I have been working on five boxes of Exosuits on and off (mostly off :wink
for over two months now and I'm finally finished with the 17 trooper models. Instead of permanently fixing the weapons to the figures, I decided on a project to mod the arms of the Grizzlies and the Cougars and the Atlas Rigs of the Grizzlies with tiny neodymium magnets. By doing the same to the various weapon options, I now have a force that can switch its weapons before a game, and that force will be represented in miniature as it is used within the game (can you say, "Action Figures"??? :roll.
By countersinking 1/8"x1/16" ND disk magnets into the arms and Atlas Rigs and the weapons, I can switch weapons into combinations that would make Dizzy Flores, well, dizzy! :wink: The project didn't display its flexibility as much with the Cougar suits as there is only one held weapon that is carried in either of two choices- a Rotary Sixgun or a Firestorm missile system. Counting for weapons and modding both arms (for any "lefties"- hey, why not?), I used eight magnets per Cougar model. I decided early-on that I didn't want to mount weapons with a single contact point, as they could then too easily spin on the arms like a turret (a feature not yet authorized by the rules!). In using pairs of contact points in the arms and the weapons they easily attach and dismount for game use, depending on what you pay for. The mod system really shines on the Grizzly though, considering that there are three weapons in combinations mounted on two of either the arms or the two 'magnetic holsters' (magnetic, literally!) on the Atlas Rig of the Grizzly. Thus, I can have dual Sixguns, dual Firestorms or even dual Thermic Lances in either action mode on the arms or in Close Combat hand-to-hand (maybe that's hand-to-pincer!) 'holstered' mode.
In using two boxes of Cougars to mostly represent corporal, NCO & officer cadre, I then gathered up my firepower projection in three supporting boxes of Grizzlies. This made up a collection of seventeen Exosuit models that I decided I had enough models of to then form into a Company-level force. I therefore present you with Company A, 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Mobile Infantry Division!
* * * * * * * * * *
Graduating from an advanced Exosuit tactics course at Camp Currie, in Iowa, titled "Back to Boot, a course on advanced tactics using the M-4A1 and M-4A2 Combat Exosuits", these photos were taken of the two reinforced platoons of three squads comprising Alpha Company of the 2/3 Mobile Infantry Division. Adopting a phrase used normally with the K9 Corp "We Fight as One", this Company although incorporating various mixed MOS units operates at a level above what is normally expected of a force of the Mobile Infantry.
Capt. Stewart has lost most of his Company headquarters unit in previous battles, but has not requested replacements. It seems that he is one of the "hands-on" types, and has taken direct control of one of his three squads. Capt. Jeffery "Jeb" Stewart let it be known that he favored "the smell of burning Bugs in the morning", so his personal squad became adept at the use of the Firestorm Missile System. Capt. Stewart excels in fast, accurate direction of fire and has had SICON military intelligence training. Not one to be impressed by the Fleet's "glassing" of Bug masses from their relative safety in the sky, "Stewart's Stormbringers" (as they were to be so named) do it 'up close and personal' and sometimes make use of the M-998A1 Pee-Wee atomic warhead.
2nd squad, 1st platoon, Alpha Company or "Grissom's Gunslingers" is headed up by Sergeant Major Glenn "Gus" or "Gunney" Grissom. "Gunney" Grissom prefers to disassemble his targets with his dual sixgun rotary cannons. He has inspired his charges to specialize in the use of this deadly weapon, and every member of the squad is so armed. If the name of Gus Grissom sounds a little familiar to readers, it is because a distant relative of SgtM. Glenn Grissom was one of the early space pioneers of Earth's past. "Gus" as he is called only by close friends with higher rank or just "Gunney" by his squad, has a "True Grit" and "Can Do!" quality that makes him an irreplaceable asset to Capt. Stewart.
