Beginner help choosing paintschemes.

[Attackmack]

Hiya.

Ive just received the Agoac and Clan invasion boxes (beginner box still to arrive) and am looking to paint up my minis in two opposing forces, for solo two handed games and for introducing friends to the game (alpha strike).

But most of all i just want to paint these beautiful mechs!

Im not much experienced with the lore or history of BT so dont feel one way or the other about any faction, but i am wondering how to divide the content of these boxes for two forces?

At first i thought id paint the clan mechs for one side and the IS mechs the other but the clan mechs seem far better. Being new to the game im also not clear on force building, can clan and IS be mixed?

[Cache]

can clan and IS be mixed?

Yes. Especially in the Dark Age and ilClan eras. In the Clan Invasion through Jihad eras, it was less common but did happen. Most important, though, if you can come up with a good story, you can justify anything you like. It's your game after all.

Check out the MUL for faction listings across the eras.

[Attackmack]

Yes. Especially in the Dark Age and ilClan eras. In the Clan Invasion through Jihad eras, it was less common but did happen. Most important, though, if you can come up with a good story, you can justify anything you like. It's your game after all.

Check out the MUL for faction listings across the eras.

Okay! Im very new but from what ive read so far I think im most interested in the Clan Invasion era so keeping them separated would fit then. Will it be very unbalanced or does the point cost (alphastrike) keep it balanced even if one side is all Clan?

To be fair, since I do this for collecting and painting its not really a big deal, and the two factions I paint will be mostely for casual games with friends I try to lure with me into the game so balance is maybe not all that important. But I just wanna make sure Im not doing something completely stupid by painting them all separated.

Thanks for your reply and happy new year!

[Cache]

Will it be very unbalanced or does the point cost (alphastrike) keep it balanced even if one side is all Clan?

During the Invasion Era, Clan weapons had a significant range advantage over average Inner Sphere weapons. However, the simplification of range in Alpha Strike has reduced this advantage considerably. Point cost will balance well.

[worktroll]

Have you done any mini painting before? There are some wonderful aids and techniques which can produce very effective looking schemes with not excessive effort.

[Attackmack]

During the Invasion Era, Clan weapons had a significant range advantage over average Inner Sphere weapons. However, the simplification of range in Alpha Strike has reduced this advantage considerably. Point cost will balance well.

Thank you

[carlisimo]

I hope you're painting by now.

If not, I'd go to www.camospecs.com and www.unitcolorcompendium.com to look through schemes.  The latter is unofficial but easier to browse.  Some schemes in there are made up; they say so in the fine print.  In those situations there isn't a canon scheme for that unit so you can do whatever you want.  They usually link to Sarna (Battletech's unofficial wiki) and to Camo Specs, but their links to the latter are often broken so you'll just have to search for the unit name.  It's worth verifying a scheme in Camo Specs before committing to it, though.  Note that it's the text description that's canon, and you can interpret it however you want.  Sometimes you'll see Camo Specs artists paint the same scheme fairly differently, like the darkness of the blue in Clan Diamond Shark's Beta Galaxy.

To narrow it down, since you've stated an interest in the Clan Invasion itself I'd stick to the Lyran Commonwealth (which was part of the Federated Commonwealth ("FedCom") at the time), the Draconis Combine, the small Free Rasalhague Republic between them, and the invading clans: Wolf, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear, Smoke Jaguar.  The Nova Cats, Steel Vipers, and Diamond Sharks reinforced them and participated to varying degrees.  Certain clans focused on certain Inner Sphere nations but I don't know the invasion corridors well enough to say which matches with which.  If you want more choices among Inner Sphere nations, Federated Suns units were also sent to resist the invasion as part of the FedCom, and a whole bunch of nations, including from the Periphery, sent units to help smash Clan Smoke Jaguar in Operation Bull Dog and with Task Force Serpent towards the end of the Clan Invasion era (3058-'61).  Look those up in Sarna, pick a unit, look up its colors, repeat ad infinitum.

Have fun!