my main interest in these isn't their Owlbear coolness, but they were sculpted by our own Eli over at I See Lead People. I say "our own" because if you've been around the same circles that brought you to Mik's Minis, chances are you've run across his site as well, or at least have seen his comments. He's very much an active member of our blogging community and to see his figures made whole here is too cool for words.


Of course the first two I show you aren't available for sale on the 15mm.co.uk website. Their are unreleased Uhul, but keep your eyes peeled, you never know. The fig on the left is an Uhul Shaman with a large, bird-of-prey skull scythe. The fig on the right is another Uhul in an upright stance with separate spear (see group pic). This one is going to become a sci-fi starport denizen at one point.


Here you see the Uhul Chief (left) and 'upright spear' Warrior (right). Unfortunately the chief's hand weapon broke off in shipping, so he may become a spellcaster, or perhaps with a pistol addition he could make another cool sci-fi. No, I like the fantasy aspect of these and will keep the majority of them in that genre.


Two identical warriors, or are they? Easy-cheesy green stuff weapon mod turns a spiked club into a bone club. They're also equipped with hide shields. So far the fantasy range consists of three Uhul; the chief, a warrior with hand weapon and shield, and the warrior with the upraised spear. All good choices to start off a small Uhul warband, maybe as antagonists to some Hyborian age heroes excellently painted (as usual) by Spacejacker. So if you're looking for some cool 15mm fantasy, especially sculpted by a fellow blogger, you don't need to go any further.

Armies Army Preorders are Go

Almost a month ago to the day I posted on Armies Army, an up and coming sculptor with a new set of 15mm figs. They were in the green stages then, preorder stages now. As you can see here, we're no longer in green territory, we've got figs, metal figs that will look great in the popular modern/near future genres. Hats off to Spacejacker who is also on the Armies Army kick and posting it up in his neck of the woods, get the word out!

It is official, Armies Army figs are now available for pre-orders. You get ten troopers per pack for a mere $5.50 USD (£3.50 GBP), plus shipping. This is why I love 15mm sci-fi, great looking minis, great prices. I haven't put brush to fig in a long time, too long. I think these guys will be just the inspiration I need to get cracking once again. Head over to Armies Army and get your pre-orders in.

Join the Armies Army!

I'm following on the heels of my buddy Spacejacker over at Tiny Solitary Soldiers with this one, but it's worth spreading the word. If you're so inclined, re-post this in your own neck of the woods as well. We're looking at some greens of the 15mm variety and as you can see they're perfect for near-future to post-apoc and everything in between.


Armies Army is a new blog, as in just two posts as of this writing. They're "testing the water" with these greens, but I think they're definitely onto something. As far as I know there's no definitive production plans, but maybe with enough buzz generated we can make that happen sooner than later. These images are all borrowed directly from Armies Army, you may as well head over to the source and check 'em out there!


15mm sci-fi has been no stranger here at Mik's Minis, and these buggers would fit right in for sure. They've got the kind of details I get excited about in a good mini too; the weapons are 'almost' recognizable, very much modern AK-47's, but in the right light they could be the light assault rifle of a planetary militia two systems away four hundred years from now. The uniforms are great; fatigues with some tactical pads and the facemasks could be painted as re-breathers, hoods, or even alien skin. My favorite part of the figs are all those pouches, pouches are cool. They hold all of your stuff. So what are you waiting for? Get out there, tell your friends, post on your blogs, and join Armies Army!

Pike and Shot: Battle of Coutras

The Battle of Coutras, fought on 20 October 1587, was a major engagement in the eighth and final war of the French Religious Wars between an army under Henry of Navarre (the future King Henry IV of France) and a royal army led by Anne, Duke of Joyeuse. Henry of Navarre was victorious. -Wikipedia


So I'm scrolling through my 'edit posts' the other day and ran across a draft, gasp! This thing got buried and only now has it resurfaced, embarrassingly enough it was a playtest for a Fall-In! game that has long since come and gone.


Using the Pike and Shot variant of Might of Arms we lined up our 15mm forces on a whopping ten foot table and duked it out. It is usually in games such as this where I don't go into it with any sort of preference of which side I play on or what-not.

