Phoenix Hawk

o/

I finished this mini a few weeks ago and had posted it to a Battletech painting facebook group, but a blog post never materialized as my personal life imploded shortly thereafter. Honestly I'd forgotten about it entirely until stumbling across the pics in my dropbox just a little while ago.

It's evident from the poor state of the Andurien Hawk arm that the original mech was anything but new...

The second of my TBAGer mechs to sport their new color scheme, this mech is even more the worse for wear than the Catapult. Like said Catapult, it too sports several portions or recently repaired, primer grey armor plating. However going a step further, the left forearm has been salvaged in its entirety from the apparent wreck of an allied Andurien Defenders' Phoenix Hawk.  

Being a Robotech mini, it lacks the Phoenix Hawk's traditionally large torso mounted jump jets, however they are still at least represented.

Whilst the central red stipe is easily visible, the unit logo patch is MIA because I had forgotten about it until after the mini was 'done', no doubt having been previously painted on one of the now recently replaced armor plates/arm. 

TBAGers redux

o/

Welp, much like their unit fluff The Buffet Assault Group's (those of you who clicked on this post looking for the other kind of TBAGers can close this window now) miniature lineup needed a change as much as their unit history did. Originally, my almost fully painted lance was a woefully static (in their movements, or rather lack thereof), fire support unit that could lob 120+ LRMs down range per turn. 

On average however, maybe a quarter of those actually connected with an enemy model. It was as painful to me as it was a relief to my opponents. 

Look out for that tree!

Operating mechs from the LosTech eras, Artemis IV fire control systems are unavailable to them and that combined with my bad rolling meant they were a largely useless lance. I also wasn't too fond of their color scheme (in hindsight), and the 15mm TBAGer unit logos that I was using (originally for another long defunct and unrelated project) looked like they were sporting billboards for unit emblems. 

It is with no small amount of irony that I sold off a lance of missile boats, only to have their first official replacement be yet another missile boat. This will be the only one though!

As such those mechs were amongst an almost company's worth of mechs and tanks that I recently sold off to a fine gentleman in the Detroit area. This go round, the TBAGers are now sporting a 2-tone woodland camo, with a red center stipe on the torso and head because reasons. Unit emblems are small, hand painted and with squiggles for the otherwise illegible wording (they were barely readable on the 15mm scaled decals!). Additional red trim may be added at the mechwarrior or tanker's preference. 

Sans red on the backside, at least the camouflage will be effective when running away!

As you can see, the Catapult is sporting several armor panels in the shade of primer grey. These represent replacement armor plating that has been added in the field without time for a proper repaint. Fighting on the (losing) side of the Anduriens during the Andurien Secession, my TBAGers mechs and tanks will be painted to look battle worn, dirty, and sporting a patchwork of replaced and salvaged parts. 

I have an AC-2 Partisan conversion done as well (a partial repaint of this), it lacks any primered panels meaning either it was able to maintain a safe distance or it was simply written off as not a viable threat (which isn't too far from the truth). 

Next up on the WIP stage I have a Phoenix Hawk that is pretty close to complete. The plan is to at the least finish that before switching back to painting my 40k spess mahreenz.  

Firing up the old GM-Coldstart 285 fusion engine...

Luckily Battletech is known for it's old and reliable cold-start reactors to keep their ancient mechs running, and with any luck the metaphorical reactor will do the same to this otherwise seemingly DEAD blog!

As is to be expected, the ol' pandemic shit-canned any and all plans for gaming. Battletech related hobbying pretty much died with it. That said, I've been in the process of rewriting the unit history for this blog's namesake: The Buffet Assault Group. I've hopefully come up with a general overview that fits in nicely with the game's established fluff lore (apparently 'fluff' is for 40k and 'lore' is for Battletech, or so the old grognards say...). Anyways, here's the TBAGers' updated backstory: 

Catalina Styner & the TBAGers

Cursed with a family name that phonetically mimics that Steiner royalty, Catalina would suffer for her family name and lack of political connections throughout her Lyran military career.

