Shed of Holding: January 2014

Mech Collection

I thought I would share some photo's of some of the Mech's I use for Grunts. most are finished but I have a few that are projects that I have not started yet. If anybody wants info on the colours they are painted in, just let me know. I might do a start to finish post on this blog on converting Exo Squad Mechs into Mech's for Gruntz (at least how I did it anyway).

First up

This Mech was converted from a cheap Exo Squad plastic Mech found on Ebay. I know the model from Battle Tech it was one of the old style Warhammers.

More views

Rear View

On this model I cut one of the main gun barrels off and replaced it with a Gatling gun

Rear view


Side View

A Rifleman Mech again the donor model was from an Exo Squad plastic model.

Side view

and rear view

The Warhammer Mech alongside one of the Exo Squad plastic toys showing how the original looked before the basic paint job. some colonial marines are in the foreground to give an idea of scale.

I have another 12 of these Exo Squad Mech's that I bought from a mate of mine. I got them quite cheap as they aren't really collectable once they are out of the card blisters. You can still pick them up now and then quite cheaply on Ebay though.

Another View

This time the Rifleman with its donor


Rear

Next up some AT43 Red Bloc Mechs. I initially thought I would repaint and re-base these Mechs for my Neo Sov army but I thought it would be a waste of the existing paint job and transfers. So I just gave them an ink wash and a light dry brush. The bases were then textured and painted. I think they came out ok for really a minimum of effort.

Even though these are 28mm Mech's they are still usable for 15mm.

Some views follow, I don't know what each one is called I bought them as a job lot at a wargames show last year and they didn't come with there boxes.

This is the biggest of the Mech's with some 15mm Colonial Marines in the foreground for scale

One of the smaller ones with figures for scale. i think they work really well for 15mm.

The Big one again.

Critical Mass Medium Mech's I mixed up the weapons on these so that they could have a variety of role on the battlefield.

I think the transfers finish the models off nicely.

Rear shot.

Now for some of the unfinished stuff, when I say unfinished I really mean not started yet. The main reason I have not done anything with these is that they are so big that they would be classed as Super heavy's in Gruntz plus I dont know what army to put them in.

I picked up three of these puppies about 10 years ago and they have been sitting in a box under the shed table ever since.

Other Mechs and some 15mm troops alongside to show scale

And again

And now for the ridiculous, this was a plastic toy again bought many years ago, a Mad Cat with a digital game in-beaded in its back. I bought 4 of them for a £5 each from a toy shop that was selling them off. I originally bought them to use for 28mm SciFi (in fact I am sure I have seen some at shows converted for use in Warhammer 40K) but I have gone off the scale, 15mm is much, much better. They are really quite wonderful and come with different weapon arms and top missile/gun systems. The legs are articulated and the top body rotates and as I said before its got a computer game in its back (allthough the batties have long since died)

I think these may be a step to far for 15mm, but you never know, a super, super heavy?

Other figures for scale

The game in the back i think I will cover these bits with bits of Plastic card if I ever get round to painting them.

The Mech's together

Another shot this time with a Necron Destroyer in the foreground that i am using as a tank for my Rebel Minis Scourge Army.

There are more Mech's but I think I will hold off Photographing them at the moment until I get my light box back (lent it to a mate so he could put some figures on Ebay).

I am not really happy with the lighting of the shots at the moment. so more to come latter.

Gruntz Unity Army

The army is described in the Gruntz background material as being robotic as the residents (the real people) live in a virtual world transitioning their minds from their bodies into a Mindwell called Thermopylae.

They have a military force consisting of Mecha, vehicles and robots with AI control systems. I therefore wanted the army to look and feel as robotic as possible so I looked around what was available and made the following choices.

The initial army was bought on Ebay but I have added a lot to it over the last few weeks. All the troops were painted in field blue in the initial purchase, so I decided to keep with the same colour scheme.

Most of the troops need finishing off with transfers, extra detailing, static grass etc. but I am really pleased how they are turning out. Ps all the new figures that I bought were painted by a good mate of mine he really put a lot of effort into matching them up to the original purchase.

My photography Really doesn't do them justice as there is a lot of highlighting and shading on the figure to bring them to life, flat field blue does not work, trust me.