[Alkonost] Konya-class Light Merchant

Hull: Free Merchant
Power: 10/2 free
Mass: 15/7 free
Hardpoints: 2/2 free

Cost: 820,000
Budget Points: 4
Annual Maintenance: 0
Annual Payroll: 1
Total Annual Cost: 1

Hit Points: 20
Crew: 1/12
Speed: +3
Armour: 2
AC: 6

Weaponry: None
Defenses: None
Fittings: Spike Drive-2, Atmospheric Configuration, Fuel Scoops, Ship's Locker, Extended Life Support, Fuel Bunkers, Extended Stores, 140 tons of Cargo Space

Standard Crew: Pilot/Engineer and up to eleven passengers

The Konya-class Light Merchant (Konya meaning "Horse" in Russian), first produced in 3139 on Alkonost, was a quantum leap from the much older Mul. With doubled drill capacity and more than doubled passenger capacity, the Konyas ply the interstellar trade-routes all over the Alkonost Sector. Its main disadvantage when compared to the older Mul is its lack of armament; but its Fuel Bunkers allow it to drill away from danger even when emerging from a spike drill. It also has a much smaller cargo capacity, which is why many merchants who follow safer routes sometimes remove the Fuel Bunkers and Extended Stores in order to make room for more trade goods.

The Space Cockroach's Three-Month Plan

So much unpainted lead, so little time to paint it. As you might have recalled, I have decided to stop buying new miniatures and terrain until I'll finish painting and basing my current high mountain of unpainted lead. Not only am I in a lean time, financially speaking (between jobs and living from savings and freelance translation contracts), as well as almost out of storage space, but there is little point in spending money on miniatures while I have tens, if not hundreds, of unpainted miniatures still waiting to be painted.

But miniatures are not enough; what I need right now is terrain to game in. I do have a good number of (mostly unassembled) buildings from Proxie Models, enough to assemble a semi-ruined town of good size. I also have an ample supply of Plasticard to use for basing and roofs. With the addition of assorted junk, I could build myself Novi Pripyat in all its blasted-out glory.

Here are some buildings I have already erected, but not yet finished or painted:

Here are three storage tanks to go along with this:

So my plans for the April-June 2013 period are:

1) Finish the Ruined City 15mm-scale terrain set. This could be used for:

• Sicarii (AKA Sikrik), a bombed-out world in my Alkonost Sector where the Laanese (Rebel Minis Sahadeen with Combat Wombat tanks) will be fighting the Incunablis Machines (Khurasan Mekanoids), in solo wargaming.
• Pripyat, the abandoned city in the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation, used for STALKER solo fights.
• Neo-Stalingrad, for my Stalingrad 2072 solo game.

2) Finish up my Mars gaming board for introducing 15mm gaming to the Nexus gaming club in Rishon Lezion (about 20 minutes by bus from where I live in Rehovot). They already have a gaming mat, Easter island heads and some domes; it needs a few more domes, an alien "face" and a pyramid.

Everything else - tanks, miniatures and WH40K - will come later.

What do you think?

Stalingrad 2072 - Post-Apocalyptic T-34s

I've converted three Zvezda 1:100 plastic T-34 tank models into something more futuristic/post-apocalyptic for my Stalingrad 2072 project, using bits from Ground Zero Games and 15mm.co.uk.

Here is a work-in-progress:

Armoured Cars on the Move!

I've finished painting four armoured cars to serve the Fascist faction ("White Legion") in my Novi Stalingrad 2072 15mm wargaming campaign. These cars are HOF Light Tanks from 15mm.co.uk, EXCELLENT models and a great fun to work with, as with all other HOF minis.

March of the Red Mech Cavalry

Here is a 15mm Red Mech Cavalry squad for my Novi Stalingrad 2072 wargaming campaign. The minis are Kremlin Miniatures Rising Sun MANITOUs.

Is it Infantry or is it a Vehicle?

Here is a comparison of my Red "Cavalry" walker with an unpainted Red Warrior for Novi Stalingrad 2072. Do you think that the walker is big enough to be classified as an (unarmoured) Light Vehicle under the USE ME rules, or would it simply be Armoured Infantry with high ELAN and a Heavy Weapon?

By the way, what do you think of the walker's basing? It is supposed to be snow on mud/rubble.

Proletarian - to Suit!

Here are my work-in-progress 15mm "Cavalry" powered suits for the Commune (Neo-Soviets) of my Novi Stalingrad 2072 wargaming settingn (using USE ME Post-Apoc rules). The figures are, ironically, Neo-Japanese walkers by Kremlin Miniatures, as these look more "Soviet", IMHO, than their Neo-Soviet ones. Anyhow, these are highly recommended figures and a joy to paint!


I still need to base them, add red star decals (bought from QRF), and spray them with a matte sealer.

Novi Stalingrad: 2072!

Reading this thread on TMP got me thinking; after all, the Eastern Front is, IMHO, the most interesting part of WWII, and both the Soviets and the Nazis work well in sci-fi/PA versions. So I brought up the idea of a literal "Stalingrad 2072" campaign (i.e. Reds vs. Fascists clashing in 2072 in the ruins of Volgograd) in a conversation with my spouse - and wargaming partner/rival - Hannah, and she was intrigued!

So this will be my main PA project from now on. There would be three factions: Reds (low-tech, but with gas masks), Partisans (very low tech, no gas masks for most of them, some disfigured by bioweapons) and Fascists (heavy armour and good guns for each trooper. Tech would be a bit more advanced than today, with powered armour, light mechas, lasers and VTOLs, but no gravitics or sentient robots.

The setting is Stalingrad AKA Volgograd AKA Stalingrad again in 2072, 35 years after a major nuclear war and in the midst of a severe nuclear winter. The Red Army of the Stalingrad Kommune, emerging from the Volgograd University's cellars, fights the invading White Legion over the access to the Volga and to the nearby Baku's oil reserves. In order to bolster the defences against the fascist White Legion, the Kommune organizes various surviving groups outside of its main territory into Partisan detachments to harass the fascists' rear.

The ruleset I'm thinking about is GRUNTZ.

Note that the "invaders" are from another bunker in the outskirts of Volgograd (near the international airport). The Reds are from a bunker under the University.

Both factions had some time to grow, and now they are about the scale of the conflict between the NCR and the Legion in Fallout: New Vegas (or, more accurately, like a comparison of the NCR and the Enclave in Fallout II).

I've thought a little bit more about the Reds and I'm considering making them into a more rag-tag force ALA most forces in Metro 2033. Their main infantry weapon would be an improvised SMG (similar to the WWII-era PPS-43 or to the Bastard from Metro 2033); their "powered armour" would be clunky modified industrial lifter exoskeletons (represented by Kremlin Miniatures Rising Sun MANITOUs); and I'm even considering either giving them armoured cars (15mm.co.uk HOF Light Tanks) or Tachankas (i.e. technicals - using the Khurasan Rockjumper pickup) instead of usual tanks.

The fascists, on the other hand, would be like the Reich from Metro 2033 or the Enclave from Fallout 2 and 3 - using remnant military gear stolen from various bunkers around the city.

So here are the Fascists (Eureka Miniatures 15mm Sci-Fi Germans):



With a 15mm.co.uk HOF Light Tank:

And here are the Red Army troops, unpainted (yet!):
The infantry are 15mm.co.uk HOF Post-Apocalyptic Survivors; the commanders are Kremlin Miniatures Commanders and the powered armours in the back are Kremlin Miniatures Red Banner MANITOUs.