Battletech Paint Roulette Invitational!

Recently, I was in a major painting slump. I needed to stretch my legs and shake off some rust after a long downtime. But nothing jumped out at me. Nothing spoke to me. I had in the not-too-distant past finished a whopper of a commission and some of my own big projects. Call it the doldrums, call it the yips, whatever. I wanted to paint, indeed needed to paint, to break down my backlog, but I was bored of painting. What to do? If you are anything like me, the answer was obvious: torment your friends until inspiration surfaces. And what, I thought, could be more torturous for a modeler than a random paint plan not entirely of your choosing?

I am talking about paint roulette: randomly assigned pattern, randomly assigned colors, with each category ranging from “wild” to “mild.” Nothing like getting constrained to an arbitrary set of standards to get the noggin’ joggin’.

But before I go on, credit where credit is due: I lifted this idea whole cloth from the back of the book for TONKS! by Apocrypha Now. The game looks like a blast and I love the combination of customization, kitbashing and gutsy but simple armored combat. It is definitely a vibe! So go check it out, it is free!

But down to business. With rising excitement at the idea the stage was now set for some entertaining and revitalizing paint bench antics: THE PAINT ROULETTE INVITATIONAL! So I invited, pleaded and extorted to assemble a lineup of my very favorite hobby heroes from various BT-centric Facebook groups as participants. They were all surprisingly willing, to my eternal gratitude.

And what happened surpassed my high hopes for the endeavor: Enthusiasm was infectious. Contestants set to work at once. The group chat was full of WIP shots, discussions, nonsense, banter and encouragement 24/7 for weeks on end. It was a roller coaster, and fun out of all proportion with such a simple idea. I am beyond grateful that all of these guys humored me, and I am thrilled to be able to show off their work. In truth, I’m not fit to carry their brushes but your humble author also participated.

For your reference, the lists I used for the randomly rolled paint plans and palettes are just below, exactly as I presented them to the entrants, referenced along with their thoughts by the corresponding pics. You might even use these lists yourself to find some inspiration. I hope you like what came out of this little endeavor, the guys worked hard on it!

Theme
Rolling on 1D10

1. Spots – Circles, dots, spheres, etc.
2. Fade – One or more colors shifting to others.
3. Blobs – Irregular blobs and patches of color.
4. Blocks – Squares, rectangles, cubes, etc.
5. Lines – Just what it says. One or more lines, parallel or not.
6. Camo – Just what it says. Pick or make a pattern and use your colors.
7. Dazzle – Eye-melting explorations of an evolutionary cul-de-sac in camo theory. I’m praying for you.
8. Animal Print – Wildlife-inspired patterns. Mammals, fish, birds, insects, reptiles, etc.
9. Worn and Weathered – Beat and batter your model like it just shortchanged a Diamond Shark. Rust, grime, wear, streaking, scrapes, mud, etc.
10. Stenciled – Bones, bands, checkers, quadrants, tessellations, tri-color, bi-color, liveries or distinct graphical embellishments.

Colorway
Rolling on 1D10

1. Desert – Any colors suitable for use in desert environments.
2. Woodland – M81 and OD enjoyers rejoice.
3. Jungle – Emerald greens and other conceivably tropical tones.
4. Urban – Grays, black, dusty brown, white, etc. Or go monochrome.
5. Arctic – Frigid white, pale gray, frosty blue, anything that says “cold.”
6. Basic – Pick a color. Use only shades and tints of it.
7. Patriotic – Colors chosen from a national flag, or the stereotypical colors of your favorite House or other faction.
8. Two-Tone – Pick two complimentary colors. Use those.
9. Foundry – Chrome, steel, iron, bronze, brass, verdigris, aluminum. Anything that says “metal”.
10. Hazard– Think heavy equipment manufacturers. Vivid, contrasting oranges, yellows, greens, reds, etc. Tones that will say “danger” in every language.

And now, on to the finished pieces!

Arclight Miniatures

Marauder IIC: Blobs, Hazard.

“I really enjoyed this friendly painting collective that came from the paint roulette challenge. In getting hazard marking colors as the color pallet, and blobs as the pattern style, I had a hard time initially in settling on a paint scheme. I feel the other folks within the challenge group decided on theirs fairly quickly, so I definitely felt the pressure to get going on the project.

I was pleased to find a paint scheme in Delta Galaxy, Clan Goliath Scorpion that had quasi blobs in the pattern as well as some pretty stark hazard marking colors present. I really enjoyed the challenge of trying to paint cracked basalt slabs with lava showing through. I have painted lava on bases before, but never on a mech, so this was new territory for me, and I am happy I finished the miniature.

All in all, I am really happy to have been invited to the challenge group. It was great to see a number of other painters I frequently see posting in the groups also rising to the challenge and putting in some really good work, even with many of us being pushed outside of our comfort zones. My hat is off to them, and I think we all owe it to Chad for pushing us to paint something unique.”

Jack Taylor

Mackie MSK-6S 00 “Beetlejuice”: Dazzle, Two-tone.

“Dazzle camouflage and contrasting colors are the theme here. I looked to World War I warships for inspiration and noticed they used lines that would run at different angles and I found them either offset, or perpendicular to each other. On this mech I best achieved that on the legs. For the torso I was just trying to break up the obvious outline. I originally intended for a different effect with the purple and yellow but couldn’t pull it off so in the end I opted to riff off of the 1st Free World Guards who use a white and purple with black accents.

The white and black definitely contrast but really the purple and yellow are the contrasting colors. With this mech I wanted to give it a battle worn look and I used a bright silver metallic paint stippled.”

