35+ years later!

That maybe a record for me. More of that later though.

While I have finished very little that is a long way from thinking I have not done a lot. Just most of it is not anywhere near finished! So let,s start with what I have done.

Here is a platoon of H+R infantry and transports. The transports are 6mm BMP 1's the infantry are equally small. Strickly speaking I need another BMP and a couple more stands of infantry for the HQ of the platoon. But this is a start.

OK so what has taken 35+ years. ? Yes I can hear you ask even from there so I will keep you in the dark no longer.  Yes my desert. This is how it was and as I have always been led to believe it might stay. BUT. And that is a big BUT with a capital B. I looked on line and found I can afford the nessercary materials. That being 10mm thick "Foam Board" so I ordered a pack. And Yes it arrived. So my 1/300th scale desert has taken a step forward.

As I only started with 2 A1 sheets buying 5 more sheets Should (I hope) be enough. Time will tell but I am hopeful. So expect desert to feature in upcoming weeks. (You are warned).


The spending continues ,while I work on some 28m figures, appearing soon on this blog. Firstly I squandered money for Pulp alley and bought a Clapper board. Traditionally in Pulp Alley the person with the initiative has a "Directors Megaphone" But at about £2.50 inc postage this was cheaper and will work just as well.

Finally I bought some MDF buildings for Pulp Alley wild west. Or Ghost town as I am currently calling it. The 2 Sarrissa buildings are exactly the same So I should be able to get them up and running in a week or three! The TTCombat "Grand Hotel" (on the left may take a bit longer! But at least I am on my way.

Until next time (and I hope) some 28mm figures take care good luck and remember everyones paint brush needs to taste paint one in a while.

All the best Clint

QKD-4G Quckdraw and a thought or two.

You are right I am not painting much this week. But here at least is another Battletech mech the 60 ton Heavy, Quick draw.  As heavy mechs go this is a fast mech with jump capability. But in order to get the speed and the jumps it does sacrifice armour and to some extent heavy weapons. I must admit I have never played against or piloted one of these beasts however here are my thoughts on it. Yes it is fast and that is in my opinion its best feature as it should allow it to always get shots on target and to some extent stay out of trouble.  But the jumps and the speed do come at a cost. And this time the cost is in armour. For a heavy mech it is quite lightly armoured and the medium lasers also mean it is lacking a knockout punch. While it does have a long range missile system (LRM 10) with only 12 shots in it's holster for this it will want to close quickly. Within 9 hexes it has a short range missile system, thet you want to fire at every opportunity because you have 25 shots close in. But the main weapons are 4 medium lasers. Medium lasers are an OK weapon but they only do 5 points of damage with each hit and as each hit will probably hit different areas of an opponent they will most likely get soaked up by armour. At least in the early part of any game. Additionally fast moves and jumping and medium lasers can lead to this mech overheating. Which is the consequence of having a heavy mech that can jump. We all like to pull off "Death From Above" jump attacks on enemy mechs and this does have the speed and jump ability able to do that but that tactic is fraught with danger. So unless you have a player who is a good pilot and knows how to carry out attacks like that I really would not recommend this mech.

A change of direction perhaps (but only a little change)

So that is my giant robot fix for today. But I am not yet finished with sci fi! I have been a little down in the dumps of late and lacking motivation. But I did speak to a neighbour yesterday and they did cheer me up. And that got me thinking.  I do like 1/300th scale, and I do like Science fiction games. yet in all my life I have never collected a 6mm sci fi army! What is more I also Know Tony in Brigade Models (LINK) and see no reason that should not be a place to start and look for a game.
I was going to have a quick poll on the blog (I do enjoy them) asking what kind of world I should set the game in. However I have already decided that a snow/ice world would suit me best. Why a snow planet? Well firstly there are no trees, secondly hills and cliffs and other snow terrain is easy to build. Oh yes it is! Additionally I rarely see games set on snow planets so I am seriously now looking at this as an idea. I see it as being a game I can transport easily (1 or 2 A4 box files.) be fairly cheap and a good stand by game at the club. Rules wise (someone always asks) I am looking at "Future War Commander" as I already have those rules and they should give the kind of game I am thinking of. And just to put the icing on the cake the local games shop actually stocks (some but not all) Brigade Models so I can if I choose pick up a pack every now and again.

Thanks for reading the waffle I will have some historical figures on the blog soon. I hope to finish some Burpas by Sunday at the VERY latest.

All the very best Clint.



Calm before the storm

Well the title says it all. Tomorrow I will start to process turn 2 of the Klintanistan game. So I wanted something quick and easy and to be honest something I did not really care too much about to paint. So here is a Battletech Zeus model.

