Battletech: Jade Falcon and Smoke Jaguar

Howdie.

As I continue with my Battletech cataloging, I have come to some Clan forces.  Primarily, in the 90's, I chose Jade Falcon.  Why?  Well, everyone else was pretty enamored of Wolf because of the Lethal Heritage trilogy.  As time went on, with the Way of the Clans initial trilogy, and ongoing Battletech Universe "history", the Jade Falcons turned out to be a good choice.  They get stuck in very frequently, are a semi-bad guy clan, but are not pushovers.

Later I added to the Jade Falcons, but also developed a hankering for Smoke Jaguar, probably due in part to the Exodus Road series.  Also, if the jade Falcons are semi-bad guys, the Smoke Jaguars are actual bad guys in many ways.  And its fun to have two different Clan factions.

First up are my "newer" Jade Falcons... these are supposed to be Epsilon Galaxy, though, my green is not light enough and probably too bright.

What you see is is slightly over a mixed Trinary, with a Star of Elementals leading the way for (metal) Masakari, Kraken, Turkina, Madcat-Pryde, Thor, 2x Piranhas, (plastic) Daishi, Blackhawk, Uller, and Madcat.  Now, the Piranhas are pretty specifically not Jade Falcon mechs, but I like their design, and there is always room for them being captured.

Overall, a big mix of designs and weights, mostly on the heavier side.  I don't particularly care for the primary Kraken, not a fan of the Thor, but its better to have variety and not be all min/max on your designs.

Next are my Smoke Jaguars, painted as Alpha Galaxy, which is a flat grey with jaguar spots on the upper portions of the mechs.

What you see here is a short Trinary.  Now, the lone elemental stand is painted in blue-grey, making it more of a generic elemental, and is only a test piece.  Maybe I should try to paint the other four points.  Behind them are (metal) Loki, Vulture, Daishi, Ryoken, Thor (later design, customized), Masakari, Koshi, (plastic) 2x Madcats, Blackhawk, Diashi, and Uller.

Again, a good mix of designs and weights, though, I tell you that newer sculpted Thor is HUGE.  If I add anything, I need to try to use older models.

I decided to go ahead and include my older Clan stuff in this post, just because.... though the ones I painted all those years ago are not as nice as the later mechs.  This includes a number of mechs I bought from a guy in the club I gamed with in Florida, which I never got around to repainting.

The Jade Falcons I had were painted a basic green, with some highlights.  I really am thinking about modifying this into a camo scheme, and calling them Gamma Galaxy (perhaps even Falcon Guards).

These are all metal.  My old Jade Falcons are a Blackhawk, Dragonfly, Madcat, Vulture, Thor, Loki, Ryoken, Fenris, Gladiator, Man O War, Diashi, and Masakari.  I also painted the Behemoth.  Rounding out the group are 2x Warhammer IIC, 2x Marauder IIC, Rifleman IIC, and Galahad (all painted by someone else).  This would be a reinforced Trinary, though one on the heavier side, with 4 mediums and 15 heavies and assaults.

I think at some point I might catalog what I have not painted yet... but that might be too embarrassing.

Thanks!

Chalfant

Battletech: Desert Camo

Howdie.

This is the third installment of my ongoing cataloging of Battletech miniatures.  What I have here are three different versions of paint schemes for a desert environment.  These are all Inner Sphere.

The first batch, on the left, is for an alien desert, with a variety of colors, and strange flora.  I currently have 11 mechs painted this way (should paint at least one more for a full company!).  In metal, I have a Stinger, Vindicator, Firestarter, and Grasshopper.  In plastic I have a Warhammer, Rifleman, Shadow Hawk, Wolverine, Blackjack, Trebuchet, and Valkyrie.

The second batch, in the middle, are actually all painted by someone else.  I purchased them as a lot on ebay, and they are all old, heavy lead, painted a dull brown for conventional desert environments.  There are six mechs,  a Warhammer, Battlemaster, Atlas, Shadow Hawk, Cicada, and Charger. It might be hard to tell in the photos, just how different the lead miniatures like the Warhammer and Battlemaster are from their plastic brethren. 

The third batch is another paint scheme, intended to represent a desert environment on very flat terrain with a thin atmosphere, however, this is belied by the green basing I used :)  These were painted right after the first plastic boxed set came out, though I added some from the Citytech set too, and one is a later metal miniature.  There are 13 mechs, a Hollander (the only metal), Battlemaster, Javelin, Wasp, Orion, Marauder, Wolverine, Griffin, Shadow Hawk, Archer, Rifleman, Victor, and Centurion.

Again, most of the time I just mix and match anyway, but its nice to have some variety in case you have to supply different forces of mechs.

Thanks for reading!

Chalfant

Battletech: Liao, House Imarra and Death Commandos

Howdie.
This is the 2nd installment of my Battletech mech cataloging.... featuring my Cappellan Confederation (or Liao) forces.  Always a bit of the bad guys (mostly because of the crazy Liaos themselves) I thought it would be interesting to build a force for them, since most people wouldn't.

First up is a Liao Warrior House.... I meant for these to be House Imarra, but my choice of green makes it possible to deploy them as House Lu Sann. I probably should have chosen a stronger green to make them "more" Imarra, but nobody seems to care too much anyway....

 These are not painted to any degree other than adequate, but they work.  There are 22 mechs painted in this scheme.The front 7 are metal, the back 15 come from three different plastic sources.... Plastech, the boxed edition with the plastic unseens, and the first Catalyst boxed set.

2x Urbanmechs (now, no one likes these... including me... but they are a Liao associated mech), 1x Stinger, 1x Jenner, 2x Vinicators (another Liao associated mech, but one I like a bit better than the Urbanmechs), Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Catapult (again, a Liao associated mech), Locust (love these Plastech Locusts), Cicada, Whitworth, Hunchback, Warhammer, Rifleman, Centurion, Atlas, Griffin, Blackjack, Valkyrie, Grasshopper, and Dragon.

My other Liao force is a small group of Death Commandos.  This is basically black, with some green panels, though, I really should get some decals for these mechs.

There are a full company, 12 mechs, in this force, a mix of plastics and metal.

The forces include a Vindicator, Catapult, Locust, Atlas, Cataphract (another Liao associated mech), Trebuchet, Imp, Orion (thats a plastic, came from the later Citytech set I think), Blackjack, Emperor, Cyclops, and Dragon.

For both forces, I used the same style basing, and the same color visors / cockpit screens, to add some continuity.  Of course, I have found that most informal games, I just mix and match anyway.  It is nice to have a force I could put together to represent a specific faction, in this case Liao.

I also have a number of Vindicators and Catapults throughout my collection, in case I need to make a convincing larger force with different paint schemes.

A positive outcome of this cataloging process, is, it is reminding me to NOT BUY ANY MORE MECHS!  More to follow soon.

Thanks!

Chalfant