More Battlemechs finished!

Working towards getting a full company of mechs for both my mercs and Lyran Guard, I recently finished a few more mechs for both sides:

First we have a few mechs belonging to the Lyran Guard of House Steiner:

A Zeus assault mech. Amongst the heaviest of mechs, the Zeus is a 80 ton beast common in the Lyran mech units.

The Hatchetman. A medium mech weighing in at 45 tonnes, it's the first mech with a full head ejection system and one of the few with a melee weapon as a standard loadout.

Last of the trio is a Wolfhound light mech. At 35 tonnes it's lighter than all the other Guard mechs I've painted up so far, but it's heavily armed for it's size with 1 large laser and 4 medium ones.

 The remaining mech belong to my yet unnamed mercenaries, bulking them up to 6 mechs, putting them half-way to a full company

The first mech is a Centurion. This 50 tonne medium mech is a capable fighter with a varied arsenal, most feared of which is the Luxor D-Series Autocannon/10.

The Banshee is a 95 tonne assault mech. Armed with a PPC, an Autocannon/5 and a small laser, its somewhat underarmed for it's size but carries a whopping 15 tonnes of armor.

A 75 tonnes Battlemech, the Orion is a well-rounded heavy mech with weapons to engage at most ranges.

The lightest of the Mercenary mechs, a 35 tonne Jenner. Very fast and with a respectable amount of firepower as well as jumpjets, the Jenner is a exellent scout and raider. 

 Finally we have another medium mech, the Clint. Weighing 40 tonnes and armed with both lasers and an autocannon/5, the Clint is however a bit of a technicans nightmare due to the use of lots of non-standard parts.


I did manage to take a few bonus pics of the Bullsharks after I gave them a wash I had evidently forgotten about. I owe thanks to the nice people over at the Battletech painting and customs group in FB for spotting that miss.

Anywhere, here is a few more pictures:

That's all that I have to share for the moment. In a few days I'll be going off to the UK for holliday and will be visiting Salute 2018 while there. Hopefully I'll be able to show off some new stuff when I get back.

Til next time!

Finished Bullsharks, painted Shapeways mechs and a few bits of terrain

Getting started is always the hardest part for me, so after last week's post it didn't take too long to finish up the WiP's I showed off and so here they are:

First the Battlemechs, Steel Warrior Studios Bullsharks (an interpretation of the classic Marauder)

As an added bonus, I finally settled on a color scheme for my mercs.

The yet unnamed merc company's first mech. Avoiding my go-to of "grey and something" I just decided to lift one of the NIJA/Sanada megacorp colors (one of my fringe-verse factions for those who haven't looked around this blog too much ) for my mercs. 

The two remaining mechs will form one half of the 2nd Lyran Guard lance, together with another heavy and possibly an assault mech.


My Shapeways mechs managed to get some attention as well, all 4 being completed the following evening.

A mixed bag of color schemes, but every single mech looks better with paint than before it, so that's a win in and of itself!

This first one was designed with mostly Battletech influences and painted to fit in with my Zephyr megacorp's forces.

Joining the same ranks as the first one with a matching paintjob, I'm a bit torn about the design of this one. Taking some inspiration from eldar Wraithlords and "battlemeching" it up, I think I might try re-designing this one at some point.

Not really painted up to belong anywhere in particular, the mech I titled "Boxmonster" is really supposed to stand out and I think that it manages that job pretty good. I got the inspiration from a LEGO mech I saw online, so the neat design is only partly my doing. That being said, I'm quite pleased with this one!

The last mech was my attempt at making a more clan-like battlemech, inspired by the Cauldron-born and similar designs. I'm not 100% happy with it, but for a first print it's acceptable. It's painted up to join the Warg Industries merc company.

These first prints have been fun to make, it's really cool to have something you designed on your computer as a real-life object in your hand. If I ever make any more, which is likely, it's also been good experience and hopefully I can do better next time around!

Finally I have the results of my recent attempt at using hot-wire cutters to shape some terrain. I decided to start with something basic that you can almost never have too much of;

Rocks

The two smoother ones in the back is just shaped with the wire cutter and then had extra grooves and details made by a knife. The two in the forground were carved out as more or less straight blocks, but then I used a heated blade not too dissimilar to a soldering iron to create the textured surface.

After painting a base layer of grey on the pieces I just drybrushed it in a few stages some to give a more worn look.

I have started thinking about making some more elaborate pieces now that I have a bit more experience trying to shape the material. We'll see what happens.

The next batch of battlemechs have been basecoated and are drying as I write this.

I'm also tinkering with Starport Scum a bit to have some mech and possibly combined arms battles using the system. I just love the versatility of the ruleset and hopefully it will allow me to have quick and quick battles with an adjustable level of detail.

