ScrapYard Armory

Strategic Operations here I come!

It’s been a while coming but I’ve finally gotten around to painting up my first set of WarShips in FWL colors.  Not a bad start, but could be better.  I’ve got a armada worth of microfighters that I need to add to the force but just couldn’t wait to put these ships up.

The base of each ship is Cold Grey with Stonewall Grey highlights.  The purple bands are Hexed Lichen.  There are a few Gunmetal details and the aft thrusters are a common mix of blues.  Very simple paint scheme that is not too hard to put together quickly.  Lets hope the microfighters go well.

The speckled star pattern on the base of each ship was created by dipping a toothbrush in white paint and flicking it.  Quick and easy and looks great to boot.

Every once in a while you just have to brag.

Today is my day.

Everything you see; final price: $97.20

Local gaming store was having a sale and right or not, all of their BattleTech miniatures ended up in the $1 bin.  So I had to buy them.  All of them.

What can I say?  I’m happy while my significant other is mildly annoyed.  I have a lot of painting to do.  Time to get busy!

This lance of Locusts in Black Widow company colors was a commission piece for a fan of the site.  While I am satisfied with the end result, it took me too much time to come through to the end.  I don’t think I will be able to take future commissions until I am more confident in my ability to find the time required to finish a project in a reasonable timeframe.

That said, here is a quick brief on how I got from bare metal to the painted lance you see above.

Construction

These things are tiny!  Lining up the legs was a beast of a task.  I took extra care and spent a few evenings making sure they would be dead on so the upper body of the ‘Mech ended up level.  Nobody likes an oddly leaning miniature.

One of the Locusts I modified to show a more drastic bend in the leg.  I’m not the best modder out there but after a few layers of paint, I am satisfied with the result.  Not ecstatic.  But it will do.  It helps to break up the monotony of the lance.  Variety is the spice of life, on the tabletop and otherwise.

Black Base Color

The Black base was a simple base color and a series of dry brushing steps.  Not much to comment on.  This was the easy part of the paint job.

Black	Cold Grey	Stonewall Grey

Red Highlights

When I first laid paint down on the highlight portions, I used a simple base color and a panel line to accent.  After a day or two to look it over I was very dissatisfied with the result.  The panel line was far too harsh.  I ended up laying down several glazes to smooth the transition.  The difference between high and low is less noticeable but for the small accents they are, I am pleased with the result.  I went just a bit outside my comfort zone for this one.  If I had chosen a more drastic peak-to-mean color palette to start with, the fade would have been fantastic.  At least I think so.  Can’t wait for the next opportunity to try it out.

Gory Red	Scar Red	Bloody Red

Cockpit

I’m very comfortable with a blue jewel for cockpits these days.  The small surface on the side cockpits were a bit of a bear to get into.  Those area have a less gradual fade to them, but the focus is usually going to be on the front facing cockpit panel anyways.

Stormy Blue	Magic Blue	Electric Blue

Details

Details for this lance were limited to gunmetal on the laser ports and decals from Fighting Pirannha Graphics.

Base

The base was made using my standard basing mix and several drybrushing steps.  The extra rock under the modified Locust came from a simple cork.  The drybrushing I gave the underlying terrain came out slightly different when applied to the cork, which worked out well.

Beasty Brown	Filthy Brown	Dead White

I have two more ‘Mechs to add to this unit before they are completely done but thought I should share what I have so far.  This particular Shadow Division uses a black to gray fade with gold highlights on the arms.

The Seraph is the miniature I entered for the GenCon 2009 painting competition.  I was sure blown out of the water in that competition.  The CamoSpecs crew are a hard bunch to beat when it comes to slapping paint around.

The lava base was inspired somewhat by the last battle in the Wolf and Blake starterbook.  I wanted to add more color to the models besides the simple green jeweling and cockpits.  While the technique I used is not as precise it is fast and effective.

Easy Lava

I started by tearing apart a cork and gluing the jagged looking pieces to my hex base.  I filled in the gaps with medium ballast from Woodland Scenics.

After allowing the glue time to completely dry I laid down a thick layer of bright yellow paint.  From there I simply dry brushed up with orange then red, and finally black.  Each dry brush is successively smaller in scope with the exception of the black which was brushed heavy enough to cover the tops of the cork where the ‘Mechs are supposed to stand.

Each ‘Mech had to be trimmed down at the feet and attached to the cork via 5-minute epoxy. Simple as that you have a very nice looking lava base.  I think it is a little over the top but there is nothing saying you couldn’t cover a smaller area and have a more appropriately scaled lava.

The 68th Royals are a fan faction created by HaasWerks, a local artist and miniature war gamer.  I had the pleasure of taking these miniatures under my brush to add a bit of flare and highlights to them.  I hope that their owner is pleased with my end result even though I do not believe my highlights came out exactly as I would have liked.  It’s a hard thing to do when you did not put down the base coats yourself.  Color matching is a tricky business.

