Robotech - Winter 2016 project

As a kid that grew up in the mid 80's, our lives revolved around the cartoons that came on right when we got home from Jr. High.  Voltron, GI Joe, Transzor Z and my personal favorite, Robotech.  All the other cartoons we fun but Robotech was like real life to my 12 year old mind.  Semi-realistic battle scenes, characters dying, fighters that look like F-14s and real cool looking mechs.  My friends and I even played the Robotech RPG during high school, although I'm not sure how that is possible now.  You need a advanced degree to figure it out.

So I've been keeping tabs on Robotech as I grew up.  Finally, the Robotech mini game Kickstarter came out four years ago.  I went in and got two box set worth since that has been one of my childhood dreams, actually playing a wargame of Robotech.  I'm not going to go into the whole mess of the kickstarter but I wasn't very motivated after I got my Wave 1 shipment (about half the promised mechs). 

Last year I ran into a couple guys at church that actually like Robotech as much as I did.  That got me in gear to actually get out my figures, put them together and paint them up.  I'm not a big fan of the game after reading the rule book, so I'm in the process of making up a simpler rule set that I will enjoy.  Something that will give me the feel of the show without all the silly Palladium baggage that comes with the official game.

So this is my November/December 2016 finished product.  I'm happy with the models.  I actually had fun putting them together but I've put together like 600 Victrix Napoleonic French and Greeks plastics too.  16 part count models don't bother me.  I had to supplement my Wave 1 models with some stuff I got off Shapeways, some Zentraedi Gnerls.  I also have a Cat's Eye recon plane I haven't painted yet.  The other day I picked up a MAC II Destroid Monster that is 1/240 scale.  A bit bigger than the 1/285 figures but it's a Monster!  Now if I could get my hands on some Female Power Armor I'd be in 7th heaven.  I missed out when they sold the pewter Gencon exclusive versions of those.

I'm putting on a convention game of this at our local San Diego game con at the end of April, Kingdon-Con.  I need to paint up some more units for that.  I'm also putting on a Team Yaakav game and a Swordpoing Ancients game I need to get a few units ready for also.  But, that's how I get myself painting.

So here are my pictures.  I've had one playtest of my rules and well... changes have been made.  The humans got ganked pretty hard.

This is about half my Wave 1 models

Little closer shot of the battle pods

Rick and Max veritech battloids

A few destroids.  I have another four on my painting table now.

Roy Fokker's Skull One

Some Shapeways Gnerls

Play test game, humans getting stomped part 1

Play test game, humans getting stomped part2

My die-cast Monster.  Hmm I need to add a picture of this next to a battle pod

The box it came in

Team Yaakav Meeting Engagement - On the road to Damascus

When it rains, it pours.  I got a lot of posts to catch up on.  This is a meeting engagement battle between the Syrians and some Jordanian support teams against the Israeli armored force.  I signed up to put on the game at our local gaming club Tuesday night game night.  There are about 10 of us and we rotate putting on games every Tuesday.  I tapped into my friend Bill's hoard of Syrian infantry for this battle.  We both recently rebased all our Middle East figures from Peter Pig basing to Team Yankee.

I used the lists and unit stats I've been posting about the last year.  I have a point cost for them now too and it was about a 130 point game.  I was anticipating six players and didn't want everything on the table at once so I went with the Meeting Engagement scenario from the book.  So we started with half the units on the table and the other half coming in as delayed reserves.

Syrians OOB

Syrian Infantry HQ

Player 1 =  T-72 x 6, T-55 x 6, Commando company (4 AK47, 3 RPG-17, 2 Sagger stands), Mechanized Infantry company (7 AK47, 6 RPG, 1 PKM LMG stands, BMP-1 x 9)


Player 2 =  T-62 x 6, T-62 x 6, Commando company (4 AK47, 3 RPG-17, 2 Sagger stands), Mechanized Infantry company (7 AK47, 6 RPG, 1 PKM LMG stands, BTR-60 x 9)


Player 3 (Jordanians) =  Khalid x 3, Mechanized Infantry platoon (4 M16, 3 M60, 1 Dragon stand, M113 x 4), Shilka x 2, MI-24 Hind x 2

Israeli OOB

Israeli Infantry HQ with M113

Player 1 = Merkava I x 3, Mechanized Paratrooper platoon (4 FN MAG, 3 RPG-17, 1 Dragon stand, M113 Zelda x 4), TOW Jeeps x 4, M163 VADS x 2

Player 2 = Magach 3 x 4, Magach 6 x 3, Mechanized Paratrooper platoon (4 FN MAG, 3 RPG-17, 1 Dragon stand, M113 Zelda x 4), AH-1 Cobras x 2

Player 3 = Magach 3 x 4, Magach 6 x 3, Mechanized Paratrooper platoon (4 FN MAG, 3 RPG-17, 1 Dragon stand, M113 Zelda x 4), M125 Mortar carriers x 2


I setup the terrain and pre-placed the objectives.  One of each side of the board, one in the hills and one in the town.  The board was 8' x 5'.  I made the Syrian Commando's veteran for this battle, so 4+ to hit which probably wasn't a good idea.

