Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Welcome to the 19th, and maybe the most unique edition of the Solaris Sentinel! For the
first part of this Sentinel, I have lined up the first ever Swimsuit edition of the Solaris
Sentinel! After that, it’s a “how to” on detailing those fine ladies, another of Pidge’s
great scenarios, a look at the new Record Sheets: 3067, two ‘Mechs of the Month and a
few other things as I think of them. Might even toss in another editorial and rant. Who
knows? Thanks for your participation in the Sentinel! If there is something you would
like to see, but don’t, send me an e-mail at daishi_dvs2@hotmail.com!
We are proud to take you to some of the most exotic places in the universe! Feel the
radiant warmth from destroyed BattleMech reactors on the beaches of New Avalon or
take a tour of the beautiful smoldering countryside in the Draconis Combine. We’ll
uncover these and many more exotic mysteries as we go on location with some of the
most beautiful hand painted girls to be found on the sides of BattleMechs anywhere. Our
first stop will take us to Tukayyid and the elite Invader Galaxy of ComStar!
Artist: Ross Hines
Paints: Testors Model
Master and Reaper Pro
Paints, selling for 1.50 to
2.50.
Brushes: Plaid 2/0 Liner
Pen: Micron .005
Photo: Ross Hines
Note: See how-to after the
swimsuit edition
Our next stop: the war torn region of the Peshet district in the Draconis Combine. Here
we have Chu-sa Masayuki Saigo of the Eleventh Legion of Vega and his beautiful No-
Dachi. The Eleventh Legion of Vega has the distinction of fielding the most No-Dachi’s
in the DCMS and the Chu-sa is no exception. The beautiful woman that adorns the front
of his mech is rumored to be one of his many mistresses, perhaps his favorite. For
whatever the reason, recent battles between the Eleventh and elements of ComStar have
shown that many warriors won’t fire on the No-Dachi for whatever reason. We here at
the Sentinel tend to believe it’s some sort of chivalry that prevents the men pilots from
opening up on the Chu-sa. The lady mechwarriors don’t have a qualm with it though and
seem to even draw nearer to the Chu-sa, trying to send him to his grave. Their attempts
have so far failed!
Artist: Drew Williams
Photo: Drew Williams
How long have I been doing art or how long have I been
doing this type of illustration? I've been drawing as long
as I can remember. I've been doing professional
illustration since I was 19, when I got a job as the
assistant inker to Art Thibert. That's pronounced Tee-Bear,
not Thigh-Bert.
Having said this now I'm sure all my work will be greatly
scrutinized. I apologize for any inconsistencies. I'm far
from perfect. Hehehe
12) Here’s the open ended question: You can basically say
what every you want about the community, the experience
with the legends (read unseen) ect. It’s all up to you!
Step 1: You will need a Mircon .005 or so technical pen to sketch out the figure that you
intend to detail on to your mech, tank or aero fighter. I suggest using figures that have
large, flat spaces. For this example, I will use an Avatar F model. For my pin up, I’ve
copied a few Victoria’s Secret and Frederick’s of Hollywood pictures. For the Avatar, I
copied a cammo pattern that Drew Williams did for one of his Cestus’. Here is the model
I chose and here is the first sketch:
Now, this picture (no, quit looking at the girl silly!) of the mech doesn’t show the
sketching well (had some lighting problems) but it gives you some idea of what I’m
doing.
Step 2: Now I go in a paint the skin of the model. Think of the skin as the base of
whatever you chose to paint. You can do red dragons, brown rats, whatever your fancy
is. But for me and this demo, we are doing a human model, so the skin is the first thing
that is painted. Try and smooth out the paint so that there is no lines in your figure. Will
help later on. I use a small 3/0 brush to get the paint in the right places. Makes it like
painting between the lines.
Step 3 and 4: I took the liberty to combine these two steps as I painted (mainly because I
got carried away painting and forgot to take the pic for step 3!) Now I go in and paint the
clothing that the model has on. Again, try to keep everything smooth so that the paint
won’t clump up and caste shadows on the miniature. Depending on what else you are
painting, this is your
second or third color
to add. For step four,
we want to give each
color proper shading.
For the paint that I
used on the skin, I
was forced to take a
slightly lighter hue to
give the shadow
effect. Another way
to accomplish this is
to mix a lighter or
darker color with
your base color to
achieve the shadow
effect you want. For
this model, I would
(if I had more space)
add in a grey to the
white to simulate the shadows on the models clothing. The hair is also painted with a
dark brown, then a lighter brown is added in.