1st squad, 2nd platoon, Alpha Company or more commonly named "King's K'nights" ("Knights" pronounced with a non-silent "K"!), is one of the Mobile Infantry's squads that is also considered as a platoon in its own right. Lt. Arthur Lancelot King ("It's not my fault!" he is often heard to say) is a very experienced Mobile Infantry officer, and has mastered the skill to direct fast and accurate fire down upon his squad's enemies. With specific and specialized training, his squad has been cross-trained in the use of the powerful and deadly Thermic Lance. Some say that the ghost of Merlin himself follows and protects the 2nd platoon of Alpha Company. As if cast-on by a horrific and powerful spell, some of the Bug swarms facing "King's K'nights" have totally and completely vaporised under the devastating fire of just three Grizzly-suited troopers armed with twin Thermic Lances. Some without seeing it say it must be a jest and just another MI urban legend but if you are an Arachnid that happens to be charging these lance-wielding "knights", it will most-likely be your last joust. Someone once told Lt. King of the curiosity that the name of the Grizzly suit was named for a bear, but interestingly enough one possible etymology of the word Arthur was Welsh for "bear-man". Curious thing, that. Yet another etymology links the name Arthur to the star Arcturus, Lt. King was told. The word Arcturus is in classical Latin, and would have been Arturus in the late Latin of the 5th – 6th century. Arcturus has been called the "Guardian of the Bear" and is near Ursa Major as viewed from Earth. Ursa Major is also called the "Great Bear constellation". If the man we know as Arthur had used Arturus or Artur-os as his alias, its meaning would have been easily understood by both the Romano-British and native British alike; a stout bear-like defender against the invaders. The strangeness of this story does not end with this prophetic description of the Arachnid threat. It ends with the knowledge that the main R&D locale and the first prototypes delivered to SICON originated at the Federation research and proving grounds on Arcturus III. The curious link between Arthur and Arcturus can only add to the legend that is growing around Lt. Arthur King and his Grizzly-suited lance-wielding armored "knights". Guard them well, Merlin!
COMPANY A, 2/3rd Mobile Infantry Division
Shown at completion of "Back-to-Boot" Advanced Tactics Training
Dedicated to Scipio, a "fan of fluff" :wink:
for over two months now and I'm finally finished with the 17 trooper models. Instead of permanently fixing the weapons to the figures, I decided on a project to mod the arms of the Grizzlies and the Cougars and the Atlas Rigs of the Grizzlies with tiny neodymium magnets. By doing the same to the various weapon options, I now have a force that can switch its weapons before a game, and that force will be represented in miniature as it is used within the game (can you say, "Action Figures"??? :roll. By countersinking 1/8"x1/16" ND disk magnets into the arms and Atlas Rigs and the weapons, I can switch weapons into combinations that would make Dizzy Flores, well, dizzy! :wink: The project didn't display its flexibility as much with the Cougar suits as there is only one held weapon that is carried in either of two choices- a Rotary Sixgun or a Firestorm missile system. Counting for weapons and modding both arms (for any "lefties"- hey, why not?), I used eight magnets per Cougar model. I decided early-on that I didn't want to mount weapons with a single contact point, as they could then too easily spin on the arms like a turret (a feature not yet authorized by the rules!). In using pairs of contact points in the arms and the weapons they easily attach and dismount for game use, depending on what you pay for. The mod system really shines on the Grizzly though, considering that there are three weapons in combinations mounted on two of either the arms or the two 'magnetic holsters' (magnetic, literally!) on the Atlas Rig of the Grizzly. Thus, I can have dual Sixguns, dual Firestorms or even dual Thermic Lances in either action mode on the arms or in Close Combat hand-to-hand (maybe that's hand-to-pincer!) 'holstered' mode.
In using two boxes of Cougars to mostly represent corporal, NCO & officer cadre, I then gathered up my firepower projection in three supporting boxes of Grizzlies. This made up a collection of seventeen Exosuit models that I decided I had enough models of to then form into a Company-level force. I therefore present you with Company A, 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Mobile Infantry Division!
