The Latest Purchase

I have a thing for GZG's miniatures. Here is the latest order:
I placed the order just after Jon uploaded the new releases on the 8th May.
The order included some support weapons for the NSL Jägers

 SG15-N46 NSL Jäger Autocannons

SG15-N47 NSL Jäger RAM Mortars

SG15-N49 NSL Jäger Plasma Cannons

Originally I thought I'd overlooked SG15-N48 NSL Jäger Auto Grenade Launchers, but then I remembered Jon had sent them out as a freebie in the previous order.

Also in the order were some new support weapons for the NSL Panzergrenadieren. These are updated weapon systems with small gun shields and different mounts. The differences are: 

1. each pack now comes with ammunition drums/boxes/magazines, which can be used to make your weapons team bases more scenic(?). 
2. the crewmen now include an ammunition box at the feet of the gun commander/observer. 
3. the weapon mount is now a collapsible tripod on a three-quarter round base, the older packs had wheeled mounts. The newer mounts seem better suited to a force using hover or grav vehicles as transport, while the older ones would work as towed support weapons in a formation using wheeled or tracked transport.
4. closer inspection revealed that the weapons themselves are slightly different from the ones in the older packs. They could be used to represent a new or upgraded model, while the older packs could be used as obsolete equipment brought out of mothballs, or sold off to other factions.

SG15-N18X NSL PzGren Autocannons

SG15-N19X NSL PzGren RAM Mortars

SG15-N20X NSL PzGren Auto Grenade Launchers

SG15-N21X NSL PzGren Plasma Cannons

The next items in the order were for the OutRim Coalition forces, they included:

SG15-RC09 OutRim Coalition Anti-Armour Support Weapons

These Marines carry heavier weapons than the previous SG15-RC04 Light Anti-Armour Weapons pack. You can see man-portable Hypervelocity Missile systems in the back row and heavy railgun sniper rifles in the front row.

 SG15-RC31 ORC Scout Grav Bikes. I'm not sure what happened here but instead of two single seat bikes, I got one single seater and a two seater (foreground). I'll just chalk it up to the team using what equipment was available.

SG15-RC32 ORC Two Seater Grav Bikes. These are equipped with the same weapons as the scout bikes, probably machineguns of some type.

SG15-RC33 ORC Attack Grav Bikes. These things are kitted out with twin Plasma Cannons, one mounted on each side of the foreward section of the bike. The pack comes with twin gauss auto cannons as another option.

These are the gauss autocannons I mentioned above and three sprues, each one from one of the grav bike packs; Each contains four little control fins/landing skids or something of the sort, browsing through the photos on the GZG website I could not see where they went on the bikes. But .................

I took a closer look at the models and discovered these two little slots on the underside behind the seat.

I glued a pair of these little buggers into those slots and................

 low and behold they match up with a similar protrusion front centre of the underbelly and all three appear to be landing skids. My model making skills are somewhat lacking, so this poor bugger has some slightly bent landing gear, obviously he thinks he's a bit of a hotshot pilot and has sparked it up a little on his latest run. The chief mechanic will have some choice words for him when he get's back to base.

As it turns out all six riders are somewhat careless and appear to have been hugging the terrain a little to closely. 

Now that the landing gear has been more or less sorted, I think I'll keep the the twin gauss autocannons to mount on a scratch build, I'm contemplating.

Overall I like the models (it's hard not to like anything from GZG), there was some flash on some parts, between the gunner's and rider's arms but not much really. The tripod mounts have a considerable amount of material between the legs, that, while quite thick, does not protrude from under the tripods. Rather than try to cut it out and possibly ruin the tripod, I'm going to try and paint it so that it appears to be the shadow of the weapon and mount.

Five Alpha, out.