Her name aside, she managed to qualify for and enroll in, and graduate from the prestigious Naglering Military Academy. Assigned to the Lyran 2nd Royal Guards, she quickly proved to be a talented mechwarrior and leader who slowly fought her way up through the ranks. Lacking highborn political connections however, Catalina was 'glass ceilinged' at the level of company commander.

After suffering almost two decades of frustrating service, Catalina retired from the Lyran military with both an unblemished career and a long history of promotions lost to the less capable, but well connected 'Social Generals' of the LCAF.

She formed her own mercenary command in 3029, with good prospects given the continuous turmoil of the succession wars. Embittered by her former employers, she dubbed her new command The Buffet Assault Group, a play on her disapproval of many in the LCAF officer corps. 

After assembling a rag-tag combined arms battalion, with one company each of mechs, armor and infantry, Catalina secured a contract with the Free Worlds League's Andurien Province. This contract would be extended to last for the duration of what would become the Andurien Crisis. 

The hard fighting of the Andurien Crisis would take a grievous toll on the TBAGers (as the mercs liked to call themselves), and by the war's end the battalion would be reduced to a lone, understrength company consisting of a mech lance, and an ad-hoc mixed armor and infantry platoon made up of squad remnants and dispossessed armor crews, a trio of tanks and lastly a captured Capellan APC. 

The TBAGers contract was terminated without compensation for losses by the FWLM for siding with their rebellious employers at the conclusion of the Crisis in 3040. Securing passage on a jump ship bound for Outreach, Catalina and her shattered command were expelled from League territory and permanently barred from any future League employment.

*****

I've also revamped my miniature line up for the ol' TBAGers. Gone is the assault weight fire support lance. Equipped with mechs from the early succession wars, my inability to roll worth a damn on the missile cluster chart, as well as a lack of Artemis IV fire-control meant that the majority of their weapons were neutered for most of the game. Indeed, doesn't matter if it's an LRM-10,15, or 20...I only average 6-8 missiles AT BEST!

Pay no attention to the chaos Marines in the background...

Instead I'm guessing those mechs were sold on eBay lost in combat and my 'surviving' lance hasn't been finalized yet, though will likely still include a Catapult (facepalm).

I've been on a bit of a 40k painting kick for awhile, but I need to rotate some Battletech stuff back into the painting queue. So, hopefully I'll be updating this here blog a bit more regularly. 

Scenario playtesting

o/

The following is a sorta bat rep for a scenario game I came up with aways back. This was it's first run and predictably, we found several issues with it, but I'll get to those in a bit. Firstly here is the back story and scenario, with the bat rep to follow, and then thoughts/needed revisions at the end. Hope you enjoy!

*****

It’s 3028, the 4th Succession war is just ramping up into full swing, and the Dame Catherine Humphreys, leader of the Duchy of Andurien declares war on the treacherous Capellan Confederation due to an 'unprovoked' attack. The Buffet Assault Group, is deployed to assist the 4th Defenders of Andurien in their assault on Scarborough…

*****

It has been a long day of fire support duties. The TBAGers have spent the past 12 hours, perched atop a ridge, pounding the Capellan defenders back into the stone age. Their ceaseless LRM strikes only interrupted by the frequent need to reload. However after hours of firing, their ammo hoppers (and the accompanying train of Andurien ammo carriers) have all run dry. Wearily, the TBAGers pull back to the rear for a much needed night’s rest. Even their CO Catalina is exhausted, spending the day endlessly patrolling for flanking attacks and escorting the ammo carriers heading both to and from their position against attack. 

As the day draws to a close and the evening fog rolls in, the TBAGers finally have the space port in sight, their barracks lay just beyond. Their minds dulled with fatigue they let their guard down as the Anduriens have a 2nd line garrison lance protecting the town from danger. With the last few straggling ammo carriers in tow, the TBAGers only need to pass thru town before they can enjoy some warm food, hot showers and blessed sleep…

The Scenario:

Eight thousand points per side, 4th Succession War (tech level 1). 

The defender’s Andurien lance and infantry platoon as well as my opponent's forces deploy as per the norm, and my opponent has the initiative for the first two turns as the rookie Andurien lance is thrown into disarray by this ‘sudden ambush behind the lines’. 