It is cast in a really unfriendly plastic to cut and paint and is not even one of my favourite Battletech mechs. But despite my dislike it is not a bad battletech mech. It does have a variety of weapon systems long Range Missiles, and Autocannon (5) for long distance shooting Large and 2 medium lasers for short ranges and medium ranges  and sufficient armour to withstand many if not all return fire. I think my main criticism is that for an assault mech it just does not have a knockout punch in any weapon system which does give it a rather ambiguous role in a mech lance. At 80 tons it has average speed and manouver nothing too slow and nothing to fast. To me it seems like a mech that has no firm purpose but tries to do several roles. As such it does all the roles in a half hearted manner.

Just my opinion of the mech and I do know when played well it can be effective, But if you are going to have an assault mech you want a brawling mech and not a multi role mech. Well that is how it has always played in my games.

Not a very exciting post today. But I am trying to clear the work bench as I have several things started and nothing much near compleation.

Currently on the table is a piece of terrain that I hope will come out good enough to cast in resin and that is taking it's time. 10 Burpa Cavalry, Some 20mm Russian civil war figures, and a few 15mm Sci Fi figures that I bought at the Selwg show and a single Sikh in 28mm  . So lots of things started and nothing finished except this mech for now. But with luck next week there should be a few interesting things finished.

Before I go Roy has been publicising the Klintanistan game. Click this link to find out just a little more. LINK ... This was put on By Stu at Col Bills I am told and that is not actually the Klintanistan flag officially. But I am happy for it to be labelled as such and you are welcome to make your own flags up for Klintanistan given it's fractured state.

That is it for today. Thanks for looking. All the best Clint

Battletach try out.

Well yesterday at the club we played Battletech. I have not played the rules for 20 + Years and the other guys had not played them at all.  That being the case we kept it very simple with just a medium mech each. Relfie had a "Hunchback, I had a "Witworth", Ian an "Enforcer" and Kev a "Trebuchet|". For any one who knows Battletech well I had a 40 ton mech as I knew the rules and the others all had 50 ton mechs.

SO Kev and Relfie were against Ian and myself.  2 mecha a side and no clever scenarios just a get in and kill the opponents. Ian and myself set up to ttarget Kevin and leave the Hunchback alown as it only had short range weapons. (9 Hexes max).  And generally speaking the game went a little like this.



We try to shoot at Kevs trebuchet. But I miss with my LRMs but Ian makes a hit. This chips away some armour but nothing to worry about. Kev fires back at Ian and again scores hits but again just chipping away at armour.










 The next few turns sees me in the witworth running hot and firing all weapons and missing everything. Ian scores his with the LRM 10 rack but rolls very low for the number of missiles. In the game he manages to roll 2 2's and 4 3's on 2d6! I swear I did not touch his dice!Kev starts heating up and only launches missiles back, mostly at Ian's Enforcer! So I take very little damage and am able to steer clear of too many problems and manage to cool down. Kev finds the water and his heat sinks start to act more efficiently.














Relfie keeps closing the distance and finally lets rip with his AC20. This chews up Ians Mech quite badly, but he's still in the fight. The enforcer looses all the armour on one location and takes a hit to his autocannon 10. Ian gats a luck shot on the Trebuchet and causes a critical on the engine. This Gives Kev 5 extra heat each turn.Which in turn means that the "treb" starts running hot and from now on suffers 1 less movement point and a penalty on shooting.




Ian and myself try to put distance between the Hunchback and use only LRMs. This does not work all that well for me and I get hit and it penertrates the armour and scores a critical on my gyros. So jumping and running become MUCH more likely to result in me falling down. Kev and Relfie team up on Ian and back him into some harsh terrain. Which makes it much harder to get away from the hunchback. Ian fights on. We both target Kevs Trebuchet as much as possible and Kev gets 2 more crits against him, a second engine hit (now +10 heat a turn) and I hit a gyro of his and he decides not to run or jump from now on.

 The game ends with Ian loosing an arm (with the autocannon) and having all his torso shot out be repeated attacks. I in return stay at long range and launch LRMs as much as possible.  This finally has it's effect and I get another crit on Kevs engine and with 3 engine hits his mech is no longer functional.

Tis just leaves me an Relfie to fight it out. The bad news for me is that I am now low on missiles and can't run or jump without risking falling So the lumbering Hunchback will eventually "Muller" me! so I concede the game.

The good points: The game still plays well and has lots to recommend it. The new players picked the rules up quickly and understood the mechanics and hit numbers within 40 min for start of play and I am sure could very easily play again with little or no help. They said the rules were very instinctive.

