Gruntz 15mm: Ghost War Campaign: Ghost Fleet troops WIP

Ghost Invasion Forces

The Synod is a huge collection of various races. Some of these races started life as artificial intelligences. These intelligences eventually grew and evolved and became new life. These early intelligences wished to be treated as any other sentient being and took the Synod to the courts.

After many years threading their way through the court system and eventually winning in a landmark decision the artificial intelligences who could pass certain tests were allowed to become full citizens of the Universal Synod of Worlds. They called their new race, the Consensus of Minds or just the Consensus. They claimed dead worlds that none of the other races wished to invest in. These worlds were often rich in metals and cilicates. Eventually the Consensus became the premier operator of mines and factories in the Synod. They churned out legions of bots and drones designed to operate for extended periods in hostile and dangerous

environments.

The Consensus spread throughout the Synod and became very influential in all areas of business and manufacturing. Entire systems had been turned into vast hives of drones and massive intelligences that controlled them. Some of these intelligences began showing signs of instability and eventually all communications were lost with some systems. Any ship that entered these ghost systems never returned. They were quarantined and embargoed. No ships were allowed to enter or leave the system. The

Ghost systems have slumbered undisturbed for centuries...

....until now

The Ghost forces rely heavily on energy weapons and vast armies of drones.Whether in space or dirtside they seek to overwhelm defending forces with swarms of smaller ships and a phalanx of energy weapons.

I really enjoy writing in this universe of the Synod an Ghost Wars against the Terrans and their allies. I look forward to using the army on the tabletop against my Terrans.

So I wanted a huge army of drones and I collect RISK games so I cannibalized one of my RISK games (Star Wars: the Clone Wars) and used the Battle droids to find new life as Ghost Fleet Combat Drones. 

I wrote a series of campaigns for Stargrunt and Dirtside II  last years while I was recovering from knee surgery (2 months of no walking and one month of walking on crutches or cane). I have been looking for troops to use as Ghost Combat drones and used various proxies over the last year while I looked for an army. Then I had to come up with a basing plan. 

I tried to base these guys on pennies but just didn't like moving all of these dudes around in large games so settled for a base of three large Drones per base with two of these bases per squad with a two drone Squad attachment and a medic or sub commander to round it out to 9 drones per squad. (this army likes units as multiples of three) 

The Scouts are based two to a base for two squads of four. They will have active camo and light them up as support units for the army.

I needed a way to get my drones from their support ships in orbit to the planet. They didn't seem like the guys to use large an easily target-able transports. What I came up with was a drop pod that doubles as a teleportation device. The Drop-Porter falls through the atmosphere and lands on the planet before activating its mysterious swirling ball of energy through which the drone legions pour through. 

Oh but wait it gets better. Not only does it transport drones to the planet but also functions as a heavy weapons emplacement once the troops are through. 

The emplacement not only fires artillery for long range support but also a full auto laser to deter ground troops. It can also fire on aircraft that stray too close and swat missiles and rockets out of the sky providing a dome of protection for the troops.

Ghost Drones emerge from swirling balls of energy to confront a Terran Marine position.