Production! Production!

 o/

Technically, this isn't all of them...

This is more like 2ish weeks of painting or so. As mentioned above there is one more, a repaint of the (now former) Hotshot of the Whipits. That mech can be seen running around in my prior post. Here are the latest mechs up close: 

Just a minor conversion of an existing conversion. 

Previously, this Urbie was one of two UM-R68 conversions (the other one is here). However I recently bought the new Urbie lance box and got an actual UM-R68. So, with the addition of a little bit of plasticard, and a decal of 'IV' to drive the point home, I present to you the UM-AIV. The artillery Urbie that has been known to launch nukes from time to time. Of the two, this one turned out better, so the other went to eBay (I seriously don't need two arrow IV Urbies) and is currently transiting the inner sphere enroute to a repeat customer of mine Texas.  

Yeah, this is too dynamically posed to be an actual Catalyst model. 

Originally I gave this stats for an industrial mech called the 'Tonka' that could be modified in times of crisis to wield a modular LBX-10. That said, more likely than not I'll just use it as an Arbiter (if ever).

Marik Militia Ostroc & Quickdraw.

The Quickdraw, I have yet to use this mech but it seems decent enough on paper.

I just love the garish color scheme of the Marik Militia.

The Ostroc, another new KS mech, and a vast improvement over the old model! 

Years ago I had the ancient lead version of this mini and it did fairly well on the tabletop, it was just hideous looking which resulted in it getting sold off.

The whole, newly finished lance together. 

Why did the Dark Caste Bandit cross the road?

This is another mech where the base was harder to do than the mech itself.

The Starslayer is...kinda ugly, but it's grown on me. These guys must've been digging deep into the trash heaps to find and refurbish this old STY-2C-EC (Early Clan). 

Closing out with a group shot. 

Tonight I am going to the FLGS for some campaign games hopefully (I'm waaaay behind on those) and next wednesday Nick is coming over tentatively for the first mini game to be held at our new house. So I should have some battle reports to post on next week!

Speed? Got it. Accuracy? Not so much...

 o/

Yet another hapless settlement about to be destroyed in battle...

Nick & I met up for another game Wednesday night, this time using a scenario rather than the usual kill everything in sight (though, ultimately they all kind of go that way at some point). 

The mission brief. 

We upped the game size to 3500points, Lostech era with the exception of one mech sporting some Star League tech of some sort. We then rolled off to see who's mech would be the 'prize' to be captured. Nick had a Blackjack BJ-3 with its new fangled double heat sinks, whereas I had a Cyclops CP-10-HQ, with a still intact Collapsible Command Module (basically a side torso stuffed with a fold-a-fort/field HQ/tent and super computer). This Cyclops variant is more or less an objective/fluff model, and this was the perfect opportunity to actually use it!

I won the roll off and decided my prize was better, and thus my Cyclops would be the hunted mech, meaning it could not be shot at. Erroneously, for the first half of the ensuing game, I was under the mistaken impression that I also could not shoot at Nick's Blackjack, allowing it to roam the field unmolested, doh!

That said, with base 4/5 pilots and a bunch of fast moving mechs with +3 & +4 to modifiers all over the place, there would be a lot of shooting, but not so much hitting. So perhaps that really didn't matter. Throughout the game, the dice were not kind to either of us, though for a turn or two, Nick especially. 

Oh look! The city is undefended...

The wall seemingly goes on forever!

The first shots are fired, with the Prize bringing up the rear.

Jenner v. Jenner. At least one of these two ugly machines had the decency to try and conceal itself! These two would tangle with one another throughout the game. 

An overhead view of a bunch of small mechs shooting a lot and hitting only a little (odds are the buildings didn't fare too well in these exchanges).

Still not firing at the Blackjack the Dragon put a few rounds into the Panther instead.

Speed is life! My Jenner survived this multi-mech  assault with nary a scratch due to its +4 to hit speed modifier. Speaking of, it's reversed guns didn't hit anything for the same reason.

REAR ARMOR? This is a great opportun-oh wait, fuck it has a damned +4 to hit. Take that you damned wall!

Shots were landing here and there, but none too many were recorded. My Wasp was the first to fall (doesn't take much), and my Jenner taking some hits, in exchange for similar (though not yet fatal) damage to nick's Panther and Spider.

Its gotta be interference from the radar and communication towers, that must be what is throwing off our aim!

Ugh, these two again. I believe that by this point my Jenner was down the SRM launcher and one arm (taking 2 lasers with it) which was fine as it had an engine hit as well. 

The battle finally moves outside of the city's wall

Well mostly, the Panther hopped the wall and my Cyclops finally put the mech out of it's misery (it had been running around 1 remaining point of CT structure for several turns).

 This was a fast moving game of extensive maneuver and atrocious aim! My elite Swords of Light mechs were as sharp as the average spork, and Nick's Vegan Rangers (or the Soy Boys as he called them, lol) weren't doing much better.

Like the Panther before it, my Jenner succumbs to the inevitable, losing a leg. 

Similarly, the Dragon, incapable of shooting worth a damn, charges the damaged, 1-armed Spider and punches and stomps the little mech into oblivion!

Any notion of not shooting the Blackjack had long since passed, with my Cyclops and (armless) Dragon making a last stand against the Blackjack, while the Dragon's rear mounted laser shot at the Jenner (again). Indeed, at this point blank range the Cyclops emptied it's LRM's ammo, but it was all to no avail. 

The hour was starting to run late and it was a 'school' night. While the tenets of Bushido would rightfully inspire the Dragon to suicidally fight to the end, doing so would only delay the inevitable. As such the Cyclops powered down, and it's pilot turned the keys over to Nick to claim his new Cyclops with it's integral field kitchen collapsible command module...

