"WIP: Meso-Nai armour..." Topic

By the way, Leland, you're the only one who bit on my question about the origin of the name Meso-Nai. Here it is:

link

Looks amazing!

Since the Meso-Nai often wish to establish a perimeter as soon as they make planetfall in order to promptly begin installing the devices they use to disrupt the planet's electromagnetic field, they generally drop these armoured vehicles straight from orbit, right on top of the target.

Neither the grav nor (of course) the tracked drives are sufficient for such a deployment, so the vehicles are mounted on a Descent Barge, which attaches to the bottom of the vehicle. Meso-Nai vehicles which make planetfall in a Descent Barge must be prepared to fight for some time in the barge before they dismount, so it is very heavily armoured.

The Descent Barge is being cast now -- it makes the vehicles look much bigger and more impressive. You can just put the vehicle in the barge, then take it out again if you want to use it for normal ground transit, as shown in this thread.

Or you might like the barge enough to keep it on!

The APC is reminding me of the Predator-class Assault Vehicle 'Lobo', from the 'One Jump Ahead' and 'Slanted Jack' stories by Mark Van Name.

So far I've avoided any grav vehicles… but these are really tempting me. I like the simple curves and smoothness of the vehicles and the grav drives really suit this. Not sure if the tracks work quite as well. They look slightly at odds with the roundness of the rest of the vehicle. Maybe some sort of ball shaped wheels may have worked, kinda like the bottom of a computer mouse… which is what I just realised these remind me of.

And fantastic painting from Dwartist as usual. Are these getting any sort of unit markings? Though the lack of markings suits them.

The tracked vehicles actually do have ball shaped wheels.

Finished…

I gotta say, this vehicle is begging for a third option: Hover. This would look GREAT with a simple set of hover skirts.

Are the descent barges going to be released with the AFVs and is it likely to be soon ? Thanks , Steve .

No, they will follow on later, as the vehicles are all painted and ready for sale and the barges are still in the casting process.

Good news is that the vehicles can be assembled and painted and still used with the barges. They just fit inside, there're even grooves for the final drives.

Clever as usual !!

So when do these go onsale?

I'm just waiting for TMP's news page to get caught up after the outage. I sent in the Doe release last Wednesday or Thursday and it hasn't run yet.

By the way, Leland, you're the only one who bit on my question about the origin of the name Meso-Nai. Here it is:

LOL!!! An EXCELLENT basis for the name "Meso-nai," Jon.

Hmmm… I think I need to name a large AFV or starship "misoneist"…

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

As a lot of us would like these vehicles before Jon succumbs could the Editor please assist or has he taken pity on Jon's plight ?

I'm just waiting for TMP's news page to get caught up after the outage. I sent in the Doe release last Wednesday or Thursday and it hasn't run yet.

Well, I guess I'll delay my next order a bit if they're close. Going to need some of those, albeit not quite as soon as I thought I would.

Or maybe I'll just grab those Stikks I've been putting off.

Steve, the editor is sick! My father in law had shingles, and I recall vividly what he went through. My news item can wait!

Actually my mother is recovering from it , I agree , it's no joke . My apologies to the Editor , just wanted to tidy up before I go .

Yeah, shingles is no laughing matter. Hurts like blazes, even with meds. A silly name for a nasty disease.

Not as silly as gout, but close. :)

I've got the 'Descent Barge' and have started painting – here's a couple of WIP pics

Nice, alien yet still recognisably military. The rounded lines look it a little organic.

Oh, WOW!

That's actually really intimidating…

Those would make great AI cyber-tanks.