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Hey BattleTech thread! I used to play GW games as a kid and briefly again in my late teens but then other stuff happened. It’s been, what, at least 12 years since I’ve touched a mini? My cousin who I used to play with is pretty much the same and he bought some Dark Eldar to paint for fun the other day. That ended up in me being sucked into a horrible YouTube vortex of miniature content and got me thinking painting something and playing a miniature war game again might be decent fun. I have no interest in jumping into any GW poo poo again with their prices and godawful practices, so I started eyeing BattleTech after seeing some of the boxes at a game store a week or so back. I really like the idea of just getting a couple of mechs, painting them and being able to play a game with them right away. I’d like to get the Beginner Box but that seems to be severely out of print. Am I understanding correctly that it’s being rereleased this fall? I was thinking I could get that and some paints, see if I can still handle a brush, and if it’s fun, I can buy the A Game of Armored Combat box and perhaps even more mechs somewhere down the line if I really dig it. Also, I’m a bit confused about the multitude of different mechs and rule books out there. If I end up getting the AGoAC box and then buy a box of mechs that I like the looks of, where will I get the rules for those specific mechs? Do I need the Manual? Or just look them up online? Or if I buy a box of Clan mechs, do I have to have the Clan Invasion book to play with them? I’m aware that you need Total Warfare to play with anything else than mechs and also that I could play pretty much any object as anything but I do like the idea of having the actual models I want to play with. a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jul 24, 2022 |
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Jul 24, 2022 19:39
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 09:07 |
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Strobe posted:Early copies of the new printing of the Beginners Box should make an appearance at GenCon, with the full run expected this fall, yes. Taerkar posted:Battletech in general does not have any requirement for models to be specific to what you're fielding. For one there are a lot more official designs (especially vehicles) than official miniatures are and in general the only real rule is each unit must be represented differently on the board and have a means of determining facing. If you're going straight up scale terrain it's better to have the correct models or something similar to it just for LoS checks and the like. Thanks for the replies! Battletech got my attention because it seemed to me that I can basically play whatever I buy right out of the box so it’s cool that that’s pretty much how it actually is with the record sheets being available online. I’ll report back when I eventually get some mechs and manage to paint them as well. Might take a while, though, especially if I in fact want to wait for that new Beginner Box.
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Jul 25, 2022 18:26
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This seems like the perfect time to jump into Battletech if this controversy cleans out some of the scum lol Eyeing the Clan Heavy Star box, might just get that to paint. It appears the kinds of mechs I’m drawn to 1) are big and heavy 2) don’t look like Transformers. I’m moving to another country in a week so everything is on hold until I get settled, though
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Jul 31, 2022 11:02
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I was just grabbing a hobby kit to paint my new mechs (ended up buying AGOAC after all) today and what do you know, I actually happened to look at hex bases at the shop. They had some IWM mechs and I was surprised to see they didn’t come with bases, which is why I checked if they had any. So, would these in fact be suitable? https://themakerscult.com/shop/product/aristeia-30mm-hexagonal-bases/ They don’t have the raised lip part, unlike the Reaper or Proxie ones.
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Aug 10, 2022 01:03
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Here they are, my first painted miniatures in like 15 years and my first ever mechs! I genuinely didn’t remember how much I enjoyed painting and how time flies doing it. I feel like the mechs are just nice minis to paint as well. I never was and apparently still am not the most amazing or patient painter but it seems like I can still hold a brush, also I’m happy with my color schemes and they look decent from further away. Think I’m most pleased with how the Battlemaster and Awesome turned out. Of course, they still need to based but that might have to wait until I’m back in Finland in a year. Now to just get some games under my belt! Played a couple of test games with the girlfriend the other day and definitely dug it despite it being pretty slow going having to check and double check all the rules. Found some people to play with here in Berlin, just haven’t had time to meet up with them. Also I’m already lusting after new lance boxes... Might get two to add a lance to both ”teams”.
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Aug 23, 2022 22:31
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Fearless posted:My mercs thus far: That is nice as hell, gently caress
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Aug 24, 2022 16:58
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Do all Ironwind Metal mechs come without bases? A store here in Germany is selling some cool-looking Shadow Hawk and Wolverine variants and it’s be cool if I had a Wolverine and a Hawk in both of my forces. Just wondering if I need to buy bases to go along with them.
