From Darkest Star Games - New Grav Vehicles Released

It's New Release time! Yaaaaay! It's taken quite a while to get these 15mm scale beasts from the depths of computer land to the gaming table, but here they are!

First off, The Federation Drop Troops get their long awaited LODAV GMBT, the Tiger:

Being just slightly short than the Puma LODAV GAPC that it is designed to support in planetary assaults, the Tiger is an imposing sight on the battlefield. That plasma canon is HUGE, guaranteed to melt whatever it is aimed at on the very first shot!

Releasing tomorrow, from Darkest Star Games - new Ma.K inspired vehicles!

From:  15mm Sci-Fi Facebook Group

Releasing tomorrow from Darkest Star Games:

From the post:

Thanks guys! Christopher Lynch did the hard work at my crazy request! The apc was originally designed at 1/20 scale by a fella on the Ma.K forum and shrunk down by permission. The 2 turret options for the tank version are from Chris and myself. I'm going to use them for Patrol Angis (as soon as I make ky order! )

Really awesome and I'm sure they'll be very popular!

Mr. Harold's Hobby Stuff - FloryModels Clay Wash

Hey everyone!

While I have my favorite wash for painting infantry models (Army Painter Strong Tone) I've never been able to find a wash I was particularity happy with for vehicles.

Using the Strong tone (or Dark tone) on vehicles can be problematic because it tends to stain even the raised parts which can darken the whole model.  The solution to this has been to use an AK Interactive Enamel wash which can applied and then wiped off with a Q-tip and mineral spirits.

I disliked using the enamel paints since they can be more odorous than the water-based paints, and it necessitates having a different system to clean the brushes.

I recently managed to stumble upon a new wash, a FloryModels.co.uk Clay-based acrylic wash called Dark Dirt.

The great thing is that I can use it as the AK Interactive wash and simply apply it all over the model.  Once it dried I also use a Q-Tip but armed with only water instead of mineral spirits or thinner.

I tried it on my Recon Assault Transport (RAT from http://www.clearhorizonminiatures.com) after a base coat of light grey:

I've also used it on some light tanks from Darkest Star Games.  

The model before the wash

The wash still wet, straight from the bottle.

Once the wash has dried I use damp q-tips and makeup sponges to remove excess wash

Just needs decals!

Another angle showing the effects of the wash.

As you can see, the process is very easy with great results.  And you can always remove it if you don't like the effect and want to start over.

Once you've gotten it to where you like it I would seal it with a varnish.  If you put decals on first make sure to varnish the decals before putting the wash on, as the process for removing the wash might remove the decals too.

The only problem with the wash is that it's hard to find!  I picked mine up at SprueBrothers.com but it appears they are out of this specific wash.   It also appears that Flory Models might be on vacation or something?  

I'll update this if I find another source or brand of clay-based wash, but otherwise I highly recommend it!

New release from Darkest Star Games!

From: http://www.darkeststargames.com/

Darkest Star games has some great new releases up on their webshop!

15SS202 Spec-Sec Response Team- high intensity

$4.00

5x 15mm metal figures of Spec-Sec Response Team troops wearing "high-intensity" heavy actuated armor, armed with suppressed heavy assault rifles

Link

15SS106- Borg Koios

$1.25

1x 15mm metal character figure of cyborg Koios in assault outfit armed with a heavy rifle

Link

15SSV07-Hippogriff Attack Aerodyne

$18.00

1x 15mm scale Hippogriff Attack Aerodyne kit containing 13 resin parts (1x hull, 1x tail, 1x nose gear wheel, 1x nose gear cover, 2x wing, 2x wingtip wheels, 2x single missle, 2x double missile, 1x optics turret)

Link

Darkest Star Kickstarter - Final Week

By Eli

Darby at Darkest Star Games has reached the home stretch of his Kickstarter campaign for new vehicles and infantry for his scifi range. The main goal (above) has funded and is about half way to the first stretch goal which will add an additional vehicle design to the project (below). Additional stretch goals will bring more vehicles, infantry troops and an entirely new faction of vehicles (bottom).

Having purchased some of Darkest Star's other offerings and seeing the sorts of new, innovative and interesting designs that Darby comes up with for his line, I am excited by the prospect of seeing this Kickstarter not only succeed, but do well. If successful 15mm science fiction will gain a host of excellent vehicle designs as well as some top notch infantry.

