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For one reason or another I've been really wanting to get back into Battletech recently. I've been reading through the Alpha Strike rules, and while they're significantly "dumbed down", they also allow for much larger, faster games. Combined arms play isn't as harshly punished anymore, so I may start to pick up tanks and VTOLS now too!

Anyway, I've had this collection of 'mechs forever, from when I used to play on a weekly or semi-weekly schedule. In total I have 57 'mechs, plus a lance worth of Yellow Jacket gunships and two Aerospace fighters (not pictured).



The 'mechs are organized into four companies and a single star of Clan 'mechs. From left to right, Jade Falcon, Draconis Combine, Lyran Alliance, Federated Commonwealth, and ComStar. About half the models are painted, but many are in really rough shape and need to be pinned and repainted.

As a Federated Commonwealth fan, I want to start with them first. I plan on fielding these 'mechs as either Davion Guard or Crucis Lancers. Since I have four extra 'mechs, they'll act as a "command lance" over the other three lances. The 'mechs still in their blisters are an Enfield, a Lynx and a Hollander. I've already got a Grasshopper and a Bushwacker in the Simple Green bath in the background.



Since I don't want to use the Davion Guard or Crucis Lancer's parade colors (some variant of red and white over blue) I think I'm going to stick with this scheme. It looks like it could be an arctic/boreal forest scheme. These models need to be touched up a little, and I think I'll add the red-white-blue stripe somewhere to signify their allegiance. I must have lacquered these guys after paint because the colors have lasted really well!



Let me know what you think, and I'll post updates as I make progress!

Nice mechs. Good to see old chunks of lead getting some love. Mine are covered in an unhealthy amount of dust, long time since they've seen battle.

I've been busy cleaning up lances and lances of 'mechs, preparing them for paint. It's been a long and arduous process. I forgot how terrible some of the sculpts were, especially the old models. I have literally had to pin EVERYTHING together. I was a serious noob when I first got into Battletech and so my solution to crappy joints was LOTS AND LOTS OF GLUE. Going back into the project, I want to put things back together better.



The torso on this Hollander goes together with a tab-and-slot mechanic...for reasons? I have no idea how I'm going to pin this together.



The vast majority of Battletech miniatures used a ball-and-socket method, which worked for about 5 minutes, before the model got bumped and the arm popped off.



The newer models were made better of course, and more evenly scaled. This Black Hawk-KU has pegs instead of the ball-and-socket.

Once I get all my models assembled and primed, I'll post more pictures!

On a related note: I'm missing an arm on a Caesar, and the shoulder plates on a Falcon Hawk. If anyone can help me out, I'd greatly appreciate it!

You going to magnetize the omnimechs? IIRC the kits came with spare arms so you could build the configuration you wanted…

Do you have pics of the mechs you need parts of? I know I’ve got some spare bits kicking around, but it’s been so long, I forget what things are called (especially clan mechs that have 2-3 names each)

 Nevelon wrote:
You going to magnetize the omnimechs? IIRC the kits came with spare arms so you could build the configuration you wanted…

To my recollection, none of the blister packs came with any options other than the "Prime" configuration. Some of the newer models might have been different though, since I haven't bought any new 'mechs in over a decade. I seem to remember Ral Partha/Iron Wind Metals used to sell weapon upgrade packs, but I can't find anything on the interwebs about them. So for now everything will just be pinned and assembled as-is. I've already broken two bits; if I break another I'll have to put the assembly on hold to buy more.

 Nevelon wrote:
Do you have pics of the mechs you need parts of? I know I’ve got some spare bits kicking around, but it’s been so long, I forget what things are called (especially clan mechs that have 2-3 names each)

Please see figure A (1 ea. Caesar CES-3R). Note the lack of left arm in the picture.


Figure A.


Sarna.net picture for comparison.

Also, refer to figure B (2 ea. Falcon Hawk FNHK-9K). The shoulder area is highlighted, for reference.


Figure B.


Sarna.net picture for comparison.

Any help would be appreciated. The bits market for Battletech is, understandably, not as big as GW's games. I could reasonably buy both of these models off ebay for a reasonable price but then I'd have 1.5 'mechs of each type. I'd even be happy with a resin cast of the missing piece, if such a thing exists.

My collection of mechs was mostly assembled with box sets. I’m not sure if they packed extras in those that you couldn’t get in the blisters. I’d have to sift my bits box and look for spares to check. Or I’m totally mis remembering things; it has been over two decades.

Either way, I never even saw minis for those mechs, so can’t help with parts.

 Nevelon wrote:
My collection of mechs was mostly assembled with box sets. I’m not sure if they packed extras in those that you couldn’t get in the blisters. I’d have to sift my bits box and look for spares to check. Or I’m totally mis remembering things; it has been over two decades.

Either way, I never even saw minis for those mechs, so can’t help with parts.

Hey, thanks for looking. Like I said, Battletech doesn't have the draw that bigger games like Warmahordes or Fantasy/40k do, so the bits market is pretty non-existent. I figured that I'd take a shot in the dark, but I'll probably need to buy online.

I've made a good amount of progress on assembly but I'm still only about halfway done. I've broken too many drill bits to proceed much farther, though, and can't buy them local. So I decided to start a little painting.

The first lance to get painted actually belongs to my brother. I'm not 100% sure how I got his models, but I always promised myself I'd get them painted and back to him one of these days. This seemed like a good time as any.



Here we have a Daimyo, a Dragon (an old lead miniature), a Black Hawk-KU, and an Akuma. My brother was a Kurita supporter (basically feudal-era Japan...in space!) so I plan on painting his lance like the Draconis Combine Sword of Light Regiment.



