A thing a week 2025, week 51

Continuing our low-effort and hopefully high-drama Battletech figs, we have a mess of tanks and other vehicles. I wanted to paint these really fast and they more or less were really fast. Like our aerospace fighters from last week, they were primed and base-coated with my cheapest of airbrushes only to be drybrushed and oil washed after that. Also of note, I usually have a pileup at the end of the year because I tend to work a week or two ahead so I have something to post if I'm busy or out of town or something. This year I've got a similar pileup but only because I'm geeked about painting Battletech figs and they're going really fast. 

First up we have missile carriers in a military green with a very light drybrush to edge highlight and one or two coats of a light oil wash. These guys are high damage, low survivability so I painted them in the least eye catching colors I could find. The base coat was a Pro Acryl through the airbrush and probably if I used these more often rather than a Speed Paint or Contrast Paint I'd have fewer blotchiness and gloss issues. Note that these came with extra turrets so you could have four of either should you so desire. The standies they're on are a work in progress.

Next up we have a mess of tanks. I'm always a little shaky on the non-scary ones so from left to right I think we've got: Galleon, Vedette, Manticore, Shrek, and Demolisher. The triple-PPC Shrek tank should not be confused with the early 90s ogre of the same name. The guys on the right are legit scary and I've lost many-a-battlemech to the inimitable double-AC/20 Demolisher. The semi-glossy greenish tanks are basecoated with multiple coats of Daler Rowney inks that I keep trying to use in this way but keep disappointing me. The arctic-themed tanks were base coated with Vallejo Game Air Wolf Grey which is one of my favorite cool off-whites. For these guys I wanted to push the light oil washes I've been using to see if they'd play nice with light base coats which kind of worked. I got the panel lines for nearly free but where it pooled unhelpfully on the big flat areas, it really looks bad. Still tuning this step. This shot also unexpectedly dark but I couldn't be bothered to re-balance it. 

How about some VTOLs? These are the H-7 Warrior last seen being blown up in MW5:Mercs. These probably could have been a little fancier but the details were a little soft and I really made a mess of the mold lines. These guys helpfully come with two sets of stands, the tall ones shown here and some very short ones that make them look like they're landed. That's a really nice touch and I love it when game companies do such things. These guys are from the Recon and Hunter Lances and probably I should have shot them with their box mates.

These guys are the rest of the Recon and Hunter Lances. From left to right we have the Ontos Heavy Tank, the Behemoth Heavy Tank, and the Skulker Wheeled Scout Tank. These aren't tanks I'm super familiar with, though the Behemoth shows up occasionally in the HBS Battletech game. The Ontos carries a stupid number of medium lasers which is endearing for a tank. These guys had some pretty rough mold lines only some of which I handled acceptably. Probably the dark grey ones could have used a heavier dry brushing at the end. One weird thing I noticed about these is that they generally have either too many, or too big cockpit or windows. Usually windows are less armored than, I dunno, the armor, so you'd think they'd make them smaller.

Last up we have some rando hovertanks. The little guys on the left are the Savanna Master from one of the gajillion salvage boxes I got from the kickstarters and the guys on the right are Fulcrum from the Aces: Scouring Sands box. I ordered the Hunter and Recon Lances in addition to the Aces box (and some other stuff without minis) and I really wanted all of the vehicles to be done. So here they are! The Fulcrum have a fun red cockpit that sadly aren't visible here with the high angle shot. 

2025 finished mini counter: 241