BattleTech, BattleTech, and Then Some Bolt Action

So with a major retail holiday upon us, I've not really had any free hobby time.  Between family things and work, it's just been a hectic couple weeks for me.  However I did manage to get a few things done and this will be as much a progress report as anything else.

 

So first I got another shelf unit and finished getting my BattleTech forces organized.  Leading off is my beloved Eridani Light Horse, 21st Striker Regiment.  The first picture is the Command Company, the 3rd Striker Battalion, and the 5th Striker Battalion.  The second picture is the 7th Striker Battalion and the 1st Armored Infantry Battalion.  The only thing not complete about this regiment is that one day I need to talk someone into assisting me get the 3 pages of Fighting Piranha Graphics decals added to them all and then one day I need to find some bases that I like for the aerospace fighters.  Other than that, this is a 100% complete force.  This is an entirely pre-3025 force but could be played later in the timeline with newer variants of the models.

 

Next up is my 8th Donegal Guards Regiment.  This first picture is the 1st and 2nd Battalions and the 3rd Battalion is in the second picture.  This force is complete as far as painting and basing and it makes a nice pre-3025 force and of course could be used later in the timeline with more modern variants.

Then we have the Davion's Caselton Militia.  On the left is the 38th Defense Battalion and on the right is the 43rd Reconnaissance Battalion.  Definitely a defense style force with just a company of light mechs and then heavy tanks and artillery and then a company of hover tanks with 2 companies of recon vehicles and mechanized infantry.  This unit is 10% painted and based and I've no plans to expand it any further.

Then we come to my only Clan force, the Ghost.  We have from left to right, the Alpha Galaxy's 1st Bear Guards Cluster's 312th Assault Trinary and 23rd Elemental Support Binary.  The last unit on the far right is the 44th PGC's 144th Provisional Garrison Trinary.  This is another completed force and I've no plans to expand either unless I just stumble onto a really great deal on some Clan Mechs.

And then finally we've got a bit of Bolt Action.  I've finally based my Captain America, have rebased the Black Knight and Torch (of the Invaders not the Fantastic Four), and then after a light wash to give a bit of detail, have rebased the Namor as well.  So my version of the super humans to assist the Allies have finally made some progress.  Since this force will end up a mix of DC and Marvel characters, I'm still playing around with a name for the group with Justice Defenders being the current top choice.  Opinions and suggestions on this are as always welcome.

So that's all for now and going from how the rest of my week looks, I'll likely not be back for a new post until next weekend at the absolute earliest.  So I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and see you all next time.

Back To Some BattleTech

So while Dreadtober was very exciting and feed into my love of Dreadnoughts, I had to take a break from them even though I still need to complete the Chaplain Dreadnought.  So it was time to get some stuff off the to do list and finish off some more armies.  I started a week of vacation when I got off work Friday afternoon so it was time to work on some hobby stuff.  I also managed to get up for Saturday Night Gaming in Johnson City for a match of Mage Knight card/board game against Murl.  It's an interesting game but after looking at some of the builds, the game could get real unbalanced depending on which is chosen.  Then I made it back up to Johnson City for a game of 8th Edition 40K against Neverness which will be discussed in another post.

I started with the BattleTech Saturday morning and then continued on into it all day Monday.  First up was the Davion Caselton Militia regiment.  I finished basing the first two Pegasus Hover Tanks.  Then the other two Pegasus were painted and based to finish the lance.  I also got the two Demolisher Heavy Tanks painted (no basing for them due to their size would hide the entire base).  This completely finishes this unit and it is in the done list.

Next up was my Eridani Light Horse.  First up I got the lone missing Rommel/Patton tank painted and based.  Then I tackled the Aerospace fighters.  6 Shilones, 4 Stukas, 4 Shologars, 2 Seydlitz, 2 Transgressors, and 2 Lucifers later my entire 21st Striker Regiment of the Eridani Light Horse is complete.  The fighters aren't based as I don't like the BattleTech bases for them and don't have an alternative that I like, but seeing as they're mainly just for show it doesn't really matter.

So that is two forces moved to the completed list to join the Ghost Bears.  Next up is getting that last battalion of the Donegal Guard done to finish off that regiment as well.  I'll be looking to tackle those Wednesday or Thursday and having them done before the week is over.  2 Companies just need to be based, 1 Company needs to be painted and then there is a command lance that is partially painted.

