My favourite light 'mech. It's about seperating the art from the artist ;)

Washing is very easy and imo essential for weathering, not to mention darkening the panel lones.

@@horsemumbler1 For weathering and grime, sure, you can use a wash. But if you want a really clean, vibrant look, you avoid washes, base-coat with a dark color, block in the primary tone, then edge-highlight/blend until you've got something that really pops. Washes would muddy that style up too much.

Take a look at Iron Wind Metals for that.

If you play Blakists, there are STLs out there that do this with the Celestial series. Might take some finegling with scale but it's a very good series

Fortunately, it's the terminally-online types that do it, mostly.

But ya guys who are just hord or Scalloping box are not doing hobby any favors like in Canada I at leasty know we in barrier we got wolf's dragons and Kell hound merc box back in April they ran out wolf dragon In two weeks I grabbed one for myself and one for my uncle . I'm painting him set hopefully inspir him when get more time to play also paint.

You also don't even need to like the paint job yourself. Many think their own stuff looks like crap while everyone else is busy complimenting it. You don't always have to impress yourself to impress others.

You can't ruin a mini with paint. If you want to try a different paint job you can just wipe it off and try something. A basic base coat with a little line darkening and weathering using washes plus a dab of color on the cockpit is all you really need. You can always get more fancy later if you like.

Also, my Warhammer armies are Iron Warriors and Orks, so either Metallic Gray or obnoxiously colorful. You don't have to see colors to paint.

I hope you ventilate yourself

Notice how you said yet? That's fine. Just be trying.

@@hellkitestudios I mean to be completely honest I dont know if I will, and as I said art has just been extremely unenjoyable for me. But still, slap a sticker on or something and itd be fine

​@@vurtruvious5280 Then don't think of it as art. Warhammer players all seem treat their minis as artwork, and looking at all the detail of those models it's no surprise. You can go really crazy with hours and hours on fine details with those things, and the work really pays off versus fast and easy efforts. Battletech minis are different. You don't really have to do any "art," to make them look quite good, just prime, base coat, and weather with some washes, maybe a little drybrushing, and dab a little color on the cockpits. Glue some sand and a few little rocks to the base and you're done.

And Paintpilled

Avoid conversation with the paintless goober. The paintless goober will lie. The paintless goober will make excuses. He will use words he don't really know. If he gets really desperate, he may start to rant, or dance.

​@@jomaisraellaza3330 So, what you're saying is, dare to refuse the Paintless Goober's bachall?

@@horsemumbler1 i was actually continuing the Uncle Ruckus reference XD but yeah, refuse no goober batchall. bring all guns to bear!

Comments like this give me the fuzzies. Thank you.

Yes. Units that wear ther parade colors into battle are notably few in Battletech. Almost any sort of camouflage can work with almost any unit from almost any faction, and it's always been normal to simply make your own Merc company and make it look however tickles your fancy. Everything's going to be weathered and worn, so you can do wonders just by being a bit messy and slapdash with your paints and plenty liberal with the washes.

Until then, Megamek is great. Next video is going to be introducing to that, and it is free.

@@hellkitestudios Thank you. I shall watch with great interest.

I have ADHD too, so I was speaking from experience lol But what was the first vid?

@hellkitestudios it was a video along similar lines by a channel called 'the brittish geek', basically explaining the painted vs unpainted minis situation, which was truthfully my first exposure that this was a debate at all. To be fair, I've been on the "paint your mechs" side for a while, primarily doe to frequent involvement in Thunderhead Studios' discord, with the primary focus being, well, painted minis and 3d battletech terrain. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aNhyhZCIp8qyo5s.htmlsi=8aKVWDjZmDUWcbBB

Most just want to play a fun game that's why they didn't buy it to paint or do any kind of modeling they bought it to play a game.

Hell just spray paint them all one color if they're that lazy

Sad. The tryany of low effort and expectations. Unearned inclusion is no good to anyone. If I haven't painted one of my mins in force appropriate colors(if you want your custom merc company to paint all their 'Mechs hot pink and cover them in your favorite cartoons from "ancient history," then that's appropriate to the unit, so be my guest), I haven't earned the right to bringing that particular piece to the table.

​@@horsemumbler1bro just no if someone wants to play a game let them play this isnthe reason I never got into 40k everyone seemed miserable and wanted to talk about lore paint jobs more than actually playing the game. If someone wants to play a game let them play a game, we're here to have fun with dice not to judge people on paint jobs or care if they even have a paint job.

Modelling never was, and still isnt a massive part of battletech. It has always encouraged the use of proxies, becauae its primary business model was the mountains of TROs and tie in novels being sold, and the minis were pretty much an afterthought. So kindly fuck off and stop gatekeeping the people who have been in the hobby 40 years before you were born.

