The Zhodani Commando

Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Friday, March 22, 2024

The AFS I & II (Armored Fighting Suit)

A very important Armored fighting Suit for the Independent Mercenary Army early Was has started to become one of my favorites. Here is another company that I have just painted up (I use Slave2game packaging of 6 suits to a bag as a platoon, and three platoons to make up a company. Not anything official, just what I want to do). The following is a bit of knowledge about the universe these bad boys come from.

23,491 suits of the AFS, including the Mk III, were the standard armored fighting suit of the Mercenary troops in the early stages of the war. 20,992 of these were Mk. II, a refined, more efficient, and better-armored weapon. Out of the rest, 2,314 were Mk I, which was the earliest prototype of the AFS.

Although the Mk I was a little inferior to the Mk II it was greatly invincible early on because the Shutoral forces had no effective countermeasure. It is said that the AFS Mk I was the single most important type of AFS during the war.

The AFS was an outgrowth of a strength enhancing exoskeleton, which was developed by a Mercenary engineer for use in remote regions where heavy lifting equipment wasn't available. This exoskeleton was then covered in a layer of tungsten steel and further strengthened by armored resin. A Prg.41 laser was added to the left arm as a built-in weapon. Using the AFS Mk I's onboard fuel supply, this weapon could be fired seven times on full anti-vehicular mode, or up to fifty times on a smaller setting (such as against infantry). The AFS was initially designed as a weapon for use in guerrilla style warfare, but with the overwhelming success of the suit, it was switched to mass production.

2,314 Mk I suits were produced at the central Mercenary production center in a former rock salt mine situated in the North American continent.

Only one major variation of the AFS Mk I was made, and that was a commander's suit. The FuG8-L radio was switched with a longer ranged FuG8-B radio. However, this was never too reliable and when these commander suits came in for repair or maintenance, the radio was usually switched back the more common FuG8-L.

The AFS P Polar Bear was simply the 'arctic' version of the AFS, adding better insulation and heating for the pilot and equipment.

Many AFS models had two hands, removing the arm laser and allowing for great flexibility, although at the loss of any inbuilt weapons. These were classified as the AFS Type E.