Star Wars Legion Probot and Snowtrooper Squad from Wargames3D

So the Battle of Hoth Star wars Legion project draws near to its close, as I've now received and painted some 3D prints from licensed printer Wargames3D on Etsy - an Imperial probe droid (designed by Skull Forge) and another squad of Snowtroopers (designed by Dark Fire).  

First - the Probot (OK, the "Arakyd Industries Viper Probe Droid"). This is a model that's currently missing from the official SW Legion range, but one that every Legion enthusiast will want in their collection... just a super-cool looking droid.

The model was 3D printed in resin and comes in several parts - the "head", "body", and five "legs". A printed resin support stand is included but I substituted my own clear plastic stand. Please don't mind how it's sitting a bit crooked, that's been fixed in post :-)

Size comparison with a Legion infantry model. Not much work required on the Probot - I drilled two small holes in the top to fit synthetic broom-bristle antennae, and magnetized the head-body join so the head can rotate. Painting consisted of a basecoat of Vallejo Dark Rubber, light drybrush of Leadbelcher, and a Nuln Oil wash, followed by picking out wear points with Mithril Silver. A couple of the lenses were painted Evil Sunz Orange and Corax White, the rest were painted black. The model was sprayed with Testors Dullcote and the lenses hit with 'Ardcoat gloss finish - done. 

Next up was the Snowtrooper squad. This consisted of seven troopers, two of which tote heavy/special weapons, a nice change from the flamethrowers in the official SW Legion squad mix. These are all one-piece models and came ready to paint, with supports and flash all removed - nice. 

I painted them in my standard Hoth Snowtrooper scheme - basically painting the whole model Rakarth Flesh, and hitting the white armour and face shield with Corax and then White Scar. The RF parts were washed with Agrax Earthshade and re-highlighted with RF. Weapons are black, drybrushed with Mechanicus Standard Grey.

Here are the special weapon troopers.

And a couple squaddies with blaster rifles.

Size comparison - official SW Legion trooper on left, Dark Fire 3D print on right.

If I had a criticism of the Dark Fire models it's that they're not as detailed as the official models - note the relative detail on the backpack and blaster holster. It's too bad that DF didn't include some of this detail - particularly considering the price point for the squad - it was more expensive than a box of Snowtroopers from FFG. But I think they'll mix together OK and the differences aren't too noticeable.

So I think that's about it for the Imperial side - I now have four seven-man squads, an E-web blaster, a Probot, a command squad, a K-series security droid, an AT-ST, Veers, and Vader. That should be enough for a game at long last! 
 

SW Legion - Cassian Andor and K-2SO

Cassian Andor and K-2SO - figures from Fantasy Flight Games "Star Wars Legion" range.

Well, there was a slight diversion there, but it did not take long to squeeze another "Star Wars Legion" bit on my painting desk. Here we have Cassian Andor and K-2SO, characters from the excellent "Rogue One" film. These are plastic figures from Fantasy Flight Games' "Star Wars Legion" game. 

"Why can't I have a blaster?"

The Disney sequels for "Star Wars" are awful. I don't mean to dwell on that here - there are many other (better-written) sources for that sort of content online. But I found first one was so vomit-inducing that it caused me to ignore anything "Star Wars" that emerged from the sh*t pit of the Mouse Empire. This stubborn attitude, in turn, caused me to ignore "Rogue One" when it came out in theatres. Wow was that dumb on my part! Years passed, and I finally watched "Rogue One" on TV, and loved the film. So when I finally tilted over into collecting and painting "Star Wars Legion", I was pleased to see a number of characters from the film were already featured in the game's miniature range.  

Very nice sculpts from FFG.

There are different options to equip both Cassian Andor (either pistol or rifle) and K-2SO (either unarmed, or carrying Jinn's blaster). I find this latter option to be nicely on-the-nose, given K-2's complaint about not having a weapon during the movie. I nonetheless decided to leave K-2 unarmed, with the idea that the figure could represent an actual Imperial Security droid, or even K-2 sneaking in as part of a Rebel op. Plus I just like to imagine K-2 complaining to Cassian about not having a weapon.

Ready for deployment on a gaming table...

While we all know how things end for the Rogue One team in that movie, the idea of gaming battles featuring the characters and troops from the film is certainly a motivating one - not only the fateful battle on Scarif, but other "what-if" operations as well. I know a lot of other "Star Wars Legion" players are motivated by the same notions, so my approach is hardly original, but nonetheless it will be fun to paint them up. I'm particularly pleased to have K-2, such a great and fun character. More of the characters from the "Rogue One" film are available from various 3D printing aficionados out there (thanks to Dave V for pointing me in the right direction), so watch for more "Rogue One" content to appear in this space as the winter arrives.

That's all for now - thanks for reading, and happy painting! 

Star Wars Legion Rebel Troopers and Pathfinders - Hoth Style!

Rebel Troopers

So after having painted two units of Rebel Veterans for my Hoth Rebel Alliance crew, I wanted to introduce some variety with some other models. The great thing about the Rebels is that they're somewhat rag-tag, so some differences in uniform and kit are certainly OK. I've tried to minimize any jarring effects by painting these models in a "Hoth palette" (lots of Corax White, Rakarth Flesh, Zandri Dust, Steel Legion Drab, and XV-88) - the reader can be the judge of how well this worked.

Here's the squad leader with a Rebel rifleman.

Gatling blaster trooper and a dude with a grenade launcher (?) of some kind.

