6mm Quar Armies

[Mr. Average]

I know I was planning to paint down my stockpile first, but as Zombiesmith is having their winter sale, AND they’ve just released the Royalist army in 6mm scale complete with specialist elements, Royalist tanks and aircraft, I’m really sorely tempted.

Really REALLY.

So my two part question is this:

1. Has anyone had experience with the Quar at 6mm yet?
2. Could anyone suggest a good set of rules to play with? (Commander System being the catch-all, naturally, but maybe a Dirtside mod? Gruntz? Thoughts?)

So many little Croftyrans…

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

I did up their 15mm stuff on my blog awhile back and I am sorely tempted, too.

The 15mm figs are nowhere near as nice as the 28mm stuff, but still quite good.

For rules, hell, why not go with Mike’s 6mm skirmish set?

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

Not a bad idea. Not bad at all!

I have a set of their 28mm stuff I’ve never had the courage to paint up. I’m much better at small scales. One day I’ll save up and have someone who knows what they’re doing give them a shot. But 6mm is really right in my wheelhouse. And Kallistra does make those tasty trench system hex sets… Boy, am I just handing myself a bill here, or WHAT?

[Angel Barracks]

Do iiiiit, Dwiiiiit NOW!

[Angel Barracks]

hmmmm 6mm QR 16.

Brave Tommy Quar staring across no-quars land at the dastardly hun.
Hmmmmm could be a winner at AB HQ.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Well, now that the Royalists are out, I am THAT much closer to doing up my set for skirmish gaming.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

Yeah, I couldn’t refrain from laying by some 6mm Quar now that the Royalists are out.  Now I have a few weeks to consider army lists – I have in mind to use the Commander System, I think, with unit basing.

And speaking of basing… Hm.  Plywood and plaster, I think?  It’s worked well for the 3mm scalers so far.  Have to think on that.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

IIRC, I did some Commander unit rules for the Quar up on my blog…..

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Ahn, yes. Here they are:

http://leadnobleed.blogspot.com.br/2010/10/quarterly-report-v1-1.html

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

Most excellent!  Thanks, TB.  I’m using that as a base for my army lists.  I think some “special rules” will have to be introduced to save the flavor of the world and keep the armies from being too generic.

[Mr. Average]

Yay!  My Quar armies (Quarmies?) have arrived!  They’re very good casts – better than the photos on the Zombiesmith website might lead you to believe.  I like the Royalist tanks in particular – very atmospheric and true to the larger scale Quar.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been doing my homework, and so now I can’t think how best to base these little fellas.  I will probably go with FoW recessed bases, mainly because I’m not really huge on putty or builds for any of these, which I’ve found endlessly tedious..  Unfortunately that will mean not putting base labels on them, though.  Might not be the worst thing though.  Hmm… have to think this one through.

[Mr. Average]

So, I think I’m crystallizing my thoughts on how to proceed with basing these little guys, and the probable rule set to be used is going to play a role in it.  I’ve had Epic 40K on the brain recently, and though I haven’t played it in years (decades, actually) I always felt that it presented a very succinct and colorful game experience that felt immersive. I also liked the idea of buying forces at the company/detachment level, because it felt like you were building a more real force with various elements that made it go, instead of trying to find one super-unit you could duplicate forever to game the system. Although I know that’s not only possible, but frequently done, it was at least the intent.

I’ve been reading the This Quar’s War rules and actually I think they’re pretty elegant, and could possibly be adapted to mass battles. My thought is to gather troops into five-man fireteams on a base, with two bases to the squad, two squads to the section, two sections to the company, hence eight bases to the company, plus a command base. Each infantry company would be allowed up to two support units, whether tanks, artillery, etc.  On the latter point I’ve decided to add some big guns from GHQ to the Croftyrans as an RCO battery. The one figure I find fault with in the Quar line, the Croftyran field gun, on a single tread and no larger than a rifle, has not been cast yet, so it gives me the chance to fill in my own, more substantial field pieces.

My thought is that each fireteam would have a firepower rating based on small arms, which would be reduced by casualties, that could be marked with a casualty counter. So you’d have fire dice that would be the normal firepower minus casualties… I’m sorry if I’m talking mechanics that not everyone recognizes, here, but the rules are free from Zombiesmith if you’re interested in going along for the ride as I develop this. Either way, I think fireteam-style basing will work, suffice it to say. Hopefully, some paint tests this weekend, if I get a few free moments!

I think the Royalists, who I have a soft spot for in case you couldn’t tell, will be the vanguard of an expeditionary force fighting its way out of Croftyr and into Maer Braech, as the spearhead of an attempted anti-Crusader counter-offensive.  The Crusaders will be crack elements detailed to halt the offensive and push it back before local sympathy builds into a general insurrection against the Crusader Republics.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

One set of rules that are like this and can be easily adapted to Quar is Rapid Fire. Typically eight or so stands per company.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

I’m looking at Rapid Fire, as well as Commander-system.  “Long War Commander” has a nice ring to it.  But I also want to preserve as much of the flavor of the Quar as I can.  I have in mind a few rules to convert TQW into a larger-scale game but they may be too slow to be practical… only playtesting will tell.  And I do like Unit Cards, of course.  My vestigial Epic 40K affinities.

This is a playtest card for a Croftyran Rhyfler company.  We’ll see.

