Let’s talkabout ‘Mechs bay-bee

Ok, so next weekend (26th & 27th) is the War of 3039 event at Factorum down in Warminster, and as I’m working till somewhat late on Friday I figured I’d try and get the major prep work done this weekend so I have everything to hand. To whit that means:

• Laminated copy of CGL’s rules reference sheet.
• Printouts from Flechs of all the battlemechs I am taking in my force.
• Dry-erase markers.
• The event rules packet.
• Rulebooks (I think I will only need the AGOAC book but am taking the Battlemech Manual just in case…).
• Dice, in a handy carrycase with a dice tray (I backed this one on Kickstarter but for the life of me can’t remember the name of the company).
• Anything else? Oh yeah, minis! I need to get some decent carrycases but for now this Feldherr one will do the job for small forces like this….

Right, so the War of 3039 event pack has a spot on the ‘Mech damage records for the pilot name, so I started just coming up with some names for each one – with call signs – and then kinda got a bit carried away so wrote up some brief biographies for each one. Please feel free to let me know what you think – I have tried to keep them fairly period-agnostic, excepting Omega Lance whose existence is only really possible in the post 3150 period…

Alpha Lance (Company Command/Battleline)
Captain Morgase “Morrigan” Kincaid-Farsi – Highlander
Morgase Kincaid never dreamed of being a Mechwarrior, but after terrorists killed her parents and brothers the academic young girl she had been was replaced by a voracious student of military tactics and martial combat. Her maternal Grandfather, himself a retired Brigadier in the AFFS, tried to guide her intense focus to prevent her causing herself harm. He was moderately successful – Morgase made a name for her dour nature outside the cockpit and utter lack of mercy within it, with one classmate comparing her to the Morrigan of Olde Irish lore, a name she took with pride. Chafing within the rigid structure of the AFFS, her Grandfather prepared for this and on his death left her 3 bequeathments: The option for an honourable discharge from her commission; the family battlemech, a much-refitted Highlander that had been in the family since the days of the SLDF; and a letter of introduction to the Kell Hounds CO.

Colour-Sgt Ryan “Waves” Braga – Wolverine
Ryan Braga presents a slight figure who one would never think was senior NCO in a company of mercenaries, but they have spent the best part of 3 decades knocking fresh off the dropship rookies into shape across the Inner Sphere, working for most of the Great Houses at some point or other. For those who judge the nominally laid back Waves (so named for their obsession with finding surfing spots, no matter the planet) on how they present themselves, it normally only takes one round either in the ring or in battlemechs for that assumption to be put right.

Sgt Steph “Tagger” Salazar – Black Knight
Tagger is an artiste, and woe betide anyone who tries to tell her differently. On more than one occasion she has gotten bored on patrol and begun using the lasers of her Black Knight to carve intricate designs, patterns and even portraits & landscapes into any bare rockface she can find, much to the bemusement of those who come across them (somewhat less sanguine about this are those who might own buildings that Tagger thinks would make a good canvas for her work, although she has developed small following in the art collecting community willing to pay the owners of her “canvases” enough to mollify their initial complaints). In battle Salazar is surgical in the precision she wields her array of laser weaponry, but has a tendency to forget to stagger her firing enough to prevent generating excessive heat, much to the chagrin of the company mechanics…

Bravo Lance (Recon/Harraser)
2^nd-Lt Jacques “Downer” Hart – Centurion
Lt Hart is a valiant mechwarrior whose skill behind the controls of his Centurion “Valjean” is as close to graceful as anyone piloting 55 tons of war machine is likely to be called. Unfortunately he is also plagued by near crippling self-doubt and imposter syndrome. Given half a chance he’d spend all his downtime replaying battle-ROMs, pointing out flaws in his performance only he can see, or attributing his successes to his fellow pilots or to random chance. The Morrigan’s solution? Prevent Hart from having time to agonise over his own perceived flaws; hence why he was promoted to Lt and placed in command of the company’s Bravo Lance with the job of riding heard over some of Kether Troops’ most rambunctious mechwarriors.

Corporal Mustafa “Archive” Abbas – Wolfhound
Mo Abbas would have been happy to remain in academia, but the conditions of his scholarship required he accept a military commission on graduation so was required to undertake military training alongside his historical studies. In the course of this Abbas found he had a talent for piloting Light ‘mechs and a taste for combat. On completing the term of his commission Mo opted to muster out instead of renewing and headed for the hiring halls of Outreach. A Kell Hounds recruiter saw in him a pilot who would suit the new Wolfhounds that they were testing, and so began a second career that has so far been fruitful. His callsign comes from his ability to absorb information on a stunning variety of subjects, and recite any part of it on request (or often if the topic just happens to come up in conversation…).