The victor claims his prized...sheet of paper?!?!

One of these is not like the others...

 o/

Here ya go, some more mechs fresh off of the panting queue:

Don't eat the green one, its not ripe yet.

The green one is a clan Baboon (AKA: Howler) painted in the colors of Clan Jade Falcon's Omega Galaxy. This is my first mini for the Falcons and will soon be joined by four more mechs for another Fast & the Furious, Frankie-styled mech star. 

I just love how all of my minis are invariably adorned in cat hair. It like its just plowed through some sort of colossal spider's web!

This Baboon, as well as another of the same in the coming batch of light clan mechs will be the slowest moving units in this new star, as is befitting of a (light) fire support mech. That said, it still will be moving at up to 14" per turn!

It doesn't look so bad when it zips past you in a blur!

Speaking of fast, next up is my Jenner which is easily the UGLIEST mech in my inventory! This mech did take out a clan omnimech in it's last game. While that sounds impressive, the mech in question was a Dasher which has barely enough armor to withstand a collision with a tree branch when moving at full speed. 

This urbie earned it's paint in that same game.

Here we see it crossing what was once runway 67 A.

This Rifleman on the other hand, ought to have been tossed into the flames of my backyard firepit given its last, stunning battlefield performance!

The Rifleman got lucky in that I was painting red mechs this week, as when it last saw the table top, it shutdown due to overheating. I was fielding it as a C model refit (which is prone to overheating) all while failing to hit most anything with the clan pulse lasers that it was mounting. It was awful.

These three bring the Combine's painted total up to 7 mechs.

Nonetheless, all I have left to paint for my (current) DCMS' Sword of Light demi-company is a recently purchased Catapult K2. Unfortunately, I'm out of the correct shade of primer for the K2 (as are the local FLGS'). 

UM-R68, The Anime Missile SPAM Urbie!

 o/

Every. Single. Turn.

It's not quite WYSIWYG but...close enough (and better than most Battletech variants). 

The spent shell ejection port is instead a vent for excess missile fumes.

Anime missile spam, that's what this Urbie is all about! Dropping the big gun for an MRM-30, this little red Urbie is a beast! Unfortunately, I don't have a generic missile face plate that goes up to 30 holes tubes, but the LRM-20 face plate gets the point across. Assuming this works as well as I hope it will, I'm tempted to make another just like it!

Once the ammo hopper runs dry, this is what you'll see as it waddles off into the sunset..

At last, to battle once more!

 o/

Diplomacy in action...

This past Saturday, my buddy Screech and I got in a game for the first time in forever. Eight thousand points per side, straight up kill each other lack of scenario. The following is more of a highlight reel than a proper battle report as I have since come down with Covid, and as such I currently feel pretty lousy.

That said I'm feeling better than I did just a day ago due to meds, and as of this writing, Screech doesn't seem to have (yet) contracted the virus from me. Fingers crossed that he doesn't. 

Screech's force. Five, very well equipped 3060s era, unidentified inner sphere mechs. Either the Marian Hegemony got itself very well equipped and then decided on an all the way across the fucking Inner Sphere raid, or it is a thinly veiled Wobbly false flag operation. I'm leaning towards the latter though we'll likely never know... 

My DCMS Sword of Light (though not any one in particular) lance with a DEST jump infantry platoon to round out the points. All of Screech's units were 4/5 pilots often relying on cutting edge tech to make up the difference. My pilots & infantry were all better trained (to varying degrees) with older mechs.

Ahh, I see they've taken the Jenner's 'bait' role a bit too seriously. Time to fire (and miss with) the gauss rifle and LRMs!

Not too much to see here aside from my HBK-4P running full tilt down the road to it's doom!

A 100-ton Marauder II vs. a (by this point) maybe 2ish surviving tons of DEST infantry? Sounds like a fair fight!

Just prior to the pic, the Hunchback somehow managed to stand despite having a +4 to its piloting skill due to a multitude of left leg crits! Furthermore, what was left of its the right arm was lying on the ground nearby. Nonetheless, on its feet again it unloaded its laser onslaught to the opposing Warhammer (already heavily damaged from earlier HBK laser hits and LRMs from the far-off Archer) was knocked out of action due to taking three engine hits!

Screech's Wolverine closes the distance and starts to draw my Archer's ire as you can see... (I just love this sculpt!)

Turning to the enemy catapult, the Hunchback put 5 medium lasers into it. The Cat's LRMs and LBX-2s reply with a punishing salvo that ultimately tears the Hunchback's badly damaged leg clean off!

The Archer never moved from its mountain perch. Instead, it camped out lobbing fairly accurate LRM fire out in all directions, whilst often splitting fire to send its arm mounted medium lasers out after the harassing Shadow Hawk in its midst. The Catapult had to keep jumping around from peak to peak to keep my 7F model Jenner off of its tail. Overall, for my first ever use of a Jenner it did well, look for it again in future bat reps.

The irritated Marauder, unable to shake the damned (ineffective) infantry chooses to ignore them and continue it's duel with my Cyclops. The two traded heavy blows for 3-4 turns straight. However, in the end I was outmaneuvered and had to choose between protecting my thin rear armor, or else trying to finish off the beast!

Going for the kill, I hit with everything and certainly sent the Marauder in for some heavy armor replacement maintenance (never got any crits though). The Wolverine however punched thru my rear armor and hit a full LRM ammo bin in the side torso, vaporizing my mech and ending the game. 

We had already planned on ending the game at the end of this last round as it was getting late, however hitting that ammo sent the game out with a literal bang! Having lost 2 mechs to 1, with all other mechs on the board sporting moderate-to-heavy damage I conceded, and the victory went to Screech's raiders!