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 

Sometimes You Just Need Some Googly Eyes

Well, after being too tired last night to do any painting, I sat down tonight and worked through the Falcon Guards 'mechs all the way through to finished. Or very nearly - the only thing I have left to do is come up with some names and ranks for the pilots; I may make them all Warriors but it's very tempting to make the Battle Cobra the mount of a Star Commander, because that at least seems like the sort of rank where a little individual flair might be given a pass. 

L-R: Night Gyr, Linebacker, Black Lanner, Battle Cobra and Arctic Cheetah - the Battle Cobra just had to get some googly eyes on it because it's such a brilliantly derpy little 'mech

Right side view, showing (some) of the Jade Falcon insignia, as well as the green panels that break up the camouflage pattern applied by the Falcon Guards

Rear view - the little red dot on the Linebacker is a small laser, while unique amongst my Jade Falcons so far is a non-Prime variant mech: the Battle Cobra again. The -H variant replaces the two extended range small lasers with heavy medium lasers, which gives it more punch

Left side view - again showing the way the green panelling breaks up the camouflage, and marks these 'mechs out as Jade Falcons

This brings my total number of painted Falcon Guards battlemechs up to somewhere around 20, which is two Binaries or a reinforced Trinary. I'm still planning on picking up the Alpha Strike box, which will give me five more Clan mechs - a Warhawk, a Timber Wolf, a Fire Moth, a Pouncer and a Nova - and then, when it releases, the new Battletech Aces box, which will add some more, like the Howler, Bane 3, and Summoner H. Not sure where they'll sit at that point, but I'll probably try and pick up at least one each of all the Clan Star sets that CGL make. And I do need more (lots more) Elementals too.

Painting Points:
Today: 5
This Week: 10
2025: 489

The Star League Must Die

Today I made some time to sit and get some more paint down on my Jade Falcons, and finish off the Big Scale Archer that I started a couple of days ago. It was nice to just relax and focus on doing some details for the Archer, and I flexed my freehand abilities a little bit with some checkerboard detailing, as you can see below. Annoyingly the photos turned out a little dark. I really need to find my light box, which is somewhere in the garage in a box...

Front view: the thigh plates have a black and white check marking and the mech's name - BATTLEAXE - while the LRM covers hold the Amaris Dragoon insignia and the mech number 

The gold banding on the arms, legs, and waist identify the division as one of the Imperial Divisions that took part in the Amaris Coup

Some subtle danger markings on the rear in white and, extremely hard to see, in black on the back of the calf armour

The arm-mounted medium lasers are useful, but the bulk of the firepower comes from the LRMs

Each of the battlefists has KILL written across them, because I couldn't resist a little nod to Rogue Trader style sloganeering

 After getting the ARC-2R finished, I got the camouflage pattern down on the Jade Falcons, and finished up with a nice overall Nuln Oil wash:

It's amazing how quickly the camouflage makes them look Falcon Guard-y

 So my second completed model in the new house, and it's another Battlemech. A little bit bigger than the last one though. Tomorrow I'm going to do some more work on the Jade Falcons, and maybe even get some details down like the canopies and weapons.

Painting Points:
Today: 5
This Week: 5
2025: 484 

 

Little And Big

 Just a short (and slightly silly) update today. P and I played a game of Mousetrap! after dinner today, which was great fun and very silly. I'd never played it before, but remember the adverts for it on Saturday morning TV from the mid 1990s. I suspect it may be more entertaining if played while slightly drunk...

The Rube Goldberg Mousetrap has been constructed!

 As is, of course, traditional, I lost. But it was a good laugh, so it was worth it. 

 Then I spent about an hour doing some painting of variously sized Battletech things:

This accidentally printed-far-too-large Archer ARC-2R is being painted up as an Amaris Dragoons machine, in the grey-and-gold scheme of the Imperial Divisions

 

 

The large Archer is going to be shipped off to my friend C along with four Ferrets in actual 1:285 scale, hopefully a little later this week. While waiting for various greys to dry, I also put down the first colour on my latest bunch of Jade Falcons:

The green is actually a lighter colour than it should be - Loren Forest instead of Castellan Green - but it doesn't matter because different paint supplies are available at different times in real life

Nothing completed today, but it was nice to sit and do some basic colour blocking and a little simple detailing on the factory-finish Amaris Archer.

 

And Now, Stompy Robots

With the Skaven all done, the Jade Falcons called me. I also realised I had a small group of 6mm objective markers (from the Adeptus Titanicus starter set that I briefly owned) and a small metal 6x6 truck I picked up at a Salute in the early 2000s which could do with some painting, so I settled down today and cracked on with the Falcon Guards and associated stuff:

The camouflage on the Falcon Guards is a tri-colour green/tan/khaki brown with an overall wash of Nuln Oil, ready to be highlighted and have details added. The objective markers have been painted in dark grey, light grey, green, and brown, before getting a wash of Agrax Earthshade. They'll have a quick drybrush of a pale grey and then get some detail work and be done, I think

These Falcon Guard Omnimechs were lacking in the green accent strips and panels that the rest of the force have, so I put some on - they still need highlighting up, but I'll do that when I get to it on the other, newer, Falcon Guard 'mechs

 

A 6mm Soviet truck of some description, I think. I bought this so long ago I can't remember who the manufacturer is, or even if I got it at Salute or at Warfare or somewhere else. I was a teenager though. Now it's been done up in generic grey, ready to grace an Alpha Strike battlefield as terrain, objective, or even extremely-low-quality-militia transport!

