Shacks, Modules and Neo-Soviets
I haven't been playing much, nor have I been working on my figures much, but the last few days have seen a bit of a change.
I've had a few orders come in, which rekindled my interest and got me working again.
I've been thinking about setting and rules as well. While I like the Stargrunt II Rules, I've been looking at Tomorrow's War. It is very similar to SG II in that troop quality is more important than equipment, but the differences I've noticed so far are more fluid turn sequence, rules for the networked battlefield and good support for alien species. So I'm reading through the pdf's now and have ordered the books online.
Recent arrivals included GZG's Shack Set and Base Module Set, and Brigade Models' Neo-Soviets which arrived yesterday. As noted in my previous post GZG's building range required some assembly. As yet they are unpainted, but they have been assembled.
I ordered the Colony Bar w/extension and it should arrive in about a fortnight. I'm thinking of ordering some building parts and fittings, for home made buildings, but I'll need to work out what I'm actually going to make before I do so.
I intend on buying some stowage, vehicle commander half figures and other bits and pieces from GZG's accessories range. Also Mr Tuffley has a metal shipping container kit, but I might look around for some resin shipping containers first. I found the shacks and particularly the modules awkward to put together. It's probably just my age and infirmity showing.
The Neo-Soviets include a Spetsnaz Squad and a Conscript Platoon. They arrived in one of those yellow envelopes with bubble-wrap on the inside. Sub-Commander Amelia found them on her daily recce of the mailbox. I was a little concerned that they may have been damaged by being stuffed into the letterbox, but the figures are quite sturdy and the package was pretty slim. Time between ordering and delivery was 13 days. It would appear that UK Post is considerably faster than US Post, why? who knows, doesn't really matter anyway, it's just an observation.
The Spetsnaz Team appears to be wearing some sort of ballistic coverall, with a face mask. Each soldier carries an XM-8 style personal weapon. Two of which appear to include integral over and under grenade launchers. Their harness is replete with pouches providing ample room carrying capacity for all the spetsnaz gear each soldier requires in the field. Two fire teams of four men, one GL per fire team, makes sense with these guys.
The Conscript Platoon includes 2x Rifle Squads, 1x Support Weapons Squad and 1x Command Squad.
The Rifle Squads include 6x Riflemen, 1x RPG Gunner, 1x SAW Gunner, and 1x Squad Leader. The conscripts main weapon looks to be a descendent of the Kalashnikov, the RPG has not changed appearance much over the years, the SAW looks very much like the RPK with a drum magazine. Either these troops are, as I expect, meant to represent near future Russian forces or Russian weapon designs haven't changed much in the future.
The Support Weapon Squad includes 2x 2 man Gatling Teams, 1x man Missile Team, 1x Sniper and 1x Plasma Gunner. Their body armour and personal equipment is identical to the Rifle Squads'. The Pack includes 3x small rod like pieces which represent reloads or discarded cases for the Missile Launcher.
The Plasma gun is big and bulky as befits such a weapon, it's fed by a power pack worn on the back. The Sniper looks to be wielding an energy weapon, probably a Laser Rifle. The power pack is rather uniquely located right of the pistol grip, with the soldiers forearm and hand being concealed by the powerpack.
The Command Team includes 1x Commissar wearing a commissar's hat and armed with a handgun, 5x soldiers (Officers/NCOs) one of which carries the platoon comms gear. (nice little satellite dish on the pack and headset).
Also each squad includes 1x soldier that looks to be wearing an NBC suit.
From left to right: No.2 on a Gatling gun, Commissar, No. 2 on the other Gatling gun, Sniper, No. 2 Missile Gunner.
There is some flash on these figures, noticeably on the heads, it looks like the two mould halves have some very slight movement, leaving a flash line across the top of the head of each figure. The poses tend to be closed, as in the arms are generally held in tight to the body, making these figures rather solid compared to some open poses in my collection. Proportions are much the same as GZG figures, although the heads appear smaller. Detail is not as clear as GZG figures, but they should come up nice after painting.
The differences in equipment, mean these figures will represent a different faction than that represented by the GZG ESU Naval Infantry. Their weaponry is closer in design to 20th and early 21st century weapons, which suggests that they could be used as a lesser Russian satellite state or an independent colony with Russian roots. One that is using older tech.
My GZG NSL Panzergrenadiers appear in the background of some oft hese photos. I'll talk about them in my next post.
Five Alpha, out.
I've had a few orders come in, which rekindled my interest and got me working again.
