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  • #114349
    Avatar photoOldBen1
    Participant

    How fun!  What a great project.

    #114350
    Avatar photoIvan Sorensen
    Participant

    Glad to see you again!
    I was just looking at your blog yesterday and wondering if something had happened.

    #114357
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @Oldben1: Hopefully it will be fun for both me and anyone reading 🙂

    @Ivan: Yeah, I’ve been distracted by life for a long time, but I am slowly getting back into my hobbies!

    #114368
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    So now I managed to find some time to write this up as well:

    The Udouu system is technically part of Unity, as all human settlements in explored space. But like many systems on the fringe it’s payed little attention by the core worlds. Add to that the fact that it’s an unsanctioned colony with no offical Unity presence, you can begin to understand how the sqaubbling of these single-system powers have escaped notice.

    With fewer than a dozen inhabitable planets and moons, Udouu isn’t a poor system by any stretch, but it’s too far away for most of the mega corps to involve themselves.

    This has led to there being a few local powers fighting with what would be considered obsolete tech, even from many fringers prespective. Without wide-spread access to Unity tech there is little fusion tech on Udouu prime, the largest habitable planet in the system. As you go down in size and importance, the technological resources available to the locals decrease as well.

    Necessity being the mother of all invention, the inhabitants have managed to create surprisingly efficient combustion engines, able to run on virtually any fuel. The lack of advanced armor materials and shielding have caused their warmachines to emphasize speed and manuverability over heavy armor, leading to the almost universal use of small bipedal mecha.
    These suits are straddling the line between armored suits and true mecha, allowing for pilots to be trained quickly as it’s operation is little different from using their own body.

    On Udouu Prime, or just Prime (as the locals usually refer to it), there are two major factions:
    The Northern Alliance and the Confederation of Southern states.
    As the names indicate they hold roughly half of the planets single continent each, with a strip of uninhabitable desert and a great lake forming the natural boundry between the powers. The remainder of the planets landmass is spread out in small island chains dotted around the great sea.

    The Alliance and the Confederation are in an almost constant conflict that sometimes blossoms into full-blown war, but for the most part there are little more than border skirmishes and raids followed by political condemnation and finally attempts at reaching a lasting peace that inevitably seems to break down. And so the wheel keeps turning.

    A scout had failed to report in at a stretch of the border that was recently in dispute between the Alliance and the Confederation. The local Alliance commander was feeling the pressure, so he sent out the newly formed Red Cap squad and a sniper team to investigate:

     


    Red Caps, distinguishable by their red heads and white shoulder stripe. The sniper can be seen sporting a orange fin on his head while the spotter has no distinguishing marks.

     


    In the distance the Alliance pilots can see a pillar of smoke rising. It doesn’t bode well for their mission..

     


    They all advance together, taking up whatever defensible positions they can.

     


    The smoke is indeed coming from the downed scout mech! The sniper team spotter moves closer to try and see if the pilot made it. As he approaches, a voice comes over his local comms: “I have important information for Alliance command, you need to get me to them!”
    Suddenly all of the Alliance mechs sensors go off, it’s an ambush!

     


    The Confederate mechs must have been in low-power mode, waiting to spring the trap. A mech comes barreling out from behind some ruins, it’s rotary gun chewing chunks of armor out of the spotter’s mech!

     


    With quick reflexes, the pilot of the Red Cap’s heavy mech pivots and fire his auto-cannon. The large shells strike the enemy mech head-on, blowing out the reactor and stopping it dead.

     


    The spotter begins to drag the wounded mech to safety when he realizes that the pilot is stuck inside. They’ll have tools back at the hangar to cut him out of there, if he can only get that far!
    Another of the Red Caps cause some damage as his bazooka shot cracks open a fair bit of the armor of a mech hiding in the ruins.

     


    With his agressor out of reach, the wounded confederate pilot targets another of the squad, his shots messing up one of the leg actuators on his target.

     


    Returning fire with limited success, the Red Cap squad member seeks shelter in some ruins as well.

     


    Explosive shots blow sand and rock into the air as the last of the Red Caps narrowly avoids some bazooka fire from a mech speeding towards him.

