Fly, My Falcons, Fly!

Even though Schlock Mercenary rightfully said that an armoured infantry trooper in flight is nothing more than skeet, the Elementals of Echo Trinary are now all done. Perhaps because they've read their Schlock Mercenary, none of them are in flight (although one has fired off their SRMs):

75 Elementals, making up the final infantry component of the Falcon Guards Cluster in their camouflaged green powered armour suits with integral jump-packs and one-shot SRM launchers on their shoulders

 I also finished the five light Omnimechs that, combined with the already finished mediums and lights, mean I can now say that two of the five Trinaries are complete: Delta and Echo.

I'm still getting to grips with the lightbox, so the glare is a bit unpleasant here annoyingly

These are all 3D prints, but with the paint on you can't tell at all unless you put them next to a CGL model

The Kit Fox is one of the mechs that the Jade Falcons were famous for using during the invasion of the Inner Sphere, along with the Summoner and Hellbringer

I actually forgot to do any of the dirtying down until after I'd based them, which was a little embarassing

Other than that I also got to the "coated in Nuln Oil" stage on the two Vultures and the Warhawk, which - when they're done - will mean I'll have completed three of the Cluster's five Trinaries, and the Command Star. Exciting stuff! Still nowhere near the number of mechs that C has in his massive Davion force, which is now well into Regimental Combat Team territory.

Also present - two Canopian Cuirassiers' mechs, undercoated and ready for their Iyanden Yellow contrast

I've also been printing a load of stuff for C - some ComGuards mechs, and a bunch of infantry and tanks. I managed to make a mess of the scaling for the tanks and infantry, so I'm going to reprint those, but the mechs are fine. The trucks and Maxims that are currently on the print bed are, I hope, more to scale than the tanks were originally!

Painting Points:
Today: 20
This Week: 20
2025: 541 

Slow Progress Is Still Progress

Well I may not have finished anything today, but I did get 50 Elementals to the same stage as the first 25 of Echo Trinary; meaning that - if all goes well - tomorrow I will finish them. I just need to paint their guns and visors black and then base them, after all. I also basecoated both Vultures and the Warhawk:

 

Elementals! Caliban Green, drybrushed Waaagh Flesh, with Averland Sunset on their SRM tubes ready for some tiny little hazard stripes...

In other news my friend C sent me a bottle of resin with which to print a bunch of 'mechs for him. So that'll be a fun little weekend project!

The Best Laid Plans O' Meece An' (Wo)men

 Gang aft aglae, and all that. I had intended to paint up a load of Jade Falcons tonight, but instead I undercoated a bunch of Elementals and 'mechs in black, and then spent a long time looking at stls of High Elves, Dark Elves, and Wood Elves to mull over some ideas for 500 point The Old World armies. A wargamer's projects are never finished... anyway, here's what I was up to today:

 

Unfinished Jade Falcons and a lot of undercoated Jade Falcons... argh!

Who knows. Maybe I'll get them sorted tomorrow. Maybe not. Perhaps by the weekend? We'll see!

Accursed Men-Things!

Tonight I had a demo game of Mordheim at the LUNAR club with D, who is a very nice chap and a decent opponent. Order was restored to the universe following my previous victory over N by me promptly losing at the first opportunity with a failed Rout check! Scenery was provided by the de-facto Club Warboss, M, and very nice it was too. I provided the warbands - Skaven and Marienburgers - and a jolly time was had by all. Except the Skaven, who discovered that those flashy clothes don't mean the men-things are bad at fighting, not at all...

Deployment from the Skaven side. We rolled up Skirmish, which is a straightforward fight. The mat is a 3'x3' one, which is a bit smaller than it should be, and there is definitely not enough terrain, but as this was very much a learning game for both of us it wasn't a problem

Deployment from the Marienburger side. I deployed first and then promptly lost the roll to go first, too!

End Marienburger Turn 1: A slow and careful advance in the centre and left, while the handgunners fired ineffectually at the slingers - the penalty for long range was just enough to make the shot a bit too hard for the BS3 Marksmen...

