| Trojan Points | 18 Apr 2015 8:48 a.m. PST |
Re-reading Honor Harrington and toying with yet another force concept… link |
| Lion in the Stars | 18 Apr 2015 10:00 a.m. PST |
I ended up kitbashing a larger 15mm scale troop transport. Took the back half of a 1/72 scale non-transforming Macross YF21 and the front half of a 1/72 scale Su34 "Strike Flanker", then bulked up the nose with a crapton of green stuff. pre-GS:
That's a 15mm trooper standing next to it. I also added half a pill bottle to the underside to give it a bigger cargo bay. What I am working towards is a model like what shows up in the opening movie of the original XCom game (as opposed to the in-game models). If I get around to making another, I will probably hack the bottom of the YF21 a bit, making it a vehicle transport with the vehicle semi-exposed on the belly. |
TheBeast  | 19 Apr 2015 5:40 a.m. PST |
First, let me agree, hard to go wrong with Brigade Models and GZG. I'm not as familiar with Clear Horizons, save I think I've gotten some in painted units, but I'm thinking I should be. Second, the marriage by LitS is looking damn fine, but I'd be a bit concerned by the cockpit, always an issue with 'off scale.' GS may have alredy, and paint job should completely prove me wrong. Almost always does. Now, please help a lost stranger. What is ASL? Does anyone have a link, perhaps to a screen shot, of "what shows up in the opening movie of the original XCom game?" Thanks! Doug |
| Lion in the Stars | 19 Apr 2015 9:50 a.m. PST |
Here's the XCom – UFO Defense opening movie ( YouTube link ), the beast I'm working on is visible ~0:48 to ~0:55, best pics are about 0:50-0:53 or thereabouts. The GS work I've done has completely reshaped the nose, pushed the cockpit forward to about where the backdrop's vertical edge cuts across the nose cone, in a nice long symmetrical curve. Gotta do some more smoothing of the GS and milliput before I can paint. And I think ASL is Alien Squad Leader in this case. |
| TheBeast | 19 Apr 2015 2:21 p.m. PST |
Thanks! I was imagining just greebling the cockpit, not making conformal. "crapton of green stuff" must have been NO exaggeration! I can already see where you're going, though. Well done! Am I showing my age when all I could think of was Advanced? Probably the author of the rules as well… ;->= Elsewhere I've admitted to feeling a bit snowed under by the deluge of new rule sets, so many of which are actually pretty good. In this case, I'll just point out I was looking from the Spaceship forum side. My confusion perfectly understandable. Which I keep telling myself. Doug |
| Trojan Points | 19 Apr 2015 4:17 p.m. PST |
Wow, looking very good! But waaaay beyond my modelling skills. I wasn't aware of that version of the UFO dropship: I think back in the days, I must have played on a bootleg copy of the game stripped of the cutscene(s?) |
| Trojan Points | 19 Apr 2015 4:26 p.m. PST |
Yeah, Alien Squad Leader indeed! My whole started thinking process was:
1. What kind of background story could I use to build a 15mm army following the ASL "imperial strike force" templates (plenty of possible answers there!)
2. Hey, I just happen to be re-reading Honor Harrington books while commuting those days… Manticore Marines anyone?
3. I'm madly in love with finding "not" variants of various franchises, so HH Kingdom of Manticore becomes not-HH Kingdom of Salamander (replacing one mythological critter by another and punning on the HH character in-universe nickname)
4. Hard imaginating a not-HH universe whithout considering the Navy and ships, hence me ending drooling at Brigade ships and cross-posting on the "spaceship" board |
| Trojan Points | 20 Apr 2015 2:59 a.m. PST |
Fun Fact:
- HH "Republic of Haven" is translated into French by "République de Havre"
- Le Havre is a French city which coat of arms main charge is… A Salamander! |
| TheBeast | 20 Apr 2015 5:43 a.m. PST |
I was vaguely aware of the blazon, but totally missed the Havre/haven connection! Makes sense! The back-stabbing People's Republic? Sorry, just teasing. Now, I have to have a look where Tolkien's 'The (Grey) Havens' map out on the psuedo-European coastline. Doug |
| Lion in the Stars | 20 Apr 2015 6:25 p.m. PST |
I was imagining just greebling the cockpit, not making conformal. "crapton of green stuff" must have been NO exaggeration! About a quarter of each tube of the big GF9 sets, so probably a full 3 feet of the ribbon! Need to get some Squadron Green Putty or maybe auto-body red putty to fill some pits. And then I can hang a couple Kh33 missiles under the wings to really scare people!  |
| AdAstraGames | 21 Apr 2015 4:02 p.m. PST |
Viceroy Dame Demi-Empress Coup De Fung Ku 2176th Dan Black Courage Cadwallader was cleaning the droppings of her familiar, the Fnarglharmian Sand-Stoat from the helmet of her vacc suit when a battalion of Power Armored Battle Attorneys broke down the door to her modest 38,000 square meter Admiral's Cabin, forcing her to kill them all at long range. "Dammit, parody is protected!" Finally, it occurred to her to turn her vac suit helmet upset down and shake the stoat-turds onto the carpet. At least Halsey hadn't figured out how to  in the air cyclers yet. |
| Trojan Points | 21 Apr 2015 11:06 p.m. PST |
