Minis, squads, and fluff

Sepia Team:



Part of the famous VFS-1 “Skull” Squadron, Sepia Team would suffer 500% casualties during the First War. In 2009 Indigo was led by a 2nd Lt., with three Sergeants filling out the Team, but over the course of the war it would be led by a 1st Lt., and 3rd Lt., and even briefly by a Sergeant. For two weeks all four members were officers (though this was only because the promotions had come through before the members were reassigned to lead their own teams). Over the course of the war it was not uncommon for Corporals to be flying the VF-1As. Despite the heavy, heavy casualties, two of the original members did survive the War, rising to Captain and Major and receiving command of their own Squadrons.

Here the unit is depicted performing a standard patrol, armed with AMM-1 multi-role missiles.





These were the first minis I finished. The paint scheme is obviously based on the "brownies," but with individual colour stripes to distinguish the different mechs, and a few detail changes:





The bases are for use with SilCore Rules, which tracks altitude, and the Battroids are magnitsed as well both for transportation and to allow them to switch to flight bases. In theory I'll also have several sets of finished bases with different forms of flocking and so forth, but that's mostly theory right now. The bases also allow for more entertaining poses for the jets:





The Guardians, except for Sepia Leader, have been modded slightly, shifting the legs forward. Unfortunately I didn't get a very good picture, this is the best I can do:



A last few parting shots:







And I've run out of day, so further units will have to wait!

Nice work.

As mentioned, partly for transport, but also to let the Battroids switch to flight-stands for when they're flying (or in space).  Also, in theory I'm going to do several different bases with different kinds of flocking, but that's very much a theory at the moment.

I LOVE the camo paint scheme on the Bayonet Squad.  AWESOME!!!

Since we're on Marines anyway, let's take a look at some Detroids, eh?

Bootneck Troop



"Bootneck" Troop, more formally known as 5 Troop, Alfa Squadron, Second Mobile Armoured Regiment, is a fairly typical UN Marine Destroid troop.  The four Tomahawks comprise the bulk of the striking power, while the pair of Defenders offer organic anti-aircraft support.  (The Defenders also offer excellent anti-infantry support; while targeting individual infantry is nearly impossible, the high rate-of-fire, high-shrapnel airburst weapons don't really need to.)  2nd MAR was the first formed Destroid unit to see combat, taking part in the 2007 Anti-UN uprising in Malaysia.  Their performance was more than satisfactory, and their mix of mobility and firepower more than validated the Destroid concept, though there was much commentary from those not read in on the details of the Visitor's crew about how wastefully huge the Destroids were.  Bootneck Troop spent most of its time on detatched duty, operating unsupported.  If suffered no combat casualties, and if not for a drunk-driving incident would have been one of three troops to suffer no casualties at all.  In 2009 2nd MAR was aboard UENS Daedalus and like everyone else on that ship, Bootneck Troop found themselves carried off to Pluto.  Fortunately for them, the Destroids were preparing to assault Macross Island and the crews were buttoned up.  Since all the Destroids were built to both Marines and Espatiers requirements, they survived the sudden plunge into vacuum - though the ship's crew did not.



The Troop Leader, usually a Chief Sergeant or Sub-Lieutenant (The UN Marines are based on the Royal Marines and the Légion étrangère.  The Armoured and Mobile Armoured Regiments draw their structure from the British Royal Armour Corps, while the ranks are taken from the Légion) rides one of the Defenders.  It was expected that the Defenders would be less continuously engaged than the Tomahawks, and the Defender's superior commo and sensor suite made it easier to add the -J C3I package for a Troop Leader.)



The Defender's MARINES markings are actually low-vis grey, which unfortunately is still high-contrast on the camo scheme.  The camo scheme is the same three colours as the Valkyries, but has green as the base instead of brown.



I believe the Torch-and-Hammer insignia is meant to be a regimental badge in the official Macross background, but I'm using it to show attachment to UENS Daedalaus.  If you look back to Bayonet Squad, you'll see they also have this badge.  Since all six of these Destroids are part of the same Regiment, they all have the same badge.



