Terminus Nebula - Cyborgs

A Techmagos Reclaimer with a retinue of Magos Guardians

With a new year on the rise, and after having finished Fireteam Andromeda I've thought to kick up this blogging a notch and start to include posts that will detail all the other myriad scales, bits and pieces for the setting that I'm working on.

Thus this is the first of many blogposts that will attempt to detail more of the Terminus Nebula setting. As such it will encompass the Mecha Doom, Fireteam Andromeda and Rosetta game systems but is focused on the actual setting material rather than rules. To kick things off, I've recently painted up four different cyborgs for 28mm skirmish games and figured it would be a good idea to give a general idea of the view on cybernetics within the Terminus Nebula setting.

Cyborgs & Cybernetics in the Known Universe

Enhancing, upgrading or repairing the body with mechanical parts is a concept that has been around in the Known Universe since the epoch of the Forefathers and the birth of the Imperium. As such, there are also numerous taboos, traditions and philosophies attached to the concept of cyborgs - almost as many as there are planets in the universe. To some civilizations and societies, the very notion of having artificial implants to either repair or enhance their biological body is considered sacrilegious at best whilst others not only welcome it, but take it to such excess that there's little of the biological body left at all.

The following article will therefore detail a sampling of the general view of cybernetics and cyborgs within the three primary coalitions in the universe; the Imperium, the Republic and the Alliance. These are used as very broad guidelines as to how a planet or society might feel about cybernetics and cyborgs within said coalition; but cannot be counted on for any hard and fast reactions from within these spheres, as explained in the following.

Imperial Savants

As the Imperium were among the first institutions to ever have access to cybernetics, the popular opinion about such enhancements has waxed and waned throughout the epochs. The view range from that of reverence to simple accept, depending on the individuals standing within Imperial society. Nobles, on some worlds, are actively encouraged by their peers or traditions to have cybernetic enhancements as a rite of passage whilst the workforce on many worlds become so heavily modified that they resemble robots more than humanoids. This has led, however, to a general consensus that most of the lower-born citizens within the Imperium are the most proponent subjects for enhancement; seeing as they have neither the power nor the resources to manage without such upgrades. Thus, among the nobility any cybernetic enhancement is seen as a mark of respect, whilst among the lower classes it is seen as a desperate attempt to regain some manner of standing. Shown on the left, we have a typical example of cybernetic enhancement within Imperial Space. The individual pictured here is a Savant; desperate or criminal individuals who have been forced by circumstance to give their body and soul to a Merchant House, Guild or a Noble family to do with as they please. Indeed, one of the worst sentences that any Imperial court may sentence a criminal to is that of Savantiude; the prisoner is then completely mindwiped; his higher brainfunctions destroyed and then placed into custody of the highest bidder - to serve the good of the Imperium until the end of his, now unnatural, lifespan.

Republican Operative

Within the Republican sphere, cybernetic enhancements are, at best, frowned upon. The general populace feels that the cybernetical enhancement of individuals are a throwback to the times of Imperial rule; a time that many feel is best forgotten completely. This has led to a Republican Decree of Sentience stating that any person who has had 50% or more of their body enhanced with cybernetics have lost their rights and privileges as citizens within the Republic and are referred to, by the populace, as "Tinmen". It is therefore common, and expensive, practice to hide any enhancements as much as possible to avoid any prejudice from the populace; leaving only the wealthiest of individuals within Republican space with any considerable amount of enhancements. Those who cannot afford to hide their enhancements often end up on the fringes of Republican society - either as gangers, pirates, or as the case of the individual pictured here, as a Republican Operative; special individuals who are in the employ of the Republican Cabinet in order to take care of any and all special missions that the Cabinet needs taken care of. They are often referred to as Ghosts as they have effectively ceased to exist within Republican society, making them the perfect assassins and spies.

