Uneasy alliances; a Mekatac AAR

With the first battle between the giant mechs a close thing, both the Yellow Big Boy and Khaki Firebug decided they might need some help tackling their opponent. In the lower left corner we have the Dachô (in red) joining forces with Big Boy for this battle. In the top right corner the Warbot (in green) has sided with Firebug.

Not far from the site of the last battle, the teams line up on opposite sides of district.

The first missiles from Big Boy hit the side of the house.

The others move up along their respective flanks, plasma cannons charged and ready.

The Warbot and Big Boy exchange fire, scoring a few hits each. Warbot's targeting computer is damaged, meanwhile Big Boy is shocked and his systems starts rebooting, leaving him unable to do anything next round!

Firebug advances toward the now immobilized robot.

With a chance to deal some real damage, Firebug and Warbot seems to have the advantage..

His system is still re-booting leaves Big Boy in a exposed state..

..But as not as unfortunate as he looked at first glance. While Warbot manages to score some telling hits that leaves the rotary cannon wrecked, Firebug can't manage to close into firing distance!

Finally getting a break, the red mech, the Dachô is able to target the exposed back of Firebug with his missile launcher. Not only hitting, but managing to scramble the mechs targeting systems with a critical hit!

Keeping the pressure high, a volley of ballistic and missile hits again rock the yellow mech, causing it's big missile launcher to explode right in it's hand..

..Big Boy gives as good as he gets though. Launching a spread of missiles from his single funcional weapon, he knocks Warbot over with a series of well placed blasts!

Firebug now faces a hard choice; Does he turn to face and slug it out with the fresh Dachô, or press on against the damaged Big Boy, hoping to get into range and possibly finish him off? Going in for the kill, he fires a single plasma cannon, melting the final weapon off of the ailing yellow mech.

While Warbot gets back on his feet, Firebug and Big Boy smash into one another.

In the ensuing brawl Big Boy gets the upper hand, dealing some damage to his opponent.

Point-blank plasma cannon rounds and a barrage from the green mech finally brings Big Boy down, giving a slight edge to the temporary khaki/green alliance.

Reaching optimal firing range as his foes are distracted, the Dachô opens fire with all he's got. Searing plasma and missiles slams into the back of Firebug, causing system chock and forcing a reboot! The Kakhi mech is really on his last leg now, and not in a favorable position. In that single strike, the red mech took the initiative and the advantage from his foes!

Having fired both his cannons at once he is now reduced to his single missile system as the plasma cannons recharge. Over-eager, or perhaps over-confident, he misses the rebooting Firebug.

Quick to take advantage of this lack of incoming fire, Warbot strides forth, firing all he's got.

Autocannon rounds tear into the hulking mech, ripping armor and damaging targeting systems, just as Firebug is coming back online..

Pushing the reactor to the max, Firebug turns from the smouldering wreck and charges into point blank range, before unleashing both plasma cannons into the face of the enemy.

The damage is extensive, and though he fails to completely disable the enemy mech, the damage is bad enough for the Dachô to surrender before being destroyed.

Victory for Firebug and Warbot!

It was interesting to play a game with more mechs, as this made all the choices more important. I'm pleased to see that my initial idea of using a big mech and some support units per side looks pretty feasibly now that I've seen a few units in action at the same time. 

I'm still working on the support units, it will probably be some traditional units from my various armies for the fringe-setting.

The work on the next few terrain tiles are coming along, I have a few more buildings to make before unveiling them though.

 In space combat featuring mechs I think I have hit on a workable way to handle movement that makes it fun and different from the regular movement in Horizon wars, even if it in no way simulate newtonian movement as that would take too much fun out of the game and make it much slower. So I hope to share that soon, I need just need to test it some more first! 

Til next time!

Halfway post for the new terrain tiles; and the 5th stompy robot all done!

Having come just about halfway, I thought that this is a perfect opportunity to showcase the tiles together for the first time:

As you can see, it's shaping up to be a quite substancial town, even if there's some holes where the remaining tiles go. Seeing it all together, I'm rather tempted to add another few tiles. We'll see if that happens..

On the topic of finishing things, the fifth Giant Stompy Robot is all painted up!

Looking suitably menacing with it's claws and quadruple rotary cannons, it towers over all but the biggest of mechs. Slimmer and more humanoid, it's design is somewhat of a departure from the remaining 4, although not as much as the red giant mech, the Dachô.

While I'm still looking for a good way to make and introduce some smaller units to aid the Giant mechs, I've been plugging away at both the 3/6mm space minis and started preparing another set of tiles, no 6 and no 7, respectivly.

The AAR of my 2 on 2 giant robot battle will be forthcoming, but due to some internet issues I've not made as much progress as I had originally intended. I'm hoping it will be finished in a few days though!

Til next time! 

Some Mecha things I've been working on.

