Macrossmartin's MS Gundam Skirmish Thread

[YPU]

Going through my colection I remember why I never did One Year War, I've only got a few Zaku IIs and a handful of other 0079 designs, the vast majority of my stuff is gundam SEED figures (still my favorite Gundam series). The problem with doing SEED battles is that ZAFT had a whole bunch of different standard mobile suits while the Earth Alliance only had the basic Dagger and the Astray if you included the ORB units, both of which were fairly rare in the random boxes. Without all the spinoffs and side stories that you had with UC gundam, there just weren't all the ground-types Gundams and GM variants and Guntank/Guncannon variants to make for a good tabletop wargame. Great for an RPG where you have a few heroes piloting Gundams cutting down "regular"
 mobile suits by the dozen, but not for a pitched battle. UC Gundam is where that really plays out well. May need to order some figs off ebay pretty soon.

hmm, makes me thing of the options of other sets.

Wing is pretty much right out as an army vs army game, but could work as a 2v2 game with a red force, plenty of points in the anime where the Gundams fought each other after all.

AGE could work nicely, assuming you like the aesthetic of the bad guys (I do) though I'm unsure on the quantity/quality of gashapons from it?

IBO doesn't have gashapons I think? Might be the skeletal designs not playing nicely with the bendy plastic. Pitty really, I would pay for a dozen or so grazes and variants.

[Macrossmartin]

Going through my colection I remember why I never did One Year War, I've only got a few Zaku IIs and a handful of other 0079 designs ... Without all the spinoffs and side stories that you had with UC gundam, there just weren't all the ground-types Gundams and GM variants and Guntank/Guncannon variants to make for a good tabletop wargame...

I hear you, Rhelyk. I used to collect the 1/200 HCM Pro figures with the intention of wargaming with those, but finding common or garden Zaku II's in that range was nigh impossible, and GM's are as rare as the whites of Mirai Yashima's eyes! 

Thankfully this isn't the case in 1/400. There's plenty of variations, and converting them for different weapon fit-outs is no tougher than with regular PVC figures. (In fact, using one of those plastic-specific superglues that come with a 'preparation' pen, I've found they glue better and stronger than pewter or styrene figures!)

The only hassle has been sculpting and printing weapons... which reminds me, if anyone's looking for conversion weapons etc for these 1/400 figures, I'm slowly putting some up for sale on my Shapeways store...

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/miniature-martin

... more to come, as I add bits for my Zeon forces. Speaking of which—!

Doms of the 711th Mobile Suit Brigade (Expeditionary Force, Africa Front)



and here with the Zaku II-RS of Zeon ace pilot Breniff Orguz, backed up with two lesser-model Zakus...



(The decals, by the way, are home-printed. Great for darker colours, but, oh for a white-printing laser printer!  )

More tiny giant robot fun soon!

- Martin

[Macrossmartin]

hmm, makes me thing of the options of other sets.

Wing is pretty much right out as an army vs army game, but could work as a 2v2 game with a red force, plenty of points in the anime where the Gundams fought each other after all.

AGE could work nicely, assuming you like the aesthetic of the bad guys (I do) though I'm unsure on the quantity/quality of gashapons from it?

IBO doesn't have gashapons I think? Might be the skeletal designs not playing nicely with the bendy plastic. Pity really, I would pay for a dozen or so grazes and variants.

You're pretty much right on the money, YPU. It's probably why most players of Mobile Suit Gundam Skirmish use 1/144 scale kits; you can find anything you want in that scale.

And it's perfectly fine for doing two-on-two fights, or even larger; the ground scale doesn't change in the rules for the scale of models used (unless you wish to change it, of course).

I'm pretty sure there's very few AGE gashapon, and I've only seen 'Super Deformed' IBO Gashapon so far, except (I think) some keychain figures, which might not be to a consistent scale.

Oh, speaking of 1/144th scale, I'd love to wargame with this lot... all 1/144th scale kits...





 

[YPU]

Oh man, that looks great. I love dioramas anyway and there just aren't enough large ones with gundams in it.

Wow! Those minis are awesome, and the work you're done to fix the weapons and shields is amazing.  I really need to learn some 3d sculpting...

