#pawpaw success! The farmer who has had pawpaws in the past had them this year. She said these are the first crop from her own trees, a ten-year project.

Monday was #battletech night! I’m running the group through the Black Thorns scenario book, and this was week 1. The Ridge Line Scenario is a ComStar Level II vs. a Smoke Jaguar Star. Each side gave as good as they got, but the Smoke Jaguars overran the position. Shout out to my Thug pilot, who could not hit the broad side of a barn. I shouldn’t blame him. It is a distinct irony in my life that I enjoy rolling dice so much but roll so poorly. Next meeting is the Red Rage scenario.

Took a break from my current project. I’m running a ComStar vs Smoke Jaguar scenario in a couple of weeks. I had finished these 3rd ComGuard mechs a while back. I kept telling myself they were white, but I was lying. After painting a ComStar urban mech for our Urbie Derby, I had figured out how to highlight the top surfaces to accentuate the white and show the shadows. So I carefully went back over the parts to show the white . Pretty happy with the results. #battletech #miniaturepainting

More progress on my Thorin FTM company. I did the accents with #thearmypainter fanatic greenskin. Metals are speedpaint polished steel. Smoke is gravelord grey on top and occultist cloak on bottom. I wanted the blue to be lighter in the “sun”, so I tried highlighting with bright sapphire on the commando. It was too much. So I drybrushed it on and am happy with the look. Energy weapons are #proacryl flourescents. Next step is lacquer and maybe panel lines. #battletech #miniaturepainting

Progress on my Thorin FTM #battletech company. #camospecsonline calls for light blue with green highlights. I primed and zenithaled , but this time I tried putting blue #speedpaint through the airbrush thinking it might show the zenithal below. I’d had success with both grey and black before. The blue was a mess; I should have cut it with thinner. Not the effect I wanted. Re-did cockpits in black and areas for metals and lasers in white, which I’ll take care of next. #miniaturepainting

Got to go to #historicon this weekend. Really fantastic convention with a focus on historical wargames but also has some fantastical stuff. There was an entire booth selling #ironwindmetals battletech stuff, and I found my new best friend, the Black Python. With #battletech night on Monday, it was a sprint to paint up the mech. #slapchop was used, although I did a zenithal with the airbrush instead of a drybrush. The plan is to do more highlights and touchups later.

#battletech group is having a tournament next time. Rules are pre-3060, 75 tons, 4/5 pilot. No BV was specified. At 4/5, I am all about the pulse lasers, and my go to mech has been the Battle Cobra. With a 75 ton limit, I just discovered the Black Python, and my daughter made this meme for me.

I needed some Clan Wolf/Wolf’s Dragoons mechs for #battletech night. I had already done Natasha Kerensky’s Widowmaker Dire Wolf from a legends pack, so I decided to go all in on black widow/wolf spiders. I could not resist painting the Annihilator like Mecha-Godzilla. I used grim black #speedpaint in my airbrush, and fanatic pure red by hand for highlights on most. For Annihilator I used gravelord grey and broadsword silver in airbrush. #proacryl fluorescents for weapons #miniaturepainting

Getting ready for the #toomanygames convention. After last year’s convention, I spent this year looking for my old systems. I thought I had located my #atarijaguar and #turbographx16 but it turns out I only found my games. I could conceivably sell these at the convention and close the book on this chapter, but I think I’ll keep looking this year for the systems. They have to be somewhere!

Not a lot of hobby stuff for me today, but my daughter airbrushed Bungko (they tell me this is the character’s name) purple, and then I set them down to my regular painting station with a wet palette and a silicon fidget popper to go to town. Looks amazing! I think the plan is to use the Velcro strips to get it on the cap. No clear coat as yet. I’ll wait until after graduation for that. #miniaturepainting #daddydaughtertime