Saturday 13 February 2016

From GregB - Viet-Cron "Targets" (10 Points)

Two Valkyrie crewman walk away from a rough landing in...my kitchen...
A few weeks ago Sylvain dropped a points bomb into the Challenge in the form of his whacky "Viet Cron", Necrons from GW's 40k setting he had crafted and converted into pseudo-Viet-Cong-style insurgents.  It was a wonderful and bonkers tribute to GW's juvenile ethnic pandering among its factions.  In his posting, he named some Valkyries I had painted years ago and posted on our blog as part of the inspiration for his project. Well, I wanted to acknowledge and honour that little shout-out in Sylvain's hilarious and well-done submission with a little tribute of my own, and that is the inspiration behind this submission.

I thought perhaps the Viet-Cron could use some "targets", so I dug through my lead pile and found these two 28mm downed pilot figures.  I painted them with crew fatigues in a colour to match my Valkyrie models Sylvain had cited in his post.


These two figures are actually from the long-lost line of 28mm modern figures from Mongrel Miniatures.  They had a fantastic range covering the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and these two are actually Soviet helicopter crewmen.  Change the colours, and I think they make fine Valkyrie pilots for the 40k setting!

Sore shoulder from a rough landing on my counter-top
It's too bad the Mongrel figures are gone, as they were wonderful, wonderful sculpts, and I'm glad to have a sizeable collection. That's part of the reason I always buy way too many figures when I see some I like, as you just never know when they will disappear...

Some Imperial Guard storm troopers escort the pilots....
The recovery of downed pilots always makes for a good game background, particularly one with a (warped) hint of Viet-Cong-style insurgent flavour. So I thought these two figures would make ideal objective markers for when Sylvain and I manage to connect some time for a battle with the "Viet-Cron".  In the actual Vietnam war US forces often went to great lengths to recover pilots, and the knowledge in general among troops that their brothers- and sisters-in-arms will go to almost any length to recover fallen and trapped comrades seems, to my lazy civilian can, to be a prime instrument of motivation and camaraderie among the troops. So I thought these two would work for a themed game with the "Viet-Cron".

Of course, this is 40k, so it would need a dystopian twist.  The Imperials wouldn't just be out to rescue the pilots.  They would want to rescue them to ensure they didn't know too much, and then execute them properly, not trusting the Viet-Cron to do it. The pilots are rescued (killing many more Imperial troops in the process), interrogated and then shot by the Inquisition..happy ending for The Emperor, and something pyrrhic for the grim darkness of the far future...

"This way guys - what could go wrong?"
These two 28mm figures toss a paltry 10 points toward my score.  Strictly speaking, they are not "sci-fi" sculpts, so I will leave it to the judges-that-be as to whether they can be counted toward the sci-fi side-duel. 

I look forward to seeing Sylvain's bonkers Viet-Cron trying to hunt these hapless fellows down on the gaming table sometime this year!

This is awesome Greg. I love this bit of 40K escalation you're having with Sylvain and his whacky Viet-Cron (though you may want to take into account that he may retaliate). I think these Mongrel pilots fit the bill very nicely as Imperial pilots (the green lens flare effect is brilliant). I hope I can be around when the two of you tangle with your respective collections. As a suggestion, you may want to consider building the equivalent of a brown-water riverboat for some 'Heart of Cronness' action.
'The horror. The horror...'

14 comments:

  1. Fantastic. What a nice though and so well execute (Pun Intended!)

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  2. What a great idea. These narratives really add to games, even if they are destined for being shot by their own side! Reminds me of the narrative in the "Slaves to Darkness" era when imperial guardsmen who fought chaos were killed to stop them spreading stories of chaos and space marines were mind wiped as they were too valuable to kill!

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  3. Hi Greg,

    great painting on nice figures , the "fluff" you're adding with the narratives is top !
    the true faith is safe, the Emperor will reward the rescuers(or not;-)).

    All the best.

    GillesW

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  4. Great minis and great narrative Greg. When we finally play this game, the battle report will be peppered with multiple layers of references with quotes from "Apocalypse Now", "Terminator" and WH40k. This will be fun.

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  5. Great execution of a brilliant idea! These two pilots are simply awesome.

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  6. Very nice colour-scheme there!

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  7. Nice minis Greg. I am not sure that encouraging Sylvain's megalomania is the wisest course of action, but it might be fun to watch.

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  8. Great work, Greg! The goggles look really cool and they definitely work as Scifi aviators for me.
    The pilots will have a rough go. Apparently they think aircraft grow on trees and fuel just magically appears out of the air. IF they survive extraction, they must report to Administratium building 4Sigma3 forth floor office 15b and sit on the blue bench. ;)

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  9. Great looking figures and a fitting response to the Viet Cron's

    Ian

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  10. Sometimes the smaller entries are the coolest. Nice one Greg, these guys are awesome and they are packed with potential.

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  11. The Ordo Xenos clearly has its work cut out in preserving the souls of former prisoners of war...

    Excellent entry, and nicely dovetailed with Sylvain's!

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  12. Very nice! Always useful to have a downed pilot figure or two.

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