Like everything else I'm doing, the colour coding is there just to help tell the different vehicles apart.



It wasn't until I was taking these pictures I realised that these little triangles were for the Battroid's/Guardian's shoulders, which is why Sepia Teams are freehand painted.  (Since they were done, decaled and sealed it clearly wasn't worth going back to changed them.)  I'll get it right next time, though.



The Tomahawks MARINES markings are a much more reasonable black. Alas, when I was buying decals I hadn't planned to do MARINES on the destroids at all, and only had a handful of suitable size.  Which is why I used the low-vis ones on the Defenders.  (The sheets are half MARINES and half NAVY and I'm planning to do a flight of UN Navy Valks, so I'd bought lots of those - each "character" needs 12; the handful of black decals were mostly bought on a whim.  Since shipping costs more than the decals, I decided to make do.)



Again, this marking is supposed to mean "5th Regiment" or something like that; but translating it into British markings one gets 5th Vehicle, Alpha Troop, Brigade Headquarters.  (Well, WW2-rea markings anyway; my understanding is the modern armour doesn't mark vehicles at all.) Which is fine, except that all 6 Destroids have the same markings, so I've decided the "5" is the Troop number instead of the Vehicle Number, and that the Destroid Regiments have 6 troops per Squadron.



This gives a good look at what I plan to do for the bases: have several flocked for various terrain types and swap as appropriate.  I just need to decide what the default terrain for the Battroids will be.  (It also gives a good look at GCmini's Future Buildings:  gcmini.mybigcommerce.com/ultra-modern-future-city-buildings-6-285css052/ )



Destroids can't fly, obviously, but they can be used in space.  They're very slow, but they have thrusters.  So, the Destroids can be mounted on the flight stands if need be.




The learning curve on building the Tomahawks is a bit steeper than that of the Jets of Battlepods (though not as bad as a Battroid) but once mastered, these are so awesome.  I don't have any need for a second troop of these, but I may end up hunting down more just because.  Though, not until I get a whole lot more stuff finished. 

Great job on everything you did! Awesome paint job, base work, game board/terrain and stands! Loved what you did with your nuts! LOL!
Wish you were local. It would be fun to play your squads against my "Skittles" squads!

E-777 Airborne Command Post



The E-777 is an Airborne Early Warning variant of the Boeing 777 air liner.  Initial development work began in 1997 as a replacement for the aging E-3 Sentry AEW aircraft used by many factions in the Global Civil War, but nothing was complete before the Visitor's arrival in 1999.  After the Visitor brought the Global Civil War to an end, work was halted until 2004.  But this time many exciting advances had been made in electronics and computers, and the existing AEW aircraft were sorely out of date.

Several different designs for new AEW aircraft were put forward, and three different designs were approved: a light, carrier-borne version; an intermediate design using all-new Robotechnology (the EC-33), and the large E-777.  E-777s were intended to serve not just as Airborne Early Warning and flying flight-control towers, but as a full corps command centre.  The wide-body jet allowed for not only extensive C3I and sensor systems, but also rather comfortable living quarters - and a lot of fuel.  With expanded fuel tanks over the base 777-300ER, the E-777 can cruise for more than 24 hours on internal fuel alone.  Since the aircraft also has an in-flight refuelling system, it is possible to keep it in the air for nearly a week before it must land for maintenance and to restock food and oxygen.  In practice this is not quite achievable; but the E-777s proved their worth in Malaysia, when an UN Navy and a UN Spacy E-777 served as the primary command posts for the first 36 hours, as the Marines got themselves established ashore.

The advanced electronics allow for the sensor beam to be steered electronically, allowing for a fixed radome which is both lighter and more aerodynamic than the traditional disc.  This did turn out to be less precise as short ranges, which is why both the VF-1E and the EC-33 returned to the disc; but was not normally an issue with the E-777. 

