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Showing posts with label Heavy Gear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heavy Gear. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Painted Grizzly for Heavy Gear

Grizzly for Heavy Gear Blitz painted by Fire Broadside


Last month Heavy Gear enthusiast and general nice guy Brandon Keith Fero organized a Heavy Gear painting competition over at the Terra Nova DMZ FB group (head on over if you are even remotely interested in Heavy Gear - it's a great group of people!). At first I felt too busy with Imperial Assault and Infinity to join up, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to do it! For me the main reason was the motivation to actually get a mecha painted (I've found proper, hard dead lines are what works best for me) and also come up with a new way of painting as my old system, from six years ago, was a bit slow.

The choice of model was easy - the Grizzly is one of my favourite gears and as I had a couple of metal ones lying around I prepped one and got to work. I wanted a fairly relaxed look that nevertheless emphasized the size and weight of both the mech itself and the heavy autocannon it carries. Normally you have to put the cannon much higher, across the chest/cockpit, to get the two handed hold, but that didn't give me the "relaxed" look I wanted so I modified the waist a bit. Well, modified is a strong word - I pinned the torso to the waist in a way that propped it up and allowed me to fit the gun (just barely!) under the chest. The only problem is you can see the gap from some angles.

Grizzly for Heavy Gear Blitz painted by Fire Broadside
I like this picture the best as it reminds me of Ghislain Barbe's art. You can see the gap thouh! Doh!

Painting wise I wanted something fairly quick - a wash probably. After some consideration i went with VGC Khaki followed by a quick, lighter drybrush just to get the first highlights on there and then a strong tone wash. After that it was simply a matter of using Khaki/Bonewhite/Off-White to build up the hightlights. The weathering was done by dabbing German Grey around exposed areas followed by pure Off-White highlights here and there.

The black/grey areas are VMC Basalt Grey with a Nuln Oil wash followed by hightlights with Basalt Grey and Sky Grey. At first the guns also used this colour but that became too bland so I decided to do the guns with VGC Bastalt Grey/Steel Grey/Sky Grey instead for a metallic effect. Of course the guns would be perfectly maintained while the gear itself was somewhat neglected. Hehe! The missile hatches are simply Off-White and Khorne Red with some tiny highlights. For the dust effects I used Vallejo pigments Burnt Umber and Dark Yellow Ochre. And that was it! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Grizzly for Heavy Gear Blitz painted by Fire Broadside
Here's a good view of the Pack Gun and Grenade Launcher.
In the end I spent a little more time on it than I wanted, but I could easily cut back a bit on the weathering and the process would be much quicker. Then again, the weathering is what makes it pop I think. And it fits very well with the gritty Heavy Gear universe!

The scheme itself is fairly close to my old one although I would say it has been refined or rebooted. The old and new models could probably share a table without it looking weird.

Grizzly for Heavy Gear Blitz painted by Fire Broadside
Sorry for the slightly out of focus pictures. I'm still learning how to use my wife's new camera. :)
I really enjoyed putting this guy together and now that the Heavy Gear kickstarter box has arrived as well I have quite a bit of work ahead of me. I don't think I'll get right back into it just yet though as there are a number of games with higher priority waiting for attention. But now I have a colour scheme that looks good and paints quickly when it's time. Then again... I suppose I should really paint some opposition to my North forces so I can actually play the game!

Oh, and I was lucky enough to win that painting competition so now I have to decide on the grand prize - a tank or a gear strider. Hmm...
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Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Heavy Gear Blitz - War for Terra Nova


Hello there! As I mentioned in my Future - 2015 post I jumped on the Heavy Gear Blitz - War for Terra Nova - Miniatures Starter Set kickstarter in November and I thought I might talk a little bit more about it.

Although my first contact with Dream Pod 9 was when I saw and fell in love with the cover of the first edition of the Jovian Chronicles rpg, I soon also discovered their Heavy Gear line of games as well. I hadn't seen Armored Trooper VOTOMS at that time, but I had seen Robotech/Macross and Gundam so although I thought Heavy Gear looked cool (and bought a bunch of the rpg books - the setting is awesome!) JC was what I was really aiming for - both the roleplaying game and the miniature game, Lightning Strike.


