Sunday 20 May 2018

Nothing Much Happening on the Western Front

The title says it all. Chock-a-block in the middle of exams so not much getting done. Still, little progress is better than no progress.

In this case the progress materializes itself in the form of a new halftrack for my AhDom (space Nazis).


A nice little mobile HQ for the squad...


And a little bit of cover for advancing over open ground.


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Now, this may be the time for a little back story on the Ahrian Dominate.

I have no idea where they came from, or "From Whence They Came" as we like to put it in English... :)

They are, however, definitely here, (not Heer) and they aren't moving.

Due to their rather radical approach, they have alienated themselves from many other space going societies. They learnt quickly that they would have to change tack if their nation was to survive.
Although they are slowly getting better on the diplomacy, most of their contact with other nations is through their many and diverse military wings.

Most advanced technology in the galaxy seems new to the AhDom, and they are eagerly busy incorporating new discoveries into the Wehrmacht. Even so, many of their military forces are still ill equipped with almost obsolete weaponry. Due to the lack of modern equipment, the AhDom Wehrmacht has learnt to make do with what they have.

The many assorted wings of the Wehrmacht will be discussed in more detail at a later stage, however, the concept of the strange anomaly, the Werwolf Garrison Armies needs to be described here and now.

Relatively early in the emergence of the AhDom as a military power within the Determinate, it became clear to Werhmacht high command that they simply did not have enough man-power to wage a war of conquest against other highly advanced space-faring nations. In true 1945-fashion, high command came up with an ingenious and most importantly impressive-sounding solution that would indiscriminately waste the little resources they had available to them.

This was the creation of "Werwolf" Garrison Armies. The idea was to distribute forces to underpopulated areas of enemy held worlds where they would be able to lurk and cause fear and mayhem behind enemy lines until the time was right for the Werwolf to transform and wage full blown total war upon their enemies. In this way, the AhDom laid claim to vast areas of space by "Garrisoning" key planets with Werwolf armies.

Werwolf Armies were almost always undermanned and underequipped even by AhDom standards, and spent most of their time hiding away from local authorities. Occasionally a Werwolf Army would receive air-drops of equipment, orders, or reinforcements, however most of the time, they were left to their own devices.

The only recorded successful "transformation" of a Werwolf Army and the subsequent capture of a planet happened on the small world of Squathe. This world was made a satrapy of the AhDom and the nation was renamed as the Kruger Frei-staat. This small victory encouraged AhDom high command now end...

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Oh, and lest I forget, I finished up three little Fallschirmjagers... more about them later.



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Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Joshua

Friday 11 May 2018

Deutschland Deutschland uber alles...

I like Germany in theory (having never been there myself). And, while not being a fan of a specific ideology commonly associated with dearest Deutschland, I am in fact, a fan of said ideologies military aesthetic.

That being said, a few years ago, I purchased a bunch of Warlord Games German Panzergrenadiers and Halftracks, most excellent products I must add. However, in typical me fashion, after painting only three models I became distracted with another nefarious project. However, the acquiring of those models was good money well spent as they proved useful for conversions for many other sci-fi projects.

As you can see, all of these models are based off panzergrandadier bodies.


So after establishing how much I love Warlord Games and all their assorted goodies, and taking into account how much I have enjoyed these plastic Germans, I decided to take the plunge and buy some more. However...!!!

This would not be a frivolous purchase! I had to prove to myself that I could (and possibly would) paint them. So with no further ado, I whipped out the last sad bedraggled remains of the old grenadiers sprues and whipped up a squad. It did help my motivation that I had already planned out a background for them as well as faction background. You see, these weren't any sort of Nazis, they were space Nazis! Now before everyone dies from sheer amazement, no, they do not look it. (Even space Nazis need grunt level troops...)

Seeing that they were from Warlord Games, and so are my minis for Beyond the Gates of Antares (the ruleset I use for pretty much everything), it was perfectly natural for me to want to use them in the same setting. Therefore I created a (very unofficial) new faction for Antares, known as the Ahrian Dominate (AhDom for short).

More information on AhDom may or may not follow eventually in another post.

But now onto the crux of the matter... the miniatures. I indeed managed to surprise myself by painting up the models that I had set out to do (for once!), and I have decided for further motivation (and a sad lack of other content) to do a post on them.



Right off the metaphorical bat is a five man squad with STG44s (Although they will be SG-somethingsomething else in Antares).



Then we have a little sniper team... not sure why he's using a KAR98K in the happy sunshine of the far future but eh...



