Battletech Mechs and 28mm Stargate Team

Just finished off some Battletech mechs from the most recent version box set (link), painting them as Lyran Guards. I used Vallejo dark blue (70.930) and off white (70.820) that allowed me to edge highlight with white (new found love for this technique). Canopies were painted in a bronze/gold to compliment the blue. I also used an oil wash and home made pigment powders (using non-oil pastels), finishing off with some suitable decals.

I also used the powders on these 28mm US Marine Recon miniatures from Eureka Miniatures, that I painted as a generic Stargate team. The greens are a mix of Vallejo German Camouflage Dark Green (70.979) and German Fieldgrey WWII (70.830).

They will soon be joined by some Jaffa and suitable terrain.

NYE 2021 Battletech

New Year's Eve meant birthday celebrations at Phil's home again.

Like last year he ran a couple of games of Battletech, with each player playing one game over two map boards (non-scrolling) with players randomly assigned to one of two teams.

We were able to choose our mech, limited to 2000 BV, with a 200 BV bonus for mechs armed with less than three PPCs. Tech was limited to 3070 or earlier. Pilot and Gunnery skills were not allowed to be more than 2 points apart (e.g. 3/5, 2/4, 7/5, etc). I elected to go with my unplayed Marauder MAD-3R (two PPCs, autocannon/5, and two medium lasers) that I painted earlier this year with a Pilot skill of 4 and Gunnery skill of 2 (4/2).

Scoring would be 1 point per point of damage caused (both armour + internal structure), a bonus 50 points if your mech survives the game, and a bonus 20 points if the mech was operational and on the table at the end of the game. Game ends when all the mechs from one side have been destroyed, have left the table or after three hours.

With 12 players taking part we rolled off to see whether we'd be in game 1 or 2 and what team we'd be in. I was teamed up with Andreas (Marauder) and Andrew O (Rifleman IIC) in the first game. Our opponents were Paul G (Marauder), Tyler (Thunderbolt) and Lachlan (Awesome).

It's been a while since I played, and it showed. Young Lachlan made a game of it by deploying on a flank and turning the central axis of battle diagonally along the two maps. I strayed too far from a forest to lose the cover bonus and was shooting with weapons that didn't match the heat sinks I had. I forgot to keep track of my heat (funny as it hit 38 degrees during the day), but considering there was a few turns I didn't shoot and I only caused 35 points of damage I don't think it was an issue. I did however with my first shot manage to destroy Tyler's Thunderbolt with a head shot (again, not great tactics).

 (Ignore the blue hue, that's from the plastic sun shade overhead. Or the natural light on the planet we were battling on.)

After that it was a matter of time for Paul to go down, Andreas get killed by a head shot (that's his thing), and Lachan shot up by the Rifleman IIC and my Marauder. Game two was slightly more brutal - head shots also being a feature.

It was good to end the year with a game, and see me paint a fair few miniatures. Hope 2022 is better for all.

Battletech Repainted Demi-Company of Mechs

Back around 2006-2009 I played a little bit of Battletech. At that time (around May 2006) I got my first Battletech miniatures: an Assassin, Panther, Unseen Longbow and a few Locusts.

I painted them to an average standard as at the time Phil was running a tournament with an extremely fun auction element (run via group email). There was fierce bidding, as some players were keen to get their favourite mechs, and pay a premium for that. There was little time between the auction and the tournament (run over several weeks) games (hence the quick paint jobs). I don't remember these games, but I imagine I fared averagely with the Assassin, Panther, Locust and Spider (borrowed). I don't care, as it did get me hooked on the game and background. (Technically my first Battletech miniature was a stumpy little Atlas a family friend gave me in the early 90s, and I have just worked out it's from FASA's PlasTech range: https://www.sarna.net/wiki/PlasTech.)

After this tournament, in late 2008, I purchased Catalyst Games' Classic Battletech introductory box set (https://www.sarna.net/wiki/Classic_BattleTech_Introductory_Box_Set). The box set gave me some miniatures and maps. Even at the standard of the day, the miniatures were quiet average. I've painted a few, but I'm really not happy with them. Follow up acquisitions include a Marauder (2008), Blackjack and Vulcan (both 2009).

Which brings us up to the present.

I didn't get onboard with the recent Kickstarter, but it has renewed interest in the game in several of my wargaming circles. So I thought it was time to paint what I had, and bight the bullet and repaint the ones I wasn't happy with. This batch would include the unpainted Marauder, Blackjack and Vulcan, along with the painted Panther, Assassin and Longbow.

Blackjack:

Vulcan:

Unseen Longbow:

My original paint schemes were loosely based on Bundeswehr Cold War-era winter camo, plain grey and German late WWII assault camo schemes. And all with winter bases (yeah, I haven't played on any appropriate maps either). The Blackjack, Vulcan and Marauder were already undercoated black, the other three were painted in the winter camo.

They don't look coherent and so my plan to try and fix this I'll start on a grey base (some mechs left in their original "looted" colour) and either over paint everything in green and sand (similar to American WWII North Africa camo) or other camo schemes on the grey using these colours (e.g. assault or American Desert Battle Dress Uniform). My mechs would also be part of a mercenary unit, and so to tie all of the mechs together I will give the mechs red left shoulders and red right hands. Haven't thought of a name yet, but probably something with "Panzer" in the title.