@@egoalter1276 while the harsh language isnt necceary, it is a good point to bring up that people who are completely new to the hobby can very much enjoy it without painting. Also, the comparison of cooking without turning the fire on is kinda incorrect. Its more like not using an ingredient, since if i have a mech, Im still capable of A. Playing the game, B. Getting into the lore C.Enjoy battletech events as much as the guy who spent 90hrs painting. Not to mention using unpainted minis isnt even a hindrance, its just something people choose to do and thats all. Dont alienate, insult, or go off on a bunch of random people for their decisions that ultimately do nothing harmful. If I come up to a table and see players in the middle of the game and theres painted and unpainted minis, Im gonna watch the game. Not just go "nice paint job" and leave lol.

You can't have been in the hobby 40 years longer than anyone. It's 39 years old. Also, by the sounds of it you're decrying gatekeeping while doing it yourself. What exactly have you done with this "hobby" of yours over the last 40 years that gives you any authority to tell people that your lackluster engagement entitles you to say what the culture must be? Don't pretend like you're some main coder of Megamek all of a sudden either.

@@egoalter1276 Then why are so many of the Kickstarter initiatives more models if it isn't such a big part of their business model? People like you get Gatekept because you reduce the hobby to it's lowers common denominators. The hobby is better off without people like you.

To me it's playing the game not the modeling. I'm here to play a fun game not stress about paint jobs.

Then shut up and play battletech and stop worrying about paint jobs.

Based. I know a few who are colourblind and they just use the colours they can. Can still look good. But very nice to hear you're not being defeated by the condition! Respect!

There's always the MasterUnitList website. But yes, it's hard to know what to pick to stay with which faction. The box sets don't help either with their mechs being VAGUELY arranged by role as opposed to any factional bias. (Except the Comstar boxes, they're pretty well on the money)

numerous published battletech sourcebooks contain faction tables by weight class. this gives every faction a foundation of 11 (2D6) chassis designs per class ( lt, med, hvy aslt) that's 44 mechs. plus 11 vehicles, 11 aero and some include dropships and warships. support vehicles and artillery are kinda universal. the game is 40 years old. the info you are looking for exists, CGL just doesn't make it easy to find, but it does exist, even in the CGL hardcover books. as far as I am aware, each era and the factions within each era, have assignment tables.

It is canon for just about any particular mech to end up in just about any faction's order of battle. Some designs are far more typical of certain houses because of where the old Mech factories happen to be located, but remember that for most of the timeline everybody's mostly fighting g over the same set of Star League leftovers. Here's my advice for someone who is just getting into Battletech: Get one of each Lance pack, or Star pack depending on if you prefer Clan or IS, or get them all if you're loaded or crazy or a 40k refugees who expects to spends bundles of dollars on a new army every year anyway. Now parcel them out according to faction association(many Merc units are aligned with one house in particular, so you can use house availability to determin availability for non house forces as well as regulars): That catapult is going to the Dracs or Capellans. The Capellans have a fair few neat designs all their own in the Cataphract, Vindicator and Raven. They have a stealth varient of the Stinger. Capellans have always been in a tight spot when it cones to mech production and supply, especially Heavies and Assaults, so rely on imports, particularly trades for their advanced Raven designs. Give your Capellans their faction specific mechs, a Crusader, and whatever is left over when you're done filling out your other forces with the vest stuff. They're chronically short on Assaults, except for Atlases, and highlanders which they can refit. They'll take what they can get and be unhappy about it, because fun if forbidden in Cappella. Fun is for enemies of the state. And you are of course a loyal warrior of house Liao, and enemy of all their enemies, so that includes fun. IMHO, if anyone doesn't have painted minis, the best thing to do is let them play your Cappellan Company, or Demi-Company if you don't like them enough to have a funny company. The Jenner and Spider go to the Dracs, as does the Wasp, the Panther, and a Marauder, and a Gryphon if you have two, or don't give your only one to a Lyran unit. The Draconis Combine was gifted with a lot of Mechs by comstar, so there are a lot of downgraded Kurita versions of mechs you can get in the Comstar Level II packs. The Katana, the Sentinel, the Crab, and thug are all great mechs for a DCMS company. The Hatamoto-Chi and is of course as Drac as it gets, so to with the Dragon. They don't have a lot of mediums in the DCMS, preferring swarms of lights backed by powerful Heavy and Assault mechs. They have their own Atlas Varient, and a nice one at that. Those Blackjacks are Davion, baby, as is the Bushwhaker and the Victor, the NightStar too, probably, and definitely the Enforcer and the Centurion, and the Valkyre. They have plenty of Atlasas. Their house varient is a slight side-grade of the typical design. Steiner can fight Davion for the Axeman and Hatchetman, and can keep the Commando and the Zeus. The Banshee is very Lyran as is the Wolfhound. They have a lot of Gryphons, and use a pair to guard the Throne in Tharkad at all times by long tradition. And of course a Steiner unit wouldn't be a Steiner unit without an Atlas. Your Free World's League force will have a Wolverine, Trebuchet, and an Orion in it at least. They like Cicadas. If you give them an Awesome, Marauder, or Warhammer, they probably won't Have the PPCs to replace yours if you lose them, assuming your mech still has them yet. If you're in the FWL and you pilot one of those three you're probably packing Large Lasers instead of PPCs, or will soon. Give each of your companies an Atlas. The Atlas is the most Iconic unit, anyone who can field one does, and it's the game piece you most want to have to option of adding to any force. It's available in a few different packs, including the Direct Fire Lance and Alpha Strike Box, and Hansen's Rougheiders, iirc. Get multiple of the Direct Fire Lance because the Crusader is the most widely used and most common heavy mech in setting, the Orion is ubiquitous, everyone loves an Atlas and should have one in every serious force. And a Wolf's Dragoons Assault Lance with multiple Marauder IIs is fun. The Dragoons have a lot of fun faction appropriate units. Plainsmen Zhukovs and Bandits, their varient of the Archer, Mad IIs and maybe some Gillotines, a Highlander, an Exterminator perhaps, the sort if LosTech the Wolves would assume to fit in among Sphereoids.

