Federal Army Medium Tank First Look

Here's a preview of the upcoming Federal Army Medium Tank, both in basic tracked version and in grav drive as part of the Army's MEP (Mobility Enhancement Program). 

As can be seen it mounts a single CIDS gatling cannon, unlike the Siler superheavy tank, which mounts two.  The vehicle also has a coaxial light pulse cannon to cover any frontal blind spots that the gatling cannon might not be able to reach.

One thing that might not be readily apparent from the images is the manner in which the main gun mounts to the turret -- it is very deeply recessed.  This can elevate to "show it off" a bit more -- it creates in our opinion a very striking appearance.  We might have the entire cannon piece painted in a slightly different colour when the physical model is previewed, just to make this design feature a bit more obvious.

Hull is 75mm long -- actually just a little bit smaller than the hull of an M1A2 at 1/100th scale! There will be a heavy APC version as well.  Look for it in the spring of 2012.  Thanks and have a Happy New Years.

The Huntarr

We have released the 15mm scale Huntarr, those terrifying hunters who revel in combat and victory above all else, and will travel across the galaxy and even to other dimensions to find a fitting opponent to launch the old struggle, hand against hand, arm against arm. Their technology is sophisticated but they glory in that most primal of all conflicts, hand to hand combat.

Normally when we release a line of models, we post colour photos of the models to give you a full idea of what you're getting, and we were about to do this as well for the Huntarr, but three of them materialised in my office, one after the other, looming over me, and threatened to paint the walls with my innards if I did so! So I won't be posting preview images. Naturally the skeptical consumer may say, "well then I'm not buying them, what sort of nonsense is this?" He'd have a good point, and those who buy will buy on faith.

And they will not be disappointed, for these tall, lanky creatures are splendid sculpts. On average they are 21mm tall!

Of course, once the models are "out there" I can't control what people do with them, but I am relying on the discretion of the gaming community -- I don't want those Huntarrs to materialise in my office again!

Available here:
15mm Sci fi Page

The Stikks

The Stikks do not speak often, but when they do, they speak all at once, together.

One Stikk will begin rubbing its mouth parts together, letting out a rhythmic chirp, and all at once every other creature in the pod will join in, each predicting the patterns and rhythms of the others, so that they sing as one, except occasionally one Stikk will interject a chord soaring higher over the steady song, which may have some deep significance, or may just be for the sake of the music. We still have not been able to decipher their speech patterns.

Although they are properly called the Entomals, "Stikks" became the popular name for these beings in the Federation soon after first contact, apparently because the Federal troops who first fought them, FLA (former Latin America) regiments of the Federal Army, found them to resemble stick insects. There is indeed some superficial resemblance around the head, but as those Federal soldiers could attest, these are not sluggish or slow moving life forms. In life and in war, they are nimble and aggressive, especially when together in large numbers.



Like the infantry forces of other sentients, the Stikk infantry are the basis of their military. The basic unit is called by the Federal military a pod, made up of three triads and a leader. Each triad has two Stikk gunbugs and a heavy gunbug. All Stikk soldiers wear a reflective armour array that protects the torso and the lower leg from laser weapons and provides some residual protection against other attacks, relying on their tough exoskeleton for further defence.



Each Stikk pod has attached to it a doublebarrelled heavy gun team, which like all infantry weapons is of the gauss type, and a mortar team, which provides indirect fire to the pod, firing an electroshock round. Both gunteams are commanded by another leader who stays in close contact with the pod leader, and serves as a second in command should the pod leader become a casualty.



Available as hive-level support is the Crikket Infantry Cannon, which will "walk" when activated by its crew and fires either an armour piercing or high explosive round. This and many other Stikk weapons systems shows disturbing signs of biological life and is believed to be a synthetic bioweapon, these being collectively called "Synths" by Federal soldiers. When the crew are separated from the Crikket it will go to ground or will amble toward the nearest concentration of Stikk soldiers. It will not fire on the enemy unless crewed. All the crewstikks need do is gently nudge it and it will walk where they direct. It has proven to be an extremely useful infantry support weapon.



Providing potent aerial fire support for the Stikk forces is the Odonate light gunship, popularly called the "Dragonfly" for obvious reasons, another suspected "Synth," although there are unconfirmed reports of Stikk crew evacuating downed gunships. It is small but well armed with a twin heavy gauss cannon, and both anti-personnel rockets and anti-tank missiles. It is arguably the most nimble gunship in federal space, its "wings" manuevering it in directions that would be impossible for Federal flyers, and is exceptionally resilient for its size. These craft operate in close cooperation with the infantry pods.

