Battletech: Comstar, Mountain Camo, and Forest Camo

Howdie.  I don't get to play Battletech very often any more, but I have been playing since the 80's.  At the turn of the century, I was living in Ft Lauderdale, and was part of a huge BT club there, gaming all day Sunday, playing mostly company level games.

Anyway, I have also been collecting for a very long time.  When I dig out mechs for games, I keep thinking maybe I should start cataloging them.... so here goes.  I selected three painted groups for my first Battletech catalog session.

First is a unit painted in mountain terrain camo, 14 mechs.  One failing I have is not putting unit insignia on mechs, something I might change in the future.  That means these can be used for any unit I want.  Despite having a couple of mechs that seem to be specific to one faction or another, I always like the idea of Comstar acquiring mechs for their own reasons.  These could very easily be Comstar mechs fitted out for battling in the mountains of Tukayyid...

The mechs are a combination of metal and plastic, including one Plastech...
Hatchetman, Cataphract, Zeus, Banshee (with the extra PPC), Stalker, Annihilator, Locust, Orion, Javelin, Centurion, Victor, Thug, Battlemaster, Imp.  The three in the back are older, paint job is not as good, and each is a little banged up :)  The ones in the front are the newest, and are painted a bit better.

The next unit is all white Comstar, 27 mechs.  One, the Warhammer, was painted white just to be white many years ago, but he fits in with the Comstar stuff.  You might notice that many of these are 2750 mechs, which is how I originally started collecting them.

One thing about many of the 2750 designs, is that they are fast, but seem overall to me to be too light in armor.  That is opinion, but I find I like certain ones (King Crab, Thug, Crab, Kintaro, Flashman) better than some others.

The first mountain camo group is a bit heavy on average, but these Comstar white mechs have a large number of lighter mechs to balance things out.  2x Hussars, Champion, Kintaro, Warhammer, Flashman, Wyvern, Sentinel, 2x Highlanders, King Crab, Mongoose, Crab, 2x Thugs, Exterminator, Trebuchet, Black Night, Guillotine, Panther, Hunchback, Dragon, OBaekmono, Emperor, Cyclops, Imp, and Thorn.

Finally, a small group of mechs painted in woodland camo, 6 mechs.  I did not paint as many of this scheme (at least not yet), but I can always expand on it.  This is a fairly light bunch (except for that King Crab!), and again, could easily be used as Comstar, or any other faction, as needed.

Whitworth, Jenner (now, there is a mech with some contemporary drama), Mongoose, King Crab, Stinger, and Quickdraw.  I forgot to say, I like the Mongoose too :)

Not sure when I will get a chance to catalog some more mech units, but I do have a large number of Liao mechs to post at some point, plus some desert type camo.

Until then, go with pulse lasers over AC2s, and it will probably turn out ok....

Thanks,
Chalfant

Falklands: Comandos Anfibios, Argentine Special Forces

Howdie.

Some time ago, I painted a number of Special Forces units for the Falklands, including British SAS. SBS, MAW and Royal Marines, plus Argentine 602 Commandos, as detailed here.

 I still had a large number of Argentine Comandos Anfibios (using the Argentine spelling) to finish up, having painted 5 many many years ago.  These amphibious commandos were employed during the initial invasion,attacking the then empty Moody Barracks, and fighting for Government House.

 Pictures of these distinctive looking bunch, in watch caps, cold weather gear, faces smeared with grease, and holding weapons on Royal Marine prisoners, made quite an impression on the Argentine and British public...

I had 4 packs of the old Hotspur / Combat Miniatures Argentine SF (5 miniatures a pack), plus 8 figures from Platoon 20 (all 20mm miniatures).  The Combat Miniatures are superior to the Platoon 20 ones, in my opinion.  The weapon mix from the Combat line included 1 MAG, 1 FAL w/ rifle grenade, 1 FAL, and 2 sound suppressed Sterlings in each pack.. the Platoon 20 are 4 of the same FAL and 4 of the same suppressed Sterling.

I found painting the grease on their faces kind of difficult, trying to make it clear I did paint the faces, but still get the right look... I used mostly an up or down "V" shape looked the best.  Overall, I think they turned out decent, a little sloppy (and the camera does not take good pictures as usual), but there is no doubt who these guys are.

Now, 4x MAG LMG is a bit much for only 28 miniatures, and personally I would prefer more FALs and less Sterlings, but still, this is plenty for the small actions these guys participated in.... and enough to fight some larger apocryphal battles too.  I especially like the clearly detailed rifle grenadier.

Believe it or not, I still have stuff to paint for the Falklands!  Maybe in the next 10 years I will complete this project.  Until then, hope you enjoy, thanks!

Chalfant

Battletech: The Clans Have Arrived

Howdie.

We recently played a small game, Clan vs Inner Sphere.  We tested this with a 1:2 ratio, with 3050 IS mechs, agreeing to flip the sides the next game to see if the ratio was valid... its been years since I have played with Clan mechs, so it was a bit of a "new" experience for me at least.

In this match up, I took the IS, fielding a Stalker (one of my favorites), Flashman (another favorite), Kintaro, and Vindicator.  My Clan opponent fielded a Madcat and a Ryoken (that would be Timber Wolf and Stormcrow, I believe).  We gamed on a desert mountain, and desert "sinkhole", mostly staying on the mountain side.

My overall plan was pretty simple, try to swarm the Clan mechs, getting close with the Mechs I could, using the Vindicator's jump jets to navigate the mountain [note, we pick the mechs first, then the maps].

I managed to corner the Clan mechs, and yes, I was taking damage... but at the closer ranges, I had removed at least one of the Clan advantages.

First to fall was the Kintaro, one of three times I think I failed a fall test....

But the Kintaro was destroyed.....

However, the combined firepower of the mechs quickly reduced the Mad Cat to embers...

Unfortunately for the Inner Sphere, the Flashman soon joined the Kintaro and Mad Cat.  The Ryoken tried to gain room, but was unable to escape the Stalker and Vindicator....

The Ryoken was blasted, fell with a missing leg, then lost an arm, and... well there was not much for recovery at the end of the game....

All in all, a fun game.  We will try it again, with me fielding Clan this time... if the Clan loses that, we will have to adjust our ratio for later games, maybe more like 1:1.5 or something.

Until then, keep your reactor cool and your ACs glowing red....

Chalfant