Sanctioned Tagman

Within the small sphere of Alliance space, the populace have taken a more pragmatic approach to the question of enhancements. As it is expensive and difficult to acquire within the Terminus Nebula, then any person with any such upgrades is seen as a force to be reckoned with. As the Alliance itself consists of many former Republican or Imperial planets who have become disaffected by their former rulers, this has also meant that the populace have a keen interest in throwing any ties with their former cultures and try to find their own way. As a rule, then cybernetics is not considered taboo or are the subject of any official prejudice within Alliance space; instead - as mentioned - any reaction from the populace as a whole would likely be that of awe or respect; the person has either earned his right to the implants or have the resources to acquire it. Of course, this has also meant that there's a rise in cyber-jacking crimes throughout the Alliance, a problem that the Alliance Patrol has yet to take care of. Pictured on the left is a typical cyborg within Alliance space; a Sanctioned Tagman - the Alliance Patrol's answer to many of the crimes that they neither have the political power or resources to take care of. The Tagmen scours across the Terminus Nebula, attempting to take down and bring back various criminals that the Alliance Patrol has put a bounty on. As they are not directly affiliated with the Alliance Patrol, they have free reign to extradite criminals - but are also solely answerable to any crimes that they commit during these bounty hunts; the sanctioning only means that the individual gets paid for their efforts.

Magos Guardians

The Techmagos of Jorbaal on the eastern fringes of Imperial space see themselves as the true inheritors of any and all ancient technology and data-repositories throughout the Known Universe. In their eyes, the Forefathers were mechanical beings and cite this as the reason as to why they never took to enhance their bodies as they were already of a mechanical nature. To the Techmagos, the only way to become more as the Forefathers is therefore to enhance their bodies so that they can become one with that of the Ancients. While such philosophies are not exactly uncommon they are still regarded as somewhat of an anomaly, even within such a fractured and diverse place as the Imperial sphere. The Techmagos have gathered the greatest knowledge base in regards to the Forefathers of the Imperium; including many priceless technological marvels from that epoch - but they are also notoriously secretive as to what exactly they have found. On the left is shown a typical Magos Guardian; holy warriors who have been cybernetically enhanced to such extend that they can barely be recognized as humanoids anymore. However, as can be seen from the crudeness of the implants, he has yet to climb the ranks of the Techmagos cult as any and all implants must be exactly alike as that of a Forefather. It is rumored that the High Techmagos himself  has been encased within a Forefather tomb-body, deep within the Temple of the Forefathers on Jorbaal.

Paintstation - Repurposed 'Clix (Part II)

Just another quick update from the paintstation; another repurposed Mech-Warrior 'Clix miniature.

SeverDyne Inc. HT-30 Tank Hunter
SeverDyne Inc. have long specialized in creating light and fast vehicles - primarily producing various sport-hovers and race-cars but recently they entered the military market with the HT-30. 
It is a light two man vehicle, with separate booths for gunner and driver; with a fixed mount supercharged Heavy Laser; easily capable in itself to take out most heavy armored vehicles, but the maneuverability of the HT-30 means that it is easier for a well trained crew to flank the opposing forces and score a critical hit, should the standard penetrative power of the Heavy Laser prove insufficient.

A Gernash Leader shown for scale.

Gernash Kinsmen - The elite shocktroops of the Gernash Tribeships and heir apparent to the tribal council. 

Paintstation - Repurposed 'Clix Miniatures

Gernash Insurgents have a preferrence for Skim-boats to carry them into battle.

This is just a quick post to showcase some quick conversions I made of some 'Mech-'Clix models into usable 15mm miniatures. The first of these were these Skim-boats, which are intended to be fast, light assault vehicles - designed to quickly move the close combat orientated units of the Gernash Insurgents into striking range. The vehicles themselves have no weapons themselves, sans an Assault Launcher and some Scrambler Drones.

The original model for the Skim-boats; a JES Missile Carrier.

A quick shot to show the scale difference - or rather lack of same - between the Skim-boats and the Gernash Insurgent leader (Critical Mass Games, Naga Commander)

A scavenged heavy walker provides some much needed firepower for the lightly armed and armored Gernash Insurgents.

In other news; I finally finished Fireteam Andromeda and I'm awaiting the arrival of the first print test before I can give the go-code for launch. Look forward to a post about its availability within fourteen days - just in time for Horisont!

Paintstation - Engineers & Recon Vehicle

A small Engineering Team from the Republican Mobile Forces, hailing from the Sol Sector.