Still as time went on it became more and more clear that Heavy Gear was the DP9 flagship and although there was for a long time murmurs of a rebooted Jovian Chronicles/Lightning Strike (colloquially known as Lightning Strike Blitz), that would either unify the the scale of the ships and EXOs or get rid of the ships altogether, it never materialized and a couple of years ago the Lightning Strike line of miniatures was officially retired. The molds do come out of storage once every six months so real enthusiasts can still get the minis, but it doesn't seem like we'll have a new edition in the foreseeable future. Still, I recommend checking out the original Lightning Strik for some very cool space combat. Delta Vector has a nice introduction to the game.

When I realized that JC was in stasis back in 2009 I decided to go ahead and get myself an army for Heavy Gear instead. I painted most of it but as I didn't have anyone to play against it kind of stalled and even though I was planning to get a Southern force as well, so I could actually play the game, something else always popped up to throw my money at instead. It has also been a matter of correctly scaled terrain and not wanting to take up valuable storage space with terrain for only a single game. This has now changed since I've decided to invest in Dropzone Commander which uses the same 10mm scale. And if I ever decide to get into Robotech RPG Tactics after all the 10mm terrain will work for that as well, even though it's actually 6mm. You might remember me giving up the Robotech kickstarter in favour of Deadzone a couple of years ago, but now that the game is out and I read peoples thoughts on it I kind of wish I had done it the other way around. Oh, well...

My recon squad and some infantry. Considered rebasing the infantry for the new system, but I don't think I'll bother.
Anyway, fast forward to 2014 and Heavy Gear is getting a great big overhaul and preparations are made for a kickstarter to produce a proper two player starter box with plastic minis. I mostly like what I see of the rules changes and even though I'm used to working with metal minis, having plastic gears will make assembly, magnetizing and converting a lot easier (and cheaper!) so good stuff there to! I hesitated for a while but in the end I felt the deal was simply to good to pass up for an old gear enthusiast like myself. Not only will I get a substantial reinforcement to my existing Northern army (tripling my current gear stable), but I will also get that Southern army I've been clamoring for (including a King Cobra!) plus starter forces for CEF and Caprice!

Having two main armies in the North and South and then two smaller forces to able to lend to friends and allow myself to try something different is something I'm really looking forward to as it means I will finally be able to properly play the game! The rules, that have gone through small-ish revisions over the past decade, is now up for an almost complete reboot. While I liked the old rules in theory I could definitely see how they would seem off-putting to some players, probably several in my group included. However it seems like the new edition is not only aiming for making a smoother game for the same old crowd, but also making sure it's modern and flexible enough to actually attract new players. Although this is me mostly speculating, I think that DP9 has got most of their income from pretty much the same small group of people for the past ten years or so. Having a loyal and invested fan base is great, but it can also lead to shortsightedness and vicious feedback loops. The kickstarter has certainly helped the company get the name Heavy Gear out there and the great rush of new players who are confounded by many of the quirks in the rules that are leftovers from the old rpg days. Getting fresh eyes and fresh feedback I think is a great thing and the beta rulebook (that can be downloaded for free here), which is already quite different from the old Blitz rules, is going through additional revisions based on this new feedback and a new living rulebook should be made available within the next few weeks.

I've read through the Beta rulebook and I liked what I saw. While things have changed most of them seem to be for the better and I'm optimistic about the gameplay. There are of course more changes on the way as head designer Dave McLeod has stated that the release of the Living Rulebook Beta will be pretty much a complete re-write. While I do think the game needed a revision to bring it up modern gaming standards I really hope what make Heavy Gear unique - margins of success, combined arms, electronic warfare and a high-ish level of detail - remain in the game. I really don't think I need to worry, but it's still a balance act that need to be performed, keeping the unique gameplay while making the rules smoother. You can follow Dave's designer diaries over at the DP9 site.

