It's Grymn Out There.

Tweaking the colour scheme

2012-01-29T11:57:00.001Z

After posting up the previous picture of the test Grymn for the Mechanised armour, I decided that the brown areas were lacking something so I went and had a look through my paints and existing miniatures and thought that Dark Flesh would work better on the boots and gloves with Calthan Brown making for darker webbing.

Here is what I have changed:

So we now have this:

I am much happier with the darker look to the boots,gloves and webbing with the overall look of the miniature being darkened a little. Here is a comparison picture:

I think you'll agree that the darker look improves things.

Now we have the paint scheme sorted, I will look to be adding the insignia to the helmet. At the moment, I don't have the required decals but I will try to provide some sort of pictorial device to show my plans.

The New Model Army

2012-01-27T18:14:00.000Z

I have finished the first test model for my new Grymn army and here is what I have so far:

After finishing the first one, I think I need to darken the boots, gloves and pouches so I am thinking that the gloves/boots will be either Calthan Brown or Dark Flesh with the pouches being Vermin Brown (the colour the boots are at the moment). I am planning on trying a further test model to make sure I am correct in my assumptions before I launch in to a full army.

Even if I alter the basic colours, if I paint a few in a similar fashion, I can sprinkle them throughout the units as older style kit so the test models won't go to waste.

I want to get the scheme right so I am hoping that the second one works.

More to come.

A new army begins.

2012-01-25T21:41:00.000Z

This is just a short post to say that I have started on the next Grymn army; a mechanised urban force. I am currently in the process of painting the test scheme, ready to repeat many times.

Watch this space because once I get started, I need to keep the momentum up.

I am starting with a basic infantry platoon and will be focussing on the troops first while assembling the vehicles in the back ground. The troops will be painted first, then marked up. Next the vehicles will all be painted and then marked up together. Once the platoon is all painted and marked up, they will be varnished and then I can get on with the next platoon.

I have enough vehicles for two platoons so I reckon I'll have enough to keep me busy for about six or eight months before I have to buy more from Old Crow.

Once I have the first Grymn finished, I will post pix of the process, the colour choices and the finished product. I will also post information on organisation and ideas for further development.

These are certainly interesting times and they are WAY over due.

Quiet but not forgotten.

2012-01-24T13:26:00.003Z

It has been exceptionally quiet here lately and I thought it was time I waxed lyrical about the wonders of the whole Grymn universe.

In the beginning, Kev sculpted a few Grymn and came up with a very loose back-story about them being genetically made slaves for a superior race...added to that there were a few racial traits and that was about it.

The range has expanded a lot since then and there are new troops popping up every now and again, along with some interesting tech to go with them...like the Walker in my last post...but there is still no real back story and that means that the Grymn can be 'WHAT THE HELL YOU LIKE!!!'

I have talked about Grymn in different camouflage schemes and operating in different environments. They can be assembled in armies, small adventuring parties or even explorer crews. With a little bit of creative thinking, they can be mixed with other races to make mercenary crews and you cane even add some standard Dwarf models, with a little conversion, to give them a more personalised look.

At Salute last year, they were all the rage for Necromunda gangs and can be used in a lot of rulesets as stand-ins for regular armies (WH40k, Void1.1, No-Limits, Stargrunt...etc...).

That makes Grymn very versatile.

I have been collecting Grymn for a few years now and have put together a few armies, with many more ideas in the pipeline but it doesn't take a huge amount of miniatures to make a hard-hitting little force. With the addition of a walker or two and some APCs or IFVs, a platoon of troops would make quite an impact on the tabletop.

...BUT...

...I like armies and I am hoping to start on my next one very soon. I am planning on taking you through the process from start to finish and posting it on here. From deciding on organisation, bases, miniatures, vehicles and all many things to getting the work done so that I have finished miniatures on the table.

My plan is to build up a force one platoon at a time. I will start with a standard infantry platoon; including the transport and support that goes with it.

It should be an interesting journey...

Hasslefree News.

2011-12-01T21:03:00.004Z

Hasslefree Miniatures have just released finished pix of their latest Grymn Walker model. I can't say anything more about it than the picture will tell you:

There are two versions of the walker, the closed version above and the open version below:

To go with the walker, there is a seated pilot and a standing pilot that are shown below:

Here is a better pic of the standing pilot:

As you can see, these are some top Grymn miniatures and they will be an excellent addition to any Grymn army. Add these to the recent Grymn Officers that were released this week and all things Grymn are looking up.

Iron Man and friends.

2011-11-27T21:13:00.002Z

It has been a while but Iron Man has joined the Super Team:

He has further been joined by Captain Britain:

Both of these new heroes continue the super-soldier ethos with Iron Man gaining all of his powers from his armoured suit and Captain Britain being an acrobatic brawler with super strength and endurance.

I still plan to add a few more but sculpting has slowed for the time being so I can't say when the next member of the team will arrive.

On to different news and Hasslefree Miniatures will be releasing the long awaited Grymn Officers tomorrow. I have been waiting a long time for them and will be placing my order tomorrow. If you also take into account that they have their December Bonus time starting tomorrow then it is, indeed, a great day!

She Hulk joins the team

2011-11-05T16:08:00.003Z

This week, the super-soldier program gains another member and that is She-Hulk:

This is a slight departure for the Grymn scientists as they have been experimenting with a mix of super-serum and radiation to try and enhance their volunteer. Fortunately, the experiment worked and there have been few side effects...apart from a change in skin colouring! She-Hulk is super strong, super resilient and very agile as well.

Another Superhero and some HF news

2011-10-27T21:42:00.003+01:00

To add to the superhero group, I have been busy sculpting Puck (from Alpha Flight):

He is a smaller character with a very slow ageing process and depending on where you get your info from, has a body resembling hardened rubber. He is the 'cannonball' of the team. He's a bit of a light weight hitter but he can knock down a human sized opponent easily by barrelling into them. I chose him because he is just so full of character that he really adds something to the team.

On a completely different note, Hasslefree Miniatures are making some interesting noises with regard to Grymn Walkers. If you follow this LINK you will see some rather cool WIP pix of a completely re-vamped machine. I don't need to say how much I like it.

Building a Super-team with Grymn.

2011-10-20T14:17:00.002+01:00

As I have already mentioned, my Grymn superhero team is being built up but what I have been thinking is 'what makes a good super-team?'

Well, one of the main things about the team is that there is a good mix of powers. Strong characters, flying ones, super-fast ones...each and every type needs to be included to a certain degree so that the team can cope with a range of tasks and also have a visual impact that keeps the viewer's enthusiasm/attention.

As well as powers, it is always nice to have a mix of male and female characters so that there can be plot twists and also to keep EVERYONE interested, rather than just the boys. How cool is it when a strong, male super villain is stopped by the power of a female like She-Hulk?

Equipment is another consideration. A bunch of lycra clad superheroes in similar kit would get tedious...so there is a need to have a mix of extra equipment, armour, weapons, decorations to add a bit more variety to the group.

Personalities must also be considered for when the models get factored into a rule set. How do they react under pressure? How well do they take orders? How well do they respond to other members of the team? How well do they keep their emotions under control (a classic example of this would be the Hulk)?

Finally, I would say that colour and decoration is a huge part of a team's public image. Are they all wearing the same colours or do they have different colours throughout? Are they existing heroes that have joined together (hence all different colours) or has the team been formed of new superheroes and tied together with a team uniform?

All these questions need to be considered before you end up with a superhero team but if you can't decide on what to include, there is always the option of gathering more heroes than you need and picking from the bunch! As a result, my list of super-Grymn has expanded a little. It currently stands at eleven but I can still see it growing:

Nick Fury

Iron Man

Black Widow

Puck

Hurricane

Juggernaut

Captain Britain (the original one dressed in red, carrying a staff)

Beast

Demolition Man (because he looks like Wolverine but doesn't have claws)

She-Hulk

Rescue (Pepper Potts in Iron Man armour)

The only restrictions on my team is that they must get their powers via a super serum or by scientific methods. There are no gods, magical or mutant characters here.

Just things to think about.

Team Leaders

2011-10-20T02:09:00.002+01:00

Every team needs a leader and the Grymn super-team is no exception. Enter Nick Fury, special agent of SHIELD:

Nick Fury will be acting as a mediator between the heroes and the military. His main job is to decide the best time to send the heroes in, whilst liaising with the military to gain the best results.

When there is squabbling going on amongst the superheroes, it is his job to calm things down and restore team harmony.

Nick's super-serum has slowed his ageing process down and given him superhuman endurance. His skill with weapons and fighting ability has been gained over many decades of training as a soldier.

More Superheroes.

2011-10-16T22:06:00.003+01:00

The next member of the super-team has been completed...Juggernaut joins the team:

So far we have an agile martial artist, a super-fast speedster and now the brute for the team.

I think one of the most important things about putting together a super-team is to get a good range of attributes spread across the team members. I am working on that idea and am looking to have fliers, brawlers, brains and techs in amongst the mix...with a few little extra surprises as well.

As for how to use them, I have been sent a copy of 'Super System' version 3 and am slowly reading through them to try to allocate the correct powers to the team. When I have a decent grip of things, I will add further posts and information with regards to the rules.

The next member will be posted soon.

As fast as lightning!

2011-10-11T08:21:00.004+01:00

This time around we have Hurricane. She has been given implants and a super-serum to enhance her athletic prowess to the point where she can run at a super-fast pace:

That makes two down with four more to go. Once the team is complete I will be looking into how to integrate them in a rules system and how my standard infantry can be used.

More to come soon.

Blowing the dust off.

2011-10-09T10:40:00.003+01:00

It has been a while but it seems that there are a few more bits and bobs coming from Hasslefree soon. The two greens in my last post are going to be available at the end of November so I can finally start thinking about a higher command level for my armies.

An idea struck me a few weeks ago...why couldn't the Grymn have a secret, scientific branch of their armed forces? A branch that was dedicated to the enhancement of a Grymn's fighting prowess? A super-soldier program?

This got me looking through various sites on the WWW to see which super-soldiers would be good as a super-team for my Grymn armies. I decided that mechanical means (bionics/powered armour) and super -serums/genetic manipulation were fine but any sort of mythical/magical/mutant ways of explaining powers were not.

The first character to surface (after a few niggles with the putty) was Black Widow. Here she is with a GW Dark-Eldar, A Grymn Tunnel Fighter and a Void VASA marine:

She is a pretty normal soldier whose martial arts prowess has been heightened with a super-serum which make her far stronger and more agile than a normal Grymn. She is able to use all manner of weapons, dodge bullets and has extreme acrobatic prowess.

The super-soldier team will consist of five main members, with a liaison officer to act as a go between for the normal Grymn armies. They will have a special transport and will act as a special unit that is not part of the army but may be called upon to help in times of crisis.

Watch the skies for the next hero to arrive!

Some new stuff...'out there'

2011-06-13T19:12:00.003+01:00

I am very pleased to see that there are a few new sculpts from Kev over at Hasslefree Miniatures. Here are a couple of new Grymn naval officers:

I am looking forward to these being released as they are very characterful :) .

Grymn for Necromunda

2011-05-11T11:50:00.003+01:00

I recently downloaded the rules for Necromunda free from the Games Workshop site and have decided that it would be fun to build a gang for the rule-set.

I have gone for an Enforcer gang and it will consist of:

Patrol Team One:
1xSgt - Power Maul, Bolt Pistol
1xHandler - Power Maul, Bolt Pistol
1xCyber Mastiff - Teeth, Grrrrr
1xEnforcer - Grenade Launcher, Bolt Pistol
2xEnforcer - Power Maul, Suppression Shield

Patrol Team Two:
4xEnforcer - Bolt Gun, Bolt Pistol
1xEnforcer - Heavy Stubber, Bolt Pistol

The idea is that Patrol Team One acts as the lighter part of the gang, patrolling the streets and travelling in the Ronin APC (Only fluff wise...the vehicle won't be used in game) and Patrol Team Two is the emergency response side of things; flying into the street in an anti-grav vehicle and deploying to support the other team when things get rough.

I have all of the miniatures and vehicles I need and have done the basic conversion work on everything. I just need to crack out the Green-Stuff and sculpt all the details on now.

They will end up looking similar to my old Judges:

The new Enforcers will be painted slightly differently and the second patrol will have full face helmets to represent their heavier assault role. I will be putting them all on the standard type of slotta bases and not on the round edged bases that are in the pic above.

Stay tuned for updates.

Learning the game.

2011-05-01T14:04:00.003+01:00

There are times that I think to myself..."Why?"

"Why do I let these little tiny ideas build up momentum so quickly?"

...

Salute opened my eyes to a small idea and that idea was 'Grymn in Necromunda'.

I have looked over at the Games Workshop site and have discovered that you can get the rules for free, as a PDF so I downloaded the rules and have started reading them.

I have got as far as printing off a gang roster sheet and am in the process of deciding which of the gangs most suit the Grymn. I think that the best two options are House Van-Saar and the Security Patrol (Enforcers...Judge Grymn???).

I am unable to decide which way to go at the moment but will be pawing over the rules until I can come up with a suitable gang...in both roster and miniature form.

Watch this space because it is likely to be a bit of a departure for me.

Just to add a bit of a footnote here, if you have any ideas or links to share, feel free to leave comments :) because I am a 'green-horn' when it comes to Necromunda.

Post Salute musings.

2011-04-24T10:41:00.006+01:00

Each year, I try my hardest to get to London so that I can attend the Salute Games convention. Salute is usually at the Excel Centre in the heart of the Docklands and is large enough for a host of traders to sell their wares, enough gaming-tables to fill a football pitch and a large group of people dressed in various costumes to wander around entertaining the thousands of visitors.

This year, I was helping out at the Hasslefree Miniatures stand and witnessed, first hand, just how busy these sort of shows can be. To say that I was kept very active all day was an understatement!

During the day, my main focus was selling the wares...but I kept a keen ear out for anyone showing interest in the Grymn range and I was surprised at how many people were buying them to start up a gang in Necromunda. There were many other people buying them to build armies and small skirmish forces too but the one thing that really got me thinking was how easy it would be to build up a gang for Necromunda.

A Necromunda gang normally has a range of members from hardened leaders through standard gangers and heavies (with special or heavy weapons) to juves (new recruits and younger members). The Grymn range of miniatures can cater for all of these options and still provide a wide enough range of weapons to make things interesting.

I haven't ever played the game or built a gang but it is all filling for the sandwich!

Maybe have:

Kjaran as the leader (Boltgun?)
Horgan as a heavy (Auto-cannon?)
Some light infantry as standard gangers (Auto-guns?)
Some close combat troops as juves (maybe swap one of the pistols for a knife/sword/axe?)
For a bit of flavour, you could add a few snipers or other specialists and if you were feeling particularly adventurous...maybe even an Ogryn?

To add further variety, there is a range of alternative weaponry and equipment that can be used to further customise your gang.

Well...that is Necromunda dealt with...and you can always use the rules for humans to field them. Maybe have them as House Van-Saar (due to their tech level).

On to other things...

...I heard tell that Kev White has got a bunch of Powered Armour clad Grymn sat on his sculpting bench as we speak. When I got a few minutes to chat with him, he mentioned that he was working on them and that they were progressing...so that could mean that there will be a bit of Powered Armour action turning up soon...lets hope! Add to that the jet-bikes (single and two seater) that are nearing completion and we could have a few really hard hitting units to field on the Grymn battlefields of the future.

So...the Tunnel Fighters are nearing completion. I have finished all the basic troops and am in the process of completing the small medical unit that has sat on my table for ages (just the bases to paint). I have one complete mech, five that are base-coated, one that is built and ready for paint and four that are still on the sprues. Once the mechs are done, I will be taking a step back from the project and will turn my focus onto my urban army.

...Speaking of the urban army, I have (in addition to the two platoons of infantry) now gathered together enough heavy infantry to have a small platoon of troops. It will have:

Command Section: 1xCommander, 1xComms and 2xHeavy Infantry
Support Section: 1xLeader, 1xHeavy Infantry and 2xRail-Gun
Section1: 2 Fireteams with: 1xLeader, 2xHeavy Infantry and 1xHeavy Pulse-Gun
Section2: 2 Fireteams with: 1xLeader, 2xHeavy Infantry and 1xHeavy Pulse-Gun

All of the heavy infantry will be armed with Pulse-Guns and as you can see, there is one section less than the standard infantry platoons due to the elite nature of the heavy infantry. That may change once I get further with the project but I have to bear in mind that there will need to be transport for the troops...and so far it is 5 vehicles for each standard platoon...and vehicle numbers soon mount up!!!

The Urban Army takes shape.

2011-04-12T09:48:00.003+01:00

I have been sorting out, making a few purchases, thinking about transport and generally knocking the urban army into shape.

I have decided to have each platoon arranged in sections of eight troops that can be split into two, four-man fire-teams. The command section will join the support section so that together they make up eight troops.

With the release of more LMG gunners and specialists with single-shot missile launchers, I have changed the special weapons that were originally in the army for more realistic ones (by that, I mean more in line with the idea of the British Army organisation that I am using).

So...

Each platoon will have:

Command Section: 1xCommander, 1xComms and 2xLight Infantry - Slingshot IFV.
Support Section: 1xLeader, 1xRocket Launcher, 2xLMG - Slingshot IFV.
Section1: 2 Fireteams with: 1xLeader, 1xRocket Launcher, 1xLight Infantry, 1xLMG - Glaive APC.
Section2: 2 Fireteams with: 1xLeader, 1xRocket Launcher, 1xLight Infantry, 1xLMG - Glaive APC.
Section3: 2 Fireteams with: 1xLeader, 1xRocket Launcher, 1xLight Infantry, 1xLMG - Glaive APC.

I thought that the command/support sections would be better equipped with their own smaller transports. The better speed and manoeuvrability of the wheeled vehicles would mean they could take a more active scouting role, with the support section being able to re-position quickly and the command section to be able to move quickly to add their commanding presence where it is needed most.

Each of the platoons consist of 32 troops and 5 armoured vehicles and is effectively, an army in it's own right. With that in mind, I am planning to build the army one platoon at a time; finishing all of the troops and vehicles for each platoon, before moving on to the next one. That gives me a set goal, time to decide on further platoons and also the time to personalise each platoon to make it a bit individual.

The overall plan is to build a mechanised company with some additional support.

The company will be:

1x Command HQ platoon/unit
3x Mechanised infantry platoon
1x Airborne support platoon
1x Heavy Infantry platoon
Various armoured support.
Possibly - 1x Support platoon (mostly having troops with heavy weapons)

I am still in the planning/buying the troops and vehicles stage at the moment while I continue working on the Tunnel Fighters. That means that I can concentrate on finishing of the previous army before diverting my focus onto the new one.

The future is Grymn...

Thoughts of home and new directions...

2011-03-27T16:52:00.004+01:00

I know it has been quiet on here for a while but being a serviceman places a few extra demands on a person's time...especially when you are away on detachment in Kenya!

Kenya is obviously hot, dusty and has a rather unreliable powergrid...so power-cuts happen quite frequently. For that reason, I don't tend to bring hobby stuff out here with me...I would only end up ruining what I tried to create.

Add to that the variable shifts and the detachment lifestyle and obligations and you end up with the hobby getting pretty much forgotten.

...HOWEVER...

I have now been out here for over a month and the end is in sight. In a couple of weeks I will be returning home and with that thought in mind, I have begun to plan what is in store for my Grymn horde.

The first thing I must really do is to finish off the two squads of Tunnel Fighters and the medics that have lain dormant for so long.

Next, I must try to finish all of the mechs that accompany them.

I have quite a few of the Clankers in my cupboard, ready to be converted and painted but I think I will hold off for a while with those because I reckon I'll need to do something a little different to 'ignite the muse'...

...so I have been thinking a lot about my boxes of light infantry...my Urban Army.

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, Hasslefree Miniatures have recently shown off a host of new Grymn. They include snipers, LMG gunners, light infantry with single shot rocket launchers and new heavy infantry.

With the new options in mind, I am now able to re-sort my current platoon plans to include the more sensible special weapons available to me. Once I return home and get my hands on the Urban Army boxes, I will be able to better judge what new specialists will be required but I have come to the conclusion that once I have finished reorganising the troops, I should have enough for a company (just over a hundred troops).

Organisation will be (and always has been) based around the British Army, with four man fireteams at the core of platoons...

...but I'll go into all that in another post.

When it is just too dangerous...

2011-02-08T13:03:00.003Z

...don't send in the troops...send in the robotic clones (Beetle-Bots):

Grymn are too important to waste in actions that require the 'long haul' so they have come up with a cunning solution to the problem. Their technicians and scientists have perfected a way of copying a soldier's thought patterns and imprinting them on to a manufactured neural net. This neural net can then be placed into the skull of a robot and that will give the robot the personality and ability of the donor Grymn.

The good thing about the system is that it can be done in a few minutes, the Grymn is completely unharmed in the process and, unlike a clone, the robot is battlefield ready in as long as it takes for the new programming to get used to the robot body. Add to that the robot taking on board the training and experience of an existing soldier and you have a great way of putting fully battle-ready troops on the battlefield without running the risk of losing lots of lives...

Cpl Jenssen slowly lowered his head into the headrest of the special chair. Once he was comfortable the nurse tightened the restraining strap over his forehead and asked if he was ready.

Cpl Jenssen said that he was and the seat slowly lowered to a roughly horizontal position. Once it was there, a robotic arm raised a laptop sized scanner and adjusted it so that it was about three inches from Jensses's face. There was a click and about ten seconds of a barely audible hum before the arm withdrew the scanner and the seat began to raise to the normal position.

"All done!" said the nurse.
"Was that it?" Jenssen replied.
"Yep. Robot Jenssen will be waiting outside to meet you".

Jenssen left the small room and walked into a small collection area. Standing on a big yellow spot in the corner, was a blue/grey coloured robot who looked at Jenssen as soon as he entered. Jenssen stopped and looked back at the robot.

"Now that is just weird!" they both said together.

..."This will take a little getting used to" they both thought...

There are a few things to think about though...

What happens if the donor Grymn dies?...
Once the battle is over, will the robot-clones be 'de-programmed'?...
Does sending in robot-clones lead to Grymn getting lazy?...
Do the Grymn donors meet the robot-clones or are they kept separate?...
What if the robot-clones decide not to go and fight?...
What if the robot-clones decide to take over?...

Can you imagine going to war with a bunch of robot clones...say ten...all programmed with your brain patterns? Can you imagine the arguments?

So many things to think about...not even treading the paths of the moral implications of it...but that is the beauty of Science Fiction.

Gratuitous Army Pix

2010-12-30T19:09:00.022Z

Seeing as I have been working on these all year, I thought it was time to show off a bit of progress...so here is the Tunnel Fighter army so far...

Command Squad

Infantry Squad (Dark Purple)

Infantry Squad (Brown)

Infantry Squad (Orange)

Infantry Squad (Pink)

Infantry Squad (Purple)

Infantry Squad (Yellow)

Close Combat Squad (Red)

Close Combat Squad (Green)

Close Combat Squad (Blue)

Close Combat Squad (Dark Green)

Medic Unit

K9 Unit

Drone Unit

Clanker Unit (Blue)

Clanker Unit (Red)

There is still a lot more to come...I have plans to add a mech to each unit...a bit like this one:

The mech above is the only one completely finished but I have 5 more that have been base-coated, 1 that is built ready to start painting and 4 more that are still on the sprue.

