Weird War II Finnish Army

I'm currently putting together a Finnish Army for AE-WWII, the awesome but nearly defunct Weird War II Skirmish Game. The only problem: there isn't any such army.

Not to worry though, I'm just going to make one. Mostly from a combination of German and Soviet units (given that the Finnish army used mostly German and Russian gear) with a few unique twists to make them more Finnish in nature.

But why Finns? Well, it was either going to be them or Italians. Mostly because I wanted an army that changed sides so that I could play against both the allies and the axis without my anal little head suffering from an implosion. I couldn't come up with any cool but obvious theme for an Italian force (fine with me, since I was leaning more towards the Finns anyway) whereas with a Finnish army I can go with the obvious themes of Lap Tribal Animism and Supernatural Cold.

Finding miniatures to represent the actual soldiers themselves couldn't be easier, despite the fact that Warlord have gone and dumped their very lovely Bolt Action Finns. All I need to do is use my brand-new collection of unpainted German and Russian AE-WWII models with the very simple conversion of giving all their boots square, up-turned toes (although they might have ditched those by the late-war, going by this pic). I also have some ideas for miniatures I can use to represent the more outlandish, weird, supernatural creatures on the list.

 

Here are the existing units types from the AE-WWII Corebook that I'll be using (and cosmetically modifying) for my Finnish list.

INDIVIDUALS:

Jaeger Officer (Elite, Infantry, Individual) -
As per SSD Officer from the AEWWII Core Rules.

Finnish Officer (Veteran, Infantry, Individual)-
As per the German Officer from AEWWII Core Rules.

Empty Slot (Veteran, Specialist, Individual) - I'm thinking something Shamenistic. Possibly similar to OORD Medicine Man from Occult Book.

Jaeger Sniper (Veteran, Specialist, Individual)- As per Soviet Sniper from AEWWII Core Rules, as Finnish Snipers also used the Mossin Nagant Rifle, which was actually made by the SAKO factory in Finland itself.

Sargeant (Regular, Infantry, Individual)
As per Volkstrum Group Leader

ABOMINATIONS:

Snow Ape/Yeti/Abominable Snowman in Lap ( Regular, Supernatural, Individual) -
As per Strumaffe from AE-WWII Corebook.

Frost Wight (Regular, Supernatural, Squad) -
As per  Feursodat from the Corebook but using Ice instead of Flames. No change to rules otherwise.

Ice Demons (Green, Supernatural, Squad)-
As per Abgezhertzsoldat from AE-WWII Corebook. But less about technology, more about being supernatural.

Empty Slot (Regular, Supernatural, Individual)-

SOLDIERS:

Finnish Infantry (Green, Infantry, Squad)
- As per Volkstrumm from AE-WWII Corebook

Infantry Heavy Weapons (Green, Support, Infantry)
- As per Volkstrumm Heavy Weapons from Ae-WWII Corebook
 
Jager Heavy Weapon Team (Regular, Support, Squad)-
Don't know whether to use Russian Guard or Wehrmacht version yet. Need to do more research on Late War Finnish Heavy Weapons.

Jagers (Regular, Infantry, Squad)-
As Wehemacht from AE-WWII Corebook.

Empty Slot for Animal Team and Handler style unit.

AVAILABLE HERO UPGRADES:

Abomination Hunter
Archaelogist
Assassin
Brute
Expert Rider
Heartless
Master Magician
Marksman
Mounted Hero
Native Born
Natural Leader
One Man Army
Pathfinder
Sapper

Superhero
War-Hero

Unavailable Hero Upgrades:
Astrologer
Chuman Parent
Criminal
Eccentric Millionaire
Father of the Apocalypse
Hound Master
Lab Rat
Laten Psi
Movie Star
Order of Light Member
Rocket Trooper
Scientist 
Section 13 Agent
The Reborn
Thorkind
Vril Hero
Any tank related.

Heavy Gear Army and Wreck

Here's some photographs of the completed (Gear component) of my Risen Falcon Emirate army for Heavy Gear. They took all of six hours to paint over the course of two days. I've based them on 30mm round bases rather than the traditional hex bases. Given that range in Heavy Gear is measured from base to base, I've put myself at a slight disadvantage. But the majority of these gears fit better onto the 30mm bases than the six-siders.

In keeping with my "don't buy it if you can't use it with multiple systems" philosophy, these 12mm scale Gear's will double up as power-armoured SWAT teams in games of Tomorrow's War.

