Hammer's Slammers

Hi all,

While we're talking Epic 40K conversions for DSII, could any of you point me
to some info for David Drake's Hammer's Slammers? Source material on the web
and and your thoughts on DS stats would be appreciated.

On Aug 13, 1997 at 12:00:22 PM, Rodrick Campbell <rcampbell@usachoice.net>
wrote:

> While we're talking Epic 40K conversions for DSII, could any of you

I haven't seen anything on the web -- the only thing that immediately
comes to
mind is the 198x _Hammer's Slammers_ game by Mayfair, which was
basically
_PanzerBlitz_ with hovertanks.  The only info it had was the counter
values (plus the essays from the original book).

On Aug 13, 1997 at 11:59:51 PM, Mikko Kurki-Suonio <maxxon@swob.dna.fi>
wrote:

> The books perhaps? I've no knowledge of other material, and even Drake

> isn't too specific about technical details. E.g. I don't think he ever

> mentions how fast a Slammers tank can go -- but we do know tanks can't

> cross water but combat cars probably can (see Rolling Hot).

I remember at the time noting the incosistancy between _Rolling Hot_ and

Mayfair's boardgame, where the hovertanks (luftpanzers?) are unimpeded by
water.

This also negated a scenario I wanted to try out, where a couple of Slammer's
tanks hang out on the bottom of a lake, wait for the enemy to overrun the
area, then come out of the lake in the middle of the night and hit the
encamped bad guys.

> On Tue, 19 Aug 1997, Christopher Weuve wrote:

> BTW, I think it was _Rolling Hot_, which, IIRC, is also the book where

Yes, or actually they accidentally fired an AT shell that wasn't quite smart
enough... i.e. they didn't aim for the friendly, but the shell picked it up. I
don't recall why IFF or similar didn't work.

Rolling Hot is also one of the few stories where combat cars go against "real"
armored vehicles (and win).

It's actually a bit funny. Slammers is all about panzers, right? Well, if you
look at it, the majority of the stories actually concern infantry or

combat cars.

I've recently been reading David Drake's Hammer's Slammers, after putting the
task off for far too long (I read his "Northworld" series long ago, and
absolutely hated it--this managed to put me off Drake for quite a
while), and I have been toying with the idea of creating the Slammers for
DSII. This, of course, means that I have to find some proper minis.... I've
decided to use the DSII version of the "Slammer" hovertank, both because it's
a nice figure and because it fits the descriptions given in the stories pretty
well. What I need to find are a good match for the Slammer's Combat Cars. They
are "seven meters long and three wide at the base, the armored sides curving
up like a turtle's back to the open fighting compartment in the rear."
(Hammer's Slammers, page 85). Any
ideas?  The infantry doesn't much concern me--not at this scale.  And
mid-tech troops ought to do.

As for the paint scheme, it is implied that the Slammer's vehicles are all
bare metal, covered only by dust and rust. Easy enough, but does anyone have
any idea what color I could use to represent Iridium armor?

On Mon, 23 Feb 1998 20:52:50 -0500 John Crimmins <johncrim@voicenet.com>
writes:
> I've recently been reading David Drake's Hammer's Slammers,

I always imagined a German SdKfz 250 or 251 half-track from WW2. You'd
have to convert. I've got a plastic 1/35 scale SdKfz 250 that I did this
for StarGrunt. I built a frame around the track areas and around the wheel
areas. Then I put kleenex on it and soaked it in elmer's glue and water. When
it dried, it looked like a fabric skirt. Now I just have to base it with
cotton on the bottom to represent the dust. Looks great! I
think it might be a trickier job to convert the 1/285 figures, though.
Or, it might be a whole lot easier! Maybe some putty or something, slapped
onto the tread areas, would work.

> On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, John Crimmins wrote:

> I've recently been reading David Drake's Hammer's Slammers,

Just finished it. Great military SF.

> As for the paint scheme, it is implied that the Slammer's

I kinda think a dull, slate grey would go well for the Slammers.

> As for the paint scheme, it is implied that the Slammer's

I'd always thought the HS combat vehicles were a weathered kahki color to
match the slammers uniforms. There was a nice picture of one of the GZG
panzers in pratical war gamer two years ago. It had a green and brown cammo
paint job IIRC.

For iridium I'd use a gun-metal type color. The UK paint manufacturer
Humbrol did/does a metallic range that you can polish called
'metal-cote'
, they do a very good gun-metal and steel. Probably not available in the
US?
Tamiya also do a gun-metal.

sincerely

> Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 20:52:50 -0500

> I've recently been reading David Drake's Hammer's Slammers,
Isn't that the dark greenish layer of muck used to date asteroid hits on the
earth??