The last few weeks I've been sculpting quite a lot, and not only the Giant Stompy Robots I've been showing off lately.
I also had a few ideas for some more regular sized mechs and some other models too:

All these guys are trial pieces for an idea that popped into my head while making the BSRs, namely mech space battles. Both VOTOMS and Gundam (some of my favorite shows ever) feature a fair bit of mecha fighting in space and while I haven't decided if this is going somewhere yet, I like some of the initial attempts enough that I've stuck with it. The shot isn't great, but I hope to share some better ones soon.

This piece is might be hard to recognize at present, but it is the main hull for a super-heavy tank. All of the darker pieces are hardpoints for various armaments. I might add a main turret or a rocket battery to the hull,  we'll see.

With numerous ideas in my head and no way to decide which to pursue, I went ahead and made all of them. Two inspired by various japanese mechs and battletech to some extent, while the rightmost two were equal parts battletech and mech image searches.

Not unlike the big red Stompy Robot I showed off some time ago, this one is mostly inspired by the Battletech Marauder with some inspiration from some 15 and 6mm walkers I own. 

Similarly, this walker is also mostly inspired by various Battletech and Mechwarrior sources, primarly the videogames. Armed with a fusion cannon and missile launcher, it's a versatile mech.

First of the more humanoid mechs is a model inspired by the Atlas mech from battletech. Unlike it's source model, it carries mostly energy weapons, a fusion cannon and laser on it's arms. However an integral missile launcher and/or a auto cannon can be fitted into the chest of the mech.

The last of the new prototypes is inspired by the gundam ZAKU II, one of my all-time favorite mechs. It only carries the hand-held weapon in the standard configuration, but I have a few optional extras in mind for some of the mechs coming off the assembly line.


That's all the WiP mechs I have to show for now, but there will be some more pics as I finish up the painjobs on all the latter, and when I finish assembly and painting on the small mechs/power armor and super-heavy tank in the beginning of the post.

I had a 2 on 2 Giant robot battle this weekend, which I hope to share in a few days, as soon as all the photos have been sorted and I've had a chance to write something up. I'm looking into making some assault transports for the proposed 3mm space battle mecha WiP models showcased as well, but we'll see how far I get with that right now.
There is also a group of photos of the terrain tiles together, showing how it might look all assembled, minus the gaps where there are still tiles to be made of course.

Til next time!

Terrain board project; Tile no 5 all finished and the 5th stompy robot WiP pics

Sculpting new models takes up quite a lot of time, that being said, I managed to finish the next part of my terrain tiles:

Containing offices for the judiciary as well as various city officials, this big building is the administrative nerve-centre of the area. Local apointees as well as Unity bureaucrats hold court here.

Just like every other piece, the building can be removed to allow different setups or make room for other structures.

With this tile finished I'm slightly more than halfway done with the original 9 ones. At current pace I fear I won't finish the remaining pieces before my trip next month, especially if I keep finding distractions like I have been so far.

On that note, I have a pair of pics of the 5th giant stompy robot for one of the side projects:

I've just managed to base-coat and paint some gun barrels so far, but this multi-armed giant is a dangerous close-in fighter. With 4 clawed arms as well as 4 rotary cannons, his reach is limited, but packs a real punch up close, ripping armor plating and firing point-blank into it's foes.


I have a few more new mechs I've been tinkering with lately, and what could be the beginning of a 3mm project as well. I'll share more with you about this in a few days if all goes well.

Til next time!

Another set of Giant Stompy Robots, and the beginnings of the 5th terrain tile

As I finished up the last pieces for another set of smaller mechs, I decided to finish up the paint on two more of the giant stompy robots I've been working on:

The two mechs, with a Zephyr infantry unit for scale.

My interpretation of the MORAV robot that I was recently tipped off to by Stroezie on the TWW forums. I decided to keep some of the design elements, but I changed up some things, including but not limited to the shape and size of various elements and made a bigger shoulder cannon. Unnamed as of yet, he wears the colors of Zephyr, just in case he is needed in Horizon wars at some point.

Inspired by some mechs I saw on various art sites and one of my favorite battletech mechs, the Marauder, this robot came out quite good. It's was also dubbed the best of the 5 I've put together so far by my lovely wife, so it has that going for it as well!

When putting the mechs away I managed to drop the red one, and it came apart in a few places. Thankfully my wife was kind enough to pick up some more glue for me on her way home. Thanks to her, I managed to put humpty dumpty back together again and with some touch-ups he is good as new!


I haven't managed to finish up a terrain tile this week, but I've laid the groundwork for one:

As usual I've laid out the roads and ground texture. The central platform will hold an admin building of some sort, a combination of city hall, judiciary and the like.

Over the next few days I intend to finish up this tile and make the building that will sit on it as well. I might even manage to paint up the first few of the new mechs too..

Til next time!