The Stikks have also been reported to use heavy armoured vehicles in combat and for transport, but there have not been confirmations of those yet. These vehicles are said to be large, modular, and legged. Reports of Stikk heavy shock infantry of a completely different and much larger species, operating in small groups in close coordination with the infantry pods, are also unconfirmed, but are being investigated.

The Stikks were first encountered in the War of Vasq Separation, when the Separatists hired several Stikk battalions to assist their armed resistance to the dominant culture, the Torans, who had requested Federal intervention. The encounter with the Stikks during the first phase of combat operations took the local Federal and Toran government forces completely by surprise, and it is still not known how the Separatists hired the Stikks or introduced them to the theater without discovery by Federal Intelligence. The Stikks fought the loyalist and Federal forces to a standstill, prompting the local Federal joint-services commander to call for a ceasefire.

Reports soon reached Federal HQ that the Stikks had not been paid and had promptly departed, leading to immediate resumption of hostilities upon the expiration of the ceasefire, the Separatists being defeated in weeks.

The Stikks have subsequently been encountered on several occasions serving as mercenaries on the frontier or even in some of the more autonomous Freeholds. Their own language is completely indecipherable, but they have mastered Federal Standard and are able to understand it, and to speak it as well, approximating the sounds by rubbing their mouth parts together. This form of communication is a slow process but in the end they are able to make themselves understood.

Some Stikk soldiers wear backpacks and these are closely guarded. It is theorized that these contain concentrations of pheromones which permit the individual pods to stay in close ocntact with each other and their hive-level support. Each pod has one pack, worn by the senior heavy gunner in the first triad. Many members of the pod heavy weapons team also wear these backpacks.

The Stikks are virtually impossible to break in combat when their pod is intact, but they seem to key closely into each other, as when the casualties rack up they lose their fanaticism and when only a few Stikks are together it is easy to chase them off, easier than would be the case with other opposing forces. As such it seems likely that they have some form of hive or herd mentality.

The Stikks were sculpted in 15mm scale by Mike Lovejoy, and were painted by Chris Yaro. The infantry pod has ten models, each a unique sculpt. The heavy weapons team set has two different weapons and five crew in three different poses. The Crikket gun is pewter and has two different crewmen. The Odonate gunship is also solid pewter and does not supply the flight stand. Although it should be noted that the craft has landing skids so can be placed on the table, as it closely resembles a dragonfly we assume gamers will definitely want to depict it flying! Chris has used an acrylic flight rod and a plastic base.

The Stikks will be released very shortly. Stay tuned!

Goliath Mortar

The Goliath mortar was heavily used by both the Control forces on Sepulveda 7 and, when captured, their Resistance foes. Shown below is the Control team and the Goliath mortar in 15mm scale.



We've had Resistance crew made as well for the weapon.



Coming later this year, stay tuned for details.

Space Demon Nymph Hosts

There are many horrible things about space demons, but their method of reproduction is perhaps the most horrible of all.

Space demon queens deliver live nymphs and these immediately scramble about looking for a host. (This task is often made easier for the nymphs by adult demons, who drag hosts off and imprison them in a chamber near the queen, to supply to emerging nymphs.) When the nymph finds a suitable host, it will hop onto it and swallow its head into their body via a huge maw on the bottom of the nymph's body, sinking their scythe-legs into the shoulders of the host and a piercer rod through the skull and into the brain of the host. Removal of this rod results in guaranteed 100% fatality to the host, so once hosts are infected there is no saving them.

The nymph thereby takes over the body of the host, and begins pumping in hormones and enzymes which rapidly transform the body of the host at a molecular level, until about two weeks later the host is a full-fledged space demon. This process tends to spread from the neck down to the legs, but this is not always the case, and for instance one arm of the host may have transformed into a space demon arm before the other has.

The host's brain is the last part to be transformed in order to continue to support the still human bits of the transforming creature. This is a painful process for the host, to put it mildly, whose muffled screams of anguish have led to nymph hosts being termed howlers or shriekers.

This explains why space demon nymphs appear to be assault demon heads with spindly legs, as that is essentially what nymphs are.

Even while transforming, the nymph host can be a formidable opponent, as it is "piloted" by the nymph which will use the host's limbs to flail at enemies of the hive with that terrifying strength that the human body can demonstrate when it is not inhibited by fear of self-injury. Nymph hosts can sometimes be found shambling about, shreiking or moaning, in zones infested by space demons, and make frightening foes indeed if they can get into close combat, made only worse by their piteous shrieks as they flail away.

The models are available now, code TTC-908 (the newest code in the Space Demon range). Click on the above image to see it larger.

