Friday 25 November 2016

Size Comparisons



In the comments of a previous post Sitzkreig asked, "Will the accos be manned as well or autonomous drones in your world?"

I hadn't given it any thought because as things stand at the moment I've not written any scenes with anything other than the large walker I showcased here.   Pokhodnaya Boyevaya Platforma or Object 295 is the enemy machine that one of my characters encounters in my second novel.  But obviously nothing operates in isolation and I have been giving some consideration to its role and how it fits within a force.

That force will have platoon equivalents with some heavy support.  Object 295 is one of two support elements that will be attached to a formation containing smaller walkers.  I've previewed the command variant and in the picture above you can see in the background what I've made up to represent another walker variant.  My plan is to have a command walker with four of the new variants and three Accos attached to each:  for a total of seventeen walkers with two heavy walkers attached.

However, that doesn't answer the question of, are the Accos manned or drones?  I pondered that question for a while, and thought about how much easier it would be to source 15mm figures, rather than using the limited range of poses available in 10mm.  So I decided to do a size comparison with real tanks to the same scale: a Sheridan, an M60 and a Russian prototype Object 640 – a T80U variant with an extra road wheel that was never put into production.

Comparing the Accos to the Sheridan, I think it is large enough to be a manned walker and makes it more plausible that the larger walkers have multiple crew members.  I think three, consisting of a driver, gunner and commander.  This is interesting as it means that in my future universe the Russians are not relying on expert system AIs to run everything.  That makes the Accos a bit unusual because they aren't large enough for three crew.  And then I had another thought, as one does, since they're so small they're probably are air-droppable by parachute.

And that is how one does world building without really trying.
   

6 comments:

  1. Woohoo! I got a mention. :) I'm fine with them being airdroppable scout walkers btw. I was just curious as the idea of a hub "big" walker controlling hordes of smaller limited AI walkers (aka zerg rush from the Starcraft) reminiscent of the "angry ants swarming over the hills" stories from Allied soldiers who witnessed China's entry into the Korean war.

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    1. Sorry, forgot to mention this above. I'm glad you posted the size comparison shots as I didn't realize how big in universe the Caprician walkers really are.

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    2. Once you see them next to scale models it does give one pause. For me it clearly illustrates the difference between a wargaming size and a scale. The former is invariable larger than the latter.

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  2. This is the thing that I adore about miniatures gaming: As you're sitting at your table, painting or assembling, you wind up building stories around that models you're working with...

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    1. And for me this has spilt over into three novels recounting the adventures Of Sergeant Tachikoma in the world of 2072. If you follow the link to my writing blog, link in the sidebar, you will be able to read more about my writing there.

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  3. Parachute? Wimps. Build it unmanned and you can shockproof the entire unit and drop it into the target zone at terminal velocity.

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