Then let's move on to the front of general geek stuff.  First of all, I got to see the new Thor 3 movie this past Friday night.  I'm not going to drop any spoilers, but it was very enjoyable and is in my top 3 favorite MCU movies right now along with Dr. Strange and the first Captain America movie.  I also picked up a present for myself to work onto my geek shelf of 4 Black Series Star Wars figures (Han, Leia, Luke, and Kenobi).  I've really like the look of some of the Black Series and this group is quite nicely done.

Oh, and before I forget, one of my dreadnoughts, a Leviathan no less, will be guest starring over on Cheef's blog as part of a paint exchange for a lance of BattleTech Manticore tanks.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how it comes out as he's quite a bit more talented than me with a paint brush.  Hopefully you'll all take a look over there and see how he does with it as well.  His blog is always a fun read as well so it'll be a fun adventure.

That's all for now and thanks for reading all.  I'll see you all next time!

Last of the Eridani Light Horse Battalions

So here is the last battalion of my Eridani Light Horse 21st Striker Regiment, the 1st Armored Infantry Regiment.  I still need to come up with a Rommel/Patton or Von Luckner tank to finish off the Command Lance of the Tin Can Company.  I added a scratch build command track to the 2 Infantry Companies.  Also not having any Long Toms, the artillery lance of the Boomer Company is made up of Sturmfeurs and LRM Carriers.  The engineer platoon with my scratch built engineering vehicles is probably my favorite unit of the entire force and I'm really happy with how they came out.

 

1st Armored Infantry Battalion (Mighty Mites)
Battalion Command Lance
    Major Samuel Perrow, Victor
    Captain Brian Braddock, Warhammer
    Lt. Amanda Sydon, Warhammer
    Lt. Tim Phillips, Rifleman
Tin Can Company
Command Lance
    Captain Klaus Hesse, Von Luckner
    Lt. Andrew Fisher. Von Luckner
    Sgt. Will Yeats, Von Luckner
    Sgt. Joe Fairmount, Rommel/Patton
    Sgt. Bradley Sinclair, Rommel/Patton
    Sgt. Roger Penrose,
Strike Lance
    Lt Llewellyn Trent, Ontos
    Sgt. Simon Griffith, Ontos
    Sgt. Doug Puller, Ontos
    Sgt. Jamie Redmund, Ontos
    Sgt. Collin Westworth, Hetzer
    Sgt. Linnet Paulus, Hetzer
Recon Lance
    Lt. Owen Rache, Saladin
    Sgt. Edward Niven, Saladin
    Sgt. Amanda Downing, Saladin
    Sgt. David Brogues, Saladin
    Sgt. Victor Ramius, Pegasus
    Sgt. Nikolai Bondarenko, Pegasus
Alpha Company
    Captain Lila Oakwood, Mobile Command Vehicle
1st Platoon - Motorized Infantry
    Lt. Hector Torres
    Sgt. George Osbourne, Trucks
    Cpl. Allison Blaire, Trucks
    Cpl. Ian O'Cleary, Trucks
    Cpl. Jason Allenby, Trucks
2nd Platoon - Mechanized Infantry
    Lt. Tuck Miller
    Sgt. Owen Yardley, Halftracks
    Cpl. Chris Morrigan, Halftracks
    Cpl. James Holmes, Halftracks
    Cpl. Abigail O'Reilly, Halftracks
3rd Platoon - Mechanized Infantry
    Lt. Richard Diego
    Sgt. Steve MacGarrett, Halftracks
    Cpl. Daniel Bull, Halftracks
    Cpl. Olivet Theisman, Halftracks
    Cpl. Seth Maerkas, Trucks
4th Platoon - Mechanized Infantry
    Lt. Vince Tulane
    Sgt. Patricia Parks, Goblin Medium Tank
    Cpl. Nathan Holmes, Goblin Medium Tank
    Cpl. Richard Pressby, Goblin Medium Tank
    Cpl. Dayvid Webley, Goblin Medium Tank
Bravo Company
    Captain Katherine Burke, Mobile Command Vehicle
1st Platoon - Jump Infantry
    Lt. Nathaniel Greer
    Sgt. Eduard Altunin
    Cpl. David Tabanne
    Cpl, Lionel Foley
    Cpl. Percy Neville
2nd Platoon - Infantry
    Lt. Erica Tansey
    Sgt. Franklin Owens. A Squad
    Cpl. Vincent Lewis, B Squad
    Cpl, Ernest Wexton, C Squad
    Cpl. Ilya Vaneyev, D Squad
3rd Platoon - Infantry
    Lt. Jeffrey Moore
    Sgt. Mikhail Taussig, A Squad
    Cpl. Sean Ambrose, B Squad
    Cpl, Grigori Dalmatov, C Squad
    Cpl. Elliot Slater, D Squad
4th Platoon - Engineers
    Lt. Colin MacGuire
    Sgt. Edward Harding, Engineering Vehicle
    Cpl. Perry Gibbons, Engineering Vehicle
    Cpl, James Candless, Engineering Vehicle
    Cpl. Anthony Troubridge, Engineering Vehicle
Boomer Company
Command Lance
    Captain Paul Sandoval, Sturmfeur
    Lt. Manfred VanGeller, Sturmfeur
    Lt. Trevor Gillespee, LRM Carrier
    Lt. Victoria Pollack, LRM Carrier
    Lt. Emilio Ortiz, LRM Carrier
    Lt. Sonya Lindh, LRM Carrier
AA Lance
    Lt. Thomas Clavell, Rifleman
    Jon Waverly, Rifleman
    Gwen Herdez, Longbow
    Eamon O'Neil, Longbow

