Stormhammer Reinforcements: Cougar Battlemechs

Stormhammer Cougar-X spread out over the Sulfurous Fields, hunting for signs of the invading Clan.

The Cougar-X is not a descendant of the original clan Cougar, as it has been nearly seventy years after the destruction of the last known factory.  Though the design is passingly similar, the new machine has been designed and constructed during the Dark Age by local manufacturers.  The Stormhammers have managed to obtain several prior to arriving on Vindemiatrix, and have deployed them in scout capacity near suspected clan targets.

I prefer to brush-prime Reaper Bones.  

Reaper Bones CAV models are fun.  As always, brush-primed with some color - in this case Vallejo Cold Grey.  I didn't glue these to the bases while I painted them, instead affixing them with Blu-tac.  The torsos and arms are not glued either, allowing for traversals on the table.

Raise your guns up and paint under your arms, kid.

On the heavier end of the light scale, the Cougar-X sports a fairly impressive armament.  In addition, the mech is heavily armored for its' weight.  Manufacture of these frames has increased over the past few months, and they are seen as a fantastic alternative to older models going forward by the Inner Sphere bureaucrats.

Stages of Grey Waste Deposits.

Following basically the same process as the Jade Falcon mechs, which you can check out here.  I textured the bases with cement finish and Vallejo Black Lava before applying Agrellan Earth and highlighting with Fortress Grey.  The only major difference otherwise is the use of Regal Blue on the colored plates.

Moon Patrol, ca 3145 A.D.

As of now, no real variants have emerged for this chassis.  In the minds of some designers, that is a better sign of a mech's performance than diversified sales patterns.  These are still test patterns, however, and it is likely that sooner rather than later development will be continued on the Cougar-X program.

In space, no one can hear you meme.

Yes I know they are not battlemechs, but are in fact CAVs.  If you look closely, the bases aren't hexes, either.  This is entirely deliberate.  Also, applied Ryza Rust to the feet and lower legs to mimic the effect on the Dark Age Stormhammer miniatures.

Guns up for AA potshots.

 Stats for Horizon Wars!

Element	Type	F	A	M	D	P	FC	Special
CGR-X Cougar-X	Mech	4	4	4	2	2	2	None

Augmented Stormhammer Medium Fire Support Lance, ready to repel invaders.

The Cougar-X has become a favorite of mechwarriors in the Stormhammers since they have taken on a great many dispossessed.  These mechs are inexpensive comparatively, and give the company a flexible maneuver strategy at a critical time - a clan invasion.  The pilots themselves who have been gifted one from the company have been given a second chance at glory, and are eager to prove the guns of their new mechs.

No guts, no galaxy!

Jade Falcon Reinforcements: Razor Battlemechs

Reconnaissance units steal forth across the sulfurous wastes.

In the Dark Age, the various actors will all have to make due with what they have.  In the Falcon's Reach, several mech-factories have been captured.  However, the raw materials and imported technology that allows the factories to produce their specialized battlemechs has been heavily curtailed.  In response, Clan leaders have repurposed to make due with what they have.  One of the first things the engineers came up with was the Razor.

I got the CAV Bones Kickstarter and split it with my buddy.  The Razor is one of the CAVs I deemed worthy to include in the Falcon attack force.  I don't have any problem mixing and matching models if the scale is correct! ...or if it looks good enough...

I...belieb...dem bones...are me.

Mostly made up of legs, the Razor is swift and small.  It mounts several small to medium weapons, most commonly lasers and machine guns.  It is easily produced, as the most expensive section is the leg gyros.

Hand-primed the Razors with Mechanicus Grey for a dark base.  I wanted to try to get it close to the WizKids versions, but maybe not exact.  So the palette would probably be a lot of Gunmetal, Tin Bitz and Knarloc Green.  Secret Weapon Heavy-Body Black ink would tie it together, and we'd highlight the metal up through whatever looks correct.

Agrax Earthshade over the entire base, though - not just that one part.

Frequently deployed in groups of 2-4, these sections can make for fine flank harassment units.  More commonly, a star will have a Razor attached to perform scout and spotting maneuvers.  When properly equipped, they also excel at anti-infantry functions.

For the bases, I used scrap pieces from Warhammer Fantasy Battle modular movement trays cut to 40mm.  I used Hand Made Modern Cement Finish Dark all over the base and let it fully dry.  Over that, I applied Vallejo Black Lava, which was then inked and drybrushed Fortress Grey to match the Sulphur Fields.  I could have used the CAV hex bases, but honestly I don't like them for this project.

I feel like these guns aren't as big as I'd like, but that's the trade-off when you've got legs this long.

The cockpit and weapons sections are comparatively simple.  The cockpit is not heavily armored, but grants a wide field of view.  Some models have been equipped with jump-jets, though this variant is not widely distributed yet.

Clan Star on a suppression mission to a small enemy base. The RZR's will chase down any small craft attempting to escape.

