One-Five Magazine 1

Inside this issue:

Death From Above 1

Panzer Canning 4

A Chat with Shawn

Carpenter 6

Hammer’s Slammers

Review 8

Latest from Top Gun

Marketing 9

Editor’s Afterword 11

I've had an interest in Hammer's Slam-

mers wargaming

ever since I first

heard of David

Drake's series of

gritty, military sci-

ence fiction short

stories and novels. I

was extremely

pleased when I

heard that Old Crow

Models and Ground

Zero Games had

teamed up to cre-

ate an "official" line

of miniatures from

the stories and that

Pireme Publishing

was putting out a set

of wargaming rules

to go with them.

The Hammer's Slam-

mer's Handbook was

soon followed by the

publication of Ham-

mer's Anvils that fea-

tured information of

other mercenary

and national armies

of the Slammer's uni-

verse along with new

vehicles to go with

them. This year, the

Handbook and An-

vils, along with re-

lated articles from

Miniature

Wargames, were

combined into one

volume titled Ham-

mer’s Slammers: The

Crucible.

One of these new

units was the "Angel"

HALO (High Ap-

proach Low Opera-

tional) Grav Tanks

and its variants. Truly

an awesome vehicle

that would be a wor-

thy addition to any

gamer's miniature

collection.

The photographs in

Hammer’s Anvils of a

completed Angel

Grav Tank were

scaled for 25mm

gaming. For the sake

of table size, and my

aching wallet, I

opted for 15mm

scale.

I've already had a

large detachment of

Hammer's Slammer's

blower tanks, troops,

and combat cars in

15mm. Fortunately,

Old Crow makes the

parts needed for this

tank in both scales

and I decided to try

my hand at building

a couple.

The HALO vehicles

are based on the

grav version of Old

Crow's Lancer APC

model. When order-

ing the parts you

need to make the

model, you are

given a choice be-

tween a small tank

turret, a missile

launcher, and a

communications

suite. I choose the

missile turret with my

order for reason I'll

elaborate on in a

moment. In order to

build the HsAG13,

you'll also need to

purchase the large

tank turret sepa-

rately.

The body of the

tank is comprised of

seven parts: An up-

per and lower hull,

with five armor

plates that attach to

Sierra Foxtrot One Five A fanzine for the 15mm Sci-Fi Wargamer

DEATH FROM ABOVE! -Building the Hammers Slammers HALO Grav Tank By Mark A. Seifert

One -F i ve Pub l i ca t i ons

Fall 2010

Volume 1, Issue 1

One-Five Magazine 2

Volume 1, Issue 1

the flanks and rear.

There was a minimum amount of flash that was easily removed with a jeweler's file.

The completed tank turret is composed of four parts: A base, the hull of the turret, a twin barreled cannon to

represent the "10cm high intensity powergun," and a cupola-mounted tribarrel power gun. The turret kit itself

comes with a lager, single-barrel cannon as well that I put that in my bits box for future projects. The tribarrel is

not a standard part for this kit, but Jez at Old Crow was more than happy to throw in a couple per request at

no additional charge.

While there are full color pictures detailing just about every aspect of the HsAG13 (and the HsAG19 artillery

defense variant) on page 29 of Hammer's Anvil, there are not as many images of the HSAG16 APC or HSAG21

command vehicle. They're supposed to be the same vehicle, only the latter doesn't carry troops. There is a

black and white side view of this APC/Command Vehicle on page 31 of Hammer's Anvils and a smaller color

version on the vehicle's "stat card" included with the book, but none of Old Crow's turret options matched the

equipment from the artwork. To make life easier, I ordered the Lancer hulls with the missile turrets since both

vehicles are supposed to mount "Kestrel Medium ATGW" (Anti-Tank Guided Weapons). The vehicle is also sup-

posed to come with a tribarrel, but there is no indication on where that goes by the picture alone, so I left that

out. I decided I could use this turret as a substitute until such time that Old Crow makes a suitable part that

matches the vehicle.

