CAS-4CP Buster Done!

Eureka. As the Rod Stewart song goes, It's been a long road, Getting from there to here..."

But now witness the completed combat armor model, fully magnetized and poseable ready to be deployed on the tabletop (imagine this said in Emperor Palpatine's voice). 

And yes, I'm pleased. In case that wasn't obvious.

So when will I get to play with my conversions?

Well, there's still no date because I haven't finished the first draft of the rules. But, progress is being made. I was talking on Zoom with my colleague who has so generously volunteered to help come up with how to design stuff within the Gate Walker – Bad Dog universe that I can say we've taken another step forward.

Obviously, it's easier to talk a good game than deliver a good game. I learnt a lot from writing OHMU War Machine, and what it takes to make or break a game.

I'm committed, now it's just a matter of the time it takes, because I won't publish a set of rules until I know they deliver what they promise. That's all for now.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Takara 1/48 Fattys

 

I managed to score four Takara Fattys off eBay via a dealer in Japan. These are Takara 1/48th scale Arctic Gear mecha from VOTOMS. Not as popular as the ScopeDogs, and other mecha that the hero drives, because these are what the mooks ride around in at the service of the bad guys.

But I rather like the esthetic of the Fattys.

So much so that I named the Chinese mecha in Bad Dog as FATS-Cs: for Flying All Terrain Suits-Chinese. Not their Chinese designation, which was Fireflies, but what the American forces called them.

So, super excited to get my hands on these.

As an unexpected bonus, I received three with shoulder mounted multiple missile rack, and one with a smaller number of larger missiles. I'll designated the small pack as ATGMs and the others as generic rockets. So now I have enough 1/48th come 28mm scale mecha for a small skirmish style game. 

In addition, when the Bad Dog rules come out, I will be able to feature pictures of these and my RAFM and DP9 Gears., showing differing sized mecha models. that the game can be played with. That has got to be good? Amirite? ;-)

Okay, that's all for now. Catch you on the bounce.

Relief at Progress

 

Finally, I've managed get the paint on the torso and head to match the work I'd done before having to strip it. Phew. Breathe a sigh of relief at managing this. A first for me matching glazes and washes, made easier using a wet palette and additives.

Just have to do the final assembly, varnish and decal the torso and head to call Ferretti's Buster done.

In other news, I've acquired two Kodiaks and an armored Hunter. The Kodiaks will be converted into Busters to go with the one above. 

No doubt I will tinker with variant weapons loadouts on these.

The Armored Hunter was an impulse purchase that took my fancy. I'm tempted to make it the ride for my CASDA weapons specialist.

These took an awful long time to make it across the Atlantic, and at one point I thought the parcel had gone missing. Much relief now they've safely arrived. All the RAFM Gears are mine!

That's all for now. Catch you on the bounce.

A Retrospective

Magnetized the backpack because previous idea interfered with the head.

Last year, when I posted A Light Ahead, I remarked on how unproductive 2019 had been. Little did I know then what I know now. I only played one game this year due to all the craziness going on in the world.

But every cloud has a silver lining, because, in retrospect I was far more productive this year. I've managed to make more models. I've learnt a bunch of cool painting techniques.

Overall I did more, which has meant I've posted more pieces on the blog.

I'll call that a win.

Most of the blog has been about covering my path to acquiring all the old RAFM Heavy Gear sculpts I could lay my hands on. No doubt, some old Heavy Gear grognards watched in horror as I butchered converted them into proxy mecha for my Gate Walker universe. 

Cue manic laughter.

And I've also acquired a bunch of 1/48th Scopedogs too.I plan to photograph all the models for pictures for the set of mecha rules I'm writing. That's the plan. Whether the plan survives contact with the demands of the year ahead is another matter.

For one thing, it is taking me a lot longer to write the infantry TO&Es to pass onto a collaborator than I thought. Such is life.

Catch y'all later.