Venusian Rifle

After some enquiries I shot a picture of a before and after assembly picture of my Venusian Rifle, made from a laser rifle and bolt pistol.

I just nipped a bit off the end of the rifle barrel and the end of the bolt pistol, then heated the end of the rifle barrel with the tip of the hot glue gun, then dab of glue and apply to the pistol grip. Paint it up and its done.
Not to much time per assembly, just in rounding up enough bits to do it.

New Venusian Race for a Jungle/Swamp setting

Not wanting to field modified skinks or kroot, I found some star war aliens and decided to modify them for use in the VSF world. Being that they came with a type of pitchfork stabbing spear, I wanted to change them up and took some old Imperial Guard 40k laz pistols and rifles and combined them. Next, I got rid of the spear and drilled out each hand to take hold of the newly created rifle:

To the right is the unmodified creature, and to the left he has his shinny new ranged rifle. I rather like the snake scaled hide, but will work on the colors some, maybe a wash and some dry brushing to change it up some.

Kaptain Kneemo's forces

Fully assembled on parade, the Kaptains Expeditionary Venus Ground Forces:

2 units of Clockwork Mechanical Robots, 1 Unit of Heavy Infantry, 2 Heavy Steam Walkers, 2 Light Steam Walkers Tanks, 2 Light Steam Walkers, 1 Brigade of Marines, 1 Brigade of Sailors and 1 Brigade of Mechanical Robot Infantry, plus of course their Illustrious Commander.

New Clash for Kneemo's Expeditionary Force

This evenings game pitted a British Force of Guards and Line Infantry units supported by 2 self propelled light cannons and an armored Hanson Cab sporting a Gatling weapon attempting to take an Inn. Skrapwelder commanded their right flank and Black Cavalier their left flank.  Their forces are pictured to the left.

The Kaptains forces were bolstered by some American allied forces, Marines, soldiers and sailor units. The Kaptains forces were a unit of line infantry and robot soldiers along with 2 steam walkers and a unit of Mechanified Infantry. The pictured forces did not necessarily start in the positions shown. Command of the Kneemo forces was Stanley and Alfrik.

Advancing with good speed and discipline the British quickly occupied the central hill and began rifle engagements. Their self propelled guns opened fire on the walkers, nearly taking them both out with their opening fire.

The hanson cab had a bit of a problem with its controls as it sped up the slope of the hill and rammed into the rocky out cropping, barely avoiding crashing down the other side.  Kneemo's forces deploy along the crest of the hill, with a machine gun emplaced in the upper floor of the INN. The Americans deployed down the slope of the hill and off into the woods beyond.  The walkers returned fire at the self propelled guns and smashed one into scrap metal. Rifle ranges were found to be a bit to long.

Pictured left is the overall positions of both sides as the firing commenced. A brigade of British troops came out of the woods in the bottom right of the picture and were met with a withering fire that disordered 2 of the 3 units. On the far side of the field in the trees behind the Innn the British Guards unit and the American Mariens exchanged fire for several rounds. The surviving self propeled gun slowly lumbered up to give fire support. In the upper right of the picture the Mechanified Infantry unit bounded in and fired down the flank of the Guards unit.

The battle enters a frenetic stage as the British regular infantry storm up to the INN. The Americans counter attack and enter into melee on both sides of the INN and the machine gun squad head down stairs and enter the fray, probably shooting from the hip.... The British are thrown back in rout. But, the self propelled gun enters the fray and the Americans behind the INN are broken and sent packing back. The Mechanified Infantry unit is converted to tin foil by the Hansoms cab gun fire, which Finally got working right... such a sad story for that cab...

Last picture shows the Steam Walkers standing their ground as their Regular Infantry and Robotic Infantry are sent back over the hill to regroup. The remnants of the British Brigade keep up some rifle fire but time runs out for them and they fail to take the Inn, though another turn or 2 would probably have see the capture.

Rivet Maker

Thought to try out a FISKERS hole punch with a 1/16th inch puncher to make rivets for my vehicles and other craft.