Jeff Carlisle

Exterminator EXT-4D: Camo, Arctic

“Goal: camo/arctic. I was going for a WW2 Russian tank winter-ready look. I like this because it really blends into the environment well. I didn’t want to use an airbrush. I used multiple layers of white wash on a Vallejo’s Russian uniform.”

Joshua Watrous

Gladiator GLD-4R: Stencilled, Patriotic.

“When Chad first mentioned participating in a painting challenge, and then mentioned the people in the painting challenge, I was admittedly fairly nervous. These were some big names in the BattleTech hobby and several well beyond my league. Granted, it wasn’t a contest, so I decided to go along anyways just to see what would happen. My prompt was “Patriotic/Stencil”, and when Chad explained that this could be designwork, quartering, etc…my mind jumped to Space Marines and all those goofy quartered schemes that exist.

The next step was finding a suitable thing to feel patriotic about: money! I looked up some Solaris stables and found one that had no models painted on Camospecs, the Bulldog Cooperative. Even better, it was mentioned their mechs always featured red, and then usually black, white, and/or gray. Four colors, which is exactly what I needed. Though my model is by no means the most impressive in the group, it was a fun project that let me test some new paints and do something out of the ordinary.”

Joshua Bressel

Hi-Scout Drone Carrier: Lines, Desert.

“I chose the Hi-Scout drone carrier, as it’s a pretty obscure unit that you don’t often see, and I love delving into the rarely seen corners of Battletech. I got the challenge desert+lines, which threw me for a loop. I tried a version of desert night camo, which was a disaster, so I did a version of camo from an old Russian ammo pouch I had in my basement. I converted the aerial drone out of a bunch of bits.”

Dillon Masbruch

Archangel C-ANG Infernus: Fade, Foundry

“For this piece, I was assigned the theme of “Foundry”-like colors, calling for the use of metallic colors from gold, bronze, steel, chrome etc. The technique I was to perform was “Fade”, which required the switching from one color tone to another through a gradual color switch.

This mini, an Archangel Celestial Series Omnimech of the Word of Blake (praise Blake), was painted using non-metallic metal, and object source lighting techniques. The base was crafted using plasti-card atop a large IWM hex base. Using Army Painter speed paints, the color shifts from “zealot yellow” to “fire giant orange”, then fading into a cold steel/chrome using “cloudburst blue”.

Rob Jensen

Thug THG-11E: Animal Print, Urban

“Painting the Poison Arrow Thug…honestly it has been a godsend to have this project appear on my radar. I have been pushing on a number of business endeavors as of late, cutting the candle in half and burning it at all four stumps. Mini painting, art writ large, is a way to fuse the candle, to cool the flames, to bring balance to the system. Animal print + urban camouflage made for an interesting paint scheme. I tend to prefer saturated colors, which is the opposite of “urban camo”, so the challenge was fusing the two.

So that, combined with learning to use non-Citadel paints, made for an interesting quandary to address. When I was a kid, my mom bought me a blue poison arrow frog stuffed animal from The Nature Company, so the animal print choice was pre-determined. BLUE isnt exactly an urban color, but f*** it. Its my favorite color, theres history there, and it pops. Perhaps the Thug would find itself in an underwater city…then again, perhaps if I undertook this project again I would use greens instead of blue to provide arboreal urban camo.

Then again, I think the purpose of the challenge wasn’t to paint something purely pragmatic. It was to stretch the creativity, expand our painting technique, and to have fun.”

Note from the author: Do be sure to go check out Bobby’s other work at GodsparGames.com. He is a crackin’ good writer, and his ElectroDrome homebrew is my favorite arena supplement for BT ever. It is devastatingly cool, and he does not get nearly enough attention for it.

Adolfo Fernandez

Ymir BWP-2B: Spots, Patriotic

“When I found out my random roll results were spots and patriotic, I had a massive brain fart. But after some thinking, I remembered we were painting Battletech miniatures, and I decided to go with the Rasalhague 2nd Freeman standard camo scheme of starry sky with little spots of stars and hand painted trees forming sort of a tree line.

I looked at Camospecs for inspiration and tried to see if I could outdo what was already done there. It didn’t come out quite as good as I imagined it in my mind, but for every failure you learn something new, and I’m okay with what I learned doing this piece. Always challenge yourself and ask questions. Plenty of painters out there are happy to share what they learn, and they have helped me immensely. Feel free to reach out to me as well and I hope you enjoyed my piece.”

Daniel Corrigan

Puma Prime: Lines, Woodland

“Many thanks to Chad for including me in this. I am still a little astounded to find myself in such company. My Roulette rolls gave me Lines and Woodland Camouflage. It has been an excruciatingly fun project, well outside any of my comfort zones. My submission is a Ral Partha 20-615 OMNIMECH PUMA”

Note from the author: Check out more of Daniel’s work over on his Instagram.

Chad Nabors

Blackjack BJ-1: Worn-n-Weathered, Woodland

“Compared to some of my test subjec- er, fellow participants, I got off easy with my assignment. Battered military green machines just belong in BT. But in the spirit of the endeavor I wanted to take this a lot farther than my usual for wear and tear. So I decided to rust and stain a Blackjack to Kingdom Come; 6 different rust treatments, from textures and washes to various pigments, all layered and when necessary highlighted. Some of the effects are very subtle, but I wanted this rig to look super-flat and realistic. Hand-painted unit numbers and barrel blurb, some basing accoutrement and a lone footslogger in a shabby foxhole complete the gritty piece.”