Plamo: The Inner Sphere Striker Lance (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

As my forth BattleTech related thingy, I suppose I can talk a little more about the fiction this time. In BattleTech parlance, a "Lance" is a typical formation of 4 BattleMechs, while a "Striker" refers to a lighter machine that favours both firepower and mobility. So, a striker lance describes a team of four BattleMechs, which aims for the Striker role. What's interesting here is that, when you dig into it, there's another theme at play. While BattleTech lets everybody field everything, more or less, two of the machines here are associated with the Draconis Combine, with the other two from factions opposed to it. Whom are the Draconis Combine? Well, in my limited understanding, they are Shogunate era Japan in space, BattleTech having that trope where a historical society is revamped with rayguns, and the potential for some unfortunate implications.

The painting for these was an outgrowth of techniques trialled for my preceding three BattleTech projects, with the aim of moving away from Contrast Paints in favour of a drybrush technique. All were therefore sprayed black and then applied with three different shades of green. These were Vallejo Model Colors 6025, Vallejo Panzer Aces 331, and AK Lime Green 11137. The latter ended up dominating the enterprise, making the whole lance brighter than I was aiming for, but not bad. I was still aiming for a Leo look with these, so brown elements were Vallejo Model Colors 70.871, washed with Game Ink 72.092 to add some definition. The other colours were inherited from the preceding projects. Let's continue breaking the format, and talk about the individual models.

First off, the PNT-8R Panther above is a design dating from the settings deep history, which despite some technological progression, the DC managed to hold onto. It puts me in mind of a self-propelled gun, or possibly a tank destroyer given its right arm and general weapon ft. You've got a PCC in most versions, and that puts the heat right up after each shot, so discipline is needed. The Panther presented some modest difficulty with respects to the cockpit glass, which is obscured with the “mouth”, but its fine. I seem to have found my grove with Iyanden Yellow, as you will see with the others here.

The JR7-D Jenner meanwhile is something that the Combine designed and built itself, but then other factions "acquired some". Its very much a hit & run sort of deal, as strikers seem to be, being quick with 5 weapon systems. It can very easily fire all at once. otherwise, it puts me in mind of an angry frog. Yes, that's the green again, but the detail really pops.

The WLF-1 Wolfhound was designed specially to counter the above by Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces, and is quite well-regarded from what I've heard. Its definitely the most balanced of the mechs seen today, with multiple lasers, one rear facing, a generally humanoid appearance, and good performance. This turned out nice, especially the cockpit glass, although possibly I should use a different colour for the gun...

 

Finally, the BLJ-1 Blackjack is an anomaly. Its 10 tons heavier than those above, and is classed as sniper, apparently due to its AC2s. It however kick the arse of the Draconis Combine, which was famously covered by Tex Talks BattleTech, and I cannot do better than that. Lots of good detail on this one.

 

Where next? Well, I think I've found something that works. Its just that additional tweaks are needed to get it perfect. That, or mix this with the purple, and do a devastator...

Plamo: The “Purple Force” Inner Sphere Lance (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

The story so far. Having decided to paint my “Armored Combat” miniatures, I'd settled on two contrasting Leo inspired colour schemes of green and purple. The green ones proceeded well-enough, but the purple hit a few problems. I am pleased to announce that these have been resolved.

The "Purple Force" Lance List

Locust LCT-1V 432

Shadow Hawk SHD-2H 1064

Catapult CPLT-C1 1399

Awesome AWS-8Q 1605

4500

So, to go on a tangent for a paragraph, at the time of writing, I'm in huff about Citadel's Contrast Paints. At present, I'd only rate half of them as satisfactory, and when the Contrast Paints don't work work, they really don't work. Sadly, both of the purple contrasts proved to be in the bad category. I'll admit to part of that being my own limitations as a painter, and what I'm attempting to paint, but these aren't working for me. Paints either don't dry properly and look bad, or the white undercoat sets off my perfectionism, so any time savings are lost. Of the ones I've tried, the only ones I'd recommend as a legitimate convenience to use as advertised are Administratum Grey, Black Templar Black, Blood Angels Red, and Iyanden Yellow. Otherwise, you either use one as slightly fancier ink wash, or if you need to pick out a detail of significantly different colour from the rest of the model, and the contrast paint would allow you to simplify the process. So, after trying 5 or so combinations of purple contrasts, I went back to dry-brushing.

