Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Donald Featherstones Solo Wargaming

A bit of nostalgia here, and perhaps somewhat dated but
a welcome addition to my war games library none the less!
I was very happy to find this on Amazon.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Tanker's Tuesday: Frederick IV Class Land Dreadnought

In keeping with my "All Quiet On The Martian Front" project and stealing liberally
from other sources, namely the BBC 's "THE GREAT MARTIAN WAR" . I thought
I'd do a German faction since I already had this monster built several years ago......) 
 







The reports that the Prussians were constructing a huge
heavily armed land iron clad at their workshop in Dioscuria
where proven correct today.

See First Report:
http://vsf15mm.blogspot.com/2007/04/desert-column-1884-5.html

The German government pledges that this new weapon will
only be used to engage Martian Tripods........
 
As reported earlier the Prussians are constructing a huge
heavily armed land iron clad at their workshop in Dioscuria.
Over the last several weeks large containers have been seen
being delivered to the Prussian holdings in Dioscuria from
Germany. These shipments although done with the greatest
of security, some of the markings on the containers have been
seen to be from the KRUPP manufactures in Essen, Germany.
Other containers were obviously of massive steam engine parts,
along with large amounts of sheet steel.
*Please note that as one of the competition rules is not to
post photos, I will hold back until the end of the 80 days.
The Frederick IV Class Land Dreadnought is a unique design
with a Tripod killing 150mm forward firing gun, two turret mounted
77mm guns and two sponson mounted 77mm guns, two quick
firing 45mm guns, and 3 Maxim machine guns. The design has
two steam boilers and two tracked drive trains The final stages
of construction are nearly completed.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Last Call GZG Christmas Offers

UPDATE - WEDNESDAY 21st DECEMBER 2016:

JUST TWO DAYS TO GO ON THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS!

Well, we're counting down to Christmas now, as I write this there are two-and-a bit days left to run on the Christmas offers before I close up for the holidays on the 23rd - orders received up till MIDNIGHT UK TIME on the 23rd will be included in the offers (if they are over £30 in total value, of course), but obviously they won't be dispatched until after Christmas. I will continue to cast, pack and dispatch orders up to and including the 23rd, but things are now getting very busy and inevitably there will be some orders placed this week that won't go out this side of the break, especially ones containing items that I don't hold in ready stock such as the 25mm and 6mm ranges; right now I'm dispatching each day the orders that can be fulfilled quickly from shelf stock, and then seeing what else I can process in the time that is left.
Oh, and a HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE TO ALL!
Thanks for reading.
Jon (GZG), Wednesday 21st December 2016.

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As always, please feel free to repost this info anywhere (blogs, forums etc) that you think folks might be interested in it!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Thursday, December 15, 2016

WWPD: Wargames, Board Games, RPGs, LCGs, and more!: Great War; Great Once Again!


WWPD: Wargames, Board Games, RPGs, LCGs, and more!: Great War; Great Once Again!: For those who are interested in the Great War , the last few years has seen a boom in all sorts of media and games that highlight the bloo...

Latest from Shouting Into The Viod



Another couple of models arrived on my doorstep from Shapeways today.

3d printing is just like magic to me (because it's mysterious and I don't know how to do it myself).

First up is my VSF Steampunk Battle-Tricycle, which is in an indeterminate scale. I show it here next to a couple of HäT 20mm British Zulu Wars figures; it would probably work with figures up to 28mm if you could find one to fit in the cockpit.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Monday, December 12, 2016

UPDATE : GZG CHRISTMAS SPECIALS!

UPDATE - MONDAY 12th DECEMBER 2016:
UNDER TWO WEEKS LEFT ON THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS!
Things are going quite well at the moment, the pre-Christmas orders are coming in and (mostly) going out again pretty quickly - a few are taking an extra few days, especially where they involve casting items that I don't hold in stock (for example, most of the 25mm figure ranges), but most orders are being shipped out within a couple of working days of receipt. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with things right up to the Christmas close-down on the 23rd, but if things do slip by a few days I hope you will all understand!
Every year I have some regular customers who wait until the last minute to place their orders, just in case there is a surprise batch of new releases just before Christmas - well, I can definitely tell you that there will NOT be any more new items out this side of the New Year, BUT there will be a whole bunch of new stuff launched in early January (you didn't think I was going to REALLY take any time off over Christmas, did you?), including a completely NEW 15mm force to add to the huge selection already available! So, you can go ahead and place your pre-Christmas orders soon without fear of missing out on anything, and then you can redeem your New Year vouchers against some of the new stuff as soon as it is out!
For full details of the Christmas and New Year special offers which run until the 23rd December, please see the front page of the GZG webstore.
I hope that you are all well and that your preparations are coming along, and once again I wish all my customers old and new a very happy and safe Christmas Season!
Thanks for reading.
Jon (GZG), Monday 12th December 2016.

