Combat Armor Groups

I had a mega photo shoot, which despite my best intentions, I still managed to forget to take some different angles on some of the models. Anyway, after so much time has passed, here they are.

Below, starting from left to right. 

My original CASE-2X conversion, running light with just a basic load-out. Main weapon is a 20x170 mm M41-AC230 autocannon, with under-barrel 40x53 mm Mk 30 grenade launcher. The left arm mounts a NATO 7.62 mm M240LC sustained fire machine gun.

Next is the CASE-2XC command variant, loaded for Bear from Ghost Dog. This adds a shoulder mounted 20 mm M21-A8 gauss rifle, and carrying a three pack of 70 mm MGR-170 Direct Fire Missile's to the basic load-out.

And the last CASE-2X has a shoulder mounted heavy-indirect-fire pack with a 15 pack of 140 mm MGM-240 Precision Guided Missile's, as mentioned in Bad Dog, which mounts a 12.7 mm GECAL Rotary Autocannon.

Model sans an arm, because I forgot to paint it, Oops. And below, again from left to right.

The rebuilt CAS-3-Mod-1 Ape weapons specialist with a M75 80mm lightweight high-velocity recoilless autocannon, a M134 GAU-2B/A 7.62 mm minigun on the left arm, with a shoulder mounted 15 pack of 70 mm MGR-170 Direct Fire Missile's. Espera's load-out from Strike Dog.

Next is a CAS-3-Mod-1 Ape with a basic load-out with a 20x102 mm M26-AC autocannon, and a shoulder mounted pack of four 70 mm MGR-170 Direct Fire Missile's

The kneeling CAS-3-Mod-1 Ape is communications variant with a M47-Mod-1: 40 x 53 mm Automatic Grenade Launcher (belt/drum fed). I might add a shoulder mounted NATO 7.62 mm M240LC sustained fire machine gun at some point. As and when I get round to it.

And finally, a CAS-1-Mod-1 engineering variant. It has a M121A: 120 mm Heavy Mortar for demolition work. I'll put up some close-up shots soon.

Catch you all on the bounce. 

Still Alive!

Catching shingles for the New Year is not the kind of present that anyone wants. A surprising amount of pain is utterly discombobulating. A lack of sleep has rather cramped my hobbies, and not wanting to move my arms much because to do so causes stabbing pain.

Anyway, still recovering, but managed to apply some decals to these models.

Now I just need to matt varnish them, and then I can all them done. Well, almost done. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed one the mecha is missing an arm.

Yeah that was an oopsie.

Forgot I needed to rebuild the arm, modify the minigun casting to feed from so the ammo belt would hang properly, and lost track of it while I was prepping the rest of the models.

I still have some other models I finished, or have managed to finish that I need to take pictures of, but shingles. Just saying, shingles takes the fun out of everything.

Catch you all later.

Insurgents Technicals

Three insurgent Technicals surge forth. Again, I painted these a while back, but hadn't gotten around to doing a glamour shot.

I still have the white one I converted into a command crew cab to finish, delayed because it made its bitch while I was painting it white.

Still, not all is lost as I can say, check out these civilian commercial robots.

And a final glamour shot of MAPCOMs Alpha Echo Romeo Tango Two team portrait. This is the team that walked in circles and went back through the pillars and were lost.

 

They may of course return to haunt MAPCOM in a later story. Who knows? Not I. I just write down what the voices tell me.

MARPACE Platoon

Finally, a platoon of exoskeleton power armour infantry mostly done and dusted, just needing a coat of matt varnish before deploying them for a game. This expands the original six I showed here so, I now have 22 infantry and 12 combat droids to make up a full platoon.

Extra pic from above.

MARPACE stands for Marine Power Armor Combat Enhancement suit.

With the platoon of insurgents shown here I have enough figures to start play-testing the rules I've been working on.

But, in my inimitable manner that few other wargamers fall into, I've gone and taken a step back with two of my mech conversions.

I wasn't happy with the aesthetics of what I thought of as the twin comm booms on the commanders version I'd built. Also, I wanted to bring the first Marine Dog suit up to the new spec with ball joints for the arms to allow for better posing.

The white stuff is foam padding to prevent me damaging both models while drilling and filing them.

Or at least minimize damage so I don't have to do a full repaint on them.

It is what it is.

Combat Androids

And the first post of September to make up for the dirth of posts during August, here are my finished combat androids (X29 Blockhead Battlesuits from RPE). Sixteen figures in six different poses.

Tempted to get some more of these to be able to field two 12 figure squads, but I'm currently brassic (that's broke for my American readers who don't do British slang).

And just added a picture showing the six different poses.

I also made two jump off point bases. These will come in useful for the next stage of play testing Big Little Wars. And look, tufts. Will the wonder never end?!

MARPACE Exoskeleton Suits

Three two man teams form a squad. The squad leader mounted as two figures on one base for ease of identification.

These are Clear Horizon Epsilon Squad infantry. Inspired by the exoskeleton suits from The Edge of Tomorrow aka Live. Die. Repeat. I've had them in my too be painted pile for too long. Since 2017 in fact.

Part of me thinks this is shockingly slow. The other part of me thinks that it's just down to my inability to just focus on one thing at a time.

For me this meant I had to understand how a squad in the Gate Walker universe was built.

No, I couldn't just take a current Marine squad, because nothing is ever totally static. A position recently reinforced by the Marine Corps changing from a 13 man squad into a new 15 squad. About the only thing that seems consistent is three teams make a squad.