Fire Support Section

Honour Guard Section

GP Section.

This last mini isn't actually one of mine. My cheeky mate and CEF player Andy handed me this guy before our first game (last Tuesday) and said, "Paint him in your colours for me will you?". It's a sensible suggestion. This is a wrecked Jaeger, after all, and as I'm the only Southern player at Glasgow Gaming Group, dead Jeg might as well be painted as one of mine.

Heavy Gear: The Risen Falcon Emirate

Having just invested in a small (12 Gear) force for Heavy Gear, it behoves me to create a back-story for my force, so here it is:

THE RISEN FALCON EMIRATE:

Located twenty miles south-east of the Badlands city of Elayu, Medina Saqr (Falcon City), capital of the Risen Falcon Emirate is the newest (and most distant) territory of the Eastern Sun Emirates. Indeed, geographically it is far closer to the territories of the Humanist Alliance and even the Peace River Defence Force Security Zone than it is to either the Eastern Sun Emirates or the Mekong Dominion (with whom the Risen Falcon Emirate has close political, military and economic ties).

A view of the domed city of Medina Saqr.

The Risen Falcon Emirate arose eighty years ago, when the death of Emir Ibn Ben Falat Ibn Qaboos of the Silver Falcon Emirate led to brutal civil war among his sons. Emir Mahmut Ibn Qaboos, one of the youngest sons, removed himself and his followers from the Emirates altogether, beginning a long procession west-ward, at the urging of his Yoki, his Mekong Dominion wife, and his father-in-law Fuzuki Yoritomo, a powerful Tai-pan of the Dominion.

Claiming the ruined fort of Al-Saqr for themselves, the new Emir and his followers immediately began to exploit the local areas natural resources, despite interference from the desert tribes, who appeared to consider the site sacred. Importing  new workers and new ideas from (primarily) the Mekong Dominion, the Emir and his followers defended the new Emirates borders while imported merchants and bankers created it's economy. Wisely hording all income from the Emirates hydrocarbon and metal exports for a period of ten years, the Emir established a fund for the governance of his country.

Prince Fuzuki, heir-apparant.

Now, eighty years later, the Emir's health is weak. Though he has sired over a dozen sons and taken six wives over the course of his life-time, most of his progeny have proved disappointing by the standards of their father, one of the most widely respected ruler in the Eastern Sun Emirates. Only his youngest son, Fuzuki Ibn Mahmout Ibn Qaboos, shows promise. As the head of the Emirates small Civil Defence Force, he has instituted numerous reforms, including merging the police and military into one force and installing elements of the ancient Bushido code into military doctrine. Perhaps eager to avoid the infighting and assassinations of his own childhood and young adulthood, the Emir has yet to officially name an heir. However, it is commonly accepted by most citizens of the Emirate that Prince Fuzuki will succeed upon his father's death.

Foreign Relations:

The Emir has (understandably) excellent relations with the Mekong Dominion, where his great-nephew and godson Fuzuki Akira, is a powerful Tai-pan.While the Emir himself is respected in the Eastern Sun's Emirates, his social policies are not. Dissident Emirs regularly point to his social reforms as an example of how the Eastern Sun's society could (and should) be. The Emir is too canny a politician to offer vocal support for the wider reform movement, but graciously acknowledges their recognition of his efforts to build a fairer society for his subjects.

The Mekong Dominion has been the Emir\s closest ally for decades.

Relations with the rest of the South, including the Humanist Alliance, the Emirate's nearest neighbour, are more tense. The Risen Falcon Emirate occupies a landscape previous claimed by the Humanists. Yet despite some early border clashes, no major attempt at conquest has ever been made by Alliance forces

Relations are most tense with the Peace River Defence Force. Peace River claims that certain new mines and derricks built in the last decade encroach upon Peace River territory. By long-standing treaty, the Risen Falcon Emirate is allowed to mine these lands but NOT patrol them. Recent bandit raids on these facilities have led to Civ-Def Gears and Infantry crossing the border to defend Emirate citizens and property, in accordance with the tenets of giri, to which they adhere. The Emir has yet to issue a formal response to official Peace River protests.

Economy:

To this day, the Emirate uses the interest from this Resource Fund to run the entire country and government, providing free health care, education and housing to all it's citizens, regardless of social class. Profits from trade are either funnelled into the small military, re-invested into the fund or else used to invest in other corporations throughout the South (particularly in the Mekong Dominion).