This is just a quick little post to detail some more units that I've been painting recently. I recently had an idea to "re-imagine" some of my older forces and rewrite some of their history to make it more "current" with the actual Terminus Nebula setting; that of the Employment War and the post-Great War era in the known Universe. The Engineering team seen above is the first step towards that goal. 

The DysonCombine 'Ronin' Mrk IV heavy recon vehicle is a popular choice for forces who are in need of a fast but rugged patrol vehicle. This particular 'Ronin' is in use by the Gernash Insurgents. 

I'm awaiting some more magnets for the turrets on these vehicles before I can paint up the last two. This one was painted more as a 'proof-of-concept' for how the Gernash Insurgents' vehicles should look. This has also led me to recycle and, to some extend, convert some old Mech-Clix models that I have had lying about for just about forever. It has been a bit of a hit-and-miss in this regard, but converting some hover-tanks suddenly sparked an inspiration for how the Gernash, as a force, should work. Which I will detail in the next blog update. 

Paintstation - A bit of landscaping

Just a quick post to show off some of the kit-bash-scavenger-terrain that I've made for my gaming board recently.

Paintstation - Gernash Insurgents

A Gernash Fireteam, as led by a Gernash Warchief, on the move towards the Imperial occupation forward base in the Valley of Souls on Orellian V.

And here they are then; the Gernash Insurgents, following up on my last post regarding the Imperial Troops and their Fifth Pacification of Orellian V. 

The Gernash Insurgents are "rebels for hire"; former soldiers and ex-patriots of the Republican Forces who were engaged in the Terminus Nebula during the Great War, they have since the ceasefire taken a keen interest in continuing their clandestine operations against any and all Imperial Occupation within the Terminus Nebula. 

Gernash Fireteam; their primary battlefield role is to provide a massive amount of fire to supress and pin down the opposing forces in order to allow the Gernash Bladesmen to get into close combat.

However, as they are no longer part of the Republic in any form of official measure, they have had to resort to become mercenaries in order to sustain their armed forces. As such, various Gernash Warbands are seen fighting on almost all sides across the Terminus Nebula - except they never fight, directly, for the Imperium or against each other. In order to prevent this, they have specialized in spreading dissent within Imperial held systems; fighting for all those who wish to throw of the shackles of Imperial rule - for a price. 

A Gernash Warchief displaying his ship-sigil; it marks him as being a Warchief of the Tri-Blade tribeship; a tribeship renown for its preference of melee combat and boarding expertise. 

The Gernash, as a race, live a nomadic life onboard huge ships called tribeships. These gigantic arks were constructed at a time just before their homeworld was ravaged by a stellar cataclysm, and house the major tribes from that period of time. Originally they were intended to settle new worlds, but the Gernash found that their neighboring systems were not only settled by other races, but were settled by races in dire need of many of the technological advances that the Gernash had developed.

Thus, the Tribeships now follow a set circuit of planets where they trade with the local populace, venture out into the deep mineral wells and energy nebulas in their areas; harvest and return to garner a profit. They are known for their expert boarding parties, preferring to capture ships rather than destroy them whenever they are engaged in stellar conflict; and their land-based forces reflect this in some fashion.

Although they cannot be considered scavengers, as such, they do have a preference for capture and control rather than outright destruction, reflecting their ancient rituals of tribe warfare, as the destruction of another tribeship would have meant that there were even less Gernash left in the universe. Due to the unique physiology they are savage and brutal fighters, but will keep their heads cool and attempt to utilize the minimum force required in order to obtain their goals.

Fireteam Andromeda - Emperors Household Troops

Real life has been at it again. The summer months came and went, and with it the time for writing and updating this blog came to a complete standstill. But things have been moving at a steady pace behind the scenes, as should be evident from the picture above - a whole platoon worth of troops joins in the strife around the Terminus Nebula; as the release of Fireteam Andromeda looms nearer. Nearer being around the end of October, but hopefully sooner.

In short; the Terminus Nebula, Fireteam Andromeda and Me are far from dead yet! The rest of this post contains various shots of the Imperial Troops, posing for the war correspondent.

The Emperors Household Troops on the move!