"Politics is of great use to men such as myself. It helps determine who should be on the dangerous end of a PPC".
- General Aaron DeChevilier, second-in-command to Aleksandr Kerensky

I got the 'mechs basecoated and washed. I'm not planning on a whole lot of detail, but I do plan on drybrushing, highlighting edges and finishing the base. I was originally going to go with metallic highlights, but I really like the dark gray against the red. I thought about painting the unit crest on the shoulders but I'm not sure I'm capable of that fine detail. Still, better than bare pewter like all these years!

Looks like a pretty cool project. I love the BT universe, but not the BT game. However, we've had some fun with Mechwarrior clix rebased and played with various rulesets including Mech Attack and Alpha Strike.

As for assembly, have you tried epoxy? It's a bit more fiddly, because you have to find a way to support the joints while they dry, but it dries rock-hard and has none of the brittleness of superglue joints.

 Eilif wrote:
Looks like a pretty cool project. I love the BT universe, but not the BT game. However, we've had some fun with Mechwarrior clix rebased and played with various rulesets including Mech Attack and Alpha Strike.

As for assembly, have you tried epoxy? It's a bit more fiddly, because you have to find a way to support the joints while they dry, but it dries rock-hard and has none of the brittleness of superglue joints.

Haven't tried epoxy. Right now I'm just relying on good old-fashioned pins. It takes a lot longer but works well.

I really like the Alpha Strike rules, though I haven't actually played a game with them. At first glance it seems like you can play a much more "combined arms" type game, which I always thought the tabletop game was missing. The fact that you can also play a lance vs lance game in less than two hours is intriguing. I think I'll post a Battle Report once I get two lances fully painted. Shouldn't take long since I've already got some Fed Suns models painted.

I think you'll enjoy Alpha Strike. Combined arms are definitely more doable AS. I'm not sure if it's because of any major rules changes or just because in BT, fielding more than one lance of anything prohibitively lengthened the game.

I look forward to your batrep.

 Eilif wrote:
I think you'll enjoy Alpha Strike. Combined arms are definitely more doable AS. I'm not sure if it's because of any major rules changes or just because in BT, fielding more than one lance of anything prohibitively lengthened the game.

I look forward to your batrep.

The problem with combined arms was the fact that you were almost punished for taking tanks, since every hit essentially amounted to a critical hit. If your opponent rolled well you could lose a 100 ton tank to a single laser hit. That doesn't seem to be the case with Alpha Strike. There does seem to be an imbalance between light and assault mechs, but I haven't played yet so I can't say.

AS definitely doesn't have quite the same imbalance, but you should know that it is not a "balanced" game and still relies on scenarios rather than two players just bringing a certain amount of points and expecting a balanced game. I'm not sure if the new points system in the expansion has rectified this (the old one was just a 1/100 fraction of the Battletech Battlevalue) or not, but the rules themselves arent' really suited to that kind of play anyway.

One other thing to note is that even if the crit-hits aren't the same, things can die very fast in AS. A couple of units unloading on one other unit can be enough to kill it in one turn. If you want to read a more lengthy review of my first experience with Alpha Strike, it's here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2013/12/alpha-strike-game-report-and-review.html

You inspired me to drag the lead out and take some pics of my old stuff over in my blog

I forgot that I actually did unit markings. The Fed Com ones are blotchy, but the Davion and Kurita ones turned out OK. Kurita is not that hard. Red circle, black outline, w/ a black curved squiggle. Might be worth getting a black paint detail micro pen thingy. Whatever they are actually called.

Micron Pens. It's definitely a good idea.

They're also good for blacklining the panel lines on larger model kits.

 Eilif wrote:
Micron Pens. It's definitely a good idea.

They're also good for blacklining the panel lines on larger model kits.

I was never a fan of blacklining. It just looked so artificial. Blacklining, IMO, is to Battletech as Broccoli Bases are to Warhammer (and 40k).

Depends on how you use it.

Blacklining on top of unaltered paint can be pretty artificial. As a step before a wash, or with some highlights it can look much more natural.

Only a couple of my 28mm mechs have blacklining though. most just have a wash, or a drybrush over black undercoat.

I finally got my first Battletech lance painted, based and lacquered. I'm pretty happy with how they came out. The gray was a bit of a surprise, actually. I was planning on painting the gray areas some shade of silver, but after painting the reds I decided I like the gray better. In the official cannon, the 2nd Sword of Light Regiment fields their 'mechs with a red and gray scheme, so it works for me!

Draconis Combine Lance, 2nd Sword of Light


DGR-5N Dragon and AKU-1X Akuma


DMO-1K Daimyo and BHKU Black Hawk (Kurita)


My next lance should be completed much quicker, since I'm simply altering an existing scheme. Once they're done I'll post more pictures, and then a battle report!

Updating this forum post for the first time in a while. Been too busy lately to really devote any time to hobby stuff so this is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and paint. Since I had already painted a DCMS Lance I wanted some OpFor to put them up against. Who better than 'mechs from the Davion Heavy Guard?

Davion Heavy Guard Lance


From the left to my right, report!

FNHK-9K Falcon Hawk
LNX-9Q Lynx
FLC-8R Falconer
VTR-9K Victor

As with all Davion Guard, the Heavy Guards employ a Blue-White-and-Red parade scheme, but they change the camo pattern to suit the specific campaign need. I decided to go with an arctic/boreal forest pattern because A) it looks cool and B) it's easy to paint. I decided to pay homage to the parade scheme with a stripe on each 'mech, as seen in the picture.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Have a Battle Report! I (kinda) apologize for the bare table, but the game was rather impromptu and I didn't feel like dragging out the mat.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/639562.page#7662674