Harook Support Troops

I've finished 7 of my 20 Harook Support Troops. 1 sniper, 4 SAW gunners and 2 Plasma gunners. They sport my usual Harook multi-coloured head and tail feathers.

Back Left : Sniper.  Front Left : Plasma Gunner. Back Right : SAW Gunner

Two Harook fireteams move into the ruins

The sniper lines up his shot

The second squad move into the ruins

I've Got Stuff!

Speedily delivered from Buffalo Grove, Illinois comes a parcel entitled YOU GOT STUFF full of Harooky goodness. Plasma gunners, SAW's and Snipers to beef (chicken?) up my avian forces.

Along with a squad of jetpack equipped TMP troopers too. I'll have to find a way to angry them up in this style but it'll be a challenge with 15mm figs. Have to find some very thin wire.

And as I've got the next week off work, hopefully the Harook will be spanking in red/green/blue/violet quite soon.

Actually Fighting in an Asteroid

Here is an after action report of a skirmish in an asteroid using my asteroid enclosure fighting rules (modified slightly following input from Mr Rubber Suit Theatre on the TMP forums to reduce the Coriolis effect. The only weapons affected by the Coriolis effect would be low velocity snub weapons used by the miners and two teams of specialist zero-G assault troops on the marine side who have entered the tunnels from the exterior of the asteroid rather than disembarking in the main ship docking area.

2 Harook Grav tanks await the attack, assisted by the miners heavy laser vehicle. A warped photo to try and show what the terrain is meant to portray.

Background

The background to the attack is that following the Fifth Frontier War a rebellious bunch of asteroid miners (or Belters as they like to be known), take the opportunity to take over a Sword Worlds controlled asteroid habitat for themselves. The Sword World marine force, still reeling from their defeat in the war against the Imperium attempt to retake the asteroid. After securing the docking area they move on to take the main enclosure and the underground tunnel complex.

The marines can only enter from the main gate or from one of nine access ducts scattered about the enclosure. To fight their way through the tunnels they have to roll 1D6 + (the number of attacking teams in the tunnels) - (the number of defending teams in the tunnels). The result is the number of teams that can enter the enclosure from a random location (1d10, 1-9 = the duct rolled for, 10 = lost in the tunnels)

The miners sent the majority of their forces down into the tunnels, leaving the Harook to defend the main enclosure, however the marines ignored the tunnels save for their two teams of specialists and attempted to overwhelm the defenders in a mass charge straight out of the main gate.

Photos of the Battle

The view from the fields	The overgrown biodome
Bridge over the River Why	Bridge and Biodome
Main Street	The Harook arrive
Harrok grav tank takes off	Preparing for the attack
Harook in the trenchs	The rebel miners HQ. Most of the miners are down below fighting the attackers in the tunnels leaving the Harook mercenaries to hold the main enclosure. The Harook have an aversion to close tunnels and much prefer the open air
A Harook squad defends the ruins with the assistance of one of the grav tanks	The first attack is halted by the Harook grav tanks.
The rest of the assault troops rush through the main gate and are pinned down. Finally some success as the HAMR sniper team destroys the miners laser vehicle	The marines assault grinds to a halt in the fields as the Harook squad in the "Chicken House"fend of repeated attacks taking very few casualties with the assistance of grav vehicles and flanking squads on overwatch. At the top of the photo is the remains of the marines ATGM armed remote controlled Infantry Support Robot. The ATGM turret was disabled by laser fire from one of the Harook grav tanks whose armour managed to defeat the only shot the robot got off. The marines command squad hide in the building next to the main gate, while their assault squads suffer in the fields.
View from the "Chicken House" of the advancing marines
The marine DIMOG unit charges down the road from the main gate and engages the Harook Treehouse
The marine tunnel squad battles through the underground maze and enters the the enclosure in some ruins at the rear of the Harook defences. Unfortunately for them the Harook are reinforced by miners exiting the tunnels on the other side of the table who run step from one side of the table to the other across the joined edges and the combined force manages to pin down the attackers. The blue disk is a service duct entrance (number 3), made by sticking a printed out manhole cover to a 2 pence coin.
The battlefield scene just before the marines withdraw back to the main gate to make new assault plans.

