Thursday 30 January 2014

Pioneers Spotted!

New Ion Age 2nd Pioneers 

By Eli


The Ion Age is still upon us and this week heralds the release of their Legion 2nd Pioneers. Armed with grenade guns and segmented armor, they will make potent additions to your sci-fi forces. If you would like to learn more then check them out HERE on the Ion Age blog.



Also, remember that with the end of the month upon us, it's your last couple of days to grab January's special miniature, the Winter Musterman. Remember you can get him free with any order or you can purchase him separately, or if you'd like extras.




Wednesday 29 January 2014

Fireteam Andromeda Review by Podsy McPod

Posted by Harold
Written by Podsy McPod

Fireteam Andromeda
Fireteam Andromeda is available here: Wargame Vault for $16.43



Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...

Add up to a rather good set of sci-fi rules apparently.  Let me explain.  I was attracted to this rules system by the advertising blurb which promised that it would "easily handle 50 infantry models and 15 vehicle models a side in a two hour time frame".  I thought this to be an entirely outlandish claim but in fact it is a very fast system and although I am not there yet I can see myself having games of this size in around this period of time.


Monday 27 January 2014

Critical Mass Games Discontinuing Buildings and Terrain This Month


As sad as I am to say it, but this is the last week we'll have the Critical Mass Games terrain available to us.

To make room for new products, CMG has decided to discontinue their terrain and buildings lines. They will remain available until January 31st, 2014. Until they are gone, they are offering Free shipping on all orders over £50.

Last Days of Brigade Models' New Year 2014 Sale

Attention Dropship Passengers,

Brigade Models - Previews, new releases, interesting stuff … and cakes !

The folks at Brigade Models wanted me to pass on a quick reminder that there are only 5 more days (at time of this post) left in their 2014 New Year sale. Remember, this is an awesome sale with 15% off EVERYTHING! No minimums.

The sale runs until Midnight GMT January 31st. Read more HERE.

Thanks,

-Eli

The Road to Gencon 2014

PART 2A - KAAMADOS FORCE COMPOSITION


By Paul 

Greetings. My name is Paul, and I am the Kaamados player for this whole sheebang. I run the Metal Skirmish blog (http://metal-skirmish.blogspot.com) in my spare time when I am avoiding painting.


Many moons back, when I was getting into 15mm scifi, I picked up a couple Kaamados packs, because they looked cool. Fast forward to when Aaron was looking into getting the game. I figure, sure, I will pick up a copy, and grab a platoon deal, for if and when we actually get our toys on the table. (Again, I am mostly picking what I would like to play based on how it looks.) And then I tossed on a couple more packs when the ZAS kickstarter rolled through.

Now that I have read the rules, more or less, I may have lucked into something decent. Looking at an Agaamid platoon, backed by a few Draco Aganath Imperator battlesuits and some Naga troops. I'm hoping the Dragamaa Heavy Tank is as scary as it looks, and will keep enemy walkers busy. And I am leaning towards having the commander in a Gekotaa armored car, but I am still a little up in the air about that. Either way, should pack a solid punch with some staying power to help dominate the table.

As you see in the above picture, painting-wise I have my work cut out for me. I've never been into multiple figs per base, so this challenge will help keep my nose to the grindstone. I have most of a color scheme in mind, should be relatively easy to accomplish, just have to come up with some compelling details to make them really work on the battlefield. We'll see.

Friday 24 January 2014

The Road to Gencon 2014


PART TWO - PROTOLENE FORCE COMPOSITION

By Aaron


Hi! I’m Aaron and I’ll be bringing you the glorious forces of the mighty Protolene Khanate Empire.

I’m planning on running a Scout force, so the natural starting part is the Scout Great Khan. This unit is the starting point for my force and requires me to field from three to five Scout units. I can take other Ghul-Khans (sub-commander) of either the Hunter, Predator or Scout class if I want some of those units (or more Scouts).

