What is in the Callsign Taranis book?

Get ready for the second book in the universe of The Ion Age and the first expansion to Patrol Angis! On 3rd June 2016 with great offers we will present Callsign Taranis to the world in an Early Supporter Offer.  Missed the first look at the new book cover and the coming offers?  See them on our blog HERE.  Read on to find out just what is in this great new book!

15mm Expansion Rules set in The Ion Age. 

Welcome to the Expansion of the One Hour Tabletop Wargame Patrol Angis.

Wargame expansion rules for use with 15mm miniatures and models from theionage.com.  An enjoyable playing experience set in a space opera setting unlike any other.  Patrol Angis is a skirmish level wargame and with Callsign Taranis you can move from the low intensity infantry focused warfare of the core game which was your starting point in this universe to something a bit larger and multi faceted too.  Make use of vehicles from the humble Adder to the supporting Mullo and of course the mighty Taranis super heavy main battle tank.  Introduce flying vehicles, hurwent energy shields, buildings, drones and mecha too.  Play solo or with two or more players with games featuring one Platoon (22 Miniatures or several vehicles) a side up to four or even six Platoons a side (100 or more miniatures or a dozen vehicles) with smaller games taking less than an hour to play out.  In Callsign Taranis you still choose to play as either the Prydian Army or in the employ of Canlaster or Yordan or any number of lesser rebel Marcher Barons all vying for the throne.  This includes playing as a “Conda” or professional mercenary too for any side.    Callsign Taranis contains all the rules you need to make use of vehicles and structures in other titles in the series.

YOU REQUIRE A COPY OF PATROL ANGIS TO USE THIS BOOK

In this book you will find the expansion rules covering the use of Vehicles in play as well as Structures and other bolt on mechanics.  There are also game statistics for the vehicles of the Prydian Civil War and additional skills, equipment and items for your troops.  Following on from Patrol Angis is part two of the Prydian Civil War background.  Also in this book is the Support Phase and the Between Games development of your forces.  Rules for how to play larger games of Patrol Angis and how to generate random terrain.  A bolt on section for Building your Forces with Vehicle and Mixed platoons.  This and more all in a packed sixty four pages!

“This last decade has seen suffering on a scale not seen for centuries since the obliterating horror of the Aldan Crucible.  In the twenty years since the murder of my father in rightful battle and following this my abduction as a child Prydia has been aflame and never more so than in the this decade now closed.  None know the true count of this conflict but it is in the billions of needless deaths.  All these deaths needless and the result of the ambitions of the rebel barons and their leagues. Now, here, in the liberation of Bosworth IV we have reached the high water mark of the Leagues.  They will rise no more.  Edmund Bluefort leader and lord of the League of Canlaster is dead by my own hand this very day in fair joust.  With his death and the returning of this planet to freedom I send out this message across all the systems in the Precinct.  Freedom is coming and the darkness will be lifted in the months and years to come.  As long as it takes, you will all be liberated and returned to a worthy peace.  Coming from the skies the red and white of the Prydian Army will drive out the rebel barons and their lackeys one planet, one settlement at a time.  The flame that threatened to burn us all and reduce us once more to savages will be put out.  Already it gutters and fails.  That which has been ruined will be rebuilt and restored.  Prydia is rising once more and now more than ever before we must stand united against threats that may come to us from beyond our own stars.  This civil war will end!”

Princess Daphne Cyon addresses the Precinct from Zone 62, New Bosworth 4330IC

What is in Callsign Taranis?

Here is a run down of what is in the book by its page contents.  It is a packed book with loads to see and to read so it is a lot more than you can see here but this is a good outline.

Callsign Taranis Frontis 1

Contents and Credits 2

Welcome to The Ion Age 3

The Might of Prydia! 4

The Prydian Civil War Part Two 5-22

Taking up the tale on the cusp of 4330IC, this is the story of the ongoing Prydian Civil War. The fleet and war machines of the Prydian Army are turning the tables on the Marcher Barons of the Leagues. Princess Cyon has a vital secret mission upon New Bosworth….