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As always, please feel free to repost this info anywhere (blogs, forums etc) that you think folks might be interested in it!

MJ Figures Armies of Mythology

                                                         Warrior Guards  4 packs                                                     
 
                                                          Aztec Warriors   packs 
                                                      Gorgon Guards   packs 
                                                        Gorgon Guards  8 packs   
                                                        Ravan Warriors  3 packs
                                                     Ravan Warriors  2 packs
                                                  Greek Warriors  4 packs

These come in packs of four and numbers listed are how many packs I bought,
I cleaned him out.....)

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Tanker's Tuesday: Challenger 2






The Challenger 2 main battle tank was developed as a private venture to replace the previous Chieftain MBT in service with British Army. It is a further development of the Challenger 1 MBT. The new main battle tank is significantly more capable than its predecessor. It entered service with the British Army in 1994. Currently the Challenger 2 is in service with United Kingdom (386) and Oman (38).


Saturday, December 3, 2016

EXTERMINATOR : aka Berserker Warmachine?

Navy Technology Analysis Section - Technical Report

Hostile Super Battleship

Codename EXTERMINATOR

Background

Following the recent operations in Quadrant 7, combined with survivors' reports from Quadrants 5 and 6, it is clear that humanity is facing an entirely new military threat from a fleet of hostile super battleships. The Second Battle of 116AL provided the Earther Fleet with its first intact example of a component of one of these new threat vessels, codenamed exterminator.

General Structure

The unit captured at 116AL is a hyperspace-capable unmanned warship, controlled by a sophisticated alien AI unit at its core.  These individual units are code-named VIKING.
The diagram below was an initial scan, based on a first contact with Exterminators (much more is now know about them):
       
 The unit has 5 operational decks, plus two pacifier bays, each of which houses one of the hi-performance SHADOW class hostile pacifiers. Further analysis indicates that the unit has at least 4 access tubes that connect when the VIKING is connected with its companion units for form the full-sized Exterminator. The Viking unit has 4 PAD-equivalents, and 8 HELL- equivalents, and 16 lighter energy weapons for close-in defense. The internal deck structure is as follows:
       
 From the long range scans obtained in battle, together with an analysis obtained from the captured unit, it appears that these units are able to lock together to form a larger unit - the full-sized Exterminator. From our initial projections, 6 VIKING units fit together for form a full exterminator.  This makes the exterminator approximately 4 or 5 times the size of our largest interstellar-capable navy battleship.   We have come up with the following projected schematic for a full-sized exterminator:
       
 Each Viking supports 1 or 2 high performance pacifier class ships, codenamed SHADOW.  These consistently outperform our paicifers, being capable of over 10g manoevering.  They have limited types of armament, however, being equipped only with HELL.  The Exterminators don' seem to use missiles (or indeed vary their weapon options at all).  This means that the complete ESB will have 10 or 12 SHADOWS - quite a potent force, probably equivalent to the striking power of a Carrier.
SHADOW CLASS EXTERMINATOR PACIFIER

ORIGINS

We have no clues as to the origin or mission profile for these hostiles.  So far, the Exterminators have sought out colonised planets, and destroyed all ships and installations, and as far as possible killed all inhabitants.  Death toll throughout human space is hundreds of  millions of men, women and children to date.   Initial evidence is that the VIKING unit is not designed for organic life to operate, although there was some evidence of some sort of disused briefing room on the captured VIKING unit (codenamed PATEL after the marine commander who captured it .  This may be part of an initial programming or setting up system.  There was a playback system built in, but we have not yet deciphered how to make it function.  There are indications from other captured units that the PATEL unit is not necessarily a typical unit. It may be that there are organic life forms on the main unit, and that it is their practice to use robots and automation extensively (like a number of human cultures).  Until a full-sized exterminator is captured, this cannot be confirmed.              Currently, we estimate that there are at least 10 of the full sized exterminator ships attacking human space at widely spaced points.