Step 5: This is the high detailing
that will make the figure stand out
and not become a senseless blob of
paint that has slight definition. Take
your technical pen and outline the
figure and you can use it to do the
heavy shadows of the figure. Use the
pen to draw in the small details, like
eyes, mouth, lips, ect. I also painted
in on the lips to add some color
there. From here, you can decal and
dualcoat your figures to take away
the shine that is in inherent with
painting to make the miniature look
like a try war machine.
Good afternoon ladies and Gentlemen. This is Ord Mandell reporting from a
nearly flooded Austin Training area on Tukayyid. This site, a semi-desert area, has seen
more rain in the past 24 hours than was expected for the entire month of July. The ground
here is absolutely saturated with water. It is very difficult for any non-military vehicle to
get around out here without getting stuck. This was the scene for the first three matches
of the day. Those three matches have just been completed. The first match was an odd
one. A combined arms lance from the Lyran Alliance’s 1st Skye Jaegers is squared off
against a lance from the Alliance’s 4th Skye Rangers RCT.
The Jaegers were sporting a squad of Fenrir Battle Armor with medium pulse
lasers, a new Minion Tank, a Thunder Hawk assault BattleMech, and an Alliance
mainstay, a Zeus.
The Rangers’ lance consisted of Fenrir also, but instead of a speedy hover tank
the Rangers choose a Demolisher II MBT. For ‘Mechs the Rangers took a brand new
Steiner variant Archer and a Steiner variant Charger.
Both units started the match by laying minefield with their LRMs. While the
Jaegers team was laying its minefields, their Minion hover tank was skirting the far
southern boarder of the battle area. It became apparent that the Jaegers were going to use
the Minion with its pulse lasers and targeting computer to flank the Rangers and try to
wreak havoc in the Rangers rear area.
While this was going on, the Archer, Charger and Demolisher plodded up the
middle of the battlefield; the Archer firing salvo after salvo of swarm missiles at the Zeus.
Most of these missiles missed the Zeus, but their swarm technology allowed them to
home in on the Thunder Hawk and rock him early in the match.
The observers and myself, all collective held our breath when one of the Zeus’
LRM laid minefield landed directly on top of the Demolisher II. Fearlessly the tank
plowed through the mine field, taking only minor damage to its treads and road wheels.
To move into position to fire upon the Thunder Hawk and Zeus, who had taken up
concealed firing positions on a small wooded hill that overlooked the entire battlefields.
Just when it looked as if the Rangers were about to take the upper hand in the
match the Minion burst in at over 100 kph to fire at the Demolisher. The tanks already
weakened tread gave out and the tank was stuck.
As if that weren’t bad enough the Thunder Hawk finally recovered from the
pounding it had taken from the Archer to repay the missile ‘Mech, connecting with two
Gauss rifles to the left torso, apparently destroying one of the LRM racks.
Just when the observers were about to conclude that the Rangers were out of the
fight the immobilized Demolisher’s two main guns spoke for the first time. Without the
bouncing movement of the vehicle the gunner was able to connect with the Ultra
Autocannon and the LB cluster Autocannon, all on the Thunder Hawk.
When the Jaegers realized the danger that that one tank represented, the Zeus
came down from its protective firing position to engage the immobile target. Before the
Zeus could close with the Tank however, the gunner traversed the turret and connected
with the Ultra AC, carving the Zeus’ ERPPC arm clean off!
Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Thunder Hawk still wanted to get back at the
Archer, and again connected with two of its Gauss Rifles. One of them setting off the
remaining Swarm ammunition, swatting the powerful missile carrier from the field.
The Charger had not been idle all this time. The close range ‘Mech had been
doing exactly what it had been designed to do. It was able to close to with in 150 meters
of the Thunder Hawk.
As the Zeus closed in to the Demolisher, too close for the demolisher to track it,
the tank swung back in line with the Thunder Hawk on the hill. The Thunder Hawk
quickly succumbed to the combined weight of two LB cluster autocannons and an Ultra
Autocannon.
With the Thunder Hawk toppling behind it, the Zeus repeatedly stomped on the
Demolisher. The Ranger Fenrir came out to support the besieged tank, but they were
quickly cut down but the Minion and the Zeus. They were at least able to destroy the
minion.