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Aug 27, 2022 19:19
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I couldn’t find any information, reviews or comments on the Death Ray Designs Battlefield Debris box online so I decided to make my own. Whipped up a video and a new YouTube channel for it. https://youtu.be/ui0Guj-pwjM In short: Ten bucks/euros gets you a fairly sizeable chunk of largely usable bits and bobs scaled for BattleTech. You’ll have to be the judge on whether you can drop a tenner on something like this or not, I’m happy with my purchase.
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Sep 4, 2022 20:13
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Played my first ever proper game of BT yesterday! My opponent was a 30-year veteran. Real nice guy and we’ll be playing more. I took Blackjack/Battlemaster/Thunderbolt while my opponent went with Charger CGR-1A5/Catapult/Hunchback. Thundebolt delivered, Battlemaster slightly underperformed, Blackjack served the role I’d envisioned for it (eat the Catapult LRMs while the big boys handle the real business). My veteran opponent threw very poorly including losing nearly all initiative rolls and failing a number of PSRs on the Charger. The Battlemaster kicked it in the leg and then it basically spent the rest of the game sitting on its rear end and getting kicked a bunch by the BM and Thunderbolt. Boy did it soak up some damage, though.  Later I was able to blast off Catapult’s LRMs and one leg and that was basically it. With the Charger gone, the Catapult essentially crippled and my BM and TB still in decent health my opponent conceded defeat  I had a bunch of fun and several rules I’d misunderstood or just not read well enough are now clear. Also, I really like how 80% of the game revolves around movement, facing, distance and target priority - it’s all about responding to the situation and trying to get the most out of your mechs at that moment. Wanna play more!
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Sep 8, 2022 17:09
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Anyone here play infantry? The last models I painted 15 years ago were Epic 40k Orks which I never played with. However, I did enjoy painting 6 mm infantry. So when I realized you could have infantry in BattleTech too, I knew I wanted some. There’s basically no official plastic infantry available (elementals aren’t conventional infantry) but I was happy to find Death Ray Designs’s 6 mm models. And, since I could find very little information on them online, I decided to buy some myself and make my own video on them. https://youtu.be/vqMJ3PkdL9U Highly recommended if you’re interested in fielding some infantry in your BattleTech force!
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Sep 10, 2022 10:47
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Yeah, those cockpits are impeccable. Dig the color scheme as well. Here’s some stuff I finished moments ago, a load of infantry as well as the two biggest mechs I have  Right now I still have an Orion and a Crusader to paint. Orion will be red like the Marauder II and Crusader will be black and gold like Atlas. Then I’ll get the Beginner Box and some tanks. I need more poo poo to paint!!!
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Sep 24, 2022 08:16
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Hell yeah baby Have you already played with more than one mech per side? It really multiplies the things you mentioned. Movement, positioning and initiative are really the most fascinating things about BT in my opinion. It’s just so dynamic and almost ”cinematic”. Both players reacting to each other’s moves and trying to think one step further than the other at all times. FishFood posted:you don't spend a lot of time waiting on your opponent, and when you are something interesting is usually happening. I honestly find myself hoping for the opponent to score crits on my mechs, I want to see poo poo explode
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Sep 26, 2022 11:10
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In Finland; Fantasiapelit or Puolenkuun Pelit, the latter is cheaper. I would however recommend the German shops Scifi-Trader.net and Fantasywelt.de. They tend to have just about everything in stock and Scifi-Trader is a specifically BT-focused store. Edit: checked and Scifi-Trader does have plenty of copies of AGOAC. I think they just restocked. a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Sep 29, 2022 15:07
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I like that they apparently just come in a brown cardboard box. They don’t deserve artMarx Headroom posted:$5 per Urbanmech is actually a pretty good deal. But I will never field 12 Urbanmechs. Guess you could buy a box with a couple of buddies or something. I’d like one or perhaps two Urbanmechs but any more is overkill
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Sep 30, 2022 22:04
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Defiance Industries posted:I always explain it like this: Please sir I just need to grab a can of tomato soup, I’m already running late
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Oct 7, 2022 11:14