Also each unit will get an APC to transport it. Once that is done, I'll be adding specialist units ...so 2011 should be quite an interesting year.

Just as an aside, I will keep updating this post with completed units as they happen.

It has been a while but...

2010-11-30T11:20:00.004Z

There are new Grymn on the way from Hasslefree Miniatures !

If you check out this FoD forum post you will not only see pix of a host of new Grymn; including snipers and Grymn with rocket launchers but you will also find news about a bunch of new stuff including grav-bikes, powered armour, new characters and more heavy infantry.

Just to whet your appetite, here's one of the new Grymn...a sniper in a ghillie suit:

The future is bright...the future is Grymn!

Stan's Journey...

2010-08-25T19:44:00.003+01:00

It isn't always fighting that keeps the Grymn army busy...sometimes there are more mundane tasks that they have to undertake...baby-sitting is one of many...

Stan was standing, bleary eyed, in a hangar bay; gazing at the row upon row of makeshift beds that were strewn across the floor. He rubbed his eyes, looked at his watch and realised that there must be further delays to the transport schedule. He had been on the go for over eighteen hours. He had travelled by grav-carrier from his home base for over nine of those hours and had been expecting to arrive at the terminal and jump straight on the shuttle to the orbiting cruiser. Stan was feeling a little let down because the original shuttle was cancelled and his regiment had been told that there was a five hour delay…that was nine hours ago. Most of the assembled Grymn had unpacked their sleeping bags and mattresses and were chilling out waiting for further news but some were bustling about in various states of anger or despair; impatience was bound to be a problem.

“Attention” A strong female voice spoke through the loud speakers “the shuttle bound for Orin’s Dagger will be arriving in thirty minutes for a departure one hour later…end of message”.

Stan’s shoulders drooped at the prospect of another hour-and-a-half delay but he Knew he had no control over it so went to a food dispenser to grab a snack. He was now very tired and just wanted to get up to his new bunk; ready for the journey to begin properly. He was due to travel to a distant planet to help colonists defend themselves while the terra-forming could be completed and even with inter-space drives, the trip would take the convoy nearly seven months.

“And they couldn’t even get the shuttle here on time” Stan thought to himself.

After the hour-and-a-half was up and a further hour delay had passed, Stan’s regiment were loaded onto the shuttle in orderly lines of marching troops. He was in amongst them; being just a trooper and was happy to be boarding at long last. As they all filed up the boarding ramp he looked left and right as they entered the shuttle; marvelling at the size of the ramp-struts and pistons and the vast array of pipes and conduits that decorated the inside of the shuttle walls.

“EYES FRONT TROOPER!!!” Shouted Bargil; senior leader of Stan’s platoon.

Stan quickly stopped looking around and snapped his gaze forward.

Once inside the shuttle, the troops were halted and directed towards their respective seats. Once they were all seated, various vehicles, containers and pallets were loaded into the hold and the huge doors were finally closed. After a couple of minutes, the engine noise began to grow and there was a jolt as the shuttle lifted off the deck and began to ascend to the waiting cruiser.

The trip to the cruiser was uneventful. There were no windows in the cargo area where all of the troop seats were fitted so there was no chance of seeing the outside. The assembled Grymn just sat and chatted together while they waited to arrive at their new home. Fortunately, the shuttle trip was only forty minutes long so there wasn’t too much time to wait before the shuttle landed inside the waiting cruiser and began to offload all of its cargo. As soon as the Grymn were all off-loaded, they were hustled into a briefing room where they were welcomed, had a role call read and were issued with rooms and orders for the following day. Once they were all dismissed, they dispersed to their rooms to get settled and bed down for the night.

Stan found his room, went inside and found that his kit-bags were already waiting for him. He was in a four Grymn room so there was a pair of bunk beds. Each bed had a name, barcode and serial number and Stan found his and began to unpack his kit into the associated locker. He was the first to arrive so had a little time to take in his surroundings without too much interruption. It was a relatively small room but there was enough space for four lockers, the bunk beds, two small desks with chairs and a separate area with a sink. On the whole, Stan was quite impressed with the room but was holding judgement until he knew who his room-mates were. He needn’t have worried because they were three of his squad members who had been chosen for their weight and also because they had a similar psychological and social profile to Stan (in other words, the top brass asked the regiment commanders…who asked the platoon commanders…who asked the squad leaders to make a list). He was sharing with Jooks, Norm and Gunnar and they had always got on like a house on fire. When they arrived, they were all talk and the lights eventually went out at almost one in the morning…the following days briefings started at six…it was going to be a long day.

The morning brief was a general repeat of everything they had been briefed, prior to boarding the cruiser. After a few extra bits of safety and warning information had been passed on, it was time for the midday meal. Luckily, the briefs were all finished and the whole regiment were stood down for 48 hours to relax, recuperate and find their way about so after they had eaten their meals, Stan and Jooks wandered off to do a bit of investigating while Norm and Gunnar went back to their cabin.

The Cruiser was vast. The shuttle that they all flew up on was only one of a dozen in the hangar and the shuttle was big enough for a regiment! Stan thought that he could happily fit his entire settlement inside the hangar and still have space for a strike-ball stadium. As Stan and Jooks wandered around the passed biospheres that contained plants, grazing animals and even aquariums filled with various types of fish. Along other corridors were shopping areas, entertainment areas, a dentist, barbers, doctors surgery and many more interesting things to see…and there were a small number of drinking establishments that served alcohol…but in limited quantities. There was also a library, armoury, gymnasium, stores area (for uniform related equipment) and a school. The further the two Grymn walked, the more in awe of the cruiser they became.

After their brief stand-down, the Grymn troops were all required to report for duty. Once they were all in position and had been set their tasks, the cruiser began preparations for the journey ahead. After that, the engines fired and off they went…into the void of space towards the new planet they were going to settle.

Grymn Characters - Silvia and Edgar

2010-07-14T14:12:00.003+01:00

Silvia and Edgar are two Grymn you wouldn’t expect to see together. Silvia is a picture of Grymn beauty, with stunning looks a perfect physique and eyes you could drown in. Edgar is an aging, war weary, grey-haired veteran of the Grymn armed forces. If you were to ever see them together in their civilian attire, it would not only be exceptionally rare but they would also appear completely at odds with each other. However, when they are in their military fatigues, they are as much a picture of solidarity as they are a highly effective and professional team. The reason for this is that Silvia is a natural and very gifted sniper. It was said that, during her training, Silvia could shoot the tip off a pencil at ranges in excess of 500 metres but since then her expertise has become so great that the Grymn high council decided that she needed to be protected and cosseted so they chose someone to act as her spotter and her protection. Edgar was perfect for the role. He was a veteran of many wars, had high tactical awareness, was a talented leader and also had the patience of a saint. He immediately stepped in as Silvia’s mentor, protector and spotter and since they first met they have been like a father and daughter team.

Silvia and Edgar have become a dedicated assassination unit. They have been highly trained in the use of camouflage, concealment, communications, survival techniques and the use of most weaponry. Edgar will act as Silvia’s link between the high council and the jobs she has to carry out and shadows her every move in the field. As effective a sniper Silvia is, Edgar is a bodyguard beyond compare. Once the team is in position, Edgar will spot for Silvia and keep an eye out for enemy forces while she concentrates on the assassination. When it comes to extraction, Edgar takes the lead and ensures that they escape in the required manner. They are a team beyond compare and as a result, will only be used when a specific target needs to be eliminated and it is of the utmost importance to get the job done correctly, in the right time frame and with the correct precision.

Using Silvia and Edgar in your army

Edgar and Silvia make up a single unit and must remain within two inches of each other at all times.
Silvia will have normal trooper stats and will be equipped with a Grymn pistol and sniper rifle.
Edgar will have a veteran’s stats and will be equipped with a Grymn pistol, SMG, comms and scanners/binoculars.
Both will have the ‘Camouflage and concealment’, ‘Move through cover’ and ‘Specific target’ special rules. Silvia will have the ‘Sniper beyond compare’ special rule and Edgar will have the ‘Bodyguard’ special rule:

Camouflage and concealment

When in their chosen position, Silvia and Edgar become more or less invisible. They cover themselves with camouflage netting, IR reflective material and have all manner of jamming devices that mask scanners. When deployed, you do not need to tell your opponent where they are on the table. You can deploy them anywhere on the table but you must have a map with their position marked clearly on it so that when they are revealed, you have proof of their position. Silvia and Edgar will be revealed whenever they move or fire. Once this happens, they are visible for the rest of the game.

Move Through cover

Silvia and Edgar are adept at moving through cover. They may move through wooded areas and over broken ground without any penalties for movement.

Specific Target

Silvia and Edgar are chosen to carry out specific orders and then to return safely to their designated extraction zone. They are far too valuable to be risked in ‘run of the mill’ actions. At the beginning of the game, the controlling player may choose up to two specific targets. Each of these targets can be any model on the table. If Silvia or Edgar manages to kill the target(s), they will not only receive double the victory points for doing so but must also begin to withdraw to the army deployment zone (or a pre-determined safe/extraction point). They must do this once the targets are eliminated and they must do it in a characterful manner, using cover and speed but still returning fire as they withdraw. Once in the safe zone, they will play no further part in the battle.

Sniper beyond compare (Silvia only)

Silvia is literally, a sniper beyond compare. She is able to blank out the clamour of battle and pick her targets with precision. She is able to target vulnerable spots in armour and can calculate trajectories and wind-age with the skill of a savant.
Silvia can target any model on the table without restriction. If she has a line of sight, she can target any individual model in range whether they are basic troopers or army commanders. She can also double the range of the sniper rifle she carries with no penalty. If she does this then she may NOT use the following ‘additional penetration’ rule.
Additional penetration – if Silvia scores a hit (within normal range), then role a d6. On a roll of a 5 or 6, she will get double the strength of the weapon (to represent hitting a vulnerable point on the target). If the rule set doesn’t give the rifle a strength value then this rule will give you a 5 or 6 chance of wounding in addition to the normal rules (some common sense will be required so as to not make this too powerful a rule).

Bodyguard (Edgar only)

As long as Edgar is within two inches of Silvia, he will leap in front of any shot targeted at her and will fight any opponents in hand to hand that try to attack her. Simply switch Silvia for Edgar and work out the results normally.

Footnote: I have made this unit a little bit more vague than 'Lucky' because it has the possibility of being a game winner if used in the manner it should be.

I would suggest that this unit would only be used in a game where there was a specific commander or specialist that would reasonably be considered a major target. If there isn't a major target, Silvia and Edgar wouldn't even get out of their rooms.

Once the targets are eliminated, the next objective for the team would be to get to their extraction point. It may be necessary to either reward them for getting there or penalise them for not getting there. How about making them lose the 'double victory points' if they don't reach their extraction point...or even removing all of the victory points? It is characterful for these two to act in a professional manner and once they had carried out their duty, they would move to the extraction point straight away...it is their next objective after all.

Again...it is all food for thought and any comments are welcomed.

Grymn Character - 'Lucky' Lund Thorsen

2010-07-11T21:31:00.007+01:00

Trooper Lund, Thorsen was a soldier in the Grymn army. He was a fairly run of the mill soldier who went through training in an un-extraordinary way; only just achieving the results that enabled him to join the infantry when he graduated. In fact, you could almost have said that he was completely average in every way; almost. You see, Lund started out his time in the Grymn army with a shiny metal hand.

When he was a child, he had been playing with his friends when he was involved in a car accident that saw him dragged down the street for a hundred metres...only coming to rest when his hand was ripped from his wrist. It took him many months to get back to his full strength but his hand couldn’t be saved so he had a bionic one grafted on in its place. All who knew him, said that he should have been killed and that it was a miracle he survived; let alone returned to full strength.

Once Lund had finished his military training, he was deployed on operations in the desert regions where he saw lots of action fighting Bohkin infiltrators. Many times he fought and many times he was injured but no matter how bad his injuries, he was patched up and sent back to duty after ‘miraculously’ surviving wounds that would have seen other Grymn dead.

Over time, he gained a number of extra bionics, including an eye, an arm (the opposite one to his metal hand) and a foot but still he survived and returned to his unit. After a while Lund’s unit began to see him as a bit of a mascot and gave themselves the nickname of ‘Lucky-Lund’s Lads’ because every time they managed to rescue Lund, they managed to win victory, achieve their objectives or escape where there should have been no escape.

You may have thought that Lund was destined for greater things but all through his career, he showed absolutely no aptitude for leadership and had no wish for it either. He was happy doing his duty as an ordinary foot-soldier and completed his 20 year service as trooper ‘Lucky’ Lund, Thorsen.

Using ‘Lucky’ Lund, Thorsen in your army

Any single, normal trooper in your army may be replaced as ‘Lucky’. When you do this, he gains the normal stats for that trooper, keeps the same weapons and gets the same equipment that the trooper would normally get. In addition, the following rules apply:

Lucky

While ‘Lucky’ is still alive and able, the unit he has joined will receive a bonus to their leadership. This will add one level to the leadership of the whole unit (depending on the rules system)

Rescue the muppet!

If ‘Lucky’ falls, he is considered wounded and not killed. He has miraculously survived but plays no further part in the battle. Any member of his unit will be responsible for rescuing the poor chap and must move into base contact with him. The rescuer will not be able to shoot for the remainder of the game but will be able to defend himself during hand-to-hand-combat, if he is attacked. The whole of the unit will become immune to leadership tests and will gain an extra level of weapon skill and shooting skill while ‘Lucky’ is being rescued but they will no longer be able to advance towards the enemy. They may remain where they are or retreat but they place keeping ‘Lucky’ safe, above their normal objective. If they return to their deployment area and drop him off then the unit returns to the fight with their basic stats as if ‘Lucky’ was just a normal member of their squad who has fallen. Of course, lucky will end up being healed and will be able to return in future battles to fight as normal.

If by the end of the game, 'Lucky' has not been returned to his deployment area, the unit he is with is counted as destroyed for the sake of victory points or objective reasons. If 'Lucky' is injured, the unit he is with may not claim objectives...unless they have already returned him to the deployment area and dropped him off.

Extra Equipment

‘Lucky’ gains bionics as extra equipment for no extra cost. He has a Bionic eye, hand, arm and foot and this will need to be taken into account depending on which rule-set you are using (with the relevant bonuses applied if applicable).

Footnote: You can see from this example how easy it is to add a lot of flavour to your army by just adding a bit of narrative to a normal soldier.

When 'Lucky' is injured, you have the big decision of standing in place and getting all of the extra bonuses (risking his life in the process) or returning him to the deployment area and ending up with the basic stats again...

...that means risky, power-gaming or fighting with a narrative...

The choice is yours.

Characters.

2010-07-11T17:55:00.003+01:00

In all stories and legends, there are great heroes, villains and leaders; those who fight beyond the call of duty and beyond the boundaries of normal endurance. These heroes instil courage and fervour in their followers; leading them to great victories and on to greater glory than they could have possibly achieved through their own endeavours.

These are the characters that add colour and a little bit of bite to any army and the Grymn armies should be no exception.

Where to start

The starting point should always be at the bottom. Why? Because there is always the tendency to have characters and leaders that are super powerful and indestructible. That is completely inappropriate and can also completely unbalance the army that the character has been created to join.

Of course; once you have started building characters, you can build up to the more powerful ones but you will do so after understanding the strengths and weaknesses of those lesser characters and that will help you build a better, higher level character that will not unbalance your army but will enhance it.

When building characters there is a need to set them apart from the normal, run of the mill NCOs and officers of the army. These characters will have unusual characteristics or be able to do unusual things that a normal leader won't be able to. Just think of the British leader, Winston Churchill. He was just a man...but put him in front of a mass of people and he could turn them into an unstoppable army just by talking to them and inspiring them to greater things. Storming Norman Schwartzkopf instilled pride in his men by being in the field and leading from the front. Montgomery, Rommel, Colonel H. Jones and many more, inspired their troops to great deeds...but they were just men. They weren't super heroes and they weren't wearing powered armour or being protected by force fields...

...but the men who followed them would follow them to the sun and fight on its searing surface as a result of the pride they held in their inspirational leaders...

Private Baharry...an inspiration to the country. He was just doing his duty but had such drive that he fought off wounds that would ground a normal man and rescued members of his unit before succumbing to unconsciousness. He was just a man...but in a word, he is a hero and would make an excellent basis for a character in an army.

I have posted this as a forward to some character ideas that will follow on. They will range from the lowly leader to the Grymn who originally escaped from the Sleiti and led his people to freedom in the stars. There will be great generals, powerful orators and strategists beyond compare.

Watch this space...

Fi-Fi-Fo-Fum!

2010-07-10T22:03:00.016+01:00

Yes, today I am going to talk about the models and miniatures available for robotic walkers in your Grymn armies. This is not going to be a big debate as to whether they are practical or not...I like the idea of big robots on the battlefield and as a result I feel the need to share a few ideas on the subject.

Starting at the beginning, we have the small, powered-armour style, walkers. The first one I have here is a Grizzly suit from the now extinct range of Starship Troopers miniatures that Mongoose Games used to make:

The miniature is designed to be used as a powered suit for miniatures that would be about 32mm tall so the thought of a Grymn filling the suit in the way it was designed is a bit daft. I would suggest that the Grymn pilot would be sat in a seat in the torso of the suit and would drive it rather than walk around in it. There is plenty of room in the torso for this so it isn't infeasible.

Following on from the Grizzly are my Vulkan battle-suits. They are from another extinct range of miniatures; the Warzone range from Target Games. These would operate in the same way as the Grizzlies with the Grymn pilot sitting in the torso:

Next we have the driven robot style of walker. These are no longer powered armour but armoured vehicles that have a pilot who sits in a cockpit and controls the walker. The walkers below are from the Japanese Anime 'Armoured Trooper Votoms'. The ones pictured are very old 1/60 scale, die-cast toys depicting 'Scopedog'; one of the characters from the show:

In order to make the toy look more Grymn-like, I have shortened the one on the left and started to paint it in a more reasonable scheme.

...and so we progress onto my favourite line of walkers...the Macross range. The following walkers are from the old 1/200 scale Nichimo range of kits. The Nichimo kits were great because each of the boxes contained two kits. It was necessary to convert these quite heavily so that there was conceivably the space to house a Grymn in the cockpit. First are the converted Defenders:

Next we have some converted Tomahawks:

Moving on from the 1/200 scale kits, we progress onto the slightly large 1/100 scale kits. These are from Arai and Bandai and are joined by the smaller walkers to show off their size difference:

Just for a bit more information, the grey and white walkers are Regult pods and the un-painted green and brown ones are Spartans. The bigger walkers are the Tomahawk but with the arms off the Defender:

...and a pair of Defenders with the arms off Tomahawks:

The great thing about the Macross kits is that they tie in together nicely. The following Phalanx walkers use similar legs to the Tomahawks and Defenders so don't look out of place at all. The Phalanx have multiple rocket launchers and would be perfect for long ranged support:

Gundam has a huge range of kits available for the Anime theme. The following kit is a Zaku but unlike the other kits I have shown, this is a 'super-deformed' version. That means that it is designed to be more cartoon-like in style. Fortunately there is plenty of room inside the head to fit a Grymn pilot:

I don't need to say that there are literally thousands of Japanese Anime kits available from all sorts of ranges; Xabungle, Dougram, Robotech, Megaro Zamac, Patlabor...the list goes on and on...so I won't go on about it!

There are also war-games ranges that encompass walkers in their ranks. Games Workshop and Forgeworld are two such companies that have a myriad of walkers in a selection of ranges.

To finish, all I need to say is have a look out there and you will find the perfect walker for your forces...whether it is a toy, a Japanese kit or even a kit from a war-games manufacturer...

...and if anyone questions the use of giant walking death machines...then if all else fails just say..."they look cool".

Paper...I forgot to mention paper!

2010-06-27T16:46:00.003+01:00

In both of my previous posts I mentioned all sorts of model making options for providing both air and ground support for your Grymn armies.

I am one of those army collectors who like a bit of solidity to my vehicles and am prepared to pay what I think is fair for that privilege. I am not alone when it comes to liking a bit of weight to my vehicles, HOWEVER...there is another option...paper vehicles.

I may look down my nose at paper models but there is a huge amount of merit to them. First of all, there are loads of sci-fi paper models out there, many covering subjects like available video-game vehicles and the more unusual film vehicles...as well as the standard 'home-made' designs so there is plenty of variety to chose from. Secondly, you don't have to build them with paper or card...you can download the plans and build them with plasticard so that you get the solidity and weight that scratch-building provides without having to come up with your own designs. There is also the matter of price. Once you have spent a small amount of money to download the PDF for the plans, you can print them as many times as you like...that means a one off purchase can provide you with hundreds of vehicles if you wish. You can also change the scale of the plans just by adjusting your printer settings. Many of the paper models also come with a choice of colours in the PDF so that you can have a set of vehicles for all occasions and in different colours. Finally, if you don't like painting...paper models are perfect because they usually come fully painted, weathered and highlighted...so as long as you are neat when you glue them together, they don't need painting.

A few providers of paper models are:

Ebbles Miniatures

World Works Games

I would add a huge list but a quick search on Google will throw up hundreds of links to free downloads rather than the pay-for ones I've linked to above. You will have to just accept that because I am not 'in-to' the whole paper thing, that I don't really know where to start looking.

...HOWEVER, with a tiny amount of search-fu, I have come up with this rather nice link to something worth looking into:

Halo Pelican Dropship

Happy hunting!

Air support...

2010-06-27T13:54:00.006+01:00

So, we've covered some of the ground support options in the last post, now lets think about air support.

Air support is as wide and varied as ground support. It can be as simple as a fighter aircraft, flying low and strafing the ground with machine gun fire or as complicated as an orbital drop-ship, capable of descending through the atmosphere with a payload of troops, dropping them off and then hanging around to give weapon support while they advance. Let's start, as we did last time, with what is available from a war-gaming model perspective.

War-gaming air support

Again, we'll start with the obvious choice of Games Workshop plastic injection kits. In the Imperial guard line, there is the Valkyrie; a sci-fi version of a helicopter heavy-lifter. The Tau range has a selection of anti-gravity vehicles ranging from the Devilfish troop carrier, through heavy support Hammerheads and Sky-rays to the lightly equipped, 2 man scout skimmer Piranhas. The Eldar have everything from troop carriers to jet bikes and even the Space Marines have Landspeeders to add some lightly armoured ground support. If you want to continue on the Games Workshop theme, their sister company; Forgeworld, have further fliers to add to the mix but they tend to cost a lot more because they are resin.

Old Crow Models also have a few VTOL support craft in the guise of the Raven, Crow and Splinter. These are resin and are 25mm scale so are small enough for the Grymn to use.

Scotia Grendel has the resin, Corvus drop-ship in their Grendel sci-fi section.

Antenociti's Workshop has a couple of resin fliers including jet-bikes and even a city hopper.

...and to be brutally honest, I can't think of any more! There really are a lack of companies making wargaming fliers for sci-fi...particularly drop-ships.