A Risen Falcon Emirate's mobile Badlands Derrick

Society:

Unsurprisingly, given the Emirs forward-looking and liberal social policies and his close relations with the Mekong Dominion, local culture varies considerably from that of the Emirates as a whole. Citizens have the right to free assembly, free speech, free health care, free education and free housing. Although social castes have gradually been broken down, "wasta" -a mixture of social status, prestige and personal authority- remains important. Simply being a citizen entitles any person to the best health care available. But wasta will ensure that the finest doctors and nurses are assigned to your care and that meals are delivered to you first.

Although the Emirate's culture is decidely Arabic in flavour, it's subjects hail from many old Terran nations.

Even so, the citizens of the Emirate are keen to ensure that their cultural heritage is not drowned by the rising "new wave" of cultural and social development. Citizens continue to wear cultural clothing. Every male citizens wears a khanjar (ceremonial knife) at his belt and carries an assa (cane) in his hand. Frequently, short, informal duels are fought with these weapons to resolve arguments, either to submission (with the assa) or first blood (with the khanjar). Duels to the death are illegal, but remain somewhat frequent. Often, in the case of avenging major crimes such as rape or murder, the Civil Defence force is willing to look the other way.

A khanjar with traditional sheath and belt.

Military:

Mekong Dominion influences are most prevalent in the military. In addition to the khanjar, most officers and non-commissioned officers (and all Gear pilots) wear a tulwar, in imitation of the dai-sho of the ancient Terran Samurai. Civil Defence troopers (they emphatically refuse to be considered soldiers) on Police rather than Military duty also carry a "sai", or sword-breaker, when on duty. This fascination extends to combat: Gear pilots often carry locally manufactured Vibro-Talwar into battle.

The Civil-Defence force in enthused with the samurai ethos. Or rather, a variation there-off. Civil Defence troopers see the wisdom in living to fight another day. After all, a dead trooper cannot serve his Emir or his people.

Civ-Def Trooper in Desert camo

  The entire Civ-Def force numbers less than one thousand personnel. However, all are front-line fighters. Support functions -such as transport, repair and maintenance- are carried out by civilian employees. The Civ-Def force has just over 100 Gear Pilots. The remaining 900 personnel are mostly infantrymen with a few light tanks. The cream of the army is the Honour Guard, the five-Gear bodyguard of the Emir himself. Not merely a ceremonial unit, the Honour Guard, under the command of Prince Fuzuki, is the elite fighting unit of the Civil Defence Force.  The Prince and his Gear section consistently chose to personally lead any Civ-Def operations in the field.

However, such is the importance of the Emirate's commercial activities, that any major assault on the Emirate would result in an immediate and strong military reaction from a number of commercial partners, not the least of whom being the force of the Mekong Dominion and allied members of the Eastern Sun's Emirates.

Quick Tomorrow's War Update

I haven't managed to squeeze in much time for working on my 15mm Tomorrow's War miniatures or scenery in the last month or so. But here's a few photographs of what I've managed to strike off the painting list.

15mm Colonial Police Anti-Tank section (Khurasan Neo-Sovs)

I still have about fifty 15mm Khurasan Neo-Sovs infantry and a dozen vehicles to paint, and a whole wad of scenery in need of completion. I imagine it'll be some time yet before their all completed.

ItEN Campaign: Month 1 Update and Mini-Battle Reports

So far, four warbands have met in the clash to locate and seize the Malegaunt Standard Template Construction Device. The photo's aren't great: the lighting in our whole isn't the greatest but the lads did what they could with mobile phones and the like.

Battle 1:
Amidst the ruins of the Adeptus Arbites Precinct, the Death Guard  of Papa Nurgle met and engaged the Ork's of Craigs's as yet unnamed Ork warband. Though the mighty war boss managed to find and recover a data-slate listing the Arbites Guard Rota, the cost was grim and terrible. Caught up in their unholy battle-glee, the Death Guard marines completely disregarded their mission in favour of inflicting calamitous casualties on the Ork warband, made all the more vulnerable by the absence of any Squigs or gretchin meat-shields on the battlefield. In the end, the green-skins managed to escape with their valuable data via a handy broken window, yet seven of their number bled their last on the gore-soaked rubble. Papa Nurgle and his small band sustained no casualties.