The Aftermath

The marines withdrew with heavy casualties. They did however manage to destroy the miners heavy laser vehicle as well as destroying the main gun on one of the grav tanks. The DIMOG was eventually destroyed as well as the ATGM turret on the walker robot.

The Rules

The curvature rules took a little getting used to and the Coriolis effect never came into play as the range that the low velocity weapon armed troops engaged in was too close for it to apply.

Once again I (and my opponent) struggled with the Tomorrow's War rules. The fact that a unit can react and react and react (only losing 1 FP for each additional reaction) does seem to make defenders incredibly powerful, add in a couple of units on overwatch who can join in the firefight and it gets very one sided for the initiative side.

The other main gripe with the rules is the difficulty in finding the rules you want, the index is appalling as it lists every mention of the term you want to look up, not highlighting the main section of the rules. The standard way of doing this is to put the page number of the main section in bold so you don't have to wade your way through every mention of the word Overwatch (for example), something that the authors do not seem to be aware of.

I have to say that the scenarios in the rule book are carefully thought out, with the forces and victory conditions nicely balanced to suit the rules. Maybe its my unfamiliarity with the rules that makes it difficult to create a balanced scenario.

The only thing to do is write my own set of rules I reckon, at least then I'll know how they work!

Harook Treehouse

A couple of new photos of the Harook Treehouse. Additions from the previous photos include some piled logs for protection at the base as well as sitting on and a camo net hung over the platform for protection from both the sun and unfriendly eyes.

The tree started its life as a medium sized Woodland Scenics deciduous tree, the branches bent quite severely to provide supports for the platforms. The platforms are textured plasticard, I think asbestos roofing (not real asbestos!), and they stick on quite easily with airplane glue. The base is an old DVD.

The logs I picked up from a hedge that had been recently trimmed while waiting for a bus to go to work. The netting for the camo net comes from garlic container, painted and flocked. So proof against vampires too.

Walkers, what are they good for?

I've just finished painting the last of my DIMOG walkers that I bought from Khurasan so I thought I'd put together a post about all the walkers I have and the problems they pose.

The biggest problem is getting a bloke in there. Most of them do not have enough room for anyone to sit in them unless they were recruited from the casualty wards. Now this may not be too far fetched, it at least gives a reason for the existence of walkers, which is tenuous at best.

The only possible reason for them is a need for something more armoured and carrying more powerful weaponry that has similar mobility in terms of terrain as infantry. So they could only be used where tanks can't go, as anywhere a tank could go, a tank would be superior in terms of armour, weapon size, speed, range, lack of joints to break and also a lower silhouette. So we can only be talking about very rough broken terrain and possible heavily vegetated areas.

On to some pictures, here we have the DIMOG varients from Khurasan...

DIMOG Light Varient with open cockpit

DIMOG Heavy varient

DIMOG Civilian Loader with out of work flight officer

All of these obviously have no problem with fitting a crewman and are probably some of the most realistic style of walkers in the ranges currently available.

Next up we have some Steel Warriors, nominally 25mm scale power armour types, though such figures would have great difficulty getting their legs into the armour, as 15mm walkers they work much better...

View from the front looks a bit tight...

....but the side view shows a protrusion to the rear allowing a seated position entirely within the torso.

Now we have a Critical Mass Protolene Scout Assaultsuit and an (unpainted, sorry) Copplestone 28mm Power Armour Suit (sans arms also)...
Each of these has problems with cockpit size. The Protolene Scout Assaultsuit obviously would require a lower limb amputee to drive it as the articulation between body and legs would not allow the pilots legs to pass through. Alternatively it could be a robot piloted by an AI instead. The 28mm Power Armour also has problems with crew position, although it does look possible for the legs of the pilot to fit in the upper part of the walkers legs, although it would require a saddle rather than a chair.

Now if you want to do it right, by which I mean if you are insane enough to think that walkers are a good idea, you have to be Harook, in which case you can create the fantastic Chicken Main Battle Tank.

The very size of the thing has a morale effect that compensates for its sheer impracticability and as such fits into the Harook philosophy of war quite nicely.

Source of model, unfortunately, is lost within the mists of time, but it was intended as a 25mm model, could do with a new paint job though.

