Q13 Army Lists Updated

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It’s been ages since I updated my sample army lists for Quadrant 13, the sci-fi version of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum.

Since the last update, I’ve added loads of figures to my collection, so have updated the lists accordingly.

In this update, we have:

  • Trilaterum’s Reavers added to the serpentine Astagar

  • Stats for the Ikwen plus all the new flyers added to the mini-dinosaur Chuhuac list

  • Clear Horizon’s Hura added as a new list: infantry from Clear Hoizons supported by some of Brigade’s excellent vehicles

  • The Invaders added as a catch-all “little green man” list using infantry from Khurasan plus all those tripods I bought for All Quiet on the Martian Front.

  • The marine Pelagic Dominate army gets stats for the Laminids and Mozzians

  • Those dogs of war, the Protolene Khanate, add the Raug from Khurasan and the Garrhul from Dark Star to their roster

  • I’ve added some Dark Star vehicles to the Tah-Sig

  • And finally, the Barad from Trilaterum have been added to the Ursids

So a fairly major update there for you all to enjoy:

Q13 Army Lists

Q13: Last of the Invaders

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Just finished photographing the last of the All Quiet on the Martian Front tripods I have been working on. This last batch consisted of another three scout tripods, two grenadier tripods, seven assault tripods and a power node terrain piece.

That’s a lot of points for the Painting Challenge!

Rather than have the tripods as a separate Martian army, I’m going to use them as the AFV element of my Invaders army that uses the Khurasan Alien Invasion range as its core infantry component. As I’ve also now had a chance to photograph all of them, it means another gallery added to the Q13 section of the website: one that shows the entire force.

You can find that by clicking here, but here’s a picture of the army en masse:

Oh yes, finally, someone wrote in asking what colour the tripods were sprayed: it was Ford Neptune Green from the Halfords range of car paints.

More Martian Tripods

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Still working my way through all my All Quiet on the Martian Front tripods.

First up are three more Scout Tripods:

Only three more of them to go!

Next is a quick one off: the Slaver Tripod, which I will be using as the command tripod for the Invaders' AFV force:

That's a metal tripod (the Scout Tripods are all plastic kits) and weighs in pretty heavy.

Finally for this batch, there's an extra I picked up as part of the Kickstarter offer: a downed Assault Tripod.

That's it for this update: plenty more tripods to go.

Oh, and I've had a chance to update the TFL Painting Challenge Scorecard.

First of the Martians

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last weekend's work

My current project or, rather, one of my current projects, is to add the All Quiet on the Martian Front models that I bought as part of the original Kickstarter to the figures that I've painted from Khurasan Miniatures' 15mm sci-fi The Invaders range. I spent last weekend building all the tripods, so this weekend's task was to paint up the first of them.

I didn't fancy brush painting twenty-four plus large 15mm models, so determined that most of the work would be done via spray paint...but which colour to choose. I wanted something metallic, which meant buying some new paint, as all my existing sprays are various shades of dull green or brown or desert yellow (i.e. WW2 and 6DW colours).

I was driving home, thinking about where to get appropriate sprays, surrounded by other cars, when I suddenly realised that I was looking at exactly what I wanted: metallic car paint. A quick trip to Halfords, and I bought a couple of cans of a light green metallic colour. Each can was only £6.99 as well: considerably cheaper than GW or other hobby paint.

Spraying all the tripods took up a can and a half, but twenty minutes in today's blazing sunshine dried everything off nicely. I wouldn't have time to complete all of the models after the initial spray, so settled on the small flying drones and three scout tripods.

Flying Drones

Very simple to finish them:  I painted the "eye" red, any equipment in two shades of grey, any electricals or power sources in a light purple, the tentacles in black-dry-brushed-with-iron, and then found a few places to put a drop of scarlet or metallic blue for variety. Finally, I based them as usual, then used Halfords lacquer to finish them.

I'm very pleased with the result.

The first three scout tripods

A Busy Weekend

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Those of you who follow this blog regularly will know that I have been painting Khurasan Miniatures' 15mm sci-fi range called "The Invaders". This consists of three sets of miniatures: the Science Caste (little grey men), the War Caste (little green men), and two types of Warborg battle robot.

Warborg Heavies - rather nice

They are all done now, but what I need are some vehicles to go along with them. I was wondering whether to start a quick search of the 'net for something appropriate when I remembered that I had several boxes of unbuilt and unpainted models from the All Quiet on the Martian Front Kickstarter. What could be more appropriate for vehicles to accompany a range called The Invaders?

A quick root through the lower slopes of the lead mountain and there they were. And a quick Bank Holiday Monday later, and here is about half of the initial build:

In total, I seem to have acquired about 18 of the large tripods, so there's another shelf's worth in addition to what's shown.