I've been thinking about setting and rules as well. While I like the Stargrunt II Rules, I've been looking at Tomorrow's War. It is very similar to SG II in that troop quality is more important than equipment, but the differences I've noticed so far are more fluid turn sequence, rules for the networked battlefield and good support for alien species. So I'm reading through the pdf's now and have ordered the books online.
Recent arrivals included GZG's Shack Set and Base Module Set, and Brigade Models' Neo-Soviets which arrived yesterday. As noted in my previous post GZG's building range required some assembly. As yet they are unpainted, but they have been assembled.
The Base Module Set
The Shack Set.
I ordered the Colony Bar w/extension and it should arrive in about a fortnight. I'm thinking of ordering some building parts and fittings, for home made buildings, but I'll need to work out what I'm actually going to make before I do so.
I intend on buying some stowage, vehicle commander half figures and other bits and pieces from GZG's accessories range. Also Mr Tuffley has a metal shipping container kit, but I might look around for some resin shipping containers first. I found the shacks and particularly the modules awkward to put together. It's probably just my age and infirmity showing.
The Neo-Soviets include a Spetsnaz Squad and a Conscript Platoon. They arrived in one of those yellow envelopes with bubble-wrap on the inside. Sub-Commander Amelia found them on her daily recce of the mailbox. I was a little concerned that they may have been damaged by being stuffed into the letterbox, but the figures are quite sturdy and the package was pretty slim. Time between ordering and delivery was 13 days. It would appear that UK Post is considerably faster than US Post, why? who knows, doesn't really matter anyway, it's just an observation.
The Spetsnaz Team appears to be wearing some sort of ballistic coverall, with a face mask. Each soldier carries an XM-8 style personal weapon. Two of which appear to include integral over and under grenade launchers. Their harness is replete with pouches providing ample room carrying capacity for all the spetsnaz gear each soldier requires in the field. Two fire teams of four men, one GL per fire team, makes sense with these guys.
The light is a bit bright, the bases are a little small for the washers I use and sometimes need something to cover the hole.
Fireteam 1, Grenade Launcher on right.
Fireteam 2
Here they are interspersed with GZG's ESU Naval Infantry.
The Conscript Platoon includes 2x Rifle Squads, 1x Support Weapons Squad and 1x Command Squad.
The Rifle Squads include 6x Riflemen, 1x RPG Gunner, 1x SAW Gunner, and 1x Squad Leader. The conscripts main weapon looks to be a descendent of the Kalashnikov, the RPG has not changed appearance much over the years, the SAW looks very much like the RPK with a drum magazine. Either these troops are, as I expect, meant to represent near future Russian forces or Russian weapon designs haven't changed much in the future.
The Support Weapon Squad includes 2x 2 man Gatling Teams, 1x man Missile Team, 1x Sniper and 1x Plasma Gunner. Their body armour and personal equipment is identical to the Rifle Squads'. The Pack includes 3x small rod like pieces which represent reloads or discarded cases for the Missile Launcher.
The Plasma gun is big and bulky as befits such a weapon, it's fed by a power pack worn on the back. The Sniper looks to be wielding an energy weapon, probably a Laser Rifle. The power pack is rather uniquely located right of the pistol grip, with the soldiers forearm and hand being concealed by the powerpack.
The Command Team includes 1x Commissar wearing a commissar's hat and armed with a handgun, 5x soldiers (Officers/NCOs) one of which carries the platoon comms gear. (nice little satellite dish on the pack and headset).
Also each squad includes 1x soldier that looks to be wearing an NBC suit.
From left to right: Missile Gunner, ComTech (note the directional array on backpack), No.2 on a Gatling gun, Plasma Gunner, Commissar and a half man?
The whole platoon on parade at the foot of Keyboard Hill.
On parade, again, but here they are in front of my GZG NSL Panzergrenadiers. Note the sniper, front row, right. You can clearly see the power pack positioned over the firers arm and trigger hand.
There is some flash on these figures, noticeably on the heads, it looks like the two mould halves have some very slight movement, leaving a flash line across the top of the head of each figure. The poses tend to be closed, as in the arms are generally held in tight to the body, making these figures rather solid compared to some open poses in my collection. Proportions are much the same as GZG figures, although the heads appear smaller. Detail is not as clear as GZG figures, but they should come up nice after painting.
The differences in equipment, mean these figures will represent a different faction than that represented by the GZG ESU Naval Infantry. Their weaponry is closer in design to 20th and early 21st century weapons, which suggests that they could be used as a lesser Russian satellite state or an independent colony with Russian roots. One that is using older tech.
My GZG NSL Panzergrenadiers appear in the background of some oft hese photos. I'll talk about them in my next post.
Five Alpha, out.
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