The completed missile turret has three parts: A base, the body of

the turret with what appears to be a sensor array, and a missile box

that attaches to one side of the sensors. Like the tank turret kit, there

are several different options for missile launchers included with the

kit, and after conferring with my friend Tim, we agreed that the lar-

ger "six tube" launcher looked the best. I decided to use neodym-

ium magnets on the model to help "lock" the turret to the hull when

in use. While it does increase the build time, complexity, and cost of

the project, it's worth it to be able to keep your tank's turret where it

belongs and to swap out modular parts when necessary. I used two

types of magnets for this project. The first is a 3/16" x 1/8" disc mag-

net available from any Radio Shack, the second is a much smaller

1/8" X 1.5 mm disc that I picked up at American Science & Surplus.

When working with these magnets, you MUST make sure that you mount magnets with the proper side up. Re-

member elementary school science class? Opposite poles attract, like poles repel, and neodymium magnets

can REALLY attract and repel. If you don't make sure you're using the proper sides of the magnet, your turret

will be pushed off of the model. Sadly, the north and south poles of these magnets aren't marked, so best way

to find out which way the magnets should to in is to stack the larger magnets with the smaller to see what

Turret parts laid out before painting Hull parts laid out before painting

Magnet and hull before magnet installation

One-Five Magazine 3

sides they are attracted to. If you are working on more than one model, as I am here, you should make sure

you have the right pole for each one. To help this you can make a "chain" of magnets, connected small to

large, and pluck one off the chain as you need them.

Both the missile and tank turrets have a base; a disc with small peg on the underside that fits into a hole on

the top of the tank's hull. On each of the of turret bases, I very carefully drilled out a 1/8" hole into the peg with

a pin vice. While the resin was quite machinable, I started with a smaller bit and worked my way up to a larger

drill bit to be sure I didn't damage the part. Then, using five-minute epoxy, I glued in the 1/8" diameter magnet

into the hole and set it aside to cure. Since it was a bit cool in the basement I was working in and epoxies can

be particular about temperature, I put the turret near a small heat source to help it cure. If you are working on

more than one turret at once, be sure to keep them away from any ferric objects and from each other. Even

these tiny magnets are powerful enough to pull themselves out of their sockets if put near something that at-

tracts them! While waiting for glue in the turret bases to set, I turned my attention to the hull. I was pleasantly

surprised to find that the 3/16" magnet fitted nicely into the turret hole without any further machining.

I had test-fitted the turret base with the magnet into the hole beforehand to see how well they fit. I found that

I had to either drill out the hole a bit deeper or shorten the stem to make sure the turret base sits flush with the

hull. In the end, I did a little of both; I deepened the turret hole

slightly with a rotary tool, and I made sure that I drilled the holes

into the turret base stems a little deeper than they would have to

be so I could adjust the final height by carefully filing away the

excess. Once I was satisfied, I epoxied the magnet into the turret

hole, making sure that I magnet seated correctly before I set it

aside to cure.

When the epoxy had finished curing, I set to work on assembling

the hull. Using some sandpaper, I scuffed up the upper surface of

the lower hull, and the bottom surface of the upper hull to help

the glue adhere. I mixed up some more epoxy, and glued the up-

per hull to the lower hull. I then bound both halves of the hull with

rubber bands to hold tightly them together and keep them prop-

erly aligned as the epoxy set. Once the glue cured, I cut away the

rubber bands filed away the excess epoxy.

I then roughed up the flanks and rear of the model so I can affix the armor plating using CA glue. This was

actually a bit tricky, since I had to make sure that the plates lined up correctly around the hull. Once the side

armor was in place, the hull was finished and I could turn my attention to the two turrets.

I started with missile turret. I glued the upper portion of the turret to the completed base. Then I glued the mis-

sile launcher box next to

the sensor array. Done.

(continued bottom pg 5)

Completed tank turret

Finished Tank Finished APC

One-Five Magazine 4

A 15mm science fiction scenario that’s meant to be rules neutral. It’s meant for squad/platoon scaled rules sets, but with a little ingenuity, you can scale it up, or down as needed.

Scenario Introduction:

The defenders of a major city are falling back into the city center in a measure of disarray after a week of

constant fighting against a superior foe. The enemy is surging forth cautiously trying to find the path of least

resistance to advance deeper into the city and bring this fight to an end. The defenders, a motley crew of

hired mercenaries, troops cut off from their units, local militia and civilian volunteers, are going to try and delay

the enemy to give the regulars a chance to reform a new line further back. All they have in abundance is

courage and a lot of shoulder fired AT weapons and some mines.

