Deals, Deals, Deals...Summer Sales

So right now there is some great deals going on, and thought I'd write a quick article in case people were unaware of them.

Ground Zero Games

Ground Zero Games are having their summer sale, which sees everything in their store at 15% off. Yes that's right everything. The sale lasts till midnight on Monday the 11th of July, so you've got a bit of time, but I wouldn't leave it too long.

Ground Zero Games online store

So you can get yourself a Full Thrust fleet, some of their 15mm models, or some of their great scenery. I may be tempted to get some of the little add-on bits for buildings for my recently acquired GameCraft MDF buildings. And speaking of GameCraft Miniatures...

 GameCraft Miniatures

GameCraft miniatures are having a 4th of July weekend sale. Until the 4th of July, all their merchandise is at 20% off, as if it wasn't already good value. So why not go over their and get some great scenery to use on all that Ground Zero Games stuff you just bought.

GameCraft Miniatures shop

Or if you want to use that scenery for a different purpose why not head on over to

Critical Mass Games

Critical Mass Games are having their summer sale as well, with 20% off everything in their store until the 22nd of July, so that's a good deal of time to mull over some purchases. I've always fancied some of their scenery, and I think one of those Otilium refineries would go nicely with what I've just purchased.

And last but not least

Dream Pod 9

Dream Pod 9 have just declared the summer blitz to push Heavy Gear, their game of mecha combat.

To start with, their offering up the rules books for Heavy Gear for free. Yes that's right for free. To get them head on over to DriveThruRPG and simply download. Free, gratis, etc etc.

Locked and Loaded 1.1

Field Manual - Core Rulebook

Essentially the field manual replaces Locked and Loaded as the core rulebook, though Locked and Loaded is still required as it has all the army lists in it (unless you play one of the later armies).

And if that wasn't enough, they've listened to people about the game being a bit expensive to get into and they've launched some summer blitz packs. Now these packs are truly epic, and make for a great start. For example the Northern Starter Pack comes with

1 x Northern General Purpose Squad (DP9-9021, $43.50)
1 x Northern Strike Squad (DP9-9024, $44.50)
1 x Northern Fire Support Squad (DP9-9027, $53.75)
1 x Northern Recon Squad (DP9-9045, $43.50)
1 x Northern Infantry Platoon (DP9-9035, $23.00)
1 x Heavy Gear Blitz! - Field Manual Rulebook 60 pages black & white digest size book (DP9-9997h, $10.00)
1 x Heavy Gear Blitz! - Field Manual Rulebook Full Color ebook (DP9-9997 ebook, Free)
1 x Locked & Loaded Full Color ebook including Northern Army Lists (DP9-9996 ebook, Free)

Which costs $150 and ends up saving you $68.25, which I think is a pretty damn good deal for such fine quality merchandise. There is also a southern pack as well for those people who prefer the southern states.

Frankly, even if you're not sure about the game, I would urge you to download the rulebooks and give it a look, as frankly at the end of the day it's going to cost you nothing. Even if you pick it up later, you'll lose nothing by checking the rules out now, and hopefully you'll find yourself as enthralled by the setting as I was.

Hope these have been some use.

Mecha Ace out.  

15mm Tomorrow's war buildings from Gamecraft

So it's been a bit quiet round here, and frankly it's cause I've been too lazy to do any real hobbying of late. I'm trying to break out of it though, and I started with a bit of light assembly of the recently arrived 15mm Tomorrow's war buildings I purchased from GameCraft Miniatures

Landing Pad (elongated hex)

Garage/shop module

Medium Module

Small module

They arrived pretty quickly, taking around 7 days to arrive from the States. I ended up purchasing the landing pad, the garage/shop module, 2 medium modules and 2 small modules. I also purchased the 3d kits for the 3 modules, which basically without means that the raised areas you see on the outside wouldn't be there, they instead are just cut-in to the surface. Still visible, but not raised up.

The whole order cost about £48 I believe. It was originally £51 odds, but GameCraft charge a flat rate of $20 for international shipping, and then refund the difference, which for myself was $6 something. All in all, I think it's pretty good value for what they are.