So next up will be trying to get all the aerospace fighters finished.  I'm also looking into doing a 3rd Battalion of Donegal Guard to finish off that regiment as well.  And then there is the Militia unit to finish.  Ok, yeah, I can pile up projects like the best of them.  I'll see you all next time and thanks for stopping by.  Comments, queries, and suggestions are, as always, appreciated.

More Eridani Light Horse

So this time you're getting the 5th and 7th Striker Battalions.  It's been fun getting this all closer to total completion.  And so without further adieu ....

The 5th Striker Battalion is interesting in that during a time where pretty much all the companies in BattleTech were 3 lances, this Battalion has 4 lances per Company with the integral Aerospace lances.  I need to strip and reprime the 4 Sholagars and the 2 Lucifers as for some reason the primer went powdery on them.

5th Striker Battalion (Dirkson's Dragonslayers)
Battalion Command Lance (Dirkson's Guards)
    Major Earl Dirkson, Cyclops
    Captain Claude Tomaslin, Rifleman
    Lt. Elise Pienaar, Awesome
    Lt. Coleman Hauser, Orion
4th Company (Pinter's Axmen)
Command Lance
    Captain Daniel Pinter, Phoenix Hawk
    Ryan Wilson, Quickdraw
    Jillian Giessepe, Orion
    Quentin Veerland, Dragon
Strike Lance
    Lt. Kevin Baird, Catapult
    Ethan Burke, Enforcer
    Phillip Cantrell, Crusader
    Diane Lancaster, Catapult
Recon Lance
    Lt. Charles Hawestead, Cicada
    Jason Mannfred, Wolverine
    Catherine Bennett, Grasshopper
    Randall Waters, Wasp
Air Lance
    Lt. Thomas Knowles, Seydlitz Aerospace Fighter
    Anthony Wilson, Seydlitz Aerospace Fighter
7th Company (Tanaka's Company)
Command Lance
    Captain Tian Tanaka, Javelin
    Janet McCrory, Jagermech
    Dennis O'Donnell, Trebuchet
    Sergei Nakamura, Whitworth
Strike Lance
    Lt. Shannon Bronskie, Trebuchet
    Fiona Northbrooke, Dervish
    Oleg Altunin, Dervish
    Leonard Taussig, Catapult
Recon Lance
    Lt. Eric Jacobs, Jenner
    Vasiliy Krepkie, Cicada
    Jillian Clarkson, Wasp
    Samuel Young, Assassin
Air Lance
    Lt. Irene Jameson, Lucifer Aerospace Fighter
    Ian Brentley, Lucifer Aerospace Fighter
25th Heavy Assault Company (Seflo's Sledgehammers)
Command Lance
    Captain Misha Selfo, Raven
    Victor Longe, Grasshopper
    Deidre Hauser, Wasp
    Oliver Sternman, Jenner
Strike Lance
    Lt. Cole Portson, Grasshopper
    Hitoshi Katasumi, Whitworth
    Natasha Solchava, Javelin
     Alfred Lynch, Commando
1st Air Lance
    Lt. Ian Andrassy, Sholagar Aerospace Fighter
    Hans Coldewe, Sholagar Aerospace Fighter
2nd Air Lance
   Lt. Kosei Masaki, Sholagar Aerospace Fighter
   Aleksei Beregov, Sholagar Aerospace Fighter

The 7th Striker Battalion is probably the one I'm liking the most due to it having 6 of my favorite mech in it, the Wolverine.  The first BattleTech book I ever bought was CamoSpecs and from the moment I saw the Wolverine in it, I was hooked.  The Eridani Light Horse has always been my favorite unit, but the Wolverine is what I pictured them piloting.