Then the most interesting and worst photographed pair, an LMG team... The chap with the MG42 has a greenstuffed mask and generator/backpack thing... note that I did the conversion years ago when Konflikt '47 was first released. Interestingly he was the inspiration to do any of this in the first place...



Here we go, all nine of them! Suitable for tabletop use...


And best of all, this allows me to go ahead and purchase some new minis!




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That's all for now, with hopefully a couple of further posts in the near darkness of the bright future...

Mild apologies for the rambling, hopefully more organized next time...

Thank you for reading!

Regards,
Joshua

Sunday 22 April 2018

The New Argentina Campaign: 03. The Battle for New Argentina

After a failed raid on the Ducal outpost of Noxdown, (found here), the surviving elements of the Pale Hand organization lead by the notorious Alskandr De Chemy and troopers from the Old Kalitzfornian Army (OKA) withdrew to their main base: the farm known as New Argentina.

There they were joined by some eldar mercenaries contracted by De Chemy to bolster the resistance's ailing numbers. De Chemy knew that the days were numbered before an all out Ducal assault on the farm. The wise thing to do right now would be to withdraw and scatter his forces to continue on fighting a war of subterfuge and ambushes. However, the his forces morale was critically low after their defeat at Noxdown, and his numbers were greater than ever before. Therefore he decided to do the unexpected. He would fortify New Argentina, and prepare to weather the Kalitzfornian storm...

The farm of Kalitzfornia and its nearby surroundings after undergoing fortification.

De Chemy leading the coalition between Pale Hand operatives and OKA forces at New Argentina.


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Meanwhile, back at Ducal HQ, an assault force has been assembled to be lead by the KNB (Kalitzfornian Naval Brigade) Master and Commander Veladaunt.

The assembled KNB forces arrayed for inspection. Notice the Duchess herself in the foreground accompanied by two of her children.


Duchess Fenja Evitae: The last time the KNB attempted an assault upon the rebel forces, a disaster insued... Tell me, Mr Veladaunt, can you insure that that will not happen a second time?

MnC Veladaunt: Ma'am, no plan survives contact with the enemy... But even so, I believe that we can win the day!

Duchess Fenja Evitae: Yes, yes, I know my Rommel... But winning the day isn't everything you know...

Lady Colette: Last time we didn't have the Octaver with our forces. Hopefully he and Buddy will be able to turn the tide of battle...

Lord-Admiral Henry: (beaming) And of course we have our little surprise as well!


Introducing: Lord-Admiral Henry (far left), Duchess Fenja (left centre), Lady Colette (opposite Veladaunt) and then the Octaver (far right) and his drone "Buddy". The Octaver and Buddy are members of the elite Kalitzfornian Special Forces.

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The battle would begin with a Kalitzfornian bombing run...


A Kalitzfornian multi-purpose carrier begins its bombing run on the rebel positions. Lacking anti-air capabilities, the OKA and Pale Hand forces can only hunker down and pray...

Bombs were not the only things dropped as a homing beacon lands by the farmhouse, temporarily shielded by a smoke screen.

The Ducal forces advance in the wake of the bombing, hoping to catch their foes in disarray. They are, however, going to be disappointed...

"For Kalitzfornia, the Duchy, and the Duchess!"

A frognaught heavy weapons team cut down their Ducal counterparts with ease...

However, the enemy infantry return fire, killing a frognaught and pinning the team.

Disaster! Mr Veladaunt is hit by eldar mercenaries and goes down! 

With their commander fallen as a casualty, the Kalitzfornian forces begin to falter...

The rebels gain confidence with an OKA assault squad moving up from the defensive line.


Just in time! The Octaver and his faithful drone, Buddy teleport in next to the homing beacon! Can the Ducal Special Forces save the day?


The situation looks grim for the Duchy as two askari fall afoul of the eldar and their needle guns!


The surviving askari stands no chance as the OKA assault team closes to melee.

Finally! The frognaught anchoring the northern position in the Pale Hand defensive line is taken out by the KNB!

The Octaver advances from behind the smoke screen and opens fire upon the OKA rifle team... Buddy follows suite with devastating effect! 

The tide begins to turn...


The OKA assault team, fresh from their victory against the askari, square up with an KNB squad.

In a blur of action both sides launch themselves at each other. The OKA assault team is slaughtered in the brutal melee that ensues... A first in the campaign!


Meanwhile, a band of Pale Hand henchmen charge a depleted KNB squad. Both sides fight with a fury but in the end, the henchmen prevail... However, the sole survivor is overwhelmed by the experience and wanders off in a blood soaked daze.