Modern/Sci-fi model kits

Generally speaking, the 1/48th scale aircraft kit industry has thousands of kits available for conversion. I'm not going to list company names because there are so many out there that produce 1/48th scale models. All it takes is a little imagination and you can convert a Chinook into a VTOl for sci-fi, A Commanche into a ground attack VTOL, A Hercules into a Drop-ship and a host of modern jet aircraft into some form of fighter/ground support aircraft...the sky is the limit. If you look a bit further afield, there are a lot of sci-fi kits available...like the Macross and Mospeada range. They have a great selection of fighters. There are also a host of other sci-fi kits from the 'real space' genre; including rockets and shuttles to use in your conversions. Like I said at the beginning...a small amount of imagination and you can easily construct a decent amount of sci-fi airsupport for your Grymn.

Toys

Thunderbirds, UFO, Space: 1999, Captain Scarlett, Avatar, Aliens, The X-Men...the list of cool toys just goes on and on and many of these ranges have vehicles that would make great air support for your Grymn. Don't worry too much about scale as you can often convert stuff that is completely out of scale for use with the Grymn...here is an example; a Thunderbird-2 toy from the most recent film:

All I did was fill in the windows, trim the tail a little and stick a plastic spoon to the front to act as a cockpit...sorted!

The sky is the limit!

Scratch-building

Again, there are many people who enjoy building their own vehicles and aircraft from scratch...I have tried many times but only ever got so far before giving up...here is an example of ANOTHER failed project:

All I can say is that if you take the scratch-building approach...GOOD LUCK!

Well, that is about it for today and I hope that I have supplied at least a small amount of information that you may find useful when tooling up your Grymn forces with some air-support.

If you have any other options for either ground or air support then please feel free to add comments to any of the posts...an idea shared is a wonderful thing after all!

Support for the lowly infantry.

2010-06-26T17:04:00.004+01:00

At the time of writing, there are no vehicles in the Hasslefree Miniatures Grymn miniature line. That means two things...

1. We can wait for them to make some available

OR

2. We can look elsewhere for our vehicular needs

I'll say this straight away...I don't like waiting.

I thought I would try to put a list up of all of the places I have found that sell vehicles, tanks and transports that would be suitable for a Grymn army...so hold on to your hats, this is going to be a bumpy ride!

What is available in the way of tanks and ground based vehicles?

There are a surprising amount of vehicles available on the market. They range from plastic kits, to resin and metal ones. If you are imaginative, you could even go as far as converting die-cast toys for all of your Grymn transport and support needs.

Let's start with war-gaming kits that have been specifically designed for use with 25mm/28mm miniatures.

War-gaming ground-vehicles

The obvious place to start is Games Workshop. They produce a vast amount of plastic-injection kits that are perfect for war-gaming. In amongst them are a few which stand out from a Grymn perspective for me. In the Imperial Guard section, there are various tanks but I think they are a bit big and chunky for Grymn...however, the Sentinel walker is a great little kit that would look great strutting along beside some Grymn. Next up, in the Space Marine section, is the ubiquitous Rhino APC. If you buy the Razorback kit, it costs the same as a Rhino but has an extra turret option with a selection of additional weapons. If you wanted to add a bit more punch, then you could get a Predator tank which is a further upgrade to the Rhino. This would fit in nicely with the other APCs and IFVs. While in the Space Marine section, you could do a lot worse than a Dreadnought walker...not necessarily what you'd expect to find in a Grymn army but it really would add some presence!

Old Crow Models produce a range of 25mm vehicles that are perfect for Grymn use. They are slightly smaller than a lot of kits out there and this suits the diminutive height of the Grymn. The Old Crow kits are made from resin with some details made of metal. They have a vast array of vehicles and a lot of them have three different modes of motivation available; tracked, hover and anti-gravity. There are a selection of wheeled scout vehicles available as well as a host of vehicles made for the Hammer's Slammers game. My particular favourites in the range are the Glaive APC and Gladius tank.

Pig Iron Productions Make a range of miniatures that are supported by a couple of large tracked vehicles. They really look the business but are quite large...so they may not be what a lot of Grymn gamers would be looking for but just because Grymn are small, doesn't mean the vehicles have to be.

West Wind Productions produce a game called Secrets of the Third Reich. It is a Weird World War game that mixes historical forces with fantastic and futuristic equipment. In amongst the vehicle sections, there is a rather nice (resin) British APC and scout vehicle which really looks like it would be Grymn friendly. There are also some walkers in amongst the range that could fit in, depending on your own, personal vision.

Scotia Grendel has quite a wide range of resin/metal vehicles. In the Kryomek range, there are a bunch of armoured vehicles that have a choice of wheels, tracks, hover and anti-gravity drive systems. They are quite chunky but could be of use. In the same range there are a host of walkers and even some large, infantry type robots that could come in handy. If you check out the Grendel sci-fi section there is a range of tracked, wheeled and walker vehicles; including one that looks a pretty good proxy for the Aliens APC. Scotia Grendel doesn't stop there...we haven't got to the Void1.1 section which has various wheeled vehicles (Ronin) and some hover tanks in the Syntha section. Yes, Scotia Grendel really has a wide selection of vehicles!

Antenociti's Workshop has a small range of resin, sci-fi vehicles but the one that really leaps out is the Warthog APC. It is a wheeled vehicle that really looks solid but is quite large. There is also the AW Grav Tank that may appeal to some of you who want sleek, powerful support for your troops.

Eureka Miniatures still holds the Ground Zero Games range of Stargrunt vehicles in their Australian shop. These vehicles are resin and there is a vast array of hover, tracked, wheeled or anti-gravity vehicles in the range. Being 25mm scale, they are smaller than a lot of other ranges and as a result, fit in better with Grymn sized miniatures.

Fenris Games has an E-Bay shop that sells a couple of really nice resin sci-fi vehicles. They also sell a modern Humvee or two so they are well worth a visit.

Other ranges that could be considered are modern war-games vehicles from a host of manufacturers.

Modern Model Kits

Modern model kits are an excellent source of Grymn vehicles. All it takes is a battle-tank and some plasticard and you've got a sci-fi behemoth! You can use kits from 1/72nd scale through to 1/35th scale and beyond but I have found that if you want to keep things roughly to Grymn scale, 1/48th scale kits work the best (if you can get them...1/50th or 1/64th would be even better). Ranges include Revell, Tamiya, Dragon, Airfix...the list goes on and on!

Toys!

Yes, there are plenty of options for using toys in your Grymn forces. Hotwheels, Matchbox, Fast Lane and many other manufacturers produce plenty of die-cast models that are usable in a Grymn force. If you are feeling cheap, you can visit the pound-shop and pick up some real bargains. Using these sort of vehicles could be as simple as a new paint-scheme but with the addition of a few extra bits and pieces, you can create tailor made vehicles.

Starting from Scratch!

I call this...doing it the hard way. I would much rather buy a custom made kit and build that but there are many people out there who would rather build their own vehicles from the ground up. Plasticard, plastic tubes, bits from around the house and from the ubiquitous 'bits-box' are all carefully trimmed and adjusted to make a masterpiece of sci-fi hardware. The only trouble with this process is that it is very hard to build lots of identical vehicles...so it could be one for special occasions but not one for building a battalion!

So there you have it...a few ideas for when you start to tool-up your ground forces.

In the next visit, I'll throw in some options for a bit of air transport and support...

...look to the skies and your prayers will be answered!

A different approach (Part 2)

2010-06-22T20:24:00.003+01:00

To continue the urban army, I thought I'd talk about a few ideas I had, with regards to the special units.

Special Units

The special units consist of anything that falls outside of the infantry platoons. I have already covered the airborne, jump-pack platoon so there is no need to revisit those but there are a selection of different units that could be considered special. These are:

Command
Support
Veteran
Mundane

Command

Command of an army is essential but what makes up a strong, field command unit? First of all, you need the field commander; a high ranking officer who has honed his skill in battle. No commander would go to battle without his advisers and assistants so there would need to be a selection of support officers and NCOs. There would need to be a communication section to the command unit and maybe some artillery officers and aircraft control personnel as well...so that they can coordinate the ground/air forces. There may be other members of the command section like padres, medics, clerks, stores officers, di-staff and maybe even field police/bodyguards. You could really go to town with the command unit but I think I'll keep it fairly simple and trim the troops down to a manageable amount.

Support

Support is a general term that could be applied to all manner of personnel, equipment and resources. For the sake of this army, I will be thinking of support weapons rather than general support.

For the support weapons, I plan on having two distinct branches: a troop based support element and a vehicle based support element. I will deal with airborne support at a later date (by airborne support I mean fighters/bombers/ground attack aircraft and not the airborne transports of the jump-pack platoon).

The troop support element will be a platoon made up of a command section and a number of support sections. I am likely to keep this unit as a platoon and will likely have a command section and five support sections to equal the amount of troops in the rest of the platoons. Each of the support sections will consist of 4 troops; two with basic weapons and two with support weapons...probably heavy machine guns. I will treat these as a unit that advances with the standard infantry platoons and is used as anti infantry support.

The vehicle support element will be split between walkers and tanks.

The walkers will have a range of weapons capable of taking on troops, armoured vehicles and even aircraft. They will be able to closely support the troops in built up areas due to them being smaller than a tank and more mobile due to them having legs.

The Tanks will be anti armour and will travel along with the APCs of the troops, giving protection while the army advances in vehicles and acting as cover when things slow down and the troops have dismounted.

Veteran

The veterans will be the special forces element of the army. They are likely to be better equipped and more highly skilled than their brother troops. They may also have extra skills and be harder to kill. I can see this unit being smaller than platoon size to highlight their 'special' nature.

Mundane.

The mundane element of support is made up of engineers, medics, suppliers and the general 'hangers on'. If any of these turn up in my Grymn army, it will be much later on and will not necessarily be made for anything other than to add colour to the force.

Special Unit Sizes

It would be very easy to make all of the support elements platoon sized but I don't think that it would be a particularly good idea to do so. However, one thing that is a good idea is to keep the organisation of the platoons going through the rest of the army. What I mean is that each of the platoons have pairs of 4-Grymn fire-teams so that they can support each other. It would be nice to keep this theme going when thinking about building the special elements of the army.

As mentioned earlier, it makes sense for the infantry based support unit to be platoon sized so that there are enough fire-teams to add coordinated support to the advancing infantry. What wouldn't be as sensible would be to expect 24 model walker platoons, or tank platoons. I also wouldn't expect to see platoon sized command units and the veterans would be elite so having a lot of them would be a bit un-flavourful.

Using the above ideas, I'll try to build some acceptable units, using the constraints I have suggested.

Command Section: This will be made up of two command fire-teams and two bodyguard fire-teams. All of the fire teams will have four Grymn in them so the total section size would be 16. The command fire-teams would each have a pair of officers and a pair of leaders; including comms and different types of personnel...like an artillery officer, for example. The bodyguard fire-teams would be armed with a mix of SMGs and pistols for close protection. The command section would get a pair of vehicles to transport them.

Infantry Support Platoon: 24 Grymn in a similar organisation to other platoons but made up of one command section and 5 support sections.

Walker support section: I have 16 of these. I have enough for a command element and 3 support elements. I would try to justify this but this unit speaks for itself and has the same building blocks as the rest of the force...so it makes sense to stick with it.

Tank support section: For tanks, I was thinking about using these as much smaller units. I think that a 4 tank unit would pack quite a punch so that is what I'll go with. Each section would have 4 of the same tank with one of them acting as the lead vehicle. This would enable a certain amount of flexibility but still offer a heavy hitting section with a certain amount of redundancy built in.

Veteran Section: I think 16 Grymn would be perfect for this unit too. I think that one command fireteam and three veteran fire-teams would work just fine. The command element would have an officer a leader and two veterans, with one having comms. The veteran fire-teams would have three troops with basic weapons and one with a support weapon. The veteran section would get a pair of vehicles to transport them.

So there you have it. The basic, army-building units will be in platoon sized units and the more specialist units will be smaller to add to their mystique a little.

Airborne support will be along at a later date...as will a nice organisation chart.

A different approach (Part 1)

2010-06-21T17:38:00.009+01:00

A while ago, I decided that there was more to collecting an army than ten man squads. A lot of the time I have based my army collecting on rule-sets or army books and I thought that I'd have a change of pace.

The first thing I had to do was to completely ignore any rule set.

Once I had completely freed myself of those limits, I went on line and started looking for modern military organisation plots; often referred to as TOE (Table of Equipment) or ORBATs (Order of Battle).

Being English and in the military myself, it made sense to start with the British Army for some pointers. Here is what I came up with:

Looking at the above chart, you can see that most of the units are broken down into 4 man fire-teams. A pair of fire-teams makes a section for basic infantry but things start to get a little different for the specialist units like command and support. You will also see that the various sections have their own transports; in the case of the specialists, the smaller size of each unit still gets a transport, even though they number less than 8 members.

Generally speaking, the support unit is attached to the command unit.

So...from a Grymn perspective, I thought it would be better to make things even simpler by limiting all of the units to multiples of fire-teams. This not only keeps things simple but also makes it easier to designate vehicles.

Assault Platoon

To start with I wanted to build a jump-pack platoon. This would consist of two sections of infantry (each with two fire-teams), a support section (one fire-team of four) and a command section (one fire-team of four).

Looking at the chart, the basic infantry fire-team consists of a leader, two basic troops and a support weapon trooper. A quick look through my box and I found enough flame-throwers to fill all of the support for the basic infantry sections. I chose the close-combat Grymn for the basic infantry; each one having a brace of pistols.

Next was the support section. Again, looking at the chart, it seems that there are two support weapons in the fire-team and it would seem appropriate for these weapons to be a little more destructive than those in the basic fire-teams. Because this was a jump-pack based platoon, I thought that I needed to keep the support weapons fairly light but able to pack a punch so a heavy machine gun was the obvious choice.

For the command section, I chose a junior officer, a senior leader and a pair of junior leaders...one having a radio set.

The transports for this platoon would each be capable of carrying 8 fully equipped troops and should also be something like a helicopter that could get the jump-troopers into position to drop them off and give covering support once they were deployed (the transports effectively acting as the Warrior IFVs for this particular platoon).

So...the platoon now stands at this:

Command Section
Junior officer (pistol/sword)
Senior leader (brace of pistols)
Junior leader with Comms (brace of pistols)
Junior leader (brace of pistols)

Support Section
Senior leader (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (heavy Machine-gun)
Trooper (heavy Machine-gun)

Infantry Section
Senior Leader (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (flame-thrower)

Junior Leader (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (flame-thrower)

Infantry Section
Senior Leader (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (flame-thrower)

Junior Leader (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (brace of pistols)
Trooper (flame-thrower)

Now that I have the platoon, I needed to add markings so I thought senior leaders would get a pair of red stripes, junior leaders get a single red stripe and officers would get yellow stripes...

...This is what I ended up with:

On to the transport options and after looking through all of the available options, I decided to go for some decent skimmers and the best ones for the job seemed to be Tau Devilfish from Games Workshop. I just needed to get rid of the drones and the cupola and add a more 'Grymn-like' selection of weapons. At this moment in time, I have bought the Devilfish but am still in the process of converting them...here is a picture of the nearest to being finished 'Pillum Drop-ship':

This skimmer will be capable of carrying 8 troops and will allow them to jump from the rear, at altitude, to drop on their foes and enter the fray quickly. I have 3 of these to carry each infantry section and the command and support sections combined.

Infantry Platoon

Now that I have the basic building blocks for a platoon, it would be easy to carry on the system through to other areas of the army. The next, obvious, area to visit would be the basic infantry platoon. Rather than going through the rigmarole of explaining things again, I'll cut to the chase. The first part of choosing the infantry was to decide on the weapons. The basic weapon of the Grymn army is the SMG and it made sense to build the platoon with these as weapons. I also thought that the support weapons would be a bit more range orientated so I went for grenade launchers and plasma-weapons for the infantry sections and missile-launchers for the support section. I would be keeping the command section similar to the one in the Assault Platoon but would have different weapons. This is what I came up with:

Command Section
Junior officer (SMG/sword)
Senior leader (SMG)
Junior leader with Comms (SMG)
Junior leader (SMG)

Support Section
Senior leader (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (missile-launcher)
Trooper (missile-launcher)

Infantry Section
Senior Leader (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (plasma-weapon)

Junior Leader (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (grenade-launcher)

Infantry Section
Senior Leader (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (plasma-weapon)

Junior Leader (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (SMG)
Trooper (grenade-launcher)

As transport for the troops, I have decided to use 3 Glaive APC vehicles from Old Crow Productions. Each one will be capable of carrying 8 troops and again, one of the APCs will carry both the command and support sections. Here is a pic of a Glaive APC:

Now that I have the basic building block of the army; the infantry platoon, I can add multiples to build up my forces but an army needs a command structure and this one is no exception. The problem is that I haven't got as far as building a command platoon...so I'll have to save that for another day....along with the heavy support and scout elements of the army.

Time for some pix again.

2010-06-13T19:22:00.010+01:00

A while ago, I decided that it was time to try out an idea that was demonstrated to me over at the Forum of Doom. The idea was to take some heads from Pig Iron Kolony Inner Guard and put them onto Grymn bodies. The miniatures that I saw had converted weapons as well as head swaps but I didn't want to go that far because I knew I would be building an army...so all of the basic miniatures would have the standard weapons that the Grymn came with.

Once I had bought some heads, I looked through my extensive, unpainted, Grymn collection and decided that I would just grab a handful of differently armed troops to convert. By doing this, I would keep things interesting and that would help the task of army building. After clipping off some heads and pinning on new ones, I found that there was a bit of 'unsightliness' behind the neck so I sculpted little humps to cover things up...once this was done, the tunnel fighters were born.

Here is a pic of the first four conversions and they show a variety of troops:

Once I had the basic conversion pattern worked out I just continued working through my unpainted Grymn until I ran out of miniatures. At that point, I thought it would be a good idea to group them into squads. With what I had already painted, the best squad size was 9 so I worked towards arranging the troops into their requisite squad sizes. Each standard squad would have 7 troops armed with their basic weapon (including the squad leader) and 2 with special or heavy weapons.

After buying all of the missing troops, I ended up with 6 squads of 9 troops in each. There were 2 squads with pistols, mini-guns and grenade launchers, 1 squad with shotguns and flame-throwers and 3 squads with pulse-guns and heavy pulse-guns. Obviously, I needed to sort out an army commander and his command squad so I thought about how to make him different...I ended up giving him a coat:

It was at this point, I went to Salute; the UK's biggest war-gaming extravaganza. While at Salute, I found two things of great interest to me. First, I found some 'spider droids' from Ground Zero Games which I thought would make great little robots for communications duties. I bought enough of them to add 1 to each squad (rounding each squad up to 10 models)...here are a couple of examples:

I also found some 'Mini-Mawes' from Hasslefree Miniatures and immediately thought that they would make good sniffer/guard animals for some Grymn to delve into tunnels with. They came with integral bases so it took a little work to base them with their handlers. I ended up hollowing out some resin bases, gluing the miniatures into the hollow and then filling the gaps with Green Stuff. Here are the finished scouts:

Now that I had a fairly substantial army building up, I thought about a bit of support for them. I didn't think tanks would be appropriate for the army because they are tunnel fighters so I had to think a bit harder. It then occurred to me that I had the perfect solution in the form of some mechs that I had bought for another project. Fortunately, I had a few spare so they were quickly pressed into service. The mechs are from the now extinct Warzone range and are Vulkan Battlesuits from the Bauhaus faction. They just needed a small conversion to the head area and they were good to go. Here is one of the squads:

It was at this point I started thinking about where I was going with the army. I had a lot of infantry, a command squad, some scouts and some support...the next thing to do was get a picture to see what it all looked like together:

After looking at the army I thought that it would be nice to add a few more squads of basic infantry so the plan is to add another 4 squads armed with pulse-guns and heavy pulse-guns to round the infantry total up to 100. That would give me a total of 12 squads (including the scouts). I also started thinking about transport options and have decided to scratch-build my own...all 12 of them! In the future, once I have finished the extra troops and all of the transports, I may add a few extra command elements and maybe some sort of tank-destroyers but I will have to think about what sort of heavy weapons would be suitable for fighting in tunnels...

So that is how my little army is going and I thought it would be nice to try to explain how I went about building it. At no point in time have I thought of attaching it to any sort of rule-set, I have just gone with what seemed right at the time...however, with a small amount of tweaking, I reckon it would fit in with most rule-sets available for mass battles.

...and to think, all this came about as a result of seeing Sagunt's converted, steam-punk Grymn over at the Forum of Doom:

From little acorns and all that...

A Chance Encounter

2010-06-07T18:52:00.002+01:00

Horgan stood in a braced position, tracking the forest line with his mini-gun. Seven other Grymn were doing the same with their SMGs and grenade-launchers. They were silent and listening for the slightest sound of movement. Ingrid was kneeling beside Torek; administering medical aid for a gun-shot wound to his side. He was in pain but would survive.

Suddenly a Grymn to the left of Horgan fired his SMG into the trees and was rewarded with a squeal of pain; quite clearly of Bohkin origin. Further shots were fired by various other Grymn and then quiet again. Horgan looked left and right. It was as if he could sense something was wrong. Intuitively he ducked down as a stream of machine-gun fire parted the air where he had recently stood and whistled off into the distance. Horgan squeezed the trigger and the forest line exploded into a kaleidoscope of debris. Many screams were heard as the onslaught shredded trees, leaves and Bohkin scouts with equal malice. When Horgan relaxed his trigger finger, the sound of fleeing creatures could be heard. It would appear that the Bohkin had retreated for the time being.

Horgan remained where he stood and continued to scan the tree line. He knew that Bohkin were sneaky customers and almost wished that they would prove him right. The group of Grymn had been ambushed but had managed to defend themselves aggressively enough to see off the attackers. Unfortunately, Torek had been hit in the first volley of gunfire and that really annoyed Horgan. He felt that they were not being careful enough.

