Battletech stuff part 1 - Comstar

 Slow progress here, with work picking up tempo, holidays, and not feeling well recently.  I did get a bit done with some BattleTech figures:

Decal time for some proxy Comstar vehicles - from Death Ray Designs.  Takes a fair bit of time do apply them especially the checks, but they really make the vehicles stand out on a table.

And the decals are mostly done - I missed the checks on one of the tanks!  The mechs in the background are almost completely finished, just some basing details and varnish to go.

.

Micro-scale projects, part 1

 This month's special focus was to be about 1/300 or 6mm stuff that is in the hobby mountain.  I have not been able to get too much done but here are a few of them:

 

Waiting for primer - some large tanks for OGRE, a platoon or so of M3 Lee tanks from GHQ, and some GHQ infantry amongst other stuff.

.

Another distraction - MAATAC

The recent announcement of five (yes five!) new vehicles for the venerable MAATAC miniatures line from Monday Knight Productions (see this link) got me to digging into my boxes of old gaming stuff, and, indeed, I do have some dusty, old, half-forgotten MAATAC minis. First up, Terrans:

This is the Conqueror class Medium war machine. This mini, and the entire MAATAC line, is nominally 1/300 scale, but as one can observe in the pics, they are large. The detailing is good, and this particular tank has twin turret-mounted cannons, a large bow-mounted weapon, and small turrets on the hull sides.

This is a Carnivoran Gnasher class Light war machine. Tracked, like the Terran above, with one main gun in the turret, this vehicle has a low profile.

Two views of the Carnivoran Fang class Destroyer. Low and wide, with an abundance of hull-mounted weapons (no turret) - if I remember the original MAATAC rules correctly these are torpedo (missile) launchers. Nice detailing, if you can get by the mold lines that I forgot to remove many years ago!

An Entomolian Fire Ant class Light war machine. High profile, with legs instead of tracks. Lots of hull and turret detail on this one.

An Entomolian Black Widow class Destroyer. Again, legs instead of tracks, and a large fixed hull-mounted cannon.

The group shot:

These vehicles are big, and I do not have any of the heavy war machines! Hmmm, I thought that I did have some, and some of the robot infantry (RAATACs); more digging for me then.

I am not sure what to do with them however. I do like tanks, but I would need appropriate rules and of course many more minis, including infantry and maybe even some sort of aerial support. And, interesting terrain. I have long thought to myself that if I was to launch a micro-armour style project, it would be in a very specific environment, with desert or snowy conditions being the major contenders.

.

The 6mm Distraction, part 2

I'm slowly getting more done with these new minis. So far, I really like these new toys, a lot. So much, my thoughts are racing with new ideas and projects. Of course, most of those will never see the light of day - I need to get these first steps done first!

As a reminder, here is what I started with:


Macedonian phalangites.

Here is what they look like now:


I trimmed down the shields, making them much more oblong, and added long spears made from 0.5mm diameter plastic rod. My original post on making spears from plastic rod is here.

Another pic, with a different background:


Looking pretty nifty so far. I do still wonder if those plastic spears will hold up to rigorous handling...

I also added a plume to the back of the helmet:


The plumes are made from the same plastic rod as the spears, with the exception of the trooper on the far left - that plume was made with a small chunk of a Baccus ashigaru's yari. I think that I will save the metal pieces for the unit standards, which will need to be longer and more flexible.

Hopefully, these 6mm conversions will look something like this:


The paint will be the final arbiter in this, but so far they look remarkably similar.


.

The 6mm Distraction...

Yes, yet another distraction! Now, I do have some history with 6mm/micro scale gaming. The first minis I ever purchased were GHQ, Soviet T-55 tanks if I recall. I also had a small collection of 5mm ACW minis, painted and based for Johnny Reb 2. Of course, this was 25 years ago, but the memories of battles with lots of small minis still linger on.

So, in a fit of manic inspiration, or maybe desperation, I placed an order for a small amount of 6mm Baccus minis from Scale Creep Miniatures. Absolutely no hassles in the ordering process - several e-mails on the order's progress, funds charged at time of shipment, and actual postage charged! Thanks Mark (proprietor of Scale Creep).

Here are the samples I ordered:


There are twenty-four strips, of 4 figures each, in each of these bags, 96 figures total. The phalangites are open-handed, which I kind of like, as I can place my own pikes on the minis, probably brass rod.

The key, in my opinion, for 6mm gaming is mass. You need to have quite a few of these guys in your units to get the right look. Here is an example of how the phalangites could look:


48 minis on that base! The strips are 20mm long, so it would not be too hard to fit several more strips onto that base. This pic fits into one of my manic thoughts for their use however; if I actually get these painted up and based you will see.

Here is a close-up:


(please note: the line in the foreground is actually straight - there seems to be some sort of aberration with my camera in Super-Macro mode)


And a shot of a single strip, with a scale in the background.



The ashigaru are a bit different - the strips are 30mm in length and are in ranks (the phalangites are in files). Still impressive:


Once again, 48 minis on the base outline.




Some good detail for such a small figure, and not much flash. These seem to be a bit bigger than their Macedonian cousins.


Yep, the ashigaru are a fraction taller and somewhat more beefy than the phalangites. The ashigaru are on a slightly thicker base.


Now, to paint these up!


.