Syagrius

ARC-## is the same nomenclature that Battletech uses, if it matters. Did they copyright their nomenclatures? It might be beneficial to delineate CAV from BT. Of course, this only matters where the CAV and Mech names are the same, like the Archer. I would lean toward manufacturer - that way, if the model was stolen or redesigned by another manufacturer (or home-grown), then there'd be a natural change.

Companycmd - I'm not involved with any of the companies, but I suspect the METRICS you reference are going to be "company secrets" for the companies that produce the games. CAV probably has metrics on sales. downloads of errata from their website, etc. That may not mean people are playing, but it's about as good a metric as they can get. Talon Games won't have access to Battletech metrics - different company. WW2 games are proprietary to whatever company produces them. I can't comment on any games that are "dead" - except that "Pirates of the Spanish Main" is no longer supported by Wiz Kids. They tend to change up their offerings every couple of years and anything 'older' is retired and gone. Doesn't mean people don't play if they already have it, but it's unlikely to get new players.

Hey, I've seen that picture before... 😄 How long before you paint up that Starhawk?

Sometimes if you don't glue them, they fall off over time as the pieces "wear in" -- that said, it is often easier to paint custom designs if certain things aren't glued on until later.

Ok, now I want to see scale icicles 😄

That's a nice paint job - almost looks like they were left out to freeze 😄

I'm probably going to leave it on the plastic base, otherwise I'd have to chop it off 😄

I showed this one on the Talon Facebook page a week or so ago. No progress as work has kept me from being able to hobby much. Probably about 80% done.

I personally like the bigger ones - they can provide cover/concealment.

Purple crystals - the little ones I have in Lego, so I just poured a mold of a few and started casting. The bigger ones are from one of the Hirst molds. Paint is a silver base, purple over that to make it semi-iridescent, and a *very* light drybrush (silver again, I think) over that. Oh, the crystal "crumbs" and in the box are those melty plastic things for suncatchers. That is a 2012 project on a full-sized CD - the intent was to be a dilithium asteroid (Star Trek).

That project was the first one I finished after I lost my wife. I started it with her 16 years ago (though it sat in a box for 9 of those years). I usually build on CDs (and a mini-cd for a ruin in a swamp). The nice thing about small builds is they can become battlefield scatter - cover or concealment. I'm eyeballing the star fortress molds ( https://hirstarts.com/starfort/starfort.html ) - though 3-d printing city-type buildings is probably a good way to go and a good "excuse" for a printer. Made my hobby album on facebook public - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1180903892870 -- there's a few builds and various other things.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hirstarts/viewtopic.php?p=86996#p8699 My most recently finished build. Working on painting my CAVs at the moment 😄

Thought I recognized the name. Mine is Galileo over there - and I'm also one of the Mods on the Fans of Hirst Arts Facebook page.

Oh, and I know the complexities of additional hobbies - I build a lot from Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture. He has molds he designed for use with CAV (he has a number of mechs in his photos).

I think you just want any program that can work with layers (free is better than Photoshop's pricing). Layer one is whatever you choose to use as a "backdrop" (planetary landing area, alien hillsides, whatever). Layer 2 is what you take your picture of. Way overly simplistic as I'm sure it's more complex than it sounds. Part of my hang up on 3-d printing is the space to put the printer. Space is at a premium around my computer.

How are you with photoshop or similar? If you make your backdrop a solid color, you could then edit in whatever backdrop you want. I am lousy at it myself. I should look at getting a 3d printer. That's not something I've ever gotten into.

Pretty solid buildings to survive the stompy stompy micro earthquakes that are mechs 😄 They're nicely painted. I really dig the building with the big exhaust fan on top.

I played a game that had a "hidden" mech repair bay that could repair a certain amount of damage per turn for any unit (except infantry). One mech or 2 tanks/apcs could "fit" into it. That could be an interesting capture point.

What model of printer did you get?

Did you airbrush the building or was it hand-painted?

Yeah, I need to grab one of those on my next order. Would be nice if there were more 🙂

On the Plastic CAVs (and any other mini) - I dip in Simple Green, then rinse and let dry. I don't prime plastic - from Reaper, they say NOT to prime the plastic minis, just wash, dry, and paint. My daughter (13) and I just painted a couple of the wrecked CAV tiles - I dipped them a couple of weeks ago and rinsed them off (dab dry with a paper towel), Painted up without any issues.

Thank you!

Many probably know this already. When taking a photo, your camera will try to "guess" what is black and what is white, making getting correct colors interesting. I haven't taken a picture of a miniature yet, but I have taken pictures of my terrain builds in the past. Before taking a picture, put a small disc that is half black (darkest black you can find) and half pure white in a corner of your picture. Make sure the camera can "see" it when taking your picture. It will then know what is black and what is white, and the rest of your picture will be color-correct. Just crop out the disc and nobody will be the wiser.

My daughter likes the Almirithil Principality CAV units (I play Malvernis) - I have all the data sheets for all the CAV units we have, except the Kodiak. It's been out for a year now, and we haven't been able to locate a data card for it. She wants to use it :)