Classic Battletech

[Daemonette666]

Love me some BT. Literally just dug my old rulebook and compendiums out from a box in hopes of getting some of my 40K mates into it...i'm really trying to branch out these days.

Most people do not want to get into another gaming system, or find the rules too complicated. The seem to go with GW's range of games, War Machine, or Maifaux. Those who have played before, just seem disinterested in getting back into it.

I have been trying to get Classic Battletech going at my local gaming shop/club. There were a few guys playing i at my local gaming shop/club. They were learning the new version of the rules, and when I tried to help them out, one practically told me to P**s off. You see I showed him where the rule to something they were doing wrong was referenced in the new rule book. They were shooting weapons from and arm attached to a destroyed torso on a level 1 mech. He said that since the arm had not been destroyed or had a 12 rolled for criticals he was still able to use the weapons on it. The guy was embarrassed when I showed corrected him, because he told the others he had read up on the new rules.

Well I have not seen them in the shop for a long time now, so that is their loss. I have a group of friends who I play CBT with and we meet at the house on Martin the GM who lives about 60 kilometers away. We are just starting our 10th or possibly 11th campaign after nearly 13 years of gaming together. We are now going against WOB at the start of the Jihad, and unfortunately Martin has hinted that the 52nd Shadow Division and the Mano Domini wil be show up later in the campaign.

Martin has me painting up about 18 vehicles, 12 new battle armour squads, and a few mechs to fill the gaps in his TO&E. I get paid to paint them, but white mechs are harder to paint than you would think. I like to include shading, and the grey undercoat keeps show through the white. I found that painting the 52nd Division colour scheme was a lot easier.

Between myself, Martin and another friend Geoff, we should be able to get around 4 companys (40 bases) of infantry with APC transports, 48 battle armour squads, 108 Vehicles, and 120 Battlemechs all painted in Comstar or WOB white and 52nd Shadow Division colour schemes.

Hopefully we will only be facing off against no more than 2 o3 level II formations of enemy during any one game. We only have 6 mech pilots, 8 mechs to choose to pilot from, 6 squads of battle armour, and 4 aerofighters pilots. At the end of the last campaign we had 2 dropships in average condition, that we only owe about 100 million C-bills on. We have a limit on what equipment we can keep because of the Wolf Dragoons Contract we signed. So we have to sell 4 aerofighters, 8 mechs that are really old or in bad condition, and will probably keep the extra 20 suits of battle armour in storage for resupply and parts.

I hated when CBT started to die off. It was such a popular game. Let's hope it makes a come back.

[therealjohnny5]

Agreed. How are you painting your white? Are you going for a "cool" or "warm" white? The secret to painting white is never actually painting pure white.

[Daemonette666]

Agreed. How are you painting your white? Are you going for a "cool" or "warm" white? The secret to painting white is never actually painting pure white.

Spray can on a Base coat in grey, then spray light grey from above miniature, then white after that. Each cost dries fully before next is added. Then I layer dry brush the whole thing in white, except where the shading would normally be. I add black lining to the mode in the crevices and armour joints, and gun metal to guns and sockets/ joints which are then washed with a watered down black pant. Detailing and other trim/checkered pattern colours are added after that.

Even after 4 or 5 dry brush layers of white, the grey colour leeches through, even though it looked covered when applied. It gets very annoying, which is why I have slowed my painting down.

[therealjohnny5]

As an alternative you can try base coating in Codex Gray (or equivalent). Start painting with 1:3 ratio of grey to white, really thin. Keep out of cracks as much as possible. Give it a wash of Badab Black, it'll fill the cracks. Then continue building up from the white mixture by adding more white and keeping it thin. Watch the cracks this time. It'll take a while but it'll come out pretty nice once you get used to it.

[Daemonette666]

As an alternative you can try base coating in Codex Gray (or equivalent). Start painting with 1:3 ratio of grey to white, really thin. Keep out of cracks as much as possible. Give it a wash of Badab Black, it'll fill the cracks. Then continue building up from the white mixture by adding more white and keeping it thin. Watch the cracks this time. It'll take a while but it'll come out pretty nice once you get used to it.

That is the problem, time. He always wants them done yesterday, and I hate having to wait for the watered down paint to dry.

I think I have found a solution, and it seems to work.

Undercoat in pure white. Use elf grey, or another pale grey colour on the shaded areas and beneath the vehicle/ mech. Add in boltgun metal on the metal parts which is then washed with a small ammount of watered down black so as not to get it on the white. Black line the mech in the grooves, which takes less time than multiple thin coats of paint, and then cut back any errors with white or grey as appropriate. Add in any decals or hand drawn designs/chequers and then base.

It seems to work well. and I make sure I have a separate brush for the black, the greys, the metal, and the white.

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I abbandoned everything GW back in 1995 and sold or traded them for Battletech. What does that make me?
Even though I have now gotten back into 40K and have 1000 minis across 5 armies.