Projecr Scopedog

Sooo

Battletech Kickstarter

So I got sucked into another Battletech KS. I'm pretty excited about this one. They're doing vehicles which is nice. Also they are adding a ton of new mechs. I just finished purchasing the last Inner Sphere Force Pack. I have a feeling I will be collecting all of the Clan Forcepacks and Mercenary Forcepacks as well. Even though I pledged at the Company level. I do plan on upgrading my pledge to the Battalion level. I'l get what I can get and anything else can just wait until the local game stores start stocking stuff.

Steel Warriors

So I got some Steel Wariors to use as Militia or some other OpFor. I'm sure I'll find a use for them.

City Layout

I decided to break out a few Dropzone city tiles. I kind of like the layout. It definitely needs work. I will be ordering more buildings. I know I'll need some taller ones to help break up line of sight.

Progress

Buildings have been built. The first test of the glue gun went ok. Progress feels good.

HOBBY TIME!

Whelp, I'm finally getting to sit down and get some hobby done. I'm excited to give my glue gun a go. On a side note I'm happy that I finally found my Battlemaster. I had since replaced it but I found it when I was getting my stuff out of Storage. I also found my CAV terrain. My city is really coming together.

Upgrade

So I finally broke down and bought a glue gun. I am going to give it a try this weekend. I have alot of cardstock terrain with plans to buy more. This should help tremendously.

Back to Battletech

I finally got around to playing Alpha Strike a couple of weeks ago. It seems like a super easy game. Of course the rulebook is something like 100 pages or so. I now understand the Horizon Wars comparison. I want to get to know the rules in more depth. I also wouldn't mind learning Hardwar because that would probably be a more accurate description. Hardwar is based on Horizon Wars soo yeah it woukd be nice to see how they match up. Thanks to my Turkish arms dealer, I have a descent sized city for a big City Fight. Whelp let's see how it goes.

Solo Campaign: getting started

Starting a solo campaign can be a daunting task. I mean running any kind of campaign can be difficult. The hardest part after you get started is consistency. You have to make time for the hobby or it just won't happen. I wish I could say that new posts will be monthly or weekly. Certainly once a month to be sure. I mean I should probably commit right. That's another part of getting the ball rolling. Whelp. Wish me luck.

Thw Clan Invasion is here!

Catalyst Games recently began fullfillment on Wave 1 of its Clan Invasion KS. Yours truly got his on Friday buuuutttt I decided to wait until Saturday to do an unboxing video. I was surprised I was able to do it in one take. I didn't open my salvage on camera but I did open them up. For my Legendary I got Aiden Pryde. For my to Clan salvage, I got a Fenris and a Koshi.  I hope you enjoy the video. 

https://youtu.be/K-z-8ary-a8

A Battletech Solo Campaign

So there's a guy in the 10mm Wargaming group on Facebook that has been posting his Cold War Gone Hot Campaign. It's been very inspirational to see someone just throw caution to the wind and get some gaming in. 

Personally, I love 10mm as a scale. It's my go to scale (I refer you to my pile of shane post. I currently do not have the space to paint or game like I want. And then it hit me why not just get some Battletech in. I can learn the rules a little better and I'll be able to have content to post on a regular basis other then stuff I wish I were doing. 

So I will be doing a Battletech campaign. I decided to go with House Marik because who really cares about them. They're kind of the redheaded step child of Battletech. Plus it will be fun to do something other then Davion or Kurita. I'm thinking a pirate hunting campaign in the Periphery. Because.. why not? Wish me luck.

Random Thought of Lament

 Many have become jaded in this era of social media, algorthrims, and information gathering. I remember of time of hope. I remember a time when you could just stumble onto stuff just surfing the web without any real destination in sight. I miss the days when you could just search for something on the web without some algorithm parsing out a database based off of previous selections I may or may not have made. The old days when you would just get a sort of information dump and you had to sort it out for yourself. And now we have a different type of information dump. However this one doesn't let you decide for yourself. It has already been decided for you. Unless you are exceptionally cunning it can be difficult to fake out. You're put in a box and told what you can like and who your friends should be. The world which once seemed so full of possibility. It's not that it no longer seems hopeful, but hope seems to be strangled.  That makes me sad. 

Pile of Shame

 In my attempt to revive this blog as well as developing a real habit to write on a regular basis. While I am currently in the middle of the move some time ago I was looking at my pile of shame and it made me sad. I hope to complete this pile. (and others.) 

My First 300 point Robotech Tactics Game.

This is also my first post in a long while. Like many I got in on the Robotech Kickstarter and after what felt like an eternity I finally got my piles and piles of plastic robot goodness. I'm still assembling it all and so I've been using proxies until I get my stuff ready, but I digress...