To the left is the hole puncher and punched card stock. To the right is the rivets mounted on a tank, Kaptain Kneemo is providing scale comparison. While not the smallest rivets they are big and clunky looking for my VSF kit bashings. Just select the thickness of the rivets to be and punch away till you have more than enough.

All Things Robotic

Having finished off the last robot unit for Kaptain Kneemo, I thought it time to rack up photo's of all of them here;

On the left are a couple of Mechnified Infantry in exoskeleton suits. Most all of the robotic units are from Mageknight figures. The MI did not want to convert very well with a head swap, the chest area was not going to smooth out well so I put in the metal shield plate to cover and give the driver a bit more cover from incoming fire.

On the Right are 2 Steam Walker Mark 1's, they have no human controllers, pack a lot of fire power and are considered expendable in a battle.

On the left is a Steam Walker Mark 2, with human operators. Better fire control and decision making capability. Still packs a good punch and makes good speed.

On the right are some Guard Bots, simple built, simple task robots. Light fast firing guns, light armor with moderate movement speed.

Mechanical Infantry Robots on the left, light weapon and melee weapons. Light weight armor due to the size of the power plant.

To the right is a similar version except it is more tightly sealed for submersible action.

Walker Light Tanks on the left. Light guns and flexible legs allow it to move through rugged ground faster than treaded vehicles.

To the right are smoke launcher robots. Shoulder mounted grenade launchers, and the smoke can obscure or be fatal types of gas. These are for the clearing out heavily defended infantry positions.

Lastly the Robotic Air Wing. Small rockets for punch and light rapid firing guns for close air support. Not suited for high altitude flying and long range, they still fill an important roll on the battlefield.

Steam Klank Robot

Thought to dig through the "extra figures box" of stuff that I have ordered now and then figures that, were either to large, to short or well, did not live up to the original picture once I had them in my hands. So, pulling out the kit bashing tools, I thought to create a new VSF robots of various types.
So a mageknight mech went under the xacto blade:

Fairly typical figure with lots of extra spiky bits, skull face and huge battle axe blade. Nice smoke stacks on the back, good joints and rivets. Torso is solid, a plus when getting a heat gun near them to attach new parts.

So, the skull face had to go to avoid Skeletor jokes and a few other comments on skull faces at our game club meets. Battle Axe blade was sent in for resmelting. Spikes on boots removed. New Cannon barrel mounted over the hugh cannon mount on its left hand. I prepared the upper top curve on the torso for a new head. The extra small arms in the center torso got trimmed for a machine gun barrel. I also hacked off the largest part of the fist to prepare for a new attachment.

New head attached with extended telescoping eye mounts. A large chain gun had the base scored up and hot glued to the former fist. Machine gun barrel mounted to the inner left small arm. I pretty satisfied with how its come along. Painting, hmm thinking staying with basic metal so it's not obviously with any faction, just a good generic Klank. Also have to change out the base!

Vegetation of Venus

Early reports of the varied vegetation of Venus has arrived from the Exploratory Teams sent to prepare some basic information to forward to the Expeditionary Forces. The following are a fair sample of the plant forms found so far:

Left has the Pith Tree, a soft cored tree that has been found extremely useful. The soft and pliable "heartwood" is a kin to paper mache, exposed to air it can be shaped by hand, then over a couple of days hardens to a toughness of Terran hard woods. The fruits that festoon the tops are edible but have a 1 week shelf life once picked before they quickly decay leaving only the husks behind, which very slowly decay to fertilize the tree.

 To the right is what is being called the Froth Tree, which is found in the mushy "plains" areas. It is useful for making ropes from the tough fibers, similar to a yucca plant. As is seen it grows to tremendous heights. Vehicles cannot seem to push through it very well.

The Scale Tree has a hard bark useable for burning, the purple nuts on top are edible, the leaves though are sappy and sticky, lending a use to glue. It grows rather quickly once its seeds take hold , but the seeds seem to need a long dormant time once detached to start to sprout. Plantation growing of them should provide plenty of fire wood and other useful products.

