The Coming Of The Chinese…

“the Chinese have come in, with both feet” – such was the announcment at UN headquarters during the Korean War when it was discovered that Chinese forces were fighting alongside the North Koreans as the UN troops pushed up the Korean peninsular.

And it seems appropriate here, as the Asian Communist Federation (led by China, but including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos amongst others) are one of the “Big Four” factions in the world of Apocalypse: Earth – much as in the real world, the Chinese in the A:E timeline spent the early part of the centrury battling Japanese invasions and each other before uniting under Mao Tse-Tung who was initially an ally of (and supplied by) Holy Soviet Emperor Djugashvilli, aka Tsar Josef I, (or “Stalin” to his mates).

However, the A:E version of the “Sino-Soviet split” occurred a fair bit earlier – after the initail Soviet invasion of Europe began to bog down and the Atlantic Alliance started to get involved supporting the European League nations, Josef I came to realise that even the Holy Soviet Empire didn’t have infinite amounts of soldiers and hardware, and began pressuring Mao to come into the war on his side. This backfired spectacularly and led to an ill-fated Holy Soviet invasion of China, with a Soviet combined arms army coming to grief on the Mongolian steppes (land war in Asia bad, who saw that happening?) and the Chinese uniting the Asiatic nations around them into the Asian Communist Federation…

Of course, just because they loathe the Holy Soviet Empire doesn’t mean they’re exactly best mates with the decadent round-eye Westerners of the European League or the Atlantic Alliance either, especially as plenty of those nations have colonies on what they consider their territory.. and so the stage is set for a truly apocalyptic war of everyone against everyone else, where nation doesn’t speak peace unto nation but more “hurls brick at other nations’ and calls their mum a slag”..

So after the Atlantic Alliance, Holy Soviets and European League have all got tabletop representation, it was high time to sort out the Chinese, being as we have now ironed out the kinks in the “2nd edition” rulebook and just need to sort the graphics before recruiting some of y’all out there for playtesting….

Here’s what we started with – 3 boxes of Caesar WW2 Chinese infantry:

We’re going with the idea of the ACF forces being very skilled light infantry, almost to the point of the Atlantic Alliance, but lacking heavy equipment and relying on strength in numbers.. and before the bots come in to say that we’re stereotyping, bear in mind that A:E is set circa 1955-56ish in this alternate timeline, and therefore is pretty closely modelled on the way the actual Chinese & North Korean armies fought in real life during the Korean War. Of course, they probably didn’t have Shaolin-trained monk assassins, but hey – it’s a game.

The ACF are largely infantry but obviously with this number of bodies, that’s going to take a while, but the armour contingent (based on obsolescent Holy Soviet designs… so that would roughly equate to WW2/ late 40s real world) painted up really quickly – two diecast T-34s (I think – that gun looks a bit more impressive) and two diecast BTR-152 APCs picked up at The Works (kind of a discount/ dollar store place spcialinsing in art supplies & kids books & toys, for our non-UK friends). These were pre-painted, so all they needed was a few washes of Vallejo Brown & Smokey Inks and a drybrush of bone craft paint, before some heavy sponge chipping (practicing ideological purity of thought doesn’t leave much time for maintenance) and then hit them with some DIY textuire paste made from PVA, brown paint and sand, mixed up and applied with an old brush to represent mud.

And here they are, ready to defend the pure, TRUE vision of international communism/ socialism/ political correctness:

BTR 152s

True equality means never having to wash your car

T-34? Or IS-2? Or a bit of a bodge of both?

So, with regard to playtesting, who fancies having a crack? The more brains we get on this, the better the end result will be, as there’s inevitably going to be stuff that me and Dan failed to think of – if anyone out there in hobbyland fancies giving it a try, let us know and we’ll email a PDF over to you… and when we get this out and released, the idea is to send 20% of all proceeds to Ukraine, so drop us a line!

Armies On Parade (Hyperian Wars) – The Ancien Regime

Cast your eye over these holiest of places. This, this, is where Humankind came to Hyperia so many centuries ago, fleeing the dying world and the ceaseless war. Here our prophet planted his flag and said “Today mankind stands reborn!”.

Many are those who have left to seek fortune elsewhere, to explore and conquer this world. Humanity - or those close enough to fit the genus – raises it’s flag on every island and continent on Hyperia. But here is where it all began. Here, on this, hallowed ground. Here the Ancien Regime was born, and in the unnumbered millienia of our history, here is where we have weathered every storm, beaten back every would-be destroyer, built our world anew. This is humanity’s rock on which all others will dash themselves.