The Octaver and Buddy continue their rampage behind enemy lines, taking out one of the eldar mercs from behind!

De Chemy steps out from beside a tent with his specially modded laser pistol and scores a lucky hit against Buddy. The loyal drone is out of the fight!


Grimacing in rage, the Octaver charges forward at the remaining eldar, finally emerging victorious after a protracted bout of fisticuffs with the mercenaries.

The battle is over... the dead litter the field... At long last De Chemy and the Octaver square off.

The Octaver: Surrender! Its useless to fight on! You've lost... even now Ducal reinforcements are on their way. Give up already!

De Chemy: (with a bitter sneer) Fine... You've one this time, but I'm not done with you and your little Duchy! Oh no... You'll see... one day!

With that De Chemy drops the flashbang grenade that he had been fiddling with and in the ensuing confusion manage to escape to his car...


"I'll get them! One of these day!"

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Soon after, the Ducal reinforcements arrive to secure the farm. Lord-Admiral Henry and Lady Colette arrive by teleporter to survey the field of battle...

"By the gods! This is a mess!" - Lord Henry


"And to think that it was all for one stupid little farm..." - Lady Colette

Lord-Admiral Henry: (frowning) Mum will NOT be pleased.

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This concludes the final episode of The New Argentina Campaign.

I hope everyone reading this enjoyed. This last one was a little less text heavy. The amount of text will probably vary from post to post.

To conclude, I have other campaigns in the w(orks) which shall hopefully crop up sometime. I am also planning to put in some rambling posts as well as possibly some background here and there.

However a warning should be put out that I am liable to chop and change universes now and again (I juggle both this universe and another sci-fi one in Beyond the Gates of Antares)...

But I digress...

Thank you for reading!

Regards,
Joshua






Sunday 15 April 2018

The New Argentina Campaign: 02. The Noxdown Raid

Before we begin, lets quickly recap the events that transpired in the previous post. Firstly, elements of the Kalitzfornian Naval Brigade (KNB) assaulted a camp of Old Kalitzfornian Army (OKA) members and where in turn routed in a most costly and embarrassing show of inefficiency.

Meanwhile the OKA officers came to the realisation that they simply did not have the numbers to turn the tide of this little war, even with such victories like the one at Sodden Rump. They were in need of allies... and fast.

This hopefully brings us up to speed. If you missed the last post it is here .

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For those of you that spend your time doodling or ogling the girls in the front row during you misadventures in the Ducal School of Geography, the establishment of Noxdown may sound unfamiliar. It was, in past times that we shall no longer dwell on, a logging camp for those deranged fools who decided to make chopping wood in Sodden Rump Forest their profession (the wood is mostly rotted due to the strange damp conditions that permeate the area). After suffering several years of abandonment by the locals, the place was semi-refurbished by the (New) Duchy of Kalitzfornia as a forward base for the KNB and as a barracks for the askaris.

As it was, the establishment was freshly stocked up on ammunitions, not to mention all sorts of interesting and potentially useful information. It also just so happened to be the temporary HQ of the KNB! In all, this place seems just too good of a raiding opportunity for OKA to pass down.

Aerial view of Noxdown (colourised circa. 8120 Merchants Calendar ).


The presence of the OKA camp nearby at Sodden Rump was in fact not there by accident. OKA had caught wind of a raid being scheduled by a shady organisation called the "Pale Hand" on the facility. They of course offered any support they could, even going so far as to suggest a joint operation. Although OKA had its reservations as to the long term feasibility of such an alliance with what appeared to be common bandits, they soon put aside those feelings after meeting with the "Hand" himself. Lo and behold the Pale Hand was run by none other than Alskandr De Chemy!

Old picture of De Chemy with a sidekick from the good old days of grim darkness.


This was an alliance that could possibly work!

The skirmish at Sodden Rump proved a good (if unplanned) diversion as two squads of KNB were sent out on a patrol from Noxdown to recover what they could from the battlefield as soon as the news arrived. This lead to the Noxdown garrison being woefully undermanned.

The Noxdown garrison forces comprised of an askari squad, an askari light support team and none other than the KNB's commander in chief, the Master and Commander himself, Mr Veladaunt!



De Chemy's raiding force included a squad of Pale Hand henchmen (left) and a frognaught light support team (right).

A quick note on different races native to the planet of Phobia. In addition to humans, there is a dwindling race of amphibious beings known as frognaughts by the authorities. They have largely been oppressed and driven out of their ancestral ponds. This would lead to them developing a race-wide oppositional defiance disorder against the human government often leading them to join illegal organisations such as the Pale Hand.

