Plamo: The UrbanMech Lance (BattleTech, Catalyst Game Labs)

You know what? Let’s do a bonus article.

 

I've done UrbanMechs before, but its been two-ish years since I did anything BattleTech, so a brief summary is called for. Presented in 4 variations, the UrbanMech is a meme. How much of a meme? Well, Tex felt it necessary to do two videos on it, an initial short six years back, and a recent chrimbo special which was more extravagant. Think something along the lines of a Ball, or a mobile bunker. Its basic purpose is garrison duty in cities, and is known for being a light but slow mech, two words that do not go together well. The BattleTech setting is however not without some nuance, and if used correctly the humble Urbie can be a capable ambusher on its home turf. This lance box features models to represent the classic version and three variants with more specialist weaponry. I am especially fond of the one with triple missile racks in SRM6, I can see that being a nasty surprise for someone. I was certainly surprised to chance upon these in a shop.

when I painted these, I opted for a simple scheme which I then made over-complicated. My inspiration here was Robocop, specifically the blue tinted version seen on the Robocop 2 poster and some other depictions. You might ask why I didn't go for an ED209 scheme? Well, the Urbie isn't a chicken walker, and if you haven't noticed, the text of the first film is that the ED is objectively awful. The UrbanMech has flaws, certainly, but its not that bad. Applying the Robocop scheme to an Urbie prompted applications of blue ink over metalics, and experimental uses of glossy black for the cockpit windows. I'm not entirely happy with either aspect, although I can see the techniques having applications elsewhere. Maybe this idea would work better on a more humanoid mech...

 

The bases were also a touch experimental. I added a few random bits to the bases, before a layer of the GW Astrogranite Debris technical paint. This was then drybrushed with Dark Reaper, a bluey-grey I'd picked up for another project. This was a reasonable approximation of urban concrete decay, although I will admit my inexperience with such terrain at this scale. I need more practice and more size appropriate bits. The three donuts on the base of one was a happy accident; the three beads I'd put there were intended to be vaguely industrial at first, but I painted one in brown, and things flowed from there.

 

I remain a bit unsatisfied with the end result, but that may just be perfectionism. I'm a bit rusty, but people seem to like these.

 

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

 

After my somewhat mixed success with the Command Lance, I resolved that I would back go to a green paint scheme. Its always good to try something new, I just wasn’t happy with how they turned out. So, I went back, checked the article where I wrote down the paints I used, and decided to practice on a lance box I would not feel too bad about messing up: the Support Lance. Consisting of three Star League era designs of increasing rarity and one flagship product, the theme of this set is a little harder than usual to tease out. It's support in the sense that here's 3 heavy dudes with a little guy for spotting, although beyond that it's a touch generalised. So, to start in order of increasing chonkitude.

The Spider is a notably agile scout, known for its jump jets. These take up most of its back, with eight visible thrusters, bulking out what is otherwise a stick-thin machine. Otherwise, I find it a bit strange. Occasionally, you get some quite oddball designs in Battletech, and the Spider puts its armaments in the chest. That makes some sense from a game mechanics standpoint, but I would have put something in the arms, if only to increase the fire arcs. My regular readers, somewhat hypothetical as they may be, might notice I’ve based these like the UrbanMechs. That is so say, Citadel Technical Astrogranite over plastic scraps. I opted for this as I do an awful lot of mud with my Orks, and since it works quite well, why not? I also used Liquitex Acrylic Ink “Transparent Raw Sienna” as the wash for these models, something which seems to have been a boon to the lance as a whole. It looks to have helped their finish.

 

Up next there is the posterboy of the Draconis Combine, the Dragon. A solid performer in its class, this is a good all-rounder with some good quirks. I can see a Lance doing well with a pair of these. My only concern is with, well, the entire concept of the Draconis Combine. Not a nice place on the surface, and the ethnic coding in play needs a proper unpacking. Anyways, this was quite good to work on, minimal fuss.

With the Thug we're back to relatively rare Star League vintage stuff. This was designed to rival the venerable Warhammer, and in the process popularised the idea of a "zombie mech". The Thug can absorb a frankly unreasonable amount of damage, but much of the technology that enabled this became lost. Comstar is the only organisation to really hang on to them, and that was a bit of a surprise to folks. I regrettably didn’t notice a mould imperfection on the head until it was too late, but the Citadel Technical Soulstone gave the PPCs a real nice glow.

 

Finally, we have the Cyclops, a 90 ton assault mech whose job description implies it probably shouldn't be getting its hands dirty. It's a dedicated command vehicle, and good in that role, but as with the Thug, the technology enabling this was lost during the Succession Wars. People only tend to want one if its got a working battle computer. Personally, I'm less than jazzed about this one as a concept; you generally don't want your enemies to know where your command centre is, and this appears to be a flashing neon "shoot me" sign. Mind you, the eye came out really nice. My usual method of Citadel Contrast Iyanden Yellow over Wraithbone is admittedly a touch random, but it worked very well here.

So, here’s the thing, I really like how these turned out, and this was basically a light warm-up for me. I’ve produced nice, table-worthy, results with simple techniques. But I don’t wish sound like I’m dismissing my own work by saying it simple. I put the effort in by finding/perfecting those techniques, and while I’m not entering a Golden Demon or nothing, I’ve got my confidence back with respects to BattleTech.