It was at this time that that the Jaegers Fenrir made their first show of the day
closing with the Demolisher in an attempt to help the Zeus destroy it. The tank, after
surviving 3 kicks, savages the Fenrir with its duel autocannons, and the Charger takes
aim on the Zeus.
At this point in time most observers felt that the tank that wouldn’t die and the
Charger would be able to prevail over the armless ‘Mech and Battle Armor. That is until
the previously damaged Charger took critical damage to its torso destroying it’s large
bore Autocannon, and the Demolisher finally crumples under the 5th kick from the Zeus
and the multiple medium pulse laser hits from the three remaining Fenrirs.
This time there would not another chance for the Rangers to gain the upper hand
in this battle. The severely damaged Charger was just no match for the crippled Zeus and
damaged squad of Battle Armor. It went down unceremoniously a short time later.
Surprisingly enough pilots from both sides were very pleased with the way the
battle went. Both sides agreed that the other displayed good tactical judgment, and they
also both agree that if it weren’t for a few lucky hits, by both sides, the battle would have
turned out very differently.
This is Ord Mandell reporting from the Austin Training Area on Tukayyid.
VERTIGO LOUNGE
By Lou Myers
Outreach is the brightest of the Mercenary Stars and the Vertigo Lounge is its twinkle!
We are located in the great city of Harlech’s south stretch area between the Mech
Holding Pens and the Harlech’s Penitentiary on Yancy Street.
We serve anyone and everyone! All colors, all attitudes! Your weapons will be left at
the door as you come in to experience each other at the Vertigo Lounge!
The Vertigo Lounge is an old Gas Works building converted in 3066 by a sometimes
active mercenary named Lou Myers. The building is filthy looking two story brick round
house that sits mid block in the worst crime ridden area in Harlech’s South Stretch,
Yancy Street. Its flavor is what makes it popular. The Vertigo Lounge caters to all
people, so the mayhem of culture helps anyone walking in feel at home.
Like it’s motto states; “From the Kerensky Cluster to Last Post, we serve you all!”
Too Many Gauss Rifles….
Joe Pino thought he saw it all. A middle aged ex Davion Infantry man who survived the
Clan Invasion with many raids under his belt and now the end of the Civil War, he
dropped out of the fractured Davion Military for greener pastures. But a month on
Outreach, and seeing clanners again sent his mind reeling in flashbacks that he blew
through all his money in all the bars in town to help him forget the flashbacks and
nightmares. Now the grizzled and stinking drunk Pino was at the end of his rope down
on Yancy Street on a Friday night at 11 PM, soaked with rain standing in front of the
Vertigo Lounge.
The two story filthy brick round house flashed its marquee in Pino’s eyes. He grumbled
and walked up to the double doors.
“No Doorman? Weird, just a bum.” Until he opened the doors. A huge 50. caliber
Machine Gun nest sat dead center in the make shift lobby. Three skittish bouncers
manned the gun.
One called out “What‘ya here fer?” Shocked and drunk, Joe replied “To drink!” “Any
weapons?” the bouncer called back.
“Bad breath and dirty fingernails.” Joe replied drunkenly and half laughing. The bouncer
yelled “Walk through the weapons detector!” Joe stumbled through it. No problem, now
I can get a damn drink! He thought.
Assaulting waves of hard stomping Rocka Billy rocked Joe’s buzzing brain as he
stumbled toward the first bar. No one seemed to notice him or pay him any mind as Pino
threw a crumbled D-bill up on the bar in front of a rather annoyed bar keeper.
“Gauss Rifle!” Joe shouted. He got his Gauss Rifle, complete with silver dragees. The
rum was sweet but good and further buzzed Joes tortured mind. The place was alive like
a colony of ants. Joe immediately picked out a sword and sunburst shoulder patch and
headed right for it through the packed bar.
The patch was on an olive field jacket draped over a chair where a woman sat at a table
with three rather mean looking men, playing 21. They all turned and looked up at Joe,
who took a slug from his Gauss Rifle and asked, “Room fer one more survivor?” The
women, brushing her wavy brown hair behind her left ear replied “Got any money?”
“Oui” Joe answered.
Joe sat down and threw a 20 D bill up for ante’. He knew he had only another 20 left
before he was broke. Maybe his fellow country woman would help him out, maybe not.
