Finally cleaning supplies have arrived and so has a 3d print!

 It took over six months but I finally got my hands on some more isopropyl alcohol so was able to run a 3d print this week!  I decided to start with my recent Rafm scale Hunter and got some decent results.

I didn't have a fully assembled hunter to compare him to so the above incomplete on will have to do.  I actually used it as a basis for sizing the 3d model (specifically the height to the top of the hips) but obviously I didn't account for the overall bulk.  My previous attempts including changing proportions but I don't think I'll do that this time but rather I'll simply resize it down to about 90-95% when I try again.  I thought the details looked a bit soft on the resin so I decided to prime the fig and retake the picture.

Why try again?  Besides just being too big, I didn't optimally place the parts on the print plate and had several flat surfaces parallel to it.  While that won't cause a complete failure, it did cause two other less serious ones on the shoulders.  Both shoulders have a loss of detail on the part of the model that was facing the build plate as resin collects there without draining.  Fortunately, it's not very visible from the front as the right shoulder has the problem on the back and the left on the top.  Additionally there is an aliasing step error where the shoulder was just barely off of parallel causing portions to print in steps at the layer resolution.  Initially I thought this was an issue called z-axis wobble but, upon looking at the sliced layers, I saw the real culprit.  It's not actually visible to the naked eye on bare resin or even primed in normal light but it could catch and pool washes in the final painting step.

 

Well, that's it for now.  I'll probably attempt another print run next week as unfortunately their is rain in the forecast for the next couple of days and I won't be able to post-cure my model in the sun.  As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment below!

Only Digital Bytes to Show...

 for my hobby efforts this past month!  I've been out of resin and running low on alcohol to clean the printed models so I haven't actually printed anything in a while.  I've kept busy though tweaking/converting 3d models for potential future printing though from scifi RPG character models to Star Trek spaceships to Heavy Gear stompy robots.

I restarted tweaking my old HGA Heavy Gear Hunter model yet again.  I had problems with the two prints that I previously attempted and I tweaked the loadout on this version to be a basic Hunter instead.   I previously attempted a multipiece print for my second try but wasn't happy with the results.  After some encouragement from Ashley over at the Paint it Pink blog (link), I decided to try it again and was eventually able to both split the parts and set up a ball and socket connection system between the parts.  

One of the flawed gems of the last console/pc generation was IMO the first Force Unleashed game (the followup was admittedly a rushed cashgrab abomination!).  I really liked the look of the Sith Stalker variant of the character model and never saw an official model/miniature other than a single toy figure in a larger boxed set.  I recently found a decent 3d model likely ripped from the pc game so it definitely needed conversion to a printable tabletop gaming 3d model.  I thickened up various bits to make them sturdier/more likely to print successfully as well as changed the pose as much as I could without any actual knowledge of video game animation.

 

And finally we have a selection of Star Trek ships that have been converted into something that more resembles a different era.  First up we have a DISCO ship that I've converted into an NX era ship.  The second is another DISCO ship that I've tried to convert into a TMP era Akira class.

 

Quarantine Kitchen Sink Update

Hello to everyone and I hope all are doing as well as possible during this pandemic.  It's been a while since I last updated the blog and initially I hoped that the extra time would lead to increased hobby progress.  Unfortunately, that hasn't panned out and the only project I've accomplished is growing my first beard.  :)

I haven't been totally comatose though so I decided to post a kitchen sink update instead of boring folks with multiple smaller ones.  My most recent project, my digital Winged Hussar (link here) was unfortunately C&D'ed by GW as apparently they claim ownership of all future grimdark space Poles.  Shortly after uploading, it disappeared from my account and it took me over a month to get a response from Thingiverse letting me know that GW had claimed my model and forced its removal.  Strangely, many of the component parts are still there as are thousands of other 40k models so I have no idea why they targeted it (along with a couple dozen others for DMCA takedown) as they included no justification.  I have to say that it put a damper on me continuing that project.  I had initially wanted to convert one of the new official Master Lazarus models to a Winged Hussar but the idea of giving them $40 plus shipping/tax is much less likely now.  I completed another conversion parts set that will likely never be uploaded and Lt. Googely Eyes will have to do for now if I ever need an RPG figure.

