POWER ARMOUR!

Well hello everyone for what is certain to be the last post of 2019 by me. This one has been a long time coming so I hope you enjoy what I have to show you today/tonight. Let me introduce El Grupo de Contención (Containment Team) who are the final set of miniatures for el Ministerio de Investigación Burocrática (Ministry of Bureaucratic investigation). These miniatures are also from Elhiem Figures just like the last couple posts. Let's take a closer look.

Iron Man's somewhat more subtle cousins.

While the men and women in black make up the bulk of the MIB there are others who are trained and equipped to deal with those really, really persistent gas leaks. Most notable are El Grupo de Contención (Containment Team). Wearing the most advanced individual protective gear available to any Oronegrean forces, they fall somewhere between infantry and armour.

Group photo. Somewhat ruined by the shadow of the Camera.

In terms of protection they can easily shrug of most assault rifle rounds up to 7.62mm. Protection does extend up to 12.7mm (the 50 cal) however only for the torso and thighs, which are covered by the densest and thickest plates. Resistance to higher calibre rounds is limited to shots from long range and glancing blows. Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear protection is a central feature of the armour as is resistance to explosives. In short it can take a punch, the same kind of punch a light tank can take.

Another photo of the platoon

It should be noted though that protection is not even across body. The rear of the legs do not have any armoured plates to protect them and there's gaps on the underside of the arms too. This is mitigated by their advanced optics, digital battlefield awareness system and HUD prevent any threat sneaking up to attack these vulnerable locations undetected. Much like a tank it is important to consider the balance, in a triangle, between armour, mobility and firepower. So let's move onto the second factor of mobility. 

The platoon splits up into three fireteams each of four troopers.

Unsurprisingly given the level of armoured protection the armoured suit is significantly heavy. Even individual plates are hard to lift and a whole suit cannot be moved unaided. That's where the power aspect of the power armour comes in. Each suit has a basic internal mobility system, which prevents the suit from crushing its user. However, the primary source of mobility is the large exoskeleton which enables the wearer to run, jump and roll as if they were wearing gym wear. This exoskeleton is somewhat vulnerable due to being exposed but failure of the system is uncommon even when it received fire.

Some individual shots. This one shows off the wasteland theme of the base with dead grasses. A homage to Fallout the classic post apocalyptic game, which also heavily features power armour.

Finally we turn to firepower. Here things become less extraordinary. Usually it's just your basic selection of infantry weapons. There's some more exotic weapons, such as miniguns, available but these are rarely used. Assault rifles and general purpose machine guns are the norm. Light anti-tank weapons are sometimes brought out however the troops also carry a selection of grenades, which given the exoskeleton can be thrown over long distances accurately. This provides an alternative to rocket launched grenade systems.

Oddly for top secret forces these troops often wear Oronegrean flag patches. Although if you see them you are unlikely to be able to tell anyone after.

Overall then these forces are not the kind of people you as an extraterrestrial, or supernatural individual really want to encounter. Far less so if you are just a run of the mill human being. Which is a distinct and horrifying possibility. Despite belonging to the MIB these units are called into military operations. They are one of the very few groups who have the privilege to work with Los Angeles Negros, Black Angels, in combat operations. However, this only occurs when explicitly invited by the angels. Who, much to the horror of the MIB, are somehow able to contact the bureau but cannot be reached by the very agency which is able to locate a rogue alien slow gas leak, in a cave, in the jungle, at midnight on the other side of the globe, have never been able to track down their even more secretive allies.

The lighter green exoskeleton clearly visible in this shot. It is linked into the large "backpack" which serves as the power unit for the armour, a storage compartment, the battlefield computer and communication equipment.

Moving onto the miniatures themselves I must say that I am rather impressed. There's some areas where detail is lost and some holes not fully filled. However, the proportions are very good and detail is, upon the whole, excellent. 7.5/10

Heavy weapons troopers wear a slightly different variant of the suit. Notably the smaller "backpack" and larger helmet

In other news I attended my first meeting of the Auckland Wargaming Club. Watched a few games and got to show off these figures who were as yet unfinished. Wish these figures see any action on the miniature battlefield sometime soon? Well let's see, watch this space.

Ammunition belts unroll from within the "backpack". The heavy weapons version is easier to open to allow resupply of the internal ammunition magazine.

One final comment before leaving it to the photos and captions. Deciding upon the camouflage was quite a fun exercise. I decided to take that ambiguity between whether these units were infantry or armour and represent that through camouflage. The choice was for a four tone pattern, dark green base, with khaki patches bordered by sand on top and black below. This was influenced by some cold war tank patterns altered to work on the smaller plates of the power armour suit. 

Front on view highlights the different helmet design with wider visor. This allows a wider field of vision without use of a HUD.

Despite the weight of the suit these soldiers are highly mobile. Their operations require rapid response. Armour substitutes subtlety. When you can't take the time to sneak in you must instead survive inevitable fire coming your way.

So I have paid homage to the Fallout franchise but I will also mention the classic novel Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Have to say I prefer the mechanical look to the naturalistic one described in the books.

Have to say that I probably wouldn't have had so many photos of so few figures but my camera ran out of batteries after photographing three. So instead of deleting some and using more of others I went with what I had.

This figure I particularly like for the pattern of the backpack. The "logic" of the pattern is clear to see. Whereas on other figures it is harder to make out after the washes were applied, the four tones stand out here.

Final photo, gun and helmet mounted flashlights are clear to see.

So that was quite a long post. Included many things that would previously been included on a post on the Oronegro blog, which usually focuses on the "in universe" aspects. However, I am still thinking about how to approach the story so before that's clear I am going to hold off posting there.

Also time to say greetings to the blog's latest follower Miguel Angel Martinez hope you enjoy what you find here. Welcome.

Now to you all I shall wish you all the best for the holidays and the new year. I look forward to bringing you exciting and varied content. Until then have a good day/night.