End Skaven Turn 1: in contrast almost everything ran, and I used the fighting claws on one of the Black Skaven to scurry up the wall of the ruined house and down the stairs - more to show off than for any practical purpose. The Sorceror didn't run because I thought that he couldn't run and cast spells... but they can! Live and learn, eh?

End Marienburg Turn 2: A speedier advance up the board, with the Marksmen reloading on the move. The Warriors on the left got some charges off against the Giant Rats, while the Captain carefully shot a rat with a sling and took it Out Of Action. Moments later one of the Warriors followed suit and skewered a Giant Rat, taking it Out Of Action too!

End Skaven Turn 2: The Black Skaven with spear on the left, and the Black Skaven with fighting claws in the centre, got charges off against a Warrior and a Youngblood respectively. The Giant Rats charged the Warrior that hadn't got into combat last turn and the Champion with two pistols. The Night Runners and Assassin Adept lined up for a series of charges next turn while the surviving Skaven with slings and the Sorceror made a firing line to challenge the Marksmen and the Champion with halberd. Shooting was ineffectual, with the six (!) slingshots only resulting in a light concussion and a Stunned Champion - but the Sorceror's Gnawdoom resulted in 10 S1 hits against the Youngblood with basket and, shortly afterwards, an Out Of Action Youngblood. On the other hand the Black Skaven both whiffed, and the Champion with pistols made short work of the Giant Rat that had charged him

End Marienburger Turn 3: The Captain and Champion both charged into ongoing combats, and the Marksmen fired (again ineffectually) at the Skaven in front of them. The Captain promptly shot the Black Skaven, Stunning it... and then the Youngblood stabbed it, taking it Out Of Action. Over on the left, the combats all resulted in no injuries or even hits in most cases. But it was enough! The Skaven had to take a Rout Check on a Ld of 7, and I rolled an 8. Back-flee to the safety-warmth of the burrow-nest!

I may have lost, but it was a very fun game and a really nice introduction to the LUNAR club. They all seem like a great bunch and I got to meet others, like E and B and a person whose name I didn't catch, who have a roleplaying/boardgame club on Thursdays which P and I are going to start going to from next week. And, of course, although I have a bunch of Jade Falcons to paint I now have the Mordheim bug itching at me...

And speaking of Jade Falcons, the Omnissiah has blessed me and the printer works once more (I levelled the build plate again and that seems to have cured the problem)! So I managed to crank out a bunch of bases for the Elementals, as well as that Warhawk, another Vulture, and more Elementals to finish Trinary Echo:

Two Stars of Elementals accompanied by a Warhawk Prime and a Vulture Prime

 Tomorrow, I think, I will knuckle down and see how far I can get with some serious painting after work. I really want to get these prints and the various Clan light 'mechs sorted by the end of the week.

The Machine Spirit Is Angry

Alas, my plans for Elementals (and some more 'mechs) have been foiled by repeated print errors. I thought I'd solved it by changing the FEP sheet that sits at the bottom of the resin tank, and by doing some other basic things, but alas - the error persists, and I am forced to consider that the Machine Spirit has been offended. I will make the relevant offerings and sacrifices to the Omnissiah and see what advice other lay tech-priests can offer. 

The wrath of the machine!

In the meantime, I based what few Elementals I had successfully managed to print bases for, and put a little paint on them and on the light 'mechs I've been working on slowly for the last few days:

The 'mech at the front is a Vulture Prime, the sole survivor of the print that was supposed to also contain a Warhawk and another 25 Elementals...

With the little 'mechs at a point where they can be quickly finished, and the first Star of Echo Trinary Elementals also nearly done (I just need to do the black details and then base them) I should be able to have them all completed tomorrow evening after work, which will be a nice start to the week. Then on Tuesday I will be playing some Mordheim with a chap from the LUNAR club, after N regretfully had to pull out due to transport issues. So I'll have to sort out some Mordheim roster sheets and get them ready which will be a fun exercise in nostalgia! 

