Want more CAV Info

[KAMUT]

LOL.

now thats original!

[papabees]

Yeah, there is nothing quite like staring down the barrellof an Ogre with daisies on it.

[Lars Porsenna]

Yes, interesting...

 

As a model builder (primarily of WWII Afvs, and some modern stuff) getting the pint job 'right" has always been important to me. Perhaps this is unfathomable to those of you who do NOT do this hobby (or any historical type hobbies for that matter). For me it enhances the level of craftmanship when others look at my work and compliment its accuracy. Of course that's the goal in model building anyway (or at least one of them). That's why I do strange things, like try to replicate the Splinter scheme for the Northern Guard's gears for HG, or the Woodlands camo scheme for the Draconis Combine in BT. My level of satisfaction increases exponentially when I get it "right" than of I just painted a fireball on it...

 

Damon.

[KAMUT]

Yeah, there is nothing quite like staring down the barrellof an Ogre with daisies on it. 

 

I would imagine so.

 

Lars, your a serious dude. its all good though. In the JoR 1 there is some color artwork of a few official organizations that might inspire you. Fighting Piranha graphics has all the decals you would ever need, plus they can do custom work too.

 

their doing all of the Wild Apache decals, so check them out.

 

I've become quite the chain painter being I purchase almost entirely in bulk. give everything a primer of black and with a few details they're ready at that point. my wife and I paint them in the unit colors as we have time. this gives us that "gritty mercenary feel" with units being deployed before they even get their paint jobs finalized.

 

All the Wild Apache Naginatas are still in black, and we got them positioned right with the Despots which only need the decals and their done. The Wild Apache Wights are still in black being that Lesley hasn't decided if she wants to keep them as command mecha or replace them with Mantis' or one of my custom variants the UTDF Regent (Samurai)

 

The Zulus are still in the process of being painted up. But I'm currently using these CAVs as proxies for the enemy in our campaign. theres a lot of stuff we end up phasing out, and that usually ends up with my wife's "N'dee Free Army" (Apachero Army) thats a motley assortment of stuff. Its not the best stuff, mostly JoR 1 equipment but the next time we phase something out, I'll let you know.

 

I'm looking at phasing out our Dictators soon. (WHAT!) yeah, you heard me right, phasing out the Dictators; cookie points for who can guess what I'm replacing them with.

[ladystorm]

Yeah, there is nothing quite like staring down the barrel of an Ogre with daisies on it.

just to be a stickler, my Ogre has marigolds on it, the daisies are on the Scorpion.

 

cher

[Ghost Rider]

Yeah, there is nothing quite like staring down the barrel of an Ogre with daisies on it.

just to be a stickler, my Ogre has marigolds on it, the daisies are on the Scorpion.

 

cher

And they say Flower children are safe, HA!

[Black Lightning 2]

For me it enhances the level of craftmanship when others look at my work and compliment its accuracy.

Then, you'll want to have a look at the JoR1.

This book comes with a color section depicting several CAVs and Vehicles in color patterns used by the various factions in CAV.

 

This will give you an idea to strive towards.

 

For me, the accuracy is in the consistancy in the army. If my CAV are painted one way, the aircraft and armor should also match that style appropriately.

This may sound easy and a no-brainer. But, it gets hard when the army grows with each new release and purchase.

 

Enjoy!

[Spartan6]

My Spartans are base coated white with red details. The cannons and missile launchers are all gunmetal with a silver dry-brush. They look pretty good as I was able to find some "spartany" helmet decals designed for 1/72nd airplanes.

 

I figure that something as big as a CAV couldn't hide very well anyway and knowing the difference between cover and concealment I couldn't justify the extra effort to camo them. I might do an army in desert camo though. Plus the Spartans aren't affraid of anyone anyway, so there's no reason to hide.

 

Now my Infantry..they're a different story.