CBS All Access offered everyone a free month so I was able to catch up on two seasons of nuTrek.   I'd previously written up a very lengthy review of Season One of Discovery (linked here) so I wasn't particularly optimistic given that the same folks were still involved in running the show(s) and that reviews written since weren't particularly flattering.  I will neither be verbose nor include any spoilers so no worries if you haven't watched either of the recent seasons.

Picard was, as expected, a major disappointment.  Admittedly, like with the movie JJverse, they did set the expectations early on with the star stating that it would NOT be like TNG and that it would, more recently, focus on real world hot button issues like President Trump's election and the Brexit vote.  Sadly, those descriptions of the direction of the show were spot on and it was a complete mess except for one (possibly overly nostalgic) episode.  If you're a long time fan who pines for an optimistic view of the future that Star Trek used to be known for, look elsewhere.  Heck, the TNG Mirror Universe comics are probably a more optimistic and hopeful depiction of Star Trek than this show.   As for Discovery Season 2, it was a definite improvement and approaches "OK" with some actual exploration and an ensemble cast doing trekky things before it devolves yet again into a CGI schlockfest of action you can't make out while Michael Burnham saves the universe.  While I don't have any hope for Season 3 of Discovery, the Pike/Spock/Number One dynamic was a definite improvement (albeit still flawed) and the recent announcement of another spinoff show focused on them might prove the adage correct about the third time being the charm.
 

On the home 3d modelling and printing front, I've mainly focused on random RPG characters for the Starfinder campaign that I'm playing in.  I've done up multiple versions of the Krogan that I'm playing as well as a flying space monkey in armor (based on Overwatch's Winston), a small round alien mechanic/gunner (based a Mass Effect Volus with 40k bits), and a skittercommando (a Starfinder iconic race).  I haven't actually painted up any models yet as my campaign has gone virtual (and intermittent) but I do hope to at least finish a Krogan this month.

And, finally, I did finish cutting up and printing out the various parts for my 3d Heavy Gear models with some mixed results.  I resized and reproportioned both the Hunter and the Grizzly but I can't help but disagree with my initial assessment that something closer to the official models would be an improvement.  Judging them on their individual merits, I think the "chunkier" versions are better.  Overall, I also think that the Hunter XMG is better suited to home 3d printing than the Grizzly and will likely at some point paint that one up to match my army colors.

Well, that's my bimonthly update for now!  Thanks for reading and I hope to have some more progress to post at the end of the month.

Goldilocks and the Three Gears

I thankfully had both (relatively) warm and dry weather over the weekend and was able to print out a round of Heavy Gears.  I resized the various proportions and printed out both the Panda/Grizzly and Hunter XMG as multipiece models.  While the former turned out well, the latter had a misprint and needs another round of printing.  I was able to assemble the heavy support gear and decided to build it up as a Destroyer Grizzly armed with a heavy bazooka.

On center left is the original versin and on the right is the resized one.  While it's not evident from my photography, the detail is crisper than the original and, more importantly, crisper than it appears on screen.  It's still not equal to the traditionally cast metal minis from the official line but an improvement over the original.  I'm not entirely sure I've gotten the resin settings exactly dialed in and might attempt some test cube prints if I can find something useful.

I have to admit though that I'm not entirely happy with the new proportions as they now appear too thin which is surprising since I only shrunk the model on the XY plane by about 5% according to the statistics.  Much like the blog post title hints at, I might need to print out a third with proportions in between to get it just right since I'll be doing a third run regardless for the printer.  With that model, I'll also try out a different weapon loadout as well with the traditional panda minigun instead. 

A Pyrrhic 3d Print? My first Heavy Gear attempt

As mentioned in the last post, I attempted to accentuate the details on the model that weren't likely to print successfully like rivets and thin armor plates.  When zoomed in, the 3d models look pretty good!

These were an absolute pain to support properly but eventually after a few hours I was ready to print despite multiple crashes of the slicing program.  The print didn't have any obvious failures but it looks like both the depth of details and the overall scale aren't dialed in yet.

The print was done at 50 micron layer height with anti-aliasing enabled which normally turn out better than shown above.  The smaller Hunter XMG looks to have crisper corners but both could use some improvement in that regard as well as further thickening of details when possible.  Additionally, they're a bit bigger than I expected compared with the official models.  The hunter is simply too big but the grizzly is a bit too wide (though the height is good).  