Attackers:

You’ve been clearing the planetary capital for days now, ever since you grounded on this damn dirtball

two weeks ago. The enemy is outnumbered 3-1 but he’s fighting like hell for every block. You’ve lost 15% over-

all of your own command already and the men are exhausted. The enemy finally broke last night, and you’ve

been pursuing as close as you dare, but the damn locals seem to have anti-tank weapons behind every god-

damned bush and your battalion commander won’t wait for the infantry to come up and support your armor.

All you can do is try a “thunder run” and bull your way past any rearguard. You just hope like hell they know

what they’re doing.

- Forces Available:

3 MBT (whatever suits you from your rules set, or design something that has a good sized gun, decent speed

and average armor)

1 Recon Vehicle (again, whatever suits you, or design something to fit the role)

1 FO Vehicle (a jeep would work well for this, or your system’s equivalent).

You may get reinforcements at the referee’s discretion if things go badly.

As for morale/troop quality, I’d say average-veteran, but take into account the troops are exhausted.

Defenders:

The army finally gave way last night, and the local commander informed your militia groupment that you

need to buy time for the army to reorganize to your rear. Those tanks mustn’t get by you too quickly, because

if they do, they could conceivably drive all the way to the Planetary Command bunker as well as the make-

shift dropport in the center of town. You’ve been provided with plenty of short range anti-tank weapons and

some off-route mines, the only problem is, your men haven’t seen much action. You hope they’re up to this.

-Forces Available:

1 under strength platoon of 22 militiamen divided into three six-man squads and a four man Platoon HQ

section, They are armed with two shoulder fired AT weapons per squad, otherwise, they have the usual

mix of small arms. The squads should also have at least two AT magnetic mines or whatever is your sys-

tem’s equivalent. Morale should be high, but brittle, and their skill should be below average.

Panzer Canning By Jason Weiser

-A generic Wargaming Scenario

One-Five Magazine 5

1 squad of six combat engineers armed with flame rifles and plenty of explosives. They’re exhausted but

experienced, and should have average morale, but high skill.

1 Police SWAT team of four men, a scout-sniper section with an anti-material rifle,

and two men with SMG. They should possess excellent local knowledge, good skills

in their areas, and decent morale.

Terrain:

The terrain should be urban, preferably ruined urban with plenty of blocked streets, ruined buildings and just

plain limited maneuver space. If more than one vehicle at a time can get through, then you’ve done it

wrong. Here’s an idea for a map (See page 10).

Victory Conditions:

If the Attackers get three or more vehicles off by Turn 8, they win. If not, the defender wins.

Ref’s information:

If the attackers are having a rough time, give them two APCs with two 6 man infantry squads armed as per

your system, or as a middle technology army for your background. Their morale is average, but again, re-

flects the fact they’re tired as all get out. The APCs will count for the three vehicle victory condition.

(continued from bottom pg 3)

The tank turret was a little more complicated--though not by much. I first drilled a small hole next to the cu-

pola hatch and glued the tribarrel powergun in place. Then I filed off any remaining mold lines for the metal

double barreled cannon, and glued it into the turret body. Once the turret body was completed, I mounted

the unattached turret base into the hole. The magnets worked perfectly, strongly holding the turret to the

model, but giving it the ability to turn with ease. Applying some glue to the top of the base, I set the turret

body on top, adjusting it to match its alignment in relation to the hull before the glue set. And here they are!

The "Angel" HsAG13 Grav Tank...

“Untitled” by Pierre Francois Jaquet

PAeL Automoton, 1944.

Provided from Bunkermeister and used with permission

One-Five Magazine 6

A chat with Shawn Carpenter. -CEO, Ambush alley Games

By Jason Weiser, Co-Editor of SF 15

Shawn, as always, thanks for making time for this interview and us. I know how busy you are these days, but I wanted to touch base with you about the release of Tomorrow’s War, among other topics. I also wanted your take on the explosive growth of the

15mm Sci-fi market as a whole.

Q: Shawn, so, as you’ve stated in other sources such as Meeples and Miniatures, you said the Ambush Alley/Force On Force system was originally designed for science fiction gaming, and the design process that led to the initial release. Was there at

any time a sense of “coming home” for you?