(I'm still waiting on photographs of this scrap being emailed to me. There aren't many. In the heat of the battle, about six turns went by before anyone remembered to take any).

Battle 2:

The second battle of the Malegaunt STC was a bloody green-on-green affair.  The Orks of Graeme and Nick met in a raging battle in the Adeptus Mechanicus district. Atop a mighty Ziggerut in the main Biologos facility, Graeme's warboss held the pinnacle long enough to download the senior Magos Biologis' research data, though Ork's were blown apart around him by a rain of grot-thrown stikk-bombz. The climax of the battle came when his Rival Boss met him choppa-to-choppa atop the steps, but Graeme's powerful Boss threw down his enemy. Now there is talk of the two warbands combining their might. Is this the beginnings on a new Waaargh? Will Graeme's war boss succeed in recruiting Boss Craig to his side also? Or is all this talk of an Ork alliance merely scurrilous rumour? Who knows, but who better to teach them pansie oomies and pointies a few new tricks than the might of three Ork warbands?

Graeme's Boss and Mek Boy weather the grenade storm to seize the Ziggerut.

With just two turns remaining till the data is downloaded, Nick's Boss makes his challenge in the formal manner: "Ere grot-bags, yer maw wuz a space marine!"

Graeme's Ork of the match: the gunner who took down most of Nick's Boyz.

After-Battle

As previously mentioned, Craig lost seven of his Orks who failed their after-battle Grit rolls to recover from wounds. The second battle saw equal carnage, yet through some extremely jammy rolling most of the casualties made their grit rolls, for a total of just three deaths despite fierce fighting.

Both Craig and Graeme's retinues managed to pass their investigation rolls (surprisingly, especially when you consider that neither have a single model with the Investigator skill). Following the clues will lead them both to new objective locations to be decided when the remaining battle results are in.

Warhammer 40K Featured on the BBC

Link to the BBC article:

Reading this you would think there aren't any other companies out there bar GW. But then, most non-gamers have only heard of GW after all.

In the Emperor's Name Campaign Update

We've had a few delays, but finally we're about to begin our Wh40K In the Emperor's Name campaign. We have a good selection of forces, with the Imperium so far being somewhat under-represented in comparison to the Xenos and Traitor retinues. Given that there were be limited opportunities to receive reinforcements during the campaign, it's perhaps not surprising that most of the players have chosen forces with good grit values. It remains to be seen whether this will be a wise choice. After all, with such expensive figures, one or two casualties failing to recover from wounds after a game can be crippling.

We have ten confirmed players and 1 referee (me). Most of the retinue lists are in but one player signed up late and has still to finalise his.

So far we have:

Imperial Retinues:
Ordo Xenos Warband
Space Wolf Warband

Chaos:
Chaos Cultist Warband
Night Lord Warband
Death Guard Warband

Xenos:
3x Ork Warbands
1x Harlequin Warband
1x Eldar Pirates Warband.

The first campaign month runs between this coming Tuesday and the second Tuesday in April. I'll be listing the match-ups for the first month's compulsory games on Sunday, once I've received the final warband roster.

Edit: The final warband is in. Another Ork mob leaving us with three orc players.

Tomorrow's War: Bad Landing Campaign Background

This is the setting information for the colony of Bad Landing in games of Tomorrow's War and Laserburn. One of the things I love most about these games is that it's players are not straight-jacketed into using the systems own setting. Developing my own campaign universe through play, with the results of battle affect the time line of the setting, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the hobby. I've left details of other colonies and factions in the Terminus Omega system deliberately vague so that I accommodate any number of opponents and their armies. When I play against a given opponent, I'll incorporate my opponents faction and back-story into the setting.

Notes: I apologise for the atrocious spelling in this post. For some reason, Blogger has decided it doesn't want to spell check this post. I'll try to clean it up tomorrow when I'm not too tired to spell properly.

BAD LANDING, British Colony of:

Bad Landing.

Colony Type: Mining, Terraforming.
Orbital/Interface Facilities: Space Catapult, Space Elevator (under construction, due for completion in 2318), Interface Shuttleport.
Date of Founding: 2281
Sovereign Status: 13th Colony of the United Kingdom.
Population: 175,000 (citizens), 25,000+ Belters.
Summary: Oldest (but not the largest) of several colonies on the world of the same name. Bad Landing is a colony of the newly Euro-Independant United Kingdom. The British colony shares the world with colonies from several other European nations (all of whom are current member states of the European Space Union) as well as a number of territories leased to private, nationalised and semi-nationalised corporations from other Terran nations.

