Marlowe’s
Rift, Draconis Combine 3028
Chu-i
Paul Abashiri allowed himself a slight smile as he
skirted the rivers edge that bounded the forest beyond. The Davion
raiders had jumped in-system a week ago and been conducting nuisance raids since
landing. Now elements of the Davion 1st
Armoured Cavalry had been contained in the area and it was
time for the forces of the Dragon to wipe out the dogs…
Adjusting
his sensors, he took quick note of the two approaching sensor contacts that his
Panther ‘mechs war-book had tagged as two more lights. A third contact
fluttered in and out of his display like a ghost.
The
targeting info from his sensors still struggled with the third contact, which
seemed to be masked by the two light ‘mechs in front. Unperturbed, he began to
move down the slope towards the more heavily wooded valley floor, heading
towards the contacts.
“Chu-i?”
one of his lancemates questioned, “I can’t get a
positive lock”
“Steady,
Piotr, the Davion dogs
will be here soon enough”
“Iie!”
the pilot of the Stinger light ‘mech ahead of him screamed as a large shape
emerged from the deep waters, streaming water. Twin bolts of azure blue
lightning turned the Stinger into a expanding
fireball, the thunderous clap of the explosion echoing across the valley walls.
A
Marauder! He screamed to himself, the savagery of his lancemates
destruction causing him to back pedal faster up the slope, frantically trying to
find cover. While all the while, the giant heavy ‘mech’s
crab like shape turned towards him, the high mounted AC5 autocannon
tracking his movements with unrelenting precision….
What
is Battletech?
In the late
28th century, the Star League collapsed and the Successor States were born. For
the last three hundred years, these mortal enemies have fought over space, land
and politics in an effort to be foremost amongst the Successor States.
Battletech is a
game of armoured combat, set in the 31st century. It is not a role-playing game,
although there are role-playing supplements in Battletech. It is not a computer
game, although there are many computer games set in the Battletech universe. It
is a war game, played on a map sheet, using dice.
All this does
not express the essence of what Battletech is, however. Battletech is more than
just Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit - Battletech offers us the opportunity to pit
our tactical skill against the tactical skills of others, and if that fails, to
pit our design skills against the skills of others. In Battletech, it is
possible to design many types of military vehicles and equipment, and fight them
against each other. Seldom is one battle the same as the next.
The Battletech
universe has a history so diverse that it can never be told in one volume. The
Inner Sphere of human-occupied space is composed of 5 major Successor States,
many smaller powers and of game date 3050 - 6 invading Clans, all engaged in
combat with each other. Some are fighting for glory, some for wealth and power;
some are fighting for survival. Some, tired of fighting, have fled to the
Periphery, the less-civilized region around the Inner Sphere.
For those
interested in more information, below are two links that explains the Battletech
game and background ion more detail.
http://www.kerensky.tierranet.com/btech/btech.shtml
http://www.classicbattletech.com/cbt_cbt_history.html
What
is a BattleMech?
Foremost among
the weapons used in this struggle are BattleMechs. Loaded with autocannons,
missile launchers, lasers, and charged-particle beam weapons, these
fusion-powered war machines of articulated armour stand upward of ten meters
high.
Piloting them
are MechWarriors, the best, most intensively trained men and women available.
Like the armoured knights of an earlier age, MechWarriors are popular heroes,
and their exploits are the stuff of legends.
MAD-3R
Marauder Heavy BattleMech Data
Originally
intended as a heavy attack support ‘mech, the addition of sophisticated Dalban
Micronics comgear enabled the Marauder to function
as a command vehicle in areas of heavy fighting. The Marauder often appears in
command lances.
-
Mass
75 tons
-
Chassis:
GM Marauder
-
Power
plant:
Vlar 300
-
Cruising
Speed:
43.2kph
-
Maximum
Speed: 64.8kph
-
Armour:
Valiant Lamellor
-
Armament:
2 x Magna Helstar PPC’s
(particle projection cannons)
-
2 x Magna MkII Medium Lasers
-
1 GM Whirlwind AC5 Autocannon
-
Manufacturer:
General Motors
-
Comms
System: Dalban
Micronics
-
Targeting/Tracking:
Dalban HiRez
Data taken from
FASA TRO 3025
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Preamble
As
a big fan of the Science Fiction table top miniatures war game called Battletech,
I had always wanted to build a bigger version of one of the most distinctive battlemechs
of the game, the crab like Marauder.