Here we are with the fourth and (so far final) instalment of our Hyperian Wars escalation project, focusing on the Napoleonic-meets-Tolkien-meets-The Empire from Warhammer faction of humanity – the Ancien Regime! This massive, continent-spanning empire represents the numerically and geographically greatest of the various human societies, and its kings and nobles all claim (with varying degrees of legitimacy) to trace their lineage back to the First Leader who brought humanity from it’s dying home to escape a war they believed would consume humanity and end the world (wonder what he could be referring to…) – but they have also stagnated technologically and regressed into mysticism and Vril-worship to keep their creaking empire rolling.

These guys are actually seasoned veterans, having been featured in the blog when it was nought but a bairn, and came as a part of a massive 2012 Ebay haul… and it was while we wondering what the bloody hell to do with a bunch of Napoleonics and WW1 Brits that the concept of Apocalypse: Earth having a fantasy/steampunk/ VSF cousin, and featured in the very first test game back in 2016… and in that game, you may notice the Mk. 1 Dauntless – rather less refined than it’s successor – and a superheavy steam tank called the Ironclad.

Which having got 90% ready, then sat unfinished until September 2023. Of course. And it was during The Summer Of Tidying that we decided to get the Ancien Regime faction properly finished and tarted up. The Ironclad (which began life as a papercraft from Landships II, the Holt Steam Wheel Tank in 1/48 so suitably imposing for 1/72) got a new paint job (matching the repainted A7V Steam Tank) and because it looked pretty undergunned as was, I strapped a massive howitzer onto the back made from a defunct pen to ensure the lads had some sort of parity with the horrors that Hyperia has to offer.

So, pics:

The Ironclad Lives!

Went heavy with the sponge chipping as I figured this old girl would have seen some action..

Flags, as is de riguer in all Hyperian militaries

Overhead shot of the massive Bombard howitzer, giving a welcome indirect fire capability

The lads formed up on on parade..

Big Brother and Little Brother at the back

Will it be enough to hold back the Beasts?

And so right now, the Ancien Regime stands (reluctantly) shoulder to shoulder with the Skyborne 301st in facing down the beasts of the Virum Nascii and the Orca in the shed as our slow burning Hyperian Wars campaign comes to a climax! So that’s what you can look forward to in the next few weeks 😉

Meantime, stay safe, thrifty and Slavia Ukrainia – we’ll see you soon

More Hyperian Wars Escalation! DIY Virum Nascii Death Roller

Time marches ever onwards, and it’s startling to realise that the big Hyperian Wars game we’re currently prepping for was one we actually planned to play over the summer holidays… oh well!

You’ve already seen the 301st Skyborne with their new reinforcements and superheavy, Dan’s Waagh-Ghazhrag horde have their big new heavyweights, there’s something due for the Ancien Regime but for now here’s something for everyone’s favourite chittering treacherous hordes, the vile Ratmen – the Virum Nascii (who are absolutely nothing to do with GW’s Skaven, we’re sure)

Now, originally I had planned to make a Doomwheel – and had gathered peanut butter jar lids accordingly – but I just couldn’t get anything together that looked right, so I decided to toss the idea and come up with something that fulfilled the same role but looked a bit cooler – inspired more than slightly by this post from the Fawcett Avenue Conscripts blog.

However, while the Doomwheel was too dopey, a rat-tank just didn’t seem quite dopey enough for Ratticus and the crew, so I hit upon the idea of a roller pushed by a weird scrap construct firing Vril-lightning.. functionally identical to the Doomwheel, but hopefully cooler looking.

I even sketched out a rough concept drawing – I know, check me out! – and then it was time to hit the Pile Of Interestingly Shaped Crap.

Yep, that’s an asthma inhaler. Again. And a pepper pot, and a pair of milk carton lids. My house is a ridiculous place at times.

Cardboard added for the “Horned Rat” superstructure, and kebab skewer for the Vril-lightning cannons

Padding out the booty with corrugated cardboard…

Details added! Cardboard strips, blobs of PVA dotted on with a cocktail stick to represent rivets and superglue tube lids for the cannons… you may also notice the tail (!) which was a wire tie thingy, and the cocktail stick legs… why have wheels when you can walk, right?

By this point, the Muse had taken me!!! So after having glued everything I had to hand to everything else I had to hand, I left it and when to bed….

Yep, that’ll do! Out to the shed for priming – attempting this zenithal business again, so a grey base dusted from above with white….

…and then a brain fart, as either I didn’t take any more photos, or I did and managed to delete them.. but here we are with the finished product:

Of course, flags are now de riguer in our Hyperian Wars armies…

Side shot…

Showing off the junk in the trunk.. in fact, that’s a mechanical tail capped with a Vril tipped blade, so this thing should be a beast in close combat!

And here with the rest of the crew, Lord Ratticus’ horde….

So there we go, one new grand war machine for the Virum Nascii to match the Dauntless Redux and the Orca War God…. just the Ancien Regime to get tooled up and that’ll be everyone!