Terminology Note: In order to prevent confusion between references to Bad Landing (the planet) and the British Colony of the same name on the planet's surface, the colony itself is hereafter referred to simply as "the British Colony".

System Data:

The British Colony is the oldest  of several in the Terminus-Omega system (formerly DM +38 2285), located at the mid-point of the longest finger in the European Arm. Terminus-Omega is a close binary system, with the star Terminus being the brighter of the two. The second, larger sun is called Omega. The two stars lie roughly 35.5 light years from Sol. Five major bodies and uncountable asteroids make up the bulk of real estate in the system, although all but the largest body (Bad Landing) have recently been re-classified as planetoids rather than planetary bodies.

Terminus is classified as G8VI star, with a diameter of 645,850 km and a mass less than .5 of Sol's. It's Stellar Effective temperature is approximately 4540 degrees K will a luminosity .150 that of Sol. As a sub-dwarf, the existence of any planets in orbit would be cosidered extremely unusual, let alone a habitable world such as Bad Landing. Omega, the companion star, is an M0V-class Dwarf with a diameter of 750,410km. It's mass is comparable to Sol yet it's luminosity is merely .06 Sol. The two stars orbit around a common point with an average separation of 2AU.

Numerous planetoids in a highly elliptical orbit testify to the destruction of one or more rogue panetary intruders trapped by the binary system in eons past. These asteroids support numerous large scale corporate and even cottage-industry mining operations. Many, but not all of these operations, are reliant on commerce with the British colony on Bad Landing for supplies essential to life. These include (but are not limited too) H2O, Oxygen, Carbon Scrubbers, Carbohydrates, Protein and Fibre. Many Belters (as the Belt Miner's describe themselves) believe that the British Colony is currently attempting to exert entirely too much control of their activities. The tensions between the independantly minded Belters and the "intrusive" legislation imposed by the British Colony (which, as the initial colony in the system, retains deep-space legal jurisdiction in the Terminus Omega system) is eerily reminescent of the tensions between the fledgling U.S government and various mountain men, prospectors and "free-rangers" in the American Old West.

BAD LANDING PLANETARY DATA:

Bad Landing supports a breathable, but thin, atmosphere and retains sufficient, if meagre, supplies of fresh water in numerous subterranean aquifers deep beneath the planetary surface. Bad Landing orbits Terminus at a distance of roughly .34 AU, in an orbit with minimal eccentricity. It's orbital period is a mere 36 and one quarter local "days". However, due to the minimal axial tilt, seasonal changes within the 36 day planetary year are moot.

A typical view of Bad Landing's surface outside terraformed areas.

Bad Landing has a mass of .43 Earths and a planetary diameter of 9,140 km. Owing to the relatively high density, gravity is a comfortable .820 G's. The world has no natural satellites, yet larger asteroids are frequently escorted to the upper atmosphere by tugs prior to strip mining before been sent into the sun after depletion. One asteroid in particular has become a staple fixture of the skies above the British Colony.  Commonly referred to by nostalgic Terrans as "the moon" but to Sky Hook construction workers as "the Counterweight", this asteroid is destined to anchor the British Colony's space elevator, currently under construction.  Bad Landing's atmospheric pressure is low, at roughly .718 atmospheres, but survivable without the aid of breathing apparatus after a short period of acclimatisation. The planet retains elements with molecular weights of 17 or more and supports an Nitrogen, Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide atmosphere, with various trace elements that indicate the planet once supported natural, carbon-based life. Oxygen makes up approx 10% of the atmospheric composition. The partial pressure of oxygen (0.071 atmospheres) is enough to comfortably support unprotected humans after a few days of adjustment. Only transient visitors (such as mining executives and shuttle crews) are advised to wear breathing masks for the duration of their stay.

Due to it's proximity to it's parent star and low mass, Bad Landing is tidally locked to its primary, the star Terminus. However, the interplay between Terminus and Omega during the stars' mutual orbits causes libation effects, providing a significant percentage of the "twilight band" with a day/night cycle of  (on average) 22 daylight hours followed by nine hours of night. Finally, Omega provides the dark side of Bad Landing with a faint reddish illumination when the star and planet are in conjunction. Day-time temperatures tend to be high on the day side and in the twilight zone during daylight hours, dropping radically on the dark-side and at night. Temperature extremes produce violent wind storms moving across the twilight zone from the night-side into the warmer day-side. Now that surface water has been introduced to the planet by colonists, this often results in light precipitation in the twilight band.