At the beginning of turn 2 the TBAGer mechs arrive on their table edge and wearily join the fray. Exhausted from a long day, their P/G skills are awful and all of their LRM hoppers are empty. They may not run in the turn they arrive since the inexperienced Anduriens were taken by surprise and neglected to warn them. Likewise the din of distant battles and the foggy conditions masked this fight from the tired mercenaries. The ammo carriers arrive on turn 3 and also may not run in the turn they arrive. 

The dense evening fog adds a +1 to hit modifier for all shooting rolls at all ranges. Physical combat rolls are unaffected.

In order to win, more than half of the TBAGer mechs and ammo carriers (I only have 2 ammo carriers) need to escape off of the board via the enemy board edge within 6 turns. The Anduriens DO NOT need to escape the board, however the Andurien mechs will fall back and retreat off of their table edge if they start taking internal damage. If the infantry platoon falls to half strength, the remainder will scatter into buildings/cover and be removed from the board.

The Buffet Assault Group in back were all quite tired 5/6 pilots with the 2 ammo carriers having 5/5 crews. The Anduriens in front were all 4/5 pilots, with 3/- Frogmen infantry. The three Urbies were identified as Light Pole, Mini-Bus Shortbus, and Emoji.

The battlefield. Note Felis Gigantus lurking off to the side...

Yes, I will make several strolls thru the middle of your game, and yes I will plop down right in the middle of it too!

Turn one. Due to range, fog and movement, my Anduriens make no shots. Screech's Capellans fire a few times, but no hits are landed. 

Turn 2 and the Tbagers arrive, and note the lonnnnnnng road ahead of them....

Multiple modifiers or not, they can't hit me if there's a water tank in the way!

Turn 3 the ammo carriers arrive, and prepare for their high speed dash across the table. 

Here at the top of turn 3, we realized my assault mechs had no possible chance of making it off of the board. So we added 2 turns to the game. Catalina pulled out of line in her Stalker to provide covering fire to her troops whom she ordered to make a run for it! Meanwhile Emoji, the infantry, and the Capellan scouts start brawling at point blank range. The infantry managed a Commando head shot amidst their little blast of buckshot, much to Screech's annoyance.

My lone gunnery highlight of the game came when 'shortbus' put an AC-10 slug into the head of Screech's Awesome. Sadly there was no crit made. Truth be told, there were quite a few head shots in the game, though this was the only one to penetrate anybody's armor in that location.

An Awesome disobeys orders and peels off to stand and fight. Three 'big guys' running and forgoing all shooting (paltry as it was) is kinda boring to play. Speaking of, 3 of the 4 Tbager mechs would end the game with minimal damage, and near all of it to their rear armor. 

...aaaand its a free-for-all at this point. Damaged urbies were making fighting retreats (albeit slowly), Assaults were running (also but not quite as slowly), the longbow narrowly passed it's piloting check to not fall whilst turning at a run on pavement and in the back field, one of the APCs made an unsuccessful MG strafing run on an enemy Catapult. 

At the bottom of turn 6 we called the game due to the late hour. 

The Awesome that stayed behind took a pounding this last round and would end the game on it's back, the only mech to fail a piloting roll all game! My side's 'hero-mech' title ought to go to my Andurien SHD-1R. It took an absolute ponding, and never once fell despite losing almost all of it's armor from the waist up!

The final, parting shot.

Okay so, thoughts?

Well first of all, success was impossible as I'd handicapped my forces too much. Thus the game essentially ended as a draw when we called it due to time. Had we gone another turn, the APCs would have exited the board, though at the minimum the Longbow and the one Awesome would have needed another 2 turns to exit as well. No units on either side were lost, though mine were sporting heavier damage than his mechs.

I had thought that a straight run across the board would be too easy. Perhaps had we been using a standard mapsheet it would have been. However mine is a 36"x36" map, meaning there was literally no way my lumbering assault mechs could make it in 6 turns! We realized this early on and revised it to 8 turns, but even then 10 might be more realistic, that or use faster mechs. However this was kinda tailored to my Tbagers so the latter isn't much of an option. Placing the Şoarece in the middle of the intersection as a roadblock didn't help matters either. 