The other three men looked just as desperate as he did. He could tell the blonde man
with a deep tan was a Draco just because he didn’t speak but his eyes darted all over the
place, watching everything, a Draco trait in its own way. The other guy, dark red head
was a damned Lyran, a Skye Marcher, a Scotsman. He made Joe’s blood boil. The third
one, an indigo, a Cappie Chinese, stared at Joe intently. He didn’t like that. As the cards
where dealt, Joe watched the Lyran with smoldering eyes. “S.O.B.”, he thought over and
over. Jack, nine of diamonds and a deuce of hearts! 21! The 100 in bills richer didn’t
distract Joe’s hatred for the Lyran.
Two more winning hands and another Gauss Rifle. The woman was helping him out he
thought. Maybe it was because of his 5th Davion Guards RCT patch on his olive green
field jacket. “I’m a survivor”, he thought. “Maybe that’s why.” The Draco folded and
left broke. But the stinking Lyran seemed to have a lot of cash…. figures. The Indigo
smirked a lot and that drove Joe nuts. But the Lyran bothered him more. The Rock a
Billy blasting turned into three Asian women screaming into a microphone. Karaoke!
Oh man! Their version of some Xin Sheng song. Ugh!
The Gauss Rifles were hitting Joe just as hard as the culture shock. He had won the
fourth and fifth hand and lost the sixth. But the loss wasn’t a hard one. Joe was doing
OK in this game so far.
An Asian woman, dressed in black leather and gold chains strutted over to the Cappie.
Her long, gold nails brushed his chin and the Cappie folded his hand and left. The
stinking Lyran remained. He now appeared blank faced, probably getting low on cash.
“The bum”, Joe thought.
Pino turned to the woman finally. Pretty, brown wavy hair, about 30 and in shape. Her
brown eyes were sharp as tacks and her hand reflexes dead on. “A Mech Warrior?” he
asked. She turned her left eyeball on him. “5th Crucis Lancers out of Demeter. The
Indigo was a contact of mine there. A mole. Very helpful, but, creepy just like all of
them.”
Joe burped up a laugh that smelled like Rum. The Lyran scoffed and called the hand.
“21 ya stinkin’ Fed Rats!” Joe didn’t like that and his across the table drunken punch
missed the Lyran. Pino rolled out of his chair and hit the floor. The Lyran was swift to
put a blade to Pino’s throat. A ceramic blade, night desert camouflage in color and very,
very sharp.
“FedRat Abschaum! Scumbag!” Joe knew that even in his bloto state that he was done
for. The Gauss Rifles seemed to deaden any fear of dying though. He smiled up at his
executioner and laughed, “Do it! I have nothing but nightmares to live for!” As Joe
closed his eyes to feel the blade slit his throat, he only heard the packed room roar with
laughter. He opened his eyes to see what they laughed at. The Lyran slumped backward,
the knife falling away from Joe’s neck. Behind him stood the Asian woman that was
with the Capellan. Droplets of blood adorn her leather clad right arm. Her right index
fingernail, long, sharp to a fine golden point now dripping in blood.
Joe sat up and kicked off the dead Lyran. Standing up, he nodded in thanks to the Asian
woman, who smirked
at him and walked
into the crowd. His
country women stood
up, took a last swig of
her beer from the
bottle and smiled at
Joe. In her right hand
a stack of bills,
mostly Kroner, some
others. She said “You
won almost five
hundred Davion Bills
here. Got a room?”
Joe Pino smiled
broadly, almost
perversely and asked
“What’s your name
Girly?” Taking Joe’s
right hand and
stuffing money into it,
the brown haired
women laughed softly.
“My name is Amanda Tompkins. That’s Captain to you and I don’t do drunks. You’ve
had too many Gauss Rifles my friend. Get a room and sleep it off.”
Joe stuffed the money in his pocket and said “I lived through too much to know when to
cut my losses. Thanks. Can I get you a drink?” Amanda replied, “I’ll be here tomorrow
Art work by Lou Meyers!
Capellan Confederation to trade advanced
technology for mutual defense use. The
Capellans (lead by the paranoid Romano
Liao) were hesitant to enter into any deal
that might erode their “national sovereignty,”
but eventually agree to trade a number of
Raven ‘mechs for upgraded Jenners and
other light ‘mechs.
Attacker
Set-Up
The defender consists of an
understrength quick-reaction Star from Lay out three standard BattleTech maps side-to-side.
The center map should be flipped over so the blank side
72nd Assault Trinary. is showing.