This was my first 300 point game but second real game of Robotech. UEDF vs Zentradi. The scenario was Pitched Battle with Head to Head deployment zones. It was a real meat grinder and came down to the wire at the very end.  As stated in the video, the first 2 rounds were pretty brutal. I lost 2 VF 1s closing in on the Zentraan Attack Squadron. I botched a chance to take out that squadron's commander when I activated my Destroids. The Zentran commander got a little overconfident and left his squadron commander open. Unfortunately for me, this meant sacrificing one of my VF 1 squadrons, but it was worth because it completely changed the game. The Zentradi Recon Squadron advanced more cautiously using the remnants of the Attack Squadron to finish off my VF1s. I split my Close Combat Squadron into two units and held the Defenders back while advancing with my Spartans. Unfortunately, the Zentradi player had learned and denied me any viable shot at his remaining commander... KKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK. (my friend's last name is Kirkley) Since scoring was done by entire squadrons eliminated. The end score was 2 - 1 even if I killed more of his guys. Lessons: If you're the UEDF player, focus on units that don't respawn and KILL THE COMMANDER! If you're the Zentradi player, don't get cocky, yeah you have numbers but if you slip up and leave your commander in a vulnerable position


Here's a brief video of some of the action.

KR 16 Campaign

KR 16

PMCs:
Artemis Arms
Ex 10

Companies:
Comstar
Weyland Industries
Shinahara Heavy Industries
Oki Corp


Factions:
Bugs
Quar (indigenious)
Junkers
Confederation Marines
Draconis Combine


Rules:
Pick Mercenary Unit
Bid on Contract with mining Company
Recruit Junkers
Build Facility
Establish Town Charter
Build Town

Gamer ADD

I really hate my gamer ADD. I'm sure I can't be the only one who gets frustrated by this. If you've ever been in the middle of a project and you get a great idea for three other projects AT THE SAME TIME. I really need to focus on the Balarant unit and the Type 61 tank company... It's been too long since I posted anything.

Deloyer Government requests military support from the Commonwealth to deal with growing Junker Insurgency

August 20, 3258

Union City - In the wake of the fifth Junker attack on a mining facility in under a month, the Deloyer Government officially requested military support from the Terran Commonwealth. This comes after Weyland Industries has expressed a lack of confidence that local planetary forces can adequately handle repeated attacks on there mining facitilies.

Weyland Industries has contracted with Private Military Contractor firm, Artemis Arms, to handle the security of it's mining operations. A Weyland spokesman Casvol Armand  made it clear in a press release earlier this month.  "If the Deloyer government doesn't get a handle on the Junker situation, then Weyland will be forced to take a more direct roll in the Junker Insurrections.

"We at Weyland harbor no ill will towards the Junkers and completely understand that they feel as though they have some sort of a bone to pick. That said, taking up arms and destroying privately owned property is not the way to do so. Weyland is more than willing to meet any Junker groups with grievances."

Armand also mentioned that he believes that Weyland's chief competitor in the region, Shinahara Heavy Industries, is at the root of the problem. He claims that Shinahara has been supplying the insurgents with weapons and equipment. Unfortunately, he also says that Weyland has no proof of this, but they are in the process of getting that proof.

Meanwhile, the men of the 22nd Fleet Initial Strike Team is preparing to deploy to the troubled world. The Commander of the 22nd, Brigadier Thurgood Foster, says that his men are ready and more than able to handle the situation. Brigadier Foster feels confident that his Marines can keep the situation from escalating, but only time will tell.

Pacific Rim Review Part Two

Edit: I wrote this some time ago. It's not quite finished but I hope that you enjoy it anyway. (published 9/27/2020

The Hype:

Growing up in the United States, any news of a live action giant robot movie that didn't involve the Transformers is alway greeted with nothing less than utter glee. I developed a taste for giant robots at at a young age, so it was safe to say that I was excited to hear the news about Pacific Rim on Gundamn!  I don't think that I had been that excited since the announcement of the Heavy Gear CGI animated show. Ok, ok so that didn't pan out exactly as I had hoped, but in the original announcement Heavy Gear was supposed to be done by Foundation Imaging. (the same company that did Roughneck Chronicles)

At any rate, more than likely there were alot of North American mecha-heads that checked the date to see if it was April fools. Guillermo del Torro... ok I can see that. Idris Elba... mm, not so sure. They're going to call the monsters Kaiju... ok you need to stop playing with my emotions before I hurt you.

So many trailers these days ruin movies. They try so hard to sell the movie that they end up showing too many of the good scenes. The result is that you end up seeing something that would have been better left as a nice surprise. I decided that I didn't want to take that chance with Pacific Rim. So I challenged myself to not see a single trailer until after I saw the movie. I have to say that there was a definitely a payoff.

My first thoughts about giant robots fighting giant monsters was that it was either going to be absolutely phenomenal or completely dreadful. Either way, I had every intention of seeing it in the theater. This is kind of a big deal for me as there are very few movies that I feel compelled to see in the theater. On a good year, I might see 3 movies in the theater. It was safe to say that come hell or high water... I was going to see Pacific Rim in the theater. 

The Story:

While the overall theme of Pacific Rim was fairly simple, there was a very rich and layered story that comprised of four parts. There was the Main Story Arc, Raleigh's Arc, Mako's Arc, and Dr. 