(A quick side note to the side note. The organisation of the Pale Hand had been banned in the Old Kalitzfornia and classed as a terrorist organisation therefore giving some logic behind OKA's initial misgivings. In the new Kalitzfornia they continue on with their usual behaviour leading to them again being banned. But that is all, as one says, history.)


Askaris at Noxdown on watch after news of the debacle at Sodden Rump.

Master and Commander Veladaunt brooding on the defeat.

MnC Veladaunt: (moping around and grumbling) Damn it! I want to shoot something!

Noxdown Engineer: Be careful what you wish for...

MnC Veladaunt: (glowering and muttering under his breath) I'll even settle for shooting you...

Noxdown Engineer: Yeah, hold off on that urge for now. I've just received word from the Central Ducal Security Agency. Some blathering fool from OKA got drunk celebrating their victory at Sodden Rump and spilled the beans.

MnC Veladaunt: (not in the mood for games) Well did he clean them up?

Noxdown Engineer: (now confused) Sir... We are about to be attacked...

MnC Veladaunt: (grinning) Excellent! You there askari! Redeploy that Laser Light Support weapon!

Askari: LLS redeploying, Sir!


Askaris quickly redeploy to face the Pale Hand operatives.


Pale Hand operatives deploy behind cover.

Both sides are expecting reinforcements yet no one seems keen on a drawn out engagement. The Pale Hand forces want to claim their objectives and get out before the enemy receives reinforcements and the KNB want revenge!

As the frognaught support team move up they come under fire from a plucky unit of askari. De Chemy who is busy sprinting past from one piece of cover to another is momentarily distracted by the firefight and stubs his toe painfully against a rock. 

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"Shit! Ow!" - Alskandr De Chemy, Hand of the Pale... Hand, circa. 8120.

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The gods must be smiling down on the (New) Duchy of Kalitzfornia as a squad of KNB turns up unexpectedly.


MnC Veladaunt: Already back from patrol? Blimey, time flies when you are having fun! (slumps back morosely, a hard round whizzing by where his head used to be a moment earlier) You know what else flies? Spaceships... If only we had any...


Frognaughts prepare to return fire after taking a hit!


A hit!



The Pale Hand henchmen advance while they begin to size up the foe.

An OKA assault team arrive to support their newfound allies.

Finally! The charge hits home as Pale Hand henchmen overwhelm the askaris defences!


Pale Hand troops cut a wedge between the Ducal forces, the way seems clear and its about time to begin moving up on the objectives!

But they had forgotten about MnC Veladaunt and his KNB troopers who with shouts of "Remember Sodden Rump!" launched themselves at the henchmen. Needless to say that the fight was short and brutal leaving the KNB victorious but not unscathed.

The frognaughts acquire a new target as KNB troopers look to regroup. Alas, this was not to be and they were cut down in a shower of laser fire.


The askari light support team spots a swathe of pale hair bobbing around in the bushes. They open fire, laser fire tearing into the shrubs. There is a yelp, then a muffled curse... Drat! Hit the bastard but De Chemy still lives!


Mostly unnoticed, the second squad of KNB finally arrives on the scene.

As the frognaughts move up in a bid to seize an objective they come under heavy fire from the askari LLS emplacement.

MnC Veladaunt feels no remorse as he butchers the frognaughts. Funny... he had always fancied himself a pair of frogs legs!

In desperation, De Chemy charges the askari light support team. He is in for a nasty surprise as the well drilled crew draw their sidearms stopping him in his tracks.

With De Chemy wounded and most of the Pale Hand forces in disarray they were forced to withdraw... Although OKA did finally come to the table (quite literally... hehe -ed) in the form of much needed reinforcements, it was the Pale Hand operatives that did most of the fighting (and dying)... Suspicious...

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DUCAL FORCES VICTORIOUS! OKA IN DISARRAY! PALE HAND ENTERS THE FRAY, GETS NOSE BLOODIED! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

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"Remember Sodden Rump!"

Meanwhile at the nearby farm of "New Argentina"...

De Chemy discusses tactics while receiving medical aid (he stubbed his toe pretty bad).

OKA Lieutenant: That defeat was humiliating...

De Chemy: Oh don't worry! We have fortified the farm and with our forces combined we can almost match them man for man! Besides...

OKA Lieutenant: Besides what?

De Chemy: Besides... I've invited some friends... they should be arriving aaany moment now...






To Be Continued... (Hopefully by next Monday :) )

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So again this was a long one... and the next one will hopefully be long as well, however I am promising nothing... haha *insert nervous laughter

Again, any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

Regards,
Joshua