This 1:285 scale pre-built plastic model of an Ice Ferret is produced by “Catalyst Game Labs” and can be found together with a Gargoyle, Hellbringer, Mad Dog, and Viper in the company’s “Battletech: Clan Heavy Striker Star” boxed set. All the pre-assembled miniatures also come with an assortment of MechWarrior pilot and Alpha Strike cards depicting various colour schemes. But as I plan to use this particular sculpt as a Levasseur class French War Walker for an upcoming Weird War Two campaign using some homemade rules, I decided to go with a predominantly pale blue palette.
“Well armoured and fast” the 31mm tall figure was initially given a double undercoat of “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey and shaded in “Citadel” Drakenhof Nightshade. It was then dry-brushed using (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey with a softly-bristled make-up blusher brush, and had its tiny cockpit windows ‘picked out’ with the odd a dab of “Citadel” Abaddon Black.
In order to add a bit of interest to the rather lightly-coloured model I decided to add a few ‘points of interest’ on both its arms and torso by ‘picking out’ the war walker’s shoulder-pads, top hatch and a rear-placed panel using a combination of “Vallejo” German Grey and “Citadel” Nuln Oil. I later gave these diminutive areas a delicate dry-brush of (more) “Vallejo” German Grey to help highlight their details.
I also applied some “Citadel” Abaddon Black to both the Ice Ferret’s Extended Range Particle Projector Cannon and Streak SRM-2 (missile) Launcher, before pigmenting them with some “Vallejo” Gunmetal and later on, a splash of “Citadel” Nuln Oil. Finally, I applied some French roundels by “Decal Details” to the mech’s front legs, and unsuccessfully attempted to add the Tricolore to the machine’s upper torso. Unfortunately, the French National flag simply couldn’t fit in the limited space provided and after a couple of failed efforts where the transfer eventually started to disintegrate, I gave up.
With my latest “Battletech” model by “Catalyst Game Labs” completed, I managed to pay a visit to the LVL Up Gaming Store in Bournemouth so as to play-test some homemade 28mm Weird War Two rules called "M.I.S.S." On this occasion I brought along some figures taken from my old “Secrets Of The Third Reich” collection by "Westwind Productions", and some of the resin “Supers Unlimited” sculpts by “Kitbash Games”.
The two battles were played over a somewhat congested Middle Eastern settlement, and both the Allies and Axis forces came away with a victory apiece. There were a good many highlights to the games, such as a Zombie horde devouring an entire unit of brave British Paras in a single turn, and Liberty Lady successfully duking it out against a group of Zeds before literally pulling Die Unordnung [The Mess] down from the top of a tactically-crucial building…