You’ll be glad to hear that Hyperian Wars now actually exists as a PagePlus DTP file – a whole 7 pages already! So there actually is a chance that we might finally get around to publishing this one before the heat death of the universe and/or the release of Legiones Imperialis… so till next time, stay thrifty and Slave Ukrainia!

Armies On Parade (Hyperian Wars) – The Grand Alliance 301st Skyborne

In this great coalition of nations, there are those amongst our populace who rail against the use of force, who would offer the hand of friendship to monstrosities such as the Orca or the Dead.. those who would see us lie down naked and supplicant in the face of the Virum Nascii. To those in our parliaments and cabinets who question the need for the forces we maintain, I would ask them to look a charging Orca in it’s hate-filled red eye and convince it of the justice of our cause. I would ask them how we should use “soft power” and “social justice programs” to defend against a murderous tide of Ratmen bent on destruction, death and enslavement. I would ask by what means of deterrence would we keep the Cousin Races of the Ee’la and Stoc’d from turning upon us. How we might keep in check the dogmatic religious zealots of the Ancien Regime kingdoms from upending our cherished democracies.

I would remind these people, as they sit in safety and comfort, pondering abstract matters of state.. I would remind them that they have that privilege only so long as rough men stand ready to deliver violence on their behalf. I would remind them that such privilege is bought solely with the blood and bravery of the Skyborne!

Back to our steampunk/fantasy world of Hyperia, and here we are looking at the newly reinforced detachment of the Grand Alliance faction – a loose coalition of floating cities and islands spread across the western hemisphere of Hyperia, bound together by mercantilist tradition and by far the most technologically advanced of the human factions, even if the more esoteric elements of Vril lie beyond their grasp.

Not bound to the rank & file regiment system of all the other powers, the Skyborne Infantry are all able to operate as skirmishers and with hefty firepower are able to punch well above their weight numerically, particularly given their “Mad Minute” special training, although when enemies can get in close in numbers, things get sticky quickly…

These lads have been in the blog before, but they’ve been given a new Dauntless, some Whippets, a nicer basing job and crucially some flags so I thought it’d be nice to give them an airing as they’ve been part of the Hyperian Wars project right from the start.. so, pics:

Lt. Caruthers leads the 301st forward

The lads in parade order – the command section featuring Lt. Caruthers, his ADC, Tactical Identification Device (aka flag) Bearer, signaller (chap with 2 flags), mortar, Enchantment Denial Device crew and an Artificial…

Behind them are the grunts, 3 nine man rifle sections each commanded by a sergeant, and behind them is the heavy support – three FV1066 Whippets (Willie The Wimp, Winifred, Walter) and the Dauntless Redux (with her crew pictured in front of her).. there were a couple of casualty figures left over which I painted up as objective markers.

Willie The Wimp leads the Whippet squadron forward

The Dauntless Redux

Casualty figures

Close up of the command section

Artificial – made from a couple of cocktail sticks and card.. close up of the Enchantment Denial Device crew, which in-game provides a degree of defence against magickal powers.

The grunts – old hands may recognise these as Airfix British WW1 infantry

Not to give too much away, but there’s probably going to be an uptick in Hyperian Wars content over the next few weeks as the slow burn “campaign” comes to a head… Stay thrifty out there and see you soon!

Apocalypse Then! Apocalypse: Earth Battle Report

The fan overhead beat rhythmically, echoing the antigrav pulse of the ubiquitous Silverbug engines. Alone in his bunk, Lt. Grant found it hypnotic. He’d been on this new assignment a week now – getting softer, getting weaker.. while out there, the Russians and Chinese only got stronger. He understood now why McAuliffe took solace in whisky – what else was there to do, when peace was just a dream.

The next thing he knew, he was being held under a freezing shower by two MPs. Clean shaven and with his most presentable fatigues on, he struggled not to sway as the Colonel briefed him.

Reading through his notes, Grant couldn’t believe they’d given him the right file. The officer they’d named had been a paragon of anti-Soviet resistance, even volunteering for and passing out through Foreign Legion training at age 38. Grant buried his resentment at the mission as best he could – but his platoon sergeant had no such reserve.

“We’re short and they want to take us upriver to kill a friendly? God F*CKING damn it! I thought you were going up to blow up a bridge, or some railroad lines? Ruskies and Chinese are piling in across the borders every day and we’re supposed to go kill our own goddamn allies?”

Grant gritted his teeth. “This is my task force. We put this thing down where we need to and do what it takes to get the job done.”

Mac looked hard into his Lieutenant’s eyes. “Sir. Yes sir.”

Out on the landing fields, Grant watched the surf crashing against the beach, squinting against the low morning sun. Behind him the familiar pulse of antigravity boosters boomed out as the Silverbugs roared to life, the smell of ozone and cordite wafting across. In spite of himself, Grant couldn’t help but smile, he loved that smell first thing in the morning. It smelled like… victory.

