Tis the season...

Strangely enough, it's been a bit busy with holiday preparations here at the Hobby Front, but I've managed a little bit of hobby time in the calm before the storm:

[Project X]First Game

The blog has been living up to it's name lately, but then again not: I've done quite a bit on the Hobby Front lately:

Game log for this Friday:

Planetfall

Players: Ahmadan / Avalon

Points Value: 4000
Factions & Allies: Aquans / Directorate & Works Raptor

Starting Zero Hour: 40
Zero Hour Score: 27 / 2 (Directorate Victory)

Turn Count: 3

Called for time, but there was no way I could have caught up, not with only a single Take and Hold unit remaining.

First two activations his WR Helix killed my Heavy Helix (CQBd and shot my Haumea to death with the hoverlights, and I then failed my morale for the Tank Destroyers, causing them to be Forlorn due to a previous casualty from the Intereceptors)

I did manage to scrape some points back, though, once I started to grind through his squadrons, but it was not enough.
To the left you can see one of the better moments of the game, my two Sednas and a squad of Recon facing off against three Directorate Heavy Tanks.
End result? Two dead human Heavies, and a single Sedna left standing... I call that a win (albeit barely...)

Also, my Leviathan failed to cause any damage whatsoever two out of three turns... Time to send the cadets piloting the thing back to gunnery school.

To the right you can see the situation at the end of the game, the secondary objectives are in the middle of the table towards the wall. A strong Directorate presence still, and with no way of capturing the objectives short of pouring horrible amounts of firepower into his entrenched infantry, not really that much to do (besides taking my unguarded Primary, on my left flank, something I should have done much earlier... =

Also, my Project X fleet got to show off (or rather ground to dust), on the same day I got everything bar the SRS completed!


Armada

Players: Ahmadan vs Mikael
Points: 800
Scenario: Defend the Station
Factions and Allies: Relthoza vs Tarakians
Battle log: 0/7, Tarakian victory.

Mental note: there is no point whatsoever keeping cloaks on against Tarakians... His cruisers (4 ship strong squadrons, with 5 HP each and indirect weapons? Yea, the Tarakians should do just fine against their ancient enemy...) picked apart most of my fleet, with the Ganak Battleship finishing up afterwards...



Conversion Corner:

I recently started modifying my Aquan Leviathan, to remove the one detail I was less fond of, the hinges at the feet:
The armour plates are actually the front pieces from old Chironex Cruisers. I've since started to blend them into the legs using green stuff, expect some more WIP this week.





That's all folks, as the bunny used to say... 

[Project X]Tier 2 WIP

All has not been quiet lately, but hobby time has come in short burst of productivity. Fortunately, that's been planned for...

More after the jump.

[Project X]The Fearless

The Fearless

So, some work on my Ba'Kash Destroyers, in fact I'd say that they are completed!

 WIP from the painting table, some weathering added (in the shape of drybrushed dark metal).
Let's face it, with the background for these raiders, regular maintenance is not likely...

Finished! Sort of... I'm debating adding something to the engine glow (below), but I'm not sure what.

My first ever attempt at engine glow!
I will get better...








Engine glow aside, I'm calling these done for now, at least as far as the paint log goes...

[Project X] Part II

Just a quick WIP of my two mk1 Ba'Kash destroyers:

Sprayed AP Skeleton Bone, washed AP Soft tone for the tan parts, AP Green Tone for the green parts, and VMC Brown Ink for the dark brown parts.

Simple, and effective, although I'm considering yet another scheme for larger vessels... 

Introducing.... Project X!

As usual, a little less progress than I'd liked, but at least some, and a new project to boot!

More after the break:

Big things on the horizon!

Three of them, to be specific my three Aquan heavy tanks, one Haumea and two Sednas:

Belly view:

I've spent some extra time on the bone parts here, using both Khaki, a darker brown and ink to create gradients. Looks fairly decent, if I say so myself (and I'm not done yet...)

