RAFM Conversion Portraits

CASE-2X Mod-1 Dog. Tachikoma's original ride from Bad Dog.

After months, what seems like forever to me, I've finally gotten around to finishing two conversions, and I took the time to run all my models through the studio (get the camera and terrain out), and take some portrait shots of my completed mecha suits.

CASE-2XC Mod-2. Tachikoma's new ride from Ghost Dog.

I haven't made Tachikoma's suit from Strike Dog, yet. I'm going to start working on it next, along with some other RAFM models that I want to convert for use with the rules I'm working on.

CAS-4CP Buster. Ferretti's suit from Ghost Dog.

And the rebuild of Espera's Army Ape suit that I finished before deciding that magnetized arms, head, and torso were the way to go.

CAS-3-Mod-1. Espera's ride as it appeared in Strike Dog.

This mech suit was featured in Strike Dog, where Espera made an appearance. This configuration of the Army Ape suit will appear in future stories as more people are recruited into MAPCOM.

Espera's CAS-3-Mod-1.

I'm not sure if Army Ape suits will make an appearance in Two Moons Prometheus yet as I'm currently still writing the book. Long delayed due to health issues that stymied my ability to imagine anything.

And finally, the running repose. 

CAS-3-Mod-1.

The above CAS-3-Mod-1 is running as if its existence depended on it, or for some other reason, yet to be decided. But there will be running, shooting, and no doubt screams too.

Just because really.

CAS-3-Mod-1.

It is the way of things.

Go to a new world they said.

Explore and have fun they said.

Really pleased how the placement of the danger decal, on the rear backpack, adds to the feel of the mech suit as a real machine. 

CAS-3-Mod-1.

Okay, these are nowhere near the Golden Demon award level, but I've surpassed myself and really upped my painting over the last year. It has been good to learn how, and as importantly, been good for me.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Proof of Life

Work in progress of the two Ape suits, glossed and ready to have decals applied in due course. Next to a Dog with decals and matt varnished for comparison.

I may be some time.

And after much faffing, a quick touch up of the paint that turned into the nightmare of effectively becoming a repaint, I've finally varnished my 15mm insurgents.

And in breaking news, I sat down with Jay Arnold of The Veteran Podcast to talk about all thing giant stompy robot. I'll post links as and when he puts the podcast up.

Who Let the Dawgs Out? A review of Bad Dog

 

I caught this on Zepp Jamieson's 's blog. Found through David Brin's blog that hosts very lively discussions on everything SF. Both are worth checking out if you're into science fiction. Anyways, here's a snip of the review. Click on the link for the full review.

I’ve mentioned Groundhog Day, Russian Doll and Haldeman in this review, but in the end, Bad Dog wound up reminding me of something far grander and more ambitious: The Expanse. The blurb on the cover promises that Bad Dog is only the first novel in a Gate Walkers series, and if Pollard’s first novel is the metric to go by, she’ll give The Expanse a run for its money.

I look forward to the next installment.

I was stunned.

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, it made my day.

CAS-4CP Buster Done!

Eureka. As the Rod Stewart song goes, It's been a long road, Getting from there to here..."

But now witness the completed combat armor model, fully magnetized and poseable ready to be deployed on the tabletop (imagine this said in Emperor Palpatine's voice). 

And yes, I'm pleased. In case that wasn't obvious.

So when will I get to play with my conversions?

Well, there's still no date because I haven't finished the first draft of the rules. But, progress is being made. I was talking on Zoom with my colleague who has so generously volunteered to help come up with how to design stuff within the Gate Walker – Bad Dog universe that I can say we've taken another step forward.

Obviously, it's easier to talk a good game than deliver a good game. I learnt a lot from writing OHMU War Machine, and what it takes to make or break a game.

I'm committed, now it's just a matter of the time it takes, because I won't publish a set of rules until I know they deliver what they promise. That's all for now.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Despite having written the Gate Walker trilogy, researched everything like crazy, I found myself doing more research.

Why?

Because I skimmed over details when writing the novels because they slowed down the story. Though it has to be said my Beta reader, Brian, did ask about how the Army combat armor differed from the Marines version?

Now Brian, and everyone else who wanted to know will have this information.