To the right Horgan heard movement. He swung his weapon to bear and waited. The movement was getting closer and it was as if there was no wish to conceal the noise. In fact Horgan could hear the chirpy noise of the Bohkin screaming at the trees, almost pleadingly. Within moments a wild eyed Bohkin burst in to the clearing in front of him. It didn’t have a weapon but had wild staring eyes that were too busy staring at the trees to even notice Horgan. In fact the screaming Bohkin ran straight at him chirping wildly. In moments it had reached him and had bumped into him as it tried to run past, tripping over Horgan’s leg in the process. Horgan was about to react when the Bohkin leapt to its feet and tore off into the trees on the other side of the clearing. Horgan watched as the creature ran wildly through the undergrowth with no apparent thought for self preservation. A further noise from where the Bohkin had appeared from caused Horgan to turn around. More movement was forth coming, closely followed by more Bohkin. None had weapons and they all looked as terrified as the first one. Horgan watched as they too ran past in panic. He returned his gaze to the entrance point again and immediately felt a wave of nausea flow through him as his weapon fell with a thump, to the floor. He felt his legs buckle and he dropped to his hands and knees as with a huge retch, he vomited. His vision had started to blur but he looked over to the rest of his squad members and saw that they were equally affected. He tried to raise his head to look where he had been a moment previously but was forced to vomit again as a new, more intense wave of nausea flooded through him. He had never felt so wretched in his life. Horgan held his breath and forced himself to look to where the Bohkin had come from. It took a huge effort but he managed to raise his head far enough to see a large pair of two-toed feet in front of him.
Almost as quickly as the feeling had arrived, the nausea disappeared. Horgan reached instinctively for his mini-gun but it was no longer where it had dropped. His training kicked in and he threw himself over to one side and leapt into a fighting crouch. In front of him was a tall figure with a broad crowned head looking at him. Horgan felt a lesser feeling of sickness as his mind was filled with a sighing voice.
“Stand down soldier, your work is done for today” said the voice.
Horgan looked at the face of the figure in front of him and noticed that it had not spoken to him but had projected its voice directly into his head. The face smiled as if it understood the confusion written all over Horgan’s face.
“We come to you as friends” said the voice in Horgan’s mind again.
Horgan passed out.
When he came too, Horgan was lying next to Ingrid. She had applied a cold flannel to his brow and was speaking tenderly to him.
“It’s good to see that you are awake” she said, “We have some new friends for you to meet”.
Horgan sat up and immediately looked into the deep black pits of one of the newcomers eyes. He felt a very slight feeling of sickness as a voice filled his head again.
“We are sorry for the unease that you feel when we speak with you but some are more sensitive than others to our method of communication” it said.
Horgan looked at the creature in front of him thoroughly for the first time. It was exceptionally tall; being almost twice the height of a Grymn, was slender and had the usual pattern of two arms, two legs, a torso and a head. It had bare feet with two fat toes and three-fingered hands. The face seemed friendly enough but was obviously alien and it was crowned with a thick, bony ridge around the top of its skull. All it wore was a cloak, a tabard and a few trinkets on a belt and it carried a staff.
“I am the one called Zuuh’tah and I am known as the walker among tribes” It said “you are known as Huurgaan and you reap the life grains with your death-giver”.
“That is true” said Horgan as he sat upright and propped himself up with his hands on the floor “but I only kill those that mean me harm...Zoota”
“Yes...we have seen this today” replied Zuuh’tah.
“We?” questioned Horgan.
“Yes, we” he replied, calmly gesturing with an open, upturned palm towards a small group of similar looking aliens over near the tree line. Some were dressed as he was and some wore light armour pieces and carried rifle styled weaponry.
Horgan returned his gaze to the alien and asked what they wanted from his squad.
“We wish to be allies with the tribe of Grymmmn” Said Zuuh’tah “it is a small thing to ask...yes?”
“But we don’t know you...how can we be allies until we know that we can trust one another” Horgan replied.
“You may trust us because you live...it would have been easy to make it otherwise” came the reply.
“Fair point...but I am no ambassador” Horgan said “you must meet with our lords to discuss terms of allegiance”.
“At some point, we will discuss terms with your lords but today we are content to have made first contact with your tribe of Grymmmn” it said “and now that we have, it is time for us to depart”.
Zuuh’tah stood and looked thoughtfully at Horgan for a moment, turned around and strolled towards the tree line again. As he disappeared through the undergrowth a whispering voice filled Horgan’s mind again...
“We are watching your tribe and will return when the time is right” said the voice.
Horgan looked over to where the other aliens had stood and of their presence, nothing could be seen.
“What the feth just happened?” queried Horgan, as he spat on the ground nearby.
“I think it was hello” said Ingrid.
“I guess so” he replied.
“Right, lets get packed up and get home...we have to tell the hierarchy what happened here” said Sgt Reiks.
The squad brought itself to its senses and began the bustle of getting ready to move. In a few moments Horgan, the Sgt and the rest of the Grymn were purposefully walking off towards camp. It had been a strange day and some people would be sure to think they were mad but in time, they would see differently.

And so the Grymn met the Delsertis for the first time, knowing that it would not be the last......

Airborne Assault

2010-05-18T13:53:00.002+01:00

When conducting an airborne assault in real life, there are many factors that have to be taken into account, even before deciding on what troops or equipment are required. With a Grymn force, it is no different and this post explores the possible options for a successful airborne assault using your Grymn troops.

The Target

The target dictates the choice of assets used for the assault. Things to be taken into consideration are:

1) Can a land force do the job better?
2) Does the target have air-defense capabilities?
3) Does the target have air superiority?
4) Is the target fortified?
5) What is the likely defensive capability of the target’s standing troops
6) What sort of terrain is the target located within?
7) Is the target part of a support network and are reserves close by?

Once you have the information about the target, you can decide on whether an airborne assault is viable and what equipment and resources will be necessary to carry out the assault successfully.

The airborne assault force may have many different sections from many different regiments/armies/air-forces all brought together under the control of the assault commander. If there is a requirement for stealth and precision, a small amount of troops and transport aircraft may be required. For a prolonged airborne assault, a vast number of bombers, fighters transport aircraft, troops and support assets may be required for the duration. There may be a requirement for initial airdrops of equipment with follow up support coming via the road network or even via the sea (depending on location) .

With all the above in mind, let’s think about the war-gaming tabletop and the likely use of an airborne assault.

Fully airborne

This sort of force is a fairly unusual one because it relies on all of your units being air transportable. That means you are tied to the sort of troops and support options that will fit into your fliers/skimmers. Think of a heavily equipped paratroop army with the addition of small buggies and hand portable heavy weapons…possibly with light tanks or walkers for the more heavy aspects of support. Obviously, the drop-off aircraft will be able to give cover to the troops on the ground and some may even be able to under-sling equipment, vehicles in addition to carrying troops…but generally speaking, this would be the lightest end of the airborne assault spectrum.

While thinking about this sort of force, there may be a requirement to drop troops from altitude using ‘deep strike’ rules or something similar. This could mean the use of jump-packs or parachutes which wouldn’t necessarily require the transporting craft to land. There could also be the option of using fighter and bomber aircraft as support options, rather than tanks and vehicles being transported in…it all depends on the target and how it can defend itself.

Partially airborne

This is where you have an airborne element of your assault force that has a ground based element either following up or leading the assault. This would be a more typical sort of table top army and it is one that provides a lot of options to keep things interesting.

With a mix of airborne and ground based assets, you can organise your army in a multitude of ways.

1) You could lead the assault with fighters, drop in your airborne troops to keep the enemy busy and then follow up with ground forces to finish off the job.
2) You could have your ground based forces lead the attack, gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the foe and then use air support to fly in and either breach the defenses or support the troops on the ground
3) You could use your air units to move ground troops around (like in modern helicopter ops) to make the best use of your troops and also to keep the enemy guessing.
4) You could even use your fliers as mobile cranes to quickly re position tanks and guns that would take too long to move under their own steam.

What do the Grymn have, currently available, in the way of airborne options? At the moment there are jump packs and heavy infantry in atmospherically sealed suits. The sealed suits could be used to represent halo-jumpers because they look like they could have a parachute in their packs as well as an air supply. The jump packs are useful because they could be added to a range of troops so that they could not only be air-dropped onto the battlefield but can also have increased mobility once they arrive. Apart from that, the Grymn range doesn’t cater for aircraft so we’ll have to look elsewhere for our air transportation needs.

There are plenty of options out there for ground vehicles but airborne ones are a bit more difficult to find.

The first port of call would be buying modern aircraft/Japanese anime kits and converting them. Depending on your personal requirements, anything from 1/72nd scale to 1/48th scale would be a good place to start and you could use anything from Apache helicopters to Hercules transport aircraft or Macross Space fighters to Robotech support helicopters.

Next we have plastic kits available from Games Workshop. Depending on what style you require you could have sleek skimmers like the Eldar Falcon, the slightly less sleek Tau Devilfish or the boxy and utilitarian looking Imperial Guard Valkyrie. There are plenty of other smaller options within the ranges such as Space Marine Land-speeders and Tau Piranhas to name a couple.

If you want to use the Games Workshop plastic kits, you may want to bolster them with some larger, resin fliers from Forgeworld. There are a host of bigger aircraft such as the Tau Orca and Barracuda…or the Imperial Guard Marauder. There are also smaller, fighter-type aircraft in the range.

Continuing on the resin theme, there are companies like Old Crow who have VTOLs and the odd skimmer in their range. The Scotia Grendel Kryomek range also has a drop ship available.

Finally, there is the option of scratch building with plasticard and bits-box spares. This takes a while but is worth the effort if you get it right.

So…what now? Well, as an example of a Grymn airborne army I will provide an idea of how I would go about things.

Airborne Force Alpha

Command squad of 8 troops with jump packs. Led by an officer with a Sgt as deputy, comms trooper, and a couple of support weapons (man portable). Mounted in a Tau Devilfish transport with the wing tip drones removed and replaced with missile launchers; it also has a chain-gun in the nose (I will call this a Pilum Drop Ship).

Infantry Squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable) mounted in a Pilum Drop Ship.

Infantry Squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable) mounted in a Pilum Drop Ship.

Infantry Squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable) mounted in a Pilum Drop Ship.

Heavy infantry Command squad of 8 troops. Led by an officer with a Sgt as deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable). This squad deep-strikes onto the table.

Heavy infantry squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable). This squad deep-strikes onto the table.

Heavy infantry squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable). This squad deep-strikes onto the table.

Heavy infantry squad of 8 troops. Led by a Sgt with a deputy, comms and a pair of support weapons (man portable). This squad deep-strikes onto the table.

Piranha fighter squadron of three aircraft. All have a melta weapon with missile launchers.

Piranha fighter squadron of three aircraft. All have a melta weapon with missile launchers.

The above force would have all of the elements to deal with air-superiority, dropping the troops off and providing cover, with the ability to drop in the reserves to bolster the lines or take objectives.

The aircraft are easily converted by adding a cockpit to the piranhas and using the missile pods for the Sky Ray instead of the wing mounted drones.

For a mixed assault force, get rid of the Heavy infantry and sub them with tanks/ground based units.

That is how easy it is to build a Grymn airborne force and it doesn’t take too much conversion either.

Captivity...

2010-05-16T17:19:00.002+01:00

Skali

Skali sprinted for the cover of a shattered wall as fast as his legs could carry him. The sound of battle was all around him. He looked over to his left and saw Lars fall to the ground as his shoulder disintegrated in a shower of blood and plasma. Beyond Lars another trooper, who the fog of battle had rendered anonymous, was felled as his helmet ruptured after a hit from a sniper’s round; brain matter spewing from the ragged exit wound. Skali snapped his head to the front and looked over the wall. He could see hordes of Bohkin all around and suddenly realised that things were not going well. Everywhere he looked, Grymn were falling to the intensity of the incoming fire. Skali snapped off a few rounds from his SMG and was rewarded with two kills. He ducked back into cover, waited for a few seconds and then popped his head up to fire a few more rounds. He didn’t get to pull the trigger.

Skali felt the sharp coldness of water on his face and he choked as it filled his nose and mouth. He spluttered and turned his head to one side, gulping for air. He tried to open his eyes but found that only one would open. He looked around quickly, trying to find out what was going on but his vision was very blurred; he could only make out a few shapes and some movement.

“Prishhonner ish awake!” a voice said. It sounded like it was having difficulty coping with speech, or had some form of dental problem. After the sound of someone sucking teeth, the voice spoke again.

“Prishhonner had nyyche drink? Prishhonner talksh now.”

Skali tried hard to focus and began to get a picture of the speaker. It was a Bohkin; a male Bohkin with beady little eyes, a little button nose and fangs protruding from its mouth; pointing upwards from a jutting lower jaw. It appeared to be smartly dressed in what appeared to be a white doctor’s gown. Skali noticed that he had a small bag with him.

“I wantshh to hear where yooshh from” said the doctor Bohkin.

Skali said nothing.

“I wantshh to hear where yooshh from” repeated the Bohkin.

Skali didn’t say anything but felt a sharp pain in his jaw as something heavy struck him, tipping him over. For the first time he realised that he had been strapped to a chair. He was in such a daze that he hadn’t even thought about moving so it came as a bit of a surprise when he couldn’t arrest his fall and his head struck the floor, making him struggle for consciousness. In moments, the chair had been stood back up and Skali looked into the eyes of the Bohkin again. He felt a dull ache through his jaw and when he tried to tense his muscles he realised that the pain it generated meant that it was broken.

“Shilly chylde” Said the Bohkin “the farshhers mussht be shad that you show shilly”. He reached into his small bag and pulled out a small metal implement. He held it up in front of Skali and said nothing. A moment later Skali felt pain like he never had before. It was so sharp that he had to catch his breath. His fingertips tingled and his legs twitched uncontrollably as fire engulfed his spine. He struggled desperately but could feel the room closing in as his consciousness faded. Just as he was about to pass out, the pain ceased and the room began to return to normal.

“Where yoosh from, shilly chylde?” asked the Bohkin again.

Skali carried on with the silence. He doubted if he could have spoken too much anyway as his jaw was throbbing and his throat was as dry as a desert. He gasped as the pain in his spine returned; this time it was even worse and his arms shook as badly as his legs. Skali drooled uncontrollably as he began to lose control of his senses. He cried out as wave after wave of shearing pain wracked his body and the room started to dim again. Suddenly the pain dimmed as quickly as it had arrived and Skali was brought back to full consciousness with another bucket of water.

“Yoosh very shilly, anshher queshhtion and we shhtop fun”

Skali gazed in the Bohkin’s direction and still said nothing. His head was swimming, his vision was blurred and he was struggling to come to terms with his situation. Without warning, the pain returned and the room went black as Skali finally succumbed to unconsciousness.

Day after day, Skali was shocked awake with water and tortured to unconsciousness. He wasn’t fed very often and was given just enough water to keep him hanging on to life by a mere thread. After a few days, his jaw became infected and along with the throbbing pain came the smell of gangrene. It didn’t stop the Bohkin dragging Skali from his cell, strapping him to a chair and inflicting the scouring pain that he had begun to become accustomed to. Through it all, he said nothing.

Skali lost count of the days he had been in captivity. He knew that he was near to the end of his torment as he was having difficulty breathing and felt the continuous nausea of septicaemia. His vision was blurred and he had become photophobic. He managed an inward, ironic smile as he wondered what sort of state he looked. He was drifting off to dream-world when the door of his cell opened again and he felt the strong grip of two Bohkin as he was dragged off to his chair again. He felt the straps tighten around his wrists and neck again and gazed, bleary eyed, at the Bohkin facing him.

“Yoosh Tired, chylde” said the Bohkin “yoo shay where yoosh from and pain endsh”.

Skali looked at his tormentor. He could feel his own pulse trying to burst from his neck as his heart pounded heavily, in his chest. He could already sense a dimness filling the room and realised that he wasn’t long for the world. He tried to focus and shifted his position so that he could look straight into the Bohkins beady little eyes.

“I am Grymn” he said.

There was a deafening roar as the Bohkin in front of Skali was vapourised in a rush of plasma energy. Chaos erupted as black clad troops burst into the room, killing every Bohkin in sight with the precision of a surgeon. In moments, all was quiet and one of the troops rushed up to Skali and began to release him from the chair. He stopped for a moment and raised his mirrored visor.

“You’re safe now” said the Grymn.

Skali smiled as his vision failed and the room went black.

The sun shone down as brightly today, as it ever had in the past. Standing on the parade ground in front of over a thousand Grymn; in parade order, was captain Torsten. He was dressed in an immaculately presented, white suit of powered armour. On his chest were many medals that were a testament to his martial prowess and bravery. His grey hair was greased flat and his beard was neatly trimmed. Torsten looked up and down the lines of the many Grymn on parade. There wasn’t a single foot out of place or rifle out of position. Every single Grymn was immaculately turned out. They all wore their polished medals and their smartest battledress and Torsten looked upon them with the supreme pride of a parent watching over his children. The parade stood completely immobile and in complete silence.

Torsten cleared his throat and began his speech.

“Today, we have the honour and privilege to celebrate courage beyond the call of duty. Today we stand in the company of giants. What we witness today is a testament to the bravery, martial ability and utter dedication to duty that a Grymn soldier represents. Every one of you should feel nothing but pride as you stand here today”.

The sound of a single trumpet echoed across the parade ground as a party of silver clad Grymn, with high plumed helmets slow-marched onto the square. Their swords were held vertically in an iron grip, their shiny black boots clacked in unison on the concrete under their feet. Between each pair of immaculate guards hovered a casket. On the lid of each casket was laid a helmet and the weapons that the Grymn inside had used while he fought. The first two caskets had twin pistols, the next one had a pulse gun, two more had a pistol and power axe and finally, a few paces further back came a casket with an SMG laid across it.

The casket party solemnly marched towards Torsten and all but the final casket passed in front of him and was set down on a red carpet to the right of him. The Casket with the SMG was set down on a pedestal to Torsten’s left.

“PAAARADE! GENERAL SALUTE...PREEEESENT ARMS!” sounded across the square as the parade officer issued his order.

With incalculable precision the entire parade ground moved in complete unison, presenting their weapon types in a show of respect. The lone trumpet played a short, haunting tune and was silent.

“PAAARADE! ORDER...ARMS!”

Again, the Grymn moved as one and their weapons were brought to order.
Torsten began to speak again.

“Brakki Silvertooth: Order of Bravery...posthumously awarded. Frekki Strongarm: Order of Bravery...posthumously awarded. Gerri Axebearer: Order of Bravery and Star of Valour...posthumously awarded. Anja Firegaze: Star of Valour...posthumously awarded. Olaf Greybeard: Star of Valour...posthumously awarded.” Torsten paused for a moment, turned towards the five caskets, stood to attention and saluted them. He turned towards the parade again and continued.

“Within these five caskets lie the bodies of five warriors. Each one died carrying out their duty to the highest possible standard and with fire in their hearts and bellies. Each one gave their all, for their brothers and sisters who fought beside them and each one made the perfect sacrifice.”

Torsten paused again and slowly walked towards the lone casket. He brought himself to attention and saluted the casket, just as he had done with the other five. He turned to face the parade again and continued his speech.

“Skali Ironfist: Most Beneficent Order of Valour, Iron Cross and medal of leadership...awarded posthumously.”

Torsten steeled himself and continued.

“Among those pillars of valour, there was a giant among Grymn. Not only did trooper Ironfist lead his brothers forward after his platoon and squad leaders had fallen but he also managed to take and hold a critical objective under the most severe onslaught. When the objective was secured, he further advanced into a Bohkin force that heavily outnumbered his unit, providing valuable protection for a pinned platoon and taking a heavy toll of the attackers. He continued to lead his unit valiantly until he succumbed to his wounds and was captured. For seven weeks he endured the humiliation of torture and spoke not a word. Although he was broken of body, his Grymn spirit continued to burn as brightly as a sun. As his rescue was about to begin, his final words were picked up on our monitoring system...I am Grymn.” Torsten stared at the assembled Grymn “No truer words were ever spoken”.

“PAAARADE! PREESENT ARMS!” Bawled the parade officer.

The Grymn snapped through their drill movements in perfect unison. The trumpeter played a general call to arms as the caskets were led away and when they had gone, the parade officer followed up with:

“PAAARADE! ORDER ARMS!”

“March off the officers!”...

Air Drop.

2010-05-15T15:23:00.003+01:00

Kjaran

Kjaran slammed himself against the rock wall as bullets whipped passed and ricocheted off the loose rubble where he had until recently been taking cover.

“Ana, have you managed to get through yet? It’s getting a bit too warm for comfort around here”.

“Alpha control, this is Alpha one niner, we are pinned down at grid; figures 5165 6734. Multiple hostiles are advancing on our position. We are running low on payback and request immediate extraction; Over” shouted Ana into the microphone of her radio set.

“Alpha one niner, this is Alpha control, negative on extraction, supplies in bound; Out” was the rather curt reply.

“Sorry Sarge, we’re stuck here but control is sending supplies” Shouted Ana.

“Supplies!? What the hell do they mean by supplies!?” was the rather bemused response from Kjaran.

Kjaran ducked down as he saw a Bohkin with a heavy machine gun aim in his direction and fire. A steady stream of heavy calibre rounds slammed into the rock and ground nearby, kicking up great plumes of dust and debris. Nearby there was a curse as Sven took a hit on his shoulder plate and was knocked to the ground; fortunately he was saved from harm by his trusty armour and he climbed to his feet and returned fire. The Bohkin were massing nearby and appeared to be happy taking pot-shots at the Grymn patrol for now. They hadn’t started to close in but seemed to be building up for a push in the near future.

The Grymn patrol was made up of five heavy infantry with an attached sniper. They were armed with extremely effective weapons but were being pinned down as a result of the high level of incoming Bohkin fire. Kjaran was the sergeant in charge and had made sure that all his troops had conserved their ammunition as much as they could but they were beginning to run low and were now getting to a point where they needed some help. They were stuck and things were beginning to look very uncertain for them.

Kjaran was beginning to plan a desperate dash to freedom for his troops, when he noticed the sound of grav motors nearby. He looked to his right and caught sight of a Grymn fast transport flying low over the rough terrain. As it roared towards them, three large pallets fell from the back and hit the ground heavily in a shower of dust.

“Fething hell!” shouted Kjaran as the transport flew over head and disappeared “they’ve dropped the supplies too far away!”

Kjaran was furious. He watched as some of the Bohkin broke off from the attack and started running towards the supplies. His desperate dash for freedom was starting to look like the only option for his troops now.

Suddenly there was a grinding crunch from the supply crates and Kjaran looked towards them. The sides had fallen away and they appeared to be getting taller. Kjaran grabbed his monocular and watched as the contents of the crates began to unfold. First they grew legs; then, what appeared to be a cockpit came into view.

“Sarge! “ shouted Ana “We’re getting comms chat from the supplies and they want to speak to you.”

Kjaran kept low and dashed over to Ana and grabbed the handset...

“this is Alpha one niner leader; send message; Over.” He said as bullets whipped up the dust where he had just been running.

A metallic voice replied:

“Alpha one niner leader; this is Eagle two. It’s good to hear you are breathing; we’ll be joining you shortly; Out!”

Kjaran turned to Ana with a questioning look and she just shrugged her shoulders. Neither had ever heard of call-sign Eagle before. But whatever it was, appeared to be their only hope for survival at this moment in time so Kjaran was happy for any help he could get...no matter where it came from.

Kjaran ducked again as incoming rounds whizzed passed him. He shouted to his troops to start giving more aggressive return fire as supplies had arrived so they could afford to be a little less frugal. He popped his head above cover and fired his pulse gun; punching a fist sized hole through a Bohkin. He was about to fire again when the sound of heavy weapon fire caught his attention and he glanced towards it. Where the supplies had landed there was a great deal of confusion. Bohkin were running away from the area, amidst the sound of anti-personnel rockets and chain-gun fire. Kjaran watched as bodies began to fly into the air as the rockets found their mark, and other Bohkin were being shredded by the concentrated fire from a chain-gun. Amidst the carnage, three metal giants strode; firing in all directions as they moved towards the Grymn position. Of the Bohkin that had gone to investigate the crates, none remained whole.

The Bohkin fire lessened and Kjaran dared to peer above his cover to see what was happening in the Bohkin position. One of the larger Bohkin appeared to be shouting at a smaller one who was pointing at the metal giant’s approach. A number of other Bohkin were looking rather frightened and were fidgeting rather uncontrollably. Kjaran saw his opportunity and with a shout of “Rapid Fire!!” let loose a stream of pulse rounds, felling the confused aliens in their droves. The other Grymn followed suit and the Bohkin began to take better cover and snap out of their bemused state for long enough to return fire. Although there was dissention in the enemy ranks, they still remained fairly effective.