Off we go again with another Apocalypse: Earth Summer Smackdown! Hard on the heels of seeing what Dan can do with a soap dish and a biro, it’s time to put our newly reinforced League of European Nations forces to the test.. and a certain LoEN colonel, deep in the Southeast Asian jungles of an unnamed European protectorate has gone certifiably off his rocker, creating a new wonder weapon with the fruits of espionage on the secret Atlantic Alliance antigrav programs… and the Alliance need to get the situation under control! So who else but Buffalo 2-7, reconstituted after their encounters with a zombie horde and a couple of time warping, reality-bending scraps not to mention their heroic defence of Faslane naval base, to do the job?

Facing the boys would be Kampfgruppe Kurtz, a renegade LoEN colonel commanding Lt. con Hulkenberg’s platoon of regulars including their 88Gw laser cannon, a territorial platoon (not shown you them yet), a squadron of Jaeger tank hunters, Ocelot light tanks and of course the brand new Haunebau.. eagle eyed observers might notice our “Stargate” terrain pieces and a certain piece of wonky looking tech that’s got a flash new paint job! Both sides would deploy along the short edges of the 6×4 table.

Buffalo 2-7 deploy, armour to the fore, skimmer units and Rocketeers set up a flank manoeuvre

Been a while, hasn’t it lads?

Ze Churmans, caught under Kurtz’s spell, rush to meet them!

The Atlantic Alliance win the initiative, first shot from the lead Centurion demolishing the 88Gw laser as the rest of the LoEN force holds out in cover trying to weather the storm..

Alliance forces push forwards at top speed across the exposed open ground, infantry taking cover wherever they can

Haunebau makes its’ debit! And although the plasma cannons are laughably ineffective against the target M60 Centurion, those twin linked machine guns take a terrible toll on the Allied infantry

The state of play after Turn 1- note the burned out M60, a casualty of combined Ocelot laser cannon fire.. on the opposing side, one Ocelot destroyed and another one with a laser cannon blown off.

It had to happen – boosted by a few Command Points spent on her, Silverbug shreds the Haunebau powerfields with her Avenger cannons and demolishes it with Stinger/TOW ADATS missiles! Still, at least it lasted a turn…

Surviving Ocelots attempt to light up another M60…

Kurtz’s HQ section manage to target the underside of the lead Silverbug and manages to penetrate it’s armour, causing a catastrophic explosion! Wingman arrives and scythes through the Jager squadron..

With their armoured assets mostly stripped away by murderous Allied fire, von Hulkenburg gathers his platoon in cover preparing to counterattack the Allied infantry assault

The surviving Ocelot prepares to go down swinging..

Struggling to target von Hulkenburg’s regulars, the Allied APCs absolutely ventilate the territorials up on the hill guarding the objective

The jaws of the Allied trap begin to shut..

Rocketeers vault up onto the clifftop and massacre the Territorials at close range, suppressing them

However Territorial HQ wreaks a terrible vengeance!

Despite the panzerfaust operator being unable to hit the side of a barn door, concentrated rifle and machinegun fire manages to cripple the two Humvees trying to flank von Hulkenburg’s regulars

As the Allied noose draws tighter, von Hulkenburg’s regulars knuckle up on the objective with the remains of the Territorial platoon

But they’re not quick enough as the minigun armed Humvee (bolstered by ALL my Command Points this turn) catches them out in the open, massacring a rifle squad and all Kurtz’ staff!

A last ditch effort by surviving LoEN assault troopers land in by jump pack and massacre Bravo squad

An M113 draws a bead on Kurtz with a grenade launcher and two LMGs..

Surviving Silverbug massacres the Territorial HQ

It’s been a hell of a scrap!

Surrounded by the Atlantic Alliance Command Element, and wounded by the M113, Col. Kurtz is helpless as Grant icily draws a bead and pumps three rounds at close range into his head…

The first round hit home. “For my men”
The second round hit home. “For von Hulkenburg”
The third round hit home. “For me”

Looking down at his foe, Grant saw him mouthing something. leaning closer, he could just faintly hear.. “The horror…. the horror..”

Hau Nau Haunebau – DIY Flying Saucer!

And we return with a thud from the 41st millenium to an alternate 1950s.. Up til now something of a sideshow on the blog compared to the Atlantic Alliance and Holy Soviet Empire, the League Of European Nations is nevertheless on of the main combatants in the fluff for Apocalypse: Earth, representing a proto-EU formed in the wake of the cataclysmic Six Months War of 1914-15 which ended (SPOILER ALERT) in an effective stalemate after a military coup in Germany overthrew and executed the Kaiser..

The upshot is that by 1954 and the Soviet invasion, the Germans are “first among equals” in a mostly-united Europe – quite how happy the French are about that remains to be seen- and are doing their own share of Weird Science Wunderwaffen experimentation..