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It’s BattleTech, you can always just say your mechs are camouflaged appropriately. Or whatever, really. My bright red 100-tonner Marauder II is actually a Flea in a ghillie suit in this game Really for me it’s this Fearless posted:And in tabletop terms, it makes it easier to tell my stuff apart from someone else's. I am however painting my tanks in deserty camouflage because I want them to theoretically work for any force that might bring along tanks, including a generic militia. Here’s one of my tanks I just finished  Not 100% sure about the brighter metallic on top, might just end up painting it brown. Kinda wanted some kind of accent color but didn’t like how white, red, blue or green looked. Any ideas? a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 11:14 on Oct 10, 2022 |
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Oct 10, 2022 10:54
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lilljonas posted:So I committed battletech today and picked up a box (IS heavy lance). The FLGS only had two IS lance boxes and two Clanner star ones, none of the actual starting boxes or rulebooks. I don't think there's much of a local BT scene, so I'm looking at painting up at least two sides myself. After looking around, the Free Rasalhague appeals to me, both as a filthy scandigoon and that I like several of their paint schemes. The Hatchetman also feels suitably space vikingy. We in da same FB group, saw your post there. Hi! Also a Nordicgoon (Finland), perhaps one day we’ll meet on the battlefield. Who knows, maybe someone in your city sees your post on FB and you get some games going. Happened for me. Or just convert your friends If you’re totally unfamiliar with the rules at this point, you can get the basic quickstart rules over at https://bg.battletech.com/downloads/ But do bear in mind that these are simplified rules that don’t use the full record sheets.
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Oct 12, 2022 13:22
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Fearless posted:Inner Sphere pilots have a ragged hole carved through the upholstery of their seats, inches away from the raging furnace of their reactor. Clan mechwarriors have piss jugs which they have to carefully launch out of an open window in their canopies in such a way as to clear the opening and not dishonour their mech or clan's insignia with a shower of gnarly warrior piss. They should come up with a far more sophisticated system where if you have a missile pack your poo poo & piss is converted into a stinky projectile.
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Oct 19, 2022 11:03
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I think the answer is that there’s always exceptions to the extent where you can explain just about anything in a lore-friendly way. Like for example the Panther is a classic Kurita mech, they fielded tons of them. However, that doesn’t mean any other faction wouldn’t have a Panther or two or several dozen - through salvage and opportune trade deals etc. any force might end up with anything. If your ”exclusively heavies/assaults” force is down a mech, replacements are far away and you have the chance to grab a Wolverine or whatever, that’s what you’ll get. Or perhaps you need that Locust to scout some poo poo from time to time.
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Oct 30, 2022 10:06
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There’s a comprehensive cockpit guide floating around the net if you need it, it’s by one of the people who’ve designed the new mechs. I can’t find a link online right now but I have it in my files so if you need it, hit me up
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Nov 2, 2022 14:21
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PoptartsNinja posted:Did Catalyst release a list of their planned tanks somewhere? One of the designers tweeted/posted concept art of a Patton, someone on the official forums asked if the Rommel was getting new art too, some CGL person replied ”never, you know why and this doesn’t need to be discussed” and then the morons went off. IF they wanted to avoid this exact thing, which they must have known would happen, they could’ve said ”we decided to fold the Rommel into the Patton as a variant to streamline things” and that probably would’ve been enough - apart for the most idiotic few. What a dumb shitass argument
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Nov 3, 2022 20:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:Telling Nazis (who likely don't play the game but are just stirring poo poo) to gently caress off now so they can move on to their next manufactured "outrage" before the kickstarter rolls out might not be a terrible idea. 100% absolutely! That’s why I wrote ”if” in all caps, my assumption was they did intend to tell them to gently caress off and not try to avoid this.
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Nov 3, 2022 21:33
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I attempted to fix the Shadow Hawk’s poo poo rear end LRM launcher, here’s the end product Also did a short video on the procedure on YouTube https://youtu.be/7tJL1sozrA0 Modelling and painting kinda feel more fun than I think it ever did as a kid. Not sure if that’s actually the case but I’m finding a level of relaxation in painting that I rarely find nowadays with other hobbies/pastimes.