[Chrome]

As a model builder (primarily of WWII Afvs, and some modern stuff) getting the pint job 'right" has always been important to me. Perhaps this is unfathomable to those of you who do NOT do this hobby (or any historical type hobbies for that matter). For me it enhances the level of craftmanship when others look at my work and compliment its accuracy. Of course that's the goal in model building anyway (or at least one of them). That's why I do strange things, like try to replicate the Splinter scheme for the Northern Guard's gears for HG, or the Woodlands camo scheme for the Draconis Combine in BT.

Something that I forgot to mention before, and that popped into my head when re-reading your original post about camo is the cost. You said that it costs next to nothing to paint a basic camo scheme, and that's relatively true if you only paint your vehicles once or twice a year. Unfortunately for mercs in the 23rd century, they probably never get the chance to fight in the same terrain for two contracts in a row.

 

One mission you're working in an urban setting, the next a desert. After that you're on a frozen moon covered in snow and then slogging your way through a river delta or worse. Mercs aren't like regular army units that are stationed somewhere and stay in that location. They have to go where the money is, and the cheapest way to do that is to pick a color scheme that is unique and stick with it.

[Spartan6]

Something that I forgot to mention before, and that popped into my head when re-reading your original post about camo is the cost. You said that it costs next to nothing to paint a basic camo scheme, and that's relatively true if you only paint your vehicles once or twice a year. Unfortunately for mercs in the 23rd century, they probably never get the chance to fight in the same terrain for two contracts in a row.

 

One mission you're working in an urban setting, the next a desert. After that you're on a frozen moon covered in snow and then slogging your way through a river delta or worse. Mercs aren't like regular army units that are stationed somewhere and stay in that location. They have to go where the money is, and the cheapest way to do that is to pick a color scheme that is unique and stick with it.

And up leaps the rationalization for my laziness

[Lars Porsenna]

One mission you're working in an urban setting, the next a desert. After that you're on a frozen moon covered in snow and then slogging your way through a river delta or worse. Mercs aren't like regular army units that are stationed somewhere and stay in that location. They have to go where the money is, and the cheapest way to do that is to pick a color scheme that is unique and stick with it.

Perhaps, but if you use a camo system that is either widely adaptable to a wide variety of environments, or is easily adaptable to ones that don't apply. I'm reminded of the US MERDC 4 color scheme the US used to use before we became closer with NATO in the mid 80s or so. The temperate scheme (field drab, forest green, black and sand, amounts varying respectively) was useful in both summer and winter (when there's no snow on the ground). In light snow just cover the forest green with whitewash (or dump it on the whole tank), while in jungle/tropical environments cover the field drab with a medium green. In deserts medium green gets replaced with a yellow ochre. If you use washable paints they're even easy to remove.

 

I just don't buy the "how do you hide a 50 ton, 30ft robot" arguments I always see; How do you hide a 67 ton mbt? or an attach chopper? But the modern army seems to be doing quite well with it.

 

Besides, even in a heavy ECM environment, or even one without, painting your machine bright red just says "shoot me" on it!

 

Besides, repaints are probably a regular maintenance occurance, to keep everything free of oxidization, and to keep the unit looking professional.

 

Damon.

[Spartan6]

I just don't buy the "how do you hide a 50 ton, 30ft robot" arguments I always see; How do you hide a 67 ton mbt? or an attach chopper? But the modern army seems to be doing quite well with it.

 

Besides, even in a heavy ECM environment, or even one without, painting your machine bright red just says "shoot me" on it!

 

Besides, repaints are probably a regular maintenance occurance, to keep everything free of oxidization, and to keep the unit looking professional.

 

Damon.

Well for starters the 67 ton MBT is only about 10 feet tall and the helo is only about that tall too.

 

The eye easily discriminates a humanoid form from all others and frankly I've never seen the Army try and camo anything thirty feet tall.

 

Right after we switched from the OD fatigues to the woodland BDU's the Pentagon did a multi-million dollar study to try and determine what camo scheme was most effective in all environments. Guess what? The computer spit out OD green.