Shawn: Definitely! Robby and I are very happy to get back to a Science Fiction project. You’ll see a lot of our original campaign in the background material we’re providing in Tomorrow’s War. It was great to dust off that material and share it with a wider audience.

Q: What is your thinking on this new age of 15mm Science Fiction, and what separates it from the last time 15mm was big in the

market place?

Shawn: I think it’s a great time to be a 15mm SF gamer! Companies like GZG, Khurasan, Rebel Minis, Combat Wombat and Criti-cal Mass Games are giving us a variety of figures and vehicles that has never been available before. The sheer variety of styles and subjects covered by these and other companies gives gamers a broad canvas for their games.

Q: What would you like to see in future 15mm figure lines, and do you think they’d make it?

Shawn: There are a couple of things I’d like to see more of. First off, I’d like to see more “complete” lines of figures that could be used to create distinctive forces. By “complete,” I mean a decent amount of poses, a strong base of figures armed with basic weapons, a variety of squad support weapons, leader figures, techs, etc. I’d also like to see more female human soldier figures. Several manufacturers are already taking this route, so I think we can look forward to some complete, diverse forces in the days to come. I’d also like to see more non-combatant figures – colonists, techs, scientists, etc. – and non-military combatants – police, armed colonists, militia. Again, there are several companies who already offer these kinds of figures, so we’re already in luck.

Q: What are your science fiction influences, and what or how did they influence Tomorrow’s War?

Shawn: I’m a big fan of David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers books, of course, which puts me in good company with most military SF gamers. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers was a favorite of mine as a kid, too. Dietz, Weber, Ringo, and Shirley have all captured my imagination at one point or another with their imaginings of future warfare. Fans of any of those authors will see several little homages to their works in Tomorrow’s War.

The game setting we’ll be including in the Osprey/AAG print version of Tomorrow’s War is predominately a glimpse into a future imagined by my brother and co-designer (Robby) and myself. Some of it comes straight from the sci-fi miniatures campaigns that we passed the summers of ’05 and ’06 with and some of it dates back to the original setting that I concocted for a set of unrelated (and unpublished) SF novels. Our play-testers added their own bits and pieces to the setting during the alpha and beta testing process, too. We made every effort to avoid clichés and tired tropes, but we also did our best to come up with a background that would be familiar and transparent enough for gamers to make their own should they choose to – and that’s entirely their choice. Tomorrow’s War is not a setting specific set of rules – players will have the freedom to apply the rules to worlds of their own devising or their favorite movie, TV, or literary settings.

Q: What are the future science fiction plans for Ambush Alley Games, we’ve heard both

rumors of a starship game and possibly a company level multi-figure stand set of SF rules?

Care to comment?

We have more plans than time! As the company grows, hopefully we’ll be able to bring them to fruition more quickly. A starship based game was in the works but is faaaar back on the back-burners. A company level game for Tomorrow’s War and Force on Force is back there with it, but a little nearer the front – so is a man-to-man rather than fire-team to fire-team game. We also plan to work with several SF miniatures manufacturers to create comprehensive expansions to take players into the worlds their figures live in. We’ve already begun work with Zombiesmith on a Quar expansion, for instance. Others are in the

One-Five Magazine 7

works.

In its forward, I call Tomorrow’s War a “living, evolving game” and that’s exactly what we intend it to be: A game that grows and adapts to its players’ interests and desires. We’ll be listening to our players and letting them point us in the direction the game needs to grow. We have no interest in trying to tell you what you should be playing – we want you to tell us what we should be designing.

Q: Some have called you one of the leaders for simplicity and innovation in the hobby today, how do you see Ambush Alley’s

influence on the miniatures hobby as a whole.

Shawn: That’s a pretty heady compliment. Robby and I are both very proud to have produced a game that has generated so much support and loyalty from so many players. I think I’m probably too close to the subject to give an answer of any value to your question, though. Every game designer hopes that their work is in some way innovative and influential, and I do believe that Ambush Alley and Force on Force both contain their share of innovation – only time will tell how influential they’ll be.

Rob and I don’t fall into the “evangelical” school of game designers, though – we’re really not interested in telling people the right way to play or even in influencing other designers. If people enjoy our games, we feel that we’ve done our job right – those same people are going to enjoy other games that may be designed according to a completely different philosophy which

means, of course, that those game designers did their job right, too! In this one thing, at least, we stick with Voltaire’s advice and find satisfaction in tending to our own little garden. We’re glad to know what we grow is appreciated by so many people, though!