7th Striker Battalion (Nigel's Nightslayers)
Battalion Command Lance (Nigel's Guards)
    Major Jameson Nigel, Flashman
    Captain Ian Branscombe, Cyclops
    Lt. Blake Holmes, Zeus
    Lt. Emily Haerdesky, Victor
11th Company (Pelham's Company)
Red Seven Lance
    Captain Timothy Pelham, Dragon
    Madilyn Pritchart, Quickdraw
    Paul Malherbe, Awesome
    Douglas Brandei, Highlander
Blue Seven Lance
    Lt. Li Hsien, Wolverine
    Andrea Oates, Dervish
    Matthew Tourni, Valkyrie
    Elliot Sullivan, Valkyrie
Gold Seven Lance
    Lt. Harold Crane, Catapult
    Mark Bronson, Archer
    Andrew Holbrook, Trebuchet
    Elaine Hathoway, Catapult
12th Company (Lightning Company)
Silver Lance
    Captain Elizabeth Henke, Wolverine
    Jeffery Olmsted, Wolverine
    Shannon Allenby, Panther
    Eric Donovan, Thorn
Black Lance
    Lt. Vincent McCrory, Griffin
    Marc Baird, Hollander, Wolverine
    James Cross, Quickdraw
    Chelsea Dobbs, Grasshopper
Purple Lance
    Lt. Lisa Brackhaven, Wolverine
    Sean Boehlert, Jenner
    Neil Crowley, Jenner
    Sheila Banich, Raven
Brown Lance
    Lt. Ivan Chernov, Dagger Aerospace Fighter
    Trent Mayhew, Dagger Aerospace Fighter
27th Company (Wolfhounds)
Green Lance
    Major Pierre Bouchard, Highlander
    Andrea Clavell, Catapult
    Malcolm Forbes, Enforcer
    Ibrahim Ghosn, Dragon
White Lance
    Lt. Lloyd Bancroft, Grasshopper
    Timothy Leahy, Wolverine
    Katherine Burke, Valkyrie
    Roger Waterly, Valkyrie
Platinum Lance
    Lt. Edmund Dempsey, Centurian
    Elliot Watkinson. Wolfhound
    Terrence Pretloe, Centurian
    Jessica Hearns, Centurian

So that just leaves the 1st Armored Infantry Battalion to get reposted up.  I'm aiming to get it up in the next few days so we'll see how it goes.  Thanks for dropping by all and I'll see you next time.

Ghost Bears, Light Horse, and a Bit of Bolt Action

So a bit of progress on several fronts here in the hobby realm.  First of all, the Bear Cub was finished for the Ghost Bears to finish off the Charlie Star of scouts/recon.

Then it turns out that I got a great deal on some elementals on eBay, enough to do about 11 points for $16 and shipping.  Nothing in the 50th Striker Cluster has more than 5 Points of Elementals in it, so I needed to do a restructure of the force.  A quick peruse through the Invading Clans sourcebook at the Ghost Bears Tourman and I moved everything over into the 1st Bear Guards Cluster instead.  What I have will represent the 312th Assault Trinary (the Silver Kodiaks) and the 23rd Elemental Support Binary.  This uses up all 3 Stars of Omnimechs as well as all the elementals while still keeping in the Alpha Galaxy so nothing needs a repaint.  The elementals are all primed and I'm going to paint them before splitting them apart to get them on hex bases to finish them off.

1st Bear Guards Cluster (The Rage), Alpha Galaxy
Star Colonel Paul Bekker, Timberwolf (Madcat)

312th Assault Trinary (The Silver Kodiaks)
Star Captain Eddard Jamieson, Novacat

Alpha Star
Star Commander Rachael Baird, Hellbringer (Loki)
    Tomas Sarnow, Warhawk (Masakari)
    Lucian Pyne, Mad Dog (Vulture)
    Coleen Groenewold, Summoner (Thor)
    Oscar Esterhaus,

Bravo Star
Star Commander Freyja Wycliffe, Grizzly
    Simon Paulk, Mad Dog (Vulture)
    Fionna Giscard, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Wilhelm Forsythe, Novacat
    Iroku Ashigara, Timberwolf (Madcat)

Charlie Star
Star Commander Jayne Cardones, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Hideoshi Nakamura, Blackhawk
    Kaitrin Ericsson, Soiltaire
    Manfred Courvosier, Blackhawk
    Thorgeir Gaerwulf, Bearcub

23rd Elemental Support Binary
Star Captain Sarah Kabrinsky

Alpha Elemental Star
Star Commander Klaus Danitov
    5 Elemental Points

Bravo Elemental Star
Star Commander Travis Garroway
    5 Elemental Points

Next up we have something for my Eridani Light Horse.  The four LAMS (from way back here) were primed, got the base layer green, the brass highlights, and a wash layer.  I need to figure out what to paint the stand that holds them up off the base still then get them based as well.