     


    He takes careful aim with his own rifle and sends a stream of penetrator rounds through both the legs and cockpit of the offending mech, bringing it down!


    Feeling lucky, he then takes aim at the already damaged mech hiding in the ruins. Most of the shots ricochet harmlessly off the ruins, but some find their mark and the mech topples over, defeated.

     


    Seeking to stop the enemy from recovering their downed pilot, one of the few remaining Confederate pilots charge towards the Alliance line. Hitting a scout mech is hard given their size and made no easier by having to dodge incoming fire. As he dodges and weaves, the Alliance sniper adds his deadly precision fire to the barrage, bringing the mech to permanent stop.

     


    With little opposition left, the Red Cap heavy moves forward, his auto cannon stitching a pattern into the ruins as well as the mech trying to hug it for cover.

     


    Hoping to take down the enemy heavy, the mech zooms between cover, laying down a hail of fire. The bullets rip through the tracks on one of the Red Cap mech’s leg, shredding them!

     


    Finally the last Confederate mech reveals itself! As it charges out of it’s hiding place, the pilot opens up with both cannon and rockets, blasting most of the armor off of the unsuspecting Red Cap mech!

     


    Eager to help his squad-mate, the bazooka-wielding mech sends a explosive shot right at the Confederate heavy, almost blowing it’s arm off!

     


    The heavy mech disengages from the remaining Confederate light mech to support his squad and fires a few shots into the leg actuators of the heavy mech.

     


    Realizing that they cant stop the scout’s pilot from being rescued, the Confederate commanders give the order to pull back, they have lost enough good pilots today!

     


    Both remaining mechs fire suppresive fire and deploy smoke grenades to cover their retreat. Alliance command orders their pilots to bring back the scout pilot, pursuit is not a priority.

     

    A slightly better picture of the mechs of Red Cap squad. You might be seeing more of these guys in the future!

     

    That was an overwhelming victory for the Alliance, the dice really wasn’t with the Confederate pilots!

    I hope you have enjoyed this little report, I have a few ideas for future scenarios and there might even be some RPG-lite campaign focused around the members of Red Cap squad coming up!

     

     

    The blog: https://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2019/05/save-scout-horizon-wars-aar.html

     

    Thanks for checking it out 🙂

    #114391
    Avatar photoDeleted User
    Member

    I was getting strong Heav Gear vibe from the background, then I checked the photos and saw why. Nice skirmish, took me back to the days of paying Heavy Gear.

    #114410
    Avatar photoThuseld
    Participant

    I had just been looking at your blog for inspiration. Nice to see you gaming again. That was a pretty successful recovery by the NA.

    #114415
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @thomaston: Yeah, I wanted to incorporate parts of the HG background without having to lock myself into that setting.

    This way I can have my gears fighting stompier robots should I feel so inclined 🙂


    @Thuseld
    : Cheers, it’s nice to have some mechs fighting again.

    Yeah the Alliance was absurdly lucky with dicerolls, blowing up anything that they pointed at basically!

    #114425
    Avatar photoThuseld
    Participant

    Unrelated to this topic, but didn’t want to resurrect old ones: How did you attach the engines/wings to the ship Cormorant? It is a deodorant and some lids, that much I can see and have attempted myself but I can’t get them to stay attached. Did you drill a hole through and use a stick to keep them on? Or just really strong glue?

    #114428
    Avatar photogreg954
    Participant

    Seeing this thread again has motivated me to finish my stompy collection.

    Keep up the good work, let’s hope we see more of the Red Cap squad.

    #114437
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @Greg: Cheers, I love to see mechs, so keep yours coming too!


    @Thuseld
    : As I recall I pinned them with some floral wire and then some strong epoxy glue after that.. I hope that helps 🙂

    #132872
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    First post of 2020, better late than never!

    So it’s been a while since I managed to post something here..

    But I have not been completely idle! A few model kits have been built and I’ll probably feature them later, but today I have some things I got from Ali last year:


    All these buildings and the road network I received in february of last year, so it only took me about a year to manage to finish them all..


    ..But there are quite a lot of spare road bits that didn’t really fit on the table as well!

     

    I also took a few quick pics with some recently finished Battlemechs:

     


    Most of the mechs from the new box were painted up as 1st Orloff Grenadiers, with the Battlemaster sporting Lyran Guard colors.