Bottom line, I'm happy to see the game evolving and look forward to getting my hands on the miniatures later on. While DP9 has November as the stated shipping date, miniature and board game kickstarters are always (in my experience) delayed so I'm not really expecting to get my stuff this year, although... there's a first time for everything. Hehe! By then I'll have my Dropzone Commander battle board from Games & Gears ready, hopefully with additional cheap N scale terrain for extra detailing. Although the badlands is the classic setting for a Heavy Gear showdown, I'll make due with an old dilapidated cityscape until I actually decide to make an extra table.

For those of you who find this intriguing and curse yourself for missing the kickstarter in November, fear not! You can still get in on it by way of the pledge manager. You can get the basic core box for $80 CAD but I highly recommend going for the $115 CAD level which also gives you all the stretch goals, meaning the miniature count suddenly jumps from 16 to 51 and includes a bunch of extra conversion parts. While there are certainly kickstarters out there where you get more minis for your buck, but seeing as these are multi part poseable plastics I'm satisfied. Also, for about the same price as three Infinity starters I get 51 minis instead of 15. The next stretch goal is the Northern Kodiak (see left) in plastic at $160k CAD which I dearly hope gets unlocked as it's one of my favourite Heavy Gear models.

Well, those are some of my thoughts on the matter. I'm really happy to finally have pulled the trigger and invested in that second army I've thought about for so long. That it comes with a bunch of extra minis is of course a great bonus! Now I just need some tanks and striders...
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Sunday, 17 April 2011

Posted by Martin - Sunday, April 17, 2011

LPL Sunday: Round 6! And round 5 recap

See! My gears aren't forgotten!

After last round's narrow victory I went back to loosing again this week. Hehe! The theme for round 5 was Africa and I had nothing. I really don't want to get any models that I won't be able to use for gaming later and since I'm mostly a sci fi guy this made things kind of hard. However, I came up with the pretty cool idea to get "Crusties" from GZG and make a District 9 themed entry. However, just as I was about to order I realized it was March 1st and Jon had closed the store for the upcoming update. Arhg!!

So... to at least make a nod to the theme I decided to base my gears as I'd always planned to make them deserty anyway and then snap a picture with the Pyramids in the background. It felt bit plain though so I sat down and painted a squad of infantry as well, and they really pulled the whole thing together. Also I'm really satisfied with them and I'm definitely going to paint the rest in the near future. Then it's only the last two Cheetah's and my small army is done! This is the cool thing about LPL; it makes you finish all that old stuff you have lying around.

Anyway, I went up against Bugsda, one of the true LPL heavyweights, and his "Prof Witchheimer up the Jungle". Although there were several positive comments aimed at my mechs (like Plynke's "this is the first time for me where a Bugsda entry isn't the automatic winner." which I thought was pretty funny) it was soon clear that I was going to loose. Bugsda's entry is very well painted and more importantly he stuck to the theme so I'm just glad I managed to put up a decent fight. In the end the votes were 161 vs 101.

Some other great entries this round:

  • Lion Hunt - Frank's best entry so far I think. Just look at those lions! Probably my favourite entry this round.
  • The Dawn of Man - Who can resist a 2001 reference? Not me.
  • Meat's back on the menu - This entry was well painted but for me it was the composition that did it. It's very simple with only a white background, but I can definitely see the natives sneaking up on the intrepid explorers. Hehe!
  • District 9 - Well, it seems like Pil had the same idea as me, although he converted his own 28mm prawns instead. Unfortunately the picture obscures the minis quite a bit, but for me it works anyway thanks to the concept. And the mech is awesome!
For round 6 I've finally painted some opponents for my Earth Sectorial Army; a squad Mars rebels, aka Reds, with some walker support. I'm reasonably happy with how they turned out but I don't think they "pop" in the same way my EarthSec soldiers does. Oh well, we'll see how it turns out. See my entry and all the other great stuff over at the Lead Adventure Forum. And don't forget to vote!
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Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Posted by Martin - Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Infantry of all sizes!