And then my Bolt Action British Paras got a bit of love.  A while back I got a box of British Commandos to use as paras since they have the beret option.  I got the first five assembled for 2 rifles, 2 sten guns, and a PIAT launcher.  I'm aiming to get the other 20 in the box assembled over the next week.

So that's where we're at for now.  Goals for the coming week include getting the Elementals done, getting my Leviathan based when the ordered base finally shows up in the mail, and then getting more of the paras put together.  I also still need to come up with one more mech to finish off the Alpha Star of my Ghost Bears.  I've been trying to work out a trade or cheap purchase of a Kingfisher which would be a great fit but have yet to have any luck there.  We'll see how it all goes and I'll see you all next time.

Ghost Bear Progress and Air Support

Well we've got a bit of progress to show this week.

 

So the Grizzly and first Mad Cat got their black dots under smaller white dots added to the paint scheme and then the green basing and a last wash over the basing.  Overall, not too bad at all I think.  I still need to do something for the cockpit glass though and then they'll be done.

Then the Vulture and a Novacat got their under blue cameo and then the lighter blue layer and then the wash layer.  If I can keep this going, I'll have all the Mechs I have for the Trinary so far done in the near future I hope.

I also took advantage of some nice weather on a day I went into work later and got a lot of the white primered mechs for the Eridani Light Horse a dark olive green base coat sprayed on, followed by a lighter green.  A few new additions in the group to give some missing mech options in a Firestarter, a Hermes, a Crockett, and an Axeman.

Then last of all, I addressed air support for my American Bolt Action army.  My Brits have the Dust Tactics jet that I like, but my Americans didn't have anything.  So I came across a Testor's P-51 easy assemble pre-painted at a very reasonable price of under $10.  Fifteen minutes of work later and I've got a nice WW2 fighter to do some strafing in support of my Americans.

All in all, not too bad for progress.  That's all for now and I'll see you all next time.

Return of the Clans (AKA Betrayers of the Star League)

So when putting together my Eridani Light Horse, specifically the 21st Striker Regiment that I started with, I included some Clan Mechs under the guise of salvage for use in later era games.  But it bugged me a bit as I'm not a huge fan of the clans to start with.  There are a few cool storylines built into the clans but overall they just don't really appeal to me.  So as I've acquired more mechs, I decided to strip out those clan machines and make a separate force for them and return my Eridani Light Horse to mechs that can be fielded in pretty much any era and get them back to a pure Inner Sphere force.

So what to do with the clan mechs?  Clan Ghost Bear of course.  Of all the clans, there are only a couple clans that I put in the column of liking them to some extent.  As a fan of naval warfare I like Clan Snow Raven, but since no one here plays Aerotech, they're out.  By default then that leaves me to my other choice, Clan Ghost Bear.  So I took the pulled 5 clan mechs from my Eridani Light Horse, and combined them with some other clan mechs I have from some bulk trades/purchases.

So what I'm going for is a trinary as I figure that's not going to take much to add to for the final organization.  Right now there are four mechs missing counting the Star Captain so it's not far from being a complete force.

50th Striker Cluster (The Black Bears), Alpha Galaxy
     Star Colonel Paul Bekker,
43rd Striker Trinary
     Star Captain Eddard Jamieson,

Alpha Star
Star Commander Rachael Baird, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Tomas Sarnow, Novacat
    Lucian Pyne, Grizzly
    Coleen Groenewold, Mad Dog (Vulture)
    Oscar Esterhaus, Timberwolf (Madcat)

Bravo Star
Star Commander Freyja Wycliffe, Novacat
    Simon Paulk,
    Fionna Giscard, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Wilhelm Forsythe, Timberwolf (Madcat)
    Iroku Ashigara, Bowman

Charlie Star
Star Commander Jayne Cardones,
    Hideoshi Nakamura, Blackhawk
    Kaitrin Ericsson, Soiltaire
    Manfred Courvosier, Blackhawk
    Thorgeir Gaerwulf,

I want to see about adding a Thor and a Loki to the Bravo Star to retire the Bowman and then a Hellion and a second Solitaire in to the Charlie Star.  Then I want to get a Masakari or a Dashi for the Star Captain's ride and then perhaps the other mech to swap out one of the Madcats in the Alpha Star.  That'll make a nice hard hitting force with a fair bit of flexibility.