Bad Landing's radiation belt is barely able to shield the planetary surface from solar radiation. Flares emitted by the M-Class dwarf Omega on an irregular basis (once a decade or so) pose a considerable risk to human life and electronics. During flare periods, the Bad Landing colonists are subject to several weeks of internment in deep shelters while interstellar and system-bound vessels alike flee the system or make for shielded facilities. Plans are in place to ensure that the Space Elevator, it's anchoring asteroid and geosynchronous space station all have sufficient safety protocols and radiation shielding to safeguard personnel and materials during these flares.

During "Flare-Season" surface temperature on Bad Landing can rise by as much as 70 degrees Celsius. The radiation also limits communications to line-of-sight laser comms.

Bad Landings hydrosphere covers just 8% of the surface, consisting entirely of sub-surface water brought to the surface by colonists to fill natural (albeit formerly empty) reservoirs. Fossil evidence exists to suggest that the planet once hosted large surface water deposits. It is hypothesised that these were dispersed into space by a single, cataclysmic event (likely a comet impact) as recently as a few thousand years ago. Prior to this strike, fossil evidence reveals the planet once hosted a thriving eco-system and may even have hosted intelligent life. However, all scientific journals, news articles, images and archaeological research on the rumoured indigenous civilisation have been seized on the order of the (British) Colonial Government pending review by a specialist Xeno-Anthropology research team from the University of Edinburgh,

Alleged traces of indigenous construction on the Day-Side of Bad Landing

The impact site of the supposed "planet-killer" is visible from space, forming a perfectly circular depression 100 miles wide and half a mile deep. This crater is the location of the British Colony and demarcates it's present (internationally recognised) territorial boundaries. The crater floor has an irregular surface pocked with smaller craters. These been exploited by the colonists, who have created several artificial lakes by pumping and purifying sub-surface water. These lakes are further fed by condensation from above. Excess liquid water drains off via a carefully maintained system of pipes and canals into emergency cisterns and irrigation ditches. The crater boasts some magnificently rich mineral deposits, even by the standars of Bad Landing, helping to explain the planets relatively high density given it's small diameter.


Industry and Agriculture:
Although the planet remains largely barren, covered by several metres of pulverised stone and pumice from numerous super-volcanic eruptions following the comet strike, hardy forms of Terran life have been successfully transplanted to the world. Scrub grass from the Andes mountains on earth, oats from the Scottish highlands and even some mutated strains of wheat and barley thrive especially well in areas with only minimal terraforming. These same grasses provide good grazing and fodder for sheep, goats and cattle. Terrestrial fruits and vegetables are grown in Hydroponics farms. Together, these provide a staple diet for the British Colony as well as Asteroid Miners from the Belt.

Many Bad Landing colonists view the Belt Miners as Madmen

Other than Mining and agriculture, the British Colony has little industry save for that related to maintaining life support (both on world and for Belt Miners) and cottage industries. Most vehicles and clothing are imported from off-world or at a premium from neighbouring Bad landing colonies. One thriving local cottage industry concerns manufacturing and assembling parts for simple combustion engine-based vehicles. All Munitions used by the 13th Colonial Police Division are also imported from off-world. Other than farming and construction vehicles, Vehicle-based forms of transport are rare, outside of public transport and civil government. Riding horses are becoming more common now that suitable grazing is being grown in hydroponics farms in the British Colony and elsewhere. Ownership of a private, non-farming related vehicle is considered a mark of high-status. Most transport is wheeled, rather than G.round-Effect based, due to the dusty terrain and the difficulty of maintaining complicated electronics without domestic production. Tracked vehicles are of limited utility on the very arid world of Bad Landing and are likewise rare, at least in the British colony. However, it is widely known that several other colonies on the surface have access to military grade tracked vehicles of various sorts.

Colonial History:

The Skyhook Facility (under construction) forms the  central "hub" of the British Colony.