Protolene Scout Khans, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

For this force, I’m going to stay Scout-pure. We haven’t played this game yet, so I don’t have a sense for how the different units will interact or what the strengths and weaknesses of each are.

Along with my Great Khan (45 points), I’ll add in two Scout Ayame with Communications modules (80 points each). These light mechs will help me generate extra communication points each round as well as provide some firepower. I could mount the Great Khan in an Ayame, but I’m going to leave him on-foot for this list.

Protolene Ayame with Communications Array, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

The core of my force will be formed around two Warpacks of Scout infantry. These are 10-base strong units and will be the bulk of my infantry and anti-infantry firepower (220 points per warpack).

Protolene Scouts, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

A Scout Sharp Shooter pack will compliment the main infantry body and provide some longer-range fire support. This is a 5-base strong unit (160 points).

Protolene Scout Sharp Shooters, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

Light support will come in the form of three Scout Ayame walkers. These will provide close escort to the infantry to deal with other light vehicles the infantry encounter (195 points).

Protolene Scout Ayame, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

For a heavy punch, I’ll take two  Scout Marrok medium walkers (240 points).

Protolene Scout Marrok, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

Finally, for both transport to move the scouts a bit faster across the board and for heavy fire support, I’ll be bringing two Fenrir Heavy Assault Walkers. These behemoths will rule the battlefield and provide a strong focal point or distraction for enemy players (260 points).

Protolene Tamaska/Fenrir, Photo courtesy of Critical Mass Games, www.criticalmassgames.com

These units are how I envision this force progressing for Gencon. It should be fairly straight-forward but provide some options to deal with any situation. 

Movin' on up!

Tower Module Released for The Ion Age

By Eli


As if the hab domes from The ion Age weren't cool enough, they have now released their new module that allows you to increase the height of the structure to form tower constructs. Using a rather clever connector plate that fits over the roof details of the original hab dome, they have created a way to allow for a seamless stacking without compromising on the details.

Red more - HERE


On a personal note, I feel these tower modules make great structures in their own right. There are plenty of details on the sculpts that make them perfect for various hab support modules to accompany your colony structures. I also see no reason they couldn't be blended in with other terrain as rooftop units for larger buildings. Also connector plates not used for stacking your tower modules would make for great ground mount plates for the rooftop modules made for the hab dome. I plan to use these and keep them free of any basing materials so that I can have them on the ground or even on the rooftops of terrain.

Enjoy!

-Eli

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Titanium Dropship 2014 - Judge 1/3 - Dwartist

Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the upright position and allow the crew of Dropship Horizon to introduce you the first of the three Titanium Dropship 2014 painting competition! Noone else than David "Dwartist" Woods!

Welcome on board David! Would you care to tell us how you did end up painting miniatures for a hobby?
I've just turned 64 and I've been modelling/painting since I was a young boy  - mostly Airfix 1/76 and the occasional Frog-de-Luxe 1/32 (?) or Revell 1/40 military models (birthdays and Christmas). I used to walk several miles to the nearest specialist store just to gaze in awe at the models in the window. Of course as a teenager that was all pushed aside as I discovered more interesting hobbies and I didn't go back to modelling until the 1970's when I was married and, by 1973, had two young daughters. I returned to the hobby after discovering a model shop in Liverpool's city centre - City Models - and seeing a built and painted Tamiya Hanomag complete with crew and stowage and couldn't resist the impulse to buy the kit and whatever else I needed to emulate the model in the window (which I obviously couldn't do lacking the required experience and skill). I've never stopped since then though but have moved away from the strict requirements of historical modelling into science fiction (my favourite book and film genres too) beginning with the SF3D models in the eighties and eventually moving down the scales to Games Workshop and Space Marines! I actually won a Golden Demon (vehicle) in 1991 for a converted Rhino. I very rarely buy or paint GW miniatures now but that's not because I don't particularly like their product I just prefer a more 'hard' sci-fi image these days and the choice is very varied and ever-burgeoning particularly with the advent of Kickstarters and 3D printing.
I guess that's the one! Found the pic on the net and using it without permission...