Mechwarrior Erica “Echoes” Falkirk – Phoenix Hawk
By rights Mechwarrior Falkirk should be commanding a company of her own, but holds a minor record for promotions and demotions, alongside a list of battlefield awards, citations, commendations and medals that would make most green with envy. Unfortunately Erica Falkirk is – in the eyes of many – a habitual screw-up with a penchant for hard living when not on deployment and an inability to not offend ranking officers in the same room with her. The truth is though, is that Echoes has not taste for command nor desire to return to it, even the duties of an NCO she finds uncomfortable, so everytime she finds herself bumped up in rank she finds a way to get busted back down again, but just enough so that her combat record can keep her from being cashiered out. Unfortunately for her, Falkirk may have met her match in “Morrigan” Kincaid-Farsi – Kincaid has no time for Echoes wallowing in mediocrity, and considers it a challenge to push her to her potential…

Mechwarrior Andreas “Gopher” Starke – Commando
Gopher is – in his own words – “The man who can”, and by can he means find near anything you want, for a price. He has an astounding ability to plug in to the local underworld of whatever locale he is based in, no matter the planet, and source things, no questions asked. Of course this has led to Gopher occasionally over-estimating his abilities, resulting in his being confined to barracks when not sealed up in his Commando’s cockpit on more than one occasion whilst the company finish out a posting, for his own health. Captain Kincaid-Farsi placed Starke in Lt Hart’s recon unit in the hopes it might focus his abilities. Hart remains to be convinced by his antics.

Gamma Lance (Battleline/Brawlers)

1^st-Lt Alphonso “Bracket” Tomino – Thunderbolt
Bracket likes to claim that his call-sign comes from his preference for unleashing all of his Thunderbolts firepower in precision alpha strikes. Whilst he does have a knack for these, the less glamorous reality is he was cashiered out of the LCAF for running several – highly lucrative – gambling rings, Bracket being the name he ran them under. When he was “invited” to leave the service he decided to make the name his own (and to date has managed to keep his new rings low-key). Recently he has found a partner in crime in Bravo Lance’s Gopher, much to the chagrin of the rest of the company…

2^nd-Lt Brianna “Breeze” Tautei – Archer
Brianna Tautei serves as second in command of Gamma Lance, a role she more and more begins to think is simply to keep lance commander “Bracket” Tomino and his sidekick “Gopher” Starke out of trouble. Thankfully this is a role that Breeze excels at, whether by manhandling goons who have grievances (justified or not but more often justified) with the pair, or by laying down withering missile barrages from her Archer. And if things get up close, well, the Archer does come with a good pair of hands for brawling….

Sgt Dani “Diamond” Maddex – Warhammer
A tinkerer by nature, Dani Maddex was all set to follow in her families tradition of operating a Miningmech in the local mines, except a lone pirate mechwarrior and his crew showed up to give the town a shakedown. Which would have gone fine, had Dani not been working on the Miningmech in the family hanger, and the overconfident pirates stopped in front of the building with their backs to the hanger door. Dani rammed her mech through the closed doors and used the diamond-tipped boring drills she had been tuning up to core through the pirate gangs Warhammer, sending their leader to a very messy end. This sudden (and grizzly) act stunned the remainder of the pirate gang – armed only with infantry weapons and some light vehicles – and gave the townsfolk a chance to rally and overwhelm them. When the planetary sheriff’s office finally tracked the pirates down they were nonplussed to find everyone bar the gangs leader bound up and ready to be handed over to them. The townsfolk were adamant that no mech or pilot matching that description was still in town. And technically they were correct.
The town accepted the reward but split it in half – one half to go to the upkeep of the town and mines (netting some long overdue upgrades) and the rest to pay Dani’s way to a school of her choosing. When she left she took with her most of a Warhammer that she has been repairing and piloting ever since.

Sgt Leonardó “Woden” Halldórsson – Marauder
Leonardó Halldórsson acquired his callsign after an accident in basic training cost him an eye and he took to self-consciously wearing an eyepatch, even after getting a cybernetic replacement that allowed him to make the requirements for active duty. Couple that with his huge frame and the long hair & beard he cultivated and he looked every bit the Viking his ancestors once were. Woden serves as Kether Troop’s master sniper, whether with precision fire from his Marauder’s PPC’s & Autocannon, or on the firing ranges instructing the units Mechwarriors, Infantry, and support personnel.