The buildings themselves are pretty good. They fit together well, with the laser cut MDF having small slots for everything to go, though there were some very small gaps, though nothing a bit of filler won't take care off. No removable roofs which would've been nice, but it's survivable. They don't have a bottom either, but if they're based up then it doesn't matter. I had to place a big box of random figures on top of the landing pad, as when I glued it, the MDF on the top layer

I haven't fitted the doors to these yet either, and I'm not sure I will, or at least not on all of them. Again these just slot in to the frame, and can then be glued in.The doors themselves are a little taller than the model I've got them next too, so they may look a bit big if used for smaller scale things, like Heavy Gear. Possibly not too bad though, I'll need to test it and see.

So now the next thing is what colour to paint them. I'm looking for something a bit more than grey. Possibly a white/red combo. What are your thoughts?

Mecha Ace signing off

Tomorrow's War Battle report

So, over the Easter weekend, myself, Lead Legion and one of our friends Andy P decided to have a game. I fancied trying Tomorrow's War out, as while I have the rules, they seem to me the kind of rules that you sit down and read and just make a confused face at, whereas if you play them, they make more sense. Also I intend on buying some 15mm stuff for it at Salute, and wanted to see if I was actually going to get use out my investment.

So Lead Legion kindly supplied some figures and scenery, I supplied a board and gaming space, and our friend supplied Irn Bru and hob nobs. All in all I feel everybody contributed equally.

The scenario was modified from the Tomorrow's War book. Lead Legion would control the evil aliens, in this case from Pendraken miniatures I believe?. I would take on the role of corporate marines, who had been sent in to clear out the "accidental" release of corporate bio-weapons on this colony, represented by GZG New Israelis, while Andy P would be using Lead Legions Khurasan Neo-Sovs as the local constabulary.

I effectly had two 4 man fire-teams at tech level 2 and heavy armour, Andy P had three 4 man fire-teams at tech level 2 with light armour. Space Demons were considered tech level 2 and had fearless and light armour. If I'm wrong no doubt LL will jump in and tell me.

Our objective was to rescue colonists, Lead Legions was to eat them. For every colonist or trooper he killed, he got one 1 vp, whereas for every colonist we escorted off a board edge, we got 1 vp. Also we would be competing against each other, to see who could rescue more colonists between the marines and the local cops.

Colonists would move randomly, unless they could see either marines or police, then they would move towards them. If they were attacked by aliens, they would react by trying to move away from them.

Aliens would spawn randomly. 1d6 4 man (alien??) squads would appear every turn, with 5 locations randomly determined. On a 6 they didn't turn up (or turned up at the wrong settlement or something).

The Set-up

The board with myself deployed at the near edge, Andy P sitting in blue with his cops, and most of Lead Legion looking on with an evil grin (that you can't see).

So we set up along the board edges. Colonists in the middle, with the aliens having 5 squads deployed. One in the centre, one in the large wooden temple thing, one amongst the brown tanks, one in the grey bunker and one in the toxic pool. Our forces were deployed at the board edge.

Turn 1:

I got initiative so my marines decided to move up. Of course this got them seen by the aliens in the wooden temple, so they reacted by moving towards them. I had forgotten to declare I was going to shoot them. I then failed to kill any, and they got into close combat. I wasn't particuarly looking forward to this as I thought I was about to get killed. However his guys were d6 and mine were d8. So after a couple of rounds of combat, it turned out that marine boot beats alien quite nicely.

Dead aliens

Andy P then moved his troops up, again drawing the attention of some aliens. After some shooting and close combat, his cops faired pretty well, taking one casualty who would be rolled for at the start of next turn to see if he was actually dead.

Seen off with the help of anti-alien truncheons.

Aliens then began moving, chasing after the colonist in the centre as well. Most of them managed to get away, however one group didn't react fast enough. We didn't realise that the colonists shouldn't fight in combat. And then after finding out they couldn't, we decided to allow them too anyways. Especially as it resulted in the amusement that followed. For unfortunately the aliens didn't realise they'd picked on the colony's Kung Fu class.

Four dead aliens lie at the feet of some rather put out colonists.

