fuck. i'm shit at this

Okay, so, since the last post, I've actually painted a full company (three lances) of battlemechs. This coming Sunday, I'll even have a game with them! I should probably read the rules, actually...

Anyway, this is the list I'm painting towards:

Elements of 3rd Battalion, 1st Canopian Cuirassiers, Magistracy Royal Guards, Magistcracy of Canopus, c.3067-3085

+ RECON LANCE - PV87 +

• Wasp WSP-3L - PV20
• Commando COM-2D - PV17
• Anubis ABS-3MC - PV32
• Locust LCT-1V - PV18

+ CAVALRY LANCE - PV132 +

• Eyleuka EYL-45A - PV40
• Marshal MHL-X1 - PV32
• Wolverine WVR-6R - PV30
• Shadow Hawk SHD-2H - PV30

+ ASSAULT LANCE - PV149 +

• Awesome AWS-8Q - PV39
• Thunderbolt TDR-5S - PV36
• BattleMaster BLR-1G - PV40
• Cyclops CP-10-Z - PV34

+ TOTAL: 368, leaving room for skills and skill upgrades. +

I haven't painted the Marshal MHL-X1 yet, because the weather in Australia is making my heat sinks bleed, if you get me. Plus all the smoke and ash in the air doesn't exactly make me want to go outside and shake up the ol' rattlecan to undercoat him. Meantime, I'll sub in a Catapult CTLT-C1 that I deliberately painted to blend in with the Curaissiers. They have the same PV.

Anyway, here they are!

+ RECON LANCE +

Locust LCT-1V

Commando COM-2D

Anubis ABS-3MC

Wasp WSP-3L

I had some idiot on instagram try to explain to me why this model isn't 'really' a Wasp. I find it hard to care. This is how Iron Wind Metals sells the things, and in the meantime he's a skinny little (giant) 'mech with a laser for an arm and missiles in his chest. Good enough.

+ CAVALRY LANCE +

Wolverine WVR-6R

Catapult CTLT-C1

Catapult CTLT-C1
I wasn't sure what to do with the Catapult's missile racks for a while. Unfortunately, the second photo is shit.

Catapult CTLT-C1 detail. Note the replacement leg, possibly from stores intended for the Fronc Reach.

Shadow Hawk SHD-2H 

Eyleuka EYL-45A

Eyleuka EYL-45A detail

With the Eyleuka, the Anubis, the Marshal (not present) and the Cyclops, I think I capture a real feeling of 'weird frontier battlemechs'. The Eyleuka, Anubis and Marshal are distinctly Periphery battlemechs with designs so weird and horrible that no-one else would want them. I love them. Mixing the older Iron Wind metals with the newer, chunkier plastics also helps bring across the sense that the Magistocracy technicians are holding old, obsolete 'mechs together with wiring and half-remembered schematics. This is a classic them for Battletech in general, but feels especially right for the Periphery.

+ ASSAULT LANCE +

BattleMaster BLR-1G

BattleMaster BLR-1G detail

Thunderbolt TDR-5S

Thunderbolt TDR-5S detail

Cyclops CP-10-Z

Awesome AWS-8Q

I'm not thrilled at the third lance being an Assault designate, but the Battletech box comes with so many heavy 'mechs. I'd have rather designed an artillery lance or something less powerful to emphasise the fact that assault-class battlemechs on the Periphery aren't easy to come by.

Actually, what I really wanted to do was have the third lance be a mixed tank and mounted infantry company, but the Alpha Strike rules really don't want you to have bases of infantry spread out over a field. I might just have to do an Epic army for that...

For now, the 1st Canopian Cuirassiers are part of the Magistracy Royal Guards, so I can justify a reason for such chunky lads in the company. Besides, who wants to play Battletech without at least one 'mech bristling in PPCs?

zhooooooom, motherfucker

I still have a few details on these guys to finish. They have no unit insignia or personalised markings, aside from the couple with hazard stripes on their missile racks, and I haven't done the bases. I'm actually really stuck on the bases. All my usual techniques are for 28mm gaming! How do I help emphasise the scale of these beasties?

Tune in next time! (I'll try and make it sooner. Christ.)