Painting the truck made me realise I really need to make (or get hold of) some hex bases for the various vehicles and things I have for Alpha Strike. Something else to add to the long list of Stuff To Do in the future.

Painting Points:
Today: 1
This Week: 23
2025: 290

 

Two Things At Once

I cracked and put some paint on the Jade Falcon battlemechs. I couldn't help myself. I was in a paint funk and needed to do something to snap out of it, so on went the Castellan Green that is their base layer - the pale sand and mid brown camo blotches are next.

But, funk broken, I then went in and did all the fur on the Clanrats, which means I just need to do the skin and the little rats (and some wrapping and cloth) before I can slap the Agrax on...

I'm so close to finishing that block of Clanrats, and it seems so far away! 

Christmas Eve - So Close To Completion!

Well, I nearly managed to get the Arbites done today. I just have some decals, the bases, and the names to go:

I opted, in the end, to slap some dark blue highlights on their cloth uniforms and leave all the armour the flat black (except on the cyber mastiff, which got a coat of gloss). That provides enough of a distinction between the materials and is easier to paint, too.

The decals will be something from the Arbites decal sheet on their right shoulder pauldron, either a number or the Arbites emblem. Whatever I think is going to look coolest, honestly.

In other news, I got an early Christmas present today:

This boosts my Clan Jade Falcon force up to, essentially, a very small Cluster of two Binaries. Or it will do once I get hold of the Mercenaries Kickstarter (and the Alpha Strike box will add more Clan mechs too). Essentially I now have a Star each of light, medium, heavy and assault 'mechs. That said, I'm not entirely sure that Dire Wolf will be getting a Falcon Guards paint job, because...

On the left, the Iron Wind Metals Dire Wolf, on the right, the new Catalyst Game Labs version

 The game that got me into the Battletech universe was Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, and in that I almost always ended up piloting a Daishi (Dire Wolf) with three clan LBX-AC-20s and an LRM system. As your call sign in that game is Spectre, I named the Dire Wolf Death and gave it a white paintjob. That mini on the left in the picture is the version I painted up when I was at university, probably some time around 2005-6. The dragonfly on the left leg is a copy of one of my then best friend's tattoos. So there's some temptation to create a new, modern version of Spectre's ride, Death. On the other hand, maybe I'll give in and paint it in the three-tone camouflage of the Falcon Guards, and put it into the Assault Star... who knows.

Tomorrow is Christmas, so I may or may not get time to do the finishing touches to the Arbites. Depends how much of a food coma Christmas dinner leaves me in, really!

Retrospective II (2021)

Originally I was going to post this because I was going to Nottingham for a couple of days to see my partner b, but now I'm ill so I'm at home with P and the cats feeling sorry for myself, and unable to paint very much (I finished the loincloths on the ghouls). Not sure if I'll be able to do anything over the weekend but we'll see. In case I don't, and because I probably should do this at some point anyway, here's everything I painted in 2021 in order:

The curse of a mobile phone's flash on this Stone Troll

The third and final Stone Troll, wearing a banner as a modesty covering

Stone Troll mob, plus baby bird for morale purposes

Squigs! Bouncing stomachs reminscent of the alien in Dark Star except less friendly

Various Night Goblins. The two on the right ended up in the Squig Herd, and the one on the left ended up getting converted into a unit champion earlier this year

20 Night Goblin spears for the White Dag Stabbas

A Netter for the Yellow Dag Stabbas

Yellow Dag Shootas. I like the hat on the champion

Taurian GRF-1N Griffin - this has since been repainted and passed on to my friend C for his Davion unit

I'm quite proud of the fire pattern here

ID label so you don't forget what you're looking at

'Mech ID number - 2nd 'Mech, 7th Lance

Davion Guards WVR-6R Wolverine

'Mech ID number and weathering

Rear view showing jump jet scorching and missile backblast damage to the paint

'Mech ID - 6th Lance, 3rd 'Mech

Generic PDF UM-R60 Urbanmech with a nice big '5' on the roof

Business end of the AC-10 and small laser (pew pew BOOM)

Ejection port for the AC-10

When in doubt, add red stripes (why not, after all)

You can see why people call them trashcans

Jade Falcon Touman, Gamma Galaxy, Falcon Guards - a Summoner, Timber Wolf and Hellbringer

Three tone camo despite the very brown appearance in this photo

The Timber Wolf "Prime" is actually Aidan Pryde's Timber Wolf I think, with jump jets

Stomp stomp stomp zot zot pew pew

A Battle Standard Bearer for my Vampire Counts army

Side view showing some detail

I've been working on this army, the Tyrkan Nachtarmija, since the early 2000s

When in doubt, red always makes an excellent spot colour

Legio IV of the Nachtarmija - spears and shields and light armour. I love these old skeletons

Fell Bats! flap flap squeak etc

A view of the bodies. Exposed bone because they're undead maybe? If I did them again I'd probably hide that with green stuff

Legio Mortis, the shock unit of the Nachtarmija - they are almost always accompanied by a Vampire Countess on a barded Nightmare

A better view of the front rank and banner

View of the riders - they were SUCH a pain to get to stay on and rank up!