 To the right is the Bubble Bush, identified by its red, yellow and oranges.  Tough skinned "fruit" actually contains hydrogen gas! The fruit grows in size till it pops off the mother plant and floats off in the air, though in detaching it suffers a very tiny hole that slowly leaks the gas out till it lands, far off, to take root. If secured to the plant the bubbles can get very large and be harvested for hydrogen gas.

To the left are the large broad leafed green Flat Leaf bush's. A source of food for local animals. Terran animals will eat it if nothing else is available, though it gives them serious cases of flatulence....

To the right are the Wax Plant, tall, spiky leaves that are covered in up to an inch of waxy material that make fine fuel for lamps and other wax uses. Fruits are sweet to taste but are  Not Edible! and can cause sever illness and death if enough of them are eaten.

Itchy Thorn Brush is the reddish plants to the left. Fine spines cover the branches. Attached to the spines are tiny seeds. Brush against them and you get stuck with tens to hundreds of them that can cause tremendous itching, though scattering the seeds during the removal of the spines. The plant does not burn well even when left cut and out to dry for weeks.

Constrictor Bush to the right, nasty stuff. Near the stem, touching the hairy leaves causes them to curl in suddenly in a area effect, trapping the hand, arm or what ever touched it trapping it. An acid is exuded and a digestive operation starts. Only quick use of a bush knife to get free will save you as another side effect of the acid fluid is a narcotic effect quickly causing you to slip into unconsciousness.

Water Hyacinth plant is very common in the flooded swap areas. It often hides deeper water and is or can be treacherous to think that there is solid ground under it. Large Yellow fruit is quite similar to Terran coconuts.

To the right another common bush plant which tends to be edible by Terran animals with little or no noticeable side effects. It is also a staple of local wildlife.

The last plant is a problem as it seems to be alive along the lines of simple animals. The fronds "sense" movement and move towards the movement and grapple animals. The tips of the long branches are very hard and very sharp with the ability to pierce into the victim. To be avoided whenever possible!

Lastly are the Walking Trees, which tend to move about all the time, probing the moist Venusian soil for nutrients and or small, slow moving creatures...

VSF Battle Report

So after the holiday break we got the group going the other night with a warm up VSF battle. Still mastering the rules there were a lot of learning instances all around. So here is the opening sides:

On the left we see the forces of Kaptain Kneemo and allies vs the French Forces on the right side picture.  Walkers and Steam Tanks oh my! French were trying to secure the bridge and a bridgehead while Kneemo and allies were trying to pound them back from the bridge. There was a ford in the river to the left of the bridge.

Allied steam tanks and walkers on Kneemo's left seemed to have misplaced or under powered their opening rounds as they created a great deal of steam and smoke but did not manage to get any hits to slow down the copper advance, taking substantial casualties in return. On the right flank the mechnified troops advanced and coming into range of the french infantry proceeded to open fire and sent the first unit packing. Steam walker fire was also abysmal on this flank... sigh, have to recalibrate the weapons again! The French Steam Walkers thundered across the ford and into the mechnified troops, steadily pushing them back. Breaking one of the mechified units they fell back to ready another charge, but in order to cut losses a retreat was sounded. The Left flank was driven back and or eliminated as the French heavy tank crossed the bridge with the copper walkers support and took the farm, establishing their bridgehead.

And for those wanting a better look at Skrapwelders French steam walkers here you go. Im sure he will be posting some much better shots and info tid bits about construction somewhere.

Kaptain Kneemo's Venus Expeditionare Force Update

Finally, 5 companies of Ship's Marines are completed along with their 2 heavy support walkers:

Banners and bases to flock yet, but wanted to get a new post on the blog for the new year! The Shipboard Sailor company's are still being touched up but should be ready in the next couple of days to be followed by a complete layout of the TOE force with proper bases.