Q: So, what are your favorite figures out currently?

Shawn: In 15mm SF, I’d have to say the new GZG figures (any of ‘em) and Khurasan’s new Federal Marines. Rebel Minis has some solid, well supported figures that I really love, too – especially their tactical drop ships. I got to spend some time at Recruits talking to Mr. Micropanzer (“I AM MICROPANZER!!” – that’s one of those you had to be their jokes, but folks who were there will get it) and I’m very excited about some of the innovative ideas he has with regard to delivering unique factions in a way that reduces his time and expense. I can’t say more about it, but keep an eye on that guy. He’s a smart cookie. Expect good things from Micro-panzer!

Q: Do you think the newer sculpting technology available has made 15mm as a whole more popular, or has it been more the

influence of Flames of War? Shawn: I think a vocal customer base and manufacturers who listen to their customers is the root of the so-called 15mm revolution. Simple as that.

I realize that’s not the answer that most folks are giving, but I don’t think revolutionary techniques, Flames of War, or the economy explain the rise of 15mm miniatures. GZG, at the vanguard of the 15mm revolution, still do their modeling by hand – no rapid pro-totyping to be seen there (not that there’s anything wrong with rapid prototyping). There were plenty of popular 15mm rule-sets out there before Flames of War, and let’s face it: Miniature gamers will continue to invest money in lead until they run completely out of gold themselves!

Q: What kind of projects do you want to do in the Tomorrow’s War universe once the full version is released? Anything you can

reveal at this time, and would you release them as PDF only or in paper as well?

Shawn: As I said above, we’ll be doing expansions specific to the figure lines of miniatures manufacturers who are interested in working with us in that way. We’ll also be supporting Tomorrow’s War with campaign and scenario packs based on our original SF setting and, hopefully, on some alternate settings, too. We’ll decide how to release each title on a case by case basis – in gen-eral, smallish books are likely to be PDF only, but larger books will be presented in both PDF and print.

Q: Finally, what’s your opinion on PDF as a technology, has it helped smaller press companies such as AAG get the product out

there easier to customers?

Shawn: AAG wouldn’t exist without PDFs. Without the ability to enter the market with very little monetary investment the tremen-dous amount of design effort we sank into Ambush Alley Games would have been wasted. We were able to enter into the print market on the back of our PDF sales. I don’t think there’s anything unique about that business model – I suspect it’s the norm for many indie game companies. You’ll see a lot of experts out there issuing new companies with dire warnings that they’ll be descended on by pirate hordes if they release their precious IP on anything as vulnerable as a PDF. I can’t honestly say I don’t know how many pirated copies of Ambush Alley PDFs might have been passed around the first year we were in business and working on a pure PDF model, but I can tell you this much: We continue to sell three PDFs for every print version of our rulebooks and a print rulebook can be pirated just as easily as a PDF! We prefer not to think of all our customers as potential thieves – instead, we listen to what they ask us for,

One-Five Magazine 8

Q: Thanks for chatting with us Shawn, we really appreciate it!

Shawn: It’s been fun! I’d be happy to do it again! Best of luck with this project!

Editors Note: Since this interview was conducted, Tomorrow’s War was released by Ambush Alley Games as a

Pre-Release PDF expansion for Force on Force. The full version of Tomorrow’s War will be released in March

2011. The pre-release will be reviewed next issue.

Hammer’s Slammers: The Crucible review By Jason Weiser, Co-editor

I was happily surprised that John Treadaway sent me a copy of Hammer’s Slammers: The Crucible to review

(full disclosure, I had already purchased a copy, so the review copy was given to my co-editor, but alas, real

life ala school has made him too busy to review the book).

So, what do you get? The book is hard cover, with nice glossy photos on high-quality paper throughout. I do

rather appreciate that, even if the price tag is a bit high. Prieme Publications really went all out on this book,

and it shows throughout. The book is 201 pages of high quality glossy paper, lavishly filled with photos of the

models in “action”, with many of them 25mm Old Crow or GZG, lovingly painted mostly by Kevin Dallimore of

Special Forces painting service. Some of his best work is to be found in these pages, it includes a very useful

tutorial for how Kevin paints the vehicles to the standard we see in the book.