Rear rank. The one in the middle is a different colour because I painted it in about 2003

These metal riders and plastic horses look alright, but the new plastics (which I don't have) are probably better!

This is Isabella von Carstein but in my army she's "just" a Level 4 Necromancer, usually

The difference in style between minis like this and the latest Vampire models from GW is enormous

Using the Dogs of War character of Lucrezzia Belladonna for my Vampire Lady commanding the whole army is an idea I had in 1998, before the Nachtarmija was a thing.

It only took me 23 years to paint her up after getting hold of her and...

...DRAGON! This is the one that came with the Dogs of War character Asarnil the Dragonlord (who must still be kicking around in a bits box somewhere). The damn thing tricked me into individually hand painting every scale on its body

Which took FOREVER

On the other hand the end result is really good

Daughters of Khaine Blood Stalkers - this was the start of what has become my Age of Sigmar force

A block of zombies for the Nachtarmija - these ones are a mix of Wissenland troops and various peasants

The ability to mix and match parts from the 1990s and early 2000s plastic Warhammer Fantasy kits remains to this day something that I love about plastic kits

Another view, showing the variety of weapons held by the zombies

Legio V of the Nachtarmija - hand weapons and shields, with a mix of shield icons linked by colours

I'm quite proud of the freehand on the banner and the converted unit champion

Slightly battered minis that I made in about 1999 make up part of this unit

I had an old plastic Cadian lying around so I painted it up in the Cadian 122nd scheme from Codex: Cityfight

I had an idea to make an army of these chaps but it never happened, so this is the only one

I converted this Dogmata from an Imagifer that my son got me for my birthday

I'm still really proud of the backpack icon and the conversion itself

Batch painted a bunch of Cherubim for the Argent Shroud

Possessed Iron Warrior for my Iron Warrior army - specifically to guard my Sorceror

Celestian Sacresants - shields and halberds in the 41st Millenium!

A rear view showing some details and the Superior's shield

Another possessed

And another one! Tzeentch is pleased

House MacLeod of Skye Armiger Helverins - "Hunter" (L) and "Little Wolf" (R)

I think this is actually a Stormcast special character but I painted her up as a generic one. I like the pose, and I also liked the idea that the armour was filled with a spirit or soul and is magically animated - so I typically use the helms when I do Stormcast

A view of the cloak and shield

3rd Edition Age of Sigmar meant I got a free Stormcast from the local GW shop

So I converted it a bit with an old Empire cloak and a helm plume

Another possessed - who needs a bolt pistol when you can shoot fire from your uhhh hand?

Dark Reapers! I think these are 3rd Edition models. I have an Iyanden army that is very (very) slowly being worked on

Another possessed - the last one I did for a while

Angels Resplendent 8th Assault (Reserve) Company Captain - I've always loved this mini and eventually I'll do a jump-pack dominated army for her to lead

They're a Blood Angels successor and they typically wear orange armour!

I like the details on this model a lot

She's posed in a great and intimidating manner with her massive power axe

Every so often I paint a member of my Lost and the Damned army, the Karaboudjani XV Kataphraktoi

The Kataphraktoi were my go-to army in 4th Edition and during the 13th Black Crusade summer campaign

They used to be a heavy infantry force and now they're a rag-tag bunch of veterans wearing whatever they can scrounge up

Goff Ork Nob with power klaw, slugga, and pet squig

And a shoota too, coz yoo kan neva hav enuf dakka

Goff Ork Slugga Boy

I really like the 3rd Edition Orks - they paint up really easily

More Kataphraktoi. The one on the right is essentially wearing the original uniform (and has painted out the winged skulls)

Chaos star and a plain water bottle (scraping all the winged skulls off the minis was a huge pain)

Goff 'Ard Boy with shoota

More 'Ard Boyz with shootas - this mob ended up being 30 strong!

Death cookies! Four more Scarab Swarms for my Necron army - this gave me 10 swarms

Pan Planetary Shipping - we'll ship your goods anywhere! Scatter scenery for 40K, Necromunda, or generic SF

I got given these as a present years ago, and eventually used polyfilla to cover over all the skulls and skeletons

The end result is a much more sensible looking prefab fortification

No Empire army is complete without a Steam Tank

The plastic kit is gorgeous. This side shows Nuln heraldry

Steam boiler - brass and wood

And on this side of Emannuelle some Wissenburg heraldry

Top down view showing the deck and pressure gauge

And that was it - quite a lot of stuff from all sorts of armies.

Painting Points:
2021: 236 (!)

I hope you've enjoyed this retrospective and hopefully I'll see you all tomorrow if I'm not bedbound