Oh, and Hitler? Shot in a trench in 1914. Yeah, no Nazis in this game, one lunatic genocidal baddie is enough for us.

Of course, the UK not joining the Six Months War meant no bankruptcy and an alliance with the US on a much more equal footing… plus never being invited to join the League meant no Brexit either, which means that the population have nothing to argue about in the pub and are therefore far more economically productive..

BUT back to the plot! The LoEN might not have had the help of mysterious outside forces (cough *ROSWELL* cough) to help boost their technology levels, but they do have Einstein, and they do have motivation in the face of the Holy Soviet Army amassed on their border.. so without further ado, let me introduce the highly experimental Messerschmitt Me-434 “Haunebau” Repulsor Attack Vehicle (“Antigravitations-Angriffsfahrzeug”)!

It begins! Base shape is an old soap dish discovered during a recent clearout.. Lines drawn are for reference when adding further detail later on.

Rivets added – dots of quick dry-PVA added with a cocktail stick.. I didn’t quite measure these but paid attention to eyeballing them at the same levels… this is a German vehicle, after all!

The force field projector on the top is from a defunct pen, the plasma cannons are cocktail sticks with the spring from the same pen cut into two and wrapped around to represent energy coils… machine gun emplacements are greenstuff blobs with (you guessed it) granny grating embedded in them.

After white priming and a prewash of Vallejo Smokey Ink, I applied two thin coats of Crafter’s Choice tan, a bit of a dry(ish) brush with bone, and then stippled on first Russian Green…

…and then a brain fart happened and I didn’t take any more pictures until the whole thing was done… so next up was a stipple of craft brown, a pin wash of Smokey Ink and a thinned wash of brown in the “creases” of the model.. base was a mini CD (remember them) with a tactical rock affixed and about an inch of clear styrene rod to give the impression of flight. I tried magnetising but the damn things just wouldn’t stick to anything else but each other.. so blue tack to the rescue!

After that it was white on the energy coil and then washed with thinned craft blue, heavy sponge chipping with black around the edges, flocking on the base and out for varnish.. so fanfare please:

On patrol with elements of Kampfgruppe Hulkenberg…

Right now in the shed, seeing action…

SAUCER ATTACK!!!

So there we are, a new “Super” unit to give the LoEN something on a par with with the Atlantic Alliance Silverbug gunships or the Holy Soviet Colossus – and oh yes, right now there is quite the scuffle going on in the shed, based around a certain classic Vietnam movie.. and we’ll be bringing that to you as a battle report before long!

Stay safe, thrifty & we’ll see you again soon

Halloween 2022 Zombie Game – The Battle Of Yonkers

It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that our pet game “Apocalypse: Earth” has been conspicuous by it’s absence so far this year. There’s a fairly straightforward reason for that – the setting is based around a rampaging Soviet Empire under a genocidal lunatic trying to enslave the world and this year that hasn’t really been escapist fantasy, it’s just been.. well, the news. And as such, neither Dan or myself have really felt in the mood for it.

But after spending a month last year painting a whole load of zombies for a specially themed Halloween game, we both rather fancied the idea of breaking out the Atlantic Alliance to fight out a scenario based on the Battle of Yonkers from the brilliant novel (and passable film) World War Z.. if you haven’t read the book – well, you definitely should… if you haven’t seen the film – well, it’ll be on telly again before long, there’s no rush!

Basically the Battle Of Yonkers saw the US military making a concerted stand at the town of Yonkers, NY against a crowd of zombies numbering in the millions. There’s some fascinating descriptions of the effects of MLRS and artillery against the undead, as well as the Land Warrior system (which correct me if I’m wrong, never did make it into service in real life) and the famed “Silver Bullet” tungsten / depleted uranium armour piercing shells.. if you haven’t read it, I won’t spoil it but let’s just say it doesn’t go too well for humanity… the US Army being a finely honed instrument of warfare honed for a completely different war than it found itself fighting.

With this in mind we set up a half urban, half rural board with a bunch of woods on the rural side and ruins on the urban side to represent Yonkers city limits, and put our big group of trusty Airfix civilians (who seem to be forever getting caught up in this sort of thing) in the middle, and with a randomly rolled up mob of zombies either side, homing in menacingly…

Civilians approach Atlantic Alliance lines with shambling hordes closing in from both sides…

We were winging the rules as we went, but the basic idea was that each zombie mob would get reinforced by (Turn Number)xD6 zombies each turn.. and behind the Alliance lines were four spawning points that would spawn (Turn Number-1)x D6 zombies each turn.. trust me, it was simpler than it sounded! At the far side of the table was a waiting APC to shuttle out the survivors.

Buffalo 2-7’s infantry component take up station on the city limits

A crowd of civilians rush toward them, hoping for sanctuary from the undead..