Some diversity introduced into the bunch with a Duros trooper.

Backpacks are similar to those included with the Rebel Veterans, that's good.

Rebel Pathfinders

The other unit I just finished was the Rebel Pathfinders, a very thoughtful birthday present from Conscript Dave (thanks Dave!) I enjoyed painting these guys as well, but there are a couple things to note on this box - most notably that there are only six figures in the unit, rather than the standard seven. You do get a variety of weapons here too - a long sniper rifle as well as a heavy blaster (wielded by the alien Bistan, at right) and another strange blaster in the hands of the alien Pao, at far left. These two guys are from Rogue One, of course. 

These are my favourite models from the set - especially the leader, who looks very Hoth-like with his winter hat and goggles.

The leader also sports an interesting set of body armour which I painted in Mournfang and Skrag Brown. The crouching sniper also is so equipped.

Here's the sniper with Pao and Bistan. I like Bistan and his heavy blaster - he's dressed in some sort of spacesuit which I could have researched, I guess, if I weren't so lazy. Anyway it got painted in Steel Legion Drab mostly. Not a huge fan of Pao as the pose is a bit meh, but another heavy weapon of some kind I suppose.

Well there you go - I reckon the Rebels are all set now with 30-some models ready to fight it out on Hoth. Just waiting for one last squad of snowtroopers from a 3D printing operation (and a special surprise addition) to finish off Blizzard Force, then we'll be ready for a game!

Star Wars Legion Massive Imperial Update (including AT-ST!)

Hey all, just popping in with a pretty big update for my Star Wars Legion "Hoth" project. Basically I've finished all of the Imperial models I have on hand so just wanted to post on that. My little component of "Blizzard Force" is pictured above.

Part of the update is just Snowtroopers - two more sections are complete, making three sections for the Snowtrooper platoon! (I have another seven-trooper section on the way - those are custom 3D prints that I'm really looking forward to painting). These ones are done in the standard style - cloth bits Rakarth Flesh washed with Agrax Earthshade, then re-highlighted with Rakarth Flesh, and white bits Corax White highlighted with White Scar. So easy and simple. 

And while I'd posted the Imperial officer and comms trooper before, I finished the medical droid and astromech to complete the support section. 

Here's the medical droid and astromech.

Another addition to the support section comes from the "Cassian Andor and K-2SO" box, in the form of this KX-series security droid.

Rather than fit the arms from the rogue droid K-2SO's appearance in Rogue One, I set the droid up "unarmed" as I assume that's how it would normally appear.

Lastly, I finished the Legion AT-ST. What a superb model this is. So easy to assemble (it comes already partially assembled from the "factory") and super-detailed - it's just awesome.

I equipped the model with the optional light blasters on the LH side of the crew capsule and the concussion grenade launcher on the RH side. 

Painting was pretty straightforward - basecoat of Mechanicus Standard Grey, highlighted with Administratum Grey and Dawnstone. I did some streaking with Nuln Oil in a different sort of technique - I loaded a large brush with Nuln Oil and dried most of it off, then brushed it downwards to simulate some kind of water streaking. I also applied Nuln Oil to joints and on the legs before lightening it all up a bit with some drybrushing.

Then I went over with the sponge chipping to create some wear and a bit of blaster damage. 

So that's Blizzard Force nearly done, except for some custom 3D-printed goodies that are on the way. I think I have enough models painted now to have a game, so I'll try to put something together on that front in the next couple weeks!

Galactic Heroes - "These ARE the droids you're looking for!"

Last month I ran Galactic Heroes for the Conscripts. Regular Conscript Blog reader Pierre was in town, so I hosted a game at my residence.

In the previous game, Leia’s forces destroyed a power generator, resulting in damage to the automated defenses on the second table, located in another part of the town. At that time we used the Star Wars Legion rules, with its plethora of proprietary dice, markers, and cards. 

This time, six players ran the Empire and Rebel forces playing a variation of the “These aren't the bots...” scenario from the Galactic Heroes rulebook. Luke’s troopers faced off against Vader, Stormtroopers, and Scout Troopers. I used the stats for “A Faraway Galaxy” as a start, adding some weapons and giving each Force user 5 powers.

People picked up the gist of the rules very quickly. Early on very bad dice rolls meant that no one did anything besides run out of ammo. By mid game, both sides had determined that two of the 4 droids were not the target (Vader used the Force to pull a droid into contact; very cinematic!).

Luke cut down a Scout biker then leaped among an enemy squad, defeating several before going Out Of Action. Similarly, Vader shrugged off blaster hits, sabering or Force choking Alliance troopers before falling. The battle turned roughly 90 degrees.

Each force was in proximity to one of the two undetermined droids. I ruled that the next discovery roll would be at even odds (6+); the Imperials failed, leaving the second set of plans in the hands of the Alliance!

In the final turn there was a flurry of activity as the Rebels consolidated both droids with the plans on their left flank, and defeated a few more Stormtroopers. However, they did not manage to reach the small ship warming up in the docking bay.

The Conscripts enjoyed the game. The playing card activation keeps everyone engaged. Actions flow quickly. Some mistakes were made, mostly due to forgetting Traits. However, we agreed that the rest of the campaign will be played using Galactic Heroes!

With both Luke and Vader in bacta tanks, the next game will involve a desperate attempt by other Alliance leadership to transport the secret plans off-planet, and the Imperial actions to thwart the Rebel scum.