I was working on basing my recently acquired  UNSC marines when I realized that I had a nice three-scales-of-infantry thing going on at my workspace and felt it deserved a mention. Two squads of 15mm UNSC marines from GZG, a section of 10mm Northern Guard infantry from DP9 and some 6mm Eldar Dire Avengers from GW.

As you might have seen on the Twitter I've started working on my Heavy Gear infantry (at long last) but I'm kind of mixing it up with other stuff to keep my motivation up. The UNSC stuff is mostly just basing, but they might show up in the LPL, I'm not quite sure yet. I dug out my old Eldar a few days ago after talking Epic with my friend Martin. It's one of my favourite miniature games (whatever version, but preferably Armageddon) and it was actually the first miniature game I got into, and my first army was Eldar.

That was back in the old Space Marine days, and I've since repurposed my Eldar minis, clipping them off their old square bases and put them on the better looking rectangular bases. You might also remember one of the Titans I mentioned in an earlier post. I've been talking about Dystopian Wars recently, but I think I might actually get my epic Eldar ready for play instead. I'm thinking... Saim-Hann!
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Friday, 11 February 2011

Posted by Martin - Friday, February 11, 2011

LPL Prep!


I said I wouldn't buy any new minis for the Lead Painter League, but I did make one exception. Above is a Phalanx Logistics Vehicle from Ground Zero Games and it's going to be part of one of my entries. I was afraid that I wouldn't get it in time since Jon has been really busy catching up to all the orders he received during the holidays, but I got it today and the fast delivery kind of made me want to order some other stuff as well. On a side note, I really can't wait for the redesigned GZG shop that Jon hinted about in the January update! The current one is... dated. :)

I've always liked the Phalanx and seeing it in the flesh like this only helps to cement my feelings. It's a fair bit larger than I imagined though so I think I'll have to ditch my idea to use it as an APC for my Northern Guard instead of the Badger, which I don't really care for. DP9 makes excellent mechs (and spaceships!), but I don't really like the design of most of their vehicles. I'm actually intending to use other contemporary or near-future models for my army.

Oh well, just a little teaser. Back to work!
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Thursday, 30 December 2010

Posted by Martin - Thursday, December 30, 2010

Past and future

No battle plans survive contact with the enemy, or in my case, no gaming plans survive contact with the game. Shamelessly ripping off Andy over at the Creepy Corridor (actually, there's already a precedent so I'm safe!) I've decided to post about my past gaming year and where I see things going next year. That's to say, what I had planned gaming-wise for 2010 and how those plans turned out.

Heavy Gear

It just about a year ago that I got my first Heavy Gear minis and I managed to be rather productive during the first months of the year. I finished a recon squad and 3/5ths of a dragoon squad. And they were a lot of fun to paint as well! I never got started with the infantry though. Heavy Gear is still very much on my mind and I'll likely finish up my small force during the winter/spring. Problem is I have no opponents to play against, and for some reason it seems to be a hard sell in my circle of friends. I don't know why really, maybe I just need to arrange a VOTOMS marathon or something.

Naturally my first priority is to finish my Northern Guard, but I'd also like to make a small Southern companion force. That's quite far off though.


Firestorm: Armada

Just as I had finished painting not one, but two reasonably sized fleets for Full Thrust my friends (who'd only painted a couple of models each) decided to jump over to Firestorm: Armada. Mostly I think they were impressed by the models but they said the rules seemed good as well. I on the other hand didn't really like the models. To me they looked looked from lacklustre to downright off-putting (exception: Sorylians). However, rather than stick to Full Thrust and not have any opponents I decided to make my own fleet out of Space Battleship Yamato (Starblazers) models.

This little project is far from finished. I do have three cruisers and a battleship that are base coated, but I need to take some time and sit down and actually finish them. Shouldn't take too long. However, I also caved in and bought some official F:A models, namely the arachnid Relthoza. I've painted a few models but I've taken a little break. The battleship is starting to come together though. I want to finish my Relthoza and then kind of hang back and see the (40!) new models that are being released during 2011. So far they're looking good.