Lt. Grant leads his men forward to link up and clear out the zombie mobs approaching from the flanks

Behind you! Bravo Squad wheel around to discover zombies shambling towards them.. Keeping the rear areas secure would prove to be a major tactical problem for the Alliance in this battle

On the other side of the street, Alfa Squad are dealing with their own problems..

Grant ushers the civilians under his wing

Allied rifle squads sweep the rear areas clean of undead

Allied troops gun down approaching zombies, holding them off to allow the civilians to escape inside the city limits

Out of the frying pan…

It’s a trap! Zombies boil from their spawning points, getting up close and personal with the civilians and soldiers..

Undead to the left of them, undead to the right of them… it’s getting sticky for the Allied troops!

And still they come!

Beset by crowds of zombies from all sides, the undead get in amongst the living…

Lt. Grant falls! We ruled a 50/50 chance of a living model being reanimated as a zombie.. which he duly was!

With Platoon Sgt McAuliffe now in command, the troops blaze away at the encroaching hores of zombies but the sheer numbers are just too much…

Another zombie mob appears, interposing itself between the civilians and their escape route – Alfa Squad rush to take them down!

In desperation, Alfa Squad cut loose the frag grenades despite danger proximity to the civilians – they cut a swathe through the zombies, but at the cost of two civvies!

HUGE numbers of zombies now on the table, homing in on Allied forces from all sides and blocking escape routes!

Alfa Squad are surprised and eaten!

It’s looking grim…

“RUN! DON’T LOOK BACK!” McAuliffe screams as his surviving men turn to face the oncoming horde, desperate to hold just a little longer…

Last stand… Mac & the boys knuckle up to sell their lives dearly

“It’s been an honour, gentlemen…” Mac & the remnants of 2-7 lock & load, ready for the final act

The boys give it their all but vanish under a horde of flesh-eating ghouls.. the last civilian catches Mac’s eye as he boards the APC, just to see the sergeant mouth the words “Remember us…”

Well that was a belter! Took a little time to get going but the gradual ramping up of zombie numbers turned what initially looked like a walk in the park for the Alliance into a lethal and cinematic last stand where once again, Buffalo 2-7 died gloriously to a man in defence of freedom! Great fun and hiding out in the gaming shed kept us safe from the attentions of wandering trick or treaters.. bah humbug! X-D

So, what next? What zombie-themed scenario could we investigate for Halloween next year? There’s almost a year to figure something out… drop us a comment and we’ll see you soon!

More Hyperian Wars Escalation – The Dauntless Redux!

We live in an increasingly turbulent world. Our cousin races – the Ee’la, the Stoc’d – withdraw into themselves, thinking only of their own interests. The Beasts – Orca, Grub, Virum Nascii, Lacerats – their numbers grow by the day, encroaching onto those territories claimed by Man. The Dead pour from the dark places.. and even while all this takes place, still we turn on each other.

Our Sky Marines perform above and beyond the call of duty but in the face of peer and near-peer competitors it is vital that we shore up our technological to maintain overmatch in the face of these perils. And so we are proud to unveil a new generation of Skycutters to ensure that our forces go into battle equipped the very best in firepower and protection from perils both physical and enchanted. To this end, we present our latest and best battlefield weapon – the Allied Sky Vessel “Dauntless”

Her power fields and wards will provide unmatched protection against conventional and magickal attacks, whilst a Vrilfire cannon can cut a swathe through enemy warriors. Vril-tipped missiles equipped with Artificial Cognisance can bring down threats up to and including the largest dragons employed by the Beast races, whilst reinforced liftwood levitation engines ensure maximal mobility. Noospheric networking allows the Dauntless class to network with lesser constructs such as the Whippet, as well as with platoon command sections and Masters Of Artificials on the ground

The Dauntless combines speed, protection and lethality into one construct, ensuring our society has nothing to fear from the Dead, the Beasts, or any other threat that the world of Hyperia may choose to throw against us

She can be seen here flying the colours of the 301st Skyborne, a tried and tested formation who have defended the Grand Alliance against many foes

Live fire combat testing proved the efficacy of the design, the Skyborne being highly appreciated of her concentrated firepower

Yep, I got into the recycling again…

Actually, I’ve been meaning to do this for AGES. Ever since I saw this:

This is the lid of a bottle of laundry detergent. And looked at the right way… it has an air of steampunk, Adeptus Mechanicus-style menace, doesn’t it? And given that the previous incarnation of the Dauntless was basically a toilet roll tube with pretensions, I’d long wondered if I couldn’t do something a bit better.

Filled the body with caulk and popped a ping pong ball in there to be the liftwood core

Some EPVC (I think) from an eBay purchase provided the wings – you’ll have seen the same stuff used here as base.