The
best chance of being able to build a bigger model of the Marauder was to locate
a Ban Dai Robotech/Macross Zentraedi
Glaug
Battle Pod. This mecha is what the MAD-3R
Marauder was based on, when FASA licensed the Robotech/Macross
mecha for use in the Battletech game back in the
early 1980’s.
The
kit I most wanted was the 1:100 kit and after seeing
the prices of them on ebay, I put out a “wanted to
buy” post on
Aircraft
Resource
Center
. Within the space of a fortnight, I had a 1:100 Ban Dai kit in my hands along
with a smaller 1:200 version. Thanks Tony!
The
Kit
This
kit was released by Testors and consisted of 2 white
plastic sprues with finely moulded
parts. It was not in a box nor was there a decal sheet in my example, but
another, different mecha of the same boxing
indicated a comprehensive decal sheet would have been included.
A
simple but very small instruction sheet explained the construction steps clearly
in an exploded format.
Construction
Construction
was very straight forward, with all joins and seams requiring light sanding to
filling to remove. I left the shoulders and hip joints articulated to aid in
painting and positioning the figure on a base. Construction took place over
several nights. Cutting away the snap-tight connectors assisted assembly
greatly, reducing the potential for problematic seams and the danger of cracking
while the parts were being forced together. At least removing the connectors
allowed the model to be built in a more traditional way.
Several
joints needed a fair amount of filler to remove seams, regardless. In the end
though, all went well and I had a white assembled ‘mech on my workbench ready
for the application of primer.
Painting
and Decaling
I
decided to finish my Marauder in the standard Davion
Green field camouflage of the 1st Federated Suns Armoured Cavalry as
the simple mono colour camouflage looks quite effective.
Even
though the 1st FSAC prefer light to medium ‘mechs in keeping with
their rapid strike operations I figured a company commander might well have a
heavy ‘mech as his or her personal ride. This would certainly be a massive
surprise to the opposing forces!
After
some investigation and thought, I primed the mech in flat black and base coated
using Ceramcoat Dark Forest Green, this was followed
up with dry brushing using Ceramcoat Forest Green.
I
then used Future to provide a gloss finish in preparation for a very dark grey
sludge wash and some light dry brushing of edge and
high point
areas with Vallejo Basalt grey. This defined each component a little more,
adding depth to the whole model’s finish.
Decaling
followed and for this I used Fighting Piranha’s excellent Battletech decals
designed for the white metal gaming miniatures. Fighting Piranha provide a wide
variety of different size House and unit insignia on their
ALPS
printed sheets making selection pretty easy.
I
also used several different types of warning placards from Fighting Piranha’s
placards sheet and cobbled together the chassis number from another sheet.
Finishing
Touches and base construction
Once
the mech was finished, I turned my attention to the base. I had pretty much
decided on a forest type base and to that end I cut some old styrene foam down
and arranged the foam onto a MDF drink coaster (picked up at a large hardware
store craft section of under a $1) so the ‘mech would appear to be on a small
rise.
A
mixture of PVA glue, burnt sienna craft paint and wall plaster was mixed with
water to form a slurry. This was then applied over
the foam to produce the ground base work. I then added some rocks and a real
twig broken at an appropriate height to act as my broken tree.
This
was set aside overnight to cure.
Now
I like making bases most times and this was no exception, I used a method of
making tree roots that my lovely wife Lori uses for her dioramas. Lori read in
an article in FSM magazine explaining the use of wood putty to make the root
systems of trees and this worked a treat, blending the twig into the groundwork
really well.
Once
the ‘mech was added to the base using 2 part resin epoxy, I added flock and
static grass to the base, blending everything together with dry brushing of
appropriate colours. The MDF base was painted matt
black using acrylic craft paint thinned slightly with water.
The
next evening I shook the base carefully to remove any loose groundwork material
and fixed any “bare” areas. Once I was satisfied with everything, the mech
and base was treated to Pollyscale flat clear.
The
flat clear really revealed the weathered “heavy vehicle” final finish I was
looking for, a most pleasing result!
Overall
This
kit was great fun to build, providing you are not afraid of a little trimming,
filling, sanding and cleanup.
Recommended
as a great diversion to usual projects and certainly a great AMS killer!
Now
to find the time to build the 1:100 scale Marauder!
References
-
Battletech
is a fantastic game and concept with a plethora of novels and game
background data to really fire the imagination.
-
FASA
Technical Readout TRO 3025
-
FASA
Field Manual: FM Federated Suns
-
FASA
Battletech Camouflage Specs
-
Various
Battletech Novels
-
20+
years of on and off thoroughly enjoyable gaming using the Battletech game
system.
Madmike
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