Paintstation - Imperial Lancers (Retained Knights)

As this is a relatively long post detailing how I went about painting these Retained Knights from 15mm.co.uk, the following is a tutorial with a lot of pictures on how these were painted; hopefully to serve as some inspiration to others out there!

Fireteam Andromeda - First Army Finished!

The 417th Imperial Expedition Force assembles

Field Commander, NCO and Support Personnel

Imperial Shocktroopers (Protolene Khanates, Critical Mass Games)

Armor Support (Protolene Khanates, Critical Mass Games)

Reconnaisance Drone - cross attached from the 403rd Expeditionary Force (Yu-jing Remote, Crovus Bellis)

So, just a quick post to show off the first, completed army for Fireteam Andromeda - The Imperial Expeditionary Force. All miniatures are from Critical Mass Games, except for the Recon Drone and the New Israeli Hardsuits (White/Orange) which are from Corvus Bellis and Ground Zero Games respectively. 

This therefore means that for tonights playtest I'll finally be able to field two fullypainted armies! Hopefully I'll find some time after this weekend to post pictures of the Sol Colonial Militia, as well as prep for a battlereport/playtest-report as well. At any rate, have a good weekend!

Paintstation - Wetpalette

So, there I was, having suffered from a slight paint-block in my vain attempt at painting vehicles. For some reason these models keep being my nemesis - no matter how hard I work on them, they always end up lacking 'oomph', which in the end means that painting vehicles is some of the last things I do.

However, this time around I tried something new altogether; a wetpalette! Now, to those who have yet to discover this 8th wonder of the world, the following is a short introduction on how to assemble your very own. Note that all images show various danish household items and shop inventory may vary around the world.

First step; acquire cd-case.

As can be seen, I cannibalized an average CD-case for my purposes. The main reason for using a cd-case is that I can close up the lid and keep the moisture locked in, for those short and frenzied painting sessions, scattered across an average weekend.

Second step; purchase pads and paper.

Now you need to purchase some make-up pads as well as some sort of baking-paper or similar (in Denmark we have something called "mellemlægspapir" which is basically what we use to shield our open sandwhiches from getting squished together in our lunchboxes). You could also use any wax paper - but this is as cheap as it gets.

Third step; getting it all together.

Put the a couple of pads in the case, add a bit of water (not as much as I used in this photo, because then you'll suffer from overflow and having paint slowly reduced to washes, which isn't our goal!) and put on the paper over the pads. Let the paper soak for a while (roughly two-to-three minutes). Once it is moist, pour up some paint on the palette and start painting!

Painting a Protolene Walker.

And here is then the preliminary result of my attempt at painting the Protolene Walker for the Imperial Expedition Force. The wash used (Devlan Mud / Agrax Earthshade from GW) was put on far too heavy and all over the place. I was trying my standard method when painting model soldiers - but found out that it didn't really work out in the end.

So, armed with the wetpalette I went to town; getting quite a boost in keeping a consistent watered down paint that I could wetbrush the model with; leaving the recess shaded by the wash and hitting all the flat surfaces. Once the major areas were painted, I finished it off by drybrushing some Tyrant Skull (some of GW's new paints, designed for drybrush use) all over the model and finished it off with some minor detailing on the guns.

All in all, I think It went over quite well. Although I found that I had used too much water for my initial try, then the wetpalette definately has merit; I found that I got more brush control and a heck of a smoother coverage than before - definately a good thing when painting vehicles. Next up is another walker, but this time; lesson learned and I'll attempt to figure out a new method for painting this one. Stay tuned!

Paintjob - 'Landsknecht' Wardroid

Today I finished up painting, not only the entire Colonial Militia for the Sol system, but also a bit of odds and ends. As per a recent discussion over on The Miniatures Page Cdude93 asked about a droid for 28mm that I thought of putting to use in 15mm. So, I dug it out, gave it a quick and dirty paintjob and wrote up some stats for it for Fireteam Andromeda - And thus, I present to you; the 'Landsknecht'.

The model itself is a Hellcat Fury from Scotia Grendel and has a vague ED-209 look that I'm rather fond of. There are multiple versions of the Hellcat droid in the Nexus Force range from Scotia Grendel, and I'm probably going to pick up a few more as time goes by. For now, however, I'm happy with the quick and dirty paintjob for this beast - that and the veritable torrent of fire that it can dish out during a game!

