Painting Updates - Romans, French-Indian War, Battletech

Here's what I've been painting.

Work continues on the Punic War Romans. With two commands of actual Romans finished, I wanted to incorporate a command of Italian Allies. 

From the Warprinter "Hannibal vs. Rome" Kickstarter, these minis are Etruscans and Samnites, which gives them a visibly distinct profile compared to the Romans. 

In game, these medium infantry units are somewhat less effective than their Roman counterparts (lacking the Pilum and Drilled special rules), but can still hold a flank as the Roman Legions push forward. 

I also gave them units of archers for their skirmish infantry. They have longer range compared to the Roman Velites, but are less effective in close combat. 

While reflecting on what I had done so far, I thought that the shields on the finished Roman infantry were a little bland, so a couple quick lines with some acrylic pens gives the impression of shield designs. It's a little rough up close, but at arms length it works nicely (in my opinion, at least!). 

I've got a small collection of 28mm French & Indian War miniatures that haven't seen much use in some time (apart from a solo test game of the second edition of Muskets & Tomahawks at the start of the Covid pandemic). They could be used with Sharp Practice, but I'm far more interested in using 15mm miniatures for them, which would be a return to a project way back at the start of the blog. 

I reached out to a wargaming friend my an old group who's also a FIW enthusiast, and he's willing to buy them from me. All of the military units were painted apart from a set of eight British Regulars, so I said I would finish them off before we made the exchange. 

Rounding out this eclectic mix of finished miniatures is another Star for my Clan Jade Falcon force. Unlike other Stars which come from the official boxes, this Star is the result of the blind-box 'Salvage Boxes' that Catalyst released from the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.

I'd call it an ad-hoc Star, but that's already a box set. Maybe an Impromptu Star?

The two medium-class mechs are an Ice Ferret and a Viper.

And the other three heavy-class mechs are a Hellbringer, Mad Dog, and a Pryde variant Timber Wolf (which gives it some useful jump jet movement).

For this Star, I wanted a more mute color scheme compared to the screaming eye sore of the previous mechs. 

Tanks for the Game! - BattleTech: Alpha Strike AAR

I recently got a chance to finally play BattleTech: Alpha Strike with a gaming buddy, Russ, from my old gaming group.

It was a pretty simple set up between two mercenary companies, his Commandos and my Lancers. He had seven mechs in two lances, while I had four mechs and four tanks. Russ' pilots were all in older mechs but had Skill values of 2's and 3's, while my machines were newer with less experienced mechwarriors and crew (mostly Skill 4). 

We played on a hex map, which made some of the measuring easier. Each hex counts as 2", so a mech with a 12" could move 6 hexes or sprint 9 hexes. Firing ranges were similarly halved.

The main engagement happened up on the map's plateau between our main Mech lances. Russ' lance consisted of a Thunderbolt, Catapult, Shadow Hawk, and Commando, all with veteran or elite mechwarriors. My lance was heavier, with an Awesome, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, and Phoenix Hawk, but the pilots weren't as good. 

Down near the water, Russ' second lance, with a Wolverine, Shadow Hawk, and Wasp facing off against my tank Lance, with a Manticore, two Bulldogs, and an SRM Carrier. 

One of the Bulldogs ended up as the game's first casualty, destroyed from concentrated fire. 

Russ new the SRM carrier was the most dangerous target in the tank lance (able to hit a target for 6 points of damage!), so it also had to go. First the crew were stunned from a critical hit, then the tank brewed up.

Russ had done up some fantastic wreck markers to show where mechs and tanks were after their destruction. 

With two tanks down, Russ diverted a Shadow Hawk to hopefully put the tonnage equation in his favor. Both sides were stripping armor, but concentrated fire from my forces' Awesome, Thunderbolt and Wolverine knocked out Russ' second Shadow Hawk. 

Meanwhile, my tanks were in full retreat. While most of their weapons were on their turrets, the tanks would lose valuable damage points if the mechs were able to get behind them. 

Up in the hills, the mechs jockeyed for positions, slagging armor and venting heat. The Commandos could land hits more reliably, but the new machines of the Lancers could take those hits and do more damage when they managed to land a blow.  

Fully backed into a corner of the battlefield, the tanks managed to get their first kill, knocking out the Wasp that had gambled on a close range attack.

The Lancer's Wolverine was knocked out by the combined attacks of the Commandos' Thunderbolt and Commando. In return, the damaged Phoenix Hawk landed a close-range attack that brought down the second Shadow Hawk. 

The Wolverine, Bulldog, and Manticore continued their dance along the lakeside. 