STATISTICS

VIKING :
HSD.
Fusion power plant.  
4 PAD
8 HELL of which up to 8 can bear at once.
16 light energy weapons
2 x SHADOW class pacifiers
No crew.
approx 200 combat capable maintenance robots ('CLANKERS')
approx 20 weapon armed combat-capable robots (about the equivalent of our Combat Robots) EXTERMINATOR SUPER BATTLESHIP
6 x VIKING units interconnected.
estimated up to 72 heavy energy weapons, of which 40 can bear at once.
estimated up to 10 or 12 SHADOW class high performance pacifiers
estimated 1200 combat capable maintenance robots (CLANKERS)
estimated 120 weapon armed combat-capable robots.

UPDATE 3200: Exterminator Modus Operandi - Frequently Asked Questions How fast do the Exterminators travel from the system M25 to the colony? Hence, how much warning do we get? As far as you are aware, the main units have never exceeded 1g, although you know their Shadows can do 10g.  It may be that this limit is somehow hard-wired into their systems because as far a analysis of captured equipment indicates, they are physically capable of higher accelerations. This means between 2-10 days warning depending on the size of the M25 and the quality of in-system detection systems. At the end of 3200, a number of Exterminators exhibited the capability to accelerate at up to 2g - but it is believed that these ships were destroyed at the Battle of Tuskan. Do they engage defending ships and the system HSTS immediately; or try to go directly to the colony avoiding combat? There is evidence of both tactics.  The most common tactic is to find and destroy the HSTS first, then close in destroying ships and orbital installations before starting on the colony itself. What do they do at the colony: invade it, bombard it, or what? Bombard with high energy weapons from orbit - sometimes landing 'clanker' forces and giant 'super tanks' to winkle out deeply dug in defenders. Having destroyed a colony, what does the Exterminator do next? Do they loot it, or just leave? As far as we can see there is nothing left to loot after the bombardment.  It seems they just leave once satisfied that the colony has been destroyed. ADDITIONAL:  Further evidence shows that they tend to destroy all intelligent life - that is humans - or any other creatures they think might be capable of evolving intelligence.  This has, in the case of the destruction of Dyme, involved the extermination of a species of small aquatic mammals. I get the impression that the Exterminators usually operate in pairs of 'super battleships'. Is that correct? The indications are that currently the majority of ESB encounters have been pairs - but they have also been encountered singly and even in threes. ADDITIONAL:  Further analysis indicates that they seem to have operated in pairs until one of the pair is destroyed or disabled, when they sometimes link up with an existing pair. ADDIITONAL 2:  Later research indicates that ESBs have been operating singly as well - though most initial contacts were of pairs. ADDITIONAL 3:  Latest reports indicate a Second Wave composed of small groups of VIKING units. ADDITIONAL 4: Recent combat reports from RED SPOT indicate a single fleet of 10 (ten) or more ESBs. (subsequently mostly destroyed at Tuskan).  Is it possible to tell when a planet was destroyed by an ESB? It might be.  The database has yet to be established, but scientists in a Survey Ship or specially commissioned research vessel might be able to work it out, given some time to study the problem. Ordinary warships or merchant ships would not be able to do this.  (Note:  The Earthers are currently conducting just such an investigation under Operation POST MORTEM - see below) ADDITIONAL:  The Earther Government in Q7 developed the Gratermass protocol, which can calculate the date of destruction of a system.
Welcome to The Universe
EXTERMINATOR

The Governor General of Sector Six: The "KCS Mary Shelly", Backstory and Build

This was too awesome not to share:
 

The Governor General of Sector Six: The "KCS Mary Shelly", Backstory and Build: Location Office of the Governor General Travis Point, New Cypress Kingdom of Colores Chief of Intelligence, Admiral Jones (High...

Thursday, December 1, 2016

UNSC Heavy Infantry "Blackstar Brigade" Reassigned To Brazos Sector

1st Platoon 2nd Company 7th UNSC Heavy Infantry
"Blackstar Brigade" are being reassigned to the Brazos
Sector and will be attached to the BEE
5TH Armored Cavalry Regiment








Commandant Steve (BLACKSTAR) has informed me that
the troops have embarked on UN transport and should
arrive here by Saturday. Reflagging ceremony will take
place Monday.