#draconis combine

[agbpaints]

GET READY TO LEARN JAPANESE, BUDDY

Now I finally have a Sword of Light lance that's MUL compliant

[verdigrhys]

A Panther and a Shadow Hawk in the colors of the Ryuken-roku.

[gorqueen]

‘Mech posting number 6!!

It has been a little bit so I came back with something simple. I’ve been reading some high quality (read about the Draconis) battletech books and just like every one else I love Minobu Tetsuhara.

So here is his glorious golden DRG-1N, painted to match the old cover art because it’s really funky. I will also be painting the Tetsuhara family ‘mech Katana Kat at some point soon.

Finishing this little buddy up marks a full mech box complete in way longer than it should have taken. Still, it’s really nice to have my little carry box of ‘mechs ready for games.

[ross-hollander]

Now imagine this:

Clanner and Combine warriors take a batchall, both so determinedly staking their honor on the duel that somebody bids all the way down to "I will beat you without fighting at all". The other one promptly accepts and both walk away, considering it the narrowest, most harrowing challenge of their lifetimes.

[starfleetskunkworks]

I spent the last week painting up my first group scheme. I present to you, Tengu Lance of the Draconis Combine's 1st Genyosha regiment! Plus, a bonus Mongoose!

Fortress was out of Genyosha decals so I tried my hand at painting my own. I think they turned out well, all things considered.

The Genyosha struck me as a good choice to take advantage of the paints and decals I already had in combination with the high number of C3 capable mechs in the Comstar Command II pack. Rounded out with the other mechs in the pack, I have a decent base for Lance building on game day, and I can swap mechs in and out as situation and BV budget allow.

I did learn a few more things with these guys.

1. If you're new to mini painting like I am do yourself a favor and buy the appropriate shade for your base color. Sure, I saved money by mixing the grays myself, but it was more of a headache than I would have liked.

2. If you keep your cockpit and laser highlights consistent with each other it really pulls together much nicer.

3. See number 1 but for washes. I did the heat stressing on the laser housings by thinning down blue and red paints. I could never get the purple as thin as I wanted it and unfortunately I can see it in the final product.

4. Look up hazard colors. Red is for heat danger and yellow is for general danger/crushing/no step. I had it backwards on my previous minis and it's going to keep bothering me. This is not really necessary but I like minutiae so

5. Don't be afraid to be ambitious. I over reached a bit with the samurai detailing on the Crab (I felt inspired by heikegani, crabs that have a pattern on their backs that look like stylized faces) but the worst case scenario is you can paint over it. In fact, the one you see above is a second draft.

6. Grab multiples of brushes you use often. I shredded my large brush a bit with textured paint and it was tricky to keep stray bristles from messing up the shading while dry-brushing. It made it much easier when I picked up a replacement. I've retired the old one to base coating only.

[voidwerks]

Since most only needed touchups, Able (but not Willing) Company! An all-light company, they are equipped with the scraps the Legion is able to find or pay for with donations. The only one with a mech worth a damn is their captain, who pilots the Spider. In the background is an Atlas from Willing Company, which I should have ready to display soon!

[doolallymagpie]

gotta get back to “T’au in BattleTech”

decided they arrive in the Combine Periphery, close enough to the Invasion Corridor that they’re initially mistaken for Clan forces, but far enough that the Kuritans realize that that makes no sense fairly quickly

[kasperl-ruprecht]

[blackboxfaxes]

Battle Report

Clan Smoke Jaguar attacked Naginata Battalion's Union-class Dropship Lightning's Messenger. The Smoke Jaguars brought two garrison stars with a mix of vehicles and mechs to the field, while Naginata Battalion answered with their 2nd Company.

Clan Smoke Jaguar brought a significant amount of Arrow IV artillery to the field, enough to allow them to batter the Union's guns into submission, along with a mix of mechs. Naginata Battalion brought an all-purpose force anchored around a heavy assault lance.

The battle was, interestingly, more decided by battle armor than mechs, as the Clans' objective was to capture the dropship by delivering squads of battle armor aboard, and the Kuritans relied on their own armor(particularly heavy Kanazuchis) to defend it. Artillery was also crucial - the Kuritans wiped out one squad of Clan Salamanders with an Arrow IV's blast radius, while the Clans' homing arrows destroyed two of Naginata Battalion's mechs and battered three more into impotent wrecks.

The most notable single action was by a lone Kage trooper, the final survivor of her squad, who spent three turns slashing at the leg actuators of a Black Lanner with her vibrokatana, shredding one foot actuator and possibly causing the mech to fail a MASC roll and suffer even more damage.

In the end, the game was a Kuritan victory, partly because the Clans killed one of their own battle armor squads with a stray Arrow IV, and the dropship was able to take off and escape the battle without being boarded.

(Most of the terrain is Hextech, aside from the DropShip, which is a rip of the file from Mechwarrior 5. The 40k terminators are being proxied as Gnome Battle Armor)

[cam2d]

Legion of Vega Marauder and Valkyrie.

[the-outer-topic]

[agbpaints]

I got the support lance on impulse without many plans and decided that my 1st Sword of Light gladiator needed some friends, so here's a whole lance of the Combine's finest! Hope you like learning Japanese

[verdigrhys]

Behemoth (AKA Stone Rhino) belonging to the 2nd Genyosha

Got it from a salvage box, seemed appropriate to paint it for an Inner Sphere unit

[maddyaddy]

LNC25-01 Lancelot "Ame-no-Habekiri", part of the Alshain Rapid Deployment Force. Saw action in the unit's retreat from Alshain.

[melvin-dukowski]

The best unit for the Draconis Combine is the Legion of Vega. Besides their old logo going hard, they’re a unit where all the losers of the army end up. Misfits, troublemakers, disgraced warriors, malcontents and mercs who were pressganged end up here. They get last dibs on pretty much everything and are paid per mission instead of the salary the rest of the DCMS gets. They don’t even have the ability to apply a consistent paint scheme, they just slap what ever paint they have on their mechs and vehicles. They only got some respect when Theodore Kurita used them being a bunch of scuffed weirdos to try out tactics that aren’t beholden to bushido. It was a roaring success and they became somewhat respected for a time. Though by the IlClan era they’re back to being a dumping ground.

[voidwerks]

Took a lil bit for motivation to return (and focused in this direction), but got a full company painted and built! The 'Lucky' 13th Company, 2nd Legion of Vega of the Draconis Combine. Despite their underdog status, they're about as Drac as the battalion is going to get, largely equipped with Combine staples.

I'm trying to ride the muse as far as it goes and finish up the all-light 14th 'Able' Company, especially since they'll all come in handy if I need to run demo games! More pictures soon (hopefully!)