I'm going with a basic Alpha Galaxy color scheme as shown above, but I'm going closer to a white than the gray.  So first up all the clan mechs got primered in white.  Then I added a dark blue camo scheme to the Grizzly and one of the Madcats.

After that came a lighter blue over the dark blue.

Then finally a black wash over both of the whole mechs.

I still need to use a metallic color to pick out details like the cockpit, weapon bits, and such. I also need to add the spot pattern that goes over the overall paint camo.  So pretty good progress on the first two mechs and we'll see how it continues to progress.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next time.

Bolt Action and BattleTech

So this past Saturday I got a 1000 point game of Bolt Action in against Bob's American Paratroopers.  I took my British Paras with a bit of support.  I had 3 squads of 8 paras with 7 rifles and an LMG each (though the LMGs never fired the entire game as I forgot them and used them as rifles instead), a 2nd Lt (Jack Flag in his battle debut) with a bodyguard, a FAO with bodyguard, a MMG team, a recce jeep with  MMGs, a Bren Carrier with 2 LMGs hauling a flamthrower team, and a Sherman M4A4.

We played scenario 6: Demolition.  I outflanked with my recce jeep, the Bren Carrier with flamethrower team, and the Sherman.  It was a pretty close affair but my three outflankers all on the same flank let me get through to his base at the last turn while his own Sherman (also an M4A4) which was about to get to my own base was taken out by his own air support which finally came in on the 4th attempt and then misidentified it's target.  Jack Flag didn't fair nearly as well as the Cap version for my Americans did.  He was annihilated along with his bodyguard by an airstrike on turn 3 before he accomplished anything beside advancing.

It was an enjoyable game, as games against Bob almost always are, and I'm definitely pleased with the Bren Carrier.  It's got great mobility, decent fire power, and can carry a surprise inside.  I definitely want to add some more of them to my collection in the future.  I'm hoping to get another game in this coming Saturday so we'll see how it goes.

On the BattleTech front, a lot of primed models got their base layer of green today.  I still need to add the gold to them all and then get the wash layer on them.  Then they'll join the long long long list of mechs needing to be based.  The 4 LAMs still need to be painted as well.  I also need to work all these mechs into the Eridani Light Horse force organization chart.  Oddly enough, I'm trying to pick up a few more mechs though more to get some missing options in the pre-3025 universe than actually needing more mechs.  A Vulcan, a Hussar, a Hatchetman, and a Firestarter are on my list but trying to get them via trade on a BattleTech group rather than purchasing them.

That's all for now and I'll see you all next time.

Yes, it's a bit overdue

I need to get myself on a better schedule with these postings, it just keeps sliding down the to do list during the week.  Anyway, there's been a bit of hobby taking place the last couple weeks

I've managed to get a couple games of Bolt Action in.  The first was my Americans against Mike's Germans which was one of his first games of Bolt Action.  It was a game of Mission 5, Top Secret.  He tried to set up a fire line to keep me off the objective but got too aggressive with his sniper team trying to get a good spot.  This allowed me to concentrate on one of his squads at a time and get away with the objective while putting most of my army as a screen to keep him from stopping my Lt. and bodyguard from escaping with the objective.  I took some pictures of this game but they disappeared when transferring them over to the computer.

The other game I got in was a 2v2 game with my Americans teamed with another new players American Paras against Screech's Germans and Mike's Germans fielded as Finns.  Our team was the attackers in the Scenario 4 Hold Until Relieved.  Between our two lists we had only two vehicles, his jeep with a Bazooka Team and my Sherman tank so we got to deploy a lot of infantry on the table to hit them early on.  The dice pulls were in our favor early on plus as the game played out, Mike's rolls got steadily worse until his units were fairly ineffective.  Their leadership rolls for reserves were particularly bad and held them back quite a bit.  MVPs for our side was my FAO who pulled in two Fighter Bombers that dished out a total of 10 pin markers on 5 units, took out the final 4 members of a 5 man squad, and blew up what I think was a Marder.  Also, the 2 American Infantry squads that took the main objective building by assaulting their way through a German squad, a Finnish squad, and a Finnish MMG team.