Purple Team was therefore sprayed black, before successively lighter brushes of Citadel Xereus Purple and Vallejo Blue Violet were applied. This combined well with techniques practised on earlier projects, so this write-up may be familiar to you. Vallejo Dark Grey was used for detailing and to highlight areas like the feet and hands. Vallejo Gunmetal was used to... Well, I dunno. What do you think? Agrax Earthshade was used as a general wash, where as the canopy glass was Citadel Wraithbone, followed by Iyanden Yellow and 'ardcoat. This is an area where where I must admit Contrast Paints work well; cockpit glass can be a right pain in the fundament, and otherwise requires mixing of different shades to get the reflective gem affect. The base was once more Stirland Mud, then Earthshade again, then a Zendri Dust drybrush. This was about a day's work, including drying time.

Now, this was a much better experience for me. I got a good purple out of this, and the other colours worked just fine. Possibly the canopies are a bit rough, but its tableworthy. Mind you, something that I didn't intend was home much these ended up looking House Marik forces. I am unsure as how terrible that faction is, although they appear to be prussian capitalist aristocrats to some extent. That kinda works given how OZ was in Gundam Wing, but I wasn't aiming for that.

Where next? Not sure. I may just rework my green scheme into something more like the above. I.e a controllable drybrush method. But there are famous mecha with green and purple colour schemes...

Plamo: The “Green Force” Inner Sphere Lance (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

 

OK, so I have that boxset, and its miniatures. I suppose I should paint them. So I did. Two questions came to mind however. The first was how, and the second was also how. Should I split the forces, and if I did, how should I paint them? Cue procrastination, discovering what Battle Value was, deciding against the red versus blue theme of the beginner's box, and more procrastination. What eventually did it was the realisation that the Leo, my personal favourite grunt mecha, had a lesser known purple colour scheme. Green and purple? That's almost as good as red versus blue. So, I researched, and sought the advice of my cousin, whom is a professional painter, and moved ahead.

The “Green Force” Lance List

Commando COM-2D 541

Wolverine WVR-6R 1101

Thunderbolt TDR-5S 1335

Battlemaster BLR-1G 1519

Battle Value: 4496

My basic approach was as follows, and mainly featured Citadel paints, Contrasts and technicals. I used Wraithbone spray for the primer, and Death Guard Green for the base coat. Mournfang Brown was used for the hands & feet, with Vallejo Dark Grey and Gunmetal for detailing and weapons. Once tidied, the contrast paint Militarium Green was applied, followed by Agrax Earthshade to tie it all together. The cockpit glass was another contrast paint, Iyanden Yellow, with 'Ardcoat for shine. Basing was achieved via Stirland Mud, then Earthshade again, then a Zendri Dust drybrush. It largely worked.

A few comments. Three of them. First, as predicted in a previous post, the Battlemaster's dome was an issue. Its a large area, and contrast paint is intolerant of mistakes that inevitably occur, resulting in an uneven finish. Its not bad from a distance, but I know its there. That said, that's a me fault, not a paint fault, good call with the yellow Andrew. Secondly, its very easy for details to be lost at this scale, but at least its table-worthy. And thirdly, white undercoats remain a pain for me. I think I'll get the green spray next time, but otherwise this worked out well.

The painting of these models was preceded by two test models, where I tried to test out the colour scheme. These were sourced from a somewhat dubious ebay seller, but proved to be adequate for my purposes. With the Orion, I felt that I'd found a table-worthy green, although my attempts at purple hit a snag and were shelved. Into the dettol they went.

Up next: Purple Force. I hope

First Impressions: BattleTech: A Game of Armored Combat

Dammit. Colons always mess with my naming convention. OK, so, it seems I'm on a BattleTech thing now. Recently I picked up the Beginners Box, and liked it enough to move onto today's subject. While a couple of years old now, “A Game of Armored Combat” is the main entry point for the game. Here's my first impressions of it.

 

