It’s a new year, MechCommander! For me, that means filing taxes, cleaning up the apartment, and plotting my schedule for Adepticon, which also means it’s time to flip through the ol’ Iron Wind Metals catalogue to see what metal minis I might want to keep an eye out for at the many, many retailers who show up year after year with bins full of BattleTech minis, past and present.
Now, I know metal miniatures have a bit of a history with BattleTech, some good, some bad. Iron Wind Metals has been keeping the lights on for the game for decades, including the post-FASA Dark Age (literal and metaphorical). However, the inherent difficulty in assembling metal models, as well as their tendency to chip, was a significant turn-off for many. A not-insignificant amount of players in my old community in Austin had a very strict “no metals, not now, not ever” rule.
I get it, I really do. My first experience with BattleTech miniatures was attempting to assemble the old Mad Cat Mk IV sculpt, which is so front-heavy I’m not sure how it was supposed to walk, and the Archangel Invictus, which I just completely gave up on before even opening the blister. A decade later, I pushed through my massive backlog of plastics and began hunting for newer, more unique fare, and discovered that the thrill of making my opponents go “what the fuck is THAT” made the extra labor worth it. A Fafnir here, a Bishamon there, and I eventually developed a deep appreciation for the weird and wonderful ‘Mechs I hadn’t been using because of my myopic focus on plastics.
With that in mind, I’ve put together a small selection of metal models available in IWM’s massive catalogue that might be worth a second look for the metal-curious. Some are new ilClan-era designs, some are terrors on the table, and some just look cool.
The rules:
No metal versions of existing plastics. Some of the tried-and-true designs like the Warhammer have metal versions (and frankly, the metal one looks far superior to the plastic), but in general, this is for new and unique stuff.
No “known releases,” i.e. things whose plastic release we know is imminent from one source or another. This includes models teased on Tuesday Newsday for future Aces boxes, Liya International’s YouTube, and Anthony Scroggins’ Patreon.
Models should look relatively modern. This is a bit of a flexible rule, but in general, that means sculpts that won’t look too out of place on a table populated entirely by its modern, more consistently-scaled kin.
With that in mind, let’s go shopping.
(Note: The header for each of the models listed links directly to IWM's catalog page for the appropriate model.)
Capellan Confederation
The first stop on our trip around the Sphere puts us in the realm of the Celestial Wisdom, the Capellan Confederation. House Liao has historically gotten the short end of the stick with ‘Mech availability, but the Xin Sheng movement and their subsequent rise in the Dark Ages left them with a number of striking, unique designs.
The Anubis is one of many Certified Little Guys™ that I fell in love with while playing MechCommander 2. The -5Y design is a modernized resculpt that takes more design cues from its namesake Egyptian god, and is a fairly simple design to assemble. The loadout isn’t anything spectacular, but a light sniper with stealth armor that moves 7/11 makes it a pretty solid harasser for just over 1,000 BV.
The Gùn (pronounced "guen," not "gun") is another extremely cheap filler option for Capellan and Canopian players. While it doesn’t have nearly the survivability (or ease of assembly) of the Anubis, it still finds itself capable of playing the role it was designed for, i.e., combined arms support. At under 800 BV for all variants, including the heavy PPC and plasma rifle models, it makes for a very inexpensive glass cannon or EW platform. The Gùn is also notably an OmniMech, providing you with a cheap transport option for the CCAF’s battle armor options such as the Fa Shih and Amazon. Also, he’s just really cute.
The descendant of the highly-praised-by-GH Thunder, the Lightning lets you finish the Imagine Dragons verse and also gives late-era CCAF lists some solid beef. The Lightning has exactly two guns, both of which will kill you very, very dead: a heavy PPC and an improved heavy Gauss rifle. This pushes the cost of the Lightning much higher than its predecessor, but it retains a 5/8 move profile that allows you to keep enemies in the sweet spot, and, more importantly for this article, it just looks like a cooler Thunder. If you’re not on board with the stubby Darth Vader looks of the older Thunder sculpt, the Lightning makes a tempting proxy option.
Next up on the list is the FedRats. House Davion’s most famous designs are often Inner Sphere mainstays, and those that weren’t largely wound up in the recent House Davion Force Packs, especially those that featured prominently in MechWarrior 4. There are, however, some newer designs and older oddballs that are still worth taking a look at in metal.
Looking like it just walked off the set of Pacific Rim, the Inferno OmniMech is an inexpensive zombie ‘Mech with a CT-mounted PPC (heavy PPC for the Prime, ER flavor for the A). Near-maximum armor coverage and a standard engine/compact gyro also ensures it’ll stay standing far longer than one might expect for its cost. The IWM Inferno kit, as suggested, also includes both parts for the Prime and A models, which can be differentiated by the shoulder weapons. Any bits you don’t use make for solid kitbashing material later, which is always a nice thing to have.