Eschewing her brand new latest model navy issued antimatter pistol in favor of her personnal musket because she liked the smell better… |
| Trojan Points | 21 Apr 2015 11:24 p.m. PST |
Too bad the politicians had their head stuck so deep in their own ass that they had forced the Navy to ignore yet another machiavellian plot of the Democratic People Republic of Marseille, leaving only her and her seven-trillion-tons corvette to single handedly defeat them. Good thing her tactical genius allowed her to manage it with just over sixteen millions dead crewmembers. But hey, what can an officer of Her Salamander Majesty do but her duty? |
| TheBeast | 22 Apr 2015 5:36 a.m. PST |
Stop. Please. I'm at work and the lads are thinking I laughing hard enough to require restraints… Doug |
| Lion in the Stars | 22 Apr 2015 6:58 p.m. PST |
Yeah, the first few Honor Harrington books were OK, but they quickly jumped the shark. |
| Trojan Points | 23 Apr 2015 4:01 a.m. PST |
Well, yeah, the serie would have benefited from some pacing in the handing of awards… |
| Visceral Impact Studios | 24 Apr 2015 1:09 p.m. PST |
Yeah, the first few Honor Harrington books were OK, but they quickly jumped the shark. Totally agree! In some ways the series has damaged military SF. The standard now seems to be: 1. Female protaganist over comes the culture/prison/murder of family/whatever to quickly become grand phoobah of entire interstellar navy. 2. Despite being a Grand Phoobah she keeps getting involved in all sorts of weird 007-style missions, falling love, falling out of love, having love interest abducted by aliens, rescuing love interest, voting on Issue of the Day…anything but fighting battles. 3. The focus shifts from miltary SF to romance and soap opera stuff…the novels become Soap Opera SF with a military veneer 4. This happens even if the lead is male…and he always ends up as some super spy guy instead of just another grunt or spacer fighting the BEMoids…it's like Audie Murphy is selected to run the CIA and be president at the same time while getting all annoyed this his girlfriend was abducted by the Russians…again. |
| John Treadaway | 24 Apr 2015 1:37 p.m. PST |
In some ways the series has damaged military SF. I have only one thing to say: rearrange these two words into a book title. Slammers Hammer's No James Bond stuff and very little romance, to be honest. Not that I'm biased or anything ;) John T |
| AdAstraGames | 24 Apr 2015 10:19 p.m. PST |
Wait. We forgot the five thousand word reminiscence recapping where our former subordinates are and what this all means politically… |
| Trojan Points | 25 Apr 2015 3:26 a.m. PST |
Not to mention having 50% of your staff made of said former subordinates… In each and every single new posting. What's this, the Luxemburg Navy? |
| Trojan Points | 25 Apr 2015 3:27 a.m. PST |
I shouldn't probably admit it after all this bashing… I mean gentle parody… But I still kind of like the series! |
| Trojan Points | 25 Apr 2015 6:44 a.m. PST |
@ John T While we're on the subject (how did we get here, by the way?) of "Screwdriver's Strikers" (a mercenary hover tank regiment commanded by Major Emmerik Schroevendraaier, Royal New Batavia Army, retired)… I'm bit lost among the short stories, connected short stories, "Complete Hammer's Slammers"… What do I buy and in what order do I read it? Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 trough 3? Will that do? |
| Trojan Points | 25 Apr 2015 7:11 a.m. PST |
Screwdriver's Strikers Arms…
The arrows and sword carrying crowned lion is stolen from the Royal Netherlands Army logo, the field is orange because, thanks to their royal familly being the Orange-Nassau, Dutch people can't get enough of the colour, and the bluish green is because they've got ty tastes! |
| Trojan Points | 25 Apr 2015 7:16 a.m. PST |
As for a motto, I kind of like (in so far I can like anything Dutch) "het moet, dus het kan" ("it must, so it can") of the 12 Regiment van Heutsz… Sound nicely pragmatic and fitting for a mercennary outfit to me! |
| TheBeast | 25 Apr 2015 9:50 a.m. PST |
You bring up HH, and you'll be sure to get a discussion on the novels and comparisons to others. Me, I seem to be a minority of one finding his writing style painful pretty quick. Save me from one more chapter-opening paragraph. I get seasick. That said, I've made it though every Starfire novel but Insurrection, Exodus, and Extremis… I really like where you're going with the Screwdriver's, even the blazon, and I'm not Dutch! ;->= Doug |
| Vagabond Elf | 15 May 2015 1:50 p.m. PST |
"What do I buy and in what order do I read it? Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 1 trough 3? Will that do?" Yes. As advertised, that is all of the Slammer's stories, and the order they're in in those compilations is pretty solid. Enough so that despite owning all the Slammer's stories beforehand, I bough those three books so I'd have it all in one place.
My only complaint about the Harrington novels is that he let it get too big; if he'd stuck with his "Nelson in Space" plan and let her die at "Space Trafalgar", it'd've been a better series I think. But so many series do that, so one starts to become inured to it…
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| Trojan Points | 17 May 2015 2:43 a.m. PST |
Thanks for the advice… I'll get the Complete HS then! |
