Just a quick update today. I mostly took the weekend off but tonight I swapped out the Kodiak
rocket launcher for the larger one the grizzlies have for consistency.
I've also been considering what squad to build next. My general choices
given the models I have on hand are general purpose, recon, and strike squads.
Personally, I'm leaning towards the strike squad of Jaguars and to a
lesser extent the recon squad of Cheetahs.
With the Fire Support
grizzlies, the blisters were all different with vastly differing bits
that couldn't be replicated easily... but that isn't necessarily the case with either
the recon cheetahs or the strike squad jaguars. For both
squads, I can build either four different models as I did with Fire Support
squad or build a bit more optimized two pairs of two variants with some minor conversion. For
instance, I have two normal cheetahs (one built), a cheetah fang and
similar strike cheetah, and a white cat and similar white cat EMH. Any
thoughts? I'm leaning a tiny bit towards different loadouts for the
squads mainly for visual variety as opposed to a cohesive looking or mathhammered efficient force. Any thoughts?
Finally, I'm debating how to base the models. Initially I had planned on buying some packs of 40-50mm lipped circular bases but then realized I still had dozens of 40mm bases from Robotech that I'll probably never end up using. The kodiak overhangs a little bit but even the fire support gears fit well enough on them.
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Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Kodiak Destroyer Conversion
Here's the final grizzly family member in RAFM scale.. my Kodiak Destroyer um... chaplain... or duelist... or army commander... not sure which (or what combo of those) yet!
I changed up the rocket pod just like with my previous gears (although using a smaller bit to signify the lack of dual pods in the current rules). Due to the relative size of the protrusions like the engine cylinders and the bazooka, I frankly didn't have much posing options. The arms pretty much could only be elevated as much as they arm due to bumping up against the engine and the torso couldn't really be swiveled much either. In the end, I decided to go with a more on purpose looking static pose trying to make lemonade out of lemons. I took off the pack gun from the left arm (as well as the circular rocket pod) and drilled out the hand. I converted my last 40k grey knight halberd into a duelist weapon/melee staff similar to the one used by the gearstrider Scimitar. I then added a few cloth bits (also from 40k) to make the character model a bit more similar to the cover art of the original northern Blitz book (and the art on the current Northern chapter page in the living rulebook). I considered adding back a folded pack gun like I did to the Crossbow grizzly but ultimately decided against it (as well as the APGL) as I thought the model would look too busy.
Here's a group shot of all four together.
I was relatively surprised by the similarity in size (minus the missile launcher) of the Kodiak to the other grizzly models. This matches the RPG fluff on which these old models were based but I suppose I just got used to the injected size differences between classes in current blitz. I had hoped to use the Kodiak as a Gear Strider in current scale Blitz but it's a bit smaller than I had hoped. The Scimitar (according to the original DP9 press release) is 68mm tall but they didn't state to which part of the model (it has a humpback tower/turret behind and above the head). I assume that it is to the literal top of the model; in the case of the Kodiak, it's about 62mm to the top of the missile launcher and about 52mm to the top of the head. I'll have to actually see (and hopefully compare) it to a real Scimitar both in height and bulk to see if it's a worthwhile substitute. It's not too much of a problem in the current living rules as the LOS by default is substituted by a rectangular profile regardless of the actual model dimensions.
Finally, I can deny it no longer... my new cell phone camera sucks at taking model pictures. Part of the issue is the time and location of the pics (in the evening when I can work on the models and in the not so bright basement where I do the hobby work) but the camera app doesn't have great features as well (like no dedicated macro function). I tried retaking some pics last night with my old dedicated digital camera (a simple consumer model.. nothing fancy) and it was a little better but still not much. Today, in between clouds, I tried taking some natural lighting pics and will be replacing the previous blog entries with the better pics where possible. Without further whining about my lack of photography prowess, here are the new better but still not great duo pics!
