Fleet Landing Party, Redux

[BuShips]

After receiving my Fleet Landing Party replacements from Mongoose, I thought it only fair to post pics of them finished.

As stated in the Army book, a basic squad of five is 125 points. This includes one ensign as a senior ensign. Since the metal figures as bought include eight models, using all of them will bump this point cost to 185. This is assuming that you don't promote the senior ensign to Fleet Lt. I've never used these in a game (hey, the varnish is still curing!), but the Army book seems to reward choosing a Lt. at +20 points. The normal point separation listed is 45 between a senior ensign and a Lt. but having a liaison could certainly come in handy when using air assets. :wink: If anyone knows of an update to this info, let me know, OK?

Anyway, here they are. Landing onto a planet near you, the Fleet Landing Party.

Here is a closer pic of squad 1-

This then would have to be squad 2, I suppose-

The shoulderpad Federal insignia decals were quite hard to cut out, being 1/8" (about 3MM) across. Since these guys are Navy 'pukes', they won't be wearing any MI patches. As the saying goes, the MI does the dying and the Fleet just does the flying. That is, with a few exceptions that are called the Fleet Landing Parties :wink:.

 

[shotgun-toting chipmunk]

Nice! Time to update the christmas wish list!

 

[ScipioAmericanus]

Great work! Zap those guys with some Dullcote and you'll have yet ANOTHER winner!

 

[BuShips]

Great work! Zap those guys with some Dullcote and you'll have yet ANOTHER winner!

Thanks, Scipio! I used Krylon Matte Finish (#1311) which does the same as Dullcote. It's just that this hadn't cured quite yet, as I said above.

Instead of waiting for new pics, consider that these guys have worked up a sweat trying to keep up with the Mobile Infantry. :lol:

 

[Goldwyrm]

Thanks for posting the pics. Insignias look great. Still waiting for mine.

 

[BuShips]

Thanks for posting the pics. Insignias look great. Still waiting for mine.

Thanks shotgun-toting chipmunk and 'your welcome' to Goldwyrm.

Goldwyrm, the insignias don't come with the... Oh, you mean the minis?

Try firing off another email to customer service or even perhaps PM Ted Chang directly through the forums here. That should tickle his email. Besides, I'd think that they would want to know that an order was needing attention. Their track record is pretty good overall on problem resolution.

 

[Goldwyrm]

Try firing off another email

Thanks. I do have another email sent yesterday already in "the system", just waiting to hear back again.

 

[BuShips]

Try firing off another email

Thanks. I do have another email sent yesterday already in "the system", just waiting to hear back again.

That sounds fair, as you don't want to appear to be whining too much :lol:.

As I said before, I hope you didn't fall through their system.

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

I've FINALLY ordered mine, Now I've seen yours painted - I CAN'T WAIT!

 

[Mage]

Two squads eh? Sure you aint doing a fleet themed army? Wait, its my idea, I called it.

Nice colour scheme! Oh, and could you do a pic of each unit, both actula models and screw up ones that were sent so we can see them side by side?

 

[BuShips]

Two squads eh? Sure you aint doing a fleet themed army? Wait, its my idea, I called it.

Nice colour scheme! Oh, and could you do a pic of each unit, both actula models and screw up ones that were sent so we can see them side by side?

OK, I have to admit that the thought of having a force of Federal Marines, -er I mean Fleet Landing Parties, has crossed my mind. Well, more like trampled a path through it :lol:. After all, I need to have something "Fleet" related to reference to my forum name, now don't I? :wink: I wonder how Exosuits would look in Federal Blue? :twisted:

 

[Mage]

Never know. They might be needed in particular environments but equipment and armour may not be as good. Be interesting to see.

 

[BuShips]

Never know. They might be needed in particular environments but equipment and armour may not be as good. Be interesting to see.

I wouldn't think that the Marines or whatever they would become in the future would disappear from use in the SST universe. Although the Fleet Landing Party equipment isn't up to the standards of the MI troopers, I'd keep them a separate force from what I'll call the Marines. As the rules exist now in the Army book, the entire FLP is composed of ensigns- officers all. They are either lead by a Senior Ensign or a Fleet LT (more officers, lol).