* * * * * * * * * *
Graduating from an advanced Exosuit tactics course at Camp Currie, in Iowa, titled "Back to Boot, a course on advanced tactics using the M-4A1 and M-4A2 Combat Exosuits", these photos were taken of the two reinforced platoons of three squads comprising Alpha Company of the 2/3 Mobile Infantry Division. Adopting a phrase used normally with the K9 Corp "We Fight as One", this Company although incorporating various mixed MOS units operates at a level above what is normally expected of a force of the Mobile Infantry.
Capt. Stewart has lost most of his Company headquarters unit in previous battles, but has not requested replacements. It seems that he is one of the "hands-on" types, and has taken direct control of one of his three squads. Capt. Jeffery "Jeb" Stewart let it be known that he favored "the smell of burning Bugs in the morning", so his personal squad became adept at the use of the Firestorm Missile System. Capt. Stewart excels in fast, accurate direction of fire and has had SICON military intelligence training. Not one to be impressed by the Fleet's "glassing" of Bug masses from their relative safety in the sky, "Stewart's Stormbringers" (as they were to be so named) do it 'up close and personal' and sometimes make use of the M-998A1 Pee-Wee atomic warhead.
2nd squad, 1st platoon, Alpha Company or "Grissom's Gunslingers" is headed up by Sergeant Major Glenn "Gus" or "Gunney" Grissom. "Gunney" Grissom prefers to disassemble his targets with his dual sixgun rotary cannons. He has inspired his charges to specialize in the use of this deadly weapon, and every member of the squad is so armed. If the name of Gus Grissom sounds a little familiar to readers, it is because a distant relative of SgtM. Glenn Grissom was one of the early space pioneers of Earth's past. "Gus" as he is called only by close friends with higher rank or just "Gunney" by his squad, has a "True Grit" and "Can Do!" quality that makes him an irreplaceable asset to Capt. Stewart.
1st squad, 2nd platoon, Alpha Company or more commonly named "King's K'nights" ("Knights" pronounced with a non-silent "K"!), is one of the Mobile Infantry's squads that is also considered as a platoon in its own right. Lt. Arthur Lancelot King ("It's not my fault!" he is often heard to say) is a very experienced Mobile Infantry officer, and has mastered the skill to direct fast and accurate fire down upon his squad's enemies. With specific and specialized training, his squad has been cross-trained in the use of the powerful and deadly Thermic Lance. Some say that the ghost of Merlin himself follows and protects the 2nd platoon of Alpha Company. As if cast-on by a horrific and powerful spell, some of the Bug swarms facing "King's K'nights" have totally and completely vaporised under the devastating fire of just three Grizzly-suited troopers armed with twin Thermic Lances. Some without seeing it say it must be a jest and just another MI urban legend but if you are an Arachnid that happens to be charging these lance-wielding "knights", it will most-likely be your last joust. Someone once told Lt. King of the curiosity that the name of the Grizzly suit was named for a bear, but interestingly enough one possible etymology of the word Arthur was Welsh for "bear-man". Curious thing, that. Yet another etymology links the name Arthur to the star Arcturus, Lt. King was told. The word Arcturus is in classical Latin, and would have been Arturus in the late Latin of the 5th – 6th century. Arcturus has been called the "Guardian of the Bear" and is near Ursa Major as viewed from Earth. Ursa Major is also called the "Great Bear constellation". If the man we know as Arthur had used Arturus or Artur-os as his alias, its meaning would have been easily understood by both the Romano-British and native British alike; a stout bear-like defender against the invaders. The strangeness of this story does not end with this prophetic description of the Arachnid threat. It ends with the knowledge that the main R&D locale and the first prototypes delivered to SICON originated at the Federation research and proving grounds on Arcturus III. The curious link between Arthur and Arcturus can only add to the legend that is growing around Lt. Arthur King and his Grizzly-suited lance-wielding armored "knights". Guard them well, Merlin!
COMPANY A, 2/3rd Mobile Infantry Division
Shown at completion of "Back-to-Boot" Advanced Tactics Training
Dedicated to Scipio, a "fan of fluff" :wink:
$1,620! )