Til next time!

Shapeways mechs in the flesh and more BT WiP

With lots of things fighting for my attention I haven't been able to make the time to pick up a brush before yesterday.

I'm hoping to change that and get some more work done, maybe even play a game or two in the coming weeks!

They are finally here, my first ever 3d-sculpted mechs. The image isn't great and the FUD doesn't really help the definition, but I hope to have some paint on them before long.

I also received my Bullshark minis from Steel Warrior studios. These mechs are a beautiful redesign of the original BT Marauder, itself based on the Macross Glaug. Two of them are going to join the earlier offerings as Lyran guard, with the last one either becoming a Kurita or Merc mech, as soon as I can decide on which I prefer..

That's all I had for now, but some simple pieces of terrain and such are soon ready for the camera, I hope to show them to you soon!

Til next time!

First post of 2018; A new crew and a few mechs

Now that the insanity that is the holiday season in retail have come and gone, I finally find some time to post some things that have been standing around almost finished since the end of last year.


Having read a fair bit of space opera as of late and following the exellent The Genesis Findings on TWW (Link), I started thinking about assembling a new crew of my own. Their ship is still in the construction yard, but the 2 principal members , along with some additional characters are all painted up:

The whole bunch, in no particular order of importance.

The yet unnamed captain on the left, with his AI partner in a mobile unit on the right. These two are the crew of the spaceship being constucted, ready to try and make it one the fringe.

Many good stories usually have someone provide a mission or job to our intrepid heroes to venture on, and the lady on the right is just that someone. To the left of her is a bodyguard, a wise precaution in an frequently unwise (and dangerous) galaxy. 

Last of the characters prepared for now is these three. A warrior in an unfamiliar armor, a seemingly normal woman in a dress and what is presumably a person in survival gear, including a gasmask. What do they have in common, and where their paths cross, who can say?


I also managed to finish up not only my first lance of Battlemechs, but also my customized unit of EM-4 mechs for the NTC:

The 1st lance. For those of you unfamiliar with Battletech, these mechs are painted up as Lyran Guard, part of armed forces of the Lyran Commonwealth ruled by House Steiner. The lance consists of  2 Warhammers to the left and 2 Flashmen to the right. All four are classified as heavy mechs.

In the non-BT mech category we have the new unit of NTC mechs, all made from EM-4 mechs and modded with various bits from GW, Heavy Gear and Maelstroms edge. 

These first two I originally made to be a paired team for another mech-based project that didn't really get off the ground, so I folded them into the NTC as possible commanders/super heavy units due to their extensive modifications.

And that is all I have to share in a state fit to display!

I am working on finishing up some buildings and bits of terrain, as well as the spaceship for the crew from the top of the post. A Mech or two might find it's way onto my table as well, as they are know to do.

Til next time!

Battlemechs, NTC's new equipment and some terrain WiP

I haven't gotten much done in the last few weeks, but I thought I'd show off some pieces that are nearly ready for the table:

 For the first time in many years, I've been painting some Battlemechs and they will probably even be used for Battletech! These four constitutes my first order from Steel Warrior studios and they are awesome, so there will most likely be more minis from them in the future. They will become my first lance of Lyran Guards, with some CGL and RPE/IWM mechs to flesh out most of the rest of the company.
 I've started thinking about opponents for them with FWL, DC or some Merc unit all being strong contenders. They just need some basing and then they are ready for the battlefields of the Inner Sphere!

 Not unlike a lot of HW players, I have quite a few EM-4 mechs. I decided that I wanted to make a few more conversions after the first two, so I got to work. The two right-most minis in the front row some of you might recognize as the original conversions I showed a pic of earlier this fall. In the end I made another few for a total of 7, but none of the others are as kitted out as the first two, who will likely be fielded as P4+ due to their extensive mods.
 These mechs are going to belong to the NTC since they only have the not-votoms mechs from before, giving them some bigger, stompier robots of their own.
 I'm trying to decide if I should make a dedicated batch of EM-4 conversions for another faction as well or just let them face off against either the NIJA or USS, who both already possess some EM-4 mechs in their ranks..

 I also got hold of a foam cutter and started experimenting with some rocks/small hills that are mech sized, to increase the amount of terrain that can actually block LoS for my various mechs.

 These two with their irregular shape, are supposed to be made out of volcanic rock.

Finally we have some more "traditional" rocks/hills. I think they look good enough, but we'll see how they appear with a first layer of paint..


That's what I'm working on right now that's at least close to finished, there are a few other terrain bits and the Blotz buildings that are coming along too, but not really much in terms of progress to show just yet.

Til next time!