3)
Place a two-hex level 4 hardened building with a
Phantom A (gunnery 3, piloting 3) construction factor of 200 on the left-most map; this
facility must have level 1 or higher terrain directly
Grizzly (gunnery 3, piloting 4) adjacent to its left.
Thanks to a well-executed stealth approach on Planet For every attacker ‘mech that is destroyed, the defender
Mannendorf by the mercenary 1st Newtown Square receives 20 victory points. For every attacker ‘mech
Raiders, their initial landing party caught the defending that retreats from the board, the defender receives 10
72nd Assault Cluster by surprise. victory points.
Unfortunately, after this point very little went right. The The scenario ends after 15 turns; at this point subtract
forces of the Raiders were scattered by a poorly- defender victory points from attacker victory points
orchestrated orbital drop, and scrambled Bear fighters (unless the attacker automatically wins).
managed to destroy the unit commander’s Banshee
before it even reached the ground.
+75 or higher: decisive attacker victory
Special Rules
Attacker arrival: The attackers have been badly
scattered by their contested orbital drop; as such their
arrival occurs gradually over the course of the mission.
Strike Lance
Base turrets: The Mannendorf garrison base is RVN-3K Raven (gunnery 4, piloting 5)
suffering from maintenance problems, and at the time RVN-3K Raven (gunnery 3, piloting 5)
the attack starts they are both offline. After turn 5, roll RVN-3K Raven (gunnery 5, piloting 5)
2d6 in each end phase. The target for turn 6 is 12+, RVN-3K Raven (gunnery 5, piloting 4)
reducing to 11+ on turn 7 and so forth. Once this roll
succeeds, both turrets are online and can engage the Elements of Assault Lance
enemy freely. RVN-3K Raven (gunnery 2, piloting 2)
STK-3F Stalker (gunnery 4, piloting 5)
VTR-9B Victor (gunnery 5, piloting 6)
Clan Honor: due to the dishonorable stealth approach
of the Raiders and their mercenary roots, the 72nd Defender
Assault Trinary’s forces are not bound by any Clan Elements of Quick-Reaction Star
honor rules in this battle. Executioner Prime (gunnery 1,
piloting 3)
Notes Phantom A (gunnery 3, piloting 3)
This scenario is an adaptation of the second mission
from Mechwarrior 2: Ghost Bear Legacy.
Grizzly (gunnery 3, piloting 4)
Place four light construction factor 5 buildings
Scenario anywhere on the “paved” area – these represent ammo
dumps. Place a medium CF-40 building on the “paved”
Guten tag, mein schwester area to represent a barracks building.
Giausar
Lyran Alliance The attackers start along the far row of hexes on the
map chosen by the defender.
Attackers can leave the map off any edge of the map
Like so many situations during the Civil War, the May chosen by the defender. If for any reason they leave the
15th skirmish on Giausar was laced with tragedy – the map from the standard BattleTech map, they are treated
commander of the Lyran scout lance, Leutnant Greta as destroyed.
Melissa Schiffer, was the sister of one of the Allied
raiders – MechWarrior Inga Katrina Schiffer. Both
warriors died in the engagement, and after-action
At the end of turn 10, tally the victory points, then
review of the mission revealed that Inga’s large laser
subtract the defender VP from the attacker VP.
destroyed the cockpit of her sister’s Raven.
It is unknown if Inga Schiffer even knew that she had +100 or more points: decisive attacker victory
just killed her older sister. +50 to +99 points: marginal attacker victory
0 to +49 points: marginal defender victory
Set Up
any negative score: decisive defender victory
Place one standard BattleTech map next to one map of
the defender’s choice. The water on the standard
BattleTech map is treated as level zero paved terrain in Notes
this scenario.
“Guten tag, mein schwester” is deutch for “Good day,
my sister.”
Well, this about wraps it up for this edition of the Solaris Sentinel! Next issue, I plan to
have an interview with Berhle Hubbard, one of Iron Wind Metals sculptors; the man who
brought you the Fefnir and Sagittaire! I’m still looking for more story and scenario ideas
and I might just turn it into a look back at the past. Yup, that’s right, taking a time trip
back to good ol’ 3025 and everything that that stands for! As is, I would like to thank
Warner Doles for his tenacity in getting the unseen redrawn for us and Chris Lewis for
taking the time to field my questions… oh and those wonderful pictures!!
Ross Koga
Solaris Sentinel