As for the information, the book is a compilation of both of the soft cover editions of the Hammers Slammer’s

line under one “roof” so to speak. The text should be more than familiar to anyone who owns both books.

What makes this book a joy to have is the improvement of the rules that has been through two different major

iterations, as well as changes and articles in various issues of Miniature Wargames. Now, all of that’s in one

book. Now, in full disclosure, I don’t play the enclosed rules, as I am more of a Ambush Alley/Force on Force

guy, but if you’re interested in the Slammers, or their adversaries, this is a good bit of information to have, not

to mention, if you own the previous two books, they are hard to keep in decent shape (trust me, I know), the

hardcover Crucible edition is far more durable. Some of the new rules are rules for the Molts, who are among

the more creative Alien races I’ve seen in Science Fiction.

While the book is pricy, especially in the US. I must appreciate that the quality of the book is very high. It’s

good production values throughout with high quality paper and a sewn binding. All of this isn’t going to make

a book cheap by any stretch. But is it worth your gaming dollar? It depends on your need I’d say. If you plan

to play with the Slammers, their adversaries, or just need some good paint-

ing ideas, it’s a good investment. And unlike most gaming books, this one

will last a bit longer. So, it is a case of paying for quality.

My complaints? One, I wasn't too happy in the fact that my copy of my

book had the pages were sticking together. Pulling the pages apart did do

some damage near the spine. Nothing too bad, but I suspect I wasn’t the

only one who had this happen. I think though that being fresh off the press,

and stored like books are, pressed together as they are, the ink was proba-

bly a bit wet still and kinda glued the pages together for a bit.

Another small complaint is that the play cards weren’t left able to be re-

moved from the book. I know there are PDFs on the website, but how many

of us can afford color printouts of the card on suitable paper? It’d be a

fairly hefty Kinko’s bill.

In closing, I give the book 3.5 out of 4 stars and recommend it to every-

body out there.

One-Five Magazine 9

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT– TOP GUN MARKETING By Robert Kent, Top GUN Marketing LLC. The Future Shape of Things to Come@ in grav armor will be dropping in from orbit soon, to wreak havoc on all that oppose them, from Top-gun Marketing LLC.

In our view, the grav vehicles of the future are rotomolded in the Zero-G environment of space, from titanium, much like 20th and 21st cen-tury plastic kayaks were, in order to produce strong, lightweight hulls. This produces seamless hulls and turrets of incredible strength, since the super-heated liquid titanium is then quickly cooled, forming an extremely strong crystalline-titanium structure (very similar to the way in which samurai swords were hardened centuries ago). While lightweight is a relative term, when comparing grav armor to 21st century main battle tanks (they weigh much more than current mod-ern tanks), it is much lighter than would normally be the case, using standard manufacturing techniques, and producing them in a gravitational environment. There have been some questions, from the public, on what the circular surface details on some of our vehicle designs represent. Our take on the matter is that in the future, advanced grav vehicles will be well equipped with automatically fired defensive, and in some cases, offen-sive systems (instead of just being sitting ducks for incoming fire), in addition to their primary weapon(s). In our view, the Active Armor Defense System ©, or AADS © consists of an active/passive defense launcher system (the mode is select-able by the vehicle commander), and equipped with a variety of items below: 1. large shotgun-like, canister and mortar rounds, which fire automatically to defeat incoming shells and missiles, or enemy infantry (friendly infantry have IFF chips, to keep them from being targeted) – treat these as a canister attack at short range, and a grenade launcher, or me-dium mortar attack against opponents at longer ranges. Multiple rounds can be fired by a single vehicle at the same time, in all arcs around it, in order to neutralize enemy forces quickly; 2. smoke/chaff launchers, which both obscure the target, and degrade or defeat lasers and other energy weapons being fired at the vehicle; 3. small, micro-missiles, which can attack infantry, vehicles, or other targets; 4. other top-secret defenses, which we are not permitted to discuss openly (rumors of launchers carrying chemical agents, nerve gas, biologi-cal, and radioactive agents are commonplace). One of our favorites is a high-energy plasma, or high-dose radiation burst charge, which can be launched out to medium range to devastate unprotected enemy troops with a single round. Note - a mix of the above ammo types is frequently stocked on the vehicles, and is adjusted prior to each battle, in order to match the ex-pected enemy threat profile. The circular surface detailing can also represent ablative, appliqué, or reactive armor plates instead, if you prefer.