Suddenly the Bohkin position erupted in a huge series of explosions. Kjaran and his patrol flattened themselves against the ground as debris began to fall all around them. The whine of chain-guns could be heard above the din as the multiple impacts found their marks amongst the soft bodies of the Bohkin. After what seemed an age, the noise lessened and ceased. The Grymn patrol remained flat against the ground for a short while and listened for movement. Kjaran was startled by a tap on the shoulder and rolled quickly to bring his weapon to bear. He looked straight into the face of an impeccably dressed Grymn in a jet black flight-suit and helmet.

“Sorry about the delay sergeant, we couldn’t leave until we’d toasted the mission...and we’d run out of mead” said the newcomer as he proffered his hand towards Kjaran; who grasped it and was helped to his feet.

“Sorry, sir...but I don’t recognise your unit” replied a quizzical looking Kjaran.

“That’s alright sergeant...it doesn’t exist” said the newcomer, who winked as he passed a small satchel towards Kjaran.

“What’s this?” asked Kjaran.

“Your supplies of course, sergeant” The officer replied with a smile. He then turned on his heels and walked away.

Kjaran looked into the satchel and found five small pulse-gun power packs and a box of 20 sniper rounds. He looked over towards the officer who was nimbly climbing into the cockpit of an armoured walking machine with various heavy weapons mounted on it. It was painted in matt jet black and had a gloss black eagle, with spread wings, emblazoned across the front. He then looked towards the Bohkin position and could see that it had been completely and utterly obliterated. He returned his glance towards the armoured walker as it raised itself up from the crouched position it had been in, to allow the officer to climb in, and steadied itself on sturdy, armoured legs. From the cockpit the officer could be seen to flip down a monocle and flick some overhead switches before he glanced a look at Kjaran, grinned broadly and looked to his front, before firing up the motors and striding off; closely followed by two other walkers.

The Grymn patrol was left in stunned silence; staring after the walkers as they disappeared into the distance.

“What the hell was that?” asked Ana.

“That” said Kjaran “was a delivery of supplies” and he handed each of his troops the single re-loads that had been delivered.

“Humph!” said Sven “they could have brought some chocolate!”

Is that a...ROBOT?

2010-05-13T22:09:00.003+01:00

I've been thinking about the whole host of sci-fi out there and have been wondering about all of the options for support.

The idea that Grymn would go to war on foot in masses of troop formations is great but what would they use to support them?

Would they use tracked armoured vehicles for transport and heavy fire-power? Are they advanced enough to use anti-grav vehicles? what about hovercraft like Hammer's Slammers use? Maybe they would use buggies, trucks and huge land-crawlers. Alternatively, they could use walkers, like in Star Wars, for transport and support? Finally, how about skimmers, helicopters or drop-ships?

I suppose that all of the above options...even a mix of different ideas, could be perfectly viable as support options for your Grymn army. I would say that one of the most important things to consider is what sort of battlefield the army would be fighting in and how they actually fight.

It would be foolish to think that a giant land-crawler would be very good at carrying out urban ops...how would it fit between the buildings for a start? A heavily wooded/jungle covered area would make any sort of vehicle a liability but maybe walkers would be of use? What about desert ops with trucks? Things could get bogged down quickly...

When deciding on the support, the terrain won't just affect the choice of vehicle, it will affect the choice of colour scheme and to a certain extent, the whole theme of the army.

Will all of the army get transport? Will some be using jump-packs? Maybe some will be mounted on bikes or even local animals for transport? Maybe, the only transport will be what they can cling on to...the side of a tank or skimmer even?

There is so much to choose from out there and so many rules systems that you could use to tie everything together that deciding on what direction you want to take is better done before you start the army...an army needs leadership and that starts with knowing your assets and learning how to use them effectively.

Failing to plan...is planning to fail ;)...

Drop Zone

2010-05-09T11:11:00.003+01:00

Agnar

Agnar sat with his eyes closed, listening to the drone of the anti-gravity motors. He could feel the motion of the drop-ship as it fought its way through the turbulent air currents that surrounded their objective. His stomach lurched with every bounce and he longed for the feel of the ground beneath his feet. He opened his eyes to see how the others were coping and noticed that one of the seats was empty. He looked around and noticed that Karla was leaning against the frame of the cockpit access aisle, talking to the co-pilot whilst holding her unfastened helmet on her head. Karla was one of the lieutenants on the trip and was currently asking for an estimated time of arrival to the drop-zone. After a few moments she turned to face the troops in the cabin.
“Drop-zone in three minutes; prep your kit” she said flatly. Without looking around, she wove her way to her seat and began to strap on her jump-pack. Agnar was already prepared so he watched her as she fastened the straps on her helmet and began to check her pouches to make sure she had enough ammunition. She bent down and started to rifle through her satchel and Agnar couldn’t help but marvel at her shapely physique.
“Seen enough yet?” came a voice from his left. Agnar turned and saw Ana looking in his direction.
“...And I thought I was your sweetheart!” she said as she feigned a hurt look.
Agnar grinned broadly “you know you’re the only one for me Ana” he retorted.
Just then a klaxon sounded and a red light appeared over the exit ramp.
“Places everyone!” shouted a heavy set, gnarled veteran who everyone knew through personal acquaintance, action and deed.
“I expect no mercy and I will give no mercy!” he shouted while looking into the faces of all the Grymn present “the spilt blood of our brothers and sisters will be avenged this day!” He paused for a moment and finished “today we will fight like wild tigers!”
From behind him a booming voice roared “WHOSE TIGERS?”
In answer to Thor’s question the cabin was filled with the cries of every single Grymn present “TORGE’S TIGERS!”

Torge stalked to the back of the drop-ship. He closed his eye-shield and thumbed the button on his power-axe; making it glimmer to life as the energy played over its metal surface. Thor, an OGrymn of immense power, followed him doggedly. He had to crouch as he walked because the drop-ship wasn’t really designed for his giant size. Either side of them, so as to make a diamond formation, were two more heavy set, veteran Grymn. All four of them were wearing the colours of the white tiger and all four of them had glowing power weapons. Once the four of them were in place, two lines of Grymn made their way towards the rear of the drop-ship to join their leader and his retinue. In amongst the lines of orange painted tigers there was the occasional white of a sergeant or lieutenant who also had a powered weapon. There were now forty Grymn; poised for battle.

The light flashed amber as the ramp began to lower. The smell of the desert rushed in, along with the heat and the dust. The drop-ship was at about two hundred feet above the ground when the ramp finished its traverse and the light switched to solid green. Without a single word or shout, Torge stepped off the ramp and was gone. His retinue were gone a heartbeat later. In a rushing stream of boots and silence, the two columns of Grymn dashed towards the rear of the ramp and disappeared. The ramp rose to a closed position and the drop-ship returned to base.
Agnar felt alive again. He felt the rush of the wind against his face as he plummeted towards the ground. He kept his arms crossed and had a pulse-pistol in each hand. He gripped them tightly and rejoiced as the freedom of falling engulfed him. Suddenly he was brought to his senses as his jump-pack fired to position him in a feet-first drop. Then a longer burst meant that the ground was nearly ready to meet him. He braced himself as he watched the closing ground and a second later a violent burst from his pack slowed his fall to a standstill and his feet touched the earth as lightly as a feather.

On landing, Agnar immediately took up a defensive position and looked around the drop-zone to locate the rest of his squad. In the centre of everything was the towering form of Thor who bellowed “RE-ORG!” With that all the Grymn began to reform their squads and again take up defensive positions. Once the squads were united and everyone was accounted for, the leaders went to meet Torge and get a briefing. Agnar tried to listen but instead of hearing what they were saying he heard a humming sound. The sound was getting louder and Agnar shouted “ENGINE NOISE TO THE SOUTH”. With that, the briefing ended and the squad leaders returned, forming their squads into the correct positions.

The Grymn waited...

They were in a gully but that meant nothing as their jump-packs could put them on a hill instantly. Agnar looked over at Thor. He looked terrifying. He had a set grin on his face and he was flexing his huge, gauntleted hand as he glared at the rise of the dune, in the direction of the engine noise. The power hammer he carried in his left hand was three times the height of a normal Grymn and Agnar watched the little sparkles of energy dance around its head. Thor suddenly looked towards Agnar and winked. There was a keen glint in his eye and it meant that the enemy were really going to meet their makers today.

The first of the buggies crested the dune, broke hard when the driver noticed the awaiting Grymn, steered to one side and promptly rolled; throwing the top gunner from the vehicle as the driver was crushed when the roof collapsed on him. Three more light buggies followed over the crest but gunned their engines when they noticed the Grymn and began to fire their weapons as they sped towards them. Following the buggies was a caterpillar-tracked, armoured vehicle with two others just like it.

The squad leaders barked orders and Agnar heard Karla’s order to assault the left buggy. He was about to fire his pack when a huge battle-cry was heard and Thor took to the air, with Torge and the two veterans in hot pursuit. Agnar fired his pack and followed his squad towards the buggy. It was destroyed before they’d even got there as a lucky shot from Ana’s pulse-pistol had pierced the fuel cell and ignited the vehicle; taking the crew with it. The squad landed close by and noticed that all the other targets were being successfully engaged so they took up a defensive stance and watched for further threats.
Without warning a huge explosion erupted from the earth behind the squad, throwing debris high into the air and scattering it far and wide. Agnar snapped his head around and looked towards the rise in the dune. Where there had been nothing before, a huge armoured vehicle crested the rise. It had a massive battle-cannon and a multitude of smaller weapons mounted in little armoured turrets. As Agnar watched, the cannon fired and everyone hit the ground as the massive shell hit the wreckage of one of the buggies, spitting molten metal fragments in a wide arc. Amongst the Grymn, Agnar could hear the sounds of grenade launchers firing but he doubted that their small munitions would penetrate the armour of this enemy behemoth. His doubts were answered as the grenades hit their mark but barely scratched the paintwork. The position looked bad and Agnar expected to receive the order to fall back. Instead he heard the scream of a large jump-pack as it roared over head...closely followed the lesser roar of three more, normal sized, packs.

“Agnar, keep the squad defensive!” Shouted Karla as she fired her jump-pack and roared after the veterans. All around, other squad leaders were doing the same. It was like a small snow flurry as the white tigers from all the squads fell upon the enemy vehicle, amidst the crackling of small arms fire from the small turrets. Agnar set his squad to ground and watched as the cream of Torge’s Tigers landed on top of the huge vehicle and began to cleave at its armour with blades wreathed in energy. The battle-cannon fired again but was just as inaccurate as before as the shell whizzed overhead and exploded a fair way from their positions, in an empty patch of desert. Slowly the smaller turrets were being destroyed but the big gun remained a threat. Torge realised this and pointed at it. In moments the hulking form of Thor was next to the barrel. With a mighty bellow and a face of absolute wrath, he swung his mighty power-hammer. When it struck the barrel there was the sound of thunder and an almost unbearable peal, as if from a massive bell. The weapon was no match for the power of Thor and the barrel split along its entire length, rendering it useless. Thor hadn’t finished and swung again, this time at the base of the barrel; smashing the mantle and opening a rift in the front of the turret. The white tigers saw their opportunity and began throwing grenades into the stricken vehicle before firing their packs to get clear of the expected explosions. They soon came and the hulking form of the enemy armour heaved as the power of the grenades ripped through the superstructure, killing all those poor unfortunates inside.

After the explosions had ceased, there was silence.

“WHITE TIGERS!” roared Thor.
“Torge’s Tigers!” roared the Grymn army.
“RE-ORG!” shouted Torge.

The flight back was a buzz of excitement. Torge had ensured that every Grymn now had a mug of mead and was currently stood in front of them all, in preparation for the toast. He raised his mug and silence followed.
“The fallen” he whispered.
“The fallen” was the whispered response from all those present.
Torge turned and walked towards the officer’s cabin. He looked tired and full of woe. He walked inside and was followed by two of his veterans. Thor stood watch at the door and looked towards the rest of the Grymn. He spotted Agnar and grinned “well met Agnar” he said.
“Aye, well met sir” Agnar responded.

Agnar strapped himself in as the drop-ship bubbled across the turbulent sky. He was looking forward to walking on the solid earth. He looked over to where Karla was sitting cross legged on the ship deck. He smiled inwardly as he watched her press a power pack into the hilt of her pulse pistol.
“The chance would be a fine thing” he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the nausea that the flight was causing.

More uses for Grymn in WH40k

2010-04-10T13:54:00.003+01:00

If you look over on the right at the useful links, you'll see that I have added a link to a fan-made 'Codex Demiurg'.

The link takes you to a blog and if you check out the links it will point you to a downloadable Codex which tries to tie in Squats/Demiurg and Grymn into WH40k. Check it out, it is certainly worth a read.

Sven.

2010-04-10T12:30:00.003+01:00

Sven ducked down in the trench and began to shake almost uncontrollably. He jammed his back against the facing wall and put his face down into his hands as the noise of battled roared in his ears. Every now and then there was the stomach churning thud as heavy ordnance struck somewhere on the battlefield and the force could be felt through the earth and up into the body. Sitting opposite him, in the trench was Gregor. Gregor was staring open mouthed at Sven, which probably wouldn’t have been too surprising until you noticed that his entire left side was missing; replaced by a mix of blood, sinew and filth. Gregor was dead, of course. He had been staring open mouthed, wide eyed and with a look of horror for about six hours now. Sven couldn’t even glance in his direction without feeling the inevitable urge to throw up. This really wasn’t what he was expecting when he took his oath and started service in the Grymn army. He felt wretched. His hands were shaking, he was sweating profusely and he was clinging onto his SMG with such force that before he laid it across his knees, his hands had bled from contact with the trigger guard and the cocking handle. Every time there was the sound of incoming fire Sven jumped with surprise, even though there was no surprise to the constant chatter and thud around him. He removed his hands from his face and left bloody streaks where they had been. Grabbing his SMG Sven tried to get to his feet but his legs didn’t want to move. He was completely in the grip of shell shock and he was in no state to be in a battle. His head started to spin and he inadvertently glanced at Gregor with the expected response from his stomach; bile and his last meal exploded through clenched teeth all down the front of his plate armour and fatigues as Sven’s body convulsed. It was the final straw and he couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks as he began to sob like a child.

‘What’s going on in sector three?’ Asked Hella; she was particularly annoyed because her brilliant battle-plan was going extremely well apart from over in section three which was currently collapsing under heavy resistance.
‘The defences are being over-run by the Bohkin assault troops. We need to reinforce as soon as possible’ replied Johan.
‘What do we have available?’ Hella asked.
‘There’s always Kjaran’s heavies’ came the reply as Johan studied the tactical display.
‘Yes...get Kjaran over to reinforce sector three and while you’re at it, arrange for some caffeine; I’m starting to lose my edge’ Hella rubbed her eyes and started pawing at the maps on her table as she spoke.
‘Right you are Ma’am’ he said as he disappeared from the tent.

Sven tried to get up again but couldn’t. He had stopped shaking but had no strength. He could hear the battle raging but felt powerless to make any moves to joining in. He looked at Gregor and felt the nausea building again but managed to suppress the feeling long enough to start to think. ‘What the hell am I doing? I’m a Grymn, for feth’s sake. I should be able to stand on my own two feet!’ he thought, as the feeling of annoyance started to flood his mind. ‘What would Gregor think of me if he could see me now? What would Dad think? I know what he’d think...he’d think that I was a damned coward!’ The annoyance was starting to turn to anger as he stared at his comrade’s shattered form. ‘Fething Bohkin, coming into my sector and killing my mates...they deserve worse than I’m giving them at the moment!’ His hands clenched the grip and stock of his SMG until they were white and he automatically began to stand. ‘I’ll show them!’ Cocking his SMG he turned in his trench, stood on the fire-step and began to blast away at whatever Bohkin he could see. There were plenty around and although his aim seemed to be true and he fired many rounds at them, none of them were falling. Sven was screaming as he fired and was beginning to attract far too much attention as the Bohkin finally realised where the shots were coming from. Suddenly from behind him came the sound of something landing heavily in the trench. Sven turned sharply to see a new Grymn standing there.
‘That’s the spirit lad!’ Said Aylton as he knelt down beside Gregor and gently closed his dead eyes whilst whispering a prayer. ‘Don’t worry about your mate here’ he said ‘there’s nothing here that will hurt him again’.
Sven turned away and continued firing at the Bohkin with more ferocity; the tears were starting to well up and he started screaming with more and more anger because none of the enemy were falling to his barrage.
‘Save some for me will you!’ said Aylton as he joined Sven on the firing step ‘you’ll run out of ammo at that rate!’
‘They won’t fething die!’ he screamed a hysterical reply ‘I shoot and shoot but they won’t die!’ By now Sven was sobbing again and his body was shaking with the effort.
Aylton placed a hand on Sven’s shoulder and carefully disarmed him with kind words and reassurance. He got Sven to hunker down in the trench with him while he inspected the SMG that had been so inaccurate.
‘No wonder they’re not dying!’ He said ‘look at this.’
Sven looked down and could not believe his eyes; the barrel and stock of the SMG were pointing upwards at a gentle slope. It was enough to send the bullets sky-wards without making them jam in the barrel and cause a misfire. Sven couldn’t help himself. He began to laugh through the tears that were coursing down his face. He laughed harder and harder until he thought his chest would burst.
‘They will die then?’ He thought as he laughed so hard he nearly stopped breathing.
Aylton broke into his thoughts with a question: ‘Do you feel like getting a bit even now?’
Sven looked at him and said ‘with what? My weapon is gone’.
‘It seems to me that young Gregor may be able to help’ he said as he brushed the mud from Gregor’s pulse-gun and handed it over to Sven. ‘Have you used these before?’ He asked ‘they kick a bit but work very well.’
‘I’m sure I’ll work it out’ replied Sven through the gritted teeth of a manic smile.
Sven took the pulse-gun from Aylton and hefted it from hand to hand to judge the weight of it. He found the safety catch and checked the power meter; he had seen Gregor do it many times and it currently registered three quarters full. He glanced at Aylton who was now standing at the fire-step picking his targets with the precision of a seasoned veteran. Sven almost felt awe at the sight. Here they were on the battlefield with all the death and the danger around and Aylton was shooting away as if he was on a range; he was even humming a tune as he fired. Sven climbed to his feet again and took up position next to Aylton and began to follow his lead. Things were different to earlier because what ever he shot at started to fall down now. Sven’s confidence began to build and he was starting to return to his senses when Aylton spoke to him.
‘How does it feel lad?’ He said through a broad grin ‘Isn’t it a wonderful thing to be in the heat of battle; wiping out the scum that the Fathers send against us?’ Aylton was studying Sven’s face while he spoke.
‘Aye, it is’ replied Sven almost without thinking.
‘Young Gregor would be proud to see his weapon in such fine form today, don’t you think?’
‘Aye, I think he would’. Sven looked at his feet as he spoke but this time there were no tears because he knew that the new Grymn was right; Gregor would have loved watching his gun killing so many enemies.
‘I’m Aylton by the way’ said Aylton ‘you’ll be young Sven won’t you?’
‘Aye’ he replied.
‘I thought so. You are the very picture of the Sven that Stefan described to me’ he laughed ‘I bet you’ll never think of dropping his precious flamer again!’
‘NO!’ came a rather dumb-struck response (there had been an incident where Sven had been asked to fetch a flamer for Stefan and in his haste to help, he had dropped it and been punched out for his trouble).
‘Well, I wouldn’t worry anymore’ laughed Aylton ‘you’ll be joining my unit when we get back and Stefan would know better than to pick on one of ours!’
Sven looked at Aylton in a state of confusion as he watched him casually shoot at the odd Bohkin that popped its head above cover. Why would he want him in his unit? He was just a green light-infantryman with very little experience.
Aylton glanced over at him and grinned ‘I couldn’t possibly let you out of my sight, now could I?’ He said ‘there’s no knowing what trouble you’d get yourself into!’
Sven didn’t say anything and continued firing at the enemy. The reinforcements had done their job and the battle was starting to turn. All along the sector, Grymn units were gaining ground and had begun to force back the enemy Bohkin. There would be an end to fighting by the following day.
Sven stared at his empty glass. The froth from the final mouthful was steadily sliding down the inside of the glass and through his drunken eyes it almost seemed to dance. He felt his pocket for some more money but found none. He realised that it was time to go to his bed and began to climb to his feet when a great weight pushed down on his shoulder and he was forced back into his chair. He looked around to see Stefan leaning on his shoulder with one hand and carrying two tankards of mead in the other. He placed one of the tankards in front of Sven; sloshing some mead onto the table in the process and sat opposite him with the other.
‘You’ll drink with me lad’ Stefan stated through his drunken stupor.
Sven said nothing. He didn’t know what to do so he picked up the proffered tankard and raised it towards his mouth.
‘Not so fast lad’ said Stefan, staring through bloodshot eyes at Sven ‘you’ve got a duty to undertake’.
Stefan climbed to his feet and in a booming voice shouted ‘everyone shut the feth up will you?!’
The bar went very quiet as Stefan was renowned for causing trouble and no one was ready for that tonight.
‘Young Sven here has a toast’ he said as he gripped Sven under one arm and lifted him easily to his feet. He grinned at Sven and prompted him to speak. Sven thought for a moment and looked into his glass. He thought of the battle and the friend that he had lost. He thought of the loss of all the friendly forces. He thought of what Aylton had said to him and he raised his glass to the heavens.
‘TO THE FALLEN!’ he boomed.
‘TO THE FALLEN!’ was the sombre reply.
‘No one can hurt them now’ he continued and got the same response from the room...but he couldn’t hear them as he began to sob.
‘Now that, lad, was a toast’ said Stefan as he put his arm around his shoulders and led him to his seat to finish his drink.
Aylton looked on and just smiled.

Void 1.1 rules for an in progress army.

2010-03-21T16:08:00.006Z

I have started to build up an army of Grymn Tunnel Fighters and have decided to attach them to the Void 1.1 rule system. With that in mind, I have come up with some rules for the basic squads and have included some points values to aid with selection. I must at this point, give some credit to the lads and lasses over at the Celtos Legion site (see the link over on the right) as I have been picking bits from their down loadable Grymn army list.

So without further ado...here is the start of an army:

Grymn Tunnel Fighter Army (Void 1.1)

Special Rules: (all of the troops in the army will be subject to these rules).

Rough terrain specialists: All Grymn ignore any penalties for moving through broken ground due to their expertise at operating in tunnels and mines.

Buddy-Buddy: As long as any Grymn squad is not reduced to half its starting troop total or less, it will benefit from a +1 bonus to its CD value. Once reduced to half size or less, the bonus is lost.

Fire Teams: The normal idea behind building Grymn squads is to add fire-teams. Whenever you add basic troops to a unit, they will be added in pairs and must have the appropriate price paid for them. Leaders and support troops are not affected by this rule.

Basic stats (for all troops unless stated otherwise):
AS: 4
SH: 4
ST: 4
T: 5
W: 1
CD: 5
SZ: 2
MV: 4

Tunnel Fighter Infantry Squad:

Structure: Squad
Size: Leader + 4 to 9 troops
You may select one support model for each pair of standard troops.

