Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: ichwillauch on 21 July 2019, 10:04:16 AM
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Hi,
because real life at the moment leaves me no time to play or paint I thought about a new project, Battletech in 15mm. The reasons are simple:
- 15mm is large enough for my 3d printer to catch most of the details.
- I always wanted to order some models made by Ground Zero Games.
- I only want to field a lance and some vehicles and infantry for a small game.
- I want to game with the old stuff 3025/3026.
- Deep Cut studios can print a hexgrid (10 cm ???) on a gaming mat for an reasonable price
If anyone has any experiences gaming Battletech in 15mm, I am eager to hear about it.
My first test print, radar needs some redo…
(https://i.imgur.com/thpqqBF.jpg)
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Crazy, but looks fantastic. I've seen quite a few people using the old clickytech minis plus new 3d prints to play alpha strike at 10mm - no reason it won't work at 15mm - but a 6'x4' table will basically be a single mapsheet at 15mm!
Looking forward to seeing where you go with this - any ideas on unity paint schemes yet?
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Is it printed from a standard FDM printer ? The result is great !
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That is a great idea.
Nice work on the mech.
There used to be a range of Macross mechs in 1/100 in plastic.
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2017/09/macross-models.html (http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/2017/09/macross-models.html)
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I've seen people play it with various proxies in both 10mm and 15mm scale. Works fine, and if you use the "gridless" rules you don't even have to get a rescaled mat/map. If anything, I'd think 15mm is more appropriate than 6-ish for the usual 2-3 lance battles you see. Game's got enough detail and few enough units that bigger figs feel right, especially with the superior sculpting allowed by today's improved casting and printing tech.
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I have never played Battletech yeah I know, but I am sure interested in this thread.
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That looks great! I have zero playing experience apart from computer games, but this should have great potential.
Doesn’t Battletech work with hexes? Then you wouldn’t even need such a large table, but simply upscale the hexes slightly.
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The original 1984 game was Battledroids and came with a pair of 1/144 Dougram mecha by Nitto/Doyousha and extra types were sold separately. Lucas films stomped on that title, and in '85 it was re-branded as BattleTech.
I have a number from back in the day, and scored this full set when it was re-released:
https://hlj.com/combat-armor-dougram-collectors-box-1box-10pcs-dys00095
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@Cat - what caught my eye was the Macross Destroid Tomahawk on the cover.
All part of the nightmare licence briar that was Macross, where different companies claimed various IP holdings and sold licences to different people.
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Excellent idea; great minds... ;)
I started an on and off 15mm Battletech project many years ago, using mainly an ecclectic range of model kits, some of which quite old and obscure, to make my miniatures/models.
This list here is the result of months of research into the matter. So most, if not all, of the mechs I'm building are, by neccesity, the unseen ones.
Which suits me just fine, as I'm pretty much solely interested in Classic Battletech anyway :D
(http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=59663.0;attach=15486;image)
Like I said though; it's an on and off project, and I usually take it out once a year or so. Ans as a result I have yet to finish a single lance.
Some mechs are done, others almost, while most are still kits on sprues... ::)
I'm at a point though, where I'm going to have to decide which faction I will paint my first lance as.
Now, my progress is this slow, because I'm a bit of a stickler for scale, and I have to rescale a lot of the kits to fit my intended scale.
This slow progress is also why I have never posted any of my progress yet. And now my glacially slow modeling has been overtaken by technology, and all of my beloved conversions could now just as easily be 3D printed... :?
Anyway; here are some WIP shots I took last year. They are a finished Warhammer and Wasp, a WIP scratchbuild of a Locust and a WIP biggerization of a Wolverine.
There are quite a few more, but I have yet to photograph them...
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nice project
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Glorious work, the conversions, the 15mm idea, oh damn I don't need another project :D
Stop inspiring me! Or is it tempting?
Nice all regardless
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The conversions do look really good!
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Nice work,
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Many thanks for all the input, especially the scaling hints!!!
I have ordered a winter map with hexgrid on it, should arrive in the next days, since the hexes are 10cm wide it would fit with Kallistra terrain but you were right, its only a single mapsheet at 15mm.
Using old plastic mechs from the japanese animation series would be great, I must dig in my lead mountain, somewhere I should own some gundam models.
Yes, the mech ist printed on a FDM printer with medium settings, I am using the 10mm models upscaled to 15mm on thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/Minimalistix/designs (https://www.thingiverse.com/Minimalistix/designs).
Meanwhile I found Sarna.net https://www.sarna.net/files/media/3d_models/ (https://www.sarna.net/files/media/3d_models/) there is a large collectioon of dxf files. These can be converted with Google Sketchup to printable STL-files.
(https://i.imgur.com/jv6KNcp.jpg)
An other source for files I found on https://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/148875-mountain-of-battletech-models/ (https://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/148875-mountain-of-battletech-models/). These files are in Lightwave format *.lwo and much harder to convert. In fact I failed to convert the mechs, only fighter and some vehicles were possible using this online converter http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/ (http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/).