The Plastic

Pride of place in this set are 8 plastic miniature, fixed-posed examples similar to a nice board game, and about the size of your average 28mm bolter dude. These are mounted in hex bases, and made of a bendable plastic that you may need to correct. My Commando, for example demontrated the known issue with a bent left leg, prompting adjustment with a craft knife and some warm water. Putting aside that annoyance, each is a unique sculpt and unit, with no duplication. I don't know enough about the metagame to say if its optimal way of doing things, but there is nice variety, equating to two basic forces. Of those mechs you get two each of the common weight classes, light, medium, heavy, assault, making the set somewhat top-heavy. Veteran BattleTech players, I.e. people other than me, will probably be pleased that 5 of these models are part of the Unseen; designs previously subject to legal difficulty. The Wolverine returns along with the Dougram related Battlemaster, Shadow Hawk & Thunderbolt, while the Locust comes from Crusher Joe, something outside of my usual area of expertise. The remaining three are “homegrown” mechs, the Commando being the most conventionally humanoid of them, and puts me in mind of a chap in a tin helmet. Meanwhile, the Awesome, a name I thought was trying too hard until I saw it in action, and the Catapult present what I'd consider to be classical walking tank designs. As mentioned, there's much variety here, and this is what you want in a starter set. I don't foresee any great difficulty in painting any of these, although the Battlemaster's bubble canopy looks a pain.

The Rules

I'm not going to get too deeply into the rules mechanics here, as its an involved game, and I don't have much of a frame of reference. I've found the games I've managed to play to be quite fun, although also quite involved. BattleTech has a nerdish attention to detail, but the rulebook is sometimes obtuse in areas. These areas are, surprise-surprise, the bits they omit in the Beginner Box, critical hits, pilot injury and overheating. That last one is pretty fundamental to actual play, an implied risk/reward mechanic where you can push a machine to pilot-boiling levels of performance, but its not presented well at all. Ammunition explosions are a similar experience. As funny as that can be, that paragraph should probably just say “If you have ammunition in this location, the Battlemech immediately and fatally explodes”. The presentation put me in mind of a 3.5 edition D&D players handbook, its all there, but its needlessly spread-out or verbose. What isn't there, curiously, are rules for assembling a force and fielding units. You get this indirectly via the included roster sheets, and the implication that in a game where you get 8 models, you should probably split them into groups of 4. Scenarios are included, which are nice, but strangely there isn't the obvious battle royal where you field everything. Even more strangely, mech creation rules. OK, that's not unwelcome, but maybe that space could have been spent on cleaning up the layout? Overall, the rules aren't as bad as say, something by Fantasy Flight, but the presentation of rules is the main weakness of this set.

Paper goods and card-stock

As BattleTech uses hex maps for movement, this is an area which needs addressing. Yes, play-mats are a thing, as are printers, but its still nice to have one in the box. Its nicer when its double-sided, and has a friend, as we do here. Something also quite welcome is the sheet of robust looking cardboard standees. Its not something I feel inclined to use, but its there both players want to field the same machine. Or indeed, the Griffin from the Beginner Box. Meanwhile, pre-generated roster sheets offer variant units and an ease of photocopying. At worse, this stuff is functional, and generally feels like extra effort was made. Even the rulebook feels just right for what this is, and there's cards for the Alpha Strike ruleset. So, good paper to go with the good plastic.

The Basic Value Proposition

A question that appears immediately when discussing wargames is "does this cost less than GW? “. To which the smart answer is: "Yes, like many things". That's not a useful question to be asking, really. This boxset comes in at 60 quid, with 8 models, rules and assorted welcomed paper goods. This puts it in favourable position versus your 40k equivalent. Mechs sold separately come in packs of 4 for £25 or so, while full-scale rulebooks are around £30-40, so within the context of its own range its a good deal too. Alternatively, you can get official PDFs of the rules, which are easier to find and cheaper, although I'd be the first to say such things can be less convenient than a paper copy. If we must make the Games Workshop cost comparison, we shouldn't compare this with 40k, but we can with Adeptus Titanicus. In doing so we must acknowledge that GW is offering larger and nicer models, and with GW's market dominance, that game is easier to get into. We must also note the starter set for that is 90 quid. There is also the beginners box, which is possibly more compelling as taster given its 20 quid bracket, although that's purposefully cut-down, versus the more complete experience offered here. Actually acquiring the Armored Combat boxset was however something of a nuisance, as it keeps selling out, whereas the beginner box is much easier to find. Furthermore, BattleTech is one of those games were the models made by different companies, something which confused me at first. While Catalyst does the plastics, the venerable Ral Partha continues to produce metals from the 80's, something acknowledged but not really explained. The main benefit however is that there is choice, and 3d printing. So, if you already have suitable models on hand, it might well be simpler just to pick up a Battle Manual and go from there. I'd imagine beginners like myself doing that as a later purchase. Mind you, that's kinda the whole idea of a starter set; its an introduction, not an encyclopedia.

Wrapping Things Up

As starter sets go, this is pretty much what you want. Its got a nice spread of stuff, and seems fairly priced. Veteran players may however wish to skip this set if the models don't appeal.