Giant Effing Robots pt 2

Battletech is a lot like other Table Top Games. you have pieces, they represent your party, and they go out and do stuff. unlike other miniatures based war games however having the proper miniature is not a requisite (such games are called WYSWYG, or What You See is What You Get). This makes the miniatures side of the Battletech universe a true hobby instead of a requirement.

My first foray into the Miniatures hobby was a new and exciting ordeal. I had used a Gorilla Glue tube salvaged from my parents garage to build the miniature, and painted it with an enamel taken from a model car painting kit. I did not prime the miniature at all. it was my work though, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

in hindsight it was an unmitigated disaster. the paint was sloppy in places, and as age showed on the miniature, bare metal was showing though, and the glue crusted over so easily I had to file it away and reglue it

over the course of my nearly decade long miniatures painting career, I learned about Primers, Dry brushing, the use of colored washes, Highlights (which I do not do, preferring to let natural light do the work for me.) Lacquers and varnishes. all culminate into a massive collection of over 200 pieces of lead free pewter. you also discover the damnedest tools to use. My miniatures painting and preparation studio includes the following.

- A tackle box full of small tubes and pots of paint.
- Brushes ranging in size from a full house paint brush to a 30 hair fine detail brush
- seven Xacto knives and one surgeons scalpel
- a one gallon jug full of pine sol
- a glass plate that was part of a microwave
- an infinite supply of paper towels
- a Dremmel tool
- a Toothbrush
- Files both metal worker and jeweler quality
- a Coffee Grinder- so that I can turn sand into a finer powder
- Safety Glasses, never underestimate the importance of them
- a Jet Lighter
- a large bucket of sand- right out of the local school sand box
- a Workshop Vise
- a small hand Drill, and wire's of varrying gauge
- a Lamp with magnifier
- a portable photo studio suited for taking pictures of small objects
- a Digital Camera
- stiff metal wire brushes of various sizes to scrape paint off a mini if i want to try again.


Most of the time I paint either in a generic "Tank like" coloration, or I paint a piece in the colors of one of Battletechs many fictitious nations. it is only recently that I have been going into the nameless void that was creating my own color scheme. you would be amazed how much planning goes into such an affair. I started out with just four mechs, and tried several variations. none satisfied me. it was a pure accident of discovering I had used a paint suited for airbrushing that I found the coloration I wanted. then the pinstripe highlights came naturally.

Creating your own paint scheme has its consequences though. You suddenly have this group, it starts small, and then you find the need to have a story behind it. My group, which started as six battlemechs, exploded to a reinforced battalion very quickly. and thus started what I called the Lioness Combat Team. I will tell you about writing them in the next entry