(https://i.imgur.com/xVpChO0.jpg)
Meanwhile I printed and primed another Mech, this time a Jenner.
(https://i.imgur.com/MtfdDUv.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/7jTZbM1.jpg)
and two Savannah Master for infantry scouting missions.
(https://i.imgur.com/YrEy82k.jpg)
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Those look pretty damn cool.
I've been tempted to add some 1/100 mechs to my 15mm sci do armies but right now I think they'd be tripping over the mechanised platoons.
If the purpose of the game is to be mech heavy it could defo work: provides a lot of opportunity for Mech duels and characterisation.
Looking forward to see how this progresses!
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Stratos Minis has a nice line of full scale 15mm mechs. Many "not Battletech" versions too.
(https://stratominis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/11230021-01.jpg)
https://stratominis.com/product-category/hardwar_15/ (https://stratominis.com/product-category/hardwar_15/)
A little pricey, perhaps, but they sure look nice. I've been eyeballing their 6mm stuff as a stand in for smaller robot/power armor type suits. Most seem to stand 40-50mm which works for 15mm, I think. As long as you aren't thinking giant fighting robot and more like personal armor.
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Yes I have tried BT in 15mm
I've done a few more since i took these photos, I'll dig them out. I've got vehicles and infantry as well
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/40/1836-290719163603-400322491.jpeg)
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/40/1836-290719163602-40020644.jpeg)
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Any ideas of kit bashing cheap robots, and labeling them accordingly?
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Oh... and there is this site: https://souldark.ru/category/battle-robots/ (https://souldark.ru/category/battle-robots/)
For kit bashing and chopping up cheap toys, this is the best. Not quite as big as the Strato stuff, but I'll bet most of these stand around 70-90mm depending on the pose. It would be easy to dice them up and alter the weapons, etc.
(https://souldark.ru/wa-data/public/shop/products/05/03/305/images/1540/1540.750.jpg)
(https://souldark.ru/wa-data/public/shop/products/08/03/308/images/1562/1562.750.jpg)
I bought this one as a combat walker for 28mm.
(https://souldark.ru/wa-data/public/shop/products/07/03/307/images/1555/1555.750.jpg)
At $6 per, and pretty reasonable shipping from Russia (I think I got my order in under two weeks, which beats the hell out of ordering from the UK most of the time), it is hard to beat.
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Oh... and there is this site: https://souldark.ru/category/battle-robots/ (https://souldark.ru/category/battle-robots/)
Holy cow! :o
That link is awesome. I immediately ordered a couple of those mechs, just to see if they're workable. Plus, a set of their chibby mouse, paladin and skellie units each, because my six year old was watching over my shoulder when I was browsing the site.
Turns out I already have some of their stuff I bought on ebay, such as the minotaurs and ogres. Now I know the source, and it's even cheaper directly (no surprise there I suppose).
They have many very cheap offerings, and I might just be back for some of the not-BFG stuff as well...
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Wow, that site has loads of stuff on it
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The paint jobs are pretty flattering, but for a $6 80cm mech, I don't think you can come close to the quality. Dollar store stuff looks like garbage by comparison, and these things have pretty good articulation below the waist, so you could get some pretty dynamic posing.
This is the mech I bought. Sorry the pictures aren't a bit better for showing scale, but hopefully you can rough it out in your head.
Mech, fully "squatted," compared to Primaris Marine. A more normal position would be a bit taller. Fully squatted the mech is twice the height of a space marine, easy.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/40/15049-300719135614.jpeg)
So, most of the stuff from Souldark seems to be interchangeable. The missiles on top of the mech came with the tank set I bought. There are also radar dishes, smaller machine gun turrets, and plain round hatches that will fit into that peg hole. If the goal is to do some conversions, I think throwing $20 at a few sets would get you more than ample bits and pieces to make some magic happen.
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The Russian plastic kits tend to be over-the-top ridiculous, but those are much more in the realm of reasonable looking (I suppose because they ripped off Battletech designs). Might have to order a few, just in case. ::)
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Wow, all the mechs are really looking good and the russian side is a great find! I will order there too!
Meanwhile the gaming mats I ordered some days before have arrived. The quality is great as usual and the hexgrids are really big.
Printing aerofighters is not so simple as I have thought, the sparrowhawk is the first acceptable result.
(https://i.imgur.com/TsEEypQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fFf67XZ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UDozLy4.jpg)
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The second gaming mat for Battletech. As hoped, the Kallistra terrain fits in well.
(https://i.imgur.com/ikSqe56.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/MTVG8vb.jpg)
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That all looks great. You really get a sense for size and scale with that winter map.
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Trying to make some decals:
(https://i.imgur.com/iriUNlc.jpg)
and finishing all the 3d-prints for the defender side:
(https://i.imgur.com/Yvzn5Fd.jpg)