Here's a brief snippet to entertain over the Christmas holiday period.

NAC Army Combat Armor

CAS-3-Mod 1    Combat Armor System Dash (Mark) 3 Dash Model 1 is the Army's latest upgrade to their drive suit, which is supplied to Special Forces troops. It's slightly heavier than a CASE-2X because All Apes come fitted with mission packs that allow them to be outfitted with a large array of heavy weapon systems according the mission profile. See FM50-CAS-Mod and TO-2050-14-01-1U for further details.

CAS-3-Mod 2    Is the command variant of the Ape featuring an enhanced C4ISR pack: Communications; Computers; Intelligence; Surveillance; and Reconnaissance array of comms gear.

CAS-2-Mod 1    Is a scout combat armor suit for reconnaissance.

CAS-1-Mod 2    The first generation of Army combat armor suits fielded by the NAC. Still assigned to second line National Guard units. An engineer support variant will appear in future novels.

Notes

All the Army CAS-Mod variants have modular electronic packs that allows the combat armor to be optimized for specific mission tasks and carry one extra weapon from the following list: [snip]

NAC Marine Corps Combat Armor

CASE-2X    The Marine Corps Combat Armor System Environment Dash (Mark) 2 Extreme is driven by its operator, unlike its lighter counterpart MARPACE suit that is worn. It can operate up to three days before needing to be refueled. See FM51-CASES and TO-2051-16-02-1U for further details. Command variant  has enhanced C4 suite.

CASE-2XC    Command variant that again comes with an enhanced C4ISR: Communications; Computers; Intelligence; Surveillance; and Reconnaissance array of comms gear.

Notes

The Marine Mod-1 backpack integrates with combat armors Dispersed Operation and Guidance System, creating a parallel processing network of operating nodes that allows the operator to assign the AI/expert system interface the task priority of the systems. The Mod-1 pack allows a Dog to carry one extra weapon, the Mod-2 backpack carries two extra weapons from the following list: [snip]

Calling Them Done

 

Yep, at last, I've finished them. Painted, glossed, decals, and matt varnish all done. Phew!

The original two darker green mechs were my first attempt to up my game, but hopefully you can see that these two look even better than the first two I finished back in July. 

I think I've managed to produce a wider contrast range with better highlights.

I'll do some glamour portraits after I've flocked the bases, but they're done for now.

I may do another post soon, but given the time of year, let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Painter's Painting Progress

 

I've made progress learning new techniques for painting my miniatures.

I started with four of these bad boys, I have two that are nearly finished; I buggered up the paint on one, and the other I want to rebuild with the torso magnetized too. Sheesh. People might start suspecting I'm a bit of a perfectionist, or something.

Okay, my memory is not perfect, but the time taken to try different techniques, paints, and the setbacks along with the all the learning has definitely been a thing. I should've kept a log of all the hours I spent, but painting is a hobby, not a billable job.

Besides, things have been stressful enough without making my life harder.

Anyway, totally obsessed with learning new tricks to up my painting, and these are going to look awesome with decals and matt varnish to finish them.

However now I'm in a quandary over whether or not to take my original two mechs, and add magnets to allow their torsos to twist too? It would increase their poseability, but may (highly likely) require me to repaint them.

Decisions, decisions.

Big Little Wars: Post 2 - Update on Gate Walker Battles

Three new Combat Armor Suits representing the mecha in my universe.

Well, I threw my current draft, mostly notes, together, and sent it to a friend who has shown interest in working with me on the project.

Working title is now Bad Dog; though that may change again.

I've received the first feedback, and I'm excited. It seems it isn't totally crazy of me to write another set of future combat rules featuring mecha. The emphasis being on plausible future warfare with mecha as a part of the battlescape.

So it looks like it's a go for  C4ISR mission (Communications; Computers; Intelligence; Surveillance; and Reconnaissance) with ECM and ECCM, and morale feeding into when the battlefield becomes an internet of connected things.

CAS-3-Mod-1 Portraits

Army Combat Armor Suit Mark 3 Model 1 [click to embiggen].

Okay, here are the first two RAFM conversions painted. 