I changed up the rocket pod just like with my previous gears (although using a smaller bit to signify the lack of dual pods in the current rules). Due to the relative size of the protrusions like the engine cylinders and the bazooka, I frankly didn't have much posing options. The arms pretty much could only be elevated as much as they arm due to bumping up against the engine and the torso couldn't really be swiveled much either. In the end, I decided to go with a more on purpose looking static pose trying to make lemonade out of lemons. I took off the pack gun from the left arm (as well as the circular rocket pod) and drilled out the hand. I converted my last 40k grey knight halberd into a duelist weapon/melee staff similar to the one used by the gearstrider Scimitar. I then added a few cloth bits (also from 40k) to make the character model a bit more similar to the cover art of the original northern Blitz book (and the art on the current Northern chapter page in the living rulebook). I considered adding back a folded pack gun like I did to the Crossbow grizzly but ultimately decided against it (as well as the APGL) as I thought the model would look too busy.
Here's a group shot of all four together.
I was relatively surprised by the similarity in size (minus the missile launcher) of the Kodiak to the other grizzly models. This matches the RPG fluff on which these old models were based but I suppose I just got used to the injected size differences between classes in current blitz. I had hoped to use the Kodiak as a Gear Strider in current scale Blitz but it's a bit smaller than I had hoped. The Scimitar (according to the original DP9 press release) is 68mm tall but they didn't state to which part of the model (it has a humpback tower/turret behind and above the head). I assume that it is to the literal top of the model; in the case of the Kodiak, it's about 62mm to the top of the missile launcher and about 52mm to the top of the head. I'll have to actually see (and hopefully compare) it to a real Scimitar both in height and bulk to see if it's a worthwhile substitute. It's not too much of a problem in the current living rules as the LOS by default is substituted by a rectangular profile regardless of the actual model dimensions.
Finally, I can deny it no longer... my new cell phone camera sucks at taking model pictures. Part of the issue is the time and location of the pics (in the evening when I can work on the models and in the not so bright basement where I do the hobby work) but the camera app doesn't have great features as well (like no dedicated macro function). I tried retaking some pics last night with my old dedicated digital camera (a simple consumer model.. nothing fancy) and it was a little better but still not much. Today, in between clouds, I tried taking some natural lighting pics and will be replacing the previous blog entries with the better pics where possible. Without further whining about my lack of photography prowess, here are the new better but still not great duo pics!
Thursday, June 9, 2016
RAFM Grizzly Three Amigos
The third grizzly fire support gear is built! I decided to upgrade the third grizzly from a standard crossbow variant to a thunder command gear as well. The change ruleswise just adds some comm boosts and a satellite uplink and must be used as the squad commander. Modelwise, I made a few more changes in line with the old RPG art.
The assault/destroyer grizzly (bazooka guy) was supposed to have a moderately upgraded comm signified by a single bunny ear on the head in the dog. In the current rules, the destroyer gets no such buff so I left the bunny ear off. The thunder variant though has a full set of ears which worked out well since I now had access to two bits. Additionally, I added a sat uplink cone to center of the backpack from my smaller scale blitz bits box. It's technically supposed to be off to one side but that wasn't a particularly sturdy conversion so I glued it centrally instead. Finally, the "pointy" arm looked a bit more commander-ish so I swapped it out from the Destroyer variant where I suppose it was supposed to be a sort of arm stretched out counter balance to swinging the bazooka around.
And by special request, here is a size comparison between similar Rafm and current metal Blitz scale models. From L to R: cheetah scout, jager/hunter trooper, jaguar elite, and grizzly fire support gears. I don't own any gearstriders though nor any normal striders unfortunately.
I haven't assembled my Kodiak yet but he is the next gear I tentatively had planned on building next. I dry fitted some pieces though and I was surprised to see that, while bulkier, he isn't much bigger than standard grizzlies unlike in blitz scale. I had been hoping to use him as the northern Scimitar gear strider (and the RAFM King Cobra similarly for the Drake) but there is a chance he might be too small! When I finish the Kodiak, I'll try and do another comparison.
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