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1.15.03

1.9.03

10.25.02

January 15, 2003
            Anyone who paints their own mechs knows that nothing tops off your hard work like decals.  I myself never used to use them because I had the idea that I would paint my mechs in my mercenary colors.  Well that was impractical since I never played with my merc unit, but with house forces or the regular canon units instead.  Decals really add that final touch that brings your mech into the Battletech universe.  I recently purchased some decals from two online manufacturers.
            I'll talk about Bedlam Creations first.  I ordered two sheets of decals.  They were the Combine and Fed. Suns emblems.   Each sheet is $5.00 and contains 135 of the emblems in various sizes.  On the website the shipping is listed as $4.00, but I believe they only charged me about 50 cents for actual delivery.  The site contains Clan, Inner Sphere and Periphery realm emblems.  They also have a few number and checker decals.  Using paypal you can have your decals pretty quick.  Bedlam also takes requests for custom decals.   This is a little more expensive with a start up fee of $10 and a decal sheet fee of $8.
            The decals I ordered were real nice.  The detail is fantastic, you can really see the definition in the Fed Suns emblem.  The only problem I had was that I did not get the decals with white backgrounds.  The decals I ordered are printed with the house emblem but if you put it on a dark surface the decal allows that surface to show through the backing.   So I have to do some extra work in painting a small white disk on my vehicles or mechs for whichever size decal I plan to use.  This is a real hassle, but Bedlam says that they can provide the white backing on your orders.

            When I decided to do mechs in the various House unit colors, I figured I'd better get some unit emblems.  So I went to Fighting Pirannha Graphics.   These guys are top notch.  The website is easy to use and ordering is a breeze.  To make an order just email your requests and they'll email with the final cost.  Each sheet costs $4.30 with a 50 cent shipping fee for up to 4 sheets.   While you can't do PayPal you can pay online with orders over $25.00 through ProPay on the site.  Fighting Pirannha does create custom decals with a setup cost of $10.00.
            I ordered 3 sheets, the Genyosha, the Star League and the Lyran Guard.  Their selection of decals is huge, not only do they have the House and Clan emblems but they also have the individual unit designs.  So if your looking for the Revenants or the Capellan Death Commando's you'll find them on the site.  There is also a good collection of numbers and other miscellaneous designs.
            Learning from my past mistake I ordered decals with white backgrounds.  Each decal sheet contains 78 designs in various sizes.  The color is excellent as well as the designs.  I particularly liked the Lyran Guard disign with the horse head in a shield.  Very cool.  The best part was that the owner followed up in tracking his sale, I recieved an email to make sure I had recieved my product.  This is how you do good business.

            Both companies provide a high quality product and provide excellent service to their customers.  I definetly have to go with Fighting Pirannha Graphics because of their large selection of designs.   While you don't get as many designs per sheet they make up for it in selection.

January 9, 2003
            Before the creation of Heavy Metal Pro us old timers had to create our own mech sheets or depend on the premade sheets.  Wizkids has continued this tradition with their 3067 Record Sheets.   250 sheets of mech goodness.  It's not all mechs of course.  All of the new vehicles are included as well as Protomech record sheets.  This came out before talk of Project Phoenix, so all of the new mech designs for the unseens were included.   This book is really handy even if you can print out your own sheets.  Taking this to a tournament or local game can help you out in a pinch if you need to add some more mechs to your forces.  Some folks complained that the 3060 and 3067 Tech Readouts did not include the Battleforce 2 information.  The 3067 Record Sheet book has a chart in the back with complete unit listings and their BF2 stats.  If you've ever wanted to play Btech on a gigantic scale BF2 is definetly the best way to go, but that's another story. 
            The design on the cover is awesome because its got some kick ass artwork, but also because it was the first time a Battletech fan was able to have their design concept put on a sourcebook.   The 3067 Record Sheet book is one of the first products that came out of the Wizkids/Fanpro shop.  They did some great work in putting it together.  There were very few mistakes, the only problem I had was that some of my pages were duplicated.   Otherwise they put a lot of thought into what they were doing, such as putting the BF2 stats in.  I definetly recommend purchasing this for your games.  If you don't have Heavy Metal Pro or Plus then having this book for official tournaments is a must because FanPro Commando run games won't allow homemade sheets.

October 25, 2002
            I've always had a problem transporting my miniatures around.  I tried everything.  I've used shoe boxes, tried cutting my own foam trays none of them worked very effeciently.  Then while I was online I found this little beauty.  The Army Transport by Sabol Designs.   This thing is a godsend for gamers everywhere.  The design is unique in that it is fully customizable.  You'll be able to fit everything from the largest miniatures to the smallest infantry.
            The Army Transport bag itself is very well designed.  It has several pockets in front for holding a tape measure, pencils, pens or dice.  There's a larger pocket up front which is perfect for holding a couple maps or record sheets.  The Transport is completely padded to protect your miniatures.  Now here's the most important part of the Transport system...the customizable foam trays.  I can't tell you how easy this is.  Each tray has a firm bottom which is glued to the foam tray itself.  The foam is cut in a grid allowing you to pull out the individual squares.  The trays come in different depths.  I found the 1 inch version good for stacking in vehicles or infantry.   The 2 inch trays are perfect for your mechs.  Having them stand up was best for me since it protected any awkward weapons or arm reach.  One of the few problems with the trays is that after you pull the foam pieces out some of the glue that holds the tray can catch on your mechs.  The best way to solve this problem is by cutting out felt for the bottom to prevent your mech getting stuck in the space.  The key to getting the most mechs in the transport is to measure each one before pulling out the foam pieces.  I found I could store almost 2 battlalions of mechs and a tray of infantry and vehicles.  Maybe you've got more than 2 battlalions.  Through their website Sabol Designs can provide you with more trays to store your mini's in.  Then you can just pull the tray's you need before going to a game.
            I decorated my case with some Battletech patches and other military stuff.  Before I go to a game I put my mechs inside the foam trays and into the case then off I go.  I haven't had one accident yet.  While on the spendy side I figured it was a good purchase if it could properly protect my mechs.  Take a look at the Sabol Designs website. Its very informative and you can purchase straight from their website..