“The Stinger Was A Light BattleMech…”

“…Built in 2479 as a direct competitor to the Wasp.”

This 1:285 scale plastic model of a Stinger is made by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be bought together with a Marauder, Archer, and Valkyrie in the company’s “Battletech: Inner Sphere Command Lance” boxed set. All the pre-assembled miniatures also come with an assortment of MechWarrior pilot and Alpha Strike cards depicting various colour schemes. But as I plan to use this particular sculpt as a Curtiss-class American War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign utilising some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly dark yellowish-green palette.

Resultantly, the 32mm tall figure was initially primed using two layers of “Vallejo” US Olive Drab and shaded in “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade. It was then carefully dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” US Olive Drab with a softly-bristled make-up blusher brush, and had its windows ‘picked out’ with a little “Citadel” Abaddon Black.

"We exist only to serve."

In order to add a bit of contrast to “the second-ever mass-produced recon 'Mech” I applied a combination of “Vallejo” Gunmetal and “Citadel” Nuln Oil to the vehicle’s head antenna and gun-arm. I also stuck an American Star and Stripes transfer by “Decal Details” onto both of the machine’s shoulder-pads.

Alongside my second (6mm) "Battletech" Mech, I have also finished working on the first of two 28mm Federated Security Mutaints originally produced by “Crooked Dice Game Design Studio”. This figure will form a six-woman formation which will accompany Space Commander Travis during my “Blake’s Seven” campaign, and nowadays is actually available from "Beast In The Broch" - along with many other 'dead-ringers' from the BBC science fiction television series.

"The Ion Age" WIPs - These three 15mm Retained Knights have been primed "Vallejo" Heavy Red

Lastly, I’m making some progress with this month’s somewhat sizeable entry for the “Forgotten Heroes” challenge over on the “Carrion Crow’s Buffet” website. The main thrust of this submission admittedly revolves around a (converted) Retained Knight and Noble of Prydia taken from “Alternative Armies” 28mm “The Ion Age” range.

However, I also plan to complete a few stands of the manufacturer’s 15mm Retained Knights range, which will be pigmented to (hopefully) represent the Blood Angels Adeptus Astartes from the Horus Heresy. Ideally, I’d like to get sixteen of the armoured followers of Sanguinius finished before the month is out, and then turn my attention to perhaps getting a brush-tip on a few of Horus Lupercal’s forces too…