The fog needs to go! Exhausted 5/6 pilots, running, and shooting at moving targets (at range) are all but impossible to hit. Adding in a further +1 meant more often than not, I needed a 13 or 14 to-hit roll on 2D6! Yeah, not happening. Indeed, all game my lowest to-hit number was a 7, however the vast majority were 10+ rolls, and box cars were kinda the norm.

Movement: Screech suggested my units be allowed to run on the turns they arrived. Tired or not, mechwarriors still react quickly to the situation and those few extra hexes of movement were sorely needed!

Deployment: He also suggested deploying his force on a flank. It would have been too easy to overload one side or the other, namely on the road itself to all but eliminate any hopes of escape from the outset. It was a conscious decision on his part not to do so.

Still, it was a fun time and we'll give this another go (with revisions) in the future.

My first game of 2020!

o/

After a yearlong hiatus due to misaligned schedules and an untimely illness on my part, Kushial was finally able to come over for a game! He was brining a medium/light weight company (well mostly, he left 2 behind to guard the dropship), against which I fielded a similarly weighted demi-company, of mechs, with an APC carried infantry platoon. 

The following is my usual brand of a half-assed bat rep. Kushial already posted his which you can read here. 

My setup assistant Baxter 'helping' as usual...he would be removed from the table several times over the course of the game. 

Kushial's Donegal Guard approaches...

My right flank defenders, with my Urbies in the 'subdivision'. I had hoped he would close to slug it out with them in these close confines, but to no avail. 

My left flank, and the LoS blocking hunk o' cardboard that would see much fighting around it. 

My hunchback advances boldly out in front of the vehicle park, tempting the hatchetman horde to charge in, but they don't take the bait...

My Whitworth would stand rooted in it's spot most of the game. with a multitude of targets, it had no need to close and performed admirably (well, when my die rolling actually cooperated) in the fire support role with it's twin LRM 10 launchers. 

Ceding ground to try and draw him into close range, the hatchetmen and Urbies instead trade long ranged AC-10 fire, whilst the first real scrum begins on my left flank. 

My first ever use of a quad mech, the Scorpion performed fairly well, though the lack of both adequate heat sinks and the ability to torso twist were rather difficult to grapple with. 

Backed into a corner already, grrr...

As a bit of a side note, in the background on the platform next to the dropship, That valkyrie had just finished incinerating my infantry platoon to a man! This was the first time that anyone actively engaged my infantry, normally they're just ignored.

The beginning of the end as the end starts to swing against me...

TREACHERY! Attacking a prone mech!?! (A Gryo hit and destroyed foot actuator would keep it down). This shall be noted in the Book of Gru-wait, wrong game system...never mind. 

I kept forgetting about that little, overheated all to hell and heavily damaged but still not dead little bastard.

and lo, the mechs began to fall...

The hatchetmen continue to dance back and forth in front of my gunline, taking damage but not enough to die. 

Finally they charge, axes held high! Two urbies would fall to shooting however, denying them their axe swings. Remarkably, one urbie took an ammo crit and survived by dint of only having 1 round left in the hopper! It still hurt quite a bit though. 

Trapped like a rat and preparing for death. 

The hatchetman would decapitate my griffin with it's axe, though a solid right hook to the hatchetman's face made for a glorious death!

With the last 2 urbies combat ineffective (only 1 small laser left between them), my still untouched (and almost out of ammo) Whitworth, and surprisingly only lightly damaged Scorpion run up the white flag and retreat. Likewise that heavy APC put pedal to the metal and made a run for it as well. 

My ragged survivors (though 'survivors' kinda debatable given the state of those two urbies)

So...I started off 2020 much like I finished off 2019, by losing. Of well, consistency is half the battle they say (just not the half I was hoping for...). Still, it was a fun time and I look forward to our next bout which hopefully will not be until 2021.

Its the Urbie Dance Squad!!

o/

Happy New Year folks! Wow, 2020....sounds futuristic doesn't it? However, rather than the far future we're still right here in the present, moving on...

Despite the inordinate amount of free time that PDF units seem to have, cleaning their mechs still doesn't seem to make it onto the duty roster...