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Nov 4, 2022 06:43
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FishFood posted:Just demoed the game for my buddy and I think it may have been the best game demo ever? We were doing a 2v2 against my regular opponent, I gave my friend a Wolverine, I'm in a Battlemaster, and my more experienced buddy has a Wolverine and a Marauder. Well, my new friend managed to get a through-armor critical with his SRM-6 against the Marauder, exploding its ammo. CASE kept it standing, but a couple of turns later another of his SRMs hit the head, forcing the pilot to test for consciousness, which he failed and passed out, landing directly on his cockpit killing him stone dead. Just a hilarious series of events and I think we sold my friend on the game. Hell yeah I did two demo games for some friends and family last week and everyone liked it. My cousin (old wargamer) figured he’d get some mechs himself, so I’d consider that a success. I thought a lot about it - what’s actually the best way to go about demoing BT to new players? You want to emphasize the fun and cool sides (in my opinion: BT’s most interesting gameplay mechanics in initiative/movement/positioning, mechs getting punched in the face and poo poo exploding) and minimize the less interesting parts (games taking a very long time especially when learning the game, missing shots, ammo management…). I ended up fielding Vindicator & Jenner vs Shadow Hawk & Wolverine controlled by the newbies. It went exactly how I’d hoped both times (Vindicator and Jenner gave the newbies a good fight but the more balanced and durable team ended up grabbing victory in spectacular, violent fashion). I intend to do a video/talk on YouTube about the subject in the near-ish future. There really isn’t much on it yet. a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Nov 7, 2022 |
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Nov 7, 2022 09:47
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My fear with heavies and assaults is that the mechs can be very tough to kill, which’ll drag the demo game on. The moments where I’ve found BT the most uninteresting have been when it’s slow mechs plinking away at each other from a distance and missing most of the time. Of course, heavier mechs do come with more firepower which might end the game quicker… Wolvie and Shadow Hawk I chose because they’re OK at everything, carry weapons in all range brackets but like to be aggressive and get physical. The problem that my cousin identified was that nothing they carry is particularly spectacular, apart from the Wolverine’s SRM-6 (which doesn’t tend to be as impressive as a good PPC hit). I was very pleased with my demo games but they could be improved on and I’m sure there’s a lot to be discussed and considered here. Something I’m 100% sure about is however that it should be a 2v2 game - any more mechs and the game gets very slow and complicated for a newbie, and 1v1 is just not that interesting when it comes to the main gameplay of initiative/movement/positioning. a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Nov 7, 2022 |
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Nov 7, 2022 14:19
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That looks amazing my dude
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Nov 7, 2022 23:54
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I really like the strong edge highlights, makes me think of like a cel-shaded sort of look.
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Nov 8, 2022 10:58
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Clearly nothing you can do with it. The only solution is to send it to me, I will take good care of it
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Nov 11, 2022 16:47
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Is the old …Mechs! plastic mech box set worth 40-50€? Someone on German Ebay is selling a mint condition one with untouched mechs. Most of those old sculpts are wack as hell but I still kinda want it Edit: to be clear, it’s basically the same as this https://www.sarna.net/wiki/BattleMechs:_Plastic_Miniatures a cyborg mug fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Nov 12, 2022 |
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Nov 12, 2022 23:08
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Thanks for the post & photo! Yeah, I ended up not buying the box. There are a couple of decent ones in there (like that BattleMaster) but the new plastics are just ludicrously much better than the old stuff and I don’t know if I’d ever want to put such models on the table, even if painted to perfection (which I’m the wrong guy for). The idea of MORE MECHS (and somewhat rare ones at that) just tempted me. Incidentally it looks like I’ll be taking part in a Christmas tournament in Magdeburg where the prizes seem to be some of those Unseen plastics. Guess I might end up with some of them anyway.