So, check it out and give it a push. You can get in with as little as $1 and still have access to add-ons or start with a dedicated pledge of $18 and add on more later as well. As with most Kickstarters the more you pledge, the more there will be and the more you can get!

-Eli

Darkest Star Games Kickstarter - First Federation and Venturian figure tease

By Harold

Darkest Star Games have updated their (funded) kickstarter with two previews of the stretch goal infantry:

Federation Lift Infantry tease 1

Venturian Lift Infantry tease 1

Really great looking stuff!  Check out the Kickstarter and pledge today.  

Darkest Star's New Kickstarter

After their initial releases of some really cool 15mm science fiction miniatures and vehicle models, Darkest Star has decided to run a Kickstarter campaign to help push out some of their other projects. This campaign starts with a good amount of the up front work finished for some of the core project goals and offers a couple of nice stretch and add-on goals.

Click on image to go to Kickstarter

As you can see, in the images below, the first vehicle, "Scorpion", in this campaign is ready to go. It has been rendered, printed, even has optional parts ready and laid out. The second vehicle, "Kh'erian/Kh'erisan",  in the core campaign has also been finished in the 3D rendering stage. The campaign also includes stretch goals for additional vehicles, infantry and even new factions. There are add-ons associated with the stretch goals as well as drawing from Darkest star's existing range of 15mm science fiction models.

Darkest Star Games: New Releases in the Spec-Spec Range

By Harold

Some really awesome releases from Darkest Star Games for their Spec-Spec line:

Lookie, lookie!  A couple of new releases for the Spec-Sec line have just been made available!

First off we have an opposition squad for those Spec-Sec elite responders to face down: an External Security Squad from the nation of Kepak.

These are some bad dudes.  In essence they are an elite unit of Kepakian Special Forces whose job is to rapidly intervene in developing situations on foreign soil.  The Kepakians prefer robotics to cybernetics (after a rather dreadful mass-population hijacking incident a dozen years ago or so) and as such include a pair of combat robots that have been stripped down to lessen weight and improve reaction time for CQB scenarios.  With the heavy armor removed from their torso, they now sport ballistic vests, much like their human team members.  The team is actually quite heavily armed, with the troopers carrying assault carbines with underslung multi-munition launchers and the combat robots armed with mulit-rifles.

The world of cybernetics and robotics evolves rapidly, and new discoveries and breakthroughs are often the result of individuals tinkering in their own homes and offices rather than the products of corporate development.  As such there are a large number of freelancers out there that sell their services to the highest bidder, and not all of their projects are the soft-and-fuzzy type.  Robear Medisi is one such individual:

Fond of wearing fashions that have looooong since expired, Robear has been busted for everything from committing back-alley illegal cyberwear implantations and "reclaimed" parts smuggling to drive-armor theft and deadly modification.  In fact, it's the last charge for which he is currently being sought for questioning.  A pair of Police Vantage drive-armors were stolen and apparently heavily modified.  According to Spec-Sec confidential informants, those drive-armors have been hidden somewhere in the city, striped down and given both jump-jets and heavier arm weapons by Medisi and are currently up for sale to the highest bidder.  

Dubbed the "Jackdaw" by these same CI's for their grey and black covering, it's only a matter of time before some nefarious ne'er-do-well hands over a wad of cash and goes on a rampage... 

All 3 of these releases are now available on the Spec-Sec page.

Stay tuned folks, there is more to come!

There are some incredible miniatures already released in this range, and I'd recommend heading over and checking them out!

New Pre-Orders from Darkest Star Games

By Harold

Dark Star Games has some new pre-orders up, and they look great!

15FD1- Puma LODAV GIFV:top/front view

Darkest Star Opens up Pre-Order for 15mm Talin IFV

By Eli

Darkest Star has kicked off its up-scaling of its original 6mm designs with the Talin wheeled IFV. This is a solid near-future design that sports that "just around the corner" look that is very popular in hard sci-fi gaming. A pre-order has been set up so folks can chime in early on this vehicle. 