     

    Since I’ve been looking to play some games with my 1/144 gundams as well I decided to see if any of the buildings would work with them as well:

    As it turns out, quite a few of them are big enough to work as some degree of cover at least!

     

    #132906
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    I don’t see any pix.  🙁  Just a ‘no go’ symbol.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #132933
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    Hhm.. That’s strange, I’ll try uploading them again when I get home from work!

    #132947
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    I just tried uploading the images again, are they visible now?

    #132948
    Avatar photoAli Dogan Sayiner
    Participant

    Yeah, I can see wonderful terrain and mechs 🙂

    find me
    www.iliadagamestudio.com
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/iliadagamestudio/
    [email protected]

    #132949
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Yes indeed.  Those buildings do scale well with the mechs.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #132968
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    I think you might be a bit biased Ali, but you are definitely right 🙂

    Cheers, I had hoped they would be useful for bigger mechs as well. Now I might get some gundam gaming off the ground!

    #134704
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    I realized that I had forgot to post my latest hobby attempts, so here is a bit of a summar of the last few weeks:

    During the course of the last few weeks I’ve been trying my hand at weathering some of the ever-increasing number of Mecha models I keep getting.

    Both kits I’ve managed to finish so far are Gundam Mobile Suits from the UC-timeline:

     


    My first try was this Zaku II. Being an older kit, it didnt have as many panel lines and detailing as the later kits, but I tried my hand at scribing some new lines. I’m not sure about the result, but for a first attempt the weathering and new lines are acceptable I hope.

     

    This next one is a GM type-C. With this one I actually managed to remember to photograph the kit before any weathering was attempted, so there is simething to compare with!


    Before weathering.


    And after.


    Still not the greatest at this, but I hope to get the hang of it as I go along..

     

    I also set up a small fight scene on the kitchen table so you can see both kits in the same shot:

    That’s all for today, I’m working on another kit at this time and will probably post it when I manage to finish.

     

     

    #134729
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Works for me!  I do love dirty machines that look like they’ve actually been used, though I have seen some people go WAY overboard with it.  I think you’ve done quite well.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #134748
    Avatar photoOldBen1
    Participant

    I like the ‘lived in’ look too!

    #134749
    Avatar photogreg954
    Participant

    I think you’ve captured the weathering well. I have a few mechs in my lead pile that need painting. Not this size but I’m keeping my eye on this thread for ideas.

    #134755
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    Cheers guys, nice of you to say so!

    As I go along I hope to develop a better feeling for how much being too much in terms of the weathering.

    #135147
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    Continuing on from the last post, I’ve mostly just kept going trough my backlog of built-but-not-weathered Gundam kits. I’m soon at the point where I have enough finished that I am starting to look at various options to have the Zeon and Federation fight it out!

    First out is a Zeon MS-14F Gelgoog Marine:

     

    A ESFS RGM-79SP GM Sniper II:

     

    Back to Zeon again, a MS-06CK Zaku Half Cannon:

    And the final mobile suit for the day, a ESFS RGM-79 GM Command:

     

     


    Point blank showdown!

    Thats all the finished Mobile Suits I had to share at the moment, but more are of course in the works!
    Just a few days ago I received this:


    So there are some more mecha coming, but first I need to finish up the ones I already built!

     

    #135165
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    Great looking kit you have there!  My favs have always been the Zaku (in it’s various flavors) and the Gera-Doga, as well as the GM Space types.  Not a fan of the over-the-top recent designs with all of the wings and mega-monster heads, etc.

    Looking forwards to the rumbles!

     

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #135205
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    Thanks man 🙂

    I 100% agree with you, the Zeon mono-eye MS are just the greatest. The humble Zaku II in all its forms being my absolute favorite!

    The later GM-derived mobile suits like the Jesta and Jegan of the ESFS are super cool too, but I also prefer to stay clear of the more insane OTT designs from some of the shows. Grunts fighting it out is where it’s at, that’s why none the ones prepared for fighting are super-designed prototypes.