Using Fireteam Andromeda to stat up this robot was a breeze! I chose the Battlesuit unit entry and added a Light Automatic Weapon to the suit (thus the unit can only consist of 1 - 2 Landsknechts, as this is the maximum number of battlesuits that can carry a Light weapon) which, obviously, is the quadruple chainguns. 

To represent the increased torrent of fire from four (!) chaingun barrels, I decided to give it the Rapid Fire (Ballistic) upgrade, increasing the Light Weapons Rate of Fire to 5, as well as the Linked Fire upgrade, allowing it to re-roll any failed to-hit rolls. The two guns, which I've decided are some sort of vey light auto-cannons, were designated as Versatile Support Weapons, choose Ballistic to maximize the effect of the Rapid Fire Upgrade. Finally, I chose the Artificial trait for the machine, suitable for any robotic flak-cannon. 

Photo to illustrate the size of the 'Landsknecht'; it could easily be used for a Walker vehicle!

And now, as a special reader service, I leave you with a couple of pictures of painted NAC Power Armor miniatures from Ground Zero Games. Reader Dan asked for a couple of snapshots of them and here they are - enjoy!

Terran Taxation War - Introduction

So, I finally got around to take a couple of pictures of my freshly painted squads for the two armies that I'm currently working on for Fireteam Andromeda.

Imperial Expedition Force, "Desert Hounds" Shock Troops (Protolene, Critical Mass Games)

Sol System Colonial Militia; 3rd Martian Regiment (Colonial Militia, Ground Zero Games)

I was musing about what sort of conflict I wanted to portray with Fireteam Andromeda, at the very least as a get go. The initial idea is that the game-setting is set during the Employment War in the Terminus Nebula; a drawn-out bushwar where various despots, dictators and self-proclaimed freedom fighters engage in an ongoing balkanized war for the absolute control of the Terminus Nebula. 

The gist of it, is that all sides employ many Mercenaries from across the known universe, which in turn has given the "war" its name. The Employment War is considered to be the final conflict following the last Galactic War which had all the major powers of the known universe - mostly the Republic and the Imperium - at each others throats after a series of failed diplomatic negotiations. 

The end of this great war has left the rest of the universe in a state of cold war, as the major powers are still consolidating their forces following the war; a war which has left many systems unprotected and isolated throughout the known universe; there are even some whispers of a Long Night about to draw across the Imperium and Republican spheres, as more and more systems are lost to the Employment War.

All in all - Fireteam Andromeda is aimed at small unit engagements across a vast area of the known universe, known as the Terminus Nebula, wherein Republican, Imperial and a whole host of Mercenary units continue to fight on, even though the universe, at large, is at "peace". 

However, I've also had plans for Mecha Doom, the 6mm science fiction game, wherein the game setting is focused on first the Civil War (wherein the Republic was created, as they broke off from the Imperium) and following on to the Galactic War (wherein the Republic and the Imperium got at each others throats over the absolute dominance of the known universe). 

This "historical context" has then become the focus for my initial 15mm forces as I wanted to recreate the Terra Taxation War, which was the starting point of what would become the Imperial Civil War. In this Taxation War, the Sol system have long suffered under the yoke of the Imperial Court; paying increasingly heavier taxes, without any increasing gain in either security nor representation.

As the Imperial Court was waging yet another border war against the Saari Dominion, the Sol systems declared its independence by shooting down the Taxation ship Pax Mammonia as it entered the system to gather resources and troops for the war.

Initially the Imperium could not spare any of its Mecha Cohorts to deal with the troublesome Solsystem, so the Taxation War started with a small Expeditionary Force; frontline soldiers of high quality, who were bound to rotate back for resupply and rest. It was a hardened, but battered, expeditionary force that were the first to engage the Terrans on their homesoil - a war that would escalate into cataclysimc proportions within a few years.

Thus - my initial forces will be the advance party for my Mecha Doom armies, set during the time of the Imperial Civil War. In an upcoming post, there will be more details on the two sides of the war, as well as premade armylists and a detailed overview of their ensignia and other tid-bits.