The British Colony was founded in 2281 AD and has flourished for the last nineteen years. The world was charted and explored by the European Space Union Scout (ESSU) Ascendant Agenda, under Captain Rory McDonald in 2271. Unfortunately, the ship's arrival in system coincided with a Flare-Season. Captain McDonald was forced to make an emergency landing on the planet, finding a shaded location within the crater itself, but causing severe damage to the ships systems 9and in particular, it's landing gear) in the process. Despite being one of the foremost feats of piloting skill in the history of human space exploration, the second officer, Leutnant Eisenshimmel, chose to make a quip about the captain's "Bad Landing,". As off-hand comments frequently do, the description stuck and became something of a European Space Agency institutional legend. The world was formally re-named, "Bad Landing" when the Ascendant Agenda finally limped back into Earth Orbit in late 2273.

Further survey expeditions revealed that the system was indeed habitable and that flare activity was much rarer than previously supposed. The first colonists (mostly of British descent -particularly Scots and Welsh) arrived a decade after the famous Bad Landing incident and settled at the supposed location of the scout vessel's "crash". In actual fact, the actual landing site is some twelve km distant from where the colony ship set down. With typical British humour, the colonists voted to name their fledgling settlement after the world itself, despite the fact that the Colony Ship's Captain (and the settlement's first Governor, Robert Clemence) executed a text-book perfect landing. To date, Governor (now Lord) Clemence has tried on three occasions to have the settlement's name officially changed to "Perfect Landing" in part (or so he claims) to prevent further confusion concerning references to the planet and the British Colony itself.

Terra-forming efforts by the British Colony continue to make the world of Bad Landing more hospitable.

Although the colonists were mostly European citizens from the United Kingdom,  small French, Romanian and German minorities made up a significant portion of the initial population. Despite the the staunch opposition of the French and German governments to the succession, the British Colony was spared civil conflict during in the Second European War of Succession from 2185-2187. The war had been prompted by the passing of a motion in the European parliament to formally dissolve all the remaining European monarchies, prompting many colonists to return to Terra and enlist in their repsective national armies. The Successionists were successful in their goals, both military and diplomatic. The 2187 Treaty of Royalist Succession formally recognised the sovereignty and independence of Spain, Monaco and the United Kingdom. In what was considered only a very minor coup at the time, Bad Landing was the 13th of  the 15 European extra-solar colonies that voted to succeed from the European Space Union and declare allegiance to the United Kingdom.

In 2289, partly as a show of economic strength, the United Kingdom declared that it would construct the first extra-solar Space Elevator on Bad Landing. Due to the relatively low gravity and wealth of suitable industrial metals available within the territorial boundaries of the British Colony and the happy chance that the Bad Landing colony straddled the planets equator, the project has thus far been considerably less expensive -and progress far swifter- tha was the case during construction of the two existing Space Elevators on Earth (controlled by the European Space Union and China respectively) on Earth.

Military:

A 13th Colonial Police Division "Panda" Patrol Car.

The Treaty of Royal Succession specifically barred the United Kingdom and other succeeding states from permanently stationing a military garrison on any of it's colonies. However, clever wording of the treaty permitted the creation of an armed constabulary that resembles an army in all but name. The British Colony of Bad Landing is defended (and policed) by the 13th Colonial Police Division, a paramilitary law enforcement organisation with military grade equipment. The Division's 1600 officers are divided into three ground sub-divisions (reinforced company strength formations) and a single naval division. The sub-divisions are in turn divided into single space-vessel or reinforced-platoons known as Stations (otherwise known as Precincts to non UK nationals). Each Station is responsible for policing a given geographical area in peacetime and for undertaking asymmetric military operations within the same area (in cooperation with local militia) in war-time. One sub-division (the space-bourne  Customs and Excise Sub-Division) is actually a small squadron of Naval Escorts tasked with protecting shipping from Pirates. The C&E subdivision is als responsible for policing the cargo-transfer station half-way up the Space Elevator, in geosynchranous orbit of Bad Landing, above the British Colony.

As the United Kingdom currently lacks a domestic defence industry of any note, weapons, equipment and vehicles are obtained from a variety of sources in order to reduce dependence on any one foreign supplier. Presently, much of the 13th CP Division's equipment is procured from Russia, China, Israel, Brazil and Japan.

