GZG Salute Preview - Engineering and Construction Mecha

NEW 15mm SCALE CIVILIAN CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING MECHA from GZG:

Presented here are the first preview shots of our GZG's new CIVILIAN MECHA scheduled for release at SALUTE on 20th April, and available for mail order very shortly after the show. The examples shown are just a few of many possible variations on the basic bipedal and quadrupedal chassis, various extras and accessory packs will be available with different tools and fittings to customize your machines.

The models are ALL-METAL multipart kits, which are surprisingly quick and easy to assemble using a good superglue and some spray activator.They are designed for maximum variability of pose and interchangeability of tools and fittings. All models designed and sculpted (traditionally, not 3D-printed) by "MMG" (Mad Mecha Guy), who also made the "Charger" Military Mecha that we launched at Salute last year.

ALL AVAILABLE AT SALUTE 2013 (ExCel, London) on SATURDAY 20th April. Watch our website (www.gzg.com) for info on these and many more new items for the show!

Hercules CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering Mecha) with standard manipulator arms and "protected" cockpit for hostile environment work.

Hercules CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering Mecha) with standard cockpit and site clearance tools - log grab claw and plasma cutter fitted, plus alternative chainsaw attachment on ground in front of unit.

Hercules CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering Mecha) Power-Lifter configuration with standard cockpit, high-power backpack module and heavy loading grabs.

PowerQuad CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering Mecha) Walker version, with front shovel/dozer and top-mount backhoe excavator bucket.

PowerQuad CLEM (Construction, Logistics and Engineering Mecha) Tracked

Vergans, Supabases, Mako Gun Tractors, VSF, and the Grizzought

by Chris

15mm.Co.Uk is continuing their streak 2013 new releases - even with the Salute convention just around the corner.

The Vergan Free Traders have been added to the SHM range. Sculpted by Dropship Horizon's own Eli Arndt, this pack expands upon the original SHM20 Vergan Alien figure. The pack contains a mix of four new poses - a sergeant, a musician, and two different soldiers.  If you're looking for an alien race that doesn't simply resemble anthropomorphic animals or human beings in rubber suits, the Vergans might be exactly what you want.

 

Along with the Vergans, 15mm.Co.Uk have added another brand to their family - Supabases.

The range includes 15 different packs of precision-cut MDF bases - 14 different sizes and a sample pack. There's a great variety to choose from. I'm going to pick up some of the 40mm rounds to replace 1.25" fender washers on my multi-based infantry forces. And the 50mm and 75mm rounds might be just what I need for larger mecha bases.

15mm.Co.Uk has also announced their Salute sale: 15% off all orders through April 26th. I'll post more details about this offer tomorrow.

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Khurasan Miniatures has released the Mako Gun Tractor and cruciform ground carriage.  This is one of Jon's more ambitious releases yet - a weapon system supporting no less than five different factions within his Federation Forward universe. It's an extremely clever way to release these models - you buy the gun tractor separately, with no weapons or crew. Or, if you want static weapons instead, you simply buy the cruciform base separately - again, with no weapons or crew.

Then you buy a twin pack of weapons, which are available with your choice of Felid, Jasmine Throne Foreign Battalion, Satrapal Levy, Sepulvedan Resistance, or Sepulvedan Control Battalion crew. The weapons packs include two crew members, a heavy mortar, and a twin autocannon seems to have something of a semicircular attachment point; it can be mounted in both direct-fire or anti-aircraft positions. Another option that was pointed out on TMP - the crewed turrets would be great additions to other APCs or IFVs. I look forward to seeing how these will be used on the tabletop.

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Highlander Studios has added the Grizzought to the Tomorrow Black range (formerly available from Battle Miniatures Emporium). These fast, stealthy hunters are a threat to many travelers on the wasteland. Its hide is thick enough to shake off the impact of most ballistic weapons. The Grizzought is a nasty beast for any sci-fi or horror setting - I could see these raiding livestock on colony worlds, hidden in the dark recesses of a mad scientist's laboratory or a nuclear waste facility, or even springing from some dark sorceror's cave in a 15mm fantasy game.

On the Victorian Sci-Fi side, Highlander has added three more packs to the Space: 1889 range. The most noteworth are the British Firing Line with high-tech guns:

These are great in any VSF setting, but have some other obvious uses. Anyone who has ever considered playing Warhammer 40,000 in 15mm now has an excellent stand-in for Praetorian Imperial Guard. Either way, I hope we'll see a few additional packs for the British. 

Next, we have Gashant with Tack and Harness. These are perfect riderless beasts for any sci-fi or fantasy setting - I suspect we'll see quite a few different riders used on these mounts. And for a more conventional pack animal, Highlander added a pack of unsaddled horses:

There haven't been many options for "plain" horses until now - most had some kind of recognizable saddle or other gear. I might have to throw a pack of these into a space western corral. Rodrick Campbell said there are more horses coming in the future - stay tuned.

QUICK LOOK: Gamecraft Miniatures Spaceship Consoles

By Harold

Well, on this installment of "Quick Look" I'm going to be a little biased, since I actually designed these  Gamecraft Miniatures spaceship consoles.

I've had these designs for a while, but never had a chance to learn the mold making and resin casting skills to sell them myself.  I teamed up with GameCraft miniatures, through their "Sell your stuff" program and they are now able to offer these for sale.

With that disclosure out of the way, on to the good stuff!

Gamecraft Miniatures, Spacecraft Consoles,
available from: http://store.gcmshop.com/p/1858/spacecraft-consoles for $12 USD

The resin casts were very clean, and really reproduced all the little detail in the buttons and such.  I took a light file to the bottom edges, just to clean them a bit, but other than that I didn't have any cleaning to do.