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Nov 13, 2022 21:01
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Crossposting this from the Classic BT FB group because it’s a discussion I want to have What’s the best part of BattleTech’s gameplay? A lot of people say ”you come for the mechs, you stay for the lore”, but I wanted to think about very specifically the moment-to-moment gameplay, because I do think BattleTech is a fun game to play on the tabletop. I found precious little discussion on this on YouTube at least and decided to throw in my two cents with a short talk. The gameplay elements I chose to talk about in the video are: 1. Initiative (as in: not IGYG, but the simultaneousness of it all) 2. Damage (how it affects gameplay and even more how immersive it is) 3. Movement and positioning (the absolute core of BT’s tactical gameplay, really the gameplay element the game is ”about”) I recorded this somewhat spontaneously last week and now that I listen back to it, there’s a lot more I could have talked about when it comes to those three things. But maybe it’s a decent opener for a discussion. What do you think is the best part of actually playing BT on the tabletop? https://youtu.be/_rJ1IwUOnjs
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Nov 25, 2022 09:16
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Yeah, like I say in the video, the damage is definitely the most fun part of BT’s gameplay. Damage = most fun Movement & positioning = most interesting, the tactical meat of the game Initiative/alternating activation = ties the simulation together
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Nov 25, 2022 15:20
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My next IS company has a color scheme picked out by my SO and god drat it orange is a pain in the rear end to paint WHY are orange and yellow paints like this? I don’t have this problem with any other colors. You need a million layers to have something close to acceptable coverage. Color scheme is great though, will post a photo when my Hunchback and her Raven (her first time ever painting) are done. Teal/orange/black, maybe white for the cockpits
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Nov 27, 2022 14:17
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AFAIK you’ll just want the AS Commander’s Edition. If I’ve understood correctly, the rules in the box set are going to be the quick-start rules found on CGL’s website: https://bg.battletech.com/wp-content/uploads/Alpha%20Strike%20Quick%20Start%20Rules%202019-08.pdf What those rules don’t have are rules for everything that’s not mechs and also the full gamut of special abilities in the game. I’m gonna guess the box set will only have mechs with those ”introductory” special abilities, so you’ll need the special abilities in the Commander’s Edition to be able to use all of your mechs. And yeah you’ll have to print out the Alpha Strike cards for the mechs you want to use, unless you already got them in your lance pack, box set etc. I got Commander’s Edition as a PDF in the recent Humble Bundle on the cheap. Maybe it’s still running I dunno
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Nov 28, 2022 13:00
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Inspired by my girlfriend’s favorite set of bed linen, the first two mechs in my third (already? Jeez) merc company  Hunchie is mine, Raven is her first time ever painting a miniature. Great job by her!
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Nov 28, 2022 14:22
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Love the look of those strong edge highlights, gives them an almost Tron-like lookSkyeAuroline posted:Then I'm finally done for a while. Lol sure, sure
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Nov 28, 2022 17:40
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Do it and post pictures, imho Should look pretty great!
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Nov 30, 2022 00:18
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Here’s my BattleTech Deutschland Secret Santa mech  Guy likes Highlanders so I got one on eBay. Painted it in my merc company colors. Looks like this is pretty much the limit of painting ability and patience at this point, but I did in fact put in some extra effort and time into this guy. Even tried re-posing for the first time ever, removed the legs and now whoever gets this will have a unique charging Highlander. Looking forward to whatever mech I end up getting for Christmas!
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Dec 1, 2022 10:02
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I’ve got TacOps as a PDF and it’s just a fun book to read through. Some great stuff there, like mechs exploding into smithereens if hit in the engine enough times in one turn. Floppychop posted:Yeah, battle damage would be my best option outside of a full repaint. It's nearly all white so any spot-repaint would be pretty obvious. Holy poo poo what is that tiny rear end mech on the right. I need it, it is my new favorite. What a cutie! (Also fantastic paint jobs!)
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Dec 7, 2022 21:44
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Dr. Lunchables posted:Which one is the Timberwolf Pryde? I’m trying to remember where each of those came from. The prime and Wolfs Dragoons are pretty obvious, but I’m blanking on the rest. Pryde is from the Legendary Mechwarriors box, the TC is the premium posable model
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Dec 12, 2022 16:51
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