Bevelled the wings and glued them on using a mix of quick dry PVA, caulk and superglue.

Jet thrusters from a pair of now-dead biros

Chin cannon (thinking steampunk/ fantasy A-10 here, so something analogous to the iconic “Avenger” cannon) – this was made from a mysterious leftover part from an IKEA bookcase!

Missiles added for those hard to reach targets! These are rawl plugs, attached to the wings with the same mix of PVA and superglue

Something this big needs a base equal to the challenge! Pretty sure 2005 virus protection isn’t much use in 2022, so this CD will do, with a Tactical Rock added to cover the hole

Cardboard added for armour plating and rivets daubed on as blobs of PVA with a cocktail stick, and then we bring the primer! White, to match the Whippet

Cat litter added to the base for scenic effect

Primed and ready for painting…

And done! Painting was the same as the Whippet, and the basing mostly used the same idea – I did a little bot of leopard spotting on the rocks before drybrushing them with cream and using the tried and trusty mix of PVA and superglue to attach the ping pong ball liftwood core.. Thumb added for scale!

So there we go – I’m really, really chuffed with this build, it came together really well and I think it looks the part too… full of menace, hovering across the battlefield dispensing Vrilfire death to the enemies of the Grand Alliance… let’s see what those filthy Greenskin savages, rat abominations or misguided religious zealots can come up with to match her!

Stay thrifty out there and see you soon – we’ve just noticed that it is (drumroll please) Orctober!!! So no prizes for guessing the next few posts themes…

Another Hole In The Head Pt. 7 …Characters! Flags! (and a battle report!)

Let’s. Get. This. DONE.

With the Last Regiment finally finished, the end of this project is tantalisingly close… so let’s keep on!

I’d separated out the remaining figures into five “Boss” figures – one of which would be promoted to Warchief Ghazrag The Bloody himself – and ten “Shamans” (one of which played Ghaz in the battle reports). This meant there was going to be a SERIOUS amount of of Orca magic going on.. which was fair enough, it’s not like they get much in the way of heavy weapons or missile troops…

So, I based all the remaining models on 20mm washers using a mix of superglue and quick dry PVA, primed them white and then gave them a thinned black pre-wash to help pick out the detail as the eyes aren’t what they were… you might notice a little bit of greenstuff conversion work to make the figures less uniform, including the odd arm bent up or down, as well as a greenstuff cape on Ghaz himself to give him a bit of extra presence. The jester’s hat on one of the shamans was another greenstuff effort, a tip of the hat to the classic old GW Ork Weirdboy from the 90s, and in case it’s not clear, the stuff coming out from the shaman’s outstretched hands is magic, not an oversized novelty foam finger.

Next up, flags. Having failed spectacularly with my freehand attempts with the Blood Angels, I decided to take a different tack – a Google Image search for “Warhammer Fantasy Orc Banners” got me this:

So much easier when someone else has done the drawing for you..

The paint schemes were the same as the previous regiments, and I extended that to the banners – mostly red (Vallejo Hot Orange washed with Red Ink), craft bone paint and Vallejo German Grey for black / dark grey bits.

For banner poles I snipped some black paper clips in half, arranged them in reasonably convincing poses and superglued them in place.. and now the big reveal!

Warchief Ghazrag The Bloody, seen here at the head of his horde doing his best John Travolta impression… you can tell by the way he holds his axe, he’s a woman’s Orc, no time to talk…

Orca Boss at the head of regiment of Boyz, now all flagged up and ready to rock

Ghaz and his Shamans at the head of his regiment of bodyguards

Head shaman rocking VERY fly hat

Dey’s over dere, GET EM!!!!!

The Mighty Horde!!

Now admittedly, Orca strategy is largely:

But it’ll still be nice to have all these Bosses to help keep the assault rolling forward

But before all that, Warchief Ghazrag had the small matter of an Ancien Regime force to match wits with in his quest for ever-holier stones…

The battle lines are drawn…

The Ancien Regime forces deploy with their flank anchored by the Steam Tank

Ghaz leads the boys in a pincer movement around the ruined church (or at least that’s the plan)

Supported by the Arrer Boyz, the Orca pile forward – Ghaz attempts to lead his bodyguard forward in the centre but is defeated by the terrain..

Watching the Orca thunder toward the Ancien Regime lines, the Steam Tank takes cover for a flanking shot

Ancien Regime Grenadiers fall victim to Orca Arrer Boyz but the line holds… “Let them come on, lads!”

Caught in the open, the Orca Warriors fall to the Steam Tank’s firepower!

Rifle regiment receive the first of many Orca charges!

Despite massive losses, the Rifle regiment holds, buying time for the Cuirassier cavalry to counter attack with a devastating flank charge

Grenadiers join the party, pushing home the counter-attack

Meanwhile, the “elite” Black Orcs are hit with rifle fire from the regiment positioned on the cliff, and straightaway fluff their morale check..