Take me Up! 23

What is a Tabletop Wargame? 24

The Expansion Rules of Callsign Taranis 25-34

Vehicles and Structures at 15mm scale in the Prydian Civil War.

Muster make the Armoured Advance! 35

The Support Phase 36-37

The Advanced Rules 37-40

Skills, Items and Equipment 40-42

Playing Bigger Games of Patrol Angis 43

Patrol Angis Between Games 44

Generating Terrain in Patrol Angis 45-46

From the Cockpit the Fight! 47

Building Your Forces Expanded 48-51

Game Tables and Statistics 52-63

Take the part of a Marcher Baron, a Condot or the Prydian Army and create your troops. Choose weapons, armour, skills and then organise your vehicle platoon or mixed lance as you choose. Total customisation! Bolts onto Patrol Angis.

Other Titles and Free Files Offer 64

Go HERE for our 15mm Publications page and you will find Callsign Taranis and Patrol Angis there from 3rd June 2016.

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

A first look at Callsign Taranis book cover and offers start 3rd June!

Last week we showed off the cover of the new larger format edition of Patrol Angis which is coming next month.  If you missed it then go HERE on our blog.  This time it is the moment that you have been waiting for as we not only show you the cover art for the brand new Callsign Taranis expansion book for Patrol Angis but also the details of the Early Supporter Offers for it which will go live on the 3rd of June 2016.

I think Sam Croes has done a superb job on the artwork for the new book don't you agree.  Taranis is the lord of battle and rightly so putting Bob Naismith's designs front and centre.  Enjoy the picture which will appear on the front of this new A4 format book next month.  So...what will the pre-order offers be?  We call them Early Supporters and if you are one of the many who have supported us before you know that means excellent fun and excellent value too.  On 3rd June 2016 on our Early Supporters page we will present the following offers:

IAB01 Patrol Angis Game Book (68pp) A4 Format.  

12.00GBP save 15% = 10.20GBP

IAB01B Patrol Angis Game Pack 

(Book plus Miniatures and Bases + Unique Miniature) 

40.00GBP save 15% =  34.00GBP

IAB01BP Patrol Angis Game Pack (Pro—Painted and Based) 

90.00GBP save 15% =  76.50GBP

IAB02 Callsign Taranis Expansion Book (68pp) A4 Format 

12.00GBP save 15% = 10.20GBP

IABB Patrol Angis AND Callsign Taranis (both books) 

24.00GBP save 15% = 20.40GBP plus 250 Additional Reward Points on your account!

These great offers will be online for two weeks and then shipped out across the world to all wargamers who place early supporter offers with us.  All orders containing one or more of these offers will ship out at the same time while normal orders ship out as normal.  When you order you will get Reward Points on your account with us which can be used for future discounts and free items too (plus if you take both books you will get another 25.00GBP worth of points, 250 added by us to your account manually).  When you order you will also get the monthly free miniature which will be IMP34 Happy Burger Clownbot the third robotic worker at the Happy Burger chain of eateries in 15mm scale....but more on that on the 1st June.

Our next article will give you a run down of what is in the book along with example pages as images.

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

First Look at the new Patrol Angis book cover!

A week or so ago I tempted you all by showing off the sketch of the coming new A4 larger format Patrol Angis game book.  You can see this on our blog HERE if you missed it.  The new cover is now ready and it is here to be seen!

Sam Croes the lead designer at The Ion Age is a very talented fellow having taken up miniature sculpting after being a painter and digital artist first.  As you can see new cover is a scene of action with a group of Prydian Army Retained Knights giving fire to an invisible foe while atop a downed Havelock Battlesuit belonging to the League of Yordan.  In the background is a city which is greatly reduced and burning from the ongoing civil war and above a Segurant class warship.  We are considering a poster of this art if it is asked for.

Since we announced the increase in format size of Patrol Angis and the coming soon Callsign Taranis books we have sold out of the original smaller A5 format book which is now a collectors item and no longer on our website.  The new book and the game pack to go with it will return when we make the Early Supporter Offer which will be early next month.  Details nearer the time.

