The Flea is a small, fast light ‘mech that’s a staple of the Wolf’s Dragoons, and while not particularly powerful, it packs enough punch against battle armor, infantry, and other light ‘mechs that it’s a staple unit on the battlefield. Now first things first…this is the best 28mm Battlemech kit i’ve ever had the pleasure of building. Super simple construction, perfect scale, and it just looks fantastic, hats off to Tim for making this one work!I made a couple of special modifications, of course. Like the Catapult, I added stowage to this little beauty, caging off the recessed area above/behind the cockpit to store some fuel canisters and kit bags.
I decided on a very active pose for this model, as if stalking forward in support of infantry- and to that end I based it on a Games Workshop large oval base (the kind they use to base monstrous creatures and flyers). I added a bit of ruined masonry under the Flea’s uplifted foot to allow it to stand with minimal stress on the joints. In between its legs sits a jersey barrier, with two infantrymen walking along one side of it. I feel like this gives a real scenic look to the model, and ties it in to the force it’s fighting with.
So who’s this Flea going to fight for? Well the Wolf’s Dragoons would be the obvious choice….but I never liked “obvious.” So I’m going to align it and its attendant infantry (more on them later) with the Free Rasalhague Republic, to accompany both the NightHawk PA(L) I already have, and Tim’s Owens once he decides to kit that out. I’ve already begun painting this model, so I’ll have a few updates soon.
One last parting thought…..since this Flea is based on the Mechwarrior 4 version, does anyone know which variant it’s supposed to represent? There are only three weapons on it (the chin gun and the guns on either side of the cockpit) and the only Flea with 3 weapons I could find is the FLE-20 with two medium lasers and a light ppc.
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