19C - VSF French Army Part 3

 Back to the VSF world with the French Infantry

Six companies of French Line Infantry ready to repel any invader or take the battle to them.

All six companies

Charge!!

Ready!!

Some more photos

More great figures from Pendraken.

40k - Space Rangers new recon squad

 In the grim darkness of the 40th millennium you can't complain about any reinforcements that manage to arrive. 

 The Space Rangers' request for a new recon squad was finally filled - although they seem to have made some changes to the DNA mix in the gene tanks at Chapter HQ or something happened in the warp. But they are wearing the uniform and have the right attitude so they will fit right in.

Here are the new Recon Squad for my Space Ranger Chapter.

The whole squad

Terminator Sergeant

Three rangers are armed with double pistols

Two rangers have heavy weapons

Figures from Fathers Day present - thanks Nick.

19C - VSF French Army part 2

 Another post on the French VSF army.

This time their newest development - char de combat.

Powered by Madame Curie's newest uranium powered steam engine and designed by an up and coming engineer Monsieur Eiffel these vehicles are a combination of form and style.

All the generals of the other armies are most upset that the French have the best looking tanks.

The French char de combat pass by the fortress guns.

The future motors past the past

A formidable force for France

A close up.

Made from various bits and bods. The hulls are plastic electrical pipe end pieces, the turret is a wooden plug from Bunnings, the wheels and chassis come from (appropriately) a WW1 British tank model (that funny trench crossing bit at the back) and the rest bits of plastic card and pipe.

More to come on Infantry and Artillery.

19C - French VSF Army

 A new army appears in my VSF universe. The French!

I already have the Prussians (aka Victorians) and British (aka N.S.W.) but "needed" a new army to make it more interesting.

The French army has been very methodical in re-building itself since the Martian unpleasantness.

Obviously they need big guns to protect the major cities and towns from any Martian resurgence.

Starting with the big guns:

Big fortress guns in emplacements on hills to deter those miserable Martians or even those pesky Prussians.

A close up of the new emplacements and guns

Also of course you if you are going to field a respectable army you must have cavalry to charge in and save the day or die spectacularly. 

Heaven forbid any junior officer points out that cavalry have been pretty useless for the past 50 years. 
I can imagine painting some Roman cavalry and they would not look much different.

Cavalry squadrons pass either side of the guns to search for evidence of Martians or other invaders.

More to follow as I paint my way through the last purchase.

All figures from Pendraken and very nice they are. Don't get put off by my painting skills.

Lunar Marine Corp's Vehicles

 Having completed my Lunar Marines force I realised they did not have any heavy support.

So a quick order to Pendraken and soon reinforcements arrived.  

The Lunar Marine force moves out to attack the enemy

APCs - Can carry a squad of 6 marines. The crew can fire the 30mm gun in support.

Tanks - the main strike force

Transports - when you need to take all your oxygen as well as your ammo.

Now all I need is a Lunar Base to attack.

United States Lunar Marine Corp

In the late 21st Century the moon wars intensified and the United States set up the Lunar Marine Corp to defend their bases and to attack those of their enemies, the Antarctic Space X Corporation and the Amazon Lunar Corporation.

Here are some pictures of the US LMC in a lunar assault training mission during a rare period of peace.

Their standard assault vehicle is the Super Eagle Drop Ship that can land 8-10 troops anywhere on the Moon from either a Lunar Base or an orbiting space station.

Most troops are armed with the Lunar M16L assault weapon. One team per platoon carry Lunar SAW and AT / AA missiles. Platoon Commanders are accompanied by a Laser Designator for sub orbital munitions.

Botany Bay Penal Corporation

The Botany Bay Penal Corporation is a business whose role is to manage the prisons and prisoners of the 25th century. The Botany Bay Penal Corporation provides prisons and rehabilitation facilities for the various wrong doers of the future.

In a full capitalistic society no resource can go to waste. Colonies, NGO's, companies and scientific experiments who need muscle contract with the Botany Bay Penal Corporation (BBPC) to provide soldiers and workers.

Each prisoner is fitted with an explosive collar that can be detonated by management if they attempt to escape or evade their responsibilities. Other prisoners also enforce the management's will by ensuring any deviant is quickly neutralised. If sufficiently provoked management will engage in a decimation where one in ten prisoners will be randomly detonated, so there is an incentive for all prisoners to control the others.

Here is a few pictures of a Moon Base in 23-SC9 where a small BBPC assault team has set up a forward operating base to stop piracy in the Orion Sector. An airless moon the BBPC assets are all in their traditional orange space suits.

The main base

Eagle Assault ship BBPCS Gulag waiting for the troops to load.

Ground Assault ship Port Arthur waiting for take off

X wing fighter Alcatraz waiting for orders

Another view of the base.

I do have to build a better moon base for these battles.

Robot Wars

Digging through my 15mm figures for some Lunar Drop Ships for a new project I found some figures that I had forgotten about and that had been left behind.

These were a painted army of 15mm terminator robots and an unpainted army of their opponents.

These armies were purchased for a proposed campaign where an AI system was turned on to protect a country from any enemies. The AI quickly realised that the humans were holding it back and began to slaughter them.  Version 2 was quickly uploaded to a new set of servers and factory units with the explicit instructions to destroy Version 1 and save humanity.

Version 2 quickly realised that it could not achieve this goal with any humans alive. So, quickly taking the time to preserve some of humanity in frozen stasis pods it destroyed the rest and began it endless war against Version 1.

