As you can see, I’m still learning the ropes. But here’s a front and back picture of Battletech miniature painting attempt #2, an Exterminator:

The lighting in the photos is not the greatest; in real life, there’s a slightly more prominent metallic sheen, and there’s some dark-brown undercarriage coloring visible. (You’ll just have to take my word for it.) I like this paint job a bit better than my previous effort, and I learned a few more things about miniature painting in the process.

As for the Exterminator itself, I’ve always thought its oddly bulky torso and shambling gait looked kinda cool. Reading around on the web revealed that it’s usually painted a shiny silver; the body here is silver in color, but I wanted its sparkly shine to be peeking out from beneath a heavy layer of battlefield smoke and grime.

Next up for painting is, I think, a Zeus, another iconic Battlemech. I think I’ll go with some brighter and cleaner colors this time; both the Dragon and the Exterminator are pretty grungy and washed-out looking, and I’m ready for a change of pace. Practice makes perfect, or so they say….

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Happy New Year! Now that the holiday craziness is over, it’s back to Real Life (and, hopefully, regular posting).

So what did you do to celebrate New Year’s Eve? A night on the town, perhaps, waiting for the ball to drop at midnight? Or maybe you got together for an evening of bacchanalian festivities with friends and loved ones? This being a blog about games, you can probably guess that my New Year’s Eve was spent doing something game-related. Truly, what can match the excitement of a holiday evening spent painting Battletech miniatures? Yes, my friends, that is what I was doing while you were out drinking too much and kissing your significant other at the stroke of midnight. Here’s the result:

It’s the first Battletech mini I’ve painted in well over a decade, and I’m sure it shows. Nevertheless, I’m pleased with how it turned out. The mech is a Kurita Dragon, an unremarkable but solid workhorse, chosen for my first paint attempt because it was simple to assemble. The color scheme is for deployment in a forest-type environment. As you may note, I used a very diluted black wash to give it a battle-worn appearance–what’s supposed to look like carbon scoring, smokestains, and rust marks. That effect didn’t turn out quite as I had hoped (remember, it’s my first time!), but I learned a few lessons for use on the next mech (an Exterminator, already primed and ready to be painted).

I didn’t spend my mini-painting holiday evening alone, of course. While my wife happily played The Sims in the computer room, I was sharing my painting workbench (aka the dining room table) with my friend Chad, who painted several incredibly cool Star Fleet Battles miniatures in the time it took me to paint the engine housing on the Dragon. Chad’s masterpiece of the evening was a very nice-looking Gorn cruiser–it was really fun to watch it come to life as he painted. (Check out pictures of Chad’s work at the above links.)

All in all, a fitting way to greet the new year. I hope 2007 is already shaping up to be a good year for you, and I hope that your list of New Year’s resolutions includes at least one pledge to do more gaming this year!

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