As you can see in the unassembled picture, I did have an issue with weak joints on the models with a limb fracture on each while attempting to remove the supports.  Admittedly I could have been more gentle but there were a TON of supports to remove and I had to pull off areas of light supports as a group when possible.  The supports under the groin and butt plate were so thick that they were effectively a solid scaffold a few millimeters away from the surface of the model instead of a series of vertical trunks.  I've never had fractures like that in the past using the same technique so I definitely think the modular nature of the models (as opposed to models that are one piece) contributed to the weakness. On the plus side, I do think that the overall look of the models is good and will fit in with the other HG figs I have both in the Blitz scale shown above as well as the older RAFM scale that I've covered previously.

To cut down on the density (but not total number!) of supports needed, I've separated the models into a trio of parts each(engine, upper torso, lower limbs).  I've also done a third round of thickening of details like the rivets, hip armor plates, and antennae so that they'll be more stable and obvious.  Finally, I'm adjusting the individual dimensions/proportions of the models overall to better resemble those of the official models.  I hope to have positive things to report with my next round of printing this weekend!

Introducing my custom Heavy Gear Panda and Hunter XMG!

Recently, I was toying around with 3d modelling when I decided to try and extract the 3d models from the Heavy Gear Assault game.  Unlike last time, I was successful after an update of the programs used to accomplish it!  After looking through the models and animations, I settled on their Hunter and Grizzly models.  Both look significantly different from the original RPG and tabletop versions but luckily had "advanced" updates in the fluff that they could represent.

The Hunter was the simplest as it had a prebuilt model in the files so I started with that one.  I went through and removed various bits and bobs that are unlikely to print at such a small scale (whether Blitz or Rafm) as well as thickening up things that need to stay but have similar issues.  I added some extra details to make it more like the XMG like the head comm vanes and the shoulder armor ram plates (from Lego bricks!) as well as virtually kitbashing the MAC and rocket pod.  I also replaced the in game riot shield with another from thingiverse instead.

The grizzly was more difficult in that it needed to be preassembled from individual parts due to the in game armor damage and customization systems.  I went through the same process with this model to instead turn it into a Panda upgrade.  More parts were free-floating and  disconnected in this model so hopefully it will print ok when that time comes.  With the Panda, I needed a very heavy autocannon (think 40k assault gun or scifi chaingun) and I kitbashed one from a Titanfall weapon and the ingame gun.  I was hoping to give it a more angular look since it's a northern gear but hopefully it's still obvious enough as to what it is.  Similarly, I assembled from various parts the larger rocket pod and put it on the shoulder as it couldn't fit in back with the heavy mortar.  I also cobbled together tracks for the feet as they were missing (maybe they're a texture image file in game?).

Surprisingly, the pc game has both gears built on pretty much the same height skeletons so I decreased the size of the Hunter XMG by 15% to give me what turns out to be RPG artwork accurate relative heights between them (thanks Alberorius!).  With Ashley's help with RAFM measurements, I'll compare them to the RAFM physical models as well as the Blitz scale ones.  After a few more cleanup inspections, I'll be trying to print them out hopefully this weekend.  Wish me luck!

A Surprise Heavy Gear Fandom Retrospective!

Recently I've been working on posing and tweaking a Hunter 3d model from the defunct and incomplete Heavy Gear Assault game and the effort has surprisingly made me nostalgic again for the IP.   I've been both constructive (with my Heavy Gear Flash! house rules) and critical in the past on the blog but never really explained why I became interested in the game initially and still am despite their efforts to the contrary.

When the game came out in 1994, my only real experience in gaming was basically limited to a small handful of games.  The Rifts and Robotech rpgs by Palladium books were my gateway into the hobby and on the minis side I mainly played a very niche hand typed and bound historical/fantasy ruleset called Spear and Shield along with the FASA Star Trek ship combat game.  I had some minor experience with other big name systems like D&D 2nd edition, Gurps, and Warhammer (both FB and 40k) but they were typically one time experiences like demos that didn't catch my permanent interest.  I was familiar though with Dream Pod 9 from their work on Palladium's Macross 2 RPG supplements as well as their Mecha Press magazine.  I really liked their overall style and modern (for its time) art filled desktop publishing layout which was a huge break from the simple typed hand layout with the occasional single piece of art per column or page style that was the baseline in 1980's RPGs.