Current Status:

As of 2300, construction on the Space Elevator is well underway and due for completion in less than 20 years. Resident apploications from British Citizens wishing to emigrate to the colony have increased three-fold since construction began. Relations with other colonies sharing the world of Bad Landing vary from co-operative to tense but stable. Relations with the Belters (Asteroid Miners) Union is tense and growing daily more hostile. Several violent incidents between the British Colonial government (who seek to formally exert their legal authority over the Belt territories) and the independently-minded Belters have resulted in recent deaths.

The Space Station that will act as the Space Elevators Cargo Exchange point is a near-copy of the French Built "Byzantium", pictured above.

Note: A few days ago I posted the Tomorrow's War background for the 13th Colonial Police Division along with a typical roster. At the the time I'd suggested that Scotland had been independent from the UK for quite some time and had newly won independence from Europe as well. I was never 100% happy with this concept but I gave in to the temptation of being topical in my background. This new background information assumes that it was the United Kingdom as a whole (including Scotland) that succeeded from the European Space Union. Lets just hope the SNP doesn't have it's way in the referendum next year and ruin my background (let alone the whole country)!

Post Apocalypse: Aftermath Update

I've been busy with work, but I've still managed to keep this project going by snatching a few moments here and there while waiting for customer's orders to dry and by getting up a little earlier than normal.

First up, we have some painted denizens of Post-Crash earth.

This gorgeous young lass was named Lucine by (I think) Lucky Joe when I first posted her pics on the Lead Legion blog. She represents a member of the Wastelander faction - a mixture of PA settlers looking for a quiet life and the adventurous types that look out for them. Specifically, she's an Adventurer, the second most experienced (and expensive) type of Fighter in a Wastelander gang after the Hero.

This fella here doesn't have a name on the roster yet, but I plan on having two uses for him. You can't see it in the photo, but his left arm is synthetic. So hell see use as both a Wastelander hero and as a Bot Infiltrator in Aftermath play tests.











Young Spike here belongs to the Raider play test gang, and was it's first member to be painted. I haven't quite settled on a name for the type of fighter that fills the "Juve" spot on Raider gang rosters, but when I do I'll let you know. 











This here is his buddy, a typical Raider Thug. He has a passing resemblance to a certain actor whose name I don't recall (he was the hero in Battlefield Earth and the journalist in We Were Soldiers). Once I do, this miniature will have his official play-test name.

 This guys a Desperado, the leader of a Scavvie gang. Scavvie gangs don't tend to have much in the way of sophisticated gear as they have a hard time keeping energy weapons serviceable (the dust gets everywhere in the deep wastes). They make up for this with ferocity and cunning however. And (seemingly) really big axes too.




























The Scavvie gang as it stands today. Scavvies are very cheap in terms of points, so I'll need a LOT more of these guys before I have a play-test worthy force.

TERRAIN

I haven't just been painting minis, I've been building terrain as well. A while back I posted about making modular building walls by using basing foam card on C.D's. I got about eight of them assembled before I remembered I had all this card terrain I bought on PDF years ago. Doh! I haven't abandoned the old CD idea altogether. The building bits I made will be painted up eventually, but for the time being I'm gonna concentrate on easier to make card buildings. Here's a work in progress. The round thing out front is a plant pot that some Scavvie has been using as a brazier.

Bloody scavvies.

Next up we have a Perry Miniatures North American Farm House I painted for Lead Legion Painting Service. As someone (Lucky Joe again?) pointed out, this building could be used in just about any genre from the 17th century onwards. It looks like it would be perfect for Post Apocalypse games. The chimney was left off so that the roof (which is supposed to be glued on) can be detached. This handy little set also came with white picket fencing. Also very useful for PA.

 Finally, we have my pride and joy. I call it the Battle Bus. I reckon this is an incredibly versatile piece of terrain. In one battle it's a roadblock, in another, a pill-box. In other, it's the gate to a Wasteland Fortress. Hell, it could even be used as a functioning vehicle. Looking at the graffiti, I hope you can see that I've tried to form a narrative about the life of this bus. It's gone from being the home of stranded survivors, to a Raider gang territory marker and now (finally) a danger sign warning about the mutant creatures that presumably wiped the gang out. It's my absolute favourite terrain piece. Even the huge and ugly mould line along the roof (made of such bad quality plastic that it actually shattered when I tried to file it off) can't marr my pride in this little number.

In a few days, I'll be doing a similar update for my 15mm Bad Landing campaign setting. I've some scenery and some miniatures to show off -as well as a revised "Encyclopedia Galaxia" entry for the Colony.