I hope you like this new art.  I certainly do and next time we will show you the new cover art for Callsign Taranis which is also awesome!  After that will be details of the new book and the Early Supporter Offer....

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

Bill Armintrout Mr TMP paints up his Adder Combat Cars

My good friend of many years Bill over at The Miniatures Page has updated his project 'Warfare in the Age of Madness' with some vehicle support he purchased from The Ion Age.  A pair of IAF035B Yellow Adder Combat Cars.  He has featured these in his Showcase page of TMP.  Click on the links to visit and to read and see more pictures along with details of past updates in his project.

There are currently six different wheeled variants of the Adder Combat Car which has just come back to our website at a new lower price.

Nice job Bill!

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

IAF035 Adder Combat Cars all six variants have returned!

After a break of several months the popular series of Adder Combat Cars the light vehicle of choice for Muster in The Ion Age have returned to our website and our trade accounts too.  While the vehicles remain exactly the same in appearance they have been overhauled and improved in their design for resin casting.  This means not only that they are easier to assemble but they are now also a bit cheaper (how often do you ever see that eh!) too.  We pass the savings on to you.  Go HERE or read on for more information.

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.  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 Blue 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.

IAF035A Red Adder Combat Car (1 Wheeled Vehicle Kit)

This pack contains one white metal and resin vehicle.  A four wheeled light vehicle in the 'Red Adder' combat car variant armed with a rotary cannon in a turret mount.  This is the standard Adder for varied uses.  An Adder kit once assembled is approx 45mm long, 35mm wide and about 25mm tall. This code can be bought as a pack or three packs saving 10%.  Price 3.75GBP per pack.

IAF035B Yellow Adder Combat Car (1 Wheeled Vehicle Kit)

This pack contains one resin vehicle.  A four wheeled light vehicle in the 'Yellow Adder' combat car variant armed with a twin Anda 60mm Missile Pod in a turret.  This is the Fire Support variant.  An Adder kit once assembled is approx 45mm long, 35mm wide and about 25mm tall.  This code can be bought as a pack or three packs saving 10%.  Price 3.75GBP per pack.

IAF035C Black Adder Combat Car (1 Wheeled Vehicle Kit)

This pack contains one white metal and resin vehicle.  A four wheeled light vehicle in the 'Black Adder' combat car variant armed with Fretan type Railgun in a turret mount.  This is the armour punch variant for anti-vehicle use. This code can be bought as a pack or three packs saving 10%. Price 3.75GBP per pack.

IAF035D Orange Adder Combat Car (1 Wheeled Vehicle Kit)

This pack contains one resin vehicle.  A four wheeled light vehicle in the 'Orange Adder' combat car variant armed with a 50mm Grenade Launcher in a turret mount.  This is the infantry support variant. This code can be bought as a pack or three packs saving 10%.  Price 3.75GBP per pack.

IAF035E Green Adder Control Car (1 Wheeled Vehicle Kit)

This pack contains one white metal and resin vehicle. A four wheeled light vehicle in the 'Green Adder' combat car variant for command and control on the battlefield and mounting extra armour and comms gear. An Adder kit once assembled is approx 45mm long, 35mm wide and about 25mm tall. Used for a variety of purposes and in many variants it typically has a crew of two and is capable of dealing with low level threats.  There are many IAF035 variants and also the IAF037 Smashed Adder which depicts your wheeled Adder on a bad day an excellent piece with a variety of uses.  Price 3.75GBP each or see the option to But Three and Save 10%.

IAF037 Smashed Adder (1 Destroyed Wheel Vehicle)

This pack contains one resin terrain piece for your games.  Laid on its side, axles broken and turret ring smashed this Red Adder Combat Car has seen better days. The Smashed Adder is approx 60mm wide and 35mm tall in one piece of resin.  It can be used in your games as a terrain marker, a scenario objective or a casualty of an Adder in play. This code can be bought as a pack or three packs saving 10%.  Price 4.00GBP per pack.

