I've added another 16 soldiers to my Afghanistan OPFOR collection. These are 28mm metal Empress miniatures and the sculpts are just marvalous! I also added a 3D print Van from Specter Ops. I am waiting on some mouse pad printed road maps that are in the mail. These will help make my battlefield a bit more spiffy.
I purchased a couple of rules sets recently, one was Spectre Operations, and the other was Modern Haywire.
I tried out Haywire first, as this is a cooperative or Solo type game. You use cards to setup your scenarios, and there are cards with force stats on them. The fog of war cards are I think interesting as this can throw a few zingers at you during the turn.
Anyways I tried it out with a friend and he cried that my civilians weren't painted, not that he volunteered any painted figures of his own, but I know he was just giving me crap because that's what he does.
Our next test game will be with my freshly now painted civilians, but I am sure he'll figure out something to poke the bear with.
Here are a few shots of my 28mm Empress Miniatures civilians.
My favorite vehicle in the world of Super Armored Fighting suits, now known as Maschinen Krieger or Ma.K., was the TW-47 Krote. I first saw a 1/20th scale model of this in an actual brick and mortar store that sold models years ago (boys and girls I am talking like 1985!). These kits back then were pretty cool and a lot of armored kit builders snapped these up without knowing anything about the lore (which was being written on the fly). You don't see those kind of hobby stores out there anymore, an era gone by, but not my love for models. The models I have now are 15mm metal miniatures that I purchased from Slave2gaming
I've written a little bit about the Krotes history (from articles I've read) down below:
In 2884, the driver-less assault light scout tank, Krote , was recognised as a regular weapon of the Shutoral forces because of its versatility. The Krote was suited to movement in the wastelands because of its superior drive system which allowed it to travel in most areas on its own two feet. It had a strong armoured defence of tungsten and special ceramics as well as an unequalled internal structure. Moreover, it was armed with a Vulcan MG515, which was the most efficient weapon the Shutoral forces had at the time, and a scouting computer and other electronics good enough to meet the demands of the front as both a light assault unit or as a reconnaissance drone. Furthermore, they were fairly cheap to mass-produce and their maintainability was good, which endeared them to the units they were stationed with.
Later It was decided that the Krote could accept a bigger weapon than the standard 1.5 cm Vulcan, and this would allow the Krote to accept more of a active role in front line duty. The 75 mm Pak43/2 was chosen to be mounted on the Krote as it was a very reliable weapon with a small signature. It was mounted with a 15 round autoloading magazine along with strengthening of the leg and fuseluge section of the drone. However, tests soon showed that the recoil of the Pak43/2 gun was greater than anticapted and this would have an effect of the durability of the Krote . However, because the Krote was going to be phased out with the introduction of the Neuspotter, additional bracing was not added and the drone entered service anyway.
Below Krotes on deep patrol walk by a destroyed IMA Dollhouse
And here are the last bits for awhile. I do have two points of mercenary troops to paint yet, but I am taking a break and painting some stuff for me.
Here are some Roman Velites, skirmish troops that, if they proved themselves, wore furs so the commander could distinguish them from other troops on the battlefield.
The Triarii were elite, heavily armored veteran soldiers who formed the third and final battle line in the early Roman Republican manipular legion.
So let it be written... So let it be done!!! I have completed more troops for the commission and winding down finishing up some Velites soon.
When I run my Flint and Feather campaign I want to run it narrative style so adding these little critters will make it fun.
