Ben's Generics - Team Brown revisited

[Daemion]

Preface
I was originally going to use Team Brown as a catch-all team with some selectiveness.  But, once I found the unit list for CityTech, and looking at the RoboTech units which already populate part of the force, I had a sudden change of heart. 

Team brown will be filled in with anime versions of BTech units, and be a place to put some of my favorite vintage minis as well as things which no longer are considered canon. 

So, I'm starting off with filling out a Company based on the CityTech units:
Archer
Warhammer
Rifleman
Shadow Hawk
Marauder
Crusader
The OstMechs three
Hunchback
Spider
Stalker

[Daemion]

My general goal is mostly anime based figures, if I can help it, and vintage metals if I come across them.

I actually have a spare vintage Griffin and Beemer, for example.
I do not have a spare metal Shadow Hawk, and I doubt I'd ever be able to get one of those Dougram Figures out of Japan.  Nasty Ogre showed me a Thungerbolt that he had picked up a while ago.

So, for the time being, I'm using the current Shadow Hawk out of the Core box.  I made some tweaks to make it fit the Dougram a little better. (Bits from Robotech RPG Tactics to give the laser a barrel, put the tube smoke launchers on one side of the head, and an MLoP for a proper tube launcher for the LRM 5.)

[Daemion]

With the Osts, I'm taking a cue from the old BattleDroids adventure packs.  There, they had a heavy artillery BattlePod as an Ostroc Mk II.

I have plenty of Regults, even some artillery units yet to assemble.  My head cannon is that these Osts are Terran manufactured first runs.  When the manufacturing licenses went off-world, some manufacturers took liberties, and we get the Ost lines that we're more familiar with.

And, before some smart aleck up and calls them assault mechs, I will let you know that I am a strong believer in different formulas for structure and armor.  Otherwise, we wouldn't have 3 different styles of Durallex brand armor.  A light Mech can be as tall as an Assault Mech by dint of that and open air space between armor and structure.  And, you can have Heavy and Assault Mechs as short and squat as some light- or Medium-Mechs from shear density of materials.
So, neener!   

The Ostscout with a Regult Scout pod for comparison.

[Daemion]

As you can see, the easiest mod to bring the Regult model down to BattleTech size is removing the weird knee joint from the legs. I probably could have taken off 5mm more, but the work is done, and I don't want to mess with it.  This is good enough for me.

The Ostsol with the standard trooper BattlePod.

[Daemion]

Ostroc/Ostroc Mk II pending...

[avon1985]

Very nice. 

[Mecha82]

Very nice.

[Daemion]

The Ostroc & Ostroc Mk ii

One of the things you may have noticed is that I cut down on the support strut with the OstScout.  The same was true for the Ostroc.  It's still a little tall.  I magnetized the artillery options so I could switch between the Mk ii and standard.  I don't every expect to field both at the same time, so I didn't dedicate another sculpt to the part.

I like to think that the larger number of tubes on the standard 'Roc is an old stop-gap for reload rates, and it helped to mask whether the 'Roc was an SRM variant or an LRM variant.  After all, an LRM-5 weighs as much as an SRM-4, and takes up the same crit space. 

[Daemion]

Ostroc Mk ii
And an Ost series range comparison.

[Daemion]

Now, I have the sprues to make 3 or 4 more Artillery BattlePods, but I have yet to assemble or have painted any.  It's on my to-do list.

So, the standard pod and scout have to stand in. 

And, some comparisons with other Mechs. You can see why some people would accuse them of being assault class Mechs.  I state that was a perk, not a flaw.  (Aside: I probably could have cut a few mm out of the lower leg, but it took a lot of pinning, and they're now glued to acrylic bases, and I really don't want to muck with it.  This is good enough for me.)

[Daemion]

Next up: Marauder and Stalker. 

Then a conundrum. Do I get creative with the Spider and Hunchback?  Or do I go the route I took with the Marauder and Shadow Hawk? 

Plus other extras.

[DEZOAT]

  WOW!! I like it. GREAT JOB ON THE MINIS!!!!

[Daemion]

We interrupt this program for a vehicular transmission!

Since Team Brown is getting its basis from the first CityTech line-up, Of course I would be filling in with some vehicles.  A mixed company.  I will have at least one of each of the seven vehicles that were statted in CityTech, including the Construction Example Tank.  Plus I'll fill in with five others, including an APC complete with squad of infantry. 

