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.