Monday 20 January 2014

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

Picture

Picture

Thursday 16 January 2014

Gear Up!

15mm Conversion Packs Released for The Ion Age

The folks at The Ion Age have released the new conversion packs for their line. Each comprises and assortment of weapons and kit consistent with one of three different forces - Retained, Muster, and Khanate. These really do provide a whole host of options whether or not you play Ion Age. 

To read more go HERE.



Wednesday 15 January 2014

Titanium Dropship 2014 - 15mm sci fi painting competition

What's this all about? Exactly what it says on the lid. A 15mm. Sci fi. Painting. Competition. Together with the rest of the Dropship crew we wanted to kick off 2014 with a very loud supersonic band! So we contacted a few manufacturers and begged them to offer prizes, found a couple of talented painters to act as judges and here we are: looking forward to make this a major event in any 15mm sci fi gamer calendar!
 
Blower Tank - Miniature by Khurasan Miniatures, painting by Dwartist
Right, but practically?
  • The competition will run from January 15 till February 15 (midnight UTC).  
  • Send up to 3 pictures of each entry to titaniumdropship@gmail.com. Be sure to include:
    • The pictures: although this isn't a photography competition, good quality pictures will help judges give you the recognition you deserve. If there's doubt that a given default is due to the picture or the painting, we'll have to assume it's the painting. Also, please give them a cool and practical name like "153th Drop Infantry Squad - Picture 1/3.jpg", not "img354878541210568794641.jpg"; and make them jpeg and decent sized (Godlilock sized: not too small so that no detail can be seen, nor too big so that the mailbox can't swallow them). No photoshopping or any fancy effect: plain raw pics.
    • Your real name and complete address (if you win something, we have to send it to you)
    • The nickname you want to be referred by on the Dropship when we talk about your entry 
    • Optionally, a blog/site/profile, you'd like us to link to when presenting your entry
  • Entries have to fit one of the following three categories:
    • Squad Leader: a matching group of 4 to 12 miniatures. They don't have to be a squad in the military sense of the term: irregular units and assorted group of heroes might fit the bill too. We will be looking for a certain sense of unity among the group though, no throwing 4 random figures together and call it a group. Power armour up to 30ish mm high, cavalry and bikers fall into this bag too.
"Alien Legion" Squad - Miniatures by Khurasan Miniatures, painting by Steve Dean
    • Vehicle Commander: a single vehicle, anything from car to dropship sized will find a home to. Mechs, Gear and giant robots are obviously welcome here. Miniatures presented in this category have to be playable unit: if your giant dropship is only useful as a terrain or objective enter it in...
VTOL - Miniature by Ground Zero Game, painting by Robin Fitton
    • Combat Engineer: a single terrain piece or building ranging from 10x10 to 20x20 cm (that's between 4x4 and 8x8 inches for those of you still measuring shit with their body parts) or a group of scatter terrain/objectives amounting to the same surface.
Table by Robbin Fitton - And no, it wouldn't be a valid entry for this competition!
We realize not matter how detailed the guidelines we write, they will be some holes left: miniatures fitting in two categories, and miniatures fitting in none. When in doubt contact us: we'll figure out where you land and make sure you and everyone else is treated fairly.
  • Only one entry per category and per person (yes, that means you can send three entries, one in each category)
  •  Miniatures from any manufacturer are welcome. In fact scratchbuilt items, repurposed toys and even miniatures from other scales (GW Tau drones, Infinity remotes or smaller scale space ships used as grav drones or vehicles are a fairly common sight on 15mm tables) are all welcome. The jury will be looking out for the "15mm-ness" and "scifiness" of the entries though. Your Infinity remote might make a perfect giant robot and fit nicely on any 15mm table without causing a single eyebrow to raise, but in the context of this competition, you'll have to go the extra mile to make it "15mm-ish": we don't want someone grabbing a random mini from another scale, calling it 15mm and winning, our goal it to promote 15mm gaming! Along the same line: your Arab village or pine trees forest might certainly be said to be on an alien word and thus sci fi, but again unless you go the extra mile (sci fi accessories on your buildings, alien colours on your vegetation) you're entry will be dismissed as "unscifi"
Nice, but what's there to win? Beyond recognition and fame you mean? We'll go over the details various prizes in the course of the following weeks, but we have enough sponsors to offer a significant prize to the three best entries in each category! The prizes are miniatures (obviously), including in some cases yet to be released items, but also (rule)books. Sponsors include (in no particular order): ClearHorizon Miniatures, Ground Zero Games, Darkest  Star Games, ZombieSmith, Mad Mecha Guy, Brigade Models, Two Hours Wargames, Critical Mass Games, Black Hat Miniatures, Gruntz, The Ion Age, 15mm.co.uk, Assault Publishing and Eureka Miniatures (the later being conditioned by the number of participants in one category).

