Projects – Command Horizon

Status - In Progress

Command Horizon has sort of taken over from Uncharted Seas – primarily due to the challenge I was sent by Peter Berry to get a unit painted in three weeks. This I achieved, but it does leave me with the small matter of the rest of the army still to paint.

Currently, as can be seen from my ‘in progress tray’ above, I working on a further 5 Battalions – Heavy Tank, Medium Tank, Light Mechanised Infantry, Scout Mechanised Infantry and Infantry + support, plus Command Vehicles. Everything is undercoated, and the first basecoat is on all the vehicles, so we are getting there (albeit slowly).

Having chatted with Dave Luff (my gaming partner in this endeavour) about how we are going to learn the game, I need to add to this list a further 3 companies of Infantry (48 figures) plus and extra support base so that I have 2 Infantry Battlions of 3 bases + support – just so that when we start playing the game, we can start with forces of 3 Battalions a side, which will give each of us an Infantry Battalion, and Mechanised Infantry Battalion and a Tank Battalion, which is the minimum sized Brigade, which will be ideal sized army for learning the game.

I have an extra deadline too, as Peter Berry has been in touch, and has threatened me with much on-line ridicule if I don’t get this army finished by the time that Partizan comes around – the pressure is on!

Baccus Painting Challenge – Finished!!!

Yes, though I don’t quite believe it myself, after a concerted effort last night to texture and paint the bases, I actually finished the challenge!

I will put up more detailed photos of each base, and go into how everything was painted tomorrow, when I get some time to take some better pictures.

However, I just wanted to post this photo as proof!

I’m off to email that nice Mr Berry.

Baccus Tanks – bigger pictures

Countzero was asking for some bigger pictures of the Baccus tanks – so here they are.

These are finished – though the turrets look somewhat dull, so I might give them another drybrush of yellow to brighten them back up again.

To be honest, the tanks do look a little ‘muddy’ up close. I’m holding out judgement until I see them on their bases – but I suspect that I might have to revist these at some stage.

Count Zero was also asking what scale these are – they are 6mm, or 1/300th scale.

Baccus Painting Challenge – getting there

Well, just to say that I think I’m in with a fighting chance of achieving the challenge that Peter Berry set me 13 days ago.

I finished the main detailing on the tanks tonight, so you can now (hopefully) see the effect I was trying to achieve with the colour scheme.

Not quite finished yet – they need a weathering drybrush, and then a shading wash to bring out the details (like those on the turrets, for example) but these should be done in the next couple of days.

And then, it’s onto the basing…

Baccus Painting Challenge – WIP

Well, I thought that I’d post some work-in-progress pictures of my Light Tank Battalion.

As you can see, I’ve actually started painting them! (Shock horror!)

The tanks have been cleaned up, the turrets have been glued in place, and then the whole model has been undercoated using Coat d’Arms Grey Primer, a brush on primer which is a very light grey.

After this, I have added metal pins to the bottom of each tank using cut-up paper clips and green stuff – since the tanks are meant to be hover tanks, these will be needed for adding to the base.

An added advantage of these are that they provide something to hold whilst painting the tanks, and then I just pin them to a piece of foam to dry.

I then base-coated the hulls using Coat d’Arms Uniform Grey, and then drybrushed using Light Tank Grey – I’m not sure if the highlights stand out enough. I have then experimented with a splinter camouflage scheme using Citadel Blue/Grey as a base colour – this will be highlighted with Citadel Horizon Blue.

I think the paint scheme looks quite effective so far. Still some way to go, but a good start, I think.

Baccus Painting Challenge – final colour choice / which unit?

After looking through my colour palette choice, and also looking at some painting references for ACW Confederate troops, I think I have made my final colour selections.

Thinking about my army background, I want the Confederate Mercenary Corps to be a rapid reaction force. Therefore, it will consist of primarily of Tank Battalions and Mechanised Infantry Battalions. I envisage having a couple of Infantry Battalions complete with Support Weapons, but these will be Sky Cavalry (once the Skim Lifter models are available, or as soon as I can find an alternative model elsewhere)

So, the name of the game here is Cavalry, as the force will be fully mobile.

Looking at the Confederate cavalry, their official uniform was a grey jacket, sky blue trousers with a yellow kepi and uniform trim – as with most Confederate forces, the official uniform was supplemented by the troops own clothing.

However, we are talking a highly organised 26th Century fighting force here, and so the official uniform will be adhered to.

