Assault on Tsanna Ca. 2762 - Jump Infantry and Vampire Dropship

- September 25, 2022

Airborne all the way!

In 2762 House Davion launched a limited offensive against the Cappelan Confederation targeting three worlds; Tsanna among them. It was on Tsanna that a young member of the Davion royal family saw action - but it was not at the helm of a mighty battlemech, or in the cockpit of an aerospace fighter gallantly engaged in a duel in the sky. No, in this case Duchess Alexandra Davion was going to fight for her nation as the most vulnerable combatant in modern warfare - in the Infantry.

As was the case for all the house sourcebooks, the very best nuggets of lore are found in the call-out boxes which detail an ‘excerpt’ from some memoir, interview, or radio cuts. In this case it was a whole page detailing the Duchess’ participation in the initial assault landings on Tsanna against House Liao troops. Riding into combat aboard a Vampire Dropship her jump platoon is inserted in a combat drop.

Vampire Dropships

The Vampire dropship is a unique beast, designed to be more aerospace fighter than dropship; it is akin to a small craft in characteristics. They are fast, aerodynamic and designed to insert a company of jump troops over a drop zone through several exit hatches set into the floor. In the attack on Tsanna the Vampire Dropship in question was the “Kickass Special” - how such a name got past the naval board one wonders, but hey maybe it was an affectionate nickname for a much duller official title. In any case the Kickass Special would serve its final tour on Tsanna, after taking ground fire over the DZ and getting its troops out into the air she plummeted to the ground; presumably killing the pilot and crew still aboard.

Loadmasters after an Infantry
drop in a Vampire Dropship

The Duchess’ combat tour on Tsanna did not last much longer. In the fury of ground fire striking the Kickass Special the occupants were thrown around like rag dolls (if you have ever been standing, hooked up on a static line jump in a C130 which has a sudden drop in altitude you can relate). As a result, once out of the aircraft she realized her jump pack was damaged and that she was plummeting to the DZ and to her doom. When I first read this, having been a paratrooper many years ago, my first thought was “what? No reserve chute?” But hey - it's 80’s Battletech and the early lore is filled with things that a military man looks askance at; but you shrug and suspend disbelief. I mean we already accept giant walking tanks which realistically would have all kinds of problems with weight distribution etc, why quibble over some minor points right?

Anyway; the Duchess is saved at the last second by a platoon mate who crashes into her to slow her down resulting in both suffering some pretty bad injuries which no doubt took them out of the fight.

You can still look cool even when your just a PBI.

For this project I went with the solar shift Jump Infantry from Death Ray Designs. These are possibly some of the best infantry miniatures I have ever worked with; they are a bit oversized for the scale which makes them a bit hard to work with if you are looking for motorized or mechanized vehicle proxies, but for foot, jump or quad mounted troops they are outstanding. Did my best to give the jump jet effect on some of the troops. I like how it turned out but will definitely refine this over time. Figure by the time I get to painting elementals I should have it down. These guys are painted in Militarum Green from GW contrast paints with speed paint white from army painters for the smoke, dark gray for weapons and a bit of bright orange for the jet exhaust. The Vampire dropship model has speed paint grey applied in two light coats. I have found that the speed paints work really well for battlespace miniatures; they are so small that using decals is not really going to happen so you don’t have to worry about the paint reactivating when you apply and the metal takes speed paints really well; it brings out the otherwise very small detail nicely. I still prefer regular paints for the larger miniatures, but for infantry and small battlespace models the speed paints and contrast paints are the way to go.