The Bad points: Well for me it was all about the rose coloured glasses and while I did enjoy the game it was not the same as back in the day (25+ yrs ago!)

Thanks for reading today. The game was quite balanced and worked very well as a set of rules, it's just that you cannot beat nostalgia so after the game I was feeling a little underwhelmed!

All the best Clint

Another Lance of Mechs

Yes a Lance. In Battletech 4 mechs are known as a lance. This is the second time of doing this blog post this morning, having done it once I then pushed the wrong button and accidently deleted the whole lot. Oh well never mind, he says after kicking himself and swearing a bit so here is go 2!


Jagermech: Using a similar design philosophy as the Rifleman, the Jagermech is a 65 ton heavy mech with flip arms able to be effectively used against aircraft. However the Jagermech uses light auto-cannon as opposed to large lasers. With 2 auto cannon in each arm (an AC5 and an AC2) The Jagermech has reduced the heating issue which some Riflemen pilots encountered. In addition to the Auto-cannons the Jagermech also has 2 medium lasers. It has only average speed and no jump capability which again also reduces the heat build up. The down side is that for a heavy mech it is lightly armoured and like the Rifleman is very lightly armoured in the rear torso areas. So only use this mech if accompanied by something which can take a lot of punishment.

While I have never used the mech in a game I can see from it's stats that it has plenty of ammunition and would advise log range shooting as opposed to getting in close as that is where the weak armour will take its toll.


Dervish: One of the largest medium mechs at 55 tons the Dervish is above average in speed, manoeuvrability, and jump capability. It has reasonably strong legs  so can carry out the so called "Death from above" jump attack on smaller mechs IF you have a good pilot. A poor or average mech pilot tends to topple over if attempting this tactic! (I speak from experience!) Most noted for its twin Long range missile systems (2x LRM10s) the Dervish also carries Short range missiles (and lots of ammo for them) and Medium lasers so do not rely on the Lrms to do all the work! The head armour is very slightly weaker than most mechs even those of a lighter displacement but not overly so and all mechs have a vulnerable spot there. Just as well it is the hardest area to hit.

Overall I would say while there is nothing wrong with the Dervish as a mech it does carry to many SRM missiles at the expense of greater armour.


Enforcer: At 50 tons this is a well balanced mech for the weight classification. It is of average speed but does have jump capability so more than capable of out running a mech of average speed and NO jump. One must not rely on jumps of course and the Enforcer does not need to. For weaponry it carries both a large laser and a strong Autocannon (AC10) in addition to a small laser. Some variants and trial variants remove the small laser to get more ammunition to the Autocannon thus doubling the shots to 20. This has lead to problems from ammunition having to travel from the left torso across the body (past the engine) to the right arm so these variants are not common and also do lead to issues. The armour values on the Enforcer are good but not outstanding leading this mech to be used in a variety of roles including "Trooper mech" and barrage. Which makes it popular with many forces and in no way a one trick pony, but a multi role machine.

Generally I would recommend this mech to new players who want to try a bit of everything. And then work out what they want to specialise in even if (Like me) that leads to a jack odf all trades and master of none!)

Trebuchet: Another 50 ton medium mech. Like the Enforcer above this is another main line Medium mech. Unlike the Enforcer this mech has no jump capacity but is slightly faster on the ground. Armed with 3 Medium lasers the Trebuchets main strength comes at long range with two large Long Range Missile systems (LRM 15s). These should be enough to make people want to get close and most likely they will. Another multi-role mech and as such very versatile. The issue with multi role mechs is that you have to find the right pilot for them one who can adapt to the situation and instinctively know when to stay back and when to get close. Armour levels are good but not great so this mech should last a while in most confrontations as many players will try to target specialist mechs. As such this mech does tend to take a beating in a game but generally does manage to survive. Heat with the LRMs tends not to be a big issuse and the mech usually runs lightly on the hot side when at closer ranges or using jumps and firing at the same time. But overall heat is not a major concern.

Again like the Enforcer I would recommend this mech to players at the start until they find their game preferences.

As I will be playing Battletech on Sunday I am not expecting to paint any more mecha until September. All these Mechs cam in the 25th Anaversery box set and are cast in quite nasty plastic, but for the price I can do nothing but recommend the game. It may not suit everyone but I do know it does suit me and I hope I can impart the same level of joy and enthusiasm at the club.

Thanks for reading today and good luck in all you do. Have a good few days and I should have something  VBCW ready for Saturday.

|Cheers Clint

Mecha

As mentioned earlier in the week I will be playing "Battletech" next weekend so I thought I should paint up a few more mechs (Mecha) just so the guys would not be playing with bare plastic and bare metal. I hasten to point out I have done a very quick paint job, nothing fancy, just slapped paint on.

