AS7-D Atlas - Vasily Cherenkoff; Warlord of Dieron c.a. 3025

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Ah; the Atlas.  When I first got into the game I was introduced with the Battletech 4th Edition box set; with its iconic cardboard stand in pieces and above all else its iconic Atlas on the cover missing right arm and all.  Everyone knew that in 3025; at least in terms of 'standard' variants listed in the original tech stats the Atlas was king of the field.  So I knew I wanted to do an Atlas which harkened back to the initial feel of the game, and that meant going all the way back to the original 3025 tech manual and looking at the fluff surrounding the mech.

Being a House Kurita loyalist I was immediately drawn to doing an Atlas in the traditional House Kurita red and black as the original TRO describes Warlord Cherenkoff as driving one.  I have up until now avoided doing the 'traditional' red and black of house Kurita for a simple reason - no DCMS brigade actually paints there units this way.  For all the general lore around Kurita forces being bested by damn near every merc in the universe at one point or another and all sporting the red and black of Kurita, no actual house unit traditionally wears it.  So I reserved it for 'independent' units like this Atlas, one off Kurita mechs and misc units such as Tyrell's Terrors or Ravannions Hord from Mckinnons Raiders.  All in all I will eventually do a whole battalion of 'House Kurita' troops in there traditional red and black.  But Chereknoff's Atlas will be the first.

The manual describes the man as a fat lazy leader, stating he basically never pilots the atlas in war and its always parked next to a Mobile HQ (hence the Daimyo in the photos here).  While the TRO says he is the 'General of the Armies' that's not really a thing in the DCMS unless you count Gunji-No Kanrei as that, but Teddy Kurita was the first to bear that title.  No in the more detailed lore he is the Warlord of Dieron.

In fact it would seem the only time he is described as piloting the atlas was during a battle in the Ronin War when he was leading the Ronin elements against the Rasalhague Republic - only to die unceremoniously by assassination when someone blew up his cockpit.  An ignoble end for the warlord.

The House Kurita scheme I am using is two contrast paints by GW - there contrast black and the blood angels red I use for all Sword of Light units.  Because of the black I bought higher quality decals for the numbers to make them stand out.








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