Battletech is a system that went nearly fifteen years without a comparative battle value system, and included the battlemech construction rules in the box set from jump, and salvage was built in from the very start, given the value of the machines and limited production in-universe. If something was left on the field capable of being repaired and sent back into combat, the work was going to be done to do so. It's why every unit across every era of the system are using machines that are 2, 3, and 400 years old- often having never received actual upgrades, but just basic servicing and repair. And it's also why many of the most known characters in the lore run hardware that isn't of their nation or expected from their unit, because it's a heirloom, or better yet- it's something they took from somebody else through force. Also explains why the era field manuals (where the aforementioned rolling charts are) aren't locked down as such- because there isn't a single unit anywhere in any era that is 100% to the tables. Ultimately, Battletech has always been structured, both rules and lore wise, to allow players to field the unit compositions they want, in large part because it lets them be creative with how they intend to operate with them in the field, and work into the campaign and role playing aspects as well, if they so choose.

@Kenneth Ellis you are mostly correct. since the age of war 2314-2398, different leaders have always come up with excuses to wage war. there are only brief moments in the timeline that are mostly peaceful. that said, here's some history and availability. pre- 2450: no battlemechs, only conventional forces. moderate size space fleets. starleague (2550-2786): thr golden age vast armies and space fleets. the SLDF prior to the Amaris coup, had over 4000 regiments and 6000 warships.after the Amaris coup, the SLDF had approx 1000 regiments and over 1000 warships. when you take into consideration that forces on both sides left damaged and broken equipment on the battlefields, that's a lot of equipment. thru the 1st and 2nd succession wars: the 5 houses were very indiscriminate with the use of WMDs. by the end of these two wars, most of the house warships were gone, only a handful remained for each navy. the ground military was reduced to about a quarter of pre-war scale. the 3rd succession war: this was more tactical than strategic. very few worlds changed hands. this went on for nearly 150 years. towards the end, a few distinct things were happening (the 3rd succession war ends 3020). the houses used mercenary forces for the majority of combat operations. since the arrival of the Wolf's Dragoons (3005), the houses were in rebuild mode. the availability of the Helm memory core increased productivity of SLDF tech. the 4th succession war (3028-3039): limited space fleets, massive amounts of ground forces. more worlds changed hands during this 11 years than the previous 250 years. uneasy calm (prior to 3049): the houses entered a tech boom. vast improvements and ramped up production. 3049 The Clans: with their arrival, everything changes. all kinds of tech and return of warships. this encourages the house to produce not only more ground forces, but invest in the space fleet as well. Tukyyid: Comstar sent 75 Divisions and left with more than 25 while the clans arrived with 25 galaxies and left with less than 5. most of the damaged and even destroyed wreckage was taken by Comstar. 3055 and beyond: war is in full swing! units are plentiful and space fleets are growing in size, especially with new designs. the only era that has the "Mad Max" dystopia future is the 3rd succession war. all other era's have sufficient military capacity to field large armies.

Shut up and paint your miniatures, paintlet.

​@SUNSHINE-fd4vb you shut up and stop trying to force your 40k paint hobby crap into our fun laid back game.

I paint my minis but I don't care if others in the hobby don't want to we're not all here for stupid paint jobs we want to play a stupid robot wargame that's the main focus.

You failed the physiognomy check.

Painting is culture worth warring for.

​@@horsemumbler1no it isn't