So here we go!

Rifleman: The Rifleman is a heave Mech at 60 tons and is one of the best well known mechs out there. It is a specialist anti-aircraft platform but well capable of defending itself and battle with other mechs. Typically armed with 2 Large Lasers, 2 Medium Lasers and 2 Light Autocannon (AC5s). Which are the longest pre clan AC' in the game. Only 10 heat sinks so it does tend to run a little hot, but not disastrously so.  The Main drawback (In my opinion) for the 60 ton Rifleman is lack of armour particularly on the back. Given the long range weapons this mech is typically used as fire support. The lack of hands may be considered a drawback by many But that is compensated by it's perceived role and the fact that it can fire it's guns 180 degrees (Vertically) to allow it to track aircraft.

This is a re-paint of one of my older metal mechs (I only had 4-5 metal mechs). As such I feel it will get much use as a proxy!


Hunchback: The Hunchback (my second) is a medium mech of 50 tons yet manages to carry the largect gun in the game and Autocannon 20 (AC20). This give it a distinctive look and for it's medium weight class makes it quite deadly at short range. Along with the AC20 it also carries 2 medium lasers and a small laser. This means that within range  (9 Hexes or 270 meters) everything other than the head mounted  small laser can fire at once! So at the shorter ranges this mech can strip armour from other mechs very effectively. The drawback as hinted at previously is that it has a relatively short range but when it does fire and hit you will know it! No mech is ever perfect and we all have favourites and this mech is rather brutal and usually does not need to carry more than 10 Ac shots to get the job done but it will get shot up while trying to get within effective range.

This plastic mech has a missing right hand, it's a shame to say but I got it in a box set and it came that way. (Oh well).

The Jenner: This is a light mech often used for scouting, Again lacking arms instead armed with weapon pods. It carries 4 Medium lasers and well as a Short Range Missile system (SRM 4) . At 35 tone it is on the larger size for a scout mech but it has a phenomenal speed of 11 when running (5 walking). So going in a straight line while on open terrain means it could travel 11 hexes in a turn. As mentioned above the AC on the Hunchback only has a range of 9 hexes so this really is nippy and is the fastest mech I have ever PERSONALLY piloted. One thing I have yet to mention about this mech is the jump capability. It can use jumpjets as well and they will propel it in any direction across any terrain 5 hexes a turn. (or less if you choose). Given all this speed and jump capability it does lack armour, but as a light mech in a scout role what did we really expect. It is not designed to fight toe to toe with other mechs but will happily take on mechs of it's own weight or lighter.Many weapons variants exist but the weapons listed above are the standard.

Not my favourite mech but I can and do respect it in the right hands. A good mech for the weight.

Grasshopper: A heavy mech of 70 tons this mecha lacks "Serious" firepower for it's weight. With 1 large laser and 4 medium lasers and a small (lrm5) Long Range Missile system for me it lacks "Punch". It is jump capable and does carry a good amount of armour (more than a Warhammer or Marauder or even and Archer all of which have the same weight limit.) The LRM5 does not give it enough long range capacity the large laser helps of course but this mech really does need to get within 9 hexes to inflict much damage at all. The Grasshopper has lots of heat sinks so overheating should never be a problem which means it can run cold and not worry about movement or aiming penalties at least until armour is penetrated.

Again not a fan of this mech from 20 years ago but played by an adult (Physically if not mentally) this mech could be quite useful as it can soak up a lot of damage.


Whitworth: The 40 ton Whitworth is on the lower side of Medium mechs. Which is not to say it's wimpy. It is quite a balanced build and can cause problems. Originally designed as a Scout mech to fill the gap between a Locust and a Phoenix Hawk it's main problem is that it now lacks a distinct on the battlefield. Not a bad mech by any means it has 2 Long range missile (LRM10') systems as well as 3 medium lasers and even jump capability.  The long range weapons are useful but not powerful enough for a stand off mech and the Medium lasers do not do enough damage at short range to make this a close in mech. Some variants replace the LRMs with SRMs which does give it a set role but it is a compromise. It is a good mech when used well but alas that was not something I ever managed to do well in the game. 10 heatsinks means that this can run hot when at close range but not as hot as some mechs get. If using this mech I would stay at long range and use LRMs and then get in close to finish off anything badly damaged by any other mech.  Not a bad all round mech but on the light side for a medium mech and it lacks an obvious use.

