We all have that project… You know the one. “I’d love to do <this>, but I’ve already got too many others going”, or “When I get the money/parts/time”… But it never seems to happen. Because, like Dug from “Up”, there is always another squirrel to distract us…
That was this one, and it has a long history… For those of you who have read previous posts, the Stormbringers are the continuation of a play-by-snail-mail game I ran in the early ‘90s… It was about a group of cadets from both the Sakhara Military Academy and the New Albion Military Academy that find themselves up against the 3rd An Ting Legion… The four main player characters were allowed to modify there Mechs anyway they saw fit. But, as the story went, they were modified in such a way as their silhouette was basically the same… And why would I put that restriction in?! Well, it was because I was no where near the repose/basher I am now, and had to explain the Mechs looking like any other on the field…
Fast forward about 20 years… And now I’m better at reposing/bashing, but the thought of redoing the minis have fallen down the list of priorities. Even after I decided to bring the variants into my Stormbringers, they had been done before, so no big rush. Then something happened… RPE renewed their contract and the entire MFUK line (including parts) had went away. And the replacement Marauder cannon was always the one I planned to replace the AC/5 with… So I scrambled to get the parts, and soon ran out of excuses..
About the design:
The SHD-3J replaces the AC/5 with a heavy laser, the LRM-5 with a LRM-15 and the SRM-2 with a medium laser. Also added is an additional medium laser to the left arm. The engine is dropped from a Core Tek 275 to a DAV 220, and increases the Jump Jets to 4. Rounding out the ‘Mech, are two additional tons of armor and a extra heat sink… Slightly slower, the 3J has a better ability to strike at longer range.
Project notes:
The 3J was obviously done with an OOP Shadow Hawk.. The over-the-shoulder Heavy Laser is the Marauder’s replacement cannon from the MFUK weapon pack #1. For the upgrade of the LRM launcher, I used one from a reseen GRF-6S Griffin. The SRM-to-medium laser was done simply with some green stuff over the second launch tube (the red thing on his head is a spotlight with red filter… That idea coming from a picture I have somewhere). The medium lasers are courtesy of Choppa 6, and came without barrels… So I grafted on the tips from cut down Von Luckner Heavy Tank turrets. Starting with my PlasTech 23rd Arcturan Guards Atlas, I’m also making a move to more closing match the artwork, which means adding all the little details not originally sculpted. Hence the “knee bars” and no antenna (check the art, it doesn’t have one).
Fluff:
“Danielle’s Pride” was a standard SHD-2H until field repairs dictated a change in armament some 150+ years before Daemon Black took the controls. Passed down from generation to generation, always down the female side, Daemon received her purely by default because there was no female successor. When he made the move to start the Stormbringers and upgraded to a HGN-851 Highlander, he begin to find someone to replace him at the controls… What he found was a distant cousin who had just finished training, but her prospects were bleak because she lacked a ‘Mech. He offered her both the ‘Mech and a place in the Stormbringers, which she accepted.
Amanda Thorne is a quiet young lady with drive. She is well aware that many think she only got her spot in the Stormbringers because of he cousin, and she is determined to prove them wrong. “Danielle’s Pride” has been a god-send, and she takes incredibly good care of her. Currently, Amanda is assigned to 349th Dragoon’s 2nd Battalion, 4th Company “Steel Eclipse”, as the 4th member of the medium lance.
Comments, suggestions and steal-able ideas welcome.
Caz