I have four ready to go.  (Four more are almost complete.  The last four will require purchases and one repaint. I may even include one or more alternates.)

The two hovercraft are from CityTech.  The other two are things that aren't but I like various reasons.  Also included is a comparison shot with different infantry figures.

The Rotunda is a very sporty spy car, and since I'm consolidating Team Tan to just a reinforced Mech raiding company with maybe a couple fighters for support, what was originally going to be part of a conventional HQ company is going in different directions.  The Rotunda didn't need a lot of modification to become a Brown vehicular element. It's still on its magnetized base so I can use it either a game piece or background element. 

Preview: The vintage metal Galleon Tank will get a slight repaint to join the Rotunda in Team Brown.

Edit: fixed the infantry comparison pic to remove the white space I thought I'd already gotten rid of in the first place. 

[Daemion]

This Dark Age Galleon mini got converted into a tracked APC, complete with magnetized turret.  I don't have the team brown squad ready for it yet.

{False Advertisement}But, if you mail in the brochure including the proof of purchase point from the package, you'll receiver a pack squad pack of infantry figurines!{/advert}

The security squad I had planned for Team Tan's HQ element will now go to Team Brown.  It's a selection of the older Kurita Jump Infantry with some extras for weapon options. (Coming soon!)  For the time being, I've included this Grenade Launcher carrying Kurita Jump trooper painted up as a COBRA Viper.

[Daryk]

The infantry is almost the same scale as the vehicles...

[Daemion]

The Falcon was the CityTech vehicle construction example.  While it has stats, it hasn't been given any art to date, according to Sarna.  It also doesn't have a vehicle sculpt to purchase from IWM, either.  If the Sarna entry on the Falcon is an official write-up, the Falcon could be any hover I want as long as it's appropriately armed.

The Scimitar is a chassis that fits well with the old Ral Partha infantry figures, and I had a loner after I gave its partner to a friend.  So, I decided to mod it and use it as a Falcon.

Backstory: Once the framework had been assembled for the Falcon kit that had arrived via Procurement, the company decided to repurpose the hull of a hangar queen Scimitar to finish the craft's construction. 


The J. Edgar mini is a little short, and maybe a little narrow.  If you look at the Rotunda next to it, the J. Edgar looks like it would be about the size of a standard passenger vehicle.  How there could be an air-cushion chamber and still have room for 3 crew, the turbine equipment, the engine, and ammo stores was hard to fathom with this IWM sculpt.  So, I modded it to give it a proper air-cushion chamber, giving the hovercraft a proper height to fit the infantryman better.  I imagine the crew compartment is still a little tight, but now I don't have to wrestle with imagining the rest.  Edit: I also added some thruster ports on the back which the original mini didn't have.

(One of the goals for Team Brown is to have things fit and work to my satisfaction, so If I have to mod something, I will.  Team Beige is were everything else will go, completely unadulterated.) 

[Daryk]

I thought the J. Edgar was fluffed as skirtless?

[Daemion]

Been a while since I read the entry.  But, it still has some scale issues.  A little height was the best I could do to get it to work in my head.

[Daemion]

I thought the J. Edgar was fluffed as skirtless?

I just looked at my copy of 3026 and all it mentions is the fact that it's old and rare. A lot of parts, including the armor, are pulled for 'more worthwhile machines' and replaced with cheaper components.  I'm willing to consider my mod an ICE downgrade. 

edit: Spelling. And adding a quote.

[Daryk]

Checked mine too, and now I'm not sure which one I remember being fluffed as skirtless... 

[Daemion]

This Vehicular Transmission Continues!

We have on hand a wide array of Tracked Vehicles fit for any Militia or Royal Retainer.  Lot Sale, NOW!  Don't miss it!

Continuing the theme from the original CityTech selection, I present the Hunter, a variety of Vedettes, and the Demolisher.

[Daemion]

The Demolisher is a vintage classic.  Although, if I really had the where-with-all, I might spring for that large mini at IWM.

 

[Daemion]

The Vedette is a well renown tank.  We have a wide variety of options to choose from.

(Aside:  When I look at the art for the Vedette, it looked to me like the Ark II on treads with a turret on back.  The vintage mini didn't seem to follow that very faithfully.  The 3058 mini was a far departure, and I just had to have something that came close.  And, with Team Brown, I'm more interested in how it looks.)

