Bot War – Mercenaries

Back to the ugly stages with most of the bots today, giving the Mercs a basecoat of Citadel Contrast Creed Camo mixed with some Snakebite Leather. This was airbrushed over the thole model to help mitigate some of the issues experienced with these types of paints on flat surfaces.

However whilst these bots were getting a grim start to their paint hood, I set about tackling Gargoyle.

A fun little model, like a flying demon, a bit like a bat, and a rat….. How I could I not pass up the opportunity to paint this little fella up in some classic cartoon inspired colours used in the Transformers cartoon, Ratbat.

After yesterday’s session building bots I was all set to begin the process of getting the base priming stages completed tonight. However I decided to try and find the remaining bots I needed to complete the faction. Their leader Blackwheel, and Highrise, the Deceiver Air Warrior.

If you have been following my other currently active Bot War project you will have seen that I painted Blackwheel very recently, only I went for a retro kick and painted him up as Cy-Kill, the evil bad guy from the 80s cartoon Go-Bots. Whilst I could use that Blackwheel, I was fortunate to have a second copy in my backlog so instead of having the bright red and blue version leading my Mercenaries, I figured I could at least paint up one that would be more fitting. So I built him.

Also whilst looking through my backlog I found my rewards for completing the February painting challenge over on the Bot War Facebook group. This year was a bit different and 2 rewards were up for grabs; the first being an exclusive sculpt of a Bot from the new White Knight faction which has just hit preorder and will play a huge role in the forthcoming global campaign. The other was a reward for completing 18 or more bots during February. As I painted 48 (which you can see in my other project) I was eligible for this so received a metal sculpt of another forthcoming release in the form of Gargoyle. I haven’t yet seen anyone from the Bot War community paint one yet so I’m hoping I may be able to be one of the first….. so Gargoyle also got built instead of Highrise.

And after that extra bit of building I hit them all with some Stynelrez Black primer and then a lateral spray with ComArt Opaque white.

With the first set of Bots painted up I needed some more to keep me going throughout April.

This group follows the Bots of Fortune 1 set with Bots of Fortune 2 comprising of the big guy Heavybarrage, 3 smaller symbiote bots, and Ordinance

• Heavybarrage
• Methane
• C4
• Bombot
• Ordinance

To fill out the Mercenaries faction and add in some additional gameplay options I have included most of the remaining bots in the current Mercenaries faction cards.  This invlides some classic Snake Corp bots from my backlog that have recently had new rules written for them and the sneaky ex-Valiant Wraith.  To wrap up this batch I have also included two sell swords Oleeta and Humvee who will provide some great close attack capabilities.

• Wraith
• Slyder
• Slyther
• Stormbreak
• Humvee
• Oleeta

Splashdamage is the 8th and final bot in the Bots of Fortune set and that see’s the first batch of Mercenaries wrapped up….. but not finished.

I’m really happy with how they look, the scheme works really well and has received very positive feedback. I’m not sure if I will paint the remainder of the Mercs in the same style or go with something different. I will get them built tomorrow and see what I have to work with.

For now though, Splashdamage and the gang posing for a group shot.

The artwork for Ammodump has flames on multiple areas, but this was something I didn’t think would work well against the olive green armour I have chosen. There is a large blank space on the chestpiece which I may need to freehand some sort of military emblem to help fill the void.

1/3 of the a way through April, 7 bots “done”….. Still plenty to go.

Another day another bot.

Today I pushed Redoubt through to his near complete state. It took a bit longer than I expected as there was a lot of details on the legs which took a while to shade and panel line. It’s been fun painting these bots though as some are formed from other older bot wars minis no longer in production that I have painted before, most noticeably the original Builders team, so there is a familiarity to certain torsos, heads, and legs. I really like the idea that bots are constructs that share similar components, taking certain parts to carry out a specific role on the battlefield.

Anyway, 2 more to go from this batch and I really need to start building the next ones.

Managed to finish up Stomp and get Demolition done as well tonight. Was a good friday painting session so took a little group shot of the first 5 Mercs.

I’ve not yet worked out how I want to paint the weapons or caterpillar tracks, but I’m sure by the time I finish the other 3 I’ll have a better idea.

Stomp is up next.

When the Mercenaries were originally released as promos this was one bot that I just had to get, it has an iconic look that would give any fan of 80s transforming robot cartoons (especially Japanese continuities) 6 shots of pure nostalgia.

As 60mm tall he is certainly a lot bigger than yesterday’s bot, so I managed to get about 2/3 of the way through him tonight with the aim to finish him tomorrow night. Fridays usually mark a big push for me in painting challenges as I switch off the work laptop and push through for a good few hours. I’m hoping to get Stomp finished tomorrow and also push through another bot if I can.