Brigade Models

Some great news for Hammer’s Slammers fans this week. The original Crucible rulebook hasn’t been available (at least from us) for a while, but this past weekend we took delivery of a new softback version.

What’s in this edition ?

There’s the basic rules; the First Appendix (with the Alien Autochthons); the Second Appendix with Elite Skills and Personnel; the Third Appendix with Tank Names for the Slammers; plus the Timeline. The rules have been corrected where mistakes were detected, plus extra material has been included, lifted directly from the supplements. Finally, many of the measurements included have been adjusted to favour 15mm models rather than the 28mm ones in the original hard-copy rule set.

What’s not in this Edition (compared to the hardback) ?

There’s no introduction from Dave Drake; no background about the Slammers or all of the other forces listed in the original. In fact most of the first 100 pages are missing. There’s also no painting guide (it was aimed squarely at 28mm vehicles after all); and many of the illustrations of 28mm vehicles have been replaced by 15mm ones.

With this rule set – plus the five supplements and play sheets from the website at hammers-slammers.com – you are ready to play Hammer’s Slammers.

We have both the paperback (which is lighter and thus cheaper to post than the hardback) and you can also get a PDF digital version from us if you prefer to read on your tablet or Kindle.

HSC-008 – Hammer’s Slammers:The Digital Crucible (softback) – £20.00
HSC-009 – Hammer’s Slammers:The Digital Crucible (PDF edition) – £9.99

The Han Chinese army is split into the Black Banner Guards and the People’s National Guard. Although both have ‘Guards’ on the end, the Black Banner get to ride round in fancy 8×8 APCs with big lasers on the roof, while PNG get nothing more than a bunch of trucks. The 15mm versions of the trucks have been out for a while, but the National Guard have had to wait until now for their turn in 6mm.

The main chassis is the 8×8 PAW MV-701, which can carry four TUs of infantry in the open rear bed, and a trailer can be added on to accommodate a further four TUs, although this does slow the vehicle down. For fire support, the PHL-18 is fitted with an 18-round rocket launcher capable of direct or indirect fire.

HS6-504 – MV-701 Truck and Trailer – £2.00
HS6-504a – MV-701 Truck – £1.50
HS6-504b – MV-792 Trailer – £0.75
HS6-504c – PHL-18 MRLS – £1.75

Baffin’s Legion makes an appearance in the second part of the story ‘The Warrior’, as the Hindi and Han forces clash over the paddy fields of the town of Morobad. While the Han are supported by the Slammers, the Hindis are reinforced by Colonel Baffin and his force of tank destroyers, armoured infantry and heavy artillery.

The Legion is the final force in The Warrior that we have yet to cover, so the arrival of this new set of 15mm miniatures allows you to play out the battle of Morobad on the tabletop. The Legion’s armoured might is concentrated in their M12 tank destroyers – these are similar to the existing M12L14 used by the Flaming Sword and ben Mehdi’s Legion, but with a 15cm gun and pintel flechette support weapon instead of the later version’s 20cm and tribarrel.

The infantry ride in two types of APC. The GD-804 is a conventional vehicle with a flechette HSW in an armoured mount, while the Ar842 is a twin-hulled, articulated vehicle mounting a heavy conebore in a remote mount on the roof of the front cab.

The GD-804 chassis is used in several support variants; the GD-806 has a twin 3cm calliope for air defence, while the -807 variant is equipped with a hypersonic missile launcher. The GD-814 is a dedicated command vehicle with a large box body – infamously it’s in one of these where Colonel Baffin meets his end.

The 806 calliope is also fielded in a ground-mount variant. This is fitted to a 4-wheel carriage with a gun shield to protect the crew. This weapon, designated the GR-806T, is generally towed by a variant of the GD-516 hover jeep.

For artillery support, the Legion field the GD-621 Hog, a large fixed-superstructure vehicle with a 21cm rocket howitzer.

If you’re putting together a Baffin’s Legion force, we suggest using our Polish figures for infantry.

HS15-2011a – M12 Tank Destroyer – £8.50
HS15-4503 – GD-804 APC – £8.00
HS15-4503a – GD-806 Calliope – £8.00
HS15-4503b – GD-807 Missile Vehicle – £8.00
HS15-4503c – GD-814 Command – £8.00
HS15-4504 – Ar842 Twin-Hull APC – £10.00
HS15-4505 – GD-621 21cm Hog – £8.50
HS15-4506 – GD-516 Hover Jeep – £3.00
HS15-4507 – GR-806T Towed Calliope – £3.50