More info - HERE

Review - Darkest Star Minis Spec-Sec Drive Armors

By Eli

Darby over at Darkest Star Games sent over some samples of his new Spec-Sec line of minis. Many of you may already be familiar with the Colony 15 stuff that has been shown here but the Spec-Sec is a range of minis along an entirely different path.

Darkest Star's Spec-Sec range is modeled after the cyberpunk style Japanese animation and comics style that you find in titles such as Ghost in The Shell, Appleseed, Bubblegum Crisis, and many others where smaller robots and mecha vehicles work along with police against hi-tech criminals, terrorists, and other hostiles.

While Darby sent over everything that's been released for Spec-Sec, I thought I'd start by reviewing the Drive Armors which are my favorite parts of the range. The Drive Armors are based after the multi-legged, "spider walkers" from Ghost in the Shell but while they are inspired by those machines, they are not copies and present new designs that evoke those classic machines. The Drive Armors come in three variations and sizes (from smallest to biggest) - Vantage, Mastiff, and Scorpios.

VANTAGE

The Vantage is a small, police/security unit and it looks perfect for its role. From the narrow body (good for alleys and urban sprawl) to the light bar on top of the body it looks every bit the law enforcement rig. Weapons on the model are rather subtle and include a pair of light MGs in the arms inside the claws and a pair of riot grenade launchers.

MASTIFF

This is the main Drive Armor of the Spec-Sec and used for their paramilitary operations against terrorists and military threats. Optimized for all-terrain it uses a variety of modular weapon pods, a chin-mounted gun, and claw-mounted guns.

SCORPIOS

In Darby's universe the Scorpios is a walking tank. Armed with anti-personnel, and anti-armor weapons it's high mobility legs allow it to traverse a wide variety of terrain. It comes with missiles, a cannon, arm guns and  a few features that could be interpreted as grenade launchers.

PARTS AND ASSEMBLY

These models were incredibly clean and the parts had minimal if any flash on them. All the legs and weapons are on sprues and clip cleanly from them with no difficulty. Each part is set up with a socket and and either a ball or peg so that you can anchor them nicely. The legs are one piece but their ball joint attachment allows you to position them low or high (my Scoprios is mounted high). Both the Scorpios and the Mastiff come with weapon options which are also interchangeable between them.

The only sticky part of the designs is their legs. While they are wonderful in their flexibility, it did take some fiddling before i mastered the curve on how to get them to stay. Again, this is a very minor issue and once i got the hang of it it went smoothly. My second Mastiff went together in a third the time of my first.

Not only are these models clean and neat and well-designed, but I also found myself conjuring up conversion ideas for them quite easily enough, making them even more versatile beyond their original forms. They stack up nicely against other forms of armor and walkers out there.

Scorpios with two Dream Pod 9 Walkers.

Some great painted Drive Armors can be found in the Darkest Star gallery (bottom of the page). These were painted by fellow blogger Mark Kinsey from Daddy's Little Men.

Thanks for reading,

-Eli

Dropship Upgrades, Spec Sec Mecha, and Buildings That Aren't Square

Rebel Minis, in conjunction with Ravenstar Studios, has released an upgrade kit for the Titan Marines Dropship/Gunship Kit.

Sculpted by Chris Lynch, the Conversion Kit contains resin components to "upgrade" your dropship. Each pack contains an intake hood, a set of landing gear and 4 weapon mounts. The weapon mounts are especially nice, especially if you have any "spare" weapons from your Earthforce Dropships or Gunships, or from HAMR suits of either faction.

Keep an eye on the Bitz section of the Rebel Minis website. We're going to see quite a few new items to customize our 15mm forces in the coming months.

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Darkest Star Games has added the first releases to the anime-inspired Spec Sec range. The Vantage Drive Armor (pictured left) is "a budget-friendly alternative to combat type mechs like Landmates, for low-impact urban use." The larger Mastiff Drive Armor (pictured right) is utilized by the Spec Sec police forces for heavier operations. It includes a wide variety of weapon options, and can be customized for several urban combat roles.

The Scorpios (pictured left) is larger than not only most Drive Armor, but most combat tanks as well. Its design is something of a paradigm breaker for the Spec Sec police forces - sacrificing visibility and protection for size and weapon capabilities. Finally, the Parma battle armor (pictured right) offers a more conventional Landmate-styled design. 