Ironically, my friends have still not painted any models for F:A and have now decided to get into Dystopian Wars as well (instead?). As you might imagine I've more or less given up playing any of these games with these guys. That's right! I hate you! :)

Diaspora

I got Diaspora early this year and fell in love almost instantly. I really want to play it, but haven't really had a chance to yet. The setting is right up my alley and the Fate mechanics looks awesome, but I think they require a group with the right mindset! As we finish up The Gathering Storm in a couple of months the plan is to hand the GM reins over to someone else which might give me the chance to run this as a one-off. We'll see...

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

The third edition intrigued me from the start as it has a bunch of mechanics that dovetails with me and my group's play style. And since we've become real board gamers over the last few years the extra components felt mostly natural to us. We started playing in July and have actually managed to keep a somewhat slow but steady pace. So far we like it, although I think there's still a lot of untapped potential within the system that we have yet to use. Especially the party sheet, the fate point economy and character development comes to mind.

From January onwards we've started scheduling our game days more regularely at two times a month (minimum) so I think we'll probably pick up the pace quite a bit from now on.

Mordheim

Another case of my evil friends "tricking" me into starting another project! Some guy was starting a Mordheim campaign and two of my friends started talking about how much fun it'd be to make a small warband and participate. Possible warbands were discussed and although I didn't hear from them for a week or so I decided to go ahead with a witch hunter warband. And then when we spoke again they told me that they weren't really interested anymore. By that time I'd already made a couple of special orders and most important of all, Andy had challenged me to an arms race!

Although I've only finished a warrior priest and five war hounds so far this is a project I'm quite optimistic about. Since the minis will be usable for WFRP (already using the priest!) as well I have double incentives to keep going. They're also fun to paint!

Dystopian Wars

As I mentioned earlier it seems like my friends might abandon Firestorm: Armada for this game. Initially I told them that I won't get into it until they've each painted a fieldable fleet or army for it. But I actually like the models so much that I've modified it to: I won't get into it until I've finished my Relthoza fleet. The models for Dystopian Wars are beautiful enough to paint merely for enjoyment and if my friends actually get a playable force together I'll simply consider it a bonus.

I like all four of the main powers but I'm planning to do Empire of the Blazing Sun (Japan). I'm not too keen on their naval vessels, but their ground and air stuff is reall cool; very Nausicaa/Laputa/Miyazaki style to them. Probably I'll simply go for the airborne models for now and wait for the ground stuff to arrive. What I'm secretly dreaming of though is a combined flottilla of EotBS and French airborne models. Just look at this upcoming French flying battleship:



Being a great Yamato fan I simply cannot resist that!


Board games

There's been quite a bit of board gaming for me since moving back to Sweden. If I had to pick some stand-out games of this year (that I played in 2010, not necessarily that were published in 2010) I'd probably pick Runewars, Claustrophobia and Alien Frontiers. With Cyclades, Ad Astra and Horus Heresy as runner-ups.

Runewars simply because it manages to take the essence of Twilight Imperium (which is one of my favourite games) and condense it into a smooth running four player affair that can be finished in a couple of hours but still make you feel like you've played a great epic where you accomplished a lot of things. Oh, and it looks absolutely gorgeous! Definetly a candidate for pimping!

Claustrophobia is also a game that kind of reminds me of another game that I love (in this case Space Hulk) but somehow manage to make it more immersive, better balanced and yet keep setup to a minimum and playtime to less than an hour. Great game and I'm glad it's slowly climing the top 100 on Board Game Geek (currently 76).


I first came across Alien Frontiers on BGG as I was searching around for upcoming science fiction games (a search that also yielded the must-play game High Frontier) and it immediately caught my attention. Mostly because I loved the theme and it seemed like a cool game, but also because it was produced through Kickstarter. I've only got to play it once so far, but it was a tons of fun with a lot of screwage and interesting strategies. Definitely need to play this more!