Turn 2:

Lead Legion got 2 more groups of aliens. They spawned at the closest point to me. Sigh. Andy P's cop recovered with a light wound, which basically meant he couldn't advance move without a quality check. Andy P also got initiative.

The table at the start of turn 2

His cops moved up to move towards the colonists in the centre. This meant they were now in site of some of the colonists, who would now begin moving towards them on their turn. They also moved up to shoot some aliens who were chasing colonists

The colonists run towards the local constables, while they shoot some aliens, which can be seen just at the side of the white bus.

My marines on the other hand were bogged down, as they now had a whole load of new aliens in front of them. Thankfully I remembered to shoot at them this turn, killing some, but they still reacted and moved into close combat. After several rounds of this, all the aliens lay dead, with one marine casualty.

A whole load of dead aliens

By this point I think Lead Legion had one lonely alien left, all the other having been shot up or stomped on. So he doggedly chased some colonists, which just got it shot by the local cops.

Turn 3:

The situation at the start of turn 3.

Lead Legion spawned his aliens, only another two groups, and thankfully they were far away from me, meaning I could try and make up some lost ground. They spawned in the cess pool, and in amongst the brown tanks. My trooper recovered, though had a serious injury, so was basically useless, and as I had a bit of a chase I decided I'd spend this turn escorting him to the rear.

The colonists now flocked to Andy P's cops. It was at this point we discussed could I try and steal the colonists, convincing them to come with me. It was decided that yes, if I got close enough, I could try and opposed test to convince the colonists, that clearly I was the safer choice. So the chase began.

The horde of colonists, with some freshly spawned aliens

Not a lot happened this turn. Andy P started to move his troops and colonists back, while managing to kill all the aliens in the cess pit, while the others began chasing his colonists. My guys fired up the Benny Hill music and started chasing after them.

Turn 4:

In which we forgot to take a beginning of turn photo. D'oh. Lead Legion managed to get more aliens this turn, and in slightly useful positions.

Andy P's colonists were on the large hill with his troops, while his other troops and remaining colonists were on the left handside and leaving the board. My troops had just made it to the hill

Hey you guys wouldn't you rather come with us??

 Unfortunately they couldn't quite get close enough. Then of course pesky aliens arrived.

Effectively I had to turn round and save my competitor. Rubbish

So yeah I had to turn my troops round, so that my opponent could get the colonists to safety. I like to think of it as self sacrificing and all that for the greater good yadda yadda. Eventually after some shooting and some close combat the aliens were defeated with no casualties. My other group of three also encountered a group of aliens as well, close to my original board edge.

Take that.

Thankfully these ones didn't even get into close combat, managing to shoot them all, and then fire again as they tried to charge into close combat. Take some space guns nasty aliens.

Andy P's police also encountered some more aliens, while protecting the last group of of colonists.

All lined up

In which he managed to kill them all. through a combination of shooting and close combat, all the aliens were seen off with only one casualty. All the aliens were also kind enough to slide down the hill into a nice neat row after a rather ferocious round of close combat.

At this point we decided to call it. It was pretty clear that Andy P would get the colonists off, and there was nothing I could do about it. So basically he managed to get 16vp for rescuing every single colonist. Lead Legion got 1vp for killing a cop. And me, I got none. Swines.

Still an enjoyable game, so definitely think I'll be investing in some 15mm stuff to play this with. They'll also double up as space troops in various RPGs and what not.

As always thanks for looking, comments more than welcome.

Painted Black Talon and WIP Arc Fleet

Well painting and all things modelling related has been a bit slow this week. Mostly due to due to in real life problems like work etc. I honestly can't say whether it'll speed up anymore either, as Mass Effect 3 arrived on Saturday, so I'm going to start playing my way through that pretty soon, once more immersing myself in the wonderful world BioWare have created.

Anyways, onto what has been achieved. I've finished the test gear for my Black Talons for Heavy Gear Blitz. I wanted to do one as I had a pretty solid idea of the colour scheme involved, but wanted to make sure it was okay before I just went on and painted everything in that colour. Now I am sure, I'm already starting work on the other members of the Primary Insertion Team, while the Operational Assistance Team (the heavy hitters) are being assembled to receive the same treatment.

An Owl C3 with a medium rifle, the leader of my Primary Insertion Team.