Technically a Republic of the Sphere design, the Doloire eventually moved over to the AFFS availability list after the fall of Terra, but brings with it a potent suite of Clantech weapons on a durable frame. IWM offers three variant kits (the Prime, the B, and the D). Of the three sculpts available, I find the Prime to be the most useful (AES-equipped Clan large pulse lasers will do that) while the A variant is absolutely my favorite, pairing plasma rifles with the fixed AES in each arm for consistent utility against all unit types at a reasonable cost.
A lesser known FedSuns design from the Jihad era, the Fennec is one of the cheapest C3 Master-equipped units available to the faction. Armed with twin PPCs and medium pulse lasers, the Fennec is durable enough to take a few hits while moving around the outskirts of a fight, but still has enough speed to help it “escape the net” from ECM interdictors and battle armor headhunting squads. I’ve long been an advocate for fast C3 Master units for this reason, and while the Fennec isn’t the fastest in the game, it’s definitely the fastest one available to House Davion, which might make it worth putting up with the fiddly little antenna bits that need to be glued to the top of the torso.
The DCMS, having long been the go-to punching bag faction of the setting, aren’t lacking in unique designs in the slightest. In fact, there’s so many of them that, even with the two new House Kurita Force Packs on the way, there’s more than a few Kuritan staples that are still must-haves in metal for the time being.
Sword of Light Sunder and Void Battle Armor. Credit: Valk
The Sunder is a ‘Mech I have a long-standing appreciation of that dates back to my days tearing up the Assault circuit in MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries. While it does have a consistent design flaw in that it appears to be allergic to CASE, most of the variants bring something useful to the table, and it usually does so at a reasonable price. There’s been two sculpts of the Sunder in metal to date, and the resculpt in particular holds up especially well. I modified mine by adding a resin UAC/20 muzzle from the premium Stormcrow B model to the crown of the AC/20, but it looks just fine without it too.
The first model in this article to come hot off the pages of the Goonhammer ‘Mech Championship, the Tenshi is a big mean brick of armor with a Gauss rifle and a 5-pack of light PPCs strapped to the outside, all tied to a targeting computer (plus some rocket launchers for flavor). Normally, this would be a solid sniper loadout, but some genius got the bright idea to put a Supercharger on this thing so it can risk bricking its engine for a whole 1MP of extra run movement. In other words, you’re buying this model to run it as the award-winning A variant, which is 600 BV cheaper and packing triple large VSPs. You’ll probably want to pin this big boy for best results.
The No-Dachi is a…polarizing model. The premier DCMS TSM ‘Mech has always had an unfortunate visual design that conjures memories of old Power Rangers villains more than a hyper-lethal melee brawler. The original sculpt is dead simple to assemble, but lacks any dynamism in its posing no matter what you do with it. The -3X resculpt, on the other hand, at least stances him up properly, making it the preferred version of the model since you’re just going to run this as the -2K0 or -2KC laserboat variants anyway.
Oh my beloved Steiners. Despite being primarily a Jade Falcon player, when I play Inner Sphere forces, I tend to play the Lyrans. Why? Because the heavy Gauss rifle rules. It’s shown up on a couple of plastic models so far (the Stalker in the new 21st Centuari Lancers pack and the Highlander in the Snord’s Irregulars box), but it hasn’t shown up attached to my favorite platform for it, which is, of course…
Quads! I love ‘em, but the ones available to date (Scorpion and Goliath) aren’t really my favorites. Due to the way quad ‘Mechs work, they tend to fall into one of two categories: snipers and skirmishers. Sniper quads love to use partial cover and effectively render half the hit chart irrelevant, while skirmishers use high ground speed with the unique “side step” only quads can do in order to maintain optimal positions. The Scorpion and Goliath both largely fall into the former category, but the Barghest wants to brawl. Almost all Barghest variants are excellent brawlers, typically packing an AC/20 or heavy Gauss rifle (the latter of which has its recoil penalties offset by the quad PSR bonus), and use the 5/8 move profile that most models have to bring it in close. The -4T is the most modern sculpt of the ‘Mech and packs an improved heavy Gauss and a turreted pair of lasers, giving it some weapons coverage in close quarters where most quads would be stymied by their inability to torso twist. Be advised that the Barghest is a fairly chunky boy and will have a little trouble fitting on a standard-sized base like most IWM quads, but it’s worth putting up with to have one of the best Lyran ‘Mechs in the game on tap.
The MechWarrior 4 Vengeance poster boy had a bit of an awkward start in metal, but the Uziel’s resculpt simply took the in-game model and made it physical, and we’re all the better for it. The resculpted Uziel is available in two flavors: the original -2S, which is a reasonably inexpensive and mobile twin-PPC carrier, and the -8S, the Jihad-era improved jump jet nightmare. The -2S Uziel is the variant that I grew up with, so naturally it was the one I chose (despite usually playing it as an -8S anyway). I will however note that, unlike most of the models on this list, the Uziel can be reasonably difficult to assemble, and that its presence here is 50% nostalgia and 50% “because it looks sick as hell.” I highly, highly recommend pinning it due to its spindly nature, and advise also just throwing away the machine gun bits - they’re nearly impossible to align and don’t add much to the model’s profile anyway.
