I’ve wrapped up another set of mechs this past week, along with some terrain to build out a military base theme. Still a lot more terrain to go, but I’m almost done with my 3035 Capellan force. Naturally, this begs the question: what next?

One thing I like about science fiction is the ability to get creative with basing and theme. Here, I stuck to fairly safe ideas: roads, parking lots, cars, and greenery. I had fun adding trees and cars for scale and I think it worked out quite well, but as a predominantly historical gamer, I feel the need to do more outlandish things.

We’ll start with the slightly boring option: a desert theme. I’m a little stuck on this, as I’d like to still portray scale, but I always love doing desert forces.

Arkab Legion, from the Draconis Combine, is a pretty clear inspiration. I like the desert theme and the practical camo. For basing, deserts aren’t especially hard on the face of it, but I want to come up with ways to texture them and make them more interesting.

I’ve spent some time looking up examples from other painters, and I have some ideas to start. For scale, I think the best thing I can do is still dead simple: put some trucks on the bases! Maybe even show some roads on the bases, meeting the desert sand. Really, just small bits of civilization. A hut, some tents, maybe even a small camp between the mech’s legs.

It’s fun. The scale allows me to play with the idea of vignette on the bases. I actually wish the bases were a tad larger so I could play with it more.

The next force I’m thinking of abandons the dry heat for a snowy, icey world.

Comstar white is the obvious theme to me. White against a snowy backdrop makes sense, but it poses the challenge of how to make the mechs stand out against their bases. Thankfully, I’ve done it before! Kinda.

Years ago, I tried out Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings. It was fine, but a bit underdeveloped, and convinced me rank and flank just isn’t a great idea at larger scale. The miniatures were interesting, though, and these Spires models felt so alien I decided I had to do more with the basing. As you can see, I went with a cracking ice theme.

It was deceptively easy–I glued a lot of grit and rocks down, then painted them deep blue. After that I applied a crackle gel and dry brushed it white after drying. It was impactful and I’ve wanted to try my hand at it again for years. The deep blue should hopefully help it stand out against the white mechs.

As for backgrounds and theming, I figure the desert force would be a company from the Arkab Legion, perhaps now an outcast mercenary group now making their pay elsewhere in the galaxy. For the snow themed models, once again, probably a mercenary company, but one funded by House Davion. This give access to heavier mechs and tanks (narratively) than my House Liao funded forces. It’ll make for a great contrast.

Either way, I definitely feel the itch. I recently had someone decide to reshape my car and then run away, so I could use the escape of a concentrated, small project. A single company, maybe two lances of mechs and two of vehicles, would be an excellent way to de-stress.

Or, alternatively, I’ve found a way to take a negative and make a positive… excuse to get more minis.

Shhh. No one tell the wife…