In the spring of 1994, I started seeing advertisements for a clearly VOTOM inspired RPG and miniatures game called Heavy Gear by the same company.  Being a fan of VOTOMS (or more specifically the Scope Dog designs), I was really excited for it.  Better yet, it was premiering that year at GenCon and I was already planning on going to the convention for the first time!  I signed up for multiple sessions of the game and enjoyed them all.  The RAFM lead miniatures used were both affordable and a great representation of the consistently great art by Ghislain Barbe.  The RPG and tactical rules were a single purpose built ground up coherent system that was a breath of fresh air from the typical core D&D style fantasy systems with scifi elements crudely bolted on that I was used to.   It really was the perfect combination for a cashed strapped part time employed student gamer who was into mech-based anime as well as both tabletop and RPG games!  I was hooked that weekend and picked up every book for several years and most minis for my chosen faction (the North) as well as a smattering for the South.

It may not seem special nowadays but it really did feel revolutionary at the time for me compared with what I was used to.  Something as simple as the paratrooper gears (like the Hunter Commando above) excited me to no end.  I'd look at the miniature and see cool things like roll bars, padding, and air brakes that made a design I already liked different but varied!  When I looked at the rules, they actually reflected those changes in a coherent way both in the miniatures and RPG game via rules like the airdroppable and rugged movement system perks that were developed long BEFORE they were needed.  This wasn't just another throwaway line in a random piece of equipment but rather something practical that seamlessly meshed both with the backstory and mechanics.  It was clear that alot of effort went into building all this way before the first product came out and it showed.  It's been that initial love of the game and the world that has kept me periodically coming back in for over 25 years.

State of the Blog Address (2018 in review)

Well, another year has gone by and so it's time for another year in review post.  I'll start with what amounted to the majority of progress on my blog... digital hobby publishing.  Starting with Star Trek tabletop gaming, I worked on over a dozen sheets under my SHIELDS UP! house rules (link here) divided up between the current Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius and the classic FASA Starship Combat games.  This is where the bulk of my updates are for 2018 and, while I myself haven't tried any of them out in actual games, some other players have reported using my fan ship designs in their own campaigns.

Additionally, I tried my hand at some very basic programming and developed some custom ships (link here) for the fan made computer game version of the classic FASA game along with a tutorial for getting it all working (link here).  All in all, I'd say that I was significantly more productive in that virtual realm compared with typical tabletop hobby work albeit with almost no difference in the "games played" metric described above (excluding single player missions).

When it comes to actual hands on traditional hobby work, I frankly didn't accomplish much.  In 2018, the only miniatures that I worked on were the painted Winged Hussar pictured in the center below and another converted/built yet to be painted.  I had hoped to finish off a half painted Tau broadside suit conversion I worked on a few years ago but never got around to it. 

I hope to do better next year but realistically I said the same thing last year in my previous review so I won't hold my breath.  While I did visit the local games store a bit more in 2018 for RPG reasons, I only ended up playing a single miniatures game after an RPG session.  That definitely puts a damper on any larger hobby plans leaving me with the occasional conversion project (like my RAFM minis or Winged Hussars).  In the next month, I do plan on painting some of my 3D printed figures as part of the last phase of my review of them.

Next we have a mix of the two categories above in my Shapeways miniatures printing.  I relearned by brute force trial and error how to pose and modify existing models (although actual modelling is still far beyond my grasp) and mostly successfully printed out physical miniatures.  I did hear back from Shapeways about the misprint in my order and am awaiting my reorder of tweaked figures.  I do plan on covering the reprints as well as painting up several of the figures for use as well.  If time and budget allows, I also hope to place another later on in the year for my first ever custom starship miniatures including hopefully a ship or two featured in my SHIELDS UP! house rules.

Finally we have the miscellaneous updates.  In between the above, I've recounted my truthful experience in backing the failed Robotech Tactics miniatures kickstarter (link here), reviewed Artel W's series of boutique 40k themed miniatures (link here) as well as the Star Trek Discovery Season 1 (link here), reviewed the Starfinder RPG and my unsuccessful attempt at starting a local group (link here), and even covered the history of my blog's title (link here).

All in all that makes 26 updates for 2018 or roughly one every two weeks or so on average.  In reality, they came more in fits and spurts with May being a month without any update.  In addition to hopefully doing a bit more hands on painting in 2019, I do also hope to post a bit more regularly or, at a minimum, not completely miss any months on the blog.  As stated above, I do hope to finish off some existing miniatures on my painting table (like my 40k Tau broadside linked here as well as my recent 3D printed figs).  On the digital front, I don't see myself coming out with too many ships but I am considering publishing an updated 2019 edition of my TOS Recognition Manual (link here) if I can come up with a suitable Romulan ship to add to the roster.