Here Come The Big Guns

Well, less the big guns and more the big 'mechs. I had my first print failure today when a print of some Clan light 'mechs went sideways, leaving me with an entirely unprinted Cougar Prime and two damaged Kit Foxes. The two Kit Foxes were sufficiently intact that some surgery meant I could turn them into one functioning Kit Fox, a J variant, but the missing Cougar - a puzzle, there. I think I just messed up the slicer file, but it's not a problem. I still have enough 'mechs left to create two Stars: each comprised of a medium and four lights, giving me enough to make both Delta and Echo Trinaries of my Falcon Guards once I get the next 75 Elementals sorted.

Not to be too put out by the print error, I slapped some basecoats onto the surviving lights and then got sidetracked by the MacLeod's Light Horse assaults (and heavy) that I churned out recently:

L-R: Cyclops (with big "eye" paint scheme around the cockpit glass), Highlander with monster mouth, King Crab with monster mouth and skull and crossed bones on the top; Catapult with angry eyes

The MLLH machines are mostly in this flat green, an attempt at "British Racing Green", with white highlights. The 'mechs of the Heavy Company and the Rgt'l HQ Lance are more... personally decorated

Unlike the Clan 'mechs where I've specified a variant, I haven't bothered here, just naming the base type

I like the side view of the eyes on the Highlander's head armour, and the monster mouths on the Catapult's PPCs

The HQ lance of the Mech Battalion, including - on the far left - the CO of the whole outfit, in her Stalker -3H variant with its 50 LRM tubes and additional laser AMS. On her right is the XO, Major Aisa "Falcon" Thastus, an ex-Jade Falcon. The whole lance has a total of 95 LRM tubes! Woe betide anything that tries to stay out of range...

1st Lance, 1st (Heavy) Company, Mech Battalion, MLLH. The Captain, "Goat", has an austere Black Knight that just has a simple white stripe across its head for personal identification purposes

 I'm quite miffed that the skull and crossbones on the King Crab didn't photograph very well, but such is life. One of these days I'll take a good photo of one of my miniatures, but that day is very much not today. Anyway, enough of dezgra spheroid mercenaries, let us return to the glories of Clan Jade Falcon!

L-R: Adder A, Kit Fox J, Fire Moth D, Fire Moth Prime, Fire Falcon Prime

 The Kit Fox J was intended, I think, to be a H, but the left arm didn't print and it ended up with the twin medium lasers from an I (?) - putting them together made something that looks enough like a J for me to be happy with it. The J mounts a UAC/5 above a Streak SRM-2 on the right, and twin ER Medium Lasers on the left, as well as having jump jets for added mobility. This weekend coming I'm aiming to get these five 'mechs done, as well as the rest of the Elementals for Echo Trinary. Then I guess I'll need to get printing a bunch of other Clan stuff to build out Trinaries Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie.

Painting Points:
Today: 4
This Week: 17
2025: 521 

Come On You Apes! Do You Want To Live Forever?!

As it turns out, once you get the first couple of colours onto a 7 or 8mm tall powered armour wearing supersoldier, they're pretty easy to finish off:

The Falcon Guards Cluster has two Trinaries (company equivalents) comprised primarily of Elementals - this is the Elemental part of Delta Trinary. Delta One (at rear) is a "Nova", which means it also includes five OmniMechs. Deltas Two and Three are made up of Elementals only

Can you tell which ones are the official CGL sculpts? You might be able to spot the misprints...

The Elementals are 8 foot tall genetically engineered power armour wearing super soldiers who are the basic infantry of the Clan Toumans: they wear suits of armour with a huge claw on one arm and a weapon such as a small laser, machine gun, or flame-thrower on the other - and two one-shot short-range missiles on their backs. Oh yeah and they also have jump jets, too. Their role is primarily to swarm over enemy 'mechs and cut their way into the cockpits to kill the pilots. 

I also put the base colours on the MacLeod's Light Horse machines I printed off the other day:

L-R: Cyclops, Highlander -732B, King Crab; Catapult -K2

I should be able to get those finished tomorrow, but I am also going to a boardgames night with P in Menai Bridge, so it depends when I get home I think. 

