DIME STORE HOBBY

Working on more BattleTech "alien" terrain

With thousands of worlds in the Inner Sphere and beyond, I get awfully tired of playing on generic grasslands and deserts (even if they've all been terraformed, lore-wise).

So I've been trying to expand my Alpha Strike options into 3-4 more exotic mats with full sets of complementary terrain.

One of my best assets in this quest is Thingiverse creator GrimGreeble. Their stuff looks amazing, prints like a dream without supports, and it's all pretty scale-agnostic. You can take the same model and print it at multiple sizes to create the battlefield variation you need.

DAY OF HEROES

3050 - CLAN JADE FALCON INVASION OF SUDETEN - THE FLIGHT OF THE GRAY DEATH LEGION

Off and on for the past several months, a buddy and I have been adapting the Hammarr Spaceport evacuation scenario from 1991's Day of Heroes into Alpha Strike.

We finally playtested with a full 7-player complement.

Minis only half painted, terrain still in progress. Most pics mine, but a couple are from other members of the group.

Northwind Highlanders Lance complete

Song of Blades & Heroes Sequel

Abysmal lighting in my friend's basement, but we managed a grand sequel to last year's SOBAH game.

Smaller table for quicker action. I mistakenly made the homebrew rules for the "Mole artillerists" too powerful, and the players slaughtered my much more numerous OpFor.

BattleTech Journey - Year 1

You've seen all of these on the blog, just not all at once.

I started painting my first three lances over Christmas vacation last year and finished them in early January. So these photos represent the current state of my BattleTech painting journey.

62 'Mechs, 9 Vehicles, 3 Battle Armor

Southern Assault Montage

Nothing much to see here, just my Jade Falcons engaged in their various games at Southern Assault 2025.

Games were tight enough that I barely remembered to photograph a couple of them, and missed one entirely (versus Snow Ravens).

Tournament Jade Falcons (Southern Assault, Pt. I)

My showcase diorama and force for Southern Assault, the amazing tournament that popped off in North Carolina last weekend.

Finished Wraith and Marauder

And their first game, a 3-player asymmetrical scenario I designed where two rival forces try to wipe out a third player's convoy.

Various Works in Progress

A bit of BattleTech, plus some progress on my StarGrave crew and character for a friend's DaggerHeart campaign.

Sentimental Beginnings

The lance of blue 'Mechs pictured here means more to me than might first appear. With the varnish that went on the Zeus today, I finished the last of 24 minis from the BattleTech 2011 Intro Box.

I bought that box over a decade ago.

Alpha Strike - 375 PV

Had quite the thrilling club game yesterday on a spread I brought. 4x4 mat from Mats By Mars, plus a mixture of my scratchbuilt and 3d-printed winter terrain.

I eked out a narrow win, my first against the much more experienced members of the group.

Hastati Stormcrow (and recent game pics)

Quick and Dirty 1-Shot Fun

A friend of mine is treating their brother to his first DnD game in three decades. Needed a little help with terrain/mini support.

Cooked up their requested bottomless Cthulhu pit with a crater STL and three separate tentacle models on a poker chip base (modularity!).

1st Jade Falcon Sentinels

The CJF force I'm building came out for a 30k vs. 30k ilClan-era challenge in the Circle of Equals for the leadership of the clan.

Alas, my challenge fell short, but it was an amazing game—and incredible to get that large of a cohesive force on the table for a game of Classic.

Four of my mechs (Fire Falcon, Black Lanner, Kraken, and Phoenix Hawk IIC) were so fresh the varnish was still drying in the car on the way to the game.

Surfin' CJF

Shots from recent games

including a 3v3 Free Worlds League vs. Word of Blake game of Alpha Strike at our local tournament, and a 3v3 FedCom Civil War game of Classic (12k BV per player for a total of 72k on the board!)