Preview of 15mm sci fi interior battlescapes

Here are previews of our upcoming 15mm scale Sci Fi interiors. They are meant to allow the gamer to represent the interior of a lab where something has gone terribly wrong, the interior of a starship that's been boarded by enemy troops or intruded upon by some horrifying stalker, the underground passageways of a massive defence complex, or whatever else strikes your fancy.



The first piece is your basic corridor, 150mm x 50mm (6" x 2").



Next up we have the smaller corridor, a corner piece or small room, 50mm (2") square.



To clutter up the corridors and to place barriers between them we have consoles/computers/etc, a drab looking desk (over which a guard may be draped, dead, or a desk with a half-eaten doughnut may be placed), and doors and bulkheads of varying sizes to split up your battlescape into fighting zones.



The console/computer pieces are meant to be two-sided, and have on their rear access doors such as those shown above.



Martin of Fire Broadside has done a splendid job painting these up in an ominous, businesslike fashion, and he took it upon himself to array the pieces together to show the kind of look the gamer can achieve.

One note, however. These pieces are not puzzle-like interlocking sets and were not designed to have curtain walls along the sides. The idea was that the gamer would build angular snaking sections which can be placed together in various configurations, but they do not interlock. Curtain walls along the sides, in our experience, tend to get in the way of model placement and a clear view of the action, so the vertical dividers, mostly doors but also including bulkheads without doors, are meant to create dead ends or dividers.

John Bear Ross has done an excellent job putting these together in the look of many popular sci fi realizations of interior battlescapes which we may all be familiar with. And there's more coming! A large round room (yes, round!) to represent a central test chamber, the bridge of a small ship, etc.; a spaceship or test chamber large control seat with readout console; a sleeper chamber for cryogenic preservation, an engine, generator, or other large piece of machinery, and a pillar to create the look of a support, or to put together an elevator, etc. All of these will be shown when they are ready for sale. The first pieces should be released soon. Thanks John and Martin! If gamers like these we will certainly make more.

Vulk Missileman, Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalions

Above is an image of a Vulk missileman from the JTFB, the Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalions.

The so-called Kingdom of the Jasmine Throne is a freehold in Federation space inhabited largely by humans, settlers primarily from the former Terran Central Asia, and their young queen, Roxann Diamunda, is a just and humane ruler. However, there has always been a great deal of intrigue, rivalry and dissension in the military and ruling caste of the Jasmine Throne, and assassinations and military coups were all too common in the past. This led the queen's great grandfather, the mighty Shapur the Wise, to raise four battalions of aliens to serve as his bodyguard, simply titled the Foreign Battalions.

The force has gradually been expanded and there now exist twelve battalions of JTFB as well as four armoured battalions. Each infantry squad member and vehicle crewman is a different alien species to prevent collusion in the ranks.

This system has worked well and there have been no successful coups since Shapur's time.

Aliens come from around the galaxy to serve in the JTFB, for many different motives. They may all look different but they wear uniform armour (modified to suit varying body shapes, of course) and use weapons of standard design (similarly modified by your friends at Mercanto-Dett Military Solutions). All must know at least rudimentary words in Federal Standard in order to obey simple commands. The training regimen is gruelling and many candidates fail, but those who succeed are members of an elite, hallowed formation indeed.In fact, it was Roxann's decision to send six battalions of the JTFB to Molch that turned the tide in the Molch/Vornid War.

Their battle cry is "to the queen!" which is a reminder that their most important role is to protect the queen and rally to her in case of a coup attempt.

All JTFB members are called "men" even though none are human and some are female. Vulk are some of the larger aliens serving in the JTFB and as such are often tasked as the heavy missileman in Fireteam A in a squad. Vulk are huge, ferocious carnivores and must undergo considerable conditioning to work with other species, but these dauntless warriors invariably earn the respect and sometimes even affection of their teammates for their coolness and bravery under fire. The huge Slaker cannons that native Vulk warriors employ are of no use to them in the JTFB as a logistical matter, and they are equipped with a standard heavy smart missile launcher, which is mounted on their armour and aimed and fired by a pressure point implanted in the Vulk's mouth.

This is the first sneak preview of our upcoming JTFB line, which will be made up entirely of unique aliens, each in standard armour and using standard weapons. They use MDMS vehicles, the Goanna/Taipan AFV and Canetoad APC, and there will be JTFB crew halves for those vehicles as well. We may even commission Roxann and her Neo-Sassanid legions as a future human faction (most of the army of the Jasmine Throne is human, only the queen's bodyguard being alien). Stay tuned for more details on the JTFB.