Nah man, you need to hire a talented young fan of your rules to do the work for you. 

[Tomsche]

Love this project.

I used Gundam Gashapon's years ago as the mechs in my Future War Commander games, like shown here:

http://tomsche69.blogspot.be/2011/01/fwc-battle-report-andrayadans-vs.html

Being a fanboy of the mobile suits, they are such great value for money, I went through the bendy weapon process with the old 'hot water" technique, but it`s far from ideal.  Your printed guns look far, far better 

[nic-e]

Not a gundam fan, Just wanted to say how beautiful these minis are! well done !

[Macrossmartin]

Love this project.

I used Gundam Gashapon's years ago as the mechs in my Future War Commander games, like shown here:

http://tomsche69.blogspot.be/2011/01/fwc-battle-report-andrayadans-vs.html

Being a fanboy of the mobile suits, they are such great value for money, I went through the bendy weapon process with the old 'hot water" technique, but it`s far from ideal.  Your printed guns look far, far better 

That's a great battle report, Tomsche, thanks for sharing!

Yep, there's only so much one can do with bendy guns. Eventually, you've got to find a better solution. I'm glad that I went the 3D printing path, it was a good creative process, and the first time I'd had a go at printing in 3D. Great fun!

Thanks for the positive words, nic-e!

More photos this weekend.

[precinctomega]

Nah man, you need to hire a talented young fan of your rules to do the work for you. 

Seriously, I'd love to.  But you'd be amazed how little difference to my general income publishing my own rules has made.

R.

[YPU]

Looking further it appears there are no normal gundam Wing bad guy suit gashapons, only SD versions. this makes me sad, the leo and tallgeese will forever hold a place in my heart. I guess I shall have to print some myself.

Seriously, I'd love to.  But you'd be amazed how little difference to my general income publishing my own rules has made.

Well, I work cheap.  But yeah, my biggest frustration in the hobby is that everybody is brimming with good idea's and never enough time and money for them. Such is life I guess.

[Macrossmartin]

no sorry you cant print your own gundams. Have not the 'experts' told you 3d printing is incapable of making wargames figures!

Thank you, Scurv, I needed a laugh today... 

Speaking of laughs, here's a few shots of one of the stranger vehicles from the Gundam universe: The Gunperry heavy transport aircraft...

They come as hard styrene, push-together kits like this...



... which I thought was a bit too primary for my tastes, so I repainted mine thus:





I think they look a bit more military now. But there's no hiding the fact they look like something Derek Meddings threw together from kit parts for a background scene for an episode of Thunderbirds. 

More fun next time!

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting pieces of kit.

The lift fans would look better on the body not the cargo (or maybe I have been watching too much MCU).

Having never seen them in action, do they drop the boxes for the gundams?

[Macrossmartin]

Interesting pieces of kit.

The lift fans would look better on the body not the cargo (or maybe I have been watching too much MCU).

Having never seen them in action, do they drop the boxes for the gundams?

That's how the crazy things appear in the anime. There's doors on the sides that can open downwards after landing, but the whole container is also capable of splitting down the middle and swinging open in two halves, allowing a Mobile Suit in each half to drop out. In that respect, the position of the outer fans sort of makes sense; it they were attached to the fuselage the container halves would interfere with the fans.

[arloid]

I'm not often a fan of big armoured mechs, but for this I make a exception. Great job!
by the way, what program do you actually use to sculpt those weapons, I'm interested.

[Macrossmartin]

I'm not often a fan of big armoured mechs, but for this I make a exception. Great job!
by the way, what program do you actually use to sculpt those weapons, I'm interested.

Arloid, I'm working in a freeware program called Art of Illusion. It's a bit limited compared to more modern programs, but I like its interface, and it is fine for simple things like I'm doing. I'd hate to try sculpting cloth or organic detail in AoI...

I'll post some renders of the Star Trek inspired ships I've sculpted in AoI when I can (watch for a separate thread).

[arloid]

Ah, that's the first time I ever heard of that program. I'm mainly into moddeling terrain, but I'm still looking for a sculpting program so you got me there.

I'm a big fan of Star Trek lately so I can't wait to see them.