Omega Lance “The Pack” (Irregular Tactics)

Mechwarrior Barry “Athos” Hauser – Mad Cat Mk.II
Barry Hauser was born to a minor noble house that had thrown in it’s lot with the Kells and the Arc Royal Defence Cordon to defend the Lyran Commonwealth from the Jade Falcons. After a particularly bad end to a relationship, Barry left home despondent to join the military and, being a tad prone to being overly dramatic, adopted the name “Athos” as his call sign. Increasingly enraged by the LCAF’s ineffectiveness against the depradations of Clan Jade Falcon and the Wolf Empire, Athos resigned his commission and has been searching for the remnants of the Kell Hounds to offer them his services. Joining up with Kether Troop, the mercurial Athos has formed an ad-hoc Lance of other mechs of the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat lineage with mechwarriors who could not find a place in the broader company. Currently he is working on a proposal to send to Colonel Kell to expand on his reasoning behind the unit, but that depends on his units success in the field….

Mechwarrior Toni – Timber Wolf
No one quite knows where Mechwarrior Toni came from – they claim to be a Sibkin from the Wolves-In-Exile, and some of the Kell Hounds who escaped Arc Royal think they remember seeing them there during the desperate final days before Malvina Hazen’s forces finally routed the planets defenders, but there are others who would swear that they resemble a face they saw fighting in the colours of the Falcon Toumen. Whatever the truth, Toni makes no efforts to hide that they came from the Clans, but is more reticent about which one. What is known is that they are a keen fighter and their much-refitted Timber Wolf can just about hold it’s own amongst it’s younger kin in The Pack.

Mechwarrior Kim “Cooler” Santiago – Mad Cat Mk.IV
“The Cooler” is an old-Earth term used to describe a player paid by casinos to disrupt anyone whose luck was just a bit too good. Kim Santiago lives up to that moniker as she relishes stopping opposing mechwarriors in their tracks with precision fire from her Savage Wolf’s twin PPC’s and it’s missile racks prone to knee-capping anyone too focused on taking down other members of the company.

Figured I’d try and keep the paint train rolling so started in on some heavier support for the Kell Hounds. with some solid battle-line units. To whit, from left to right along the front row:

• Morgan Kell’s Archer from the Legendary Mechwarriors set – kindof a no brainer, and the Archer is just a solid fire-support chassis even if the Grand Duke of Arc Royal is not on the field.
• Marauder – Iconic, and great to see the design back in play and bearing a lovely resemblance to it’s forebear, the Zentraadi Officers Battlepod from Macross/Robotech, whilst being distinctly Battletech in it’s styling.
• Thunderbolt – if my time playing HBS’ Battletech videogame has proven one thing, it’s that the T-Bolt is just a wonderful brawler at all ranges that can absorb horrific amounts of punishment. It was either this or the Black Knight for my list to take to War of 3039 at the end of the month, and the Black Knight just pipped it…
• Warhammer –  I know it’s the Robotech/Macross fan in me, but goshdammit I can’t get enough of that Excalibur silhouette.

And on the back we have a trio of Mad Cat’s – The OG Timber Wolf, the Assault-class Mad Cat Mk.II and finally the Mad Cat Mk.IV “Savage Wolf”. If I can find a decent Mad Cat Mk.III to match the scaling of these, this could make a fun support lance…

And I finally picked up a bunch of decent sized hex-bases and mounted some of my 3d prints:

• Mad Cat Mk.III – I love the idea of a Medium-class Timber Wolf, but the scaling on this is just a tad off. I think it needs to be a third smaller? Something to raise with the chap I purchased it from. Still a lovely print though.
• Gurkha – A really nice take on the Wobbie Light close-assault ‘mech, based on some great artwork (I think from BT community stalwart Bishop Steiner?) that stripped away the rounded armour and swapped the sword for a far more appropriate blade riffing on the iconic Kukhri’s wielded by real-life Gurkhas. Probably still a little larger than it should be, but in fairness I think if this one got much smaller it would be incredibly brittle…
• Warwolf – In essence a Timber Wolf that swaps one of the ranged weapon arms for an arm with a functional hand/claw, and wraps it all up in a chassis designed to evoke Clan Wolf’s namesake totem beast. Honestly I just dig the idea that the Kell Hounds commander as of 3150 (Callandre “Calamity” Kell) might take to targeting & salvaging “totem” ‘mechs from across the Clans to fit across the Kell Hound command as calculated atagonizers to draw out Clan warriors offended to see Spheroids using chassis designed to embody the spirit of their Clan against them…..
• Fafnir – A fave going back to the Mechwarrior 4 days, the Fafnir is pretty much the epitome of the trope that battlemechs are gun turrets with legs. Need to see if if I can build my old variant; and Rotary Auto Cannon 5 in each torso, paired with an ER PPC in each arm. The time it takes for a PPC to recharge is just shy of how long continuous fire takes to jam an RAC, so you can nearly fire continuosly and just shred most things until ammo runs out.