1x Leader: Pulsegun, Combat Blade. 22 Points.
4 to 8 Infantry: Pulsegun, Combat Blade. 20 Points.
0 to 3 Support: Heavy Pulsegun, Combat Blade. 30 Points (s)
0 to 3 Support: Grenade Launcher, Combat Blade. 24 Points (s)

Special:
Leader: Tactical awareness, High morale (+1).
Support: Tactical awareness.

Tunnel Fighter Close Support Squad:

Structure: Squad
Size: Leader + 4 to 9 troops
You may select one support model for each pair of standard troops.

1x Leader: Shotgun, Combat Blade. 21 Points.
4 to 8 Infantry: Shotgun, Combat Blade. 19 Points.
0 to 3 Support: Flamethrower, Combat Blade. 30 Points (s)
0 to 3 Support: Grenade Launcher, Combat Blade. 24 Points (s)
0 to 3 Support: Chaingun, Combat Blade. 24 Points (s)

Special:
Leader: Tactical awareness, High morale (+1).
Support: Tactical awareness.

Tunnel Fighter Close Combat Squad:

Structure: Squad
Size: Leader + 4 to 9 troops
You may select one support model for each pair of standard troops.

1x Leader: 2 Auto Pistols. 21 Points.
4 to 8 Infantry: 2 Auto Pistols. 19 Points.
0 to 3 Support: Chaingun, Combat Blade. 24 Points (s)
0 to 3 Support: Grenade Launcher, Combat Blade. 24 Points (s)
0 to 3 Support: Flamethrower, Combat Blade. 30 Points (s)

Special:
Leader: Multiple shot (x2), Tactical awareness, High morale (+1).
Infantry: Multiple shot (x2).
Support: Tactical awareness.

That is it for now. I will be adding further entries as I finish more of the troops. Just to whet your appetites a little, here is the first complete Tunnel Fighter squad; a Close Support squad:

I plan on adding robots, command models and some vehicles to the army so there will be updates as and when I get another step forward.

I am hoping that this little army building session will give a small insight into how easy it is to include Grymn in other games...even if you don't have an existing army to proxy for.

Silvia

2010-03-18T14:20:00.000Z

Silvia sat at the bar. Her hair was bunched into two auburn pony tails; her flawless complexion was accented with a neutral lipstick and the merest hint of blusher; her perfect, hour-glass figure was tightly enclosed in a green, silk mini-dress with a plunging neckline and enough support to produce a cleavage that every male in the bar was currently wishing they could dive into. All eyes were on her as she sipped her soft-drink while spinning her beer-mat; carefully lining up each edge with the edge of the bar before turning to the next one. It was almost 20-00hrs when Silvia looked towards the opening door at the person entering. The new patron was dressed in standard Grymn fatigues, minus the armour plates and was rather dusty with a grimy face and hair matted with oil. Silvia waved and the new arrival came over, kissed her on the lips and sat down next to her. It was Hella and as she sat down, most of the males watching sat open mouthed as the sound of broken hearts echoed around the bar.
Hella and Silvia had been friends ever since they enlisted. Neither of them was happy with all the attention they were getting from their male counterparts so they came up with a way of avoiding it. They pretended to be lovers and then dealt with the only males fool-hardy enough to push their luck by using the chain of command and the rather brutal equal opportunity laws that existed in the Grymn armed forces. After basic training, the two girls followed different paths; Hella joined the light infantry and Silvia went for special operations and trained to be a sniper; a good one at that.
As Hella and Silvia sat chatting at the bar; occasionally touching an arm or brushing a cheek; the door opened again and in walked Edgar, in full battledress. He walked over and stood next to the girls and quietly cleared his throat.
“Silvia, there’s a job on” he said.
“When?” replied Silvia.
“Now, I’m afraid. You’d best say your farewells and come with me”.
Silvia did as she was asked and left Hella at the bar.
“What is so important that you feel the need to drag me away from a night out?” she asked.
“How does (he glanced over a shoulder to make sure no one else could hear) a Sleiti sound?” he said, with a glint in his eye.
“Really?!” she said, almost exploding with excitement “here?”
“Yes and yes” was the reply.
They walked hurriedly towards the barracks and began the preparations for the job.

Silvia slid her rifle into its bag; it smelt strongly of gun oil after its recent clean. She packed her armour piercing rounds in with the standard Grymn-stopper rounds in her webbing pouches and made sure she had enough clothing, provisions and miscellaneous equipment in her pack for the job ahead. She carefully checked her communications equipment before clipping it to the yolk of her webbing and tucking the headset into her pouch for the journey. While she packed, Edgar briefed her on the location of her target, how they were going to get there and when the target was expected to be viable. He showed Silvia a few of the most recent pictures of the Sleiti dignitary that was to be disposed of and she smiled; she had never been given the honour of assassinating a Father before and she relished the opportunity.

Edgar and Silvia jumped from the grav-vehicle and ran into the cover of the trees before it rose into the air and darted off, keeping below the tree line for cover. By now both of the Grymn were fully camouflaged with a full body leaf-suit and cam-cream covering any flesh that was bared to the elements. They began to trot towards the target zone with weapons ready, just in case they were expected. They moved as stealthily as they could; using every bit of cover and making sure that they left as little trace of their passing as they could. As they neared the snipers nest (the nick name for where the sniper lies in wait), they slowed down, switched to hand signals for communications and kept as low as they could to ensure that they weren’t spotted. Edgar had his scanner set to full range and he was starting to pick up the blips of the enemy forces in the camp that they were approaching (they were surprised that there weren’t more, especially bearing in mind the dignitary that was present...they must not have been expecting any trouble). Soon the final hand-signal came and Silvia ducked into the cover of some dense scrub and started setting up her firing position while Edgar kept watch, scanning the area for any threats. Once she was happy, Silvia signalled to Edgar and he broke communication silence to inform army command that ‘the bird was in the coop’.

Silvia settled down and with the help of Edgar and his scanner, pin-pointed where the Sleiti was expected to appear. It wasn’t too difficult as his field shelter had been elaborately decorated with gold symbols and silk hangings (the Bohkin were extremely foolish to bring such attention to their honoured guest...they must have thought that they were immune from attack or something!). As Silvia spied the tent through the magnifying scope of her sniper rifle she was almost startled as the rigid fabric door slid open and her target appeared, carrying a bowl of what appeared to be steaming water and a towel. He placed the bowl on a small foldable table and stretched; his bare, grey torso shining with sweat in the evening light. Through the scope, Silvia could see his jet black eyes and his pointed ears very clearly and there was no disputing that this was a Sleiti Father. She felt a kick from Edgar and she came to her senses. She carefully loaded a clip of armour piercing rounds into her rifle and took aim. She slowed her breathing and prepared to take her last breath before firing. She relaxed, aimed directly at the side of his head and took her last breath. Carefully, she started to squeeze the trigger. She could see the vein in his temple throb through the powerful scope of her rifle. She squeezed further and just before the rifle fired, the Sleiti turned to face her directly and smiled. He knew she was there; he knew what was coming and as the armour piercing round left the barrel, he didn’t flinch or make a sound. He was still staring at her when the impact hit him cleanly in the top of his forehead, taking out the rear of his brainpan in an explosion of gory mist and debris. He slumped forward onto the table, sending the bowl flying as the legs gave way and he tumbled onto the ground as the blood pumped arterially from his body. Silvia quickly and mechanically, switched to the laser designator setting of her rifle and aimed it at what appeared to be an ammunition dump and gave the signal to Edgar. He acknowledged the signal and said into the communicator ‘eerie one, fire-flash’. Suddenly there was a low whine coming from behind them. From her position in the nest, Silvia could see little commotion from the Bohkin camp; they seemed to be wandering around aimlessly as if stunned by the loss of their Sleiti master. As the whine became louder a few of the Bohkin came to their senses and began issuing orders but they were too late as a Grymn grav-tank squadron loomed up from behind the sniper’s position and trained their weapons on the designated target. As one they opened fire with rail-guns and heavy pulse weapons; annihilating the ammunition store in a blaze of brilliance.

Silvia threw herself upright and screamed. Her nightshirt was soaked with sweat and was clinging to her shapely form in see through patches. She stared at her hands until she realised that she was awake and looked at the clock. It was 02:00 hours; the same time as she had awoken every night that month and in much the same manner. She climbed out of bed and walked to her sink, switching on the small lamp above it. She stared at her gaunt and weary looking face in the mirror and ran some cold water into the sink. When she had finished she looked down from the mirror and at the water; in its surface she could just make out the jet black eyes and the smiling face of the Sleiti father. It seemed to laugh at her as her fingers broke the surface of the water and as she splashed her face the image splintered into a myriad of shapes and disappeared.

Silvia knew that it would return.

Using Grymn in Warhammer 40k

2010-03-17T10:56:00.001Z

The easiest way of using Grymn in any existing game is to simply count them as an existing army. Since I first decided to tie my Grymn into the one game I had any rules for; Warhammer 40k, I have been basing them around the Imperial Guard. I know that some people use other races for them (namely Space Marines or the Inquisition) but I thought the Grymn suited the Imperial Guard but with a few alterations.

Troop availability.

If you are wanting to keep the Grymn to the original ideas, then there are a few things that I feel would need to be sacrificed in order to induct them into the Imperial Guard Codex.

There are some components of an Imperial Guard army that DON'T suit the Grymn. I would strongly suggest against any Psykers or Commissars because Grymn don't have psychic powers and the concept of a Commissar executing his comrades doesn't fit with the idea that Grymn are excellent team players. I also doubt that the Grymn would have Penal Legion squads or Ministers / Preachers / Priests. The Grymn do make use of conscripts but they are more willing volunteers rather than press-ganged troops. I wouldn't use Astropaths or Master of the Fleet as advisors for the Company Command squad either.

So, what can the Grymn have?

Company Command / Command Squads
Infantry Platoons
Veteran Squads
Stormtroopers
Ogryn Squads
Ratling Squads
Rough Rider Squads
All of the vehicles

Counts-As Equipment.

As I have said before, the armour that a Grymn wears looks a lot more like Carapace Armour than Flak armour so I would try to work that into the cost of the troops. In the previous version of Codex Imperial Guard, there was a system which enabled you to add Carapace armour to a squad for 20 points (irrespective of its size). I suggest that you get together with your playing partners and agree that this is fair, otherwaise you can either restrict yourself to units that are allowed to have Carapace Armour (Company Command, Veterans and Stormtroopers) or simply count Grymn armour as Flak Armour and have done with it (whilst kicking your 'so-called' gaming mates under the table for being beards).

Grymn weapons will need to be counted as WH40k weapons and I thought I'd get the ball rolling with the proxies that I have chosen for my armies:

Grymn Weapon / WH40k Weapon

Grymn SMG – Autogun / Lasgun
Twin SMG – Twin Linked Autogun / Lasgun
Pulsegun – Hellgun / Hot-shot Lasgun
Pulse Carbine - Hellgun / Hot-shot Lasgun
Heavy Pulsegun – Plasmagun
HMG – Heavy Stubber
Minigun – Heavy Bolter
Railgun – Missile Launcher
Grenade Launcher – Grenade Launcher
Flame Thrower – Flamer
Sniper Rifle – Sniper Rifle
Grymn Machine Pistol – Laspistol / Autopistol
Grymn Naval Pistol - Laspistol / Autopistol
Knife – Close Combat Weapon
Powered Axe / Sword – Power Weapon
Grenades – Frag / Krak Grenades
Mortar – Mortar
Converted Railrifle - Meltagun
OGrymn Chaingun – Ogryn Rippergun

As you will see, there are a few missing weapons (Plasma-Cannon, Las-Cannon, Auto-Cannon etc...) but that is mostly because there are no Grymn weapons available to proxy for them. That means that if you chose to use any of the missed out weapons, you can either use the WH40k weapons or find some proxies and convert them to fit in with the system (I have done this with a converted Railrifle that I use as a Meltagun)...just remember that you will have to make all of the converted weapons look the same and also tell your gaming buddies what they represent.

And Finally...

If you are a tournament player, these counts-as options will not work for you if you go to official events. So they will only be usable at events that allow proxy forces or for friendly games. What you can see from my work here is that it is very easy to fit a Grymn army into Warhammer 40k just by using a small amount of imagination and hoping that the people you game against will allow you to field them!

Grymn Versatility: The Second Batch.

2010-03-10T08:24:00.001Z

To follow on from yesterday's post on Grymn versatility, I have a few more pix for ideas. First up, here is a better pic of an Inquisitor and some henchmen:

The Inquisitor has powered armour and has been converted (pose and head-swap). He is joined by a couple of standard Grymn and a converted fantasy Dwarf...never underestimate other ranges to add a bit of further flavour to a Grymn force.

Have you seen Serenity, Star Wars or even Space Balls? If you have, you will soon find out that they have star-ship crew members as the central characters. With this in mind I decided to put together a small crew myself. The crew I chose were all from Hasslefree but none of them were Grymn. They are a mix of pirates, human children and fantasy Dwarfs with a couple of other miniatures in the mix for more variation:

The next pic shows a Mystic Panda who is a rather diminutive version of a Wookie-like character:

In addition to the Panda, there is also a robot and there are future plans to add a Grymn security team to add a bit of punch.

Although I already have a desert force, I thought about making something that looked a bit more 'rag-tag' in nature so I decided to start a Grymn desert veteran army. This will be a fairly small force that will effectively be for reconnaissance and special ops. The whole army has extra equipment sculpted onto it and is being painted with a non-uniform scheme. The next pix shows the sniper squad, complete with partial ghillie-suits (added with green stuff):

Not all of the desert veterans will have ghillie-suits but they will be catered towards the desert environment with water bottles and extra pouches for those extra bits of kit needed for extended periods away from the main base.

So who said the Grymn can't be fun? I would just point them at the rather resigned looking Grymn below. He has obviously agreed to dress up for the children's, charity, Christmas party and is not looking forward to the event:

If that wasn't enough to make you think about what you can do with Grymn then what about changing their skin colour and going for a more evil look? This next pic is one of a Dark Grymn...just a paint scheme change and the world of Chaos is opened:

Add a few chips to the armour and maybe a few arcane symbols here and there and you could end up with a rather menacing character...and maybe a rather evil army to go with him.

As a final note, The Grymn could use all sorts of other miniatures to add to their versatility. Depending on whether you want tanks, APCs, anti-grav craft, giant robot walkers or allies from other races, you can tailor the force the way you want just by picking miniatures and vehicles from other ranges. This last pic shows a converted Grymn with six robots (converted from GW Necron warriors) and an APC from Old Crow miniatures. As a unit, they operate as a building clearance squad:

That about covers all of the bases I have tried so far but there are limitless options because of the fact that the grymn aren't tied to a specific ruleset. I hope the last couple of posts have given you food for thought and if they get you thinking outside the box, then my work here is done.

Grymn Versatility

2010-03-09T17:28:00.001Z

I was looking at this blog today and thought that it was in dire need of some pictures so I decided to put a few up to demonstrate the versatility of the Grymn. I'll start at the very beginning by showing a pic of my first army; a desert force:

The army contains a number of conversions; including a Female OGrymn, an OGrymn with a jump-pack and various reposes and head-swaps. You will also notice that I have a group of Judges at the front left of the pic and some Inquisitors at the front right. The army isn't finished yet but I got fed up with painting so many different shades of brown!

My next army pic is one of a complete force. These are my Grymn in temperate DPM. I used the Codex Imperial Guard book for the organisation and the army has two platoons of troops that are backed up by a small Ogryn squad, a Sentinel, a grenadier squad, 2 storm-trooper squads and a selection of heavy weapon squads:

I built this force using an older version of the Codex that had the Doctrines system. I was going to add some transports for the troops using Glaive APCs from Old Crow miniatures but although I got as far as buying the vehicles, I thought the lack of an airbrush was enough to prevent me from painting them...so they are languishing, unpainted, in one of my cupboards.

Finally, I have a small group of Judges. These are supported by a riot control walker which is actually a 1/144 scale Crab walker from the Xabungle Manga show. All of the troops are converted:

To add further flavour to the group I decided to put together some security robots to help the Judges police the populace. These are some of the plastic Daleks that came free with an issue of a Dr. Who comic a while back. I thought that the eyes on the top were perfect for police lights...so that is what made me think of using them as Judge robots:

To continue on an urban theme, I decided to add an army of urban fighters. These would be an infantry army supported by jump troopers, fliers and armoured walkers, transported in APCs. The first troops to be assembled were a platoon of jump troopers. Here are pix of the first two painted units:

There are eight more troops to go in the platoon; a four man command squad and a four man support squad. I have been working on the Urban army for a long time but find painting the camouflage hard work so these are the only painted troops so far. There are many more to come but they will be in a simpler paint-scheme once this platoon is finished.

Finally, for this post, we have my latest project; Grymn Tunnel Fighters. These are a mix of Grymn bodies with heads from Pig Iron Productions and a bit of sculpting to join the gap:

I have a lot of plans for these Grymn and have already painted twenty nine of them with various weapons. Unusually, I haven't even written an army list for them yet which makes them unique because I usually make a list, buy the troops and build the army.

The tunnel fighters will be supported by robots and custom made APCs. All of the ideas are in place...it just needs the time to build everything!

In the next post I will further highlight the diverse uses of Grymn miniatures so please stay tuned.

Some things aren't just black and white.

2010-03-04T22:17:00.001Z

Mikkell.

It was cold; so cold that the tips of Mikkell’s fingers were starting to get numb and he was wondering how long he could keep up with his current actions without dropping his SMG. The icy water was up to his chin and as he carefully waded through it, he cautiously looked around to try and spot any unusual movement. To his left were three more Grymn light –infantry troopers with the look of being as frozen as he was. To his right were another six; including Sgt Freidl. Together, the squad waded slowly towards the river bank, trying not to make a sound or ripple in the water that would give their presence away. Although it was slow progress, they soon reached the bank and scraped themselves out of the water on their bellies; quickly finding cover in the bushes along the edge of the river bank. With a signal, one of the troopers was sent out into the darkness to scout the area while the rest of the squad kept low and maintained an all-round defence. After a few moments, the trooper returned; reporting that the area was clear and that they could relax their guard a fraction. Sgt Freidl looked around the squad and whispered “it’s about time we got a brew on lads...Mikkell, you can take first watch”. Mikkell hefted his SMG and, crouching low, took up a position nearby where he could keep a look out for any danger.
Staring out into the darkness, Mikkell wondered what he was doing there. He had been brought up by a loving family, had been well schooled and had even been offered a well paying job at the local gunsmiths but he had decided to throw caution to the winds and join the army. Mikkells father was extremely proud of his decision to serve in the Grymn forces but the rest of his family had been horrified. They just couldn’t understand why he would want to leave the security of his home and go and put himself in harms way while serving in the military. Mikkell had explained that there was minimal risk involved, especially because there had been no malicious contact from Sleiti or Bohkin forces for generations now but his family were very sceptical about the whole business...well, as it transpired, they had been right. Although there were no Sleiti or Bohkin involved, there had been multiple incursions into Grymn space by other alien foes. These new foes were especially problematic because they seemed to want to steal everything they could get their hands on and remain hidden while they stole. When they had finally showed themselves, they proved to be highly proficient fighters; utilising low tech ballistic weapons and sharp blades to good effect. The Grymn forces didn’t know what they were really called but they had been given the nickname of Noblins.
Noblins were small, green skinned aliens with an almost skeletal face and small beady eyes. They spoke in sharp, shrill voices and had a keen desire to keep hold of everything that they had stolen. They were usually finely dressed in high collared trench-coats and sturdy boots. Their sharp claws and teeth meant that they were also a menace when unarmed and they would keep fighting even if their cause was hopeless. They had even been known to chew off their own hands to escape bonds of confinement so muzzles were a common sight on captured Noblins. At the current time, the Grymn council had no idea as to how they had arrived in Grymn space as no star-ships had been detected during the various Noblin incursions. The council had agreed, however, that the Noblins represented a moderate threat to Grymn security and they were to be either wiped out, incarcerated or forced to leave the planet. That was why Mikkell now found himself sitting in the bushes, shivering with cold and staring out into the blackness of night with a readied SMG for company.
“Shift’s up mate” said Durin, disturbing Mikkell’s concentration “the brews are on as well.”
“Cheers Durin, it’s been quiet here...let’s hope it stays like that.”
Mikkell quietly made his way back to the rest of the group; leaving Durin to carry on the watch. He quickly found his squad clumped together around a lightless stove drinking tea from small tin cups. He crouched low and quietly scampered towards them. He nodded to those present, unshipped his small day-sack and removed his mug, tea and whitener from it. He also found a small packet of fruit biscuits to go with his drink. Pouring the hot water into his mug, Mikkell crouched low, shivering due to being so wet. He could feel the warmth filtering through the mug and stirred the contents until they resembled tea. He then sat down next to Fria and cupped his mug in both hands whilst taking small sips of tea.
“You look frozen solid!” whispered Fria “come here and snuggle, I’ll soon get you warm”.
“Cheers mate!” he whispered in return as he shuffled over to her and allowed her to put her arms around him to get some heat through his chilled muscles. Fria rubbed his arms and hugged him close while he sipped his tea and he began to feel the chill lessen slightly. He looked around and noticed that most of the squad were in huddles just like he was but he had been lucky as there were only two girls in the unit and he had managed to be on the receiving end of hugs from one of them. There was no impropriety involved but he would rather be hugged by a girl than a boy any-day.
“You’re chilled to the bone” whispered Fria “you seriously need to get some meat on your bones!”
“You’re telling me!” he replied “I eat like a Devourer yet still I never put on weight...I could really do with a thick layer like Djoord has” he whispered while looking towards a rather portly Grymn sat next to the lightless stove. Djoord looked over and grinned at him, he had seen that Mikkell was in the embrace of young lady and raised an eyebrow in mock disdain.
“Feth!” cried Durin from where he was hiding on watch “in-coming!”
The squad of Grymn dropped their mugs and grabbed their SMGs, quickly positioning themselves for all-round defence again. They could hear a stumbling approach through the undergrowth from Durin’s direction. They all braced themselves as a small, trench-coated Noblin burst from the cover of the bushes, drew two sharp swords and charged straight at the nearest Grymn. Garyt managed to snap-fire a couple of rounds before the Noblin piled into him, knocking him to the ground. Garyt fell back and was desperately defending himself with the stock of his rifle as wild flurries of sword blows reigned down on him. The furious Noblin was screaming away in its horrible, chittering voice while darting malicious glances around those Grymn present. Moments later, Durin burst through the same bush as the Noblin had and brought the butt of his SMG down hard on the top of the evil thing’s head with a loud crack. It fell instantly unconscious and landed across Garyt with a thud.
“Cheers guys” said Garyt, looking around at the rest of the squad “it’s good to know that I can count on you lot”, the irony in his voice was almost opaque.
“What did you want us to do?” sneered Djoord “shoot at you both?”
“Well...you could have done something” he replied, a bit crestfallen.
Sgt Freidl climbed to his feet and surveyed the still body of the Noblin. “Mikkell, get some ties and bind its hands and feet...Durin, do you have a muzzle on you? If you do, muzzle this devil”.
In moments the Noblin was completely bound and considered to be in a safe enough condition to leave in a corner. Durin was relieved by Gunar and along with the rest of the squad; quickly did a perimeter search to make sure that there were no more Noblins nearby. Once things were deemed to be clear, the squad returned to their mugs and continued warming up again. As the evening wore on, the Grymn began to sort things out so that they could bed down for the night. A guard roster was drawn up, bivvies were erected and night time routine was sorted. Those that were able to go to sleep went to bed and those that were due to take on a guard duty, stayed up and chilled out by the stove. Everything settled down and the Noblin remained silent in the corner where he was left.
Morning came as quietly as the night had been. The few Grymn that were awake, had started cooking breakfast and stirring the rest of the squad from their slumber. Sgt Freidl climbed out of his bivvy, stretched and went over to see how the Noblin was getting on.
“Oh fething hell...” he cursed “where’s the fething Noblin gone?”
On the ground in front of him was a muzzle and some ties but no Noblin.
The squad immediately grabbed for their SMGs...Except for Djoord...
“Has anyone seen my SMG? I left it by my bivvy and it seems to have gone” he said.
“Where’s my pack gone?” asked Gunar.
“...and my Binoculars have walked!” intoned Marise.
After a brief search it was discovered that on top of an SMG, pack and binoculars, various other things had disappeared; including rations, some dog-tags and a few items of spare clothing.
Freidl held his head in his hands...
“I bet they never had this problem when fighting Bohkin” he said “this will be fun to explain to the boss when we get back”.
Freidl sighed and ordered the camp to be cleared ready for the move out. He gave Djoord his pistol and suggested that it would be a very bad idea for him to lose it. Once every thing was ready, the squad was assembled, formed into a standard patrol formation and began to march off into the trees. They were going to have to head back to base and report what had happened and replace the kit that had gone missing. Freidl was downcast as he knew that his squad would be a laughing stock for allowing a fully trussed Noblin to not only escape but to take a bunch of kit with it. He was not looking forward to walking into the Sgt’s mess after work either.
“Fething Noblins!” Cursed Freidl as he turned the squad towards the direction of base and tried to think of a way of making his embarrassing little experience sound less of a comedy...but he couldn’t.
From the bushes, a pair of beady eyes watched the squad depart. A grin formed on an almost skeletal, green face as it began to look through Gunar’s pack. It had been a good night’s haul for the Noblin. The boss would be very happy with his new treasures...