 

I remember the old four color camo scheme and it really wasn't that effective. The sand color in it destroyed what the other colors accomplished. Army equipment seldom gets repainted. The paint holds up that well. A little touch-up here and there but new paint all around it exceedingly rare. Over the course of 17 years I've only seen one re-paint and that was from NATO woodland to desert sand.

 

When the Spartans show up with their CAV's, the gloves are off and it's time to bring the noise. It wouldn't matter what color they were painted, you'd be able to see them easily hanging from the chute above your ejection seat.

LOL

[red5angel]

One mission you're working in an urban setting, the next a desert. After that you're on a frozen moon covered in snow and then slogging your way through a river delta or worse. Mercs aren't like regular army units that are stationed somewhere and stay in that location. They have to go where the money is, and the cheapest way to do that is to pick a color scheme that is unique and stick with it.

 

 

Same with active national armies, or in CAV case, corporate armies. Truth is all militaries have grown used to swapping colors wehn necessary.

 

The eye easily discriminates a humanoid form from all others and frankly I've never seen the Army try and camo anything thirty feet tall.

 

 

First, anything that goes into the field gets camo'ed in the military, that's the rule. Why? Not just to hide it form the lowly infantry man, but to hid it from the aircraft. Not only that but in the right terrain, pattern breakers will make even the largest piecs of equipment dissappear at longer ranges.

 

Army equipment seldom gets repainted

 

For the most the military has tried to come up with a few base color schemes that work well in several operational environments. The idea is that a 60 ton tank is easy to spot on the move, but not so esy to spot in a treeline waiting to spring a trap, or just to lie low.

This sort of runs along the same lines as my last martial arts post. You use camoflauge even in a technological age, to hedge your bets. It's about survivability, no one wants to get killed, except for maybe the Rach and some Klingons, and so anything you can do to increase your survivability....

[KAMUT]

I think one thing we're all forgetting is that this is sci fi, and OD green really only works on Earth or vegetative enviroments. How about on Mars? I can see red being effective there. How about on a crystalized setting, The Silver and Gold scheme may actually be ideal.

 

Camo is good, but for a galaxy with over 200 settled systems, no one camo pattern is going to work 100% for everything. really look again at the first JoR, and see the schemes these CAVs are painted in. Purple? seems to work for the Black Cobras.

 

Chrome is right about this. for a mercenary, your going to want to go with one of two things

 

A) something really simple and nuetral; consider your enviroment but be flexible

 

B) something thats gonna scream your company's name and have it stick in somebodies mind. I'll certainly remember a pastel colored Ogre with marigolds on it.

 

of course your drawing attention to yourself. but its hard not to notice a 30ft machine stomping towards you on the battlefeild.

[Leech]

In truth Ladystorm, even my own First Blood didnt' look long enough to identify the type of flower.... it's a case of CAV=SHOOT! :o) But they are beautifully painted models and they do catch you unawares.... even though you'd told me I still had to do a double take. I can't wait to see the first 1/60th scale CAV in that scheme :o)

 

On the issue of camo, at least in the case of my own units, it's mainly a psyops thing. Bad Blood has a reputation (we did win the Warmaster afterall), as do many player units about these parts and in the books, and playing to that reputation (in my case, big and slow with scaly skin and big guns) can help you win a battle.... and therefore save lives and thus improve your reputation even further and so on.

 

When you combine that with Chrome's excellent point on the cost (more manpower... afterall, I'd rather have a fully functional CAV than one with a situation specific camo scheme) of repainting your entire force every time you go to another world/region and also the point Kamut made on 'alien worlds' I am happy having striking and obvious units.

 

Besides, if you had to repaint an entire regiment, how long would that take even the most experienced pit crew? I mean, how long does it take to paint a camo scheme on a M1A1, let along a 34' war machine that weighs 110 tons and is a really odd shape?

 

I'll keep me blood red thanks :o)