Miniature(s) of the Fortnight #33: First generation Battle Armor

[Xiwo Xerase]

Originally, this was supposed to be the New Year's Eve special edition of Miniature(s) of the Fortnight.  Due to circumstances largely beyond my control, it's now the post-New Year's special.  Or, if you prefer, the "New Year's Eve (observed)" special.

This edition focuses on "first generation" battle armor, with the line drawn somewhat arbitrarily at the Battle of Tukayyid in 3052.  For the Clans, this is only the Elemental.  For the Inner Sphere, this is the Inner Sphere Standard battle armor, both Gray Death Standard and Scout battle armor, and the two battle armor suits from the BattleTech cartoon, the Infiltrator Mk. I and the Sloth.

Most battle armor minis were originally released as stands, which you could presumably either deploy as is or use cutters to separate them into independently based units.  The old battle armor sculpts are still available from Iron Wind Metals but I'm unclear if they still come as stands or if they are packaged separately.

The Elemental, being the first and iconic battle armor, has had the most sculpts:

• First, I believe, were the stands of five Elementals released by Ral Partha (20-821).  These are now an online exclusive from Iron Wind Metals (BT-160 and possibly also BT-369).
• Ral Partha also released a larger Elemental in the 25mm scale, possibly intended for use in MechWarrior games (or if you wanted to scare the pants off your AD&D players). (20-950).
• Armorcast released a 28mm scale version of the Elemental, which is available today from Iron Wind Metals (BT-210).

The Inner Sphere battle armor suits all have a single sculpt:

• Inner Sphere Standard battle armor: Originally 20-951, currently BT-381.
• Gray Death Scout battle armor: Originally 20-955, currently BT-385.
• Gray Death Standard battle armor: BT-134
• Infiltrator Mk I battle armor: BT-129
• Sloth battle armor: BT-029

I am admittedly very unclear on the history of battle armor minis so hopefully someone can point out any mistakes I have made.

MW:DA also included plastic sculpts of all of these battle armor suits.

If you have any Elemental points or Gray Death squads or whatever, please feel free to post them.  We'd love to see them!

As always, thank you for reading and a special thank you to those who will share.

Our next two fortnights will be:

• Inner Sphere (1/14): The Atlas family (Atlas, Atlas II, and Atlas III)
• Clan (1/28): Stone Rhino/Behemoth
  

[agen2]

Here we go:

IMG_20180103_080241 by agen2, su Flickr

IMG_20180103_080037 by agen2, su Flickr

IMG_20171219_164719 by agen2, su Flickr

IMG_20171215_112236 by agen2, su Flickr

[dirty harry]

Older sculpts of Elementals.
First of Ghost Bears (Omicron Galaxy), then Jade Falcon (Lambda Galaxy) and finally some Snow Raven (Beta Galaxy). Every elemental stands in for an entire point. In the meantime every clan has a full star (the missing ones came later but i have not taken additional pictures).

[dirty harry]

Next up is their counterpart, the IS battle armor. The livery should need no comment: Lyran Guard.

[dirty harry]

And finally some GD Battle Armor. This time as Lyran Guards, Donegal Guards and finally as members of the GDL itself.


I have to say sorry for some blurry pictures, but these elementals are tiny. As it seems too tiny for my camera to focus on...

[Luciora]

Painted these before I got into themed schemes, but i liked the idea of the Clan Imperial Flower Brigade.

[Luciora]

A smattering of the Inner Sphere battlearmor of the time. 

[Force of Nature]

Here are my oldies but goodies. All five on a hexbase pointing sorta-ish to the front. I use plastic kill rings to hang off each of them so that players can see how many are left in the point. These are all painted circa 1991 - 1992.

[Daemion]

Standard Inner Sphere Battle Armor in a custom merc scheme.