Historically on U.S. warships, Marines were used as security detachments. I'm also thinking about specialised raiding ships and missions for them, like Carlson's Raiders from WW2. For example, Carlson's Raiders were landed by submarine on Makin island for a diversionary raid, to help the landings at Guadalcanal. That's a great story. I could see at least two ships for the Federal Fleet, named Nautilus and Argonaut. :wink:

While the historical job of the Marines was at the sharp end of the stick in wartime, landing on beaches throughout the Pacific Theater in WW2 (and then handing them over to the Army), we cannot turn SST into a Marine game. I know this and wouldn't want to. It's about the Mobile Infantry, which Heinlein created from the common Army infantry combat soldier, such as Pvt. (Sgt.) Rodger Young. Consider this, however. R H Heinlein was a Naval officer, so I cannot see an issue including "Naval soldiers" (Marines) in the TO&E of the Terran Federation. So yes, you indeed have been reading my mind as to building a future "Carlson's Raiders" force. :wink:

Besides, I need Marines on my ships, if only to cause trouble with the Infantry between drops. :lol:

 

[BuShips]

Also, I took the suggestion of Scipio and gave a shot of Testors Dullcote to my "Feet Dry" Landing Troops. While I've had good results with the Krylon Matte Finish, I did give more than the usual coats of protection to these. I needed to make sure that the decals stayed put, so I added more like three to four shots of sealer. Checking after curing, these seemed to stay semi-glossy rather than matte. Thus, Scipio's offering was accepted and I used Dullcote for a final finish coat. Let's see now what they look like-

Even after Dullcote, they're not perfectly flat finished, but Dullcote is as good as it gets to my way of thinking. It did help, for sure.

Part of what you see is camera effects, even though I did not use flash. They'll work just fine on the table, I'm sure.

 

[Wolfsbane]

That is awesome ! Haven't got the Army Book mentioned above, do these guys have available Heroic Qualities ? I envision using them for my Company as part of the mobile HQ - ensign Armorer, ensign Medic, ensign FIST, etc. alongside a Marauder modified as a Comm-center, a couple of SICON officers, some LI guards with a Neo-Dog, etc.

 

[BuShips]

That is awesome ! Haven't got the Army Book mentioned above, do these guys have available Heroic Qualities ?

If the Senior Ensign is upgraded to a Fleet Lt. (the same cost as a Light Armour Captain) then he gets the Fleet Liason trait. There is also a rule that because the FLP is composed of an all-officer cadre, they won't fall into Alert status if the commanding officer becomes a casualty. They spend a special Ready action and can then promote from "within the ranks", drawing straws I'm sure. :wink:

There are a few more rules but it's not my place to name them all. I'd say it would be worth getting the Army book, while we await the rewrite of the game. It's a good book.

 

[BuShips]

Two squads eh? Sure you aint doing a fleet themed army? Wait, its my idea, I called it.

Nice colour scheme! Oh, and could you do a pic of each unit, both actula models and screw up ones that were sent so we can see them side by side?

OK, Mage. Here you go. Keep in mind, because these figures were fitted with standard power armor and Morita assault rifles and shock sticks, they'd be illegal with default point values. The FLP option for the regular Morita is that you have to trade in both the carbine and the shock stick. You also do not have the power armor :!:. Thus, they are not as good in a fight.

The official FLP squad does include two of the eight models that are armed with the same Morita as the plastic power suit troops. The remaining six models are armed with the "film" version of the Morita, for the first time in the game.

I'm not going to think of these as Fleet Landing Party units, as such. They might be a special Fleet asset, authorised for special raids. They'd be equipped with regular Cap power armor (and jump packs) and standard TW-203-a assault rifles. They would have to pay 5 points each to have the short shock sticks that were also issued to the Fleet Landing Parties. They would not be composed of an all-ensign cadre, but would otherwise operate as Cap troopers.

They would call themselves Marines to separate themselves from the Fleet Landing Parties and would be given special mission duties compartmentalised and ordered from Fleet authority by direction of the JCS. Thus, although "hazed" affectionately as "Navy", these would acually be the only troops that would be respected as equals by the MI as fellow "boots on the ground". When not acting on ground missions, they perform as security detachments aboard vessels of the Fleet.

 

[Mage]

Quite a size difference but very similar. So a fleet platoon eh? Nice ring to it.


We can explain the scale difference. Fleet are too small and puny to be on the same size catagorey as cap troopers.

 

[Lieutenant Rasczak]

Fleet are too small and puny to be on the same size catagorey as cap troopers.

Yup, bunch o' wimps

 

[Mage]

If there are any female fleet landing party troopers you can use them to represent that barcalow douche bag.