I wanted to go for a black colour scheme, to keep with the whole stealth idea, though decided to do the cloth muffling around the joints a light grey, and to throw a small amount of red at the shoulders and knees, along with some metal to give it a bit of colour and provide some contrast. The base is done to look like desert, to show the Terra Novan desert/wasteland. I may add some grass tufts to it though, to make it a bit more lively.

And just to prove they haven't been forgotten about in all this.

3 Arc Fleet, one NCO and two missile launcher troops

Some Arc Fleet troops from Critical Mass. They've received the base colours and they've been washed. They've now just awaiting the blue highlight and painting the gun and visor basically. Then another three will take their place on the pots.

Shall try and post more pics soon, if I can be pulled away from the Xbox.

Heavy Gear Blitz and more Critical Mass

Managed to get some more work done over the weekend on some projects, namely finishing up the last of the Augment suits for my slowly building Arc Fleet force from Critical Mass, and also managed to finally put together my Primary Insertion Team for the Black Talon force for Heavy Gear Blitz.

So here we go then. From Critical Mass Games, some Augment suits. I've shown the lasers before, but I jazzed them up a bit, so thought I'd post new pics.

Augment suits armed with laser cannons

Augment suits armed with plasma cannons

These will be placed on a base of 3 figures, with one regular figure and two specialist figures per base. I decided as well that the lasers and plasma cannons needed something a bit extra, given they were special weapons, so decided to give them a bit of colour on the guns. It will also save a lot of peering at figures with black guns, trying to work out whether that's a laser cannon or a plasma cannon on the tabletop.

I must say, I'm really impressed with these figures as well. Until I saw these figs, I'd always kinda brushed 15mm aside as not having much detail etc, but these are really nice. The only one I'm not incredibly keen on is the Plasma cannon on the far right, as he has a bit of a knockity-knees pose.

Anyways, on to part two, my Black Talons for Heavy Gear Blitz, from Dream Pod 9

Black Talon Primary Insertion Team

Assembled these guys at the weekend, which took a lot longer than expected due to my superglue being more like water that eventually sets. For those interested, that's an Eagle trooper with a heavy autocannon/light grenade launcher, an Owl C3 with a medium rifle and satellite uplink, another Eagle, this time with a gatling laser cannon and chainsword (all Eagles have these, just he's got his in hand to dish out some close quarters fighting) and another Eagle with again a HAC/LGL.

The plan for these is (and this has already begun) undercoat black, drybrush with dark sea green to bring out the edges, cloth covering at articulation points a light grey and then some panels either a darker grey or a dark red, I haven't decided yet. All the optics etc will be done a green colour. Hopefully I'll get these guys up in painted glory in a while.

Critical Mass Arc Fleet troops

Well time for some stuff that I've actually painted. As said in the description, I am the slowest painter in the world, and I partly started this blog to hopefully inspire me to do a bit more painting by showing it off.

I bought these figures from Critical Mass Games, when they attended a local show called Carronade in Falkirk, at least a year ago, and until now haven't really touched them. I experimented with colour schemes with a few, but was unhappy, so until I finally came up with something suitable they sat on the shelf, in bags, awaiting the caressing touch of the hairy sticks.

Finally one day a paint scheme just kinda popped into my head, while looking at sci-fi art and I just thought "Yeah, that could work". So they were broken out, the ones with paint on them were put in Pinesol to strip and the rest got to work on.

These aren't the only ones I've painted, but thought I would show a few of each type that I'd painted as brief examples of what I've done.

Arc Fleet Augment suits with laser cannons.

Arc Fleet Augment suit command. Also painted up some of the regular troops.

Arc Fleet regular infantry NCO troops.

I've got more Augment suits sitting waiting to get painted, and some more regular infantry. I've started work on one of the vehicles, after figuring out how much blue/grey it's getting, and it's now sitting awaiting shading.

These guys obviously aren't based. I'm going to get them all painted first, then base them once I work out what I'm putting on what bases. Also the commanders are going to get something to distinguish them, I'm thinking a white shoulder pad and white helmet or helmet stripe.

And yes, I'm a bit of a rubbish photographer. Any tips are always appreciated.