The picture above is the old 68th Royals as I received them.  Below are the improved paint jobs.

The additional (and subtle) highlights are a mix of Liche Purple and Bone White. I added a bit of extra Blood Red highlights as well.  The cockpits are done in a fade of Stormy Blue to Magic Blue to Electric Blue with the usual white dots in the right places.

I have at least one more item from HassWerks that I plan on showing soon.  All I’m saying for now is that HaasWerks is also an excellent sculptor.  Stay tuned!

Posted under Minis

I screwed up recently.  Big time.

I spent a good number of hours painting up another lancemate for the 15th Lyran Regulars unit and then, in an impatient rush, I decided to go ahead and apply a final coat of spray varnish despite the near 100% humidity in the area.  There was a painting contest I was going to enter the very next morning and I wanted to give it time to dry before I hit the road.

Protection is important.  A good two or three coats of varnish or Testors Dullcote will go a long way to protect the time you invest in painting.  Rushed application of said varnish in less than ideal conditions will screw you over big time.

So there you have it.  The high humidity fubar’d my miniature clouding up the layer that was supposed to protect.  I guess I could sprinkle some snow on the base and call it a winter unit.  Either that or I send it to the PineSol graveyard.

PineSol can work wonders but the fact remains that I wasted a good amount of time and because I rushed, I spoiled a perfectly good miniature.

Lessons Learned

• Take your time, patience will be rewarded.
• High humidity and spray primer/varnish = bad

If you have never used Waterslide decals this video tutorial will show you the steps.

All of the decals I use come from Fighting Pirannha Graphics.  Decals are a great way to spice up your minis without the pain of small detail painting.  Sorry for some bad framing during certain parts of the video.  It is kind of hard to work with a camera in front of you.

I hope you enjoy!

After a long wait I finally got around to finishing this company.  I originally had big plans to try out a new style of painting.  When it became obvious that I didn’t have a clue what to do, I regressed to my usual routine and for a while became so disappointed that I left them to collect dust for weeks on end without so much as touching them.

Every project has it’s lessons learned and this one is no different.  At this juncture, I’m just glad to be able to wipe the slate clean and rid my work bench of this albatross (both figurative and literal).  I am excited to get to my next project whatever it ends up being.

Command Lance

• Albatross
• Grasshopper
• Tempest
• Anvil

Fire Lance

• Archer
• Catapult
• Longbow
• Stalker

Chase Lance

• Wraith
• Valkyrie
• Wolverine
• Shadow Hawk

Support Lance

• Regulator Hover Tanks
• Schiltron
• Galleon Light Tank

Aerospace Wing

• Transgressor
• Chippewa

I’ve long advocated the use of Mechwarrior figures to play Classic Battletech.  It just makes sense to me and I think my readers agree.  Since my original post on the subject debuted in July of last year it has been the most popular ScrapYard article every single month.

Since then my modest collection of a battalion of converted figures has ballooned into a short combined arms regiment of ‘Mechs, vehicles, and even infantry.

Is Quick Strike the New Mechwarrior?

The introduction of the Strategic Operations core book gave us a special treat in the Quick Strike rules.  I swear, this rules set is the new reincarnation of Mechwarrior Age of Destruction.  What’s so good about it?

• All the charts you need to play fit on two single sided sheets
• Each company/binary/2 level IIs of figures takes up one sheet of paper
• ‘Mechs have special abilities to reflect specific Classic Battletech loadouts

Quick Strike features fast play and does away with copious record keeping.  It is a great transition from the Mechwarrior game to the Classic Battletech style of play.  It retains the combined turn mechanic that Battletech players love while simplifying game play without too much sacrifice in detail.  The developers have outdone themselves with this latest update.

It may not be for everyone and I am probably getting ahead of myself in thinking that this new set of rules could replace Mechwarrior completely.  There will always be those out there who will never give up their combat dials.  Nothing wrong with that at all but it also doesn’t hurt to have this new way to play.

More Miniatures, More Things to Blow Up

Even if you are not going to give Quick Strike a try, Mechwarrior figures are a fun and easy way to expand your miniatures collection so long as you have access to 2″ hex terrain or are adventurous enough to go with hexless miniature rules.

Keep your eyes peeled.  There are plenty of deals out there on Mechwarrior figures and they are only going to get better.

My recently painted Warhammer has made it onto the front page of a gaming news blog Robot Viking.

Full Article

I’m thrilled to share my work and it’s great to receive positive reviews from those outside the Classic Battletech community. The added exposure is a great thing for the game too.  Just about everyone inside the Battletech circle knows what a Warhammer looks like.  I hope that at least a few people who see the Robot Viking article may be intrigued enough to take a look at what’s cooking at Catalyst Game Labs.

For those of you who may have wandered over make sure you take a moment and look at the Leap Into The Action page at ClassicBattletech.com.  It holds a great assortment of information on the game including more than enough free PDFs to satisfy any curiosity you may have.