Saturday, January 18, 2014

NuCoal ready for action! UNSPACY on the way?

Well, the Christmas sales are long over and I've spent the month working on getting my NuCoal tank regiment painted up.  I've finished the two hovertank squads as well as the two sections of GREL hoverbikers in the paint scheme I borrowed from my first 40k army.  I was going for some sharp differences in the colors and I accomplished that but I'd be lying if I said I was completely happy with the results.  On top of that, the overcoat seems to have gone on unevenly on the tanks (less so on the bikes) likely due to the unseasonably cold weather delaying the drying (and allowing more of it to drip).  I didn't use any thicker coats or longer sprays than previously so I suspect the ambient temperature where I spray (60F roughly) had something to do with it.  In the end, it's not exactly what I hoped but it also isn't bad enough that I'd consider stripping it and starting over like I had to do with my southern army after a primer cake-on mishap.

The finished force

Primed

Some initial paint coats

The black on the primed picture definitely came out very washed out in the picture but not on the model; the primer coat you see in that picture is the same black in the initial paint coat picture (although I did cover up mistakes with a second brush coat of black on the finished models).

For NuCoal, I've still got a GP/Strike squad of Chasseur MKIIs to work on.  I'm debating whether I should start prepping some northern models in anticipation of the pdf release later this month or finish of the NuCoal.  I'll likely go with the later just to get the force completed (like my southerners) and leave myself with only one paint scheme and army to worry about.  

While the paint was drying on the NuCoal models, I also put together my broken 1/200 Battletech/Macross models you see in the background of the finished pic.  The Robotech minis kickstarter delivery date has unfortunately started backsliding (a month passes and the delivery date is pushed back MORE than a month) so I'll have to get my Robotech fix via other methods.  I dug up my Battletech Unseen minis and put together a preliminary force idea of how to use them in Heavy Gear.  Basically, I plan to use the Veritechs as Fusilier hovertanks with a ground mode added to them and the destroids as striders (Mammoths seem to be the best fit statwise with all the recent buffs to strider defense stats and the unloved expansion of gearstriders).  The hovertank mode gives the transforming fighters the mobility they should have along with relatively appropriate weapons (lasers, missiles, autocannon) and they just need a walker mode to finish off the "counts as".   I initially thought the gearstriders would be a good match for the destroids but the idea of the veritechs having the same maneuverability seemed odd so I'll be looking instead at the Mammoth variants... more armor but easier to hit feels right for that counts as.