The Main Arc
When a portal to another dimension opens up somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, Giant Monsters called Kaiju come through and reek havoc on humanity. Conventional forces are deemed inadequate to fight the Kaiju so giant robots called Jaegers are built to fight the Kaiju. Jaegers were able to stand up to the Kaiju until higher and higher levels of Kaiju start to appear and are able to defeat the Jaegers. It quickly gets to the point where Jaegers can't be built quickly enough. The Jaeger Program is shut down in lieu of a Wall Defense Program. The Wall Defense fails spectacularly in Australia, but as luck would have it the country's remaining Jaeger, Coyote Tango, was around and able to defeat the Kaiju. Unfortunately for humanity,  by then only 4 Jaegers remain to defend the Earth. Stacker Pentecost, the Commander of the Jaeger Program, comes up with a plan to shut down the portal.



Mako's Arc

Mako was a woman who was orphaned as a small child and raised by Stacker Pentecost. She looks to Pentecost as a Father and treats him as such. Her dream is to one day pilot a Jaeger and take a more active role in the Kaiju War.


Dr. Newton Geiszler Arc

A self-professed Kaiju groupie, Dr. Newton "Newt" Geiszler grew up during the Kaiju Wars. He dedicated his life to studying them
At the same time a daring scientist ("Newt") attempts a mind meld with a Kaiju brain.

Pacific Rim Review Part One

At the risk of having a review that's entirely too long, I decided to break up the review into to parts. the first part will be my review of the movie and the second part will be a synopsis for those who thought it was interesting, but wanted to know more about the movie. Enjoy.

My Review:

Well it was a brilliantly done film. It reminded me of Resident Evil: Retribution in some ways. IT seemed like there was a serious focus on making a quality product, but at the same time the material wasn't taken too seriously. There were a few moments where the filmmaker clearly had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. There were a number of cheesy scenes in the movie, but it never seemed like they overwhelmed the overall feel of the movie. You really had to go along for the ride and just enjoy them.


I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but it wasn't without its flaws. There were two major problems with the story. The first is the fact that the story was VERY Japanese. While I loved this about the story, it was a little much for a North American audience. (sorry Canada, I meant the US) Most Americans don't have a taste for Anime let alone Japanese cinema in general. We (Americans ) all grew up watching Godzilla movies, but how many of us truly remember the stories. It was all about seeing a guy in a monster suit break some scale models. I have no delusions that the average American just wanted to see a giant monster get rocket punched in the face. The story to me was well done and well thought out. However, I have a poor track record of picking out what's cool as I've come to learn over the years. (no worries as I've made peace with it.)

The other major sticking point is the pace of the movie. Pacific Rim had a really weird pace. On one hand it seemed as though it moved much too fast, but on the other hand everything was explained. You really didn't miss anything and you could see that if they took their time then the movie would have been 3 hours long. Still the pace of the movie just didn't quite feel right.

The mecha design was well thought out. I mean piloting a giant robot must be a insanely complex task. It makes sense that it would take two people to pilot the Jaegers. And the mindmeld control system aka the "Drift" was nothing short of brillant. Unfortunately the  execution didn't quite feel right. I quickly got over it, but the way the pilots behaved just didn't seem realistic to me. Of course, it was at this point that I reminded myself "You can believe that there are Giant Robots fighting Giant Monsters, and THAT'S the part you have an issue with." Silly I know, but it still bugged me if only a little.

Also for a movie about robots fighting monsters. I expected to see more fights. Instead what I got was a bunch of best of clips. There were some REALLY good fights near the end, but it would have been nice to see some of the other Jaegers mentioned (particularly the Coyote Tango fight in defense of Sydney.). There was the sweet reward of seeing a ROCKET PUNCH TO THE FACE! Yeah... still got goosebumps from that and I saw the movie that Tuesday after opening weekend.

One of my favorite parts of the movie was the fact that there was no use of profanity and no nudity or even the hint of nudity. This is no small feat given a movie of this caliber. How many movies can you take a small child to and not worry about them seeing or hearing something that they shouldn't have? (Yeah I'm looking at you Transformers)

All in all I love the movie and in another rare first. I plan to ignore cost and buy the movie as soon as it comes out on DVD. I give the movie four and a half Giants... out of five.

Guess Who's Back?

I'd like to apologize for the long hiatus. I've got a slew of articles that are in the works. The next one should be my Pacific Rim Review... yeah I know it's late, but hey, now I don't have to worry about spoilers. :) Also I'll be doing a better job of showing pictures of my recent acquisitions (gaming related that is) And since I've been bitten by the 6mm bug. I have a project I'm calling 7 Battalions. This is where I build... you guessed it 7 Battalions of different Factions. I have quite a number of rule systems that I want to learn and what better way than to kill 2 birds with the same stone. I'll also be working on Campaign Seeds as well as Tactical Scenarios. I hope to get back into more of a regular schedule where I have at least 2 posts a month. My apologies again and stay tuned...