Stats for Horizon Wars:

Element	Type	F	A	M	D	P	FC	Special
RZR-1A Razor	Mech	1	2	4	1	1	1	None
RZR-3N Razor	Mech	1	2	4	1	1	2	Jump Jets

Robot Affliction, Part the First - The Striding

In all, these CAV's are inexpensive to build and maintain even during the Dark Age.  As the Jade Falcon makes headway on Vindemiatrix, they are sure to be at the forefront of the battle.  The RZR-series excels at vanguard, scout, outrider or escort duties.  For the Great Khan!

Welcome to Planet Vindemiatrix, home of smelly holes.

Horizon Wars

Buy Horizon Wars right here, right now!

Osprey Wargames, man.  I have to admit I think they've been my favorite publisher for the last 7 years or so.  I actually saw a few of their books at one of the biggest FLGS in the state recently, and I'm happy the wargames community explored other things after the...fallout of edition changes.

I like just about everything they do, certainly everything I've read.  While they may not be perfect (cost of naginatas in Ronin makes no sense), each one of them is cool in it's own right.  There is a staggering variety, pretty much something for everyone and new stuff coming out every day.

A lot of folks don't know about Horizon Wars, and that's a shame.  It's a combined arms wargame centered around mecha, and as far as it goes this is a steal.  It's a great game, and it will be the next game I jump on for campaigning, modelling and terrain building.  It's time to smash giant robots together, and fly around with helicopters and stuff.

One of the cool things about a lot of the Osprey Games is that many of them are somewhat setting and scale agnostic.  I'm going in with 10mm, an odd scale...but it's gaining traction with a lot of gamers.  I'm going to use Horizon Wars to play miniature games with the Battletech setting, during the Dark Age.  I'm not going to limit myself to purely Battletech models, either...since it's 10mm, I've got some Mechwarrior: Dark Age models to start with.  However, I've also got a lot of Reaper C.A.V. models, some generic WW2 infantry who's name and manufacturer escape me at the moment, and I'm going to pick up some stuff from other 10mm ranges like Firestorm Planetfall (defunct or not, I'm not quite sure) and Dropzone Commander.

Horizon Wars also uses the oft-shunned D12 in the basic mechanic.  I'll have to buy some extras just for this game, because believe it or not I just don't have that many.  Not very many games make heavy use of them except perhaps RPG's, and then not so much.  The very first die I ever owned I found in a ditch in Kansas, and it was a D12...one of the old, old ones you had to color in.  I assume it was in a bar ditch because no one likes D12's.  I still have that die, 26 years later.  Somewhere...I think it's in the big bag of old dice my daughters play with.  I should look for that to make sure I'm not lying.

I've decided that 10mm terrain can probably fill in at 6mm as well, especially with generic things like roads, monorails and nondescript buildings.  We're going in on a moon base table this time, because why shouldn't gravity and vacuum not be represented in our games?  We're all about being inclusive, so maybe your pilot will suffocate, be nuked alive by un-shielded radiation or maybe just float away into space after an explosion.  I'm still looking for good moon bases at 10mm, so if you know where I can find some drop a line in the comments.

FYI - I found three copies of Horizon Wars at a Half-Price Books in Oklahoma City a few weeks back.  Next time I run across something like this I'll make sure to pick them up.  I bet a couple of you guys out there would be interested in this, so take a look and see if it passes the bar.  The flexible force design rules should be enough to coerce you into a game.

...and to anyone who asks the asinine question:

"If you wanna play Battletech bruh why don't you just play Battletech?  You just talked about it anyway??"

To that, I can only say I never said I wasn't playing Classic Battletech.  Or Alpha Strike.  I love me some old school FASA boxed sets too.  In fact, I was once a total FASA fanboi.  I even love Renegade Legion, and most BT guys I know don't have any idea what that even was.  Shadowrun was the first RPG I ever bought myself, and I ordered Earthdawn 1st Edition so long ago that the mail carriers couldn't find my house and I had to have it delivered 45 miles away.  Don't sass my BT cred.

Horizon Wars might seem like it's limited, but it's actually very flexible in the sort of games you can play.  I might even throw the ol' RL grav tanks on the field and see how they play in the ruleset.  There are several semi-official(?) expansions written by the author, such as BioWar, DataWar, MetaFormers and more.  Check out the Facebook group here and dig the massive Files section, where folks have shared their translations of other game worlds such as Robotech, Planetfall and Infinity.

Check out Precinct Omega's Horizon Wars section.  It is the author's website, and you can find a lot of related materials.  Check out some of the other projects there as well for extra internet points.

So I guess what I mean to say is:  Get your robot runnin'.  Head out to the moon base.  Look for a heat signature in every game you play.  Yes comrade we will make it happen, take the foe in a death embrace.  Fire all your guns at once, and explode your heat gauge.