I then rinsed them in warm water and dish soap, just to make sure all the release agent was off.  I was lazy with these and didn't even prime them, I just painted Citadel foundation paints straight on.  I then washed them with Army Painter Strong Tone, and then, using a brush that was kinda squished flat, I drew the paint over the buttons with yellows, reds, blues and other colors. I then went back with the foundation paint and painted in between the buttons to clean up.

Anyways, here are my painted samples:

Besides spaceships, these would be useful in supervillain lairs, nuclear power plants, and government research stations.  And other things too!   I hope you guys like them, it's cool to see something come to market that I designed myself.

New Watercraft, Street Furniture and Steampunk Adventurers

By Chris

Some new releases for the week. First, The Scene added  seven new items to the Water Craft range. It's a nice little variety - a landing craft, an empty barge, a junker, some fan-driven swamp boats, and a few enclosed river boats that are just screaming "post apocalyptic pirates."

Mike promises even more additions to that range in the coming future - including hover and grav versions of several existing watercraft. It's definitely time to consider making a river or swamp table.. something for those GZG Crusties, Blue Moon Aquans, Khurasan Myzontids, or 15mm.Co.Uk Octopods to fight over. 

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Khurasan Minis has expanded the modern/future terrain range.

For street furniture, there are two vending machines (which are just begging to be painted as Slurm dispensers), some modern barrels (great for biohazardous waste), a street lamp, some really cool looking crates, a bench, and a street-sweeping robot.

On the starship/building interiors side, there is a control chair/station and bank of cryo pods:

These would be great additions to your chosen set of starship corridors and rooms, or inside laser-cut buildings from Mad Mecha Guy, CorSec Engineering, or GameCraft Minis. 

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For all you VSF and Pulp gamers out there - Rebel Minis' first pack of Steampunk Adventurers is now available.

15mm will be a great scale for these types of games - these figures would work in the Wild West, crawling through Egyptian pyramids, or exploring islands filled with rogue dinosaurs. I could even see these figures finding a place in narrative Space Western campaign settings.

QUICK LOOK: ACP Games Spartan Hover/Tracked Tank

By Harold

Available from: http://acpgames.com/2013/03/spartan-hover-tanks/
3 for $48 for either the Tracked or Grav Version.

Hi everyone, Jimbo over at ACP Games sent over one of his new Spartan Hover/Tracked tanks (along with some other surprises that i'll be looking at soon!) for me to take a look at.

First off, I think this is one of my favorite grav tanks. I love the style, and the way the grav plates are modeled.  Also, the castings were very clean with no print lines that I could see and only slight cleaning needed.

Here is the tank before painting...

All the pieces laid out.  The round dish in the bottom corner, above the base, is the "Mother Bear" command antenna.  There are two gun options (shown on the left).

The Tracks.  These are really nice, and If I was more patient I probably could have used magnets to switch them out.  But I ended up just gluing them on.

These are the grav plates, which I really like.

I converted the hatch by removing the rider that was in there.  I see this tank as something that could be orbital dropped, so they need to be buttoned up.

The nice metal base.

Here are some pictures of the completed tank:

And here is the painted version.  I primed it with a satin metal, then I used masking to cover the primer after I put a layer of matte varnish.  Then I sprayed with black primer.  After that I used Dark Tone from Army Painter.  I followed that with some highlighting, painting the windows and decals.  I forced my buddy to paint the grav engines, since I like how he does them.

I really like this tank, I'll be ordering a couple so I can have an orbital drop platoon, really get the "drop" on the enemy!

Product Review - GZG Darghaur and Crusty Civilians

By Eli Arndt

A while back I received a couple of sample review packs from Jon at GZG for some of his new alien offerings and I thought it was time to review them.

The first of these was TW15-DG01 "Darghaur ten-pack". This pack of figures is a sort of sampler bag of the basic Darghaur figures and contains ten figures and sprues of separate heads depicting the various Darg ranks. The pack contains 7 poses armed with their basic combat weapon, 2 with their heavy weapon, and one with their SAW-type weapon.

This pack allows you to build three fire teams based on the Darg's TO&E from the upcoming alien and special forces supplement for Tomorrow's War "By Dagger and Talon". It also allows a single leader type for the overall unit. Other packs are going to be released in the future.

 

The sculpts are nice and clean as is expected from Ground Zero Games. The weapons are clearly detailed and the aliens armor and anatomy come through with little effort. One thing that might catch some gamers off guard is that the Dargs don't seem to have any visible sensory organs and only have horns or sawed-off stumps of them on their heads. This is evidently how they depict rank. The sprues for the heads are nicely arranged and the heads easily popped off without any tools and had little sockets to glue into on the bodies.

I have to say that I really enjoy these aliens. They seem to inhabit that subtle line between truly alien humanoid enough to be accessible to us human folk. They have two arms, two legs, and a torso, but that's where the resemblance ends.  

The second pack of aliens was a rare treat when it comes to scifi figures let alone aliens - CIVILIANS!

SG15-X16 Crusty Non-Combatants is a pack of eight (8) figures in four (4) poses and represents a sampling of ordinary civilian Crusties. The figures really seem to depict a day in the life with the poses being quite neutral and suitable for everything from background characters, to refugees, or even objective markers for scenarios. 

I have included Jon's catalog picture to give a nice crisp look at the figures but I've held them and look at them and I feel these figures are full of character. From the playful juvenile to the very young being carried by and adult down to the kneeling figure getting into his satchel (would make a good tech) they all succeed in putting a "face" on what might otherwise be a faceless alien menace.

Details are crisp and there was minimal work needed to clean these up. I think the worst I had was a bit of mold venting that needed to be clipped off but there were no mold lines or flash.