"Now THIS is podracing!" - Challenge Submission #4

 After recently watching Episode 5 of 'The Book of Boba Fett' TV show, I put aside the project I was working on and dug out an unbuilt, 1/48 scale diecast N1 Naboo Starfighter, from 'Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace'. I built it stock. (I also traded with Conscript FrederickC for an all-plastic snapfast kit, to eventually turn into The Mandalorian's rat rod version of the ship, seen in that episode.)

The pilot figure in the diecast kit is little Ani Skywalker, a 9-year-old kid. It looked somewhat blob-like to me, but after black priming and zenithal highlighting, it turned out to have a fair amount of detail. After some GW washes, I did some detailing and blending with artists' oils.

R2-D2 rides in the astromech slot behind the cockpit; after black priming I sprayed his head with Tamiya aluminum paint from a can. Details and carbon scoring were done with oils.

The cockpit had some details, mostly not screen accurate, which I just picked out with acrylics and washes, after gray priming.

The N1 starfighter is a  mostly metal kit, with either yellow enamel already painted on, or polished metal parts, and a clear canopy. I screwed it together with the provided screws, setting them into place with locktite fluid, and covering the screw heads with the provided metal caps. I added some of the 22-year-old decals, which fortunately did not disintegrate after liberal use of decal set and solvent solutions.

At some point I will have to go back and add some weathering to this ship. Blaster residue, exhaust stains, and such.

Challenge Submission #13 - A Handful of Special Challenge Targets

 One of the features of this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is the Challenge Quadrant, consisting of three rings of planets surrounding a central star, each planet representing a special theme for the figures to be painted. Here are some of those special figures that I completed in late January and early February.

 The figures of Gandalf the White on foot and mounted on Shadowfax are the older Games Workshop Lord of the Rings castings. I have included Gandalf the Grey in the photos for the 'Before' and 'After' comparison.

A Canadian Churchill tank at Dieppe -Churchill Mk III T68696 'CAT' is a repainted 1/50 Solido diecast model I acquired from a friend. It was originally painted in a desert yellow/olive green striped camouflage pattern for service in Tunisia, but I wanted it to match another Solido Churchill that I had that depicted 'Cheetah' (shown in the background). So the 'tank from Tunisia' was repainted using Vallejo Dark Earth, and then the vehicle name, numbers, etc. painted on freehand.

 A legionary of early Imperial Rome, equipped with lorica segmentata, gladius, and scutum. This is a 28mm plastic figure that came as a sample years ago with an issue of Wargames Illustrated. I was never sure what to do with it, and thought I might use it as a gladiator in our 'local arena'. I'm glad I had it on hand for one of the stops on the Challenge Quadrant.

 A Eurasian Solar Union SAW gunner from Ground Zero Games and a Rebel Commando from West End Games. Both date from the mid to late 1990's. I have painted them up in the colour scheme for the Ral Partha Galactic Grenadiers figures I use as 'Planetary Militia'. In the past I have used both GZG and WEG minis to augment the variety of poses and weapons in my squads.

 

 A 54mm miniature from the Scale Link Ltd. WW1 Grand Guerre range, which depicts a British or Canadian infantryman advancing at the 'Trail Arms' position with fixed bayonet, and his Small Box Respirator worn at the 'Alert' position. He is identified as a member of the 27th Battalion CEF by the blue circle over a blue rectangle on his shoulder. The figure was painted using Vallejo acrylics, followed by some Games Workshop washes. Finally some AK Interactive Spattereffects 'Wet Mud' was applied to areas like knees and elbows. 

  Two 'old school' 25mm Star Wars figures from West End Games depicting Princess Leia Organa as she appeared in 'A New Hope' and 'Return of the Jedi'. Again, these are painted using Vallejo acrylics with GW washes on the faces and hands, and to produce the camouflage pattern on the poncho.

 These special challenges have been very useful in clearing out some of the miniatures that have been lingering in the 'PENDING' box for some time.

Thanks for reading.

3D-Printed Star Wars Legion Snowtroopers from Squamous Miniatures

 

I'll admit it: I have a problem. It's a problem with Star Wars. Basically whatever kind of miniatures someone comes out with for Star Wars gaming, I eventually get sucked down the rabbit hole. Star Wars Miniature Battles, Star Wars Starship Battles, even West End Games stuff. I've been strong on some fronts - I managed to resist Imperial Assault and Armada, and even Star Wars: Legion for the longest time, but eventually the quality and coolness of the latter's models just wore me down.

The key to resistance is to limit the scope of the project. For Legion, I've decided to concentrate on the Hoth battle from The Empire Strikes Back, and limit the project to that theatre. AND THAT'S IT. So far, it's actually been a successful strategy. However, the emergence of third-party non-official models has really threatened the integrity of my plan. Witness these very cool 3D-printed snowtroopers from Squamous Miniatures.

Squamous funds its operations through Patreon and "sells" 3D files of models that supporters can print themselves. In my case it was Conscript ByronM who came through with physical resin prints of these 12 snowtroopers. They were painted in the simple scheme I've used on dozens of snowtroopers before - Rakarth Flesh, washed with Agrax Earthshade and highlighted back up, with the armour, webbing, and backpack painted Corax White with White Scar highlights. Clean up the eyes, drybrush weapons with Mechanicus Standard Grey, done.