I didn't have any instructions, so had to work out how to put them together from pictures of completed models. Not a problem: they go together intuitively, and there's only a couple of critical points that you need to be aware of during construction.

Now all I have to do is paint them!

More Invaders!

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You may recall that my current project is to paint up the company of "The Invaders": a 1950's inspired 15mm sci-fi range from Khurasan Miniatures.

First up, a couple of weeks ago, were the Kalinet Warborgs (see post on July 8th). Now, to go with them, I've completed the troops from the Warcaste: little green men:

I've got two platoons (each of three heavy squads) plus enough drone controllers and electronic warfare specialists to give the opposition a right pain in the keyboard!

These are lovely little models: proper 15mm rather than being little green men who tower over the opposition. The arms and legs look delicate, but I had no problems when painting or basing them. Variety isn't bad: I reckon there are about eight or nine variants plus the command and drone control figures.

They painted up very easily. Spray dark green, then highlight all skin in two lighter shades ending with a very bright green for the last highlight. All clothing was dark purple highlighted in lilac. Weapons were two shades of grey. They have loads of augs in their heads, all of which I touched up in gold. Took about two hours per platoon from start to finish.

Now all I have to do is to add the high command of Greys, and I'm done.

Recommended.

First of the Invaders!

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Another 15mm sci-fi range that I've found at the back of the cupboard is Khurasan's "Alien Invasion".

At the moment, the range consists of three different types of infantry and one truly and utterly ridiculously huge transport (and yes, that is a 15mm tank for scale comparison).

Leaving aside the £50 piano stool shown right, the infantry are actually quite fun. The three different types are the Greys (little grey men available as scientists or armed), the War Caste (little green men) and the Kalinekt Warborg battle robots.

So far I have only had a chance to paint the Kalinekt Warborgs, but they have turned out very nicely indeed. There are two different types: a standard 'borg with a machine pistol and a heavy 'borg armed with a giant gatling-style cannon. Both types have several very characterful poses.

The 'borgs are about 20mm high, and I can't wait to get these chaps onto the battlefield.

Same figures, different angle

Q13: New Releases from Khurasan

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As I've been a bit obsessed with Poland lately, I haven't been paying any attention to anything else:  such as Quadrant 13 and 15mm sci-fi in general.

Well, that's apart from buying and painting a whole load of Xar from GZG of course!

Anyway, and moving swiftly on, browsing around the Internet the other morning I came across the Khurasan website again, and thought I'd better check what was new...especially as I think John is still banned from publicising his miniatures on TMP (don't ask!). You can see them all on FB, but who has time these days?

There were two new ranges on here that I'm seeing for the first time, both of which are now firmly on my shopping list.

Alien Invasion

First up are a range of aliens specifically designed as invaders of the Earth. There's plenty of background that I won't repeat here, but basically you've got some science caste types who are your, er, basic greys, and then you have some absolutely wonderful warrior types:

These warrior types are supported by what are called Kalinekt Warborgs, and I quote: "these are both machines and living things -- implanted with the brain of a hunting animal long ago discovered and domesticated by the War Caste. Like earth's sheepdogs, these creatures are relentless in encirclement and pursuit, and keen for the approval of their masters. Brains now housed in a complex chassis constructed of titanium alloy, plastic and other materials, and using advanced weaponry, they are formidable foes."

Finally, and I'm afraid completely ridiculously, there are the Manoeuvre Elements which are...which are...well, see for yourself:

Yes, that is a 15mm tank squatting between its legs.

Now that is one big model. It costs $119 which, for its size is not that bad...but I can't see myself ever getting it onto the wargames table.

So I'm loving the warriors and the warborgs, and will be getting a platoon or two of them. I'll probably use the greys as Big Men.

The Tah-Sig Empire

Next up are the Tah-Sig, part of the Zantin Reconquest range. These are properly alien aliens (not just humans with funny heads!), and come complete with a detailed background as well.

Available are all the figures you'd need for a basic infantry company: sections of riflemen organised in to platoons, with platoon assets such as mortars and LSWs available as well.

So that's my Christmas money all used up now!

You can visit the Khurasan website by clicking here. Feel free to mention VL when you buy something: John might give me a discount!

Q13: Next Steps

Incidentally, I am producing a second edition of Q13 which will be a fairly radical redraft. Apparently, in an attempt to provide differences for all different types of weapon etc, I've allowed the thing to get cumbersomely complicated for tabletop play.

I can see this: after all, I myself have found it easier to produce almost a battlefield QRF sheet for all my armies (downloadable form the Q13 section of this website). So that will be simplified, with those changes running through to army construction etc.

Watch this space for more.