Catapult: a 65 tom heavy mech with some notable long range capabilities. Each arm carries a LONG range Missile system (LRM15) while the torso carries 4 medium lasers. Some varients exist with the LRMs stripped out and Phase Partial Cannons (PPCs) retrofitted but this can lead to heat problems and I believe the LRMs are better in this particular mech. The medium lasers are for close support and the mech does have a role in the secondary defensive line with some (but) limited offensive capability. On a one to one bases this mecha is very good at dealing long range damage sufficient enough to worry most mech of a similar size and hopefully weaken an opponent enough for the medium lasers at closer range.  It does have some jump capability so is capable of intricate manoeuvres through difficult terrain so will keep up with most (non scout) mechs. Like all mechs it does depend on how it is used but generally it is quite balanced.



All the comments are my personal views and experiences and it does depend on how you and your opponents do play. So if your experiences differ I will not be at all surprised. My main Mech was a Griffin for example so all my comments come from that background.

Not the best mechs in the world, but better than none at all. Thanks for looking and I hope you are having a really great weekend. \All the best Clint

Atlas and Hermes

No not a comedy double act. But 2 more Battle tech "Mechs" painted. It has been a LONG while since I painted any mechs one of the reasons is I never know what colour to paint them. One school of thought is to paint them camouflage patterns and colours as they are fighting vehicles. The other line of thought is to use heraldic colours. Personally I do like both approaches and being totally inconsistent will flit between both with different mechs as the mood takes me. But this time I have settled on a hybrid scheme that is both heraldic and camouflage in nature. I used a sandy colour up to the waist and a light blue for the torso head and arms. You can see the camouflage colouring on the right. I will not do very many mechs this colour but you can see it might just work!

The models are that very nasty plastic and not the metals of yesteryear. They were included in the 25th anniversary box set of Battletech I bought a couple of years ago. And these were the first things started AFTER the Analogue painting challenge. The plastic has lots of casting issues and quite a bit of "Flash" overall I am not impressed with the choice of materials. The Mechs however are just about the same as the metal ones from when I was just a tad younger.

Firstly we have a 100 ton Atlas class mech,  it is just about the largest Inner Sphere mech you can get. It does not carry the scary PPC, but does have the more devastating Ac20 for close in work. This does not mean you  can stand off at long range and snipe kill it either as it also has a LRM 20 for those long range shots. As one of the biggest and most powerfull inner sphere mechs you knew it was not going to be so easy to deal with.

Secondly we have the Hermes class mech. It is only 40 tons so we cannot expect too much from it. But it has a running speed of 9 so it can move about quite well, OK very well despite the fact that it is not jump capable. It is one of the rare mechs that has a flamer and while that does not do oh so much damage to other mechs and only has a 3 hex range it can cause the opponent to "Run hot" which as battletch players we all know is not good. It also has an AC5 for long range work and a medium laser for closer in and when ammo consumption is an issue. Not as lightly armoured as some other mechs of this 40 ton weight limit but for the weight I would go for a "Whitworth" but it really is personal choice when it comes to Battltech mechs.. Some mechs are just horrid but most can be good if you choose to play them in the right way. And that is what I like about Battletech even 25 years on, it can be quite balanced if the weight classes are the same. I still don't fancy 4 "Urban Mechs2 against a single "Awesome" though.

I apologise for using some of the slang from the game as if you have never played Battletech most of it will be a foreign language to you. But if you are a battletech player the slang is like music to your ears.

Thanks for looking today and I hope to have some more new stuff by Friday. (Working on it now). But most importantly have fun take care and get some painting done.

Cheers Clint

Battletech lance (WIP)

Here we have the currect lance of mechs I am working on, still a bit to do, but these are about 80% done. From left to right a 35 ton Panther, a 40 ton Cicada, a 60 ton Dragon and 70 ton Grasshopper. I must admit I have only piloted the Panther from this selection so I don't really know how to play them yet, particularly the grasshopper. I have painted them in Kurita colours (Red) mostly just to contrast with the green of the previous lance. I did not want them to be super bright so started with a black undercoat and a purple base coat, to build up a depth of the tone. Overall I am not unhappy with them. I have found that they do need a lot of cleaning up before painting. Loads of molding lines which have to be trimmed before painting, and I always miss a few unnoticed until the paint goes on. It's a pain, but worth going back and scraping or cutting them off to get a better finish. I appreciate that I got them all cheaper than RRP so I am willing to put up with the hassle. 8 mechs painted so far and a lot more to go yet (about 18). So it will take me a while to get through them.

 

Time is short so that will have to be the post for today. I shall offer a new post on Thursday. Thanks for reading and have a good couple of days.

AWESOME!

