Hanse Davion - BLR-1G Battlemaster

-

 

Hanse Davion is an Icon of the late succession wars period  His command of the Federated Suns at the twilight of the classic era was full of great dramas including a respectfully rivalry between himself and Takashi Kurita.  Hanse also played a key role in one of the first Batteletech novels, The Sword and the Dagger - a poorly constructed story involving a Liao plot to impersonate Hanse. This is only relevant in that it created a story arc leading to the 4th Succession War but also it gave us the fact that Hanse drove a Battlemaster as his personal battlemech.  

Since I had already painted a 2nd Sword of Light Battlemaster for Takashi's adventures on Halstead Station it seemed only fitting I would paint Hanses same mech, piloted on the same world, during the same excursions.  This one is painted in the unit colors he commanded on Halstead Station, the
Hanse Davion
1st Davion Guards in the classic striped paint scheme of that unit.  Halstead station was overall an exercise in LosTech adventurism, a common theme in the Battleteh universe, which netted the New Avalon Institute of Sciences (NAIS) a valuable bunch of (presumably) musty tomes during the lull of extended cross boarder raids which was the tail end of the 3rd Succession war circa 3014.

This period - 3010 to 3028 - which constitutes the low intensity raids and small scale combat is what I consider the classic battletech era.  Though there was plenty of this to go around in 3025 to 3050 it is in this period; before LosTech began its re-introduction, before the clans and the eventual Battletech story telling of 'more is better' as begun with the battle of Tukayyid; that we see how the game was envisioned and played most commonly.  Two lances slugging it out with level one tech, no crazy rule sets or advanced modifications.  Hell - people still mounted machine guns for god sake.  I am beginning a new project to capture the Gray Death Legion Saga next - which is the shining example of small scale mech combat in the universe.




For this project, however, I focused on only Hanse Davions chariot of war.  A classic unseen Battlemaster, this is a 3d print - arguably I have had better renditions but who wants to waste a good mech?  This mech is base coated in Vallejo royal blue, with free hand striping done in Army Painter matt white and Citadel Khorne Red.  As usual weapon and gear highlights are Vallejo gun metal gray; with a Agrax Earthshade over to give it that classic 3025 feel and Baharoth Blue for weapon glow.  Cockpit done in Citadel tessaract glow.  Army painter basing materials, which I think look great on most mech projects.

All product links below if you want to follow the same paint scheme.

Vallejo - Roya Blue
Army Painter - Matt White
Citadel - Khorne Red
Citadel - Agrax Earth Shade

Sources:
House Kurita Sourcebook; Halstead Station Affair
Novel:  The Sword and the Dragon

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1st Co; 2nd Bn - Kell Hounds; Mallory's World

-
Image
The original entry in the world of Batteltech for the now famous Kell Hounds was the death of Ian Davion on Mallory's World.  Here the 2nd Sword of Light caught the Davion first prince and killed him as he covered a withdrawal of his Guards off world.  With the Prince down one the field the Kell Hounds rushed the 2nd Sworders to secure the body and prevent it being carried off to the Combine as a trophy.  The original Kell Hounds scenario book has one such meeting between Zakahashi's Zombies (see previous project post) and the 1st Co. of the Kell Hounds 2nd Battalion which I have recreated here. The Kell Hounds are one of the most Iconic of units in the Battletech universe, taking a central role as a way of telling the story of the 4th Succession Wars as well as acting as a kind of window into the Clans via Phelan Kell's capture by Clan Wolf in the Clan Invasion.  Always portrayed as tactical genius and elite; the Kell Hounds have always been donned in expansive plot...
Read more

Sorenson's Sabers - Circa 3025

-
Image
I have always intended to do full Battlemech Companies from all the early scenario packs, with the Gray Death Legion being the first such project.  Sorenson's Sabers is the second effort, and much like the GDL project once I got into it I realized there was a ton of great cannon units to be pulled from the source material.  Sorenson's Sabres has a lot going for it, its classic 3rd Succession War era fluff - lots of raids and fighting the Davions ; its a Sword of Light unit which means it makes my Draconian fanboy happy, and its a quirky unit.  The company has both a Land Air Mech and a rarely seen Aerospace fighter in place of a mech.  All things I like to see in a unit when I am developing a project. The Sorenson's Sabers sourcebook has a number of great scenarios to draw from, its got a ton of Citytech influence as the Sabers are supposed to be expert urban fighters, but it also has two separate 3 scenario campaigns; which is always fun to see. The unit itself i...
Read more

Siege of Hesperus II - 2nd Succession War

-
Image
This is probably the most ambitious project to date.  When I was compiling my collection of lore and spotted the duel scenarios of Tactics of Desperation from Battlecorp archives I knew I wanted to do this as a fleet project.  I always loved battlespace, even with all its flaws in game play, and the dynamic of fighting in orbit before you could start the mech battles.  And this is the biggest fleet engagement that appears in print so far. This battle occurred in 2853 as House Kurita had laid siege to Hesperus II in an attempt to reduce the Lyran military industrial base located on that heavily fortified world.  While the forces fought it out on the ground the LCS Invincible - the last Tharkad Class Battlecruiser - jumped into system to attempt to relive the defenders.  Opposing the Tharkad and her transport fleet was an assortment of Kurita corvettes and frigates, a host of dropships all led by the DCS Galedon II, a Samarkand class carrier.  In tactics of d...
Read more