Go HERE for all the Prydian Army Vehicle codes on our website.

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

Patrol Angis and Callsign Taranis will be larger format books!

Do you like what you see?  I do...and I have seen the finished art that this sketch was the beginning point for.  There are great things a foot at The Ion Age.  In a few weeks time we will be all about Callsign Taranis the book and the pre-order offers too.  Before that we will put the new and improved production method IAF035 Adder Combat Cars (all six different models) back on the website shortly and we will tell you just what is in Callsign Taranis the expansion to Patrol Angis.  But first this little article by way of introduction to what will come.

Both Patrol Angis and Callsign Taranis will be published as A4 larger format books moving away from A5.  We have responded to customers and shortly the smaller A5 format Patrol Angis will be removed from our website meaning that if you have one of them it will be a collectors item for there will be no more smaller format books in this growing series.  If you want the smaller format book get it now as it will be removed with the pre-orders begin or sooner if stock is exhausted.  Simply put I placed so much value and word count in Patrol Angis (and Callsign Taranis) that it needed more space for everyone to be able to enjoy it properly!

I have shown the cover art of both books before and now I will tell you that those two great pieces of art are NO LONGER the cover art for the books.  Sam Croes the lead designer and artist at The Ion Age has created two new much larger works of art for the covers.  

So in conclusion the existing Patrol Angis rulebook will be re-issued as a larger format with new covers but with exactly the same content and Callsign Taranis will be larger format too and will have new cover art and totally new content.  Hope you liked the sketch.  Go HERE for Patrol Angis on our 15mm Publications page.

Thanks for Reading,

GBS

Mastergunz paints the Taranis Repulsar Laser MBT

“Hey all, 

Mastergunz here again doing a review of The Ion Age 'Taranis Super Heavy Tank' in its Laser Turret and Repulsor configuration. As always the resin from Ion Age is top notch with minimal casting lines and air bubbles. The only thing to be wary of is the side pieces (the 'wing' and engine portions) take a good bit of experience to get them off their sprue without risking breaking it along the thinner sections. It is possible but be patient and work at it slowly. I must say though that leaving these lovely pieces on their sprues is a great idea as it means no risk of breakage in transit; they seem designed for that purpose.

Once cleaned it goes together very easily and the attention to detail is what we have all come to expect from this company. Even though I only ended up using basically 3 colours; with all the panel lines and micro details the piece really pops and will take equally well to a simple drybrushing or full on multi stage highlights and still look great! The tank even has a separate piece with the repulsor 'emitters' that affixes to the bottom, though the likelihood of anyone every seeing this while on the table is minimal its still there because it should be. ;) It also comes with a pintle mounted machine gun but I opted to leave it off; just personal preference. 

As with most tank kits the turret is separate (a fact which I utilized to do this scheme) and can be left off to allow for 360 rotation during games to add that visual element when lining up your shot. 

As for table presence, this thing is massive. Called the 'Taranis' for a very good reason it measures in at 5 Inches long and 3 Inches wide easily overtaking most other 'big' 15mm tanks out there. It could even be usable as a skimmer or hover tank in 28mm should that be your desire. As they said at The Ion Age the Taranis is a true super heavy main battle tank. 

All in all an excellent kit that comes in an amazing variety of options from 8 wheeled, to tracked, to traditional hover skirts and also a host of weapon turret options. Do yourself a favour and pick up 1...or 5, and dominate the battlefield! -Gunz” 

I hope you enjoyed Todd's pictures and his short article. He loves our miniatures so much he wanted to do a second piece for us and here it is. If you missed his article on the Duxis Battlesuit you can see it HERE. Fantastic work on the Taranis tank and I look forward to seeing what he does next in The Ion Age. As he said the Taranis has many variants, more than any other 15mm scale vehicle out there I am sure with more than twenty five different load outs of turrets and formats and propulsion methods. You can see them all HERE on our website and as a treat we have taken 15% off the very kit that Todd painted up IAF103F Taranis Repulsar Tank with Laser Turret. Click there to go straight to it. Treat yourself and your battlefield this merry month of May! Well done Todd! 

