Battletech - 2nd Genoysha Reinforcement Wave

This weekend I finished the last of my Battletech mechs for my Draconis Combine Genyosha Regiment.  That regiment now consists of 51 mechs, 20 armored vehicles, 10 infantry platoons, 4 VTOLs and 2 aerospace fighters.  Fat chance I will ever use it all at once.

Anyway, there is not much to say here.  The last 14 mechs were done in my standard Sci-Fi Grey, to match the rest of the regiment.  They consisted of (2) Marauders, Highlander, Flashman, (2) Warhammers, (3) Locusts, Griffin, Crab, Hornet, Panther and Mongoose.  This rounds out my force and provides a rather large selection of mechs to choose from. 

For the most part these were a pain in the ass to assemble.  The Highlander was an absolute nightmare.  13 pieces I do believe.  One could pose the model in just about any pose you wanted, however I spent more time gluing myself together I think.  The Locusts were a pain as well, with separate feet and legs.  The rest were somewhere in the middle between easy and annoying.

With House Kurita done I am very close to finishing my Battletech models sitting on my shelf.  I will now be focusing on finishing off the 20 mechs and 20 vehicles for House Davion.  Once that is complete my Battletech painting days will be over.   

Reinforcements! 

Locust, Light Battlemechs

Warhammer, Heavy Battlemechs

Hornet, Light Battlemech

Mongoose, Light Battlemech

Flashman, Heavy Battlemech

Crab, Medium Battlemech

Griffin, Medium Battlemech

Highlander, Assault Battlemech

Marauder, Heavy Battlemech

Panther, Light Battlemech

Warhammer, Heavy Battlemech

Critical Mass Games Protolene (Kra'Vak) Assault Suits

Two posts in one day.  Another addition today for my Kra'Vak forces: robotic assault suits.  My Kra'Vak forces needed some large battlesuits, both piloted and robotic.  Protolene Assault Suits by Critical Mass games seemed like a logical choice. 

The models themselves were very basic: a plastic body with choice of weapon arms.  My intention is to use these in Alien Squad Leader, Gruntz and Tomorrow's War, so the choice of weapons was really unimportant to me.  I settled on a mix of arms.

The paint scheme was the same as my other Kra'Vak forces: Sci-Fi Grey, with appropriate cockpit jeweling and metal highlights.  I gave the models targeted washes with Vallejo Grey and Light Grey.  I then used Tamiya pigments for weathering.  I will probably add more of these eventually to my collection, particularly the one with claws.

GZG 15mm Kra'Vak Grav Tanks

This week I am returning to 15mm Sci-Fi, taking a break from Battletech for a bit.  This was spawned by a parcel in the mail: my Kra'Vak armor from GZG.  Yay!

These casts, like all from GZG are solid metal.  They are quite large compared to more contemporary vehicles by GZG.  The castings were quite clean, containing almost no flaws.  They went together quite easily with no fuss.

For a color scheme I decided to keep the same color as I used in my Kra'Vak infantry.  I call it: Sci-Fi/Battletech Grey (Tamiya NATO Black, followed by Tamiya German or Dark Grey, with Tamiya Light Grey highlights with a final highlight of Vallejo Pale Blue Grey...all airbrushed).   I then jewelled the viewports and added some metallic accents.  The bases are not finished in the photo but were done in my standard flock scheme.  I did not use any washes on these models.  However I did make liberal use of Tamiya weathering pigments. 

Overall I am pleased with the look.  Since the colors are similar to my Draconis Combine the scheme is quite easy for me to replicate now.  The color gives them a cold, military feel, just what I think the Kra'Vak represent.  The models themselves would fit well with any alien force really, being quite angular and menacing.  I need to order some SPA guns and another couple of vehicles to finish off my battlegroup. 

GZG Kra'Vak Grav Vehicles

GZG Kra'Vak Grav APC

GZG Kra'Vak Grav Tank

GZG Kra'Vak Grav Tank

Old Crow 15mm Sci Fi Hammers Slammers Hover Tanks

Getting back to 15mm Sci fi: here is something that I have had kicking around in my display cabinet forever, Hammers Slammers Blower Hover Tanks from Old Crow.

Like I have said in the past, I love Jez's stuff from Old Crow.  His models are clean, require almost no clean up, are cost effective and quite modular.  If you play 15mm sci fi you simply must check out his stuff.

The models below are a mix of command and regular hover tanks.  They were airbrushed in Vallejo chrome and Vallejo Russian Green Color Modulation kit.  The vents I just painted a black grey and the other odds and ends various colors.  They are used as a basic generic high tech heavy tank force that can be attached to any of my other sci fi human armies.  Normally I would not paint armor in a metallic paint but these tanks represent a higher level of technology than my other forces and as such camo patterns are unnecessary due to their sheer awesomeness.

Old Crow Hammers Slammers Blower Tank

Hammers Slammers Blower Tank

Battletech - Draconis Combine Reinforcements!

I have not done much in the past month or so.  Illness and general lethargy have kept me down.  However, I did manage to go through my lead pile and finish up some additional mechs for my Battletech Draconic Combine Genyosha force. 

I purchased these over a year ago with the intent of using them in Gruntz or some other 15mm game: a Titan 2, Supernova and three Night Stalkers.  Since then they sat unassembled, unceremoniously thrown in a box, forgotten.

As luck would have it though, when cleaning up I found these gems.  My Combine forces were lacking in numbers (especially medium mechs) so I painted them up accordingly.  The designs are from a much later era than I normal play in Battletech.  As such, they are going to be used as custom designed Star League mechs in my 3025 games.  The Night Stalkers fit with the Kurita Samurai warrior ethos: fast, lots of light weapons with a nasty close combat weapon to boot! 

These guys are 95% finished.  I am just missing the Combine decals, which are in the mail.  They were airbrushed in the same manner as my other Genyosha forces.  The whole process took perhaps 2 hours to complete all five mechs, from airbrushing to detailing.  The Stalkers were a bit of a struggle to put together (a lot of small pieces) but I like the design quite a bit.  They would work well in 15mm games as some kind of battle robot.  The Supernova and Titan 2 would easily work as light or medium mecha. 

Titan 2, Supernova and Nightstalkers



Titan 2 Battlemech



Supernova Battlemech

Nightstalker Battlemech

House Kurita Battlemechs - 6th Ghost Regiment

Following on the heels of Genyosha here is another former creation of mine, done quite some time ago: 6th Ghost Regiment, Draconis Combine.

Now, first off, these guys no longer exist.  This was my first attempt at white and despite them being almost 100% done I stripped them down at a later date.  Quite simply I was not happy with the technique I used.  I present them here as a "what could have been". 

They were done in Reaper Master Series Ghost White, then given a gloss cote and washed in thinned out black ink.  Then I glazed up the white with a lighter white.  I could certainly do a better job now, specifically since I use Vallejo grey washes (light, regular, dark) rather than thinned down black.

Anyway, that's about it.  These guys indeed now are a "Ghost Regiment".

Draconis Combine 6th Ghost Regiment, three full lances of battlemechs

Dragon

Catapult

Zeus

Atlas

Grand Dragon

Whitworth and Clint

Panther and Quickdraw

Jenner and Hunchback