(KICKSTARTER) Reaper CAV: Strike Operations

[beefcake]

People that back the reaper bones range, like me, expect to get a huge amount of miniatures for a small price. I imagine a lot of people expexted that when this started. Therefore if it doesn't reach a bunch of people will drop out. I never said it would fail and I only said a few backers. I think you took my words out of context. This was merely a comment on how this kickstarter is doing terribly in comparison to previous attempts by reaper. It's still more than my yearly salary. 

[mcfonz]

I wasn't really questioning what you said, just pointing out that at least one of the others failed for completely self inflicted wounds. 

And that if this one failed, it would be for entirely different reasons, and am in agreement that it is a niche compared to generic fantasy.

[beefcake]

Sorry mcfonz, that was a reply to Glenn.

[mcfonz]

Sorry mcfonz, that was a reply to Glenn.

 

Woops!

[eilif]

Anway, getting back to the CAV mechs in the kickstarter. Reaper just posted close-ups and measurements of the first 8 designs.  I think the pics show that Bones isn't perfect for this, but there's nothing wrong with these models that's going to be noticeable after my paint job.  I do think though that folks with very high painting standards will find that these might not be quite good enough for them.

[Dr.Falkenhayn]

here are a few Scaleshots from my CAV's (Metal Models) vs CBT







few more Pics here 

http://thewargaminghipster.blogspot.ch/

i know Bones is meant to be cheaper Material,still the Details on those Mechs look very soft.Just to clarify crisp Details on 10mm Scale, looks like this 

[eilif]

Thanks for those pics! 

What is the truck in the bottom?  It looks really sharp and crisp! Unfortunately it really shows the difference between resin and Bones. I still think the Bones mechs will be good enough for me if they size up with my Mechwarrior clix, but the resin certainly appears to be the superior medium.

[Elbows]

I don't think they scale well with Clix...aren't the clicks much closer to 10mm scale, while the CAV are more 6mm? (they match well with classic BT mechs --- which are substantially smaller than their clix counterparts).

[pixelgeek]

Mechwarrior clicks were 12mm

[eilif]

Mechwarrior clicks were 12mm

The clix were not terribly consistently sized or scaled, but the intended scale was not 12mm.  It was stated by the company to be N scale at 1:160, aka 10mm.

I don't think they scale well with Clix...aren't the clicks much closer to 10mm scale, while the CAV are more 6mm? (they match well with classic BT mechs --- which are substantially smaller than their clix counterparts).

Elbows, CAV's were designed (I have this from the sculptor John Bear Ross) at 1/160, which is the same as Mechwarrior.  Oddly, Reaper now says that this version of CAV is officially 1/180 and 10mm ( ??) despite using many of the original sculpts with no modifications, though a few are reportedly being resized.

The issue in comparing them is that Battlemechs are just larger than CAV's in general.  This evening I took the measurements of some of my mechwarriors and the larger CAV's scaled up as light or small medium mechs,with the smallest being smaller than most any Mechwarrior minis and scaling up better with 1/300 scale Battletech miniatures.  The heavy and Assault Battlemechs from Mechwarrior were up to 75mm tall, which doesn't sound like much taller than the 50 and 55mm of the larger CAV's but they're also significantly wider.

I'm still wrestling over whether to stay with the full pledge that I'm presently signed up for, or just pledge for a couple of the largest CAV's.  I've already got a ton of Mechwarrior units that need to be repainted.  Plus it would be fun to pick these up from time to time at the FLGS where we sometimes game.  So much of what I buy they can't carry that it'd be nice to have something else I can buy from them.

[Grimmnar]

Man convo's like this is why i wish the industry would finally lay out a scale system and everyone abide by it. Old topic. Old fight.

Grimm

[Elbows]

I wouldn't say it's a fight at all (until the "this is the only good scale!" crowd runs in...) but rather a hugely missed opportunity between model companies, game companies etc.  What blows my mind is the lack of cross-over between wargaming companies and model companies.  Can you imagine the market for companies like Tamiya, Revell, etc. if they'd actually introduce say 1/56 scale lines of their products?

I think the same when I see companies come out and shoot themselves in the foot with 34-36mm figures...which don't work with any 28-32's etc.  There are a lot of really silly things companies could do better to work with each other instead of soldiering on in proprietary scales etc.  I think 6mm is a pretty well accepted scale for a lot of games, particularly sci-fi robot scale.

The new Robotech miniatures for their game "should" match well enough with BT stuff, and should be 6mm (1/285th?).  So we're at least seeing some move in the right direction.  Who knows.  What bugs me more than anything though is inaccurate scales within a line of figures themselves (ala a lot of clix games where the base/box size determines the max size of certain lines of figures).

Oh well...it'll likely never change.

[beefcake]

I'd love for revell or Tamiya to make a 1/56 scale. The kit bashing I'd do with that!

[WitchfinderGeneral]

IMO the mechas have the same problem as the 28mm bones: for the provided level of detail they're still not cheap enough. Postage, tax and customs on top of it makes this KS absolutely uninteresting for me.

[eilif]

I'd love for revell or Tamiya to make a 1/56 scale. The kit bashing I'd do with that!

Have you looked at 1/48 model kits? There aren't anywhere near as many ground vehicles in that scale as 1/35 or 1/72, but there quite a few. This is especially true if doing sci-fi as there is a bit more wiggle room.  They tend to look pretty good along side 28mm figures. I've got a cheapo kittech or Academy (Don't recall which) 1/48 Bradley M3 that will someday make a cracking sci-fi apc, and I've got a nice 1/48 Merkava that I converted into a ruined SF tank terrain piece with a few Tau bits.