Plamo: The TBT-5N Trebuchet (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

This article is dedicated to the memory of Jean-Pierre Jean, A CHEF, and force of nature, as played by a RPG friend of mine. This is not because the character is dead, more that he cannot be forgotten. And this battlemech looks like something he'd pilot.

So, having finished up the bits and pieces, I decided to do another lance box, and work on it over a month. A legitimate one this time, I feel I've done the "dubious" dance enough, and I'm in two minds about 3D prints, but this left me with somewhat minimal options. I ended up getting the "Inner Sphere Fire Lance" which continues the trend of somewhat bland, non-indicative names. There are some notable chonkers in this set, which yes, do fire a lot, but it's a name that suggests deliberate understatement. And because this is me, I'm starting with the mech that's the smallest, the 50 ton Trebuchet. Intended to do similar work to the Catapult, see the naming theme, the Trebuchet is a medium mech specifically designed to operate in a Lance of 4 similarly equipped robots. Specifically, it was meant to be paired with the Centurion, a purpose built escort with a different but complementary naming scheme. Its noted for having modest ammo stores, but being easy to reload. Less noted is its status as victim of technological decline, loosing the benefits of double heatsinks and C.A.S.E during the Succession Wars. Maybe that's why it is so mismatched and asymmetric in appearance. One arm has an LRM-15, a medium laser, and a hand. The other has two medium lasers, offset from each other diagonally. Meanwhile, one LRM-15 takes up the right side torso. This strikes me as a somewhat confused setup, or a compromise in the boardroom.

As you may have suspected from the amount of text above, I don't too much to say about the paint process this time. I did this in my usual manner, with colour variations arising from the sculpt and my mood at the time. I will however highlight the Iyanden Yellow though. Its weird how it behaves, golden here, but often orangey on bigger surfaces. It works either way though, and the model as a whole came out quite nicely.

Up next: something bigger.