I closed out 2019 by finishing off my 'Podunk' PDF lance, consisting of a trio of Urbies lead by an obsolete Shadowhawk SHD-1R. The Shadowhawk's LRM-5 was mismolded and looked more like an SRM-4. Somebody with decent greenstuff skillz (i.e.: not me) could've probably fixed that, but I instead trimmed the LRM and head mounted SRM launchers off making it into a SHD-1R. 

The cars, mini bus and lamp post all came from SteelWarriorStudios. The SHR-1R's base is by Gamecraft Studios.

I have a 2nd Shadowhawk in the same boat, and will likely make it into a 1R as well. Given my fondness for mediocre-to-shitty mechs, I don't see this downgrade as an issue, rather its perfect for PDF/Homeguard type of units. As such, this bunch is in urban camo, meaning it could be from most any inner sphere/periphery house or mercs, or even some really, really down on their luck pirates. 

Guess who's happy to see you???

The smiley emoji on the top of that one urbie is in recognition of it's first ever shot fired in anger that took down a pristine King Crab! I won't go into detail (again) as most folks like to remind me that I never seem to shut up about that, lol. 

These will likely not be all painted in the color scheme...

Also, some late year reinforcements rolled in in the form of a Bulldog lance. These tanks are from SteelWarriorStudios, and they scale perfectly with my Scorpion and Demolisher tanks. I think they're a vast improvement over the official model. I'm also tempted to mod the record sheet of the standard model to add in some additional armor to match what looks like appliqué armor as compared to the LRM versions.

As a Christmas present to me, I ordered a Marik decal for my truck.

Due to RL scheduling issues, there are still no dates set for games at this time (but we are trying!), despite that I'm hoping this is the year that changes my Battletech gaming from sporadic to frequent!

Merry Christmas Folks!

I have battletech-related presents for my local battletech opponents, and will get them to all of you...eventually. Sorry, but I seem to be piloting an Urbanmech rather than Santa's Sleigh when it comes to delivering presents.

Sadly, it has been quiet around here this month. Getting sick as hell is to blame, especially when it manifests on the very morning that I was looking forward to playing a game of Battletech vs. Kushial. 

Damnit!!! 

Likewise, painting prettymuch ground to a halt, as has most everything else. Which, given how crazy Decembers can be isn't anything really all that out of the norm. I do have this entire week off from work which is great! Though...with Christmas smack dab in the middle of it, and the obligatory family get togethers it'll likely feel like a whirlwind I'm sure, so enjoying a restful vacation will remain as always elusive (but hey, there will be presents at least right?).

Fear not, January is on approach, and little if anything happens the beginning of the year given everyone's broke, and worn out from the holidays in general. That means there will (hopefully) be time for gaming, with both a tentative scenario game vs. Hoss as well as a rescheduled game with Kushial (dates to yet be determined). Or at the very least there will be painting. 

Anyways, hope all of you enjoy Christmas, the New Year and anything else that pops up along the way! 

Happy Terrainsgiving!

o/

All of these pieces are from Hardware Studios.

I've just been a dry brushing away on my collection of 3D printed terrain here of late, and am making pretty good progress me thinks. I know the red and grey fuel tank was pictured in my prior post, but it seemed only fitting to include it again with the rest of what I've painted since. 

The black splotches represent battle damage resulting from my all-too-frequently inaccurate shooting...

The stenciling for hex bases on the roof of the vehicle bay was done by taping down spare bases with blue painters tape and painting the lines in between them. Originally, I had painted the building in red, blue and purple of the Free Worlds League, but I didn't care for the look. So, I went back over it heavily in grey. The latter is still barely visible giving the impression of paint that has largely flaked off over the years.

As you can see, ryza rust has been my friend on all of these pieces. 

Lift off in T-minus 10, 9, 8...

I didn't add a hex grid in on the landing pad as the Dropship is always parked there in game. As such, the four corners, and landings on the ramps are the only places a mech can sit without fear of wobbly model syndrome. 

The dropship is from Hardware Studios as well, whereas the bunker came from Steel Warrior Studios as a free bee with my last order! 

I have a hardened bunker and the Dropship itself left, as well as an older bunker and liquid storage tank that I'll likely be giving a repaint to, to match this newer terrain as well as my urban map sheet.