Retrospective Musings on Past Choices

Newly finished Takara 1/144th VOTOMS: Blood Sucker, Strike and standard Scope dogs.

A little while back, I was asked on a friend's blog, when did I find out about Heavy Gear, and decide to get into it? It's a good question, which I briefly answered with a comment on his blog, but thought worth expanding with a post here.

The inevitable slide began by rewatching the Pailsen Files.

GZG 6mm Hound Dogs with some minor conversions.

That was back in 2012.

I wanted, I bought some GZG "Hound Dogs," which were great for the type of action the Pailsen Files inspired me to want to play, but too small for my eyesight to cope with on the tabletop.

Then I found some Takara 1/144th plastic VOTOMS on eBay. Eureka!

All the Takara 1/144th VOTOMS I've managed to finish painting so far (I have more to do).

My original plan was to paint the Takara models in a scheme inspired by the British Berlin Brigade. But, after painting two, I found the time and effort it took to do so, sucked all the joy out of the project.

Besides that, when I started looking for more, I sadly found they were no longer generally available.

Blood Sucker front and back.

Unable to get  enough models for two sides, I began searching for mecha compatible with the Takara range, and discovered Dream Pod 9s Heavy Gear range.

Inevitably, all my Takara minis got put to one side, unloved until now.

Strike Dog front and back, version on left a conversion.

And that is the sad, sad story of how after many years of painting 6mm mecha I got sucked into the plastic Dream Pod 9 Heavy Gear KickStarter.

And thus, my future journey on the road to 15mm mecha was sealed.

Scopedog variants front and back.

But my beloved recently bought me a wet palette. So, I wanted to practice on something easy to paint.

Looking around, I remembered my Takara 1/144th mechs, and decided to do them up in the classic two-tone scheme from the Armored Trooper VOTOMS show.

I might even get around to painting the Beetles and remaining Dogs in due course too.

That is it for now, catch you all on the bounce.
   

Some More Size Comparisons

Didn't realize that two of the little Dogs had broken arms, they're that tiny, but you can see it in the picture.

Back here I took some pictures of GZGs not VOTOMS, but I was asked if I could take a picture showing them next to other mecha.  Hopefully, people will now be able to see the relative sizes of GZG Dogs, Heavy Gear and BattleTech mechs.

NB: If you compare the old pictures of the little Dogs to this new one the increase in quality between my old camera and my new one is quite remarkable.
 

VOTOMS in 6mm

    

Been painting and finished off my GZG Hound Dogs. Five basic poses and weapon variants for each squad.

Cruel enlargements as follows:

I'm tempted to now add the red, green and blue lens colours to each before I varnish these.  The bigger ones I have are turning out harder to paint than I thought, as I can't quite get the green to look right.

Yes, I did go away and paint on the lens on these after seeing the pictures on here without this detail I thought the models looked bare. Of course they looked perfectly fine, but enlarging pictures just shows up all the deficits in one's painting. Be kind these are incredibly tiny models. Remember they are standing on one penny bases.
  

VOTOMS in 10mm

These are Takara F/144 micro scale VOTOMS. Oh these are even lovelier than the GZG Hound Dogs. I got quite a large haul of these recently, sixteen boxes of these beauties in fact. These are an inveterate modifier's dream, as they come in lots of tiny-teeny pieces, which saves cutting them up and all. I can see that this may not have been their best selling point when they were first released though. When was that? Back in 2006, which means that I was quite lucky to find these on eBay. The chances of getting more is slim in the short term. In the long term, things come to those who wait.

The models are in a soft plastic, like most gashapons in fact, and as a result they bend a bit. The trick is to put some wire into them, which stiffens them up considerably. Once glued together they then become remarkably rigid. So here is a  shot with two 10mm MechWarrior infantry, a  GZG Hound Dog, and a BattleTech Atlas for size comparison.

I want to go back and tweak some of the models a bit more. Adding at least one bazooka rocket launcher weapon to one of the Scopedogs. Then modifying a couple of the rifles into snub guns too, along with making variants versions of the missile launchers. I also have three more of the blue Rabidly Dog mechs to make, and one more Blood Sucker mech ( the one with the red antennae) to make up. I've also got one Tortoise and three Diving Beetles along with assorted vehicles and accessories to play with too.

Furthermore, acquiring these has made me want to start playing OHMU Warmachine, a game that I wrote, but that I never thought I would want to start playing again.

However, these little mechs are just perfect for OHMU, and I've been inspired to peruse the old second edition files I have. OHMU was always written to be used with the miniatures that one could get hold of, as even back in the day, I didn't imagine ever marketing a range of specific OHMU miniatures. Not unsurprisingly, we got a lot of feedback saying that the game sucked because we hadn't market any miniatures for the game. Yes, we did draw up concept art, but that was for inspiration, and more of an aspirational thing for how the mecha of the world of OHMU looked.

Live and learn.

Anyway, I've also had a rules writer's epiphany and a moment of clarity about how to re-write OHMU Warmachine that came fully formed into my head. I'm trying to fight the urge to get over excited, and too involved in a project that will suck away all my time for very little reward though.

OHMU Warmachine didn't sell well, got reviews that said it was a mediocre to poor game, and generally the project dragged me down into the pit of despair that led to me losing interest in my hobby. Oh, and here is a nice conceit for all you VOTOMS fans.

    

VOTOMS in 6mm

I've been re-watching all my VOTOMS anime over the last week or so, and above is the opening scene from the Pailsen FIles, and what can I say? What's not to like? Tell me you weren't humming along by the end of this? Even if you are not a fan of giant robots, surely the scene of hundreds of them marching was impressive?

I'm afraid this lead to one of those bright and shiny distracting moments that happen to us all. One minute working on painting miniatures for OGRE/GEV, then the next minute I'm browsing the internet for VOTOMS and ordering some Hound Dogs miniatures (loosely inspired by Scope Dogs from VOTOMS) from GZG.

Aren't they cute? More VOTOMs stuff to come later.

Oh just in case you want to listen to the full version of the opening song from VOTOMS The Pailsen FIles, here it is:

Needless to say really, but I'll say it anyway, I've now find myself inexorably drawn towards another giant stompy robot game, Dream Pod 9s Heavy Gear. Oh boy.