It's not all action; you know?!

2010-03-01T21:52:00.000Z

Egil

Egil tensed as his head was wrenched to one side and he braced himself for the bump that he expected to come. Sure enough, he felt a firm jolt as his head got wrenched back the other way. He gripped the overhead hand rail tightly and shifted his weight slightly in his seat. Considering all the technological advances that the Grymn had made, he was extremely disappointed with the amount of effort put into the bench seat he was now precariously perched on. Over the roar of the engines he listened to the comms chatter that was continuously flowing from Fredrik’s head-set but could garner little information from it. Egil wiped his brow with the back of his sleeve, after tilting his helmet back for easy access and looked around the cramped compartment. Off to his left was the door to the drivers compartment and he could see the back of Rork’s helmet-clad head through the open view-hatch. He also had Fredrik and Logar on his left. To his right were two more Grymn and opposite him, on a bench seat similar to the one he was on, were five more. There was so little room in the compartment that they barely had space for their weapons and packs between them. It was cramped, hot and smelled of sweat and other more unpleasant odours. Egil was beginning to tire of the journey. They had all been shut up together for a good four hours and during that time they had traveled a fair way cross-country; something that Egil was beginning to feel down to his bones due to the poorly padded seat. He could see that he wasn’t the only one getting fidgety. Torla had a look of complete despondency on her face. She looked over at Egil and instead of her usual smile; she rolled her eyes to the armoured ceiling. Yet still the engine roared and still the jolts and bumps continued. There didn’t seem to be an end to it.
All Egil heard through the comms chatter was “CONTACT” and the continuous garble ceased almost immediately. Everyone in the compartment looked towards Fredrik and instinctively began to put their SMGs in an easier to reach position. The headset remained quiet...
...Suddenly the sides of the armour rung with the clatter of small arms fire and the tone of the engine went up a notch as the driver gunned the throttle to get a bit more pace. After a few more clangs, the impacts from outside ceased and Sgt Tomas leaned forward and began to question Fredrik. Fredrik just shrugged and began to flick through the channels to get more information but found none. Sgt Tomas looked around and copied Fredrik’s shrug; he only knew as much as his comms operator but he had the added stress of being in charge of the unit...with nothing to tell them. Rork’s orders had come from higher up the chain of command so at present, Tomas and his squad were at the mercy of the driver. Sometimes Egil pitied Tomas; it couldn’t be too easy having to look after a squad of Grymn and he was glad that he hadn’t been in the service long enough to have to find out.
Without warning, the comms chatter returned and Fredrik swapped information with Sgt Tomas in brief shouts and extravagant gestures with his free hand. Once Tomas had the gist of what had gone on, he told the rest of the squad. Apparently, the lead vehicle had run a Noblin road-block and had cleared the way for the rest of the column. The small arms fire was a result of the contact. Fortunately the Noblins didn’t have anything that could break through the armour so they were ignored for the primary objective. That was it...nothing special.
The journey seemed much smoother now so Egil assumed that they were now traveling on a road of some description. He checked his watch; it was nearly 18:00hrs and that meant that they had been traveling for nearly seven hours. He was bored, tired and aching. He gazed at his boots and shifted his weight on the seat again. His hips complained as he moved. He rotated his shoulders inside his body armour and stretched out his fingers to try to help with the aching and lack of circulation. Still staring at his boots, he thought of other things he could be doing at that moment and every one of them were better than his current activity...or lack of it.
Without warning, the engine roar lessened and Egil felt the reaction of the vehicle slowing down. Sure enough, a loud squeal from the brakes and the dipping sensation caused by the suspension meant that the vehicle was slowing to a stop. Egil saw Rork gesturing through the view-hatch for a moment and then the engines roared again, lifting the front of the vehicle slightly as the engine torque powered them forward again. After a few moments the squeal of the brakes brought the vehicle to a stop again.
“Right then, squad; prepare to de-bus” ordered Sgt Tomas “make sure you grab all your kit”.
With that, the rear ramp slowly dropped and bright sunshine shone in from outside. They all grabbed their kit and began to leave the vehicle. As they stepped outside they were met by a stern faced Grymn who shouted for them to form up into a squad. To Egil’s surprise, Sgt Tomas immediately hustled them into formation and stood at the front facing the Stern looking Grymn.
“SQUAD...SQUAD: SHUN!” shouted Tomas and almost instinctively, the squad came smartly to attention. Tomas then saluted and returned to attention.
“Welcome to Camp Cash. My name is Captain Grim and I am responsible for your training and welfare while you are here” Said the stern looking Grymn “if you don’t train as hard as I think you are able, you will get no welfare”.
From that moment on, the seven hour trip from basic training to mechanised-combat training seemed almost pleasant...
...Egil slung his SMG over his shoulder as he walked briskly up the tail ramp of his Glaive armoured personnel carrier. It was something that he had done many times before, especially in the two and a half years since leaving Camp Cash as the star pupil. Today, however, things were different. As he took the seat opposite the comms operator, Egil looked down at the front of the helmet he had placed on his knees and smiled. Subtly marked in black were some Sgt’s stripes below his name. He had come a long way since the trip to Camp Cash.

What makes a Grymn, a Grymn?

2010-03-01T19:46:00.000Z

So in the big scheme of things, what is it that a Grymn has that a human doesn't...apart from height?

From what Kev has said, the Grymn were specifically built for mining the dangerous asteroids that float through space. They have excellent metabolisms that mean they heal fairly quickly, they are strong for their size, highly agile and are able to survive in extreme conditions. They are quick witted and able to soak up alcohol with less effect than a human but how does this effect the Grymn's stats in combat when thinking about wargaming with them?

Well the easiest way of looking at a Grymn is to start with a Human's stats and decide which way to adjust them to best match the Grymn's description.

Let's start with Warhammer 40k and the basic stats for a Guardsman.

Move - 6 (standard for infantry)
Weapon Skill - 3
Ballistic Skill - 3
Strength - 3
Toughness - 3
Wounds - 1
Initiative - 3
Attacks - 1
Leadership - 7

For other games that use size as a modifier to hit, the Human stat is a size 2 (Void 1.1).

Movement - I don't think that a Grymn should be penalised where movement is concerned. Yes, Grymn are shorter than a Human would be but that doesn't mean that they can't move as quickly so I wouldn't have them move slower.

Weapon Skill / Ballistic Skill - I would say that these stats would be comparable to a Human army trooper. The Grymn are a martial race and spend a proportion of their lives in the military as a matter of course...and pride. The Imperial Guard are the WH40k equivalent of Human army troopers so it would make sense to have the same stats for the Grymn.

Strength - Yes, the Grymn are a strong race but it would be too easy to bump up the strength stat and make them too powerful so I would be tempted to leave the strength as that of a Human...and say that, for their size, the Grymn are quite strong.

Toughness - The Grymn are bred for extreme conditions. They have an excellent metabolism and a strong constitution. I think that the Grymn should be tougher than a Human so I would give them an average stat of 4.

Wounds - basic troopers would normally get a wound stat of 1 and I see no reason for the Grymn to be any different.

Initiative - I would suggest that the Grymn are about on level terms with a Human...but maybe would get a bonus for being teamed up with other members of the squad. From what Kev has said, the Grymn work in fire-teams so maybe they should get an initiative bonus if their fire-team is complete? An initiative of 4 if the fire-team is complete, 3 if not.

Attacks - I see no reason to give a basic Grymn any more attacks than 1.

Leadership - Here is where things get a bit more in-depth. Grymn operate better when they have company; Kev said so. Referring back to the Initiative stat, it makes sense to link the Leadership stat to whether or not there are complete fire-teams in the unit. I doubt that a lone Grymn would be any worse off than a standard Human so a base stat of 7 for leadership may be a good place to start. If there is more than half the unit left alive, maybe there should be a bonus for the Leadership stat...if the unit is above 50% then a standard Grymn Leadership stat would be 8. If it drops below 50% it drops to 7.

Height/size - The big question...do we say that Grymn are size 1 or just count them as Human sized for the purpose of targeting? I reckon that a Grymn would be as easy to hit as a Human due to their 'developed' stature. Okay, they are short but they are pretty well built so I would be quite happy to think of them as a Human sixze for the sake of targeting...yes?

So...from what I have written, the Grymn stat for a game of WH40k would be like this:

Move - 6 (standard for infantry...including Grymn)
Weapon Skill - 3
Ballistic Skill - 3
Strength - 3
Toughness - 4
Wounds - 1
Initiative - 3/4(if above 50% unit strength)
Attacks - 1
Leadership - 7/8(if above 50% unit strength)

Size (Void 1.1) - 2 (for the reasons I have given above).

As for armour saves, the Grymn generally have a nice coating of plate armour. Whether or not you choose to count this as Flak or Carapace armour is up to you but my first thought would be Carapace...it just looks so much more hardy than Flak armour...don't you agree?

What about a few special rules?

I think we'll save those for another time.

I welcome any comments on what I have posted and will be happy to accept advice where people think that stats are too low/high.

Torge, Thor and a couple of troops...

2010-02-26T11:57:00.001Z

The Tigers are Born.

2010-02-25T14:31:00.000Z

This is a small story about how inspirational leadership doesn't have to come from a high ranking officer...

Sgt. Torge (pronounced Tor-gay) stood on the edge of the cliff and pondered on what he saw below. Amongst all the natural outcrops and local flora, there was a host of metallic shapes and pallets, with Bohkin and their attendant species bustling about in between them. It was clear that they hadn’t been planet side for long because they were still busy erecting bio-spheres and hab-domes. All around was the hustle and bustle of making camp and preparing defences. Torge could make out the beginnings of bunkers and defensive positions and he noticed that there were a large number of Bohkin standing guard amongst the organised chaos going on around them. In his mind he was noting the positions of each group of guards and where the best cover was. He also noticed the raggedy looking Bohkin who tended the livestock pens; those pens that contained the food and the Dino-hounds that always accompanied the Bohkin on these sorts of expeditions. He made sure he had fixed their positions as well; he wasn’t a fan of the Dino-hounds as they were a nightmare to dispatch at close quarters. He was hoping to keep them in their pens.
‘Torge!’ there was a shout from behind; far too loud for the situation.
Torge ducked quickly so as not to be seen and crawled over to where the voice had come from.
‘Sir, you need to keep your voice down,’ he said ‘you’ll give us away!’
‘Ha! You treat these beasts as equals!’ said Lieutenant Sturmwulf ‘get off your knees and prepare your squad for battle’.
‘Yes sir’ Torge replied ‘do you want to know where the hot spots will be?’
‘Hot-spots?’ Came a bemused reply ‘we will reap them like corn…there will be no resistance!’
‘So be it’ said Torge as he saluted and left to muster his squad ‘the Grymn’s an arse’ he said under his breath as he went.
A little way back from the lip of the cliff, Torge’s squad was gathered. They were all armoured in the standard tan plate but their shoulders, helms and jump-packs were orange with black tiger stripes; Torge’s Tigers, one and all. Torge was similarly attired but for his white plates instead of the orange ones; befitting his rank as squad leader.
‘Sarge, what’s the verdict?’ asked Ana, a red-headed girl whose temper was as fiery as her hair.
‘The Grymn’s an arse!’ replied Torge.
‘Tell us something we don’t know!’ Said Antar, as he hefted his grenade launcher into a more comfortable position.
‘What’s the plan?’ asked Pjotir.
‘Oh, the plan…’ teased Torge ‘gather round and I’ll tell you’.
After a quick briefing, the Tigers gathered up their weapons, checked their equipment and prepared for the coming assault. The call went out (rather too loudly in Torge’s mind) for the squadron to gather and they all met near the edge of the cliff. There was a motley mix of different squads; all with different markings and paint schemes (there was no unity in the squadron and it was something that Torge hated…it seemed more like a gentleGrymn’s club than a military unit) and Sturmwulf was at the front of them.
‘Gather round!’ Bawled Sturmwulf ‘the enemy is down there and we are up here…well?...fire up and let’s get going!’
With that, Sturmwulf and his squad of Scarlets fired their jump-packs and had leaped over the edge, into the Bohkin camp.
‘That fething idiot is going to get us all killed!’ stormed Torge ‘quickly, before the surprise is gone!’
As one, Torge’s Tigers fired up and launched into the fray; closely followed by the rest of the squadron. Below them, in the canyon there was chaos as the Bohkin started gathering their wits under the initial, ill advised assault of the lead squad. The incoming fire was far too accurate and Torge cursed Sturmwulf for his arrogance. He could see that the idiot and his squad were blasting away at everything that moved without any form of plan or idea of tactics. He could also see that they were being whittled down and needed help.
‘WITH ME!’ shouted Torge ‘the boss is in trouble!’
The Tigers leapt after him as he raced towards the stricken lieutenant.
‘Form a perimeter and give covering fire!’ ordered Torge ‘Ana, take Alun and guard the dino-pens…I don’t want them coming out to play!’
‘Yes Boss!’ grinned Ana as she and Alun launched over to the pens, felling Bohkin with every well aimed shot.
‘What are you doing?’ cried Sturmwulf ‘you’re spoiling the hunt!’
‘The hunt, sir?’ Torge stared in disbelief at the lieutenant ‘I had no idea that you were as blind as you have become!’
As Sturmwulf stared madly at Torge, the Sgt spun on his heels and caught the lieutenant on the jaw with the base of his assault pistol. As he dropped to the floor Torge looked down at him…
‘It’s for your own good.’
From that moment on, it was a blur of fighting and swirling melee. Both sides fought well but the Grymn soon got the upper hand under Torge’s leadership and they eventually destroyed the Bohkin utterly. Even the livestock was killed and everything was burned. The Grymn then called in the casevac units and began bagging the fallen. It was not a pleasant task and Torge knew that there wouldn’t have been as many if the lieutenant hadn’t been such a fool.
Speaking of the lieutenant, he was in custody awaiting the arrival of captain Torsten.
It wasn’t long before Torsten arrived and Torge was called to answer for his crime; assaulting an officer was a serious offense, with a severe penalty. Seniority was almost revered in Grymn society and its armed forces were no exception.
‘I never thought I’d be asking this of you, Torge’ said Torsten ‘but what do you have to say for yourself?’
‘I saw no option but to relieve the lieutenant from duty due to his foolhardy and reckless disregard for the welfare of his troops’ said Torge and he went on to explain what happened during the pre assault planning and the assault itself.
Torsten listened carefully, questioning where he needed to and summed up what had happened.
‘I will go as far to say that you have behaved in a manner that goes against the prime directives of our martial code.’ Torsten stared grimly at Torge as he spoke. ‘Furthermore, you behaved in a dishonourable way that goes against what civilised society would deem acceptable’. The stare continued. ‘It is my judgement that you are guilty of assaulting an officer and taking over command of his squadron…also known as mutiny.’
Torsten called up a provost officer and said ‘relieve the Sgt of his rank’. Torge’s heart sank as the officer removed the stripes from his shoulder pad. With equal tone in his voice, Torsten addressed the gathered Grymn…
‘For the crime of assaulting a senior officer and committing mutiny, Torge will no longer hold the rank of Sgt.’ Torsten continued ‘for his noble act of duty to the Grymn army and, without thought for his personal honour, the successful commandeering and leadership of a squadron of ill prepared assault troops, he will now be referred to as Lieutenant Torge and will hold all the responsibilities and duties that the rank entails.’
Torsten continued ‘lieutenant Sturmwulf has been relieved of duty and is currently under medical care in the sanatorium. He had seen one too many battles and is unlikely to ever take to the field again.’

Torge stood on the edge of the cliff and viewed the scene below. The Bohkin camp was well prepared; the defenses were in place and were manned to the correct levels. He watched as the guards scanned the area for hostiles and patrolled the perimeter. He noted the positions of the Dino-hound pens and where all the support weapons were held. He noted areas of the best cover and where fire-arcs would be the best. He sniffed the air and tested the wind direction before turning around to see Ana, Alun, Antar and Thor standing a few yards away looking at him.
‘So, what’s the verdict, sir?’ said Thor as he looked down at his officer.
Torge looked up into the OGrymn’s face and smiled…
‘The camp is well defended and well drilled’ he said ‘they will be a good test of our mettle’.
‘Ana’ he said ‘gather the Tigers and prepare them for a briefing.’
‘Yes sir’ she said as she turned and walked towards the gaggle of white shouldered Tigers that were gathered a few yards away. After the Sgts had been briefed, Torge looked over at his squadron and smiled. There were over a hundred Grymn, all equipped in the standard tan plate armour. They all had orange shoulder-pads, helms and jump-packs decorated with black tiger stripes. They were all led by the white padded Sgts of their squads and they were all trained to react instantly to the orders they received. He walked forwards as the Sgts gathered their squads into parade ground lines, using hand signals rather than vocal commands. He stood to the front of the parade and speaking quietly, he addressed them all.
‘Your Sgt’s are well briefed, your weapons are loaded, and you are filled with the spirit of battle so you will not fail.’ Torge continued ‘together we will clean the filth from the gully…prepare your weapons, we launch in two.’
The sound of muffled weapons being prepared was barely audible as the squads fanned out along the cliff edge in preparation for the assault. Everyone knew their objective and everyone was eager to achieve it.
‘Tigers!’ said Torge to the barely restrained mass of troops ‘fire up and get your claws out!’
As one, the Tigers fired their jump-packs and as they launched into the air Thor shouted in his booming, OGrymn voice…
‘WHOSE TIGERS?’
The reply was a deafening roar that filled the valley with sound…
‘TORGE’S TIGERS!’
And death fell upon the Bohkin…

Another trawl and more words from the creator...

2010-02-21T21:28:00.000Z

I had a quick look through my archives and found another chunk of text from Kev White:

"Fire teams would have a kind of mutual support thing going in, both would have bonuses due to covering fire provided by their partner when fielded against foes that would actually give a damn if hot lead (or plasma) was coming their way. Members of a fire-team need to be within 2 inches of each other to get this benefit.

At least one member of a fire-team has to be within the command distance of their commander, typically 6 inches. The higher rank/more powerful the commader, the larger the command radius.

Members of a fireteam are activated as one. Unit morale depends on the overall number of members in the unit, a fire-team that loses one of it's number (and becomes a single Grymn) continues to fight so long as the unit isn't affected by morale. Orphaned members can pair-up to form new fireteams if neccessary, and single Grymn can pair up with the commander if needed, but they need to be within 2 inches of each other.

Snipers are attached to units like normal support weapons troopers, but they don't need to be within the usual command distance. One trooper in the unit is designated as "Spotter" (which one doesn't need to be told to the opposing player, it could be the commander) and the sniper gets bonuses to hit "spotted" targets so long as they are in LOS of both models.

I'll be making a trooper that is a "Spotter" who will be a specialist type able to give better bonuses to snipers and call in artillery.

Also, max unit size is 10 models, as stated before. The maximum number of heavies is 3 models based on: One commander and three fire-teams (usual two, plus one added).

Max unit size for P.A is 7. Each normal trooper is in effect it's own fire-team, so you can have one commader, up to three troopers and one support/heavy for each of them.

Support/heavy weapons can be attached to fire-teams. If so, they get the covering fire bonuses and not the troopers. If not attached to fire-teams, the support/heavies are under the direct control of the unit commander and have to stay within half of the usual command distance.

Bear in mind that these are just ideas, not set in stone. If they work in playtesting, then fine. If they don't, they'll change."

I think that is all I have from the old Forum of Doom site...and I reckon that's it from the archive from Kev...

From little acorns...

2010-02-21T20:28:00.001Z

...great oak trees grow.

And so it was with my Grymn collecting.

I have collected Games Workshop products since I was about thirteen years old; back in the good old days when White Dwarf magazine had adverts for other manufacturer's miniatures and comic strips like Thrud within it's pages.

Over time I spent a small fortune on Space marines, Imperial Guard, Tyranids, Eldar...even Orks but over time the novelty started wearing off. I guess it started when I had collected a Space marine company and the Codex system started...that change in rules meant that half my soldiers would require re-equipping. Over time, more and more rule changes led to more and more disappointment until I began to despair.

...then, while looking on-line, I discovered something awesome...

A Grymn named Aylton. He was everything that I wanted from a sci-fi race. I had always waited for tough looking space-Halflings in power armour but none ever turned up. I had lost hope but then I saw the Grymn and was hooked.

He was better than a Halfling, he was a Dwarf...with knees...who was wearing proper sci-fi kit and carrying a BIG gun.

That is where it started...

From the mouth of the creator...

2010-02-21T20:13:00.000Z

This is taken from a post on the Forum of Doom before the site crashed and had to be rebuilt. It was written by Kev White.

Grymn: Army Composition.

Right, I've been meaning to do it for ages, so here goes.

The basic Grymn unit is four troopers plus a unit commander. The unit can be split into two man fire teams, but both need to be near the commander (I don't know if this means LOS, a set distance or whatever. Bear with me).

Unit size may be increased by adding extra troopers in pairs or single heavy/special weapons troopers. One heavy weapon trooper may be added for every "fire team".

