Another (yes, another !) new 15mm Hammers Slammers detachment fell off my painting table the other week. They almost happened by accident, but they were such a simple build and took very little time.
Strictly speaking it’s a troop, not a detachment – it’s only a half-sized unit. To create a full detachment, just add another identical troop. The United Defence Batteries are another of the specialist outfits from the Hammerverse, a unit tailored to perform one specific role but perform it well. The UDB are an elite air defence unit equipped with our new GS-1018 8-barreled rapid-firing calliopes (released last week) mounted on GEV chassis. That’s all they do – you hire the UDB to keep the skies above clear of enemy aircraft and artillery shells, and trust them to do that job perfectly. Of course, eight 2cm rapid fire powerguns will also make a mess of light armoured vehicles and infantry if you point them in the right direction ! They play a central role in the story Counting the Cost, which you can find in volume 2 of The Complete Hammer’s Slammers.
I wasn’t sure how to paint the UDB, so in the end I opted for a very simple dark grey scheme (German Panzer Grey) with green fabric skirts. The only colour was a couple of orange flashes on the side panels and the sensor blisters on the calliope turrets which I painted in blue. Decals were taken from the same Dom’s Decals vehicle names sheet as I used for the Foster’s Mercenaries names, and numbers were spares from our Heliodorus Regiment sheet. In the end the effect wasn’t as dark as I’d have liked – if I did them again I’d use a black base and drybrush it up with dark grey.
The UDB troop pack contains three GS-1108 Calliopes, one GS-1008 command vehicle (with optional radar instead of the rear turret) plus stowage packs.
HSD15-3301 – United Defence Batteries Calliope Troop – £32.00
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