Finally painting some Mechs!

 o/

In homage to the now hidden blue resin that this was printed in, the ruins on the base were painted blue.

Call sign: Yankee.

As promised in my last post, I painted up my Enforcer that took down the executioner with a lucky headshot. It seemed dumb to leave out it's lance mates, so they're in progress too...well, most of 'em. The Charger, deserves paint  for sponging a hideous amount of damage whilst refusing to simply die. However it's destined to go with The Buffet Assault Group, and as I lack their primer color currently, it remains in the mini case. Instead it was replaced in the lance by a Hunchback HBK-4SP. 

One of these is not like the others...

The Vallejo camo beige that these are all base coated with is anything but opaque. Thus, three successive coats were needed to achieve a consistent opacity. Thus whilst they were drying, I painted up a Clan Wolverine Zeta Galaxy Hoplite. This is a conversion to represent the Operation Klondike era HOP-4Cb, which is armed with a gauss rifle and SRM-6. I also painted up a base of motorized infantry to match which took no time at all. 

Stomping it's way thru the underbrush...

That yellow is such a bitch that I only added the accent stripes across the top side.

These are technically 10-ton wheeled APCs, but they're Savannah Master sized, so I used them as motorized infantry.

Oh, so you elitist Battletech fucks are going to play eh?

lol, I think that means the 40k crowd misses us...

No idea who made this, but it's awesome!

That remark was made tongue & cheek (well, mostly) by Neverness after he asked if I was gaming Saturday, to which I replied yes but not at the FLGS. 

Instead of a night of Kill Team Hoss came over for his first taste of the Clans, well sort of. In their battlefield debut, I was fielding my Operation Klondike era Clan Wolverine star. Essentially, all mechs were SLDF Royals, as the newer clan omni-mech and weapons technologies had yet to be invented. 

One of these is not like the others...

I was fielding a Royal Thunderbolt, Catapult and 3 Wolverine IIs. WestRider and I have discussed in the past the mediocrity of the Wolverine II's main weapon: the Ultra AC 5. That however of little concern because of the 30-40 UAC-5 rounds I fired over the course of the game, exactly TWO hit (and neither in the same volley, because that 8+ roll on the cluster chart is a sheer impossibility for me). 

Needless to say it was infuriating. 

UAC-5, double tapping needs a 4 to hit: it misses, SRM-6 needs an 8 to hit: it hits...seriously WTF?!?

Using superior technology vs. Hoss' Tech I 'Pentagon Powers' force (they were all Star League era mechs, barring a Jagermech refit, but even that was all Tech level I) ought to have been a cake wake, but alas aside from one lone turn in which my Catapult hit with everything and even rolled well on the missile clusters (THANK GOD FOR ARTEMIS IV!!!) my dice were having none of it. 

Hoss bringing the pain!

Instead I had the usual bane of my existence, and 8Q Awesome, with it's Griffin sidekick beating the snot out of my Catapult and Thunderbolt, which were only giving sporadically accurate fire in return. Hell, even Hoss's Urbie was giving my cat hell, whilst proving largely elusive to my return fire. I only managed to silence it's AC-10 in the last turn (couldn't hit that ammo though). 

Yeah...I think it's best not to lend that little guy out anymore.

Speaking of the Urbie, Hoss' list was approx. 600 points short and he was just going to go with that. I would have none of it however and loaned him NOOB! with a 4/4 pilot which clocked in at 580 points. Heh, I use standard urbies so much that I actually have all of that memorized. 

There was an actual strategy in play here as my Wolverines maneuvered into position, well maybe...

My shooting on the other side was decent so long as you ignore my UACs altogether, whilst Hoss was fairly accurate across the board. He wasn't too happy with the Wolverine's mobility though. Spoiled by my usual urbie centric, slow grinding attrition tactics, my fast moving trio that was intent to get into his backfield gave him fits! Especially when he realized that it really didn't matter which way his Jagermech faced, I would have a rear-armor shot! Not sure why he was concerned though given my die rolling...

I have you now! (apparently the dice didn't hear that)

In the end, the hour was late, and both sides were badly beaten though still on their feet, with only my Cat taking an engine hit following a snake eyes, vs. his Urbie losing the AC and a heat sink. We were going to go one more round in which the T-Bolt, Cat and possibly Awesome would all start to display their innards but Hoss instead ran up the white flag and we called it a night. 

T'was a good game all around, but I think my Wolverines need a bit of time in the ol' mini case contemplating their gunnery failures before they see the tabletop again.

(Clan) WOLVERINES!!!! Finished.

o/

Well, I guess that this is the unplanned part two of my prior post. 

The battlefields have temporally fallen silent, however at the same time the painting bug has kicked in as the allergy nightmare wanes (albeit slowly), and as such I've managed to finish all three of my Starter box Wolverines for my Clan Wolverine, Zeta Galaxy mech star (yeesh, that's a bit of a mouthful). 

The curse of starter box minis of all game systems: the lack of pose-ability.

I only bought a single starter box, traded my Shadowhawk for Hoss' Wolverine to get the 2nd one, and then bought a third off of ebay. I had considered getting a fourth but got over it. Three identical minis were enough to paint me thinks. 

Its just a jump to the left...

That and whilst well armored and quite maneuverable, they're a bit lacking in the offensive firepower department having only a UAC-5, MPL and SRM-6 with Artemis IV. They're good, but hardly a powerhouse unit. 

...and a step to the right!

(lol, sorry. But hey, have fun with the Time Warp stuck in your head for the rest of today!)

I varied up the blue and yellow trim, true it may not be proper nose art, but it gives each mech and its respective pilot a bit of individuality. Also one is stepping over the wrecked, rusted all to hell and half buried tank of some sort. Probably a victim of one of the Pentagon Wars.

Interestingly, Catapults are on both sides of the RSOK RAT tables, so this mini may go to the Wolverines as well...

Next in line is my Thunderbolt which can be seen already base coated behind my slightly converted Catapult (this pic was from a FB post I made earlier this week). 

(Clan) WOLVERINES!!!!

o/

No doubt the yellowy glow that is illuminating this mech has been cast by the fireball of its' latest victim...

The battlefields fell silent this past weekend due to a combination of real life (TM) interference and another savage pollen assault. However in the latter case, after ingesting a veritable witch's brew of medications I managed to clear my head enough for a bit of brush time. I finished my 1st (of 3) Clan Wolverines' Zeta Galaxy, Wolverine II. 

Oh and WestRider: those are PAULDRONS, not epaulets! ;-p

Its a starter box Wolverine, but works just fine as the Wolverine II (aka: 7H) version which is fitted with essentially the same (albeit upgraded) weaponry as the base model. I have 2 more in-progress, each with a slight variation on the blue and yellow stripes for a smidge of individuality.

Amusingly, the legs stripes almost look like pantaloons...