I don't know if this type of review is informative to any potential readers but I do feel that it (at least temporarily) helps to focus my efforts for the upcoming months.  Regardless, see you all in a few weeks with my next 3D printing update and thanks again for reading!

Tales from Terra Nova Issue 1

A while back, I posted a comic book style report of my last Heavy Gear game (which occured a while before the post too!) and mentioned that I was trying to figure out how to publish a PDF version of the complete report instead of the more disjointed single images.  In the intervening years, I've figured out how to do that thanks to my efforts with my SHIELDS UP! Star Trek house rules so I figured I'd finally post the full pdf version of my battle report.  Please note that the game took place prior to the release of the current rules so may reference mechanics no longer used in Heavy Gear in addition to my own FLASH! house rules.

Tales From Terra Nova PDF Link

Summer Hobby Update

It's been a while since I did a full hobby update but I finally have enough to report in.  Over on the tabletop hobby side, I've got a few pots slow cooking on the stove at the moment.  The release of Kill Team for 40k got me a bit excited about the tabletop game universe again.  It's a skirmish level ruleset that you can simply plug and play your existing 40k army figures into.  I've started to parcel out a dozen or two figs from each of my main 40k armies into a separate carrying case to use with Kill Team (and also double as RPG figs as well potentially).   Additionally, I've started to collect some more bits and figures to build a few more of my Winged Hussars custom chapter.  My goal is to have a combat squad of five primaris marines for Kill Team as well as an RPG character model.  While the overall look will remain the same for the Winged Hussars, I will be testing out a few variant bits like shoulder pads and tabards to fine tune the look with the next few figs.

At a recent game store swap meet, I also managed to trade for a two dozen figures (mainly 40k Kill Team figs) that included a few Rafm HG minis.  The big draw for me was a broken mostly complete (no head antenna) Kodiak gear.  I still haven't painted any of my previous HG Rafm conversions from last year but I just couldn't resist getting the original version of the Kodiak to complement the Destroyer Kodiak I built last time.

A while back, I mentioned that I was joining a Starfinder RPG campaign but that fizzled out after two games.  We didn't have a dedicated GM and no one else was interested so I volunteered on a strictly temporary basis.  Unfortunately, the "space fantasy" feel of Starfinder's setting and mechanics wasn't for me.  I wanted a full scifi rpg and it instead felt more like D&D in space.   My offer to transition the group to Star Trek Adventures were unsuccessful as the non-traditional nature of the setting (i.e. not-a-murder-hobo simulator) wasn't as popular as I'd have hoped.

The Wrath and Glory Warhammer 40,000 RPG is coming out soon and I picked up the free introductory adventure.  I'm a bit concerned about the depth of the rules/options in the core book due to the ambitious breadth they're attempting to include.  I can't help but feel the ruleset would have been better served by focusing strictly on Imperial campaigns instead of also adding in barebones chaos and xenos options but I'm leaving final judgement to after actually trying out a session as GM.

Malibu Jaguars... with new hat!

Yes, I opened up a blog post with a classic Simpsons reference as it seemed appropriate.  Recently, I sold some Heavy Gear Rafm minis to Ashley over at the Paint it Pink blog and she was kind enough to include a Fire Jaguar head in with the lot so that I'd have matching hats/heads for my Jaguar squad.  When I was assembling my RAFM gears last year, I found out that I had a mispack or missing parts rate of one in three sealed blisters.  As a result of that terrible QA back in the 1990's, my Jaguars all had mismatched heads unfortunately (along with a mispacked Hunter backpack as well).  I did the best that I could in trying to get a cohesive look for the small squad of three gears and ended up press moulding a Fire Jaguar head to match the two that I had.

Adventures in Amateur Press Moulding

It's far from the prettiest looking Jaguar head with the extra VR-style visor over the typical optics but I thought it conveyed the advanced targeting on the Jaguar somewhat compared with the typical heads on my Grizzlies and Cheetahs.  I had been on the lookout for a third matching head and Ashley came to the rescue recently!

I added a bit of paperclip to represent an antenna as the model is a "thunder" command variant with the satellite uplink modelled around back on the V-engine.  I don't know when or even if I'll paint these up but Ashley's blog is scratching the RAFM painting itch with frequent updates.  With this squad now officially done and her doing updates as well, I'm a bit motivated to try and do the final Hunter squad for this force.  Initially, I stopped as I noticed a few more Hunter mispacks on top of the issues I was having with the Jaguars but I'll have to re-evaluate the situation with them this upcoming weekend.