First up is Espera's CAS-3-Mod-1 Ape carrying on the right arm an M75 80mm lightweight high-velocity recoilless autocannon. The left arm has a M134 GAU-2B/A 7.62mm minigun. Finally, the suit has a shoulder mounted missile launcher carrying 15 rockets.

Though Espera only appears in Strike Dog my assumption is that this is a pretty standard Army Ape suit loadout for a weapons specialist.

Army Combat Armor Suit Mark 1 Model 1EV Engineering Variant [click to embiggen].

Pearson's Ape is a CAS-1-Mod-1EV: engineering variant with a shoulder mounted 100mm mortar for demolition work.

Defense against armor suits is provided by a M26 short-recoil light 20mm autocannon that fires a 20 x 102mm high explosive dual purpose anti-armor (HEDP) warhead with a range of 3 kilometers. The M26 comes with an inbuilt Mk 30 40 x 53mm underbarrel grenade launcher effective out to one kilometer.

In addition, the CAS-1-Mod-1EV carries an M240LC general purpose 7.62mm machine gun.

Tell me what you all think about the paint job on these as I tried out a whole bunch of new techniques. Any suggestions for making them better will be gratefully received.

Super Small Heavy Gear Pics

 

Here are the photos I've found of the Heavy Gear Hunter.

If anyone has larger pictures, let me know.
  

Ghost Dog Available in Paperback

 

 

Forgive me splurging duplicate posts on both blogs, but see physical copies of my book is still a thing.

Amazon US

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Models for Three Covers

  

These are the model reference pictures I sent to the artist who drew my covers. Above is the model that he used for Bad Dog.

Above is the picture I sent for the cover of Strike Dog. And below is the picture I shot in response to seeing the cover for Ghost Dog.

  

My author page where you can buy my books

Ghost Dog – Out Now!

 

Story Summary

Newly promoted to the rank of Captain, Tachikoma will now lead another off-world mission. This time to retrieve advanced alien technology. 

The problem is that her team will have to travel to a planet where the pillars only open once every six months. The timing for their return is crucial to the success of the operation. 

Waiting for them is an unforeseen destiny. Can Tachikoma return all her people alive along with alien technology that will change the world? 

Cutting-edge scientific theories underpin the mystery that drive this thrilling military SF roller-coaster ride.

 

Testimonials for Bad Dog

“This story is great, with a very firm grasp of the Marine Corps lifestyle.”


– Sgt D. Barrow, USMC

"High concept, high calibre character-driven Mil-SF. Compulsively readable."

– Alex Stewart aka Sandy Mitchell author of the Ciaphas Cain series

More About The Author

Buy This Book

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Reviews of Bad Dog

Please excuse the fact that I'm posting the latest review of Bad Dog from a 20 year Navy veteran. I felt honoured to have had this man take the time and effort to write something about my work. Thank you sir.

Good sci-fi read with one foot planted solidly in the real world

Ok, I'm not a professional book reviewer. If you are looking for a critique on the art of writing, move along. I'm just a reader, and a retired military member and all of my thoughts start from there.

Truthfully, it is a pretty good story. I think it reads a bit like a short story, which I can appreciate. Don't get me wrong, I like a good Lord of the Rings style epic as much as the next guy, but now and again I like something shorter and to the point. This book scratched that itch. I found it pretty compelling from start to finish, and I can't wait for the next book to come out in print (I think it is already out in electronic format, but I like paper). I love a good near-future story where things are just different enough to make your imagination kick into gear, but not so foreign that I'm sitting around thinking "What's a flingledorp and why on Earth is this one attached to the hangwopper of a flogtrud?" Look, I want to follow the story without too much confusion. Pollard succeeded for me. I'm a 20 year veteran of the Navy and I'll say that about 99% of all the jargon, personalities, and events feel dead on which really added to my enjoyment and the believability of the story. For those of you with less military experience, Pollard does include a nice glossary in the back of the book so you don't get lost in all the TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms... military loves them).

I don't know if I have any downsides to relay, but I'm pretty easy to please. I'm hoping there is more to come soon.

And here are some more reviews...

No gung-ho and serious SF Military reading

This the author first novel and I got totally absorbed from the first page to the end.

