I love big Mechs and I cannot lie

[Predatorpt]

I finally convinced my brother on giving a chance to Battletech (since he was already seeing a show on Twitch called "Death From Above", where they use big 3d-printed Battlemechs for their battle) and now he's devouring all my books. But the boardgame that I have is the old one, with cardboard counters, and buying the new one/assorted mechs doesn't appeal to me, since I really don't like the metal figures and I have zero interest in that scale.

So I've decided I would try and do a Mech game where I could use all the assorted 28mm stuff I have laying around. It won't be Battletech, but it will be inspired by it at least in the background.

The idea is having small Mercenaries outfits (couple of vehicles; a couple of mechs; infantry and, with some luck, some aerial support) that can be used in a RPG-like campaign where they can gain experience points(money ), giving them options for buying more stuff. Of course I still haven't found the right set of rules to do this, but at least I'm painting and building miniatures with my brother!

The first "official" miniatures that I'm working on for the project are these ones: A Deimos Vindicator Laser Destroyer (Horus Heresy model), with some other resin bits added:






The build was easy enough but I'm not a Green stuff wizard, so I left lots of gaps visible. Hope to hide them later, with stowage for instance. Still haven't decided if I want to use the damn exhausts since they don't match the lines of the model, making it look old-fashioned. Maybe I'll just use 2 of them on the back? 

The other models are being assembled by my brother and are Gundams  Those cheap ones everyone is always talking about - bought a car-load of them from HLJ and from a local dealer. They will be Light Mechs on the setting (sort of bigger than power-armor)



With the laser destroyer for scale:

[Elbows]

I'll be following this with interest.

[Admiral Alder]

Predatorpt.
Great Start, as someone with a gundam project in the pipeline I'll be following your project with interest.

[Hat Guy]

As someone who's been kitbashing GW stuff into my own SF creations, I salute your enthusiasm! Can't wait to see where this goes!

[Predatorpt]

Thanks guys, hope I can keep motivated enough to finish this project!

[Daeothar]

You'd better; now we all want to see where you're going with this...

Great stuff. Is that Rhino variant an existing GW kit, or did you kitbash that? (I've been out of the loop regarding 40K kits for many years now )

Loving the Gundams as well. They might be useful for my own project too. Whenever I check for Gundams these days, all I can usually find are the really over the top crazy ones with swords sticking out of their knees, guns the size of skyscrapers, ridiculous shields strapped to their elbows and enough stuff sticking out of their heads to make a moose jealous...  At least yours look suitably plain.

Keep it up; we'll badger you into continuing...

[Vanvlak]

Great stuff. Is that Rhino variant an existing GW kit, or did you kitbash that? (I've been out of the loop regarding 40K kits for many years now Wink )

Ditto - not familiar with this one.
Looking forward to see more. 

[The_Beast]

I don't, but I DO love hearing that song with those words. 

There were some 'museum' quality models (6"-8" tall?) for 'tech that came out long ago, but even those weren't THAT big. Honking, I say. 

If you DO want to try closer to usual, but still larger-than-the-metal, you might have a look at the old cliccie MechWarrior mechs. I've been buying up some collections, but for the tanks and infantry. I've put the mechs up at the store for $5USD apiece.

They're soft vinyl, think Heroclix and Mage Knight, but the paint jobs are fair, and for large already painted figs, seems fair.

I thought that Deimos was an expensive resin...

Doug

[Predatorpt]

Great stuff. Is that Rhino variant an existing GW kit, or did you kitbash that? (I've been out of the loop regarding 40K kits for many years now )

Ditto - not familiar with this one.
Looking forward to see more. 

...I thought that Deimos was an expensive resin...

Glad I surprised everyone, . The tank is a Forgeworld model of a 30K (aka Horus Heresy) era vehicle:

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Deimos-Vindicator-Laser-Destroyer



The Horus Heresy vehicles have very clean lines when compared with the usual 40k stuff. Since the Emperor was still alive and his cult didn't exist, we don't get the skulls/crosses combination we see in later vehicles.

...Loving the Gundams as well. They might be useful for my own project too. Whenever I check for Gundams these days, all I can usually find are the really over the top crazy ones with swords sticking out of their knees, guns the size of skyscrapers, ridiculous shields strapped to their elbows and enough stuff sticking out of their heads to make a moose jealous...  At least yours look suitably plain.

Yeah, that was one of my problems. Most of the Gundams are over the top. But I've made a selection of plainer models. I'll take some pictures and post them here. Maybe it will help further projects like yours.

..There were some 'museum' quality models (6"-8" tall?) for 'tech that came out long ago, but even those weren't THAT big. Honking, I say. 

If you DO want to try closer to usual, but still larger-than-the-metal, you might have a look at the old cliccie MechWarrior mechs. I've been buying up some collections, but for the tanks and infantry. I've put the mechs up at the store for $5USD apiece.