Of course, I have some other options:
- The BattleDroids version seemed to have art favoring a classic 80s tank, nominally an M1.  So, this V-ROCS MBT would make a great stand-in.  Sarna mentions the Veder being derived from a Star League version. This could be it.
- One could make the argument that the Vedette strongly resembles the COBRA HISS tank.  Two guns.  Raised, sleek profile.  I'm not gonna repaint these in Brown.  Maybe a cobalt blue.  But, I present evidence for you to decide.

[Daemion]

The Hunter!

It's a good design on paper.  The art is interesting considering the angle.  But the vintage miniature is interesting, and not in a good way.  It has this strange turret ring feature, but none of the variants spring for a turret.  It could be done if you drop the Flamer. But, with the non-existent turret ring, it is just a little too small for the infantry that Ral Partha had designed back in the day.  Just a little too small.  Were it not for that feature, I might have been able to mentally justify it.

I found that it seems to fit better with the 1/500ish scale BattleForce Mechs, along with some other bafflingly almost too small designs like the Maxim bar of soap transport or the J-27.

So, I decided to make a kitbash version that fits with the rest of the tanks.  This is the one that I'll be using officially for Team Brown.  The other one will be for use with BattleForce scale minis when I'm fielding them.

The Hunter is one of those tanks that it should be used in numbers.  It's got the speed to keep up with the Vedette.  So, eventually, I'll be looking into making at least one more. It looks nice and can be a version of any of the other missile carriers.

Edit: Clean-up.

[Daemion]

If there's one thing about brown as a color, it's how hard it is to photograph.  The old camera I'm using won't apply the flash if the lighting is strong enough, but at full zoom, it is way too dark.

So, I have the large contingent of vehicles done, but close-ups of the latest four additions will require photographing in direct sunlight.

So, the vehicular transmission continues with some group shots:
The full team thus far, including some alternates.  I have two additional pieces that I will be adding, but they're more infantry related, and that requires finishing up the rest of the Jump Infantry squad.

My version of CityTech's vehicles
Ral Partha's available versions of CityTech's vehicles, sorta.  If you ignore the bottom I added to the J. Edgar, it's good.
And, the Ral Partha versions for CityTech 2's vehicle selection.  There was only new vehicle from the older list.

Close-ups when I finaly have passable pictures under better lighting.

[Daryk]

Why the extra bottom for the J. Edgar?

[Daemion]

We now return to the regular schedule program, though it too is having some technical issues. 

Here is a group shot of the three Mechs that I'm willing to use modern sculpts for.  If you look at the Ostroc Mk ii from the TCI kits, and you look at the selection of Mechs from CityTech, even though they came up with new art for the three Osts, as well as the Stalker, Spider, and Hunchback, one can surmise the three newer mechs might have had some inspiration from other anime machines.

The Stalker has the same silhouette of the Monster, if you take away the huge cannons.
The Spider has the look of the Zentradi Female Power Armor.
The Hunchback looks like it was actually styled from the Male Zentradi Power Armor if you put the two side-by-side.

But, the Stalker has the same problem as the Marauder.  There is no Monster sculpt small enough to fit in the size range BattleMech minis usually run.  So, in this instance, I have no qualms using the new Marauder sculpt.  And, for the Stalker, I wanted something that looked good, and went with the Stalker II.  While there is a vintage metal Stalker in my collection, it is butt ugly, and those types of things are going in my catch-all team of Beige.

I found a source for the two power armors, so I will be using them for the Hunchie and Web-head, though I had considered the new sculpts for the two mechs.

Again, close-ups when I have better lighting.

[Daemion]

Why the extra bottom for the J. Edgar?

I explained that above.  It was too short for the scale of infantry I'm working around.  I only have one J. Edgar in my collection.  The other was given to a friend.  So, I don't have an unmodified mini.

[Daemion]

Specifically, if you look at any vintage Ral Partha infantry next to the stock J.Edgar, the dude would have to be seated clear down into the area that supposedly houses the air (plenum?) chamber that provides the hover cushion.  If he doesn't, he's practically laying flat, and this proves a problem for the other two crew members, neither of which would be in the turret with the weapons, power and ammo feeds for the weapons there.  And, that would leave very little room for any turbofans and power plant. 

[Daemion]

Finally.  Some decent lighting for the set-up I have.  It's the best I'll get.

Here is a close-up of the Marauder.