This is SF Military but don't expect finding super-uber soldiers or extraterrestrial advanced enemies fighting each other in remote galaxies, no "Starship Troopers" rehearsal at all. On the contrary, set in in the last quarter of the XXI century, the book provides a glimpse of what could be a very realistic progressive evolution of modern tactical warfare and weapons... in a geopolitical context that will also be familiar to the reader, where a reconfigured US (called "Confederated States" but not yet explained in the book what happened) is challenged by an increasingly assertive China in a remote region in Afghanistan.

The book focuses in a Marine recon unit and the pace of the action is truly good.

The atmosphere is very realistic thanks to the extensive and thorough(full) military research undertaken by the author that you can follow in her personal blog.

After I finished reading the novel, I really eager for more. Luckily a second part is very close to publication.

I can strongly recommend the book and if the sequels are as good as the initial work, I can see Ashley Pollard becoming a reference in this writing genre

Excellent book. A fresh view on near future power armor warfare

Excellent book. A fresh view on near future power armor warfare. I felt that I was reading a good story and not the writer's opinions on how they live their own life, which is hard to find these days in any genre.

Ambushed!

This book caught me pleasantly by surprise. I had settled into the near-future military action and begun to suspect that powered suits were the extent of the Science Fiction, but then it took off in a totally unexpected direction which I won't spoil for you. I ended up thoroughly gripped and unable to put it down until I knew how it played out. I love SF and it's great to find a new writer with ideas as well as genuinely good writing. I look forward to more.

Military SF Genre: Part 3

  

Here are the links to parts one and two.

To say that the discussions around military SF can become somewhat fraught as a result of the conflict generated amongst the readers is probably an understatement.

Hence this series of blog posts to raise these issues, and address them.  Especially the opinion that people who read military SF are in some way bad, and that those authors who write the stories have a conservative political agenda.

Taking the latter point first.

While some authors do write from a conservative perspective, not all writers do. Therefore to make such an argument is to fall into the trap that has a number of different logical fallacies.

As for readers of military SF being somehow bad, from a notion that they have been brainwashed by right wing propaganda, and will therefore end up as sociopaths, I can only sigh.

I repeat again that this argument is based on logical fallacies that do not stand up to scrutiny; the psychological research on the subject of the influence of media on the behaviours of people can at best show correlation, and correlation is not causation.

The difference between the two being that it's easy to correlate connections between events, but that doesn’t mean that one caused the other.

This is as a result of how we think by using heuristic analysis to come to conclusions.

The research into thinking processes has revealed that we have a large number of cognitive biases, and that the beliefs and opinions we hold are more likely to be wrong than right.

Let me repeat that.

Our beliefs and opinions that we hold are more likely to be wrong than right.

People tend to believe that they come to hold their opinions from looking at the evidence, but the research shows that people form opinions, and then look for evidence that supports their choice.

Furthermore, people tend to discount evidence that challenges their beliefs.

Summary

So, if anything I've said has caused a strong emotional response, that's a clue that an underlying assumption has been triggered. The thing about emotions is that they should serve you, not you serve them.

War is the ultimate expression of conflict. And just because some authors write about conflict in ways trigger a strong negative response, doesn't mean that writing about war is wrong.

What the research into reading and playing games about warfare shows is that the assumptions being made about what that does to people is flawed.

Conflict is at the heart of the human condition and avoidance does not serve us well.
   

Military SF Genre: Part 2

  

Continuing on from Part 1, what if anything do stories about war tell us about what war is good for?

Probably not a lot in the bigger scheme of things, because telling people what war is good for is probably not the primary remit of story telling in Western culture.

However, wars are fought for a wide number of reasons.

When those reasons ally with the maintenance of one’s society in the face of others who want to force change where change is unwanted, and though war involves lots of bad things happening to good people, good things are created too. The argument of avoiding war is one that has to be tempered with the costs of avoiding war, because while wars are frightening things, they're an illustration that there are no simple answers to some problems in life.

If science fiction is a genre that speculates about the effects of technological progress on society, where technological changes are driven by the need for victory, then military SF stories must therefore be a valid topic.

However, as I have observed, war is more than individual fighting; war is an institution.

Therefore like all institutions the people who work within the confines of the military hierarchy have a set of beliefs and theories based on reasoning from years of tradition as supporting evidence. If military SF fails anywhere it is in focusing on tactics, and not giving the reader a strategic context, with the necessary understanding of the operational problems that the military has to face.

