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Digital JoR |
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Check out these eleven preview images of what we at Mil-Net believe will be the color inserts found in the upcoming Journal of Recognition sourcebook! Here's a sample (my personal favorite):
 Fort Dallas Police Kodaworks Khan Once you've checked out the new images, let us know what you think of them on the Mil-Net Forums!
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Artist Neil Nowatzki does CAV |
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Neil Nowatzki, a very talented artist with a thing for hulking bi-pedal war machines (see below), has graced Mil-Net with a couple pieces of his incredible work. First, a landscape shot of two Dictators attacking an unseen enemy (click for a larger image):
 Dictators According to Neil the Dictator models were built and rendered in 3D Studio Max, and the rest of the scene (effects and such) was put together in Photoshop. Next up we have a cool animated walking Dictator that Neil also put together using 3DS Max:
 If you'd like to see more of Neil's work, check out his website. Battletech fans will find his site particularly interesting, especially the custom created Inner Sphere Omnimech he has designed and rendered, as well as animated. It's incredible! Note that I've also added Neil and his CAV images to the Digital CAV page. Keep them coming, Neil!
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Tip of the Week #11 |
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Tip of the Week #11, "Pinning Joints," comes courtesy of Lanse Tryon:
"Pinning" is when you add a little peg to the joint, either in place of, or to augment the rather larger peg that comes molded on the model. Generally I do this if it looks like the glue either isn't going to hold, the joint looks like it'll take a lot of torque, or if I'm gluing two dissimilar materials (metal to plastic, plastic to resin, etc.) |
BatRep: The Battle for Glasgow Mesa |
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Frank "Leech" Vickers sent in another (and much longer) Battle Report from his three-way game of CAV at the ConClave Scotland convention at the beginning of March:
Joe got the next action from the initiative deck and opened up on my forces, having moved a pair of his Dictators around so they could get a line of sight at my Specter. The two CAV opened up on my Specter, killing it with the first round. While this was happening Joe’s other pair of Dictators were finishing off my Starhawk, the first Dictator’s cannons doing a point each and the second Dictator killing the poor ‘Hawk. I was now down to two CAV, the first player to lose two units, but I felt confident my Rhinos would avenge their section-mates. It's a good report with an interesting force layout (I think they used Enron accounting practices to determine force point values!). Click here to read the whole report! |
Feedback from Reaper(Ed) |
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I recently (last Friday, actually) had the pleasure to talk with Ed "ReaperEd" Pugh from Reaper Miniatures, the makers of CAV. We talked about a wide variety of subjects -- from the Journal of Recognition to how to determine which missile launcher is Direct and which is Indirect on any given CAV -- and Ed was extremely forthcoming. Click here for all the juicy details! |
Tip of the Week #12 |
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This weeks Tip of the Week is from Vyeto who explains an inexpensive method for creating believable city-style landscapes for your terrain: If you're interested in battling in the city head to your local Do-it-Yourself store and in amongst all the interesting bits and pieces look for Electrical Junction boxes. These are EXTREMELY cheap plastic boxes (usually no more than a dollar or two each) which, when painted and given a few details, make wonderful CAV-scale sci-fi type buildings. They come in all different sizes, so it's easy to build a town center full of big, bulky four-story -- as well as one and two-story -- commercial zones. You'll probably have to cut off the odd mounting bracket or two, and cut in a few doors for realism but they already boast lots of interesting outcrops and bits to make a highly detailed and realistic cityscape. Thanks for the Tip, Vyeto. If you have any pictures of your results send them our way! Have your own Tip you'd like to share? Send it our way!
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Wish me luck... |
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I've got surgery Monday morning to repair a problem with a bone in my wrist (my right hand, no less) that I unknowingly broke about twelve years ago. It's a complicated procedure involving re-breaking the wrist, grafting bone that they'll be extracting from my hip into the problem area (what the...?), and then drilling a pin/screw into said area to keep the bones together properly. Needless to say, I find myself filled with an inordinate amount of anxiety. Even if all goes well I'll be in a cast for two months. Coming to the point of this post: Updates might come from me slower than usual due to the surgery and the subsequent problem of typing. On top of tomorrow, I've got more surgery - wisdom teeth removal - on the 28th. Did I mention I was a masochist in denial? I digress... as I was saying, updates from me might be slow, so I'm charging my fellow site admins with helping me keep up (and they're finding out about this at the same time you are - surprise, guys!) with your submissions. That said, don't hesitate to send in your Battle Reports, Tips of the Week, artwork, fiction, etc... We'll make sure it gets posted and credit given where due. Or better yet, feel sorry for me and send some stuff in even if you hadn't considered it before! Yeah, that's it!
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In the News... |
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To follow-up from the last post, the surgery went well and thank God for pain-killers. I'm now typing exclusively with my left hand, so be prepared for short news posts for the next couple months! I've got a couple of CAV-in-Progress pics to put up in the next few days from Ron "Quester" DuBray of his work on the CAD Starhawk and Puma. He's looking for input on how to make the designs better. Check out his posts on the Mil-Net Forums if you're too impatient to wait for me to link it. I have some Tyrant CAD images to add to the Digital CAV page as well, also by Ron. Finally, expect a new BatRep within a week. |
BattleHex Lives! |
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Hell may very well have frozen over as Talon Games (Jon "ReaperJon" Walker's company) has finally updated their BattleHex site and appear to be taking orders! For those unfamiliar with BattleHex terrain, it is a modular, hex-based, system derived of a base hex-mat and multiple hex-shaped elevation pieces. It's a near-perfect blend of both open terrain and hex-map-style miniature wargaming. The terrain is ideal for Battletech and, of course, CAV. If you have the CAV rulebook you may notice that the terrain used in the photograph examples is all BattleHex product.
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The New Minis are in Stores |
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I've seen several confirmations that the latest set of CAVs; the Assassin, Challenger, Gladiator II, Panther and Soveriegn III, are starting to show up in gaming stores. I would imagine that they will still be hard to find for a couple of weeks yet, so you're gonna want to rush right out and buy them now while you can. I highly recommend the Gladiator. It's both an excellent miniature and a deadly CAV.
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Belated Addition to Digital CAV |
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Ron "Quester" DuBray has sent us some new pictures of his CAD coversion of the Tyrant that Reaper will be using in upcoming molds. I've got to hand it to Ron - he's done a superb job on this one!
 Tyrant KODA Works Click the image above or here to head over to the Digital CAV page and check out the rest of the images!
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We Need Your Help! |
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Three things: Recently Matt "Akela" Ragan, writer of CAV canon and all-around swell guy, asked which Journal of Recognition CAV we - the fans - would like to get a sneak preview of (click here for the forum thread in question). Unfortunately, we currently have no way to take a vote and I was wondering if any of you knew of a decent software plug-in (preferably in Cold Fusion, JAVA, or ASP) for tracking votes. Nothing fancy, mind you, just functional. Secondly, I need some more tips for the Tip of the Week feature. Due to my recent surgical procedures (did I mention that I had my Wisdom teeth removed yesterday on top of the wrist surgery last week? My friends say I'm a masochist, but it's really just poor timing). I have a good Tip from our friend Nadin lurking about, but I have to find and format it for posting. Your help in sending in new Tips would be greatly appreciated. Finally, I'm in the market for a digital camera. I need something with a decent close-range macro lense for taking good miniature shots, but a good all-around camera is also required. To submit a Tip of the Week or send your suggestion on a voting/polling plug-in click here. To send me your advice on a digital camera click here. Thanks in advance, everyone! |