They're soft vinyl, think Heroclix and Mage Knight, but the paint jobs are fair, and for large already painted figs, seems fair...

Thanks for the suggestions! I have some of the old Clix mechs, but  the good ones seem harder and harder to find. I usually just see vehicles and those wonky Forestry Mechs.

[The_Beast]

Didn't surprise me; £51 is DAMN expensive to me.

Whether resin, plastic, metal, fromage...

Doug

[Predatorpt]

Didn't surprise me; £51 is DAMN expensive to me.

Whether resin, plastic, metal, fromage...

Doug

Yeah, they are...unless you can get them cheaper. That's what I did.

For good gaming mecha the Zeon faction ones are the best. The Zaku variants being some of the best.

Some of my Gundams where bought after reading some of your threads, hope you like the selection!

Here's what I'm using right now and that I already posted on the thread:




On the building line:






And if you buy the Hi-Mock, I suggest buying this:


More useful Gundams:



This one will be great in both Sci-Fi and Weird War


Not-Gundam related, but in my building line for the game, thanks to Vanvlak!

[Predatorpt]

Forgot about the "drone" I'm going to be using



And today was a very busy day. Some of you may remember the resin Osiris Battlemech that I was selling on my topic. After some thought I decided to keep it and assemble it. And it has been a nightmare! I've read that the original model has been retired due to the mold wearing out in 2012 and I guess that I ended receiving one of the last ones. There isn't a single a piece without a mold slip and I had to use tons of Green stuff to try and cover that. Also ended using plasticard 



The best cast part is the cabin

[eilif]

Sorry to hear about the Osiris, but what an awesome project!

I share your enthusiasm for Giant Stompy Robots in 28mm.  Each year I run a 28mm Robot game at Adepticon (and sometimes Little Wars) using a variety of Mech models, vehicles and troops.    Honestly I find 1/144 Gundams to be a bit small, but they are definitely affordable and look very cool on the battlefield. Our battles have units from Void, Kryomek, Sedition Wars, Vor, AT43, Dust, Mechwarrior Die Cast, Robotech Toys, Robogear as well as Macross, Gasraki and Gundam model kits and others I've probably forgotten.

If you haven't settled on a ruleset yet, I highly recommend Mech Attack.  With doubled ranges (It's written for 15mm) it works great for 28mm and it is very fast playing while still containing everything you we love about mech combat. 

You can see our Adepticon game from last week here:
http://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116
Both the Game at Adepticon and the playtest we did earlier in 10mm with rebased mechwarrior clix.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this project.

[Predatorpt]

Sorry to hear about the Osiris, but what an awesome project!

I share your enthusiasm for Giant Stompy Robots in 28mm.  Each year I run a 28mm Robot game at Adepticon (and sometimes Little Wars) using a variety of Mech models, vehicles and troops.    Honestly I find 1/144 Gundams to be a bit small, but they are definitely affordable and look very cool on the battlefield. Our battles have units from Void, Kryomek, Sedition Wars, Vor, AT43, Dust, Mechwarrior Die Cast, Robotech Toys, Robogear as well as Macross, Gasraki and Gundam model kits and others I've probably forgotten.

If you haven't settled on a ruleset yet, I highly recommend Mech Attack.  With doubled ranges (It's written for 15mm) it works great for 28mm and it is very fast playing while still containing everything you we love about mech combat. 

You can see our Adepticon game from last week here:
http://www.chicagoskirmishwargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116
Both the Game at Adepticon and the playtest we did earlier in 10mm with rebased mechwarrior clix.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with for this project.

Thanks! Your posts are one of the things that me do this project. Of course you guys have some mechs that I could never find

Does "Mech Attack" have rules for combined arms? Infantry, tanks and aerospace fighters? Never really look at that ruleset with attention!

And I just saw your latest topic here - I bought the same cheap train from China! 

[eilif]

Thanks! Your posts are one of the things that me do this project. Of course you guys have some mechs that I could never find

Does "Mech Attack" have rules for combined arms? Infantry, tanks and aerospace fighters? Never really look at that ruleset with attention!

And I just saw your latest topic here - I bought the same cheap train from China!  

Happy to be inspiring!

Mech Attack has Rules for Mecha, Infantry and Tanks.  Aircraft rules are in the Beta phase and can be gotten on their forum.  The author is working on a 2.0 version of the rules that should have them all in one place.

As for our units, some of the stuff we have is a alot less common (though still findable if you're patient) but much of it was just a matter of waiting for the kits to show up used or on Hobbylink Japan.  The Macross kits tend to be out of stock alot, but they seem to come back into production every year or so and when they do they're remarkably cheap.  The Tehnolog tank kits and robogear mechs are also super-affordable.  I'm kind of a cheapo for these projects, but I can honestly say that over the course of this project I've probably spent the same-or-less for my 25-28mm mecha that I would have spent on 6mm metal BT mechs from IWM!