No Huge surprise, another mech finished. This is an "Awesome" Assault mech. Stocked with 3 PPC (Particle projectile cannons) as well as a small laser which I tend not to worry about too much. The PPCs deal 10 damage each and have a a very good range. They do kick out some heat, but with 28 heat sinks the Awesome is not prone to running hot. But with only 3/5 movement it is one of the slowest mechs you can get. (The 3 is the walking speed and 5 the running speed). This lack of speed can be a major set back in some terrain. Overall though if you can get the Awesome to the battlefield, it will dish out a lot of damage. Having big guns is not in my opinion quite enough to make this a favourite of mine, I actually like the challenge of limited manoeuvrability, and with a quick torso twist you can usually bring the PPCs to bear. For me however, the big advantage the Awesome has is the HUGE amount of armour it carries. If you look at the record sheet (below) and look at the armour diagram (top right of the record sheet) You will see loads and loads of armour circles in each location. The armour weak spot is of course the head, as no mech can have more than 9 points of armour in that location. Which does mean that a lucky shot can fell any mech. That being the case is it a weak spot? If yes it is a weak spot for every mech in the game and for game purposes it is a good thing that no mech is invulnerable.

 

As with the Hunchback I have put the plastic and metal mechs side by side to demonstrate scale, size and compatibility. I can see no reason not to use them on the same battlefield.  There clearly are some differences, most clearly in the arm plates, shoulders and lower legs. These differences and not significantly different enough to stop me using them both. The thought of using 2 80 tom assault mech Awesome does make me pause for a moment and wonder if they will get used together on the same side. Time will tell, though I would expect not, so I do expect them to be used on different lances at best or different sides so I think the differences will not be clear from 2 foot away which is the view most players will get.

 

The record sheet is from the new box set, but seems identical to the other record sheets I have from 25 years ago.  New players should not be discouraged by seeing a mech record sheet, they do look complicated at first glance, but when you play the game everything makes sense and is clear.

Lastly as of last night I may not be going to SELWG. Which is a shame, but the guy who was going to give me a lift has had to withdraw so unless I want to spend 4 hours on trains on a Sunday, and spend £12 doing so I think it's a no go for me. A little sad, but maybe for the best and I'll save some money. That's it for today. I shall post again on Saturday. Until then take care and have fun. All the best Clint.

Changing course.

Firstly let me start with UPDATE: x/x. I am now putting The proposed 7TV game on hold. It came clear to me that at Skirmish it was very self indulgent of me to push 7TV at shows. I still like the game and will still support it. The problem is that the people who support the club at shows don't play 7TV. So after some soul searching I am moving away from it as a game at shows. I do feel sad about it and am not totally abandoning it but I can no longer justify working on a show game that only I know the rules and background for. Being a slow thinker it has taken a week for me to come to this conclusion.
At this stage I do not know what we will do, but I am open to ideas from the other club members who will support us at shows. The ones that don't support the club, much less so. As a club we do have a number of assets that I feel we should utilise. Graham is a rules Guru, he can read rules and understand them to a far greater degree than anyone else I have ever met. The other major asset is Tim, owner and proprietor of both Frontline Wargaming (http://www.frontlinewargaming.co.uk/) and IT MINIATURES (http://www.itminiatures.co.uk/). So it would be good to help support his business. Therefore the most obvious solution would be to do a 20mm WW1 game. This would not be my choice, but with about 12 weeks until Christmas I really do need to get my act together and get a game started. 12 weeks does sound like a long time but it quickly evaporates especially if I have to paint 2 armies and make the terrain. I have asked Tim and Graham to come up with a show game idea time will tell if they do. I hope they have come up with something by this time next week.

Moving on as mentioned a couple of days ago I have been working on a Hunchback mech. The Hunchback is a medium mech with a huge "Auto-cannon" on its shoulder which causes 20 points of damage every time it hits. With this level of damage also comes the problems that it has very little ammunition. It does have two medium lasers as well but people seem to forget the 5 points of damage these can each deliver when they know it can inflict 20 points from the Auto-cannon. I have shown it here with the plastic version from the Battletech 25th Anniversary Introductory set. I hope this clearly shows they are both the same (other than one is metal and painted while the other is unpainted plastic).

The final pic is the two "Finished" mechs together, Hunchback and Griffin. Two medium mechs for a total of 105 tons. I have found these two work well together The Griffin for long range exploits and the Hunchback for close in work. No two mechs will ever be ideal and a lot does come down to how you think of them and use them, but for me I did enjoy using these two, and that is far more important than trying to find the "right" mechs.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading, have a great weekend (what's left of it) and I will post again on Tuesday. All the Best Clint.

