The
Invading Clans sourcebook gave us our first real look at Clan Steel Viper and Sanra Mercer's doctrine. Unfortunately, for that Clan, Sanra Mercer was overshadowed by a future Khan (and ilKhan) and the Wars of Reaving, but this is admittedly off-topic. We're here to talk about 'Mechs and miniatures.
Invading Clans also gave us the first look at two OmniMechs used by Clan Steel Viper, the
Battle Cobra and the
Crossbow. Later,
Technical Readout: 3075 would give us a look at an Age of War-era
Crossbow that was the new predecessor of the Steel Viper
Crossbow. Like I said, we're here to talk about 'Mechs and miniatures, so please see the 'Mech of the Week articles if you want to know more about then in-game (
Battle Cobra,
Crossbow (Clan), and
Crossbow (Inner Sphere)).
Miniature-wise, there isn't much to say about the
Battle Cobra. It has only ever had
one sculpt (20-662).
The
Crossbow is a more interesting story. I want to know: Were there ever official stats for the
Crossbow XBW-9J?
The first
Crossbow mini was a
BattleDroids mini released by Ral Partha, ostensibly the XBW-9J model (20-813). Like all BattleDroid 'Mech minis, this has been long out of print. You can see the missle pods on its arms, reminiscent of the
Longbow. This idea appears to have been recycled or adapted into the more common forms of the
Crossbow we know today.
The next miniature released was for the
Crossbow OmniMech (20-911).
And then came the miniature for the
Crossbow BattleMech (20-5006).
By now, you know the drill: If you've painted any of these miniatures, we'd love to see them!
Thanks for reading and a special thank you to those of you who will post.
Our next two fortnights will be:
- Special (12/30): WarShips and JumpShips
- Inner Sphere (1/13): Ostroc and Ostwar