Speaking of pinning, this fat bastard is the most Lyran thing in my collection. It’s 100 tons of HGR meme, and it’s certainly built like it too. I initially waved off on buying the IWM model due to my attachment to the MW4 redesign, but this one slowly grew on me. Gameplay-wise, the Fafnir is a very simple concept: waddle up field, throw heavy Gauss slugs at anything that gets within 13 hexes of you, and pray your opponent didn’t bring battle armor. There’s also a standard Gauss variant, but that’s for quitters. As for the model itself, definitely pin or epoxy this one together - it’s simply too fat to risk it all on super glue. Unlike most BattleTech models, you may also want to subassemble it, as it’s sufficiently thick that painting mine fully assembled gave me a strained wrist for a week. The experience sucked, but hearing the audible thunk when I placed it on the table for the first time made it worth it.
Honorable Mentions: Scourge, Gauntlet, Dart, Thunder Fox
Free Worlds League
Apparently someone got the message that Free Worlds League-specific designs ranged from “bad” to “boring” during the FASA years. The result was a huge influx of new Purple Bird designs popping up near the end of the Dark Age, coinciding with the faction reconstituting itself from its shattered state. Almost all of the new Marik designs are exclusively in metal, and, thankfully, feature stat lines that are as good as their sculpts.
A ‘Mech that could’ve easily worked construction and doubled your profits, the Neanderthal premiered in the ClickyTech days, where it was a personal favorite of mine due to the cool-as-all-hell optional arms that allowed you to swap between a hatchet and a severed BattleMaster arm. The IWM sculpt has undergone some changes, such as standardizing the hatchet and removing the “crest” that made it look like it’d been skipping leg day, but it still retains a fittingly savage appearance. Gameplay-wise, there’s two variants that’ll likely see the table: the -AG and -UG (yes, really). Both feature TSM standard, but the -AG has a much more difficult time keeping it active. I personally advise rolling with the -UG in most instances; the -AG has snub-nosed PPCs hooked up to capacitors and a trio of M-Pods, but the dramatically higher BV cost makes it feel very inefficient for what you’re getting.
The Juliano rules. Visually, it has a certain je ne sais quoi that makes me want to play a Marik force just to get my hands on it, and the -5C variant takes it from being a “good” assault to a “very good” one. Every single section of this ‘Mech except the head can tank double Gauss rifle hits to the front, and the fully-Clantech variant has an excellent bracket fire loadout that gives it the capability to throw at least 30 damage downrange at all times. Great ‘Mech, great sculpt, no notes.
The Anzu looks and feels like a Spheroid take on the Summoner, featuring a (light) PPC with capacitor in the right arm, an (Ultra) AC/10 in the left, and an LRM 10 on the shoulder, with an ER medium laser and TAG added for taste. It’s a little slower, but it has a nearly-identical armor profile and is nearly 800 BV less expensive than its Clan inspiration. I’ve always considered the Summoner Prime to be a simple, solid skirmisher that’s just too expensive for what you get, so in that regard, the Anzu is a huge improvement, especially for Spheroid players working in tandem with a semi-guided LRM boat. The IWM kit also includes the bits needed for the -J70 variant, which adds a bit of extra damage potential with a RAC/5, MML 7, snub-nosed PPC, and an ER small laser For Some Fucking Reason™ for roughly 200 more BV. As with the Inferno, whatever bits you don’t use make great kitbash options later.
Whew! That’s a lot of heavy metal up for consideration, and it represents only a tiny slice of the models available from IWM to date. Originally, this article was planned to cover more factions, but the more I wrote about the ‘Mechs and (when applicable) my experiences assembling them, the more it became apparent this will need to be a two-parter.
This first half covers the Great Houses, so next time, we’ll get into the common ‘Mechs you'll find in mercenary hands across the Sphere, as well as those in the toumans of the Spheroid Clans and the armies of the Periphery. I’ll also showcase a select few part sprues I consistently find useful for kitbashing, and give some examples of use cases where I can. Stay tuned.
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Warrior House Hiritsu Anubis -5Y. Credit: Valk
Canopian Lancers Gùn -OB. Credit: Valk
Davion Heavy Guard Inferno. Credit: Jack Hunter
Wolf's Dragoons Doloire. Credit: Jack Hunter
Sword of Light Sunder and Void Battle Armor. Credit: Valk
Tenshi. Credit: Perigrin
Lyran Guards Barghest -4T. Credit: Valk.
Lyran Guards Uziel -2S. Credit: Valk.
Lyran Guards Fafnir Credit: Valk.
Kell Hounds Juliano. Credit: Jack Hunter
Eridani Light Horse Anzu. Credit: Jack Hunter
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