Post script: I have already started to think about SELWG show shopping list, looking at which traders will be there and both what I need and want. 2 Weeks to go and I am already feeling poor as I look at what I need.

Battletech Griffin

Having started to cross check the new and old battle tech rules I have found them to be compatable. Therefore I went up the loft and dragged out my very old lance. One figure seems to be missing (a Stinger) but there was a Rifleman that I had forgotten about. Which balances out. Not in game terms of course the stinger being 20 ton light mech and the rifleman being an Anti Aircraft mech. I also rediscovered a LAM (Land Air Mech) which I have no use for at present but still good to have. Coming to the point I have had to repaint and base the Griffin which was my personal mech looking at the left shoulder you can see the command chevrons. The right shoulder carries a House Stiener Cross.

For those familure with the Battletech mechs you will recall the Griffin is a 55 tom medium mech. It carries a PPC in the right arm and a 10 Rack LRM on the right shoulder. It was the first mech I was assigned in the game and then campaign. I was always tempted to swap out the LRM for an SRM (LRM=Long Range Missile launcher, SRM=Short range missile launcher) . I never managed it in the game setting.But as this weapon set allows me to sit back at range and still be in the fight which meant I could keep the pilot (Me) alive. Mostly the tactic worked but it came close on a number of occassions. It also meant my other mech pilots had to take a short range beating at times. Still you win some and loose the rest!

The shoulder decals are just what I had lying about, but I do think they add a certain military flavour to the Griffin. I did have a scan through a selection of Mech colour schemes here. (http://camospecs.com/). Not the worse place to look at other mech colour schemes. The Griffin is not one of the mechs in the Introductory set I got a few days back, so this is one of the original metal ones. I think they are still availible from Ral Patha Europe. (http://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/) The mechs range from £5.50 to about £9 easch which is quite expensive (not compaired to Games Workshop of course) but for me £9 is a lot to spend on a single figure. The good news is that for Battletech you tend not to need hundreds of figures. All in all I shall have to balance expenditure and useage and see where that takes me. No orders planned at present as I have plenty of Mechs still to paint with the old lance and the new plastics, but at least I know for the future.

The quick start rules can be found here (http://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/BattleTechQuick-Start-Rules.pdf) There is a lot that are missing in the basic rules, like jumping, hand to hand combat, torso twists etc. But the good news is that they will give a starting point for new players. I would recomend a quick read if you have not played before or in my case for a very long time. Just before I finish talking about Battletech today I thought I should show a picture from 25 years ago. This Black and White sketch illustration is the one from the 3025 Technical readout. I used to like the style of the Technical readouts. The sketches had a cool look, they were not too slick and made you feel that you could have drawn them (until you tried of course).

Lastly today this is the next lot of Fudge I have made for my work colleges. Dark chocolatefudge with white chocolate buttons for decoration. I am delighted with the feedback that the Health workers have given me. Don't get me wrong I have been told they will eat anything that has chocolate in it. (None of them are overweight I felt I should add that having said they will eat anything chocolate). Anyway this lot lasted about a day for the team. Many of them taking the |Attitude that "free food has no calories".

Anyway that's it for today. Take care and I shall blog again soon.All the best Clint.

Battletech Unboxed

Firstly let me say this is not a review. I must also confess that "I am a Mech-head" and have been for a long time. Therefore I am TOTALLY bias towards original classic Battletech. (NOT THE HERO CLIX ONE) and it is fair and just that I make that clear from the outset. The 25th anerversery Introductory Box Set arived via courier yesterday afternoon and I still have a grin on my face, A BIG grin I might add. One of my friends (strangely everyone knew him as "Goblin!") had everything FASA produced for Battle tech back in the day, some 25 years in the past. However Goblin Fell in Love with a German Girl and subsequently moved to Germany. I was set up on a blind date with one of her friends and after 9 months realised that she was not the one for me and came home back to blighty. Long story made short I have not played with Mechs for a very very long time. So I was aprehensive about opening the box. I need not have been It's BRILLIANT! (sorry that just slipped out).  The box is heavy and full of Mechie goodness. And here is what is inside.

How the core rulebooks work is more an advert for the possible expansions to game than an explanation of how to read the rules and in what order, It does however serve a purpose. Only 8 pages long it outlines what each expansion is and how it fits in with the introductory set. So does it tempt me to get the expansions? To be honest, not yet, One of the expansions is a role-playing game, for example which at the moment in my life I have no use for, if things change and I do start role-playing again I don't think I would choose this as a setting.