KR

> As for the paint scheme, it is implied that the Slammer's
Iridium is a dull silver color. You can take a look at the exact color of
Iridium by visiting a good office supply shop. Many of the quality fountain
pens have an Iridium point (they use it to reduce tip wear). I know that
Shaffer does and I think that Mont Blanc does also.

> Geo-Hex wrote:

It's an element that is found more often in space objects than in the Earth,
so can be used to determine if an meteor or something has impacted in an area
(the rationale being that if you find concentrations way above the baseline,
then you've got a probably strike.)

It's used as evidence in the 'Asteroids killed the Dinosaurs" theory, as at
the depth in the Earth corresponding to 65 million years ago, there's a very
thin layer of Earth where the concentration of iridium is above the baseline.

Some facts:

Symbol: Ir, Atomic Number: 77, Atomic Weight: 192.217 Colour: Silvery White

The name iridium is appropriate, for its salts are highly coloured. Iridium is
white, similar to platinum, but with a slight yellowish cast. It is very hard
and brittle, making it very hard to machine, form, or work. It is the most
corrosion resistant metal known, and was used in making the standard metre bar
of Paris, which is a 90% platinum-10% iridium alloy. This metre bar has
since been replaced as a fundamental unit of length (see Krypton).

Iridium is not attacked by any of the acids nor by aqua regia, but is attacked
by molten salts, such as NaCl and NaCN.

Courtesy of:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/web-elements/index.html

> From the WWW site, they do a comparison of hardness, density, and
(8-) )

J.

> Brian Bell wrote:

Off on a tangent, the Bolos from Keith Laumer's books are armored
        in "flint-steel", which is described as being "iodine-colored"

> On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, John Crimmins wrote:

> I've recently been reading David Drake's Hammer's Slammers,

You mean there are more than two Northworld books?

> stories pretty well. What I need to find are a good match for the

German half-tracks are probably the best starting point... IF you're
willing to ignore the fact that voluntarily taking an opentop vehicle in

DSII is simply braindead (i.e. play scenarios only if you want an even match).

> The infantry doesn't much concern me--not at this scale. And

It should. Slammers TO&E is roughly 50% infantry, IIRC. Even more funny,

Slammers is supposed to be the ultimate tank thing -- but look at how
many main characters in the stories are ground pounders instead of tankers. I
guess 170 tonnes of invulnerability around you doesn't make for a good
story...

> On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:

> Off on a tangent, the Bolos from Keith Laumer's books are

Easy. Standard silver finish, then a very deep purple wash.:)

> At 08:09 25/02/98 +0200, you wrote:
SNIP
> stories pretty well. What I need to find are a good match for the

SNIP
> --

Another possible starting point would be the Soviet BTR-152.

Speaking of the Slammers for DSII, has anyone got a good house rule for
powerguns, or do you just substitute existing weapons?

> Drew M Losos wrote:

Wouldn't a DFFG (DFG? Don't remember the exact acronymn) be equivalent?
Granted, the powergun plasma probably isn't the same temperature as a fusion
blast, but the net effect would probably
be similar.  (8-)

J.

> Speaking of the Slammers for DSII, has anyone got a good house rule for

There was a good article on just this topic posted a couple months ago. I'm
sure someone still has it kicking around and would gladly send it off to you.
Unfortunately, I'm not that person.

> -----------------------------------------------------------------------

> Speaking of the Slammers for DSII, has anyone got a good house rule for

I posted my "Slammers in DSII" article to the list a few months back; as a lot
of people seem to have missed it, I can either post it again or email it
personally.

> On Mon, 23 Feb 1998 20:52:50 -0500 John Crimmins

Scotia (Simtac in the US) have an open-topped GEV in their 6mm range
that makes a passable combat car; funnily enough, it IS a converted SdKfz 251
with an added hover skirt!! It even has 3 (IIRC) pintle-mount gun
positions to represent the tribarrels....

> Drew M Losos wrote:
...Snip...(JTL)

Drew, My personal view of the 'Power Gun' concept is to consider it a Lazer
effect using fixed rounds of ammunition. The K.I.S.S. concept in action.

Bye for now,

> On Wed, 25 Feb 1998, Ground Zero Games wrote:

> I posted my "Slammers in DSII" article to the list a few months back;
as a
> lot of people seem to have missed it, I can either post it again or

Yeah, someone has reposted it. Thanks.

> From: Drew M Losos <losos@ecf.utoronto.ca>
as a
> > lot of people seem to have missed it, I can either post it again or

Where do I find it?