A while back I mentioned that I had acquired a heavy gear Northern Army starter box. Someone (sorry, can't recall who ) asked for pics when I had them done. Today is that day.

The colour scheme inspiration came from a very old plastic (Macross?) kit that I did when I was a kid. It turned out to be an experiment in heavy weathering. Possibly a bit too heavy. Here is a pic of that kit



I decided to run with similar colours for the strike squad but to tone down the weathering


Strike squad





Fire support squad




The Jaguars (front model in each pic) are about the same size as a marine. The Grizzlies (the two up the back in the fire support squad) are substantially larger. All minis are metal. There are also two drones that accompany them but they were camera shy.

Steve

I remember asking for some pics

They look FANTASTIC Steve, great job!

I also bought some Heavy Gear minis on a whim - I'll see if I can post some pics here too.
I grabbed a Northern Strike Squad and the Southern Strike Squad.

Absolutely Steve - really nice work! Look very cool.

Cya,
Andrew.

They look awesome. I agree about the weathering, a bit too much on the firs model, but the others look amazing.

Awesome. Did anyone ever play the game heavy gear 2? That was my first introduction into that universe, which is quite developed.

The gear i remember using most was the Black Kodiak.

Damn northern scum, must pull out my Southern Militia one of these days.

Im sure I've still got another cadre still nib somewhere.

hey steve,

they look great!!

how did you do the weathering??

Thanks for the comments guys,

@ sync, please do post pics here when you can. There are not a lot of pics of heavy gear minis out there and not a lot of variety. My original intention was to complete these two squads only but I liked painting them up so may consider more. It is a shame that the design and casting quality are not great. There are so many poorly located seam lines that are impossible to get to and a fair bit of asymmetry. A friend in Adelaide picked up the equivalent Southern starter kit. It will be good to see what he comes up with.

@ kajh, it has been a while since either of us has posted pics, what have you been working on?

@Rusty, I think the original was one of those $2 kits that Mum bought me from a supermarket back when I was about 12. I think it is fair to say that I did a good job of destroying an otherwise good model kit. I found it in an old box in the garage that also contained a 1/32 Bf 109, a 1/35 Abrams tank and a snow speeder!

@ Dr.McNinja, not me. I have not even played with these guys yet.

@Jared, the process was long and experimental - some of these steps may be unnecessary.

1. Minis were finished to bright, shiny showroom quality (including the usual decal procedure).
2. They were then given a decent coat of Army builder matte varnish.
3. Washed with a dark rusty mix of water, matte medium and vallejo pigment burnt umber
4. When the above wash was almost dry I scrubbed the whole thing down with a toothbrush to get some of the mix off the raised areas.
5. A more orange rusty mix of water/matte medium/dark red ochre was painted into crevices with a fine brush.
6. The whole model was wiped down with a mediswab (70% isopropyl alcohol) to bring up the highlights again. One swab was enough for all ten minis, though by the end it was getting pretty dry.
7. Devlan mud was painted into crevices that were a bit too orange from the last rusty mix.

As a side note, I have finished the marines you sent through but forgot to take pics. I will do so this weekend and will attempt to make it to the club for the first meeting in November.

Steve

Really nice. The swab is an interesting one. I take it that it doesn't futz with the matte varnish?

Not sure. Either it does not get through it, or I have not wiped enough alcohol on to do so.

Steve

Not much, is the short version. Longer version is, nothing for a couple of months, then back-into-the-saddle for the past two weeks:

1) Tac squad - pick it up and poke it every now and again - need to just batch-finish a few models at a time to finish the squad off, maybe;

2) Airbrush - base coated everything in the army. 2000pts base-coated over a couple of nights.

3a) Redoing bits for Tumult - Mike pointed out I should reconsider my captain for Tumult, so I've added a storm-shield to the relic blade. A 3 wound, 3xS6 power-weapon attacks with a 3++ save for 140ish points is not bad.

Put together the chapter master with axe/shield to model it. Undercoated and base coated him.

3b) Redoing bits for Tumult - actually read the tournament rules and realised my army wasn't compliant (2x ironclad elites - needed one without an armour value). Juggled list to wedge in some TH/SS termies instead of one of the dreads. Started assembling them last night - will finish tonight.

4) Thunderfire cannon - picked it up and did most of it - turns out it's a pretty-easy model to paint. Should be able to post piccies soonish.

5) The last challenge -> was going to use kitty litter and bits. Kris bought me the wrong sort of litter (looks like tubes rather than rocks, so I threw it out), so I haven't touched the challenge since. Will do it as part of the model and will post (belated) pics.

Anyway ... a bit of activity over the last couple of weeks, but not much to show for it. Am going to bring up the army to the club this weekend to have a game.

Cya,
Andrew.

P.S. How's your time with the young'uns?

I know the feeling. Most of my free time has been spent/wasted playing Baldur's Gate - the gears are pretty much all I have done for a while.

Are you thinking about organising a game some time? Given that I have not had one this year I reckon I could probably swing something. I will try to make it to the club for the first November meeting, or we can do a home game without any drama.

Steve

I played HG when it first came out (when the models were basically 20mm scale - a fair bit larger than these.

AFAIK, the game still plays pretty much the same, though.

Still hoping to get down to a meet this year - when do you guys end for the year?

11th of December is the last meet.

I have not seen any previous edition heavy gear minis. I would have liked the larger scale. Do you have any pics of what they looked like?

As for the rules, I have read through them but not played.

Steve

Bugger.

Your club and mine both end on the same weekend.

Still, always next year. lol. Will do it this time, though. Home renos took longer than anticipated, which meant there were several other weekends I wasn't gaming (but July to October is just bad on my calendar anyway).

Might have a surviving model somewhere. Know I had a hunter and another rounder gear from the other faction.
They were about 40mm tall, instead of the 25ish mm of the blitz ones (they fit onto a 40mm round base in much the same way as the blitz models fit onto the 25s.)