Re: Battletech – Tales from the Fourth Succession War
Recommendations: 20
About the Project
My reentry into BattleTech. This project focuses on revisiting the Fourth Succession War and the turbulent years leading up to it: rebuilding the forces, recreating the worlds, replaying classic battles, and exploring the old scenario books using both classic and updated rules. Not to forget, how will Alpha Strike and the ACES rules work within these classic scenarios?
Related Game: Battletech
Related Company: FASA
Related Genre: Science Fiction
This Project is Active
Is it a mech? Or is it a diver? It‘s a test piece!
I used this old metal Griffin to test my idea for the base colour.
As a primer I used a dark grey from a spray can which gave a very nice even coverage. I guess the warm weather outside helps to achieve that nice finish.
Next step a drybrush with a light grey.
Finally painting on a black contrast paint. The contrast effect doesn‘t really turn out well here. I will wait and see how it turns out on the resin minis. Guess I will apply another light drybrush. Nevertheless, this is a good and efficient way to deal with the company.
Preparing the ground
Glueing is done so ready to prepare the bases.
My usual approach to texturing the bases of my minis. The pumice can easily be applied with a brush, and it can be diluted with water if it gets too thick. I use the carvers only to remove any excess material or to apply some pressure if needed. More layers may be necessary because the texture tends to shrink while drying. In this case I used only one layer.
White is my favourite texture because it can take any colour and I don’t want to have several tubs of texture paste lying around.
After an overnights dry ready to be primed.Crusader Field Fixing 3022 - Planet Kessel (Draconis Combine)
The Tech just shook his head. Damn MechJockeys.
When Sheridan entered the Field MechRepairBay, her Crusader was carrying its severed left arm in its right hand. After climbing down from the cockpit, she bluntly announced: “Arm came off. Fix it.”
“How did this happen?” the Tech asked.
“Training exercise.” That was all the explanation he got. Without another word, Sheridan turned around and floated away toward the MechWarrior mess hall, like the whole affair was beneath her.
“Yeah… training exercise,” the Tech thought irritably. Probably tried arm-wrestling a Griffin.
Now it was up to the Chief Tech and his crew to repair the damage. Suitable spare parts were hard to come by on backwater worlds of the Inner Sphere. And to put the lid on it: Kessel was hostile. The MechJockeys knew that perfectly well — but in their minds, the Techs would somehow figure something out anyway.
“Alright, let’s get to it,” the Tech muttered, trying to motivate himself.
Maybe some wire and superglue would do the trick.
Doing it the old metal mini way: pinning.
Easy drilling on resin. Do not inhale.
Superglueing the arm.
Leave it some time to dry.
Cutting off the exposed part of the pin.
A small bit of the pin I could not reach with the pliers.A few hours later Sheridan returned to the MechBay and inspected the repaired arm suspiciously.
“What’s that wire sticking out of the elbow actuator?” Sheridan demanded.
“Ah, it’s nothing,” the Tech replied. “We just need to blend it in with the armor during the next camouflage repaint. The actuator works just fine.”
Sheridan stared at the repair for a moment.
“Ugly fix.”
The Tech crossed his arms. “Functional fix.”
After a short pause, Sheridan nodded.
“Fair enough.”
Building the Black Widow Company of the 3020s
The idea for this project first crossed my mind several years ago, before so many of the newly sculpted mechs from CGL became available. That was when I picked up this special Black Widow Company offer from an Etsy shop.
But then, like so many hobby projects, it stalled and never truly came to life. Now, somehow, I have found new momentum. Let‘s use it!
Starting point. Decent resin prints from 2021.These resin prints are highly detailed, featuring antennas, machine guns, and other fine elements, but they are also a little fragile. One of the Crusader’s arms had already broken off inside the box. Some of the sculpts follow the classic style, while others seem to take inspiration from the modern BattleTech computer game.
- Kerensky‘s Command lance: Warhammer, Marauder, Crusader, Griffin
- Ikeda‘s Fire lance: two Archer, Wasp, Stinger
- Clavell‘s Recon Lance: Rifleman, Phonix Hawk, Stinger, Stinger
Strange lance formations. Back in our early BattleTech days, we would never have built lances like these. Now I think this captures the feeling of “old” BattleTech quite well with a more narrative approach to the game. The people in the BT-universe have to work with whatever is available – no cherry-picking the best machines from the Technical Readout.
