Painting Challenge Submission #13 - Director Krennic and Death Trooper Guards for Star Wars Legion

Director Krennic and his Death Trooper body guards - figures from Fantasy Flight Games

Rounding my recent run of "Star Wars" painting for Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, we have the antagonist from the film "Rogue One" - Director Krennic, accompanied by his bodyguard squad of sinister Imperial Death Troopers. These are all figures from Fantasy Flight Games range for Star Wars "Legion". 

One of the many things that make "Rogue One" so awesome is the non-supernatural nature of the protagonists and antagonists. I mean, it is still clearly a sci-fi setting of course, with all that can entail, but Ben Mendelsohn's portrayal of Director Krennic, leader of the Death Star development program, was so well done, creating a relatable antagonist amid a fantastical setting. The Death Star or the Galactic Empire do not exist in the real world (at least, not yet), but Director Krennic types are everywhere in our increasingly futile-o-crat bound society. Krennic is a pencil pusher, a super bureaucrat, adept at navigating and climbing in the bureaucracy of the Galactic Empire. Never mind The Force, he has a Program with a Budget. Never mind Order 66, Krennic could have simply buried the Jedi order with TPS report audits. 

Director Krennic, prepared to sort out a few bureaucratic SNAFUs personally...

Sure, he is working on a genocide-level terror weapon, but for him it's all about getting the credit - even after Vader nearly strangles him! Will the Emperor be told I did a good job? Switch out "Death Star" and replace it with "Winnipeg Regional Health Authority" or "Competition Bureau of Canada" and his movie dialogue is depressingly close to real-life. Death Stars and Sith Lords are products of our imagination, but there are Director Krennics all over the place, right now, in our world, working on a program that will "fix health care" and accumulating a defined benefit pension obligation that your taxes will have to fund somehow.

So look, he makes an awesome character for a Star Wars game! And Fantasy Flight did a great job on the miniature. In particular the sculptor captured Krennic's near-constant annoyance with his subordinates, best captured in his exhortation/command to deploy the garrison on Scarif...

Krennic-types may lurk all over, but the Imperial Death Troopers, on the other hand, are thankfully NOT a common feature of our real world (for now). I believe the idea for these Troopers came from one of the Star Wars FPS video games from the 90s? I'm not certain on that, but they sure looked cool in "Rogue One".

No need to panic! The Death Trooper are here!

Not only is their armour black, sleek and sinister, but they are festooned with all sorts of different blasters - which they carry with them everywhere! The "Rogue One" film handled them brilliantly - I mean, sure, a small child DID manage to out-whit them (they didn't seem too intent on burning up calories to search for young Jyn Erso, did they?), but notice how the Death Troopers never have any silly Stormtrooper-esque dialogue (i.e. "they're over there!" or "get them" or whatever). Rather, when they are present you catch the faint audio snippets of some kind of closed-channel radio chatter, and that's it. They are communicating with each other, but the only message they'll send to you will come from the barrel of a blaster. I find it makes them more sinister.

I love these poses - Curt described them as having a real "special forces" look, and I think that description is perfect.

Finally, when they are sent to combat, they actually hit pretty hard, exacting a heavy toll on the brave Rebels making the raid on Scarif, and sealing the fate of the diversionary ground attack.

A handy DLT-19D blaster on the left, while the fellow on the right prepares a grenade...they are going to clear that room...

Great firing poses - they might actually hit something!

Once more, I have to hand it to the sculptors employed by Fantasy Flight Games - they really nailed these models. The blasters, the grenades, the grenade launchers, the harnesses, the cool helmets, it's all there.

Now painting these all-black sinister SOBs was a bit of a head scratcher....how to capture the look? Maybe this called for some grisaille? Hah! Hell no. In the end, I did my best with grey highlights and a lot of black washes. Thankfully GW's new "Nuln Oil" is not as f*cked over as its new "Agrax Earthshade", so still has applications on subject like this. I also added some red for the eye lenses and scopes, and touch of green on the helmets. I considered attempting some kind of gloss varnish, but decided against it in the end. 

The garrison deploys...

 It was fun to take this little run on Star Wars figures - and great to knock out so many boxes of figures from the "pile of shame" in my basement. The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge continues - we are nearly 2/3 of the way through - so keep watching this space for more submissions, and thanks for reading.