Not to be deterred, however, Ghazrag and his bodyguard are closing in on their objective!

Grenadiers and Cuirassiers make short work of the Savage Orcs

Making a last gasp dive for the objective after Witch-Colonel Murphy manages to teleport him down the hill, Ghaz is felled by rifle fire as the remaining riflemen burn through their remaining command points in desperation… the last bullet hits home, felling the Warchief!

Bugger, I cocked that up royally – I tried to keep the regiments together and failed abysmally, leaving them to hit the Ancien Regime lines piecemeal.. hopefully my new cadre of Shamans and bosses will inject some flexibility to round out the army..

There’s still a couple of war machines to build, plus I’ve got a couple of conversions up my sleeve.. and then maybe make some giant spiders.. and this is why projects never really get finished! The Curse Of The Wargamer strikes again…

Stay safe and thrifty out there, we’ll be back again soon

Another Hole In The Head Pt. 5 (And A Battle Report!)

It’s the summertime and the weather is fine, and I’ve been out in the garden knocking back wine…

Time to step away from the Blood Angels for a bit – I’ve lost confidence in my eye for detail (nothing to do with ay criticism, by the way – all the comments I’ve had have been positive, in fact far more positive than I deserve), and I think I need to do a fair bit of freehand practice to get my skills up to snuff before having another go at my command figures. So it makes sense to go to a smaller scale, right?

Well… yeah, actually. See, the issue I had with the BAs was with the smooth surfaces and details like the campaign badges and banners (which also highlighted the downsides to painting with housepaints rather than model paints in some instances… X-D) . The details that are picked out for you on the sculpts – pipes, aquilas etc – I wasn’t too bad with. And with my Orcs, there’s plenty of those. This lets washes and drybrushing take care of the heavy lifting – plus any mistakes you can hide within a regiment of 30, right?

So here we are – a regiment of 30 Black Orcs (Orcs of Colour?):

These lads are the heavy hitters, the elite of the orc infantry, and 30 of them is a big solid linebreaker whether you’re playing Warhammer Fantasy, Kings Of War or Hyperian Wars

Paint scheme was basically the same as the other ladz, but a black wash dulled down the skin tones.

I gave myself a hand by priming these white and then prewashing with thinned Smokey Ink to get to the parts other painting layers can’t reach….

Warchief Gazhrag The Bloody leads his army

A mighty horde!

Fancy seeing this lot coming at you?

So that’s Gazh the Warchief, a regiment of 16 Archers, 2 regiments of 30 Orcs each, a regiment of 25 Savage Orcs and now the Black Orcs – one more regiment to go and then we’re on to the Shamans, and I’ve got a few ideas for support units…

And then, to battle!

Having already kicked the arse of Ratticus McStilton and his Virum Nascii, da boyz fancied a taste of ‘oomie flesh….

Lt. Carruthers’ Sky Marine platoon deploys to the left, with support from an Artificial, Gazhrag’s boyz to the right. The objective is the sacred stones in the middle of the ruined temple… wonder what the Orc Warlord might be wanting with all these stones?

Sky Marines deploy forward with command section and mortar anchored on the low hill in the centre

And there’s the OPFOR…

The ladz barrel forward

No. 3 Squad takes casualties from surprisingly effective Orc archery

Nos. 1 & 2 squads hold the hill overlooking the temple, but it looks like they’re getting company soon

Black Orcs crash into the Sky Marines on the hill

Sky Marines retreat in good order despite taking savage losses, but the Orc regiment following the Black Orcs catch them in the open

Sky Marines fight bravely, but 30 Orcs are 30 Orcs

Command section let fly with rifles and mortar, Jim running down all his Command Points to hammer these ladz before they massacre his troops up close and personal. The “1” you can see is the regiment failing it’s morale check – being within 12cm of unsuppressed enemy troops they are captured (or cut down by quickfire .303 rounds and bayonets)

Next turn Jim won the initiative and turned the attention of the command section onto the Black Orcs – concentrated casualties in the regiment’s rear quickly caused them to become suppressed and surrender too!

However, the command section can’t face two ways at once and the second prong of the Orc attack strikes

Two survivors are all that’s left of No. 3 squad!

Surviving Sky Marines consolidate on the low hill for a last stand

But to no avail, as the Orcs crash into them from both sides!

“Those creatures are tremendous in stature!”

“Wait until you see the reds of their eyes, lads”

And so Gazhrag The Bloody scored another victory, albeit having lost half his archers, his elite Black Orcs and a regiment of regular Orcs in the process… and we ironed out a few more kinks in the Hyperian Wars ruleset, hopefully bringing the publication date to three days before the heat death of the universe.

Stay thrifty out there – Jim’s got something he’s really excited to tell you all about… 😉