Heavy Metal War

All based and ready for deployment.

The E5-22 units look massive next to the clones, they dwarf their B2 brethren next to them.

Some outdoor shots in better light.

The oil wash really gives these giant droids the right finish. Using super gel to raise the eye lenses worked well and is so much more effective than just painting on red dots.

"Ooolaaaaaa" what are the chances of anything coming from Mars?...

UPDATE:

I thought I'd better make a scatter dice for the mortar company. I had purchased some blank D12 earlier in the year and this was perfect.

 I put two hit and two misfire icons on it. The rest of the sides I put on random direction arrows. This works a treat, I threw a few dice and the results are below. I finally got a direct hit. I imagine the hit template will be about 80mm or there abouts.

I enjoyed making this dice, makes me want to make more custom dice for black powder like games.

The Recon troopers man their mortars to rain down hell on the Clankers. These bases will be classed as having vehicle strength weapons (6D12), so they will use the vehicle icon on the dice to score bonus attack dice.

Misfire, unit fails to fire this turn.

Direct hit! All six dice can be rolled to score hits on the intended target.

Direction indicator, another D12 is rolled with this dice indicating the distance shots travel. This arrows points in which direction the shells fall.

There is a risk that another enemy or indeed a friendly unit could be hit if the distance dice is high.

Quite a motley bunch of dice for the game.

Direct hit about time!

A slight drift in the salvo but probably still a hit with only two inches in it. As long as the template is over part of the unit, damage dice can be rolled against it.

Now on to something quite exciting, the walkers have finally been flocked.

The milliput craters are blackened with paint to give them a blasted and burnt look.

I added some European dust weathering powder to the feet. It's nice to try different things on models, I think it works okay, I didn't go too crazy with it.

Mortar crews work feverishly to lay down a barrage of EMP shells. Their armoured support takes a short range shot from a Homing spider droid and explodes. These heavy walkers have thick armour (4 saving dice) but shots do get through.

Double trouble, the nice thing about these walkers is with all the multiple parts, you can pose them in different positions, making each one unique.

I also used the black paint to put scorched ground marks on the ground. These aren't craters but it still looks good for explosion damage. Watering down the black allows it to spread and gives a nice scorched effect.

 

Basing Again

 Here is an idea I had with the large bases of the walkers. The main idea was to create footprints in the terrain, this proved to be partly successful. However, the blast craters worked a lot better.

I'm not sure the tracks in the sand work that well, but we'll have to wait until the grit and sand are added.

It was also a good chance to base up the big spider droids too.

There's a lot of incoming fire, these big walkers become fire magnets with everything in range taking a shot. This has already happened in my test game, very true to form.

The milliput tracks on these War bots worked better. I made them with a sculpting tool to match the width of the tracks. It makes the droids look very heavy as they trundle through the terrain.

Painting Big Spiders

 

I broke out of my painting stupor and finally picked up the brush again, this time to finish off some Clone wars projects.

The spider toys were passable for gaming with as they were, but I thought it only right to try and turn them into proper playing pieces. I started off with painting them a dark grey.

I had a huge success with the colouring of these models by using shifter paints to create a purple sheen over the armour.

I sponged on chips using a silver paint too, especially around the legs. These were the weak spots on these walkers and every Clone knew it.

Here is the miracle paint that created just the look I was after. A purple sheen that will change from every angle.

I find it best to always batch paint these machines so they always end up looking the same.

A added a little watered down green shifter paint to give it a green hue in certain angles. This matches the reference pictures perfectly.

Now it's time to turn the thing on. The optics are created using Clear red over white paint. It's always very effective I think.

A little rust and grime in the leg mechanisms, this wasn't on the reference but my Droids have been fighting in a long campaign. They would be affected by their harsh environments.

Talking of batch painting, I also finished off these War droids. A little rust in the right places looks good I think.

To make this one different, I cut off his head and turned it to the side. This one is scanning for a new target after incinerating the first.

These heavy War bots are going to be a nightmare for the Clones with their flame throwers.

It's been a busy morning with this Clone Mortar team also being finished off.

These troopers are the Advanced Recon, they landed themselves to a mortar team as some had empty hands.

The 15mm mortar was purchased from Alternative Armies.

These are going to be so much full to use on the battlefield. I'll have to make some scatter dice for them

The resin troopers are slightly different from the actual film guys, so I had to tweak their helmet design a little.

UPDATE: Let's get some oil on this thing!

I was a little unsure at first, but every Droid enjoys a good oil bath. So the model is washed in an oil wash and left to dry.

Real laser testing...

It's nice to see the scale of these new War bots.

I received a free miniature from Alternative Armies which is definitely some kind of War bot. As I was painting up the others I threw him in as well, might be usable.

If the mortar team find themselves in this close proximity, something has gone terribly wrong.

Things have just got worse!

I'm really pleased with how these models came out, the moving purple effect is perfect. It's nice to have them finished and able to join the fight. They bring some heavy laser firepower to the games.

"Fallback!"

Too late

I added a glowing red button on the back of the mortar, it matches one from a reference picture I found.