I'm not into 15mm sci fi, can I still participate? By all mean! For one, there is no reliable test of your involvement in 15mm sci fi. And for two, the goal of this competition (and of Dropship Horizon as a whole) is precisely to promote our hobby to the larger gaming community. So whatever your background and motivation go and buy a couple of 15mm sci fi miniatures, paint them and send us pictures. If you're at loss on where to start, and without prejudice to any of or other sponsors (or any other manufacturer for that matter): have a look at Ground Zero Games, he has a impressive assortment of infantry, vehicles, buildings and both a record and a reputation of sending stuff at FTL speed, including across the Pond, so you're sure to get them in time to participate! Stop wasting time. Go. Buy. And. Paint. 15mm. Sci fi. Minis.

"Legal Disclaimer"
  • This is my first time organizing such a thing, so their will be unforeseen problems showing up. I'll do my very best to sort them out rapidly and to keep this fair and fun for everyone involved. By participating to this competition you agree to remain civil, to use common sense and to be sportsmanlike.
  • By submitting an entry, you allow Dropship Horizon and its sponsors to use the pictures you provide, with due credit of course.
  • All decisions of the organisation or judges will be final.
  • That's all I have for now, but then again I'm no GW patent lawyer so I may add things as problems come up!
Stay tuned for more!

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Armies Army BTR-290 now available for pre-orders!

By Harold

Available from: BlackHat Miniatures

Price:

  • BTR-290 Normal Retail:  £8.50                  Pre-order Price: £8.00
  • 3-Pack BTR-290 Normal Retail:  £24.00     Pre-order Price:  £23.00 
Armies Army BTR-290 is now available from Blackhat Miniatures for Pre-Order.

This is the first vehicle from Armies Army and is available to preorder until February 7th. All preorders will be dispatched in February and then the vehicle will be on general release at a higher price.

BTR-290
More pictures after the break...

Monday 13 January 2014

Fireteam Andromeda Review by Jan Juklíček


By Jan Juklíček
From: BATTLEFIELD PILSEN

Note from Harold:  I have been reading through this ruleset and have been preparing this review when I saw this review posted online.  I thought it was really good and got permission to repost here.

Fireteam Andromeda is $16.48 and available from Wargame Vault
(Two Knights Publishing)

Fireteam Andromeda Review


Fireteam Andromeda
This review is done from playtest version of rules however I assume not much has changed in final product as game seems very solid, from my point of view the author was inspired many game systems but it working well together.

So what is FT:Andromeda about? It is classic Reinforced platoon skirmish game as well as Gruntz, Tommorow war or Fast and Dirty. But this one is different in many ways.
Unlike most of the gaming systems for 15mm it use only one type of dice – old revered D6 and didn’t use much counters/markers.

