From MilesR: 15mm All Quiet on the Martian Front Tripods & Union Artillery (64 points)

From Miles:

Some more test mini’s from All Quiet on the Martian Front and a gun and crew from the new 28mm Perry ACW plastic artillery set. First up a pair of Martian Grenadier tripods. These are resin and metal kits and have 15 parts each. The models are very easy to put together and there was no flash. Again these are test kist and may see a little future refinement before hitting the market.

Grenadier tripods are a type of long range artillery for the Martian forces. In test games they tend to be my favorite unit as they can deliver a punch from a good distance away. Each tripod is armed with a pair of launcher that can either fire explosives or black dust. They also have a pair of reaper tentacles for close combat. The one downside is their armor is a bit weaker than most other Martian tripods so they are easy prey from human infantry.

Side view of the models - those reaper tentacles look like nasty business.

Even though the scale of AQMF is 15mm, the Martian tripod models are fairly large with these grenadiers coming in at 4 inches high and 2.5 inches wide. I may end up mounting them on 60mm bases, but that decision will need to wait until the game comes out.

A pair of unprotected Grenadier tripods about to be assaulted by a human infantry company!

Next up, my first artillery battery from the new Perry plastic ACW artillery box. I’ve modeled a Union 10lb Parrot rifle with six man crew. These are pretty generic union paints so they fill in for any type of formation.

Each box has figures to build three guns (with four different barrel options each), 3 caissons, and 18 crew (6 per gun). I really like the box and think it’s both a great value and a good way to build out a fairly massive artillery park in 28mm scale.

I picked up 3 boxes from Ernie on Friday, so have eight guns and crews to use. I’m planning on using the caissons as ammo resupply markers for Fire and Fury Regimental.

Another wonderful entry Miles, and another tantalizing preview of what's to come for 'All Quiet on the Martian Front'. The Grenadier Tripod is very cool, and impressively intimidating next to the 15mm infantry, but I must say I'm not a big fan of the 'eye of Sauron' thing on the front. A bit too overblown for my tastes. I think the model would look more menacing if the 'turret' was turned around with the smooth, featureless carapace to the front. But that's me and I know most will cry me down as a heretic and wish me fed me to the Martian harvest walkers (which I'm sure are somewhere to come in the release cycle).

The Martian Grenadiers and the Union artillery piece with its crew will give Miles 64 points. Great work and thanks again for the preview.

From MilesR: 15mm American Infantry for 'All Quiet on the Martian Front' (90 points)

The flash bulbs of the paparazzi are only starting to dim as we get a glimpse of a new range of figures for an very much anticipated game system.

From Miles:

My next submission is a bit of a first -in fact it’s a “World Premier” of some miniatures from the upcoming “All Quiet on the Martian Front” game. How was I able to score such a “scoop”? Through hard work, exposing (but perhaps not living) a clean lifestyle and dedication to the hobby. Yes I’m sure it was all that plus the fact I live about 1.5 miles away from the world wide HQ of Architects of War and I was pestering Ernie to get a few test models. I could think of no better venue for this World, no it’s a , “Galactic Premier” than the Analogue Hobbies Challenge, which I am sure will soon become the miniatures world equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, except with 100% more glamour.

Todays submission is 45, 15mm US Infantry figures complete with gas masks so they are less vulnerable to the damn Martian black dust. The troops are organized into 3 Platoons each of which consist of 3 five man stands. The figures are produced by Architects of War subsidiary “Alien Dungeon” and are based off of 15mm Eureka models which the AofW team have licensed.

These are metal figures and had very little flash to clean up.

I did the basing a little different for these figures. My usual method is to paint the base a tan color and then cover with playground sand. That works fine for 28mm but just does’t work for smaller scales. The basing material I did use was Liquitex brand “Blended Fibers” gel which goes on as a gel but dries clear and provedes a nice level of textures for smaller scale mini’s. In some of the pic’s you can still see some white where I missed with the paint but that will dry clear and look like a puddle of water (I hope). I was pleased with the outcome.

Each platoon has an officer (left most figure in each first rank) and then riflemen in 6 different poses.

A shot of the the whole company surging out to attempt to destroy one of those dreaded Martian Tripods…..

Ooh! Shiny!! A sneak peak of 'All Quiet on the Martian Front' (claps hands in glee)? Now, how cool is that! Thanks for letting us see your lovely new toys Miles. I can close my eyes and hear the super-creepy Martian war claxon blaring in the distance (probably the one thing I loved about the Tom Cruise movie). 

These fine doughboys bravely advancing towards the alien menace (only to be turned into fine ash) will give Miles 90 points. Great stuff Miles and thanks for sharing these guys with us! I can't wait to see one of the tripods!