Tuesday 22 January 2013

Wired West, Pacific Federation, Power Armor, and Giant Lizards

If you've been following the development of Krazy Ivan's Wired West buildings, or if you're just looking to add some Firefly-themed buildings to your terrain collection, they are now available from GameCraft Minis.


Ivan designed a complete range of modular two-story buildings - complete with billboard-style signs and covered sidewalks. They are designed so that the roof and second story are removable, and you can fill them with apartments, saloons, jail cells, surgical clinics, terraforming research labs, or whatever else you can imagine. 


I could easily see colonists adopting this building style, especially for "early setup" of their settlements. The modular nature implies that these would be inexpensive and flexible, and they are a practical way to combine workspaces with living quarters. One of my own gaming settings is a moon terraformed for metal mining - primarily copper and titanium. I can see a moon like that having a single, centralized, wealthy spaceport (easily represented by GameCraft's Tomorrow's War buildings) distantly surrounded by a handful of mining settlements made with these buildings. I would just need to turn one of these buildings into a grav-train station, make sure both sets of buildings are painted in a way that they could be related (yet not identical), and have numerous tabletop options for a linked campaign setting.

I hope this trend of 1:100 Science Fiction MDF terrain continues. While they may never be as detailed as pewter or resin castings, they are a great way to quickly (and cheaply) build a dense battlefield for 15mm games.

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After teasing us with previews for the past few weeks, Brigade Models has released the first items in the Pacific Federation vehicle range. 

First up is the Cougar MBT. I like the turret weapon - it implies a higher level of technology than we've seen on many recent 15mm vehicles.


The Wombat APC follows the same general shape and style as the Cougar, but trades the massive turret for a smaller IFV-style version. It also adds troop access points to the main body - and it looks like passengers may be able to fire from overhead hatches. 


They're designed for a terrestrial faction, but I think the PacFed vehicles will end up serving in quite a few alien forces. I've been thinking about different armored vehicles to use with my Rebel Minis Pangalactic Legion and Khurasan Minis Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalion - these might fit the bill.

Keep an eye on the PacFed range - the Minigwal recon vehicle and Ocelot light tank won't be far behind these two vehicles.

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Khurasan Miniatures has added two new packs to the End Times post-apocalyptic range

The Government Forces in Power Armor now have command and heavy weapon figures available. 


While designed primarily to enforce the will of wasteland overlords, it's been pointed out that the Government Power Armor are ideal 15mm proxies for Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines - especially with the bare-headed leader. And if you don't see the resemblance in the catalog picture, take a look at Jeff Racel's use of the Crimson Fist chapter colors on the infantry figures. They're a pretty darn good option for the aspiring 40K-in-15mm gamers out there.

Also joining (or trying to eat) the Government Forces on the wastelands is the Mojave Pilgrim. These venomous beasts are regularly seen at lengths of 50' or more, as shown by this specimen:


Lots of potential with a monster like this, especially in games like Mutants & Death Ray Guns. The Pilgrim could be a complete opposing force by itself in a 15mm post-apocalyptic skirmish game!

Cheers,
Chris

1 comment:

  1. Loving those buildings they paint really easily as well as being quite affordable.

    More Khurasan goodness :D

    ReplyDelete