Armies On Parade (Hyperian Wars) – The Grand Alliance 301st Skyborne

Posted on by skinflintgames

In this great coalition of nations, there are those amongst our populace who rail against the use of force, who would offer the hand of friendship to monstrosities such as the Orca or the Dead.. those who would see us lie down naked and supplicant in the face of the Virum Nascii. To those in our parliaments and cabinets who question the need for the forces we maintain, I would ask them to look a charging Orca in it’s hate-filled red eye and convince it of the justice of our cause. I would ask them how we should use “soft power” and “social justice programs” to defend against a murderous tide of Ratmen bent on destruction, death and enslavement. I would ask by what means of deterrence would we keep the Cousin Races of the Ee’la and Stoc’d from turning upon us. How we might keep in check the dogmatic religious zealots of the Ancien Regime kingdoms from upending our cherished democracies.

I would remind these people, as they sit in safety and comfort, pondering abstract matters of state.. I would remind them that they have that privilege only so long as rough men stand ready to deliver violence on their behalf. I would remind them that such privilege is bought solely with the blood and bravery of the Skyborne!

Back to our steampunk/fantasy world of Hyperia, and here we are looking at the newly reinforced detachment of the Grand Alliance faction – a loose coalition of floating cities and islands spread across the western hemisphere of Hyperia, bound together by mercantilist tradition and by far the most technologically advanced of the human factions, even if the more esoteric elements of Vril lie beyond their grasp.

Not bound to the rank & file regiment system of all the other powers, the Skyborne Infantry are all able to operate as skirmishers and with hefty firepower are able to punch well above their weight numerically, particularly given their “Mad Minute” special training, although when enemies can get in close in numbers, things get sticky quickly…

These lads have been in the blog before, but they’ve been given a new Dauntless, some Whippets, a nicer basing job and crucially some flags so I thought it’d be nice to give them an airing as they’ve been part of the Hyperian Wars project right from the start.. so, pics:

Lt. Caruthers leads the 301st forward
The lads in parade order – the command section featuring Lt. Caruthers, his ADC, Tactical Identification Device (aka flag) Bearer, signaller (chap with 2 flags), mortar, Enchantment Denial Device crew and an Artificial…

Behind them are the grunts, 3 nine man rifle sections each commanded by a sergeant, and behind them is the heavy support – three FV1066 Whippets (Willie The Wimp, Winifred, Walter) and the Dauntless Redux (with her crew pictured in front of her).. there were a couple of casualty figures left over which I painted up as objective markers.
Willie The Wimp leads the Whippet squadron forward
The Dauntless Redux
Casualty figures
Close up of the command section
Artificial – made from a couple of cocktail sticks and card.. close up of the Enchantment Denial Device crew, which in-game provides a degree of defence against magickal powers.
The grunts – old hands may recognise these as Airfix British WW1 infantry

Not to give too much away, but there’s probably going to be an uptick in Hyperian Wars content over the next few weeks as the slow burn “campaign” comes to a head… Stay thrifty out there and see you soon!



Into The Combat Zone Pt. 2 – The Ginger Ninjas (& A Test Game)

Posted on by skinflintgames

As we wipe the sweat from our collective brows after last month’s rather epic battle report, let’s change scale, period and game type back into some (presumably) near future dystopian sci-fi skirmish as we show off our progress through the surprisingly comprehensive Combat Zone box set from EM4 miniatures… for the price of a cheese sandwich or a kiss on the kips with no tongue from GW, you too can own.. MANY miniatures, a rulebook, dice and scenery, everything you need for a campaign (which is also contained in the box.)

We’ve already covered the first squad of Corporate Troopers, so in this post we’ll be taking a look at the OPFOR, the Gangers.. in this instance the notorious Ginger Ninja faction – so named because all members have to show at least some bright orange in theor clothing, and the more orange you show, the higher your status in the gang.

This obviously presents it’s own tactical issues as there are few environments where this is going to be effective camouflage, but given it’s strong association with US prisons I thought it made for quite a good basis for an “outlaw” faction. Plus, of course, South Park:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nA54LxibLI

As with the Corporate Troopers, I started off with grey priming, washed with thinned Smokey Ink and drybrushed with bone craft paint.. this should give a nice 3D surface to paint on, with shadows and highlights already taken care of in the underpainting stage. That way, nicely thinned paints should simply colourise your underpainted shadow/ highlight combination and you’ve already got the hard work done.

Should. I’m still not entirely convinced that it did.

Still, I’m quite pleased with the results – check them out!

Our glorious leader – “Go over there or I’ll cut you!”
The classic “Sword in the ponytail” look.. “What you say? I’m trying to shoot someone!”
There’s a fair bit of double denim going on here, but when you’re packing an automatic shotgun I doubt anyone’s going to call you on it..
The crew ready to roll out.

Orange was the Vallejo Hot Orange/ Red Ink combo, blues done with Wilko’s (RIP :-/) Duck Egg Blue overpainted with blue craft paint, browns with Vallejo Filthy Brown washed with Brown Ink.. a final very light drybrush with bone craft paint to make the highlights pop.. I also gave all the metallics a Vallejo Smokey Ink Wash to give the weaponry a dirty, beaten up look. Baddies don’t clean, what are you, a narc?Basing was the same recipe as the Corporate Troopers, so follow the link for that one.

We also managed to get the test game in (on an urban board that has seen better days, sadly :-/)

A pretty good ding dong back and forth, ended by a highly cinematic shootout and heroic charge into single combat by the Ginger Ninja’s leader! Once you’ve got your head around a couple of slightly counterintuitive basic points, the rattles along nicely – it will be interesting to see how this scales as we work through the campaign included in the box though, moving to larger battles.. still, only one way to find out, eh?

Stay safe and thrifty, and a belated happy Flag Day – SLAVIA UKRAINIA