Cyclades reminds me of Chaos in the Old World. If I had to choose between the two I'd have to pick the latter but Cyclades is a great area control game with the same kind of knife-fight-in-a-phone-booth feel that CitOW has. Check it out!

Ad Astra is a light space exploration/colonization themed game with euro mechanics. I've been on the lookout for something kind of Catanish but better and with a more interesting theme. Ad Astra absolutely fits the bill!

Horus Heresy was released about the same time as Runewars and also has production value out the wazoo! I think it perfectly captures the grand feel of the battle for Terra and the forward planning you have to do makes it quite a thinker. I talked a bit more in-depth about it here.

Special mention: Earth Reborn. I haven't played this yet as my copy is currently in transit but I have a feeling that this will make this list next year. :)

Other upcoming or new(ish) board and miniature games that I'm keeping an eye on are: Mansions of Madness, Dust Tactics, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, Battlestar Galactica: Exodus Expansion, Outpost (remake), Target Earth, Merchants & Marauders, Attack Vector: Tactical/Squadron Strike/Voidstriker, Battles of Westeros, Jovian Chronicles Blitz (I can dream!).


Now, I know I've left things out of this post but I think I covered all the major players. However I do have one other project planned for next year that I'll be keeping under wraps until I have some substantial stuff to show you. More on that later.

Happy New Year everybody! See you in 2011!
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Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Great Badlands shacks!

I hadn't checked the new releases from Ground Zero Games for quite a while and just discovered these superb new 15mm shacks! I think they'd go well with any sci-fi game but of course, Heavy Gear was what sprang to mind in my head. I can definitely see these in small settler towns or as a rover hideout.

Recently I've been looking at a lot of trainset terrain, but have missed something more ramshackle like this.

I especially like the bar:



That's all, I just wanted to share. :)
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Monday, 8 March 2010

Posted by Martin - Monday, March 08, 2010

Looking to the future!

Things to come...

As some of you might have noticed lately updates have been rather sporadic and haven't involved any painting or modelling. The reason is that I'm preparing to move back to Sweden so these last few days here in Japan are very hectic! However when I'm finally settled down back in Stockholm  there will be a lot more gaming action so there should be a fairly steady stream of updates.

For starters there is the upcoming WFRP3 campaign that we're kicking off that I'm thinking about doing a kind of ongoing journal here on Fire Broadside about. So far it's only in the planning stage, but we do have a dwarf slayer and a Sigmarite priest ready to go and the Game Master's Toolkit as well as the first campaign module should hit the stores right about the time I touch down in Stockholm. Inspired by "I Sell the Dead", we originally had an idea about playing a group of grave robbers and their romp through the old world as they come across everything from mad scientistis, vengeful wives and ancient necromancers. However, we've decided to put that on hold until we're more familiar with the 3rd edition system, and it'll also give us a chance to see what kind of campaign FFG has managed to come up with.



Then there's the different space ship games that we're into. It all started with Full Thrust (or BFG, but that was a long time ago) but, for me at least, it's kind of morphed into a more general interest in collecting all kinds of cool looking ships. Hehe! As I mentioned in my last post I have a bunch of things I'd like to get my hands on, but I think I'll concentrate on making a small Yamato/Star Blazers EDF fleet first as I've found a bunch of model kits that should fit just perfectly. Of course I want to get all the different fleets I've been talking about sooner or later, but I have to begin somewhere. And since we're giving Firestorm: Armada a go the larger Yamato model ships is the best fit I've found so far.


And of course I'm not finished with Heavy Gear! The only problem is that none of my Swedish friends are into it. That might change after they get to try it out, but I think I might have a hard time to get them into a new miniature game. On the plus side, you don't need all that many minis, the rules are fairly straight-forward (although I haven't actually played a game yet) and it has a really cool background! On the other hand, it's a bit "fiddlier" than other games to get into, what with all the different upgrade and weapon options, and it's not exactly cheap either.
Well, I'll give it a go with them and see what they say. Whatever happens I know I'll keep collecting DP9 models!