The E-777 is technically unarmed, but it was discovered late in the Malaysian campaign that the sensor output was high enough that a focused, full power beam could inflict EMP damage on another vehicle.  This is only a last-ditch defence, however, as it tends to disable the sensor and communication systems that are the E-777's reason for being.



This model is actually a 1:200 scale Boeing 737, which is a much smaller jet.  But 737s and 777s are almost the same shape (just really different sizes), and it turns out that a 1:285 scale model of a 777 would be very nearly the same length as a 1:200 scale model of a 737.  Since I needed a model of a passenger jet for a single episode of my story, and since a two-pack of these 1:200 737s was (at the time) on sale for about $15, it seemed good enough for me!  I only needed one passenger jet, though, so the other was converted to this AEW version using a piece of the display stand, and then background fluff invented to suit it.



The underside does give away that it's not a 777 - the landing gear is all wrong - but it's more than good enough for my purposes.  Sure, this is little more than a flying target; but it looks cool.



And as you can see, it's nice and big. 

Okay, school's been eating my brain, but here's a short one to celebrate first mid-term being done. 



Though these vehicles were originally acquired by the UEDF for the Marines, the UN Spacy does have some need for ground units.  These specific miniatures are representing two different groups: a Shore Patrol unit and a Bombardment Liason Unit.  The paint scheme and basing is for the Shore Patrol, however, with it's high-visibility Spacy blue and the urban base.



For the Shore Patrol, the two Panhard Véhicules Blindé Léger are used as patrol vehicles. The VBL quite comfortably carries two Patrol officers up front, while the rear-area can be used for low-threat prisoner transport.  Since the vehicles aren't modified except for adding sirens and emergency strobes, any passenger in the back compartment has full access to the crew; for that reason high-threat prisoners should not be carried in the patrol cars.

When serving in a BLU, the VBLs would usually be painted a more bland colour - though combat experience did reveal that, other than the roundel, the medium-blue colour is fairly low-visibility in temperate and jungle environments anyway.  In a BLU, the VBLs are used both as a security/recon element for the Liason Officer's vehicle, or more often are forward-deployed with combat units to allow faster and more accurate fire requests.

As with other minis in my units, the red and yellow hatches are a nod to the show's colour-coding of character mecha, and an easy way to tell which mini is which.



The Véhicule de l'avant blindé miniature's double-duty is a bit more explicit.  The miniature is a 6x6 VCI-Toucan, which is an infantry combat vehicle with a 20mm cannon.  The UN Spacy miniature, though, is standing in for something else.

As the Shore Patrol vehicle, it's a VAB modified to serve as a paddy wagon. The gun on top is meant to be a water-cannon, for quickly sobering up soldiers who've partied too hard.  The troop compartment is isolated from the rest of the vehicle, and the doors can be locked from the outside.  The Transport de prisonniers is used for large groups, or for high-threat prisoners.

As the Bombardment Liason Unit vehicle, the VAB is representing a variation of the VAB ATLAS artillery command-and-control vehicle.  In this case, the VAB is equipped with advanced robotech C3I systems to co-ordinate both airstrikes from UN Spacy aircraft and valkyries, and long-range satellite communications to call in orbital bombardments.  Though not really up to co-ordinating the movements of large numbers of aircraft, the VAB-BLU can provide enough information for an airborne command centre or a carrier's flight-direction centre to quickly prepare the strike.  The VAB-BLU is quite capable of setting up an orbital strike.  It also has enough coms capacity to have dedicate links to both of its escort VBLs, four orbiting warships, Navy ships, or AEW aircraft, and up to six ground-forces units.  Usually the BLU is deployed as a brigade level asset, with VBLs attached to smaller units that might need priority supporting fire.



Minis-wise, these are GHQ figures.  Since those come in packs of 5 and I only needed 4 VABs and 3 VBLs for my Marines, I decided to paint the others blue and then came up with a purpose for them.  With the UN Spacy kite on them I think they look quite good.

