Monday 24 November 2014

Takara 1/144th VOTOMS


Update 7.12.14: My partner ran my original photograph through Photoshop and produced this rather punchy picture.

The above picture makes my models look rather stunning I think.  They're good, but this makes them look excellent, which is what I suppose a good photograph should do – capture the best aspects of the subject.  Certainly made me realize how much I originally liked the scheme (Edit: Comment added for context).

Update 8.12.14: Original picture for comparison as I realized it would help to be able to compare and contrast both.

I'm having a moment of doubt.  The questions causing the doubt are:

1. Does this scheme work? (Edit: New photo answers that question).

2. Is it better to cut my losses on the Takara FS/144 miniatures and go down the Dream Pod 9 route?

With regard to the second question – it arises because I will need an OPFOR and I will be using both Caprice and Utopian forces miniatures from Dream Pod 9 to fill those roles.  But, would I be better off building a force where I can get more models if I should want to expand my current collection?

Procrastinating big time on this question.


NB: I went and updated my pledge on the Heavy Gear Kickstarter to the full core set.
   

13 comments:

  1. I'm not a camouflage expert, and I'm a truly terrible miniatures painter, so take this with several doses of salt and probably also garlic.

    In several placesyou seem to have the edges of coloured elements coinciding with the actual edges of the underlying armour, which I understand is a no-no. Where it doesn't do that, it works better.

    As for question 2, it seems to me that one of these options leads to you buying more toys than the other. You're a wargamer.

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  2. Hi Ashley:
    I like the look of them.
    For contemporary militaries, disruptive patterns are geared to the environment, so we Canadians have two, temperate (forest - greens, browns and blacks) and arid (desert - various tans and browns). I guess it depends what environment these guys are intended to operate in?
    That being said, armies have sometimes just given camo patterns to artists and gone for disruptive effect rather than adaptation to natural environment. Dazzle ships from WW1, or German patterns from the same war (see for example the German artillery on Sidney Roundwood's blog if you know it) are examples of camo that is just designed to confuse the eye rather than conceal an object.
    So, whatever looks good to you.
    I have no opinion on #2. Depends on what you like painting and the scale of the rules you are using, I suppose.
    Cheers,
    Michael

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    1. The scheme was inspired by the BAOR Berlin Brigade urban pattern. In this case the pattern is more about recognizing one force from the other, because I suspect that in the future we'll have adaptive coatings which will make a vehicle blend into the landscape.

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  3. What is your doubt around, what do you think is not quite right?

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    1. Do I have enough miniatures to field an effective force and give me enough choices to ring the changes?

      Currently I have 21 VOTOMS and some others – 15 Scope Dog variants, 2 Blood Dogs, and 4 Rabid/Strike Dogs. The others I have are 7 Beetles and 1 Tortoise.

      The cost to buy is one consideration, sunk cost in this case, but really the cost in time to paint them is always the bottom line, because it always outweighs the cost to buy. Hence my doubts, but there again nothing is ever certain in life.

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  4. 1. The camo ( = breaking up the outlines) works for this scale, that's all that matters. If you can use it to recognize a unit on the table, that's a plus.

    2.Well...the advantage I see with going for DP9 is that you have a bigger unit/minatures pool to use from (even if you only buy AST minis because you want the same rounded look the Votoms have). Depending on how the miniatures end up being priced after the KS you might even save some money.

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    1. I've ordered a Jager for size comparison and style compatibility from DP9. Hopefully it will arrive before Xmas, along with the Utopian Golems and Armiger I ordered.

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  5. If you've got 20+ votoms, I think you'll be fine even with the larger sweet spot that the new rules are going for (up to 20 minis per player). You can also always increase your pledge during the Manager phase to $115 CAD if you decide to go with the gears to expand as for the price of a single squad of pewter gears you can get four squads plus some earth forces. I'm still in at $1 until I see actual sprue layouts and hopefully assembled 3D prototypes.

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    1. Thanks for the reassurance and info on the KS. I've never pledged to anything before, so it's all new to me and feels a little uncertain as to what I can do. Certainly if I can afford to increase my pledge when the time comes then it looks like a no brainer.

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  6. No worries; I have my own doubts but I figured I'd at least try to spread awareness. This is only my second kickstarter and the other (Robotech) hasn't been very heartening because of how Palladium has conducted themselves since literally two days after taking their million+ USD. Since DP9 has almost as sordid a history as Palladium, my advice is paradoxically NOT to follow the campaign too closely and to expect delays no matter what they say. Palladium said they were likely to deliver early and are currently on track to be two years late for completion. Dave at DP9 mentioned that their anonymous (don't know why) US production company expects to be ready way before their November due date. Hopefully the similarities will end there...

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    1. Kickstarters are strange beasts at the best of times, thanks to the legalese involved. Always expect delays, no matter what they tell you, and always vet the person/company doing the KS before you decide to pledge.

      I was on the fence regarding the DP9 KS, then finally decided against it solely because I won't have anyone to play the game with. The Robotech one? Yeah, the micro second I read that Palladium Books was involved, there was no way I'd pledge.

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    2. One of the main reasons I pledged despite my knowledge of just how badly Palladium is run is because they specifically said that they personally would be hands off and their "partners" (Ninja Division) would be doing the heavy lifting. During the KS, every update and comment was by ND. Literally the day after they took the money, Palladium took control of posting. They flat out lied about that as well as multiple other things over the next year like most recently backers getting their products before retail. ND has in the meantime had their own troubles surface (see the history of Relic Knights KS campaign for details) so they're no angel either but I didn't expect Palladium to break their word just hours after pledges were locked. ND has pretty much been absent from the discussions and the show has been 98% Palladium post KS, to much unnecessary drama/delays/lies. I backed the project DESPITE palladium's involvement and because they said it would be minimal.

      That's partly why I'm gunshy about backing HG to a larger amount. DP9 has done almost as many shady, irresponsible, and callous acts as a company towards their customers over the past 20 years as Palladium. They say they're turning over a new leaf but supposedly palladium was as well with their KS. Only time will tell if this time DP9 actually means it. If they show real demonstrable progress over the next 6 months, I'll up my pledge. If not, oh well. I've got 5000+ TV of fully painted models to keep me company in the meantime.

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