We do not often show off early prototypes but in this case I wanted to make an exception. With Patrol Angis coming out in just over a weeks time (Go HERE) I wanted to fill you in on where we are going. Not next month or next three months but the next stage and the lead to the next title in the book series. While Patrol Angis focuses upon infantry skirmish with the addition of battlesuits, bikes and portable weapons the next title will add in structures and...vehicles. Small to large these vehicles are everything from most humble to the most glorious. One of the most heavily requested additions to the Adders, Skylark, Mullo and other vehicles in our current range was the mentioned in the story 'SuperBlue'. A massively up armoured Adder variant featuring replusar (Anti-Gravity) propulsion like the talked of Taranis main battle tanks which sported a heavy laser capable of bringing down much larger targets. The Super Blue is a hunter killer with a lot of bang for the buck as they say.
What we are showing you here is currently the master of the prototype SuperBlue Adder. While the final design that will be released will be a little different it will be close to the same as what you can see now. We carry out such tests and prototypes upon all of our vehicles and larger items to make sure they are just right and this is the first time I have shown anyone outside of the company such images. As you can see the SuperBlue is composed of three pieces. The Hull with its repulsar engine pods and superior armour, the turret with a modified Valerin Laser Cannon and a specially designed floating stand to lift the vehicle off the playing surface.
The second image shows the prototype next to an Orange Adder Combat Lifter for scale along with a measurement. This vehicle is a part, a distant part, of the Adder family and will sit well with the dozen Adder Combat Cars and Lifters we already have available. You can see these on our website HERE.
We hope you like our hunter killer and any feedback is as always most welcome. Expect to see it later this year. If you are interested in knowing where the origin of this vehicle comes from here is the text from 2014 that inspired it:
One of the innovations that the very beginning of the Prydian Army made in the year before the battle of Fenway Prime was to bring back ancient military designs that had been brought to the Precinct by those first long forgotten Humans fleeing the anarchy of the species home world. While the powered armour and energised weapons were inventions from the Ban of Prejudice a thousand years earlier the patterns for what would become the Havelock and Duxis battlesuits were taken from this ancient knowledge. The Prydian Army had no ground transport for its Muster. Ground transport that could bring the soldiers to the battle but also support them while they were in combat. The answer came from this same source and became the Adder Combat Car series.
In the Resource Wars of the 21st Century before the time of the Ark Ships and mankind taking to the stars a similar style of warfare combined with a lack of raw material existed. The solution of the time for the bulk of infantry was the Combat Car. Easy to produce, easy to maintain and made from simple parts and well tested technology they were cheaper than any other vehicle of the time overall. They could carry a four man fire-team or they could act in a support role with mounted weapons in the same range as those used by crewed weapons or battlesuits. A modular hull meant that often only the turret and some internal systems had to be changed over to create a new model in the series. Fitting new power systems and drives and moving away from the fossil fuels of the twenty first century meant that Reckart Nevall and the weakened Aeddan Council on the New Glastonbury Tor now had the Adder.
Adder Combat Cars come in many types within the series including newer different drive systems but the bulk of them are four wheeled or lifter types. With an average weight of just over five and a half tons and roughly sixteen feet in length that Adder is not a combat heavy weight like the Taranis. A colour coding system is in use to make Adders easy to assign to Regiments (and indeed the Marcher Barons use the same system) and to allow Muster who can sometimes not be as used to war as a Retained Knight a simple recognition method. The Red Adder is the standard Combat Car with space for four and mounting a turret with a Moth 88 Rotary Cannon. The Yellow Adder is the fire support car and has two crew along with a turret with an Anda 60mm Missile Pod. The Black Adder acts as an armoured punch giving the Muster the ability to knock out battlesuits and other smaller tough targets with two crew and a turret mounted Fretan Rail Gun. Less common is the Orange Adder which is infantry support mounting a specialised turret with a Moth 30 automatic 50mm Grenade Launcher which is a recent introduction to the series. Dedicated Adders include the Green Adder which is a command and control car at the battalion level and the White Adder for medical teams and battlefield triage. The 'Battle Taxi' type Grey Adder is heavily modified and can carry two fire-teams or a squad at a real squeeze. There are also some very specialised Adders too for purposes such as the SuperBlue Adder, the Brown Adder and the Purple Adder. Every Muster Regiment is in possession of hundreds of Adders across the spectrum for all its roles and since they are so easy to fabricate and to maintain they are making a real impact in the ongoing Civil War and in the Camarthen Star System too.
I also want to remind everyone that our first 15mm scale wargame title Patrol Angis is up for pre-order with offers until 1st June. You have ten days left. Its a great offer as you can get the book, the game set or the game set pro-painted and based with a 15% saving off release price and each of these includes not only the book and or miniatures but also the unique Knight Errant miniature to these codes and also the monthly free miniature which is IMP21 Planetary Militia Drill Sergeant. You can use your Reward Points to save even more off the price if you wish and in fact I encourage you to do that after all you earned them with purchases. To read the full post on this go HERE or to visit the Early Support Page of the website go HERE.
Thanks for your time.
GBS