State of the Blog Address for 2016

Last year, I did a two part post reviewing 2015's hobby progress and I've decided to do the same this year.  The good news, for folks who found the previous one too lengthy, is that this one should be shorter since I've accomplished less!  I'm not sure if that comment deserves a :)  or :( though.  Additionally, I'll be trying out some new embedded image formats in this post so let me know if they're presenting a problem for legible reading as I'm having some difficulty in formating them here on blogspot. 

Unfortunately, my previous three big completed hobby projects (Heavy Gear, Robotech, and Halo Fleet Battles) failed to garner me any games despite having 2 player painted forces to use to lure (absent) curious folks into a battle.  In the meantime, I've mostly lost interest in the old standby games of 40k and X-wing and my local (25 miles/40km away) store even closed down early last year.  None of the above really had a positive effect on my motivation to buy, build, paint, or play frankly but I did find a few things to keep me interested in the meantime.

The first project that I picked up on a whim was to build an old RAFM Heavy Gear force up.  These were the figs that first got me into painting independently (although I was a part of a Star Trek FASA group prior to that in which I used other players' figs) and I couldn't pass up the chance to put a few of them together.  I mostly went with a one of a kind style force building with no repeated variants for my northern force.  I'm really happy with how the Grizzlies and Cheetahs turned out but not so much on the Jaguars mainly because of the Arrow Jaguar whose head I had to scratch build/mould with my meagre skills.  I'm also still undecided whether I'll crack open the blisters and build a southern force to potentially face them.   I could theoretically use them with the current nuBlitz rules as I modelled/converted them to be legal for use with them but I've already got multiple painted demo armies in my foam case in the current scale and am even expanding the ones I carry with me a bit (see below for details).


On a similar nostalgic note, I started last year by catching up and rewatching old episodes of pretty much most of the Star Trek series, both my old favorites as well as ones that I missed in both first run and reruns.  This in turn rekindled my original hobby experience and I started designing stat sheets for fan ships for use in the old FASA game.  Most of the designs come from the mind of Bill Krause so I'm very thankful that he let me use his images and ships for my sheets.  He's got a few more designs on the way and I've got a few others I'd like to cover so you'll all be likely seeing more of those in 2017.  Additionally, I worked on some Star Trek Attack Wing house rules that aren't still ready to publish but I do hope to post a review of some Star Trek deckplans hopefully tomorrow.

My only played game though was in the final days of the year with a quick post-Christmas session of Munchkin (Adventure Time edition) that I bought for some younger cousins who were fans of the show.  I'd unsuccessfully tried to get them into card games (although one has since picked up a Pokemon habit in college), miniatures games (with Heroscape), and comics.  Munckin has caught on though with one cousin and his friends and I look forward to passing on my original Munchkin collection to him so it can see some use.  When he turns 21 and starts playing with some friends who have already had a few drinks, the true backstabbing should begin.  :)

Since my previous hobby efforts with Rafm Heavy Gear only involved assembly and conversion and not painting, I decided early this year to dip my toes back into that hobby pool as well.  And by dip my toes I mean exactly that... just some minor weapon conversions on existing painted pics.  After a year of disuse, my inventory on supplies revealed alot of dried up paint pots and glue tubes so my options were as practically limited as they were theoretically by my willpower.  I left off in my previous current scale metal HG project at converting my Northern commander into a legal model as his previous variant/loadout didn't carry over to nuBlitz.  Additionally, my Tau side project had a special character commander model conversion (that I use as my profile pic here) that I wished to be able to use as a WYSIWIG competent normal commander as well so I decided to add another plasma gun to fit the theme of his squad.  These were some very minor projects that hopefully will yield more in 2017.  Ideally, I'd like to finish up the remaining primed, basecoated, and washed broadside suit for that same small ally Tau force.