    Even if I also love (and have gotten a few of) Char’s various Mobile Suits, but those are for display and artistic appreciation mainly 🙂

     

    I think that by next week I will likely have time to try out a scenario or two with a few rule contenders, but don’t hold me to that as I might just get stuck weathering more kits!

    #135246
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    but don’t hold me to that as I might just get stuck weathering more kits!

      Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing!

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #135943
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @DSG As I suspected I ended up weathering a few kits when not playing Nier Automata:

    Last week saw me continue going through my backlog of gunpla, weathering away in anticipation of some mecha on mecha action. I only managed a pair of models last week, but here they are:

    First we have the MS-09B, the Dom:

     

    And then there is one of the first kits I built a long time ago, an RX-77-2 Guncannon:

     

    A package from japan arrived last week as well, giving me some more work in the future, including the massive 1/60 scale Perfect Grade MS-06S Zaku II Char custom.

    That’s all for today, hope you liked it!

     

    The blog: https://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2020/05/banged-up-pt3.html

    #135957
    Avatar photoDeleted User
    Member

    That’s some good weathering. You’re really into the classic stuff.

    #135975
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    They look great!  Not over done at all.  The Dom is a classic design, another of my favs.

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #135990
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @Thomaston; Thank you 🙂 Yeah, I really prefer the OYW and the direct aftermath to almost any other part of or entrire timeline in the gundam multiverse!

    @DSG; Cheers! The Dom is a nice chunky piece of kit, isn’t it?

    #137061
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    I’ve once again managed to procrastinate and not uploaded anything for a while, even though some things have been ready for photography for over a week..

    But a silver lining is that I managed to finish up a few Battlemechs and another 30MM kit from bandai in the meantime!

    First up we have some Battlemechs:


    Another 3 mechs for my Marik Orloff Grenadiers.

     


    A VTR-9B Victor.

     


    A WVR-6R Wolverine.

     


    And finally a BJ-1 Blackjack.

     


    My Steiner Lyran Guards also got 3 mechs for reinforcement.

     


    The iconic Steiner “scout” mech, the AS7-D Atlas assault mech.

     


    A GRF-1N Griffin.

     


    And finally a GHR-5H Grasshopper rounds out the unit.

    I have continued to weather some gundam kits, but ran out of matte varnish after finishing up the pair in this post. The shortage have been adressed and more kits will be coming as time goes on!

    First we have a Zeon MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai:

     

     

     

     

    And for the Federation we have a RMS-179 GM II:

     

     

     

    While I was waiting to be resupplied I also built and panel-lined another 30MM kit from bandai.
    I really like these kits, they make great grunt suits and are easy enough to customize (even if this one is vanilla for now). As you might have figured out from my gunpla kits so far, you will likely have picked up on my preference of “Grunt” suits over the souped up special super mega prototype-type mecha.


    I have more than a few of these kits now, Hopefully they will come in handy for some mecha action wargaming, not unlike the gunpla but with a slightly different feel and tech-base.

    That’s the photodump collection for this time, I’m hoping there will be more to share soon!
    The blog: https://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2020/05/battlemechs-ms-and-30mm.html

    #137068
    Avatar photoDeleted User
    Member

    The back of the Zaku II looks real good. It’s a shame it don’t get seen a lot.

    #137122
    Avatar photoDarkest Star Games
    Participant

    I’m just going to come right out and say it:  I hate the Blackjack.  That mech has NEVER done anything good for me!  They either die right off the bat, or if they’re enemy they do something stupendous like engine or ammo crit my important mechs.  I even hate them in the video game.

    But,….

    I love the Zaku FZ!  That helmet head just makes it look so much more sinister.  I’m with you on the grunt MS, most of them are great designs, though I prefer the GMs with the less ball shaped heads.  Great work dude!

    "I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

    #137125
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    @Thomaston: The Zaku series of MS look great all around, but it’s interesting how rare it is to see the back of one!

     

    @DSG: I get that, the Blackjack is hard to love. I’m not too fond of it either, armor like wet paper and a tendency to blow up from ammo explosions but it has it’s uses. I felt like I shouldn’t leave it unpainted when the rest of the lance pack got used though.

    Zakus are the best 🙂 The GM is ok, but Zeon MS are nicer in general IMHO, even if they are technically inferior in many cases. Jegan and Jestas are very nice GM-derived feddie suits however!