Okay, I lied. This time around I did have a small request; I wanted to play some cannons!

The game pivoted on what all of the cavalry on both sides were doing




I have to admit, it is kind of hard to accurately report on a game a couple of months after it took place. For my part, I inched my foot troops forward, not wishing to fully engage but also avoiding a charge, my focus was on the cannons. Once I found my range with them, I unleashed volley after volley into the enemy foot, whittling them away.

We did call the game early because the middle of the table was the most decisive as Henry of Navarre's cavalry began to get rolled up. Had we continued, my unscathed foot would have been able to tear apart the remnants of targets my cannon batteries kept pounding. I would've secured my end of the table, but I can't stress enough how it was the cavalry, both heavy and light, that became the real factors in the game.

This game traveled on to Fall-In! with tweaks and changes derived from this playtest and all accounts told it was a success. Until next time!

Flames of War: Germans vs. British

Last week we were able to get in some Flames of War. I really like FoW, there's something about a historical miniatures game that's so huge in scope and so accessible to so many gamers. It's a great game for laid back, hanging out and rolling dice forays, or for fierce head-to-head competition (the latter which is not for me). Also, unlike other mainstream games, you've got lots of options for miniatures, you're not stuck buying one company's stuff.

Enough of my ooing and awwing though, we've got a game to report! I am very pleased to say I provided all of the forces for one side of the table, British XXX Corps, and my painted total to date equals 2065 points (mostly Shermans). We were playing late war, and the opponent was Tom's German forces which I can't elaborate anymore on, there were anti-tank guns and artillery guns, some infantry, and some other stuff.


The scenario was hasty assault, and the British were to engage the Germans on their half of the table, run up on some objectives, and hold said objectives. A bit unconventional, I still rolled to see which side I was on, and got Germans, so I would get to be one of the guys hammering my own models.


There were incoming reinforcements for both sides, and the British rolled extremely well every time, they got the most number of units on the table as fast as you possibly could. The main British force drove right up the middle while a platoon scooted around the flank.


German paratroopers were in the woods out on the flank, and their mere presence armed with Panzerfausts was enough to hold that whole flank. The British tanks preferred to keep their distance than get stuck in with these pesky troopers. A hailstorm of Sherman machine gun fire thinned the Panzerfaust ranks quickly enough, but the Germans had a 'hero' class stand, whose name I forget, that was able to save a destroyed stand of infantry each turn.


The British employed an interesting strategy that by the middle of the game seemed to not work out. They all rushed right up to the halfway point...then sat there, trying to trade turret fire with anti-tank fire. It was a good match-up, and all my British Shermans became little more than a burning steel wall. I don't know, if it was me, I would've advanced right on top of the Germans and, I don't know, tried to hold an objective. The name of the scenario was "hasty assault", that sounds pretty hasty to me. As it was, the British sat on the center line of the table, kept getting blasted, and we called the game early.

Afterwards, there was talk like, "How do the allies win this?" and the like. The answer is simple; smoke. Throw smoke at one row of artillery, then advance. I've got said answer in the form of a huge, eight strong unit of Sexton self-propelled artillery. I need to get cracking and build/paint them mind you, but I've got them at least. I've also got a recon unit of Stuarts I'd like to paint up, I just like the tank that's why I got them.

All in all it was good night of gaming and hanging out. Since we called the FoW battle early we managed to get in a couple of games of Dominion: Intrigue as a bonus. Oh, and please forgive my phone pics, I forgot to bring a real camera!

Infantry Company; the Vākāṭakans 432nd

Here is my finished 15mm sci-fi company. Unfortunately I don't have any vehicles so it's pure infantry. Some APC's would be nice, but if and when I opt to mechanize them that would be a huge project in its own right. I would need at least a dozen APC's, a command vehicle, and three drop-pod like devices. Yeah, it'd be expensive and that would be a lot of painting and assembly. The good news about 15mm though, it should paint up faster and be a fraction the cost of its 28mm big brother.