Quick synopsis of battle:  Syrians started with commandos on the board, dug into some hills back up by some T-62s and T-72s.  The Jodanians had their Khalids on top of a hill with their infantry ready to push into the village.  The Israeli's had a unit of Magach 3 and Magach 6 pushing into the Khalids on the right.  The center had a mechanized infantry platoon moving into the town supported by some Magach 3s and the left had the paratroops holding the flank with the ATGM jeeps.

The tank rush on the right got demolished by the Khalids.  That left the city pretty much open to the Syrians with only one Israeli mechanized platoon to hold it.  The jeeps and paratroopers kept the left flank secure.  Tanks died all over from ATGM and other tanks.  Replacements came in peace meal, just enough to plug a gaps left by destroyed units.  The Syrians were able to move one commando company into the village to support the Jordanian infantry.  They kicked the Isareli infantry out and took the objective.  The Israeli's had some help coming from reserves but not fast enough (especially when the Syrian mechanized companies rolled on the board).  A strong Syrian win.

Here are a bunch of random pictures of the game taken by my friend Rene.  The full set of pictures is over at:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/124196980@N02/sets/72157680628229005

Khurasan T-62 review

I bought a set of six Khurasan T-62s about a year ago.  I've always liked their figures but never really got around to painting these.  Too many projects keep distracting me (as you can see with my sporadic posting here).  

First, is a picture of the assembled tank.  The body of the tank is resin with metal add on bits.  The tracks come in both metal and resin for you to choose.  I went with the metal tracks. There was practically zero mold lines or flash to take care of.  The only trouble I had was gluing the metal parts to the resin turret/body of the tank.  I wasn't really sure what glue to use to I ended up using Testor's plastic model cement to get the parts to stick in place then went back over with normal model super glue.  The IR light next to the main gun also didn't fit in very well.  I used my Dremel to make the slot it fits in a bit larger.  The kit also gives you the option to have gas tanks on the back or just the supports for them.

 

 I then primed them white and went looking for a camo scheme to use. I found a picture of Syrian T-62 model I liked and went with that.

I used my airbrush to paint on the base coat and camo.  The base coat was Russian Green with spots of Sand Yellow and German Grey (all Vellajo airbrush paints).   After I finished painting the tracks, stowage and other little parts, I gloss coated it to get ready for the washes.  Here is a picture of the base coats.

I then used my MIG AMMO enamel wash (Wash for Dark Green vehicles) and put on the decals.  Then I gloss coated it again and applied some streaking here and there.

 

I put on some wear and tear with some dark grey paint on a sponge, did a quick ivory dry brush and dull coated it. Finally, at the end I dry brushed some steel paint over the tracks then used some white glue and dirt pigments to dirty the tracks up.  Here are the final pictures.

So, overall, the Khurasan T-62 is really nice.  It's definitely a bit more to put together compared to the metal Command Decision tanks from Old Glory but the detail is very nice. 

Jordanians for Team Yaakav

I painted up a small force of Jordanians to fight with the Syrians in Lebanon.  I thought it would add a little variety to the Syrian side.  Give the Israeli's a tank they would really need to fear in the Khalid.

The Khalid models are Battlefront Chieftains from the British Team Yankee set.  I used this Jordanian M113 camo scheme as my template.  I'm just guessing here but it looks like an earlier version of their digital type camo they have on their tracks now.  The M113 models are also Battlefront, from the Fate of a Nation line.  The infantry are Battlefront US Vietnam infantry.  I read somewhere that during the Gulf War I, the Jordanian's used US kit with the desert camo.  I can't find that source anymore but it looks good enough for me.

I organized the Jordanian platoons based on the Jordanian Gulf War I organization from MicroMark Army Lists.  The armored platoon was three tanks.  The mechanized platoon was four stands of M-16 infantry, three small machine gun stands with M60s, and one stand with a Dragon ATGM.  There are four M113 APCs to go with them.  Finally the company commander stand goes with them.  In the first game with them I made them just as skilled as the Israeli's.  4+ to hit and morale of 4+.

 

Camouflage scheme I used for all my Jordanians

 

Khalid Tanks

 

 

M113 APCs 

 

Infantry platoon with M16s,  M60s and one dragon ATGM.