Trying this again as the Projects system ate my first attempt to post this (I think it was the image sizes ( >_< )

1. So, I opted to skip the pre-shade step I was going to try for, and just applied Blood Angel Red & Black Templar directly over the Wraithbone primer, with Leadbelcher on the weapons and Retributer Gold for the cockpit glass.
2. Next step was shading the weapons with Basilicanum Grey, and I applied Stirland Mud to the top of the bases.
3. Once the bases were dry I drybrushed the Stirland Mud with Tallarn Sand, then hit each Battlemech with an all-over drybrush of Karak Stone (I may not have wiped all the paint off the brush when doing a couple of these).
4. And to finish up (and to tone down the harshness and “enthusiasm” of some of the drybrushing) a wash of Nuln Oil on the ‘Mechs, and Aggrax Earthshade on the bases, with Mournfang Brown on the base rims.

So took a big step today and primed my first models in nearly two and a half years, hitting my force for The War of 3039 with Wraithbone, as well as spraying some extra mechs whilst I was at it.

I’m thinking of using this colour scheme for the Kell Hounds:  https://camospecs.com/listing/wasp-wsp-1a/ : so red on the head, torso, shoulders, lower arms & lower legs, with black on the upper arms, lower torso & legs from the knees up. With Wraithbone as a base, I’m thinking of hitting each model with an initial pre-shade of Nuln Oil, then Blood Angels and Black Templar Contrast paints.

Now, I will freely admit that this is my first time using Contrasts, so if anyone has any advise or tips they would like to offer before i start tomorrow, it will all be greatly appreciated 🙂

So one of my hobby goals for the new year was to get out and actually play games with folks (the current global crisis not withstanding..). To that end I’ve signed myself up to the next Battletech weekend being run by Crow Industries & Factorum at the end of February, a narrative event set during the War of 3039 between the Draconis Combine and Federated Commonwealth.

Going off the rules packet it seems like it should be a fun, casual event for newbies (waves hand) and veteran players alike. I even whipped together a force list and got it approved (shout out to John at Crow Industries for verifying my list over the weekend):

Front row left to right;

• Centurion
• Wolfhound
• Commando
• Phoenix Hawk

Back row left to right:

• Black Knight
• Highlander
• Wolverine

I think this gives me a good spread of durability and firepower in all weight classes, with jump-capable ‘mechs in each lance offering maneuverability options even if overall most of the chasssis I’ve gone for are a tad slower overall. I think the ability to tank punishment will be handy given how the weekend is being organised for any damage that completely blows though armour and/or structure to carry over between games. Most importanly though what faction to go for? Well I’ve decided I’m going to paint these in the distinctive red & black livery of the legendary Kell Hounds mercenary regiment, so I think a visit to the Camospecs website and some Battletech painters Youtube channels will be in order.

So my Ebay order arrived today and, overall, I’m pretty impressed (with one caveat that should be apparent to anyone familiar with the chassis in question)…

• Madcat Mk.III – It’s a Madcat, but squeezed into a Medium-class frame. What’s not to love (but in all seriousness I’ve had a softspot for this mech since reading the Ghost War novel)
• Raptor II – Look, I get it, it’s basically a Raven+, so not exactly innovative, but c’mon it’s a great  looking design. And again I have fond memories of it, this time from the old MechAssault games…
• Warwolf – Because Clan Wolf gonna Clan Wolf. The Space Wolf in me couldn’t not find a way to use this, and I’m thinking there’d be an irony to a Wolf totem mech being fielded by the remnants of the Kell Hounds. Might be fun to build a lance of captured Clan mechs, a deliberate middle finger to any Clanners they run up against…
• Gurkha – I’ve loved the idea of the Gurkha ever since I first saw it in one of the latter TRO’s. I know it’s seen mainly as a Wobbie mech, but this example is based on a redesign someone posted a few months back, stripped of the curved armour of the OG design, and the sword replaced by a  much more appropriate Kukhri.

But back to the elephant in the room – yeah, that Madcat III is just a smidge too big. The sculpt is lovely & crisp, but it’s pushing the same scale as the MW:DA mini version. For the record though, I’m not unhappy with the mini, but I will be mentioning it to the chap I brought it from so he can adjust his scaling of it for future buyers….