Fun With No Metals

The past month has been really busy between work and other things. (Fun fact: I just bought my first brand new water heater!) Fortunately, things seem to be settling down, and I have had some time to get modelling. With my AWS-8T project in the can, so to speak, it is time to tackle something new!

Battletech Conversions: AWS-8T

I'm not quite sure why, but I have a distinct fondness for odd-ball Battlemech configurations. My last installment in this series detailed, probably, the single least popular Atlas variant in the game. This one deals with a 'mech no less unusual, although it is probably a bit more useful in game terms.

Shown above is the AWS-8T Awesome. The 8T swaps out the traditional particle cannons of the classic 8Q for a set of missile racks and large lasers. Wacky to be sure, but really not a bad assault 'mech for the Succession Wars era.

Read on to find out how I built it.

Reaper Con (Part 2)

My last post covered what goes on at Reaper Con. To wrap up my coverage of the event, I thought I'd post a few more photos from the con, and then finish up with a few, selected miniatures from the painting contest.

As I alluded to in my last post, Reaper provided some cool looking terrain for their gaming events. The "Kraken's Revenge" featured a sunken city, and the new, limited edition, Kraken model they released at the con. The event pitted a whole table full of players against the mighty Kraken using Reaper's Warlord rules. I am proud to say that my group proved victorious when we faced the tentacled horror.

Reaper Con! (Part 1)

I got back from Reaper Con 2012 late Sunday night. I think I've just about recovered, and I'm more or less back on my normal schedule. This first post will hopefully provide a taste of what went on at Reaper Con. I'll try to post some more, along with pictures of the game tables and painting contest entries soon.

This was my first trip to Reaper Con, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've been to gaming conventions of all sizes in the past, but Reaper Con is, not surprisingly, much more heavily oriented towards the craft of miniatures painting and sculpting. Sure there is plenty of gaming, if you want it, but the main event is the massed gathering of a one to two hundred miniatures fans, hobbyists, and professionals.

When you drive up to Reaper's address, it's easy to miss the signs, but a keen eye will get you there. As you turn into the lot you can see that you are in the right place.

Experimentation

How do you come up with a good paint scheme? Sometimes you can pick a set of colors that work well together in the abstract, and fit them onto a miniature easily. Other times, you can decide to follow a pre-generated paint scheme from a canon game universe, or by borrowing from another painter's work. Once in a while, inspiration strikes and a great concept just pops into your head.

All of those are useful approaches, and I have certainly made use of all of them at one time or another. I have also blocked out some paint patterns on paper using colored pens, pencils, or even crayons. (Yes, I know that there are digital tools for doing this, but I haven't tried them at all.) Ultimately, no matter how many miniatures I paint, sometimes I just have to pull out a brush and try out a paint scheme with a real model and real paint to work out what I want.

Better Painting with Pen and Paper

This article is about a vital tool that can help anybody improve their miniature painting, but that I think gets too little attention in painting tutorials or blogs:

Can you really improve your results using a cheap notebook and a pen or pencil? Read on to find out.

March Releases - Finale

This is my last entry for Spartan Games' March releases, and it's not even May yet!

This time, I'll be talking about another ship from the Zenian support fleet: The Banshee Dreadnought. As with all of the minor powers releases to date, the "Rense System Navy" has a unique look, lending a lot of variety to the Firestorm Armada lineup. The RSN is a member of the Zenian League, meaning that I can add RSN ships to my Dindrenzi fleet using Sparan's "Alliance" fleet construction rules, but  with the release of this dreadnought and a new frigate model, the RSN has almost enough ships to be played on its own as a faction in its own right!

The Banshee comes in nine parts, plus an unusual four part stand. I was surprised at the part count, given the size of the ship; most of Spartan's latest releases have tended towards relatively few pieces.