    #137302
    Avatar photoAlexander Wasberg
    Participant

    I’ve long thought that Horizon Wars should be able to be used as a framework for some Gundam action, particularly during the OYW and the time after.

    Using a modified mashup of aircraft and mecha rules, I think I managed to get the quick and deadly flavor of Gundam. A bigger table would have been great, but 6’x3′ (180×91 cm) is what I’ve got and it worked well enough.

    A patrol of federation mobile suits had been sent out after a report from a small homestead had claimed to have seen a group of Zeon mecha sneaking about, practically in their backyard. Their outpost commander had sent them out to try and confirm the sighting.


    Just after lunch the federation patrol spotted the Zeon units. How had they gotten this close without being detected?


    A MS-06 Zaku II with 120mm machinegun and a rocket pack; a MS-06CK Zaku Half-Cannon carrying the 180mm cannon and finally the unit’s commander in a MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai with a MP80 makes up the invading Zeon force.


    The Patrol consists of the junior officer in a RGM79G GM Command, equipped with a shield and 100mm machine gun; A RX77-2 Guncannon an older prototype model with a beam rifle and finally a RGM79C GM type C with a shield and Bazooka.


    The Guncannon takes cover behind a boulder, waiting for an opportunity to unleash it’s arsenal on the Zeon machines. The Zaku II peeks out behind a rocky outcrop to fire on the feddie MS but only hit the rock in front of him.


    Hoping to support his comrade, the federation officer order the type C’s pilot to advance in support of the RX77-2 while he himself did the same, taking a knee and using his shield to minimize his exposure to enemy fire.

    A deafening boom tear across the battlefield!
    The Zaku Half-cannon rocks digs in as the 180mm pushes him back.


    The rockets from the Zeon mobile suit throw up blasted rock and dirt, but fall short of the target. The 180mm shot strikes true however, smashing into the knee joint of the Guncannon!


    With the focus on the other side of the field, the GM type C moved up and took aim at the Zaku II.
    The shot just barely misses as the Zeon pilot dodges out of the way at the last second!

    Moving up to keep the pressure on the Guncannon, the Zeon commander fire as the advances.


    The battlefield at the start of the second turn.


    Not to be discouraged, the GM type C quickly reloads and fire on the Zaku II again.
    Again, he missed by just a hair.
    The Zeon pilot returns fire, expending his 1-shot rocket pack as well.


    Managing a critical hit along with a pair of regular ones as well, the Type C blows apart in a fireball, bits of it thrown clear of the explosion.

    Over on the other side, the Zeon commander used his Zaku II Kai to deadly efficiency.
    Accurate bursts of fire blew through the joints of the Guncannon, leaving it immobilized.


    Before the final burst that take the Guncannon out of action, the federation pilot manages to fire off it’s beam rifle, slicing through part of the leg armor and boosters of his destroyer!


    Seeing his comrades fall at the hands of the Zeon invaders, the junior officer abandons tactics and charge at the enemy commander!


    Seeing the last enemy unit closing fast, the Zeon commander draws his heat tomahawk..


    The two commanders face off, beam saber just barely missing and the heat hawk biting into the GM’s shield!


    Maybe he was just a better swordsman, maybe it was just luck, but the Junior officer have the Zeon commander at his mercy after the second round of fighting. His temporary madness fades as he hears the broadcast from the Guncannon pilot, wounded but alive.
    Booming explosions go off as the Zaku Half cannon fires a warning shot to let the feddie know that he would be next if the commander came to harm.


    Coming to an agreement, the GM Command is allowed to retrieve his injured comrade and retreat. The commander of the Zeon unit had protested, but his comrades had refused to trade his life for a single enemy junior officer.

    Now the local federation command would know that the Zeon military was here. Surprise attacks would be harder to pull off now that they knew the enemy was here.

    But no matter. They would know soon enough..

    So that was an interesting little playtest. A fast and furious fight! I was unsure if the modifications and house rules would have the desired effect and make the units agile but fragile. It will need some more tests of course but this first test seems to have promise!
    The blog: https://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com/2020/05/playtesting-horizon-wars-with-gunpla.html

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