Now to the new stuff.  First up is a Bren Carrier for my British Paras to get around in.  After I try this in a couple games, I'm going to want to add a few more I think as it's a really cool little model.

I also picked up a Humber Scout Car to support my Brit Paras.  It's not an expensive option with just an LMG, but with the recce rule and counting as a Light Tank, it offers some interesting options for outflanking to deal with mortar and machine gun teams.

Last of all was that I've been quite lucky on eBay in regards to BattleTech and my Eridani Light Horse.  I managed to win a starter box of the newer better sculpts for just $20 and then for $15 I scored 5 sprues of the Robotech Tactics Veritechs to build and use as Phoenix Hawks.  I'll be able to count them as LAMs in the force org chart and then just use them as regular Phoenix Hawks if need be in a game.

So that's all for now and I'll try and be a bit more regular on getting these posts up.

BattleTech Once Again

So the main thing I got done this week was getting the base green on forty something battlemechs.  About four of them need another coat to fix a few places were the green went on too thin.  I'm going to spend some of tomorrow and a hunk of Friday working to get these closer to completion.  This will have my 21st Striker Regiment just 8 aerospace fighters shy of completion.  It will also get the 151st Light Horse started as well.

I recently came into contact with a group playing BattleTech on a semi-regular basis in the area, so hopefully there will start being more CBT battle reports on the blog.  They seem to get together about every other week so I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes a week from this coming Sunday.

This week I've spent Sunday afternoon and most of Monday and Tuesday helping my dad and brother in law rebuild a large portion of my parents front porch, so that's cut into a fair portion of my hobby time.  It did let me get in some thinking time while working and I've been trying to prioritize some of the projects on my to do list to get it cleared out some.  BattleTech is towards the top of the list, as well as wanting to get SAGA Vikings completed.

I did get some time to work on something else Sunday evening, but I'll be saving it until next week.  It's a totally new project for a game system I enjoy but haven't had a chance to play for a while and hence it hasn't been on the blog.  The only hint I'll drop is that axes are being sharpened.

That's about it for now but next week will be a lot more substantive between CBT progress and the new project.  See you all later and keep you hobby on.

Battletech Progress

So I had an extra day off work this week for the last of my comp days for the holidays.  It was nice being able to spend a whole day napping, resting, and then another nap.  Normally I spend one day off on errands and such and one day off on laundry and dishes.  One for nothing but lazing about was a nice change of pace.

So on to the hobby front.

First of all, I got the last 5 Battlemechs for the 21st Striker Regiment finished on the painting front.  They would be a pair of Stingers, a Panther, an Awesome, and an unseen Griffin.  I still have loads and loads and loads of basing to do though.

Next up, I finally got started on the aerospace fighter component of the regiment.  I've applied the first layer of green to the topside of two Shilones and one Cheetah.  I'm using the same green that I used on the battlemechs to tie them into the unit.  Then I'll do the undersides of the fighters with a blue like WW2 fighters were done.  I'll give them the same style basing as the rest of the regiment.

Last of all for the progress this week, is Sovetski Soyuz-class  heavy cruise Gyrefalcon.  It is a dark gray base with lighter gray panels like the descriptions I've found and then it has blue panels to show it was built in a shipyard in Lyran space.  This is the first time I've used a light colored wash on a dark model and I think I'm ok with the results.  I still need to do a few details like dry brushing over a few details and figure out what I'm doing with the bases.  I'm starting to lean toward solid black bases and just hope they look invisible on the table top.  I need to do an engine glow effect as well.

That's all for now and I'll see you all later.

Battletech, Aerotech, Bolt Action, and almost some X-Wing

So, this blog post was originally going to be a battle report on the two versus two X-wing game from last Friday night.  It was Murl and I against Cheef and Vortil.  Vortil got to debut his Decimator and I was trying the Rebel Transport for the first time.  Cheef was first up for taking pics for his blog .... and had a camera with no battery in it.  So that put me up next .... and every single picture I took of the game didn't save on my phone.  No idea why, so the whole thing was crash and burn.  While the rebels took a pretty big beat down, it was fun running over the Decimator and a Lambda shuttle at the same time with the rebel transport.