Our scouts, APC’s, IFV’s, and other vehicles will be released for sale in October. Photos used with permission, Copyright 2010 by Topgun Marketing LLC

Our super high-tech, streamlined grav vehicle designs no longer need gravitic repulsor pods underneath, or alongside their hulls, since they were very vulnerable to damage on the early models. Now, a single, flat, oval-shaped repulsor pod on the bottom of the vehicle's hull provides all of the lift and propulsion necessary. The advanced streamlining of these designs permits these tanks, infantry-fighting vehicles, and other units to zip along through the air at just under Mach 1, fly at 200 MPH at NOE level, or enter the atmosphere at up

to Mach 3.0 when dropping to the planet's surface.

Light Tank Platoon of 4 Type 9 Light Grav Tanks,

painted by Richard Meaden Type 15 Heavy Grav Tank with AADS installed.

One-Five Magazine 10

Map for “Panzer Canning”. Map dimensions are 4x4. Feel free to put more debris, and burning buildings, the attacker enters

from the bottom of the map (the park side of the map)

One-Five Magazine 11

Editor’s Afterword By Co-Editor Jason Weiser

Welcome to the first issue of Sierra Foxtrot One-Five. First, I want to thank Lovejoy from TMP for coming up

with our logo. That really made this newsletter look great. Also, I want to thank Shawn Carpenter for agreeing

to the interview, John Treadaway for the review copy of the Crucible and Mark Siefert for his article, Top Gun

Marketing and Robert Kent for their contribution, as well as providing Robert Meaden’s work on those Grav

tanks, and last, but not least, Pierre for the art. Thanks for getting us off to a great start guys! In the coming is-

sues, we’d like to see more articles, more art, just more of everything we can get from you, the readers to

share with the 15mm Sci-Fi world as a whole. The 15mm Sci-Fi market is exploding, and it’s something that

should be celebrated as a whole, as one can build an army for the fraction of the cost one can in 28mm, it’s

also good for gaming in limited space, and as the trends we see with Flying Lead, Chain Reaction 3.0, and

Tomorrow’s War, to name a few. The rules writers are finally achieving a measure of synergy with the manufac-

turers.

I missed the first golden age of 15mm Sci-fi, as I was all of six years old in 1981, and from what I’ve seen, it

was a wild and wooly time with Traveller and Beamstrike being the only shows in town. Now? Now you’ve got

GZG, Khurasan, Combat Wombat, Old Crow, Rebel, Brigade, QRF, CMG...the list goes on. This time the diver-

sity in figures, both styles and sculpts are simply amazing, and with the new technology in sculpting technol-

ogy, they only promise to get better. In short, I am bullish on the future of 15mm Science Fiction miniature

gaming.

I know this issue is a mite short. Well, all I can say is...contribute. The more we see, the more we can “print”. I

think the internet and desktop publishing will make more such publications like this one possible as time goes

on, and I look forward to the future of PDF and the hobby. I know some feel PDF is a license for the less honest

to steal, but honestly? I see it as a cheaper way for me to get the rules I want, when I want without worrying if

my FLGS is going to 1) Order the rules, and 2) Have any copies left when I get there!

I hope this magazine can stand for a good editorial standard, engaging articles and not tread down the

usual sci-fi tropes. No offense meant to those who like the 50s “man in the rubber suit” sci-fi. Heck, I enjoy it

from time to time. Submit it. It’ll be a good counterpoint to the other articles out there. What don’t I stand for?

Gaming systems that insist you play their rules with their figures and lock you into the company store. This is the

future folks, and mercantilist methods of the 19th Century have no place here! So, be free my fellow 15mm

Sci-Fi gamers! Game with the rules you enjoy, play the backgrounds you wish, and write about them for us!

Sierra Foxtrot one five A magazine of 15mm science fiction wargaming

Published six times a year

If you’re interested in writing or doing art for us, please contact the editorial staff

at:

jason.weiser@gmail.com

Co Editors: Jason Weiser and George GrealyCo Editors: Jason Weiser and George GrealyCo Editors: Jason Weiser and George GrealyCo Editors: Jason Weiser and George Grealy