Besides these three main projects there's naturally all kinds of different board games, roleplaying games (Diaspora!) and other fun stuff that I'm sure will find their way here for your reading pleasure. Not to mention weird stuff that I come across on the internets and feel like sharing.



Ps. Oh, and after having both read through Spirit of the Century and spent quite a bit of time at the Creepy Corridor and checking out Andy's links I feel like I really should get into some pulp miniature gaming. I mean, just look at this guy!
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Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Three hard hitting Jaguars!

Finished up the three Dragoon Squad Jaguars today and here are the results:

Combat Group Leader with Medium Assault Cannon and Light Rocket Pack/36.
EDIT: Looking at this picture now I realize that I obviously have to paint the magnet in the right hand green so it looks like one of the grenades!


 




Squaddie with Medium Assault Cannon and Anti-Gear Missiles. As you can see this and the CGL above have their stocks in a recessed position. This wasn't something I'd planned, but when the stock broke on a two of the guns I decided to model it this way. In the end I actually like them better this way.

 

 
Again with the same armament as above.

 


 
The up and coming Dragoon Squad. These guys are the heavy hitters in my starting force. 



What's finished so far. Now I have two more Cheetahs to paint for the Dragoons, and then I'm done with Gears. For now. Infantry awaits!

So far things are shaping up nicely, although from now on I think I'll stick to painting just two miniatures at a time. I think I'm more effectice that way. They are fun to paint though! I might have to get cracking on some of those Jovican Chronicles EXO-armours I got my hands on a while back when I'm done with these.
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Monday, 18 January 2010

Posted by Martin - Monday, January 18, 2010

Almost there... almost there...

My three Dragoon Jaguars aren't quite finished. I've got Rocket Packs, V-engines and some small details left, but here's how they look right now:






I don't think you can tell all that well from these pictures but I actually screwed up a bit and made these a mite lighter shade than my Recon Squad. It's not by much and you hardly notice it when they're at the table, but since I know it it's... irritating. Grumble, grumble...

Ok, so they'll be done tomorrow. For real this time. Hehe!
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Saturday, 16 January 2010

Posted by Martin - Saturday, January 16, 2010

Dragoons WIP...

I was hoping to get the three Jaguars in the Dragoon Squad finished tonight, but I didn't quite make it. However, I thought I'd put up a WIP pic that showed the four stages of how I paint the main brown colour (spoiler: it's the same way I painted my Full Thrust ships. Almost.). With hindsight I should have put them the other way around... :P
 


  1. Base coat of a Snakebite Leather and Chaos Black mix. As you can see it's quite dark and it's more of an olive drab rather than brown.
  2. Highlighting with pure Snakebite Leather, although watered down more than normal and leaving parts where the darker coat shines through.
  3. First highlitght with a Snakebite Leather/Skull White mix, being fairly discreet with the white. In this stage I start to define edges a bit more but I'm still fairly liberal (and not very precise) with where the paint ends up.
  4. Final highlight(s). I compressed the last couple of stages in this last miniature as they're very quick. Basically I just add more white and concentrate more and more on just the edges of the model until at the very end it's almost just pure Skull White.
And that's it basically. It's really quite simple and I it's very easy to make it as precise or as slapdash as you want depending on how much time you want/can spend on the models. I'm definitely more at the slapdash end of the scale, but it still looks pretty good I think. :D

I'll finish these guys up tomorrow, so see you then!
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Thursday, 7 January 2010

Posted by Martin - Thursday, January 07, 2010

The New Batch!



Just finished putting together the Dragoon Squad and it came out like this. I Decided to go with a Strike Cheetah mostly because of variety and I like the Bazooka look. But then again, it's all magnetized so it'll be easy to reconfigure the squad once I get my hands on a weapon pack or two. I hear a lot of good things about Heavy Hand Grenades...

Tomorrow winter holiday is over and it's back to work, but I hope I'll get at least half of the squad painted during the the three day weekend. Until next time!
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Monday, 4 January 2010

Posted by Martin - Monday, January 04, 2010

Hey-yo! Recon Squad done.