So, with that out of the way, we'll move on to my Eridani Light Horse.  With the arrival of two Chippewa aerospace fighters and an unseen Griffin in the past few days, I'm now just 4 Aerospace fighters away from completing the 21st Striker Regiment.  The last five mechs (2 Stingers, a Panther, an Awesome, and the aforementioned Griffin) have all got their basecoat green and I'll be working on finishing their paint job this evening.  Once I get the regiment done, I plan on turning some of the unused mechs into an opposing force .... maybe some Kurita Sword of Light scumbags though I've never paint almost all red models before, so might turn out interesting.

Moving onto the next topic, one thing I've never been accused of when it comes to getting into a game system is not going all the way.  So in that vein, I have started an Aerospace force to transport and cover my Eridani Light Horse.  There will be part of the 161st Line Squadron and the 164th Escort Squadron, both part of the 16th Fleet assigned to the 16th Army which the Eridani Light Horse was attached to as an independent brigade for trouble shooting in Kurita space near the Lyran coreward border.

The 161st Line Squadron is represented by the Black Lion-class battlecruiser Fisher King, the Aegis-class heavy cruiser Kearsarge, the Sovetski Soyuz-class heavy cruiser Gyrefalcon, and the Sovetski Soyuz-class heavy cruiser Stormpetrel.  They've gotten their dark gray layer and still need to get some lighter gray sections and a color panel to represent where they were built.

The 164th Escort Squadron is represented by the Essex-class destroyer Oberon, and the Lola III-class destroyers Bellicose, Intrepid, and Royal Oak.  They're at the same level of progress as the 161st ships.  I still want to add another Essex destroyer and a pair of Whirlwinds to round out the force.  In both sets of ships I'm using the clan versions of the vessels due to the fact that I can't stand the cigar with stuff strapped on look of the star league pre-Exodus versions of the ships.

Now, on to Bolt Action and the progress there.  I'm slowly starting to acquire some models for this force and have a Red Devils box, a para recon jeep box with it's two jeeps, and a para medium mortar blister.  Also, I found a nice set of reasonably priced pin markers to use from a place over in North Carolina so they arrived two days after I paid for them on eBay.  They're nice nickel sized metal tokens with a bottom that raises them slightly to make them easy to pick up.  I'm really happy with these and got 3 sets of 10 for a bit over $20 including shipping.  The company is called Battlemarkers and can be found here as well as on eBay.  In addition to Bolt Action, they make markers for a variety of other game systems.

So that's all for now.  The next blog should have see the last 5 mechs finished, some progress on the naval vessels, and possibly some Battletech terrain.  I found about 15 trucks for real cheap that are sized for Battletech on eBay and am planning a sort of supply dump/support battalion base that can act as terrain as well as further build out my Eridani Light Horse.  We'll see how it goes as I'm still figuring that project out.  Talk to you all later.

A Fairly Productive Week

So I had a couple really productive nights painting on my Battletech this week.  All the base colored models from the last two posts got secondary color and their wash layer this week.  The first batch is the 12 models that are from the new Robotech line.  This is 4 Warhammers, 4 Riflemen, 2 Archers, and 2 Longbows in game terms.

Then there is the batch of doubles.  I ended up doing two of each of these this go around.  This includes Awesomes, Assassins, Cicadas,  Panthers, and Commandos.

Next up is a mix of mechs and a few vehicles. 

The mechs are a Dragon, Dervish, Flashman, Urbanmech, Thorn, Locust (need the little pods that go on it), Javelin, and a Shadowhawk with the main gun a replacement bit.  Then there are a pair of Demolishers and a Morningstar Command Vehicle.
Up to come still are another each of Awesome and Panther, a pair of Stingers, and then a Griffin which is still enroute.  Then there are a trio of vehicles of unknown origin which will be getting radar dishes added to turn them into communication vehicles.  Once the Griffin arrives I'll only be missing 6 Aerospace Fighters to have the entire TOE of the Eridani Light Horse's 21st Striker Regiment complete.  Still need to paint what I mentioned, a dozen or more aerospace fighters plus the missing ones, and then base a metric crap ton of battlemechs.  It's a long way from a finished project but at least the end of it is visible which is pretty cool.

I'll be participating in a mega game of X-Wing tomorrow evening, so I'll try and get a write up in on it on Saturday or Sunday evening.  Also I'm looking for some TOE type stuff on WW2 British Airborne.  I'd like to know how they named the companies, battalions, etc as well as how many squads in a company and so forth to use organizing my Bolt Action British paras which are starting to be more than a pipedream and becoming a slow reality.  Please leave any comments with links if you know a good site to find this stuff out.  I've been able to find snippets but no good one organization chart.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.