'Free Mars' OpFor Tanks

Pictures up top, fluff and musing below.

The kit is Brigade Model's 15mm Scifi European Federation Gamelin 10 wheeled tank. I have added etched brass stowage to the manned turret from the set brigade sell, a bed roll made out of putty, and a fuel can from the bits box, I'm pretty sure it is from GZG. I also added a co-axial tribarrel to the manned turret that also came from a pack that Brigade sell. The remote turrets are from another Euro-Fed kit, the Catroux ten wheeled AFV series, that Brigade were kind enough to sell to me seperately. Brigade have always been very friendly and helpful in all my communications with them and stuff like this, being able to talk to and share ideas with the manufacturers themselves is one of the reasons I like the 15mm SF community so much.

Martian Construction Crew

Working on stuff without guns has been a really nice change and will be a really good oppurtunity to work on some heavy weathering and civilian schemes that aren't concerned with stuff like visibility.

I have the vehicles at the base coated stage. I went for someting non-uniform to give me some variety to work with but leant more on hi-vis yellow. My favourite thing so far has been the civilian powered work suits:

 Aaaand the work crew. They have had a matte coat since these pictures and just just need their bases finishing off.

Bad Guys for my 'Free Mars' Setting!

I’ve been going backwards and forwards over what models to use as the ‘OPFOR’ for my Martian rebels and have settled and then reconsidered about 4 or 5 times so far but now I have settled for definite on the GZG NSL range. The NSL Jaeger light infantry caught my eye due to being a little bit different looking when compared to a lot of the other ranges with their slightly anachronistic uniform. The nature of the uniform made me think they would make good militarised police or security, the sort you might see a lot patrolling about protecting a megacorporation’s interests in cyberpunk media or of some totalitarian sci-fi state. Even better is that the same line has very hefty looking hard armoured ‘Panzergrenadiers’ that use the same weapons as the light infantry which means I can field regular civilian facing patrols and security/enforcement staff and then the shock troops for when the corporation pins down a rebel base.

To start off I have put together what I am calling a Punitive Action Team (euphemistic name for better optics incoming) Which is the basic organisational unit for dropping in on a settlement or neighbourhood, grabbing ‘suspets’ and kicking over people’s stuff looking for ‘evidence’. These troops might not have heaps of training, but they are motivated, and have good gear, though they typically lack heavy vehicle support they rarely need it. And if they do encounter something they can’t handle, they have a powerful coms set to call in backup, though distance and logistics might mean it can take a while to show. Some PATs receive light to significant drone support but often out on the frontiers (or if a particular captain is in the bad books) they have to do without.

So, a PAT is made up around a very simple configuration:

2 Trucks containing one squad each with each squad then divided into two 6 person teams intended to act in mutual support. One truck contains the major command, control, and communication gear, the other contains cells for prisoners (not large, not comfortable) or alternately room for heavier support weapons and equipment.

2 Outrider vehicles with top mounted support weapon. Each of these also carries a 5 person fire team. If the PAT is assigned designated marksmen or specialist weapon teams they are often found in these fire teams.

That’s it! I’m still considering colour schemes but while I’m trying to figure out how to mount the flyers for my mercenary airmobile force these have shifted to my 15mm painting priority. Purple uniforms and red hats, white for officers, is something I am considering although a classic sinister black uniform is tempting.

Martian Frontier Settlement

Still no actual games to report on I’m afraid! I really need to organise some stuff at the club, if I’ve not missed that bandwagon then I should be finishing up some Infinity soon and might get a game of that, and once the weather is a bit warmer I will be ploughing through my Age of Sigmar stuff (I can’t face anything but the most minimal brushwork on that many minis so I will be aerosol and airbrushing basically everything except a few details like washes and weathering for all but character models) and there are always some people playing GW (booo hisss).

I’ve mainly been getting on with my second terrain project, the one for my working title 15mm sci fi project, ‘Free Mars’. The terrain I have been constructing has been for the ‘Second Martian Revolution’ which occurs when Mars has been terraformed to a breathable but not comfortable state and humans have made contact with aliens/created uplifts/genetically modified themselves into diverse forms (haven’t settled yet). I already have boards to do 2”x2”, 2”x4” and 4”x4” setups and a cloth matt (an ancient out of production GW flocked desert one I got during the storage clear out the local GW did before relocating) that I have sprayed to be Martian hued. On this I’m putting some Illiada buildings and MDF roads from a seller called JB Wargaming Scenery (on FB and ebay), with rocks and outcroppings and patches of hardy vegetation planned. It’s the buildings and roads I have been making.

The Illiada kits are great, if you are funny about fine powders or sensitive to dust and the burnt smell you get from laser cutters then you will probably want gloves or at least to give the kits a bit of a wipe down first. They are a good sturdy card stock and cut and assemble easily enough. You need to be a little careful as even though its thick cardstock it is still cardstock and can get bent up if pressure is put on them in the wrong way. Once assembled and glued to a base they are considerably sturdier, however. You get a lot detail in these kits, they are great just as they are but it only takes a little greeble to really start to set them off. My aim is to construct something like a believable functioning settlement of a few families. I don’t have everything I need for that yet but I think I have a pretty good start, including a school, communications tower/drone controller, lots of storage and some Hydroponics (not enough to feed everyone yet but as said its a start).

 Here everything is contucted and layouts being tried out. some in progress construction crew and vehicles for scale.

As far as painting goes I hit the bases (scrap perspex tiles) and the roads with Rust-oleum concrete texture paint (nice stuff, they have lots of different texture sprays that look great for scenery uses), and the buildings with molotow premium dark grey and then, once that dried, flat white. After that I used white spirit and various hues of oxide pigments (red predominantly of course) to give everything a wash that I hope does a good job of mimicking the sort of very fine desert dust that coats and sticks to everything. My first go was far too heavy and looked more like heavy rust so I gave those a scrub down with tissue with improved it a lot and was more sparing and careful with the rest.

  Too much!

Starting to look a bit better, panic over.

I also used some felt tip pens to add a bit of colour to the buildings and especially the school. I also used some hex paving card intended for model train scenery around the school and the houses (is it sci-fi scenery if it doesn’t have hexes?).

 The fact this is meant to be a mural made by children craftily dsguises my terrible freehand. On the left: Mars, on the right: Earth

 a seesaw and a swing are under construction for the playground as well as a low wall.

 Good but needs more life supporting greeble.

As things stand I think it is gameable as is right now but I have lots that I want to add, water tanks, a bit of fencing, playground and street furniture, a few plants (not least for the hydroponics) and a little shading on the buildings won’t hurt either. I may also add a little bit of moss wash to the hydroponic building to represent that it is comparably much wetter. It has also been suggested that I supplement the concrete roads with dirt tracks to help with making the settlement look lived in and I think that would look great and soften the transition at the road terminations so that is planned too.

That is it for now I will hopefully have more to show off soon!

Thanks for looking.