Finally, I'd end of on a positive note in that I found out about a month ago that another store roughly the same distance from me opened up not far from the location of the previous one.  While I haven't made the trek up there yet, I hope to do so in the next few weeks.  While I suspect the player population is largely the same, I hope that my own personal prospects for getting a few games in will vary from my previous attempts in 2015.  In preparation for this (and after checking the Spartan Games forum), I've taken out my Halo minis from my case and replaced them with a selection of X-wing ones instead.  In all honesty, Halo Fleet Battles has no worse prospects locally than either Robotech or Heavy Gear but I have alot more nostalgia for those minis games so they'll stay whereas I'm primarily nostalgic for Halo in video games.  I've added additionally the above Northern HG commander and some more Nucoal forces into the empty slots as well.

NUBLITZ! demo army lists and pics

The 2016 update to the Heavy Gear rules came out this past weekend.  While I didn't have a chance to go over the actual rules in any detail, I did take a look at the army construction chapters.  One major change is that the number of different UAs has been significantly reduced.  I'm glad to see this seeing as how I both privately (prior to) and publicly (post release) advocated strongly for that unsuccessfully back in 2013/2014.  With this latest slimmed down army organization, I decided to see if what I could do with my painted Blitz scale models and eventually my new Rafm scale collection. 

A few years back when I was trying to demo and drum up support for the game, a player commented after an intro game while skimming through my rulebook that he was surprised to see more than just gears in Heavy Gear.  At first I was perplexed at the comment until I took a look at my collection at that time (100% gears) as well as the name and cover art of all the books.  Since then, I made it a point to include more than just gears in my forces despite my personal interests, especially in the forces I bring to demo.  Gears are still the overall main focus of my collection but not an exclusive one.  Additionally, I wanted to make sure I brought models that will use a variety of weapons, deployments, stats, and special rules instead of just frontline commandos backed up by backfield bruisers (my initial southern army).  If those weren't enough restrictions, space was also limited in my carrying case so all three forces had to fit in mostly a single foam tray.  From my collection, here are the various lists I came up with at 132pts (+-1pt) each after evicting some Robotech models from their foam slots!

 Starting with the North, we have a Fire Support squad of two Grizzlies (including the CGL) and two destroyer Jaguars.  The Jaguars belong honestly more in an old time strike squad but the low tech but devastating explosive brute force weapons can also fit here in the Fire Support squad .  They'll likely be deployed up on the front lines guarding the 5th member of the squad, a support unit Cheetah.  The Cheetah recon gear is there to provide FO as well as some ECM support for the squad.  The second squad is a high tech strike squad of two Arrow missile Jaguars and two laser sniper Flash Jaguars led by a Cheetah.  To round out the three activations, I have a platoon of four anti-tank infantry squads.  With this force, I've got a representation of indirect fire (guided and normal), some advanced weapons like lasers, infantry and their unique rules, and some solid electronic warfare.

Opposing them is my Southern Republic gear regiment.  I went with extremes here in that I took both the most basic gear squad (GP) along with two of the most elite options in that army.  The five Jager GP squad includes some grenade launchers/LAC combo rifles as well as light bazookas and are led by a command Jager.  This was important to me as I didn't have any "trooper" class gears like the hunter in my northern force.  Backing them up is a strike squad of two bruiser King Cobras with their haywire damage causing particle accelerators.  Finally, we have a special forces stealth squad of two three various mambas and a chameleon recon gear.  This squad utilizes both the stealth and paratrooper rules potentially in a game.  I'm still a little bit hesitant to include the stealth squad though as the previous Blitz stealth rules just made the game not fun when used.

Rounding out the final force is my Nucoal tank regiment.  The standard 132pt force consists of two squadrons of missile and laser armed Fusilier Javelin hovertanks backed up by a pair of larger, tougher (but slower and more expensive!) Longfang Hetairoi hovertanks.  This covers the previously unused hover mode movement as well as multiaction larger vehicles.  For smaller games, I've included two support squad hover gears (Chasseur mk2 gunners) to add a bit of granularity to potential squads at lower point totals.

With these three armies, I've got a variety of weapons represented as well as all but one of the major classes of the titular gears.  Flanking, airdrop, and normal deployment is represented along with special categories of rules like stealth and electronic warfare.  Finally, nongears are shown as both infantry as well as tanks are included.  I attempted to include support options like turrets, conventional tanks, and aircraft alternatively in the southern force as well as an APC in the north but neither the points nor the remaining available foam slots worked out.  I'm also missing a strider in a list as well.  I had initially planned to use my Rafm Kodiak as a blitz gearstrider but there are lingering questions about his size relative to the orginal model on top of the fact that couldn't fit in the case without removing more (necessary) robotech demo models.  I may eventually revisit that decision though in the future though.  Next up will be my Robotech demo lists and models that I keep in the same case.

