My first battletech minis : detailled Introbox set plastic figs

[sundayhero]

Hi,

I just finished my 3 first lances for Battletech. I'm fascinated by the universe, the concept of giant robots, the scale of the game, the deepness of the game, everything. So a  couple of years ago, I bought 25th anniversary introbox set, and several books (total warfare, strategic operations, tro3039) all from last editions.

I spent so much money for paper that I decided to customize, improve, and paint the introbox set plastic minis. I started with an assault lance...And lost interest, because of the lack of players in my aera.

Last year I discovered solo gaming, with games like D&D adventure system, then Forlorn Hope, and recenlty (a few montsh ago), the 2HourWargame rulesets. So I decided to go back on Battletech, finish some minis and try to find a solo system to play. But that's another story.


Here's the minis' painting topic, after all 


I first home casted some home made metal hexes, to give some stability and weight to the plastic minis :




Then, I started customizing and conversion. New poses, pining, greenstuff...Nothing a LAF member doesn't know. Here's some samples of the conversions work :













The goal was to make 3 armies, from the Great Houses, each one based on 2 diferent lances. I already made 3 lances, 1 for each great House I choosed.

So once I was happy with poses, details and all,  I painted them !



My Liao Lance :

[sundayhero]

My Kurita lance :

[sundayhero]

My Davion lance :

















Now I'll do a break and paint something else (my fantasy and zombie projects are waiting me), and come back later on the 3 last lances. I will also probably make a Clan army based on the 2 high end plastic kit omnimech minis from the introbox.


In the mean time, I'll learn Quickstrike ruleset (faster an easier battletech ruleset), work on 3d scenery (to add to my heroscape sets), and try to find a good way to play it solo in campaigns (any help on this will be GREATLY appreciated...).

[Ironworker]

Beautiful work!  I was lazy with mine and just painted them up after some basic clean up. 

[Cherno]

Nice painting and good work on enhancing those plastic miniatures. I like the idea of selfmade metal bases as well. Cheap and sturdy

[Elbows]

Excellent work.  How many of those minis are plastic?  I recently purchased the original copies of 3025 and 3050 (the "real" Battletech to me).  Combining some older BT minis with the upcoming Robotech minis would allow me to play a real genuine Battletech game.

What are the sources for proper Battletech minis now?

[sundayhero]

All minis are plastic, from the introbox set. I modified them more or less heavily, depanding of each model.

Source for official battletech figures are mainly Ral Partha Europe and IronWind Metal (usa).


Thanks for the comments !

[kalamadea]

I would hardly call the intro box figs "absolute crap". They're not the best around, but a decent coat of paint and most of them look pretty darn good, as can be seen here. Some are pretty terrible, but most are definitely serviceable. And you can't beat the price! My only real complaint is the plastic they use and the bases are completely irregular and sets off my gamer OCD.

Soon to be a nonissue, they're redoing the box set and redoing all the plastic mechs.

[styx]

Great work! Can't wait to see the rest!

[Elbows]

I like the fact that the mechs are all old-school original design mechs from what I can see...one or two I can't name (is that a Wolfhound in there?).  I love the look of the stuff.  I think Battletech is a super stuffy game, but the universe is great.  I was just thumbing through some old Battletech novels in the used book store.  I read a ton of them as a high schooler.

[Grimmnar]

One i dont recognize. Other than that i think i have em pegged for the most part.
13.2 Bases
Cyclops, Atlas, Hunchback, Vindicator (Ugly Sculpt)
Hunchback, Back
Atlas, Front
JagerMech, Front
Spider, Front
Liao Lance
Vindicator, Atlas, Cyclops, Hunchback
Vindicator, Front and Back
Hunchback,  Front and Back
Cyclops,  Front and Back
Atlas,  Front and Back
Kurita Lance
Grasshopper
Zeus
Whitworth
Dragon
Davion Lance
Spider, Commando, Assassin, Enforcer
Commando
Enforcer
Spider
Assassin

Grimm

[sundayhero]

thanks for the comments !

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

awesome Stuff  i have a few Mechs in 1/60 Scale i'm working on 

[sundayhero]

1/60 ? It's huge 

[Elbows]

Maybe Macross based models?

So, when is the supposed new intro box coming out?  I'd definitely be interested in a set.  I think, combined with the Robotech minis that'd be more than enough for a couple of great games.  The Robotech minis will bring in:

Stinger
Valkyrie
Archer
Crusader
Marauder
Warhammer
Rifleman
Ostsol/Ostroc/Ostscout (with some conversion work)
Phoenix
Longbow
LAMs of all sorts

That combined with a intro box of 20+ mechs (if they're old school) would get me back into some form of Battletech gaming for sure.  Unfortunately I do think the Robotech minis won't scale appropriately (they're pretty big!)