Friday 1 October 2021

15mm Synths & Bots

Making units for my homebrew 15mm rules has reinvigorated my 15mm collection. I've found unpainted minis that predate my 8 year old!  I used to spend a lot of time with 15mm rules (namely Tomorrow's War) but got a bit sick of the "Vietnam in Space" most rules espoused - basically modern combat with the odd mech thrown in or a copy+paste of Stargrunt or 40K. 

Where were the nanite swarms? The portal guns?  The virtual Tron combat? Why am I playing a sci fi game that feels historical?

15mm minis are to be frank, a bit dull compared to their 28mm cousins, useful mostly because of their ease of painting and cost. They are also great for combined arms platoon level+ games (both affordable AND vehicles don't look ridiculous on the tabletop).


The Shalur Mercs (Rebel Minis) serve as synthetic soldiers, immune to demonic influence. (I'm making sci fi horror rules where cultist special forces team clash). 

Yes there is a definite Clone Wars vibe - Stormtroopers vs Separatists - I may have been playing 2005 Battlefront with my son lately.... (He likes Darth Maul)

The wheeled vehicles are just $1 from the local bargain shop, with 5min each spent painting them.

These clunkier bots act as support troops to a squad. I'm unsure of their provenance, probably Khurasan or the old Critical Mass.  When your fire team's mind can be paralysed and broken by unholy terrors, it's handy having a emotionless AI along to lay down suppressive fire.  

But what if the AI of the derelict station you are exploring has gone insane, and turns your own squad robots against you? #RejectTheFirstLaw

4 comments:

  1. It is really beautiful when you can revive an old love! 😊
    I’m looking with a lot of interest to these project of yours.

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    1. My AIM was to do 15mm sci fi horror, but I may end up switching to 28mm. Anyway, a lot of 15mm are getting painted!

      It's so rewarding when you can knock out a complete platoon in 2hrs...

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  2. Well thats creepy - I was just today looking at 15mm GZG for use with Tomorrow's War. I still really love their Moongrunt range.

    What shop did you get the vehicles from?

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    1. The crawlers are resin from ?Khurasan? whom I strongly, strongly recommend alongside GZG.. The APCs are $1 from K Mart or the Reject Shop (or Sollys/Flash Harrys or whatever the equivalent)

      If you like Moongrunt then Blue Moon does some dome-visored Space Marine-y things which are very good. They're on my painting desk right now.

      Basically most non-car Hot Wheels work OK for 15mm. I just carry a 15mm mini in my glovebox for when I know my son wants to go toy shopping...

      If you drill apart Hot Wheels (drill through the rivet) you can pull them apart and do cool stuff (google Gaslands for ideas).

      I'll post up a steady stream of 15mm stuff if my momentum continues - I have about 5-6 painted platoon-size armies and another 3-4 in various states of readiness... I'll just wait til daylight for my photos.

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