Somehow, the Lancers' Thunderbolt was able to weather the combined attack of its Commando counterpart. It likely would have been destroyed if the Commandos' Catapult hadn't pushed its heat too far and been forced to shutdown. 

The Catapult was back up, but the Commandos Thunderbolt was finally put down by the Lancers. 

Tired of the Phoenix Hawk that had been flitting around the battlefield, Russ send the Lone Commandos, erm... Commando, which ended the Phoenix Hawk's flight. 

And the dance between mechs and tanks finally ended with the Commandos Wolverine falling to the Manticore and Bulldog. 

After losing the Catapult as well, Russ and I agreed that his lone Commando wasn't likely to stand up long against the remaining Lancer forces, and we called the game there. 

As I reflected on after the game, had we played this using the Classic BattleTech rules, this would have been a day long affair, if not longer. Instead, we managed to play a tense, exciting game in just a couple hours. The Alpha Strike rules still feel like BattleTech, but allow for larger, combined arms games in a smaller timeframe. I'm looking forward to playing more, with a few alterations (like variable damage, pilot dice, and hexless battlefields). 

Painting Update - ACW, Squadhammer, Battletech

This week's post is another painting update. 

I completed another set of commanders from Pendraken for my 10mm ACW project. Both sides got a Division commander (denoted by the flagbearer), another Brigade commander, and a staff officer model promoted to command either artillery brigades or other formations.

I also finished a Dreadnought for my Squadhammer project. I think the third-party legs look pretty good, giving the Dreadnought a look somewhere between the normal squat, box-shaped version and the sleeker Contemptor version. The Sergeant is for scale. 

Speaking of older projects, I've also finished the support lances for my Battletech mercenary force. A while back I posted a lance of Manticore tanks, which are the main punch of the tank company. 

The second lance of the company is made up of two Bulldog tanks and two SRM carriers. This lance is a close range force that supports the Manticores when enemy units get too close for their PPCs to be effective. 

The third lance in the company consists of two Galleon tanks and two LRM carriers. The Galleons are fast scout tanks that can act as spotters for the LRM carriers. The LRM carriers add to the firepower of the Manticores at long range. 

Finally, I added an air lance of two Warrior helicopters. While lightly armed, the Warriors make for decent scouts for the company. 

Painting Update - Battletech, Squadhammer, Mythic Americas

As more wargamers in the area get their vaccines, more opportunities for games are starting to pop up!

In the meantime, I'm still working on various projects. 

 

I still have a Clan Jade Falcon force to paint for Battletech, so I though I'd tackle the Star that comes in the Clan Invasion boxset. 

The big guns are mounted on an Assault-class Executioner and a Heavy-class Timber Wolf (likely claimed from Clan Wolf as isorla by the Falcon mechwarrior). 

Supporting the larger mechs are two Medium-class mechs, a Nova and Mongrel, and a Light-class Adder.

Also finished is a combat squad of Astral Claws, the main antagonist of the Badab War from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I've got it in my head to play out a campaign using Nordic Weasel Games' Squadhammer, a fun-looking beer-and-pretzel ruleset. 

I've worked out a number of profiles for the rules that cover the essentials of an old 5th Edition 40k Space Marine force, and recently discovered and purchased an out-of-print Space Marine Strikeforce boxset, which will give me everything I need for a Squadhammer force. 

I also finished another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Marauders for the Aztecs, which will let me field a warband up to 1,000 points. I'll need an Ayar (a massive undead monstrosity) and another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Dead to reach 1,250. That's a decent sized game for Erehwon-based rules. 

Painting Update - ACW, Battletech

With Covid-19 cases rising in the area, gaming has slowed down, and unfortuantely my painting enthusiasm has flagged. I'm still chipping away at various armies and projects here and there. 

I finally got back to completing my 10mm ACW project. I had drifted away from it after working on the infantry regiments, and I only had the artillery and limbers to work on. So I pulled them out of storage and focused on them. That's the project complete! 

I may add more brigades over time. It seems like four brigades of four regiments each (and each regiment made up of five bases) makes for a good sized force. At the moment I have half those numbers, so they'd be good for either smaller engagements or for combining with someone else' collection. 

Recently I got my pledge for the BattleTech: Clan Invasion kickstarter, which produced newly redesigned plastic miniatures of older, iconic battlemechs used by the Clans and the Houses of the Inner Sphere.

I've painted my mechs as part of Clan Jade Falcon. 

The Clan Command Star contains a light-class Mist Lynx, and two medium-class mechs, a Shadow Cat and Storm Crow.