RAVAGE AND BLACKGUARD

NEW MECHA FROM CRITICAL MASS GAMES


By Eli

Ravager and Blackguard Mecha next to ZAS Infantry for Scale

Critical Mass Games just released the two amazing new mecha for their ZAS Mercenaries. These models were born of a Kickstarter and come from the talented hand of John Bear Ross, 3D designer extraordinaire. The Ravanger and Blackguard both make wicked heavy support for any mech head's force.

They can be purchased - HERE.

New Blue Moon 15mm Sci-Fi

By Eli



It's been a bit since we have seen any release from Blue Moon Manufacturing for their 15mm science fiction range, but I am happy to say that their latest is a little bit of quality. While many of their previous releases fell into a vary space opera or even pulpy vein, the newest release 15ALN-122 Galactica Mercenaries seems a bit grittier.

Depicting hard armored trooper and command these figures ride a nice line between classic space opera and a more realistic future soldier. Unlike the last two releases from Blue Moon, the Nevis and Averum, the Galactica Mercenaries come complete with very obvious command, heavy and spacial weapons along with their regular troopers. This makes this 10-figure pack much more useful to forming regular military forces.


Sunday 12 January 2014

Ion Age News and Sneak Peaks

By Eli


Gavin and the blokes at The Ion Age are steadily working hard to bankrupt us all and have some really cool new project on the boil. Today's post previews two exciting new developments.

The first of these is a set of 15mm separate weapons for conversions, modelling and such. These are patterned after the weapons sculpted on the Ion Age miniatures and will allow you to customize characters, or even bring other figures into your Ion Age universe. I personally think they make great kit for any space opera style troops and will surely be picking up a few packs.


There will be three different packs for this addition - 

IAF025 15mm Retained Conversion Pack
IAF026 15mm Muster Conversion Pack
IAF027 15mm Khanate Legion Conversion Pack

For more information on these, read HERE.

Now, on to the second sneak peak and this is a monster!

As if the concept art wasn't cool enough, Gavin has let spill preview picks of EVERY one of the initial variants of the Duxis battlesuit. There are simply too many pictures and delicious details to show here, so I've cherry-picked a few of my favorites and you can go HERE to read more.


The Road To Gencon 2014

PART ONE - PROJECT OUTLINE 


By Paul, Maurice, and Aaron

WHAT?
Some time ago, three illustrious (notorious!) game mongers bought armies for Critical Mass Games’ rules system: Critical Mass. Given the wide range of games we play, we haven’t assembled or painted them, much less play a game using CMG’s excellent-looking rules.  To rectify this, we’ve decided to use the tried and tested ‘tale of three gamers’ model, in which we progress through the various phases of readying our forces and playing games.  All of this will be in preparation for demoing the game at Gencon 2014 in Indianapolis, IN.

Dramatis Personae:
Paul - Kaamados Dominion
Maurice - Praesentia
Aaron - Protolenes

Da’ PLAN
We’ll paint a set amount (or close to) of points each month. The month will conclude with one or more games using the forces available to us.

This process will culminate in a scenario presented at Gencon and an After Action Report post-Gencon.

Each month, each player will write one article detailing their progress for the month. These articles should be posted at a rate of one per week, with the final week being the battle report for whatever games are played using those forces.

TIMELINE
January -  List Discussion and Introductions.

February - 500 points of painted models

March - 750 points of painted models

April - 1,000 points of painted models

May - 1,250 points of painted models

June - 1,500 points of painted models

July - 1,500 points of painted models and Gencon preview

August - NO REPORTS - GENCON MONTH

September - After Action Report


So, with that, we’re on our way!  Please keep a look out for our first army spotlight next week here on Dropship Horizon and on our personal blogs.


Friday 3 January 2014

New Ion Age

First of all, let me apologize to the folks at The Ion Age for missing a couple of releases. The holidays got all kinds of crazy and I am afraid I lost track. So, this is a bit of a makeup post.

This month's (January) unique miniature is - 


The Winter Musterman is the white metal 15mm miniature in the above image and until 1st February 2013 he is FREE in each and every order placed with us at the rate of one per order placed.  After that date he will be retired and replaced by the next free miniature and of course you earn reward points on all orders too. Read more - HERE.