First attempt at this camo:

I'm happy with the Vulcan's camo, but the Blackjack needs something more to make it looks less like he's wearing pyjamas or something. Probably by adding grey, bronze and gunmetal panels to break up the mechs that need it. I added larger khaki splotches on the Blackjack to help with this too.

Progress:

Finished demi-company of mechs; having varnished, added decals and static grass (that is versatile in its neutrality).

BJ-1 Blackjack (Iron Wind Metals): 

VL-2T Vulcan (Iron Wind Metals):

Unseen MAD-3R Marauder (Ral Partha):

Unseen LGB-0W Longbow (Ral Partha):

ASN-21 Assassin (Iron Wind Metals):

PNT-9R Panther (Iron Wind Metals):

About another 25 mechs to paint, but I'm in no rush to get them done as most of those are the plastic ones.

Last Game I Didn't Play - NYE Battletech

  

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

All the best for 2021, may it be better than this year; more painting, more face to face gaming and more hope.

Monday Knights' Christmas Party - Battletech!

Every year the Monday Knights wargaming club in Melbourne runs a light-hearted tournament for their end of year / Christmas celebrations. This year I put my hand up to run the tournament.

To keep the organising simple I ran a poll between bringing a mech for Battletech or a car for Gaslands and then randomly allocating these to each player. So there was a chance you could get you own mech or car, but you'd more likely to be facing off against it. The Battletech option won out unanimously. The rest of us were just happy to drink and talk about the year that was.

Basic rules were:

1. Each player brings 1 mech and corresponding data sheets (no BV or date limits; piloting 5 / gunnery 2; clan mechs were fine).
2. The mechs are pooled and each player is randomly allocated a mech (and to respect using someone else's miniature).
3. Swiss draw, either 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 (teams are temporary and during that game a player can’t attack a teammate).
4. Players start the game by rolling for initiative for corner selection (4 player game any corner, 2 player game the second player deploys at the opposite corner).
5. Victory Points are per internal damage inflicted, with +20 points bonus for each mech destroyed OR +50 point bonus if it was by a head shot.
6. Three rounds, with games limited to 50 minutes.

Phil brought a Widowmaker to the party. That's like bringing a tank to a knife fight. While the match ups between rounds weren't perfect, it was more to limit the damage it caused (both on opposing mechs and on team mates that were unlikely to score victory points that round). A full list of mechs are in the final scores below, with the Widowmaker and Nova being paired up on the kiddy table far away from the other two games in the first round. After that I used it for the mid-tiered players to have a quiet(er) game.

Games were over relatively quickly, and hopefully were fun to those that weren't facing the Widowmaker at the time. If I was to run this format again, I'd have a list of mechs players could select from, and would probably include everything above except the Widowmaker, Nova and Thorn.

Best quotes of the night:

"I’ve got more armour in my back than my front"
- Leadgend running away with spider and stating it was the best tactic to keep his mech standing.

"It’s f***ing geometry"
- crudboy after three games of plodding across the table to get some shots off and being told there wasn't line of sight (when there was). This was against a player who's a mathematician.

Little Wars Melbourne 2019 - Waterloo and Siege of Rhodes

Another year, and good to see another Little Wars Melbourne.

I was not really paying too much attention on what was being offered in the way of games (as they were being announced on the Facebook page):
https://www.facebook.com/events/kingston-arts-hall-985-nepean-highway-moorabbin/little-wars-melbourne-2019-9am-to-4pm/394294514710354/

So when I turned up in the morning I wandered the tables (lots of great looking terrain and miniatures) and the other sellers (including the second hand tables). I didn't take any photos and didn't buy anything, so this is just a report of the two games I played.

For the morning game I took part in Richard G's large Waterloo game using his recently published second edition of Field of Glory Napoleonic. There were a huge amount of miniatures on the table (a few thousand at least!) and I commanded a small Dutch Belgian contingent on the far left flank as a player who signed up before the day was running late. Not much action in the hour I played as units were shuffling into position (while trying to stay out of view and range of artillery). However I did get a few hits on the French infantry units facing me.

It was a game that went all day, and unsurprisingly the French had a really hard time from what I heard (could they ever win that rematch?).

The afternoon game saw me commanding the land forces of Demetrius on Ian H's lovely Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC) table. He had designed and made all the card terrain, its visual appeal (and knowing nothing of the battle) immediately drew me to play.

We used Age of Hannibal, a rule set I hadn't used before. Was pretty easy to pick up and they flowed really nicely. Chee commanded the invading Macedonian fleet, while Ian and Dylan H were defending the city. The photos below are mainly from my side of the battle. I knew that I had to get to the walls as quickly as possible, as Dylan had artillery and archers that were from the beginning causing me issues. However, by concentrating fire, I was able to punch holes in the wall (I lost all my siege engines though!).

At this stage we called the game, as I had troops in the city and it was getting close to the end of the day.

Two great games, thanks Richard and Ian and all my opponents - what Little Wars is all about. Also a big shout out to the organisers (Nic and Mike) - appreciate all the effort that goes into getting this up and running each year.