Maximum unit size is 10. Commander and four troopers plus extras.

Light infantry: Have the Grymn SMG as basic weapon. They may have grenades as an option upgrade and it assumed that they all have a knife for getting friendly with the enemy. Typical armour is a flak jacket, knee, shoulder and elbow pads and a helmet. Heavy/Support weapons options are Minigun, Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher and Flame Thrower.

Heavy infantry: Basically the same as light infantry, but they tend to be of slightly better moral (combat vets maybe?) and use the Plasma Carbine (Pulse rifle) instead of the SMG. The "Heavy" designation comes from their ability to take on heavier targets with their improved firepower. Heavy/Support weapons options are the Rocket Launcher and Heavy Pulse Rifle.

Close Combat (Assault): Equipped with dual machine pistols or Shotguns. The pistols can have either barrel mounted grenade launchers underneath, or laser targeters. Shotguns have either Grenade launchers or a double shot facility. All members of a unit will have to have the same weaponry and optional secondary weapon. Most grenades used will typically be smoke rounds to cover any advance across open ground. Heavy/Support Weapons options are Flame Thrower, Grenade Launcher and Multi-Barrelled Assault Shotgun.

Powered armour: Come in units of two troopers plus commander. Standard weaponry is a Dual SMG (two linked SMGs in the same casing) and possibly a Power axe for close quarter actions.

O-Grymn: May be attached to standard units in the same way as for Heavy/Support weapons. They are considered to be standard Grymn troopers, just bigger. They are usually armed with the Battle suit minigun or a Rail gun. Other options include Rocket/Grenade/Missile Launchers and larger versions of shotguns and SMGs.

Battle suits: Fielded in stand alone units, each Battle suit operator is ranked at least "Captain" in the Grymn armed forces. Therefore they can assume command of leaderless units at a pinch. Standard armament is a minigun and rocket launcher combination.

Fire-teams and cooperation seem to be the buzz-words for a Grymn army.

Stefan.

2010-02-16T18:28:00.000Z

Stefan.

Stefan was a Grymn. He was born on planet six; named so because it was the sixth planet settled since the freedom. Planets one to five had been deserted by the Grymn because the Bohkin, followed by the Sleiti fleets, had found them. The continuous fight and flight kept the Grymn fit, clever and on their toes; Stefan was no exception; being a veteran of many battles he now called planet nine his home…

‘Wha…Hmm…’
‘Wake up Stefan…Wake up!’
‘Who…where’s Jack? He owes me money…’
‘Stefan…Bohkin!’
‘Get Kylie…NOW!’
Stefan launched himself from his bunk, he was already dressed and stank of mead, sweat and urine but his eyes were sharp and cruel. He reached down to his bedside cabinet picked up an etched, silver SMG round and placed it in his pocket. He then took a good draught from the bottle next to where the round used to be and turned to Sven, the young Grymn who had awoken him.
‘Well? …Kylie?’
‘I don’t know who she is sir.’
‘Ha! Of course you don’t, she’s my burner…and she’s a darn good one too.’
Sven went to the corner where a red burner sat neatly on a cushioned couch. Along side it there were a small number of flasks and a box containing an immaculate weapon-cleaning kit. He carefully picked up the weapon but in his haste it slipped from his grasp and the butt dropped to the floor. Stefan crossed the room in a heartbeat and the back of his hand hit the young Grymn so hard across the jaw that he was out cold before he hit the floor. He cradled Kylie and carefully inspected the weapon to make sure she wasn’t damaged.
‘Don’t worry Kylie; you’re in good hands now.’
Stefan looked at the prone Grymn; ‘More explaining to do’, he thought.
He grabbed his helmet and mask, buckled on his side pouches and spare flasks and left the billet with Kylie held firmly and a look of thunder on his face.

In the courtyard there was organised chaos. Grymn were barking orders and following them; grabbing weapons and dashing off towards the sound of fighting.
‘Stefan! Glad you’re still with us. Follow Kjaran and reinforce the sun-side wall!’ Captain Torsten shouted. He was a hulking figure dressed in powered armour, sporting a white-grey beard.
‘Yes Sir!’ Stefan replied. ‘It’s a great day for it.’
‘Ha! It’s always a good day for killing Bohkin!’
Stefan smiled, shot a quick salute and strolled purposefully towards the sun-side wall. When he arrived, there were many Grymn lining the wall and the Sangers, and they were all well equipped and battle ready.
‘Stefan! Get yourself to Sanger two and prepare your friend. We’ll funnel the filth towards you so you’d better be ready!’
‘I’m there, Kjaran…don’t fret yourself!’ He walked towards the Sanger and climbed through the small entry hatch.
‘By feth Stefan, you stink worse than a Dino-hound! Did you sleep in a vat of mead?’
‘Antar, if it was anyone but you, I’d spit on your boots for that…but I suppose you’re right…there was a good lot of mead in my bunk this morning but I wouldn’t have drunk it a second time!’
‘Swamped again? You’re back on form then you drunkard.’
‘Aye, I am that; a drunkard but I’m sober enough to burn a few nasties this fine morning.’
‘Well look to your front and keep your eyes peeled, the SMGs are chattering a welcome for them.’
Short bursts of controlled SMG fire rippled from the wall, followed by the whine of mini-guns and the roar of missiles. Out across the fire-break the Dino-hounds broke from cover and piled forwards at break-neck speed; dodging the shot-falls and closing quickly on the walls. There must have been a hundred of the multi-coloured, two limbed lizards and although they were starting to fall in the odd place, many of them were closing fast and would meet the walls in a few seconds.
Next to Stefan, Antar flicked the safety on his grenade launcher to fire, pointed the dangerous end through the fire-slit and pulled the trigger. There was a deafening roar as the launch detonation echoed around the concrete Sanger, followed by a dull ‘crump’ as the anti personnel grenade exploded red-hot shrapnel; tearing the dinosaurs to pieces.
The Dino-hounds still kept coming, even though Antar pumped grenade after grenade into their ranks. They were too close for grenades now and Antar drew his assault pistol and started firing single, aimed shots at the approaching creatures.
Stefan took a deep breath, fastened his mask and closed his eyes. He thought of his beloved Kylie, how the Bohkin had captured, tortured and killed her; how they had left her bloodied, lifeless form nailed to a tree-stump; how they had taken her away from him…and his demeanour changed. Gone was the brightness to his eyes. Gone was the jovial banter. Gone was any mercy. Stefan needed this change before battle. It was the only way he could deal with the terrible job he had to do. It wasn’t easy listening to the sizzle of flesh or the screams of the burning. It wasn’t easy watching figures wreathed in flame dissolving in front of your eyes. It wasn’t easy, smelling the odour of death; so acrid that it clogged the filters in his mask and he could taste it.
‘My turn, I think’ He said to Antar as he also flicked his weapon’s safety to fire, pointing the nozzle through his vision slit.
‘Sing to me Kylie!’ He boomed as he squeezed the trigger and a huge jet of super heated chemicals spewed forth, vaporising the nearest of the Dino-hounds and throwing those following into disorganised panic.
‘It seems they don’t enjoy our welcome, eh Kylie?’ He said, his face set in a grimacing smile.
After a good few bursts of flame, Stefan watched as the remaining few Dino-hounds started running back towards the edge of the fire-break. He always enjoyed this because the Bohkin were forced to detonate their collars when this happened to prevent the deranged creatures attacking their masters. As expected, the remaining creatures started bursting apart. Not long after the last one fell, the Bohkin broke cover and swarmed towards the walls; heavy weapons covering while they ran headlong into the maelstrom.
‘I’d admire them if it wasn’t for the fact that they are Bohkin scum.’ said Antar, whilst looking towards Stefan.
‘I’ll never admire them.’ He replied ‘They use their hounds to see where the guns are because they are too scared to approach us on equal terms’. He snorted ‘they are cowardly fethers who deserve the death I give them…a bullet is too good for them.’
Stefan steadied himself as the Bohkin support munitions began to detonate around the fortifications. He could feel the force through the ground and he could hear the cries of those thrown into the air or wounded or killed by the blasts. The Grymn return fire was becoming a little sporadic as the lines faltered and needed reinforcing but it still carried on and the Bohkin were falling in their droves.
It wasn’t enough though. The Bohkin were closing on the walls and now the ‘thwip’, ‘thwip’ of small arms fire could be heard as they came into range.
Antar holstered his pistol again and started launching grenades. The smell of cordite permeated Stefan’s mask and he could taste the metal in it. Stefan checked Kylie and made sure that her fuel tank was still fairly full. He tapped the flasks on his belt and could feel that there was plenty of fuel left in them. He looked out of the vision slit and could see the horde racing towards them. Every now and again, plumes of earth burst into the air; taking with it a dozen or so Bohkin at a time but it wasn’t enough, they still kept coming.
Stefan put Kylies nozzle through the vision slit again and waited until the enemy was close enough to burn. When they were in range he squeezed the trigger and the burning began. After the first jet hit home, the Bohkin stopped in their tracks and started trying to avoid their burning comrades; who were now running wildly around, trying to extinguish the flames. Bullets started hitting the Sanger as the Bohkin trained their weapons on the threat. As they advanced, Stefan waited and then unleashed another blast of flame; toasting the nearest and causing chaos again. This exchange happened again and again. The Bohkin small arms turned to grenades and heavier weapons but the Sanger still held and Antar and Stefan were kept safe.
After what seemed an age, the attack on the Sanger faltered and the Bohkin started running in all directions, shooting into the air. Stefan smiled as he heard the whine of turbo-fans and pulse-jets. Flame and Tiger squadrons had arrived. Flame Squadron was made up of jet-bikes armed with mini-guns and missiles and they were busy strafing the Bohkin lines. Tiger Squadron was made up of jump-troopers, armed with pistols, power-blades and a complete disregard for their personal safety. Lieutenant Torge was renowned in the mess hall for causing affray and he was the leader of Tiger Squadron. Stefan watched as the bikes disappeared and the Tigers ripped into the enemy troops with such ferocity that the Bohkin were fleeing in panic. As the Tigers continued their work, the light infantry started advancing on the remaining enemy, killing those foolish enough to remain in the fight. The Bohkin were finished and those that could do fled the field to lick their wounds.
‘It’s done Antar; they’ve finished their game for the time being.’
‘Aye and they’ve left me a gift.’
Stefan looked towards Antar and noticed that he looked a little grey in the face. There was a red stain emanating from his right armpit and it looked like he may well pass out. Stefan placed Kylie on the ground and went to Antar’s aid, removing his shoulder and chest plates and opening his fatigues so that he could see where the blood was coming from. He found a neat little hole in the front of his right side and a ragged hole at the back. He pulled his field dressing from his pouch and tore open the packet. Carefully he strapped it over the ragged hole and sealed it with medi-foam. He also sealed the smaller wound and made sure Antar was sitting comfortably as he gave him a shot of pain-ease.
‘MEDIC!’ cried Stefan, ‘MEDIC!’
Stefan sat with Antar after checking to make sure that it was safe outside and did so until help arrived. Once he was sure that Antar was in good hands, he slung Kylie over his shoulder and went to survey the battlefield.
Stefan walked among the corpses, their twisted forms lying all around. There were many more Bohkin than Grymn but when ever he found an ally, he checked for signs of life but he wasn’t very lucky today…there were none. He breathed deeply, sighed and said dryly…
‘Well Kylie, another day; another battle won’.
He turned back towards the gate and whistled as he strolled forwards. There were graves to be dug and mead to be drunk.

Lt. Juhler

2010-02-14T21:45:00.000Z

Lt. Juhler swaggered, well above average size for a Grymn. The standard jump pack wasn't even capable of compensating for his weight; he dropped too fast on assaults. His companions said, "By Sleiti engineers, he didn't need a modified pack. His legs were big enough to take the impact."

He came from Brontyr, a small, undeveloped, but fully self-sufficient settlement on a fringe world colony - a backwater's backwater. He hunted food for his family from the time he could lift a toy rifle and claimed he never missed a shot.

Having already served in two campaigns, Torsten described him "as experienced and skilled as a soldier can get and still be alive".

His comrades referred to him as "the Philosopher" out of respect and admiration for his deep convictions on the expansive nature of our actions and their consequences.

After securing the landing zone, Torsten ordered Juhler to ready his men for the assault. He grabbed his SMG and a half-dozen grenades and strode out with one pistol on his hip and another stuck into his boot top. He was going to do a one man recon job to form a plan of attack.

Juhler was going out into the unknown. He had spent a long time preparing for this moment, but he was not trained for it. In one of the greatest military intelligence failures of Grymn history, neither G2 at Army1 HQ, nor Strat-Com had ever warned the fighters of the dominant physical feature of the region where they'd be fighting. It was flat land laced with embankments bordering massive mineral recovery "pans". On top these little ridges, machinery and solar arrays jutted up and overhung the roads running between pans.

How could the various intel groups have missed such an obvious feature, especially as orbital recon clearly revealed these pans with their rims and bordering service roads? Because the data processors, looking straight down at them, missed the sunken nature of the roads completely. "We had neither been informed of them, nor trained to overcome them," was the comment of one platoon leader. The soldiers had to learn by doing, as Juhler was doing.

He and his fellow assault jumpers, like the famous assault groups from the 8th army had been well drilled in amphibious assault. They had done that very thing the day before, dropping in on ill-prepared enemy positions with courage and flair. But at dawn, they were fighting in terrain unexpected and unfamiliar to them, the pans.

The Bohkin, on the other hand, had been going through specialised training for fighting in this type of terrain. They pre-sighted heavy weapons on the access points into the pan system and individual pans. Behind the machinery or trees, they dug foxholes and tunnel openings for heavy automatic weapons to cover the open space of the pan itself.

The Grymn trained hard. "We threw hand grenades and got to know the overall pan layout and structures. The lines of risers, pits, and machines played tricks on our eyes. We trained to fight as individuals and small teams. We knew when the attack came we'd probably be cut of from one another. We let them come forward and cross into a pan, then blow them apart. That was our tactic: wait until they come in and then shoot," recalled Niehl of the Flaming 353d.

Juhler moved up the sunken roads, crossed into a pump field, squeezed through close-set condensers, and crawled through a ditch. Along the way he noted concentrations and positions of Bohkin he passed. Someone without a hunter's sense of direction would have got lost. He reached a point near the central throughway for the heavy loaders, this was the axis of the Bohkin deployment. Juhler, moving like the hunter he was, got to a place where he could hear the guttural noises of Bohkin on the other side of a pan rim. They sounded like leaders talking about map coordinates. Juhler vaulted over the rim with his gun at ready. "Still!" he barked at the 7 commanders gathered round a comm unit.

Six instinctively raised their hands, but one tried to pull a pistol from its holster. Juhler shot him instantly, between the eyes. Two soldiers in a trench 100 metres away to Juhler's rear fired automatic pistols at him. Two bullets ripped through his jacket and one took a bit of his ear.

Juhler dropped to one knee and began shooting the other six commanders as they attempted to escape. When he had used up his clip, he dropped into a ditch, put another clip in, and dropped the Bohkin with the pistols with one shot each.

Juhler made his way back to the company area to report on what he had seen. At the command post he came in with blood down his jacket, a big chunk of his ear gone, holes in his clothing. "Who's got more grenades?" he demanded.

Then he started leading. He put a mortar crew on the flank and directed fire into the sunken roads where the Bohkin were most concentrated. Next he sent A company into an attack down one of the lanes. The Bohkin broke and ran. By midmorning, the pan facilities round the LZ were secure.

The next day Torsten, Juhler and Sgt. Jinso went to the spot to examine the Bohkin corpses. Unforgettably, the bodies sparkled with brilliant crystals which reflected the morning light. Papers identified them as the commander for the main force in the region and his staff . Maps and other documents showed they had come to the pans to plan the counterattack against the Grymn landing.However, having lost the commander, the Bohkin retreat barely held together in the face of Grymn pressure in the subsequent days.

Torsten told me that when he commented on the blood on Juhler's jacket, he said, "They've been getting close to you, Juhler". To which Juhler, smiling thinly, responded, "but not as close as I've been getting to them, Sir".
At the scene of the action, Torsten noted that everyone of the dead Bohkin, including the ambushers in the trench, died of a single shot in the head. Later in the day, Sgt. Jinso commented to Torsten, "Sir, aren't you glad Juhler's on our side?"

The next day Jinso wasn't so sure. He and Juhler were crouched behind the rim of another pan, waiting for the end of a barrage falling on enemy in the next pan. Juhler wanted the barrage to stop so he could go in and clean up, but Jinso hoped that the barrage would continue until there would be no cleaning.

A story by Sagunt from the Forum of Doom. Thank you for permission to post this here.

Grymn armies.

2010-02-14T16:10:00.000Z

Just looking at the various bits of information that Kev White has provided over the years, you will see that there are many options to choose from when thinking about how to create a Grymn army.

In the beginning there was Experiment #14. He took 1000 embryos from the Sleiti when he escaped. Some of those would have perished but many would have survived. Not all of them would be combatants but from a survival point of view, many would have to be. Obviously, it would take time for the Grymn to reach maturity so Experiment #14 would have to lay low while his charges were allowed to grow, mature and learn how to survive and defend themselves. Later in Grymn history, there would be bigger armies and maybe even settlers, traders, mercenaries and even (perish the thought) invading armies. There could also be different factions...maybe even CHAOS Grymn!?

So we have opportunities to field everything from small gangs of Grymn all the way up to a huge army. We also have the option of good and evil forces!

How about a Grymn gang in Necromunda? A small force of mercenaries in No Limits or Void 1.1? An army of Grymn in Warhammer 40k or even a huge horde in Apocalypse?

There are so many choices for so many gaming systems! It just takes a small amount of thought to make the Grymn fit in.

In Warhammer 40k, the Grymn could simply use the rules for the Imperial Guard. Alternatively, the Space Marines have scouts and they could be used to represent Grymn instead. In Void1.1, Urban War and Metropolis, the Grymn could act as marines from either VASA, Viridian or even Syntha forces.

As an alternative to using 'counts as' armies, you could use any of the available 'fan-lists' that are out there for the various systems. No-Limits has a list for Grymn and if you go to Celtos Legion and look through their downloads, you will find Grymn lists for Void 1.1 and Urban War.

Finally, there is always the option of making your own army lists and creating special rules that you think will suit the Grymn. I'm sure that there are many people out there who use Grymn in various rule systems who have come up with some ingenious special rules and army lists just so that they can use the Grymn in their chosen game system.

In time, I am planning to link to various lists and game systems but until I have permission, I am just batting around ideas.

If anyone out there has a link that they want to share to their own rules for using Grymn in their chosen system, please feel free to PM me (Inso) on The Forum of Doom - the link is on the right - and I'll put it up here for everyone to share.

More background.

2010-02-13T07:35:00.000Z

As I have already mentioned, the Grymn were created by the Sleiti; an alien race that uses bio-technology for many things that other races would use standard, mechanical and electronic technology for. Here is a Sleiti in battle gear:

When the Grymn escaped, the Sleiti were furious because not only had years of worked disappeared but they destroyed the lab and its data-banks before they left. That meant that the Sleiti were forced to start from scratch with their next race of slaves. When they did eventually build a new set of slaves, they called them Bohkin. The Bohkin were made for one reason...to hunt down and capture the Grymn. If they couldn't be captured, they would have to be destroyed. The new race was happy to do this because they were genetically modified to be completely subservient to the Sleiti. Here is a Bohkin leader ready to embark on his next hunting mission:

There are other aliens out there but some are less distinct than others. The Druusch are a race that has been infected by a virus that effectively turns them into zombies. They are made up from all manner of different races but have one common trait...they are infected. There is however, one race that the Druusch infection can't attack and that is the Grymn; due to their extraordinary immune system. Here is a Druusch drone:

Adapted by Inso from original work by Kev White.

The Birth of the Grymn.

2010-02-12T23:46:00.000Z

“On an alien research base hovering in orbit above the planet below, the Sleiti scientists were working tirelessly to create a workforce capable of mining the many dangerous floating through the depths of space. In test-tubes and gestation chambers, life was being created using genetic manipulation and bio-engineering. After years of careful experimentation a viable subject was created and he was known as ‘Experiment #14’.

#14 was a male who grew quickly using artificial growth acceleration. He was given all sorts of simple tasks that he was able to accomplish with ease, even though he didn’t show too much higher intellect. As a labourer he was excellent; being extremely strong with limitless stamina and a determination to finish all the tasks he was given to the best of his ability. #14 was eventually given a regular job, working with the scientists because he was deemed to be no threat due to his placid nature.

As he carried boxes and loaded vats, #14 watched the scientists. While concealing his obvious intelligence from his creators, he soon learned that they were creating a race based on similar genetic coding to him and that they were making an entirely male race to prevent it breeding if any should escape. The scientists were using a genetic marker to show the sex of each embryo and those that showed up as female were destroyed. #14 waited for his chance and when the lab was quiet, managed to swap the genetic marker for an alternative that hid the sex of the embryo on a genetic level...now both male and females would be allowed to gestate without the knowledge of the scientists.

The die was cast.

When 1000 embryos were well developed but not to a level where the sex could be deduced by the naked eye, #14 struck. He grabbed a fire-axe and went to work on the poorly prepared scientists. In a night of carnage he slew all of his creators.
A few days later the research station was boarded by security forces. #14 and the thousand embryos were gone.”

“...and that is how The Father brought us to this planet, along with the equipment to sustain and nurture our growth. Without The Father, we would not exist.” The age worn Grymn looked at the adolescent Grymnlings sat around him and could clearly see the admiration and awe in their eyes.

“Where is The Father now, sir?” asked one of the braver amongst the Grymnlings.

“Wandering...just wandering...he’ll return one day to visit his children; you can be sure of that” he replied with a wry smile and watched as the Grymnlings’ eyes all widened with surprise “now off you go...you have chores to do!”.

With that the small room emptied and the Old Grymn sat in silence, drawing on his tobacco filled pipe contentedly. He knew the peace wouldn’t last so he was determined to make the most of it...

Adapted by Inso from original work by Kev White.

What are Grymn?

2010-02-12T19:46:00.000Z

Grymn are Sci-Fi Dwarfs designed and sculpted by Kev White over at:

Hasslefree Miniatures

What makes them special is the fact they are not just fantasy Dwarfs in space but they are a proper, sci-fi army that look almost plausible for future warriors. They are well sculpted, nice to paint and there is enough variety to make a decent sized force with a fairly wide range of weapons.

Another thing that is good about the Grymn is that they are not attached to any specific rule-set or war-game so you are free to come up with all sorts of ideas for how to use them without feeling like you should be sticking to the rules.

The miniatures are also good for converting and adding to other armies as allies.

This Blog will have only one focus and that will be everything Grymn. I plan on posting stories, background, conversions, rule ideas, lots of pics and links to some of the cool Grymn stuff that is out there on the WWW.

Well...there you have it. Sit back and enjoy the ride because once it gets going, it won't stop and before you know it, you'll have a Grymn horde of your own; languishing in various states of paint.

You have been warned.

Once upon a time...

2010-02-11T20:41:00.000Z

In the vastness of space, there is a race that has endured great hardship but survives through guile, determination and a great deal of luck. That race is the Grymn. This Blog is where many make their home and many will soon settle down as welcomed guests.

Be warned...you should never take them lightly...