The first 15mm figures in the Spec Sec range - a 5-man Response Team and the Agent Ionia character figure - have also been released. Darby promises to have their photos on the webstore soon - but you can see the work-in-progress pictures on the Darkest Star blog.

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And apart from the Spec Sec range, Darkest Star Games is steadily growing the Colony 15 line. Two character figures - the Household Guard Adviser and Colonist Scout - are now available. Also, pre-orders are available for additions to the Star Marauders, Zonii, and Magravate Militia (first packs reviewed here), along with the first pack of Colonists:

The characters are available now, and the pre-order packs should be released in the next two weeks. The Colonist figures are particularly inspiring to me. There is some wonderful Space Western potential with them - whether used in an original setting, or used directly in the Firefly/Serenity universe. Combine them with some other armed and unarmed colonists from GZG and Khurasan, throw together a few buildings from Krazy Ivan's Wired West range, and you're ready to play.

*     *     *     *     *

Jonathan at CorSec Engineering noticed something about the latest wave of MDF buildings - they are all very rectangular in shape!

So, creative guy that he is, he started experimenting with flexible styrene instead of MDF. His idea was to curve the styrene around solid columns, giving a unique (and more futuristic) appearance to 15mm buildings:

Once he worked out the basics, he fired up the laser and etched the styrene in the same vein as his flat-pack building fittings:

And after a few successful tests, the Small and Medium 15mm Styrene Habitats are now available in his online store. Here's an exterior picture of the finished Small Habitat:

And an interior picture of the Medium Habitat:

All buildings in this series will have removable roofs, so the insides can be filled with goodies from places like Khurasan Miniatures and the National Cheese Emporium. 

Kudos to Jonathan for these - it's a completely different way to look at laser-cut terrain! He promises more buildings will follow in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Chris

Colony 15 - In The Emperor's Name AAR

After painting and reviewing the Colony 15 figures from Darkest Star Games, I thought it would be fun to play a little game with them. It will be good to field larger armies of these figures as the factions are expanded. But for now, I had more than enough figures to play a small skirmish. 

First, I broke out my template for In The Emperor's Name cards and had a go with the figures. 

Review - Colony 15 by Darkest Star Games

As you might remember, we introduced you to Darkest Star Games about a month ago. Darby sent me review samples of the first Colony 15 figures, and I've finally had the chance to get them painted and to take a few pictures of them. 

Say "Hello" to Darkest Star Games

We have a new face in the universe of 15mm Science Fiction - Darkest Star Games.

This new company, run by Darby Eckles, will be centered around the ex-Adler Miniatures 6mm sci-fi range. But his plans for 15mm are quite ambitious. There are four packs of figures available now in the Colony 15 range, sculpted by the great Bob Naismith. They definitely capture the space opera feel we've seen from manufacturers like 15mm.Co.Uk and Blue Moon Manufacturing.

First up we have the Star Marauders. These are my early favorites, based just on the pictures. I've been thinking about playing Space Crusade-type games using my Blue Moon Orion Republic as Space Marines. These Star Marauders would be great not-Chaos Space Marines to counter them. They would also be good elites for a Kremlin Miniatures Cyberian Death Commandos force.

These Magravate Militia figures are interesting. Their helmets are somewhat reminiscent of certain elvish/space elvish factions we've seen over the years, but the jackets are far more conventional. I could see these as Household troopers in the Dune universe.

And finally there are two packs of Zonii Warriors: dismounted, and mounted on cool alien beasts. These are a lower-tech alien species - ideal "natives" for a more advanced faction's colony world. 

It looks like a good start to a product range. There's just enough figures in these packs for small skirmishes using Blasters & Bulkheads or USE ME or Mutants & Death Ray Guns. 

These Colony figures are just the tip of the iceberg for Darkest Star's 15mm offerings. Darby intends to upscale and release the old Adler sculpts - just take a look at the 6mm offerings to see what's in the pipe. There's also a polaceholder for a category named Spec-Sec, which is going to be an anime-inspired 15mm range. We'll keep a close eye on them to see what develops.

And, to quote Darby... 

what would any Grand Opening be without some sort of special?  It'd be pretty sad!  So, for a limited time we are offering FREE SHIPPING on any order!  How about that!

Cheers,
Chris