Thanks for Reading, 

GBS

IMP33 Planetary Militia female officer free miniature for May 2016!

Across the entire Prydian Precinct there are Planetary Militias otherwise known as Planetary Defence Forces.  Each of these forces its own local designation and name but every one of them is known to the precinct as a whole by their home planet and numerical designation in the case that the star system has more than one inhabited world.  Their primary role and in most cases only role is to defend their world against invasion and occupation.  This they must sometimes do alone or more often with the bolstering aid of Muster and or Retained Knights from the controlling interest of that world; a Marcher Baron or the Prydian Army.  Planetary forces owe their loyalty to the Marcher Baron who controls that world.  In terms of numerical size the largest Planetary Militias number in the hundreds of millions on worlds such as Yordan Prime down to the smallest which number only in the dozens on foundling colonies.  There is an emphasis among intra atmosphere defence forces on armour and equipment that has the smallest amount of maintenance and requires minimal training.  As a result they make up for in numbers what they lack in skill against superior forces.  Ease of use wins out over higher effectiveness.  Often armaments are purchased or fabricated on mass by the Prydian Army or the local Marcher Baron and are based on the widely used Moth and Anvil families of weapons with additional simpler systems.  Mark III Aketon non powered armour (a lower cost version of Muster Aketon MkIV armour) is the typical protection for defence forces with adaptations to local environmental conditions.  These range from the closed helm and breather systems of the massive Bosworth ark cities to the bare headed and thin plates of an agri-world for standard Aketon to Cold Climes that are deployed in frozen conditions and Hot Climes in desert conditions.  There are also localised space equipped troopers who protect off world outposts and moon bases. See other training series for information on Planetary Militia platoon structure, Steornede Battlesuits, Amber Portable Weapon Platforms, Amber Quad Bikes, Grima Robot Troopers and Magog GNATS.  Training series searches for Colabreta and Hazelwurm along with Verticopters will provide vehicle information.  All banner command level soldiers and knights must have operation knowledge of local system Planetary Militias.     

Academy Auto-Trainer Series 26, New Glastonbury, 4326IC

Welcome to May at The Ion Age.  Didn't April just shoot by in a bolt of azure energy eh!  Well this month we have one central thing to say....it is Callsign Taranis time!  That is correct this month will see a pre-order offer on the expansion title to Patrol Angis bringing in not only rules for vehicles and stuctures and more but also the second part of the story of the Prydian Civil War!  There will be more on this in the coming week as well as some early looks at items from the book and more news too. Look out for these blog articles.  For the moment we are all about IMP33 Planetary Militia Female Officer our free female miniature placed in every order during April.  

IMP33 Planetary Militia Female Officer 

For the whole of May 2016 this 15mm scale Human female officer is automatically put into every order at the rate of one per order regardless of order value.  It can also be bought in any amount on the monthly IMP page of the website for this month only too before being withdrawn on the first of next month.  Dressed in standard PM uniform with a beret and armed with a Tumbler Mpi she is a character miniature for any sci-fi setting. The miniature is one piece in white metal and stands approx 16mm tall.

Of course you earn reward points on all orders too through your account.  We realise that some of you may wish to purchase the currently free miniature to get multiples of it without placing a lot of orders so you can do just that.  Visit this page on the website for the miniature at a fair price for a special miniature.  There is a growing page on the Ion Age website where the current and all former IMP series free miniatures are shown so that you can see what came before.  Enjoy and go HERE. 

The Planetary Militia are a full force in the 15mm range of The Ion Age.  They have packs of infantry and command along with battlesuits and light vehicles plus portable weapon platforms.  There is also a whole platoon which includes a unique sniper miniature for free. You can see all of them on the website in this selective search HERE and HERE for vehicles.  Plus discounts on two of those codes the Steornede Battlesuits both variants.  

Go Planetary Militia for your near future or space opera games!

Thanks for reading.

GBS