[Mr. Average]

First unit off the line – a Yawdryl (Sergeant) of the Royal Croftyran Crymuster, serving in the Royal Croftyran Expeditionary Force.  He and his squad, in fact his entire Catrawd (Regiment), are veterans of fierce fighting along the Great Croftyran Wall, in particular the Battle of the Gates of Syl.  His Catrawd is native to the Silyrran maritime city-states of Northern Inischol (his red-brown fur is a dead giveaway) which have been loyal to the Croftyran Royal Family for centuries.  They are also the Quar from which many of the Royal Croftyran Marines were drawn before the Crusade, and as such he and his Catrawd have been chosen for a special mission…

The first model in an army is always the hardest for me – I take a lot of notes to set up a painting formula that I can replicate.  This guy might get some highlighting to give off his NCO rank among the file of Quar Rhyflers he commands – most definitely, the command officers are getting blue-white jackets to set them apart.  But the basic Croftyran blue jacket, tan pants and leather and steel appointments seem to work well here.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Men, I love that card! How do you do the silhouettes of the guns and quar? Also love the ryhfler. You might want to give him some red appointments on the sleeve, however, to make him pop.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

I just draw them in Adobe Illustrator.  I’ve always been good at silhouettes, somehow, and tracing units from the book gets me started.  These are some Support Cards I’m working out.

I’m going to put some gold stripes on the sleeves for the Yawdryls.  You’re right that it needs a little something to push it up.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Go for a rich yellow rank insignia on the shoulder instead of gold. Gold will get lost. And maybe give them all crimson cuffs. I plan to give mine crimson trousers, a la the 1914 French.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Or gold insignia, yes, but with a rich yellow dot highlighting it.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

One might have thought that my generally fickle attitude towards game projects and my recent ramblings on 40K at 3mm scale might mean that I’ve laid aside my Quar project.  Not true!  The first squad of the Royal Croftyran Expeditionary Force just came off the painting line!

Here it is at table-distance:

And some details.  Note the gold rank bands on the squad’s Yawdryl (Sergeant), and the squad automatic weapon, a Cryfen LMG:

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

These are slicker than a new-born baby seal! I still think you should put some rich yellow and/or bright red shoulder flashes on those boys, however, to make them pop out.

I’m interested by the side labeling. Why did you choose that over back labeling? It looks very good, however! I want to see what it will look like en masse.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

Btw, do onbe of those Croftyan casts have a LMG?

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

I went with side labels over back so that the bases would fit into the Kallistra trenches I plan to use, which are about 22mm wide.  These guys’ bases (in imperial units) are 3/4″ long by 1″ wide.  I cut them myself out of 1mm black PVC plastic and rounded the corners with a clip shear (being a builder gives you access to all kinds of tools that are useful for gaming!) In addition to the practical concern, I thought it might make an interesting visual change of pace.

Also, the front-right rhyfler in Fireteam II is carrying the Cryfen LMG: note the all-metal weapon with the canvas belt magazine.

Also, a lesson I’ve learned from this set but for some reason didn’t learn earlier: paint the bases of the individual infantry black prior to basing them.  Even if the basing material doesn’t totally cover the bases they’re on, the black will read as negative space to the eye and disappear into the implied shadows. All this time I’ve been driving myself nuts trying to perfectly cover every square micron with basing material, but really just flat black blends down into nothing.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the entire Catrawd in marching order.  I bought some GHQ Soviet 203mm Howitzers to serve as Field Guns and they scale out very nicely. against the Tractors.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

You are making it ever so much more difficult for me to avoid buying these….

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

I’m really happy with them.  The Quar deserve to be made at 6mm scale.  And these sculpts are particularly characterful and dynamic – the whole modelling process from paint to basing is totally enjoyable!

[Mr. Average]

More progress!  A Royalist “Paerydyn” Armored Gun Tractor, and an R.C.O. 40-Chraig Field Howitzer on a tracked carriage.  The Tractor carries the blue and white flash of the Royal Croftyran Expeditionary Force on its gearbox.

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

So that’s a Soviet 203mm howitzer, right? Damn, that fits in perfectly!

Sigh.

Well, that’s 220 USD burnt the next time I’m up to the States. 🙁

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

My only problem with the Paerydyn is that I think the gun is far too small. It ends up not being differentiated enough from the good ol’ Cheesewheel.

I think I’ll mod mine with a bit of a paperclip for a bow gun. Give them something that could conceivably take out a Crusader tractor.

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[Mr. Average]

I do like the design of the Paerydyn, personally, but I think it’s generally just a tad too small. The pedrail is distinctive, though – I tried to make it look worn and rusty from a lot of field use.  And I guess generally the size and shape is supposed to point up that RCO tractors are inferior in design to Crusader Baeliogs.

The 203mm Howitzer was a real stroke of luck, though, huh? The model is from GHQ.  RCO field guns have always been the weak spot in the Royalist minis lines – they look like a tube on a stick with a single tread, smaller than a machine gun, even, and have never felt truly worthy of the vaunted Royal Croftyran Ordinance.  Giving them a passel of heavy howitzers kicks the Royalist forces up a bit. And of course I’m already sympathetic to the Royalists anyway.

Actually, the challenge is not to allow my bias to let me over-weight the thing in the Royalists’ favor. They get a lot, actually: field guns, Trench Daefyls, tanks, aircraft, snipers (in this kit) and heavy machine guns.  And their standard long rifle radically out-ranges the Crusaders’ weapons. But then, the Crusaders get better and more effective tanks, cavalry and a lot of heavy shotguns, which I’ll probably repurpose as HMGs anyway at company scale. I may give them access to support cards for siege mortar barrages and other over-the-horizon gunnery to represent their heavy support behind the lines.

[Mr. Average]

A little bit of progress.  A second squad of Royalists, and the Paerydyn tractor is based.

Even with the side labels, I think they get a good “mass” effect.  The tank, by the way, is sitting on its own tiny plinth of polystyrene to put it flush to the top of the gravel basing materials, without having it pitch crooked on the uneven surface.  A pretty good solution, in my opinion.  The Quar keep rolling along!

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