Sunday, April 11, 2010

The Federal Marines Special Assault Brigade



The Special Assault Brigade (SAB) is the elite strike force of the Federal Marines, used for special operations, boarding action and landings to outflank the enemy during fullscale invasions. They alone are deployable using teleport technology. They are a special breed, chosen men who receive years of training, are equipped with power armour suits, and are heavily armed with both a large dual-purpose missile launcher (capable of both anti-tank and anti-personnel action) and a heavy flame thrower. Additionally their boostpack, which has both rocket and jet boosters to move the marines at very great speed, also mounts a bombthrower armed with heavy grenades.




As the open battlefield is dominated by the L-HAC combat system and its supporting marine infantry, so the tunnel, landing zone and spaceship corridor are dominated by these stealthy marines, their rock-hard armour suits not much larger than a man to assure access to tight spots, to coax the enemy out of his lair. However, the SAB can always be found in the forefront of major combat operations, first on the ground, there and fighting before the others even arrive.




The models come five to a pack, four different troopers and a commander. Their arms are separate and have some posability and although they were originally designed to go with the respective bodies, are to some extent interchangable between the models.


Each model comes with two arm sets to portray the trooper with either the big missile launcher or the heavy flamethrower, as well as two loose weapons so that the one not being used can be depicted snapped onto the backpack.

These will be released Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Monday, April 5, 2010

The Federal Marine Cafferata class hybrid APC


The Cafferata is the main APC used by the Federal Marines. The Marines call them "camels" or, more often, simply "trucks." It's a conventional/anti-grav hybrid, with retractable wheels. (It's illustrated here in low hover, the wheels retracted.)


As an anti-grav fuel-saving measure, the wheels can be deployed, in road mode, and the vehicle's anti-grav engines make electricity to turn them, rather than hovering the vehicle, as road mode requires far less fuel. It can achieve quite respectable speeds of 70-80 kph in road mode, under ideal ground circumstances. The vehicle can also operate as a normal anti-grav craft, of course.


Its sensor suite is very sensitive to sudden changes in altitude, and the vehicle's anti-grav engines kick on automatically if, for instance, the ground or ice give way, a bridge collapses, etc. (Of course the vehicles can just cross rivers by hovering over as well.) If a tire is shot out, the antigrav engines on that flank deploy automatically to keep the vehicle level, or it can just switch to anti-grav mode.


Marine vehicles used anti-grav mode almost exclusively in the Sepulvedan War, as Sepulveda is one of the galaxy's leading supplies of angravium! This vehicle has quite a punch with its heavy autocannon and two missile boxes, but its primary purpose is to transport the marines into battle. The Federal Marine L-HAC is the main battle platform of the Federation.


The model is almost exactly 75mm (3") long. It is designed to transport a squad of ten marines, plus crew. It comes with a flight base, four wheels, a hull and a turret. The turret has a heavy autocannon and two missile boxes. The wheels can be attached in anti-grav mode or road mode. The vehicle is named after a Terran Marine hero from a pre-Federal Terran war of the C20th , the "Korean War."


The kit is available now on our website, http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/15mmscifi.html