Also included are a heavy-class Summoner and an assault-class Dire Wolf.

And I also completed my last lance for my mercenary company! This lance contains two heavy-class mechs - a Warhammer and a Rifleman - a medium-class Phoenix Hawk, and a light-class Wasp. 

Painting Update - Battletech

With the pandemic still ongoing, my old gaming schedule just hasn't been anywhere near what it was last year. So I continue to knock items out of my painting queue. 

I finished another lance to combat the Death Commandos in BattleTech's Alpha Strike rules. For these I used the 8th Crucis Lancers color scheme, who are part of the Federated Suns of House Davion. The smaller mechs in this lance are a medium-class Centurion (the updated omnimech version) and a light-class Crimson Hawk. 

The lance's muscle come from a heavy-class Mad Cat Mk IV (also known as a Savage Wolf) and a Templar III.

Also finished are a lance of Manticores, a 60-ton tank designed to take on mechs. This is the start of a vehicle company that will reinforce my mercenary mech company. 

Painting Update - WWII, Battletech

Since I'm back to regular work hours, I haven't had as much time to devote to the hobby. But I'm still getting work done!

This Citroen Traction Avant from Rubicon is perfect as a field car for the staff officers that will be commanding during the upcoming Invasion of Poland campaign.

This Opel Blitz will also be in use, either transporting infantry or towing light artillery pieces.

I've also been working on a pair of lances for Battletech's fast playing Alpha Strike ruleset. These are a light-class Eagle and a medium-class Huron Warrior. They're painted as Death Commandos, the elite special force soldiers of the Capellan Confederation. 

The lance's real firepower comes from the heavy-class Lao Hu and the assault-class Lu Wei Bing. 

Painting Update - Battletech, WWII

Here's whats come off the painting table since last time.

A lot of the fiction coming out of the Battletech universe at the moment is set in the "current" era, which is moving from the Dark Age to IlClan. Inspired, I wanted to paint a lance of mechs from this era. I wanted a mixed lance of medium and heavy mechs, since I find light mechs too fragile and assault mechs too boring.

From left to right, the mechs are: Carronade CRN-7M, Kheper KHP-7R, Lament LMT-2R, and Gauntlet GTL-1OB.

The local hobby shop is starting a Bolt Action slow grow league, and I decided to join with some Late War Germans.

If you haven't heard of slow grow leagues, they're ways for a community to build up collections for a game. Players start with small forces, and purchase and paint new miniatures over time. Hopefully this encourages fully painted forces by the end of a set period, maybe with a tournament or other big event.

Now, you may be thinking, Didn't you already have 28mm Germans for Konflikt 47? And yes, I did. But I ended up selling them when I lost my enthusiasm for the game to someone in the local community.

Plus, this lets me put together a platoon for other games like Chain of Command.

This also gave me the opportunity to use different basing materials for a better visual element to the miniatures, and I think they look a lot better compared to my Konflikt 47 Germans.

I'm aiming for a standard platoon (according to Chain of Command) with plenty of options, like a mortar, a medium-machine gun, panzerschreck, flamethrower, etc.

Painting Update - Samurai, MESBG, Battletech, ACW

Since everything has been shut down due to the ongoing pandemic (from the SJGA monthly meetups to the local shops daily gaming), I haven't had much to do hobby-wise apart from painting. It's actually a nice change of pace; I felt like I was approaching some hobby burnout before the shutdown, so the pandemic is a good excuse to take a break from gaming.

Apart from painting updates, I may post some solo game reports or even try to write some reviews.

I received a couple promo models when I bought into the second edition of Test of Honour. I finally got around the painting them. One model is an armored samurai, and the other is an unarmored wandering samurai that will fit in well with my previous bandits warband.

When Games Workshop announced that they were releasing a collected pack of the Mordor Uruks for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, I decided to pick them up. Six models for the same price that Ebay sellers wanted for just three? Why not! And so the horde of the dark lord grows.

I also painted up and did a little conversion work on a Hunchback HBK-7R to make it a HBK-6S model. This really just involved a little drilling to make an SRM6 launcher in the left torso. I also added a flag, since what self-respecting Solaris pilot isn't going to add a little bling to his mech?

Since my 10mm ACW kickstarter pledge arrived from Lancer Miniatures, I decided to start with the Union. I painted up two brigade commanders and six artillery stands, representing 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns (although I may just use them for any artillery type, with various labels from Regimental Fire and Fury). I've got six regiments of infantry to complete, which these guns and commanders will be split between.