Hobby Night Prep, and a Great Gift

Hola amigos!

I'm wrapping up about three hours of hobby/painting for the night, which is pretty badass for a weeknight in my book. I worked on two projects: Battletech and the Death Korps

Battletech




Last Friday's game against Kai was a blast! We duked it out with two 'mechs each- my Vindicator and Panther against his Hatchetman and Jenner. It was a tight battle, but in the end I got some lucky rolls and pulled out the win. At the end of the game, his Hatchetman was destroyed (Three engine criticals), and the left leg was blown off his Jenner by the Panther's particle cannon. Nice.

Tomorrow we want to play a bit larger of a game, so I painted up a Spider (the spindly, light one), and an Awesome (the one with lots of HUGE guns). Again, simple paint schemes. Ham and eggs goodness that will work on the tabletop... And yes, I did paint Bestial Brown on the rims of the bases to finish them off. I have no idea why I didn't wait until after I did that to take the pic. Chalk that one up to overeager stupidity.

Death Korps of Krieg

I glued basing materials on two Guardsmen and my Watchmaster, and primed them up. I then fired up the airbrush and painted their greatcoats. So, they're all ready for tomorrow's brush work. I see no reason why these minis can't all be completely finished by the end of Hobby Night, save a final airbrushed matte varnish. I'll get pics up on Saturday of the finished minis, and you can tell me if you think the melta bomb conversion is feeble or not. Good times.

Finally, I want to wrap up tonight with an, "I love you babe!" out to my lovely wife Lena. We're celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary (WOW!), and she got me this:



Seriously, how cool is that? With no input or hints from me, she noticed my penchant for Death Korps, got on the horn with ForgeWorld, and ordered this kick ass Krieg Infantry Company TO&E. She even framed it up by herself. She really supports my hobby madness, and this is really touching and cool. Lena, if you read this, know that I will think of you every time I look at this poster, along with mangled up bodies trapped in barbed wire and howling explosions. Good times. ;)

That's it for tonight folks. I wish you a most groovy evening and righteous hobby. Tune in over the next couple of days for some more Death Korps painted models- the 15th marches on...

For Krieg!

I Really Need a Light Box

The picture is lousy, I admit, and it does no service to the basic paintjobs I applied to these 'mechs tonight. I need to stop putting it off and build a light box for my photography. The crappy desk lamp and a piece of paper is just not working when I want to take pics in the middle of the night.

These are the first two Battlemechs I've painted up as part of my budding renaissance into the long abandoned Battletech hobby. Kai and I are going to get a game or two in tomorrow night to re-acquaint ourselves with the rules and feel of the game. Once I know a little more I'll start painting up more 'mechs appropriate to the scenarios we want to play. If you have 'mechs of your own, and plan on attending Hobby Night, I urge you to bring them and join us.

In case you're curious about the paint jobs, they are very basic. Black primer undercoat, followed by a airbrushed basecoat of Tamiya XF-51 Khaki Drab. I then lightly drybrushed GW Camo Green over top, and then painted a couple of white chevrons/markings on each 'mech with VMC White.

I based the miniatures as a test for my planned Death Korps scheme, which in practice I can now say I like, and will be using. After applying a liberal coat of PVA glue, I scattered a few bits of GF9 Medium Basing Grit, and then covered the rest of the base with fine sand. Once that dried, I painted them GW Bestial Brown followed by a heavy drybrush of GW Bleached Bone. I then painted all of the Medium Basing Grit bits GW Codex Grey. I then finished the whole base with a light drybrush of VMC White. I painted the edges VMC Black, and finished up the models by painting on a thinned down coat of VMC Matte Varnish to protect them. When I use the method for my Death Korps, I'm also going to use shale bits for more grey rocks, as well as tufts of dead grass from Silflor. Should be pretty sweet.

If you're headed to Hobby Night tomorrow, I'll see you then. If not, take it easy and enjoy your hobby this weekend!

Old School Cool

Recognize this? In case you don't, this is a VND-3L Vindicator Battlemech, one of several other 'mechs I recently picked up from the nice chaps at Noble Knight Games. Almost to the month, it's been exactly 20 years since I last played a game of Battletech. WOW.

Kai, a member of the staff here at Battlefront, has also picked up some 'mechs. We're going to get them painted up, and have some retro fun within the next couple of hobby nights. I'm actually really excited to play again- we're keeping it "old school" and playing The Succession Wars era of the Battletech timeline. So, no clan or wacky weirdness like that.

Before you all groan and roll your eyes, no, I haven't forgotten about Krieg at all. These 'mechs will take me a few days at most to knock out, and once they are done I'm straight on to the Death Korps. However, this is a nice "treat" or diversion from the Iyanden grind I just finished, and for minimal effort I'll have a nice little Davion-aligned mercenary company (fluff as yet undetermined) to play some games with. If you're interested and game here locally, by all means grab your 'mechs and come on down to play. At the very least, it should be an awesome stroll down memory lane...