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I got these figure from Patrick Todoroff (Dentatus of Running Black fame). Patrick had mounted them on washers and sprayed them black, I'm in the process of redoing them by hand. I can't remove them from the washers without a huge amount of work but luckily 3 washers fit on a 60mm round base comfortably so that isn't a problem.
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Here's the starting Grey force; three platoons each made up of three squads, a command figure and a Copplestone Bio mech alien for heavy weapon support (also from Patrick). There are two psychic Greys in their hover chairs that will essentially be artillery/mortar units and company commanders combined. The Games Workshop Vortex markers are going to be psychic shields. I have four altogether, two for each psychic.
The colour scheme for these little chaps is going to be, well...grey. I want them to be dark grey at their feet lightening gradually up their bodies to their faces which will be almost white to accentuate their black eyes.
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This is my test piece. His feet will look darker once his base is its final sand colour. You can see the shades I've used from the paint pots behind him. The camera has evened out the contrast a bit but you can get the idea. I am undecided whether to paint the eyes as black gems, I'm not sure it will work because the shades will duplicate the body colours. I will probably just leave them black and gloss them after varnishing. I think even a white dot highlight will take away from the effect I'm after. I plan to do the guns and equipment dark blue with an electric blue/white highlight around the barrel, something else that may well not go as planned. The good news is that since he's just drybrushed and not blended his friends will be fast to paint, at least to this stage. I am prepared to spend more time on the weapons but if they don't come out as I plan I will just pick a suitable basic colour and go with that.
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Half a day later and they're beginning to look like what I imagined. I'm considering silver weapons now.
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By the end of the Easter weekend all the basic troops are done as well as an attack saucer (from Glencoe Models). I went with silver weapons, the electric look didn't work, they don't show up here very well but hopefully the final photos will be better. Only the psychics and the robots to do and then it's full steam ahead with the basing.
The Greys are all done. I've based them with a bare desert look so they match my Alien World scenery (I've added grass since so they match all my scenery). I haven't given them my customary matt varnish as I didn't want to dull down their guns too much, I've gloss varnished the eyes though so they gleam.
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Using Greys in Future War
Greys are organised into combat cells of three individuals. Each group of three cells is commanded by a Grey leader who is responsible for co-ordinating their firepower.
Each cell has three shooting dice if they shoot as an individual unit but, in a crossfire, each cell has four shooting dice to reflect the psychic augmentation from the leader. The leader does not roll any shooting dice itself.
Groups of cells that lose their leader become disorganised and disorientated and at a disadvantage in close combat which the Greys try to avoid whenever possible. -2 for not having a leader present.
Leaderless Greys may combine fire as a fire group but remain at three dice per stand.
Grey cells rally from a pin on a 4+ and a suppress on a 5+.
Leaders are all +2 for rallying only.
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Support elements
Psychics
Grey psychics can augment the abilities of Grey troops in a number of ways. All these benefits are channelled through the leaders so a leaderless combat group cannot receive them. Grey psychics need to have a line of sight to the leader they are helping but do not need a line if sight to the troops themselves, it is sufficient that the leader can see his own troops. This means that the psychics can often remain out of direct danger.
Defence screen.
A single cell may be surrounded by an energy screen making them invulnerable to small arms fire. The protected cell may not shoot or engage in close combat while the screen is in place nor may they be contacted and drawn into close combat by an enemy.
Attack enhancement.
The squad as a whole is allocated extra shooting dice, one die for every cell remaining in the unit. These dice may be allocated amongst cells for their next shooting action as the unit leader requires. Extra shooting dice are held until needed but lost if the Greys lose the initiative.
Close combat enhancement.
The power of the psychic is channelled through a single cell of Greys and manifests as a wave if fear-inducing force that affects any enemy units currently engaging that cell in close combat. Affected units receive a -1 modifier to their dice roll and any positive bonus from an attached leader is cancelled out.
A Grey unit may only receive a single bonus from any psychic each initiative phase but multiple psychics can confer multiple bonuses to the same unit if desired.
Grey psychics ignore pin results because of their mental discipline but are killed by suppressions.
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Bio constructs
Heavy weapon support is provided by the bio constructs. These armoured monstrosities are immune to small arms fire and are capable of destroying even the biggest enemy armoured vehicles. They have four shooting dice against soft targets (infantry and unarmoured vehicles) and five against armoured targets.
They may be included in a crossfire by any Grey leader even though they operate individually and are not part of infantry units.
Bio constructs do not receive any bonuses from Grey psychics.
Bio constructs ignore pins (which count as misses for no fire purposes) and recover from suppressions on a 4+. They receive no rallying benefits from leaders. In close combat bio constructs add +3 to their roll whether alone or as part of a group.
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Attack saucers
Saucers are independent units. They can hover and fly. This gives them great attack flexibility but also makes them easy targets for ground troops. Saucers are immune to small arms fire and ignore pin results (which count as misses for no fire purposes).
A suppress result will ground a saucer until it recovers. Grounded saucers are vulnerable to both small arms fire and close assault. They receive -2 to their roll for being suppressed if they are assaulted.
Saucers recover from a suppression on a 5+ and receive no rallying bonuses from leaders.
Saucers also receive no benefits from psychics.
Saucers' main weapons are area of effect death rays. They may target a single area of terrain and attack each enemy stand within it with 4 dice. Alternatively they may select a single group of enemy stands in the open and attack each of them with 5 dice.
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Infiltration squads
Infiltration squads are made up of two combat cells and a leader. They are very hard to detect because if their psychic training and so enemy troops shooting at them always drop a die even if the Infiltrators are in the open.
They constantly emanate fear as if receiving the close combat boost from a psychic, -1 to enemy close combat roll, positive effects from enemy leaders cancelled out.
Infiltrator cells have four shooting dice, 5 if their leader co-ordinates their fire.
Infiltrator cells recover from pins on 3+ and suppressions on 4+. Infiltrator leaders add +2 for rallying purposes only.
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​Grey motivations
The real motivation of the Greys is unclear but they are fond of abducting people and animals and of collecting biological samples from a number of species.
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Matakishi's Tea House: Making terrain, painting miniatures, playing games, having fun. All content ©2017-2022 PRD Ward
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