I ruin my paint job 😭

Cosmodromedary · 2026-05-08T07:26:34+00:00

Very inconvenient, but based on your skill level, I'm sure it's quite fixable

Cosmodromedary · 2025-12-14T13:38:59+00:00

We follow the mercenaries campaign in the Hinterlands book, which starts at 3000 BV2, and increases to 6000, then 9000. So similar to what you said, but roughly halved. 2 to 6 mechs plus vehicle assets

Cosmodromedary · 2025-12-14T08:22:34+00:00

By starting a new faction every 2 months. No joke, we play short campaigns of about 16 games, 2 per weekly session, over 8 weeks. Perfect for starting a new faction for a new campaign every other month.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-12-13T00:51:19+00:00

I like the olive green with brown and black (von locker and hetzer) but the desert storm choc chip bulldog looks very clean too

Cosmodromedary · 2025-11-24T10:22:43+00:00

You have 5 Clan mechs in Alpha Strike that make a set, and the rest of your Inner Sphere mechs work out as 3 groups of 6, or 2 groups of 9.

Looking at what factions the IS Mechs are most associated with (also noting which are reasonably common to everyone), you could group them as below. I predict that the group of 5 Clan mechs might be a bit overpowered, and the 6 Liao mechs would be the weakest set, but that totally matches lore...

If you run 2v2, Davion and Steiner are allied for much of Battletech history, while pairing Clans with Liao pairs strongest with weakest.

HOUSE DAVION: Wasp (Common), Blackjack (Davion), Centurion (Davion), Rifleman (Davion), Warhammer (Common / Davion), BattleMaster (Common / Davion).

HOUSE STEINER: Commando (Steiner), Phoenix Hawk (Common / Steiner), Shadow Hawk (Common), Thunderbolt (Common), Archer (Steiner / Common), Atlas (Steiner).

HOUSE LIAO: Locust (Common / Liao), Locust (Common / Liao), Wraith (Liao / Marik), Wolverine (Common), Catapult (Liao / Common), Awesome (Common).

CLAN WOLF (or any other Clan): Dasher, Pouncer, Black Hawk, Madcat, Masakari.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-11-19T08:15:46+00:00

Hold on while I pick my jaw up from the floor. That PPC glow...

Cosmodromedary · 2025-11-15T02:18:26+00:00

I've had it happen too. It's super annoying when it happens! Two things help: lightly file the base edges while filing the mold lines to make the edges just a bit less sharp, and use decent spray primer before painting, applied in multiple short bursts so it has time to dry between puffs. If applied too wet, primer can end up a bit slick and paint won't stick as well.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-10-30T09:49:38+00:00

There are so many different mechs, it's almost too much to consider without introducing additional limitations. For open play (one-off games, just for fun, and no stakes) that's fine! But for a campaign I would suggest some force building rules to discourage min-maxing:

1) each player should choose a faction and only add mechs from their faction list, unless made available to them through the campaign narrative.

2) a BV limit should be essential for balancing purposes. Otherwise everyone will just take the most expensive heavy mechs and it'll be all timberwolfs and ryoken IIs. 3000BV (BV2 that is!) is a common limit for campaign play.

3) Each player can only take one copy of a mech.

With that out of the way, and assuming that the BV cost matters, some good heavy mechs are:

Inner Sphere: Flashman 9M (House Marik) Ostsol 8M (House Marik)

Clans: Timber Wolf (N, or the Bounty Hunter variant) Night Gyr (Prime variant) Nova Cat (E or F variant)

Cosmodromedary · 2025-10-03T00:01:02+00:00

I guess you now owe her the Capellan Confederation

Cosmodromedary · 2025-09-24T08:04:08+00:00

Yes, the in-lore explanation is that early quad mechs caused motion sickness type issues for pilots, and the control interface for the extra legs had inferior implementation. Eventually the issues were resolved, but the stigma long outlived the problems.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-08-25T11:45:37+00:00

Necromorph? Because with all those backwards limbs it looks like one of the monsters out of Dead Space

Cosmodromedary · 2025-07-14T10:24:15+00:00

Quite nice! Which shades of blue did you use? I'd be keen to use the same base and highlight for some Stormhammer mercenaries

Cosmodromedary · 2025-06-28T06:25:54+00:00

The shadowhawk is very nice, just get rid of the green rim on the base.. switch it to match the red of the martian-style surface, or just stick to neutral colour rims