The old adage in the military is that amateurs talk tactics while professionals talk logistics underpins my observation.

I can see that this makes writing a military story that works at the level of the character motivation a bit of a challenge. Especially if one wants to keep the story interesting; as descriptions of sergeants reading off loading manifests is probably not going to make for the most exciting conflicts.

Though as I write this I know I have a scene about checking the manifests of containers about to be loaded on trucks for a mission. So it can be done.

Assuming that one agrees that stories are driven by conflicts arising between characters and events; otherwise known as the plot, then yes, one can argue about the merits of each individual story, and its value.

But here’s the thing; if you don’t like a story it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been written. Or that people should stop reading it, because that's an opinion.

Remembering that opinions may be driven by feelings, because opinions are things that we hold dear. As such emotions/feeling cannot be subject to rigorous testing to be used as proof of anything much.

Addendum

Another recommendation of a book, which I thought was well worth the time it took me to read it, Michael Z. Williamson's A Long Time Until Now.  A quick overview here.

More in part three, which will be out on Friday.
   

Military SF Genre: Part 1

  

Military science fiction is a sub-set of the SF genre, and readers of mainstream SF novels can be quite divided in their opinions about the merits of such stories.

There have even been editorial opinion pieces in on-line media. The Guardian, for example, ran an article complaining that using imagery of future wars to entertain reveals deluded beliefs that writers hold about modern conflict. The writer then proceeded to use this assumption to divide the genre into good versus bad stories. Not on the merit of the story, but judging them through the lens of political beliefs, and starting their polemic by quoting from Edwin Starr’s song War with its chorus line response of, "absolutely nothing!"

Therefore to write a military SF story as one’s debut novel into the field can be seen as a message about the author’s political stance.

However, stories involve conflict, and stories about war are just about conflict writ large.

Over the years I have commented on military science fiction books that I love, and on reflection my feelings remain the same. Avoidance of, or failure to discuss the importance of conflict, and the cultures that arise from conflict is to put one's head in the sand.

If you've never read any military science fiction I recommend the following without equivocation.

Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein, I discussed it more back here. A book that can easily be misunderstood and misconstrued. It's theme is service, and the responsibility citizens have to defend their polity, which I see as a discussion of Greek City States. In short, we can learn from history.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, also discussed at the link above, is a book that talks about alienation from society, through the lens of time-dilation, which makes it SF. Far less controversial than Starship Troopers, because it's talking about the human condition, rather than politics.

Orphanage by Robert Buettner, which I discussed here, also talks about alienation of soldiers from society. But in this case, the effects of training to become a soldier, which the title of the series alludes to. Unlike the first two standalone books this is a series of five novels.

The Heritage Trilogy by Ian Douglas starts with Semper Mars. I discussed it here. It's a favourite of mine, but it also talks about culture. In this case, the culture of the Marines, which is a lot of fun. And it's a trilogy of trilogies.

The Compleat Bolo by Keith Laumer. Again the first link will take you to where I discussed his work. This collection of stories about self-aware tanks are seminal to the concepts of artificial intelligence in the science fiction genre. I recently re-read my copy to reacquaint myself with the tales, which was a surprise, because my recall of them was different than the experience of the re-read.

It gave me lots of ideas for my The World of Drei homage to Laumer.

On that note, I will finish. More in part two.
   

Strike Dog – Available to Pre-Order

Strike Dog is available for pre-order.

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Strike Dog Finished Art

And the art for Strike Dog is here.

The novel has been copy edited and is now being fact checked by a Marine and a Corpsman for accuracy.

I have the best fans.
  

Strike Dog Composition Proof

And here it is, the first sketch for the cover of Strike Dog.

This is a direct sequel to Bad Dog, as the character's journey carries on from the consequences of what happened at the end of the first book. Currently doing the final copy edits and proofing, then there's the covers typography to set up etc. I hope to have this out in end of February, beginning of March.

I'm still snowed under with the the proofs for the print version of Bad Dog, which I feel ought to be up before the sequel is released, because I know a lot of people still prefer print.

Anyway exciting times.