Top view:

I've not made as much progress on the top half, only gotten so far as to block in the base colours, wash with Blue Tone, and start on the bone parts of the weapons.
The differences in tone and paint scheme is intentional, although I want the colours to be similar, I want these beasts to be a bit more individualistic than their smaller cousins (and the Haumea should be be even further differentiated). I might even go so far as to add some battle scars in the end, to further reinforce the fact that they are massive war machines.

Game wise, the Sedna fulls the much needed role of main punch in the force, as the mediums lack the close up firepower (both with Main Ordinance and CQB) to match most opponents. Hence, the Sedna should probably be used in pairs, although I've been experimenting with only using a single as a oversized APC for my infantry, to try and grab the secondaries. The downside to this is that I then have to try to punch with a Lamana squad (with Sirsir support, of course), which tends to result in a battle of attrition that the Aquans are ill suited for.

I'm going to give it a few more tries, before giving up on the idea...


Speaking of large things, Spartan released some images of the Aquan Leviathan Helix last week:

All in all, I'm impressed. Something I would not have guessed (a walker, among a faction of skimmers), with a design that complements the existing models, while still not being solely designed from re-used elements of other models.
The one thing I'm not sure about is the feet, but I've got some old Chironex Cruiser front pieces that might make decent 'talons' instead (sure, I'll have to remove about 80% of the bit to make it fit, but... ).

Now all I'm waiting for is the Recon helix....:-D

Themed fleet concept part 1 - Fleet List

So, with the advent of the Overseers box I recently received I've started thinking about what to do with the ships therein.

I've got slightly more than 2000 points of Aquans painted so far, in a fairly easy turquoise scheme, but I've been thinking about doing something different for this batch.
My fleet so far got done in a concentrated effort last spring, and I'd like to avoid  getting bored with my regular paint scheme (I got a bit burned out towards the end...). 
I'd also like to limit myself a bit, set a clear goal to make it easier to commit to, and hence get done.

The launch of Planetfall got me brainstorming some ideas around; what would a Quick Response force look like for the Aquan Sebrutan? 
Let's face it, once a Directorate raiding fleet has shown up at a colony and blown away it's defenders, you'd want to have something to rapidly reinforce or counter-invade the planet with.
The same setup could probably be used for quick hit and run invasions of your own, or intelligence gathering, something like an Aquan version of the USMC, basically.


Basically, this would be a themed force, a "Breaking Wave Shoal"**. A small force, concentrating on speed and firepower, and Wings (for rapid transportation of assets to the surface, and aerial support afterwards). 
Some boarding capabilities and area denial (to keep enemy reinforcements at bay) would probably come in handy as well...

So, what does this give us regarding fleet design?
Starting with the Return of the Overseers box, there is already a Tier 1, the new Oannes Heavy Carrier, that fits the bill perfectly: good firepower, and either sneaky (Difficult Target on a Tier 1? Don't mind if I do!), or with a decent complement of shields. 

The new Shiva Gunships is another solid squadron, plenty of firepower, and with a Sulis in the squadron they should be able to skulk around out of Line of sight fulfilling the stealth criteria, so that takes care of the mandatory Tier 2 squadron (and makes use of the RotO

For Smalls, I'm thinking Snapper Corvettes, both because of the speed, but also because of the very handy Elusive Target MAR. For once, I'm actually thinking of upgrading with Pack Hunters, to give some added punch.






   

That is a T2 squadron and some upgrades short of a Patrol Fleet, I could see either of the three following:

• Stingray destroyers, for some added long-range punch

• Arual Assault Cruisers, to follow the theme and add some close range capabilities (and the added ties to the Planetfall Recon Helix does not hurt)

• Isonade Cruisers, for mine laying capabilities, and harassment (3 regular cruiser with the Mine Hardpoint, with a Heavy to lead them, have a respectable amount of firepower, while still keeping to budget)

For larger fleets I'd probably add one or two Orca battlecruisers and another T2 squadron, rounding out the Firepower theme.

The hard part remains, colour scheme!





**Named for where the sea meets land with force, but 'Surf Shoal' sounded a bit... meh.