AFVs for the Fictioneers

The Fictioneers mini line is primarily all infantry with some heavier support weapons and a few light grav recon or close air support vehicles. Because of this, the game rules that we are writing focuses on those. However, there are a lot of other super cool vehicle models available in metal, plastic, 3d print, and/or scratch build varieties. Many of us already own some of them and want to see them used on the tabletop or just want that aspect added to the battlefield so heavier vehicles will be included in the rules. To keep the rules light (fast to play and easy to learn), we are keeping the vehicle descriptions somewhat generic/vague and are only varying the armor rating and the weapons on vehicles. We will likely also end up with movement modifies for them as well. This will allow for creating a lot of variety without adding too many extra rules.

Below are the hover vehicle models that I have and want to use with the Fictioneers. They are Heavy Artillery, Tank, Missile Launcher, Fusion Gun, Light Transport (Jeep) w/Tri-Barrel Gun, Light Transport w/Booster Engines, and Light Transport w/Booster Engines & Medium Laser Cannon. In future post, I will go over an easy craft project on how to make some AVFs out of scraps if you want to add these to your game table on the cheap. The models shown below are all metal pieces that were originally designed by Stan Johansen to accompany the Space Marines rules which was released in 1977 by ‘FanTac Games’ Publishing. I have recently purchase the IP rights, molds, and masters from Stan for that line (including all three scales of the Star Armor line) plus his Normans & Vikings and some other items. I will be offering minis from these for sale next year. Proceeds from these sales will help fund restoration efforts and creation of additional sculpts to fill in some gaps (such as kneeling and seated poses for each of the factions).

The Light Transport (Jeep) vehicle is particularly versatile. It comes with many holes for mounting weapons or booster engines. It can transport infantry and/or tow weapons too heavy for the infantry to carry. They can be used to rapidly deploy a lot of troops/gear, and then switch to recon missions.

Because I currently only have a limited number of vehicle pieces I did not paint them to match any one faction. In fact, I purposely painted every vehicle in a different color scheme. This allow for easy reassignment form game to game to any faction that needs to use them. My ‘in-game’ justification for not having custom camo paint schemes is that the vehicles all use digitally adaptive camouflage technology to constantly update their color schemes to provide the best protection. We used all metallic and color-shift type paints to create a mystical sci-fi look. I think they go nicely with my planet Sitan landscape colors.

Now adding vehicles (and buildings) allows for another fun item to be added to make the table top look great. Imagine confidently rolling across the battlefield in your hover tank. I guess rolling isn’t the right word if you have a hover tank. “Hovering”? That doesn’t sound right either. We’ll stick with rolling for now. Anyway… you are minding your own business when suddenly, it becomes the worst day ever. You are hit broadside by a missile and everything goes up in smoke and flames. What you would like to have now is one of these…

A smoke/fire marker that you can place on (or next to) any vehicle or building model. This is a super quick, cheap, and simple craft. First of all, I didn’t invent this. This exact lighted marker has been around for at least 10 years… and the no lighted OG style has been around since the 1970s or more.

The OG style is a cotton ball stretched out and fluffed up a bit. Glue that to a heavy base such as a metal wash or coin. Some scissor for shaping, then spray paint lightly with some black. The correct coverage will still have some white showing, some grayish spots, and then darker black towards the top. For fire effect instead of just smoke, add some red and yellow paint near the base. I did not make one of this style to show but there are plenty of tutorials elsewhere if you want this style.

The lighted style is very similar in construction. Get a flickering LED Tealight candle. Around here, we can get 2 or 4 in a pack for a dollar pretty regularly. These LED candles have an on/off switch and battery tray door on the bottom making them very easy to use, and they should last for many years. You will also need some cotton balls, Polyester Fiber Fill, or loose wool fiber. All work fine but the Poly Fiber is the easiest to work with. Those are the two main ingredients. I used a combo of cotton and wool because that is what I had on hand. You will also need some glue: A hot glue gun will make assembly very quick and easy, but E6000 or similar will also work fine. A pair of scissors for timing up a little. Lastly, some black (and possibly red) spray paint. The steps are: 1. Remove the plastic ‘flame’ from the candle. 2. Glue the fiber around the base of the candle and then across the top close to the bulb. 3. Trim around the bottom of the candle to neaten up any long stray fibers. 4. Optional – spray some red around the base area. 5. Lightly spray black all over it leaving some white & grayish areas (avoid an even coat). 6. Leave this to dry… test it out… then impress your friends!

The thing that I like about the LED style (besides the cool fire look), is that if your game rules allow for some vehicle/building destroyed results to cause a fire and some do not, or if the fire goes out after a certain number of turns, or if it can be put out by your troops; this marker can just be switched off to indicate the fire is out. One marker, two states. I love it when items do double duty.

I’ll add the needed items for this project to our Links page. Let us know how yours turns out!