Finishing Up The Partially Competed

Alright, here we go. Finished up the 2 Galleons and the two Shadow Hawks with their camo layers first of all.

Then they got the Gunmetal Grey on guns and tracks before covering in Nuln Oil. After that the tanks got Tan Earth basing while the mechs got Tan Earth on the base edges and sand on the top of the base.

After that The pairs of Locusts, Commandos, Shadow Hawks, Wolverines, and Grasshoppers all got twigs from the front porch and Gamers Grass bits.

So with that I am caught up with the partially completed. Next will be digging into the heavy and assaults for my Lyran Regulars. This might be slower going though as I am finally back to full time weeks of work starting in the morning. With about 40 total mechs and support vehicles in the queue still, all in all I am not too unhappy with the progress. Thanks for swinging by and I will see you all the next time.

Catching Up With The Arkab Legion

Now as mentioned in previous posts I had run out of the Callejo Tan Earth that I was using for the basing. After a misship earlier this month which got me a few bottles of Vallejo Tan Earth but was the Glaze instead of the Paint. So a quick reorder and I now have the right bottles to get caught up. 4 Skulkers, 4 Pegasus, 4 Drillsons, and 4 Harassers are all now based and completed. 2 each of Grasshoppers, Wolverines, Commandos, and Locusts are almost completely based as all the rain and snow the last few weeks has meant I couldn't gather any of the twigs I've been using for the mech basing.

I also have started on two Galleon tanks and two Shadowhawks have their base coats with the rest of their paintjob to come later this week. I'm hoping to get the twigs I need to finish all the mech basing by the end of this week. This should get me in good standing with the rest of the queue line with the 4 Warrior VTOLs, support vehicles, and 15 Heavy and Assault mechs for my Lyran Regular force to go.

So that is where I am at for now and hopefully we'll have a new update at the end of the week. Thank's for stopping by and I'll see you all next time!

Scouting For The Arkab

Alright, the four Packrats are on the block this go around. I had received a package and thought I'd be able to get the basing caught up but upon opening it, I found bottles of Vallejo Tan Glaze instead of Tan Earth Paint. So a quick follow up and I've got the paint coming to me now and should have it early next week. Following the normal routine, the platoon of Packrats got the base layer of Vallejo Dark Sand.

After that was the Vallejo Bronze Green and Cavalry Brown for the camo as well as the Gunmetal Grey for the weapons and a few other small details.

Last step was the Vallejo Black on the tires and the Citadel Nuln Oil wash.

So at this point the Packrats go into the still need to finish the basing when the right paint arrives queue that is starting to get a bit deeper than I had hoped it would. At this point what is left to paint out of the Kickstarter to paint is a pair of Shadowhawks, pair of Galleons, two bases of Savannah Masters, four Warrior VTOLs, three each of Long Tom, MASH, and HQ vehicles, and then lastly 15 heavy and assault mechs that will be going into my Lyran Regular force. Considering how much was in the Kickstarter, I feel like I've made amazing progress in roughly two months. So that is all for now and I'll see you all next time!

Back To The Paints

Alright, after a small break we are back at it. This time it is a lance of two Wolverines and two Grasshoppers both of which I feel are good mechs for a Kurita based striker style unit. The usual base layer of Vallejo Dark Sand was the starting point as usual.

Next up they got the Bronze Green and Cavalry Brown for the camo accents followed by the Gunmetal Grey for cockpits and weapons.

Last step for now is the Nuln Oil Wash to get them a deployed real camo shading.

Once again I am putting off the basing as I do not have any Vallejo Tan Earth. However I have some shipping to me and this next week I should be going back and getting all the miniatures that need basing taken care of. Once that basing is caught up, I will have 4 Packrats and 4 Warriors to do for the Arkab. That will be it for them until I aquire more miniatures down the road. Once those 8 are done as well, I have 15 heavy and assault mechs that will be joining my Lyran Regulars unit. I still haven't figured out which unit will be getting the 3 MASH, 3 HQ, and 3 Long Toms. I am leaning towards two MASH and 1 HQ going to the Arkab and the rest going into the Lyran Regulars but I haven't 100% decided on that yet. That's all for this update and I'll see you all next time.

Another Arkab Lance

So only a singular lance this time around with a pair of Locusts and a pair of Commandos. Like the previous vehicles they're not based as I still do not have any Vallejo Tan Earth. First step as always was the basecoat of the Vallejo Dark Sand.

Next up was the Bronze Green and Cavalry Brown. After that they got the Gunmetal Grey to pick out weapons, cockpits, and antennas.

And the last step for now was the Nuln Oil wash.

One I get some Tan Earth I'll be going back into the unbased and get them all caught up. That's it for now and I'm hoping to have some more Arkab done by the end of the weekend. I've got two each of Wolverines, Shadowhawks, and Grasshoppers lined up ready to go. Nothing else for now and I'll see you all next time!

What A Difference A Mold Makes

It's amazing what a difference a mold makes. There were some old metal versions of Battlemechs that just made me not like them more than I would based on what the Battlemech could do on the tabletop and then the opposite as well as I like some of the new iteration of the plastics less than the older metal versions.

One of those is the Crab Medium Mech. The old metal version just didn't do anything for me and the old artwork was just as bad. It reminded me more of an old B-movie monster than a weapon of war and the same goes with the King Crab. I love the new plastic versions of both of these while I wouldn't buy either of the two in the old metal version. With the maneuverability of the Crab and the survivability of the King Crab (ignoring the consistant ability of Urbanmechs to headshot said King Crabs), it's nice to start having these painted up and ready to deploy on the tabletop.

Another of these is the Ost variants (Ostsol, Ostroc, and Ostscount). While I do have a few Ostrocs which had a pretty decent metal mold, the new version is vastly improved. The Ostscout and Ostsol I didn't care for the old metal versions but love the new plastic versions of them. I'm looking forward to have multiple lances of all of them on the shelves in the future.

Lastly I would like to say that I have loved the Wolverine since I first saw it many many years ago (1994 or 1995) in the old CamoSpecs book as the Lyran Guard entry. I loved the look of the old versions (not you IIC or Phoenix) but the newest plastic by Catalyst was a masterpiece and has me falling in love with it all over again.

So how about everyone else? Do you have a miniature in the new plastics that you field now but didn't before or is there one that just really upped the game for an old favorite? I'll see you all next time!

The Arkab Picks Up Some Speed

Alright, so back to working on the 8th Arkab Legion. This go around we have a company of Hover Tanks with 4 Pegasus, 4 Harassers, and 4 Drillsons. All of them received the Vallejo Dark Sand base followed by the Bronze Green and Cavalry Brown camo. They also got the Gunmetal Grey for weapons and a couple other small details. I'd normally take a picture in the middle of that but just slipped my mind this time around.

The next stage was Vallejo Black for the plenum chamber skirts under the hovercrafts. This was followed by the obligatory GW Nuln Oil Wash.

That is not quite complete this will finish at for now as I am still out of Vallejo Tan Earth and between finances and weather at the moment, they'll be stuck at this level for a while. I still have plenty of my other colors though and I'll continue working on getting everything up to just needing the Tan Earth to keep making progress. Down the road when I get resupplied, I'll be going back and finishing them all. So that's all for now and I hope to see you all again next time!