I've had these painted up for some time, with just a small amount of squads to finish somewhat recently. The figs all come from Ground Zero Games. They're great sculpts, don't get me wrong, but frankly when this project was started there just wasn't the huge outlet of 15mm sci-fi selection and variety that we have now, GZG was about the only option out there. I had a specific TO&E in mind when I put all of this together and I tried to keep the platoons separate but still let them have a bit of their own versatility and personality.

I also had a specific fiction in mind, something along the lines of Earth in the next hundred years or so. Constant conflict, global ecological changes, a few loose nukes, and what-not have created a perpetual war-zone mostly centered in Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. Colonization efforts are underway off-world, near FTL travel has been invented, and contact has been made amongst the stars with sentient aliens of comparable technology levels. Of course there's bigger, better stuff out there in the cosmos, we just haven't stumbled across it yet. My army here represents an Indian force.


The 432nd is a multi-role company that is made up of a variety of different types of platoons. Mixed companies such as the 432nd have the most flexibility in mission-adaptable operations and are ready for a wide number of battlefield roles.

The 432nd consists of four platoons and a headquarters squad. Three platoons consist of three squads each led by a dedicated command squad, all squads have eight troopers each. The fourth platoon consists of three power armored squads with six troopers each. Finally you have an eight trooper strong HQ squad.


The 432nd's Shudran platoon consists of troopers of the lowest overall quality. Their dependable equipment and basic training does give them something of an edge over comparable enemy units. They are found as the backbone of police forces assigned to colony ship departures. Sometimes an entire Shudran company is formed specifically to accompany a colony caravan, becoming PDF forces upon arrival. For most of these troopers service is the only means they have to leave Earth.


The Vaishyan platoon consists of the most plentiful of troopers in the overall army. The largest number of dedicated companies are ones that comprise of nothing but these troopers. Vaishyan troopers are the enlisted men and women that see the widest range of action across the most number of battlefields. These career soldiers have the better equipment in the field compared to enemy units of similar strengths and continually train when not on campaign. Special forces draw the most number of recruits from the Vaishyan ranks as well.


The 432nd counts itself extremely lucky in that it has a full platoon of Satrians, alien commandos unparalleled in fighting. Most companies are able to temporary requisition a single squad at best, and only for specific parameters. Their equipment comes from off-world, as do their strategies and tactics. It's as if every facet of Satrian warfare is a mirror of human warfare, only exemplified.

When this space-borne race was encountered it was quickly (and astonishingly) realized that the Satrians' religious doctrine was almost identical to Hinduism. The Satrians considered themselves lost pilgrims trying to find their way back to what has been loosely translated as the Indus Valley. For this reason the alliance between the Satrians and India has been fully realized and seamlessly enacted. Other nations might employ alien mercenaries, but none come close to the assimilation between these two entities.


Rounding out the platoons of the 432nd are the Kshatriyans, fearsome power armored troopers. Being chosen as a power armor trooper is a great honor and only the most distinguished soldiers make the final cut. Because of their elite training, power armored units are autonomous and do not utilize and attached command squad.

Power armor is the pinnacle of infantry battlefield technology. Thanks to knowledge shared from Satrian scientists, Indian power armored units got a leg up in design innovation and power plant efficiency. The bottom line is that these suits can last longer in the field and take up less room that comparable power armored suits.

Shown here as well is the company headquarters squad composed of top military leaders and strategists. They are equipped accordingly with high tech arms and armor and although the squad is rarely in the thick of the fighting, they are more than capable if need be.


There you have it, I hope you enjoyed reading the fluff as much as I enjoyed writing it. Looking back over this post I realize I'd like to go a little further and finish this army out. I said in the beginning it'd be a long, arduous journey, but I think this army deserves the full treatment. Namely transports, but other things like a support platoon of tanks, some aircraft or whatever, maybe some walkers even. Too many choices, a blank canvas is as much a curse as a boon.

As for rules, bah, whatever goes really. This is a large army as it stands (over a hundred models) so I don't imagine I'll ever field it all at once. Lots of candidates out there to use too, it's just a matter of getting them on the table and sticking to it.