Tuesday, 6 March 2012

MERCS... how I fell in love with a world of corporate security.

Late last summer I was sitting in my local gaming store talking to the manager of about a skirmish Sci-Fi game by the name of Infinity. I had just discovered it via Beasts Of War Infinity week and I couldn't say enough good things about it. Infinity had everything I was looking for in a game.

Guns: Check
Cool looking figs: Check
Easy to learn rules: err... kinda check ish...

Ok, so it had ALMOST everything I was looking for in a game. The rule books were not as easy to read as I would have liked, but they were free online from the creators of the game so I didn't really have anything to complain about. That's when the manager asked me if I had ever looked into MERCS. Now, I had checked it out earlier in the year and at that time MERCS consisted of 6-8 really cool models and no rules. To be honest, I thought he was nuts for even trying to compare MERCS to Infinity. Then he did something that changed my life... he handed me his copy of the rulebook. For those of you who are truly geeky I am sure you will understand the feeling of sheer joy achieved by picking up a quality rulebook. A hard cover with a satin finish, colour interior, all printed on a high quality paper... As I held this book in my hands I couldn't help but be impressed. I looked at him and asked "how much"? "Thirty five plus tax" he replied. I had only one word to answer him with... "SOLD".

I sat down in that store and read that book from cover to cover. I wont go into details about the content of the book aside from saying the book is well thought out. It is organised in a logical fashion with excellent diagrams and pictures to explain rules. The language of the book is clear and straightforward and so easy to read. This easy read was a nice change after the struggle that I had with Infinity. Some of the things that attracted me to the game the most were the unique mechanics it employs. Things like snap to cover, model by model initiative, and card movement. (While some of these may seem tedious, I assure you they are not, and once familiar with the game it plays very smoothly.)

Having read the rules all that was left to do was pick up some figs. The choices at the time were FCC, CCC and Kemvar. I decided to go with the CCC as I had seen pics of the "Heavy" online and had thought he was one sweet looking little dude. Opening the blisters of figs I was once again impressed by the quality of the product. Mold lines and flash were practically non existent and the quality of the sculpts was very good. Before I left the store that day I had all my CCC assembled. A week later, I bought the Kemvar to keep my CCC company in my mini case. :)

Fast Forward 7 months... I own every faction and every model currently available for the game. Below you will find some examples of my work and my progress as I paint every model that MERCS currently offers. I am aiming for tabletop quality and I would like to have everything painted by June if possible. I think at my current speed it should be doable. As always, CC is welcome. Wish me luck!

CCC

MERCS CCC SniperMERCS CCC SniperMERCS CCC AssaultMERCS CCC AssaultMERCS CCC HeavyMERCS CCC IncineratorMERCS CCC IncineratorMERCS CCC Assault LeaderMERCS CCC Assault Leader


KemVar

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USCR WIP
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