The models are excellent sculpts and are all one-piece with no assembly required - they even come with files to print the bases. The poses are great (mostly) and they scale pretty much exactly to the official Legion models.

See what I mean? Squamous snowtrooper on the left, official Legion snowtrooper on the right.

And unlike the other third-party snowtroopers I got from Wargames 3D, the armour and gear on these Squamous models are pretty much identical to the official models. Score!

So I think this completes the Imperial forces for the project. I have a Rebel snowspeeder yet to paint, and will probably succumb to the charms of a box of Tauntauns, but escalation is well under control... I think...

"You don't know the power of the Dark Side!" - Challenge Submission #3

 

Star Wars: Legion has a very nice injection-moulded plastic model of Anakin Skywalker as he appears during The Clone Wars and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. There are optional parts for a couple of cool poses. However, I decided to paint Anakin in a kind of "What if...?" scenario, as a somewhat older Darth Vader, who came out of his original fight with Obi-Wan in better condition, and does not usually need his armoured suit.

I assembled the pose with Anakin holding his lightsaber in his right hand, and casting a Force power with his left. The only gaps needing filling were across the shoulders of his tabard. I also set aside for use the head option with a more neutral expression.  

I black primed with Chaos Black, and airbrushed the lightsaber with Vallejo white, fluorescent orange, and red. I laid in zenithal highlights on the head with Vallejo Dead White. After affixing the head, I underpainted Anakin's face and left hand in Vallejo acrylics, with details and blending in artists' oils. I gave him greying hair, and made the sculpted facial scar fresh using Alizarin Crimson. 

I painted the tabard, right glove, and boots with Vallejo Grey Black. Light highlighting and details were added for his clothing and gear using artists' oils.

This is a similar project to my last year's submission of a young(er) Count Dooku, modeled when Jedi Master Dooku had just left the Order to defend his home planet. In Star Wars: Legion, the Anakin Skywalker character is part of the Grand Army of the Republic faction. I plan to use this version of Anakin/Vader as part of the Empire faction, using the rules for Vader’s Operative form.

Scoring: 7 points for a 40mm figure, plus 20 bonus points for Istvaan V: Betrayal; Heretical/Heretics or Loyalty/Loyalists. In either his canonical or this AU guise, Anakin betrayed his master and murdered countless innocents. Total = 27 points.

"An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age." - Painting Challenge Submission #2

Star Wars: Legion does not have a model for Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, as he appeared in the original 'Star Wars' movie. 

Last year I purchased from Order66miniatures on Etsy three different 40mm size prints for that Old Fossil, all 3D sculpted by Madox 3D (Felipe Manivel). (This particular pose seems to be taken from the Star Wars: Rebels episode entitled "Twin Suns", when Ben finally defeated a half-prosthetic Darth Maul.) This year's Painting Challenge prompted me to finally get some paint on this figure.

Ben is a very nice print, with a dynamic pose, good anatomy (check out the face and those hands), and almost completely unnoticeable printing lines. I really like the flowing robes and tassels. I just used some brass wire for the lightsaber blade, instead of the resin one; I have real doubts about the separate resin blade holding up to gaming. I shaped the blade tip with a diamond dust file, which worked a treat on the soft metal.

I did my usual black priming with GW Chaos Black, and airbrushed zenithal highlights with Vallejo Dead White.  Face and hands were under painted in Vallejo acrylics, with details and blending in various artists' oils. 

I do have the book Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy, which has nice colour photos of Ben's costume.  I went with lighter values for his shirt, under tunic, and hooded robe, as opposed to the movie colours. Did some detailing with Payne’s Grey and Titanium White oils for the under tunic. Ben's brown robe was finished mostly with a few washes combining GW's Agrax Earthshade and Reikland Fleshade. I weathered his clothing, adding stains and little tears using artists' oils.

I have now painted 5 figures sculpted by Felipe, all taken from the original 'Star Wars' in 1977. Madox has a couple of Patreon pages,  illustrating his interests in both Space Wars and the Seven Years War. 

Scoring: 7 points for a 40mm figure (Darth Vader is over 45mm tall!), plus 20 bonus points for Death Star (Hubris). Hubris, thy name is Obi-wan Kenobi. Hubris to think he could properly train young Anakin, hubris to hold the the Jedi order's myopic worldview, and hubris to try and control the information that he provided to Luke. Plus, the Death Star is the location of Kenobi's final duel with his former padawan. Total = 27 points for this year's Challenge.

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Using Ben Kenobi in Star Wars: Legion

Star Wars: Legion only has rules for Obi-Wan Kenobi as a much younger man, representing him as a Jedi Master and General during the Clone Wars. The character's rules and command cards reflect this. I belong to an unofficial Star Wars Legion Custom Cards group on FB. Member Charlie Soden came up with some interesting cards to use Ben Kenobi during the Galactic Rebellion era, a generation after the events in the Clone Wars. Ben is less of a juggernaut in close combat, moving more slowly and inflicting less raw damage. Ben is still very much a master of defense, and is much more adept at using the Force, including the mysteries of becoming a Force ghost. (Note that there is a slight error in the character card below; Master of the Force: 2 allows the readying of 2 Force powers.)