The Quick Start Rules which I believe you can download free online. Anyway it's only 12 pages full colour with lots of helpful pictures and is the very basic rules to get you started. I should confess I have not read any of these rulebooks yet, that will start today. This should give new players a place to start. For me It will act as a refresher and a kick start into re-learning a game that is mostly just a memory in the back of my mind.

The introductory rulebook contains the main rules. The thickest of the volumes at 80 pages it covers the main rules as well as Mech design and a couple of scenarios. In the same way as the rules did 25 years ago. I have not sat down with both rule sets (the old and the new) but  a very quick flick indicates they are pretty much the same. Maybe the wording has changed but the essence is the same. As with all the materials production quality is high and the product a pleasure to interact with.

The source book, "inner shpere at a glance" covers the political situation in the known universe. It covers the history from the rise of the hegemony, through the star league era, to the arrival of the clans. (I am not a Clan Fan, to me they unbalanced the classic battletech status quo it's a personal view but it just seemed to me at the time a FASA ploy to create a super new must have force which would make players crave the next uber mech!) Also in the source book are descriptions of the major houses which will help reienforce the background of the universe. There are also sections on the mech pilots, mercanaries, pirates and the mechs themselves. At the back is a section very much like the old technical reports which give you a picture and a breif description of each mech. Again for new players this will be a great help.

Additionally there is a large full colour star map (A1 in size). My personal gripe is the era that they have drawn the map. It clearly shows clan holdings so I doubt for me it will be any real use. Other people who are Clan Fans will no doubt love it. It's a personal choice but for me (and perhaps only me) it was the wrong choice. As the source book has star maps from other periods I do not feel to agrieved.

Battletech is an old game and as such there are charts and tables to deal with. Each mech needs a record sheet for example. These have been helpfully supplied. I will do a matchup later today to compair the new and the old to determine if mech designs have been tampered with, I hope not so I had best check. There are also some strurdy quick refference sheets which I feel I should laminate, just to keep grubby fingers off!

I am very pleased that they have chossen to include a brief modeling guide, for most of us it is a how to suck eggs guide in that we already know, or should know how to prepare and paint models. I am very pleased that is is seperate from the main rules as this will allow younger or more free spirited gamers to avoid christening the main rules with paint and glue. There is also an interesting section on typical house colours, from experience I believe most players take mercenary contracts so I shall not be following this guide. If you have a decent reff he (or she) will tell you the mechs you are facing are all in Comm Star White, or Kurita Red for example. So while it is nice to know that Liao House can be painted with Goblin Green from GW it is not in any way vital to the game.

Now we start to get to the good bits. Here are the maps, still in their shrink wrap. I hope you can see that they are proper game board maps, full colour and hard mounted. The original maps were not hard mounted but still sufficiently sturdy. These are on an Avalon Hill Quality. Mine for now will remain shrink wraped as I still have the old maps and these seem about the same size. He says rubbing his hands together with joy!

Saving the mechs till last. In the introductory set there are 26 plastic mechs. 2 are multipart clan (Omni) mechs I have not unwrapped these, and I am not sure I ever will. The other 24 mechs (all different by the way) cover a wide range of inner sphere mechs from scout mechs to assult mechs. The picture shows the Hunchbach a 50 ton medium mech, and an 8o ton Awesome assault mech. I like both these mechs, the hunchback has a desestating shoulder mounted Auto cannon (but with ammunition concerns) while the Awesome is about as heavily armed and armoured as you can get, but boy is it slow. With only 24 inner sphere mechs they were never going to get everyones favourites but overall they have got a nice variety. Before you ask they have missed out Marauders, (many peoples favorite Heavy mech), Archer, Lucust, Stingers, Wasps, HatchetMan ( and Axeman), as well as the iconic Rifleman (A good looking mech but with rubbish armour). But with only 24 mechs I must say not a bad selection it so easily could have been worse. The figues are hard plastic and will need to be cleaned up of flash long before painting, But overall I am more than happy with them.

In conclusion I am very happy with this box set, It is not perfect by any means but it is value for money in my opinion and a must have for any mech-head. I plan to start painting mechs this week once I think about colours more. Which actually means I will dither and get nothing done if I am honest. I already want more mechs either in metal or plastic, Griffins (First mech I was ever given control of and a very good medium mech despite me), P-Hawks and Crusaders along with those mentioned above. But unfortunatly getting them at the right price is a problem at the moment.

 Hope to be able to play it at the club but will see how things pan out. I am confident that club members will like the game once they have played it. I can even forsee a campaign in the offing. But I had better walk before I run. The next step clearly is to read the rules properly and compare it with CLASSIC battletech.

Well that's enough for today. Thanks for reading and Take care. All the Best Clint