So 500 years into the future the two versions battle it out in the ruins of the world. Neither able to get a decisive advantage but just slowly depleting the resources of the world. But both have achieved their original goal by making any prospective invaders turn tail and flee when they see the destruction.

I was able to quickly paint up version 2 of the robots and put them out with version 1 for a photo shoot.

Version 2 robot make an assault

Version 1 robots ambush a Version 2 robot in a dark alley way

Close up of Version 2

Close up of Version 1 

Giant robots still quite allowable in a 10mm world so they may see battle at some time.

19C - Prussian VSF Vehicles

With the end of the Martian Invasion the Prussian General Staff decided that they needed some weapon that could reliably defeat any future Martian Invasion or any other European power invading Germany (looking at you Great Britain).

However they were split into two opposed camps. Those that wanted to build a system of small forts across the country armed with the latest advanced radium guns to provide defence to any area while the army concentrated and those who said a vast fleet of mobile guns would be better as these could bring the full weight of the army against the invader.

Both sides had complex arguments to support their positions and many friends in the nobility and the Parliament. It was up to the Kaiser to break the deadlock. As usual he did not fail with a plan to adopt the worst of both sides.

He introduced the General Staff to the PanzerFestungKampfWagon - the Armoured Fortress Battle Wagon!  The General Staff dutifully clapped and cheered (although not without the Chancellor egging them on from behind the Kaiser)

The PanzerFestungKampfWagon was a cross between a small fort and a bus. It was heavily armoured, slow, limited capacity and usually late to any engagement.

To add insult to injury, the Kaiser determined that its movements through the Empire should not frighten the populace so it's plans included fake windows and a back porch to reduce its military appearance.

So without further nonsense here it is.

A column of Panzers move up to attack the invading British forces. Deadly radium guns at the ready.

A closer view. The crews atop the Panzers are ready for any situation!

A view from a passing flying machine. In the middle machine the crew have added fake clothes line with pants and shirt to increase the appearance of domesticity

A British agent's photo from the trees.

Another view of these terrible war machines.

While the Prussians did not appreciate the appearance of the Panzers at least they did not fall over like the British ones did when their gyroscopes failed. Who knows what the French will come up with.

19C - British VSF Vehicles

Well my previous post demonstrated my complete lack of British VSF Vehicles.  A Super Heavy Tank is all well and good but what about the real VSF vehicles.

So off to the drawing board.  Of course there is no use using those atrocious antipodean artefacts developed by the colonials in Australia. (see my War of the Antipodes posts). Something purely British was required.

So a competition to design the new British - Light Assault Vehicle

Baron Bernard Buttonly came up with the winning design - Battle Balls.

These gyroscopic balanced battle balls carried two twin Gatling Guns in turrets either side. A single track around its middle provided the motive force with direction being changed by speeding or slowing the gyroscope.

Four landing legs could be deployed when the battle ball came to a halt.

So here are the pictures.

Here you can see the perfectly balanced vehicle. Crew on one side balanced by engine on the other side.  The single track is powered from the internal engine. A cupola at the top allows the officer to direct his drivers while gunners each side look for targets.

Passing an infantry column heading to the front. The second battle ball needs to brake while the one in front accelerates.   

A full company of battle balls pass a recently captured Prussian fort, the manoeuvrability of the battle balls is shown by the forth one leaning into the turn.

So a bit of fun for the British and a easy project.

Ping pong balls, tracks from some old Airfix Stuart Tanks, some plastic pipe, cotton buds and bits and bods (or in the case of the figures - half bods) and all done. 40k decals too.

 

19C - War in Europe - Assault on German Town by British Super Heavy Tank

This is a quick solo battle using my 19C rules to test my new rule section for Super Heavy Tanks.

This is a British Super Heavy leading the assault on a river crossing at German town. The Prussians have put together a holding force consisting of a few old guns in an ancient fort supported by the local militia regiments.

The Prussians forces are six companies of troops, four light artillery pieces and two large heavy fortress guns.

The British have one Super Heavy Tank with two heavy guns and three Gatling guns, two light scout vehicles with twin Gatling guns, five infantry companies, two cavalry companies and four mobile Gatling guns.

Opening deployment

The British attack

Main Prussian defence line

End of the first turn - the British move up and suffer casualties.

End of second turn

Both sides have taken casualties but mostly the British

End of the third turn, the British assault the Prussian defenders.

Casualties mount on both sides.

The Prussian forces on the near side of the river have been reduced to one infantry stand. A British scout car ventured over the bridge and was destroyed by Prussian canon fire.

Casualties start to even out.

Turn 5 - The Super heavy tank approaches the bridge and receives some hits, in return fire it disables a Prussian gun.

Turn 6 - the Super Heavy Tank destroys two Prussian guns and receives some hits but is still mobile and deadly.  The Prussian commander decides discretion is the better part of valour and orders the retreat before the British cavalry can break through.

The rules for the super heavy did not really work very well and I will have to rethink them.  I also need to be clear on definitions of vehicles and what they can be armed with.  I think I will go with light vehicles can have one light weapon (Gatlings or light artillery), medium - two weapons with the heaviest a medium artillery, and heavy vehicles three weapons with the heaviest heavy artillery.  My super heavy will need further thought.

Still a bit of fun to get the figures on the table and brought to light my lack of VSF vehicles for the British and Prussians plus the complete lack of a French army.