These look amazing, and I love your terrain as well mate. Great work.

Okay, having dumped the Anti-UN into one post (mostly), how about something more interesting?

V-22S Space Osprey



During the development of the Micro-Fusion Turbine that would eventually go on to power the VF-1 Valkyrie, early models were tested in various existing aircraft. One of the test craft was a V-22B Osprey. When the UEDF saw how much more power the MFT could develop compared to the original turbo-props, but without the range penalties of a jet engine, they immediately drafted a request for proposals for an MFT equipped assault/transport aircraft.



Boeing's revamp of their V-22 was the winner. The V-22S used the same basic airframe as the V-22, but was made from transluminum - the same Robotechnological alloy that the Valkyries are made from. The engines are a pair of MFT's, mounted in nacelles; like the Valkyrie they are essentially a very high speed ducted turbofan that can also operate as a pure rocket. The fuel tankage in the wings still exists but is used to store reaction mass for when the thrusters are in rocket mode; leaving the tanks empty for in-atmosphere operations both increases the carrying capacity by three tonnes and vastly reduces the risk of secondary explosions under fire. The cabin is not only pressurized but uses seals rated for over 300 hours in vacuum; the V-22S was designed from the outset to be used by both the UN Marines as an assault transport and the UN Spacy as a utility shuttle and dropship.



With the modern battlefield being dominated by easily transported guided missiles, the Space Osprey includes a point-defence system. Many different approaches were tried in the design stage, but the simplest proved to be simply mounting a VF-1A head-turret on the fuselage. The head-turret itself is a largely self-contained sensor package and weapon system, meant to run of electricity generated by the MFT, and adding the reinforcement to hold it would have been needed no matter what sort of system was used. Unfortunately, though well-placed for air-to-air defence, the dorsal-mounted turret cannot engage man-portable ground-launched weapons, nor be used for fire-support in a hot landing zone. Plans to replace the dorsal VF-1A turret with a ventral VF-1M turret had not yet reached operational prototypes when Boeing was lost in the Rain of Death.



The first batch of V-22Ss were operation for the last three weeks of the Malaysian uprising in 2007. By 2009, a full squadron was deployed on UENS Daedalus. Unlike most of the Daedalus' crew, many of the Space Ospreys were in the air during the jump to Pluto, and though they were laregly unable to manoeuvre (lacking reaction mass), 80% of the aircrew survived, with many going on to be the first batch of "replacements" for the Valkyrie squadrons.





As for the miniature, it's based on a V-22 from Heroics and Ros. It's less detailed and less accurate than the GHQ version... but it also costs about $3.50 instead of $10. And at table distance, I almost don't notice, so I'll save that money thank you very much! The engines are the V-22's, mounted backwards, with endcaps from the MLOPS serving as nozzles, and of course the VF-1A head on top. The paint was supposed to be the same as the Marines VF-1s, but I got mixed up so it has a darker base coat. Oh, well. It still looks good!

But there are groundpounders too!













We've seen these models before, but here they're in Marines, not Spacey, colours.  The M113 is kitbashed from an ADATS with bits of the Destroid command sprue to serve as a C3I vehicle.





With Big Brother.










A troop of Israeli-built Merkava tanks serving as the UN Marines Main Battle Tank.  This is a big mini!  The turrets sit solidly enough that I didn't need to glue them on, which is always more fun.






















Light walkers made by the Republic of Korea; in my story developed independently of the official Robotech Projects using the information that was released publicly and the simple knowledge that it could be done.  This is a "Parade Paintjob" for a troop invited to take part in the SDF-1 Launch Ceremonies, and gets hauled to Pluto.  Used as Civil Defence and destroyed when the Zentraedi boarded the SDF-1 and destroyed Macross City.  After the Rain of Death the designers make it to the unfinished Australian Grand Cannon base and this becomes one of the very first Southern Cross mecha.  Mini from Ground Zero; the rocket pack on the heavy weapons unit is the ADAT bits not used on the Marines C3I vehicle above.