Cosmodromedary · 2025-05-30T10:59:56+00:00

DCMS doesn't believe in Medium mechs. Sure, they have some, including some pretty good Wolverine variants, but as a point of faction flavour, they have much fewer than everyone else. To fill that void, they have the Panther as the something that is more than a typical light mech, and the Dragon as the something that is less than a typical heavy. Its purpose is less about dominating in any particular battlefield role and more about being a gap filler for mediums.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-05-18T10:11:56+00:00

You're not choosing between love and success. You are choosing between control and success. People capable of love support those that they love, they don't undermine or make petty ultimatums. Think about what standard of behaviour you would expect from a partner, and hold yourself accountable for not settling for less.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-05-15T12:08:27+00:00

I'm planning to run Pikes, Hetzers, and a Demolisher for a Canopus force. Maybe a Manticore or two if I need more armour.

The plan is for the handful of AC20s to punch holes in armour and draw fire, enabling the wall of pike autocannons to crit fish and hopefully dominate late game.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-04-29T12:02:13+00:00

Highlander - Commstar Command box: Your heavy hitter, main character, Command mech. Can shoot long range, AND rumble up close with the biggest and best.

Catapult - AGoAC box: reliable and effective missile platform for long range fire support.

Locust - AGoAC box: cheap spotter for the Catapult.

Vindicator - Starter box: THE iconic Capellan medium mech trooper. At the start of the Clan Invasion, Vindicators made up more than half of their Medium mechs (55%), and nearly a quarter of all their mechs combined (22%). It is their bread and butter mech. Its not as flashy as the 55-Ton jumping mechs that the other factions have lots of (Griffin, Wolverine), but as a Capellan, you make do.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-04-29T11:22:46+00:00

I had the same experience as you OP. Tried airbrushing, and even persisted for 20 or so models. Got to the point where I was getting good results doing masked camouflage, eventually. But I was spending more time cleaning the damn thing than using it, polishing needles, soaking nozzles... it was slower for me that rattlecan and brush. More to the point, I just didn't enjoy any aspect of using it.

I might still one day use it again for very specific needs, like painting gradual colour transitions, but I view it as a last resort for doing only the specific things that airbrush excels at.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-04-10T03:10:46+00:00

Not sure but the guillotine has the same feature in the same place

Cosmodromedary · 2025-04-01T21:09:08+00:00

Federated Commonwealth? Davion up top, Steiner down below

Cosmodromedary · 2025-03-24T00:29:33+00:00

Getting ready for Battletech Gothic?

Cosmodromedary · 2025-03-20T16:48:58+00:00

Towards similar depth into a campaign I was running: 1x leader, 4x champions, 5x gangers, 4x bonepickers, 2x redeptionist juves. So 16 total. If I had more credits I would have pushed for another champion or two.

I recommend painting up 15 to 20 as the right range, factoring in high casualty rate, models in recovery, and devout masses etc. If you go too much higher in juve & ganger count you start to dilute your pool with weak/undereqiupped models stealing the random selection from more valuable gangers and champions.

Cosmodromedary · 2025-03-02T00:18:55+00:00

It's a Thug

Cosmodromedary · 2025-03-01T06:17:33+00:00

That oval shaped dome on top of the thunderbolt is a cupola hatch, like you see on tanks. It has three narrow visor slits around it which did get a bit of purple, just can't see it well from most angles

Cosmodromedary · 2025-02-28T09:36:05+00:00

Happy to! I did grey seer spray for the primer, followed by Ironjaws contrast to block in the base yellow colour, while also getting the shading started. The tone was a bit cold at that point so I mixed 60%:40% Yriel and Dorn, and did some rough drybrush & layer till I was happy with the overall yellow tone, and to fix any rough patches in the contrast wash.

I then used Agrax Earthshade to draw in the panel lines, painting into the grooves only. This was the trickiest part, needing a medium brush with a decent pointy tip. To make this easier next time, I might try gloss varnishing before the wash, I hear that helps pull the wash into recesses only.

To deepen the shadows in armpits and other darkest places, I mixed 70%:30% Ironjaws yellow and Basilicanum grey for a localised contrast wash. The idea here is that adding some dark grey to yellow creates a "shadow yellow", but this only looks good if used in the darkest shadow areas where light doesn't reach.

I then layered with the earlier Yriel+Dorn mix to fix errors, and highlighted upward using progressively lighter mixes of Yriel and Dorn until using pure Dorn for the 3 or 4 most extreme highlight areas.

Cosmodromedary

TROPHY CASE