Painting Points:
Today: 13
This Week: 13
2025: 517 

Problems of Scale

I've been putting some more paint on my Elementals and the two light clan 'mechs I printed to go with them, and I found myself musing about the size of the Fire Moth D. The Catalyst Games Lab Fire Moth is 29mm tall - but that doesn't include the arms; it's measured to the top of the main chassis. When I scaled mine inside Chitubox the other day, I didn't do that - I just adjusted the Z axis to 29mm and left it at that. That means it isn't quite the right size. It doesn't actually matter; it's obviously a Fire Moth, but it is bothering me now. So even though it's got paint on it, I may well scrap it and reprint one the right size. After all, that would stop it bothering me every time I think about it!

Elementals, painted green and washed with Biel-Tan Shade, accompanied by the too-small Fire Moth on the right and the Fire Falcon on the left. Both 'mechs have been given their base coat of camouflage and a Nuln Oil wash. The three movement trays for N's Chaos Warriors are now complete

In other news, I did correctly scale and successfully print the 'mechs needed to complete the Command Lance and 1st Lance of the 1st Company for my MacLeod's Light Horse mercenaries:

 

L-R: King Crab, Highlander -732B, Cyclops, Catapult -K2

Now if only I could remember where I'd put those spare hex bases...

Every Little Helps

I had intended to do a bit more painting than I ended up doing tonight, but I accidentally got stuck in a loop of looking at STL files on MyMiniFactory, Cults3D and Thingiverse for two and a half hours, so instead I undercoated the Elementals, Fire Falcon and Fire Moth in black and used some of my stock of cardboard sheet to make some movement trays for N's Chaos Warriors. After all, not having to move each mini by hand speeds games up, and a good opponent deserves a gift! 

Elemental points from Delta Trinary, Falcon Guards, a Fire Falcon Prime (left) and a Fire Moth D (right)

A bit of cardboard, a metal ruler, a pencil, a scalpel, and some glue (plus a few minutes' work) resulted in this - next step is to slap some brown paint on as a base for N to replace with whatever fits their eventual basing scheme

Tomorrow I will try and get more done on the Elementals. I may need to do a bit of fiddling to their bases to make them a bit less uneven, and when I do Echo Trinary's Elementals I'll be taking on board the lessons learned in printing and basing these ones. Oh, and I've also got some more Battlemechs printing overnight!

 

The Forge Fires Burn

I may not have done any painting today, but I definitely did hobby stuff. This whole 3D printing business is addictive, I think - I'm going to try to limit my printing for a bit! At least until I paint the stuff I've printed... or most of it... or maybe just the 'mechs... 

Ahem.

Anyway, before I went to bed last night I put a print on for a bunch of bases for the Elementals I printed off yesterday, and this morning I washed and cured them and then spent spare moments at work gluing Elementals to them. After work I printed off a few more Elementals (because either I can't count or the printer didn't quite manage to print 65 Elementals all at once - I was 8 short in the end) as well as some 'mechs, which I scaled to match their Catalyst Games Lab counterparts using this handy sheet some wondrous person knocked up. 

 

65 Clan Elementals to complete Delta Trinary, along with a Fire Moth D (front right) and a Fire Falcon Prime (front left). Behind the Clan 'mechs are a Wasp -1A (rear left) and an Archer -2R, although I think that the mini is actually a -2K (rear right)

The mechs I've printed will let me finish the Battlemech portion of my Canopian Cuirassiers as well as the OmniMech portion of Delta Trinary's Alpha Nova: that's five light 'mechs and five points of Elementals. The light 'mechs transport the Elementals around the battlefield at speed, allowing the Elementals to fire their weapons from the moving 'mechs and - unfortunately for the Elementals - act as ablative armour for the 'mechs...

Tomorrow I'm going to slap a bunch of paint on all these things and see if I can take them from printed to painted in two days or so. Wish me luck, etc!