Zeus is Steiner

   The Lyran Commonwealth has the credits to fill their armies with 'mechs, even if not the most skilled 'warriors.  One of the most commonly-seen battlemechs is the mighty Zeus, so I felt compelled to add one to my first lance.  While I've never used one or even considered it, this war machine looks cool and, with some colour added, I think I may have to add this to my games.  In any case, here's the work:

base blue on the left 2/3

wash with dark blue to bring out the details

drybrush with a lighter blue to smooth out the wash

now paint the remaining third with a light gray

paint weapons black

paint weapons and joints silver, right over the black!

wash the metal with black wash to darken and detail it

line highlight the blue

line highlight the light gray

line highlight the black casings

highlight the silver on the weapons and joints

  And that's it!  Painting 'mechs is always a 'cheat code' for accomplishing anything for the hobby.  And big, beefy mechs like the Zeus are a joy to finish.  

Happy Hobbying!

More Blue Mech

   I've hobbied more and even played some games of 40k, but I've been too busy to finish editing those batreps and posts.  Admittedly, today's post is a 'cheat' so I have more time for those other posts.  Eventually, these 'cheat' posts will have to result in some batreps for Battletech as well, and that's exciting.  Let's get this one out of the way so I can get on those!

  The "Beginner Box", released by Catalyst Games Labs way back when, came with two battlemech models to start playing right away.  One of them is one of my favorites and the other is so common that every House uses some version of it.  When it came time for me to slap some colour on them, I just went with the box art and that led me to choosing Steiner as my primary House and that's transferred over to the recent work.  When you have too much stuff and you just default to box art- who needs creativity?

  The mech is a Griffon- a common medium mech that sports decent firepower and doesn't cost too much BV- which is why it's so common amongst all the fighting forces of the galaxy.  Note that my paint scheme isn't exactly the same as my other jobs, but mechwarriors aren't bound to match each other perfectly.  This is war, not a tea party.  

  

  With this model, I tried the 'lining-in' technique to really pop those details.  It looks fantastic, so I may add that technique to some others.  I'll have to compare to see if it makes enough of a difference to the eyes from tabletop distance to force the issue.  I painted this model at least a year before the rest, so it's interesting how my approach to painting these has changed over time already.  

  Alright, that's the post!  It's a painted model, added to my growing lance, and proving progress even while I'm playing catchup.  Now for at least one more mech...

Happy Hobbying!

Classic Biggest Gun!

  Well, no Inner Sphere lance is complete without the biggest gun you can mount on a 'mech, and the most famous of that is the AC/20.  There are many tanks and a few non-assault 'mechs with it, but the infamous silhouette of the Hunchback is the most obvious display of that huge gun.  And House Steiner won't be without one.  

  If you followed the last post, you'll already know how I did the blue.  So this post starts off from there with the only real detail being the 1/3 white on the right side (from the 'mechwarrior's PoV) and the huge gun.  As before, everything here is basic techniques, so I'll just show pics with the colours that I used.  

  After dealing the the blue-and-white colour-scheme, I then had to move on to the head/cockpit.  The Hunchback is weird becuase it's not the typical glasas canopy or ballistic-proof windshield, but instead a golden metallic grill.  With the copper-transformers on his arm and back (very low-tech based on my paint-scheme), this made things a tad confusing.  So I had to experiment a bit to figure out how to make the two look different and keep the attention on the head as all other 'mechs.  

  Once all the basic stuff is done, it's time to paint the whole purpose of this mech- the AC/20! 

THE gun of guns...

"Get close- I dare ya!"

  And that's it!  I'm not halfway done with a 'lance', and I'm thinking the next 'mech will have to be a Zeus- the mascot of the Lyran Commonwealth.  Between the Atlas and the Hunchback, I have some big guns and plan to keep that theme going...

Happy  Hobbying!

The biggest stompiest

 

  Anyone that is into the 'tabletop world' has a number of games that they all play- Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, and anything Games Workshop.  But there are many that were playing before the evil empires had taken over and remember such things as Car Wars, the many hex-and-chit historicals, and maybe even that mech game before computers.  Can you believe that we used to play "Mechwarrior" with miniatures and paper maps!?

  Battletech has been around even longer than 40k (and every Battletech player will remind you of this as soon as they can) and was most popular in the era of extra-granular, black-and-white tomes for gaming.  After the inundation of board games and before the usurpation by consoles, nerds everywhere played games that required thick books, notebooks of paper, and often funny-shaped dice.  Battletech is one of those that OWNED the miniatures wargaming industry until the Emprah spread his truth to all corners of the globe.  The miniatures game disappeared (there may have been some lawsuits involved), but the universe became one of the top-selling computer games with the title "Mechwarrior 2".  It took years before Topps acquired the license and released the game again, but the quality of the PVC plastic miniatures was horrid.  Now, Catalyst Games has released the game with outstanding miniatures, high production quality, and a level of community support that this game has never enjoyed.  

  At one time, I worked with a guy that was a Battletech fanatic, often poo-pooing on 40k for its lack of balance and insane bloat creep.  I constantly pointed out the irony in that, as I am not new to the ancient hex-maps myself.  I started with watching the Macross movies, playing the Robotech RPG (as a Veritech pilot that couldn't figure out how to transform his machine), and giving the Battletech miniatures a try themselves.  I preferred Car Wars.  I tried to get into again while in the service of the Emprah, but the miniatures were so bad that I couln't bring myself to lowering my own standards (working for the best game company in the world sets some unrealistic expectations sometimes).  I then found a group of guys that ignored anything in the present to play only old, forgotten, and unsupported games, and they introduced me to Battletech Tactics.  Okay, now I'm interested, but the unit bloat (why are there 19 different Locusts pre-Clan Invasion!?!) still made me trepidatious.  But I finally gave in and got back into it.  

  Right now, I just wanted something to hobby on that is not GW.  You may remember that my Chaos Space Marines are frustrating me and I still don't have the time to play a full-size game, so I figured finally putting some paint on these mech-thingies would be a good break.  And being a House Steiner fan, I figured to slap some paint on the biggest of the Assault Mechs- the Atlas!  This is also the old metal model from Iron Wind Metals because, well, I wanted to feel that pewter weight in my hand again...

  Below will be the series of pictures from primed metal to finished, with the colour that I used next to it.  There were no special techniques and I constantly had to stop myself from adding more highlighting or lining-in or just insane details.  These are not GW models and I'm not trying to spend a week on one 25mm model.  

  I added the yellow stripe down his sides to reflect that this is an officer for the lance.  The Atlas is a combat beast AND a command mech.  I enjoyed holding the heavy metal model, enjoyed only needing to drybrush to bring out the crisp details, and enjoyed not having too many skulls, spikes, chains, trims, feathers, and other details to muddy up the paint-flow.  It was nice.  Now, let's see if I can finish a whole lance...

Happy Hobbying!