For troops, this is quite simple – grey top, blue trousers and a yellow helmet.

This will be adapted slightly for the AFVs – their hulls will be painted with a blue and grey camouflage pattern, and their turrets (where they have one) will be yellow.

All this leaves now is which battalion to start painting?

The Mechanised Infantry Brigade pack contains 4 Battalions, plus some command bases:

• A Medium Tank Battalion (12 AFVs with Heavy Weapons)
• A Light Tank Battalion (12 AFVs with Medium / Light Weapons)
• A Light Mechanised Infantry Battalion (12 APCs and 32 Infantry)
• A Scout Mechanised Infantry Battalion (12 APCs and 16 Infantry)

To be honest, I want to give myself a decent chance of achieving this challenge, which means avoiding infantry. Therefore, I’m going to be painting the Light Tank Battalion.

Baccus painting challenge – what’s in a name?

One of the first jobs when starting a new army is to think of a theme…well, it is for me, anyway.

When gaming historicals, theme is not something that you normally have to worry about – you simply choose the historical period, choose the army you wish to play, and the theme takes care of itself.

However, with sci-fi & fantasy, since they are working in fictional universes, theme becomes a whole different ball game.

Some games make army theme almost unworkable – I’m thinking about my Deathwing/Ravenwing army in W40K, or my Cryx Satyrix Raiders Army for Warmachine. However, luckily for me, Command Horizon (and for that matter, Future War Commander) is primarily based in a much ‘harder’ sci-fi universe, where theme does not infringe so much on your choice of unit  – but is more related to the colour scheme that your army has.

And so to my Command Horizon army, and the painting challenge that Peter Berry has set for me.

I must admit, the unified armies approach (Unity, Imperial Russia) of Command Horizon doesn’t quite appeal – I wanted to go for something a little more self-contained. I’ve been a long time fan of science fiction novels from the likes of David Drake or Gordon R Dickinson, so a mercenary unit like Hammer’s Slammers or the Dorsia are much more appealing.

If you’re going for a mercenary unit, obviously the name of the Spartans raises it’s head. However, I think this may have been done already – Race For The Galaxy has a military world called New Sparta, for example – and a colour scheme of red, bronze and black would simply look like a small GW Khorne army from several feet away, so we need something a bit different.

I was also playing with logos and acronyms in my mind – I wanted something that is easy to remember, and looks symmetrical.

And then I had an idea – the US Confederate States still seem to have an identity in the military (or ex military) – look at the Confederate Air Force, for example. What if this national identity continued into the future?

The Confederate Mercenary Corps (CMC) was born.

From a painting point of view, this also immediately decides the pallet. Grey, sky blue, yellow and butternut.

Which leaves one question…

Exactly what colour is butternut, anyway?

The Baccus painting challenge…

I visited the Hammerhead show yesterday – always a good day out with lots to do and see.

Having joked about it the previous week, I was actually quite restrained and didn’t purchase any figures for much of the day (though I did succumb to a couple of rule books!)

Notice, I said much of the day.

One thing that Hammerhead is notable for is their prize giving and raffle, that is usually held at about 3pm. Much to my surprise (and I might add, for the second year running) I won one of the raffle prizes – £40 of credit to spend at the show!

Funnily enough, about 30 minutes before, I’d joked with Peter Berry of Baccus that I’d be back to buy some figures if I won the raffle – so I headed back in his direction.

But what to buy?

There are several 6mm armies that I want at the moment – Samurai, War of the Roses, Punic Wars (both Roman and Carthaginian) and maybe a German Barbarian army…

However, I eventually plumbed for a Command Horizon Mechanized Infantry Starter pack, along with an Infantry booster (Kneeling & Prone, to vary the poses on the stands) and a Support Weapons Booster. There were three reasons for this:

1. I’d been thinking about a Command Horizon army for a year or so – since playing the game at Hammerhead last year.
2. It’s easier to paint an army with lots of tanks, rather than a host of infantry and cavalry (as Peter pointed out at the time – choose something you are more likely to paint)
3. I’d purchased Future War Commander earlier in the day

It was at this point that Peter issue me with a challenge – if I could paint 1 battalion from the Starter Pack (i.e. 4 bases) and have them completed (i.e. fully based) with pictures up on the website in 3 weeks, he’d refund the price of the infantry booster packs.

So, I have until March 8th to complete this challenge. Given my history and reputation for painting, Peter thinks his money is safe – and I’m inclined to agree with him!

But, I’m not one to turn down a challenge, so watch this space!