Painting Lore: Miniatures Inspired by the Story

During the surprise - not surprise - attack against the Kell Hounds on Chara III the 2nd Sword of Light employed a force almost entirely composed of Panthers.  While they were prolific and produced in the Luthien Armor Works using a force composed entirely of light battlemechs - even one as awesome as a panther - is a dubious strategy.  They did have the for sight to include a small support force - specifically a mixed unit under Chu-i Akido Yoshogi which included 2 Kurita variant shadowhawks and 2 griffins.  In addition two additional machines - an Awesome and a Grand Dragon.   I took the liberty of completing the lance here with an OstSol and a Dragon pulled from the original 3025 lore.  The Dragon mentioned is in the 2nd Sword of Light and piloted by Leon Gambetta, an aged warrior in 3025 known for his city fighting.  The OstSol is seen in the 7th Sword of Light piloted by Lynn Woo - a renowned marksman.  Curiously both descriptions tell us tha...

  In March of 3027 the Draconis Combine committed a full battalion of the 2nd Sword of Light to an (poorly conceived) ploy to attack the Kell Hounds on Chara III for little more than a vendetta.  While the Kell Hounds were planning a VIP visit the 2nd Sword was supposed to stage an attack on the delegation.  The majority of the attacking force were newly produced Panthers, a formidable light mech - but still a light mech.  They were supported by several heavier lances.   In the end the Sworders got decimated - one company torn up by mechs, another by aerospace fighters.  This is the complimentary unit which fought Torinaga's Company of Panthers I did a little while ago.  I am still not a fan of the Kell Hounds as a stand alone faction - not enough cold blooded merc for my taste - they do have a good paint scheme and are a great foil in the Lore for the combine.  And they play a part in the defense of Luthien eventually so I had to do them. Th...

This is stolen from one of the finest battletech novels of the early years - Minobu Testuhara's lance as described on Dromini VI while battling the Wolf's Dragoons.  Wolves on the Boarder set the stage for both the most famous, and loved, mercenary unit in the setting as well as taking the Draconis Combine from something other than just a cartoon villain character to a fully fledged and muti-dimensional faction.  This book - with its successor Heir to the Dragon - really put the Combine into a clear picture of all its good and bad. While not the first time I have done Panthers - hell I just did a full company in a previous project - this one is a refined approach with better decaling and more attention to detail.  I've been moving more into lance size projects as my free time dwindles which I think is actually more satisfying to paint since i can move on from a single element to the next more quickly.

This is an update from my original Arkab legion project.. I have decided to expand this one into a full company tactical group of 1 company mechs, 1 company vehicles and 1 company infantry set in the 3039 period.  I think eventually I will expand this paint scheme even further with another tactical company in the later clan invasion era/Jihad and perhaps finalize one in the Jihad era.  I really enjoy this paint scheme and I think these guys look great. The miniatures are from the Brigade Models 6mm line of desert raiders   which translate really well into the Arkab Legion vibe.  I used two Maxim hover craft from the latest Mercenary release to get these guys around and some generic hover infantry transports to represent the mechanized infantry platoon.... a hold over from the original project... of note the Arkab legion does not wear the Dragon emblem of the Draconis Combine, so I may fix that on these transports at a later time. Anyway - more infantry to squirt...

I have always loved the combined arms approach to Battletech, especially when playing extended campaign style.  Add that to my love of the obscure lore and you will find no surprise in my interest in Halsten's Brigade, a mercenary heavy armor regiment.  Originally mentioned in TRO 3025 due to a Schreck gunner, and memorialized in the Battlecorp story "Sniper" this unit has a special place in my heart.  Add that to the fact that 3d printed miniatures look stunning when you apply Space Wolves Grey contrast to them and you will see me doing a significant number of Halsten's brigade in the future. Here is the prologue - the independent Recon Co. Mentioned in the re-work of the Savannah Master lore there is mention of this recon company working under Halsten; despite the units love of the heavy tank.  I based this unit on this factoid; which admittedly says this company is under the hover craft battalion; and the fact that in 4th Succession Wars source books the force lay...

  The scenario book Sorenson's Sabers was created right at the same time as Citytech, and was clearly designed to supplement play in that new rule set.  With the Saber's specialty being city fighting there were lots of opportunity for street fighting.  One of the quirks of this era was that the two major vehicle units to use in CityTech originally were the humble Vedette Medium Tank and the Hunter Light Tank.  The result is many of the scenarios in this feature those two tanks nearly exclusively. As I work towards a DCMS Armor Regiment I thought I would pay homage to this era with my second company of Medium Armor.  Here I selected the 255th Armored Cavalry as represented in the Sorenson's Sabers scenario book and expanded it to reflect the ubiquity of the Vedette in this era of Battletech.  In support are a platoon of Hunter Light Tanks to sling LRMs. My standard colors for the DCMS apply - Tan body color which matches what I feel like is the aesthetic of ...