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

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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 armor wherever they appeared.  

Frankly they are not my favorite... besides being a Lyran affiliated unit the back story novella's which expanded on there founding created a mercenary unit who thought in ideals of chivalry and being so good no one would want to fight them.  Which is silliness of course - that's not the way war works; single units can be overwhelmed by massed numbers if necessary regardless of how good they are.  As a saving grace I actually thought the early Kell Hound Novella's were rather enjoyable outside that point.

In terms of the miniatures; The Kell Hounds colors are very close to the House Kurita generic colors which means I wanted a way to distinguish the two since I have aspirations of fielding a DCMS house regiment at some point.  I used the Army Painter blood red speed paint - which is basically identical to the Blood Angel Contrast coloring from Citadel - I was hoping for a shade or two different but basically the same product.  Instead of using a contrast black like I did on my Kurita troops I opted for a Grey Black which is just off black enough to look a bit different.  I like the way it turned out, a nice contrast to the DCMS troops I am fielding as well as offering excellent contrast to the Piranha and Death Ray Design decals I used on these.

This will be the first company in a KH battalion - probably augmented by an infantry company and an Aerospace Squadron.









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