RAFM Army so far...

A group shot of my force as of today.  I somewhat successfully cast a lower detail head for the third jaguar and magnetized it and a normal head for easy swapping as needed.  While it isn't as sharp as the original metals, it's better than the picture indicates.  I have to stop thinking of the groups as squads as I've been referring to them since they're not actually legal squads.  From the 10 models, I can field two legal squads out of the three strike, dragoon, and fire support options.  My next trio was intended to be Hunter variants but I think I'll hold off until the new rules come out hopefully next week.  Three of the four hunter variants I can build don't actually exist in the current rules and would require significant conversion and/or substitution.  I'm hoping some more options open up with the 2016 revision.  Alternatively, I could start working on some infantry in the meantime or even start my southern force.

Recon gears assembled

Here's the currently complete recon group.  I built the third cheetah as a White Cat with two small conversions: the rocket pack and the EW forearm bit.

I might change the rocket pod back to the vertical one if I decide to build another stock Cheetah (my only planned repeat!) as I only have one left.  My group photos turned out really badly due to the lighting so I'll have to wait until the weekend to try again in better and hopefully natural light.  I also had another idea about the Jaguar heads and decided to try casting the fire jaguar head instead of the more modern one that I initially tried.  I'll post an update about that tomorrow along with some group shots and further ideas this weekend.

Cheetahs on the prowl (and Strike Squad Redux)

 

I did a partial repositioning of the Arrow Jaguar's head and missile launchers.  Initially, I wanted the model's front view to look as similar to the old RPG art as possible but unfortunately the pose overall suffered IMO.  I took off the head and missile launchers, scraped clean the superglue, and repositioned them to look a little more like I initially intended.  I imagine the advanced tracking systems on the Jaguar have the missile mount on that side turn to where his sensor cluster (the head) is pointing so I turned the one mount and left the other facing straight forward (but still at the RPG tilted angle from the vertical.

Next up, I worked on some cheetahs.  These guys were less time intensive as I didn't thankfully have to (so far!) worry about mispacks and the conversions were relatively minimal.  I clipped and repositioned the normal cheetahs arm to infront of him and added a Blitz scale dagger to liven up the pose a bit more.  As usual, I swapped out the curved rocket pack for an angular one.   Additionally, the pic showed me that I missed some spots when stripping and reposing this model so I'll have to go back and do some concentrated scrubbing tonight.

The second model from the recon squad was the strike cheetah.  Whereas the normal cheetah is a mix of Electronic Warfare and defensive capability, the strike cheetah focuses more on the latter and adds some offensive punch.  Initially, it was an aidrop capable unit but strangely it has been split up into three separate bazooka cheetahs, only one of which is airdrop capable.  Either way, here is my Metal Cat/Strike Cheetah/Para Strike Cheetah/Silver.  The changes to the stock model were adding a pack gun to the left hand, swapping out the Rapid Fire Bazooka for a Light bazooka, and the rocket launcher swap.

Next up will be the White Cat Cheetah variant and some group photos!

Strike Squad done... sort of...

I tried various possible solutions over the weekend to my issue of the mismatched Jaguar heads this weekend.  Raiding the various bits boxes didn't help and several different attempts at press moulding just ended up with the following mostly low detail and frequently unusable bits.

The two best cast pieces still had detail issues on the bottom half (although the less detailed top turned out fine) so I decided to cut off the bottom and try to convert existing blitz scale heads into the bottom portions.  Unfortunately, it just looked like the blitz heads were wearing a small hat instead of a cohesive single head.  In the end, I settled and used the two Fire Jaguar heads as the normal heads and the Thunder Arrow variant used the mispacked hunter head. 

I'm not entirely happy with the pose on the missile launcher commander model.  I was going for a "follow me, men!" type raised arm but instead it looks a bit more like a Papal wave unfortunately.  I had planned on turning the torso more but then the head wouldn't be oriented in the same direction due to the missile launchers.  I may revisit this pose in another few days after I finish the next squad.  I also converted the MAC to a bulkier version using some 40k and Robotech bits.  The MAC is one of the worst offenders in the underscaled weapon department for Rafm era models with the supposedly bigger weapon coming in smaller in volume than the LAC and even the pack gun.  Here's a side/back view of the three.

Next up will be the three gear Recon squad of cheetahs.