The Treasured Past... ( V )

...where Reaper comes to the rescue.

That's right, Reaper! Specifically CAV, or Combat Assault Vehicle. I wanted to try CAV, as my old LGS was a big supporter of Reaper Minis. There was a big Battletech contingent, but I was never much for BT, not since the original cardboard box. (Yes I am that old, ask Red about his birthday party.) I loved Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles, but couldn't get any interest going. CAV did get a bump when we got a local "Black Lightning" (the Reaper demo team) rep in the store to run demos. It flowed a lot better than BT, but had its own clunky rules. Plus, at that time it wasn't really supported; no new minis had been released in a while, and the product line was pretty small. Every one wanted to play the same 'killer' CAV's, and at that point it all came down to initiative and who fired first.

Time creeps on, as it wants to do, and the CAV's went into the storage boxes to be forgotten. Resurrected at last for this project, they are now seeing the light of day! The whole shebang kicked off with the KDM Mastodon. Even from the beginning, I thought it looked German. Then, I realized why. The angle of the leg armor reminded me of the hull of the German Valkyrie. Sadly, pictures are completely sparse on the net anymore, so the reader must trust me until my own pictures get posted.


This was followed by my paint decisions on the KDM Rhino. I decided on an overall Panzer Gray scheme. Again, all this laying the seeds of the future. The plates on the feet and on the hips reminded me of WW2 armor (more British, like the Valentine, with it's bolted mantlet and frontal armor)

With my frustration as to whether any of the Battletech walker legs would have any relevance, I did have several CAV's in the Basement o' Doom. Lining them up with the corresponding turrets of the appropriate 'Flames of War' tanks, well, it's magic! Lots of the CAV's have the backwards bent, or chicken-leg design, and some have a similar design to the original Gear Krieg mecha. The CAV's also have several (but less than Battletech) weight classes, so scaling up is not a problem.

So what is it I am running toward?