A three figure base for the senior leader in command of the platoon with a Big Dog mule.

RAFM Conversion Portraits

CASE-2X Mod-1 Dog. Tachikoma's original ride from Bad Dog.

After months, what seems like forever to me, I've finally gotten around to finishing two conversions, and I took the time to run all my models through the studio (get the camera and terrain out), and take some portrait shots of my completed mecha suits.

CASE-2XC Mod-2. Tachikoma's new ride from Ghost Dog.

I haven't made Tachikoma's suit from Strike Dog, yet. I'm going to start working on it next, along with some other RAFM models that I want to convert for use with the rules I'm working on.

CAS-4CP Buster. Ferretti's suit from Ghost Dog.

And the rebuild of Espera's Army Ape suit that I finished before deciding that magnetized arms, head, and torso were the way to go.

CAS-3-Mod-1. Espera's ride as it appeared in Strike Dog.

This mech suit was featured in Strike Dog, where Espera made an appearance. This configuration of the Army Ape suit will appear in future stories as more people are recruited into MAPCOM.

Espera's CAS-3-Mod-1.

I'm not sure if Army Ape suits will make an appearance in Two Moons Prometheus yet as I'm currently still writing the book. Long delayed due to health issues that stymied my ability to imagine anything.

And finally, the running repose. 

CAS-3-Mod-1.

The above CAS-3-Mod-1 is running as if its existence depended on it, or for some other reason, yet to be decided. But there will be running, shooting, and no doubt screams too.

Just because really.

CAS-3-Mod-1.

It is the way of things.

Go to a new world they said.

Explore and have fun they said.

Really pleased how the placement of the danger decal, on the rear backpack, adds to the feel of the mech suit as a real machine. 

CAS-3-Mod-1.

Okay, these are nowhere near the Golden Demon award level, but I've surpassed myself and really upped my painting over the last year. It has been good to learn how, and as importantly, been good for me.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Proof of Life

Work in progress of the two Ape suits, glossed and ready to have decals applied in due course. Next to a Dog with decals and matt varnished for comparison.

I may be some time.

And after much faffing, a quick touch up of the paint that turned into the nightmare of effectively becoming a repaint, I've finally varnished my 15mm insurgents.

And in breaking news, I sat down with Jay Arnold of The Veteran Podcast to talk about all thing giant stompy robot. I'll post links as and when he puts the podcast up.

Alpha Echo Romeo Tango Two

Three 15mm robots off the workbench ready to be varnished.

The android and Big Dog is the robot explorer team Alpha Echo Romeo Tango Two. The second team sent by the Magnetic Anomaly Project that got lost in the Pillar network, as mentioned in my novel Strike Dog.

And below is a commercial robot loader.

That's as much as I've managed to finish, though my two Ape combat armor suits are nearing completion. Just in the process of paneling with a pin wash and weathering.

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.

Calling Them Done

 

Yep, at last, I've finished them. Painted, glossed, decals, and matt varnish all done. Phew!

The original two darker green mechs were my first attempt to up my game, but hopefully you can see that these two look even better than the first two I finished back in July. 

I think I've managed to produce a wider contrast range with better highlights.

I'll do some glamour portraits after I've flocked the bases, but they're done for now.

I may do another post soon, but given the time of year, let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Painter's Painting Progress

 

I've made progress learning new techniques for painting my miniatures.

I started with four of these bad boys, I have two that are nearly finished; I buggered up the paint on one, and the other I want to rebuild with the torso magnetized too. Sheesh. People might start suspecting I'm a bit of a perfectionist, or something.

Okay, my memory is not perfect, but the time taken to try different techniques, paints, and the setbacks along with the all the learning has definitely been a thing. I should've kept a log of all the hours I spent, but painting is a hobby, not a billable job.

Besides, things have been stressful enough without making my life harder.

Anyway, totally obsessed with learning new tricks to up my painting, and these are going to look awesome with decals and matt varnish to finish them.

However now I'm in a quandary over whether or not to take my original two mechs, and add magnets to allow their torsos to twist too? It would increase their poseability, but may (highly likely) require me to repaint them.

Decisions, decisions.

CAS-3-Mod-1 Portraits

Army Combat Armor Suit Mark 3 Model 1 [click to embiggen].

Okay, here are the first two RAFM conversions painted. 

First up is Espera's CAS-3-Mod-1 Ape carrying on the right arm an M75 80mm lightweight high-velocity recoilless autocannon. The left arm has a M134 GAU-2B/A 7.62mm minigun. Finally, the suit has a shoulder mounted missile launcher carrying 15 rockets.

Though Espera only appears in Strike Dog my assumption is that this is a pretty standard Army Ape suit loadout for a weapons specialist.

Army Combat Armor Suit Mark 1 Model 1EV Engineering Variant [click to embiggen].

Pearson's Ape is a CAS-1-Mod-1EV: engineering variant with a shoulder mounted 100mm mortar for demolition work.

Defense against armor suits is provided by a M26 short-recoil light 20mm autocannon that fires a 20 x 102mm high explosive dual purpose anti-armor (HEDP) warhead with a range of 3 kilometers. The M26 comes with an inbuilt Mk 30 40 x 53mm underbarrel grenade launcher effective out to one kilometer.

In addition, the CAS-1-Mod-1EV carries an M240LC general purpose 7.62mm machine gun.

Tell me what you all think about the paint job on these as I tried out a whole bunch of new techniques. Any suggestions for making them better will be gratefully received.