Marauders: Let it Rain

I'm sure we would all agree that some rain would be most welcome at present but unfortunately for fans of being cool these chaps only make it rain bullets.

The Rainmaker is the model that originally drew me to Marauders and Mantic now have a new plastic version which is still in the style of the old one. They also have STL's for the arms on the Vault which makes putting them together nice and easy.

I've decided to pair the Rainmaker's up with Ripper Warlord's to make a (hopefully) powerful unit that not only gives out commands but can also throw out a considerable amount of firepower. The Rainmakers have three ranges weapons and as long as they are all in range they can all fire each turn. The addition of Targeting Systems to the unit also means that you can split that fire across two targets which could useful.

I've painted up two of these command units to use in my initial 1500 point list.

I've also got a few extra models to be used as required, including a leader and a grenadier.

Marauder Brawlers

Whilst shooting things is fun, sometimes you just need to get in their and give it a good kicking. That's where the Marauder Brawlers come in. Throwing out 3 dice per model in melee you don't have to field huge numbers to put some pain out. 

Their natural home would seem to be moving about in a Mule to the critical spot and then jumping out to charge in against an enemy pinned by the Mule. I have a couple of Mules printed out from the Vault and ready to paint up.

As the Mule can carry six models I have painted up an extra Brawler but the squad's are pointed up at five models at present.

We've also been playing a bit of Deadzone on Friday's in preparation to going back over to South Oxfordshire for their latest Deadzone event with me switching around lists to give Mr T some exposure to different opponents. I will be back onto the Marauders in the final run-up though.

Marauders: Commando Platoon

The third and final 10 Marauder section has been completed this week to make a total of thirty Commando's ready to see action. Being an old historical wargamer I do like to see a proper platoon of infantry on the table making up the backbone of a force, even a sci-fi one.

The Marauders are naturally quite good in melee with 2 dice per model and I've bumped up the ranged threat with the addition of a HMG and Missile Launcher to the squad. The HMG automatically adds Pinning to the squads fire output and the Missile Launcher has AA & AT capabilities and can (if required) fire at a different target to the rest of the squad.

Painting up the models has been a bit of a chore as despite this being a new hard plastic kit the sides of the models have almost no detail on them so you end up having to guess where the detail is and try to paint it on. The heads have also been cast in such a way that they have the seem down the middle of the face. Fortunately I had some resin heads printed off which did not have this issue. The one plus was that the arms for the weapons go together really well so I had none of the faff often associated with weapons being held by two hands.

The whole gang painted so far including my Deadzone Strike Team

Marauders: First Squad

A good backbone of solid infantry is (in my view) the best place to start any army so here is the first of three planned Commando squads which will make up core of my Marauder force.

This is a 'new' sprue released a couple of years ago to replace the old restic models which made up my first Marauders strike team. TBH I much preferred the style of the old Marauders and having gotten hold of the hard plastic kit the detail isn't great. Especially on the sides of the models the detail is really poor and almost needs to be painted on as it doesn't exist. The 3d printed versions I've already painted up aren't much better but at least you don't need to guess at details on them.

But, I've got one squad done and I've gone for two different heavy weapons in the squad to add some flexibility. The HMG adds Pinning in and the Missile Launcher gives some AT/AA threat to my basic unit.

Marauders: Rippermech

Imported from Warpath Epic the Rippermech is probably the largest ground vehicle that Firefight has. It came out as the three year Vault reward a few months ago and I've been working on it on and off since then.

I'm not sure it will be a regular feature in a 1500 points list but could perhaps be more useable at a larger points game. It counts as both a Command and Support option and comes in at 190 points with the additional Flamethrower.

It has reasonable firepower and comes with an orange command dice with it's command aura giving re-roll 1's to shooting and melee for Goblin units. If you are going to make use of that order you need to be rolling a decent number of dice so it's probably only Gruntbots in melee who roll enough dice to justify 2 command points.

As you can see it is a big beast and certainly towers over it's shorted cousins.

Deadzone: Marauder Strike Team

Having completed most of the strike team the other week it's good to have gotten the Commando units completed this week.

These are all resin prints from the Vault and printed as single pieces apart from the heads.

I had a couple of extra regular Commando infantry printed off as it's nice to have spares but the 200 point list only requires two to go alongside the three Mawbeasts as unlocks. 

I prefer to have a list with a bit of everything and whilst this is more melee focused it has a decent ranged component and some fast 2/3 models for grabbing early objectives or rushing into the enemy lines.

Test of Honour & Hedges

I've not been doing much on the hobby front in the last couple of weeks especially this week as it's been too damned hot. I did manage to get some Test of Honour in with Stu on Wednesday which is probably the hottest wargame I've ever played.

The game followed on from the last one where my hero captured an enemy spy and this time needed to escort her to safety in a nearby fort.

With a reduction in movement for the person escorting the spy the game descended into a mass brawl in the middle of the table with my men coming out on top. As the temperature rose we called in a Samurai win over the Monks.

Next up are some hedges from Warbases. MDF terrain has always had the advantage of being cheap and  quick to assemble but didn't always look the best once on the table. But over the last couple of years various manufacturers have been experimenting with colour printed MDF which whilst being more expensive is still quick to get on the table and looks good.

With Silver Bayonet being our next game I wanted to get some hedges to use so when Warbases released their Table Ready walls and hedges range to add to their growing range of coloured MDF I puit an order in. These go together really quickly with just some PVA glue and the only addition I've made is to add some saw-dust flock to the top of the hedge and along the join at the base.