After having spent the New Year here in Japan eating osechi at my inlaws I today managed to get some time painting the two Cheetahs remaining to complete the Recon Squad. I know I said I'd do the basing as well, but I feel I need a better sand mix to do that so... still on the to-do list.

Anyway, here are the Cheetahs:








Again, the colours are a bit off as I have a crappy camera and only one close light source. They're really more dark brown and not as yellow looking.



Taking a cue from Flatline over at the DP9 forums I thought I'd write about the finished squad for readers who are not Pod People.

In contrast to the generalized utilitarian squads of the South the Northern forces are much more specialized in nature and this is reflected very well in the Recon Squad. Its main job is normally to work as spotters and target designators for other units armed with indirect fire weaponry. A classic example would be a Recon Squad forward observing for Grizzlies in a Fire Support Squad. For higher survivability in small skirmishes I chose to go with Jaguars armed with Anti-Gear Missiles in a Dragoon Squad instead, but the principle remains the same.

So with that little introduction let's have a look at the individual members that makes up the squad:



  1. Cheetah. This is the primary Northern scout Gear. It's very fast, hard to hit and has ample sensor and electronic warfare capabilities. It's armed with a Light Rifle instead of its usual Deployable Pack Gun (basically a disposable autocannon) and a Light Rocket Pack/24.
  2. Ferret MkII. The Ferret, with its famous buttwheel, is the predecessor to the Cheetah and is generally being phased out in favour of it. However, the Mark II design is an attempt to update it and although it still lacks the agility of the Cheetah it's the fastest Gear in the Northern forces. Armed with a Light Rocket Pack/24 and carrying a Medium Rifle instead of it's usual Light Autocannon.
  3. Jaguar (Combat Group Leader). The Jaguar is set to replace the venerable Hunter as the standard Gear in the Northern forces, however, because of some initial export restrictions set by the United Mercantile Federation this hasn't happened as quickly as was hoped for. Therefore the Jaguar is still more akin to an elite Gear and can often be found in Strike or Commando roles, as well as replacing Head Hunters as group leaders. Armed with a Light Rocket Pack/32 and a Heavy Rifle instead of the usual Medium Autocannon.
  4. Cheetah. Another basic Cheetah with a Light Rifle and a Light Rocket Pack/24.
  5. Wild Ferret. This is another variant of the Ferret. Sacrificing the Light Rocket Pack and Target Designator for a Satellite Uplink and stronger Electronic Warfare capabilies. Armed with a Light Rifle.

The plan is basically to try to designate targets for the Dragoon Squad's AGMs as well as opportunity sniping and getting some extra Command Points with the Satellite Uplink.


That's all for today. Here's what I'll be working on until next time:
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Tuesday, 29 December 2009

Posted by Martin - Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Here be Ferrets!

When I first saw a Ferret I didn't really know what to think (buttwheel doesn't really spell sexy), but they've grown on me a lot and now I just want more of the little buggers! I can definitely see why they hold a special place in the DP9 community. Hehe!

Again, the way I decided to paint these makes the process relatively quick and I managed to paint these two in about three hours. Again, I haven't done the bases yet. Still thinking about what I want them to look like. Deserty, yes, but I want some more details than that. Normally I use static grass that I paint but since this is 1/144 scale it would be way too tall.

Anyway, pictures:


First off the Ferret Mk II with a medium rifle that's WAY to big for him. Of course, thanks to the magnets, he can quicky be made into a standard or Wild Ferret.






Aaaand the buttwheel! A motorcycle with arms indeed... :)


The Wild Ferret with is a Ferret variant with expanded electronic warfare abilities and a satelite uplink. Here with a Light Rifle instead of the standard Deployable Pack Gun.


I do think that this Ferret model is a bit stiff. It's cool to have gears using their alternative movement modes (like this one!) but I think I'll convert the next one to try and make it a bit more lively.




Ah, the two rapscallions heading out to make trouble!


And the whole budding family. I guess they're looking for their two Cheetah cousins...


That's all for today. Two Cheetahs and some basing coming up!
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