Friday 19 February 2016

From DavidB - Mercs: The Kemvar (25 points)

A small shrapnel blast of sci-fi courtesy of Megacon Games. MERCS or multi-environment-reconnaissance-counter-security or some such innocuous administration speak, is set in a dystopian future that involves no skulls or impending doom on all. 

The earth's governments are gone and replaced by global megacorporations that control almost 2/3 of the earth. They are predominantly situated within peak population centres and regularly engage in hostile takeovers and other such nefariousness to increase the bottom line and angle to depreciate the competitors profits. nothing gets too extreme as when the EU corp and CCR fought in and levelled Amsterdam, it hurt everyone's bottom line and the Global Market sent in judges to make sure the nonsense stopped and everyone ratchet things down a touch.

Except for the other 1/3 of the world everyone works for and is provided for by a megacon. The other bits of the earth are known as the lost margin and it is better you don't go there as megacon employees are not popular with the nationalists and isolationists that dwell there...more on them later!

Kemvar is based within former Brazil and they are the oldest megacon and have had Merc teams the longest. Kemvar is primarily in energy, but dabbles in other spheres like other megacons. Kemvar controls most of South America and is currently in hostile negotiations with Texaco for the Panama Canal.

Each megacon Merc team brings something special o the table. Kemvar uses a stealth technology which helps it's troops hide even out in the open. They also use a special grenade that has a genetically altered worm with big teeth and a voracious appetite. A pulse keeps it docile till armed then the grenade must be thrown to a target which it magnetically adheres to. The now awakened an hungry worm quickly chews through the metal and into the person within...and we thought Australia was bad! :)

You are only allowed a team of five which you have some choice if you have a starter set as six models are included. The only requirement is you can only have five troopers with no repeats of specialities. I suppose taking six troops a squad with 5 heavies would be a wanton waste of corporate resources!

From the left we have a heavy trooper with assault guns, a demo-trooper with the dreaded worm grenade(and other explosives), and a sniper. I should note that snipers are very powerful in the game which plays very fast. although they can only shoot once every other turns, the Kemvar sniper can shoot every turn with a magnetic tag. The mag marker repels from another marker which can throw troops off of heights due to the strength of the magnetic push.

The assault team leader, a monkey-wrench, and an assassin. The assault team leader is the boss and boosts the rest of the squad that are close to him. The monkey wrench repairs armour, since your troops take wounds and suffer damaged armour, it kinda helps having someone who can fix it. If your armour is broken, you cannot move and some Mercs cannot fire. The assassin is a powerful but fragile trooper. He is fast and can setup to take out most damaged opponents, but he doesn't last long without support from the squad.

A fun and very fast paced game with excellent support from Megacon Games. They had a kick starter for boxed games featuring two opposing merc factions and security forces for a space hulk style romp in someones office building. I missed it and it was delayed, but maps, missions and other fun stuff is available for download at the site. I have another force of Mercs which will be painted shortly as I have been invited to Adepticon and I plan on playing some Mercs there!
Nice work Dave.  I have seen these figures online only, and while I must admit they didn't really grab my attention, you've done great work with them, and your passion for them, and the distant, corporate-infused setting, really comes through in your post.  I hope these fellows find much success for you on behalf of the good shareholders at Kemvar - mostly little old ladies with pension funds, no doubt :)  That will be another 25 points on your terrifying pile...

19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you, Tamsin!
      The sniper is of the more delicate gender, and I was inspired to make her a ginger! ;)

      Delete
  2. Grey grim and grimy just as you would expect mercs to be. Excellent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Clint! I felt obligated to add washes to their pale grey armor. I'm trying to keep to "official" colors for that corporate uniformity! ;)

      Delete
  3. Very well done! Was looking for a SciFi setting for some time now and have to give MERC a closer look I think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! ;)
      MERCS is a lot of fun, and it has a low miniature requirement. I'd recommend Assassination Protocol or the other boxed game when they come available. But the metal minis are really dynamic. No clear "good guys" in this game either! ;)

      Delete
  4. Great looking dark future types, your on fire at the moment

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ian! To be fair, a lot of models have been getting hit with color over the past few months. It's just now a fair amount are able to be "finished"! ;)

      Delete
  5. great paintwork one more time, the NMM job is stunning!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Gilles! I'm still hit and miss with the NMM, but I have found washes to be a good way to tone down highlights! ;)

      Delete
  6. Thanks, Greg! I had been looking at the MERCS line for awhile on the Internet too. I was looking for a new Scifi skirmish and it was a toss up between Infinity and MERCS. I bought the Winter War set which gave me two factions and the rules for $80 which was way cheaper than my Infinity picks! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, I'm not sure how grim and dark that future could POSSIBLY be without Skullz(TM)!
    ; )
    Terrific work David, so good to see some of the newer ranges of sci-fi figs getting an airing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just wait till you see how the take home pay compares to prices at the "company store"! Grim and dark! ;)
      Thanks, Evan! ;)

      Delete
  8. I like the drab colour scheme with the colourful eyes and weapons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! They do look a little brighter when not exposed to my camera skills! ;)
      The browns, greens, and greys had a similar hue so I added touches of spot color to punch em up a notch! ;)

      Delete