New Stuff

I got some good stuff from Khurasan in the post recently, somewhat delayed in transit, and unfortunately short of Ursids (who must still be in hibernation for the winter). Here's some of the painted stuff, along with some of the Critical Mass stuff I got at WMMS.

War goes bang (and whoosh, and occasionally zap)

War Goes Bang!

Critical Mass grav bikes pass in front of some prepainted ruins acquired at WMMS. Ruins occupied by Oddzial Osmy's New Vistula Legion.

...reverse angle showing the un-prepainted ruins got a WMMS.

And here's another one of the ruins, more Vistula Legion troops on the roof. Khurasan's "Darling Little" Infantry Support Robot with what I think are AA missile racks turret option.

Another shot of the "Darling Little", along with Khurasan's DIMOG Armour Suit.

Grav Tank on Patrol

A grav tank providing armoured support to a Harook infantry patrol as they cross open ground.

 The grav tank vents steam from its fusion drive as it hovers over the ground.

This is where the idea for the flying base came from and this is where the modelling technique came from. Might try out some different painting techniques for the smoke, trying to light from the top with a bit of the purple coming through from inside, any advice on painting smoke is welcome.

Harook, as always, from Mad Robot Miniatures (can't reference them enough!).

Grav tank courtesy of the overly optimistic sales forecast for Tron diecast toys.

Grav Tanks

Looks like the Harook have been mortgaging their future to buy the very latest in grav technology.

The grav tank, an unnamed class at the current time, mounts a heavy fusion gun in a remote turret, as well as two ball turret mounted auto cannons for anti-personnel use.

The grav tank is powered by a fusion reactor. The reactor is normally enclosed by armoured panels but the Harook like the pretty purple light it gives off and so frequently leave them off.


Here's the original version, a Tron diecast flying thingamajob.

The turret is slightly truncated steel warrior (plastic mecha/power armour job) gun, chosen mainly because I have more of them than any other bit and I've got 4 more of these Tron vehicles to convert. One of them may have to have a different gun unless I can find another one.

The ball turret mounted cannon are 6mm BB's cut in half with a short section of a toothpick glued to it.

The proud Harook squad accompanying the vehicle are from Mad Robot Miniatures.

Treehouse

Lurking in the background of the photos in the last post was my newly built Harook treehouse, a traditional forest style Harook dwelling that roaming flocks still construct when out invading other flocks territory.

This one has split level platforms and enough space for a squad of Harook to lounge about without getting too crowded for comfort.

The next item for the Harook to construct will be some form of protective barrier to provide some solid cover both on the platforms as well as underneath the tree at ground level.

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The tree is a medium sized Woodland Scenics tree with the addition of some textured plastic card to form the platforms. The tree is mounted on an old CD. Harook from Mad Robot Miniatures.

Flightless no more!

When Eric Strobe had his one man aerojet refused a licence on safety grounds, he was broken hearted. When he heard of the Harook recently encountered on a newly discovered planet he perked up and packed up his prototypes.

Unfortunately for Eric, the Harook took offence in their usual way, their flightlessness being somewhat of a sore point with them. Luckily for Eric's heirs and benefactors, after the fuss had died away, a few Harook actually took a look at the jet powered death trap and all the points the licensing body had judged dangerous counted as positive features to the Harook.

The Falcon class one man attack plane is unique in that the pilot rides the craft externally rather than in a cockpit much like a motorcycle. The relatively high stall speed and lack of advanced avionics means that the Harook pilot must fly fast and low in order to acquire targets. The lack of suitable hardpoints for dropped weapons means the Harook are limited to strafing runs firing the dual mounted cannon. All these negative features are considered by the Harook to make a superb aircraft.
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The plane is a slightly converted die-cast Tron one man light jet. The plane comes with a plastic figure, probably about 1:72 scale or so, but not too different is size to the Harook. I've green stuffed a quite crude chicken like head on it as I didn't feel like sacrificing one of my Harook for its head, as well as being uncertain as to how to attach it to the soft plastic figure.

I've also extended the fuselage with some more green stuff, mainly as the balance point is between the wings and therefore there was no convenient point to put a flying stand








You can get all your real Harook from Mad Robot Miniatures. The diecast jet I got from the Works (a discount bookstore in the UK) for £1.99, along with a bunch of other Tron models which may end up being grav vehicles.