On to a few things missed..

IAF017 Ellen and Ripley


Two unique character miniatures to lead your Retained Knights. Female personalities for your IAF016 Retained Post Delta perhaps? Perfect for battling aliens! Read full details HERE.


IAF022 Muster 1st Patrol


The Patrol is a vast number of regiments of troopers who all have time served combat experience and act as a front time aid to Retained Knights and also in their own right.  This squad of ten brand new white metal 15mm poses is composed of a low ranking officer with Moth Pistol, several poses of trooper with Moth Rifle, with Tumbler SMG and a couple of with heavier weapons the Anvil 888 and Charlatan 22mm Launcher.  Wearing Aketon armour and Patrol helmets this is a central squad for a patrol platoon.  As always this code can be bought as a pack or as single miniatures or select the three packs and save 10% option on the page.  Go HERE.

And we'll finish up with a bit of a preview...



I know it's a lot to take in, but here you go.






They Came in The New Year

Sale on Alien Greys from 15mm.co.uk


Happy New Year from 15mm.co.uk!



This is the last week of the Festive Offers from us and we want to go out on a bang.  Until the 8th January 2014 you can buy all of our 15mm Grey Alien packs at 15% off.  The prices are changed on the website and you can read more on our BLOG.  The Greys are one of our best selling ranges and we plan on expanding them this year the blog post makes some questions so if you are interested in telling us what you would like to see then comment there please.  Go to our Festive Offers page HERE to see the Greys on offer.

Happy New Year!

From the Folks at Brigade Models.


We hope you all had a splendid Christmas and are recovering well from the excesses of New Year’s Eve.

2014

A few hours later than expected (I was a bit under the weather yesterday which kept me away from the keyboard), we’re happy to announce our New Year Sale. As in previous years, it’s a straightforward 15% discount off everything that we make – no minimum order, just 15% off everything. There are one or things it doesn’t apply to – essentially anything that we don’t make ourselves (so dice and bases, any rulebooks, the Shapeways range) on which our margins are much narrower.

The sale will run until the end of the month – midnight GMT on January 31st – so there’s no rush, you have a month to get your orders in.

Read more - HERE


Have a great 2014 !

Alien Trees - Tutorial


By: Umpapa
From: http://umpapas.blogspot.com/


Many people have asked how I made the tree visible in the pictures.

 


1. chose the colors : purple (instead of brown) and orange (instead of green) with blue detailing. It goes well with my beloved fur of Kilrathi / Kzin /Felids .
2. Find (preferably in late summer) tiny cones.
3. You may try to put the additional steel nail to the bottom of  bottom of bigger of cones.
4. Push gently 2 cm steel nails into spraying board.
5. Hot glue nails and cones.
6 Spray the cheapest strong color, may be automotive, in my case - orange, only the side and top, not too much - make sure the paint does not get between the petals cones, so that there is some natural shadow.
7. Optional zenithal highlighting: from the top you can spray a bit of lighter colour, such as yellow.
8. Gently pull the nails out of boards with a narrow pliers .
9. Hot glue nails and cones to weights  - the steel nuts and to some cardboard. Position cone standing vertically on "tuber" glue, nails and bolts. Wait till cool. Take care that weights were at ground level, at the bottom. As a result, trees can be stored in standard containers lined magnetic foil.
10. With glue gun form successive layers of hot glue (preferably colored , but can be transparent): roots , trunk folds, branches. Let congeal on the carton. Once cooled, gently peel-away /cut from cardboard.
11. Optionally you may scratch the surface of the trunk with a file.
12. Paint gluetrunk, f.ex. violet . Lighten. Black wash.
13. Colorize grains of rice or wheat with a contrasting color, f.ex. ultramarine. After drying wet grains in glue and stick between the petals cones, creating exotic fruit or flowers.
14. Lacquer spray.